"What was that all about?" Cocking her head to the side, Lucy examined her two friends curiously, staring at her now fully adult body in surprise.
Shrugging wide-eyed, Flare pursed her lips. "Maybe a magic expulsion?" she offered hesitantly, not quite sure as to what to say either.
Hands on her hips, the busty blonde shrugged once more before tugging at her shoulder strap. "Well, there's no point in staying here, we should go look for Natsu and the others. Knowing them, they're probably already in some mess or other." Sighing affectionately, Lucy smiled at Flare and Wendy, a funny sparkle in her eye before starting their trek deeper into the forest.
Bounding towards her friend, Flare poked her childishly. "Are Blondie and Cherry Hair a couple?"
Sputtering, Lucy's cheeks blazed like Natsu's fists as her arms thrashed wildly in front of her. "What?! No! Of course not! Me? With him?! Haha…no…no way." Faking her laughter, Lucy kicked the leaves under her feet, embarrassment still flush on her face.
Giggling beside her, Wendy hummed knowingly to herself as she patted Lucy on the head softly. "It's okay Lucy-san. Mira-san told me all about this stage of love. The denial's only natural." Nodding smugly, Wendy looked rather proud of herself as Lucy's eyes bulged out of her sockets and for a split second she wondered if she'd faint.
"Wendy! Whose side are you on anyway!" The blonde screeched, miffed as Flare laughed at Wendy's direction conspiratorially.
Pouting, Lucy stomped forward, beating her way through the foliage. "Honestly, me and Natsu?" smiling sadly, Lucy trudged on. "There's no way that'd happen." She murmured softly to herself, not noticing that she had lost sight of the other until the blistering blade of Erza's sword lodged itself an inch away from her neck.
Screaming, Lucy jumped haphazardly to her left just in time to see Erza duck under Minerva's roundhouse kick and retaliate with a left hook of her own only to be tossed down mercilessly.
Smirking, Minerva jabbed her heel into Erza's side as she bit her lip in agony. "Had enough Titania?"
Brown eyes widened in shock as Lucy jumped to her feet, ignoring her all encompassing fear as she held onto her keys tightly. Right then, it didn't matter that she had no chance. It didn't matter that Minerva had almost killed her before and wouldn't hesitate to again. Right at that moment, nothing mattered except the fact that her best friend was on the floor.
As a Fairy Tail mage, she just couldn't let that stand.
Dashing toward the distracted mage, Lucy swung her leg out into a Lucy kick and caught the dark mage in the side as she fell over Erza's body, cursing as she did so. Whirling around, Minerva snarled ferally before a surprised expression graced her face. "Well, well, if it isn't little Lucy." Bending her finger, she tucked it under her lip condescendingly as her voiced lifted to that of a babying mockery. "Did little Lucy think she could save her friend?"
Glaring, Lucy widened her stance as she tugged out her glittering keys. "I'm giving you one chance to leave here and never come back before I rip you apart."
Throwing her head back, Minerva laughed heartily, wiping a tear from her eye before stepping forward gracefully. "You're nowhere near the level of magic Erza was and even she fell before me. You think you have a chance against me?"
Smirking, Lucy tossed her head back in pride. "You played dirty back in the Games, but this time, I'm not going easy." And with that, the blonde mage tossed two keys into the air, light shimmering all around her. "Open! Gates of the Scorpion, Gate of the Bull! Taurus! Scorpio!"
Emerging from the air, Taurus mooed loudly before swinging his axe with a deathly precision, slicing the space where Minerva once stood before looking around in confusion. Closing his eyes, Scorpio shot out a spray of razor sharp sand, hoping it would reveal the mage's location before being struck down by a blast of blistering heat magic.
"Scorpio!" Panicking, Lucy pulled out her whip in anger before Taurus shook his head and motioned towards the fallen Knight magician. "Don't worry Lucy-sama! I'll protect your super hot body!" Frowning, the celestial mage shot him a thankful gaze before leaving him to his fight.
Cackling, Minerva watched in triumph as the scorpion like spirit disintegrated before Taurus came rushing at her again, slicing her magical attacks until he was right in front of her waiting face.
Meanwhile, Lucy had rushed to Erza's side, shaking her awake frantically. Brushing the red head's hair out of her face, Lucy's eyebrows slanted downwards as she frowned. Lip beginning to wobble, her face suddenly burst into a smile as Erza's eyes blinked open and stared in confusion. "Lucy?"
"Erza! You're okay-" her scream interrupted her sentence as Erza sat up instantly.
"Lucy!"
Screaming, Lucy clawed desperately at the hands that pulled her hair out of her scalp. Smiling calmly, Minerva nodded at the awoken mage. "Well, well, what do we have here?" Gesturing towards Lucy, the green haired mage watched in amusement as Erza jumped up, already re-equipped, a ferocious snarl on her face.
"Unhand Lucy this instant." A dark expression marred the usually kind woman's face and Lucy's muscles tensed.
Cocking her head to the side, Minerva pretended to think about it. "And why would I do that? Things were just about to get interesting."
Throwing the blonde against the floor, a space warp appeared in front of her as Lucy struggled to crawl away. In front of the two woman, a translucent bubble appeared, Lucy banging desperately against the walls that trapped her, tears leaking from her eyes.
She had done it again. Done something stupid that would get her friends in danger.
How pathetic.
"Lucy!" Running at lightening speed, Erza slashed at the wall violently with her sword, watching in vain as not even her sharpest blade pierced its façade.
Whipping around, Erza's glinting sword aimed itself at Minerva's throat. "What have you done." There was no pleasantries, pure venom lacing her voice.
Smiling secretively, Minerva offered no answer. "I'll make you a deal. You defeat me within ten minutes, and the girl's all yours. Don't, and all the oxygen in that bubble will disappear. What will you do now Tita-" a sudden explosion of fire interrupted her words as Minerva was blasted into the rough bark of a tree.
Behind the tree line, a worried Wendy ran beside Flare, a dark figure hidden in the smoke standing next to them.
Stepping up from the grass, Minerva stared coldly as her lips moved to speak. "So the Salamander has arrived." She stated dryly before the dark shadow moved again, a fist of flame heading for her face. Ducking, Minerva opened a space behind him, sucking the fire mage inside. Growling with a ferocity she had never seen in a person, the mage blasted fire from his palms to launch himself away from the suction force, his hands wrapping around her neck as he tackled her to the floor.
From within the bubble, Lucy banged harder against the walls. "Natsu!" But her pleads remained unheard.
Rolling on the floor, Minerva kicked her leg up against Natsu's stomach as he grunted in pain. Rolling up onto her feet, Minerva stared at him. "I guess you're in on it as well-"
Roaring, Natsu moved his hands into his signature Fire Dragon's Wing Slash before whirling around for a high kick. "I'm not here to play your games." He spoke in a low voice, a voice Lucy had only ever heard when Future Rogue had murdered her future self. "Let Lucy go or you won't live to regret it."
Behind him, Erza's heart skipped a beat. He was serious.
Natsu's voice offered no room for discussion and the dragon scales creeping up alongside his neck proved his desire for blood.
"Natsu!" Erza's voice was sharp in the air as she stepped over to him, hoping to hold him back or let him do something other than lose control.
But he didn't move. Keeping his back towards her, the flames grew higher and higher around his body. "Stay out of this Erza." With that, he jumped in the air, cupping his hands in front of his mouth as he roared with the flames of dragon's past.
Ducking underneath the fire, Minerva teleported behind the mage and aimed a jab to his neck, ensuring quick defeat. But before her hand could reach him, his ash black eyes burned into hers as his nose indicated her presence. Snarling, he grabbed her shoulders from behind and brought her body crashing to the ground.
"Let Lucy go."
Shuddering under him, Minerva stared at him emotionlessly before disappearing, only to reappear a few feet beside him.
"Hasn't anyone ever taught you, you don't always get what you want?" she mocked him, hands on her hips and lips all pouty and playful. Grinning maliciously, the black haired mage tilted her head in Lucy's direction, "My, my, how time has passed. Only four minutes left."
Growling, Natsu leaped from his position on the floor and screamed in rage, bringing back his fists over and over again over Minerva's face as she sputtered to breathe from the blood that gushed from her lips. "Give. Lucy. Back. You. BITCH!"
Anger at full throttle, he shoved Erza back when she tried to reach him, ignoring Wendy's tearful pleads for him to stop. "You'll kill her!" she sobbed, tears gushing from her eyes like waterfalls.
But he didn't care. He didn't care. This bitch was going to kill Lucy. She was going to take her away from him. "Because of my weakness, I lost Lucy once. I'm not losing her again. Do you understand now!? Do you?!" He didn't know who he was talking to and he didn't care. Insanity cackled in his voice as Minerva continued to take a beating, her magic no longer enough to protect her from the Dragon Slayer's wrath.
He probably would have kept going. He probably would never have stopped if it hadn't been for the warm arms that wrapped around his back and pulled him against a soft chest. It seemed he had defeated her after all.
"You can stop now Natsu…" Lucy whispered soothingly, "You can stop."
The flames around the three of them suddenly fell, disappearing with the wind as the angry scales on Natsu's skin faded away. Blinking, Natsu's eyes widened as he stared at Minerva's battered body before turning around in Lucy's arms to face her loving eyes.
Natsu stared before collapsing in her embrace, letting her support him in ways no one else ever could.
"Did I kill her?" he whispered, too afraid to speak, but more afraid of the silence.
Lucy's hair tickled his neck from his position on her chest as she shook her head. "No, just roughed up."
His grip around her tightened. "Good."
Hidden from his sight, a sob escaped her lips as tears traced the contours of the blonde's neck. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry…because of me…because of me you almost-"
Glaring, Natsu mashed his hand against her lips and silenced her quickly. "Don't say that. Don't ever say that. There's always going to be someone better than you, and when that happens, I'll always be the one to help you." He gazed intently at her, "And I don't care what it takes."
Hiccupping, Lucy hugged him to her again, squeezing him tightly against her desperately. Drying her tears, Lucy let Natsu's unusual warmth spread through her before relaxing. Bending close towards his ears, her breath tickled his neck as she felt the shivers run up his spine. "I'm glad you saved me Natsu."
He was quiet for a moment before he spoke, his voice soft like a scared child's. "Even if I lost control?"
Pushing his face away so that he was looking right at her, Lucy grinned before kissing him on the cheek. "She deserved it."
And suddenly, in that moment, in the aftermath of a bloody battle and the reappearance of the one he treasured most, Natsu knew what he had to do. It was something he had always known really, but after the Games, after Tenrou after everything that had happened that proved to him the fragility of mortality, he knew there was no time to waste.
How many times had he almost lost her? How many times had he seen her dead self, trying to smile through her bloody tears? He had cried over Future Lucy's dead body. But in that moment, when his fingers clawed at the ripped fabric of her cloak and his nose sniffed the soft scent that was purely his partner's, he wasn't in the future. She was Lucy. And she had died.
And just knowing that the real Lucy-his Lucy- had run away to get somewhere safe was all that kept him from never moving from this Lucy's dead body and leaving the fight with Future Rogue to someone else. He had realized then, that if this what he felt like knowing Lucy would still be alive when he emerged from the ground, then there was no way he would ever survive her real death.
Getting over Igneel was hard. Visiting Lisanna's grave was harder. But seeing Lucy dead in the ground?
He didn't think he'd make it.
So as he pushed his way off the ground, he tugged at Lucy's wrist until she was back in his arms where she belonged and in just a second, his lips were on hers and her arms were in his hair and they were holding each other like they were just one being split into two.
"I don't ever want to lose you again." He said, his lips still bursting from Lucy's touch as her dark brown eyes softened affectionately before she smiled shyly.
"Well…you could always keep me." She offered, a joke on her lips, but the underlying meaning just as clear.
Smirking, Natsu leaned in close enough so their breath mingled and a worried blush exploded on her cheeks. "You know that once a dragon finds their treasure, it's theirs forever."
More pink then before, Lucy reached for his hand and held it gently, "Who else would I spend forever with dummy?" she asked laughingly, pulling him up from the ground to stare at the three girls' smiling faces.
"Congratulations you two. I always knew you'd get together someday." Erza nodded knowingly before a dark aura overtook her. "But Natsu…if you EVER do something like this again I will personally make sure you never move a bone in your body ever again."
Eeping, Natsu lunged behind his new girlfriend, peeking his eyes cautiously from over her shoulder.
"And if you EVER in any way, shape, or form hurt Lucy then I will be paying you a little visit." Now purely demonic, Erza's face darkened viciously before the moment was ruined by Wendy's congratulatory hug and Flare's shy congratulations.
After a few more minutes of teasing and laughing, the group trudged back into the forest, leaving Minerva behind, in search for Gray and the rest of their nakama.
At the back, Lucy and Natsu walked steadily behind a determined Erza, a smile on both their lips. As they neared the next clearing to see a waving Gray and teary Happy, Lucy flicked her hand in the air as Natsu grinned. Staring at the two of them, Gray's eyes bugged out of his sockets as Happy fell from the sky in glee. Blushing softly, the couple raised their fists in the air in pride.
They had just claimed each other and they were never letting go.