Natsu swiped at his eyes with his hands, not caring if there was dried blood on them that mixed with the tears he'd been crying while mourning Lucy. He still couldn't believe that she was gone. It had to be a trick of some kind. I mean, he would have known if she was really dead...wouldn't he? Or at least he kept thinking that he would.

But then it was her non physical body that was dead. Her soul gone forever.

All that was left was her body. A living breathing, literally empty shell that had been filled by the soul of another being. Another young woman. The same young woman that he'd been bonding with while thinking that she was his partner.

He wasn't sure what upset him more.

The fact that he hadn't known that Lucy was gone. Or the fact that he'd been trying to re-establish a lost bond with a total stranger. He sniffled and wiped his eyes again, smearing some of the blood that had mixed with his tears on his cheeks and looked down at the river that ran just thirty feet or so from Lucy's home.

He'd come here because it was the most comforting place he could think of. The one place where he and Lucy had shared certain experiences. Like watching fireworks on new years. And it was also the place he'd stood with her and exchanged chocolates with her on Valentines day.

This was the place where he felt closer to her even if they were miles apart. So it made a certain sort of sense that he would feel her presence the strongest here. And it was also the place where he felt his failure to protect her the strongest.

He'd spent the past seven hours alternating between crying and telling her that he was sorry that he had gotten her killed. That he hadn't been able to save her. He was sorry that her life, her hopes, her dreams, and her future were all lost to her.

And now that he'd gotten a good portion of that out of the way and was thinking a little more clearly, he was trying to figure out what to do about the woman inhabiting Lucy's body. It wasn't like he could hater her, or knock her around or kill her for decieving him.

That was just stupid and besides that he sort of understood how she must have felt to wake up in a body that wasn't her own, unable to remember even the smallest of things. She didn't know him or his friends, didn't know if they would hurt her once they found out that she wasn't their friend.

So he really did understand where she was coming from.

Now all he needed to figure out was what he was going to do with her. He was bound to her after all, so sending her away would do nothing but drive him crazy. Hell, a majority of the stuff he came up with would do nothing but drive him crazy. Which left him with only one choice left. Though he wasn't sure what to think about it.

He would have to get to know his mate and court her while protecting her from the mage Donzela and his plans for her.

He sniffled and wiped at his eyes one last time and stood up, finally he felt ready to face the person within Lucy's body. He took one last look at the river then turned and stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Rissa groaned at the throbbing in her head, the ache in her skull settling somewhere behind her eyes making the pain more unbearable as someone sat down on the bed's edge and leaned over her and said something to her in a familiar voice that it took her a second to recognise as Erza's.

"Rissa? Here, I have something to give you for your head. Can you sit up for a moment?" Rissa's eyes opened at the sound of her name being said by the red headed woman and before she even knew what she was doing or why, she started crying. It had been so long since anyone used her real name that she wasn't sure how to react.

On one hand she was utterly baffled about why the woman was calling her by her real name. Then her bafflement gave way to fear. After all if Erza was calling her by her real name then that meant that she knew that she wasn't the woman, Lucy. Which in turn left her facing an uncertain fate.

Was Erza angry at her for not telling her that she wasn't her friend? Would she physically harm her? Did anyone else know? Did Natsu?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind she went into hysterics. She couldn't help it. She could only imagine what Natsu would do to her if he thought that she had hurt Lucy or stolen her away. Her fear and panic were so great that she couldn't breathe, her chest ached and she fought against the hands that carefully tried to hold her down in an effort to escape as someone, a man with short blond hair and cat like eyes tried to calm her by speaking to her in a very soft, soothing tone.

"Shhh, it's okay Rissa. You're safe. No one's going to hurt you."

She was hyperventilating now, her face completly devoid of color, her expression terrified. The man was wrong. Dead wrong. Natsu- Natsu would kill her! She thrashed around, trying again to get free but there were too many people holding her down.

Then suddenly she heard Natsu's voice and everyone let go of her and backed off as the dragon slayer came walking in and looked at her as everyone moved away. She looked at him, her fear plainly showing on her face and waited for him to kill her as he drew closer.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and she flattened her back against the headboard and drew her knees to her chest and lowered her head. Still waiting when she felt him shift closer and reach out and grasp one of her wrists, and pulled her forward so that she fell against him then wrapped his arms around her and started rubbing her back in an effort to calm her.