Celestial Dragon

by Silken Ink

What if – instead of Natsu bringing Lucy into Fairy Tail, it's the other way around? This is the story of a Fairy Tail celestial mage who stumbles across a red burning key…one that summons a celestial fire dragon. Nalu pairing. It will be a slow burn romance with eventual fiery lemons. ;D

31. Chapter 31

Author's Note:

It's Wednesday!I know you're all eager to see what happened after that last chapter, so here it is! Sorry it's later in the day...I usually try to post earlier but oh well. At least it's another double chapter (actually it's basically a triple-chapter, lol) so hopefully that makes up for it. ;D

As always, I want to say THANK YOU to all my fantastic, wonderful, amazing, beautiful reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: RedFantasies, Lunar13, TheOldIronKing, thetrywriter, valerioux, ravenqueen162, Missy 63, kilatails, Syfenos U, Firefly9917, Elphaba818, Anna5949, stranger1999, Daisy73, loopymama, TheJSmooth, Alice, CelestialFireQueen, Lucinda, KitsuneLover05, WisdomDragon27, Lady La-sara, Donthedarkdragon26, moeruhoshi, Leomae2.0, and Wolves silver wind. Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: SunnieDayss and TitaniumRaven.

Alright, and on with the show! Be sure to stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

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In the celestial realm, a certain fire breathing dragon was in the midst of pitching a fit.

Natsu immediately attempted to struggle to his feet the instant he landed in his home courtyard – which was where he always got dumped after jumping through his gate – but with a groan he sunk back to his torn belly.

He just had to land on the hard stone walkway that led to his front door didn't he? He couldn't have landed on the soft grass to either side of it…. nope, definitely not.

Even as the ambient magic of his home world washed over him and started to sooth his injuries, he continued to bleed out onto the misty tiles of his front porch. With injuries this bad, he might actually kick the bucket.

Unlike most celestial spirits – who could heal from any wound as long as they were in the celestial realm – dragons actually had corporeal bodies that could die…. if they were hurt bad enough. That was why he could eat, drink, sleep, and get hurt over in the mortal realm without automatically being poofed back to the celestial realm. If he chose to, he could stay there forever really.

In all honesty, dragons weren't truly celestial spirits at all…they were a different species altogether.

They lived in practically every realm, even in Earthland – though those were typically smaller and weaker and had been driven off by mages long ago. Dragons were very much connected to the world they lived in (whichever one that might be), because their magic was intertwined with the magic present in the air, earth, water, etc. of the world they called home. Such magic was known as Ether, and it was basically the lifeblood of both dragons and the worlds they lived in.

Their magic was also what kept them healthy, made them hard to hurt, and helped them heal quickly when they did get injured. It was nearly impossible to hurt a dragon deep enough to leave a scar…unless they happened to run out of magic…which generally could only happen outside of the world they had claimed as their own.

But Natsu was still up a creek, because even though he was back in the magic-rich world he called home, he could only reabsorb that magic so fast. His wounds were already starting to heal, but not nearly as fast as they should. It was going to take some time before he could get back enough of his fire to make any serious progress on them. He was definitely gonna have some new battle scars, that was for sure.

Worse than his wounds though, was the ache in his heart. He was literally heartbroken at Lucy's choice … that she had sucked every last ounce of his magic out and used it to force his gate closed. Not only had she sent him back against his will…but she had used his own magic to do it. If it were anyone else, he would have wanted their head on a plate for doing this to him…but it was Lucy, and that just made it so much worse. It hurt. He wanted to roar, wanted to cry, wanted to fucking do something other than lie here like a gory sack of useless potatoes and whimper into the ground. He couldn't even punch the ground, despite desperately wanting to.

He couldn't really blame her though. After all, he had been about to sacrifice his own life to save hers…or at least to try and save hers…so it wasn't like he could really stay mad at her for doing the same exact thing. He wasn't a hypocrite for fuck's sake. Didn't mean he could exactly forgive her either though.

Slowly the sound of rushed footsteps met his ears, and then a familiar scent hit his nose. It was Leo, probably coming to check on him when the lion felt his gate forced shut.

"Holy…. what the hell happened?!"

"Acnologia…" was all he said – growled really – and nothing else was needed for explanation.

"Oh…god. No wonder we've all been feeling danger signs up the ass." Leo cussed, squatting down near Natsu's face so he could make eye contact. "Even Aquarius is freaking out."

Like all of Lucy's spirits, Natsu could also feel the magical tingles up and down his spine that meant his mage was in deep shit. He paid close attention to those signals, waiting with dread for any sharp jab that would let him know that she'd been hurt.

But instead, another sensation rushed through the air as a gate opened. "Who's going?"

With a sigh of relief, Leo said, "It's Bartolomeo." Then after a pause he hesitantly asked, "Do you think Rooster's impenetrable barrier will work against Acnologia?"

"It's worked against everything I've thrown at it…" Natsu grumbled, but with a note of hope.

He'd made an uncanny friendship with the guy. The green-haired idiot was about as antisocial as someone could get, and basically went out of his way to piss people of – even going so far as to literally publicly piss on stuff. Of course he'd also successfully pissed off Natsu, and very easily too. All it took were some insults, and the dragon had been riled up and pounding on the turtle's shield (without making a dent of course.) But eventually, they'd had to form a truce.

When Natsu refused to keep a grudge against him, Bart had decided that Natsu was fun to mess with, and they ended up forming a friendship very similar to Gray and him, full of insults and – in this case – one-sided fighting. The only thing that continued to bug the hell out of him was the guy's shell and how he couldn't so much as scratch the thing no matter what he threw at it. He even went full dragon on him once, and though he physically shoved Bart around, he couldn't break the stupid shield. So there was every possibility that he could actually save Lucy.

After a while though, a crash suddenly sounded from the vicinity of Bartolomeo's gate as he got thrown back through.

Natsu wasn't overly concerned about the celestial turtle, he was much more distracted by how every one of his senses screamed at him that Lucy had just disappeared off the face of the earth. It almost felt like she was….

No.

There was no way she was dead. Natsu refused to believe that, not until he couldn't open his gate. He didn't feel Lucy, but he still felt the contract between them alive and strong. She couldn't be dead, not if their contract was still intact.

"Shit! What the hell happened!?" Leo cussed, recovering from the shock first for once.

Natsu wasn't far behind though.

"OI! What're you doin' back here, you good-for-nothing turtle!?" he roared across the celestial realm in the direction of Bart's place.

"IT WASN'T MY IDEA!" the turtle yelled back, sounding super pissed and upset.

"I'll go find out what happened." Leo muttered, wincing a little and covering his ears as he ran out to go talk to Bart.

Natsu kept up a stream of cusses and grunts as he did his best to lever himself up to at least a sitting position while Leo was off finding out what happened. By the time he got back though, all the fire dragon had managed was to roll over onto his back.

Leo's face – when it appeared in the starry sky over his – didn't promise good news. "Bart says that Acnologia fired directly on the island to take the whole thing out when he lost his temper. And Bart got tossed back through his gate."

That was not good.

"She's not dead." The new voice was female and wolfish as Amy padded over. "I can't summon to her, but I can still summon to her home."

Relief washed through Natsu at this. If the mythic keys could still open their gates, it definitely meant that their mage was alive and kicking…somewhere. The only explanation was that some sort of uber powerful magic was preventing them from sensing her. Exactly what that magic was, Natsu didn't have a clue, and he frankly didn't care … all he wanted was to get out there and start looking for her.

It took a ridiculously long time, but as soon as his wounds were healed enough for him to move around – and he'd regained enough magic to open his gate – he attempted to summon himself to Lucy. He couldn't find her though, no matter how he sniffed or hunted. There was no trace left and without some sort of magic signature to summon to, he couldn't do squat. So, he resorted to what Amy had done and summoned to Lucy's house. Any home, if enough time was spent there, absorbed the owner's magic imprint, much like it absorbed their scent.

After glancing around, he decided being here wasn't going to help him out any, so he poofed to the guildhall. After becoming an official member of the guild, it almost acted like another contract and made the guildhall a permanent summoning point for him. He kind of expected it to be busy as fuck with everyone rushing around trying to find their missing guildmates, but what he found instead was like a funeral.

Nobody even noticed him as he silently appeared in the middle of the guildhall with a poof of smoke and flame. They were all too busy staring into their cups and sitting around looking depressed.

"OI! What the hell is everyone doing?! Aren't you gonna go look for the others?!"

At his angry shout, everyone jerked and spun around, staring at him with shock and then growing excitement.

"NATSU!?" was the joint shout of all his guildmates, and he suddenly found himself getting mosh-pitted as everyone from Fairy Tail ran over to him.

"You're alive?!" "We thought-" "We've been looking for-" "What happened?!" "-weeks and nothing…" "How did you get here?!" "Where's-" "-you all got blown up!" "-everyone else?!"

A whole mess of questions flooded him, and he quickly lost his patience. "SHUT UP! One at a time! Geeze!"

Everyone took a few steps back as he started smoking and sparking out of irritation, and out of the crowd Macao stepped forwards. "Sorry, we were just so excited to see you."

"Yeah, I noticed. So what is going on? Why aren't you all looking for Lucy and the rest?"

The older fire wizard's face dropped. "Oh. So you don't know where they are either? We thought maybe you…"

"Nah, we all got tossed out as soon as that bastard fired on the island."

"Shit." Macao started pacing a little.

Wakaba spoke up then and answered Natsu's question. "We did look for them. For weeks. It's impossible to get an expert navigator or ship's crew to go out there after the magical disaster. They all think it's cursed water now. So we had to rent a boat and go out there ourselves. None of us are mariners mind you, so we did our best to find the island, but couldn't find a trace."

After that, Macao turned back to Natsu and fixed him with a serious expression. "What happened out there? Really? All we know is what the newspaper said… that a black dragon was spotted, and when the magic council sent out a boat to take a look, they saw Tenrou island get wiped off the face of the map."

"Sounds about right."

Everyone cringed. "So it's true…they're all dead…"

"Hey, I never said that." When someone tried to interrupt him with a, 'but,' he just steamrolled right over them. "Lucy is still alive, and if she's alive the others probably are too."

"How do you…oh, right."

At the start of the question, Natsu had given Macao a look, and he'd realized the obvious answer. Of course Natsu would know if his master was alive or not.

"Alright! So, let's get a boat and go look for them!"

With a whoop, everyone cheered and set about finding a boat. And soon, Natsu found out for himself what they meant when they'd said that nobody who actually knew how to sail would take them there… which was frickin' annoying, but not exactly unexpected. Sailors were notoriously superstitious.

Making it even more difficult, Tenrou island wasn't on any official maps, so the guild had to try and find it through a method of charting and crossing off quadrants that they'd searched…but of course Natsu had no patience for that.

While the others hunted down a boat to rent, he simply flew off over the water in the direction that he thought was right. For days on end he flew over empty water, passing over the occasional boat which panicked upon seeing his flying form, but he returned home empty-handed every time. At first, he couldn't go nearly as far or as fast as he wanted, thanks to his still healing injuries, but with the help of his fellow mythic spirits – who fed him their own magic from the celestial realm to keep his healing rate up – he soon healed completely and could go much further every day. But he was still flying blindly, and never turned anything up.

By the time he was starting to run out of patience for that, the guild had finally managed to get a boat, and had prepared a whole series of charts that showed the entire sea and surrounding landmasses.

And so, the hunt for the other members of Fairy Tail began.

For months, they slowly canvassed the sea, with Natsu flying out and searching the whole area around the boat for miles and returning to tell them that he found nothing. Warren's telepathy magic also proved invaluable as Natsu sent him messages while he was on the fly. They would then mark off that small area and move to the next.

The boat was slow, and nobody was surprised when Natsu lost patience with it and dragged it to each next section behind him – while everyone clung to the sides and hoped he didn't accidentally capsize the vessel.

Whenever they started to run out of food, or get sick of fish, Natsu would take the fish they had caught and would fly it to the nearest town, sell it, and then purchase food for everyone. He was so consumed with thoughts of finding Lucy that he wasn't distracted by the food himself. All he allowed himself was brief trips to the celestial realm where he downed ambrosia – the celestial realm's version of an energy drink and a complete nutrition drink. It kept him going but wasn't particularly filling.

He didn't care if he was full, didn't care if his wings felt like they would fall off or that one of them still occasionally cramped up and burned with pain, and didn't care if he couldn't sleep because of how badly his muscles hurt…not that he would have slept anyways. He basically passed out when his body demanded rest, and if he happened to be flying when he passed out…well, he woke up real quick when he hit the water.

Every waking moment was spent thinking about Lucy – and the other guildmembers that were lost of course – but mainly Lucy. He had to find her, no matter the cost.

The guildmembers who were assisting him in the search – Max the sand mage, Warren the telepath, Wakaba the smoke mage, Alzack the gun mage (who was desperate to find Bisca of course), Jet and Droy (the leftover members of Shadow Gear), and Romeo – were just as eager to find their guildmates but were somewhat limited by their earthly bodies. Probably the three who were almost as crazy as him were Alzack, Jet, and Droy. All of them had lost a woman who they were devoted to – much as Natsu was driven to find Lucy.

The four of them stayed motivated longer than the others, who seemed to grow depressed as time wore on.

More months passed with no sign of them…

Then, one day, Natsu was flying over a completely empty space of ocean, scanning the waves for any sign of the island or their guildmates – though he wasn't entirely sure what exactly he was looking for – when suddenly something small caught his eye. There was something poking up from the water's surface, something he would've normally completely passed over if he wasn't paying such close attention. Wheeling through the air, he curved back around to get a closer look, only to pull up short and stare in confusion. Standing on the water was a small person, a young girl it looked like, with extremely long blond hair and a white robe.

Cocking his head, he flew closer, and the sight didn't change. She wasn't some sort of mirage, she was real … and really standing there – somehow – on the water. It was weird, but that was precisely the sort of thing Natsu had been looking for, and excitement built up in his gut, making every muscle tense in eagerness. He dove down and swooped to fly right in front of the girl.

"Oi! You! Have you seen an island or a group of people around here?"

Her eyes slowly blinked open, and she stared at Natsu with a purely peaceful and calm expression. After a moment, she smiled, and her hands rose into the air. When she didn't say anything, he geared up to ask more questions, but suddenly a golden glow underneath them shut him up.

"Hey! I said- woah! Holy shit!"

He jerked back as the glow spread out swiftly from a small circle right under her feet to several miles in every direction and then started to grow brighter. The light increased, and with it a massive wave of magic that drove him upwards into the air. He stared with wide stunned eyes as the light reached a brilliant glow that he couldn't even look at, but he continued to watch, even though his eyes stung and burned.

Massive waves crashed and fell off a golden dome that started to rise up out of the sea, and the water itself turned bright gold from the light of the magic barrier that slowly appeared. Through the somewhat see-through shield, he began to see the shape of a massive tree and a familiar island. As soon as it was fully out of the water, the magical dome hung around for another few breathless seconds and then popped with a shower of golden sparks that made him wince and pull back a little more.

Then, finally, there standing in front of him was Tenrou island, looking like nothing at all had happened.

After hanging in the air for a long moment and just gaping at the scene in front of him, a surge of energy shot through his veins and he dove down towards the small land mass. A flash of movement caught his attention, and he turned to see the same little girl from before staring up at him. As soon as she noticed him looking, she turned and purposefully walked into the island, as if expecting him to follow. Figuring she might know where the others were - and wanting to find them as fast as possible - he decided to follow.

She led him through the woods, and soon he started picking up on a familiar vanilla scent.

At that point, he ran past her - possibly through her - and followed his nose. He was in such a frenzy that his brain had gone completely blank, and he was operating on pure instinct. The flames left behind his heels were completely ignored by him, but the small girl who had been leading him now followed and put out the fires with a smile on her face.

He very nearly tripped over Lucy, but managed to skid to a halt at the last second as he saw the curve of her dusty body halfway buried in the sandy ground.

"Shit! Luce! Hey! Wake up!"

…

The sound of Natsu's voice filtered into Lucy's unconscious mind, and she felt herself start to wake up. The urgency and near panic in his tone hurried up the process as worry and confusion sparked in her, and she wondered just what he was so upset about. The sensation of hands patting and jostling her helped to drag her back to awareness even faster, and soon she was groaning and blinking open shockingly crusty eyes.

"Lucy!"

The gasp was followed by her body being turned, and suddenly her bleary eyes were staring up into Natsu's face as he leaned over her.

"Natsu? Wha-…what's going on?" she mumbled, her voice croaking alarmingly, which had her frowning and clearing her throat.

She didn't get a response right away, instead her face was smashed into Natsu's chest as he gathered her up into a hug that bordered on too tight. She could feel his chin tuck tight over her head for a moment, and then his head bent so he could burrow into her hair. His arms shook - frankly his whole body shook - against her as he started rocking her back and forth, and even more shocking, she could feel tears starting to wet her hair and drip onto her cheek. She was also pretty sure she heard some sobs get stuck in the chest she was smashed against.

Her mind was still fuzzy from just waking up from what felt like a coma – and then the shock of being grabbed up like this had left her even more confused – but eventually things started coming back to her in bits and pieces.

"Natsu! Natsu! What happened to Acnologia?! And you?! Are you okay?!"

As the memory of him getting torn up drifted into her mind with the subtlety of a wrecking ball, she shoved him back as much as she could – which wasn't much – but she managed to gain enough space for her to slide her hands in between their stomachs and carefully ran them across his skin. Her fingers slid over only smooth skin though, encountering no open wounds, which shocked her.

"You were so badly hurt…how did…?"

"Uh…it's almost been a year, Luce. Of course I'm all healed up by now."

It took her a moment to process the words mumbled into her hair, but when she did, a caterwaul escaped from her throat in shock. "What?! A year?! What do you mean?!"

He winced a little from the screech in his ear but stayed wrapped around her. "Yeah, we've been looking for you guys for a year."

"How is that…what do you…what?!"

With a sigh, he finally pulled back enough to look her in the eye, though it seemed to be a struggle for him. "Honestly, I haven't got a clue. The only thing I know is that Acnologia blasted the island with enough force to destroy it, but somehow it didn't. You guys disappeared though, and when I finally found the spot where you…I dunno…sank, there was this girl standing on the water and suddenly the whole island rose up out of the ocean covered in a huge golden bubble of magic. So some sort of shield popped up and protected you guys I guess, and you were just…asleep the whole time?"

His explanation was almost as full of questions as it was explanations, and he seemed about as confused as she was. All she really gathered was that somehow a magical shield had protected them from the blast, and then put them in stasis until a member of the guild came and found them. It seemed farfetched – even for Fairy Tail – but if that was what Natsu said happened, then she had to believe it. The guy didn't know how to lie. Didn't mean he got it right though either.

She obviously wasn't getting anything more out of him though, because no sooner had he finished his longwinded confusing explanation, than he had clutched her tight to him and had buried his face in her hair once again. But now she knew why he was reacting this way. She couldn't even imagine being separated from him for a whole year…a whole year of what must have been constant searching and wondering and hope and despair and loneliness and wishes and torture….

Now that her attention was brought to it, she also strangely felt like she hadn't seen him in forever – even though she'd apparently been in a coma – and it didn't take her long before she was gripping him back just as tightly.

As she was hugging him back though, suddenly the rest of her memory returned, and she abruptly found herself cringing.

Pushing him back once again, reluctantly this time, she took a deep breath and said what she knew she had to. "I…Natsu…I betrayed you. What I did was a breach of contract…and…so…I understand if you want to…sever our contract."

He frowned. "No way! What the hell Luce?! There's no way I'd ever wanna do that!"

Her eyes filled with tears that she couldn't suppress, and suddenly she found herself sobbing apology after apology into his soon very wet chest.

"Hey, hey…it's okay. I forgave you months ago for all that." There was a pause, and then he amended with, "On one condition though."

"Of course! Anything!"

"You're gonna have to become my mate. Officially. We'll both get mate-marked, and then I'll be able to stay here even if I completely run out of magic. You'll be my anchor to this world. Oh, and this is forever by the way…"

All of that was loaded in so many different ways that she couldn't even begin to decode or understand it in the state she was currently in. It didn't matter though, she already knew her answer.

"Yes! Yes, I'll do it! As long as you promise not to try and sacrifice yourself for me either. Deal?"

A wide grin was her answer. "Sounds fair to me!"

And then he was hugging her close again and their lips met in a scalding kiss. For all of a hot second.

"Oi…what's going on…?"

The loud groan caused Lucy to jerk, and she pulled back a little to peer over Natsu's shoulder, where a very bedraggled and dirty Gray was just peeling himself up off the ground – or rather, out of the ground. Blinking, she glanced around to see that more members of the guild were beginning to stir, and they were all seemingly half buried, as if dust and dirt had continued to shift and settle while they were all out cold. Or maybe having the island sink under the sea and then reemerge caused an earthquake…. really, she couldn't imagine such a massive event to not cause a good amount of ground disturbance.

Sounds of grunting and spitting and huffing could be heard all around now as people started to come-to and realized they had dirt in their mouths, and several loud sneezes suggested that more than a few noses had been invaded as well. Glancing down, Lucy could see that she had apparently also been encrusted in the earth, judging by the dried shell of dirt that crossed her body. Thankfully it seemed that her face was mostly unmolested.

While the others woke up and groaned and stared around them in confusion, Natsu continued to cling to Lucy and seemed intent on ignoring absolutely everyone else. Questions started circulating, and quickly became louder and more concerned as memories started drifting back to everyone. Lucy was just about to peel Natsu off her and force him to give them all the same explanation he had offered her, when a new clear voice cut through the confusion.

"Hello. Please don't be alarmed."

Everyone's head turned towards the high female voice, and then they blinked in surprise when they saw what appeared to be a young girl with ultra-long blond hair and dressed in a robe or possibly a nightgown.

"Um…forgive me for asking, but who are you?" Makarov choked out on a slight cough as he ousted some of the last remnants of soil from his lungs.

She smiled. "I am Mavis. The founder and first master of Fairy Tail."

There was a long silence following this statement.

"Say what now?!" Gray finally sputtered, and more mutters of similar sentiments followed close behind.

"Yes, I know it's hard to believe. Perhaps I should clarify…I am a spirit."

"You mean you're a ghost?" Juvia asked, looking both a little frightened and a little intrigued. Next to her though, Wendy just looked scared as she cringed behind the blue-haired water mage.

"Well, yes, technically." the ghost said with a slightly disapproving expression, but that quickly smoothed out and was replaced once again by a beatific grin. "I woke when I felt all of your loyalty and love for one another."

She must have meant when they all held hands and presented a united front against Acnologia. Now that Lucy thought back to it, the moment had seemed strangely powerful.

As if she had read Lucy's thoughts, the fairylike first master nodded with an even more peaceful and happy expression. "With that love, you were able to summon the third Fairy Tail spell…Fairy Shield. It allowed me to combine all of your powerful magic into an impenetrable shield that sunk this entire island beneath the sea for a time."

More whispers erupted, but quieted almost as soon as they started when Mavis continued. "You have all been in comas for approximately one year as your guildmates searched for you."

"What?! A whole year?!" Cana yelled, sounding incredulous and almost angry. Gildarts patted her on the shoulder – either in support or to reign her back in, Lucy couldn't tell.

Mavis nodded in response to the shout. "Yes. You have all been asleep for that long."

"So what finally made us surface and wake up again?" Makarov asked curiously and somewhat calmly compared to the other anxious and confused mumbles from everyone else.

"I was the key to waking the island. I, too, have been asleep, standing sentinel on the ocean's surface and waiting for a member of Fairy Tail to come. And today was that day." She grinned and gestured towards Natsu, who managed to lift an arm and wave while still hanging off Lucy like a loving barnacle.

There was a long pause as everyone turned their eyes on Natsu and Lucy. The blond flushed bright red at everyone's stare, while her dragon just continued to utterly ignore everything else going on.

"Well no wonder he's being so damn clingy…poor guy's been looking for Lucy a whole frickin' year…"

That low tone belonged to Gray and was more to himself than anyone else, but it was met with grunts of agreement and affection as their guildmates watched the dragon snuggle his girlfriend quite publicly.

"That's cause he's a REAL MAN." Elfman bellowed, spurring a few assorted groans and chuckles from the assembled group.

"So I'm guessing it's not just you who's been actively searching for us Natsu." Erza almost asked.

He started with a little jerk. "Oh! Right! I guess I better let them know I found ya."

Everyone experienced a unison sweat drop at his absentmindedness but remained silent as he touched his fingers to his temple and closed his eyes in concentration. They all recognized the gesture, and immediately knew the identity of one of the recue team.

After a moment he winced, probably because he was getting some sort of reprimand for not telling them right away, and then he dropped his fingers. "Right. They're on their way."

"Good." Erza nodded in a satisfied way.

"We thank you most deeply for your assistance First Master." Makarov then inserted, and everyone's attention refocused on the ghost who was still standing there plain as day.

"Of course!" she said with a perky smile.

…

It didn't take long for the others to arrive.

They must have used the oars and paddled with all their strength, because they arrived sweaty and out of breath…but with bright happy eyes. There were immediate, loud reunions…the most exuberant being those between Shadow Gear and Bisca and Alzack.

The later of the two was perhaps the most surprising though, because no sooner had Alzack laid eyes on Bisca, than he was swooping up the green-haired sniper and kissing her, much to everyone's catcalls and her shock. Those two had been tiptoeing around their massive crushes on each other for years. Apparently all they needed was for one of them to get put in a coma and hidden under the sea for a whole year and bam…romance.

At least something good had come of this whole incident.

Jet and Droy tried much the same - but were lip-blocked by a very cranky iron slayer, who was still rubbing grit out of his eyes and cussing like a sailor.

Once everyone had been thoroughly greeted by the search team, and everyone who had been in a coma was completely awake, they set off back to the boat with the others. Lucy must not have been the only one to feel that strange sense of being apart for a long time – despite the coma making it seem like everything had only happened yesterday – because all of her fellow Tenrou islanders were beyond eager to board the boat and return home to Fairy Tail.

The ride home was a noisy one as everyone continued to catch up on what had happened during the last year, but for Lucy it was spent relatively quietly. That was probably because she was too busy dealing with an extremely clingy dragon that refused to let her go for the entire ride home – even though being on a boat made him visibly green and queasy. She had to wonder how he had been part of the rescue team to begin with, considering his motion sickness … unless he had simply flown the whole time and/or swam.

Thankfully he didn't actually throw up on her, despite the spasms in his stomach that suggested he was fighting the urge to. The entire trip back was spent that way, until Natsu finally discovered that if he laid his head in her lap he could sort of sleep through it.

Several hours later found her gently shaking him awake and then flinching when he came-to with a violent heave. She gingerly helped him off the boat, slinging his arm over her shoulders and lugging him off to a chorus of snickers. She was used to the amused looks and muttered whispers though, because she'd been getting them the whole way home. It wasn't like she could blame them either… not when Natsu was doing his best impression of a scarf and wrapping around her in every possible way.

As soon as they disembarked, nobody needed to ask, 'what now?' As one, they turned and headed towards the guildhall. By the time they arrived at the large wooden doors, Natsu had recovered, and with a broad grin he kicked them open and bellowed, "We're back!"

His happy tone must have clued everyone in, because his entrance was met with first awed silence, and then a huge cheer that shook the rafters and made the floor quake. As they walked in, the whole group that had been lost for nearly a year was quickly surrounded by the rest of the guild. After an impromptu mosh pit where Lucy felt smothered for longer than she was comfortable with, the largest Fairy Tail celebration to date was started. Pounding music sounded through the entire guildhall – mostly the almost-Celtic music that seemed intrinsic to the Fairy Tail guildhall. Lucy had wondered for a long time if it was just tradition, or if it was Makarov's favorite style of music and he was the only one with access to the music lacrima.

Of course soon that was interspersed with live performances from Gajeel and Mirajane in their own unique styles, and as more people drank deeper into their cups, there were a few odder performances as the evening wore on…not that she stayed for too long. After only an hour or two of celebrations, Lucy could sense Natsu getting more and more antsy.

He never strayed far, and actually spent most of the night practically breathing down her neck. Though he stopped physically clinging to her once they got in the guildhall, he stayed close, and whenever she left her seat – which was naturally right next to his – she could feel his eyes tracking her wherever she went. And if she didn't come right back, it wasn't long before he followed.

It took some getting used to, but she wasn't exactly opposed to it. If it had been her looking for him for a whole year, she honestly thought she would probably do the exact same thing.

As for Natsu… he was doing his very best to fight every instinct that was currently shouting at him to steal Lucy away and verify that she was real and not just one of his fevered dreams. In the past year, he couldn't count the number of times he had passed out and dreamt of finding Lucy.

His fingers itched to touch every inch of her skin and convince himself that she was really here, really warm and solid and not imaginary ... Not that he actually thought this was a dream, it was much too detailed to be one of his. But it was still incredibly hard to believe that it was real. He couldn't tear his eyes from her, and kept thinking to himself that he must have somehow forgotten just how beautiful and wonderful she was … either that, or she'd turned into an angel when his back was turned. It sent his guts into a flurry of making fluffy cotton candy that felt warm, sticky, and wiggly… like it was alive.

All he wanted was to drag her off to her apartment and kiss, touch, lick, bite, squeeze, stroke, poke, chew on, suck on, (and whatever else he could think of) to every inch of her. He couldn't stand even an inch of distance between them, though he was currently forcing himself to not hang off her like an overeager snake the way he'd been doing up till getting home.

It was driving him utterly mad.

Every square inch of his skin ached to be in contact with hers… his fingers and hands burned for her, his lips tingled, his belly clenched tight… even his fucking toes were on fire and he didn't have a clue what they could want. And even worse was his tail, which simply wouldn't stay put. It wagged behind him like an overexcited dog's or else twined around whatever happened to be nearby – usually the leg of his chair or the table – and then he'd squeeze unconsciously until a creak let him know he was about to crush it.

Energy and fire flooded his body, making him fidgety in a way he'd never experience before … like he was covered in ants and just couldn't sit still no matter what he did. It was all he could do to control those flames, which were just beneath the surface of his skin. And that particular symptom was only getting worse as time dragged on and he kept himself from touching her the way he needed to.

For once he had to basically keep his mouth shut, because the few times someone had actually managed to catch his attention, he'd nearly lit them up when he spoke and fire accidentally spilled from his lips without his say-so. Like the rest of him, it wanted at Lucy… to be inside her and tie them together in the most intimate way a dragon knew how…or one of the ways anyways. Of course he wanted the other intimate stuff that happened between every mated pair of animals as well, not just the stuff unique to dragons.

He held out almost two hours before his control snapped.

At least he still had the presence of mind to grab Lucy's hand and pull her out of the guildhall, instead of just wrapping himself around her and going at it right in the middle of everyone. That probably wouldn't go over very well...

Meanwhile, Lucy wasn't stupid, she'd picked up on Natsu's vibes long before he actually made a move.

It wasn't lost on her how his temperature had slowly been palpably rising, to the point where she'd started sweating just sitting next to him. The way he watched her was intense, somehow both predatory and loving in a weird combination that sent thrills down her spine.

He'd been barely in control of himself for a good quarter hour before he snapped, so she wasn't surprised by the sudden grab and drag when his resolve finally broke. To be honest she'd been a little worried that he would pounce on her right there in the hall and she would have had to … Lucy Kick him or something. She wasn't exactly sure what she would have done, but undoubtedly he would have stopped if she had put up enough protest. It still would have been embarrassing though.

It was embarrassing enough the way their friends had noted his abnormal behavior, and many had undoubtedly figured out what was going on almost as easily as she had. Undeniable proof came when Cana grabbed Happy when he tried to follow them and told him that he'd be sleeping at her place for the next couple of nights…her tone amused. More than one chuckle from their other friends had followed the suggestion.

It was some comfort though to know that they weren't the only ones to have disappeared from the party – several of their group had split off in pairs driven by the same urges.

Lucy couldn't say she was immune either. That sense of being separated for a long time – as strange as it was – easily translated to needing Natsu and wanting to be as close to him as physically possible. Knowing they would have the apartment all to themselves only spurred her on, and soon she was matching his urgent pace as they made quick time getting there. She didn't even have the mental capacity to wonder if she even still had an apartment, before they were crashing through the front door, up the stairs, and Natsu was unlocking her door with somewhat clumsy fingers.

Eventually Lucy had to grab the keys from him and do it herself, because she feared for the safety and integrity of her poor door – and the bills that she would have to pay to get it repaired after he burned it down or broke it. Her hands were thankfully steadier, and she managed to accomplish the task in record time.

Soon they were practically spilling through her open doorway – which was closed with a nearly violent kick and then relocked by Lucy, who was clearly the more mentally capable at the moment. Not for long though, because no sooner had she flicked the lock on the door than she was being pinned against it from behind. It wasn't the most comfortable of positions, but she wasn't going to complain…especially not with Natsu's body pressed close to hers and his hot breath burning her neck. At that point though, she started to wonder if it was even safe to do this here…. His body temperature was blindingly hot and could very well start a fire if they weren't careful. Just because it didn't burn her didn't mean that her bed – or the door for that matter – was immune.

Thinking fast, she determined that the safest place to let off a little steam would be in the bathroom, probably under a cold shower. This thought was only reinforced when the wood under his hands began to smoke a little.

"Natsu! Woah! Hold on just a second, you're gonna burn down my apartment!" Lucy gasped, and pushed back, forcing him off the door before he could actually set it on fire. He hissed, and when his arms wrapped tight around her middle she wasn't sure he'd heard her.

However, her concern was mildly assuaged when he mumbled into her shoulder, "Sorry Luce…I dunno if I can help it…"

"Come on, let's at least get to a slightly safer and less flammable area okay?" she soothed in her best calming tone, and turned towards the bathroom.

He turned with her, and then walked with her as she made her way towards water and hopefully safety, but she still didn't relax until she'd managed to drag him into her standup shower and had turned on the water. She relaxed in one way, but very much did not in another as cold droplets suddenly assaulted her head. However, it was a small price to pay to keep her home intact. Besides, the water didn't stay cold for long, because as soon as it hit Natsu, it turned to hot steam...which very nearly made her laugh – after staring wide-eyed in shock of course.

Her amusement quickly faded though when she glanced up and saw Natsu's fire-hot golden eyes staring back down, and then basically every thought was wiped clean from her mind as blistering lips landed on hers. Even with her immunity to his fire, the heat of him was stark and made her gasp in shock, which only parted her lips and expanded his intrusion. A boiling tongue soon invaded her mouth, and for a brief second she almost pulled back…panicking at the sheer amount of heat and wondering if – even though she wouldn't burn – she could still get heatstroke. Suddenly the small amount of cold water that managed to land on her, instead of Natsu, was soothing instead of unpleasant as it helped to keep her temperature down. With the steam and the heat of him, beads of sweat instantly slicked her body and made her clothes stick to her even more than they already were from the shower.

After a second of enduring the sharp discomfort – and realizing that she wasn't going to spontaneously combust or pop a fever that liquefied her brain – her panic slowly melted into desire. It was still nerve-wracking, but she couldn't help but get swept up into the kiss. When his fire almost instantly followed his tongue and started licking at the insides of her mouth and then coated her throat, she moaned. As frightening as it could be, Lucy easily admitted that the sensation and taste of Natsu's fire was beyond addictive. It felt and tasted better than any alcohol in her book, and she loved the way it slid down her throat, warming her chest, and then pooled in her belly – where it started to slowly spread through the rest of her body.

Arousal hit her hard, almost as if fire was now an aphrodisiac for her – a thought which really should have disturbed her in all honesty – but she couldn't care at the moment. Her entire world was consumed by Natsu and how much she wanted him… body, heart, and soul … and how much she wanted to give herself completely to him in return. Alongside the sharp lust were also the softer feelings of love and adoration that she felt for her best friend and partner, and she was not only swamped with physical need, but also emotional need that rose to meet his own.

It was plain to her that he had suffered, and she wanted to erase this past year from his heart and completely heal all the pain he had felt and the resulting scars. She could feel an echo of it, the coldness creeping within the heat of his kiss that fueled that particular flavor of desperation. She could sense it in the way he desperately pressed himself to her … and in the way he ran his hands through her hair and then over every inch of her he could reach, clutching and grabbing and touching like he was trying to simultaneously rememorize and hold her to him so that she wouldn't disappear…and it made her heart ache.

He was frenzied and didn't seem capable of being still or even really thinking properly… at least not until her hands bracketed his face and she pulled her lips just a hair from his. A deep whine sounded from his throat at even that small distance, and he tried to close it immediately again, but she wouldn't let him. She needed to talk and needed her lips for that.

"Hey. Hey, it's okay…shh." she soothed, pressing her forehead to his and letting their noses and lips brush. "It's okay. I'm here…I'm not going anywhere…"

A full body shudder wracked his frame. "Luce…I still can't believe that you're real…"

"I am real. I promise. Would you be taking a cold shower by yourself?"

A slightly choked laugh came from trembling lips. "Yeah, no, prob'ly not."

She grinned back. "See? One hundred percent really me."

The lightheartedness lasted a second and then dimmed as he trembled against her and suddenly buried his face in her shoulder. "Promise me. Promise me you'll never leave me like that again. Please."

"I promise," she whispered back into his wet pink hair and pressed a gentle kiss to his temple. "I'll always be right here with you."

For a long moment he held her like that, the frenzy slowly easing out of him. When he lifted his head again, his eyes were calmer, clearer, and shone with love and devotion. The twinkle had returned, making her realize just how dull his eyes had been before, and he stared down at her with a softer expression.

"Gods Luce…I love you so damn much. This last year has been murder…"

"I know…I'm so sorry you had to go through that." she murmured back. "I can't imagine how it must have been. If it was me…I don't know how I would have been able to go on without you for a whole year. I love you too much."

He gave her a small crooked grin. "I wouldn't recommend it. Not unless you enjoy loads of heartache." Then his expression grew a little more serious. "And I promise you won't ever have to. If we're gonna get stuck somewhere, we're gonna do it together."

"Deal."

Lucy didn't even realize she'd grown tearful until her last word came out a little thick, and Natsu's eyes softened as his hands reached up to cradle her face. With gentle fingers he brushed the moisture off her cheeks, and then dipped back in to kiss her again. This kiss started out much softer than the first, and she could feel how he whispered his love for her in every gentle movement of his lips against hers, and she reciprocated in kind. Soon though, need began to grow within them again, and the kiss deepened and grew more fervent as they both felt a sharp pang.

It wasn't until Lucy shivered that she realized his body temperature had dropped back to a normal level of crazy hot and the cold water wasn't being vaporized anymore. He probably still couldn't feel it, but Lucy certainly could, now that it was drenching her from head to toe. The only thing that made it tolerable was having a dragon space heater pressed to her front, but her poor back was still slowly freezing to death. Fumbling behind her, she shut off the frigid water, and together they stumbled out of the shower, very nearly taking the curtain with them as they went – especially when they tripped over the bath rug. Thankfully they were able to catch themselves against the opposite wall with an ungraceful bang. Conveniently, that put them near the towel bars, which allowed Lucy to snag one.

Together they squirmed out of their wet clothing, attempting to do so while still kissing but quickly finding out that it resulted in bitten lips and clinked teeth. Eventually they did have to separate in order to get the last few articles off, and Lucy nearly tripped on her own underwear while Natsu similarly got his pants tangled around his ankles. Neither of them could quite remain serious during the debacle, and with Lucy's giggles and Natsu's chuckles, they worked together to rid themselves of the last two barriers between them. As soon as they were shed though, and their kiss had resumed, the laughter faded away.

They stumbled backwards through her bedroom and eventually made it to the bed somehow, though they bounced off plenty of furniture on the way… and several crashes told her that she would have a mess to clean up after. At the moment though she simple didn't care. All she really cared about was keeping her mouth connected to Natsu's and getting to the bed before she accumulated too many bruises from the corners of furniture.

When she tipped over backwards, a small shriek came from her, but it was quickly muffled when she landed on the mattress and realized they'd finally made it to the bed. Natsu landed on top of her, but she shoved him off for a moment so she could rearrange herself properly and not have her legs dangling off one side. He followed, and by the time her head met the pillow he had already crawled on top of her again.

What followed was a blur of fire and heat and kisses, and soon Lucy knew she was going to have to change her sheets thanks to the sweat she was once again producing. It was worth it though to experience the dragon's flames licking first inside her mouth then eventually down her neck and onto her chest when she couldn't breathe. When fiery lips attached to her nipples, she was beyond gone. The burn went straight to her center, where it stuck like a pool of molten wax, and the heat made her squirm beneath him and rub against the thigh that had been shoved between her own. His tail coiled around her leg and started up a rippling massage, which was just another sensation added to her growing list of unbearably pleasant things currently going on.

Natsu was obviously just as affected as her. It was impossible to not notice the heavy erection grinding into her hip… which was both arousing and uncomfortable, but she barely minded the discomfort. Burning fingertips dug into her hip, and she sucked in a sharp breath as her own fingers tangled in his hair. A pleasured shudder wracked him, and it came as no surprise when shiny black horns soon slid past her fingers. She latched on without thinking about it. The dragon pinning her to the mattress jerked above her and growled, his flames on her breast increasing in potency and making her whine and twist under him. It felt so good that she somewhat feverishly wondered if it was possible to orgasm just from breast stimulation alone.

Whether it was or not, she never found out, because Natsu didn't give her the chance. To her surprise, he sat up, leaving her panting and staring up at him in shock that he had stopped. Her hands had been pulled from his head of course, and after a second she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, unabashedly showing her disapproval. He chuckled as she halfheartedly glared up at him, but she soon forgot her annoyance as she glanced down his body and got her first good look at him. Her eyes widened, and the breath got stuck in her throat as she took in the sight of him kneeling over her, sitting back on his heels over one of her thighs.

She'd seen pretty much all of him before, and she knew just how beautiful he was, but seeing him completely nude and with his erection bobbing out in the open was a bit startling. He really was amazing, and for a brief moment she wondered just how she had managed to land such a stud. Then her fevered thoughts caught up with the more logical part of her brain, and she couldn't help but burst into laughter when she realized that she had just thought of her goofy, immature partner and best friend as a stud.

Unlike most guys, the laughter didn't make him feel self-conscious. Instead, he quirked a grin back at her with glittering eyes.

"What's so funny Luce?" he asked almost absentmindedly as his eyes drifted over her body as well.

Every bit of him rippled with lean muscle and her eyes couldn't quite settle anywhere for a long moment, but when they did it was only natural that they stuck to the part of him she hadn't seen before. So she was staring at his penis as she answered his question, which was probably a little awkward – especially with the slightly goofy grin she knew was splitting her lips – but she didn't really care.

"I was just wondering how I managed to get such a stud for a boyfriend. Then I realized that I had thought of you as a stud, and it just seemed really funny."

A bark of laughter escaped him, and he glanced up from where he'd been looking at her groin. "What's wrong with me being a stud?"

"Nothing really, I just normally don't think that word." she said, her hand reaching out towards him. "And plus, you're a dork, so it's funny to picture you as sexy sometimes."

His dark chuckle cut off on a choked groan as she reached her destination and wrapped her hand around his penis.

She'd touched him there once before, and she should have remembered that his body temperature elsewhere was nothing in comparison to his penis…but somehow the intense heat still shocked her. It almost made her nervous at the prospect of having it inside her, even though she knew it wouldn't hurt – at least not much. His fire still stung and burned, but in a pleasant way.

The more she thought about it though, the more she remembered how great his fire felt when he kissed her…and suddenly the heat in her palm caused more anticipation than fear. He seemed like the perfect size too, not monstrous and not tiny. He fit in her fist like he was made to be there, and she could only imagine that he would fit even better somewhere else.

She was somewhat distracted from her exploration when he hissed and groaned, "Shit Luce, that feels so good."

Her already warm face flushed even more with a happy and slightly embarrassed blush. Licking her lips, she glanced up at his face to see him staring down at her hand on him with glittering golden eyes… and the sight of his pink cheeks and dilated pupils sent another jolt of heat through her.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah…" he coughed a laugh that sounded like a moan as she experimentally tightened her fist and tried a few long strokes up and down his whole length. His body shuddered, and she watched with fascination as his abs rippled and tensed while his hips rolled forwards and thrust himself further into her palm.

He sucked in his breath through his nose, and then he tensed and a small gasp finished off the sharp inhale. His breath was released on a rather loud groan, and then he inhaled again even deeper. Glittering gold eyes slit open and stared down at her neatly groomed blond pubic hair, and she squirmed under the heated stare.

His hand on her hip drifted inwards and his thumb brushed against the line between her hip and groin, making her jerk. She wondered what he was thinking to spark the extra burst of heat from his body and the glow in his eyes. He answered the unspoken question with another throaty groan.

"Fuck…you smell so amazing."

Her eyes widened and she flushed a little more, unsure how to feel about that comment. His eyes closed, and he sucked in another deep sniff – which only made her blush harder – and she stuttered something nonsensical between a thanks and a protest.

"U-um…thanks? B-but…uh…that's kinda…"

When his eyes opened again they were burning, and he promptly continued the slightly awkward and embarrassing line of conversation. "You smell fucking delicious…"

Her brain went blank, and she simply blinked up at him in shock.

Her senses came back online with all the subtlety of a foghorn though when his fingers slid further down and burrowed in between her folds. She jerked, and the leg that wasn't trapped between his clenched on his hand in surprise for a moment, but then fell to the side to give him room. The touch of his fingers was clumsy, and she could easily tell he had no idea what he was doing, but it still felt good as he gently ran impossibly hot fingertips up and down her lips, mapping out the territory.

After a second, he shifted, swinging his leg over hers and settling fully between her thighs. His knees pressed out as he sat on his heels, which forced her legs even further apart as he leaned back to watch his hand disappear in her private parts. At first, it was kind of embarrassing and made her self-conscious to have him staring so intently at her bits, but that quickly melted away. His eyes glittered as he looked at her, and she watched with pleasure and amusement as a nearly giddy expression spread across his face.

"You're so wet!" he groaned enthusiastically after a second, seeming enthralled. "Holy shit Luce…you're so soft and squishy…it feels fucking amazing! How did you make so much of this slippery stuff?"

And there was her awkward dorky best friend rearing his head again. With a groan, she threw an arm over her eyes and cringed. "Could you not say stuff like that? It's kind of embarrassing and weird."

"What? Why? I'm just tellin' ya the truth. I can't get enough of this."

She could feel his fingers parting her lips to expose her fully, and she shivered in slight discomfort at the little draft. Then she groaned when he completely ignored her request to not make embarrassing observations.

"And you're so pretty too…all pink and frilly, like ruffles or somethin'. Although I dunno why people used to talk about it like it was some kinda flower…doesn't look anything like a plant."

She flushed even deeper but didn't say anything aside from a small squeak as she felt him tug on her inner lips curiously. At the very least he seemed to have calmed down from his previous fervor and was back to his old self, which was good, but she wished he wasn't quite so blunt and weird. Really though, she shouldn't have been surprised that he was chatty in bed. After all, he was a loudmouth every other time of day. She'd even predicted it before, but somehow still managed to be shocked. Stupid her.

She wasn't given much time to waste thinking about it though, because he was thoroughly distracting her by poking around and exploring. The tip of a finger dipped into her entrance and she sucked in her breath, but then expelled it somewhat disappointedly when he withdrew almost immediately… as if he was just verifying that it was indeed a hole. When he curiously poked at her clit and then lifted the hood to get a look at it, she tensed up again and peeked out from under her arm.

"What's this little thing…? It looks like a pink button." he asked, and then pressed it like it actually was a button.

The heat and pressure of his finger nearly sent her flying of the bed and she yelped, mainly because he'd poked too hard.

"Th-that's my clit!" she announced in a high-pitched voice. "Gentle!"

His hand jerked back, and he stared wide-eyed. "Sorry! Did I hurt you?"

"N-no…but it's really delicate and sensitive…so…like I said, be gentle." she gasped, still recovering from the shock to her system.

"So I can touch it as long as I'm gentle…." he muttered to himself, and then very lightly tapped the tip of his finger to her again, getting a slight jerk of her hips in response.

A pink eyebrow cocked curiously, and he very delicately rubbed, which had her gasping and arching into his touch. She was already so aroused that even his clumsy touch felt amazing.

"Looks like this feels good. What's this clip thing for anyways?"

Leave it to Natsu to mispronounce clit.

"It's clit, not clip." she grumbled, and then sucked in a breath as he lightly rubbed it again. "And it's not for anything except making me feel good…"

His eyes brightened. "So this is what you rubbed to get off last time?"

She nodded, and he grinned, showing some fang as his bright eager eyes grew heavy-lidded and lustful. "Awesome…I wanna make you come Luce."

She jerked at the blunt statement and gasped.

"I just rub it right?"

"U-um…yeah…" she answered weakly, and then flinched as he put words to actions. "But be gentle!"

He immediately lightened his touch but kept rubbing at her enthusiastically. It felt good, but Lucy's body was pretty specific about how it could get off, and there was no way for Natsu to know what she needed from moment to moment. Her clit was irritatingly indecisive, and something that felt good for a little while would suddenly be too hard, too soft, too fast, too slow, or not even in the right spot anymore. So, unless she gave him a constant play by play of how to touch her, there was no way in hell that he had a chance of figuring her out.

Of course Natsu, being Natsu, went at it with his usual enthusiasm and rubbed her in all sorts of interesting, weird, and spastic ways, which sometimes felt fantastic and sometimes…didn't. He also frequently left her clit entirely and started to explore other areas, because he had the attention span of a gnat and didn't really know how to focus. But Lucy was aroused, ridiculously so, and he managed to get her pretty close more than once…which left her squirming around and whining in a way that would normally be utterly humiliating. At the moment though, she couldn't care less how she appeared, because her body was positive that it was about to die – or something equally drastic and ridiculous – if she didn't get some sort of relief.

It was infuriating, but she didn't quite have the confidence yet to vocalize what she needed from him … because if she did, it would be so much instruction that she was pretty sure it would sound like a class. In all honesty though, she was thoroughly enjoying herself, and the last thing she wanted to do was make him feel like an idiot that didn't know what he was doing…even if that was kind of how she felt about it from time to time.

It was hard to think about him as an inexperienced idiot though, when he was constantly saying things that made her feel like a blushing virgin.

The whole time he touched her, he muttered low words that became more and more explicit as he got increasingly turned on. It almost sounded like a running commentary on whatever happened to be going through his mind… as if his brain-to-mouth filter – which was barely there to begin with – had become absolutely nonexistent.

"…. So pretty…. I love it when you make that sound, make it again Luce…. You're so hot squirming around like that…. Come on Luce, orgasm already. I wanna see you come apart…. Damn it, you're driving me insane…."

His heated words only ramped up her lust, although they also consistently shocked her, and every bold statement had her blushing with both embarrassment and arousal.

Then eventually on one of his adventures off her clit, one inquisitive finger once again dipped into her… but this time he slid it all the way home, making her gasp and thrust up into the penetration. She happened to have a dildo and knew how good it could feel, but she'd never had anything inside her as warm as his finger… and he wasn't even using his fire. It felt amazing, and she feverishly thought about his erection and how much she wanted that inside her.

He sucked in his breath and gasped, "Woah…. That's fucking amazing! Damn, I can't wait to feel you around my dick…. you're so slippery and hot here."

She choked out a laugh at the last comment. "I'm hot? Then what's your finger supposed to be?"

"Does it feel good?"

The question was deceptively innocent, but his grin and the way he curled his finger and wiggled it a little said he already knew the answer. She just moaned and bucked up into the touch, but made sure to also give him a glare for being a smartass. He laughed but let it go, instead thoroughly exploring her insides and slipping another finger in, making them both moan at the feeling.

After a minute of fingering her, he pulled his digits out and lifted them to take a look at the clear liquid dripping from them. She flushed, a bit embarrassed about him playing around with her natural lubricant, but it was also strangely exciting to see the proof of her arousal on his hand.

"Seriously…how do you produce so much of this stuff?" he asked, amazed, and then brought his fingers to his face and inhaled, shocking her so much that she gaped at him like a fish.

A deep groan that sounded more like a growl rumbled from his chest, and all semblance of lighthearted banter disappeared from his expression as his muscles tensed. When his eyes opened again, they were dark and heated and held something different from the playful gleam before. Now they shone with something like hunger.

Even his voice had changed, turning into a deeper growl as he looked at his fingers and said, "Fuck. Luce…you smell delicious…"

That statement tipped her off, and she wasn't particularly surprised when his fingers disappeared into his mouth, but she was still left helplessly wondering how she was going to deal with his mood shifts. Natsu had always been mercurial – happy and joking one minute, and fired up for a fight the next – so it shouldn't be particularly shocking that it would also translate to sex, but she was still left at a loss.

A deep moan ripped from his chest as he licked his fingers, and she shuddered at the sound, already able to predict what was probably about to happen. The thought filled her with anticipation and a little bit of anxiety as she wondered how she was going to handle it.

When his eyes slid open again, they were completely dilated, with a glowing ring of gold that felt like it burned her as he locked onto the space where his fingers had just been. Sliding his hand away from his mouth, he growled, "You are delicious… that wasn't nearly enough. I've gotta taste you."

She sucked in her breath and flinched a little at his sudden move when he lunged. Hunching his powerful shoulders, he wedged himself firmly between her thighs and ducked his head to her pelvis. Lucy held her breath at the feel of hot breath touching her, and then couldn't hold back a moan when superheated lips touched her. Burning hands locked onto her hips and tilted her up to his mouth, which was lapping at her like a thirsty dog. On every pass of his tongue over her clit she bucked, the nerves seared in the best possible way under his scorching touch.

Her hands twisted into the covers to ground herself as her body twisted under his mouth. It was too much, and yet not enough, and she choked on a gasp, every part of her trembling. She desperately needed release, but he wasn't spending enough time on her clit for her to fall over that edge, so once again she was left writhing and shivering and almost crying.

"N-Natsu…please…" she whimpered, and thankfully he seemed to understand what she needed because his attention immediately shifted.

At first he lapped at her clit, and she would have probably come just from that, but then his lips wrapped around it and he did something that very nearly sent her off the bed. He breathed fire directly onto her, and a shocked cry escaped her as her body violently jumped under him. It was almost unbearable, the searing heat directly focused on her most sensitive part, and she automatically thrashed in an attempt to knock him off… but he wasn't having any of that. His hands clamped down hard on her hips to keep her still and she was forced to endure the sensation of fire licking at her clit, teasing it in an almost painful way. The burn soon settled into pure pleasure though, and within a few seconds she was thrown violently off the cliff and headfirst into an orgasm.

Her entire groin felt like it was on fire – which it technically was – and the burn settled inside, dragging out the sensation of her orgasm until she was gasping for breath and had nearly pulled a muscle in her back trying to twist up into a little ball. It was the most intense sensation she had ever experienced, and she wasn't in control of anything, her cries embarrassingly loud and her body spasming in a way that would have been mortifying in any other situation.

Eventually it grew too much as her clit over-sensitized, and she grabbed his horns and managed to shove him off, gasping, "S-stop! Too much!"

He reluctantly let her push him away, but stayed in between her thighs, eyeballing her v-zone and licking his lips. Then he flashed her a brilliant grin.

"I think I figured out how to make you orgasm. This'll be easy if all I've gotta do is blow fire on you."

Her body shuddered in a strong aftershock brought on by his words, and she stared down at him with wide wet eyes. She wasn't sure what to feel about that statement. On the one hand, heat settled once again in her gut, but on the other … dread made her shudder as she realized that he was right. If a little fire on her clit made her come that strongly, he could probably send her into a coma, and she resolved to put a limit on how many times she let him make her orgasm.

"I wanna do it again!" he announced, and she only just barely managed to snag his horns and stop him before he dove back in.

"Wait! I need a minute to recover at least!" she yelped.

"Why?" he whined, staring up at her with puppy dog eyes.

"I'm way too sensitive right now, it'll just hurt if you mess with my clit right after I orgasm!"

He pouted but seemed to accept her explanation and shifted his mouth to her thigh instead. For a moment she relaxed and sighed, wondering how she was going to peel him off her and distract him from his goal. To be honest, she didn't know if she could handle another orgasm like that right after the first. Besides that, she had another need that was making itself known.

After catching her breath, a thought occurred to her, and she couldn't quite keep the smile off her lips. Putting thoughts to action, she sat up, and when Natsu jerked up a little in surprise, she grabbed hold of his horns and used that grip to pull him up too. He followed her when she fell back onto the bed, not given a choice since she had control of his head, and the sharp tug caused a loud groan to come from him as his eyes scrunched closed in pleasure. As soon as she had him laying over her, she wiggled around until their hips were aligned and then released one horn to reach down between them and grab his erection.

His eyes popped open and he stared down at her in shock as she used her grip on him to align his penis with her entrance, and the breath seemed to get stuck in his throat.

"Luce…are you sure?"

Her tight grip on his head loosened, and she slid her palm down to gently cup his cheek instead as a warm bubble swelled in her chest. Staring up into his eyes, she could see all the love, lust, surprise, and concern welling up within them. The realization that this was happening, that she was really making love with Natsu, hit her like a fluffy feather pillow full of sunshine, and she felt happiness bubble up within her and practically overflow. She felt like she was glowing.

Still, she couldn't resist teasing him, and – in a joking tone laced with affection – she whispered, "Stupid. Should I ask if you're ready?"

He blinked and flushed. "Oh…I thought this was your first time, so…"

"It is."

"Then won't it hurt?"

She rolled her eyes, touched by his concern. "No. It won't. I took care of that when I was a teenager."

It seemed to take him a long moment to figure out what she meant by that – the confusion obvious in his eyes – but then the concern and confusion slowly melted away to be replaced by mirth and lust.

"Oh really? That's awesome Luce…you'll have to tell me all about it sometime."

She chuckled, which turned throaty as he wedged the tip of himself inside her… easily, thanks to her hand guiding him. The first touch was mind-numbing as the heat of him once again assaulted her. It wasn't as hot as his fire, but his penis was still warmer than anything she'd put into herself and was warmer than his fingers for sure. As he slowly slid in, it felt like she was being lit on fire from the inside out, as if her stomach should be glowing, and she arched into him with a moan. It felt amazing.

Another unexpected benefit was that the heat also helped her muscles to relax – which was good since he was still significantly bigger than the small dildo she had been using for years. As she'd told him, it didn't hurt, but there was still a slight stretch as she got used to his size. However, she could hardly concentrate on any discomfort through the pleasure and heat.

When he was fully seated he stopped, and the pause made her open eyes that she hadn't realized were closed. She looked up at him curiously, wondering why he wasn't moving. Instantly she was ensnared by the intense stare he was giving her, and their eyes locked. As soon as they made eye contact he slowly began to move, and she was helpless but to hold his gaze, even as her eyes tried to flutter closed again. His jaw clenched as he gritted his teeth, and his eyes tightened with concentration and heat, probably from forcing himself to go slow.

Giving him a grin, she wrapped her legs around his hips and bucked up to meet him, letting him know wordlessly that he could go faster. The response was instantaneous. His eyes lit with fire, his nose flared, heat blasted from him, and his hips snapped forwards to meet hers in a thrust that nearly drove the breath from her lungs. Though she'd asked for it, the sudden increase in speed took her senses by storm, and she gasped as his hips started up a rhythm that made every nerve scream with pleasure. He seemed to be enjoying it as much as her, based on the loud moans that spilled from his lips.

Naturally, moans weren't the only thing that came from him as he made love to her so thoroughly that she lost track of time, space, and the danger of waking her neighbors. Words tumbled from his mouth in disjointed phrases that were uttered as moans and growls.

"Luce…damn…you feel so good…every bit of you surrounding me…shit…so tight…and soft…god I think I'm gonna lose my mind…never wanna stop…"

By now she was expecting the strange sexual verbal vomit, and it no longer weirded her out or flustered her. Instead, it just turned her on and she moaned in response and met his frantic thrusts.

When she tilted her hips in a certain way, he slammed into her at an angle that sent a burst of sensation through her, and fire melted through her veins with pleasure. Her insides lit up like fireworks had literally been set off in her vagina. The shock of pleasure fried her system and caused a sharp cry to come from her throat, which Natsu picked up instantly as a cue. His frenetic and slightly uncoordinated thrusting slowed just a hair and grew controlled as glittering eyes stared down at her.

"Like this?" he asked and thrusted, but missed the spot. He still ground down into a very sensitive and pleasurable place where he bottomed out inside her, but it wasn't quite the same as before.

She shook her head breathlessly and tilted her hips again, trying to find the angle that felt so good. When she did, her back arched and she hissed as he ground into her in a way that hit all the best places inside her… as if their bodies were built to fit together like that. At her reaction, a sharp-toothed grin spread across his lips, and he grabbed onto her hips to feel the angle she was tilted at.

"Got it…" he growled happily, and lifted her hips even more, making him rub even harder against the places that felt so good. She moaned and arched, flexing her hips in his grip and grinding up into him as he picked up his pace again.

A coil of heat started to tighten in her gut, and she never wanted it to end, even as her insides started to feel a little raw from the rough friction. That might have just been the burn from his penis though as he started to increase in temperature. The closer he got, the hotter he got, and soon it felt like she was being fucked by a furnace… but in a good way.

"Fuck Luce…I'm gonna…" he growled, his hips snapping so hard against her that it almost hurt. "I'm gonna come…fuck you feel so good…can't stop…"

At that point Lucy actually spared a thought to be worried if he would catch the bed on fire with the heat coming off him in blistering waves, but any worries were wiped from her mind as his mouth landed over hers and he orgasmed. It was impossible to miss, considering that he roared into her mouth and she had to swallow a massive amount of fire – which thankfully he poured into her and not into the room – and then she felt his hips tighten and press against her as he came. That same blast of heat that she remembered from last time assaulted her, and she yelped as flames abruptly caressed her skin…flames that were particularly potent where they were connected. They licked her inside and out, and she was helpless but to get tossed headfirst into her own orgasm, which took her so completely by surprise that she let out an embarrassingly loud sound and gripped him tight with legs and arms.

They locked together for a long moment as they rode out their waves of spasms and pleasure, and then they both went limp at the same time and Natsu nearly smothered her. He collapsed on top of her but didn't withdraw from inside…. instead, he just snuggled into her neck and kissed her, much weaker flames already licking her skin.

The scent of smoke made her groan though, and she mumbled, "Natsu…you better put out whatever you set on fire."

With a huff, he pushed himself up, and started patting vigorously at various spots on the bed – all without detaching from her somehow – and then when he was done he flopped back down on top of her.

For a long moment they lay there intertwined, catching their breath, and Lucy was just about ready to shove him off and attempt to sleep when a slow thrust startled her into sucking in a deep breath. Blinking open bleary eyes, she stared up at him as he pushed himself back up.

"What are you doing?"

He grinned. "Ready for round two?"

It took her a long moment to process the question. "But you just came!"

"So? I'm a dragon, I can choose when to get an erection. I can keep it up as long as I want."

Once again she was left gaping at him and wondering what she'd gotten herself into.

---

Author's Note and Sneak Peek:

Yes, that really did just happen. ;D

I hope everyone enjoyed it and that it made up for all the heartache last chapter. I know it made me feel better. *smirk*

Anyways, here's your sneak peek (I just couldn't resist commenting after a scene like that, lol)

Sneak Peek

When his hand started sneaking over her belly, aiming downwards, she instantly grabbed his wrist in a tight grip. "No sir. No hanky-panky this morning. I need a little more time to recover."

He whined and nipped at her, but let his hand go limp against her stomach. After a long pause that made her think that he might have gone back to sleep – he suddenly sat up with bright eyes. "Okay then… if you're too tired to do that right now, how about we do the mating ceremony instead?"