Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Trigger Warning: Please refer to Chapter 1, Beginnings, for my trigger warning and take heed.
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read my story! And to those who reviewed, thank you! All your follows and kind words definitely will keep me going. So I've decided to write this story in alternating styles. 1st person Lucy/3rd person Natsu. Every odd chapter will belong to 1st person Lucy. Every even chapter will be for 3rd person Natsu. What do you guys think? I'd love the feedback!
Anyway! Enjoy the next installment of But a Thorn.
Gh057
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Natsu Dragneel stared after his best friend with a slack jaw. It took him a few moments to blink his eyes and just as he was about to launch after the Celestial Mage a mailed gauntlet grabbed him by the shoulder. "No," Erza Scarlet commanded the dragon slayer.
"Erza," Natsu began to protest but he was silenced by a glare for the requip mage.
"Something is clearly very wrong with Lucy, let's give her a few moments before we go and overwhelm her," the red-head stated simply.
Natsu felt the anger rise in him. "She's my best friend," he snarled, teeth clenched. He balled his fists.
"All the more reason to back off. Give her the morning, part of the afternoon. You and Happy go check on her tonight."
His black eyes flashed at his friend. "Erza," he hissed. "Something is wrong, I can't just…"
"Natsu. You will do as she heeds," Makarov the guild master spoke up from where he'd been silently observing, perched on the bar with his legs crossed and his fingers steepled. "There are times when you chase after someone and times when you must let them breathe."
Shamefully, Natsu bowed his head. His fists shook in anger. "Come on, Happy," he said darkly. "Let's go fishing." He turned on his heel and stormed out of the guild hall, not caring if the exceed followed him or not.
"A-aye sir?" Happy blinked after him, glancing at Carla and Pantherlily before spreading his wings to follow the dragon slayer out of the hall. "Natsu?" the blue-haired cat asked, catching easily up to him. "Are you okay?"
"No. I'm not okay because Lucy is not okay."
The Exceed frowned but chose not to say anything. His friend was not in any sort of speaking mood. The wind whipped wildly at their faces; Natsu's rosy hair danced with the breeze, messy as always. It wasn't long before the duo reached the river. Unhappily, the dragon slayer flopped onto the bank. His eyes glowered into the water, slight tendrils of smoke wafted from his nostrils.
Happy watched him, worry etched into his feline features. Uneasily, the cat sat beside Natsu and cast his line into the river. For several minutes they sat in silence. The forest whispered quietly to them. Mist blew into their eyes with every rustle of wind. Zero fish attempted to bite as time wore on.
"Hey, Natsu?" Happy questioned cautiously.
"Yeah, Happy?" he replied, feeling the nerves inside his friend's voice.
The cat pulled his line back in and turned so that he was facing the mage. "What do you think is wrong with Lucy? Maybe she just ate too much fish."
A faint smile ghosted his pale, pink lips. "I hope that's all it is." He leaned backwards, into the sand. His muscular arms supported his head as he gazed up through the branches and towards the sky. "I… I don't think that's the problem though, Happy," he sighed, dejected. "She had a date last night, remember? I bet she got stood up again."
"Poor Lucy."
"Yeah. If she gets hurt one more time by stupid dates, we'll burn them to a crisp. Right, Happy?"
"Aye, sir!" The exceed beamed, "It's been a few hours. Let's go check on Lucy!"
"Good idea." Natsu leapt to his feet and dusted his clothes off. The pair strolled from the woods, trekking towards the canal and in the direction of Lucy's apartment.
Outside of Lucy's bedroom window, Natsu lifted his nose and breathed in deeply. The smell of salt was in the air. Inwardly, the dragon slayer cringed. It was clear that his best friend had been crying. That made him frown. He tried her door knob. Locked, of course. That never stopped him before.
With Happy's help he reached her bedroom window and braced his fingers against the seal and pulled. The glass didn't budge. "Huh? She always leaves her window unlocked," he murmured. As the sound escaped his lips a muffled bang hit the window.
A plush pillow soared through the air and flopped pathetically against the glass. The dragon slayer could hear the shrill rage from inside the room. "Natsu! You idiot!" The words were choked with tears. "Why can't you use a door, like a SANE person?!"
He pushed his face against the glass, looking at Lucy Heartfilia. The blonde was sitting up in bed, clutching another pillow against her chest. Her face was puffy and red, stained with tears. Her hair was in tangles, as if she been pulling at it as she sobbed. Beside the bed he saw Loke, sitting with his arms crossed over his chest. The spirit was calm, silent: observing.
"I tried the door, it was locked," Natsu said, raising his voice so that the celestial mage would hear him. "I always use the window when the door is locked because you leave it open for me." His dark eyes softened with concern. "Why was your window locked, Luc'?"
The second pillow smacked against the glass. "Because it should always be locked! It's safer that way!" Lucy fell back into a heap on her bed, trembling. "Go away, Natsu," she whispered.
Without his keen senses, he wouldn't have heard it. But he did hear it. His brows stitched together. "Lucy…" he called, aching. "What did I do?"
Only silence answered him. Natsu turned his head towards Loke, pleading for answers. The lion shook his head to the side, adjusted his glasses, and looked back to the blonde. Ignored by Lucy. Annoyed by Loke. Natsu jumped away from the window, fuming once again. "What the fuck?" he screamed as he landed on the sidewalk, his hands clenched into fists. "The hell did I do?"
"N-Natsu?" Happy questioned, fluttering nearby.
"Screw this, Happy. I'm going for a walk."
The exceed knew that meant he wasn't invited. He watched pink hair vanish around a corner and turned his big eyes up to Lucy's window. "Lucy…" the cat whined, "I hope you're okay." With that, he flew back to the guild hall.
The dragon slayer stormed down road after road, kicking loose pebbles and muttering curses under his breath. "Why would she be doing this to me? I didn't do anything," he said to no one in particular. "I get she's upset but I want to help her."
He sauntered in annoyance, smoke visibly rising off of his shoulders. Citizens of Magnolia stepped out of his way, some even going as far as to completely change sides of the street. The wind had died down as the evening approached, the canal's waters were tame off to his side.
He walked. His pace never faltering.
In the distance was the sound of children playing. An old couple bickering about what to do for dinner. A shop keeper and a patron bartering back and forth. One man drunkenly insulting another. It was all so normal. The world was in the right order. And yet…
Natsu Dragneel's world was in anything but order. The emotions he had read off of his best friend left his heart twisted in a way far more different than he had ever experienced before. He was so angry at her and yet he couldn't be angry at her, not really. She was experiencing a pain that he had no idea how to identify. It scared him.
"I just want my Lucy back," he said, leaning forward against the canal. The water below moved in a lazy line. The dragon slayer watched it churn slowly down the hill. With a sigh, he placed his chin on the hard slab, chewing on his lip with a pointy tooth.
Something caught his eye at that angle. A flag or something stuck in one of the drain waves. It was a pretty crimson. The fabric danced where it was stuck. The liquid hit it at just the right angle, and the material was suddenly free. Natsu saw that it wasn't a flag at all, it was a dress.
He breathed in deeply, sniffing the sweet water of the canal. His nostrils were hit hard with an entirely different smell. He doubted he would have recognized it if he hadn't spent nearly every single day around that aroma for the past several years. The water had nearly washed it away. The faintest hint of strawberries and vanilla. A clean smell, mixed with what he could only describe as star dust. It was the same fragrance that Lucy's celestial spirits and fleuve d'etoiles always had.
Lucy.
Without thinking the dragon slayer launched himself into the canal. Several people retiring into their homes stopped to watch the insane fairy tail wizard as he splashed around, his long, tanned fingers stretching out to grab onto the red satin. Awkwardly, Natsu clambered back out of the water, thoroughly soaked but triumphantly clutching the soiled dress.
He shook his pink hair, sending spray in every direction. His jacket came off and he proceeded to wring the excess water back into the canal, trying in vain to dry his clothes. "How'd you get here?" he asked the dress, dripping at his feet. A smile began to creep across his lips until he really got to examine the gown. He stretched it out flat against the concrete and felt his innards clench and constrict.
It was destroyed and not from the water. It was torn in several deliberate places. One across the chest. A sleeve was completely severed; it would hang useless and limp off Lucy's shoulder. Where there'd once been a delicate slit, now the fabric was shredded much farther, clear to where Lucy's naval would have been.
Natsu stumbled backwards, clutching at the scarf Igneel had given him. He exhaled shakily. Then, he inhaled deeply and instantly bile rose in his throat. There was more than just Lucy on this dress. So much more. He didn't know how to identify it. Clinging to this once gorgeous dress was the distinct musk of a man. And blood. Lucy's blood. Blood that he'd sacrifice anything for it to never spill. Fearful sweat, the kind from facing death head on held onto the fabric.
He lost composure at the last odor. The sticky, sometimes intoxicating perfume of sex. This was not a smell of joy, like what hovered around the newly wed Gajeel and Levy Redfox. Nor was it the passion that clung so heavily to Glidarts. Nothing close to the loving aroma that he noticed from Gray and Juvia when they sat just a bit too close at the guild hall. This was pure horror.
He clenched his fists as tears sparked into the corners of his eyes. His jaw clenched. Rage boiled his blood.
He left the dress on the street, turned tail, and sprinted at a speed he rarely ever used back toward Lucy's apartment.
The dragon slayer stopped below her window to catch his breath, visibly shaking from the adrenaline coursing through his body.
With deep, quivering breaths he began to calm himself. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the bricks, listening for any sort of noise from his best friend's window.
"Lucy, you need to eat." Loke's voice.
"I-I can't." Lucy's response.
"Please." The celestial spirit pleading with his master.
"No." His best friend's choked reply.
Slowly, Natsu sank forward onto his knees, grinding his teeth. The dragon slayer felt guilty for eavesdropping but not guilty enough to stop and turn away.
"Lucy," Leo sounded determined, like the alpha male he was. "I will not let you starve."
"L-Loke, I can't do this," Lucy's reply was barely a whisper. "I can't do anything anymore."
"You will heal."
"I won't."
The words ripped at Natsu's heart, and yet he listened on.
"How can someone heal from this? What am I going to do Loke? I still feel him. I smell him. I hear him. Every second that passed I'm reliving my rape over and over. And I am helpless. I'm as helpless now as I was then."
The odor of tears hit Natsu hard and it took a moment to realize that it was coming from his eyes. Ashamed, he used the back of his damp sleeve to wipe his eyes dry. Rape. Mavis, his suspicion—no—his worst fear was true. "Luc'…"
Again, Natsu was furious. He was furious at Lucy, for trying to handle this on her own without her guild. He was furious at Loke, for helping her hide it. He was beyond furious at the monster that had molested his best friend. But most of all, Natsu Dragneel was livid at himself because he let it happen.
He knew, beyond a doubt, that he could have prevented it. He could have stopped it.
"Luc', I'm so sorry," he whispered to the brick wall.
Resolve hit the stubborn dragon like a brick. He stood and vanished down the street.
An hour later, he was back under her window. His clothes were clean and dry. He had a knapsack slung over one shoulder. With a smirk he strolled casually up to her front door and knocked with far more force than was necessary.
An exasperated Loke swung the door open. He glowered at Natsu from under the brim of his glasses. "What do you want, Natsu?"
"I've come to hang out with Luc'," he challenged right back at the spirit.
"She's not feeling well."
"I brought her some dinner."
"She's not hungry."
"I. Am. Not. Leaving," Natsu annunciated every syllable and glared unwavering into the feral eyes looking back at him. A fire cracked from his knuckles. It was a brash warning but Loke accepted it.
"I don't know what you think you know," the spirit warned, "but if you make one stupid move, I'll have your head."
"I'll take it for you," the dragon slayer replied with a smile.
He pushed past the lion and into the apartment. "Luccyyy~!" he cooed. "I'm home!"
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A/N: There we have it! Thank you for reading But A Thorn's second chapter. I hope you look forward to more to come! ^-^
Oh, and I'd love if you reviewed or left a comment!