Lucy's finger slammed against the elevator's button over and over. She knew from countless times experience that it definitely didnt make it go any faster - but she tried regardless. She squinted her eyes and frowned as she did it, attempting in summoning enough brain power so she maybe could just teleport outside the dorm room door.
The blonde sighed.
If only.
The elevator stopped with a ding and snapped Lucy from her distant imagination. She slipped her way through the opening doors impatiently; suitcase dragging on the floor behind her. All that matter was being fast.
As she approached her dorms door she prepared for impact. Any second now Natsu would hastily open the door and bump right into her!... right?
...right?
Lucy blinked.
She stood outside the door.
Yet nothing happened.
She hesitated as her hand hovered unsteadily above the doors handle; heart sinking in her chest.
Something was wrong.
Usually Natsu would've barged out the doorway bumping into her by now and started apologising like crazy.
Her hand lingered; as if the longer she took to actually open the door the less she had to accept that Natsu might not be there. Maybe she was just a little early? Maybe he would be coming to her any second? Maybe...
Lucy shook her head, hand firmly gripping on the doors handle; she may have a bad feeling about this, but she needed to get it over with and find Natsu again.
She opened the door, turning the key more quickly than ever and stepped into the dorm.
"Natsu?" Was the first thing she called, but the all too still air of the apartment called no reply back to her.
She felt a shiver stipple across her skin as she entered, it was cold - like no one had been home in a while.
The front door clicked closed behind Lucy as she headed further into the apartment.
"Natsu? Are you here?" She called again, hoping that somewhere inside perhaps he was just deep asleep in bed.
She soon discovered he wasnt however, as she peered into his bedroom to see a made bed that hadn't been touched - at least not since the restart.
Her hands ran across her face as she let out an exasperated sigh.
She had soon after spyed all the rooms in the apartment and much to her disappointment, found no Natsu anywhere.
She felt hopeless; a piece of her was missing and no matter how hard she looked she could be reconnected. What could she possible do?
Lucy tried to think as she moved her definitely over packed suitcase into her room - pondering over what would be her next step. Could Natsu be in the same place they were before the restart? Before the kiss..?
Well there was no chance she could find her way there - they had been in the middle of nowhere! The blonde sighed aloud as she headed toward the dorm rooms door with keys in hand.
The only thing she could do now was search some more of the campus.
•
"The library!" Lucy whispered to herself after 10 minutes of aimlessly sauntering down corridor after corridor of the university's campus. For some reason it hadn't crossed her mind - until she saw the familiar doorway and yellow walls that drew her eyes in.
Silence enveloped her as she stepped through the door and the recognizable smell of old paper filled her nose. Something so familiar put her at ease, just a little.
"Hey, Lucy!" A sweet voice called quietly from behind one of the wooden shelves that carried what looked like hundreds upon hundred of books. The blondes eyes darted in the direction of the voice, right before Mira's smiling face popped out from the aisle with a book in hand.
"Didnt except to see you here so soon! I saw you through a gap in the books!" She giggled, her trademark genuine friendliness clearly evident.
"Oh hi Mira!" Lucy replied with a smile, trying her best not to be obvious as her gaze attempted in a quick sweep of the library - from where she was, she couldn't see Natsu.
"Ooh! While you're here, you need to meet Levy! She's basically the boss of the library." Mira giggled before turning back to look down the aisle she came from. "Levy!.... Oi, Levy!"
When Mira had seemed to finally get the bluenettes attention she gestured for her to come over and pointed in the direction of Lucy.
"Mira, how many times do I have to tell you to keep it down in here..." a voice that filled Lucy's heart with so much happiness, slowly appeared before she came out of the aisle and faced the platinum haired girl. "In case you've forgotten, you're in a library." She spoke, emphasising the last word.
Lucy couldn't help but let out a little laugh at Levy's attitude - when thinking back to how friendly her Levy was, she still couldn't get used to the grumpiness of this one.
"I'm Lucy." The blonde introduced herself, stopping the conversation between Mira and Levy and situating herself in the middle. "Levy" the bluenette simply replied.
"Anyway, what brings you here?" Mira began, most likely noticing Lucy's slight fidgeting and constant looking around. "Looking for a book by any chance?" She laughed.
"In the future, I definitely will be." Lucy began. "But at the moment I'm looking for someone... have either of you seen Natsu around anywhere?"
"That weirdo? No, he wouldn't step foot in a library if it killed him." Levy puffed rolling her eyes - probably at the thought of this place's 'scaredy-cat' Natsu - but Lucy new that wasn't what he was really like. Her and Natsu had spent hours together in the Library on the past.
"Oh, well, thanks anyway." The blonde replied, not bothering to hide her disappointment - something Mira seemed to definitley pick up on.
"Hey, it's coming up to lunch time, do you wanna come and sit with us in the cafeteria?" Mira suggested, smiling brightly at Lucy in hopes of bringing her mood up. "And I'm sure Natsu will be there, he never misses the chance for food."
"Sure." Lucy replied, and left the library with Mira and Levy.
•
Lucy felt like a zombie as she walked emotionlessly toward the lunch cafeteria. Her hands pinned still at her side as her shoulders were bumped and bashed about by the rampage of fellow students on their way to appease their hungry stomachs. She felt the walls of people around her blur into one big mould of browny black - the boring hair colours blending into the boring corridors that mixed with the boring smell of canteen food. She felt lifeless. Not a single pulse ran through her veins that urged her to get on with this life and just act normal. Nothing was normal. Especially without him.
She couldn't seem to focus on anything but him - not even Mira and Levy beside her could keep up a conversation with her.
It wasn't until Lucy saw a blur of pink hair that the bounce was returned in her step.
All of a sudden, she felt her arms moving back and forth at her sides, rhythmically in time with her increasing pace. It was like a rejuvenation in her blood, a hope and a want merging into reality.
That must be...
"Natsu?" She'd called a little louder than she meant to; but the hustle and bustle of the crowds seemed to dampen her volume anyway, and her words drowned in the sea of people.
Lucy looked around manically, her head moving side to side as she raised herself up and down on her tiptoes as if to see above the suddenly towering students around her. Since when did the trip to the cafeteria get so long anyway? She'd long lost Mira and Levy at this point, her sole focus on finding Natsu. But...
Maybe she had imagined it.
Her heart began to sink back down into a little crevice it had dug in her chest. Apparently it had a new home there - sunken, sad and broken in a deep hole of nothingness.
Her arms stilled again as she felt whatever spark of hope flicker away - Natsu was gone, and it was her faul-
"There you are!" Said a voice.
A hand was wrapped around her wrist and before she knew it, Lucy was being pulled through the ocean of people until their voices started to fade away.
A supply closet.
The idea of being dragged into a dark, tiny, very constricted little room of cleaning supplies by someone, definitely would be something to scare Lucy. But she wasn't at all scared. She had recognised the voice immediately and the firm grip of rough skin against her hand was unmistakable.
"Natsu!" She beamed.
Besides the pitch black darkness of the room, Lucy managed to find Natsu who was stood approximately a centimetre infront of her and wrap her arms around him tighter than ever. There was no way she'd let him go again.
"I was so worried when you weren't at the dorm! I've been freaking out all day looking for you." Lucy exclaimed, face pressed against his t-shirt near the corner of his neck. "I thought you were gone." She whispered, and gripped his t-shirt a little tighter until it creased beneath her fingers.
"I've been looking for you everywhere too!" The boy replied as he returned her embrace with just as much desperation.
"But seriously, what the hell is going on?" The blonde asked as she pulled herself from Natsu to look at him. That was before realising they were stood in the pitch black of the closet and couldn't actually see eachother.
"Wait, hold on." Natsu mumbled as his touch on her moved away and Lucy was left to hearing the sound of rummaging. "Aha!" Natsu chimed as he flicked a switch and the light turned on. "That's better."
Lucy nodded as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, it definitely was better. She could see Natsu now. But as she studied him she could see his worried eyes and furrowed brows - he wasn't doing so great.
"As for what the hell is going on, I have no idea." He spoke, referring to her earlier question. "The restart was just like always except instead of waking up in our dorm room I was all the way on the farthest side of campus!"
Lucy's eyes widened at the news.
"It's like we're being punished for breaking the rules." She sighed, meeting Natsu's tired eyes with her own. This had been going on too long.
"It was worth it though." Natsu moved closer to her, cupping her cheek in his soft hand as she tilted her chin up to him ever so slightly. "being able to kiss you - even if it was only once."
Lucy felt her cheeks tickling as blood rose to their surface; a pink dusting across them. Even in the worst of circumstances he managed to make her blush.
"I love you so much Luce." He spoke again, pulling her toward him in another embrace. "And we're gonna figure this thing out and everything will go back to normal again."
"I love you too." She spoke, pressing her face against his tshirt yet again and taking in a deep breath. He smelt like a campfire; fire crackling against wood in the middle of a dense, dewy forest - the embodiment of peace and complete serenity. A feeling of calmness washed over her. "Everything back to normal... sounds like a dream." She whispered against his chest.
He squeezed her tight, his cheek brushing against her as he simply held her in his arms.
"Its time to make a plan and fix this once and for all." He concluded and they left the closet to head to the cafeteria.
-♡-
Yo throwback to Nutass because that was the funniest thing ever. #NULU is the ultimate ship.
Also hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!
Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon!!
What do you think their plan will be? >:)