Okay, here we go! Thanks for being so patient! -AMS
Night came upon them quickly, much quicker than Natsu had expected, but then again he was a bit … Distracted. Lucy had been bombarding him with suspicious questions after putting the red journal away somewhere and re-joining him on the couch. "What's your favorite food?" She had asked him suddenly before rushing on without giving him time to answer. "What are the name of your closest friends? What was your childhood like? What's an Exceed and why have I never heard of them before? Why are your teeth sharp? How did you even get into my desk!?" She scowled at him, crossing her arms. "It was locked for a reason, ya know! Do you have a girlfriend?" The last question was so quiet and rushed he could barely understand it.
"Uh….." He stared back at the blond who had moved a little closer with each question so she was now just inches away. "Anything that's spicy. Gajeel, Rogue, Happy, Sting and Wendy. It was okay I guess. You should probably talk to Happy about that one. It's just the way I was born? I really dunno. I picked the lock, and….. um, what was that last one again?" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
Lucy looked away quickly, her cheeks turning dark as she did. "I, uh… I was um, just wondering if… you had a, um, girlfriend?" Natsu blinked dumbly. "Oh…" "Yeah…" She whispered back, still facing away. "Why are you whispering?" He whispered in her ear, making her turn to face him. "Why are you whispering?" She shot back, their noses almost touching. He shook his head and laughed quietly. "I don't know." His laughter was contagious. "Me neither," Lucy chuckled, resting her forehead against his.
"Hey Luce," Natsu locked eyes with the fae. "Yeah?" She whispered back. "To answer your question, no I don't have a girlfriend. Sure I have friends that are girls, but nothin' like what you're talking 'bout." Lucy felt a strange rush of relief and hummed, fighting back a wry smile. He pulled back, dark eyes sweeping over the room. There were picture frames all over the walls and few on the tables too.
Lucy was in most of them, grinning at the camera or at the other faeries surrounding her in the photographs. Two figures showed up in almost every picture with Lucy or by themselves. 'They must have meant a lot to Lucy.' Natsu thought as he studied the pictures. One was a stern looking she-elf with long strikingly scarlet hair, a soft patient smile graving her features. The other was a petite blue haired faerie, a pixie, Natsu realized, with a shy smile and inquisitive dark brown eyes.
Luce of course, was absolutely beautiful, sunning really. Warm brown eyes set into a lovely, welcoming face framed by angelic golden strands of hair, she was a masterpiece. Natsu sucked in a breath, sitting up straighter and glanced down at Lucy. She wasn't looking up at him, but had rather followed his earlier line of sight to the photos. A wistful smile twisted her lips, but something was off. She seemed… sad… sad and angry about something.
"You okay, Luce?" Natsu asked. "Hm?" She blinked and turned her warm eyes on him. "Yeah, I'm alright." She sighed. "Just thinking." Unsure of what to say in reply Natsu simply nodded and looked away. Happy had been awfully quiet lately….
He wasn't even in the room, which explained it, but also raised the question of the blue exceed's whereabouts. "Hey Luce?" "Hm?" She continued gazing at the photographs. "I'm gonna find where Happy's at." "Kay," She waved him off absentmindedly, "Have fun."
He chuckled at her, not unkindly, and ruffled her hair tenderly before setting off to find his azure companion. One last framed moment caught his eye as he walked past it. A much younger Lucy flew side by side with two older fae. Her parents, he would bet.
The Lucy Natsu knew was the spitting image of the woman on Lucy's right in the picture; perhaps a few nearly invisible laughs lines creased the skin near the corners of her eyes, and accented her lovingly smiling mouth, but besides that, she could have been Lucy's identical twin. Her wings as well were a perfect match of Lucy's delicate rosy ones. The male stared sternly at the camera, smiling tersely, as if to say, 'Can't this be done any faster!? I have important work to get back to!' Natsu frowned at the man's image. There was none of Lucy's or her mother's warmth in his cold analytical eyes. His wings differed as well, a vibrant yellow-orange. This must have been, or perhaps, still is, her Father, Natsu realized.
Stealing one last glance at the blonde beauty sitting a few yards away, Natsu smiled and turned away.
A group of young faerie girls sat in a lopsided circle in a field covered in long rushes and grass, dotted with wildflowers. A petite blue haired pixie had her nose buried in a book that lay open across her crossed legs. A red-haired tween she-elf polished an armored chest plate, a hard look of concentration upon her face. A dark blue mermaid lass lounged in a washtub, playing a game of jacks with the fourth member of their group, a nine year old gorgon with purple snakes adorning her head.
A little ways away from the group a blonde fae stood overlooking the group, hands on her hips, a grin on her face. After a minute her wings fluttered, bringing her into the air before she soared to her friends. "Hey Levy! Hi Erza, Juvia! Oh, hey Kinana!" The other girls looked up, smiles adorning their faces. "Hey Lucy!" The mermaid and the pixie chorused. Kinana waved shyly, Erza stood and hugged Lucy as she landed. "Lucy it's so good to see you! Did your father see you leave?"
"No way!" She laughed, sticking out her tongue. She struck a pose, one hand on her hip, the other rested on her chest. "I'm way too smart and fast for that!" The other girls laughed. "So," Lucy plopped down on the grass. "What's the plan?" She whispered conspiratorially, leaning in close.
The other girls sat around her, Levy and Kinana struggling as they pushed Juvia's washtub into position. Erza waited until all of the girls were sitting before speaking. "As you know, Levy's friends Jet and Droy, are on our side 100%. They are currently acting as spies in town, and will let us know everything that the other girls are doing. Then, once we know where they're hiding the medal, we can take them by surprise and take it back!" She looked around to make sure each of the girls had understood. Satisfied by what she saw, she stood and added, "Does anyone have any objections?"
Seeing she was unopposed, she nodded victoriously and singlehanded lifted Juvia's makeshift 'pond' into the air. The other girls didn't even bat an eye, already used to the redhead's unnatural strength. "Alright!" The gorgon twisted into a standing position. "Let's go!" She cheered, raising a fist to the sky, the other girls joining her.
'We were all so close back then,' Lucy mused, looking over the photographs, each one bringing more memories to the front of her mind. 'Kids don't worry about much, do they? They form friendships so quickly, but are so unwilling to let them go…' A wry smile twisted at her lips. 'I remember I cried so hard when Juvia and Kinana left magnolia when the summer ended, all those years ago.'
'I remember Juvia hated me at first, and I didn't even know why.' She suppressed a giggle. 'I don't even know now! We were so carefree back then, even in the shadows of the dragon's mountains.' She sighed and stretched, popping her back and flexing her wings, easing the tension that had built up around the joints. A quick glance out the window had her jaw dropping at the dimness of the light coming through the glass. "It's night already?! How?"
"I have no idea!" A high pitched voice answered from Lucy's left. She turned to see Happy hovering a few feet away. She sweat-dropped. "Uh… It was kind of a rhetorical question, Happy." He blinked once. Twice. "I knew that!" He grinned. Lucy picked up a pillow and attempted to smother herself, a.k.a. face-pillow-ed herself, rather violently.
"Oh," She lifted her face from the pillow. "Wait a minute Happy, where were you? Natsu just left to go look for you." "I was in the bathroom, Lucy." Happy said slowly, like he was talking to a child. "Geez, no need to be so touchy," Lucy put her hands up defensively. "I was just asking."
Natsu poked his head back in the room. "There you are, Happy! I was just about to tear down the place lookin' for ya!" He grinned toothily. Lucy leveled a glare at the pink haired boy. "You had better not if you know what's good for you."
"Okay, okay, Luce!" He waved her off. "I wouldn't really, honest, Luce." "Good." She smiled and stuck her tongue out childishly. Natsu smirked, stepping into the room. "So that's how you wanna play, huh, Luce?" Lucy saw the glint in his eye and stood, smile sliding off her face into a defensive frown. "W-what are you doing?" She asked as he 'stealthily' stalked closer, a goofy grin on his face. "Happy!" The dragon called out to his companion. "Help me get her!" "Aye sir!" The exceed saluted, catching into his friend's plan.
"What—" She broke off with a gasp as she realized what they were planning. Her wings flared out protectively as she fought back a smile. "Don't you even dare—" "Now!" The dragon and the exceed pounced, only to crash into one another as the fae nimbly side-stepped.
"Ha!" She laughed. "You couldn't even get me even if my wings were tied." Smirking confidently, she crossed her arms and gazed down at the two tangled boys.
"You're good Luce, I'll give you that," Natsu admitted as he pushed himself into a standing position. "But you'll have to do more than dodge if you wanna get away~" The playful smirk never left his face as he and Happy continued their assault on the blonde. Lucy was able to dodge every one of their attempts, taunting them all the while, for several minutes until she made a crucial mistake.
Lucy hadn't been watching where she'd been escaping to, and thus found herself backed into the wall. "Uh oh…" She sweat-dropped. The boys pounced, and she found herself subject to the cruelest of tortures…. Tickling!
Shrieking with laughter, Lucy tried to worm away but to no avail, Natsu and Happy were relentless. Even as she tried batting them away, they found ways to elude her blocks. They tickled her sides, her neck, her stomach, her feet (after stripping of her shoes and socks, ignoring her giggling protests), even her underarms and legs! All the while, the biggest, most innocently jovial grins decorating their faces.
After about five minutes of this (by now, Lucy had tears streaming down her face and could barely breathe from laughing so hard) Natsu and Happy had let up and helped the blonde fae to her feet. "Well that was fun!" Natsu remarked like he hadn't just pinned the girl down against her will and tickled her for what felt like an eternity. "Aye sir!" Happy chuckled.
Lucy was still convulsing with laughter, but her giggles and titters were slowly dying down, even as she continued to lean on Natsu for support. Slowly, he led her back to the couch and lay there, Lucy cuddled against him. Her face turned red as she regained her breathing, debating on whether to smack him upside the head and demand her release, or to enjoy the moment: she in his arms, his face buried in her hair, both content, and very much in love, though neither knew it.
Happy wisely kept his mouth firmly shut.
Well, hope you enjoyed! For those of you who want to know who is next I'll give you a few hints. By that I mean completely give it away. He is tall dark and handsome, has a badass exceed, and has a liking for small, cute, blue haired book worms. -AMS
