Lucy never knew that love could hurt so much. She had always imagined from when she was a little girl that loving someone and having the feeling recuperated would always fill her with warmth even on the dreariest of days, yet that was not always the case. Although love brought her memories that she would cherish forever it also brought her the worst pain imaginable.
"Do you have to leave?" the blonde haired girl asked in a quiet voice, her chocolate brown eyes shimmering with tears she so desperately tried to hold in. It was no use making him feel worse about going away, an entire continent away to be exact.
The man she had spoken to let a soft sigh escape his lips as a pair of arms encircled around his waist from behind, lighting his body with a warmth that not even a hot summer day could bring. "Luce…you know I have to. I don't-"
"Have a choice," she finished for him having heard him say this to her and himself many times already. "I know that Natsu I just…I'm going to miss you so much," she swallowed hard, willing the lump in her throat to disappear as a few tears slipped onto her pale cheeks.
The said male turned around slowly, taking her into his strong, well-toned arms as Lucy folded herself against his tall frame, burying her face into his chest as silent sobs forced her body to shake with trembles. "Lucy don't cry," Natsu begged, hating nothing else more than watching his girlfriend break down into tears, especially when he was the cause of it.
"I c-can't help it!" she managed to choke out as she kept rubbing her eyes to try and wipe away the never ending stream of tears. Another hand, a larger, familiar hand, joined hers in her task of removing her salty tears from her cheeks, his thumb swiping gently under her eye before he gripped her shoulders firmly.
Natsu pressed his lips into a thin line, gathering his disarrayed thoughts together before opening his mouth. "Luce, I need you to calm down a little and listen to me," he said gently but firmly in order to grab her attention. After a few moments the sobbing girl calmed down a bit, her cries replaced with hiccups, each one sounding like a cute little gasp coming from her pretty pink lips. Taking a deep breath the pink haired man looked at his girlfriend with love, sadness and concern shining in his eyes but buried underneath all of those emotions was a tiny beacon of light that shone with hope. Hope that everything would work out. That everything would be ok.
"Let's take this one step at a time," he instructed with a calm voice, his thumb working circles on her cheek as she nodded slightly, her blonde bangs falling into her eyes before they were pushed off to the side by him. "My first break is for Christmas, that's two months without seeing each other but you will be busy with school," he reminded her, glad she at least had that distraction in her life while he was away. Currently Lucy was attending a college nearby where she studied writing while working on her novel to the side and even juggled a job as a waitress at their friend's restaurant and bar some nights. "I know it's long but we can write to each other but I still expect you to send me a very excellent report card young lady," he wagged his finger in front of her face as he smirked playfully.
Lucy couldn't help but smile a bit as she nodded in agreement. "I won't disappoint you," she promised seriously, batting his hand away from in front of her face. "And I expect nice long letter from you," she replied in return to which he nodded, giving her an eye roll as if that were obvious to him but you could never tell with that boy at times.
"Well duh! Course I'll write ya long letters Luce! I'll have a lot to say to ya like how beautiful you are and how I miss your cooking!" he grinned at her, the smile so big that his eyes were squinted shut. He looked so adorable wearing that expression yet at the same time, so innocent. Too innocent to be going off to war. Seeing her face fall as she remembered Natsu scratched the back of his neck. "But first wanna help me finish packing? You know I'm not good with these things…" he trailed off in embarrassment.
Lucy's sad expression left as she squashed down her fears for the moment and nodded, putting on a smile for not only him but herself as well. It seemed smiling even when she didn't want to always made things a bit easier to bear. So with that smile she walked towards the closet on the right side which held his clothes which mainly consisted of worn out tees which he liked to wear. Finding some of his favorites, including one that had the restaurant name that Lucy worked at on it in white letters along with a symbol next to it. The shirt read "Fairy Tail" with a design that almost looked like half of a heart next to the bolded letters. She also added a shirt with a flaming red dragon on it and a few others. Neatly folding them she walked back to the bed with the stack in her hand and placed the shirts in his black duffle bag which lay flipped open on their bed, the dark blue coverlet almost blending in with the black. She used to have a nice pink bedspread but Natsu complained about it when he moved in wither her months ago so she finally relented and bought a new one that they both could agree on.
"Ohh I like those shirts, good picks," Natsu commented as he peered over her shoulder, his onyx colored eyes scanning the shirts before dropping a few pairs of pants that were wadded in a ball into the bag next to them.
"Natsu!" Lucy scolded him with a glare as he laughed cheekily. He hated doing laundry and usually left his clothes much like that unless she herself folded and put them away for him like she was his mother. "You really need to learn how to take care of your clothes especially since I won't be there to clean up after you," she muttered in slight annoyance but her pout was too adorable for the salmon haired man to take seriously but in order to avoid her possible unforgiveable wrath he just chuckled and kissed her lips quickly in apology, allowing her to kiss back for a moment before pulling away as he two continued packing.
With the two of them working together as a team they had the task finished relatively quickly. Natsu didn't seem all too worried with his arms crossed behind his neck as his eyes regarded Lucy who was triple checking to make sure he had absolutely everything he needed. She stopped her searching as something, or really someone, spun her around and she fell into Natsu's warm chest, looking up at him with a startled expression that made his blood burn. "N-natsu?" the blonde stuttered out in confusion.
Her answer was given to her as he smashed his lips against hers lustfully and out of nowhere, a soft squeak escaping her lips before she melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and tangling her fingers into his soft spikes of hair at the nape of his neck. Before they could get too heated just yet, Natsu pulled away a bit so that he could look at her. Both of their cheeks were flushed and eyes bright with lust and longing. "I don't want to spend my last night with you moping over the inevitable," he said in a husky voice that caused her heart to flutter, forcing herself to not clutch her chest at the feeling but his intense gazed proved her to be immobile as if he had cast some sort of spell on her. "I wanna spend this night with you and create a happy memory that I can look back on while I'm away. I wanna enjoy tonight with you."
"Deal, as long as you promise me something," Lucy gasped out in return, her eyes narrowing a touch with seriousness, her brow scrunching up a bit. "Come home to me safe and sound. Please, do that for me that's all I ask."
Natsu's eyes softened as he placed his hand on her cheek, smoothing his thumb across her flushed cheek, her skin soft under his rough, calloused hands. "I promise I'll come back to you, nothing could ever take me away from you, ever," he said in a final tone, refusing to believe anything else. No matter what happened he would always come back to her because nothing could keep him away from her, not even death. Hell, if he did die he would haunt her for the rest of her life until she later joined him! But that wouldn't happen because he wasn't going to die in war. He would listen to his command officers, use his brains and survive for her sake because there was no way he would ever break a promise to her.
Resting his forehead against her's both slowly closed their eyes, simply taking in each other's presence and savoring the peaceful moment, relishing in the feeling of touching each other. Lucy was the first to break the position though after a few minutes by raising her head a little to kiss him. The kiss was soft and gentle, which Natsu returned but soon it morphed into lust and passion once more, hands roaming and little noises bubbling from their mouths as the duffle bag was pushed to the floor and clothes soon followed it. Together they made love to each other for the last time they would be able to for months, three months to be exact and to be more exact three months and five days. They each had a countdown ready for when they could see each other even though he hadn't even departed yet.
"I love you Natsu," Lucy mumbled softly a bit later as she rested her head against his bare, well-toned chest, his skin abnormally hot as it always seemed to be. Her golden locks of hair haloed around her adding to her innocent and content look on her face. Natsu smiled at her a little and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, holding her close to him as he fixed the tangled sheets that lay lightly over their unclad bodies.
"I love you too," Natsu finally replied as his lips left her forehead, a happy smile gracing across his lips. It felt so right for her to say that, so right that she was in his arms, and so wrong that he wouldn't be able to see her for three months straight. Then and there he almost wanted to break down, beg her to help him find a way to stay with her, to not go off to fight for Fiore but it was his duty and he wouldn't back out like a coward so that's why he kept that smile on his face because smiling seemed to make Lucy worry less and keep the pain from hurting as much. So really he had to smile for three months straight. "Great…" he thought sarcastically in his head but shook his head, ridding himself of these negative thoughts and distracted himself by stroking Lucy's long, beautiful strands of blonde hair. "I'll be back home before you know it Luce," he whispered only to realize that his girlfriend had fallen asleep already her chest slowly moving up and down making him chuckle a little. "Goodnight Lucy," he said and gave her forehead another kiss before closing his onyx eyes and falling asleep as well to avoid the horrors of tomorrow of leaving her side.
