A/N: First off WOW! Time surely moved! I have seven active stories going on thatś multichapter. Man itś not easy lol. Anyway here is the Chapter 8!

Enjoy!

Chapter 7

"Fire brains you better have a damn good reason for taking me away from my mate," Gajeel growled and shoving Natsu off of him.

Natsu stumbled back taking deep breaths.

"I almost killed a guy in Lucy's room,"Natsu said and straighten up.

"Well about time. You found your mate Salamander. What are you going to do for the mating ritual?" Gajeel asked.

"Mating ritual?" Natsu questioned. Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"Did your dragon teach you anything. Come let ol' Gajeel tell you a thing or two before you screw it up and scare Bunny Girl,"Gajeel said and clasped his hand on Natsu's shoulder and lead them to a local tavern to have "the talk".

.

.

.

"Ugh where's Natsu? I know I could have sworn he went this way. Natsu! Where are you! You better not be with that-that bitch Lucy Slutfilia!" Lisanna yelled into the air.

"Can I help you Miss?" a man asked coming upon Lisanna in the alley Natsu was moments ago.

Lisanna turned around in embarrassment because of what she said out loud.

"Uhm do-do I know you? Hey aren't you Lucy's friend Francis or Timothy?" Lisanna trying to remember the guy's name.

"Cute. Tomas Calhoun. Pleasure Uhm," Tomas said and held his hand out.

"Lisanna Strauss. What are you doing here?" Lisanna asked looking around at the slightly secluded area.

"Passing by. Couldn't help overhearing your...Uhm confession about my erm girlfriend,"Tomas said.

"Oh that well you see...I," Lisanna fumbling over words to come up with an excuse.

"I think we can help each other," Tomas said coyly with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Lisanna asked tilting her head.

"I'm in love with her and I think you are in love with the pink haired fellow...Nico?" Tomas said.

"His name is Natsu but what do you have in mind? I think I can help. Because who wants to stand in the middle of destined love, right?" Lisanna asked.

"Perfect. Meet me here at this address in two hours,"Tomas said and handed her a folded piece of paper.

Lisanna looked at it and grinned. She hurried out of the alley and air pumped.

Tomas watched her antics and chuckled.

He took out his lacrima communication device and sent a quick message.

Hook. Line. Sinker

Chapter 8 Take Me and My Team Serious!

Lisanna looked around the area to make sure no one she knew would recognize her. She pulled her cape closer around her face and walked to the seedy bed and breakfast owner.

"We don't take prostitutes, don't need anymore babies, and I ain't buying anything because I more than likely have two of whatever you are trying to sell me," the robust female owner said tiredly.

"No ma'am I was told to show this to you. I'm meeting someone here," Lisanna said trying to disguise her voice a little bit just in case.

"Let me see, let me see. Don't got all day you know," the woman said and took the paper from Lisanna.

The owner bulge her eyes and bowed a bit to Lisanna.

"I beg your pardon Miss. Just go down two doors behind the kitchen. Please tell the Master I'm sorry for holdin up his guest. I didn't mean anything of it. Won't you tell him Miss," the woman almost begged.

"What is your name?" Lisanna asked.

"Ruth and this is all I have since he had my Henry killed. Please tell the Master that I'm a good hostess and to continue to send the money to help me. Be careful as well...he's a mean snake and evil one,"Ruth said and wiped a tear from her eye then quickly got back to tending her other drunk guests.

Lisanna raised her left eyebrow and nodded.

'Who is this fellow really? That woman could sit on Tomas if she wanted to. I need to make sure to not upset him more,' Lisanna thought and came to the door the innkeeper said.

Lisanna knocked three times and waited then knocked five times slowly. Then she had to wait for the door to be open. The door then opened after she waited for fifteen minutes.

Lisanna took the hood off of her head and walked into the dim lite room and sat down on a creaky wooden chair.

Lisanna got a chilly feeling but continued on sitting there waiting to hear the proffered help.

"Lisanna, I'm glad that you were able to come hope Ruth wasn't rude to you," Tomas said making small talk as if they were old friends catching up.

Him talking like that was giving Lisanna the creeps.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head.

"You said that you could help me get Natsu and you get Lucy. What did you have in mind?" Lisanna asked finding her voice.

Tomas crossed his arms and smiled.

"Oh it's quite simple. I need Lucy to have no other choice but to spend Christmas with me. I have plans that I wish to keep to myself. But what I need for you to do is to get Nico to drink this. It's harmless. It will just have his senses dulled for a few hours to not interrupt us," Tomas said and handed Lisanna a small vial of red liquid.

"What do you have in mind?," Lisanna asked and took the vial and examined it.

"Don't worry your pretty little head. All I need to know if I can count on you," Tomas asked and stuck out his hand.

"I agree to help you as long as it doesn't harm Natsu," Lisanna said and shook hands with Tomas.

"It won't harm him. I will send you a message when Natsu need to drink it. It can be mixed in his drink but don't pour too much. It wouldn't be a good thing. You would have a very sensual dragon on your hands. Just two small drops and that will be more than enough. Make sure he drinks it all. Remember don't tell anyone. I want it to be a surprise, okay ," Tomas said and walked Lisanna to the door.

"Easy enough. Do you know when you want to do this?" Lisanna asked.

"In three weeks. When it is close to Christmas," Tomas said and stopped walking until Lisanna was safely back on the other side of the kitchen.

Lisanna took the vial out of her pouch she was carrying and looked at the innocent looking liquid then placed it back readying the SE plug on her arm to get her car to go.

Natsu and Lucy

"Alright Lucy I did your laundry, washed your windows, cleaned your windows, took out the trash and fluffed your pillows. Is that all now?" Natsu said a bit exhausted.

"Hmm? Yes that's all. Here come and try this," Lucy said holding a wooden spoon and walked to Natsu that was sitting on the floor catching his breath.

Natsu opened his eyes and sat up. Inside he was a bundle of nervous energy and didn't know what to do. His body wanted to go all over the place. Then a long forgotten memory came to mind when Igneel told Natsu what to expect from his destined mate.

Long forgotten memory resurfaced

"Remember Natsu when a potential mate present you with food pay attention to her actions. Is she offering anyone else the food or is it just you? She may just have accepted your hand for mating. But you must choose a way to show that you are interested in her. Let your heart and nose guide you my son," Igneel said to a rambunctious child.

End of memory

Nastu looked around and they were alone. Happy was with Carla and Wendy. Natsu thought back on other times Lucy has cooked for the others but she never offered for anyone to taste her cooking first.

'I wonder if she's willing to be my mate after all,' Natsu thought and opened his mouth to eat what Lucy was cooking for them.

"It's really good but isn't it a bit spicy for you to eat?" Natsu asked licking his lips.

"My tolerance for spicy food has gone up. I was making sure the sauce for the spaghetti wasn't too salty," Lucy said and continued to stir the pot of food for a few more moments with a different wooden spoon.

Later on the two were sitting at Lucy's table talking about past memories and adventures they shared. Lucy had opened a bottle of wine for the two to share. They moved to her bed and sat on top. Natsu lazily placed his arm around Lucy still talking about fights he won and different people they befriended over the years. After two more bottles Lucy was extremely exhausted and began to doze off to sleep.

Natsu tucked her in with her clothes still on. He was about to leave but heard Lucy rustling in her bed clearly looking for Natsu's warm body.

Lucy sat up and rubbed her eye.

"Where are you going? Come stay the night. It's too cold to stay at your place. Besides I'm cold," Lucy said and patted her bed for him to come.

"Are you sure?" Natsu asked.

"Come on," Lucy yawned and got deeper in her covers.

Natsu raised his eyebrow and did a happy dance. He made sure the house was secure and removed his clothes because they were dirty from cleaning and knew Lucy would have a fit if he got under the covers with them on. Natsu pulled the covers back and saw Lucy laying on her side facing towards him. Her loose blonde hair cascaded down her arm covering her eye. Her breast were plumper than usual.

Natsu took a deep breath and got in the bed. It was just Lucy sleeping like usual.

'But she never invited me in her bed before unless she was scared... not...just because,' Natsu thought but forced himself to calm down.

He decided to listen to Lucy's light snores and the snow hitting the window sill. Slowly he began to relax and Lucy turned to where her back was against his chest. He placed an arm around her and drifted off to sleep.

Three days later

Gajeel, Levy, and Lucy were in Makarov's office. They were listening to reports of missing mages that went on missions but never came back.

"Do you think it's tied with the missing mages that could do earth magic from earlier? I mean maybe it's random to throw us off the real mystery," Levy asked out loud.

"That is a possibility. What I don't get is what is the gain? Is it a killer, a collector, or just a big coincidence that all these people are going missing," Lucy said and looked at the board with the photographs of all the missing people since August.

"I'm not sure. The ministry and the other head masters are meeting up in a few days. I'm going to halt requests until the holidays are over and I get back. Jura made it seem it's going to be a long one. So keep your ears and eyes open. Be careful my children and keep our meeting to yourselves. That is all," Makarov said and Triple Threat left his office.

"So what are you going to do with this extra time? Are you and Natsu going to do anything romantic for the next two weeks?" Levy asked as the young women walked down the stairs to the gathering area with the rest of the guild.

"Actually Tomas had asked for me to go to his parent's winter home. I haven't been there in many years since my mother passed away. I already gotten letters from Tori about all the things we are going to do. Plus Natsu hasn't said much to me as of late," Lucy said and looked over to the bar area where Lisanna and Natsu were sitting close together talking.

Levy followed her eyes and clasped her hand over her mouth.

"Oh Lu. They finally made it official or something?" Levy whispered.

"I don't know and really don't care what that idiot does,"Lucy said and inconspicuously wiped a lone tear from her eyes.

"But I thought...Gajeel said that Natsu picked a mate and I that mate was-," Levy began but Gajeel cleared his throat.

"It's not our place. Come on you two let's get some food in ya," Gajeel said and began walking to the front doors.

"You two go ahead. I'm going home and pack. I'm leaving in a couple of days and need to do some shopping," Lucy said and headed to the bar to get a strawberry milkshake to go.

Gajeel and Levy shook their head and left after bundling up for the cold weather.

Lucy walked directly to Mirajane who was wiping the counter off. Lucy didn't look around the guild because she didn't want to see them.

Mira saw her friend and gave her a warm smile. She placed the wiping cloth in its proper spot and began making an extra special strawberry milkshake for Lucy.

"Here you go hon. Made it with extra strawberries," Mirajane said and patted Lucy on her hand.

"Thanks but can I get it to go? I need to get going," Lucy said.

"Sure let me see if I have something to put it in from the back. Watch the bar for me," Mira said and went to the back.

Lucy sat down on the bar stool and crossed her legs.

She was checking her lacrima phone when she felt someone next to her.

She turned and it was Lisanna. Lucy rolled her eyes and continued checking her social media account.

"Haven't seen you around in a while. Have you heard about Natsu and I?" Lisanna asked.

"The correct question is would I care," Lucy asked sarcastically.

"What is your deal? You are the only one that treats me indifferently. It's really rude Lucy!" Lisanna said and turned Lucy to look at her.

"I don't have to talk to you or pretend to be your friend. I'm tolerant of you. Just leave me alone," Lucy said with finality to the conversation.

Lisanna got up and left Lucy to her own bidding.

'Just a couple of more days then you're out of our hair for good,' Lisanna thought and went back to sit with Natsu.

Three days before Christmas Day

"Merry Early Christmas Lucy. Here I got this for you!"Levy said and handed Lucy a white and light blue wrapped Christmas present.

Lucy took off her gale-force reading glasses off and bookmarked her place in her book. She took the proffered gift and hugged Levy handing her a small pink wrapped gift.

Levy quickly opened it and it was a charm bracelet with one of the charms a black dragon and an open book. Levy hugged Lucy and quickly placed it on her wrist.

Lucy then opened the white and light blue wrapped gift and revealed a silver and blue colored notebook that she could add to her growing collection.

"Oh Levy! Thank you so much! I will always treasure it,"Lucy said and began writing her name into her book.

"It's not that type of book Lu. It's actually an enchanted one that will allow you to keep anything that you want secret,secret. It's called a Keep-Me Safe. So whatever you write down and wave your hand over like this. Only your eyes will be able to read it. Only another person can read what you read as long as you give them a password and they write it correctly on the first page. Then everything that you wrote will be revealed to them. So keep it safe,"Levy said and left to go and give her other teammates their gift.

'Hmm a password? I could use this,' Lucy thought to herself.

Lucy grabbed her favorite pen from her side bag and began writing. Lucy was so engrossed that she didn't notice a pink-haired mage staring at her.

"Natsu! There you are! Why are you hiding behind this pillar? Come on I want to give you your Christmas present," Lisanna said and handed him a medium size box.

Natsu took it and shook it. Lisanna giggled and took the gift from him pretending to scowl.

"You are suppose to unwrap it. Not shake it," Lisanna said and handed him the gift back.

Natsu shook his head and carefully unwrapped the gift box. He opened the lid and revealed a photo frame.

"Oh wow. Where did you get this from?" Natsu asked looking at the picture from when they were kids.

"I was looking through an old trunk and I found it. You remember when you called me your wife and Happy was our son. Those were some good ol' days weren't they Natsu," Lisanna said dreamily.

She rested her head on Natsu's shoulder but immediately lifted up rubbing the side of her head.

"That was really hot. Why did you burn me?" Lisanna asked Natsu.

"Huh?" Natsu questioned and looked back to where Lucy was talking to Tomas her new boyfriend.

Lisanna sniffed around smelling burning wood even though the fireplace was further away and looked to see Natsu was burning a hole through the wooden table.

Happy quickly flew down and doused Natsu with a cup of cold water.

"Natsu you have to calm down. I know you think Lucy is making a bad decision but it's her life like she yelled at us the other night," Happy said and shivered still remembering the ringing in his ear from Lucy's yell.

"I'm fine Happy. I'm getting stronger and need to practice controlling this awesome power I'm learning from that book I got from Gramps. I don't care about her," Natsu said and looked at Lucy again clinking glasses with Levy and Tomas.

"Right, you have it under control," Happy said and patted Natsu's fire out again.

"Here drink this. It will make you feel better," Lisanna said as she poured a bottle of Hot Lava in a cup. Happy that he saw her adding something to Natsu's drink but he wasn't sure. He flew away to sit next to Carla and Panther Lily to gossip with them.

Natsu took the beverage to the head and slammed the cup down. He turned to Lisanna and he was madly in love with her in an instant.

"You have beautiful blue eyes," Natsu said and hiccuped.

"Thank you," Lisanna whispered with a blush and scooted closer to Natsu.

Happy saw Tomas with his arms around Lucy sitting on the bench with her. He nuzzled her neck bringing a smile to Lucy's lips. He kissed the side of her neck and whispered in her ear

"Lucy are you ready to go?"

Lucy turned and shook her head. She walked behind the bar to grab her packed suitcase then pulled it to where Tomas was at. Tomas being a gentleman took the handle from Lucy and rolled the suitcase out for her.

Lucy waved to Levy, Mira, Wendy and Cana then left through the doors.

Tomas helped Lucy in his carriage. Lucy thanked him and sat down. She turned her head smiling and imagining what a great weekend it was going to be. The door immediately locked.

'That's weird,' Lucy thought to herself.

Then she took off the hood of her jacket when she saw that she wasn't the only one in the carriage. She heard a knock from somewhere and the carriage immediately pulled off without Tomas inside of the carriage.

"Hi are you related to Tomas and Tori?," Lucy asked politely feeling a bit uneasy with the unknown guest.

The figure didn't talk Lucy looked out of window taking in the scenery of the countryside of Magnolia.

Lucy heard some rustling from her carriage partner and turned to see what the person was doing. They took out a small glass bottle with pink smoke inside. Every fiber in Lucy was on high alert because it didn't sit right with her.

The figure took the cork out from the glass bottle and pink smoke that filled the carriage fast.

"Huh?" Lucy asked and before she could react she was out like a light.

Another knock and the carriage stopped.

The door opened and Tomas let the person out.

Tomas looked inside to see Lucy slouched over.

"I take it our plans are going accordingly?" Tomas asked the other guest.

The figure pulled back the black hood to reveal Bluenote with a big grin.

"In due time. I get what I want and you'll get what you want. It's almost over Tomas and you will have your hands on the Heartfilia fortune," Bluenote said and climbed back inside with the slumbering Lucy.

'It will soon be over Lucy ,' Tomas thought and got back to navigating the carriage to his parent's winter home turn Bluenote's secret hideout.

Back at the Guild

Natsu was sneezing and sniffed. He sniffed again and quickly stood up. He sniffed some more walking around sniffing. He got to Grey and sniffed him.

"Hey watch it Lava Head where you sniffing at! What are you trying to smell anyway?" Grey asked.

"I can't smell Lucy. Where is she?" Natsu asked.

"She left about thirty minutes ago where have you been?" Grey asked and began to drink the rest of his drink.

"Oh," Natsu said and went back to his seat.

He felt off and had a bad feeling in his gut something wasn't right but didn't know what.

'Something ain't right and Igneel always said trust my nose and heart. But they both seem to be out of sync nowadays,' Natsu thought.

Three Weeks Later

"Natsu you have a letter and so do you Levy," Mira said and handed it to them.

"Who's it from," Levy asked but Mira shrugged her shoulders.

Gray and Ezra came to the small group to get some food and drinks.

"Who wrote you Natsu? Natsu are you okay?" Gray asked but almost burnt his hand when he touched Natsu.

Natsu opened his letter and his hands immediately incinerated it.

Natsu ran out of the guild with a blaze of fire behind him.

"What the hell?" Gray said and looked to Levy who gasped.

"What did it say?" Erza demanded to know.

"Lucy is getting married to Tomas! Tonight! This is her wedding invitation " Levy said and went to find Gajeel.

"That's not good!" Mira said quickly.

"What's wrong with Natsu?" Happy asked with concern in his voice.

"Lucy is getting married tonight to Tomas," Erza informed Happy.

"What! Does Natsu know? Of course he does. This is bad guys," Happy said gravely.

"Why?" Erza and Gray said together.

"Lucy is Natsu's intended mate. From my understanding Tomas just challenged Natsu's claim," Happy said.

"Did Lucy know?" Gray asked.

"I'm not sure but she's going to know soon," Happy said and flew to find Gajeel.

"It's working perfectly. Soon good bye-"Lisanna started to say but someone behind her interrupted her.

"Goodbye who?"

Lisanna jumped in fright and it was Gajeel right behind her. Lisanna gulped and tried to run but Gajeel caught her by her upper arm.

"I think it's time for you to start explaining," Gajeel said and brought her to the rest of the gang.

To be continued

not beta read

please leave a review if there's still interest 😊

Until Next Time

M