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The Confession

I stared at the door in front of me with unease bubbling in my stomach, wringing my fingers together in an nervous haze. I brought my fist and rapped against the wood lightly, listening for any signs of life.

A loud crash, and groan made me jump a little before smile slightly. I stepped back just as the door swung open, revealing a shirtless Gildarts. He stilled when he saw me, smiling shakily and I raised my eyebrow, confused as to why he wasn't greeting me.

"You normally say 'Hi', Gildarts."

"Hi Gildarts." He repeated nervously before cringing as I stifled my laugh, settling with crossing my arms under my chest.

"I mean, hi Lucy."

"Hello Gildarts, can I come in?"

He nodded and moved to the side so I could slip past him, into the small shack, he called a home. I eyed the surroundings curiously, noticing the remains of a busted lamp and a pot tipped over, spilling water all over the floor.

"Shouldn't you clean that up?" I pointed to the growing puddle and he jumped to do so, brandishing a thick towel as I continued to gaze at the very... minimalistic style he had going on. Of course, he often went on year long jobs and probably didn't really need the greatest house to come back to.

"Do you want some tea or something? I think I've got a bottle of white rum in the back."

I shrugged off my coat, and took a seat, crossing my legs.

"No thank-you. I came here to talk."

"About?" He chuckled nervously, avoiding my eyes as I raised my eyebrow, a little puzzled, "Why are you so... Anxious?"

He placed the towel down, "I figured you were here because of the fact I blurted your supposed to be 'secret' marriage to you know who. And were ready to tear me apart."

I blinked, "Oh. That's not why I'm here, honestly, I've forgotten all about it. Weak men spill their weak guts."

He gazed at me for a moment and I stared into his brown eyes, challenging him to make me think he was anything but a weak man for his beloved daughter.

He gave a little, smiling guilty while scratching the back of his head, "Well, I only have half of my guts left, so... But if it's any help, I'm sorry. It just sort of came out."

"It's forgiven Gildarts, seriously." My smile settled him and he plopped into the chair opposite me, grinning, "So, now that my life isn't in any danger, why are you here?"

I sighed, the question bringing a very pissed Natsu face to my thoughts. His eyes filled with hurt and desperation. I couldn't let him come and do all the work, and unfortunately, that was his character.

"It's a long story." I murmured, rubbing at my wrist where Natsu had grabbed when I tried to walk out of the kitchen. I flinched when I felt his piercing gaze on my face, the silent plea in his eyes making my resolve weaken. I shook my head and pushed those images out, gave Gildarts a very brief explanation, not implying that Natsu and I fought until the very end.

He listened patiently, leaning forward as my voice got softer until it vanished entirely from the room.

"How is he taking it?" Gildarts asked as I shook my head, We haven't spoken since then. That was two days ago."

"Have you tried to approach him?"

"I don't want too. We both got so angry and said some pretty bad things. I don't know how to... fix this."

Gildarts hummed thoughtfully, before stating seriously, " You know... it's not just up-to you to fix it. It's a joint effort. Takes two to tango, after all."

"I guess…"

"So what did you need from me? Did you want me to come?"

I shook my head, settling to just tell him the facts, "Aquarius was supposedly spotted in the western towns of Fiore. I haven't gone that far, and I was hoping for a detailed map?"

"I might have that." He jumped up with enough excitement that made me laugh, as he began to rummage through a dresser near the table in the corner of the room.

"I haven't been out West for a while, a little tricky to arrange transportation in those places. Did Loke tell you anything else that might help you narrow it down?"

"A town starting with a Y?" I stood up as he spread the map over the table, and we both gazed down on it.

"There's Yankachi Forest Town, and Yowerlin Town." He pointed to the two names, as I nodded, "I may as well start there. Can I take it with me? I promise I'll give it back."

"Keep it." He shrugged as I smiled, "Thanks Gildarts, really."

"Happy to help. And for my last piece of wise advice…"

"Don't go spreading rumours about you being wise?"

He laughed a deep belly laugh at my quip and rested a hand on my shoulder, leaning over to stare into my eyes. I felt a little uneasy with how close he was, and had to get the feeling Natsu got some of his lack of spacial awareness from Gildarts.

The only difference was, I didn't mind when Natsu got up in my face.

And I had seen Gildarts laugh maniacally as he destroyed a whole forest while fighting.

"Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Maybe this is exactly what you both need."

Natsu and I were showing the classic signs of a fight, pointed away from each other, mumbled answers and a lack of interest.

Mr Smith noticed this immediately and closed his book, leaning back to eye us both.

"Mr Dragneel, would you mind telling me the reason of this fight?"

"We didn't fight." Natsu lied and I bit my lip as Mr Smith sighed, turning to me.

I spilled my weak guts, because apparently Mr Smith was my Cana to my Gildarts.

Damn it, that made no sense.

"I'm leaving on a mission, one that's a little bit longer than usual. And I'm not bringing Natsu."

"You say 'bringing' Natsu. Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"How many solo jobs have you done, Lucy?"

I shrugged, "Only a few."

"But apparently not enough to change the words 'bring' to 'coming'. Normally, people would say, 'Natsu isn't coming this time.'" I struggled to find the lesson in his words and I must have showed it because he explained smoothly.

"Bring is a slightly possessive verb. It implies that you are bringing them. Like with your spirits, they are contracted to you, so you can bring them places. Mr Dragneel is his own person, so you don't have any claim or control over him. But yet, you said 'bring'. It must mean, that you feel possessive or something along those lines towards Mr Dragneel."

I stared at him shocked, "Don't read too much into a word. I just said it because–"

"Subconscious words and feelings are what got you into this marriage Lucy," Mr Smith smiled patiently, before finishing, "It would be unwise to brush them away without another thought."

I nodded silently, mind reeling as he turned to Natsu, "How does it make you feel that you won't be joining Lucy this time?"

"Annoyed."

"Why?"

"Just am. I think she's being stupid. We are a partnership, for a reason." Natsu kept his eyes on the far wall, but his words stung. I pressed my teeth together to stop the sneer of anger, noticing how Mr Smith was watching my reaction.

"Lucy, don't hesitate to say what you feel."

I scoffed, "What I feel, and what I want to say are two very different things right now."

"Well, what do you want to say?"

"Fuck you, Natsu. And your double standards."

He growled lowly as Dr Smith leaned back, "Natsu, if you have anything to say, don't hold back."

"You are so stubborn. Accept help when given to you, idiot. It doesn't make you weak."

Dr Smith nodded when I glanced at him hesitantly, a little tired from fighting before but apparently this wasn't going to get resolved by ignoring each other.

I knew that.

"You are a hypocrite. Why is it, that I have to accept help, but when you deny any help given to you, it's completely fine?"

He apparently didn't need any prompting from Dr Smith, before his head snapped to mine and fiery grey eyes glared at me.

"That is different."

"Why? Why is it different?" I hissed at him, "Why is it that I can't do something by myself without being accused of being dumb? If I want to do something to prove my strength to myself and find my friend, it has nothing to do with you!"

Turns out, I wasn't as tired as I thought because I got riled up to the point where I was yelling.

"Everything you do has everything to do with me!" He shouted, standing up and I immediately stood up as well, refusing to let him be higher than me. A stupid wish, since he was taller than me but I gave good glare.

"What does that even mean? You are so selfish! Stop thinking about yourself, this is between Aquarius and I. I will go find her, I'll get her back with me. And there is nothing you can do about it."

His jaw ticked as Dr Smith leaned forward, holding his hands up, "Okay guys, good progress. Do you feel any bett-"

"I am selfish." Natsu's growl stopped his words and I took a step back as I saw the glimpse of red in his eyes, the same red when he had fully activated his E.N.D transformation. My heart continued steadily, because I had faith that Natsu could control himself but I was shocked.

He normally had an iron tight leash around that side of himself. But to see that he suddenly couldn't control the eyes, meant he was more upset that I first thought.

Or angry.

I didn't want to know which one it was, both had catastrophic experiences.

The red continued bleed into his grey eyes, until it was like looking into a stormy sunset. They never left mine and I felt my heart pick up every so slightly.

"I'm a selfish bastard because I don't want let you go. If I'm not there with you, I can't make sure no hair on your head gets harmed. And that scares me. I've seen how quickly dragons die, and it's frightens me to imagine you disappearing and then dying without me being there to protect you. I know you don't need protecting, you are more strong and smart you give yourself credit for. But it's what the doc said, it's a possessive feeling. You were the person I brought to the guild, mine."

He took a step closer and my breathing increased as the air around me began to swelter and heat against my skin, "You were the first person I brought onto my team with Happy, mine. Then we became partners, and I thought that it couldn't be any better. Best friends, partners, strangers, you were always mine."

"Natsu." I whispered as his eyes flashed red and he took another step forward, almost closing the distance between us, "Then, somewhere along the line, things got blurred. I got greedy for something I didn't know about. I only wanted you for the longest times, then you were my wife. A four letter word, one that I didn't see the appeal of before, was suddenly the best word in Fiore. And what makes it better…"

He rested his forehead against mine, "I am yours. It's not a one-sided thing. I'm yours and you are mine. And it makes me insane. And rude, and crazy. Because I think you are so fucking amazing, but so stupid because you won't bring me."

What can I say?

How do I feel?

How long has he felt this way?

My lips were parted in shock, eyes wide as we stared at each other. His eyes slowly began to return to normal and he opened his mouth to say something, but I stopped him.

My hand swung up and slapped him across the right cheek as hard as I could, making his head snap to the side. I shoved at his chest, tears flooding my eyes. I didn't bother to hold them back.

"You, you idiot! You dumb, useless dragon!" I sobbed as Dr Smith called, "Lucy, please don't break anything in my office. It's all very expensive."

We both ignored him.

"You have no idea how upset I am with you! You can't just blurt out a confession like that, and expect me to reply sanely. You say I make you go insane? That's rich, coming from you! All you do is drive me up the wall. From your loud and destructive attitude, to the way you eat all my food! And now I found out, that you placed a claim on me from the moment you brought me to Fairy Tail! What is wrong with you?" I shrieked and brought my hand up to slap him again and he caught it gently, eyes gazing down at me, carefully hiding all emotion as more tears strolled down my face.

"There is so many things I could say, but the worst is that, you have no idea just how much you affect me. Yes, you are loud and stupid, and so gross sometimes but I don't care about any of it. I like how passionate, and wild you are. I like how your eyes tell me so much but nothing at the same time. I love the way you read my mind and just know what I'm thinking. I love how you purposely tease me, because it shows how weirdly you care. I can be myself with you, and all I want is for you to be happy and now you do this and I'm going to kill you, then spread your ashes over a toilet because you deserve to life your afterlife a massive shit-"

He cut me off with a thumb against my lips, "It was good but you went off topic there. Not that I mind."

I huffed crazily, smacking his hand away as he let go of my wrist slowly, watching me closely.

"This fight isn't over." I murmured, still a little in shock at his speech which was now running through my head at warp speed.

"I know." He whispered, continuing to stare at me unnervingly and I rubbed my arms, noticing how Dr Smith was writing down notes.

"You started with like, but ended with love." Natsu stared, his lips quirking a little bit, "Was that a subconscious thing?"

My eye twitched and I didn't think twice as I spun around and brought my foot up, knocking his head to the ground. Dr Smith glanced up before smiling at me, ignoring the groaning Natsu on the floor.

"I'll see you next week if you are back by then, Lucy."

I stared at the train times, towing my suitcase behind me, Plue tucked safely in my arms.

"The next train is in ten minutes," I murmured to him, just for the sake of conversation and he quivered excitedly.

We found the platform and waited patiently until I felt the spine tingling sensation of being watched, just as the train rolled into the station.

I glanced back, immediately noticing to two bickering men in long dark trench coats, one with brown hair and the other with a black beanie.

"You have got to be kidding me." I watched as the larger guy pummelled the other onto the ground and almost smiled.

Well… he never did promise to wait three weeks.

I shook my head as I remembered his slightly triumphant look, as if he didn't expect to realise he hadn't agreed to my promise, instead changing the topic of discussion easily.

Idiot.

Hey there guys! If you haven't noticed, I've sped up the updates so I can finish this within my timeline on my calendar ^^

Your responses from the last chapter were AMAZING. So many agreed with me about the whole fight scene and I'm really glad to see (most) you liked it!

I will be reviewing one comment this time, and the next update will be in 3 days ^^

evita28

Well, this fanfic WAS one of my favorites... now it's not. It's not because they are fighting; it's because of what they are fighting about. You could have gone a different, less "angsty" root, but it seems all Nalu fics have to have that angst. Seems like you wanted to have them fight and couldn't think of anything else they would fight about and then came up with this.

I really enjoyed the "new" Lucy and Natsu that you created. In just about every fanfic I've read, they all make Natsu an idiot, and Lucy an overthinking, blushing mess. A Lucy that compared a soy sauce bottle to Natsu's penis... and a Natsu that spewed awful but hilarious pickup lines were so much better. The dynamic was great- even with a sober, overthinking Lucy. This whole thing was so funny... until Loke popped out and said something about Aquarius. Then it got way too serious. Doesn't fit with the rest of the chapters. Also, everyone writes Lucy like she is so pissed at Natsu for leaving to train. She was sad, not pissed. She had a fit when he was the pot calling the kettle black with the Juvia and Gray "situation". But otherwise her face was just extremely sad. Also, Natsu is not an idiot. He would not have mentioned the thing about losing his dad to her. He knows that she knows what it's like to go through a situation like that. Neither of them are that insensitive to even be angry with each other for how they chose to deal with these issues.

One almost forehead touch and a promise and Lucy melted.

Hi there! First of all, I just wanted to thank you for your comment and tell you I'm glad you liked the book up until the last chapter. Of course, humans always have a difference of opinions and I won't fault you for that.

But, I do have some points to make. Firstly, you said in your comment above, you like the character progression with Lucy and Natsu. Well, how they handle a fight in these circumstances is also a character progression, not all attributes are good things.

Secondly, listen, I learnt in primary school that most good books have a plot and a twist/ problem that the characters need to deal with before they progress any further. If you believed this was going to be a fluffy fic, then I can direct you to fluffier no angst fics :)

Thirdly, I don't know if you passed a chapter in the beginning, but I made it clear that it was a possibility that the issue with Aquarius was going to be in this story. Not only in the third chapter (?) but also in the chapter where Natsu is watching Lucy and wondering what she's keeping from him. I'm a little insulted, because I had planned that they would fight about this for a while and dropped subtle hints. If you missed them, I apologise but I can't do anything about skim readers :)

And to make everything else quick and easy, I'll rip the bandaid off. I'm sad that you don't like it and obviously it sucks if you won't read any more but I won't stop you. But. 1. Humans say things in the heat of the moment they don't mean (especially in a fight), which is so true and if you actually noticed, Natsu cut himself off because he realised so… :) 2. The 'this is way too serious, it doesn't fit', I think it fits perfectly fine :) of course, difference of opinion but w/e, I'll move on. 3. I disagree. Lucy was upset, yes, but she was also pissed. It may have sparked a little when it came to Juvia, but I can name one scene in particular that you can tell how pissed she is for Natsu leaving when she's telling about FT disbanding. Once again, difference in opinion so I'd appreciate if you didn't try to preach your stance of the subject to me when I clearly think different.

It sucks that I lose a reader to this but oh well. Don't forget to take your angst-free tissues at the door.

Aaaaaalrighty! Guys, I really wanna start reviewing NICE & AWESOME comments again but I'm a stubborn little FT thing and will fight for my chance to speak.

Next chapter will DEFINITELY be a good review (hopefully)

Let me know what ya'll think, review, kiss your best guy friend on the cheek, be the best you can be

Bleh

And as always, stay fresh

xo freshprincess