DISCLAIMER: FAIRY TAIL AND ALL OF ITS CHARACTERS BELONG TO HIRO MASHIMA AND NOT ME. THE ONLY THING I CAN CLAIM IS THE PLOT AND THE OTHER CHARACTERS.

I'm so sorry guys! I unexpectedly had to babysit my sister and couldn't get this done in time yesterday! D: Thank you so much for being patient! Without further ado, here's Chapter 7!

Summary:

When Levy invites Lucy and Natsu on a mission to translate wall carvings from an ancient temple, they accidentally invoke the "Trials by Nature", a series of tests that an ancient tribe used as a way to initiate members into adult hood. They must conquer the twelve basic animal instincts, while trying to reign in the feelings that the trials invoke in them.

...


A hidden room.

A hidden, friggin' room.

All four mages had to blink for a bit to make sure that they weren't seeing things. And when they did, they came to the conclusion that yes, behind the destroyed wall was indeed a room that had been previously hidden.

After gaping at the newly discovered room for a few more moments, Natsu's head turned back to them and a smug, toothy grin spread wide across his face, his eyes shining with mischief and triumph. "HA! My destructive tendencies actually helped for once!"

Lucy's attention snapped back to him and she frowned. He gulped, and suddenly, he wasn't feeling as happy as he should have been.

The blonde huffed in irritation. "You got lucky Natsu. This time. But don't go destroying walls just to see if there are hidden rooms behind them or you'll bring the temple down."

She offered a hand to him, which he immediately took and pulled himself up and out of the rubble from the wall. Levy went closer to the broken wall and examined it, carefully picking up small pieces of the stone and looking it over with precision. Contrary to the other parts of the temple, this stone was much lighter in weight and thinner. One piece that caught her eye was shaped oddly. She picked it up and discovered that it had a smooth cylindrical lump on it, but the inside of it was concave...

Something seemed to click in her head, and she then examined where the wall had been broken and her eyes widened at what she found. "Guys, this wasn't a wall, it was a sliding door, and this..." She holds up the piece of stone for them to see. "Was the handle."

They all came closer to get a good look at it and suddenly, it dawned on them.

There was a handle.

Gajeel had the decency to look embarrassed about their enormous oversight, and Lucy had no choice but to be embarrassed for Natsu because he sure as hell wasn't. In fact, he was examining the same spot Levy had been, his attention long gone from the piece of stone in her hand.

Lucy massaged her temples, no doubt trying to fend off a Natsu sized headache. "Are you telling me, that if they had been paying attention, they could have opened the door?"

Ding ding, give the lady a prize.

"Actually, you're wrong about that."

Or not.

Surprisingly, it was Natsu who spoke, who was now standing from his brief inspection of the partially broken stone door and wiping the dust off of his clothing and hands. Amazingly, it had only broken enough that the top half was broken. The bottom was damaged but still intact and would need to be removed if they wanted to get in. Gajeel scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, do tell us how you came to that conclusion, since you're so smart."

Instead of getting angry, or trying to start a fight, Natsu calmly waved them over to the gap between the walls where the door would have slid into when it was being opened. When they came over, he lit a small flame, illuminating what was inside.

"That's why, asshole."

In the gap, lay an enormous beehive that was taking up most of the space in it. It was long abandoned, any bees that had once taken residence there either left it willingly or died off. An opaque film was covering it, and the walls around it. The film however began to drip slightly due to the heat of Natsu's fire.

He boldly reached into the gap and swiped his finger across the substance and brought his hand back out for them to see.

"Bees Wax. In the heat its pretty much just goo. But since this is further into the temple, its cool, and it becomes extremely durable. Not only that, the hive itself is extremely strong on its own. Once the wall was broken I kept smelling something sweet so I went to have a look."

He looked around more before his dark eyes landed on a stone. He immediately picked it up and discovered that one side was similarly shaped like the handle in Levy's hand. He held out his hand for it, and the bluenette gave it over, curious to see what he was going to do. By now, all eyes were on him as examined both stone pieces for a moment, before putting them together.

The stone fit over the handle like a puzzle piece, perfectly concealing it. Meaning that there was no way they would have ever known it was there, even if they'd searched the room from top to bottom.

Well, shit.

He handed the completed piece to Levy, whose jaw was dropped just like her other two companions. A few moments passed before they promptly closed their mouths, and now it was Lucy and Levy's turn to be embarrassed for being so hard on them.

Sensing the tension, Gajeel stepped closer to Levy and gently ruffled her blue hair. "Don't worry about it Shrimp. Being smart ain't always the answer. If that was the case you wouldn't need us for the heavy lifting."

The bluenette looked up at him, still clutching the stone pieces in her arms, and gave a wry smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Its just kinda hard to accept that if not for you and Natsu's bullshittery, we wouldn't have even known this room existed. We should give you guys more credit. So...Sorry for the...you know..."

The larger man rolled his eyes and playfully poked her in the head. "Didn't I say don't worry about it? I promised I would make you big, and that's what I'm gonna do. You need me to do all the smashing and I need you to do the brainy stuff. Don't beat yourself up, there are plenty of assholes out there who will do it for you..."

His voice tapered off at that, and Levy immediately knew what he was thinking and slapped his bare shoulder. His attention snapped back to her again as she glared softly at him.

"You hypocrite, you're not allowed to beat yourself up either."

His eyes widened in shock, and her expression softened, a small smile replacing the frown that was there moments ago. "Like you said, there are plenty of assholes who will do that for you."

The Iron Dragon Slayer stared at her, and Levy began to blush slightly with the large man's attention so focused on her when she suddenly felt the sides of her head being noogied.

"O-Ow! Stop Gajeel!"

He ignored her pleas for a bit, before finally relenting with small "gihi" escaping his lips. She sighed, before feeling his large hand land gently on her head. She looked up at him in confusion. His face was turned away from her, but she could just make out a slight upturn of his lips.

Ba-Bump.

She clutched the stone to her chest, as if that would muffle the marathon her heart had suddenly decided to take part in. If seeing just the corner of his smile could do this to her, she was sure that seeing him fully smile would damn well give her a heart attack. She made a move to join Natsu and Lucy, the former of which already trying to break down the rest of the door, when Gajeel's hand moved from her head to gently grasp her arm. She looked up at him for an explanation, when she noticed his gaze on their two friends. She looked as well, and noticed the tense atmosphere between them.

He gave her arm a small tug and nodded his head toward the exit, a wide grin full of mischief on his face. Understanding what he wanted immediately, she gave a small grin of her own. "Hey, Lu-chan?"

The blonde jumped as though she were caught with her hand in the cookie jar and turned toward Levy. "Yeah?"

Levy schooled her features so as not to give her and Gajeel's plan away. "How about you and Natsu finish up in there while Gajeel and I continue translating?"

Lucy's expression became confused and Levy became worried that things wouldn't work out according to plan. "But, he doesn't know the symbols..."

Gajeel chimed in then, saving her from having to explain anything further. "You may not know it Blondie, but I do pay attention when she yammers about books and shit-"

"Hey!"

"So I'll catch on fast. Besides, someone's gotta lift her up so she can see the higher stuff, and you're the only one who can keep that bonehead in line."

Lucy opened her mouth to protest, but stopped herself when she realized everything they said made sense. All four of them wouldn't be needed to explore the room and it did give them a way to continue translating. They still had a job to do after all.

She sighed and her gaze slipped to the pink haired man behind her, who was breaking down the rest of the stone door so that they could get inside safely. "I guess that's the smartest thing to do..."

"Of course it is, because I'm smart."

They all heard the loud scoff from Natsu, and Levy gripped Gajeel's arm when she saw his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "A-Anyway! That's that! When you finish just come back to the chamber. See ya!"

The bluenette then quickly pulled Gajeel toward the exit as Lucy turned around to help Natsu. She looked up at Gajeel, who was still upset at Natsu's dismissal of his intelligence and rolled her eyes. Releasing his arm, she then elbowed him in the ribs and watched as he quickly moved to cover the sore area. "What the hell was that for Shrimp?"

She put her hands on her hips and looked away from him, though her eyes were full of mischief. "That's for saying that I yammer. I do not yammer."

When she turned to look at him, he had a dumbfounded expression on his face, and she bit her lip to keep from laughing at him. She walked by him, but not before bumping him lightly with her hip and putting a little bit more switch into her walk.

After all, what kind of woman would she be if she didn't make him sweat a little?

He watched her walk away for a bit, hypnotized by the swing of her hips as she continued to leave him behind. He was pretty sure that he fucked himself when their plan to get Blondie and Pinky to talk worked. Because now, he and Levy would be alone together, and that worked so well before when he nearly absconded with her. That was fine. He just had to keep control of himself. He knew what to do, he's been doing it for years. Just think good, clean thoughts-

"Gajeel? Are you coming?"

He blinked, and realized that she was looking over her shoulder at him. He shook himself out of his thoughts and started walking toward her. "Yeah yeah, keep your shorts on."

She rolled her eyes at him and continued walking ahead, and he had no problem letting her take the lead.

Sweet lord.

Daddy must've been a baker.

...


The blonde sighed as she turned toward her best friend, who was silent as he continued breaking down the rest of the stone door. It was weird, him being silent. He was always full of joy and energy and always had something to say. She wondered if he was angry at her for yelling at him-

"I'm not mad."

"Huh-"

Suddenly, she was surrounded by him and his warmth. His arms held her tight, and his scent filled her entire being. Through his thin shirt, she could faintly feel his heart beating against her chest. In that moment, whether it would last a few seconds or for eternity, Lucy didn't think she'd ever feel safer in her entire life.

She heard him talking, but he was speaking so lowly that she couldn't catch what he'd been saying. "W-What?"

He sighed, his warm breath cascading over her ear and neck before he pulled back slightly to look her in the eye, a small smile on his face. "I said, that I wasn't mad at you, and not to worry about it. You were right. If there hadn't been a room behind that wall it would've been my fault because I started the fight."

His forehead came down to rest against hers, their noses touching slightly. He brought one hand up and rested it on her back of her head, not unlike the way he did to her future self before she died. He pulled back after a moment, a huge grin on his face. "Don't worry Luce! I told you that I'd be good and that's what I'm gonna do. Now come on, we've gotta find out what's in that room!"

He pulled away from her and walked toward the remains of the stone door. "Come on, I need your help. This thing is stuck fast to the floor."

She nodded and went closer to him before realizing something. She stopped in front of him, and put a hand to her head in exasperation. "Natsu...You do know that you can just use your fire to burn the hive and melt the wax...Right?"

He had just been about to continue punching through the remains before he stopped and began to think. His eyes widened and he looked away, an embarrassed blush on his face. "Oh yeah...I forgot.."

She shook her head in disbelief and amusement as his hand came up to awkwardly rub the back of his head, a small grin on his face.

Dear lord.

What was she going to do with him.

After a moment he turned away and proceeded to burn out the old hive and the wax. Afterward, he was able to easily push the remains of the door into the gap and clear the way for them to enter.

After a quick sniff, Natsu determined that there wasn't anything there that would try and hurt them. It was dark, but luckily, they'd found a few old torches attached to the wall and lit them via Natsu's fire. When it was bright enough to see clearly, it was clear to see that what they'd stumbled upon was a store room of some kind. It was much larger than the room behind them. This one was about the size of Lucy's apartment layout, and filled with shelves and work tables. On those shelves, were hundreds of glass jars. A thick layer of dust concealed their contents, and it made the blonde wary to what exactly those contents were.

Natsu went to the shelves and made to pick up one of the jars before Lucy's shout stopped him. "Natsu! Don't touch that! Who knows what could be in it! What if its body parts or something?!"

Amazingly he scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Lucy, you watch too many horror movies. There's no body parts in these jars."

She went up to him and eyed it with suspicion before looking up at him. "You don't know that. They could have practiced some kind of sacrificial ritual or something back then..."

"Yeah, I do know that. I know because I would have smelled it. The room would stink of rotting bodies if that was the case, especially if they were sealed and stewing in their own fluids. These jars wouldn't have been able to seal the stench away."

"Ew, Natsu don't say that..."

He chuckled and gently nudged her shoulder. "Just telling the truth. Don't worry so much Lucy, you're gonna get wrinkles."

"Whose gonna get wrinkles?!"

He laughed, the sound filling the entire room and she couldn't help but admire his amazing ability to always find joy in anything. His laugh dwindled down to chuckles as he finally picked up one of the jars and wiped away the dust.

And came face to face with liquid gold.

"What the hell?"

She came closer and looked down at the jar in his hand before gasping. "Its honey!"

The blonde then picked up another jar and wiped it off before coming face to face with the same thing. "Oh my goodness, these are all filled with honey!"

He snickered. "Told you they weren't filled with body parts."

"Oh shush."

He grinned and then turned to explore the shelves on the other side of the room that were closer to the work tables and attached to the wall above them. They were smaller in number, only three that he could see, and were about the size of a slightly larger than normal medicine cabinet. The jars there were smaller, and it was possible that they contained something else besides honey like the other jars did. When he got to the table he could see various types of dried plants and herbs. He examined the square frames that were at the end of one table, and concluded that they were used to make the honey. Picking up one of the smaller jars, he swiped the dust away to see what was inside and was met with something strange.

Whatever inside of it was purple.

His face scrunched in confusion before he decided to pull the cloth cap off and smell it. Surprisingly, it smelled like honey, but he'd never seen purple honey before. And it didn't smell only of honey. It looked like they'd added some other things to it that made it smell like vanilla, something spicy, and Lavender...Like Lucy.

"Is that purple honey?!"

He jumped, nearly dropping the jar before righting himself and turning to see Lucy, who come to stand next to him and was looking at the jar in his hand with excitement. "You know about this stuff?"

She nodded and smiled. "Its a rare delicacy and its extremely hard to make. I've heard about it but I've never tasted it before. Supposedly it just tastes like regular honey, but the rare color is what makes it expensive."

He looked at the jar in his hand for a moment, before shrugging and sticking his finger into the thick purple liquid. He then swiped a thick glob of it up and stuck it into his mouth. His expression changed immediately into one of shock and wonder.

Lucy shrieked in surprise and horror. "Natsu! Don't eat that! Its old and you don't know what's in it!"

He wasn't aware of her pleas, too absorbed in the taste. It was delicious! It had some kind of woody or mint undertone that brought out the taste of the vanilla and it had a bit of a kick to it. He went to eat more of it before the jar was suddenly taken from his hand. "Lucy! What the hell man, give it back!"

She shook her head, clutching the jar to her chest. "No Natsu, you can't just eat stuff like this. Its thousands of years old and who knows what they could have been adding to it."

He sighed and rubbed his forehead in agitation. "Lucy, honey doesn't spoil. Besides, I didn't smell anything that was dangerous, and there's no little herbs or anything floating in it so nothing was added."

He held out his hand expectantly for the jar, and she reluctantly gave it back to him. He dipped his finger back into it and offered it to her. "Here, have a taste."

She recoiled in disgust. "No way! That's the same finger you just stuck in your mouth!"

He frowned. "Don't be such a baby, now open wide."

"No."

"Lucy..."

"No!"

"Come on Lucy its just a taste, you said you never tasted it before."

"I said no and that's final-"

He moved, and he was suddenly too close to her. She could feel an arm wrap around her waist as he brought his honey coated finger closer to her mouth, a huge grin on his face. "Say Aaaah." He said, in a sing songy voice. She tried to lean her face away from his finger but he only held her tighter. There was clearly no escape but she struggled anyway, which aggravated the pink haired man. "Lucy stop wriggling around like that, you're being dumb!"

She immediately stopped struggling and glared at him. "I'm not dumb-"

The next thing she knew, he'd taken advantage of her speaking and stuck his finger into her mouth. She yelped and her lips closed over his finger in surprise. She sat there for a moment, clearly in shock that he'd actually stuck his finger in her mouth, before realizing that it was still there and turned her head to dislodge it. She succeeded, her lips releasing the digit with a small "pop" sound, but the deed had been done as she began to taste the honey. But, instead of spitting it out, she let the taste spread over her tongue and was surprised to say that she was enjoying it. It certainly didn't taste only like honey, but the combination of the other flavors was very pleasant, almost addictive. She smacked her lips and looked up at Natsu who was grinning, albeit there was a small blush on his face. "See? I told you it was good."

She blushed and looked away from him, but nodded. "It didn't taste like just honey. The bees must have pollinated different plants..."

"See? I told you there was nothing dangerous in it. You should trust me more."

The blonde looked at him, his face beaming with triumph and arrogance and sighed. "I do trust you Natsu, with my life, but that doesn't mean I want your spitty finger in my mouth."

He snorted. "If you can't handle that there's no way you're gonna be able to kiss a guy."

"Huh? I'm sorry I didn't catch that. What did you say?"

The pink haired man stiffened at her too friendly tone and he could see the strained smile on her face as her hand twitched toward the whip on her side. He gulped and looked away, a nervous smile on his face as beads of sweat began to gather on his skin. "Wh-Who me? I didn't say anything. Must've been your imagination."

"Good answer."

...


The daytime hours passed by quickly and soon enough, it was night time. Natsu had decided that the honey was too good to pass up and filled his bags with the regular and purple honey. To his delight, the smaller jars made it that he was able to take every one that he could find. When Lucy tried to protest, he claimed that honey that good and old would be extremely valuable. She reluctantly agreed, but only if he stopped eating it and let her hold on to it. The man had no self control when it came to food and this way they could actually ensure that the honey made it back with them. Surprisingly he did and surrendered the honey to her for safe keeping, even the jar he'd already opened.

Although there wasn't much left in it.

They made it back to the main chamber and discussed their findings with Levy and Gajeel, the latter of which seemingly doing the translations just fine along with the small woman seated beside him. Levy also went and got some honey for herself along with Gajeel. It seemed that it was a favorite snack of his and Pantherlily.

Gajeel and Natsu were now in the cenote fishing for dinner, although at the moment they weren't having much luck. As he watched the water, Natsu thought a lot about what Gajeel said to him in the temple and a frown took over his face. He didn't need to be told that he treated Lucy different from everyone else. He knew that already. She was special, more special than most were to him. She laughed with him, cried with him, fought close to him, bled with him, cooked and ate with him, even slept together, albeit it wasn't very willingly since he did it without her permission...

He didn't have a logical explanation for it. He just couldn't stand the thought of not being close to her. She was always at his side, from the very beginning, and for her not to be there wasn't something that he could ever accept.

His thoughts turned to their little encounter in the "Honey Room". Honestly she was such a drama queen. It was just a little honey, and in the end she even liked it! He could still remember the feeling of her mouth clasped onto his finger, a small blush on her face...

Oh...

He shifted in his seat, a blush of his own blooming over his face. Ever since then, he's been feeling...uncomfortable. He was attracted to her, there was no doubt about that. He was also no stranger to the heat that accompanied that attraction, especially lately. But this heat was almost too much, and that was saying something since he ate fire for breakfast. He'd been in danger of getting multiple erections while watching her, and it wasn't like she was doing anything seductive! Simple things like drinking water had suddenly changed into her pouring the water all over herself while wearing a white T-shirt in his mind. And when she was trying to fix her pony tail, it turned into a show of her flipping her hair in slow motion, a coy smile on her face.

Oh.

Oh no...

It was happening again...

He shifted, trying to find a comfortable position since his pants seemed to be shrinking in size...

He heard footsteps, and before he could look up he was suddenly kicked into the water. He rose to the surface and sputtered, spitting the water out of his mouth as he glared up at his fellow Dragon Slayer, who was the obvious culprit. "The hell did you do that for asshole?!"

"You were being gross. I don't care if you have fantasies about Blondie but you better stay the hell away from me when you do! There will no late night wanking in that tent ya hear me?!"

The pink haired man's face turned red and he tried to protest but Gajeel cut him off. "Save your excuses. I can smell the pheromones you were putting off. That's gross."

Apparently caught, Natsu said nothing before swimming to the edge and climbing out of the water. The heat was still there, he could feel it, but the unexpected dip into the cool water had dampened it somewhat.

And his boner was gone.

That was a plus.

He decided not to dry his clothes off since the cold feeling was working to his advantage. Gajeel had already returned to his seat and seemed to be glaring at the water. After a few moments, he grumbled to himself and looked at Natsu. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need to work together."

Natsu looked at him from the corner of his eye, clearly suspicious. "Oh yeah? For what?"

Gajeel ran his hand through his hair in frustration and looked away, a small blush on his face. "We need to be each others cock-blocks."

"...What?!"

The older man glared at him, clearly not willing to put up with any crap. "You heard what I said, don't make me repeat it."

"But that's crazy!"

"No, me taking off with Levy would have been crazy, but you stopped me. On purpose. Think about it, what better way to keep us in line than for us to get in each others way? You obviously don't want to face that you're in love with Lucy-"

"Shut up!"

"And the Shrimp...Well, that's a whole 'nother thing. But it'll work. It already has. I can't trust you to keep yourself on track, and soon enough, I won't be able to either."

Natsu was about to deny everything Gajeel was saying until he caught the last part of what he said. "...What do you mean soon enough?"

Gajeel stiffened and sighed. He hadn't meant to let that part slip, but he guessed now was a better time than any to drop the knowledge of their impending doom onto him. If not for him, then for Lucy, because he didn't want her to get hurt. "Look...There's a lot to this stuff that I haven't told you yet, not that you've listened to any of the stuff I've already told you. But this time is different, and I need you to pay attention because whether you like it or not, if you don't shape up, Lucy WILL get hurt."

Natsu glared, and at first, anger began to bubble up at the thought of Lucy getting hurt. But then it calmed somewhat when he realized that Gajeel was genuinely trying to help instead of being an asshole. He admitted that in the past he hadn't been receptive to his advice, but after experiencing Gajeel nearly drowning him and Levy's near kidnapping, he figured it was about time for him to start taking what he said seriously. If it can happen to an asshole like Gajeel, he didn't want to imagine what it would be like for it to happen to him.

He's traveled all over, and if he really wanted to take Lucy somewhere they couldn't be found, they wouldn't be. There were plenty of places. The mountains for one. There were plenty of cave systems. But she wouldn't like that because she hated the cold, so that was out. He knew she loved the beach, but there was always a risk of storms tearing the place apart. The forest was always the best option. She would miss their friends but she would have him, her best friend, so she'd be okay. Once Happy and Charle finally got together he would live with her, so he wouldn't have to worry about the flying feline blabbing their location. The forest would satisfy all of their needs. Food, water, privacy, the works. Maybe he could take her where he grew up with Igneel. That was a great spot, and no one knew where it was except him. It was near a lake and a lot of animals visited, so it was a great hunting spot. He could build them a nice house, after all, he built his.

She'd want luxuries, but that was okay. He'd give her whatever she wanted. Sooner or later though, she would want children. He'd thought adopting would be great, except that social workers and all that jazz would want to inspect the house and know where they were. But that was the easy part. He could give her children, even better that they have children together because they would be a combination of both of them. Smart and strong. Lucy would make an amazing mother, and she'd look even more beautiful when she gets pregnant. He could see her sitting in a rocking chair, her one arm full of their first pink haired child, a toddler, while she was round with their second. She'd be telling them one of her stories as she stroked her swollen belly with her free hand, the one with her guild mark. And her face would light up in delight when she felt the still growing baby within her kick. And she'd smile, God she was beautiful when she smiled...That'd be a nice future...

Wait.

What was stopping him from having it?

Oh yeah.

Nothing.

He stood up, not caring that he'd just knocked his fishing pole into the water and made his way toward the stairs. It wasn't important. All that mattered was that he needed to see his Lucy.

His Lucy.

Huh...

He liked the sound of that.

However, he found himself unable to move any further as a large hand gripped his arm. "Oh no you don't. This is exactly what I was afraid of."

He looked behind him to see the frowning face of Gajeel, and he suddenly remembered where he was. "What are you talking about bolt breath? Afraid of what?"

Gajeel didn't answer, only shook his head in what appeared to be disbelief before finally speaking. "You didn't hear a word I said a few minutes ago did you...I explained everything, and you weren't even listening. At least now I know why you were being quiet now..."

Natsu frowned. "What are you talking about? Listening to wha-"

"What is the last thing you heard me say?"

He thought for a moment before answering. "You were talking about Lucy getting hurt because of something."

Gajeel cursed under his breath. "I was speaking for ten minutes after I said that, and you didn't hear a thing. What were you thinking about after that?"

Natsu hesitated to answer, not liking where things were going. "I was thinking about how I didn't want to end up almost kidnapping Lucy like you almost did with Levy. Then I thought about the places where I would hide her because I know a lot of good spots, and then I was worried about building a house, and then kids and Lucy was pregnant..."

His voice started trailing off as the vision from before started coming back. She was rubbing her belly, and she turned to him and gave him that smile, and told him to come over and feel the baby kicking-

A sudden pain in the back of his head snatched him right out of the vision and back to the present, where Gajeel had an angry look on his face, his fist clenched in front of him. "Snap out of it! Don't let the Dragon suck you in. It'll show you enticing images to make you do what it wants you to do."

He tugged Natsu back to their seats with him and kept his grip on his arm. He sighed harshly and ran his other hand through his hair in frustration. "This is bad. Usually if you're snapped out of it its fine, but you slipped right back under in almost no time at all..."

When he said that, it became all too clear what he'd been doing. He realized with horror that while he was thinking about how bad it would be for him to do what Gajeel did, his instincts had taken them over, and made him see the appeal of taking Lucy away. And, if what Gajeel said was true about him slipping back into the vision, well...

He could more than likely call himself good and fucked.

The Iron Dragon Slayer looked at him, and knew that Natsu was finally understanding just how bad the situation was. "Look, I don't want to go through all of that explanation again, so I'll water it down for both our sakes. What you were thinking, was what dragons think about when they are considering making a nest. Male dragons cater to their Queens, which is what female dragons are called. They will make their living arrangements according to what their Queen likes and practically worship them. Wendy is lucky. Female dragons never go through what we're suffering, so she won't have to deal with this. In exchange for catering to them, males get their full attention and time. Its why we want to take them away and hoard them to ourselves, because we're selfish fuckers."

Natsu gulped but stayed silent, something Gajeel was grateful for. "And soon, when the moon turns full, it'll get worse. The full moon makes the Dragon stronger, and near impossible to control. Rational thoughts? Gone. During that night, only the Dragon rules your mind, and it will want its Queen."

The grip on Natsu's arm grew tighter and Gajeel clenched his teeth. "This is why we have to work together. In seven days, the full moon comes. Until then, we have to keep each other from losing control. The Dragon won't care about your fucked up feelings, or if she resists. It'll do whatever it has to do in order to get what it wants."

Natsu's face lost all color when he realized the implications of Gajeel's words. "No...There's no way that I could ever-"

"WAKE UP!"

Natsu jumped at the sudden shout, staring at Gajeel in surprise. He looked pissed off. "This isn't a matter of if it could happen! Metalicana has seen it happen. I wasn't the first one he trained in Iron Dragon Slayer magic. He told me that the kid before me didn't heed his warnings, and when he found a girl he liked, he did everything we're doing right now. She didn't want him, but he was too far gone to care, and when the full moon came around, he lost control...And when he did, he didn't just succeed in kidnapping her, he raped and accidentally killed her because she was fighting back. They executed him, and from then until the time Metalicana forgave himself enough to take me in, he hadn't trained anyone. That's why when it came time to warn me, he kicked my ass to make sure I listened."

He looked down and clenched his teeth. "That's why we need to be in this together. No bullshit, no arguing, just keeping each other from that reaching that point. We might not like each other all that much, and personally I think you're a pink haired little shit that couldn't tell his head from his ass, but we're both Fairy Tail, and we're family, including Lucy and Levy. We protect our family from any danger, even if that danger is ourselves...Right?"

Gajeel released the hold he had on his arm, and held his fist out to him, waiting for him to reply.

The pink haired man stared at it for a moment, before taking his own fist and gently knocking against his fellow Dragon Slayer's. "Right."

Gajeel nodded and went back to trying to catch some fish, before he was suddenly kicked into the water. He immediately swam up to the surface and looked up at the grinning mage. "What the hell was that for Pinky?!"

"You didn't think I would forget about you kicking me in the water earlier did you?"

Gajeel's jaw dropped, and Natsu roared in laughter. And just like that, the tension was gone, and everything was at peace again.

For now.

...


Hey guys! Sorry for the wait! Like I said before, I had to unexpectedly babysit my sister, and yesterday I wasn't feeling so well and passed out before I could finish. I was supposed to include on more part for this, but it wasn't important enough to delay the posting another day, so I decided to just add it in the beginning of Chapter 8. Don't worry, I'm not dead, and I will finish this. I have every intention of it. Thanks again for reading!