Hello Everyone and Welcome Back!

I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I just didn't know where I wanted to start off with and I figured we need some kind of NaLu this far into the story ;). Anyway again I hope you guys like this chapter! Enjoy!

~wolvesfinalden

Fairy Tail: By Your Side

Chapter 10: Realization

It had been a few months since the fall of Phantom Lord and the ordeal with Lucy's father. During those months Team Natsu had helped bring down the Oracion Seis with the help of a few guilds. Lucy fondly remembered what had happened on their way home.

Flashback

The group was walking Wendy and her cat Carla back to her guild the Cait Shleter. When they got there though they found out that the guild was never an actual guild. They all disappeared in front of the group, leaving Wendy and Carla without a guild. Lucy was about to go comfort the young girl, though before she could even move to her, Duke walked over to her and nudged her. The girl looked up with tears in her eyes. The wolf then licked away her tears, Wendy then hugged the wolf.

Lucy smiled at the scene remembering what it was like losing someone. Duke always had a soft spot when it came to situations like these. She was glad her wolf allowed Wendy to hold him. Carla on the other hand looked at her dragon slayer with sad eyes and tried telling her not to cry. When Wendy started feeling better Duke pulled away and grabbed Wendy's sleeve and started to pull her in the direction of Magnolia.

Wendy was confused and didn't know where Duke wanted her to go. Natsu and Lucy on the other hand got the hint right away. Natsu looked to Lucy and smiled before he walked over to the two. When he approached Duke stopped his action and wagged his tail, looking at the fire mage.

"Duke wants you to come home with us. I'm sure you will be more than welcomed in Fairy Tail." He said to her.

Lucy then took the opportunity to walk over to them as well with Happy following close behind her.

"Won't you come with us?" Lucy asked the two.

Wendy beamed at her and smiled, nodding her head.

"Well if it's all settled then let's all go home." Erza stated as she began walking.

Gray came up behind Lucy and started to follow Erza back. Duke quickly followed suite along with the rest of them.

End Flashback

Wendy was accepted into the guild rather quickly and was feeling more at home now. Lucy then sighed and looked over to her wolf. It had been a few weeks since then and now she was at her apartment with a now sick Duke. Lucy and Duke hadn't been going to the guild for about two days now. The blonde didn't want to leave Duke home by himself and tried her best to take care of him. Though he seemed to only get worse as the day went on.

She looked over to her clock and realized what time it was. She got herself ready and looked for Duke's leash, she bought yesterday. She went over to the canine and clipped in on his collar. Lucy had made him an appointment yesterday when he didn't seem to be getting any better. When she got there they told her that they could get him in today but he had to be on a leash.

"Come on boy." She told him.

The wolf slowly got up and made his way out with Lucy. The blonde had never seen him like this before. His movements were very sluggish and he would sleep through almost the entire day and night. Not to mention it was hard to even make him eat or drink anything lately.

The two were almost on their way to the vet when they were stopped by a male voice.

"Luce! Duke!" it called out.

Lucy didn't even have to guess who it was, she just knew. Turning she saw the dragon slayer with his exceed. He looked worried as he approached them.

"You two okay? You haven't been at the guild for a few days." Natsu said in a concerned tone.

"Well I'm fine but something is wrong with Duke. I though he just had a cold or ate something that upset him, but he's been getting worse each day. I'm taking him to the vet right now to find out what's wrong with him." Lucy explained.

Natsu looked over to the white wolf that was usually full of energy and was now looking as if he was on his last leg. The fire mage was even more concerned now as he looked at Duke. Then Natsu moved over to Lucy and took the leash from her letting it drape down. He then moved to Duke and picked up the wolf.

"Lead the way. I'll carry him there." Natsu said.

Happy walked beside them as they made their way over to the vet's office. When they got there Lucy told them his name and they were asked to have a seat. Once Lucy sat down, Natsu gently put Duke down so he could lay down beside them while they waited. Happy walked over and sat next to Duke, petting his head and telling him that he would be fine.

"You could have came and got me when he started feeling sick you know?" he told her.

"I know but Duke is my responsibility, I didn't want to make anyone else worry about him." She sighed.

"He's not just yours now you know. I consider him my responsibility along with you. If anything is wrong with either of you I want to know." Natsu told her.

"Aye!" Happy added.

Lucy smiled at them, truthfully she still wasn't use to the idea of it just being her and Duke. Honestly she thought it would be better if Natsu didn't have to worry about him. She now realized though that it really wasn't just her and Duke anymore. Natsu had been with them from the start of their adventure in Fairy Tail. Anything that came up Natsu and of course Happy were always right there with them.

"Come to think of it Luce, why didn't you just ask Wendy to look at him?" he asked her.

Lucy sighed, she had thought about asking the girl for help but then a thought came across that made her decide not to.

"Wendy may be able to help out us but I'm not sure she can do anything for Duke. I know I still could have asked but she probably knows more about Human anatomy rather than animal. It would be different if he had some kind of injury, that I'm sure she could help with no problem."

Natsu nodded though he wasn't sure exactly what she meant by anatomy but he just decided to go along with it. If Luce said it mattered then it more than likely did.

"Duke Heartfilia." The nurse called.

Duke's ears popped up a little at the call of his name but didn't move much afterwards. The three stood up and Natsu looked down and saw that Duke wasn't moving. He sighed as he went down and picked him up and as a thank you, Duke gently licked the arm that was close to his face.

As they walked in they asked Natsu to put Duke on the examination table, which he did but slow enough that he wouldn't make Duke feel worse than he already was. Once Duke was on the table, he simply just laid back down, not caring about where he was.

The vet then walked in and did a full examination of the wolf. Once he was done he looked at Natsu and Lucy.

"There doesn't seem to be any complications with his body, but there is something messing with his system." He said.

He looked over Duke once again and then noticed the insignia on Duke. The vet then looked to Natsu and Lucy and saw the same symbol on them as well.

"Judging by your symbols that match the wolf, is it safe to assume that this wolf has magical power?" he asked them.

Lucy nodded.

"He's my partner. I've had Duke since I was little but I've never seen him like this before. Even when he got a little sick he still acted like himself but never like this." Lucy explained.

"Usually he's all full of energy! Though not now." Happy added.

"I see, well I'm going to hook him up to one of our magic readers. I have a feeling that is where the problem is."

The vet then gently put bands around Duke's paws and turned on the machine. Natsu and Lucy watched as they saw the levels start to drop once it was hooked up. The vet then smiled as he found what the problem was.

"Ah there's the problem." He said as he turned to Natsu and Lucy. "It seems that his magic levels are dropped which in both people and animals can cause a magical sickness. It's fairly easy to treat and shouldn't take more than a few days."

"Alright what can we do for him?" Lucy asked him.

"I'll give you some medication which will replenish his magic. That should solve the problem but I'll give you just a few antibiotics. Those will help with any infection caused by the magic deficiency. He should be fine in a couple of days but nothing to worry about." He said with a smile.

"Okay thank you so much." Lucy said walking over to Duke and petting his head.

"So he's just sluggish because he doesn't have enough magic in him?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, magic for mages and animals are like their life source as you know. When the magic gets too low it can cause you to have symptoms of an illness. Which is why Duke has a fever and no energy. Once it's all back he'll feel like himself again." The vet assured him.

Natsu nodded happy with what he was told. He then smiled down at Happy.

"He'll be fine now buddy." He told him.

Once everything was taken care of the group went back to Lucy's. Duke tried to walk by himself but started to feel exhausted half way back, which Natsu noticed and scooped him up. Once they got back to the apartment Natsu removed the leash and laid him down on Lucy's bed. He then went out to check on Lucy, while Happy curled up with Duke on the bed.

When Natsu got to the living room Lucy was laying on the couch looking really exhausted. It was then the dragon slayer noticed that it was starting to get late. He sighed as he looked at her, he didn't know why but he wanted to be close to her. To have her against him, to know she was near him and safe in his arms. He had never felt this way in his entire life. Never did he care for someone as much as he did for Lucy, nor did he care so much for an animal like Duke, other than Happy of course.

It was then he decided to move Lucy to the bedroom as well. He gently picked her up and saw she was completely out in a deep sleep. He smiled as he made his way over to the other room. There he found Duke laying on the bed looking up at him and saw his tail wagging his tail again for the first time in a few days.

Natsu gently put her down on the bed and looked over to Duke. He was up but the feline next to him was asleep.

"Can you walk Duke?" He asked him.

The wolf nodded slowly and eased himself up and moved off the bed. He was still moving slow but a little faster than before, which relieved the dragon slayer. Natsu and Duke walked out to the kitchen where Natsu got out some food for Duke and took out one of the pills for his magic and then got out an antibiotic. He put the pills mixed in with the food and set it down for Duke to eat.

Natsu at first was afraid that Duke wouldn't eat it since Lucy mentioned he had not been eating much for the past few days. Thankfully he didn't have to worry when Duke had walked over and slowly picked at his food. It wasn't a huge improvement but a little. He watched making sure the wolf at least at the pills he was supposed to take. Once he was sure he did and saw only a few bits of food left, Duke looked up to him and nudged him to the bedroom.

The fire mage smiled and walked over to the bedroom following Duke. The wolf stopped when he looked up at the bed. At first he tried to climb up himself but started feeling exhausted after trying to jump up on the bed.

"Easy there Duke, you're not better yet." Natsu whispered to him.

Natsu then picked him up and placed him on the bed, after Duke was up on the bed Natsu moved into the bed with Lucy. As he sat beside her he noticed that she instinctively curled into him once he was settled. The fire mage was surprised and felt his heart skip a beat when it happened. Which then brought all sorts of questions to his mind.

'What is with me lately? I thought this is what it feels like to have a very close friend but why do my feelings keep growing like this?' Natsu thought to himself.

Happy then got up when he felt Natsu and Duke come back in the bed and curled up on Natsu's stomach while Duke went over to Natsu's side this time and laid down, leaving his face on his lap. The teen looked to the wolf who was looking to him then back to Lucy. Natsu wasn't sure what the wolf was thinking or what he was trying to imply. That was when Happy finally spoke up.

"You love her don't you Natsu?" He asked him.

Natsu's eyes widened as he looked down at his friend.

"What makes you think that Happy?" He asked him.

"Well we do almost always come here, you worry about her more than anyone else in the guild. Not to mention you told me you don't like it when a guy is near her, even if it is just Gray or someone else." Happy explained and then looked to Duke who was looking up at Natsu still.

"Besides that's what Duke believes anyway."

"How can you tell that Happy?"

"Lucy did say Duke doesn't let a lot of people around her. Haven't you noticed Duke comes up to you now a lot more than he used to? He doesn't do that to anyone else in the guild." Happy told him.

Natsu then turned his gaze back over to Duke.

"Is that what you think Duke?" He asked the wolf.

Duke simply nodded his head as he finally laid it down on the dragon slayer's lap. He had known for a while that the fire mage had started to fall in love with Lucy. Normally Duke wouldn't be too fond of the idea but Natsu was a different story. He knew that Lucy would be taken care of with him and he knew that he would never leave either of the two's minds.

As Natsu thought about it he realized now why he had been feeling this way towards Lucy. He finally laid down and felt Lucy move into him even more now. There was no doubt now, he knew he was in love with her. As the two animals fell asleep, Natsu was still awake trying to figure out if he should tell her or not.

'What if I tell her and she doesn't feel the same? It might ruin the relationship we have now and I don't want that to ever go away. Would I really be okay with her never knowing? No, I just can't not yet.' He thought.

Before he drifted off into sleep he noticed Duke was still by his side and looked over to Lucy. He didn't want to lose them. The three of them were his family and as much as he didn't like it he might have to keep it quiet. As Natsu shut his eyes one last thought crossed his mind, making him even more confused than he was now.

'What if she felt the same way?' He thought before letting the darkness take him for the night.

That's it for now! Thank you guys for reading! If you haven't yet and you like the story please follow/fav, and as always leave a review letting me know what you think about the story so far! I can't thank you guys enough! The next chapter should be up soon! Until next time guys!

~wolvesfinalden