Here's the next chapter! First of all though, I want to thank everyone for their positive reviews. Someone asked if the attack that Lucy did was a combination of the elements that rule under the void. The answers to that is no. the dragon's roar she did was actually the Void Dragons' Roar, the void element of creativity and the heavens. It's both light and darkness hence why it was grey! Hope that clears things up!
Chapter 7 – Then There Were Four!
Erza looked at the dead body of the demon they had been fighting only moments ago, confusion etched in her face as she wondered where the hell the magical grey blast had come from.
"Erza… what the hell just happened?" growled Gray looking at the re-quip mage for answers.
"Who cares!" yelled Natsu as he perform what seem to be a chicken dance on the demons head.
"Aye!" yelled Happy happily as he too performs the chicken dance in mid-air.
"We beat the demon!" Natsu and Happy high-fived.
"But that's the thing… we didn't." stated Erza looking around.
"That attack from earlier caused the demon to finally fall. Where did it come from?"
"Hey Natsu?" said the blue exceed suddenly, no longer dancing beside his pink haired partner.
"Do you get the feeling we're forgotten something?"
The group went into silent pondering until finally it clicked, they turned as one towards their blonde teammate and a sense of panic flared between them as they saw her slumped on the ground.
"LUCE!" yelled Natsu in a blind panic and rushed off towards his fallen nakama, he skidded to his knees beside her and lifted her up in his arms.
"What happened!" asked Loki as he and the other caught up.
"I don't know! She shouldn't have been in any danger!" shouted Gray looking at his still comrade.
"I don't believe it! She's run out of magic, no wonder I had to switch to my own earlier."
Natsu ignored the others as she stared down at the blonde cradled in his arms; she looked almost like she was sleeping with her lips slightly open.
Natsu blinked a few times before moving his face closer to Lucys, he had just noticed her teeth and couldn't quite register what he was seeing. He slowly moved one of his fingers to her mouth and ran his fingertip across her canines.
They were sharp, like his.
"What the hell are you doing!" exclaimed Gray in shock as he noticed the salamander's finger in the stellar mages mouth.
Lucy snapped her eyes open and panicked when she felt a foreign object in her mouth.
"GWAHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Natsu in pain as Lucy's jaws clamped shut on his finger, Lucy quickly opened her mouth in realization and Natsu jumped up howling with pain as blood dribbled down his red throbbing finger.
"Ah! I'm sooo sorry!" panic Lucy as she sprang to her feet as Gray fell to the ground clutching his bare chest laughing
"Serves the flame head right for sticking his finger in your mouth!" choked Gray as he continued to laughed.
Lucy frown and glared at Natsu, getting ready to scold him for indeed he did put his finger in her mouth and that itself is just plain weird. However she stopped herself when she saw small tears appearing in the corner of the fire mages eyes.
"Wow, I really must have hurt him." Thought Lucy feeling guilty all of a sudden.
"God damn it!" screeched Natsu and he stuck his throbbing finger in his mouth, whinging slightly as a hot sear of pain flashed through his finger.
Lucy sighed and walked over to her nakama, gently she placed her hand on his arm and pulled it so that his still bleeding finger popped out of his mouth.
Natsu never made any movement or sound as Lucy closely examined his finger and grimaced. Without a word the blonde grabbed the helm of her skirt and pulled hard, a ripping sound echoed around the partially destroyed town.
Carefully she wrapped the ripped piece of fabric that had once been part of her skirt around the salamander's finger and tied it in a knot just enough to stop the bleeding and not be too uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry…" whispered Lucy and she looked down, tears threating to form in her hazel brown eyes.
Lucy gasp when she felt a warm hand being placed gently on her cheek, she looked up to see a grinning Natsu.
"Don't worry about it Luce! It's my fault for sticking my finger in that gaping hole you call a mouth!"
Lucy growled and whacks the pink haired mage around the head.
"I do not have a gaping hole for a mouth!" she snapped as Natsu only gave his trade mark grin, rubbing the spot where she had hit him.
"And why were you sticking your finger in my mouth anyway! Do you know how weird that is!"
"I agree, I want to know why myself." Said Ezra glaring at Natsu who froze and started to sweat nervously.
"W-well I noticed her teeth seemed a bit strange." Natsu said as he grabbed Lucy and pointed to her mouth. Lucy went wide-eyed and clamp her jaws shut, she didn't want the others to know about her little "problems" until she understood what was going on.
"Open your mouth." Commanded Erza giving her famous glare to Lucy who felt like her soul was on fire.
"A-aye!" squeaked Lucy and she quickly complied; going against Erza when she gave you that kind of glare was like signing your own death.
Lucy opened her mouth wide and flinched as Erza metal gloved hand grabbed her chin, pulling her mouth closer for inspection.
Erza stared at the blonde unusually sharp canines, then her eyes flickered to Natsu and finally to the demon still crumpled lifeless on the floor. Erza stared at the blonde again and thoughts of yesterday came back, it seems she needed to have a little chat with a certain Sky Dragon Slayer to confirm a small speculation she had forming in her mind.
Lucy felt confused as Erza simply let of her chin, everyone watched as the Re-quip mage began to walk away.
"Let's collect our reward." The scarlet haired women simply said as she continued to march away.
Lucy gave a huge sigh of relief but then started to cringe as she looked around the destroyed homes of Gwendo. She began to drag her feet after the wake of Erza just hoping her share of the reward would be enough to pay her rent.
Natsu simply walked besides the depressed blonde grinning as Happy launch into a tale of all the fish he would buy with the money, and Gray quickly ran after them cursing under his breath after finding all his discarded clothes.
"I am soooo beat!" yawned Lucy widely as she pushed herself away from the desk where she had just finished another chapter to her novel. Lucy looked at the dark sky out of the window, thinking back on the events that had transpired earlier today.
Thankfully the people of Gwendo town seemed that delighted that the demon is finally gone that they didn't care some of the building got destroyed in the process, they was going to pay them the full amount. Empathize on the word was!
Erza just had to say to them that they could keep half of their reward to help pay towards the damages done. Stupid Erza! On the good point though, the blonde's reward share is just enough to pay for her rent and other things as well.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Lucy yelp in alarm and fall backwards off her chair, who the hell would be visiting her at this time of night.
The blonde gingerly made her way downstairs and open the door to revel Rico and Felicia standing at her doorstep.
"Lu!" squealed Felicia in delight and she glomped the poor stellar mage.
"You guys!" gasped Lucy, Felicia's hug squeezing her tightly.
"What are you doing here?"
Rico smiled warmly at the blonde and chuckled.
"We came to see you of course! Someone told us you live here so we came to visit. Can we come in?"
Lucy nodded blankly and Rico stepped into the cozy house.
"So… what did you come here for?" asked Lucy as she served tea to her old nakama sitting at her table in the living room.
"I told you, to see you." Rico took a sip of his tea and gently placed it back down, smacking his lips.
"And to have a little chat with you."
Lucy raised her eye-brow at Rico, she knew there were something else to why they came to see her.
"Lucy, do you remember Tengoku?" asked Felicia after downing her tea in one go.
"Yes I do… but I couldn't before." Said Lucy frowning as she scratched the back of her head. There was no point denying anything since they properly knew more about her problem then she did.
"Well that's understandable, I mean you did have your slayer magic and memories sealed away." Nodded Rico in thoughtful thinking.
"S-sealed away?" stuttered Lucy staring at the man before her.
"Yep, you asked a mage who's experienced in sealing magic to seal away your dragon slayer magic and memories. That's why you can't remember anything" said Rico looking deep into the blonde's eyes, causing her blush slightly.
"But the seal's breaking up!" chimed in Felicia happily.
"That's why your magic and memories are slowly resurfacing!"
Lucy stared at her old friends before, everything made sense now! The dreams and physical changes! The blonde felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, the panic, confusion and uncertainly feeling permanently plaguing her ever since this all started to happen now disappeared.
Though one question is still bothered Lucy.
"That's good to know, I thought I was going to go crazy at any moment!" sighed Lucy and she drank the last remaining dregs of her tea.
"Now then, what did you mean back at my guild when you said you had abandoned me?"
Rico and Felicia looked at each other and smiled sadly at Lucy.
"Do you remember our dream? The dream of one day setting up our very own magic Guild, the Diamond Blades?" asked Rico grinning.
Lucy nodded.
"Well, we got into a spot of trouble; our little clan was in rivalry with another clan who also wanted to set up their own guild."
Lucy leaned towards Rico with upmost concentration, Rico smiled widely when he saw that he had the blonde's full attention.
"One day a fight broke out between them and us, the fight got that out of hand that all of us, including them got seriously injured. But we didn't stop."
"It was terrible…" whispered Felicia as her eyes held the horror of that day.
"What was a simple petty fight between two clans soon escalated into a fight to the death!"
Lucy gasped in horror, silently she started to dread when memories of that event would resurface in her dreams.
"You see Lucy, even though you were severely injured, you wanted to continue to fight in order to protect us. We couldn't allow that to happen, so we knocked you out ourselves and hid you so that you would be safe."
Rico stopped talking and bent his head over the table, his hands clasping over the back of his head.
"After the fight had ended I and Rico along with the others were arrested by the Rune Knights. We never saw you again after that, it was only a few weeks ago when we learned that you had a seal placed upon yourself soon after the fight." Said Felicia placing a gentle hand on Rico's shoulder.
"Can you ever forgive us Lucy?" asked Rico sadly looking up and staring with pleading eyes.
"Of course I forgive you." Smiled Lucy as she gently placed a hand upon his.
"We're nakama after all."
"Thank you Lu! Now we can finally relax!" smiled Felicia cheerfully as Rico grinned.
"Right, we better get going. Thanks for the tea Lucy, me and Felicia will see you again later." Rico and Felicia stood up from their chairs.
Lucy bid them goodnight and gently closed the door, a smile fixed warmly on her face. Though one thing still niggled at the back of her mind, why did she seal away her slayer magic and memories in the first place?
Lucy gingerly walked up the stairs to her bedroom, tiredness lacing her body. As soon as she opened the door though, she got a whiff of a familiar ash scent. Lucy sighed and walked over to her bed, the blanket on her bed having a strange lump to it.
"I know your there Natsu." Said the blonde as she crossed her arms.
Pink hair and a face popped from within the blanket grinning at her, seconds later a blue furry head popped out too.
"Sorry Lucy but I love your bed! It's the best bed ever!" he cheered.
"Aye!" yelled Happy in agreement and both heads popped back under the covers.
Normally Lucy would scream and yell at the two but for some reason she didn't quiet mind it. With a sigh she grabbed one corner of the blanket and pulled.
"Awww Luce! Don't be mean!" pouted Natsu as he sat cross-legged on the bed.
"You have your own bed now shoo! I'm tired!" groaned Lucy as she tapped her bare foot on the wooden floorboards.
"Come on Luce! Let me sleep in your bed! Please! You did bite me remember?" said Natsu with puppy dog eyes, holding up his bandage finger. Lucy noticed it were still wrapped up with the fabric of her skirt.
Lucy felt her heart melt.
"Ok… just this once." She muttered, completely ignoring the fact that she bit him because he had stuck his finger in her mouth.
The stellar mage threw the blanket back on the bed and went to change into her nightwear in the bathroom.
(Nightwear is a simple pink short sleeveless top and pink pants go get her Natsu! Rawr!)
"Do you always wear your clothes in bed?" stated Lucy coming out of the bathroom and climbing into bed.
"It just… weird."
Natsu looked at her with a thoughtful expression then leaped out of bed and started to strip, throwing his discarded clothes on the floor.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" yelled Lucy in shock and embarrassment, her face burning bright red as Natsu stripped leaving only his white boxers on.
"You just said it was weird to sleep in your clothes! Sheesh Luce you're a weirdo!" said Natsu rolling his eyes as he jumped back into bed.
Lucy sat frozen stiff as Natsu snuggled into the bed with delight, seeing the fire mage almost naked body had sent the blonde's heart into overdrive.
"What are doing? You can't sleep sitting up weirdo." Muttered Natsu and he pulled his nakama down to him in the bed.
Lucy swallowed hard and felt her face burning as Natsu snuggled up behind her and wrapped his warm strong arms around her waist.
"Night Luce…." Said the Dragon Slayer sleepily and within seconds he was snoring.
Lucy felt like a train wreck inside, her heart going haywire and her face burning so much she swore it was going to melt from the heat soon. Eventually the heat from Natsu's body and his intoxicating smell soon had Lucy relaxing in his arms.
"Stupid…" muttered Lucy and she closed her eyes smiling. She was unwilling to admit it but, she felt herself slowly falling for the pink haired buffoon. She only hoped that maybe, just maybe. He felt the same way too.
