Title: Blazing Souls

Author: CreateElements

Rating: T-rated for violence and gore

Summary: He's been gone while she was waited for him to come home.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail; if I did a lot of it would be different!

Happy

"Being happy isn't having everything in your life be perfect. Maybe it's about stringing together all the little things…" - Ann Brashares, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

A young woman sat at the bar, twirling her straw, shifting the ice in her glass. It was a beautiful day, in the middle of her favorite season, summer. It reminded her of simple times; before everything had become so complicated. Summer was a time when the ivory haired mage felt at peace. However, today was a day she just couldn't enjoy the warm weather.

Closest to the bar was Cana, Fairy Tail's drunkard, hoisting a keg of beer to her lips. The day had just started and already the brunette was drunk. Somewhere across the guild hall, Elfman delivered one of his famous "how to be a man" speeches to everyone in ear shot.

On the other side of the guild, she could hear Macao yelling at the perverted man Wakaba. Master was locked away in his office and behind the bar stood her elder sister, Mirajane.

"Lisanna, how are you?" The youngest take-over mage didn't look up, but acknowledged her sisters presence with a small smile.

"I am good Mira-nee," she chuckled humorlessly.

Mirajane stared at Lisanna for a few minutes before her eyes flickered to the innocent glass. Most of the liquid had spilled out due to Lisanna's incessant twirling. Mira gently touched Lisanna's hand; stopping her from twirling the straw. She ran her thumb over her sister's hand a gesture to reassure her, "Don't worry so much. Everything will be alright."

Lisanna gave her sister a smile; one that seemed to satisfy Mirajane. She gave Lisanna's hand a gentle squeeze before she turned away from her. The youngest take-over mage looked down at the table with a sigh.

He's been gone for six months…

She knew this could happen. Sometimes missions took a long time, she just didn't think it would take this long.

She had anticipated he'd be home within two months, but it was obvious that whatever he was doing was important. So important that Master wouldn't tell anyone what he was doing or where he was. Only Gajeel seemed to know, and he was never around to ask.

Every time anyone did ask him, Gajeel said, "He is fine, don't worry".

Even so, she couldn't help but worry about him. Knowing that he had a habit of overexerting himself did not ease the take-over mage.

Natsu Dragoneel had been gone for six months with no news. Needless to say, Lisanna was worried.

The sound of a pen scratching on paper caught her attention. Lisanna gazed at the solid-script mage perplexed. When did she get here?

Lisanna watched the solid-script mage work silently scribbling down little notes from an old leather bound book. The white haired woman lightly tapped Levy McGarden on the shoulder, "What are you working on?"

Levy jumped, startled at the white haired mage. Levy took a few deep breaths trying to calm down. "Nothing really," Levy answered as put her pen down on the bar table, "I am just really bored. Droy is at some kind of dinner thing, Jet's not feeling well and Gajeel's still in Masters office…"

Lisanna smiled when Levy's eyes flickered over to the door, hoping he would miraculously open the door. Both women were pulled away from their thoughts when Mira rested her elbows on the bar. Mirajane wore a devilish smile on her face as she leaned on the counter, "So Levy, when is the wedding?"

Levy stared at Mira as a red tint appeared on her cheeks, "Mira!"

Mira rolled her eyes, "O come on! I heard about that date you guys went on in Hargeon! I want to plan a wedding!" Levy's blush only darkened as she glared at Mira. Mirajane laughed as she turned away from them with a wave.

"It wasn't a date! Stupid Mira and her stupid match making ways," the bluenette muttered under her breath. The solid-script mage picked up her pen and fiercely continued writing down notes. "Now I know how Lucy feels…"

A smile spread across her face, "You have to admit Levy-chan she is right."

Levy glanced at Lisanna with a gleam in her eye that sent a shiver down Lisanna's back. "What about you and Natsu-san?"

At this Lisanna's eyes widen, "What? I… that's… I…"

Levy smirked at Lisanna's inability to speak. Meanwhile next to them Cana, drinking her beer, seemed to take an interest in their conversation, "You're still in love with Natsu?"

Lisanna looked down at the table, this time with a blush on her face. Of course, most of the guild knew the take-over mage had always had a crush on said fire mage. But, times changed and things became complicated.

Before she had gone to Edolas she had seen a possible future with Natsu. After, she thought she would never see her Natsu again. She had accepted this, and with time started to move on. But when she saw him again, all her old feelings resurfaced.

After returning to Earthland, Lisanna had hoped for something. However, Natsu never seemed to have time to talk to her. The take-over mage was beginning to believe she could never have Natsu the way she once did.

"Of course, but-" Lisanna was cut short when the main doors were pushed opened. The summer rays lit up the guild hall as everyone seemed to quiet down as they all turned to look. A dark shadow stood in the door way. The person took one step into the guild and Lisanna felt her heart stop as soon as she saw who it was.

It was none other than Fairy Tail's ice mage, Gray Fullbuster, and he was covered in blood.

The ice mage clutched his midsection as he staggered forward. Behind him stood Erza, Wendy, Carla and Lucy; their clothing torn and bloody. They looked exhausted.

Lisanna stood from her seat at the bar, watching him with wide eyes, "Gray?"

His dark blue eyes were lost and unfocused, and then a cough came from him causing blood to trickle down his chin. Without warning the ice mage fell to his knees and then face first on the floor.

"Gray!" Lisanna shouted as she ran towards him. All around her the rest of the guild moved from their seats to aid their comrades. Meanwhile, Mira grabbed the first aid kit from behind the bar while Cana mumbled something about getting Master Makarov.

The instant she reached Gray she fell to her knees and expertly placed her fingers on Gray's neck searching for a pulse. Relief filled her as she felt that faint beat.

A blur of blue ran passed her. Lisanna looked up to see Levy reach Lucy; helping the celestial mage stand. The celestial mage was muttering incoherently to Levy, who only nodded. Lisanna saw Pantherlily help Carla with Wendy; the instant Pantherlily had hold of Wendy, Carla fainted. Mirajane dropped some bandages next to Lisanna and focused on helping Erza.

Gripping the bandages Mirajane had given her, Lisanna looked down at Gray unsure of where to start.

Taking a moment to look at him she spotted a large angry gash on his stomach which still bled; she decided to start there. She needed to stop the bleeding before she could clean his wound. She moved his blood stained hand away from the gash and covered it with the heavy gauze and then applied pressure onto the wound with her hands. As she pressed down Lisanna couldn't help but notice Gray's breathing was rapid and shallow, his skin turning pale.

'No…No.'

Her hands were shaking and now covered with a decent amount of his blood.

"M-Mira!" The white haired mage called to her sister. Lisanna felt tears sting her eyes; she did her best to wipe them away with her shoulder.

The barmaid nodded as if understanding what Lisanna didn't get a chance to tell her. She looked over to Elfman and Gajeel; ordering the two to help take Lucy and Erza to the infirmary while she helped Pantherlily with Wendy.

'What could have happened to cause this? All of them are extremely powerful mages. Who could have inflicted this much damage?'

The young take-over mage felt a heavy hand on shoulder, "Lisanna, you need to let go of Gray, so we can take him into the infirmary."

Lisanna looked up to see both Master and Laxus looking at her. She looked back down to Gray realizing she was clutching onto him for dear life. Her fingers felt stiff as she pulled them away from Gray's body. Silently, Laxus and Master picked up the fallen ice mage.

Lisanna stood on shaky legs following Makarov and Laxus. She stopped just outside of the infirmary looking back at the guild doors; there was a large pool of blood on the floor in front of them. The take-over mage briefly wondered if the floor would stain red. She doubted it as Kinana started to clean up the mess.

Her eyes darted back to the doors as Romeo and his father closed them. She wished they would open up again revealing her pink haired fire mage. Tears fell down her cheeks when the doors stayed closed.

Please come home soon Natsu-kun, she thought.

Three days later…

Lisanna was exhausted.

Despite her exhaustion, the youngest take-over mage refused to leave her nakama. She walked over to the closest window and opened the blinds, to look out. The sky was dark, filled with clouds. In a matter of seconds, rain started to pour hard.

Lisanna just stood, with her arms crossed over her chest. There were small water puddles starting to form on the streets. Little raindrops splashed all over the window. She sighed to herself, knowing that this weather was not caused by her favorite water mage.

"You should take some time to rest Lisanna."

Lisanna turned away from the window to see her sister standing in the door way holding a tray full of food and drinks. Lisanna smiled tiredly at her, "No, it's alright… I need to watch over them."

Her eyes followed her sister as she walked into the room placing the tray on the nearest table; Mirajane then took a seat on an empty bed, "I thought so. I brought you some soup. Any change?"

Lisanna's eyes flickered over to the three occupied beds, "Not since you were last here."

After they had been brought to the infirmary, upon Masters request, Porlyusica had shown up to help.

Lisanna had fought both Porlyusica and Mirajane to help take care of her friends. Even if Natsu was not among them; Lisanna wanted to know she had done all she could for their nakama.

There had been a few times throughout the last few days that Lisanna had been forced to leave the infirmary. Once because Porlyusica demanded that she changed her bloodied clothing. Another time was to calm her longtime friend Juvia. For when the water mage and Lyon arrived; they demanded answers. Most of the guild did. Lisanna couldn't give them the answers they sought.

Instead she promised everyone she would work closely with Porlyusica and save their comrades; and she had kept her promise.

It took hours before Porlyusica could even consider them in a stable condition. Master had come in at some point and Porlyusica informed him that Gray and Wendy had taken most of the damage. Lucy and Erza had taken decent amounts of damage and Carla was just exhausted. The youngest take-over mage had no doubt in her mind that Carla has pushed herself past her limit just to make sure all of them arrived home safe.

Not long after Porlyusica deemed Team Natsu stable Master asked Freed to place runes around the infirmary, only allowing certain people access. Despite Natsu's absence, Lisanna begged Freed to include him; after all, they were his teammates.

Master had informed everyone that they were not to take any missions for the time being. Not until they knew what had happened.

Until further notice every Fairy Tail mage was on lock down. Makarov provided sleeping arrangements for those who wished to stay at the guild's main building. Those that didn't where asked to leave the guild in groups.

Any person who wasn't a member of Fairy Tail would think they were celebrating and under normal circumstances they would have been. However, four of their own were in critical condition and two were missing. No one was in a celebratory mood.

Lisanna speculated that everyone was still trying to figure out how Fairy Tail's strongest team could be taken out. Levy had mentioned, to only a few, that Lucy had been mumbling. Something about a trap, Wendy and Gray; this didn't provide much information.

Lisanna had spent the last few days blaming herself over there conditions. Mirajane seemed to know what she was thinking as she stood up, embracing her, "Lisanna. This isn't your fault. You would be next to them if you had gone."

Lisanna had nothing to say to her sister. She was conflicted. The take-over mage had declined Team Natsu's invitation in hopes that Natsu would come home, and she would be here waiting for him.

She had let her friends get hurt in hopes of spending some time with a man who still wasn't home. Right now she felt foolish.

Just then the two take-over siblings heard muffled noises coming from outside of the infirmary. The two sisters looked at each other and then to the door, wondering what on earth had caused them to become rowdy.

Mirajane let go of her younger sister, "Stay here. I'll see what's going on."

Lisanna nodded as her sister walked out of the infirmary, closing the door behind her. A groan came from the celestial mage. She moved over to Lucy and removed the rag from her forehead. The poor celestial mage had a horrible fever; one Lisanna prayed would break soon. The white haired mage dipped the rag into fresh cold water, ringing it out and placing it back on to the celestial mage's forehead.

The commotion outside of the infirmary seemed to only get louder. Lisanna swore she heard the sound of a crash somewhere below her. She was thankful for the charms and spells that had been placed on the infirmary, so that sound didn't get through. Why was the guild so rowdy all of a sudden?

Lisanna shook her head; she had a smile on her face, this was Fairy Tail after all. No one stayed quiet for long. The white haired mage walked over to Wendy. Ever so carefully she moved the unconscious Sky Dragon Slayer's head and fluffed the pillow, before putting it back.

The sound of the infirmary door slamming open made the take-over mage jump. "Mira what in the wo-," Lisanna was cut short when she noticed Mira was not the one who had opened the door.

She stood their dumbfounded staring at the person in the door; before her stood a man with pink ruffled hair and onyx colored eyes. She felt her heart quicken as his eyes looked down to the people in the beds. His eyes scanned each one until he spotted Lisanna who stood in the middle of the room.

Lisanna felt tears slide down her face. He had grown taller since she had last seen him. Behind him she spotted a blue cat with his classicgreen backpack.

"Natsu… Happy…"

The ivory haired mage had managed to capture both of their attention. Upon spotting the tears in her eyes Natsu panicked. The Dragon Slayer never knew how to deal with crying women. Thankfully, Erza hardly cried and Lucy had Gray for when she did. He took a step forward into the room, while Happy flew over to her.

She took a few steps forward still staring at him as tears fell down her face. "Lisanna?" Natsu asked worried.

The ivory haired woman threw herself into Natsu's chest "Y-You're home." He stood their dumbfounded as to why she was hugging him and crying. Gently he placed his arms around her tiny frame.

Lisanna was thankful he didn't say anything but just let her cry. Happy wrapped his tail around her neck, perching himself on her shoulder as he used his tiny paws to try and wipe away some of her tears. The blue exceed kept telling Lisanna he was sorry for whatever they had done.

As she clung to Natsu she couldn't help but laugh at Happy's words. Despite everything, for the first time in months Lisanna truly felt happy. Natsu and Happy were home safe.

A/N: So I hope you liked my odd direction I decided to take Day 1! My original plan was to involve something happier with Lisanna, Natsu and Happy. However, this came to mind, and I thought the quote was perfect for the day.

Also the quote at the beginning comes from the book series Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Until tomorrow

- CE