Hello everyone! We've arrived at chapter 10 already!
To celebrate, I've made a Spotify list with all the songs I listen to while writing on this story! If you search for Legacy, a Fairy Tail fanfic it should show up!
Thanks a lot for proofreading CJ!
Trigger warning for suicide mention applies to this chapter
Lucy couldn't believe her eyes when they reached their destination. Below the cloudless skies, on top of a little hill, a picnic sheet was laid out. She didn't know what to say. This was a date she had always dreamed of, but so unlike him. He would be the last person she would think of when thinking about anything romantic. When they were in the zoo together, she had never considered he had thought of it as a date. She was happy enough thinking about it being a date in her daydreams, but seeing the scenery laid out before her now, she knew.
''I hope you're okay with sitting here in the cold with me for a while,'' he hesitantly said.
She started laughing. ''This was Levy's idea, wasn't it?''
Even in the moonlight, a bright blush was visible on his cheekbones. ''Partly,'' he admitted.
''What part was yours?''
''The picnic sheet.''
To his embarrassment, she cracked up even more.
''I'm sorry, I just find it really sweet you went through all this to make sure I would like it.''
She walked over to the picnic sheet and sat down. She gave him a bright smile over her shoulder.
He felt his heart make a little jump and gulped. How in the world did he ever end up here? On a date like this with someone like her? He took a deep breath before walking over.
As they lay on their back, an awkward distance away from each other, they shared stories about their youth and their friends. About Lucy's parents, who she both had lost before the age of twenty, and about Natsu's missing father. She never expected him to be so open. It was as if a certain expectation his friends had of him had glided of him and he finally dared to be more vulnerable.
He loved talking to her. Not many people would ever have a serious conversation with him because of his usual silly character. He was a small-talk kind of person, but she was so smart, it felt to him like she could answer any question in the world.
She taught him a few constellations, but it felt almost pointless, as he tried to rename them all.
''No, the Ursus Major is not a frying pan and neither is Ursus Minor,'' she whined.
''I like my names better than your Latin mumbo jumbo,'' he snickered.
Lucy smiled and gave up. ''Have it your way then.''
She relaxed her back and let herself get lost in the moment. She could hear the grass bending beneath the weight of the cloth they were laying on, the air was fresh and the wind had turned a little warmer than earlier that evening. The galaxies above her were so much richer than when viewed from her apartment in the city.
She sneakily looked at Natsu from the corner of her eye. He was squinting his eyes, trying to decipher all the figures in the sky she had just been explaining. Everything was perfect, yet an uneasy feeling kept pressing down on her. Lucy took a deep breath and gulped. She had wanted to say this for a while but didn't have the courage to do so. ''That day I went to the zoo, I was supposed to go to the library with your brother.''
He turned his head to face her. She couldn't see him well, but she could feel the shock in his expression. ''For real?''
''Yes, but he called off in the morning,'' she said.
''How did you know each other?'' Natsu asked after a long silence.
''It was a stupid misunderstanding,'' Lucy said, ''I went to the library and he helped me find a book. He invited me to help out at the library that Sunday and my stupid head thought he was asking me on a date.''
''So you went your second option when he called off?''
''That- that's not what it was like!'' she blurted out and sat up in an instant, ''I wanted to go with you a hundred times more, I just couldn't get myself to cancel.''
A hundred times more. The words resounded in his head like a gong.
''Did you manage to find your brother a lawyer?'' Lucy's answer broke his train of thoughts.
''Yes,'' he said, ''he should be able to get him at least a sentence reduction.''
''Did he kill her?'' she asked out loud before realising how direct she had been.
When it stayed silent, she regretted it immediately. ''I'm sorry, I-''
''I think you've seen how they reported it on the news, but there's more to it than what the media are reporting,'' he said in a monotone voice.
''Then tell me, you need to share this with someone.''
He let out a deep sigh. ''His girlfriend, Mavis, was diagnosed with Ankhseram syndrome,'' Natsu said, ''she was extremely close to dying.''
''Did-'' she paused for a few seconds, ''he free her from her misery?''
He didn't answer. ''He suffers from the same disease, it's how they met each other. ''
A cold shiver traveled down Lucy's spine. ''Did they...?''
''They were supposed to do a double suicide, but he failed,'' Natsu confirmed, ''if that's what you mean.''
She felt her heart freeze up and skip a beat. No matter how hard she tried, no word would leave her lips, shocked to hear her deduction was right.
His facial expression suddenly stiffened and his eyes shot wide open. His nostrils twitched like a hunting dog who had traced their prey.
''Natsu?'' Lucy asked, concerned by his sudden behaviour.
''Don't turn around,'' he hissed quietly, his gaze locked on something behind her, ''at the count of three, you run back to town, got it?''
''What's going on?'' Lucy whispered, hoarse with anxiety. What could possibly be such a sudden threat? Would he be in danger if he stayed?
''Three,'' he started to count down.
Lucy stood up, fixing her gaze on the foot of the hill. It would at least take a minute to run down until the first house in sight.
''Two.''
Was it really okay to only bring herself to safety? Too many questions raced through her mind and they all could be answered by knowing what the threat was.
''One.''
She looked around. Her blood ran cold when she came face to face with what had scared Natsu to death. A dark mass the shape of a wolf stood at least 3 meters tall before them. Part of her thought they had fallen asleep under the stars and had found themselves in a bad nightmare, but her senses told her this was all happening for real. As much as she wished this was all her imagination, the cold wind cutting her skin and the sickening terror she felt could not be just a mere fabrication of her mind.
''Run!'' he let out from the top of his lungs, but it was too late for her to run away now.
''I won't!'' she yelled back, her knees shaking with fear. She suddenly felt the golden key, which she now kept with her at all times, glow hot in her pocket.
''Get away from me!'' Natsu screamed desperately, as fire started to lit around his hands.
It was just as she expected; his power as a mage was based on the element of fire. Though he seemed to be uncomfortable with his newfound power.
With a forward punch, a beam of fire launched towards the dark entity, which seemed enough to drive it off. As if fled and merged with the shadows of the forest, Lucy ran over to Natsu, who seemed exhausted.
''Are you okay?'' she asked, grabbing his shoulders. He remained sunken down on his knees.
He looked up with glazed eyes. She kneeled down and hugged him tightly.
''Just what happened?'' she rhetorically asked, her voice still quivering with fear.
The feeling of her shaking body against his brought him to his senses again.
''I'm so sorry you had to see that,'' he said, close to tears, ''I'm a monster.''
''If you're a monster, I would be a fairy,'' she joked and cupped his face with her hands.
''I think you might be,'' he managed to bring out, losing himself in her dark eyes, which reflected the galaxies above.