Author's Corner 2

So I am back with another A/C! Here I'll answer and clear up your doubts about the previous chapters. You might also get some little sneak peeks for the upcoming chapters so I hope you read till the end~ If you don't wanna, it's okay too! That would only mean you have no doubts about the story so far and nothing could make me happier :)

Anyway, let's start!

The first person I'm going to talk about today is Erza.

As most of you probably have already guessed, Erza is like a mother figure to Natsu, while Lucy sees her more like an older sister that she can talk to about her feelings. And let me assure you, Erza is playing both of the roles very well.

Now I saw in the reviews that one of the guests have issues with Erza basically asking Lucy to "deal with the pain" from having Natsu around in the wedding. Well, first of all- Erza neither said anything like that to Lucy nor was it in her intentions. In her monologue it's very clear that she is worried about Lucy. I stated a fact about Erza in Chapter 8. Where I said that Erza is prepared to tell Natsu not to attend her wedding if Lucy feels uncomfortable with the idea. She is putting Lucy's feelings before her own relationship with Natsu.

The reason why Erza did not express this thought directly to her is because of how selfless Lucy is. She'd have felt extreme guilt about this. She'd have blamed herself for Erza not being able to invite someone so close to her on her biggest day. So Erza chose the indirect approach and asked her if she was okay with Natsu's presence in the wedding. If she weren't, Natsu would not have been invited. Lucy did seem hurt at the question (which was a very natural reaction) but she also showed resolve by saying that she does not plan to miss her friend's wedding over her past. Erza admired that resolve and did not want to ruin it so she left things as they are. But she still plans on leaving Natsu out of her biggest day, if Lucy shows any discomfort even at the day of the wedding.

So the thing here is that, Natsu and Lucy basically belong to the same friends circle. They share so many mutual friends that sooner or later they'll have to face each other. Lucy is aware of that and so she decided to face him sooner than later. And Erza was quick to understand that.

P.S: I did not mention this fact in the main story because I did not want Erza to become an overwhelmingly generous figure and stealing the show. Since she is more like a supporting character to the story, I do not have any intentions to put her direct POV in the main plot, unless she's dealing with one of the main characters. So I understand if she is misunderstood for my preferences. But as I mentioned once before, if I have enough time in the future- I'll be writing an individual spin-off one shot series for the supporting characters of this story, where you'll get a deeper understanding of their thought process, pov, and see glimpses of their own lives.

Moving on to the next person~ We have Loke!

Now I haven't really seen any confusion over his character, but I'd still like to elaborate on his relationship with Lucy. What Loke feels towards Lucy is affection and attachment more like what one would have for their pet. Of course I mean it in a good way. He adores her and genuinely cares about her more than most people in his life. But his feelings don't involve any romantic desires. I also have no intentions to change that so his relationship with Lucy will always be the same.

P.S: You'll see how he got around to getting so close to Lucy somewhere in the future chapters, so stay in touch~

And now we have Macbeth.

I don't have much to say about him, except he wasn't a part of the initial plot I had in my mind. At least not until I was done completely creating Natsu's character in my head. So yes, he is gonna play a big role in the future of this story. And surprise surprise~ he might or might not end up in the run to win Lucy's heart. [Wow, that sounded so clichéd...lol]

As for his background and the fact I mentioned in Chapter 8 about his "interests" for Lucy not being sudden, you'll have to wait for that as well. It will be another few chapters before I can show you all what I really meant.

Finally we have Natsu.

So the guest who had trouble understanding Erza's character also seems to have problems with Natsu's. Thus, this one is mostly directed to you, Guest-chan~

I don't want to talk a lot and end up giving you spoilers but let me say this, please don't stress out yourself trying to understand him. I don't want to be the reason of your headaches. Predicting stuff is fine and all, but I am here for a reason. It's my job to tell you what's going on with him. And I promise that I will do so when the right time comes. Chapters 7-8 are not meant to give you a better understanding of his character because his character is not so simple to be explained in a mere couple chapters. They were meant to show you that he has some deep issues. So if you got that message out of them then that's more than enough.

Now about the fact on Natsu never actually cheating on Lucy - I only confirmed the fact that Erza had vaguely stated at the end of Chapter 7. She referred to the news of him sleeping with a new girl everyday as a "rumor". And before falling asleep herself, she thought about how Lucy is different because rumors don't fool her. Basically, Lucy knows all these are just rumors. How? She knows Natsu. That's all I can say at this point. And honestly, this is also the reason why she doesn't hold any grudges against him. Since she knows that at the very least, he's never lied to her or been unfaithful in the relationship.

However, most of the other characters think differently, including Natsu's supposed best friend, Gray. The reason mostly involves the drastic changes in Natsu over the past years. The changes that left even Erza shocked and curious. As you can see from their school flashback, he was a cheerful, kind and observant guy who had an eye out for the people around him. He encouraged Gray and looked worried about Lucy even though they barely talked. So seeing that Natsu changing into a cold, detached and somewhat uncaring, has made people feel confused and lost. Gray is no exception to that. That's why when they hear something about him, specifically rumors- they can't bring themselves to deny those.

As for Macbeth thinking the same despite being around Natsu (like we saw at the end of Chapter 6), they haven't really known each other for too long (spoiler...but not really? lol). So he doesn't know enough facts about Natsu to disbelieve the rumors he hears.

Now to the question- Why is Natsu surrounded by rumors like that? Well let's just say you have to wait to find out. Though I did leave a hint at the end of Chapter 8, it's okay if you don't catch up on it.

So this marks the end for today's Author's Corner. I initially had plans to do these after 5 or 10 chapters but I realized that I did the previous one after 4 chapters (excluding the Prologue) and I also had all these stuff to clear up before heading on to my future plans for the story.

I also wanna repeat one thing that I'd said before in the last Author's Corner. It's the fact that my writing style is not straightforward. There is a valid reason behind each thing I make the characters say or do. To know the meaning, you either have to look forward to the future chapters or wait for more Author's Corners like these. So please don't stress yourself by over thinking. If you don't understand, that's okay. You can just ask.

I know the most complicated of all characters so far is Natsu. Even I have troubles sorting out my thoughts when I start thinking too deeply about how he feels over certain things. And let me assure you that there are certain things, certain incidents and certain people who have played a role in him ending up as who is at present. Whether that justifies his actions towards Lucy or not- is for you to decide. But I hope you don't reach a conclusion until after I'm done writing his situation and his side of the story completely. Unfortunately that will take some time so I expect a little patience from my readers.

Anyway! If you've read till the end of this, then thank you~!

I would LOVE to thank - aesthetic af, Bakers28, leutanant, JustAnotherFan14 and also the guest readers for y'alls reviews! I LOVE reading what you have to say, so I hope you don't hold back in the future either~

I look forward to writing more and updating as soon as I can so I don't have to make you guys wait too long.

Have a great day!