Sorry for making you guys wait so long it's just that I'm traveling around a lot…so yahhh I hope you guys like it – no I'm not describing anything inappropriate about what they did…god this makes me feel like a weirdo -.- ohhh I saw a pic that seems to support NaLu (or is it LuNa?) and ish sorta a sneak peek to the movie coming out in august…Oh and um…umm…Thanks for reading! Please like it. I'll work harder if you don't! ummmmmm if you don't understand some stuff just ask about it and I'll try and answer you but if not then yeah…um…jeez JUST READ ALREADY AND IGNORE THESE WORDS! :D I love you if you don't XD

Chapter Seven

Lucy

Sometimes he was calm when he asked me that pestering question. He'd just say it out of the blue, almost as though he was happy to ask.

Mostly he was violent.

Despite what he was doing, he was wondering the question coolly. I was expected to answer with my bleeding lip and swollen, purple cheeks. I felt like an entire bruise – I wouldn't be surprised if I was too. The side of my head probably needed some ice – it would need a lot of it – and some gauzy bandages to stem the blood from leaking out any more. My eyes couldn't keep a hold on Claude, blurring his glowing green eyes and black hair.

I didn't utter a recognizable word but I was having trouble keeping from groaning with pain, coming from my ankle – the one he was squashing under his foot. I had an excuse to; a concussion, a broken or twisted ankle, and a whole lot of blood surrounding my body.

With the excuse or without it, I still didn't want to make him smile with his sick satisfaction. I had to hold on more – hopefully Regina would come back and tell me how long I'd been in here now. I needed to give Ryuu a week to run before I made an effort to escape myself; the escape that would bring the entirety of whatever army Claude had hired to guard me and find him.

"WHO IS THE FATHER?" he bellowed, making me cringe at his loud voice. "WHO IS THE FATHER TO YOUR DAMN SON?" were his words while he brutally kicked me. Somewhere, another wound opened from his attack.

I gathered what I could of my spit and spat at him – my saliva landing on his cheek.

Claude wiped it off with his stained gloves, smearing my blood across his face. His foot crushed against my ankle even harder and I could be sure now that it was fractured at the very least.

My voice shrieked out a cry that wouldn't be answered.

Natsu

The beer I held in my hand was ice cold but it warmed my throat up nicely – causing me to like each mouthful I took in. This bar wasn't as good as the one that Mira ran, back at Fairy Tail, but it would have to do for the night.

Master had once told me to never forget her if I really did feel the way I did for her. One day I would see her again if it was ever meant to be – if not then that would be all.

Then Loke just had to tell me, huh. He just had to tell me the worst news of my life – something that just crushed whatever hope came from Master's words. Right off the bat came those three words and they weren't Lucy loves you.

Did the fact she had already been hitched mean that everything had been a lie?

I didn't want to think about it though – I had left the guild for a little bit after answering their questions about what had happened between the two of us. They had no problem with me doing so; their faces were all suggesting that I should though.

Even though Erza had suggested that shouldn't think about her that much, I was still dwelling on the thoughts of her. Her cheerful chocolate eyes and her small but lovely smiles – the ones that everyone missed – weren't things that would be easily forgotten.

Now that my own kid had showed up, they were never going to leave my mind.

Gray was laughing something off with Juvia who was tagging along with us on our mission. Lisanna was talking to Happy about flying techniques, making motions with her hand for clarification. Erza was figuring out something with a local – our location. Nobody believed me but I knew where we were since I had came here with her a few times before; soon we would come up to the building.

Love and Lucky was the guild Lucy's parents named her after – when the sign's 'Lucky' had turned into 'Lucy' when its 'k' had fallen off. I'd never forget anything about her.

"Oi!" I heard the idiot shout to me, "You shouldn't go that far off or else–"

I ignored him, daring to walk faster as the rest of them began to attempt to call me back as well. Erza was finally realizing the situation to stop discussing things with the local, enough to scream for me to get back to them. I kept walking without flinching at her command.

There was an obvious crowd of people; during the fall people harvested and with the harvest came the people to buy fresh produce. As the place was a merchant's guild, it would be bustling with buyers and sellers. Those who weren't selling food would be selling their goods – or trading them – to those who wanted things for next-month Christmas presents.

I wasn't looking for something that could be bought; at least, not with Jewels – I actually wasn't looking for anything. I rather just wanted to get lost so then I would find what I was looking for – I've heard that the method worked well.

"Excuse me," someone beside me said, trying to move past me while carrying something big in their hands. The sound of her voice was kind of familiar, almost as though I had heard it plenty of times before. I kept walking through the crowds, hardly paying attention to the voice that had excused itself – I still moved for her (it didn't sound like a deep voice).

She walked ahead of me, holding a bundle of things in her hands – the stack wobbling, threatening to fall down. The boxes she was holding were gigantic compared to her and it didn't seem as though she could hold onto them for long.

That was proven with a few more steps forward, when one toppled backwards while she walked ahead. It was a package wrapped up in colorful paper – no doubt expensive with all of its decoration – and it was one of the smallest out of all those that she had.

I picked it up and was about to tell her that she had dropped it, but it seemed that she couldn't hear a word I said. The box said that it was for someone named…Plue.

Plue – wasn't that the name of one of Lucy's Celestial Spirits?

"Hey!" I called to her again, starting to chase after her with the present in my hand – a prepared excuse if it wasn't her.

The blonde was slowing down as she reached a doorstep, the boxes balanced on one of her knees and held steady by one of her hands; while the one that was free was fumbling with her jacket's pocket. She stuck a key into its socket before turning it, unlocking the door that it locked.

"Lucy!" I yelled out – not even bothering to turn her four-lettered name into a question. The girl turned back and I could see the face I missed so much.

"Natsu?" she said aloud as she turned my way. I could hear her breath catch when her brown eyes saw me. She dropped the things she was holding, each of them tumbling down the few steps leading up to her house.

The both of us were quietly staring at each other despite all the things that we wanted to say. Really, what was I going to say to a woman I hadn't seen for a year? A woman that I loved – a woman who never told me her answer about how she felt in return.

With my bitterness, I started to pick up the fallen packages while she turned away
towards her door to finish opening it. A few minutes later, the both of us were in her home; not speaking as I dazedly stared at her.

As casually as I could, I tried to make the tension between us disappear, "Who are the presents for?"

"Loke, Plue, Aries – all of them actually."

"What is this place?" I asked, looking around to see all of the furniture new and shiny.

She smiled a little before telling me that it was going to be her soon-to-be home. Then she broke the question first of, "Why are you here?"

"I could ask the same–"

"I asked first Natsu," she interjected.

"First is the worst." I playfully retorted without any humor. Lucy shook her head as she lightly laughed.

She looked as though she was thinking about how to answer me when she asked, "Did you come to taunt me?"

I crossed my arms and sighed, "You didn't answer me."

"Probably because I didn't want to," she 'answered' back, her voice rising slightly with each word she said.

"I wasn't talking about this question." I said, "The one from last year."

She froze when she recalled my words before turning away from me again. Her slender fingers fiddled with the slightly ripped paper on Plue's present, trying to mend it with some tape.

"So it's a no?" I bitterly asked, her silence speaking for her.

Her head turned towards me, quickly responding, "I didn't say–"

"Well I can tell that's the way it is Luce." I said to her, putting a hand through my hair to try and calm myself down.

"I didn't say that Natsu."

"THEN WHAT DID YOU WANT TO SAY?" I burst, my sadness turning into frustration. "YOU LEFT THE GUILD AND NEVER TOLD ME ANYTHING – WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO THINK?"

"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO THINK ABOUT ME!" she yelled. "I WANTED EVERYBODY TO FORGET ABOUT ME SO YOU GUYS WOULDN'T–"

She stopped herself and dug her nails on the table we had placed the packages on. I lowered my voice when I asked what was wrong, immediately worried. Lucy shook her head, making the idea of restraining myself even harder.

"What's wrong," I persistently interrogated, getting closer to her and managing to hug her. "You don't tell me anything anymore."

I could hear and feel her crying, clutching onto my shirt like she wasn't going to let go. The thought of her crying was painful and the sight was even more torturous. There were plenty of questions that went through my mind while I held her.

But the one that made me the most curious was: What is she hiding from me?

I wasn't going to make her tell me, not when she was crying her eyes out. The mood didn't seem appropriate to force her to say something she didn't want to.

We stood there even though she had stopped; just the two of us holding onto each other.

"I'm sorry Natsu," were the words she surprised me with. I never expected for her to say those words to me.

"It's okay Luce," I murmured, stroking her silky strands of hair. "It's okay."

She tried to push away from me but was stuck between me and the table behind her. I shook my head when she politely asked me to let go.

"I'm never letting you go." I whispered. Lucy widened those beautiful brown eyes and sadly smiled back at me.

"I don't want to let go of you either." She softly admitted.

There was a space – an unwanted space – between the two of us and soon enough that gap was shut when our lips met.

"I must be dreaming." I said with a gasp when we finally broke away.

I knew I didn't want to wake up if it was.

Gray

Damn Erza, making me go look for the flame brain in the middle of the night – especially when the conversation was just getting interesting. They were all going to figure out how to break the news to the kid – that his dad was there and that he would be able to get with him. She wanted Natsu to be presentable to his son.

Juvia was beside me, so it'd be okay until she would start talking about babies.

Who would have thought the Natsu had turned himself into a guy who was stronger and smarter, had a kid. If someone had told me about it, I would have laughed and called him crazy.

But there he was, stronger, smarter, and well…much more mature than he was years before.

"Gray-sama," the girl beside me called, "do you think that Ryuu-san knows?"

I shrugged at her question, "Depends on whether or not Lucy told him – I doubt it though."

Juvia had a surprised look on her face, "Why? Gray-sama knew his father, right?"

I nodded, looking inside the remaining, open shops and bars to see if Natsu was in any of them. She continued after seeing me confirm it.

"Why would she not tell Ryuu-san about his father?"

"'Cuz then he would start asking questions about where he was and why he left."

"But Natsu-san said that Lucy-san left him after they…" she blushed – something I tried ignoring.

I shook my head again, "If Ryuu was told about Natsu, then he'd be all fussy and want to see him, right? It'd be easier if he didn't know who it was."

She sighed and stopped talking to help me search for the guy who had lost his lover.

All of this sounded like some dramatic play – oh this girl's pregnant with this guy's kid and this guy doesn't know! It was seriously stupid. Lucy could have at least told him through a letter or something like it but Natsu swore that she never did.

So…why didn't she?

I brought up with question to Juvia, something to replace the boring silence while we walked through the streets.

"Maybe Lucy-san didn't want Natsu-san to know like she didn't want Ryuu-san to – as Gray-sama said, it would have been easier."

"But Lucy knows things of what's right and what's–"

"Gray-sama," Juvia bravely interrupted. "There is no right or wrong in this kind of matter – it was up to Lucy-san to decide whether Natsu-san sh–"

"But he had the right to know!" I argued. "He's Ryuu's dad for Christ's sake!"

"Lucy-san was the one taking care of him!"

"Why are you siding with Lucy all of a sudden?" I asked, "Isn't she your 'love rival' or something?"

Juvia blushed furiously while stammering, "We-well i-if sh-she h-had R-Ryuu-s-san with N-Natsu-s-san, L-Lucy-san isn't Juvia's l-love ri-rival."

"Are you serious?" I questioned, laughing a little – a strange sour laugh – when she nodded. "That's kinda stupid."

The girl's blush was lasting ridiculously long, her eyes darting away each time I turned back to look at her.

I wondered why I felt kind of happy each time I saw her face.

Ryuu

Natsu-y was telling the people things about someone. He looked really sad when he was talking about him. I wondered what he was talking about that was making Logee look so mad. I didn't want to hear what they were saying because their words all seemed very sad. What they were talking about was probably something I wasn't supposed to listen to anyway.

It's always about something. If I looked around the room, I would see people talking about something. If I saw Shizzy-sama and Mommy, I would see them looking mad about something.

All of them didn't look they wanted to play with me anymore – not even Shizzy-sama.

Shizzy-sama used to be around Mommy and me a lot before she went away and never came back to see us again. The last time I saw her was when she was with Mommy and they were both sad because Shizzy-sama wasn't coming back to us again.

I was watching Natsu-y and the people with the funny looking faces. They had wide eyes, open mouths, and sometimes they looked at me for a long time with those faces.

For some reason, I didn't like it; the…feeling they gave off to me made me shiver.

It wasn't like they were angry at me – it wasn't like the looks that mean man gave Mommy when he saw me. They just seemed really…surprised. Yup, that was the word – surprised.

I tried to climb onto Shizzy-sama's lap since Logee had let me down to hit Natsu-y. She picked me up and put me where I wanted to go without looking at me. When I saw her though, she seemed scared. I wondered what Shizzy-sama was so scared of, especially because she was strong.

There were so many people here that I could tell were them since Mommy had told me all about them. Nobody was watching me when I was on Shizzy-sama's lap but I got to see everybody and name them all.

Meerahjayne was very pretty and her brother Ellfman wasn't as short as an elf – just like Mommy said! Their sister Leezana almost seemed like she was going to cry but she was really cute like Meerahjayne!

Massterr was as tall as me and his hat was really cool. Laxsus was next to Shizzy-sama, looking meanly at me while I sat very close to her – when I hid inside her, he seemed angrier.

Levee was next to Gahjeel and sometimes she smiled at me – I smiled too. Gahjeel looked really scary but when he was next to Levee, he wasn't as scary-looking. Wendee was beside the two of them, sitting on one of the tables with Panthurleelee, Charlee, and Happee next to her.

Ursa, Logee, and Gay were next to Natsu-y, listening carefully to every word he was saying – like the rest of the guild. They had mad faces while they looked at him; he was actually receiving that face from many of the men.

I think that they were blaming him for something but I didn't know what it was – maybe that was what they were talking about.

After a while, Natsu-y stopped talking and began to walk to the door to leave.

"Shizzy-sama," I called to the woman I sat on, tugging on her jacket's sleeve. "What's he doing?"

She looked at me and put her hands through my hair, "Natsu's going out for a bit while we talk to you. Don't worry, he'll come back."

"Then why does he have to go out?"

"Doesn't he look tired Ryuu?" she asked back, "Wouldn't you want to go out for fresh air if you were that tired?"

"No, I'd wanna sleep." I proudly answered. She laughed a little and ruffled her fingers through my long hair again.

All of them gathered together while Shizzy-sama brought me to a place she said was the special corner – a place where she said nobody was allowed to go. It didn't look very special at all though; just a board with papers on it and a couple of tables and chairs.

But since Shizzy-sama said it was a special place, it must be that I was a special kid! I asked her if I was and she nodded.

"You are very special Ryuu," she told me. "Your mother told me that once."

"Really? Is it because I'm her baby?"

She nodded and shook her head, "It was because she said you had a wonderful power."

My eyes grew bigger while I moved my head up and down to tell her that I did. Shizzy-sama then asked, "Can you show it to me, here?"

I smiled at her and nodded my head before hopping off of her comfy lap. Mommy never let me use my power at home because she said that the house might burn down. I never asked her what it meant but she always said that burning was a bad thing for a house to do.

I stood in front of her like I was doing a show – like I did with Mommy once – and held out my hands. It felt nice to get to play with the things called flames again.

"Please don't tell Mommy or else she might get mad."

Shizzy-sama bobbed her head before calling Laxsus to the special corner and they talked about somebody for a little bit. I didn't hear anything because the other people kept watching at me to so I wouldn't.

Instead, Laxsus asked me, "Kid, do you know who your dad is?"

I shook my head, "Mommy never told me."

I think everyone in the room sighed but I didn't know why. To cheer them up I told them the things Mommy told me about my daddy.

"Daddy always helped Mommy whenever he saw that she was in trouble. He didn't like to see anybody hurt in front of him and as long as they weren't mean, he would help them. She said that Daddy was the one who brought her to a geeld." I let them know. "He was funny, nice, and he loved her very much. She said that she left Daddy 'cuz there was a bad man chasing her."

The Guild

"That would be Claude," Loke said, "I know that the two of them were married but, I guess because of Natsu, she never loved him."

"Then why get married to him?" Mirajane demanded to know – she looked angry most likely for her younger sister's sake. "If she never loved him why did she leave us and get marrie–"

Levy interrupted, "Remember what her dad told her – that she would be Claude's property if she didn't return soon. That was written to her about a year before we came back to Fairy Tail!"

"Why try and return back to us now though?" Erza asked, "If she was his property then shouldn't she have stayed with him?"

"She had Ryuu so maybe she didn't want Cla–" Master began to suggest.

Shizuka interrupted, "No. Lucy-sama didn't love aniki."

Everybody looked at her, wondering if they heard the word for "older brother" correctly.

"Claude Yufukuna is your older brother?" the eldest of them all asked for the rest.

"Step brother to be exact. The first son of my father and his mother – I'm an illegitimate child."

While everyone pondered on that gossip, Loke brought up something from the past, "I was surprised to see you here, you know – after your aniki had gone and decided to attack Lucy."

"I didn't know he would do this – in the first place why aren't you going back to find her?" Shizuka snapped.

"I'm trying but Luce told us to take care of her kid – first time she ever ordered us to do something," he said. "I can still feel her command, so she's not dead."

The doors banged open at the hands of one hell of a drunk, who came dizzily trudging towards the silent crowd that watched him. Gray came in with Juvia, with another thundering set of the door crashing again, Gray looking as though he was trying to come up with an excuse – Erza looked as though she was going to explode.

"I thought I told you to bring him back sober," she menacingly assumed while Natsu slumped over a nearby, empty table. Happy was hysteric when he laid his eyes on him, flying towards him as though the man was dying. Instead, he gave a couple of grumbles before quieting down.

Gray stuttered his apologies and excuses while Juvia scooted away so he could take the damage Erza could possibly send out. As she reached Lisanna's table, where the girl was covering her face on, she sat while patting her previous partner's back. Some soothing words were exchanged between the two and the conversations over the matters began again.

"We don't know where Lucy is, do we?"

"She should be somewhere with Claude, right?" someone said – and everyone's heads swiveled to Shizuka and Ryuu.

"I'm illegitimate so I have no knowledge of wher –" the woman told.

"You were hired by him once!" Loke cried out.

"Well now I'm not!" she defended. "You guys don't have to trust me to believe it – check me; I'm clean of all the blood he made me shed by now. I came here because Lucy said this place would be good for me. The only place my father talked to my mother was on a bed – in other words, I don't have a single clue to where his son could be."

Laxus spoke up for his fiancé, "Besides, he's a wealthy guy – he can either be freely seen or pay to be hidden."

Levy nodded at his comment while flipping through a couple of books, "I don't see anything about him in these – Laxus may be right about paying to be hidden."

"Then what about his father?" Erza questioned, going to all points. Levy shook her head.

"I don't see any records for anymore Yufukunas' – they might be erased by Claude for his own purposes."

The room was quiet again, failing to think up anything else. Ryuu looked around curiously; wondering why everyone was like this and why none of them seemed to be happy.

"Are you talking about my mommy?" he asked in a small, shy voice. Nobody answered his question but he could tell by the way their frowns seemed to droop even lower. He ducked his small head down.

"Mommy said you were the people who never gave up in anything and that she missed you but because of the bad man, she ran away. The bad man didn't like me and he called my mommy a 'horr.'"

Natsu froze on his table – the sound of his teeth grinding together heard by all through the silence. No doubt he was going to feel vicious to that certain 'bad man.'

"Mommy told me that the bad man wasn't my daddy. Mommy must have loved Daddy a lot, enough to make her be the one that's hurt," the boy said, his head down but the floor beneath his chair pooling with drops of tears. "I hate that man – I hate them both. I hate my daddy for not helping Mommy even though she said he always did."

The man, who was now cringing from the pain that came from the kid's words, wasn't sure what anybody what else would have said or done. He had always been the one to protect Lucy when she had been hurt – the one who always came to save her.

Why did it hurt so much to know that this time, he was the one being protected?

Kage

"Sir," another mercenary called from behind me. "What are we supposed to do?"

I sighed, annoyed by this familiar man's incessant string of questions. Was he deaf and need for me to perform signs so he could understand my words?

"We are to warn them – make them tell us who the boy's father is."

"Whose father?"

"The wench's son's father, you fool!" I exasperatingly told him. He still didn't seem to quite understand me with his face looking as dumb as a dog. He opened his mouth again to make me clarify it all over again.

I think slitting his throat was sufficient in making it clear.

The others weren't disturbed by my action – possibly because I had done it plenty of times in front of them. Eating the weak or the slow was necessary to survival; as I had taught my men.

We were now short one man but six people were enough to intimidate still. If it came to a fight however, we were at a disadvantage with a measly number of us.

I sighed, knowing that it was needed to help the guild stay away before biting through my skin on one of my fingers. The blood that dripped out molded into whatever I wanted it to be; this time it was one beautifully bruised and broken woman who would help in scaring them.

"None of them are to die at our hands." I ordered. "We want information; save the bloodshed for the day they try to take back their fallen comrade."

SOOOOO um just this once, I'm doing this character profile about Ryuu for this little part so yeah…read if you don't get Ryuu that much.

Mother: Lucy Heartfilia

Father: Natsu Dragneel

Age: Three – don't know if you guys think he acts like it though

Hair Color: Orange (if you mix pink and yellow you get orange like red and yellow)

Eye Color: Black

Skin Color: Like Lucy's…a.k.a normal?

Magic: Fire (like Natsu's)

Personality: Shy, Nice, Innocently Funny, Playful, Understanding, Mature in thoughts don't you think?

Learning Ryuu's Names Translated

Ursa = Erza Leezana = Lisanna Natsu-y = Natsu Gay(XD) = Gray Shizzy-sama = Shizuka

Laxsus = Laxus Levee = Levy Massterr = Master Makarov Gahjeel = Gajeel Wendee = Wendy

Panthurleelee = Pantherlily Charlee = Charle Happee = Happy Mommy = Lucy

Mean/Bad Man = Claude Logee = Loke Meerahjayne = Mirajane Ellfman = Elfman