Chapter 4 | Unhinging

August, X795

Lucy opened the door to her apartment with a sigh. Another day Natsu ignored her completely. The first time it had been a shock, but over the weeks she grew accustomed to the clenching pain in her chest every time she saw him or when he treated her like nothing had ever happened between them. Lucy changed into her pajamas and sat on her bed.

A blue ball of fur suddenly flew towards her face. "Lucy!" Lucy pried Happy from her face and held him out in front of her. Surprisingly Happy, not Natsu, had been the only one to act like she truly didn't exist. She would rather deal with Natsu's bull shit 'I see you, and will sneak glances at you, but I'm still going to ignore you' than be treated like an invisible person. Lucy figured Happy had just sided with Natsu, but that didn't explain why he was here now and getting snot all over her hands. "Don't push me away!" Happy bawled and tried to get close to hug her again.

"What's wrong Happy?"

"I snuck away from Natsu to see you! He'd be mad if he knew. I miss you so much! Please come back to us!" Lucy cradled him to her chest for a few moments then placed him in front of her on the mattress. "I'm sorry I can't." In the time they spent together, Happy had started to feel like her responsibility too, so being initially being rejected by him stung a bit more than she had expected.

Happy crawled to her knee and hugged her. "Why not?! Nothing is the same anymore. I miss breaking into your house and eating your food, and making you react like a crazy person, and I miss playing with you, and sleeping with you and Natsu, and everything! Natsu's so sad he's barely eating. All he's been doing is training and taking job requests. He's going to burn out. He was so exhausted on the last mission he just fell off this massive cliff. He's completely reckless and will get himself killed."

Poor Happy, Lucy didn't really think about how splitting up with Natsu would affect him. "It's complicated."

"That's what he said, but I don't understand why. He loves you and you love him and I love both of you, so why can't we be a family anymore?"

Lucy felt sorry for him, he deserved to hear her side at least. "I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Of losing him. You weren't there Happy. He probably told you that he died briefly, but he didn't say what is was like sitting over his body. He rescued me from danger, and it ended up killing him. If I continue to stay around him and get in his way it will put him in danger. He's going to get himself killed if I stay with him. Outside of the partnership I didn't want to stay together, because...I'm a coward. I want to be with him, and I love him so much, so if something happened... I just can't live through that loss again."

"But he's not alive now! At the guild he seems normal, but at home he hasn't even smiled since you two fought. He's trying to stay strong for you, but he's not going to be able to keep this up forever. You might think he's been getting better, but we're losing him!"

"I think you are over exaggerating a little."

"I'm not! I dare you to come over to look for yourself!"

"Well I-"

"And how is this any different than him dying? You hardly see him, you never talk to him, you don't know what jobs he goes on, if he died right now, your life would be the exact same as it is now‼ So why don't you spend this time with him when he's here?"

"It will get easier in time."

"You think you will just stop caring with time? Even after all this time, neither of you are getting better. You are the same and Natsu's getting worse. We all need each other. Come to the house and see! Just see. He needs you! I need you!"

Happy pulled at Lucy's hand, and Lucy felt herself follow after the blue cat. "Happy this isn't going to help."

"I don't care, you need to see."

Lucy grabbed her robe on the way on and slipped on her shoes. "If we try to fix things now, then all the work we've put into getting over each other is going to be wasted. We've already made it through the hardest part."

Happy didn't listen as he picked Lucy up and flew off towards his place the moment they set foot outside.

"Don't make any noise or he will hear you." Happy said quietly once the house came into view.

"He's going to smell me anyway, there isn't really a use in hiding."

"He's kind of...distracted. He won't notice."

Lucy shut her mouth and readied to land on the ground in front of the house. Happy gestured for her to move around the side of the building. She quietly moved with her back against the wall and prepared herself for what she might see. She could hear repetitive thuds and deep grunts. She peeked around the corner of the house and was met with a beautiful display of the setting sun's rays filtering through the forest. The sound of a loud crack carried her eyes to a large tree on its descent to the earth.

"Dammit, I liked that tree!" Natsu yelled over the sound of rustling leaves and breaking branches as the tree crashed to the ground.

The entire tree went up in flames suddenly. The bright light and intense heat waves made Lucy and Happy hide behind the house for protection. When the heat dissipated, she looked around again to see Natsu for the first time. He was shirtless with bloody fists, a heaving chest, and had sweat pouring off his body. He stood pounding his fist down on the top of the stump that remained after the tree fell. The break was jagged and the wood cut right through his hands, but it didn't look like he cared. She wanted to run over to him, but she froze at the sound of his voice.

"Why does this have to happen?" Natsu turned and started punching the nearest standing tree. "If you were just stronger she could have stayed with you. If she felt like you could protect her, you would have been happy. But here you are, still a weakling. No wonder she wanted nothing to do with you." The new tree split down the middle and Natsu cursed, "Shit!"

Lucy watched him throw his tantrum for a solid minute only managing to hear some of the things he grunted. She heard the expletives and him curing her out a couple times while throwing fire around. Lucy looked over to Happy who starred on sadly.

"Natsu stop!" Lucy came out from behind the house and walked to where Natsu was destroying his backyard. The sound of her voice caused him to halt mid swing at a new tree. He slowly turned around to see her standing right in front of him.

A/n: I just wanted to say it's really encouraging to have so many people review, favorite, and follow my story. I hope you guys continue to enjoy the story as it progresses. Thank you so much for the support!