Winter melted away to spring, a little blue cat spoke his first word 'aye', and a dragon and his mate hosted his cousin and the blue haired fae almost every day as the girls felt they were so close to breaking the spell that trapped the celestial wizard. Lucy's powers had grown quickly to the point where her mate wished to test his strength against her, this leading to Levy having a theory on a key to breaking a barrier.
"The spell is focused entirely on you Lu." Levy explained one day, her head buried deep in books and her notes. "They never would have imagined a princess learning wizard magic, so the spell never included the fact that you could ever wield magic of your own." Natsu looked to his cousin for an explanation, the iron dragon only shrugging as his chest swelled with pride at his mate.
"I'm the key?" Lucy asked understanding every word the fae said. With a nod from her friend Lucy walked over to the open window, Natsu quick to follow her his eyes watching for anything that could harm his woman.
Pressing her palms against the familiar surface of the magic barrier Lucy closed her eyes and concentrated, skin glowing with a warm golden color emanating out of her lifting everyone of her hairs up she began to float in place with her palms remaining in place. The power of the stars coursed through her veins, leaving white hot patterns of their constellations upon her skin, the entire tower and even the tree outside began to shake and vibrate.
Watching with wide and amazed eyes, the dragons and fae stared in awe at the amount of raw magic power this human girl was giving off where almost a year ago she had none. This was simply unheard of, for any human to gain so much power so quickly but then again, she was the first female to even try as it was forbidden among her people for her to even try. Outside the birds took to the sky while above Lucy's hands those words that tormented her for so long began to hum, sparks of energy retaliating against her attack. Natsu reached out to block the black lightning from touching his mate.
"Natsu, don't—" Levy was cut off by a sudden tremble that ripped through the tower, knocking the fae and iron dragon to the floor. With a grunt Natsu was flung through the tower, breaking the table and a hole in the opposite wall on his way out of the tower, landing on the ground outside with a pained groaned. Lucy's magic mixed with the magic of the barrier sparking off his skin, now he really wanted to test his strength against his mate.
Lucy stayed in place as the tower shook as if it were in an earthquake, her eyes open now and looking at nothing as they were consumed with a mixture of gold and black light. Natsu flew up and crouched on the landing platform to stair directly into her strange eyes, something telling him that his mate was in trouble, every cell in his body screaming out for him to protect her. No, she's got this, she's strong. He told himself whispering words of encouragement to her, this was her battle. The vibrations increased, growing more and more intense, fearing for his mate Gajeel grabbed onto Levy and jumped out the window careful not to get to close to the girl. With Happy flying next to them, the three watched the fire dragon coax his mate through her task.
A scream ripped through her throat, short and high in pitch leaving it feeling raw and dry. Lucy pushed her magic into the barrier with every bit of strength she had, so much magic proving to difficult and even painful to control. But her anger and frustration at being trapped for so long drove her further, sounding far away Natsu's voice gave her the courage she needed to demand control of so much magical power. As the scream died in her throat, the sound of glass breaking filled her world and she fell forward into Natsu's waiting arms.
No one said a word, Lucy's hands were outside the limits of the tower for the first time since she got there. Tears burning at the back of her eyes Lucy locked her gaze on the stunned expression Natsu wore on his face, but only for a moment. Gathering her in his arms Natsu shot off into the sky, holding her tightly in his half form, bellows of laughter heard from them both as they ascended higher and higher. Miles above the ground below her, Lucy held no fear or felt the cold of the altitude. Flying in loops Natsu would drop her, let her free fall through the sky, and catch her again. The sunlight on her skin, the wind in her hair, and the smile that split her face as she laughed with him, Natsu couldn't get enough.
Gajeel, Levy, and Happy joined them in the air as they flew around Natsu's territory. Each time Natsu released her to fall through the sky, Lucy would spread her arms open wide and embrace the feeling before her faithful dragon caught her. She was full of too much happiness and bliss to feel the fear of what would happen if he missed just once, she also knew he would never let her down anyways.
Now that she was no longer trapped in the tower, Lucy moved in with Natsu into his cave. It turned out not to be the dark and damp place she imagined it to be. Fires burned along the walls and obeyed his every command, growing brighter or dimmer at just a thought from their king. He had taken the initiative months ago to lay carpets along the floor for his love to walk through the cave barefoot if she so desired, the only places that didn't have carpet he had melted the stone until it was smooth and comfortable to walk on. Instead of just one large cave, it had many tunnels that lead to different caverns that served different purposes, each one dug out by the dragon's massive claws and expertly melted to keep the structure sound.
Excited to show Lucy their new home, Natsu carried her in his arms in his half form and flew through the caves talking about how he made each one and it was perfect for it's intended purpose. A hot spring like bathing room, his many treasure rooms, a library he made for her, the food storage, the kitchen, bathroom, the main cave that was big enough for him to play fight in, and lastly their bedroom. Walking around the bedroom Lucy teared up, no wonder he continued to go out 'hunting' during the winter when she knew that there was nothing for him to hunt, he had been collecting and preparing their home for the day she would be free.
"Natsu," she gasped as she turned to face him, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, "thank you."
Spoiler warnings for the next chapter, i use some elements from the cannon manga/anime. you have been warned.