It was only moments until Lucy came around the side of the clock tower, flushed and bright eyed, but to Natsu it felt like years.

"Ready?" the blonde asked, a buoyancy to her voice that the dragon slayer both envied and hated, mainly because it wasn't he that put it there.

There was a cutting remark on Natsu's tongue that went something like, 'What, you don't want to stay and hang out with your new friend?' He severed that right quick. "Let's get out of here." He eagerly took the first step, leading the way through Magnolia's still rubble-filled streets, always used to being in front, to having the control. It was a short and feeble reprieve, one he grasped at and held on to furiously, not much liking the wild swing his life had taken lately. First there was Fairy Tail, and then Lucy. And—

"Where are we going to sleep?" Happy asked, vocalizing Natsu's thoughts. Best friends indeed. The cat seemed to know what he was thinking always.

"I got a bedroll."

"Camping like we were before, huh?" Happy asked with a grin. "I like sleeping—"

"I don't have anything for camping," Lucy said shortly.

Natsu said, "You can sleep in my bedroll—"

"No." Lucy dug her nails into her palm to keep her cheeks from getting hot.

"Lucy—"

Did he even know what he was saying? Probably not. "Do you have any money?"

"Well, yeah, a little—"

She didn't even get mad that he let her buy him a ridiculous amount of dinner last night. "Enough to get a hotel room for the night?" She felt like a bully speaking so short and clipped, but she was annoyed. If she even had a second to pack she would have been able to grab her savings, her pajamas, and a change of clothes at least. But nope. Not a chance.

"…I guess."

He looked so defeated. There was an apology on Lucy's tongue. She bit it back, thinking, perhaps meanly, that she didn't get so much as a proper goodbye a year before, so why should she apologize for feeling displaced? "What's even open?" Very little.

Happy finally spoke. "When we were here last week there was a motel next to the Thorn and Thistle called Briar's Lock." He weathered a filthy look from Natsu that Lucy missed entirely.

"Good. Rooms are probably cheap."

"…Maybe," the cat said, not so sure. As the only real motel left in town they could charge whatever they wanted. He kept that to himself, not wanting to entice Lucy's ire more.

"Good," Lucy said, purposefully disregarding Happy's hesitant tone. "Let's get going then." She walked faster, pushing past Natsu. He opened his mouth to object—maybe he'd try to make the bedroll option sound more appealing, or maybe he'd suggest going the next town over. Maybe Clover had something—but Lucy was determined. He huffed and followed, hot on her heels, dodging through the debris of half-built buildings, weaving between children and adults that were slowly trudging home after a long day of rebuilding.

"Do you think the town will ever be the same?" Happy asked.

"Absolutely," Natsu said immediately.

"Never," Lucy said at the same time. She shot him a look that he couldn't read, then explained, "I think it'll be rebuilt to the point where no one will recognize what happened here, but I also think everyone will always remember." Tartarus left a mark that couldn't be so easily erased. On everyone.

After that there was a heavy silence that was only broken by the occasional shouts of errant children. Lucy walked quickly, mind churning. "Tomorrow," she said finally, "I'm going to try to find some work."

"I'll come—"

"You're wanted by the King," Lucy said abruptly. "You're not going anywhere unless it's to a jail cell."

Natsu opened his mouth then closed it, defeated.

"Guess you better start on that letter, huh?" Happy asked.

Lucy looked over her shoulder. "Letter?"

"Natsu is going to write an apology letter," Happy explained. Natsu wished the cat would shut up. When he said it aloud like that it sounded stupid, even to his own ears.

Lucy chewed on her nail. "I don't know if that's going to be enough. Those guards really meant business."

"I don't know," Natsu said, trying to defend himself. "Maybe if it's a really good apology…"

"They tried to shoot Happy and I out of the air," Lucy said. "And we didn't even do anything."

"Well," Happy clarified. "I actually flew him up there to write on the wall."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "You two."

Natsu gave her a sheepish grin, glad to hear both resignation and a hint of affection in her voice. She couldn't hide it, not completely. "You know you missed us." Feeling brave, or stupid, or just trying to pretend like nothing had changed, he slung his arm around her shoulders and came in close so their sides were touching. "You think we should get some fish first before we go to our hotel?"

Lucy sighed, resigned. "I guess." She wriggled out from under his touch and refused to read into the hurt look on his face, afraid of what it meant. They walked side-by-side after that, a good, respectable distance between them.


A sliver of a moon poked out from beneath the clouds and lit the ground in wan light, bright enough that feet didn't catch rocks or logs; knees remained uninjured as they made their way to the riverside. The river, nestled in the last bastion of Magnolia's forest, babbled happily in the blanket of night.

Natsu threw himself down on the ground then went rooting through his pack. From there he pulled out two strings tied to a hook while Happy dug around in the ground for some worms for bait. Natsu selected two flexible branches from a young tree and broke them off for him and Happy. He then tied the string to the end of the branches and weaved the worms Happy brandished onto the hooks. Finished, he offered Lucy one of the twigs. She raised her brow.

"You don't want to fish?" Natsu asked when she didn't take it.

"If you want to eat tonight, maybe not," she replied. The Heartfilia estate didn't offer much opportunity for things like this, which meant that while she got by, she wasn't great at fishing.

Natsu shrugged and settled back cross legged, branch lodged between his knees, and studied the darkening sky. Lucy flopped down, a safe distance between them, and considered the first star to pop out of the night sky.

"Did you think about the guild while you were gone?" Lucy asked suddenly. Did you think about me?

Natsu turned to look at her in the dark, his onyx eyes finding hers. "I thought about you guys every day. If I knew that when I got back everyone would be gone…" I would have come back sooner. He didn't know if that were true, so he said, "I'm glad I found you."

Lucy didn't get a chance to reply, drowned out by Happy's gleeful cheer of, "I got one!"

The cat stood from his spot next to Natsu and struggled with his line, leaning back hard and taking a few steps backwards. Natsu sat up and reached out to help him. Between the two of them they wrestled a large silvery fish to shore. Natsu set to work cleaning it, then wrapped it up tightly in a wild grape leaf and, with a thought, lit it aflame. It only took a second, the fire was so hot. When it was done, the smell of warmed meat drifting to her nose, Lucy's stomach grumbled.

Maybe fish wouldn't be so bad.

"I knew you liked fish," Happy quipped, hearing Lucy's body betray her.

"Nope, just haven't eaten in twelve hours," she muttered.

Natsu doled out the portions, shamelessly—to Happy's chagrin—keeping the largest for himself. "This is a pretty good spot. We can come back here and try again tomorrow," he said between bites.

Tomorrow. Lucy tried not to feel so downtrodden at the prospect of eating fish twice in as many days. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if that wasn't all they had. "If I have it my way, I'll be eating a steak dinner this time tomorrow. Hey, you think Ackles will buy it for me?" She said it musingly, playfully, and caught a sour look from the dragon slayer. She opened her mouth to say, "Kidding," then decided not to, unsure if she was or not.


Mostly full and wholly tired, Lucy looked upon the run-down facade of Briar's Lock with reverence. "They better have some rooms left."

"Room," Natsu clarified.

Lucy glared at him. "What?"

"After I bought our tickets I have enough cash for one room."

"Guess your bedroll's gonna come in handy, huh?" Lucy smirked, for a moment forgetting she was mad.

"Cold," Happy said. Natsu just looked stricken.

She laughed. "There's usually a couch or something. Or, if we ask really sweetly, we might get a cot."

"We could—" Share.

"Nope," Lucy said abruptly, foreseeing what he was going to say. "We can't." She walked faster, leaving Natsu and Happy to bring up the rear.

Inside Briar's Lock's cracked walls, the place was sort of clean. Which meant that the floors were swept and mopped, the counters dusted, but way up high cobwebs occupied the corners of the room and the daisies that were picked and stuffed into a vase on check-in desk were fresh three weeks ago. Now they were wilted and yellowed, the water they died in grey and opaque. Lucy tried not to get too close to it, leaning over the counter as a pretty, young lady with thick black glasses and long, curly black hair and caramel coloured skin searched for a room for them.

"I have one," she announced finally. "With a single bed."

"And a couch?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"…A loveseat."

"Do you have any cots?"

"Sorry, Miss."

Lucy looked at Natsu's long legs and knew who was getting the short end of this deal. Better than the ground. "We'll take it."

Natsu paid the lady and accepted their key, then followed Lucy as she led the way across the lobby and up the stairs. The dragon slayer scrunched up his nose as they went. It smelled like dust and alcohol and some burning substance that stung his nose. "It smells weird in here."

Lucy looked back over her shoulder to see if the clerk heard. She was gone. "You're welcome to sleep outside."

Natsu was tempted. "You're going to come, too?"

As if he was afraid if he turned away she'd disappear and go back to her new life. "Not a chance," Lucy said, stubborn to the last.

"We shouldn't split up."

"Then I guess you're sleeping in the room with me, aren't you?" She kept going.

"I guess." Natsu snapped his fingers again and again, trying to drown out all of the noises he heard that made him blush. It didn't help at all with the smells that came to his nose that made it itch. He focused on watching Lucy's boots as she mounted the stairs. And her legs. And—

Happy nudged him hard. "She's going to beat you up."

"What am I going to beat you up for?" Lucy asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Nothing," Natsu said immediately.

Happy opened his mouth again to spill his secret. The dragon slayer stooped and grabbed him up around the waist, squeezing him tight enough to his chest that the cat could neither writhe nor form a proper sentence. Happy pushed at him for only a moment, then he submitted. Natsu eased his grip and dared to meet Lucy's eyes, an innocent smile on his face. She glowered and that smile almost withered.

She didn't ask him to explain, though. Maybe she didn't want to know. That was fine by Natsu; there was no easy way to explain why he was suddenly flummoxed. She started walking again and he followed, making a conscious effort to lag a little further behind so his eyes fell naturally to the scuffed stair risers instead of her hips.

At a small landing, Lucy stepped off the plywood stairs onto the worn birch wood floor and walked until she found room number 14. She hesitated putting the key in the lock, afraid of what she'd find inside. Maybe it's clean and tidy. Maybe it smells like lemon and jasmine and not like dust and neglect.

She opened the door and half got her wish. Though it was musty inside, someone had recently sprayed it with air freshener. Natsu sneezed. Three times.

"Gross."

"I think it's perfect," Lucy said with forced cheeriness and waltzed in, flicking on the light.

Dingy was a better adjective. There was a small window with a dank yellow-tinged drape covering it, a cot that looked like more than a few of the springs were broken, a teal coloured loveseat as the lady downstairs promised, and a nightstand with a well-read bible inside. That was it. Aside from the mini fridge, that is. When Lucy opened it and checked inside, the only thing that occupied its shelves were small liquor bottles and four green apples, one of which was bruised beyond what she would even cut off.

Not to be disheartened, she took out one of the apples and bit into it. It was tart and crisp, at least. She closed the door and leaned back against the fridge's steel surface to regard Natsu and Happy. Natsu was already examining the bed, a twisted look on his face.

"Are you sure you don't want to camp?"

"I'm sure," Lucy replied, mostly because they had already come this far. She took another huge bite of her apple and watched Happy clamber up onto the bed's mattress.

"It's lumpy."

"You don't have to stay here," Lucy said again.

"No," Natsu said after a beat. "We'll stay."

Happy harrumphed.

Lucy finished her apple and dropped the core into a small garbage can inside the washroom, then she went looking for blankets. She found that and a pillow shoved up inside the closet by the door. Pale yellow and peppered with cigarette burns, it was thin and scratchy. But she wouldn't complain. Would not.

Except… "You're buying me pajamas, too." She draped the blankets over the loveseat.

Natsu said, "Do you want a shirt to sleep in?"

Lucy faltered. "Do you have a clean one?"

He shrugged his pack off his shoulders and pulled from it the small bag Happy had delivered the day before. "It's new."

"I'll take it," Lucy said without hesitation. It beat sleeping in the same clothes she wore all day. Especially when she was going to have to wear them all tomorrow, too.

Natsu pulled out a grey shirt long enough to be a dress on her. Lucy took it and gave him a genuine smile that he sucked up like a sponge, happy that he could make her happy.

"See?" Natsu said, encouraged. "It's not all bad. We got a room, you got pj's, and a bed. Tomorrow we'll get a job and then we'll start hunting down Fairy Tail."

"Aye," Happy agreed.

Lucy's smile dimmed. "I'm going to have a shower then go to bed. I suggest you two do the same. Tomorrow we'll deal with the king and getting some money." How they were going to do that eluded her, but… they'd figure something out.

Natsu threw himself down on the bed and watched her disappear into the bathroom. The door closed, the water came on.

"She doesn't sound convinced," Happy said.

"No, she doesn't," Natsu agreed. "But she'll see." And when she did, everything was going to be better. She'd be happy again, and everything could go back to the way it was before.

Happy paced around the mattress. "Are you really going to sleep on this lumpy bed?"

"Yeah, and so are you," Natsu replied. Happy muttered something under his breath too low for even the dragon slayer to hear. He let it go.


When Lucy exited the washroom both Natsu and Happy were in bed. Happy was curled into the dragon slayer's side, Natsu lay on his back, arm slung up over his brow. Both breathed so deeply she believed them to be asleep. Tiptoeing across the room, she flicked off the light then carefully felt her way back to her makeshift bed. It was a miracle when she made it there without any bumps or bruises.

She dropped her clothes to the floor then climbed beneath the thin blanket, wearing the shirt that smelled faintly like Natsu. Like crushed grass, smoke, very, very dimly of sweat and pheromones from riding in his pack with his other clothes. She wasn't sure how she felt about the smell, really. It was familiar and nice, but it also made her chest hurt. That was a wound that wasn't going to heal easy, though she'd been getting along fine— just fine—before he showed up again. She glowered at the ceiling.

The bed creaked. Lucy held her breath and waited, thinking Natsu was just turning over. But no. Soft footsteps padded over to her side. The dragon slayer crouched and peered at her through messy pink hair.

"You awake?"

"I am now," Lucy said dramatically. He was so close she could feel the heat coming off his skin.

He dropped himself to the ground beside her, tucking one foot under his bottom. He'd taken his shirt off, and his pants. Now he was just in a pair of shorts. Lucy kept her eyes up around his face; not that she could see much anyway, he was too close and it was too dark.

"What do you want?"

"Do you want the bed?"

"Are you just saying that because it's lumpy?" Lucy hissed.

"Well…"

Of course. She sighed. "Go to sleep."

He didn't move other than to put his arm up on the couch beside her. His skin felt even warmer when it was against hers. "Are you really going to go out with that guy?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. Why?"

"Well…" He hesitated then said, "Maybe ask him if the guard needs any work done around Magnolia. Last time we were in town they were helping residents rebuild. We might be able to get some money that way."

Lucy relaxed. Was that all? Evidently. "I could ask, if I see him again."

If. He tried not to hold on to that, or even entertain why the qualifier felt important. "How long is he here for?"

"He said a couple of days," Lucy told him.

Natsu grunted. "Alright. So, you like uniforms, eh?"

Lucy searched for his teasing smile and couldn't see it for all the darkness. "Why not?"

Yeah. Why not?

He shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable but too bothered not to ask, "Did you think of us while we were gone?"

Lucy turned to look at him properly, realizing that she wasn't able to ignore the hesitant tone in his voice. "Of course I did." Not all of it was good stuff, though. He didn't need to know that.

Feeling brave, Natsu pinched a lock of hair between his thumb and forefinger; he didn't think Lucy noticed. It was damp and smelled like cheap shampoo, but he liked it; it was still smooth.

"Did you leave because you didn't think I was good enough to keep up?" Lucy heard herself whisper. She'd posed a very similar question months and months ago; it had gotten her into trouble then. Gray flitted through her mind unwelcomely.

Natsu lifted his gaze from where he watched her silhouetted lips and found her dark eyes. "Is that what you thought?"

"What would you think?"

His hand snuck down to find hers rested on her stomach. "Lucy…"

She waited patiently for him to say something meaningful, to give her some excuse that would be good enough, something that would stitch her up and put everything right again. He only stumbled and stammered, repeating her name twice more before falling into silence.

She pulled out of his grasp and rolled over. "Go to sleep, Natsu."