Hey guys! Kytrin here, and I'm truly sorry for the incredibly late chapter. It's been a crazy week with work, Voltron Games, and Pathfinder for me and this inadvertently fell by the wayside yesterday and Wednesday lol. I hope you all enjoy!


CHAPTER 40

Cave Diving

Underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers lost while diving for one of these reasons.


"Happy Birthday Lucy!"

Lucy beamed as the whole crew cheered, each calling out birthday wishes in their own way, "Yay! Thank you momma!"

Layla laughed softly as she held out a brightly wrapped box, "Well, go on, open your present!"

Lucy eagerly tore into the paper, sending bits of paper flying everywhere to the amusement of the crew, and gasped in surprise as she opened the box, "Keys momma? Really?"

Layla smiled and nodded, "Yep! You're old enough to start learning celestial magic now. Everyone helped chip in too!" She pointed to each of the silver keys, "This is Lyra, this is Crux, this is Horologium, this is Pyxis, and this..." She pulled out a pair of keys from behind her back, "Well I'm sure you already know who these two are."

Tears welled in Lucy's eyes, "You're giving me Cancer and Aquarius?" She breathed, "But momma..."

"They volunteered." Layla replied as she deftly strung the keys on Lucy's brand new key ring, "Cancer is a good spirit to learn on once you've mastered summoning your silver spirits, and Aquarius will help protect you at sea." She grinned, "If you can win her favor."

The newly anointed five year old sniffled and tackled her mother in a tight hug, "Thank you momma! I promise I'll study real hard!"

Layla laughed and dragged her arms around her daughter. She cradled herself into her mother's hold, happy to have earned herself some of the magic and companionship her mother was reknowned for.

She had no intention of letting her mother down, so she would train every day until she was strong enough to call forth the spirits and fight alongside them like her mama.

::—

Lucy shook her head to clear her mind of the memories from her past. Her hands curled around the glittering keys dangling in her fingers. She smiled, thumb brushing against the smooth stem of Aquarius' golden key.

It had taken a long time to earn the trust of the mercurial mermaid, who sometimes would turn whirlpools and tides against her contracted, just as much her enemies. Something she would surely be tempted to do now. Because, Natsu for his part was acting absolutely pitiful over the plan to have him sing with the sirens instead of fight with Lucy.

"Remind me why can't we use Lyra with Lucy instead?" Natsu whined, draping himself over his exasperated brother's shoulders.

"Because your fire magic isn't exactly the most subtle, and we don't want to drive off the abyss monsters. Or hurt them." Zeref snorted at Natsu, throwing his heavy arm from his shoulders, "Besides you have an excellent voice. No need to deprive your maiden from hearing it?"

"Lucy has heard it plenty." Natsu grumbled, his cheeks turning red.

Zeref burst into laughter at that and nudged his brother, "I'm not sure I even want to know the details of that little brother!"

Natsu's blush intensified and he shot his brother a scowl, "It wasn't like that!" He huffed, "I was... singing at a contest in Crocus."

Singing a love song he'd written for Lucy over a thousand years ago. Only he hadn't remembered that at the time. He was just grateful it hadn't been his proposal song. He was pretty sure he wouldn't have heard the end of that from the crew if he had.

"Did you now?" Zeref purred teasingly, "And how long did it take you to win?"

"That's not the point!" Natsu complained.

"No." Zeref agreed, "The point is that you want to be by Lucy's side now that you've won her favor." He regarded Natsu with amusement, "You want to show off a little for her before the renewal."

He regarded his sulking brother evenly, "I understand Natsu. I really do. But we can't take any chances for this. Even if Lyra could sing underwater, which not even Lucy's sure of, you're still one of the finest voices in the sea. We need you for this."

Natsu felt a surge of guilt run through him, his Champion's pride tangling with his urge to be the one to fight for Lucy for a change in this lifetime, "Yeah." He sighed eventually, "Alright."

He didn't like it, but he would do it. And he would do it so well Lucy wouldn't even have a chance to fight!

Galvanized by the thought, he straightened up and swam over to join the other sirens.

One of Zeref's generals looked up from a lacrima, "Everyone's in place across the ocean sire. It's now or never."

"Alright!" Zeref called, "I want sirens out in front with magical defenders covering them at all times! Infantry, take up defensive positions around the defenders! Remember, we want this to be as bloodless as possible! Do not use deadly force unless given no alternative!" He nodded to his generals, "Let's take this nice and slow."

"Yes sir!" They saluted and broke up to their respective commands.

Natsu groaned again, not liking how he had gotten dragged into this. Unlike other sirens, Natsu didn't particularly care to sing in public. For him it was something he liked to guard closely and share only with those he was closest with.

He did not have any desire to sing in front of an audience.

Not for the first time he cursed how he lacked fine control over his magic under water. Sparking a flame under water always took a tremendous amount of magical energy. Usually that meant he either had to go at full speed or absolute zero. And this particular job would mean they needed a more subdued rate.

It was why he spent most of his time underwater training in physical and weapons skills. Natsu glanced over at Lucy, who gave him a thumbs up and looked completely smug over their positions.

He stuck his tongue out at her, causing her to smile wider as he darted out to where he needed to be positioned.

"Sirens! Are you ready?" Zeref called out from his position near the abyss. Down below in the darkness, Juvia was waiting there with Gray and he held his inky trident over the yawning darkness.

The crowd murmured in response and Zeref nodded, "On my signal!"

He twitched his wrist, angling the trident so its teeth were biting into the darkness. A narrow cone opened up through the dark, a flashing signal to Juvia down below to begin.

At once the goddess began to sing, only her voice echoing from the dark. Natsu swallowed at the way the sweet sound echoed down to his very soul and cleared his throat, lifting his voice to join hers as the other sirens followed his lead.

Lucy gasped at the symphony of music that washed over her, entrancing her by the sound of their voices alone. She almost forgot to summon Aquarius in her distraction, only spurred on by Zeref gently prodding her with the blunt end of his trident.

She blushed a bit, shooting Zeref a grateful look, and pushed her key forward, "Open, gate of the Water Maiden!" She hissed, not wanting to disrupt the song in any way, though at the moment she was pretty sure nothing short of an earthquake could do that.

Aquarius appeared without any of her usual dramatics and shot her summoner a smirk, "It's about time you started developing some taste." She jabbed, though it was without its usual heat or volume, "And found that boyfriend of yours."

Lucy smirked back as she invoked the stardress magic, which for once flowed over her without any argument, "He's hardly just a boyfriend." She replied, "And thank you."

The temperamental mermaid gave her a sharp look before huffing and turning her attention to the sirens, and the massive shadows appearing in the distance, "No he's not." She agreed after a minute, "Leo's been insufferable since your champion got his memories back."

Lucy raised a curious eyebrow and Aquarius rolled her eyes, "Your man was born under Leo's constellation. In both lifetimes. That damn cat is ridiculous in his pride."

Lucy hadn't even been aware that was a thing, but wisely kept her mouth shut and just smiled. She wasn't about to disrupt whatever had Aquarius in this mood if she could avoid it. Though it seemed she needn't have worried. For whatever reason Aquarius was unusually focused. Maybe it had something to do with the situation. Or maybe who they were doing this for. Whatever it was, Lucy was glad she wouldn't have to fight her own spirit this time.

"Get ready." The celestial mermaid hissed as she tensed, the first of the shadows resolving itself into a massive sea dragon.

The dragon swam in a spiral, it's large body coiling with such power it changed the currents themselves. The sirens continued their song, but they were soon buffeted by the multi-colored body of the creature.

Natsu threw his arms out to steady the mermaids on his left and right, his eyes wide in awe at the dragon sailing over their heads.

They didn't waver in their song, but the currents around them shifted. Natsu almost didn't need to turn around to see Lucy's arms raised, the powerful currents of Aquarius' magic swirling around them.

Her stardress allowed her control over the water, and Natsu felt the pressure of the goliath's movements ease from the shell of protective water around them. Grinning and unable to stop himself from looking, he tossed Lucy a grateful look.

With the lure of their music, and the promise of a warm home, the giant sea dragon slithered back into the abyss. And with it they weathered through their first hurdle.

Afterwards, they began to attract more and more of the abyssal creatures, the swarms of them being drawn to the call of their goddess and the encouraging song of the sirens.

The occasional one, skittish, confused and hungry, would break off, only to be herded back into the crowd where it eventually joined the others.

By the time they were finished and the last trickle of the monsters died down, Natsu's throat was sore and aching. Finally when Zeref gave the signal, the sirens broke their ranks and took their well deserved rest.

He swam over to an exhausted looking Lucy and positively cranky Aquarius, flashing them both a tired smile, "You both look like hell." He rasped

He winced at the sound of his voice, a far cry from the enchanting quality it normally held. He definitely needed to go a day or two on voice rest, something which would be difficult under normal circumstances. As many had pointed out before, he liked to chatter.

"Speak for yoursel.," Aquarius sniffed.

Natsu grinned regardless, his hand reaching out to slide his fingers through Lucy's hair, "You ran yourself ragged."

"You did too." Lucy smiled tiredly over at her spirit, "Thanks again for the help. I don't think we could've done it without you."

Aquarius snorted, but didn't look entirely displeased by the comment, "And you better remember that next time missy."

She fixed Lucy with a glare, "And you better not summon me or Scorpio for a while after this got it? We have a date coming up and I want no interruptions!"

Lucy crossed her arms and returned the look with one of her own, "Barring an emergency, you've got a deal."

Aquarius harrumphed but didn't argue as she vanished in a cloud of gold motes.

"That went way better than I expected." Lucy snorted and leaned tiredly into Natsu as she turned her attention to Zeref, "Is that all of them?"

Zeref nodded with a smile, "Yes. They've all returned. Goddess willing they'll remain down there this time."

"All things considered, I think she's willing." Lucy laughed and looked up at Natsu, "I don't know about you, but I'm all for something to eat and some sleep."

"I think we all are." Zeref agreed, and signaled to his generals, "Let's go home."

—::—

The next couple of days found Natsu and Lucy sleeping in to recover over their joint effort with the abyssal creatures. During that time, Natsu kept his comments and quips to a minimum as his throat was still very sore. However he wasn't unable to keep himself from occasionally making a smart remark.

They also spent a great deal of time together, even if it was in companionable silence.

Natsu took Lucy out to the sea gardens by his favorite bluff, whispering to her how he found his private little place. She was awed by it, the long kelp glowing at the edges by a strange sort of magic, kept alive by that.

Today his silence was broken by both of their recovery, and he was excitedly swimming circles around Lucy. She would have thought he was critically injured by how he was reacting.

It was funny how he thought his voice being silent was a legitimate injury by how he acted.

"Natsu! Relax!" Lucy giggled at his flashing tail, taking a swipe at it as he dropped past her vision.

"Come on Lucy! I've got the best thing to show you today! Let me show you." He cackled at the way she rolled her eyes.

"You have more secret places you like to hide around in? I thought we had found them all?" Lucy asked, curious over what was clearly his favorite.

"Not like this!" Natsu grinned and held out his hand, his other holding a basket of some kind, "I had to wait until the tide was just right. I promise, you won't want to miss this!"

Lucy smiled as she slid her hand into his, the familiar tingle of warmth erupting in her belly as she did. Somehow, despite the hunger they both felt, they'd managed to keep the wildfire between them confined to a few touches and some rather intense kisses. Natsu had admitted privately that he didn't want to take it further during the days leading up to the renewal out of respect for her own traditions.

Even if she still couldn't remember them, the consideration had touched her, so she'd agreed. And she was glad she had.

For despite the frustration between them, she couldn't remember a time she'd had more fun as she'd really gotten to know her quirky dragon champion. Though, she had to admit to herself if no one else, she wasn't sure how much more of his teasing she could take.

She shoved the thought to the back of her mind as he guided her away from the palace and up towards the nearby island.

"Uh, we're not heading to land are we?" She asked nervously.

"Naw!" Natsu laughed, "I'd be beached if we did!" He smiled softly at her, "Trust me Lucy. I won't let anything hurt you."

Lucy blushed a little and smiled, "I trust you."

He beamed again and carefully guided her to what looked like a little crack in the submerged rock. Up close, it was just big enough to swim through without any difficulty, though they had to go one at a time. Once inside, Natsu grinned again and guided her through a twisted passage that opened suddenly into a wide sea cave.

"Natsu!" Lucy breathed in awe as she looked around, the whole of the cave glittering with little sparkles of light overhead while the bottom was covered in sand with flowing sea grasses, the odd coral that could withstand being out of the water, and a small colony of clams.

"It's beautiful!" She exclaimed, "It's like an underwater view of the stars!"

"Aye," Natsu agreed, his hand reaching out to grasp hers gingerly in his own. He guided her towards his favorite place to sit. Large stones, smoothed out by the tides when the water rose allowing him a perfect seat.

There was enough room for two, but he never allowed anyone else to accompany him.

Not until now at least.

"I never knew why, but when I first woke up under the sea, not knowing where I came from or understanding what I was — this place brought me a sense of comfort," Natsu swam to the wall, his hand laying flat against the shimmering wall.

"I understand now why that is though," Natsu grinned back at Lucy, "Can you tell why?"

For a moment, she didn't know why at all. However the more she looked, the more familiar the place became.

"The temple in Galuna," she whispered, recalling the beautiful ceiling painted with the very stars. It tickled a memory at the edges of her mind, of young voices and hushed awe.

"Right you are captain!" He grinned back at her, absurdly pleased she guessed correctly.

He leaned forward to kiss her softly, "I'll never forget that day." He purred, "And I hope soon you'll remember it."

"I already do." She replied with a smile, "I dreamed about it I think. You were playing with the children at the temple. You'd just become my champion and I was curious about you. Jellal was being a brat but told me to take the day off, so I went to see you, and somehow I wound up painting the temple ceiling with stars to teach the kids." She grinned at him, "You were the one who asked me to leave it up. I'm glad you did."

Natsu's happy expression broadened into one of pure delight as she spoke and he laughed as he pulled her into a hug, "You remember!" He pressed his forehead against hers, "I didn't know it then, but that was the day I fell in love with you the first time. What other goddess would spend time with children like that after all?"

Lucy felt her heart melt at the admission and she kissed him softly. He purred happily into their kiss for several moments before pulling away to hold up his basket.

"C'mon Luce I have more in here for you!"

"More than just food?" Lucy laughed as he pulled out a blanket, and flicked it open, bubbles scattering everywhere.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" He winked cheekily at her as he got everything settled and set up. He led her down to the blanket and curled around her as he settled on it. She smiled as she let him curl her into his arms and watched as he dug into the basket for a small thin object.

"A long time ago I asked you to marry me." He said softly, "The first mortal to ever dare even consider such a thing with a god." He smiled down at her vaguely alarmed expression, "Oh don't look so worried, I know you're not ready for that now and neither am I, maybe not for a while either. I wanted to give you something to prove that one of these days I want to give you back your betrothal necklace though."

Lucy felt her heart pound at the proclamation. Plans for the future. He was making them. He was daring to dream beyond the moment. To beyond their uphill fight. And she startled herself with how much she wanted it.

He opened the slim case and she gasped again at the little silver key that rested there.

Her fingertips traced over the silver key, her eyes wide as she stared at it in awe before she gathered her senses and picked it up.

"Is this for me?" She breathed to him, hardly daring she could accept a gift so grand from him, "Where did you come across Canis Minora?"

"I'm a dragon by nature Lucy, we like collecting things. I found this little guy at the bottom of the sea," He laughed quietly, drawing his hand around hers, "I kept it for ages, knowing it held great magic, but unable to use it myself."

"When I met you, I knew it had to be yours, eh?" He grinned, expression growing bright, "Just didn't know when would be the best time to give it to ya if I even had the opportunity."

"And then my memories came back, and the Renewal came up, I knew it would be perfect to do this," He grinned at his love, "I usually gave you a gift. An offering."

Natsu curled his hand around Lucy's, his forehead falling against hers, "You're not a goddess, you're not a princess, but you're a kick ass Captain, my friend and I love you."

"So I make this offering to one Captain Lucy Heartfilia, May she never fall ill and have me cover for her again." He laughed.

Lucy burst into laughter, "Aw, did the new Fairy Tail crew scare ya Pirate King?"

"Immensely." Natsu shivered, "Frostbite and Metalhead got nothing on Cana and Mirajane! All they gotta do is smile!"

Lucy cackled a little at that, but had to agree. Her crew could be pretty terrifying at times. It was what made them so effective.

"Don't worry." She smirked, "I'm not planning on getting stuck in bed like that again." She caressed the slim key happily, "And I love this. Thank you."

Natsu beamed proudly at her as she slid it onto her keyring where it seemed to clack happily with the others and settled back to snuggle with her, and feed her choice tidbits of the meal he'd packed. He firmly ignored the increasingly insistent burn in his belly to do more, and focused on enjoying the feel of her in his arms.

This was good as it was, and he was content.


And that's the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed! I'd like to give a shoutout to our amazing reviewers for all of your lovely comments! You guys have definitely earned your preview this chapter! I hope you guys can pull out all the stops and make the review for Sunday given the shorter timeframe. Apologies again for that. Love you guys, and we'll see you Sunday!

The captain had all the treats he could think of, exotic fruits, fresh and glistening on silver trays. Small treats that looked like a rare find of chocolate, and tiny sausages that were uncomfortably cute. Although that alone wouldn't save them from Natsu's appetite.

"Human food is the best" Natsu sighed, scenting it from where he was standing. However to his credit, he remained where he was standing, eyes slowly drawing back to Lucy.

Which spoke highly of her appeal and the draw she held over him. It was hardly a simple task to pull a dragon's attention from their meal, but she was turning his head quite soundly.

He ran a hand over her shoulder and arm, not quite touching her but just grazing over her skin.

"Shall I run and heat you that freshwater bath you've been achin' for Captain?" He purred.

"That sounds heavenly." Lucy purred, and trailed a finger down his chest, "And put yourself in it while you're at it." She smirked, "It's big enough for two, and I'm minded to get a proper look at you with all the right limbs in place."

Natsu shivered at her words and moved quickly to obey.