Drowning in guilt

Chapter 2

Natsu POV 

I woke up with a HUGE hangover. No wonder, I've been drinking almost nonstop since we all came together! Nah, who cares.  I stand up and look around me, noticing everybody's out cold, even Happy. It seems that the sun just started to rise as I walk up to the Mission board. We seriously need some money for food! Luce just wouldn't "lend" us some money, how mean. So now Happy and I are forced to go on a mission. Maybe I'll ask Luce if she wants to come along, even tough she always says no. But maybe, If I find an interesting Job, she will change her mind and come with us. Now I am all fired up! I stare at the bord. "Come on, something interesting NEEDS to be there" I growl. While I search I didn't realise that Happy woke up and walks up to me, holding his stomach.  "Nat-zuuu... I'm hungry! Can't we go eat some fish?" he whines while his stomach growls really loud.  I turn around, picking up my little blue friend, noticing that mine also growls. Instantly I forget about the Mission and Lucy. "Yosh! Let's go fishing!" I exclaim, pumping my fist in the air and running outside, heading straight to our usual fishing spot. 

~Timeskip, a few hours later at the early evening~

Happy and I stand in front of the Guild doors, our bellys full with fish and some meat. I throw the doors open, one side hitting Gray. "Hey you damn flame brain! What was that for?!" he yells at me. "Not my fault you're so stupid and stand right in front of the doors stupid ice popsicle!!" I growl back at him. Stupid ice princess! Always getting on my nerves like that! "What did you call me?!" a anger -mark appears on his forehead while he smashes his fist in his flat hand, fog  surrounding him (and like magic his shirt disappeared, again) while I light my hands on fire. "Come at me you--" I start before instantly shutting my mouth again. Behind that perv I can sense a really dark aura walk towards us. Only one person has this aura and now she stands directly behind Gray, not looking happy. Right about now even Gray notices the deathly aura behind him, losing all the color in his face, turning white. "Oh sh*t..." I hear him mumble just loud enough so I can hear him. Happy and I gulp. "I think you guys woke her up! Don't drag me in your mess!" he says and flies away as fast as he could. "Oi Happy! Don't leave me alone!" I scream after him but then turn back to Erza, seeing the huge anger-mark on her forehead. When she's got a hangover she was really easy to piss her off after waking up. And that's exactly what we just did. The whole guild now stares at us, waiting for what's going to happen. Gray slowly backs away to Erza and stops right besides me. "That's your fault flame brain!" he hisses at me. "It's yours ice princess!" i snap right back not noticing that we piss the redhead off even more. "You two..." she growls in a low voice, making Gray and me jump and hug each other in fear. "Can't you two just be silent for once?! You're giving me a headache!" she jell, now standing right in front and looking down on us. If looks could kill, we would've died a hundred times by know. She grabs our heads, smashes them together and then trows us to each side of the guild, leaving us knocked out. 

After an hour or so I wake up again. I already forgot what even happened. I spot Happy,Gray, Erza, Wendy and Gajeel sitting on our usual table, so I walk over and sit next to them, starting to party again not noticing a certain blonde walking out of the guild.

I look around the table as I sip on my glass with fire. Somethings... missing? I begin thinking. Of course! Luce! I look around the guild, not seeing her. She hasn't really been with us since we came back together. At first it was really strange, but she always reassured us that everything was okay. So I just shrugged it off. But it is still strange. She wouldn't even go on missions anymore! I sight. I totally forgot! I wanted to ask her to go on a mission with Happy and me! But this time I won't let her back out. I stand up, making the others look at me. "Heading somewhere Natsu?" Erza asks me while eating her Strawberry Cake. "Havel you seen Luce today?" I ask them. "Well... I think I saw Lucy-nee leave just now." Wendy says, looking a bit concerned. Well, everybody was. She just isn't the same anymore. The first day we all came back together we noticed that her eyes were kinda... dull. Her scent too! Now it only faintly smells like vanilla, it wasn't as strong as it used to be. And everybody, who hasn't got our good senses just noticed the depressing aura around her. She would only barely talk, but she still comes to the guild every day sitting alone in a corner. About two weeks ago we noticed how thin she became. Even Happy had nodded at that statement. "I miss Lu-shee..." Happy said sadly, ripping me out of my toughs. "Yeah, me too." everybody says in unison. I grab my blue friend and run to the mission board, continuing  my search for a job. After a few minutes i finally found one. It asked for two mages which were needed to catch some bandits robbing the Town at night. As a reward we'll get 400.000 Jewels. "You think we can get her to come with us to this one?" I ask while grinning at Happy. "Aye Sir!" he said, grinning back. I run to Mira, slamming the paper on the desk. She turns towards us, smiling cutely at us. "What can I do for you today you two? Heading out on a mission again today? Is it just you two?" she asks while eyeing the request. "Nah, we're going to ask Luce to come with us."  I announce happy with a huge grin plastered on my face. At first she smiles, but then begins frowning. "Are you sure she'll come with you? Until now she always declined." she remembers  him, concern for her blonde friend written all over her face. Mira is one of the few Luce would talk to sometimes. But she wouldn't tell anybody what was up with her,  just saying everything was okay. At some point the guild stopped asking her, already knowing the answer they would get. "I'm gonna stay until she says yes!" she sighs but then smiles again. "Hopefully she'll come with you. Maybe you can even cheer her up a little bit." "Aye! I bet we can!" I say while still grinning. She gives us her okay for the mission, so we say goodbye to our friends, explaining our plan, earning a few thumps up and grins. I run out of the building and towards Luce's apartment. 

Images of the old Lucy smiling brightly at us flash before my inner eye. I can't wait until she's like that again. "You think she'll be happy?" Happy asks, flying besides my head. "I bet she will!" I nodded. "You think she's got some fish?" he asks. "I hope so! And meat!" now shaking my head. 'Not the time to be thinking about food now Natsu!' I scold myself. I looked forward again, already seeing the apartment. I stop underneath her window. "Luce? You there?" I yell towards it. Nothing. " Hey Luce!!" I try again. Happy flies up and tries to look inside. "You see something happy?" I ask. He shakes his head. "The curtains are closed!" I growl silently. Jumping up I now sit before it, slightly shaking the frame. After a few seconds it opens and we hop in. I look around and shiver. "So cold!!" I complain while getting goosebumps all over my body. How can it be so cold in fricking midsummer?! I keep looking through her apartment. She's neither in her bedroom, living room or in the kitchen. "Look Nat-zu!" he says grinning while holding a big fish above his head. "Nice! Was there some meat?" he shakes his little head and frowns. "This fish and a old Jar of pickles was literally the only things I found in the kitchen." he says but then looks up to me. "You think.... She already ate all her food without us?!" he asked with a shocked  face, me joining in. "She would never do that!" I say while letting out a small giggle. Snapping back to reality I am now serious again. "But really. Where's Luce?" I ask. "The only room we haven't checked is...." We both look to the bathroom door. "She would've heard us, even if she was in there... right?" Happy asks. Yeah, she would've definitively hear me even in there. Except if she was ignoring us. But that would just be mean. We walk up to the door and opening it. Shocked at what I see I run to the bathtub. "Luce!!" I scream. "Lu-shee!!" Happy joined in letting his fish drop on the floor besides him. Fear written all over our faces. 

xxxxxxx

Long one! I know i mess up the time quite often. It's still kinda hard for me  

to find the right form. But well, hope you like it so far! Over 1500 words this time! 

It's pretty late right now, but I think I'll write chapter 3 now. It's just so much fun to write again.

See ya! 

(Also I have a feeling that I'm not really getting the character of everybody right, but I'll try to improve.)