Heyo! So so so so so sorry this one took so long! I've just been viciously attacked by

homework for the past month! If anybody has any suggestions or comments whatsoever

PLEASE don't hesitate to leave a review! If I can get a few people to review I will love

you guys forever! XD. Anyways here's my new chapter hope you guys love it, btw I know

the NALUness isn't as much as some of you guys might like but be patient my young

padawans… it's a comin' ;)

Btw… I haven't said yet… I don't own Fairy Tail, just the OC's. I just forgot cause it's kinda obvious. Dude… I wish I owned Fairy Tail that'd be freaking awesome… hahaha anyways here I go!

Lucy's P.O.V

Pain was all that was evident about what was happening. Bursting, flaming, overpowering pain that consumed all of my emotions. Try as I might, I couldn't manage to open my eyes, all I could manage was a quite, senseless word.

"...Naaatttssuuu….?"

I don't even know why I said his name, maybe I just thought that if he was here too, we must be safe. Despite my numbness, slowly, painstakingly, my senses came back to me. I could now not only feel pain, but raw and penetrating iciness. I had to get up, if not that, at least move, just so that I know that i'm still alive and not halfway dead. I gathered every ounce of strength I could until finally, my hand twitched. Well that fixed everything. I sarcastically said in my head.

"Luuucy?"

Wait… was that… Natsu? Just to be sure I called again.

"Natsu?"

"Whaa happen?"

I just now realized how weak his voice was. It was unsettling to hear him sounding weak, even if he was ever in pain he always kept his tough guy guard up. He must be in even more pain than I am. I used up all my strength on saying his freaking name, so I had none left to respond to him. I heard the sound of shuffling in snow. Oooh, that's why i'm so cold, huh? Suddenly warmth wrapped around me as I was lifted off the ground. Natsu was carrying me. I wanted to protest, 'Natsu, you don't have enough strength to even walk let alone carry me!', but like before I found myself unable to speak. So, I figured I might as well enjoy it while I couldn't stop it and curled into a tight ball in his arms. I let my hand rest on his bare chest. It was so impossible that he could actually be this warm when it was probably -15 degrees out here! However, when I released how awkward it was that I just freaking PUT MY HAND ON HIS CHEST, I as discreetly as possible let my hand slip away, pretending that I was sleeping and had no control over myself. I don't know exactly where I got the strength to move my hand from, probably just embarrassment though. His warm hand grabbed mine and put it right back where i'd put it a second ago, even though I was half out of it, I probably still blushed at the awkward situation. Why'd he just do that…?

I was placed gently onto a section of the ground where the snow had been blocked from getting on the ground, probably by a tree. As a piece of hair fell into my face, I felt someone brush it out of my face carefully.

"I'll be right back, Luce."

I heard Natsu whisper shakily. Wait a minute… that means he's known I was awake the whole time… meaning he knows I purposely put my hand on his chest. Great, another thing he can mock me for, for an eternity.

Natsu's P.O.V

I had to find Gajeel and Levy as soon as possible or Lucy would throw a fit when she fully woke up. The only problem was, I had no idea where they were. Heck, I have no idea where Lucy and I even are. Last thing I remember, the four of us were in that old man's house eating to our hearts content. Then, I woke up, completely drained of magic power, everything hurting as if I was in Hell, and the only person I could find was a beaten Lucy in tattered clothes. I couldn't stand to see her like that, she looked like she'd gotten the worst of it. In that moment I would have rather been in her place than to see her like that. As my mind was racing with thoughts, I spotted something orange sticking out of an especially big mound of snow. It must be Levy, and Gajeel if i'm lucky and don't have to search anymore after this. I sprinted towards the mound as I remembered how Levy always wore an orange dress.

I began viciously throwing snow away from the mound. More and more freaking snow is all that came. "I don't have time for this!" I said aloud, and without another thought used magic. "ROAR OF THE FIRE DRAGON!" Fire billowed out of my mouth in a thick stream. The snow began to melt quickly, as I stood back and admired my handy work. Before another minute passed, a passed out Gajeel and Levy lay in a puddle of over heated water. Oopsy… next time I won't do the fire dragon roar maybe… I walked towards the two shivering forms on the ground. Please, please, PLEASE don't be dead! I thought, of course only making myself only more nervous. Wait a minute… duuuuhh… they aren't dead cause they were shivering just a second ago! This thought cheered me up, although there was definitely some serious injuries, for the time being alive was good enough. I knelt down in the hot water to get a closer look. Crap, it's worse than I thought.

The water around each of them was turning red from blood, not to mention each of their lips were blue. I took time to examine each one to make sure they really were ok. The end result was that although each of them were severely injured, they'd be ok with time to heal and rest. At this, a breathed a sigh of relief and picked Levy up and threw her over my shoulder. There was no use just sitting here, if Lucy wakes up and nobody's there she'd worry. I was gonna have to carry them each separately. Levy was no problem considering she weighed about 10 freaking pounds, but Gajeel? He was about double my height, and i'm not even short. He probably weighs like 600 pounds or something! OK, so math isn't my strong suit…

"Welp, only one way to do this! I'm gonna have to burn Gajeel until he weighs less" I announced aloud. As I ignited my hand in flame, another hand reached out and grabbed my arm weakly.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" A ragged female voice asked me so quietly it was almost a whisper. I turned around fiercely, only to find myself face to face with a certain mage.

"Lucy! You're awake!"

"You've gotta be kidding me Natsu. Were you really about to kill Gajeel so that he'd way less.

"Waaa? No! He's a tough guy he would've been fine!"

She laughed feebly. How can she be this beaten up and still laugh? I thought to myself.

"I don't understand what exactly you're saying, Natsu."

Did I just say that out loud? Crap!

"...Yeah… you did, and you're still doing it…" She replied with caution.

"Are you Ok Natsu? You're acting really weird…"

"Yeah! I'm… uhh fine… but I could've sworn I didn't say that stuff out loud…"

"Whatever, just how bad is it?"

She was talking about our two nakamas on the ground behind us. This means she doesn't know how bad it is yet. Good, I need to break it to be the one to break it to her.

"Break what to me?" She asked nervously

"HOLY-"

"Natsu… are you sure you're ok… you keep saying stuff loud and clear, then your so shocked when you find out I hear you… why don't you go back to where you left me? I found some berries that, according to the birds, aren't poisonous. You obviously need some rest."

"What? Sit back and let a girl do more heavy lifting without me? No thanks!" I replied, trying to convince her I wasn't in any pain at all. The truth was though, the walk here to find Gajeel and Levy took a major toll on my already injured body. Still, like hell I was about to admit that to her.

"Open! Gate of the lion, Loke!"

"Ummm… Luce you might not wanna…"

What I expected to see was Loke appearing before us, probably handing Lucy a rose and "describing her beauty" with a bunch of words he didn't understand. He expected to hear the 'Ding-dong' meaning a celestial spirit had just arrived. However, what he saw confused him without trouble. With a strange noise like "poof"… except more eerie... a strange, gray form appeared crumpled into a crouching position. Whether this thing was human or not, something was off about it.

"Sooo... we gonna poke it or what?"

"Natsu! This thing could eat us... o-o-or rob us o-or... WHATEVER! And you really think our best move is to POKE IT?!"

Lucy exclaimed, followed by a vicious shaking by my shoulders. What happened to injured Lucy? I thought inwardly pouting. Behind me, I heard a familiar voice say:

"I think I liked quiet Lucy better..."

Lucy's P.O.V

"Waa... HAPPY?!"

Natsu yelled with excitement, apparently completely forgetting about the task at hand, a slimeball that might possibly EAT US! But no worries or anything you can just talk to your cat first. I sarcastically thought.

"Natsu! Forget the cat and kill this thing!"

"Aww, but it's so cute!"

"Aye!" agreed the little flying menion.

"Natsu!" I broke back into the conversation.

Somewhere in between our little fight kill or keep as a pet, I agreed to let him see if this thing was dangerous.

"Please be careful Natsu!" I hadn't noticed the worry in my voice, what if this is the way he's gonna die? That would be such a worthless way to die! "Just please...be careful..." I whispered as to not let him hear me.

"She's in looovvveee!" Happy yelled right next to my ear.

"SHUT UP CAT!" After giving Happy a good ol' "Lucy kick" sending him flying, I turned my attention back over to Natsu sitting there... freaking petting the slimeball. The weirdest part was, I thought I could here that thing purring! That still didn't explain why it showed up when I tried to summon Loke.

"Huh, what do you know..."

"Shall I punish him for you, princess?

"Wha-? Virgo? What are you doing here? Did you come on your own magic cause I'm afraid mine's all used up!"

"Yes I'm sorry, is it punishment time? She asked with waaay to much joy in her voice.

"N-no I'm glad you came- cause maybe you can tell me why that thing over there just came... seemingly from the spirit world when I tried to summon Loke?"

"Ah yes, that's simple, Loke was out on a date so he asked Taurus to go for him, but Tarus was too busy fawning over some spirit, so Taurus asked me to fill in but I was busy so I sent my pet fluffer to get the job done. Then I decided to come anyways because I figured you might need a little extra help, princess."

"Ok... questions, one: How is that simple in any form or shape? And, Fluffer? That thing's your PET!?"

"Technically, that's 3 questions but yes to the last two." She answered with her usual monotone voice. How she considers that slimy thing fluffy the world may never know. I thought disconcertingly.

After I sent Virgo and her little demotic pet to go home because I realized they wouldn't be of much use to me, I tried summoning Taurus despite what Virgo said. I figured maybe he was done now or something. I was wrong on that. Apparently it takes a looong time for a perv to put pictures on a wall. Suddenly, I realized it had been awfully quiet since I started talking to Virgo... something was off. I turned around to see... NO ONE?! Levy, Gajeel, Natsu AND happy had all vanished without a trace! If this was anyone other than Natsu, I'd have worried. However, since this is Natsu we're talking about, I decided on not worrying. I made my way back to where He'd left me under the tree, somewhat slowly. I would've taken my dear old time, but something had me slightly scared about what I would find when I made my way back.

When I finally found where I had originally been I found Gajeel and Levy beside a fire the size of a small house. Why does he always have to over do everything? I thought to myself. When I walked to the other side of the fire, I saw none other than the fire mage and his cat roasting fish over the fire. What really surprised me was that... well Natsu was cooking.

"Hey! About time you found us!" Natsu said with corny smile. I decided last minute to put my mad face on.

"Natsu! I could've been lost for good! You can't just go parading off along with two unconscious people dragging behind you and leave me to find you guys! Also... how did you even get them both?!"

"Well in the time that you were trying to summon Loke and Tarus, whatever the reason we were knocked out for wore off, so I took Gajeel and Happy took Levy." he replied matter-of-factly.

At that I found reason to let him off the hook for ditching me in the snow.

"H-hey what did happen to us?" I asked him tentatively.

With a shrug he responded, "I dunno, last I remember we were pigging out at that old guys house, then I woke up in lots of pain and found you."

"Ugghhh, that codger drugged us!" I replied with fire in my voice. (A codger is basically a male hag, I had to look up a word that resembled a hag lol.)

"WHAT?! Come'on Luce we're gonna go kill the guy!" Natsu yelled as bellowing flames wrapped around his fists.

"Well that won't do much good now will it?" A sweet voice behind me asked Natsu, pain obvious even though she tried to hide it.

"Levy-chan! You're awake!" I replied happily.

"Sure am! Only... what happened Lu-chan?"

"It's a long story, I'll explain over dinner! Natsu and Happy actually cooked!

Natsu's P.O.V

I ate, and I ate, and I ate. It sure was nice that this body could eat this much without getting either full or fat! However, while I was enjoying myself, I really did eventually need to get down to business or Master Orochi would not be happy. For now though, the best I can do is keep on pretending. As I reached down to pick up another roasted fish, I accidentally let a but of water drip out of my finger tips. Crap, I looked back and forth discreetly between Lucy, Levy and the cat named "Happy", Good, they didn't see anything. If they were to discover my true identity so early in the game that would ruin the whole plan! I had to keep hiding in Natsu Dragneels body until my mission was complete. This is not going to be easy. I thought to myself.

Well? What do you guys think? The ending mysterious enough for ya? ;)

Anyways if you guys have any opinion on it it'd be awesome if you left a review! (good or bad, after all I can't improve without you guys!) See you guys soon with chapter 4! BAIII! 3