The Worst Choice of my Life (a Gratsu fanfic)

Pt. 7

I felt a presence beside me and opened my eyes. I saw Elfman looking at me. I smirked, remembering what Bickslow had said.

"Are you and Evergreen really dating now?" Simple and quick to the point, it's just like me. I watched in amusement as Elfman's face turned from concerned to embarrassed as a blush quickly spread over his face as he processed my words. He quickly turned away before making eye contact with me again.

"Who told you that?" He looked mad and seemed to try his best to make his voice sound mad too. Too bad that voice crack was loud as day.

I processed his question. 'Should I sell him out? Well, he did say that it was their fault.'

"Bickslow." I said monotonously. His eyes widened and within a second went from shocked to mad. I heard him mumble something like "I'm gonna kill that guy". I laughed eternally. "So, I'll take that as a yes?"

He choked on who knows what. "W-well u-um you s-see...y-ye..I MEAN NO!" That last part made some people look our way. I burst out laughing and I heard Happy snicker a few times next to me. The beast mage glared at us. This went on for a few more minutes before my laughter started to die out. I got back up onto my chair with my breathing still a little uneven and wiped away the remaining tears in my eyes. I haven't felt this like myself in a while.

A few more seconds later I kill my laughter and put on a genuine smile. "Well, as long as you're happy, there's no reason to hide it." I said, sounding and feeling a lot more like myself. 'Maybe even I can learn to move on.'

Elfman's face was a complete red; whether that was from anger or embarrassment, I'll never know. But the next thing that happens is he confesses to the guild. The hall explodes into cheering and laughter while everyone goes to congratulate the two. I smiled to myself, putting my head in hand with my elbow propped up on the table. 'I did that' was all I could think. 

Before I caught his eyes. 

I looked away, feeling all the pain come back to me. 'That was us once...' was what now filled my mind. I felt tears - a lot of them - burn the corners of my eyes, threatening to fall out. I let out a couple silent sobs, my breathing starting to become uneven and hitched. I felt a tightening at my chest while his words and flashbacks come flooding back into me. I felt like I was going to burst, until I felt a hand on my back. They then held me and whispered soothing words to me, telling me things like 'You'll be okay' and 'Don't worry, I'm here' and before I knew it, I was calm again. I felt drowsy and let myself be consumed by sleep. I opened my eyes one more time and caught sight of white hair before falling into a deep slumber.

"Is he gonna be alright?"

"Dear heavens! What happened to him?"

"I'm trying my best but I think that's all the healing I can do."

"I'm pretty sure he had something close to a seizure."

I was still sleepy. I could tell by the smells that there were 5 people in the room, not including me. Actually, I think Happy and Carla are in here so that makes 3 people and 2 exceeds. However, those were the only scents I could put an owner to before blacking out again.

"Natsu? Natsu! Please be alright..." 

I slowly opened my eyes. I quickly shut them again before adjusting to the light. Happy, Carla, Wendy, Juvia, and Lisanna were hovering over me. Once they saw my eyes open, their worried faces broke into smiles.

"Oh, you're okay! Natsu, I was so worried!" Happy jumped onto me and cried.

"Stupid tomcat! You need to give him his personal space right now, do you not remember what he just went through?!" Carla demanded, switching into her human form and pried Happy off me.

I sat up but felt a sharp pain in my head. I put my hand up to my head before propping myself up into a sitting position again.

"What happened?" I asked no one in particular.

"Well, it looked like you had some kind of seizure and Happy was yelling for help but nobody could hear since it was so lively in the guild hall at the time." Wendy explained with a sad smile. "But Lisanna heard and came to help you. Then you fell asleep so she had Juvia help carry you back here before calling me to come heal you."

'Oh, so the person who hugged me and calmed me down was her.' I looked over at Lisanna and smiled, as a form of thank you. She smiled back.

Wendy and Carla left a while after I got out of bed and Happy followed them. Juvia said she had to go too a little while after that so that left me with Lisanna.

I smiled at her. She saved me. ...learn how to move on. The faster the better... Zeref's words came flooded back into my mind. Maybe, just maybe, I could, with her...

"Hey, thanks again for saving me back there." She was cooking up something. 

"Well, that's what friends do right?" She replied, not even turning around.

Lisanna made some soup. It wasn't anywhere near as good as the foods Carla makes but it was still good nonetheless. She left after we finished up eating and Happy came back just around that time as well.

"Hey Happy, it's still early... Wanna go to the lake to fish a bit with me bud?" The feline's eyes lit up at the word fish. 

"Aye!" He said happily.

This time, the sun had already set. It was setting when we were walking over to the lake. But the view was just as beautiful - if not, more. The water's surface reflected the night sky so you didn't have to look up to see the stars. Although it was quite dark and the trees were reduced to shadows, it still felt warm and welcoming. The light gusts of the night blew against the water, making little ripples on the surface; breaking the reflection a bit. I closed my eyes and let my nose and ears take over my senses. The sounds of crickets were the loudest, chirping away, minding their own business. Every now and then, you could hear some beautiful wolf howls off in the distance. The tasteless cool air felt nice against my hot skin as my hair and clothes flew gently along with the breeze.

"Hey, it's pretty late now, are you sure that there will be any fi..." I tuned Happy out, not hearing a word he said. Little did I know, he stopped because he was admiring how free and relaxed I looked now. It's been a while since I even felt that. 'The little things in life...'

I opened my eyes. I lowered my gaze to see Happy looking at me with admiration and, well, happiness. I smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry buddy but I didn't think it would become dark before we got here, I guess I thought we had more time." I didn't catch it then but I had spent a lot of my time just admiring the views as we were on our walk.

I then thought of Lisanna. Maybe I could make this work. If she agrees, then everything will get better now! Right?