Natsu X Lucy Reimagined

by hannaverian

Fairy Tale magic reimagined in real life. Lucy is home for the summer working as a sleezy waitress, a monster attacks her, Natsu who is just walking by offers aid.

20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: A Simple Life

Chapter 20

Gray

"Hey! Fuck you man!" I snarl, shoving Natsu across the room. The door to the guild hall barely closed behind us before Lucy practically ran to the women's restroom, presumably to be sick. Natsu slowly peeled himself out of the broken picnic table he smashed into, angrily chucking jagged pieces of wood out of his way. The wood had snagged his shirt and there was a tearing noise as a whole was ripped out of his red shirt, a new thin line across Natsu's side beaded with a single drop of blood. He glared at me from under his furled brow, his eyes starting to glow red with malice.

"What was that for!?" He growled, smoke seeping out of the corners of his mouth as he rose to full height, bits of wood falling off his shoulders, breathing heavily like he was tired. I realized that this was probably not the right time to start a fight with Natsu, but man did he need an ass kicking.

"Why'd you have to do that in front of her for, eh!?" I growled back, making an ice dagger and hurling it at him, knowing full well he'd swat it out of the way, but the sentiment was there still the same.

"Woah, woah, waoh! What's goin' on out here!?" Yelled Gildarts, as he appeared in one of the hallways that tunneled into the main Guild Hall. Suspiciously he was still dressed in daytime clothes, his wallet still tucked into his pants. In total disregard for Gildarts's sudden appearance, Natsu used the heat blasters on his feet to blast off the ground, which scorched the floor of the guild hall, to land a double kick into my chest. It happened unexpectedly fast, which was saying a lot because I trained with him every day. I landed flat backwards, my head cracking off the hardwood, with Natsu standing on my chest, leaning over about ready to say something.

"Natsu!? What's gotten into you!?" Growled Gildarts as he cloths lined Natsu across the chest with his arm. Gildarts hit him just hard enough to make him stumble backwards off my chest. With Natsu's fat ass off me, in my brief scuffle to my feet, I had missed some kind of communication between Natsu and Gildarts.

Nastu

"Come. Come take a walk with me." Insisted Gildarts as he cupped a hand to the scruff of my neck and began dragging me off towards the gyms, like a bitch dragging off a naughty pup. He wasn't asking, and I had been on the wrong end of Gildarts enough to know that I wasn't in condition to best him right now. I relented to go with Gildarts as I was slowly, realizing there was some truth to what Gray had said, as my hazy red tunnel vision was starting to clear. I had no regrets about killing those bastards, none what so ever, nor did I even really give two shits about how I had done it. Dead was dead my opinion, and if watching them suffer had given me pleasure, what of it? But why had I decided to make Lucy watch? For the life of me I couldn't remember what I was thinking. I hadn't planned to it, but in the heat of the moment my strong wrath permeated through my veins, my head had been filled with nothing but steam and the truth of it was I hadn't thought it through…. No the truth of it was that I had let the dragon slip though, and this time in more than just physical appearance, and that scared the shit out of me. So I agreed to go talk to Gildarts. Not because I would be able to tell him about what happened, it would have to be a secret Lucy, Gray and I would take to our graves, if we didn't want to all die behind bars. Killing people on a hired job, in self-defense was one thing, happened damn near every week for me. No, what I had done was straight up homicide.

I relented to go with Gildarts ultimately because I, admittedly, was at loss of what to do next. I had looked up to him all my life, and I hoped to seek some guidance. Surely a man who has lived the life he's led has made some mistakes. In a lot of ways, I could talk to Gildarts like I could talk to no one else. He's been a father figure of sorts…. although his methods tended to be a bit dodgy at the best of times. He led me past the racquet ball courts, towards the back indoor pool area, the moonlight reflecting through the high windows and gleamed off the little waves in the water, casting glistening shadows over Gildarts whole body.

"Now… you want to tell me what that was all about?" He asked, his voice as gruff as his five o'clock shadow, giving away just how tired he was. I gave myself a mental note that he was still wearing jeans at this hour, suggesting that he hadn't yet gone to bed. I wondered just what he had been up to at this hour. I silently matched his pace hesitating, what was I supposed to tell him? That I had just opened my very own crematorium? I was in no mood to lie to Gildarts tonight, it seemed even my fucked up conscience had a twenty-four-hour quota and I was at its limit. So, I compromised with a vague version of the truth.

"Tsk. Gray thinks I'm exposing Lucy to too much. I know she can handle it, but at the same time…. I don't know. Maybe he's right." I shrug, reaching down the back of my shirt to pull another splinter out from under it, and chucking it on the ground. "It's just sometimes things happen and she doesn't react the way I think she's going to. She just… thinks of things from a totally different perspective than I do."

Gildarts took a thoughtful moment before a sly ass smirk slithered across his face and he began shaking his head. "Tsk. I knew that girl'd only great trouble for ya."

"Cut the bullshit." I say quickly, warning him that I was in no mood to be teased. It was in Gildarts, football coach like nature to push his own joke too far. He kept shaking his head, but he allowed his faced to resume a more neutral position. The souls of our shoes echoing of the tiled room as we walked the perimeter of the Olympic sized pool.

"Natsu I know you haven't always been the emotional kind. You're like me that way. Men like us, who've had to do so many unspeakable things in our careers. We have either had to find ways to either justify our actions, bury them, or both. We cope by turning parts of ourselves off, and the more bodies that pile up at our feet, the more we realize those parts will never come back. We tell ourselves it doesn't matter, because we're doing it to leave the world a better place than when we found it. So be it for us! We're content to rot in grave so long as it's for a purpose! But it leaves us cold, and sometimes we have a hard time feeling the world the same way other people do. Lucy… she's not like you and me. Not because she's a woman… because she's a civilian." I prickled visibly. Lucy had been working her ass off to improve her skills, and I was offended on her behalf that Gildarts would so easily lump her in the civilian category. That being said, in my heart I knew that Gildarts was right, no matter how much she had trained, or how hard she tried or how much promise she's shown, Lucy had only been at this for a handful of months. She was hardly a professional. I knew that this transition to membership would be difficult for Lucy, as it was for everyone, but I was too close to the situation to not let it bother me.

"Relax!" He continued, noticing my discomfort, showing the palms of his hands in an easy surrender. "Every other member of this guild have grown up with the single purpose of being in a guild someday. They'd spent all their lives preparing themselves in every way mentally for the prospect of everything guild work entails, a part of which is taking the life of others, as well as putting our own life on the line. It's something we have all reconciled within ourselves in one way or another. When push comes to shove, we are little more than soldiers bannering under a flag. You and Laxus, the two of you were always going to lead this life, so it's natural for you. We must remember, most people don't grow up that way. Most people grow up like Lucy, with a firm sense of right and wrong drilled into her from a young age. These things are all still very black and white to her. Just recognize that she is struggling right now, with this, with all of this."

"Alright." I say, trying to digest what he had said carefully. Every fiber of my ego wanted to pop off and tell Gildarts how wrong he was, and to go to hell, but Gildarts words rang a little too true. This all was still a very new thing for her, and then I go and pull something like I did tonight. God damn. Gildarts hadn't known Lucy's predicament, but his words applied accurately none the less.

I stopped walking, and leaned my shoulders against one of the many pillars that lined the pool, crossing my ankles over and folding my arms. Gildarts took a few more steps forward, turning around when he finally noticed I was no longer keeping stride.

"I'm losing more and more control of it." I bit out, changing the subject, the admission tasting like bile on my tongue. I didn't have to explain what it was to Gildarts. He understood.

"I was afraid of that." He sighed scratching at his beard while he mimicked my stance on the pillar opposite mine.

"What do I do?" I ask him, meeting his eyes, which where such a dark brown they were almost black. Man, Gildarts gets older every time I looked at him. The lighting in the pool room highlighted crow's feet that were starting to sprout from the corners of his eyes. I could see the gray that was beginning to pepper his beard, and the wince he sometimes had when he stepped on his right leg just the right way. It's a hard thing to see your idol past their prime, it lent sight into my own future. If I'd live that long.

"I don't have any real answers for ya kid. All I know is, you've got to be able to tackle what's going on up there... To be able to figure out what's going on in there." Gildarts pointed to my head and then to my chest respectively. I nodded, humbled to realize just how right he was as I mulled over how impossible that feat seemed to be. There was something inside me I didn't know what it was or how to control, and I was only beginning to understand it's power level, or the control it sometimes had over me.

"And with Lucy?" I huff, I turned away from him to hide my embarrassment for actually asking.

"Listen, you don't have to tell me what's going on. Do everything you can to be there for her kid…. It's all you can do. I'm afraid that's all the advice I have for you. I sure as shit am in no place to give other people advise about women." He half chuckled before he started to walk off towards back outside the pool.

Gray

I was waiting for Lucy for when she got out of the bathroom. Both to be there for her when she got out (she shouldn't be left alone the state she was in), and to make sure Natsu didn't come back to bother her. At least not until he was nice and cooled off.

When she finally came out in a fluffy bathrobe, her wet hair twisted up into a bun, she looked as though she had been violently sick the way she was hunched over guarding her stomach, her eyes where raw, blood shoot and exhausted.

"Lucy." I try to say softly so as not to frighten her. She startled a little anyways seeing me standing there. I realized then that I had no idea what to say to her. How could anything I have to say possibly make this situation any less shitty?

"Oh! It's just you Gray."'

"Lucy, are you alright?" I say reaching out a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She didn't answer me, instead she said. "It's fucked up, what he did to them." Her voice betrayed the weakness in her stomach, and she looked straight ahead rather than at my face.

"…yeah..." I breath out carefully. "He shouldn't have brought you on like that. That was fucked up to." I pointed out, trying to gage her response to the glaring red flag that was Natsu Dragneel.

"You…" She said, her eyes narrowing as she finely

"Lucy listen to me!" I grab her arm to pull her back. I let her rip it back out of my grasp, but she stood still, looking at me expectantly. I was trying to collect the perfect sentence in my head, something that would fix this, but I came up dry. Lucy was just about to storm back around when I blurted. "I didn't know he had left to get you. I thought he might be getting a…. gun or something. I didn't know he was getting you or I wouldn't have let him. And I tried to stop him…... but…. well… obviously you saw how well that went."

She whipped a fiery expression in my face, her frizzy hair exploding out of her bun. "You let it happen! You helped him! Don't you see Fullbuster? This is why I didn't want anybody finding out! No good was ever going to come of this! Only more violence! So you're okay with murdering them all too then are you!? Even the innocent one! Never mind that they were kids! Never mind that they cried out for their mothers and their flesh melted from their bones!" She challenged, she was clearly very distraught over the whole situation, and she stormed past me for her bedroom. Stung, I followed after to her.

"Wait!" I said. She paused at my words, but didn't turn around to look at me. "Lucy! Justice had to be served. Nobody fucks with one of our own! I couldn't sleep knowing those guys where still out there, and I'm sure it's nothing compared to how you felt!" God, I was feeling like such a sappy puppy, and it wasn't like me. As much as I was trying to suppress my feelings, they seemed to have a nasty habit of creeping up anyway.

"Well it all pales in comparison to how I feel now!" She screeched, her voice growing thicker as she spun around on her heels in the middle the women's hall.

"Lucy! Lucy wait!" I try again, but she didn't listen. She kept walking down the hall, I started to sprint after her, realizing she was going to make it to her room before I could make it to her. She slammed the door in my face as soon as I made it. "Lucy…. Lucy!" I knock on the door.

"Go away!" Her shouts muffled through the door.

"Lucy I'm sorry! Come on, just let me in!" I begged, pounding on the door, the old iron frame work rattling in its hinges. I'm far from any mental health expert, but I at least had some experience living through this shit. I remembered how I felt the first time I had seen Natsu use his fire like that, I remembered laying on my bed staring up at my ceiling fan for hours unable to fall asleep, their screams still echoing in my skull. The things people say and do when they're in that much pain. It's an indecent death. Natsu, Gajeel and I had accidentally stumbled upon a blood trafficking ring, ran by hoard of Vampires. A fight broke out and we barely escaped with our lives had it not been for Natsu's fire. Dragon fire being one of the few ways you can kill a vampire, but still, to this day I could hear all their screams as they all burned to death within that house.

"Go away!" She snapped, although her voice was muffled through the door I could tell she was crying again. "You'll wake the whole guild hall!"

"So let me in!"

She grunts, and I hear her unlatch the lock on her door and step away. I twisted the handle and pushed gently, Lucy was absently shuffling in her drawers looking for some dry sweatpants to put on, as she started to untie her bathrobe. "Shut the door and turn around!" She whisper-orders me. I do so before I realize why she wanted me to turn around. I heard her heavy robe crumble to the floor and I immediately I felt hot, sweat started to bead at my forehead and palms. I was so nervous I was worried Lucy would hear how loud my heart was thumping. What was wrong with me!? I'm ass grown man, I've seen a lot of women naked, in fact I've seen her naked. So why all the sudden was I so immensely nervous? Like a fifteen-year-old seeing boobs for the first time. As the gentleman I was, I folded my hands in front of me and stared straight ahead at the door…. Didn't mean I wasn't watching her reflection in the brassy door handle though. A gentleman always looks. God, so help me if Natsu walked in right now….

"Listen Lucy… I wish. I wish you hadn't had to see that. In truth I hadn't expected him to go that far, but I should have realized, and I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't have told him!" She quipped again as she shoved her arms into a hoodie. "Now those men are dead! Dead because of me! I can live with what happens to me, but now I have an innocent man's death on my hands!"

"No! Not because of you!" I say, unable to help turning around to comfort her, but also knowing (because of my spying) that she was already fully dressed. I grabbed her arm and caressed a gentle hand to her cheek. "No! No! It's not because of you, Natsu alone is responsible for what happened tonight, hell I'll even shoulder some blame for telling and helping him. But not you Lucy, you did nothing wrong in all of this!" She closed her hand around my wrist and pulled my arm down off her face, then turned away from me again.

"If only I was able to fight them off! Damn it! Juvia was right…. I don't deserve to be in a guild." She cursed, revealing an obvious insecurity she had. She wadded up her wet cloths to shove angrily into her hamper. I realized then that she had somehow misconstrued everything back on to herself, which was just fucked up and wildly inaccurate.

"Don't let yourself take even an ounce of the blame for what they did to you Lucy!" I had to fight the darker tones that crept into my voice, furious at what this whole thing was doing to her. She had been so innocent and bright, but I could tell she was becoming jaded.

"How can I not Gray?!" She argued. "Two of them where younger than me! One of them not even guilty! I have innocent blood on my hands!" I didn't think it was possible for her to cry anymore tears but a few leaked out of the corner of her eyes as she held up her shaking palms as if to reveal to me how theoretically red they were.

"Listen to me!" I say, taking a bold step towards her. "Don't! Don't play that card! That innocent boy! That's on Natsu! And trust me I'm just as pissed about it as you are, but you can't blame yourself. Ugh, to be frank with you Lucy, what Natsu is… hell I don't even think he knows. It's like…. It's like there's someone else inside him, sharing his flesh. For whatever reason it's getting harder for him to control, and we're all going to have to learn how to deal with it, not just you!" I tried to coated my words with velvet to make them easier for Lucy to swallow. "As for the rest, look at it this way. Do you really think you where their first? Do you really think you where the last? Think of how many women will be saved from their disgusting habits now that their gone."

"I know…. but still….it doesn't make it right!" She huffed as she deflated onto the edge of her bed. "Before this all happened out of principle I might have agreed with you but…. for it to be me…. for me to be the reason… the guilt. It made me feel like I was treading water before…. But now it feels like I'm drowning it in it."

"You have a kind heart Lucy." I say slowly, struggling myself with how to relate to her, I wasn't sure if I ever really could understand, but it didn't stop me from trying. "To feel that way after what those fucking assholes did to you…. They don't deserve your pity. You don't deserve to feel this way; you don't deserve any of it."

"Why does he do it? Go overboard so much I mean." She asks quietly, staring at her hands in her lap, changing the topic slightly.

I sighed. It was killing me that I had to be the one to give Lucy this talk. She couldn't know how much she it hurt me to give her advice about Natsu, but I would still be honest with her, I owed her that much at least. "It's who he is Lucy. Always has been. On top of that it's pretty fucking obvious he's crazy about you." I started, trying to figure out the best way to phrase what I intended. "I mean who wouldn't be." I can't help but selfishly slip that bit in, but then I tried to graze over it by adding. "Plus, his usual hot headedness with the growing little scaly problem he has, and well, honestly I can't say I'm surprised. The Ol' Salamander's always been the type of guy who thinks he can solve all his problems with his bare hands, and when he gets like that there's barely anything anybody can do." I shrugged. "What I'm trying to say Lucy is…. He'll continue to do this unless you stop him. It has to come from you or he won't listen."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Alright." She said determinately. "I'll make him listen…."

Lucy

It had been almost a whole day before I heard yet another knock on my door, sheesh I was starting to become popular. I hadn't seen Natsu at all and I had no not a clue what he was up to, but admittedly I had need some space away from him to digest what had happened. I closed my laptop that I had been using to mindless emerge myself in the new season of the Bachelor. What? Sometimes escapism is the best way to cope.

I opened the door to the living dead's version of Natsu. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, he had dark bags under his eyes, his hair was all dishevel from tugging at it with his fingers, although he had changed his clothes at least. For a moment he just stood there, his mouth hanging open.

"What? What is it?" I snap harshly, about ready to shove the door in his face, it was the least of what he deserved.

"Lucy… I…" He croaked out. I abruptly paused the door for a moment but he just gaped at me stupidly. It was as if he had rehearsed what to say and then forgotten his lines.

"Save it." I snap, moving to shut the door in his face again. He braced a palm against the door to stop me.

"Hear me out." He demanded, his gaze was distance and his voice sounded like he was choking on a frog. Several days' worth of new, pink growth poking out of his tanned skin. His eyes looked sunken into his skull, and his lips where chapped. What had he been doing for the past twenty-four hours? When I didn't say anything he asked "May I come in?" He asked, his smolder from under his eyebrows did weird things to my stomach. I wanted to hate him, but when he looked at me like that my heart started to race. Why was it that I was always choosing men who were so bad for me? With my lips pursed together in a thin line, I nodded stiffly and took a step back to allow him entrance. As he stepped through the threshold, unwelcome but familiar nerves bubbled up my chest.

"It's who I am Lucy." He said, his voice hoarse and I could tell how much he really didn't want to have this conversation. I realized then that he came here to rationalize with me rather than apologize, and my hackles raised. "It's time you start lookin' at me for what I am."

There was a long pause as I struggled push air past my constricted throat to speak, my stomach churning. "And just what am I supposed to be looking at?" I countered, my eyes narrowed to slits.

"A mon…" Natsu had started to say. My whole days' worth of pent up anger and frustration had reached a boiling point, and all the sudden I couldn't take it anymore. I cocked back my arm and slapped him as hard as I could across his face. How dare he blame the dragon as an excuse, the dragon was part of who he was and the way that I saw it he better start accepting it. I was shaking head to toe in anger as I shouted.

"Don't you dare come here and give me any bullshit excuses!" My hand stung so bad I had to shake it to help the pain ebb. Natsu hadn't even raised he arms; he had just taken my assault like a man, which in some ways only made me all the more frustrated.

"Yeah…. I suppose I deserve that…" He said simply, seemingly unfazed, although the side of his face was turning red. I wanted to hit him again, to see if I couldn't hit him any harder.

"You think!?" I huffed sarcastically.

"Listen Lucy…. I shouldn't have…"

"No shit you shouldn't have!" I threw my arms in the air in exasperation. "I don't CARE what you have to say for yourself Natsu! You were out of line! What you did those men, it was…. Awful. Truly horrendous. I feel like I don't even know who you are after that… Do you even feel an ounce of remorse for what you've done!?"

"Would you just let me get this out!?" He finally quips back, he shot out an arm, resting it against the wall behind me, his thickly muscled arm corralling me. I folded my arms over my chest, leaning away from him, while serving him the sternest expression I could manage, refusing to even blink at his intimidation tactics.

Finally, I relent and say, "Alright, go on then!"

He took a heavy sigh, pulled back, and slumped onto my vanity stool behind him, his head in his hands. Tortured would be the word best used to describe his body language, yet at the same time he looked ridiculous sitting at my little vanity. Here was this warrior of a man, groveling at the petite, pinnacle of feminine existence, surrounded by bottles of perfume and tubes of pink lip gloss. Some had glitter, some had shimmer, and some where even matte, but they were all pink. "…I shouldn't have brought you along like that…. I… I don't know what I was thinking, it was a lapse of judgement on my part and I'm sorry. I know I just made it worse and I can't…... fuck Lucy I'm so sorry. I was just so…. irate…. what those assholes did to you…. all I could see was red, and I wasn't thinking clearly, but that's still no excuse." He finished weakly.

"That was fucked up Natsu!… the way you… the way you did it. It was the most inhumane thing I've ever witnessed in my life. And that last one! He was just a kid Natsu… and innocent teenager!" I was reeling, struggling with the idea of forgiving someone for such a heinous act and yet… and yet there was a piece of me, a small piece that felt comforted by the fact he cared so much.

"If you're asking me to show remorse for those cock suckers forget it." He snarled, his upper lip curling over his human teeth, although even his human canine where a little pointed. "Taking lives is something I've come to terms with, and I'd do it again. They didn't deserve to live for what they did to you. How I'd like to bring them all back to life just so I could do it again…." His tone grew raspy again, dripping with a remembered vengeance. "But maybe you're right. Maybe the show of it was too much… and the kid. You're right about that too, it just we were in too deep. He'd seen too much by that point, that part was poorly managed. And making you watch that was…. Disgusting."

"So what do you want from me?" I ask, trying to keep a level tone, rocked by the idea of breaking up with him. I wasn't sure if I could forgive him, and if I couldn't I knew what that meant for our relationship. My heart started to flutter at the realization, and I was starting to fight moisture in my eyes again.

"Next time…. Next time I want you to do everything you can in your power to stop me. If it comes from you I think I'll listen. As much as I'm okay with the idea of killing… I do avoid doing it by fire. It never goes well. I hurt you again Lucy, it's all I seem capable of doing, and this time it was way worse than physically. That's why it's got to come from you. From you, I promise I'll listen. It's the only way." He reached a hand out grabbing and squeezing one of mine.

I nodded slowly and closed the distance between us. How could I refuse him when he was being so genuine? He wasn't asking for forgiveness, no, he was being an even bigger man and asking for help. "I will." I said. "If you promise me one thing."

He slid his hand from mine to cup the back of my thigh, tugging me closer to stand in-between his legs, which where perched absurdly on my little stool. I looked down my nose at him, my lips wriggling with incision over my teeth. When he gazed back up at me I could tell how much this whole situation was eating him alive, which was honestly a relief. Had he come back to me with anything but authenticity I would have shown him the door. Even if his words didn't show any remorse, his eyes where swarming with it. "Anything." He whispered desperation permeating his voice.

"You can't kill anyone… ever again."

"…Lucy… it's not like I like doing it. It's just sometimes I have no other options."

"You had options last night."

"….."

Natsu

"If we all kill each other what's the point?" Lucy adds quietly as she watched her toes spread across the fluffy cream colored rug in the center of her bedroom. I knew the implications of what she was asking better than she understood. Killing an enemy is far easier than defeating them, leaving them alive means giving them the opportunity to fight another day. Death was a much simpler solution. Whatever my reasons for killing them today, would still exist tomorrow.

"Don't you see Natsu… it's the only way." Lucy continued, finally dragging her graze from the floor to my face. "Otherwise how are we any different? What gives us the right to decide?! Just because you have the power to take someone's life doesn't mean you should. Think about what a life means, it means the opportunity to grow, to change." She pleads, shortening the distance between us. Her eyes begging me to adhere to the morality beating in her chest. She was asking me to be more than what I was, holding me to a higher standard than I deserved. It wasn't as though I was raised with the 'kill or be killed' mentality, it's not as though I enjoyed doing it. It's not something I sought out, or craved.

"I've never really cared about what the right thing is." Is what I eventually managed to saw after a long pensive pause. "You think people can change, and that possibility gives them the right to mercy. But I don't see it that way, not everybody is capable of that kind of growth, those men I killed don't deserve your empathy. Angel didn't deserve that kind of empathy either. I care about Fairy Tail and everybody in it…. Even you…. Especially you. Leaving anybody alive to come after you another day doesn't exactly help me sleep at night." I say, watching my right hand flex in my lap as a nervous distraction from looking at Lucy's face. I know my words disappointed her. It was like what Gildarts had said, she wanted me to feel remorse if only in some small way. The fact was I didn't. Not a shred. It just wasn't in my DNA. That being said, I was in no position to deny Lucy anything, I would have peeled the skin off my back for her if it would have helped…. But she didn't want the skin off my back…what Lucy wanted from was something I buried long ago and was pretty certain wasn't about to be resurrected any time soon. "I'm not sure if it's a promise I can keep Lucy…. But I will…. Try. I don't want to lie to you, and there might be a day that I'll have to break this…. I promise I will try my best not to." I say, rubbing my warm hand up and down her creamy, cool thigh. She was in such close proximity it was impossible not to touch in some capacity. Her eyes searched mine for something, apparently she must have found what she was looking for because nodded she said.

"Besides… I don't need you going berserk every time someone so much as scowls at me." She rolled her eyes. "That's so… clique of you Natsu, and anyways I'm a grown woman. I've been training hard and can fight my own battles if I need to." She says, sass and confidence dripping from her lips. Relief washed over me to see her lighten up the mood.

"Oh yeah?" I challenge, a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth, despite the heavy topic of conversation I think we were both just elated to finally be on the other side of it. I say light heartedly, reaching around with lightening reflexes to begin to tickle her, relieved by how easily we had slipped back into our lighter nature. She shrieked and shrilled, doubling over with laughter as she tried and failed repeatedly to bat my hands away from her stomach. The sound of her laughter made my heart sing, and for a moment the whole rest of the world melted away. As ticklish as she was, she had retreated easily to where the backs of her knees where bumping up against her bed, when she finally surrendered yelling.

"Stahhp! Alright, alright! Stahhp!"

I pulled my hands back, and quick as a flash Lucy shoved a finger in her mouth and lunged forward to stick it in my ear. I caught her wrist just in time and gently pushed her backwards onto the bed. I felt like both of us where relieved to still be in our relationship that we had slipped into a false sense of light hearted flirting. "Did you just try to give me a wet willy!?" I teased, pinning her to the bed by her one wrist, my other arm used to prop myself above her.

She smiled flirtatiously up at me, her cheeks flushed and dewy. My breath caught in my throat as I soaked in how beautiful she was when she smiled. Before I knew it she had snaked an arm around my neck, and used it to pull herself up, her lips crushing against mine.

I placed my free hand at her waist, but it seemed to have a mind of its own and was quickly roaming around Lucy's body. The temperature in my body sky rocketing from cool to molten in the span of a little kissing and some over the cloths groping. Lucy was arched into me, her chin tilted up to my face. Christ she was so hot, it about killed me to do what I did next.

The last time we'd had sex I had lost control, only for a second and I'd hurt her. I was terrified of losing control again, I realized I needed a little practice in that department, but now wasn't the time, not after everything Lucy had just been through. The punctures through her traps from my fucking teeth had only just healed. Gently I pulled away from her and said. "Hold on a minute Lucy…"

"What? What's wrong?" She asked, concern swimming in her brown eyes.

"I just… don't think right now is a good time. We've been through a lot lately and…" I try to say as delicately as possible. Lucy rolled her hips under me, better positioning herself in an attempt to distract me, I gritted my teeth with restraint and regret. The truth was after what I'd just done to her, it made me feel sick to think about fucking her right now, like I was taking advantage or something. I knew she was a grown woman who was capable of making her own decisions, but it still didn't change the way I felt. When I rejected her a second time, she pulled away from me, pouting. Lucy was probably sour about having been rejected for about an hour, before she had decided to turn it into game she must have thought was great fun, and I thought was living torture.

Laxus

The following morning.

I was sifting through my emails when I found one in particular that had intrigued me. I opened up the message, my eyes scanning the words on the screen, my fingerings flittering about the keyboard as I hastily typed a response. Before I could press send however, Gajeel unceremoniously crashed into my office. Before I could get my reprimand off my tongue he blurted. "Someone from the Government is here!" I realized then that he must of ran all the way here as he was panting and leaning against the doorway. "Pulled up in some unmarked car… requesting to speak to you…Laxus… How did they find him?"

"Doesn't matter how they found us. Send him in." I ordered, sounding more collected than I felt.

"But Laxus…"

"Gajeel! I warned and repeated sternly. "Send him in.'"

A few moments later I heard a set of dress shoes clicking on the tiled floor, a man in full uniform appeared in opened entrance to my office. Four gold stars pinned to his chest and a manila folder tucked under his arm. He walked with an air of self-importance, had close cropped white hair and an even closer shave, he had no distinguishing features aside from his out of control eyebrows. Respectfully the man took his hat off and tucked it under his arm with the envelope. I inclined my head and offered him a seat. He promptly stuck out a rigid arm for me to shake. I stood up and reached of the desk to shake it, with an impressive grip, he introduced himself. "Colonel Melburne, sir!"

"Laxus Makarov … but you already knew that." I replied in an almost flippant tone. I'd have had more than a suspicion this would happen someday, and now that that day was here I found my attitude more annoyed than anything else. I wasn't about to give Natsu up, and was prepared to lie through my teeth to protect him. Lying wasn't something I was fond of doing, so being put in this position automatically fowled my mood.

"I suppose so, sir."

"Anyways, what's this all about? I'll admit I don't usually have men in full uniform knocking on my Guild Hall at 9:00 in the morning on a Tuesday. Forgive my suspicious nature and let's just cut to the chase shall we? What are you doing here?" I was perhaps a bit ruder than I needed to be and had to censor myself from rolling my eyes and dropping a few more choice curse worse.

"Mr. Makarov." He cleared his throat, as he prepared his statement. I was visibly startled by the title, nobody every called me that. Mr. Makarov was the Ol'Gramps.

"Laxus is fine." I correct quickly, not wishing for this whole titles thing to carry on.

"Laxus then…" The man had a bit of a southern twang to his voice, though he hid it well. "It's about one of your guild members…."

I stiffened. Was this it? Where these the white coats finally showing up to drap Natsu away in a strait jacket? I prayed to god they were just poking their nose around out of curiosity and didn't actually have an official order. Natsu wasn't going to be able to fly under the radar much longer, no matter the precautions the guild took this was bound to happen sooner or later. Still, I was going to fight to the bitter end to prevent that from happening. It was what older brothers are for.

"You see Mr. Makaraov."

"Laxus." I corrected again, stiffly, loyalty for Natsu humming in my chest.

"Laxus." He amended, serving me an apologetic smile. "Our statistics team runs analytics on licensed guild members, given to us based on data given to us by the various branches of government. As you well know Guilds, legal guilds that is, have to make quarterly reports to the Department of Guild Alliances, otherwise known as the DGA. We run these analyses to ferret out…. the cream of the crop…. If you will. A member of your guild has been gathering our attention for quite some time now. Finally, I decided to pull up Fairy Tails' contracts and licensing through the DGA…. You have some very interesting no contact clauses in it. Meaning it would be against the law to approach your guild members directly, but nothing forbids me from contacting Fairy Tails' representative…. I assume that would be you… Laxus?"

"Yes, that would be me. And I can tell you…he's not interested." I say dryly. Every Guild had to have their own contract with the federal government to be considered licensed and legal, licensure wasn't easy to come by and it was a way for Uncle Sam to press a thumb to our heads. In fact, licensure renewals where one of my core duties as Guild Master. Colonel Melburne hadn't mentioned Natsu's name yet, but I figured it was pretty obvious why he was here.

"How did you know I was referring to Mr. Dragneel? Funny… you don't seem at all surprised." Colonel Melburne gave me a quick once over, as if reassessing my level of intimidation. A slight raise to his dark bushy eyebrows betrayed his suspicion.

"It would be a waste of time for both of us, Colonel, to feign ignorance."

"Mr. Dragneel's statistics are…. impressive. What kind of magic does he use? Dragon slayer, isn't that right?"

"Doesn't it say some so somewhere in there?" I countered, nodding to the folder tucked under his arm. If the Colonel was asking me, it meant that he didn't exactly know what Natsu was, and he sure as shit wasn't going to glean any answers from me.

"It does…." Melburne replied, slipping into the seat opposite me across my desk. I followed suite, sinking into my own and shuffling some sensitive documents on the desk into a drawer. "But it still doesn't explain this." The Colonel opened his file and slid a picture across the desk for me to inspect. It was a picture of Natsu caught on a security camera during the last mission I had to promptly send him off on. Natsu was pictured in a convenience store, horns curling out of his pink hair, scales spattered on his shoulder, up his neck and over his left ear. "Tell me… Laxus…are Dragon slayers usually capable of transmuting their bodies like this?" He finishes, leaning over the desk to attempt closer to gage my response.

"I don't know Colonel… you tell me." I say dismissively folding my arms over my chest and leaning back in my chair. If the military wanted to believe Natsu was capable of transmutation so be it, anything that would throw them off the scent. Transmutation of demon souls was illegal, considered black magic, but it was still less extraordinary than truth.

"The answer is no… they're not. It's intriguing to say the least, that coupled with his track record. In 2016 alone he defeated a herd of horned demons, a Cyclops, a Cerberus. In 2017 he infiltrated a whole underground system of Vampires…and just recently I hear he was part of the team the finally brought those damned Bloody Hares to their knees. Impressive, and hard to ignore, especially when our military is in such a need for men like him."

"Doesn't matter. Like I said… he's not interested." My demeanor was almost bored, but on the inside nervous that Colonel Melburne may have discovered just a little too much.

"Sure you don't need to talk it over with Dragneel first?" The Colonel asked in a last ditch effort to try and undermine my confidence. "I'm sure he'd at least want to hear about the kind of benefits the Military can offer him…. Not to mention the pay raise…." He mumbled the last bit, but I caught it regardless.

"Positive. I don't need to talk to him to know what he would say." I retorted.

"And what would he say Mr. Makarov." This time when he said it, it was deliberate, as he scooped his photos back into his folders and stoop up stiffly.

"He'd tell you to fuck right off." I say, leaning back against my chair smugly, kicking my feet up onto my desk.

"That's a shame… I'd ask you both to reconsider. I have information here Mr. Dragneel might find…. interesting." Melburne waggled the file in front of my face, and it took all the restraint I had to not deck him in his smartass little face and just take the file for myself. However, I continued to feign disinterest well enough that he smoothed out the wrinkles in his pants. "Tsk. Tsk. Such a shame…There are things being put into motion in this world Mr. Makarov. Things the public doesn't know about yet. And when they do." Colonel Melburne straightened up, pivoting towards the door but continuing to make his point over his shoulder. "Well… Fairy Tail is going to need all the allies they can get."

"It that a threat?" I asked, arching an eyebrow, my arm still folded over my chest, not bothering to rise from my seat.

"Not at all…. well… you know where to find me when you change your mind. And Mr. Makarov… you will change your mind." The Colonel said as stormed off, shutting the door behind himself. It wasn't until his footsteps faded away that I was able to pull my focus back to my emails.

Lucy

One Week Later

I was perched delicately on a pink, vintage, Victorian styled couch in one of the many seating areas dotted throughout the estate. My leg bounced nervously on the ultra-plush carpeting as I took stock of the other girls in the room for what felt like the thousandth time over the past hour. They were all blonde and each one more beautiful than the last, designer labels slapped on every surface of their skin possible. I had entered a world where Botox and silicon where the standard, and veneers where covering up more than just their teeth.

I'm not usually the type of girl who gets self-conscious, it's not as though I think I'm ugly. But there I was, sitting in same room as these women, in a pieced together a pink blazer, a tweed miniskirt I found on sale, and the tits god gave me. We were all in line for the same job interview and I felt like I had missed some kind of memo, the kind that says I needed a verified Instagram account and sugar daddy.

One by one the girls discretely exited a room off to the left, beyond a white grand piano and a display of pink roses. Then what had to be her assistant would emerge, a fantastically flamboyant man with a taste for Italian leather and expensive cologne that was too impeccable to belong to anybody heterosexual. Our names had been called out one by one in alphabetical order, the last one had been a bombshell with the last name Goldenstein, which meant I was probably next.

"Heartfilia honey! You're up next!" Chimed the assistant as he ushered me through the white, crown molded door to her home office. I stood up and immediately my throat went dry and I found it impossible to swallow. Despite the tall ceilings and the cool marble floor, I was overheating, praying that the pit stains of my blazer weren't visible.

I couldn't believe it when Laxus called me into his office on Tuesday morning to tell me. Of course it had been all over the news and social media, but never in a million years would did I think this would ever happen to me! An ad for the job title had been emailed to Laxus, requiring a young girl 21-29, she had to be blonde, and she had to be a size six or under. Laxus had responded with a copy of my resume, having had the good sense to steal some of my photos from Instagram with it. When Laxus had broken the news to me that I had gotten an interview, he had also let slip that he first had thought of Mirajane, the obvious choice. Apparently Mirajane had once dated this employer's ex fiancé, so that left her out of the running. Laxus was just about to scroll to the next email when, he had the epiphany. He sent me.

When the door finally swung open it revealed floor to ceiling windows with a dazzling view of the Hollywood hills beyond. Sitting at her modern glass desk, her Barbie blonde hair brushed to perfection, her skin radiating an inner glow with her dazzling celebrity smile, was none other than Paris Hilton. No matter what occurred in this interview I was sure to go straight to my car afterwards to dial up Levi's number, careful to remember every detail for her.

Paris was wearing an expensive looking tailored suit, with gold facets and pear encrusted Chanel earrings. "Hey Lucy!" She said my first name so casually, like we were somehow already acquainted, and it did a great deal to calm my nerves. "Please sit down." She smiled more and gestured kindly to a satin pink pleated chair opposite her.

"Thank you." I say, trying to serve her back a smile that was at least half as radiant as her own. I took care to sink as gracefully as I could into the chair, crossing my ankles and laying my hands neatly in my lap, doing my best to serve Princess of Genovia vibes.

"So Lucy, tell me about yourself, how do you think you would be a good fit for this position?" Said Paris sweetly as she pulled out a copy of my resume from a pink, perfume scented file on her desk.

"Well I'm in my last semester at University for a journalism degree, and as of September I joined a guild, Fairy Tail. Since then I've been employed on a number of missions…"

"I've read your resume." Interrupted Paris sweetly. "I want to know something about you that's not on this paper. What I'm curious about is how a career driven women such as yourself has suddenly landed herself into a guild… and Fairy Tail, now that's a familiar name." She mused curiously, her posture unmoved. It was hard to imagine that a little over ten years ago the sleek business women I saw before me today was the same women on the reality TV show asking if Walmart sold Walls.

"I… uh… well." I laughed nervously a little. "It's kind of a long story." I offer.

"Please excuse my forwardness, I've been through a lot of interviews today so I'll get straight to the point. I've been receiving death threats through the mail, the letters cut and pasted making it difficult for the Police to trace. Of course I'm no stranger to hate mail, but these letter's… they're different. Too specific to ignore especially given the current climate…. I'm sure you've seen on the news what happened to Arianna Grande?" She asked, I nodded quietly, allowing her to continue on. Arianna had been kidnapped and ransomed by somebody from her own publishing company, the had been handcuffed her to a radiator in trailer in the middle of the desert in New Mexico for three days before they found her. Lord knows what happened to her in those three days, it was a miracle she was still alive really. I couldn't blame Paris for adding on extra security measures.

"Of course I have two full time security guards stationed with me here in L.A. However, I just signed a contract for a Las Vegas show, I'll be flying there on the weekends, I need someone to do the flight with me and stay with me at all times during those weekends. In my line of business there are many places, such as dressing rooms, backstage at fashion shows, not to mention all the paparazzi that follow me everywhere I go. Someone who can accompany me from parties in Calabasas to backstage in Milan, therefore I need someone who is both very capable of assuring my safety as well as…. looking the part. So please, Lucy, if you wouldn't mind." Paris finished, her celebrity smile never fading from her face, her dialect polished to perfection. This moment seemed so surreal to me, Paris was someone who I had grown up watching in the tabloids, a woman who in some respects I admired for her ability to be both all-female and all business. Despite all the controversy and no matter what anybody said about her, she never stopped being herself. In that moment I decided my best course of action was to just be real with her, to be my authentic self. At least then if I got rejected, it would be for who I was, and not who I was pretending to be.

"Alright… well… it all started when my Ex-boyfriend dumped me…" And so I opened up, and told her darn near the whole story. I told her about my mother, about meeting Natsu and how we fought the shadow demon together, and Victoria Secret party, the pirates, the Oracion Sies, and Saber tooth. When I finished she said.

"And this Natsu guy… you're dating him now, correct?"

"How did you know?"

"Oh it was just the way you described him." She said flippantly and I hadn't missed the glint in her eye. "He's the one with pink hair, correct?"

"That's him." I couldn't hide the proud smile that tugged at my lips. It's not exactly like Natsu was famous in the way that Mirajane was, but guilds often made the evening news, and Fairy Tail's name gets brought up frequently, especially in California. "Well I have to say." Paris continued. "This is all quite impressive, and to think what you've accomplished in a matter of months."

"Yeah, well, I had a lot of help." I say a little sheepishly, feeling a little undeserving of all the praise.

"I'll admit; I was skeptical when my PR team recommended shooting Fairy Tail an email. All I could picture was the big red headed women that sometimes makes the headlines… Elsa is it?"

"Erza." I corrected. I didn't take offense to Paris's depiction of Erza, they were very different kind of women that would have meshed together like water and oil.

"Erza! That's right. Well, I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by you. I can see why your Guild master spoke so highly of you." Said Paris as she slid my resume back into the file, indicating that our interview was coming to a close. I'll admit that it warmed my heart to hear that Laxus had gassed me up so much. "Unlike a lot of girls I've interviewed here today, you've seen some real actual action. I have to say your life seems quite interesting Lucy. If you don't have any questions for me, then expect to hear back from us sometime tomorrow. But to alleviate some of your concern, I will say you've definitely made the short list."

The next day came and went, next thing I knew the following Monday rolled around and Laxus still hadn't heard anything from Paris's secretary. Frankly, I had driven Laxus bananas all week with how many times I asked him "Have you heard anything yet?" I eventually wore out his patience and he snapped at me.

"Trust me Lucy, when and IF I hear back, you will be the first person I tell! Now will you Please let me get back to work?"

Eventually I had let the subject drop, figuring Paris had decided on another candidate and I chose to just count my blessings I got the interview in the first place. Predictably Levi was just as pumped as I was about the whole thing. Eventually though I had to float back down to reality and pack up my book bag to head to the first day of my last semester. I was standing outside of my next class, waiting for the previous class to let out, running over everything for the millionth time with Levi, who god bless her, didn't seem to get annoyed with me for the constantly bringing it up. By this time, she could probably recite my experience better than I could.

The sounds of chairs scooting and paper rustling signified the end of the first period, the doors to the class room opened and a flood of students exited the lecture hall. Right at that moment I felt my phone buzz in my jacket pocket. Hastily I pulled it out.

Natsu: Have a good first last day! J

I sighed, ashamed with myself that I was disappointed it wasn't Laxus. As I robotically followed Levi into the classroom I typed back.

Lucy: Thanks! Meet for Lunch?

We picked a seat three rows up from the front, so as not to be too much of a nerd but not so much of a slacker to sit in the back. I was unloading my notebooks and pens when the professor walked in pulling up her PowerPoint onto the overhead projector.

Syllabus day as usual. After four years it all seemed to be the same mumbo jumbo, rules are subject to change etc. Etc. We were dismissed early that day, with the promise that next class would be a proper lecture. I pulled my phone out to check and see if I had enough time to grab a latte before my next class when I realized I had a missed call from Laxus. Hastily I pressed the callback button. My heart fluttering wildly as he didn't pick up until the second to last ring.

"Hey, Lucy what's up?" He answered casually, as if he hadn't been the one to call me first.

"Come on Laxus! Don't hold me in suspense, it's mean!" I exclaimed, I couldn't tell if he was teasing me or trying to let me down easy.

"What are you doing Saturday?" He asked nonchalantly, and I could just see his mocking smile in my mind's eye. Excitement washed over me and I became victim to my inner thirteen-year-old as I squealed into the phone and had to resist jumping up and down. Levi having been witness to the whole event stopped in her tracks, guessing correctly judging my response. "You got it!" She screeched so loudly that it startled a girl walking behind her and she dropped all her Chemistry books.

It was almost impossible to sit through the rest of my morning classes when all I wanted to do was call and tell everyone in my life. My dad of course was less than thrilled, although he tolerated my guild, he never really accepted it and saw it only as a distraction from my studies. When class finally let out I raced to my Nissan and tried to ignore that my check engine light was on as I sped to the guild hall, ecstatic to tell Natsu and Mirajane in person.

Positively buzzing I went straight for Natsu's room first, I didn't even bother knocking I just barged right in. He had been playing video games with Gajeel, and empty beer cans littered the floor. Gajeel must have already learned from Levi and had told him because he didn't look shocked in the least that I had just bombarded into his room. As soon as I laid eyes on him it seemed like the wind carried me away and the time stood still. He was so beautiful sometimes and I was on such a high I was just drinking it all in. His skin evenly bronzed from hours of training outside, a few days' worth of pink stubble peppering his chiseled jaw line, his lazy cut off revealed a nest of pink arm pit hair and bulky muscling earned from all that practice. His messy pink hair half dried from a recent shower, swept haphazardly over his prominent brows. He smiled expectantly at me, waiting for me to say something first, his teeth still just a little pointed even when he was in complete control. In that moment despite everything that had happened, and how absolutely bonkers my life had gotten since meeting Natsu, I was happier than I ever recalled being before.

"What?! Cat got your tongue?" Gajeel teased as I realized that I had been standing there gawking stupidly for a full minute that I had forgotten what my reason for barging in was.

"I got it!" I exclaimed. "I got the job with Paris!"

"Good. Now you can finally shut up about it." Grumbled Gajeel first, although deep down I knew he was happy for me.

"Awesome! Way to go Lucy! See I told you to just be yourself!" Beamed Natsu as he set down his controller and stood up.

After gushing about the whole thing with Natsu some more I decided to tell Mirajane next. I all but skipped all the way down to her room, but when I knocked no one answered. Only slightly perturbed, I figured she was probably in the Guildhall or kitchens or something so I headed off in that direction. Turned out I was right, she was putting clean dishes away behind the bar, with the new blaring something on the TV.

"Mirajane! Mirajane!" I all but galloped up behind the bar to meet her. But before I could wrap my arms around her in a celebratory hug she whipped around.

"Sssshhh!" She frowned harshly. I was momentarily hurt until I followed her hand pointing up at the TV behind the bar. Like ice on a hot stove my excitement melted away, and was replaced by horror. There are no words that truly described what I saw on the scene that day, but when I look back on it, I recognize this day as the day it all started. The beginning of the end.

Dozens of demons had been let loose upon the city of Detroit. Some looked like giant spiders, where were toppling cars left and right that had been abandoned in the panic. Some were vaguely humanoid, with gray leathery skin and glowing yellow eyes. They seemed deranged and confused as many of them ran around in circles flailing their arms pointlessly, or else getting stuck behind things like mail boxes and street lights. Other demons looked like putrid looking Hyenas that were chasing people through the streets, spewing fire from their mouths. Many of the shops and restaurants had been caught on fire, black smoke pouring out into the streets, as well as a few cars that were moments from exploding once the flames reached the gas tanks.

Worst of all where the harpies, with their russet colored feathers and two sets of bare breasts. They had the head and torso of black haired women, except that they had no iris's or pupils, just orbs of milky white. They sored down and scooped up terrified fleeing civilians in their claws, carrying them high, high above the city only to drop on to their deaths. The journalist who was reporting on this truly hellish scene had to practically scream into the microphone so as to be heard over the people's terror as they were falling through the skies to their ultimate demise.

"It is still unknown who is responsible for releasing these hellish beasts from their imprisonment underneath the city." The young reporter was decidedly looking at the camera and reading his ticker tape, it was obvious his composure was barely in check. Behind him one of the hyena looking things tackled a police officer who had been trying to shoot it. Within seconds it had ripped out the officers throat, blood soaking the maw of the beast. As if the thing knew what it was doing it took a long moment to pause and stare at the camera, it's mouth half open as if using it for scent the way you see lions on the Discovery channel sometimes do. Then it started to get hit with more bullets, presumably from other officers off screen and it took off after them.

"The death toll of this catastrophe is yet unknown…." The reporter understandably was now interrupting his sentences to check over his shoulder. The camera itself started to shake as a huge blue blimp with a large rearing horse painted on the side came into view.

"Thank goodness." Breathed Mirajane a hand over her heart in relief. Until then neither of us had said a word, we merely watched, rendered speechless by the vision on the screen.

"Thank god." The reporter also noticed the blimp and mirrored Mirajane's reaction. "Blue Pegasus has just arrived on the scene."