Chapter 14

No Regrets, Part 1

Lucy woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing, she peeped open her eyes to find Natsu dead asleep beside her. She lifted her head from his chest and grabbed her phone of her nightstand. It was 3am, "Who could possibility need to speak to me at such ungodly hours?" She thought to herself. She unplugged her phone and pulled it to her. Despite her annoyance, her curiosity had been peaked, she pressed accept and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she whispered into her phone. She didn't want to wake Natsu.

"Lucy." A familiar voice said. Lucy felt her blood run cold, she knew that voice, she would know that voice anywhere.

"L-Laxus?" She whispered, her voice an octave higher than before out of sheer fear.

Before her hypothesis could be confirmed the call ended. She looked at her phone in pure fear. How had he gotten her number, she knew her friends didn't even associate with him. She had not given out her number to anyone but them, so she was clueless to how he got his hands on it. Lucy went into her call log, hoping she could see who called her, but it was a no caller ID, so she couldn't even block it.

Lucy felt her breathing pick up, she felt a cold sweat and a shiver run down her spine. Her head pounded from the fall hours before, but that pain was drowned out by the pain of her back. She could feel the burning of where her scars laid, she remembered the pain as if it was fresh. Her hands shook as she placed her phone back down, this time turning off her ringer. Even if he had her number, she didn't have to pick up. She had decided weeks ago he no longer got to torment her; she was holding true to that now.

"Luce?" Natsu whispered in the dark. His voice rough from sleep.

"Yeah? Sorry I didn't mean to wake you." She whispered back.

"What's wrong, why you awake?" He asked while shifting his head to look at her.

"Oh, my head just hurts, don't worry." Lucy lied. She knew telling Natsu would do nothing but worry him. Plus, she had no idea if it was actually Laxus who had called, telling him her theory would only put him on edge.

"Oh okay, I'll go get you so some Tylenol." Natsu said while getting out of the bed. Lucy watched as he walked out of her bedroom. In the dark she could only see his silhouette, but even then, she blushed. Natsu was wearing some of Alex's PJ's that he kept at her apartment for when he slept over. The shirt he was wearing was a tad tight as Natsu had broader shoulders, but he didn't mind. Anything would be better then wearing his blood-stained hoodie.

Natsu walked into the kitchen and grabbed the Tylenol sitting on the counter, within the sink sat his scarf. Lucy had put it to soak after scrubbing at the blood to try and clean it out. Natsu tried to assure her that he was fine if it had a stain or couldn't wear It anymore, but his neck felt bare without it. He wouldn't tell Lucy he was bummed out Lisanna's scarf because he knew she already felt terrible, but he was still glad he did it. Lucy being hurt was more of a priority to him then a scarf.

He pulled a Tylenol out of the bottle and filled a cup of water, he walked back into the room and turned on her fairy lights so they could see. The two squinted as the small light flooded the room. Lucy took the cup and pill from Natsu's hands and hastily swallowed it down, she wanted her back and head to stop hurting. She wanted this to be some weird dream because if it wasn't, then that meant Laxus was truly back. Back to haunt Lucy. And she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet.

Natsu took the cup from Lucy and placed it on her desk. He then looked at her. Her face was as pale as a ghost, like something had shook her to her core, he figured it must've just been her head making her look that way though. But it was her eyes that made Natsu question that, her eyes were full of pure horror, something he hadn't seen in her since that day on the roof. He wondered if something had happened, maybe a bad dream or flashback. But Lucy would've told her if that happened right? Lucy would never lie to him; he was sure of that.

He pushed his thoughts out of his head, far too tired to be overthinking at this hour. He flicked off her fairy lights once more and crawled back into the bed.

"Go to sleep Luce, doctors orders." He said as he buried his face in one of her pillows. He saw the silhouette of Lucy's head slowly nod as she laid down once more. Natsu quickly fell back asleep, unfortunately for Lucy she would not have the same luxury.

Lucy would stay up another hour before sleep overcame her. For the first time in weeks, she had another episode, a nasty one at that. Her night-terror this night was unbearable, she lived over the worst moment's in her life over and over. Unable to scream or call for help, she was trapped within the bounds of her own mind until the morning would come.

… … …

Natsu would wake the next morning to Lucy whimpering in the bed. He opened his eyes when he heard them get louder. He shot up and looked at her. Lucy's face was contorted in pain, she whimpered as tears fell down her face, her arms whipped around as she struggled to escape her dreams. Natsu immediately tried to help her, he called her name, stroked her hair, and tried to coax her out of the night terror. But his attempts were futile, she wasn't waking up.

Lucy eyes soon shot open; they were blood shot. Her hands flew to her neck as she grasped at it in fear. Her breathing was ragged as she fought for each breath. Her eyes flew around the room widely, she looked around for a threat, but calmed slightly when she found none.

"Luce, hey, hey its okay, it was just a bad dream." Natsu said while continuing to stroke her hair. She slowly got up and stared at him, his eyes were full of anxiety and concern. He had never seen someone suffer like this before, and he felt helpless since he couldn't even help her out of this one.

"I-I'm okay." She tried to reassure him. She slowly placed her hands down from her neck. She gave him a small smile, trying to prove she was okay. But Natsu saw right through it. He pulled her into a hug, she tried to hide a small sob as he began to soothe her, rubbing small circles on her back.

Lucy let herself be comforted by Natsu, she tried to calm down. "It was just a bad dream." She reminded herself repeatedly. After a few moments Lucy had recovered. She pulled away and this time gave Natsu a genuine smile. "Thanks, Natsu, how about we get up and get ready for school?" She suggested, trying to shrug off what had just happened.

Natsu pouted, "I thought we could skip today, with your brained being all scrambled and everything…" He trailed off.

"Natsu, don't you think we have missed enough school?" she laughed.

"Never. You can never miss enough school." He deadpanned. Lucy laughed again and got up from the bed, she immediately reached out for her best post as a massive wave of dizziness washed over her. Natsu jumped up to her side and placed his hands on her shoulders to balance her.

"You know what, never mind. Lets just chill here today." She said slowly. She slowly released her grip on her bed as the room came to a halt once more.

Natsu smiled and removed his hands once he saw Lucy gain some of her balance back. They slowly walked into the kitchen and Natsu made them some eggs. Lucy was a terrible cook, to the displeasure of Alex, so she sat on the counter and watched as he made their breakfast.

The two ate while watching the news on the couch, neither of them paying any mind to the TV as they argued who had won yesterdays competition.

"Luce, I won. While you were passed out, I scored on you." He said confidently

"No you didn't you liar! You came straight to help me; we are still tied at best. I would've won if I hadn't fallen so I'll be taking the win this time." She argued back

Natsu laughed at her ridiculous statement. "Sure Luce, to bad you fell before you even shot the puck." He said. Lucy stuck out her tongue at him as they continued the silly argument all morning.

… … …

The two spent the rest of the day playing the piano and watching movies. Lucy begged him to go on a walk, but Natsu refused saying with her luck she would crack the rest of her head slipping on ice again. Lucy tried to reason saying walking and skating carried different levels of harm but to no avail as Natsu was not going to go out in the deadly cold winter without proper reasoning.

Soon it was the afternoon, Natsu sat on Lucy's bed as they studied for the chemistry exam together. The end of the term had come so fast that they were now scrambling to study in time to pass. Natsu had been sad knowing they wouldn't have class together but after comparing schedules for the winter semester Natsu rejoiced. They had 3rd and 4th period together which were music II and fitness.

"So, I can train you forth period and at the dojo, you will be a killing machine by the end of the year." Natsu boasted.

"Great so I'll be able to take you in a fight better. Prepare yourself Natsu, I'm coming for your title of best fighter in the group." She teased

"No way crazy, you could never get to my level so soon, cute of you to dream though." He retorted. Lucy laughed as she continued back to teaching Natsu about acid base titrations. It took all his will power to not fall asleep as she droned on about pH and hydronium ion concentrations.

Suddenly both their phones started going off like crazy. Natsu reached over and checked his phone to see a message from their friend group chat.

Grey: "Party at mine this Saturday. BYOB." The text read

"How you feel about a party Luce?" Natsu smirked, Lucy paled at the mention. She hated parties.

… … …

The rest of the week blew by and now it was Saturday afternoon. During Lucy and Natsu's day off from school a doctor stopped by to check on Lucy. She had a minor concussion and some bruising on her back, but aside from that she would be fine before Christmas rolled around.

Lucy currently sat on her bed as Erza, Levy, and Juvia all rummaged through her closet looking for something she could wear tonight. To her absolute surprise, all three of her friends loved to party, even Levy who was the biggest book worm she knew.

"How about this?" Erza said holding up one of Lucy's tops for the group to see.

"Covers too much, find something low cut." Juvia responded as she looked through Lucy's drawers. Levy sat with Lucy as she painted her nails a deep blue colour.

"Levy I can't believe your into this shit, you always manage to surprise me." Lucy said as she tried to keep still. Levy had already scolded Lucy for almost smudging the nail polish on her left hand. She would be damned if she smudged any on her right.

"I normally am not, but its my first party with Gajeel and plus, Grey's parties are always a blast. He has a huge house, and half the school always ends up showing up." She responded.

"Ouuuuu Levy, gonna finally get some real action with your man." Juvia teased.

"Juvia until you confess to Grey you don't get to tease me." Levy teased back. Juvia blushed, everyone in the group saw how much she liked Grey, except Grey of course who remained clueless to all things girl related it seemed.

"Maybe I will tonight, considering what I'm wearing I mean he's bound to at least notice me right?" Juvia said. Her outfit for the night was drop dead gorgeous. It was a blue lace body suit that accentuated her chest and curves. She paired it with some black jeans, and some heals to match.

"Oh, I think I found something!" Erza exclaimed, cutting off Juvia, as she reached back into the depths of Lucy's closet to pull out a blue corset top, it had lace and flowers sewn into the design.

"OMG That's soooo pretty! Lu, I didn't even know you owned that, why haven't you worn it?" Levy squealed. She put away the nail polish and signaled to Lucy to blow on the polish to help it dry.

"Because I haven't worn it since I was like 14 and my boobs probably won't fit anymore." Lucy said dryly, she hated that top with a passion. It showed everything, and the included the scars on her back.

"Don't worry Lu, we can curl your hair and keep it down that way it hides your back." Levy whispered to her. Levy had seen her scars by this point and knew how self-conscious she was of them. Lucy offered Levy a kind smile, she always knew what was on her mind.

The girls then forced Lucy to change into the top and paired it with a mini skirt that had a small slit in the thigh. Levy then curled her hair into some beach waves and Erza did her make up.

The three other girls then changed into their outfits. Erza had chosen a red bodycon dress with a small black jacket on top and Levy wore a black bralette top with some black leather pants. The four girls looked drop dead beautiful.

"Well, its 9pm, we should call the uber now and head over, party should've already started by now." Erza said as she pulled out her phone and ordered an uber XL. The three girls squealed, and Lucy took a deep breath to prepare herself; all of them then headed downstairs to the restaurant as they prepared to head out for the night

… … …

Grey, Natsu, Jellal, and Gajeel all stood in Grey's kitchen as they drank some beer. The house was already packed with people, but their girls hadn't shown up yet, so they waited patiently for their arrival.

"So Natsu." Jellal said. "You and Lucy, want to share with the group?" He said expectantly

Natsu responded by finishing his beer in one go. Lucy was a touchy topic for him. "Nothing to say, she's my best friend." He responded vaguely. Grey scowled at him.

"Normally I'm the clueless one but Natsu, right now you hold the title. She clearly likes you, why haven't you gone for it yet?" He said as he went to a cooler box to grab Natsu another drink.

"Shut up Ice brain, Juvia has been in love with you since elementary school and you still don't realize it. You don't get to talk." Natsu replied. Jellal nodded in agreement with Natsu, Grey remained the dumbest of all when it came to love.

"She does?" Grey responded in shock. "Huh, never noticed." He continued while scratching the back of his head.

"Grey, you're dumb as shit bud." Gajeel chimed in.

"Where's Loke?" Jellal suddenly asked, he had been with them only moments ago but now his drink sat on the counter, the condensation of his beer causing a small pool of water.

"He went off with some girls like 10minutes ago, gotta admit the dude pulls." Natsu said.

The boys nodded in agreement. More people streamed into the house. Music blared from the living room as the DJ Grey hired played some beats.

Suddenly the boys noticed as Jellal's jaw hit the floor, following his gaze, the three other boys saw their friends walk in. Natsu blushed, Gajeel gawked, and Grey felt his nose begin to bleed. The four girls entered the kitchen.

"Hey guys!" Lucy said with a smile. Natsu's eyes raked over her, she looked absolutely stunning. He put his hands in his pockets to restrain himself from grabbing her and kissing her that instant.

"Hey Lucy, you guys all look awesome!" Grey said. His comment was met by glares from the boys.

Levy walked up to Gajeel as he handed her a drink. She got on her tippy-toes to kiss his cheek and then took the drink from his hands.

Erza walked up to Jellal as he casually wrapped his arm around her waist, she blushed furiously at the gesture. She would never get used to the fire she felt when she was around him.

Finally, Juvia and Lucy walked up to Grey and Natsu, the boys quickly tried to recover from their awe as they spoke.

"Wanna drink?" Grey offered the girls, they both nodded. He handed them both beers to which the girls took.

"Want me to open that?" Natsu asked Lucy, she smiled and nodded as Natsu pushed the lid off using the counter. He handed It back to her and their hands touched as he passed her the drink. Natsu blushed.

"Thanks." She said with a nervous smile.

"You okay Luce?" He asked, she had looked nervous from the moment she walked in.

"Yeah, just never been to a party before." She said shyly. Lucy wasn't completely telling the truth as she had been to several banquettes and balls when she lived with her dad. But none of those parties rivaled this one. Those parties were mostly for show and to establish the Heartfilia name with elite families; whereas this party was all about having fun, something Lucy was a tad unsure about.

"Don't worry I'll stick by your side the entire night." Natsu said with a grin. She smiled back feeling reassurance from his carefree aura. Lucy stared at him and blushed. Natsu wore a black muscle tee and some black jeans along with some white and black Jordan pandas, he looked hot as shit her mind raged.

"Hey guys were gonna go dance, wanna come?" Levy said as to Natsu and Lucy.

"Hell yeah!" Natsu cheered. He grabbed Lucy's hand lightly and followed the group as they walked to the dance floor.

… … …

The group quickly made their way to the middle of the dance floor. They were surrounded by people from their school, including Loke who was basically getting a lap dance from a girl in their grade. The group danced together as Levy pulled Lucy to dance with her.

Natsu laughed as Lucy danced with Levy, Levy wasn't the best dancer, but she clearly didn't care. Lucy, who was laughing her ass off at Levy's terrible dance moved, mirrored her dances. The two looked like idiots but they didn't care. Soon after Gajeel grabbed Levy to dance with him and Lucy moved back to dance with Natsu.

"Hey crazy seeing you here." Lucy joked.

"Yeah, I swear I've have seen you before, just don't know where…" Natsu said while playing along. The two laughed as they danced together, Natsu's hands on Lucy's hips as they danced to the beat of all the songs.

Suddenly Lucy stopped moving, she was starring at something right behind Natsu. He turned and he immediately saw red.

"Laxus." He growled.

Authors Note: Hey Guys! Sorry for the later upload, again... right now for me its 4am. I had a super busy day but I really like uploading daily so I'm trying my hardest to stick with it. Anyways hope ya enjoy. Cya!

I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS; I simply write the plot :) All rights are reserved by the creators of Fairy Tail