Chapter Text
ARC 1: Memory Loss
Magnolia,
Year: 791X
He couldn't move.
After taking that cup of cola soda he had been offered by That Girl, dizziness had taken over him. Room seemed to be circling in his eyes, and every muscle in his body became heavy. Had it been poison of some kind? But there was no pain! What was happening?!
He felt how That Girl came and raised his head on her lap. Her closeness felt so wrong to him. ”Don't worry, you'll be fine soon”, she whispered gently into his ear.
Something was terribly wrong. He could feel how a memory of someone he cared most about slowly faded out of his mind. Person who owned this whispering voice was sitting on the living room's floor, holding his head on her lap.
But she wasn't the one he wanted her to be – not even close nor could he even talk so he couldn't tell her to go away.
”Out of sight, out of mind”, whispering voice said. ”It's going to be better this way. You would have never been with her anyway. She doesn't know you, nor does she deserve your friendship. Let the memories fade. Forget her very existence.”
As the memories faded away slowly, he couldn't help but feel scared.
Why would this happen to him?
Why did this happen to him?
Why not someone else?
Why does it have to be him?
”It has to be you because we made a promise”, whispering voice said. ”You will soon remember, and we'll be together, my love.”
Love? He thought. No way...
”Close your eyes. When you wake up, you'll feel fine again”, That Girl's voice said gently as his eyes started to close.
He felt so tired.
Too tired to stand it anymore. As he let sleep take him, he saw a pair of blue eyes with a victorious glint in them...
*****
Three Weeks Later
Even though she had been ignored by many in the guild for a while, Lucy had decided not to make a big deal of it. Of course, she did feel a bit sad, but she also wanted to believe that things will eventually change. They usually did. These people – her family – wouldn't ignore her forever, right? That was just nonsense. It wouldn't happen. Ever. She was so sure of it that she kept a smile on her lips every day when she went to the guild.
Today was no different. After getting ready in her apartment, she walked out on the sunny streets of Magnolia. Day was a good one after the rainy days that had seemed to last forever. Lucy hated rain. It made her so depressed, even when she tried to smile. That's why she was happy that those days were over. It was easier to go on missions, too – even if Lucy had been going on solo missions for a while now.
”I wonder if they'd take me with them this time”, Lucy wondered aloud. ”Last time they left before I even got to the guild...”
Team Natsu had left on a mission without her almost at once after the Grand Magic Games had ended. But unlike Lucy had expected – meaning that they would remember she was the member of the team, too – Team Natsu started to go on more and more missions with Lisanna instead and it felt like that Lucy didn't matter to them anymore. And that made her really sad.
”And eventually everyone was shocked when they noticed Natsu and Lisanna were actually together”, Lucy remembered and sighed. From that day on, Lucy had been basically a ghost in the guild. Not that she really complained though, she had noticed that she actually had time to work on her novels a lot more without any distractions. And for that she was very happy... well, at first. After a while she started to miss her team's sudden visits. She missed Natsu's weird habit of coming through her window into her apartment to sleep in her bed. She wasn't sure why he did that, but for some weird reason she really liked it.
Lucy arrived the guild building. As always, people were already fighting over something there. Lucy facepalmed. Will these crazy people ever stop?!
”Yo, Ice Princess, you got no right to critisize me!” Natsu's voice roared stronger than any other's voice.
”I wonder what they're arguing about today”, Lucy mumbled to herself as she walked through the front yard. She took a side step just in time to avoid a flying table and sighed. This guild surely was a rowdy one. It seemed like people were fighting every day when Lucy came in. As she stepped into the guild hall, everything was in shambles as always. Lucy headed to the request board to find a job suitable for her.
”Lucy!” she heard a voice coming from behind her. She could recognize Happy's voice anywhere and turned around to see the blue Exceed looking at her with a look of delight. Had he been waiting for her arrival? Either way, Lucy was happy that this mischievous Exceed was talking to her again.
”Hey, Happy”, Lucy greeted as she dodged yet another flying chair that came her way. She started to feel annoyed. Who the hell was trying to kill her with the furniture?!
”It was Pantherlily who threw that chair at you”, Happy told her mischief evident in his voice.
”Oh, is that so?” Lucy said and as she was thinking of calling one of her spirits to avenge her, Loki appeared.
”I thought you might want me to avenge you, princess”, he flirted.
”Enjoy”, Lucy said smiling.
”Your wish is my command, love”, Loki said and he joined the raging battle.
”So, Happy, what's up?” Lucy turned her attention back on the blue Exceed.
”I need your help with something”, Happy answered, now looking at her with a troubled expression. ”It's about Lisanna and Natsu.”
"Shouldn't you talk to them?” Lucy asked, feeling confused. "If you have issues with them, I don’t think I should get involved in it as I'm an outsider."
”I've tried to talk to them, but they don't listen. Something's wrong with Natsu! It's been like that for a while now...”
”Something's wrong with Natsu?” Lucy asked, now curious. ”Please tell me more”, she added and dodged another flying chair coming at her. Were they aiming at her on a purpose today!? Unbelievable!
”He doesn't see me, and it looks like he doesn't even know who you are. It all started soon after we came back from the Grand Magic Games”, Happy said.
”Natsu doesn't remember me?” Lucy asked, dumbfounded. "Is that why he doesn’t talk to me anymore?" she whispered.
Blue Exceed nodded. ”Yeah, whenever I ask something about you, he looks like he has no idea of who you are. There's something fishy about their relationship, too. I don't think it's real and I need your help to investigate it, Lucy”, Happy sighed. ”Will you help me?”
Lucy rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Something did sound a bit off in Happy's explanation. But then again, Lucy had been noticing something fishy was going on, too. She had thought it was just her mind playing tricks on her – and maybe some sort of a jealousy, too – but if Happy felt that something was wrong with Natsu and Lisanna, then it must be true. After all, he was around them all the time. But if Lucy got involved in it, who knew what could happen!
"Let’s talk more about it later, Happy. They're coming in right now", Lucy said, noticing the said couple at the doors greeting each other with kisses. Natsu had suddenly stopped fighting with Gray and had walked over to Lisanna who had just walked into the guild. Happy nodded and flew away.
I just can't put my finger on it, but there's definitely something weird going on, Lucy thought as she sat next to her friend, Levy McGarden, on the only table that had survived the brawl without aby damages. It was the perfect spot to look at Natsu and Lisanna more closely without being caught. Something caught Lucy's eye when she looked at Natsu. He didn't seem to be into it most of the time, and had this weird, lifeless look in his eyes but when Lisanna said something to him, he smiled to her as if he was madly in love with her.
It was... pretty odd to say the least.
Blonde looked around her to see if someone else had noticed the same, but everyone – except Happy who was also looking at the couple – else was more interested in their own things and cleaning up the mess in the hall. Lucy felt so alone with her thoughts. Ugh, maybe I'm just jealous of him, blonde thought.
”Jealous of whom?” asked Levy.
”Did I say it aloud?” Lucy asked.
”You did, Bunny Girl”, Gajeel, who sat with them as well, confirmed. ”Are you jealous of Salamander?”
”I don't know”, Lucy said, feeling unsure of voicing her thoughts. She knew that she would sound jealous if she'd say, 'those two shouldn't be together' or 'something's wrong with that, we should figure out what it is' so it would be better if she just kept her weird thoughts to herself for now.
”Never mind. I don't think I'm jealous”, Lucy said and smiled. ”Actually, I'm gonna go pick up a job for some extra cash.”
And with that, Lucy stood up and hurried away. She couldn't afford to let anyone know she didn't like the idea of her best friend in a relationship with someone who wasn't Lucy – yet she wasn't going to step between them either. Only an idiot would do something like that. Now, only thing she could do was to forget all of this and move on.
But the problem was that she couldn't forget the wrong vibes she got from their relationship. Lucy sighed. Why didn't she go talk to the rest of the team the moment those suspicions arose in her? They must be aware of the fakery of Natsu's relationship too! And with that thought, Lucy turned around and walked over to where Happy was sitting and eating fish.
”Happy, you're absolutely right. Something's wrong with those two”, blonde told him as a greeting. ”Have you spoken with Erza and Gray about this?”
”Yes, and they're going to do something about it, too”, Happy answered.
”Alright then”, Lucy said. ”I'll help you, but I want to spy on them a bit first.”
”They're going to go shopping later today.”
”Right, I'll follow them around a bit then.”
*****
Later that day Lucy finally had a chance to find out what was going on. She knew Natsu could smell her scent from far away so Lucy had to just pretend she was doing something else so he would think her presence nearby was nothing but a coincidence. She was just going to pretend she was buying food for the trip to her next mission.
That's very unusual, Lucy thought as she pretended to be looking at the vegetables while spying on Natsu, Lisanna and Happy – Lisanna had clinged herself to Natsu's arm and was talking all the time. Happy sometimes tried to get attention, but was unable to do so and he looked really sad about it.
I'm so disappointed in you now. That's not like you, Natsu, Lucy thought, feeling bad for the blue Exceed as she followed the pair in the marketplace. She stopped in front of the fishmonger's street shop to buy some fish for Happy – mostly because Natsu had turned his head around to look at Lucy directly. She didn't want to get caught until she had found out the truth. Natsu probably wouldn't yell at her but she had a feeling that Lisanna would since she did sometimes glare at Lucy from the distance if Lucy happened to even glance at Natsu's direction.
”That would be 1,400 jewels”, fishmonger told Lucy after she had decided to take some red snapper.
”Thank you, and good day”, Lucy said.
”And you, too, miss."
Lucy turned around and followed Natsu and Lisanna quietly close enough to hear them talk.
”What should we buy next, Natsu?” Lisanna asked. ”I mean, we're gonna have a nice dinner tonight so...”
”I honestly don't care what I eat since everything you cook is awesome”, Natsu said and smiled to her. His voice sounded very weird and not like Natsu at all – in fact, to Lucy, he sounded like he was drugged. She felt shivers go down her spine as she thought about that possibility.
”And then we could do something even more pleasant than just eating”, Lisanna's playful tone interrupted her thoughts.
”Anything to keep you happy, Lis”, Natsu just said.
Natsu's behavior is so weird that I need to try to follow them some more. Maybe I will get my answers now, Lucy thought hopefully.
”Hey, let's go over here!” Lisanna said and dragged Natsu by his arm into a flower store called Magnolia's Finest Flowers.
Lucy followed them inside wondering why Lisanna suddenly wanted to go check out some flowers. Store was relatably small compared to some of the other flower shops Lucy had visited in her life, but it was still big enough for Lucy to be able to find a perfect hiding spot to eavesdrop the couple in case she'd hear something that could help her solve this mystery.
”It's so wonderful here!” Lisanna cried. She picked up a bouquet of blue violettas. ”How about we use these, Natsu?”
”They do smell pretty nice”, Natsu agreed. ”And they match your eyes perfectly.”
Seriously, what the actual fuck? Lucy thought as she looked at the couple from behind a green shelf that was full of baby cactuses. Natsu didn’t flirt like that! Lucy's previous thoughts of him being drugged popped up in her mind again. Something was seriously wrong with him. Blonde just couldn't put a finger on it yet. She needed to get into a closer contact with Natsu to figure that part out. And what's more – why would Lisanna even drug him? It made absolutely no sense to Lucy.
”This place smells horrible. I feel dizzy!” Happy said and fell on the stone floor nearby Lucy's hiding place. She caught him. Lisanna and Natsu didn't even notice because they were too obsessed with the flowers.
”That's not like him at all”, Lucy whispered to the blue feline she was holding in her arms.
”Exactly”, Happy whispered. ”What are you gonna do?”
”Investigate some more, of course.”
”Good luck on that, Lucy”, Happy said, looking sad.
”Hey, we'll sort this out, Happy. No need to be so sad”, Lucy said smiling and she caressed his head. ”I promise.”
Happy nodded and jumped off Lucy's arms. He then walked back to Natsu and Lisanna, who didn't even notice it as they kept talking about various flowers with the sales clerk.
”These are popular for weddings”, sales clerk, a middle aged, brown haired woman was just saying, holding a bouquet of roses in various colors. ”Did you have something like this in mind?”
”Oh, we aren't getting married yet”, Lisanna said sweetly. ”We have only just started dating.”
”I'm sorry. I assumed so because you asked for wedding flowers.”
”It's alright. We are actually looking for flowers for the yard of our house. It's in terrible state at the moment and I thought some violettas could brighten up the place.”
”Something smells familiar here”, Natsu suddenly said and sniffled the air. ”Like vanilla and strawberries.”
Oh crap! Run, Lucy! blonde thought and ran outside as fast as she could without being seen. She hid behind the closest box she was able to spot and sat there feeling like her heart was about to pop out from her chest.
”Natsu, come back inside”, Lisanna called on the other side of the boxes.
”But I swear I smelt something familiar, Lis! It was like a person whom I've wanted to talk to for weeks now...” Natsu said, sounding confused and sad at the same time. ”But I can't remember that person...”
Natsu... Lucy thought, feeling heartbroken for him. He was subconciously missing her.
”It doesn't matter, Natsu. Come on!” Lisanna said impatiently. ”We got a lot of work to be done.”
”Okay, Lis”, Natsu said, sighed and then he walked past Lisanna and went back inside.
Lisanna looked suspiciously around and tried to find the one who was following them, but couldn't see anything. Lucy hoped she wouldn't come and check out the pile of boxes because it would be easy to count facts together. Lisanna wasn't stupid.
”Must be my imagination. Why would anyone follow me anyway...?” she mumbled and went back into the store.
Lucy stood up and looked at the store for a moment. Natsu really didn't remember her. He recognized her smell but couldn't tell who it belonged to. Lucy decided it would be better if she went back to the guild. She had a feeling that she might need everyone's help to solve the mystery instead of trying to do it alone.
*****
It was peaceful at the guild hall when Lucy stepped in few moments later. All the signs of the morning brawl were cleaned up and most of the fighters had gone on their missions – or shopping like Natsu had done with Lisanna. Lucy hoped that she and Happy wouldn't get into trouble for their little scheming – something really bothered Lucy with the way Lisanna had spoken outside the flower shop. She had sounded pretty suspicious. And kind of sinister, too, Lucy thought.
”Hey, Lucy”, Mira greeted as the blonde sat down on the bar stool. ”The usual?”
”Yes please”, Lucy said smiling.
”You look worried. Is something wrong?”
”Nah, I'm cool”, Lucy said happily as Mira put her usual chocolate and coffee flavored milkshake in front of her. ”Just thinking about this new story idea I have”, she lied.
”Oh, alright, Lucy. Enjoy your milkshake!” Mira said smiling happily as she went to the kitchen.
As if I'm going to tell you that I'm not okay with your sister dating my best friend, Lucy thought as she took a sip of her milkshake. I can't let Mira know, not until I have some actual proof that the relationship really is a lie. She's too excited over it.
Lucy's thoughts were interrupted by the person she had been thinking about entered the guild. Natsu and Lisanna came to the bar and they sat down close to Lucy while chatting about something blonde didn’t care about. Natsu didn't even notice her like he usually would – it was like she was nothing but air to him and she didn’t like that at all.
Usually he would say hello to me at least, blonde thought sadly and decided to try a bit of a experiment to see if talking worked. ”Happy, I got something for you”, she said aloud.
Happy came to her looking curious. When Lucy took the red snapper from her shopping bag, Happy's eyes started glinting. ”You brought me fish!” blue cat cried tears in his eyes.
”I bet it's good, Happy. It was the most expensive one I found”, Lucy said and she caressed his head. Even though Happy was annoying sometimes, he was also really, really cute.
”I am happy!” Happy said and started eating. ”So good~!” he sighed in happiness.
Natsu didn’t see or hear me do that even though he sits right next to me. Hmm, I wonder... Lucy thought while she took another sip of her milkshake delicious milkshake.
”Why are you buying fish for our cat?” Lisanna's voice interrupted her thoughts.
Lucy noticed how Happy tensed at once. Blonde herself was speechless. What the hell was going on? Had Edolas changed her attitude or was she really just heartless?
”Excuse me?” blonde asked her.
”Why are you buying fish for our cat?” Lisanna repeated, looking annoyed.
”Since when has Happy been 'just a cat' to you, Natsu?” Lucy asked her best friend, but he didn’t even acknowledge her presence. It was right at that very moment when she got a confirmation that Natsu had been drugged to pay no attention to Lucy.
What the hell have you done to him, Lisanna?! Lucy thought furiously. She stood up and walked past Natsu to her and whispered, ”What have you done to him, Lisanna?”
”I don't know what you're talking about”, Lisanna whispered, while taking a sip of her strawberry soda that she loved, looking innocent.
”Fine then”, Lucy said. ”Once I find out what you've done to my best friend, there will be a hell to pay, Lisanna. Also, from now on Happy will stay with me because you two are just neglecting him constantly these days. Come on, Happy.”
”Aye sir!” blue Exceed said. He put his half eaten fish into his backpack and followed Lucy further away from the so called happy couple. She looked around and saw Erza and Gray sitting in a table so far away that she could talk to them about this problem without Lisanna hearing them. She was a bit nervous about talking to them after a while but it made her feel kind of stupid too. These were her friends, after all, why would they tell her to go away anyway? It was dumb to even assume that would happen!
”Hey, Lucy”, Gray greeted as she sat down in front of them. ”How's Flame Brain?”
”That's not the Natsu I know”, Lucy told them. ”Also, how did I get kicked out of the team without me knowing about it?” she added, raising an eyebrow at the two.
Gray sighed. ”Well, to be completely honest, I have no idea how it happened. Lisanna just started to hang out with us. At first it seemed like a normal 'old friends hanging out' type of thing, but then she started talking about taking missions with us. We thought it would be a one time thing so we agreed to do it but then she was suddenly with us on every mission while Natsu never said anything about you. He and Lisanna just picked up a mission for us and we went with it until Happy said there was something weird about their relationship.”
”No, I told you that Natsu and Lisanna doesn't care about my presence anymore”, Happy – who was eating red snapper again – corrected him.
”Right. And then we noticed that to Natsu it was like you had never even existed. He even asked 'who's Lucy' few times when Lisanna wasn’t around. He never did it when she was there. That's when we knew that something was up.”
”We believe Lisanna has something to do with it”, Erza said. ”We tried to reason with Natsu, but he just doesn't listen to us. It's like the only one he listens to these days is Lisanna.”
”Hmm, I see”, Lucy said, nodding. ”We gotta do a proper investigation on this. If Natsu is under the influence of a potion of some kind, we need to help him”, she added.
”What do you have in mind?” Gray said.
”We gotta sneak into Natsu's house and try to find the source of the problem”, Lucy said. ”I believe there's a magic potion somewhere in there that causes this. There's no other explanation. We have to find it, study it and then reverse the effect and Natsu will be back to being himself in no time.”
”Good idea”, Erza said. ”You and Happy can do that while me and Gray take them on a mission that takes few days to be complete.”
”Let's do that”, Lucy said. ”Although, how are you going to explain why Happy isn't coming with you?”
”Easy. We just say he got ill by eating too much red snapper”, Gray said as he watched how Happy laid on the table looking like he was about to throw up.
”Happy, you weren't supposed to eat the whole thing today!” Lucy told the blue feline.
”But it was too delicious...” Happy defended himself.
”And now you're sick!”
”A-aye sir...”