I could hardly feel the warm wet lips on mine, and the hands that pushed into my rib cage burned like fire. I felt the warm lips pull away and could faintly hear my name being called through the fog. My eyes slowly opened slowly and their lids felt like they were carrying the weight of the world. I saw a pink-haired smear above me lean down and place his fiery mouth in contact with mine again, his warm breath entering my lungs; filling them with life.
"Luce?" I recognized the voice immediately, and almost didn't want him to pull away. My ribs were on fire and his breath made my head stop pounding. I swallowed, the taste of his lips fading. I opened my eyes and looked up into his that were filled with concern. I placed my head on his lap and closed my eyes. I could feel his body sigh in relief.
"I thought you were gone there for a second Luce. I-" His voice caught in his through and for the first time I saw Natsu cry, his tears dripping off his chin and falling onto my cheek. I looked up into his eyes, and in a scratchy voice I whispered to him.
"I'd never leave you that way, Natsu." I saw a slight smile spread across his face as he reached down and moved a sweat filled strand of my hair out of my face. I noticed how warm Natsu's lap was in contrast to the cold ice I was laying on and shivered. I looked back up at him and as I saw his face covered in scratched that had blood trails that streaked his cheeks. Fear must have flashed across my eyes as I saw Natsu's expression change.
"What is it Luce?" He asked, his voice echoing through the ice made room. I sat up, ignoring my pounding head, and felt Natsu put his hand on my shoulder to steady me. I looked at Natsu's body, something I caught myself doing a lot recently, and noticed dramatic differences. His right arm bore a deep wound that he had neglected to bandage, and blood was still trickling onto the floor. His ribs were bruised, the dark purple slowly appearing before my eyes. He had a three small scratched on both of his cheeks and he had a huge gash in his hairline that had caused blood to rundown the right side of his face. He also bore a huge stab wound to his leg, that he had tied shreds of his pants around to slow the bleeding. I felt my mouth open and my hand travel to cover it as tears streamed down my cheeks. I could feel myself begin to rack with sobs as the reality of what Natsu had done for me set in.
"Aye, Luce? Are you still okay?" He said reaching out with the arm that was still trickling blood, and placed it on my arm, his face showing no evidence of pain. You could see the paleness in his skin that was normally a nice deep tan color.
"Natsu…" I felt my voice get caught in a sob and Natsu reached out and wrapped me in his arms as I started to cry and shiver uncontrollably. I wrapped my arms around his, lightly, and let the tears flow down my cheeks. Natsu sat me up and lied on the ground, wincing in pain on the way down, something Natsu never did, and opened his arms. I lied on the ground and leaned into Natsu's chest, but kept most of my weight away from him, afraid that I would cause him anymore pain then that of what he was already in. He pulled me into him, wincing in pain again, but he didn't budge.
"Are you still cold Luce?" I answered with another series of sobs and shivers. Natsu raised his body heat until only tears trickled down my cheeks.
"N-Natsu?" I turned my head to look at him, his eyes were closed. He let out a moan as his reply. "I'm Sorry." He only let out a chuckle that turned into a wince.
"Luce, What are you sorry about? You didn't do anything. It's not like you got us in this situation." He had a genuine look of confusion on his face. I could only help but let a weak smile spread across my face.
"If I had been stronger I wouldn't had, you would be-" I could feel the sobs coming again as I buried my face in his chest. He lifted his hand to stroke my hair.
"Lucy, if I had been stronger we wouldn't be in this situation. It's not your fault." He let out a small chuckle "You are always like this Luce. It's one of the things that I love about you." I could feel Natsu's grip loosen as the world around me started to fade to grey.
"I Love you too Natsu." I whispered and I saw the ice door burst open. I tried to lift up my head to see who was at the door, but the world faded to complete black before I could thank the intruder.
