Can't Argue with That

Haunted prompt.

"I see you two are still not talking?" Mira questions the celestial mage, as she gingerly wipes at the counter. "Want an easy mission to get away for now?"

"Yes," Lucy sighs, propping her head. "Maybe if he thinks I'm doing fine without him, he'll realize how important I am to him."

Mira shrugs, "here you go," she hands Lucy a flier. "I was gonna post it on the board but seems like you could use it."

"Thanks Mira!" Lucy grabs the paper. As she walks past Natsu, where he sits at a table with Gray and Erza, she completely turns a cold shoulder to him.

"Wow," Erza remarks, glancing at Mira as she says it, "Lucy is really pissed with you Natsu."

"Tell me about it," he rolls his eyes. "All I said was I think I should go with her on missions and she thought I was saying she wasn't good enough to do them on her own, which is not what I was trying to say at all. Ugh! But now she won't even talk to me, even locks her window so I can't get in."

"You're an idiot Natsu," Gray jabs. "What's the big deal anyways with her going on her own, she's strong enough."

Natsu pouts, "I just figured she likes my company," he mumbles, "I like her company. Isn't it better going together?"

"See now if you had said it like that, she probably wouldn't have gotten mad." Erza passes Natsu a flyer, "I was gonna do this cause it's an easy one. Why don't you go by yourself to stay busy? Let Lucy cool off in the meantime."

He reads off of the paper. "Suspicious activity at abandoned mansion. Local authorities need it investigated." "Seems easy enough, probably nothing even there."

"See, easy mission, now get going." Erza shoos him away.

As Lucy walks up to the abandoned mansion, she wondered what the point of was even being there. It looked like any old dilapidated building. There were no sounds coming from it, and it gave off no magical signatures. But, according to the locals in the town, anyone who's tried to do anything with it has left terrified. They want it gone. Supposedly 50 years ago, two old wizards used to live in the house and now the locals think they are haunting the place. She didn't really believe the stories, and besides, she's dealt with the worst of evil wizards, how hard could a couple of ghosts be?

First things first, Lucy does a check around the property before venturing inside. As expected, the inside was a dusty, musty, barren structure. "Nothing lives here but spiders and bugs," she remarks to the emptiness. Well, until she figures out what to do with the place, the first step was settling in for the night. Lucy finds a semi decent room near what used to be a kitchen that at least had no broken windows and would stay warmer in the evening.

Meanwhile, at the front of the house, Lucy doesn't hear someone entering the front door. There sure didn't seem to be anything suspicious like the flyer mentioned, Natsu thinks to himself. Maybe in the morning he'll ask the townsfolk about the place. As he steps into the old structure, he immediately picks up on a familiar scent. Why was Lucy at the same job he was at?!

Natsu follows it, running through the house, forgetting all about the fact she was still mad at him. He skids to a halt in the doorframe of the room. "Lucy!" His eyes are bright and wildly excited. "You're here too!"

She jumps up from where she'd been setting up a bedroll as he rushes up to her. "Oh no, no. no! This was supposed to be my own mission!" She jabs at his chest. "Did you follow me?! I can't believe it, you followed me didn't you! Thought I couldn't handle some measly job on my own!"

He steps back from her fury. "B-But that's not…"

"You told me I should bring you on all my missions, that we needed each other, and I told you that I can handle myself just fine alone!"

"Lucy please just let me explain!" he holds up his hands, "that's not what I meant, I never thought you weren't strong enough to do this!"

Their shouting grew progressively louder, ricocheting off the barren walls. One would think that the old wood might absorb some of the noise, but with nothing else to buffer, it was like being in a surround sound chamber. Frankly, if there had been anything to pick up and throw, Lucy might have been tempted to.

"Oh really," she scoffs and crosses her arms, "next you're gonna tell me Mira just happened to give you the same mission as me as a coincidence."

"First off, I don't know what a coincidence is, second, not Mira, Erza gave this to me. Thirdly, I think you should need me!"

"I knew it! See, why do you think I need you?! Natsu just…"

Just as Lucy was about to launch into a higher octave tirade, loud banging sounds began to drum against the walls around them. Louder and louder they became, moving and shifting, walls, ceiling. The windows rattled as if howling winds battered against them. Upstairs, shifting pieces of discarded furniture scraped across the floor. Doors slammed randomly.

Lucy forgot all the anger in her body and rushed into Natsu's arms, where he quickly wraps her up. "Wh-what the hell is going on," he asks.

"They think the place is haunted," she buries her face in his chest, "I didn't believe it." Okay so fine, give her an evil mage she can see and fight and no problem. Not being able to see what the hell was scaring them sucked! All the hairs on her body were standing on edge!

"Hey," he cradles the back of her head, "don't be afraid Luce, we're gonna get through this together I promise."

"Guess you were right," she sniffles, "maybe I do need you."

"No, Lucy," he lifts her chin just enough to get her to look at him. "You don't need me because you're weak." He leans his forehead to hers, "I just meant I thought you'd want me around on missions. I prefer having you with me on missions. It's always better when we're together then when we're alone."

"That's true…"

"Oh, for peat sakes, just kiss the damn girl already!"

Natsu and Lucy stiffen, who the hell just spoke to them! He keeps her gripped tightly around the waist, but they both start looking around them to see where the voice had come from. Noises still abound but are starting to die away. Lucy still felt no magic in the home except for them, and Natsu smelled no humans or even creatures.

"Show yourselves!" Natsu shouts at the unseen entities, furious that they'd scare Lucy like they had.

"You disturbed our peace, so you get out, this is our house!" the voice retorts.

Feeling Natsu ready to snap, Lucy places her hand on his chest, effectively stilling him. "Why are you still here," she asks the entities. "Why stay stuck in this house?"

"Why leave?" a different voice retorts. "This is where we are comfortable." it scoffs, shaking the walls again. "you kids, who are too stupid to see what is in front of you, who are you to give us advice?"

Lucy's mouth clamps shut for a moment. How could she argue with its comment? She turns to Natsu, who unsurprisingly had a look of confusion on his face. It makes her chuckles inwardly, of course he didn't pick up on what the ghost was insinuating about them. Lucy starts to speak, but Natsu starts does instead.

"Oi, mister ghost. I see exactly what's in front of me. I got my girl here, yeah, we sometimes fight but I still love her, and I know I'll always love her. I aint afraid to go where I need to like you, mister scaredy ghost haunting this house."

First off, Lucy was flustered by what Natsu just said, but secondly, "um," she mumbles, "Natsu I don't think it's a good idea to piss off the ghost."

"It called us stupid, if it had a body, I'd be kicking its ass for saying that!"

She rolls her eyes, typical Natsu. "I think what my friend is trying to say is, you shouldn't be afraid of leaving here and moving on. Let your energy return to the world. As for us well," Lucy looks up at Natsu who just grins, "he's right," she smiles too, "we do know what we have, even if we sometimes forget."

As Lucy and Natsu stare into each other's eyes, the ghosts never respond to what she said, but maybe they heard her loud and clear. Around them, the house settles and grows silent, returning back to the old structure it was. No more doors closing, or windows shaking, nor items being moved. In fact, the air grows even more stagnant than when they'd first arrived.

"I think they're really gone now," she whispers, her thoughts returning to what Natsu had said earlier. "Did you tell them you loved me just to shut them up?"

"What?" Natsu tilts his head confused, "why would I do that? It accused us of not seeing what was in front of us, so I told 'em exactly what I saw in front of me."

Lucy blinks, "that means, you were telling the truth about loving me?!"

"Duh!" He chuckles and squeezes her hand. "Luce maybe you should get some rest, usually you're quicker'n me at understanding stuff."

"I…" Lucy wants to get mad but breaks out laughing instead. "That's a good idea." He said the words, he meant them, that was good enough for her. "We'll deal with the reward in the morning…" She takes a step away, letting their hands drift apart, but turns back right before their fingertips part. "and by the way, I love you too Natsu."