Trust

Combine | 兼備

Though there were many new voices, and though Lucy was beyond excited to find whoever they belonged to, she still had enough sense to not run over there and immediately make herself known.

Regardless of her excitement, she knows that she should be at least a bit wary of these mysterious voices, especially since they're the only other people here and if they turned out to be hostile, it'd be however many they are versus just her.

Not very good odds if you ask her.

So, she hid behind one of the many enormous crystals that were able to shield her body from view and waited. The voices she heard before sounded like they were approaching her location so rather than finding them herself, she would wait for them to come to her so she would at least have the advantage of being unknown.

The voices didn't disappoint either, coming closer and closer to her to the point where she could hear their footsteps and count how many people there were. Assuming they all had two legs, she counted around four people, one of them much younger than the rest.

As they were mere meters away from her, whatever conversation they were having faded away and somehow, their attention shifted to her.

"There's someone there."

Lucy's eyes widened for more than one reason.

"I can smell 'em over there. I'm going to go see who it is."

Nonononono—

With every step taken towards her, she could feel her heart start to beat even more sporadically.

"Behind this crystal, I think."

With one swift movement, the person bent down and tilted their head to look behind it.

"Yo!" They cheerfully exclaimed. "I'm Natsu, who are you?"

With that one sentence, Lucy crawled backwards and could feel her breathing quickening, the only thing stopping her from full on panicking being the question he asked. Who are you, he said. They don't even remember who she is. It can't possibly have even been that long for them. It's been a few months for her so it should be the same for them (assuming time moved the same), yet they've forgotten her, wiped her from their memory already.

Gods, Lucy feels like she's going to cry.

She really meant so little to them that mere weeks apart were enough for them to move on and erase her from their mind even though she sent a letter to them too, one she knows was delivered thanks to Loke.

"Lucy." She said through shaky breaths. "My name is Lucy."

"Luce, eh? Cool name." Then, he tilted his head back again and called for the rest of his group.

Hold on—if he's here with a group, doesn't that mean that they're—

"Natsu, did you find someone—oh! Hello there, my name is Erza Scarlet, Fairy Tail mage. Who might you be?"

It is them. All of them. And all of them have completely forgotten who she is. This day cannot possibly get any worse.

"Lucy!" She heard yet another familiar voice call out to her, one that she has considerably more fond memories of. "Lucy, how are you here?! First Master said you were gone for good."

Wendy remembers her? So she hasn't been completely forgotten by them.

"Lucy? That Lucy? The one that everyone reacted to with borderline disgust?" Gray peered down at her hand where she had yet to put her fingerless glove back on. "Look, she has the insignia! It is the same Lucy!"

Ah, shit. So the guild hasn't forgotten her then, just her former team. Or, well, only Natsu, Erza, and Gray seemed to have forgotten her, Wendy still remembers and Happy and Carla aren't here so she can't ask them.

"Ohhh, that one!" Natsu cheerfully exclaimed. "Say, Luce, when did you join Fairy Tail, was it when we were on a job or something? Because none of us seem to be able to remember who you are."

When she joined Fairy Tail? Natsu, the man who brought her there, who fulfilled her dreams of joining it, asking her how she someone managed to join the guild? If she wasn't so scared right now, she would've laughed.

"Actually Natsu, you brought me there. You were the one who saved me then had me join Team Natsu. I was there for the Tower of Heaven, I was there for Ultear and Jellal and Lyon, I was there for bringing Gajeel to the guild and defeating Phantom Troupe—who were there in the first place to kidnap me—I was there to bring Wendy back, I was the only one able to still use magic in Edolas and help to bring Lisanna back, and I was there for the S-class trials on Tenrou Island. I was there, at the forefront, of every major event in the guild since I joined and none of you—except Wendy for some reason—seem to remember."

Lucy could see the cogs turning in Natsu's head, his brows furrowing as he tried to think.

Hah, he never does change, does he.

"Lucy," Wendy said timidly, trying not to upset her after her outburst, "can we talk for a second?"

Her hardened eyes softened a bit and she agreed, leading Wendy far enough for Natsu's dragon slayer senses to be unable to hear them. Unlike the rest of them, Wendy is the only one she can still think fondly of, the only one who didn't treat her like absolute shit, who tried to get people to stop. It didn't work, but her trying was more than Lucy would've ever asked for.

"Um, so... There's a reason why only they don't remember you." She nervously mumbled. "And... I think it has something to do with why you're here and why we're here."

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A/N: I actually know how next chapter is going to go for once and I can't wait for it. I was originally going to make her meet Levy or Mira or someone else from the guild that wasn't Team Natsu but as I was writing this I changed my mind because it makes more sense for them to meet them. Anyways, hope you enjoyed :)