5. battle

"Happy, do you think Lucy will be okay? Should we go back?"

"You've asked that at least six times already, Natsu."

Natsu sighed. "I just can't sit here and do nothing while..." he trailed off.

"While Lucy is risking her life." Happy completed.

Natsu nodded. "Yeah. And all for me."

"She was right, though. You're always saving everyone. I can't blame her for wanting to save you in return. Besides, look at the condition you're in. You couldn't have fought anyway."

"Yes I could have!"

"Natsu, don't lie to yourself. You definitely couldn't have."

"I'll prove you wrong! I'm all fired up!"

a.a.a.

"Ha! So that's your weakness!" Lucy cried as she dodged his attack. "Your magic gets weaker if the opponent isn't using magic."

Jiro grunted. "So? I can still fight. I'm still better than you. And I'm especially still going to win!" He put his palms out. "Darkness magic: Gravity explosion!"

A whirl of dark red magic energy came up from the ground. Lucy gasped and stepped back. "What is this?" she whispered.

All of a sudden, it stopped.

Nothing happened.

Jiro, eyes wide, collapsed to the floor. "What?" he gasped in a strained voice. "He's already here?"

Lucy walked slowly toward him, not really understanding what had happened. All she knew was that she… won.

A tiny smile slowly crept across her face. "Natsu was right. I swore I would win, so I did. It really worked…" She suddenly felt dizzy.

She grabbed the wall for support. "Whoa… I guess I used up more magic power than I thought." Lucy started walking out of the room to find Natsu and Happy.

When Natsu saw her entering the room, his face lit up in a wide grin. "Lucy!"

"Natsu, I won! You were right. All I had to do was swear I would win. I just can't believe I really did it."

"Well, I can." Natsu said, walking over to her. "You're stronger than you give yourself credit for."

Happy smiled. "Lucy! See? I told you she could win!" He flew over to Lucy and landed on the floor beside her.

"Hopefully, we won't have too many more battles." Lucy said, rubbing her injured arm. "I'm exhausted and out of magic power."

Natsu nodded. "Me too. But, in this case, we don't have much of a choice. We got ourselves into this and there's no turning back now."

"Also, Master said there weren't very many people here. Just that they were strong. But these guys don't seem very strong…" Happy pointed out.

"That's true." Lucy agreed.

The three of them continued to look around. Lucy noticed that her clothes were in tatters. Her green tank top had a huge rip on the side.

At the same time she noticed, Virgo came out. "Princess," she said. "I have some new clothes for you."

Lucy smiled. "Good. Mine aren't in very good condition." All of a sudden, Lucy found herself in a blue dress outlined with gold and little gold bows on her arms. Her hair was tied up into pigtails.

Virgo took a bow. "I will now take my leave." She disappeared.

Lucy gasped. "Wonderful! It's so cute!" She whirled around to face Natsu and Happy. "What do you think?"

Natsu grinned. "You look pretty, as always."

Lucy blushed, but kept her smile. "I'm glad you like it." She said.

a.a.a.

"By the way, Natsu," Lucy said, "That guy I was fighting said something strange. He was about to do an attack on me, but then everything stopped. He fell to the ground and said 'he's already here.' Do you know what he meant?"

They continued walking down the dark tunnel and Natsu looked up, thinking. "I don't know. That's really weird, though."

Lucy nodded. "I wonder who he's talking about… What if it's someone really important and strong? What if-"

Natsu cut her off with a laugh. "Calm down, Lucy. Even if it is someone like that, you don't have to worry. I'll definitely protect you."

"Okay... I'll try to do the same for you."

Lucy thought she saw the tiniest bit of a blush on Natsu's cheeks, but she just shook her head. It was probably her imagination."

Suddenly, they heard footsteps from above them. Lucy stopped. "There's someone above us. I had forgotten this was a tunnel."

Happy nodded. "We have to be quiet and stay hidden. We're not really in any condition to fight."

The three of them pressed up against the tunnel wall. Lucy caught her breath and squeezed her eyes shut, fearing someone would suddenly crash down and start fighting them.

When the footsteps faded away, she took a deep breath and clutched her head in her hands. She was so dizzy and tired that for a second, she almost forgot how to move. Still clutching her head, Lucy moved forward but instead felt herself slowly falling. "Lucy!" she head a distant voice call, but all sound droned out and everything went black before she could respond.

a.a.a.

When Lucy opened her eyes, she felt soft and warm as if she were in her own bed at home. She turned her head and then realized that Natsu's arms were wrapped around her and she was in his lap.

She blushed and jumped quickly away, but then relaxed. Natsu was asleep. Lucy smiled, walking back over and reaching out toward his cheek. He was so cute while sleeping.

Happy was sleeping, too, right next to Natsu. He made small moaning sounds in his sleep as he turned his head from side to side.

Lucy suddenly yawned as she realized that she was still tired. What time was it?

She started to walk over to the wall and find a place to sleep, but she stumbled on something and fell forward. It took a few seconds to realize that she had fallen on top of Natsu, her face inches from his.

Her cheeks burned but she was too tired to make a big deal out of it. So she just rested her head against his chest and fell asleep.