Ew, so my classes are getting a little in the way of writing! So what is this, chapter 7 already? Okay then, hope you enjoy the new chapter! plus, sorry about the length of this chapter, it's not as long as usual but hopefully you'll overcome it :)

Chapter 7:

"So what exactly was changed to the plane?" Lucy asked staring at the exact same plane they arrived in, she didn't see any significant changes to it. Bob smiled, staring at the masterpiece.

"Your personal jet was very vunerable, but now, it's been equipped with some pretty great armor, so you shouldn't have to worry about getting sent out the sky," Lucy's skin crawled, she never thought she'd even have to worry about that, just how protected actually was she? "Also, we installed some modifications to the wings, so incase you have to go into manual, you'll be able to evade problems easier."

"I don't know how to fly..." Lucy deadpanned, Bob glanced at her with worry.

"Well of course you don't, Natsu's gonna be flying it," Lucy's eyes widened, "He knows how to fly?" Bob smiled with a nod, he looked really weird with makeup, not that it was bad that he was doing what he loved since he was very feminine. Lucy just thought he would actually shave or something.

"It is required for our agents to take flying school."

"Ah..." The two turned their heads back to the jet that was almost finished. Lucy heard a muffled voice behind her that sounded a lot like Natsu's, she turned her head and watched him approach her and Bob. He was talking to someone on the phone and seemed pretty upset about something. He was about a yard away from them when he hung up and looked at Lucy, making her blink.

"What's wrong?" She asked as he walked up to her giving her a quick glance before turning to Bob. "The decoy wasn't at the facility. They predicted we would be coming." Natsu spoke rather irritated. Bob, hummed and brought a hand up to his chin, suddenly becoming very serious, loosing his feminine attitude.

"Did they atleast get information of it's actual whereabouts?" Bob's voice dropped tenfold, catching Lucy by surprise as she looked back and forth between the two. Natsu nodded, crossing his arms. Lucy glanced at what he was wearing and liked it a lot. He was wearing a black longsleeved shirt that was very fitting, allowing his muscles to appear through the fabric.

"Yeah, but it's gonna take some time to get there because the person Gajeel interrogated wasn't very clear." Lucy immediantly thought of Levy when she heard Gajeel's name. She wondered how she was doing, Lucy had never been away from Levy this long, it's been almost a week. Her mind then trailed to the Body Software, what was it? Was it actually something that was physical like everyone has been saying or was there more to it?

Now that she remembered, her father and Levy's father, along with another man... Lucy tried desperately to remember the third man. But they were always working on something, and when Mr. McGarden died, her father used to come home a bit more exhausted than usual. Maybe it was because it was just two of them working on the body software instead of three. If her father was dead, was the other man? It could be a possiblity that the third scientist was still alive but how would she be able to know? She couldn't even remember his name and was having a hard time remembering his face, but she did know he was pretty tall, but that's about it.

"Uh, Lucyy. You awake?" A hand started waving infront of her face, making her blink and jump back a bit.

"Huh?" Lucy glanced up to the two men staring at her.

"You okay? You kinda just zoned out for like, ten years." Lucy sighed at Natsu's exaggeration. Bob placed a hand to his cheek in worry.

"Oh my, do you need to lay down dear?" His voice higher and feminine again.

"No, I was just thinking about some stuff." The men stared at her for a moment before getting back on topic.

"So exactly what time should this thing be ready?" Bob calculated in his head before checking his watch.

"Well, it's twelve right now, so in about six hours it should be completely finished and you have the option on whether you want to leave today or stay until morning. If you leave now, you'll get there pretty early in the morning, so it's up to you. For the time being, we have leisure spots around the headquarters that you can use to occupy yourselves. So you two decide and tell me later, I have a meeting to get to." Bob smiled, before heading off.

"We should leave today," Natsu remarked. Lucy lifted a brow, "Why, are you in a hurry?" She asked as they began walking out of the airway and back in to the headquarters.

"Well sorta yeah. The sooner we leave the better, we're already going on day two here and plus I can't stand this place. Sure these people are good at what they do but they all give me the creeps." Lucy laughed at his statement, he eyed at from the corner of his eye before smiling.

"What's so funny?"

"You are. Why do these people creep you out so much?" Natsu grimaced at her question.

"Because everytime I come here, it's the men that try to make a move on me. Even the head, Bob, tried hitting on me when we first met," Lucy looked away with a snicker before she thought of something. "Well... Are you interested?"

Natsu turned his head to her, shocked. "Do I look like I'd be interested!? Are you serious!?" Nastu gasped, making Lucy laugh.

"Well..."

"Don't even start," Lucy chuckled softly, she was happy that they were finally starting to warm up to each other, it made things less awkward, especially when they're alone. A tap on her shoulder startled her out of her thoughts, driving her attention back to Natsu. "Have you ever used a gun?" Lucy looked at him strangely.

"No?"

"Well, I'm gonna teach you," They walked down the hallway in silence while Lucy tried to think about what he had just said. "Why?" Natsu glanced at her yet again like she wasn't the brightest human being.

"Well, isn't obvious? People are out to get you, and there might come a time when I can't be by your side for some reason. I just want you to be capable of protecting yourself if the time ever comes." Lucy smiled, she appreciated his worry for her, but then again, it could just be because this is his job. Still, it made her happy.

"I walked past a shooting range when I went to the foodquart yesterday so I decided we could give it a try." Lucy sighed, of course he went to the food quart, that's usually the only place he's ever at and if she doesn't want to go with him, he makes her stay in the dorm because she "can't trust anyone", so she'll just watch movies when he's gone.

Once they arrived at the range a few minutes later, they walked into one of the booths after he grabbed a standard pistol. He held it out to her and she took it from him with hesitance. When he released the weapon was when she realized just how heavy the thing was even for it's size. She didn't notice when he put the soundproof muffs on her head as she was too busy inspecting the gun.

"Okay, now take it out of safety, it should be on the side," She followed his intructions and brought it out of safety, looking to him for her next task. "Okay... Now that we're ready, we'll work on handling a gun first." He spoke and then grabbed her hands, putting them in place. His hands were holding on to hers firmly as he stood behind her, raising her hands up to the target infront of them.

"So the trick is, you see that little thing on top of the barrel," Lucy checked the barrel and then nodded, "Okay, that's to help you aim. You can't just point a gun at someone and expect to hit them unless they're like a yard or closer to you. Most of the time, when people think they're aiming correctly, they're not and they'll miss." Lucy nodded at the new information but was also trying not to be distracted by his toned chest pressed against her back. Her face began getting a little warm.

"Now, fire it so you can get a feel of how the gun works." Lucy nodded and took a deep breath, closing one eye and aiming at the bullseye on the human cardboard target. Her finger pressed down on the trigger and the pistol fired, her hands would've been sent back farther than they did if Natsu hadn't been holding on to her hands still.

She didn't notice she had shut her eyes until she opened them to check the target, she had been aiming for the heart but she got just above the collarbone to the right shoulder. "Well, that's not bad for starters, but the enemy will still be able to use their other hand and kill you," Lucy cringed from his words, she did not want to die, "also, I saw you close your eyes right before you shot, that's a big no. Doing that can also ruin your aim or could also get you killed." Lucy sighed sadly, nodding.

"It's nothing to get upset about, we're all bad in the beginning, it just takes practice," Natsu smiled reassuringly. Lucy gave him a sideways glance from the corner of her eye, "I find it hard to believe you were bad at some point before too..." Natsu chuckled at her statement.

"I wish that was true. But sadly, just like you, I was once normal too," Natsu teased. "Hey!" Lucy turned her head to glare at him but froze. She didn' think they were actually this close, her nose brushed against his, their lips almost grazing each other. She turned her head back around quickly before it could happen, her face flaming up before she tried aiming again.

She shot the head. She smiled in accomplishment and felt Natsu shrug behind her, "Beginners luck," he had mumbled, making her snicker, trying to take her mind off of his warm breath on the back of her neck.

This was not okay. He was too good-looking to be pressed up against her and breathing on her neck and also almost kissing her. This was too much for the poor girl, she didn't exactly feel like continuing if he was going to keep holding on to her. Did he not realize that they almost kissed a few seconds ago? If he did, he was very good at hiding his emotions.

Her mind started to wander and she untitentionally pressed her back against him, making him pause. He smelled really good, like fire and cinnamon; was that possible? All she knew was that it was very cozy and warm- "Lucy?" Her eyes shot open and she jumped out of his arms, embarrassed.

"You okay? You're kinda red." Lucy nodded quickly, turning back around.

"U-uh, yeah, I'm fine, just a little hot," Natsu stared at the girl infront of him, his face became a little warm as well. "Are you sure, we can stop if you want." He know he did, he didn't know what he'd do if all this accidental brushing kept reoccuring. He almost groaned when she shook her head, still not turning to look at him.

"It's okay." She mumbled before firing another bullet.

It was a bullseye.

"Are you sure you want to leave today? You can always leave in the morning tomorrow." Bob said sadly, holding her hands in his. Lucy nodded with a smile while Natsu passed by them with their luggage, glaring at Bob, mainly because he was terrified of the man and he didn't want him to rub off on Lucy, she was already a weirdo. But another part didn't like seeing Lucy holding a man's hand. Bob glanced over at Natsu before looking back at Lucy, his face serious.

"Make sure he is always by your side, you never know when someone may pop out at you, and you especially do not want to be alone when it happens," Bob spoke quietly, Lucy gulped, nodding, "If you're lucky though, it could be people trying to capture you, but most of the parties after you will try to kill you. Keep that in mind okay?" Bob smiled at her, Lucy nodded again, somewhat freaked out.

"Come on, Lucy." He called over to her, grumply waiting for her retrieve her hands back from Bob the creep. He held out his hand to her and when she took it, he helped her up the steep steps, randomly taking note on how small her hands were compared to his.

Lucy gave one last wave before entering the jet. Natsu closed the door and followed in after her with a smile. "What's with the smile?" Lucy questioned, a small smile creeping up on her lips as well. She watched him get comfortable infront of her contently.

"I'm just glad we're finally leaving this place."

Lucy laughed, "You really are afraid of this place," Natsu only grunted before peeking out the window in contempt. "So, where are we headed?" Lucy asked. Natsu shrugged as the jet began to take off.

"I honestly have no clue what the place is called, but I know it's on some island south of Fiore." Lucy perked up at the mention of an island and south. She hadn't exactly been enjoying the winter season and was really looking forward to getting a bit more sun again.

"That's pretty far," Lucy hummed, Natsu nodded, "Yeah, it should be good enough privacy for a while. Lucy blinked. Privacy? Exactly what kind of privacy was he talking about? Lucy blushed before snapping out of it, mentally scolding herself for jumping to strange conclusions.

"You can go to sleep if you want, we're not gonna be there until morning," Lucy looked up at Natsu, "I don't want to leave you by yourself." She simpered. Natsu shrugged, smiling.

"Suit yourself, 'cause I'll keep you up all night."

Oh God, did he have to say it like that?

A/N: finally a new chapter, sorry for the long wait. My classes and work is getting in the way but don't fret. So yes, the nalu is finally starting to develope but it will not be rushed, and neither will gale, they will both have a smooth pace and developement throughout the story. I'm not exactly sure yet and I may leave it up to you guys if you think I should bump up the rating later in the story, not just because of the romance, but becuase of the content that I might add in.

Anyways, as always, tanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they always help! Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes there might be :D