Finally, the day came to take the trip to the bookstore!

Lucy was so excited, she hasn't felt the urge to go outside ever since Mama passed away. These days, sometimes she was okay and she didn't cry much. Other days, it was hard to get out of bed and eat breakfast at a table all alone. She hasn't seen her Father since she worked up the courage to confront him last week.

She doesn't know how to feel about it still, really.

Lucy remembered asking Rushii what she thought about it.

"Rushii?" Lucy asked softly.

Rushii immediately locked onto the sound and feeling of a sullen Lucy and was quick to respond.

"What's up?"

"Is it-is it bad for me not to like Father right now? If he were to want to talk to me right now, I don't think I would want to listen to him." Lucy confessed quietly, with pain in her voice. She was hurt at the fact that her father was ignoring her entire existence. Yet she didn't want to cause anymore trouble, she didn't want to be a bad girl. A bad daughter.

Rushii swallowed down the umpteenth curse at their Father and merely sighed, "No. It's not bad at all. You have a right to feel hurt by his shitty, mindless actions."

Lucy huffed out a small laugh, "Nee-san, that's a bad word."

"He's a bad man." Rushii snorted. Jude Heartfilia was not evil. That was a word that was reserved for scum, scum that Rushii has caught glimpses of and even met in her lifetime. A bad man didn't mean that they were automatically the lowest of the low in terms of villainy, but he certainly wasn't a good person.

'Bastard', Rushii thought bitterly.

Lucy knew that Rushii didn't like their Father much, especially coming back. She didn't say anything when she felt a wave of resentment that wasn't hers. She was glad to at least have Michael and Nee-san at her side, at least.

"Are you ready, Young Miss?" Michael said kindly as he helped Lucy put on her coat as she was a bit distracted. Lucy blinked back into reality and beamed at Michael, nodding rapidly,

"I am!"

They had to take the train in order to go to Ishgar, the town that was close to the reserved manor. Lucy grabbed Michael's hand once he grabbed his hat, and proceeded to head out of the manor. Michael hadn't asked for permission to leave the premises with the Heartfilia child, but Jude wasn't interacting much with the staff either.

A trip to the bookstore wouldn't put her in harm's way, anyways.

It was a route that has been done many times before.

"Activate your sensory abilities the moment you step outside of the Manor." Rushii instructed.

"Okay, Nee-san!"

"Do you have Cancer's key with you?" Rushii inquired.

Lucy let out a pulse of affirmation as she stepped outside with her hand in Michael's as they made their way to the train station. It was a little bit chilly, hence her outwear of a small coat. She skipped every once in a while much to Michael's amusement as they walked. Rushii still wasn't sure what to make of Michael, but he didn't seem to be harboring any ill-intentions out right.

She decided to take a short nap to save her energy, in the meantime.

"I'm going to rest…let me know if you need me. Immediately." Rushii emphasised heavily on the last bit. Now that they knew that it was possible for Rushii to become the main conscience and take over their shared body, she concluded that in moments of desperation, she would be able to save them if it came to it.

"Okay, Nee-san! Get some rest, okay?"

Rushii just gave out a small smile at Lucy's thoughtfulness.

"When we get to the train station, be sure to stick close with me in the event that it is busy. I'd hate to lose you in a sea of people." Michael explained while Lucy nodded. She didn't bother to tell him that she had memorized his magical signature, and that if she tried hard enough, she'd be able to sense him from far away. Rushii said that it was their secret, and Lucy takes her secrets very seriously.

It was a relatively easy process after that, getting on the train and getting off at the Ishgar stop. Lucy couldn't help but finger Cancer's key the entire time as she begin to arrive at her destination. She was a bit nervous, for some reason. So when Cancer's key warmed up in her hand, and she looked down to look at it in slight surprise, to see it shining a bit and giving her a little bit of strength was comforting. She flashed a small grin at the key and shoved in back into her pocket, feeling stronger than ever.

"Thanks Cancer," Lucy whispered.

"What was that, Young Miss?"

"Oh! Nothing, Michael!"

He just chuckled and walked up the steps to the quaint bookstore first, holding out his hand to help the small girl up. They entered the bookstore soon after, with Lucy letting out a pleasant sigh at the sight of familiarity. It wasn't anything grand or expensive looking, despite the Heartfilia's capable bank account. Layla was drawn to it by its atmosphere, rather, and passed down that feeling to Lucy.

Michael let Lucy know that she was free to roam around and look as he stood by the door, making polite conversation with one of the cashiers. Lucy didn't hesitate to take off as she exploring the bookstore once more.

She found herself immerse into the books as she hunted for new ones, when she felt her magic sensory abilities detect something that seemed to radiate an energy that was screaming something bad at her. She had gotten so used to her surroundings that she didn't even pick up on it before, Rushii probably would've scolded her. Her brow furrowed as she snapped her head in the direction, and slowly made her way towards the direction of the mana, hiding behind a bookshelf for a moment.

Lucy held her breath as she crouched down on instinct, hand gripping Cancer's key as she felt tense. This energy made her uncomfortable, it was rolling in hostility and scariness as she peaked past the bookshelf to see the figure in question.

They weren't alone, men dressed in black that stood outside of the bookstore.

In the future, they probably weren't any more than petty thieves that could have been wiped out with a good kick and a stern scowl. But to the nine-year-old girl, it was three big men that were looking really suspicious, and she was beginning to get scared.

It only increased ten-fold when she realized that they were speaking loudly about something (which showed their amatuer skills but she wasn't aware at the time);

"...Heartfilia child.."

"..the child, bookstore.."

"...ransom.."

Lucy gasped in horror and quickly scrambled backwards as her body began to shake from the fear that was seeping into her. Rushii was right , they were people that were probably to get her for that ransom thing, she remembered her Nee-san mumbling to herself about! Lucy immediately ran to look for Michael, who was still talking in the front of the room with the cashier.

She ran up to him, and he looked down with a gentle smile at first before frowning at her expression.

"Miss? What's wrong?"

Lucy pointed at the men coming towards the bookstore outside through the big window, "The men! They said-really bad things about me-"

"What?!"

One of them made their entrance then, and the cashier, Michael, and Lucy all paused to look at the front door as they everyone froze. The goon in black blinked owilishly at the little girl, before grinning in delight and activating his magic as he hollered, "She's here! The Heartfilia brat is here!"

Michael was quick to shield himself in front of her as he opened his arms widely in order to take the first hit towards Lucy, who let out a panicked shout and ducked instinctively. The perpetrator scowled and reached out to shove Michael out of the way, who staggered but took the second hit with surprising durability for an old man.

"Lucy!" Michael shouted at her as the cashier let out a panicked scream of their own and ducked under the registar, leaving Michael to look around, scrambling as he tried to figure out how to protect the young miss. He let out a painful grunt as he held the assualter back, but knew his chances to escape was getting slim as he saw the goon's lackeys rushing towards him.

"There is an exit towards the back, you need to run to it and to keep running until you're far away from here. I'll-I'll find you when I can." Michael stammered, as Lucy felt nerves racking as she stumbled and fell as the enemies got closer. She scrambled back up and ran with a panic urgency towards the exit, knocking down books as she was being chased by one of the newcomers.

Cancer's key burned .

"O-Open the Gate of the G-Giant Crab, Cancer!" Lucy twisted his key in the open as she ran towards the back door. His appearance was less dramatic this time around, with a golden flash appearing quickly before dispersing, with the tall, dark-skinned man poised with pairs of scissors that flowed around him, spinning at a rapid pace. Cancer tsked,

"You should have called me the moment you detected danger- ebi ."

Lucy sniffed as she stood behind the spirit. "S-Sorry."

Cancer just stood strong and quiet as he leveled his gaze on the enemy before him, watching the goon not take him seriously for being a celestial spirit. He almost wanted to smirk, it's been a while since he's been used in combat. And to attempt a kidnap on his newfound summoner? Well that wasn't fun at all.

"Don't worry about it, although you should get going. I feel that there is a forest near by here, I will come find you once I'm finished with my opponent- ebi ."

"Be careful," Lucy whispered as she pushed the door open, "A-And save Michael if you can, please."

Cancer turned and used one of his scissors to block an incoming attack, nodding once to agree with Lucy's plan. Lucy sniffed but gave him a serious nod in return, placing her trust into her celestial spirit as she quickly exited the bookstore, to head out the back way.

Cancer's aura immediately changed to something more devious once his master was able to escape, and wordlessly turned back towards the goon that was defending himself from the projectile scissors. He took a single step, and practically teleported behind the man with a speed that was inhumane to most. Grabbing one of the scissors in the air, he was quick to hold it to the man's neck and he whispered,

"I strongly suggest you stop, before you lose your life."

The man scoffed, "Celestial Spirits can't kill people."

Cancer just hummed as he froze his many scissors in the air, and they all rotated to point at the man he was holding. They all pointed at the main arteries of his body, and the man began to sweat profusely as Cancer huffed out a light chuckle.

"Rumors are just rumors unless proven otherwise- ebi," Cancer said a little dryly, "Would you like to test this particular one?"

The truth was that there weren't any rules saying that they couldn't kill humans, except the person they were contracted to. It would be a lot of paper work if a spirit went on a "legal" frenzy though, which was not on Cancer's to do list as he ran a hair salon in the Spirit World. Nobody has time for paper work, even the King.

A sharp blade digged deeper into the man's neck.

"I don't have all day."

Cancer took the moment to glance in Michael's direction, as per Lucy's soft instruction. He wasn't doing well. Cancer tsked and didn't wait for a response at this point as he smacked the back of the man's neck, knocking him unconscious immediately and dropped his body to the ground. Cancer wiped his hands with a blue handkerchief and pointed a finger to send some scissors piercing at the other enemies towards Michael.

And he walked leisurely to begin the process of taking care of the rest.

-L-H-

Lucy ran .

She felt the adrenaline begin to pump into her veins as she dashed through the exits of the bookstore, running towards the forest that Cancer had noticed earlier. Her heart was racing as she ran, pigtails flying in the wind as she hustled. She didn't know how Cancer was going to find her, but maybe he'd be able to sense her if she uses her magic sensory abilities to leave a trace. After all, he hinted that he was able to feel something with Rushii and mentioning the forest earlier.

It was a good plan.

Lucy spanned her sensoring area, making sure that she wasn't being followed by the other goons. She could feel them behind her, but they were disappearing one by one as she continue to run away. Lucy hoped that Cancer was okay, Michael too.

Trees whipped past her as she hopped over a fallen tree branch, running in the middle of the woods. It was taking a lot of energy to move her body and maintain the sensory field she had to detect her surroundings, but she pushed through.

After a while, she began to slow down after detecting nothin-

Fire.

That was the first thing that Lucy felt when she caught wind of a warm, fiery magical energy that was near her. It felt like a small, but warm campfire. Gentle but still radiate and slowly going stronger at a snail's space. It felt old , which confused Lucy, but drew her in anyways as she panted, slowing down.

Her body began to move on it's own as she walked towards through the woods, heading towards the magical signature like a moth to a flame. It felt familiar to her, it made her feel safe . She's never felt this presence before though.

She wonders if it was Rushii's subtle memories that was guiding her towards whoever this was.

Eventually Lucy reached a clear area, looking at the back of what appeared to be a small boy with his head down as his magical mana wavered the closer she got to him. She stayed silent for the moment, opting to breathe out of her mouth as she looked at him silently.

He was dirty, it looked like he hadn't changed his clothes in a long time. The scarf that was around his neck looked like it used to be white, but it has streaks of brown in it right now.

His head was down, in his hands as he muttered something softly, but Lucy held back a gasp of shock once she saw the brief color of his hair.

It was pink , which had Lucy gaping in small awe. She's never seen pink hair before. She wanted to pink hair too-

Lucy suddenly frowned when she heard a sound that distinctive sounded like a small sniffle. She narrowed her eyes at the boy in the distance that and realized he wasn't mumbling , he.. was softly crying.

She took a step forwards, unconsciously, but ended on stepping on branch, breaking it.

The boy tensed and quickly rubbed his eyes as he shot up from his seat, whipping his head around with a large smile on his face that gave Lucy an uncomfortable feeling immediately. Not because it was scary, but because it felt so fake . He was just crying before, why was he happy now?

Did she meet another psycho? Lucy furrowed her brow minisculely at the thought.

"H-Haha, Erza! Seems like you finally foun-" The boy caught off once he realized that it was not Erza, but another girl? At the same time, Lucy cocked her head to the side, wondering who this Erza person was. They stood and stared at each other for a moment, the boy blinking owilishly while Lucy pulled her jacket collar shyly as she fidgeted.

Nothing was said for a moment.

"I-I like your scarf?" Lucy said hesitantly, voice lifting at the end. The boy looked down at his dirty scarf, black eyes looking at it with a solemn expression that disappeared once Lucy blinked. He ended up giving her a soft half-smile,

"Thanks." He gave her a curious look and walked forwards, leaving Lucy frozen as she realized that they appeared to be around the same age. Getting close enough to him made her realize that he was slightly taller than her, with salmon pink hair and black eyes that seemed to hold a variety of emotions in them, despite the smile on his face.

A gust of wind blew between them, the boy watched as her pigtails swayed softly.

He gave a brighter smile this time, and Lucy had a feeling that this one was real.

"Yo. I'm Natsu!"

"Oh! Well, I-I'm Lucy." Lucy smiled softly. Being so close to the boy that felt like a homey campfire, it made her feel at ease despite being somewhat on the run. Natsu looked down at his scarf and held a piece of it towards her.

"You want to feel my scarf?!" He asked innocently, but Lucy scrunched her nose and shook her head. Natsu pouted softly and Lucy was quick to answer why.

"It's dirty! In fact, you're dirty! You should go back home and take a bath with-with extra bubbles!"

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say as Natsu's eyes saddened softly, fists crumbling the scarf in his hand as he let out a tired sigh. Lucy scrambled to retract her statement, noticing his sadness.

"I-I'm sorry! Do you not have a home-?"

"I do, I think." Natsu looked up at the sky. "It's called Fairytail. There's a bunch of other kids with me that live there."

Lucy nodded despite being confused, but maybe Natsu just had a lot of siblings. "Then why do you look so sad?"

"Sad? Me? No way! The world is too big to be sad, there's room for so many adventures!" Natsu exclaimed loudly as he threw his hands up in the air, twirling around Lucy with a bright grin. Lucy pursed her lips, she could for some reason tell that while Natsu did believe in what he was saying, he wasn't being as happy as he appeared to be. Maybe she would've believed him, if she hadn't caught him crying softly earlier.

Lucy just reached out a hand and placed in on Natsu's arm, who froze and turned to look at her with big round eyes, that told his whole entire story. Ah, she was right then.

"Natsu…someone once told me very recently that it's okay to be sad sometimes. The adventure can start tomorrow, if you don't feel good today." Lucy managed to get out without stuttering. She hasn't talked to another person her age in a long time, she was proud! She bet Nee-san would be too if she was awake. "It's okay to cry, I saw you a bit earlier. If you're sad, let it out."

Natsu opened to say something but decided against it as he closed his mouth and looked down at the ground. It was another period of silence before either one of them spoke up again, but it was Natsu to do it this time.

"I-I ran away from Fairytail to look for my dad."

Lucy's eyes widened as she let him continue.

"We had so much fun together, yeah? So why-why did he just leave me?" Natsu confessed quietly, heartbroken as he tried to hold back his tears. Watching Natsu trying to hold it in made Lucy realize what Nee-san was looking at when she gave Lucy her pep-talk. Immediately, she felt the strong urge to embrace Natsu and after a brief hesitation, she did just that.

It no longer mattered that he was dirty, getting mud on her clothes. She understood why he was in this state now.

Natsu clunged onto her immediately, resting his head in her shoulder as Lucy patted his back a little awkwardly. She decided that maybe she should share something about herself too, seeing how Natsu confessed something that seemed to really be on his mind.

"My mom died, about a month ago."

Natsu tensed and leaned back from Lucy with sadness for her, pleading into his eyes. "Wow."

Lucy let out a sad smile of her own and shrugged. "Yeah, it hurts every day, but I'm getting better bit by bit. To add on top of it, my dad doesn't talk to me anymore and I'm an only child." On the surface, anyways. Natsu gaped in horror and he spontaneously lifted up Lucy and began to spin her around much to her surprise.

"W-What the-?" Lucy yelped in shock as Natsu just yelled out muffled rubbish and spun her even faster. They soon fell into laughter as she stumbled away from him, moving in a slight dizzy manner as Natsu just laughed with a genuine smile on his face at the sight. Lucy flushed,

"What the heck was that for?!"

Natsu just grinned, "It was getting too sad, so I decided to spice things up a bit!"

"You're crazy ."

"Woohoo!" Natsu cheered. Lucy just rolled her eyes and huffed as she took a moment to sit down, Natsu coming over quickly to sit down next to her. It was funny how close she already felt with a boy that she's only known for about ten minutes. She wondered if they were friends now, with flash of excitement.

"Anyways," Lucy looked towards the direction she came, "I've begun to realize that just because you're not related to them, that doesn't mean that they aren't your family."

She thinks about Cancer, Rushii, and Michael for a brief moment. It's a small group, but she's starting to get used to the idea of them being her new family now. Lucy turned towards Natsu with a hint of a playful but serious expression as she tapped his nose.

"So you should go back to your home, to Fairytail. At least to take a shower, because you stink." Lucy said bluntly and truthfully. Natsu just let out a loud laugh, and wow, he was probably a loud person in normal circumstances. "I bet they're looking for you, too, you know."

"Who?"

"Your family, and maybe your dad. Who knows? But I bet your dad wanted you to be safe, and it seems like Fairytail did that till you ran away. Did you have a lead? Or supplies?"

"What?" Natsu cocked his head as Lucy gasped.

"You just ran away with nothing? No blanket, no water? What about food?!"

"I drink from the river and I can catch fish with my bare hands," Natsu said proudly, puffing out his chest. Lucy just looked at him unamused, causing him to quickly scratch the back of his neck sheepishly. She gave him a light slap on the arm,

" Baka. " She earned herself a grin in return and huffed out a laugh of her own. Lucy suddenly blinked when she began to feel the familiar signature of Cancer approaching her within the forest and quickly stood up. For a moment, she forgot that she had been on the run, and she regretfully turned towards Natsu, who was staring at her with a small sadness behind his eyes.

"Are you leaving, too?"

Lucy felt that it was hard to swallow for a moment. Why did one question feel so loaded?

"...I am. Someone has come to get me, my..family." Lucy confessed quietly. Natsu was quick to school his features back to his default setting of instant happiness and made sure to get Lucy another big hug much to her disgust and happiness. Even if they never meet again, they felt like friends.

Lucy pointed a finger with a stern expression and a hand cocked on her hip. She was used to Natsu now, so she was losing her shyness rapidly.

"And you-you better go home and take care of yourself! Go get some help to find your dad, yeah? You're just a little boy, it's okay to ask your family for help!"

Natsu took in a deep breath. Fairytail as his family? Well they did eat together all of the time, he always played with Gray and Elfman, although the latter was super shy. And Lisanna! Oh man, he left her behind-and their egg! What if something really did hatch like she said it would! Mirajane would probably hunt him down and beat him up for making Lisanna sad and if anything was a motivator to go back to Fairytail, it was to avoid the wrath of that she-witch, Natsu shuddered.

"My family," He murmured to himself before releasing a small laugh. He turned to look at Lucy, the girl that seemed to understand him way faster than everyone else. Maybe he'll make her his family too. Is that how that worked? Sounds like another adventure!

"I will. I promise!"

Lucy nodded in satisfaction before turning around to run towards Cancer. Natsu said one last thing to her, before she started off.

"Come to Fairytail, one day! I'll-I'll wait for you! And then you could meet the rest of us! M-My family!" Natsu shouted despite her being right there. Lucy just cringed slightly at the volume but returned his cheerful energy with a wave and a smile of her own.

"Yeah..maybe I will."

She took off after that, rushing towards Cancer and a bruised, but doing okay Michael in his arms once she finally reached him.

She couldn't wait to tell Rushii about her adventure today, but err-maybe she won't considering she almost got kidnapped. Rushii would probably beat herself up or something for being asleep and resting, and Lucy wouldn't want that.

Meanwhile Natsu stared at Lucy's back as she disappeared into the woods and looked down at his hands, before clenching them in determination. Fairytail was his family now, despite his desperate search for Igneel. It was something that was aching inside of him as he lived in Fairytail, waiting for the dragon to walk through the big front doors.

Was he hurt?

Was he in danger?

Does he not want…Natsu anymore?

Those kinds of thoughts danced through his mind for a while now, despite enjoying his time at Fairytail with the rest of the kids. He begged Makarov to let him go and find his dad, but the old geezer always declined and told him to go play. It's been three days since he ran away, and it was hard . It was an impulsive decision but he just wanted to find him, despite everyone telling him no.

Natsu thinks that he'll always be searching for Igneel as he goes on more adventures, after being grounded (that he knows was going to happen once he gets back).

But talking with Lucy really helped put more things in place in his mind, and it made him realize that he can search for his dad while living with his new family too. He didn't have to choose.

And Fairytail doesn't seem like the type to..abandon him.

Natsu grinned and turned, scarf blowing into the wind as he began to run back to Fairytail.

He hopes that he'll get to see Lucy again, one day.

But for now, he had a promise to keep.