Hey Guys. Hope you are enjoying the story so far. I didn't get any reviews last chapter but I did get quite a few follows :) Thanks everyone for the continued support.
Lucy was running as fast as she could, yet there was something mistakably wrong with her arms in legs. While they moved as any would, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were shorter than before. In fact, she felt that her whole body was smaller.
"Mama! Mama where are you!" She screamed as her invisible pursuers got closer.
Racing past a large mirror, Lucy's little legs stopped running as she slowed down and approached her reflection.
While the face staring back at her was indeed her own, it was smaller and younger then she was used to, her five year old self staring back at her.
All of a sudden, lights dimmed and a man with a white cane stood near the door way.
"Grab the woman, leave no one alive."
Suddenly the scene changed to Lucy hiding under her bed, her only view; a pair of high heels attached to her mother who stood at the door in defence.
"Close your eyes and cover your ears Lulu. Do you remember our game darling? First one to speak looses." her mother's unsteady voice came from above, her french accent shaking.
Lucy covered her ears and closed her eyes as her mother instructed, praying that if she was a good girl that listened; everything would be ok.
After what felt like hours, Lucy felt something sticky and warm pooling under the bed. Creeping one eye open, she was met with the site of blood. A lot of blood.
She screamed.
Lucy's cries echoed off her bedroom walls as she lashed out at her latest nightmare. It had been some time since she had dreamt of that terrible night from her childhood.
Suddenly, the door to her bedroom flew open as a half dressed Natsu entered her room, alarm clearly evident on his handsome face.
"Are you okay? What's going on?" he asked as he looked around her room cautiously.
Still shaking a bit from her nightmare, Lucy looked up at Natsu with tears threatening to fall. It took her a moment to steady her breath and stop the potential waterworks. She very rarely cried and even more rarely did so in front of others.
"Yes I am fine Mr. Dragneel. Just had a bit of a nightmare." she tried to laugh away her terrified expression.
Natsu looked down at the shaking girl and breathed out a long sigh. He reasoned that it must have been one hell of a nightmare to scare this devil woman.
"Are you sure your okay?" he questioned in a worried tone.
Nodding, Lucy moved to get out of bed. She reasoned that she had had enough sleep, and the last thing she wanted was to go back to another nightmare.
"Where are you going? Its way past midnight." Natsu asked as she got up and walked past him into the hallway.
"I can't sleep after that. I think I'm going to make some food and just sit up for awhile. It's the weekend tomorrow so it shouldn't matter too much." she answered as she began fiddling with Leonardo's navigation system.
Grabbing her typing hand, Natsu let out a frustrated sigh as he started leading her down the darkened hallway towards the kitchen.
"Your going to be there all night if you wait for that piece of junk to work." he reasoned as he made a left.
"Piece of junk?" Lucy rose her eyebrow at his comment. "The Leonardo unit has changed the way people live. It is most certainly not a piece of junk."
"The only way that that system has changed the way that I live is that the lights automatically turn on when I enter a room now. Before I had to clap to make that happen." He snapped as he rounded another corner and came upon the kitchen doors.
"We have a chef living here on call. I will send an alert to have him come and make you some food." Natsu reached for the intercom.
Reaching out and grabbing his outstretched hand, Lucy laughed as she pulled him away from the intercom.
"There's no need to wake him at such an ungodly hour. Besides, cooking is what I do best." She winked as she opened the doors.
Natsu followed skeptically behind the blonde haired girl as the lights in the kitchen automatically turned on.
A smile adorned Lucy's face as she looked around at the industrial kitchen that was connected to the dining room. Everywhere she looked there was stainless steel and enough room that an entire kitchen staff could prepare meals for banquets if needed. Multiple ovens and numerous stoves were lined against the far wall, and a walk in freezer full of a wide arrangement of meats and fine cheeses greeted her as she explored.
Back home Lucy's kitchen was large, but not so much as to this scale. Often, if her grandmother held parties, they would order in through a caterer. Here, she was like a kid in a candy store. There were mixers and knives and gadgets she couldn't wait to try out. It was as if, amongst all the bad things that had happened, a sanctuary had been found.
Natsu watched his future wife tip toe around exploring her surroundings with evident glee upon her features. Since she had come to live at his home he had noticed that she rarely smiled. Something within him warmed at the feeling of seeing her such utter glee. He surmised that indeed it was was nice to see that something was finally making her happy.
"Oh wow…" Her petite voice awed as she opened the pantry. "What should I make us? There's so much to choose from!"
"I don't really need anything…" Natsu began as his stomach started to growl in protest.
Lucy raised a brow at this, but smiled as ushered him to sit at one of the countertops. "Just give me ten minutes."
The sound of pots and pans clamouring together began to fill the room as Natsu watched Lucy fiddle around with god knows what.
Growing up, Natsu had been raised by nannies and butlers. His mother was often away on business trips, and his older brother never wanted anything to do with him. Save for the few times that Mavis and Gray had come over, Natsu often ate his meals in silence prepared behind the kitchen doors that he rarely ventured into.
Once, he had snuck in and attempted to grab a snack, but was quickly ushered out by the chef for fear of him getting cut or even worse; burned. Natsu scoffed at the thought.
That was probably one of the reasons Natsu's favourite period was lunch at school. All of Fairy Tail Academy would eat together and enjoy each others company. One was never lonely.
"There. All done. Tada!" Lucy's grin widened as she put a plate in front of him.
Looking down, Natsu saw that she had put together what looked like two wraps, with a filling he wasn't quite sure of.
Diving into her own meal, Lucy's eyes darted to his confused expression as she swallowed her first bite. "Do you not like quesadillas?"
Natsu's face almost looked embarrassed for a moment before his lips formed a question.
"What's a…quesadilla?"
Lucy was lucky she had already swallowed her food because if she had laughed with her mouth stuffed she would probably of choked.
Red crept up Natsu's neck as his whole face began to flush in embarrassment. "Its rude to laugh Miss. Heartfillia."
"I'm..hehe..so…hahah..sorry!" she couldn't contain herself as she held her stomach with laughter. "I forget that you're probably used to fancy food."
Natsu sulked as he glanced again towards his plate.
"Quesadilla's are really popular where I am from. It's basically two wraps fried on both sides with chicken, cheese and vegetables in the centre. Go on, dip it in the sour cream and you will taste magic." She giggled as she rubbed the laugh-induced tears from her eyes.
Glancing at the food and then back at her, Natsu gave her a skeptical gaze as he reached down and grabbed a sliced portion of his quesadilla. "And we just eat this with our hands?"
Lucy nodded as she watched him. For some reason she wanted him to like her cooking, plus it was entertaining to see him struggle.
Seeing that he was being watched, Natsu sighed as he dipped a piece of his quesadilla into some sour cream. Natsu brought the meal to his mouth and closed his eyes as he took a first bite.
Ask anyone who knew Natsu, everyone would tell you the same thing; he was a picky eater.
Not to say that he didn't have a healthy appetite; his was actually quite ravenous. Without parents there to enforce, and with an entire arsenal of kitchen staff, the boy had grown up with his favourites, and it was extremely rare for him to try something new.
However, there was something about the way she was watching him with her round cant-say-no-to expression; he caved.
Chewing a few times, he swallowed as he opened his eyes to look at Lucy. She stared at him expectantly with her large eyes as he cracked a smile.
The food she prepared was good. Not just good, to him it tasted amazing. He found himself wondering why he hadn't tried a quesadilla before, yet reasoned that he probably wouldn't have tried it if it weren't his devil of a future wife asking him to.
"Not bad." he reasoned as he scarfed down the remaining piece and reached for another. "But it could use some heat."
Lucy smiled as she passed him a jar of hot sauce and continued on with her own meal. While at home she would trade cooking duties with Mirajane every other night. Lucy didn't care to have kitchen staff on hand for the day to day stuff. She loved to cook and the two of them would often engage in competitions to see what creations they could come up with.
A large wave of homesickness hit her as she thought back to her home. While she didn't particularly like the people at her school, she did have people there that she cared about, like Mirajane and Sting.
Seeing that Lucy was starting to space out, Natsu took the opportunity to glance in her direction. While most people would think that there was something wrong with her for how often she did this, Natsu found himself being slightly grateful. It was in these moments that he could look at her without being caught.
Her face was indeed pretty, and her long eyelashes compelled him to stare at her dazzling brown eyes. They almost seemed to have flecks of green in them. She was unlike any girl that he had ever seen before; wild looking; yet still dignified, small; yet fierce.
"What are you so lost in thought about?" he questioned.
Jumping slightly at being brought out of her thoughts, Lucy gave him a sad smile. "Just a bit homesick is all. Cooking like this reminds me of Mirajane."
"Ahh the Keeper right?" Natsu surmised as he took a sip of water.
"Wow you guys really do your homework don't you?" she laughed.
"I rather know too much than too little as I'm not fond of being unprepared." he reasoned.
Lucy could relate. Although she couldn't un-know something even if she tried, she reasoned that it did come in handy.
"If it gives you any joy to know this, I looked into bringing your keeper here when I first brought you here. I thought it might make the transition easier." Natsu began. "However your grandmother had her on assignment somewhere else for the time being. It might ease your heart to know that she will be accompanying your friend Sting when they come around Christmas time."
Lucy's face lit up at the news. Her grin grew wide and Natsu decided right then and there that he liked seeing her smile, especially at him.
"Really? this isn't a joke right? I'm going to have to practice so I can show her all my new kitchen skills that I'll acquire working in here." She spoke aloud as she began to clear their plates.
"You can leave that for the staff to do." He motioned towards the dirty dishes.
Lucy snorted at his comment. "One thing that I live by, Mr. Dragneel, is that if you make a mess, your in charge of cleaning it up." She winked as she began washing the pots and pans as well.
Sighing, Natsu watched on as his completely strange fiancé continued her mission.
He reasoned that he still had a lot to learn about her.
After cleaning up the kitchen Lucy still couldn't seem to shake the uneasiness from her earlier dream. While her conversation with Natsu had distracted her for a short time, she still wasn't ready to close her eyes just yet.
Deciding she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, she asked Natsu where the nearest television was. She needed to Netflix marathon hard in order to distract herself from thoughts of her mother. While cooking and conversing with her so called future husband hadn't been exactly terrible, she couldn't exactly expect him to stay up any later just because she had a bad dream.
Natsu led her to the entertainment room where plush oversized pillows offered comfortable seating in front of a huge projection screen.
Tossing her the remote, Natsu immediately sat down on the nearest pillow and started to make himself comfortable.
Raising her eyebrow at his decision to stay, Lucy bit her tongue as she flipped through the categories.
"Have you ever seen The 100?" she asked as she noticed the new season had been released.
"No, whats it about?"
"Oh, you know, typical end of the world type series. Its a Netflix original though, so it's pretty good." she explained as she turned it on.
The show wasn't bad, not that Natsu paid much attention to it. After twenty minutes Lucy had fallen asleep beside him and was now curled up at his side.
Natsu yawned as he adjusted himself slightly to get more comfortable. His eyelids slowly started droop as he reasoned that taking a quick nap couldn't hurt. Surrendering to his tiredness, Natsu pulled up a nearby blanket and let sleep consume him.