Chapter 10

Lucy huffed as she rummaged through her clothes. She had forgot to do her laundry for the past couple days and now she was all out of her longer tops. Tears stung her eyes as she realized that she would have to wear a shirt that would show her scars a little. With a sigh she pulled a light pink top on that stopped right below her belly button. She looked at herself in the mirror and touched the skin that was showing above her jeans. Her finger traced a scar that went from her pelvis to the back of her right hip. A sigh escaped her lips as she tried not to cry.

With a quick glance at the clock Lucy realized that she had fifteen minutes to go meet everyone at the guild. She took a deep breath as she grabbed her gate keys and apartment key before leaving her apartment. The entire walk to the guild Lucy felt like people were pointing and whispering. Once she walked through the doors of the guild her eyes searched for the one person she knew could calm her down. Instead what she found was Freed and Levy working on a containment spell and Natsu growling angrily behind the door. Even with the door shaking it didn't budge or break due to the spell.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked pausing in front of Levy.

"Well, Natsu lost his cool on two guys in front of the guild this morning. They were asking about you and showed him something on the lacrima vision then they we're getting beaten up really bad. Wendy is in the infirmary trying to heal as much as she can before they are taken to the hospital. They are most likely going to be there for a while," Levy told her shaking her head.

"What? Why would he do that?" Lucy asked.

"I don't— Lucy what…are those scars from when you were…" Levy dropped her question seeing the tears begin to form in her friend's eyes.

"Yeah, I usually hide them, but I ran out of clean shirts that do the tricks."

Levy was about to ask something when Natsu shouted "Why the hell does it smell like Lucy is crying? Let me out of here. Those guys deserve worse than what they got!"

"You will stay in there until I say you've calmed down enough!" the master yelled before turning around to head to his office.

Lucy squeaked while she jumped at the sudden appearance of Gajeel next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and kept it there even when her body stiffened under her touch.

"Bunny girl and I need to have a conversation in private shrimp," Gajeel said before steering Lucy away from Levy to a room upstairs.

Once in the room he motioned for Lucy to sit down on the couch while he shut and locked the door. Her mind was telling her that she was safe, but her body was getting ready to fight. Subconsciously she moved her body to the edge of the couch and set her feet down in preparation to run.

"Calm down, I'm not going to do anything to you," Gajeel grumbled while he sat down on a chair that was in front of her yet out of arms reach.

"I know…well more like my mind knows, but my body doesn't. I'm sorry."

"Nothin to apologize about."

"So why did you bring me here?" Lucy asked forcing herself to sit back in the couch with her back resting against it.

"I figured that I should let you know what's going on with…Natsu. Especially since things might get a little worse now," Gajeel muttered.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

"Well, unlike anyone else here I was able to hear the conversation Natsu had with those two idiots Natsu beat the shit out of."

Lucy didn't bother to say a word. All she did was raise an eyebrow at him and bite her lip nervous to hear what he had to say.

"They were asking if they could meet the hot blonde in that sex video they found and if they could get a turn with her since it seemed like she enjoyed fucking multiple guys at once and that you seemed to like pain too," he paused while he waited to see her response. Tears bubbled around her eyes before she squeezed them shut. "When they showed him the video they were talking about he snapped just like Laxas and I would have if it was a video of our mate being raped for the whole world to see."

"Mate?" Lucy asked tugging her shirt down.

"Like dragons any dragon slayer needs to find his or in Wendy's case her mate. In a way it's our other half, our soul mate. They are the one person who can calm us down and make us feel whole. When a slayer finds their mate all their instincts go into making sure they keep their mate safe and happy. Since finding a mate is so important it is also important to let them know that once they accept being your mate there is no going back. Dragons mate for life so we dragon slayers share that quality as well."

"How do you know that I'm Natsu's mate?" Lucy asked. "Shouldn't he have someone that's…I don't know more powerful and less pathetic."

"Hey, you aren't pathetic bunny girl nor does it matter how powerful a mate is. What is important is the fact that not only did Natsu have to go through his mate being taken from him, but he is also struggling from the fact that he wasn't able to protect you when you needed him the most. That's why he has been blaming himself for what happened to you, and now that he knows that there is this video of you he is going to be even worse when it comes to protecting you and not trying to beat up any guy that looks at you in the wrong way."

"You didn't answer how you knew that I was his mate."

"His scent is always covering you and your apartment. It will become even stronger once you two complete the mate bond. He was also pissed when I took you during the time I was with Phantom Lord. To him it was like another slayer was trying to take what was his. And don't worry about anyone else finding out about this. Only the dragon slayers know who each other's mates are since we are the one's with the heightened senses."

"What do you mean by mate bond?" Lucy asked before Gajeel could stand up.

"He really should be the one to explain it since it's very personal," Gajeel said rubbing the back of his neck.

"Please Gajeel, I need to know before I see him."

"A slayer marks their mate by biting them while they are…intimate," Gajeel mumbled. "Probably the only reason why he hasn't marked you yet is because he knows that you need to heal and be fully ready before he can perform the mating process."

"Thank you," Lucy said before leaving the room.

She ran down the stairs and stood in front of the room Natsu was locked up in. He was still trying to break the door down, but calmed down when she set her hand on the door.

"Levy am I able to go in there?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, the runes are just to prevent Natsu from leaving, but there isn't anything here that should prevent people from entering."

Lucy nodded her head before she twisted the doorknob. When she opened the door she saw that Nastu was still very upset. It looked like he had scales on his arms and his pupils were like slits. Once the door was shut Natsu turned to her and pushed her up against the wall. Surprised Lucy clung to him as she had a minor flash back of someone throwing her up against the wall before they had fun with her body. After she opened her eyes she saw that Natu's appearance had softened and it looked like he was about to apologize before she shook her head. Her hands cupped his face before bringing her lips to his. He kissed her back while pulling her closer to her body.

She sighed when she pulled away and whispered, "I'm sorry that you had to see that video."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you," Natsu replied rubbing her thumb across the exposed skin above her pants. "You're wearing one of your older shirts."

"Only because I ran out of clean shirts," a tear escaped. "Oh god, that's why everyone was looking at me this morning. They must have seen the video and seeing my scars confirmed it was me. Natsu what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to…I can't believe that…I'm so pathetic."

"Hey, you're not pathetic," Natsu growled. "And I will bash anyone who says otherwise."

Lucy hugged him tight. She buried her nose in his neck and took a deep breath. The panic she started to feel disappeared while she relaxed in his arms.

"I'm lucky to be your mate," Lucy sighed. "You always no what to say to calm me down."

She felt him stiffen at her words. He pulled back a little until he was able to stare into her chocolate brown eyes. Lucy leaned into his hand once he brought it up to her face.

"Gajeel talked to me, and I'm sorry that you haven't been able to claim me yet. I know that you are waiting for me to be ready and I'm grateful that you're doing that."

"I will always do what I can to make you happy and safe," Natsu said before giving her a peck on the lips. "I just can't believe that Gajeel told you all that."

"Well you did almost kill the guy you saw raping me, and from what I heard you got locked in here for doing the same thing to two guys."

A growl emitted from him. Lucy raised her eyebrow at him before she slapped him. He took a deep breath before he stepped back.

She then turned around and opened the door and said, "Levy take these runes down so that Natsu can take me home. Please Levy."

"Of course Lu-chan," she said getting up and glanced up at the second story seeing the master nod his approval.

"Does that mean we're hanging out at your apartment today?" Gray asked.

Lucy nodded as she and Natsu walked out of the room. A tear fell from her eye as she thought about the video being out there. She wiped it away before she grabbed Natsu's hand and walked toward the guild doors. Out of the corner of her eye she swears she saw some people whisper to Mira and hand her money while nodding in her and Natsu's direction. Natsu wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they walked out the guild doors. Lucy smiled at him while Gray and Erza joined them on her walk home.