Hey, guys !
I'm back with this rather long scrabble *ha !*
I was thinking to divide this into few chapters, but for some reasons I think it will be better if I just write this into two chapters.
I'll update my other fics as soon as I can, but for now, just enjoy this one :3
Hope you enjoy your reading !
Disclaimer : We all know who own Fairy Tail (if you don't then you should open Wikipedia) :D I only own this plot.
Natsu Dragneel was many things. He was stupid but sometimes he was so damn smart in battles, caring and protective—he treasured his guildmates after all—, super strong, and totally reliable. And super handsome.
Don't tell him that.
To Lucy, Natsu was many things except one. Being weird.
Well, Natsu was the one who constantly said Lucy was a weirdo, so who-knows-since-when she had stopped thinking he was a weirdo too. At least until now.
Natsu was being protective of her. Now, now, she knew Natsu had always been protective of her as his closest guildmate, but this time, he was overly protective. For reasons she didn't know, Natsu practically had never left her side and glued his presence to her. The only time he let her go was only when Erza Scarlet was with her.
Lucy felt something was going on with the pink-haired dragon slayer. However, none of her other teammates were actually complaining about it, it made Lucy felt like she was just being weird again. But Lucy was half-convinced that something was strange about Natsu.
She enjoyed his presence, of course. No matter how hard she denied it, she totally loved it being near to him. Natsu had always been a constant presence to her, ever since she joined the guild. And after his one year leave, the more she missed his presence beside her. She was so happy he took her—and their other teammates—to the 100 year quest, because that meant she would have so much more time to spend with him.
Because Lucy could no longer denied it, she fell in love with the child of Igneel.
The feeling came naturally and Lucy didn't actually realize it until Natsu left her. She felt so lonely without him and when all their memories came rushing back to her on one night, she practically cried her eyes out. That was when she realized how important Natsu was to her and how hard she had fallen for him. Her feelings for him grew and grew as each day passed, to the point she felt her chest would burst.
When she rewrote the book of END to save Natsu, she didn't care about her burning body. All she wanted was to save the guy she truly cared about. When Natsu came back—falling from the sky actually—after the final fight with Acnologia, Lucy did everything she could to hold back her tears of joy.
Which ended up failing after her award party and caused her to hug Natsu and cried.
Lucy had always been quite sensitive to others, so she could somewhat knew how Natsu truly felt about her. She knew he took her more as just a friend, and she knew he knew she had the same feelings. But Lucy didn't want to rush anything and just wanted to take things nice and slowly. Natsu seemed caught that and he didn't rush her either.
Another reason for her to be head over heels for him.
Being a writer, Lucy had always dreamed of having a super sweet romance story with a handsome guy. If she could ask, she wanted a prince charming on a white horse. But by joining Fairy Tail, she received a super dense romance story with okay, a handsome wizard. But it wasn't a prince charming, it was a dragon.
Not that Lucy would complain though. She was really glad her romance interest was a dragon and not a prince charming. It sounded more right to her.
So Lucy was actually feeling overjoyed with Natsu's sudden overprotectiveness. But she couldn't understand why would Natsu did that. Did something happen which she did not aware of?
Lucy sighed. Maybe she was just being weird again.
"We should find an inn to stay over tonight." Erza said. "Then we have to look some information."
"Why don't we split up?" Lucy suggested. "I will find an inn for us, the rest of you can find what we need."
"I will come with Lucy-san!" Wendy Marvell said which earned a nod from Erza.
"Okay, then we leave our inn to you both. Happy, go with them. Gray, Natsu, let's go." Erza said and turned her body around.
Natsu and Gray Fullbuster followed but few seconds later, Natsu turned his body around and stopped on his tracks. He eyed Lucy's back who was walking further from him.
"Natsu?" Erza called.
Natsu stayed silence for a moment. "Maybe I should go with her." he mumbled.
Erza and Gray looked at each other then scoffed. Gray hit the back of Natsu's head lightly. "She'll be fine."
"Gray's right, Natsu. Lucy's not weak, you know that." Erza added. "Come on, the sooner we collect the information we need, the sooner we'll see them again."
Natsu didn't say anything but he turned his body around again and walked away. Erza and Gray looked at each other and raised an eyebrow. They knew Natsu had always looked out for Lucy and he would be the first person who got super duper worried if she was gone from his sight. But had he ever been this protective before?
Natsu tried to press down his worry while collecting some information from the townspeople. He convinced himself that he need to do his best or it would take longer for him to see Lucy again. At remembering his blonde-haired teammate, Natsu felt his worry grew deeper.
It had been a week since his team managed to seal away the previously-thought evil Earth God Dragon and Natsu could not concentrate in finding the real one. What the dragon had said to him was bugging him real bad.
Natsu was walking aimlessly after asking another inhabitant when his mind suddenly went back to what happened seven days ago.
-Flashback-
"Folks, I present you Gargaea, the city where the Earth God Dragon supposed to exist." Gray acclaimed.
"Who would name their city like someone had puked their breakfast out?" Natsu blurted.
"Aye!"
"Well anyway, let's find a place to stay." Erza commented.
"At least this isn't underwater so I don't have to be worried with becoming a jellyfish again." Wendy sighed in relief.
"Do you think those dragon eaters will come back?" Lucy asked.
Her question brought silence to the team. The memory of them being beaten up rushed back and noone said anything. They were somehow saved from being obliterated but none of them were sure they would come back alive if those fifth generation dragon slayers came back.
Lucy cleared her throat. "Let's go. We'll think about that if they really did come back."
They quickly found a comfortable inn near the city border and for the purpose of budget saving, they rented a big room for all of them. Normally Natsu and Gray would end up sprawling on floor while the girls slept peacefully on the bed. Carla would sleep in Wendy's arms while Happy would just curled up on top of Lucy's head.
"Let's walk around the town to look for some information." Erza said. "I hope this time everything goes well."
They went out from the inn and split up into two groups. Erza, Gray, Wendy, and Carla went to the East part, while Lucy, Natsu, and Happy went to the West part. They promised to meet back at the inn on sunset.
Lucy was asking around about the city's praised deity when her eyes caught a peculiar store. She bowed a thanks quickly to her informant and made her way to the store.
To her, it was quite a shady store. Shady but somehow appealing.
The store looked old. The walls were painted with gloomy brown. A small bell was hung from the top of the door. Lucy glanced up to see no board whatsoever that could tell her what this store was, unless she came in and asked around.
Urged by her curiosity, Lucy pushed the door open and a soft jiggling from the bell was heard. She entered the rather dark store and glanced around to see if the shop keeper was around.
"Excuse me?" she called.
She was answered with silence.
Lucy glanced around and noticed things that filled the racks along the store. Now that she looked at those things, she decided the place was more rather a shop.
A fortune-telling shop, she guessed. Atop of the racks were crystal balls that were commonly used for fortune-telling. Other than crystal balls, there were also fortune-telling stuffs like tarot cards and mirrors.
Lucy gulped down nervously as she for some reason felt a little bit uncomfortable.
"Um... Excuse me?" she called once more.
Lucy was met with another silence so she decided to turn her body around and walked out.
"Oh, welcome, dear."
Lucy whipped her head around to see an elderly woman came out from the back of the shop. She gave the Celestial wizard a smile, but Lucy felt a sudden shiver along her spine. She gulped down and turned her body to properly faced the elder.
"Oh, hello. I'm sorry for interrupting. I just kinda came across your shop and I... I kinda come in." Lucy said.
Her brain spun. What was exactly the reason for her to come in?
The elder smiled. "Oh, please don't mind that. What can I help you, young lady? Certainly a beautiful lady like you are not a fortune-teller."
Lucy nervously chuckled. Something about this elderly made her very nervous. "Err, no... I—I just... Well, you see... I—I want to ask you something. About this city's deity."
The elder raised an eyebrow. "Deity?"
Lucy licked her lower lips. "Well I heard from the townspeople, there is a figure that has been praised in this city since a very long time."
The elderly smiled. "Ah. Deity. Yes, yes, of course. There is one. We call it Madre, or the Mother."
Lucy blinked her eyes. "Mother?" she repeated. "It's not a god?"
The elder laughed. "Do gods really care about gender?" she asked back.
"Ah." Lucy simply said.
"You came in the right moment." The elder said. "Tonight, there will be a festival to honor Madre. It's just right up on that hill. You can come and enjoy the festival."
This might be a good idea., Lucy thought to herself.
She bowed thanks to the elder and walked out of the shop. She met the others a few moments later and she told them about the festival. Of course, all of them agreed with her that they should come and see this so-called Earth God Dragon.
Only that night, Natsu's worst nightmare happened.
It had been a tradition for the townspeople to sacrifice their youngest goat to the dragon. That way, the dragon would keep its hands away from the human. Except that night, when they joined the festival, the dragon decided to take something more than just a goat.
Natsu didn't understand how, but the dragon instantly decided it wanted Lucy. To be given as a sacrifice, of course. For the first time in their almost 450 years of history, the dragon came out from the cave where it resided and showed itself. The townspeople ran the moment they saw it, leaving Natsu and his team alone in front of the dragon.
Natsu and the others were prepared to battle when the dragon gave them a quick glance. It then stretched out its hand and snatched Lucy off the ground.
"Lucy!" Natsu called.
Lucy squirmed in the dragon's grip, but she couldn't reach her keys. The dragon raised its hand to bring Lucy to its face. Her teammates were not able to do anything yet when the dragon gave her a few seconds stare and opened up its jaw. Lucy was then dropped from its hand.
It closed its mouth and Lucy disappeared into its stomach.
Natsu widened his eyes in horror while his teammates were frozen. Everything happened so fast, their brain could hardly follow. Natsu could feel his heart thumping hard against his chest as his brain replayed how Lucy disappeared into the dragon.
Her bright smile was the only thing Natsu remembered before he snapped.
"LUCY!" Natsu roared.
The dragon turned its body around and walked back into his cave. Natsu spent no time in pursuing it, only to be slammed back to a nearby tree when the cave's enchanted barrier forbid him to enter.
Natsu growled and slammed his body against the barrier while crying out Lucy's name. A memory rushed back to him which made his blood boil. He would not lose her.
"Natsu!" Erza put her hands on his shoulder and pulled him back. "Stop! You're hurting yourself!"
"Let me go!" Natsu growled. "I'm going to get Lucy back!"
"Listen to me!" Erza said sternly which earned her another glare from Natsu. "We have to think a way to destroy this barrier, but not with injuring ourselves."
Wendy ran her hands along the barrier. "It's a very powerful enchantment. I don't think it'll be broken easily."
"But why would the dragon take Lucy?" Gray wondered.
"IT ATE HER!" Happy screamed. Tears ran down along his chubby cheeks.
"Surely this is a good reason to deem the dragon is evil and we have to seal it." Gray added.
Wendy sniffed the air. "I can still smell her scent." she softly said.
Natsu stopped squirming upon hearing it and also took a whiff. Yep, he could still smell Lucy's scent.
Which means—he hoped—Lucy was still alive.
"Alright, we have to get her out of the dragon's stomach before she's completely gone." Erza said. "Wendy, do you think you can undo the barrier?"
"I'll try." Wendy said. "I've never done this before but I'll give it a shot."
"I'll go contact the guild." Gray fished out a crystal lacrima. "Maybe Grandpa could help us."
"Natsu and I will go to the town to get more information about this." Erza said. "Let's go and save Lucy, Natsu."
Natsu ran ahead of Erza.
Natsu was tempted—really tempted—to burn down the houses because no-one would come out and helped him. The moment they saw the dragon, all of the townspeople shut themselves in. Erza's presence there was the only reason why he didn't do any damage.
"This maybe harder than I thought," Erza said. "Natsu, where did Lucy say she heard about the festival again?"
"I dunno," Natsu growled. "She said she came across a shady shop and kinda got the information."
"A shady shop..." Erza mumbled. "I think there it is."
Natsu followed her gaze and saw a rather gloomy looking shop. He decided to bust in and pushed the door open.
He thought the door wouldn't be open at first, but boy he was wrong. The door opened just fine and Natsu stumbled inside.
"Well this is weird." Erza said. "When everyone else is shutting tight their doors, this one has its door open for us. Excuse me!"
Natsu sniffed the air. "Someone's here alright. But the scent is starting to fade already."
"Whoever lives in here, he or she must have gone somewhere already." Erza concluded. "Let's search through this place for any kind of clues."
Natsu and Erza rummaged through the place, flipping everything upside down to find anything that could serve as a clue.
"Natsu!" Erza suddenly called.
Natsu made his way immediately to Erza and she opened a rather old paper. Erza read the words written quickly.
"They say the barrier can be broken by a strong magical tool. It's called the Crystal of Stars." Erza said. "It is the only thing strong enough to cancel out the enchantment, but it has been lost for the past two centuries."
"What does it look like?" Natsu asked.
"Doesn't say." Erza answered. "If we want to break down that barrier, we have to find the crystal."
"Another way!" Natsu exclaimed. "There has to be another way! I'm not wasting my time looking for a lost crystal while Lucy is inside that creature's stomach!"
"Natsu, we don't have a choice." Erza sighed patiently. Natsu had always been so impatient if it concerned Lucy. "If we don't find the crystal, we can never save her."
Erza realized fully that Natsu had feelings for her sister-like teammate—an incredibly strong feeling actually—but she felt so irritated when Natsu jumped into doing things to save Lucy without thinking. He had never been a make-plan-then-attack person, but if it was about Lucy, he would just literally attack head-on.
"Erza! Natsu! Where are you?"
Natsu stood up and opened the shop's door. "Happy!" he called.
Few seconds later, Happy showed up. "There you are! Come, come, come! Wendy is still working with the barrier but I think something is going on inside the cave!"
Natsu rushed out and ran as fast as he could to the cave. When he arrived, he saw Gray was gaping at the cave. A look of bewildered adorned his face.
"Gray!" Natsu called.
"Na—Natsu..." Gray stuttered. Natsu followed his gaze and saw a golden light from inside the cave.
A light Natsu was familiar with. The Celestial light.
"LUCY!" Natsu pounded the barrier with his fist. "LUCY!"
The light grew brighter and brighter, it was blinding. Natsu closed his eyes and snapped them open when he heard an explosion.
"LUCY!"
Natsu's nose caught Lucy's scent and he realized the barrier was gone, since he could smell her really clear right now. Natsu rushed into the cave and met an unconscious Lucy lying on the ground.
She was covered in gooey stuff but she was breathing. Natsu craddled her into his arms and sighed in relief upon seeing her scratchless body. Natsu glanced at his side and saw the dragon was lying flat on its side, breathing heavily and its stomach was wide open.
"She..." The dragon spoke. "Take care of her... Or you will lose her forever... The light... The light is very powerful..."
"What are you blabbering about?" Natsu hissed.
"Natsu! What was that explosion—whoa!" Gray appeared. "What in the bloody hell happened here?"
"Explanations later." Erza came into view. "Let's seal the god dragon first."
Natsu was reluctant to let go of Lucy but Erza's stern call forced him to help them. Wendy crouched beside Lucy and ran her hand on Lucy to check.
"The crystal rejected it. I don't think it's the Earth God Dragon." Erza slightly bounced the crystal ball. "I think it's an enchanted creature."
"Which means we still have to hunt the god dragon in another city. But before that, Wendy, how is she?" Gray asked.
"Weak, but she's okay." Wendy said. "She just need a good rest."
Natsu wasted no time and put his arms around Lucy. One hand supported her neck gently but strong while the other placed itself beneath Lucy's knees. Natsu lifted her up and Lucy's head rolled aside to his chest.
Without a word, Natsu carried Lucy out of the cave, leaving his other teammates. All of them sighed and smiled.
Well, without a doubt, Natsu had fallen in love with Lucy. Hard.
-Flahback end-
Natsu didn't leave Lucy's side after that and he was the first one she saw when she opened her eyes. After making sure she was okay, Erza asked her what had happened but Lucy couldn't answer her. Her memory somewhat became fuzzy and all she remembered after being eaten was her body turned warm and she wanted to get out from the dragon's stomach. Erza calmly explained that Lucy burst open the dragon's stomach using her own power.
Lucy stared at Erza blankly and laughed it off like it was a joke. But Erza reassured her it was not, saying Lucy had grown so much more powerful than before.
And ever since that moment, Natsu swore to never let Lucy out of his sight for more than half a day. Not to mention what the enchanted dragon had said. If he didn't take care of her, he would lose her. That was the only one thing Natsu didn't want to happen.
For reasons Natsu couldn't understand, Lucy had always been the one who got beaten. Be it when she had just joined the guild and was beaten up by Gajeel, or when she got beaten up by Kain during their S-Class Trial. Not to mention when she was tortured during the Naval Battle in Grand Magic Games, and the most unforgettable memory for Natsu was when her future self died in front of him.
Natsu felt a part of him was gone when he saw Future Lucy's lifeless body. He couldn't—or rather didn't—want to think how would he feel if the Present Lucy was gone. No Present Lucy, no Future Lucy.
That was something that Natsu would not let happen. No matter what. He would gladly give his life if it meant he could keep her safe. For him, Lucy was the most important person in his life.
Natsu let out a small smile. He lifted up his head and his onyx eyes stared at the white clouds. He might be dense, but he could recognize his feelings just fine. For him, Lucy Heartfilia was many things. She was graceful, beautiful, smart, warm, strong, and basically all of the good stuffs. Even her weirdness was something appealing to him. The moment she joined the guild, Natsu could not think how he would spend a day without seeing her smile.
Lucy Heartfilia was many things, but above all, she was the woman he loved.
Yep. Natsu wasn't afraid to admit it to himself. He didn't know when and how, but he knew he loved the Celestial wizard. She had always been the most important person to him, even more than Lisanna who was his closest childhood friend. Except Gray and Erza of course. Natsu didn't know when and how, but he knew he loved her with all his heart the moment he couldn't tear his gaze away from Lucy's warm chocolate eyes. As day went by, his feelings grew and grew to the point he felt like he was about to burst. Even when he left her a year ago—heartbroken of course, but he knew he didn't have a choice. He had to be stronger in order to make sure he could always protect Lucy—she was the last thing on his mind before he drifted into sleep and the first thing on his mind when he opened his eyes. He pushed himself to be way stronger than before, because all he ever wanted was to keep Lucy safe.
But he knew Lucy didn't want to rush things, that was why he had kept his feelings shut. He knew that Lucy also shared the same feelings as him, but just like her, he also wanted to take things naturally.
Lucy Hearfilia was the only woman the fire dragon slayer had and would always loved.
"Nice inn." Gray commented. "It's actually looked like a hotel. Isn't this expensive?"
"We thought so too earlier." Lucy answered. "But because of certain things, this city has not been getting lots of customers, so they rented it quite cheap."
Erza raised an eyebrow. "Certain things?"
Lucy nodded. "They say the weather here has been quite unstable. It can be a sudden downpour when the sun is shining brightly a minute before. The tourists don't like the sudden weather change so they stopped coming to this city."
"Why do I feel like that's a bad news?" Erza scoffed.
"Worth time to check." Gray commented.
"Maybe we can take a walk around the city." Lucy added.
On her remark, a sudden downpour happened.
"Holy," Gray mumbled under his breath. "is this really a simple rain? Feels like we're under a waterfall."
"No wonder tourists don't want to come here anymore." Lucy sighed. "Who would want to spend their entire day—whoa."
"Luce!"
Natsu caught the stumbling Lucy and used his hands to support her. He clutched her hand tight while his other hand placed itself on her back. His eyes were glued on Lucy in worry.
"Lucy? You're okay?" Gray asked, worry apparent in his voice.
"I'm fine." Lucy panted. "My head just feels heavy all of a sudden."
Erza placed her palm on Lucy's forehead. "Lucy, this is a terrible fever! Why didn't you say anything before?"
Lucy felt her head pounded even stronger. "I—I'm fine. It's just suddenly..." she trailed off and went limp suddenly in Natsu's arms.
"Lucy!" Natsu called and scooped her in his arms. He placed her on the bed and glued his eyes on her heavy breathing.
Gray placed his palm on her forehead and worked his magic to cool her off. Wendy scanned her and smiled. She looked at the worried Natsu. "It's just a fever, Natsu-san. She'll be fine after a good night rest."
"Gray, keep working your magic." Erza said. "In the meantime, Natsu, why don't you tell us the reason why you become so overprotective of Lucy these past few days. Now I know she's an important person to you, but you're acting strange."
Natsu glanced at Erza but didn't say anything.
"Natsu, whatever the reason which causes you to be this overprotective, tell us. I don't mean to pry, but we're your family. Lucy's our sister. Let us share the burden of taking care of her with you." Erza said softly while placing her hand on his shoulder.
Natsu still didn't say anything and instead ran his fingers on Lucy's parted hair. She was still panting and Gray was still trying to cool her down. He stroke her cheek gently.
"That enchanted dragon," he croaked. "he said I—we—have to take care of Lucy, or we will lose her."
No-one said anything and only Lucy's pantings could be heard.
"I don't know what it meant, but I know that there's a chance I will lose her. Just like that time." Natsu said. "And I'm not taking the chance."
Erza's gaze softened. Of course she knew about the Future Lucy's death. The entire guild knew. It happened when Happy cried his eyes out because Lucy hadn't gone back home yet from her mission with Levy. She promised to return in three days, but they still hadn't gone back after five days had past. Natsu and Gajeel pestered the Master to let them go and find the girls, with Happy cried at the background and said he was scared Lucy would die, just like her future self did. Makarov was tempted to let the two dragon slayers go after hearing Happy's cry, but then the guild's door opened and battered—but very much alive and well—Lucy and Levy showed up.
Happy and Lily gave the two girls a cat-crushing hug and they were greeted with a tight hug from the two dragon slayers.
That was when the guild realized how important Lucy and Levy were for the dragon slayers. Though they couldn't believe how the dense Natsu could ever showed such an honest act.
"Natsu," Erza gave a reassuring squeeze on Natsu's shoulder. "I promise there won't be anything that will hurt her."
Natsu didn't say anything but gave a small nod as his reply.
"If her fever is not coming down by tomorrow, we have to find some medicine." Gray said. "Let's hope there won't be any downpour again tomorrow."
"We should get some rest for today." Erza said. "We still have to find the god dragon's whereabouts. Natsu, spread the bed for you and Gray."
Natsu looked up and stared at Erza. "Can I... Can I stay with her tonight?"
Erza widened her eyes at Natsu's soft whisper but then smiled. "Of course. I will sleep with Gray."
"Man, talk about in love," Gray muttered. "you're the last person I imagine falling in love. With Lucy nonetheless. Why do I feel so weird all of the sudden?"
"Maybe because she's like a sister to you," Carla commented. "wait a minute, does that mean if Lucy and Natsu got married, Natsu will be your brother-in-law?"
Gray spat. "I don't want to be Natsu's brother-in-law!"
"We're a family already, Gray, does that even matter?" Erza snorted while spreading her bed and Gray's.
Gray snorted but didn't say anything back. He lifted his palm and glanced at Natsu. "If her body temperature rises up again, wake me up."
Natsu nodded.
"I'll cast a healing spell on Lucy-san," Wendy worked her magic. "this will ease her pain."
"Thanks, Wendy." Natsu ruffled the young dragon slayer's head affectionately.
"Okay! Lights off, everybody!" Happy flew to the lamp switch and flipped it.
Natsu crawled into the bed while Wendy entered the bed from the other side. Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy's neck and back, bringing her close to him and hugged her tight. She was still panting, but her breathing was getting softer. Natsu listened to her breathing rhythm and let it be his lullaby.
Natsu brushed out a strand of hair on Lucy's cheek and dipped down.
"Goodnight, Luce." he softly whispered and gave Lucy's forehead a chaste kiss.
Gray was dreaming about him and Juvia watching the snowfall together, when his dream abruptly stopped. His consciousness slowly came back as he could feel repeated kicks on his side. He cracked an eye open and saw Happy was looking at him in annoyance.
"Finally!" The blue cat huffed. "Wake up, Gray!"
"Huh?" he croaked. "What is it?"
Happy's face scrunched in worry and Gray snapped his eyes open. "Lucy's in pain," Happy sniffled. "she's been struggling in Natsu's arms and her body is really hot. Wendy's working on her but it doesn't work."
Gray stood up immediately and walked towards the bed. Now that the light was on, Gray could see Lucy was shivering under the blanket.
"Man, is she okay?" Gray muttered while placing his hand on her forehead. He hissed upon the first contact. Her forehead was practically burning.
Lucy squirmed and tried to get away from Gray's ice subconsciously. She cuddled further to Natsu and he clasped her hands tighter. Her entire body might be hot but her appendages were so cold.
"Lucy, don't squirm," Gray said. "I can't bring your temperature down if you keep tossing around!"
"Luce, hey," Natsu whispered softly on Lucy's ear. "it's okay. It's Gray. He's trying to help."
"This isn't going well." Erza huffed. "Happy, let's find a doctor."
"Aye!" Happy wiped a tear away. "Wait for us, Lucy!"
Gray poured more magic into his hand and Lucy tossed around. It took Natsu everything to keep her in place. It pained him badly to see the love of his life writhed in pain like this.
Don't tell Gray he just called her that.
"Something's wrong with her magic." Wendy muttered. "It's so unstable, I think that's the reason why she got a sudden fever."
Natsu glanced at Wendy. "What do you mean? She's completely fine up until yesterday!"
Wendy shook her head softly. "I'm also confused, Natsu-san. But her magic feels so unstable. It's almost like..."
"Two different power trying to outmatch each other?"
Natsu, Gray, Wendy, and Carla turned their heads to see who was the other party that had just spoke.
"Loke?" Gray raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here, man?"
Loke gave a small smile and made his way to Lucy. He ran his fingers softly on Lucy's cheek and he eyed his master in pain. He could not do that for a long time though, because Natsu gave him a low growl on the next second.
He quickly retreated his hand as he didn't want to make enemies with the dragon that was so overprotective of his master.
"I cannot stay here for a long time and I don't have much time to explain things," Loke started. "but you have to get Lucy out of here. It's not safe. The light is too strong, it will take her."
"What are you talking about?" Natsu spat.
Loke's body flickered and he clicked his tongue. "I guess it's too late. Keep her safe, Natsu. Don't let her go out of your sight..." Loke trailed off and then he was gone.
Carla blinked her eyes in confusion. "He goes as fast as he appears. What was that all about?"
Loke's words lingered in Natsu's mind. The light is too strong.
What did that mean?
Meanwhile, in Lucy's subconscious...
It felt so hot. Really damn hot. It was totally different from Natsu's fire. His fire was hot but made her all giddy. She didn't know what this was, but she knew she didn't like the heat. It somehow felt familiar to her though it felt so foreign as well.
It was like... The warmth from her Celestial light which was mixed with fire from hell. Cozy but burning.
Lucy forced open her eyes and saw she was floating in a space. Not a dark one, but a golden one. The same color as her own Celestial magic.
"Where is this..." she muttered.
Come here.
Lucy turned her head around upon hearing the stern voice. It sounded like a male but Lucy didn't recognize it.
"Who's there?" she asked.
Come here.
"Who's there?!" Lucy asked again. A chill ran through her spine and she remembered how she felt when she was talking to the elderly woman in the fortune-telling shop. Something about the voice made her shuddered.
Come here., the voice repeated. Set me free.
"Who are you?" Lucy demanded. "What do you want from me?"
Set me free. Let me be free.
"How—how do I do that?" Lucy dared herself to ask. "How do I set you free?"
Come here.
"Where to?" Lucy asked. For some reasons she felt like she was not herself, her consciousness was slipping away. She noticed she was responding to the voice, but it wasn't her brain that made her do it.
More like, she was answering to the voice by instinct.
Come here. I will be waiting.
Then the voice was gone, her surrounding turned into black, and Lucy felt herself plunged into the darkness. But she could not react. Her body felt so weak and she could not muster any coherent thoughts.
"...ce!"
What was that?
"...ce! ...ce!"
Was... Was someone calling her? She felt like she knew the voice that was calling her.
"...ce! ...uce!"
Who was it? Who was calling her? Why did she feel so familiar?
"...LUCE!"
Her consciousness suddenly went back and Lucy snapped her eyes open. She gasped for air and her eyes were widened in fear.
"Holy shit!" Gray cursed when Lucy suddenly sat up. Not to mention her wide eyes which were suddenly opened. "Jeez, Lucy, you scared the hell out of me!"
Lucy eyed her surrounding and was met with her teammates' worried looks.
"Luce," A strong calloused hand placed itself on her cheek gently and Lucy turned her head. Her shivering chocolate orbs met Natsu's own worried but warm onyx eyes. "are you okay? You were tossing like crazy and I—I thought—I thought... I don't even know what I was thinking of."
Lucy took a moment to study those pair of onyx eyes. "N... Natsu?" she croaked.
Natsu broke a smile and he gently caressed Lucy's cheek. "Hey."
"I..." Lucy gulped down. "What did just happen?"
At her question, Gray pulled her down on the bed once more and placed his cold hand on her forehead. "You tell us what happened. Now just shut up and let me bring your temperature down."
One of the reason why Lucy loved Natsu so much was because he could give her the warmth no-one else could. It was so comforting. Or then maybe it was because of her strong feelings for him, so no matter what he did, it would always be comfortable for her.
Including those times where he would barge into her house without permission. No matter how Lucy disliked that, she knew she would always accept his presence inside of her house. It wouldn't be complete without him beside her.
Because Natsu was her home.
"The doctor's away for duties," Erza sighed. "Lucy, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Lucy gave a big smile.
Gray placed his palm on her forehead once more. "Yeah, no more burning up."
"And your magic's stable again now." Wendy let out a relieved smile.
"Natsu worked his magic all night to keep you warm!" Happy touched Lucy's hands with his paws. "Now your hands are so warm!"
"Thank you guys." Lucy smiled. She then turned her head to face Natsu. "And thank you, Natsu. Sorry I kept you all awake the whole night."
Natsu gave her his toothy grin. He casually rubbed her knuckles gently and Lucy let him be. Honestly, they didn't need words to tell how strong their feelings were for each other. Their teammates understood that the two of them were a couple without them having to say it out loud.
Lucy enjoyed the rest of her morning in laughter as she chatted with her teammates. And she leaned into Natsu's warm hug casually. It felt so complete and no-one would say otherwise.
A voice could be heard from within her subconscious but she pushed it away.
She didn't recognize who that voice belonged to and she didn't feel like telling her teammates about her nightmare. Well, could that be called as a nightmare? She didn't feel like it was just a dream.
Come here. Set me free.
Done !
This is the first time I have ever written a chapter this long *grin*
So, what do you think ?
Don't forget to leave your reviews :D