Fandom: Fairy Tail
Pairing / Characters: Lucy Heartfilia / Natsu Dragneel
Rating: PG
Warnings: SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 317!
Disclaimer: I only wish they were mine.
Summary: After learning about the impending attack on Crocus, Lucy has a private word with Natsu.
A/N: I haven't written fic in quite some time (over a year, I think), so I hope I'm not all that rusty…
They rested a bit since they all needed it. When they started moving again, because, no matter what, they needed to get out of the palace as fast as they could, Lucy pulled lightly on Natsu's vest and, when he turned to her, tilted her head a bit to signal she wanted a word in private.
No one said anything when they fell behind the group to talk.
"Do you believe her?" asked Lucy. Though she sympathized with her future self and didn't have any reason not to believe her, there was just something that didn't feel right about all this. She knew she should speak to Mira about this but first she wanted Natsu's opinion.
"What? The other Lucy? Of course I believe her?" answered Natsu, and his tone was equal parts serious and incredulous. Like he couldn't believe Lucy herself would be in doubt.
"Why?" She prodded.
"Because," He said, as if talking to a child, "she's you. And you wouldn't lie."
The words, combined with the look of utter faith on his face, were enough to dispel her worries, at least partly (because her gut feelings were almost always right, and now, there was that persistent little voice at the back of her mind that kept whispering "Wrong, wrong, this is wrong." and she just couldn't shake it). But she relaxed, and trusted Natsu to be there, by her side, when things went pear-shaped.
And, because she couldn't help it, because it had been building up throughout the day since her rescuers came to break her out of her cell (and maybe it had been building up since long before), Lucy just leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Natsu's cheek, surprising him.
"What was that for?" Because, of course he would ask that.
"Because you're Natsu." She told him with a grin, as if that answered everything. And maybe it did.
"You're weird." He told her, matter-of-factly.
"And you'd get bored if I were any different." She said. Then, she grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. "Come on now; let's not get separated from the others."
And as she walked forward, feeling his firm grip on her hand, she thought that, if what her future self had told them was true, then she'd fight tooth and nail to change it, to keep this bright, warm light by her side alive. He always protected her. There was no way she'd get out of that palace by herself, not when they were here because of her .
This time, she'd protect him, she'd protect all of them.
They'd all get out of Mercurius alive.
She'd make sure of it.