Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. If time travel is possible, I might, but since it is not …
Chapter 12
Lucy POV
Lucy wanted to run, to disappear into the air, or better yet have the ground swallow her whole. She could not believe what she was seeing. He was here standing in front of her. She noticed how his hair remained the same shade of pink, or salmon as he liked to call it. She examined his face, he had grown leaner during the past three years. However, it was apparent that he is still very strong from his muscles. She stared into onyx eyes that mirrored her shock. When he noticed that they were both staring, he quickly made his face into an unreadable mask.
"Lucy." He stated in a clipped tone.
Natsu POV
Natsu looked at the girl … no woman in front of him. Her long haired shined in the sun. She had a slight tan, giving her skin a lightly golden tone. She was fit, in fact a lot fitter than the last time he had seen her. Natsu probably wouldn't recognized her from far away in the street. Even her scent has changed. It had the hint of cinnamon in addition to her normal vanilla strawberry scent. It was intoxicating. But her eyes, they were unmistakable. Those chocolate orbs stared at him in shock. Natsu quickly looked at Shunko in her arms. He had heard the boy call for his mom. Looking at the two, Natsu came to several conclusions. The new scent on Lucy was due to Shunko, or more specifically Shunko's father. Natsu suppressed a growl at the thought of Lucy with another man. But Shunko, Shunko was the proof that Lucy was lost to him forever. Lucy left the guild and found someone else. A quick inspection of Lucy's ring finger found no wedding band. Natsu's thoughts turned murderous at the mystery father who would leave Lucy and Shunko without providing them a proper home. Reigning his emotions in before he did something he would regret, Natsu looked at Lucy.
"Lucy"
All POV
Lucy hesitated before replying. She could feel the heat radiating off Natsu even though they were some distances apart. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself and replied.
"Natsu. It has been a while."
"I have searched a long time for you. These past years, I never stopped."
Although he whispered it, Lucy could clearly hear his words. Shunko shifted against her and the moment was broken. Lucy stood up. She had imagined this moment so many times in her head, but she never imagined that it would be so soon, so unexpected.
As the blond went further into her thoughts, Natsu gave her a closer inspection. After the initial shock has died down, he confirmed that the only male scent on Lucy was Shunko's. It cemented his earlier conclusion, and he made a mental note to ask Lucy about Shunko's father and hunt him down. His attention shifted again when the blond took a deep breath.
"Let's talk inside. Shunko is tired."
Wrapping the boy in her arms, Lucy walked into the house, Natsu not far behind. Once inside, Lucy set Lucy in a dining room chair while she prepared him a snack. Natsu watched her silently from the kitchen entrance, his eyes following her every move. It made Lucy feel exposed, and the place she called her safe haven for the past three years suddenly didn't feel so safe anymore. She pushed away the feeling of discomfort and concentrated on Shunko. Once Shunko was done with his snack, Lucy told him to go up to their bedroom and read a book. Shunko nodded and walked upstairs. Once she was sure her son was gone, Lucy turned to Natsu.
"I didn't expect to see you."
Natsu gave a dry, humorless laugh.
"I didn't expect to find you either. You just left. Everyone was crushed when you abandoned us." Especially me. Natsu wanted to add.
"I didn't have a choice. I had to go! I couldn't have stayed." Lucy bit out.
"What do you mean you didn't have a choice? What was preventing you from telling everyone you got some secret boyfriend that you wanted to live with? Or did you not trust us enough to tell us anything? Do you know how worried everyone was?" Natsu felt himself become angrier. Why couldn't she just tell him why she left?
"I don't have a secret boyfriend! And even if I did it is none of your business!" Lucy yelled.
"Ha! So what, you just got tired of us and left? Lucy do you know how irresponsible that is?"
"Natsu Dragneel, don't lecture me on responsibility! You are the most destructive prone, irresponsible person I have ever met. I had some problems that needed to be resolved. So I left to resolve them. I couldn't stay."
"So you decided to just leave then? Tell me Lucy, what problem of yours was so big that you couldn't tell the guild but was able to go to some douchebag and get yourself knocked up?" Natsu sneered.
Lucy looked at him in disbelief and anger. "What did you say?"
"I said, what problem of yours was so big that you couldn't tell the guild but was able to go to some douchebag and get yourself knocked up? Don't lie to me Lucy. I can smell you and Shunko, and I can see the obvious lack of a father figure in his life."
Lucy felt her hackles rise up. What right did he have to talk to her this way? He had no right whatsoever.
"Natsu! You are such a stupid flame brain!" She screeched.
"And you are just a prissy princess that runs away from your problems!"
Lucy snapped.
"You dense, destructive, jerk! You want to know why I went away? Fine! I'll tell you. Don't you dare tell me I am running away from my problems. You were right Natsu. I did get knocked up by a douchebag. That douchebag was you!" Lucy screamed. Tears prickled at the edge of her eyes.
Natsu was shocked at her declaration. He was a father? And Shunko was his son? It wasn't as if Natsu had never thought about having a family. After his past with Igneel, and seeing Romeo with his dad, thoughts of creating a family of his own often flitted in and out of his thoughts among other things. This explained the lack of male presence in Lucy's life. He was the father. However, the declaration of fatherhood still shocked him.
"Wha -? But we never –"
Lucy gave a mirthless laugh. "Of course you don't remember. You were always hanging around your precious Lisanna to notice anything else." Lucy mocked.
Natsu's anger came back and pushed away the shock. How could Lucy do this to him? To them? To leave the guild when she was pregnant with his child. Natsu always imagined raising his own kids in the boisterous atmosphere of the guild.
"Lisanna finally returned. I was just spending time with my best friend whom I thought was dead." He defended. "Shunko was my son, I had every right to know about him."
"Yes, yes, why don't you run along and spend more time with her then? Shunko and I have been getting along fine without you. You didn't even remember us, and you were fine without knowing for the past few years. Go away Natsu."
The temperature of the room skyrocketed as Natsu stalked towards Lucy.
"Fine for the past few years?" He snarled.
"I'll tell you what was fine for the past few years. I went around doing missions, the more dangerous the better, killing myself while trying to find you and forget you at the same time. I wandered everywhere, wondering everyday whether you were alive or not. Did you know, after some time I started having nightmares. Wendy and Levy said it was a curse. Every night I dreamed about you dying, and I saw another me in my dream killing you. Every time I wake up, I ask myself what did I do wrong, and how could I do such a thing? You call that fine? If that is your definition of fine then yeah, I have been fine these past few years." Natsu hissed.
He had backed Lucy against a wall. Their noses were almost touching, and their breathes mingled between them. Natsu's eyes locked onto Lucy's and they stood still, neither moving nor talking.
Lucy stared into the eyes of her partner as her mind tried to process what he just told her. She felt numb, as if she couldn't control her body. Natsu began to lean in, closing the space between them. Lucy's eyes widened as she caught a flash of gold in Natsu's onyx eyes. Terror clawed at her heart when she recalled their fateful night.
Gathering her spirit magic, Lucy pushed Natsu away from herself. He blinked, as if confused for a moment before focusing back on her.
Lucy straightened her posture and stepped away from the wall.
"If I could turn back time, I would still make the choices I made. Shunko and I are getting along just fine by ourselves. We are safe, you know that now Natsu. My only regret is that he never had a father." Lucy's eyes hardened. "But I will make sure to fill in that gap."
Natsu lunged towards her but Lucy blocked him instead, her reflexes from training kicking in. Natsu growled.
"I will see my son, you can't keep him from me."
"No you won't" Lucy replied. She punched Natsu and stepped back.
"Open, the Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"
"Mooooo!"
Taurus appeared in a flash of white light.
"Taurus, kick Natsu out of the house." Lucy commanded.
Taurus quickly swung his ax and pushed Natsu out through the window. Natsu landed outside in the yard, but he quickly recovered. He prepared to launch one of his attacks when a commanding voice stopped him.
"Stop!"
Both Natsu and Lucy turned to look at the source of the voice. It was Saku who had come back from grocery shopping. The look on her face was very reminiscent of Erza's angry glare and both mages could feel a shiver run down their spine.
"What. Is. This? I come back from shopping and I find my house destroyed, with my boarder and guest fighting each other?"
"She started it!"
"He started it!"
The two mages scowled at each other when they realized that they talked at the same time. A vein popped on Saku's head.
"Whatever this foolishness is, it stops NOW!"
Natsu shook his head.
"I can't granny. I'm fighting to see my son."
"You have no right! I was the one who gave birth to him and raised him." Lucy yelled.
"That's because you never even told me about him!" Natsu retorted.
Lucy was prepared to yell back another line when Saku spoke again.
"Enough!"
Both mages quieted down.
"Natsu are you Shunko's father?"
Natsu nodded. "Yes, I didn't know about him till now though."
Saku sighed. "I gathered that from your conversation. Look this fight is completely immature. Natsu, if you will be so kind as to fix the window. I'm sure you can spend some time with Shunko later. Lucy, I need a report from your … trip. Have it prepared for me tomorrow." Saku ended in a clipped tone.
"Whatever your differences are, you can work it out later when your son is not looking from the window and watching you fight."
At her comment, both mages turned to look upstairs. Shunko was looking down on them with wide eyes. Lucy groaned and cursed under her breath. Shooting one last glare at Natsu, she returned Taurus back though the gate and began walking upstairs.
Lucy POV
Lucy walked upstairs with dread. Shunko saw her fight with Natsu. Did he hear everything? Does he know? How will he react? Lucy felt a headache starting to develop. They never really talked about Shunko's father. Shunko was mostly too young to understand, and she had planned to tell him about it later. The only time they touched on the subject was when Shunko saw a family of birds and asked her why they had two mamas instead of one. Lucy had lightly touched on the subject and told him that it wasn't two mamas, but a mama and papa. When Shunko had then asked her where his father was, Lucy could only tell him that his father was flying with the dragons. At that point, Shunko frowned but never questioned her over it again.
When she reached her bedroom door, Lucy tentatively pushed the hinges and opened it. Shunko was still staring out the window, presumably watching Natsu fix the window. Lucy went to the window and sat down, pulling Shunko into her lap as they both watched the man outside work.
"Mama, is mister my papa?" Shunko asked.
Lucy nodded. "Yeah. He is your papa?"
"Did he come back from flying with the dragons? Is he staying?"
"I don't know Shunko. I'm sorry, I really don't know."
They sat in silence, watching the man outside. Lucy wanted to cry and laugh at the same time, she opted to just watch instead and think in silence. She missed him so much, and he was finally here. But in the past years, the boarding house had become a new home to Lucy. Natsu, no matter how much she still loved him, was an intruder in the new life that she precariously pieced together.
The thought of returning to Fairy Tail frightened Lucy. How would they accept her? How could they accept her? She feared to think about how her relationship with Natsu would change from here on.
He probably hates me. She thought bitterly.
The two watched till sundown when Kiyo and Shiharu came back and Saku called dinner. Lucy and Shunko quietly shuffled into the dining room. Lucy avoided meeting Natsu's eyes, but Shunko stared at him with open curiosity.
As if sensing the tension, the other tenants did not speak much. Dinner was eaten quietly and finished quickly. Lucy walked Shunko up immediately after dinner. Natsu's eyes followed them, but he did not move from his seat.
~ a while later ~
The moon shone brightly from the sky. Lucy breathed in the clear air and tried to find her center as she meditated. After the awkward dinner, she had attempted to write her novel, but even that did not calm her down. Tension rolled off her in waves and instead of going to sleep, Lucy decided to take a small walk.
Without any specific location in thought, Lucy had wandered through the woods until she arrived at a small clearing. It was different from the usual place she trained at. It was more closed off, though the stream still ran through. Lucy felt at peace here. There was only a small patch of grass illuminated by the moon, the rest of the light scattered in broken fragments, blocked by the leaves of the trees that surrounded the clearing.
"Hello partner." A deep voice spoke behind her.
Lucy's breath hitched as she slowly turned around. There was a human silhouette among the shadow of the trees.
"Natsu." She whispered.
"Luce."
Lucy gave him a small smile.
"You haven't called me that in forever."
"I know." He replied. "I plan to call you that a lot from now on."
Natsu untangled himself from the shadows of the trees and he settled down by Lucy. Neither of them spoke for a while. They just rested in each other's presence.
"I'm sorry." Lucy murmured. "For earlier. I shouldn't have yelled."
"Me too. Luce. It just has been so long, and knowing that you were alright but never contacted us … that really made me mad."
Lucy accepted his answer. A thick silence fell upon them again. This time, it was uncomfortable. They both knew they were avoiding the subject that each one wanted to talk about the most.
"Shunko." Natsu started, "how is he?"
Lucy smiled as she thought about her son. "He is wonderful. He is a fire magic user, like you. And he definitely has your streak for destruction."
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Natsu pouted.
Lucy laughed. Natsu looked at her in wonder. It has been so long since he heard her laugh. It a light and clear sound that he had missed for a long time.
Lucy quickly sobered up though and a darkened look took over her face.
"Look Natsu, I know I should've told you about him, but I couldn't. You were so happy with Lisanna, I couldn't do that to you. I could not come up with any other way than leave. I'm sorry about the worry I caused for the guild in the past few years. Master knew about it, but I didn't plan on telling anyone why I left."
Natsu gave Lucy a leveled stare and sighed. "Luce, Shunko is my son. I would've loved to get to know him. You know, I always wanted to have a family. Fairy Tail of course, is family, but I mean a family of my own."
"But Lisanna is your mate, I couldn't just tell you –"
"Lisanna is not my mate. My mate is someone else." Natsu whispered the last part as he stared intently at Lucy.
Lucy flushed. "But after Tenrou, you and Lisanna always hung out together. I thought –"
"You thought wrong Luce. For someone who is such a bookworm, you are pretty slow." Natsu gave her a lopsided grin.
"Then who –"
Natsu cut her off for the third time as he leaned in and kissed her. It was a chaste kiss, but it surprised Lucy nonetheless.
"You. Weirdo." Natsu smiled.
Lucy stared at him, her brain processed and reprocessed his words.
"When did you know?"
Natsu shrugged. "I didn't know at first. But as we went on more missions, it became more apparent. Then one day, it was just knew that you were my mate. Look Luce, I may not remember it because I was stupidly drunk, but even if I am drunk, I wouldn't have sex with anyone other than my mate." Natsu stated matter-of-factly.
Lucy blushed. To think of the day where Natsu actually talked about relationships, much less sex. Suddenly, she became much more aware of their distance, or lack of.
"I'm so sorry Natsu. I should have told you, but I was so scared. I thought you loved her." As Lucy thought of the past, she began to cry. "You couldn't see Shunko because of me. Because I was stupidly jealous of Lisanna and I thought you chose her. I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I was just so scared and so frustrated."
"I know Luce. I kinda figured it out. It's okay, I forgive you. I'm sorry too. I should have spent more time with you even though Lisanna came back. I was too busy recounting the past that I forgot the present. It must have been hard to raise Shunko all alone. I'm sorry you had to go through that without me."
With each sentence, Natsu gently cupped Lucy's face and kissed away the tears in her eyes. When he was done talking Lucy moved forward and hugged Natsu as she buried her face and her tears into his chest. Familiar warmth enveloped her as Natsu returned the hug.
Lucy leaned into his embrace, and the two shifted onto a lying position on the ground, Lucy curled up against Natsu with his arms around her. They both looked at the moon.
"Hey Luce."
"Hmm?"
"I'm so glad I found you."
"Me too Natsu, me too."
"You know I'm never going to let go again, right?"
"Yeah. I won't ever let you go either."
Underneath the moonlight, two hearts began to heal as they went to sleep in each other's arms.
A/N: Hey guys, here is the long awaited update. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Seeing that it is almost Thanksgiving, I started writing this chapter even though I really should be studying for my test but oh well plot bunnies are cruel. I was having a writer's block on how to portray Lucy and Natsu's meeting. In response to the last chapter, a lot of people voted dramatic, and also fluffy, so I wanted to write a scene where the emotional conflict is high, but the deeper feelings also got across. I was contemplating whether to do a lemon in this chapter or not, but I decided not to because they just got reunited, and it doesn't make sense to do the act that caused them to separate in the first place. (Besides there are so many chances to do that later) So I hope you guys are satisfied with the fluffy bit at the end for now. Anyways, it's a longer than usual chapter since I took so long to update. Enjoy! R&R.
