Chapter 2

For perhaps the first time in his life, Natsu Dragneel wasn't sick in a moving vehicle. Sure, he didn't exactly feel like doing cartwheels all across the aisles, but his stomach wasn't churning. His face wasn't green as he stared out of the small compartment's window. His skin wasn't slicked with sweat from the sheer effort of trying not to pass out.

He had always suffered from motion sickness – at least, he had since the beginning of his memories. And he'd come to accept that motion sickness was simply a part of him that couldn't be changed. For whatever reason, today appeared to be the exception that proved the rule. Natsu wasn't quite as clueless as the rest of the world seemed to believe. He would probably never win any awards for his brain, but he did in fact know how to use it. And even he knew that this sudden disappearance of his transportation-induced illness wasn't likely to last long.

Truth be told, Natsu barely even noticed the lack of nausea. He was more occupied with the churning of his mind than he had ever been with that of his stomach. He was so occupied, in fact, that he didn't even notice the snickers of his two companions as he watched the scenery fly past.

He did, however, notice them when he found himself suddenly lying on his back on the floor of their compartment.

"Oww." The salmon-haired mage groaned as he slowly sat upright. His head, already hurting from the weight of his thoughts, throbbed from hitting the cold floor. Judging from Erza's blank stare and Gray's prominent grin as he flopped back onto his seat, they were both taking great enjoyment from his discomfort. "What was that about?" he complained.

Erza raised one scarlet eyebrow. "I was talking." she said, as if that explained anything. "You weren't listening. I felt that behavior should be corrected."

Natsu shivered in spite of himself. One glance at Gray confirmed that the other man was suffering from the same disease – one Natsu not-so-affectionately referred to as Holy-fireballs-Erza-is-a-fucking-nutjob-get-me-out-of-here Syndrome. "Err…" he gently cleared his throat. "Right. Sorry 'bout that."

Gray snickered again. "She got so annoyed that she let me teach you a lesson, hot head."

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks for the shove – or was it a kick? I really owe you one, man." Small flames flickered at his wrist as he spoke.

"No, that was me." Erza clarified. "Gray is only responsible for the…rather extensive use of your body as an art canvas."

Natsu was confused for a moment. Then, taking a hint from their pointed stares, he glanced down. What he saw was almost enough to make him fall over.

Every square inch of visible skin was covered in graffiti, doodles, and more than one obscenity.

"What the fuck?" he yelped. Apparently, Erza took offense at his language – she immediately punched him in the gut. "Geez, you guys." Even Natsu could hear the whimper in his voice, but he couldn't manage to hold it back. "Why am I a walking art exhibit, exactly?"

Gray's smirk was so pronounced that it was all Natsu could do not to punch him in his stupid ugly face. "We did warn you." The relish was evident in his voice. "S'not my fault you didn't notice."

"Although I too believe Gray went overboard, he did indeed warn you. He stated his intentions beforehand, and quite frequently during the process as well. You didn't even blink."

"I was thinking." Natsu very deliberately avoided the gazes of his two companions – he was suddenly fascinated with the blurred landscape outside the compartment window. Even with his eyes firmly planted elsewhere, he knew the two of them were staring through the back of his head.

"Natsu." Erza said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. Natsu flinched automatically; he was used to Erza's touch indicating a sudden loss of blood, motion, or consciousness on his part. It took him several moments to realize that she was being gentle with him. Erza Scarlet found it necessary to be gentle with him. That didn't stop her from exerting the slightest bit of pressure on his shoulder, and he found that he immediately knew what she wanted. He slowly turned towards his companions, and their expressions made him want to quickly turn away once more.

"What?" he asked, trying to keep the short question as neutral as possible.

Erza smiled, again gently. "You don't have to worry so much. She doesn't hate you."

"Who doesn't hate me?" Natsu asked, fully aware of Erza's point. It was a game they played, one that allowed him to keep some of his pride while still broaching the subject of the one person he couldn't forget, no matter how hard he tried.

"Oh, come off it." Gray said sourly as he chucked a pair of dirty socks at Natsu's face. The dragonslayer gave a low warning growl, but otherwise said nothing. "Lucy, you idiot. It's always Lucy. Who the hell else could it be?"

Erza shot him another fierce glare. "Don't interrupt, Gray. And kindly put your pants back on." Natsu knew that he had to be out of it if he hadn't even noticed Gray stripping like the weirdo he was. "Natsu, as Gray so eloquently pointed out, we were discussing Lucy. She doesn't hate you. I don't think she's even capable of it." She paused for a moment, but when it became clear that he wasn't going to interrupt, she continued. "Things will be…different…but you're her best friend. You'll work things out."

Natsu smiled glumly. "I wouldn't be so sure of that." he muttered, turning once more to the window and the thoughts that consumed him.

He'd been gone for fourteen months and six days, give or take a few hours. And during each and every one of those days, his thoughts had been consumed with Lucy. Every day, he wondered if it was finally the day she'd forgive him once and for all. He wondered if he'd know when she had, even with all the distance separating them.

He wondered if he deserved to be forgiven.

Natsu had never been the type of person to dwell on such things. His life had always been dominated by what was black and what was white. There were no grey areas, nothing that could cause confusion. Until Lucy, and the way he'd spectacularly ruined the one relationship he never even thought to worry about. His head said that she had to forgive him – she had to. She was his best friend. His partner. The one he went to when he was bored or lonely or excited. Friends forgave one another, even when one friend was an idiot beyond all measure. It was a rule. She could torment him, tease him, work him to the bone – whatever would prove he was worthy of her trust, her regard. But once he proved himself, they were supposed to be them again.

Natsu's heart was much less certain. He'd screwed up. He'd destroyed what they were. He knew they could rebuild. But it wasn't up to him, and his heart knew that Lucy was under no obligation to welcome him back into her own. Despite what Erza had told him time and time again while they were gone – that Lucy would forgive him, that things would work out – he knew things couldn't be so simple.

He couldn't pinpoint the day or time things had started to change. Maybe that was part of the problem – he hadn't noticed until it was too late to stop. His relationship with Lucy had always been, and continued to be, a blurry sequence of colors and sounds, like watching an old lacrima film through a clouded lens with the volume turned down. Then there were other moments that burned so brightly in the back of his mind that he was surprised other people couldn't see it. Every sound, every scent, every touch, every look was a part of him.

There was the day he, Happy, and Lucy had met. The day they'd become a team. The day Lucy was kidnapped by Phantom Lord. There was the time they'd been accidentally transported to Edolas. The time they'd gone to Tenrou Island and everyone had nearly died.

The time she'd almost died during the Grand Magic Games.

The first time she'd found him sleeping in her apartment.

All of those memories were from a time when they were still them. As for the rest, Natsu couldn't be quite sure.

Were they still Natsu and Lucy when he'd passed the S-class exam? He thought so. As always, Lucy had been thrilled for him. She was always the first to encourage him, the first to congratulate him.

What about when she'd quit their team? Were they still a pair then? Natsu didn't know. He'd been furious with her. He didn't understand why she needed to in the first place. So what if she wasn't an S-class mage? She didn't need to be. He could protect her if it came down to that. And if he was incapacitated, Erza could take care of things. Hell, even Gray, cold idiot bastard that he was, could take care of her. What was the fun in going on missions if his best friend wasn't going to come along?

He hadn't spoken to her for quite some time. He felt betrayed, damn it. If she was too good for Team Natsu, then she was too good for Natsu Natsu. Of course, it hadn't taken Erza and Mirajane long to smack some sense into him. He and Lucy had gone right back to the way things were, just…different.

The clearest mark of a change in their relationship came with his exploration of female companionship. He'd never been as stupid as everyone assumed – much of his apparent idiocy stemmed from his complete lack of concern over issues others found important. And because he wasn't stupid, he had some (admittedly vague) concept of what relationships were supposed to entail. But none of it had really mattered to him – women seemed to be too much of an effort, and he was too lazy to care.

Until her. He never found out her name, and he barely even got a glance at her face. But he'd run into her on the street leading out of Magnolia one day. A cascade of dark hair covered her face, and she'd refused his silent offer of a hand to pull her up from the ground. She was gone before he could even apologize. But for whatever reason, the scent of that hair made his heart lurch, and the lines of her form made him realize for the first time just what exactly it was other guys had been getting so excited about.

It was fascinating. It was terrifying. It was confusing. So he went to Lucy. Lucy always had all the answers. Lucy could point him in the right direction.

And she did. Sometimes she laughed at him. Sometimes she sighed. Sometimes she punched him and threw him out of her apartment. But she listened, and she did her best to help. She set him up with girls she'd met in town. She giggled when they slapped him over some perceived slight. She looked amused any time he started babbling about the newest girl he'd met, and annoyed when he described women in slightly too much detail for her taste.

She told him when he'd done something inappropriate. She helped him get dressed. She gave advice as to restaurants, parks, walking paths, the best places to just sit and look at the stars.

Yes, things were certainly different by then. But it was a good different.

And then there was Lisanna. Maybe it was silly, but Natsu thought for the rest of his life, he would separate his friendship with Lucy into a before and an after with Lisanna as the deciding factor.

He didn't know how it happened. One day, Lisanna was just Lisanna. She sometimes did silly things to get his attention, but he barely noticed. She was his childhood friend. She was nice. She was pretty. And that was as far as it went.

Then came the day that Lisanna wasn't just Lisanna any longer. He saw her face everywhere. He could feel her smile in his sleep. She suddenly consumed his thoughts. It was maddening.

Lucy, of course, had known right away. They had been on the couch in her apartment, and he'd made a clumsy effort at explaining how he was feeling. She hadn't said anything, which was odd – normally she gave him all the advice he needed.

But she had smiled. When Lisanna smiled, his heart did flips and his face flamed so much that he had turn away. When Lucy smiled, his heart didn't do flips, and his face didn't heat. When Lucy smiled, he knew things were okay. And he smiled back because he had figured it out on his own.

He'd pursued Lisanna with a vengeance. She pretended not to notice. Natsu wasn't by nature a vain creature, but that had confused him, too – every other girl he'd approached had agreed to at least go on a single date with him with absolutely no persuasion on his part. Lisanna required far more work. She obviously enjoyed his attention, but nothing seemed to work. He was still fairly certain she'd agreed to go on a single date with him just because he was starting to annoy her with his pestering.

To this day, he didn't know what they'd done or where they'd gone. But she'd kissed him when he walked her to her door. Like light hitting clear crystal, his mind had instantly burst into every color of the rainbow. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was it.

The first person he told was Lucy. Just like she had before, she smiled at him, happy to share in his joy. When she hugged him, the clean scent of her soap instantly centered him. Lucy tended to have that effect on him.

He didn't have many clear memories of Lucy after that. His mind had been crowded with Lisanna – her voice, her smile, her smell, the way she used her hands when she talked. She overwhelmed him, and it seemed natural that some of the time he'd once spent with his best friend was now spent with the someone else. Lucy was still there when he went to the guild. They ate lunch, laughed together, watched Juvia stalk Gray relentlessly. He told himself that maybe the relationship was different, but not bad different.

Then one day, Natsu woke up beside Lisanna. He showered with Lisanna. They went into the guild together. He and Lisanna went on a mission. He and Lisanna ate. He used his key and let them into her apartment. He slept in her bed.

And he realized that there was no more Lucy in his life. Somehow, she'd gone missing from his life. He didn't turn to her for help. He didn't need her opinions. He didn't laugh with her or eat with her or do any of the things they'd always done together.

There had been more than a slight pang upon that realization. Things had changed and he hadn't even noticed. Had he just been clueless? Had Lucy noticed the changes? Had she encouraged them?

Did she even miss him at all?

Natsu had promised himself that the next day, he'd do better. He'd make time. He'd make sure that their connection hadn't been severed. He'd be a better friend, he told himself. And he'd make damn well sure he noticed everything from now on.

The next day came, and his good intentions flew out the window. Lucy wasn't there. Mira told him she'd gone out on a mission and would probably be back soon, and he fully intended to wait for her. But his life caught up. Lisanna wanted to do something, and he felt wrong in refusing. He loved her. That meant he owed her his attention whenever it was available, right?

He could still find Lucy. He could still go back. Just not that day.

Days spun into weeks, and his heart grew accustomed to seeing Lucy across a crowded room and offering up a smile and nothing more. She made no attempts to speak to him or even approach him. Obviously things had changed, and it wasn't her fault if he was having a little trouble accepting that.

Then came the day he'd never be able to forget, no matter how hard he tried.

"Natsu." Erza had shouted nearly the moment he'd entered the guild. "Come over here."

Having a very healthy appreciation for Erza's wrath, Natsu did as he was told. "What is it?" he asked, scratching absently at the back of his head.

Erza frowned. "Something's wrong with Lucy. Mira and I tried asking her, but she just keeps insisting that she's fine. I wondered if maybe you knew something we didn't." she explained.

He looked at her with some measure of confusion. "What do you mean, something's wrong with Lucy? She seems fine to me."

"Fine?" Erza questioned, one brow quirked in what might have been fury or concern, he wasn't sure which. "Have you even seen her lately? She's been losing weight. Every time I see her outside of the guild, she's with some strange guy. She's never here, and when she is, she looks dead tired."

He tried to shrug it off. The only other option was to acknowledge that no, he hadn't been paying attention. "So she's dating again. Lucy's always gone through those phases." he said casually.

"This isn't a phase." Erza hissed. "Just look at her! It's barely ten in the morning and Mira tells me she's had six refills on her drink. Would the Lucy you know ever be caught dead acting like that?"

He frowned. "Okay. Okay." Natsu ran a hand through his pink hair, causing it to stand on end. Shit. He'd been a worse friend than he thought. "Okay." he repeated one more time. "I'll take care of it." And he had headed in her direction.

He never doubted that she'd open up to him. He just didn't know how right he would be.

"What's your problem, Lucy?" In his concern, the question came out far more strongly than he'd intended it to.

"I don't have a problem." She had been succinct, far more so than he would have expected from her in her addled state.

He couldn't control his frown. "Don't lie to me, Lucy." he said sternly. "You haven't been acting like yourself. Mira and Erza are worried about you. Whatever it is, you need to snap out of it." If he'd been paying any attention, he would have worried as well. But she didn't care about that. She should care about Erza and Mirajane though. Maybe the thought of their feelings would open her up.

"My, my. How unlike you to notice." Lucy's voice was sharp as she quickly drank what was left in her glass.

The first prickles of shame had crawled up his arms, but he was too proud to admit how close she was to the mark. And pride demanded he defend himself, no matter how right she was. "What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked angrily. He knew he was acting like a wounded animal caught in a trap, but he couldn't seem to stop himself.

The small shrug she gave just made him angrier. "You're never around." she said simply. She obviously couldn't care less, and the only parts of him that weren't angry were hurt. Had his friendship meant so little? "You're usually with Lisanna. And when you are here, you never bother to speak to me past 'hello,' or maybe 'how's it going?' if I'm lucky. It's obvious I'm not important to you any longer, so I'm just shocked you even have the ability to notice that there's anything different about me."

It was all true. And he couldn't handle it. So like the wounded creature, he lashed out. His only thought was to injure her so she'd back off and he could tend to his own hurts. "Seriously? That's what this is about?" Even he could hear the acid tone, but he was too concerned with his own pain to care about hers. "I can't believe that you, of all people, could be so jealous that you made yourself sick!"

Even as he said it, he knew that he was being an idiot. He couldn't admit it though. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

He did at least have the pleasure of seeing her jaw drop. "I'm not sick." she said firmly. "And jealous? Jealous of what?"

His felt the sneer spread across his face, relished it. "Yeah, jealous." His voice was calculated to taunt, to wound her in all the ways she'd wounded him without even realizing it. "You can't stand me being interested in any girl other than you. And you can't stand being too weak of a mage to tag along with the rest of us any longer."

He'd known he was wrong. He felt it in his bones. He heard it in the complete silence that fell over their fascinated guild. And if he hadn't already known, Lucy's sudden and complete lack of color would have clued him in. An apology was almost to his lips when he was interrupted.

"Maybe you two should take this somewhere with a little more privacy." Mirajane said quietly, chewing her bottom lip nervously. "I'm sure you'd rather everyone not hear this."

"It's okay, Mira" Lucy reassured her with something resembling a smile. "This won't take long."

"Look, Lucy…" Natsu began, once again hoping to apologize. She beat him to it.

"Oh, no." Her voice was completely calm and utterly devoid of feeling. It made him sick to his stomach. "I'd rather everyone hear this now so nothing gets misreported by the gossip. So let's be perfectly clear. For the record, you think I'm upset with you and I've 'made myself sick' because I'm jealous of Lisanna. More importantly, you think I'm jealous because I harbor romantic feelings for you, correct?"

He became fascinated by the pattern of the floor. "Um. Yes." he said softly. He would never know why. If he'd been less of an idiot, he wouldn't have lied. He would have said to hell with his pride and apologized. But he didn't.

"Fine." Lucy waved it away as if she was completely unconcerned. "In addition, you think I'm jealous because you're a far better mage and probably always will be."

Even Natsu couldn't lie and say that he actually believed that. As low as he'd already stooped, he was fully prepared to take responsibility for that statement. He had gone too far. He knew it. And the venomous grin she sent him was enough to let him know, once and for all, that he had broken something precious.

"I'm sure you're dying to figure out once and for all just how poor, powerless Lucy feels." Her voice mocked him. And he had known that he would hear her in his dreams, mocking him further still. "That way you'll finally know what distance it's best to keep, and whether you can still be friendly towards pitiful Lucy, or if it's in her best interest to cut things off completely."

Yes, he was curious. He'd let things slip past his, true, but she hadn't made any effort. As cruel as he'd been, he thought that he deserved to know whether or not she'd ever wanted his friendship at all.

The punch to his nose took him entirely by surprise. Lucy wasn't the strongest person he knew, but it hurt like hell. He could feel the blood dripping down his face, and wouldn't have been at all surprised to find she'd broken his nose.

"You are a bastard." she said clearly. Everyone in the guild heard her, Natsu was sure. "All I wanted was my best friend back. S-class or not, single or not. None of that ever mattered to me. All that mattered was that you were my friend." At that, she began to cry, and Natsu knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was scum. Absolute scum. His reasons didn't matter. He'd hurt her, and he couldn't take that back.

Her voice was quiet when she spoke again. "I just wanted a few minutes of your time every now and then. I could have been happy with that, as long as my friend was happy. But now that I know just how low your opinion of me is, it's obvious that I'm the only one who thought we were friends in the first place. So here's your answer, Natsu Dragneel. Cut things off completely. You broke pitiful little Lucy's pitiful little heart, and there's nothing you can do to fix it."

"Lucy!" At the time, he couldn't even fully comprehend what she had said. He just knew that he had made her cry. He'd made her feel worthless. He'd hurt her in every way possible. And he had to fix it. He scrambled to his feet, prepared to physically restrain her until he could convince her to listen to him. "Lucy, wait! I – "

She was gone, and she didn't look back. Gray, Gajeel, and Erza combined had to restrain him to make sure he didn't go after her.

"What have I done?" he mumbled to himself.

To his surprise, it was Mirajane who answered him. "You screwed up." she said calmly. "You heard her. You broke her heart. And we let you."

At her words, his head lifted in confusion. His own fault was clear, but theirs?

Gray smacked him. "Everyone but you knew something was up, dumbass." he said angrily, shoving him into a nearby seat. "You were clueless, but we saw that something was wrong. And we did nothing. You're to blame for being a fuck-up of epic proportions. But the rest of us could have tried harder."

"Damn it." Natsu growled, practically launching himself out of his seat. "I have to find her. I have to –" Suddenly, Erza was blocking his path. "Move it." he hissed, attempting to shove her out of the way in his panic.

"Natsu, if you go anywhere near Lucy before I tell you you can, I will end your very existence." Erza snapped, her eyes furious. "She needs comforting, yes, but you don't deserve that luxury. She has every right to be mad at you, and I won't let you hurt her any more than you already have."

Recognizing the truth to her words, Natsu sunk to the floor. "Damn it. Damn it. Fine, I get it. Just go make sure she's okay. Please."

Erza's eyes were grim as she nodded. "I plan on it. Mira, Levy, I would like you two to accompany me. And as for you, Natsu…until further notice, you are banned from Fairy Tail. You should leave now."

He was too upset to even feel shocked. "Okay. How long am I out for?" he asked dully.

"Oh, I think Lucy should be the one to decide that." Mirajane interjected. "You can come back when she comes with you."

"An excellent idea, Mira." There was a ghost of a smile around Erza's mouth. "You heard her, Natsu. Now leave."

The only thing left was for him to do as he was told.

The next few weeks were pure torture. Erza informed him of her great displeasure should he attempt to disturb Lucy. However, she said nothing about stalking her – Natsu figured that falling prostrate at her feet when she left her apartment to buy food wasn't strictly against the rules. But Lucy never left. No one from the guild was speaking to him, the sole exception being Erza. Lisanna changed her locks. And Happy, who had long ago formed his own household with Charle, had informed him that he had been disowned. Natsu was too depressed to even argue that that was an impossible thing, seeing as how out of the two of them he was the parent figure.

But he thought his luck had changed when Mirajane cornered him on Lucy's doorstep. "You can try. Everything else is up to Lucy." was all she said, but Natsu could feel some of the pressure lifting.

Almost immediately, he'd tried her bedroom window. It was unlocked. If Lucy had been angry, she would have kept it locked, or so he thought. As he settled himself into a chair, he heard her moving about in another room. He decided to wait for her, and in moments, the stress of the past few weeks had him drifting off to sleep.

All too soon, that sleep was interrupted by a light shove. Even as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he knew it was her. And he could smell her anger and her annoyance.

But he tried. Whatever else could be said about him, he did try. He plead his case. And it wasn't enough. She'd forgiven him, yes. But she didn't trust him.

She didn't want to trust him. With all her speeches about him breaking her heart, how could she not realize that she had shattered his? To know, once and for all, that he was fully at fault was nearly unbearable. She'd made some mistakes – the most important one being her assumption that he hadn't missed her or her company – but even that was mostly his fault. But she couldn't trust him, and that made him realize just how much he'd carelessly thrown away.

She wasn't cruel. Even in her sadness and her pain, she didn't know how to be. She offered to get him back into the guild – as if that mattered right now – and to let him try and prove her wrong about him. But she wanted – needed – space and time away from him. And her smile was sad. It told him everything he needed to know.

There could be no going back.

So he did what she wanted. When she told him to stop by her apartment, he did. When she pulled him to sit next to her at lunch, he let her. He laughed when she made jokes. And while they pretended that everything was just fine, he grew to despise himself more and more.

It was a relief when Lisanna broke up with him. She loved him, he knew, but the time where he could exist solely for her was gone. She didn't understand why he'd done what he'd done. And she couldn't understand who he was becoming.

The weight lifted when Lisanna said goodbye. She was better off, and so was he. But that weight grew even lighter as he and Lucy made a show of drifting further apart once more. Being near her was physically painful. The only person who could have been happier when they both decided to throw themselves into their work was Lucy herself.

He could see the weight lifting for her as well. And that was when he decided to leave. Maybe if he left, they could both recover. And if and when he returned, they would have a shot at returning to something that wasn't just the sound of a heart breaking over and over again.

He told the master that he wanted to go away, as far as he could manage and for as long as he could. Makarov was initially unwilling to even consider the idea. He insisted that Natsu wasn't ready for the five year mission on his own. Natsu didn't care. And, recognizing that eventually he would just leave without warning, the master relented. The condition was that Gray and Erza both accompany him. Between the three of them, they estimated they would be back in about a year. Everyone insisted that was enough time, but nobody mentioned that he and Lucy would both be using that time to heal.

Once they were the best of friends. Now they were a taboo. So it was only natural that Lucy didn't see him off as he left the guild with his two companions. He told himself he had a year to learn how not to care. Somehow, things would be easier in a year.

Except things weren't any easier now than they had been before. As the train pulled into the station, Natsu found himself doing everything possible to slow their progress. He took as long as possible to scrub his skin clean of Gray's doodles. He pretended to lose the little luggage he'd brought along. He even contemplated running somewhere, anywhere, until he was so far away they'd never find him.

But it wasn't to be. Gray and Erza practically dragged him from the station, and in no time at all, they were standing in front of Fairy Tail itself.

"Go on, you coward." Gray elbowed him, but his expression was almost concerned. "She doesn't bite."

"I think we should wait until you put some clothes back on." Natsu said desperately, unsure if the ice mage had even been up to his usual clothing-related tricks or not. Thankfully, he was missing several articles of clothing like normal. "Juvia might faint otherwise." For the first time, a small smirk crossed the pink-haired man's face. "You know how she gets."

"Juvia will be fine. She's seen Gray naked before." Erza insisted, ignoring Gray's bright flush. It was common knowledge that the two mages were interested in one another. They were just too awkward to work up to courage to get anywhere. "Now quit stalling, Natsu. You can't avoid her forever."

Sure enough, as they walked through the doors, his eyes found her immediately. In the split second before the guild erupted into cheers, he watched her avidly. She was turned away from him, but he could see her profile. And she was smiling. Maybe it wasn't the smile he knew and loved, but it wasn't the one that made it hard for him to watch. As his stomach kicked up a fuss, he wondered if maybe, just maybe, she was willing to let the past stay in the past. All he wanted now was to move on.

"They're back!" the first voice cried, and his moment of reflection was lost. Immediately, all three mages were surrounded, and it was hard to pick out individuals in the mass of people. Natsu said all the right things, exchanged hugs or punches where appropriate, but his eye frantically looked for a shock of blonde hair and a pair of big brown eyes.

And he found them. It took twenty minutes, but he found her. She met his eyes. His heart lurched too violently for him to form words.

But she smiled. And though her voice had a slight catch to it, it was there. "Hello, Natsu."

He had to clear his throat several times before he could make it work. And even when the words came, they were nothing eloquent. "Hi, Lucy."

It was enough for now.

A/N: Thanks for the truly wonderful response to the first chapter! This one is another long, dramatic one, but we should be fairly humorous from here on out. I am not the most regular of updaters, so check back often for new content. I'd love to hear from you guys, so drop by and leave me a review or two if you like!