Lucy's POV
Months of agony and emptiness passed when I began to notice the Christmas lights dangling from Magnolia's houses.
Oh yeah, Christmas was in a few days...
I walked through the snow-treaded streets, and headed straight for the guild. As I approached the building's entrance, I fixed my face, and gave another empty smile.
Heh, pathetic, wasn't I? That I still hadn't gotten over him... And not only that, but I didn't even have the ability to see others anymore. Loke has come to me sometimes, but not even he could do anything about my current state of depression.
I still felt hurt every time Natsu and Lisanna held romantic tension. I still felt empty whenever Natsu was protective over Lisanna when things became dangerous... the same way he used to be for me.
I opened my hands and let the soft, white crystals slowly dampen my palm.
Why are you so weak?! Obsessing and being overly dependent on some guy you kind of liked. HAH! How pitiful, Lucy Heartfilia.
Such thoughts always clouded my mind. Why did I like him so much? Was it because he was always there to catch me when I was in trouble? Or because he brought me to Fairy Tail? Or was it...
The snow was blowing rapidly now. And I would get horrible frostbites if I continued to stand outside. I hurried into the guild.
As always, there was laughter, booze, and fire and ice clashing against each other.
I sat down in my usual seat and did my normal, empty smile.
"Ah! Lu-chan!" Levy-chan walked up to me with Lisanna.
"Hey, Levy-chan! Lisanna!"
"Ahh~ Christmas is going to come sooo soon~!" Levy-chan clamped her hands together, and swayed side to side. "I'm so excited! What are your plans for Christmas, Lu-chan?"
"Eh? M-My plans?" I thought to myself... Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten...? Christmas was supposed to be a happy event best spent with loved ones...
Loved ones... happiness...
"Lu-chan?" I looked up, and found Lisanna's curious, blue eyes staring at me.
"A-Ah! Sorry... I just zoned out for a bit. Ummm, I don't really have any plans, I guess."
"No plans? Well, that's something that obviously needs to be changed, Lu-chan." Lisanna placed her index finger on her chin. "Alright! Why don't we all go on a group date together on Christmas?"
"A group date?" Me and Levy-chan looked at her with confusion.
"Mmhmm! Our team, you know, Lu-chan, me, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Charle, and Happy, just going out on Christmas, and having fun!" Lisanna jumped at me. "Oh! Of course, we have to include Levy-chan, Mira-nee... oh! And Elfman too! And for Levy-chan... Gajeel should come too!"
"W-Wah-?!" Levy was stuttering in embarrassment, and Lisanna laughed. I desolately giggled with Lisanna, but to be honest... I had lost my ability to laugh during the months, even if it was for the hilarious, but cute love tension between Levy and Gajeel.
'Maybe if I cried and let out everything... I would regain my laughter and...' My thoughts stopped and I was reminded of the realization of my situation in reality. 'Wait what am I saying?! Cry?! How weak are you?! Lucy!'
I snapped back into reality. Levy and Lisanna were still planning and talking about the date.
I sat quietly, and I remembered... I didn't exactly have a loved one's arms to wrap me when I was cold. I didn't have someone to blush under the mistletoe along with me nor someone to cuddle with near a fireplace.
Everyone has a date...
Everyone...
...but me.
"Well! I look forward to this date!" I suddenly outbursted. It startled Levy-chan and Lisanna a bit, but soon they joined my 'smile' and nodded their head in agreement.
Soon, Christmas Eve reached the current date of my calender, and dragged out by Levy-chan, Lisanna, and Erza, I went out shopping.
I swear everything Erza bought were those strawberry cakes that were on sale for Christmas (but she did get a couple of other flavors while she was at it).
Levy bought... books, and Lisanna bought so many things that I had to dip in some of my own jewels to help her pay, even when I was sure in there, was Lisanna's present to me.
Somehow though... I was happy that day. I finally felt myself being engaged in something. I had forgotten what it was like, feeling girly, and spending all of my jewels on clothing. For the first time in a long while, I felt... natural. No love drama, no real subject in particular. Just shopping for the day that was tomorrow.
(Christmas Day)
I woke up. Looking beside my bed, I did something I had not done in forever. I Lucy-kicked Natsu's face for invading my apartment.
"Gwah!" Natsu flopped comically as I felt enraged... and happy...
How long had it been since a situation like this played? But then, I remembered, that Natsu no longer invaded without a reason. Lisanna and the rest of the team were probably also in my room, causing him to come, most likely.
Aaand...
Erza came out of the bathroom.
"Hey... did something happen around here?" Erza glanced at Natsu flat on the floor.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS DOING IN MY APARTMENT?!"
"We were all up, and we just wanted to come to your room!" Natsu got up and patted his face. "Geez, your kicks still hurt."
Gray opened the door, and Wendy, Charle, and Happy, Lisanna came out from behind him.
"Good morning! Lu-chan! I made a sandwich for you!" Lisanna held a plate with a fish sandwich in it.
"I put in some fish inside it so it'll taste better!" Happy gleefully flew up.
"Wohhh, so this is Lucy-san's bedroom." Wendy's eyes swirled around
"Are you sure we're supposed to be invading Lucy's room like this?" Carla shrugged.
"Heya Lucy, we wanted to come get you." Gray looked around my bedroom. "Been awhile since I was in your bedroom... ooh, did you change your decor?"
"G-g..."
"Hmm? You said something, Lucy?" Natsu peered curiously.
"G-GE..."
"Are you stuttering? What is it?" Gray lazily looked over.
"GET OUT OF MY ROOM-!"
Like that, I tossed everyone outside my room.
'Geez! I had forgotten how aggravating it is to have your privacy invaded!' But then I smiled. I had acted like how I would have acted back then, with real emotions. I looked up at the ceiling.
I noticed that I have been acting much more natural recently, and did so unconciously... was my pain finally fading away?
Was my gaping wound at once, healing itself? Was I was finally getting over him? The thought that I could finally start over anew with my love life. Or just... my life in general. It made me smile.
Maybe... with the end of the year... I can end this suffering.
...but there's still this small feeling...
Third Person POV
Lucy got up, and walked into the restroom to shower and dress. She made sure that she would be extra pretty; it was Christmas after all.
Walking outside, she found her team having a snowball fight, and just making a mess of their surroundings... like usual. Lucy smiled, and threw one herself to snap into her optimistic facade.
Just a little more until the new year, and I'll be free.
After getting a very heated scolding from the land lord of the apartment, they headed out to the streets filled with Christmas vendors and laughing children. It was a beautiful sight indeed. The street was blanketed with snow with colorful lights that seemed to dance and bounce off of each other.
Upon walking, they found Levy, Gajeel, Mira, and Elfman waiting for them. And creeping behind the pine trees was the overly obsessed fangirl of Gray.
"Hey, what the hell took you all so long? We were waiting for 10 minutes!" Gajeel sneered at us.
"Don't be rude, Gajeel!" Levy tugged at Gajeel's arm.
"Sorry, Lucy's make-up got a bit ruined from the snow." Erza looked over at Lucy's rushed mascara. Lucy looked like she had the urge to murder her team, but contained herself, and smiled once more.
"Well, let's have fun today! It's Christmas after all!" Mira cheered.
"Yeah!" Everyone echoed back in unison.
The day went by rather fast, and everything blurred from Lucy's view, as if someone just decided to fast forward the day. But that was normal.
To Lucy, that was how everyday life was now. Just a blur.
There wasn't anything too notable happening that day, other than the distribution of presents, and more bills to pay after another snowball fight caused by two idiots with some extra help from a medal guy and a... 'man' guy.
Soon, the day passed quite quickly, and night fell upon the white-stained sky. Their final destination was the place that made Magnolia a known place. It was the orchard of sakura trees that lit up with Christmas lights, and sided lanterns.
It was Winter, so there weren't any pink-hued petals to gaze upon, but what made it beautiful were the dangling rainbow-colored lights substituting the beauty of a blooming cherry blossom.
Green, blue, red, yellow, white. All of the colors mashed together into a mess of bouncing colors in her sped-up world.
So beautiful, it made Lucy's heart leap for a second, before it beated normally. There were small presents, and innocent ornaments decorating the trees. Kids' smiles filled the pathway, and loving couples and families bunched up together with an essence of hope, happiness, and life.
Her heart ached a little bit, but she smiled again.
"Beautiful." Words escaped Lucy's lips as she gazed upon the trees.
"Yeah..." Mira smiled warmly at the trees. She looked at the family near her. "It's lovely."
Finally, Levy was the one to break the silence.
"Heyyy! Are you guys so mesmerized by it's beauty that you've zapped out of this world?" Levy waved to the front of the group.
"A-Ah!" Lisanna snapped out. "L-Levy...!"
"What?"
"YOU'RE UNDER A MISTLETOE... WITH GAJEEL!"
Now, everyone came back into reality, and turned their heads near the two.
"W-WAH?!" Levy jumped back, and looked up. There, dangling from a branch, was a small mistletoe.
"H-Hey..." Gajeel found light blush on his cheeks. "There really is a mistletoe..."
"D-DON'T GET T-THE W-WRONG IDEA, HERE! T-THIS WAS J-JUST S-SOME ACCIDENT."
"Accident?"
Mira and Lisanna jumped forward fangirling.
"Well, what are you waiting for!" Lisanna popped in. "THIS IS YOUR CHANCE LEVY-CHAAAANN~~~!"
"OH MY GOD THIS IS SO CUTE, JUST WAIT A SECOND I HAVE TO MENTALLY PREPARE MYSELF TO REMEMBER THIS MOMENT FOREVER." Mira smiled widely staring with googly eyes over what was happening.
"H-Hey! Y-You guys! We're not gonna-!" Levy was panicking until Gajeel came in aaand-
Their lips met, and Levy was burning with embarrassment. Even Lucy, who was in her own world had to turn and look.
Erza was gaping at the scene with sparkles in her eyes. It seemed she had her own fantasies of this happening as well.
"Ah geez! This is so cheesy, I can't-" Gray couldn't finish before Juvia jumped from a tree branch and landed on him.
"GRAY-SAMA~~~!" Juvia took advantage of the fact that Gajeel and Levy kissed, and thought she would participate too.
"H-H-HEY, JUVIA?! WHAT THE-"
"Juvia was waiting for the right moment to come out of hiding, and now that it has come, I shall wait no further!" Juvia was about to plant her lips on Gray's before Gray swiped from the ground and ran deeper into the sakura orchard.
"Wait! GRAY-SAMA~~~!" Juvia chased after him.
"Go get him, Juvia!" Mira called out. She was already flustered by these day's events and had already passed away and gone to heaven when she bumped into the Raijinshuu.
"Woah! You guys were here?" Natsu called out, confused by the sudden events.
"Yeah... we thought we should come here to relax for a bit, and then... wow what happened?" Laxus looked around to find Gajeel and Levy standing next to each other with flushed faces, and Juvia chasing Gray in the distance.
"Oh, just mistletoe things." Lisanna giggled to herself. Soon, she looked over at her big sister and Laxus. She snickered to herself, and knocked Mira onto Laxus.
"W-What are you doing, Lisanna?" Mira's cheeks turned a bit warmer.
"Well... with all the couples, who could resist not participating, Mi-ra-nee?" Lisanna smirked playfully.
"N-No way...! You're not-!"
Mira was pushed closer to Laxus's buff build. And soon, Laxus caught the situation he was planted in, and widened his eyes and blushed himself.
"H-Hey... I didn't come here for this so..." Laxus trailed off before Freed stood in front of him.
"THAT'S RIGHT! HOW DARE YOU! TO PAIR THE GREAT LAXUS WITH SOMEONE-!" Freed's face was red from both anger and... severe admiration. "RAIJINSHUU! ASSEMBLE!"
In the distance, he found Evergreen and Elfman blushing and calling each other idiots, and Bixlow messing with the children in range using his dolls.
Freed sunk to the ground in somber.
"Freed...!" Mira looked at him with her face pinkening even more. While Laxus held a red hue on his face looking at Mira.
A love circle if I've ever seen one.
Erza backed away into the trees. Wow, there's so much love in the air right now... It was a bit too much to handle.
Soon, she turned around to find a random Jellal behind her.
"J-JELLAL?!" Great, just what Erza needed.
"W-W-What a-are y-you d-doing h-h-here?" Erza stuttered. To talk the one she had feelings for in this atmosphere.
"It was Christmas, and I needed a break. Mind if I joined you? There's a lot of commotion around here." Jellal sat down with Erza who had blush more scarlet than her hair.
"Hey, won't you look at that? It's a mistletoe-" Before Jellal could continue, Erza went full panic mode and knocked Jellal over.
"Waaah-!" Soon, they fell over each other, and oh how awkward it was as Lisanna watched them from afar, giggling.
Lisanna looked at everyone, then looked at Natsu.
"Everyone has a partner hmm?"
"Y-Yeah..." Even though Lisanna was Natsu's girlfriend, he still didn't really know how to deal with romantic situations.
"Awww~! You're so cute... blushing like this!" And she hugged him tightly. Blushing, he hugged her back. They looked so happy.
Then... there was Lucy. In the corner, away from everyone. Her lip quivered, and her bangs partially blinded her view.
She watched Natsu and Lisanna, and everyone else.
Her heart gave a crying scream again, and she looked around. There... wasn't anyone. She almost couldn't contain herself this time, and she watched everyone.
She was by herself, isolated. No one can see her, no one can hear her, eventually, she would just be overshadowed and fade into the insignificant background.
Suddenly, cold washed over her. And she hugged herself for warmth even though it was to no avail. Soon, the same, similar thoughts washed over her thoughts.
I didn't have a loved one's arms to wrap me when I was cold. I didn't have someone to blush under the mistletoe along with me nor someone to cuddle with near a fireplace.
Everyone has a date and someone to receive love from...
Everyone...
...but me.
AUTHOR'S EXTRAS
Ookayyy, this chapter was A LOT longer than I had planned it to be, and I kind of had to cut it in half. Uhhh... yeah. And thank you for the reviews! Even though there's only like four, that was enough to motivate me to make this more than a three-shot! Thank you for your love, my four followers TuT (-forever alone loser). And I am so, SO sorry if the writing was bad in this chapter, I wrote it on different days, and I didn't exactly always come back with the same momentum and mindset as the previous.
Boy, was this chapter a lot. I'm sorry if I tried to be funny and failed at it. I'm not a humorous person, you see. And I decided to toss in some GaLe, MiraXus, FreeXus, Jerza, Elfgreen, and Gruvia just to make Lucy feel more secluded. Yeah, hope you didn't mind.
Lucy: Wow, screw you, author. And you kept the readers waiting a WHOLE long for a new chapter.
Me: Well, I'm sorry, okay?! I'm just... a bit lazy sometimes.
Lucy: You took more than a week. When it should take you about a day.
Me: You act like I have no life other than fanfiction.
Lucy: Oh? What do you do on your spare time then? Watch One Piece? Drool over Seijuro Akashi and Sebastion Michaelis? Eat potato chips until you can't move anymore? CRY OVER AQUARIUS?!
Me: YOU DID NOT JUST GO THERE.
Lucy: I DAMN JUST DID.
Me: AQUARIUS. NO. GOD DAMMIT. STOP GIVING ME FEELS, YOU WITCH!
Lucy: OH I'M THE WITCH?! AT LEAST I'M NOT THE ONE WHO ENJOYS READING FAIRY TAIL DEATHFICS.
Me: I-!
...
...
Me: Okay, maybe I like to read deathfics, but who doesn't from time to time?!
Lucy: 'From time to time' my ass, more like, 'Every time I come onto fanfiction. net'
Me: Hey everyone! Follow, favorite, and review if you liked it! And if you didn't... JUST REVIEW AND EMAIL ME A LOT OF HATE, YEAH?
Lucy: HEY DON'T IGNORE ME YOU SWINE!
Me: KAYY BYYEEEE.