They sat eating lunch together in their favorite spot in Magnolia, under the Sakura Tree. Natsu looked over at Lucy, "Dammit she's beautiful." he thought. He was hoping to find a job that they could go on, just the two of them. He was planning to tell her how he felt on the way to the job. Lucy looked up from her food and smiled at him, "Something on your mind Natsu?" She asked. "Just thinking about finding a job to do." He said with a grin. They finished their food and got up to head back to the guild. "Well, now seems a good a time as any." Said Lucy. "You go on ahead back to the guild." Said Natsu, looking around. "I've got to take care of something." She nodded, "Ok, I'll see you later." She walked away, and Natsu turned and headed to his house in the woods that he shared with Happy.
When he got there Happy was asleep on a pile of fishbones, Natsu grinned and tiptoed over to him. "Hey Happy" he whispered. "Nnm, wha?" murmured Happy. "WAKE UP!" Yelled Natsu, Happy sprang into the air with a shout and, Natsu fell over laughing. "That was mean, Natsu." Said Happy, bobbing up and down in the air, his tail all puffed up. "Anyways Happy, I need you to do me a favor." Said Natsu.
"Aye!" "I need you to keep Erza, Gray, Wendy, and Charle distracted for a few days." "Aye sir! but why?" asked Happy. "I'm going on a job with Lucy and I don't want them tagging along." Said Natsu. Happy got a mischievous look on his face, "In loooove." he said with a grin. "Shut up." Said Natsu with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Can you do it for me?" Asked Natsu. "Aye!" "Great, thanks Happy." Said Natsu, then he walked out and headed for the guild.
As Natsu walked to the guild he noticed something glinting off the sunlight in the grass. He walked towards it and saw that it was a gate key, "Perfect" He thought. "I can ask Lucy about this, it will be a good conversation starter." He picked it up and inspected it, it was silvery in color, and it seemed to be made of platinum. As he looked closer at it, he saw that the end of it had a little spiral on it. "Wonder what this is?" He thought. "I guess I'll ask Lucy." he said.
Meanwhile back at the guild, Lucy decided to go for a walk. "Tell Natsu I went out." She said to the other guild members as she walked out the door. After about half an hour of walking she decided to head back. "Natsu is probably back now and we can go on a job." She said. "Yer not goin anywhere blondie." Said a voice from the shadows. Someone grabbed her from behind, she tried to scream but a hand clamped over her mouth. She struggled against them but they held her fast. Suddenly she felt very sleepy, "Sleep magic, Natsu, Help!" She thought, just before she passed out.
Natsu arrived back at the guild about two minutes later. "Has anyone seen Lucy?" He asked. "She went for a walk about half an hour ago" Said Mirajane. "And she hasn't come back yet?" "No." Said Mirajane. "I'm gonna go find her." Said Natsu, running out the door. He stopped outside and sniffed the air. "She went this way" He thought, then he headed off quickly in that direction.
As he ran along the street the smell started getting stronger. "LUCY!" he called out. He detected her smell coming from an abandoned building off to his left. "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" he screamed as he blasted a massive hole in the wall. Lucy was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. "Lucy!" He said as he ran to her. She tried to shake her head but it was too late, two men in dark green robes burst out of the shadows at Natsu. One fired a bolt of purple energy at him, the other threw a handful of little figurines towards him that grew into stone warriors when they struck the ground. "Let Lucy go!" He screamed at them. "Not gonna happen pinkie." Said one of the hooded men. Fire flared around his fists, "You guys have made the biggest mistake of your lives." Said Natsu.
He shattered one statue with a punch, then spun and kicked another into oblivion. He moved his hands to his mouth and screamed, "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" Flames shot out of his mouth and he spun around, taking out the rest of the statues. He turned to face the other wizard, purple energy flared up around the man, and he rapidly fired bolts of energy at Natsu. Natsu dodged them and ran at the wizard. "FIRE DRAGON WING ATTACK!" He yelled, blasting the wizard with scorching flames. The man flew back and slammed into the wall. Natsu turned to the stone warrior wielding wizard, he cracked his knuckles. One second later he had the man pinned to the ground, "WHO SENT YOU?" He yelled. "I never saw his face I swear!" "You sure about that?" said Natsu lighting a fire around his fist. "YES!" said the man. Natsu knocked out the man with a punch and tied both of them to a pole. He then untied Lucy and she fell into his arms. They embraced and stayed there for a while, then Natsu gathered up all his courage and said, 'I love you Lucy."