11
Nashi frowns at Luke's decisions. If she didn't wake up, he might be gone. Her brother makes too many reckless choices that will cost him a lot in the immediate future. Well, she sometimes does too- BUT that's not the point! Luke needed some sense in this dire time.
A wave of air passes through Nashi's nose causing a certain smell to calm her down. She turns to Grisam who's sporting an expression of anger, concern, and relief mixed onto his face. How could she have forgotten about Grisam? He came with her dad to help save her.
"Hey, Grisam," she grins trying to lighten up the mood. "Nice to see you're okay." Nashi doesn't notice the way Grisam's fist clenches.
Luke raises a brow in questioning at how quickly Nashi's mood changed by just simply looking at her new friend. He supposed they became very close over a few days of training with each other.
"Don't pull crazy stunts like that ever again," Grisam grumbles to her.
"Yeah, yeah," Nashi waves off before turning to Zeref who seems slightly amused at the young Dragneel. "So I'm supposed to fight you?"
"You're only the one who can and win," Zeref answers with a more serious expression.
Maybe she didn't know how to use this new power or how to use magic at all, and maybe she wasn't thinking about the outcomes that would happen once the dark wizard was defeated. But Nashi doesn't care about what she thinks because sometimes, her thinking is what gets in the way. Right now, she's focused on her gut feeling. And her gut feeling is telling her to win this fight for Fairy Tail.
Her fist lights up with her passion and travels its way directly to Zeref.
Erza watched with amazement as her "niece" shoved Zeref straight through two trees with her intense power. Not even her, herself, was strong as that at her age. Mixed with the fact that she now gained this power without experience, it was truly impressive. That's when she sensed it with a smile on her face. He was giving her power.
"Makarov," Erza whispers to herself as she watches the light of not just the stars but of Fairy Tail. She almost tears up at how her old master is still there in soul.
"Remind me to never get on her bad side," Storm mumbles to Luke who's smirking with pride at his younger sister.
Grisam watches as Nashi pounds Zeref into the ground. From the training he did for Nashi, he knew she'd become a whole different person when in her element. Now, the happy-go spontaneous person he knew was replaced with a powerful 4th generation dragon slayer prepared to defeat any enemy in its path.
Zeref coughs out blood, "This... *breath* power..."
"Don't ever mess with Fairy Tail again!", Nashi yells as she collides a foot in his stomach making him fly out in the sky and land harshly on the ground.
Nashi follows the path he went only to find in pure horror that he doesn't have a scratch in sight. What happened to his injuries that Nashi inflicted on him a few seconds ago?
"I regenerate," Zeref explains her questionable thoughts. "Time for my turn." He blasts dark magic into Nashi's stomach, and she goes flying into the air similar to him before.
"Nashi!", Luke and Grisam yell in unison. Erza rushes into the fight with a sword of light by her side.
"You cannot defeat me," Zeref states.
"I know," Erza nods, "but I can protect the guild," she swings a sword at her enemy.
Again, the sword is split in half. Erza equips another sword which she almost swings again with, but a hand on her shoulder stops her.
"Master, I've got this," Nashi gets up shakily behind Erza.
"But Nashi-"
"Please, Master," Nashi looks up at Erza who simply nods with a small sigh.
"You might as well finish what you started," Erza steps away to let her pass through.
"Aye."
Natsu and Lucy continue their way through the woods.
"We won't get anywhere if we don't know where to go," Lucy says after a few long boring minutes of walking.
Natsu pauses to think. Though, thinking has never been his forte.
...
...
An idea? No, wait-
...
Damnit! I lost it
...
Natsu sighs and shrugs, "My mind is blank."
"It always is," Lucy mutters to herself.
"I heard that!", Natsu yells at her.
"Sorry," Lucy apologizes, "I'm just not in the greatest mood."
Natsu studies Lucy's concerned features for a moment before looking up at the sky. No, he definitely had an idea, but it was as if his brain were blocked. He could remember it if someone were to just say it to him...
Lucy opened her mouth to speak but was stopped when her partner held up his index finger telling her to wait a moment. She supposed that he had the answer, but it was fighting him. She believed that we would be able to help the guild and save the future. For that reason, she poked out her own index finger and thumb to place it on the right side of her chest. She wasn't so sure why she did the action, but she was glad she did.
The fire dragon slayer moves his attention to Lucy who has the Fairy Tail symbol over her heart.
Lucy's weird. But... Fairy Tail...
That's when he grins. "I got it!"
"Huh?"
"I know how to get rid of Zeref!", Natsu shakes Lucy's shoulders enthusiastically causing her to laugh at his antics.
"I knew you'd pull the answer right out of you," Lucy smiles.
Natsu's smile broadened at her praise.
"Lead the way," Lucy commands.
The duo started their ways towards another direction they hadn't gone before. Lucy would've been cautious if Natsu weren't there with her. She trusted that he'd be able to keep her safe, but even so, it didn't help calm her nerves. What if something were to happen to Natsu? Would she be able to save him in a time of need?
Natsu notices the way she tenses up, and because he has no way with words, he squeezes her hand in reassurance. Lucy squeezes back to show that she's fine, and they continue on normally.
It was certainly strange how over the years, they've gotten very close to each other. So close, in fact, that they might as well almost be one person. Of course, they were different in some ways - with Lucy being more mature and logical and Natsu being stupidly brave, but their differences made them mold together just a smidge better. The two began their own family with moments such as when their son and daughter would always threaten to throw up in the presence of them being lovey-dovey, or when Natsu, Luke, and Nashi managed to destroy Thanksgiving dinner at home - despite it taking a certain blonde mage a couple hours to make - and make their own dinner for Lucy as an apology. Every day, every single trial and error, every good morning kiss or now-because-I-feel-like-it kiss, Lucy and Natsu loved each other and trusted each other with their lives.
Lucy found it simply unique, their relationship. Sure, it was normal "best friends" then "lover" turn of events, but it was more. One would think without any context that they'd be incompatible separate, but after watching the two together, now that's a different story. The celestial mage will forever be thankful to the person who gave her a dream come true of Fairy Tail. So far, she's been on more adventures than she could count because of him.
Natsu was certainly dense when it came to love. He did feel love, but he didn't know what it was. When he was younger, he thought it was normal to like a person's presence as much as he liked Happy's and Lucy's. Yes, at first he did think she was weird, but she was also kind which made him even more curious about her. Natsu found it strange how grateful she was about the love charm interruption to buy him food. Both Happy and he perhaps felt even more grateful to Lucy for the food than her. Then after Lucy joined the guild, Fairy Tail changed tremendously, in a good way. It's hard for Natsu to imagine a world without his partner.
But again, Natsu was still dense when he was younger. In fact, Natsu remembers the time when Lucy finally confessed her love and believed that Natsu was talking about another type of love.
"Mira!", Natsu greeted as soon as he barged into the guild.
Mira turned with a friendly smile on her face as always. "Hi, Natsu."
"Do you have any idea where Lucy could be?", he asks not bothering to beat around the bush... since there was no bush. Natsu quickly checked to see and nodded to himself. Yup, definitely not a bush in the guild.
"She picked a job earlier this morning. It's certainly strange that she didn't tell you about her going solo," Mira frowns in confusion. "Are you two fighting?"
"No," Natsu shakes his head before pausing to think, "Wait- Are we?" That causes Mira to sigh.
Happy flies in panting on Natsu's head.
"Why didn't you wait for me?!", Happy yells at Natsu.
"Sorry," Natsu offers a sheepish smile, "I thought Lucy was in trouble or somethin' since she wasn't in her apartment."
"Where is she?", Happy asks.
"Mira said she's on a solo job," Natsu frowns.
"Huh? Why would she go without us? We're her partners," Happy copies Natsu's expression.
"Maybe she was just in a hurry to get her rent money," Mira suggests.
Natsu shakes his head, "No, she paid rent last week."
Mira merely shrugs in response showing she has no clue.
"Where's her job?", Natsu asks.
"I'm not sure I should tell you. Lucy wouldn't appreciate you interfering with her job," Mira points out.
"But what if she's in danger? I can't help her if I don't know where she is!", Natsu explains.
"Or...", Mira drags out to help her fellow guildmate a break from Natsu. Lucy didn't seem in the best of moods that morning, "Maybe she's okay and wants to try doing something on her own for once."
Natsu slumps over in his chair. "Okay..."
"Can I have a fish?", Happy asks.
Natsu chuckles silently as he recalls the memories of him worrying over Lucy for nothing. Lucy is strong and can take care of herself. He would know that more than anyone else, but still, he wanted to make sure his Lucy was safe from harm's way.
About a week later was when Lucy returned, and as usual, Natsu decided to sneak into her apartment to write on her face. He had asked Happy to come along, but his friend wanted to stay home and sleep. He kept a stealthy pace to the balcony and waited outside the window with his scarf wrapped around his head. "Gotta be like a ninja. Nin, nin."
He opened the unsurprisingly unlocked window - Lucy definitely will be robbed one day if she always forgets to lock the window - and jumps silently inside her room. He finds that her room smells of saltiness mixed with Lucy's usual scent of... Lucy? He didn't really know how to explain her scent. It was so pretty and unique, though... He'll just call it Lucy scent. She smells like Lucy.
He frowns because of that other scent. "Lucy?" The room was dark, only lit by the light of the half-moon outside and few apparent stars, but he could still see Lucy's head clearly which poked out from the bed sheets. She was cuddled up underneath the sheets, and Natsu could notice the shivering from probably it being mid-winter at the time.
Said mage twitches at the mention of her name before pausing and grabbing onto the bed sheets tighter. Out of all the people who liked to break into her home, it had to be him that night?
That's when Natsu heard a sniff and knew his partner was crying. "Luce, what's wrong?"
Natsu walks over to her bedside causing Lucy to shuffle deeper into the sheets and pillow to hide her face. The dragon slayer sighs because he'd wish that Lucy would just talk to him. "Lucyyyy...", Natsu drags out childishly.
Lucy refused to open her mouth not trusting her voice. There's no way she'd risk humiliating herself more than before. If Natsu would leave, everything would be so much easier.
"If you don't tell me what's wrong, I'll force it out of ya," Natsu says in a slightly mischievous tone making Lucy nervous.
But being the stubborn person she is, she doesn't make a peep.
"Fine, have it your way," Natsu grins before reaching out his hands to tickle his victim.
Lucy bursts out laughing in response.
"Okay! Okay!", Lucy says desperately.
"Okay what?", Natsu asks innocently.
"I-I'll tell you," Lucy says making his hands disappear.
Natsu stares at Lucy while waiting for her answer which makes it more nerve wrecking for Lucy.
Natsu frowns. What would be the reason she's so upset?
"I'm upset because...", Lucy trails off, but Natsu waits patiently which is a very un-Natsu thing to do. "Um... I- You...", Lucy pauses again.
"Me?", Natsu tilts his head in confusion.
"Yeah, you uh said something that may have upset me," Lucy admits while looking to the side.
Natsu's eyes widen. "I'm sorry, Lucy! I didn't mean to make you cry about whatever I said!", Natsu hugs her which surprises Lucy.
"I know you didn't- uh I was just being stupid," Lucy shook her head.
"So what did I say?", Natsu asks as he backs away from her.
"Eh?", Lucy raises a brow.
"I wanna know so that I'll never say it again," Natsu explains.
"You...", Lucy tries to think of a lie, "You called me fat."
"But you usually never cry at that," Natsu frowns in confusion. Lucy was surely acting weird... Well, she's always weird, but that day, it was weirder.
"I was extra emotional because I'm PMSing," Lucy nods.
"No, that was two weeks ago, and you don't smell like blood," Natsu shakes his head at her excuse.
Lucy cringes at the realization that Natsu can smell that.
"Tell me the real reason," Natsu says.
"You called me your best friend," Lucy answers.
"But we are best friends," Natsu frowns. Did Lucy not want to be his best friend anymore?
"I know but I don't-", Lucy stops abruptly and sighs. "See? I told you that I was being stupid. Now that you know, you can leave." Lucy gets out of her bed and tries to push Natsu to the window be he's like a brick wall.
"So you don't want to be friends anymore?", Natsu asks and makes a small sniff himself.
Lucy's eyes widen. Was Natsu now crying because of her?
Natsu didn't understand why, but thinking about the fact that Lucy didn't want to be his friend anymore wounded him deeply. Happy and she were the two closest to him at the guild, and losing Lucy would be losing a vital part of the team. He didn't want her to go. He hated when he believed she left forever to her dad. He hated when future Lucy died. And now, he can't stand the thought of her leaving him.
"No!', Lucy quickly hissed at him which made Natsu relieved. "That upset me because I want-", she cuts herself off.
"What do you want?", Natsu asks. "If it's fish, we can go fishing some time with Happy."
"I don't want fish!", Lucy cries out at how hard it seemed to come out with the truth.
"Do you need more money? I have a bunch of money that you can use y'know," Natsu said.
"You don't just offer money to people like that," Lucy facepalms.
"Well, what do you want?", Natsu's eyebrows scrunch up while thinking.
"I want more," Lucy whispers but Natsu still catches the voice.
"More what?"
Lucy sighs. She forgot about how dense Natsu was.
"Agh!", Lucy snaps with her inner frustration. "I love you, okay! I want us to be more than just friends!"
"I love you too," Natsu smiles.
"No, it's love, love. You don't love me like I love you," Lucy senses round two swelling up in her eyes.
"I don't?", Natsu questions. "I mean, I don't really know these things, but all I know is that I don't care what we are as long as you get to be by my side forever." Natsu shows his pearly white canines.
Natsu remembers how at the time, he did love her but didn't understand the full meaning. After that, they still continued to stay as best friends because Lucy didn't know if Natsu knew his true feelings. It was hard at first, but Lucy was relieved when after time everything stayed the same. If Natsu could be Natsu, Lucy could be Lucy.
But there was still a problem to Lucy. Again, she couldn't stand being just friends with her partner, but Natsu is dense in that subject. The only thing he knows is food and fighting. It took until during his training for a year after Fairy Tail disbanded to understand more thanks to Gildarts.
Natsu grinned at Gildarts and Happy, and he all sat around the fire eating some fish that Natsu almost burned and Happy wanted to keep raw. He'd been having a great day because he was able to see his role model again. It had been a while since the guild saw Gildarts. Natsu felt bad for leaving everyone, and he missed them too. But he needed to get his mind in the clear. He wanted to become stronger for them and kill E.N.D. Because Igneel couldn't defeat the monster, that meant that the dragon slayer had a lot of work to do.
"So Natsu, we haven't talked that much yet," Gildarts starts by referring to their fighting so far.
"He was too busy being knocked out unconscious by you," Happy laughs.
"No, I wasn't!", Natsu protested with a pout.
"I heard you snoring from a mile away," Gildarts grins.
"Shut up!", Natsu narrows his eyes.
Gildarts chuckles at his almost-son before sobering down. "So why did you leave Magnolia?"
Natsu frowns before lighting up again by saying, "To train so I'm stronger than you," with his infamous grin.
"I'm sure you can do it," Gildarts says which makes Natsu's smile widen. "How long should you be gone?"
"A year," Natsu says. "I'll need to do some stuff."
"I see," Gildarts nods while slowly looking around. "I'm surprised you didn't bring Lucy with you."
Natsu tenses up at the name.
Lucy
He missed her so much just like everyone else in the guild. It's been different without her. Usually, he'd have her directing him in the right direction. Now, he only had Happy for that who didn't do such a great job with the fish incident as an example.
"Hm?", Natsu takes a bite out of his fish to avoid talking about her.
But it didn't work.
"She's always there with you, so I just assumed she was around here. But I guess you really did leave without her. Did she not want to come?", Gildarts asks.
Natsu shrugs.
Gildarts makes a scowl. "Don't avoid my questions."
Natsu sighs. "I don't know if she wanted to come. I just wanted to train alone."
"But Happy's with you," Gildarts points out the sleeping Happy who got bored and decided to snooze.
"That's different. I could never abandon him," Natsu looks at Happy.
"So you would abandon Lucy... Well, you already did," Gildarts sighed. "I might end up losing my bet now..."
"Bet?", Natsu asks.
"Don't get off topic!", Gildarts says.
"I'm sure Lucy is fine. I gave her a note telling her," Natsu says with a nod.
"Idiot," Gildarts mutters.
"I heard that!"
"A note? A single note?", Gildarts asked angrily.
"I thought it'd be better since she likes to write and stuff," Natsu shrugs.
Gildarts sighs trying to blow off some steam. There was no use with this dense person.
"I heard from Kana that Lucy confessed to you," Gildarts says.
"Confessed?", Natsu tilts his head at the word.
"She told you that she loves you," Gildarts says.
"And I told her that I love her too," Natsu grins.
Gildarts's eyes widen. Are they already feeling each other up? Maybe he can win the bet!
"So is she good?", Gildarts asks with a perverted grin.
"Good at what?", Natsu asks.
"Nevermind," Gildarts discards the question. "So what happened afterward?"
"Lucy told me that I don't love her the way she does. Whatever that means," he shrugs.
"Listen, Natsu," Gildarts sighs. "There's gonna come a time when you finally realize this thing you have towards that girl. You gotta make sure it's soon or else Lucy may give up on you."
Natsu frowns at the memory of him leaving Lucy. When he came back, Lucy's usual glow had dimmed. It didn't leave, but it dimmed. Of course, Natsu's heart skipped a beat when her glow came back stronger at the sight of Happy and him. He had come back to fight Fairy Tail, but all he got was disappointment. He remembered how strange it was for Lucy to be at the arena by herself rather than the guild, but Natsu shrugged off the feeling convincing himself that Lucy is weird.
When he was informed of the disbandment of Fairy Tail, Natsu felt as if a train had run over him. His stomach churned with a fire of anger. How could Fairy Tail have done that to Lucy and them? But then it made sense about why Lucy seemed so down than normal. Her smile was strained and not genuine. Now it was worse when Lucy later mentioned how she felt about the note after him getting angry at Gray for leaving. It was as if Lucy had slapped him. Lucy is definitely stronger than she shows with her slaps and 'Lucy kicks'.
But after the war, Natsu was left off feeling different towards Lucy. He was so confused. He gained these... desires from looking at Lucy. The way her hips moved when she walked, the way her hair would flip when she turned, the way her body felt while hugging her... He couldn't figure it out. He became frustrated and more irritated every day. He even tried asking his guildmates for advice which resulted in him becoming even more confused. Their advice was 'Be gentle for her first time, Flamebrain', and 'TREAT HER LIKE THE MAN SHE IS!' Some even high fived him for reaching some milestone that Natsu didn't know about.
When he couldn't gain answers, he asked Lucy herself who slapped him and called him "Pervert!"
It had been three days since Natsu told Lucy about his problem. Lucy had purposely ignored him even though she missed him. In all honesty, she had not stopped loving Natsu. She cursed that fact that it has only grown stronger. She tried to stop these feelings inside of her after he left, but she couldn't.
When Natsu told her, she blushed and slapped him in instinct. She didn't know why she reacted that way. Natsu was truthfully confused and talking to her about it while others were actual perverts and did much worse things than that.
She supposed it was because it was Natsu and not anyone else. Maybe that made her nervous? She already told Natsu how she felt while he was there asking her why he felt weird whenever he saw her. That's when Lucy realized that maybe Natsu needed to be shown how she felt. Natsu thinks with actions and feelings, not with his brain. He doesn't overthink things unless they're greatly affecting him. His mind is always in the present.
Lucy stopped from her 'writing' - she was just thinking about Natsu the whole time - and decided to stop ignoring the person who needed her the most at the moment. She dressed in her usual clothing consisting of a sleeveless blue vest with a separate black sleeve on her left arm, a white skirt with a white belt along with her keys, and brown boots. She keeps her long hair in a ponytail - she's been thinking about cutting it for awhile - with a blue ribbon and decides she's ready to go to the guild.
At the guild, she opens the door with a determined look glued to her face. Some people notice the look and raise a brow at the guild's cheerleader. Lucy scans the area for any signs of pink hair or a flying Happy. She grins when she does spot Natsu slouching over the bar. Happy taps his shoulder at Lucy walks up to him causing Natsu to turn around with a confused expression.
Natsu had been feeling horrible since those three days ago. Lucy had been ignoring him leaving him feeling guilty. Was it wrong of him to ask Lucy about those things? He had no clue.
Natsu immediately opened his mouth to apologize, "Lucy! I'm sorry! I didn't know- oh..."
Lucy had pulled in for a kiss not knowing what to expect. She wasn't experienced and neither was him, so the kiss seemed a bit off to Lucy, but she still followed through and ended up enjoying it.
Once the break for air happened, Lucy said, "I know I've already said this, but I love you. Just forget about how I reacted. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so rude to not answer your question. I was being stupid-"
"I feel dizzy," Natsu said.
Lucy smiled.
These thoughts rush into Natsu's brain making him grin at the memories. He has definitely matured more now as husband and father.
A certain voice brings him out of his thoughts.
"What are you thinking about?", Lucy asks curiously.
"You," Natsu answers.
"Well, stop thinking about me and focus on the task at hand before you crash into a tree," Lucy says.
"What?!", Natsu quickly stops and looks around for any tree in front of him. He pouts when there isn't. "Now you just made me look like an idiot in front of you."
"You always act like an idiot in front of me," Lucy laughs which makes Natsu mutter under his breath. "But that's okay because I like idiots." She leans over to kiss his cheek.
"As if you could call that a real kiss," Natsu grins and leans in to give his definition of a 'real kiss', but Lucy pushes him away.
"No, we need to focus, and we don't need any more kids than we already have," Lucy says.
Natsu frowns. "When we got married, I thought you agreed to have 33 babies with me."
"I DON'T REMEMBER EVER AGREEING TO THAT!"
Sorry it took a little while to post this chapter. I've been surrounded with tests, and yesterday, I got to see a TØP concert ASDFGHJKL IT WAS AWESOMEEE! Sorry, I'm just still hyped about it all and everything.
I hope you don't mind this being pretty much NaLu. I just wanted to give a bit of detail on how Lucy and Natsu stopped being so dense and got together to make Lucy pop out two kids. (I feel disturbed that I used that phrase.) This chapter still doesn't explain it all, but maybe it'll be explained in the future. At the moment, I don't know. I'm just going with the flow because I tried planning out and it turned out being more difficult.
I can't believe that we're already at ELEVEN chapters! This has become my favorite story to write so far. Thanks for all the kind reviews, they inspire me to continue writing because I have motivational issues, and I hope that I can continue making stories you enjoy.
~ Sarah (With the H. Never forget it.)