"We finally made it!" Happy and I exclaimed in unison as we stepped out of the thick woods to see the small village our client lived in come into view. Natsu quietly followed us out with the client's treasure chest in his arms, he was nice enough to hold it most of the way after watching me struggle to carry it for an hour.
It took us a day and a half to finally get out of the forest, we were dirty, tired, and very hungry. I couldn't wait to take a long hot bubble bath once we got to a hotel for the night, and to find out more about Natsu. The whole trip he stayed pretty quiet, once in a while he would grab his head and grimace like a bad headache would appear, but when I asked him about it he said he was fine and not to worry about it.
I would feel like someone was watching me a lot during the trip, and when I would turn around I would catch him staring at me intensely followed by him blushing and quickly looking away. My heart still pounded sometimes when I looked at him, I just have never seen a spirit that looked that hot before, both literally and metaphorically.
"Alright guys let's drop the treasure off at the client's museum and find an open Inn!" I exclaimed happily as I led the way. "Aye sir!" Happy chirped as he flew a few feet above me.
"Again Happy I'm not a sir, I would be a mam" I said with irritation laced in my voice, "I don't know Lucy, you look pretty manly to me…" I gave Happy a death glare as he snickered and then I heard a quiet chuckle sound from behind us as well. I swiveled my head back to see Natsu trying to hold back a laugh and see Happy fly to his shoulder and exclaim "I really like this spirit, he's even better than Loke because he likes my jokes."
"Better not let Loke hear you say that '' I said feeling ganged up on, why did I feel like this was only going to be the beginning of the two of them ganging up on me? After a few more minutes we were at the museum's door and pushed through. "Hello? Mr. Katobi are you in?"
"Ah the Fairy Tail wizards have finally arrived back, how was your-" Mr. Katobi was cut off from the sight of Natsu carrying a chest filled with treasure, "You actually found the treasure! And who is this?" he asked, eyeing Natsu suspiciously.
"Uh, er he's one of our guildmates! Yeah! Natsu is his name, we uh, ran into him in town before we arrived here" I said trying to come up with something quick.
"Uh-huh I see… Well let's have a look at that treasure you brought" he said excitedly as he clasped his hands together before closing and locking the front door of the museum and then approaching Natsu as he placed the chest on a nearby table.
Eiji Katobi was a very short, thin and old man. He had a beard that reached down his chest and had small spectacles that sat at the end of his long nose, he was one of the oldest residents of the town and was a pretty well-known historian in Fiore.
He started to dig through the chest, pulling out each piece of jewelry, gold, and historical coins and said "ah" and "ooh" at each object he discovered from the box. "This is a splendid find indeed, I have sent many wizards in those woods and not one of them ever were able to bring me back anything. To be honest, I was a little worried and skeptical when I saw such a young woman and a cat going out there on your own, but the Fairy Tail guild definitely holds a reputation for strong and reliable mages, I am very pleased." My heart swelled at the praise and for making our client so happy without destroying anything like our guild was so well known to do, that was until he hit the bottom of the chest and had a disappointed look on his face.
"What's the matter Mr. Katobi? Is something wrong with the treasure?" Happy asked as he hovered over the chest.
"Well… I suppose I was just also hoping you would have been able to find the long lost key to the dragon as well" I was thoroughly surprised when he said this, did he know about Natsu's key? That must be what he's talking about, but that wasn't in the riddle he provided us, what was he not telling us? Happy looked at me and then Natsu with realization, Natsu looked off at something in the distance, seeming to be in thought about something. Happy opened his mouth to say something but then saw I was shaking my head no and he stopped himself, I knew it was selfish but I didn't want to hand Natsu off to someone else without knowing more about him myself.
"Could you tell us more about this long lost dragon key?" I asked as I made sure the key was well hidden in my pocket. Mr. Katobi looked at me for a long moment as if deciding if I was trustworthy or not, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt any, come follow me into the back" he said before leading us to the back of the museum and through a heavy wooden door. Behind it was a thin corridor with shelves lining either side filled with ancient-looking books and scrolls.
He started to examine a particular shelf pulling out various books and flipping through them to sigh and put it back and check the next, "ah-ha! I found it, come follow me" he said as he continued to lead us through the corridor before it opened up into a dusty room with a large table in the center. The table was covered in old papers and Mr. Katobi dropped the old book he was carrying on top and started to flip through the pages again.
Happy, Natsu, and I watched quietly as he flipped through the book until he found what he was searching for.
"Ah here it is ahem, long ago when dragons roamed, a celestial spirit by the name of, that part of the text is worn away, found a golden key that unlocked a dragon spirit. It was strong enough to take on two dragons at once and protected its keyholder with it's life. This spirit was so powerful in fact, it rivaled the power of the celestial king himself. Due to this, the other celestial spirits became very jealous of the dragon's power and decided he was becoming too powerful for just any wizard to yield. Fear took over, and they got together to convince the dragon's keeper, the celestial wizard, to hide the key away. The wizard became fearful too when the dragon killed their fiance, therefore the wizard agreed to hide away the key."
My eyes widened with shock, I hadn't thought about the possibility that Natsu could be dangerous! I looked over at him to see him staring blankly at the bookshelf in front of him. He didn't seem to be reacting to the story at all. I then snapped myself out of my thoughts and paid attention to Mr. Katobi again.
"But due to the dragon's unhindering faithfulness to the mage, they had to set a trap to make sure the dragon spirit stayed put. By researching what dragons protected most, they determined filling a hidden cave with treasure was the best way to keep the spirit calm. They then found the right location and filled it with many riches and the celestial wizard placed the key in the center of the room. After the wizard exited the space, a very powerful enchant wizard placed a seal on the cave that would only allow a celestial wizard with a pure heart through, and they left it. However, once the celestial mage became old, they came to feel pity on the spirit and decided to write a riddle to assist a worthy person in finding it, someone with pure intentions that could properly control the powerful spirit. To this day, the treasure and dragon spirit still have not been seen, and the spirit is still awaiting for a new master that won't abandon it."
Happy and I stared in surprise when Mr. Katobi finished the passage.
"This book was found with the treasure map in the old abandoned castle. It was put into my care to keep safe, although the rumor of a hidden treasure has always been passed around through this area. That's why there's always bandits in the woods trying to find the hidden cave. Are you both absolutely sure that there wasn't a key of any sort in the cave?"
I debated about telling him the truth, if Natsu really is dangerous I don't want to bring him back to the guild and endanger my friends and hometown. But at the same time, could this little old man that couldn't even make the journey to the cave be able to handle such a powerful spirit? Could I even handle him? I looked over to Natsu to see him staring intensely at me. His eyes seemed to pass right through me and peer into my mind. He seemed so sincere and I honestly couldn't sense any malice from him even through our journey the past couple days. So I decided I would put my faith in Natsu.
"I'm sorry Mr. Katobi but there was nothing of the sort in the treasure trove. Maybe someone already found the treasure and took the key before we got there?" I offered to try to find a reasonable explanation.
He studied me again, seeming to not really believe me, "What kind of wizard did you say you were again?"
"I'm a c-celestial wizard" feeling nervous with him giving me a look of disbelief.
"Mhmm I see, well I guess there's nothing we can really do then. Here's your reward money as promised" he walked to the corner of a room to open a safe and pull out the 1,000,000 jewel we had agreed upon. But something felt so wrong about taking his money without giving him what he hoped for.
"How about you just give us a quarter of the reward? I feel terrible about not finding what you were hoping for" I said, trying to be considerate even though it majorly sucked since we just spent about a week in a muggy disgusting jungle and rent was due.
He turned around with his grateful smile, "that is very kind of you. I haven't had as many visitors to the museum lately so this will help me greatly. Here, I can walk you to the door."
We then walked to the front door once again and stepped out. Before he left I heard him say one last thing before shutting the door, "please be sure to be careful with the Dragon Ms. Lucy, after all, there was a reason he was trapped in that cave."
My eyes widened in shock as I realized he knew I had the key, I turned around to see the door was already shut and he was no longer standing there. This all seems so strange, I wonder why he would let me take the key if he knew I had it.
I turned back around to see Happy and Natsu starting to walk down the street, they must have not heard what he had just said.
"Come on Lucy! I'm starving here!" Happy whined as I heard my stomach rumble as well. I guess I'll just have to figure this out as I go. Natsu and I will have to talk about everything tonight after Happy goes to sleep.
Time skip
It was now dark and we were staying in the local inn after eating almost one of everything the restaurant served and each of us taking baths. I had to practically force Happy and Natsu to get cleaned up, they are so alike I swear! Happy was currently snuggled up into the bed that we would be sharing and Natsu was just lounging on his bed on the other side of the room. I approached him and we made eye contact.
"Would you mind coming out to the balcony with me? I was hoping we could talk about some stuff" I asked and he hopped up and followed me out to our private balcony attached to our room. I slid the glass door closed behind us so we wouldn't wake up Happy.
"So you've been around for a couple days now but I still don't really know anything about you. I know you said that you don't use my magic, and that you don't do contracts but I don't really know anything else. Is the story that Mr. Katobi told us the truth? Were you trapped in the cave for being too powerful and killing someone?" He seemed deep and thought and then grimaced and grasped at his head again. Through gritted teeth he answered me.
"I'm sorry Lucy, but I honestly don't know. I don't really remember anything other than my name and that I'm the Dragon Spirit. I've been trying to remember but I just can't. And every time I try I get this terrible pain in my head, like someone is freezing me solid from the inside out."
I was surprised to hear this, is it possible that someone is blocking his memories from him? Maybe it's a spell or an enchantment.
"Okay, Don't push yourself too hard. How about we head back to Happy and I's guild tomorrow and we can see if my friend Levy can find a way to get your memories back." He looked up at me with an almost confused look on his face.
"You're still going to trust me to bring me back with you? Even after hearing that I could have possibly killed an innocent man?" I thought about it for a moment, was I being smart trusting him? Even he didn't seem confident in himself about being innocent. But when I looked into his eyes I couldn't help but get a warm and familiar feeling, I just knew I could trust him.
"I trust you Natsu. We can figure this out together" I offered him a kind smile, and after a moment of him studying my face for any trace of doubt, a grateful smile formed on his lips. I looked away as I started to feel my face heat up in response. "Alright Natsu, we have a long trip ahead of us so we should probably head to bed now-"
I was cut off by him suddenly approaching me and standing only a few inches in front of me, he placed both hands on either side of me, caging me between him and the railing of the balcony. His black orbs intensely stared into my soft brown ones.
"N-Natsu?..." I stuttered out with my face on fire and my heart pounding, what is he doing?
He stared for a moment more before abruptly pulling away and opening the sliding doors before muttering "you just seem so familiar to me, and I don't know why. It's been driving me nuts but I can't put my finger on it." After that he walked in and headed into the bathroom shutting the door behind him.
My heart was still pounding as I stood frozen on the balcony. I couldn't really remember him at all. But I couldn't help but get this intense familiar feeling whenever he looked at me or was in close proximity. What is causing all of these feelings in me?
I decided not to worry about it too much, I got into bed with Happy and turned our bedside light off. A few minutes later Natsu came out of the bathroom and laid in his bed. I could feel him looking at me even though I was facing the other way and I couldn't seem to fall asleep. Finally after a few more minutes I heard his snoring and dozed off myself.
I dreamed of hot callused hands caressing my soft skin. A man laid on top of me but I couldn't see who it was. A fanged smirk played on the man's lips as he leaned down and nipped at the sensitive places on my neck. I moaned in pleasure as his hands snuck under my thin pajama top, his fingertips grazing my stomach and inching their way up to my sensitive chest. My breath hitched as they reached their destination and his lips meant mine in a passionate kiss. Our lips collided with each other as his tongue slithered it's way into my mouth. When we finally couldn't breathe anymore he pulled away and I got to see his face clearly for the first time. My eyes widened with shock as they met reptilian green ones and a head full of pink spikes. "You drive me crazy Luce, I just can't get enough of you…" he leaned in for another kiss. I closed my eyes and started leaning up just to randomly start hearing Happy call for me.
When I opened my eyes again it was no longer Natsu on top of me but a worried-looking Happy flying a couple feet above me instead.
"Lucy are you okay? Natsu and I heard you making weird noises and you're all red so we didn't know if you were sick or something" I looked to my left to see Natsu leaning his back against the wall with his arms crossed. His face had some worry on it as he looked at me, but there was something else in his gaze too, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
Pictures of what I just dreamed of fluttered through my head again and I felt my face get even better than it already was. How much did the two of them hear?! Happy said I was making weird noises, that must mean I was moaning out loud too. I could die from embarrassment right now. And I can't believe I was having a dream like that about someone I just met! Get it together Lucy.
I looked back at Happy, "sorry I made you worried Happy, I'm fine. I'm going to go get dressed and then we can get checked out and then head back home." I said in a hurry before grabbing my stuff and heading into the bathroom. I just woke up and I already am done with today.
Once we got on the train heading back to Magnolia, we found a small booth to sit in for the ride home. As soon as the train started to move we realized that Natsu did not like motion whatsoever. The whole trip back was filled with Happy laughing as Natsu almost puked on me time and time again. It felt like the trip would never end before we finally got back home.
We walked down the streets of our quaint town as Happy explained all the best local fishing spots to Natsu. They had been talking the entire trip back when Natsu wasn't puking his guts out on me, I couldn't wait to take a long bath when I got home.
When we made it back to the guildhall it was pretty empty. Our typical group of friends and Levy were nowhere to be seen. I walked up to Mira with a smile on my face.
"Lucy! Happy! I'm so glad to see you both made it back safe. How did the job go?" She asked with a very cheerful smile.
"It went pretty well Mira, we're both pretty exhausted and we didn't get the full reward money but we did bring back some lost treasure to the museum" I said as I plopped down onto the bar stool in front of her. "That's good to hear Lucy!"
She then looked behind me to see Natsu next to Happy.
"And who is this?" She smiled kindly at him as she waited for me to introduce him.
"This is Natsu, he is an… old friend of mine. We ran into him on the mission, and I think he's probably going to stay with me for a little while" I said, I don't want everyone to know that he is a celestial spirit yet, I want to know more about him before rumors can be spread that there's a new powerful gate key out there.
"Oh?" Mira looked at him and then back at me and a smirk played on her lips, oh no I know that look… "Will he be staying with you in your apartment? How risque!" I blushed and told her it wasn't like that, but she gave me a knowing look and just went back to cleaning the glass in her hands.
Why does she always seem to want to try and hook me up with any guy that's around?
"Anyway Mira I think we're going to head out, I need a bath and I want to sleep in my own bed finally"
"Okay Lucy! I'll fill out the paperwork that the job has been completed. I hope to see you all tomorrow!" She chirped happily and we headed to my apartment. Hopefully tomorrow I can find Levy and get some help researching whatever is blocking Natsu's memories.
After having a quick dinner, each of us got cleaned up and I finally came to the realization that I only had one bed in the apartment.
I Heard a door open and turned around to see my bathroom door opening up with steam billowing from the room and a shirtless Natsu walking out. I felt my face heat up as I saw droplets of water rolled down his toned abs. Okay, I definitely can't sleep in the same bed as him with him looking like that!
He looked over at me and caught me staring, my face turned into a tomato as I quickly looked away. I dug through my closet to try and find something to make a makeshift bed out of and I found the hammock that Happy and I take camping sometimes. I decided to hang it up in a corner of my room for him to sleep in. I threw some blankets and a pillow on it to make it more comfortable and I went into my living room area to see that Happy and him had started a game of poker.
"Okay guys, I have Natsu's bed set up. We should probably head to bed so we can meet Levy in the morning before she goes on another mission."
"But Luuucyyyy Natsu never has played poker before! I wanted to teach him…" Happy whined at me.
"How would he know if he's ever played it before? He can't remember anything" I said as I walked over to see who was winning. Natsu was holding a royal flush, this must be some crazy beginners luck! How could anybody get that their first time ever playing?!
Happy snickered as he laid down a four of a kind, thinking he had won for sure.
Natsu laid down his hand even though he seemed unsure about the concept of the game.
"What?! How did you get a royal flush?! That is not fair…" Happy cried out, "this means I owe you 20 fish now!"
"I still don't get this game but I'm happy I won! And you were the one to raise those stakes" Natsu said as he collected the cards and started to reshuffle them.
"Well yeah, because normally I win since Lucy is so terrible at playing cards" Happy said as he looked up at me.
"Hey! I'm not that bad at poker…" I said with a pout, he was honestly right though. Happy only ever wanted to play poker when he was low on fish and knew it was an easy way to get some. He would always bet that the loser would get 20 fresh fish for the winner. But since I just enjoyed playing the game I would always agree, even knowing I had rotten luck.
"Do you want to join in Lucy?" Natsu said with a smirk playing on his lips as he looked up at me though his eye lashes. My heart started to pound as I stared back at him. It's a simple question Lucy! Why are you getting so flustered by him asking you to play a round of poker? This is getting ridiculous...
"Actually I'm really tired, maybe tomorrow night" I said as I yawned and started to head to my bed. "Your hammock is set for you Natsu, you guys shouldn't stay up too much longer though!"
I would have enjoyed playing poker with them, but with Natsu making me this flustered I would not be able to focus on the game.
I got under my fluffy covers and closed my eyes. Exhaustion from the trip took over and I fell asleep immediately.
"Back for more Luce?" My eyes snapped open to see Natsu shirtless in front of me with poker cards shuffling in his calloused hands.
To be continued...
Hi guys!I hope you enjoyed this very delayed update! I've been super busy so I haven't had a whole lot of time for writing lately. Please let me know what you think of the story so far with a review! Also, all rights to Fairy Tail and it's character's belong to Hiro Mashima. I just enjoy writing fanfictions based on his awesome work! Happy reading!-Bookgeek102