First story ever posted anywhere and I'm slightly nervous this is just a big pile of Nalu fluff :)

Lucy had learnt not to take things for granted; from a young age she had come to understand the meaning of loss. In the blink of an eye everything you held dear could be taken away, her mother... she had been the centre of Lucy's universe. Always ready with a smile to comfort a saddened Lucy, read her book when she was plagued with nightmares, and she always knew what to say to push Lucy in the right direction.

And then she died... gone where Lucy could never see her again. And with her mother's death her father was as good as gone, burying himself in work to distract himself from his pain, but in his desperate attempt to forget, he forgot Lucy along the way.

Her constant companion as a child was loneliness; she wasn't allowed to leave the estate to play with other children of her age, to make friends. She played make believe with her teddies, giving them names and personalities with interesting back stories. She played hide and seek but no one ever came to find her.

Eventually she gave up. She buried herself in books and threw herself into her studies, perhaps in some vain attempt to please her father.

The last straw though was the arranged marriage. She had never even met the man before but it appeared he was the highest bidder and Lucy was livid, she wanted to please her father but she wasn't willing to go that far. To enter a loveless marriage with a man double her age, to produce heirs like a mare only for them to live like she had; sheltered and lonely. Not a chance! She wanted adventure and excitement, to explore the world and make friends. She was tired of reading about places and other people's adventures; she wanted what all the hero and heroines of her novels had.

Freedom.

She had lived in a gilded cage with no hope but one day she picked up her mother's keys and summoned her first spirit. She was a mage just like her mother and with these keys she was no longer lonely.

The only problem was, she wasn't strong enough to hold the gates open for long so the feeling of companionship was fleeting.

Cancer would comb her hair, Lyra would sing her lullabies, Hologorium would shelter her when she felt sad or cold, Crux would tell her stories of the celestial world and of all the different stellar spirits and Aquarius... well despite her anger and irritable personality Lucy found she didn't really mind it, anger for Aquarius was just another form of caring and provided Lucy with the dose of normality she needed.

She loved all her spirits but they could only dull the constant ache in her heart.

She ran away from home. The uncertainty of the unknown almost made her back up but she needed this freedom, she needed to escape her sheltered life.

'Lucy?'

'Natsu... Lucy's making a weird face.'

'No Happy she'sthinking, she always makes that face when she's thinking.'

'I am not making a weird face.' She muttered. Both boys stopped chatting and looked up at Lucy with twin expressions of concern. Thinking about the past always drained her mentally and emotionally, she treasured everyone dearly, especially Natsu and Happy but at times when she thought back to her old loneliness she would feel a heavy weight press down on her heart. 'You guys should head home; I'm not really feeling great at the moment.' She said in the same lack lustre voice as before.

She stood from her desk and dropped onto her bed with her back to Happy and Natsu.

'Luce...?' She heard the worry in Natsu voice and she knew she was being silly but she still didn't respond to the question in his voice. 'Ok Lucy we'll leave you alone but come find us when you're feeling better ok?' She nodded into her pillow. She heard him sigh before walking past her bed to her window with Happy in tow.

'I hope you get better soon Lucy.' Happy mumbled before following Natsu out of the window.

The moment they were gone she was overwhelmed by the silence. She knew sending them away was silly when the last thing she wanted to do was be alone, it was dumb really.

Ever since Natsu came into her life the void in her chest had been filling up and for the first time in a long time she felt truly happy; he was, in essence, the missing piece.

So why did she keep sending him away when she needed him most?

She sat up and looked out of the window he had just left through. Maybe this time she shouldn't let the past win. She claimed that she didn't take things for granted but she was always stuck in the past, if she kept on like this then how could she enjoy the present and head towards the future?

A flicker of determination sparked in her aching chest, she knew where she wanted to be most right now and she had just sent him away.

Natsu.

She found him – alone – at his and Happy's fishing hole, leaning up against a tree, asleep. She quietly made her way to him in a vain attempt not to wake him but she knew it was useless; no one could sneak up on Natsu.

His eyes opened, startling her, he grinned slowly before removing a hand from behind his head and patting the floor next to him. Shyly she took the offered space and leant back against the tree like him. Neither of them said anything, simply enjoying each other's company. The dull ache in her chest had faded at the sight of him and now a warm and fluttery sensation she had grown accustomed to whenever she was around him filled her heart.

Natsu reached over and wrapped his large hand around hers, her breath hitched in her throat in surprise, not expecting this kind of move from him. But despite her surprise she didn't stop him from threading his fingers through hers so that their hands clasped together, his warm calloused skin rubbed against hers sending tremors of awareness up her arm to finally settle in her heart.

She looked down at their interlocked hands and marvelled at how well they fit together, like puzzle pieces, she noted. The tan skin of his larger hand was marred with tiny scars and abrasions; it contrasted heavily against the pale and flawless flesh of her smaller hand. Over time her hands had grown calloused from the excessive use of whip so they weren't as soft as they used to be but she didn't think Natsu minded all that much. This hand that held hers so gently, had protected and defended her so many times. Looking at them now though it was hard to believe that when engulfed in flames they became dangerous weapons.

Even now he was protecting her by simply being by her side when she needed him most.

She really did love his hands.

'I know how you feel.' He finally said, drawing her attention away from their hands. 'I know that you start to think about the past and it makes you feel lonely.' Had she been obvious or was it that he was far more observant then she gave him credit for, either way she was surprised.

'How-'

'The look in your eyes when you ask us to leave, I recognise it because at times I get the same feeling.' He confessed. With wide eyes she searched his face only to find that he was a hundred percent telling the truth. Natsu lonely? He always seemed so happy and cheerful that it had never occurred to her that he might get lonely at times. 'Sometimes I think back to when Igneel left, I'd picture the field we lived in and the cave we slept in then I would remember coming home from a hunt and he was just... gone.' Her heart began to ache again but this time it was all for him. 'Back then I didn't know what to do, nowhere to go, being raised by a dragon made it difficult to adapt, I searched and I searched and every night I would curl up in our big cave all alone, and as much as I hate to admit it, I cried.'

'Oh Nastu...' She squeezed his hand in reassurance, just to let him know she was here with him now. He offered her a small smile before continuing.

'But then gramps found me, he brought me back to Fairy Tail and I learnt what it meant to have family. Things got better when Happy arrived and then they got even better when I met this weird girl in a port town, she was real nice, bought us food and everything.' Her eyes widened in recognition, had she really made his life better? 'She really wanted to join Fairy Tail and she talked a lot but I didn't mind, it turned out that I like that about her and later I began to like a whole bunch of other stuff.'

Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes and she bit her lip as she waited patiently for him to continue.

'Having her by my side made me feel like my loneliness was nothing, it was fleeting because whenever I got thinking about the past, it was like she knew, she would call my name and beam at me and every dark thought that wanted to bother me would just fade away.' He paused, his dark and expressive eyes met hers and he smiled. 'She made me feel whole again.'

Did he even realise that it was exactly the same for her, his warmth, his kindness, his loyalty and even his stupidity always found a way of bringing her back from the brink. Using her free hand she wiped away the tears from her eyes while she smiled up at Natsu.

'Yeah... I've let the past get to me too many times and I've pushed you away when what I really needed was for you to be by my side. I've been such an idiot Natsu, from the beginning you filled this void I had in my heart, you kept me safe and protected, you made me happy and yet I let the dark thoughts in and I felt as if I was fighting a losing battle but then I would think of you and Happy and everything would be alright.'

She was blushing, she knew it, a part of her really wanted to hide her face behind her hands but she daren't look away from Natsu. His grin widened and as usual it stunned her, her heart began to do summersaults in her chest and million little fireflies fluttered in her belly, warming her from the inside.

'I've thought of a solution for both our problems.' He announced proudly. She tilted her head and eyed him sceptically. 'Don't ever leave my side and I'll become your future.'

Heat crawled up her slender neck and swamped her face. Did he just confess to her In his round-a-bout way? Yet despite her surprise she really liked the sound of his plan. She smiled in response to his grin.

She moved her body closer to his and rested her head on his shoulder, he hesitated only a moment before propping his head against hers, his hand squeezing hers in reassurance. Together they would fight the lonely thoughts.

A future without Natsu... unthinkable.

Her smile widened as her eyes closed.

'I'm suddenly quite looking forwards to that future.' She mumbled before she drifted off to sleep. Natsu smiled, his own eyes closed ready for a nap but before that he turned his head slightly and pressed his lips to her hair in a chaste kiss.

'Me too.' He whispered before joining the blonde in sleep, her hand still clasped tightly in his.