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Enjoy!
Lucy's head was pounding mercilessly, and her eyes were tearing up from the throbbing pain coursing through her body.
"Woah, woah...slow down." A husky voice said firmly, and a pair of rough hands gently helped her get into a sitting position. "Relax, you're far from healed right now, take it easy."
The blonde blinked a couple times to clear her eyes up, and she turned slightly to see Natsu staring at her apathetically. She blearily wiped her eyes, yawning loudly in the process. "What happened?"
The celestial spirit sighed, giving her a pointed look. "You summoned me with the emergency button...remember? You fainted, so I carried you up here to get healed. Now that I know you're ok, I'm going to leave, if that's all right with you master?"
"Natsu," Lucy huffed tiredly, "stop calling me master, how many times do I need to say that? Before you go, I wanted to ask you something."
Ironically, he only called her by her name excluding the honorifics when he was with his siblings - not that Natsu would ever tell her that. If the King heard about this "insolence," he wouldn't hear the end of it. Nevertheless, his interest was piqued, but he didn't show it. The fire dragon slayer ignored her first request before sitting on the bed adjacent to her, gesturing for Lucy to continue.
"Where do I start? Well, for one, I wanted to ask if you knew anything about why mine and Gemini's combination attack didn't work. I know it went through, there's no way it didn't - but for some reason, the spell was cancelled. What do you think?" Lucy watched Natsu's face scrunch up a little, which she found adorable.
"That's...strange. I'll talk to the twins when I go back, but there was probably someone else who cancelled your attack." Her eyes widened, and the pink haired spirit held back a laugh at her shocked expression. "Look, I know it's surprising that someone cheated, but that's life. People don't play fair, especially when they want to get their way. Well, now that I explained it to you, can I go back?"
Lucy felt her heart pang, and she hoped her face wasn't showing how disappointed she was. The blonde had made some progress with Natsu, who was very, very difficult to talk to. He was harsh and cold, but at the same time, she knew that there was more to him than that. The way he spoke about the other zodiac spirits made Lucy certain that Natsu was secretly a kind, caring person who probably closed himself off because he had bad experiences in the past.
"Actually," she said nervously, "could you please stay back for a while? It's lonely in here...but if you really want to go, that's fine."
Natsu was taken aback by this. "You...you want me to keep you company?" Happy had been watching the exchange quietly, and he knew how dumb his friend could be. Lucy was clearly trying to get closer to him, but the fire dragon slayer was a dense idiot who couldn't pick up on social cues.
"Yeah, I'm probably going to sleep in a bit anyways." She blushed, hesitant to say what was on her mind. "Could you maybe tell me a story? It'll help me sleep faster, I promise!"
The pink haired fireball didn't think this girl could surprise him any more, but it seemed like she always had something that caught him off guard. During their training trip, he found out that Lucy's mother, Layla Heartfilia, had died when she was young, and the blonde had explained that after that, she never really felt parental love during her childhood since her father had closed himself off. Secretly, the girl yearned for affection because she received so little of it as a child, and joining Fairy Tail had helped remedy the problem to an extent. Bedtime stories sounded childish, but to Lucy, it would make her feel better and it reminded her of the good times in her past.
He shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Sure, I have some time to spare. What type of story do you want?
"Anything is fine." Lucy said as she yawned loudly, motioning for Natsu to sit on her bed so she could hear him better. The celestial spirit wavered, but ultimately thought there was no harm in it. As he made himself comfortable, he looked at his master - really looked at her, as if trying to decipher a puzzle.
Natsu decided to shelve away his thoughts about Lucy's odd behavior, and he saw her look at him expectantly. "Well, I guess I can tell you a story that my father used to tell me when I was younger. Long ago, when dragons used to exist on Earthland, they weren't on friendly terms with humans, and the feeling was mutual. Humans were afraid of how powerful and mighty these creatures were while dragons were annoyed with how weak the humans proved to be."
From the corner of his eye, he watched as Lucy nodded her head eagerly, albeit drowsily. "However, something happened that changed the shaky peace between humans and dragons. One man had decided to befriend a dragon, but the creature betrayed him and killed his family. In desperation, the human decided that all dragons were evil, and he took it upon himself to kill all of them with his bare hands. However, this had a consequence. This human's bloodlust had grown so strong that he eventually turned into the very thing he hated: he became a dragon, and called himself the Dragon King."
"Wait," the blonde asked sleepily, her eyes half-closed, "how did that make him turn into a dragon?"
Natsu rolled his eyes at her impatience. "I'm getting to that, just wait. Anyways, this human had used so much magic that once he turned into a dragon, his quest for hunting down his own 'kin' grew stronger. The so called Dragon King slayed every dragon in existence, leaving only a few left - there weren't many who could live to see another day if they met this dragon slayer. Igneel, the king of the fire dragons, had been furious when he saw the slaughter as he wanted to live with humans peacefully. Before he could do anything, the Dragon King did something that changed the fate of the world. He took the souls of the dragons he had left alive, leaving them in pitiful states, giving them only a fraction of the power they once possessed."
He looked down to see her eyes fluttering shut, and Natsu knew she would sleep soon. "With that, the Dragon King fled, leaving Igneel and the other dragons alive to suffer a slow death. One human had destroyed an entire species, so you would think dragons wouldn't trust humans again...but Igneel was different. His compassion was incomparable, and when he was faced with the choice of taking in an orphaned boy or leaving the kid to die, he took the boy in. The fire dragon king raised the child as any human would: he fed him, taught him, played with him, and most importantly, he loved the kid with his whole heart. The child loved Igneel just as much and even called him his father, but the dragon knew his time was ending soon, and he didn't want to break his son's heart - so he told him the truth."
Natsu heard Lucy's soft snores, indicating she was asleep, and he got off the bed. He was fairly sure that she didn't hear the last part of his story, and he had purposefully been vague just in case she did remember. The last thing the fire dragon slayer wanted was for her to figure out that the orphan was him, which would only lead to more harassment and goading from his persistent master.
Happy knew this story already, and the cheerful cat was saddened to see his friend reminisce about his past - he knew that it was hard for the celestial spirit to talk about Igneel, whom he loved so fiercely. Natsu saw the blue cat hold back tears, and in a rare display of vulnerability, he hugged Happy softly before disappearing back to the spirit realm.
"Piri, piri! We don't know either nii-san!"
Natsu sighed before thanking Gemini with a small smile on his face, and as the twins left, he knew he had a lot to think about. He had a feeling that the Grand Magic Games were going to turn dark soon, but the fire dragon slayer had no proof of this. Feeling Zeref's dark magic wasn't an explanation as to why Lucy had been targeted.
"Well," he muttered out loud, "maybe that girl's team was trying to cheat by helping her out. It makes sense: they saw Lucy's joint attack with Gemini to be powerful enough to take their teammate out, so someone in that redhead's guild cancelled the spell. What do you think Happy?"
"Aye sir!" the blue cat chirped cheerfully as he munched on a fish. Natsu huffed at his friend, knowing that Happy wasn't paying attention to what he was saying in the slightest. Before the pink haired spirit could argue with him, Aquarius and Scorpio decided to make an appearance...and when those two were together, things always got violent.
"Who do you think you are! Going off with another girl on a date - did you forget we're together!" The blue haired woman saw Natsu, who was trying to leave the scene without being noticed, but before he could do so, Aquarius had ran towards him. "Oni-chan, tell him that he's wrong!"
Scorpio groaned loudly, earning another small outburst from his girlfriend, who was close to blowing up after seeing his indifference. Natsu tried to diffuse the situation quickly, and he immediately stepped between the two lovers and gave them both stern looks. "Now, now, let's settle this in a peaceful matter. Imouto, otouto, would you mind explaining what's going on?"
"We are!" Scorpio yelled defiantly, his tail shaking as he spoke. "She's mad because I was getting lunch with my friend, who just happens to be a girl - it wasn't even planned! We both use sand magic, so we were talking about that before my crazy girlfriend dragged me away aniki, you have to believe me!"
"You have some nerve to say that!" growled Aquarius menacingly. "When I got there, she was all over you and you didn't do a thing! Nii-san, he was cheating on me, how could I not get mad about that?"
The red and white haired man gave his girlfriend an incredulous look. "We are! You know that I only have eyes for you, come on!"
Natsu watched them talk back and forth, and before his headache got worse, he silenced both of them. "Look, I think this is one big misunderstanding. Scorpio talked to her just to be nice and the girl probably thought he liked her. Aquarius, you just showed up at the wrong moment, I'm sure he would've told her to get off of him - right otouto?"
"We are!" Scorpio said desperately as he grabbed his girlfriend's hands. "I would never cheat on you, believe me, please?"
Aquarius gave him a scathing look, but her eyes softened, and she instantly reverted into a crazed fangirl as she squealed and snuggled into her boyfriend's side. Natsu and Happy both sighed in relief, giving the couple a warm smile before walking off to find Pisces and Libra, who he had been meaning to talk to for a while now.
Lucy may have had a majority of the celestial spirits' keys, but Pisces and Libra's keys had fallen into the hands of another girl. After the pink haired spirit's first meeting with Lucy, he hounded his other two siblings for information about their master, who turned out to be a meek girl called Yukino. He intended on visiting this woman as soon as he could, but he needed Pisces and Libra to be there with him.
"Damn," Natsu swore quietly, "where the hell could they be?"
Logically, he knew that there was a chance that Yukino had either summoned one or both of the spirits for her own fight in the Grand Magic Games. From what Libra had said, this girl was part of a guild named Sabertooth, who were also participating in the tournament. With a sigh, Natsu thought long and hard about where his two siblings could be, and he was interrupted when Happy came up with his own idea.
"What if I carry you to look for them?" the blue chat said cheerfully, nuzzling into his friend's neck. The fire dragon slayer's eyes widened, and he looked at Happy in disbelief.
"Why didn't I think about that earlier?" he asked to himself, and the Exceed could only laugh cutely at Natsu's predicament. He latched onto his friend's shirt, carrying him in the air as the two friends looked for Pisces and Libra.
It wasn't long before Natsu found both the spirits, who were resting up against a tree. He landed in front of them, and when his siblings caught sight of their older brother, they immediately bowed to him.
"Oni-chan," Libra said in a tired tone, "what brings you here?"
Natsu frowned as he saw how exhausted she was, and he noticed that the real forms of Pisces sat beside her in similar states. It was a real shock when Pisces had revealed themselves to be a mother and her son duo, and even after hundreds of years, it was still surprising. At first, it was weird for both of them to be calling the pink haired man their older brother, but with time that faded.
(For writing purposes, I will refer to the son as the darker form since he's the black fish when Pisces isn't in their human form and the mother as the light one - hopefully this makes sense!)
"Aniki," the darker half of Pisces said, "we're glad you're here. We noticed something when we were summoned today, right mama?"
"That's right son. Nii-san, we all know something is happening in Earthland...we felt his presence. What's going on?" The mother looked at him indignantly, and Natsu gave the three a blank look before his features softened. He silently sat in front of them, his original purpose for visiting being thrown out the window as he sighed heavily, letting Happy sleep on his shoulder.
"You're not wrong." The fire dragon slayer started slowly, watching horror flit over their faces as they too realized what he meant. "Zeref is doing something, and I intend on stopping him. I won't let him touch any of you or any people on Earthland, I swear on Igneel that I'll stop him - but I need more information. I didn't want to bring you all into this, but now that you've figured it out...I'm giving you all another mission during the Grand Magic Games. Stay with your master for as long as possible so that you can pinpoint the dark magic, and when you figure out where it's located, let me know as soon as you can. I've already talked to the other spirits, and Virgo said that she's getting closer to the source but is still unsure about the exact location."
Libra gave him a knowing look. "Are you planning on confronting him by yourself? You know that none of us would let you go alone nii-san, it's too dangerous."
"I know," Natsu said placatingly after noticing the mother and son duo glare at him, "but this is my responsibility. Zeref is my older brother and you all know I'm the only one who can stop him. I have a suspicion that he's cooperating with one of the guilds participating in the tournament, his scent was faintly on the redhead that I fought today. I forgot what guild she was in, but when I figure it out, we will confront them - what's that look for?"
The lighter half of Pisces snorted, leaning back into the tree she rested on. "Oni-chan, your hotheadedness has always been your downfall. If you try to threaten them, Fairy Tail is going to get disqualified, and from what our master has been saying, your master's guild can't afford to lose. You need to be more subtle about this, maybe you can ask Mavis to help out?"
"Maybe. I hate to admit it, but you're right - Fairy Tail needs to be on their best behavior, so I guess Mavis is my only option. The two of us can go and find that bastard brother of mine and I'll beat the hell out of him right then and there. Good plan, right?" Natsu asked cheekily, a smug grin finding its way onto his face in an effort to lighten the mood.
It worked, and the darker skinned boy burst out laughing alongside his mother, and even the stoic Libra cracked a smile at her older brother's antics. The fire dragon slayer noticed Happy waking up again, and he gently tucked the cat into his arm before standing up. With his free hand, Natsu took out some more energizing food from his pocket and tossed it to the trio, who thanked him before munching on their snacks.
Natsu looked at each of them with loving eyes, his heart warm as he spent time with his siblings. After so many years of imprisonment, he missed laughing and teasing the other zodiac spirits like this. Talking to them through steel bars was depressing as it was a reminder that he couldn't really be by his siblings sides, and the separation broke his heart more than theirs.
Before leaving, the pink haired man groaned as he remembered that he had come to talk to them. "Damn, I totally forgot why I came here in the first place. Well, there's no time for us to go to your master today, but tomorrow...you guys better come take me to Yukino or I'll go to her directly. Got it?"
As they gaped at him incredulously, he rolled his eyes, muttering profanities about how ungrateful Libra and Pisces were for his overprotective tendencies. After making them promise to take him to their master, Natsu left with Happy, keeping an easygoing smile on his face as to not concern them.
When he was out of their vicinity, his face dropped, leaving a grim expression to mar his youthful features. Natsu was nervous, especially since he knew what Zeref was capable of, and if the dark mage pulled something during this tournament, there would be a lot of innocent people caught in the crossfire.
He felt a familiar sensation wash over him, and Natsu couldn't help but feel wary of having a master. Time passed by very quickly in the spirit realm, so the intervals for him being summoned were considerably shorter. Happy looked refreshed after napping, but the blue cat was still tired and opted to stay behind. Secretly, Natsu was glad since he really didn't want his friend to get hurt, and he closed his eyes as he felt his body being whisked away into Earthland.
When the fire dragon slayer opened his eyes, he was shocked to find himself encased in water and still being able to breathe.
As Natsu turned to find Lucy, he was shocked to see his master's beaten and bruised bikini clad body. She looked at him with teary eyes, mouthing out something as a woman with long, midnight hair moved her glowing hands forward, an enormous amount of heat dancing from her fingertips as she held it right up to the blonde.
It was common knowledge by this point that the 13th zodiac spirit was the strongest spirit to exist, but the fire dragon king's true powers were always hidden in fear of hurting someone. Though floating in a bubble of water, Natsu moved with incredible speed to grab Lucy, carrying her bridal style as he disappeared from the dark haired woman's view.
The dragon slayer had started emanating a terrifying aura, one that made the hair on Lucy's arms prickle as she recognized it from when she had first summoned Natsu. However, this time, it was more controlled, and a blistering cloak of fire engulfed the pink haired spirit. The blonde thought that she would be burned, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the flames had no effect on her - it felt warm and inviting in contrast to the dark aura it emitted.
"Lucy-sama," Natsu asked stiffly, "what would you like me to do to her?" He glanced at his opponent, who was struggling to get closer to him as the heat was unbearable, and though encased in water, she had began sweating profusely.
The blonde's arms tightened around his neck as she held a sob back in her throat. "Her name is M-Minerva...just get her out of the water and onto the ground please..." Lucy looked at him straight in the eye, ignoring the sharp fangs and the scales that covered his face as she buried her head into his neck. It didn't take a genius to tell that she was shaking, and she almost cried when Natsu pulled her off of him gently, making sure not to disturb any injuries on her body.
"Just wait here for a bit master, I'll be back to take you to a medic in a flash." The fire dragon slayer took Lucy's keys out of his back pocket, noting the surprise coloring her face as she took them back from him tenderly. Natsu turned away, swimming to Minerva with a blank look on his face as he noticed her try to get through the fire barrier he had around him.
"Why the hell can't I get through?" she hissed angrily, her midnight blue hair whipping around erratically as her eyes looked at the celestial spirit with unconcealed rage. "You...just who the hell do you think you are!"
Natsu continued to float closer to her, ignoring what she said in favor for watching her flail around. "Honestly, you should be embarrassed to use fire in my presence, I mean, you just had to choose now to irritate me, right? I was already having a bad day and you Minerva, have just made it worse. Now you get to feel my wrath - are you ready?"
His nonchalant tone angered her, and as she struggled even harder as the heat became more unbearable, so much so that she screamed in agony. On the outside, the stadium had gone silent as they watched the powerful mage that had beat Lucy up like it was nothing get her ass handed to her by a celestial spirit. Fairy Tail had been cursing Sabertooth for their cruelty, and just as it seemed like they would lose, Natsu Dragneel showed up to save them...again.
Minerva was panting, the strain of Natsu's immense aura weighing down on her like a thousand pounds. It was difficult to keep her eyes open, but she knew that she was near the edge of the bubble, which flared her fight or flight senses as she desperately tried swimming away from him.
The fire dragon king chuckled darkly, his eyes flashing angrily as he sent out a whip of fire to restrict her movements, ignoring her shrieking in pain as he made sure she couldn't move. "You're lucky that I am in a forgiving mood because you have three seconds to forfeit before I send you into another world of hurt. Got it?"
Her breaths became more labored, but Minerva was stubborn. "I...will...NOT...give up...to scum...like...AHHHHHH!"
The pink haired beast flicked his hand roughly, sending her flying out the water with intense speed. The dark haired beauty crashed into the wall of the stadium across from the bubble, creating a massive hole that shook the arena from its sheer force. Natsu didn't really care what happened to her as he swam back to Lucy, who was staring at him in disbelief.
"How..what - eep!" The blonde squeaked as she was hefted into strong, burly arms yet again, but this time, she was lucid enough to know what was going on. Lucy's training had really paid off, and she silently reminded herself to thank Natsu for all that he did for her. She would've been in a worse condition had she not learned hand to hand combat, but even then, Minerva had managed to beat her up badly with magic.
"Honestly," he muttered, "you'd think that after everything that happened with that that redhead, you would be more careful. I'm going to have to increase your training, you can't keep depending on me and my siblings. Sure, these fights test your skill as a mage, but it's also about how well you can think on the spot."
A loud voice had announced that Minerva was out cold, and after declaring Lucy was the winner, Natsu jumped to the ground with the blonde in his arms. She instinctively tightened her grip around his neck, blushing furiously as she found herself in closer proximity to the handsome dragon slayer. He continued walking forward, acting as if he wasn't holding a half naked girl in his arms.
The crowd was going crazy, and Lucy could hear the lewd screams aimed towards the celestial spirit, who ignored them with practiced ease. She unconsciously cuddled closer into Natsu's arms, and the blonde was slightly disappointed that he didn't react to anything she had been doing.
As he walked toward Porlyusica, he was intercepted by Erza and Grey, who walked by the pink haired spirit's side while conversing with Lucy. The redhead had been trying to make small talk with him, and Natsu was trying to be polite but was honestly getting tired of it. Before he could snap, he found himself in front of the medic's room, and he put Lucy in the bed before nodding at the pink haired woman.
Grey and Erza stayed with the blonde, and were surprised to see Natsu not going back to the spirit realm. The redhead put her hand on his shoulder, giving him a questioning look. "Where are you going?"
Natsu rolled his eyes unceremoniously, shaking the hand off before turning to look at her. "That's really none of your business, but if you must know, I need to talk to Mavis. Lucy-sama, I'll come to see if you're better after some time."
Erza clearly didn't like this answer, and she stomped in front of him, blocking the door to prevent him from going anywhere. "It is my business because Fairy Tail is my guild, and I will protect it from potential threats. To be honest, there's something off about you, and no matter how great Lucy says you are, I don't buy it. You're not like the other celestial spirits, you just showed up out of nowhere! Why are you really here?"
The fire dragon slayer glanced at Grey, who looked mortified, and he simply grabbed Erza's shoulders and lifted her out of the way, picking her up as if she weighed nothing. Her jaw dropped at his incredible strength, gulping as Natsu narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't have time for you to be questioning my loyalties, which are to my master and whoever else she extends that pledge to. You have guts brat, I mean, to get up in my face and accuse me so brashly...if we were in the spirit realm, this behavior could get you a serious beat down by yours truly."
Natsu walked out the door as he saw no point in being there for any longer, quickly making his way to Fairy Tail's sector to talk to Mavis once again.
He could only hope that the first master would cooperate with him and his plans to take down Zeref.
Review!
Thanks for your patience guys! This is a longer chapter, let me know what you think :)
