CHAPTER 28
Coffer
The treasure chest
Natsu groaned, a ragged breath pulling from his chest as he flopped down on the temple floor. He pulled at the bracers on his arms, unbuckling them with trembling fingers, "Ah, hell... damn it."
He got them off in a hurry and tore his tunic off, rolling back to sprawl over the icy marble floor to cool his feverish body. Natsu stared up at the starry ceiling before him, somewhat grateful for the inner peace of the sanctum so none of the priests or acolytes could see him in his current state. He had only recently become the Champion for the goddess, it wouldn't do for anyone to start doubting him.
Not that it mattered, they already were uncertain of him. He was the very first Champion but had never achieved priesthood. Natsu was far too impatient to sit still for the processions and studying required for the role, going instead for a more active role as a temple guard, then warrior, working his way up until he was able to compete for the honor as Champion.
No one could deny his faith and love for the goddess, there was no lacking of spiritual belief, but some people believed he was lacking as Champion. Not that he paid them too much mind anyway. The only one he didn't want to disappoint was the goddess, especially since she had selected him out of thousands of more qualified candidates. Or the people who looked to him for help.
There had never been a Champion selected by any god before. There wasn't a precedent for it, although people had expectations. Still, he was supposed to be serving as the Lady Lucy's avatar on the mortal coil.
Not be wrecked by a rough cough and sweating in a miserable ball on the altar floor.
Despite his elevated status, Natsu was still just a mortal, and he was just as prone to human weakness or illness. But his duties had called him out to offer aid to a nearby sea port during tsunami season, and now he was paying the cost for giving up his gear to more desperate families.
A ragged cough shook his shoulders and he rolled over to push his aching body up. Coming back from training had made him light headed, but there was still no excuse for him to be drooling like an idiot at the Lady Lucy's altar. If the High Priestess caught him, she was going to drag him around by the ears.
He froze at the sound of a footfall behind him and Natsu groaned, "Lady Spetto, I'm sorry I'm just heading to my room-"
A round of hard coughs drove him back down a couple of inches, his head throbbing from the exertion he was putting on his body. He shook his head to clear the black spots from his eyes.
"You will do no such thing." A soft voice he recognized instantly replied, and he blearily looked up to find him staring into the concerned eyes of his goddess, "Not under your own power anyway."
"My lady..." He croaked and struggled to sit up only for her to roll her eyes and gently push him back to the floor.
"You are utterly ridiculous my Champion." She grinned at him, "I think that's one of the reasons I like you so much. Now come on. I can't have you dying from pneumonia on me now."
She rested her hand against his chest and in the blink of an eye Natsu found himself tucked safely into his own bed with Lucy beside him. She grinned impishly at him and with a flick of her wrist had a fire going. She got up and dropped some kind of incense into the incensory on his personal altar for her, lighting it with the fire she'd created.
The smoke immediately soothed his aching head and fever, and he felt himself start to relax, "'S nice." He mumbled, "What is it?"
"An herb from the celestial realm." She replied as she put a kettle of water on to boil, "It'll help cleanse your spirit and strengthen you." She held up a fat packet of tea, "And this will do the same once you're healed." She sat back down next to him and opened up a jar of a sharp smelling paste that seemed to clear his head, "That was really ridiculous what you did you know. I appreciate you wanted to help, but I'd rather not lose you so soon Natsu."
She caressed a lock of hair out of his eyes and to his surprise began massaging his chest with the salve. When had he even lost his shirt? He couldn't remember, but found he didn't much care. The salve smelled good, and mingled nicely with the incense. And the massage was relaxing. He hadn't been taken care of like this since his mother had died, and it was a nice change.
Without meaning to he began to drift off, never noticing the way Lucy's hands sparkled with holy light as they worked, only smiling sleepily when she leaned over to kiss his forehead, "Rest now my Champion."
-::-
Natsu looked down at the can in his hand, shaking it for a moment before prying it open. It had a V-like symbol engraved on the lid, so Natsu knew it came from Virgo.
He grinned, glad he had trusted his nose and drew out the soft smelling herbs. Natsu's fingertips sparked on the herbs and he rolled them into a cone shape, breathing softly on the plant to encourage it to start smoking.
He put them in a gilded metal sphere, watching as the smoke drifted in pure streams out of the holes. He set it in the far corner of the room before he approached the bed where his captain was resting. Her eyes were closed, but Natsu knew she was awake. There was no way he could have taken her by surprise in her own chambers, even while injured.
Natsu scooted up next to her and settled his warm hand over her forehead, brushing her bangs from her face.
"Incense?" Lucy asked softly, not bothering to open her eyes.
"It helps clear my thoughts, calms me down a bit," Natsu grinned, watching her lips twitch. He slowly drew his hand away, "Figured it would be nice for you since you're probably sore as all hell."
"I can't say you're wrong. Relaxing is a good remedy for that," Lucy laughed quietly back at him.
She opened her eyes, such soft brown ones that Natsu felt something in his gut wrench and melt. He dropped an elbow onto her bed so his fist could support his chin.
"You saved my life Captain," He grinned wryly, "Again. You ever going to get tired of doing that?"
"Maybe if you stop jumping in the way of attacks obviously meant for me," Lucy retorted, but didn't hide her wink, "We can call it even."
Natsu snorted and shook his head, but Lucy abruptly grabbed his forearm with such force that he froze.
"Natsu I need you to be very honest with me," Lucy gave him an urgent glare.
He bobbed his head once, a little afraid based on the seriousness of Lucy's look alone.
"How long did it take for you and Juvia to beat up Jackal?" Lucy demanded.
Blinking, Natsu cocked his head at her, unsure of the relevance. He shrugged and cleared his throat, "Uh, I don't know? A couple of minutes? Not long at all after we realized you threw him in the water."
Lucy clapped her hands together and smirked with victory, "Yes, I win! Gotta remember to collect from Gray!"
"You made a bet with Droopy Drawers on how long it'd take us to deal with Jackal?" Natsu asked in amusement, "Seriously?"
"You're surprised?" Lucy asked cheekily, "We're pirates after all."
Natsu burst into laughter and conceded the point with a nod, "So how much did you win?"
"Just the usual fifty jewel." Lucy grinned, "Honestly, I don't even spend it. I just keep it in a pouch for our next bet. I'm pretty sure he does the same."
Natsu laughed again, "I'll have to get in on that next time." He grinned, "Sounds like fun!"
Lucy nodded and winced as she reached over to get a sip of tea.
"How're you feeling?" Natsu asked, his expression sobering at the sight of her pain.
"I hurt everywhere." Lucy groaned as she sank back into her pillows, "Your sister was able to patch me up easily enough, but she says there's only so much she can do at a time to help the bruises and strains along." She sighed, "At least it means I'll be back on my feet properly in a few days instead of weeks."
"That's a mercy." Natsu breathed, and hesitated, "I... don't suppose you heard about me being acting cap'n?"
Lucy nodded and smiled, "I heard. I'm glad. I trust you to take care of the ship and crew while I get better. Thank you."
Natsu smiled back, the tension bleeding from his body at her easy acceptance, "So, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Besides what you already are?" Lucy asked wryly, "Not unless you have a masseuse hidden in your shirt or something."
Natsu barked out on a laugh, his eyes glowing with mischief, "As it turns out, I do have a masseuse in my shirt!"
Lucy raised an eyebrow at that and Natsu arched a saucy eyebrow at her, "What? it's true!" He laughed at her disbelief, "You don't believe me? Even if I didn't have a crazy amount of sisters in my nest, I'll have you know my sister and brother under the sea outright demanded I learn."
"How does that work exactly with tails?" Lucy asked, but more believing now.
"Hey, our fins get sore same as your feet," Natsu grinned and crooked his fingers, "Now c'mere Luce and roll over. Your acting Captain is going to take care of you so he doesn't have to bark orders anymore."
"Awww, you're only giving me a massage because you don't want to be in charge?" Lucy teased, but slowly rolled over onto her stomach obligingly. She was glad she was wearing something lighter this time and hoped Natsu would be able to work around it.
"You bet," Natsu purred back, "I put captaining behind me four hundred years ago. I'm more than content to swab the deck and have adventures and if it means treatin' ya like a princess so I don't have to do it anymore then I'm about to roll out the best finery."
"And who said romance was dead?" Lucy laughed into her pillow, Natsu moving in next to her.
His hands, so very warm against the coolness of her skin sent a shock through her body. She shivered at the feel of his large hands against her back, his strong fingers beginning to press into her back.
"Trust me princess," Natsu bent down to her, his voice a soft purr in her ear, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."
Lucy shivered at the tone of his voice, "Is that a promise?" She asked a little breathlessly, gasping softly as he hit a particularly sensitive spot.
"It's whatever you want it to be." Natsu rumbled back as he worked, his warm hands soothing away the aches as he tenderly massaged around the worst bruises and carefully unknotted muscles.
Lucy groaned a little incoherently, caught somewhere on a knife edge between pleasure and pain as he worked the knots out, "I'll take it as a promise then." She mumbled during one of her more coherent moments, "You owe me a romancing when we lift my curse."
Natsu chuckled softly as he slid his hands down past the small of her back to massage her legs, "Is it only romance that triggers the curse?" He asked curiously, "Or is it anything?"
"Hmmm..." Lucy hummed, jerking slightly as he tickled her a little before he soothed it, "It happens when we fall in love, and we intend to spend our lives with that person." She sighed, "Something inevitably happens when we do. Our loves die, or there's a scandal, or they get drunk on power and money like my father. Married or not makes no difference either. A lot of us try to avoid falling in love, but it never works. Heartfilia women are too passionate not to."
Natsu thought about that as he worked his way back up her body, "Do you know if there's a way to break it?" He asked softly.
Lucy looked over her shoulder at him, "Sure. Meet the criteria of the curse."
Natsu raised an eyebrow and she shrugged, "That's what we were told centuries ago. My ancestor went to the Lover and asked what we'd done to anger her. It turns out we did nothing. Someone else put the curse on our line. And the only way to break it is to fall in love with the intended target. The only problem is, we have no idea who that was supposed to be."
"Well that's dumb, and also impossible," Natsu frowned, finding fault on the family curse for many reasons.
"So this mystery god cursed your entire family line because one of your ancestors spurned them?" Natsu raised an eyebrow, "And yet this god makes no effort to push themselves in your life?"
He shook his head, "And overkill at that. What, do they want the entire Heartfilia family line to fall at their feet? Talk about creepy and gross," He chuckled.
Lucy giggled a bit at his reasoning, cutting off with a happy groan when his fingers pressed into a more sensitive spot.
"Well I do have Acnologia inserting himself in my life, maybe he's the one who cursed me," Lucy pointed out.
Natsu made a noise of displeasure and his fingertips dug into her side, drawing a low keen from her throat. She glanced over her shoulder to see a flicker of amusement flash over his lips. His expression was considering, eyes slow as the caressed down her back.
"Well that would follow," Natsu allowed, "He's mucked up everyone's lives, wants to marry you, and he doesn't seem interested in stopping any time soon."
"Hmph. I say we kick him out and get a new Destroyer then." Lucy huffed, "Because there's no way in the seven hells I'm going to ever fall in love with that creep."
"Well said!" Natsu chuckled, "Though I'm not sure how we would ever do that. Unless you know of a god killer around?"
"Sorry no." Lucy replied, her lips twitching at the idea of a god killer, "Maybe we should ask Levy or Juvia. I'm sure that conversation would go over real well!"
Natsu laughed quietly at the idea and he leaned over, "You never know." He breathed into her neck, "I think they wouldn't mind getting a new Destroyer in the ranks."
Lucy shivered and arced into his warmth, "Natsu..."
Natsu growled softly at the tone, his blood heating in response, "I'm here Lucy." He breathed, "Always."
His mouth watered as the honey sweet scent of her arousal filled the air, but his strokes remained steady. He'd promised her. And he would not break his promise until she showed him she was ready. And though he could taste her want, she had made no move otherwise. So neither would he. No matter how badly his body screamed at him to.
Though he couldn't really hide his reaction either.
He was glad she was face down in the bed though. That certainly helped. Natsu swallowed, tasting her wants and desires on the roof of his mouth, a steady drum beating in his chest with every breath, every press of his hands and every musical sigh from Lucy.
He could see the issue with her fears on their relationship. Or lack thereof.
Natsu was of the opinion that no matter how many steps they took, eventually if they were to fall in love then they would drop into the trap of her curse regardless if they did anything to trigger it.
Because he already knew just by knowing Lucy in all of her ups and downs, that if he fell for her, it wouldn't be something he could recover from. She already consumed his thoughts, his waking moments and his dreams. Every night when he closed his eyes he saw her in one way or another. Either as a goddess with a kind heart and powerful spirit, or a princess with a gentle hand and childish spirit of adventure.
And in those dreams he was in love with her. Deeply, and with such an aching pressure he thought he would drown in those feelings of longing. But when he woke up, those feelings evaporated, the memories of his strange dreams faded and all he saw was Lucy in this moment, his emotions swelling anew. She was practically perfect, and he had harbored quite a bit of a crush on her even before his dreams started. He would follow his captain anywhere.
Perhaps it was almost too late for him anyway, he sounded already like a fool in love.
He pulled his hands away from Lucy's back and supported his ankle over his knee to cross his legs. He smiled at her, looking at the way she pouted when she realized he was finished and she slowly turned back around.
"So Captain, not to spoil the talk about completely justified god-killin,' but I thought I should run the sea party with ya," Natsu grinned at her pout.
"I'm actin' Captain right now, but they're your crew and I'm not gonna throw them into certain danger without your say so," Natsu's smile widened at her sour expression.
"Thank you," Lucy sighed and sat up, smiling as Natsu reached over to adjust her pillows and helped her sit up straighter, "Who have you picked?"
"Well me and Juvia obviously and Sting," Natsu looked at Lucy, "Don't want to take a school of floppin' humans down there, and Sting ain't a stronger swimmer than a merman, but he's leagues better'n goin' down there with some of these."
He picked up one of Lucy's delicate ankles for clarification and dropped it back on the mattress.
"Levy is gonna plot out our next path, Rogue is gonna help Gajeel with repairs to the ship, and Gray is gonna pine after Juvia," Natsu drawled.
Lucy snorted out a laugh at that last, "And she'll pine after him too no doubt." Lucy replied, "And in their mutual pining they'll miss the completely obvious."
Natsu grinned at her, "Pretty much!"
She shook her head a little, "Well, nothing we can do about that." She smirked, "Except maybe lock them in the brig until they come to their senses if they get too obnoxious." She considered his plan for a moment, "I like your crew choice. Make sure you have Warren on standby though. I'm not sure how far his telepathy extends underwater, but he's your best shot for calling for backup if you need it down there. Have you alerted your brother yet?"
"My next stop." Natsu replied, "This ain't Alvarez territory, but last I heard Zeref was pretty friendly with the Queen Regent. He should be able to let her know to expect us and smooth over any potential problems."
Lucy nodded approvingly, "Excellent. I wouldn't be surprised if we encountered another gate after this, so the more precautions we take the better."
Natsu nodded thoughtfully, somewhat impressed by Lucy's caution. Perhaps it was a side effect of her curse, or her father, but she was far warier in general than he was. Certainly she was a more thorough planner than his general charge in punching and assume it would all turn out right style.
It was a refreshing change.
A polite tap on the door of the cabin pulled him out of his thoughts and they both looked up in time to see Mira poke her head in, carrying a tray of food and drink, "Sorry Cap'n, but Wendy said you'd be getting hungry soon. Side effect of her healing."
Right on cue, Lucy's stomach let out a gurgle, and she laughed, "Seems our healer was right. Thanks Mira."
Natsu grinned and stood, "I'll take my leave then cap'n." He bowed slightly, "I'll let you know what my brother says later on."
"You do that sailor." Lucy smiled, "I expect a full report when you have one."
Natsu nodded, his heart fluttering a little at the prospect of more time with her later, and flashed Mira a grin as he stepped nimbly around her.
"He's certainly gotten much better with his legs, now hasn't he Captain?" Mira asked, a sly smile growing on her face a she helped prop Lucy up on a pile of pillows, "I wonder what else he might be good at?"
"Oh hush!" A red faced Lucy tossed a pillow at her. The laughing Mira ducked around it and fled her room in giggles.
Lucy flopped back down into her pile and dug into her meal, still blushing herself. She couldn't help but wonder those questions herself.
Thanks everyone for reviewing! Sorry for the late update, I wanted to get this out to you as soon as I could, work has been crazy but thanks again to everyone who let us know how they liked the chapter. You totally made your preview, so enjoy it! Next chapter will be the last one of ACT 2.
"Natsu!"
The shout of warning almost came too late, and Natsu jerked into a deep squat as part of the rigging snapped loose and swung just over his head.
"Where's your head at!" Cana called out to him, staring at Natsu over the near miss. He shook his head and tried to clear his mind of the new memory rolling around in it, his hand creeping up to his forehead.
"Natsu!" Cana repeated.
"Sorry!" Natsu burst and got back to what he was doing. They were tying up the sails for repairs, and he needed to be paying attention while that was done or he could end up getting brained.
"Was it another memory?" Wendy asked, Happy in her arms as she approached.
"Yeah, I think...?" Natsu frowned, shaking his head. He had been awake when he got it, and the timeline was right...
But Lucy had been there and Gray, exactly like some of the odd dreams he had been having as of late.
