. Believer .
"Last things last,
By the grace of the fire and the flames,
You're the face of the future, the blood in my veins, oh-ooh.
The blood in my veins, oh-ooh.
But they never, ever lived, ebbing and flowing,
Inhibited, limited, till it broke and it rained down…"
~ "Believer" by Imagine Dragons
When Natsu ducked into the Heartfilia Bakery, his onyx eyes were wide with concern for the residents and the owner. He'd seen the flashing red and blue lights outside - police cars, one person by each. Two of them had resided just outside with people pointing and whispering as they walked by, wondering what was happening.
His gaze scanned the calm customers, none of which seemed too concerned. He noticed a large scorch mark at the back of the bakery, behind the counter. As if something had almost caught fire - no, as if something had definitely caught fire but been caught before it engulfed everything. His shoulders relaxed from the tightness that had appeared in them for reasons he didn't understand when he saw Lucy Heartfilia calmly speaking with a pair of policemen, her hands gesturing to that scorch mark. A silver-haired woman stood beside her, looking ashamed.
Rather than approaching, Natsu thought it smart to hang back even as other customers left. It wasn't long after the pink-haired man had arrived that the police left anyways. As soon as the door shut behind them, the woman turned to face Lucy and wailed, "I'm sorry, Lucy! I really am!"
Lucy, rather than scolding her or yelling, merely threw her head back and laughed. Natsu watched the pretty blonde closely, eyes refusing to leave her as she said gently, "Lisanna, it's fine. Just try not to let it happen again, okay? Insurance will cover the damage. Why don't you go home and rest for the day? I'm going to go ahead and close the bakery for the rest of the day," she added.
"Okay," Lisanna mumbled, still looking as if she felt horrible. Lucy shook her head with a chuckle as she took the apron Lisanna removed and watched as she went to go and retrieve her things. Lucy folded it, tucking it over her arm, and then lifted her face to study the room. Natsu stilled when she realized he was the only one there, uncomfortable yet relieved she'd finally seen him. She put her hands on her hips and smiled in a friendly manner. After a moment she raised her hand, and, taking it as an invitation, Natsu made his way over to her, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
"Hello, Mr. Dragneel," Lucy said playfully, her dark eyes sparkling warmly. "Can I help you?"
The way her tongue curled around his last name made him shiver. Usually, he was stupidly confident, but there was something about Lucy that knocked him off kilter. He found himself faltering before saying nervously, "Maybe. Levy…" She perked up at the sound of her friend's name. "I spoke with her and she gave me your number. She said to call you about something I've been having problems with, but...uh, I didn't want to just call you without talking to you first. I thought it would be weird."
"It would definitely be weird," Lucy agreed, frowning. "Is she trying to hook us up? I'll kill her," she added irritably, not at all happy with the idea.
Natsu was caught by surprise and snorted in amusement. "No, no," he said hastily. He cleared his throat, lifting his chin. He liked Lucy - a lot, he realized. She was pretty and had a good sense of humor. "She said that you'd mentioned some weird dreams?"
He wasn't surprised when she went on the defensive, eyes narrowing suspiciously at him. She was clearly unhappy that Levy had told him about them. "So?" Lucy challenged. "What about my weird dreams?"
"Nothing," he said hastily. "I just...I've been having some weird dreams, too, and Levy thought that you'd be able to help me with them." He hesitated, eyes uncertain as he searched her gaze. She'd relaxed a little, he was grateful to see. He'd not wanted to scare her off. Natsu admittedly wanted to get to know her, she was she thought about it all. "I know it's even weirder than usual, but...you were in the one I had last night."
Lucy considered this for a short time and then smiled weakly at him. He immediately felt bad; he wanted her to smile as largely as she had when she'd first caught sight of him. "That is pretty weird," she admitted. "How about this. I'll tell me about mine if you tell me about yours? I'm kind of curious; I want to know what I did in your dream."
His cheeks flushed, even as relief flooded him. "Yeah."
Her smile warmed and she touched his arm. He jumped, jolts of electricity snapping through his veins, as if she'd just shoved his finger in an electrical socket. She didn't respond, although her eyes widened a fraction. Lucy indicated a corner table. "I'll get us something to eat and drink. It'll just be us...I'm closing for the rest of today."
Natsu gave her a bright grin. "Okay," he said, delighted with the turn of events. He turned to make his way to the table she'd motioned to, then paused, looking back at her when she heard her muttering to herself.
"Snap out of it, Lucy," she hissed. He could just barely hear it. "That was just your imagination. You didn't give yourself a shock on the same guy a second time, and someone who's having dreams probably as weird as yours."
He snickered. Weirdo, he threw at her silently before retreating to the corner table. It didn't take her long to rejoin him, her eyes wavering with uncertainty and determination as she set some sandwiches and two cups of coffee down on the table. "Thanks," Natsu muttered.
Lucy replied as she sat down, "No problem."
He knew he was watching her a little too much as she made herself comfortable. Intelligent onyx eyes watched her every move. The way she tapped her fingers one by one on the table as she settled in, how she fidgeted, how she tossed a blonde lock of hair over her shoulder and straightened as she opened her mouth to speak before closing it uncertainly. She didn't mind, he didn't think. She didn't respond, even if she noticed his staring.
Natsu was sure she was as fascinated with him as he was with her.
"So," she said suddenly. "Tell me. About your dreams."
Natsu hesitated, and then began. "It's just... there's not much that happens. I mean, I don't remember much to be honest. There's a lot of color. A lot of...a lot of gold. And I like that gold, I know I do. It means a lot. I've always liked gold, more than what's normal for most people, I think." He wrinkled his nose. "It's stupid, but it's true. I usually wake up and there's this...this horrible pain in my chest." He rested his fingers over his heart, digging them into his chest just barely. "Like I'm missing something. Like something's wrong. I can't figure out what it is. But it really, really hurts when I wake up and I miss it so damn bad…" He trailed off. "It was worse than normal last night. I wasn't gonna do what Levy said and talk to you, but you showed up last night, so…"
"How so?" Lucy asked, thoughtful and surprisingly serious. Even Wendy hadn't paid him half as much attention as she was paying him.
He became flustered now. "I don't, uh, I don't want to say. It's nothing weird," he added hastily when Lucy's brows lifted. Natsu became even more flushed as she did so. "I swear, Lucy, it's nothing weird." And it wasn't. They'd not been doing anything dirty; only touched foreheads, but he didn't want to tell that to a woman he barely knew. "But when I woke up, it hurt so much worse than normal, I thought I'd stop in."
Lucy was staring at him, and it made Natsu incredibly uncomfortable - until she said hoarsely, "Smoke."
"Huh?" he said.
"I've always had a really abnormal love of the smell of smoke," Lucy repeated. "And not cigarette smoke, but the smoke you get from campfires and...and warmth." She sounded like she was going to cry, and Natsu felt horrible. Out of all of the things he wanted to do, making her cry wasn't even on the list. "But...I know how you feel. I woke up the other night from a dream about some person that...well, it felt wrong waking up without them." She tapped her chest. "It hurt me, too.
"It's really weird," she admitted, "that our dreams and reactions are so similar." She paused, thinking. He was relieved that someone else knew how he felt, even if he wished Lucy didn't hurt in the same way he did. They appeared to hold similar feelings over dreams they didn't understand, and the fact that they both had that heart-wrenching agony upon waking up, the tears… "But I don't have an explanation. For either of us."
Natsu shook his head, pink hair falling into his eyes. He didn't either, he realized, taking a bite of a sandwich. He set it aside, swiping crumbs from his hand. She looked pleased when he admitted aloud that the sandwiches were delicious.
"I'll talk with Levy some more," Lucy suddenly said, thoughtful. She sat back in her seat, studying him closely with serious brown eyes. "She seems to know more than what she's letting on, and if I threaten to take away her sandwiches...she'll spill." Lucy wiggled her fingers, indicating the sandwiches they'd been eating.
Natsu snickered, amused. He'd have spilled any information Lucy wanted if she'd threatened to ban him from her bakery. She made delicious food. "She mentioned a talk at some university," he said suddenly. "Is it the local community one?"
Lucy nodded, furrowing her brow, and then grimaced. "I'll have to apologize to her...a fire caught in my bakery, as you can see," she paused to wave at the scorch marks on the wall nearby, "and I had to leave her with this guy who looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else. She's blind as you know. I guess it might help her now...the guy was terrifying." She shuddered.
Natsu's lips quirked. He had a feeling he knew who she'd come across. "Let me guess," Natsu drawled, sitting back and folding his arms across his chest. His eyes never left hers. "Piercings everywhere and he was cranky about every little thing?" She sputtered, startled that he'd guessed, and Natsu cackled like a deranged witch. "He's my cousin - Gajeel. Mentioned that someone was comin' in today to give a lecture." He went to touch something at his throat, and then paused, realizing it wasn't there. He furrowed his brow a little like Lucy had, confused. "Don't worry, he looks like a jerk and he acts like one sometimes, but he'll make sure she's taken care of."
Lucy sighed heavily in relief. "Thanks, Natsu." He shivered again. After a moment of comfortable silence, she smiled at him. "Want a cookie?"
Natsu nodded, watching as she got to her feet, grabbing the empty sandwich platter.
He liked Lucy...she was important, although he couldn't say why.
Perhaps she was even the most important woman he'd ever met.
Re-written as of July 26th, 2018!
