No Longer Human
Summery: "If that's what it takes to protect everyone… then I'll just give up being human"~ When they heard him say that, they never expected this-NaLu-contains SPOILERS from chapter 330-ONESHOT
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Masima. I own nothing.
Lucy never would've guessed it… it had been a month since the fight with the dragons and future Rogue, and Natsu still acted the same… sure he was more mature, but that was it, they had gotten they're old guild back, and everyone was happy. Natsu had continued wearing his vest for awhile, but he eventually changed to his one-sleeved shirt again. Lucy figured it was because he probably just wanted a wardrobe change, which was normal.
But Natsu then started wanted to take jobs by himself, saying he just wanted to go by himself, only, Happy went too, since the feline followed him everywhere. But it was there Lucy should've asked what was wrong… something was definitely up, everyone knew it. He avoided being touched in any capacity too, but no one said anything. "he's probably traumatized after killing those dragons" Wakaba had insisted, Lucy knew that couldn't be it, Natsu didn't care who, but if you tried to hurt his nakama, he would come after you with a burning passion, literally.
She really should've said something when she had invited him to go to the beach with her, Erza, and Gray, but he and Happy exchanged nervous glances and quickly said that they had work and they were going fishing. Natsu had mentioned work, and Happy, fish, at the same time, so Lucy knew it was an excuse. But she simply stated: "ok, maybe next time" and walked off…
"Natsu! You ok!?" Lucy shouted over an earth-shattering explosion, that could be heard from 10 miles away. Natsu was sent flying back, half of his shirt ripped from his body. Gray ran up to finish what Natsu had started, they're main target, Gerald the Demon, the leader of a gang of thieves. Gray quickly bound the guys arms and legs while he was distracted, and Erza came back from checking on the village. There were a few small fires here and there, but that was it, no collateral damage… yet.
"Natsu, your sleeve!" Lucy heard Happy inform the dragon slayer and he gripped his left arm "damnit, I know!" "they're gonna see-" "Happy! I know!" Natsu snapped. The cat flinched, and Lucy knew for sure something was up… Natsu didn't snap… I mean, yeah, he snapped, but not like that… that wasn't a Natsu thing to do. "Natsu-" "way to go hot-head, can't even defeat him? Weakling" Gray interrupted Lucy, starting the usual banter. Flames momentarily shot up around Natsu "shut up, Gray!" Natsu yelled, malice coated his voice "Err- I mean… DAMNIT!" he roared angrily "you weren't supposed to-" "Natsu… are those scales!?" Lucy interrupted.
It was true… dragon scales were had formed on Natsu's upper left arm, and on the top left side of his torso, and a bit on his bottom left cheek… he scarf and collar barely covering it… "Natsu… what's-" "he's slowly turning into a dragon" Happy stated sadly, everyone's eyes widened… Natsu was… what?
Everyone waited for an explanation, and stared at Happy, since Natsu was not wanting to tall about it.
"it started happening after the fight with Rogue… at first we didn't realize it, but he started attaining more dragon-like qualities, starting with his personality… he became more hostile, but he didn't notice it until he nearly destroyed half our house" everyone sweat dropped, typical Natsu "it wasn't his fault, it was like his thought process would blank out during then, and he never noticed…" Happy retaliated, after seeing everyone's faces "we didn't know what it was, so we ignored it mostly, seeing as we couldn't come up with a solution, but when he started getting scales, we came to the conclusion, it must be some kind of spell, but we didn't want to worry everyone, so we hid it, by staying away from people, and covering the scales… and maybe by the end of this month, he will be an actual dragon, without his human consciousness" Happy finished, and let it sink in… Lucy looked at Natsu, who looked like a trapped animal.
Natsu slowly looked up "look, I'm sorry I-"
He was cut off by Lucy ramming into him, not in a hostile way though, just a hug… Natsu stumbled a bit "Natsu! You baka! Why didn't you tell us… why didn't you tell me?" she demanded, her words a little hard to hear, because she was also crying into his shoulder, he slowly wrapped his arms around her "I-I'm sorry Luce…" he said, suddenly finding the ground very interesting
"Natsu." Erza stated firmly "we will help you. I swear it on the mark of Fairy Tail!"
The situation was explained to the whole of Fairy Tail, and they decided that Freed and Levy would work together to try and dispell the magic, in the meantime, they laid down special rules concerning Natsu
1. Never let Gray near Natsu.
2. Don't harass him.
3. Try to keep him happy.
Most of them were because of Natsu's newfound temper, and violence. And of course, some people forgot, and Natsu ended up destroying a table, or ten. But everyone did they're best to help out with the situation… but Levy and Freed were not successful…
Three weeks had passed, to no avail. And Natsu was nearly covered in scales now, and his teeth were way sharper, and he made destroying stuff a daily activity. He was depressed, and emotional, and his power was increased tenfold, so everyone veered away from him, except Erza, Gray, Happy, and Lucy…
But even that soon changed, he locked himself up in his house, and only let Lucy in, she would visit to keep him from getting lonely, but he never said much, but he would always smile at all the stories Lucy told, of what was happening at the guild. He still looked sad, like he missed his old life, which Lucy couldn't blame him for, though he still tried to stay as positive as humanly possible.
"Natsu~!" Lucy called, knocking on his and Happy's door, "are you there?" she asked, Happy opened slowly opened the door, to reveal a rather pitiful, and angry Natsu. Lucy looked around, and saw shards broken glass all over the floor, no, it was a mirror. "Natsu? What happened?" she asked, while carefully stepping over the shards "Lushy…" Happy warned, but she waved it aside, she walked around Natsu so she could see his face, since he was facing the other direction, she gasped.
Half of Natsu's face was now red, as in, the scales no longer blended with his skin color. Natsu looked angry "Luce… my times almost up" he said solemnly, while staring at the darkening sky out the window. Lucy felt hot tears sting her eyes as she looked upon him, sadly. "I-I'm so-…. So sorry.." she sobbed and grabbed him, her small frame racking with silent sobs. Natsu held her firmly his hand gently combing through her golden hair. "I-I wish you would stay with me…" she murmured. He nodded "yeah…" was all he said, and Lucy stayed like that, holding the boy with all she was worth.
She eventually calmed down, Natsu sighed, looking at her, she sat there motionless "yo, Luce, it's late…" he whispered… silence… "Luce?…" with difficulty, he turned his head to see that she was soundly asleep in his arms. He smirked, and picked her up bridal style, and stood slowly. He began his way down the street, and tried to stay in the shadows, so no one could see his hideous face…
It wasn't long until he reached her apartment, and he hopped into the window sill, climbing in and setting her carefully in the bed. He looked around the house as nostalgia drop kicked him in the stomach, literally. Natsu was sent flying into a table, and looked up to see Erza, what was she doing here? "E-Erza!" he said, forcing the rage boiling up in him to calm down.
Erza looked a mess, her face was red, and her eyes puffy, Like she had been crying for a week straight. Erza stepped forward slowly, and fell to her knees in front of Natsu, before hugging him "Natsu… we've all been worried…" she said, Natsu looked up to see Gray standing there as well "why are you both here?" Natsu asked.
Erza composed herself again, and stood by Gray. "you holed yourself up from everyone, only allowing Lucy to see you, so we had no choice but to come here every night to ask about you" Erza said… silence "and what about you Gray?" Natsu asked, Gray flinched
"didn'cha hear Erza?"
"yeah, but we all know how much you hate me, so it's hard to believe"
"what!?"
Gray humph'd and looked the other way, out of embarrassment. Natsu chuckled and refocused on Erza "I'm glad I at least got to see you one last time" he mumbled, "what?" Erza asked, Natsu shook his head and was gone, he had quickly jumped out the window. He ran down the street, to his house
"Natsu…" Happy said as Natsu returned
… "how Long?"
"… tomorrow probably…"
"Natsu-"
"Happy… go to sleep"
"aye…"
"mmmph…." Lucy mumbled as she slowly started to wake up… she was in her bed? No… she didn't remember-wait, Natsu. she smiled as she thought of her firey-headed mage… she had fallen for him honestly during the Grand Magic Games, but never said a word. She frowned, and felt sad again as she remembered how he looked yesterday, and looked at the window…
The sky was so blue, she almost didn't see the blue cat run into the window. Lucy darted to the window sill and opened the glass pane for the cat
"Happy! What's going on?" she asked, The feline was crying
"Lushy! You have to-*sob*-Natsu… he's-*sob*-help him!" the cat cried
Lucy's eyes widened and she ran out of her apartment quickly. She made it to the edge of the forest, and saw a huge steaming hole in the side of Natsu and Happy's house, with a gasp, Lucy ran to it and saw a path of destruction headed through the woods.
Lucy ran and ran for what felt like hours, she prayed to god that he was ok… that something bad didn't happen, and she'll be able to see him one last time, with a human face… but she'd regret not being able to see his optimistic grin for the span of three weeks.
She finally caught a glimpse of his pink hair about a mile ahead, "NATSU!" she cried, but it had little effect, and he forged onward, knocking aside trees as he walked. He finally came to a stop by a small river, and turned to Lucy, his eyes were sad, and full of knowing. His skin-or scales- were slowly turning red, and tears leaked out of his eyes "Lucy…" he managed.
Natsu felt like his body was on fire, as a hot searing light began to surround him… he stared at Lucy. "you saw this coming…" he said sadly, Lucy nodded "yeah… but you can't leave me…" she choked on her sorrowful words, that hurt worse than a dagger to the heart… his one weakness, and his greatest strength, stood before him, full of terror at what she was seeing…
Natsu tried for a smile "Lucy… I-ugh!" he was caught off guard by a searing pain coursing through his veins and he dropped to his hands and knees "ah….ahhhh…. UGGHHH!" he cried out painfully. Lucy's eyes widened as she watched him go down.
It felt like his blood was boiling, and his body was at least 100 degrees hotter than it should have been. He never cried out in pain… never… but this hurt like a bitch! No excusing that. It hurt 100 times worse than any kind of physical damage he had ever endured.
It felt like something was eating away at his lungs, some kind of vampire bat that loved blood and happened to have 500 degree body heat. Perfect.
The light grew bigger, absorbing his entire being, he screamed again, Lucy yelled incoherent words as he felt his body, shift and change, the scales became thicker and then he lost himself.
He began to forget… why was he here? Who was that person yelling at him? He remembered faces… but no names, or anything significant, so he simply discarded them. threw it out. Erasing it from his being, in the most painful way possible.. The fire that surrounded him was burning away his past… his destiny… his future… everything turned to ashes within him…
Who was he?
Lucy's fear… that had been haunting her for weeks… now… in front of her eyes… she couldn't handle it much longer, it was unbearable. Watching her beloved salamander brought to his knees in intensifying pain. The light that surrounded him wasn't like the gentle light from "Fairy law". it was harsh. blinding any person who decided to face it.
It grew taller, and brighter by the second, as Natsu screams of pain grew louder. Lucy was sobbing uncontrollably "NATSU! Y-you can't leave me! Who else will I have if not you!?" she screamed, his voice was getting deeper, and more threatening, but Lucy could care less. "Natsu! Think about Erza! Gray! Mira! Master! All of them will miss you! Think about Happy! About…" she paused… she didn't want to say it… "Lisanna! Think about Lisanna!" not a hint of acknowledgement…
He was almost gone… holding on to humanity by a thread… and it was breaking… she could not longer see him in the magical light. Though it seemed more demonic to her… he was almost gone… do something… Lucy bit her lip with such force, she could taste the blood running down her throat, but she had to say it. "NATSU! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME… because…. BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!" she yelled out to high heavens, to make sure he heard her. He had to… there was a noticeable change in the wind…
~`~`~
Natsu had all but forgotten everything… nothing she spoke reached out to him… who were these people she mentioned? Who was she? "-BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!" she yelled, screeched more like, nearly burst his eardrums too, but suddenly he knew… he was Natsu Dragneel, and Lucy Heartfilia was his dear partner and teammate, but not only that… she was the girl he cared about more than anyone else… through thick and thin… she was there… but more importantly, she loved him! He'd been waiting to hear that! So he couldn't sit here and let some stupid dragon's genes corrupt him! He had to see her!
He would burn away this fate that was so rudely Krazy Glued to him without permission! Fire coursed through his veins, and found its way to the outside of his body, burning this annoying magic. More… he needs more fire… he roared out and was concealed in his firey bubble of, well, fire. MORE! he thought, and forced out more fire, more… more… more! Yes! He could see daylight! He was breaking free "LUUUUUUCY!" he roared as he broke through the veil of magic.
Lucy smiled as she heard his ferocious roar of rebellion, "Natsu…" she said softly, tears still running down her peachy skin "you can do it!" she encouraged.
"LUUUUUUUCY!"
With this last word, he broke through the magic, and it was dispelled, evaporating away. His skin was a little paler than normal, but, he was fine. With a grin, he collapsed to his knees. Lucy sprang to him just in time, before he fell over
"Natsu… your ok…" she sobbed,
he chuckled "I…couldn't leave… without answering you…" he managed,
Lucy blushed "o-oh?" she said, dumbly.
"yeah…you'd never guess it… but…"
"what?"
"I… love you too… weirdo"
He coughed a bit before passing out. Lucy smiled as she hugged him close to her "thank you… Natsu…" she said softly into his ear, before picking him up to take to the guild, for Wendy to heal him. If felt like he dropped several pounds as she draped his arm around her shoulder, to take him away from this stupid place.
He looked so at peace too, a slight smile plastered on his face. Most of his clothes were burned off too, she noted.
She received awkward glances as she walked down the street, as uneasy murmuring surrounded her. Happy had found Lucy halfway back to the guild, and assisted her with Natsu, though he tackled the pinkette with such force to knock a lamp post down, and almost knocked her and Natsu in the river ("careful Lucy-san, you'll fall in!") but she regained her balance, and entered the beloved guild hall, where everyone gaped at the pair. "um, help?"
"-san? Natsu-san?"
"are you sure he's ok?"
"h-he should be…"
"o-oi! Don't cry Wendy!"
"Wakaba!"
"s-sorry Mira-chan"
"Aye! Natsu is sure to wake up! It would be very un-Natsu-like if he didn't!"
"true…"
"hey! I think the brats awake!"
"of course! He's a man!"
Natsu was rather amused to come into conciseness to such a weird conversation about his well-being, and slowly cracked his eyes open
"o-oi… where am-" "NATSU!" he was cut off by a certain flying blonde girl barreling into him rowdily "your awake! You-um, remember what happened… right?" Lucy asked, her cheeks turned a light pink, and Natsu smirked
"gee…. I dunno… could you remind-OW!"
"Baka! You remember!"
Natsu rubbed the newly gained red spot on his face… wait… red… that reminded him. Did he still have those annoying scales?
he looked at his arms and saw that the scales had disappeared completely! With a grin, he looked up "thanks… Lucy" he said, and stood up off the table he was lying on. He yawned, and stretched out "c'mon Luce! Lets go back to that wrecked forest! I wanna see what it looks like!" he said excitedly, yup… he was back…
Natsu whistled as they reached the area, it was obliterated! It looked like a ten ton rhino on steroids had rampaged through here! Seriously! You'd have to see it to believe it. And there was a very distinct hole in the ground, where Natsu had been standing earlier that day.
With a grin, he thought about Lucy's last minute confession… for the tenth time that day… he had been waiting months for her to say something like that! Or a sign that she cared for him… he at least dropped hints, but in a subtly discreet way, so no one but her would know! Way to go genius! Took her 7 years and 5 months for her to say something! And they thought he was dense! Goodness… Though this was including the 7 year gap… wow! He was 25! But he still looked like a regular 18 year-old… sweet!
"oh! Lucy! I almost forgot!" he said, turning to her quickly. Lucy looked over "yeah? What-mmph!" she was cut off by the dragon slayer's warm lips on her own. Natsu pulled back after about 3 seconds "there! Didn't get to do that earlier, cuz I was so exhausted of magic energy" he grinned, Lucy smirked "Natsu you Baka" she said as she grabbed his muffler, and pulled him forward to kiss him again.
END NOTE: please leave a comment and I might make one more chapter ~.^ so follow too! You never know when it'll happen! But seriously, I wanna write an 'after math's' to this! Just venturing on the realm of Dragons, Cats, and NaLu :3 but I want to hear some comments! Was it good? Bad? Could be better? I WANNA KNOW DAMNIT! *table flip*
So leave a comment and fav/follow! Share it with your NaLu loving friends as well! If you feel this needs constructive criticism, by all means, CRITISIZE! (not in a flamey way though) but keep in mind, this is my first Fairy Tail fanfic, so please enjoy! And now! I leave you with two more words after this extensively long paragraph that I still can't seem to stop adding onto for some strangely odd reason-GOD DANGIT!
FLUFFY OUT!