A/N: From the prompt "Who did this? Who hurt you?", requested by ship-ambrosia on Tumblr.
I debated whether or not to post this here because it's kinda short and i've been posting a lot of drabble requests right in a row, but... I don't know, people on Tumblr liked it so I ultimately decided to post it here, too. Hope you guys like it!
Natsu'd been struggling against a water mage when he smelled it.
Lucy's blood.
Suddenly the water mage and his backup cronies weren't such a problem, his newfound urgency to find Lucy and protect her giving him the strength to defeat them in what seemed like seconds.
"Lucy!" he shouted, looking all around him and trying to use his nose to follow her scent. It was a bit hard to track, masked by the blood and sweat of so many people, but Natsu could always find it. And especially now, he had to find it.
Finally, he saw her, laying on the ground that was stained red with her blood. "Lucy!" Natsu cried as he stared at her bloody form, kneeling next to her and grabbing her shoulders. "Who did this!? Who hurt you!?" Lucy coughed, spitting up more blood in the process. No, she couldn't- Not when she still had her entire future ahead of her! Not when he hadn't- Not when I haven't admitted to her how much I desperately love her and want her to be with me! "Which one of these bastards am I beating up for this!?"
Lucy tried to give him a smile. "You don't have to beat anyone up. I won." She gestured painfully towards another person, unconscious, on the ground before she was coughing again.
Natsu gave her body a quick scan, and Lucy's words were a bit debatable. She'd been given quite a beating before she'd been able to win over against the other wizard. Her clothing was largely ripped, her skin was blossoming with red, blue, and black, and the blood he'd smelled was leaking out of several jagged cuts that also painted her skin. There were numerous rocks near the two of them, as well, that had bits of Lucy's blood on them. Apparently she'd been fighting a rock mage.
"As soon as that bastard wakes up, I'm beating him back down again!" Natsu announced, seething, his blood boiling under his skin as he glared at the offending wizard. The idea of going over and beating him up right now seemed a bit appealing at the moment. Lucy reached a hand to his shoulder, though, her touch instantly calming him down as his gaze fell back to her.
"Don't, Natsu. I'm gonna be-" Lucy had another coughing fit. "-okay. Just… Just stay here with me."
"No, yeah. I'm not leaving your side." Ever again, he added in his head. One of the dark mages saw the two and thought they'd make an easy target, starting to ready her magic for attack. What she didn't realize was how angry and powerful Natsu was right now that his beloved was so badly injured and needed his protection at the moment. The wizard didn't last long before she was out. Natsu looked back to Lucy after extinguishing the flames on his fists to see her eyes closed and her breaths shallow.
"Lucy, open your eyes! You are not going to do this!" he screamed as he collapsed at her side again, tears pricking his eyes as he realized just how badly injured she was.
"Just resting, Natsu…"
"No, you need to fight right now! Rest after we find Wendy and get you healed!" Natsu held her hand and squeezed it hard. Lucy opened her eyes and gave him another soft smile.
"Alright, I'll keep them open," she promised with her hoarse voice. Natsu kept hold of her hand and started looking around, watching for sneak attacks and for a certain sky dragon slayer. He gave a call of Wendy's name, hoping she'd hear and be able to get to them.
"Hey Natsu?" Lucy called wearily to him, bringing his gaze back to her again.
"Lucy?"
The girl coughed again, bringing forth more blood to dribble down her cheek as she lay. "I love you."
Natsu's eyes widened at her confession before his eyebrows furrowed. "No no no no! No Lucy, don't say that now!" he cried out, his hands gripping her one even tighter. "No, tell me that after we get out of this! We'll do all this after you're healed!"
Lucy gave him another small smile. "Yeah, okay. I'll tell you after we get out of this."
Natsu hated how eerily similar she looked to Future Lucy's demise in that moment.
A/N: I'm trying to write Lucid chapter 17 right now, and I think once I finish that, I'll start posting the story (despite all that talk about finishing it before I post it...). Also trying to write 24 of Togetherness, which is apparently a struggle.
Anyways, hopefully the next time you see me will be on either Togetherness or Lucid, instead of a 1k word drabble.