All Rights to Hiro Mashima
Hellooooooooooooooo my precious cupcakes! Enjoy this next chapter, I know I loved writing Happy and Natsu's interaction. :3
Stay crazy,
LoadedEel
EIGHT
They stared at the small lacrima, struck with how their dumb luck seemed to pan out.
"Shouldn't it be…you know…bigger?" Meredy went to poke the little ball and pouted when Erza batted her hand away, hissing quietly to not touch the strange magical object, what were you raised in a barn?
"Size isn't all that matters. Look at Shrimp here." Gajeel seemed inordinately proud at his statement as he patted Levy – who was still seated primly on his lap – on the head like she was a pet and he had just watched her complete a trick for the first time.
"Tread carefully, Gajeel." Levy hefted her exceptionally heavy book in her hands and eyed him meaningfully.
Lucy could see the situation devolving quickly and waved her hands around. "Whether or not Gaj is talking about his penis or how you are powerful even though you are so cute and tiny is kinda not that point here."
"Oi. Don't go makin' assumptions about my dick Bunny…"
"Yes, yes. It's not the size that counts it's how you use it." Lucy flapped his squawk away while the rest of her family sniggered quietly into their fists, while Levy snorted so hard her glasses fell off her nose. "The point is…" She pointed at the innocently shinning magical lacrima still sitting on the table. "…that lacrima needs to get back into Natsu. Like yesterday."
Natsu nodded enthusiastically over Lucy's shoulder. He could feel the pull of that tiny ball of magic deep within his soul or heart or whatever. He needed it back. He knew that whatever was in that lacrima was his.
Master chortled and hacked a bit on his pipe. "Levy, Freed, can you do it?"
Freed frowned and scooped the lacrima off the wooden table top and scrutinized it carefully. "In theory? Yes. But…"
"—We need time Master. I don't trust Ivan to not have done something to that thing. We haven't finished the reversal spell, and then we need to talk to Porlyusica again…about implantation if we fail." Levy's face twisted into a grimace at that thought. But Lucy had faith, there was no one more equipped than Levy and Freed to deal with this puzzle.
Wendy jumped up from her spot beside Evergreen. "I can do that Master. She doesn't seem as cranky when the request comes from me."
Makarov looked at Wendy like she was a gift straight from the Gods. "Thank you, Wendy, if you could do that as soon as possible."
Wendy bounded up the stairs and disappeared up to the bar.
Master nodded. "I agree with the both of you. We would be foolish to jump into something only to find out that there was a curse or something on Natsu's magic that would cause him irreparable harm."
While Master and the researchers were occupied by the finer points of curse detection, Lucy was pulled closer into Natsu's torso. She caught a glance of his face over her shoulder. He still looked uneasy about all of this, overwhelmed even.
She glanced around to see that they were being all but ignored as their family slowly dispersed into smaller groups and mingled with Crime Sorciere. Lucy smirked as a bewildered Midnight was pulled into a rousing argument over the proper classification of hex versus curse, by a very enthusiastic Freed and Levy, while Angel laughed openly at his misfortune.
Lucy pulled her best friend from the chair and chivvied him into a deserted corner of the library. "You okay Natsu? You look—confused honestly."
"A little."
She eyed the lacrima for a moment, her mind swirling with possibilities. "We both know that your magic is sitting over there on that table Natsu. That means that—"
"My memories…" His eyes burned a little bit brighter at that thought.
"Yeah." She breathed.
Maybe it was something in her voice or the way she said it or the fact that everything was just happening so fast that she didn't really have time to process it, but Natsu swooped down and gathered her in a giant hug that made her ribs creak and breath leave her chest in a wheeze.
But it was perfect, just what she needed.
"Luce."
His voice was hardly louder than a whisper. She could barely hear him even though his nose was stuffed in her hair. "What—what happens if they put my magic back…but I don't have my memories? What if they never come back?"
Lucy's stomach clenched painfully and she almost couldn't breathe again. But her voice was strong – surprisingly. "Then we make new ones."
Natsu huffed a suspiciously wet laugh into her bangs and so very lightly kissed her brow. It was so quick that she thought she imagined it.
But she knew she didn't. "Natsu?"
He shook his head at her and just hugged tighter. "It's nothing Luce. Don't worry."
"I'll always worry stupid. You're my best friend. It's in the job description. Also…you're a shitty liar."
Natsu finally put a little distance between them to look into her eyes. She saw so many conflicting emotions in them, too many for her to pin down. "I'm terrified, Luce. I want those memories back because I know I'm missing them, but what if I lose these memories? What if I lose everything? I want to remember, I don't think I want to go back to the man I was before. The way everyone talks about me or gives me these looks like…like they don't understand when I speak sometimes."
"You're not dumb Natsu. Never think that, and you weren't before either. You're magic just…puts things in perspective I think. You have different priorities. Family, your Nakama, is the absolute highest. Then everything else comes after that."
"It still is Luce."
"I never doubted it."
He smiled at her, something small and wonderful, just for her eyes. "Just—I don't want to forget some of my priorities. From now." He pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear and watched the tops burn a light pink.
Lucy thought she understood, even though he didn't say it explicitly. "Natsu…I don't know if you'll remember or forget what has happened since your magic was stolen. But you're my best friend. I miss the other you, we all do. Bouncing off the walls, crazy antics, lovable personality and all. Your memories and feelings make you who you are Natsu." Her breath hitched as she let the worry and longing creep up into her lungs. "I miss my best friend."
He pulled her into another strong hug, chasing off those feelings that threatened to bury her under a mountain of pain.
"Please, Luce. If I don't remember all of this time with you later, make me remember. Help me to be this guy again. In this situation, you were the only thing that felt like home to me, all the other imprints were dull compared to yours. I know I'll regret it all, even if I don't remember…again."
Who was she to refuse her best friend?
"I promise you Natsu, I'll do everything I can for you if you forget." She murmured into his shoulder. "And Natsu, if you don't forget, promise me something."
"Anything Luce." The air grew heavy with tension. So, Lucy took a breath and let it out again, ready to voice something that she had held in her for so long.
"Don't stop whatever this is. Whatever we're doing, or wherever this is leading, just…keep going." She felt him nod his head and Lucy knew they were on the same page. There was no need to label anything they had together, not yet. There were more important things to deal with first.
"I promise, you weirdo." Lucy pulled back from his chest to smile up at him, his face echoed her sentiments.
He promised and that was enough for her.
-ooo-
"You lost it!?"
"What—no…NO! We were attacked."
"No excuses."
"Wait, please God, just w—wait! No, Master, we tried! Please don—"
There were no more excuses.
-ooo-
They left the meeting at that, Natsu a little paler than usual, with a lot on his mind. Lucy decided it was the best if they left the guild for the afternoon, to go somewhere relaxing and wait for whatever came next.
Levy and Freed had jointly decided to throw as much of their magical knowledge at that tiny lacrima, to try and pull out its secrets out, just in case of course. Who knew what kind of seals, black arts, or curses had been set over it?
Lucy snagged Happy on the way out of the beer hall – she missed that little fur ball even if he was a teeny devil in disguise half the time – and marched her boys to their secret-not-so-secret-because-everyone-knew-about-it fishing spot.
Happy would fill his belly with his favourite food, Natsu would have a quiet place to read or think or whatever he needed to do to reconcile the fact that there was a decision in his near future that could alter his life significantly, and Lucy could take a nap in the weak sunshine.
"Where are we going, Luce?"
She flashed him a grin, happy to see that there was colour back in his cheeks again. She knew he would be overwhelmed, but she didn't realize how much it would pain her heart to see him so conflicted. "Somewhere safe."
-ooo-
Natsu lost himself in the last of Lucy's journals, the seventh one. It was the heaviest, bound in a bright red leather and penned carefully with titles such as "The S-class trials", "Key to the Starry Heavens" (which he promptly lost his shit over when he read about the Oracion Seis and the sacrifice, he knew of it but now he read it in her writings and it became even more real to him) and the most troubling was the "Grand Magic Games." He narrowed his eyes at the last words, flipping passed several blank pages in confusion.
He loved Lucy's writing, and she was usually so articulate, her conclusions and endings inventive and uplifting.
But there was no ending to this journal. It just abruptly ended after her arrest – which he admits is a great cliffhanger – and he can't put his finger on it, but he knows deep down that there should be more to this journal. How did she escape? Did he go after her like he said he always would? Who won the GMG? Did Sting ever stop being the biggest douchebag in the entirety of Earthland?
He had so many questions. It was probably innocent like she had so many things to write and not enough space.
Something pinged in the back of his brain…he still hadn't read anything about a horde of Dragons though. Maybe some pages were missing…?
The spine of Lucy's journal creaked as he snapped it shut. Natsu's eyes searched out Lucy's form, splayed out haphazardly under a beech tree, still wearing his scarf. Her breathing was heavy and even.
He'd ask later.
He chuckled low in the back of his throat as he heard the tiny snores that left her lips. She was more tired than he had realized. Natsu knew that all of this, the stress and anxiety, the fact that she had her best friends body – for lack of a better term – and not his soul, memories, magic…whatever, was getting to her. Restless nights of sleep, complete with dark eye bags that he could see no matter how much makeup she put on, weighed heavily on his heart.
The tiny blue cat curled in his lap – Happy, his name is Happy – rolled over and yawned, blinking wide kitten eyes up at him.
He smiled down at the blue feline and stroked a hand through soft fur, Happy's purrs rumbling up through his hand and down his arm.
"You alright, Natsu?"
No.
Not really. But he didn't need Happy to know that.
"Yeah. Of course."
Happy rolled his eyes and nuzzled Natsu's palm. "That bad huh?"
Natsu huffed a small incredulous laugh. "Nothing gets by you, does it?"
"Nope!"
Of course not.
He sighed, long and low. "I'm not fine, but I think—I will be? Hopefully."
Happy turned his head to see what Natsu was staring at. He snickered into a paw. It was always Lucy, just like before. "Natsu…do you still love her?"
The petting stopped for a moment, the little tremble in Natsu's hands giving him away. "Hmm? What—I Uh – Lucy?"
Happy grumbled and shifted around to get more comfortable on Natsu's lap, mourning the fact that his friend wasn't as inherently warm as he usually was. He was ready for these two boneheads to get their heads out of their asses and move forward with—whatever came next in their relationship.
The mutual pinning was funny for a while, but Natsu's oblivious nature and Lucy's stubbornness were really grating on his last nerve. "Who else could it be dummy? Of course, I meant Lucy. Everyone sees how you look at each other."
Natsu glanced down at Happy with an uncharacteristically solemn look on his face. He had only really seen it a couple of times before, when he was fighting and giving his all, on Tenrou Island when they were sure they would all die, and when Future Lucy—
"Yes. I do. I don't remember a lot, anything really, but I do know some things that couldn't possibly change no matter what happened to me." He murmured this to a smugly grinning blue cat, what had his life become?
"Then what's the problem?"
"What if I don't remember this? What if I don't get my memories back, how could I ask her to love someone who is less than they could be? Or what if I do get my memories back and become that dense…idiot."
Happy pushed himself up and crossed his arms over his chest. "You aren't an idiot Natsu. I don't know about all the other parts, but I know Lucy, and I know she loves you, always has I think."
He smiled, a little sad, a little resigned. "Thank you Happy."
A slender blue tail wrapped around one of Natsu's wrists. "If you do lose your memories again, I could probably help you out. Just write something down for the other Natsu now, give it to me and I'll give it to him if he doesn't make a move on Lucy within a week."
"Would that even work?"
Happy shrugged. "Can't hurt to try, can it? You'd probably listen to yourself better than anyone else."
Natsu nodded and quickly tore one of the last pages out of Lucy's journal, silently praying that she wouldn't kill him for doing something so heinous to one of her books. But it was for a good cause, Lucy, please don't kick me in the balls.
Happy scrounged up a pen from Lucy's bag that she always had slung over her shoulder.
Natsu scratched out a message to himself, just in case something did happen and he lost every new memory he made since his others had been torn out of his mind, let the ink dry, folded it up and watched as Happy pushed it into his little green backpack.
"Thanks, Happy."
"Anything to get you guys to stop making sappy puppy dog eyes at each other. It's getting out of hand."
Natsu snorted and laid back on the soft grass, a load off his mind and shoulders. Maybe he couldn't control what would happen, but he could help himself out as much as possible. His eyes sought out Lucy's face, scrunched adorably as the breeze tickled her nose with some of her flyaway hair.
Yeah, he would do just about anything.
-ooo-
"Freed…are you seeing this? Is this correct?"
Levy was so incredibly glad that both she and Freed were perfectionists and insisted that they run any and all tests possible to search for malevolent magic and black spells. If they had put the lacrima into Natsu without checking it first…it would have caused irreparable harm to his body, destroying what was left of his magic containers.
"Yes, this is a true puzzle Ms. McGarden. It seems that someone within Ivan's resurrected guild can place seals and dark enchantments onto magical objects. While I can strip the enchantments away with my Dark Ecriture, I can do nothing about the seal." He sighed heavily, bangs fluttering over his eyes. "We need help."
"We need a seal breaker."