Disclaimer: Fairy Tail does not belong to me.

She stands amidst the rubbles, the once vibrant and boisterous guild reduced to a state of ash and debris, and she stares. The flag bearing their guild's symbol is tattered and torn, much like her heart as she feels it shattering with the departure of one guild mate after another as they head towards new goals, beginning new journeys. She surrounds herself in the sea of broken fragments, of memories from time long forgotten and the hollow feeling of loneliness.

She kneels amidst the rubbles, grieving for her lost home.

.

News travel fast in small towns like Magnolia, even more so with so with distressing news such as Fairy Tail's disbandment. The idea of such a tight-knit guild breaking up without a moment's notice is ludicrous, and Jason would have shrugged it off as a baseless rumour if it had not been for the eerie silence that loomed over the city as dawn broke.

"Are we going in for the scoop, Jason-san?"

An overly eager intern makes the comment, obviously new and oblivious to the gloom this news brings. He tries to impress his mentor, and such breaking news is definitely not an everyday occurrence. He is sure that his mentor would be overjoyed, and he is surprised when Jason makes a move to leave. Before he steps out of the door, he mutters quietly.

"This is not a scoop."

.

Eventually, Jason is forced to do his usual in depth research and produce his cover on Fairy Tail's disbandment but even he cannot stop the endless flow of memories of the notorious guild rampaging through the town and wreaking havoc in every city they travel to, of the guild master who have endless complaints about his kids causing trouble but always protects them, of the loud but inherently kind members with endless trust for each other, of the years and years of stalking them and capturing them on footage, and he feels a pang in his chest.

For good or for worse, it was to his knowledge that many of the guild members have went on their separate ways, journeys that took them far away from the familiar city of Magnolia. His boss, a stingy balding old man, would never finance him to scour such distances to interview them, even for such a huge article and for once he is thankful. With a guild like Fairy Tail who have too much emotions, too much goodness, he is unable to bring himself to witness their pain, one he is entirely too sure they are feeling.

He writes the article with forced enthusiasm, allowing his experience to take over and his hands move involuntarily, weaving words and past stories with as much as detachment as he can.

He thinks it is the worst article he has ever written.

.

A month after the uproar that erupted the town at the news of the dissolution of their loved guild, things have settled down and life moved on. The city is noticeably quieter, and talks of Fairy Tail have dwindled. There is a knock on the door and he wonders if it is the new intern his superior had accepted. The last one had left of his own accord, unable to withstand the massive amounts of research that had to be done before his article could even be considered to be published. Jason was nothing if not thorough, and while goofy during show time, he does treat his work seriously. He is not the top journalist for nothing.

"Come in."

He calls, hoping that this time at least, the new intern would have the patience to last a month and not give up halfway through because he always had to pick up after those selfish brats who had leftover work and if there was one thing he hated more than deadlines-

His mind literally stopped its train of thoughts, as in walked Lucy Heartfilia.

.

Jason had not expected this.

He did ample research on the blonde in front of him in the past but nothing had informed him that she was a writer. She is good looking- albeit falling short when compared to Mirajane- and busty- nearly as big as Erza's- but other than that, his impression of her had been nothing impressive. He knows for a fact that she grew up as the pampered heir of the Heartfilia Konzern, and is a celestial spirit user and he wonders what on earth the mage could possibly want coming to his office, because surely she isn't the new intern. Lucy gives a light cough and offers him a small smile. He scoffs, not aloud of course, at the idea of a mage working as a journalist-

"Please take care of me, Jason-senpai."

And his doubts were cleared.

.

When Lucy starts working under him, he wasn't expecting much and it is safe to say that she has impressed him. She is meticulous and tidy, her research bundled and colour coded with notes carefully annotated in her neat handwriting. All these he would have expected from someone of her upbringing, but what took him by surprise was her intelligence. For someone who have been brought up in silk and robes, Lucy is incredibly sharp-witted. She is quick to pick up on loopholes in different articles, analysing and joining pieces together, offering a theory that while never heard of before, is plausible. Jason has been in the field for years, and never had he have an intern of her calibre.

As she follows him out for research and capturing of footages, he learns more about her than he ever did from his research. She is enthusiastic and passionate about writing, her hazel eyes lighting up whenever she gets a new inspiration. He discovers her quirks, like chewing on the end of her pen and how carefully she takes care of her novels, painstakingly wrapping each book with a thick sheet of plastic to prevent it from creasing.

He also sees how much she has changed from the open, loud young girl she once was. He remembers going to the guild in the past to interview Titania or Salamander, and how she tried to capture his attention in the most obvious ways, sulking whenever he ignored her as he focused on getting exclusive information from Titania.

Granted, she is short-tempered and he realises that she has a low tolerance for him entering her workplace unannounced, but her inner feelings are closely guarded and he notices that she never talks about her guild. Jason is perceptive and it is what led him to the top, but even he doesn't know what is behind those cloudy eyes when he watches her staring at the memorial built in honour of her guild, or when she appears in their office building with her guild insignia drawn over her hand in pink ink. He watches as her eyes light up with hope every time they come across an article with rumoured sightings of dragonslayers, or of a town with endless rain and sky sisters reuniting. He watches as her fingers unconsciously roam across the figures on the article with a sad smile as she looks at them with longing.

All of this, Jason watches from the corner of his eyes as he is a bystander, a journalist in every regard as he collects and catalogues these moments in his mind. He wonders how long she can continue to reel her emotions in before it bursts, her heart shattering along with it

Her third month into the job, he waits for her to break.

.

Jason discovers that Lucy is a light drinker, and that giving her alcohol is probably not a good idea as he prods her intoxicated self.

"Lucy-chaan," He whines as he tries to get her to sober up, nudging her with his elbow this time, because he too is tired and the last thing he wanted to do was to carry her all the way back to her apartment. But maybe he should have considered this before dragging her off to the bar after work. But then again he hadn't known what a light drinker she would be. But then again he really really doesn't want to carry her back to her apartment-

"Mmmffh," she mutters.

Screw it.

He grunts as he heaves her onto his back, beginning the agonising journey to her house. Lucy is heavy, he thinks as he huffs. He is a reporter for goodness sake, and physical abilities are not required in his field of work, leaving him more exhausted than normal as his meagre strength depletes. He feels a cool finger tracing his jaws and she is breathing down his neck and he stiffens because he is male, damn it-

"Purr like a cat, say nyaaa."

He sighs. It's going to be a long way back.

He finally reaches her apartment and his back feels like it is going to collapse any minute now. Lucy had fallen asleep along the way, giggling at absolutely nothing and spurting random nonsense, and he had enough. He was exhausted damn it, and he wanted to go back and sleep. He digs her purse for her keys and opens the door to her apartment, struggling as he stumbles into her apartment and deposits her on her bed. He sighs, and moves to leave when he notices the huge board spanning across her wall.

On it were the articles she collected over the months of Fairy Tail members, colour coded and annotated with her neat handwriting, the exact manner she uses for research- nothing if not meticulous. According to her reserach, Erza had been on a northern island getting rid of forest vulcans that raided the local village, Wendy had joined Lamia Scale and became half of the sky sisters, the Strauss sisters working in a family restaurant in east Magnolia, the iron dragonslayer accepted as a captain in the magic council, the list went on.

Nothing on the Salammander.

He should really be getting back considering he's in her apartment uninvited, but as he stares at the board spanning across her wall, he can't help but empathise with her. Everyone she loved, loves had moved on while she remains alone in the city, searching and hoping for a dream long dead- he feels a pang in his chest but there is nothing he can do.

"Natsu.."

He hears a soft whisper behind him, followed by a sniffle and some shuffling.

"Natsu?"

He leaves.

.

A little over a year passes since she first joined. Lucy had never stopped in her search for her family, and along with her undying pursuit he begins to hope as well. He never understood the reason behind Fairy Tail's disbandment, and never asked her for clarification either, so it remained a mystery unsolved. Recently, he had begun to think that the town is a little too peaceful, and he misses the destruction the unruly bunch causes in their wake. He hands every article involving her guild members to her under the guise of it being too troublesome and tedious to cover, and although no words were said, he knew that she knew. That she had a supporter, that it was fine to hope.

On the day of the Grand Magic Games, he sees the back of her hand in pink ink, and he gives a little smirk. An offhanded comment on how boring the year's game had been, giving her a knowing look at her comment that 'Fairy Tail doesn't exist anymore', he intended to tease her more when suddenly she stiffens, and a gush of searing hot air explodes into the arena.

In the heat, he feels the articles of his clothing melting and dripping down his body, hears the loud yells that once filled the streets, sees the frozen expression on her face as a blue cat hovers above her.

"Yo, it's been awhile hasn't it, Lucy!"

The rambunctious dragonslayer grins up the stadium and Jason watches as the shock starts to leave her. Her walls start crumbling down as the inferno sweeps through the arena, a tuft of pink hair in the midst of it, a carefree grin sported on his face with his hands up in greeting. Jason watches as her hazel eyes starts to clear and although filled with sadness, it is warm.

He doesn't know what happened between them, but as he watches a genuine smile breaking out on her face, he knows that Fairy Tail is not over.

Jason sees everything the best, being the bystander he is.