Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 44

Even though Lucy was beyond exhausted and upset with the dragon slayer, she still couldn't find it in herself to turn him away. She begrudgingly allowed him to stay on her couch for the night and huddled Happy into her bedroom after her long, taxing emotional rant as she slammed the door in his face.

"I'm sorry Lucy," Happy said, sitting next to the girl on her bed, "I had no idea all of that happened. Neither did Natsu." His ears drooped sadly and Lucy patted his head comfortingly.

"Its fine," she mumbled, "you couldn't have known."

It was silent between the two of them for a few minutes as Lucy sat there, deep in thought.

"Natsu hated it too,"

Lucy's head snapped up at the sound of Happy's voice, the exceed stared up towards her ceiling before fixating on her blanket as he kneaded and stretched out his paws while he talked.

"At the beginning, he couldn't even bring himself to leave your apartment, he scented everything before we left to ensure that you were safe," Happy sighed, "when we left, it was as if Natsu had become that dull, empty shell all over again. I'm pretty sure I even caught him crying once. I'm not trying to undermine how you feel or justify his actions, but he was hurting in the same way as you. He wanted to train in order to become stronger because that battle had cost him everything in a way. When he caught wind of your scent here, he just blindly rushed to you, I don't even think he really grasped the fact that you would be unhappy, he was just so happy to see you."

"Happy, I was such a mess when you guys left," Lucy whispered as the exceed climbed into her lap, cuddling into her, "I lost everything too."

-----

The next morning, Lucy woke up bright and early. Early enough for her to see the morning sun rising from her window. Happy snoozed away on her chest as she yawned, gently moving him to the side so that he could sleep comfortably. Her hair was tangled and nasty, so she grabbed a stray hair tie from her bedside table and pulled it together in a loose bun.

Quietly, Lucy slowly opened her room door, peeking out into her living room. To her surprise, the couch was empty, and as she fully emerged from her bedroom, the entire living room and kitchen area held no signs of Natsu.

There was no way he had left again.

She closed the door behind her as she stepped towards her den. Slightly frantic, she was hasty in the way she stepped around the corner of the dividing wall, and was slightly ashamed that she let out a sigh of relief when her eyes found Natsu.

"What are you doing in here?" Lucy asked harshly, staring at the pink-haired man as he sat on the floor by her large corkboard. In his hands, he fiddled with loose newspaper clippings that held familiar faces of their old guild mates plastered on the front.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Let's not talk about this right now," she dismissed, turning on her heel.

"I didn't know that Gramps disbanded the guild,"

"I know you didn't,"

"I would've come back if I knew,"

"Please, can we talk about this later?"

"No, we can't," Natsu cut her off effectively, "I just—" He growled, rubbing his face furiously with his hand, "I would've done things differently. I just needed to figure things out for myself. I didn't know you felt it too."

"Felt what?"

He groaned again, louder this time. Lucy approached him swiftly, kneeling in front of him, eyes searching his face for an answer. Natsu mumbled something under his breath.

"Huh? What?"

"I've never told you about this because I never wanted this to happen, it just... did," Natsu trailed off towards the end, he found the courage to stare Lucy in her eyes somehow with a gentle, tender gaze, "I wanted to deny it and hide it from you somehow. I wanted you to meet someone and live a good life, get married, have kids, I don't know—whatever you wanted to do with yourself."

"Natsu, what the hell," Lucy huffed, exasperated, "can you please just tell me what's going on here? Otherwise, we could just talk later—"

"I imprinted on you,"

Lucy's body froze.

"I knew from the first day I met you," he stated, "you read the book. You know I can't help it. If I could take it back I would because... it's the reason you're feeling this way, why the distance between us bothers you so much. I was going to tell you, I swear, I was just waiting for the right time but every time I tried to tell you, something happened or got in the way. I didn't mean for this to happen." Natsu stressed to her, looking down at his hands as he fiddled with the newspaper clippings. "I thought humans never connected with the bond the way us dragons do, I thought you were safe from all the complications."

"Y-you imprinted on me?" She squeaked.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," he repeated helplessly, "I just didn't want to scare you away."

Lucy felt like her head was spinning. As if her whole world was turned upside down.

Gajeel was right. Natsu had imprinted on her and kept it hidden because he didn't want to confuse her.

She held her head in her hands as she tried to make sense of everything. What would they do now? Would this change things between them? Would she let this change things between them? When did Natsu get so candid about his feelings, anyway?

"I wasn't even sure if I was going to come back to the guild, I thought that maybe if I just stayed away, things would be better that way," he mused.

"So, what does this mean for us?" Lucy asked quietly, voice only slightly desperate. Did this mean she was losing the one friend that she cherished the most?

Natsu said nothing.

"I'm... incredibly upset with you," Lucy said plainly, "for leaving, for lying, for keeping such a big thing like this from me. I wished you would've told me sooner." She just felt so incredibly exhausted. She moved from her position in front of Natsu so that she could sit beside him comfortably.

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"I know," she sighed, "I know."

Lucy leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling intense relief at the sliver of contact.

"This doesn't mean anything, I'm still pissed," she advised.

"I know," he sighed.

To be continued...