Nalu fluff week sept 11 sunset

Phoenix Skies

She had been searching everywhere for the slayer, but he wasn't at home nor the guild, the usual restaurants and café's he'd frequent or even the river where he and Happy liked to go fishing on a summery day like this one. And it was a gorgeous one, by far the best day they'd had this August with cloudless powder blue skies that stretched for miles and miles unimpeded. Breezes, abundant in nature to cool you down from the sun's blinding ray's, forceful enough to stir the air and lift your tresses, but not whip them around like in a gale.

Fall was just around the corner and the trees were starting to make their debuts with the lightest hints of color change. She sighed, it was another beautiful time and season that made one appreciate their world and understand the cycles of Samsara. How nature was the ultimate goddess who gave birth, lived, changed, and then died only to be reborn anew year after year after year in an endless cycle. Reflections of the heart. But it was also a visual delight to the eye when one stopped to appreciate it.

Alas, she was losing focus, the slayer, where was Natsu? If only she'd had his sense of smell, chuckling in her head, that man could sniff her out anywhere in town, but she needed to rely on good old-fashioned detective work. Southgate Park? Nope. The lake? Not there either. By late afternoon, Lucy was ready to give up and go home. She had hoped to set out early in the morning on a new mission but unless she could find her partner and confirm it with him, well, the Celestial mage wasn't up for going it alone. Why would she when it was always more fun, together…

But, where could he be? Her shoulders dipped slightly, he wouldn't have left again, he'd promised not to abandon her a second time, but those fears sometimes haunted her. No, he wouldn't! Natsu kept his promises for that she was certain of in her heart of hearts. Now where the hell was he hiding?! There was one last place she could think of, it was a stretch since it tended to be a place she would drag him to and not the other way around but since the slayer tended to go for the familiar, it was worth a shot.

It was one of the best locales for sky gazing around Magnolia, a hilly meadow with no trees to block the open view above, rolling fields of envious green and swaying wildflowers dancing to an unsung tune only the gods could hear. But if you closed your eyes… and slowed your pace…. those melodies just might reward your passage into another realm, transport your consciousness to where the fairies prance and flutter about or the stars may wink and grant your wishes. Asteri Hills was their nickname for this magical milieu, her sanctum to commune with her spirits, and one she'd shared with her best friend.

And as she crested the final hurdle there he was atop the highest vestige this place had to offer, his back towards her, head tilted towards the heavens, hands hidden in the pockets of his pants, eyes closed no doubt, and only the tips of his spikey fringes shifting in the wind that wafted past him, funneling his smoky scent into her company. She couldn't help but let a smile creep along her face or the blush run along her cheeks for he truly was an idol amongst the divinity of this realm. Bathed in hints of royal purples, fiery crimson blending into tangerine orange, and melting honey… Exquisite… The kaleidoscope of colors unifying into an overwhelming aura to encircle him, so powerful and virile, it sends a golden arrow to pierce the chosen.

Lucy shields from the burning fronting her vision, he was on fire, their Dragon King like a Phoenix from the ashes, but it didn't sting her eyes, this image was blazing a different path through her soul, awakening an arcane sensation as old as time itself that had lain dormant but now ready to soar into the azures. 'Natsu…'

The blood rushes through her veins, deafening against her ear drums, she clutches her chest and drops to her knees, what was happening to her? It felt like her heart could break through her diaphragm, lungs screamed from a loss of the air she was still taking in and yet, why couldn't she fill them? Heat swells inside her body, convening and churning like a caged creature ready to pounce at its vessel. She looks up to the sky as the swirling begins to move, radiating outward, filling every pore, every cell, with a strange buoyancy feeling.

Her head spins and the image of Natsu blurs…

"Lucy?" a hand takes hold, fingers curling beneath her chin, lifting her face. "Lucy are you okay?" She blinks to see her best friend kneeling, smiling like he normally looks in front of her. Did she imagine the whole thing? The Celestial mage looks up and sees the raging skyline still evident in all its glory, slowly the glowing ball disappearing below the horizon. "Lucy? Are you okay?" he asks a second time of the bewildered girl.

"Natsu?"

"You're burning up," his gentle caress upon her brow causes his to furrow, "not feeling well?"

"Yes…" shaking her head, "I mean no, I think I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure," burned images flashing through her mind once more, "I saw you… a-and…" a renewed intensity of febrile emotions licks at her frame, but this time they center in a new location, winding into a tight coil before dashing south. She squeezes her thighs together. Oh, Mavis that's what it all meant!

"Luce…"

Her sienna's fall upon his scrutiny, widening when she notices the matched lust of the slayer dancing behind his glazed emeralds. "N-Natsu?" His lids lower, lips parting as he lowers them closer to her own, a newborn ascendancy for his taking…