Hi Guys,

Chapter 15! 1/3 of the way through, give or take. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, as always. Feel free to comment or review.

- Signed

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

Lucy

Lucy and Natsu walked hand in hand down the street to the bakers. It had been one of the surprising things Lucy had learned about her fiance after he'd proposed. He loved small physical touches. He was never obsessive and he never went overboard in public, but he loved to hold her hand while they walked or have his arm around her if they were seated next to each other.

It has surprised her at first, but once she got used to it, she found it enduring. She also gained more comfort from these actions than she was willing to admit. The only problem was that Natsu ran hot, as in temperature, not his physical appearance, though he was very hot in that way too. This of course meant that Lucy often found her palms sweating something fierce within 5 minutes, and the summer heat cut that time in half. Natsu never seemed bothered by her sweaty hands, but she certainly was. It was just so uncomfortable, but if she tried to take her hand back, Natsu would always ask for an explanation, if the reason wasn't obvious, and if she answered truthfully he always just squeezed her hand and told her she was fine.

Luckily, the baker was just ten minutes down the street and so she only had to endure his smothering affection until then. When they got to the bakers, Natsu immediately disappeared to drool over the samples kept behind glass. Lucy just shook her head in amusement and rang the bell to let the baker know she was there.

A large, portly man waddled in from the back and smiled. He was a very happy gentleman who was always jovial to see them. Then again, they usually walked out of his shop with at least 50 jewel's worth of pastries to satisfy Natsu's sweet tooth. Okay, so Lucy usually ate most of the pastries, but Natsu was happy to let her blame him for the purchases.

"Ah, Miss Heartfilia! Oh, can't say that much longer can I?"

Lucy smiled and shook her head. "Nope. Speaking of which, I'm here to put the last payment down on our cake and pastry platters for our wedding."

He nodded along and took out his accounting lacrima, scrolling thru it to find their order. "Saturday's the big day!"

"That's right," Lucy smiled and pulled out her wallet. "The cake and pastries will be delivered to the guildhall during the ceremony correct?"

"Absolutely. Normally, we make our deliveries early in the morning, but I know your guildmates all too well and I know that if I delivered it before the wedding even took place that most of it would be eaten before you two even said your vows." Lucy was about to respond when she saw a confused look cross the face of the baker.

"Mr. Whitman, is something wrong?"

"No, not wrong. I'm just confused."

"What?"

"Well, you said that you were here to pay your final installment, only it says here that you've already paid completely for our services."

"What? But that can't be. You know that right?"

"Well, normally I would, but last week I was sick and my wife and daughter ran the shop for me while I recovered. The date of the final payment was made during that week."

Perfectly confused, Lucy began to wonder if she was losing her mind when Natsu's voice cut through the confusion. "I paid the bill off last week Lucy," he said, still drooling over a pastry or two and not even bothering to look up."

"You did?" Crossing her arms and glaring at him, she started tapping her foot in annoyance. "Then why are we here Natsu? You could have told me that at the apartment."

"Well, yeah but then I'd have to find some other excuse to come here to buy snacks for our day in the woods and make sure you had the money to pay for it. After putting the final payments down for the baker and the tux, I'm tapped out."

It was a strange feeling to be both completely annoyed and never more in love with the same person at the same time. She decided though to stay with annoyed for now.

"You could have just asked."

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" His boyish smirk crossed his face again and Lucy just shook her head, turning back to the baker who was already preparing a box and smiling.

Lucy gave in and smiled herself before telling him her half of the order. He complied, then Natsu eagerly added his part.

"...and to top it all off I'd like a dozen hot pop cookies!" It was well understood amongst everyone in Magnolia that this famous one-of-a-kind cookie was created specifically for Natsu. Only fire wizards could eat them as they were magically infused with the heat of a furnace. No one knew how the baker had figured out how to do this without ruining the cookies, but Natsu absolutely loved them.

"Oh, uh, sorry Natsu. I'm afraid that I'm all out of those at the moment." Mr. Whitman normally kept a dozen on hand at any given time so that he could fill Natsu's weekly order so it came as quite a shock.

"You're out! How can you be out? I'm the only one that eats them!"

"Yes, but you see in order to bake them, I need a specific oven to work and it hasn't been working right in over a week. The repairman is coming tomorrow though."

"Isn't there anything I can do?"

"Well, if you are willing to supply a constant stream of heat at just the right temperature for twenty minutes, then sure. I'll have to create the batter first though." There was silence for a moment, before Natsu turned to Lucy with large puppy dog eyes, not even asking his question, but imploring all the same.

"Fine. I'll just go sit outside and write for a bit. Come out when you're done." She handed the baker the money and left. Natsu and the baker quickly disappeared in the back and Lucy pulled out her next parchment.

Piece 15 - It didn't go quite as planned.

Natsu,

Right now you are trying to make some of those hot pop cookies you adore and I'm out here munching on my own cookies, writing you a letter. I can't help but marvel at how perfect the weather is. It is warm, but not hot. A wonderful breeze is coming off the water and the sky is just the perfect blue. It's the same blue as my bride's maids dresses should be, but by now I'm sure we've already had this discussion.

Still, nothing has really gone as planned today and that is pretty much the story of our lives. We come up with a plan to win and usually, the only thing that goes as planned is the winning part. Everything else gets shot to pieces and we have to improvise. Still, we make plans and then act in total shock when they don't work. The next piece of my heart follows one of these moments and while it probably shouldn't be a big deal, for some reason it's always stood out to me.

We are still in Edolas for this one. We're in that crazy amusement park inside the palace, hiding from Hues in that creepy haunted house. Though, in retrospect, it was kind of a cool theme. Anyway, we were fooling around with that magical changing machine, and even though we were technically in the middle of a battle and I complained a lot, I was having fun. Especially when I ended up in a cute outfit and you would look just a bit longer than normal. It stroked my ego and it felt good to know that even on a subconscious level, you found me attractive. I'll admit that I looked at you in appreciation too in some of those get-ups.

Then, Hues found us, and our fun time was up. I had wanted to hide or run, preferably both, but you refused, mainly because you had a crazy idea. Next thing I knew, you'd thrown my back into the box and had me change into the sexiest outfit it had. You seemed pleased with the result and I was beginning to wonder where this was going. Being flirtatious and showy was fun, but you suddenly taking me seriously as an attractive woman was a bit unnerving and more exciting than I knew what to do with.

"Alright Luce, just turn on the charm and seduce that guy like your life depends on it."

"What!"

"Yeah, when he's distracted and completely at your mercy, I'll come out of nowhere and sock him in the head."

"But what if he touches me or tries to kiss me?"

"Nah, I won't let him get that far."

"And you think this will actually work?" I had tried many a failed seduction distraction plans and had begun to give up hope on them.

You just smiled and said, "Of course!" Then hid and I laid in what I assumed was a seductive pose. All the while knowing that this probably wasn't going to work but oddly warmed by the realization that you were so assured in my beauty. What guy wouldn't want me?

It failed of course and we ended up having to fight him, just like I knew we would. The worst part about it for me was that I had to run around and fight in that stupid, very unsupportive outfit. I still have it in a box somewhere. I figured I could use it as a costume sometime. Anyway, the last part that I guess really made me remember this entire event was your confusion. You were so utterly and completely confused at the failure of our plan. At the time, I'd wondered why you'd think it'd work. As I said, all our plans fail in some way, but now I realize that it was because if you'd been in Heus' shoes, you'd have fallen into the trap hook, line, and sinker.

Anyway, I hear your voice coming from the bakery now. I'll finish this now and give you a kiss, just because.

Love,

Lucy

Lucy quickly folded the letter and placed it into its envelope just as Natsu stepped out with his bag of cookies. She quickly and quietly slipped the letter into her bag and stood.

"You good?"

"Yeah, oh, it was so awesome Lucy! That man is a genius, figuring out how to make these cookies. Even I don't know all his secrets, but I tell you that was fun!"

"I'm glad." Lucy quickly gave him a peck on the lips and started walking while a pleased Natsu had to catch his bearings again.

"What was that for?" He asked, coming up behind her and grabbing her had that wasn't carrying the treats.

"Just because." He smiled and kissed her in return, another quick peck, though this one lingered just a bit.

"Just because," he agreed and led her towards the woods. A few weeks later, once Natsu got to letter 15, he'd beg Lucy to find that stolen Edolas outfit and it would quickly find another use than the costume Lucy had originally intended.

Natsu

Natsu stretched after coming back from the bathroom, only to find Happy sitting in his hammock, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey, what's up Happy?"

"Nothing, just thinking. Carla's back."

"Yeah, I know, she gave me that flower today," he said pointing towards the flower in its vase.

"Oh, yeah, I remember her saying something about that at dinner."

"So, she ate with you and Lily?"

"Yeah, it was good catching up. Of course, Lily kind of took over the whole conversation."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, now that Carla has been officially recognized as Queen Chargot's daughter, and thus heir to the Exceed throne, she has had to start training and meet all the important Exceeds. That was the reason for her current month-long visit. She did tell me though that she's hoping her mother will have another child one day and she can abdicate her duties."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She said that she'd much prefer to be an ambassador to the human world. In fact, she will bring her wishes to her mother's attention when she visits again."

"Is her mom even thinking of having another kid?"

"No, she's not even married. Back when everyone thought she was a goddess, she told everyone who knew about the egg that she could conceive without having a consort, but now the question of who Carla's dad is has come up, but it seems a moot point. The queen has kept her private life closely guarded and the father has never come forward, so…" here Happy shrugged.

"Does it bother Carla?"

"She hasn't said one way or another, but she does seem a little down every time the topic comes up. I almost yelled at Lily when his questioning brought it up. It would seem that in Exceed culture, lineage is a big deal."

"Huh, well I guess it's kind of a big deal everywhere, but here people can become something even if they start from nothing."

"True, but it's not that. Their rules for everything comes from who your parents are and so even though Carla is a princess by her mother's blood, if her father wasn't important enough, she might not have the right to rule after her mother passes."

"You serious?"

"Yeah. It's totally messed up, but in a certain sense, I think if that were to happen Carla would be happy about it. I think she also just wants to get to know her dad."

"Yeah, I get that. You going to bed?"

"Nah, I think I'll do some night flying, clear my head a bit." Happy flew through the open window without saying anything and Natsu frowned. Something else was bothering Happy. Of course, it could have been all of this happening at once. Natsu and Lucy getting married, him deciding to move out, Carla having to be a bigger part of the Exceed world. Still, this seemed like something new.

Shrugging, deciding that he'd ask him about it tomorrow, Natsu went to the lacrima and his thoughts about Exceeds turned a bit darker as he thought on this next piece.

Piece 15 - I couldn't do anything.

"Hey Luce, so last time I talked about how you were strong enough to save me, but now I'm going to talk about a time where I was far too weak to return the favor. I really can't stop to think about it too much because if I do I might just burn down the house."

He took a deep breath and began. "So, the morning after we were arrested and we thought that Carla and Happy had betrayed us, I found out something even more upsetting. Now to clarify, I never really bought Happy being a traitor. Sure, I'd seen people mind-controlled before and without their knowledge, but Happy had always seemed so genuine. Carla on the other hand had always been such a prudish snob that I wasn't so sure she hadn't gone into the plan willingly. But Wendy kept insisting and I had seen the bond between them so I had to trust Wendy's insistence."

"That was when Hue's came to taunt us. He was there to tell us how Happy and Carla betrayed us, which we denied and how we were going to be used by their king to power some magic weapons, which we said we'd fight. However, while I was able to concentrate on what he was saying and respond correctly, there was always something at the back of my head a thought that I couldn't stop. 'Where were you!?' Finally, I asked what I had been wanting to ask from the moment I saw someone.

'Where's Lucy?'

"I don't remember his response exactly, but I do remember the gist. You were to be executed because you weren't a dragon slayer and thus not valuable enough for them to use. I've always had a temper, but that was the first time I ever remember blacking out in rage. When I came back to myself, I had my face pressed between two bars demanding that they let you go right away. Hue's had simply laughed and told me it was pointless. Then he'd left us to the guards to escort us to the dungeon where we were tortured."

Natsu took a shuddering breath and sighed. "The worst thing about it was hearing Wendy's screams as the machine extracted the magic from her body. But the thing I never told anyone was that I couldn't help but wonder if what I was really hearing were your screams as you died. I wasn't sure how they chose to do it, but I think every form of execution ran through my mind as I was tortured and some of my screams weren't because of the pain of having my magic drained but the agony of knowing that you might be dead already and there wasn't anything I could do about it, because I'd been too weak to protect you."

Natsu stopped talking and ran his hand over his face, trying to stop the echoes in his head. There was a reason he didn't like to talk about the past. Some of the memories were far too painful with scars that were still healing.

"Anyway, when you and Grey rescued us from the dungeon, I may have run off to get my revenge because I was unaware of you, but I was also running because I was hoping that I could still save you. It wasn't until I took a moment to follow your scent that I realized you were behind me and had been one of my rescuers. I made sure not to show how relieved I was then because honestly, the realization that I cared more about your wellbeing than I did my own was sobering. I was used to feeling this for Happy, but I hadn't realized that you shared that place in my heart."

Natsu smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, that was when I think you took your first step into that part. The second foot would follow soon enough, but you'll have to wait for that story. As always, see you in a bit Luce."

Natsu signed off and looked out the window at the waxing moon. It would be full on their wedding night. Perfect for traveling by and a sign of good luck for a newlywed couple. Natsu smiled and nodded his head. After everything they'd been through, it was nice to know that this was the reward in the end.