Natsu was oddly quiet as they walked down the street. His hair was freshly cut from one of Libra's associates, Cancer, and Lucy was beginning to think she needed to ask Capricorn more about this Zodiac-themed band of mysterious legends he was part of; a legal investigator, high-security prison warden, and retired-assassin-turned-barber hardly seemed like old friends from college.
Natsu coughed, and Lucy's eyes darted over to see his face directly in front of hers. She squeaked and smacked him, but her hand never connected; her wrist was in his hand so fast she hardly saw him move. He looked just as startled as she felt, and he took a big step away from her. His teasing look was gone in place of a glare at his feet as they continued walking toward the pub. Neither of them spoke until they reached the door, when Natsu whispered a soft "sorry" before taking her hand and pulling her inside.
In all her time at the pub, Lucy had never heard silence within its walls. But when the drunks spotted them both standing in the doorway, every yell, mumble, and whisper stopped completely. Every pair of eyes was on Natsu, who stood stonily under all of the attention. His hand around Lucy's tightened almost painfully, and he looked almost tense. Uncomfortable, even. His knuckles in his other hand, his fighting arm, popped, and Lucy figured someone should probably do something before Natsu did.
Luckily, someone had figured this out. A whoop sounded in the back, causing a cacophony of yelling and screaming. "Salamanders's back!" "He's come back to us!" "Back to reclaim his title!" The yells swallowed Lucy's senses as she followed Natsu through the crowd. He accepted the crowd's enthusiasm with a big grin, occasionally knocking people on the shoulder gently as a hello. His discomfort from only a minute ago had vanished completely.
But he was still popping his knuckles, Lucy noticed.
After a never ending stream of hellos and shoulder punches, they finally reached the bar, where Don stood frozen. He had gotten thinner since the last time Lucy had seen him a year ago, making his wide eyes seem even bigger as they stared at Natsu like he was a ghost. A beer mug dangled half-clean in his pudgy hands, rag hanging limply from its rim.
Another crack echoed from Natsu's fist. "Hey, old man." Lucy didn't like how low Natsu's voice was; it was his fighting voice.
Don took a step back from the bar and snapped his fingers. Natsu stiffened at the same time a hulking figure at the end of the bar lumbered toward them. He had a thick mop of spiky red hair that shot up over his head, barely restrained by a headband. His squinty eyes were locked onto both of them, sizing them up like every other fighter Lucy had met. 'So this must be Don's new champion,' Lucy wondered idly, more focused on how Natsu had let go of her hand and made her fingers cold.
The new guy stared down at Natsu haughtily, and Lucy figured he must not know who he was. "You must be—" Natsu's fists landed in his open mouth, sending the new guy flying over the bar to lay at Don's feet. Lucy leaned over to check on him, and he was out cold. 'He definitely had no idea who Natsu was,' she decided. She turned and eyed Natsu carefully again, paying a little bit more attention now that they were back somewhere familiar. Because this new strength of his was completely foreign to her.
He had always been muscular, but he where he used to be the kind of built where he looked like an occasional gym-goer, he now looked the part of a street fighter: hard lines and sharp angles defined his figure. He had grown, too, and Lucy guessed that meant his strength had grown as well. The main thing she noticed, however, was how he seemed so much more in control of himself. He wasn't twitching as much as he used to, always itching for a fight. His eyes burned more carefully now, not flaring up and dying down at the drop of a hat.
It scared her more than she'd like to admit.
"Who's that?" Natsu asked, his voice still that low rumble. Don's eyes flitted back and forth between Natsu and the fighter laying at his feet, panic slowly setting in as he realized there was no way out of this conversation for him.
He finally began to stutter out answers. "H-He is—was, he was the new champion. After you left, oh, Salamander, it was chaos—" Natsu's knuckles popped loudly, and Don flinched, "—E-everyone was clambering to take your name for themselves. We all thought you were gone forever when the girl told us the fuzz—"
"Lucy," Natsu said, and Lucy looked up as Don choked on his sentence. "Her name is Lucy, old man." Don nodded hurriedly, and Lucy stared at Natsu in amazement. He had never corrected Don once on his calling her "girl." 'Something must really be up.'
"Lucy, of course. Well, when she came and told us you had been taken, and she—" Lucy shot Don a look, and he quieted once again. She didn't want Natsu knowing what she had been up to the past year quite yet. Natsu turned and gave her a puzzled look, but she waved him around.
"We didn't know what to do, kid. Once you're in there, there's no getting you ou—"
"They posted a bail, Don. And I know you knew. What I want to know is what you've been doing that was so goddamn important that you couldn't get me out. You have a fund for the exact purpose of getting me out of there; what happened before I got slammed?"
Lucy looked to Natsu in shock. A fund? Don knew Natsu would get caught? All of these facts swirled around in her head. Don stuttered out nothings for about ten more seconds before he sighed, suddenly amazingly calm. He looked around shiftily before curling a finger in a summons. Natsu started forward, with Lucy following closely behind, but Natsu put a hand on her hip.
"No, Luce," he murmured under the roar of the pub. "I don't want you near him, not when he's like this. He'll wrap you up in one of his plans so fast—"
"You aren't the only one who's been busy this last year, Natsu. I know all about Don and the 'plans' he's dragged you into. And I've figured out how to handle myself." She brushed past him without meeting his eyes, not ready for the questions she knew he'd ask. She needed this time to meet the real Don—or, as the Underground knew him: the Keeper.
