No intro this time, I'm just not feeling it.
So basically, Jonathan Coulton's "The Future Soon" got stuck in my head, and somehow became a NatsuErza prompt. The first half is fine by me, but by the second half, I start rehashing themes from ABCs's Awestruck. But I'll leave it to you guys to judge if there's a recognizable similarity or not.
I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does. And I own an MP3 of The Future Soon, but Jonathan Coulton owns the actual song.
Erza Scarlet didn't cry much these days. But she always had a few tears reserved for this day.
It happened a year ago at around this time. Erza had led a revolt of the slaves that were forced to work on the Tower of Heaven. It was doomed to be a losing battle until Erza awakened her magic, which was powerful enough to lead her fellow slaves to victory.
While the slaves made their escape, Erza went looking for Jellal, their de facto leader. Eventually, she found him, but she instantly wished she hadn't. For the brave, kind Jellal she had known as far back as she could remember, had been twisted by Zeref's ghost into a deranged sociopath.
Erza couldn't help the tears falling from her real eye. That image would haunt her for the rest of her life.
"Errrrrzaaaaaaaaaa!" a male voice shouted. Instinctively, Erza blocked a flaming fist coming from the newest member of Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel.
"Erza! I challenge you!" the pink-haired boy declared.
"No," said Erza sadly. "I'm not in the mood."
Natsu frowned. "Something wrong?" he asked. Before Erza could reply, he grinned. "Whatever it is, a good fight'll cheer you up!" He charged at Erza again, who punched him in the stomach and sent him flying a couple of feet.
"There! I won! Now leave me alone!" yelled Erza.
"Fine!" Natsu said with a pout. "But just you wait! It's gonna be the future soon! And I'm not always going to be like this! I'm gonna be strong! I'll be an S-Class mage just like you! And then I'll beat you in one shot!"
As Natsu turned to leave, something flashed through Erza's mind. "Wait!" she exclaimed. Natsu stopped in his tracks and turned to face the armored girl.
"Natsu… what do you see when you think about the future?" asked Erza.
"Huh? I just told you," said a confused Natsu. "I'm gonna be strong enough to beat you."
"I know, I know," said Erza. "But close your eyes and tell me what else you see."
Natsu complied with this request. "I see myself. I'm older. I'm taller, too. I look more mature. And… " Natsu hesitated. "I'm with Igneel. I'm flying on his back. And I'm not getting sick. We're… happy."
Natsu's eyes started to get a little misty. Erza came up to the Dragon Slayer and give him a comforting hug. "You'll find him someday," she said.
"Thanks. I needed that," said Natsu, breaking off the hug. "Now it's your turn. Close your eyes, think of the future, and tell me what you see."
Erza closed her eyes, and she started to shiver, even though it was August. "I see death. My friends dying all around me. I see a tower. It's glowing, and I'm inside it. I see a bright light, and I feel my life fading away…" she opened her eyes, and her good eye had fresh tears flowing from it. "Natsu, I'm scared! I don't want this future!" she wailed.
It was Natsu's turn to hug Erza. "Don't worry," he growled. "I won't let that happen. I promise to walk towards that future with you and stop it from ever happening!"
Erza pulled away from Natsu. "Idiot! Don't make promises you can't keep!" she exclaimed.
"Maybe I can't keep it," said Natsu. "But I'm sure as hell gonna try! For your sake. Because if anyone tries to hurt my nakama, they'll have to go through me first!"
Erza blushed. What was this funny feeling building up in her chest? It was the same feeling she used to get whenever she looked at Jellal.
"You'd better get to training, then," she said finally.
"Aye!" exclaimed Natsu. "A hundred push-ups! Go!"
As Natsu started on his training, Erza started to leave, still feeling that funny feeling.
'Cause it's gonna be the future soon,
And I won't always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange
Get engineered away
Seven years later, Erza and her team were sitting in one of the hotel room they were staying at for their vacation, watching an unconscious Natsu as he slept. Currently, he was suffering from the side effects of eating Etherion, which unfortunately rendered him bedridden.
While Lucy, Happy and Gray talked about Natsu, Erza was thinking about the Dragon Slayer who had been her knight in shining armor against Jellal. Somewhere during this whole incident, her head finally made sense of the feeling that had gripped her heart all those years ago when they talked about the future. It had gripped her again during her Etherion-induced vision of her funeral.
It was…
To everyone's (and no one's) surprise, Natsu had woken up to yell Gray for a comment that he made about Natsu eating Etherion. The Ice Maker made a comment about Natsu being eaten by one of the Trinity Raven assassins and called him a "Food Chain Freak." Natsu then fell back asleep, and Erza couldn't hold back a laugh. Everyone else joined in before long.
"Hey," said Erza. "We still have another day here. You two should be enjoying yourselves instead of worrying about us."
"Us?" repeated Lucy. "What about you, Erza?"
Erza smiled. "I think I've had enough excitement for a while," she said. "I'm going to stay with Natsu for a little while longer and then take a quick nap." Gray got up to leave with a shrug. Lucy followed him out with Happy on her shoulder. The door closed without much fanfare, and Erza fixed her gaze on the ailing Dragon Slayer.
"Natsu…" she said softly. "No words could possibly express how much I owe you. I doubt I'll ever be able to repay you in this lifetime, or even five lifetimes. If only I could live forever. Then I'd at least be able to make an honest effort at it."
"You're so much stronger than I'll ever be. It may sound strange coming from me to you, but it's the truth. I… I only got as strong as I did because I felt like I had to defeat Jellal and save everyone from Zeref's return. I had the weight of the entire magical world on my shoulders, or so it felt. But you… you longed to be reunited with your father, and you trained yourself to be worthy in his eyes, but otherwise, you've lived a carefree life, unburdened with the worries of the world. I guess what I'm saying is, if I didn't have to worry about Jellal or the Tower or any of that… I'd be the weaker of the two of us. And that's perfectly okay with me. I never wanted to be feared, famous, or anything like that. I just wanted to protect everyone.
"But listen to me rambling while you're trying to sleep. I wonder if you can hear me. If I told you I loved you, would you even remember it?" Erza brushed a hand against Natsu's cheek. "If I kissed you now, how would you react? Do I even want to know?"
She leaned her face closer into his. Their lips were only inches apart. All Erza had to do was close the gap. But could she bring herself to do it?
"Erza," Natsu rasped. He sat up, surprising the Titania as she recoiled back into an upright position.
"Natsu? What is it?" exclaimed Erza.
"Erza… close your eyes…" Erza did as Natsu asked. "Can you see it? It's the future. It's here. And it's not the future you saw. It's better, isn't it?"
Erza smiled wistfully. "It is," she agreed. Suddenly, Natsu began to retch violently for a few seconds before collapsing back onto the bed.
Erza had seen this before after he ate Laxus's lightning. This was obviously his digestive system reacting to the Etherion. "You look like crap, and I bet you feel like crap. Was saving me really worth all this hell you're putting yourself through?"
Natsu gave a weak smile. "For you, what isn't?" he said. He then started snoring, having fallen back asleep.
As Erza took her leave of the Dragon Slayer's company, she decided she would allow herself the illusion that he felt the same way about her that she did about him.
It's gonna be the future soon,
I've never seen it quite so clear
And when my heart is breaking, I can close my eyes,
And it's already here.
Yeah. That's pretty much it.
You'll be pleased to know that I'm actually working on It Takes A Guild. I have several characters already planned out, namely the children of Natsu and Erza, Juvia and Gray, Jellal and Sortea (remember her from Canis Majoris?) and Wendy, as well as the adopted son of Lucy and Cana (speaking of, I should probably work on Letters to Mama a bit, or even start Heart to Heartphilia, though we all know the latter ain't happening any time soon) and the Take Over Cousins (well, two of them, MiraFried and ElfEver, I'm still not sure about BixAnna), but I will be taking suggestions for other couples. In fact, once I get the first chapter done, I'll include a character sign-up sheet.