"Black is the Color"
Pairing: Natsu X Lucy
Setting: Alternate Universe
Genre: Romance/Drama/Crime
Rating: T/M
Summary: In the end he was a thief, yet she had somehow managed to steal his heart.
Dedicated to: SkyFairies who is super nice, and a big fan of mine.
Author's Note:
I hope you guys like this! Be sure to leave a lovely review below and favorite or follow!
~Fairy-chan
The sky was a shade of gray, snow covered the ground. It was winter in Magnolia, as people rushed about a busy street trying to get back home. One man wasn't though. As silent as a ghost he hid in the shadows, his onyx eyes fixed on the people walking by. He was unnoticed by all of them, his eyes catching something shiny. There was a red ruby necklace on display at one of the nearby jewelry stores, as his eyes wandered to the price tag.
500,000 J. He smirked. Adjusting his clothes a bit, he put on his best smile and walked towards the store. His wild pink hair was covered by a winter hat, but it still stuck out a little bit. Confidently, he walked straight into the store and was greeted by a welcoming staff.
"Do you need help looking for anything, sir?" One of them asked him, making him nod his head no. Looking at the various rings, bracelets, and necklaces there, he took note of the number of security cameras and guards. Silently, he watched as one of the clerks put in the password for the safe, the numbers burned themselves into his mind. After about five minute, he casually walked over to one of the clerks who seemed happy to help him.
"What time does this place close?" He asked, deciding to add in a lie to make it more believable. "I might come back here later with my girlfriend."
"We close at nine sir," The clerk answered, making him nod. He headed towards the exit as the staff greeted him off. "Please come back again, sir!"
"Oh I will," He mumbled to himself, a smirk on his lips. Checking the watch on his wrist, he sighed and disappeared into the busy street.
~X~
Adjusting the scarf on his waist, he skillfully jumped from one building to the other until he was directly on top of the jewelry store. After finding the vent, he removed the filter and climbed inside. It was a really tight fit, but he had experience. After all, he had done this multiple times in the past. He navigated himself through the vents, thinking back to what the inside of the store looked like. Crawling ahead of him, he found a tiny crack in the vent. Curious he took a peek. Underneath him were the cases of the jewelry he had seen earlier, making his eyes sparkle in excitement.
After looking around for anyone, he quickly pulled out a small bottle from one of his pockets, and jumped down into the room beneath him. Before the cameras could see him, he sprayed each one with the black substance.
At this point, anyone would have thought that it was safe now, but he knew better. Pulling out a second bottle, he sprayed his surroundings, and reacted rather quickly when he noticed that a red beam was heading his way. Spraying the area around him and the safe with the liquid, the sensors were now visible to him.
He sighed, as he noticed that they were all around the area of the safe. He did suppose that it was expected. Backing up a little, he ran full speed towards the red lasers as he did flips to avoid each one. Finally reaching the safe, he hastily entered in the combination, unaware that someone had just entered the room.
"You! You're the one who was here earlier!" Someone yelled, alerting him instantly. He turned to find the male clerk from earlier a sweating mess on the floor. "I must call the police,"
Alarmed, he quickly ran towards the male trapping him in a corner. He couldn't be arrested yet, no matter what.
"You're Salamander, the famous thief!" He sighed, and rubbed his head. The man had already seen his face, so it was too late now. That night he had committed the ultimate crime. He had murdered an innocent human being.
"Lu-chan, have you heard about the murder that happened recently?"
"Yeah I did, if you ask me it was pretty brutal." Twenty year old Lucy Heartfilia replied to her best friend and bookworm Levy McGarden. She sipped on her tea quietly, listening to Levy while reading a book.
"I know! Apparently before the guy had died, he had taken his own blood and wrote the letter 'S' on the ground. If that wasn't bad enough, a 500,000 J necklace was also stolen," Lucy sighed and shut her book, looking directly at her best friend.
"If you ask me, I think that's way too cliché. I think you've been reading too many mystery novels." Lucy teased, watching Levy mutter to herself. She watch amusingly as her friend cursed multiple profanities.
"Oh Levy-chan~, has Gajeel been rubbing off on you too much?" Levy's face turned a bright shade of red, and was unable to retort to anything Lucy said. Gajeel was actually her not-so-secret crush, and it was pretty obvious to everyone (except Levy) that Gajeel had a crush on her too. Lucy giggled and patted Levy's back, grabbing her bag as well.
"Can I get the bill?" Lucy asked one of the waiters before turning to Levy. "Don't worry, I was just teasing you Levy-chan." When the waiter had brought back the bill, Lucy paid and headed out of the café with Levy.
"So how's work going?" Lucy asked the bookworm making her smile.
"It's actually pretty great. Working as a librarian isn't as bad as I thought it would be." She gushed, thinking about all the books in the library. "What about you, Lu-chan?"
"Being an author is pretty difficult. It's nice though since I don't have to wake up early and go to work. All I have to do is stay at home and write my new novel."
"How's your other novels doing?" Levy asked, making Lucy smile.
"They're actually doing really good. 'Black is the Color' is one of Magnolia Time's top selling novels." The girls giggled, and soon they had reach Levy's apartment.
"Bye Levy-chan!"
"Bye Lu-chan!" She saw her friend disappear into the large building before walking back to her apartment as well.
It was strange for her actually. On her way back home, she spotted a male sitting by himself in one of the dark corners of the busy street. Others that walked by didn't seem to notice him, but she did, and it made her curious. Walking up to him, she noticed that he was dressed way too nicely to be homeless as her eyes raked over his body.
"Uh sir?" She asked, nudging him slightly. His eyes snapped opened, burning holes throughout her body. She froze, paralyzed.
~X~
He watched cautiously as the seemingly innocent blonde haired woman stood above him. He noticed that she had not seemed afraid, but was more curious. Her actions surprised him slightly, but he kept his straight face.
"Who the hell are you, and what do you want?" He spat, but unexpectedly she didn't reel back or flinch at his tone. He hadn't eaten since yesterday, as he silently put a hand on his stomach. He would have to get a bite to eat later.
"Are you hungry?" She had asked him. Was this woman a mind reader? Looking to see if she was lying or deceiving him, he gazed into her eyes, finding himself lost in the chocolaty color.
"Yeah," The words came out before he could stop them. He didn't need this woman pitying him, and he wished to be left alone. Still in deep thought, he heard her giggle. She was definitely a weird one, but there was no way he was turning down free food.
"Let's go then, I know this restaurant with really good food," She offered him a hand which he gratefully took, helping himself up. He followed the blonde as she walked pass many buildings before stopping in front of one. Somehow he had trusted the blonde, and that made him hate her to no end. Sighing, he walked inside as well, the aroma of food made his mouth water.
She watched as he ordered about half the menu, her jaw dropped. She probably never thought he would eat that much, he had concluded in his head as they waiting for the food to come out.
"Hey, what's your name?" She asked him, while he gave her a funny look. She wanted to know his name? Sure she was nice enough to buy him food, but she wanted to know his name too? Women were just so complicated.
"Natsu,"
"Hi Natsu, my name's Lucy." She sighed, and looked outside the window. "You know, summer is my favorite season."
He felt his chest pound in his ribcage. What was this feeling? Was he feeling sick? He could feel his face heat up, and he suddenly get nervous and sweaty. Thinking he was sick, he decided that he would visit his doctor later about this issue. Not long after, the food arrived, served by four waiters carrying eight full trays. As soon as the food was in front of him, he immediately dug in, not caring if food was flying all over the place.
"Hey Natsu, did you hear about the murder last night?" He abruptly choked on his food, but managed to shallow it all down. "Apparently it was a robbery and a 500,000 J necklace was stolen." She had continued, unaware for his reaction to such a story.
"You know before the victim died, he wrote the letter 'S' with his own blood. What do you think it means?" Not sure how to answer, he merely shrugged and continued eating his food. When he was finished, he let out a satisfying burp while she somehow managed to pay the bill.
"Thanks for the food," He mumbled, standing up and heading towards the door.
"Where are you going?" She questioned following after him. Was it just him or was this woman just really stupid?
"Home," He walked out the door, and briefly disappeared from her sight before she cased after him. When she opened the door though, and looked in the direction he had gone in, he had already vanished.
He covered his body with his towel, as he stepped out of the shower. The cool air hit his skin, but he didn't feel cold. Looking at himself in the mirror, his pink hair was wet and messy, his body fit. Today had been a strange day for him, having met a girl who seemed nice and bought him lunch. Sighing, he thought back to her question about the murder that had happened recently.
With his head throbbing, he looked down at his hands that were caked with blood. Panicking, he quickly turned on the faucet and scrubbed his hands, trying to get the blood off. None of it seemed to come off though. Not knowing what to do, he turned the hot water on. As it hit his skin, it burned and seemingly bubbled, as he tried to scrub off the blood.
Nothing worked. Snapping out of it, he looked back at his hands that were no longer soaked in blood but were instead red from his harsh scrubbing and the scorching hot water. He had been having hallucinations ever since that day. He knew it wasn't real, but every time he saw the blood on his hands it sickened him. Sweaty and exhausted, he walked over to his bed and laid down.
He had to carry this burden with him for the rest of his life, and he could feel as though he'll never be truly happy after what he has done. Putting on a pair of boxers, he quickly curled up in his covers, closing his eyes. His thoughts returned to that blonde hair woman who had called herself 'Lucy'. Something about her made his stomach fluttery and his heart pound in his chest.
Was she using some kind of magic spell on him? Perhaps she had, which was why he had seemed so attracted to her. He had to admit that she was pretty, and that she was nice enough not to yell at him when he ate about 25,000 J worth of food. He let out a little chuckle, his attention now on the picture on his nightstand.
Picking it up, his eyes traced over the happy little boy in a man's arm laughing with a woman and a little girl besides them. Carefully putting the picture frame back, he turned his body, his face now facing the wall a couple of feet away. Closing his eyes, he drifted off into yet another endless nightmare, nothing but crimson soaked his vision.
Today was just like any other day, he had originally thought, until he ran into the blonde haired woman again. This time she invited him into her apartment, making him think that she was some sort of prostitute, but said nothing since she had been nice to him. For some reason he felt happy when he was with her.
It was so strange to him, since she would greet him every day at the spot where they had first met. Slowly, he became more open to her, and much to her surprise, he was actually a child on the inside. He was childish, but it would make her laugh every time.
Then there was a point where the two became inseparable. Natsu was very possessive of Lucy, and at times it seemed like the two were a couple. Lucy had opened up to him about her past, as she told him about her mother and how she ran away from home. She would start crying, but he was there for her all the time. Natsu always hung out at Lucy's apartment now, and it had become his home. He wasn't sure if they were dating or not, but to both for them it seemed like they were way more than 'just friends'. He had forgotten all the crimes he had committed and for once in his life, he was happy again.
That happiness didn't last for long though. It all started one night, when Lucy had asked him something he dreaded about.
"Natsu, can you tell me about your past?" She had asked, while the two were snuggled up. She felt him tense up, so she pulled back. "Natsu?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Luce." He had told her. He wasn't sure if he was ready to tell her yet, and the thought was always nagging him.
"Why not? You know about mines, and I promise I'll listen." For some reason, her statement lighted a spark inside of him.
"Goddamn Lucy, why are you so nosy all of a sudden?! If I don't want to talk about it, then I don't want to talk about it, so just leave me the hell alone!" He had yelled at her, making Lucy stand up. She was visibly shaking, as she hastily began to walk towards the door.
"I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight," She walked out of the room, leaving behind the familiar scent of salt. Still upset, Natsu did nothing to stop her, but somewhere deep inside he was guilty for yelling at her.
~X~
The days after that were beyond awkward for the two. Lucy had refused to even look at the boy anymore, and he had begun to feel guilty. Meals were quiet now but Lucy would always finish first, wash the dishes, and then lock herself in her office. The usually loud apartment was now bear and quiet that it had almost scared him. At night, it wasn't any better. Natsu would watch the office light from the bedroom, seemingly never shut off. At first he had thought that Lucy just had forgotten to turn it off, but after further inspection, he had always found her with her novel and a lamp.
She would stay in the office for hours. At times she pulled all-nighters, and sometimes she would skip meals. She began to lose weight, her eyes bloodshot, and her skin abnormally pale. He was worried that the more she kept this up, the more she could possibly permanently damage her heath. He had tried to convince her to stop, but she never listened to a word he had said anymore.
He wanted to turn back time. He wanted to go back to the time where everything was just fine, and they were both happy. He wanted to, but he couldn't. This was another one of his regrets that would live in his heart forever. Sighing, he slumped back into the couch. He was going to tell her everything tomorrow; he was going to come clean.
~X~
Then the next day, something had happened. He had woken up like usual, and got dressed. When he walked into the kitchen, he was surprised to find no one there, since she was usually cooking by now. Curious, he slowly walked into her office expecting to find her, but there was no one.
"Lucy?" He called out, but there was no sign of anyone else in the apartment. Now nervous, he ran into the bedroom and pulled opened the draws that contained Lucy's clothes. All of them were empty.
Aware of what was going on now, he searched the rest of the apartment for anything that had belonged to Lucy, but came back empty handed. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted a black piece of paper on the nightstand that had not been there before. Hastily, he ran to get it and read it's contents.
'I always knew,'
It was written in Lucy's handwriting, he had noticed. A ruby red necklace fell out of the note as well, making his eyes widen. How had she found the necklace he had stolen? He had changed the hiding place ever so often, that sometimes even he had trouble finding it. Always knew? Had she known all along that he was Salamander the famous thief? And that he had killed the man at the jewelry store?
None of that matter now though. Now, she was gone and she had left him behind. He clutched the black paper in his hand, but he couldn't help but wonder. Why did she use black paper? He thought back to the time they were still together.
"Natsu, what do you think of the color black?" Lucy asked, while Natsu sighed.
"I think black is the color of death," Lucy gave him a weird look, and giggled.
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, you wear black to a funeral, a black cat is unlucky, and it's pretty much portrayed as an evil color." He explained, and looked at her. "What do you think black represents?"
"I think black is the color of opportunities." She told him, making him chuckle at her own opinion.
"Why would you think that, you weirdo?"
"The words to a book are black, and as a child we learn to read the black letters. When you close your eyes, you're surrounded by the black darkness, but you can see your dreams and wishes. Black covers up every other color, it can erase your sins and worries. White is able to stain the black, but that gives the world balance or else it would be too overpowering." Lucy confessed. Natsu pulled Lucy into a hug, and whispered into her ear.
"I think I like the color black." Lucy laughed, and hugged him back.
"I think I like the color black as well."
Thinking about his memories with her made his head hurt. So this was why the paper was black. It was to show him that she had taken the opportunity to start a new life, seemingly one without him. With his heart thumping in his chest, and a lump in his throat, he cried.
As the people let him out of the hellhole, he felt weird to say the least. It had been four years since he had last been able to step foot outside into the open world. It was a feeling of excitement and he enjoyed every moment of it. In truth, Natsu Dragneel had just been released from prison. Four years ago he had turned himself in with all the treasures he had stolen over his life. His sentence had been reduced due to the fact that the clerk that he had originally killed was actually a wanted criminal himself, and was planning on stealing all the jewelry in the store.
He was suppose to serve five years in prison afterwards, but he was the ideal inmate. He followed all of the many rules, and at times was able to help prison officials as well. Although he was a criminal he was friends with the prison guards, and because of his help, they reduced his sentence to only four years. He was a changed man now, who stopped stealing altogether.
He was never a thief in the first place. As a child he was a happy boy who always smiled. But then one day when he was at school, his house mysteriously caught fire. His parents and sister had died in the accident, and when he got home he realized that he had nothing left. With no other relatives, he was put into an orphanage and was later adopted by an abusive family. The only way for him to survive was to steal. When he got to the age of eighteen, he ran away from his 'family' and chose to live alone. But soon after that, he began to steal again for the adrenaline rush it gave him each time.
Now, he wants nothing more than to find someone. It's ironic really, since he's looking for the woman who stole his heart. He hasn't seen her in four years, but he knows she's out there somewhere.
Since he had no family or friends, when he was released there was no one to greet him except for some news reporters. Sighing he began to walk away from them, when a woman with a black T-shirt caught his eye. He couldn't see her very well, but somehow it seemed like she was waiting for him. Curious, he began to walk towards her, and her hair color caught his eye.
Blonde.
At this point, he was practically jogging towards her. Could that be her, or was he just imagining? When he was finally able to see her face, his heart skipped a beat.
"Lucy?" Her name passed his lips for the first time in four years. She giggled, and hugged the man.
"Natsu," The two stayed like that for a while until Natsu pulled back with tears in his eyes.
"Lucy, I'm so sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I lied to you, I'm sorry for everything! I love you so much!" Natsu pulled her into another hug. Lucy who was also crying hugged back. She rubbed his back trying to comfort him, even though she was hurt as well. Pulling back a little, Lucy laced her hands around his neck.
"It's okay Natsu, I know you didn't mean to," She whispered into his ear, sending shivers down his spine. "I love you too,"
The two shared a moment of silence in each other's arms, Natsu scared that one wrong move would end it all. Lucy snuggled into his scarf, her warm breath tickling his neck.
"What do you think black is the color of?" Natsu smiled, his grip on her waist tightened.
"Black is the color of opportunities," And they kissed.