Lucy struggled to her feet, shakily. She wasn't sure why it seemed that Erza and Natsu always chose the most dangerous jobs on the board, but she wished once in a while they would go with something a little less dangerous. She sighed as she looked around. Erza was already standing, helping Gray to his feet. Not far from Lucy, Natsu was sitting as he struggled to pull Zeref upright.
She sighed as they regrouped where Natsu and Zeref were sitting. The dark haired mage leaned heavily on Natsu as he smiled weakly up at the blonde standing before him.
"Did we over do it?" He asked, weakly.
Lucy nodded as she examined him. Physically, Zeref seemed fine, but something seemed to be draining him of all of his strength. She shifted to his right side and immediately noticed the problem. There was a small, but deep gash on his right hip and it was bleeding heavily. She would have noticed it much sooner if the boy didn't always wander around in black.
He must have gotten it when one of the monsters had taken a swipe at her. She closed her eyes, remembering how he had intervened, stepping between the two as Natsu and he had hit it for all they were worth. Lucy shook her head sadly, the wound was deeper than she would have liked and was definitely going to require more than just first aid.
He grinned down at her.
"I trust you, Luce," He whispered, one hand fumbling to hold hers tightly. "I know you have it within you to fix this."
Lucy looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "I'm not sure I can."
He shook his head, "Yes you can. You brought Natsu back from the grave, you can fix this little scratch."
She felt Natsu's hand settle firmly on her shoulder, "We believe in you, Luce."
She sighed and shakily rested her hands on Zeref's hip, closing her eyes as she felt for the magic that had brought Natsu back. She pictured Zeref's body lying lifeless in her arms, imagining the pain that would cause, and felt the magic welling up in her.
Zeref watched the Celestial Mage work with wide eyes. She glowed brightly, gold light shining around her as the magic started to take hold. Her hair floated around her, like she was underwater and her chest heaved under the strain of keeping the magic in check. The tingling in his side indicated the wound was healing, then suddenly it was gone and Lucy leaned back into Natsu, looking exhausted. Zeref glanced down at the place where the wound had been. The only indication that there had ever even been one was a patch of pink skin that was quickly fading to the normal pale color of the rest of his skin.
Zeref looked back at Lucy, who grinned tiredly at him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her from Natsu as he kissed her.
"You're amazing," He whispered.
She laughed, tiredly, "I feel like a wreck."
He shook his head, "You're still wonderful."
Natsu and Gray cleared their throats in annoyance and the couple broke apart, blushing fiercely.
"Sorry," Lucy said, as Zeref picked her up. "That was rude of us."
The five of them headed back toward town to collect their reward, Zeref and Natsu taking turns carrying Lucy who was at the point of passing out from exhaustion.
"You shouldn't have used so much of your magic, Luce," Natsu scolded when Zeref passed her off to him for a few minutes. "Now look at how tired you are."
She grinned up at him, though anyone could see the effort it took her to do so, "But if I hadn't, I could have lost Zeref."
"Tch," Natsu looked away in annoyance.
Lucy sighed and closed her eyes, she didn't have it in her to argue with him at the moment. She knew he was angry about the whole situation, but she had given up waiting on Natsu a long time ago. She was happier with her dark mage.
Zeref watched the interaction with a heavy heart. Already he was hurting his new found friends without meaning to. He sighed as he fell back, allowing Natsu to keep a hold of Lucy. The two were closer than he had originally thought and Zeref wondered if he could really keep those two apart. He loved Lucy, but he also cared about how Natsu felt about the whole situation. Anyone could see the Fire mage was unhappy about the whole thing, though he would never say as much.
Zeref sighed as the group moved forward and Gray fell back to walk with the newest member.
"You know that Natsu's still in love with her, right?"
Zeref nodded, "I suspected as much, yes."
Gray nodded, "He won't interfere because Lucy is happy, but you've gotta know that he'll move Heaven and Earth to kill you if you make her cry."
Zeref nodded again, "As I would expected from someone as passionate as he is."
Gray looked at him out of the corner of his eye, "You realize that stands for everyone in Fairy Tail."
Zeref nodded, "Yes, Mavis told me that Lucy was your light. I can only imagine what would happen to the person who tried to harm that light."
His eyes glinted dangerously, "I could only imagine what would happen if someone else tried to harm Lucy while she's in my care."
Gray nodded, "You and Natsu would probably have to be strapped down to keep from going after that person. Even then, I'm not sure that would be enough."
Zeref shook his head, "Nothing could stop me from killing the person who harmed my light."
Natsu looked back, grinning at Zeref, "You'd have help."
Zeref nodded, looking at Natsu in surprise. Sometimes he forgot that the dragon slayer had unnatural hearing. He wasn't surprised by Natsu's feelings for Lucy. Even back during the S-Class trials he could feel how much the pinkette cared for the girl. The boy could deny it all he wanted, but Natsu was definitely in love with Lucy. Zeref might have felt bad for the boy, if he wasn't also in love with the blonde in Natsu's arms.
Lucy woke up just as reached Fairy Tail. She struggled up, surprised to see herself in Gray's arms.
"How long have I been asleep?" She asked.
"Long enough for us to collect our reward, get a ride back here, and walk to Fairy Tail," Gray teased.
"Where's Zeref and Natsu?" She asked as the ice mage set her down.
"Well, Natsu is recovering from motion sickness - again - and Zeref is with him. They fought over who got to hold you all the way home, so Erza designated me as your carrier until we could get you into the infirmary," Gray said, helping Lucy into the guild.
Lucy shook her head, "That's really not necessary."
Gray looked at her darkly, "It is Erza's command that you be taken to Wendy. I will not disobey that woman, even for you, Lucy."
Lucy shivered, she'd never seen Gray look so angry before. She bit her tongue from arguing and nodded meekly.
"Okay," She answered weakly.
She was surprised when not even Juvia said a word about him carrying her to the infirmary, but looking back up at his face, she realized that even if the water mage had wanted to say something about Lucy being her love rival, she wouldn't dare say it with the look on his face. Gray looked angrier than even Natsu had when she had been attacked by Minerva. She shivered, glad she wasn't on the dark-haired man's bad side.