I shouldn't be starting another NaLu so soon, since I've got Until She's Home Again going, but oh, well.

Just so my readers know, I'm trying to take a different approach on this one. I'm not exactly sure where it's going to go, but I'm willing to keep writing to find out if you're willing to keep reading. Okay? I literally have no idea what I'm doing except for this first chapter, but I do that with everything, so it might still turn out okay in the end. J Haha. But don't let my woeful lack of organization scare you off!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it and stick with me until the end of the story! Whenever that may be. J

Mom,

I miss you a lot, you know? I just feel like I don't say it enough when I write to you. And it's been a while since I DID write. I'm so sorry it's been such a long time. I went on a job that took us an entire month! Can you believe it, Mama? It was the normal group. Erza, Gray, Happy, Natsu, and me. When we got back, Mirajane almost cried! She thought they'd never see us again, which makes me think she doesn't have much confidence in us, but I know she was just worried. That's how Mira is, but I've told you that before.

But I'm not writing to you about that. Or about the other thing I wrote to you, about my feelings for Natsu that are definitely more than friendly now. No, it's different. It scares me.

Now, Mama, you won't tell anyone, right? Because I don't want them all to get worried until I know what it's all about. But I've been having this bad feeling lately, you know? It's almost like a sense of foreboding, and I feel like something bad will happen soon. I don't know what to do! It's just a feeling now, and it scares me half to death, but I guess I just have to wait it out and see what happens. I promise I'll tell you if anything gets worse.

I hope it doesn't.

I love you, Mom.

-Lucy

Lucy bit her lip, staring at the words on the paper, before setting the pen down. Her hand shook, and she reached up to clasp it with the other, closing her eyes and taking a measured breath. Whatever this feeling was, she had to get over it, and fast. It was affecting her performance on jobs, and Mirajane noticed something was wrong. Levy had tried to ask her about it, but Lucy had lied and said it was nothing, that she just wasn't feeling well and that it would go away soon. She knew it was a lie. This gnawing premonition wasn't going to go away until something, most likely bad, had happened to someone dear to her.

"What is this…?" Lucy asked herself, a tear slipping out as she hugged herself. She trembled violently in her chair. Even the feeling of her nails digging into the flesh of her own arms did not stop the shaking. More tears followed the first, and she reached one hand up to tangle in her bangs, gripping the hair as though it would somehow stop the sobs from forming. But form they did, and soon the cries were shaking her entire body. No matter how tightly Lucy hugged herself, she couldn't find any comfort. The tears would not relieve the tension, and they weren't even stress relieving tears to begin with. They were born of the fear she felt, the fear whose origin was unseen and unheard.

"G-get a…a hold on yourself, L-Lucy," she choked forcefully. "Y-you can't lose it l-like this. Go t-take a shower. Yeah."

It was a few minutes before she could control her weeping enough to stand without falling back to the ground, and she went to find her pajamas and a change of undergarments before making her way to the bathroom. Lucy forwent her usual caution of peeping in to see if it was occupied or not, and thankfully it wasn't, so she slid in and locked the door. Several deep, calming breaths later, she walked over to her bathtub, dropping clothes as she went. She'd pick them up to put them in the hamper later. Right now what she needed was a nice hot shower. A bath would allow for too much thinking, so a shower was just what Lucy felt she needed.

She thought of everything she could that wasn't related to her foreboding feeling, like Gajeel's song or Mira's transformations. Or even the time she discovered that Loke was Leo the Lion and she somehow saved him. She remembered Erza's childhood friends, Shou and Wally and Milliana and even Simon. Lucy recalled the once evil Jellal, and his sincere regret for what he had done and all the pain that he had caused Erza. Then she thought of the other student of Ur, aside from Gray. Lyon. And there was Sherry, the one who had taken control of Taurus the time that Lucy learned she was strong enough to do a Forced Gate Closure. Hibiki, Eve, Ren, from Blue Pegasus, and the guy who led them and was obsessed with Erza. Was his name…Ichiya? Frankly, Lucy couldn't care less about him, but she had to think of something. Her memories were in no certain order, merely coming when she needed a new one until she finally stepped out of the warm spray of water.

Lucy nearly slipped and fell on the tile floor, but caught herself on the wall. She was so distracted in her state that she could really hurt herself if she didn't start paying more attention. So she slowed her nearly frantic pace as she went to get herself a towel. More deep breaths were called for, and so she tried desperately to control her breathing. She tried to relax her body, just a little, and it began to have a bit of an effect.

The blond celestial mage dressed herself with care, making sure not to be as irrational as she had been since they had returned to Magnolia four hours ago. It wouldn't do for her to lose her head at a time like this; she had to think calmly in order to be able to understand this feeling. And even if it would be hard, she had to wait for whatever it was to come to pass. Lucy Heartfilia would not be beaten.

"She seems to realize that something is coming, milord," a male voice, almost nasally, sounded from a rooftop. A window across the river lit upon the bed of a certain blonde girl, who, as the unseen watchers observed, put an arm protectively around her waist with a troubled expression on her fairly pretty features. Her faintly pink lips were drawn in almost a pouting expression, and her brown eyes turned to stare out at the water.

"Let her wallow in her fear of the unknown," another male voice, this one deep and resonating, breached the silence of the night. "Her fear will give us a better opening than we could have previously hoped. This girl is the key to our victory, Hall. The one thing we need for the culmination of all we've done for the last ten years. We will keep watch on her, let her squirm and writhe under our searching eyes. The girl will know no peace while she feels that she is being watched, that something comes. And when it is time, we will strike. Lucy Heartfilia will be ours, and we shall achieve the victory we've sought all this time. All we need…is just a few drops of her 'fairy' blood…"

The nasally voice let out a cackle, and the man it belonged to shifted. A ray of moonlight fell upon a terribly disfigured face, scarred and stitched mouth twisted into a maniacal sneer. Yellow eyes showed a dark and greedy glimmer, and his teeth were filed to points. The rest of his body lay mostly in shadow, but if one peered closely enough they would make out a figure just as hunched and grotesque as the man's face. The other man, whose silhouette showed him to be fairly tall and formidable, even if he was of a thinner build than most, stayed silent.

"Yes, milord," the horribly blemished man said, the reply coming out as nearly a hiss, but the glee from his cackling still evident in his tone. And with a small sound, as though a breeze had passed through, the tall figure was gone into the night, leaving only his stooped lackey behind to watch the suspecting but ignorant girl through her window.

It was a few hours before Lucy could manage to fall asleep. And when she did, it was only to fall farther into her fear in the form of nightmares. Perhaps if it was one of the nights that she had unwelcome guests, they would have woken her up and comforted her enough that when she next fell asleep, it would be peacefully. But alas, at this time, Erza was asleep in her rented rooms, nothing troubling her at all. Gray was likewise occupied, collapsed on his couch and fast asleep, which was exactly where he'd been since they'd returned from their mission. Happy was staying with Lisanna, and she was scratching gently behind the blue Exceed's ear as he slept. And Natsu was snoring lightly inside his own home for once, not a care in the world.

And the nightmare with him in it was what would wake Lucy up.

"Na–" Lucy began to cry in her restless slumber, only an hour after she had finally fallen asleep, "–tsu! Natsu!"

The blonde's hair was plastered to her face with sweat, and she twisted and turned under her covers. Her eyelids flickered and flinched at the scene unfolding that only she could see. She let out a cry in her sleep, one reminiscent of heartbreak. Her fists clenched her cover tightly, and she tossed her head, another distressed noise escaping her lips.

"N-no!" the outcry was loud and sharp, but it woke no one, not even Lucy. Her movements became more erratic, her breathing frantic. She was as near to hyperventilating as she had ever been and yet she wasn't even aware of it, locked in her nightmare. The blonde became even more entangled in her sheets and cover, and her head tossed more frequently from side to side. "No! N…Nat…su!"

Sweat trickled down her neck, and even her pajamas stuck to her chilled body. The cold perspiration did nothing to help wake the girl. Lucy let out a grunt that sounded like another repetition of the word no and her head turned to the other side again. It was as if she was shaking her head no in her dream. Her teeth then gnashed together and she twisted violently. The action was only the prelude to the blood-curdling, ear-splitting shriek she let out that finally brought her out of the darkness of her own mind.

Lucy shot up, crying, "Natsu!" as she did so only to realize that it was a dream. That she was sitting up, drenched in icy sweat and tangled in her blankets. Lucy was in her apartment, not on a job. And they were definitely not being chased by some sort of strange creature. Most importantly, though, said creature had not had a friend who snuck up in front of Natsu and Lucy as they ran. Natsu had not been gored through the heart by said beast when he turned to look at the other and he was most certainly not dead.

The image still haunted her, and she could find no solace in sleep that night.

It was about nine in the morning when Natsu walked into the guild, looking around for the blonde head of his nakama only to see nothing. He paused and looked around again, then walked over to Erza, as much as he didn't want to.

"Erza," he said, eyes making their way around the guild again, "have you seen Luce?"

"I haven't seen her yet," Erza said, lifting her eyes briefly from her breakfast.

"She's probably still asleep," Gray said, plopping down across from Erza. He was still in pants this morning, but his shirt had been discarded somewhere between his home and Fairy Tail. "That's the longest job we've been on. She was probably tired."

"I'll ask Mira," Natsu said, wandering away from his teammates and over to where Lisanna and Mirajane were talking across the bar. Happy was asleep on the wooden countertop between them, snoring with a little snot bubble protruding from his nose.

"Oh, good morning, Natsu!" Mira said cheerfully as he made his way over to them. "I hope you had a good night's sleep! Is there anything I can get for you?"

"Hey, Mira, Lisanna," Natsu greeted, stifling the yawn as Mira laughed and Lisanna giggled at him. "Luce is normally here by now, so I was wondering if you'd seen her around yet? She was acting a little funny when we got back and I wanted to ask her what was wrong."

Mirajane's face turned troubled.

"Lucy said she just wasn't feeling well," a voice piped up, and Natsu turned as Levy McGarden took the seat on the other side of the white haired Lisanna. "At least, that's what she told me before she went home yesterday. But I don't usually see Lu-chan looking like that. I think she might have been hiding something from me…"

"I feel the same way…" Mira said sadly. Lisanna just sighed, not sure what to say. She hadn't been there to talk to Lucy before she'd left the guild, and Happy had went to find her at her home, so she didn't come back last night.

"I'm gonna go talk to her," Natsu said, leaving the bar. "Thanks, guys!"

The three girls watched the salmon haired boy rush off, and Mira sighed.

"What is it, Mira-nee?" Lisanna questioned her sister.

"I hope Natsu can find out what's wrong with Lucy," the older white-haired takeover mage said softly. "There's just…something's not right. I can feel it, and I'm getting worried."

Levy agreed and Lisanna just lowered her head. There was some sort of bad feeling welling in the pit of her stomach that she didn't want to acknowledge. But now she knew the others were feeling it too, and that fact was almost more disconcerting than the seemingly distant way Lucy had been acting since Team Natsu had returned to Fairy Tail yesterday evening. The two seemed connected somehow, and all three women felt an ominous presence looming over them.

"Luce! Hey, Lucy!"

The blonde girl shuddered violently at the voice of the figure in her window. She couldn't see him, since she was on the floor, back pressed against her bed and her legs drawn tight against her chest. Her forehead rested on her knees, and she shook. It was Natsu. How could it not be, barging in through the window like that, just as carefree as ever? But why couldn't she stop trembling? And worst of all, why did that bloody, gaping hole left in Natsu's chest in her nightmare keep plaguing her in her waking moments? The lifeless look in his eyes, the sickening crunch of his sternum being pierced, of his limp body falling to the ground…why wouldn't it go away?

"L-Luce…? What's wrong?"

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and she shrieked, jerking away and causing herself to overbalance. She toppled sideways onto her carpet and a sob racked her frame. The replay of the nightmare once more harassed her, and she clutched her head.

"No!" she cried, nails digging into her scalp. Lucy was on the edge, her single hour of restless sleep not helping her sanity in the least. "No! N-not again…please…stop!"

"Lucy!" Natsu persisted, grabbing the sobbing girl's shoulders and sitting her up. "Look at me, Luce, tell me what's wrong! Look at me, Lucy!"

Slowly, with a hiccup to accompany the movement, her head turned up and her watery, blank eyes were directed at him. Natsu's breath caught in his throat at the dead look in her eyes, and without thinking he wrapped his arms around her. She sucked in a breath, stiffening like she had never done at his touch, and his worry deepened. And she was cold to the touch.

"Luce, tell me what's wrong, okay? I'm here. Just tell me what's going on."

All at once, the tension in the girl's muscles relaxed, and Lucy collapsed against his chest, crying. For a moment, Natsu didn't know what to do, but he started by patting her back and saying soothing things. He wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a try if it meant he wouldn't have to see Lucy like this. He hated to see her cry.

"N-Natsu…" she choked, and her hands clutched his vest. The salmon haired young man opened his mouth to ask what, but she continued without his prompting. "I…it was just a nightmare…I'll b-be fine in a little w-while."

"Bullshit," he said. Perhaps it wasn't the nicest thing to say, but then again, she shouldn't have lied about how she'd be fine soon. "Tell me what happened, Luce. I can't help until I know. What's so bad about one little nightmare that you can't even talk without stuttering? You're better than that. I know you are. C'mon, Luce, tell me."

"Natsu," Lucy couldn't believe she was going to cave into his request. It was just that she never got to see this more genteel side of Natsu, and it was drawing her in. "In my nightmare, Natsu…y-you…you died. It's not one of those things where you get some fire and get right back up, like that one time on the job. Th-this time you got s-stabbed. Right through the heart. And then you…you just kind of crumpled to the ground. Your eyes were w-wide open and staring, and there was this great big gaping hole in your ch-chest that just w-wouldn't st-stop bleeding!"

Lucy's voice had grown slightly stronger through the middle, but then when she got toward the end of her confession, she sunk once more into her tears. Natsu, having not expected this turn of events, stared down at the weeping celestial mage, now really uncertain about what to do. At least, when she'd told him of her nightmare and looked right into his eyes, she'd had some of her usual self back. It was better than that blank stare he'd gotten at first.

"Luce…" he finally managed, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "Luce, I'm right here, okay? I'm right here and I'm in one piece. You don't have to worry about it anymore, 'kay?"

They stayed like that, and finally the blonde girl fell into a sleep that wasn't plagued by nightmares of her friends - no, her family - dying right before her eyes. Natsu gently picked Lucy up and laid her on her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and laying protectively beside her. Here, he could watch over her and even be able to wake her up if she seemed to be having another nightmare. And right now, he felt this was better than going to tell Mira and the others what was wrong with Lucy.

"I think, milord," said the disfigured creature to his master, who was hidden in the shadows of his dark throne room, "that this Dragneel boy may be a problem to our plans. If he sticks so near to the girl's side at all times after this, we may have a bit of a dilemma on our hands."

"Not to worry," the resonating voice echoed throughout the stone room. Long fingers gracefully tapped the silver arm of his gilded throne. "It wouldn't be fun if there wasn't a little bit of difficulty in the culmination of our dreams. I promise you, Hall, we will get the Heartfilia girl in the end. Even if we have to kill her dragonslayer guardian to get to her."

This time, it was the master who laughed. It was a cold, cruel laugh that reverberated throughout the room ceaselessly. It was the laugh of a man who delighted in killing, and who would gladly see blood shed to further his cause.

"Yes," his voice said softly as the last echoes of his mirth faded, "yes, I do believe that getting rid of that foolish boy will be quite enjoyable. Think of the true grief that will mar our dear Lucy's face when we cut out his heart right in front of her!"

Okay. That's kind of dark, even for me. Especially for me. But it's a new approach, so I hope you like it. Somewhat. A Fairy's Blood will be second in my priority, after Until She's Home Again. I hope you do like it, though! J

Please don't hate me for the cliffhanger! And if you like it, please review! J