Lucy woke up, eyes wide with fright. Her eyes darted around and she let out a sigh when she realized where she was. Her home, dressed in many casts and bandages and sweaty and itchy but she was in bed, with Natsu, in her house, perfectly fine.

Lucy let out a breath of air she'd just noticed she was holding. She was perfectly fine. Natsu was fine, she reassured herself by placing her hands on his arms, wrapped around her stomach loosely. In a sleepy reaction, they moved slightly upward and tugged her closer. She blushed faintly but as long as he was asleep...

See, he's perfectly fine, she thought, her eyes fluttering closed. No stolen memories. Lucy shuddered though. She'd remembered this dream with startlingly clarity. She felt as if she was stumbling through blindly, with no idea where to go or who to turn to. Usually it was Natsu who she looked at when she had problems, but Natsu had forgotten and was with... Lisanna.

She eyes widened when her door slammed open. She got up into an upright position, tugging out of Natsus arms. He sleepily protested, hands stumbling blindly to find her and hug Lucy again. The person who'd opened the door stomped into the room, screaming, "Natsu Dragneel!"

Lucy got up this time, standing, as Lisanna stormed into the room. She pushed Lucy roughly aside, and practically fell on top of Natsu, lips landing on his. Lucy stared on the floor, dumbfounded.

Natsu opened his eyes, sent a glance at Lucy, but resumed kissing the Take-Over mage. Eventually she pulled away, panting heavily. She licked her lips. "Damn, Natsu, you can get so hot when you're like this." Natsu smirked, rolling over so that he was on top.

Lucy finally regained her composure. She quickly lost it again. "Natsu! What the hell do you think you're doing?" she screamed.

The Dragon Slayer sent a quick glance at her. It was sharp and uncaring. "Who the hell are you?" Lucy snapped, drowning in a pit of her own despair. The walls started drooping, but Lucy didn't pay any attention to that.

"W-what... what do you mean?" Lucy was frightful. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were wide and scared, watching Natsus cold, calculating expression. It didn't look like that. It couldn't look like that, because Natsu was always childish and caring but brave. Stupidly so, sometimes she wondered her own sanity dating him, but she somehow fell in love with the king of all idiots. This expression wasn't Natsu.

"W-who are you?" she asked hopelessly, shaking her head and crying, before being swallowed up by the melting walls. She didn't fight it. In return, she received a scoff from Natsu, who resumed kissing Lisanna before being overrun too by the walls closing around them.

The next morning, Lucy woke up in a nice, comfy bed, sweaty and panting heavily. She'd cried herself to sleep last night, but thank the lord; Erza and Kura had stayed by her side. But now her stomach twisted into knots and she felt like throwing up. Really.

She got out of bed quickly, accidently waking up the two Knights on either side of her from their beds, ran to the bathroom, and positioned herself over the toilet. "I-I'm... not feeling so good..." she said when the mages looked into the bathroom to see what was going on.

Lucy felt sick. Emotionally drained, mentally unprepared, and physically weak. She couldn't protect Natsu when it came to it, and the thought made her stomach clench and tears come to her eyes. She heaved in a shuddering breath.

Erza moved in to rub her back, smiling tightly. "Nightmare?" she asked. Lucy nodded, tears forming in her eyes.

"N-Natsu was in bed with me, and then Li-Lisanna burst in and started kissing Natsu, but he wasn't Natsu because he was so cold and dead and..." she shuddered again. "The walls started closing in..." she burst into tears.

Kura and Erza stayed by her side until the door to the bedroom crashed open. "Natsu's gone!" Gray yelled.

Lucy threw up in the toilet.

The Fire Dragon Slayer had lay on the cold ground, chest aching and heartbroken. He tucked in his legs, feeling so cold, empty, and hollow.

So this is what it feels like to be cold... he thought absentmindedly, shivering on the dirt floor. His magic allowed him to stay warm in any frozen condition, and he never got hot, but it usually rose his temperature automatically. For some reason his Dragon Slayer Magic wasn't responding, but he didn't care. Let him be cold.

Lisanna... he didn't think about it too hard, or else the feelings came back at him full force. They threatened to tear apart his mind, so he simply lay on the forest floor, shivering and hollow. His breath came out in short breaths that clouded the air in front of him.

He lay there until the crack of dawn, feeling dead, until the bright yellow sunshine burst through the treetops and shined down on Natsu, making him squint. He continued to lie there, wallowing in his misery.

"Is she feeling okay?" Gray asked, looking at the bathroom door concernedly, hearing rather gross sounds coming from it. Erza had stayed behind, patting Lucy's back and moving her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, just a bad nightmare and she's not feeling so good." Kura explained, "but what was it about when you said 'Natsu's gone?'"

"He left by the window last night after his talk with Lisanna. I checked this morning, but the window was still open and he isn't in the mansion. He's still out there."

"Oh. Do you know what happened?"

Gray swallowed. "well, I guessed that Lisanna broke up with him."

"Oh." Kura knew the Mate bond. Dragon Slayers mated for life, only found one life partner. She knew if Ren ever left her she'd be shattered. She was already, [she didn't like to admit it,] slightly possessive over him, [for example, she stuck a fork into a table when a waitress at a restaurant was flirting with him, scaring her off,] but if he ever left her... she didn't even like thinking about it. A future without him would be pointless.

Mates aren't decided by looks. Of course, it helped to have a body like Lucy's, but Dragon Slayers chose their mates by soul. How compatible they were with this person's. Natsu's memories of Lucy, his real Mate, with Lisanna's, their soul compatibility would be therefore changed, Kura thought, and Natsu would be attracted to Lisanna.

There was a big If though. if the Mate bond was strong enough, Lucy's soul could break him free of Lisanna, but with the with memories and if he was already devoted to the Take-Over mage, then his thoughts would be in a mini war inside his head. His Mate bond fighting with the fake memories. Maybe that's why he's been in such a sour mood lately, Kura thought. Headaches, mood swings...

"We'll have to find him." the Energy Dragon Slayer had a personal plan, and she wasn't sure if it was going to split a bigger rift between Lucy and Natsu or create a bridge. She sighed.

"Hey Lucy?" Kura knocked on the door. "you feeling okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." she shuddered. "I'm fine now." she wasn't feeling fine, but she exited the bathroom, putting on a fake straight face, Erza following behind her. Natsu was gone?

Kura scoffed. "You're not fine, and we're gonna go search for Natsu. You coming?"

"Yes." She snapped. "how could I not, Kura? I'm his partner, or at least used to be, and it's especially my responsibility that he's safe." the Energy Dragon Slayer recoiled. Lucy wasn't feeling good either.

"Sorry..." Lucy apologized. "I didn't mean to snap."

The Staller Spirit had a few strong, disturbing thoughts racing inside her head in the bathroom. It was her fault that this was happening. She wasn't strong enough to fight in the battle of ClockWork Tower. She needed her Dragon Slayer to protect her, and now Damien had come back for the person that ultimately led to his defeat. Natsu.

This never would have happened if Lucy was strong enough. She was always the weak link of the group, standing in the shadows of Erza, Gray, and Natsu. Heck, take away her keys and even Happy was more useful than she was. Come to it, and she was weak. Pathetic. She could barely fight on her own. Her spirits all did the fighting all for her.

She had cried, not only because Natsu was gone, because she was the weak one and she caused all this to fall on Natsu's shoulders. Not that he knew anyway.

"Hey Lucy? You feeling okay?" she had gotten up and walked out of the bathroom.

"I'm fine." She put on a fake smile.

"Okay, we're going to search the land around the Heartfilia Konzern." Kura announced. Of course, she knew where Natsu was hiding exactly, but Happy hadn't returned after she'd sent him out with private instructions, and she didn't want her plan ruined.

"Erza and Gray, you'll head to the North to South-east direction. Ren and I, South-east to South-west. Lucy and Aiko, head to the South-west to North." Kura knew, from her good sense of smell, Natsu was in the South-west section, purposely sending Lucy and clever Aiko, also with a good nose, over there.

"Okay, we know our sections, now we'll go search for Natsu. Send a signal into the air if you find him."

"Okay." The groups started separating.

"So, Lucy, how are you?" Aiko asked a couple minutes in.

"Fine, just fine." The tone was stiff. "How about you?"

"Really... I'm good." She said. Knowing that Lucy wouldn't stumble into the conversation she wanted she asked her directly.

"How do you feel about Natsu?"

She sent a sharp glance at the Exceed. "I'm pushing him away. I can't protect him and I'm only a burden on his shoulder, so I'm hopping off. I'm going to ignore him, because it eases the pain for him and me."

"You know that Natsu's single now, right?"

Lucy glared at her, and Aiko flinched under the heat. "good for him then. He's probably heartbroken, because his mate, which is supposed to be with him for life, broke up with him." it was a small, spitting rant, filled with venom. "And you wanna know what? I really don't care, because I'm not Natsu's girlfriend anymore. Or Lisanna. I don't like him anymore, because the Natsu I knew was..." she hiccupped, biting back sobs. "was so carefree and now he's under the weight of my mistakes. I wasn't strong enough to protect him, and now I'm letting him go, for his and my relief."

Aiko stared at her for a good ten seconds, and then she clawed her cheek, suddenly angry. "You're an idiot." She spat. "Natsu, and everyone else for that matter, knows you're strong. You fight alongside your Spirits and you shoulder your friend's issues along with them. You're a great person and Natsu, the almighty Salamander, looks up to you for that! The point of a relationship is to look up at the person you're with! Seeing each other as equals! Natsu isn't doing his part of the bargain because when you're down, he's supposed to pick you back up. Natsu saw, and still sees, you as a strong, powerful, passionate, flippin envious bodied female mage. You're an idiot to think that you're worthless. To all, and to him." the Exceed glared at her.

"Natsu's up ahead. Go comfort him." Her words were filled with spite, and she flew off, leaving Lucy alone.

Now she was mad. Lucy stomped through the forest, going to fetch Natsu so that she could drag him back to the mansion and go back to what she was doing. Wallowing in her sadness, which was perfectly fine for her to do.

She burst through another bush, and saw Natsu, lying on the ground, shivering. She was mad, but for a second, concern for him bled through. He was shivering. He was a fire mage. He never trembled from the cold, even on , where warm temperatures were -35°.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried, eyes wide.

"Leave... me alone." He said, turning his head away from her, still trembling. Lucy frowned.

"Okay, Natsu, what happened?" she demanded. "After talking with Lisanna you suddenly disappear all night, what the hell is wrong?" she didn't mean to be so rough but seeing her all-powerful Dragon Slayer like this killed her.

"S-she..." Lucy stomped up to him, grabbed his scarf, and with more force than she'd thought she'd had, hauled Natsu to his feet and held him up. She glared at him, fierce, angry chocolate meeting dull black.

"Natsu, we both know who we are. I'm not gonna keep up the lie, but I'm not going to do anything you want to. I'll leave you alone." She bit her lip, suddenly nervous. "It's j-just..."

Lucy turned her face back to him, staring at him with a fire in her eyes. "I couldn't protect you. I want to be stronger. Natsu, will you fight me?"

Natsu's eyes widened, slightly jolting out of his stupor. "You... want... to fight me?"

She nodded, letting go of his scarf. He stumbled to his feet. "When the FDC controlled you I barely stood a chance, if any, without my Magic. If my keys get stolen again I need to know that I'll be okay to protect myself and my friends. I think that you need some distraction too."

Natsu blinked. She wanted... to fight? "Fine. Don't expect me to go easy."

She gave him a hearty glare. "I don't care if I'm battered and bruised by the end of this, teach me to fight."

"but first, you should treat that cut on your cheek." Natsu pointed out dully, looking out for his nakama. Lucy pressed a finger to where Aiko had scratched her. she knew the little cat would apologize later, but she was angry enough right now. her finger came off red.

Lucy wiped off the blood and shrugged. "i'll deal with it. I don't have any first aid or bandages."

He turned around, walking a few steps away from her to make some distance. "Whatever. You want to fight me? I won't use any fire, just hand-to-hand combat." The tone was stiff. She swallowed nervously, but raised her hands in what seemed to be a good fighting position. "You ready?" he said, back facing her.

"Uhm, yeah." Natsu was on her as soon as she finished. She barely had enough time to dodge as he sent a good punch at her face, which she responded to a kick. Of course it missed, and Natsu bounced back. He grinned. The Dragon Slayer was on her again, sending a kick to her face, but Lucy ducked just in time, feeling it skim the top of her head, but Natsu flipped over her crouched position, grabbed her arms, and held them there so she couldn't move.

"You're not bad, but I'm going easy on you." Lucy's eyes widened.

"E-easy?" she squeaked, struggling to get out of his grip.

"What about we try something else? You seem to be good with your feet, so I'll stand here and you kick me. I can't hit you back," he said, letting go of her arms and standing up.

She lowered her arms warily. "So, I try and hit you while you dodge?" he nodded. She shrugged.

She stepped up to him. Placing her foot back, she sent a flying swing of her leg, about where his stomach was. Once was, because Natsu jumped clear over the kick, straight up. Lucy stumbled back on her feet.

"Shit." She muttered. She'd have to think this through. Lucy leaped for him, small fist aimed for his face, and he jumped back, so Lucy followed with a kick and a punch. Natsu sidestepped, cleanly slid past her, and pressed a finger to her back. Being off-balance already, she tipped forward and landed smack on the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Rolling over quickly, scrambling to her feet, she stood facing Natsu. "I thought you said you weren't gonna attack back!" she snarled.

"I didn't. I pressed a finger to your back. If you call that attacking, then you really need to work on your definition of attack." Damn him and his... his..! She growled, raising her hands instinctively closer to her face.

"Remember, the purpose of this game is for you to hit me. Go ahead." He grinned, with a wide expression on his face, challenging her. it didn't quite meet his eyes, but at least he was smiling. She accepted the challenge, pulling back and punching and kicking again.

Two and a half hours later, Lucy lay on the ground, breathing heavily and covered with sweat, while Natsu leaned on a tree, much less winded than she was. Somehow, even without the Dragon Slayer attacking her, she'd managed to get her knees and palms skinned and red, and she was sure to get some bruises in some places. She breathed heavily in and out, her chest rising and falling in harmony.

Lucy hadn't managed to land a single hit on Natsu in two-and-a-half hours. At the ninety-minute mark, Natsu said they, or more specifically she Lucy thought he was saying indirectly, should take a break. But she refused, continued to punch and kick for all that it was worth.

"You're doing good..." Natsu said, looking down at the girl on the ground humorously.

"Yeah... right. I couldn't... land a single... hit on you!" she breathed. He chuckled.

"Well," he walked over to her, grabbed her armpits, and hauled her to her feet. "Do your fighting position."

"What?"

"Do the position you were doing before." Lucy warily put her foot back and her hands clenched in loose fists.

"I don't mind teaching you." He said. "But there are a few things... not wrong, but could be improved on, in your stance. Your legs aren't wide enough, because I could easily tip you over if you're off-balance." Lucy moved her back foot to the side. "and try and punch with the fist in front of you, because you have more distance, see?" he pulled her fist fists out and showed her that the back one was further away from the target, his chest, than the one in front. "Meaning that you'll have faster attacks and less time for the enemy to dodge."

"You're back foot shouldn't be flat on the ground, it should be on guard so that it can leap away at any second." Lucy raised the heel of her foot; feeling slightly embarrassed how Natsu was teaching her this. "This saves time because to jump, you need your foot raised, meaning that you won't have to do it later. This means the difference of a nick and a broken bone." He told her, staring fiercely at her, eyes screaming remember this, remember this!

She nodded. He looked at the newer position and nodded in approval. "I think it's okay. Of course, that's only the basics, and I couldn't teach you everything, but we might as well do as much as we can."

Next exercise was push ups. Lucy got on the ground, and Natsu stared at her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"You said push ups. I'm doing a push up."

He frowned. "no, this is a push up." he put himself into a regular push up position, bunched in his knees, and flipped onto his hands, doing a perfectly balanced hand-stand. Lucy gaped.

Then, to her amazement, he delicately took one of his hands off the ground, placing it behind his back, and lowered himself to the ground. "One... Two." He folded his arm each time, lowering until his nose was almost touching the ground, and then straightened.

"Natsu... I'm wearing a skirt." She protested. "I can't do that." He looked at her upside-down, eyebrow raised, looking up for a split second.

"And?"

She was flabbergasted at his stupidity sometimes. "If I even do a handstand, my skirt will fall down and you'll see my..." her face went red. "panties."

"So?"

She narrowed her eyes, and pushed his leg so that he fell over. He cried out, landing on his back, staring up at the Celestial Spirit mage. "I'm not showing you my panties!" she yelled.

"I've already seen them. They blew up a few times when we fought." Her face turned even redder, if that was possible.

"Quit looking, pervert!" she cried, stomping over to the other end of the grass and curling up into a ball, purple lines coming from the girl. Natsu gave her a sheepish expression, even though her back was turned to him.

"Okay, okay, it was an accident, alright? I won't ask to see your panties—" he didn't get the awkwardness of the phrase, it did nothing to make the blonde feel any less embarrassed, "—but come on, let's see if you can hit me this time. Let's make it a game."

"Really!" Lucy turned around with large, wet chibi eyes, swimming with tears.

"Uh, yeah?"

She stood up and started running towards him. He was confused. "wha—" he was bowled over by the Celestial Spirit mage. Once again, the wind was knocked out of him.

He looked up. Lucy was grinning down at him as she hit his arm. "Got 'cha." He blinked.

"I hit you. I win." Natsu narrowed his eyes.

"You tricked me."

"But it worked!" she smiled, brown eyes twinkling. His mouth twitched into a smirk.

He could always make her feel better, just by being around him. Natsu had a pleasant aura around him, that made you want to laugh and enjoy life, holding hands, skipping off into the sunset. Lucy hadn't seen that aura in a long time, but it felt good once it was back. Both of them felt better after letting some pent-in emotions out.

"Now let's say that attack didn't work as well as you thought and your opponent isn't knocked out. You are now perfectly susceptible to their attacks, because you are still in range." Her eyes widened and she rolled off of the Dragon Slayer, but it was too late.

"Ah hahahahaha! N-Na-NatSU!" he grabbed her sides and began moving his fingers, tickling her. "St-st-STOP!" she shrieked, laughing so much she could barely breathe.

"Oh no, your opponent got you!" Te cried into the air. "what do you do now?" Lucy reached out.

"Attack him back!" The girl, still laughing, reached for the spot... right there. He instantly began howling, releasing his grip for a moment, just fast enough that Lucy could escape. She remembered Natsu had a very ticklish spot where his rib was. He wasn't really ticklish anywhere else, but that spot really got to him.

She continued degrading the mighty Salamander into a laughing puddle by moving her fingers over his stomach. Natsu howled. "Ha HA! Lucy Lucy Lucy! St-stop!"

"When I said stop, you didn't so I'm not gonna either!" she boosted her efforts to make him laugh, and Natsu lost control. He clutched his stomach and kicked the dirt but she wouldn't let go. He rolled over onto his back and curled up into a ball.

"Now... you cant... get me now!" he announced breathily.

"You think so?" Lucy mused. He didn't like the tone of voice she was using. Natsu curled his head in and heard her shuffling around. He didn't dare look up in case she was trying to spring on him. The Dragon Slayer felt his sandal come off, and his head popped up.

But the damage was done. Lucy got hold of his foot and started tickling it. Natsu lost his position as he tried to pull his foot away, but Lucy held him tight under her arm. "I think this is an even better position because you can't reach me!" she cried, giggling.

He continued laughing. "okay! Okay! I surrender, I give!" Natsu shrieked. The fingers stopped, but Lucy didn't let go of the leg.

"Are you sure?" Lucy poked his foot, letting out a cry from the Dragon Slayer which he tried to cover up. She smirked over at him, poking his foot again. He squeaked.

"Yes! The Almighty Lucy wins this battle!" Lucy let go of his foot, and Natsu took a deep breath, trying to regain air in his lungs. She giggled.

Aiko watched downwind on a tree branch, smiling slightly at the two mages. She spread her wings and took flight, flying off to find Kura.

Oh god, the dream scene was so awkward to write. I feel weird now. *shudders* that's why I refrain from writing make-out scenes. it's weird and kinda gross. Plus I haven't even had my own first kiss yet, so I only have what I've read from books. Either way, it was weird. This chapter had lots of fluff though, Aye? :3 Plus SpyNeko Aiko.

Haha! But, other than that, I'm feeling great! so many reviews!

NaLu Lover; well, I've been working hard, so here's two more chapters for you! thanks. I really appreciate you spending your time to review how awesome it is! :3

Dzhunnrah; Thaaaaaank yooooouuu. thanks for reviewing!

Haren08; me too! *you would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies...* :D I will!

LucyAshley: aw, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside! thank you so much! [here's a virtual cookie for you.] I will!

to my ever-awesome Dyeni; I hope this is satisfactory! trust me, looks of stuff gonna happen in the next few chappys. ;8^]

Raffelsia: we all love Fairy Tail. thank you for reviewing!

Guest 1: I shall upd8! here's two chapters for you.

cArDcApToRsAkUrA: haha thanks, but I wouldn't take it that far! thank you for reviewing!

Guest 2: here's two more chapters! I will, and am, updating as fast as I can!

Lisanna is Love: sorry, but this is a NaLu fic. you can look on the bottom and see what characters the story's about. or just search up Lisanna/Natsu fics. i'm a NaLu shipper, but thank you for reviewing!

Guest 3: I think that's supposed to be ':3' right? well thank you anyway!