"They are not here, my Lord," a demon hissed, bowing to his master.

Behind him, the small village burned. There were no survivors. He glanced to Henre's body, "That is where they stayed."

The demon lord nodded, "They haven't gotten far." His voice was low, making the other demons around him cringe, "Sniff them out. Stalk them down. I want them alive. Well, I don't care about the fire wizard, but the Celestial wizard needs to be alive."

"The fire wizard," the demon said, bowing low, "He was END, Master."

"I know," the demon lord said, smiling slightly, "And they think END is gone, so he is not a threat to us."

Natsu and Lucy were camped off the road. They didn't dare make a fire, so they were huddled together under a flimsy blanket. Thankfully, they didn't need much more due to Natsu's natural heat. The seasons were turning. Winter was fast approaching. They were high in the mountains again, so the cold was getting to Lucy rather quickly.

"Are you scared?" Natsu asked, nuzzling her neck when she shivered.

"Kind of," she admitted, "I don't like feeling followed. We don't even know why this egg is so important."

He was laying on his side, one leg and arm thrown across Lucy's body to keep her warm. Her body was still shaking from the cold regardless. During the day, movement kept the chill from getting her. Night was a different story.

"I haven't even seen it yet," He realized, "The egg I mean."

She sighed, "You're not missing much. It's not bright or spectacular. It's not even polished or anything. It's not really something that would normally catch your eye. I don't feel any magic coming off of it at all. I feel sorry for whatever spirit has had to live in it."

"Feeling warmer?" he asked, pulling her further into his chest.

"A bit," she wrapped her arms around his waist, "Natsu? What you said back at Henre's house...I really would be lost without you. You know that, right?"

She was thankful for her companion...her saviour in so many situations. He was her best friend, her protector, and her greatest ally. He never wavered in his position by her side.

He smiled, eskimo kissing her. His emotions were flooding him too. Lucy. Gorgeous, sweet Lucy. His best friend and companion. "Do you know what? I tease you, but I'd be really lost without you too. I don't think you understand how amazing you are. You are literally everything to me."

They were inches apart, their noses pressed together. Natsu sighed, emotions flurrying through his blood as the age-old argument pushed its' way to the surface. He'd argued with himself multiple times over the years, pushing off his feelings for her.

"When this is over..." he said quietly, daring himself to finish the sentence. The words always failed him.

"What?"

Shifting his position so that her back was on the ground, he brushed her lips lightly with his, shocking her to her core. They'd always been close and she knew how she felt about him, but he never got so bold as to kiss her. She didn't pull away, but gave in to the slight kiss.

"I want to date you," he whispered, "There's nothing special about me. I can't offer you more than a loyal companion and maybe my rickety old house, but I can't deny how important you are to me anymore either…how important you've always been. Maybe it's time to be honest about it."

He kissed her again, this time a little deeper and harder. She melted into the kiss, encouraging him by lifting her head slightly.

"I think I'm in love with you," he admitted, looking into her eyes softly, "Okay…I know I'm in love with you. And I have been for a long time now. People think I'm kinda dumb at these things. And they're right. I didn't know how to tell you."

"Lucy..." his eyes met hers, suddenly burning with fire from pent up frustration of their situation. They were both aware of the gravity of it. Demons were likely hunting them right this minute. They hadn't talked to their guild in over a week. And they didn't know if Gray and Erza were dead or alive. They were in the middle of nowhere with dwindling supplies. It was a bad predicament and an even worse time to be confessing to her, "You don't have to say anything now. We'll talk about it when we get home."

Lucy was thinking deeply as he turned again to lie down, holding her against her chest. Her mind reeled with his confession. She knew she loved him for a long time as well, and she found it almost comical that they'd been so oblivious to each other, despite the constant teasing from the rest of the guild. She did love him. Every happy memory she'd had since joining Fairy Tail was associated with her own, personal dragon slayer.

"Natsu," she said quietly. Her head was tucked under his chin. Her body rested on his chest under the flimsy blanket they shared, "I love you too."

He tilted her chin up so she was looking at him, "Really?"

"Yeah," she said softly, pulling away from him to look off into the distance as she felt her emotions well up inside her, "And I'm scared shitless right now," she admitted, "I'm scared of our friendship changing. I'm scared we're not going to get out of this," her eyes filled with tears, "I'm scared we're never going have the chance to be together because demons are going to hunt us down and kill us before we even have a chance to talk about it again," a sob racked her body and she sat up so she was facing away from him, "So I'm glad you confessed to me. I love you too, Natsu Dragneel. And I'm sorry it took us so long to admit it to each other. I wanted more time…I'm so scared we're not going to get it."

He turned her around, wrapping her in his arms, kissing her to silence, "Why are you talking like that?" he demanded, "You're talking like something bad is going to happen! Dammit Lucy, we're going to get all the time we need. We'll have the rest of our lives to spend time together! Have we ever not made it out of a situation?" He wiped her tears with his fingers.

"I just have a very bad feeling," she admitted, "And I don't think we should wait."

"Shouldn't wait?" he asked slowly.

She leaned forward and kissed him hard, cupping his cheeks, pressing her body against his and she used her weight to push him back down the ground.

"Oh," Natsu said, his face flushing, "Luce, are you sure about this?"

She nodded, taking a deep breath, "What if this is the only time we'll have to be together?"

"We'll have lots of time…" Natsu started, his voice trailing off as he looked at her panicked expression. Something about it alarmed him

"If we do have lots of time, great. But I would rather have one night with you tonight than spend the rest of eternity regretting not being with you tonight."

Something about the way she stated her last sentence struck him. She leaned forward and he gave himself into the kiss.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Me too," she replied.

After that, no more words were spoken for the remainder of the night as they sunk to the ground to prove their love together.

I received a review stating that the previous love scene was inconsistent with the story…and I agree! It's not my usual "thing" to write explicit love scenes in. In this case, I decided to include it because I'm trying to establish the deep bond that already existed between Natsu and Lucy, enabling them to reach the next level. This will also provide the further angst for Chapter 13, as Natsu realizes Lucy was right in her assumption that it would be their only chance to express their love. What do you think? Thank you to the reader for that opinion. I had been wrestling with it myself and feel this way of expressing the scene is more consistent with the story. ~ShanaHollows