Authors note: This is my first fanfiction so I'm a little nervous. I hope you like it! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters.

"Natsuuuuuu!" Lucy's voiced pierced through the train station earning her many glances. Many, just not the one she wanted. Natsu continued a few feet in front of Lucy, her voice rendering no reaction whatsoever. The blue exceed at his side, however, looked back at the blonde mage with sad eyes. "Natsu!" Lucy slapped her hand onto Natsu's shoulder when she finally caught up to them, causing him to stop and look at her. Lucy bent over to catch her breath and when she looked up at Natsu, he was scowling at her. "What the hell?" she said, standing up and placing her hands on her wide hips. "Why didn't you ask me to come on this job with you?"

"Because I didn't want you to come!" he snapped his face into hers, throwing pink locks slightly in front of his eyes. Lucy leaned back a blinked a few times in surprise before her face twisted into anger.

"What the hell is your problem lately? I haven't been on a job with you in weeks, I have rent to pay! I'm gonna be homeless at this point!" The blonde pouted and searched the fire mage's face for any sign of sympathy, but only got a shrug.

"Not my problem, i just don't need you." Natsu didn't wait around to see Lucy's hurt reaction.

He turned and headed toward the platform. "Come on, Happy." he yelled back as he gestured for the cat to follow. Happy lingered for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Lucy" Happy mumbled before using his wings to catch up to Natsu.

Lucy's hands balled into fists at her side as she fumed. "You're a jerk Natsu Dragneel!" she screamed before turning around and heading back toward her guild.

Being angry with Natsu almost spared Lucy her feelings. Almost. Natsu was her best friend and, truth be told, she missed him. She had thought he felt the same way but for the past few weeks he took any job he could and didn't speak to Lucy unless it was to tell her to go away. Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered that day in Hargon, where her and Natsu first met. He was kind and made her laugh until her stomach hurt that day, and almost every day since. She couldn't figure out what had changed. Lucy shook her head and willed her tears not to fall.

I'll find a job i can do on my own, she thought. And that was that.

Natsu's stomach flipped and turned as soon as the train pulled out of the station. He rested his head on the cool window and cringed. When Lucy was there, she'd let him lay his head on her lap and would run her delicate fingers through his pink hair soothingly until he fell asleep.

"Natsu…" Happy rested his paws on Natsu's leg and looked up at him with concern.

"Don't." Natsu said flatly. Happy rested his chin on top of his paws.

"I miss Lucy" the exceed said under his breath, knowing Natsu would hear it with his hyper sensitive hearing.

Natsu did hear, but kept his gaze away from happy and rather out the window. He thought of Lucy against his will, picturing her smile and how it made everyone around her feel warm. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore the nausea that consumed him at this point.

I know buddy, I miss her too.

Lucy picked her head up from its resting place on the bar immediately when Mira set a beautifully made omelette next to her face.

"Thanks Mira!" Lucy's mood picked up a bit when Mira flashed her a bright smile.

"No problem!" Mira giggled, cocking her head to the side. Her positive attitude was contagious and for a moment, Lucy thought her day might be okay after all. That moment dissipated when the guild doors slammed open, revealing that a certain pink haired dragon slayer and his blue partner were back already from the previous day's mission. Lucy made eye contact with Natsu for a second before staring back at her omelette. She pushed a mushroom around her plate, her appetite suddenly gone.

"Ah, Natsu, Happy! Back already?" Mira exclaimed at the two

"Yeah" Natsu said, taking his focus off the job board and facing Mira with a smile, "it was easier than I thought." Lucy felt a sharp pain in her chest. When he wasn't speaking to Lucy directly he was his usual happy-go-lucky self.

What did I do to make him so angry with me, Lucy thought. She kept her eyes on her plate until she heard Mira's voice say her name.

"Lucy, are you heading off on a job this morning?" the white-haired mage asked gleefully, "It's been a while hasn't it!"

Lucy beams. It had been a while, and she was excited.

"I'm leaving this afternoon actually!" the blonde pulls a folded up paper from her bra and unfolds it, revealing the contents of the page. "There's a village on Mt. Hakobe that's being terrorized by vulcans, I'm gonna go wipe a few of them out and scare them off." Mira bends over the bar and studies the paper. The short ponytail poking off the top of her head tickles Lucy's forehead.

A hand slams down hard next to Lucy, causing both girls to jump and stare at the pink haired mage. His onyx orbs are large and wild, and they're settled on Lucy.

"The hell you are!" he hisses.

"W-what?" Lucy stutters. She leans back as far as she can only for Natsu to come closer anyway. By this time the entire guild had turned their attention to Natsu and Lucy, most of them looked just as surprised as the poor blonde save for Grey, Erza and Happy, who looked thoroughly disappointed.

"You can't take on vulcans by yourself!" Natsu said, snatching the flyer from Lucy's hands.

Grey let out an amused laugh and Erza shook her head, her brows furrowed and eyes squeezed shut. "You idiot" the red-head muttered.

Lucy's face turned from pale to the color of Erza's hair. Her nostrils flared and her chocolate eyes were wide with fire as she leaned into Natsu, causing him to stand up straight. They stood so close now that their noses almost touched. "What did you just say to me" Lucy seethed.

Natsu's confidence doesn't falter one bit. "You aren't strong enough to take out a pack of vulcans" he says, calmer this time.

Lucy snatches the paper back. "Screw you, Natsu. Don't speak to me again until you change your shitty attitude." Lucy sits back down on the barstool with her arms crossed. Her and Natsu stare at each other for what seems like an eternity before he finally stomps toward the door, punching a hole through the wall before exiting.

Lucy lets out a breathe she didn't know she was holding. She puts her hand over her chest, willing her heart to slow down and notices the rest of the guild still staring at her. "WHAT!?" she screams, challenging anyone who makes eye contact with her. Everyone immediately turns their attention to something else. Happy joins Wendy and Carla at a table and rests his head on his paws, looking dismayed. When Lucy is sure the attention is off of her. She turns around to face Mira. She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it again, letting her shoulders fall in defeat. She places her forehead on the surface of the bar and lets out a long groan.

"It's not getting any better, is it?" Mira says in a worried voice.

Lucy picks her head up only to rest her chin on the bar instead. "Worse, he's gone from ignoring me to going out of his way to yell at me." Lucy's anger turned to sadness and tears welled in her eyes. She sat up straight and took a deep breath, she had cried over Natsu enough lately.

Mira set her elbows on the bar and leaned closer to the celestial mage. "Lucy… What happened?"

Lucy had asked herself the question a thousand times the past few weeks, and her thoughts always came back to one moment.

Natsu reached for the spear as it lunged at Lucy with full speed. His hand closed into a fist just as it sped past. Lucy could do nothing as she watched the tip get closer, her feet were glued to the floor and her eyes were stuck wide open. She wanted so badly to look at Natsu. She wanted to look him in the eye in a way that he would understand how much she cared for him. She wanted to tell him that it was okay that he couldn't save her this time, how he had done it hundreds of times before and that she knew he had tried his best. She wanted Natsu to be the last thing she saw, but she couldn't pull her eyes from the tip of the blade. She braced herself for the hit, for the stabbing pain in her chest but it never came. In a second the blade was gone. She looked below her to find that her savior was herself, her future self. Lucy falls to her knees and sobs with Happy as her future self dies in her place. She looked up at Natsu and through her blurred vision she saw his face in a way she never had before. She couldn't place the emotion he wore, she only knew she wanted to take him in her arms and have him take her in his. Hot tears ran down his cheeks as the unknown emotion twisted into pure, seething rage.

Lucy shook her head. "I don't know" she told Mira "I need to take care of a few things before I go, Mira" Lucy got up before the take-over mage could respond and avoided anyone's gaze as she exited the guild hall and headed home.