Hi guys! This is a little on the short side for this fic, but I had a good stopping point and wanted to check in before my busy weekend!
Got my chapter done for the contest I entered. It's different from the last one, so I actually entered the first chapter of the story I'm writing for my old D&D character. There was a lot of editing and I'm finding that I have trouble sometimes letting go of scenes that I don't need…
Anyway, so you guys can see what I've been working on the past couple weeks, I'm going to be posting it on FF as well, titled "All Magic has Secrets", so give it a read if you're interested!
P.S. I'm loving the predictions you guys have for this story. They always make me happy to see.
As always, thanks for the love and happy reading!
"Hey Lucy, watch this!" Lucy turned just in time to see Natsu take one of the smaller jumps on their current slope, cheering as he landed it perfectly and came to a stop right next to her.
"That was great, Natsu, you're getting much better!"
"So does that mean-"
"No."
Natsu frowned as his shoulders slumped. "But you said I was doing really well."
"You are," she said as she patted his shoulder, "but I don't think you're quite ready. Come on, it's time for your next lesson."
He grumbled as he followed her down the hill, but deep down Natsu didn't mind so much. It was nice having Lucy around for the trip. Even though he wished Happy had come with, he was finding that he was having just as much fun, if not more fun, spending time with Lucy.
With a grin, he pushed himself forward a little faster, making sure Lucy saw his grin as he passed her, intending to race her to the end of the slope. When she laughed and picked up speed, he turned back and put all of his effort into beating her.
After he won, despite her grumbling, he found that nothing could erase his smile the rest of the day. There really was nothing more fun than spending time with Lucy.
"Come on, Luce. Please?"
"I just think that we should practice mo-"
"Oh come on, Lucy, we went on the Black Diamond yesterday. That's old news! The guy at the lodge said there are paths all over the mountain that we can go on, so let's go find one! It'll be an adventure!"
Lucy sighed. "Natsu, I'm not so sure-"
"You're never sure, Lucy," he whined. "Come on, with me there, you have nothing to worry about! Even if there's an avalanche or a ravine or anything, I can get you out! You'll be perfectly safe!"
Lucy covered her face with a gloved hand as Natsu leaned down once more, with his pouty lips and big puppy dog eyes, right in her face. "You're not going to leave me alone until I say yes, are you?" Natsu shook his head, his lip seeming to stick out even further. She sighed, causing him to hoot and pump his fist.
"This is going to be awesome, Luce, I'm all fired up! Come on! I wanna go this way!" Natsu grabbed his poles, that he had barely used by this point, and started pushing himself up the short hill towards the nearest path. As Lucy followed, she could see that the path was completely devoid of any other prints.
"Natsu, it might be smarter to find a path that at least one other person has been on."
"Where's the fun in that?" he asked, turning to look at her over her shoulder. "If no one else has been here, that makes it even more of an adventure!"
Lucy intended to argue more, but Natsu had disappeared from her line of sight, so instead, she grumbled as she moved quickly to catch up to him.
A feeling of dread seemed to settle in her stomach as she went over the hill, losing sight of the main slope.
"Natsu-"
"Wait, I know what I'm doing."
Lucy sighed. "Natsu-"
"Not yet, Lucy, just hold on."
Irritated, the blond counted to ten in her head before she spoke again. "Natsu-"
"GEEZ, Luce, I can't concentrate with you nagging me!"
As Lucy's mouth audibly snapped shut, she wondered what she had done in her life to deserve getting lost on a mountain in the middle of nowhere with a dragon-demon hybrid who apparently had no sense of direction. The sun was almost set and they had no idea which way to go. Lucy had tried to keep an eye on which direction they were travelling, but they had followed so many convoluted trails, she'd lost track somewhere after the first three hours. Seeing that Natsu wasn't going to listen to her, she moved off the trail, carefully making her way through the pines towards her goal.
Natsu muttered to himself as he once more tried to use his magic to figure out which direction they needed to go. Unfortunately, the tracking spell was the only one he knew to do that and it could only retrace so far. They had moved around the mountainside so much, and in so many directions, he couldn't retrace far enough to find the lodge. He sighed, finally admitting defeat. "Alright, I give up Lucy. If you have-" He stopped as he looked around, finding himself alone. "Lucy?" He moved forward, panicking slightly. "Lucy!"
"Natsu, over here!" The half demon nearly threw his poles and ripped off his skis as he moved to follow her voice. After making his way through several large pine trees, he found her standing in front of a cave. "It's getting too dark to move around out here. The clouds are out, and it's a new moon anyway, so there's not enough light for us to see-"
"Speak for yourself."
"-and," she continued with a small glare, "I'm cold and hungry. So let's just stay in here for the night. I'm sure you can keep me from freezing to death, and in the morning we can try again, once the sun is up."
Natsu looked around and grumbled a little, but he finally moved to join her, glancing around the cave's entrance. "You know, I could just-"
"I already told you, you are not going to go flying off without me. I refuse to be lost out here on my own."
"I could just take you with me," he said.
"And have you risk dropping me? I don't think so."
Natsu sighed. "How many times do I have to remind you how strong I am? I would never drop a little thing like you."
Lucy shook her head as she leaned down to pull off her skis. "We can stay here," she insisted. "I'm going to try and collect some sticks or something for a fire. Do you think you could find something to eat? I know you're used to more convenient food, but I'm guessing you could probably figure out how to skin and gut a rabbit or something."
Seeing that Lucy was committed to her plan, Natsu merely nodded as he pulled off his skis and moved to do as she dictated. Before he got far, she called out to him, "And don't get yourself even more lost! I expect you to make it back here."
"You got it," he responded. "… Princess." He laughed as she growled behind him and then ducking as he heard the whistle of a something flying towards him. A snowball exploded against the truck of a tree nearby, and he laughed louder as he made his way out of sight.
Lucy muttered as he moved out of range. She shivered as she looked around at her now dark and shadowed surroundings. She had not come prepared for this kind of trip when they'd left in the morning. She'd kill for the mini flashlight in her purse, or her phone, or even the pile of snacks she'd accumulated in the fridge. They were woefully unprepared for a night of camping in a cave, but Lucy wasn't about to die roaming around the mountainside in the dark, so she did her best to find sticks and logs to return to the cave for a fire.
It was nearly an hour later that she finally stopped, moving instead to sit in the entrance of the cave and wait for Natsu to return. She knew from seeing the space earlier that the cave went back a ways, but without a light, she couldn't be sure how deep it was, or even if anything else was staying in it. As she curled herself into an even smaller ball, she continued to listen and watch, hoping Natsu would return soon.
Surprisingly, she found herself drifting off eventually, her body cold and tired, and wanting nothing more than to sleep off the uncomfortable feeling of her numb toes. As she worked on keeping herself awake, she heard movement through the trees nearby.
"Finally," Lucy said as she stood up. "I'm freezing, so if you could come over he- bear." In front of her stood a large, dark shadow, with a much smaller shadow nearby. Even without light, she could tell it was a bear that had shown up, a bear that probably lived in the cave she'd been in, and as it began to growl, Lucy jumped to her feet and started running through the trees. As she ran, she could hear the bear growl and roar at her as it followed her, crashing through the trees as well.
"NATSU!" Lucy screamed as she ran, desperately trying to figure out where she could go to get out of the bear's reach. As she jumped a large, overturned tree, she tripped, causing her body to get stuck between it and a large rock on the other side. As she wiggled to get out, she realized she was getting even more stuck, and the bear was still coming. Lucy reversed and tried to wiggle her way below the log, but only succeeded in pushing her jacket and sweatshirt up around her chest. "Oh come on!" she cried, but as the cold air hit her skin, she realized she had a way out. She shoved her arm into the gap, placing her hand on her side and called Natsu's name again.
Silently, a shadow appeared on the branch in front of her, with large wings and softly burning eyes. Something landed on the ground nearby, and then Natsu reached down and lifted her up by her arms, chuckling the whole time. "Really Luce? Finally need my help and it's to get you unstuck."
He set her on the rock behind her, helping to pull her jacket back in place as Lucy looked around. "Natsu, that's not exactly the help that I need."
"It's not the only help, no, but I'm not worried about the bear."
"How did you know?" she asked.
"I told you. When you summon me, I arrive with the knowledge to know what help you need so I can fix the situation. Now if you'll excuse me." He stood again, jumping back to land lightly on his feet at the bear finally caught up. Before it could do anything, Natsu turned around, his wings stretched wide, and leaned forward as he roared at the creature. Lucy couldn't see around Natsu, but she heard some scuffling and a low moan from the bear, and after another roar from Natsu, she heard it scamper off. As she watched, Natsu's wings began to retract and in no time he was back to how he'd looked when he'd left to go hunting.
He turned around, his eyes still glowing, and moved back her way. "Well, I'm guessing we'll have to find somewhere else to stay?"
"Yeah. I think that cave was the bear's home. Our skis and stuff are still there, but they're not in the cave so they might be safe until morning."
"How about I show you what I found and then I'll go grab them?"
"Natsu, you really don't have to-"
"It's not a big deal," he said. "They won't hurt me."
"I know, but you don't have to bother them. They're just trying to live their lives and get by. It's the bears I'm worried about, not you. You've already scared the mother, I think we should leave them alone for the rest of the night."
Natsu felt his stomach grow warm and mushy as he stared at Lucy, the faint glow from his eyes making it easy to see the blush on her cheeks as she searched his features in the dark. "That's perfectly adorable, Luce."
Her blush darkened as she glared at him. "Oh shut up, and help me get down so you can show me where we're going."
Chuckling, Natsu moved forward and helped her safely get down. He kept her hand in his and after he leaned down to pick up whatever he had dropped before, he moved to lead her through the trees. "It's not very far. Just stay close and I'll keep you from getting hit by all the branches."
Lucy mumbled, but didn't say anything else as she moved to stand as close to him as she could get. Even though it was dark, she managed to keep from tripping more than a few times as she followed Natsu through the woods. She found herself jumping every time she heard an owl hoot or ruffling of branches that weren't right in front of her, but Natsu was nice enough not to laugh at her again as he led them up towards the top of a small hill. Near the peak, he paused, and tugged her to stand next to him. In front of them was a small cave with a fire already burning inside.
"Come on, I've gotta get the meat on before I run out of wood."
Lucy allowed herself to be pulled along as Natsu ducked to enter the cave. There were several long skinny sticks laying on the ground and he quickly got to work wrapping the meat around them and placing them over the fire.
"How did you know we'd need a different cave?"
"I didn't, but this one has a better starting point for us in the morning, and there was already enough wood nearby for a fire."
Lucy glared at him as she grumbled about wasting time, before she sat next to the fire. She scooted close, willing her limbs to thaw out. As she visibly shivered, Natsu stood from his spot to come to sit behind her and pulled her into his arms. "Natsu… what are you doing?"
"Trying to keep you warm, silly." He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her torso. "You're shivering. I can't have you freezing to death, can I?"
Lucy didn't even consider fighting his embrace as his warmth instantly enveloped her. Instead, she sighed and snuggled closer to him as the cold was slowly chased away.
As she watched the fire crackle, browning the meat suspended above the flames and warming her toes, she decided that getting lost wasn't so bad if you did it with the right person.
"In case you change your mind-"
"We're not flying, Natsu."
