Sweet Starry Shadows

Sweet Starry Shadows Chapter 1: Rejection Hurts The blonde humming to herself as she gently kicked her legs back and forth, she looked up to Mirajane and smiled as the bartender placed a glass of pink lemonade in front of her with a bright smile. "Not going on a job today, Lucy?" she questioned as she picked up a wet glass from the wire rack and began to wipe it clean with a cloth. Lucy sighing as she picked up her glass, she rested her elbows on the bar table and twisted her wrist in a circular motion. Watching the ice chatter as it swirled and tapped on the glass, she pulled the glass up to her glossed lips and took a sip. "Yeah... For some reason, Natsu said that he wanted to go around with Lisanna today since he felt sorry for not being able to let her join our team," she replied, placing the glass down. The bartender tipping her head to the side, she placed her dried, polished glass to the side. "But you guys haven't been spending time together... I mean, before in the past, you guys would usually walk into the guild together," Mira stated where the blonde blushed to her keen observations. "Mira, we just happened to bump into each other while getting here." Mirajane smiled before crossing her arms. "I don't think that's possible on a regular basis. Especially when he comes into the guild with a red slap mark on his face," she replied where Lucy sighed in defeat.  "Remind me how you notice all of the details on everyone when they walk in?" Lucy said. Clapping her hands together, the white-haired woman placed them to the side of her face where her smile grew wider. "I love shipping people together within the guild! Don't think that I don’t notice those little blushes you have when Natsu throws an arm over your shoulders," she answered where Lucy sat straight up in horror. Her face red, she pouted when Mira gave out a small giggle. "Don't worry about it. No one notices those little moments of you two, other than me," she reassured. Lucy forcing herself to smile in reply, she shook her head. Pulling her beverage to her lips again, Mirajane looked around suspiciously and leaned towards her. "So... How long have you been crushing on Natsu?" she whispered, pulling back and side-stepping to the side straight away as Lucy spat out of her drink. Coughing, the blonde sent the white-haired bartender a bewildered look. "Mira!" she cried out where the said girl giggled. Opening her mouth to try to say something to cover up the truth, the guild doors opened to reveal Lisanna snuggling into Natsu's right arm as they walked in.  With everyone watching them walk into the building, Lisanna pulled away and kissed the boy's lips where they all gasped in shock. "Everyone!" she called out, pulling Natsu eagerly up to the bar where they both stood there facing outwards to the guild. "Natsu and I are finally a couple! We're now in a relationship!" she announced where the glass in Lucy's hold slowly slipped through her fingers and onto the table. Ignoring Mirajane's gasp from the sudden announcement, Lucy looked at the two with an open mouth. "Dating?" she whispered where someone else in the audience said the same thing but out louder. The short-white haired girl nodding, she pulled Natsu into a hug where he chuckled and hugged her back lovingly. Lucy sitting there in silence as the guild began to call out "Congratulations" and "I knew that you'll both be in a relationship with each other sooner and later." She could feel her heart slowly breaking into bits and pieces as she tried to gather up her thoughts. Before anyone could even walk up to them to have a friendlier chat, Lisanna then gasped out loud and quickly pulled away from Natsu as she turned to face her attention over to the blonde. "I'm so sorry Lucy! I knew that you liked him, but I forgot during the moment!" she apologised out loud where the guild all froze in shock as Lisanna revealed to everyone of Lucy's feelings. Tears forming in her eyes, Lisanna sobbed. "I knew that you told me to hold back my feelings, but I just couldn't - Please don't hate me!" she cried out, pulling her hands to her face as she quivered and cried. Everyone in the guild all looking at the blonde with sympathy, Lucy got off her stool and stood there in horror. Her chest hurting as she looked everywhere to find someone who'd be willing to help her, she couldn't find a single person since they were all looking at her with some type of emotion on their faces. "So, Lucy liked him too?" a person in the audience questioned where another spoke out loud as well. "Not only that but she told Lisanna to hold back her emotions?" they said. Lucy shook her head as her mind begged her to run away from their bewildered looks, she hugged herself. "N-No! I never said that! I never said anything to her!" she cried out where Erza nodded. "That's right. Lucy would never say that. She plays fairly," she said before Lisanna wailed and covered her ears as if trying not to listen to what the others had to say. "Yes, she did! She pulled me out of the party that we had the other night and told me that she liked him, and she didn't want me to interrupt their close relationship! That's when she told me to hold back my feelings for him!" she yelled before hugging Natsu tightly where she cried into his chest. "I told her that I wouldn't interrupt them and would support them, but she laughed in my face! That was the first time someone laughed at my feelings and intentions! I was honestly wanting to push away my feelings for him just for her sake!" she continued before looking over her shoulder with a smirk on her face which lasted for a few seconds. Mirajane covering her mouth, she rushed over to her little sister and pulled her out of Natsu's embrace to only get into hers. Looking over to Lucy, she pleaded her with her eyes. "Please, Lucy... Please tell me that you didn't," she said where Levy pushed it on. "Yeah Lu-chan! You wouldn't do such a thing even though you like him," she insisted. The blonde feeling hurt; she shook her head. "I didn't do it, I was the one that said that they'd support the other's feelings for him!" she reasoned where Lisanna screamed, calling her a liar. Natsu standing in between the whole thing, he ran his fingers through his pink hair in a frustrated manner. His head turning to Lucy, he watched her body tense up as her face blushed at all the attention that she was getting. "I'm sorry Luce, but I don't like you. Can we just be friends?" he rejected where he watched her face drop and pale. "Natsu, this should be done in private!" Erza yelled where Levy ran in between them. "You can't just reject her without considering her feelings for you!" she cried out where Gajeel picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and began to walk away from the bar. "Don't jump all over the place shrimp," he scolded where Levy blushed and squirmed as she tried to free herself from his strong grip. Lucy biting the bottom of her lip, she forced herself to smile back at him which surprised everyone. "Yeah... Thank you for replying to my feelings, and still wanting to be friends," she replied before looking out to the door longingly.  "I have to go to the bookstore to collect my pre-ordered books. When I come back, you must tell me everything and how it all started," she said before weaving her way through the crowd where a tear rolled down her cheeks. Everyone all watched her escape in silence. Once the door closed, the guys walked over to Natsu and patted and punched him in the shoulders while the girls all cheered for Lisanna's relationship. All of them talking about their relationship and none going to find and comfort the blonde, Lucy sighed as a sob escaped through her lips. They didn't care about her feelings for him. Not only that, she was rejected right on the spot in front of everyone! Resting her back against the wooden doors, she slowly sank to the ground and pulled her knees to her chest before letting these flooding tears out of her system.    For the first time, she had never felt this broken and humiliated before. "Lucy..." a familiar voice called. Her head lifting, she met eyes with a heartbroken-looking Loke who had his hand outstretched to her. "We all heard and felt your pain... Come on, let's all go on a date with everyone," he said, taking a step to the side where her spirit friends were all standing in front of her with comforting smiles. "You all didn't have to come out of your gates to comfort me," she whispered, her voice croaky as she accepted the playboy's hand. Loke smiling, he pulled her up where she dusted off the dirt from her shorts. "What type of people would we be if we didn't make our princess happy and smiling like always?" he questioned in a joking manner where Aquarius crossed her arms. "A jerk like him doesn't deserve an i***t like you," she said where it happened to make Lucy's lips slowly pull upwards. "Thanks, you guys..." she thanked where she ran up to the group and pulled them into a hug. Her spirits all sadly smiling, they all went into a group hug as Lucy began to cry out loud. Covering her from the public's eyes, they continued remaining in that hugging position until her sobbing subsided.