I Want You Back

I have a message

{NO ONE'S POV}
It had only been a few days since Lucy left on her solo mission, but one could already see the difference in Fairy Tail. Natsu wasn't quite so rowdy. Gray tried to pick a fight with him, but he just sat at the bar worrying about Lucy. Mira and Levy were worried too. They sometimes stared at the guild doors, perked up when they opened, only to have their enthusiasm deflate again when the person who walked in wasn't their dear friend.

The last arrival shocked everyone. The girl wasn't a member of the guild, and nobody recognized her. Her wavy brown hair was pulled up in a bun, like she was mourning something, and her blue eyes shimmered with tears. As she walked into the guild, she stumbled slightly, almost sending herself sprawling, except she ran into Erza, who steadied her. She was very nervous.

"Who are you?" Erza questioned suspiciously.

"My name is Tee." The girl replied softly. "I-I have a message for Master Makarov of Fairy Tail."

This confused everyone. By this point, all other conversation had ceased, and everyone stared at the girl is mild interest.

"What is it, brat?" Makarov sat on the bar holding his staff. The girl feared he might whack her with it.

"Um, I have to report..." The girl lost her wits and trailed off. Seeing that the girl was frightened by how Makarov might react, Mira stepped forward.

"It's okay. Just say what you need to say." She smiled lightly, aiming to comfort, and it worked considerably. Tee took a deep breath.

"I need to report the death of one of your wizards." She finally managed to get out. Everyone froze, then got up in Tee's face.

"What!" Gray grabbed and shook Tee by her collar.

"Who was it?" Erza demanded to know after Natsu pulled Gray off Tee and picked a fight with him.

"If they died, they couldn't have been a real man!" Elfman shouted. Tee focused on him.

"You're right." She said. "She wasn't a man. Her name was Lucy Heartfilia." This statement brought a whole new wave of silence. Natsu completely stopped moving, even though he was about to punch Gray. Levy cried out in horror, and started crying into the arm of the person nearest to her, who happened to be Gajeel. Gray turned on Tee again, but Erza held him back.

"Tell us what happened." She demanded coolly, with a dark aura surrounding her. Tee nodded fearfully.

"I've been threatened lately by this guy who stalks me. My father contacted all the wizard guilds, and the one who accepted the job was Miss Lucy. After telling her about the job again, she sat with me. We played games and stuff, late into the night. Suddenly Miss Lucy told me to get down, and this bolt of magic lightning blasted over my head. I would've been dead. Miss Lucy engaged the man in battle, but he seriously injured her and escaped. We tried everything we could, but..." Tee trailed off, crying. "We couldn't just leave her body lying there, so we going to bring her to you, but the man must have injected her with some kind of poison. There's nothing left. I'm so sorry." She sniffled.

"I knew I shouldn't have let her go on that quest. Not alone!" Mira wailed.

"No Mira, this was all my fault." Natsu gritted his teeth and slammed his fists against the nearest table, smashing it. "I was right there. I could have gone with Luce. But I didn't. And now she's gone." Tears poured out of his eyes.

"You're Natsu, aren't you?" Tee recognized his nickname from Lucy's stories.

"How'd you know that?" He glared at Tee, whose eyes widened.

"Miss Lucy was talking about you before she died. She said that she was really sorry." Tee smiled slightly at him. She realized that Lucy was mistaken in her assumption that the father of her child didn't care for her. It was obvious he did. Tee was sad that her new friend would never know it.