10

Natsu and Lucy stood in the center of the clearing in front of their little home facing each other. Natsu guided Lucy through some warm up stretches to loosen her up a bit. Lucy was surprised at how tight her muscles were but Natsu explained that she had been in recovery from severe injuries and the tight muscles were likely due to under use. "You probably aren't as strong as you were before you were kidnapped. The first step is going to be building up your body so that when you fight you can be on a more even playing field with your opponent. First, we are going to go on a run through this forest. This is going to help you with stamina, strength and agility."

Lucy made a sour face at the idea of running but nodded. "I want to be able to help myself Natsu. I want to take care of myself so maybe what happened to me with Gajeel will not happen again. I never want to feel that helpless ever again."

Natsu's eyes widened slightly at her statement. He had not thought much about how the experience had weighed on Lucy's self esteem. She had always been strong in his eyes and he always wondered at how well she had bounced back after being beaten within an inch of her life. It seemed that even she was prone to insecurity sometimes. Instead of responding, he just nodded and took off at a light jog towards the tree line. Lucy followed him, keeping pace with him rather easily.

This did not last long. Lucy was amazed at how weak she actually was. Within about a quarter mile of running, her lungs were protesting for air. Her body wanted to take a break but she pushed herself to keep up with Natsu. For his part, Natsu had not changed the pace and was not even panting yet. He was, however, paying close attention to Lucy's condition. When he noticed her beginning to struggle, he pressed on, wanting to see how far she would push herself. However, once he heard her breaths become ragged and noticed the stumble in her step, he slowed them to a halt. "We will take a break here before we head back. You've done pretty well so far!"

Lucy could not respond for a few minutes as she fought to catch her breath. When she finally had collected herself, she glared at the forest floor, anger apparent in her body language. "I can't even go a mile without feeling like I'm going to die!" The statement sounded like it was wrenched from her chest, harsh and bitter. Lucy was surprised to find tears leaking out of her eyes. She wiped at them furiously, "Ugh! I'm so weak!"

Natsu watched her fight with herself. He knew that he had to let her fight this out alone. If he stepped it, he would inadvertently be telling her that she was weak and could not help herself. It hurt him to see her cry angry, frustrated tears and crouch on the ground as she battled her personal demons. He sat down next to her and just listened as she let everything out.

"Do you know I've been having nightmares? Every damn night I see his face in my dreams. I hear that damn laugh taunting me. I can't escape, no matter what I do. I wake up and I'm terrified. Sometimes, I can't go back to sleep and I actually like those nights. Because when I do go back to sleep, I see him again." Lucy choked through another sob, placing her head on her knees. "I'm so tired. So tired."

Lucy could not get more words out as her emotion consumed her. She cried over her weakness, her pain, her helplessness, and her fears. She mourned the tragedy that surrounded her parent's marriage and the circumstances of her birth. Finally, her sobs reduced to hiccups that subsided into deep breaths. Lucy lifted her head from its place on her knees and leaned her head back onto the trunk of the tree behind her. It was quiet for a few minutes as the couple listened to the birds chatter and the leaves rustle in the light breeze.

"So... what's next?" Natsu's question hung in the air between them for another minute.

"I'm going to get stronger. I will not let anyone walk over me ever again. And I will defeat these nightmares too. I won't let that monster control my life anymore. Because I've realized that I'm the one letting him scare me. If I don't give him that power anymore, then he can't touch me." Lucy was quiet for a moment before adding, "The next time I see him, I'm going to punch him right in the face and show him that he can't hurt me anymore. And that I can hurt him."

"Alone?" Natsu leaned against the tree with Lucy.

Lucy tilted her head until it was resting against his shoulder. "No. Well I mean, I'm not going to let you punch him in the face. You got enough punches in; this time it's my turn. But as for everything else, I'm not alone. I have you don't I? And Papa. He has promised to help me as much as he can with my magic. And I hope that any Spirits I make contracts with will be my friends and will be willing to lend me their strength when I need it."

Natsu smiled; reaching forward, he grabbed Lucy's hand and tangled their fingers together. "You'll always have me. And for what it's worth, I think you are one of the strongest people I've ever met. As much as I hate it, I couldn't tell that you were losing sleep. You are really good at hiding your problems because you don't want to bother anyone else with them. It takes strength to be able to keep it together as long as you have. But I don't think it is good for you to hide your true feelings from the world. I'm not saying that you should show everything to everyone, but... well you don't have to be afraid to hide anything from me."

Lucy moved her head up slightly to place a light kiss against the column of Natsu's throat. "Thanks Natsu. I am so used to dealing with everything by myself, I guess I just did it on habit. I promise I will try to be more open with you." She squeezed his hand with hers and snuggled closer to him until she was pulled onto his lap. She laid her head on his chest, over his heart and listened to its steady rhythm, letting it calm her completely.

Natsu tucked her more comfortably on his lap and let her sleep. She had spent a lot of energy on bottling up her emotions and finally letting go of them had drained her. Even though he told her that he had not seen how tired she was, he had noticed that she seemed too ok. He had a gut feeling that she was not a fine as she tried to make herself seem. However, he knew that if he asked her about it, Lucy would just deny it and go on like nothing was wrong only this time being more careful to cover up anything that might bother her. After the talk with Jude, Natsu knew that Lucy was close to her breaking point. He had decided that he would help teach her to fight but also decided that he would force her to confront her demons.

The couple spent most of the morning under that tree, Lucy dosing while Natsu held her and enjoyed the sounds of the forest. Finally, Lucy leaned back and yawned. "Thank you for that Natsu." she said. It was the most natural she had sounded since they returned to their little hovel. "I am always amazed by how the cold does not bother you but I'm guessing that your magic has something to do with it?"

Natsu grinned smugly, "Yep! I have a fire in my belly that never goes out! It also keeps me warm." Natsu helped Lucy to her feet as he got up himself. "Ready to jog back? I'm sure a jog will get your blood flowing and warm you up!"

Lucy moaned, "I hate running!" However, she still complied when Natsu began the jog home.

...

The couple continued the stamina and endurance training until Lucy was finally able to take off the splint on her wrist. At this point, her bruises had faded and she was gaining some lean muscle tone in her body once again. She was able to run two miles with Natsu without much struggle now but she wanted to go farther. Lucy found that she was beginning to enjoy running. While she ran, she practiced extending her senses so that she could pay better attention to her surroundings. She was getting better at anticipating hidden roots in the ground and branches that might give her a concussion hanging above her.

Today, Lucy was stretching out her muscles after the greatly shorter run that she and Natsu had taken in the morning. Natsu was pacing and looked to be deep in thought, possibly thinking about how to teach her his combat skills. Lucy finished stretching and rocked back and forth on her heels while she waited for Natsu to begin the lesson. "Ok! First, I want to start by asking what exactly you are trying to get out of learning these techniques."

Lucy was a bit surprised by the question and took a moment to consider her answer. "I want to be strong enough to at least defend myself. I want to be able to join the battles that will result from the power that I will be responsible for."

Natsu nodded. "You need to understand that there will always be someone who is stronger than you. Especially when it comes to magic users. Take me, for example. My magic allows me to change my body to one with a dragon's characteristics. There are not many people who could go up against a dragon and win; mostly those who can have Dragon Slayer magic like I do. But it isn't just Dragon Slayers; there are other types of magic that will enhance the strength of the user. From the story Jude told, it sounds like your magic is mainly of the holder type."

Lucy raised one eyebrow at him, "Holder type?"

"That means your magic is mainly concentrated in certain items. I think your father mentioned keys? Holder mages can learn spells but even those aren't usually the kind that enhance the user's physical characteristics. Your magic means that you should not be taking a leading role in the battles that you may run into." At Lucy's frown, Natsu raised his hands in front of himself defensively, "I'm not saying that you can't hold your own in those battles. I'm just saying that you need to be okay with leaving the main fighting to those who have that as their strong point."

Lucy did not like this idea. "I don't want to use anyone as a shield!" she protested.

Natsu huffed out a sigh, running his hand through his hair in mild frustration. "That's not what I'm saying. How do I explain this?" Natsu thought for a moment and Lucy let him. She genuinely wanted to know why he was saying the things he had said and she did not want to be angry at him since he clearly was not trying to put her down. "Look, you always like to have a plan when you do things. If we were planning to expand the farm, what job would you give me?"

"I would ask you to clear the land and probably build the fence around the farm."

"And what job would you do?"

"I would plow the new fields and sow the new seeds and generally cultivate the garden."

"Now why did you make those choices? Why can't I be the one who plants stuff and grows stuff?"

Lucy made a face, "Because you would not make even rows for the plants and you tend to weed out the good plants and leave the bad ones growing. And I don't want to have to clear the land of trees and stumps or build a fence since I'm not good at that stuff."

"It's the same when you fight! I, for example, am going to be better at physically attacking the enemy than you would be. That isn't to say that you can't defend yourself or act in a support capacity but I would never have you be the main fighter. If you were, the fight would become really bad, really quickly. If you can't summon spirits or perform any spells because you are too focused on beating people up with your fists, it might take longer to win the fight and you might get more hurt than if you stayed more in the background and cast spells or keep spirits on the battlefield."

Lucy nodded slowly, "You're thinking strategically. We should play to the strengths of our team and not force everyone to be good at everything. I understand. I still want you to work with me and get me to be as strong as possible. That way, I can be as helpful as possible to the team and play an equal role. I don't want to be the damsel in distress that always has to be saved."

Natsu grinned and nodded, "Right! But if you ever are in distress, I'll save you!"

Lucy giggled and ruffled his hair affectionately, "Thanks Natsu."

After that, Natsu and Lucy got down to business. Natsu showed Lucy how to form her hands into fists such that she would not break her thumbs and would deliver the most powerful punch. He showed her how to punch with a twist in her wrist and using the power in her torso to increase the force of the punch. Then he had her repeat her punches over... and over... and over. In fact, in that first lesson, he didn't teach her anything else. He didn't teach her new punches for several days; when Lucy got frustrated with him, Natsu explained that he wanted her to commit each technique to muscle memory so that when the real life situation arises where she would need them, she would not have to think about it. Lucy still grumbled but did what he said in the end.

This began a new routine for the couple which helped them get through the cold and otherwise boring winter months. Lucy build muscle tone throughout her body by joining Natsu in his morning exercises; she only did the number of repetitions that she could do. Having observed all of the different components that Natsu built into his battle routine, Lucy could only conclude that she never wanted Natsu for an enemy. She could see why he might be called a monster by his enemies. Natsu was scary strong and he made it his mission to keep getting stronger.

However, just because she could understand why others might refer to Natsu as a monster, did not mean that she considered him one. Since she lacked a sparring partner that was more on her level, Natsu sparred with her. He pulled all of his punches and, while he did land hits that would leave bruises, he made sure that they were not damaging, only reminders of mistakes she made. Natsu would always care for any injuries that she sustained in their morning and afternoon matches. He did not allow her to pull her punches in return. "I have been trained to take hits, no matter how hard Lucy. Don't worry about hurting me. In fact, I want you to hurt me; it shows how strong you're becoming and gives me an idea of where we are in your training," he had explained. Natsu also made sure never to hit her in the face. "Wouldn't want to sully those pretty eyes of yours," was his reasoning for that. Lucy believed it also had something to do with the fact that facial bones were much more fragile and Natsu was afraid of doing real damage.

Every sparring match ended with the two of them gasping, dousing themselves in the cold snow that blanketed the clearing surrounding them. They would go inside and change out of their training clothes; Lucy would make some warm cider to give them new energy and warm their cold bones. While they drank, Natsu would go over the match and show Lucy where she went wrong and praise her for any progress she made. Sometimes, when there was not much to discuss, or when Lucy was feeling discouraged after a particularly bad day, they would talk about the time they had been apart. Lucy shared stories of growing up in the little village with her father while Natsu would share his own stories of becoming the Lord of Magnolia.

At first, living together was a bit awkward as it was not something that unmarried couples did without sordid rumors and ruined reputations. Natsu was overly cautious and Lucy was overly shy; they soon got over the initial awkwardness and settled into the comfort of a friendship that was slowly becoming something more. Natsu was the son of a dragon and had acquired some of the characteristics that his father possessed. One of those was a fondness for touch. When he guided Lucy through a new stance, punch or kick, he did not seem to mind how close their bodies were or where he had to touch her to guide her body. Lucy, for her part, would turn red but did not ever say anything. After all, ever since she had confessed to having nightmares, Natsu had made her agree to call him when she had one. Natsu would come running into her room and would wrap her in her coverlet then hold her in his lap until she went back to sleep. Sometimes, she would describe the nightmare to him but most times she would just cuddle closer to his chest and listen to his heart beating.

Lucy stepped outside and began her stretches. Natsu was still finishing the breakfast that she had made that morning with some of the last of their food reserves. Lucy looked up when she heard Natsu's footsteps, "It's warmer today isn't it Natsu?"

Natsu held out his arms and then appeared to sniff the air, "Smells like spring is coming too. That's good. I'm so tired of all this snow and ice. Makes me think of the stupid Ice Freak and I don't want to be reminded of that bastard."

Lucy giggled, she had heard plenty of stories about the guild Fairy Tail and all of its members. "When the snow melts, I think it is time we go see my father and I unlock my magic. I'm getting pretty good with defending myself; I think it's about time I learned the other side of my power. The side that I do not know anything about."

Natsu considered this for a moment. "I guess you're right. I just... liked having you all to myself."

"When this mess is all over, we can come back here and you can make the additions to the house that you keep talking about." Lucy poked him in the ribs, teasing.

Natsu danced away from her jabs and frowned playfully at her. "Alright Lucy! Let's get going with our match! I bet you can't land a single punch today!"

"You're on!"

So there we have it! Now for review responses!

Guest: Thank you so much for the review! I am attempting to start an update schedule. My thought right now is to update by the end of the second week of every month. But school is about to start so I don't want to commit to anything until I have gotten into a school routine. This year is my last year of classes but it is also my qualifying year for candidacy (I'm trying to get my PhD) which is going to be very stressful. Writing can be a stress reliever so I really want to keep updating. If you want notifications, you can make an account here and follow this story so that you will get an email whenever I do update. I'm so glad you like my story so far and I hope you can keep reading it!