Blaze of Fear

When Lucy had woken up, she was intent on taking another stab at her novel, hoping that maybe the recent events could provide some inspiration. But she was completely sapped for ideas.

"OH!" Lucy moaned as she stretched out, "Why is writing is so hard!" She stared at the ceiling in silence, as she thought of all that happened. To occupy her mind, she decided to write more letters to her mother.

Its been two weeks since the Festival. We've all since recovered fully from our battle, and so as the town, though needless to say, more than a few complaints were filed. Something that came not long after, was the news of Laxus' excommunication. Needless to say, Natsu wasn't happy about that….

(Flashback)

"Whaddya mean Laxus has been excommunicated!" Natsu roared.

"Exactly what I said," Makarov answered calmly.

"But I'm supposed to fight again!" Natsu whined as he waved his fists around angrily, "He was our comrade! We can't let him go!"

"Natsu!" Erza yelled, grabbing Natsu's shoulder, silencing him, "Think about this from the Master's perspective!" Natsu, though he probably wanted to protest, didn't say anything, as he stood down.

(End Flashback)

It was really hard on the Master in hindsight. He almost quit, though we all managed to convince him of otherwise. I can only imagine what he must have been going through at the time. It does make me wonder where things are going to from here.

Lucy stopped writing, as she paused, thinking if there was anything else she had left to write.

"Natsu," she mumbled. In a list of things she'd only really thought about slightly, the "L" word was among them. The list of potential boyfriends for her did exist, but by her own confession, Natsu wasn't that high on the list. But now….

"I can't think about this!" Lucy declared, standing up, leaving, and heading to the guild.

When she arrived, she headed for the table where her teammates were.

"Good morning!" she said, waving.

"Good morning, Lucy!" Erza said. Lucy noticed she was polishing her swords, but only after she saw the two huge pile of swords besides her. Erza set the sword she finished polishing in one pile, pulled another sword from the other pile, and started polishing that one.

"What's up?" Lucy asked, sitting next to Erza. Gray let out a loud yawn, as he stared at the ceiling.

"Nothing's happening," he lamented, "Why isn't anything happening?"

"You and Juvia can do something!" Juvia piped up, as she came up next to him.

"I don't have the energy to deal with you now," Gray said.

"During the festival season we get fewer job requests, you know that," Erza said, not looking up from polishing one of her sword. She studied it briefly, before scratching off a small spot.

"We should be getting more requests soon enough," she continued. She placed the sword she was done with in the pile.

"Well maybe…," Lucy began.

"Maybe! Maybe!"

"Was that…," Lucy began.

"Yo! Cosplay Girl!" Bixlow said as he materialized behind Lucy, who let out a yelp.

"Why are you still calling me that?!" Lucy yelled.

"So are you and Loke a thing?" Bixlow said teasingly, sticking out his tongue.

"No! Of course not!" Lucy yelled.

"That's because she's with Natsu!" Happy said with a grin as he jumped onto Bixlow's shoulder.

"So you're with Natsu, eh?" Bixlow said, smiling as he strolled away, "We're going to get a lot mileage off this, aren't we babies?"

"We are! We are!" the dolls answered. Lucy moaned as she put her hand on the table.

In an ironic twist, with the fighting done, the Thunder Legion reintegrated themselves into the guild almost flawlessly. The way they were interacting with everyone, you'd think nothing had happened.

Over in one corner, Evergreen could be seen posing for Reedus as he painted her.

"I expect to get all the royalties for this!" she said. Over at the quest board, was Freed, with Nab next to him.

"Could you please move?" Freed said to Nab, "You're blocking everyone else!"

"I'm looking for the exact job!" Nab answered, "You never know what you might find!"

"Advice from a guild mate, at the rate you're going, you may find a fist from someone," Freed said.

After Bixlow and Happy brought up Natsu, that made Lucy notice that the Fire Dragon Slayer isn't here.

"Where is Natsu, anyway?" she asked.

"He told me go ahead of him," Happy answered as he floated to the table, "He needed to do some training." Erza abruptly stopped her polishing swords, as she waved her hand, and all her swords faded away.

"I've actually been worried about him," Erza said.

"How so?" Happy asked. Erza narrowed, and averted her eyes.

"During the battle, I saw a side of him I've never seen before," she explained, "He wasn't himself, he was something different, something monstrous." She then looked to Lucy.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Erza was silent. She didn't want to actually say those words, they felt so wrong on her tongue.

"During the fight, did Natsu really bite into Laxus' shoulder?" she whispered, only so that the people at the table could hear.

A silence reverberated across the table, as those words sunk in. Lucy was silent as she stared at the table. She was only partially conscious when it happened, but it was something she remembered as clear as day. She only nodded.

"My god," Gray said, leaning back.

"Juvia always thought Natsu was kind of violent," Juvia said, "But she never thought he was that violent."

"No!" Happy yelled, as he clenched his paws, "Natsu wouldn't do that!"

"Happy…," Erza began.

"No!" Happy yelled, "I won't believe it!" He then flew out the door.

"I'll go get him, and I'll check on Natsu too," Lucy said, as she got up, before looking back, "Who else knows?"

"Just us, the Master, Freed, Gajeel, and Levy," Erza said, "The Master's making us all keep it a secret, since he's worried it might make people afraid of Natsu."

"And it might be for good cause," Gray commented.

"Gray!" Erza scolded.

"I call it like I see it," Gray said, "And as things stand, Natsu isn't acting the way he should, and that means he may be dangerous."

"I'll find out!" Lucy said, as she ran after Happy. The others watched as she ran out.

"She won't get hurt, will she?" Juvia asked.

"Of all the people who Natsu would hurt, Lucy is the last person," Erza answered, "We don't have to worry about that."

(with Lucy)

Eventually, Lucy caught up with Happy.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To me and Natsu's house," Happy explained, "I'm going to go get Natsu, and show everyone that he's not dangerous!"

"I believe you," Lucy said, "And I'm going to come with you and help!" Maybe I can use the location of Natsu's house to take revenge someday she mischievously thought.

However, she also thought about what happened when Natsu bit Laxus. Erza was right, when she said that wasn't Natsu, but Lucy also saw what happened when Natsu saw her conscious again. She managed to calm him, if only barely, and so, Lucy was confident she could get through to him.

Eventually, they came up to a small cottage a top of a hill.

"He's up here!" Happy said, as he lead Lucy up a hill next to the house. Up there, was a training area, with a series of fighting posts, with a multitude of picture of different members of the guild, such as Erza, Gray, Gajeel, and Laxus. In the center of the training, was Natsu, who was sitting crosslegged, fire swirling around him, his eyes closed.

"Natsu!" Happy called. Natsu opened his eyes, and smiled.

"Happy! Lucy!" he said, jumping to his feet, "What're you doing here?"

"Natsu…," Lucy began.

"People are saying your dangerous!" Happy yelled, as he flew up to Natsu.

"Dangerous?" Natsu asked, before grinning, "Hell yeah I'm dangerous!"

"Natsu!" Lucy scolded. Natsu stopped grinning, as he walked over to Lucy.

"I'm only dangerous to our enemies," he said, "Not to our friends!" Lucy frowned.

"People are really worried about you," she explained, "Since you bit into Laxus' shoulder…." She shook her head.

"That Dragon's Eye is changing you!" Lucy said, "Its like its turning you into something monstrous!" Natsu listened to her explanation, before taking a breath, and putting his hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"I know you're worried," he said, "But trust me, you don't have to be. I've got complete control over it!"

"That didn't seem to be the case during the fight with Laxus!" Lucy said.

"That was one time," Natsu said.

"And what's preventing it from turning into two times, or three times, or a hundred times!" Lucy said, clenching her fist. Natsu frowned, as he walked back into the center.

"I'll show you what I can do, now!" he said, "I promise you I can control it!" He then held up his head, and the fire surged around him. Lucy instinctively took a step back.

"Eye of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu said, as the fire concentrated into his eye, and his Dragon's Eye lit up. He then held up his arms, summoned his wings, and took a fighting stance, and fire surged around him. Natsu, however twisted fire around using his hand, forming a small orb out of all that fire.

"See? I can do anything with these!" he said, smiling, holding up the orb.

"Isn't it uncomfortable to hold your fingers like that?" Lucy asked, noting the way two of Natsu's fingers bent back. Natsu looked at them briefly, before shrugging.

"Not really," he said, "Actually it feels pretty natural. But watch this!" Natsu then took to the air, beating his wings, still holding the fire orb, as he flew around briefly.

"That's really neat…," Lucy tried to say.

"I've even got a tail!" Natsu said, as he lashed his long fire tail, "It may be made out of fire, but it feels like its really there!" He then smiled broadly.

"Its like I'm really a dragon!" he said, as he flew around, "This power is… awesome!"

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, but Natsu was too focused on his flying to notice. He did a series of intricate tricks.

"You're so cool, Natsu!" Happy said.

"And now the finale!" Natsu said, as he hovered, and held up the fire orb.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled again, but it was too late, as Natsu threw it down. It created a massive explosion of fire. Lucy tired to move back, but she was too late.

She let out a pained cry, as the fire knocked back. Natsu froze, as he looked down, hearing Lucy's cry of pain.

"Lucy!" Happy cried, as he flew over to where Lucy was lying. Lucy was holding on to her arm, sniffling. Her left arm had been burned.

"Lucy!" Natsu said, as he landed, and tired to move over to where Lucy was lying. However, he stopped, when Happy looked at him. His beloved companion, looked… scared.

"Natsu," Happy said slowly, "Ar you… dangerous?"

"No! I… But… Lucy…," Natsu struggled to find the words, before opening his fire wings, and flapping away.

"Natsu!" Happy called, going to go after him, but then he remembered Lucy. So deciding to prioritize, Happy picked up Lucy, and flew her back to the guild, as Natsu flew into the mountains.

Note: Oh dear. Natsu getting overzealous with his power could be expected, but hurting Lucy? Needless to say, this is going to cause some conflict with Natsu, something I'm looking forward to writing for next chapter.

Wasn't anticipating updating this quickly, but I was on such a roll, I couldn't resist. Sorry this chapter wasn't as long as the others, but I thought this was an appropriate place to cut off.

I am aware that this is similar to Aang and Katara from "Avatar", but it was so good, I had to give it a go.