Summary: Natsu Dragneel wasn't afraid of anything! Well, he was. And it took more than a push for him to admit it.
Disclaimer: No. Never.
A/N: So this is my first FT fanfic. I couldn't remove the plot inside my head so =))) AndreggvilJammer will post a fic with the same summary. Hah. I kinda forced her to write one, too. HAHA.
Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragon slayer, a mage of Fairy Tail, wasn't afraid of anything (cross transportation out, people. His motion sickness has nothing to do with this and he certainly wasn't afraid of trains, boats or even airplanes. Even if just thinking of the fast-moving train or the rocking boat would easily make him sick. Errrr... no, he was definitely not afraid). Everyone in the guild knew that, especially Happy. But there was a moment when the salmon-haired mage doubted that.
It was during their last mission that he found out...
Lucy was busy looking at the request board, her hands on her hips as she tried to pick her next mission.
Her next mission. Yes. She decided that she would do this mission alone.
For 70,000 jewels. For my rent! the blonde thought.
With her index finger on her chin and with the other hand still on her hip, she leaned closer to the request board. She narrowed her eyes and clapped both her hands when she found the perfect mission for her.
"Natsu! I've already told you! I have to do this mission alone!"
"But Lucy~ it will be lonely without you there in the guild. Let us go with you, ne?" Happy told her, as he flew a few feet ahead of them.
"Happy is right, you know, Lucy. And besides, we're partners! And partners are supposed to help each other all the time!"
"Aye, sir!"
The blonde mage shook her head as she mentally calmed herself down. "What am I going to do with you, guys?"
"Nothing! Besides, I know you like it when you go to missions with us, Lucy~" the blue Exceed told her happily.
Shaking her head once again, she continued to walk to the train station with the pink-haired mage and the Exceed trailing happily behind her, talking about the fun things that they wanted to do while accomplishing this mission.
It wasn't supposed to be that way. They were supposed to gather some rare ingredients in the woods near Hargeon, give them to the person who requested them, get paid, go back to the guild and pay Lucy's landlady. This mission was supposed to be simple.
This mission... ugh.
Those bandits shouldn't be there. They weren't supposed to appear in that part of the woods where the three of them were supposed to gather the rare ingredients requested by someone from the nearby village (well, maybe, these bandits were the reason why the requester asked for the guild's help, and the pink-haired mage decided to give the poor man a fucking piece of his mind if ever they survive this. Scratch that, they would definitely survive this). They weren't supposed to catch them. Those bandits weren't supposed to touch her.
Natsu growled angrily as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. The leader of the bandits, Willy, was smirking at his direction as he held an unconscious Lucy in his arms.
"I kind of like this one," he said as he bared his yellowing teeth, "I like my women feisty. And this one definitely is. See the fight she put up before I got to knock her out?"
The other bandits howled and hooted with laughter, as the anger on the dragon slayer's face deepened when the man's grimy hands touched Lucy's face and examined it. "Hmm. Such a pretty face, too!"
"I guess boss will have a good time with her, huh?" whispered the bucktoothed ass behind him.
Hah, idiots! He could hear them clearly. His ears never failed him even once. If only he could do something about this chains that prevented him to use his magic...
"You guess? Hah! He will definitely have a good time, bro!"
Another round of laughter flooded his ears. Natsu couldn't help it and gritted his teeth in anger. These men... he would kill these men!
"Oooooh, boss! The pink-haired idiot is seething with anger! I guess we should all run, eh?" another said, taunting eyes looked down at the dragon slayer, as he continued throwing insults at him, "What? Can't use your precious magic? Are all Fairy Tail wizards this easy to beat?"
Sarcastic laughter filled his head yet again. Natsu gritted his teeth once again.
"Never. Insult. Fairy. Tail," he said menacingly.
"Oooooh, I'm scared!" taunted the same man again, as he laughed, the other bandits' laughter echoing his, including their idiot of a leader.
They were all busy laughing that they didn't notice a movement in the corner of the room...
Did he just see blue fur...? Oh yeah! Happy! He forgot about Happy! Now, they're saved!
"Lucy kick Happy version! YAAAAAH!" the blue Exceed bellowed, as he kicked the leader on his ugly face. Caught off guard, and probably because of the impact of a very fast moving, terrifying flying cat, Willy, the leader, stumbled backwards, causing a domino effect on all his members, bringing them down with him in the process.
"Happy!" Natsu shouted at his partner happily.
With swirls on his eyes and a blossoming bump on the side of his head, the blue Exceed tried to walk to the dragon slayer's direction, holding a silver key in his hand. "Na-Natsuuuu~ I'll save you and Lucyyyyy~"
"You already did, partner. Now, quick! Unchain, I mean, untie me! Whatever it is!"
And Happy merrily did.
Natsu let out a fiery roar, with both fire on both of his hands, glad that he could finally use his magic and save Lucy... LUCY!
Willy the leader grunted and tried to stand up, his vision still blurred because of the impact. Sporting a blossoming bruise on the side of his nose and with some blood dripping from it (Happy snickered as he thought of himself breaking an enemy's nose, "Charle would be so proud of me!"), he stood up, holding the still unconscious celestial mage in his arms.
Natsu growled angrily. How dare he touch her like that! This was Lucy. His Lucy!
Smirking horridly at the dragon slayer's direction, he pointed a knife at Lucy's side, making the unconscious blonde's face contort with pain. "I'll just finish her off before you could even try to use your magic on us!"
He then plunged the knife into her side.
"Lucyyyyyy!" Natsu shouted as he attacked the leader without even thinking.
Natsu was running, with a whimpering Lucy on his back. "Lucy, hang in there. Hang in there."
"Faster, Natsu! We should bring Lucy to the doctor in the village quickly!"
Of course, Natsu knew that. He freakin' knew that.
He tried to double his speed up as he mentally asked Lucy to just hang in there.
Please, Luce.
"N-Natsu?"
His sensitive hearing caught her soft voice. Finally. Thank Kami.
"Luce?"
"What happened?" the blonde mage asked, as she opened her eyes. She winced when she felt the pain on her side. "Ouch. That bad?"
Natsu lowered his head and took her hands in his. "You were so pale, Luce. You lost too much blood. You― If we didn't get you here in time, you― It was my fault. I'm sorry, Lucy."
"Your fault? You saved me, Natsu," she whispered as she closed her eyes once again. But before her consciousness drifted away, she heard a soft whisper beside her.
I was so scared, Luce. Scared that I might have lost you.
This must be a dream.
"You won't ever, Natsu," she whispered back.
Promise me?
She groaned in response and sighed.
What a nice dream, she thought and smiled in her sleep.
"You're awfully quiet, Natsu," the white-haired mage told him as she handed him a glass of... what do you call it? Firewhiskey?
"Thanks, Mira."
Both wizards heard a gasped behind them. "Who are you and what have you done to the loudmouth, fire-breathing idiot?"
Natsu narrowed his eyes as looked at the ice mage. "Shut up, popsicle. And put your clothes on for Kami's sake."
Gray gasped once again as he mentioned his lack of clothing. "You!" he said, as soon as he finished putting his clothes on.
"What?"
The black-haired ice mage sat beside him and sighed. "What seems to be the problem, Natsu? I know we're not the best of friends," he said, earning a grunt from the dragon slayer and a snicker form Mirajane, "but you have to tell me what's wrong."
"It's nothing, Gray. And since when did you become this concerned about me?"
"I'm not, idiot. But everyone in the guild has been asking that question since you and Lucy came back from that mission a week ago."
The dragon slayer took a drink from his glass and said, "It's nothing, Gray."
"It's not nothing, Natsu. You wouldn't be so quiet for almost a week― a week!― if it's nothing," Mirajane told him.
"Mira-nee is right, you know? Tell us what's wrong and face it like a man!" Elfman interjected.
"If it's about Lucy-san," Juvia said, appearing mysteriously beside Gray, "Wendy-san told Juvia and Erza-san that she's going to be okay. She just needs some rest and she's going to be fine."
All of them, noticing the dragon slayer stiffening at the sound of the celestial mage's name, snickered and looked at each other. Elfman took a deep breath before putting his right hand in the air as he proclaimed, "Face it like a man, Natsu!"
Shaking all of their heads, as Elfman continued on saying things about being a man and things like taking things seriously like a man should, Juvia faced Natsu and put a comforting hand on the dragon slayer's shoulder. "She will be fine, Natsu-san. Wendy-san, Levy-san and the cat are staying with her. She will be fine. Juvia assures you that."
By the word cat, Natsu thought that Juvia must be talking about Happy.
Good then. Happy is with her.
The pink-haired mage grunted as he stood up. "Where are you going, Natsu?"
"I'm going to see Lucy," he told them, without looking back at them.
"Yeah! Just like a man should, Natsuuuu!"
Wendy and Levy, even Happy, weren't there when he got into her room. And Lucy, she was sleeping soundly on her bed.
He walked near her bed soundlessly, trying not to wake her up. He brushed a few strands of her golden locks off her face as she stared at her.
Admiring how beautiful she looked–how peaceful she looked–it all became clear.
Natsu managed to put that silly grin on his face as all of his feelings became clear to him.
He then remembered Igneel's words to him before the day that the fire dragon disappeared.
If you are not afraid, you have nothing to lose.
Natsu could remember his younger self frowning at the full-grown dragon's word. But now, he realized the dragon's words was right.
Still grinning, he sat down the side of his bed, closed his eyes and slept.
When morning came, everyone in the guild was smirking evilly as Happy told them, "Natsu and Lucy are sleeping on the same bed! I knew it! He lllllliiiiikes her!"
"About time they get together."
"Aye, sir!"
"You just took the right words out of my mouth, Erza," Gray said, and snickered at the thought of his nakama holding hands together.
"Juvia has to congratulate the both of them! Juvia is so happy that Lucy-san is no longer her rival in love!"
"Ooooooh~ Gray, she llllliiiiikes you!"
"Shut up, cat!"
"Noooooo! Stop scratching Gray-sama's beautiful face!"
Mirajane sighed as she looked at the scene in front of the bar counter. She looked at the ice mage, then to the rain woman beside him.
"Gray, how about giving Juvia a chance?"
"Mira, not you, too! Ouch, that was my eye, Happy!"
"Ehehehe~"
A/N: I'm feeling so hyper alalalala~ :)))
I hope everyone would leave a review OTL