Discalimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Lucy would be a badass.

Chapter Ten: Safe and Sound

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be safe and sound

I will be calm. I will be calm. They're okay. She's alright. I'm calm. I'm perfectly—

"What were you thinking?"

Lucy flinched backwards in the doorway of the inn she walked into, her body tensing at the infuriated growl that reached her ears. Natsu flew out of the chair he had currently been sitting in, forgoing all thoughts of being rational and calm as he took in her appearance up close.

The back of her shirt was torn and bloody from what looked like a whip striking out at her. Her hair was matted to her head in a mass that he assumed used to be crimson but was now a dull brown and she curled her arm around behind her as she saw him eyeing the three welts on it in the style of what looked to be bracelets.

The pink haired man ignored his own injuries as he felt the wound in his torso reopen and walked up to the girl still wavering in the doorway. An armored fist came up from behind her and placed a hand on Lucy's right shoulder, making Natsu hesitate.

The blonde turned her head slightly and shuffled out of the way of the other woman to let her into the inn. Natsu followed Erza accusingly with his eyes as she grabbed a bored Gray and dragged him towards the other side of the room.

He heard an irritated huff and whipped his head back to its source. Lucy looked up at him, an annoyed expression on her face, "I can make my own decisions, Natsu."

Apparently not. He wanted to say, pointedly looking at her blood matted body. He wanted to grab her. To shake her and try to rattle some common sense into her; but he didn't. Instead, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Clean up and then come talk to me." He couldn't stand to see her in such a state. He may commit murder.

Lucy hesitated before nodding and heading towards the stairs, ignoring the way Erza and Gray followed her with their eyes. As far as she was concerned, the only eyes that she wanted watching her were the ones currently glaring a hole into the floor beneath him.

XxX

She entered the room she'd sat in for the longest time the night before and Lucy automatically tensed. Natsu turned and whirled around to look at her face, but she ducked her head so her hair covered any expression there. Frowning but choosing not to say anything about it, the pink haired man dropped his gaze and walked around her to close the door.

Lucy heard the door click shut and her heart stuttered wildly in her chest. Was he going to yell at her for leaving? Sure, she was a little bloody and bruised, but she was okay and that was all that mattered, right?

She felt Natsu's presence behind her, not one foot away as he hesitated at the door, his hand probably still on the knob as he debated what to do.

The room was stifling with words that were being left unsaid and feelings that went unfelt.

Natsu appeared in her line of sight once again and she watched his back as he walked away from her, crossing his arms over his chest and facing the window.

For a few seconds, Lucy only looked at him. Night was falling once again and the sunset shone in on his tanned skin. He had showered and changed from the rumpled clothes she had seen him in the night before and now only wore a white T shirt and loose black sweat pants—surprisingly low-key for him. The blonde could see where the bandages were still wrapped round his torso through the thin fabric and was happy to see that it had at least stopped profusely bleeding.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding, Lucy allowed herself to feel a little bit of the exhaustion from her fight and perched herself on the foot of his bed, her legs dangling lightly over the edge.

Sensing that he wasn't going to be the one to start this conversation, she took a deep breath, "Natsu…I…I'm fine…"

The boy's shoulders tensed and he slowly turned to look at her.

When she had entered the room, it had taken all of his willpower to not grab her, pull her into a hug and try to protect her from any harm. Instead of acting on his whims, Natsu had opted for turning away from her and gathering his thoughts.

But now that he had turned to face her full on, now that he could see the uncertain look on her face as she sat, now clean and only slightly bruised, on the edge of his bed, he couldn't hold back any longer. The pink haired man padded towards her and placed his hands gently on both of her shoulders, watching as her soft brown eyes rose up to meet his.

She looked so small—so delicate, from this angle; the image was only enhanced by the fact that she was wearing a shirt that suspiciously looked like one of his and was way too large for her. His eyes flickered down to sweep her body once again for any injuries but quickly averted his eyes when he saw that she was using his shirt as a dress and exposing her a lot for him to see.

Red dusted his cheeks and Natsu brought his eyes back to hers once again, saying the first thing that came to mind, "Do you know how scared I was?"

"I was with Erza—"
She cut off her quiet mumble when he shook his head, closing his eyes, "I meant all those months ago. All those months ago when I found you tacked to a tree in the middle of the forest. All alone—bloody and broken."

He swallowed and Lucy watched his pained expression as he kept his eyes closed. His hands drifted from her shoulders to gently caress either side of her neck, sweeping his thumbs along her cheeks and causing the blonde to relax into his touch.

"And then what I said to you in your house—" Here he broke off when a strangled noise ripped at the back of his throat.

Lucy placed both hands on top of his and rubbed her thumb against the back of his hands. His brown eyes snapped open as he looked down at her with a haunted expression. The blonde ran her hands up the length of his arms as she stood, now almost a head shorter than the dragon slayer, and looked into his eyes with such sincerity that Natsu's stomach erupted with butterflies.

Gripping his biceps lightly, Lucy steeled her voice, willing him to believer her, "I know—I know you probably didn't mean what you said back there. You were confused and angry because I was destroying myself and you didn't know what to do—"

"But I still shouldn't have said—"

The blonde slid one hand to cover his mouth as she continued, "But you were right about me."

The dragon slayers eyes widened at this in disbelief as he shook his head wildly, her hand still covering his mouth.

"Yes—yes you were right, Natsu. I…I understand how greedy I have been with you ever since then. I always needed you, always required your protection, always made you fight for the both of us instead of pulling my weight with the group."

The girl sighed and lowered her head, "You're too good for me Natsu; you always have been. You deserve someone better and stronger than me to be with."

Lucy lowered her voice, the boy in front of her having to lean forward and strain to hear what she whispered.

"I deserved what happened to me all those months ago."

Natsu wrenched his face away from her hand and grabbed either side of her face, pressing himself so close to her that she could feel his intense body heat. His eyes blazed into hers with anger and Lucy blinked up at him with confused and defeated eyes. Everything she'd said was true; she was sure he'd understand once she explained that to him.

"Don't you ever say that again." He snarled, his breath fanning out against her face as he breathed hard from the outrage he felt.

Lucy's hands automatically went to his chest; both palms fisted into his shirt against his rapidly rising and falling chest. Not that she thought he would hurt her—she just had to try not to fall back onto the bed that the back of her knees were flattened against.

"It's true—"

"No," He began, the heat from his body increasing as his fury rose, "How can you say that, Lucy? What happened to you was wrong—it was disgusting. Nothing about that was deserved." He growled.

Lucy had never seen the dragon slayer this angry before. Her heart fluttered in her chest against her will at the intense gaze he fixed her with as he refused to let her escape his hold.

"Natsu—"

"And as for what I said, I won't forgive myself so easily Luce. You shouldn't forgive me so easily. You're the most precious thing I have and to hurt you the way I did…"

Lucy's breath became shorter as he ducked his head to rest his forehead gently against hers. The blonde chanced a look at his face and saw the pained expression that lay there. She wanted to wipe the look away completely; she wanted to see him smile at her again and look at her with the trust he always held in his eyes.

Lucy tilted her head up ever so slightly and felt the hands that brushed her cheeks loosen until one was caressing her face and the other rested on her hip. Natsu followed her every movement, his eyes flickering down to her lips and back up to the eyes that seemed to glow with warmth.

"I will always forgive you." She whispered.

Natsu sucked in a breath to give some oxygen to his poor racing heart before crushing her lips against his.

Lucy's hands clung to his shirt while she teetered against falling backwards on the bed as the man in front of her pressed against her. Her hands desperately wanted to run through his hair and touch his face, but the position they were in made that impossible.

Letting a tiny smile play at her lips, the blonde let her knees give out and fell backwards onto the bed; a stunned Natsu falling on top of her and just barely holding himself up from crushing her.

Ignoring his confused and lightly amused expression, her hand reached up and ran through his hair, making the boy hovering above her close his eyes in bliss. Biting her lip at the expression on the man's face, Lucy raised her other hand and gently tugged him closer to her.

Quickly complying with her wishes, Lucy barely had time to register the hungry look in the dragon slayers eyes before he leaned back on top of her and kissed her until she was breathless. Her hands dug into his hair almost painfully as he parted her lips with his tongue and slipped it in her mouth, an almost feral noise at the back of his throat.

His tongue explored her mouth and Lucy dug into his hair, pulling him even closer and pressing her mouth harder against his. She caught his lower lip gently with her teeth and relished in the way his hands squeezed her hips in appreciation.

When spots began to blur her vision, the blonde pulled her head away to gasp for air and Natsu continued his assault of kisses along her neck and collarbone. Lucy's hands drifted away from his cotton candy locks and ran down his back as her legs wrapped around his hips.

She could feel as Natsu's breath came quicker against her skin and the blonde tugged against the hem of his white shirt, pulling it close to his shoulders. Sitting up just enough to get the material out of the way, Lucy greedily took in the sight she'd been given for quite a few years but never appreciated.

Lightly tanned skin stretched across taunt muscles loomed over her, the chest of the boy rising and falling, unknowingly flexing each time he did so.

Natsu looked down at Lucy, taking in her swollen lips and flushed cheeks as her eyes roamed over his body, feeling a surge of warmth go through him. Many thoughts were bouncing around in his head, but there was one that stuck out over the rest—

She's mine.

The feeling in his chest becoming almost too much to bear, Natsu leaned over the girl once again, but this time much more slowly and deliberately. His forearm pressed into the mattress beside her head and the other hand glided up her leg; stopping as he grabbed a handful of material on her upper thigh.

His entire chest was pressed flush with hers and Lucy wanted to be closer. She wrapped her hands around his neck and her legs around his hips and dragged him down tighter, locking him with a kiss once again. Lucy shifted under the boy to breathe better under his crushing weight and Natsu groaned into his mouth.

The blonde pulled away for a second and looked at the boy above her, surprised at the desire that pooled there. His breathing was shallow as he looked down at her. Lucy moved again to see if what she thought was right and the pink haired man dove into the crook of her neck to muffle his groan.

Lucy smiled as he kissed her again roughly.

The material at her thigh that he held rose higher and Natsu pulled up a little to look down at her. His eyes were full of desire and want, but he still paused. He still wanted her to be comfortable and make sure that he had her permission to move forward.

The blonde's heart swelled and she gave him a tiny smile and reassuring nod. Natsu leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a slow languid kiss and then pulled away, locking her eyes with his as she felt his hand move along her outer thigh, up to her ribcage and just barely grazed her breast, making her shiver.

She didn't even remember lifting her head so he could pull the shirt over her head, nor did she remember when her other clothes were gone—or his for that matter. Had she undressed him? All Lucy remembered was the hazy feeling of complete bliss as Natsu breathed her name, held her and kissed her.

How he loved her.

XxX

Lucy pressed herself closer to the heater that was Natsu, her hand splayed against his bare chest and her legs tangled up in his. The blonde knew that the pink haired man was still asleep from the deep and even breaths he was taking and smiled softly.

The sun had not yet fully made it into the sky and she assumed that it was still early in the morning, so Lucy decided to try and get more sleep as well and closed her eyes.

She felt his arm tighten on her waist before loosening once again and lifted her head slightly to peek under her eyelashes at his face. He was apparently in the middle of a dream, his eyelids flickering slightly due to his eyes darting around. She wasn't sure if it was a good dream or a bad one, but from the way that his hand kept clenching her side, she guessed it was a nightmare.

Sitting up a little and clutching the blanket to cover her bare chest with one hand, she brought the other one up to brush along his forehead before sliding her fingers into his hair. Repeating her ministrations until the boy next to her relaxed and his eyes stopped fluttering, Lucy smiled.

It felt good that she could do that for him.

The blonde removed her hand from his hair and clasped both in her lap on top of the blanket that covered them. She stared down at them and shoved down that panic that began to claw at her throat.

Natsu wasn't like other guys. He wouldn't leave her unless she asked him to or was forced to physically. So her fear was unrequited, she decided. Lucy wanted to see where this went and refused to let the impressions of other guys dampen Natsu's chances.

Her breath shortened in panic as her reassuring thoughts did nothing to contain her worry. Sliding to the side of the bed so her feet touched the cool wooden floor, the blonde probed in the darkness until her hand landed on the first shirt she found and tugged it on.

She had to get out of there. The air was stifling; all feeling of relaxation and comfort gone. Natsu was too important for her to lose. She couldn't run the risk of ever losing him; whether from her own hand or from someone else's weapon.

Lucy found her discarded underwear and pulled it on as well as she stood. Emotions were dangerous. They were holes. Places that others can easily use against you and get you to act out of rage and not calculation.

Red alerts were firing and ringing in every direction in her head as she stumbled away from the bed and towards the door. Too close. Too close. Not good enough. Danger. Hurt. Tears. Failure.

Images of battles almost lost because of her weakness flashed in front of her and made her already staggering steps even worse as the rushing in her ears became louder. Clasping her hands over her ears, Lucy stumbled backwards, her knees giving out and plopping her back in the same sitting position she had been in before. Had she not moved at all away from the bed?

Not uncovering her ears, the blonde scrunched her eyes shut and placed her elbows on her knees. The feeling of losing bubbled up inside her. Losing her keys—their untrusting faces shining out at her in the dark, making her insides twist uncomfortably. The possibility of losing Natsu, her parents already being lost, their love, her home—everything.

The feelings inside her pushed their way to the surface and Lucy could feel her body heating up.

Oh no, not this again.

"Lucy?"

The blonde snapped her head in the direction of the groggy voice, her eyes flying open in disbelief and shock. She tried to get to her feet, but her body wouldn't obey her and she stayed in the same spot against her will as her body continued to rise in temperature; her blood beginning to feel like it was boiling.

The girl didn't respond as she was too busy gritting her teeth in pain but she could hear as Natsu shifted under the sheets. She assumed he'd sat up from the way his silhouette contorted in the darkness.

"What…what are you doing?" He mumbled, a little more coherently this time.

She knew her skin would be red and blotchy by this time and she grimaced and looked away as the pink haired man lit the candle next to the bed. She heard his mortified gasp as he took in her red skin and burned splotches all over her and leaped out of the bed.

Lucy quickly averted her eyes under the curtain of her hair in fear of seeing him in nothing, seeing as how he had completely forgotten about his state of undress. Lucy let out a pained breath both out of embarrassment and the fire that coursed through her body. She assumed the pink haired boy figured out why she neglected to look at him because she heard Natsu make strangled noise in the back of his throat and the rustle of clothes.

Everything was hard to discern from the way her head felt five times too heavy and her ears seemed to be permanently listening to the ocean, but the next thing she knew, Natsu was on his knees in front of her (a curious glance showed her that he now had boxers on) and looking up at her with concern.

"Do you want me to get Gray?" He asked, his voice sounding strained even to his own ears.

Guilty relief rushed through him as she shook her head. He couldn't help it; if the other man wasn't around her, or touching her, Natsu felt so much better.

Seeing her like this—with burns marring her skin and cuts beginning to form all over her body from cracking open in the heat—made him infuriated.

His face became drawn as Lucy made a small noise of pain and began to reach out for her only to flinch away again. He couldn't touch her; couldn't comfort her, or he would cause her pain. The realization made him want to commit murder. To ruthlessly beat anyone or anything that caused this to happen to her.

He felt useless.

After a few agonizing minutes where Natsu watched with poorly concealed rage and concern up at her, Lucy could feel her rapid heartbeat slow down and her skin even off to a normal temperature. She had never stayed awake through an entire episode, and she noted that this wasn't nearly as bad as the first.

This thought made a thousand others rush into her mind, but she smothered them before she could give herself a headache thinking too hard at the moment. Right now, she would focus on the boy in front of her who seemed to be speaking.

"—me?"

Lucy blinked and removed her hands from her ears to raise her head and look at him fully. "What?"

He cleared his throat and refused to look at her, "Was it because of me?"

When Lucy just looked at him questioningly, Natsu moved from kneeling on the floor in front of her and turned his back to look out the window at the night sky once again. He crossed his arms, his voice quiet and deep, "Did your skin begin to burn because I was…too close…to you?"

Lucy stared at his back in shock, her face contorting into multiple expressions of shock and disbelief. Of course it wasn't his fault. It had been happening even when he was miles away from her. But here it was…her perfect opportunity to push him away. An excuse. An escape.

The blonde opened her mouth to deliver the blow, but all that came out was strangled air. She couldn't do it; she was too selfish. She wanted to keep him near her. She had tried to keep him at arm's length and look at where that got her.

Natsu deserved the truth, not a lie to cover her fear. She would get over this anxiety of exposing herself to him emotionally and knew that he would be okay with her taking time to do so. But that was for another time; not tonight when everything was going so great and then took a turn for the worst.

So Lucy swallowed her fear and rose shakily to her feet. She didn't worry that she was braless and only had his shirt and her panties on. She didn't worry about her Spirits or the Guild. She didn't worry about the thought that everything might be different tomorrow.

Instead, the blonde focused on the pink haired dragon slayer in front of her. Lucy padded over until she was standing right behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her cheek against the tensed muscles in his back.

"No," She mumbled, Natsu's taunt muscles relaxing at her words, "You didn't cause this."

She felt him take a deep breath and she loosened her grip a little so he could turn around and wrap her in his arms. Natsu held her close for a long time, his cheek resting against the crown of her head.

"We'll figure it out, Luce. I promise."

Natsu felt warm liquid fall onto his chest and he hugged the girl in his arms even tighter; wishing that he could somehow absorb her pain and take it away forever.

XxX

Erza eyed the two out of her peripheral vision while also keeping an ear out for any possible approaching enemies.

Her mind immediately jumped to that morning when the two had come down the stairs at different intervals. Lucy had come down first, sporting fresh burns that marred her body and trying to hide from the red headed requip mage. Erza had instantly jumped to the conclusion that Natsu had done this in either passion or rage and began marching to the stairs to rip him out of the shower and tear him to pieces. Luckily, Lucy stopped her before that could happen and explained the situation, ending in her getting a medic for Lucy and not the pink haired idiot upstairs.

When Natsu came into the dining hall, hair wet and body clean, the blonde's eyes were on him immediately and his were on her. The look they shared was smoldering and Erza recognized the feelings radiating off of them both immediately and decided to corner Lucy later and interrogate her.

Gray, on the other hand was about as subtle as a rock thrown in someone's face.

"What did you guys do last night?!" He bellowed as he raised his eyebrows and smirked.

Erza tried to kick him under the table, but it was hard to hit someone sitting next to her so she ended up kicking Lucy by accident, who was seated in front of her and the blonde jumped and flinched at the contact so Natsu thought Gray had touched Lucy and catapulted out of his seat and onto Gray and long story short Gray got a black eye.

Now on their way to Sabertooth by foot seeing as how any mode of transportation would end in Natsu hurling in the street, Erza took the time to observe Natsu and Lucy while occasionally striking Gray for complaining too much.

The two had a connection to the other. If Lucy faced the right, then Natsu was behind her, watching her back. If Natsu licked his lips one time too many, the blonde was there with her canteen. When she spoke to anyone in town, that was where Natsu was listening.

It was interesting to watch from another point of view, actually. She remembered Lucy commenting about her and Jellal doing the same thing, but Erza thought nothing of it—it was natural to her.

Apparently, Gray had never experienced anything of the sort seeing as how he kept mumbling things like, "Creepy," and, "Stalker," under his breath.

Whatever had happened between the two last night, Erza hoped that it would stay strong through the duration of their trip. She had a bad feeling that the last Guild would hold something from Lucy's nightmares.

XxX

"Okay," Lucy began, taking a deep breath and holding the first golden key out in front of her, "You guys ready?"

Natsu, Gray and Erza stood fanned out in front of her, each one ready to defend if the need arose. Night had fallen and Team Natsu had decided to set up camp in a clearing in the woods and continue to Sabertooth in the morning.

After everyone had settled in, Erza had noticed Lucy fiddling with her keys and suggested testing each one out to check if their memories had resurfaced or not. The blonde's face lit up and immediately took her up on the offer, thus where they were now.

Her team nodded and Lucy waved her hand through the air, "Open! Gate of the Ram! Aries!"

Golden light filled the night and they all tensed as Aries formed in front of them, rising from her bent position and pulling down her white lamb fur shyly.

Her back to the others, her eyes focused on Lucy and began filling with tears.

"Aries?" Lucy began cautiously, watching out of the corner of her eye as Natsu struggled not to come to her side.

The Ram sniffed as tears fell down her cheeks and her hands covered her mouth, shaking her head. Lucy took a hesitant step forward—wanting to comfort her broken Spirit—and that was all it took. Aries threw herself at Lucy, running towards her with speed she normally only used in battle and engulfed her in a hug.

Natsu was suddenly at the blonde's side with a menacing look on his face as he went full-protection mode. Lucy inwardly rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the butterflies that engulfed her belly at his worry.

"I'm so sorry!" Aries wailed, making Lucy temporarily deaf in her left ear. The Ram clutched at the spirit mage in desperation as she continued to babble, Lucy not being able to get a single word in.

"I remember what I did to you and I didn't mean to, I was just so lost and confused and didn't know why was in that Guild or who I was and I'm just so sorry, Lucy please punish me as you see fit! I can't thank you enough for coming to find me I don't know what would have happened to me, actually I do—the Spirit King told us what our punishment was for trying to save you—Oh! You're alive! How?! We tried…but we weren't strong enough and couldn't save you and we were all so sad, especially Loke— he refused to do anything but sit in his realm in silence. Where is everyone? Where is he?"

The blonde pulled the pink haired girl away from her gently by the shoulders and bore her eyes into her Spirit's, "All of you got separated. I haven't gotten to Loke yet…and I don't even know if the rest of the Spirits remember me like you do…"

The Ram's lip quivered as she smiled slightly, "They do!" She shouted, obviously happy to give good news, but covered her mouth and continued on in a much more subdued voice with her cheeks faintly red, "Well, most of them. Some of them just came back…Gemi, Mini, Capricorn and Virgo are all still wary of you, but I'm guessing you just got them back. Sagittarius, Cancer and I are trying to convince them now, but it seems that the longer we stayed in the human world, the longer our amnesia is."
Lucy nodded, noting that everyone had moved closer to listen in on the conversation, Natsu standing so close that she could feel his body heat radiating onto her right arm. The Spirit sighed and Lucy noticed the fatigue that she had overlooked when Aries had first arrived. There were slight dark circles under her eyes and her posture was slouched. The Celestial Spirit Mage immediately felt bad for overlooking it and gave her a quick side hug.

"You're tired Aries," When the spirit tried to protest, Lucy waved a hand to silence her, "Go back to the spirit realm and rest. I may need you tomorrow. Don't worry; we'll get everyone back safe and sound."

Aries stood for a little while longer and Lucy mustered up enough energy to smile. She hadn't gotten very much sleep the night before and she was beginning to feel its effect on her. The Ram dissipated into gold and Lucy took a deep breath, looking around at her companions.

Natsu's hand brushed against hers and Lucy took comfort by his touch despite the backflips her heart did in her chest.

"Alright," Erza began loudly, shattering the moment completely by clapping her hands once, "Time for sleep. Boys in one tent; girls in the other." She barked, grabbing Lucy's upper arm and dragging her towards a tent while ignoring the shouts of complaints from everyone else.

She was going to get the gossip she wanted and she was going to get it tonight.

A pleased smile stretched across her face and Lucy shuddered in fear. She had a feeling that it was going to be a long night.

X

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I'm exceedingly jealous of the authors who get FanArt. *grumbles and walks away*

But I still love you guys to pieces!

Sorry about no Spirit huntin' this chapter, but I figured a little NaLu was needed.

Thank you so much for all the reviews! I'm sorry it's so late, but I think you guys are tired of hearing my excuses, so here, have some fluff—does that make it a little better?

REVIEW FOR ME AGAIIINNNN! :D