. Not As It Seems .
Natsu had heard when the commotion began, but he didn't actually bothered to get up, too busy making sure Lucy was still breathing as Chelia dozed a bed over after trying to use her magic to help her. He listened intently, trying to figure out what had happened, and it took only seconds for him to hear of Rhith before he hopped to his feet, hesitant to leave his partner and best friend, yet wanting to go and check on the silver-haired woman.
One look at Lucy and her peacefully sleeping face had him deciding.
She'd be alright for a few minutes.
He jogged through the upper story of the guildhall, easily following the noise to where people were chattering loudly. His sharp ears caught the occasional comment, and he grinned at the worried tone of them.
Rhith had brought Lucy back to them, and for that, the guild would forever be grateful to her.
He leaned over the balcony of the second floor and grinned down. His smile faltered, however, when he saw the unconscious illusion mage that Sting had taken from Rogue, muscled arms holding her aloft with ease. "Move," the guildmaster of Sabertooth demanded grouchily, "We gotta take her to get some rest and so Wendy can take a look."
Natsu blinked as they headed up the stairs. "What happened?" the fire mage demanded, making way for them. Rogue trudged up the steps, too, arms filled with Frosch and Lector. "Is she okay?"
"She'll be fine," Wendy reassured as she followed Sting towards the room where Lucy was. "She needs rest, that's all. Her magic supply was exhausted, possibly still left over from when she...uh, you know."
"She was tired when Fro found her," Frosch said as if that explained everything.
"So...then she's not just a human," Rogue muttered in thought.
Sting snapped his jaws at his partner in annoyance. "She's fine, leave her be. Who cares? Clearly she's on our side."
"Doesn't mean many others will appreciate it," Rogue pointed out quietly. "I'll go tell Makarov. Happy mentioned he'd do it, but no offense to you, Natsu, I don't think that's smart."
"I love him," Natsu admitted, "But he won't explain well." He watched Rogue leave with the Exceeds to do just that, and then turned his attention on the situation at hand, following Sting and Wendy. He paused to check on Lucy, and then focused on Rhith, anxious. "She'll wake up?"
"Yep," Wendy reassured. She looked puzzled. "This is strange...we've never had a half-fairy mage before. It's almost weirder than dragons now a days."
Sting only grunted as he gingerly placed the illusion mage in a bed, making sure he didn't knock her by accident. "And like I said, she's fine. She's not human, so what? Dragon slayers have bits of dragon implanted in their minds. S'not like I go nuts when scales show up."
"No one said it was weird," Wendy soothed, and then went to work on investigating.
Natsu watched without saying anything, worried for Rhith. She'd done too much for the guild to deserve anything but all they had to offer.
And Sting knew it, too, perhaps better than he did, his blue eyes never leaving Wendy as she tended to her.
Natsu's pink hair hung in his eyes as he licked his lips and finally said, "Lucy was moving around a bit earlier...think ya could come take a look later, Wendy? Your nose can catch things Chelia's can't. She thought she might have woken up for a few moments before sleeping again."
Wendy nodded thoughtfully. "Give me a bit. If Rhith wakes up, maybe she can take a look and see if it's an after effect of the illusion that was on her for so long."
"Okay." Natsu fell silent again, surprisingly quiet for once. He watched as Sting kept a fretful and overprotective eye on the illusion mage, growling when the woman made a tired sound of protest when Wendy poked her a bit too hard.
"She'll be fine," Wendy decided eventually, propping her hands on her slim hips. "She just needs rest like I thought. I'll do a bit of magic transfer. It'll make her feel sick, but it'll wake her up. She'll be able to get up rather than waiting a week or so. A week we won't have."
"Good." Sting folded his arms behind his head, glancing over when Natsu thoughtfully warned, "Don't use too much magic, Wendy. You need it if something's going to happen."
"True," she agreed. Wendy moved to rest her hands over Rhith's moving chest, a soft glow enveloping her fingers. She lightly let the magic sink into her, feeling the tug on her own, yet ignored it, determined to do what she could to help.
After a short while, she lowered her hands, smiling. "That should be enough for it to regather on its own. She'll be okay now, I promise. I'm going to take a look at Lucy-san...she should be awake by the time we come back," she told them. "Come on Natsu-san."
Natsu decided against staying where he was, eagerly following the younger dragon slayer towards Lucy's room. He wanted to make sure that his partner was going to be alright.
So it was very much a surprise when they walked in to discover Lucy sitting up with Chelia tiredly checking over, pausing when Wendy squealed happily and threw herself at Lucy for a hug. Lucy smiled faintly and hugged the sky dragon slayer tightly.
But her gaze met Natsu's and lingered, a smile lighting up her face. "Hey."
Natsu had never smiled bigger. "Hey," he said happily, and then popped his head out the door and bellowed for Happy to come to him. When that was done and he could hear Happy's wings beating at the air, he scampered over himself, and Lucy laughed when he ruffled her hair with a gentle hand. "Are you awake now? Lazy ass, you've been sleeping almost two weeks now."
Wendy giggled as she and Chelia finished up on checking her over. "Be nice, Natsu-san," she scolded playfully.
Lucy rolled her eyes, and then flushed when her stomach growled. "Maybe? I hope so. I'm tired of sleeping. I think I overslept." She yawned, and then swore when her stomach growled a second time. "I need food-"
"I'll get it," Chelia reassured and then hurried out of the room, sensing the need for the guild members to be alone. Wendy gave Lucy another hug, too happy to stay away for long, and Lucy could barely stop giggling at her.
Happy arrived seconds later with a wail, slamming straight into Lucy's chest when she threw her arms out. "Lucy!" he sobbed, tucking up against her. "You're awake!"
"Hey, Happy," she giggled, kissing his furry head before thanking Wendy and reassuring the blue Exceed that yes, she was going to be fine. Natsu watched with a breathless grin on his face. His partner was awake, much more than she'd been the last time. Maybe she'd stay awake permanently now. He certainly hoped so.
He was beyond surprised when she reached out and caught his sleeve, dragging him into the hug, too. She pressed her face against his shoulder, and Natsu couldn't help but make a happy rumbling sound in the back of his throat as he crushed her and Happy to him.
"We missed you," Happy said softly.
"What he said," Natsu added, and Lucy gave a muffled sob, her grip tightening on them.
"I missed you, too," she gasped, quivering. Natsu ignored the fact that he'd probably get teased later as he lifted her, and then climbed onto the bed, folding his legs and pulling both of his friends into his lap. Wendy only smiled with a kind look before taking a plate of food that Chelia passed through.
"Here, Lucy-san," Wendy said softly, handing the plate to her. She took it, shifting until she was comfortable, Natsu's chin on her head. "We'll be out there if you need us, guys. I need to watch over Rhith-san with Chelia, or Sting-san will throw a fit."
Lucy paused. "Rhith...that was the girl who was with you and Gajeel?" Lucy said as Wendy closed the door behind her, leaving the original trio of Team Natsu in peace.
"Yeah," Natsu said, glaring until she began to eat again. Then he relaxed and puffed out a small wisp of flames. It became ash quickly and sprinkled her matted blonde hair. She didn't seem to notice, too busy eating. "She's good. I like her. She's our friend, right, Happy?"
"Aye, sir!" Happy purred. "Rhith-sama's, great."
"Turns out she's half-fairy," Natsu said firmly. He tilted his head slightly, appreciation for what Rhith had done running through him. "She died. She used too much magic getting you to wake up and died, but then she came back. But we owe her. A lot, Luce."
"Yeah," she muttered back, her voice laced with guilt that he didn't appreciate.
There were a few moments.
"Fairies?"
Natsu shook his head and began to explain everything that had happened since his partner had disappeared, simply planting his chin on her shoulder as she ate and refusing to let her go even once she was done eating. She even leaned her head against his, and Happy recognized the silent admission between the couple.
Lucy was Natsu's and Natsu was Lucy's.
It was as simple as that.
And nothing would ever change that.
Eventually, Natsu was told to leave by Erza - she and Gray had hurried up as soon as news reached their ears that Lucy was awake, eager to say hi and explain how happy they were. The requip mage wanted to have a turn with Lucy alone, and he needed to eat as well as check on Rhith, who'd finally woken up after a few hours.
By dusk, the guild was gathered in the guildhall. A few other mages were there still, including Lyon, who'd flirted mildly with Meredy despite Jellal glaring at him. Yukino was there with Rufus and Orga, curiously learning just how attached their guildmaster had gotten to the strange woman that had caught his attention.
It was while Natsu was happily chowing down on some food that Mirajane had lit on fire for him that he heard the call for Chelia.
Tipping the rest of his food into his mouth, Natsu hopped to his feet and scampered out of the main part of the guildhall. A few mages peered curiously after the pink-haired Salamander - Gajeel was the only one who grunted and acknowledged what had happened along with Rogue.
He meandered up the stairs just in time to catch the door before it clicked shut, sliding in himself before shutting it.
Rhith was up and awake once more. Sting hovered fretfully near her, his blue eyes concerned, and she was clearly annoyed with him for such a matter. But there was a hint of tired affection there, too. Wendy smiled as she treaded over, humming. "Hello, Rhith-san!"
"Wendy-chan," Rhith greeted, and then smiled faintly at Natsu. "Hello, Natsu."
"Yo," he greeted. He slid closer, glancing at Sting momentarily.
The white dragon slayer grumbled. "How come they get a hello and the first thing I get is a punch to the face?"
"They weren't a breath away when I opened my eyes," Rhith retorted, rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms, giving it a brief moment as Wendy prodded at her temples before finally muttering, "Nice to see you again, Sting."
Had they not been dragon slayers, they wouldn't have heard it. Sting's grin was broad and beyond happy as he folded his hands behind his head and expectantly looked to Wendy. The young mage giggled and stepped back. "She's okay now. She'll need a few more hours of sleep, but she can get up and walk for now. And because I know you'd like to know, Lucy-san just woke up a few hours ago, Rhith-san."
"That's good," Rhith breathed, looking relieved by this information. Her burgundy eyes flickered to Natsu for confirmation, and the sparkling onyx eyes were enough. She smiled sweetly, and then staggered to her feet, willingly grabbing Sting's arm to steady her short self. Wendy frowned in disapproval. "I want to meet her, but I need to speak with this idiot," she patted Sting's arm with slim pale fingers, "And Makarov-san."
"What happened?" Natsu asked, his voice filled with irritation. He, too, wanted to hear what this weird woman had to say! She only smiled tightly at him in response, her gaze searching his.
"I need to speak with the guildmasters, and then I'll tell everyone else," she replied, reassuring that she would tell him. "Go and keep Lucy-san company, Natsu. I'll call for you when I'm done, and you can bring her down, too."
A pause.
"Oh, yeah, by the way, I'm half-fairy."
Natsu wheezed out a snort of surprise at the information; he'd known that they were expecting something similar, but not in that way. Sting didn't look the least bit surprised. Both had already known of course. But to hear it from the woman herself surprised him.
Sting didn't even flinch. "And you're even more badass because of it."
"Aw, thanks," she cooed, and then kicked him in the shin with a nasty jerk before starting forward. "Come on, let's go. See you later, Natsu-san, Wendy-chan." She staggered forward a few steps, and then caught her balance when Sting grabbed her elbow.
Natsu and Wendy exchanged a look as they simply stood there in the suddenly empty room. "For someone who just recovered from some deficiency," Wendy admitted, "She's active and slightly crazy."
Natsu muttered his agreement.
When Lucy was given the clear, Natsu yanked her out of the bed and grinned when she yelped and nearly slammed into his chest. Elation filled him as he helped her out of the room and towards the stairs, where she paused to study the guild from the top. Happy cried out in excitement, stopping mid-bite while eating when he saw her.
Almost immediately, everyone took notice and was on their feet.
"Lu-chan!" Levy shrieked in excitement, nearly tipping herself over in her excitement. Gajeel caught her chair, ignoring her teammates' glares as he grabbed her by the petite waist and set her upright. Her face turned crimson, but no one noticed.
"Hey, Lucy!" Cana laughed, raising her beer into the air in greeting. A few others copied her, echoing her shout, and the second she made it to the bottom of the stairs, she was surrounded by her nakama, everyone excited to see her awake. She was overwhelmed by the amount of relief and happiness everyone showed, and Natsu found himself grinning so hard that his cheeks hurt.
Lucy was back, he thought proudly.
He suddenly became aware of something practically nipping at his chest. He dug around , and then withdrew Lucy's keys from the inside of his jacket. "Oh! Luce-"
"My keys!" she shrieked, throwing herself at him and snatching them from his hand. Almost immediately, she went to summon one - only for Loke to appear on his own power and yank her into a bone-crushing hug.
"Hey, Princess," he whispered to her, and Lucy gave a happy sob as she returned the hug. Natsu felt a flash of irritation when Loke kissed the top of her head and managed to wedge himself between the pair, shooting Loke a small glare before blinking when the Lion looked around and asked, "Is Rhith around?"
"No," he said back, "She's speaking with Gramps and Sting. Somethin' happened. She needs to tell 'em something before she tells us. Why?"
Loke frowned. "The Spirit King wants to grant his gift to her...she earned the Spirits' gratitude when she helped you, Lucy. In return for what she's done, he wants to offer a favor of any sorts…"
Lucy's jaw dropped. "Holy hell," she breathed. "That's-"
"A huge deal for dealing a rather nasty blow to one of our old enemies from a couple thousand years ago," Loke mused with a grin. He glanced at Natsu again. "Could ya tell her about it when she shows up again? Aquarius will want to hear that Lucy's alright, she was so worried that she nearly drowned Scorpio when she caught him chatting with Virgo…"
"Tell her I'll summon her soon," Lucy promised, and then bid her Spirit farewell before leaning into Natsu. He didn't hesitate to throw an arm around her shoulders, tucking her safely against him.
"Let's party!" Elfman roared, and the guild screamed its agreement. Even Lamia Scale and Meredy cheered in excitement at the prospect of partying with Fairy Tail. Jellal only smiled softly at the sight, amused by what he was witnessing. Yukino trotted over to say hello to Lucy, giving her a hug when she pulled away from Natsu.
"Rhith-sama has earned herself a lot of happy followers," she mused with a giggle, her soft brown eyes warm. "I don't think Sting-sama's left her alone for more than two seconds."
"It must be the fairy blood," Natsu muttered. When Lucy looked confused, he explained, "The dragon slayers all smell something weird from Rhith. Gajeel's the only one who wants to kill her over it, but Sting's...uh…"
"It's ridiculous," Rogue gritted out as he came over. "He won't do what needs to be done because he's too busy trying to flatter her with stupid comments." As if to prove Natsu's statement, however, he added, "Keeps her safe, I suppose…"
Lucy glanced curiously at her partner. "So if Gajeel hates her and Sting's, uh, attracted to her, what do you think of her?"
Natsu responded seriously. "I'd like to be best friends with her. I want her to join our guild. Sting would kick my ass though, especially since she got the emblem for Sabertooth, but I would like it if she was."
"Huh," the blonde mused, "Interesting."
"Very," Rogue agreed. "They did mention that the dragons and fairies worked together in that war your Spirit mentioned. Perhaps it has to do with that? Instincts that the dragons passed onto us when lending us their magic?"
"Maybe," Yukino agreed, and then smiled softly when a cheer rose up over Cana hauling out some of the best whisky that the guild had. "The guilds are glad that you're back, Lucy-chan. And so are we. We were so worried when we heard that you were missing...Natsu-sama apparently didn't sleep very well according to Happy."
Natsu flushed when the celestial mages giggled, and Lucy only grabbed his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm glad you guys came and helped me," she said softly, her eyes misted over with happy tears. "It was lonely where I thought I was...it was nice, because it had been particularly loud the day before, but then it didn't end, and-" She cut off, shaking her head. "I wanted to go home, and I wanted to find everyone, but I was so tired most of the time…"
Natsu simply reassured her by ruffling her hair and then shouting for Gray to move so that he could get some beer of his own. Trusting Yukino and Rogue to watch over her, he slid away, shoving his teammate playfully in an attempt to start a brawl as he tried to get to the bar past all of the other swarming people, but Gray was in too much of a good mood to try and return it, simply smirking at him and taunting, "You sure you can handle beer, Natsu?"
"Screw beer," Natsu retorted. "I want the fire whisky."
Gray smirked, jabbing a thumb at himself. "You, me, drinking contest. Now."
"Done," he agreed eagerly, and then bellowed, releasing a gust of flame so people moved. "Mira, give us a barrel or two of fire whiskey! We wanna do a drinking contest!"
"I wanna join," Cana said, but both men immediately turned her down, knowing that neither of them could beat her.
Just as Natsu reached for the barrel that a laughing Mirajane sent their way, the door to Makarov's office flew open and a grim looking Rhith stepped out, followed closely by Sting and Makarov himself. They all paused, the happy partying dying down as they turned to look at them, and Natsu abandoned his drinking to return to Lucy's side.
He could tell that the look in Rhith's eyes meant nothing good, and he met her gaze cautiously when she searched him out and gave a weak smile.
Rhith cleared her throat more so for herself than to catch anyone's attention.
"I was confronted on my way here," she said carefully, "By an illusion. They're coming tomorrow. In case you haven't heard, I'm half-fairy myself. In case you were thinking of killing me, too, I didn't know for certain until recently. I didn't know at all until I came to help. The Council won't help, nor will most of the other guilds. We're on our own in this war."
She was met by silence.
And then Gajeel said irritably from his dark corner, "You mean we're gonna be on our own to fight against someone who cares only for killing you. I say we just give you to them. Be hell of a lot easier and less damaging."
"Gajeel," Makarov bit out, furious, and Rhith gave a small smile as she grabbed Sting's arm to keep him from lunging forward with murderous intent. She calmly met his crimson gaze, and Natsu gritted his teeth furiously at the suggestion.
Rhith had risked her life - given her life - to help them get Lucy back, and Gajeel wanted to just...kill her? What kind of repayment was that?!
"Actually, they want to rip the magic from me," she clarified. "I twisted them. But I doubt they'd let me just walk free without magic, so...yeah. I'm not saying you have to fight, Redfox-san. Do whatever you want. Feel free to sit out." She released Sting, and spread her arms out. "I'm not going to ask anyone to die. I don't want anyone to go and fight, actually, I'm fine with walking out of here and never coming back if it means no one gets hurt."
"Hey!" Cana cut in, surprising them all. Rhith's burgundy eyes darted to Cana. Her own were annoyed, her arms crossed and her beer on the bar beside her. "You got our Lucy back, what the hell makes you think that Fairy Tail won't return the favor?"
"Sabertooth's in, too," Yukino agreed smoothly, exchanging a look with Rufus and Orga, who was watching Sting with a bewildered look. "Sting-sama agrees, of course, I don't think it's necessary that we have to ask him."
Sting scowled, annoyed by this, and Frosch and Lector cheered. Frosch came scampering over to crawl up into her arms, his friend close behind. Rhith swept them up with a gentle smile, hugging them tightly. "We like you, Rhith-sama," Frosch explained, and Lector cheered his agreement.
"Lamia Scale," Lyon mused, "Offered its assistance the second we came out here." Chelia nodded firmly at that, and Meredy smiled brilliantly, as if that was her answer on the matter. Jellal rolled his eyes at her cheerful attitude about everything and quietly said his agreement as Erza came to stand beside him, her dark eyes fierce.
"Allow us," Makarov told Rhith, "To help you when you've helped us so much. We've fought dragons, twice now. And survived. If we cannot help against fairies, then how can we call ourselves Fairy Tail?"
Natsu simply tilted his head back. Lucy, knowing him better than he knew himself, shoved Yukino out of the way just a second before he let loose a massive explosion of flames towards the ceiling, not letting them burn anyone or anything. His answer was recognized by his guild, whose magic and cheers filled the air. The fire was soon replaced by his personal cry, a sound that only dragon slayers could make. His own roar, something he'd been proud of since Igneel had taught him how.
Wendy joined in with a screaming trill, bouncing up and down with sparkling eyes, and an amused Rogue exchanged a look with Sting before both joined in, their cries just as loud. Only Gajeel didn't join in, glaring irritably at Rhith.
When he was done, he grinned at Rhith, onyx eyes firm.
She supported the emblem of Sabertooth now, but she was still his nakama.
And nakama protected each other.
Natsu silently vowed that he'd make damn sure that Rhith Vila walked out of this alive.
Screw whatever the fairies and Gajeel said.
The war's about to start, eh? Gajeel's still not being pleasant, but at least everyone's back and on their feet!
To the 0bservanc3, your second theory, about the "stay away vibe" is close. Fairies in general (in this fanfic anyways) have twisted their magic to create a sort of aura around the person who possesses fairy blood that helps repel what the fairies consider dangerous.
Thanks to reviewers (Ancient Glory, LePengwen, sassykitten1701, The 0bservanc3, CrystalVixen93, MaybeALittleBroken, PinkFireandGOldenStars, summercharizard, and Otaku-neesan!) as well as those who favorited and followed!