Falling Back Together

Chapter 1 | Dreaming

March, X795

"Wake up!" In the rush to get to Natsu's side Lucy slipped on the blood pooling around his body. The momentum flung her across Natsu's stomach and she broke her fall by placing her hands out in front of her. Her hands splashed into the widening puddle of blood, causing it to splatter across the floor and all over her face and upper body. There was blood everywhere, it seemed like there was too much to have come from just one person—it was making her nauseous. She clung to her partner shaking his shoulders to try and wake him. She knew, but couldn't accept it yet. He wouldn't open his eyes, he wouldn't smile his goofy grin, and his skin would forever remain cold to the touch. He was missing fingers, had long deep cuts across his neck, chest, and stomach, bones poked through the skin at his legs, and it looked like some had started to peel the skin away from his face. His mangled body wouldn't move again, but Lucy couldn't stop trying to wake him. It was all her fault. They were supposed to get out together. "NATSU!"

Lucy had thrown her covers off the bed and run to the front door of her apartment before she even realized she awake. Slowly, reality came back to her and she looked around her apartment fearfully. She thought she heard walking in her apartment, but quickly determined it was only the sound of her heart pounding furiously. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered that Natsu hadn't barged into her house last night and crawled into her bed. He almost always stopped by to hang out even if he didn't stay over. Why hadn't he come over? The bloodied imagery from the nightmare flashed in her mind and the fear welled up inside her just as strongly as it had in the dream. A ghostly feeling of his unnaturally cold skin still plagued her fingertips. She felt something was wrong. Needing to see him, she threw on her silk robe and stepped into her shoes.

Walking in the fresh air only made her more unsettled. The longer she had to be awake without seeing him, the more she believed that something happened. By the time she burst through his unlocked front door she had convinced herself that she had that dream for a reason.

Natsu sat up instantly, ready to attack whoever had broken into to his home even though he was still half asleep. His nose registered Lucy faster than his eyes could start functioning normally again. "Lucy?" he whispered, so as not to wake Happy sleeping on the couch, "What's wrong?" He lit a candle on an opposite side of the room with his magic.

Lucy tried to navigate through the absolute mess that was his house, but her panicked steps and the poor lighting caused her to stumble over some kind of wooden toy. She reflexively shifted her weight to her other steady foot, but then immediately tripped over a set of weights in trying to move again. Natsu had already slipped off his hammock and got to her in time to save her from crashing into a table. She started sobbing into his bare chest and wrapped her arms around him so tightly that had the situation been different he would have complained about her cracking his ribs.

"Natsu! I'm sorry, I- I just had t-to see y-you," Lucy could barely get out her sentence.

"Whoa! It's alright, calm down. I'm right here. Are you hurt?" She shook her head to say 'no', but he pulled her face back to check for himself. He looked her up and down and sighed in relief once he saw nothing wrong. Now came the problem of figuring out what the hell was going on with her.

He lifted her up and navigated the mess with ease to set her down on the couch. When she didn't let go of his neck, he softly said, "Let me move Happy. I'll be right back I promise."

Natsu hastily picked up Happy, pushed his dresser back up straight against the wall, and put Happy into the drawer the cat frequently slept in. Happy opened his eyes, but settled down immediately and snuggled next to the fish stuffed animal already there. Natsu slid the drawer mostly closed to try and block out as much sound as possible so Happy could stay asleep. He almost tripped himself in a rush to get back to Lucy who was still crying on his couch. "What's going on?" He threw some stuff from the couch she was on to his other one so he could sit next to her.

"I had a dream that you, that you-" Lucy blubbered as she tried to wipe her tears away and calm down. She couldn't say it. "I thought something bad happened...Can I sleep with you?" she said so quietly that Natsu almost wasn't sure he heard her correctly.

"Uh, sure," he breathed deeply in an attempt to calm himself down from the scare he just had. He laid down with his back against the couch cushion and pulled her down to lay in front of him. The couch seemed a bit too small for two people to sleep on, but his hammock was even smaller. Her head rested on his arm and his other arm was wrapped around her shaking body. He pulled her close to him, so her back was firmly against his chest and he rubbed her arm soothingly telling her that everything was fine. Five minutes later the tears subsided and he propped his head up with his elbow. Natsu playfully bit her ear lobe.

In a panic Lucy rolled away from him and onto the floor. "What are you doing?!" she shivered.

"Just seeing if you are still awake," he said with a playful smile.

"Why are you such a pervert?" Lucy said and rubbed her ear fiercely trying to make the tingling sensation go away.

"Whoa you don't have to sound so annoyed." Natsu sat up, crossed his legs, and looked down at her. "Besides you were the one to break in here and beg to sleep with me." Lucy shot him a death glare and he put his hands up defensively, "Just saying."

"I did not!" Lucy got up on her knees and slammed her hands down on the couch cushion on either side of his knees. She made sure to keep a fierce amount of eye contact.

"It's okay Luce," he responded with a knowing grin and a demeaning pat on the head.

"I don't even know why I was worried about you being hurt! Next time I dream about you dying, I'll wake up relieved."

He stopped purposely trying to make her mad now that he finally got her to open up. He placed his hands on her shoulders and spoke softly, "Hey, the only way I'm dying is if you strangle me okay?" Lucy looked away nervously. The way he looked at her in that moment felt more intense than Lucy was comfortable with. She couldn't begin to wonder about what he was thinking to give a look like that.

"Lucy, look at me," he said and she reluctantly obeyed. She saw determination had replaced that mysterious look he had just seconds ago.

"We can make it through anything. I'm not saying that things will always be easy, but believe me, nobody's dying on my watch," Natsu said, convincing Lucy that they would be safe.