Disclaimer: No, I do not own Fairy Tail. No, I do not profit from this story.
Fighting Spirit
One day Lucy smelled weird (but good), and then Loke showed up and took her away. Natsu waited and waited by the request board, but it wasn't until much later that the two returned. Loke's tie was hanging loosely from his neck, and Lucy's hair ribbon wasn't tied in its usual bow. Lucy still smelled weird, which was still good, but she also smelled like Loke, which, Natsu discovered, was not at all good. He wrinkled his nose and tugged on Lucy's wrist. There was still enough time to make a late train and arrive in time for the mission he and Happy had picked, and Lucy had spent enough time with Loke for one day.
On another day Lucy said that she couldn't take a job with Natsu and Happy because she had a date with Loke. She was wearing her fancy cranberry gown and high heels, and she had her hair in all sorts of complicated twists and turns. Happy had rubbed his paws together in glee while Lucy shooed them violently out of her apartment, but Natsu felt even more confused at her behavior than usual. She was always pretty weird, but he had no idea why she thought summoning her strongest celestial spirit required her to wear fancy shoes. Then again, Lucy never did dress appropriately for jobs.
When he told Gray about her extra strange clothing choices, the ice mage called him an idiot (naturally, this eventually resulted in some minor property damage).
The next day, Lucy brought Loke to the guild with her, and she spent most of her time giggling and blushing while he held her on his lap and whispered things in her ear.
Mira sparkled at their cuteness, Gray coolly tried to ignore the display, and Erza kept shooting Natsu significant looks like she wanted him to do something.
Natsu hadn't liked any of those reactions but thought that he probably shouldn't disobey Erza even when she was trying to communicate with him via strange faces, so he picked a fight with Gray about his underwear then bumped into Cana's barrel of sake so that she'd join in too. Once almost everyone was embroiled, he surreptitiously set Loke's hair on fire.
When questioned (interrogated), he claimed it was collateral damage.
One night, Lucy was kissing Loke in her bedroom when Natsu tried to sneak in her window (they looked ridiculous, especially since part of Loke's hair was still singed off). Lucy's eyes were closed, and he could smell that same weird smell even through the glass windowpanes. When Loke started taking off his tie and jacket, Natsu quickly jumped away from his perch and landed in an ungraceful heap on the sidewalk below.
He left and came back the night after that, but Lucy was still kissing Loke that night, too. One night quickly turned into every night, and Natsu's confusion and unease quickly turned into anger and disgust. Even Mirajane was starting to fret over the consequential property damage.
On some level Natsu understood that kissing wasn't the same thing as attacking, but he couldn't help but feel as though he needed to kick someone's ass for the violation regardless.
After alternating between sulking and erupting into fits of violent aggression for a week, only Happy believes it is because Loke's presence is preventing Lucy from making Natsu Tabasco-eggs for breakfast. Everyone else just sighs in pity and scrambles for cover when various bits of the guild's infrastructure heads in his or her direction.
Deft in the ways of insanity-management, Mirajane cheerfully and insistently orders Natsu on a small stack of missions that keep even Happy at home (deep down inside, she wants to cheerfully slam his dense skull into the remaining walls of Fairy Tail's once illustrious headquarters).
The dragon slayer has a lot of emotions, and he uses them all to capture a small group of escaped convicts, defeat a roving troop of Mountain Vulcans, and destroy a nasty gang of dark wizards. He walks to each new job and has a lot of time to think in between.
Before heading back to Magnolia, he decides that Loke probably couldn't have taken down all of the dark wizards so soon after dealing with the Vulcans. This is comforting, and he decides to look forward to basking in the glory of his accomplishments. In his mind, this basking primarily revolves around being presented with a plate of flaming Tabasco-eggs by a smiling Lucy who addresses him as Master Natsu (in the background, Happy cheers).
When he finally walks back into Magnolia, Lucy is waiting patiently for him in front of Fairy Tail. She's sitting demurely against the front wall, and Happy is snuggled on her lap. He can see and hear them before they can see him, so he catches part of a story that Lucy is telling Happy.
"…and then the brave hero rushed towards the castle to save the poor maiden, knowing that he could not delay for he sensed the urgency of her need. He ran as fast as he could while his faithful friend flew beside him…"
Natsu was pretty sure he knew this story, and he knew that Happy had to have known it as well, but his faithful blue exceed was looking up at Lucy with adoring eyes and rapt attention, hanging onto every word.
"Did he save the maiden, Lucy? Did he get there in time?"
"Of course, Happy, this particular brave hero always saves the maiden in time."
Natsu doesn't even need to have Mirajane give him her special Celebratory Burning Beverage to feel as though he's a conquering hero. When Lucy sees him, she smiles at him brightly and tells him that if he ever disappears like that again she is going to tie him to a train and ride him all over Fiore. He smiles too (although he's fighting nausea on the inside). Gray, who is exiting the guild with poor timing, abruptly freezes in place at Lucy's words. Natsu does not know why.
He's tired and overworked, but Natsu convinces Lucy and Happy to go on a mission with him anyway. He purposefully finds an especially hazardous job offer. After it is all said and done, Natsu saves Lucy from being crushed beneath a falling building, defeats the dark wizard who had been intent on destruction of their persons, and manages to net enough profit for Lucy to pay her rent on time.
Lucy points out that he was the one mostly responsible for making the building fall, and Happy tells her that she is silly for not thanking the brave heroes like the nicer ladies in the stories she tells. She huffs away in annoyance, and Natsu feels as though balance has been restored to his universe, which makes him also feel astonishingly hungry (he's always hated emotional distress; it's bad for his digestion).
The birds are singing, Happy is flying, and somewhere there is a meal burning brightly and waiting for Natsu to consume it. Nothing can go wrong now.
Then, on the day they return, Lucy still kisses Loke, and she apologizes for not summoning him at all. Natsu is fairly certain that the lion spirit had not been needed to save Lucy from a falling building, nor had he been needed to defeat the very bad man who had been trying to hurt Lucy with magic. He's pretty sure that he is the one who did all that. So why does Lucy kiss Loke? Hadn't Natsu beaten enough enemies? Does this mean Lucy still won't make him Tabasco-eggs for breakfast and let him sleep in her bed?
Natsu resolves to complete more extremely complicated jobs until these issues resolve themselves; more fire seems like a good solution. He tells Lucy and Happy to take solo missions.
Then, one day Lucy comes back to the guild with a bloody shirt and uncountable bruises. Her blonde hair has streaks of brown mud and red blood, and she looks like she might not be able to hold up her bones any longer. She'd taken one of the few dangerous jobs that Natsu had left pinned on the board. She'd been accompanied by her strongest spirit; Natsu had made sure of that before he'd let her leave without him (he'd been very casual and taunted her a bunch until Loke had appeared for questions and threats).
The lion was not now in sight, which usually meant that he'd gone back to the spirit realm. The guild erupted into chaos at the sight of their injured friend. Mira dropped the glass she had been drying; Gray sprang forward to catch Lucy as she stumbled. Wendy ran, hands already starting to gather the magic needed for healing. Lucy just lay there, cradled in Gray's arms, smiling sadly and in pain.
Natsu had run out of the building, not wanting to burn it to the ground as he found himself unable to contain his fiery rage.
When he managed to get himself under control later that evening, he sulked back to his home, secretly hoping that Happy had stayed with Lucy. The exceed was out, but there was a lion there instead.
Loke must have already been healed from his wounds in the spirit world (Natsu knew that there was no way he hadn't had any to begin with—not with the way Lucy had looked). The spirit was sitting on his knees on Natsu's floor, his head down. He didn't need to say anything; Natsu just went ahead and punched him through the wall.
"Get stronger," he yelled, as Loke faded away.
Weeks later, Lucy was healed. She'd needed a job, so Natsu had come along (he wasn't taking any more chances). Of course Loke was there, too. Even though their enemy had taken out Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius in just one hit, Loke was still fighting hard. They both were. But the enemy was strong and intent on getting through the lion's defensive line. A few lucky hits spiked with destructive energy had Loke fading back into the celestial world even while he tried to fight it. Lucy's magic was drained, and Loke could barely meet the minimum requirement for consciousness, let alone a sustained presence in the human world. Lucy was defenseless; her magic was drained, her whip was useless, and all of her clever wit was no match against the overwhelming might before them.
Of course, even without all of those things, she really wasn't defenseless at all. Natsu was there. Natsu, who didn't have to worry about being forced out of the world, had no problem drawing forth the needed strength at the sight of his beloved nakama laying in harm's way. In a rush of flame, he saved her. There was no need to rush her broken body to a healer; although, she was fairly certain Natsu cracked a rib in his desperation to hold her as tightly against him as physically possible. Natsu calmed down in her embrace, but Lucy's head spun around every extra heartbeat she could feel against her skin.
One day Lucy showed up to the guild alone, which was odd because she'd been showing up with Loke so often lately. Mirajane patted her on the back, Plue danced for her on the bar, and Lucy calmly explained that she had known it wouldn't be long term because relationships between humans and spirits aren't really meant to be romantic; she assures everyone that she and Loke are still good friends, that he'll still be her celestial spirit even if he's not her boyfriend anymore. She looks at Natsu from the corner of her eye even while answering Mira's questions. Gray glares at him and makes weird hand gestures in Lucy's direction, and Lisanna pushes him into the back of Lucy's chair.
Natsu takes the opportunity to lean in close and feels the silky strands of her blonde hair against his cheeks. He's still confused and utterly baffled by the behavior of his guild, but when he shifts in close to Lucy's neck he smells fruity soaps and sweet skin and absolutely nothing that reminds him of Loke. He exhales in relief and when he draws in his next breath he picks up just a hint of that weird smell that he'd caught before. He wraps his arms around Lucy because even if he isn't quite sure what it is, he knows he's not going to let Lucy go off with anyone while he can smell it on her (he's certain that he can beat anyone who tries).
Author's Note: So, I really don't condone the winning of maiden's hands via feats of strength and courage; let's just pretend that Lucy and Loke had other relationship problems that Natsu's fighting-oriented perspective didn't pick up on, yeah? Also, as a side note, this began as the first part of "A Lesson for Natsu," but I could never reconcile the tone of the two together, and, after splitting them, they both went off in new and different directions. I don't really think that they are compatible anymore at all, but, originally, they were related! Oh, writing process. Speaking of, feedback is always a valued part of that! I'd love to hear what you all think in reviews!