I've Lost Myself
He had quickly gotten pissed off at his opponent's attempts to escape him. So he summoned a large quantity of his magic and soon the ground exploded as a wall of fire built around them. "Nowhere to run now. So how about you stand still and fight," Natsu growled.
His opponent smashed his fists together, trying to summon his magic. Yet the heat inside the ring made it impossible for him to focus. Soon he could no longer stand, collapsing to his knees from the extreme heat.
"Well then, it's about time this happened," Natsu sneered as he slowly walked towards his opponent. He slowly raised his fists to his mouth, preparing to unleash his Fire Dragon's Roar at close range. "Any last words, Gray?"
"Natsu! Stop! Please! This isn't you! You don't know what you're doing!"
Then a dark voice began to call out from the ring of fire. "Good my slave, show him your wrath. Think of all the insults he has thrown at you over the years. All the things he has done to you. Now finish him without mercy. Then you may finish off the rest of them"
Natsu backhanded Gray, sending him flying across the ring. "Yes, Master Zeref." Then he pulled in a deep breath, feeling that strong burning feeling in his stomach. "FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
Gray's eyes widened as a torrent of flames burned towards him. There was no way out, nowhere to run. He closed his eyes and thought to himself, 'I'm so sorry everyone. Erza, Master Makarov, Lucy, even Juvia; especially you Juvia; I'm so sorry you guys, but I failed.' He shut his eyes tight as the torrent of flames spiraled towards him.
-Some Time Before-
In a certain town, in a certain guild, two mages were busy staring at the request board. The first one, a blonde, reached up and pulled down a sheet of paper that read: Can't find my keys! Come clean my house and help me find them! 40,000 Jewels!
"Hey Natsu?! How about this one? It seems really easy and it will cover this months rent!" The blonde said excitedly.
The boy with pink hair, Natsu, turned towards her and sighed with a disappointed look on his face. "Lucy no freaking way. It's too boring. Go help someone find some keys? I'd rather spend the day with Gray"
"Hey I heard that Flame Head!" Gray yelled from across the guildhall.
"Yeah and what are you gonna do about it Stripper Boy?" Natsu teased with a smile.
Gray ran over next to them and went to jump on Natsu, just for him to move out of the way causing Gray to land on top of Lucy. "Ahhhhhh," Lucy yelled, "Gray if you're gonna jump on people will you at least put some clothes on first?"
"Say what-? Ahhhhh!" Gray looked down and noticed he was wearing only his boxers, then jumped up and ran off to change.
"Hey Lucy, you okay?" Natsu reached his hand down to help her up, feeling that strange tingle he always felt when she grabbed his hand. Or hugged him. Or whenever she was just near him. He was beginning to feel that strange tingle more often, but he just shrugged it off. 'Probably just nothing as usual' Natsu thought to himself, 'but could it be, that thing Igneel told me about once? Naw, I'm just being stupid.'
Lucy slowly pulled herself up and said, "Yeah I'm alright. Gray just isn't exactly the softest person in the world." She gripped Natsu's hand tightly, enjoying the feeling of his unnaturally high body heat radiating off his hand. After a few minutes they realized they were still holding hands and quickly let go and turned back towards the job board.
"Hey Lucy what about this one?" Natsu asked pulling down another request.
"'Giant monster attacks town. Please help us. Huge reward'" Lucy read off the paper. "But Natsu, you know I'm not good against fighting giant monsters! That's your thing! Besides, whenever we get a request like that, it always turns out to be more dangerous than they say it was!"
"Oh come on Lucy have a little fun!" Natsu pleaded.
"But Natsu…" Lucy whined pouting a bit with her special puppy dog face that he always fell for.
"Oh not the face!" Natsu whined, "How about this, we take both jobs? You handle the keys, and I'll handle the monster. And you can keep all the rewards from the keys job, and half the money from the monster job?"
Lucy stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Letting what he had just said sink in, "But, but Natsu, what about you? Don't you need the money?"
"I'll be fine Lucy. Happy and I have our own place, we can fish, hunt and forage in the woods. I just want to make sure you'll be okay first."
Lucy pretended to keep looking at the board so he wouldn't see her blush. 'What is with Natsu today? I mean yeah he's usually nice to me and wants to protect me, but it's almost like he's a different person. It's strange, but I like it too.'
-Later that day-
Natsu walked through the forest looking for the pond that Happy was fishing at today. The whole way, all he could think of was Lucy. Normally around her, she was just like anyone else. He would have a detached attitude. But whenever she was in trouble, he would risk his life to save her. Yet today, he couldn't keep up his normal attitude. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME!?" Natsu roared into the sky with enough force to make all the birds fly away.
Natsu turned screaming and punched an old thick tree with a flaming fist. At first it seemed like nothing had happened, then small flames started to spider web over cracks that were left by Natsu's fist. And finally, with a groan, the tree fell over leaving a slightly charred stump behind.
'Could this be?' Natsu thought, 'That strange feeling that Igneel had told me about?'
-Many Years Ago-
"Hey Igneel, can…can I ask you a question?" Natsu asked nervously.
"Yes Natsu, what's on your mind boy?" The dragon grunted back.
"Well I was in the forest, and I saw these strange creatures. They kind of looked like me, only bigger. And they were, what did you call it, hugging. And the one, I think it was a boy cause he had a deep voice like you, told the other, a girl I think, that he loved her. So I was wondering, what were they? And what is love?"
The large dragon paused, slightly startled by the boys question. He remained motionless for a while. Then as Natsu went to jump on the dragon thinking he had fallen asleep, Igneel lifted his head and blew smoke out of his nostrils. "They are what you are young one. They are humans. I have purposely sheltered you from them for they would try to take you away from me and your training would be rendered incomplete.
"As for the word that the man used, love, it is a word that is widespread throughout the world. Used by nearly all intelligent beings of life. It is a word that is used to express emotions of extreme power and depth little Natsu. When someone loves somebody, such as the love I feel for you, they would fight tooth and nail to defend the one they love. They would give their lives in order for their loved one to live. They would give everything, for that person. Risk it all, out of an idea, a feeling, an emotion called love. That is love, my son"
-Present Day-
"NATSU! WAKE UP NATSU!"
Natsu jolted awake, nearly falling off the stump in the process. Floating in front of him was his blue little Exceed friend, Happy. "Happy, what the hell? Don't be yelling at me when I'm sleeping! I could have fallen!" Natsu scolded.
"I'm sorry Natsu! I didn't mean to scare you!" Happy whined as he sunk to the ground, moping and spewing tears.
"It's alright buddy. I'm sorry I yelled. But hey come on! It's time to get ready for our next job!"
"With Lucy?"
"Of course! Who else?"
And with that, they sprinted through the woods. Dodging around trees draped with layers of hanging moss. Jumping over tree roots snaking their way in and out of the dirt like fingers ready to grab and trip somebody.
'There's no way I love Lucy. I mean sure, there have been multiple times I risked my life to save her. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. And I'm sacrificing a huge amount of money to make sure she can pay her rent and buy food. Sure, I'm also doing it so I can go fight a monster. But that's like an added bonus right? It can't be true. She's my best friend. There's no way I…'
As Natsu continued to struggle with his inner self, he didn't hear Happy yell out, "NATSU WATCH OUT!" until the moment came too late. He ran smack, face first into the giant boulder that forms a part of the boundary between the town of Magnolia and the forest where their cottage lay.
"Natsu, Natsu, are you okay?" Happy asked, with concern boiling up in his eyes.
Natsu lay there for a moment, stunned. Then all of a sudden he leaped to his feet. "Of course I'm okay Happy! I feel great!" Slowly, he let flames build around his fist. Thin at first, but then they slowly thickened and darkened until he had a ball of fire on his hand that would burn a normal human's to a crisp. With a yell, Natsu thrust his fist forward bellowing, "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" and smashed the boulder to pebbles.
"Come on Happy! We gotta hurry up and meet up with Lucy!" Natsu yelled, while inside his head he thought, 'maybe if I keep up my normal attitude, she won't suspect anything. Like the way I didn't let go of her hand for a while. Maybe she's starting to think I like her. I can't lose my best friend. Just be my usual self. That should do it.'
And with that, they finally headed down the streets of Magnolia headed towards the train station.
(A/N) Hello everyone! This is my first Fairy Tail Fan Fiction! So please review and tell me what you think! I will try to upload at least once a week! Thank you for reading and please review :D