Embracing Fire Trivias
1. Places
The cities mentioned in the story like Vernus (where Layla's house was located), Sativus (Natsu and Lucy's condo), and many more were all derived from the scientific names of the types of the flower Crocus.
2. Touka Alabaster
Touka's character hasn't been given a surname in the Fairy Tail manga (or at least while this story was ongoing). Alabaster is an english word pertaining to a compact fine-textured usually white and translucent gypsum oftencarved into vases and ornaments. This word was used as the character's surname because of its relation to the colour white and Touka is a white mage.
3. Apollo Luna
This character is obviously not in the anime. His role was Layla's husband, the step-father of Lucy (if he's considered as one). The name Apollo was used because of two reasons; Apollo is the Greek God of the Sun and Layla, Lucy, and Ashley were all blonde; and because of the Apollo spacecraft. Both reasons were connected to the space and the celestials.
4. Seilah Helm
As a demon from the book of Zeref, Seilah doesn't have a surname. Helm is an English word which is synonymous to control. It was chosen because of Seilah's curse — control.
5. Club names
Because of Cana, many chapters happened in different clubs. Sorciere, Scarlet, Cerberus and many more were all named after guilds and aliases.
6. Lucy's toxic family
It was because of how Lucy values her families that the conflicts of this story got worst. Many reviewers were practically begging her to drop them but since the purpose of the modern setting of this story is to be realistic (see 7), one can't just abandon their own family. In some parts of the world particularly Asia where children were raised to be family oriented, people there held strong family ties which were hard to cut no matter how toxic they are for the reason that they are one's flesh and blood. Lucy's the same. In fact, her ties to her family were stronger than theirs.
In the first half of the story, she stubbornly kept on holding on to her families because of one single reason; it's all she has. Natsu, no matter how intimate he is with Lucy, was still her fuck buddy so he couldn't be taken into consideration. All her life, the only thing she's been dreaming is to earn her family's recognition. She even gave up on love because of her own parents' example. For Lucy, she exists because of her families and abandoning them equates to her death.
But that was before her son came into picture. Lucy's striking change happened in the last half of the story. It was because of her son. Before, Lucy only has her families so she's determined to do everything to not lose them. But since Beau came, Lucy's priorities change. Her dream to get her families' recognition that she has been working on since childhood vanished because of Beau. She started fighting back to her mother, learned how to firmly stand by her decisions, and learned how to say no if it was for her son's sake. Beau and Natsu are the reasons why Lucy managed to drop her maternal family.
7. "Dragging plot and lots of dramas"
The reason why this story became long was because of the purpose to give it a touch of reality. Embracing Fire is a modern AU. All those misunderstandings, hesitations, and problems were natural in this world and should be faced with proper measures. This is the striking difference between the Fairy Tail anime and this Fairy Tail fanfiction. In the anime, the plot highlights how the power of friendship can solve anything. In real world, while friendship can help, it wouldn't solve every problem that people encounter. In here, there are many factors which should be taken into account before making a decision — consequences, purpose of doing an action, feelings of both parties, family, personal values, etc.
8. "Unsolved issues"
Many comments on the epilogue was about the issues in the story were left unsolved. But on the contrary, they weren't. All of the issues were settled but not in the direct way. Lucy's maternal family issues (see 6) were finished the moment she said about their argument in the hospital being the last time she'll be forgiving towards them and Natsu's obvious support on anything she'll do (except leaving him) which would make Layla and Ashley hesitant to contact Lucy anymore since they know how Natsu is. Thus, ending their ties.
Natsu and Lucy's separation was done for self improvement. Their relationship as fuck buddies started toxic. Being away from each other because of the shooting gave them the time to change. Lucy no longer depends on her family when she got back while Natsu changed a lot in prison.
The mystery surrounding Natsu and Ashley's nonexistent relationship was also settled as early as Natsu's apologies to Lucy about having no choice but to seek information from them. It was hinted how he just used them to have the updates on Lucy that he couldn't get because of her tight security even abroad. Natsu's confession about him being changed by Lucy answered just how "intimate" his and Ashley's relationship is which is purely platonic (for him). He changed which means that the playboy him who enjoys sexual activities with various women doesn't exist anymore. He learned to love which made him sentimental thus not caring about other women except Lucy. All of these were just hinted and not said directly because it's a bit... corny (personal opinion) to do that and doing so beats the realistic approach of the story.
9. Point of View
The whole story (chapters one to sixty), including the prologue, was told by Lucy. It's to give the readers the feeling of being in the protagonist's shoes. Having reading just her thoughts, feelings, and views would make you feel how she feels in every situation (including the smut). It literally draws the readers inside this AU as Lucy Heartfilia, the protagonist, since their knowledge is limited to what the protagonist knows. Having an omniscient view (personal opinion) kind of drains the excitement of the readers since there's no thrill because of the awareness of the thoughts of the prominent characters. It was because of this that the first person's point of view was used.
The story closed (epilogue) with Natsu's point of view to signify the end of this fanfiction. It symbolises how the covers of the book would close by finally knowing the thoughts of the other protagonist. It ends the questions and the thrill because of being given the hints to the unknown reasons and answers to the questions that the readers accumulated the whole ride. Having the epilogue told by Natsu removes the reader's feet from Lucy's shoes, thus ending the story.
10. Embracing Fire
For both Lucy and Natsu, embracing each other's fire is dangerous. It requires sacrifice; Lucy's maternal family and; Natsu's grudge. The story ended with Lucy firmly fighting back while Natsu admittance of forgiveness thus, the sacrifices. With this, the title was justified and they can finally embrace each other's fire without burden and worries.