Hi everyone :)
This piece is part of the Prompt Exchange Challenge hosted by Unattainable Dreams.
Prompt: "Life is a beautiful magnificent thing, even to a jellyfish."—Charlie Chapman
Sent by: Foxwolf22
This prompt really had me stumped as to what to write for quite a while and exams kept me busy. Since all of my favourite manga are in the middle of wars at the moment, I figured that I would use that as a starting point for this piece.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Fairy Tail – that way I could make babies with Laxus ^_^
Warning: contains spoilers up to chapter 337
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Jellyfishies
Natsu let out a sigh of relief as he lay facing the heavens.
After the fight with Future Rogue and the endless times that he was beaten down only to stand back up; all he really wanted was to close his eyes and take a nice long nap. It was a shame that they weren't back in Magnolia so that he could sneak into Lucy's bed – it really was the comfiest.
Natsu closed his eyes and listened to the sounds around him just to make sure that his nakama were all okay. He heard Meredy's sobs as she cried over Urtear's sacrifice; Juvia crying over Gray as she sputtered something about him being okay; Gajeel wincing in pain as Levy attempted to patch him up; Evergreen yelling at Elfman for doing something dangerous; Jellal whispering to Erza before the councilmen got to him; Happy calming down Charle as Wendy and Shelia helped the wounded.
"Natsu?" Lucy yelled from somewhere. "Where are you? Natsu?"
Too drained of magic and energy, Natsu could barely gather the energy to call out to Lucy but somehow a few minutes later his head was being placed on her lap.
"You idiot," Lucy sniffed. "I was worried."
"Gomen," he mouthed.
Natsu could feel her warmth and, as he inhaled, he took in the unique scent that could only ever belong to Lucy. It had always calmed him down before and this time was no different.
"There are a few people that are dead," Lucy spoke, "but thanks to Urtear there are so many more alive."
Natsu smiled as Lucy ran her fingers through his hair. He knew that she was trying to distract herself from worrying over his wounds – Wendy and Shelia had to tend to the others in more critical condition; he could wait.
It was a shock to his system when Future Rogue had killed Future Lucy. It had felt like time had slowed down as Future Lucy's heart stopped beating. It pained him to the point of rage that someone would ever hurt Lucy – why would they.
Lucy – as angry as she could get when himself and Happy snuck into her place, ate her food and slept in her bed; she would never do something to intentionally hurt someone. It drove him insane that someone could hate her to such an extent that they wanted to kill her. He was just glad that it was all over and Lucy was safe.
"Is our Rogue still alive?" Natsu managed after a while.
Lucy hummed in response as she stared into the distance. There were thick clouds of smoke rising from a fire that Natsu no doubt created somewhere during his rampage against Future Rogue.
The thought of the lives that were lost and the destruction caused by a single person's actions brought tears to Lucy's eyes. Natsu opened his eyes as he felt something wet splash on his face. He looked up to see tears rolling down Lucy's face.
"Charlie Chapman said that 'Life is a beautiful magnificent thing, even to a jellyfish,'" Lucy whispered. "I think I understand what he meant."
"Lucy?" Natsu asked as he looked at her.
Lucy turned towards him and smiled a sad smile. "Yes Natsu?"
"I think I want to go home," he spoke, "I miss your bed."
He waited for her to punch him or smack him – any typical Lucy response. He hated it when someone made Lucy cry – it was always difficult to get her to smile again.
"I miss my bed too," she whispered as she resumed petting his hair.
Natsu thought through as many things as he could to cheer Lucy up – even just a little. Anything that would lighten the tears that her heart was crying.
"Lucy?"
"Hmmm?"
"I don't think I could prove it but I'm sure that jellyfish also cry when other jellyfishies die."
Lucy giggled as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. "I don't think that jellyfishies is a word Natsu."
"Really?" he blinked a few times. "Then we should add it to that big book with all of those funny words."
Lucy's smile finally got a little lighter and Natsu grinned at his accomplishment.
The two of them remained in silence for a while. Lucy continued to play with Natsu's hair while Natsu continued to watch Lucy as she stared as the sky began to change colour. After a while he had figured that Lucy had been left to her own thoughts for too long before deciding to try once more to get her mind off everything bad that had happened.
"So does this mean I get to sleep in your bed?"
"Where the hell am I going to sleep idiot?" Lucy huffed.
"With me of course," Natsu grinned. "Just like we always do. Besides, I've already seen you naked."
"Kya!"
Natsu grinned as Lucy pinched his cheeks at how red she had gone. Those jellyfishies were onto something – life truly is something magnificently beautiful – he could relate to them with the life in front of him.
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An: I thought that something light would be a ray of sunshine what with all of the death and the dying in Fairy Tail. Kudos of Mashima-sensei for his past few chapters – I was getting ready to burn his house down if he dared kill Gray without him telling Juvia how he felt and putting us all out of our misery to know whether Gruvia will become cannon.
Let me know what you thought about Natsu and the jellyfishies :P
~Simone ^_^