"Happy and I will be going on a journey while training. We will be back in about a year or so. So take care of everybody, alright!! See ya, Lucy. Natsu & Happy" As Lucy finished the note she began to choke back tears "How could he do this to me, don't leave me, please Natsu!" she cried to herself and ran outside "Maybe I can still catch up with him, and we will go together! He can't leave me, not like this!" Lucy grabbed her pouch of keys and started running, she told herself that she would not stop running until she found him. Lucy had been running through the woods of Fiore for hours, desperately trying to find the one she had spent the last few years with, the one whom showed her that her life had worth and that she could achieve anything. She was hungry, tired and her clothes were all tattered, but all of that didn't matter. The only thing that mattered now was that she would find Natsu and to go on this journey with him, she couldn't stand being alone without him. Out of breath she rested her arm on a tree as she lent over breathing heavy "Natsu, please, I need you" she whispered to herself as she began to lose conscious and fell forward. She was caught by a familiar smell "Natsu?" she said as she finally passed out. "You really love him, don't you, Lucy?" it was Loke, Loke and Virgo traveled through the worlds with their own power in order to bring her home. "Virgo, let's go. Taker her home" he said in a harsh tone, filled with anger "Take care of her, I will find him for her!" Days had passed and Loke began to feel the aftermath of staying in the human world for so long "Huh, I've spent so much time here in the past, I guess I am out of practice." he said as his vision began to become hazy "But I cannot quit here, I have to find him for her." Meanwhile Lucy regained conscious back in her home "Natsu!" she screamed as she shot up in a sitting position. "I am home, was is it only a dream?" she said to herself full of hope. Lucy heard footsteps in her house and became excited "Natsu, Happy!" she shouted happily but sadness soon swept over her. "Princess, you shouldn't exert so much of yourself just for a man, especially in that getup you had on, I brought clothes from the spirit world and changed you before laying you to rest in your bed." said Virgo sternly. It had been weeks since she saw Natsu, and now on top of that the guild was disbanded by Markarov, as if it was the icing on the cake of her misery. Lucy had been working as a model for Sorcerer Weekly to get by, but she couldn't let go of Natsu. She sat in her new home, depressed and thinking where he might be, what her Natsu might be doing at this moment. It was at this moment that she had enough, she tried to call upon Loke, but he wouldn't summon. She kept trying but he just would not come out of the Spirit World, instead Virgo came in his place. "Princess, brother is busy, but he told me to come in his stead." Lucy became irate "Tell him to come out, I need him to train me, I need to go after Natsu" she yelled with tears welling up in her eyes. "Princess, you've been crying too much over him, let him go" but Lucy wouldn't stop, and cried herself to sleep another day. Loke had finally found Natsu, but decided to stay hidden in order to find out Natsu's true motive. Until one night when he heard them laughing and singing at a makeshift fireplace they had made earlier. "How dare he feel so at ease whilst my Lucy is crying herself to sleep every night!?" Loke was overcome with a very strong anger and jumped out of hiding, catching Natsu off guard as he delivered a powerful punch that drove Natsu's face into the ground and sent Happy flying. "How dare you!" he screamed as he unleashed fist after fist on Natsu "How dare you be so happy!?" Natsu let out a giant Roar of the Fire Dragon to get his assailant off of him. "So you did decide to finally come out of hiding, Loke" Natsu said with a serious tone "I wondered when you would." Loke was caught aback "How long have you known that I was following you?" Loke said in an irritated tone. "Since the beginning, remember, us Dragon Slayers have a great sense of smell. I didn't say anything because I wanted you to reveal your reason for following me" said Natsu. "i am here to bring you back" said Loke. Natsu with a now stern voice said "I am not coming back until I complete my training." Loke became angrier by the second, how could Natsu be so cold hearted, how could he not care for Lucy? "You've caused great pain to Lucy and she has been crying ever since you left. You know how much she loves you, and yet you go out and do something like this!" Loke screamed at Natsu, but quickly stopped as he saw Natsu's facial expression go from content to anger "Go back to Lucy, she needs you" Natsu turns around and gathers his belongings. Loke couldn't believe his ears, Natsu truly seemed not to care for Lucy and this made him the most angry he had ever been in his life. Loke leaps toward Natsu trying to knock him out with a single blow "If you won't come back willingly I will force you to!" he screamed. Natsu engulfed himself in a cloak of flame and lightning and caught Loke mid air, slamming him forcefully to the floor. Rocks fly everywhere as Natsu drove Loke into the ground and the dust began to settle "Look, you don't think I know how Lucy feels? You think I don't feel the same way? I am doing this for her! This is all for Lucy!" Natsu screams at Loke as he pins him to the floor. Loke realizes that this isn't the Natsu he had fought against before, this is a stronger, more confident Natsu and yet he seemed as if he was holding back; Loke became intimidated and stopped fighting back. "Then why do it" Loke asks in a calm voice. Natsu cries out "Because I need to protect her from everything, I need to become stronger, I am not strong enough yet!" Loke is shocked as he sees tears flowing down Natsu's face. "I first realized it when the Lucy from the future died in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it. I began to train, I already felt the pain of losing one Lucy, I refuse to lose MY Lucy as well! I thought I was strong enough, I really did, but then Lucy had to sacrifice Aquarius because I failed again, and I wasn't strong enough yet again." Natsu let go of Loke and both of them settled down. "If you feel this way, how come you don't train back home, with her? Why haven't you taken her with you" asked Loke. "Training isn't the only reason I am out here, I am here to find information" said Natsu. "The Rogue from the future told me the reason for everything that happened a year from now, and I am nowhere near strong enough to stop it from happening. I will not let Lucy die, her and Happy are all that I have, all that I want, all that I need. If I can keep them safe, nothing else matters. Please go back to her and make sure she is fine. Train her, make sure she gets stronger, because when I am coming back, Hell will soon follow...."