50 days • {Nalu}

Day 46

"Excited for the festival, Lucy?" asked Mirajane as she wiped up a spill made by Asuka on the counter.

Lucy nodded, sipping her beverage while swinging her legs back and forth on the stool like a child. She was actually pretty ecstatic about the whole festival. Everything from the traditional wear, the coming together of all the guilds, the food, and finally, the firework display.

She couldn't wait for the day to arrive. But, someone was dreading the day to come. And that someone was Natsu Dragneel. He was not looking forward to the day at all. Why, you may ask? Because he had slowly given up on breaking the curse. It had to impossible to break within four days!

He cursed Bankotsu like there was no tomorrow. Not only had he lost Igneel, but he had lost Lucy. He had lost her in a different way, of course. Natsu knew Igneel was gone, but with this curse, he would still always be around Lucy. He had learned so much about her and for her to not know a single thing about him because of this damned curse, meant that he had lost her.

And boy, did it hurt. He didn't bother going to the guild on this fine day. He preferred to stay home and think over everything that has happened. Happy tried to convince his dear friend to at least go and help set up. He even threatened to get Erza! Of course, Happy didn't actually set out to go find the scarlet haired mage after seeing how sad his best pal was.

Instead, he said his goodbye and flew towards the guild. Natsu stared up at the ceiling, his thoughts running wild. If only he had defeated Bankotsu sooner, none of this would've happened.

Things would still be the way they used to be. Then a thought occured to him. If Bankotsu didn't place the curse on Lucy, would he have ever learned to fall in love with her? As stated before, Natsu had always felt something towards Lucy before, but it had only intensified since the curse was placed.

He shook his head. He was giving himself a headache. Deciding that he should probably put his thoughts to rest for now, he got comfortable and fell asleep.

While Natsu was napping, Happy entered the guild where guildmates were hustling and bustling about to ready for the festival. He saw Lucy, still sitting at the bar with Mira, only Wendy and Carla were now with her.

Happy flew over, landing atop Lucy's head. Lucy paid him no mind as she continued sipping from her cup.

"Hello, Happy." Wendy greeted.

"Hi Wendy! Hello, Carla, my love."

"Happy, how many times have I told you to knock that off?" Carla scolded with a flushed face.

"Happy? Where's Natsu?" questioned Lucy. Everyone in the guild froze in mid action, eyes wide with shock. They knew Natsu hadn't come to the guild today, and Lucy didn't say anything about meeting him this morning. Had they broken the curse last night?

"Wait, who's Natsu and how do I know that name?" Lucy said as an after thought. The whole guild groaned. Lucy blinked in confusion. Why did that make them so upset?

"Natsu is a fellow guild member. He just hasn't come in today." spoke Wendy.

"How come I know his name, but I can't match it to a face?" she wondered aloud.

"It's a long story."

Lucy just nodded. Ever since she had mentioned Natsu's name, her head began to throb. In fact, her head began to feel heavy and it hurt to just it up. She laid her head on the counter to help ease the pain.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Erza asked, coming to her aid.

Lucy just waved a hand in Erza's direction before saying, "I'm fine. Just a headache is all."

Her eyes began to close to block out the light that made her headache worsen. She didn't like this one bit. Suddenly, it was almost like a flash of salmon passed before her shielded eyes followed by a big toothy grin that made her heart flutter.

What was happening? Her eyes reopened but stared blankly ahead. She couldn't move her body and her thoughts were filled with images of the salmon haired boy. She hear her friends calling out to her, but she couldn't give a response.

The last thing that passed through her mind was the sensation of his lips on hers. Lucy let out a gasp as she sat up and blinked.

"What was that?" asked a concerned Levy.

"I'm not too sure." she replied, placing a hand on her still throbbing head.

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest." suggested Gray. A few others nodded in agreement. Lucy sighed and stood from her stool.

She stumbled slightly thanks to now being lightheaded. Gray helped steady her which earned her a mean glare from Juvia.

"Happy, why don't you and Lily take Lucy home?" Mirajane suggested.

"Why me?" Lily asked. He was currently enjoying a kiwi while helping Gajeel hang some lanterns around the guild.

"Because Lucy is to heavy to carry, so I couldn't carry her if she passes out!" protested Happy.

Lucy was too exhausted to argue. Lily agreed and the three set outfor the short journey to Lucy's apartment. She stayed silent while Happy and Lily conversed amongst themselves.

Her little blackout back at the guild was still on her mind. Before she knew it, she was in front of her apartment. The two exceeds bid their farewells after she gave her thanks. She entered her apartment and plopped on her bed. She rested her eyes once more, in hopes that more images would come forth. They didn't and she was a bit disappointed. She let out a sigh before deciding to nap to ease the ache.

And so, the two fell asleep with one another on their minds. With only four days to go, who knew exactly what the outcome could be?

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this is super short, and kind of boring. im sorry. this book only has about 3-5 more chapters along with two epilogue chapters before it's complete!

and can i just say how thankful i am to all of you? i got 10k reads and so many votes, it's amazing. and all your comments make me smile and laugh; i read each and every single one of them!

thank you for everything!