Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

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Summer Camp (Ch. 4)

What happened on the porch was all Lucy could think about for the time being. It had been only thirty minutes, but she constantly wondered if her rescuer was okay. In the meantime though, it was almost time for lights out and she was sitting on her bed with her chocolate bar still wrapped in her hands, watching all the Fairy Tail girls interact. They laughed and joked like friends should, and that confused Lucy. Why in the world were they laughing?

"Cana! You know the rules! No alcohol on campgrounds!"

"If you think I'm going three weeks without liquor, you have another thing coming!"

Cana. Lucy recognized that name. She's Gildarts' daughter…and it seems like she really does love alcohol.

As soon as eleven-thirty hit, the lights were out, but Lucy lay in bed with her eyes wide open: "One Mississippi…two Mississippi…three Mississippi…" She mentally counted after she heard the first snore, "…one-hundred Mississippi…"

That was her cue. Quickly and quietly, Lucy crept out of bed, slipped her flip-flops on, grabbed her flashlight and crept out the door. She hugged her jacket tighter to her and grasped the chocolate bar in her hands.

This was tradition; something she did since she was a little girl and she couldn't stop. It felt so good to feel the lonesomeness crowd around her as she did this every year.

As she was talking to her mother on the phone, she noticed a rundown barn at the other side of the road. It was perfect.

Turning on her flashlight and making her way over to the barn, Lucy noted all the hay around the climbed up the ladder to the second floor where more hay were scattered around. Lucy sat down in front of an open window and stared up at the starry sky before checking her watch:

…eleven-fifty-nine…twelve am…

It was time; it was July First.

She looked back up in the sky and sang in a soft voice:

"Happy birthday to me…Happy birthday to me…Happy birthday to me~….Happy birthday to me." As a shooting star went by, Lucy closed her eyes and made a wish:

"I wish for a happily ever after…"

Picking a classic ending to a story was obvious, but Lucy liked classic, so that's okay.

And with that, she unpeeled the wrapper from the chocolate and took a bite.

"How old are you?"
"AAAAHHHHHHH~~!"

She spun around, but that was before her foot caught the edge of the flooring and she began to fall which caused her to scream again.

A hand reached out and grabbed a hold of her wrist, leaving her dangling there on the edge.

"Phew! I got ya! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, Girlie."

"Who the heck are you?!" She couldn't help shout. Her heart was beating fast in shock. She couldn't see his face; it was hidden in the shadows, but his hand was warm and inviting, unlike what she was used to: the coldness of the lonely world.

"No need to be so loud."

She clawed at his hand, not wanting to be touched. "Let me go!"

Aaaand then she realized why he grabbed onto her in the first place…

She screamed again as she fell from the second floor to the first, landing on a pile of hay. As field mice shot out of their home underneath Lucy, she gapped before turning to the man who slid down the ladder. She still couldn't see his face.

"I can't believe you just dropped me!" She scrambled to her feet stepped away from him as he approached her.

"You're the one who told me to let go," he stepped into the light again and she realized it was the pink haired man who saved her.

She sighed, "It's you? Why do you keep popping up everywhere?"

He raised an eyebrow, "what?"

"Never mind," she took a deep breath to steady herself, "what the heck are you doing after midnight out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

She didn't answer.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, pointing at her. "You're the blonde girl I saved an hour ago! Are you okay?"

"I'd be better if I hadn't taken a tumble off the second story of a barn!" She glared at him like it was his fault. Lucy knew it wasn't, but for some reason, she was angry and wanted to blame someone for her downfall.

"Gee, well aren't you a ray of sunshine…"

"You aren't any better!"

"Why're you so angry?"

She stuttered, but didn't answer. She didn't know either. Why was she so angry? Is it because he jerked her from her comfort zone and now she feels vulnerable?

Lucy froze. Her comfort zone. She was talking to a stranger out in the middle of the night. Oh my gosh. She needed to hide. She felt bare. She needed to get away from him.

"Hold on a second," he was directly in front of her now, causing her to panic. "Didn't I see you on the bus? Are you from Fairy Tail? Cool! So am I!"

She turned to run, but he grabbed her arms and yanked her back, "hey! Where're you going?!"

"Hey! Let me go! Let me go!" She fought him, but his grip was strong.

"Hey! Hey! Girlie! I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Let me go!"

She continued to fight him, but it was only when she grew tired did she stop. The long car ride, the screaming, falling, and now fighting took it out of her. All she did now was pant and look down at his warm hands gripping her arms. They were tanned a bit.

"…You cool now?"

She looked up at him. "Onyx eyes?..."

"Natsu."

He flashed her the biggest grin she had ever seen. Why was he smiling? What was there to smile about? It showed all his teeth and Lucy couldn't help, but stare at how big it was. She almost didn't hear him. "What?"

"My name, Weirdo; it's Natsu."

She didn't respond.

"…Well? Aren't you going to tell me yours?"

With that went his guard. Lucy took the opportunity to yank her arms from his grip and dart off back to her cabin.

"Hey wait!" He shouted after her, but didn't follow. "What's your name?!"

She didn't answer, but kept running until she got to the door of her cabin where she steadied her racing heart.

Cinderella. That reminded her of Cinderella… He asked her name and she ran without telling him…except instead of leaving him a glass slipper, she left him a chocolate bar.

At least she knew his name now…

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Breakfast was just as delicious at dinner was. Lucy didn't know which she liked better: spaghetti or pancakes? They were both the most delicious food in the world. She'll have to get all their recipes from Hisui.

As she threw paper plate away, she and Natsu locked eyes, but she quickly turned to leave the lunchroom.

As she waited for her family group, Lucy read the schedule on the back of her nametag: breakfast 8:00, family group time 8:30, recreation 9:00, lunch 12:00, free time 12:30, family group time 5:30, dinner 6:00, late night 7:00, lights out 11:30. Lucy didn't know what recreation and late night exactly were, but four hours of free time sure is awesome!

"Hello Lucy."

Still spooked from what happened last night with Natsu, Lucy squealed and jumped away from the voice, but calmed down when it was only her family group leader, Mira.

"Oh goodness! I'm so sorry!" Mira pat her shoulder.

"I-its okay."

"I hear you're in our family group."

Lucy nodded, "t-that's r-right. I-I'm in number four."

"Great!" Mira smiled before gesturing to the little girl standing next to her Lucy didn't notice. It was the girl on the bus who was telling Juvia to talk to her. "This is Wendy Marvell. She's apart of Fairy Tail and in our family group as well. Wendy, this is Lucy Heartfilia."

"Hi," Wendy shyly waved, smiling. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. It's nice to meet you."

"It's okay. It's nice to meet you too, Wendy."

"U-um…might I just say…you're very pretty!" Wendy blushed in embarrassment and hid her face as Mira giggled.

"Oh," Lucy found herself running her fingers through her hair at the compliment. "Thank you. So are you."

Family group was rather boring: everyone introduced themselves, said which youth group they were from, and one thing about themselves before they all just chatted. Lucy didn't say anything though, except, of course, for introducing herself, but as the others got to know each other, Lucy just sat silently and listened.

Afterwards, Toma introduced what recreation was. It is the time where the fun Lucy had looked forward to begins. Activities such as sliding down the three hundred foot water slid (the giant waterslide Lucy failed to notice that was right outside the main hall), completing the ropes course that was down the road where the boys' cabin, visiting the blue springs in Greenville were all types of recreation. All of those sounded fun, but today, Toma and Hisui would be taking everyone on a float trip down a river.

After everyone changed into their swimsuits and loaded onto their buses, they drove about thirty minutes off campgrounds.

After they arrived, everyone grabbed a tube and got into the water. The view was lovely: the cliffs were hanging by the river and Lucy saw many turtles, small and large. Even a snake went by, though that freaked her out, she still marveled at the wildlife and how beautiful it all was.

A few minutes after the river floated her away with all the teenagers, Lucy ditched her tube, but kept it nearby as she swam underwater, doing flips.

As she surfaced, she was greeted by a voice:

"Hi."

When she turned, her eyes widened; it was Natsu.

"U-uh…h-hi."

He floated next to her, Lucy climbed back into her tube and the two sat in awkward silence for a moment, giving her a chance to look Natsu over. She never got a good look at him and now that she does, she can see how utterly attractive he is. She bit her lip as her eyes trailed over his muscular chest and abs. the angle of his jaw and onyx eyes were handsome and his pink hair rather complimented his sun-kissed skin and-wait…why was his scarf tied around his forehead?

"So when exactly are you going to tell me your name?"

That snapped her out of her thoughts and she mentally slapped herself for checking him out, "what?"

"Your name…You do have one, don't you?" The snicker in his voice was like no other and it made her shiver.

"It's Lucy."

He smirked, "was it that hard to tell me? Sheesh."

"I-I'm…sorry for what happened last night," She looked down in shame.

"Don't worry about it. I freaked you out; you didn't know me. It's okay." There it was again: the biggest smile she had ever seen.

"U-um…are you okay? I mean, from when you saved me yesterday from that pervert. He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"

"Hibiki? He's not a pervert. He's just a big flirt. It surprised me when he wouldn't let you go. And no, he didn't hurt me. His looks are for show; he's not that tough. I just gave him a few punches to the jaw and he was running away with his tail between his legs!" He laughed rather loudly, but then turned to her with a look of seriousness. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"His grip was hard, but other than that, no."

"Well, that's good then," he flashed her that smile again.

"Thank you…for saving me."

"No problem, Luigi!"

"It's Lucy, Jerk!" She splashed him with water.

"Wha-hey!" He splashed her back, causing Lucy to fall off her tube with a small scream as Natsu laughed.

He ditched his tube, joining her in the water as she surfaced and spotted a large turtle at the shore.

"So, Lucy," she turned to him, "you're the new girl in Fairy Tail, right? Where're you originally from?"

"Acalypha. We had to move because of my parents' job."

"I see."

There was an awkward silence and Natsu noted that Lucy was looking for a way to escape from him. She looked like she was trying to get away from him. From her uncomfortable look, it seemed like she didn't trust him enough to be near him. She looked almost afraid of him…Now that Natsu thought about it, Lucy hadn't smiled or laughed at all since he's seen her.

The challenge was presented: Lucy didn't trust him? She wanted to get away from him? She didn't want to hang out with him? Well, that challenge was accepted: there was no way any of that was going to last long. He was going to earn her trust, there was no way he was going to let her get away from him, and he was definitely going to be her new best friend no matter what.

"So, Lucy," He swam closer to her as she tried to float away. "It's your birthday today, huh?"

"Ssh! I don't want anybody to know!" She blushed in embarrassment and hid her face underwater as she shushed him.

"Why not?"

"I don't want people going out of the way for me!"

"Well too bad!" He exclaimed, causing her to flinch, "I'll respect your wish, but there's no way I'm letting you hide away in that barn with only a chocolate bar. Be ready, Lucy! When free time hits, you and I are going to celebrate!"

Instead of getting the excited vibe he was expecting, fear was written on her face and it wasn't because of the snake that just went by. "Uh…that's great…I'm uh…excited…"

Natsu raised his eyebrows, "there's something strange about this girl…"

Usually, that thought made him want to avoid people like her. People who are weird and have strange issues, but instead, it only made him want to know her more. It surprised him, but he didn't mind. There was no way he was letting this challenge go to waste either.

"So how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Hah! We're the same age!" There was that wide, wild smile again. Lucy found herself rather enjoying it. "How's it feel to be eighteen?"
"Uh…not much different than seventeen really…"

"Really? To me, it was like, 'yes! I'm going to be moving out of the house soon!' "

"Oh? Does that mean you're a senior?"

"No, I'm a junior, I won't be moving out for another two years…" he groaned, but immediately brightened, "but hey! That's closer than when I was seventeen!" He laughed, watching her as she dove underwater to do a summersault.

"I guess that's true," she said when she surfaced, but she wasn't smiling and she wasn't laughing with him.

She didn't say anything as Natsu began to think up other conversations to get her to talk, which wasn't helping him at all. An awkward silence made itself known as Lucy climbed back into her tube to relax. Natsu did the same as he tightened his scarf around his forehead. He caught her eye watching him as he did so.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head and looking away.

He noticed she tried to float away from him, but Natsu refused to let her do so and followed her, eying another turtle at the shore along with a crane that was flying away at the sight of the crowd of teens. Seeing the animals gave him an idea:

"You have any pets?"

She turned to him, "huh?"

"Pets. You know? Animals? Dogs, cats…"

"…I had a dog."

Seeing her face drop means he chose the wrong subject to talk about. He bit his lip, hearing the verb use. Before he could say anything though, she spoke up:
"His name was Plue…He died right after we moved here."

Her eyes became red, but she dove back into the water out of her tube to hide her tears. Natsu huffed and slapped himself, congratulating himself for making his new friend cry. He stayed in his tube as she surfaced.

"Hey, I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. You didn't know."

She gave him a smile and Natsu almost cheered, but that was before he did a double take and realized it was a sad smile…and not only that, but it was fake and lasted a mere couple seconds.

"I have a cat," he said. "His name is Happy."

"That's a cute name."

"You should meet him when we get back to Magnolia."

"Maybe…"

He grit his teeth, not able to get anywhere with her, but he wasn't giving up. The challenge was presented and he wasn't backing down.

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11/13/16 – 11/14/16 == the date I wrote this.

-zEllie