Your wish, is my command! Enjoy!
-Chapter 13-
Natsu woke up with a start. He was sweating all over and the blankets were twisted all around his body. He sat up, looking for a particular blonde, while trying to stop panting and even out his breathing. He was alone on the bed. He pushed a hand through his messy pink locks, and let out a sigh. He heard a noise that emitted from the kitchen and stood up and casually opened the bedroom door and walked through. The lights were bright against the darkness he just came from. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a head of blonde hair from over the counter.
"Luce?" He asked cautiously, leaning over the bench. He obviously startled her because the next thing his delicate ears heard, was an ear-piercing scream come from her tiny mouth. "Urgh!" He flinched and covered his ears, "N-Natsu?" She stammered, turning around and looking up at the Pink Haired man in front of her. "Do ya have to be so loud, Luce?" He mumbled, catching a glimpse of the time on the microwave. "What are you doing at three in the morning?"
"I had a bad dream, so I wanted some milk," She replied, timidly. "Why didn't ya ask me to get you some?" He asked in a bewildered way. "You were sleeping. I didn't want the dragon to be woken up," she answered cutely. He smiled and shook his head, "Ah, don't worry about it. Did you end up getting any?", "Yeah, I was just going to go back to bed now," She reported, skipping around the bench to stop right in front of his towering figure.
He suddenly remembered the nightmare he woke up from previously. He sat cross legged in front of her on the kitchen floor and pulled her into his lap, then gave her a huge bear hug, nuzzling his head into the crook of her small neck. "No matter what, Lucy, I'm gonna protect you," He whispered, more to reassure himself, than the girl in his arms.
"Okay," She answered, quickly being lulled asleep by his warmth. He held her there for ages. He didn't know how long, he just wanted to hold her in his arms. Eventually though, he picked her up and moved into the bedroom. He placed her on the bed and tucked her in, then walked into the bathroom to splash cold water onto his face. He turned the faucet on and cupped his hands under the flowing water. When his hands were filled up, he splashed the cold liquid onto his face, not caring that it ran down to his bare chest. He did this repeatedly, thinking the same thing over and over again, it was just a dream, it was just a dream. When he felt satisfied, he grabbed the hand towel and dried his soaking face. He put the towel back and turned the light off, then walked into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Natsu trudged over to the bed and pulled back the covers, carefully manoeuvring himself so as to not wake the girl already there. When he was settled, he pulled the said four-year old onto his chest, putting his arms loosely around her. He had a feeling he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.
When he woke up the next morning, he was dead tired. He groaned in annoyance, tired of stupid nightmares. He flopped one of his arms over his eyes and thought about last night's dream, man, it felt so real, he thought in astonishment. He was very glad it wasn't, because he wouldn't know what he would do if it was real. He tried not to think about it too much.
He peered down at his bare chest to see that the little girl was still there, sleeping soundly. He checked the time on the alarm clock on her desk, it was nine o'clock in the morning. He sighed, it's too early for this. He tried to go back to sleep, but knew he wouldn't be able to, especially after what happened last night.
The girl on top of him shifted a bit, cracking open a big, brown eye. "Morning, Natsu," She greeted, rubbing her eyes with small fists. "Mornin', Luce," he greeted back. She could feel his chest rumble with the sound of his deep voice, making her giggle a bit. "What's so funny?" He asked, looking at her quizzically. "I can feel you chest rumble with your voice!" She exclaimed in glee, "It feels funny!"
"Oh." Was all he could say, because really, what could you say to someone who said that? "Well, are you hungry?" He replied, sitting up and resting his back against the head board. She sat in his lap thinking of an answer. "Yeah, a bit," she nodded. "Lets go to the guild, yeah?" He said, moving her to the bed and sitting at the edge of it. He stretched his back and raised his arms above his head, letting out a huge yawn. He blinked a few times to get his sight to adjust completely, before he got up and went to the bathroom.
While he was in the bathroom, something was going on with Lucy. Her head twitched to the right, and here eyes changed to a red for a split second, thoughts about revenge plans and anything of the like invading her mind. What is this? She thought, confused as to what was going on with her. Before anything weirder could happen to the little blonde, it suddenly stopped when Natsu emerged from the bathroom, and her eyes went back to their normal brown colour.
The Dragon Slayer obviously noticed the weird look on her face and decided to ask about it, "Whats with the weird look, Luce?" He asked, curious. "Oh nothing," She absolutely hated lying, but she didn't want Natsu worrying about something so small. "I'm fine. Can we get something to eat now?" She asked, hopping up and down in the bed. "Don't do that, you might re-open your injuries. You are still healing, remember?" He scolded, grabbing her from under the arms and lifting her up to his hip.
"I know, but I'm hungry!" She retorted, giving him a little pout, adorable, he thought, gah! What has gotten into me? He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts, instead saying, "We gotta get you some new clothes, bud," he said, indicating to her red pyjamas. "I wanna eat first!" She insisted, bouncing up and down, "Argh, fine," He relented, putting his sandals on, since he already had his one-sleeved waistcoat on. "Yay!" She cheered, pumping her fists in the air above her, nearly punching him in the chin, if it weren't for his reflexes. "Jeez, watch where your punching, little miss," He playfully chastised, tickling her stomach, making her laugh and yell for him to stop. When he did, she was out of breath.
It was a lovely day outside, the sky was clear and the birds were chirping happily. But in the distance, there were dark grey clouds starting to roll in, "We're gonna have to stay inside for this afternoon," Natsu reported to the little girl playing with his scaly scarf that was hanging loosely around his neck and shoulders. "Why?" She replied, questioningly. "It looks like it is gonna rain today," He explained. "Oh, okay," Was all she said in return, Natsu found it a bit weird, but shrugged it off thinking, Luce is always weird.
When they reached the guild hall, they were bombarded with millions and millions of questions at once. "Shut it, brats!" Yelled Makarov, seeming fed up with all the yelling, so early in the morning. Natsu pushed through the crowd and straight towards the bar, where Mirajane was serving to other guild mates. He sat down in a stool and brought Lucy into his lap, hugging her loosely around the middle. "Hey, Mira!" They greeted the barmaid, smiling brightly at her. "Hey, guys! What would you like today?" The white haired beauty replied, leaning against the wooded counter. "Can I have some cereal, please?" Lucy asked politely, while Natsu just ordered his Fire Chicken. "Coming right up!" She nodded, walking into the kitchen.
Natsu picked Lucy up and walked over to their usual table, where everyone -Gajeel, Levy, Erza, Gray and the two Exceeds- were sitting together chatting. "Hey guys!" Natsu shouted out, plopping down next to Levy. "Hey, Natsu," They replied, nonchalantly. "Hey Lucy!" Levy greeted happily, upon seeing the Celestial Mage. "Hello," she replied, a bit shy still. "How are you doing?" The blue haired girl replied. "I'm okay, it's still hurts a bit. How are you?" She replied, fiddling with Natsu's scarf. "I'm good! Oh, that reminds me! I found a way to get her back to normal!" She suddenly announced, scaring the blonde a bit.
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?!" Everyone at the table yelled in unison, except for Lucy. "I just found out an hour ago and was waiting for those two to come, then I accidentally forgot! Sorry!" The Solid-Script Mage said, looking apologetic. "Tell is already!" They once again said. "Well... it's not completely back to normal, but it will at least age her up more! The thing is, the way to get her to age up is, she has to keep in contact with the person she remembers for twenty four hours, straight!" She explained. "What?! How is she gonna do that?" Gray asked, completely confused.
"What about her entire situation, though? How do we get her completely back to normal?" Erza questioned, getting straight to the point. "I haven't found an alternative way, other than to wait it out," Levy answered, glumly.
"Well then, who is the person she remembers?" Gray asked, looking around. Then, as if everyone was thinking the same thing, looked right at Natsu, who was playing with Lucy's hands. He looked up, noticing the eerie silence, "What?" He asked, oblivious to the previous conversation. "Natsu," they all said in unison, eyes widening in realisation.
-A/N-
GOTCHA! Ha, you thought I would kill Lucy? You sick, sick people. Well, I know I did a HUGE cliffhanger last chapter, and I got some funny reviews from it. So here ya go, I hope you enjoyed it and won't kill me for last chapter's cliffy. I started typing this basically right after I finished chapter 12. It's more than 1,500 words, so I'm proud. Until next time, don't for get to be awesome!