For the next few weeks things were getting…..strange. Natsu was behaving rather abnormally and that is saying something. It started off with him spacing out and talking to himself as if he is answering out loud questions in his head. Then it progressed to him getting angrier than usual. Now it has moved onto him being even more aggressive and trying to distance himself from us. I had moved out a few weeks ago to get away from the aggression but all of us have tried to talk some sort of sense into him. I really don't know what is wrong with him. Even the dragon slayers are starting to get really concerned. I'm currently talking to Lucy, Gajeel and Levy to see if there was a logical explanation in a book somewhere.
"I'm sorry Nozomi-chan but there is nothing in the books that I have read to tell you what is wrong with Natsu." Levy answers.
I am fully at a loss now. "There is one thing I haven't thought of" I suggest
I turn to Gajeel "Gajeel. With dragon slayers, do you all have some sort of….." How do I put this right? "…emotions when you grow up?"
Gajeel laughs "You mean when he hits puberty? Nah. Dragon slayers don't do that. But once they hit maturity that is when mating season occurs."
Levy, Lucy and I look at Gajeel "Mating season?" Lucy asks
Gajeel nods his head. "Natsu is about that age where he would be reaching maturity. If we all didn't have the 7 year skip then he would have hit maturity and probably found his mate by now. It will probably be bunny-girl when he does, but he not showing signs of being in mating season yet." Lucy goes bright crimson with the mention of his nickname for her.
"Uh..uh…uh…I.." Lucy says speechless.
Levy swallows a lump in her throat trying to change the clearly awkward subject. "H..how do you know that the person is going through the mating season?"
Gajeel turns to Levy "The dragon slayer becomes even more protective of the person that they desire as their mate. So much so even that slayers have been known to attack someone if they are just LOOKING at their desired mate. They will be with them constantly trying to being all lovey and shit trying to snatch a kiss or maybe more with their desired mate. The only way for it all to stop would be for the slayer to place a mark on their person once they have verbally agreed to be their mate."
Levy goes bright pink while Lucy and I turn to look at Gajeel. Thinking about it I've never seen Levy without Gajeel or Jet or Droy at her side. Lately it has been mainly Gajeel like he has almost scared the others off. I manage to catch Levy's eye and give her a wink of encouragement. She returns my wink with a small smile.
I thought I would try and stir the pot a bit making Levy blush bright red! "So…have you gone through that yet?"
Gajeel looks taken aback as I ask the question. I hope I haven't taken it too far. "I'm old enough to be going through the mating season but I'm not showing a lot of the signs yet. It only really kicks in during one time of year and we still have time to go before that."
I just nod my head. "Okay so for Natsu it's definitely not a dragon slayer thing that is causing his sudden anger. I just don't get why he is distancing himself from everyone. It's just not like him."
"I agree" Lucy says "The Natsu I know would be trying to break into my window of my apartment every five minutes! I haven't seen him in my apartment for weeks!"
"Wait what?" I ask shocked.
Lucy stutters. "I…I…I thought you knew. Natsu likes to sneak into my apartment mainly through one of my windows. I used to keep them locked but he would always sneak in somehow so I just leave one open now for him to come in. For some reason he doesn't like walking through a door at all."
Gajeel laughs "That sounds like Salamander alright."
"No I didn't know" I answer back ignoring Gajeels quip. "Wow. Aren't you worried that it won't be Natsu crawling through your window at night?"
Lucy smiles "No. He always announces that he is there so I am not fussed. It's quite nice now I've gotten used to it. I think of it as my way of thinking that he cares about me."
I smile back. I like that idea.
"So what is it that is causing Natsu to have those mood swings?" Levy ponders with her finger on her chin to show that she is thinking.
"I don't know but I'm going to go see him again to see if he has snapped out of it a little" I answer
"I'll come with you" Lucy suggests so we both make our way up to Natsu and Happy's house. Poor Happy I have no idea how he is managing to live with Natsu half of the time. To be honest he has spent a lot of time with Charles and Wendy recently. I guess that it is getting to him too.
We both approach the house to shouting and screaming. We both look at each other with concern and race towards the house. When we reached the door, Lucy grabbed one of her keys ready to fight while I put myself into a fighting stance. We listen again to more of the shouting to see if we can work out what we are dealing with.
"Why are you still here! Get out of my head!...You're wrong!...I don't care!...Yes Master…No you're not Gramps! What am I saying? Why are you doing this to me…Yes Master." It was like listening to some who had gone crazy! He was having a conversation with himself! Since when did he call anyone else Master except from Master Makarov? Even then he calls him Gii-chan! Something really isn't right here. Before we knew it we heard screaming coming from inside Natsu's house! We didn't waste anymore time. We ran straight into the house busting the door down to find Natsu doubled over in agony clutching at his head. Lucy ran straight to his side clutching him in a restrained hug trying to calm him down. She looked straight up at me.
"Go get Wendy. I'll be okay here I have my spirits with me. Go!" She shouts and I don't need telling twice. I bolt it to the guild and find Wendy in under thirty seconds.
"What's wrong?" She asks
"I don't know. Natsu is doubled over in pain and before that we heard him talking to himself calling someone else Master in his head! It was so confusing!" I sob trying to keep myself together and not doing a great job at it. Gray is suddenly at my side and pulls me in for a hug.
"Don't worry Nozomi. Where is he?" He asks.
"At his house. Follow me" I say knowing full well that Gray would not sit out of this.
"I'm coming too." Erza insists "We are all part of the same team, we need to know that he is okay" I nod and we run as fast as we can to Natsu's house.
When we arrive it is quiet….too quiet. Gray enters first and stops as soon as he enters the middle of the room. Erza, Wendy and I follow in and I stand there shocked. There is no one there. No lucy, No Natsu. Where are they?
"I swear, they were here!" I look down to point where Natsu was on the ground and there I see Lucy's keys sitting on a piece of paper. I pick them up and start to read it aloud since it is apparently addressed to me.
"Nozomi. I've been trying for years and it takes me to this to get you to join me. Why couldn't you be as compliant as your brother? Meet me in the main park in one hour."
I scream at the sudden realisation of what was going on and who the person is. I drop to my knees and scream bloody murder at the thoughts in my head. No no no no this can not be happening! Not Natsu! Anyone but Natsu. I promised him I would keep him from this! He would stay out of this as long as I protected him!
As I calmed down, my head in my hands covered in tears I feel a pat on my back. I look up to Gray Erza and Wendy looking me concerned. They know nothing of what is about to happen. They don't even need to ask. I know they will ask the question eventually.
"Natsu…..is gone!" I say sobbing once again.
"Where is he? What's happened" Erza demands
I manage to stifle my sobs long enough to tell them the one thing I hoped I wouldn't.
"Zeref has him"
So there you have it! What do you all think? What do you think is Nozomi's link to Zeref is? Also what do you think of my little hint of Nalu and Gale!
Happy Monday folks (Or as I call it 'Chapter upload day'! For those of you who follow me as an author, I upload three chapters every Monday - one from here, one from 'The Mages' and one from My Vampire Diaries story 'After The Fairy Tales'. Please check them out and let me know what you think if you haven't read them yet!
Thank you to all of you who read, comment, follow and favourite my stories! I really do appreciate the support!