LUCY:
We landed gently in front of the guild doors. I had no idea the exceeds could fly so fast. Thanks to them we had made it to the guild in a little over a day. Apparently we were a bit off the sleep schedule because of the tunnel; when we exited the passage it was early morning, meaning we'd flown the length of the tunnel through the previous evening and night. By noon we could see the guild.
Natsu stared uncertainly at the doors. I came up to him and place my hand on his shoulder.
"What's wrong?" I whispered to him.
"What if they run away again?" His voice shook just a bit. I felt sorry for the boy. It must've been worse for him than it was for me.
"You don't have to go in. Just let them see you so they know you're back and than you can go to your house. I can bring more chicken." I added with a small smile. He looked up at me and his lips twitched upward a bit while his right eye showed me the extent of his reluctance to show himself to the guild. I nodded towards to door and with a small sigh he pushed it open. The silence was deafening. People were frozen in place, staring at the cursed Dragon Slayer covered in bandages. I spotted Mira at the bar with Lisanna and Cana. The master was probably in his office, wherever that was. Erza looked to be beating up Gray and Elfman. Then Natsu turned around and without a word headed to what I presumed to be his house, Happy in tow.
"We're back." I whispered. It carried through the silence and I was sure everyone had heard it. Wendy and the two remaining cats walked past me into the guild as I turned to follow Natsu.
"Wait! Lu—" I shut the door behind my back and took off running. I didn't want to answer their questions. I didn't want to talk to them. Even though I felt bad for ditching Wendy I knew my habits would choke me in there. She would handle it better than both Natsu and me.
NATSU:
I hadn't wanted to see the shocked and frightened faces of my family, but Lucy had made sense. She caught up to us at the edge of Magnolia. She'd been running. I remembered her habits and realized that the first thing the rowdy crowd would have done was tried to interrogate her. With her reluctance to speak and her whispering she would have had a hell of a time. No wonder she'd run. She didn't try to start a conversation with me as I led the way to my house. When we got there I pushed the door open to reveal a decently clean room. Happy must've done some tidying in my absence. I plopped down on the couch while Lucy summoned Virgo and asked the spirit to bring the food bag. Once the thing appeared in my room she kindly dismissed the maid and set out five more boxes of the spicy chicken as well as three boxes of dumplings. Walking over to our fridge she pulled out some raw fish, probably for Happy, and set it next to the boxes.
"I need to go home for now, but I'm leaving Virgo here so she can knock some sense in any unwanted visitors. If you feel like letting someone in, just tell her." I was about to protest when she cut me off with a firm whisper. "No. You need to heal and beating up the ice princess won't help that. If you need me, I live on Strawberry Street. Follow my scent from there." She came over to me and lifted my chin so she could meet my eyes. "Promise me you'll take it easy, okay?" I nodded. Satisfied, she let go of my chin and moved to the door. Turning around she zeroed in on Happy and pointed a finger at him. "You, cat, had better make sure that Natsu follows my order. Got it?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
Happy looked up from his fish. "Aye sir!" I had to grin at that. She gave me a small smile and left, closing the door gently behind her. I did what I wanted to and tore into the delicious chicken.
LUCY:
I really hoped Natsu would at least take it easy. I knew from Mira that keeping him away from Gray wasn't something necessarily in my power, but maybe, just maybe, Gray would have some sense and not cross Virgo. Sure, keeping her there was a serious drain on my magic, but I needed to know that Natsu was okay. He seemed to be closing up more ever since he showed himself to the guild. The spirit could give me an update from time to time. Getting to my apartment I headed straight for the bath. It had been two long weeks since I had taken a decent wash of any kind. It would also give me time to think.
The warm water was soothing and I felt myself truly relaxing for the first time in days. I needed to summon Crux and ask him about Natsu's curse. I also needed to update my letters to mama. Then there was rent; I had no idea if I would be getting paid for my undercover mission. My plants were probably wilting, what with me being gone for two weeks and all. Laundry was up there too, and so was storing my winter clothes. Summer was right around the corner and they were still taking up half my closet. I pinched my nose and exhaled slowly. Rushing myself wouldn't do any good; I would just start to forget things. I dove underwater for a few seconds before surfacing and pulling myself out of the bath. Quickly wrapping my hair up in a towel and putting on a set of decent clothes, I pulled out a silver key and summoned Crux.
"What can you tell me about Natsu's curse?" I asked the cross-shaped spirit. He seemed to doze off for a few minutes, but I new that he was searching his information. With a loud noise between a yell and a sneeze his eyes shot open and in an aged voice he spoke.
"Lucy-sama, the curse on your friend is unique. It is said to occur when extremely negative emotions force the Dragon Slayer magic to advance at an accelerated rate, giving the wielder an extreme boost in power. However, once the initial effect wears off the wielder with experience difficulty controlling negative emotions such as anger or sadness. A few days later a physical transformation will occur, most commonly starting with scales appearing on the body. As the curse spreads it will engulf more of the body, slowly giving it more dragon-like attributes. For example, instead of a hand the wielder would have a dragon arm." I nodded to show I was following. "Eventually the curse will finish taking over the body and then it makes its way into the mind of the wielder, causing them to abandon all of their humanity. Any negative emotion will be converted to rage, giving the wielder an increase in power."
This was sounding really great. "How about a cure?"
"A pleasant emotion that is consistent would keep the affected grounded, slowing or even stopping the spread of the curse. To fully remove the curse one would have to wait until it fully spreads and then find a way to instill an extremely positive emotion in the affected, strong enough to break the hold of the dragon's anger. If the affected is willing and has the strength they can purge the curse from their body."
Just great. "Thank you for your help, Crux." The spirit nodded and vanished in a small poof of smoke. A sigh escaped me. Even though I had the cause, effect, and solution all racing around in my head it all seemed impossible. To get rid of the damn curse Natsu would have to be fully eaten by it and then someone would have to find a way to break through the rage and make Natsu want to come back. I blew at the strands of hair in my eyes. They lifted gently before flopping back into place. With another sigh I picked myself up and took care of the plants and laundry. I stared at my winter clothes, half-hoping that they would magically pick themselves up and fold into the box. No such luck. With a small groan I forced my feet to move and attacked the huge collection of warm clothing. My thoughts kept flashing back to Natsu.
He made me feel safe and understood. I could talk to him. I had almost laughed when he mumbled about his motion sickness. I really hoped he was taking it easy. I flashed back to an early memory I had of my mom, the two of us playing by the pond in the estate garden.
"Mama!"
"Yes, Lucy?"
"What does love feel like?"
She giggled, covering her mouth like a proper lady. "It's when you feel safe and understood. The one you love makes up your missing half and makes you feel whole, and when your loved one is missing you would go to the end of the world to find them. They would do the same for you." She smiled at me, a small, lady-like smile.
"I think I love you, mama!"
"I know I love you, Lucy."
I sighed. I missed her deeply, and writing letters to her made me feel like she was still listening even though I knew she was dead. Safe and understood, huh?
I shook away the thoughts. There was no way I could develop such affectionate feelings for Natsu so quickly. Absolutely no way. Another sweater landed in the box. A couple hundred left and I could move on to the pants.
Suddenly I felt the small tug on my power than identified as Virgo vanish. Sitting back on my heels I pulled out her key and tried to summon her, but her key glowed softy and wouldn't open. Someone had injured Virgo enough to force her gate closed. Jumping to my feet, I grabbed the nearest jacket and pushed out the front door. I doubted anyone in the guild would force my spirits back while a dreaded feeling in my gut sent adrenalin through my legs. Unless I was overreacting, Natsu was expecting a rather violent visitor.