Woooo! Welcome, my lovely, patient readers, to the last chapter of Fueling the Fire!
Thanks and such will come at the end of the chapter, so stick around.
Lucy scarcely noticed the buzz of the courtroom around her. Wendy was diligently tending her wounds and Natsu was being pulled around by what seemed like every member of Fairy Tail when all the blonde wanted was to hold onto him for herself. But…family will do what family must, and so she'd bear this with as much dignity as she could. And since she had relocated to a seat at a table, there was just a bit more dignity to be found than when she had been sprawled on the floor.
That still didn't change the fact that her top had been reduced to rags by Cid's attack, in front of the entire courtroom, and she was now wearing the shirt that Gray had earlier discarded and Juvia had reluctantly released from her possession.
Lucy was embarrassed, but somehow the years and the numerous times she had been mysteriously without a shirt had dulled the sensation. It wasn't like she didn't show off when she could, to be fair, and her tattered shirt had still covered the most important parts. Besides that, the entire courtroom had undoubtedly seen her in the Grand Magic Games, and the rest of Fiore besides, so she wasn't extremely concerned with that. Despite that, though, part of her still felt a bit awful for not feeling as embarrassed as someone with her upbringing should have felt.
"Ow!" the celestial mage hadn't meant to say anything out loud, and Wendy was apologizing immediately, but the blonde winced and waved her hand, "No, no, Wendy, it's alright. I was just distracted and wasn't expecting it."
"Are you sure?" Wendy asked, her eyes wide with worry as she gently prodded the wound that had caused Lucy's cry.
With a dry chuckle, Lucy assured the younger girl that all was well, and the dragonslayer skeptically went on with healing the blonde's wounds. She was even more gentle than before, if that was even possible.
"How is it going, Wendy?" Mirajane's soft voice came for the second or third time in the fifteen minutes that Wendy had been tending to the injured celestial spirit mage. "Do you need anything, or can I help with anything?"
"Some cool water might ease the pain in some of the burns, and I can get to those as soon as I'm done with these cuts," Wendy answered slowly, concentrating on the wound she was healing. "Not very cold water, though, just cool. And I'm sure Lucy could do with a glass of water, after everything. You must be parched!" the last was directed at the blonde with a tentative smile, and Lucy beamed back.
"Yes, that would be amazing!" Lucy agreed. She hadn't noticed how her voice had been cracking until that very moment.
"Ah! I'll get it right away!" Mira nodded enthusiastically, flouncing away quickly.
Wendy finished the task she had been working on and moved to another, more minor injury. Sweat beaded lightly on her forehead, and Lucy felt kind of bad for giving her more work to do. But even if the blonde told her younger friend to stop, or that it was fine as it was, she knew the dragonslayer wouldn't listen. If there was one thing that every dragonslayer she knew had in common, it was that damnable stubbornness.
"It's a good thing they took the barriers down quick enough for Juvia to put the fire out and Laki to grab hold of him. You're lucky it didn't burn worse," Wendy spoke a few moments later as she gently prodded at a cut that had been cauterized almost immediately upon infliction. "Third degree burns on top of everything else would have been excruciating, as well as make everything more difficult. As it is, most of these lacerations were sealed before you bled much, and without immediate attention a good number would be scars. We can avoid that, though, as long as I heal them with magic and a little bit of medicine. If the burns had been worse, I wouldn't have been able to save you from some pretty severe scarring."
"We all have scars," Lucy shrugged a little, mindful of a wound still open on one shoulder, "I don't see how a few more could do much harm."
After a few moments, the younger girl spoke softly, "You've changed a lot since we met."
"What? Have I become even prettier?" Lucy exclaimed in jest, puffing out her chest and flipping her slightly singed hair over her shoulder—how it hadn't been set ablaze, she might never know. "Stronger? Am I more clever than ever, or have I secretly become a tactical genius to rival Erza?"
Wendy snorted, "Stronger, yeah, but you've always been pretty and clever. You're just…I don't know. More realistic? Less focused on appearances?"
"Is that the nice way to say she doesn't give a shit?" an arm dropped around her shoulders, carefully avoiding the wound, as someone thudded into the chair beside her. Lucy grinned at the dark-haired ice mage and ducked out from under his arm.
"Gray, if you do that, Juvia will kill me!"
"Hey, she gave you my shirt, didn't she?" he retorted, diverting his gaze so that she might not see the light pink in his cheeks, "If she gave you my shirt to wear, she probably won't kill you."
"Probably," Lucy repeated with emphasis, and Gray chuckled. Wendy moved on to the shoulder injury next as the blonde bantered with the owner of her shirt. "So if she goes after me right now, when I'm in no fit state to defend myself, what are you going to do? You'll be responsible, you know!"
"Here's the water you asked for!" Mira was back, placing a bowl and some fresh towels nearby while handing Lucy a glass. "Is there anything else you need right now?"
"Can you find out how they're containing Cid Murphy for me?" Lucy asked as Wendy finished healing the last wound and started to cool the burns with the water and towels. "I'm sure that's where Gajeel, Levy, Mest, and Erza are."
"I can tell you that," Gray said, stretching. "I was just there. They've got him in a high security cell with at least six guards. Mest and Gajeel were glaring at him while Levy was asking him questions. You should have seen her interrogating him. It's like she was a council member in a past life or something."
"Oh, so he knows something," Lucy drawled playfully. "You still haven't answered my other question, Gray. If Juvia tries to kill me for being a 'love rival' while I'm like this, what are you going to do about it?"
"What do you expect me to do about that?" he snorted. "It's not like I'd get in the way of that fight."
"Just confess or something so she'll stop giving me those murderous glares whenever you're sitting near me without pants on," the blonde gestured very pointedly at the jeans on the ground about two feet away. The ice mage had turned red as she spoke, and then yelped comically when he scrambled to pull his dark jeans back on, cursing as he did so.
"I think someone liiiiiikes Juvia," Mira said in a sing-song voice, and it sent chills up Lucy's spine. She had too many memories involving Mira or Happy and that line.
"I'm going to go check on Cid again," Gray excused himself with all haste, leaving Mira with a wide smile and Lucy in laughter. Wendy just smiled and shook her head as she started to slowly heal some of the burns with her magic, little by little. She had explained to Lucy a long time ago that for healing burns, it was more comfortable for the injured person if you cooled the burns with water and then healed a little bit at a time, alternating between the two.
"Excuse me," a towering figure appeared in front of the blonde, and she looked up to find General Newman looming over her. "Miss Heartfilia, was it?"
Lucy nodded in acknowledgement.
"I wanted to apologize for everything that's happened. I was convinced that Fairy Tail would never try to harm someone, but as I was unconscious and all my men thought it had been the Salamander, I couldn't argue," he truly did look ashamed, Lucy noted. "And I thought it was strange the way the trial was proceeding, but I didn't question it. I'm not well versed in the process of trials, you see, as I primarily enforce laws and lead soldiers."
He was making a joke about himself, just a little, and Lucy granted him a grin. "We can't all be versed in the processes behind magic crime trials, General Newman," the blonde allowed. "That's why everyone needs to work together to make sure things are done right, isn't it?"
"Indeed," he nodded gravely. "I will personally see to it that this man is convicted of something, Miss Heartfilia. Not only did your injuries match those I received, he attacked you in front of the entire courtroom. If that isn't grounds for conviction, I will find something to convict him for. You did a brave thing, putting yourself at risk."
"I would do anything for my family, sir."
"I can see that. You've deliberately baited him into attacking you twice today, from the looks of you. If you had just brought up the matter of the improper conduct by the trial's committee, you would have been fine. You didn't need to go to such lengths."
Lucy smiled again, shaking her head.
"I needed the impact. Anything less wouldn't have swayed anyone, least of all the judge."
The man just looked at her appraisingly, smiling slightly at her spunk. "You may be right about that, but you should have stayed outside of the barrier and saved yourself a bit of harm."
Again, the blonde shook her head and told him, "If I had stayed outside, he wouldn't have used his magic. Knowing the animosity towards Fairy Tail, he would have just refused. The council would probably bend the rules in his favor that way, and I couldn't have that. I had to give him some incentive to show it…even if it meant staying within the barrier and being that incentive myself."
"Lucy!" Wendy and Mira scolded in unison. It was weird, kind of, for Lucy to be scolded by the younger girl, but she understood where the dragonslayer was coming from.
"Brave," the general clapped her on the shoulder. "Foolish, granted, but brave."
"That's Fairy Tail."
Finally, Lucy couldn't help thinking as an arm dropped gently around her shoulders. A head with a familiar crop of salmon hair leaned down next to hers and their cheeks touched. Subconsciously, she leaned into his cheek with a satisfied smirk.
"I've gathered," General Newman sounded amused. "I'll take my leave now. If you have any other concerns about this case, just find me."
"Gotcha," Natsu called after him, mildly loudly in her ear, as the blonde lifted her hand in acknowledgement. "Give that Cindy asshole a beating while you're at it!"
"It's Cid," Mirajane corrected him, patting both he and Lucy on the shoulder before excusing herself to go speak with Master Makarov.
Wendy let out a sigh and stretched, stepping back. "I'm done for now, Lucy. You can get up and move around, or go get some fresh air if you need to. But come find me if anything else hurts so I can check up on it for you, okay?"
"Great!" Natsu interrupted before Lucy could answer and was already tugging her to her feet. "We'll be outside if you need us. It's too crowded in here!"
The celestial mage could barely keep up with the dragonslayer that was tugging her towards the entrance to the courtroom, but although she was a bit indignant that he kept speaking for her, she was too happy that he was off the hook to care. And when his hand slid down her arm to grasp hers, she just smiled and continued following him, grasping his fingers in her own.
After six months, Cid Murphy and Demon Card were officially charged with all of the crimes they'd tried to pin on Natsu and Fairy Tail. Cid would be going away for a very, very long time in some prison up north. The rest of Demon Card would just be held in detention in the council's prisons for a few years. And Lucy was fine with that, because it meant that Natsu was free to wreak as much havoc as he pleased without being charged with murder or attempted murder.
When the radio lachrima transmission ended, Lucy stretched and sighed in relief.
"See?" the arm around her shoulder pulled her tightly against a familiar chest. "I told you there was nothing to worry about!"
"Even so," the blonde retorted defiantly, snuggling into Natsu's side as he reached over her to turn the radio lachrima off. He planted his chin firmly on top of her head and sighed in false exasperation. "What? You can't tell me you aren't relieved, too!"
With another exaggerated sigh, the pink-haired man fell sideways on her sofa, angling himself so that, when he dragged her down, she fell on top of him with a startled exclamation. She started to open her mouth, or push herself up, but he didn't let her do either. He held her waist with one hand, and with the other he placed a finger over her lips so he could speak, "Of course I'm relieved, Lucy. But mostly, I'm just happy that you won't be so worried about it anymore."
He grinned as a pink flush blossomed across her cheeks and she mumbled something incoherent.
"What was that?" he teased, although he could have easily understood if only he'd tried.
"I said," she enunciated, lifting her face to look down at him, "that I'm sorry for being worried about you."
Brushing a few locks of blonde hair from in front of her eyes, the dragonslayer just beamed up at her. Of course this is how she'd react, that weirdo! But he didn't really mind, because that's just how the two of them were.
"You can worry about me whenever you want to," he remarked off-handedly, "but that means I get to protect you all the time too, right?"
"I don't need your protection," she grumbled, tucking her head down and resting her cheek against his chest. He felt the way her skin was burning, and continued to grin to himself.
Natsu craned his neck just a little to breathe in her ear, "But I want to protect you."
She shuddered a little at the sensation and smacked him on the chest when she once more propped herself up to look down at him, her cheeks flaming. He smirked a little at the flustered expression she wore, but chose not to comment—yet.
"You want to protect everyone, Natsu, and so do I," she responded cleverly, averting her brown eyes. "We're all family, after all."
"Yeah," the pink-haired man spoke softly and he sounded thoughtful, so with a sigh and a slight chuckle, she kissed him on the cheek, wrapped her arms around him, and nuzzled against his neck. Lucy always found it comfortable that way, despite her initial protests whenever her boyfriend pulled something like this. So she just let herself bask in his warmth as they just lay there in silence, listening to the sound of each other's breathing.
"Hey, Lucy?" he asked after a few minutes of silence. She just hummed against his neck as proof that she was listening, and he turned his head so that his chin rested on top of her head. "You already said it—we're family, right?"
"Of course," she replied, a slight question in her tone. "You're the one who told me that first, anyway. A long time ago."
He laughed, "That's true."
After another brief stretch of silence, Lucy prompted him to continue, "What's on your mind?"
She had propped herself up in her forearm, which was braced on his chest. Her other hand reached up to play with his hair as she smiled gently down at him. Her brown eyes were twinkling, just the way he always loved to see, and he couldn't help smiling back at her.
"Lucy, will you marry me?"
The hand in his hair stilled as her eyes widened. He held her gaze with the same tentative smile he'd asked his question with, his hand on her waist remaining determinedly relaxed. It was a lot harder than he had imagined, this whole trying not to hold onto her as though his life depended on it.
"What…what did you say?" her voice came out as barely more than a whisper, but he heard it nonetheless.
Reaching up to tuck her hair back once more, he repeated softly, "I asked you to marry me, Lucy."
He saw the sheen in her eyes and the ghost of a smile, but she defiantly asked, "Where's my fancy dinner? Or my walk through the rainbow sakura trees? Don't I get some kind of nice date and a perfect moment to remember? And where's my ring? There are some things you just can't skip, you know!"
But by the end, her stern face kept slipping into a smile, and so Natsu laughed and leaned up to kiss her, effectively silencing the blonde as she was about to start speaking again.
"Seriously," she pulled away with a whiny tone, although there was a smile on her face, "don't I get a ring?"
Smiling mischievously, the pink-haired man pulled her closer to his chest and kissed her once more, and the blonde half-heartedly struggled before responding in kind.
This time, it was Natsu who pulled away first and spoke teasingly, "I hid the ring under one of your old manuscripts in your desk drawer last week," when he saw her eyes widen his trademark grin began to spread across his face, "so is that a yes?"
With a laugh, as tears finally started to well up out of the corners of her eyes, she cried, "Natsu, you idiot!" before leaning down and kissing him of her own accord.
And welcome to the end of Fueling the Fire! I know it's been a long, arduous road, rife with months of silence and pleas for forgiveness, but thanks for sticking around!
And now, a shout-out to everyone who has reviewed prior to this final chapter, accounts first followed by anons, in order of reviews!
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Thanks to everyone who has made it this far with me! I apologize for all the ups and downs that have happened, but thanks to everyone who has stuck around, or everyone who has come along during the course of the story and decided to stick it out to see what happened!
I hope you guys continue to have patience with me and my slow updates for my other stories as well!