Natsu woke up to an empty room and the first thing that came to his mind was No Lucy. The blanket that he had tucked so neatly around her sleeping figure had been pushed aside. His scarf was also missing. He got up to check the toilet. "Lucy?" he called.
His voice echoed back to him, Lucy… Lucy… Lucy… as if it was taunting him, and his face took on an expression of distraught when he realised what her absence could mean.
His mind flashed through images of Lucy screaming in pain, Lucy tied up and thrown around, Lucy… his usually brave face suddenly went ghostly pale at the memory of the attack shooting past him, too fast for him to block it or fight back, one Lucy jumping in front of the other, and the soft thud as her body hit the cold tiles. He felt tears prick at the back of his eyes; he would never forget what it was like to lose her for as long as he lived. Never again, he felt the fury building up within him.
Natsu rushed to the hotel room door and began yanking on it; too hard, because the door knob immediately fell off with a loud snap. He cursed, looking down at the detached door knob in his hand; now he was trapped in here.
The dragon slayer growled menacingly. If anything were to happen to his Lucy while he was stuck in this damned room, he would never forgive himself. He took a few steps back and leaned back in preparation to attack.
"Fire dragon's roa-"
"Natsu? NATSU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
Lucy burst into the room. She was wearing yesterday's clothes, except her hair was tied up in two bunches and his scarf had been thrown around her neck, he noted with satisfaction. Her cheeks were flushed from running, and he knew that because he could hear her heavy panting even from across the room. Plastered on her face was a horrified expression. "Thank Mavis I got here in time." He heard her mutter under her breath.
"Lucy!" Natsu stopped his attack and bounded across the room to her side. "Where were you? I was so worried, Lucy." He whispered tenderly while pulling her into a tight embrace.
The blush on her face disappeared as soon as it appeared, and was replaced with a serious expression. "Natsu", she said sternly, pushing him an arm's length away from her. "You have to drink this. Now." She took a vial of some liquid out of her bag and pushed it to his face.
"What's thi—mmphmg!" Whatever interest Natsu may have expressed towards the bottle was instantly replaced with the urge to choke up the slimy thing Lucy had forced down this throat.
But as disgusting as it tasted, it slid down his throat easily. However, it triggered the happening of something foreign within his body. For one of the rare times in his life, Natsu Dragneel felt cold. Wrapping his hands around his own chest, he slid to his knees, his teeth chattering.
"Natsu? Natsu! What's wrong?" Lucy kneeled down, her expression now one of worry.
Natsu opened his mouth, but no words would form on his tongue. The only thing he could feel at the moment was the cold building in the left side of his chest, like frost was slowly coating his heart; layer upon layer, completely submerging the fire he'd usually feel burning there. Now all he could feel was ice.
All of a sudden, he felt a large crack ring through his body, and his chest exploded in pain. Natsu wasn't an expert in this field, but he could have sworn his heart was splitting into two. The pain was excruciating; worse than any attack he'd ever receive from an enemy, worse than all the times Erza had beat him combined. This attack came from the inside, and for the first time in his life, he didn't have any battle plan. A few tears escaped from the corners of his eyes.
"Luc—" he weakly muttered before his world collapsed into blackness.
When he finally came to, Natsu found himself tucked in bed with a towel over his forehead. The first thought that came to his mind was how hot it was. He sat up, pushed off the layers of comforters heaped upon his chest, then proceeded to peel off the now steaming hot towel that had begun sizzling against his forehead. After he got out of bed, he could feel how numb his body had become when he stretched left and right. But other than that, he couldn't think of any reason why he would even be in bed like a sick person in the first place.
Just as he was about to call out her name, Lucy came out from the toilet. Her eyes widened and her lips curled into a grin. "Natsu!" she ran towards him in a hug. "Thank Mavis, I thought you were a goner!"
Natsu laughed. "Duh, I'm totally stronger than that." He flexed his muscles playfully, then he let his hands fall to his sides. "But y'know, Lucy, I don't remember anything."
The smile left Lucy's face. "Well, I remember coming here with you and doing that Santa thing, but everything else is just blurry." He said, scratching his head.
"You… don't remember anything?" The question slipped out quietly from her lips. "I guess that's what she meant by after-effects, but I didn't think—", she mumbled softly.
"Lucy," Natsu looked down at her worriedly. "What happened? Tell me." He said, staring into her eyes.
"Uh, well, where do I begin…" Lucy rubbed her forehead and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Let's see. Yesterday, Mira drugged you with some kind of love potion and—"
"MIRA DID WHAT?!" Natsu roared with anger.
"Like I said," Lucy sighed, and began explaining again. "Mira must have slipped some kind of love potion into your drink yesterday and I just gave you the antidote this morning, but then you passed out for a couple of hours and now we're behind schedule, though I guess that doesn't matter that much anymore since the whole operation must have been some elaborate scheme to get us together—"
"YEARGH! I'm going to go beat up Mira up right now!" Natsu yelled, interrupting her mid-rant. He was about to break into a run when Lucy yanked him back with his scarf.
"What are you doing, Lucy?" he wailed. "I wanna get back at Mira!"
"Did you forget? We're in Garnidelia now. How are you going to get back to Magnolia?" Lucy stared at him, unamused as he continued to try and run away, but only succeeding in stumbling and falling.
"I'll… I'll walk!" he said proudly, as if he had instead stumbled upon the secret of life.
"We just went through this yesterday, Natsu." Lucy rolled her eyes. "And as much as I want to give Mira a piece of my mind, we still have gifts to buy for at least 3 quarters of the guild."
Natsu pouted. Somehow, he had the memory of Lucy being a lot nicer yesterday. "I don't want to." He crossed his arms and turned his head away from her.
"You do remember that this thing was your choice, right?" Lucy pointed out, exasperated.
"Yeah, so what?" He puffed his cheeks stubbornly.
"So," Lucy balled her hand into a fist. "We're going to have to finish what you decided to begin." she said louder, whacking him on the head.
"Weren't you the one that said it didn't matter anymore?" Natsu muttered sourly, rubbing the forming bruise on his head.
"It doesn't!" she admitted, "But we can't just leave everyone without presents." She tried reasoning with him. "I mean, it's Christmas."
There was a short silence as Natsu continued to sulk. Suddenly, he felt a light touch on his shoulder. "Listen, Natsu, I want to go home too. But we promised to be Santas, or whatever it is, and we should at least finish what we set out to do before we head back to Magnolia." Lucy said resignedly. "We can think about revenge against Mira later." She added on.
The last comment caused Natsu to whip his head around. "Really?" he asked. He looked like Christmas came early.
"Really." Lucy smiled a little at this familiar sight.
"Alright! Let's go then, what are you waiting for?!" he yelled excitedly, grabbing his things and rushing out of the door, leaving Lucy in the literal dust. After awhile, he turned back around and popped his head back into the doorway. "So, uh, we're walking, right?"
Needless to say, he left the hotel with a giant bruise on top of his other bruise, and they most definitely took the train.
"Ground!" Natsu tumbled out of the train spiritedly. "Sweet, solid ground!" he jumped up and down, attracting more than a few weird stares from the people around them.
Lucy sighed. Why did she feel such a strong sense of dejavu? "C'mon Natsu, we should hurry if we want to finish shopping by dinner," she said.
Natsu's ears immediately perked up at the sound of food, and he began walking away… in the wrong direction. Lucy rolled her eyes and reached out to grab his scarf, yanking him backwards. She vaguely recalled that this was the second time this had happened today.
"What are you—ngak!" he choked.
"This way." She pointed in the right direction.
"Oh right, I knew that." Natsu fake laughed and scratched his head, quickly joining her as she began heading in that direction.
After a few minutes' walk, the pair reached the heart of the town of Magna and all they could do was gawk. If you compared this town to Garnidelia or Magnolia, it would be like comparing Asuka and Wendy with Laxus. From where they stood, the town spread out in all directions for as far as they could see. But that was not all that was impressive about it. As Lucy read out from The List cum tour guide, "Magna is the largest town in the whole of Fiore, taking up 15% of the country's total land – whereas most other towns take up 2% - 8% at most – and is well-known as a shopping hub for mages, even from other countries!"
Next to her, something had caught Natsu's attention. "Lucy! Do you smell that?" he breathed in deeply. "Fried squid, baked fish, chocolate cake, and…" he furrowed his eye brows and sniffed. "…fire food!" he exclaimed in delight.
He whipped his head around to look at Lucy. "When's dinner again?" he asked, drool already dripping down the side of his mouth.
"After we shop, remember?" Lucy answered absent-mindedly, her full attention directed to the words shopping and hub. "Natsu, let's go!" she suddenly exclaimed excitedly, grabbing his hand and running towards a nearby store.
Lucy's eyes shone as she stood in front of the shop display. In the Christmas spirit, it was lit up with fairy lights, its borders decorated with tinsel and holly to frame the mannequin that stood in its centre. Fitted on it, was the most beautiful red dress she had ever seen. While it was a simple design – off-shouldered and ending just above the knees, with no other patterns or frills – the silk fabric fell gently onto the mannequin, accentuating its curves but not being too figure hugging. And despite its lack of sequins or other add-ons, the material shimmered gently under the faint light. She could just imagine all eyes on her and that gorgeous, glimmering dress as she walked down the streets.
"Lucy, you're drooling." Natsu pointed out, snickering.
She turned to glare at the dragon slayer, one hand lifting to wipe the side of her mouth. "What do you want, Natsu?" she said crossly.
The dragon slayer just continued to laugh at her, and she puffed her cheeks indignantly. "Well, wait until you see it on me, then you'll be the one drooling." She stated haughtily, letting her narcissistic side slip out. Lucy turned back to the shop's entrance, about to go in and request for the dress to try it on, until something in the corner of her eye caused her to halt in her steps.
Right in the corner of the display, in an unfairly small font, was the price of the dress: 70,000 jewels. Her face began to pale. 70,000 jewels?! I don't have that kind of money!
Meanwhile, Natsu had gotten tired of waiting for Lucy, who had begun staring slack-jawed at the glass window in complete shock. "Luu-uucyyy" he shook her back and forth. "Earth to Lucy! C'mon, Lucy, we have to do the shopping thing so we can eat! I wanna eaaaat!" he began shouting into her ear.
At that, Lucy snapped out of it and immediately winced at the increasingly loud wails directed to her ears. Before he could react, she furiously Lucy Kick-ed him for almost bursting her ear drums, causing Natsu to fly over the roof tops of the nearest buildings easily and out of sight. Watching his receding figure in satisfaction, Lucy patted down her crinkled clothes and mussed-up hair; after-effects from Natsu's excessive shaking. Then she touched the glass display gently, bidding a last goodbye to her red dress, and then glumly pulled out Mira's list to check for her first stop.
According to the list, the nearest shop to her was Massimo's Magic Emporium. After walking around for awhile, she finally spotted a run-down looking cottage that, ironically, stood out among the other shiny new stores. It didn't seem to fit its grand name, but sure enough, Massimo's Magic Emporium was printed in faded, old letters on the front gate.
Hesitantly, Lucy took a step inside the compound. Wherever she looked, there were weeds sticking out in the snow, cigarette butts, and urgh, was that an animal carcass?! Lucy gulped nervously. She couldn't help but feel that she was making a mistake by coming here. But Mira's list hadn't been wrong yet. (Well, except for the fact that the list was a huge elaborate plan to get her and Natsu together that did involve drugs, but Lucy managed to push that fact aside).
And so, she pushed the store's entrance open slowly, one hand defensively clutching her keys, only to be completely and utterly surprised. Despite its (at best) modest entrance, the inside of the store was as big as a warehouse, not to mention spick and span, and completely dust-free to boot. It seemed like two completely different places.
With her jaw still wide open, Lucy managed to walk into someone with such force that the next place she found herself was on the floor. Tilting her head up, she was even more shocked to see a tall and rather handsome-looking man offering his hand to her.
Lucy vaguely registered being pulled to her feet, but at the moment, she was more interested in how good-looking the man was. Dressed in a navy blue pin-stripe suit, he had chocolate brown skin and hair as white as snow; cropped short at the sides in the style of a Mohawk, but his fringe fell over his forehead in a series of waves. His eyes crinkled when he smiled down at her, and she noticed that they were the strangest shade of turquoise.
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked. His voice was deep and smooth.
"Yea—I mean, I'm goo— great, I mean. Yeah, great." Lucy tucked a strand of her blonde locks behind her ear shyly.
"That's good to hear." He heaved a sigh of relief. "I apologise about the entrance, it's kind of a tradition. It only works on first-timers so you won't have to see that sight again, rest assured." His concerned expression was then replaced with a welcoming smile. "Anyway, I'm Magnus Massimo, and you are?"He put his hand out between them.
"Lucy Heartfilia." She took his hand and shook it, the other fiddling with her hem of her skirt nervously. "You own this place?" She said, trying to make conversation.
"It's a family business." He shrugged. "What about you? It's not often I get people like you in my store?"
"You mean, mages?"
"Well, that's not quite what I meant." He winked, causing Lucy to blush deeply.
"Uh, well, actually—"Lucy searched her purse for that dratted list, wondering what the universe had against her that couldn't allow her act cool around this one good-looking man-god specimen.
After much rummaging and internal cussing, Lucy finally dragged the list out of her purse and passed it to Magnus. "Ah, Mira-san sent you, I see? I should have known." A knowing smile came over the man's face, but before Lucy could think about it any further, he continued talking. "If you may, Lucy-san", he gestured for her to follow him. "I've got all your gifts prepared here."
Magnus led her to a counter where a few bags of gifts were arranged neatly. While Lucy inspected the packages (and snuck a few looks at the man), Magnus went to his spot behind the counter. "The total is 125,000 jewels." He informed her.
After Lucy handed over the money, she began to reach for the bags when his hand grazed hers lightly. "Here, let me help you." He said.
She blushed again. "You sure it won't be too much trouble?"
"Not at all. Which hotel are you staying at?"
"But what about the store?" she asked concernedly.
"The store will be fine. Plus, I'd rather help you, I think." He said, shooting her a look. Lucy felt as if her heart would burst out of her chest.
"Uh, okay then." She smiled shyly.
However, it seemed that Lucy must have done something to really piss the universe off because just as they were about to leave, there was an explosion at the other end of the store. The two jumped at the loud sound, looked at each other then at the direction from which the sound came from.
"Lucy?" A voice could be distinguishable from the sound of debris falling.
Oh shit.
When she looked to her right, Magnus' eyes were widened and he looked in the direction of the loud bang in panic. "Lucy-san, I think you'd better stay here." He said, putting down her bags. "I'll go check out what caused the explosion."
Before he could leave, Lucy placed one hand on this shoulder. "Magnus, er, -san?" she said awkwardly, addressing him directly for the first time. "I'm so sorry, but I think I'd better go. I think I know what caused the explosion." She bit her lip apologetically, but her other hand was clenched into a tight fist to suppress her growing anger.
Magnus eyed her for awhile before placing his hand on top of hers. "Okay, I'll wait here." As she began to walk away, he called after her: "Be careful!"
She wished someone would have said that to her before she met Natsu Dragneel.
He didn't mean to. Or at least, that's what he tried to tell her. He had found himself on the other side of town after her Lucy Kick, and he was just trying to find her again.
It wasn't his fault that he was hungry and the first fire he saw was the one someone was using to cook, nor was it his fault that that stupid fruit cart was in the middle of the street when he was trying to run away from the cook (which again, he didn't deserve), and it was most definitely not his fault that while running away from the two angry people, he was chased into a group of thugs who just happened to be crossing the street. And since they were the ones whom had wanted to fight, who was he to deny them that right, right?
It made perfect sense to him, so he didn't understand why Lucy had hit him so hard and said it was his fault. Then she had forced him to apologise to that weird guy she kept batting her eyelids at, and then she made him carry allthe gifts all the way back to the hotel. And now she wasn't speaking to him. They didn't even go for dinner.
Natsu's stomach growled in protest, but every time he even moved, Lucy would turn around and give him a glare that would put Erza to shame.
With his back facing her, he crossed his arms and pouted. "I don't understand why you're so angry, Lucy. It was just a wall." He mumbled.
Lucy whipped her head around, he could feel the glare prickling his back. "What do you mean just a wall?!"
"I mean, I didn't break any of his other gizmo thingies so it was just a wall." He said, now returning her gaze, but frowning in confusion.
Lucy face palmed. "Sometimes, I don't know why I even associate myself with you."
"Asho-she-ate? Is that something you can eat?" Natsu cocked his head to the side.
Lucy gritted her teeth. "No, Natsu! It is not something you can eat, and I'm tired of you and your incompetence!" she yelled.
Natsu just continued to stare blankly at her.
"You wanna know why I'm so angry, Natsu?" she threatened.
"Actually, no. I'm just hungry." He frowned. His stomach growled loudly again to emphasise his point.
Lucy clenched her fists and released a long string of swear words until she was out of breath, and then slumped tiredly onto the bed. She pointed one finger towards the door. "Just go." She said dully.
Taken aback by her sudden outburst, Natsu simply obeyed her orders. Before he closed the door behind him, he swore that he could smell the scent of salt and tears in the air, then he heard Lucy mumble: "I liked you better yesterday." Something suddenly struck him, and that feeling was guilt. With his eyes downcast, he closed the hotel room door and headed out.
Note: Sorry for the delay in updates. These past few days have been hectic. I will finish everything by Christmas Eve though, and hopefully, an epilogue after that. Anyway, I actually based Magnus Massimo's character profile on Deckard from Bee and Puppycat though I made him a teensy little more flirty. As for the name, Massimo is a brand name for bread I eat at home, and Magnus is the first name of my favourite character in The Mortal Instrument Series. Next chapter coming soon!