The NaLu Chronicles

Transformation

Natsu glanced at his watch for the third time in the last hour. Her plane had been delayed and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't getting anxious. Four years was a long time. Too long, by his estimate.

Gray was trying to get in as much reading as he could before she got there. Lucy had warned them last week that she was going to quiz them on their comic book knowledge as soon as she saw them. Of course, they'd had more time than just the last week to prepare. When they met her back in third grade, she'd been a geek of the highest order and had managed to turn both of them onto the awesome world of graphic novels and sci fi. Unfortunately, since she'd left to study abroad when she was 13 years old, they didn't have her on their backs to see if they'd read the latest issue of whichever series she was currently obsessed with. And, as was common with them, they let their reading slide in favor of others things, like girls and partying.

But, she was finally coming home. Or so the giant 'Welcome Back Lucy' board they had folded up and waiting said. Lucy kept in contact with them, of course. She sent long, rambling letters every two weeks, telling them about all the amazing places she'd been and what she was studying. Natsu wasn't as good at keeping up with those letters. For every two or three of her six page letters there was one, sloppily written reply, his chicken-scratch slanted to one side, looking odd against her flowery, flowing writing. But he did write her, and miss her. Constantly, actually. The last time he saw her, she was all arms and legs, her thick, curly blonde hair constantly being dragged back into a ponytail to get out of her face. And the braces, couldn't forget the braces. The image in his head made him grin, though.

Simpler times, he guessed. Back when it was just him, Gray, and Lucy, riding bikes in the driveway and talking about the motivations of the antiheroes in her comic books. Drinking root beer and eating whatever snacks Mavis, his nanny, cooked up, talking about how the teachers were always getting on Natsu's back for his spelling while praising Lucy for her everything.

It was no surprise when she got into the study-abroad program. She was a genius. Literally. His mother used to tease him that she had no idea what a smart girl like Lucy Heartfilia was doing hanging around with a pair of boys who looked for any excuse not to do homework. He wondered sometimes, how different things might have been if she'd stuck around. He'd probably have better grades. Not because Lucy would ever do his homework - that was a huge no no - but because she would have studied with him and tutored him, specifically through that particularly difficult algebra class in tenth grade. It was only one of many reasons he missed her. Her ability not to make him feel dumb, but to help him through something that he was struggling with without getting frustrated.

Lucy had been his best friend since he was 8 years old. One of the other boys had shoved her off the swings and she'd scraped up her knees. Despite the tears he could see in her eyes, she stood up and told the boy that it wasn't nice and she wanted him to apologize. She was tiny. Possibly the smallest girl in their entire class, but standing there, with her hands on her hips and her chin raised, she looked so much bigger than all of them. And she was pretty. Her blonde hair in two braids with blue ribbons. He was a little star struck at first. First crushes and all. He intervened when the boy refused, moving to stand at her back and reassert her demand for an apology. She got one and turned on her heel to tell Natsu she didn't need his help, she was doing just fine without him. He grinned and told her friends helped other friends. Apparently that was the right thing to say because she smiled then, and, well, that was that. He introduced her to Gray, who was currently hanging off the monkey bars, and they were an inseparable trio from there on out.

Sometimes they got in trouble. And by 'they' he mostly meant him and Gray. Lucy was there out of solidarity to the both of them, but, truth be told, she was usually the voice of reason trying to tell them that no, they definitely shouldn't break into the nurse's office and raid her sucker supply. And no, it was very much a bad idea to TP the principal's house or steal Max Brock's bike just because he put gum in her hair yesterday. But, she was there, because they were her boys, and even if she didn't agree with them, she knew they'd do it anyway, and she might as well try to keep them out of too much trouble. Loyal. That's what she was. To a fault, probably.