A Fairy Love

Lucy Heartfilia

"Someone help!" Lucy yelled, scrunching her eyes shut and throwing her hands in front of her in desperation. However, the monster in front of her wasn't deterred and advanced rapidly.

Lucy risked one quick glance, then gasped as she saw a bright light appear in front of her. A loud growl filled the air.

"Lucy, why didn't you call me?!" a familiar voice snarled. There was a flash of orange and the monster disappeared with a puff of dust.

Loki dusted off his hands, his head bent down, and looked up at Lucy through his glasses. "You gotta depend on me, you know? I did promise I would protect you."

Lucy felt tears well up in her eyes and she ran over to Loki, her hands reaching for him. "Loki..."

Loki turned away from her. "How can I trust you to call on me when you're in trouble? What if I'm too late...?"

Lucy stopped a few feet from him. She watched as he struggled internally, wanting to comfort him, but she knew she would only make it worse. Eventually, though, his pain was unbearable. She took her keys out of her pocket, and, grasping Loki's, waved it down, whispering painfully, "Close, gate of the lion." In another bright flash Loki was gone.

Lucy sighed, forcing the tears away, then began to walk back to the train station, where she knew she would find Natsu, Erza, Grey, and Juvia. She'd never had to force close Loki's gate before. It hurt her just thinking about it. Was he okay? Had she hurt him in some way? She shook her blonde locks as an image of a crying Loki popped into her head.

As she approached, Natsu was the first to notice her. As usual, he raced up to her in the crazy way he always did, Happy trailing just behind him. "Lucyyyy! How'd it go?" he shouted energetically. Then his voice fell as he saw her mood. "Ummm you okay?"

Lucy looked up at Natsu and nodded. She didn't want to talk with all the conflicted thoughts in her head. Natsu was stunned for a second before he spun around and ran up to catch up to her. Lucy caught Happy telling Natsu to leave her alone for a second, but of course Natsu didn't listen and approached her again. Luckily, the train whistle blew, signaling for the group to leave.

Lucy followed Erza to their seats on the train. Natsu just had to sit next to her. He looked concerned. "Lucy, you gotta tell me what's botherin' you! It's killin' me!" he insisted.

Inside Lucy felt touched, but the feeling only increased her anger. She glared at him and snarled, "Die then. It's none of your business."

Natsu looked really stunned this time, his face struggling to process her intense anger towards him, as she had never really been this mad before. "L-Lucy..." he stammered. Happy gazed at her, concerned.

"Just leave me alone."

With that, Natsu gave up, deciding instead to stare at her soundlessly, undoubtedly trying to figure out what was bothering her, to no avail, as the train started up and he couldn't do anything but try not to throw up.

Lucy was still thinking about Loki, who'd never left her mind since they had left the station. Is he doing okay? Is he still hurt? I can't help thinking it's my fault... What should I do? Should I call him and apologize? What if he doesn't show? I'm sure he has the power to cancel my summoning spell. Maybe I should just leave him alone for a bit...

Eventually Lucy came to the conclusion that, though it was her fault, she couldn't do anything at this very moment and it was useless worrying, so she looked up at Natsu, deciding to apologize to him for being so rude. Instead, she found him out cold, sleeping. Happy, however, was still awake.

"Hey, Happy, I'm sorry for earlier," Lucy said, rubbing her neck in embarrassment. "Will you forgive me?"

"Aye! Of course!" Happy replied cheerfully as usual. "But you really got to apologize to Natsu. He was pretty hurt, you know."