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-howtodreamagain
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima; the eternal plot twister creator
Chapter 6: Unspoken words
"Ugh, why do I have to wear this stuffy cloak again?" The slender figure complained.
"Because it feels warm…?" The male next to her suggested cheerfully.
"You whined to me for ages, begging me to wear a scent-concealing cloak because it feels warm."
"Well it is warm."
Ignoring the voice, Lucy shot a glare at her closest spirit.
"It makes you look badass, it's all black and everything…" Loke said weakly.
"He's got a point. Scent concealing cloaks are the new black."
"Well that's great. I have to admit I was hoping to look less like a criminal and more like a vigilante." She said sarcastically.
"My, my, who taught you to be so sarcastic to your elders? Geez."
Shooting Loke another glare Aquarius would be proud of, Lucy shifted uncomfortably in her spot by the fire in their campsite perched on the cliffs by Magnolia.
After intense training for around two years in both the celestial world and Earthland, Lucy had grown considerably powerful, mastering complex forms of celestial magic and to some extent, gravity magic. However, while it was clear that Lucy was indeed stronger, on par with the nameless orphan Anna had once been, she still hadn't reached her full potential nor was she near the level of her predecessor.
The spirits knew it. The voice knew it. Lucy knew it.
Except the latter simply didn't know the reason why.
Yet the Celestial King had still deemed her ready for her first mission against the Yami Alliance. Shifting restlessly, Lucy fingered her knitted wristband and gazed into the fire, its bright sparks sending a wave of nostalgia through her.
Nostalgia she didn't understand.
Comfort she couldn't explain.
Warmth that felt like home.
Natsu sneezed, his heart prickling for some reason. Well, his nose too.
I wonder what Lucy is doing right now…Lucy. Lucy. Lucy. Lucy.
Great, now his mind was acting all weird, his subconscious running like a broken track.
It didn't help that even after so long, the guild was still throwing him pitying glances whenever a new member mentioned her name or when he looked at pictures of Lucy that he knew they knew calmed him down.
All because he loved her.
Yes, he Natsu Dragneel loved Heartfilia.
More importantly, all it had taken for the dense dragon slayer to realise his feelings was one hoping-to-join guild member. Or rather, one former hoping-to-join guild member.
Flashback
It all started with a bang. And ended with a bang, in true Fairy Tail style.
Of course, no one knew that that first bang would trigger a series of events that would be forever remembered in the history of Fairy Tail.
The day had started off well, with the normal Natsu making an appearance, lifting the spirits of the guild members. All of a sudden, the guild doors slammed open from the outside, dust covering the entrance, shocking many of the members. Natsu merely watched on with impassive eyes, proof of his growing maturity since Lucy's departure.
When the air cleared, everyone sweatdropped at the ridiculous pose of the intruder, with their head tilted up to the ceiling and flared out arms and legs.
"What—who is…that?" Gray coughed over his mistake.
Several answers filled the guild hall at once.
"A she!" Warren cried out. Numerous catcalls backed up his statement.
"Really? I thought a he." Max argued. A bunch of indignant female cries supported him.
"Really?! I thought a MANly starfish!" Elfman roared out.
Silence ensued in the hall. Suddnely, a ticked off Gajeel punched Elfman right in the face with his metal reinforced arm. Of course, Elfman coincidentally crashed into the still arguing Max and Warren, the pair then tumbling into Gray.
Erza chose to watch on instead of stopping the fight, a fond, reminiscent twinkle in her eyes at her family's rowdiness.
Well at least until Gray, who had been stretching, arms outstretched in preparation to join the fight, was crashed into and coincidentally punched right through a certain redhead's strawberry cake.
Strawberry cake. It was a funny thing, strawberry cake. It could tame demons (by the name of Erza), make people go through all kinds of hell (next victim: Gray) and become the catalyst for a war.
Erza took a deep breath and stood up, her chair scraping behind her. Gray flinched and huddled closer to the shaking Warren and Max. And then there was nothing but chaos. And everyone was smiling and laughing and crying. Because that was Fairy Tail. The Fairy Tail that Lucy had wanted to stay the same.
Natsu, not raring for a fight, watched on with a small smile.
The intruder could only watch with dumbfounded eyes.
After a while when the fight finally died down, the Master, with Mavis hovering by his side approached the intruder, to everyone's knowledge but the male intruder, much to the annoyance of Warren.
"And who would you be…? Master inquired.
"Blake Winters. I'd like to join Fairy Tail." He smiled politely but everyone felt their hackles raise in suspicion.
Master Makarov raised a hand as if sensing their intentions and signalled for them to back down.
"Your reason for choosing here and your magic?"
"Allow me to demonstrate."
And then suddenly Lucy appeared right before their very eyes.
[Line break]
Amidst the sudden shouts and chaos, Natsu stood up in an instant, slanted eyes widening.
"…L..Lucy…?"
Just gazing upon her face, a flood of emotions washed over Natsu. Longing, regret, frustration, relief but most of all joy. Inexplicable joy filled him and a familiar spark flickered in his dark eyes.
And then this Blake fellow waved his hand and then Lucy was gone.
Again.
Gone again.
Gone again without anyone.
Without him.
Dimly he registered himself slowly beginning to fall into that same bleak spiral where when he had finally returned from the darkness, all the guild members had surrounded him. Not out of worry. But fear.
It clearly registered with the others around him who all took tentative steps away from him and his golden eyes.
"…N…Natsu-s…san?" An intimidated Wendy timidly asked.
Natsu cleared his throat before replying with a gruff, "yeah?"
"Don't worry, I know Lucy-san will come back to us." The "to you" unspoken but lingering in her words.
And when she smiled brightly at him, Natsu felt a bit of the madness loosen its grasp on him, the glow in his eyes dimming slightly.
"Thanks Wendy." His voice now clearer.
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief before turning their glares towards Blake Winters.
"So Flake—" Gray began.
"Actually, it's Blake."
"I heard you the first time Flake. So you use illusion magic. And you decided to illusion one of our members. Why?"
Gray asked but anyone could hear the threatening undertone to his question.
"Well ever since the Grand Magic Games and the amazing performance of Lucy Heartfilia, I've wanted to join Fairy Tail and meet her in person!"
"So you're a stalker." Levy stated angrily.
"I prefer the term fanboy." Blake the fanboy replied indignantly.
"With an obsession with our Lucy." Erza stated calmly though the clenching of her fists over the pommel of her sword betrayed her true feelings.
"I prefer invested interest.
"So you meet love-rival and then what?" Juvia demanded harshly.
"I'd ask her to be my partner." He smiled charmingly but his charms were drowned out by the deep growling of Fairy Tail, namely one slowly-losing-it dragon slayer.
"Bunny girl doesn't need you. She already has Salamander." A chorus of ayes reinforced his words but Blake was shaking his head.
"I don't want to be someone like Dragneel. I want, no will become her partner in all aspects of the word."
Blake waved his hand again, creating another illusion Lucy but with one key difference; namely his arm wrapping tightly around her waist. Natsu stiffened imperceptibly.
"I'll make her fall for me." Blake said arrogantly.
Blake leaned in and pecked illusion Lucy on the cheek, who consequently sported a blush at his affections. The temperature in the room kicked up a notch.
"So let me join Fairy Tail."
And the fire that had been fading from Natsu's eyes since Lucy's disappearance practically flared back to life at Blake's actions.
And Natsu took one step forward.
"No."
Blake spluttered angrily, finally losing his patience, his good guy façade gone. "Why the hell not?!"
Another step.
"You don't use your magic to protect others. You use it for your sick, disgusting whims."
Another step.
"You illusion one of my precious family members and tell us you want to be her partner?!"
Another step.
"You tell me, her partner that you want to replace me in her life?!"
His fifth step in, Blake was beginning to sweat from the temperature rise.
"I am Lucy's partner just as Lucy is my partner."
Another step.
"I will always be her partner."
A final step and he was in front of Blake, practically vibrating with fury. He said his final words in a soft but deadly tone, ignoring the cheers from behind him.
"You don't deserve someone like her. She's mine. And this…" Natsu raised a flaming arm.
"…is for messing with a dragon's treasure. My treasure!"
And with that he punched Blake straight in the jaw, hearing a satisfying crack. As he did, Blake's illusion Lucy faded away, and as she did, Natsu swore he could see her mouth a few words before smiling that Lucy smile…he loved, eyes widening with his realisation.
Wait for her, the illusion had said, she will come back.
The 'to you' again unspoken but lingering all the same.
Suffice to say, after being lectured harshly by Master Makarov, he had then received a huge slap on the back from all the male members and thumbs up from several of the female members.
And then amidst the cheering, Cana raised her tankard in the air before shouting, "I win the bet folks! Where's my jewels?!"
"Huh? What bet?" Natsu asked dumbstruck while everyone else groaned with the exception of a few.
"Well Natsu, I bet 500 jewels that you'd realise your feelings for a certain blonde on this day." Cana cackled, waving her cards around, "Good at telling fortunes, remember?"
"Hey, I win too!" Lisanna declared.
"You as well Lisanna?! Since when?" Natsu asked, flabbergasted.
"Week after I came back from Edolas." Lisanna made a v sign with her right hand, grinning at Natsu.
"But if Cana won for telling when I'd realise I l…lo…love Lucy as a friend what did you bet on?" Natsu stuttered, blushing furiously.
"Love as a friend?!" Lisanna shouted. "And I bet you'd realise it if you got jealous enough." She added as an afterthought.
"Wha—"
"Natsu. Don't you realise yet?" She sounded frustrated.
"Realise what?" Natsu sounded confused.
"That you don't just love Lucy. It's more than that."
"I love her. Isn't that enough?" His voice wavered slightly, and for a moment Lisanna saw the little Natsu who had known little about everything except fighting.
And then she knew. Natsu could fight well. He could stand up for his friends. He knew what it meant to have family. He even knew love. But he didn't know what it meant to be in love.
"Natsu, come with me." With a small tug on his arm and a nod to a now quieter guild, she led him outside.
They walked in silence, Lisanna leading until they reached her chosen destination: Magnolia Park where the Sakura tree that Natsu and Happy had uprooted was before them.
"Hey Natsu, do you remember this tree?"
"Yeah." Natsu said softly, running his fingers over the tree bark that still had slight indents from the rope they had used to tie it to the boat.
"Why did you do it?"
"Lucy was sick," he thought back to that day, "It was going to be the first time she had seen the rainbow sakura but she was bedridden."
"Why did you do it?" She repeated gently.
"I…I felt sad seeing her sad. It was going to be one of her firsts as Lucy of Fairy Tail, as my partner Lucy. We were going to watch it together."
"Most people wouldn't do something like this for a friend. Even, a best friend. So why?"
"I wanted her happy."
A silence fell over the pair as they watched the sakura tree.
"Natsu," Lisanna began, choosing her words carefully, "do you know what love is?"
"It's wanting to protect someone and keep them happy right…?" Natsu trailed off uncertainly, all barriers down in front of Lisanna, his childhood friend who he considered a sister.
"Yes in a way, that is love. But let me ask you this: do you love me?"
"Of course, you're like my sister." He replied instantly.
"Do you love Lucy like you love me?" Lisanna asked.
Natsu tried to say of course, but the words were trapped in his throat, unwilling to leave his mouth.
Lisanna smiled gently.
"Natsu, do you know what it means to be in love?"
"…"
"It's different from sisterly love and friendship love and family love. It's more than that. It's romantic love."
"…I…" Natsu's mind raced.
"When you love someone, you watch over them. But when you're in love with someone, you can't keep your eyes off them. Your eyes unconsciously look for them, constantly hoping for a glimpse of their presence."
Natsu could only listen, coherent words beyond him.
"When you love someone, you want to protect them should harm come their way. But when you're in love with someone, you can't stop protecting them. It becomes instinct to defend them from everything that could harm them; from magic attacks; from everyday objects; from people like Blake."
"…"
"When you love someone, you want them to be happy. But when you're in love with someone, you want that person to be happy all the time, to smile for you, at you, maybe only you. Their sadness becomes your sadness. Their anger becomes your anger. Their happiness is your happiness."
With that Lisanna finished her talk and looked at Natsu expectantly.
"So for the last time I ask you, why did you do it?" Lisanna asked, a light breeze passing by, causing some of the vibrant pink petals to fall around them.
As they did, a petal gently fell right on his left pinkie, the pink the exact same shade as the pink of Lucy's Fairy Tail insignia, bringing back a buried memory of a mission with just the two of them against a dark mage.
"Lucy get out of here! I'll take care of him so run!" Natsu shouted, trapped under the mage's dark magic.
"No. No, I won't abandon you!" Lucy cried.
As the dark mage approached Lucy, Natsu grew more and more furious.
"Lucy. As your partner, I'm telling you to leave. Listen to me!" He demanded.
"Natsu. As your partner, I'm telling you no. I'm never leaving you behind!" She shouted back.
"Get away from here Lucy!" Natsu roared.
"Natsu," Lucy said softly, the quiet word instantly cutting through Natsu's frustration, "Even if the world is against us, I'll be by your side. Fighting beside you. Living beside you. It's always more fun when we're together right?"
After that, they had eventually defeated the dark mage and the pair lay exhausted on the ground, their hands in reach of each other.
The pinkies of Natsu's left hand and Lucy's right hand intertwined, the same thought running through their hand as they made their unspoken promise with unspoken words.
Always.
"I didn't do it because of love." He said calmly, clenching the petal in his hand.
Lisanna immediately slumped forward a bit in depression, sad that her words hadn't reached him.
"I did it because I'm in love with her." Natsu said softly.
"What? What did you say?" Lisanna brightened, grasping Natsu's hands in disbelief and relief.
"I'm in love with Lucy."
Immediately, Natsu felt a weight drop off his shoulders and Lisanna grinned as she saw the sparkle fully return in his eyes, certain that their Natsu had finally returned and would be staying for good.
They both sat down, leaning against the special sakura tree, watching the sunset in peace. Suddenly, another rush of wind blew by, the petal slipping out of Natsu's hand and moving into the pink, orange and yellow stained sky. And all Natsu could think was,
What path must I take to reach you…Lucy?
Unknown pov:
"Master Kuro. I have returned." They said, bowing before the dark haired man, handsome if one ignored the crazed look in his almost black eyes.
"And?"
"Master was right. Our target is not there."
AND LET'S STOP THERE! YAY AN UPDATE! #WHY YOU MAKE ME SO BUSY UNI #I AM TIRED #UNI LIFE IS TIRING
As always many thanks to the reviewers, bless you awesome people d=(´▽)=b KEEP REVIEWING PEEPS :D
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Mrs Sarcasm: I enjoy creating cliffhangers mwahahaha ໒( ͡ᵔ ͡ᵔ )७ Hope you enjoyed this update!
NaluFTfanatic: Unfortunately, these personalities were pretty much for that chapter. Though maybe I'll make them reappear in other stories *wink wink nudge nudge for dragon slayer bro code*. Haha I laughed while writing that ≧(´▽)≦
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Finally, I've decided to finish this story first before going back to the others. I'd like to really finish one story at a time so I'll be focusing on this one.
Until next time!