The Return of Nashi Dragneel

CHAPTER 4 ♡

Nashi was in her room, as always. It had been 5 years since she was captured. She waited for her family to come for her. To bring her back home. Where she belonged. But they never did. She had gotten used to her surroundings, but still, she would never call this horrible place home. Nashi smiled a small smile. Her capturers had tried to break her, but she wouldn't let them. No matter the cost.

Nashi only came out of her so called room when she had to do chores. Day after day, night after night, she was forced to clean up the whole guilds mess. Some guild members even made big messes on purpose so she would spend more time cleaning up. She would usually stay up till 2:00 in the morning cleaning up.

Even though she got very little sleep, because she had to wake up very early to cook breakfast for all the guild members, she was still happy. Sure, she cried sometimes because of the sudden separation from her parents, but she never lost hope.

Never.

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Lucy sat at the guilds bar, drinking her morning milkshake, as usual. 'hmm. I wonder what natsus doing right now.' Lucy thought, bored. She looked around the guild for Natsu but she saw no sign of him. 'Maybe he's in my apartment.' Lucy then got up and headed to her apartment.

"Natsu!" Lucy called out once she entered her home. "Natsu? Hmm. Maybe he's elsewhere. I'll go check if he is in his house." Lucy got out of her apartment and started walking towards Natsu home in the forest. Knock Knock. No answer. She tried opening the door and to her surprise, it did. Lucy looked all around the house but then again, he was nowhere to be found. But she had to admit, Natsu's house was a hot mess. Lucy sweat dropped at how big of a mess it was. "This is useless." Lucy said, giving up in her search for Natsu.

She got out of his home, gently closing the door behind her. That's when she heard the shuffling of leaves not to far from where she was. "Who's there?" Lucy asked herself quietly, following the noise as silently as she could. As she got closer to the source of sound, she saw a flash of pink. 'Natsu' Lucy thought, trying to make her pace faster without making any noise. She then found herself following Natsu.

She was a far distance from him because if she got too close, she knew that he would be able sense her presence easily thanks to his dragon slayer senses. Even though there was a big space between them, she could still make out Natsu's mumbling.

"Why?" She heard Natsu mumble silently. "Why it have to be her?" Natsu said. Lucy felt her heart break. Never had she heard Natsu speak that way. He sounded so... so... so lost. Natsu sat under a nearby tree. And what Lucy saw shocked her. Natsu had tears streaming down his cheeks, but no sound came from him. He soon fell asleep under the trees nice shade. Lucy then walked towards Natsu.

She was still shocked, though. Natsu wasn't a crier. It was rare when he cried. Lucy sat next to Natsu, his head on her lap. She whispered comforting words to him, playing with his cherry blossom colored hair gently.

Without waking Natsu up from his slumber, Lucy lifted him up onto her back. She gave him a piggy back ride all the way to her apartment, ignoring all the weird stares people gave her. Finally, after what seemed to be hours, Lucy arrived at her apartment. She then set Natsu down on her bed. Bending down, she planted a small kiss on his forehead. She cooked some food for him and left it on the table, along with a note saying her whereabouts, knowing that Natsu would be hungry when he woke up.

"I'll see you later, Natsu. I won't be gone long."

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"Whew! That was the biggest mess I've ever cleaned!" Nashi said, wiping some sweat from her forehead. She had just finished her last chore of the day, and boy was it tiring! Her stomach grumbled. "All that work made me hungry." She knew that she wasn't supposed to go inside the kitchen (Except when she was cooking breakfast or had someone supervising her) but she was starving! She was so hungry that her stomach hurt. It felt as if her stomach were eating itself.

And besides, there was no one there, right? Except for the guild master, of course. But she had to be extremely careful. Raven Blood's guild master had incredibly strong senses. She wouldn't be surprised if she could smell Happy eating his fish all the way from her office.

As quietly as she could, she tip-toed to the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of water and a small bag of chips. 'Ok. Now I can go to my room and eat.' Nashi thought, turning around. But then she regret her decision of ever sneaking into the kitchen.

Because there stood the last person that she wanted to see.

Raven Blood's guild master.

Akumu.