Found & Forgotten

Chapter 14

Lucy's steps slowed almost unconsciously as the three of them neared where she knew her mother's grave was. She still felt sad and nostalgic everytime she visited her mother; there was so much of her life that she wished her mother had lived to share. However she knew that her mother was still watching over her, and it was this thought, as always that spurred her onwards round the final bend in the path.

Stepping away from Natsu and Happy, she ran her fingers over the familiar words carved into Layla's gravestone.

Layla Heartfilia X748-X777

"Ohaiyo, hahaoya." Lucy said quietly. "How are you? I've been through a lot this time...but you already know that, don't you? Please, help me figure out what I should I do, who I am. Help me find what I've forgotten."

Looking sideways slightly, Lucy was shocked senseless as she saw another plaque next to her mother's.

Jude Heartfilia X746-X791

"Chichi..." Lucy whispered. "You're really gone. I didn't quite- I didn't want to believe it."

"Lucy, are you alright?" Natsu asked worriedly, gently pulling her back up to her feet; without realising, Lucy had fallen to her knees in front of her father's grave.

"Hai," she answered distractedly, leaning on Natsu slightly, needing the emotional support as well as the physical. "It's just a bit of  shock, you know?" She continued. "I didn't want to believe that he'd truly gone."

"I know," Natsu answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"How can you know?" Lucy rounded on him, pushing him away from her. "How can you know what it's like to lose both your parents by 17? I bet both of your parents are still alive and well!"

With that outburst, Lucy turned back to her parents' gravestones, tears rolling down her cheeks. Natsu, hurt, and shocked at Lucy's frankly cruel exclamations, took a deep breath and reminded himself that it wasn't Lucy's fault she'd forgotten about his past, it was the accident's fault...it was his fault.

"I never knew my biological parents," Natsu began quietly, not checking to see if Lucy was listening. "I was raised by the fire dragon, Igneel. He was my father and mother all rolled into one. And then, one day, he disappeared suddenly, without warning, without so much as a note to say where he'd gone."

Lucy sniffed quietly and surrepticiously wiped at the tears on her cheeks.

"And then, I discovered that, after all the years I spent searching for him, he was inside me the whole time. He was protecting me. We'd been reunited all of ten minutes...and he died to save me." Natsu continued. "So I do know what it's like to miss your parents."

Lucy turned to him, fresh tears shining in her eyes. She couldn't say why Natsu's story affected her so deeply, she just knew that it did.

"Gomenasai, Natsu-san," she sniffled again. "I didn't mean to bring up painful memories. This is just a bit of a shock for me, that's all." She peered up at Natsu through her tears, almost scared to see whether he'd forgiven her or not.

"Just Natsu."

Lucy found herself suddenly pulled into a hug. Startled, she stiffened, then relaxed into it as the tears started flowing freely down her cheeks.

"Gomensai," she repeated. "I'm not really sad. I never really liked my father that much. It's just that he was the last tie I had to what I remember."

"You don't need to explain yourself," Natsu told her. Lucy blinked in confusion as he smiled at her. "Just stop crying. He wouldn't want that."

"H-hai." She answered, making an effort to pull herself together. "Let's go and see the house."

Natsu nodded and, taking her hand again, led the way. Lucy glanced back over her shoulder.

"Matta ne, hahaoya, chichi." She whispered.

The walk to the house had given Lucy enough time to recover from the shock and gather her thoughts together. As they ascended the steps, Lucy automatically reached for her key, before remembering that it was back in her apartment. Shrugging slightly, Natsu hammered on the door instead. It was answered by someone Lucy had never seen before.

"Konichiwa," the man greeted, "may I help you?"

"Konichiwa," replied Lucy. "Watashi wa Heartfilia Lucy. Not meaning to sound rude, but who are you?"

"Gomenasai, where are my manners?" Asked the man, smiliing in an embarrassed manner and bowing slightly. "Watashi wa Suzuki Akira."

"Suzuki-san, may I ask why you are in this house?" Probed Lucy.

Akira looked slightly taken aback at her forwardness, but he answered nonetheless. "I live here, Heartfilia-san," he replied. "I bought this house off, I'm assuming your father, after he could no longer afford the upkeep of the place."

"Oh," Lucy was stunned out of words. "Did you buy all the land, too?"

"Hai," relied Akira. "But surely you knew all this?"

"Gomenasai, Suzuki-san," cut in Natsu. "But Lucy has been in a bad accident recently, which has involved a head injury leading to memory loss, so please understand that she is not up to date with events we at the Fairy Tail guild did not know about." Natsu bowed slightly, adhering to the required formalities, although he found them a bit of a pain.

Akira frowned slightly. "Who are you?"

"Oh, gomenasai, watashi wa Dragneel Natsu." he quickly introduced himself. "And this is Happy." He pointed to the Exceed next to him.

"Dragneel-san, Heartfilia-san," Akira bowed to both of them again. "It seems your story is a long and interesting one. Why don't you come in and explain it to me?"

"Arigato, Suzuki-san!" Lucy leapt at the chance, following Akira inside eagerly.

Natsu followed after her, but more warily than she did. He was suspicious of this Suzuki guy, although he had no real grounds for feeling this way. Happy didn't seem to pick up on anything unusual, so Natsu shrugged to himself and followed Lucy inside. At least, he thought, he could protect her this time if anything went wrong.

Ohaiyo minna-san!

Here's the promised update for this fortnight! I'm on holiday now, so hopefully I'll get back to weekly updates on Monday soon.

Due to lack of response to my question last chapter, I won't post a message about updates unless someone asks me to. Also, my favourite Edolas character is definitely Edo-Lucy. She's awesome! XD

As for the Japanese in this chapter (just cos I like mixing in the language, I feel it's more authentic that way):

hahaoya - mother

chichi - father

watashi wa - I am

In reference to the names, in Japan they say their surnames and then their first names, just in case anyone was confused. Bowing is done a lot because they are very polite. Also, -san is an honorific used in general terms meaning Mr, Miss, Mrs, and is polite to refer to someone you have just met by their surname and then -san. Fairy Tail is just weird in that it drops most honorifics, but hey, I'm not complaining!

This is kind of a filler chapter, and I actually have no idea where it's leading...I guess I'll find out when I write the next bit of this part of the story. I think I might go back to the modified Team Natsu next chapter.

As promised, I've put a special thing in the media: it's a Nalu fanart that I drew, just because I needed it to happen.

I think that's all I wanted to say...

Matta ne, minna-san!

AA