A/N: Please excuse the grammar mistakes and/or spelling for the previous (and this) chapter, they were not proofread.

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is not owned by me.

chapter one

The blue haired woman sniffed. She rubbed her nose with her white handkerchief, as the young man beside tried to comfort her. She hated doing this to Lucy, her best friend. Levy McGarden never wanted to force things upon anyone, but for once she had to give in to the situation, and she hated it.

"I... I only want that's b-best for her," she said in between sobs. "I never thought wanting that would make me become so cruel to her."

"It's fine, Levy," Loke gently spoke, putting his hand over hers. "I understand."

"But she doesn't," Levy pointed out. "She thinks she lost me. I was always there for her, I always understood her. But now... she thinks I am no longer her friend."

"She will find out she was wrong quite soon," the man assured her. "I think this marriage will be a huge change for her, but only for the best."

"I think so too, and I trust the decisions of her late parents," Levy voiced out her thoughts. At the end of the day, it was only Lucy and Lucy's happiness that the young lady cared for, and she would never compromise at all for that. For once in her entire life, they fought, but it was only for Lucy's well-being.

"Exactly, which is wh–" the man stopped himself when he noticed the presence of another lady in the grand room. "Yes? What is it, Virgo?"

"Princess," Virgo addressed Lucy the way she did, her voice completely emotionless and blank, "is not in her room."

xxx

Lucy Heartfilia stared at the sight of the train in front of her, taking in a deep breath. She tightened her hold on her suitcase. After coming so far, she couldn't give up now. It had all been enough. What was this life of hers now? It certainly didn't seem like it was her life; with everyone else making decisions for her without her consent. What good would it do to endure it any longer? She could just run away and start a new life; a life which was hers and hers alone.

Nodding her head, having the decision finally made, and shaking off any last thoughts, Lucy grabbed her suitcase and stomped forward. She walked on, stepping up in the train, and then paused. Looking back one last time at the train platform, Lucy stared at what she would be leaving behind.

Goodbye, she mentally said, as if wishing it would reach the people she cared about. Then again, those people weren't the same anymore, which is why she wished her farewell would go to their true selves. With a faint smile on her lips, Lucy turned away to head inside as the train slowly started to move.

xxx

Levy McGarden was frantically looking for her best friend. She ran and ran, checking every room in the mansion. She didn't give up, her eyes drifting from one place to another in an instant. She was panicking, but only one thought lay on her mind; Lucy.

Where was she? She couldn't possibly have gone somewhere without telling her. That was not the Lucy she knew. The Lucy she knew had to be here somewhere. But then again, midst all the changes in her life, the decisions made, the injustice served, maybe the Lucy she knew disappeared somewhere, and was not coming back now.

xxx

Natsu leaned against the window, looking outside as the train started to speed up. He stared at the platform before it disappeared. There it was, the place where he lived his whole life, finally gone. There was no turning back now; he could do nothing.

He put his hands in his pocket, searching for his phone till he found it. He opened it from the back, properly checking if his old SIM card was thrown out or not. Now that he finally left, he wouldn't want anyone tracking him in any way possible. He had enough of this life; one where he didn't get to choose anything. He wouldn't let others control him anymore. No, Natsu Dragneel was better than that. He was a person; a person with the freedom of their own choice, feelings, decisions. He wouldn't let anyone take that away from him, no matter who they were.

Putting his phone back in his pocket and leaning against the seat, he felt his eyelids drop. His eyes slowly closed, and there was only one thought surfacing above all; Erza. The pain and heartbreak he got stung, but at the same time, the joy and happiness he received eased his mind. He felt a mixture of emotions; anger, peace, sorrow, bliss. Natsu smiled to himself, guessing this was what it felt like to be in love after all.

A cough disturbed his thoughts. However, he paid no heed to it. After a while, it came again, louder, but he ignored it once more. When it came for the third time, even more louder, he opened his eyes and turned to the following direction in pure annoyance. It took him a while to recognize the sight in front of him of a girl. A girl; fair, with shoulder-length blonde hair, a slim figure, and big, brown eyes. He studied her for a while, till she grew a little impatient.

"This is my seat," she finally stated, which broke him out of his trance. Once he apprehended what she was saying, his eyes widened as he quickly moved to the other side. She took a while, watching him, then slowly settled down on her seat, putting away her suitcases. Lucy, right now, started studying him as well.

He looked pretty normal to begin with; with big, black eyes, a lean, muscular body, and a slightly tan skin tone. He had a strong jaw-line and slightly bent nose. What did stand out about him, however, was his spiky, salmon hair. Lucy thought it was an odd hair color, but then again, she wasn't one to complain; her best friend's hair color was bright blue.

"Hi," she said, as an attempt to start a conversation. He turned his head to look at her but didn't say anything. She couldn't exactly read his expression as his face was completely emotionless. After a few seconds passed with no word from either of them, he looked away. Uh, rude, Lucy mentally labelled.

"Um, hi," she repeated, merely out of boredom. This time he didn't even look at her, but she continued nevertheless. "Where are you going?" Pure silence from him. Repeat. "I'm going to–"

"You know," he cut her off, now staring at her straight. "I'm really not interested."

She looked annoyed as she spoke, "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"I wasn't trying to be nice," he replied.

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. Here she was; being a kind person and trying to make conversation, whereas he was just being impolite. She would've understood if he didn't want to talk to her, but he didn't need to be so rude about it.

"Well, I take you're very unfriendly," she stated.

"Say what you want," he said. She couldn't exactly catch his tone. His face was still expressionless, and his tone was nothing special. It was just... normal. And she hated it.

"What's your name?" Lucy blurted out.

At her question, he raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well," she started, "I have to know what I should call you."

"You don't have to call me anything. I'm not looking forward to making friends, and I don't want to see you after this train ride," Natsu lied. Well, he wasn't technically lying. One part was true; he didn't want to see this nosy woman ever again after this train ride. But, of course, he did want to make friends. Natsu wanted a new life, a fresh start. However, he wouldn't want anyone from his hometown to know him. Not even the slightest possibility would do. Which is exactly why he would be careful and not get too friendly with people from this train; especially not this girl.

"Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" Lucy sarcastically retorted, and he shot her a glare. She seemed to ignore it, and continued, "there's this one thing you should know about me; I'm quite stubborn."

"And why should I know that?" he asked, clearly not interested.

"Because when I set my mind on something, I intend to achieve it. And my mind is set on being friends with you," she explained, satisfied with herself. "Now then, what do I call you?"

"You can call me a Dragon Slayer," he joked.

"Yeah, right," she laughed it out. "In that case, you can call me a Stellar Mage."

"I don't mind," he shrugged, but she quickly caught on.

"Does that mean you actually intend to call me something?"

Natsu froze. Shit.

"And if you intend to call me something," she continued, grinning, "it means you intend to know me. And that means... you want to be my friend."

Natsu tried to come up with something. Damn, why was this girl just so persistent? Even though he found it incredibly annoying, he slowly started to like it a bit. She seemed like a fun person to hang out with, but he reminded herself how that would never happen.

"Um," he cleared his throat, "I didn't mean that."

"Well then what did you mean?"

"What's it to you?" He narrowed his eyebrows, then after a while stopped. He leaned against his seat and turned his head, "Whatever. I've already told you; I'm don't want to make any friends, and I don't want to ever see you again."

Lucy, on the other hand, smirked. That's a pity, she thought to herself, since I intend to do the exact opposite.

Thank you for the support! Reviews:

IceMakeNaLu (Guest): Thank you :) And don't worry, this is not turning into NaLi.

narutofan96sasuke: Thank you very much! Hope you like it :)