"If you don't stop laughing, Natsu Dragneel, I'm going to slap the smile off of your face," said Lucy darkly, and she could feel the laughter that shook his body behind her as they meandered through Magnolia, making their way back to the guildhall after a very long night n which they'd decided against stopping to sleep. Natsu barely seemed to feel it, but Lucy was near delirious with the desire to sleep.
It didn't help that he'd been laughing for weeks now about an incident that had happened in the mountains – one he couldn't wait to tell Gray about, which only made it ten times worse, because Natsu never wanted to tell Gray anything remotely interesting.
While working on Lucy's skills with the demonic language he'd been teaching her – there'd not been nearly enough room that was safe enough for self-defense – a small cub had approached her. Natsu had known from the second he'd seen her that it had meant trouble. The creature had clearly been a leopard of sorts, with a long gray bushy hair flecked with black splotches. It had been young enough to still have soft baby fur, and had been curious about the people that had appeared.
Of course, knowing precisely what it was, Natsu had told Lucy to let it be, that they needed to get up and leave the area immediately. Lucy, trusting his concern but not understanding why he was so freaked out, had been rather slow about doing so.
She'd been nearly ready to go when the mother – a monstrous feline had appeared and had been anything but happy. There had been a few touch and go moments, where Natsu had worried that he'd have to make an orphan out of the cub, simply because he knew Lucy didn't stand a chance against the mother, but things had turned out alright.
But it hadn't been the fact that she'd nearly been mauled by the mother that he was still laughing at.
It was that she'd been robbed by the baby.
Within an instant, the small feline had taken her bag of belongings and torn off after its mother, tail high and clearly proud, knowing they'd not give chase. Natsu would never forget the look on her face when she realized that all of her clothes were gone and that she'd be stuck in the same dirty clothes for weeks on end, for even in July, it was too cold to wash things and wear them right after in the mountains.
Now, he was partially laughing because he'd told her that no, they didn't have the time for her to stop and bathe and change. He had a really important letter awaiting his arrival, from what he'd heard, and he was desperate to know what was in it. It was part of the reason he'd pushed for an all-night round of travel. One, he'd never received such a letter, and two…he got a bad feeling that something big was going to happen, and that it had to do with that damn letter. But even Salutem was flagging now, stumbling every now and then, and he felt a little bad for the stag who put his heart and soul into helping them.
When they turned onto the street, Natsu quickly realized that he probably should have given Salutem a break sooner rather than later. The stag's knees suddenly buckled, and Lucy gasped as he fell with them still on him. Natsu's amusement vanished, and instinct had him fisting a hand in Lucy's clothes, yanking her off and shoving her hard enough that she hit the cobblestone street – hard. Natsu flinched in pain where she scraped her skin on the ground.
He swore when he didn't get his foot out of the stirrup in time and Salutem hit the ground hard on his side, heaving for air. "Shit!" he snarled, pain shooting up his leg. He heard Lucy gasp again and felt his magic spike in response. Happy yowled as he was hurled from his basket.
People dove to the rescue around them. Several people hurried over to help, a man taking Salutem's reins and trying to encourage the stag back to his feet, and a few rushing over to check on Lucy. Two checked with Natsu, and he merely chased them off with a crabby look, more annoyed that he'd not taken care than anything. Salutem was his favorite among all of the animals Fairy Tail kept for various reasons, and he didn't like the idea of it being his fault the stag had to be retired early.
It took a moment, but Salutem was coaxed to his feet, shaking, and Natsu, foot finally freed, simply lay there for a couple of moments to catch his breath. "You good, Luce?"
"Yeah," she called back. "Caught me by surprise."
Happy growled from where he crouched on the street, tail lashing back and forth, and glared balefully at Natsu. Natsu groaned in exasperation. His familiar had a new grudge with him, it appeared.
It took them a few minutes to get oriented. He shooed the people away with a rather nasty look, and they hurried on their way, waving off Lucy's shouted thanks as she glared at Natsu for his rudeness. When they were gone and people were minding their own business again, Natsu made sure Salutem wasn't hurt. Luckily, he wasn't – merely tired. He grimaced. Makarov was going to scold the hell out of him. Salutem was a favorite of everyone in the guild.
"Is he okay?" Lucy fretted, only proving his point.
"Yeah, he'll be fine." Natsu patted his shoulder roughly and the stag tiredly flicked an ear. "Guess we're walking the rest of the way."
"That's fine," she said, but he could tell from the way her shoulders slumped, she was ready to go to bed herself.
And before he could stop himself, despite having told her that they'd not be stopping at her place to let her bathe and clean up, he said, "Go home." She looked at him in surprise, and he swallowed thickly. "Take Happy and go home. I'll bring the letter over and we can read it at your place."
Lucy blinked at him – and then gave a blinding smile, her entire face lighting up like a second sun. "Thank you," she said sincerely, and he wasn't surprised by the hug that she suddenly gave him, her arms wrapped around his neck within seconds of her warm words of gratitude. Rather, the entire world seemed to go still when she pressed her lips lightly to his cheek.
And then, just as suddenly, it was over, and she'd pulled back to give him another grateful smile. He was still staring at her in shock as she grabbed Happy and was immediately on her way. She was rounding the corner at the end of the street when he finally moved, his hand hesitantly touching the spot her mouth had.
His brow furrowed. "Wait," he muttered, and he thought he heard someone chuckle as they walked by. "What the hell just happened?"
But there was no one to give him an answer except for Salutem, and the stag's only response was to sneeze all over him.
Natsu was still dwelling over the event when he ducked into the guildhall, completely bypassing a greeting someone shouted at him. He'd made sure that Salutem would be okay in the stables before coming in, and it had only served to make him further confused, giving him a longer period of time to think about it. He must have looked absolutely bewildered by the time he got to the bar, where Mirajane was waiting, because she giggled.
"Everything alright, Natsu?" she asked, immediately offering him an envelope.
"…yeah," he said, frowning down at the letter that had been sent to him. He could feel the magic snapping at his fingers, warning the holder not to open it – well, unless you were Natsu Dragneel, of course. He studied the neat scrawl his name had been written in and his frown deepened. He knew that hand writing, he realized. He didn't know from where, but he knew it. "Huh."
Mirajane clearly wanted to know the contents. He could tell from the look on her face. And, admittedly, he considered reading it then and there, but…he'd promised Lucy they'd read it together at her pace. So, Natsu tucked the letter away for later. He cocked his head at Mirajane. "I'll let Makarov know if it's anything important. Salutem took a fall on our way in, by the way." Natsu grimaced. "I didn't give him a break soon enough. He should be fine, but…don't let anyone take him out. We're gonna need him again."
"Oh? Where are you heading?" Mirajane asked even as she frowned at him in disapproval regarding Salutem's situation.
Natsu beamed. "The southwestern mountains."
Her curiosity was replaced with shock. "Are…are you sure Lucy will do alright in them?" she said anxiously. "You know that even Gildarts tends to avoid the southwestern mountains, Natsu…" She bit her lip. "Would you consider taking one or two others with you? Please?"
Natsu made a face, not really liking the idea. Mostly because he knew precisely who would be coming with him and Lucy if he did agree to let someone tag along. "I'll think about it," he said to keep her off his back, sighing heavily. He knew that Lucy had been thinking about it anyways, which meant he'd probably let someone come regardless because he knew without a doubt that he'd more than likely agree to what Lucy requested.
Stars above, he'd become soft.
"I'll be back later," Natsu said, waving Mirajane off when she went to say something more. He started heading for the doors, fingers itching to open the envelope. He ignored anyone who tried to speak with him, too distracted by what had happened with Lucy and the envelope. It was bugging him – the fact that he knew the handwriting but couldn't state who, precisely, it belonged to.
Gray was there, and eyed him curiously when he went past. Just to try and relieve some of the frustration building his chest, Natsu threw him a shark-like mocking grin and vanished outside before he could respond.
Somehow, it didn't surprise her when Natsu clambered through the closed window instead of coming in through the front door like a normal person. He tended to do things to purposely aggravate her when he was frustrated, and she could feel the bubble of irritation that had been growing in him for the last hour that he'd been gone.
So when he threw the window open and threw himself through, Lucy didn't bother to scold him as she normally would have and instead asked, "What's wrong?"
He gave her a weird look. "Nothing. You wanna look at the letter?"
Lucy rose from her place on the sofa and suggested, "Yes, but why don't you look it over first? I'm going to get some tea I started making for us while I was waiting." She was desperate herself to see what had been sent to her partner, but…there was something in her gut that told her to let him look at it first, just to be safe. She left him to do just that, brushing her wet hair over her shoulder.
There was an untouched flicker of anxiety that spiked through him when he looked at the letter he pulled out of his pocket. She decided to wait out his confusing roiling mess of emotions. He usually cleared them up himself rather quickly – mostly because he didn't want to deal with them.
She was making her way back into the living room with two mugs of tea when a blast of shock, rage, amusement, and even hatred slammed through her so hard the mugs dropped right from her hand and shattered all over the floor. In a flash, Natsu was on his feet, startled out of his seat, but Lucy had seen it. The viciousness with which he'd glared at that letter – the black that had etched itself so briefly over his skin…
"You good, Luce?" Natsu demanded as if nothing had happened, and all of those emotions washed out of her, replaced with a frozen feeling that made her uneasy.
"Y-yeah," she stammered, studying him. "Are you?" She stared intently at him, very aware that Happy was bristling nearby, his blue fur spiked in alarm. "Where's the letter?"
Natsu ignored her question, grumbling, "You burned your feet. How the hell are you still alive if you hurt yourself with mugs?" She watched in stunned silence as he bent to pick up the larger pieces of mugs. He never did stuff like that, she thought to herself, growing concerned and worried for her partner.
"Natsu?" she murmured, but he ignored her, even when she winced as he cut his hand on a sharp piece. Black blood dripped to the floor, but he barely seemed to notice as he disappeared into the kitchen with the pieces. Shaking a sore foot, Lucy carefully stepped past the broken glass and went over to the couch. She found the letter with ease, and wasn't surprised when she found that it had been shredded into a few pieces.
Natsu was fully aware that she was piecing it back together, she knew, but he distracted himself with the clean up of the mess she'd made, letting her. He wanted her to know, Lucy realized. He wanted her to know – he just couldn't bring himself to tell her himself. She rested it carefully in her lap upon sitting on the semi-charred sofa, and Happy hopped onto her shoulder with care, jostling her gently.
She stroked his head with a frown as she read.
Prince Dragneel,
We have come to you in the hopes that you may be capable of doing something about a situation that has arisen in regards to relations between the Alvarez Empire and the Pergrande Kingdom. While the details cannot be put into writing, we can put it simply: the Pergrande Kingdom possesses a false king who intends to start a war with the Empire, and fully intends to drag the entirety of the Ishgar continent down with it.
You, yourself, are fully aware of what the Alvarez Empire is capable of with regards to military strength. We have no wish to clash with others at the present time, but refuse to sit idly by and be squandered beneath another. We know that you are one who holds no alliance outside of the ones you have forged with the dragons and with the Fairy Tail guild and ask that you consider speaking to the false king on our behalf. You are, after all, one with old ties to the Empire and are the only one outside of those within our circle who'd be capable of doing so.
Please send word back at the earliest convenience.
Wishing you well,
Empress Brandish of the Alvarez Empire
Lucy pressed her mouth into a hard line, having not expected anything of the sort. And she most certainly did not expect the small bitter laugh that came from behind her. Slowly, she turned and found Natsu mopping up the spilled tea on the floor with one of her nice hand towels – she glared at him for it – but he could have cared less. Without prompting from Lucy, Natsu said, not bothering to look over at her, "Over seven hundred and fifty years. S'how long it took 'em to remember who I was."
"I forget," Lucy murmured, "that Zeref was an emperor. Who is Brandish then? In relation to you?"
"Just a Spriggan." Natsu sat back, frowning. "She was one of Zeref's elite force members. There used to be twelve, but a couple were killed during the Wars or executed afterwards for trying to stir a rebellion when Brandish and August took over."
Lucy bit her lip, thinking. After a moment, she very hesitantly asked, "Natsu…who did people think you were after the Demonic Wars? Did they know that END was you? What happened to the brother of the emperor in the views of the people?"
He faltered, not having expected such a question in the slightest. "I don't know. Just a monster, I guess. I didn't really look like myself and was always on fire, so they didn't really ever see what I looked like." He rocked to his feet, movements stiff and uncomfortable. "There was a rumor that went out that END killed Natsu, so I guess that's what they thought. No one really ever made the connection except for Igneel."
"And the Spriggans?" Lucy prompted quietly. "They have to have known if they're contacting you now, right?"
Natsu shook his head. "Nah. They just think I'm a weird half-dragon who's lived a lot longer than most half-dragons do. We don't die off as quickly as humans, but we don't live as long as most mythics." He rubbed the back of his head, looking and feeling rather tired all of a sudden. "I dunno what they think outside of that though. Maybe I'm just a coward who hid from war to them."
Lucy couldn't hide the grin that briefly flashed across her face. Natsu? A coward avoiding a fight? Like hell. She didn't think she'd ever met someone so intent on starting a fight wherever he could. "So should we help them?" she asked, and he gave her an exasperated look, startled she'd even asked.
"Why bother?" said Natsu. "Brandish said I was banished the day that Zeref was executed. I'm not really even a prince anymore, Luce. I don't have any ties to the country. Let 'em go to war and deal with it themselves. The Pergrande Kingdom's stupid to think they'd win against an all-out war with the Empire."
"The letter says–"
"I don't care what the letter says," he interrupted irritably, suddenly angry, and Lucy bit her lip unhappily at the attitude. "Fiore's too big of a mess to get involved anyways. And I am affiliated with the country. I'm on Makarov's council, Luce." He tapped his cuff, which signified as such. "Guildmasters are a big deal in Fiore. They help run the country just as much as the Council. What I do affects Makarov, and I'm not gonna do anything to screw him over. Not after what he's done for me. He knows who I am and has kept that secret for two decades. He's given me work, trusted me enough to be in a position most people fight for, and he listens to what I say – which isn't something most people do if you haven't noticed."
Lucy studied him thoughtfully for a few moments and then leaned back on the sofa. "Natsu," she said suddenly, quietly. "These are the Lost Years. I don't know what we need to expect in the next two years. But two years is plenty of time for a war to start. And war creates chaos, which seems to be something that would very likely attract Acnologia. For all we know, this war could be what brings him here – what destroys the Gate and Old Crocus."
Natsu, rocking anxiously back and forth, stilled and looked suddenly very unhappy. "Luce, this isn't…this isn't somethin' we can just go off and do like we've been with the spirits. This is huge. Besides, they talked about a false king. Do you really wanna get involved with somethin' like that?"
"Yes," she said immediately. She stared him down. "Because if I'm remembering correctly, Gajeel and Levy told us that for some reason, the Council wants to ally themselves with the Pergrande Kingdom by marrying the Lost Star off to that king."
Natsu was silent, didn't move an inch. But it did nothing to conceal the explosion of rage that crossed through him, and Lucy flinched at the force of it. Happy bristled at his place on her shoulder, lashing his tail at the anger that seemed to flood the apartment. But, Lucy noticed, interested, it was accompanied by confusion – as if he wasn't entirely clear on why he was so angry.
A flicker of affection flashed through her for her partner, and she said gently before he could say anything, "Why don't we discuss it with someone? Makarov might have some ideas on what can be done. And then he can puzzle over it while we're gone and when we get back, we can–"
"Luce," he interrupted, deciding to join her on the sofa. He walked over, his hands buried in his pink hair and a frustrated look on his face. "You don't get it," he told her as he flopped onto the sofa beside her, making her bounce and squeak in surprise. He threw her a tired look, and Lucy was once again reminded of not just how old he was, but how hard his mind was constantly working with little rest. "Wars happen fast. The Demonic Wars started with a single day and lasted centuries. And I don't want to take part in another war like that." She was surprised when his voice quivered a little. He was emotional tonight, she couldn't help but think. "I don't want to be used like that again, and it would happen. Mythics are the best soldiers human kings and leaders could hope for. You've seen how we fight; picture an entire battlefield like that. I don't want to kill people again."
Lucy sat in silence for a few moments, and then groaned, throwing her head back to stare at the ceiling.
Suddenly, the isolation of the southwestern mountains didn't seem so bad.
An emotional chapter with a little gift inside!
Made it home safely, and am definitely starting my full-time job (so long as it remains open, mind you), so updates may change in the future (I'm thinking of switching to Sundays instead, perhaps?)! Stay safe everyone!
stranger1999, Lucy's kind of a sort-of mythic if that makes sense? Genetic-wise, her mother was almost entirely human, but Lucy had like a genetic flare (like when something shows up every few generations) where she's closer to mythic than human.
Thanks to reviewers (stranger1999, Guest #1, Riverofmemoriesf, Guest #2, Guest #3, Lodemai04, Uchida Akira, BeautifulSamurai, Guest #4, madaraswife, theHumbleGM, Lissuin, naluobsessed, and PersephoneQOTU!) as well as those who favorited and followed!
