Hiya! I somewhat have an excuse on why I haven't updated in a while because my computer had broken down for a week and finally got up so… yeah… here's a chapter… um… yeah…Thank you for those who reviewed, favorite, and followed last chapter! It made my day! Please leave a Review and Favorite! Farewell and Enjoy!

-Let there be midnight

ME NO OWN FAIRY TAIL

Skugga

When they got back to camp Natsu sat down as if in a daze and stared at the slightly dying fire as if it was the only thing in the world that could hold just the slightest bit of his interest.

"Just what the hell happened?!" Gajeel shouted, obviously not in a happy mood as he glared in the direction of the pink haired teen. Erza barely glanced her guild mate's way as she sat down in her original place and looked at Natsu as if he was a time bomb about to go off.

"Len's dead." she said bluntly, surprising her friends as they made their protests known quiet loudly.

"What do you mean he's dead?!" Gray's shout was the final straw as she snapped her head towards her friends in annoyance, anger settling in her features.

"Len is dead. That's that. Know will you all just shut up and sit down?!" she growled as she looked back ahead of her, pulling her knees up to her chest and setting her chin on top of them. Feeling that the wise thing to do was obey her, they each sat down quietly and looked at her in slight shock.

"He set me off." a quiet voice made them turn towards Natsu who continued looking at the fire, his head tilted a bit to the side as he sat Indian style. "He said King'll kill Happy and I didn't like that. If King killed Happy, what would happen to me? Will I die too? Maybe I'm already dead and this is all a dream? Maybe I died the day Igneel left me? If so, why do I keep acting as if I'm still alive? Dead people can't be alive, that's impossible." Natsu kept muttering to himself, acting nothing of the teen they had saw earlier. He resembled more of a broken child who was simply confused and didn't know what was happening, maybe that's what was happening with Natsu. Natsu suddenly looked up at them, his eyes suddenly wide and… non-dead looking. They looked normal, more human than what they normally looked like. "If King kills Happy, maybe I'll kill him." he said with a nod only to shake his head and look back at the fire. "No, cause then King will kill me, then who would avenge Happy if I'm dead and King is alive?" he went off mumbling to himself. Lucy was about to speak up before Erza cut her off.

"Don't." she said sharply, her voice sounding so very tired as she looked ahead of her, not even sparing her friends a look. "Just… leave him be. He'll be back by morning… I hope." she whispered the last part, Gajeel barely even hearing it himself.

When morning came, Natsu had started to act normally, making the others slightly relieved even though they weren't fond of his normal self, but that would probably all change when they find Happy who he hopefully acted less… dead-like around.

"We're close to town." Natsu murmured as they walked beside a small stream.

"Town?" Lucy echoed, not expecting to be close to civilization in the slightest. Natsu nodded his head slightly.

"It's the closest to the guild." he replied as he took small interest in a squirrel on the other side of the stream, watching as the creature scrambled about for nuts that could've fallen down from an acorn tree nearby, and spotted it with another squirrel and got into a tiny fight with it over the acorn.

"What's it called?" Erza asked. Natsu took his attention away from the squirrels and looked over his shoulder to Erza, then turned to look back ahead of him.

"Skugga." he replied just as a few houses came into view over the far horizon. "Even though it's a few days away from the guild, we have to be careful since my guild is in control of the town so there will be members about and they know me well." he informed, the others silently nodding as they walked closer and closer to the town.

Just before they were about to reach the town, a figure in a dark midnight blue cloak jumped down in front of them out of nowhere.

"Ah~!" the figure cooed in a creepy way as it stood up to its full height, a long midnight hood hiding it's face from view. "Well, well, well! If it isn't Nat-chan! I haven't seen Nat-chan in a while! Why hasn't Nat-chan visited me? Hmmm?" the figure crowed, the voice giving away that he was a male.

"Kuro, get out of my way." Natsu said in a bored tone as he tried to move around the figure, only for him to move in front of him once more.

"Aw~! How cruel of Nat-chan!" he whined, the sound of licking lips suddenly heard. "But yet how delicious indeed!" he crowed in a deep voice, uncontrollable laughter coming afterwards. Natsu obviously didn't want to deal with him as he tried once more to move around him only for Kuro to grab him by the shoulder and pull him into a hug, surprising the others as they saw Natsu visibly stiffen when he was suddenly found in the older man's arms and when Kuro decided to take a long sniff at his pink hair. "Ah~! Nat-chan's hair smells like strawberries like always—" he was cut off suddenly when in a flash he was a crumpled heap on the ground, twitching and muttering about how Natsu's hair always smelled like the sweetest strawberries. The Fairy Tail members watched the seen play out in front of them feeling slightly disturbed and amused when they watched Natsu walking nonchalantly to the town as if he didn't just beat up one of his guild members. They gave one last glance towards Kuro and started to run to catch up with the pink haired teen who took no notice of them.

"Well, that certainty was interesting." Gray commented, Natsu ignoring him as they finally entered the town.

The town was surprisingly busy with people bustling about and doing their daily activities, and the outdoor market was especially busy to the point where people were shoulder to shoulder and it was hard to move about.

As they moved through the town, the Fairy Tail members sometimes saw people wearing different colored cloaks that marked them as Natsu's guild mates, some catching sight of said pink haired teen and nodded their heads in acknowledgment, but Natsu would just keep on walking as if he didn't see them.

They were walking in an almost peaceful silence like they had throughout their journey so far, when Natsu turned around sharply.

"It's getting dark." he said, mentioning the rapidly darkening sky and the fewer people on the street. "There's an inn nearby we can stay at." And before the others could say a word, he turned back around and led them to what looked to be a small old inn by the name "Annie's Inn". When they stepped inside, the first thing they noticed was a large fire crackling at the far back of the room with few people scattered about. One of them wore a dark dusty yellow cloak with the hood down showing the middle age features with peppery whiskers and short greying hair. Natsu paid no mind to the man with the cloak and went up to a bar where an old woman stood, wiping down the dirty dishes.

"Ah, if it isn't Natsu-kun." the old woman said kindly. "If my memory doesn't fail me, you haven't been in Skugga in a few months, am I correct?" she asked as she set down one of the dishes. Natsu regarded the old woman with a small nod, but remained quiet. "Always one who didn't like to talk unless necessary? Hmm? Ah, never mind an old woman like me, but tell me Natsu-kun, are these your new friends?" she asked with a smile when she looked towards the Fairy Tail members who smiled in return.

"I'm Erza Sca—" Erza was instantly cut off when Natsu's hand shot out and clamped itself tight over her mouth just as the yellow cloaked man glanced their way.

"Emmy Scourge." Natsu cut in, hand still over the slightly shocked face of Erza. "Lily Hart." he said with a jerk of the head in Lucy's direction. "Greg Fig and George Red." he added, jerking his head in the direction of Gray and Gajeel, taking his hand slowly off Erza's mouth as the yellow cloaked man finally looked away.

"Welcome, my name is Annie; it's nice to finally meet some friends of Natsu-kun's." she greeted.

"Annie," Natsu said, catching the old woman's attention. "I need three rooms." he said, the old woman frowning.

"I'm sorry, but we only have two, would that be a problem? One has two beds and the other three." she said, looking obviously upset she didn't have the three rooms Natsu wanted. The pinkette shook his head in reply.

"That's fine, we'll take them." he reassured, the old woman smiling again as she handed him two keys.

"411 and 413 dear." she told him, Natsu taking them and walking to a staircase that led to the rooms. Before the others were about to follow, Annie stopped them. "Oh, can you four do me a favor?" they turned back around and looked at her curiously.

"Sure, what is it?" Gajeel asked gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest. Annie looked unaffected as she picked up a glass and started to gently clean it, worry obvious in her wrinkled face.

"I'm afraid that no matter how tough and silent Natsu-kun may act, he still is a scared child inside and is very emotional. His emotions get in the way of his thinking I'm afraid. So can you do me a favor and watch over him? Be there for him when he needs it because there will come a time where he'll let himself be him again." she told them.

"Don't worry Annie-san! We'll watch him." Lucy reassured the old woman with a nod. Annie seemed to visually relax as a small relieved smile slipped on her face.

"Thank you, Lily-chan." she said as she turned around to put the clean glass up, the others making their way to their rooms upstairs.