FAIR WARNING: 100 YEAR QUEST SPOILERS. DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU

Trigger warning for those who have had an MC

Day 4 – Defend (resist an attack on someone or something; protect from harm or danger)

A Month Ago:

Lucy walks into her apartment, glad to be home from a solo mission. It was a simple one, enough to cover the rest of her rent. She looks around and realizes that Natsu isn't there. Weird. She goes to the guild to say hi to everyone and to see if her boyfriend is there.

"No, I'm sorry Lucy, he isn't here," Mira tells her. She debates whether or not to say he's with Lisanna. The two have been hanging out a lot more. One wouldn't think much about it, but Mira is very observant and has an inkling. Macao decides for her.

"He went off with Lisanna a couple of hours ago."

"Aye!" Says Happy with a mouth full of fish.

The two have been hanging out more together and Lucy does not think much about it because they were really good friends before Lisanna got sent to Edolas. Also, they have not had time to catch up, because it had been one disaster after another. She checks his house. Not there. Well, they used to fish at the lake. She has not been there since Natsu yelled at her. She knows he did not mean to, but it still hurt. Not there. Something tells her to check the only other place she can think of and that is the hut Lisanna built for Happy when he was still in the egg.

The world stops when she sees Natsu and Lisanna lying together under a blanket in the hut. Their clothes are all over the place and there is no mistaking what they did. They do not even notice she is there while they're talking about how they shouldn't be doing what they're doing. She's surprised Natsu hasn't even caught her scent.

"This isn't fair to Lucy Natsu, we got to tell her."

"I don't want to hurt Lucy. This-"

"It's a little late for that," Lucy cries/yells. Lucy goes into her Virgo star dress and tunnels out of there. The last thing she sees and hears is the both of them with wide eyes yelling "LUCY!"

Lucy tunnels as far as she can and when she pops out of the ground she falls to the ground. Once she lands, she cries. How did she miss this? Has anyone noticed something between the two? If so, why didn't they say anything? How long has it been going on?

She stands up and walks in a random direction. For years, they have been fighting side by side, being each other's confidants, and picking each other up when things got to be too much. For years they had gone on many adventures and saved the country and world together. Years he has beaten anyone to a pulp who made her cry and now. Now these tears she's shedding are because of him.

She stops in her tracks when she hears something. When she strains her ears to listen more closely she hears fighting and runs towards the sound of it. She looks around to see where she is and apparently, she landed herself in the middle of a fight between Laxus, the Raijinshu, and a dark guild.

She sees Evergreen and Freed panting trying to protect each other. Lucy summons Gemini and sends them over to copy Freed so a protection barrier can be put around them. The mages can still send out their magic, but nothing with the intent to hurt them will be able to break through. Gemini then transforms into Wendy to heal any serious damage.

Lucy looks around and sees bodies littering the ground and more mages just keep coming at Laxus and Bickslow. "Loke. Virgo. Capricorn. Please come out on your own."

They all come out and carry out their orders. Loke is to help Bickslow. Capricorn is to fight by Laxus's side. Virgo is to put all the mages that are knocked down and the ones that get knocked out in magic-cancelling cuffs.

Lucy changes into her Scorpio star dress and summons Taurus and Scorpio. They do a unison raid 'Sandstorm Axe Aldebaran' and Lucy dons her Scorpio Star Dress and jumps into the sandstorm to camouflage herself when they aim it at the enemies. She quickly takes them down and sends her spirits back. Lucy drops down onto her knee, an arm resting on it while she looks around and sees Bickslow struggling. She changes her star dress to Sagittarius and fires arrows towards the enemies and her aim is true.

He turns around to thank her but yells "Cosplayer!" instead. His warning is too late, and she is knocked into the air, slamming into a tree. She hears ribs crack and lands on her side. She sees Bickslow get knocked out while he is distracted, concerned for her safety. She sends Scorpio back to the spirit world and she orders Taurus to take him to the barrier with his teammates. Gemini-Wendy was able to heal Freed and Evergreen enough to get back in the fight. They cover Taurus so he can get Bickslow to safety. Thankfully the rune barrier is still holding up. Freed must have reinforced it. Loke and Capricorn are nowhere to be seen. They must have gotten sent back to the celestial spirit realm.

She stands back up despite the pain and takes in her surroundings She spots Laxus and sees he's starting to wear down. What dark guild is this?

She doesn't have much energy left herself. Physically, magically, emotionally. She hasn't even had time to process what she saw. Natsu. Lisanna. She gets angry and changes into her Aquarius star dress.

"Laxus! Move away!" She doesn't give him time. She just hoped he listened. She uses the move Aqua Metria and gets out of the way before yelling at Laxus to electrocute them.

Finally, finally, the dark guild is done for. Seriously, how many of the bastards came for her guildmates? How long have they been fighting for them to succeed with her help? She is not putting herself down or anything, it's just crazy that they gave her four guildmates this much trouble.

She suddenly feels extremely lightheaded. She has used up this much magic before and has never felt like this. Then there is a sharp pain in her abdomen. She clutches it and collapses to the ground. What the hell? She doesn't recall getting hit in the gut. Maybe from hitting the tree, but it's her back that got the brunt of the hit. It feels like period cramps, but it can't be that isn't due until… wait… Lucy then blacks out.

When she comes to, she is met with a blinding light. Where is she? As her eyes adjust she sees a figure to her left. Laxus? What is he doing here? She must have spoken out loud because he answered her.

"You needed to get to the hospital, and I could get you here the quickest."

"The others?"

"They're alright."

"Good." Lucy closes her eyes and then feels a slight ache in her abdomen.

Laxus sees her wince in pain. "Did you know?"

"Did I know what?"

"That you were pregnant?"

"Were?" Then she remembers how she felt before she blacked out and the realization of what had happened. She was pregnant. Pregnant with Natsu's baby. Natsu. Lisanna. They… they… Lucy starts hysterically crying.

She vaguely hears Laxus freaking out about her crying, and she distinctly hears Laxus say something about calling Natsu.

"No! Don't!" Lucy shouts.

"Why not? Natsu has to know."

"u-um.. well.. he and I…" Lucy takes a deep breath and then exhales. "Before I showed up I had just caught him and Lisanna…."

"Well… fuck…"

"Yeah…"

Laxus really does not know what to do. He does not know how to go about comforting someone over something little let alone comforting a woman who not only discovered her boyfriend was being unfaithful but also just lost her baby. A baby she knew nothing about. Neither her nor Natsu… That fucker… He never would have guessed Natsu was capable of such a thing. To Lucy of all people. His best friend, partner. They have been practically attached at the hip since she joined the guild. But it was Lisanna he cheated on Lucy with. His childhood friend. A woman who helped hatch Happy's egg. A woman who said she was going to marry Natsu when they got older. She was practically attached to his hip before…

"Hey Laxus," Lucy quietly whispers.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know I was pregnant? Did the doctors tell you?"

"No, actually it was Bickslow."

"Bickslow?"

"Yeah. He saw it's soul. He tried to warn you before the guy knocked you into the tree and then tried to help you before you blacked out."

"Oh… does the rest of your team know?"

"No... unless Bickslow said something." …. "Is there anyone you would like me to call?"

"Umm.." Lucy goes through all of her options. Whoever she called would want to know how and why. She ran away when she caught Natsu and Lisanna in a very intimate position and landed herself in the middle of a fight. The fight itself didn't hurt her per se, but it did cause her to have a miscarriage of her unknown pregnancy with Natsu's kid. Natsu who has been cheating on her with Lisanna for who knows how long.

She could call Levy, but Gajeel is on a mission. She doesn't want Levy to haul Gale with her because a babysitter is out of the question. Whoever watched Levy's child would want to know why and if Levy told them she was in the hospital questions would crop up… There's Mira. How does she explain to her that her sister is partially the cause of her pain? Wendy? Again, too many questions would be asked. Cana? She loves the woman, but she has a big mouth. Erza? Lucy will be threatened to answer her questions which would cause Erza to murder Natsu and Lisanna before she came to be by her side. Juvia is close friends with Lisanna so that's a no.

Laxus breaks her out of her thoughts.

"I could ask Ever to stay with you."

"She's dating Lisanna's brother…"

"She'll still want to be here for you. You're our guildmate."

"Okay. Can you call Master? If I'm right Natsu will be there freaking out about where I could have gone."

"Can't he smell where you went?"

"Virgo made this spray that masks my scent and she sprayed that on me while I was tunneling through the ground."

Laxus can only imagine what's going on at the guild right now. Will Natsu and Lisanna even tell everyone exactly why Lucy is MIA? "What would you like me to tell him?"

"Tell him that the conversation needs to be done in private. You can tell him everything, but he needs to be vague on what he tells the guild. I don't know if Natsu and Lisanna will come clean as to why I'm missing. He can know about the pregnancy but the only ones who know are me, you, and Bickslow. It was not known until now."

"Alright. I'll be right back. Do you need anything?"

"No. Hey Laxus?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Not a problem."

Lucy watches him retreat out of the room. She closes her eyes and sighs. She realizes she never thought to ask how long she has been out or how long she has to stay at the hospital. Pregnant. She was pregnant. With Natsu's kid. Natsu. Who has been cheating on her with Lisanna. Lisanna. A woman whom she thought was her friend. Lucy breaks down crying again.

When Laxus makes it back into the room he sees Lucy fast asleep. What a mess. She was right that Natsu would be at the guild causing mayhem. Gramps said that Natsu ran into the guild freaking out saying Lucy was missing which confused everyone since they had just seen her before she left to go find him. What could have happened in that time for Lucy to have gone missing? Natsu would have fought whoever tried to kidnap her. Someone asked how he knew and Natsu's response was he followed her scent trail and it ended with her nowhere in sight. Gramps could see guilt in his and Lisanna's eyes and knew something else had to have happened. When Laxus called, it confirmed the look in their eyes. Now he just hopes this doesn't cause the guild to choose sides and divide their family.

Later on, Laxus, Lucy, and The Thunder Legion will find out that unfortunately for Natsu and Lisanna Crime Sorciere was in town. Which meant Cobra was there and he heard the truth in their souls. Which led to Lisanna receiving some nasty words spewing her way and Natsu being beaten the fuck up and poisoned. Nothing that would kill him, but it would leave him in writhing pain until the old hag got there. Everyone knows that Cobra is considered Lucy's crazy older brother. Thankfully Gramps can shut Cobra out because the fact that Lucy was pregnant and lost the baby would have made the situation worse.

Half an hour later Lucy wakes up and sees Laxus and Freed by the door whispering to each other. Bickslow is keeping an eye on her soul. Evergreen is seated next to her holding her hand. Laxus notices first that she's awake.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like crap."

"You're getting part of the reward."

"You don't have—"

"Yes, we do Cosplayer. You saved our asses." Saved us. Asses were doomed.

Laxus continues, "The guild knows what Natsu and Lisanna did. They tried to skirt around the truth. Mira helped Gramps text me that Cobra showed up and called them out on it. I'm assuming he didn't want to risk Cobra being able to hear my soul via lacrima communication."

Lucy knows Cobra did more than call them out on it, but she's not going to question what. She doesn't think she wants to know.

"Natsu and Lisanna wanted to come talk to you. Quite a few people want to come visit you. Laxus told them they couldn't, you didn't want any visitors. They tried to argue that you wouldn't say that, and Laxus can't tell them what they can and can't do. Master intervened and told them they needed to start listening to Laxus because soon he'll be the guild master." Evergreen tells her.

"Thank you. I really don't want to see anyone at the guild."

"Why not Lucy?" Freed questions.

"I'm not ready to see the looks on everyone's faces I'll receive. Especially Natsu's and Lisanna's. Then there is whether or not I should tell Natsu that I was pregnant with his kid. I want to. A part of me says he has the right to know but another part says not to because it'll break him."

"Wait! What?"

"Miss Lucy?"

"Oh, yeah, apparently I was pregnant, and I need you two to promise not to say anything," Lucy looks down at her hands sniffling.

"Of course, we can do that." Evergreen squeezes her hand.

Freed nods his head, "you have our word."

Bickslow cuts in, "You shouldn't give a fuck about his feelings Cosplayer. That little shit needs to know what his actions have caused. Not only was your heart broken but a pure soul was lost."

Lucy sniffles, "I am trying not to as you say, give a fuck about his feelings. Natsu planned on leaving me before all of this. Had he done so before I caught them, I would have been heartbroken yes. I then would have found out I was pregnant with his kid. What would have I done? Would I have kept it? Would Natsu leave Lisanna to come back to me just for the kid? Would—"

This time it's Evergreen who cuts her off. "That's not helping. The fact of the matter is you caught Natsu and Lisanna being intimate. Which led you to run away and into the middle of a fight. That fight caused you to lose your unborn child because Natsu and Lisanna couldn't be honest with you. Instead, they snuck behind your back, not taking your feelings into consideration."

"Ever—"

"Blondie, listen to me. They're right. Stop giving a fuck about their feelings. If they gave a damn about yours, they would have talked to you before fucking each other behind your back. Their actions led you here, in this hospital."

"Laxus… I-I-I…" Lucy puts her face in her hands and bawls her eyes out. She knows they are right. She knows she shouldn't care and yet she does. She doesn't want to cause them any more pain, but… they… deserve to feel her pain. She feels arms wrapped around her and she sees a blur of blue and black through her tears. She feels her back, legs, and arms being rubbed and is surprised when she realizes it is Bickslow and his babies comforting her. She cries even harder and then falls asleep.

Now they're in a conundrum. Lucy doesn't want to go back to the guild yet. She can't be sent back to her apartment. Natsu and who knows who else will be waiting for her there, so the four of them discuss what to do.

A week ago:

"Blondie you don't have to leave"

"Laxus you've been more help than you know. Giving me a place to stay, not allowing anyone to pressure me to talk before I'm ready."

Laxus only allowed who Lucy wanted there. Master, Erza, Levy, Cana, Evergreen, and Wendy came to visit her. Sometimes Gajeel. She couldn't face Mira not only because Lisanna is her sister but she had a strong feeling something was going on and didn't say anything. She would have allowed Gray, but she wasn't up for Juvia's love rival bullshit.

Laxus would be lying if he said he didn't like her company when she wasn't an emotional mess. As much as he would have liked to make her stay he knew he couldn't.

"If you need anything, anything at all you can come to me okay? I'll do my best to help you."

Lucy hugs Laxus. "Thank you." She steps back. "I'll see ya at the guild tomorrow."

"I can teleport you if you want?"

"It's okay, I could use a walk."

Laxus walks out with her.

"What are you doing?"

"Walking you home."

Lucy never thought she and Laxus would get close. After seeing her fight with Kiria and the spars she had with her spirits, Laxus told her he wanted to see what else she was capable of so he would encourage her to spar with him in the backyard.

Lucy felt really good to be able to let everything out in the sparring sessions. With Laxus being able to handle anything she threw at him she was able to go all out. She was even able to give him trouble a few times.

The next week at the guild was a little uncomfortable and she had to tell a few people off for treating Natsu and Lisanna like crap. They weren't the ones done wrong; she was. Natsu and Lisanna are still nakama. Lucy stayed close to Erza when the two were in the guild because she wasn't ready for that confrontation yet.

Present:

She still wasn't ready, but they might as well get it over with.

"Lisanna pressured me because she wanted me to be her first. I-"

"Pressured you! Seriously? That doesn't make me feel any better."

"Will you possibly be able to forgive us?" Lisanna asks.

"No-"

Lucy gets cut off by Natsu yelling, "Lucy, please. We didn't mean to hurt you."

"Well, you did. And so much for it only being one time. You two continued to betray me. Three months of sneaking around behind my back. And you only want me to forgive you so you can feel better about yourselves."

"Luce-"

"No Natsu, I can't. Maybe someday but not right now. I can't be around you two without wanting to shatter into a million pieces." Lucy sniffles, "Natsu there's something else. Something I made others swear to secrecy because I wanted to be the one to tell you."

"What's that Luce?"

"I was pregnant"

Lisanna gasps.

"Luce, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is that we were going to be parents Natsu, but that fight caused me to have a miscarriage. And before you even think about blaming Laxus and the others for not protecting me, I wouldn't have been there in the first place if it wasn't for you two!"

"Lucy, I am so-"

"Luce-"

"Don't, just don't. You planned on leaving me right?"

"Luce, I would have stayed with you."

"And what? Live a miserable life with someone you don't love?" Lucy holds a hand up, "Natsu don't you dare say you love me too. If you did you would have broken things off before you got in bed with Lisanna. If you did I wouldn't be going through heartbreak over you as well as the heartbreak of losing my child."

"That was my child too!"

"And you two are the main reason I lost it." The both of them break down and cry while Lucy just walks away from the two of them. She doesn't even care if she's making them feel like shit. She's been feeling this way for a month now.

"Lucy wait-"

"I got to go. I'm going on a long mission with Laxus and the Thunder Legion."

"What?"

"I need to get away from here for a bit." With that, Lucy ran away from them and didn't look back.

I hadn't meant for this to be all angsty. While it doesn't seem like it's a LaLu, Laxus wants to be the one to take care of her, hence why she stays at his place. So far these prompts can be considered to be connected and after this one, I guess you could say in the previous three he was hurting himself, getting close to her even though she was with Natsu. One can also assume that if Virgo made a spray that masks scents, Natsu could have gotten some from Virgo so the other dragon slayers wouldn't catch a whiff of what he and Lisanna have been up to.