Gajeel rolled his eyes "We are talking about your behaviour towards Lucy" he clarified, but Natsu still looked clueless, if not more confused. Gajeel sighed roughly causing Levy to rub his upper arm in comfort before taking over, Levy was more patient then her dragon slayer boyfriend.
"Natsu, Listen to me" she started, "What do you know of Dragon Slayer instincts?" she asked.
Natsu looked at Levy before pursing his lips in thought "Well, I know that they are powerful and resonate with our own desires, but that's about it" he told them.
Levy nodded "And what about details about mating, and or, finding your mate?" she asked.
Natsu's face turned into a tomato, not expecting that to be thrown at him "U-Umm… I… I never really let Igneel talk about that stuff cuz I was young and I didn't really care much for that information" he truthfully replied, awkwardly scratching his cheek.
Levy nodded her head and glanced at Gajeel before looking back at Natsu "I thought as much"
"Why are you asking me that anyway?" The fire dragon slayer asked, ready to just run away from this entire situation.
"We ask because we've noticed the way you've been acting around Lucy lately" Levy told him.
"Yeah dude, your protective instincts have been overloading when it comes to Lucy" Gajeel added, Natsu shrugged "So what? She's my best friend! I promised I'd never let anything happen to her" he pouted, completely oblivious to where this conversation was headed.
Levy giggled softly before connecting the dots for Natsu "I'm going to teach you something about Dragon instincts that Gajeel taught me" She smiled; Natsu nodded slightly intrigued. "Dragon slayers have only one mate in the world, and I'm talking about a romantic mate" she clarified so Natsu could keep up "When that dragon slayer finds their mate a feeling overcomes them, like a heat wave, sometimes they understand why, but sometimes they don't, either way, when they feel that wave for someone that is the dragon instincts telling them that they have found their life time romantic partner" Levy told him.
Natsu looked at them both before finally landing his gaze on Gajeel "that happened to you too?" he asked, receiving a nod in return.
"Too?" Levy asked with a raised brow.
Natsu nodded "That feeling you described, I've felt it, I felt it the first time I met Lucy, I though it just meant that Igneel was near by…" he said sadly, kind of focusing on the wrong thing. However, while Levy looked at Gajeel, Natsu finally realised what they were telling him. His eyes widened as far as they could go and his cheeks blushed a deep scarlet. "A-Are you telling me that Lucy is my… My mate" he whispered the last part not wanting anyone else to overhear.
Levy just laughed softly and Gajeel rolled his eyes "Yes flame head" he sighed. "I felt that wave hit me so hard when I first met Levy… I ignored it at first but after I had hurt her… I felt such pain and loss… It was killing me, so I had to find a way to make it up to her" Gajeel told Natsu but his sorrowful eyes stuck to Levy's, still having a hard time forgiving himself for that, even though Levy forgave him long ago.
Natsu nodded his head, remembering those terrible days… he then couldn't help a growl rumble in his chest "you hurt Lucy too…" he grumbled, Gajeel looked at him apologetically.
"Yeah… I know… I'm sorry, I'd take it back of I could dude, I swear" Gajeel apologised and Natsu calmed slightly but just sat there for a few moments thinking about Lucy and the times they have been together, the way he feels for her and how he needed to protect her…
After a few minutes of silence passed he stood up "Thank you for telling me this, I'll probably come back after my mission to ask some more questions once this has sunk in" he smiled widely.
The two lovebirds nodded in unison and watched Natsu practically skip out of the door, meeting Happy at the doorway; who had waited for his fire dragon buddy.
The Next Morning~
Everyone met at the train station at 8am, all but Erza and Happy looked like they hadn't slept in a week.
"Why is it none of you look rested?" Erza asked, her large luggage trolley in tow.
"I dunno, still tired from Natsu's antics?" Gray answered questionably.
"Oi!" Natsu growled before sighing, not possessing the energy to fight "not looking forward to the train ride… also I was up all night just thinking about something" he answered with a yawn.
"Nightmares…" Lucy answered, also with a yawn thanks to Natsu, the latter looked at Lucy with a slight expression of worry "Nightmares?" he asked stepping closer to her, this act caught Erza and Gray's attention, causing them to look at each other puzzled, they had also noticed Natsu's recent possessiveness over Lucy, everyone had but Lucy herself and Happy, with an exception of Natsu, as he was now fully aware.
Lucy smiled tiredly at Natsu and waved off the subject "Don't worry, it was nothing, just annoying because it kept waking me up" she told him as they all entered the train.
Throughout the ride Natsu was incapacitated, while the others played card games to ward off boredom.
Once at their destination the team went to an Inn in the centre of town and bought two rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. It didn't take long for them to unpack and be ready to meet in the restaurant downstairs for lunch.
It was an open buffet, all you can eat; of course Natsu took full advantage of that, bringing two mountains of food to their table on large plates.
"Are you seriously going to eat all that?" Gray asked with wide eyes, the others imitated his expression as they all looked towards Natsu who was currently non-the-wiser as he scoffed down his food.
Later that afternoon they went to see the mayor of the town, the client whom had originally requested this job. Once all sat down in his office they begun the briefing.
"Thank you so much for coming, for the past two weeks we have found 3 women unconscious and unable to wake up, unfortunately that toll went up to 4 last night" he told them sadly, they gasped and returned sorrowful looks, before nodding and letting the mayor continue. "The two men are known as the Grimm Brothers, they aren't from any guild, in fact, I think those two work as freelancers in a family business sort of thing from what information I have gathered. They both wear a mark of a bird with a crown above it, but it looks to have been branded in to their skin" he explained "I don't know where they have been staying but they come to town every night and insist on either work or battle to increase their abilities… anyone that refuses… well… you know what happened to them…" he finished and lowered his head.
"The Mayor looks exhausted" Lucy pointed out quietly, everyone nodded in agreement before Erza spoke up.
"Not to worry Mayor, we will strategize and have these two dealt with by the end of tonight" she told him confidently with a smile. In return the Mayor thanked her and the team before letting them leave to do as Erza had said.
The group went back to the hotel, to the girls' room to relax, have privacy away from strangers that may eavesdrop, and to come up with a plan of action tonight.
Chapter 2! Some answers for Natsu's behaviour and the current mission the team have sent themselves on~ what will happen 0-0 you wont have to wait long to find out~ ^.^