Chapter Three
Natsu spent the first five days and all his savings on fixing up his house. Happy had been confused to why Natsu was doing all his work. Natsu had also insisted that Happy not go to the guild since everyone assumed that he had already left on his jobs. He also told Happy that they needed a better house even though he refused to explain why the needed the extra room.
Natsu owned most of the land surrounding his home so he knocked down a few walls and expanded the place. He added an en suite to the master bedroom and another bathroom as well as three extra rooms. He knew that he would end up needing the place in the future.
He still had to furnish the new rooms but he had a feeling that Lucy would want to do the decorating. For now what he had was good enough. The house was bigger with a nice bath and shower and a fully equipped kitchen. He cleaned up all the junk as well. It was inhabitable and he knew that Lucy wouldn't be able to complain anymore since the house was no longer a dump as she once called it.
Thinking of her scolding him for not being able to keep the clean reminded him of Lucy and of kissing her. Before he left her and he knew in that moment that Lucy was the only girl that he would ever love like that and there was no way in hell that he was going to lose her (not again.)
The last time, they had both been so afraid to try. There were so many interruptions and misunderstandings that their relationship never moved in the direction that it was supposed to go in. Even though he knew that she had feelings for him, he wasn't ready and Natsu hated change. He didn't want to change the nature of his relationship with Lucy.
This time he wasn't going to let her or anyone else guess the status of their relationship. He was playing for keeps and he was determined to have her in his life and in his home for the rest of their lives. He had fought a war and she had stood by him come hell or high water. She loved him and he loved her and he could do nothing as she lay somewhere dying. He didn't think he would ever be able to just get over the fact that he was losing her. Not even seeing future Lucy die was as traumatizing as listening to her die and being unable to do anything.
He had waited long enough and now that he knew what the future was going to bring them. He was determined to spend as much time as he possibly could loving her and showing her that he loved her. There was no more time for second guessing and missed opportunities. He wanted a life with her and he was going to fight for that future. She was the reason he was able to stand and fight and this time he was going to make sure that she understood his feelings.
Then he realized that he had no money left, expanding the house had used up all his savings. Natsu decided to finally go on those jobs that he had taken. If he did everything right he would be able to replenish his savings. It would only take a few days to complete those jobs and they weren't very dangerous.
He was sure that by the time he was done it should be time to check on Mira's mission and he should be with Lucy in a few more days. He was extra careful and Happy had been quiet shocked when Natsu didn't use magic to take out the bandits that were on the road.
Natsu had already started his training by expanding his magic empting your container of magic completely was a bad idea that could kill a mage. If they were not careful and could often lead to magic deficiency disease. A mage had to have a certain amount of magic in their body to survive and the disease caused the body not to absorb anymore magic into their system leading to organ failure. Natsu emptied his magic container leaving him with just above the minimum he needed to survive. Then he beat up the bandits using only martial arts. This meant that without his destructive magic destroying everything in its path he got the full reward.
When the magic container in the body is brought down to that level, a person usually runs out of energy. The mage becomes unable to fight and either falls unconscious or doesn't have enough energy to move.
However Natsu was determined to be able to fight even though his magic was low. The exercise also allowed the container to expand, allowing ones magic reserves to grow and the person will be able to use magic for longer.
The magic container was a lot like a muscle the more you exercised it the stronger it became. However just like a muscle if you overworked it then it was possible to break or 'tear' the muscle. This usually led to mages suffering from magic deficiency diseases.
When exercising ones magic it was important to keep track of how much you used you magic so that you don't damage your magic container. This was one of the reasons why usually when mages expanded their magic they needed a partner/trainer to ensure that they didn't hurt themselves.
He got the idea about not using to magic all the time from Laxus. He remembered that back when he used to bug Laxus to fight with him the lightening mage never actually bothered to use his magic. Laxus used his strength to simply beat him into the ground, forcing Laxus to actually use his magic on someone usually meant that he was getting serious. Then the guild ended up a couple of destroyed towns but that wasn't the point.
Natsu managed to get the full reward because if he didn't use his magic. Then he realized that he couldn't go overboard and nothing ended up broken. Except for the road outside of the town which could easily be repaired. The damages were actually below what the people in the town had been expecting and they were all very grateful that he didn't destroy their town along with the bandits. Natsu couldn't help but a feel a bit pride at being able to help without making any more problems for the people of the town.
He could already feel his magic getting stronger and it was only the end of the first week of training that he had done. He knew that Lucy would be proud of him doing three jobs and not destroying a single thing. He couldn't help but chuckle whenever she would stress about her rent. Then he winced when he realized that it was probably his fault that she had been left with so little of the reward. She had plenty of reasons to kick his ass for doing that.
Then again Natsu had been a bit of an ass towards her when they first met. In his defense, he hadn't been trying to get on her nerves. He just liked her and didn't want to be away from her. Then he ended up coming across as immature and annoying but she loved him anyway.
Thinking back to who they were when they both met he couldn't help but chuckle. Lucy hadn't been perfect either. She wasn't a very good fighter, she had very little real life experience and she was a little lazy and afraid of taking on the big fish. He supposed he knew that she didn't like to tangle to very powerful enemies because she knew that logically she couldn't fight them on her own. In the end, she had also been young but they made each other better people.
Natsu taught Lucy not to give up and to believe in herself. He had given her confidence in her abilities and the strength to keep going even when things didn't seem like they were going to work out. She had taught him patience. He was still learning but she had calmed his fiery nature and taught him to live in the moment with her and to be thankful for the people that he had in front of him.
He always loved the guild but he had spent most of his time searching for Igneel and ignoring or being oblivious to the sufferings of his family and their baggage. It was only after he met her that he realized that loving his father didn't mean he couldn't live and laugh with the people in front of him now. He stopped searching so relentlessly for Igneel and paid more attention to the people around him. When he did go looking for his father she supported him then as well. He didn't forget the past but he didn't ignore his future and his present either.
He was currently waiting at the train station for her to arrive. He could already smell her scent which immediately lifted his spirits. He had been feeling like something was missing ever since he got back to this time period and it was because her scent wasn't constantly around him.
Natsu had spent so much time around Lucy that her scent had eventually become part of his scent so not having her around was like he was a missing a limb or something. It made him feel restless and it put him in a bad mood and not even beating up bad guys were helping him.
Lucy had been his partner ever since she had come to the guild and she was part of him. This time he wasn't going to let her go. When Lucy moved he moved as well. She was the sun and he kind of just orbited around her.
When he fought she was always right there next to him as well. He was strong because she there to encourage him that he could go on. He was allowed to be weak because she accepted his weakness and when she was happy so was he. She was his whole world and he didn't like to be so far away from her.
"Hey Natsu, why are we here?" asked Happy and Natsu smiled at his adopted son/best friend. He may or may not have forgotten that Happy technically didn't meet Lucy yet.
He honestly hoped that he wouldn't bother Lucy too much. Then again she loved him as much as he did and she always fed him. Happy did really care about Lucy even though he trolled her a lot but that was just his way of showing affection.
"When I went away I met a new friend and she's coming here now to meet up with us." He replied and Happy just looked at him weirdly.
Happy knew that he wasn't the brightest cat around but he did know Natsu better than anyone else in the world. He knew how his adoptive father behaved. He spent most of his time picking fights, eating or searching for Igneel. He was pretty sure the reason why he found his egg was because he off searching the caves in the forest of Magnolia looking for his father.
That technically wasn't true he had been training or at least punching a tree in an attempt to become stronger to win against Ezra and the egg kind of fell on his head giving him a concussion but no one mentioned that around him.
Natsu was a friendly person. He was kind to everyone he met unless they were bad mouthing his friends or the guild but he didn't really like strangers. They didn't get him the way that the people in the guild understood him. The only reason why they understood his weird behavior was because they had grown up with him.
Natsu was loud and he had more energy than he knew what to do with and he liked to fight. A lot of people thought of him as dangerous or insane but they knew better than to pick a fight with the 'Salamander of Fairy Tail.' They were afraid of him or something like that.
Natsu was kind yes, but he also didn't really care about just anyone's thoughts or feelings. He was tactless and a bit blunt when he spoke and sometimes some people got offended. They didn't realize that he wasn't trying to make them feel bad or insult them. He just kind of left any new people behind while he jumped from one situation to another. He didn't usually mean to offend anyone but unless they were family then they didn't really register to him.
It was one of the reasons why he didn't really have any friends outside the guild. Then again being friends with a mage was hard and the only people who really understood a mage was another mage so it wasn't all that surprising that Natsu didn't have many friends outside of his circle of people he had known since childhood. The people that he had grown up with in the guild.
Many people who met him when he went on jobs would always say that he was a strange kind boy and leave it at that. They would complain about the damages but since they weren't part of his guild it usually meant that he didn't really have to worry about them.
Natsu having a friend that wasn't part of the guild wasn't something that happened often. In fact he was pretty sure that it never happened before in the history of ever. Happy couldn't help but wonder what kind of weirdo had befriended him. He also wondered where or when that happened.
Natsu on the other hand was completely oblivious to the fact that Happy was thinking that there was something wrong with him. He caught sight of blonde hair and he knew that person had to be Lucy. She was wearing something that he never saw before but he had to admit, it was better suited for both traveling and battle. The material looked a lot tougher so it would probably provide some sort of protection if she got pushed around too much which always happened.
He lost count of the number of times her flimsy clothes had come apart during battle and then she usually ended up with clothes from the spirit world. It was also kind of nice that her boobs weren't hanging out anymore and the only skin he could see was around her belly. Much better than the open type of clothes that usually had perverts ogling her while she was walking on the road and trying to either see up her tiny skirts or spoke to her boobs instead of looking at her face when speaking to her even though she acted like she didn't care. She often sought comfort in knowing that he was close when people got too close for comfort.
Natsu never really understood why she wore clothes like that if she didn't like the attention. She once told him about how she used to dress when she was in the manor. She spoke of all the rules that she had to follow and how she often felt like she was puppet or a doll for the servants to dress up.
When she ran away she finally had the freedom to choose for herself and she sought clothes that would have given her father a heart attack. At the same time it had given her a sense of freedom, tangible proof that she was able to make her own choices regardless of what her father wanted for her. It also made it hard for people to recognize her.
He smiled at her because for the first time since they had ended up in this time Lucy seemed more comfortable with herself and more at peace. She wasn't trying to be someone else anymore or running from her past and trying to reinvent herself. She was just Lucy as she always wanted to be and he was happy that she got this opportunity with her father. She managed to resolve things with him also seemed to set her at peace so that she was comfortable in her own skin once again.
Lucy smiled brightly when she caught sight of his pink hair and immediately threw herself into his arms calling his name happily. Natsu didn't let her pull away, instead he held her tightly to his chest and picked her up a foot in the air and kissed her again.
He missed her and he only kissed her once before and it definitely wasn't enough. Now that she was here again and her scent was all around him like it was supposed to be. He finally felt like he had come home. He kissed her with all the love and happiness he had inside him because there was no way she was going to pretend like they didn't have that moment. They were together and he wanted her to understand that she was his.
Happy on the other hand was so shocked that he dropped his fish. He knew that some people in the guild dated like Laxus and Cana. Although they never had a partner for more than a couple of days even Gray went on a few dates now and then.
Nothing ever really came from them but Natsu was the one person in the guild that no one thought he would ever get a girlfriend. It wasn't because Natsu wasn't a lovable person. They assumed it because he never showed any interest in anyone. He knew that several people thought that Natsu didn't even know what sex was or what it meant to have a girlfriend but here he was with this girl that no one knew and he was kissing her.
Happy was pretty sure everyone was waiting for Natsu to just man up already and ask Lisanna to date him. Since no one ever thought that there would be someone else out there that could understand Natsu. There were even some bets that Lisanna would get fed up of waiting for him and ask him out on a date but no one ever thought that there would ever be another girl in his life. It seemed like this girl was the reason Natsu was acting so different and not destroying everything. Not that it was a bad thing just different but he supposed that Natsu was growing up and becoming more responsible.
"Luce I want you to meet my best friend and adopted son Happy."
Happy raised a paw and greeted the weird girl and she smiled happily at him and turned to Natsu, "Shall we go?" she asked and Happy still seemed more than a little bit lost.
"Where are we going Natsu?" he asked and Natsu patted his head when he climbed up onto his shoulder while taking Lucy's hand in his own.
"We're going to Clover Town. It has a good magical shop and someone told me that I'll be able to find a good book explaining how to use requip magic." Replied Lucy and Natsu looked at her strangely.
"Why would you want to learn that?" he asked her and Lucy explained what her father told her. She also showed him the bracelet and explained how it worked.
"You should exercise your magic so that you'll be able to use the staff and keep your gates open." He told her when she was done explaining her new weapon.
She nodded her head and replied, "I spoke to crux while I was on the train and he said that I could learn a few elemental spells. The spells won't work on the same level as your fire magic or Gray's ice magic but since the staff uses my celestial magic to power it. I could summon blasts of elemental energy from my spirits like Loke's magic is sun based so I can use it to create fire. Those things will drain my magic quickly and it won't be as strong as other mages who use caster magic."
Natsu merely shrugged, "The more tricks you have up your sleeve the better. Always remember your strength doesn't lie in a physical battle. Your strength is your intelligence and how you use your magic."
Lucy kissed his cheek and Natsu blushed when she did so and they both decided to ignore the fact that Happy was snickering into his paws. She couldn't help it, he just said something so sweet and honest and she knew it was true.
She would never be a powerhouse like Ezra or Mira but she didn't have too. If she fought smart then she could take on any opponent as long as she had enough magic and a few tricks up her sleeve like he said. Her magic was versatile and how she used it would make it powerful. There was no one thing that made her magic powerful, it was how she combined it and use it.
"I still don't know how to use the staff or the escrima sticks." She reminded him and the grin that he gave her actually sort of terrified her.
"I'll teach you and your spirits can teach you magic." He replied and Lucy knew that she was going to be covered in bruises and every muscle in her body was going to hurt by the time he was done with her.
Lucy went and bought the book on requip magic while Natsu traced Mira's scent. They were already in the forest for a couple of days now. Then again their job was to take on a monster known as the King of Beasts so that meant the creature was hiding in the forest.
Natsu and Lucy decided to camp in the forest but far away from where the Strauss siblings had set up their camp. They wouldn't interfere in the fight until they needed too since they didn't know what happened to make everything go so wrong. They didn't want to make things worse by getting involved too early so they waited on the tops of the mountains while Natsu listened in on their fight.
Mira did recon first and Natsu was impressed at how she tracked the beast. She checked out where the creature was hiding and she had a well thought out a plan but even Natsu could see that she was coddling her siblings. Mira was trying to keep Lisanna and Elfman out of the main areas of the fight and trying to take on the Beast mostly by herself.
He remembered that when she came home she said that she had been over confident and Lisanna paid the price. Natsu didn't understand what she meant at that time but looking at her plan he understood. She thought she didn't need help to take on the Beast and she had either underestimated how powerful the creature truly was or she had overestimated herself. She didn't have to keep her siblings out of the fight the way she wanted too.
Hopefully when they managed to save her Mira will realize that she has to train her siblings more and stop coddling them so much. The Strauss siblings were all really powerful and he was determined to make sure that they didn't spend two years mourning and lost without their sister.
Natsu decided to ensure that Mira took her siblings off to train after this train wreck of a mission. It could be something similar to what they had done for the grand magic games. If he timed it right he could get Gray and Ezra involved in taking on some intense training for a couple months and then promise to fight them all when they returned to the guild. It was really easy to fire up their tempers with some competition and the level they were currently at was nothing compared to how they powered up when they formed Team Natsu.
They waited for Mira to engage The Beast in combat and when the battle started heading towards the town Lisanna flew off to evacuate the town. Elfman supported Mira or at least he tried too but none of the souls that he had were powerful enough to do any damage. Happy only noticed Lisanna flying towards the town when Natsu pointed her out to him.
"Hey Happy isn't that Lisanna? Go after her see if she needs any help."
Happy saw the white haired beauty flying towards the town and took off after her. He didn't know that they were technically stalking the Take Over siblings but he want to help his adoptive mother as much as he could. Happy took off after her while Natsu and Lucy followed the huge form of Elfman. He had attempted the takeover not long after Lisanna had left to evacuate the town.
Lucy was stunned, this creature was huge, far bigger than the form that Elfman eventually managed to use during the Phantom Lord attack. No wonder Mira had been having a hard time, he was extremely strong and his hide seemed to be impenetrable. The monsters arms looked as huge as tree trunks and Mira seemed beaten to hell but she was still in her Satan Soul so Natsu waited a little longer. She was still fighting, trying to reach her brother and while the situation was bad, it wasn't life threatening to anyone yet. Mira still had enough magic and spirit to carry on fighting so he was only going to step in when she had nothing left.
"Are you sure you don't want to get involved yet?" asked Lucy and Natsu shook his head.
"This battle was the day that Mira lost all confidence in her abilities and with Lisanna gone she didn't have the strength to remake herself. She has to lose this fight. Mira was one of the strongest people in the guild. She could even go toe to toe with Laxus on a good day but that made her over confident and self-assured even a bit arrogant. She even went so far as to neglect her duties towards her siblings because she stopped training them and pushing them to the side. This forces her to see the consequences of her pride. She has to lose so that she can find the strength to stand up. You can only be better once you know defeat."
Lucy grimaced as Mira was thrown into a mountain and finally dropped her transformation. Lucy could see the horror in her eyes and for the first time since seeing the younger version of Mira she could finally see traces of the girl that she had known.
She lost the arrogant, haughty look that she had when she first faced the creature and now there was only despair. She was finally realizing the full consequences of making mistakes and she knew in that moment that Mira had hit her lowest point. This was Natsu wanted for her to understand that no matter how strong she was, she could only go so far alone. Now there was only one place for Mira to go and that would be to climb back to the top.
Lucy could faintly hear someone calling for Mira and she realized that Lisanna had returned which meant that in a few minutes she would try and reach Elfman by talking him down and it wouldn't work. Elfman had been shocked out of the takeover once he hurt her but that had been too late.
Lucy watched as Lisanna landed next to her wounded sister with Happy not far behind her but Mira didn't even notice the blue cat instead she started caution her sister of her mistake and then Lisanna stood before the insane creature that had once been her beloved brother.
Natsu and Lucy shared a look and he nodded in response to the question that she hadn't voiced. They both moved quickly, knowing that there was a very small window of time to save Lisanna from Elfman. Natsu launched himself off the cliff while Lucy changed into her Gemini star dress which allowed her to fly down the cliff as well.
Natsu was aiming for his head. He was hoping that if he hit him hard enough, he would be able to rattle the large creature and throw him off balance. Lisanna spread out her arms to shield her sister as she tried to reach her brother who had been lost to the mindlessness of the beast and was about to attack her. Natsu prayed that Lucy would be able to make it in time.
Lisanna faced him without fear staring him with a smile on her face even though the creature didn't show any signs of recognition towards her. His arm paused for a brief second and then swung towards her. Lisanna didn't even have the chance to dive out of the way. Mira screamed in horror as Elfman swung his tree trunk arm at her little sister when Lucy landed in front of the two sisters.
"Open, Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus." Cried out Lucy as she changed into her star dress Taurus and they both braced for the impact of his arm just as Natsu hit Elfman on the side of his head, throwing him off balance.
Lucy locked her arms and legs into place as she caught the tree trunk arm that would have tossed Lisanna into the forest like a rag doll. She felt Taurus next to her as he dropped his axe and did the same thing next to her, adding his strength to hers and protecting her from the impact.
Elfman however was just too strong, she couldn't hold him back completely even though she layered her magic over her body to absorb the impact. Taurus disappeared back into the celestial world as soon as Natsu knocked the beast off balance.
Lisanna lost all feeling in her legs and crumpled to the ground as Lucy was thrown five feet away from the siblings. Lisanna had just come very close to dying at the hands of her brother to protect her sister and he would have hit her if not the stranger in front of her. She was suddenly terrified but not of her siblings but of the situation that they had been put in. None of their missions had ever gone this wrong, death had never been this close.
Elfman lost the take over and fell unconscious, reverting back into his human self with the trade mark scar on his eye that he had when she met him in the future and at the same time Natsu managed to climb up to the crater that Mira had formed when she hit the mountain.
"Natsu." Whispered Lisanna.
Mira let her sister go and ran for her unconscious brother but Natsu didn't see Lisanna move towards him. His eyes zeroed in on the crumpled form of Lucy and he ran to her.
"Luce you alright?" he asked and Lucy barely opened her eyes.
The blonde girl smiled at him a little and replied, "Tired, took more magic than I thought it would to brace for an impact like that."
Natsu rolled his eyes and gathered her into his arms but Mira stopped him from leaving, "Natsu what were you doing here? Who is this?"
Natsu smiled at Mira, "I did a couple of jobs near the town and Luce wanted to buy a magic book from the shop in town and then we went camping. I heard you guys and came to see if you needed any help. I gotta go Mira. She needs to rest and you look like you need a healer so I'll see you guys back at the guild or sometime later."
"Thank you Natsu." She whispered and Natsu just smiled at her and nodded his head. He sent her the Fairy Tail unofficial sign as he carried Lucy away and he didn't notice the tear that rolled down Mira's cheek as he walked away.
'No matter where you are or how far apart we are, I'll always be watching over you.'
Lisanna didn't know what to say to him and before she could think of something he was already gone. She didn't know that girl and she wondered how she knew Natsu and why they were together. He had been acting odd lately so maybe the girl had something to do with it but for now she had more important things to worry about than his strange behavior and the girl that she had never seen before.
Natsu took Lucy back to their campsite and waited for her to wake up. It didn't take long for her to wake up. No more than an hour and then the two set of to the train station.
Lucy reminded him that her father wanted to see them before they went to the guild and they really needed to talk about what they were going to do now that they saved Lisanna from living on an alternate earth for two years. Natsu sighed, it was going to be a long train ride and an even longer night.