Flipping forward a few months

Natsu and Happy sat at a campfire in the middle of nowhere, on top of a cold mountain. Barren trees covered with snow and the occasional howl from a stray wolf were the duos only company on the abandoned mountain. Natsu had long since silenced himself, Happy was distracted and barely picking at his now cold fish.

"Natsu... I miss Lucy..." Happy whined to his friend. "I miss her bed. I miss the way she makes my fish. No one else makes fish as good as Lucy does. I miss the way she would kick us out of her apartment when we snuck in at night. I even miss the slaps and kicks she would give us when we fought with each other or got on her nerves."

Natsu sighed at his best friend, this was a conversation that happened more and more frequently since the two set off a few months back. At first they were excited about their training and wanted to become as strong as possible. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, Natsu noticed that life just didn't hold the same amount of joy that he was used to. Training wasn't as exciting anymore that there wasn't anyone here to fight with besides Happy, who wasn't much of a sparring partner. Most of all, he shared the cat's sentiments about missing Lucy.

Natsu didn't realize just how deeply ingrained the blonde was in his life until he took her out. Not that any of this was on purpose, Natsu had a reason of walking away from his friends and striding out to the wilderness alone. He had to become stronger, he had to after what happened during the grand magic games with the eclipse gate and with future Lucy and future Rogue. Resolving himself to never be put into a situation like that again where he felt totally helpless, Natsu made the split second decision to leave to train for a year or so to become the strongest mage in Fiore. He did it for Fairy Tail and for Lucy, so why does he feel so crappy all the time?

"Yeah buddy, I know. I miss her too. But you know why we're here. Do you remember what happened? Do you remember what we promised each other? We have to become stronger to protect Luce. I won't watch... I just can't Happy. I can't do it again. We need to be out here and we need to keep training." Natsu put his head in his hands and held tight.

Happy nodded at his friend but still started to cry. "I know Natsu I just really miss her. Can't we go back and visit Fairy Tail for a little while? Wouldn't that be okay to take a small break from training? I just want to see her... And Carla. I really miss her." The small Exceed started to cry even more at the thought of the white cat.

"I'm not sure buddy. I have a feeling if we went back to visit we wouldn't be able to leave again. I doubt Lucy would let us out of her sight after seeing us again, I don't think she's too happy with us leaving her behind. I wish we could have taken her but I'm doing this FOR her. To protect her over everyone else. Hopefully when we finish training and I defeat Zeref, Lucy will understand and forgive us both for doing what we had to do." Natsu said while patting Happy's head.

"Okay Natsu. I hope so too. I don't think I would like Fairy Tail as much unless Lucy was there with us. She sure is fun to pick on and make fun of. And she's a really good cook! And she lets me cuddle in her bed with her!" Happy smiled up to the dragonslayer remembering all the good times they have had with Lucy.

"Yeah Happy, she really makes Fairy Tail a special place doesn't she? Let's wrap up eating and head back to the cave. Tomorrow we need to head down to the town and get some new supplies, we're almost out up here. Come on." Natsu put out the campfire and gathered the remaining food, mostly untouched due to the conversation at hand, and led the two back to a cave to sleep for the night.

The next morning Natsu woke Happy up early to head down into the small village near their current camp. Natsu didn't like staying in one place too long since he feared Fairy Tail was out looking for him and he wasn't done with his training yet. Shuddering to think what Erza would do to him if she was the one to find them, Natsu bundled up in a heavy cloak and covered his distinctive hair with a hood. Shoving Happy down in the large pocket created to conceal the Exceed, the two set off to the village to buy provisions they could not get themselves on the mountaintop.

Around the same time that Happy and Natsu were traveling to the small village, a group of people were passing through the area tracking down a gang of thieves who have gotten such a bad reputation that the capital sent a small task force led by two wizards. The gang had taken shelter in the surrounding woods and the leader of the task force was attempting to find them without giving up the element of surprise.

"Do you smell anything yet?" The smaller of the two captains spoke quietly to the larger one.

"Naw. Nothin' yet. Place reeks of animals and trees though. No one has been here in awhile." The larger one spoke gruffly. Irritated at the situation, he took a larger whiff, and suddenly stood very still. His eyes narrowed as he smelled the air again, anger passing over his face briefly.

"What is it? Did you find them?" The smaller figure spoke up, noticing the expression and body language of the larger male.

Choosing his words carefully, not wanting to upset the smaller mage with false hope, the male decided to lie to his friend in order to protect her. "Nope. Nothin' shrimp, no one is here and hasn't been here. Let's go somewhere else. Take the men to the village for the day to ask around, I'll stick out here in case someone comes through since I can smell them before they find me."

"Alright Gajeel, but be careful. You know how dangerous these guys can be. If you find them don't engage, call for backup and we will be there. I'll see you later." The blue haired girl spoke to her friend before leading the other men away from him.

Waiting until the group was out of earshot, he spoke down to the black cat who has sat silently through the entire exchange, "Lily. Natsu's here. I'm going to catch him before Levy sees him and beats him senseless. Let's go." The cat nodded and the two took off to where the metal dragonslayer last smelt the pink haired idiot. Running through the woods hoping to catch their prey unaware, Gajeel easily caught up to a cloaked figure who he assumed was Natsu, pouncing on him in surprise.

Being landed on in the middle of the woods woke Natsu up from the daydream of Lucy, angry at himself for not noticing the intruder before being pummeled, Natsu started punching wildly to defend himself. "GET OFF ME!" He screamed while lacing his fists with fire at the enemy.

"You idiot, you have been out here for months and you still don't pay enough attention to what's going on around you. You're still a flame brained burn out." Gajeel responded while simultaneously punching the fire dragonslayer back. The two rolled on the ground punching and kicking like crazy, Natsu now realizing who it was and getting into the spar. Happy escaped the cloak and flew over to where Lily was sitting to join his friend.

"Hey Lily! Long time no see, what are you and Gajeel doing out here?" Happy said happily to his friend.

"Happy. Gajeel and Levy are here on a mission to find a group of bandit thieves. Have you seen any around these parts?" Lily said stone-faced to the blue cat.

"Nope! Natsu and I have been living in the mountains for awhile now, no one dares to go up there. It's too cold." Happy whined back while fluffy out his coat, acting like he was freezing cold.

The two cats then proceded to watch the two dragonslayers beat the living crap out of each other. Natsu was happy to have someone to spar against, and Gajeel was just plain ticked off. This rumble went on for awhile until the two started to wear each other out. The punches got weaker and Natsu's smile got bigger, so happy to see someone from Fairy Tail after so long. Gajeel finally put his arm out and that enough's enough and the two panting from exhaustion.

"Oh man... Gajeel... It's been too long! Nice one metal face!" Natsu smiled happily, arms resting on his knees as he caught his breath.

"About that Salamander. This ain't no happy call. We need to talk. So be a good idiot and sit down and listen, no interrupting before I'm done, I don't have time for your crap so you are going to do what I say." Gajeel barked out. Natsu simply sat down to listen to what his friend had to say, it was obviously pretty important. Plus he was tired anyway and sitting down gave him an excuse to rest up. "You really are dumb as rocks you know that? Freaking embarrassing to dragonslayers everywhere. I still can't believe what you did. Idiot!"

"Gajeel. He probably doesn't know. Happy claims they have been living in seclusion since leaving." Lily pointed out, trying to calm down the iron dragonslayer.

"Ain't no difference. Still happened. But I'll go real and easy on you since you got ash for brains. You left, with a freaking NOTE. A NOTE. What were you thinking? I honestly don't give two craps about you but I do care about some people, and you really screwed up this time. Last time we saw bunny girl, she couldn't even hold it together to form a complete sentence. Her bad attitude put a damper on Levy, and I gotta deal with that crap so it's all your fault." Gajeel spat out.

"What do you mean? What's the matter with Lucy? Where is she? Last time you saw her? Come to think of it... what are you doing here Gajeel?" Natsu rattled out quickly.

"NO FREAKING INTERRUPTING. Last time I saw Lucy was when Fairy Tail split up months ago. The day after you left her with a stupid note. You freaking idiot, you tore that girl apart and she took off once she found out Fairy Tail disbanded. I haven't heard from her..." Gajeel started speaking softly, trying to remember the last time he heard from Lucy.

Natsu shot up the second Gajeel mentioned Fairy Tail "What do you mean? Gajeel? Fairy Tail disbanded? Impossible, gramps wouldn't do that!"

"Dumb as rocks, that's what you are. Yup. Master split up Fairy Tail the day after you took off on this training quest of yours. I'm not going to pretend like I know what's going on with you, that's your own business and I ain't one to dig too much into other people's lives, I honestly don't care. In fact I really don't care what you're doing or when you are coming back, or why. Just wanted to let you know that you're an idiot and thought you might like to know Fairy Tail broke up." Gajeel responded while signaling for Lily to follow. "I'm heading back to the village. Levy and the men are there trying to track down some bandits. Stay away from there till we are gone, I don't want Levy seeing you. Rather just not deal with that right now, she's even more pissed off then I am."

Natsu just sank to the ground and didn't even notice when Gajeel and Lily left the clearing they were in. "Fairy Tail broke up? Impossible. Master wouldn't do that." Grabbing his head in his hands again, Natsu sat silently for some time, Happy watching for a distance knowing his friend needed some time to process this. Happy was silently crying, thinking about all his friends that were now undoubtedly scattered around the country.

Natsu just sat and thought about every memory he had in the guild, the guilt trying to crush him for leaving everyone like that. Finally his thoughts turned back to the blonde mage that took over so much of his mind. "We did all this for Lucy, and now we don't even know where she is. Happy." Natsu looked over to his friend, eyes rimmed with tears. "What do we do now?"

"I'm not sure Natsu. I miss Lucy, but we don't know where she is. And we haven't finished training your new moves yet, I don't think you're ready to go back. Not that there's much to go back to now..." Happy replied sadly.

"I know Happy. I know. I can't help think this is all my fault. I left Lucy to protect her and the rest of the guild by getting stronger, thinking that she would be safe and happy with the rest of our friends. Now that she doesn't even have that, I want to go find her. Maybe she can join us and finish off training, I can take it..." Natsu said to his blue friend. "I miss her so much. I feel so guilty for leaving her since she doesn't have Fairy Tail anymore. What do I do?" Kneeling back on the ground, head in hands, Natsu started to cry from frustration, guilt, and anger at himself. Happy flew over to his friend and snuggled up against him, offering the only support he can while the pink haired man let out his feelings. Both Happy and Natsu were torn between finishing their training to protect their friends and defeat Zeref, or go and find Lucy and make things right between them. Deciding to just spend the day and night camped in the clearing, the two friends comforted each other from the stress and guilt weighing down on them, reaching no final decision.

"Oh wow Lucy, excellent! You certainly have come a long way with your sword training." Yukino praised to her close friend after finishing a sparring match. "You might even be able to take Rogue in a sword fight now!"

Smiling while putting her sword away, Lucy replied "Thanks Yukino! He has taught me everything I know, but still kicks my butt since he's faster and stronger. But I feel more comfortable now with my hand to hand skills in case I lose my keys or run out of magic in the middle of a fight."

The two girls walked out of the training room to grab a shower before lunch. In the past few months Lucy spent every morning she wasn't out on a mission in the training rooms. Some days she would work on her sword skills with Rogue, some days unarmed hand to hand with Sting, and some days building up her magical capacities by summoning multiple spirits and fighting against Yukino. Like clockwork, Lucy would shower and change after training and grab lunch with whoever was in the Guildhall at the time, then she would go to her room to be alone for a few hours to write or meditate. Then she would head out for a jog around town, building up her endurance in case she ever needed to run long distances in the future. A long lap session in the pool followed the run, and then dinner before whatever activity the guild was going to do in the evenings. Some days it was sparring matches, some days a movie would be playing on the lacrima device, or some days she would just spend it alone reading a book in the corner.

Overall, Lucy was content with her new life in Sabertooth. She has gotten to know quite a few members very well, and enjoyed going out on solo or group missions. Yukino was by far her closest friend, followed by Rogue and Sting just because she spent the most time training with them all. But every night before bed, Lucy would look up at the stars and think about Natsu, what he was doing, where he was at, was he thinking about her? Lucy tried so hard to lock all the feelings she had for him away somewhere, but every night she would tear up thinking about him and Happy. Thinking herself pathetic, Lucy never shared these moments with anyone in Sabertooth, so no one really knew how hurt she still was.

Lucy long ago forgave the dragonslayer for leaving her, he wasn't aware of the situation with Fairy Tail, couldn't guess that he would be leaving her before the guild splitting up. Lucy also knew that her best friend most likely had a very good reason for leaving everyone behind, she just wished she knew what it was. She denied to herself that she had feelings for her friend that went beyond that of friendship, admitting that right now would potentially break her even more and she didn't want the additional pain.

Feeling a bit rambunctious today, Lucy decided to finally bring up something that she's had on her mind for awhile to Sting. Finding the dragonslayer was pretty easy, he was always in the guild hall picking a fight or laughing it up, he reminded her so much of Natsu and maybe that's why the two of them get along so well. Resolving herself for the upcoming fight, Lucy walked straight up to Sting.

"Hey Sting, I've been meaning to tell you for awhile now..." Lucy looked up to Sting as she grabbed his full attention, her eyes deadly serious. "Fairy Tail had a pool before you guys, and it was at least twice as big." She finally sang out with a huge smile on her face, watching Sting's entire expression drop from glee to disbelief to finally anger as he took off running towards the blonde. Lucy's eyes got huge as she laughed and sprinted away from him, the chase took them around the guild until Sting finally stopped playing and grabbed her around her waist, dragging her to said pool.

"At least twice as big huh? Well... looks like we will just have to get rid of this one and make it 4 times as big!" Sting rejoiced as he threw Lucy into the pool, laughing as she spat up water and glared up at him.

"Oh you are so paying for that... Gate of the Water Bearer, I open thee! Aquarius!" Lucy screamed out while dipping her key in the water. Sting's eyes got huge as he was blasted with a giant torrent of water, which also ripped out half the surrounding walls in the pool house. Looks like Sting would get his bigger pool after all thanks to Aquarius and Lucy.