Lucy

Lucy was boarding the plane for Miami, Florida. After almost three years of nothing but working in a run down café, she finally found her dream job of being an editor. However, she needed to move away from her home state Montana to achieve her dreams once and for all. Sure, Lucy had her friends that would miss her dearly, but they'll eventually move on and forget her. After Lucy's parents dumped her at her grandparents so they could live in Europe, it wasn't a big deal for Lucy to let people go.

She would much rather be alone than get to attached to people. Her 'friends' were more like acquaintances in Lucy's eyes. The girls would invite her over for a weekend, they would work together in the Fairy Tail café, and she would have time to even have a drink with the guys. But none of that meant anything to Lucy, the only thing she was looking forward to, was finally leaving Magnolia, Montana. Lucy was sitting at her gate waiting for her flight to be called. As she waited, she went through her pictures on her phone. Pictures of friends, grandparents, graduation, and simple get together parties. "Maybe I should just delete these." Lucy stated and glanced over them once more. The blonde girl began to play with a strand of her hair, while clicking the pictures to delete them all. None of the pictures meant anything to her, so what's the point of even keeping them? Before she pressed the trash button, an argument out of nowhere echoed the airport.

"You are so stupid! We were supposed to go to Venice, but instead you paid for Miami?! I've already been there!" A high-pitched and annoying girl screamed at a poor man. The man just stood there with his head down, as he held the two tickets for both of them. "I'm sorry Lis, but I have family down there. Instead I was hoping I could surprise you by letting them meet you." The pink-haired man had a fair point. At least he has a family he wants to see. The girl scoffed and grabbed her ticket from him. "We're not even together dummy! Yes I mean I live with you and we've been seeing each other for four years, but I'm not ready to take a step in meeting your family!" The guy put his arms out as if to convince her. "Lisanna please don't do this again. You say we're dating then we're not. Please just make up your mind I paid good money for these tickets." The girl's face became red from anger. "Here's what I think of your ticket!" She ripped the paper apart in front of his face, before dropping it on the floor. "We're through, Natsu! Don't even think about calling me!"

The brat stormed off leaving the poor man by himself. It looked like all the life was sucked out of him, as he got down on his knees to pick up the small pieces of the ticket his ex-girlfriend trashed. Lucy felt pity for the poor man, when she got up from her seat to help him. It felt strange to Lucy, she's never cared about someones' feelings before. It almost felt like she was worried for him. Lucy stood behind him, before she too got on her knees to help him. The man didn't even realize until she held her hand out holding the remainder of the tattered tickets. "Here." Lucy said dropping the rest of it into his hands. The man only nodded and got back on his feet. "Thank you." He helped Lucy up by putting his hand out for her to reach, which she gladly accepted. It was awkward between the two before Lucy cleared her throat. "No offense, but that was kinda a bitchy move she did on you." He laughed and moved his fingers through his hair in embarrassment. "My ex? Yeah she always does this poor excuse until she crawls back to me with the corniest excuse ever. And we get back together a week later after she dumped me."

"Wow, that's stupid of you to allow." Lucy exclaimed not caring how broad and forward it was to the man. He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked away. "She means well, trust me Lis makes me happy." Lucy only stood in her place with her arms crossing. "Having a girl as a hypocrite makes you happy in a relationship? Boy I've been doing it all wrong." The pink-haired man only turned red. "Hey! That's not what I meant! It's just, we were doing so well when we started dating, but as time progressed, she changed." Lucy exhaled, feeling disappointed about his excuse. "Things change over time my dude. If I were you I wouldn't allow her to do that to me and just dump her once and for all. That's my opinion though." Lucy turned away to go back to her seat. She didn't even realize the man was following her until he sat down next to her, it surprised her, but she didn't say anything. They sat in silence as Lucy glanced over to the man stacking the torn paper together, then putting it in his red backpack. He leaned back and sighed, looking up to his watch and groaned. "Problem?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do about my family. Apparently they're excited about seeing my girlfriend, but now that we've broken up again they won't be able to meet her." He whispered looking down to the floor. Lucy looked to another direction, not wanting to look at such a pitiful sight. "It sounds like a personal problem. Where are you going to meet them?" Lucy questioned hoping to change the subject. "I'm originally from Florida. I've always lived in Miami until I met Lisanna on the internet. I decided after high school I was going to move to Montana so I could actually meet her. Turned out I wasn't really catfished, and we hooked it off ever since." Lucy played with a strand of her hair again, nodding at Natsu's backstory. "Funny, I'm moving to Miami to work as an editor for this big company that's going worldwide. Have you heard of Weekly Sorcerer?"

"You kidding! My mom was always reading that dumb magazine every week it came out! It was local, but they soon spread through the entire nation. Now they're going worldwide! Damn I can't believe that little company's going huge." Lucy agreed, and turned her attention back to her phone again. All the pictures she checked was ready to be deleted when Natsu awed at something. "That's a cute picture of you!" He said pointing at one picture of Lucy smiling at the camera with her scarlet friend, Erza, also looking at the camera with a sly grin. "Thanks, but I'm deleting these pictures." Natsu did a double take with his head. "What?! Why get rid of all these pictures that have your friends in them."

"That's the point idiot." Lucy replied glancing at them all again. "I'm never coming back, so what's the point in having the pics when I'll never see them." Lucy clicked the trash button, the phone asking her one more time if she wanted to delete these pictures. "Then that's a bigger reason you should keep them." Lucy stopped herself from pressing the 'Yes' button. "What?" She said, looking back at Natsu. He was glancing down at her phone, peeking at every picture she had before looking back at her eyes. "If you're never going to see your friends again, then you should keep these memories of them. Instead of letting them go, cherish every moment you had with them, so you know that not only will they be with you, but you'll also be with them. Even if you live on the other side of the country."

"I never thought of it that way." Lucy admitted, putting her phone on her lap with her staring at nothing in front of her. "Then what did you think of it as?" Natsu asked nudging her shoulder a little. "That when you know you'll never see someone you cherish again, it's best to just forget them." Lucy numbly said, realizing that she can't remember her parent's faces anymore. A thought about them never passed over her until this very moment. It's been fifteen years since she last saw them, and she's only turning twenty now. Fifteen years, and she's just thinking about her own biological parents. That's...insane.

"You okay?" Natsu had his hand on her shoulder, when Lucy picked her hand up to her eyes. She found out she was silently crying. Lucy hasn't cried in... years. "Yeah." Lucy bluntly said, moving her hand over her eyes. "I just..uh... realized I've been an idiot this entire time." She canceled the process of deleting her pictures, and leaned into the plastic chair. Lucy was scouring through her thoughts, asking herself how did this stranger, that she just met, help her through a hurdle she's been dealing with her entire life. Lucy turned back to the man and cleared her throat. "What's your name?" The man's eyes widened when he slapped his forehead. "Where are my manners! I'm sorry; my name's Natsu Dragneel."

"Lucy Heartfilia." She said back, now knowing the name of this stranger. "Natsu...such a unique name to have in America." Lucy began saying not looking at him. Natsu laughed at her comment. "My ancestors came from Japan apparently, and if a male with 'salmon' hair in my family is born, then it's by tradition they name him Natsu." Lucy giggled, not even believing his story for one second. "You kidding? If so then how many 'Natsu's' are there in your family?" Natsu stares off into the distance, his brain seeming to be working very hard to remember something. "Four. The last Natsu Dragneel was over two hundred years ago. It's rare when someone in my family gets salmon hair. Basically less than one percent chance."

"And you were that percent then." Lucy added, as Natsu nodded with a goofy smile. "Yep! No one ever believes me when I tell that story, honestly it kinda bums me that some people don't think that family traditions can continue for over a century, maybe even more than I think, and they call me a liar. Thanks for not laughing when I told you." Guilt came over Lucy for a moment, because she wanted to laugh at his family history, but she thanked god for not allowing herself to laugh. "No problem." The two strangers were silent again, this time the awkwardness seeming to fade away.
"So, you have any family waiting for you Lucy?" Natsu calmly asked not even looking at her. Lucy suddenly felt sick in her stomach, the fog over her memories still there. Lucy still can't remember her parent's faces. "No." Was all Lucy said back. Her tone felt cold, distant when Natsu mentioned family to her, he decided to not push his luck on that topic. "I'm sorry if I said something. I lost my dad from a car accident. So...if you wanna talk-"

"My parents left me, so they could be free again." It was all she said before the  tears threatened to overcome her again. For so long, Lucy knew this, but she could never say it out loud. Not because she didn't want to hear it, but because it was hard to believe...that her own parents...abandoned her. "They," Lucy coughed so she could get rid of the knot in her throat. "even told me that I wasn't meant to even exist. I was only an accident they created. So, they dropped me off at my grandparents, and left to live in Europe." Lucy couldn't believe she was opening so much to the guy she just met five minutes ago. This was so unlike her she wanted to punch herself.

Natsu, held a sad frown on his face. "I'm so sorry." It was all he could say, but he found his hand on her shoulder, but this time kept it there. He hoped that Lucy wasn't thinking he was hitting on her. Natsu was actually concerned about this poor girl! "Well, I can tell you two things for sure." Lucy glanced over to Natsu. "Your parents, were wrong. And they let go of the most beautiful person on the face of the earth." Lucy laughed, almost coldly because she thought Natsu was only joking. However, his expression said otherwise. "I'm sorry, but haven't we just met?" Lucy asked, finally turning her body to face Natsu. Natsu grinned from her question. "All I'm saying, is that I think we'll be good friends on this little journey of ours. Care to join me in first class?" Natsu pulled out the shredded ticket from his backpack and held it out to Lucy. The blonde girl could only laugh. "You know, they're not going to accept that ticket right?" Natsu nodded. "Yes, but a little bit of scotch tape can make all the difference!"

For the remainder of forty-five minutes, Lucy and Natsu worked together on the ticket as if it was a puzzle. Soon buying expensive scotch tape from the airline store, the ticket looked like a toddler tried to turn in their project that was only half completed. Later that day, in first class seats, sat Natsu next to Lucy as they grew a bond, that not even fate could break.