After a lot of requests for removing the Juvia tag, I shall, but I will return it back once I get to the point where I show you my Juvia. You guys just can't wait to see it.

Whatever, I won't let this small thing get me down.

So, new chapter, new me. ENJOY TO THE FULLEST. ALL OF YOU HATERS AND NON HATES. You just need love guys.

Chapter 4 – Memories

AFTER

My mind was flooded with thoughts and images and everything was hurting so much. I was clutching my bag so hard and almost jogging in front of Gray and my son.

"Lucy, stop running," Gray's cool voice didn't stop my blood from boiling but I waited for them to reach me.

If I was a dragon, my nostrils would be flaring at this point.

I hadn't seen Natsu in three years and I never thought that he being back was going to make me flip this bad. My body was responding to his presence in a far different way than expected. I thought I was going to start crying or just run away, but just him smiling in front of me like he had been here the whole time made my muscles ache and I guess punching him was the only relief I had.

"Lucy, just calm down," he placed his hand on my bare shoulder and as much as I wanted to snap and let it all out, I couldn't.

I turned my head to face Andy and now more than ever he looked like Natsu. From the arch of his brows to the shape of his lips and that infamous grin. It looked so much like him.

And just like that my feelings changed again and I was back to my original plan. My eyes started tearing up and all I was able to do was stretch my arms and pull the tiny body of my son close to my chest. The warmth he was producing always seemed to calm me but it reminded me of Natsu again.

The only thing that kept me grounded was Gray's cold skin pressed to my back, arms ingulfing us in a tight embrace, lips kissing my temple.

"Everything is going to be okay, Lucy. I promise."

But how could he keep a promise like that?

As I finally settled to thinking that may life may be good after all, may be meaningful, my past had been rushed over to me and the memories stung my brain like bees. If my heart could jump out of my chest, it would have done it by now, but through the years I had made myself anchors that were hard to lift off solid ground.

Andy's tiny hand, being placed on my cheek soothingly. Even though he was two years old and his vocabulary contained of not more than ten words, my son knew when he was needed and understood the need of someone to have a friend. Not only to me but he was that for the whole guild. Which made me so proud of him.

And Gray's strong, cool embrace, that always came to me as a bucket of cold water that purified my thoughts and calmed my boiling blood. His own strength radiating towards me.

I had a family. And it was all I needed.

The empty street, a block away from my house, gave us the privacy we needed to regain our consciousness and room to think.

We sat like that for a few more minutes until Andy finally felt the need to move, shaking his body like a worm to loosen the grip I had on him.

It earned him a quiet giggle from my and a proud smirk from Gray. We untangled ourselves from one another and I let my son's feet touch the ground. He ran straight away and I was left standing close to Gray.

"I know this will be hard, Lucy. But when hasn't it been hard."

He was right. The truth had been out on the table for a few years now, but it was always difficult.

Hiding Andy's real father, trying to balance between a little kid and jobs, having all those sleepless night, when he didn't want to go to bed since something hurt or if he was scared.

I got to my tiptoes and placed a kiss on Gray's lips. Not long, just enough for him to feel how grateful I was for him being by my side. Even when he was raising a child that wasn't his, even when it was his best friend he had to start hating because of his poor choice. Sometimes I wondered if it was me that threw all of that into his mind, egging all of my thoughts in there, just so I wasn't all on my own.

We went home in silence. Doing our usual evening routine until the very last detail. We both put Andy to bed and placed a loving kiss on either side of his round, rosy cheeks.

The only thing we missed was everything that followed. We did not go to bed together, we did not tell each other how our day went, we did not make love until we both fell asleep.

I stayed in bed just enough so Gray would fall asleep and give me space to think.

I got up when I felt my muscles were done pulsing. My body somehow refused to move until I was mentally ready for the amount of memories I was going to have to relive.

Going in the spare room I usually kept locked was the first step I took back. After having it as a closet for too long, I decided it was cozy enough to turn it into my writing cabinet. Every writer needed one, right?

Well that's if you are a writer. I wasn't. I sometimes thought of myself as a poser. A writer wannabe. Having the ideas and skills to write, but the lack of strength to carry on was what always kept me back. The passion and emotion in each story I wrote, in each word placed on the white sheet of paper.

Now writing was just a memory, just like Natsu. And apparently memories do come back at some point.

I sat in my leather bound chair, adjusting it's height and pulling it close to the table felt almost nostalgic.

The room was not much on its on. Changing the lighting was essential, but other than that, it had stayed the same olive green color as it always was and had been even before I had moved in. The rectangle white tree table almost touched the walls on each side, but there was still enough place for me to move freely and have myself concentrated.

I opened the top drawer on the cupboard I had under the table and pulled out a novel, as I liked to think of it. But in reality it was just my life under another girl's name and into another time and place of living.

She had my struggles and pains through life, but other than that, she had it all under control.

Sometimes I felt bad for keeping my head up high only by writing my life as a perfect fairy tale.

And as for the room being locked, I had thought of the place as a thinking corner or booth or really just a balloon filled with air that could cleanse my mind and turn it back to normal. I usually did that after a fight with Gray or a very heavy mental and physical job.

Goosebumps ran down my skin as I remembered why I was in and interfering that with Gray's name made my organs do a backflip.

I shook my head to clear it all and after taking it a breath of my balloon fresh air, I flipped the first page.

My name is Magnolia Heartstorm and I am a wizard, bound by faith to suffer as my world collapses all around me.

A chapter more for thinking and less speaking. Felt like Lucy needed something like this, so she could have all her priorities straight up and in order.

At first it was somewhat hard to write, but thinking more into it made it easier.

I am so sorry for disappointing you with only one chapter today, but I will try my best to write more soon.

See you next time, pumpkins.

~Bria