Chapter Text
She was gone and there was barely anything that hinted that she had been there at all. The apartment she had resided in for the past ten years had become somewhat of an empty shell, a place where his own memories haunted him.
Where the couch used to sit was bare, her desk, where her quills were collected and the box of her mothers letters that she had left him to read, were gone. The beautifully dried flowers that were collected on the shelves were gone. Her bathtub was clean, squeaky clean yet beginning to collect dust, and there was something in the air that made Natsu’s back crawl with anger.
“Natsu.”
He stood by the window- even the curtains had disappeared from their place. The faded orange cloth that Luce left open all the time, allowing light to come in from the outside and when the outside felt particularly dark she would offer some of her own.
“Natsu!” The cat tugged harshly at his scarf once more, ripping him from his daydream again.
And he was back in the present.
Happy sat on his shoulder as he stared down at the job offer in his hand. The piece of paper was worn, tired from travels, but felt warm in his hand. It was something plain and simple, but for a reward of a good amount of Jewels, 1500J.
Happy nodded in approval. “This one should do us,” he said, nibbling on a piece of seafood in his paw. “We only need it for food money.”
“Yeah, but don’t you think we should save a bit more?” Natsu asked absentmindedly, and placed the job offer back onto the board, pinning it tight enough that the paper pinched around it.
“Again?” Happy demanded, wings springing out. He took off from Natsu’s shoulder and came eye level with him. “Sometimes I think there's things you don’t tell me.”
The dragon slayer sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. His hand clenched inside his pocket, heating up slightly before slowly cooling down. “It’s good to have some money put away, what if something happens to us? Then what? We were always told that saving is a good thing- Luc-” He cut himself off, his eyes slowly turning away from looking Happy in the eye. Suddenly, the exceed lost his irritation.
“Natsu, what do you need money for?” He asked. “We live a good life, we have a home, and our family is always always looking out for us, our jobs are steady.” He faltered- “isn’t that all we need?”
Natsu looked down to his feet before sighing. “I-”
Suddenly something barged into his back, and he lurched forward. Instead of crashing into Happy, the exceed managed to fly away before he got injured, so Natsu found himself almost breaking his nose on the job board in front of him. Behind him, Gajeel stood, legs wide in a stance that suggested he had just landed there instead of normally walking there. He wiped something from the corner of his mouth, and pointed at his enemy- which, in this circumstance was Elfman. “You meathead, watch what you’re doing with those transformations of yours!”
Natsu’s head ached as he stared at the board with dull eyes. He reeled his head back and looked to the paper he landed on, and raked his eyes over it out of dull interest while Gajeel still hadn’t moved his weight off of his back (and uncharacteristically, he had no ounce of effort to care). The job he was looking at consisted of a reward of 5000J, one which he could handle but one that was a way away from Magnolia, somewhere on the inner of Fiore.
It read as this: ‘Help Wanted: Locksmith In Need of Fire Wizard to Keep the Heat Up.’
He frowned. Locksmith?
He pushed Gajeel off of him finally, it seemed like the idiot didn’t even notice landing on the dragon slayer in his minute fit of anguish. The other dragon slayer growled. “Oi, Dragneel! Watch what you’re…”
He faltered, looking at the expression on Natsu’s face with confusion. He had never seen the Salamander look this intense before, lines drawn tight on his face which made him look many years older than he naturally appeared. There was a foul smell coming from him, which made Gajeel’s hackles rise and also made his stomach drop.
“What’s wrong with you-“ Being roughly shoved out of the way, Natsu stormed past him and began his way towards the car where Mira was. “What the fuck?!” Gabriel glowered up to the exceed who had now joined him staring towards Natsu. The man had now handed the paper to the barkeep, as she stamped it cheerfully.
“What’s wrong with him now, cat?”
Happy shrugged. “I don’t know.”
***
The train was torture but Natsu could handle it, the churning of his stomach was nothing compared to the dread with accumulated in his chest. While the lands and plains of Fiore ran passed him in a hesitant blue, he stared out of the window with numb eyes and a bad feeling.
Happy snoozed on his lap, curled into a little ball which he stroked lightly. It grounded him, something that had come about in the past two years of Lucy’s absence.
In the end, two years disappearance was a harsh blow to him. It scratched at him in the wrong way, and naturally made him weary of his choices. There were voices in his head debating what he could have and would have done correctly if he had just been more aware. If he hadn’t left when he did- did that mean that she would have stayed?
The possibilities were endless, an ongoing rain of furious aching that gave him headache upon headache. Fairy Tail was there when he had returned, but it was not the same. There was something missing, and the absence of another once more had not been registered so much in his head for a long time. Before, a lily had been taken, yet it was as if this time the sun had fallen from the sky.
The guild he came back to was barely even there, many of his friends had deserted once he had left himself (just like she had). They ran to find their fields of expertise outside of wizardry. Their lifestyles of magic had become extinct and he found himself trying to pick up the pieces and manage the puzzle into a full picture.
He wanted to cry.
Where Gray and Erza had been the hardest to track down, Lucy had been impossible. There was no trace. No note. Nothing. He found himself in turmoil, facing an abyss of mindless solutions. He had nothing.
It’s funny, how he remembered coming back that day. The flat had been empty and the guild had been something akin to rubble. Eradicated into nothing, only a ghost. Rebuilding it had been the easy part.
No one objected: Fairy Tail was their home. Still was their family. Natsu only rekindled that faintly glowing ember.
The cat in his lap mewled and he turned onto his stomach, lips forming a whisper. Natsu’s hand raised from his friend’s head, and instead touched it to the window. The chill of the glass was comforting, his fingertips felt like molten lava.
When they finally arrive at their destination, the first thing he noted was the sparse surroundings of the small town of Daisy. It was interesting. Green grass deserts rolled naturally across the lane, and trees dotted here and there.
The station was a way away from the town, the rooftops peaking up from just the top of the hill. It was situated on the top of the valley, but the train station stayed down and on the bottom.
Happy groaned. “Why do we always get the hardest treks…?”
“You can fly, buddy,” Natsu reminded him but the exceed had already let his tail and ears drop. “Could you not, maybe, just take us up? To the top?”
“I’m too-“ he yawned- “sleepy, right now.”
Natsu nodded and patted his shoulder. “Fine, hop on then.” the exceed grinned and Natsu pulled the straps of his backpack higher on his shoulders for safety before finally setting his first foot forward.
***
Walking was something he had always been accustomed to. Happy and he had travelled far and wide, they had gone on mission, he had trained until he had bled and he had tested his tolerance until he had burned up at the root of his stomach. Lucy had always said that he pushed himself too hard, was too reckless with his battles and didn’t know when to cut losses and retreat. It was never running away, she said, it was just choosing to fight another day.
Those days were only an echo now, like the moaning of the wind that followed them through the trees.
Daisy was only a couple hours walk from the train station, if you were fit enough to conquer the valley’s steep incline and reach the top. A smattering of smoke from chimney stacks were at the peak, and Natsu’s stomach grumbled at the mere thought of a filling meal and maybe some extra kindling to revert the indigestion the train had caused him.
The path he took was easy, mainly consisting of steps and a rocky path with ledges he could dig his sand led foot into for a better grasp. It followed a trickling river that flowed down past him, small spurts of waterfalls made the clay of the ground crumble beneath and fish flowed past as they migrated to lower waters. The splashing of their fins is what eventually woke Happy up, his stomach grumbling loudly as he yawned.
“Why can’t we just stop for a quick nibble?” He asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly but clearly the feline had more life in him than he had before.
“Do you want to make it up this hill or not?” Natsu said, raising an eyebrow. The cat grinned.
“Aye, but it already took us two days to get here, five minute to eat isn’t going to set us back much.” The exceed had a point but Natsu shook his head.
“I’ll get you something to eat when we get there.”
“But Natsuuu~”
“Save it.”
***
“This is some good chow!” Happy shouted, mouth full: “I’m glad we waited.”
Natsu nodded, looking at the exceed with a small smile. He was happy when Happy was happy. The little guys smiles had been lost for a while after they had lost Lucy, and the amount of searching that had attempted had been draining on the both of them, Happy most of all. He had always been an emotional one, and the toll of losing one of his best friends (and pseudo other figure) had almost set and end to him. But the succession of bringing back everyone else managed to bring back optimism within him- even if Natsu sometimes did catch him staring at their memorabilia of their pasts jobs at home.
The waitress who had been serving them came by and asked if there was anything else she could do for them and Natsu thought it a better time than any of bring out the job offer paper, holding it up for her to see.
“Do you know where this came from? Seems like there’s quite a lot of townsfolk who focus on smithing in this town,” he said. “Bit funny how one of them is in need of a fire mage?”
“Ah,” she rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s true, a lot of our blacksmiths have hearths but if I’m right then this request must have come from the old man who develops keys on the outskirts of town, in the Mill.” The waitress handed it back to him. “He’s always looking for mages to help him with his jobs, they say that the keys he makes are magic. They open portals to other worlds.” Natsu’s heart skipped a beat.
“Like Spirit Keys?” He asked, looking to Happy who’s munching had halted.
“Uh, yes, I suppose. Although, a lot of them time they’re duds. He lost his proper studio years ago, after a landslide wiped it out,” the waitress said, hesitantly.“Is that all you needed to know?”
“I-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence as suddenly someone burst into the restaurant, sweating from head to toe and shouting:
“He’s gone mad! The old fuck has finally lost his head- he’s set the forest on fire!”
Not much was said after that, as Happy’s wings were produced and Natsu ditched his table, running as quickly as he could outside to see the impending damage. Half of the forest on the Northern side of the town had been lit ablaze, and people were coughing from the plague of smoke which was beginning to layer the town.
“What happened?” He asked one of the locals, who was going into the restaurant, coughing into his hand.
“It’s-“ he coughed a hacking cough into his hand- “a frequent occurrence, the old man- he’s mental-“
The man went into a fit and Natsu looked to Happy who nodded immediately and grabbed onto his back, hauling him into the air and through the smoke.
From the air it looked not as bad, but that’s when he noticed the shining gold coming from the woodland below. It was bright in the sun, despite the smog, and glistening as it moved. From then there was another shine and then a blast- water began to submerge half of the entire village.
“What’s going on down there?” Happy whispered to himself. Natsu grit his teeth.
“I don’t knows but we better get down there quickly before people start to drown-“ Happy yelled aye before charging them downwards, back into the smoke which was ran away by the power of his wings.
Some of the townspeople looked distraught- their fires gone out and their houses flooded but mainly relieved by the output of the fire. Natsu’s stomach rumbled and for a sharp moment he was envious of not being able to sample some of the blaze for himself but then realised that if Erza or Grey were here then they would have smacked him upside the head for that.
Happy coughed lightly as they landed on the sodden undergrowth, and Natsu put out the remaindering cinders on the trees before it began any other forest fire. And that’s when he heard the arguing.
“You should have let me handle it, I almost had it!” It was an old voice, gravelly and monotone but altogether angry. “Do you want this key or not, Lucky?”
There was a laugh and Natsu froze: “Sir, by the time you make this key, the entire village is going to massacred.”
“It’s a price worth it,” another grumble said but the old man’s voice remained quiet after that before he shouted: “now look! My entire hearth has been desecrated.”
“You brought that upon yourself.”
Happy’s claws were digging into the dragon slayer’s back now and had Natsu been in a better mind then he would have told him to ease up. But as it was, the voice had taken him back in time. It had transported him to another realm of his mind that he had thought had been lost, the returned feeling in his stomach he had never thought he would feel again.
The exceed on his back hiccuped. “Natsu..”
“I know buddy, hang on.” No amount of tsunami or magic could have withheld Natsu from storming forward in that moment. His fists were steaming, clenched tightly so he wouldn’t implode and the red that was colouring his vision was almost incapacitating.
“I hope a fire mage comes soon,” Lucky said, wiping her brow and looking down at the scattered tools on the ground. From behind she looked like she had always been- curvaceous but soft and intriguing, she smelt like lavender and fresh cotton and her presence felt like a breeze on a sunny day.
Natsu’s mouth was filled with cotton, but nothing was stopping him from speaking and when he spoke, his voice was grave, deep and provoking. “Good thing you have one now, Lucky Lucy,” he said, growling through his phonics and the locksmith and the woman turned.
The man grinned, pushing up ash covered spectacles on his nose and advancing towards him. “Ah, young man, have you come to assist me?” He said, taking Natsu’s fist and shaking it lightly, as if seeing the steam protruding from his clenched fingers. Natsu paid no attention to him though as his onyx eyes connected with the chocolate ones rounded at him.
No shock was on her face, no hint of regret or loneliness that had hindered him for the past years. Nothing that made him any less angry. Nothing that made him happy to see her, like he thought he would be.
The uncountable nights where he had imagined their reunion over and over again: perhaps she had been abducted, but there would have been word; perhaps she had died, but there still would have been word. Wore of mouth, word of letters, he thought he would have felt it, deep inside like when Igneel passed and the entire world cracked beneath his footing.
But no. He found Lucy Heartfilia, and he had found her in the middle of the woods, conspiring with a locksmith who endangered people’s lives, regret less of leaving her family and friends behind at a place she had vowed was her home.
His other hand crackled.
“Natsu,” she said breathlessly. She licked her lips and covered her stomach, the Aquarius star dress form doing nothing to keep her scars hidden and herself warm from the chilly mess that the valley gave.
“Lucy.”
“It’s nice to see you.” She paused. “Happy, I missed you.” There was a sob from Natsu’s shoulder and the blue cat was a blur as he pushed forward and met Lucy Heartfilia in the middle. She took him into her arms and held him tightly, stroking the feline's head and wings with deft fingers.
“Lucy! We missed you so much- it’s not been the same, I thought we would never see you again-“ the cat cried helplessly into her shoulder and made the heated coil in Natsu’s stomach sear his organs.
“I missed you too, Happy,” the celestial wizard whispered into his head as she laid a small kiss onto it, affectionately motherly like she had always been. “I missed both of you, so much.”
That’s what made Natsu snap.
“Miss us? How dare you fucking say that you missed us-“ he lunged forward but there was a hand on his shoulder and he was pulled back. The locksmith had latched on of his gnarled hands onto him and Natsu felt struck.
“I’m afraid I can’t let my two assistants fight, we don’t want another disaster on our hands,” he said, raising his glasses and revealing crinkled eyes.
Natsu growled. “I’m not being your assistant if she’s here.” The anger- the hurt that was curdling in his stomach was enough to lay waste to the rest of the forest. He had control over his magic, he could melt a tunnel to Earthland’s core if he wanted to without hurting anyone. He had control of his magic enough to melt every single bit of metallic substance in this forest if he wanted to, without making a scratch on it’s green.
But the hurt he felt inside him was insane enough for him to not do anything and instead he wanted to just shout. He wanted to scream at Lucy, fleck bits of his own sparks onto her and tell her what she had done, how she had made him feel.
“You’ve been gone for two years, Lucy,” he shouted. “No fucking note, no clues, nothing, no contact. You made us think you were dead, or even worse that you had been stolen. I have searched for fucking years, I have looked in every corner of Fiore, I have almost killed people trying to find out whether you were still with us.”
She stood still. Happy cling onto her, wings wrapped round her shoulders like a protective blanket.
“I wanted to return,” she said quietly. “But I couldn’t.”
“Why the hell not?!” He screamed, managing to rip his shoulder away from the more lenient locksmith. He watched them with hooded eyes. “You fucking could, you liar- what happened to family? What happened to us?”
“I couldn’t- could we please talk about this another time?” She exhaled heavily through her nose and she peeled Happy back while still holding carefully onto him. “Right now there are more problems than just us, okay, there’s an entire village that Sundro almost destroyed.” The old man behind chuckled.
“Guilty.”
Natsu breathed a heavy sigh and looked to the sky. The smoke had cleared slightly, making the blueness return to the sky. Natsu let off some steam of his own, letting it flow out of his nostrils as he glared at the floor before returning his glare to Lucy.
She was still as beautiful as the day that he lost her. As much as he was dumb, he wasn’t stupid. Perhaps it was his fault, he left with nothing but a note and a promise to return soon. He left with nothing but his own belongings, his feline friend and the memories of his father passing. But he had also left with the memories of Miss Lucy Heartfilia, someone that, even though years had passed since he had last seen her, he would die for over and over again if he had to, if it would keep her safe.
She was still as beautiful as the day that he lost her - lost meaning that she had disappeared without a trace and he had lost a lot of meaning, a lot of motive. Beautiful meaning that the scars on her shoulders, and the pink insignia on her hand vibrant. Beautiful meaning that her hair was short but still retained it’s glow, meaning that she still smelt and looked like home. Beautiful meaning that even if he pretended he hated her, standing there and looking at her brought back all of the emotions he had felt in the past that he was too unconscious to put a name to. Beautiful meaning that she was Lucy.
But he was angry, so to stop himself from spewing out all of his thoughts, he just remained calm, spiteful and arrogant.
“You really are Lucky, we can finish this later.”