words i didn't say / nalu

ten

-- lucy heartfilia --

our search for natsu has been going on for about four hours now. it's 5pm and there's no trace of him.

stupid boy, leaving us without any warning and not taking his phone with him.

doesn't he understand how worried i am?

we've contemplated asking the head of dorms and teachers and such, but i doubt they'll have a clue on his whereabouts.

maybe if i had just... apologised earlier, this wouldn't have happened. i haven't told anybody about what happened with loke and i because i feel stupid for not listening beforehand. i guess i just have a bad habit of trusting people i've just met.

"he takes girls' hearts and smashes them into pieces. on top of that, he does have a bit of a reputation of not knowing what the word 'stop' means. that innocence? it's all an act."

ugh, natsu, why did you have to be so right?

i've checked everywhere for him. the secret spots he showed me the first time we hung out, all the cafes he took a liking to, and even the infirmary just in case he got sick in the middle of the night and had to go there again.

he wasn't in any of those places. everyone else in our group, sting and rogue and lyon too, have been looking for him.

there is one last place i want to check.

i make my way over to the college campus. everyone here is so tall, so grown up. the people walking around look at me like i'm some sort of child.

in the big picture, i'm not, but i'm sure that when i go to college i'll be doing the exact same thing.

i notice a girl with long white hair who doesn't look that much taller than me going in the opposite direction. i can tell by her face, she's mira.

thank god she notices me too so i don't have to scare the shit out of her to get her attention. i walk over to her and she raises an eyebrow.

"what are you doing over here, lucy? got a brother or sister here or something?"

"no, not that. have you seen natsu around?"

her eyes widen. she sighs and sits down on the bench closest to us. i sit next to her. her expression is kind of scaring me.

"i don't know where natsu is, but i think you need to know something. what do you know about natsu's past?"

natsu's past? i don't actually know a thing about it. the only thing i'm aware of is that he, gray and gajeel go way back. he's known erza since sixth grade too.

and they seem to know something the rest of us don't.

"nothing really, why?"

"let me start from the beginning then. natsu was always lonely as a child. he had no friends and... his mom left him when he was four. his dad? his dad was... abusive."

my jaw drops at that part. his story, three sentences in, is already so sad.

natsu never talked about his parents. now, i see exactly why.

"you may have heard that gray and gajeel used to bully him. it's true, they did. all of his classmates did, in fact. he had... nobody at the time." she sighed. "until my family and i moved next door. my little sister, lisanna, gave him a chance. she became friends with him and they clicked so easily. the perfect little duo, those two were."

"i didn't know you had a little sister. and i've heard lisanna's name a few times too."

it's popped up in conversation quite a bit. i don't know why i never asked.