Lucy's PoV
After I was finished packing, I sat down at my desk and started adding to my book. Every time I looked out the window, I saw Jet peaking in. It was strange, and extremely creepy. Whenever I looked over, he'd duck away from the window, as if I didn't see him. If he was trying to spy on me, he was doing a terrible job. I considered going out there and smacking him, but what's the point? I'll talk to him tomorrow about being a creeper.
When the sun started to set, Jet thankfully left. I took a really long, really hot bath, dried my hair, and went to bed, excited for what would happen tomorrow.
"LUCYYY!" Happy yelled in my face. I swatted him away, staying buried under my covers. Why can't I just sleep in for once? It's my birthday, for Mavis' sake! Of course, they don't know that, but still!
"LUCY, WAKE UP!" Natsu said, sitting on top of me. How does he expect me to get out of bed when he's smashing me?
"Get off me, Natsu," I groaned. Natsu willingly climbed off, allowing me to sit up and stretch. "Why are you guys so excited?" Natsu and Happy stood with giant grins covering their entire faces, bouncing all around the house.
"I'll get her keys!" Happy called, flying away quickly.
"I'll get her clothes!" Before I could stop him, Natsu was digging through my dresser, throwing clothes all over the place behind him. My face burned when a pair of my underpants sailed through the air and landed on the blanket next to me.
"NATSU WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" I yelled, jumping to stop him. He spun around and put clothes in my arms and pushed me towards the bathroom.
"Hurry up!" he said.
"What is with you both today? Is there something I don't know about?" I asked out loud, closing the door behind me. I wonder if Natsu realized what clothes he was grabbing or if he just chose randomly? He picked out the same outfit I was wearing the day we met in Hargeon. I put one section of my hair up in the matching blue ribbon.
"Happy birthday to me," I mouthed to myself in the mirror. My heart tweaked a little thinking about the usually sad day for me.
When I went back to my bedroom, my two annoying friends were missing. Of course, I found them in my kitchen, eating all my food. Happy turned around with his mouth shoved full of fish and handed me my belt. I sighed. Natsu grinned while cramming a little more food into his already over-flowing mouth.
"Come on!" he mumbled, grabbing me hand and dragging me out of my apartment. Happy flew in front of us in a daze, patting his bulging stomach happily.
Happy and Natsu kept up a steady stream of chatter all the way to the guild. I slouched behind after Natsu let go of my hand, trying to mentally prepare myself for the long day of explaining why I was leaving and where I was going and why Natsu couldn't come with me. I love when Natsu insists on coming with me, but I just want to be alone sometimes when it involves my past.
"Lucy, are you ready?" Happy asked when we were standing in front of the giant doors.
"Ready for what?" I asked. What was going to be any different than normal? Natsu and Happy laughed at my confusion. Natsu stepped inside, holding the door open for me with one arm. The room was completely dark at first, until the lights were flipped on and people jumped out from behind counters and tables.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!" everyone yelled. I almost jumped out of my skin.
"How…did you know?" was all I could ask. I was speechless. They'd decorated the guild. There were streamers and balloons everywhere. Almost everyone was here, too, even Laxus and his team. My friends laughed at my expression.
"I saw the letter you left on the bar!" Mira said, carrying drinks around on a platter. She started handing them out to everyone near her. Did I leave that here? I guess I was so excited, I dropped it without noticing. Natsu ran off with Happy when he caught the scent of food. I was about to follow them, when…
"LUCY!" Erza yelled. I flinched away from the angry-looking Erza. Mirajane handed her tray to Lisanna and stood beside Erza. Her mood changed in an instant, and she was immediately as mad as the red head beside her.
"Why did you never tell us it was your birthday?" they asked, towering over me.
"I don't really like my birthday…" I said fearfully. Levy pushed between the two girls and gripped my arm.
"Come on, Lu-chan. Let's party!" she said, saving me from the wrath of the two most powerful wizards in Fairy Tail. She led me through groups of people until we were standing in the center of the guild. I panted in relief.
"Thanks Levy, I—"
"Oh, you're not off the hook yet," Levy said, spinning on me. Her normally happy features turned sour. "Why did you never even mention your birthday?"
"It's like I said. I don't like my birthday," I said, starting to feel guilty. I really hadn't meant to make Levy sad or anything like that. I honestly didn't want anyone to know in the first place.
"Even Natsu didn't know! He was just as surprised as the rest of us!" Levy said. "He looked upset when Mira told him… I wonder why…" She winked at me before laughing. "It's alright. You're forgiven. But tell us next time, 'kay?" I nodded in relief.
"Lucy!" Cana called, waving me over. Levy followed as I sat across the table from Cana. There was already a barrel of alcohol half empty beside her. Of course.
"Happy birthday, Lucy," Cana said, handing me a little pink package. I hesitantly unwrapped it. It's bad enough people knew it was my birthday, but now they're giving me presents? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything they've done for me today, but I'm starting to feel guilty that they went through so much trouble for this!
Inside was a thin gold chain. The charm attached to the bottom was in the shape of the Fairy Tail insignia, no bigger than my thumb nail. It was gorgeous.
"Thank you so much!" I gasped, instantly putting it on. I looked down to see how it was. The charm hung an inch below the hollow of my throat. The chain was so delicate, you could barely see it.
"No problem! It looks good on you," Cana laughed, taking another swig of her drink, satisfied that she picked a good present for me.
"I wanted to be the first one to give her a present!" Levy whined. She pulled out a long but skinny package wrapped in plain brown paper huffily.
"Levy-chan, Cana, neither of you had to get me anything," I said, pulling the paper off the second gift hesitantly.
"Of course we didn't," Cana said.
"We wanted to!" Levy finished. I opened the box carefully to find a long white feather. There were multi-colored strands of pink, purple, blue, and every other color in between the white. "I thought you could use it to keep writing your book!"
I put the lid back on the box and set it on the table.
"Thank you!" I yelled, tackling her in a hug. I walked around the table and attacked Cana too. They both shoved me off good naturedly, saying I was being too overdramatic for such small gifts. Levy walked with me as people called me over and gave me things. I started feeling worse and worse with everything I got. I don't deserve any of this.
Reedus gave me a painting he made of me and Levy. We were leaning against each other, back to back, reading our own books. He even captured the secret smiles we tried to hide when something good happened in the story.
Wendy and Charle gave me a new orange ribbon from my hair. The she-cat avoided my hug I aimed at her, but Wendy happily accepted.
Mira gave me a book all about love. She handed it to me with a wink. "Look at page 23 and 29. They should help." She walked away before I could answer. I slapped my forehead when I flipped to those pages. How to Tell if Your Man Loves You and How to Confess. Typical Mirajane.
Erza pulled me down, almost crushing my wrist in her steely grip, and shared a piece of her giant strawberry cake she was eating all by herself. She even pulled a candle out of nowhere and stuck it in the top. She dragged Natsu over by his ear to light it, and then pushed him away again before he could touch her delicious dessert.
Gray gave me a delicate flower made of ice, telling me that it would never melt. Juvia gave me an icy glare. I stood up to leave the table I was sharing with Laxus and Freed (they embarrassedly handed me a box with a fancy calligraphy pen and a pair of headphones for my music lacrima in it. The headphones had little thunderbolts on them) when I noticed I was alone for the first time all day. When I looked around for my short blue haired friend, I saw her standing over with Natsu at the bar. It looked like they were arguing, so I stayed away and mingled with the others instead. Happy flew over and gave me his present.
"A yummy fish!" he squealed. I smiled and laughed awkwardly. The fish was cold and really slimy. I thanked him anyway and set it on the table with the rest of my gifts, already panning on how I would cook it and give it back to him as thanks. Happy went back to a very strange looking Natsu. I couldn't figure out what the expression on his face was. I haven't talked to him since he left me this morning when we first got here. I was about to walk over when a very annoyed looking Levy came back to me.
"I swear, I don't understand why you like that boy," she muttered, dragging me away from Natsu. I looked back over my shoulder to see him staring after us.
"I don't!" I insisted quietly. Although I couldn't see, I assumed she was rolling her eyes. I changed the topic quickly before she could start in on the lecture. "Levy, what were you fighting about?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it; he'll tell you later," she said. Levy led us to the space people had cleared for a make-shift dance floor. Natsu joined us and everyone else, goofing off and making me laugh. I spent the rest of the day laughing with all of my friends and family, leaving behind any and all troubles in my life for a few hours.
I left when the sun was starting to dip behind the horizon. The party was still going strong, but I was exhausted. Something was tickling the back of my brain, too, but I couldn't seem to remember what it was. I carried the bag Mirajane had put all my present in and trudged home with it. For a second, I was sad Natsu wasn't here walking with me like usual. He's been acting weird all day, and it was starting to worry me. Maybe if he comes over tonight, I can ask him that, and what he and Levy were arguing about…
My jaw dropped to the ground.
HOW COULD I FORGET TO TELL EVERYONG THAT I'M GOING TO CLANDER FOR A FEW DAYS?
I'm an idiot. I am officially an idiot. Maybe I should go back and tell them… I looked up at the tower that always has the time on it. My jaw dropped again.
My TRAIN IS LEAVING IN HALF AN HOUR.
I bolted home as quickly as I could, making excuse in my mind. If I left the letter Spetto left for me at the guild, Mira could look at it and figure that I went. I never told anyone that I'd be leaving so soon! If they can't find me, they'll assume that I just left without telling them. They'll all worry about me! Well there's nothing I can do to change that now. I dumped the presents on my bed, scribbled a quick note to Natsu for when he eventually comes over to find me gone, grabbed my already packed suitcase, and was about to head out when something caught my eye.
There was an unopened package sitting with the rest of the gifts that had tumbled out of my bag when I threw it down. It was sloppily wrapped, and 'Natsu' was written on it in a messy script. Why hadn't he given it to me earlier? Why did he sneak it into the bag instead of handing it to me himself? I grabbed it at the last second and continued out my door and into the almost dark evening.
I hope you liked this chapter!