Hey guys, you missed me again, I know you did. Thanks again to JayandNya4evr and Rose Tiger. Your guy's review make me so happy and keep me going in the hard moments. Thanks to all y'all.

Normal POV

"You b*st*rd!" Natsu shouted, glaring at Jude, who simply grinned in reply.

"I guess the forest is just the perfect place for killings. The area always seems to make me so happy. Or maybe it's the fact that I killed the two worst things that ever happened to me." Jude spat.

Natsu growled, then reached deep inside him where he hasn't reached in a month. Suddenly, the ground around Jude burst into flame. "The good thing about not using your magic for a month, is too store your magic energy. This is like me lifting a finger, and I can't wait to move around after a month!" Natsu grinned, a little evily.

"Interesting. A fire mage, a servant? Whatever brought you to such a low level?" Jude shot back, even though there was fear flickering in his eyes.

"The fact that I had a duty to fulfill, and nothing would stand in the way of achieving it. I would become a servant to finish my mission!" Natsu snarled.

Jude yawned. "And what was that mission?" He asked, annoyed and sick of this conversation.

"To protect Lucy from you and keep that promise to Layla. And to finally expose you and your murder to the world!" Natsu exclaimed.

Jude jumped up and grabbed a branch overhead then swung over the wall of fire surrounding him and kicked Natsu. Natsu then quickly recovered and grabbed Jude's foot before it hit the ground and threw it up, causing Jude to fall, head first.

Jude groaned loudly and when he got up, he saw the boy was on fire. "Fire Dragon, Iron Fist!" He shouted, jumping in the air and punching Jude so hard he flew into the Heartfilia manor a few miles away.

Natsu then grinned and said, "That was easy." But he soon remembered the blonde and ran to where Lucy was, putting his ear on her chest and listening. It was very faint, but there was a heartbeat. It was dark and he couldn't see where the bullet wound was, so he set his hand on fire, searching.

When he found it, he realized the bullet hit a major artery near her arm, so he tore up his shirt and wrapped the wound up gently. Then he lifted the frail girl and headed off to the nearest town.

At that moment he realized that he wasn't just protecting Lucy for his promise to Layla. He loved Lucy.

(A/N I know some of you might be thinking 'middle school crushes never turn into relationships' but SOME middle school crushes work out, and this will probably (meaning MOST OBVIOUSLY WILL!) be one of them.)

When Lucy woke up, she was in a strange bed in a strange cottage with a strange bandage wrapped around her shoulder and strange clothes on. Strange right? But what wasn't strange was the worried, young, handsome face of the salmon haired boy standing nearby.

"Hey Pinky." She said, knowing it would tick him off.

"It's SALMON! My hair ISN'T PINK!" He shouted.

Lucy laughed. "You're SO weird."

"Well you're obviously color blind if you think my hair is pink." He grumbled, crossing his arms.

"So, what happened yesterday?" She questioned.

"Well, let's just say your dad shot you and I... blew up." He muttered, obviously still angry about the 'pinky' comment.

"If you blew up, there would be pink hair everywhere." She teased.

"SALMON! SALMON HAIR, NOT PINK!" He exploded again.

"Someone's protective of their salmon hair." She smiled, overexaggerating the word salmon.

"Thank you." He muttered.

"Where'd the bullet hit?" She inquired.

" 2 centimeters away from your heart."

She flinched at how close she'd come to death. If she had so much as shifted on her feet, she would've died on the spot.

"Where are we?"

"An infirmary in a village nearby."

"How long have I been out?"

"12 hours. But you need to stay, because they need to remove the bullet from you." He smiled encouragingly.

Lucy gave a strained smile, trying to be strong. Then a girl with green hair came in holding a clipboard. "Good, you're up. The 'surgery' will take place in 2 hours, and we're gonna need to put you under anesthesia."

"Why?" Lucy asked, shocked.

"Because if you move, we would accidentally stab you're heart with the tweezers instead of the bullet." She said simply.

Hey, I know this chapter is short, but I'll try to make the next one longer. Leave a review and if you have a suggestion, do tell. Also if you see any errors, I'm fine with criticism, just only constructive criticism. And, I'm not very good at fight scenes right now, but later when I'm better, I'll fix it. Thanks!