OK, I swear this time I'm actually going to keep up and update the entire story before continuing the story so please forgive me for my negligence. I promise I will continue the story for all of you guys to read so until then, please enjoy and have fun with my new and improved writing style. These chapters are going to be longer and better than ever. Unfortunately, I still do not own Fairy Tail however. Oh well, please enjoy this work with Mashima's loveable character's. ~mathmaddy

Chapter 1

It had been a long day, but it was finally over and Lucy was lying in her bed going over the events of that day. It had been the perfect day, well, almost perfect. She still couldn't believe that Natsu had made S class, I mean, she knew he was powerful, but, she guessed she always just thought things would always stay the way they were before you know, everything. Time had passed quickly after they'd come back, and it'd been about a year since the last trial, well, rather seven if you thought about it. After all, they were technically frozen on tenroujima for six years, although it didn't feel like it. It was crazy when you thought about it, seven years of her life had passed without her even being there. She regretted a lot of things, like waiting to try and start things up with her father again, or even waiting to call him. She'd planned to do it once they'd gotten back, but when they had, he was gone forever.

She couldn't believe it, did life really pass that quickly? Was it really so precious that if you falter for even a second you can lose what's dear to you? Lucy knew her father wasn't really in the best of conditions. He'd been working hard after deciding to start over, and she could see the toll it had taken on his body. It was days like these that made her think of her father like that, days where she remembered things. On those types of days she usually had her friends by her side, or at least Natsu and Happy, who always seemed to be in her apartment. This time, she was alone, Natsu was probably still at the guild with Happy.

Speaking of a flying, blue cat, she also couldn't believe that Natsu had chosen Happy over her again. She knew he and Happy were friends ever since they were little, Happy's birth actually, but she'd always thought her and Natsu had something...special. Some sort of bond that always connected them. It was probably just her imagination, she decided, after all, it was probably because Natsu always seemed to be around. I mean, her and Natsu, it was ridiculous, they just weren't like that. Even if she wanted to be, she doubted she would ever be able to be Natsu's girlfriend. Her heart ached more and she realized just how alone she really was in life, how empty the world had seemed lately, especially with Natsu gone.

Knowing that Natsu didn't choses her left a pang in her heart, the same way it did last time. At least last time she had someone, she murmured to herself. Now it was like nobody even really noticed her, she was invisible and no one cared. Even Natsu hadn't spent much time with her lately, and this time Cana had decided to take the test with someone else. Even though seven years had actually passed, it only felt like a couple months since she had been in it with it with Cana. So why did Cana want a new partner? Was Lucy not good enough? She had thought she and Cana had managed to hold their own in the fight, although they did receive a little help, but hey, there was nothing wrong with luck, right? Luck was most definitely a true show of heart and skill

Plus, Natsu had to have had a little luck and help to make his way past Gildarts, right? There was no way he could've gotten past him otherwise. It wasn't that Natsu wasn't strong enough, it was that Gildarts was too strong. Plus Natsu was strong in heart, where it mattered the most. A guy like him was even willing to sacrifice his life to save a girl like her, despite having his own dreams. Lucy's heart fluttered as she thought of all the times Natsu had gotten hurt saving her. She felt a pang of guilt inside before reminding herself that that was seven years ago. She'd gotten stronger now. Not that it mattered to him, he either didn't notice or didn't care. She knew she hadn't improved dramatically. but her powers had been enhanced.

Lucy shifted in her bed. I mean, it wasn't like she was as powerful as Erza, but at least she had as much usefulness as Happy, if not more, though she supposed she couldn't fly, but it wasn't like Happy could fight like she could. Plus she was smarter, so she could end up being at least ten times as useful as Happy, especially since it was Natsu they were talking about. After all, Natsu wasn't exactly the brightest person she knew, and that was being nice. Truthfully, he was a total airhead who listened only to instinct. The test had an emphasis on strategy, and strategy was pretty important last time, so how could Natsu have not picked someone a little more intelligent? Someone more like her. I mean, last time Gray and Loke ended up following them because they knew Lucy was smart and could figure out the riddle. I mean Natsu chose his airhead cat over her!

Lucy shifted again, this time it was followed by a huff. Wait, why was she even upset? It wasn't like she had really wanted to take the test again, or even cared if she made S-class. She was perfectly fine where she was in life. She was able minded and able bodied and she'd managed to create a good new life for herself away from the Heartfilia Konzern, though it hadn't been easy. She was perfectly fine with the fact that she may never have to take the test again. She supposed it still hurt that Natsu didn't chose her over his cat, after all, it was like saying she was worse than his stupid, flying, powerless, good-for-nothing pet whose only real talent was flying unless you counted being annoying, rude, heartless, obnoxious and, and getting in between them...cat

Lucy paused as she realized she was doing it again, getting upset over nothing. Lucy pulled her blankets up tighter and listened to the bugs outside. Bugs could be pretty annoying, they always chirped in a high pitch and didn't stop until late at night. She sighed as she got up to shut the window. Wait a minute, she could hear the bugs, as in, the super-uber annoying bugs. She, Lucy Heartfilia, could hear the bugs, the bugs that she shouldn't be able to hear at all. Was she in someone else's house? To hear the bugs could mean only one thing, it meant that it had to be quiet. And if it was quiet, that meant Natsu was either sleeping, not likely at this hour considering he'd kept her up until morning before even after, maybe even especially after the events of the day, or not currently in her house.

Lucy ran back and checked her bed. She had been in her bed, Natsu wasn't. Which confirmed the fact that, for once, Natsu wasn't invading her privacy. Was he okay? He wasn't injured, was he? Maybe doing the S-class quest had tired him out more than she thought. Wait, why was she worrying? Why should she care, he had other people to take care of him. And apparently Happy was a better companion for him than her, so what did she care? If he had Happy, he didn't need her, and she didn't need him either. That's right, Natsu hasn't been hanging around me lately she reminded herself, ignoring the pain that once again set deep in her chest. She had peace, so she took advantage of that and closed her eyes.

Now that she thought about it, it was nice to have some peace when you were trying to sleep. Nice, calm, and quiet. Yes, that was exactly how she wanted it, exactly how it should be. Just quiet, it was a simple thing to ask. No noise what-so-ever. Lucy turned onto her side, noting that her bed was a little colder than she'd remembered it. She thought her comforter was usually a little warmer. Maybe it was just colder outside, she thought, refusing to admit it was due to the absence of a certain flame mage. She closed her eyes and pulled her blankets around her. It was too quiet, as in, there needed to be some noise. She wasn't willing to admit it just yet but after all the chaos that seemed to surround her daily the silence now made her uneasy. How did she ever deal with it before now? How could she sleep if she didn't hear Natsu's rhythmic snores beside her? Or his cute sleeping face, or him mumbling in his sleep. Or what about the sweet way that whenever she would try to leave he would whisper, "Don't leave me," every night.

She shifted again, it was ok, he was probably still at the guild. They would make sure he was all right, they'd taken care of him all the years she hadn't been there. Plus he was S-Class now, he could take care of himself, even if he was a bit of an idiot. Well, maybe she should give him some credit though, after all, he did keep breaking into her house. So what if he wasn't there now, he'd likely be here again tomorrow. Or maybe he would go to his own house, he did have one after all, not to mention a bed of his own he never seemed to sleep in. In fact, maybe he was there right now, there was no need to worry.

Besides lately he'd been spending a lot of time with the Strauss's or rather Lisanna. Perhaps he was giving her a break and pestering someone else for a change. Maybe he would finally stop breaking into her tiny rented apartment and breaking her things. She would be better off if he did, after all, she was tired of always paying for the repairs that needed to be made. Yes, it would be better if he was with the Strauss's since they could actually control him. Plus now that Lisanna was back they'd had a lot more income coming in, much more than she'd managed to bring in for a single month. Besides, it was one night, for now at least. She still couldn't sleep, in fact, it was worse.

Somehow the thought of Natsu in another girl's house made her upset, especially if it was Lisanna. I mean, Lisanna had a lot to offer Natsu, a lot of things Lucy couldn't. Lisanna and Natsu had known each other for ages, ever since they were little, and Happy loved Lisanna, much more than he loved her. Lisanna was also beautiful in a way Lucy never was, besides, Natsu had made it clear to Lucy that he wasn't particularly attracted to her. Lucy could never offer financial security the way Lisanna could and at any given time Lucy could be kicked out of the house that Natsu was always hanging around. Most of all though, Lisanna was so nice, so sweet to everybody, and everybody loved her. Compared to all of that, Lucy was nothing, a mere partner picked for convenience while Lisanna was away.

Lucy decided to slip out of her bed and she stumbled to the kitchen without even thinking about it.. Maybe a drink would help, she did usually drink milk whenever she wasn't feeling great or when she was sad. It had even become a daily occurrence for her before bed because it calmed Natsu down, plus Happy loved it, and it usually gave her enough peace of mind to go to sleep and deal with the damage later. Lucy blinked her eyes a few times and opened up her dreadfully barren fridge.

She grabbed the almost empty jug of milk and headed toward the small counter. She had only just filled her glass and started heading back to her room when she got a piece of glass stuck in her foot. She plopped herself on the floor and wriggled the small shard out and carefully continued back over to the counter. This time, more awake and aware of everything, she saw a note that Natsu had left her, at least she assumed, considering the handwriting was just about right. Not to mention the slight wrinkles and a small burn mark peeking out of the bottom right corner. Lucy angrily snatched up the slightly crumpled note and drew it to her face.

Sorry Luce, I know you're always telling me not to touch your glass cups because I'll break them. You even got those plastic ones so I could use them, but nobody ever lets me use glass cups, so I wanted to try. Everyone's always teasing me about how I can't use them, and it's not fair! They never even let me try back at the guild. So anyway, earlier today, Gray offered me a baby bottle! I'm not a child! So, you know, I decided that he went too far, so I tried using a glass cup. They wouldn't give me one at the guild, so I came here to borrow one of yours. You know, that way I can prove to Gray that I can use them and he won't insult me anymore, oh and Gajeel was definitely in on it too. Man I should beat them up after this. Anyway, you were right. I shouldn't use glass cups. They are fragile, and break very easily. Very easily, I mean, I barely touched it! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know, it's all their fault that your cup got broken since they made fun of me. Don't be too mad at them though, oh, or me. -Natsu

Lucy sighed. That was just like Natsu, breaking her stuff and blaming it on others. She could almost see his grin as if he was there. Come to think of it, when had Natsu been in her house when she wasn't? Especially these past few days, Lucy hadn't seen Natsu around at all. He'd been on a super training trip as soon as it was announced that he'd be eligible for the S-class exam. Nobody had seen him for days and it could only be assumed that he'd gone out of town or into the mountains. And then. when it was time for the S-class exam, he'd just reappeared, slightly late, but just in time to take the test. Which finished today, which meant that she expected Natsu to be back in her house after his week-long absence, well, not that she knew for sure. She'd gone on a few missions while he was away to collect a little extra rent.

Nevermind that, Lucy thought as she angrily grabbed another one of the plastic cups and filled it with water, forgetting about her milk. If Natsu wasn't going to use them, she might as well use them. She didn't spend 150 jewel for nothing. After she had gotten a drink she climbed back into her bed. He hadn't even bothered to get all the shards cleaned up. She pondered for a while in her bed before she climbed out of her bed, deciding it was better to get it cleaned up while she remembered it. She grabbed her mini cordless hand sweeper and went over the kitchen floors and counters before crawling back in bed.

Once again though, it was too quiet for her to sleep. She went to her bathroom and looked for her small bottle of sleeping pills. She finally found it near the back for some reason. She opened the small bottle but when she finally got it open it was empty. It was most likely the fault of Natsu, he was always leaving empty containers everywhere, it also explained why it was in the back of the cabinet. She trashed the bottle and got her things ready to go out and get a new bottle while she remembered. She hurried to the store, got the new bottle, and rushed back to her house before Natsu made a mess of everything, completely forgetting about his absence. When she got back and opened the door once again, she finally remembered. She tried once again to sleep, but to no avail. She completely forgot about the recently bought pills.

Lucy looked at her clock. It wasn't too late, it was only eleven. The people down by the guild were probably still partying, in fact, that's probably where Natsu was at the moment. She could probably go down there and join in on the fun, at least a little. Plus maybe a little alcohol would help her sleep, especially since she was a little too observant of the Earth around her today. Plus it was sure to be a little louder down at the guild, possibly too much so, but now that she was used to the noise, she would take it over silence any day. Lucy went over and got on her shoes and coat for the second time that night before heading out. She walked to the guild aware that, for the first time in a while, she was walking there alone. She was pretty much lost in her thoughts until she was about a block away from the guild. She realized she could hear everybody already, and, as she had suspected it would be, the guild was in full party mode after the day's events. In fact, by the time she walked in, they were in the middle of a heated battle, they being the careless fools around the guild including Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and this time, Erza.

She looked around a little, and almost immediately spotted Levy on the other side of the room. She started making her way over to her and the small table she was seated at after calling out a warm greeting. She had only just put a foot in the door, and finished saying hello to Levy before she felt something hard and cold hit her. It only took a few seconds for her to realize she'd been hit by Gray's ice magic, and only a few seconds after to realize that her entire lower body had been frozen. She was just about to ask Gray to unfreeze her when Natsu decided to melt it on his own with his fire dragon's flaming breath.

It wasn't the best decision he'd made, especially considering he could barely control his flames after they left his body and the rest of her was very sensitive to normal fire, much less his. As soon as the deed was done, he just stumbled back into the fight, ignoring her. She would remember to hit Natsu for that one as soon as his dumb little battle was over. No, she decided to brush it off casually in an attempt to be calmer. It was a party after all, and it was an important day for Natsu, even if Igneel wasn't around anymore. Besides, she was sure Lisanna would be nice and understanding towards Natsu, so from now on she would be too, after all, it could have been worse, at least her clothes weren't completely destroyed. She continued to make her way toward Levy putting a smile on her face once again.

Suddenly she felt little iron pellets, or rather bolts of some kind, hitting her from Gajeels direction. Didn't they understand her want, and some what need, to not get hurt for once. On a mission, fine, mistakes happen, injuries occur, but really, in her own guild, and even her own home the better part of the time,just... really? She was just about to gather up her friends that weren't in battle, to help her stop it when Erza's sword and Gray's Ice cannon combo aimed for Natsu hit her as he eluded it and she was knocked out cold, literally cold. The last thing she could remember about the night was wanting a blanket.