Natsu and Lucy arrived at the bandits cave about 15 minutes later. It was dark by the time the arrived. The cave was at the bottom a very large mountain. One Erza couldn't even kick down ((If you get the reference congrats If not you're not a true FT fan)). The entrance to the cave was pretty ordinary for a cave big and dark. It was even darker since it was night. Natsu shoved Lucy behind him, "Stay behind me." He told her in a protective tone. "Hmph!" The celestial mage stomped her foot in aggravation. "I can protect myself perfectly fine! Stupid flame brain." Lucy grumbled and used Gray's insult. Natsu twitched a little at her insult 'stay calm idiot. You'll never get 'er to like you if ya yell at her.' Natsu exhaled deeply and turned to Lucy, "Lucy, I said before. You. Are. Special. If I don't keep you safe I don't know what I'd do. And why use that stupid stripper's insult?" Lucy sighed, "I used it because it was the first thing that came to mind and even if you want to protect me I can still hold my own. Now let's raid this place and get 500,000 jewels!" Lucy let out a light laugh. She began walking and passed Natsu, she stopped at the entrance of the cave "You coming?" 'damn. She has a fabulous body…' Natsu mused as he watched his partner as she past him. When he realized she said something he snapped out of his fantasies. "Ah! Y-yeah! Let's go!" He ran ahead of Lucy and grabbed her hand and dragged her with him into the cave. When the entered the cave Natsu began sniffing for a scent of any bandits. "Hmm. I don't smell anything…" Natsu said as he heard a high pitched scream. The hand in his had disappeared. "LUCY!?" Natsu shouted.
A bag was over the blonde's head and a piece of cloth was in her mouth. She heard a low chuckle. She tried to shout out but the cloth in her mouth made that impossible. Footsteps were coming toward her. The bag on her head was suddenly gone. Lucy looked around the room she was in. It was small, and bright. There was a bookshelf filled with books the covered an entire wall and a table with piles of paper and folders. Her eyes made it to the body leaning over her. She growled and glared at the man. He was tall and muscular. He had purple hair that was pulled back into a pony tail that showed his forehead which had a scratch across it. The man reached behind her head and undid the cloth which release her mouth. "Who are you?" she asked quietly, "and what do you want with me?" The man grinned viciously. "Hello Miss Heartfilia. How are you today, not that I care. Now I know your precious daddy passed away recently." Lucy felt a stab in her heart. 'How dare this disgusting person mention my father' Lucy thought to herself. "So, what's it to you. If you want money from inheritance good luck finding any. My old man was dirt poor when he died and we were never on good terms." Lucy spat at the man. The man grimaced "What?! No money?"
"He hasn't had money for years!"
The man was silent for a few minutes before he walked up to Lucy and slashed her cheek with a knife. He lifted her by her neck and threw her against the wall and threw a dagger at her shoulder. Lucy screamed in agony as the dagger went through her flesh. The man grinned and pulled the dagger out. He then shouted at the two men who seemed to be guarding the door "DAMN! He said she was loaded! Get her out from here! She's useless! Kill her!".The two men nodded and one grabbed Lucy. "Come on boobs." As she was lifted up she lifted her right leg and kicked the man in the face and ran out of the open door "Hmph idiots! Not even thinking of tying my legs." she chuckled darkly to herself as she ran at a sprint through the halls gasping at the pain of her wound.
Natsu followed his mate's scent. "HOW DARE THOSE BASTARDS TOUCH HER!" Natsu roared furiously. Natsu had been running almost as fast as Jet when he bumped into a certain celestial wizard. "Lucy!" He shouted and wrapped her in a hug. She didn't hug back. He immediately realized why, her hands were bound and she was bleeding from her shoulder. He quickly burnt off the cheap rope and ripped part of his vest and tightly wrapped it around her wound to stop the bleeding. Natsu wrapped her in another tight hug which she hugged him back. "I-i'm so sorry. I let you get hurt. I'm the w-worst. Sorry Luce." Lucy frowned "Thanks Natsu…It wasn't your fault…I'm ok" Lucy mumbled against his chest, Natsu had a slight hint of a grin but it soon faded when he saw about 20 men running from the direction Lucy had come from. "Damn.." He murmured under his breath. He shoved Lucy behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist "Stay here and don't move. I don't want any one else taking you from me." Natsu glared at the parade of bandits then smiled evilly at them. 'They took what's mine and hurt her just for fun. They're going to pay' He looked at the man in the front "Hello." He said with an evil grin, "You attacked my comrade. FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" Natsu shouted as he ran toward the group, Lucy jumped up onto Natsu's back and wrapped her legs around his waist so he didn't have to hold her. Lucy reached into her pouch that held her celestial keys and grabbed a key."OPEN! GATE OF THE LION, LEO!" In an instant Loke popped out of thin air. He looked a Lucy then at Natsu, a hint of jealously in his eyes as he saw his master on the back of the rage induced dragon slayer. Lucy nodded toward the group of bandits. Loke nodded back, "Regulus, lend me your power." Loke had his head bowed and a bright light rose around him, "REGULUS IMPACT!" Loke shouted as he sent a bright beam of light toward the group that wiped out about half of them. He and Natsu worked together to defeat the group of bandits.
((Gomen… fight scenes aren't my strong point..))
Once the two were sure they cleared the group Natsu nodded at Loke and he bowed towards Lucy then dissipated. Lucy released her legs from Natsu's waist and lowered herself back onto the ground. She looked up at her partner and blushed. "T-thanks…" She mumbled barely loud enough for Natsu to hear. "Hey, I'm just glad you're ok." Natsu said as he wrapped her into a warm hug. Natsu put his head on top on Lucy's and looked forward and saw the same man that tied Lucy up. He tightened his grip on his mate and glared daggers at the man who was glaring right back at him. 'I have a feeling this is the leader of those weaklings and the bastard who touched my Lucy.' Natsu pushed Lucy behind him, "Call out Loke." Lucy did as he said and her spirit came forward. "Help, Natsu." she commanded and he walked toward Natsu and stood by his side. Natsu's body lit up in flames. "You harmed my Lucy. You're going to pay the price." He didn't even care that he basically announced Lucy belonged to him all he could care about was destroying the man who hurt his mate. He advanced on the leader. Dragon force was slowly taking over his body. 'This bastard hurt my mate. When I'm through with his there won't even be ash.' Natsu breathed in a deep breath "FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" A funnel of flames emerged from his mouth into the direction of the bandit leader. He turned and nodded at Loke. The zodiac leader sprinted toward the burning leader "REGULUS BLAST!" Loke shouted as his arms made a circular movement and a large beam of light rushed toward the Bandit Leader. After the leader was immobile due to the dragon slayer and spirit's magic the two wizards repeatedly punched and kicked with the assistance of their magic. The Leader didn't even have the strength to fight back due to the attacks' speed. (I really suck at fight scenes ;-;) eventually he fell to the ground and his heart stopped beating. Natsu roared at the flaming corpse once more and it burned into ashes. Lucy, who witnessed the aggressive attacks made by her comrades, sat in the corner of the room hugging her small spirit, Plue. She had never seen Natsu so worked up before, why was he now. He was in Dragon Force and the enemy wasn't even that strong. Could he choose when he uses it now? Tons of thoughts and questions rushed through her mind as she witnessed the brutal one sided fight.
Once there was no trace of the Leader left, Natsu thanked Loke and he went back to the the celestial world. Natsu staggered toward the blonde who was huddled in the corner. "Let's get those stolen goods back." Natsu flashed a grin at her as he swept her off her feet. 'Damn... I love carrying her.' Walking throughout the cave Lucy and Natsu found a door which had a lock on it. Natsu set Lucy down and punched the door down and entered. Inside there were piles of treasures and gold. Natsu grabbed a large bag which was nearby and filled it to the top with gold and riches. Lucy found another bag that was the exact same as Natsu's and filled it as she drooled over the riches. With both bags full and Natsu and Lucy's pocket filled the room had been emptied out Natsu grabbed each bag with ease as he walked out of the room with Lucy close behind. Within an hour the two mages made it back to the village where the pervert old man was. Natsu dropped both bags and emptied his pockets as he eyed Lucy to do the same. The chief of the small town was speechless and ran past Natsu to hug Lucy around the waist. Natsu growled low and whacked the man upside the head. He grabbed Lucy's waist and pulled her close so they were touching. Shiro laughed, "Thank you young man… and young lady." He winked at Lucy only to get another growl from Natsu. Shiro chuckled again, "Here you are, your 500,000 jewels. Those bandits have been invading our village for years and robbing us blind. Thanks to you two mages we have years of our villages jewels back. This 500,000 is nothing compared to what you got us back. Take it." He handed a bag to looked at her partner who still had his hand on her waist. "Ne, Natsu. I'm sleepy. Can we stay here tonight? You must have a place we can stay right?" She looked towards Shiro and he nodded. Natsu sighed and agreed. He and his partner made their way to the small hotel and went inside. "The chief said we didn't have to pay to stay!" Lucy said gleefully and threw her arms in the air. Her wound had been healing quickly due to the treatment she got when she first arrived in the town. The people in the village were good for medicine. Natsu grinned at his partner with love in his eyes.
'It's now or never. I gotta tell her. Come on man, I. Love. You. Lucy. That's it. Let's do this.' Natsu got up from his seat and stood in front of Lucy. She looked him in the eyes "What's up?" She smiled softly which caused Natsu to blush. 'Out with it.' Natsu cleared his thoat, "Lucy, I wanna tell you something. It's important." Natsu could feel his face heat up. "I-I've known this for a while now. D-dragons mate right? T-their m-mate is someone t-they stay with forever. I-I found my m-mate." Lucy looked into the sincere eyes of her partner and felt a blush creep across her face, "W-who?" She asked still keeping eye contact with the dragon slayer. 'I hope he says it's me. I've been in love with this idiot for so long. Please, Natsu. Say it's me' Lucy prayed in her mind as she stared at the pink haired boy with her milky chocolate eyes. Natsu's face was redder then it ever had been,
"Y-you, L-lucy. You're my m-mate. I love you…" Natsu mumbled quietly. "I love you, Lucy." He said it louder this time. Lucy's eyes lit up and she jumped towards Natsu and wrapped her arms around his waist and he wrapped his around hers, "I love you too you idiot!" She shouted. Natsu pulled her back to look into her eyes. He reached his face towards her's and slightly pressed his warm lips onto her plump ones. Lucy was shocked by this sudden kiss but didn't reject it. She ran her hands up his chest, over his neck, and into his soft pink hair. She grasped it as the kiss became more rough. Natsu tightened his hold around he waist and slid one arm up her back so his hand was on her neck. Lucy's lips parted to get a breath but Natsu was quicker as he slid he tongue inside her mouth and it explored. They kept their heated kiss for a good 5 minutes before Lucy pushed back. She pecked Natsu on the lips once more "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. I love you." Natsu sighed and changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed with his mate. He wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear "I love you.." and fell into a deep sleep.
Natsu and Lucy woke up and went back to the guild. They entered the guild hall hand in hand, Natsu had dropped the jewels off at Lucy's. When everyone saw them they gasped. Mira squealed and began crying tears of joy. All of the men in the guild ran up to Natsu and patted him on the back and congratulated him for not being too dense. Lucy was pulled away from Natsu by Erza and was soon surrounded by all the girls in the guild and was interrogated by them. She told them everything and squealed along with them. Erza couldn't stop giggling and hugging Lucy. The men on the other hand had punched Natsu multiple times for stealing the guild's baby. Many of them shouted things like "I wanted Lucy!" And Natsu got into many fights. Everyone in the guild was happy and cheering for the new couple except one mage, Lisanna.
Continued in the final chapter
