A/N: Holy pickles I'm sorry this took so long everyone. With college starting, my brother nearly dying, and some totally ridiculous family stuff going on I have had barely any time to write, let alone breath -_-
But I am pretty proud of this chapter! And I hope you guys like what you find out ;P
Creds to bae (a.k.a not-just-any-fangirl, a.k.a. my writing goddess) for helping me edit this monster. I appreciate you.
Natsu walked through the guild doors in a daze, robotically heading to his spot at the bar, completely oblivious to Gray's insults and the other comical jabs his other guild mates were throwing at him. As much as he tried, which honestly wasn't that much, he couldn't get today's events out of his head.
More specifically, he couldn't get Lucy out of his head.
Natsu sat down at his seat and montonely asked Mira for his usual pepper jack chicken, with extra peppers. Mira looked at Natsu worriedly, as he usually started a fight as soon as he entered.
"Natsu," Mira called out gently, setting his plate of food in front of him, "is everything alright?" But he didn't answer,rubbing his forearm distractedly while he stared at his food like some immense unsolved puzzle.
A hard hand on his shoulder finally startled him out of his deep thoughts, making him whip his head around to growl at whoever had interrupted him from his rare serious moment.
To Natsu's pleasant surprise, it was Gildarts, looking as massive and intimidating as he always had with his incredible height and broad chest. He was one brute of a man, but Natsu knew he was really just a softy. He'd been gone for the past six months on an eight year mission, but Gildarts never took the actual time that was said to be needed, usually cutting it by more than half.
Did he just get in and Natsu missed it? No, he couldn't have. Gildarts scent was extremely noticeable; the smell of destruction coupled with a massive thunderstorm was unique only to him. Even Laxus smelled completely different, his being more flashy, like lightening.
So how did he miss him? Were his thoughts really distracting him that much?
"Natsu you brat, I've been gone for six months and you walk right past me. Is that how you treat your old man?" Gildarts said loudly with a large smile, but Natsu could see the question in his eyes. He'd noticed his odd behavior.
With a bright grin, Natsu stood up so he could give his father figure a hug, which Gildarts gladly reciprocated, roughly patting him on the back.
"Did you just get back?" Natsu asked when they finally pulled away from each other. After he had tried, and failed, to put him in a choke hold.
"About an hour or so ago yeah," Gildarts replied with a shrug of his shoulders. A teasing smirk turned up on his lips as he slung an arm around the boy's shoulders.
"So I've heard you've been able to hold down a job! Looks like yer finally becomin' a man!" He said laughing, a sly gleam in his eyes.
"Whaddya mean 'finally'?" Natsu shouted indignantly, but his grin was still there as he ducked under the man's arm. "I became a man when I kicked your ass last year when we fought at Tenrou!"
Gray scoffed. "You didn't kick his ass flame head. You both tumbled into the river where you ended up on top of him when you rolled onto shore."
"Ya wanna say that again ice tits?!" Natsu challenged as he whirled around to charge at the raven haired man.
But before Natsu could put his hands around that scrawny bastard's neck, a firm grip on his left arm had him stopping in his place, yelping in pain. He was about to yell at whoever it was to let go, but when he turned around, Erza was holding up his arm, looking at him expectantly. Her hard stare told Natsu that he was not getting out of this one.
Natsu gulped nervously. What could he say?! He wasn't a very good liar, so Erza would know immediately if he wasn't telling the truth. But he couldn't tell her what actually happened. If Virgo and the others found out, he'd never get to see Lucy again. And Natsu definitely wasn't going to let that happen.
It looked like Erza wasn't going to give him time to come up with an answer. Her grip tightened and she pulled Natsu forward so she could examine his arm more closely.
"Natsu, what's this?" She asked, pointing to the constellation that had been branded onto the underside of his forearm. It had already begun to scar white, shimmering in the light when Erza tilted his arm slightly. The area around it was still red from irritation, almost like it was a tattoo…
That's it!
"Um, it's a tattoo!" Natsu said a little too loudly, "yeah, I just got it today!"
Jellal walked over then from his spot against the wall, inspecting the so called tattoo for himself. "Why did you pick the constellation of Andromeda ?"
"I uh, thought it looked cool?" Natsu said sheepishly.
"Nice try Salamander, I can smell the magic traces left behind on that brand, it ain't no tattoo, so what really happened?" Gajeel asked, his eyes scrutinizing Natsu's face carefully, reading his expressions.
"Were you attacked?" Wendy asked worriedly, having come over to join the group of people surrounding him.
Natsu sighed in defeat, he wouldn't be able to make up something, but could he tell them...
"No Wen, I wasn't attacked, and no it's not a tattoo. But," Natsu hurriedly said before Erza could question him, "I can't tell ya what it is, cus I don't know. So stop asking." He looked pointedly at Gray then, who had opened his mouth to retort.
He shook his arm out of Erza's grip, and started walking towards the guild doors, leaving his plate of food behind.
"Natsu," Gildarts said sternly, grabbing him by the shoulder with Natsu's back turned to him.
"Gildarts," Natsu muttered lowly, turning his head to look at him with one burning eye, "let go."
A long moment passed where both men just stood and stared at each other, neither backing down. The guild members watched quietly, none daring to break the tense feeling in the air.
"Natsu…" Happy quietly whined from where he was sitting on the counter next to Carla.
Natsu had made up his mind though, he wasn't going to tell anyone anything. Even Gildarts.
And they couldn't make him.
He slowly started to increase his magic, steam rising from his body as a result. Gildarts raised an eyebrow in response. He'd never seen Natsu so serious about something before. The older man could see it in his fiery eyes, the firm set of his brow. He could feel it in the rigidness of his shoulders, the tensing of his muscles. It all showed such strength and...maturity from the pink haired boy. Or rather man as Gildarts would say now. He knew he wasn't going to get anything out of Natsu, and so he did the only thing he could. He let him go.
Natsu briskly walked out the guild doors, a trail of sizzling footprints left behind him on the guilds wooden floors.
Everyone was quiet, until all at once people started to whisper amongst themselves.
Makarov had been watching everything up on the second floor, and just like everyone else, he was uneasy. Natsu was always very talkative about his jobs, so his secrecy made him worry.
"Happy," he called down to the blue exceed, who had been staring at the doors his partner walked through. The blue cat flew up the winding staircase to stand in front of the short, balding man.
"Yes, Master?"
"From now on, I want you to accompany Natsu to his job. You may ask him first, but if he refuses, I want you to follow him in secret. If it comes to that, I want you to remain hidden. You mustn't let him know that you're there, am I understood?"
"Yes, Master," Happy said with a nod of his head. "But what do you want me to do?"
"I want you to see for yourself what you think of this 'ranch', and what the people are like. Then, after every day, I want you to come back to me and tell me what happened that day. I don't care how minute the details might be, I still want to know all of it."
"Aye sir!" Happy declared with an air fist pump. "I'll make sure Natsu is staying safe!"
The little blue cat then sprouted his fluttery white wings and took off through one of the open windows to find his pink haired partner.
"Master," Erza greeted as she, Jellal, Gray, and Wendy all walked up the stairs to speak with him, "why not have one of us go instead? I don't know if Happy will take the task you've given him seriously."
"Don't worry," Makarov dismissed with a wave of his hand, "he'll do fine. If the situation proves to be more troublesome, I'll send one of you, but for now, I'll leave it to Happy."
Erza looked at Jellal, doubt and worry written plainly on her face. He reached his hand out to twine their fingers together and give them a light squeeze. She was worried about Natsu, but she trusted Makarov, and would follow through with whatever decision he makes.
She just hoped that Natsu wasn't getting himself into too much trouble...
A burning pain in her shoulder finally woke Lucy from her restless slumber.
She looked around confused, until she realized that she was in her room, laying down in her bed with a new set of clothes on and a bandage wrapped around her left shoulder and upper chest.
She tried to sit up, but she hissed in pain as the burning increased to feeling like a dozen needles were pricking her shoulder blade.
Laying back down, she focused on trying to remember what happened. She remembered going out to the pasture to get some some fresh chocolate milk, since there was none left in the fridge, but then the cows started to become restless and the bulls began to blow out a screen of smoke. Which meant that something was approaching the herd, something potentially dangerous.
She became nervous and afraid, not knowing that it was only Loke and the others, so her body began to raise her magic in defense, which was exactly what she didn't need. The pain in her left shoulder blade that had been throbbing all week spiked, and she hurriedly got up to run to the house. But then…
That man, with the vibrant pink hair. Who was he? A worker? That sounded right, her father did say he was hiring somebody new.
He had found her, and despite her being a stranger and putting him in danger, he had willingly helped her. Lucy's chest warmed at the thought. She'd have to thank him when she saw him again. Whenever that would be.
Once again, she attempted to sit up, gritting her teeth from the pain but making it nonetheless.
Just then, her door opened, and in walked Virgo and Aquarius, talking in hushed tones. Their eyes finally settled on Lucy who was by now sitting up on the edge of her bed.
"Well look who finally decided to come back to the land of the living," Aquarius said with a sneer, "I thought you'd never wake up you lazy ass."
Ignoring that last remark, Lucy tenderly rubbed her left shoulder, "How long was I out?" She asked, her voice rough and scratchy from screaming.
"Just for a few hours," Virgo replied smoothly as she walked over to inspect Lucy's bandages. Lucy held her breath as Virgo lifted her arm so that she could tighten the wrap.
"So who'd I get this time?" Lucy asked sarcastically.
Aquarius walked over to examine the mark, and Virgo halted her ministrations to look as well.
"Tch," Aquarius scoffed, "I don't why, but you got Andromeda this time brat."
"S-seriously?" Lucy sputtered, trying to peer over her shoulder to look at the addition to the several constellations that were scattered across her back and other various parts of her body.
"Indeed it is princess," Virgo confirmed, "this is a good sign. You might be able to make some progress with controlling your magic levels now that you have obtained her mark."
Hope began to rise in Lucy's chest, she had only received small constellations before, such as ursa minor. Other than of course the ten zodiacs that she got when she was born. Did this mean should would be getting more powerful ones now?
"You really think so?" Lucy asked excitedly. But then her enthusiasm shattered as she remembered the pain she had received, stronger than anything she had felt before.
"Wait," she asked hesitantly, "is it gonna hurt more like it did this time whenever I get a more powerful one?"
Aquarius laughed hard from where she stood, "Better get used to it girl, looks like you've run out of all the minor constellations, so now you're gonna start getting the big ones."
Lucy whined and slumped her shoulders. Great, just great. Not only did she have to deal with her sporadic powers, now she has to handle more pain. And it looks like it'll be more frequently as well.
A smack to the back of her head had Lucy clutching her head in pain and pouting up at Aquarius who was looking at her with her eyes narrowed, disdain practically oozing out of her.
"What the hell was that for?" Lucy hissed as she rubbed the back of her head gently.
"Quit your whining," Aquarius barked at her, "you complain about not being able to control your powers, and now that it looks like we might have gotten a breakthrough you're upset because you'll have to deal with a bit more pain."
"A bit? I can barely even remember what happened before that episode because it was so painful. I even passed out!" Lucy shouted at her angrily.
"Really?" Aquarius asked, her arms crossed and one brow raised in disbelief. "You can't remember a single thing?"
Lucy opened her mouth to tell her exactly what happened, but the image of the smiling young man flashed in her mind, and she had this feeling that she shouldn't say anything about him.
"I..I remember running through the pasture," she said, her brain scrambling trying to come up with something, "and then I guess I passed out? Because the next thing I remember is being in the barn with Loke and Virgo."
Virgo and Aquarius shared a look before Virgo continued to adjust her wrap. "You're right princess," she said, "Big Brother, Taurus, and Scorpio found you nearly passed out in the pasture and didn't have enough time to make it to the house so they brought you to the barn."
Lucy nodded her head, happy to see that they seemed to believe her. "Okay, I see."
"Good," Aquarius said, "now get up, your new training starts today."
"Training?" Lucy asked surprised. "But I already had my sessions last week."
"Well that's all gonna change deary," Aquarius said with a mock smile. "From now on," she started as she turned and started walking out the door, Lucy and Virgo following behind her, "you'll be practicing with one of us every two days. One day to train, the other day to rest."
"You're joking right?" Lucy asked with wide eyes. "I've never been able to keep my magic going consistently enough to practice that often!"
"Get used to it," was the only reply she got.
When they made it outside, Lucy walked towards Taurus who was standing at the head of the trail that lead through the forest waiting for her. Aquarius and Virgo stayed behind, watching her go.
"Do you think she really doesn't remember him?" Aquarius asked Virgo, still staring at the dense forest.
"I am not sure," she replied honestly, "she seemed to be honest. The disorientation she felt is normal for her after she has an episode. Maybe she'll remember him later."
"Let's hope she doesn't," Aquarius said bitterly, "I really don't want to make her forget anymore than I've already had to."
"Yes, I do not like hiding things from the princess."
Aquarius grunted in agreement. The feeling of guilt she always kept buried churned within her chest.
If Lucy ever found out what they were keeping from her, Aquarius wasn't sure how well that would end. For anyone.