Hey, it's prismtsubaki with a new story for all you fluff maniacs.
Just a little something I came up with, so please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail! *cries* It belongs to HiroMashima.
X777
As usual, Fairy Tail's drinking hall was filled with shouts, cheers, and crashing brawls storming this way and that. The special air that only this guild could create so easily would always give the area an energetic buzz, something that young Natsu just loved more than anything. The feeling that brought a smile to his face and determination, never leaving throughout the day.
Only, today the boy was… different. The depressing aura that engulfed his body, swirling around his head like purple smoke, went unnoticed to the rest of the guild, as he slowly made his way to the job bulletin board. He stared up at the board, gloomy eyes scanning the posters that hung just above his head.
"NATSU!" the pink haired boy was jostled out of his thoughts by an arm playfully wrapping around his neck and trapping him in a loose headlock. Turning his head slightly, Natsu caught a glimpse of Macao's messy dark blue head of hair and the slight tang of booze dripping from his breath. "C'mon, let's brawl! You and me against that weak Wakaba. What do ya' say?" His question was punctuated by a protest coming from the sandy-blond haired man standing a few feet away.
"M… maybe some other time," Natsu muttered, earning surprised and slightly confused looks from the two young men. Noticing the child's lack of enthusiasm for the first time that morning, Macao and Wakaba exchanged a look before kneeling down to meet his eye level. "Why the long face, Natsu?"
"There's nothing fun to do," Natsu sighed, pouting. "Why don't you fight with Grey, like ya' usually do?" Wakaba suggested.
"He went out with Elfman and Lisanna to get some groceries for the bar."
"What about Erza?"
"On a job."
"Mirajane?"
"I said I wanted fun, not death." Natsu huffed. "And there aren't any good jobs left, either." As Wakaba and Natsu continued to talk, Macao shifted his gaze to the job board. The boy was right; all the exciting jobs had been taken and the ones remaining were kind of lame, crappy even. His stare continued to wander until a strange (and decent paying) flier caught his eye, job details scribbled out in multicoloured pens across a thick sheet of white paper. With a grin, Macao snatched the poster and held it right in Natsu's face.
"No jobs, eh?" Macao swung the paper from side to side, his smile growing when he saw the boy's eyes bulge at the sight of the flier. "What about this one? 'Mage needed as soon as possible at the HeartfiliaKonzern, in Alcalytha. EMERGENCY. Reward: 8,000J.' If it's an emergency, it must have at least a good fight in store."
Any other person would have noticed that the flier had been drawn up by a child, but to a young, dense Natsu and a pair of only slightly coherent men, it really does seem like a legit job post. Anyhow…
Natsu ripped the paper out of the man's hands and smiled his signature grin (yes, the one he gets right before something goes up in flames). "It's perfect! Thanks Macao, Wakaba," he exclaimed. He raced out the front door, waving behind him and not even giving them a chance to even offer to go with him.
LATER THAT DAY
Lucy lay in her plush bed and stared up at the ceiling, guilt and nerves filling her stomach with a fluttery feeling. She listened to the sound of birdsong that filtered through the windows, along with a cascade of mid-afternoon light, but it didn't calm her like it usually did.
Sitting up with a pillow in her arms, the girllooked outside. She soon grew antsy, unconsciously fingering the pillow's lace trim and combing through her short blond hair, accidentally pulling out the hair ribbon that held up her side pony tail. Even without looking at the time, she knew that her father and servants would soon be back, at least two hours remaining.
Lucy's father had needed to go to a very important business meeting and left her and a few of their loyal servants behind to hold down the fort. Bored, the blond wandered throughout the residence, looking for something remotely interesting to do. She'd been in her father's study when she knockedit down. Panicking, she somehow convinced the employees to go out into the garden for a bit, sending them a good few miles away (it's roughly the size of Magnolia) and giving her a good amount of time before anyone would be coming back. In her panicked state, Lucy had quickly and neatly drawn up a paper asking for help and sent it to the nearest guild, thinking that was the best option at the time.
But now, looking out of her bedroom window, she wondered if her request had even been accepted. It wasn't professionallooking and she hadn't given that much of a reward. And what if a mage did take her job, but arrived only after her father came home?! She shuddered at the thought.
Lucy's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pounding on the front door, echoing loudly throughout the empty house. It was strong and consistent, definitely not her father or the servants. The mage?!Heart pounding, she raced to the entrance and cautiously opened the door, expecting a strict, fully-grown adult who was bound to scold her for doing something so foolish.
Instead, she found herself staring at a young boy with a pair of black eyes and messy pink hair.
"'Bout time you answered the door!" he said, marching into the Heartfilia residence and leaving a shell-shocked Lucy by the door. "Nice place you got here. Took me awhile to find it, though…" Lucy looked around, confused. Where was the mage? It couldn't be this boy, he was just a child, looking to be about her age. Could it?
She slowly closed the door and turned to face the boy, asking, "Who… are you, exactly?" The pink haired kid knit his eyebrows together. "I'm Natsu, the mage you sent out for," he replied, scratching the back of his head.
"That can't be," Lucy exclaimed. She pointed an accusing finger at Natsu, adding, "You're just a kid!"
"No shit. You're a kid, too, dummy."
"You can't be a professional."
"Says the girl that sent out a drawing as a job request."He shook his head, but he smiled, still. Okay, so Natsu is dense, but come on people, the boy isn't that stupid.
Lucy's cheeks flushed at the mention of her flier and she waited for the strange boy to reprimand her, but to her surprise, Natsu just shrugged and laughed. "H-hey, I was in a hurry… I didn't have time to have it professionally drawn!" Remembering the job, the boy's face grew serious, a strange combination with his pink locks in Lucy's opinion. "That's right," he murmured. "You said it was an emergency, that I should come immediately. What happened?"Lucy walked over to the grand staircase leading to the next floor, calm and back straight. The girl beckoned to him with a wave, inviting him to follow as she led the way to her father's study.
Natsu had no trouble catching up to the blonde and soon they were walking up the stairs side by side. Arriving at the top, they were greeted by a large full-body mirror that leaned against the wall, displaying a pair of kids. One of the two was a boy with a spiky head of pink hair and whose face was a mixture of seriousness and the tiniest bit of excitement. His red button-down shirt and brown slacks weren't particularly special, minus the quality white scarf wrapped loosely around his neck, yet paired with his pink locks and over-the-top personality, he seemed to emit an energy and happiness that Lucy could only admire. The girl standing next to the boy paled in comparison, dressed in matching light top and skirt and finely combed blond hair that hung just below her shoulders, accented with the quiet, ashen expression she wore on her face. Pretty, like a porcelain doll, but feeling almost just as hollow.
They walked down the hallway in silence. The quiet irked Natsu, but he continued to follow his client without a word. Soon, though, his curiosity got the better of him and he found himself asking the girl, "What exactly is my job? When do I get to fight or actually do something? Why aren't you talking to me, girlie?" His questions went unanswered, but he hardly noticed as he spewed out one question after the other.
He grew silent as Lucy stopped in front of a large set of double doors with arched handles, forming a circle. She cautiously looked down the hall, checking on both sides that no one was coming their way, before pushing open the doors and bringing Natsu into her father's study.
The room was spacious and the walls were lined with bookshelves and intricate paintings, most featuring the landscape surrounding the konzern or Jude Heartfiliahimself. At the end of the room was a desk covered in neat stacks of documents and an arm chair, placed in front of a pair of large windows which let in rich daylight, filling the room with shadows.
After a moment of silence, Natsu cleared his throat and turned toward the girl, eyebrows drawn together. "This is a nice place you got here, but-"
"What about your job?" she finished. She sighed and led him to an isolated corner of the room where a large, flat, rectangular object leaned against the wall. Behind it, a similarly sized rectangle of dust inhabited the wall, the paint a shade darker than the rest.
Lucy inhaled deeply and, exhaling, she removed the sheet, revealing a large painting with almost directly in the center, a large rip running through the canvas. The painting showed a very young Lucy, a middle aged man, and a beautiful young woman, all dressed finely and wearing expressions of pure content and happiness. The colors were vivid and strokes were delicate, the painting looking as though it were a window and you could see a happy family, almost hear the girl's laughter. It was mesmerizing, take away the rip that ran through the woman's chest, right over her heart. "I-I want you to help me fix this painting!"
Natsu's eyes lingered on the picture awhile longer, before he turned back to the blonde and spoke, measuring each word carefully. "I'm really more of a fighter than an artist, girlie. I usually destroy things, not fix them," he explained.
Lucy blinked, then she slowly averted her gaze from the boy's own and focused on the painting again. "Oh," she whispered. She felt the pinch of tears behind her eyes, but refused to cry in front of the boy, so instead of looking at him, she hung her head so that she was gazing at the ground. Sensing the girl's sadness, with a feeble attempt of a smile, Natsu quickly added, "That's okay, though, right? You could always have it repainted, right? You just need a painter and your mom and dad to pose with you! No biggie."
Lucy's heart clenched at the mention of her mother and she could feel hot tears build up inside her as images and memories flowed into her head. That was mommy's favorite painting. Her vision blurred and her shoulders started to tremble violently. I helped her hang it up in the hall, in front of my bedroom. She felt her knees buckle below her and she slid to the ground, sitting upright on her forelegs and her skirt spread out around her like a halo. She got so sick one day. Her hands reached up to her face, covering her now wet eyelids with small hands. 'I'm sorry, but your mother is dead. There's nothing more they can do.' She is dead, has been for months. You will never see her again.Lucy screamed into her hands and let her tears flow freely down her cheeks, down her wrists and chin until they'd splatter down on the floorboards. Strangled sobs bubbled from deep down in her chest, ugly, painful sounds that filled her being, her voice, her air. "M… mommy…"
Natsuwatched, his eyes wide, as the girl wept at his feet. He bent down until he was at her eyelevel, on his knees as well, and, much to Lucy's shock, he wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay, you don't have to cry, girlie," he soothed, rubbing her back in little circles and supposedly not noticing the heat growing in the cheek pressed against his own.
They stayed in this position for a moment before Lucy pushed Natsu away, breaking the hug. "W-what do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked, cheeks flushed raspberry. She had never touched so intimately with anyone other than her family and servants. Receiving a hug from this boy, this boy she hardly knew… She could still feel her heart pounding and she tried to cool her cheeks with her hands.
"Um, comforting you?" Natsu replied, confused at her reaction to his hug. Back at the guild, they were as close as family- no, they practically were family- so this was one of Natsu's first instincts when seeing someone so broken down."I… kinda' know what it's like. Losing a parent, I mean." He didn't elaborate and left it at that, looking back at the torn picture. It peeked Lucy's interest, but she refrained from asking. It was probably hard for him to talk about, anyway.
He gazed down thoughtfully at the ripped portrait. You could practically see the gears in his head turning as he picked up the picture and dragged it over to an empty spot in the center of the room, laying it down carefully on the rug. Natsu then turned back to Lucy and, pointing to the desk, asked, "Can I look though that a moment?" Without waiting for her reply, he practically flew to her father's desk, yanking open the drawers. After shuffling and tossing aside the numerous contents in each drawer, he cried out triumphantly, holding up a medium-sized white bottle.
Lucy blanched as the boy gleefully hurried back to the painting. "Glue?" she said. She shook her head. "I don't think that's the best idea."
"Why not?" Natsu exclaimed. "Glue works on everything! And it's white, so it won't be noticeable against the canvas in the back." To prove his point, he added a dab to the back of the rip and ignored Lucy's protests, grinning as he showed her that it hadn't passed through to the front. "Maybe so," she huffed and pointed as the rip slowly reappeared, the wet glue not capable of holding the canvas closed, "but it only works when dry; it'll take forever if we have to wait for it to harden, and father is bound to be back by then."
At this, Natsu only shrugged. "Why wait when we can dry it ourselves?" With one hand, he held the rip closed again while with the other, he merely snapped his fingers. To Lucy's amazement, a small flame appeared, flickering like a candle. He brought it closer to the tear and waited patiently as it dried the white paste into a fine, see-through crust and miraculously didn't catch on the portrait. His grin only widened when he saw Lucy's reaction as he showed her his handiwork. Now we're getting somewhere…
ANOTHER TIME SKIP, YAY!
Half an hour later, Natsu and Lucy sat up and surveyed their work. After the long process in which Lucy held down the rip while adding glue and Natsu dried said glue with his mini-flame, they were left with a beauty of a painting that bore no tear. Almost as if it had never been ripped in the first place.
Standing now, Natsu helped the girl slide the painting, oh so carefully, back into its frame and stood on his toes to hang it on the wall. Now that the picture was hung up, the two children gave in to easy chatter, sitting on the ground and laughing their hearts out at what the other had to say.
A brief silence rose as their laughter died away, the two of them taking in the late afternoon light that tumbled through the windows. "I almost forgot," Natsu said suddenly. "I never caught your name, girlie." Lucy blinked and realization dawned on her. She opened her mouth to respond when she heard voices float through the window panes. She couldn't make out the words, but she could hear a man's deep voice accompanied by other, weaker ones, undoubtedly her father and servants.
"My father!" she exclaimed, panic lodging itself in her stomach like a hot stone. "You need to get out of here, Natsu!" As he slowly stood, she bit her lip, realizing that exiting through the front door wasn't an option. Lucy was silently debating if she could sneak him out the back before her father reached the door when Natsu threw open the window and positioned himself on the ledge.
"Natsu!" she shrieked, rushing to his side and clutched his arm in a death grip. "Are you crazy?! You'll kill yourself!"
"This the shortest and fastest way out, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah, but… what about the reward?"
"Leave it," he said firmly, waving his hand in dismissal. "Consider it a favor for a friend." He leaned forward, but was once again held back by the girl's protests and, not to mention, her grip on his sleeve. Remembering her reaction when he had hugged her previously, he swiftly leaned forward and gave her a peck on the nose. Shocked, she let go of his sleeve, sending him falling down two stories and landing hard on his shoulder.
"What the hell, Natsu?!" she whisper-screamed, her face flushing five shades of red. He got up with a small moan, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Seeing Lucy, he smiled with a slight blush and a laugh. Bye-bye, girlie, he mouthed as the boy ran away, waving behind him and leaving a pink-cheeked Lucy in his dust.
Lucy sighed in exasperation, but couldn't help returning his smile and waving good-bye to her friend. She felt a momentary pang of sadness, knowing that she probably wouldn't see the pink haired mage again. It was then replaced by a slight rush of heat to her cheeks as she reached her fingertips up to the tip of her nose where his lips had been only seconds ago. At least I'll have this to remember him by.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard her father call out for her. With a bounce in her step she turned and skipped into the hall. "Coming~!"