Hello! I'm back with another chapter of Darkest Daze! Starting here, I will not be writing in first person POV anymore and instead write in third person.

I feel like all the "I"s are getting confusing and might sometimes accidentally get mixed up with other characters.

Instead, I will just add a line in between each character whose perspective you will be seeing.

I hope you enjoy the fourth chapter!

(If you want, you can comment about which type of POV you like better, 1st or 3rd person. Also, any constructive criticism is welcome! :D)

And just another note, yes, I still remember that I have NaLu in the description. I'm going to add it sometime soon when I feel that I can add it in. But right now, sorry there's no really major NaLu stuff yet! You might have to wait a bit… Again, sorry for the wait!

Lucy stared at the house where Happy currently was in. It was much more different than what she had remembered.

The sign in front of the house with the words "Natsu & Happy" was starting to fade from some weather problems.

The trees growing out of the walls were starting to make large cracks in the wall, which made it look like the wall was going to crumble at any moment.

The main change Lucy felt was that the whole place had a sad and gloomy aura. She didn't know where it came from. The whole place just seemed kind of lonely, even with all the crazy vegetation and animal noises everywhere. In a place with so much life, the house felt lifeless and out of place.

As Lucy stepped over lots of weeds and plants, she neared the house thinking about what she was about to tell Happy.

This was how she envisioned it, Happy. There's something the guild and I have to tell you. Natsu is finally back, but right now he can't remember much. I'm sure he'll get better, but Natsu truly is back!"

And then she imagined Happy looking up, joyful, and rushing towards the guild wanting to see Natsu.

Happy sat on the marron, worn couch.

"Birox, do you want to go to the lake again today? We could go fishing today to refill our stock."

Happy and Birox glanced at the barrel full of water were they stored the fish. Alive. So that when they eat them, the fish are nice and fresh. They only store the fish for a maximum of two to three days before they eat the fish.

They didn't want the fish to die from starvation, rot inside the barrel, then make the water yucky and it would smell very stinky.

"Sure! I could go find some berries for us to eat along the way! After we catch some fish, let's have some fun in the lake! It gets miserable in here, cooped up for a while," replied Birox with excitement.

Suddenly, a second later, Birox stiffened, putting his nose up into the air, sniffing.

"What's wrong?" Happy inquired, also sniffing the air.

Happy didn't detect anything. Birox must have smelled something peculiar with his ultra-sensitivity to smell, which Happy admired to say the least.

Then, with genuine fear in Birox's face, he whispered quickly to Happy, "A human is coming near."

Then, as Birox quickly backed up to the back of the room, the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was a blond haired female, who was looking rather surprised at the room.

The words that Lucy originally decided to say immediately flew out of her head.

She was stunned to say the least. It was like hundred of tiny lightning bolts paralyzing her as she gazed around the room.

Then a memory came back to her.

"Yes!" I think as I find Natsu and Happy's home. It's finally time to pay them back for coming into my apartment, without even bothering to knock.

I sneak inside their house, and I gasp.

This is probably the most messy house I have ever seen. Things were thrown all over the floor, and nothing was in order.

Then, I notice some things hanging from the wall.

They were memories of things they have gone through together with Lucy included.

I felt touched. I didn't know they would do something so meaningful as keeping things as memories of events.

Well, now that I'm feeling generously happy, I think I'll clean this place up…

The whole room was more pretty and decorated than she had ever remembered. Even more flashy than when she had cleaned that room up.

An assortment of super colorful dried out leaves were pinned to some parts of the wall.

The leaves were curled from being dried out, but it somehow gave it an interesting look.

There were also all sorts of potted plants, many of which Lucy has never seen. Lots of the plants had such beautiful flowers and she could even smell the sweet scent from them, filling the room.

The most amazing thing she noticed though, was a purple fox with small light blue wings on the sides of all four of its legs and two curved, white colored horns upon its head. She thought she was hallucinating until the purple fox started to move cautiously in front of Happy, who was sitting on the couch, looking stunned.

"L-Lucy?!" Happy cried with an expression of unbelief.

Happy jumped off the couch, hopping over the strange animal.

The fox stuck out one of its front legs, blocking Happy from going to Lucy.

It spoke, "Happy, who is that?"

It raised its head at Lucy, studying her with suspicious eyes.

"Why is a human here?"

"Don't worry Birox, she's a friend of mine."

Suddenly, Lucy gasped silently. She realized that Happy wasn't mourning as he was before. Happy's voice seemed brighter than before.

Then, she thought back to the last time Happy came to the guild. It was about a month ago. She spoke to Happy a little bit, asking if he was alright. Now she realized that Happy really was alright. That time, she didn't remember seeing Happy have that kind of sad expression like the other times.

Was it the animal Happy called "Birox" that made Happy happy again? But Happy couldn't have forgot about Natsu right?

"Birox, I know you don't like humans, but I promise she won't hurt you."

Happy shot a smile a Birox.

"So don't worry!"

"Lucy. Can you come in for a bit? I want you to meet Birox! A friend I made many months ago!"

"What? You never mentioned you had a friend like this."

"That's because Birox didn't want me to tell anyone about him, but now that you've seen him, you can introduce each other!"

Lucy walked slowly inside. She didn't want to startle Birox, who was looking at her every move. She didn't want Birox to start attacking her with those sharp looking horns of his.

Although it did seem like Birox trusted Happy greatly and would not hurt Happy's friends. Even if it was a human.

"Alright. Afterwards, I have to tell you something though. It's important."

They settled on the floor, Birox sitting further away from Lucy, not trusting her fully yet.

Then Happy asked Birox whether he wanted to tell his own story of how he met Happy, or if he wanted Happy to tell the story.

Birox replied that Happy could explain.

Then, Happy launched into the story of how they met.

"So basically, one day, I just felt bored and decided to fly around over the trees. Then, I found this lake! Well, it just happens that Birox was there drinking the water."

"I was amazed because Birox had wings on his legs! So then I decided to say hi."

Then, a sad look crossed Happy's face.

"Birox told me that he was abandoned from the human family that took him in. The human family just found a poor tiny animal lying on the sidewalk, which was Birox. Neither they or Birox knew how or why he was thrown on the street as a baby."

"After the family took care of Birox for a while, they started to notice a horn growing out of his head. They thought he was a demon… They started to throw objects at him, and kicked him out of their house. As people passed him, they moved away from him like he was some sort of disease."

"Then, still bleeding from the cuts of the things that were thrown at him, he decided to go live in the forest, away from the cruel humans."

"He was living in the forest for a few weeks before he started to notice wings forming at his legs. Then he started to fly! Great isn't it? Well, after a few more weeks, I found him at that river and invited him to stay at my house. He hated his name that the humans gave him. They called him-"

Then Birox headbutted Happy.

"Owwww. What was that for?"

"I would appreciate if you kept that horrid name to yourself. I don't need anyone else knowing it"

"Fine… Well, I decided to name Birox, "Birox" because he's like a bird and fox, yah know? And Birox liked it. So we use that instead of-"

This time Birox headbutted Happy even harder.

"OWWWWWW. Ok ok ok I won't say it I promise!"

Birox sighed. I'm surprised you can remember my story so well, but you can't remember to keep your mouth shut about my… given name. Well it's not even my name anymore. The humans don't own me anymore."

Lucy sat still and silently throughout the story. She was horrified at how those people treated him, even after taking care of him. She wanted to tell Birox that not everyone is like that. She wanted to say there are people, like in Fairy Tail, that won't care if you're somehow different. You would still be the same person inside like you always were.

Her mind flew back to Natsu, and how almost everyone was staring at him with fear and were repulsed by the way he attack them. And she clammed up.

Maybe in this world, it was true that many people would be repulsed at someone who seemed different than they were before. Different in a way that they thought was worse than what the individual used to be.

So, instead of saying that, I quickly change the topic, "Well now that I know about you, Birox, how 'bout I tell you about me?"

Lucy smiled warmly. She didn't forget to tell Happy that Natsu was back, but it would rather seem impolite if she didn't introduce herself to Happy's new friend, which she was still stunned about.

"To put it simply, I'm Lucy, part of Fairy Tail and a friend of Happy's. The most important things to me are my friends. They are like family to me. Also Birox, I just want to mention that I think you look too cute to look like a demon."

Lucy smiled warmly again, although she started to wonder what type of thing Birox really was.

Birox blushed, hiding his head behind Happy, who was laughing with tears flying out of his eyes.

Between his laughter, Happy managed to wheeze out, "Lucy, I thought you were scared of anything with horns and fangs."

Lucy sweatdropped.

"Hey! There are exceptions!"

Happy wiped his eyes, calming down.

"Oh mkay. Well, I remember you saying you had something important to say?"

Birox popped up behind Happy, now curious.

Lucy stiffened.

"That's right. I should tell you now. But just promise me, before you start doing anything or commenting, please listen through what I need to say."

"Ok," Happy replied, slightly blanching from the tone of those serious words.

Lucy explained that Natsu was back, and how they had found him. She explained his current conditions, that he had lost his memories and hadn't seemed normal.

Happy's heart nearly stopped beating.

Natsu was back?

Erza's strong voice demanded everyone's attention.

"That's enough for today. Everyone has cleaned up nicely. I trust that we could all use a little rest."

Many of the members sighed in relief. It was a long day.

Makarov had left to speak with the council, but he wouldn't say

The sun was almost down. Almost time for dinner. Many of them went back home, thinking about the day's events.

There were still injured people in the infirmary. Although there was nothing major, some had twisted their ankles, or something else that called for some rest.

After a while, Erza noticed Lucy running towards the guild with a blue colored cat flying over her head.

It was Happy!

But there was something else flying next to Happy. As they got closer, Erza had to suppress a gasp. It was a creature she had never seen before.

Lucy came to a halt beside Erza, with the fox looking at all the people inside, a glimmer of fear and hate in his eyes.

Erza felt unsettled by the creature they had brought along, but didn't say anything.

"Happy wants to see Natsu immediately," Lucy said quietly to Erza.

Erza glanced at Happy who was pale, desperation and a bit of fear in his eyes.

"Are you sure Happy? You look a bit distraught. We could wait until tomorrow-"

"NO. I WANT TO SEE NATSU NOW!"

The few people who were still in the guild shot startled looks at them.

Then Happy took a deep breath, adding, "Please."

Erza felt worried for Happy. His thoughts had to be a haphazard mess after hearing about Natsu.

"Ok. Follow me, quickly."

Erza led them into the hall, and turned right. Then, she pushed open the door into the room where Natsu was in. It was a room where they had never found any major use for, so they decided to let Natsu stay in here for now.

Gray was sitting across from Natsu on a chair in a small room with peach colored walls. Natsu was laying down on an old couch, still unconscious after fainting.

Gray was watching over Natsu, waiting for him so wake up, and to not let him try to run away, which was a possibility.

As he quickly took in the guests, he left the room to give them privacy, not failing to notice the funny looking fox creature that was with them.

As the door shut, Erza said, "He's still unconscious, we could wait a while if you would like."

Happy muttered, "Natsu…"

And as if on cue, Natsu's eyes twitched, slowly opening.

Everyone's eyes widened as Natsu slowly started to sit up.

It was so cold and dark here. What am I doing here? He thought, in a state of unconsciousness.

But he didn't want to wake up. To face the reality of what he'd done.

He had killed an innocent person.

Did he have a family? A wife? Children? How about friends?

Those words had so much meaning. He focused on the word 'friends'. They were people who-

Wait. What was it again? Natsu couldn't remember. Why did it even matter?

Natsu couldn't understand. He felt like he wanted to cry.

Cry? For what? What is there to cry for?

His mind was in turmoil. His already shattered mind was breaking even smaller, piece by pieces, unmendable, until he heard a familiar voice.

"Natsu…" it said.

That's right. His name was 'Natsu'. He once again recalled his name.

For some reason, now Natsu wanted to wake up. He was curious about the owner of that voice. Who was it?

Lucy rushed to his side to check if he was okay.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

His eyes suddenly portrayed fear.

"W-where am I?"

"It's ok Natsu. You're in the Fairy Tail building right now. You're safe here with us."

He visibly relaxed. Then his eyes flicked over to where Happy was. Happy stood still, tears spilling down silently.

Then Happy jumped on the couch, next to Natsu. Happy set his paw on Natsu's Fairy Tail symbol. More tears were spilling.

It was like Happy's tear were contagious, because suddenly, practically everyone in that room started to tear up.

Even Birox, who felt sadness for his friend.

To everyone's surprise, Natsu also started to cry. It was the first time he showed any emotion other than fear.

Probably the worst timing ever, an explosion sounded somewhere in town.

Suddenly, someone's voice appeared in their heads.

Warren's voice reached everyone in Fairy Tail, using his Telepathy magic.

"ENEMIES HAVE APPEARED ON THE EDGE OF MAGNOLIA. HELP EVACUATE THE PEOPLE AND ESCAPE QUICKL-"

They heard static before Warren's voice disappeared.

As soon as Warren had stopped speaking, Gray was on the roof of the building, and was cursing. A thick dark rolling cloud of magic looked like it was swallowing up Magnolia.

Walking in front of the dark colored cloud were a few people in dark clothing. Being so far away, Gray couldn't count the amount of enemies that were heading this way.

They have come.

"Y-you'd have to k-kill me before I'll tell you a-anything," Warren whimpered, nearly soiling his pants.

It's the end for me now, isn't it?

Warren shut his eyes, suddenly feeling a sense of calm.

There's no other way out. I'll just accept my end.

He muttered prayers for the rest of the guild, hoping that they will get out safely.

As the dark cloud consumed him, he felt a sad twinge of regret. Warren wished he'd at least gotten a chance to tell everyone in Fairy Tail how much they meant to him and to say his last goodbyes.

And then, unconscious, the dark magic sucked him into a deep, dark place.