The Shipping Tails
Hey everyone, Nemon0416 is here with the second chapter of The Shipping Tails. Since no one really reviewed my previous chapter I decided to just go with my favorite FT pairing first: Nalu. Now this story gets a little Angst-y somewhere in the middle but will get better later on. I am not sure how many chapters will be required to write each story, some could take a long time and others could be one-shots all depends on the individual stories. Furthermore, I might stop in the middle of one story in order to start another, maybe because they are connected, or I simply needed the break, I'll explain my reasons for each break I take. Spoiler alert there will be a point in the (possibly near, possibly not) future where we'll be taking a trip to Edolas to do some ships on that side of the spectrum because that place really interests me. Moving on, let's get on with the fic…
Chapter Two: Nalu
The party the previous night had ended with everyone dragging themselves home really late at night, Lucy Heartfillia being one of the first people to leave. She was very tired that night. So tired that she simply got home, changed into her pajamas and then climbed into bed and fell asleep after turning out the lights. Lucy slept soundly that night but for some reason she dreamt about spending the day inside of an active volcano throughout the entirety of the night.
When Lucy awoke the next morning, she discovered the source of her odd dream. In bed with her was a certain pink haired dragon slayer who had practically wrapped himself around the blond-haired girl. Lucy felt her eye twitch. Citizens of Magnolia who happened to be passing the apartment building of Lucy Heartfillia at that moment heard a voice shout out. "GET OFF OF ME YOU MORON!" Followed by a loud crash. But they just sighed and continued on their way ignoring what was practically a daily routine now.
Natsu held the side of his cheek as he walked to the guild hall. After taking a kick to the face, courtesy of Lucy, Natsu was kicked (no pun intended) out of her house and told to go away. Natsu sighed and put his hands in his pockets as he continued to walk. Why did he do stupid stuff like this? There was no way Lucy would want to be with a destructive moron like him. Deciding to push those thoughts from his mind, Natsu continued his trek to the Fairy Tail guildhall, maybe a fight against the stripper would cheer him up.
About an hour or two later Lucy arrived at the guildhall to see that Natsu was engaged in a fight against Gray, who was in nothing more than his boxers. Juvia watched from her usual spot behind one of the guild's support pillars. Just then Natsu's flaming fist collided with Gray's jaw. With an enraged expression Gray fired an "Ice Make Lance" attack at Natsu. Not being the mood for becoming shish kabob, Natsu dodged to the side and the attack destroyed multiple of the guild's (fortunately vacant) tables.
Mirajane sighed and went to get the materials required to repair said tables. But when she went into the storage closet she found that all of the nails and screws were gone. She then heard a loud crunch as Gajeel tossed a screw into his mouth while sitting next to a now empty plate. Mira's eye twitched as she walked over to the iron dragon slayer. "Gajeel… did you ask permission to eat those nails and screws?" Asked the demon takeover mage. Gajeel felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck as he hesitantly responded.
"Uuum… no?" Said Gajeel weakly. Mirajane tensed up in annoyance at the dragon slayer's idiocy. She then clamed down and wrote a list of materials needed and where to buy them, then she walked over to Natsu and gave him the list and some jewels to pay for them. "Please buy these for me Natsu?" Asked Mirajane sweetly. Natsu looked at the list then at the demon in human skin. Deciding that he didn't feel like dying today he promptly grabbed the list and walked out of the guild.
Then Mira turned to Gray. "Gray, since you broke the table you get to help me move the remains until Natsu returns with the supplies needed to fix them." Said the demon woman. Gray sighed and began moving pieces of broken wood. The rest of the guild just went back to what they were doing, much to Gray's unhappiness. Even Juvia left him on his own, but that was only because Mira said that it was Gray's mistake and he had to be the one to fix it. Much to the rain woman's unhappiness.
Later, once Gray finished he sat down next to Lucy and Erza at the bar, much to Juvia's jealousy. "Looks like you had fun." Laughed Lucy. Gray only grunted in response. "Honestly I'm just amazed that it wasn't the Salamander who broke something for once." Said Gajeel. Gray actually chuckled at that. "True, that flame brain idiot seems to break everything he touches, that or lights it on fire anyway." Said the ice maker mage. Lucy stiffened at what she was hearing.
"Now, now boys, no need to insult Natsu, he might not be the brightest bulb on the planet, and yes, he can be rather destructive, but he still pulls through when necessary." Said Erza reprimanding the two boys. "While Erza is correct Natsu can be quite a nuisance to the guild, if he could cut the amount of damages he caused in at least half, we'd be the richest guild in the country." Said Master Makarov putting his two cents in. "Wow even master has mean things to say about Natsu." Thought Lucy.
"Lucy, has Natsu come back with those materials yet? We really need to fix those tables." Said Mirajane. Lucy sighed and got up. "I'll find him, what was the name and address of that store you sent him to?" Asked the celestial mage. Once Mira told her Lucy went out the door, only to find a bag full of the needed supplies on the ground. Lucy looked next to the bag to see that there were some wet spots on the ground. Lucy knew that this couldn't be good. "Guys come here." Said Lucy.
Mira, Erza, Gray, Gajeel, Wendy, and Makarov all joined Lucy outside. "These… are the supplies I told Natsu to get, look the list I gave him is even there." Said Mira picking up the supplies and going inside. Once she was gone Lucy pointed to the wet spot on the ground. "Tell me that isn't what I think it is." Said the blonde sadly. Wendy bent down and smelled the wet spots. "All I smell is salty water." Concluded the young dragon slayer. "So… what? He was sweaty, dropped the stuff off and left?" Asked Gray who wasn't following on the situation.
Lucy let out an exasperated sigh. "And you call Natsu dumb." Groaned the celestial mage. Gray tilted to the side and went "Huh?" Lucy however, just ignored him and looked at Wendy. "Can you track his scent?" Asked the blonde. Wendy nodded her head and began following Natsu's scent to see where he had gone with Lucy right behind her. Everyone else just exchanged confused looks and then headed inside. If what Lucy thought had happened, had happened then Natsu needed help pronto.
It took some time but eventually Lucy and Wendy found themselves at Natsu's house. Just as they reached the door they heard a crash come from within causing Wendy to jump back in fear. Lucy put her hand on the sky maiden's shoulder. "You stay here, I need to talk to Natsu alone, ok?" Asked Lucy. Wendy nodded her head, and with that Lucy walked inside the home of Natsu Dragneel. And immediately tripped over a fallen over shelf landing face first on the floor.
"Owww…" Whined Lucy as she rubbed her forehead and then looked at the shelf. "Why is there a shelf on the floor?" Lucy wondered to herself. She looked around the living room to see that it was a complete disaster area. "Natsu's a slob but even he isn't this bad." Realized Lucy. Realizing that Natsu wasn't on this floor she went upstairs. The moment she reached the second floor she heard a faint thudding sound coming from what had to be Natsu's room.
She slowly opened the door to peer inside and saw Natsu was on his knees lightly headbutting the wall on the opposite side of the room in a slow repetition. There was already a noticeable dent in the wall and it was getting worse. She put a hand to her mouth. Then she heard something that she hadn't heard come from the strawberry blonde dragon slayer in a long time. Natsu "Salamander" Dragneel was sobbing. Not just lightly crying but outright sobbing as he continued to headbutt the wall.
She walked closer to the boy on the floor, when just before reaching him she could hear him mumble to himself. "Why… why did they say those things… am I really nothing more than a burden?" Said the fire dragon slayer. Lucy couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she didn't realize until now just how deeply those negative words said by Gray, Gajeel, and Makarov had cut into Natsu. Knowing that this had to stop she grabbed Natsu's shoulder's and whipped him around.
To say that Natsu was surprised would be an understatement. One minute he was drowning in self-pity, feeling worthless and now Lucy was hugging him and had buried her now tear stained face into Natsu's chest. "Natsu… never think those kinds if things about yourself… you're a member of Fairy Tail and we all care about you." Sobbed Lucy. Natsu stared numbly at the girl hugging him before wrapping his own arms around her and burying his face in her golden hair.
Neither one moved from that spot for a long time. Outside Wendy could hear everything that was going on and decided to report back to the guild that Lucy and Natsu might be held up for a while. Eventually the two parted Natsu's face was still red and splotchy but Lucy's had appeared to clear up. "Why Lucy? Why comfort someone like me? All I do is make people angry, break stuff, and just cause problems in general-" Started Natsu, but Lucy, deciding that she had heard enough cut him off.
Cut him off with a hard slap across the face. Natsu's head jerked to the side as he gingerly raised his fingers to feel his reddening cheek. He winced when he felt how much it stung to touch said cheek. Then Lucy grabbed him by the scarf and pulled him so that their faces were inches apart. The miserable expression replaced by an enraged one. "Natsu Dragneel don't ever say stuff like that, yes you tend to break stuff, but that is only when you are fighting." Started Lucy.
"And yes, you have annoying habits here and there, but you are one of the most loved people in Fairy Tail, it isn't Fairy Tail if we don't have our fire dragon in it." Said Lucy. Natsu blinked and then looked down at the ground. Lucy hugged him once more before standing up. "I need to go home; would you like to join me?" Asked Lucy. Natsu blushed slightly at how those words could be perceived but nodded nonetheless. He then got to his feet and followed the blond-haired mage out the door.
They quietly walked back to Lucy's apartment. When they eventually reached the building they silently walked in. Once inside Lucy pulled up two chairs and made it so that they were facing each other. "Sit." Said Lucy. Each of them sat in one of the chairs so that they were facing one and another. "In a situation like this it's best to talk about how you're feeling instead of just bottling it up." Explained Lucy. Now Natsu may be an idiot sometimes but he wasn't completely clueless.
He knew what Lucy was asking him to do. With a sigh he allowed their little "therapy session" to begin. "I had just gotten back from the store with the necessary materials for Mira to repair the table when I heard what Gray and Gajeel said, Erza's reprimand made me feel a little better but then Gramps decided to throw his two cents in and it was too much to take, so I dropped the bags and took off." Said the pink haired fire dragon slayer. Lucy did her best to maintain a neutral expression.
But inside she was in pain, she didn't realize how sensitive Natsu could be. Then he looked at her with watery eyes. "Is it true what they said? Am I really just a dimwitted nuisance who breaks everything he touches?" Asked Natsu. Lucy got up and hugged him once more. "Natsu I told you once and I'll tell you again, you're one of the most important people in the guild, everyone loves you." Said the celestial mage. Natsu was shaking. "But what if what Gramps said was true? What if-" Started Natsu.
But Lucy cut him off once more, but this time instead of slapping one she tried a different approach. Natsu's eyes widened as Lucy quickly, yet softly pressed her lips against his. Natsu's eyes widened for a moment before his ability to think flew out the window. Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy and leaned into the kiss. Her fingers found themselves in his pink spikey hair as the continued to kiss. Eventually they ran out of oxygen and parted breathing heavily.
Lucy looked at the fire dragon slayer. "Well one thing is for certain, you aren't a nuisance to me, I wouldn't even be in Fairy Tail if not for you." Said the celestial mage. Natsu gripped his pant legs to prevent his hands from shaking, he then swallowed to get rid of the massive lump in his throat. "Lucy are you sure about this?" Asked Natsu. Lucy's head tilted to the side. "What do you mean?" Asked the blond-haired girl. Natsu sighed heavily. "There is something about dragon slayers that you don't but should know." Started Natsu.
"Like the dragons we got our powers from, a dragon slayer, no matter the generation, can only ever have one chance at that 'special someone' in their lives, once they find that person the dragon slayer marks him or her making said person the dragon slayers eternal mate, it'll also cause a mark to appear somewhere on you, it's exact shape varies with each dragon slayer, and it'll be a sign that the marked mate belongs to the slayer, and the slayer alone." Explained Natsu.
Lucy blinked for a moment before laughing. Natsu blinked in surprise, he failed to see what was funny at the moment. When Lucy stopped she smiled at him brightly. "Natsu, I've known that for years, after the battle against the dragons I began to develop feelings for you, it lead me to research dragons and dragon slayers alike, I wanted to know if there was anything I should know, just in case you felt the same way." Explained the blonde-haired girl.
This knew information surprised Natsu quite a bit. Lucy laughed at the surprised look on his face. Then she brushed some of her away revealing her neck. "In order to mark me you need to bite my neck, right?" Asked Lucy. Natsu sighed and nodded his head. He walked over and grabbed her shoulder. "Two things, one good and one bad. Good being this'll make you immune to my flames, bad being that since I'm the fire dragon slayer this is going to hurt like hell, you ready?" Asked the dragon slayer.
Lucy gulped and nodded her head. Then Natsu's fangs sunk into her neck. He could feel his magic seep into her. Suddenly it felt as if her whole body had been set ablaze. She writhed in pain as her body changed in order to become that of the mate of a dragon slayer. Natsu held her tight through out the process doing her best to help her through it. Suddenly the pain vanished, and she felt a strange itching sensation on her right shoulder. She pulled up her sleeve to see that it was her new mark.
It matched that of, well, a fire. Lucy traced the mark with her fingers as she felt trace amounts of Natsu's magic flow through her and mingle with her own. Natsu then picked her up as if she weighed nothing and carried her to her bed and laid her down. Then he crawled into the bed next to her and wrapped his arms around his waist. "Love you Luce." He murmured lightly but Lucy's hearing was stronger now and she had understood him. Blushing she ran her fingers through his hair before saying. "Love you too Natsu."
I was kind of worried that I wouldn't finish this chapter in time, which brings me to an important point: I intend on posting a new chapter once every three days after the previous one was posted, once in a while I might post a day or two early or maybe I'll post a day late, but generally it is once every three days, I plan on having a part two (possibly three) of Nalu so I won't be switching ships just yet, plus there will be a bit of jumping around once this is done, I might complete one non-dragon slayer (or actually non-slayer period, meaning no Gruvia either) and then do the first parts of a few dragon slayer ships then write a story that involves completing, or attempting to complete multiple slayer ships. It'll all make sense in the future. I have to go now so until next time fic fans. Nemon0416 is outta here! (Fairy Tail salute)