The hallway that stands between the reception lobby and the room full of records is narrow. The old branch of the town hall that contains it doesn't often get many visitors and no one ever comments on it, but it is far too small for two file-laden teenagers who are moving the opposite directions. But as absorbed in their records as they are, neither one of them notices this until it's too late.

Files and scraps of paper fly into the air, as well as two laminated badges, and both teenagers start in surprise.

"Hey!" one complains. "Watch where you're going!"

He cuts himself short at the sight of the other teenager, a girl slightly younger than him. She's shorter than him, too, smaller, but from the sparkle in her eyes and her short white hair, he wouldn't want to be against her in a fight. He's not sure she would fight fair. Right now her head is tilted at him, large blue eyes questioning, and when a gentle smile curves her lips he knows she's about to chide him.

"Watch where you're going yourself," she says. "It takes two people to cause an accident."

Still, she kneels down and starts gathering their papers, picking up a laminated badge that she hopes is hers. It's not. As the stranger crouches down beside her to help, she glances from the badge to his face.

"Natsu Dragneel?" she reads off the badge. He looks up, a confused expression on his face, and she hands him the badge, smiling. Natsu Dragneel looks cute when he's confused, cuter than when he's annoyed, anyways. His expression clears and he grins back at her. He looks even cuter when he smiles and Lisanna wants to giggle at his strangely sharp teeth. They remind her of fangs and she thinks that he would make a very fluffy creature of some sort, his coarse pink hair extending over his form. But then again, he looks very nice as a human, too.

"That's me," he says, looking down at another badge in his hand distractedly. "I guess you must be Lisanna Strauss."

"Yeah, I am," her voice is quieter, meeker, and she begins picking up papers with more vigor, as if eager to hurry onwards with her life.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you," Natsu says gruffly, having nearly finished with the papers strewn about the hall. He starts to stand up when Lisanna grabs his arm.

"It's fine, Natsu, but let me see those," she gestures to the files he has tightly pressed against his chest with one arm. "I'm missing something."

For a girl he's only known for five minutes, Lisanna is very forward and he spreads the files on the floor without complaint. She lets go of his arm and he rubs it subconsciously before sprawling back on the floor of the too narrow hallway. Visitors are rare, anyways, and Natsu is puzzled.

"What could you be missing?" Natsu asks. "I only picked up a bunch of stuff about people who have visited this town."

Natsu is acting more annoyed than he is and somehow, Lisanna can tell. So she continues talking to him as if she's known him her whole life. She likes the reactions it gets out of him, anyways, and she enjoys pretending that she has a friend in the world.

"That's what I'm looking through as well," Lisanna informs him. She holds up one of the files Natsu set down. "And this is mine."

"Is it?" Natsu squints at it comically. "It has that label on it, from the same section I've been checking out." He looks closer, assuming the best of Lisanna. He doubts that she's lying and why would she want this file anyways?

"Oh yeah," he says in realization, leaning back again. "I couldn't find that one. You must have gotten here first. Why do you need a list of all the people who used credit cards to buy things at that weird gas station on Main Street?"

"Why do you need it?" Lisanna counters, finally standing up with all her papers retrieved. Natsu follows her, files in hand.

Natsu hesitates for only a moment before answering. "I-I'm looking for someone. I'm hoping they came through here."

Lisanna stops in surprise and turns to him. Once again, Natsu can't help but notice her eyes. The sparkle in them is soft now, but the blue is still the most intense he's ever seen. Lisanna opens her mouth, falters, and tries again. Both of them take in the other automatically, one in confusion, and the other in uncertain hope.

"Me too," says Lisanna, her whole aura suddenly demure and almost innocent. Natsu still wouldn't dream of fighting her, but for a different reason. In a moment Lisanna has become the sweetest girl he's ever met and he wants it to stay that way.

They enter the room at the end of the hall and Lisanna sets down her papers on a table. For lack of a better idea, Natsu sets his down as well, on the same table. He takes a seat to look through them and Lisanna finally opens her mouth to speak.

"Who are you looking for, Natsu?" she has to ask, taking a seat beside him. He turns towards her, grateful for someone to talk to. He doesn't like doing research half as much as any of his other searching tactics.

"My dad," Natsu answers in a voice full of quiet emotion. "A guy named Igneel. I don't suppose you know him. The last time I saw him was nearly ten years ago."

"Oh," Lisanna says quietly back. They have the whole room to themselves, but neither one of them has spoken above a low murmur yet.

"I'm looking for my siblings," Lisanna tells him, her focus all on his face rather than the papers she's found. "Mirajane and Elfman."

Natsu nods, his face serious for the first time since Lisanna walked into him. An understanding is passing between the two of them and they remain quiet for a moment.

"I'm going to find him," Natsu can't help but say. "I've been looking for a long time, but I know he's out there and I'm going to find him."

Lisanna picks up a paper and the spell is broken.

"I'm going to find my family too," she says. "But first I need to keep looking for them."

Natsu reluctantly opens a file, his face already screwed up in concentration. "Yeah. Right."

He starts reading, searching through the text for anything familiar, anything he knows, but after a moment, he leans back in his chair and puts his arms behind his head in a way unique to him. Lisanna notices the change and looks up at him from her own files.

"I hate reading all this," he complains. "Asking people if they've seen him is much easier. When I find Igneel, I'm never going in one of these buildings again."

Lisanna stares listlessly at her papers. "I know what you mean. This isn't my favorite technique either. But I haven't been very lucky just asking people, so I knew this could be worth a shot."

"Yeah, but still, they couldn't have made the font size bigger or something?"

Having had that same thought herself on occasion, Lisanna laughs and Natsu joins in uncertainly, not sure what she found funny.

Natsu leans forward in his chair and attempts to stare down his pile of papers. Lisanna sighs and bites her lip in determination.

"Alright, Natsu, we have work to do," she says, trying to focus. "No more comments out of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he exclaims, shooting her a look while still hunched over the table. But Lisanna merely smiles and pokes him teasingly.

"Like that. No more of that. We're trying to focus here!"

Grumbling, Natsu keeps reading. It helps when he tells himself that each paper looked through is one step further on his way to finding Igneel. Lisanna besides him is doing something similar. The desire to find their families has driven each of them for so long that getting through a stack of files turns out to be one of the easier things to do. It doesn't take either of them too long to see that there's nothing useful written in the papers, as much as they wish there was.

"Damn it," Natsu hisses as he closes the final file. He sits back in his chair again, scowling, and Lisanna has to agree.

"You didn't have any luck either, then," she says, standing up to gather her papers once more. Natsu shoves out his chair and rises to help her. He doesn't want her to leave the room without him.

"No kidding I didn't," he says, holding open the door as the two of them go to return the useless files. "All that work for nothing!"

"Come on, Natsu," says Lisanna, a strange feeling rising in her. "Surely it wasn't all for nothing. You definitely gained something through reading those papers."

"Brain cells, maybe, but that's not what I'm looking for!"

"Are you sure?" Lisanna teases. "You could stand to gain a few more."

Natsu huffs indignantly and Lisanna opens the door to the record room as they continue talking.

"I was going to say I got to meet you, but I won't if you keep talking to me like that!"

"I'm only teasing, Natsu," Lisanna says honestly. "I like you fine just the way you are."

His eyes widen and he tries to hide by burrowing into the scarf he's wearing, but Lisanna can see his flaming cheeks anyways. She lets herself giggle this time.

Natsu's thoughts have gone all fuzzy and he can't figure out why, so he says, "Yeah, well, whatever, I guess." But when Lisanna looks at him in concern, with caring blue eyes that have been fascinating him this whole time, his thoughts solidify into one concrete sentence.

"Would you… like to meet me for dinner, Lisanna?"

The diner is quiet as restaurants go, with only Natsu, Lisanna, and one other group of people there to create noise. The staff is small, only a handful of people, and at the end of the day, none of them have it in them to be very loud. Natsu had picked a good place for talking to Lisanna. It is almost like it is just the two of them.

The food is also decent, but Lisanna soon realizes that Natsu is willing to eat just about anything.

"That's kind of excessive, Natsu," Lisanna comments, watching him pour ketchup on his fries.

"What do you know?" he says defensively. "I like a lot of ketchup on my fries! And condiments are free, you know. This is a good opportunity to stock up on calories."

The last bit comes out muffled as he pops several fries in his mouth and for a fleeting moment Natsu worries Lisanna is going to be disgusted. He knows his manners aren't great, but he's never had reason to care.

A smile spreads across Lisanna's face and relief floods Natsu's expression for some reason Lisanna isn't aware of. She leans forward and selects a fry to eat herself. Something in Natsu's phrasing gives her pause and she tilts her head at him.

"Do you travel around a lot?" she asks. "Looking for your dad? Does that make it difficult to hold a job?"

Natsu's eyebrows raise slightly as his only sign of surprise. "Yeah, I do. And I guess it does, but I don't think about it too much. My main goal is to find Igneel. Everything else…"

"Can wait?" Lisanna guesses. She knows that feeling very well.

"Yeah!" Natsu says again. Then he grins, leaning back with an air of contentment as he eats more of his dinner. "I should have guessed you'd understand, seeing as you're looking for people yourself. How's that going?"

Lisanna's face falls and Natsu nearly regrets the question. He doesn't want to cause her pain. But then she answers and he feels a spark of kinship between them.

"It is going," Lisanna says, "and that's all it needs to. I'm going to find them someday, so that's all that matters."

"Same here," says Natsu, swallowing his fries. "You can meet him, if you want."

"I'd love to," Lisanna smiles, buoyed by Natsu's enthusiasm and determination. Then she becomes hesitant, another question on the tip of her tongue. "What happened to him? If you don't mind saying. I'll tell you how my siblings disappeared if you want me to."

"It's no big deal," Natsu says even though his heart has started pounding. "I'll tell you. As long as you tell me yours afterwards. It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

"Deal," Lisanna agrees instantly. She wants to know more about Natsu and telling him her own story is only fair. And a part of her preens at the idea that he wants to know more about her too. She thinks that if she can be friends with anyone, her best chance is with the person right in front of her.

"Back when I was a kid," Natsu begins, "I lived in a hunting lodge with my dad. We were out in the middle of nowhere, in a forest, and it was great because I could run around doing whatever. My dad taught me a few things that he thought were important and that was it for school. I spent a lot of time outside with him."

Natsu has to stop himself from saying 'it was great' again. He knows that it was great and he knows he misses his father and he knows there's no point impressing that upon Lisanna because he's pretty sure she knows too.

"Anyways, one day I woke up in the lodge and he wasn't there," Natsu continues, trying to keep his voice steady. "I went outside to look for him, but I couldn't find him anywhere, so I stayed in the lodge for a few more days, hoping he'd come back. When he didn't, I walked to the nearest town and started asking people about him. No one had seen him. I kept going from town to town, looking for him, but eventually social services caught me."

He stops and has a drink of his milkshake, still leaning back against the rubbery red booth of the diner. "And that's how I ended up where I am today! More or less."

Lisanna takes in his story quietly, picking at her dinner as she does so. It's a different story than hers, but the result is the same. A kid left to go through life alone.

"A deal is a deal," she says, preparing to tell her own story. "Thanks for telling me."

"Yeah, sure," says Natsu. He's busy eating his hamburger, but when Lisanna speaks his attention is glued on her. He enjoys hearing what she has to say. He secretly hopes she likes what he has to say as well. For the first time in a long time, Natsu thinks he might be able to understand someone and that someone might be able to understand him. He knows he would really like to be friends with Lisanna.

"My siblings and I used to live in a town not too far from here," says Lisanna softly. "It was just the three of us, but it was very nice. Things were good. Everyone was happy."

Lisanna feels years younger when she tells this story, more vulnerable than she is at any other time. Natsu is riveted by her openness; he can feel his cheeks being tinted with red as she continues in the same sweet voice. She's… really cute, he has to notice. He wants to protect her and tell her jokes and make her laugh, make her happy, but he can't, at least not yet, not while he's still focused on his goal.

"But then there was a storm, a really bad one, and we didn't have a basement to shelter in, so we all huddled together in the bathroom to wait it out," Lisanna's expression became downcast, with a bittersweet smile. "The lights had all gone out and it was dark. I could feel Mirajane and Elfman next to me, but I couldn't see them and there was too much noise from the wind and rain to hear anything. I remember a loud crash and then the rain started pouring in. Shortly after, I fell unconscious."

She looks up at Natsu, who is troubled from the story, and studies his face.

"When I woke up, they are both gone and the town was almost unrecognizable," she says. "I couldn't find them anywhere, so eventually I went to the police station and they took it from there."

Lisanna returns to her meal, signifying the end of the story, and lists her head at Natsu thoughtfully. "I didn't like foster care very much. What did you think of it?"

"Oh that whole thing?" Natsu says, suddenly eager to turn to conversation to something blithe. "I got out of there as soon as I could. I didn't want to waste time stuck in one place with my dad out there somewhere."

"I can't imagine your escape attempts were very subtle, Natsu," Lisanna says in an amused tone, already imagining a smaller version of Natsu kicking open the door of a house and strolling out, talking loudly all the while.

"Well what about you?" Natsu counters. "Are you telling me you just stayed wherever they put you?"

"No, but I like to think I used at least a bit of subtlety to get out of foster care," Lisanna smirks. "How many attempts did it take you?"

"Uh…" Natsu's mind blanks completely on a number and he's sure Lisanna can see it in his face. "I don't know, but it probably wasn't that many!"

Lisanna giggles at Natsu's expression and his cheeks heat again. He tells himself it's hot in the diner, but he knows it's not true. Lisanna's cheekbones have become stained a light pink to match, but Natsu is too busy lying to himself to notice. They both continue with dinner.

"I've enjoyed talking to you," Lisanna says hesitantly. "And I'd be happy to keep on the lookout for your father. You said I could meet him, after all."

Natsu meets her eyes for a moment before looking away. "Thanks. You're pretty fun to talk to as well. And I-I'll keep an ear out for anything related to your siblings."

"That's very nice of you," Lisanna says, with a hint of something like approval. Her eyes are sparkling again and Natsu thinks she might be teasing him about something, but he can't guess what. So he pretends to grumble at her, acting for all the world annoyed, but really he's looking for a sign that he's doing something right. Lisanna laughs and he thinks he might have one.

"What are you planning to do next?" asks Lisanna. "Since the records didn't turn up anything."

"I don't know," Natsu admits, "I might just ask around the town. I think I had the right idea when I was starting out."

"It's as good a plan as any," Lisanna says with an affection grin. But then it occurs to her that they'll be going their separate ways after this. That seems wrong to her, somehow, and she opens her mouth to continue. "Hand me your phone. If you do find a lead on my siblings, you'll need to contact me, right?"

This is starting to feel suspiciously like they're wrapping up, but neither of them like the idea. Natsu passes over his phone and moodily eats the ice cream he'd ordered for dessert.

"Thanks." Lisanna types in her phone number, putting herself into Natsu's contacts simply as Lisanna. Then she hands it back to him.

"What if you need to call me?" Natsu asks, shrewd for once in his life. He hopes that she'll actually just want to call him, but he knows how hard it is to stay friends with someone who travels around as much as he does. Lisanna does the same thing, though. Maybe they have a chance after all.

"Oh, right," she laughs, handing him her phone. "I don't exchange phone numbers with people very often. Maybe it's something I should do more." She thinks that it's working out pretty well this time at least.

Natsu has to resist the urge to bring a hand up to his hair as he types in his own phone number. He's flustered, something he doesn't experience often. Lisanna is blushing, cheerful and teasing and giddy, flustered in her own way. They make quite the pair, with hearts beating too fast and lungs ready to laugh or tease or argue all in the space of a minute. Neither of them had ever thought sitting and talking could be as entertaining as this dinner has made it out to be.

"There," Natsu says, his heart pounding, but a smile on his face as he passes back the phone. "Y-you can call me whenever, you know. I sort of make my own hours."

Lisanna nods, thoughtful, but happy. She has one last request to make of Natsu before she can call it a day.

"Since we're both going to be in this area for a while," she starts off, "why don't we try working together? I mean, we're both looking for people, right? And… I enjoy your company."

Natsu startles at her suggestion, jerking away from his drink in surprise, but a grin has spread over his face and he's excited far more than annoyed. He's getting his wish to be friends with Lisanna, it seems, and he's getting a partner out of the deal, too. They could be fantastic partners-in-crime. Cleverness and determination and optimism and strength all in one. The partnership would make the both of them very happy. Natsu just needs to accept it.

"Yeah!" he blurts out in his enthusiasm. "I think that's a great idea! Do you want to meet up somewhere to talk to people? Wherever you like is fine with me."

There's no one else in the gas station with Natsu and Lisanna. It's a rainy day, the type best spent indoors with friends and family. But for Natsu and Lisanna, that's impossible, so they carry on their search as they always do, with one difference. They might each have a friend to help them. They certainly hope so.

Lisanna grabs Natsu's arm and pulls him away from the counter and the apologetic employee running the till. It's another bust; no one knows anything, not that Lisanna expected much different.

"Come on, Natsu," she says softly, "She doesn't know anything about our families. Let's go."

But it's been another long day and Natsu can feel his anger rising at their lack of success. He never has any success. It's not fair. Just once, someone should know something. But no one knows anything, not even Natsu himself. He doesn't know where his father is. He doesn't know if he's alive. He doesn't even know if his dad wants to be found anymore. He doesn't know what happened or why his dad left. He doesn't know.

He stops just in front of the door, his face downcast and eyes hidden by his hair. "But I don't know anything either. I have no idea what happened to him." He clenches his hands into fists. "I've been searching for years and I still don't know! How is that possible?!"

Natsu is about to slam his fist into the wall when Lisanna puts her hand on his shoulder. He freezes completely, tension running through his body. But then Lisanna smiles at him, sweet and gentle, and all his tension drains away except for a tight knot between his shoulders that always remains, a lingering feeling that he's not doing enough to find his father.

Lisanna leads him to just outside the gas station and they hover off to the side of the entrance. They're in front of a bench, but neither of them sit down. It doesn't occur to them, fortunately, because it's rainy and cold for early spring and the bench has been soaked with drops of water falling from the overhang of the station. Natsu shoves his hands in his pockets and looks up at Lisanna through the mist, his teeth gritted in frustration.

"I know how you feel," Lisanna begins, "but that's no reason to let your anger get the best of you."

She wants to make him feel better, but she struggles with the same doubts herself. If she knew how to absolve them, she would have done so already. So Lisanna settles on empathy and takes a slow, deep breath, moving to meet Natsu's gaze.

"I don't know what happened to my siblings," she tells him. His stare is hard, but she knows he's listening. "I-I don't even know if they want to be found anymore. Or if they can be found. Maybe something's happened to them and they've gone someplace I can't follow, but I don't know that either."

She pauses, watching Natsu's stony gaze soften, until he looks young and afraid and angry and upset. His face is heated despite the unseasonable cold. Lisanna's words awe him, with her calmly delivered acceptance of what is and a peace he himself could never attain. She's told him she is younger than him, but Natsu thinks she's far wiser.

"Uncertainty can be enough to eat you alive, Natsu," Lisanna says softly. "But it doesn't have to. You don't have to let it." A smile crosses her face, like a temporary break in the clouds. "I wonder what happened to my siblings a lot, but I'm still here, still alive and searching, and because of that, I know there's hope that they can be found. It's enough to block out the uncertainty for now, anyways."

Lisanna hadn't meant to keep talking, but words had come to her and the look on Natsu's face had driven her onwards. She doesn't like to leave stories with an unhappy ending. To her, a purely sad ending is unrealistic in a way. Life carries on, with good times and bad times. It's never just one or the other. So she keeps focusing on the good times she knows are coming and tries to help her new friend do the same. There is something to acknowledging pain and hurt that makes good times so much better. She knows they'll get there someday, even if it's only a bittersweet end to uncertainty.

"Wow, Lisanna," Natsu's face cracks a smile. "You're pretty good."

He stretches out his arms while smiling devilishly, seemingly back to his enthusiastic and determined self, but there's a new feeling in his chest. It squeezes his heart tight and he's not sure what it is. It reminds him of hope, it's warm like affection, and he's filled with undirected energy that's desperate for somewhere to go. He's yearning for something, several things, really. It's intense and strange and familiar somehow.

"We've got families to look for now, don't we?" he says, putting his arms behind his head. "That's enough standing around."

Lisanna rolls her eyes, but she laughs too, a simple sound that Natsu is sure holds more meaning than he thinks. The pressure in his chest lessens slightly for just a moment and Natsu thinks he knows what to do.

"Hey, I don't suppose you're up for a slightly longer team-up, are you?" he asks cautiously, in a voice that's as close to shrewd as he gets. He thinks that she'll accept and he knows the only thing he can do is ask, but uncertainty lingers in the back of his mind as it always does. He's braced himself just in case.

Lisanna's face lights up, her blue eyes shining, and if Natsu's cheeks weren't already red from his earlier anger, they would be now. He grins a lopsided grin as he listens for her answer, a matter of formality rather than confirmation.

"You bet I am," she says, throwing out a hand theatrically. Natsu's confused by the gesture, but his excitement overcomes that. Lisanna's excitement is pretty great, too, albeit refined as happiness and affection.

"Alright!" Natsu exclaims. Then he changes tact slightly, aware of how he was putting himself out there. "I mean, it'll be nice to have someone to share the lifestyle with."

Lisanna can see through him, though, and she chides him gently, with a hand on her hip, a smile on her face, and several disapproving shakes of her pointer finger.

"Now, now, Natsu," says Lisanna, feeling extremely happy despite her teasing tone. "You know it's not just that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he startles, face flaming. He ducks his head to the side, turning his face away, trying to act more annoyed than embarrassed. For he is embarrassed, although he's not sure why, and he doesn't want to be caught out just yet.

"You'll figure it out at some point," Lisanna remarks instinctively. She's not so sure she knows what she means herself. Pushing those thoughts aside for a later date, she reaches inside her jacket and pulls out a small collapsible red umbrella she bought from the gas station.

"Come on, Natsu," she says, opening it and holding it over their heads. "Don't we have families to find?"