Same instance applies. Was written using a speech-to-text program and heavily edited, but might still contain some errors. Once I finish uploading everything I have hand-written, my chapters won't be near as messy.

Chapter 3: The Hunt

One of his hands was supporting the back of my head, using it to bring his soft kiss even closer while his other hand explored the length of my body. It was so hot, beads of sweat accumulated and rolled down my bare chest as he explored even more intimate areas. Slowly and gently, we touched each other tenderly, learning each and every inch of each others' bodies. The air was filled with gasps and moans and the heady scent that was just him.

"Natsu..."

Jerking myself upright, I panted hard, feeling real sweat beading up on my skin.

'Holy... Holy fuck,' I thought frantically. I could still feel the extreme discomfort between my legs, and my heart was pounding harshly in my chest. Looking around, I realized that my mortification had yet to end. Natsu had fallen asleep on the only remaining bed first, so I had made a pallet on the floor for me to sleep. And I did go to sleep there. But then, as I had woken up from the most intense dream of my life, I found myself in the bed... With Natsu beside me, fast asleep.

'How did I get in the bed with Natsu? I didn't... My libido did not make me hop into bed with him in my sleep. Did it? Oh, God. I didn't touch him, did I? We didn't do anything... did we?'

As these thoughts ran frantically through my head, I felt Natsu shift, freezing me in place. With a muffled mumble, I heard him say, "Lucy..."

My heart almost stopped completely. Was he awake and addressing me? Or was he possibly having the same kind of dream I had?

'Of course not, idiot,' I scolded myself. The poor guy just had his heart ripped out. He wouldn't...

"Yes, Natsu?" I asked quietly, hesitantly .

I felt him shift again, and suddenly he was turned on his side, facing me. He was awake.

"Why are you awake? We got a lot to do tomorrow..." he said sleepily, yawns breaking up his words.

Thankfully it was dark so he couldn't see the heat rise to my face once more. "Um, I'm awake because I'm not where I fell asleep."

Rolling back over, Natsu gave me a sleepy sigh. "I wasn't gonna let you sleep on the floor. The bed is big enough."

Natsu's explanation tapered off as it was replaced with a soft snore.

'So Natsu put me in bed with him? Strange, strange man...'

...

Starview was a much larger city than Magnolia, but it wasn't home to any kind of Guild. The residents weren't anti-magic, per-say, but they were paranoid of the power it brought. Natsu went off by himself to one side of the city, where I started on the other in search for information on the key. The city was safe enough, so splitting up was no big deal. We had been searching for a week solid.

We got an early start on the first day, which is when we both agreed to meet at the restaurant by the hotel every day at noon to take a break and share any possible information we might have found.

I still had about thirty minutes until I was to meet Natsu at the diner, and I was dragging my feet hard. I had probably spoken to over a hundred citizens that morning, and none of them knew anything about Mount Rumble. It was disheartening, to say the least.

I used my spare thirty minutes by taking my time walking to the restaurant. My feet were killing me, but I supposed it was my fault. I had tried to dress as cute as possible, which included heels, in hopes of some desperate old pervert having any information. So far, the heels had only gotten me a blister.

Once I made it to the restaurant, I sat down in and mine and Natsu's usual booth, blowing a stray piece of blonde hair away from my face. I was exhausted. Natsu and I had agreed that morning that if nothing turned up that day, we were going to have to visit the actual mountain on the outskirts of the city.

"The usual?"

The waiter almost had me jump from my seat, he scared me so much. I had been so focused on Natsu coming in, hopefully with good news, that I had forgotten about our waiter.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said frantically, smiling sheepishly at the attractive server. "Um, yeah. The usual. My friend will be here in a moment."

"Coming right up," he said with a wink, closing his pad and walking away.

I knew what the waiter was doing, but I didn't care. Ignoring it, I probably waited another five minutes before I heard the jingle of the diner door. Looking up, I smiled as I watched the pink-haired Dragon Slayer strolling towards our table.

"Any luck?" he asked, taking his usual seat across from me.

"Not one damn bit," I said regretfully, pulling my left shoe off to rub my blistered heel.

"Yeah, me neither," he said morosely. "It seems like most of the people in this town are too scared to even talk about the mountain. I tried getting council with the mayor, but he's been sick in the hospital."

"Well," I said tiredly, looking in the direction of our waiter, hoping food would come soon. "I guess we'll spend the rest of the day asking around some more. If there's no luck, I suppose we're going to the mountain in the morning."

Natsu nodded quietly, but only because his mouth began to instantly water as we caught sight of the server bringing our food. Once the table was settled and Natsu was digging in, the server hung around for a moment, looking at me.

It took me a second to realize it, but when I did, I looked up at him and gave him a puzzling look. "Um, yes?"

The server suddenly blushed, obviously not realizing he'd been staring. "Oh, I'm so sorry. My apologies. It's just... You and your comrade have been in here every day for the past week now and I thought you looked familiar. Now I think I've figured out who you are."

Eye twitching in slight irritation, I couldn't help but think, 'If I hear the name 'Heartfilia', I'm going to punch this guy in the throat.' "Okay..." I said calmly, setting my napkin over my lap. "And who do you think I am?" I smiled sweetly, but I hoped it came off as a bit psychotic.

His dark eyes shined. "Lucy of Fairy Tail, right? The only Celestial Mage in the Guild?"

I felt my jaw drop as the guy's eyes seem to bulge like hearts. My cheeks flamed up. "Oh! Oh yes! How did you know?" I asked, giving him a genuine smile this time.

Our server's eyes lit up. "I know we're not much of a magic town, but I've been reading Sorcerer Weekly for years! When I saw your article and picture I was absolutely blown away – !"

Natsu seemed to be growling at the poor guy when he barked out, "Okay, we get it! She's a beautiful semi-famous wizard. Can we get back to eating, please?"

Natsu's completely uncalled for outburst caught me and the server both off guard. Before I could say anything, the server bowed lowly. "My sincerest apologies, sir! I'll let you get back to your meal!" With that, our server seemed to scamper behind the counter and out of sight.

"Natsu!" I scolded, banging my fist on the table. "What is wrong with you? The poor guy was just a fan!"

Natsu was still glaring in the direction that the server had disappeared, chewing absently on the cinnamon stick from his tea. "The guy was wasting our time, Lucy," he growled. "We have work to do and I can't afford for my partner to get distracted by some pretty boy fan."

The server's gushing obviously grated on Natsu's nerves. At first my mind wondered if the Dragon Slayer could possibly be jealous, but I quickly brushed that thought off. It had only been a little over a week since he had his heart broken, and I was no Lisanna. I couldn't even begin to compare to her.

"Who says he planned on distracting me?" I asked with a challenge. "And what's it to you, anyway? I'm allowed to have admirers and maybe even date one if I want!" I was sure I look like an angry banshee at that moment. After a week of completely inappropriate dreams about Natsu and having no way of ridding myself of the frustration I was feeling, I was almost desperate enough to pick up a random guy. Almost. If I wasn't a virgin, I probably would have.

Natsu couldn't seem to come up with anything to say because all he did was let his fork clang loudly as it dropped to his dish. Standing up quickly, he muttered, "I'm finished. We'll keep searching the rest of the day and if there's still no luck we'll be leaving out early in the morning."

Before I could say anything, Natsu was out the door, trekking in the opposite direction of the restaurant.

Cheeks burning red with anger, I snarled to myself, "Ugh! Stupid men and their stupid fucking mood swings!" Throwing some Jewel onto the table, I rushed out the door as well, ready to get the rest of the day over with.

...

Six hours later found me piled under stacks of books in the town's library. I had my Gale-Force reading glasses going full speed, reading every piece of local news and history that the library had to offer.

After about two hours of avid reading, something finally caught my eye. A mangled gray book that sat atop one of the piles called out to me. I wasn't sure why, but I couldn't help but follow my instinct. Careful not to topple of the towers of books around me, I reached up and gently grabbed the ragged book. Pulling it down to look at the cover, which bore symbols I couldn't read, I immediately felt a tingle of warmth shoot through me as the book briefly glowed a purple magic cast symbol on its cover before fading away completely.

Oh, yes. I found something, and it was definitely magical. Putting on my glasses once more, I began the quick process of taking in the entirety of the book. When I was finished a few minutes later, I knew I needed to get back to Natsu, and immediately. Looking around quickly to make sure the coast was clear, I stuffed the book into my bag hastily and all but ran from the library. I was never one to steal, but I didn't have time to set up an account with the library just to check out one book.

Slamming through the front doors of the library, I cursed to myself out loud. "Damn, it's already dark!" Since Natsu and I had stayed separated throughout the past few days, we both made a point to get back to the hotel by dark so as to not make each other worry.

Clutching my bag close to me, I took off at a sprint down the street, where people were slowly dwindling away to their homes for the night. Cutting to the right, I ran full-speed down the alley I had found that took me directly behind the hotel. As I rounded the corner to the home stretch, I was suddenly stopped in place by a pair of strong hands grabbing both my forearms from behind.

The sudden stop brought my feet from underneath me, dropping me until I was only supported by the hands that were gripping my arms.

"Let me go!" I screamed out without hesitation, kicking my legs behind me and trying to stomp my assailant's feet.

A man's deep voice that I didn't recognize chuckled from behind me. "Not a chance. You called us to you."

"What?" I asked wildly, still struggling against the man's hold. "I didn't call anybody, so get the fuck off me!"

Another man's voice resounded from further behind me. "Oh, you may not know it, but you called us."

The man's grip kept me from reaching my keys, and it only pissed me off more. "Look! If this is about the book, I'll pay for it, okay!? There's no reason to manhandle me!"

With that, I used my most daring defensive move, which would hurt me too but give me access to my keys. Bringing my head back as hard as I could, I felt it make contact with my captor's nose, making quite a sickening crunch. Holding the back of my head as tears of pain sprang to my eyes, I turned and tried to get a look at the men. It seemed like my luck had run short, however. The alley was much too dark, and they were both wearing hooded robes.

The man I had smashed in the nose recovered much faster than I had hoped, because he immediately grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me roughly, aiming me deeper into the alley. The pain of landing was excruciating as I fell into a pile of broken crates and pallets. There was a sharp stabbing pain in my leg, but I couldn't focus on that as the men both descended on me.

Thinking frantically, I felt around my hip for my keys and snatched one off. "Open! Gate of the Ram! Aries!"

The usual golden light filtered through the alley as the meek and timid Spirit stood there in her wool.

"Oh! Princess, you're hurt! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner!" Aries exclaimed, glancing at the two malicious looking men.

"It's not your fault, Aries!" I said through gritted teeth, still trying to catch my breath from my landing. "I just really need your help getting rid of these dirtbags! I have to get back to Natsu!"

Aries bowed lowly. "Of course! I'm sorry. Consider it done, Princess!"

It only took just a few moments for Aries to overpower the men, knocking them unconscious using her wool magic. Right as I was about to thank Aries for her help, another bright golden light filtered through the alley, revealing Loke standing next to Aries.

"Lucy, are you okay?!" He exclaimed, immediately rushing to me where I was still laid out on the pile of broken wood. Brushing chunks of splinters away, Loke scooped me into his arms. When I gave him a puzzled look, he explained, "I noticed you summoning Aries. I came to make sure everything was okay. What happened?"

Gritting my teeth, I said, "And once again, I didn't summon you. But yeah, I just needed a little help with these thugs." Ignoring that Loke was still holding me, I looked at Aries. "Thank you for your help. You can go back now if you want."

Bowing to me, she said, "I'm sorry. I'll do better next time. At your service anytime, Princess." And with that, she was gone.

"Ugh, I let one Spirit call me that and suddenly they all want to." Readying myself to chew Loke out, I opened my mouth, only to let out a pained groan. "Oww... What... What the hell?"

Twisting around and Loke's arms, I reached a hand down to my right leg where the pain was coming from. It was dark, so I couldn't see anything, but I could feel the warm wetness of blood on my fingertips as I drew them away. Apparently Loke had no problem seeing in the dark.

"Lucy, you're hurt!" he said, seriousness over taking his usual offhand attitude. "Come on. I'll take you back to your hotel room."

"Wait!" I said, stopping him by placing a hand on his chest. Indicating to the two unconscious men on the ground, I said, "We have to do something about them! They obviously know something or want something from me. I think it has to do with a book I just found. I need to know what they want but I also need to speak to Natsu!"

Loke set his usual smirk into a thin line, almost like a scowl as he looked at the men. "If that's true, then you're right. I'm going to set you down so I can contain them real quick. I'll come back for them once you're safe with Natsu."

After what I read in that strange book, I wasn't sure how safe I'd actually be, but I didn't have a choice. Natsu was my best friend. I had to be there for him.

It only took Loke a moment to completely subdue the two men before he had me back in his arms once more, moving swiftly to the hotel at only speeds a Celestial Spirit could reach. He seemed to know his way around, because he completely skipped the lobby and just scaled the building to mine and Natsu's room, using the window.

All Hell broke loose as soon as we got inside.

"Lucy, where the hell have you been!?" Natsu freaked. It appeared that he had been pacing the floor, and the room was a wreck. "It got dark hours ago and – "

Natsu cut himself off as he sniffed the air briefly. "You're hurt?!" He freaked some more, not so gently yanking me from Loke's hold. Casting a scathing glance at the Spirit, Natsu shoved everything off the bed and set me down. In the light, I could finally see why my leg hurt so much. A large, jagged piece of broken wood the size of a Bowie knife was stabbed into the underside of my thigh, just a few inches below my backside. It was bleeding pretty profusely.

While nausea gripped my stomach at the site, I could hear Natsu yelling at Loke, though everything seemed kind of distant.

"What did you do to her?!"

"I helped rescue her, pyro! She was like this when I found her!"

"Then what the hell happened?"

"Lucy got jumped by a couple of men... Called Aries... Check on her... Go back for those men..."

I knew I was starting to lose consciousness, because everything, including the men's voices, was fading in and out slowly.

"Nat... Natsu..." I said, trying to hang on to warn him. My eyes were too heavy. Once they closed, I found it impossible to reopen them. 'I have to tell him...'

"Nat... su... The... Book..."

...

God, I was such a fucking weakling. I summon one Spirit for only a few minutes and it put me out like a light!

Wait, did I only summon one Spirit? Aries, right? Then why did I remember Loke? I didn't summon him...?

Eyes snapping straight open, I gasped, "The book!"

What I hadn't expected was for my voice to echo. I was laying on something nowhere near as comfortable as the hotel bed, and the temperature was much colder than I was accustomed to. Looking around, I noted that I was in a cave of some type, about the size of my bedroom at home. A fire was built in the middle of the cave, creating just enough warmth to ward off the heavy snowfall that tried to make it through the small entrance. I was laying on blankets that were layered up, cushioning me some but not much. My leg felt like it was on fire.

Looking down, I also noted that I was swaddled with a long-sleeved wool robe. Looking around to be sure I was alone, I moved the right flap of the robe over and observed my injured leg. Because of the wound's position on my leg, it was hard to get a look at, but it was obvious that it had been fixed up and wrapped neatly.

Sitting myself up, I wasn't even given the chance to worry about Natsu before he strolled through the cave's entrance, any snow that touched him instantly turning to water and just evaporating or rolling off of him in droplets. His arms were loaded down with wood.

"Natsu?" I asked questioningly, cocking my head to one side.

Natsu's gaze zeroed in on me as he shook the remaining water from his hair. A smile formed on his face as he dropped the firewood. "Lucy! You're awake!

Laughing slightly as I ran my hand through my ragged hair, I said, "Heh, yeah. But, um, once again, not where I fell asleep...?"

Natsu almost barreled into me on the ground, but stopped just short. Placing a hand to my forehead, he said, "How are you feeling? You're probably a little weak from blood loss."

Shaking my head and waving him off, I said, "My leg's fine, I'm fine. I gotta talk to you – "

"Luce, don't worry about the Phoenix Riders right now," Natsu said, almost smirking. "Loke told me what he knew, and I used your glasses thingies to read that weird book. Then I went and interrogated those two dudes while Loke had Aries pop back in to fix you up."

"So you know then? Natsu, we have to stop, they'll kill you – !"

"Not a chance," he scoffed, moving my robe over to check my bandages. I averted my eyes as he did this. "They may be really good Slayer trackers, but it's only cause they have the nose for it."

"Is... Is that while we're in a cave right now? The wind and snow make it too hard for them to find you?" I asked, shivering at the sight of the storm blowing outside.

"Exactly," he grinned, pulling my blanket back on top of me. "I've got to say, good job finding that book, Lucy. Well, also bad job, because it sensed you had a connection to a Dragon Slayer, which is what called those guys out. But still," he laughed as though he were thinking of something absurd. "I never would have guessed that Dragon Slayer Hunters still existed..."

I almost started to say something comforting, but he obviously didn't need it as he laughed jovially. "And they're so weak! I mean, Aries took them out – "

"Hey!" I snapped. "Are you calling my Spirits weak?!"

I could see Natsu struggle to take the smirk off his face. "N-no! It's just... Well, Dragon Slayer Hunters are supposed to be much more formidable. They damn well used to be, at least. For the longest time, I thought they were the reason Igneel left."

"Fine. So they're not as powerful as the book led them to be. But what about the mountain? The book said it used to be their lair, and we have to go in there to continue the job. How do we know that place isn't still swarming with those men?" Ugh, the whole ordeal was beyond frustrating. Removing my blanket, I tried to stand up, fighting to ignore the pain in my leg.

Natsu was two steps ahead of me, however. Grabbing one shoulder gently, he pushed me back down into a sitting position. "Don't even try getting up right now. You'll pass out again. And I have a feeling that the place is still swarming with those men, but I'm not worried," he said with a toothy grin. "I already know where the entrance to the mountain is, I just have to get the key, which I might not even need. Once you're healed a little better, you can summon one of your Spirits to keep an eye on you while I go get it. I gotta say, Luce. That was one Hell of a book you found. Basically handed this part of the job to us on a silver platter."

My irritation was trying to get the better of me. "Natsu, we have to go into a den of Dragon Slayer Hunters. You're a Dragon Slayer. How the Hell is that handing us the job on a silver platter?" I was pretty sure my eye was twitching.

"Because," he said, jumping to his feet. "That book knocked out all the guess work! From here until we get the next riddle, it's all manual labor. I'm much better at plowing through a battle than research."

"Ugh," I groaned to myself, laying back on my pallet. "Testosterone."

Walking over to where he dropped the firewood, Natsu picked up a few pieces and tossed them onto the burning pile. I watched him take a small taste of the flames before returning his attention to me. "Hey, say what you want, but I think this job is starting out quite nicely. We'll sit tight here for a couple of days to let you build your strength back up and then I'll go grab the key and rush the Hunters' base. We'll be on our way to the second riddle by next week."

"Starting out quite nicely?" I asked in a bewildered tone. "Yeah, I've only had half my body burned and been shanked in the leg. Great start." Regret immediately flooded me at those words, but I knew it was too late to take them back. Natsu already blamed himself enough as it was.

I waited for Natsu's reaction, but it never came as he seemed to deflate a bit. "Yeah, about that..."

"No," I said quickly. "I know what you're thinking and want to say but don't. None of it's your fault."

"Well, I know the burns were," he said almost morosely, taking the seat next to me as the blizzard raged outside the cave. "I can't deny that it was my fault, Lucy. I let my emotions over Lisanna get the best of me, and it got you hurt."

I opened my mouth to say something, but he continued, looking down at his hands almost in shame. "And it was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done. I was completely distraught over her betrayal, but... It's taken me a few days, but I realize that letting myself get so upset over her is the most pointless thing I can do right now. Yeah, I loved her, but now... I'm not so sure. I don't think I can truly love someone who would do something like that. So, I'm done being upset with her. I'm done being mad at Bickslow. My anger does nothing but hurt the people around me, so I'm accepting that I no longer hold love for Lisanna like I thought I did."

By the time Natsu had finished, I could feel tears pricking my eyes. Sitting up quickly, I wrapped my arms around Natsu, pulling him in close. "Natsu, it's okay to be upset about it. She – they – hurt you."

I felt Natsu apply a little pressure, indicating that he was reciprocating the hug. I heard him from over my shoulder, "I know. And I was, but I let it go. I can't move forward if I won't let go of the past. So that's what I did. I let go of my past with her. Now I want to focus on the present, with this job and being with my partner and how stinkin' rich we'll be when we finish this job."

I felt my heart warm at those words. Though I still had to hide my feelings for him, it was good to see him bouncing back and happy to at least be in my presence. Natsu Dragneel was definitely something else.

Please R&R! If enough people leave me a review, I MIGHT can have the next chapter up by tomorrow night. ;)