Long time no see, but I'm back! It's been months, I know, and I'm very sorry. I enrolled in a coding bootcamp so my time has been spent immersed in code. Now that it's over though I'll be splitting my time between coding and writing (my two biggest passions), so I hope to update every two weeks. Again, please forgive me for not writing at all these past couple of months I feel terrible. But once again I've worked super hard to try and bring you the best chapter I could, enjoy!

XXX

VOID SOUL: DISCORDED HEARTS

XXX

A silky lock of hair fell across her face as the last remnants of a dream were chased away by the morning sun. Her mind was fuzzy, she was certain it was a nice dream she'd had, but the details faded the more she sought to remember them. With a mental sigh, she allowed her brain to focus and cautiously opened one eye. Sunlight filled the room, dust-motes floated lazily through the air, clinging to the rays. She pulled the duvet over her head to keep it out. But it wasn't going to work, her mind was awake.

Throwing the sheets off she tossed her legs over the side of the bed lazily. Happy groaned, not fond of the brisk air. She tucked the sheets around him then turned to rummage through the suitcase of clothes. She grabbed a black tennis skirt, tights and a white sweater, pulling them over her head and fitting them over her legs.

She'd just finished fitting the skirt around her hips when the smell of bacon curled under her nose.

"Hey, Happy…Happy," she whispered.

"Whattt," he said, squirming out from under the blankets.

"Do you smell bacon?" she whispered.

"Aye—!" Happy's ears flicked to attention, Auralie held a finger to her lips.

"Shh! That means someone else is here!" she whispered fervently, "It can't be Mrs. Peebles, she could barely make it up the stairs last night,"

"Oh…" Happy whispered back, "Well I can smell Natsu,"

"You might just be smelling his scarf," she said.

"Aye…"

Heavy footsteps started down the hall, Aura felt her stomach drop as she searched the room for any sort of weapon. She ran lightly to the bathroom, unless she wanted to wrap the intruder in a thin shower curtain or hit them with a bar of soap there was nothing for her there. Happy leapt onto her shoulder and hid behind her back, the steps thudded on the floorboards, stopping in front of their room. A black shadow lingered under the light of the door. Both of them held their breath, waiting for—

"What just happened?" Auralie stared blankly at her arms. Natsu was below her, she'd pinned him to the ground. But how—

"It's me. Damn Auralie, where did you learn to jump people so gracefully?"

"I… is this a joke?"

"Natsu!" Happy flew to his friends' side. Auralie sat, lost in thought. How did she get here?

"Glad to see ya Happy, hey, Auralie?"

"…hm?"

"Could you uhm…" he moved his arms for emphasis.

"Oh… sorry!" she released him quickly, snapping out of her daze and standing up. She put one foot behind the other, stopping once her back hit the door. Natsu sucked in a huge breath of air, letting out a laugh, he said something, but it sounded like everything was under water. This must be wrong; this must be wrong because it can't be right…right? People don't just miss entire moments when… did we fight? I must've hit my head on something, yea, I must've—

"Hellooo, earth to Auralie!" her cheeks were being smooshed as Natsu lightly shook her head from side to side, "It's time to wake up!"

"Huh? Oh yea, what's up?"

"Didn't you hear me?"

"uh-uh,"

"I made breakfast, jeeze, you're acting weird this morning,"

"Breakfastttt!" Happy ran to the kitchen.

"Come on!" he started to drag her into the kitchen but she threw his grip quickly and turned to face him, remembering something.

"Hey, Natsu,"

"Yea?" he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"How's your jaw?"

"Ah, that? It's fine, it doesn't hurt at all,"

"Right," she said, giving him a knowing look, "also, I wanted to thank you for this," she said, gesturing to the apartment, "I don't know what you spoke with Mrs. Peebles about but—"

"Stop,"

"Why?" her brow furrowed, slightly taken back.

"You don't need to thank me for anything,"

"Yes I do,"

"No, you don't,"

"But, you've done so much for me," she said, confused by the guilty look on his face, "how could I not thank you?" he looked uncomfortable, shrugging his shoulders.

"Just don't," he said. He looked defeated, defeated and tired, and it hurt. She stepped forward and hugged him.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. She felt a weakness in him give as his shoulders fell. His arms settled easily around her shoulders, pressing her gently closer.

"Yea," he lingered a moment longer with his chin resting on her head, letting a strand of her hair fall through his fingers before his eyes glazed over, "Now come on, I made breakfast!" he said suddenly guiding, but more like pushing, her by her shoulders out the door and into the kitchen.

Auralie got plates and utensils and went about setting up the table while Natsu brought the pan of food to the counter. She sat across from him as he dished eggs and bacon on her plate.

"Thank you," she said, still slightly confused.

"Don't mention it," he said, serving Happy's plate next.

"Oh!" Auralie had just realized she was still wearing Natsu's scarf, she took the scarf off her neck quickly and held it out to him, "Here, thanks for letting me borrow it yesterday"

"No problem," Natsu shrugged and took the scarf from her, wrapping it around his own neck, an awkward silence ensued, "there's something that I can't seem to figure out about you," he said after a while, sitting down to his own plate.

"And what would that be?"

"Do you have a death wish?" he asked, she laughed lightly, but then realized he was serious. The question caught her off guard, though she should have known it would come up. She took some time to compose her thoughts before starting to answer him cautiously.

"I understand you must be frustrated," she looked at him and got an eyebrow raised at her, "I've been behaving irresponsibly, endangering my own life and causing you nothing but trouble. Yet after everything that's happened you've been nothing but kind, and I can't begin to tell you how much I've appreciated that." She said, then realized she'd done nothing but thank him this morning, which he seemed to hate, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" she said quickly, "Look, I'll try to be as careful as I can, but I can't promise you I'll be safe. There are things I need to do, I hope you can understand,"

"Of course I can understand," he said, "But you still haven't answered my question; do you have a death wish?"

"Not a strong one," she joked lightly, then set about finishing her plate. She looked up again and realized he was still staring at her, "No, I don't have a death wish,"

"Great!" he said starting on his plate, "So whatcha got planned for the day huh?" he smiled.

"Uh," his strange mood swings kept throwing her off, "well I was going to walk around town and see if I could get a job somewhere,"

"Need help?" Happy piped up.

"No, I think I'll be fine. Thanks though," she smiled.

"Giving up on becoming a wizard?" Natsu asked.

"No, I just haven't decided if I want to join a guild yet. Besides, I can barely use magic,"

"Well you're definitely coming along the way you attacked me back there," he said.

"Yea, what exactly did happen back there? It all happened so fast," she lied.

"Hell if I know, everything went dark and the next thing I knew you had me pinned," so that's what happened… I must've used tenebris. But why can't I remember it? She thought.

"Ah, yea that's what I thought, just wanted to hear you say it," she teased with a smile, then walked over to the sink and started to wash her dish.

"You don't actually think you could beat me in a fight do you?" he laughed.

"The score is one to zero," she shrugged.

"You are pretty weak Natshu," Happy said, chomping on some bacon.

"You're one to talk," Natsu shot back.

"Hey," Happy said puffing out his chest, "Aura wouldn't have stood a chance if I hadn't helped,"

"Yea, whatever you say Happy," he smirked as he reached across the table and ruffled the fur on his head.

XXX

Snow pelted her face as the wind started to pick up. It'd even started to seep into her shoes, leaving her toes numb and cold. She felt like she'd been into every shop in Magnolia, but no one was hiring. Her shoulders sagged in a defeated sigh as she breathed out a little white cloud of humidity into the winter air.

"Hiro!" Aura looked behind her to see a woman call out as a little dog darted towards her, followed in tow by who she assumed was the woman's son. It tried to run between her legs, but Aura snatched the dog up quickly by the scruff of the neck like she used to when catching snow rabbits in the forest near her home.

"Is this your—oof!" she fell down into the snow, dog in her arms as the little boy crashed into her.

"S-sorry ma'am!" he said clambering up.

"Are you alright?" someone asked, taking her arm to help her up.

"I'm fine, thank you," she smiled and dusted herself off, noticing the stranger's hair was white as snow.

"No problem," he grinned, then continued to walk on his way, the tails of his coat catching on the wind.

"Oh dear," said the boy's mother, finally catching up, "I'm so sorry about that ma'am,"

"It's alright, is this your dog?" the dog squirmed in her arms, trying to get free.

"Yes, yes. Thank you so much," she said, taking the dog out of Aura's arms

"No problem," another gust of wind came, blowing her hair into her face, she tried her best to keep it away from her mouth as she spoke, "have a nice night!"

A halfhearted wave, a turn on the heel, and she was back on the hunt. But the day turned out to be fruitless.

On her way home she ran into Erza, who nearly tackled her to the ground in a bear hug after telling her she missed her and made her promise to start training again. Aura agreed and they parted ways.

As the week carried on it seemed the more she saw Erza the less she saw Natsu, until she stopped seeing him completely. When their paths crossed, he was in a hurry. His eyes never met hers for longer than needed as he quickly made a swift exit. She'd even started to go to the guild with Erza more often, but to no avail. While her friendship's with the people of Fairy Tail grew, her friendship with Natsu dwindled, and she had no idea why.

So she filled her time by searching for jobs. And thus the rest of the week went.

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Nothing

As Monday started to come to a close, her hope deserted her. The sun pried the last of its amber limbs over the rooftops, the sky stained pink. Just one more shop and she'd go home.

The bell chimed softly as she walked into Ma and Pa's Paint Pot. It smelled like fresh paint and paper, the walls were white and fell down to a dark floor smattered with various rugs. Aura's eyes were drawn to the stacks of canvas' that varied in size. She traced the supplies with her fingers as she walked slowly down an aisle, stopping at the brushes. They had everything she could've needed, now all she needed was money.

"Welcome to Ma and Pa's Paint Pot, can I assist you with anything today Miss?"

"Yes, actually I was wondering—" she turned and saw the boy with white hair that had helped her up the other day, his eyes were smoke and raven's wings, "Hey," she smiled, "Aren't you the one that helped me up the other day?" he stared at her until she saw the recognition in his face.

"Suppose I am, what brings you here?" he said, a half smile tugging on his lips, leaning against the shelves. He wore a long sleeve white button down shirt with slacks and a painters' apron.

"Well, I was wondering if there were any job openings, would you know anything about that?"

"Follow me," he said bouncing off the shelves lightly. She followed him to the counter, where he fished for some papers, "Fill these out, and let me know when you're done," she noticed he wore black gloves as he pushed the papers towards her.

"Thank you," she said, filling them out as neatly as she could. When she was done she went to find him again, "Here you go!"

"Thanks, come in tomorrow for an interview around noon,"

"Alright," she smiled, then paused, "Wait, I just realized, I don't know your name?"

"Xen,"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Auralie,"

As she left the store her smile fell. She would go to the interview; just like she'd gone to all the other interviews.

The snow exploded in nice little puffs as she lightly kicked it while she walked. Her stomach growled loudly, the food Mrs. Peebles had given her was almost gone. Her eyelids closed and she thought of home.

The fireplace was always going by the time she'd brought home her catch, and her mother would always rush to her side to lift the weight she carried. Will would be somewhere, playing with his boxes, and her father… she couldn't remember much of him. Only some memories here and there, they were all pleasant though.

She sighed, peaking up at the sky, was it wrong that she felt numb? The first week following what happened she was an emotional wreck. Now she couldn't muster up a single tear. She felt herself getting increasingly distant the more the world lost its color. She wished with all her heart that she could be strong. But she was just so tired.

With every step she took up the stairs to her apartment she felt heavier. Her slightly numb fingers fumbled with the key in the lock. She worked the door open and let out a sigh of relief as she took off her shoes and let the apartment's warmth revitalize her.

Her stomach growled loudly again, she looked to the kitchen, but a wave of tiredness pulled more in favor of going to bed. Stumbling down the hallway she was ready to collapse, she opened the bedroom door and stepped inside. Lingering near the suitcase she wondered if she had the strength to change into her pj's, and decided against it.

Drawing closer to the bed, her heart jumped, not having the strength to let out a yelp. She hadn't expected to see Happy laying there peacefully, his tiny chest rising and falling, every breath of air the depth of his oblivion.

"You scared me," she said under her breath, climbing into bed. She tossed and turned, finding it hard to turn off her mind, and eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

XXX

She had one hand over her mouth, the other rigidly clutching the blue of her dress. Her eyelids shut so tightly they began to fidget and shudder from the violent force as her lungs struggled not to collapse; crying silent tears that ran past her hollow, pale cheeks and over her knuckles until finally dripping onto the floor with as much of a sound as the woman's hushed agony.

The woman gasped for air, crying out as she fell to her knees. Her weathered hands trembled, trying to free the boy as she cried. Natsu just stood there, the girl he owed his life to, lifeless in his arms.

"No," he gritted his teeth and punched the trunk of a tree.

The woman ripped the roots away and cradled the boy to her bosom, his blood staining her shirt. Her eyes shut tight, whispering fervently for his return as she rocked back and forth.

All he could do was watch as she reached out to him and whispered 'please'. He knew she hoped. And brought his savior to her outstretched arms. The woman's face crumpled, trying feebly to brush the girl's hair out of her face.

The woman looked up at him, her eyes starless skies where all the hope seemed galaxies away. He could offer her no comfort, and she seemed to understand that. Her eyes closed again as she rocked her children back and forth, trying to get back to that place when they were all together.

"I'm home darlings. Please, please, don't leave me," she rocked. Natsu stood there, empty, as she rocked, and rocked, and rocked.

"No," he punched the tree harder, drawing blood from his knuckles.

A time later his body was able to move again, turning on his heel to head back to wherever he came from. But a whisper caught his ear.

"I will never forget the moment your hearts stopped and mine kept beating," he looked over his shoulder as she whispered, "mutatione vitae, signa…" her head sunk, "culum"

Natsu watched as the woman's body gave in, slumped over her children. His stomach churned, he felt so useless. He looked forward again, he was getting the hell out of this town. But a soft gasp held him fast. He turned again, this time his entire body moved and his feet ran.

"Damnit!" he raged, knocking the tree down to its roots, "You were alive, you…both were alive,"

XXX

Oh ho ho, there was lots of foreshadowing in this chapter :3 until next time!

~Atrevici out!~