I'm so glad to see that a lot of you enjoyed my first chapter. Please R&R and I shall see you at the bottom of the page.
POV: Natsu
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or the idea of this story. I'm just the writer.
A story for a friend by a friend.
I don't know how much time passes while we're sleeping, but when we finally wake up the lighting in the room had dimmed and the sky outside our window has started taking an orange hue. I keep my hold on Lucy for a few more minutes before she moves to stand up and I unwillingly let her go and watch her return to her seat, but instead of sitting down she picks up her things and places them back where they belong.
My eyes watch her every movement wanting nothing more than to catch every last detail. She sometimes gets annoyed when I stare at her too long but right now it doesn't seem that she minds all that much. She even throws a few side glances my way and smiles as if she knows a secret that I don't know. It's a look she's always given me when she's in a good mood and I can't help but sigh in relief that the tension from earlier is completely gone.
At least for now.
Once Lucy leaves the room I pick up my guitar again and surely enough I am able to finish the song I had been stuck on for quite some time. It's almost as if sleeping with her in my arms was inspiration enough to allow me to finish with my latest masterpiece.
The only disheartening thing about me writing this song is that no one, other than Lucy and a handful of people, will even want to listen to it. The reason is mostly that nowadays music is simply a bunch of random tunes that can last minutes on end. Music now has no rhythm, any actual tempos, much less a constant beat. All you really hear are sounds that sound like screeching cats or dying animals or even a beginner trying to play the violin. It's that bad.
And to think I survived techno music. At least that had more life than the music now.
Sighing, I put my guitar away again along with my worn out sheet music, something that is very hard to come by nowadays. Once my guitar is locked up in its case and my sheet music stuffed in a full folder I quickly make my way towards the door to go down towards the kitchen where Lucy is probably making dinner. I can actually already smell the food through the closed door. Centuries of cooking have made her one of the best cooks in the entire universe.
Feeling my stomach rumble with hunger, I head down the stairs towards the first floor while admiring the photographs that litter the wall to my right. With every picture I see I can't help but reminisce in the past like an old man usually does, even though I am technically an old man even when I don't necessarily look like one. Truth be told that I don't even know my proper age.
As I continue to jump from picture to picture, my eyes land on a photograph of a group of people that are as familiar as the bright blue sky. I can feel my heart throb a bit from the image, which was taken around the eighteenth century during the Industrial Revolution, and I can't help but recognize my lifelong friends.
"Hey Lucy," I call from where I'm still standing on the steps of the stairs while reaching up and taking down the picture from the wall.
"Yes," I hear her ask from the kitchen not that far away, the sounds of pots and pans clinking once in a while along with the sound of something sizzling.
It's funny to hear such noises because not too many years ago an invention was made to make cooking easier. All you had to do was buy a machine and pop a few small packages inside and within a few minutes a full course meal covered your plate. Lucy had bought the contraption when it was first being sold, but the food had been so flavorless that she sold the machine to a neighbor. She hasn't stopped making home cooked meals since then even when ingredients can sometimes be hard to come by. It also wasn't easy finding and fixing her a stove that I scavenged up and repaired. If we would ever have guests that didn't know us all that well they'd probably think that we were strange. It wouldn't be the first time though.
Climbing down the last steps with the picture in hand, I ask, "How do you think the others are doing."
I walk through the dining room into the kitchen to find my wife busily chopping up a few vegetables before dumping them into one of the pots. She looks up at me upon my question and her eyes land on the picture held in my hands. A soft smile spreads across her delicate face as she turns back around to stir the contents in one of the pots, "I'm sure they're all fine," she whispers before covering the pot with a chipped glass lid, "I spoke with Erza only a month ago," she continues while watching the stew boil a bit, "She said something about her and Jellal going off towards a new nearby planet that has just recently been discovered. They've gone with a few specialists to see if the planet is habitable." Even though she's smiling while saying this I can't help but notice the small sad glint of sadness within her eyes, "We won't be hearing from them for a while now, but I'm sure they'll be fine," she whispers more to herself than to me.
Nodding, I look back down at the faded picture of the four couples who are looking back at me and I can feel the traces of a soft smile spreading across my face. They're all so familiar that I can describe just about every single detail of all eight people situated around the middle of the picture along with their eighteenth century attire.
The farthest couple to the right is the very couple Lucy had just been talking about. Although the picture doesn't show it, the woman has long fiery red hair, which is tied up and hidden beneath her hat, and her pierced brown eyes show the ferocity this woman holds within her. Next to her is her husband Jellal, with his wild blue hair tucked neatly under his own cap and his arm wrapped carelessly around his wife's waist. Dark brown eyes gleam with happiness through the single red tattoo that marks the right side of his face.
Besides them sits both Levy and her partner Gajeel Redfox. Gajeel, always the bigger of us four males, has his large arm wrapped around his tiny partner's shoulders seeming about ready to crush her with his brute strength. Gajeel would never lay a finger on Levy in any way that would hurt her. He loves her far too much to cause her any harm, physically or emotionally. In fact, Gajeel can get very overprotective when it comes to his partner who also isn't afraid to get into a fight, no matter how petite and quiet she is. They complete each other and anyone with eyes can see that.
Next to them are the two people I have known as long as I've known Lucy. They were the first humans Lucy and I had ever encountered and we've always been traveling with each other along with the others. They are two of my favorite people and also as much of an odd couple as Levy and Gajeel. The male, who has uncombed back raven hair and midnight blue eyes that always look tired and bored, stands to the far left with his hand interlocked with his wife's. Juvia, with the cornflower blue hair, impassive cobalt eyes, and porcelain skin, stands to her husband's left with a small rare smile playing on her lips while Gray has almost a grimace for having to take a picture.
Looking back at Gray, I think back to the times we used to argue. I have a strained history with the raven haired male that dates back as far as I can remember which is really far back. We would tend to argue about any little thing and at times we would even get into heavy fist fights. There were times where we would hurt each other so bad we were both bed ridden, but that never stopped us from being friends. In a way I think it brought us closer together, even though we still argue considerably when we're sitting in the same room.
Finally my eyes land on the last couple situated near the middle of the three couples stands a male with spiky salmon hair and a woman with hair as golden as the sun. Lucy is giving her warmest smile, the one that has butterflies fluttering in my stomach and leaves me dumbstruck every time I see it. I, on the other hand, give my grim smile that shows how much I don't want to be there, just like Gray. I hardly ever liked taking pictures back then and after millennia the notion still has yet to fade. Even through my displeasure in the current activity, it still doesn't stop me from wrapping my arms around Lucy's waist and resting my chin on her shoulder while I waited for the picture to be taken.
Sighing, I place the picture down on the small breakfast table near the back of the room as I take my seat. I cross my arms on the table and lean my head onto my makeshift pillow as I stare at the picture. I begin to remember the events that had happened around that time and it all comes pouring back to me like an old film playing on the big screen.
The picture had been taken moments after we had gotten off of a ship that had landed in a small, barely even known, town named Hargeon. At the time we had no idea that years later Hargeon would become a boomtown and one of the most thriving cities in all of Fiore other than the royal city of Crocus. At the time we had been explorers and the eight of us traveled far and wide in search for new destinations to explore.
Fiore at the time had barely been discovered a decade or so before we had arrived to Hargeon and even though it was new it was quickly becoming populated with travelers from the neighboring countries who were more than eager to start their own settlements. It became a go to spot with wonderful climate, fertile land, and gold mines near its north-west coast. It became the last official country within the Elementorum Regione and in no time at all became the second most successful country right after Pergrande Kingdom. Even to this day, hundreds of years later, it is still the second best country in possible the whole world.
Hargeon, which was named after the first founding family who owned, and still owns, the port town was well known for its amazing fishing spots. The rare delicacies fished out from Hargeon's waters were what had brought our attention to the small town in the first place. Upon our arrival Lucy had insisted for us all to take a picture. Of course all the other women had agreed while us males complained, but eventually, as per usual, we gave in to our wives commands.
Looking up at Lucy, I take one last glance at the picture before sitting up and looking around the decently sized kitchen. I take in the various decorations Lucy has hanged up and placed around which make the room look almost as if we were living back in the late twentieth century. It looks old fashioned with its peeling floral wallpaper and ivory linoleum floors that got a bit too slippery when you walked on it with socks. It feels like home, but looking at it now I know that this place is starting to get to its endpoint and in no time soon we'd be having to move on to a new home and don new identities.
Our neighbors have started suspecting about our aging, or more like non-aging, pattern. I've already been getting a few strange looks from a few of our neighbors and just the other day a regular client of mine mentioned on how young I always looked even though I should be reaching 'the end of my thirties' by now, "You never seem to age over twenty, do you?" He had asked to which I answered, "Guess I'm just lucky," with a light shrug and a friendly smile before getting back to work.
The sound of a plate being set before me has me brings me back to reality as Lucy takes the picture off of the table and places it on the nearby island. She then brings over her own plate and sits across from me whispering a soft, "Thanks," before beginning to eat meal.
It's been years since we last said grace before a meal, it just didn't seem important to us after a while. It mostly has to do with the fact that we're one of the first humans ever to be created and we've lived endless unchanging lives for millennia just watching our descendants grown and prosper on its own. We've watched them create gods and sages making religions who each hold their own rules, values, and customs. Every time a new religion came up we would learn about it and wonder whether that 'God' was the one who created us or if we were just simply created with no reason or real purpose. So many millennia I've lived and I have yet to discover where we came from.
"Hey Luce," I ask after swallowing a few spoonfuls of food and thinking hard about what I want to say next. Her large doe eyes look up staring at me with a curious wonder as she gives me her full attention, "I think it's about time we start looking for a new place."
Instantly her nose scrunches up as she asks, "Already?" sounding a bit whiny as I nod causing her to groan in annoyance, "But we just got here," she argues sounding almost like a little kid who doesn't want to leave the playground just yet.
"Yeah, like, twenty years ago," I mutter before shoveling a fork full of food into my mouth. She hangs her head with a heavy sigh before looking back up at me, a small pout adorning her lips, as she stares at me with sad eyes. She then eats a few more forkfuls with less enthusiasm than before while continuing to pout like a small child, "Where would you like to go this time," I then ask not really caring where to go since we've lived throughout most of Earthland.
Lucy thinks about it for a few seconds as she slowly chews her food and her eyes wander over my head, probably looking at another picture from another era. Her eyes finally stop somewhere behind me and she blinks three times before swallowing her food and asks, "What about Pergrande Kingdom?" My fork full of food stops halfway up towards my mouth as I feel myself freeze all over and my heart drop so fast I almost lose my breath, "I hear Levy and Gajeel are currently living there. They just moved there about two years ago. Wouldn't it be nice if we could be neighbors with them again?"
"No," I blurt out in the coldest voice I have as I slowly lower my fork back down onto my plate. Lucy looks at me surprised from my brusque answer, but I keep my eyes on my food that look very much unpleasant to me. I clutch my fork with all my strength as my hand shakes furiously as images I've suppressed come swimming through my head, "We're not going back to Pergrande Kingdom. Never again. Not after… what happened." I state in slow angry words as I try to keep my temper under control.
We just reconciled with each other. Why did she have to suggest that God forsaken place out of all places on this planet? I mentally stab myself for even letting her choose where we would be moving to next. I should have kept my mouth shut.
"Oh Natsu," I look up to find Lucy's face twisted in a pained expression and I can tell that she's trying to hold back tears, "That was such a long time ago," she whispers, her words barely audible, and I can't believe she would say such a thing.
Slamming my hands on the table, practically splintering the wood, I stand up and stare her in the eye feeling red boiling rage surge through me, "I don't care," I seethe while trying so hard not to yell, "I'd rather be stabbed and killed a thousand times over than to ever go back to that damned country," I growl, my hands curling into fists around the table's edge.
Lucy's fearful eyes stare unblinking at me as a few tears escape her eyes and her frame shakes from either fear, anger, or both.
"But…"
"I SAID NO AND THAT'S THE END OF THIS DISCUSSION," I finally snap causing her to jump, "Pick anywhere on this planet, hell, anywhere in this universe, but not Pergrande Kingdom. That place has been wiped off of our map for a reason Luce, so don't you ever suggest it again," and with that I leave the room in a furious storm leaving my wife alone with an emotional destruction.
How long will it be until we start talking to each other again?
{We don't have to fight anymore. Where is the love we had before? Wouldn't the world be better off if we decide?}
- The Love We Had Before - Firelight
This was a sweet chapter, I think, with an intense ending. I wonder why Natsu doesn't want to go to Pergrande Kingdom even though he mentioned that it is the number one country in the world, or more like region. I guess if you all want to know more you must continue reading.
On another note, none of the landmarks are of my own creation. I did research and found a map based on the countries that surround Fiore within the Elementorum Regione, which was written on the map. Now I'm not sure if it's a fan based map or if Mashima really made this map, but I'm using it as a reference. I will also be using a few realistic historical dates and intertwining them with Fairy Tail to get the historic side of this story.
So starting next chapter we will be delving into Natsu's past so I hope you're all as excited as I am.
Also, I'm not yet all that sure how my updating schedule will be. So far I will be updating every Tuesday along with my other story Setting the Stars on Fire but I guess if I keep getting lots of reviews, follows, and favorites and if I have enough time I'll start updating every four days so you don't have to wait a whole week for a chapter.
I guess we'll see...
Shout Outs
Great amazing thanks to my first Fantastic Favorites...
- Kawaii - Turtles
- Splendora Lopez
- Sasusakulslovelyy
To my first Fabulous Followers...
- Kawaii - Turtles
- Splendora Lopez
- its - somethingblue
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- EddingsFan
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And to my first Fantabulous Reviewer...
- Spendora Lopez = I'll try my best to keep the both of us alive, but trust me when I say that I'm already tearing up and we're barely on the second chapter.
Well that's all the shout outs for this week.