for any questions, check the q&a chapter! :)

[this applies for all chapters]

I woke up pretty happy that day; the weather was warm, my spirits were excited, and so was I.

"Ohayo minna!" I shouted into the guild hall. However, everyone was oddly quiet. Suddenly, I could feel the back of my hand begin to burn and when I turned to look, I saw purple flames and some smoke. What was going on? Maybe they missed when they were aiming for something else?

I was pushed out of the way when Lisanna Strauss worked her way to the counter, sneering "Move, blondie." I shrugged in response and made my way to thee counter, taking a seat next to Wendy who was happily chatting about something with Carla.

"Hey, Wendy, what's going on?" She pursed her lips and looked at me, muttering,

"It's about you."

"Well that I know." She looked away, and judging by her facial expression, I was sure she heard something that I wouldn't like. I left the counter and walked towards them, asking the same question of, "what's going on?"

I don't know what I did wrong.

"What's going on?" Lucy came up and asked. I jerked my head and Gray, Erza, and I went to talk somewhere else.

"Natsu, are you sure about this?" Erza asked cautiously.

"Of course. We all know how much of a weakling she actually is," I replied, feeling a twinge of guilt. I didn't want to say this kind of stuff about my friend, but as much as I didn't want to admit it, it was a little bit true. 

"Natsu, I have a lot of trust in you. But if this doesn't go as planned, then we're going to have to talk," Erza huffed, turning on her heel and leaving the guild hall.

"Natsu~ Why did you say that?" Happy asked as we left to our own corner in the hall.

"What?"

"How could you do this to Lucy?"

"I don't think you understand Happy, but either way, I'm telling her tomorrow. But you can tell her tonight if you want to."

"Natsu, she's your friend! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

"Happy." I scoffed and walked away, leaving Happy flying in the dust.

Is Natsu right? I always thought of Lucy as my little sister, confidant. But...Natsu seemed to make sense. If she hadn't come on the job with us earlier, then we wouldn't have had more trouble. If she didn't fall down the mountain, then we wouldn't have had to wait for so long in the hospital, despite having Wendy. If she hadn't come to the guild, there would be no Phantom Lord business, nothing.

But if she was gone, I would lose a friend. She was there with me when Jellal was possessed by Zeref, she was there with me when I was crying, and she was never truly scared. She just didn't want to lose us.

I'm so sorry, Lucy. I don't want to kick you out of the team. 

Oh, but you do want to kick her out. Isn't she useless? Isn't she weak?

Inner voice, I have no time for your nonsense. But either way, she's an important part of Team Natsu. She's my friend!

You know she hides behind her spirits. And you've doubted her fighting before, haven't you?

I sighed. My inner voice was right. It didn't make sense for me to be sad about her leaving when I really did doubt whether she would be a good asset to the team or not. But still.

I'm so sorry, Lucy.

(edited 190210)

as you can see, i'm editing this book as well as "it's not the end." thank you for reading these books and enjoying them! it means a lot to me to see you guys reading this book, and i'm running out of words because it'll become redundant haha.

- daze