After having got Wendy and Carla back from Lamia Scale, Natsu, Lucy, Wendy and the exceeds were walking through the middle of the forest to try and get to the place where the rain never stopped falling.
"Ahhh. I'm so tired, I don't think I can walk any more" Lucy whined for the fourth time in ten minutes. Happy was asleep on her head which she tried to complain about, but all efforts were futile as he was in a deep sleep about fish.
"I agree with Lucy-san. Maybe it would be best if we camped here for the night as the town is still quite a distance away" Wendy piped up, with Carla just rolling her eyes at her.
"Yes, I agree. But we could've been there by now if someone had just tried to put up with a moving vehicle" She glared at Natsu, who was in front of her. But even when he thought about moving transport his face went pale.
In the end they all agreed to camp out in the forest as night was falling and they probably wouldn't have been able to see again until dawn. Lucy and Wendy gathered wood and Natsu lit it with his flames. The night fell fast and the nocturnal wildife came out and surrounded them with noises whilst trickling water from a nearby stream could also be heard. It was a nice, peaceful atmosphere and soon everybody fell asleep, except Lucy.
She decided that she couldn't be here any longer, and so she got up and went to a hill that she saw in the distance which wasn't that far away. However, little did she realise that when she was moving, she woke somebody else up too.
"What a lovely view" She said quietly to herself, even though nobody else was here apart from them five.
"Yo, Luce. What're you doing up here by yourself?" Lucy turned around in surprise to see Natsu standing behind her. She looked down at her shoes and though for a moment, before walking right up to him and looking him in the eyes.
"I know that you're not the real Natsu" She said, without even flinching. Natsu's eyes just widened before he just laughed.
"What are you on about, baka. Of course I'm the real Natsu. Why would you think…" but she cut him off before he could finish.
"Because ever since you came back you have had that arm bandaged up the entire time implying that you're hiding something, whereas the real Natsu would have told me right away!" She had tears in her eyes. After being alone for an entire year, she didn't want him to come back, only to lose her best friend to, to some… demon? No, she thought. There's no way Zeref could've done something to him that easily in the year he was gone. Unless… unless he created him in the first place.
Her eyes widened and she stumbled backwards after finally realising. Something recently mentioned. E.N.D.
N.D
Natsu Dragneel.
She choked on some saliva from her throat as she processed all her thoughts. Then she realised that it made sense.
All the while, Natsu was just watching her as she went through several different emotions at once. Shock, fear, anger, sadness and love as she came to stand right in front of him.
"I know who and what you are. But I don't care. Because you'll always be Natsu Dragneel, the one who helped me get into Fairy Tail, and help me have the best time of my life. And, if there is anyway the real you is still hiding somewhere in there. Then… I hope you remember this"
With that, she closed her eyes and leaned in, until his lips were touching hers. Her eyes started crying but she didn't care as she just wanted to get lost in him, but realised that it couldn't happen until Natsu, her Natsu, came back.
She pulled away and looked into his eyes, where she thought she saw a hint of the real him, but dismissed it. Her eyes started tearing up and she realised that she had to get away. So she did, by running back to the camp where the others were, curling into a ball and crying herself to sleep.
Meanwhile, Natsu was still standing atop the hill and was screaming at himself as the real Natsu was still inside his own body, but trapped. Which meant he couldn't tell Lucy how he felt too.
'I promise you Luce' He though to himself. 'That I will stop E.N.D from taking me over. And I will tell you... that I love you too.
