Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 44 - Where did Lucy go?!

Natsu's POV

Happy and I were watching the guild being rebuilt from the roof of a nearby two-storey building. "Oi Chaos! Why don't you come down here and help?!" Gray shouted up at me while carrying a long piece of wood over his shoulder. I snapped a threatening glare at him and he immediately ran back to work. I wasn't in the mood to pick a fight with him.

Lucy hasn't shown up at the guild in a week. After the Rune Knights' interrogation, I noticed she was feeling down about the whole situation and decided to give her some space but now that it's been a week, I was starting to get worried. Maybe she's crying all by herself? I hate it when she cries. That's it, I've made my decision! I'm going to go check on her. Screw waiting for her, if she's crying alone then I'm going to go cheer her up somehow.

"Happy, let's go" I said as I stood up. "Where are we going?" he asked while flying up to my eye level. "To check on Lucy" I replied and he smiled brightly. "Yay!" he cheered. He's been clearly worried about her almost as much as I have but I'm much better at hiding it. I jumped down from the roof while Happy flew down, and then we headed towards Lucy's apartment.

When we arrived at her apartment, I noticed something strange. Her window was closed shut which she never does when she's home. She always leaves it open in case Happy and I come over. 'Maybe she went shopping or something?' I wondered and decided to wait inside for Lucy to return. I jumped up onto the windowsill and then slid the window open. When I jumped inside, I noticed it felt colder than usual. For a Fire Dragon Slayer's home, it should be always warm. Something didn't feel right.

"Lucy! Are you here?" Happy called out as he flew to check inside the bathroom. "Not in there" he said to himself while flying out and then looked inside a drawer. "Are you in here Lucy?" he said. 'She won't fit in a drawer' I thought, rolling my eyes. "Ah Natsu?" Happy called out, gaining my attention. "Lucy's underwear is missing" he stated as he looked back at me. "Wait" I said urgently before looking around the room. Scanning the room, I noticed most of Lucy's things were missing. My eyes eventually landed on her desk where three letters sat.

I walked over and saw they were addressed to the guild, Happy and me. Curiosity filled me as I picked up my letter. I opened the letter and began to read it.

Dear Natsu,

First of all, I'm sorry I had to tell you this way, but I've decided to leave Fairy Tail for good. It was a painful decision for me, but I had to do it to keep you, Happy and every one of my friends in Fairy Tail safe. I'm scared my past enemies including my dragon brother Ignia may attack and hurt you all because of my own selfish decision to stay.

Thank you so much for bringing me to Fairy Tail and for all the amazing adventures we went on together. I enjoyed every single one of them and I will treasure those memories for as long as I live.

I hope you can forgive me for leaving you. Maybe one day our paths will cross again.

Your forever friend,
Lucy

I crushed the letter in my hand. "You have no idea what's going to happen in the future and yet you made this stupid decision!" I shouted furiously and ignited my hand, destroying the letter till there was nothing left. Suddenly I heard a sniff and my rage softened slightly. "Natsu...Did Lucy really leave us?" Happy cried as he hugged his opened letter to his chest. I pulled him to into a one-armed hug. "I swear, we'll bring her back" I vowed and then released the hug. He wiped the tears out of his eyes and then nodded with determination. Even if Lucy is kicking and screaming, I WILL bring her back to Fairy Tail with me.

With no time to waste, I jumped out the window and landed on the street with Happy following behind me. Who knows how long and far Lucy's gotten. I sniffed the air to try and catch her scent. A faint scent of strawberries and vanilla tickled my nose. It was mixed in with some other scents but there was no doubt it was hers.

Without a single word, I ran down the street, following Lucy's scent. People we passed by stared at me with fear and curiosity, but their stares didn't slow us down. Lucy's scent stopped when we reached the train station. I growled in frustration. Now it was going to be impossible to follow her scent any further.

"What are we going to do Natsu?" Happy asked. I looked around for anything that could help us with our search until my eyes landed on the ticket desk. The ticket staff member must've seen Lucy before she got onto the train. I stormed up to the desk and the staff member shivered in fear at the sight of me. "Where did the blonde girl go?" I growled threateningly and he flinched. "W-What blonde g-girl?" he stuttered. I slammed my fist onto the desk. "Where did Lucy go?!" I demanded to know and he quickly screamed. "S-Seriously I don't know w-who you're talking about! Please don't hurt me!" he screamed then Happy flew in front of me. "Sorry about him. He's a bit grumpy at the moment. What he's trying to ask is did you sell a train ticket to a girl named Lucy Heartfilia?" he asked nicely. I decided to step back and let him handle it. "She's got blonde hair, brown eyes and big boobs" Happy explained Lucy's traits. He could've left out the boobs part though.

"O-Oh y-yes, now that you mention it. I did sell a ticket to a lady with that description. She took a train to Oshibana Station if I remember correctly" the staff member replied, a little calmer than talking to me. Even though I despise all modes of transportation, I swallowed my pride and muttered "two tickets." "I'm sorry, what?" the staff member asked, unsure if he heard me. "Can we buy two tickets to Oshibana Station, please?" Happy asked so I didn't have to repeat myself. "Oh, s-sure" the staff member replied and then gave us our tickets. You won't escape me, Lucy.