Calm Before the Storm

Natsu

One word to describe her: Gold.

Natsu wasn't sure why, but to him, everything about her appeared to be glowing. Her eyes, hair, skin, all her features lit up his world. All this made him wonder what her smile was like. Since she'd woken up an hour ago, Natsu had gotten her out of bed, cleaned up a little, and was currently out for a walk. But her expression stayed the same; sad. She would smile at him whenever he did something nice, or whenever she caught him staring her, but it wasn't real. That smile, though still very much pretty, was only on the surface. It had no depth to it, and Natsu was determined to get her to smile.

He couldn't blame her for being sad though. After all she could remember nothing about before he had found her lying on the ground unconscious. Whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant for her, Natsu knew, because drop after drop the tears kept on coming for a while after she opened her eyes. However, the girl knew nothing to why she was crying.

"Where are we going?" Her voice jolted Natsu back to the present.

"There's a place where we go all the time. It's just at the end of the road."

"'We'?"

"Yeah; my friends and I. Usually we're at Fairy Tail, but when we get a break we go there." He looks over and sees the confusion in her expression. "Fairy Tail is what people around here calls the fire department. There's not only firefighters in there though. There are police, rescuers, doctors, and a lot more."

She gazed off into the distance as a cloudy look covered her eyes. "That's nice."

Natsu being Natsu, he didn't notice her expression in her words. "Yeah," he smiled his trade-mark grin, all teeth. "If we're lucky, some of them will be at the cafe and you can meet them. Well, unless you see Gray. That pervert needs to learn how to keep his clothes on."

Before he knew it, they were there, standing in front of a squat building with a small balcony. It had roofs a few shades lighter than Natsu's hair, with faded, ochre wood planks covering the floor and walls. Inside, it was bustling with energy. All kinds of people got together, talking and working. This was Natsu's second favourite place in the world.

He spotted Elfman and Lisanna at a table. He waved to them looked beside him to speak to the girl-

She was on the ground, clutching her head in her hands, hair entangled with her pale fingers, and a dreadful expression on her face. The girl's mouth was shaped into an 'O' in a silent scream. Her eyes were shut tight, and there were tears pooling at the corners. It cried out 'agony' in all ways possible.

Natsu dropped down beside her and tried to so0th her with no avail. Her breathing was chopped and irregular.

"Hey," Natsu screamed. "Hey!"

Mirajane, the bartender, came running up beside him. There was already a crowd forming a circle around them but Natsu didn't notice his surroundings at all, too worried about the girl.

Mirajane slowly kneeled down beside Natsu. "What happened?"

"I took my eyes off of her for just a second and then she was on the ground like this." His blood was boiling, head pounding, confused. "She just woke up from being unconscious, Mira-san."

The bartender looked at Natsu with gentle eyes. "It's alright, Natsu, I can take care of her from here." She scooped up the girl, her golden hair stuck to her face with sweat, eyes wide open, looking but not seeing. Mirajane walked back inside, and all Natsu could do was watch the limp body in her arms.