Chapter Text
The sun was setting.
Small woman brushed her blonde hair, musing in front of the mirror. She will do it tomorrow, she most certainly will. Her eyes looked at her image in the shiny surface, a soft sigh escaping her mouth.
How could she have fallen so hard?
She promised herself never to fall in love with anyone from her guild. Don't shit where you eat , that was the rule nuber one. Don't shit where you eat. And if you absolutely have to, at least make sure it's not him. Anyone but him. And how that worked out for her? Here she was, madly in love with a guy... that had no idea of love. Well, not the kind of love she loved him with.
She was his friend, his family, his partner.
He was her safe harbour, her lighthouse that always brought her back home.
He wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her, always rescuing her. Tomorrow, she will tell him. And he will finally know. Her heart, that beats only for him, her eyes that look only at him, her smile, that shines only at him. He will know. A small light appeared in her eyes, setting them on fire. But it was just a small one. Tomorrow, she will burn. She will burn like a torch, like fire itself, offering herself to his flames.
A window opened.
A heartbeat fastened.
He was there, in her apartment. Probably making himself comfortable in her bed, just like every other time. Should she...? No. Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the day. She squeezed the brush. He knew she was in the bathroom, sniffing her out the very second he jumped into her window. That was good. She was safe, so he could sleep. After a while, quiet snores echoed through the house.
Lucy opened the door and stepped into dark room. She tiptoed to the bed, covered the young man, sleeping in it like a baby, and softly kissed him on the forehead. "Goodnight, my dragon boy." Then she carefully stepped to the drawer, took out a pillow and a blanket and laid herself on the floor.
The morning found her asleep, dreaming her sweet dreams. " Natsuuu..." Everything seemed nice and simple- it was truly a lovely morning, promising a beautiful day. When Lucy opened her eyes, she thought that even the weather wished her good luck. She looked at the bed, expecting Natsu to still sleep. But the bed was empty. When she later returned to that moment, she wanted to slap herself for not noticing. It was right there, in front of her stupid face.
But in the warmth and happiness of her heart, she refused to see it. Natsu never got up before her. Not even once during the whole time she has known him. He loved to sleep in and stay for breakfast. But that morning, he was nowhere in her apartment. It should have rung a bell. But she just shrugged her shoulders and waved it off as something unimportant. The nervosity of the confessing made her forget.
When she opened the guild door, she was prepared to see a lot of things. Fairy Tail wasn’t called one of the wildest places in Fiore for no reason, after all. Brawls, fights, bets, drunken antics. They had it all.
What she didn’t expect, though, was the sight before her. The whole guild was silent. Everyone was looking at the bar. Confused Lucy looked there as well. The second she saw it, oh, how she wished to be blind, so she wouldn’t be able to see what she has seen. Natsu, her Natsu, was standing at the bar, his drink in front of him, one of the grins she loved so much crossing his face. And beside him... was HER. The woman that destroyed everything. With white hair blazing in the light and contageous smile on her face.
And Natsu’s hand around her waist.
And his eyes gazing directly into her eyes.
And his lips very, very close to hers.
The sun was setting. Locked and crying in her apartment, Lucy faintly remembered. Yesterday she was watching the same sunset from her bathroom. But the hope, yesterday so real, was now just a memory, disappearing with the sun.
She tried to hate her, the woman that stole Natsu away and destroyed her whole universe. But it was futile. She couldn't get angry. She couldn’t feel anything. Every beat of her heart stabbed her like a dagger, reminding her the bitter truth she wished to forget.
She couldn’t even cry.
Why? Why did it have to happen? They could be so happy together!
Later that night, she wandered through the dark streets, getting further and further away from the guild. His words replayed in her head. "Why are you so quiet, Lucy? Are you sad? You know what? Let's go on a job together!"
Lucy always considered the phrase "broken heart" to be just a bunch of too big words. But in the moment she saw Natsu and Lisanna together, she realized how wrong she was.
Her heart didn’t break.
It was shattered into millions of little shards, slowly dissolving into oblivion, leaving pure nothingness to take its place.
And the one who shattered it was no one else than Natsu, the person she always seeked safety, courage and confidence from. Just mere thought of him caused her stomach to roll. She stopped to vomit, leaning to a tree. Once she stopped trying to throw her guts up, she felt a pair of arms snake around her waist.