And this conflicted Natsu more than anything.
Team Natsu just finished a mission but it hadn't ended the way they envisioned it to be. The person who had hired them for the job had turned out to be the one they were supposed to destroy. He was a cursed being and he wanted someone who could destroy the curse along with him.
Lucy had tried her best to find another solution to save his life and they had almost succeeded. Ark who specialized in possession magic managed to pull the curse out of their client's body and Natsu fought the curse who had taken a form of a beast and managed to destroy it. Or so they thought.
In the end, they found the curse had embedded itself on Natsu. They had underestimated the link between the client and his curse. And it was Lucy who had to strike the deadly blow on their client to save Natsu's life.
The client had been willing to die. It was even him who asked Lucy to strike him down. But still Lucy's heart was torn into pieces at what she had to do. Her knees crumbled and she fell into the floor sobbing her heart out.
Natsu who had just gotten released from the curse stood up despite his broken body and walked towards Lucy with the intent of sharing her suffering. But before he got there, Ark had knelt down and pulled Lucy into his embrace.
Ark held her in his arms while she sobbed on his chest as if clinging to him for support.
For the first time since the five months that Lucy had dated Ark, Natsu felt regret. No, it was more than regret. Something dark rose up from his chest and his first impulse was to wipe Ark out of existence.
What the hell was that about. Natsu himself was surprised at his own thoughts.
But Lucy...
No. What in the world made him think that he was the only person Lucy could rely on. Lucy had a lot of friends in the guild who cared about her. If ever she was sad, of course they would provide her comfort.
A lot of people cared about Lucy.
Not as much as I do.
It seemed that only Erza saw the turmoil inside Natsu. And she came to stand beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He is her boyfriend after all." She said softly. "It is his job to comfort her."
There was pain and confusion in Natsu's eyes as he faced Erza. "Is a boyfriend more important than family?"
Erza sighed. She didn't really know the answer to that question herself. She loved Jellal and he was a very important existence to her. But can she really say he was more important than the guild and the people she considered family?
Would she leave the guild if he ever asked? She too was conflicted about that. "I don't know..." She answered truthfully. "It depends on the person perhaps."
"But Lucy is in pain and I..." It wasn't that he didn't want her to have another person capable of giving her comfort. No, that would just be wrong. Don't friends always want what's best for each other?
But he just felt so helpless. If he couldn't even hold her to provide her comfort, then what was he supposed to do in her times of sorrow?
In the most painful times of his life, it had always been Lucy who was there for him. Holding him... protecting him... waiting for him...
It just dawned to him that Ark would be doing those things for Lucy now. And he had every right to do so.
Because Ark was her boyfriend.
And he was not.