Chapter 14: Confessions

AN: Been a while, please enjoy.

Natsu smiled softly while watching Lisanna hum to herself while she cooked at the stove. It was a late dinner from after she had helped him and Myou move back in. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to visit you when I was last in town."

Lisanna gave a smile back to him from her spot at the stove. "I understand, Mira told me about why you were in such a rush. Besides, I didn't come visit you either, so it's fair on both sides."

Natsu hummed and made his way up behind her to wrap his arms around her middle. "I missed you, Lis. Talking to you through the lacrima isn't' the same as this." He buried his face into her hair.

"We've both been busy, you don't have to worry about that. You're back now, that's what matters." Lisanna leaned back against him while she cooked.

"Ya know, Myou's demanding I make a new team for missions." Natsu kissed the top of her head before releasing her and grabbing a couple of plates as she finished up.

"My offer still stands from earlier." After plating up the food they sat down across from one another to eat.

Natsu mulled over his words while he ate. "That's kind of why I'm bringing it up. I want you to join me. I'm planning on asking Erza too, she needs something to distract her still."

"You're not trying to woo her, are you?" Lisanna sent a small glare over at her boyfriend.

Natsu deadpanned at the woman across from him. "I'm already not very comfortable with what's already going on, I don't need to throw another girl into the mix. So no, I'm not planning on wooing her too."

"Good. Wouldn't be much of a break in dating if you went off and dated someone else." Lisanna looked happy with herself which confused Natsu a little bit.

"She'd probably stab me if I even hinted at that anyways," He mumbled to himself.

"Really though, are you sure? You said you wanted to take a break from all this to get your head clear." Her smile was defeated the hesitance in her voice.

"Not to put a damper on the night we're having so far, but I have to ask. Are you really okay with all of this? We haven't really talked about the whole thing going on since it started and I've been meaning to talk to you about it." Natsu picked up their plates and quickly cleaned them before taking Lisanna's hand and pulling her out the door with him for a walk while she got her thoughts together.

"Honestly I can't but help compare what we've been doing with what my sister has been telling me about what you two have done. She let slip a couple of times that she was meeting you when you were at Sabertooth." Lisanna admitted.

Natsu nodded in understanding. "I wasn't asking her to come out to Sabertooth, but I'll admit that she helped me vent a little. I was losing myself to drinking and she gave me someone to vent to. I couldn't drop everything on Myou and with what has been happening with my emotional outbursts, drinking was a quick fix."

"She's always been like that though." Lisanna leaned into Natsu's side as they walked. "She always seems to know when people need to talk and she's so kind… I'm not like that at all and I feel like I'm falling behind to her."

Natsu stopped and turned to Lisanna in worry. "She wasn't doing it because it was me, she does that for everyone. She shows a constant state of calm that people want to talk in her presence. She may be a tease and like to poke fun at people, but we all know she wouldn't say anything to anyone about what we talk about. It's just how she is, you have nothing to worry about."

"But I want to be that person that you come to, that person that you feel comfortable enough to talk about these things to." Lisanna pleaded. "If you can't come to me with issues right now, how will you be able to come to me if we end up together?"

"I didn't come to anyone to talk." Natsu rubbed a hand against her cheek. "I didn't seek her out, she just seemed to know."

"But I didn't, even when we talked, I couldn't see that all of this was eating away at you." She was in tears now and it gnawed at Natsu's heart. "She's got so much going for her that I can't even compare to, she's even helping Myou with her magic! They are so close and I don't have anything like that going on!"

Natsu smiled gently and rubbed the woman's cheek. "You really see it that way?"

Lisanna sniffed and nodded, gripping the hand on her cheek with both of her own as if he would disappear if she let go.

"Let me tell you what I see. When I started telling the kids at the orphanage about the mages that I knew from Fairy Tail, all of my friends I had growing up, you were the first one that I told them about. I told them about how you helped me raise Happy to be the strong independent cat that he is today." He stared into her ocean blue eyes. "You were so worried about me when I told you that I might not be able to bring her home, that you jumped ship immediately and tried to do everything you could to help me. You were there with me when I set up her room and even went with me to bring her home."

Natsu could feel water pooling up in the corners of his eyes as he went on. "Since then you have been a constant in our lives that I don't even know how to express how happy it makes me when I see you with Myou. She clings to you whenever you're around, she talks to you when she's having a bad day or something is confusing her. Your sister may see when people need to talk, but Myou goes to you. She trusts that you'll help her" He wiped away at a tear that escaped his left eye with a weak chuckle. "I'm not dumb, but I'm not smart either. So, when I see you huddled off with her helping her learn how to write better and other academic things… It warms my heart. And you can't even see that you're doing it."

Lisanna was smiling now, but he had to keep going, he had to make sure she could see everything that he did. "I don't have to hide how I feel around you, any of you. You are all there for me whenever I need it, and I don't expect you to take care of me. I don't expect any of you to see when I'm having a bad day and to just fix it for me. That's on me to come to you, to know that I have to talk to you when I'm feeling down."

Lisanna nodded and gave a weak chuckle. Natsu pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. "If anything, I'm the one that isn't doing enough for you. I haven't been reassuring you enough, I haven't been making you feel as loved as I should. I've been so worried about how I feel with all of this, that I'm not taking the time to make sure you are all okay. This can't be easy on any of you, as you've shown me today. I need to do better."

"You're doing fine." Lisanna pushed back to stare into his eyes. "You always put us before yourself and you do everything you can to make sure that we don't take anything too far so we'll regret it. Most guys would jump at the chance to have three women begging for attention, but you're trying to find the best way to tell two of us off. Do you know how refreshing that is? You don't look at us like toys or someone to warm your bed."

Natsu wiped the tears from Lisanna's cheeks and smiled affectionately down at her. "I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't fighting against everything that's telling me to give in and push things to the next level. You are all absurdly attractive and it gets to me far more than I let on." At Lisanna's smirk he shook his head. "There's a reason I have to take cold showers every morning and it has nothing to do with my heritage."

"I know I don't exactly stack up to Mira or Milliana, but thank you. It's nice to know I'm wanted sexually." She admitted.

"Your sister certainly has her qualities. She has tits for days." He flushed slightly at that. "She finds a way to make everyday things sexual whenever I'm around, I see it. Milliana is no slouch either, and I can tell she isn't trying. She's got an exotic aura around her with her cat-like features, I'll admit that. You though, have something that neither of them do."

Lisanna looked skeptical and somewhat off-put at how he had described his two other girlfriends. "And what exactly do you find attractive about me?"

"Well-"

"Be specific."

"Do you ever notice that I like to let you and Myou walk ahead of me? It isn't just so I can watch out for you two." Slowly he pushed Lisanna off the trail and into the trees until her back was pressed up against the rough bark of a particularly large tree. "You're always wearing those damn short skirts or those shorts that aren't hiding anything from anyone that looks."

Lisanna's gasp filled his stomach with a fire as he grabbed her by her by her ass tightly and picked her up, pinning her to the tree with his own body. "You clearly spend extra time working out if those muscles in your legs are anything to go by. You have absolutely no idea how hard it is to hold myself back even when I really don't want to." He squeezed his hands tightly against the pliable flesh he held, making Lisanna hiss sharply and she was sure that she would have bruises, but that only added to the appeal. "Your eyes show so much emotion it's hard not do get drawn in. Every time I catch you looking at me I can't help but feel exposed, like you're seeing more of me than anyone else has. It scares me how much I like it."

Lisanna groaned and pressed her forehead to Natsu's. "I know exactly how you feel. You may think your not being obvious with your stares but I've seen the hunger in them. I've had to stop myself from climbing into your bed at night to see how far I could push you before I broke your resolve. I want nothing more than to have you pressed up against me like this and let you have your way with me, Natsu. It's just as hard on us as it is on you. The amount of cold showers I've endured, and the things I've heard from my sister's room? Absolute torture. No one is going to complain if we take things further, all three of us want you, you're the only one that needs to make the decision, Natsu."

Natsu shuddered, his mind going to places he really didn't want them going right now. "That's why we have to take a break. I don't want to make you, Mira, or Mili feel obligated to jump into my bed to keep up with the others. It's not right! If I'm honest, I'm afraid once we pass that point, we can't be friends anymore."

"That isn't… going to happen…. we won't let it." She whispered between heavy breaths.

"Can you tell me that if I slept with Mili or your sister then I decided that I wanted to spend forever with you that you wouldn't look back and wonder, any time I was alone with them, that I wasn't doing something behind your back? Is there even a chance that you would always feel resentful of me because of it?"

Lisanna pulled him in for a fiery kiss. Natsu didn't question it and kissed her back, gripping her tightly. When they broke apart Lisanna looked down at him conflicted. "If you aren't going to take me right now, you need to let me down. I want to say that it wouldn't matter if it meant you would fuck me right now, but I need a clearer mind before I can answer that. My hormones are running too high right now, the answer I give might not be how I really feel. Before today, my answer would have been yes that I trust you, and it's even more of a yes right now, now that I know how badly you want me. But I need a little time to truly answer, is that okay?"

Natsu leaned in and kissed her again, much more gently this time, before stepping back and letting her down. "That's why I don't want to rush any of this. I know I'm attracted to you, but that isn't enough. If we do this, there's a chance that, even if we end up together, I could lose you. I can't lose you; you mean too much to me Lis. I love you so much, I can't picture my or Myou's life without you in it. But she needs something normal to hold onto. We're different enough from everyone else, I have to give her some form of normalcy."

"I understand, but…" Despite her heavy breathing Lisanna looked a little hopeful. "Can you sleep with me tonight? Our hands can stay where they are appropriate, but I don't want to lose this closeness yet."

Natsu hummed his acceptance and held his hand out to her and once she took it they walked back in the cool air in silence, trying to calm their desires from running out of control.

When they got back, Natsu checked on Myou to find that not only was Mirajane in the bed, but Milliana had joined the two with Myou squished between the two on the small bed. Natsu bent down and kissed the three on the sides of their foreheads, and after a moment of watching them, went to join Lisanna in her room. After a knock to let her know he was there, he slipped through the door quietly to find her in a thin set of light purple pajamas that had to have been made of silk if he had to guess. He pulled his shirt off and slid into bed. They didn't say anything as they lie facing one another and let sleep overtake them peacefully.

In the morning Natsu entered the kitchen after a quick shower and change of clothes to see Milliana teaching Myou how to cook something for breakfast. He stood in the door frame and absorbed the smells of meats and dough being cooked while he watched the two bond over their work.

Lavender assaulted his senses moments before a set of arms wrapped around his waist and he felt Mirajane press up against his back, her hair tickling his neck when she laid her chin down shoulder. "Did you have fun last night?" She whispered to not interrupt the two in the kitchen.

Natsu hummed with a small smile. "It was eye opening, that's for sure. Made me realize a couple of things that I need to start doing for you three."

Mirajane left a gentle kiss on his neck. "That's good. I'm glad you two had time to yourselves, I've been worried about her for some time so if you're taking care of her I won't have to worry too much." They stood there in the doorway until Milliana turned with a bright smile to them.

"Good morning! We'll have breakfast ready in a little bit."

"Daddy!" Myou spun around on top of the chair she was standing on and held her arms out to the side, trying to hide what they were doing with her tiny body. "You can't see yet, it's a surprise!"

Natsu chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm and shook his head. "Morning you two. I'll get out of your hair. Come get me if you need any help." Natsu waved his hand to them and pulled Mirajane away with him to let the two be.

Mirajane walked with Natsu to the living room before pushing him down into the couch before sitting on his lap, straddling his legs so she could look him in the eyes.

Natsu blushed brightly at how close they were and his eyes darted to the stairs.

"Elfman's already gone, went to walk Evergreen to the Guild. Something about showing her how manly he was early in the morning before…" She waved her hand absently. "Wasn't really paying attention, but he's gone so you don't have to worry about him walking in on us, and I need your full undivided attention right now." She said seriously.

Natsu furrowed his brow in confusion and cocked his head to the side. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Natsu." She gently put her hands on his cheeks and made him look her in the eyes. "You have to tell us what's going on with you, don't keep it to yourself. You aren't going to hurt us by talking to us, you aren't going to scare us away."

"Mira, what are you talking about? I'm not keeping anything from you." He searched in her eyes for where this was going.

"If anything comes up, promise me you'll tell at least one of us. We can help you. You'll only end up creating a rift between us if you aren't honest." She kept going on completely serious. "You were drinking so much when you were gone that it worried me. Maybe it was because you were gone, but you're back here now and so are we. Promise me."

Natsu could tell this was eating away at the woman and nodded slowly. "If anything comes up or I need any help, I'll bring it up right away. Can't make this work if we aren't trusting one another, right? Where is this coming from, did something happen? Are you having second thoughts?"

Mirajane shook her head and gave him a smile. "I just need you to understand." She leaned forward against him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "I love you so much Natsu, and we trust you. We always have and we always will, never question that. We know you would never betray our trust." She leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss to Natsu's lips.

Mirajane pulled back when she heard her sister's footsteps descending down the stairs, giving the younger girl a bright smile when she came into view. Mirajane slid off Natsu to stand so she could talk to the both of them at once. "After breakfast, Milliana and I need to talk to Lisanna while you take Myou to the Guild."

Natsu rubbed his face with both hands tiredly. "Need another fucking cold shower…" He mumbled to himself about being tired of having a constant case of blue balls.

Lisanna giggled and pulled his head over the back of the couch to give him a kiss as well. "Always willing to help you with that." She whispered against his lips.

After last night, it did a lot to ease his heart to see her back to teasing him. Myou came bolting out of the kitchen to dive into Natsu's chest. "Morning Daddy, morning Mira, morning Lissy." She cheered.

Natsu wrapped his arms around his little girl and couldn't help but smile. "Morning, honey. Did you have fun cooking with Mili? It smells good."

"Mmmm!" Myou hopped off his lap happily with a rapid nod. "She taught me how to make some good stuff! Said it would make you really happy if I made you something!"

"Anything you make would make me happy, Myou." Natsu stood up from the couch and ruffled the girl's hair affectionately. "You could make me toast and it'd be the best thing I'd ever eaten, but thank you for going through the effort to do it for me."

Myou pouted at him messing up her hair but pulled him to the dining room and pushed him into a chair, doing the same for the two women that were watching the scene with unabashed amusement. Moments later she darted into the kitchen and brough out two plates, followed by Milliana with three plates.

"My daughter knows me so well!" Natsu pretended to cry happily at the food set in front of him. Piled high were several different types of breakfast meats and a stack of French toast. "Thank you, Myou. And thank you, Mili, for helping her. I appreciate it."

Milliana gave him a wink and sat down at the table as well. "Ah." She said looking at the table. "Forgot the silverware."

"I got it." Myou hopped out of her chair and ran into the kitchen, coming back while walking slowly. Her hair fluttered around her as she focused on the five forks that were hovering in front of her. She took slow measured steps to the table and, one by one, handed the forks off with her power. When she sat down she looked exhausted.

"That was good work, Myou." Natsu complimented his daughter while digging into his food. "Your control is getting better, I remember when you couldn't even pick up something, let alone five things at once!"

Myou blushed under the praise but smiled happily. "She's been practicing all morning, using her power to flip the bacon and move the cooked stuff to plates." Milliana smiled proudly at the girl sitting next to her.

Natsu continued to praise Myou's accomplishments much to the everlasting embarrassment until it was time to head out. He waited until Myou gave hugs to each of the women then the two made their way to the Guild.

"I asked Lisanna to join my group." Natsu informed his daughter as they walked. "I was planning on asking Erza when we get to the Guild, too."

Myou skipped by her father's side, happy at his decision. "They're both super strong! I won't have to worry as much when you leave."

Natsu chuckled in response. "I'm also going to take a break from taking the girls on dates for a little while. I need to get my head straight."

Myou looked up at her father and frowned. "Does that mean we won't be seeing Mira or Lisanna at the Guild and Milliana is gonna head home?"

Natsu smiled gently. "Of course not. I'd never stop you from seeing any of them and I can't say what Mili's gonna do. I'm just going to stop taking them on dates and I'm gonna try to be less romantic around them so much." He gave her a wink as his grin spread further across his face. "You can have as much fun with them as you want though, so don't worry about that. Just try not to push me onto them too much, okay?"

Myou pursed her lips in thought before shrugging. "No promises."

"Myou." Natsu stopped and squatted down next to her so he could look her in the eyes. "This is serious. I know Mira talked to you about what happens between people that love each other. I'm trying to make sure no one's feelings get hurt."

Myou pouted, but nodded. "I know, but if things change too much then you'll be sad and we're having fun. No one's getting hurt. Last night I think Mira and Mili had bad dreams because they looked like they had been crying after they talked. I don't want to see them crying and…"

Natsu hugged the black-haired girl tightly to him. "I have to do this honey; it would hurt more if things went on. Don't you want one of them to actually be your mom? That's what all this is for. I want to make you happy." He sighed as the girl silently cried into his shoulder. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trying my best." He whispered.

"But they're all my mom…" Myou whispered back.

Natsu kissed the top of her head and whipped away her tears. "We're all going to be okay, I promise you that. Now, why don't we get going? We have a big day ahead of us." Myou sniffled but nodded anyways.

While Natsu and Myou were headed off to the Guild, Myou, Mirajane, and Lisanna all sat in the living room with frowns. Mirajane thought it best to bring up her shared dream with Milliana. "I think something more serious than we know is going on with Natsu. Something is making him draw back from us and we have to fix that."

"I know he said he wanted to take a break from everything, but it kind of makes sense from what he told me last night." Lisanna admitted. "We had a heart to heart about how we feel about our relationship and its tearing him apart inside. He doesn't want to hurt anyone but he basically said that if things continue then he knew it would only get harder and it would hurt more."

Lisanna rubbed her arms at the memory and couldn't help but shiver. "He was in tears while he tried to make me feel better about how I fit into their lives and he told me how important I am to him. Despite me feeling down about myself and making him cry, he showed me exactly what I am to him. He tried to convince me that he wasn't good enough for any of us and…"

"He wants normal?" Milliana supplied. When Lisanna nodded there was a momentary pause in the conversation. "Mira and I shared a dream last night about him."

"He wasn't himself, but at the same time he was." Mirajane tried to find the words to explain everything. "In our dream he said he couldn't do it anymore because he couldn't choose between us and it tore him up inside."

Lisanna listened with a frown. "That sounds pretty close to what he was saying to me last night on our way back."

Milliana picked back up with her retelling. "We tried to explain that it wasn't true that he had to decide, that we were all having a good time. He was very adamant and-"

"He grew so mad that he ran away and he started to change. Those scales on his arms came back and he was growing horns." Mirajane shivered. "He said that if we weren't going to listen, that he would show us that it was over and he started to hurt us." Her hands went up to her throat where he had grabbed. "I know it wasn't real, but I can still feel his hand crushing me."

"He'd never do that." Lisanna said plainly. "All these talks about taking a break is so he can think and so he doesn't hurt anyone needlessly. Maybe it's the fear of what's happening with those scales and horns that brought this dream along and your subconscious filled in the blanks to make it more believable with him breaking up with you."

Milliana shook her head. "That doesn't explain why we had the same dream, at the same time. He said the exact same things to us word for word and everything happened exactly as Mira said it did. He even said a couple of things that he's said in the past, so maybe it's an extreme case of coincidence, but I don't think it is."

"He trusts us all implicitly and he himself is loyal to a fault. One of the things that struck me last night was when he asked me if I could really trust him if he and I got together…" Lisanna looked down at her hands. "He asked if I could really trust him not to continue to see either of you on the side. I already knew I could trust him, but I asked for a little time to sort my feelings out before I told him one way or the other."

Milliana and Mirajane shared a look. "That's another thing. What he talked about with you last night and our dreams were too similar. I think he's too afraid to admit how much this is hurting him, and we aren't doing him any favors by being so obvious with our physical attraction to him."

If it was possible to blush and lose all color in her face at the same time then Lisanna was doing her best to make it happen. "I put myself down about my looks and he didn't take too kindly to that. She… he showed me how attractive he found me and told me how hard it was for him to hold back from any of us. He's so sure that we're going to regret doing anything with him that he's hurting himself in the process."

"What exactly happened?" Mirajane was equally curious as she was jealous.

"He pushed me against a tree and told me everything he liked about me, how I was drawing his eyes to me. He lifted me off the ground and pressed against me and I could feel how hard he was."

"Did he… Did you?" Milliana asked quietly.

"I all but begged him to, but no. He only kissed me. Natsu was just making sure I wouldn't question myself." Lisanna let out a shuddered breath. "I'll never forget how he looked at me, the fire in his eyes. He wasn't teasing me. It was terrifying in the best way possible." She placed a hand over her chest. "I've been looked at before by other guys, ogled too many times to count… but…"

"When he does it, it's different." Mirajane voiced. "It's like he's appreciating something only he can see that's inside of you. One of the times I was at Sabertooth he was having a particularly bad day and drank a little too much. Despite the show I was trying to give him, he never looked at anything but my eyes and I felt like…"

"Like you were on fire." It was Milliana's turn to add in her thoughts. "I know the feeling. He's never even tried to touch me inappropriately but even holding his hand or leaning against him makes it feel sexual. He doesn't even try, it's just him."

"Maybe we're going about this all wrong." Mirajane supplied. "I know none of us want to lose him or Myou. That's a given, but I've also enjoyed being around you two a lot too. I felt jealous of how he would look at you two at the beginning of all of this, it was hard not to be. But now, I know that he looks at me the same way and I didn't mind waiting for my time with them."

Mirajane fumbled a few times about how to bring up something that had been bugging her for a long time. "I-I don't know how you two feel, but I have an idea to help Natsu with all of this to ease some of the pressure off of him. Before you get mad and start yelling or anything, let me get it all out. I can't lose Myou and how she looks up to me after everything has happened… So instead of letting him decide on what he wants… I have a compromise…"

[Four Days Later]

Natsu was utterly confused. The job he, Lisanna, and Erza were returning on had not gone the way he had thought it would go. Not to say it had gone bad, because that's the opposite of how it had actually gone. They had used Erza's S-Class status to take on an S-Class request to spy on a town for the Magic Council about possible fraud. While there they had taken on new personas of siblings looking for a new place to settle down and open a weapons emporium. They had been shown several different storefronts that they could rent out as well as a couple of warehouses that were no longer in use. They had even gone through all of the paperwork to get the storefront, even fronting a large stack of money to get premium assistance. He was glad that the two women he was with were better at words and subtle nuances and had caught on that they were being led into a trap and had warned him ahead of time.

They had just started to move in, with several cart loads of empty crates they were pretending had inventory, when the towns guard had claimed they were stealing inventory from competetors in town instead of having their own inventory. Natsu had taken care of them while Lisanna went to contact the Rune Knights and Erza had gone to the Mayor's Office to steal all the records of previous merchants that had the same thing happen to them. It had ended up being a large conspiracy that covered many neighboring towns and most of the major players had been part of the local government or from the board of commerce that oversaw the area.

That wasn't what confused him. He had asked Lisanna to treat their missions as professionally as possible, but he hadn't expected her to pretend like what they had together didn't exist, or maybe that's what she had meant so they wouldn't get distracted during the mission and so he wouldn't go back on his word that he wanted to wait and have time to think. He was glad that she had been true to her word, but he hadn't expected it to hurt that much. But, if he ended up not deciding to settle down with her, then maybe it would be better to learn how to deal with it now.

His mind was so out of it that he didn't even notice his nausea hadn't hit him on the train until well after they had gotten off the train and were headed back to the Guild.

He was thrown for another loop when they got back to the Guild and found Myou hanging out with Lucy. He stood off to the side where they couldn't see him, but he could hear them. Lucy was showing Myou her most recent book that she was writing. He couldn't remember a time that the two had ever had a civil conversation and here they were, Myou sitting in Lucy's lap while Lucy read what she had to the little girl.

"She feels really bad about how she treated Myou."

Natsu looked over to see Levy with a book that easily weighed as much as she did. "It's hard to be mad at a girl like Myou, she's so genuine in her affection."

Levy was smiling happily over at the two reading the book and Natsu took a seat next to the script mage. "This whole thing with Sting is really turning Lucy's world upside down. She doesn't blame you for it by the way." When Natsu snorted at that the girl grew irritated. "I'm serious. She's just really confused right now. She thought she loved Sting and he convinced her that you were a bad guy then it turns out that Sting is being controlled? She didn't know how to react at first so she went with the easiest method and blamed you for everything, but we both know Lucy better than that. Once she thought things through, she came to realize that you are as much a victim in this as she and Sting are. Someone was using Sting to hurt you through Lucy."

"Maybe not directly, but that someone hurt her to hurt me makes me really sad. If I had known…"

"Yeah, we get it, you'd have made sure nothing happened." Levy slid the book she was reading in front of him. "I've been doing some research on books that have the power to control people and from what we've gathered, a book is what's causing your transformations as well. The only person in history that ever had this kind of raw power was Zeref. I'm not saying it's definitely him or someone doing it in his name, but it makes a lot of sense. We've already seen what he's capable of, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to think he created books with knowledge to take people over or change others. Since they are specifically targeting you, that makes it personal. Let's face it, there are a lot of people out there that hate you. You have quite the reputation."

Natsu nodded and scanned the page in front of him, concentrating as he read.

…

…

"I don't understand any of this." He admitted with a sigh.

"Didn't expect you to." Levy pointed to a specific spot in the book. "Zeref wrote many books that focused on specific areas of black magic. We've already encountered four of them that we know of. There have been rumblings of a Tartarus Guild full of demons recently causing chaos around the country. I think they might have something to do with this."

Natsu rubbed a hand across his face. "So another dark guild that's out to hurt Fairy Tail by proxy to get to me. I'll talk to Master to see if he knows anything about them so I can make a plan on how to combat this… It's only a matter of time before they go after someone else if they are really after me."

"We're big kids Natsu, we aren't going to let you do this alone. We're family, anyone that wants to hurt you will have to go through us first." Levy squeezed his hand gently to let him know that he wasn't alone.

"Mama Mira, Mama Mili! You're back!"

Natsu's head snapped away from Levy to see Mirajane and Milliana walking up to Myou. He was confused again, and ever so slightly afraid, about when Myou had started calling the two Mama. He drank in their figures for a moment, but things weren't adding up.

Despite both being dressed in casual clothes, both of them looked like they had just gotten done swimming, which could have been the case because it was summer and quite hot outside. He could practically smell them on one another despite the distance between them, but that could be explained by how they were standing so close together, they were even holding hands.

Natsu watched as they pulled Myou into a hug between the two and watched as their hair pulled away from their necks. Did Milliana have lipstick on her neck? The color looked almost like what Mirajane wore quite often. He froze even more, if that were even possible. He recognized the teeth marks on Mirajane's bare shoulder, he himself had had a couple of ones that looked exactly like that pretty recently. At first, he felt hurt, but he forced that feeling down. He had no right; he was the one that asked to separate so he could think things out.

Mirajane and Milliana kissed opposite cheeks before Milliana whispered something to Mirajane that caused the white-haired beauty to giggle and blush. Then his heart, that was beating faster than he ever thought it could beat, fell into his stomach when the two shared a brief kiss.

The whole Guild was quiet, all of them stunned at the blatant sign of affection. Levy, not knowing what was going on but knowing Natsu had been dating the two looked over to Natsu for clarification. Only to find a smoldering handprint on the table where he had been sitting and the Dragon Slayer nowhere in sight.

AN: Let me know what you think is happening! I know how it looks, but nothing's ever as simple as it looks at face value, so try to think about what could actually be happening instead of taking your gut reaction.