What You Do Not Know
(AthenaSmile)
Disclaimer: I'm frustrated as it is, you don't need to remind me that I don't own Fairy Tail. Grrr...
A/N: Well, frustrated that I am, I'll never abandon this ship. (I already dropped the series though. Mashima is obviously in the NaLu ship) But anyway, I just decided to write this. I have an idea for another one but I don't know when I'll get to typing that. (Sorry if I had anyone's hopes up on that…Not that I think I had any.)
A A/N: Btw, this is set in the future of the FTverse, disregarding whatever battles happen. Basically: [Tartaros Arc] [1 Year Time Skip] [Natsu trying to bring FT back] [Whatever battle happened] [FT is back together] [Everything is peaceful; THIS story]
Things went off like a bomb.
.
The new Sabertooth, back in business after being reformed from its old visions, were headed once again, like they've been doing for the past months, to Fairy Tail's guild hall. Sting Eucliffe, Sabertooth's new guild master, was known to having fanboy tendencies when it comes to Fairy Tail. This was made much more obvious when Sting had decided to move Sabertooth to Magnolia, a few blocks away from Fairy Tail. (A little word from Rogue had made it so that their new guild hall wasn't right beside Fairy Tail's.) So it wasn't a big deal or much trouble if some (read: most) of the guild members of Sabertooth visit Fairy Tail, which was happening at the moment. Again. For the second time that week. It was only Tuesday.
They came in like it was the most natural thing to do – which it was, considering that they've been visiting for months now. Pleasantries were exchanged, they sat at tables near each other, they talked – the usual shenanigans. Until…
.
"Could you please keep your hands off my lover?"
The hall was filled with silence. Everyone stopped what they were doing and were staring at the center of all that was intriguing at the moment. Minerva was sitting at the bar with her leg over the other, hand under her chin, staring at Lucy in nonchalance, but if what she said was anything to go by, then this was surely a façade. Natsu was smiling sheepishly, hand behind his head, trying to fix his posture. And Lucy, the last of the three, was gaping at first, until she retracted her hand and let go of Natsu, and now looking apologetic. In her defense, she was only giving Natsu a noogie for some stupid thing he said, and everybody knew that they did such. A proper look at Minerva and she could see her making annoyed glimpses just below her face level.
"Oh."
"I'm so-,"
"No wonder you smell different." Gajeel interrupted with a sneer.
"Says the guy who has Levy's scent all over him!" Natsu yelled in retort.
Then the usual brawl happened. Meanwhile…
"So," Mira started, sitting beside the raven-haired Sabertooth mage, "how did it happen? When? Where?"
Minerva wasn't really the type to go and talk about herself but being with Natsu and the new Sabertooth had made her open up more.
"Well…"
The battle against Tartaros had ended, and Sabertooth's Twin Dragon Slayers had just returned from helping Fairy Tail / "rescuing" Minerva. The guild members had welcomed her back with smiles and open arms, and this touched Minerva's healing heart – especially when Minerva had mistreated Yukino at the GMG. An impromptu welcome-back party had been made.
But even after all this, Minerva still had something bothering her. Or maybe it's precisely because of what they did for her that she had to do what she was thinking. Just when everyone had fallen to sleep, Minerva sneaked towards the guild's doors when a voiced stopped her.
"Isn't it a little bit too late to be going out for a walk?"
"Rufus." Minerva stared at the source of the voice. She was about to speak again when she was stopped for the second time tonight.
"It's ok." A third voice joined. "I understand. Just know that you have a home to return to." Sting finished with a smile.
And so Minerva left off for something she felt she needed. Cheesy as it may be, but she was on a short journey to self-retribution. Or maybe that was too heavy, a simple soul-searching could also work. She just knew that she needed to be away from them for a while. Forgiveness comes in many forms, but she also had to receive it from the right source – herself.
A few hours of simply traveling the land, she stumbled upon an all too familiar person. Lying on the ground, flat on his face, was a pink-haired young man, and a little ways beside him was a blue cat. Just as she was about to check for his condition, she heard him grumble for food. A small smile graced her face.
"Thanks a lot. I was so focused on training that I forgot to eat, and before I knew it, it was too late!" Natsu said while downing on the food before him. He did wonder where she got them from, seeing as she wasn't bringing any bags with her but he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
"By the way, what are you doing here? Are you lost?" Minerva was surprised by the sudden question that she wasn't able to answer immediately.
"Natsu, you're so stupid. Why would someone like her be lost?"
"What did you say, Happy?!"
"Do you think Erza will get lost?"
"Well, yes – she can be an idiot sometimes."
"OH! You just said that Erza is stupid!"
"No, I didn't!"
And the two continued bickering until Minerva cleared her throat, and the two looked at her.
"I'm not lost."
Natsu continued on looking at her, as if waiting for her to continue, while Happy flew off to chase a butterfly. Minerva didn't feel like telling more but she also remembered that she was trying to change – an outlook to match the new Sabertooth's. She was hesitating but then she figured that voicing it out could make her feel better about it. So she told him, and he listened. He reasoned that "protecting" didn't just mean being able to beat anyone and anything; he also had to be there to "protect" them from their worries and troubles.
"Then, why don't you join me for a while?"
"Wow, so he just decided to invite you like that? Smooth." Cana commented.
"I didn't think Natsu had it in him. He had always been shy with Lisanna as kids." Mirajane quipped.
Minerva had turned a light shade of red at their interpretation of what happened because quite frankly, she didn't think that Natsu had that kind of intention back then. Well, she did but it was resolved.
"So, did you accept?" Lucy asked, trying to progress the story – notebook and pen in hand.
"Yes. But only for a short while."
"C'mon. It's going to be fine." Natsu added with one of his innocent smiles, seeing her hesitance.
"Well, if you insist." "I might also get to understand more from him. He did attack us for simply expelling Yukino from the guild."Minerva thought while staring at Natsu telling Happy of their new company. "He seems too happy about this though. Of course he is; I'm accompanying him after all."
Meanwhile…
"She fought against Erza and stood her ground. She has to be strong! HAHAHA! I'm definitely going to get stronger."Natsu's thoughts were running differently from what the raven-haired young woman had.
.
"Forgive me, father." A young girl with dark-color hair tied in buns sobbed.
"Don't beg for forgiveness you stupid girl!" The girl's father chided while hitting her on the head.
"Take off your clothes." The man ordered. "When your tears have finally dried up, you can come home."
The girl was left in the forest naked, cold, alone and crying.
"No…"
"-rva..Minerva…Hey! Minerva!"
Minerva woke up trying to make sense of things.
"Why did I have to dream about that?"
"Hey. Are you ok?" Natsu asked worriedly.
Minerva had fallen asleep before they even had dinner. She did not get to sleep last night after all; fatigue must've finally caught up to her body. Natsu was just about to finish cooking their dinner for the night when he heard her mumbling and tossing where she slept.
Nodding absentmindedly after spacing out, she saw a bottle in front of her face.
"Here. You should drink," Natsu offered the bottle, "and you might as well change your clothes, you're soaked with sweat. I don't really know where you keep your things though, so I'll just leave that to you."
Minerva drank a bit from the bottle and stared back at the instructing Natsu.
"I'm going to get more firewood and it should take a bit, so change then. You can go ahead and eat what's on the table." Natsu pointed at the table Minerva had brought out from one of her space pockets that afternoon. Seeing as she's awake as she's going to be, he stood up and turned to leave. "I'll leave Happy behind that tree so call for him if you need anything." Natsu finished, still with an instructing tone.
Seconds later, Minerva finished changing and told Happy that he could come back. With an unsettling silence, she decided to ask the Exceed something.
"What's up with him? He seemed like a different person."
"Natsu just acts like that if it's about being sick. Last time, Lucy got cold and we ended up uprooting a tree for her. It's just Natsu being Natsu." Happy cheerfully answered.
"I see." "Lucy, huh? I wonder what their relationship really is."
Minerva noticed Happy eyeing the food on the table so she asked him if they could wait for Natsu so they could eat together – the suggestion made her remember a time in her past when she would eat with her mother and father. She pushed the thought aside as Natsu came back.
"I remember that. It was so sweet of him." Lucy commented, still writing on her notebook.
"What I can't believe is that you were able to fall asleep in the presence of a guy you barely really know." Cana added with a smirk
"Cana! That's not a nice thing to say. Natsu's a good guy." Mirajane playfully defended, glancing at Minerva's reaction toward the comment.
"I could've beaten him in my sleep if he even tried." Minerva offhandedly said.
"So, any other jui- I mean, anything else worth telling?" Lucy asked, just having finished writing.
"Well, after a month, I returned to Sabertooth already."
"Wait, that was it? And you just fell for him just like that?"
"Well, it was more than that of course. I was supposed to be back at the guild after only two weeks, but it was only after two weeks that he finally revealed why he asked me to join him; well part of the reason why he invited me."
"He asked you to be his sparring partner." A new voice interrupted.
"Yes. He asked me to fight him." Minerva confirmed, looking at the red-haired knight.
"And of course, you beat him up. Hahaha! So you're an S!" Cana continued before drinking from a barrel.
"I-I won from his challenge and continued to do so since he kept on asking for more. And since I've already planned to return then – telling him that I'd only be extending my stay for a week or so, he must've thought about it and kept on visiting the guild every now and then."
"And you kept on agreeing to them – adding conditions every time Natsu lost to you. Like, eating together at a restaurant, making him come with you in your shopping, going to the fair, the beach, the park, th-"
"Ok. Thank you for the list, Yukino." Minerva ended the list in a calm tone, although a prominent blush now sported her face.
"I thought I should shorten your story. You have a lunch-date with Natsu today, right?" Yukino reminded, smiling all the while.
"Yukino!"
"Yes yes. Now move along, Mistress. Don't want to be late, right?" Yukino added,gently pushing Minerva off her seat.
"When she gets too much into telling her story, she won't notice whatever's happening anymore. The first time she told me, she ended up late on their dinner date."
And the girls listened and laughed at the added information that Sabertooth's Celestial Spirit mage. Speaking of Celestial Spirit mage… Yukino eyed Lucy, a smile baring her features.
"How about you, Lucy? Any news with Sting?"
Silence.
.
The guild was in chaos once more.
Not much in here tbh. I just wanted to write it. [And like I said above, I have this idea for another one, and I like that better than this so I limited my ideas to this one. Sorry] Also, like my usual NatsuXMinerva works, this is a "Now that you've thought about it, this COULD happen" sort of story. So if you think that you could expand it, go ahead – though, do let me know at least.