IMPORTANT: I DO NOT OWN THE COVER PHOTO OR ANY OF THE FAIRY TAIL CHARACTERS/PLOT; ALL CREDIT GOES TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS!
*Please read the AU at the end, thanks~
~At the Fairy Tail Guild~
As if the tension boiling around Erza Scarlet's arrest and her reckless friends actions wasn't enough, no one in the Fairy Tail guild except Master Makarov himself knew what was going on with their new, and severely injured, guild mate. Said man refused to give up any information concerning the girls condition to even Saiya, going as far as to ban anyone from entering the infirmary where Lucy slept without his permission. "You seem awfully stressed Master. Are you sure you don't want to send anyone after Natsu and Erza?" Mirajaine's melodic voice questioned. "I am sure Erza will be fine. Not to mention that Natsu can make his own decisions and deal with its consequences. Its not those two that I am worried about." The elder wizard explained with his eyes shut in exhaustion. "So its Lucy that's worrying you?" The silver haired barmaid hinted. "I've already told you all that you don't need to concern yourself with her condition. Carry on with your normal schedule, she will be fine." Makarov sighed. "But she obviously isn't fine since you refuse to tell anyone what's going on!"
Mirajaine placed her trembling hands on the counter and took a breath to calm herself before continuing. "None of this is fair, you know. What you're doing isn't right." "Mira you have to understand-" "No!" She snapped as she shook her head. "You need to understand that treating Erza specially isn't fair! You need to understand that hiding this from the guild isn't fair! You.. You need to understand that Lucy is my friend too, even if she doesn't remember it!" A frown came to the woman's face as several concerned faces turned her way at the outburst, thoroughly confused as to what she was yelling about. "I know you want to help her Master. I know you want to protect her the way you couldn't all those years ago, the way none of us could. But secluding Lucy and hiding her from the world won't solve anything and surely wouldn't make her feel welcome in this family."
A loud 'smack' echoed through the guild as the doors were suddenly thrown open, a tall pink haired woman strolling in with a visible scowl as she scanned the room. "Where's the girl." Porlyusica spat in her usual condescending tone. "Back in the infirmary sleeping, I'll bring you to her." Master Makarov coughed as he felt Mirajaines piercing stare on his back. While the two elder mages walked away to tend to Lucy's injures Mirajaine busied herself by polishing a glass cup, unaware to the fact that her crushing grip sent several cracks running up and down its sides. "Uh Mira? I think that cup is cleaned.." Macao trailed off. "H-huh?" The silver haired woman gasped as she spotted the rigid cracks, eyes growing wide in surprise before her cheeks flushed in embaressment. "O-Oh my! I apologize! My mind just trailed off and I don't know what happened.." Mirajaine giggled nervously causing everyone to sigh in relief.
"Enough with this depressing ass atmosphere. Chin up already." Cana groaned before taking two swigs of her wine. "Erza can sure as hell take care of herself and Natsu is too hardheaded to go down by the Council's hand. And from what I've heard out newest blond can handle some scratches without dying. So how bout' we get some drinks going around and strike up a party for when all three of our wizards are back?" The brunette wagered with a lazy grin as several whistles rang through the crowd in agreement.
"If you live in the past then you deserve no future. You made a mistake, deal with it. Now you have to live for your sister just like how Erza and I live for one another. She's always been kind to me so I'm sure she'll be the same to you, even if you are both rivals. Now chin up, pretty girls like you aren't supposed to cry. Besides we're all family here, right?"
Mirajaine felt her frown fall from her face and in its place was a small, gentle, smile as the memory flashed through her brain. "What was it that you wanted Cana? More red wine or another barrel of beer?" "Ah, why not both?" The drunkard chuckled before the guild began to regain their usual senses. "Coming right up!"
Meanwhile, silence fell upon the infirmary as Master Makarov watched Porlyusica examine the sleeping blond slayer from beside her bed. "I recall asking you to bring her to see me, not the other way around Makarov." The woman exclaimed, effectively breaking the deafening silence. "I wasn't sure that it would be safe considering her condition." He responded. "I can see that." Porlyusica sighed. "For the most part her physical injuries are the only thing you should worry about at this moment. Because she's a dragon slayer she hasn't been killed by them but that doesn't mean she'll sustain anything more than what she already has." She began to explain. "But, there is a darker problem beneath all of this. Her magic is depleting which is why her body isn't restoring itself as it previously has."
"Now, this is a rare disease but one that is possible to happen under three specific circumstances. One being that a toxin enters the body and causes a wizards magic to decay. But these effects normally show up quickly or the infected host will die, so it's unlikely this is the cause of Lucy's problem. The second possibility could be that it has run frequently in her family history, a genetic disease likely from her parents. However, families normally take steps to prevent their child from ever being associated with this skill. And considering her unique magic abilities I doubt this is the cause either." "And the last cause?" Makarov dared to question despite the uneasy feeling in his gut. "The final cause of magic deficiency could be from a sort of 'parasite'. Something that latches onto a host and sucks their energy dry until they die." Porlyusica sighed. "Specifically to this case, a spirit bound to a key could drain its masters energy."
"But how could that make any sense? Lucy is contracted to several other keys and they've never taken this type of toll on her before!" The pink haired doctor found herself looking down at the unconscious, sweating, blond with a small frown pulling at her lips. "While that is true, none of her other spirits were bound to a key by her power. These keys were forged centuries ago and took ages to complete, not five minutes. Groups of wizards poured countless hours of energy into making these keys, hundreds of wizards gathered at a time to make a single piece of the key. Not just one single person. My guess is that this spirit is getting greedy and is having a good time, sitting back, eating away at all of her magic." Master Makarov felt the weight of the world on his shoulders as he tried to take a deep calming breath before asking; "What can we do about it then? Break the key?"
"Are you an idiot?" Porlyusica scoffed. "If you try and break the key there's no telling what this spirit could do. It could kill the girl or even us. This spirit is essentially bound to her soul by a tiny string, living and feeding off of her existence. How would you react if someone came to your bedside and tried to unplug the only machine keeping you alive? Breaking the key isn't an option." "If this spirit is living off of Lucy's life then why is it taking so much of her magic, I'm sure it know's it could kill her." Porlyusica's eyes darkened a noticeable shade before she turned to face Fairy Tails Master, a more than serious expression plastered across her face. "That I do not know. What I do know though is that your little Dragon Slayer knows something about this spell that we don't. And I'm sure that spirit knows it too, hence the reason why its draining all of her magic."
Silence fell upon the room once more and it truly seemed like there was no hope for the dangerous situation Lucy found herself in. That is until the doctor spoke once more. "There is one thing we can do for the girl, I'm positive neither of you will like it though." Porlyusica exclaimed. Master Makarov sucked in a sharp breath as the woman explained her life saving plan, a heavy weight crushing his heart as he slowly agreed to her offer. "Bring me Levy McGarden and Freed Justine."
-"You can't be serious Master! This could kill her!"
-"This will be a painful process. Someone will need to hold her down, unconscious or not. I'm sure the pain will wake her up either way."
-"I refuse to take part in this! I won't strip Lucy of her basic rights!"
-"This is the only way, I wish we could do something else but we can't."
-"It could scar. Are you sure you want me to do this?"
-"Would you man up? We're saving her life. Who cares about a little scar anyways? She already has one."
-"She could leave the guild! She'll never forgive us!"
-"If you want to help her then you have to do this Levy."
-"Lucy will hate me for this. I know it! She hasn't even met me yet and she's going to hate me! How can you agree with this Freed?!"
-"This is the only way. Even if Lucy hates us for it, this has to be done. Now can we hurry up? I have other things to tend to."
-"Levy?"
-"Please forgive me Lucy, please forgive me."
~The Following Afternoon~
A pained gasp roused the Celestial Dragon Slayer out of her slumber as she woke up to a throbbing pain pulsing through her body, her hands quick to move and clutch her side and face as she sat upright in discomfort. As if she had woke from a terrifying nightmare Lucy was covered in sweat while she was reduced to a panting mess as her heart pounded wildly in her chest. It had taken a few minutes to calm her erratic brain and wild heart from a dream she could not recall before she was breathing normally and regaining a level head. A small hiss left the girls lips as she stretched out her tight muscles and placed her bare feet on the cool wooden floors below before she was shakily pushing herself out of bed. Lucy's gaze was immediately pulled to the small vanity mirror positioned in the corner of the room as she took in her injured reflection, eyes widening at what she saw.
Tired brown eyes met her gaze alongside a swollen cheek and bruised lip. A band-aid was placed just in front of her hairline where a deep gash would sit from the puncture by a sharp rock as well as several other bruises. The entirety of her right leg was wrapped in bandages most likely due to damages done from her crazy jump off of a moving train, an injury that could have been much worse had she not healed it with what little skills she had in that field set. Identical to her leg Lucy's entire midsection was wrapped in a heavy coat of bandages and medical tape from the broken sets of ribs she managed to require as well as a deep gash that was made from her bone injures. Several bandages littered her arms and neck from small cuts in order to prevent infection accompanied by nasty blue and purple bruises. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail that someone had likely made while she was sleeping and was tied together by a gold ribbon that complimented her shade of blond, probably picked out to match her outfit as well. A tight black and gold lined tube-top hugged the girls chest and managed to push out certain assets more than they normally would. A matching pair of black spandex shorts hugged the girls lower half and extended to a couple inches below mid-thigh. But something stood out more than the bandages and outfit for Lucy herself, as her attention was specifically drawn to the noticeable scar on her left shoulder. The skin was slightly discolored and stuck out against her tan tone. The scar almost resembled an 'X' in her perspective but other than that it almost held no type of shape.
"Shit!" Lucy flinched as she placed too much weight on her injured leg that had spent most of the time laying still without time to move. Her entire body was stiff and her joints popped and cracked as she slowly stretched to loosen up the tight ligaments. Slowly she applied more pressure to her right leg, managing to move with a barely noticeable limp. Lucy doubted she could get past Erza's calculating eyes without her deducing that she was badly injured. "How the hell am I supposed to go out like this?" The blond clicked her tongue as she looked down at her clothes. "I might as well be in my bra and panties!" She scoffed before noticing something neatly folded at the foot of her bed. As she approached the folded cloth a small note caught her attention before she was reaching out to read it.
-Lucy
You've given us quite the scare injuring yourself like you did. You've slept for a good two days and I doubt you had time to eat on your mission with Erza and the boys, so I'll bet you're hungry! Swing by the bar when you wake up and I'll cook you a nice meal, on the house!
Love Mirajaine
"Love?" Lucy snorted despite the small smile that clawed at her lips. "What an idiot. Who signs love at the end?" Pulling her signature cloak over her body to cover the revealing outfit she wore, Lucy tucked the short (but sweet) note in her pocket and made her way toward the door. Her hand wrapped around the small metal doorknob and began to turn open the door, freezing as an odd smell hit her nose. It almost wreaked of old books and dust; how a library would smell, a mixture of mildew and antique books. Oddly enough it almost held the faintest trace of stardust which is what had made her pause in the first place. While the smell wasn't unpleasant she didn't exactly like it either. If anything it made her nose feel irritated as if she was about to sneeze. "What the hell is it?" Lucy grunted as she raised one of her arms to cover her nose and mouth. Using her free hand to grab the doorknob again Lucy wasted no time in throwing the door open, annoyed at how the smell made her react. "What spilled?" She called out, eyes on the ground as she shut the door behind her.
At first all she saw were bodies. All of her guild mates sprawled out across the floor, bar, and tables. In her short state of panic she failed to see their chests rising and falling or hear the soft snores from certain members of the guild. What did catch her attention, however, was the distinct sound of a floorboard creaking. Assuming it was an enemy who had attacked her guild, Lucy yanked out her whip and caught the 'intruder' by their wrist. Yanking the whip backwards Lucy used her momentum to toss the person into the wall while instinctively reaching for her keys attached to her hip. "Lucy stop!" Master Makarov's voice met her ears causing the blond to freeze but not drop her hands. "He's a member of the guild! Don't attack him!" The elder wizard warned as she maintained her defensive stance. Rising from the rubble of a broken chair and table that they crashed into, the masked figure dusted off their cloak before meeting Lucy's calculating eyes.
"This is Mystogan, Mystogan this is Lucy." Fairy Tails master exclaimed in an attempt to break the thick tension revolving around the two. "How'd you resist my sleeping spell?" Mystogan spoke slowly in a deep voice. "Oh? Is that what it is?" Lucy smirked. "Why're you so covered up? If you really are a guild mate then you shouldn't hide your face." She fired back. "How did you resist it?" The male mage repeated in a firmer tone. "Sleeping spells don't work on me. Draco taught me a spell to negate its effects, that kind of magic can be pretty nasty." Lucy responded with a slight frown as she took a closer look at what little of his face she could see. If she could just get a little closer she would be able to decipher who this Mystogan was. But he quickly walked past her and yanked a mission off the request board before turning on his heel to make his was to the exit. "M-Mystogan lift your spell!" Master Makarov called out. His voice bounced around in Lucy's ears as he counted down from five while she was busy trying to remember where she had seen him before. Groans and scratchy voices brought her out of her thoughts leaving Lucy to watch as everyone woke from their unconscious states. "Damn, was Mystogan here again?" Gray yawned. "Must have! He's not a man for putting us all to sleep!" Elfman shook his head in disappointment . "Come to think of it I'm pretty sure Master is the only one who's actually seen his face. Weird huh?" The ice mage added.
"That's not true.." A cocky voice drawled causing Lucy to flick her eyes upward to the second floor of the guild. "I've seen his face plenty." The blonds stomach began to churn as the blue eyed man smirked down at her, eyes lit up in amusement and mischief. "Plus our newest blond just met him. I bet if you think hard enough with that pretty little head of your you could figure it out." He chuckled. "Laxus." Lucy grunted in distaste. "Ouch. I see you're as cold as ever blondie." The s-class mage snickered. "Oi! Laxus! Fight me!" Natsu roared as he finally woke from his slumber. "Please, you couldn't even beat the redhead let alone me." Laxus sneered before returning his gaze to Lucy. "Come to think of it you seem to have grown pretty strong in the past few years. Maybe you'll beat Scarlet and take the title, not like it'l be difficult though." He explained. "What'd you say?" Lucy snarled, glaring up at the male's form.
"You probably don't remember, considering half your memories are sealed away, but I whooped you the last time you used that one with me." Laxus cackled. "Oh, I remember." She growled. "Remember that it was the other way around! In fact I recall you begging for mercy!" Lucy snapped. "Those are fightin' words. Care to put your money where your mouth is?" "Sure! This'l be a piece of cake! Celestial Dragon-!" The female slayer yelled only to freeze. Dark purple runes lit up her skin before bolts of purple electricity visibly surged through her skin; a piercing scream tore through her throat before Lucy dropped to the ground, a trembling mess. Her back arched off the ground in pain as another string of screams left her mouth, her face twisting in agony. "Lucy!" Erza yelped as she quickly stumbled over to the girls side. "Agh!" Eyes wide in surprise and concern Erza could only watch as her friend writhed in pain on the ground before collapsing, completely limp aside from the occasional twitch from her muscles. "Laxus! What did you do?!" Makarov boomed. "Only what you asked old man. Freed sealed her magic away, that was the deal, but with something a little extra. Can't have her breaking the runes now can we? Even with the bookworms reinforcement spell there's no telling what could happen."
"I'll deal with you later." Master Makarov spat, glaring up at his grandson in fury. "Lucy are you alright?" The guild master questioned. "Don't touch me!" Lucy hissed; smacking Makarov's hand away with trembling arms. "Don't touch me.." She repeated while pushing herself up on shaky limbs. "Did you know about this?" Lucy questioned, squinting at Erza in pain. "You have to understand that we mean well-" "Are you kidding me Erza?!" The blond yelled with wide eyes. "You knew they were planning to do this!?" Taking a deep breath Erza nodded her head. "When?!" Lucy snapped causing the redhead to look up at her in confusion. "When was this decided!" Reluctantly Erza answered; "On the way back to the guild after we defeated the Lullaby Flute. When you were sleeping." Clenching her fists Lucy spun around and made her way toward the guilds doors before she did anything she'd regret. "Your magic was depleting! There was no other choice!" Erza called out. "Oh, yeah, thanks sis that makes everything so much better!" The blond spat in a sickly-sweet tone, glaring over her shoulder.
It felt as if the entire guild rattled after Lucy slammed one of the doors shut leaving everyone in a stunned silence. Rising from the ground Erza moved to chase after the blond only to stop as Master Makarov shook his head, eyes downcast to the floor. "She needs space Erza. You knew she wouldn't be happy about this, we all did. Just let her cool down. I doubt she'll do anything too reckless." The old man sighed before glancing up at his grandson. "Meet me in my office. We need to talk."
After finally reaching the confines of her apartment Lucy leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, her face resting in the palms of her hands as she desperately look calming breaths. "Damn it!" The blond cursed; her throat constricting while her voice was still hoarse from her previous screams. The pain of the lighting still burned her body and made her muscles ache terribly, not to mention she was utterly overwhelmed and bothered by the fact that she had been 'tampered with' in her sleep. Tears burned behind her eyes partly because of the pain and partly because she was angry forcing the girl to choke out a shaky, "Why me?!" Small scraping sounds from the outside of her apartment had Lucy's ears twitching in annoyance before a familiar voice yelled.
"Lucy!" Peeking out from behind her hands she drifted her gaze toward the window next to her bed. Natsu's face was fully pressed up against the glass, so hard that she could see all the way up his nose and into his mouth as he mouthed something to her. His pink hair was all in disarray, sticking out in all directions, and his eyes were slightly bloodshot from pressing against the glass. Normally the sight would have at least made her laugh a little or even spew out an insulting comment, but in that moment in time it only served to add to the girls anger. Did Master Makarov send him here to drag her back to the guild? Was he here to lecture her some more? "I don't understand what you're trying to say." Lucy groaned. "I said I can't hear you!" She yelled as the boy continued mouthing something to her.
Leaning back on the windowsill Natsu yanked open the window and rolled onto Lucy's soft bed with a bright smile cast across his face. "Man, you run fast Luce!" He joked with a small chuckle only to cough as the blond maintained her emotionless expression and refused to crack even a small smile. "Well at first I was thinking we could train so we could take Laxus and Erza on together as a team! But then I realized that just beating them won't do any good! We need to do something big!" Natsu excitedly explained. "S-class! If we complete this mission the old man will have no choice but to let us go on the second floor! Then we can really beat those two!" The boy all but yelled as Happy revealed the mission he stole from the second floor. "So? How bout' it? You in?" Maybe it was the pain that made her think irrationally or the fact that she was still livid over Master Makarov's actions that she did what came next, or simply the fact that she wanted to prove that she was strong even without her Dragon slaying magic did Lucy respond; "Of course. C'mon we should leave now." "Yosh!"
-Meanwhile back at the guild-
"Erza." As the redheads name was called she lifted her gaze from her uneaten dessert to face the voices owner, trying to fight away her guilt ridden expression before they could decipher her emotions. "Gray." The woman tilted her head in the mages direction. "What did he mean?" The boy firmly questioned with sharp eyes. "You'll have to be more specific than that. Who are you talking about?" She sighed. "Laxus. He claimed that Lucy's memories are sealed away. What does that mean?" "Exactly what it sounds like." The guild fell silent as Gray slammed his hands down on the wooden table, knocking Erza's treat onto the floor. "Don't be so vague! You know exactly what I'm talking about!" He snapped. "Its not your business Gray. You know that its rude to stick your nose where it doesn't belong." Erza warned. "And its rude to act ignorant to a situation you're blatantly aware of!" He fired back.
Pinching the bridge of her nose Erza muttered something incoherent under her breath before running a hand through her hair. "When Lucy was twelve almost all of her memories were sealed away by the magic council. There's not much I can disclose about what happened since I am under oath, but what I can tell you is that Lucy doesn't remember half her life. All she knows of is Draco, Master Makarov, and Laxus and I. Anyone else she encountered had portions of their memories wiped as well to prevent future conflicts. They were going to seal everything away but Master convinced the council that Lucy wouldn't function as a normal person in society without any base memories to go off of." Eyes wide, Gray looked down at Erza; stunned. "The council can really do that to someone?" "They can." The woman frowned. "But why'd they do it? Why to Lucy?" Gray prodded.
"When Lucy was younger she was known as a prodigy wizard across the continent. No mission was too difficult, no job too much, no enemy too strong. One way or another she would always prevail even against the greatest of odds. In addition to this strong trait Lucy knew plenty of dangerous spells that could be capable of destroying cities at a time. The Magic Council was afraid that if a dark guild got their hands on her magic thousands of lives would be in danger. Not only that, I assume they were afraid that Lucy was uncontrollable. Had she been angered or influenced to destroy them nothing would be in her way; no chances of winning against her unique magic. Their vast fear of Lucy left them with two options, kill her or seal the memories away that held these memories and spells. If she couldn't remember them then she would never have a chance at performing them." Erza explained. "But does she know that they were sealed away?" "Yes, though I'm not exactly sure when Lucy figured it out herself. After the incident I think she knew something was wrong which led to hours of thinking. Seeing foreign faces in dreams, hearing voices in the back of her head, being unable to piece things together herself. Lucy just naturally figured out that somehow she lost parts of her memory."
"So she got revenge, right?" Gray asked with high hopes that there was at least some sort of justice to the dark story. "No." Erza shook her head. "At the time even I suggested storming the council to force them to give Lucy's memories back but she constantly refused the idea. Magic sealing's are a painful process for the victim and can sometimes even kill the person. Something in her subconcious must have remembered what it was like which is probably what made her stray away. Another possibility could have been that she simply didn't want to remember. How would you feel if you woke up and suddenly recalled people you hadn't spoken to in forever, or events that happened in your childhood years ago that you couldn't remember the day before?" Sighing, Erza bent down and cleaned up the remains of her fallen cheesecake. "As for her outburst earlier I'm afraid she had full right to react that way. The pain of the runes must have made her remember the pain of the memory sealing. I can't imagine living that nightmare."
~Near the Borders of Magnolia~
"Lucy are you.. ok?" Natsu questioned as he glanced at the blond from the corner of his eyes, a frown pulling at his lips as she kept her cold gaze pinned forward and her attention elsewhere. "I mean it's just magic, ya' know? You're still you with or without it.. Besides, it's not like you'll never get it back either! This is just until you get better or until old lady Porlyusica understands what's going on with you better!" He added in an attempt to lighten the situation; unaware that his ignorant statement would cause Lucy to boil in anger or whip around in fury. "Just magic?!" She hissed causing the male slayer to flinch in surprise at her venomous tone. "While you may think it's 'just magic', it's the only fucking thing that ties me back to my father! So unless you know what it's like to be in my shoes then you can shut the hell up Salamander!" A flash of gold shimmered through the girls brown eyes while the purple runes on her body began to emit a light glow in her state of anger. "Luce-" Natsu began only to be cut off by said blond's swift glare and sharp words. "Leave me alone. You wouldn't know the first thing about me or what my magic means!"
"Lucy apologize! Natsu was just trying to help, you had no right to snap at him like you did!" Saiya scolded as she flew toward her master. "Me? Apologize?" Lucy scoffed, clenching her hands into fists by her sides. "I had no right to yell at him? The guild had no right to take my magic away in the first place, and he sure as hell didn't have the right to spew any bullshit to me either! I won't apologize for anything!" The silver exceed extended her arm toward the blonds form only to freeze as she took a step forward and spoke; "Oh, and since you seem to favor him so much over me, you can just stay with the Salamander then! It's not like I need you anyways, always holding me back!"
For a moment, all you could hear was silence and the distant sound of Lucy's jogging footsteps as she left her team behind. No one dared to utter a single word after her outburst and settled with looking at her previous spot with wide eyes. "I'm sorry for her behavior.. Lucy can be quite a brat when she's upset and tends to take it out on the people around her. Its not like that's her fault either though, it was just a trait she happened to pick up from Draco when she was young." Saiya murmured as she watched the blond with a small frown as she got farther and farther from the group. "No, Lucy's right." Natsu suddenly sighed as he placed his hands behind his head in a lazy manner. "I didn't think to look at it through her perspective so I didn't consider taking her magic away would mean taking her dragon away." He explained causing Happy to gape. "Eh!? Natsu you're using big words!" He screeched while the pink haired boy simply ignored his comment. "None of the guild thought about how Lucy would feel, no one knew what they were really doing to her. For that we're the one's that are wrong."
Letting one hand fall to his side and the other to his scarf, Natsu looked up at the sky with a frown and a distant expression on his face. That is, until, a large grin pulled at his lips as he faced Lucy's distant figure. "That's why if Luce is sad I'll just have to make her happy again!" "Aye sir!" Happy cheered as he flew after his partner who was chasing after the blond. "Maybe," Saiya whispered to herself as she watched the boy and his exceed disappear as well. "Maybe you can pull her out of this dark hole she lives in.. You could just be her new light.." A bitter smile morphed on her face as she slowly began to fly toward everyone else. "Because it seems I can't do that anymore.."
Hearing the rapidly approaching footsteps behind her Lucy's scowl darkened and became more cold, her brown eyes narrowing into a nasty glare while her lips pulled back in a slight snarl; scaring any other pedestrians in the street away. "Tch. Didn't I tell them to leave me alone?" The girl growled under her breath. Feeling a presence on her back Lucy turned her head to the left to yell at Natsu who had approached her with no intention of holding back. "Oi Natsu! I told you-!" She began only to yelp as she was suddenly lifted from the ground and into a warm embrace that she was all to familiar with. Face buried in his chest, one hand landed softly on the back of Lucy's head while the other on her lower back; pulling her closer to Natsu's body as he engulfed her in a hug. "L-Let go of me!" The blond squirmed as an undeniable heat flared up her cheeks. "T-this is e-embarrassing, idiot!" She added, her voice constricting at his close proximity.
"Its ok for you to be scared." Natsu suddenly exclaimed causing Lucy to stiffen. "And its ok for you to miss your dad too." "Don't, Natsu. I'm serious. You really don't want to get into this with me!" She warned, placing her hands against his form in preparation to shove herself out of his grasp. "You may not act like it but I know you miss him and I know it makes you scared. That's why you got so upset over the fact that they temporarily sealed your magic away isn't it? Because it was the last thing that made you feel home. That made you feel like your dragon was there, protecting you." Stunned, Lucy's arms dropped down by her sides while her brown eyes widened to the size of saucers. "I'm sorry Luce, I'm really, really, really sorry. Sorry for what I said, sorry that this happened to you, sorry that your dragon left. I really am!" Natsu confessed as his grip tightened on her smaller form.
"I-I don't know much about you," He paused to take a breath as it felt like air couldn't meet his lungs, overwhelmed by the blonds sweet strawberry vanilla scent. "But I want to know so much more! I wanna know what your favorite foods are, what you like and what you hate, your favorite colors! Everything about you I want to know!" Stumbling over his words Natsu struggled to get back on track as he grew slightly dizzy in Lucy's presence, something that had never happened to him before. "I guess what I'm trying to say is.. What I really wan't to say is..!" Cursing himself the boy shut his eyes and took a sharp breath in, squeezing Lucy's body tighter than ever before.
"I'll always be there to pick you up when you fall down, no matter what! I promise!"
He choked out before continuing; "I'll be there to protect you from everything! If you get in a fight with Erza or Mira gives you the wrong order! If you fail a mission or just feel plain sad! I'll be there! Especially if it's because of those bastards Gray and Elfman!" At a loss for words Natsu fell silent and awaited the blond's response, his throat constricting and chest tightening as she said nothing in return. Had he said to much? Scared her off with his overwhelming emotions? Had he made her uncomfortable? "S-sorry." The pinkette weakly chuckled in an attempt to cover up his wounded pride, slowly releasing his tight grip on her body. What he didn't expect was for the girls arms to coil around his waist and for Lucy to bury her face into his chest, mumbling something practically inaudible. "Huh?" He was practically gasping by then; feeling her return his small sign of affection. Electricity bounced up and down his body, surging through his bones like an enormous energy he had never felt before. Desiring more of the foreign 'power' he wrapped his arms around her body as well; resting his chin on top of her head as he took steady breaths to prevent himself from passing out.
"Pink." Lucy repeated, practically trembling under his touch. Noticing his confusion Lucy cleared her throat and pressed her face further into his chest, if possible. "My favorite color, its pink." She explained with a darker blush than before. "B-but not a hot pink or salmon, j-just pink. Like y-your hair!" The girl stuttered. "P-pink like when the sun sets. Draco and I used to watch the sun set all the time so its my f-favorite color..." Pausing to catch her breath the girl balled up handfuls of the slayers vest in her fists as her heart pounded wildly against her chest. "I like reading and writing, looking at the constellations are fun too... I don't like being in complete darkness and I hate dresses with a passion. My favorite food is cheesecake, ironically. Probably because Erza always forced me to eat it with her." The blond finished with a slight cough. "There." Lucy firmly stated as she loosened her grip on the boy. "You asked to know more about me so now you do. A-And don't go around thinking I always need to be saved! I'm fully capable of defending myself!" She huffed, shoving Natsu off of her body while looking in the other direction; arms crossed under her chest.
"But I guess I'm sorry too." Lucy apologized, flicking her gaze to the right to glance up at the pink haired boy. Her face turned pink again at the intense stare he had pinned on her body before she tensely added; "I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did." She was practically squirming then, feeling his gaze burn holes into her. "Are you sick or somethin' Luce? Your face is really red like a tomato!" Natsu questioned in all seriousness, his face just inches away from Lucy's. "Idiot! Back it up!" The blond screeched before punching him in the jaw. "Oi Happy! Did you see that! Lucy punched me for no reason!" Natsu whined. "Aye sir! That's mean Lucy!" The blue cat shook his head. "Yeah right! Did you see how close her was to me Saiya?!" Lucy yelled, whipping around to face the silver exceed. "..Hm? Oh.. yeah.." The silver exceed shrugged her shoulders not following the conversation.
Saiya's blue eyes widened as a small hand landed on her head in a loving manner before she was met with the sight of Lucy's smiling face. "You don't hold me back you know. I'm sorry I yelled at you. Forgive me?" She asked with hopeful eyes. "Y-yeah!" The cat responded, slightly teary-eyed. "Friends for a little while longer, yeah?" The blond winked causing the exceed to giggle. "Yeah, just a little longer."
A/N: OH MY GOD ITS BEEN SO LONG HOW IS EVERYONE!?
-So my Marching Season is over for the year and Winter Guard starts now, sorry I was inactive for the past couple of weeks.
(For anyone that's curious, my school did fairly well at all of our competitions and rarely did we ever not place anything below 4th. We actually went to Indianapolis for Grand National Championships but didn't place how sad.. I had to stay in a cabin for almost a week with no wifi so I couldn't update anything!)
ANYWAYS
This chapter is shorter than normal just because I didn't want to put part of the Galuna Island Arc in one chapter and continue on with the next as it didn't flow well with everything else... But I promise to have another (longer) chapter out in the next 2-3 days.
(MORE CAPS!) HOLY CRAP THIS STORY HAS 101 FOLLOWERS!
I never imagined I would ever have this many people reading what I write so this is so fantastic that you guys made that happen. Thank you so much for all the reviews as well, I always love seeing what you think and appreciate constructive criticism!
Also this was my small attempt at writing some fluff for Natsu and Lucy as well as creating some more plot to make the story a bit more interesting (Requested by monarchfly) I promise to add more for the upcoming chapters but let me know what you guys think!
As always thank you for reading. Why not leave a review and let me know what you thought?
-xxTheNightmareBeforexx
