A/N: Hey everyone, I just realized I hadn't addressed this in the previous few chapters, but I'd like to clear up a few things about the P.O.V.

So when I first started this story, it was all in Natsu's point of view and at the time, I thought I would write the whole story in his point of view. But then I realized that I didn't want to do that and tried to do first person point of view with the character I wanted to focus on that wasn't Natsu (which I mean Lucy) and I didn't like the way that turned out either, so I just switched back to third person point of view.

Also, I just wanted to say, that reading back on previous chapters, I definitely want to go back and rewrite some of them in the future because I don't like them very much. And yay! We've finally, mercifully, reached the end of the St. Peter's arc! I honestly rushed through it a little so we can get back to our normal setting and explore some more of our main cast. However I felt about it though, I feel like this arc was necessary to lay the foundation for a lot of crazy things that are about to happen in this story!

Special thanks to the very sweet guest who left a lovely review on the last two chapters! I appreciate it!

Anyway, this is already too long so... please, read on!

Apologies

Natsu's P.O.V

"Y-you… you idiot!"

The flames roaring in the background were now screaming and seething in resentment at whatever pressurized water and carbon concoction the local firemen who finally arrived were spraying at them, using their hose and the gigantic firetruck. The paramedics were distributing blankets to all the townspeople and bikers who were hugging their loved ones, some were crying with tears of sadness, tears of joy, and some were just plain sprawled out in disbelief on the lawn. Initially there was only one ambulance, so the five paramedics who were on the scene were quickly treating the people who were in the most dire need of treatment first, and this included Gramps, some of the bikers who received 1st degree burns from being on the first floor, and the husky, hairy leader of them all, who almost lost his life on the first floor.

I remembered hearing it. The popping sound of the wiring systems of the building. I knew the place was probably going to blow up soon so getting them out of there was more important than ever.

I remembered it… his smell…

I didn't know his smell all that well. Honestly, I thought it was just one of the many people who were right in my vicinity whose skin was probably starting to sear because of their proximity to the heat.

But then, it became abundantly clear to me when I went upstairs to fetch the crowbar. That's when the difference between the someone who was in close proximity and the remains of someone's smell became clear to me.

That guy was still in there.

The first one who punched in me gut when I first arrived here and told me about how my dad screwed him over. The one who had a petty, malicious and uncalled-for grudge against a child for something he had absolutely nothing to do with. The leader of the Cyrus Town Bikers.

Yeah, that guy.

After I got everyone out of there, I jumped right back to the first floor, which looked like nothing but flames. At this point I had lost my initial fear of being burned alive.

I saw the guy, lying on his side, whimpering- no crying softly.

There was a narrow window of time… honestly, there was a moment when I thought I was going to die in there.

There must've been an extra reservoir of miracles available for us because I had been able to rip through some rotting wood on the floor leading us out to the other side of the building.

I had to carry the man over my shoulders for as far and as I could as fast as I could before the inevitable finally happened and the building collapsed.

We made it out safely but this led me into my current situation in which my guardian angel was pounding my chest weakly with her fists in what appears to be frustration and anger.

So she's really capable of these kinds of feelings? I'll be keeping a note of that for future reference…

"You big, stupid, idiot!" She says gaining some kind of newfound momentum in her upset onslaught. I looked on at her slightly damp, soot filled blonde mane sadly.

This was getting pathetic.

In all her unbridled rage I also chose to refrain from pointing out that 'stupid' and 'idiot' meant the exact same thing in the English language.

A common courtesy, if you will.

"Lucy-"

"What were you thinking?!" She cried, her voice rising again but this time I could tell she was on the verge of tears.

I stared down at her blankly, keeping all composure as her emotional brown eyes locked with mine.

Honestly, all of the commotion happening with everyone else and the authorities faded deeply into the background as this was the only conversation that held my attention.

She was shedding tears… for me…

I felt my throat go dry for a moment, my mind going to static when I searched it for some sort of response. I wasn't really good with this… people emoting…

I was saved thankfully, when a paramedic walked over to us and asked if we wanted to go on the ambulance with Gramps and the others or wait until another ambulance came.

I looked at Lucy and suddenly remembered the beating that she took in the warehouse.

She seemed to be staring at my chest with the same kind of thought running through her mind.

Then suddenly I realized that we must've looked fuckeddddd. No wonder she was asking us if we were alright.

I looked back at the woman who was waiting expectantly for a response.

"You should probably go Lucy." I said calmly, eyeing her injuries. "But… I can't go anywhere until I know the others are okay."

"I'm not going either." Comes her immediate response. Her voice is bold and firm and in tune with her affirmative stance. This is a total contrast from the emotional mess that was before me a minute ago. The poor emergency response woman cast an unsure look at the two of our beaten, tattered bodies, seeming to ask with her eyes if we were sure.

But we were. And I know for damn sure I didn't have the luxury to go get checked up until I finished cleaning up the big mess I made here.

Speaking of which, Big Husky (that's what I'll call the head honcho of this group of chopper thugs) was on the ambulance going off. At least, from what I could smell. I don't know, this whole smelling thing is new and really weird.

Whatever. I just wanted to go check on the guy before he left.

I kind of left Lucy hanging there as I broke into a sprint towards the ambulance that was loading its last person into the van.

"Hey, wait Natsu!" Lucy says, but then she broke into a sprint right after me.

"Hey!" I called out to the man in the light blue shirt and black pants with light blue gloves and a health mask over his face, who was closing the ambulance doors. "Hey, wait, I need to talk to somebody!"

He stops just in time as Lucy and I reach the door. From everyone I see loaded in the trunk of the van I see the man who I rescued from the grips of the fire not too long ago.

"Big Husky…" I say, looking at him all hooked up to IV tubes and sprawled out on a stretcher in disbelief. His skin looked as if it was cooked medium rare.

Big Husky seemingly, recognizing my voice takes off his oxygen mask and tries to sit up to look at me despite the protest of the emergency workers on standby.

"You…" He rasped desperately. I gave him a threatening look, in case he still had a few more threatening words to spit at me before he was whisked away.

He proves the medics right when he fails to garner enough energy to prop himself up with his meaty elbows and collapses back onto the stretcher. Instead, he opts to lay back down on his stretcher and lift his head up in my direction.

"Why did you say save me?" His says, voice barely above the level of a whisper.

I stare at the ground, holding both hands behind my back, kicking a stray pebble that was by my feet. God knows I was trying my hardest not to burst out in laughter in that moment. I look back up at him with evident potential laughter written all over my face.

"Cause I'm not like you, you old goon." A stray smirk plastered on my lips.

I could feel Lucy's confused gaze burning at the back of my head and Big Husky's face contorting into a similar look of confusion on his ugly, ugly facial features.

I wipe the grin off my face and replace it with a disinterested look.

Honestly, I didn't care at all about him.

"As much as I hate you," I say in complete honesty, "it just wouldn't sit well with me, to let you die in there… although I could have…" I added as a matter-of-factly. "Out of spite."

His eyes widened in surprise.

Staring him down as I turned away, I kept my final thoughts to myself.

I just didn't want to be like my dad.

For a few moments, there was silence as he and I engaged in a deadlock stare. He looked as if he was trying to solve a Rubik's cube that was right where my head would be. I shrugged, turned away and started to walk off, just about tired of seeing his miserable mug.

"The cycle of hate had to stop somewhere. Why not let it stop with me?"

And with that, I hear the ambulance doors swing to a close one after another, and the medical emergency van revved up its engine and began speeding away, its sirens blaring.

As I took a few heavy steps back into the direction of where the villagers were I began to notice the unnatural silence behind me and realized that Lucy was still standing there, in the same spot she was as Husky and I had our exchange. I peeked open one eye and slightly turned my head to her battered standing figure, she was staring at me.

"Are you coming…?"

My heart sped up a little at the awestruck look she was giving me.

"Wait, why are you star-"

Before I could finish, or Lucy think to open up her mouth to reply, a shrill feminine voice cut me off and stopped Lucy from being able to reply. This was happening a little too frequently.

"Natsu!" Serlique cried. She as well as a bunch of other people were rushing towards me mob style.

Waitaminute! Why they heck are they all coming towards me angry mob style?

What did I do?

Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!

My mind became scrambled, because unlike before instead of having no thoughts, my mind was swirling with too many thoughts jumbled together. My fight and flight instincts were both giving a plethora of different orders that were all butting heads and colliding with each other. I didn't have enough time to unscramble my freaking brain when I sensed Serlique's eminent presence approaching and all I could see was her smiling, soot-filled face jumping on me.

Huh?

I caught her with my open arms as she embraced me, but I lost my footing and we both ended up stumbling backwards.

"Natsu!" She cried again, but this time ecstatically as she squeezed my torso.

Uuuummmmm… Uuuuuuuuhhhhh…

Fuck, I wasn't good with physical contact like this, so my body ended up stiffening up upon her embrace and ended up flailing my arms around like a panicked five-year-old. Before long I found myself surrounded by a bunch of beaten, battered, weary, soot-filled smiling faces.

And before long, all lot more of them were smothering their bodies onto mine in one big, friendly group hug.

Some of them smelt horrible and it became painfully obvious when they were all so close to me. It was honestly a miracle I was able to even notice that because I was losing some seriously needed circulation in my lungs. I'm sure Serlique felt it too.

"Son!"

It was Gramps' voice!

But I thought he left on the ambulance?

The angry hugging mob, parted to make way for my frail looking Grandfather, making his way over to me with the help of Brave and one other man supporting him.

"Gramps…"

"Son… you've made me so proud…" Now his voice started wavering towards the end of his sentence.

Damnit! I can't take anymore of this! Why is everyone getting so emotional?

"You've saved us…" He croaks in between tears.

Any prior internal qualms I was having were vanquished when he said those words. My pupils dilated with clarity and realization as I took one more look at my grandad's crying face and then took a good long look at the happy and emotional faces of the people circling me.

No way…

Serlique lifted her face from my chest and also switched her frown into a smile letting another stray tear slide down her face.

"I'm a fucking hero?!" I say gleefully, raising my fist in the air. "Alright!"

Everyone responded to my declaration with heartfelt laughter and cheers of affirmation.

When we finally got back to St. Peter's, Gramps and the others brought me into town on their shoulders, despite my protests and their own physical states. I have no idea why they were celebrating me. Its not like I was some sort of real hero. Honestly, I was the reason they were in trouble in the first place.

When the guys were finally tired and the cheering had died down somewhat, the thirty something year old brunette, Brave jokingly pointed it out.

"Hey… Wasn't he the reason the building was on fire in the first place?" He says, elbowing some guy next to him whose mouth goes into a big 'O' as he suddenly makes the connection too.

Gee, thanks for pointing that out man…

Anyway, Lucy and I make preparations to leave the day after next, despite Gramps extending our invitation until the end of summer.

It's just… I just… It wasn't that I didn't like them or anything its just… I've had enough excitement for one summer… and… it felt unnerving to stay there for too long.

The evening before our departure, I stayed up almost the entire night.

I feel like, for me, nothing will ever be the same. If I close my eyes, all I could see are his gleaming red ones. Then I'd stare aimlessly at my trembling fists and for the umpteenth time, question if this whole thing was just some elaborate, all-too-real feeling nightmare.

I'm not this.

What is this?

This wasn't me.

"You saved us…"

An ironic smile over took my lips. I began rubbing my eyes irately as ironic chuckles escaped my lips one after another.

They honestly talked to me like I was some kind of hero.

But I was scared for my life.

Everything was semi-normal in my life not too long ago. Sure, I was still coming to terms with the fact that I had a guardian angel but adjusting to life with Lucy was honestly the least of my worries.

What about all this information that keeps coming out about my dad? It was all too hard to ingest. Him doing all these things… I don't even want to think about it.

I thought he was a deadbeat dad for sure, for just leaving me and mom like that.

Can you blame me? My mother… she died believing in him… crying… believing… until the bitter end…

I blinked once and let the tears that pricked the corner of my eyes finally fall.

But him being a killer? Him being…

Dead…?

A familiar cavern of emptiness resurfaced in my soul from wherever I had buried it all those years ago. My limbs began to feel heavy, like lead and as I rolled over to my side, giving in to the overwhelming feeling that was threatening to spill over from long ago. Tears began slipping lawlessly one after another and I cradled my face in my hand trying my hardest not to be completely overwhelmed by this wave of madness and confusion.

What is this? I thought I was going to die…

This isn't good. My mind is spiraling.

But I could've… hurt everyone…

Lucy…

I heard a knock on my door causing me to jump in my bed.

"It's Serlique."

It took a few moments for me to regain my grip on the present. I wiped the remnants of tears from my eyes and told her to come in. The door opened slowly and cautiously and once the girl was fully inside the room she closed the door behind her.

"I just wanted to tell you again… personally… thank you. I've never seen Grandpa smile so much in one day. Thank you, for coming to visit."

There's a pregnant silence between us as I'm only half listening to her.

"Are you okay?" She says gently. She reaches out and places a hand on my arm to comfort me. Then I realized something.

"Listen Serlique… about everything that happened between us before…"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it." She said smiling at me. "I understand."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Its fine." She says again.

The next day, Lucy and I were sent off on the next train out of there to Magnolia.

The goodbye party consisted of my grandfather, being who he was, offer to send us home in a horse drawn carriage. I had to tell my gramps no offense, but I wouldn't be caught fucking dead going back to the suburban city of Magnolia in a horse-drawn carriage. To which Lucy proceeded to smack me for my bluntness.

Well this ain't the fucking Old Town Road.

Anyway, as we boarded the train waving goodbye to everyone, I remember Grampa telling me to be sure to back soon. I smiled at that old crazy fucker with the biggest grin I'd ever had in a while.

"Of course Old Man!" I shouted.

When we finally arrived to my humble little hovel which Lucy and I had to call home, I had never been so grateful to see its tiny frame. I'd never been so grateful.

When we reached inside, she and I immediately fell asleep. We didn't bathe or unpack or anything until the next day.

"Lucy!" I called from my place on the couch. She emerged from the bedroom wearing a burgundy singlet and light blue capris, with her hair in two low pigtails. Despite not seeing it, I knew her torso was wrapped tightly with bandages after a rigorous alcohol scrubbing from Serlique on all the viscous bruises she got from that guy's crowbar. She also had bandages that were visible, such as the bunch that were on her right arm, starting from in her palm and reaching all the way to her elbow. Apparently, she had sprained her wrists between, breaking her and Gramps' fall and playing safety net on zipline duty. She also had a gauze on her left cheek, held there by some tape in a pattern that looked like a hashtag.

"Hey what's up?" She answered me normally, like nothing happened to us within the past couple days and her body wasn't pretty messed up because of my issues.

I turned my head so I was facing the ceiling. Maybe its best if I don't think about it too much.

Her big brown eyes were staring down at me in confusion.

"You…" I started. "You… you…umm…" I cleared my throat and looked up at the dreary white ceiling. Jeez, this is embarrassing.

"Are you… good?" I finish uncertainly, internally berating myself for a lack of a better word.

Instead of an immediate response, there was a spell of silence that unnerved me so I peaked an eye open to look and her and saw that she was still staring at me. When I caught her, she jumped a little and answered.

"Oh, I think I'll be okay!" She says with faux cheerfulness. I give her a look and she immediately tells I can see right through that bullshit.

"You think?..."I say incredulously raising my eyebrow.

She lets out a nervous chuckle, looking me right in my eyes. She didn't say anything else. She leans forward so her body is leaning on the back of the couch. When she does this, ample amount of her bosom is in my view and one sleeve of her singlet drops to her side, showing the strap to her bra.

Okay, I've really got to talk to her about that. Keeping my gaze at eye level with her, I decide to get what's on my chest off of it.

"What are always looking at?" I ask in reference to her looking at me. "And what were you going to say back there? Before Serlique and the others interrupted us." I was really anticipating her answer and honestly a wave of irritation swashed over me when she was interrupted.

"Oh!" She says when she remembers what I was talking about. Her face goes into this admittedly cute contemplative expression, and then her face lights up as she smiles and a slight pink blush dusts her cheeks.

God, how can a creature with the capacity to be this cute, also have the capacity to be so unbelievably annoying at the same time?! It's just not fair!

"I was… in awe."

"What are you talking about?" I say, trying to sound as irritated as I could but I could already feel the embarrassment taking over me.

She smiled some more. "As tough as you try to act… you're actually a really nice guy huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"That guy did unbelievably cruel things to you, and yet, you didn't waste any time in going back there to save him. You would save him without even worrying about your safety huh Natsu?"

I scoffed, turning away. "Oh please, you don't know what you're talking about." I say haughtily dismissing her playing psychiatrist.

She said the latter part of her last question with a hint of sadness in her voice, which reflected in her twinkling chocolate orbs and her now withering smile.

"Lucy…" A regurgitating pit of sadness and guilt bubbled in my chest the more she talked. I really did make her worry about me didn't I? I'm such a jerk, maybe I could've told her or something first before just abandoning the person who put her neck out to save me…

"Despite everything you told that guy in the ambulance," She continued. "You actually did care about his well-being didn't you?" She looks up, at me, searching for an answer in my eyes that it seemed she already had the answer to.

"Natsu Dragneel… you are a complete enigma to me."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I take all that nice shit I said back.

I give her a side glance.

Enigma?

What was she calling some kind of idiot? How dare she?!

"How is it that you've been on this Earth for less time than I have and yet you know more words than me?! Are you calling me some kind of idiot?!"

She doesn't answer, but instead breaks out into a fit of laughter, using her bandaged right hand to cover her wide open mouth.

As soon as I see her bandaged limb I am reminded once more of all the psychical pain she went through for my sake and suddenly, I snap. Without thinking I grab her by her bandaged wrist and wrap my other hand around her waist and hoist her over the couch to her surprise (and by extension mine). I smashed her head against my bare chest in a bear hug that I didn't even realize I'd desperately been wanting to give her until I actually did it.

"Natsu!" She squeals in surprise.

I bury my face in her hair, relishing in the smell of the cheap shampoo she used during her shower. It smelt like vanilla. She was warm.

I wrapped the arm I had around her waist tighter and the other arm I had on her wrist I used it to complete the hug and gently embraced her back, our legs tangled together on the couch.

"Natsu what are you…?"

Every time I looked at her all I could see is that awful pained expression she made as she was crouched on the floor and mercilessly beaten with that cursed crowbar.

All I could think of was how it was all my fault.

"Lucy, you want to know something my mother once told me before she died?"

I could hear her heart beginning to beat rapidly in her chest. I couldn't see her face very well, but I was able to see her ears and they were turning a more prominent shade of red, which tells me I was probably making her blush madly.

I'm surprised she hasn't pushed me away by now or slapped me, and made me feel like I was harassing her more than I already felt I was.

The image of her crying, when I brought the man out of the fiery building burned in the back of my brain. At first I was confused. I had no idea what to do. Why had she been crying? But now, I understood.

I finally understood.

"If someone were to shed tears for you," I had to take a deep breath at the memory of my mom. "For your sake, then you should always treasure them." When I'm finished quoting my mom, I felt Lucy's body jump a little against mine.

"Lucy…" I say sincerely. "I'm sorry for everything."

After a few seconds of only the sound of the ceiling fan in the bedroom filling the air, she slowly reciprocated my gesture and wrapped her arms around me.

A/N: Yay! We got a little Nalu fluff in there. Next time, Natsu and Lucy will be heading to school! Lucy, for the first time, and Natsu, fresh out of summer school. Anyway, please review! Until next time!

Next Chapter: Partners