A/N: I got out of the hospital! YAY! Surgery went better then expected and since i have high pain tolerance i don't need to take any pain medication only anti-biotics so that i don't get an infection. Hope everyone enjoyed the story so far and more comments at the end of this chapter. Enjoy!
I wake up with tears streaming down my face and Natsu hugging me tightly. I look around and see my friends around me. I breathe out a deep sigh of relief. That wasn't a dream. It was a memory. I now remember that day as clear as crystal. It was the day when Natsu had found out about the death of his biological mother. He had been upset the whole day but when I had told him that I would be with him forever he instantly became happy.
"Are you okay?" Natsu whispers as everyone returns to their spots trying not to intrude.
I nod against his chest "I just had a dream"
"Was it a good dream?" He says playing with my hair.
"Yes and no"
He looks down at me confused "What do you mean?"
"It was a memory. We were kids."
He smiles "Which one was it"
I hesitate before answering "It was the day you heard Igneel tell Grandine how your mother passed. The day that I had promised you…"
His smile falters "I remember. What did you promise me?"
I know he's just playing around but I answer him anyway "That I will always be there for you…"
"And?"
I smack his hand "And that's it"
He pouts "That's not how I remember it. You promised me that you would marry me"
"Some things you can't promise" I say sighing as I get up
"Yea but that doesn't mean that they're not happening" Natsu mumbles
I don't look back at him but I know that he's right. I get up and head over to the rest of the group stretching as I walk.
"Lucy-San are you feeling better?" Wendy says as she gets up from the sofa.
"I'm fine Wendy. Just a hectic few days. But that should be all better with the guild pool party soon!" I say trying to lighten the mood and it seems to do the trick.
"Juvia is excited, Juvia just bought a new swim suit!"
"Hm, I will probably wear my legendary swim suit" Erza says in thought.
"Didn't that one fall apart at last year's party?" I say to Erza who instantly goes red and stutters.
"N-no it d-didn't. I-it was l-like that o-on purpose" She goes redder when she realizes what she thought and I smirk at her
"Sure you did Erza"
"Lucy!" Erza says while a dark aura forms around her.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't talk about your um swim suit anymore!" I say as I hide behind Levy who has a severe case of the giggles.
Everyone starts laughing and then I look at Natsu who is still on his bed as quiet as ever, which is rare because Natsu is never quiet. When I look at his eyes I notice that he is intently staring at me. I crouch behind Levy trying to hide myself behind her.
"Lu-Chan why are you hiding?" Levy whispers after her giggles dissipate.
"Natsu is staring at me and it's creeping me out!" I whisper as quietly as I can so that the dragon slayers can't hear us.
Gray however who is sitting right next to us hears and then looks over from us to Natsu. He smirks "Hey flame brain! Staring at the girl and making her feel uncomfortable isn't going to get you laid you know?"
Natsu snaps his eyes at Gray and I find myself finally start to relax but stay in my position for a bit longer just in case. "What's it to you popsicle? At least I've had my first kiss" Natsu smirks back at Gray.
Juvia gasps "Gray-Sama hasn't had his first kiss yet?"
Gray stutters "O-of course I have! Flame brain is just jealous see!" He says as he goes over to Juvia and kisses her. He only kisses her quickly but it is enough to make Juvia fly over the moon with happiness and she faints shortly after.
"EEEEEEEK!" Levy squeals and starts jumping up and down while clapping her hands.
I take this time to carefully stand up but Natsu notices and looks back at me. "Natsu! Stop staring at me!"
"Hahaha I bet flame brain is too chicken to even try to get near you Lucy" Gray laughs and Natsu looks back at him again. He finally gets up from his bed and starts walking towards Gray. That is until he changes directions and comes towards me.
I can hear Gajeel snickering while Natsu gets closer. "N-Natsu stay back!"
He doesn't listen as he leans in and kisses me on the lips. His warm lips moving with mine. He feels so warm and nice and it seems so…right. After what seems like forever he breaks apart and leans his forehead on mine. He turns his head towards Gray and smirks
"That's what you call a kiss ice cream maker"
I close my eyes at his idiocy but keep my forehead touching his. I sigh and then pull away from him and sit on the sofa, which now has a lot of space. I look at everyone else and start to laugh. Wendy is crouched next to Juvia on the ground trying to wake her up. Natsu and Gray are butting heads and arguing, Erza is just standing observing everything. Gajeel is still smirking but is looking at Levy who is still jumping with joy.
I start to go into a full out laugh and can't stop myself. I can feel everyone looking at me now but I couldn't care any less.
"What's wrong Luce? What's so funny?" Natsu says as he stops trying to fight Gray.
"I-It's j-just that w-we were r-rivals n-not even a w-week a-ago. And n-now w-we're h-having a p-party in t-the same room!" I wheeze out panting for air.
Natsu scratches the back of his head "Yea I guess…"
I start laughing even more and tears start running down my cheeks. I start sobbing then as my laughter fades away.
"Now what's wrong Luce? Geez do girls always cry?" I can feel Erza glaring at him because he instantly stops talking.
"Lucy-San what's wrong?" Wendy says calmly getting up from the ground after getting Juvia to wake up.
I think about my earlier talk with my father and start crying more. "M-my father. H-he talked to me about-" My voice cracks and I will the tears to go away so that I can at least try to get this huge weight off my shoulders.
After a couple minutes I finally calm down enough to be able to talk properly. I swallow and then speak quietly "My father wanted to talk to me about the past"
"Lu-Chan but the past is over and done with. You can't change it"
I shake my head. "He told me about his marriage."
"Oh" Levy says quietly and waits for me to continue.
"He told me that the curse that was placed on him was not new. It was old, it was his father's curse and the dark mage had said that when my father was to become the same age as my grandfather he would have the curse passed on to him. He also told me about him and mother's marriage which was arranged. He said that they were rivals. That they despised each other. He then started talking about-" I pause not sure how I should continue.
"He started to talk about Igneel and Natsu's mother, and how they had planned about me and Natsu getting together before we were even born" I quickly rush out and I feel Natsu tense at the mention. "I had long forgotten how it happened, how she passed... He then went to explain other things and it just made me think about us. Now." I say finally feeling myself relax.
Natsu turns to face the door but before I can say anything else to him everyone starts asking me questions about the one thing that I never really talked about.
"So you, bunny girl and lover boy have known each other since you were babies?" Gajeel asks and I nod.
"So you and Natsu were best friends since forever?" Levy says and I nod again.
"Wait so does that mean that you and Natsu were assigned to each other since birth?" Gray asks finally taking interest into the topic.
"Well… not really. They just thought about it." I say and then look over at Natsu who is shaking. I get up and walk up to him and place my hand on his shoulder, "Natsu?"
He turns around and I can see a lot of emotions going through his eyes "Everyone if you would go down to the entertainment room for a couple of minutes that would be nice" He says while giving Wendy a pointed look and she nods and leads every one out. I begin to go to but his voice stops me
"Not you Lucy"
I turn back around as Wendy closes the door and we're left alone. His back is facing towards me and I can see his muscles straining from his shirt. After a long stretch of silence I speak up "Natsu? Was there anything you wanted to know in particular?" I ask awkwardly standing and fidgeting.
He doesn't say anything as he crouches down into the ground and I can see him shaking. I walk up to him and the setting seems eerily familiar. I crouch down next to him and put my hand on his shoulder.
He looks up to me. "Is the pain ever going to go Lucy?" He whispers tears streaming down his beautiful cheeks.
I hug him and he lets me, all of his confidence is gone and he is showing me how vulnerable he is. Is this how much Natsu trusts me? He wouldn't even let Wendy see him like this and she's his sister!
"I don't know Natsu" I say after a while.
He sniffs "How do you do it Lucy?"
I pull away just enough to look at his face "What do you mean?"
"How do you live with your mother dead, and you've lived with her for 14 years of your life! I've never met my mother yet I feel so much resentment towards her choice of choosing me over her"
I look at the sadness in Natsu's eyes and it feels like so much of the hurt I have harbouring inside of me because of my actions are reflected in his. "Natsu don't ever say that. Your life is worth so much more. Your mother must've known that I would need you someday, so never feel resentment towards her actions. Listen to me. You. Did. Not. Kill. Your. Mother. I would be sad if you weren't here" I say remembering my flashback/dream.
Natsu smiles sadly at me "I would be too. But because I killed my mother no one will want to marry me."
I laugh at his statement, I guess that he remembers the day as well as I do… well I only remembered because of the dream. Natsu has a pretty good long term memory. I decide to play along "I'll marry you Natsu. Because you are my best friend"
He scowls at me "Hey! That's not how it goes!" He then smirks "So that means you said yes?"
I smack his arm "Don't get ahead of yourself." I decide to entertain myself "Flame brain"
He groans loudly "Seriously? You decide to mention Gray at a time like this?"
I laugh at him "I couldn't help myself, you're just too irresistible. No wonder Gray likes to tease you a lot."
Natsu smirks again "Yea but he teases me about you"
I sigh and stand up. He pouts up at me when I move away from his reach. "We better get back to the group before they start assuming things that aren't true"
"Yea, but it wouldn't really matter because they tease us about it either way" Natsu points out getting up too.
I just shake my head with a smile on my face. Natsu leads us out of his room and then downstairs to the entertainment room. Before we open the doors he grabs my hands and pulls me towards him.
He gives me a hug and whispers into my ear "Thank you"
As soon as he hugged me he broke apart and then grinned as he banged open the door startling the girls who were sitting on the sofas watching some chick flick.
The guys just rolled their eyes at his entrance and continued to play at the pool table. We head our separate ways, Natsu joins the guys and I head over to the girls. I sigh maybe things are starting to brighten up. I mean the last time anyone ever celebrated my birthday was five years ago. My friends would ask me every year but I would always deny. Every year I used to have a special day out with my mother. It was that very day that I insisted I wanted to go to the other side of town to buy one of the celestial keys from a magic shop.
The other side of town had always been filled with estranged men and thieves. I had begged my mother every year until she finally gave in. I don't know why we didn't take anyone to come with us. It was fine when we entered and went to the shop and got the last zodiac key left for sale. It happened just as we were about to cross the bridge back over to our side of town. A few men had held us captive. They ganged up on us and then I blacked out after I got a blow to the head.
When I regained consciousness again we were tied up on a wooden pole in an abandoned warehouse. My mother was directly in front of me and I saw how fragile and how bruised she was. She had blood marks all over her pretty dress. Even I could feel something sticky on my head and it still hurt badly.
We had stayed there for hours on end until someone had come in. He quickly untied us from the pole and had forced us into a van. My mother had refused and wouldn't give out without a fight so she ended up getting a stab near her stomach. I had screamed when they carelessly chucked us into the van. After what seemed like a blurry few minutes the police had come to the site right as they were trying to escape and caught the criminals. They took us to hospital, I had to get some stitches on my head because of the hit to my head. My mother however had lived for another week until she died because of a punctured organ. I had never forgiven myself since, and I always tried to forget the horrible 2 weeks during the incident and after it.
I finally fix my rigid composure from the horrible memory. It's a good thing that I didn't break down into tears like I do every time I remember that day. Which is every year on my birthday. I guess it must be because I already had cried so many times today.
I look at the movie without actually paying attention to what the film is about. I stand up after another 30 minutes into the film and head over to the guys, who are still playing on the billiard table. Well Gray and Gajeel are, Natsu is just standing there trying telling them all the things that they aren't doing properly.
"You know flame brain, I might actually have a chance at winning if you wouldn't stop yelling at me!" Gray interrupts Natsu right as he was about to criticise another move of his.
I smile at their bickering. It feels good to finally be on good terms with the guys, maybe just maybe we might become best friends again.
"Bunny girl came to see you lover boy" Gajeel grins at Natsu who instantly stops talking to Gray and looks at me.
I scowl at the bigger guy. I don't know why but he has called me that since our costume party three years ago, when Erza had forced me to dress up as a bunny. I'll never take her advice on outfits from now on…I learnt that the hard way.
"Hey Luce" Natsu says as he comes over to me and Gray and Gajeel finally continue the rest of their game without any interruptions from Natsu.
"Hey Natsu" I say
"Are you okay?" He asks as he pinches his eyebrows in worry.
He just looks so cute doing so that I can't help the huge smile that splits my face "Yea… I was just thinking"
"About what?"
"Natsu sometimes you shouldn't pry too much… But you are you so I'm not really surprised about your curiosity." I say sighing letting my arms hang limply by my sides.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you're very naïve Natsu" I say matter of factly, smirking when his jaw drops at my boldness.
"I'm naïve?" He says as he comes even closer that our heads our now touching. He is also mirroring my smirk with his own.
"Yes you are" I say breathlessly.
He then leans in and our lips touch. This time we're both prepared and I eagerly accept when his tongue prods for entrance. His hands go to my hips as I wrap my arms around his neck bringing him closer. I guess now it finally feels like the right time to actually kiss him, all those other times were not… well they didn't seem that heartfelt.
Soon enough we are both battling for dominance in a heated frenzy. His hands start to rub up and down on my hips as we eagerly kiss each other back.
"Ehem" Gray coughs startling us as we break apart. I quickly untangle myself from Natsu's grip but it's too late. I can already feel Gray and Gajeel's teasing stares at us and the heat instantly rushes to my cheeks as I look down at my feet. I peek at Natsu and notice that he also has a blush on his cheeks, just not as noticeable as mine.
"Just get a room already" Gajeel snorts and then hits a ball into the hole.
"Meh, sooner or later I'm sure that Lucy wants the whole package" Natsu says putting his hands behind his head while grinning.
I step on his foot. Hard. "Ouch! What was that for?" Natsu yelps.
Gray and Gajeel snicker and I just roll my eyes at them. Next time something happens between Natsu and I, we have to make sure that we don't have an audience… however if we didn't have an audience I really don't know how much further things could have escalated and I definitely do not want to do something that I will regret later on.
I walk back over to the girls while the guys start bickering again. I notice that the movie is still on and I take a seat next to Levy on the large, pristine white sofa.
Levy leans next to me and whispers very quietly while everyone is distracted "I saw that you know"
I sigh "We'll talk about it later. I'm surprised you didn't squeal…"
When I say later I mean never but Levy doesn't need to know that. "Well you guys were sooo cute, but I kept it in. I thought you guys could use some privacy… for a little while that is"
I smile at the petite girl "Thank you Levy"
"You're welcome" She says as she leans back to sit properly.
I don't know when but I end up sleeping and the next time I wake up is to Wendy shaking me gently. "Lucy-San the movie just finished"
I get up and look around. Everyone is still here but they're all doing different things. The boys have moved on from the billiard table which the Erza and Levy seem to have taken over. Natsu, Gray, Juvia and Gajeel are at an air hockey table which I didn't know that they owned. Well it has been a long time since I last went into their entertainment room…
A/N: Initially i was about to put more into this chapter but... there was so much drama and i didn't just want to cut in the middle of it or make this chapter extra long so that will be in the next chapter and since i am on bed rest you probably won't have to wait to long. Hope you enjoyed the Nalu and the small Gruvia interaction in this chapter ;) Other than that if you have any other questions feel free to ask. Thank you to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! I appreciate it and it definitely helps me write more! Tell me what you think so far, till then XD
