Author's Note:
Hello all! It's Wednesday, and time for a new chapter! Harrah!
As always, humongous thanks to all my fabulous lovely wonderful reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: TheJSmooth, Lucinda, RabbitMelody, Lady La-sara, SunnieDayys, valerioux, Donthedarkdragon26, Ikrani, Firefly9917, and ravenqueen162.
Now, on with the show! And be sure and stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D
Once the dust had settled, the last one standing was Natsu. However, he quickly shrunk back down to his normal size and slipped into the shadows, which was very unlike him, but he seemed to have some reason for it.
For a long moment the courtyard and surrounding city was eerily quiet, but then people slowly started emerging from hiding, all looking shell-shocked and staring at the collapsed, crumpled form of their king. The question "what now?" was plastered all over everyone's faces.
Given the deep silence permeating the air and the tension you could cut with a knife, when Mystogan used a portal spell to summon himself to the top of a crumbling wall, everyone's eyes shot to him. Some murmuring started up, but instantly silenced when he began to speak. His voice was quiet – as usual – but what was unusual, was the tone of it. It held a note of authority that nobody from Fairy Tail had heard before, and somehow he managed to claim the attention of absolutely everyone present.
"Please stay calm. I know this is all a great shock, but if you give me a chance, I will explain it all to you here and now." When he was met with receptive silence, he cleared his throat and started.
"Here are the facts, such as they are. This man," He gestured at the unconscious king. "- who you called King Faust, was stealing magic from another…people, to make lacrima. The lacrima itself was made up of transformed human beings who possessed intrinsic magic, which would have inevitably killed them."
Murmurs broke out somewhat at that information, but somehow nobody questioned Mystogen. Something in his voice convinced everyone that he was speaking the truth. If anything, the assembled crowd looked horrified by what he had said, which was a good sign.
When Mystogen continued, all murmurs stopped as everyone paid him absolute attention. "Not satisfied with that, King Faust attacked the Exceeds. I have brought their queen with me, and she wishes to make a statement."
He stepped back, and murmurs erupted once again in the crowd when Queen Shagotte stepped forwards. Everyone cringed back, believing her to be the all-powerful queen who had terrorized them for years.
"Hello, people of Edolas. I wished to come and make a formal apology to you all. Most of what you know about us is a lie. Yes, we are the only race in Edolas who has inborn magic, but that magic mostly just allows us to fly. I, however, possess clairvoyance as well, and to my shame I have been using it to try and make myself and my people seem much more powerful than we actually are."
"So…you haven't actually been killing anyone?" someone in the crowd asked.
"No, I have not. I have only predicted their deaths and dishonorably used it to our advantage. We deceived you all, and for that I wish to apologize. At the time, we believed it was the only way to protect ourselves. I foresaw your king attacking us and enslaving my entire people for our magic. In my arrogance, I erroneously thought that if I were to make us seem more powerful, then perhaps we would be protected. Unfortunately, it only made things easier for your king to turn you against us."
The crowd murmured some more as she stepped back, and then Mystogan stepped forwards again. "The Exceeds are a peaceful people and wish us no ill will. Therefore, it is up to us now to choose a new path. You can continue to support Faust, if he survives his injuries, or you can elect a new ruler…one who will seek peace and harmony for this country and rebuild it to be in balance with the magic we have. We have it in abundance around us." He gestured at the floating islands and rivers that streamed through the skies. "There is no reason to hoard it for use as weapons as Faust did, but it must also be considered a precious resource."
After his speech, disbelief finally began to circulate, and eventually someone shouted, "And just who are you to tell us all this? Why should we believe you?"
Similar cries were emitted, and with a sigh, Mystogan bent his head and slowly dropped his hood and the cloths wrapping his face. With the mask dropped, he stared out at the crowd, and for a long moment silence reigned. Then suddenly, a roar of noise erupted from the crowd.
"Prince Mystogan! The prince has returned!"
As the cries reached the members of Fairy Tail, jaws started dropping one after another as they all stared at him themselves in utter shock. Prince?
"Where have you been all these years?!" someone shouted, not angrily but just with a great deal of curiosity and happiness that he was back. More questions along that line were asked, and eventually he raised his hands. Everyone shut up so they could hear his quiet voice.
"Very well, I will tell you. I became aware of the situation and my father's power-hungry ways many years ago. As a young boy I also befriended the Exceeds and discovered the ruse behind their ploy to protect themselves. With all this knowledge, I became involved in a grand scheme to secret away a great deal of Exceed children to…another land, where they would be safe. In the process, I accompanied them and ended up…lost and unable to return until now."
That seemed to basically satisfy the crowd, and for a long time they cheered and called questions to him, which he answered, and soon more people had come to investigate the ruckus. Before long, the entire city had turned up.
…
After a VERY long night, lots of things happened.
For one, Mystogan challenged his father for kingship, which he won easily when it turned out his father had gone mad from the defeat. Then, before he set about cleaning up the town and making new laws – and all the other hundreds of things he had to do as the new ruler of Edolas – he took everyone from Earthland to the Anima room and offered them the reversed Anima as a way to return home.
It seemed their job here was done, and so they all prepared to leave, but first they had to say a proper goodbye to Mystogen. He would never return to Earthland, and so they gave him the Fairy Tail send off.
There, in the Anime room, Erza donned her ceremonial Fairy Tail Armor, complete with a Fairy Tail flag, and she conducted the Farewell ceremony.
"There are three conditions for anyone who leaves Fairy Tail! Listen well: One! You must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail for as long as you live! Two! You must not have unauthorized contact with past clients for profit! Three! Even if we walk different paths, you must promise to live the rest of your life to the fullest. That means, you must treat every day as though it were your last in this world. Never forget your Fairy Tail friends, treasure them for as long as you live. Let the Fairy Tail Farewell, begin!"
At that, all the other Fairy Tail members present set off fireworks – small ones that could sparkle and burst within the room while not destroying it. Through it all, Mystogen smiled, and the extra glitter in his eyes might very well have been hidden tears.
Afterwards, he very softly said, "Thank you all. I have truly treasured my time as part of Fairy Tail."
And then, it was time for them to go home.
Along with them came a few surprise guests as well. Much to Gajeel's delight, Panther Lily decided to return with them to Earthland. He obviously felt intense guilt at betraying his fellow Exceeds and felt like he no longer belonged. And along with him came Frosch, who obviously cared for him a great deal.
However, it seemed that the big black cat didn't approve of the frog-loving green cat tagging along with them. They had a bit of an argument in the Anima chamber, while everyone else watched and wondered about the hold up.
"No Frosch! Your home is here! You should stay on Extalia and help to rebuild. I'm sure there was plenty of damage even though we stopped the island in time…."
"Fro is coming with you!" she insisted, as she had been doing for the past twenty solid minutes. She hadn't said much besides that, but she was absolutely adamant about it – even without an explanation. She reminded Lucy a little of Juvia with her use of second person pronouns and her devotion to this big grumpy Exceed.
"Frosch…what about your family…? Friends? …Boyfriend?"
She shook her head and seemed to scoff at the last one. "Fro is coming with you!"
"Come on, I know you must have friends. And what about your mother? Last I heard, you were taking care of her! How is she supposed to make it without you?!"
Again, she shook her head, but this time it was with a distinctly sad look on her face. She was silent and just stared at him for a long moment, before whispering again, "Fro is coming with you."
Panther Lily blinked. "Oh…I'm…sorry Frosch. I … I didn't know." It was obvious he had understood her silent communication.
Once again she just said, "Fro is coming with you…" though it was firmer again, as if she was putting away her sad thoughts.
"And your friends?"
There was another long staring contest, and then predictably…. "Fro. Is. Coming. With. You."
She was starting to get irritable, and her words were clipped and exasperated. They all got the feeling that she didn't really say much – or if she did, it was by repeating the same words with different inflections.
Eventually Panther Lily seemed to accept the situation and slumped, then slouched his way over to them, looking disgruntled and browbeaten.
Finally, they were all assembled and could start going through the portal in twos and threes. Everyone said a last goodbye to Mystogan, and then started stepping through. Wendy and Carla were first, then Gray and Erza, then Gajeel and Panther Lily stepped up.
Gajeel was laughing at the big male feline. "My cat's pussy whipped…literally! Or is it frog whipped? Your girlfriend's kinda weird man…"
Panther Lily glared at him and growled. "First of all, I am not your cat! And second-"
Their argument continued as they stepped through the portal together. Frosch was just a little too slow to join them, and looked very concerned about it, running up to the glowing hole in the floor and staring at it forlornly. She was next in line, but fidgeted, obviously not happy or willing to go through alone.
With a sigh, Laxus stepped up next to her. "Come on Frog, let's get going. You're holding up the line." His tone was not unkind though.
She smiled and looked up at him with starry eyes. From her place behind them, Lucy couldn't tell if the frog/cat had sprouted a crush or idolization… but whatever the case, it was obvious that she liked him. With him next to her, she eagerly stepped through the portal, even reaching out to take his hand.
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were next, and they all stepped through together. Meanwhile, Amy poofed back to the celestial world.
The trip through the portal was not exactly pleasant. It felt almost like being somersaulted extremely fast through space - amidst blinding lights that flashed spastically even behind her eyelids - so by the time she was spit out the other side, she was in no condition to stand. She fell from a short height to land on the ground in an uncoordinated heap and a groan. Judging by all the other grunts, groans, whimpers, and whines, she wasn't the only one who hadn't enjoyed the trip. Natsu was plopped next to her in a similarly undignified tangle of limbs, and then Happy was deposited on his chest.
Once the world had stopped spinning quite so badly, and her stomach had decided it was satisfied being in her gut instead of attempting a vacation, she gingerly raised her head and squinted at her surroundings. They had all been plopped down on a grassy knoll overlooking Magnolia, and the first thing Lucy did once her vision cleared a little was to prop herself up on elbows and peer down towards her hometown. With a wave of relief, she realized that it had been set to rights and everything that had disappeared was back where it was supposed to be.
And then she glanced to the side to notice that they had been deposited in a line, which was somewhat amusing to see because the first in line were already staggering to their feet, while the next few were just sitting up. You could easily see a progression of feeling sick, from the first few - who were still a little unsteady but no longer looked like they were going to throw up - to Lucy, who still felt like tossing her cookies was a distinct possibility.
Wendy had mostly recovered, being the first through the portal, but she still looked weak in the knees and not entirely all together. Erza and Gray appeared to have recovered faster than her, but in fact were less steady on their feet and probably should have stayed on the ground a little longer. Gajeel and Panther Lily were attempting to do the same but were still stuck on the ground, and every time they attempted to stand they sunk back down with a groan and various cusses. The most interesting thing about that sight though, was that Panther Lily was now small, like Happy and Carla – and he seemed rather displeased by the fact. Frosch was also small but didn't seem perturbed in the slightest by it. If anything, Laxus was the more surprised of the two, and he was sitting up and blinking down at her with something akin to shock.
Lucy just let herself plop back down and didn't even try to sit up again until she was feeling less likely to throw up.
It took a while for all of them to recover enough to stagger down to the guildhall. As they passed through Magnolia, they saw how everyone in the street still seemed a little discombobulated from being transported back here several hours ago.
None of the townspeople remembered anything. To them, it just seemed like they had randomly lost the whole day – probably not even knowing that they were missing several days yet. The outer edges of the town knew though, and had already started converging into town, asking questions that the people there couldn't answer.
Lucy knew they would have to address that problem as soon as they'd checked into the guildhall and let everyone there know what had happened.
When they walked in, Fairy Tail was in a similar state of confusion, though they all had a good idea of what had happened. As soon as Makarov saw them he came over.
"We experienced an Anima didn't we?"
Erza nodded. "Yes."
"So what happened?" He seemed almost excited to hear all the details, and soon they had launched into the whole story, trying not to talk over each other and failing miserably. Gray and Natsu got into two separate fights when they tried to talk simultaneously, and Gajeel and Laxus butted heads with them on more than one occasion. Naturally Erza took over near the end.
"Well…." Makarov sighed and whistled through his teeth, sounding impressed. "Sounds like you kids had an adventure."
"Indeed." Erza agreed with a firm nod. By now everyone in the guild had gathered around to listen to the story.
"So what do we tell everyone in Magnolia?" Mira asked, looking concerned.
"Just summarize I guess. And maybe don't mention Edolas, because they probably won't believe you." Laxus grunted.
"So then…a dark guild took magnolia hostage by turning it into a lacrima and transporting it somewhere else, and we just now returned it to rights?"
"Yes, I suppose that would work." Makarov nodded. "As for the council… we might as well tell them the whole story, although they don't really deserve it after keeping the Anime situation under wraps and covering up the disappearances of entire towns."
"Aren't we doing the same thing?" Mira asked with a sweet smile.
"But only after we fixed the problem!"
Mira and Makarov got into a debate on the morals of covering things up and such, and everyone began to drift away. After that, a group of Fairy Tail wizards was put together to go out and tell everyone in Magnolia the story they had concocted to help everyone calm down. As for the mages who had actually gone to Edolas, they were given some vacation time to rest and recover from the ordeal… a reward that Lucy was only too happy to indulge in.
…
The first night back, she took a long hot bath and collapsed face first into bed with Natsu and Happy, who were out like a light along with her. They all slept like logs for a full 12 hours.
When Lucy finally woke, it was to the very familiar sensation of Natsu coiled around her in every way possible and acting like an overactive space heater. A less familiar sensation she experienced upon awakening, was the warm furry presence of Happy sleeping on her head. He normally slept in his own little cat bed next to hers, but it seemed that they'd all just piled into bed together and collapsed in a heap. It wasn't the most comfortable position in the world for any of them, and she wondered how she had managed to sleep through it. Reaching up, she shoved Happy off her head, and he slid down the pillow, still sound asleep somehow.
Once free of her unanticipated blue hat, she struggled to sit up – having to disentangle herself from Natsu as she went – and proceeded to spit out a surprising amount of blue fur. Natsu woke when she attempted to remove herself from bed entirely. He yawned with a slightly inhuman sound and then smacked his lips and looked around blearily.
"Oh yeah…we're back home. Cool."
She just laughed at him. "You're such a weirdo."
"Yeah, but I'm your weirdo."
"Can't argue with that!" she said with a smile, and ducked to give him a good morning kiss.
…
For the next week or so, everyone worked on settling back into normalcy. Natsu of course recovered faster than anyone and seemed to practically forget the whole thing… or at least he shrugged it off like it was nothing. To him perhaps it was nothing, since he was from a different world to begin with. But for everyone else, it took more than a couple of days to assimilate.
They were kept relatively busy though, particularly when the Council came to Magnolia and asked a lot of questions. Then, they took everyone who had actually gone to Edolas back with them to Crocus and asked even more questions.
Mostly, they answered every question with complete honesty, but there was one thing that Master Makarov had asked them to fib about. For some reason, he didn't want them to mention Mystogen at all in their reports to the Council. And of course, they followed his directions to the letter and completely omitted Mystogen from any and all answers they gave the Council.
As for the questioning itself, it was an overall extremely frustrating experience.
The questioners seemed to be intent on treating them almost like criminals, as if they thought that Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Gajeel, Laxus, Gray, and Erza were somehow responsible for everything that had happened. They insisted on refusing to believe everything that the Fairy Tail mages told them about Anima and Edolas, and it almost seemed like they were trying to pin the whole thing on Fairy Tail.
The first day of it was bad enough, and then after a second day of being asked the same stupid questions, Lucy was ready to kick someone. When she went into the questioning room on the third day, she was already in a bad mood from the very start. As she sat down, her teeth gritted harshly and she mentally prepared herself to go through hell again…doing her very best to convince herself that violence was not going to get her out of this mess.
Some young officer type fellow sat across from her on the other side of a sterile metal table and pulled out her file.
"Alright, let's go over your statements from yesterday and the day before." he said as he rustled some papers.
"You claimed that all of Magnolia was sucked up into some sort of giant vacuum cleaner called an 'Anima.' There, the entire city was turned into an enormous lacrima and spat out in another world called 'Edolas.' You, and some other members of the magic guild known as Fairy Tail, were left behind due to dragon magic being incompatible with the 'Anima.' Most of the mages who were left behind were dragon slayers, aside from you and…Natsu is it? Ah, yes. Natsu Dragneel. You stated that he is a celestial spirit contracted to you, and that you are a celestial mage. You also stated that he is a … 'celestial fire dragon?'"
At her nod, he continued. "You stated that he loaned you his 'celestial fire dragon magic,' which allowed you to stay behind as well. Along with you, two magic cats known as 'Exceeds' also remained, due to the fact that they originally came from 'Edolas' and therefore were immune to 'Anima.' The…seven of you then proceeded to jump through the 'Anima' without turning into crystals and were transported to 'Edolas.' Once there, you all found the lacrima, transformed it back into people and buildings, and then sent it back through a portal to our world…where it was all put back like it was supposed to be. That about cover it?"
"Yes…" Lucy sighed, exasperated with this guy. He was a different questioner from yesterday, which was even more annoying, and he obviously didn't believe her one little bit. She could practically hear the air quotes around half the words he'd just read off her statement.
He nodded and grabbed a pen for taking today's statements. "So…the giant lacrima was just…lying around on the other side of the 'Anima'?"
"No, we had to find it."
"I see." He scribbled something and then flipped through some pages of the file. "And where was it?"
"Hidden on a floating island."
"Mm-Hmm…a 'floating island'…I see. And who hid it?"
Breathing in deeply through her nose didn't help to sooth her irritation too much, but it was worth a try. "King Faust."
"Ah. Yes. So it was the 'king' of this alternate dimension who was responsible for stealing Magnolia." He scribbled something down, and then asked, "And what was his motive for doing so? Was he planning to invade Fiore? Or…"
"No. He took Magnolia because it held a large concentration of mages."
"And he was targeting mages because…?"
"Once they had been turned into a lacrima, he could access all their magical power and use it for himself. Edolas is relatively low in magic power, and nobody there is born with it. Instead the magic they use is embedded into magical devises."
"Alright." He hummed and did some more note-taking. "So you're saying he was simply power hungry, is that correct?"
"Yes. Essentially. He wanted to horde all the magic for himself and use it in large magical weapons."
"Magical weapons? Who was he fighting?"
"He wanted to take over Extalia, the homeland of the Exceeds. They are the magical cats I mentioned, and they are the only race in Edolas that has inborn magic. He wanted to take them over, capture them, and then take their magic."
He pursed his lips. "So…the 'king' of this … mysterious alternate dimension… stole Magnolia and turned it into a 'lacrima crystal.' He then planned to use the crystal's magic to make 'weapons'… which he then planned to use against a race of 'magical cats.'"
She just groaned, sensing the overwhelming sarcasm in his tone. "Yes…that's correct."
The only thing she could figure they were trying to accomplish by asking so many inane questions, was that they wanted to find some discrepancies between all of their stories and catch them in a lie. And it was getting incredibly tiresome. Really, she was shocked that something hadn't exploded yet, because somewhere nearby Natsu was going through the same tedious process.
The thought did manage to cheer her up somewhat. Picturing him blowing a fuse and burning down the building did a lot to sooth her frazzled nerves…. For some strange reason.
And so, she continued answering stupid question after stupid question, for hours.
She very nearly punched him though when he asked, "Did the Fairy Tail guild play any part at all in the disappearance of Magnolia?"
That seemed to be a favorite question of theirs, because it had been asked in several different variations over the last couple of days, and she was sick of hearing it.
"No! The only thing we did was return it!" she replied for what felt like the hundredth time…even though it was probably only the fifth or sixth.
"I see…" he scribbled some more and then flipped to a new page. "And do the disappearances of Tuly Village, Lupinus Town, Jennifer Hill, Daniel Park, and Marjoram Winley ring any bells?"
"Those are some of the places and people that Anima consumed before Fairy Tail. We were mapping them out and trying to find a pattern before one took Fairy Tail."
"So you were aware of this 'Anima' before it attacked Magnolia?"
"Yes, we were tracking it and trying to figure out how to stop it."
"I see…and where were you at the time of their disappearances?"
"Where was I? I haven't got a clue! Probably either on a mission or in Magnolia."
"I will need to know your whereabouts for these dates." He shoved a list at her, and she glanced it over. The dates went back to before she had even returned from Tenrou Island.
Scowling, she took the pen and drew a line. "Before this date, I was in a coma on Tenrou Island. And then…" she thought hard about the other dates and was able to dredge up the approximate missions she would have been on at those times.
He looked over the sheet once she was done, and then tucked it into her file. "Very well. Now, let's discuss Tenrou Island."
That took her aback. She wasn't expecting Tenrou Island to come up at all, and she frowned. "What about Tenrou Island?"
"Magnolia's disappearance isn't the first time that your guild has been responsible for the disappearance of a large amount of land."
Seeing where he was going with this, she gritted her teeth, feeling irritation turn into anger. "Tenrou Island is not connected to these other disappearances. In that case, we were under attack and an ancient protective spell got unintentionally activated."
She contemplated saying something about Tartarus, and how it was actually responsible for both incidents, but figured that bringing in yet another world/dimension to her story would just make it sound less credible.
…
Even more hours passed as they went back and forth like this, until Lucy was about ready to pull out her own hair. By the time she left, she was positively pissed off – more so than she could remember being in a long time. The fact that these idiots were trying to pin everything on Fairy Tail – and had even tried to connect Tenrou Island to it of all things – was driving her up the wall. Having anyone insult her guild was a sure-fire way to make Lucy mad as hell, so accusing them of something as ridiculous as this was certain to drive her batty.
Natsu was also in a distinctly bad mood when first coming out of his questioning room – which amusingly let out a wave of heat as the door opened. In his irritation, he must have accidentally turned the interrogation room into a furnace through sheer body heat, and the funny notion was confirmed when a sweat-drenched questioner staggered out after him. Steaming mad was an understatement when used in conjunction with Natsu, but of course as soon as he saw Lucy, his entire demeanor shifted to happy.
They met the others as everyone made their way out of the courthouse, and they all decided to go out for dinner together. It was a very quick dinner though, because they were all eager to head back to their respective hotel rooms and get some much-needed sleep. They were probably in for another long day of answering pointless questions tomorrow.
By the time Natsu and Lucy were back in their hotel room with full stomachs, she was moderately less irritable, but still found herself pacing a little as she walked around the room getting ready for bed.
"I just can't believe them! They're acting like it's somehow our fault and that we're trying to cover it up with a big make-believe story. I mean, who would come up with a story like this as a coverup anyways?! It's too unbelievable! We should have just fed them all the same lines we gave to the people of Magnolia. And you won't believe this…they actually tried to attach Tenrou Island's disappearance to it all too! It's like they just want to pin the world's problems on Fairy Tail and treat us like some kind of scapegoat!"
Her rant was cut up into small phrases as she went in and out of the bathroom. By the time she had her pajamas on, her teeth brushed, and her makeup off, she was all fired up again with pent-up frustration.
Natsu just sat on the bed and watched her, his head swiveling like a bobble head and following her back and forth across the room. It was probably a good thing that Happy and Carla had stayed at the guild … Happy might have gotten scared by her ranting. Sometimes he did, other times he didn't.
As for Natsu, he was trying to decide whether to be entertained, frustrated alongside her, or turned on.
On the one hand, he knew Lucy was pissed – and those stupid questioners had irritated the hell out of him too. But at the same time, seeing Lucy pacing and growling was also pretty interesting. It definitely had its funny parts – like when she'd come out of the bathroom with her toothbrush sticking out of her mouth and said a few choice words with foam sneaking out around her teeth.
He couldn't stop himself from laughing at that one, and when she got pissed, all he'd been able to say was, "Can't help it Luce…. you look rabid with all that toothpaste."
She'd snorted – which apparently got toothpaste up her nose somehow – and that had caused a whole scene as she darted back into the bathroom and spent the next few minutes choking, coughing, and sneezing frantically. That hadn't seemed to help her mood any either.
In fact, her mood went practically draconic, and the rant turned into rage at absolutely nothing and everything all at once. It looked like she was ready to wage war on the entire world for no reason – which he also found pretty hilarious – but by that point, another feeling was starting to assault him too.
Admiration and awe.
He couldn't help but admire the beauty of her fury, as strange as that probably sounded. But for a dragon, seeing all that passion and fire was fucking beautiful. He'd always been impressed by her temper, and it had always lit an answering fire in him …. as long as he wasn't on the receiving end of her anger. Angry Lucy was terrifying when he was the target.
But right now, watching her work herself up into a lather was a major turn on. Sweat built up on her skin, increasing her scent to the point where he started breathing through his mouth to catch a taste. Her agitated pacing and nearly violent gestures made him wanna pin her to the bed…just to see if she would fight back. The idea of that made his dick twitch, and he bit his lip and squinted his eyes in pleasure.
Maybe he was weird, or maybe it was a dragon thing, but at this particular moment he was definitely getting 'fired up.'
Natsu was many things, but shy wasn't one of them. Neither was thinking things through. Mostly he was impulsive and went with what his gut told him, and right now his gut was balled up with the kind of fire that he wanted to share with Lucy in every conceivable manner.
So…he went with it.
Meanwhile, Lucy was seeing red – and that was pretty much all she was seeing. So, when her pacing path was suddenly blocked by a hard and very unmovable chest, she was not expecting it. Predictably, she walked right into Natsu, her nose bumping into his collarbone. She was mad enough that she immediately brought up both palms and slapped them onto his chest. Then she shoved – hard – intending to remove him from her path so she could continue to stomp around and vent.
He didn't budge. Instead, rough palms latched onto her biceps and gripped her hard, pulling her even closer to him and refusing to let her even push herself back.
"What are you doing?! Move!" she spat, pissed and not really seeing Natsu in front of her. All she saw at the moment was an obstacle.
Again, he didn't move… he didn't even seem fazed actually. When he dipped his head down to her ear level, hot breath brushed her neck and shoulder, and she jerked back – definitely not in the mood.
And then he shocked her by murmuring, "You've sure got a hot temper there, Luce. It's firing me up."
The words were said almost too low for her to pick them up, so she was forced to strain to decipher them. There was also a discernable growl underlining his tone that she was pretty sure she'd only heard a few times before…and only when things had gotten particularly rough.
Her jaw dropped, and her eyes popped open wide, startled out of her foul mood for a long moment as she absorbed what had just happened. Natsu was turned on by her getting mad! She honestly didn't know what to think about that.
The adrenaline currently coursing through her wasn't gone though, and so the anger returned as soon as her shock passed. Suddenly, her irritation was partly directed at him for being so audacious. She couldn't believe he was turned on by her tirade…. It was almost insulting, like he didn't care about her long list of grievances or why they bothered her.
And if heat had suddenly sparked to life and settled low in her gut…. well, she just wasn't going to deal with it at the moment.
Instead, she reared back sharply enough that he flinched and pulled his head back up too. Their eyes met, and she did her very best to ignore the heated black burn in his charcoal gaze.
"I can't believe you! How can you be getting a hard on at my frustration?! That's just rude! Don't you even care about what we've all been put through today?! Didn't those jackasses piss you off? Or is being held here in Crocus all fun and games for you? Do you take anything seriously?" she hissed, her tone poisonous and offended.
His eyes cleared for a moment and he fixed her with an unamused stare. "Of course I care. And those idiots pissed me off just as badly as you – probably more. You know I don't have the patience to deal with stupid stuff like that." he snorted, a puff of smoke escaping one nostril.
"Then why are you sporting an erection?!"
She could clearly feel it pressed against her belly right now, and it hadn't diminished in the slightest.
All of a sudden, his expression changed to one of absolute innocence, and she might have even bought it… if the situation was different and she couldn't see the sparkle in his eyes. His sudden mercurial switch in emotions was also paired with a change in the conversation.
"You know … you seem to have a lot of energy … like you can't sit still."
"I'm PACING! Because I'm MAD!" she seethed.
A lick of that previous fire made a brief appearance in his eyes before he tamed it. "Yeah…that. So…with all that pent-up energy, I'd say you could use an outlet. Like, a punching bag or something."
She was smart, but exasperation and anger had made her wits a bit dull, and she honestly couldn't see where this was going. He couldn't be asking her to punch him could he? Was he secretly masochistic or something?
"Damn it Natsu, would you get to the point already?"
She jerked, pushing against his chest again with her palms and trying to put some space between them. His heat was starting to affect her, and she had already been sweating from how mad she'd gotten. Getting hotter wasn't making her feel any calmer.
Suddenly a grin started sneaking across his lips, and that glint in his eyes sharpened. "I know a better way to work off all that excess energy."
She'd walked right into that one, and she really should have expected it when his head dipped and lips claimed hers. She accepted the kiss but kept her lips tightly shut and grumbled into it, not pleased, despite her body's automatic positive response. Frankly that only made her madder.
As soon as he released her mouth, she growled. "I'm really not in the mood right now Natsu!"
Once again, his lips ducked down and he whispered – more like growled – into her ear. "You're really hot when you're pissed."
"Oh for the love of-" She cut off on a sucked-in breath through her teeth when his mouth attacked her neck. It felt good of course and derailed her train of thought, despite her mood not really improving. The heat of her temper just took a slightly different path through her body.
"Natsu…" She dragged out his name in warning. "I just said I wasn't in the mood for-"
She was interrupted yet again when Natsu suddenly did three things in quick succession that shut her down. First, he yanked her to him using his grip on her arms and pressed her upper body against his, while his tail wrapped around her leg and tethered her lower body. Second, his mouth opened and a burning tongue licked up her neck. And finally, he bit down, but the wide set of his jaws left plenty of space for him to breathe fire on her skin, which licked out from the corners of his mouth and tickled down her neck all the way to her shoulder.
Her brain went totally blank for the space of several seconds, and she responded the way her body wanted to… by gripping his shirt and arching into it all. As soon as the fire stopped though, she remembered that she was mad at him. The fact that he was still pushing – even after she'd said no – pushed some buttons that she didn't know she had… some of them making her angry and others making her wet, which was weird and confusing. By far the easier emotion to qualify was the anger, so she went with that, since it seemed to be the theme of the night.
So, she clenched her fists into his shirt even more, but used that grip to try and shake some sense into him. His head came up so he could stare down at her again, and she addressed him in an angry – if breathless – tone.
"Damnit Natsu! What do I have to do to make you understand that sex is not happening tonight?! I'm tired, I'm pissed … it's obviously not an appropriate time!"
"You don't look tired to me…" he rasped, his eyes doing a sweep over what he could see – which included her heaving boobs. She flushed, mostly with irritation. Before she could comment though, he was adding to his previous remark. "In fact, you look like you're about to go ballistic. Why don't you use me as a release for all that anger?"
There was an edge to that suggestion, one that was heated with sex and lust, and Lucy almost fell for it. It made a weird sort of sense, but she just didn't quite comprehend what he was talking about yet. Angry sex still seemed like a foreign and bad idea to her…. Wasn't it some kind of abuse or something? Even considering it made her feel a little guilty, like it just wasn't something she was supposed to do.
Right as she was parting her lips to say some of these things, Natsu's lips crashed down on hers. He took full advantage of her open mouth and shoved his tongue in, which prompted an all-out tongue war as she did her very best to shove the slippery devil back out. His arms flashed, switching positions faster than she could track, and suddenly one hard hand was on the back of her head and the other arm was wrapped tightly around her back, holding her glued to him.
She tried to push him back, but failed, and so it was up to her mouth to get him to back off. She wasn't exactly winning there either though, and her irritation at the situation began to merge into the heat her body was shaking with now. By the time his fire spilled over into her mouth, her hands had switched to grabbing fistfuls of his pink hair. Horns filled her palms and she latched on as he growled into her mouth.
When the burning taste of even hotter flames filled her mouth though, she used her grip on his head to finally separate their lips as she realized that this was spiraling out of control. He didn't go without a fight though. Despite her yanking on his horns, his lips pressed back against hers, and this time she retaliated with a bite.
The bite must have shocked him, because he jerked back - all wide dark eyes and heavy breath - and for a brief second, she thought that maybe she'd finally made her point. But then a nearly feral grin took over his face, and she suddenly knew that things had only gotten worse – especially when his black eyes flashed burning gold.
"Yeah…like that. Vent on me, Luce."
She'd never heard of physically venting, but she supposed biting must qualify. Honestly though, he'd deserved the nip for being so damn pushy.
By now she didn't know where her anger ended and where her lust began, and it was a really confusing mix. She wasn't sure she liked it. However, the deeper they delved into this…thing – whatever it was – the more she wanted to explore it. The past few days had been hell, and if this was any indication, her frustration had gotten pent up a lot more than she'd thought. Or maybe he'd just stoked her fires intentionally because he thought it was hot for some weird reason. Either way, she felt herself falling headfirst into it.
As his head dove down again, her fingers loosened without her permission, and she only had enough time to mutter, "…damnit," before her lips were sealed with his once again.
This time the kiss was still angry and nearly violent, but she wasn't trying to shove his tongue out of her mouth. It was more of a give and take wrestling match, and her anger shifted in her gut. Some part of her said, "All right, he wants me to use him to vent my anger…he asked for it."
When they naturally separated for air, it was brief and filled with gasps from them both as they stumbled towards the bed. The only speaking done was Lucy snarling, "Fine."
The word was met with a sharp-toothed grin from Natsu as he growled, "Good," against her lips in response.
Then clothes started to fly through the air like deadly projectiles. They managed to knock over a lamp with Natsu's balled-up coat, and one of his sandals banged against the wall and probably left a small dent. It certainly left a skid mark. Meanwhile, one of her high heels missed the mirror by a dangerously slim margin.
Neither of them was exactly gentle about anything, and as they tumbled into bed Natsu's head slammed into the headboard with a sound that made Lucy pause for a moment as she wondered if one or the other had been broken. When she glanced up, she noted a new splintered gouge in the headboard where a dragon's horn had ripped it a new one. Natsu though was apparently fine, which he let her know by tearing off the shoulder of her tank top with his teeth, and the rest fell away as ashes. She yelped and then protested.
"Natsu! Stop destroying my clothes!"
This wasn't the first time he'd burned away a garment or ripped one. Her irritation sparked higher than her lust for a moment as she glared hotly at him.
He grinned unrepentantly, a little piece of blackened material caught on his fang. "Only when you stop wearing them!"
"I'm not Gray!"
Saying Gray's name while she was in bed with Natsu might have been a very dumb move on her part, because suddenly his eyes flashed, and rough hands hooked under the sides of her underwear – easily ripping through it and then yanking it out from under her butt. His pants had already been left somewhere between here and there – or they might have possibly been dangling from one of his ankles – but whatever the case, Lucy abruptly came into direct contact with his burning core. With a hiss, she bucked against him, unable to help herself as her v-zone ground down onto his superheated erection.
"Unless you want me to get pissed too, don't say that Ice Prick's name right now."
She wasn't given a chance to respond, because her mouth was dragged down with a hand on the back of her head. The kiss consumed her, and soon they were engaged in another battle of teeth, tongue, lips, breath, and fire. His hips rolled, making her shudder each time as he pressed up hard against all her very sensitive bits.
When she really couldn't breathe, his mouth moved to her neck and then down to her chest, making it difficult to breathe for a different reason. Her hands dug into pink hair and she grabbed fistfuls, clenching hard as he proceeded to drive her nuts with his talented mouth. After a moment of that though, she suddenly remembered that she was still supposed to be mad at him for all this nonsense, and with a grunt, she grabbed onto his horns and yanked him away from her. He made a sound between a growl and a yelp as he tipped backwards, and she used his slight surprise to gain the upper hand and shove him flat onto his back on the bed.
He lay back, panting hard and staring up at her with slightly wide eyes…and then his lips curled up into a slightly smug and taunting grin. His gaze went heated again as the surprise melted away, and she could practically see the self-satisfied twinkle in them as he smirked up at her.
"Come on Luce…is that all you've got? I thought you were mad…." he goaded, obviously much too pleased with himself.
She narrowed her eyes at him, dark amusement tickling her emotional state. Lust sat heavy in her gut, and mild irritation still shivered through her system…. So taunting her wasn't the best idea right now. For a brief second, she contemplated pretending to call an end to their activities, just to see how he would react to a sudden stop. Of course it would be an idle threat, since she had no intention of stopping.
She was distracted from her thoughts though, when his tail wound around her thigh, and she shuddered at the silky glide against her sensitive skin. Her hand shot down on instinct and she caught the offending red appendage as it slid out from between her legs and went for another pass. Giving it a tug and pulling it further out, she gave it an angry squeeze for being so impudent.
Natsu's cockiness instantly vanished as his eyes squeezed shut with pleasure, and his mouth fell open on a loud gasp. He arched and bucked sharply under her, groaning loudly, "Ah! … Luce … that's … shit! Feels so good…"
Heat stung her sharply in the groin at the sight of him at her mercy – as cheesy as that would have sounded to her sane mind. Right now though, she was consumed by lust, aggravation, and a very interesting kind of amusement that she wasn't sure she'd ever felt before. Cliché or not, she was thoroughly enjoying the sight of him writhing in her grip, and all thoughts of stopping flew out of her mind. She had a much better idea now.
With a grin, she followed through with her plan and tightened her grip on him before vigorously rubbing, squeezing, and tugging on his tail. With another yelp-like sound, his hands landed hard on her hips as he twisted under her, his tail arching stiff and trembling in her grip. After a few moments of that, she shifted down his thighs a bit and removed one of her hands from his tail… moving it to his erection instead.
The pillow under his head was immediately sacrificed to their pleasure and got thoroughly shredded by his horns as he tossed his head from one side to the other, his neck arched and straining with tension as he bucked. Words tumbled from his lips, mostly bit-off cusses, pleas, praise, and her name.
"Shit…Luce…feels so…I'm gonna…fuck…Luce…please don't…oh shit, don't stop…oh god…Luce!"
Then with a roar - which was thankfully only accompanied by a little bit of flame - he arched tight and came across his stomach. She watched as fire zipped across his whole body, originating from the tip of his penis and then flashing across him, lingering especially hot in his hands, tail, and groin. And of course fire spilled out of his mouth on every heavy exhale. His cum was boiling hot too, and they had to be careful that it didn't land on anything too flammable or meltable.
This was why she had a fire extinguishing lacrima always at hand on the bedside table these days. Even before he shuddered to a stop, she had reached to grab the little crystal sprayer and was spraying down the bed and him, putting out all the little fires that had started.
By this point, her anger had tapered off, but she was still plenty frustrated and hugely aroused. So, as soon as their surroundings were no longer in danger, she shifted herself. One hand was still on his erection, and with a little adjusting she was able to sink down onto his length easily. She was certainly wet enough for it.
A fascinating squeak escaped him, and then it quickly turned into a full-throated moan as she started moving.
After that, she took the role of an angry bull rider…. but that lasted all of a few minutes before euphoria began to cut through any true irritation that might have remained. Making love to Natsu was one of her favorite things in the world…. so it was almost impossible to stay annoyed. She didn't really slow down though, because the almost violent pounding actually felt pretty damn good… although it was starting to wear on her thighs. Natsu certainly enjoyed it and bucked up into her, meeting every one of her thrusts with an equally powerful one.
It was just barely not painful – but was definitely edging into discomfort the longer it went on. A sharp twinge went through her belly as he continued to bottom out in her and repeatedly smacked into her cervix probably harder than was really good for it. It felt so good though, that she didn't want to stop.
Something wound tight in her belly, and her hips curved into it, pushing down harder so she could rub herself against his pelvic bone on every downward thrust. Soon, grinding was thrown into the mix, and she started to slow down just a little. That tension coiled tighter – which meant she was approaching release – but it wasn't quite enough. Her hands were braced on his chest for stability, so it was only natural that when her fingers clenched, she ended up digging her fingernails into his skin.
His hands wrapped around her wrists, squeezing hard for a moment as he bucked up even harsher than before, obviously turned on by her scratches.
"Fuck…do that again…tells me that you're losing it…god…show me how good you feel…damn…so fucking sexy Luce…" As usual, his mouth had been running the whole time, phrases dropping from his lips that only spiked the flames in her belly.
His hands flew to her waist when she did what he asked and scratched him from collarbone to belly button. A deep growl ripped out of his chest, and he bucked like a wild thing. His tail clamped tight around her, coiling up her body until it terminated around one breast. With the vice-like grip, she ceased being able to bounce on him, but he made up for that by pistoning up into her like a jack hammer, setting an even faster pace than she had.
It was a relief almost, because her thighs finally gave out and turned to trembling jelly…. partially due to the pleasure swarming her senses. Loud sounds escaped her lips, and she completely relaxed into his hold, letting him take the lead now and thoroughly on board for whatever ride he wanted to give her.
It wasn't long before Natsu's legendarily short patience ran out, and fire tipped fingers landed on her clit. "Alright…time to cum now Luce…" he growled, sounding almost exasperated.
She gasped and bucked as the fire immediately set the ball rolling, and his words just pushed her off the cliff she was already teetering on. It never failed. Dragon fire against her clit would send her into an orgasm within seconds of touching her.
It gave a whole new meaning to trigger finger syndrome, because Natsu had definitely developed it.
Of course, convulsing in orgasm put a hitch in her get-along, so it was a good thing that she wasn't in charge of maintaining their rhythm anymore. As it was, she was barely able to keep herself upright, and the only reason she stayed in her seat was the grip of Natsu's tail around her.
A sharp groan from him told her that he'd felt her contractions, and his hips bucked up and froze tight against her. Just in case she had any doubts though, he plainly told her that he could feel her orgasm… amidst plenty of cussing, praises, and other random statements of fact.
As usual, his explicit dialogue – which wasn't really 'dirty talk,' so much as a stream of consciousness that spewed from his mouth uncontrollably – sent heat spearing through her.
After a few seconds of sitting still, he flipped them – his tail keeping them locked together. His lips sealed over hers, shutting him up and spilling fire down her throat, which instantly revved her engines back up to full speed. She groaned into the kiss and swallowed his flames, her belly burning and her legs tightening around him as aftershocks quaked her whole body. There wasn't really any coming down from her high, so much as getting caught halfway down and then dragged right back up. The knowledge of what was coming only made her clench tighter on him and rock back up into his thrusts, picking up the rhythm again.
Sure enough, soon his thrusts started getting harder and his fire hotter, and then he seized up and came. With it, was the normal rush of heat that blasted her into another orgasm, and they swallowed each other's cries.
Sneak Peek
When she reached Mira, she was pleasantly surprised to find herself behind Laxus and Natsu – who were eagerly talking to the white-haired barmaid about some sort of job as well.
"Hey, you guys got a lead?"
Natsu turned and gave her a big grin. "Yeah! We did! One of Laxus's contacts is working in the police force over there, and he just reported that there was a break-in at the jail. Remember that Angel chick that you beat the snot out of? She was taken from her cell. Since she's a celestial wizard, it could be related."
"Definitely sounds like it's worth checking out…" Lucy mused, and then realized something. "Oh! Hey! Look, I found a mission in Crocus too! Mind if I tag along with you two? We can split up for our different missions of course, but it would be cool to have some company."