Ayame didn't automatically start working on the metal leg, nor did she attach Natsu's new arm right away. Firstly, she wanted Natsu to gain the bit of weight he lost back so that the arm would fit right. She also claimed that the reason she didn't just start working on it without Natsu's help was because the design needed a few tweaks.
Ayame was lying, Natsu knew because he had managed to peek at the design she drew out; It had 'final' written on it After a few ponderous minutes, he realized that her real reason; she probably wasn't starting because she was waiting for him. This only made him appreciate her even more, but he didn't dare ask her about it, she wouldn't tell him the truth.
That didn't mean that Natsu was able to lounge around, though; Ayame still had plenty for them to do.
Merely an hour after she agreed to Natsu's request to help her, she walked back into his room carrying a set of large, thick books and dropped them onto his bed, making the mattress groan at the weight.
Natsu frowned, looking at them closer. The covers and bindings were obviously worn out but the pages seemed to be in very good shape.
He turned his head to look at Ayame. "What are these for?"
"To read," Ayame bluntly responded,"If you're going to be working with me, I want you to understand the material."
That does make sense… Natsu admitted, opening the first book to see what they would be looking at. Instantly, a headache overcame his senses, so many numbers and formulas invading his vision. He quickly shut the book again.
The dragonslayer turned towards Ayame, who hadn't moved from her spot. "Math?" He forced out,"I have to read about all this stuff?"
"You wanted to help me, didn't you?" Ayame asked innocently, blinking her steel blue eyes towards him.
Natsu sighed, nodding in admittance. "I did," He replied,"But… I didn't know it would be all of… This! Ayame, you have to know that I'm an idiot, I've never been good at this stuff."
Ayame's calm face quickly was replaced by an angered one. "Why in the world would you call yourself such a thing?" She hissed.
"'Cuz it's what I am, I've been called that many, many times," He answered, as if it was the easiest thing to understand. "Plus I don't understand a single word on that page!"
The woman paced a few times, and then went to his bedside, firmly pointing at the book. "Answer me right now. Have you been taught it and didn't understand it, or did you never get taught this stuff?" She asked.
Natsu gave a half-shrug. "I never learned, I was raised in the woods, Lev-" Natsu choked. "M-my friend was really good at this stuff, but I never could understand…"
Ayame's frown only seemed to deepen. "Of course you couldn't Natsu," She bluntly said,"But that's not because you're an 'idiot', it's because nobody ever took the time to help you understand."
The dragonslayer was about to disagree with her, but he took a moment to recall what she said. He dug through his memories, searching for the moments when he was given an explanation for any kind of math; the most he could recall was learning basic counting and how to count money. "You know what… You're right!" He exclaimed.
"I always am," Ayame smugly replied,"But don't worry, I'll be the one to make sure you understand every single concept we talk about! Now, scoot over. We'll start with basic algebra."
Natsu made room, and Ayame opened the book. She slowly began explaining the concepts to him, going over every little piece of information and then testing him before moving on. If Natsu ever had a question, she gave him a well explained answer. The longer they went on, the more interested Natsu got. Ayame made all these concepts seem so much easier.
For the first time in his life, Natsu was excited to learn.
About a three weeks into his stay, Ayame decided that it was finally time for them to attach his metal arm. She didn't do it in the room, however. Instead, she put him in a wheelchair, and rolled him into her workshop.
The workshop seemed like it was Ayame's paradise. Almost every wall had a bookshelf that was stuffed to the brim with books, and a few others were stuffed with bottles filled with different liquids, herbs, and rocks.
There was a workbench that was covered in papers, pencils, several measuring tools, and even a scale. The wall above the workbench was plastered with several different blueprints. Next to the workbench was two large tables with several different vials and laboratory apparatus.
There was a fireplace with a large cauldron hanging just outside it, it was scratched and had a few scuff marks but other than that looked perfectly polished. Hanging from the ceiling was several pieces of stained glass that reflected different colors all over the walls thanks to the window they were right by.
Standing in the middle of the room (and looking quite out of place) was a cot, with a medium sized table that was the same size pressed against it. Sitting on the medium size table was a box of tools that was already open, the metal arm, another chunk of something metal, and a long, thick strip of leather.
After Natsu got a look at the room, Ayame pushed him over to the middle of the room. She helped him onto the bed, took off his shirt, and laid him down. It was then that Natsu noticed the table was on the right side of his body, where his arm was missing.
He turned his olive eyes to Ayame, who was putting on her apron and pulling her long hair into a ponytail. It was a sight Natsu had grown accustomed to, she always put her hair up when she was about to do some hard work.
"So, how long do you think this will take?" Natsu asked curiously.
Ayame had picked up the metal chunk, and was working on positioning it to match how his body was positioned. "Why?" She teasingly asked,"Got somewhere to be?"
Natsu snorted at her joke. "No, I'm just kinda tired considering you woke me up at sunrise to do this," He responded.
"The early bird gets the worm, Natsu!" She declared,"Plus, I know you'll probably need the rest of the day to get used to the arm and it's better to get this over with in the morning. Especially this part."
Natsu suddenly felt nervous. "What do you mean… This part?" He asked, eyeing the metal piece curiously.
Ayame sighed, lowering the piece. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have saved this until the last second but I was worried about your reaction."
That only made Natsu more nervous. But, Ayame continued before he could say anything else.
"You have to understand, Natsu, the only reason I was able to save you is because of my magic. It's an ancient spell that can only be passed down in a special way. With it, I am able to heal wounds down to cellular level. It's only thanks to this you survived, otherwise you would have bled to death before I could get you to a hospital," She explained.
She then motioned to the metal piece. "This piece has to connect directly to your nerves, and then we can connect the arm which will work along with this piece to react like a real arm," She explained,"But… In order to do that…"
Natsu, thanks to her lessons, quickly realized what she meant. His face turned extremely pale. "You.. You have to cut open the wound again," He croaked.
Ayame nodded grimly,"I can connect the nerves quickly, and then heal the rest of it, but I won't be able to dull the pain or else I won't be able to focus on the important part."
Natsu cringed, feeling slightly nauseous. But then, he shook it off. "Go ahead, do it," He firmly,"We've come this far, I'm not going back now. Let's get it over with."
The woman didn't seem surprised by his response, as a proud, knowing smile had climbed up onto her face. She nodded in determination and then turned, waving her hand. Sparkles of magic flowed off of it, creating a form of blue and red magic that slowly morphed into…
"A lion?" He asked curiously, watching the majestic creature take a seat next to Ayame.
She nodded, picking up her toolbox. "The magic takes the form that best suits the holder of it," She explained.
Ayame picked up the scalpel, it was sharp and gleamed in the light from the window. "On the count of three, okay?" She whispered, handing him the strip of leather.
Natsu nodded, shoving the leather strip in between his teeth. He then shut his eyes tight, turning away.
"One…" Ayame began, and then all of a sudden a hot, blinding pain exploded through him. Natsu bit down hard on the leather strip, and screamed past it. His free hand clawed at the cot, leg thrashing.
Then, he felt a foreign magic swirl around the wound. He had hoped it would make it better, but when a cold metal pressed against the hot spot, he screamed again. He could feel the nerves and the muscles moving, connecting to the wires in the metal and connecting to his body.
It was the most painful thing he'd ever felt, even worse than losing thelimbs. One by one, every nerve was being connected, and every single one felt like it took a hellish eternity.
Then, a voice broke through the pain. "You're doing great, we're almost there… We're almost done.." Ayame's gentle voice whispered in his ear.
Natsu whimpered in response, tears tumbling down his cheeks, limbs shaking, and chest heaving.
"Everything's alright, it's going to be okay…" She promised, her warm hand resting against his forehead.
That strange foreign power filled him again, and seemed to put weight on his eyelids. It only took a few seconds, but soon Natsu felt all the pain start to fade away along with his own consciousness.
When Natsu awoke the next morning, he felt kind of…. Strange. He forced his eyes open, turning his head to the right where the alarm was ringing. With a frustrated groan, he reached his arm out, slapping the old clock onto the ground.
The second the alarm stopped ringing, Natsu registered what he did. He turned his olive eyes up to look… And a steel, metallic hand greeted his vision. It worked! It worked!
All drowsiness melted away, and Natsu jerked up into a sitting position. Using his left hand, he felt and touched every single detail of his new arm.
There was scarring that reached all the way to his left side, ending at a puff of scar tissue that met the metal that now formed most of his top right side, and completely made up his right pectoral and his right side up until his naval.
He then brought his hand back up, reaching the shoulder, and then going back down to the elbow. He slowly flexed his arm up and down, in completely awe at how normal the limb felt.
Natsu finally reached the hand, and wiggled the fingers experimentally, spreading them out as far as they could. He then threaded his normal fingers with the metallic ones, olive eyes trapped at the sight of the contrast when everything felt perfect.
The sight began to blur when tears started tumbling down his cheeks. He buried his face in his hands. Hands! And let himself sob freely once again.
Natsu's sensitive ears then caught the sound of a door opening. He turned, seeing a relieved Ayame in the doorway. She looked over at his arm, whispering,"It works!"
The dragonslayer nodded excitedly. "It does!" He managed to sniffle out.
Ayame smiled wide in return, and moved closer to him. As soon as she was close enough, Natsu pulled her into a tight hug, burying his face into her shoulder. "Thank you… Thank you so much!" He whispered.
Her arms wrap around him in return, and Natsu felt something in his heart. It was warm, and filled with him with joy and happiness. Ayame, she was like a mother to him, and one of the most amazing people he knew.
And now, thanks to her handiwork, he could finally prove how much she meant to him.
The older woman shoved aside some papers, rolling out the blueprint paper. The designs of the leg were a lot easier to understand now that Natsu had learned the material.
Ayame pointed at the design, and Natsu leaned closer in the chair to listen to her. "So, this won't be that difficult since it's the same material as you arm, all we'll have to do is make the skeletal frame a leg instead of an arm," She explained.
"Skeletal frame?" Natsu asked, tilting his head curiously.
The woman turned back to him, looking surprised. She slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Ugh! Duh, Ayame!" She exclaimed,"I never did explain to you how these prosthetics work, did I?"
Natsu shook his head, and calmly replied,"Well, I understand why. I was busy gaining weight back, and you were teaching me stuff! Hell, you're still teaching me everything from those books, I wouldn't have registered a single word if you tried to tell me a few weeks ago!"
Ayame chuckled, nodding in agreement. "I suppose that is true," She said,"But now, I'll be able to explain to you what is actually going on in your arm and soon enough your leg!" The old woman poked the metal arm as she spoke.
The pinkette ignored the poking, and instead leaning forward to eagerly listen to her lecture. Noticing this, Ayame began her explanation.
"As you already know, it is linked directly to the nervous system, and can be moved at will like a natural appendage, taking electrical pulses from the nerves to power and regulate the various electric motors and pneumatic actuators inside," She explained,"And part of the reason is because it's made with a full steel skeletal frame layered with steel armor-plating to protect the various wires and intricate machinery inside."
Natsu instantly caught on, gently slamming his metal fist into his palm. "Just like the skeleton, nerves, muscles, and tendons on a normal human!" He excitedly pointed out, proud that he could catch what she was saying.
"Correct!" Ayame exclaimed, and Natsu was unable to stop the pride that swelled up in his chest at her praise.
He looked back at the design, and noticed that there were separate drawings for each of the leg's parts. He pointed at the first one, and asked,"So we are going to make the skeletal frame first?"
The woman nodded,"Yes we are. I'll just need to gather some materials and we can start work right away, as long as you're ready to of course."
Natsu turned to her, a wide smile on his face. "Are you kidding? I was born ready!" He exclaimed.
Ayame returned his smile with one of her own, and returned her attention to the workbench; She pulled out some thick sheets of steel, some pencils, and a tape measure. Natsu was quick to roll over to the desk, eager to start working hard on their new project.
But before he did anything, he made sure to put his hair up.