On we go with Part 3! I pledge to finish this little fic before the year ends!
And thankyou so much for your lovely reviews! They motivate me so much, so if you leave one, my love is most certainly yours! ;)
Rays of sunshine fell through one of the little windows of Lucy's home. They cast a bright square onto the wooden floor, right at the feet of Lucy and her guest, as if they were standing on a soft fluffy carpet.
The sun seemed to rise slowly these days, reluctantly even, as if it was upset that it could not reach past the thick shadow in the forest. The light it shone down flowed like molten caramel, struggling to fight off some of the darkness, as if the latter had spun spiderwebs between the trees: black threads that trapped the light itself and prevented it from proceeding any further.
"And you're really sure about this?"
Lucy eyed Natsu with a mixture of worry and hopefulness, and he gave her a bright smile, little flames tumbling out of his mouth. "More fired up than ever!" he called with his hands on his hips, spewing a little fiery fountain, "Which is good, because I'll be busy lighting up that whole forest for you!"
Somehow, his energy spread to her much like his warmth, and she found herself more brave than she had ever been. Determination gripped her and she flashed a grin back at him, any doubt she'd held onto gone, at least for the moment.
The coat rack beside the door held two cloaks: a brown one of similar size and colour to the one she'd been wearing yesterday, and a dark green one that seemed to be the largest, with a hood. It was this one that she picked out for Natsu, holding it out to him.
"But Lucy," Natsu objected, taking the cloak from her anyways, "I'm never cold. Did you forget I'm a flame?"
"Maybe you'll be thankful for it later," Lucy replied vaguely, "You know… sometimes it's not about the cold. It's like… a blanket. Even in summer, when it's hot and sticky and you sweat so much you think you'll melt, you will still use a blanket to sleep. Because you're scared of the dark, and what might get to you if you're not hidden under a cover."
Natsu pondered this, and then nodded slowly. "For protection."
He'd given her back the cloak she had lent him despite her protest, but now he accepted her new offering yet again. He rolled himself into the spacious cloak, wrapping it around him until only his face and pink bangs were visible. Somehow, she felt it belonged to him now, a gift perhaps. It felt right. Natsu lifted his arms, grimacing in what was probably supposed to be a frightful expression, and roared dangerously.
"Maybe we will meet the dragon you told me about," he said enthusiastically after the roaring was done, "I really wanna meet a dragon!"
Lucy held a hand to her mouth to hold back her laughter.
His childlike joy was contagious, and Lucy almost forgot about the dangerous task at hand: Natsu made it seem like such a fun adventure. Maybe that was the way it should be looked at. Wasn't it true that those for whom losing was not even an option were those that succeeded in the end?
With that thought in mind Lucy grabbed the little lantern that stood on the shelf.
"Alright, let's go!"
The treetops rustled ominously above them as they stepped out of Lucy's tree, cool air hitting their faces. It should not have been this cold, not in summer, but the sunlight barely reached the ground anymore.
They'd spent all morning preparing for their trip, and so it was late afternoon when they set out. The ground felt crisp beneath Lucy's boots, and she could hear the slight cracking with every step she took, a sound the frost brought with it.
It had not been this cold yesterday.
It felt almost as if the darkness had gotten closer, besieging their house as they had slept. Following them. Shivering, Lucy tugged her coat more tightly around herself, turning as if to reassure herself that Natsu was still there with her. It was not something she had to do – she could hear and feel him, either way. But somehow seeing him helped in more ways than one.
He, too, was tugging at his cloak, but stopped when he caught her eyes on him.
Flashing her a large, motivated smile, he sped up his pace and caught up to her.
The forest was light in these parts she called her home, and yet the darkness had found its way here too. Lucy wondered just how dark it had gotten in the deeper parts of the forest; the very center for which they were headed. Little lived there, anymore. The animals had fled, seeking out parts where the sunlight was not swallowed completely, where it still could fight its way even through the thick canopy of leaves and branches. These parts, however, were becoming more and more sparse.
It really was time to act; if only it wasn't too late already. She hoped she could right her wrongs now, once and for all. She felt ashamed of herself, but somehow the feeling was hard to hold onto whenever her new friend smiled.
Hope was a much better feeling anyways, was it not?
They still had a very long way to go.
For a while, they continued on in silence.
They did not meet many of the forest's inhabitants, and once more Lucy noticed what she had told Natsu: the forest was depressed.
The flowers were hanging their heads, the usually bright shades of green (the dark moss on the tree trunks, the leaves that offered everything from emerald to a light, soft hue, the rich greens of the grass that swayed in the breeze) were dampened, as if they were losing their colours. Even the wind that blew around them sounded like the trees were sighing.
"You're right," Natsu muttered beside her, "The forest is sad."
It was a feeling that spread easily, a contagious sadness that creeped up on them.
"I've never felt sad before," Natsu mused, "I don't like it very much. Happy is better."
It was curious: Natsu seemed to have born with a lot of knowledge; it was given to him much like his body. His name, language, even walking, those were all things he had not needed to learn. Still there were some things he did not know, even if they seemed like an intricate part of life to Lucy. She wondered how it came that he knew some things and not others, but every time he asked a question, she did not get far with her explanation, either.
It was usually enough to mention important words, words he had not yet learned, and upon hearing them they revealed their meaning to him all by themselves. Lucy did not have to teach him, not really.
It was like the time she had asked him for his name, when they had first met in the clearing his little comet had crashed into, and it had taken him a moment to recollect the knowledge from… somewhere, to understand the concept of a name. And somehow, he had found it without much trouble. It was just there.
Maybe the words carried their message in themselves, gaining their meaning by being spoken out loud. They were powerful, in that way.
Words were magic, too.
"I'm hungry," Natsu interrupted her thoughts.
And sometimes, words were just a means to an end.
"Are you suggesting we should stop to eat?" Lucy asked with a smile, letting the small bag she carried slide off her shoulder as she turned towards him.
"Duh," Natsu dead-panned, to which she just blinked, unsure whether to be slightly offended or amused.
She settled for the latter without further ado.
From what she could tell, the sun had begun to set. It had become hard to tell just when the gloominess of day gave way to the complete blackness of the night, because the transition was slow and of such miniscule, gradual difference that before you knew it you were surrounded by total darkness.
Maybe they should simply call it a day. She was hungry, too, and they had gotten far enough into the deeper parts of the woods. It was still at least half a day's march from here to the gate, and the shelter of a little camp seemed so very alluring when she, for the first time that day, noticed the gooey, almost tangible darkness between the trees. It could have dripped off the branches and formed little puddles on the ground, and Lucy wouldn't have been surprised. She felt as if it was watching them.
Quickly, she turned her back to the spot she had been staring at, concentrating on her companion. He had soothed her last time, and he did so again as she walked up to him.
There was nothing to be afraid of.
She had a feeling, sometimes, that if you were afraid – that's when they'd get you.
Maybe it was just her imagination, but she was sure it wanted you to be afraid, like a cat playing with a wounded, scared mouse. Whatever this darkness was, it (or whatever was hiding in its shadows, advancing together inch by inch) was alive. She would not give it the pleasure, the triumph. Oh, no. She was not a mouse.
Lucy was neither wounded nor scared, and definitely not little.
Smiling proudly, Lucy puffed her cheeks and exhaled through her nose. Natsu watched her in amusement, already sitting on the ground, at the foot of a large, old tree. Soft moss grew on its side, right were he sat, and she let her hand glide over the cool plant before sinking down beside Natsu. This was a good tree. It was still fighting.
It would protect them.
They shared the bread they had prepared together (with strawberry jam, homemade) and heated up some water with the little fire Natsu had lit with his flames – to make tea. A few flames, the smaller ones that were young and impetuous, obediently crawled into the lantern Lucy had brought along. They would grow throughout the night, feeding off the oil and burning brightly against the darkness.
And so they sat beside the little fire, huddling together, as Lucy told amazing tales of adventure, danger and evil, of mighty foes and mightier heroes, of the prevalence of love, family and friendship – tales that made Natsu's eyes grow wide with wonder.
"How do you know all this?" he asked at one point, "Were you there to see all of them?"
"Oh, no," Lucy chuckled, "Some of them were real, though, and some I lived myself. But most of them I read in books. I love reading, you know. The pages take you away into new worlds, and it's as if you were there with the people you read about. You hold your breath when they're in danger, you smile when they're happy… You wish you could fall through the pages and go on adventures with them. But at the same time, when you're finished, you can discover new things about your own world and you carry the lessons you learned into it."
Lucy smiled, watching sparks rise into the night before they faded out of existence. Natsu watched too, for a moment, but her face seemed more fascinating to him. Her eyes were glowing softly in the light of the fire, even brighter than the rest of her.
"I think you'd enjoy it too. Reading, I mean," she continued, snapping out of her trance. "Stories are a little like your flames, in a way. Temporary, but beautiful – and they make you feel all warm."
"I like it when you tell me stories," Natsu added onto her thought, "It makes me feel all warm inside, too."
What was it about his words that continued to make her blush like a child?
Looking straight forward, into the fire, Lucy bit her lip in an attempt not to smile like one, too. But there really was no helping it – emotion conquered her whole face anways. Smiling brightly, she glanced over at him. He was smiling right back, a warm, large, genuine smile, and at once Lucy felt at home again. She had nothing to be embarassed about.
"I like telling stories," she told him fondly, "Ah, but they're nowhere as amazing as my mom's! You should have heard her stories, Natsu; she always told them to me when I was younger. Most of them, she even made up herself. Those were the most exciting."
A stupid little grin had crept onto Lucy's face, eyes lighting up as she talked about her mother, and Natsu listened all too gladly. They talked on and on into the night, until both their eyelids were drooping dangerously.
The little lantern shone steadily even as the campfire slowly died down to glimmering coals. The two of them had huddled together very closely, leaning their backs against the ree trunk, and now Lucy gripped onto Natsu's coat. She shivered and pushed her face against his shoulder.
"It's dark," she whispered, "Did you notice how dark it has gotten?"
The lantern was their only lightsource now, such a small thing against a mountain of darkness. And yet, the litte flame made her feel weirdly safe and sheltered.
Much like her companion who, she began to realize, seemed rather fearless in the face of danger. Good. He could be strong for the both of them, and make her brave in the process.
"Ha!" he called into the looming darkness, flames burning in his mouth. "You ain't scaring me!"
Lucy's eyes widened, and she froze against his side.
Nothing happened.
After a few moments of silence, she slowly relaxed.
"Sheesh," she mumbled, "Are you brave, or are you stupid?"
"Does it matter," he chuckled. Then he proceeded to take off his cloak, only to throw it over the both of them in the next instant. It was dark, at first, but a little flame flickered to life in the palm of his hand, and she could see him grinning in the shadows.
"Protection, right?"
A small giggle escaped her lips before she knew it, and she nodded, bumping her forehead against his chin. It didn't really occur to her that he was technically naked without his cloak, but it did not really matter either. That was how he had always been. His skin was warm; the flames sometimes licking along his body none that burned or hurt her.
It was warm and safe in their little hideout, and the space beneath the cloak-turned-blanket soon heated up comfortably. They started whispering, as if the blanket demanded for silence, as if they were conspirators exchanging guarded secrets. Sometimes one would snort, and the sound faded out of their makeshift cave and into the night.
Lucy told one last story as she leaned against his side, watching the flame dance in his left hand as she spoke. At some point his head dropped against hers, and as their tails intertwined Lucy barely had time to notice that she had stopped talking.
It was comfy and warm and wonderful, the darkness outside their shelter completely forgotten, shut out with light and laughter.
And that was how they fell asleep.
When they awoke, they weren't alone under the blanket.