Chapter 9: In Harmonia Progressio

Why was it that now, of all freaking times, was he starting to feel for the princess? Or, rather, why was he feeling for her at all? He had been trying and failing to come up with a reason for the last twelve hours, what must have been a few dozen miles across Fiore's dull shoreline countryside. Maybe they shared a little moment, but…

"Gah, I don't have the brainpower for this," he grumbled. "You've got me acting weird now, you, you…weirdo. You freaking weirdo." But she was asleep, unable to hear anything he was saying. Even though he should've been watching where he was going, he was busy staring at the soft planes of her face, the curve of her eyelashes, the silky hair over his arm—

Natsu fell, feeling the gravel below him give way to a sudden descent. He shifted Lucy to one arm and held her tightly against him as they skidded down a sharp drop parallel to the path, heading towards a field of sharp rocks jutting out from the sea. He clutched her midriff firmly before allowing his wings to unfurl, catching the wind and letting the air resistance slow their drop somewhat before he could manage to stop completely. He released a shaky breath as his toes brushed against the pointy tip of the tallest rock.

"What's going on?" she asked groggily, blinking into the sunlight. It was midday, making it extra strong above them.

"Nothing of any particular interest, but are you strong enough to hold onto my neck?"

She complied, which worried him a little of her mental state—even in her best mood, she was as stubborn as Gajeel. He could feel her body's heat seeping through the fabric between them, and, considering that she was not a fire dragon, that wasn't a good thing. Ethernano was building up in her body, and if it continued to do so, it would eventually force its way out, which would not be a pretty show.

"Okay, hold on…" He burrowed his claws into the loose earth and made his slow way up the drop, feeling clay break away beneath his toes with every step. Lucy's harsh breathing was loud as a drum in his ears, but as he listened, it slowly began dying down. "Hey, Princess, stay awake."

"I'm trying…tired…"

"Try harder, damn it." If she went to sleep, she could go comatose, or worse. He hauled them back onto the pathway with a sigh of exertion, crouching for a moment to regain his bearings. He noticed Lucy had shifted to his back, her legs tangled around his waist for support. He knew that she couldn't hold her own weight for much longer in the condition she was in, but he was loathe to touch her even more personally than he had been doing. "Talk to me, Luce. It'll keep you awake," he said, getting to his feet. It was a little harder to run with her on his back but he kept a good pace.

"I miss Gray," she murmured into the back of his head. He let out a dry laugh.

"Why is that, exactly?"

"He's my best friend…grew up together… He's reserved, but he's kind and sympathetic too…so I love him…"

"Oh," he said flatly. "He's your mate, is he? I'd hate to think of him as the future king of Fiore."

"We're not together," she said, a note of perplexity trickling into her exhausted voice. "We're close though."

"Ah, you're not?" He wanted to punch himself in the face for the little part of his heart that jumped for joy. "But I wouldn't know any of that, considering he's been nothing but cold as ice to me since I've known him. His old man though, Silver was a little more…heated."

"I loved Silver too," she said miserably. He winced a little at the sound and hastened his stride.

"You know, for dragons, family is the most important thing, cuz there was never many of us," he told her. "Gajeel and Wendy, they are my brother and sister of blood. I would give up the world for them and they would do the same."

"You love them."

"Of course I do! I'm still searching for my sister even now, although I haven't made much headway… Either way, I can't do much until you're whole, Princess, so do me a favor: shut up and rest."

"I want to hear more about your family," she insisted. He stared at his hands for a moment and the claws adorning them until his nails slowly began to shrink to normal size. Then he stared a little more before working up the nerve to reach back and grasp Lucy around her thighs, holding her firmly in place.

"There were a lot of dragons down there a long time ago," he said quietly, "but the three of us were the most inseparable. Gajeel because he is the only person I'd allow myself to lose a fight to, and Wendy because she's the…mm… I guess you could call her the baby of the family. Even when she was born, she was so tiny and frail… A mhuyn."

"Duck?" Lucy translated.

"No…well, yeah, it does mean duck, but it's a term of endearment for dragons. She was small then, but she never wanted to be spoiled. 'I'm a dragon too!' she would always say." He snickered and grinned at the memory. "She's a healer, which is a really rare magic I hear. We use a lot of different kinds of magic, same as people. Redfox, he fights with iron, which matches his metal skull perfectly. Dad, Igneel, was the greatest dragon ever. He was the king of all the fire dragons! Nobody could stand up to him in a fight, he told me, never. He was the greatest, undefeated, unmatched!"

"You loved him," Lucy murmured. Natsu's smile wilted.

"I love him. And I'd give up my wings to see him again. But the kingdom, they stole his life, and now they're content to do the same to me." Lucy let out a whimper.

"You're hurting me…" He realized he was gripping her legs too forcefully and relaxed.

"There were other dragons too," he added in a forced cheerful tone. "Skiadrum and Weisslogia, the shadow dragon and the light dragon, escaped imprisonment, and I hadn't heard from them in decades. There were dragons that didn't have kids at all, like the jade dragon, Zirconis, and my uncle, Atlas Flame. The primogenital dragons couldn't survive in captivity and died not long after our capture."

"I would've loved to see it," she said softly, nestling into the curve of his neck. "That world of dragons…" He growled, feeling heat slink along his face and neck.

"Ack! Lucy, stop that!" Her breathing was slowing again and her grip around him relaxed. He had to stop and catch her before she fell. "Damn it! I can't go any further…" He heaved her along the footpath to a decaying log, propping her back up against it. Lucy was colorless, eyes shut, but the heat of her skin only increased. He needed a way to release some of the magic in her body, but she couldn't do it herself. Then again, dragons were good at consuming magic—it would give him a hell of a case of indigestion to eat Celestial Magic, but that was a necessary sacrifice.

He took one of her hands and pressed the soft skin of her palm to his mouth, biting into it with his dragon's teeth. Ethernano streamed from the cut alongside her blood (which tasted shitty by the way—he regretted thinking that he would tear Fullbuster's throat out with his teeth) but it was a crude and imperfect method. Ironically, his saliva worked as a sealant to staunch the flow after a few seconds, and while it did bring her back to life a little, the frantic pace of her breathing wasn't any more reassuring. He growled in frustration and took her Keys from her belt, shoving them into her hands.

"Princess, summon that lion of yours." She remained unresponsive and he let out another growl, digging his fingers into her cheeks. "Wake up already, Princess. Lucy, open your damn eyes!"

A flash of light came from her, forcing him to avert his eyes. He turned back when it died down in time to catch a hand that roughly shoved him away. He snarled as he rolled to his feet but let the sound die away when he saw Loki gripping her gently by the shoulders. "What happened to her?" he said in a low, controlled voice.

"Sort of a long story, but it—wasn't my fault!" he said as Loki's magic formed a dangerous aura around himself. "She overexerted herself trying to ward off some street creep, and her magic container is damaged."

"That's why she's so warm," he muttered. "And you haven't done anything to help, I assume."

"I actually did try to help." He pointed at his palm with a disgruntled expression. "Tried to eat some of the ethernano but I can't do much while it's still in her body. I wouldn't just let her die—she did help me, after all."

"Not that that seemed to matter much to you before," Loki pointed out. Natsu grimaced and didn't respond.

"Well, aren't you here to help? Work your celestial magic on her!" He gazed at Lucy thoughtfully as she let out a quiet noise of discomfort. Natsu finally noticed that rather than his suit, Loki wore a large bronze breastplate, and his mane was much more a resemblance of the word as it fell over his back at about Gajeel's length. Said armor was scratched and chipped with a few drying stains of blood across one side. Natsu thought back to Lucy's words about the castle being in danger and frowned—was that what he was busy with the whole time?

"I can maybe get something that'll stop her from absorbing any further ethernano from the air," he said after a moment, absently stroking her hand, "but the mass that's still inside of her will need to be released first. I just need a method to do so."

"That's the big question here, isn't it?" he said matter-of-factly. "Isn't she expending magic by having you here?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm here by my own magic. Although only in intervals, since I'm spending so much at a time back at the castle. All of us are barring Aquarius, who needs water to fight."

"So there is a lot of fighting happening there." The Rune Knights probably have returned there as well to help, which is why I haven't caught their scent yet. "Lucy really wants to help out there, ya know."

"There wouldn't be a point in taking her, not in this condition. It wouldn't be safe. And…although I'm kicking myself for saying this…she's currently safer as far from there as possible, which consequently means with you." Natsu quirked an eyebrow with a smug smirk on his lips. "You can't think of any other way to get her to use magic?"

"Obviously not, because I…" He trailed off as a method did occur to him, but he would rather die than let Loki witness it. "…Go back and get the thingy to block her magic. It'll be gone by the time you come back. Trust me." And he didn't know what it was about him, maybe his expression or his tone, but Loki didn't argue.

"For now, I do." And he disappeared again. Natsu gave a world-weary sigh as he crouched down next to Lucy. Her eyelids flinched as her eyes moved rapidly beneath them, meaning she was still semiconscious.

"C'mon, Princess, open your eyes," he said softly. "You understand me, don't you? You…ah…you speak this language, this language between hearts—I don't know what to call it, but it made me feel special for a second, like someone other than Gajeel and Wendy knows what it's like to feel this way." He leaned in closer, close enough that he could see traces of freckles across her nose, and rested their foreheads together, lowering his voice until it was a whisper. "This dragon's heart hasn't beat for anyone but his own for a hundred years, yet for Lucy Heartfilia, it goes crazy. And I love it."

He felt it again, the little buzz of energy between them just like before. He seized it the same way he would draw on his power to make fire and pressed on, eyes closed: "A dragon's never half-assed in anything that they do. When we rage, it's greater than Ankhseram; when we mourn, it's for all our long lives. And when we risk a friendship, not to speak of love, it's the utmost strength…or weakness…that we can ever possess." He opened them and saw her eyes, dazed and lidded but staring back into his, and grinned. "And it's a forever thing."

"You…nee…" she mumbled, forcing her eyes open. He was going to tell her to speak up when her hand went up to his unharmed cheek, and suddenly her words were clear: "Unison Raid."

The bits of ethernano passing between them abruptly vanished as their own magic appeared, her gold and his orange. Her body went rigid for a moment before she gasped and fell into his arms. He pulled away as the light of her Celestial Magic reemerged, but this time he could actually look into it without searing his retinas. Ethernano broke away from her and took vague shapes as it returned to the atmosphere, and if he squinted hard enough, they seemed to resemble will-o'-wisps, little balls of fire. And where the sparks of his magic made contact, they burst into golden filaments.

"Amazing." And for a moment, he remembered.

"Do it again, Daddy!" Natsu cried, clinging to Igneel's claw with a wide grin. "Again, again!"

He chuckled before puckering his lips and releasing another plume of fire. It shaped itself into a dancing lady before dissipating into smoke.

"Uwah, so pretty!" he said with wide eyes.

"Magic is like that, my son. It can be harsh depending on who it belongs to, but in its essence, it creates." He held his palm out and Natsu sat down on the smooth scales, little legs swinging above the cement floor. "It creates friendships, it creates beauty… If you try hard enough, it can even create change."

"Change?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. "I don't get it."

"Don't worry," he said, poking Natsu in the stomach while carefully avoiding the ruddy scar tissue. He giggled and swatted his claw away. "You'll remember this and you'll understand soon enough."

"When is soon? I want it to be now!" he whined, blowing his cheeks out. Igneel guffawed loudly and hugged Natsu to his chest right above his heart. Natsu complained and pounded his scales with his small fists, puffing out little streams of smoke. "C'mon, Daddy, tell me, tell me!"

"I get it now, Dad," he muttered, closing his eyes to compose himself before looking back at Lucy. She hadn't moved, and he feared the worst for a moment, then he noticed a peculiar vibration in her body. She had cooled down to normal levels, but her face was still visibly overheated as it was smooshed against his chest.

"R-Release me!" she stammered, shoving him away. He gave her a passive look as she rubbed her arms furiously, trying to compose herself. He sighed after a moment of enjoying her flustered state.

"I presume you're in better health now." She let out a shaky breath before running her eyes over him.

"Thank you," she said after a moment to compose herself. "For helping me. Although I don't clearly remember much of the last few hours…"

"Is that so?" He tried and failed to not sound resentful that his heart-to-heart had gone to shit. She furrowed her brows at his tone, but luckily didn't have time to press the issue as Loki quickly returned.

"Loki, I—what happened?" she cried as Natsu focused on not sulking like a child. He stared at Loki, who looked fine if a little paler, then his eyes landed on the magical arrow stabbed through the chest of his armor. It wasn't in his heart, if lion spirits had their heart in the same place as humans and dragons, but there was a frightening amount of blood coming from the wound nevertheless.

"I'm fine," he said through clenched teeth, though he appeared to be anything but. He thrusted something into her chest that slid through his blood-slicked fingers and into Lucy's hands. "This will help with your magic issues." She paid the item no attention as she took Loki's hand, overlooking the blood staining her skin.

"Did this happen at the castle? How bad is it there?"

"I have to go," he insisted rather than answering, gently prying her fingers free. "The other Zodiacs need my help. I'm sorry. I'll return soon." With that, he disappeared, no sparks or any sort of show this time. Lucy gaped at the spot he previously occupied with wide eyes. Some body fluid remained as a marker in the dirt.

"Lucy, focus," Natsu said eventually. "What did he give you?" She was shaking and her eyes lost some of their sheen.

"Loki… That's why I couldn't feel my Spirits, because they're…"

He sighed, realizing she would be no help, and grabbed her arms, holding them out. What he saw made his heart come to a complete stop. His rigidness brought her out of her fugue and she followed his eyes with a small gasp.

"Loki, you…" Natsu began, then let the words die on his tongue when he realized that he didn't know what to say. He swallowed, and Lucy said aloud what he had been thinking.

"This is the only way to prevent me from absorbing ethernano…"

He looked at the anti-magic cuffs, then met her eyes, which were a little distant.

"…but will prevent me from using any magic at all. I'd be at your mercy."

So this is our newest hurdle, eh? he thought with a droll smirk. "So, then, what will it be, Princess? What will you do?"