AN: I'm really liking this story so far! Once I finish this one I plan on writing an AU story with Lucy and Natsu in high schoo. :) That is the story I originally wanted to write but I make it a rule to write a story not in AU before trying a new OTP. Idk why haha! Anyways please enjoy!

Chapter 4

It was yet again a bright, sunny day in Crocus. Everyone seemed to be talking about the same thing: Fairy Tail. Their revival was already on the news and was being discussed by absolutely everyone. How could they not talk about it? One of the loudest, most destructive guilds in the nation- that has saved them countless of times- was getting back together. Hearing everyone talk about it made Lucy want to cower in a corner in her room and never leave.

Every day she was being bombarded with questions, people wondering why she wasn't back in Magnolia yet. And every day she had to answer that she liked her life now. Why did it matter anyways? Everyone was always more interested in people like Natsu, Gray, or Erza, not her. In fact, a lot of people saw her as weak since the Grand Magic Games. Hell, Lucy began to think the same thing, especially after losing her first spirit.

"Are you having a cool morning, Lucy?" Jason greeted as the busty blonde entered the room.

"Ehh, I've had better," the girl honestly answered. "If you bring up Fairy Tail at all today I'm going to kill you."

"How mean! Can I at least say one thing?"

Lucy sighed. Jason was her boss after all. "Fine. One."

"Cool! It seems like you and Makarov are the only ones not back yet. Everyone else is already there just waiting."

Lucy's eyes widened as she asked, "Master isn't there? Why am I surprised? He was the one to disband the guild in the first place."

"That's weird," Jason started, "people don't typically call other people 'Master' unless they are in a guild or something! And they also don't typically have bright pink emblems on their hands if they aren't in a guild!"

"Ugh, shut up, Jason!"

With that, the celestial mage began her long shift of work. She was finishing her article on her interview with Haru, trying her best to make it sound interesting to draw in readers. She couldn't blame them if they weren't interested though. Haru was just any other mage in the continent. Nobody could compare to a Fairy Tail mage after all. Nonetheless, she finished it up, fixing a few grammar errors and adding some sentences to spice it up. Finally finishing, she submitted it to Jason and let him do the rest.

"Hey, Lucy!" Jason exclaimed as their shifts finally came to an end. "Let's go get some dessert!"

"Only if you are paying!" Lucy replied, getting her stuff ready to go.

What? Being a journalist was hard work that wasn't paid as well. The girl needed to be as cheap as she could to make it. The two quickly arrived at a small snow cone stand a couple of blocks away from Lucy's apartment. Jason promptly paid for the two cones, which were infused with magic to make it change colors. Taking a seat on one of the benches in front of a magnificent fountain shooting water feet into the night sky, the two munched on the flavored ice in delight, excitedly pointing out whenever their cones changed colors.

"Alright, Jason," Lucy started after she finished her snow cone, "you can go ahead and start your lecture now. Tell me all about how terrible I am for not going back or even talking to them."

The blonde boy next to her calmly replied, "You aren't terrible for not talking to them. I was only trying to get you to go because I know it would make you feel better, not them. You are a cool girl, Lucy. We've gotten pretty close during the past what? Year and a half?" A faint shade of pink spread across the boy's face as he continued. "Really close, actually. Which is why I can say that… I love you, Lucy Heartfilia, and I want to be with you!"

Lucy nearly fell off of the bench in surprise. This wasn't happening. There was no way this was happening! She had been so careful not to get too close to anyone! Though she knew that she was a little closer to her boss than others.

"J-Jason," the girl started as she awkwardly fumbled with the hem of her skirt. "I-I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," Jason replied as he smiled gently at her. "It's cool, I promise. I was expecting this, I just had to let you know before you left."

"Before I left?"

"I know where your heart is, Lucy. It's back in Magnolia where Natsu and the others are waiting. You belong in Fairy Tail. You'll figure that out eventually, I just had to let you know before then. Anyways, let's go home now! It's starting to get a little chilly!"

With that, the two were on their way to Lucy's apartment. Luckily, the awkwardness Lucy felt quickly disappeared as Jason told many of his stories of when he interviewed crazy mages throughout Fiore. She had to admit, they were pretty close friends. But her friend was right, her heart was set on her friends at Fairy Tail, not on any romantic relationships in Crocus. But instead of going to Magnolia like Jason advised, the girl instead decided she was going to force her heart to move on.

Lucy plopped into bed with a sigh. She had been asked out that night. While the girl was no stranger to being asked out, it still made her feel a foreign feeling at the thought of someone wanting to be with her. She never had those feelings with anyone before and she wondered what they were like. The celestial mage was hopeless. Sure, she could write novels of two people falling in love but could never even fathom herself falling in love. Running a hand through her golden locks of hair, the girl desperately imagined what it would be like. A certain pink-haired boy popped into her mind, causing her to jolt up into a sitting position.

"Why the hell am I thinking about Natsu!?" she thought as she lightly tapped her face in an effort to fully wake herself up. "Gosh it's like I'm becoming Mira or something!"

Feeling more and more tired as each second ticked away, Lucy let herself succumb to slumber. And for the first time in a while, she didn't cry herself to sleep. Maybe she was moving on.

"That's it, we are giving another signal!" Natsu cried out, gaining the attention of his equally worried guild mates.

"Natsu, be patient," Erza instructed, though she too was worried at her friend and master's absences. "The magic council already told us not to do another stunt like that or else they'll disband us again. Do you want that to happen?"

"No…" Natsu grumpily answered, smoke seeping through his clenched mouth.

"Then be patient."

The guild awkwardly stayed still in complete silence, not making a single movement or sound, afraid that if they did Natsu would burn them to a crisp. They hoped Lucy would come back soon so that the grouchy pink-headed boy would calm down.

"Wait I see someone outside!" Lisanna shouted, making everyone look as well.

Natsu nearly burst with excitement as he expected his partner to walk through the door. To his disappointment, it was none other than their beloved master. Sure he wanted Makarov back, but the boy needed Lucy. This was it. There were no other signals. Lucy never replied. Negative questions circled in his mind while the rest of the guild cheered for their master's return.

"My children," the short, older man started as tears gathered in his eyes, "it is good to see you all again."

"Not all of us are here yet," Natsu added rather sharply.

Makarov glanced around the room and he quickly made the connection. "I see Lucy is not here. I wonder what she is up to."

"If you didn't disband the guild out of nowhere she would be sitting here!"

That was it. Natsu was at his breaking point. His best friend and partner was gone and he had no idea where she was. What if she was kidnapped? What if she was killed? Or what if she saw the signals and ignored them, forgetting completely about the time they spent together? The endless possibilities were too much to handle.

"Natsu!" Erza shouted, gaining his attention. "Do not speak to Master like that! He had his reasons! You have no room to talk when you weren't even there when he announced we were disbanding!"

"But Erza-"

"No buts!" Erza's face then turned into one of sympathy. "We will find Lucy and bring her back, I promise."

Natsu reluctantly nodded as he turned to face Makarov. "Sorry, Gramps… I guess I just lose control without Lucy yelling at me and stuff."

"It is fine, child," Makarov replied. "I bet you are all wondering why I disbanded Fairy Tail. It was a selfish reason, I understand that now. I just couldn't bear to see any of you getting hurt anymore. You are all my brats. I was hoping you would all get practical jobs or something and stay safe. How foolish I was thinking you would all be smart enough to do that. Alright, tomorrow we set out on a guild-wide job to search for Lucy. She is our comrade and Fairy Tail is not complete without her. Meet here tomorrow at exactly 8 o'clock, got it brats?"

Everyone cheered in delight as they were excited to retrieve their last missing member. Natsu cheered along, glad that he was finally going to find her. He had no idea how they were going to do it, but they were going to find Lucy no matter what. He was finally going to see her again after a year and a half.

"Get ready, Luce! I'm coming to get you!"

Fairy Tail members tiredly gathered outside of the guild hall, waiting for Makarov to arrive. Despite how tired they were, they were going to give their all to find Lucy and bring her back. Finally, the old man approached the huge group of people with a determined look on his face.

"You have a plan, right?" Gray asked while trying to release himself from Juvia's hold on him.

"Of course I have a plan, brat," Makarov answered. "Everyone listen up. I've recruited our ally guilds to help us search for Lucy and everyone has agreed except for Sabertooth. I guess they are busy or something, who knows. Anyways, Mira! You contact that one annoying reporter, Jason. You said you saw her pin-up pictures in one of his articles right? Perhaps she is still working for him… And try to get me one of those pictures by the way…"

Mira promptly punched the older man in the head for asking for the skimpy pictures. "I don't think she works with him anymore," she said afterwards. "Those pictures came out soon after we disbanded and I haven't seen one since."

"Nonetheless it is still a start. Even if she did quit he might know where she went afterwards. Levy! Try to see if Lucy has released any works of her own that we could trace back to her."

The petite blue-haired girl frowned and replied, "Most authors use pennames just so that things can't be traced back to them. Lu-chan is probably using one too."

"Well see if you can find something either under Lucy or under a penname that could possibly be her."

"Natsu, Happy, Gray, and Erza! All of you will stick together! You guys and Lucy are a team, so you should all find her together! As for everyone else, divide and conquer over Fiore! Are you all ready?"

The crowd shouted in reply.

"Go!" Makarov shouted. Everyone went in their own directions, some going in small groups while others went by themselves.

Natsu and the others ran as fast as they could, not knowing where they were going but were filled with bursts of determination. They will find Lucy, just as Erza promised. Little did they know they would soon find her sooner than expected.

AN: Ooh, how exciting! Everyone is back except for Lucy and they are all trying to find her! Will they find her in the next chapter? Who knows? :D

Guest: Well, now you know the answer to your question haha! :D I was thinking of having her get rid of her emblem but just thinking of her character I imagined that she wouldn't be able to do it so that is the one thing she kept from Fairy Tail! Thank you for the review! :)

Switchlolly007: Hello again! :D and I know right!? I will never be able to accept that she forgave Natsu so quickly and the fact that nobody knows the sacrifice she went through to save them all! Thank you for another amazing review :D

Alexa: Thank you! Hope it wasn't too much of a wait! :)

Mavis Chase: WASN'T IT SO SAD!? OMG MY HEART WAS BROKEN AFTER THAT CHAPTER. THEY BETTER DO SOME RANDOM PLOT TWIST AND FIX THAT! And thank you :D

Kyouya Sata: Wow, you know what, I have no idea! For some reason when I read nalu fics it just made me think that he did call her Luce, it sounded right to me! But when I looked it up, everyone said he never did! That's so weird! I really thought he did!

Chisato Hachirobei: Wow thank you for another amazing review! :D I will definitely keep updating!

Oby Abel: Thank you so much! I always get worried about my writing style because I never actually had real practice in this kind of stuff! I'm glad you enjoyed! :D Thanks for reviewing! :)