A/N: Part 3 starting today! Nothing's changed about the schedules. There will always be an update every Monday, except when we go on those terrible 2 week breaks between parts so I can write and do shtuff in peace. :3 Thanks for all the support and your understanding guys!

Also, if there's anyone who would like to help me out and beta the rest of the chapters for this story, that would be awesome. :3 PM me, please.

Chapter Thirteen: Her Mission

PART 3

Lucy

There she was, poor, poor, princess Lucy. The same princess Lucy that had been captured by the enemy and yet again been saved by her 'prince'. Except the guy was nothing like a fairy tale prince. He was a dragon. A big, crazy, fire-spewing dragon. He had dark, black eyes that were like deep pools of nothingness and weird spiky pink hair that she felt the weird and uncertain need to run her hands through. She thought she liked him. Maybe. Just a little bit.

Their spring break drunken beach party was over now and it was back to real life again. The reality of the upcoming exams frightened Lucy. She honestly thought that since she missed a weekend of studying she would fail. Of course, she had been a bit off since she'd been kidnapped, but it had faded away quickly, thank God. But she was still nervous about the finals.

"Yo! Wanna head somewhere after class?" It was Sting, a new member of their class. Lucy rolled her eyes at him. "No thanks."

"Huh," mumbled Sting, obviously disappointed. Lucy sighed. "I have a previous engagement, I'm sorry."

"Oh."

"LUCE I'M READY!" Natsu's screams could be heard throughout the entire school, she thought. He was nuts.

"Uuugh," she groaned, her head in her hands. Natsu rushed into her classroom, eyes bright and smile wide.

"I'M HERE!"

"Chill out, Natsu," she mumbled, sighing heavily. He deflated considerably.

"What's up with that?" he complained, pouting.

"Are you two dating?" Sting asked, annoyed.

"N-no!" Lucy exclaimed, a bright red blush spreading across her face. "It's not like that!"

Natsu was frozen. Lucy glanced at him, noticing his panicked expression. Great. She glared at Sting.

"Me and him? Why would you even suggest that?!" she yelled. Sting shrugged. "You guys seemed close, that's all."

"Huh..."

"Lucy," Natsu whined, "Let's get the hell out of here already!"

"Fine."

They walked side by side, their arms hanging by their sides. The busy street was full of activity, if you define that with the word criminal in front of it. Lucy never understood how the police force could be so ignorant, but then again, she dare not say it in front of Natsu. He was adamant that someday that town would be a place you could raise a respectful family. A city that the school didn't have to have gates and a wall. Well, she was doubtful that would ever happen but there was certainly no way in heck she was going to get in an argument about it. He'd never stop talking.

Recently he'd been more open, more talkative and the like. He was acting so different from when he'd first rescued her. The difference was significant. Significant enough to puzzle her. And as if his change in attitude wasn't strange enough, he'd become strangely nicer to her.

"Where were we going anyway?" she asked him, clasping her hands behind her back and leaning forward, her face looking up at him as they walked.

"I was thinking we could just... walk, you know," he answered, shrugging. He put his hands in his pockets.

"Oh."

They passed by an empty alley, dark and kind of dank. It was just another normal happening in Magnolia. Lucy sighed. Something had been weighing heavily on her mind for a while now...

"Natsu?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"You're... immune to fire... right?"

"Well duh."

"Then why were you burned when you saved me?"

Natsu stopped in his tracks. She turned to look at him, but was shocked to see that he was grinning.

"Oh, that was nothing. I was just surprised, that's all!" he insisted, still smiling. But there was something off about his happy attitude.

"Are you okay?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." He caught up to her and patted her head. "I'm fine."

"Ah. Okay."

"How about we go play at that park over there..." Natsu muttered, pointing toward a familiar setting. Lucy gasped. It was the same park that he'd brought her to when she first arrived in Magnolia.

"Yeah," she whispered, "I like that idea."

She sighed, collapsing on her bed. Her soft comforter was, well, comfortable. She looked across her plain room to see her roommate's bed. Levy McGarden hadn't been seen in school for awhile. Lucy was very worried about her, but didn't know how to go about trying to find her... Maybe she'd ask someone in Fairy Tail. She hadn't been there since she was rescued. She oughta go...

"Loke," she called, her hand resting on her keys on her bedside table. The Lion spirit instantly appeared.

"Hey, Lucy, lookin' good," he complimented her, before asking, "Do you need anything?"

"I still don't understand how you can go back and forth from the spirit world on your own. It just doesn't make any sense. Anyway, you flirt, I need you to check up on something for me," she pouted.

"And... what is it?"

"Well, it's more like someone. I need you to find a girl named Levy McGarden."

"Huh? Who's that?" he inquired, looking confused.

"My friend," Lucy deadpanned, "Now please do it, I really need to find her. I'm worried about her."

"Y-yeah. Anything for miss Lucy..." He disappeared in a flash of light. Lucy sighed heavily. Loke was always like that... Her eyes slowly closed as she drifted, exhausted, into a deep sleep.

When Lucy woke it was late, and her stomach was growling. Her sleep was uneventful to say the least. In fact, she was actually hoping to have a few dreams that she remembered, but that didn't end up happening. She groaned, sitting up and glancing out the window. It was light. Too light. Her stomach made loud irritating noises again. She reached for her phone on the side of her bed, clicking one of the buttons and revealing that it was fairly late, around ten thirty. Why the hell had she slept so late? She'd even skipped dinner. A moment of panic settled over her before she remembered that it was Saturday. A nice breakfast at a good place would be nice...

She settled for the same restaurant that she met Natsu at. It always seemed to come back to that place.

"Hey, Lucy!" Oh great, the staff even knew her. "What'll it be today?"

"Uh, orange juice and the two times egg special. Sunny side up," she said, "I'm hungry today."

"That's a nice order! I'll be right out with your orange juice, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

She sat there comfortably, drinking her juice. It was tangy and a little sour, unlike the sweet artificial flavor of orange juice from the carton. Nothing beats freshly squeezed. At least that was what she thought. Natsu held a very different opinion.

"And here's your eggs."

"Thanks again."

Lucy found herself contemplating. Nothing specific, just contemplating the everyday occurrences and people in her life. Like school and Natsu and Fairy Tail. It was all confusing for her. She pulled out her cellphone, thinking of something suddenly. Maybe Natsu knew where Levy was. She dialed in his phone number and put the phone to her ear.

It rang. And rang. And rang.

"Wait... So I gotta put my voicemail in here? The hell is that?"

"Please leave your message after the beep."

*BEEEEEEP*

"Um, Natsu, give me a call as soon as you can. I need your help with something. Uh, okay. Bye now."

She sighed. He didn't know how to work voicemail on his phone, how was he supposed to get her message? She let it slide as her breakfast arrived and sipped her orange juice. There was also her kidnapping from earlier that year. And Natsu's strange non-immunity to that fire at the school. It was a lot to think about.

Lucy finished her breakfast, gulping down the rest of her orange juice refill as soon as she got it.

"Well you are hungry today!" the waitress smiled. Lucy grinned at her. "Yup, I guess."

Her phone rang. She jumped as it vibrated across the table, the name on the screen of it was most shocking. Natsu had figured out how to use his cell phone.

"Hello? Natsu?"

"Eeek!"

The call disconnected. Lucy raised an annoyed eyebrow. The 'eek' that had responded to her hello was definitely not Natsu. It… It sounded like a girl.

"Grrr… Natsu…" Lucy was fuming. How…. How dare he?! Was he with a girl?! Was she his girlfriend?! Was he cheating on her?! Wait… no. They weren't even together, so that wouldn't be cheating on her… But still!

She slammed her fist on the table and stood, a dark yet fiery aura surrounding her. Rage was seeping out of her until she felt as if she were rage. She was going to beat the crap out of him, Lucy kick him until he was drooling blood, watch him as he grovelled on the ground before her, see to it that he was branded with the mark of shame!

Whoaaah, calm down there Lucy, she told herself, inwardly sighing. On the outside she was breathing heavily in her rage. Just go down over to his dorm room and find out what's happening. Unless he's not there. Then you can kill him.

She towards the door of the restaurant, but before she could leave, the hostess stopped her. "Hey, Miss! You forgot your bill!"

Lucy calmed down considerably to deal with the mere mortals. Can't be too harsh on them. She left money and a tip on the table, before continuing her mission to eradicate foolish men from the earth. She'd kill him. She'd really kill him.

Crowds parted as she stomped through the streets. Never before had the gangsters and drug dealers seen such concentrated wrath in one individual, never mind girl. Pure fury could be witnessed from miles away in the red light district. Lucy hoped that she wouldn't have to visit there in order to find Natsu. No! What was she thinking?! Of course she wouldn't have to go there! Natsu would never do that!

She would show him just how fatal it was to piss off Lucy Heartfilia. One Lucy kick might not be enough. Two or more could be necessary. Maybe she'd even punch his lights out. Oooohh… that sounded good.

Her footsteps were sharp against the rough concrete. Her breathing came out in uneven huffs as she ran faster and faster. She tripped once, twice, but got back up again. Her mission couldn't be sidestepped just because her knees were bleeding a little bit. She wiped the dirt off of her legs and kept running.

She reached his dorm building. Of course, she had to explain her dire situation to the guy who was being a surveillance-type person at the desk. Apparently they didn't like sending girls up to rooms at the dorms. Natsu didn't have a roommate, so it was worse for his situation.

"I just need to check on him!" she explained, slamming her hands down on the desk. The guy raised a dark red eyebrow.

"Fine, go ahead. But you better be out of there before curfew."

"Yeah, sure."

"Hey, do you want some band-aids or something?"

"What? No, I'm fine."

Since there wasn't an elevator, she ran up the stairs as fast as she could. Her breathing was increasing again, and soon she was panting. Finally she made it to the 3rd floor, Natsu's floor. She burst through the stairwell doors and made her way through the halls. She turned the corner and found herself standing in front of Natsu's room.

Lucy raised her hand hesitantly to the door. She knocked.

The door opened.

"Ah, Lucy?! It's you!"

Oh. It all made sense now.

Before her stood Levy McGarden, a little bruised, but mostly okay. She had bandages on her fingers, and a larger band-aid on her cheek. But she was alive.

"LEVY!" Lucy screamed, tackling her smaller friend. She had completely forgotten about the issue with Natsu for the moment. She didn't even wonder what Levy was doing in his dorm room. She was just glad that the bluenette was unharmed.

"Ouch! Easy, Lucy," Levy smiled, "I'm still a little bruised…"

"Wait! Who did this to you?!" Lucy demanded to know, letting Levy go and holding her a little softer.

"Oh, well…" Levy trailed off, her expression darkening. Her face… it was sad, even. "Someone… made a mistake, that's all."

"WELL THAT WASN'T JUST A MISTAKE!"

Both the girls froze, looking farther into the dorm room to see Natsu Dragneel, in all his naked glory, covered in only a towel. His skin was wet, but it was literally coming of in steam. His hair was wet and slicked down a little as well, but it was perking up nicely.

"N-natsu…" Lucy blubbered. She didn't expect him to be… uh… Wait a moment. She almost forgot her incredibly important mission.

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