So... Yeah... I'm still alive... hehe

I've been on vacations for a while now (when I say vacations, I mean that I was away, meaning, no computer, meaning, no chance to write), and classes start next Monday so... I don't know when my next update will be... I suck, I know, I admit it. I'll try to update on Sunday, but I don't know. I always find myself more encouraged to update the Spanish version... Sorry.

For now! If you're still somewhere and haven't given up on me, I've got this brand new chapter that's waiting to be read!

Thank you for waiting for so long! If you still are... which I doubt...

Enjoy the seventh chapter of 'I'm Still Waiting'

That morning, Lucy woke up very discouraged, depressed some would say.

It was something that happened from time to time. She would remember something, a fragment of the previous night's events, right before going to sleep, would appear on her mind, or a dream would pop up every so often, that would remind her of the longstanding absence of her best friend and nakama, Natsu Dragneel. And then, a sickening feeling would come to her, making her feel that everything she once thought as stable ground, is collapsing before her eyes. A knot would form in her throat, and she would have that indescribable pressure in her chest, like something is sucking the life out of her.

She would wake up like this from time to time, thanks to the memories that were once dear to her, and still are, but now mixed with that painful reminder that he is gone. She would remember waking up feeling some sort of tickling in her face or neck, thanks to her friend's pink and messy hair. She would remember being unusually warm, or the feeling of an arm around her waist, holding her protectively. How much she missed those mornings was indescribable. Even if Natsu returned -and the celestial mage had to constantly remind herself not to say "if" but "when"- things would never be the same. She just simply got the feeling in her chest that the moment the six-month-wait ended, something changed ... The celestial mage did not know what had changed, or how, but something was different.

When the blonde mage finally found the energy to open her eyes, though not very pleased to do so, she turned her back to the wall, focusing her attention on the air, noting hoe the dust particles danced around the room, visible thanks to the warm sunlight coming through her window, as well as warmed up her room on that cold winter morning. That weather reminded her even more of her nakama, who was always determined to break into her home, insisting that if he did not sleep with her, she would get sick.

With this nostalgia that filled her heart, the girl realized she needed to write, she needed to release her sorrows and frustrations, and that method was the best to do so.

"Natsu ... How I miss that sound, the sound of your name, my way of saying it while scolding you or calling your attention... I miss your smile, your laugh, your honesty, your voice, my heart squeezing when looking at you and my stomach full of butterflies when you look at me or call me "Luce", when you laugh or talk. I hate the fact that my letters have their recipient, but not a destination. I hate shedding tears because of you, I hate being mad at you, and being sad because of you the same time. I hate not understanding what's happening, not knowing if you're okay. But mostly, I hate not having you by my side" A tear rolled down her slightly pale cheek, in contrast to her now red eyes and nose, but that did not stop her from dumping everything she was feeling and that she didn't dare to say out loud "A week has passed since the one year anniversary of your departure. Can you tell what day it is? Have you been keeping track of the days that have past? Or will you simply appear unannounced with that goofy smile saying that time passed by very quickly while traveling with your father? I've imagined over and over and over your arrival: where will I see you first, what expression will you make, what will you see reflected on my gaze, what will you say, what and how will I answer ... There are already so many different scenarios that I cannot remember most of them. Sometimes I am hopeful, thinking 'It shouldn't take him long to return', while other days, like today, anguish consumes me and I cannot help thinking that I will never cross paths with you.

Please, don't make us wait any longer, don't make me wait any longer.

Come back soon, Natsu

Love, Lucy Hearfilia"

The blonde left her pen on her desk, right next to the ink, and went to the bathroom to take a much needed relaxing bath.

The door opened a few minutes later, letting the steam escape from that tiny room, allowing the blonde to get some fresher air. The celestial mage put on a skirt and pink tank top, since she had no intentions of leaving her small and comfortable shelter. She had decided while taking her bath, that she would relax a bit longer in her apartment before heading out to the guild, postponing her battle with her worst enemy at the moment, the snow. That was what she would have done, if not for her splitting headache that came out of began to struggle with her vision, which was turning blurrier by the second. She was just fine a minute before, and now, she just wanted to lie on the floor and scream while feeling her head split into pieces.

In a desperate attempt to reach for her keys to ask for some help, she hit a vase, knocking it over and causing it to shatter into pieces against her wooden floor, much like what was happening to her head. The blonde held it in pain, until it became too much and her body fell on the porcelain pieces scattered around the room. She felt the material piercing through her skin, and much like her headache, it turned from a slight pang to something constant. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier. She blinked several times in succession, each time taking longer for her to re-open her big brown eyes, until she couldn't open them any longer; the pain consumed her as she lost consciousness.

It had been a few days since Grandine's last visit, Natsu could slightly remember waking up in the middle of the night and see both dragons sleeping next to each other, but the next morning, there was no trace of Grandine left, as if she had never been there to begin with. That had left a bitter taste in his mouth, due to the painful memories it had brought back, from the time in his childhood when Igneel abandoned him.

"How did Fairy Tail and Lucy feel after my departure? Did I by any chance, made them feel the same way that Igneel made me feel back then? I said goodbye, they knew I'd leave. Although, they also thought I would return in half a year and I didn't. Do they will feel betrayed? Will they be angry, sad, worried, because I did not come back? " Natsu asked himself this same questions every day, ever since six months ago; during that first half of the year that had gone by, he would only ask himself some of these things, but now the situation was different. It's been a year since his departure, not six months. It's been six months since he broke his promise to come back. "UGH! This is frustrating! I don't know what to think, what to feel about this whole thing! I just know I want to go back, but don't want ... I do not want to expose them to that, but I want to see everyone ... I want to see Lucy "

The young pink-haired was sitting in the cold snow with his favorite outfit: his black vest and creamy shorts (Lucy had insisted it was a creamy colour, instead of white, but he disagreed, she was weird after all). He was shocked when he felt the snow on his skin: cold. The Dragon Slayer fire should not feel the cold, it had been that way since childhood. However, now he did, or at least, he felt the snow on his skin, and a small tingle, that he wanted to think of as cool, because he had no recollection of ever having felt that, ever. Was he getting sick, perhaps? No, he knew very well that this "cold" he was feeling, was nothing more, nothing less, than chills, generated by a distant memory of little over a year ago, when he found his father and heard the news that changed his life forever. He was getting way to familiar with that feeling, and with loneliness as well.

Flashback

It was another simple mission that Lucy, Natsu and Happy had gone on without Erza, Wendy and Gray, since none of them were available for different reasons: Erza was helping Master with some papers and documents that had to be delivered to the Council. Gray had not been in the guild all day since he was hiding from Juvia, who was desperate to get some attention from his "Gray-sama". In their last missions, Wendy had not accompanied them. Even though she was still a part of Team Natsu, she also team up with Romeo regularly, sometimes accompanied by Lisanna and Elfman if the mission was too hard to deal with for Fairy Tail's youngest members.

That day had not been the exception. The only members from Team Natsu at the guild were Natsu, Lucy and Happy when Lucy had explained, as she usually did, her need for money to pay the rent.

During the mission, thanks to some quirk of life, Natsu and Lucy had separated. It was quite probable after all: the mission required to defeat some Vulcans up in the mountains. During winter, fierce storms were a daily occurrence over there, which made it even more possible for avalanches to occur. The same ones that eventually separated them: Natsu and Happy on one side, Lucy on the other.

"Happy, do you see anything?" Natsu asked, his voice giving away how worried he was. The storm was hampering the search greatly, and with the Vulcans nearby, his partner could be in big trouble.

"Aye, sir! Snow!" Dragon Slayer sweat-dropped

"I mean any clues about Lucy, Happy"

"Oh... no," He answered, despondent. They had been looking for about an hour and there were still no signs of the Vulcans or their partner

They continued walking until Natsu, who could not see the path clearly, fell off a cliff.

"Natsu!" Happy shouted worried, trying to fly to his friend but the wind didn't allow him to

"I'm fine! I'll find a way to climb up!" The boy looked up to see the great fall he had just gone through; at least 30 meters. Luckily, thanks to his great strength and almost inhuman body, falling from that height was practically nothing for the Dragon Slayer. That, and snow had also served as a great way to cushion the fall. He then took a look around to find a route that would allow him to climb up. Nothing.

Happy finally managed to reach Natsu, not before struggling with his most recent enemy, the wind.

"Natsu, are you okay?"

"Of course!" The boy showed Happy his big goofy smile while the Exceed grabbed his friend's waist with his tail in order to lift him up and get the two of them out of that place and resume their search. However, when they were about reach the edge, the wind pushed them down. They tried five times until they finally assumed that they could not go that way.

"First, I can't go down, and now I can't go up! What's wrong with this wind?! I bet it wants my fish!" Happy said, outraged

"I'm pretty sure that's not it, buddy" Natsu smiled at his partner "Probably just the currents" He said, most to himself than to Happy

Natsu glanced around again, noticing that the wind was much weaker down there than above them. It actually made a lot of sense. That so called cliff turned out to be more of a sort of canyon than anything else, because in reality, the cliff was parallel to the mountains, which resulted in this 'canyon' or 'cliff' being enclosed in between two rock walls.

"Ne, Natsu ... Do you think Lucy could have also fallen here?"

"No, this cliff must be on the other side of the mountain were the avalanche happened or it would have been covered with snow"

"Meaning..." Happy didn't understand a thing of what he was saying

"We are lost. It seems that at some point we stopped following the path that the avalanche took and gave some kind of turn"

"I don't get it" Happy was now, even more confused " What's wrong with you, Natsu?! You seem smart today! You are not being stupid! I think Lucy's weirdness is rubbing off on you"

Listening to Happy, made Natsu snort, but ignored the comment and continued explaining. Given Happy's confusion while describing what happened, Natsu resorted to use a drawing in the snow to explain, which was not very clear.

"Let's suppose we were here when the avalanche happened" He said drawing an X in the snow "When it came, (he draw a line that went towards to the X), all three of us ran down the hill, but Lucy turned right and we turned left (To represent that, he drew dotted lines representing both directions taken) After the avalanche, we went right to look for Lucy, but it seems that while we were heading there, we went up the mountain, we passed the path the avalanche went through and gave some kind of turn "For this, Natsu kept on drawing lines and lines that overlap, making it impossible to understand. At the end, the drawing look more like doodles than anything else, however ...

"OH! Now I get it!" Happy exclaimed while fisting one of his paws and hitting his other palm with it.

"Great! Well, What do you say about splitting up, you go right, I go left, and we look for a way out and meet here again in 15 minutes?"

"Aye sir!" Happy responded.

Natsu walked for two minutes straight, until he found a cave in the wall of the mountain. It certainly caught the Dragon Slayer's attention, as he was now stepping on the entrance. He was even more curious when he felt a draft ... "Hot air ?!" Not only it was a curious cave, but suspicious as well. The pink-haired man decided to just sniff around to try and detect the source of this heat. To say he was wonderstruck was little: he had managed track down a scent he knew well, but was then nothing but a memory.

That smell he knew well and longed to feel again. That warmth that emanated from his body. Natsu could not help but delve into the cave, one step, two steps, three, four and then one more. In that place, not as exposed to the open air, it was much easier to identify the smell, and shape.

"Igneel ..."

Thank you for reading! :D

I liked this chapter, how it turned out at least. But what do you think? I really wanna know so don't go al ninja-reader on me, and review! GOT IT?! ;)

I don't know if the think with the cliff made any sense, I just picture it and try to describe it as hard as I can

And again... REVIEW! PRETTY PLEASE :) And let me tell you something about me: I'm always more encouraged to write when I get reviews.

And thanks for your comments on chapter 6: SakuraPetal91, SapphireFairyTail and Queen Micky !