Heads up! We finally get to hear about a few other of our favorite Fairy Tail wizards in this episode!
As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading.
As Lucy predicted, nothing came of her actions. Hades ignored the pair of men who complained about her after pointing out that it was their own fault for stealing a goddess's gift. Natsu came back the following week to thank her for her help and returned to his previous visiting schedule. Zeref didn't visit nearly as often, but he did show up to leave her an offering and ask for her blessing before important business trips.
Meanwhile, Lucy's aura spell began to work as intended. At first, Natsu wasn't sure how to act when kids began trying to play with him, but she did her best to guide him when he asked, and soon he was flourishing on his own.
"There was this new girl named Erza who's pretty scary, but it's actually kinda cool. I never knew girls could be so strong. I tried to fight her, but there was an adult there that yelled at me when I did." Natsu huffed and crossed his arms. "Erza didn't seem to mind. She only minded when I beat up Gray."
Lucy smiled. "Who's Gray?" They were sitting on the floor of her temple together, protected from the cold stones by the cushions she'd brought from her home. Her little follower had been much happier in the last few weeks, and it gave her almost as much satisfaction as her stars did. Her spell had worked!
"He's just this streaker that comes to the same field to play," Natsu answered. "He takes off his clothes all the time and never seems to notice. Erza always beats him up when she sees it, which is dumb," he pointed out, "since she beats me up whenever we try to fight.
"She doesn't always see when his clothes are off, though. Sometimes Jellal will remind Gray to get them on before she finds out." His smile widened. "It's actually funny, because he and Sho seem to have this thing where Sho will try to tell Erza before Jellal can get Gray back in his clothes."
"Who is more successful?"
"Oh, Jellal for sure. He's really really fast. Like, faster than anyone I've ever seen." Lucy settled fully into her seat as she watched Natsu adamantly tell her about his new friends. Every visit he had some new wild story to tell her. Just as she suspected, he met new kids slowly, never too many to be overwhelming, or to make him suspect what she'd done. It had taken time, since he hadn't known at first how to react when other kids had approached him, but he'd rapidly figured it out. Every visit she went home satisfied knowing that she had made his life better; knowing that even though she was flawed, she could still do her job.
Lucy started waiting for him on the days he visited, so she was there the day everything changed. He stopped outside of her temple, his shoulders slumped, to stare inside. She was still invisible, so he didn't know she was watching as he took a few breaths and shook out his arms before entering with a smile plastered on his face.
He sat on his pillow and waited like he always did, his smile not nearly as bright as usual. Lucy wasn't sure if she should say anything, so it took her a little longer to reveal herself than usual. When she finally did, he perked up but frowned once he saw her face. "Are you okay? It took you longer to get here than usual." He quickly got to his feet. His arm wrapped almost instinctively around his middle as he backed away. "You're busy aren't you? I can come back, it's not a problem. I can wait to-"
She was across the space in a heartbeat, her arms wrapped around him before she even realized she'd moved. Natsu was hesitant, of course, but eventually he wrapped his arms around her, too. "I'm sorry, Lucy."
Lucy was thankful that she was so far out from the other gods, since her relationship with him didn't follow the normal protocol. They would no doubt chastise her for her treatment of Natsu, but she didn't care.
To her, he was a person with emotions and ideas that should be treated as such, and cared for. To them, human followers were pawns, tools to be used to gain more power, but never get attached to. The gods and goddesses of her pantheon were all selfish, cruel, and power hungry. No matter what they got, they wanted more, but nothing could sate their desires.
Then there was Natsu. A human boy who was happy just being able to worship her. Bringing her flowers every week, playing with his friends in the field, living with his brother. Even though he didn't have enough food, even though he didn't have a house, he was okay because he made the most of what he had. He was happy, energetic, attentive, loyal, engaging, and smart despite his age.
She wouldn't trade him for a million followers.
"Why are you sorry this time, my little fireball?"
Natsu refused to meet her eyes, another sign that he felt he was in trouble. Lucy sighed. "You know I would never get mad at you. Tell me what's wrong."
"I messed up your gift again," he said, tears falling from his eyes to soak into her dress.
Lucy gently pushed him away so she could see him. Holding his shoulders, she felt for her spell with her magic. It had faded as intended, but it was still working. "What do you mean?"
"I know you did something to get me friends," he said. "They only started showing up after I met you, so it had to be you, right?"
Lucy smiled gently. "I had hoped you hadn't noticed."
"I knew it," he said glumly, immediately wrapping his arms around himself again. "I knew they didn't really like me."
"Oh no no, don't say that." Lucy caught his face with her hands. "My spell only drew them to you. It didn't make them like you, Natsu- you did that." She wiped away his tears. "I promise you, they like you for you."
"Then where are they?!" His eyes widened after his outburst and he ducked his head. "I'm sorry."
"I'm okay," she chuckled. "I can take a little yelling." She ran her hands through his hair, scratching his scalp gently as she calmed him. "Why don't you tell me what's going on with them?"
"I don't know," he said, frustrated. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against her shoulder. "First it was just Gray that stopped showing up, and then Sho, and then Erza and Jellal and then no one was coming. None of them do anymore," he whispered, "and I don't know what I did…"
Lucy's heart ached for him as she pulled him in for another hug. He fought and fought his tears, so she started to talk to him, telling him the stories of the stars in a soothing voice. Eventually he allowed his tears to fall, as she continued to talk to him. Ignoring the way her stomach churned, she focused her energy on Natsu; on helping him work through his sadness.
She couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. The spell had worked perfectly. It slowly became less potent, just as she'd designed it, so it would eventually fade completely. She'd wanted to help without him being completely dependent on the magic to make friends in the future, and she'd thought it was working. Whatever had happened, had she somehow caused it by creating the spell that way?
When Natsu had finally pulled himself together, he wiped his face clean before pulling away. "I'm really-"
She cut him off. "Don't apologize. You haven't done anything wrong. If anyone should be sorry, it's me." She smiled sadly. "I should have told you what I did. More than that, I should have made sure the friends you made were ones that would stick around."
"It's not your fault," he said as he shook his head. "I probably just scared them off. Except for Zeref, no one else ever sticks around."
You'll always have me. Lucy's eyes widened as she realized she could still give him his wish. He'd wanted a friend, and if there was one thing she knew for certain, no matter what happened with anyone else in his world, she'd still be there.
"I can be your friend," she offered.
Natsu stared at her like his ten year-old brain couldn't process her words. "What?"
"I can be your friend," she said again. "I'm the only person I know will be here for you your entire life. I can't guarantee other humans will stick around, but I can guarantee I will." She held out her pinkie, something he had taught her about. "I pinky promise."
He stared at her face for a long time, eyes wide and mouth slack, before he slowly reached out with his hand and hooked his pinky with hers. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely," she said with a grin.
He frowned. "I've never heard of another god being friends with a human."
"I'm not other gods," she said. "Besides, I've only ever had one friend. It'll be nice to have another."
He continued to stare at her for a long time, and she basked in the fact that there was no disgust when he looked at her. It was so refreshing, she didn't even mind the silence. Even Levy had flinched a time or two when meeting her eye, but Natsu never had. Not once in the entire time he'd known her. His pinky squeezed her own, and his lip began to tremble. "Thank you, goddess."
"Lucy." She chuckled as he tried to keep from crying again. "Don't forget, okay? We're even friends now, so you can definitely call me Lucy."
He nodded his head and then hid his eyes behind his arm as he started to cry again. Lucy didn't mind his tears, though. It was a big moment for him, and honestly, it was big for her too.
So she pretended not to see him cry while she pretended that she wasn't crying, too.