I'm tired of Lucy always leaving, it's so cliché! So this time Natsu's going to leave! This is probably going to be NatsuXHarem or maybe a Nalu in the end I'm not sure but without further delay I give you chapter 1!

' ' means thoughts

" " means talking

'It had been two weeks since the dragons led by future Rogue had come through the Ellipse gate to take over the world. It looked like an unwinnable battle at the time, we were outmatched and injured and looked to be facing our doom. But we rallied together, and fought for our lives and in the end were able to stop future Rogue from taking over. At that moment I thought I wouldn't ever have to face such despair or hardship again, but two weeks later here I am, begrudgingly walking to my guild with a frown on my face.

It was me again, Natsu Dragneel who against all odds was able to not only defeat a dragon but also able to fight against and defeat the man responsible for the event. The man who had an additional seven years of training and experience against me and the full power of two different types of dragonslayer magic was defeated by me.

After a battle of that magnitude I thought my standing within the guild would be higher. I wasn't expecting to be promoted to a S-class wizard or anything like that, I just thought everyone would respect me more and think better of me but that didn't happened. In-fact, it's been the opposite. Every mistake and ever blunder I make seems to be magnified by everyone. I'm used to being made fun of here and there but recently it feels like it's been going too far and has actually left me feeling miserable.

And every time I try to do something about it, it usually ends with a massive brawl, which I get in trouble for. A wizard able to beat a dragon in combat and yet gets scolded like a five-year old child; it's embarrassing and degrading and it's actually become harder for me to go to the guild everyday because of it and that's only half my problem.

The other half revolves around my partner and best friend Lucy Heartphila. You'd think having me as a best friend would be enough for her to be happy but apparently I was wrong. Instead, while I was out fighting future Rogue with our futures on the line she met Sting. And while I was saving the world they were getting acquainted with one another. A couple of days after the event she told me that she had started dating him.

The sadness I felt at the news hit me hard, it felt like she'd told me I wasn't good enough for her and it hurt. It wasn't like he was the guy who kept tormenting me throughout the Grand Magic Games before I easily defeated him. Or one of the people who was laughing at Lucy when she was beaten to an inch of her life by Minerva' I thought grudgingly.

'So basically, she was going out with a weak arrogant douche-bag and it infuriated me to no ends. The only thing stopping me from going over to Sabertooth and kicking Sting's ass again was the smile that Lucy had on her face when she told me the news. She seemed so happy, so much more than usual, what was I going to do? Take away her happiness because I didn't like the guy? I couldn't hurt her like that, so I didn't do anything which brings us to my present state.

I wasn't happy, I hadn't been happy for the last two weeks and I didn't know how to cure it.

I continued my slow pace walk until I finally reached the entrance to the guild. I didn't know why I kept on coming here every day, it was probably just out of habit but I slowly pushed the doors open and quietly walked in, careful not to be seen by anyone as I quickly sat down on the nearest bench and placed my head down on it while using my hands as pillows.

I just sat there and used my enhanced hearing to listen into the conversation my guild mates were having since I didn't feel like talking to any of them. Everyone seemed to be present at the guild today including Sting and Lucy who were at the bar talking to Mira about something I couldn't quite hear. The rest of the things I heard revolved around missions, alcohol, being manly and people talking about my recent behavior which irritated me but I kept my head down not wanting to say anything to get in trouble again.'

"Everyone I have an announcement" an excited Lucy suddenly yelled as everyone's attention shifted to her in interest while Natsu didn't move from his spot.

'He didn't really care what she had to say at this point. Since telling him of her involvement with Sting she'd been avoiding him. He would try to talk to her and try to keep things normal but she would always find an excuse to leave him hanging. She wouldn't even try talking to him and made sure to avoid him which had just added to the DragonSlayer's depression. What had he done to deserve this? He didn't know, so how could he fix it?' He thought irritably.

"I would like to present to you the newest member of Fairy Tail Sting Eucliffe" she exclaimed as everyone in the guild was shocked by the sudden announcement at first before they all applauded and cheered as Natsu felt like repeatedly hitting his head against the table he was sitting at as he tried to figure out why this was all happening to him.

'God, give me a sign. Give me something; give me anything at this point. Come on man!' Natsu begged in his head as seconds later the unexpected happened.

The doors to the guild hall were blown open as four upset wizards marched their way into the guild. Everyone looked at them in shock especially Sting who looked like he'd seen four ghosts.

"Sabertooth has come knocking" Minerva roared as she along with Rufus, Orga and a more than usual depressed Rogue flanked her. Natsu actually raised his head to take a look at the unfolding events in front of him with some interest.

"What's the meaning of this! Why are you here?" Master Makerov demanded as the Sabertooth wizards didn't back down.

"We're here to get our friend back" Orga roared emphatically to everyone's surprise.

"Sting, you can't leave us like this, we've been together for the last seven years. You can't just abandon this guild so easily like it's nothing." Rufus said to which Sting looked emotionlessly at his former guild mates.

"I'm not coming back; I've decided to move on. I'm looking forward to spending my time making new friends here, in my new guild" he explained harshly which raised a few eyebrows from the Fairy Tail wizards.

"You know this guild needs you, you're one of the strongest members we have. And with the Fiore redoing the Grand Magic Game again we need to have everyone together so we can stand a chance" Minerva reasoned as the others nodded in agreement.

"My answers no, now why don't you guys leave, you're embarrassing yourself" he said coolly. It took all of Natsu's will power not to walk up to Sting and punch him in the face for the disrespect he was showing his friends. Even Lucy saw that as a cruel response as she looked at Sting in surprise.

"Hey come on Sting wasn't that a little..." but she was cut off by a roar of frustration from Orga.

"You bastard, how can you stay that to us? We're doing all this for you! We want you, our friend back!"

"Let's be real here, you just want me back because I'm strong" he bragged.

'Yeah right' Natsu thought.

'Didn't I kick your ass and Rogue's ass at the same time last time we fought' He scoffed.

"You guys need me for Grand Magic Games and that's the only reason you're here. If you guys weren't so weak you wouldn't have bothered to come get me" he said as Minerva shock her head.

"He doesn't get it... Rogue can't you get through to him?" Minerva asked as Rogue immediately looked to the ground and didn't say a word as Natsu felt a little bad for him. In-fact, Rogue and him looked a little alike at the moment but his thoughts were quickly snapped back when he heard another roar coming from Orga.

"You can't call us weak! How dare you! I'll show you. 120mm Black Lightning Cannon" he yelled as he aimed his attack toward Sting. With Lucy right beside him instinct took over Natsu.

"No wait sto..." Erza tried to say but was cut off when the blast was fired as an explosion resulted as everyone in the Guild gasped at the sight in front of them as the smoke cleared.

Lucy and Sting were both huddled in each other's arms with their eyes closed, both unharmed. As they slowly opened their eyes they found a man with a pink hair standing in front of them with both his hands raised and crossed in a defensive position as his hair shaded his eyes.

"...Natsu" Lucy asked but before she could asked anything else electricity started to pulse through Natsu's body followed by usual flames. Natsu was in his Lighting-Fire Dragon Mode as he looked up at the Sabertooth wizards with a furious expression on his face.

"I don't care what this prick did to you guys, but if you ever put any of my friends in danger like that again... I will destroy you all" he growled as the Minerva looked amazed at the dragonslayer's power before an idea popped into her head.

"Okay fine how about his then, if Sting doesn't want to come back to Sabertooth that's fine, we're not going to force him to because we want what's best for our friend" she said as she glared at Orga who was suddenly sweating bullets from her stare.

"But since we still need someone else to fill his void why don't you let us borrow you're fire dragonslayer tell after the GMG are over" she said as Natsu's flames quickly dispersed as he looked at Minerva with a dumbfounded expression.

".. What?!" He yelled.

"You guys want Natsu in exchange for Sting? A trade of dragonslayers? Makerov asked.

"Basically yes, but just for the short-term, the longest we'd need him is up to the end of the GMG and if we find a suitable replacement for Sting before he can come back" she explained.

"So how does this fix our problem with Sting? We can't just replace him like that!" Rogue butted in, speaking for the first time as Minerva sighed.

"It's not meant to fix that problem, maybe if we give Sting time he'll come around but tell then we need someone to at least be there representing us during the GMG so this is the best I could think of" Minerva said with a shrug as Rogue glared at her for a second before turning away as he went back to staring at Sting who was doing his best to not make eye contact with his former best friend.

'There's no way anyone from Fairy Tail would agree to this right? I mean you can't just trade away your friends like their pieces on a chess board' Natsu thought as he awaited for Gramps to furiously refuse the arrangement. Most of the guild had been quiet since Minerva's offer before he heard a familiar laugh coming from a certain ice mage.

"HAHA, oi, Gramps make the trade, it'd be worth it just to get Natsu out of the guild for the next two months" he laughed as Natsu suddenly felt cold. But before he could say anything others spoke up.

"Think of how quiet and peaceful this guild hall would be without all the random fighting going on in here" Macou said.

"We'd finally be able to drink in peace too" a drunk Cana added.

"Yeah I'd actually be able to read in here without fear of loud interruptions and the possibility of my books getting burned" Levy said.

"Not to mention the savings we'd have from not constantly having to replace all the things he breaks and burns while he's in here and on mission" Laxus continued as money signs suddenly appeared on Makerov's eyes.

"All the money we'd save from him not going on missions and destroying entire cities would be enormous" he said greedily as the onslaught continued.

Natsu just couldn't believe how mean and cruel they were being to him. 'Is that how they treat their Nakama?'

"Our mission would probably go a lot smoother too and we'd be doing more good for the people we serve" Erza added jokingly as Natsu couldn't even tell it was a joke at this point. He actually felt alone for the first time since Igneel left him but it was the next person that spoke which really killed Natsu on the inside.

"That means we'd all get more money from the missions too! Plus, I wouldn't get all those unwanted visits from him when he suddenly comes over to my house, ohh and I would save a ton of money on food and all the furniture he destroys "Lucy said aloud while laughing as Natsu couldn't take it anymore.

"That enough!" he roared which quickly silenced everyone. All the jokes stopped as all eyes were on him as he took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing.

"I'm in, I'll do it" he said with his face showing nothing of the emotional conflict inside of him as he began to walk toward the Sabertooth wizards. Only gasps were heard from the Fairy Tail wizards who were all stunned.

It took a second from the shock before anyone in Fairy Tail reacted to his agreement. The first being Wendy and Romeo who immediately ran toward Natsu, hugging his legs stopping him in his tracks.

"You can't leave! It wouldn't be Fairy Tail without you" Wendy shouted as she looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Yeah it true, please don't go, you don't have to we didn't agree to let you go!" Romeo begged as Natsu bent down a bit and gave both a big hug.

"It's only going to be for a little while and I'll come by and visit and who knows this could be fun!" he said trying to sound optimistic but at this point he just wanted to leave before anything else happened.

As he let go of the hug he gave the two one last small smile before he continued his walk toward the Sabertooth wizards not looking back at his guild mates.

"Stop this Natsu, you don't have to go, we were just joking about everything, we really do need you here" Makarov pleaded as Natsu's sudden actions had caused him to realize the severity of the situation.

"No Gramp's, you don't need me here and I think I needed to leave for a little bit anyways" Natsu said not breaking his stride as the rest of the guild was again left stunned by the revelation.

"Natsu explain yourself!" Erza barked as she walked up and stood directly behind him as he immediately stopped walking at hearing her voice.

'Stupid habits' he thought bitterly before turning around and meeting Erza's gaze with his own.

From looking into his eyes all she could see was sadness, the energetic and happy eyes she had known weren't there anymore. She felt like panicking at that moment.

'When had this happened? How had she missed it?'

"If you don't tell me what's wrong I won't be able to fix it" she begged as everyone was surprised at the desperation in her voice as Natsu looked at her for a second when a small smile appeared on his face.

"You can't fix it" was all he said before he turned around and continued walking until he finally reached the Sabertooth wizards who were all equally stunned by his quick agreement. He gave them all a nod to get their attention before signaling for them to leave.

As the Sabertooth wizards all left the guild Natsu stayed just before the door. He turned around to see all the faces he'd grown accustomed to see all gazing at him with sad and confused expressions as he put on his best fake smile to give them one last speech.

"Can you guys all cheer up? I'm not changing guilds and I'm not leaving Fairy Tail. I'll come visit but right now I think this is something I need to do so bye for now. And remember" he said as he raised his right hand up to do the Fairy Tail symbol "I'll always be looking your way" he said with his signature grin as he left before his emotions got the best of him.

As the doors to the guild close no one moved for a moment, they all kept looking at the door trying to figure out what just happened.

"He's coming back, right?" Sting asked breaking the silence as Makarov finally looked away and began to walk toward his office.

"Who knows" he said as he slammed the door to his office shut and sat down on his chair to think.

'Just what happened to that boy?'

"Of course he is, this is one big joke. Just watch, he'll be back by tomorrow" Grey huffed as he walked away to the back of the guild to sit by himself as everyone else began to try to do whatever they were doing before the interruption. All of them trying to figure out what had happened to their pink haired dragonslayer.

Erza stood still in the same spot where she looked Natsu in the eyes. Her cool calm outside soon left as her anger took over as the first bench she saw was instantly destroyed by one of her punches. This instantly drew the gazes of the rest of the guild who were all frightened by her action. She then slowly made her way out the guild to Fairy Hill's to replay the past events over to see what she had missed.

Lucy Heartphilla still hadn't moved from her spot hours after Natsu had left. 'There he'd been again to save her and she knew it couldn't last. He had better things to do then to stay by her side and do all the silly things they always did. She'd known since he'd saved them all again, someone like Natsu would only be held back by having someone like her around. It wasn't fair but that's how it was, she'd thought she'd be prepared for this day. She had done everything she could to wash away his essence from her life but she never thought the day would come this soon. And she never thought it would be under these circumstances and most of all she didn't know how much it would hurt until he'd actually left.'

I may have rushed this a bit but I really wanted to get this first part done! Please give me your opinions on it. Let me know what you want to see in this story! I hope you liked it!

Chill tell the next one

Edited June 6 2014

After reading this chapter again I realized that I could have really gone with the Nalu route instead of the harem one. If I had done the Nalu route the story would have followed the following points

Lucy would realize her mistake and so would vow to get stronger by the next GMG games to show herself that she could stay by Natsu's side and not hold him back

Natsu would live out his normal life in Sabertooth and get seduced by many women only to realize that the only one he wanted is Lucy and so to win her back he would vow to lead Sabertooth to victory against Fairy Tail to show her how awesome he is

Drama would ensue between the two as they would see each other a lot during mission run ins and random events( these events occurring before the GMG)

Side story for this would be Lucy and Natsu trying to get Sting and Rouge to be friends again

Edited again July 10 2014

Fixed more grammar and added ' ' to the chapter. chapter 9 just needs to be edited before its released it'll be out soon!