Chapter 21

Guilt

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, only my own OC's, and my Ideas

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Blood hit the torn up and jagged pieces of metal littered all around. Yells and shouts echoed around the crackling of flames as the booms of explosions. A shrill scream of pain pierced the air above all the noise, and more blood hit the floor.

'...hear... That...? Some...else...trapped...'

That voice managed to break the through the noises of destruction all around them. The sound of metal bending and glass shattering started to echo around the space now, someone was trying to get here...

The images of fire, destruction, blood; bodies... It all started to blur and fade away as she lost consciousness.

Why am I remembering... This now...?

Alumina!

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Alumina started up in the bed suddenly, eyes wide in terror, gasping for air as she was jolted from the horrible memory. But the sudden movement caused her body to flare up in an unbelievable amount of pain, and she cringed back down in the pillow, eyes shut tight.

"Damn it!" She hissed in pain, jaw clenched and teeth grinding down on each other.

"Are you ok?"

The question caused her to stiffen. It was calm, but she couldn't help but notice the worry in it... But she knew that voice, it was a little unnerving that it wasn't laced with anger or hate...

Her eyes slowly opened and shifted to the side, and her head twisted a little so she could see the person standing there, eyes widening in utter shock.

"N-Natsu...?" She stammered. Natsu was standing at the edge of the bed, face pulled into a frown as he looked her over slowly.

"You ok? You looked like you were having a pretty bad dream..." He murmured. She just blinked at him, staying silent for the moment. She couldn't really process why he was here... But...

Ignoring the pain it caused, she lunged up into a sitting position, and raised a hand.

Smack

Alumina glared at him after slapping him on the cheek, hard. The skin turned pink after the impact, and Alumina clenched her jaw as she resisted the urge to wince after moving so fast, again.

It hurt like hell to move, let alone lunge up in her bed so suddenly like she had for the second time in a row. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, letting her eyes scrunch closed in pain.

Damn it...!

"Please... Just take it easy...ok..?" She opened her eyes to look Natsu's way again as he spoke up. He was looking at her with that worry on his face she wasn't used to from him, and even more surprisingly, he didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that she had slapped him.

"I hope you know you deserved that." She muttered through gritted teeth and he nodded a little, looking away from her and at the floor.

"Yeah..." He mumbled. Alumina narrowed her eyes at him, he seemed oddly...

Oh... Just odd...

"Something wrong?" She questioned him and he shook his head.

"No..." He mumbled. Alumina blinked a few times, before letting out a silent sigh, the waves of pain sweeping over her body subsiding.

She slowly leaned back against her pillow and drew her legs up so she was sitting cross-legged. She patted the bed in front of her a little and he blinked at her.

"Sit down." She ordered quietly. For a minute he just stood there, and she turned a stern glare on him, so he finally gave in and sat down on the bed in front of her, sitting cross-legged himself with his hands resting in his lap. "Now tell me what's on your mind." She ordered.

Natsu POV

Usually he wouldn't have listening to anyone like this, save Erza or Master, but this was different. Her tone of voice, the way she was rather calm despite the part where she slapped him... It made him feel a little better to know she had enough energy to at least hit him for what he did to her, and he knew he had deserved it.

That's why he was here, he had been sitting in the room in silence since the day started up. He had gotten here before anyone else had, and he had listened in silence as people started to fill the building downstairs.

He was here... Because he really felt bad about what he had done to her.

His eyes swept over her, feeling guilt rise up in him as he scanned over the bandages all over her body, the burns, the cuts... His onyx gaze slowly moved up to land on her neck, where he could distinctly see the bruising.

The dark bruising his grip on her throat had caused.

As he looked her over, his entire being filled up with more Guilt than he would have ever thought imaginable. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. This is what he had done to her, he had nearly killed her... All because he had been angry... Because he had kept his feelings locked up inside for so long...

What the hell had he been thinking?

But the truth was; he hadn't been thinking..

Alumina just watched him silently as he mulled over what to say to her. She sat there with her long pale blonde hair falling around her face a shoulders, some of it over her eye like she normally had it.

"I..." He was struggling to say it, and his voice cracked in the process. "I... I am so sorry..." He murmured, eyes dropping away from her steady gaze, he couldn't look her in the eye as he said it. "I am such a jerk, and you have every right to be mad at me..."

His voice trailed away slowly as he just sat there, unable to meet her gaze. She didn't say anything, but he didn't know if he wanted her to...

"What you said... It makes so much sense now, and I don't think I can ever forgive myself for attacking you like I did... I had no right, especially when all you've been doing since you came here... Is making everyone's lives better... And I see that now..." His eyes closed as he hung his head in shame. "I... I've just been so angry since... Lucy..." He murmured, "I've... Been confused... Since it happened..."

Inside, his emotions were spinning round and round in circles. He hated admitting it, he had admitting what he had done was wrong to himself already, but he was finding it much harder to admit it to someone else, especially the one person he had hurt, the person he had almost killed...

His stomach was spinning, his chest ached, and his body shook a little. His eyes scrunched closed harder as his fists clenched around the sheets, and he felt the small tears fight their way out of his eyes, so they could roll slowly down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered. He couldn't stop the tears from falling, and he didn't make any attempt to stop them from spilling over once they started. In his mind, horrible flashes of memories were swimming by in his head;

Memories of Lucy

Happy ones, sad ones, all of them... He missed that bright smile she always seemed to wear, even in the worst situations. He missed the hope and joy she had brought to the Guild while she had been here, he missed her laugh...

He missed her scent too, that sweet scent he had gotten so used to, and without it floating around the Hall, it just seemed like something was missing. It had felt like there was this great, big, giant hole ripped into the lives of Fairy Tail since she died.

The Guild had loved her. He had loved her.

But she was gone, she had been murdered... And her killer had never been found. The anger against the one who had done it, the one who had killed Lucy, he supposed that's what had affected him the most in the beginning. He honestly had wanted nothing more than to find the bastard that had taken Lucy away from him, and give them what they deserve.

That anger, that hatred he had felt in the beginning toward the one who had killed Lucy, had all but subsided as time went on, and she wasn't here to move with it. Sure, he still wanted to find her killer, but at the moment he didn't feel the burning passion like he had in the beginning. Now; he felt sadness, and most of all Guilt.

Natsu's eyes snapped open as arms wrapped around him, and he was pulled forward into a hug by Alumina. Alumina's eyes were closed as she held on to him, her arms wrapping around him so gently, but strong enough to keep him there.

"Don't cry, Natsu..." He blinked at her words, but said nothing. "Lucy wouldn't want you to cry..." She hugged him a little harder, pulling him closer.

He was surprisingly very warm as she hugged him, and she was a little comforted by his warmth...

"I'm not angry with you, I can't be..." Alumina whispered gently. "Because I understand what you've been going through, and I'm just happy you've started to realize what's wrong... And you're willing to move on now..." She pulled away a little, though her arms still stayed hooked around the back of his neck as she set her gaze on him. "And I forgive you."

She was smiling a little at him, her gaze sparkling with sadness. But she looked so calm, so at peace, and without him even realizing it, the tears slowed to a stop as he simply gazed at her.

"You're stronger for this, even though you may not see it that way. And you're not a bad person Natsu, you really aren't, I know because you feel bad about what you did." Alumina smiled a little more as he just gaped at her.

"So lets be friends, ok Natsu?" She asked him sweetly and his eyes grew wide at the question, never ever anticipating those words to leave her mouth.

She smiled brightly at him, and he blushed a little at how sweet and honest she looked in that instant, before smiling a little himself, and letting his head lean forward, so their foreheads rested against one another, and his eyes closed.

"That would be great..." He murmured. "Thank you..."

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Here is the next one! It is rather short but hopefully you'll like it anyway.

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