The door of the abandoned apartment swung open, banging against the wall.

Silhouetted in the door frame, pink hair unkempt and onyx eyes burning wild and manic, was Natsu.

His gaze swept over the room filled with memories, now barren and empty, and onto the letter lying on top of the old writing desk.

.✧.✦.✧.

Dear Fairy Tail,

I need to go away for a while. Please, please don't do anything stupid. Natsu, Gray, Erza, everyone... None of you deserve this, and you guys didn't do anything wrong. Just, please wait for me. I love you guys.

I am going on a journey to find the only remaining person left in my family. I don't know when I am coming back, so please don't search for me. Thank you for everything and I'm sorry.

- Lucy H.

.✧.✦.✧.

A/N: This chapter brings back lots of memories... Ugh, I'm super slow at writing. I can type really fast, but it takes me hours just to plan out an entire scene. The worst part is that I start school again in less than 30 days. Anywaaaays, thanks so much for the favorites, follows and reviews- I couldn't have done it without you guys! All the love and support I received in your reviews are reflected in my writing! I love you all and I hope you enjoy! ;D

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.

LIGHT CASTS A SHADOW

Chapter 15: ANSWERS

The local library had a limited disposal of books, but it was all that the town had to offer. It was comprised of multiple sections, one for children, one for grown-ups, and much more. There were few patrons scattered around, kids and young adults alike, reading books and browsing through interweb lacrimas. Lucy smiled softly to herself as she passed the children playing in the small kid's area. She was heading back to her small base of operations, a fairly-sized table in a quiet corner where she conducted her research. She passed through an aisle of books, until something interesting caught her eye.

Historic Records of Magnolia.

This looked like a promising lead. Lucy tucked the encyclopedia under her arm. She made her way down the tall aisle of books she was in, until she heard a small commotion at the front desk. The voice sounded very familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. People starting gathering around the entrance, until the head librarian started shushing. The noise quieted down and the small crowd dispersed. Lucy paid it no heed, as she exited out of the aisle, back to her table covered in books.

Lucy put on her Gale-Force reading glasses to quickly scope out any recent events. She was halfway into the book after several minutes, yet there were still no clues or hints about any major happenings in the past seven years. Lucy sped through the pages even faster. She needed answers.

"There you are, Blondie."

Lucy jumped in her seat in surprise and the book fell onto the ground. The surprise made her feel disorientated, resulting her to take off the glasses. She rubbed her head to ward off the incoming migraine and turned around to see... him.

Oh.

Oh God.

"You dropped something; it was your standards."

Oh no.

A wave of embarrassment washed over her. She already humiliated herself once in front of the jerk. She looked away from her boyfriend, who was now smirking wildly at her.

"A whole week since we started dating, and I don't even get a single 'hello'. Are all bookworms as heartless as you?" He bent down and picked up the historical record she dropped. He glanced at the cover and handed it back to her, which she reluctantly accepted. The arrogant bastard looked exactly the same from the party — still wearing an open vest with a feather-lined boa, revealing his rock hard edges, and — god, the look on his face showed that he was enjoying her discomfort.

"What are you doing here?" She brought her voice down to an angry whisper.

He laughed, "You mean it's all right to sneak into my guild to come visit me, but when I come see you, it's not okay? Hate to say it, but... that really breaks my heart, babe."

Lucy just looked at him skeptically. The nickname at the end really made her hair stand up. She decided to ignore him and opened up to the last page of the encyclopedia she had read to resume her search. She didn't have time for this.

"Fine, I'll just get to the point. I noticed that guild mark on your hand from the other day." He stood behind her, leaning against the table. "You're from Fairy Tail, right? I heard that a bunch of your members returned, including the famous 'Salamander'."

"Natsu?" Lucy looked at him in surprise. "What about him?"

"So he is back... That's great!" He looked ecstatic. If Natsu was back, that meant he could fulfill his promise to Lector. He didn't know why or when promises became so important to him, but he knew that he couldn't let his best friend down.

Under any normal circumstances, Lucy would have been curious. But right now, she wasn't in the mood. "If that's all you came here for, then feel free to leave."

To her dismay, he didn't go away. Instead, he studied the covers of books piled on the table. "Historic Records of Magnolia... Blondie, I understand that if you don't learn from history, you're destined to repeat it, but aren't you taking this a little too far?" The sight of all these encyclopedias made him perplexed. How could someone enjoy reading all of these? This was way too tedious. "What are you even trying to find?"

"I'm looking for someone." Lucy's solemn tone surprised him. He didn't miss the pain glimmering in her eyes the next moment, "Someone... very important to me."

She shut the historical record she was reading and moved onto the next one. Lucy felt like she was at a dead end. There had to be some clue in these books about the past—anything that would help her find out about Sting's whereabouts. She needed answers.

"...That's actually really impressive, Blondie."

Lucy let out a sigh. That nickname was too nostalgic. "My name is Lucy, so please stop calling me Blondie. Don't you find it weird to call someone 'Blondie' when you're blond too?"

Crash!

The towers of books piling over her work were suddenly knocked over. She fumed, Just what is his deal? Forget about his banter and charms, Lucy had just about enough. She was about to snap at the jerk, until she saw him looking visibly shaken up. He looked almost... confused. He was frozen in place, staring at her in a trance.

"Hey..." Lucy called out to him.

He flinched, but was still lapsed in a daze.

"Are you okay?" She gently asked, and this time he locked onto to her gaze.

For a moment he looked lost, but his focus rested on Lucy's face and he visibly relaxed. Then he realized that his hand had slipped, having knocked over the mountains of books in the process. His pupils constricted, "Sorry. My bad," He reached around her and tried organizing the books scattered across the table. "Let... Lemme just—shit, okay," He struggled stacking the books together, but somehow he ended up making the mess even worse.

Lucy shook her head, the corners of her mouth twitching a little. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He murmured, no longer meeting her eyes, "I made this mess so I have to clean it up. It's not like I want to, or anything."

She snorted before bursting out in laughter. The head librarian shushed her, earning a small chuckle from beside her. Lucy pushed aside her embarrassment and opened the next document. "Ne, I appreciate your concern, but I already finished those."

"...I'll help you put them away then."

He was silent as he scooped up some books off the table and randomly put them back into some empty spaces in the bookshelves. Lucy didn't even bother to correct him as she already immersed herself back into reading. As she completely shut herself off from the outside world, it took a few minutes for his hands to stop shaking.

.

.

.

The two worked in a companionable silence from then on. Lucy would rapidly take some more books and finish them quickly with her Gale-force reading glasses, and he would put them away. He eventually got reprimanded by the head librarian when he started placing the thick encyclopedias in the small kid's section. When he got back, he could see Lucy speeding through several documents at once.

As time passed, more and more patrons had left. He noticed that they were almost the only ones remaining in the building. He yawned. This is taking forever. How long is she going to take—

His thoughts were interrupted when the silence was cut off by a loud grumbling noise.

Lucy's face turned red. Her stomach growled. And it was looouuud. She knew that he was watching her. He's been doing that a lot, she noted. When she risked a glance to look at him, he already had his eyes on her and didn't even bother to pretend that he wasn't looking. He had that knowing simper on his face, and she braced herself.

"I was just thinking that you might be hungry," He said, turning his back towards her as he continued putting the books back onto the shelves. "I've been helping you for a few hours, but you've probably been holed up here the entire day. We can go get some food if you're feeling up to it."

Oh. Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

"It's fine. I'm used to it," Lucy said, without thinking.

He went still for a moment, pausing in his movements before speaking, "Used to what? Being hungry?"

Lucy didn't answer him, but he was correct. She ate okay, but that was only when Loke urged her to go get something to eat. Her celestial spirits were able to detect her mental anguish. Finding clues of Sting's whereabouts were most important, so she would naturally spend all her time researching documents. What's wrong with a little hunger when it came to the safety of little Sting?

Lucy jolted when he suddenly threw down all the books onto the table with a powerful thud, earning another shush from the librarian. He looked concerned, yet annoyed, as she found herself being pulled away from her seat.

"Tch." He grit his teeth. His voice was a low grumble, frustrated. "Come on, we're getting something to eat."

.

.

.

It was already night outside by the time they exited the library. He originally planned to leave right after asking about Natsu, but seeing how determined she was in her searchings made him stay. He noticed that her skin seemed a little bit paler from the last time they saw each other. Hunger was no laughing matter, as he used to be used to it too.

What he was going to eat always remained a problem after parting from his dragon. He probably still would have been wandering around aimlessly if he hadn't met Natsu in Hargeon. One of his happiest memories was when they took him to eat at a diner for the first time. There was lots of food and he sat a table with Natsu, Happy, and — wait, there was someone else there too... he was sure of it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember.

Lucy didn't want to leave the library, but the last thing she ate was the food Loke had smuggled from the party. However, the cold night air was invigorating and the chill breeze helped clear her head. The diner that he had pointed out to her wasn't far down the road and she could already feel the warm orange glow of the neon lights. A glance through the window could tell that the place was busy, but not packed. It radiated with a lovely atmosphere.

She peered inside the diner through the glass and—her heart somehow lumped in her throat. She stifled when her eyes fell upon a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer seated at the bar. Natsu was digging through large plates of food, finishing platter after platter with a content smile on his face. Beside him was Happy, eagerly munching on a fish.

What are THEY doing here!? Lucy internally screamed. Her face instantly paled as she ducked away from the window. At the same time, Natsu looked back outside to find no one standing there. That was strange; he felt like someone was watching him. Huh, weird. Natsu shrugged it off and went back to eating.

"...What are you doing?" He peered at her with a questioning look.

In her panic, Lucy hugged his gloved arm and dragged him down to the ground with her. She didn't realize how close his face was, and when she did, she quickly let go of him and scooted away a couple good feet. She nervously laughed, "Yeah... I, uh, I saw a bug and wanted you to kill it." Pause. "But it turned out to be a rock and I fell down because it looked so pretty."

He just stared at her. Even she would be face palming at her own reasoning, but she would rather avoid people from her guild at the moment. They were definitely looking for her, weren't they? That wasn't a question. Even when she told them specifically not to go look for her, it was really upsetting that they would flat out ignore her request like this. It was a mistake to get her hopes up.

He sighed, "You lie about as well as I like reading books."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "That's either a really nice compliment or a snappy insult."

"I don't like reading books."

Savage. "Look, I'm sort of avoiding someone right now, so I really don't want to go in there."

That got his attention. She's avoiding someone? "Really? Who?" He stood up to look through the window.

"NO!"

Lucy tackled him away from the window. She hoped she wasn't too loud; Natsu had ridiculously good hearing. When she sneaked a glance to find the Dragon Slayer still eating, she let out a relieved sigh. She got up and tried to ignore what happened. "Thank you for everything. I wouldn't have gotten as much done if it weren't for your help earlier. I really appreciate you taking me out to eat, but really, I'm fine." She said in a prim tone, turning around to leave, "I had fun. Really. I just need to go on a little walk to help clear my head..."

"All right. I'll come with you."

"Eh?" Lucy became flustered. She thought she was being perfectly clear, "Uh, ha, ok, for the record, I kind of want to be alone right now."

"When was the last time you ate?" He stood taller than her, staring down at her without compromise. Her voice died down, whatever whiny protest she had was lodged in her throat. His words pierced through her, "Are you going to study in the library until some kid finds you passed out? As much as I'd love to see that happen, I'm not leaving you alone until I see you eat something."

He left no room for argument. The sooner she ate something, the sooner he would leave, right? She'd keep that in mind, "Fine."

Lucy made a detour through the park, and he casually strolled behind her with his hands inside his pockets. The heated tension between the two of them quickly turned into an awkward silence with just the sound of just the sound of their footsteps and the running of water. She would have enjoyed the flowers blooming in the night, or the beautiful fountain showcased in the center of the garden, but she was too annoyed being tailed by him.

She hoped that he would leave once he got bored, but that didn't seem to be the case. She sneaked another glance at him to find him looking back at her expectedly. This stroll wasn't going anywhere. Lucy had nothing to say to him, so she stomped up ahead and took in a deep breath of the night air. Vibrant colors filled the park and helped soothe her a bit. He was silently tagging along, until she suddenly got distracted.

"Ice cream!" Lucy announced, pointing to the ice cream stand around the corner.

"You want ice cream?" He asked incredulously.

She nodded, totally bullshitting it now. "Yeah, I'm just really in the mood for some ice cream right now."

Ice cream, yes, it was the perfect distraction! Okay, so it wasn't very filling, but at least it was better than nothing! The sooner they ate something, the sooner he would leave her alone. Yeah, she'd just eat some ice cream, and then—

"Gray-sama, which flavor do you want?"

"Let's see..."

Lucy instantly froze, recognizing the voices up ahead. Her face paled and she quickly backtracked several steps. When she saw a certain blue-haired water mage cuddling the arm of an irritated ice mage, Lucy wanted to pull her hair out. She quickly spun around on her heel, "Actually, I'm not in the mood for ice cream anymore!"

"Seriously?" He eyed her suspiciously, but followed her nonetheless.

.

.

.

Lucy was hopeless. It was only a matter of time before someone from her guild would eventually find her. How many of them were in this town anyway? She helplessly wandered around the park, finally stopping above a creek at the center of a bridge. "Let's stop here."

She rested her elbows on the bridge's stone railing and looked up at the sky. Despite how poorly everything turned out, the moon shone brighter than ever. He stood beside her and gazed up at the stars. "It's pretty tonight."

"Yeah..." She said halfheartedly. She wondered if Sting was looking up at the sky right now, like she was. Just thinking about how he was doing made her feel uneasy. Running a hand through her hair, she tried to come up with some answers. None came. She had no information. No solutions. Her search at the library was uneventful as she still didn't manage to find a single lead.

Maybe going on this adventure was a huge waste of time after all.

Instead, she bent over and picked up a flat stone, flinging it horizontally toward the stream. It made zero skips with a plop and sunk down into the water... just like her hope. Her rock-skipping skills seriously sucked. She quickly grew depressed with her circumstances.

"Did you ever find what you were looking for earlier?" He suddenly asked.

Lucy realized she had been silent this whole time, and this might be his way of dragging out a conversation. She didn't really feel like talking, but it wasn't like she's been getting anywhere with her thoughts anyway. She replied slowly, "No... It was just a waste of time."

They both looked out onto the creek. He picked up a rock, like she had done earlier. He threw it with ease, and it skipped along the water several times. Her stone didn't even manage to skip once. When he saw her expression, he couldn't help but laugh.

"If it's you, then I'm sure you'll come up with an answer."

She looked at him in surprise. 'What makes you think that?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, turning to her. "Well you've been working yourself real hard this whole time. Hell, I wouldn't be able to stand doing something boring like being holed up in a library all day." He said seriously, "I believe in you, so don't give up. Someday you'll look back and be glad that you didn't."

Is he trying to cheer me up? Lucy was touched. She found him extremely arrogant and irritating at first, but he surprisingly had this sweet side to him. She's probably been a jerk to him all day, but he helped her and kept her company even when he didn't have to. She felt sort of guilty. He was looking out for her this whole time, and yet, she didn't even know what to call him.

"...Hey." A small smile formed on her face, "What's your name?"

He blinked at her question. He completely forgot that he still hadn't introduced himself after all this time. "I'm Sting... Sting Eucliffe."

"...Sting?" Lucy took a sharp intake of breath." Is it really you?"

When she froze and gawked at him, he had an irresistible urge to smirk. Did she finally realize his greatness? There wasn't a single person in Fiore who wouldn't be able to recognize his name! He was filled with pride, "The one and only. Did it really take you this long to figure out who I was?" He said jokingly, "You may look smart with all those books, but you really are just a dumb Blondi—"

His whole demeanor dropped when she suddenly put her hand onto the side of his face. Lucy looked deep into his ocean blue eyes and found a shocking resemblance. Her fingers unconsciously brushed the small scar above his right eye. It was him. Before, Sting was a scrawny thin boy living without a home. Now he was this tall handsome stud with a ridiculously oversized-ego? She wouldn't have believed it, but it was really him.

The world's greatest pain was when you obtained your ultimate accomplishment, but the person you wanted to share it with was no longer around. In Lucy's case, it was the moment she joined Fairy Tail without him.

That was an extreme loneliness.

Without a word, she hugged him tightly. She was afraid that the moment she released him, he would disappear. Tears ran down her face, and her throat tightened, but by some miracle her voice was still clear enough to speak.

"I...I finally found you."