The Daily Lives Of Fairy Tail Students

Chapter 13: Comfort

Natsu feels his heart drop as he sees the sight of Lucy crying silently and painfully. Struggling desperately to fight back the heavy flow of crocodile tears. With the slight hesitation to walk over, in case he makes it worse. He approaches her slowly.

"Lucy...what's wrong?" Natsu asks, his voice soft and sincere. A noticeable change from his usual upbeat and happy tone.

Lucy smiles...her tears still flowing. Even now, she still pretends to be alright as to not trouble anyone.

"Nothing's wrong...I'm fine" Lucy replies, mildly choking on her words.

Meanwhile...after scouring the cafeteria to get something to eat, Rogue is walking to his usual outside lunch area when his eyes are met with the sight of Lucy crying. He feels worry and concern, thinking he should approach to inquire about the cause but instead...he opts to tell Sting. Who is much closer to Lucy than he. Deciding he has made the right decision, he turns and begins to search for his friend.

Natsu comes closer and kneels down, reaching out his hand and placing it gently on her head. He pats and attempts to comfort her with this display of calm affection.

"It's okay Lucy...you can cry in front of me" Natsu says in his soft tone as he pulls Lucy into a embrace. Feeling his genuine concern, Lucy cries in his arms, feeling safe in the warmth from his body. She shuffles in closer and weakly clutches his shirt.

Natsu can still feel his heart being stabbed as he watches the crying and trembling girl. He holds her tighter against himself.

Rogue finally finds Sting, sitting in their usual area just casually eating his lunch and staring towards the sky. Without wasting time, Rogue approaches Sting and raises the pressing issue that currently disturbs him.

"Sting... I thought I should tell you, but I saw Lucy crying around the corner of the school building."

Sting is quickly brought back to reality and his peaceful cloud watching shattered by the news that Lucy was crying alone somewhere.

Leaving a concerned yet slightly relieved Rogue, Sting rushes off to find Lucy.

The bell rings throughout the school announcing the end of break. The tears have finally ceased and Lucy wipes away the remnants of her sadness. Natsu stays silent and helps her up as she dusts off the dirt and grass that was now on her uniform. Still keeping his arm around her, Natsu led Lucy back into the school building.

Sting finally arrived at the corner that Rogue mentioned, only to see it empty...and no sign of Lucy. Still feeling worried at her whereabouts and wellbeing, his concern doesn't fade as he meanders back to class.

Arriving late for his class, he is scolded by his teacher for being late. Clearly Sting's mind is occupied with concern, since he takes his usual seat and remains absent minded.

Natsu and Lucy had walked in and were on their way to class. Noticing that Lucy still seemed depressed, Natsu decided to take a detour. Swiftly moving his arm to sweep up her by her legs, holding her like a princess. He turned and began walking in the opposite direction of their class.

"N-Natsu??? Class is that way" Lucy stated and she pointed towards their class

"I know, but we're not going to class" he replied

"But we'll get in trouble" Lucy spoke, trying to avoid trouble

Natsu ignored her protests and struggling as he climbed about two flights of stairs, putting her down before opening a door and giving her a gentle push out.

Following behind her, he closed the door and sat against the wall. Signalling for Lucy to join him, reluctantly Lucy sat next to the little troublemaker.

He pulled her down, Lucy's head now rested on Natsu's lap as he pointed towards the clouds. Gently running her fingers through her hair in a soothing manner.

Lucy began to feel a bit better, and even pointed out a cloud that looked like a fluffy bunny.

Natsu laughed and pointed out a few more clouds, most of them he saw as food and Lucy laughed at his food orientated mind.

Natsu began to share a story of when Erza attacked Gray when he bumped her and made her lose her cake.

Lucy and Natsu sat peacefully as they were laughing at the story. For the rest of the school day, they just sat on the roof...Missing all of their classes but not really caring. The final bell rang, announcing the end of their time.

Lucy finally sat up and turned around to face Natsu.

"Thank you Natsu... for everything today" Lucy said with a sincere smile

Natsu smiled back and ruffled her hair playfully

"I'm always here Lucy!"

Natsu waved goodbye as the blonde disappeared, he just sat and stared at the sky a little longer.

"I wonder...if you're looking up at the same sky....Dad."

Lucy rushes down the stairs, still not feeling as happy as usual but a whole lot better. She takes a deep breath and puts on her usual smile. She meets up with Rogue and Sting.

Rogue greets her, Sting joins in but still wants to inquire about what Rogue saw earlier.

They begin the usual route home, surprisingly this started as some weird 'get to know the place' then it would be over sort of arrangement, which turned into pleasant walk and talks. Waving goodbye to Rogue as he turned the corner and walking onto the street that leads to his house. Leaving Sting and Lucy.

They stand still for a short while, watching Rogue fade into the distance as they continue their walk.

Sting decided to raise the point of his concern

"Lucy... um, you don't have to talk about it, but are you alright?" Sting asked in a concerned and uncertain manner.

Lucy seemed surprised by his question...she was sure she had given no indication to how she was really feeling.

"Why?' Lucy asked as she tilted her head in confusion

"Um, no reason...it's just Rogue saw you crying earlier at school"

Lucy thought back to earlier...that certainly seemed like the cause for the silent concern lingering around Rogue

"Oh...it was nothing, I was just remembering something" Lucy said as she smiled, trying to put Stings worry to rest.

Sting concedes the point, realizing there is no point in prying further with questions he knows she won't answer.

Lucy gives a final smile as she separates from Sting, waving goodbye as she walks to work and he begins the trip up his street...