Natsu's body is humming with pleasure as he begins to feel himself being pulled from a deep sleep. There is a delicious weight resting on top of him. It's warm and soft, and sliding smoothly across his skin. He's struggling to breathe right as he suddenly realizes he's being kissed; very seriously kissed. He opens his eyes in shock and realizes Gina is the one kissing him. She has her little hands around the back of his neck, and her thumbs against his jaw. There is just enough moonlight streaming in through the window to see her dimly.
What the hell?! his brain screams, but he just kisses her back for a moment. She tastes just as delicious as he remembers from the fight with the ice golem. Am I dreaming...or dead? Ah hell… if I'm dead this is awesome! Gina's awake and she's… wait.
Next, he realizes he can feel an incredibly strong pull against his magic, and this is really, truly happening. But Gina hasn't opened her eyes even once.
"Gina…" he breaks away to mumble, but she cuts him off with another mind-blowing kiss. He'd heard of people using their tongues like this before, but had no idea until his encounter with the fire chick, and now Gina, that it could make you ache like this. He forces himself to pull back again and choke out, "Gina, what the heck is goin' on?"
She doesn't respond at all, and he suddenly gets a sick feeling in his stomach as he realizes she isn't awake. She probably doesn't even know that it's him she's kissing.
"Oh no," he says, pushing against her shoulders, "Uh-uh. Gina wake up!" He grabs ahold of her knee to stop it from grazing his erection again and making him want to moan. "Gina it's me. Natsu!" She leans in to trace her tongue down his throat and he screams, "Open your eyes, damnit!"
She flinches as if startled, and slowly lifts her head. Her eyes open with a glazed look and she seems to struggle to focus on him. After a few moments, she freezes with her eyes flying wide open. He has just enough time to get a grip on her before she freaks out.
"Wait!" he orders, trying to keep his grip gentle without letting her run for it. "Let me explain. Please!" He's embarrassed to realize he's panting hard and tries to conquer his own strange combination of lust and panic. "Please don't be afraid of me."
"I'm not afraid of you," she mumbles without hesitation, and he realizes she is trying to calm her own breathing as well. "What's… going on?" She glances around the room carefully, "Where am I?"
"We're back in Magnolia," he replies, desperately trying to figure out how to explain everything. "This is my… house. You got really sick, and…"
"And what?" she asks, suddenly looking horrified.
"G-geez… I know this looks bad," he chokes, "but I swear it isn't what it looks like. You got that elemental poisoning from those water chicks. You wouldn't wake up! Porlyusica… our other healing wizard… she said I could help you like I did for the fire chick in the woods. So I…"
"Oh shit," she says, looking wildly around the room. "Where is the light?"
"Natsu?" Happy's sleepy voice calls from across the room in his little cat bed.
"Happy, turn on the light buddy," he orders.
As soon as Happy does, Gina grabs Natsu's face with her hands seeming to inspect him. Ming is staring down at them from the little nest he insists on making in Natsu's scarf, but he doesn't move.
"What have you done?" she whispers. Her face crumples, and he is shocked to see tears begin to leak from her eyes.
"Gina, it's okay," he tries to reassure her. Mirajane and Lisanna had both said he looked like hell earlier today, but it didn't seem that bad to him. Not in comparison to how much she'd changed. It's comforting that he can feel her drawing against his magic even now. "It's not a big deal. I'm just a little tired, and…"
"Natsu, let go of me," she suddenly chokes.
"Gina, it's not his fault," Happy adds in his defense, pawing sleepily towards the bed.
"Are you gonna make me chase you?" Natsu asks.
"Then don't follow me," she counters.
"No way," he argues. "I'm not gonna let you run off out there in the middle of the night in a bikini with no idea what the hell's happened since you blacked out. Not a chance!"
She looks down at herself, and him, in mild surprise.
"See?" he presses as Happy flies out of the room. "There's a whole lot more I need to tell you before you run off."
"Fine. I won't run," she replies. "Just… please stop touching me."
He suddenly feels like he's been gut-punched, but he lets her go immediately. It's a cold, painful contrast to the pleasure a few moments ago; but that wasn't real. He swallows hard and sits up; carefully tucking a pillow in his lap to hide his earlier excitement as she backs up off the bed. After a few moments of incredibly awkward silence, Happy flies back into the room with his bathrobe. Natsu's proud of his friend as Happy sets the bathrobe gently down onto her shoulders.
"Is there somewhere I can sit?" she asks, wrapping it tightly around her.
"Uh yeah," he says, hopping up now that his libido has been completely killed. "Over here."
He escorts her into his living room and over to his couch. As she sits down on one end, he hastily grabs his portable, mini-firepit and lights a quick fire inside it with some wood Happy flies over. He wants her close to fire magic, even if she doesn't want to be close to him. As he sits down on the other end of the couch, his chest aches terribly to see more tears on her face. This is definitely not the version of her waking up that he'd been hoping for.
"Gina, why are you crying?" Happy asks, and Natsu has a sick feeling that he doesn't want to know the answer.
"Can I explain now?" he asks, testily; hoping to avoid hearing it.
"Yes," Gina replies quietly. "Go ahead and explain."
With a big sigh, he starts from as early as he can remember; hearing Levy screaming on the train and trying not to puke his guts out. He explains their flight to the guildhall, and their luck that Porlyusica was already there. He fights his embarrassment as he tells her his account of trying to save her; describing the process in detail in an attempt to be completely honest. He needs her to trust him despite the awkward situation. Then he explains his decision to bring her here, and everyone's attempts to help out while she's been recovering.
Part way through his explanation, Happy flies back off to bed. Gina remains silent throughout, and still as a stone despite the tears that keep leaking from her eyes at random. Then, with another fortifying breath, he feels brave enough to explain how he awoke just now.
"I'm real sorry," he chokes. "I don't know who you thought I was, or whatever. I didn't mean to hurt you, and I never wanted to take advantage of you. I swear. I'm sorry I… touched you."
"Ah…" she whispers, "you think that's why I'm upset."
"Duh…" he shrugs. "You said…"
"Bad choice of words," she replies, cutting him off. "You could have died, Natsu. Did you think of that?"
"Everyone keeps sayin' that," he spits back in frustration, "but I'm not dead, am I? I'm being careful, and I'm not even focusing my fire magic anymore! I can feel your magic drawing against mine without it now. The stronger you've gotten, the less I've even needed to do."
Gina flinches at his admission and his perception of the situation. He has no idea that his fire magic has nothing to do with her healing. It may have helped stop any remaining poison in her system, but it would not heal her. She wants to crawl in a hole to hide somewhere as she feels another soft wave of his love wash towards her despite his obvious frustration. The flavor of it sets an ache within her starved body to reach for him, and it is all she can manage not to tremble at the strength of her hunger. Sometime between falling asleep on the train and waking up in his bed, he started to truly love her. Her body has been draining his magical energy from him like a vacuum ever since, and would happily continue until he had nothing left. She wishes she knew what tipped the scales in his heart. Whatever it was, part of her wants to kiss it, and part of her wants to kill it.
"How long have I been asleep?" she asks, trying to dry her tears with the sleeves of his bathrobe.
"Uh, just a few days," he responds with a shrug.
Good grief, she thinks in panic looking at him again. He looks terrible, and he hasn't even been exposed that long. Either his love is fierce, or my body is drawing stronger than ever… or both.
"I'm so sorry, Natsu," she whispers.
He looks at her like she's completely crazy. "What for? I told you, I'm fine."
"I can't let you do this," she declares; frightened of the ache in her body building stronger again.
"Good luck stopping me," he grunts.
"You would force yourself where you're not wanted?" she challenges.
"Hell yeah," he nods confidently. "I do it all the time. Just ask Erza. Look, I'm not just gonna bow out now because you're awake. You don't want me touching you… fine. I'll just follow you around from a few feet away and be a human torch." He lights himself entirely on fire for emphasis, and Gina notes with surprise that his couch must be fireproof. "I don't know everything that's wrong with you, but you need fire magic. Don't sit there and tell me you don't! Even if you get better for a while, the Old Hag said you could get poisoning again later if you get too weak. Then you'll need me even more. I'm not gonna walk out on a member of my team, no matter how stupid they're being."
Gina remembers the stories of his stubborn refusal to let Gray or Erza die even when it seemed like a necessary sacrifice, and realizes this is an argument she's not going to win. He already knows too much to try and weave more confusion. She won't even bother with a charm spell, because as soon as it wore off he would come after her like an angry hornet. She decides to try a different approach. She gets up, walks over to him, and begins to sit down in his lap. He extinguishes himself instantly, obviously afraid of burning her, but she can tell that he keeps his fire magic coursing strongly beneath his skin. She feels her own magic struggle to flare at the contact. As she watches his eyes grow nervous, she can feel her body begin soaking up the fledgling love he feels for her in an instant. She places a gentle hand against his face.
"Natsu," she pleads, "do you remember what it felt like when you believed your touch hurt me?"
He flinches and glances at the floor for a moment before saying, "Yeah, it sucked. But Porlyusica said that was never true. I wasn't really hurting you."
"Do you remember how careful you were?" she asks.
"Of course I was careful," he says with a frustrated expression, and she feels another wave wash over her. "I didn't want to hurt you."
"What do you feel now?"
"I feel…" he shrugs, "you pulling against my magic. So what?"
She simply smiles as she fights back tears, and can't bring herself to tell him the truth. It's too ugly and too painful. She jumps from his lap and turns to flee from him, but doesn't even know which direction to head in. In an instant, Natsu's arms are around her and he pulls her back against his chest.
"Don't make me hurt you, Natsu," she pleads. "You know I am. You can see it. You can feel it!"
"Shhhh…" he whispers in her ear, and she fights her body's desperation to melt into him with all of her strength. "Stop freaking out," he chuckles. "It's not painful. It makes me a little tired, yeah. Okay. But it makes you a little stronger. I can live with that. If Erza, Lucy and Gray were here they would tell us to be careful, but not to give up. I'm already trying to be. It won't do you any good if I catch that elemental poisoning crap too, and I know it."
"You can't do this all the time," she argues desperately, "It will kill you!"
He turns her gently to face him with a cocky grin, but keeps his arms around her middle. She's losing her battle with herself and places her face against his shoulder to keep from kissing him like she had done when she'd first woken up to the delicious feeling of his affection. She could soak in that feeling forever until the end, but it would risk his own life in the process, and she won't allow that.
What am I going to do?! she fights her own panic.
He's right. She cannot stop him from following her around and exhausting himself as a "human torch." Even if he isn't touching her now, his feelings are strong enough to aid her even from a distance with her body this starved. What's worse is, she isn't sure she can fight her own body. She knows the pain will come back as soon as he is away from her now, and she's selfish enough to relish the fact that his affection can nullify it. She's not sure she can manage the pain all day and night, without caving and confessing the truth to someone in a moment of weakness.
"I admit it's taken a lot out'a me," he mumbles from above her. "but I've been tryin' to help all day every day since you blacked out. Now that you're awake, I can take breaks or somethin'. What if I only help out during the day? We could figure something out. The clothing thing would be weird. But maybe if you dressed more like Cana…"
"You've been sleeping next to me all this time?" she asks, hoping to steer him in a different direction. Daylight hours would be much more exposure than hours dedicated to sleep and much more time for him to prod her with endless questions.
"Yeah," he says, with that nervousness creeping back in his voice.
"What if we stuck to that instead?" she proposes. "You could still go out on jobs, even if I need to stay here. We wouldn't have to be awkward in front of anyone at the guild, or explain anything. I could just sleep here, and then leave in the mornings."
"You'd be okay with that?" he asks in obvious surprise, as she feels a little flare of lust from him.
"It makes the most sense," she sighs, praying that she isn't signing his death warrant with the idea.
"Works for me," he says, suddenly lifting her into his arms and carrying her back to his bed. "But if you start to get sick like before while we're out during the day, I'll still step in to help."
He sets her on her feet, and tugs the bathrobe from her shoulders without a moment of hesitation; tossing it on the floor. Then he tucks her into his bed and crawls beneath the sheet himself. He lies awkwardly on his side for a moment, and she realizes as he glances at her mouth that he must be thinking about her kissing him only a short while ago. She has to avoid that in the future if she can manage it. She turns onto her side, facing away from him to keep herself from being any more stupid than she already is.
"Uh…" he mumbles. "The Old Hag said that touching your skin was important…"
Of course she did, Gina mentally hisses. "Oh, that's weird," she yawns. "That's fine."
Natsu places a warm arm around her belly and pulls her close, spooning against her back. His breath tickles the top of her ear as he tucks his face above her head. She wonders idly if he has any idea how intimate this particular posture truly is, even as she scolds herself not to turn around and give in to temptation. Gina may never truly sleep again.
Gajeel takes in as much detail of the layout of this house as he can while walking through its hallways. The place must be huge, but the illusion magic is thick here, and it's obvious that their hosts aren't going to let them see the entire grounds. They were taken in some kind of hidden entrance, and now are being escorted down a long, ornate hallway by a water nymph. There are dozens and dozens of rooms, but all the doors are closed. He never would have believed all this could be concealed by magic.
These freaks are awfully powerful for being so skittish, he muses.
"You'll be staying here until your friends arrive with our new sisters," the watery figure waves as she opens the door to a fairly large bedroom.
"Oh," Levy says before chuckling nervously. "My, what a… nice room."
Shit… Gajeel thinks staring at the single queen-sized bed. No way am I sleeping in that thing with Levy! The idea of sleeping next to her, and smelling her beautiful scent all night long, makes his pulse begin to race.
"Uh, where…" he starts to object, but Levy suddenly throws a hand over his mouth.
"Nevermind him," she laughs nervously, "This will be fine. We'll make due."
"Oh don't worry," the watery woman responds in a cheery voice as she begins walking away. "You two won't have to share with your pet. My sisters will bring a more comfortable bed for him in a little while."
"I'm not a pet," Panther Lily objects in his deep base, from his short, Exceed stature at their feet.
Levy shoves Gajeel inside the door, and he gives her a sharp glare as she shuts it behind them and then leans against it heavily.
"What was that about?!" he barks.
"Shhhh….." Levy says, waving his question away almost wildly, and beginning to rummage around the room. "I need to find a pen and paper. Help me look."
"What for?" he grumbles, sniffing the air. He catches the scent of ink pretty quickly and opens the top drawer of the small wooden nightstand to find a pen with a writing pad. "Here."
"Great!" she whispers excitedly and begins scribbling down notes furiously. He reads her notes from upside down.
SIRE = FATHER (ALL HUMAN!)
WATER NYMPHS NEED FATHER TO SURVIVE. WHY?
FORREST SIRE = ELRIK, HOW OLD?
ATLANTIA SIRE = DAMION, LORD OF MANOR THAT WAS BURNED DOWN
RAIN WOMEN… CAMOUFLAGE? ILLUSION? RAIN WOMEN = WATER NYMPHS?
Gajeel sits up in surprise, then shakes his head in disagreement and points to the last line. "Juvia," he says, keeping his conversation to a minimum since they are probably being listened to. There's no way Juvia's a water nymph and just never told me, he reasons. Then he points to the question about the man's age, and shows five fingers and then makes a zero with his hand twice.
500, Levy scribbles down his answer. Then mumbles, "How is that possible?"
"Beats me," he replies. "Still may not be true, but I doubt we're going to find out."
Levy sighs heavily, and he can tell she's itching for more answers. He loves how smart she is, and especially that thoughtful look she gets when she's trying to solve a puzzle. It makes her look adorable. She gets up and begins poking through the bookshelves. He recognizes the titles of a lot of the human classics along the walls, but he's pretty sure they wouldn't have been put in this room if there was any really useful information in it. Levy jumps back from the shelves after a small knock sounds on the door.
Without waiting for a response, a water nymph enters carrying a very large pillow. She sets it down at the foot of their bed and nods quietly to Panther Lily. Then she walks over to the large antique armoire along the far wall and opens it.
"There are some clothes in here which should fit you, miss," the woman says, motioning to the clothes. Then a second young woman comes in carrying a small suitcase. "And your lover can wear these. They will probably be a bit large on him, but my father is the only male in the house."
Gajeel feels his mouth drop open in surprise. They think we're lovers?! That explains the bed… He keeps his mouth shut this time.
"Oh…" Levy mumbles, seeming to be suffering from shock also.
"My Sire asks that you join him for dinner tonight at 7:30 sharp," the woman says, leaving the room without their answer.
"The nymphs are speaking our language…" Levy mumbles with a thoughtful expression before scribbling another note.
"Well," Panther Lily says, jumping up and down on his pillow bed. "They're surprisingly welcoming if you can manage to survive the first encounter."
"Open, Gate of the Lion, Leo!" Lucy commands, waving Loke's golden key.
Leo appears in a flash, with his normal cheesy grin. "Hey, gorgeous. How's it hangin'?"
"We just wanted to check and see how everythin' is goin' on the other end," Gray replies instead, shooting Loke a playful glare.
Well… I think it's playful, Lucy suddenly wonders. "Yeah, did you get the information to the rest of the team?"
"Yeah, I managed to get the location to Master Makarov pretty quickly, so Levy, Gajeel and Panther Lily have already headed that direction. They're probably there by now."
"Natsu and Gina didn't go with them?" Lucy asks, finding that odd.
"No," Loke says, closing his eyes briefly. "Gina got too sick. He stayed behind with Happy to try and save her."
"Save her?!" Gray shouts, bolting up out of his chair and clenching his fists. "What the hell does that mean?!"
"Oh God," Lucy breathes. "What happened?"
"From what Makarov tells me," Leo explains. "Gina slipped into a coma before the train arrived in Magnolia. They believe it was the elemental poisoning. Porlyusica had Natsu repeat what he could remember about how he'd helped the fire nymph in the woods, since Gina's natural element is fire. It worked but…"
"But what?" Gray presses.
"It proved to be extremely dangerous," Leo sighs. "Porlyusica and Makarov managed to knock him out before it killed him, because he wasn't willing to back off."
"Yeah, well, that's Natsu for you," Lucy admits with a sad smile. "What are they going to do now?"
"Natsu is still trying to treat her with his fire magic, under supervision of course," Leo says with a shrug. "Meanwhile, the rest of the team headed for the nymph colony."
"How the hell is his fire magic even working?" Gray asks, looking completely confused. "What about her fever?"
"Well…" Loke says, rubbing the back of his head, "see… that's the kicker. The fever is a symptom of her condition, but Porlyusica said it won't hurt her. It's just... inconvenient."
"So she didn't need my magic at all?" Gray asks, looking irritated now.
"Actually… she said that your magic could have caused the poisoning eventually on its own," Loke replies with a grimace.
"IT WHAT?!" Gray shouts, throwing his hands on his head in shock.
"Hold up," Loke replies, holding his hands up in a calming gesture. "Gina probably didn't even know that. It's incredibly rare. So you had no way to…"
"You're saying Natsu was helping her and I WAS HURTING HER THE ENTIRE TIME?!" Gray screams, shoving an icicle through the back of his chair. "DAMNIT!"
"Gray, stop hurting the furniture!" Lucy shouts, running over and grabbing a hold of his shoulders. "This isn't your fault. None of us had any way to know it could be harmful, any more than we thought we understood Natsu having this same problem."
"I wish she would just tell us what the hell is wrong with her!" Gray spits in frustration, flopping back down in the ruined chair. "Did Porlyusica say?"
"No," Leo replies, "Master Makarov forbid it."
"I swear I'm gonna punch Gramps right in the face for this one…" Gray grumbles.
"How is Gina now?" Lucy decides to ask.
"Last I saw her… she looked pretty bad," Loke admits. "They're not sure whether she will ever wake back up or not. Until she does, she's being kept at Natsu's so that he can try to help in whatever way he can. Mirajane is keeping an eye on them."
"Thank God for Mira," Lucy breathes.
"How far are we from the nymph colony now?" Loke asks.
"Just a couple of days," Lucy replies. "We'll be off this train before nightfall. We'll need to make camp outside of town and see if the nymphs need any more healing, but Gray's ice magic doesn't seem to be helping them recover much."
"We'll just have to hope they hold out," Loke agrees with a nod.
"Well, that was pointless and creepy," Gajeel grumbles, trudging back into their assigned room after dinner.
"I know," Levy agrees, "I actually expected him to give us more information; not just sit there in silence while we squirmed."
"One thing is for sure," he says, watching her make her way back towards the armoire. "These freaks don't like giving out any information unless they're forced to."
"Yeah," Levy sighs, stepping behind the changing screen to change into her pajamas. It's one of those paper-kinds that allows the shape through when back-lit like this one just happens to be now, and Gajeel can't help but stare. "I don't think we're going to get anything more out of Elrick until the other group gets here."
"Ouch," Gajeel hisses under his breath with a glare down at Panther Lily, who just bit him on the calf while giving Gajeel a glare of his own. "Layoff…" Gajeel grumbles. His cheeks heat with embarrassment at being caught staring so blatantly.
"What?" Levy asks, coming back around the changing screen, now fully dressed.
"I said I'll take the floor," he lies.
"N-no," Levy says with a slight squeak in her voice.
"Excuse me?" he replies with a sneer, hoping she'll feel intimidated into cooperating. He isn't going to allow her to sleep on the floor in discomfort.
"You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor," Levy says with more confidence; straightening her spine with a deep breath. "We're both adults Gajeel. I think we're more than capable of sharing the bed without a problem."
Speak for yourself! his mind reels in surprise. The thought of lying in that bed with her all night, smelling her scent, hearing her breathing, feeling her body heat... I'll lose my goddamned mind! "I don't think that's a good idea," he says dismissively.
"And just why not?" Levy asks, looking insulted. "Do I smell bad?"
"Huh?" he asks, nearly tripping over his own boots as he heads for the changing screen. "What the hell are you on about?"
"Well there must be something," Levy says, waving her hand around. "Or have you never shared a bed with a woman before?"
Gajeel slips behind the changing screen, and changes into the pair of lounge pants he's been provided. It's better than what he packed. He decides to go without a shirt to see if Levy backs out. His mind is screaming at him to completely avoid that topic with her. He is NOT going to discuss his various sexual exploits with her; especially not before sleeping in the same room. "That's none of your business Short Stuff," he gripes.
When he steps back out, she looks mildly hurt and he regrets his comment immediately. "I don't want you to tarnish your reputation, Squirt," he tries again instead. "Just think about it. Jet and Droy would probably cry themselves to death at the very idea that I could have touched you - even by accident."
"This isn't about them," she says folding her arms in defiance and causing her breasts to lift above them.
God, she looks sexy when she does that… he mentally groans.
"This is about the mission," she insists. "We both need to be in top shape. We've had lousy sleep on the way here, and this is a chance for both of us to really rest. I assure you, I can keep my hands to myself. I'm not worried about my reputation. All of our friends at Fairy Tail are not going to treat us badly, and my girlfriends would just ask. It's not a big deal."
"I have to agree with Levy," Panther Lily pipes in while curling up on his pillow.
"Nobody asked you!" Gajeel spits at him. He knows damn well how I feel about Levy… the brat!
"That's right!" Levy says as if realizing something. "Panther Lily is with us anyway. He'll be able to verify that we didn't spend our mission time having wild crazy sex. So just get in bed already."
Levy starts to climb beneath the covers, and Gajeel struggles to breathe. He's imagined those words… wild crazy sex… get in bed… coming out of her sensuous little mouth countless times, but actually hearing them was threatening to stop his heart. The context is stupidly disappointing.
"Fine!" he gripes, ripping the covers back and climbing in. He turns his back to her to hide his nearly painful arousal and prays that somehow he will be able to force himself to sleep quickly.
