Lucy awoke from her sleep, it was still dark out, and she could barely make out the steady breathing of the armored woman beside her, and for some odd reason, Gray was sleeping above the covers in nothing but his underpants. She could have sworn, even if she had gone to bed before him, she wasn't asleep when he came in fully clothed. Happy was nestled on her stomach, but for some reason she couldn't sleep. She wanted to. She wanted to go ahead, and snuggle against the blue fur of the cat, drifting into a comfortable sleep, but she couldn't. Maybe it was self-conscious that Erza or Gray would find out she was a witch by something she did in her sleep that she was unaware of.
It wasn't like they were against her or anything, they were escaping the same land for the same reasons, and Gray admitted to her that he wanted to take down the demon lord. She lightly lifted Happy off her stomach, and laid him on the wad of ripped clothes - Natsu's ripped clothes - and slipped out of the tent, stealthily, and quietly. She looked up at the sky, and enjoyed seeing the constellations formed. She could make out Orion's belt, and Plue's constellation the Canis Minor. She looked around in the sky to see if she could make out any of the other ones, hoping to some of the ones she needed to free. But to no avail.
She hung her head and walked over to where the fire had been, only to be startled by a large sleeping being by the ashes. A dragon, to be precise. Natsu. He was sleeping, and that scarf of his was still wrapped around his neck, though the cloak that she had begged him to wear was not. It was still in the pile of clothes she was surprised wolves hadn't gotten to, though considering Natsu was a literal dragon, it made sense, since they were on the top of the food chain. She made her way over to him, now knowing what the beast was.
"Hey, Natsu," she soothed, lifting a hand to run along the spikes on his neck, "why didn't you put the cloak on?"
Natsu's response was a puff of smoke coming from his nostrils, as he tucked his head further into the crescent shape his body was making. Seeing his sleeping form, and the fact that he could have scars, gave her a light idea, and tiptoed back to the tent to grab her bag. She pulled it out, and decided to sift through its contents away from awaking the two sleeping comrades of hers. She pulled out the small but sharp needle she'd use to stab into his flesh. She hesitantly hovered the needle above the scar on his neck.
"I can do this." she said to herself, as she positioned a bowl under where she attempted to poke a hole in. "I'm sorry, Natsu." my needle's gonna break, isn't it?"
She pressed the needle against the scarred scales, slipping the thin point between the scales, and pushed into it. She felt his scaled flesh give way, as she saw a small trickle of blood begin dipping out of where she put the needle. She lifted the bowl, observing the amount of blood that she had gotten, it wasn't enough. She sighed, as she rested on her hands, and looked up at the sky. How much blood would she need to get all of the beings back?
"Ouch, that hurts." she heard beside her, and glanced over to see Natsu, in his human form, his scarf, thankfully had fallen from his neck, resting in his lap as he sat up, wings stretching.
"Natsu!" she exclaimed, before noticing his hand reach up to his neck, "Wait!" she called, but it was too late. His blood started trickling down his neck even more, and he stared at his hand in surprise, red liquid dotting his soft palm.
"Why am I bleeding?" he asked her, his wild eyes looking over from his hand to her. She had one hand outstretched, and she was staring at his wing. He subconsciously folded his wings behind him, but her gaze didn't move, "It's just blood-" he began, but was cut off by her sudden approach to him, pushing his hand down.
"No, no, no, no!" she stated, one hand pushing his head away from her as her other held his arm down to prevent him from moving. She was staring at his neck.
"I'll heal, it's not a big deal," he stated, annoyed, though he didn't move his head upright, and let her send shots of stretched muscle pain down his neck. That didn't make sense to him, since he stretches his neck all the time to get the cramps out of it.
"It's not that," she said, before removing her hand from his arm, to caress his neck, "It's gone!"
Having enough of his ear touching his shoulder, he pushed it upright, and turned to face her, "What's gone?" he asked, "there's blood right here if you're so eager for that."
Her eyes were still trained to his neck, "No, it's not that," she stated, before pushing his jaw up, "How deep do your scales go? How long does it take for your scales to heal a wound?"
"I don't know," he answered, pain shooting up his neck as it was pushed back further than capable, his teeth brushing together as he spoke.
"Well tell them to stop healing!" she exclaimed, which caused her to be flung off him as she turned his whole body to face her.
"Stop healing!" he exclaimed, "I can't tell my body to stop healing! If I could, I'd die!"
"Then how am I supposed to get it out?" Lucy asked, gesturing with a palmed hand to his neck.
Subconsciously he grabbed his neck, "What do you wanna get out anyway? If you want blood, there's some already over…" his voice trailed off as his gaze transfixed to a bowl beside where he had been laying. The mark of his dragon body was still evident in the grass.
She followed his gaze and grabbed his face to turn to her, "Look, I just need to get it out, then you can go back to sleep."
"Why am I bleeding Luce?" he asked, ignoring her hands on his face and her question.
"Just lay down, and I'll get it out of your neck, no problem." she stated.
"Why is there my blood in a bowl, Lucy?" he asked, ignoring her.
She slightly flinched on hearing him use her actual name, "Numbing your neck should do the trick, right?" she asked herself, as she began pulling away from him.
"Lucy!" he exclaimed, and she froze, she heard the rustling of people moving from the tent, and she focused her gaze to the ground, not wanting to look into the dragon's onyx eyes, "Answer my question! Why the hell is my fucking blood in the bowl you brought?"
Lucy saw the moonlit shadow of a woman and a man, the cat was probably still sleeping, but she kept her gaze away from the pink haired dragon boy holding onto her wrists as she was incapable of freeing them. She could feel his heat radiating through her body, and emitting off him, it would feel nice in different circumstances, but now it just added onto how guilty she felt. The poor dragon didn't deserve to get his blood drained, just because he was a dragon, and she needed it. She needed the blood. She brought her eyes to meet his, and immediately regretted it.
Sure, his eyes were angry, but for some reason, she saw a look of betrayal in them, and the guilt just piled up. She was a witch. She couldn't reveal herself to these two companions behind her, that'd spell doom for her, and they'd probably take Natsu with them. She couldn't allow that, "I…" she dropped her eyes from his, and looked at the scar tissue on his neck, where her needle had been slammed in, "I needed it."
"You and your crazy blood-loving antics," Natsu sighed, "should I be concerned for my life?" he didn't sound funny. Had he said this same thing back at her home, with that stubborn smile on his face, she would have smiled, annoyed, before telling him not to worry. That he was safe with her. He was safe with her. The irony of the words. So far the only times he's been harmed were because of her.
"Natsu, let me explain, I…" she began, but the dragon let go of her hands, and placed his on the ground.
His eyes dropped, before a few red scales began to form on his face, "It might have gone better for you, had you asked." he said, and she grabbed at his neck to get her needle out, but red scales were already forming around the scar. He shifted under her touch, away from her. "I need to stretch my wings," he said, before he transformed into a full dragon before her. Just as he was when she had snuck out of the tent. He pushed himself off the ground, the scarf falling around a blue cat that began running up to him. Lucy was blown back by the force of his wing beat.
"A child." Erza spoke, as the blond elf stared up at the sky, the dragon disappeared in the dark of the night.
Gray squated next to her, "What does an elf need with a dragon's blood?"
She glanced over at him, before scooping up Happy, still wrapped in the white scaled scarf, "Nothing." she made her way back into the tent, upset.
Curling herself into a ball around the blue cat, her hair sprawled around her, she closed her eyes tight, hoping, wishing, that what just happened didn't just happen. The wind collided with the side of the tent, and she could hear the muffled voices of Erza and Gray. "A child." Erza's words repeated in her head, "he looks like an innocent child." Her voice was soothing, yet so harsh. "Never met a dragon before?" Natsu's smirking face appeared on her mind, "Turn into one? I didn't turn into one!" She closed her eyes tighter, and curled more around the furball of a cat. Natsu was a dragon. He admitted it himself. He's proud of being a dragon, it's all over his dumb face. So why did she suddenly feel like he wasn't one?
Why was it that when he stared into her eyes asking about the bowl of his blood, she didn't feel like she was extracting blood from an animal. He was an animal. He was a dragon. Dragons were, are, animals. They weren't humans. They were not humans. And yet, this dragon was. Natsu looked like a human, he acted like a human, he sounded like a human. He could understand the language, he laughed alongside her. Without the scales, horns, sharp teeth, narrowed eyes, and wings on his back, he was a human. "I want to be one." His words hit sharp along her mind, and she felt tears forming in her eyes. Why had she treated him like an animal?
His tender smile wasn't an animal's smile. His kind laugh, wasn't an animal's. His caring eyes were not an animal's. His embarrassed face was not an animal's. His broken heart was not an animal's. She felt the warmth of the blue cat scurry out of her grip. Why did she always have to send the poor dragon away? Everyone left her. No one was around there for her, right? She rolled onto her back, and stared, glossy eyed at the fabric of the tent. Her hands relaxed at her sides, since she had no strength to wipe her tears with them. Was he coming back?
"Hey, Lucy," Erza's voice cut through her thoughts, and the flap to the tent was pushed aside by an armored hand, "Can I talk to you about something?"
Lucy's eyes darted up to the red haired woman, who stared down at her, as if waiting for permission to enter her own tent. Lucy curled her knees to her chest as she sat up, allowing the woman to come and sit down. The armor clanked as Erza made herself comfortable. The blonde, however was not, she was anxious. Now that Natsu was gone, did they need her anymore? Heck, they probably were going to kick her out anyway, now that they could just use Natsu, knowing he wasn't her pet. Was she going to talk about the blood? Was she going to question her about being a witch?
"Lucy, about the dragon's blood…" Erza began.
There it was, she was doomed, "Yeah?" she squeaked out.
"How'd you get it out of him?"
"A needle," Lucy answered, no point denying it, "Why?"
"Do you have the needle?"
"No, he slammed it into his neck when he woke up." Lucy stated, trying to defend herself.
"The needle you used to get his blood is in his neck?" Erza repeated.
"Yes," Lucy answered, "What is the point of this, I feel bad enough as it is…"
"Yeah, I get that," Erza sighed, "but when we couldn't find what was used to get the blood, we were curious on what was used, and where it was." she brought her eyes into a serious glare that sent shivers down Lucy's spine, "Do you think it's healthy for Natsu to have a needle in his neck?"
"He'll heal himself," Lucy sighed, turning her attention away from the scarlet haired woman.
"But will the needle disappear?" Erza asked, "Or will he just close up the wound?"
Lucy's eyes went wide, she knew about this. She was scared of it, too, but she had been more concerned about her needle, and now it was stuck in a dragon's neck. Natsu had turned into a dragon with a needle in his neck. If the needle had just been under the surface of his skin, there was no way of knowing where it was now. How were they going to get it out, when he returned? What would happen if they didn't get it out? What if he didn't return, so they couldn't get the needle out.
"How am I supposed to get the thing out of his neck?" Lucy mumbled.
"Maybe his body temperature is hot enough that he's able to melt the needle into oblivion."
Lucy glanced over at the woman, was she crazy? The metal would still be in Natsu's body even if he were able to melt it. But melting it would mean it would be more difficult to get out of his neck, and that would cause them more harm than good. She sighed, and collapsed onto her mat again. Her knees still bent, as her hands rested by her ears, "And if Natsu doesn't come back?"
Erza sighed, "I don't know. He'd be quite the idiot if he didn't come back though."
"I wouldn't blame him," Lucy said, "He'd been living on his own for seven years, save Happy."
"How has he not gotten caught?" Gray's voice sounded as the flap of the tent opened.
Lucy glanced up at him, before staring back up at the point of the tent, "Happy tells him to cover up, apparently."
"Happy?" Gray repeated, "The cat?"
"Yes." Lucy answered, and waited for another insult, but Gray just lay down on his mat, and closed his eyes to sleep. "Aren't we going to look for him?"
"Be my guest," Gray stated, "The guy can fly. He can cover more ground than we can in just a matter of seconds…"
"Why don't we just ride him, then?" Erza asked.
"He's a dragon." Lucy stated, sternly, before complying to Gray's statement, and pulling the blanket over herself, so she could sleep. She faintly noticed the blue fur sitting patiently at the opening, just outside the tent. His tail was still swaying inside. Waiting. He was waiting for Natsu to come back, again. And it was her fault he was gone, again. He's not coming back, Happy, I scared him off. I messed up. I broke that trust he had in me. She thought to herself as she closed her eyes.