I'm back! Hello again. Sorry this update took so long but things have been hectic, what with this chapter, getting ideas down for future chapters and having at least three other unrelated one shots being typed up. Intrigued? I hope so.

Also I joined a contest with the lovely aphrodite931's suggestion. I'm really excited about it and everyone is so nice on it!

Anyway, thank you to all those who reviewed and favourited! Don't make me cry by giving me no reviews this time- seriously, I will cry cause I'll think I'm a cr- bad writer. This chapter is kinda fillerish but it is very important. I needed to get Lucy and Natsu straightened out before anything else could progress. And by the way, if you were wondering about the mystery of Lucy and going to her fathers house, that will be solved. And some very important things come up so keep your eyes open wide! You want to say about your idea on the plot- review or PM me. The usual.

Although I doubt anyone will understand until I drop the last bombshell.

If anyone actually gets close to the ball, I may dedicate the next chapter.

OH and before I forget- THANKYOU all those who read A Salamanders Heart! Seriously I was blown away by the huge response from it! It was only a little thing which I'm not over all pleased with but you all seemed to like it so much. Keep an eye out for any other one shots I do.

Please enjoy. And please review!

6. Stars

Natsu was the type of person who let his heart rule over his mind. That much was obvious to anyone and everyone who had ever met him. Fists first, ask questions later. He felt more in his heart than any other could feel and it would cripple any ordinary person. This is what makes him so amazing and trustworthy to his friends and comrades.

His heart allows him to make perceptive judgements of a person's character, but every once in a while he could think. It was rare but when Natsu actually sat down and planned, many things came to him that would normally escape others. It was natural for him to be an emotional wreck after the day's events but he would pull through, stronger than before as always.

He had always thought that the day he would grow cold, and when the fire would be permanently doused from his soul, would be the day he breathed his last in this world after a fight of epic proportions and he had defended his guild to the best of his ability.

At least, that was the general idea… until he met Lucy. And then he discovered how just how cold he could become if she left him. When he had thought she had returned to her father it was like a bucket of icy water was drowning him. And the thought of loosing her was like an icicle through the heart.

Because he had a sixth sense of people's emotions, and because he had known Lucy for a long time now, he and his heart knew exactly what she needed. And what he needed to do. Even if she didn't know it herself.

"Psst. Hey Luce! Lucy… Luce!" Natsu whispers broke Lucy from her slumber.

"What?" She moaned, tightening her grip on Happy, her current teddy-bear substitute, and refusing to open her eyes at the incessant whispering.

"Wakey wakey Lucy!" Hands were shaking her shoulders.

"You're not g-going away are you?" She yawned, stretching her arm out and nearly hitting Natsu in the face. Actually hitting him in the face would be a good idea, might knock the concept of sleep into that thick skull.

"Luce! Please, I need to show you something!" Lucy stilled. There were many ways that phrase could be taken…

"Alright." She grumbled before opening her eyes. Then a hand clapped over her mouth as she opened it to scream. Natsu's hand was engulfed by a ball of flame, the fire dancing and flickering in the night alluringly. What scared Lucy witless was that the light illuminating from the flames cast flittering shadows on Natsu, making his face look like something out of a horror movie.

"Shh! You'll wake the others! Erza might think I was kidnapping you, I don't want her stabbing me with her big ass sword!"

Lucy almost wished Erza would, she didn't take lightly to being scared stiff, even on accident. When she stopped her muffled shrieks- and almost bit the skin of his hand off- Natsu pulled away, grinning like a lunatic and only making his face that much more frightening. Like a scary clown! Lucy thought frantically.

"Come on!" He urged, taking her hand and hauling her out of the sleeping bag, causing her to accidentally dump Happy unceremoniously on the ground. He didn't wake thankfully, just snored fitfully.

"What are you doing?" She hissed at him, her heart not yet calming from it's hundred mile a minute sprint.

"I want to show you something!"

"And you couldn't wake me up in the morning?" She said incredulously. He shook his head.

"It would be gone by then! Come on, Luce!"

"Fine, fine" She sighed, resigned to having her arm pulled out of it's socket as Natsu dragged her through the woods, past some trees with dancing barks and leaves. She was glad that she was still in her day clothes, the night wind was too cold to wear pyjamas. Twice Lucy jumped because the light emitting from the fireball played tricks on her mind. Damn Levy's horror books.

She almost screamed again when Natsu stepped on a twig. She frantically clutched his arm and clung to his body as close as possible, finding herself trembling even with his comforting warm limb. Natsu stopped in his tracks and Lucy looked up at him, seeing that he was still grinning to her exasperation.

"Don't worry! It'll be totally worth it!" he assured her. Lucy frowned in confusion and Natsu pulled at her again, although this time he was careful not to stand on any unsuspecting twigs.

"Easy for you to say! Why didn't you just wake me without that fire ball thing? I thought you were some murderer coming to molest my cute body" She whimpered, hoping that conversing with Natsu would keep her mind off the creepy woods.

"Nah! If I hadn't used the light, I would have probably tripped over you." He would have wouldn't he? Lucy tried to suppress a bubble of laughter that would have sounded embarrassingly hysterical. "And every time I had to think up a way to wake you- which was hard because I'm so tired!- you always screamed. I went for the less dangerous one." He sounded so confident, despite how he scrunched up his nose in thought. He just knew exactly how she would react.

But Lucy still maintained that she wanted more sleep instead of traipsing around a dark wood in the dead of night.

"T-thank you." I guess…

"You're welcome!" Natsu beamed at her, completely missing her annoyed tone. Maybe ignorance really was bliss.

Lucy realised she was still holding both hands onto his arm, her right fingers clutching his in a tight vice. He didn't complain and Lucy knew she wasn't going to let go anytime soon.

He was her light, anchor and guidance in this black abyss. Break away and she'd be lost forever.

She'd think about the significance of that statement later.

"Here we are!" he suddenly exclaimed excitedly, nearly causing Lucy to trip over some remaining roots as he extinguished the light and hauled her to a break beyond the thicket of trees.

"Natsu what…?" She trailed off as the impact of what he wanted to show her robbed her of air. She was sure Natsu's face was about to fall off from his cheek bone breaking, humongous smile, as he waited with baited breath for her reaction. "Oh Natsu… it's… it's…" She whispered, words caught in her throat.

Beyond the line of trees, hidden from the world's sight, was a lake. A large expanse of clear water that stretched for miles, the far off shore swallowed by the night. It was so clear it looked like a mirror, untouched crystal that you couldn't glide over for fear of breaking the stunning image of perfection. The moon was full and reflected serenely in the waters, stars little drops of light dotting here and there. And the fireflies! Green lights fluttered around the whole area, looking like airborne candles that danced their own song and sang their own tune.

To Lucy, it looked like Fairies spinning and twirling in their own Fairy world.

It was magnificent and breathtaking and Lucy wished she had eight more eyes to commit this fantastic image to memory. If only she could draw…

"I know right!" Natsu whispered proudly, only keeping his voice down so he didn't ruin the effect the lake had on Lucy. It was worth all the pain and emotional drain of the day just to see her face full of amazement and wonder right now.

"How on earth did you find this place?" She asked, turning to him. For the first time in his life Natsu held his tongue, his usual blunt comment would ruin the sight for her. In reality he had needed the bathroom to relieve himself and had stumbled on this by accident.

To Lucy he said: "Magic." and stuck his tongue out mischievously, tapping his finger to his nose.

Lucy stared at his comical pose before bursting into laughter. She laughed until tears were flowing from her eyes. She laughed like she hadn't laughed in weeks because it all so ridiculous!

"Y-you're such an idiot!" She gasped to his bewildered face.

"Are you alright Lucy?" Natsu asked warily, thinking that Lucy had actually snapped. She shook her head, still chuckling.

"No… no I'm not alright. I'm not even fine…" She admitted.

Of course Natsu took her words literally "Are you feeling sick again?" he yelped, hands waving frantically in the air, prepared to dash over and catch her if she fainted.

"Natsu… " She sighed. "I'm more than fine. I'm great!" She explained, smiling widely at him. He stared at her for a second before his face broke out into his trademark broad grin. She did look much better, a red blush made her cheeks much more rosy and her eyes had more life to them. But that still didn't mean she should frighten him like that!

"You weirdo." He snorted, sinking to the grass with a thump and a sigh of relief. Lucy giggled and sat beside him, mumbling her apologises.

They watched the fireflies for a while before Natsu decided to speak. He was unable to let this one thing that was bugging him slide. He had been lenient before because it was her old life, a life before Fairy Tail that she never talked about, and he had no business prying into. But if he was going to actually lie to Lucy… then he wanted to have a clean slate on her side. He trusted her more than anyone he knew, nearly more than Happy if that were possible. He had to be sure he was placing this trust in the right person. Better to have his back covered by her, rather than it being stabbed by the one person he swore to protect.

"I know you're lying to me." He announced matter-of-factly. Lucy's body froze and her head snapped to him, eyes wide with something akin to confusion, shock and wariness. Her previous smile, that was so content before, fell into a pained grimace that nearly convinced him to not go down this route. But with determination he pressed on. He had to at least try one last time… "About why you visited your dad."

At his words Lucy relaxed slightly, resigning herself. She had been thinking of telling him for a while… but with this new S-class mission and other… 'distractions'… she would have to wait until the time was right. Not that this was the right time- in truth Lucy was mentally panicking over the issue and his serious, smoldering gaze which didn't help the rising heat at the back of her neck. But she had realized last night that… If something really was happening to her… she'd have to tell Natsu what had been making her feel depressed recently. Maybe Erza was right, maybe having him know would make her feel much better. His smiles were just so damn contagious!

Resolved she turned to him and saw he was stil giving her an intense look, one that held intolerance for half-truths and excuses.

"I just can't stand knowing that you can't trust me enough to tell me." He suddenly said before she could open her mouth. He looked away, continuing with his tirade and not letting her interrupt with his heated words. "Damnit, I'm you're my friend and I know it's difficult for you to say anything 'bout your family but I have to know! Why did you go for so long? Why didn't you tell anyone? I was worried for weeks and now you just pop up like it doesn't matter and then start falling sick all over the place! It's driving me insane Lucy!" He sucked in a breath, waves of weariness washing over him. He then glanced at her, wondering if she was going to reply from her sudden silence.

Lucy had her head bowed when he finished, not wanting to interrupt since she needed to get her thoughts together. He thought she didn't trust him…? She felt awful for being to selfish to not see how this was affecting him. But with everything that was happening… it was kind of hard to focus on his feelings when every night it was her tears that haunted her.

She peered up at him, seeing his hard expression… he was trying so hard to not doubt her she realized.

Suddenly she felt truly awful.

Natsu couldn't doubt anyone who belonged to Fairy Tail. It just wasn't him, he'd rather cut off both arms and sell himself over to the Ballam Alliance rather than admit that he couldn't trust a nakama.

And he was actually second guessing her?

She looked up suddenly and Natsu was taken aback by the determination and unshed tears in her eyes.

"My father… he sent me a letter a day before I left. Said he had built a new house and wanted me to visit… since it was his b-birthday and all." She took a breath while Natsu listened with rapt attention. "I thought… I thought it would only be for a few days and didn't think you would… worry so much if I left without telling anyone. But when I got there… my father told me some news." Lucy changed her gaze from his eyes to the fireflies. "He was getting married. Married! He and this wealthy heiress were getting married and he wanted me to be the bridesmaid. I don't even think it's for love, just her money…"

Natsu closed his eyes, now understanding just why she hadn't sent him at least a letter to explain her prolonged absence. It must have been hard, to see your father, whom you have no wish to properly reconcile with, marry another woman seven years after your own mother died. To Natsu, the idea seemed wrong somehow. Dragons mated with one person and one person for life. To marry someone else than the one you love was just plain weird to him… And Lucy was hurt by this news but couldn't leave until after the wedding preparations…

She really was something else. He now regretted pestering her over such a painful topic.

"But you!" She suddenly shouted and Natsu felt her punch him, hard. He yelped and clutched his arm and gaped at her, blanching in shock as she started to rage at him. "How could you think I don't trust you? How could you doubt me? Me?"

Doubt her? The thought had never crossed his mind! She was Lucy! Lucy!

His Lucy.

He would later question the 'his' later.

"I- Luce I didn't know…" He stuttered. She snorted and crossed her arms, bringing her knees to her chest, face dark with anger. "I'm sorry. Luce… it's just I thought…"

"You thought I wanted to return to my dad." She looked at him and he frowned at the look of hurt on her face.

"It's not just that." He moved closer to her. "I can't doubt you Luce. It's just impossible. You're my nakama." He looked at her earnestly. "Just taking off like that… like Igneel… and not saying a word… I just don't like people keeping things from me, Luce."

"Like you're keeping things from me?"

The retort came and slapped him in the face like one of her whips. He blanched at her angry words.

"H-how?"

"Oh come on, spiders? I'm not scared of spiders!"

"You're not?" he squeaked, jaw dropping. "B-but, I've seen you running screaming from other bugs!"

She batted away his accusing finger that was pointed at her. "Yeah, but not spiders!"

"Well… damn." He slumped back, shocked that such a tiny piece of Lucy had escaped him. He's known her for about six months, she was a major part of his life and he didn't know that of all things? "You're such a weirdo! ALL girls are scared of spiders! It was fool proof!"

"Well I'm not a fool." She huffed, glaring at him. Natsu reattached his jaw. "So just tell me Natsu! What happened to me?"

He frowned. "Natsu" Lucy said warningly when she realized he was keeping his mouth shut, moving until she was on her knees and facing him. To his credit he remained motionless on the ground, legs now sprawled before him, his left knee touching both of hers where she knelt. He kept his gaze away from her.

"Natsu!"

"Erza made me promise not to tell you." He mumbled quickly. Lucy groaned. It was a perfectly good excuse, Erza was called Titania for a reason.

"Can you tell me anything?" She asked desperately. But the dragon slayer kept this mouth shut firmly, shaking his head rapidly until Lucy's head hurt from looking at him. "Ugh fine. As long as you know I'm not hiding anything from you, that's brilliant."

"We're trying to protect you." He snapped, teeth gnashing together.

"Typical." Lucy muttered darkly. Instead of rising in anger, Natsu groaned and smacked his hand against his forehead.

"Believe me Lucy, if I could I'd tell you in a heart beat!" He kept talking quickly when he saw Lucy open her mouth "But Erza and the others think that if we told you, you'd get distracted and we'd all jeopardize the mission."

"What, I-"

"Luce. They have a point."

"But you don't think so." She said perceptively, trying to not let her anger get the best of her. Must she always be treated like glass?

"How should I know? A lot of crazy things have been happening." Natsu shrugged.

Lucy made an exasperated noise and sat back, turning away from him in mock defiance.

"Okay." She said finally, Natsu raising his eyebrow in surprise. He thought she'd start shouting at him… and hit him. Multiple times. "I'll pretend like nothings wrong." Natsu sighed in relief and opened his mouth to thank her but she pointed a finger at his face and prevented him from saying more.

"But I'm trusting you Natsu! I'm trusting you with my life on this one!"

"It wont go that far…" Natsu said nervously but Lucy fixed him with a glare.

"I mean it! I will find out but until the mission is over, you're safe. For now." She gave a self satisfied nod to him, eyes gleaming with determination.

Natsu grinned, secretly pleased to see 'scary Lucy' back. "What about the others?"

"They'll get what's coming to them." She replied darkly. Natsu laughed, cowering instantly when she shot him that dangerous look. Her mood calmed and she shivered in the cold air as a rather crisp gust of air blew threw them. Natsu took immediate pity and threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his abnormal body heat. She relented eagerly and snuggled to him while he placed his chin on her head, instinctively bringing his other arm up to run his fingers on her arm. Lucy's face found itself pressed to his bare chest and she blushed. Twice in two days she thought suddenly, realizing that yesterday at the river… was this becoming a current thing? Her face burned hotter.

"Don't know what you're complaining about, you feel warm enough to me." Natsu stated, oblivious as usual. She rolled her eyes.

"N-not all of us judge warmth like you do Natsu." She stammered. Natsu chuckled and his chest actually vibrated. She was so close…

"You're such a weirdo. I've said that about three times already." he added to himself out loud, removing his fingers at her arm to scratch his head. "Must be a new record." Lucy was ignoring him, remembering her previous thoughts from the day before… about her falling for her best friend…

She mentally shook her head. She wasn't falling for Natsu! And even if she was there was no time for this. In a few hours they would be departing the camp and arriving at Shirotsume. If the others didn't want to have her- whatever was happening to her- distract them then her realizing whatever was occurring with Natsu and her strange heart beat patterns would definitely distract them both and cost them the mission. Normally they wouldn't be so hung up about a mission but this was S-class! Lives were at stake, cannibals were roaming the streets! What if they started to go to another town for food?

'Feelings' (if they actually existed), Natsu and her had to wait.

But that didn't mean she couldn't indulge. In denial that is.

She raised her hand and rested it on his chest, moving closer than she already was to him and pressed her nose against his neck. And even though she had made her decision, she still couldn't resist running her thumb along that hard pectoral muscle. He shivered under her. "Tickles." His voice sounded oddly hoarse.

She murmured sorry and stared out at the lake and fire flies, feeling that this whole thing was very romantic…

She had to stop thinking like this! She did not have feelings for him! Her best friend for goodness sake. The mission!

"Can't you tell me anything? Just one tiny thing?" She asked, catching him off guard. His eyes flickered down to her golden head, Lucy unable to see his contemplative expression. It was a while before he spoke.

"Seven."

"What?" She said, confused. Natsu mentally shook his head. Her confusion sounded genuine. Maybe she didn't know she had been saying seven only hours before… But why…

"Just something you kept saying. That and 'five sevens'-What?" He asked sharply for she had moved her head to stare up at him, looking slightly shocked. "You know what it means?"

"Well… I'm not sure but… for some reason, all I can think of is a date. 7th July, year 777. The day Igneel… and the other dragons disappeared."

Natsu felt himself grow cold, seeing how Lucy's eye's widened as something else occurred to her.

"The same day as my mother actually."

If the knowledge of the dragons didn't make him brain dead, this new revelation about Lucy's mother would certainly send him six feet under.

"R-really?" He gasped out. His heart was beating fast and he couldn't understand that after all this time he knew very little about Lucy's mother! They had never talked about it. And yet such a coincidence connected them and created a bond so much deeper than others could possibly understand…

"Are you alright?" Lucy asked worriedly from his prolonged silence, unable to see his paled face in the fireflies glow. Natsu took his time in answering. He'd thought Lucy had been speaking gibberish earlier but when she had put it like that… it was obvious. And yet the added coincidence that her mother died the same time… It was all too much.

His head hurt and he was about to jump up and start screaming blue murder, shaking Lucy until even her bones rattled for answers. But he couldn't. He had promised…

It was all too confusing.

"It's probably nothing." Lucy babbled when he didn't say anything to her. "Just ramblings, I don't even remember saying all that!"

"Luce it's fine." He said finally. She made to pull away from his arms but he instead tightened his grip, bringing her flush against him.

"W-we'll deal with this after the mission." She trembled in his arms.

"T-Totally!" Natsu replied, trying to sound like his normal, boisterous self. Could she know something about Igneel?

Natsu needed to have a long talk with Erza. Obviously she knew about the seven before any of them had, they way she had frozen proved it. And the way she had neglected to bring the topic up when they had their argument several hours back…

"Natsu… are you sure you're alright." Lucy spoke up timidly.

Natsu sighed. "I'm okay. I'm great." He grinned knowingly at her. She smiled, it didn't reach her eyes but it was a Lucy smile. So many questions were hung between them from this moment. Did either of them want to know the answers?

Not now. He couldn't worry her now. He couldn't tell her how the look in her eyes when he had held her when she was breaking down had terrified him. He couldn't tell her how tortured he felt, knowing that there was nothing he could do. He couldn't tell her that he didn't want to let her go right now because he feared she would shatter, literally and figuratively, like glass, leaving him to pick up the pieces or accept that some were lost forever.

Not now. She couldn't tell him how scared she felt, she didn't have a life threatening disease, yet something was still happening to her. She couldn't tell him that she had a bad feeling about this mission. She couldn't tell him how she didn't want to let him go because she felt so safe in his arms…

Before she could stop herself, she raised her head from his chest and pressed a kiss to his cheek, quickly settling at his neck, his scarf brushing against her skin and hiding her face. She inhaled his scent.

"Thank you for showing me the lake, Natsu. It's really beautiful."

Unseen, Natsu's face flushed different shades of red, brighter than his hair and his heart accelerated. What the-?

"N-No p-problem Luce."

It would be minutes before he worked up the courage to look down at her, discovering that she had fallen asleep. His finger grazed her cheek thoughtfully. What are you doing to me, Lucy?

Not now. Not yet.

"Ha, I gotcha!"

"AAAAH!"

SWISH! CRACK! Lucy's whip was now tightly coiled around Happy's head, the end smacking into his eye painfully and making the cat yelp in agony.

"OWOWOWOW!"

"SERVES YOU RIGHT FOR SNEAKING UP ON ME!" Screamed Lucy. Team Natsu plus one flinched at Lucy's high voice, the men feeling particularly sorry for the unfortunate Happy. The cunning exsheed had been the devil's advocate all morning, determined to pester Lucy until she snapped. Shockingly, the devil turned out to be Erza, who had that morning learnt of Lucy's non-aversion towards spiders too quickly for Natsu's taste. Despite initially flying into a panic, she quickly regrouped and retaliated: her objective was to order the mischievous and willing cat to distract Lucy as much as possible so she would have no chance to interrogate them.

The plan worked too well. When Fairy Tail members are set a task they'd go all the way to hell and back again. Maybe not that extreme but you get the idea.

"Natsuuuuu!" Happy howled, his face sporting bright red welt marks as he flew to him.

"Hey Luce, leave Happy alone!" He confronted her. Lucy cracked her whip, ready to lash both Happy and Natsu ('constant pranks and lack of sleep does do terrible things for a woman's mood' Gray mused, having witnessed Natsu and Lucy sneak back to camp early morning and decided to use that information for later blackmail) when Erza barked out:

"We've reached Shirotsume everyone! And Lucy put away that whip, if anyone's going to beat up those idiots it's me!"

"Way to play for our team Erza!" Natsu and Happy whooped.

"Idiots." Gray and Gajeel both snorted.

Lucy stared once they reached the top of a hill that had blocked the town from view. Shirotsume… she thought, reminiscing. It hasn't changed since I was last here… Natsu's arm was suddenly slung over her shoulders.

"Shirotsume, this was where we had our first mission as a team Lucy!" He grinned at her. She could help but laugh.

"I remember. You only got me dressed up as a maid for nothing! Maybe we should dress you up as a butler." She teased. Natsu snorted in amusement, shaking his head at the mere thought of the suggestion while Gray laughed.

"I didn't know you were into that sort of thing, Lucy." Happy asked, a little too innocently. Lucy's face instantly flared red.

"Wha- I- Come back here!" She shrieked and chased after him. It was time to kick his ass once and for all!

Erza shook her head. "They're almost worse than you two." She told Natsu and Gray, but discovered that they had started bickering over the butler suit idea, Natsu's fists already aflame.

"Natsu! Gray!" She barked and the two instantly snapped to attention, arms around each other and Gajeel watching, half bemused, half gleeful. "Any report on the number seven?" She asked them all, glancing to make sure Lucy was well out of ear shot. At the corner of her eye, Natsu's fists clenched.

"Nope." Gray shook his head.

"Beats me." Gajeel lied, though he wasn't looking at Erza when he said it. She filed away that piece of information for later and narrowed her eyes at Natsu, who had also found the sky much more interesting that the conversation at hand.

"She said five sevens once." He admitted, eyes flickering to Erza's momentarily. "I… asked her and-" None of them asked him when, but Erza and Gray still glanced knowingly, smirking slightly. "Lucy thinks that they may be a date. 7/7/777"

They all stared at him incredulously.

"What the fuck?" Gajeel breathed, memories of Metallicana assaulting him. Erza frowned.

"Hey, didn't Lucy's mum die that same day?" Gray asked, eyes on Natsu's shocked face.

"She told you?"

"No, I remembered the date on the grave. I didn't think much of it until she started to spout all that seven stuff on us." Gray shrugged. "Could be a coincidence."

"There's no such thing as coincidences." Erza interrupted. The men raised their eyebrows, nodding.

"Not with these kind of things…" Gajeel muttered darkly.

They all looked at Lucy, a yellow blob in the distance.

"You heard her say seven before didn't you?" Natsu stated, looking at Erza.

Erza grimaced. "It was at her apartment. She hadn't known that she'd said it, just like yesterday. I didn't know the possible significance until today."

They all fell silent.

"She isn't going to ask for more." Natsu's voice broke through their contemplation. "She's going to wait until after the mission, then we'll all sit down about this. Then she's gonna kick our asses." He finished with a grin. Erza and Gray smirked half heartedly.

"Let's just hope that we actually survive main course and pudding for that." Gajeel grunted, taking off.

"How do you know you're not inedible? With all that metal…" Natsu shouted tauntingly. Gajeel retaliated by sticking up his middle finger.

"Hey! COME SAY THAT TO MY FACE YOU BASTARD!" Natsu yelled, running after him in a fit of temper. Erza and Gray followed them to the place where team Natsu had had their first mission.

And where Lucy would have her last.

Can I just add that I've been dying to find out what the Natsu and Lucy scene look like in this chapter? Seriously, Natsu hugging Lucy at a lake with fireflies- who doesnt want to draw that! I can draw but not as well as some people I know and that just depresses me. So now i turn to you readers, if that scene inspired any of you artists you can draw it if you like. Just PM me if you want permission or anything.

Thanks for reading!