Walk Through The Fire (Fairy Tail) [Book 1] [Discontinued]

Arc 2- Chapter 7

[A/N]: Alright, SO, I think I've drawn out the drama and revelation and shit long enough-- speaking of, I hope you guys like how the story's going so far! Things are finally, finally going to pick up from here on. :D

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Lucy Heartfilia

Lucy and Happy wordlessly broke off from the rest of the guild and began walking down the familiar lane besides the canal. The walk back to her apartment was silent, and with the Magic Council's emergency evacuation taken place only mere hours ago, the silence was deafening. Even though Lucy wanted to do something, anything to make the quiet go away, her throat was squeezed tight and her mouth could only dangle awkwardly whenever she tried thinking of things to say. The simple, painful truth is that there simply wasn't anything to say, especially not with what they learned today.

Natsu, their Natsu, was on the enemy's side. The enemy's. Looking back, this predicament was one thing Lucy had never expected. Natsu was family oriented to an insane degree, not to mention loyal and selfless. The mere thought of him being against Fairy Tail was taboo, and yet here they were, about to go to war against him.

Stop thinking like that, Lucy, she scolded herself. First said so herself: he might not even be an enemy.

But what if he is? Another part of her whispered.

Her throat tightened impossibly as she thought back to each of their battles. Natsu doesn't lose a fight, it's not in his blood; he always finds a way to prevail, even when the odds are stacked against him and he's outnumbered ten to one. His vigilance was one of the many things Lucy admires about him, and to be frank, it still is. But if he does join the fight, if he is against Fairy Tail, she might just come to fear the quality he embodies.

As for him being Zeref's zombie demon little brother of all things... She was going to give herself time to absorb that bit.

Lucy was hardly aware of them ascending the steps to her apartment and unlocking the door. It wasn't until she closed the door behind her and flopped on her bed that she was able to begin thinking again.

Happy was uncharacteristically quiet, in fact Lucy had never seen the cat this... sad. He was borderline apathic, but one look in his dark eyes told Lucy that he felt layers upon layers of anguish. Oh, that's right; Natsu practically raised Happy. He was like a father to him.

"Happy--" Lucy started, but the cat shook his head.

"I'm fine," he told her, voice hard yet wobbly. His eyes were glazed over with unshed tears and he looked down at the scarf wrapped around his body with so many emotions it was hard to pinpoint. He began unwinding it from his body and settled it down in his lap.

"It's fine to talk about it, Happy," Lucy told him softly and sat up on her mattress.

"What's there to talk about? Natsu's with Zeref now." Happy's grip on the scarf tightened and the cat squeezed his eyes shut as if in pain, twin streams of tears flowing out of his eyes. He let out a throaty cry and threw the scarf across the room and it hit the wall with a loud thump before collapsing into a heap on the floor. Lucy watched the heaving exceed in shock.

"H-Happy!" Lucy gasped.

"This isn't fair! How could he just up and abandon us!? Is it because of Zeref? Is it because of that book?! Or... or is it because of us? Because of me?" Happy sunk to his knees and Lucy wasted no time in reaching for the cat and pulling him against her chest. He nestled into her with his small blue paws balling up parts of her shirt in his fists.

"No, no it's not your fault," Lucy told him.

Happy shook his head, sniffling. "No, I-it is my fault. A-after wh-what Gray told us a-about what happened to Natsu, I... I never went out looking for him! I- I was too scared to! I didn't even know if he was the same Natsu I knew anymore a-and now look at him! I should have been there for him, he must have been so scared..." Happy's voice trailed off as the tears took over, and Lucy could only cradle him in her arms.