Chapter 7 | Bantering

Flashback to May, X795 Continued

"Hey!" Lucy shouted. Natsu's breathing stopped and his pulse was non-existent to her fingertips. "Please." She wanted to be anywhere else but there, clinging onto his lifeless form and experiencing the immobilizing weight of loss settle upon her. "I need you Natsu," she spread her hand out against his chest, "you can't leave me here like this." It was all gone—no more fighting for blankets in the middle of the night, no more missions, no more laughs, no more intimacy, and no more living in his radiance.

She wasn't ready to lose him. She balled her hand into a fist. "You have to keep fighting!" She got to her knees and positioned her hands on his chest to start compressions. There was still a chance, she only had to keep him alive until someone found them. "Help!" Lucy shouted hoping one of her team members was nearby.

"Come on," she sobbed. Round after round of CPR passed by in what felt like hours with no one to show and no indication Natsu would recover. The blood on his chest caused her hands to slip intermittently, disrupting her rhythm. Rocks dug into her knees. Pain shot through her injured shoulder with every compression. "You promised me you would be safe. Don't you remember?" An agonizing three minutes passed, but she didn't give up. Neither did Natsu. She felt his chest rise and her fingers flew to his neck to find a pulse.

"Lucy! Natsu!" Lucy heard voices in the surrounding area. She stood to run to whomever it was, but her vision span and she crashed to the ground.

The hums and beeps of medical instruments drifted into Lucy's unconscious state. An image of Natsu repeatedly flashed in her mind causing anxiety to build up within her. Not knowing the reason for the anxiety nagged at her until she forced herself awake. When she awoke her vision was blurry, and in trying to sit up her body screamed at her in protest. It took her a couple moments, but she eventually could see Gray sitting in a chair three feet from her bed. Lucy moved her eyes to Wendy whose head rested next to her on the bed.

"Lucy!" Gray looked up from his hands.

"What happened?" Lucy croaked out. She tried to put everything together in her head, but she felt a haze in her mind that kept her from thinking properly.

"We got separated and the monster followed you two. We barely got there in time."

"Monster?" Lucy looked at Gray helplessly.

"We went to the mountain for a job," he paused when he saw no recognition in her eyes, "you don't know what I'm talking about do you?" Wendy started to move around at the sound of the talking.

"Sorry." Lucy tried to smile, but she felt her face pull awkwardly due to a bandage on her cheek. "It must have been pretty bad…for me to end up like this." She noticed Gray and Wendy had minimal injuries. "Is everyone else okay?" Her stomach pitched when a dark look flickered in his eyes.

"Lucy! You're awake! Thank goodness." Wendy was fully awake now and gripping Lucy's hand. "How do you feel? I tried to heal you as best as I could, but I couldn't manage everything at once."

Gray's look and lack of comment left her petrified, something terrible had happened. "Lucy?" Wendy finally made eye contact with her once Lucy snapped out of running through worst case scenarios.

"I think I will be able to manage. Thanks for taking care of me," Lucy smiled absently for Wendy.

Gray stood to leave and Lucy called out, "Wait! What happened?"

"I'm glad you're better. Get more rest." With that he was gone and Lucy didn't know what to make of his sudden exit. Gray's words repeated in her mind, 'The monster followed you two…'

Lucy sat up instantly and Wendy jumped worriedly. "Lucy you shouldn't be moving around yet!"

"Where's Natsu!" Lucy demanded in a panic. "I remember!" she started crying, "I need to see him."

"It's really not a good idea!" Wendy tried to calm her down, but Lucy was already on the move.

"I'm going, you can't stop me." Lucy made it to the door of her room and reached a hand out to turn the knob. Though nothing was there she could see and feel blood all over her hand. She remembered the blood, the coldness of his body, the last breath he took, the moment his heart stopped, and the loss that made her feel like living from that moment onward would be impossible.

She stumbled down the hall frantically in no particular direction until Wendy ran up in front of her. "He's in there," Wendy said reluctantly and pointed to a door figuring that fighting would make her condition worse.

When her eyes fell over Natsu's body, she started sobbing and ran to sit in the chair right beside his bed. "Natsu!" She grabbed one of his hands and was met with warmth like she hadn't felt in years. His chest rose and fell peacefully, the natural color to his face had returned, and most of the superficial injuries had been healed. "You're okay." Lucy gripped the white sheets in her free hand and pressed her face into the mattress. "Dammit, you're such an idiot! I hate you."

Natsu felt something tugging at the sheets around his body. He tried to ignore the feeling, but then he started to hear someone's voice. Whoever was beside him was crying. Natsu struggled to open his eyes since the lighting in the room was so bright. When he finally emerged from his sleepy haze he looked to see Lucy crying into the mattress he was on.

Natsu frowned. He remembered very clearly what happened once Gray reminded him. Natsu knew he tried to see Lucy last time he woke up, but he vaguely remembered passing out from pain before he could even get out of bed. He had been awake a couple of times, but could never stay awake for more than a minute. He hated being so weak. More than that he hated hearing about how the team found Lucy trying to make his heart beat again.

"Luce," Natsu set a hand on her head.

At hearing his voice, Lucy started crying harder. She shook her head, rubbing her face into the mattress.

"Come here," he said sadly, upset with himself.

Lucy looked up at him with red, swollen eyes, and carefully crawled up next to him on the small bed. She laid her head on his shoulder and continued crying.

"I'm sorry I left you alone." Natsu fought to keep his emotions under control. Seeing Lucy so upset hurt him more than any injury he currently had.

"I was so scared." Lucy's voice was meek and unsteady.

"I know." More than anything Natsu wanted to make her stop crying. "I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say. The two fell into silence as Natsu held Lucy in his arms. Eventually her sobs died down, but she continued to hold onto him like her life depended on it.

"You're really stupid, do you know that?" Lucy looked up at him angrily and brushed the tears from her face.

"So I've heard." Natsu laughed weakly and ran his fingers through her hair, "and you hate me too right?"

"Why are you laughing?!" Lucy flicked his nose.

"Ow!" Natsu covered his nose to keep it safe from further attacks. "I can barely defend myself. Don't pick on me~" Natsu whined.

"I'll do what I want after what you pulled." Lucy pulled his hand away, but he moved his head away to dodge her other incoming hand.

"It's not my fault!" Natsu snuck a hand under her arm and flicked her on the nose.

"Hey!" Lucy let go of his hand immediately and covered her own nose for protection. Natsu took that moment to restore his defenses over his own nose. They stared intensely at each other each with the bottom half of their face covered.

"What? Can't take what you dish out?" Natsu grinned and raised his eyebrows to get a rise out of her.

"I'll show you dishing out!" Lucy looped her arm around his and pulled it away from his face so that his hand could no longer cover his nose.

"What does that even mean?" Natsu looped his other arm around her like she just did to pull her hand away from her face. "You always say really weird things."

Lucy squirmed around to get out of his hold, but he was too strong. "Ugh, you're such a jerk." When she stopped trying to resist Natsu let her go and she crossed her arms over her chest with an irritated noise.

Natsu smiled and pulled her back down to lay beside him again. He shut his eyes enjoying the feeling of brushing his fingers along her bare back exposed by her hospital gown. The two continued arguing like they always did, and he couldn't be happier. The arguments soon turned into fits of laughter at how ridiculous and spastic they looked earlier trying to cover their noses. Eventually their conversations came to a lull as the two drifted asleep with her face pressing into his neck and his head resting on top of hers.

August, X795

Natsu laid on his couch looking up at the ceiling, missing her like he had spent his youth missing Igneel. By closing his eyes he could imagine her lying next to him like she did that day at the hospital. The last day they experienced the love of being held close in each other's arms, of arguing playfully, of talking softly to each other, and of basking in the relief that they could continue living their lives together.

Natsu turned to his side and stared at a faraway table. He stood to retrieve a pen and piece of paper.

A/n: What is Natsu going to write? Find out next chapter! If you enjoyed, give this story some love with a review!