AN: Hello everyone! I am sad to say that this story will very soon be coming to an end! D: I love this story very much as it is my first nalu story and I am very proud of it, but I didn't want to drag it out and get bored of it just like some of my other stories. So, I ended it on chapter 19 which will be followed by a quick little epilogue! Thank you to everyone that reviewed this story, I'm glad you all stuck with it so far! I hope you enjoy and please continue to keep reviewing! :D

Chapter 17

A week had passed since Natsu and the others had returned from their mission. Lucas was returned safely- thanks to Makarov stopping Lucy- and the clients had paid the group a hefty reward. Takeshi and the others were taken by the council and imprisoned for life, which Lucy was satisfied with. Since then, none of Team Natsu had seen each other and were instead resting and healing from the stressful mission. Gray had healed first, followed by Erza. The two went back to the guild as soon as they were better, only to find that Lucy was not there.

This was peculiar, seeing as how Lucy was the least injured of the group. The worst of her injuries was the wound left by Michiko's nails during their first encounter. Besides that, her only injuries were bruises from being kicked by Elijah and a nasty, purple bruise that was on her forehead from having her head slammed into a bar by Takeshi. However, for the most part the girl was fine. In the end, the two shrugged it off, giving the blonde time to deal with the new information she had received about her mother. After all, Natsu would be worried enough about their friend.

Speaking of whom, Natsu's eyes had just fluttered open that morning. He lifted his bandaged hand immediately and was relieved that the pain had died down considerably thanks to Wendy. He still needed to use crutches for his leg, however. Undoing the bandages, the boy got up and was about to go about his day until…

"Where do you think you're going?" Happy questioned, his brows raised in suspicion.

"To the guild," Natsu answered, limping towards his crutches, however Happy flew by and took them away just in time.

"No you aren't! You still need to heal! You heard what Wendy said! No leaving your bed!"

"I don't care."

Happy let out an annoyed sound as he flew in front of his partner, stopping him in his tracks. "Lucy is fine. Now go back to bed!"

"You don't understand, Happy-"

"Yes I do! You think nobody notices the way that you look at her!? We all do Natsu! We aren't blind, you love her!"

"S-Shut up!"

"Make me!"

Natsu tried his best to lunge towards the exceed, though his bandaged leg wouldn't allow it. Instead, he landed on the floor with a heavy plop, pain surging through his leg once again. Happy flew over him and laughed.

"Stupid Natsu!" the cat said with laughter. "I don't see why you are rushing to see her anyways, you're too scared to tell her the truth anyways!"

"Oi, I'm not scared!" the dragon slayer shot back, still laying on the floor.

"Oh yeah? Then why haven't you told her?"

"Because I didn't want to ruin anything between us! Look, I know who I am. I know that I'm messy and I eat a lot and I'm loud and a whole bunch of other stuff. I also know what kind of guy Lucy likes. She likes the pretty boys that are smart and read books and stuff. That's not me. I thought that if I told her everything would be ruined and I would lose my best friend."

Happy sighed. His two best friends truly were the dumbest people in the world. "Listen, Natsu. You have to just tell her! Igneel, the King of the Dragons, didn't raise a wimp!"

Natsu perked his head up at Happy's words. He and Gray were right. All he was doing was running from his feelings and being a coward. However…

"I know, but I have a plan. I'm not going to tell her."

Happy fell to the floor, exhausted with dealing with his friends' density. Love couldn't be that hard, could it? After all, he had made his feelings toward a certain exceed clear countless of times and they were just fine.

"I know, I know," Natsu began, ruffling Happy's fur, "I just want to take my time with this. I decided I would tell her my feelings when I got back, but I don't want to rush into this. I don't even know what I would want from her."

"What are you going to do then?" the cat questioned, now helping his friend stand back up.

"Remember those pretty boys that would talk to Lucy all weird? Well, she seemed to like that, so I'm going to give that a shot."

"So you are going to flirt with her?"

"I guess so."

Happy sighed as he gave Natsu his crutches. "Well then, let Operation: Steal Lucy's Heart commence! Go talk to her now!"

Natsu gave his partner a fanged grin as he rushed- well limped- out the door as fast as he could and out onto the streets of Mongolia.

Lucy slumped in her chair as she wrote to her mother. The girl had been nagging herself the past week to do it, but couldn't bring herself to write. Normally, it was an easy process of just spilling the day's events and her feelings onto paper, but with new revelations, nothing seemed simple anymore. Forcing herself to pick up the nearest pen, the blonde went to work, voicing what she was writing onto paper.

"Hello, Mama," she wrote with a sad smile gracing her lips as always, "it's been a long time since I last wrote to you. Since you are watching me from above, I'm sure you know why." Lucy let out a soft sigh and continued, unaware of the new presence in the room that was sitting patiently on her bed while also listening. "I definitely did not expect you to be the one that created Celeste Spirit Mode. I always knew you were a strong celestial mage, I should've known."

Tears pricked her eyes as she continued, "But then again, I don't really know much about you, do I? I'm such a terrible daughter. I mean, what child doesn't know that their own mother was suffering from depression? I keep thinking back, and even now I don't remember any signs of you being sad. I heard from Master that you felt guilty over the loss of the people that were there when you cast the spell. I would tell you it's not your fault, but I feel the same way."

Lucy's hand began to shake as teared flowed gently from her eyes. "I really don't know you at all, yet I've been writing to you for years. I never knew you went on such a terrible mission. You told me you were visiting your friend, but I should've known. Especially when you came back suddenly ill. I really am a horrible daughter."

"No you aren't," a sudden voice rang from behind the girl.

Whipping her head around, she found Natsu sitting upright on her bed with a serious expression on his face. "N-Natsu? What are you doing here-"

"You aren't a terrible daughter," the boy interrupted, pushing on with upmost seriousness. "It's like Gramps said, you were the best thing in your mom's life. Of course she would find happiness with you around. It's hard not to."

"But still! I should've noticed-"

"How could you notice if there were no signs? And don't blame yourself for not knowing that much about your mom's secrets. That's what makes 'em secrets."

"You don't understand," Lucy pouted.

Natsu gave a low chuckle and replied, "Need I remind you that I thought my dad disappeared for a decade, only to find out that he was freaking inside of me the whole time?"

Lucy lightly laughed along as she wiped away her tears. "I guess I'm not that dense then when it's compared to you."

Natsu gave a small smile and Lucy could see something burning brightly in his eyes. There was a new passion that she had rarely seen, usually when he was determined in battle. Her heart stopped as he slowly walked towards her. He then gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her to stand up. They were so close, they could feel each other's breaths on their skin.

"I am so tired of hearing that I'm dense," Natsu began in a low, almost whispering tone, "but I guess it's not entirely wrong."

"N-Natsu?" Lucy questioned, gazing deep into his onyx eyes. She was well aware that she was blushing, but she didn't mind. Not when she was so distracted by the deep voice he was using that ensnarled her attention.

"I have to say though, if I'm dense, then you are a straight up idiot."

Lucy was pulled out of her daze as she lightly punched the man in front of her. However, he quickly stopped the attacks by taking hold of both of her wrists and pinning them to her side. The girl's breath hitched in her throat.

Natsu then inquired with a sad look in his eyes, "Why were you going to use that spell, Lucy?"

Lucy's brown eyes darted away from his piercing gaze. That is until she felt his warm hand cupping her chin and making her maintain eye contact. "I-I needed to save you."

"There must've been another way," the boy replied in his low voice once again, making her knees shake.

"That was the only spell I could do that was strong enough to stop him!"

"No it wasn't. You are a strong mage, Lucy. You are capable of more. Even if there wasn't, what makes you think that I would be alright knowing that you were going to die for me? You don't die for your friends, Lucy. You live with them."

"I didn't want you to die-"

"And you think I want you to? You were being stupid, Lucy. Even when Gramps showed up you were still so bent on using that spell. You know that he could've beaten Takeshi easily. So why did you have to? You completely disregarded your own life for that spell and I wanna know why."

Lucy's lips quivered as she replied, "I wanted to kill him…"

Natsu's eyes widened. Killing wasn't something that Fairy Tail mages did. They simply rendered their opponents unconscious and continued about their days. They never killed unless absolutely necessary. "Why?"

"…Because of how badly he hurt you."

The boy sighed as he pulled the blonde in for a tight embrace. "Thank you, Lucy. But I don't need you losing your innocence like that for me. And most importantly your life." He then pulled away from the hug. "I was really worried about you…"

"I should be the one saying that," Lucy whispered. Their faces were even closer than before…

"You really are an idiot for thinking I would let you off yourself like that…"

"I guess I am…"

Their faces were a mere inch apart. Lucy felt as if her legs were going to give out on her, so she gripped Natsu's coat tightly. The boy moved his face even closer, receiving a shocked gasp from the girl in front of him. This inspired him to go even closer. Their lips were just millimeters apart and he wanted nothing more than to close the gap. Sighing heavily, he pulled back a bit, noticing the disappointed look on Lucy's face as he did. Then, he placed a chaste kiss on the girl's forehead, both of their bodies erupting with warmth at the simple contact.

"You are a weirdo," he finally said in a hushed tone. His breath gently fanned her face. "It's just my luck that my best friend would be a weirdo."

"S-Shut up," Lucy replied, lightly smacking his chest. "At least I don't go randomly kissing people's foreheads."

Natsu pulled back a bit more to study her face. He was serious, making Lucy wonder if she had said the wrong thing.

"Did it upset you?" he finally asked, still analyzing her features.

Quickly, she replied, "No, it didn't! It was just a little surprising!"

Finally, Natsu's signature grin appeared on his face as he said, "Good! Now let's go to the guild already! I got some stuff I wanna say to Nab!"

"Nab? What do you have to say to Nab?"

"It's a secret!"

Lucy gave a cute pout, though it quickly vanished as she felt Natsu's warm hand grabbing her own. He then tugged her out of the apartment and towards the guild. Memories flooded her mind as she recalled the day she had first met her best friend. The way he pulled her towards the guild made her feel so free in ways that she had never felt before. He had opened a door for her into the world of freedom and happiness and her world was quickly thrown into the fun charades of Fairy Tail.

"And that is why I am in love with Natsu."

AN: Progress is quickly being made by the two! :D Please review! :)

MarSofTheGalaxies: No confession yet, but soon! :D Thanks for another review :)

MirrorFlame: I think my least favorite ship would have to be Wendy/Mest! Or really anyone paired with Wendy! I don't know why but I don't ship her with anyone, maybe I think she's too young lol.

Alexa: Not so much of a fight but more of a civil conversation for these two! :D And I'm so glad you loved the chapter!

12Rayne: Haha no bad side effects for our little Lucy because she didn't fully activate the spell! :D Thanks for the review! :D

LRCN: Thank you for a sweet review!