"Did he just say all he needs is me?!" I can't think straight, there is a deafening pounding in my ears, and I need distance to be able to process what the heck is going on.
With trembling hands, I attempt another shove at Natsu's chest, pressing my heels into the rug under us I begin to slowly squirm my way out of his seemingly steely grip. A small part of me thinks that this could all be part of one of my elaborate dreams, it's embarrassing but I often dream of Natsu, but this is far too vivid, even for me.
Natsu finally seems to be willing to let me escape his clutches, as I continue to wriggle to freedom, I manage to flip over and crawl on my stomach out from under his currently volcanic body. Hell, Natsu is hot on a good day but my goodness I am melting here!
Just as I was finally about to break free, Natsu comes alive once more. He scoots up and sinks his body on top of mine, bracing most of his weight on his forearms. His warm breath fans my ear as he begins to speak, "where are you going Luce? Don't you want this?" at those words his hips press down and I can feel something hard rub against my butt.
My face is aflame with the thought of his erection pressed against me; we are going to melt a hole in the floor at this rate! Once the initial shock of the situation begins to wear off, a strange thought occurs, "This doesn't seem like Natsu at all, something is wrong here."
As if he were capable of reading my thoughts, 'Natsu' chuckles then whispers, "I am and I am not Natsu, please do not fear me, we are now one and I wanted to meet you so badly, I could not help myself." With those words, a violent shudder passes through Natsu's body and he collapses, knocking the breath from me.
"Lucy?" Natsu whimpers, patting my body that is trapped under his weight before quickly rolling off and shuffling backwards as fast as he could manage. "What the fuck? I am so sorry Lucy; I have no idea how I got on top of you."
Natsu trembles from his new position in the corner, his eyes are filled with regret and anguish. I have no doubt in my mind that Natsu is telling the truth, he is renowned as one of Fiore's worst liars and that is one of the reasons that I love to play him at poker. Yeah, it's easy jewel but also, I find it totally adorable when his face gets all flustered and scrunched up in concentration.
Crawling towards Natsu, he flinches at my initial touch but welcomes my embrace after a brief second, "I know, it's going to be alright. I'm not sure what is going on, but hopefully Happy will be back with help real soon. In the meantime, just try to relax, ok?" Natsu rests his head on my shoulder as we lean against each other, his breathing is still uneven, but it is improving and that's all I can hope for right now.
~.~
I still can't quite believe it; I must have blacked out. All I remember is Lucy wiping my face with a wet cloth and then the next second I am laying on top of her, my front pressing down on her back, as if she had been trying to escape me. "What the hell did I do? What if I hurt her? Aw jeez, am I still hard?" Trying to shift without Lucy noticing, I move my pyjama bottoms to attempt to conceal my continuing erection, why isn't it going away?
It's not that I haven't thought of Lucy before as I think back to my latest dream, and I would be lying if I said that I hadn't noticed that my feelings towards her had intensified over the past few weeks. We have been through a lot together, and in all honesty, I simply would not be here if it wasn't for her. She saved me.
As I contemplate the beautiful girl beside me, and my gratitude for everything she has suffered through to keep me alive, a deep voice rumbles in my head.
"She is our mate; we must protect her. We must mark her and make her ours forever," the voice is something I have never heard before, and although it scares me there is also something familiar about it. My eyes widen in realisation, this sounds like Igneel, "I am not Igneel, Dragon Slayer, I am you although I am also something separate."
Lucy and I are shaken from our own thoughts as the door to her apartment is thrown open and in storms Porlyuscia, with Wendy, Carla and Happy hot on her heels. The look that Porlyuscia throws in my direction reminds me so much of Erza when she breaks up one of my fights that I can't stop the instant feeling of dread that settles in my stomach.
"Wendy, stay back!" the pink haired woman commands, throwing her arm out to halt the rushing Sky Dragon Slayer. My eyes widen then narrow to slits as I scent the familiar Dragon scent and my body fires up, ready to fight.
I am on my feet before I even realise what I am doing, flames are encasing my fists and a loud snarl resonates through the room as I plant myself firmly in front of the still seated Lucy, ready to defend her with my life.
"Natsu, what the hell are you playing at?" Lucy shouts as she gets to her feet and tries to move past me. I block her with my body, refusing to take my eyes of Wendy who is staring back at me with a look of pure terror on her face.
"You must distract him girl!" someone yells, I can barely hear it over the growling in my own head. Breathing in deeply, I summon my Fire Dragon Roar, but before I can unleash it on the threat before me, Lucy's face appears and her lips crash against mine.
Instinctively I wrap my arms around her body and turn with Lucy in my embrace, pulling her into me and returning the kiss with fervour, there is noise all around us, but I am struggling to focus on it. The need to protect is still beating against me, but I feel better now that I am once again between Lucy and the threat of the Sky Dragon Slayer.
~.~
"Get her out of here this instant!" Porlyuscia demands, gesturing to the shocked Carla and Happy. They are both staring dumbfounded at Natsu and Lucy, now wrapped in each other's arms. I can't stop the trembling in my body, Natsu is my friend and he looked at me like he was going to kill me. Tears openly slip down my cheeks as I stand rooted to the spot, completely unsure of myself and the situation.
Carla lifts me into the air by my shoulders, as Happy leads us out of the large open window, I turn to look back at my friends and what I see steals my breath. Natsu kneeling on the floor, with his wrists now shackled together, Lucy draped around his shoulders openly sobbing with Porlyuscia standing over the pair with a tender look I have never seen from her before.
"Natsu," I whisper, he briefly glances in my direction as I disappear from view, the sorrow in his eyes is the last thing I see before I am out of sight. I have no idea what is going on, but I hope we can fix it.
~.~
Only a few moments have passed, yet so much has changed. Natsu and I have shared our first kiss, and I can't say it was under the best circumstances, but it was all I could think to do when I was asked to distract him.
My sobs slow as I attempt to regain my composure, looking up at Porlyuscia through watery eyes, she smiles down at me sadly. This alone is enough to terrify me, the pink haired healer is not known to have a sweet disposition, if she is smiling then something has to be terribly wrong. "What is happening to him?" I ask, my voice trembling with every word.
Sighing, the healer draws a chair over to us and sits heavily. "I have always suspected that this might happen, but I could not be certain until now," she says firmly, "the Dragon's may have made a big mistake by entering their Dragon Slayer's bodies. Yes, it has prevented them from the same fate as Acnologia," she continues, waving her hand at me as I opened my mouth to argue with her, "but what they left behind could prove to be a worse fate unless handled correctly."
"What does that mean? Stop talking in riddles and tell me what I have to do to make this right!" I yell, I am sick of not knowing what is going on. Natsu moans at my yelling, one tear tracks down his cheek and I know in my heart that he is devastated by what he nearly did to Wendy.
Porlyuscia straightens in her chair and gives us both a fearsome look. "Part of this is mere speculation, but I believe that Igneel left enough Dragon Essence within Natsu that it has formed a Dragon Spirit that will reside in him forever. I was unsure how it would present itself and when, seeing as some time has passed since Igneel left Natsu, but it is my understanding that the Dragon Spirit was dormant until an act of true love or sacrifice was made by their destined mate.
From what I have heard of the events between Natsu and the Dark Lord Zeref, your willingness to sacrifice your life to rewrite the book of E.N.D. and save Natsu from death, that was the catalyst. I imagine that you have noticed some differences since then, don't worry about confirming it, I already know," she states matter-of-factly.
Silence descends on the room, I can hear my own heartbeat as I try to make sense of what we've just been told, "the restraints on the boy are made with Anti Magic runes on them, this has allowed Natsu to regain his control and forced the Dragon into submission," she continues to explain to us. "Natsu, can you tell us what this Dragon wants?"
~.~
I've listened to every word that has been spoken, but it doesn't mean I understand them all. What I do know and have absolutely no doubt of, is that the Dragon wants Lucy. All I can remember before Lucy kissed me and Porlyuscia managed to cuff me with these things on my wrists, is that Wendy is a Dragon and that meant a threat to our mate, we had to protect her. Every other thought and feeling had left my head as I moved to defend our most precious treasure.
Closing my eyes to buy me some time to think, I honestly don't know how to tell them what the Dragon and I want, because it is what I want too. These feelings and desires are pretty new to me, I can feel my cheeks heating as I think back to that first kiss with Lucy, my first ever kiss. Her lips were so soft despite the intensity of the kiss, she felt so right to me and I never wanted it to end.
Lucy nudges my shoulder with her thigh, shaking me from my current train of thought, probably for the best as I can feel myself getting aroused yet again.
Meeting Porlyuscia's eye briefly before locking my gaze with Lucy, I take a deep breath, "the Dragon wants you, Lucy...and so do I."