I'm back with chapter 40 of my marvelous story. Please R&R and I shall see you at the bottom of the page.

POV: Lucy, Natsu

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

I stare into the mirror of my vanity as I gently brush my hair with slow strokes. My eyes trace all the still healing cuts and multi-colored bruises that adorn my pale face. I have bruise like bags under my eyes from the nights of endless sleep and my skin is a sickly white making me look like an actual anemic. At least before I had had a little color dusting my cheeks, but now I just looked... dead.

Sighing, I put my brush down and leave my hair hanging in dull curtains over my shoulders as I stand up to gather my things. My movements are slow as I pull up my navy blue knee socks and then put on my shoes before then putting on my blazer and then my coat over my shoulders. I wrap my long pink scarf around my neck to keep me warm from the cold weather outside and afterwards I pick up and sling my messenger bag on over my shoulder.

Before I walk out of my room I dare a glance into my floor length mirror and a pair of lifeless brown eyes stare back me looking like a corpse from a horror movie. I blink once before finally walking out of my room and down the hall without looking back. I reach the stair well and I descend down the steps slowly making sure not to make too much noise. When I reach the landing I can clearly hear Laxus rummaging around in the kitchen and judging from the time my grandfather should have already left for the academy. I make my way to the front door and once I reach it I start to rethink my decision. I was being reckless by just getting out of bed, but to actually go back to school now is just insane on my part.

Taking a deep breath, I yank the door open before storming out into the crisp morning heading towards the one place I really shouldn't be going to.

Tapping my pencil against my desk, I stare out of the nearby window watching the fall leaves drift lazily in the cool fall breeze making the world pop with color. Freed's voice drones on over the soft whisper of scratching pencils and turning papers as he lectures on about who knows what. I've tried paying attention to his lecture but quickly lost interest after the first five minutes of class. Instead I've spent most of my time staring out of the windown with a certain blonde entrapping my thoughts as usual.

Lucy's been out of school for about a week now. After her most recent accident, which everyone says was a mugging, on Halloween Makarov has kept her somewhat locked up at home with Laxus serving as her personal caretaker. She's supposed to be resting and trying to get over what had happened by talking to a local therapist. None of us have really heard from her and any news we get comes from the teachers who get word from Makarov. All we really know is that Lucy was mugged and that she spent three days in the hospital due to a concussion she got. Apparently she wouldn't be coming back to school until after Thanksgiving break due to her anemia acting up because of the weather getting colder.

A few of our classmates have gone to see her, or seemingly tried since she hasn't really let anyone stay for too long while being emitted in the hospital. The only person other than her own family who has been able to actually stay for more than a few minutes to visit is Levy and even then the small bluenett has nothing much to say. She says that Lucy hardly talks and when she does she only asks about Levy's day and that's about it. Most of the time she seems to be sleeping or reading in silence and so far Levy says that she seems to be doing better with each passing day. This news had me tempted to go and visit her at the hospital a few times but just remembering the last time we had both been there leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Instead I just sit and listen to Levy and hope that what she says about Lucy is true, that she really is doing better, but Levy's worried eyes and forced smile hardly make me feel at ease.

Sighing, I try to clear my head with little success and I'm starting to put my head down so that I can take a nap when I suddenly hear the door open. I don't bother to see who it is as I duck my face into my folded arms completely ignoring the fact that the room has suddenly gotten eerily quiet.

"M-Miss Heartfelia, how nice of you to join us," I hear Freed exclaim in surprise and my head snaps up like a jack-in-the-box as I stare towards the doorway in front of the classroom where said blonde is standing.

Everyone within the room stares at her as if she were some alien life form or something and she just stands there unmoving with her eyes trained to the floor. My chest tightens at the sight of her and I begin to wonder if everything Levy has said about Lucy was just a lie to keep us all at ease. Lucy looks as if she's only gotten worse instead of getting better. Her usual bright and curious eyes are lifeless and lackluster with dark bruise like bags shadowing under her eyes from the clear lack of a good nights rest. Her normally creamy skin is far paler and almost looks as if it were translucent with her healing bruises and cuts adding a more terrifying effect. Looking at her like this leaves a painfully guilty feeling settling at the bottom of my gut with roaring anger filling ever fiber of my being and all I want is to just go and hunt down those Eisenwald freaks and beat each and everyone of them into a bloody pulp. Instead I sit there and take in the appearance of my broken down love.

"Miss Heartfelia, aren't you supposed to be at home resting?" Freed then asks after a long beat of silence and Lucy just shakes her head, her eyes still glued to the floor, "Very well then, you may go and take your seat," and without a word Lucy complies and slowly makes her way towards her seat next to me.

I watch her intently while listening to the whispers beginning to grow in volume around the room to which Lucy deftly ignores. Once she gets to her desk, Lucy pulls out her notebook and pencil and starts copying the notes that are already written on the board while Freed gets the class back into order and continues on with his lesson. I once again ignore the green haired man as I watch Lucy write while keeping her head down only glancing up once in a while to copy the notes on the white board at the front of the room before ducking her head back down. All the while her face is set into an emotionless mask and if I didn't know any better I'd think that she had somehow switched bodies with Juvia for how cold and uncaring she seems. The thought has a chill running down my spine and I pray for Lucy to never turn into that stone of a woman.

For the rest of the class period I watch Lucy work in silence and soon enough the bell finally rings marking the end of our first class. Everyone in the room quickly gather their things before each running off to their next class seeming to be in a hurry to get out of this awkward classroom while Freed reminds them of the upcoming test before we leave for our first break. While everyone else rushes to leave I notice Lucy taking her time to gather her things as Levy shyly walks up to her with her arms full of books and her bag already slung over her shoulder.

"I'll see you at lunch Lu," she says with a nervous smile looking as if she were afraid of Lucy lashing out t her, but the blonde just nods without looking up and the bluenette takes that as her cue to leave.

Soon enough Lucy and I are the last ones in the classroom and I continue to watch her stuff her things into her bag before standing up and slinging her bag onto her shoulder. Before walking away she pauses mid-step and then turns to look back at me, her eyes glowing with the familiar curious light they always held within them. It looks so familiar on her foreign face that I almost sigh in relief, but before I can even smile at her the light disappears and her face is set into a fierce glare that almost burns me on the spot. With an angry huff Lucy flips her head forward and storms out of the room leaving a burning trail in her wake.

When I finally catch my bearings I shake my head to try and clear my mind as I gather my things and messily shove them into my own bag. Slinging my bag onto my shoulder I follow after the furious blonde when a firm voice stops me just steps away from the open door, "Natsu," Freed's voice warns from behind me causing me to freese and sigh tiredly.

"I know," I say while turning to look over at the green haired man feeling all of my energy just evaporate out of my body, "What do you want me to do Freed?" I ask, almost pleading, the older man, "I wish I could just go up to her and talk to her like I used to," I groan while shoving my fingers through my already unruly hair, "But I know that if I do that she'll get suspicious again and probably get hurt more." Sighing I hang my head feeling far more defeated than I have ever felt in allof my life, "What am I supposed to do Freed?"

"Be her protector and just watch over her," comes his simple answer as he gathers some papers from his desk and taps them against the woord to align them neatly, "You don't need to talk to her, all you have to do is keep doing what you've been doing and just watch over her so that nothing more happens to her."

"Like it's been any help," I snap with sudden anger boiling through my veins, "Can't you see that I'm tired of sitting back while the girl that I love is being destroyed before my eyes when I could be doing something more for her?"

Freed sets down his papers and looks over at me with his uncovered eye, "There is nothing for you to do," he says in his monotonous voice that leaves the air cold and haunting, "Just watch her and protect her as best as you can. What happened with Eisenwald was not your fault and lies in the past now. I know that you're beating yourself over it because of the misunderstanding you had with them earlier and I know that you feel that this is all your fault but it is not."

"Then why the hell did they go after her?" I ask practically exploding at the calm man, "It's because of me, that's why. They remembered our clash at Clover Town and decided to get revenge by going after her."

"That's not it and you know it Natsu. They had their reasons for going after Miss Heartfelia, but revenge seems to be at the bottom of that list," Freed reasons, "Makarov has been doing his best to interrogate those who we've caught and so far they've kept a tight lip, but I'm sure that if they were to say the truth it would have nothing to do with you."

Growling I slam my fist into the nearest desk practically smashing the wood into pieces, "Like that makes me feel any better Freed! It doesn't matter if it was my fault or not, they still went after Lucy and I was powerless to do anything about it. She got hurt even when she was under Juvia's, Gray's, Gajeel's, and even my watch. How is that supposed to make me feel any better," I ask as my voice cracks and my eyes burn, "She got hurt when I was with her so I finally decided to stay away from her as best as I can, but that didn't make a difference since she's still getting hurt far worse than before and if anything is worse she can end up turning into one of them."

Freed stands up out of his chair and walks over to while placing a firm hand on my shaking shoulders, "Just protect her Natsu, that's all you can really do for her now."

Shrugging his hand off angrily, I stalk away from him not wanting to be in his presence a second longer. Before I walk through the door I stop and say over my shoulder, "Don't think that I've forgotten what you did to her Freed," before looking at the man with burning eyes, "When this is all and done with I'm going to kick your ass along with Bixlow's and Evergreen's for hurting Lucy, whether you did it intentionally or not," and with that I storm down the hall towards my next class.

I place my hand over my mouth as I hide between the small nook made with the doorway and nearby lockers as I watch Natsu storm down the hall completely oblivious to the fact that I overhead his conversation. It isn't long before Mr. Justine leaves the empty classroom walking the other way clearly not noticing my silent presence as I just stand there with questions brewing in my mind and tears streaming down my pale cheeks.

Ermagerd guys! I am so sorry that I'm late. My days have been so hectic lately that I haven't been able to sit down and write a decent chapter and having a mini writer's block doesn't help either, but I pulled through and I've got to say that I am satisfied with this chapter. Either way I promise that I won't be late with my next chapter seeming as next week I'll have all the time I need to write since I will be going on Spring Break! Yay! And since I never go anywhere interesting I might be able to update a chapter a day! Double Yay!

Anywho, We'll see how it goes.

Shout Outs

Great thanks to my Fantastic Favorites...

-ShadowProwl

- ashleygxflora

To all of my Fabulous Followers...

- MeliaAntiqua

- ShadowProwl

And to all of my Fantabulous Reviewers...

- FanFictionLeon = Regulus Lucy Kick! I think that part in the new chapter was kind of dumb but cute at the same time, what do you think? And Natsu's strength, Holy Cow has he become stronger! I'm also a little disappointed that Lucy didn't get to spar with Natsu, but maybe in the future we might get that chance to witness it *fingers crossed* and on another note, I'm glad you enjoyed my chapter and hopefully this one was just as good.

- BeastlyTick 59 = I feel you on the overwhelming amount of work piled on my plate, and I'm happy to hear you liked my chapter. Because of everything going on in my somewhat miserable life I haven't been able to catch up on your story, but I promise that I shall go and check it out as soon as I can!

Well that's all the shout outs for today.

If you are enjoying my story so far please follow, favorite, and review - remember, reviews are a writers candy - and if you have any questions or ideas you'd like to see put in the story you can also PM me and I'llgladly add it in the story.

Until next time my lovelies.