Chapter 10.5

Faith Riela.

Natsu smiled good-naturedly. He must've heard it wrong from Lucy's mouth.

"Faith Riela?" he repeated, hoping for Lucy to look confused.

He kept smiling when she eagerly nodded. "Yes, Faith Riela. Unique name, isn't it?"

"Yea…" he whispered. His hands were getting clammy, and he felt a slight dizziness when he looked up at the ceiling lights. Faith Riela. It must've been a coincidence, being the name of the mysterious woman and the name of the character in Lucy's book – written by her dead mother.

Some people were named Harry Potter, he told himself. It was a mere coincidence. Nothing was wrong with that.

But – Natsu pushed his bangs back and rested his hand on his eyes – if this was no mere coincidence, how was Faith related to Lucy? Was she the aunt? Long-lost grandmother? Or, perhaps by a twist of fate, she was Lucy's mother?

"Natsu? Natsu?" The blonde delicately tapped him on the shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"

He blinked back to reality as the image of Lucy replaced his shadowing thoughts. There she was, the stagnant ceiling lights garnishing her beautiful yet thin golden hair. Her features appeared gaunt from weight loss, yet the slight flush of the apples of her cheeks blemished those flaws.

All of a sudden, Natsu wanted to concentrate only on her. He finally became friends with Lucy again.

The issue will come later. When he meets Faith in the future, he will then deal with it.

A small grin flickered on his lips.

"You know Lucy," the pink-haired boy smirked while propping his elbows on the bed, "I love your voice."

"I-ada-huwahh-what?" Lucy blabbered, obviously flabbergasted. She turned cherry-red and slapped his arm. "What the cupcakes are you saying?"

He wasn't lying just to change topic. Her voice really was one of a kind. It surprisingly had a hint of alto range, he noted. One would look at Lucy and expect a squeaky, cute voice. And something about the speed of her voice….it calmed his nerves. Her voice matched almost the pace of time, pacing with each segment that the second-hand ticked by.

"I don't know. I just like your voice," he shrugged.

"Ahh…" she scrunched her face and hugged one of the pillows, "Well…I guess….I-I like your voice too…"

He blinked before leaning forward. "Really, Lucy?" he teased. "What part about it?"

"I don't know!" she flushed.

"Come onn!" Natsu whined while smiling widely. He never noticed until now that Lucy was easily flustered. And he quite enjoyed this.

"Like…..it's….not…." she hesitated.

"Not?"

"It's not like you're high on testosterone and it's not like you're just entering puberty!" Lucy squeaked, suddenly gasping and covering her mouth.

It took him a few seconds to process her barf of words.

"Uhm...thanks." Natsu wasn't quite sure how to respond.

Lucy snapped, "You asked!"

"Yea, I did," he smiled and buried his head into his arms on the bed. "I feel so tired after today…."

"Oh. Well….you should leave and take a nap," she suggested. However, Natsu couldn't help but notice the small reluctance in her tone.

His grin curved up more. "Don't wanna leave yet…." He stifled a small yawn.

"But you're dead-beat…"

"Well…" Natsu tilted his head up to glance at Lucy. "Is it ok if I take a nap here then?"

The blonde blankly looked at him. A small pink color appeared on her cheeks again. "A-as long as you leave…before visiting hours…." she murmured.

"Kay…." He yawned again.

Lucy let out a small sigh. "Do you want to sleep next to me….on the bed then?"

"I don't think I'm ready for that, Lucy."

"Natsu!" she yelled. "You know what I mean!"

Chuckling, he pulled the chair closer to the bed. "I'm fine with leaning my head here." He adjusted himself and sighed contently. "It's peaceful….."

"Yea.."

A curtain began dragging itself across his eyes. From faraway, he heard a small tune, humming beautifully in the darkness.

After Lucy finished her song, she peered down at Natsu, who was breathing evenly.

"Natsu?" she called out.

He didn't respond.

She decided to check again. "There's a spider going down your shirt."

He only snuggled deeper into his arms and let out small snores.

Smiling, Lucy sat herself crisscrossed on the bed. She lifted Fairy Tail onto her legs again and flipped through the pages. The crisp pages that brushed against her fingers felt nice…familiar. Yet when she tried reading, she couldn't.

She was too tempted to peek at the boy.

Her chocolate eyes fluttered to the pink-hair as she blushed. Just for a bit, she thought guiltily.

Biting her lips and placing the book aside, Lucy slowly reached over to Natsu's head and gently touched one spike of his hair.

She had to admit that she agreed with her old friends. Boys' hair was always soft for some reason. Her fingers danced from one to another, shyly ruffling the strands. To her relief, Natsu didn't wake up from her I-want-to-touch-your-hair moment. She would've died from embarrassment.

As she played with his hair, she noticed how it swirled counter-clockwise. Hair whorls, she remembered. Absentmindedly, her index finger traced the pattern.

Lucy sighed contently before laying on the bed. To her embarrassment, she was now staring at Natsu's sleeping face. Their faces were only two feet apart.

She squeezed her eyes shut before blinking them open. For some reason, she now wanted to poke his cheeks. Sighing, she hesitantly looked at his face again.

His eyelashes weren't long, but it suited his eyes perfectly fine. As she leaned closer, she realized his eyes were slightly double-lidded. Probably why his short eyelashes didn't make a difference…

She also noticed something else that stood out: purple-grey eye bags.

Her lips formed a small frown.

Lucy's cocoa-brown orbs traveled across his nose and ended at his lips. They were slightly parted, inhaling air and releasing with a three-second snore. Slightly chapped and a little colorless. At this intake of details, Lucy couldn't help but wonder if the pink-haired boy was extremely busy this week.

Was he eating right…?

Did his parents take care of him…?

Natsu was attending school, working (possibly), and visiting the hospital…

She blinked.

For some reason, she enjoyed discovering Natsu like this.

.

Usually Lucy would've considered this completely creepy.

Her cheeks warmed a little as she kept staring at Natsu, growing sleepier from his peaceful expression. She pulled the blanket across her body and pressed her lips against her fist.

Was she letting her guard down?

Well, actually Natsu was letting his guard down; she realized this and repeatedly smacked herself in her mind. She squirmed guiltily and pouted, disappointed at not being able to contain her curiosity.

She closed her eyes, drinking in the tranquility of the hospital room – followed by Natsu's occasional snores. She'd never been this content to sleep before. Something about the pink-haired boy warmed the atmosphere and chased away all the sterile smells and dreadful mechanisms.

Something warm...

Lucy imagined a different room and recalled all the details written in Fairy Tail.

A pink bed sat by an opened window with a small spring breeze. A white vanity with a matching dresser stood at the head of the bed while a beige nightstand sat at the foot. A dining table with three chairs was placed to the right of the bed. A table filled with memorable pictures decorating the top sat by another window. Tan bookshelves aligned themselves to the opposite wall…full of the books she'd read over and over…

A crystal tear formed as she fell asleep.

A/N: I know. Anti-climatic wahhhhh sorry guys. And I had a mini hiatus yet again GG. Senioritis is totally kicking in me now...AND A FLU. BLEHH I'm so sick. Curse you, flu season! shakes angry fist in the air

Anyways, sorry for the late update and the lack of continuation on Faith Riela's part. I just had a huge writer's block, so I was like...ok w/e. So yeaaaa~ AND THE REVIEWSSSS. I saw and reread all of them...and I was like omggg I love all you peeps on here...So yea! heart heart heart~

Well, have a good night everyone! Back to school tomorrow qq. I took today off cuz I was like I need a small break. pls.

~therandomnoob

PS: I haveee deleted the chapter about the date cuzz seriously man...I was high on sugar when writing that. Like omg. I reread it and was like what the heck is going on. LOL. -chides my past self- I'm planning to do a rewrite when I'm near in completing this story! So yea hehe~ That's all.