Author's Note:
Another double-chapter! Yay! And yes, I did post at night again. My bad. *sad face*
Anyways, as always, a HUGE MEGA-MASSIVE, thanks to all my fantastic wonderful lovely reviewers out there. Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: Missy 63, Syfenos U, stranger1999, Anna5949, WisdomDragon27, TheJSmooth, Ksta, Alice, Firefly9917, FantasyDreamer06, valerioux, loopymama, Wolves silver wind, Lucinda, ravenqueen162, KitsuneLover05, Leomae2.0, thetrywriter, Daisy73, Lady La-sara, SunnieDayss, TitaniumRaven, and Serika2001! Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: quidditchChick6 and Surfy!
I hope you all enjoy this chapter just as much as the last. ;D So on with the show! And stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter!
For hours, Lucy and Natsu made love.
They took turns being on top and flipped around into all sorts of interesting positions…some of which simply did not work. After the first couple of rounds though, Natsu ended up on top and pretty much stayed that way…since Lucy had already burned through all her energy and plainly told him that if he wanted to continue, he was doing all the work. That suited him just fine of course.
Somewhere along the line, she started to wonder if he wasn't a damn bunny instead of a dragon, because certainly he had the energy of one.
He kept at it, alternating between a slow sweet rhythm and a hard fast pounding as he made love to her in every way possible, while Lucy was mainly dragged along for the – extremely enjoyable, if exhausting – ride. It was also an incredibly noisy ride, because Natsu was never silent. It was almost humorous in a way, and certainly had its awkward moments thanks to her boyfriend's utter lack of tact. However, once she got accustomed to it, Lucy mostly just enjoyed his commentary as it followed the tempo of his hips… going from sweet and loving to heated and almost harsh.
Every time he orgasmed, it sent her into one, and by the end she had lost count and was so completely worn out that she couldn't even move. He only stopped because she couldn't take any more…which she told him in no uncertain terms and threatened to banish him to the couch if he didn't cease and desist. By that point, even he was somewhat satisfied, so he didn't fight her on it and happily cuddled instead.
It was already past dawn when she called it quits, and so they ended up sleeping late into the next day. When she finally woke, she was sore in ways she didn't even know she could be sore and was absolutely ravenous.
Natsu was predictably wrapped around her in every way possible. Judging by the way he was nuzzling her neck, she suspected that he was awake, and murmured, "Good morning…" in an exceptionally croaky voice.
He hummed, confirming her suspicion, and responded with, "Mornin' Luce."
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?"
She blinked up at him, startled by his sudden enthusiasm. "Um…can we have breakfast first?"
"Sure! And then I'll go get the stuff."
As they tumbled out of bed, she asked, "Stuff?"
"Yeah, there are some relics that we need to complete the ceremony."
"Oh…okay then."
With Natsu's eagerness, it wasn't surprising that breakfast was a whirlwind of food – leaving a pretty amazing mess for her to clean up later. She got started on it while Natsu poofed back to the celestial realm to get this "stuff" that he needed for the mating ceremony. To be honest, she still wasn't sure what all went into the mating ceremony, or what it would mean for them after it had been completed, and she had some important questions that needed to be asked before they started. She had wanted to ask during breakfast, but he'd been so busy stuffing his mouth that she hadn't had a chance.
So, when he reappeared with a wisp of smoke and sparks – a small ancient-looking box in hand – she immediately zeroed in.
"So, uh…what exactly is this mating thing that we're going to be doing? I know you said it will help you stay in this world even if you run out of magic by using me as your anchor…but how does it work exactly?"
"Being able to stick around without magic is only a neat side effect." he responded with a broad grin.
"Um, a side effect of what exactly? You haven't really told me what becoming 'official mates' means. I thought I was already a dragon's mate?"
"You are. But you aren't technically my mate yet, because we aren't officially bonded. This is kinda like… marriage I guess? Till death do you part and all that?"
"Wait, wait, wait…so this is the dragon version of getting married?!"
"Yeah…. duh." He gave her a look that said he thought she was a little slow.
It took her a long moment to wrap her mind around that. Sure, she had thought about the possibility of getting married someday, but she'd never once thought that it would happen like this. Or…did it even count as them getting married? If it was the dragon version of marriage, would that mean that she should consider them as married after? Or could she still think of him as her boyfriend? Would Natsu think of them as married? How would that change their relationship? So many questions bounced around in her head that she didn't even know where to begin.
"Okay…um…and yesterday you said it was forever?" she finally asked weakly.
"Yep. After this, we'll be tied together for the rest of our lives!"
Her head suddenly got a little dizzy, and she almost felt like she needed to lie down. This was going so fast…way too fast. Was she ready to make a commitment like this? To get married basically, but with absolutely no way out? Not that she'd ever want a divorce or anything like that, but still…the idea of not having that option was kind of scary.
Anxiety coiled in her stomach, almost making her feel nauseous, but then her eyes latched onto Natsu – who was busy fussing with his ancient box. The opening mechanism was some sort of puzzle, with latches and sliders all over the place, and he wasn't making very quick headway against it. In fact, she was mildly shocked that the box wasn't broken yet after all the yanking, twisting, and clawing that it was currently enduring. He was obviously getting aggravated with it, based off the vibrant language he was spitting under his breath and the little curls of flame that sparked from his nose every now and then.
Strangely, the sight was soothing, reminding her that this was Natsu…the silly, dorky, impatient, caring, and loyal man that she'd fallen in love with. Her heart cranked tight and then melted, answering her previous question. Yes, she was ready. Natsu was her best friend, the love of her life, and - in all honesty - she was positive that he was her soul mate. It might be cheesy as hell, but she truly believed that it was true. She just couldn't imagine her life without him, and frankly didn't want to.
That didn't mean she wasn't still a little nervous about it all, or that she wasn't going to ask more questions though.
"So…after we do this, are you going to consider us married?"
"Huh?" He glanced up from the box and shot her a confused look. "I guess…why?"
"I'm just wondering how this is going to change our relationship. I mean…I honestly don't know if I'm ready to think of you as my husband…it just feels a little weird."
When he frowned, she hurried to say, "Not that I don't want to get married someday! I do! But…it just feels so soon you know? I mean…we've only been dating for a few months…"
"Technically it's been a lot longer than that, but you were in a coma for most of it so…" He said it in a joking tone, but the words were laced with a lot more than just light-hearted banter.
"Oh. True."
There was a slightly tense pause, but then Natsu perked up. "You worry too much Luce! Nothing's gonna change. I've been thinking of you as my mate from the start. Hell, probably even longer than that. The ceremonial shit just makes it official."
"But…that "ceremonial shit" seems pretty important to you." Lucy pointed out, air-quoting his words back at him.
"Well sure. I've been wanting to do it since I first realized I loved you. It permanently ties us together and means I can always be with you. But it's not gonna change the way I feel about you… or anything else really."
He was giving her that look again…the one that said he wasn't sure what the problem was and that this should all be obvious.
"So is it okay if I still think of you as my boyfriend?"
"Sure. Boyfriend, mate, partner, whatever. I don't care. And whenever you're ready to get married, we can do that too."
He shot her a brilliant smile, and any lingering doubts she may have had melted away. After this, she knew that their relationship would be different, but different in a good way. Stronger. And like he said, it didn't have to affect the way they thought and felt about each other. So, she watched quietly as he returned to figuring out how to open the box. Nerves settled in the pit of her stomach, but they were happy nerves… like lots of joyful caffeinated butterflies had taken up residence inside her.
After a little wrangling, he finally managed to break into the box and pulled out a necklace. Then he turned to her with bright excited eyes, and his enthusiasm was contagious.
"You ready?"
"Yeah. I am." she said back with a smile, one which he returned with just as much love and affection.
"Alright then! First…" he held out the necklace, which was just a rope really, upon which dangled a large stone. She ducked her head so he could slip it onto her neck.
"There, that will let you come to the celestial realm with me."
"Wait, wha-"
She didn't get to finish the sentence, because he was already wrapping his arms around her, and then fire suddenly filled her vision. It felt strange, like she was being squeezed through a very tiny tube, and then the pressure released with a pop.
She gasped and wobbled, feeling a little dizzy and weak. Her legs gave out and he grabbed her, lifting her bridal style into his arms.
"Woah, easy there. Come on, let's get you inside."
Through blurry eyes, she noticed the courtyard they were in, and then he was carrying her through the front door of a beautiful stony cottage that was growing out of a huge tree. He laid her on a hammock, and then turned to start fiddling with something he had set up in the middle of the floor.
Once her head stopped spinning, she gingerly lifted up onto her elbows to test it, and when the dizziness stayed away, she risked looking around at her surroundings. She was in a large room and didn't notice any doors that would indicate other rooms branching off this one. A big round window perched above the door they had entered through, and several large square windows perforated the walls, letting in lots of light. They appeared sunken into the walls, but a closer look at the nearest one showed that there was also a deep lip of rock on the outside, which suggested that the walls had to be at least a couple feet thick.
The thick stone walls and stone floors might have given the room a claustrophobic or prison-like feel, but it was actually homey and cozy instead. A cushy looking couch sat across from her against the opposite wall, a small table parked in the middle of the room, and the fish-shaped welcome mat that Happy had given him for Christmas was displayed proudly just inside the door.
What really caught her attention though, was the tree that had completely taken over one wall, somehow growing into, around, and out of the stone. It almost looked like the tree had eaten that wall. Where any stone survived, it was cracked and held together by the plant that had broken it, but very little had survived and that side of the room was mostly walled by rippling black bark. It was beautiful actually, glossy and shiny… almost like glass or melted rock. Just based off the look of it, she got the distinct feeling that this tree was probably fire-proof.
Roots from the tree spread throughout the room, crawling in between the cobblestones of the floor, creeping across the ribbed ceiling, and decorating the walls with coils and curlicues. Some hung from the ceiling and had been wrangled into rough baskets and nets that held various things. A single thick branch had poked through the ceiling and then out the other side, which was what Lucy's hammock was hanging from, and smaller branches coming off it sported shiny green leaves.
It was actually beautiful and really made the room seem magical…like something from a fairy tale.
However, the room itself was also incredibly messy. Clutter piled up in the corners, seemingly shoved there absentmindedly to be forgotten. Clothes also lay in heaps and strewn across the room, and Lucy could easily see that a lot of the clothes were pairs of familiar trousers and vests. She also recognized a few other garments that Natsu had worn from time to time – usually when she suggested it. A roughhewn candelabra – made out of what looked like an old carriage wheel – had a pair of boots dangling from it that she was positive were the ones he had worn on their double date with Gray. But the majority of the presumably dirty clothes were copies of the outfit he seemed most fond of.
This was very obviously Natsu's house, and somehow she wasn't even the tiniest bit surprised that it looked like a disaster zone.
"You need a maid." she joked as she sat up fully in the hammock.
He turned at the sound of her voice and shot her a grin. "If you're offering, I wouldn't turn ya down."
She snorted. "Be careful what you wish for."
After a moment of thinking and staring around at the mess, she conceded. "But if you plan on inviting me here a lot, then I probably will have to tidy it up. Because holy shit, did a bomb go off in here or something?"
"Nope. Just me." he replied with an innocent grin, and she burst out laughing.
"Well that's plenty. Even worse than a bomb actually."
Once she'd stopped chuckling, he grinned happily and asked, "So, I guess you're feeling better?"
She nodded. "Yeah, my head's stopped spinning."
"Then why're you still over there? Com'ere!"
She carefully got to her feet – waiting to see if the dizziness returned – and when it didn't, she padded over to see what he was doing. He had set up a very complicated looking magic circle on the floor and gestured for her to come sit with him in the center.
"You ready to continue?"
She nodded again and said, "Sure. What's first?"
"First we gotta make our mate mark."
"What's a mate mark?"
He rolled his eyes at her. "You're gonna be asking questions the whole time aren't ya?"
"Unless you want to explain it all up front." she answered with a beatific grin.
With a sigh, he picked up an orb that had been sitting next to him on the ground. "Alright, here's the deal. We're both gonna hold onto this thing, then we're gonna kiss and I'm gonna give you a bunch of fire. The ball will absorb magic from both of us and use my fire as fuel to make a seal. Then you and I will use the seal to make a mate mark on our bodies, wherever we want it, and the ceremony will be complete. The mate mark is a magic circle that'll combine our magic and bind us together forever. Sound good?"
She blinked at the fast and somewhat rough explanation, but thought she'd pretty much gotten the gist of it. "Uh, yeah, I think I got it."
"Cool! Alright. You hold it, and I'll put my hands over yours, kay?"
She nodded and accepted the orb from him, cupping it in her palms, and his hands covered hers so that they were both holding it.
"Great! Now, I've just gotta kiss you. You ready?"
She looked up from the globe and met his glittering eyes with a smile. "Yeah."
He leaned in and sealed his mouth over hers, kissing her gently for a moment, but quickly deepened the contact and started to feed her his fire. It was a slow burn that gradually increased in intensity, but soon Lucy felt like she was melting – in a good way – as the fire built up inside her. The sensation was certainly familiar, especially after all the flames she had swallowed last night, but somehow it grew even more blistering than she remembered it ever being before. Perhaps the orb was affecting his fire somehow, or he was intentionally using a more potent flame…. but whatever the case, she soon felt like she was going to spontaneously combust.
She groaned into his mouth, panting heavily through her nose as his flames seemed to reach all new heights within her. The heat was so intense that she tried to pull back for a moment, just to catch her breath, but his tail snuck around her body and held her to him tightly. At that, she whined a little, squirming to try and ease her discomfort…feeling both way too hot and also way too aroused.
The experience certainly wasn't unpleasant…just incredibly intense and a little overwhelming. After last night, she felt extremely sensitive to his fire – even more than usual, which was saying a lot – and with this much flowing through her she could feel her body becoming very receptive. A lot of that heat had settled low in her belly and was causing all sorts of interesting reactions even lower…making her thighs press together in a way that really didn't do much of anything, but still relieved some of the building tension.
She almost forgot what they were doing, but when her hands tried to move from the orb – intending to grab him and pull him closer – his hands kept hers in place.
Eventually the flames and magic seemed to reach some kind of peak, and with a gasp on both of their parts, they separated. Lucy mindlessly followed his gaze to look down at the sphere in their hands and watched in amazement as it swirled bright with fire. The blaze within it seemed to be moving, morphing, until it eventually settled into one shape. It looked like a medallion of some sort and slowly floated up through the sphere – which seemed to turn into jelly at the top to allow it to emerge. Natsu released the globe and plucked the medallion out of the top. Once it was removed, the sphere rehardened, and Natsu took it out of her hands and placed it into a box that he sealed.
"So, what's that?" she panted, gesturing at the medallion he was still holding.
"This? This is the seal that'll give us our mate marks. See?"
He flipped it so that she could see the other side, and she immediately noted a raised symbol that prominently took up the entire circular surface. It was a magic circle… a very fancy one made of flames that had a stylized dragon's face in the center. Celestial symbols marked it at regular intervals around the edges, and interwoven with everything was the star that always appeared in her summoning spells. It perfectly combined their magic, and she didn't think she'd ever seen a more beautiful magic circle in all her time as a mage.
"It's beautiful…"
He grinned and seemed to puff up a little with pride. "Yeah…it sure is."
"So, uh…what do we do with it?"
"Pick where you want our mate marks to be. Then I'll 'brand' you with the seal and –" At her horrified look, he quickly amended. "Not like that! It's not gonna hurt! It'll just be like when you got your guildmark!"
"Oh, okay…" she breathed with a sigh of relief.
"Anyways, like I was saying before you got all freaked out…" She rolled her eyes at his pointed pause, and he grinned. "…you pick where you want it, and I'll fix it to you. A matching mark will appear on me in the same place."
She contemplated it for a moment. Considering the importance of the symbol, she figured it should be somewhere visible…like their guildmarks. Speaking of, she decided it would be good to have their mate mark in a place that would complement their guildmarks, considering that the two magical tattoos would probably be coexisting on their bodies for the rest of their lives. So that meant… either their left arm or the left side of their neck. Both those places were visible and complimented the mark on Natsu's right shoulder and Lucy's right hand.
"What do you think about our left shoulder?"
A brilliant grin lit his face. "Sounds good to me!"
So saying, he turned her so that her left shoulder was facing him, and then pressed the medallion to her skin. There was a tingle, and then suddenly it felt like all the fire that he'd just pumped into her had been channeled into her shoulder, which started to burn viciously – but not hurt. She yelped, and Natsu hissed as he assumedly felt the same sensation on his shoulder. It only lasted for a few moments, and then the medallion disappeared in a flash of fire. When she looked down to where it had been pressed, a glowing tattoo remained behind.
That wasn't the only thing left behind though. Lucy could clearly feel how their magics were intertwining within her, and somehow knew that the same thing was happening in Natsu's body. It was like she could sense him in a whole new way…as if his scent had suddenly become a thousand times stronger, and she was smelling him loud and clear for the first time. Only, it wasn't his smell that she was picking up, and it wasn't her nose that was doing the sensing. It was something much more integral to him… as if their very essences were tangling and letting her feel him soul to soul.
It was intoxicating.
A deep shuddering breath and blast of heat from her partner was the only warning she got before he pounced on her. She huffed as she fell backwards under his weight, and the back of her skull slapped into his palm as he stopped it from hitting the floor.
Heated lips brushed hers as he muttered, "Sorry Luce, I know you're still sore, but…"
"…it's okay." she whispered back and didn't hesitate to grab his head and pull him closer.
Fire once again spilled down her throat, and she sighed into it, feeling pleasure akin to drinking water after being thirsty for what felt like forever. The kiss was bruising, and his tongue was unapologetic as it set up shop in her mouth, which she welcomed wholeheartedly.
Clothes came off in a flurry, but she couldn't be worried about potentially losing hers amongst his mess. Getting down to skin contact was much more important and consumed all her thoughts as she gasped into his mouth. She barely even protested when her bra met a fiery end… not when that same fire licked her breasts.
It was less than a minute before Natsu's hips had wedged between her thighs and he was already sliding inside. Thanks to the scorching kiss that had created their mate mark, she was plenty wet and the entry was easy. Her insides still twinged with leftover soreness from last night though, and so she winced a little as he slammed home.
"Sorry…" he hissed, noting her pained response with a flinch of his own. "I'll be more gentle."
"Yeah. Good idea…" she huffed back, but laughter threaded her tone.
They shared a grin, but it was broken on a groan as he started to move. The pace he set was gentle and slow, which drove them both a little nuts, but was necessary.
As for Natsu, he could barely restrain himself from fucking her senseless.
He'd known the mating process would combine their magic and connect them in some sort of intense way…but he'd never expected it to feel like this. It was like their magic…no, even deeper than that…. it felt like their souls were having sex. Literally. A piece of him was permanently inside of her now, and a piece of Lucy was now part of him.
The feeling was nearly enough to drive him up the wall crazy, so keeping a slow pace was almost impossible. But he'd seen her reaction to his first thrust and knew she must still be sore from last night. To be fair, it was possible he'd overdone it a little…but he'd just been so damn excited about making love to her for the first time that he couldn't stop. Especially after being parted for so long.
This new connection between them was the perfect medicine for that though, because the aching loneliness that had made him feel cold inside – which was NOT a fun feeling for a fire dragon – was now completely washed away by the warmth of Lucy. It was like the part of her that had entered him perfectly filled that empty spot, and now he felt whole and happy.
He had unexpectedly lied to her, because his feelings had changed after the mating ceremony. There was no way in hell he'd ever thought he could love her more, but that's precisely what had happened. Go figure. He kinda didn't think she'd mind too much though, or at least he hoped she wouldn't mind…but Lucy did sometimes think some pretty weird things from time to time. Still, even if she did get mad at him for it, he couldn't help himself. It just felt too awesome.
Even going slow ended up being kinda nice, because it forced him to feel every little sensation, and was almost more intense than mindlessly pounding away at her. Soon he was enjoying the insane tension winding tight between them, and definitely loved the way that Lucy was grinding her teeth and digging her nails into his back. It was obvious she wanted a harder pace too, and that she was frustrated by her own body holding them back. Maybe it was a little mean of him to enjoy the fiery look in her eyes driven by frustration and need, but he just couldn't help himself. It was too sexy and funny at the same time.
"Damnit Luce…you're so fucking hot when you get like this…so damn cute and funny too…I love watching you…sh-shit…" He stuttered a little and moaned when she twisted her hips.
She growled, impressing him with the sound, and then snarled, "Natsu…"
It was a demand, plain and simple. He'd heard her plenty last night, and by now he knew when she was asking for more, but he couldn't resist playing with her.
"Yeah… just like that… all angry and needy… it makes me wanna fuck you so bad…"
She choked, flushing the way she still did when he said something that surprised her a little, but he could tell that she was turned on by it too. Which was good, cause he sure as hell couldn't control what came out of his mouth when he was having sex with her. If she didn't like it, they'd have a serious problem.
"Then do it! Fuck me already!"
Lust stung him in the butt and shot up his spine, making him shudder. It had taken a while, but she'd started to talk back – a little – late last night. It never failed to turn him on, to a ridiculous degree, and he had a hell of a time keeping himself under control.
"Luuuce…" he groaned back, not ashamed at all by the whiny, nearly begging, note in his voice. "You're the one who's sore…and I don't wanna hurt ya."
She sighed and her eyes softened. "I know…"
At that point, things shifted between them, and he was happy to go slow and gentle. She seemed happier with it too, as they switched from nearly fucking – at an enragingly slow pace – to making love. He liked both ways, and last night he'd shifted between them more times than he could count. Fucking felt amazing, hard and fast the way he always liked things, and it was the best way to burn off his never-ending lust for her…. but making love was just as amazing. Above and beyond everything else, he loved her…and thoroughly enjoyed showing her just how much.
The touches got a lot softer, but the intensity stayed the same. His fire burned just as hot as it spilled out of his mouth into hers, and her moans were just as arousing. The way she sounded when he made love to her was almost pretty…or at least a lot prettier than the noises he got when he fucked her. She switched from being demanding, bossy, and loud to humming quietly into his mouth. Even when he pulled louder sounds from her, they were still sweet somehow…higher pitched and full of a lot of cooing and sighing.
Of course, he loved any sound of pleasure that came from her.
And naturally, his mouth didn't stop running either, but what came out of it was a lot nicer too. As always, what he said came directly from what he was thinking, and when he made love to her he was generally thinking a lot of loving things.
"How'd I ever get someone like you…?...damnit Luce…you're so perfect…love you so much…too much…never gonna let you go…. you're my life, ya know?... shit… Luce…feels amazing…. never wanna stop…."
Aaaaand his brain was quickly turning to jelly.
After a while, he just stopped thinking completely. And naturally, the stuff he was saying also changed, shifting to whatever his body was feeling – which meant there was a lot of, "…so soft…silky…feels so good…" and stuff like that.
Which was true. Everything about her was soft and silky, and he just couldn't get enough of it. He was drunk on her and sure as hell never wanted to sober up. Everything about her was perfect…the way she gripped him with her soft thighs, the way her arms wrapped tight around his neck to keep him right where she wanted him, the way her insides felt wrapped around him like a silk glove, the way her lips clung to his…. he was a goner.
He tried to make it last, mainly because it felt amazing and he never wanted it to end…but a dick was a dick, and it could only take so much. So, once he felt that familiar tightening in the balls and tingling in the spine, he figured there was no going back. Even Lucy seemed to know it was coming, because she arched up and clamped tight – in a way that said she wanted him to finish. With a full-body shudder, he obeyed her silent demand and fell headfirst into an orgasm.
Unlike last night, he didn't have to worry about setting anything on fire – not that he'd been the one worrying about it anyways – but still, he'd held back a little. Now though, he let the fires out completely, and Lucy moaned even loader than usual through her own orgasm as she was bathed in it. Natsu moaned too. He'd never get over how beautiful she looked covered in the flickering red, gold, and orange lights of his flames, and the sight sent him into some pretty intense aftershocks.
Her orgasms always seemed to last longer than his – based off how long he could feel her contracting around him – but feeling, seeing, and hearing her cumming never failed to give him waves of pleasure long after the first burst. Her squeezing always led to him pulsing, and it went back and forth and back and forth in some kinda weird amazing thing…. up until they both collapsed.
Doing this with her always felt magical – not that he generally thought those sorts of sappy thoughts, but in this case it felt warranted. It was always mind-blowing, no matter how many times they did it, and every time seemed somehow better than the last.
…
After, they lay curled up together, though they had relocated to the couch since the floor turned out to be rather hard.
As they rested, Lucy absentmindedly ran her fingers across the new marks on Natsu's body…having already grown familiar with them after all the time spent naked together within the past 24 hours. His fight with Acnologia had left him with a jagged mark crawling up from his neck, over his jaw, and across his right cheek a ways. He also now sported a set of claw marks crisscrossed in the shape of an X low on his abdomen above his left hip.
After a while of tracing the scars she could see, she asked, "How's your wing? Did it heal up okay?"
He was partially asleep but cracked open one eye at her question. Then he grunted and shifted under her, rolling first one way and then the other as his wings popped out for examination. For once, he was apparently not in the mood to talk.
The wing that hadn't been injured curled over her in an alien hug, but the one she'd asked about stretched out so she could look at it. She partially sat up and grabbed his wing, manipulating it gently so she could see the webbing that had been ripped so badly. To her relief, it had completely healed up, but several pale scars now marred the red leather. Her fingers gently traced the marks, just as they had done across the rest of his body, almost in a silent apology.
With a sigh, she lay back down – to the sound of a contented purr-like rumble from Natsu – and both his wings tucked in and cuddled up against her, holding her like a second pair of arms. The unaccustomed texture felt a little strange on her bare skin, but it was so oddly adorable that she quickly acclimated. Plus, his wings were deliciously warm, and as she'd already noted, when his fire wasn't turning her on, it was incredibly relaxing and soothing.
Lazily, she petted another pale scar she noticed on the 'arm' of his wing, and then smoothed her fingers up it until she reached his shoulder. From there, she trailed her fingers back up his neck. His new scars certainly did nothing to diminish his attractiveness in Lucy's eyes, though she did have somewhat conflicted feelings about them. On the one hand, they reminded her of how hard he had fought to protect her and the rest of their guild, and in that sense they inspired pride and awe. However, they also reminded her of how much pain he had gone through.
As she traced the one over his cheek, she ran into the older scar that crossed his neck. That was still a mark that she knew little to nothing about, and her fingers lightly trailed over it curiously. It was pretty long, wrapping around from the back to the front, and suddenly she wondered what could have possibly made it. Now that she knew what it took to make a scar on his body, she realized that it must have very nearly been lethal.
It also brought up another question that she'd been meaning to ask him for a very long time – because she was sure the scar was somehow connected. "Hey Natsu? Why were you sealed away in the celestial realm?"
She could feel his body tensing under her, and for a moment worried that maybe she shouldn't pry, but then he relaxed and blew out a deep sigh. "It's a long story Luce…you sure you wanna hear it?"
"Yes…. But only if you don't mind telling it."
"Well…it's not fun to remember. But I wouldn't mind telling you. Really, it's probably something you should know about anyways." He huffed another sigh and paused for a moment, seeming to collect his thoughts. "Shit, I dunno where to start really. I guess I'll just get into it. Uh…my last mage pissed off this big organization called the church of Zentopia. They were a bunch of idiots who thought that magic was evil or something stupid like that."
When he paused again, Lucy interjected, "I've read about them in the history books. They were really powerful…up until they mysteriously disappeared several hundred years ago. The general consensus is that the Black Wizard Zeref wiped them out. Or else they wiped each other out, since Zeref kind of dropped off the map about that time too."
He snorted. "That's pretty true actually. 'Cept I'm the one who did the wiping."
Her mind went blank as she tried to absorb that information and figure out what it meant. "Sorry…what?"
"That's why I was sealed away. I did way too much damage and…probably killed a lot of people. I kinda didn't notice exactly whether they lived or died at the time."
"Okay, back up. Start over please, I'm totally lost."
"Right, so…like I said, Zeref pissed off Zentopia and-"
"Wait…Zeref? What does Zeref have to do with anything?"
He blinked at her like he was the one who was lost. "Um…he was my mage?"
At that, Lucy's mind once again went blank. "What?! ZEREF was your last mage?! The BLACK WIZARD?! That Zeref?!"
"Yeah, well… I never could figure out why people started calling him that but…what's the problem?"
"What's the problem?! You were contracted to the evilest, darkest mage of all time! Of course that's a problem!"
There was a long moment while Lucy partially sat up and stared at him aghast, and then Natsu busted out laughing. "Evil? Zeref? That's a good one Luce!"
"What the…? Why are you laughing? This isn't a joke Natsu, Zeref really was one of the worst mages in history. He caused a huge amount of death and destruction during his life… and his evil creations still cause death and destruction whenever one is unearthed."
His laughter slowly tapered off, and then he started to frown. "Damn…is that really what everyone thinks?"
Lucy nodded.
"Well it's not true. Zeref wasn't evil."
"Then how do you explain all of the terrible things he did?"
"Mostly it was by accident. He wasn't some sort of evil dark mage, he was just an inventor. Mind you, he was also a klutz, and a lot of his inventions didn't work the way he thought they would…but he never meant for them to go haywire and run around destroying stuff. Plenty of his creations did turn out right though! Like, he was the first one to come up with talking through lacrima crystals. And he made a spell to seal things up tight for years. And he…"
For a while he listed off various things that Zeref apparently did, and most of them Lucy recognized as accomplishments claimed by researchers affiliated with the Magic Council. Eventually, she just had to point that out.
"Um…most of that stuff was invented by people who work with the Magic Council."
He huffed. "Not surprised they'd take all the credit. Zeref worked for the Magic Council as one of their researchers, but they eventually fired him for causing too much trouble. And when he kept causing trouble, they labeled him a dark mage and he had to go into hiding…. But they still bought all his successful inventions."
Lucy could totally believe that. She'd seen some of the stupid bureaucracy present in the Magic Council and how corrupt and two-faced they could be at times.
"Anyways, so, he did make a bunch of stuff that worked…but whatever didn't work seemed to do it in a really BIG way. Part of what I did for him was take out whatever went AWOL."
Somehow, she had the feeling that Natsu probably did about as much damage as whatever it was that he was trying to stop. No wonder Zeref was supposedly responsible for so much chaos….
"But then he caught Zentopia's attention, and they were somehow convinced that he was some sort of demon. I mean, he did dabble in some demon magic from time to time, but nothing really bad. But anyways…they decided he was evil. So, one day they attacked…"
He paused again and his teeth audibly ground together as he tensed up. "I still dunno how they did it, but they had this weird magic that nullified all other kinds of magic. It took us by surprise, and they managed to capture him. They took me too, but the magic canceling spell eventually forced me back to the celestial realm. By the time I could open my gate again…Zeref was gone, and I couldn't summon to him thanks to that damn spell."
There was another break in his monologue as he took a deep shuddering breath. At this point, she could already see some similarities between this story and how she'd disappeared, and abruptly realized that he had probably suffered even more than she had imagined. It had to have brought up bad memories.
When he continued, his voice was even tighter. "I…went crazy. I couldn't sense him, but I knew he was alive somewhere…so…I went on a rampage. I transformed fully and hunted down every Zentopian church I could find, tearing each one apart looking for him, and when he wasn't there I would burn it to the ground. I…I don't even really remember how many people I hurt or…killed. I went through a lot of churches…probably took out most of them. Eventually I did find him, but it was nearly too late."
Another shaky breath wracked his frame, and Lucy hurried to hold him, curling back up on top of him and wrapping her arms around his back. "You don't have to tell me any more…it's okay."
"No I…I want to. It feels good to get it off my chest. And you should probably know what I'm capable of." He responded hoarsely, his arms wrapping around her tightly to lock her in place. His chin settled on top of her head, and she heard the rough note deep in his chest as he continued. "They'd… 'exorcised' him. Or at least that's what they said they were doing…but I dunno what the hell that was supposed to mean. As far as I could tell, it just looked like they'd tortured him to within an inch of his life. They'd also poisoned him with something that was sapping his magic. It would've killed him."
"How did you get past that magic canceling spell?"
"It wasn't easy. That's how I got this scar…" he touched the one on his neck that had sparked the conversation. "The guy who could use it drained me pretty good and then tried to lop my head off. Thankfully, I got him first."
She winced at the idea of someone trying to cut his head off and the mental picture of how bad a wound it must have been. "So then what happened?"
"I got Zeref home and found him a doctor that managed to cure the poison." He paused once again and heaved yet another long sigh – but this one sounded mournful. "When he woke up and found out what I'd done, he was horrified. He blamed himself, said it was just like one of his experiments gone bad, and vowed that he would never use magic again. But before he went into permanent hiding and stopped using magic, he sealed up all of his inventions that he hadn't already sold. And then…he sealed my gate shut."
"So that's how it got sealed…. But couldn't the Celestial King undo it?"
"He could've, but he decided that I'd caused too much trouble. It acted like a fail-safe… 'cause anyone who wasn't strong enough to open the seal probably couldn't keep me under control either."
"Oh." Lucy couldn't think of anything else to say about what she'd just found out.
For a long moment there was just silence between them, until she eventually found some appropriate words. "I'm so sorry Natsu. It … sounds like you really cared for him. I can't imagine how hard that all must have been for you."
"Yeah…. He was like a brother to me honestly."
"I can tell." she responded softly, almost able to taste the hurt and sadness in his tone.
They stayed curled up together for a long time after that as Lucy lent him silent support. Eventually though, he perked back up.
"So what do ya wanna do now?"
"Well…you could give me a tour of your home." she suggested after a moment of contemplation.
"Alright! Sounds like fun to me! I'm all fired up! Come on Luce!"
She was unsurprisingly yanked off the couch, and hastily managed to grab a random orange t-shirt to put on over her nakedness. It smelled like the ocean and Natsu's sweat, and she remembered when he'd worn it to the beach before they went to Tenrou Island. Of course it also smelled like a year's worth of dust.
"When was the last time you did laundry Natsu?!"
"Uh…." he trailed off as he tugged her to the back of the room. "I dunno."
"Oh for the love of…hold up Natsu." She tugged her hand out of his and looked around the room with her hands on her hips. "This just isn't going to do."
He watched with a cocked head as she started bustling around the room, gathering up all the clothing that cluttered every available space. She dumped it all into one HUGE pile, and then started to tackle the rest of his incredibly random mess.
"We're cleaning up this nonsense, or at least tidying a bit."
"We are? Right now?"
"Yes! Now pick up that dresser and put it back upright! We'll put all your clothes in there after they're clean."
He heaved a sigh, but obediently did what she demanded and lifted up the poor capsized furniture and propped it back up against the wall. For the next hour or so, Lucy sorted through the debris that had piled up, finding all sorts of crazy things like a training dummy with a picture of Erza taped to it, a seat made out of a rocking horse and a giant spring, what looked like possibly a voodoo doll, a bunch of random gears and cogs, old bags of food that he'd stolen from her house, and some really HUGE weights.
However, most of the clutter was just trash – which Natsu promptly disposed of with fire-coated hands. Then it was simply a matter of sweeping the ash out the door.
It took a little while, but eventually the small house was much tidier. Even Natsu was impressed.
"Wow Luce…" he said as they stood back and looked at their handiwork. "It looks really good! I'll have to bring you here more often."
She just snorted and shook her head at him in amusement.
After a minute of admiring the room, Natsu turned and pulled her with him to the back, where she'd noticed a set of stairs disappearing down into the floor.
"Where are we going?"
"Well, you wanted a tour right? Come on, let me show you the rest of my house."
"I hope it's cleaner than this room…" she grumbled to herself as she followed him.
The stone stairs went down into a steep hole-like hallway, and soon they had gone deep enough for the light to grow dim. Natsu spat little balls of fire to light torches along the walls as they descended. Soon they were emerging into a large underground room that was at least twice the size of the room above.
The tree had done a lot of redecorating down here too… mostly in the form of roots that lined the walls and hung from the ceiling. One entire wall was just composed of shelves that actually seemed to be made of roots, as if they had been wrestled, tied into knots, and forced into the shape. In that area, a lot of the hanging roots had also been braided and tied into baskets and nets. In fact, it looked like Natsu had taken objection to the roots entirely and had waged war on them, tying them up and wrangling them into enormous strands that Lucy had thought were pillars at first. The ceiling was high enough and the room was large enough that pillars wouldn't have been out of place. In fact, it was a pretty magnificent space, totally at odds with the cozy tiny room above.
The only furniture down here were hanging chairs that had been made out of roots just like everything else. They were pretty though and looked really comfortable. There was one large one that Lucy was pretty sure acted more like a hammock, but the others were smaller and basket-like.
Just like above, one wall had been completely taken over by roots – the one with all the root-shelves – and then they slowly thinned until they pretty much disappeared on the opposite side. That side was just stone, with what looked like large niches in the rock wall. Each niche was a different size and shape, as if Natsu had carved every space out specially to hold the item displayed inside. They each held something rather large and interesting looking: an entire suit of armor, a statue, a rack that held a series of fascinating weapons, a monstrously huge fang, a giant chunk of shimmering crystal, a carved log that looked like a totem pole, and other fascinating items that sparked Lucy's curiosity.
She was stunned by how neat and organized it all looked. The items were even labeled…a feat which she had thought impossible for her boyfriend.
Then her eyes traveled to the back of the room, and she stopped and stared. In the far back corner was a large sunken area, at least five steps down from the rest of the floor, and in the center of that space was a big circular pool of bright red bubbling liquid. For a long moment she gaped at the glowing pool and suddenly wondered just how different her perception of this room was from someone who wasn't a fire dragon's mate. If that really was what she thought it was…then this room should feel unbearably hot, and she should be in some serious discomfort and pain – if not dead. Instead, it just felt really comfortable…if maybe just a tad too warm.
"Hey Natsu?"
"Yeah?"
"Is that a pool of lava over there?"
"Oh! Yeah! Remember, I told you I took baths in lava? It's awesome, you should really try it."
"Uh…I don't think so."
Cringing a little, she turned away from the molten rock and focused on the shelves, nooks, pedestals, and hanging nets strewn throughout the whole room. Like with his niches, all the things on them and in them were neatly organized and carefully laid out. There were also pieces of paper tacked to the walls, again seeming neatly organized and put into some sort of order.
She approached the nearest shelf area and took a closer look. This one seemed dedicated to a very strange collection of extremely old looking artifacts. There was no discernable rhyme or rhythm to what got put here. Extremely valuable artifacts made of precious materials were put next to what looked like worthless junk. A jeweled goblet had been placed next to a broken bowl full of dirt. A delicate and impeccably crafted tapestry was tacked to the back of the shelf behind what looked like a necklace made of fangs. Some sort of ancient looking pottery was set next to a pile of rusty gears. Each item had a label though, so she read them hoping for some kind of insight.
Most of the labels had a location or some other random piece of information. Sometimes they were full-on notes to himself, but other times they were just a single word or name – like a big snake-skin that was simply labeled, "Zirconis." The tags told her that these things all had some sort of meaning, but not much about them. Still, they were fascinating, and she perused the shelves, admiring some of the prettier or intriguing things, wondering at some of the weirder things, and frowning at some of the incomprehensible things.
When she leaned in to look closer at a sapphire necklace, Natsu hurried to warn her, "Don't touch that, it's cursed."
She was quick to jerk back and was a lot more careful from then on about her proximity to the various items.
The first few shelves had labels that she wasn't at all familiar with, but as she traveled further down, she started to recognize some of the locations and names. By that point, if she had to wager a guess, she'd say that he had organized the items by date of acquisition, which she found quite interesting.
Eventually, she hit a very large section that seemed mostly dedicated to Zeref, which she naturally paid much closer attention to. A lot of the stuff looked broken and had weird labels. There was a shattered bottle that was labeled as, "Teeth Whitening…DON'T TOUCH," and a blackened crystal that said, "speaking lacrima trial #54 - still need to get that shard out of my shoulder." A broken flute said, "this was a terrible idea," and a pile of bricks was tagged as, "Hargeon. making a self-driving ship was stupid."
Pieces of paper lined the shelf-walls… what looked like requests, formulas, and loose notes, and several shelves were just taken up by stacked notebooks. She was awestruck by the amount of information here on such a historical figure, and her fingers almost itched to take notes. If only she could write a story about what really happened…but she'd probably be thrown in jail for publishing something so blasphemous. Especially since it would expose the Magic Council as part of a massive cover-up.
The shelves after those were almost sad in comparison. One shelf was empty except for a series of scratched marks defacing every available surface within it. None overlapped, but they weren't exactly neat either.
"Hey Natsu…what are these?"
"Oh…I decided to count the years I got stuck here." he said with a shrug, as if it was nothing.
Shocked, Lucy turned back to the shelf and started counting. Even skimming, she lost count around a hundred, and her stomach turned in sympathy.
There were still items of interest though, but they all seemed to be objects from the celestial realm. A hunk of golden orange hair was labeled, "Leo lost our bet." A golden bangle Lucy recognized as Aquarius's said, "she's gonna kill me" …. In fact, most of those items were mementos from other celestial spirits – some of which Lucy could recognize even without a name on the label. A pink wooly bra that was obviously Ares's just said, "strip poker." A pair of shackles simply said, "never again." Lucy was pretty sure they were Virgo's but she had a lot of questions about that one.
After perusing those shelves for a while, she finally got to a section in which she could pretty much identify every object. While the other shelves had been fascinating, these were downright amazing, surprisingly touching, and absolutely hysterical at times.
The very first item was a piece of Phantom Lord's walking castle, and she snorted with laughter at the label - "where I first met Looney!" She'd completely forgotten that it took him a while to remember her name.
Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of mementos from various missions. One of the first was a pillow stolen from the spa resort where they had apprehended the weird pervert twins. It must have been one of the causalities of their monster pillow fight, because it was totally smashed. Then there were some dried thorny roses labeled, "the lizard lady's house," …. although it took her a while to realize he probably meant the Gothicized mansion that Gekko Moriah had taken over. On the other hand, she didn't need any time at all to recognize the big chunk of broken lacrima that simply said, "Nirvana."
There were some items that could have been collected any time. Like the black pair of boxers labeled, "Ice Princess's stripping habit." However, most of the items were from a specific incident.
She was a tiny bit creeped out by the little pile of soil labeled, "Karen's grave dirt," even though she figured it was probably to commemorate when they freed Leo. She was also a bit disturbed by the two bloody studs labeled, "the piercings that got stuck in my knuckles…dumb metalhead" – which she could only assume must have been when Gajeel and he duked it out.
A pile of games took up so much space that Lucy was shocked he'd kept them, but she melted when she read the label, which said, "the games we played when Luce was sick." She suddenly felt all warm and fuzzy…remembering the time he had cared for her while she missed the Cherry Blossom Festival. Unsurprisingly, there were also a few items from the Summertime Games Fair, and one was a red scarf that additionally said, "she looked like fire!" After a second of thinking hard, she figured it must have been from the costume she wore in the Fairy Tail Pageant. Come to think of it…she had wondered why one side was missing a scarf the last time she took it out. There were also a couple of items from the Autumn Festival… like the baton from the relay race and a sock she had given up in the strip poker game.
Then there was the creepy note that had told them Juvia had been kidnapped. That one didn't need a label. Actually, it wasn't the only piece of paper up there. All the available space on the backs and sides of the shelves had been plastered with scraps of paper. They were all of the missions he'd been on, and several had notes pinned to them as well – like the one that had, "first mission as an official member of Fairy Tail!" scribbled on it.
Then she got to a section seemingly dedicated to her. There, she found the orange dress she'd worn on their first double date, all folded up, and she contemplated whether she should be angry that he'd stolen an article of clothing. After that was yet another pillow, and she started to wonder if she should tell him that it's generally not encouraged to take hotel pillows. That one was labeled, "where we said 'I love you' for the first time!" So she had to assume it was from the hotel they'd stayed at during that burlesque waiter/waitress gig.
She wasn't surprised in the least that he had pinned up the list he had written about how human relationships were supposed to proceed. He had also included a rainbow-stained paper cone from a shaved ice they'd shared on their first date. She was also unsurprised to see that he had nicked a crispy spa robe from the hot spring resort they had trained at for the S-Class Trials, though she couldn't tell if it was his or hers.
A movement to her side distracted her from looking at his collection, and she turned to watch as he pulled out a pair of undies from his pocket and carefully arranged them on a shelf. He grabbed a label from a nearby root basket and wrote something before putting the card on top of the panties. Curious, and pretty sure what it was he'd just done, she looked closer to see that he had indeed stolen the panties she had been wearing last night and labeled them, "from the first night we did it!"
Rolling her eyes, she gave him a look. "Really?"
He pursed his lips. "What?" When she just raised an eyebrow, he glanced back down at the stolen goods, before smiling in a way that said he'd just had a lightbulb moment. Reaching for the label, he scratched something out and rewrote it. After placing it back carefully on the scrap of silk, he grinned and turned to her. "Better?"
She glanced over to see that he had scratched out "did it" and replaced it with "made love." That really hadn't been her point…rather, she'd been contemplating whether or not to scold him for stealing her stuff, but after his alteration she had to admit that she found it more heartwarming.
"Okay fine…you can have them." she said with a chuckle and a sigh. "But how about from now on, if you want a piece of my clothing for your collection, ask me first."
He chuckled. "No promises."
She snorted in mildly exasperated amusement, before absentmindedly looked around, still amazed and shocked by everything she had seen. "This really is amazing you know…I had no idea you were so sentimental."
"I'm glad you like it." He sounded happy and relieved, and when she looked at him, the notion was confirmed by his bright eyes and smile. His expression also showed some deeper emotions that she couldn't quite identify, but she abruptly got the feeling that this was a much bigger deal to Natsu than she'd previously thought.
"What's up? You look like you were worried I wouldn't like it or something…"
He chuckled and flushed a little before awkwardly ruffling his hair. "Uh yeah…I guess I was a little. Nobody's ever seen this room before…so I had no idea how you'd react."
"Seriously? Nobody's ever been in here before?!"
"Nope. I'm pretty laid back for a dragon, but this is one place that I'm insanely territorial about. Of course, all dragons are super protective of their hoard."
"Hoard? You mean…like a treasure room?" she was momentarily surprised by the term, having read it before in books about dragons, but never really thinking that Natsu would have something like that.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"Huh…no kidding. So, do you generally let people in your house upstairs? Or are you territorial about that too?"
"I'm fine with friends coming into my house." He shrugged and grinned. "It's just down here that I'm weird about."
She nodded and made a humming sound in fascination. Now that she knew what this place really was, it suddenly made sense why everything was so much more organized and cared for, and she looked around again with a fresh perspective. It had been obvious that everything in here was important to him somehow, but it was even more blatantly apparent to her now. Plus, after seeing all the random things he kept from his time with her, she now understood why the previous shelves had been so mismatched. The piles of dirt were just as important to him as the gold and silver, because each item was valued as a precious memory.
All of a sudden, she felt incredibly honored and touched that he'd let her come in here. This room held hundreds of years of memories… almost like an oversized diary. As the owner of a very carefully guarded diary herself, she could sort of understand what he must be feeling. To think that he cared so deeply about her and trusted her so much made her heart squeeze nearly painfully in her chest.
"…thank you Natsu…" she whispered, almost feeling a little tearful now.
"Huh? Oh! Yeah, you're welcome!" he replied with a brilliant grin, and as usual, his sunny energy rubbed off on her.
Clearing her throat a little and wiping her eyes, she turned and looked around some more, even more curious about what this room held now. A section of wall that had been taken over by what looked like a map and tons of paper caught her eye, and she made her way towards it.
Noting where she was heading, Natsu suddenly started and said, "Oh right! I need to take that down now." He made a beeline for the wall and she followed, intrigued about what could have possibly taken up so much space in his treasured hoard.
As soon as they got within a certain distance of it though, Lucy abruptly realized what she was looking at and stopped dead in her tracks. All the feel-good emotions inside her drained away as she took in the sight of an enormous map, and coldness numbed her fingers.
It was the chart he had used while trying to find her and everyone else on Tenrou island.
The chart itself was massive, showing a blown-up view of just the sea where Tenrou Island was located and the shoreline of surrounding landmasses. From what she could tell, he'd kept it in sync with the chart she'd seen on the ship after being rescued, but this one was much more cluttered with information. It had markings all over it, and pieces of paper had been tacked up with notes and pictures.
He was already in the process of taking it down – probably to fold up and put on a shelf with a label – but she stopped him with a silent hand on his arm. He paused and glanced at her questioningly, but she just shook her head, and he backed off a little to let her look.
Looking at it was heartbreaking. She could easily see all of Natsu's pain, sadness, loneliness, desperation, and conviction to find her. Even his handwriting was different from the scribbles on all his labels… it was messier, more aggressive, and she could see where the tip of his pen had torn the paper more than once. Each section they had searched was crossed out, just like on the other chart, but his chart was much more beat up. Just from looking at the marks, she could read a progression of emotions. The early markings were just simple Xs crossing out the spots, but as they edged further out into the waters, the Xs turned into scratch marks. Those scratch marks got more and more aggressive as time went on, completely obliterating the searched areas much further out, and eventually they got so violent that the paper had started ripping. Then it seemed he had given up entirely on the pen, because at a certain point each spot that had turned up nothing was wiped off the map with a scorch mark, sometimes burning a hole all the way through the paper.
Very gently, she reached up and ran her fingers across the battered piece of paper, tracing all the violent marks… the lifted, torn up, shredded parchment, the crusty edges of scorch marks. Her palms and fingers felt all the physical representations of Natsu's pain, wishing she could somehow erase it.
Then she turned and looked at all the notes and other papers tacked up.
He'd kept things like the receipts for boat rentals and pamphlets to hire boat crews – most of which were scratched out and had notes scribbled across them like, "They wouldn't sail us out there either, the idiots!" and, "Why are sailors so damn superstitious?!"
He'd also tacked up news clippings. There were stories on Tenrou Island's disappearance, follow up stories on the ongoing investigation, and – much to her shock – articles about Jellal's release from prison. There were a lot of clippings about that…and by glancing at them, she could see that he had apparently blackmailed the Council into letting him go. Most of the stories portrayed him as evil and corrupt, but of course Natsu's notes on top of them showed Jellal's real motive.
One read, "Jellal contacted us, he's searching on land. No news so far."
No doubt he had forced his release to try and find Erza, despite knowing that it would permanently vilify him in the public's eye.
Then Lucy moved on from the newspaper clippings and focused more on Natsu's handwritten notes. They were mostly a log of anything interesting or new leads, which were then covered by notes saying it had been a dead end. Again, she could easily tell the early notes from the ones he wrote later on. The early ones were written in his normal handwriting, and they said things like, "found a promising lead today, a passing fishing boat said they saw a flash on the horizon at 12 oclock." And, "fish prices were good today, I got a good deal and restocked the ship's supplies for at least two weeks."
The later notes were all torn up, barely legible, and sometimes had stains that she wasn't sure she wanted to know the source of. The term 'blood, sweat, and tears' was perfectly applicable in this case it seemed. Some of the notes were barely holding together and looked like they'd been burned.
Mostly they read, "Another dead end." "Where the fuck are they?" "It's been months…what the hell is going on?" "How are they still alive?" "Why can't I sense her? We have to be getting close." Shreds of paper left on the wall showed places where notes had been ripped violently off, and glancing down, she could see a pile of them at the base of the wall. Squatting, she could see these were in even worse shape. Some were desperate pleas or prayers, like "Please, let me find her in time." Others were just simple statements of Natsu's condition. "I'm going fucking insane."
"I'm so sorry…" she whispered after a long moment.
"Geez Luce, don't cry…" Natsu said back just as softly, and turned her around so he could wipe her face. "It's all over now, and there's no way it can ever happen again now that we're mates."
"Yeah…" she sniffled, and let him pull her into a hug. His warmth helped to sooth her, and she cuddled into his embrace, sighing. "Everything's okay now."
"Mm-hm…" he hummed back and nuzzled her hair.
Sneak Peek
When they finally did return to the guildhall though, thankfully the teasing was minimal. That was probably because everyone was still too busy catching up to waste time on old news like Lucy and Natsu. If anyone was teased, it was the new couple, Bisca and Alzack.
It took several weeks for everyone to get up to speed on all the news and everything that had happened in their absence. There was so much information to absorb and so many things to do, that it kept them quite busy.
(Next chapter is such a mixed bag of stuff, this was literally the best summery I could find, lol. Sooooo, I'll give you an extra sneak peek into ONE of the things that happens)
In their absence, the leftover members of Fairy Tail had attempted to find out as much as they could about Tartarus. They'd managed to lay a groundwork of informants across the nation, but so far it had been incredibly quiet.
Of course now that Lucy was back, Natsu could do some more in-depth investigation into the matter using his contacts in the celestial world.