Chapter 6: Mating Mark
[Previously:]
"Happy, Lily—Sky Dragon Roar!"
Wendy's roar pushed us out of the way in time. The force of the wind made us let go of the girls as we got caught on a railing up in the ceiling. I felt dizzy.
I saw Lucy falling, reaching a weak paw out as if it would catch her. "Lushie," I mumbled, not being able to move… It was tiring to even lift a paw. Just before the two girls could hit the guild's floor, Natsu caught Lucy and Gajeel caught Levy. Everyone was either beaten up, unconscious, or tryin' to lift themselves up.
Laxus walked in a calm manner, kicking a guild member's hand from his ankle and picking up Mirajane. Turning to the other Dragon Slayers, nodding at them in a silent communication—Then they were gone, running out the guild at an inhuman speed. I weakly called for Lucy, then it went dark.
(Natsu POV.)
Laxus, Gajeel, and I were running throughout the streets of Magnolia. The sun was barely painting the sky, so no one was on the streets at this time just yet—I had no control of my body whatsoever, it felt like I was slowly losing it the more my inner dragon was in charge.
We ended up running into the forest Gramp's told us about, the girls still unconscious—Where are we even going anyways?
'Calm down human-side… Remember, I can feel your emotions as well.'
'Are we there yet?'
'No.'
I was getting pretty bored inside my mind since I couldn't exactly do anything… Lucy was right, there is nothing in here. Everything was calm and quiet, only being able to stop as trees passed in a blur or animals ran in fear.
Suddenly Laxus, since he was in front, stopped. The pause caused Gajeel to bump into him as I staggered in a stop, nearly colliding with Gajeel. We now stood in front of a dark cave; Magic felt inside.
'Are we there yet? It feels like we've been walking for hours,' I could feel my inner dragon's eye roll that had me wanting to scoff, 'Hey, don't think I didn't feel that!'
Shaking my head to get rid of the human's thoughts… My nose sniffed the area at the cave, lighting a fist on fire and holding Lucy close as I stalked through the darkness—Oooo if this was a big monster, I could show off my strength for Lucy. Then she'll want to be my mate forever knowing I'm strong enough to protect her! My plan had me almost grinning evilly, only to gasp when passing through an invisible force. A burst of energy flowing throughout my body.
In the darkness, each of our guild marks shined brightly in their own colours, showing the pathway. It was as if the Tenrou tree was here, replenishing our magic power and providing a sort of protection. Eyes narrowing, we continued along before coming across a clearing with a two-story house that felt magical. Tall trees surrounding the area, leaves providing a cover that if you squinted upward, you could barely see the sun—Honesty, the house appeared to be fusing with nature itself.
We all went inside; The girls were still asleep as they laid limp in our arms. Not bothering to explore, smelling in the house that no one was here… I rushed upstairs to see three doors. Although before we could take a step forward, each door started glitching like an illusion, a red light scanning the area that had us growling protectively, only to disappear just the same when catching sight of our guild marks—The door's changed their colors… The first turning into a dark red, the second to an army green, and finally the last melted into a dark purple.
I couldn't help but bounce in excitement, rushing to pick mine and Lucy's door first. My inner dragon immediately took a liking to the red door. The first thing I noticed was that it was bigger on the inside, walking around to see our own bathroom and walk-in closet. Grayish-green walls complemented the light gray carpet. There was a king-sized bed with fluffy pillows and salmon-colored sheets—It looked similar to Lucy's bed but giant! Next to the bed, there appeared a nightstand with a lamp on it… Although the most eye-catching of them all was the windows, that nearly took up the whole side of a wall. One where you'd be able to see the sunrise, moon, and stars in a small opening of the trees.
Gently, I set Lucy down on the bed furthest from the door. She immediately cuddled into the pillow that her head was resting on. I stalked on the bed with a dragon's grace, pulling her close—I knew what was next, what my inner dragon wanted and WAS about to do. Not being able to help myself, I sniffed every part of Lucy until finding a particular sweet spot between the nape of her neck and underneath her ear… Using a single hand to gently lift Lucy's head, I leaned over and licked the spot that earned a pleasured moan from Lucy's throat before inserting my sharp canines. A slight flinch was felt in her sleep, but Lucy's body responded to the mating mark as some of my magic poured into her. I kept still for a moment longer before finally releasing, licking the trail of blood from the bite as it started healing—Delicious and sweet.
I pulled the blankets over us, wrapping my arms around Lucy. As I found my way into the crook of her neck where my mark lay. I heard Lucy mumble my name in her sleep, a smile forming as I fell asleep peacefully with content that my mate was dreaming about me.
{Midnight}
(Lucy POV.)
Ugh… What the hell happened? Cracking an eye open, vision coming out blurry before they focused on the pink comforters around me. 'Am I home? Did I drink too much? No…' That doesn't explain my sore neck and throbbing head. I reached out to touch my head, wincing in pain before suddenly remembering about the dragon slayers. Quickly sitting up and looking around in panic.
'Wait, this isn't the guild or my home? Where am I—HOLD ON, where is Mira and Levy?! What if something—'
Suddenly a growl had me freezing in place, something warm and strong tightening around my body that felt familiar to an arm. Stiffening, I slowly turned to see none-other-than Natsu Dragneel, sleeping comfortably with drool forming as he snored a little too loud for my taste. The sight of him had all me glaring, about to deliver a good Lucy-kick to the face. Only for the fight to go out when seeing Natsu stir, sharp horns sticking out of his pink locks as scales showed upon his cheek. R-Right, it was best not to wake him, who knows what he'd do if I did. Wincing feeling a sharp pain, it felt like I got bitten.
'Mavis, what is that? My neck feels sore.'
Looking towards the window, I noticed the sun was up and probably around lunch time. Sighing, I glanced back to the sleeping Natsu as I gently untangled myself from his grasp, quickly putting a pillow in my place. He took the bait, starting to squeeze the pillow close instead. Smiling for being so brilliant, I quietly sneaked my way to a door that I assumed was the bathroom. Opening it, I flinched and cursed slightly when hearing the door squeak, looking to see if Natsu was still sleeping… He was. Letting out a breath of relief, I made my way towards the bathroom mirror.
Moving my blonde hair to the side, I leaned closer to the mirror and gasped with what I saw—There was a beautiful fire-dragon that was slightly curled up in the shape of an "S" wrapped around a golden key. It almost appeared like a tattoo from a distance, if you ignored the fact that it was entirely made out of dragon scales… The mark proudly displayed a ruby color, with a hint of pink as it trailed down to the tail. Hesitantly, my fingers brushed against the dragon only to feel a rush of emotions, memories of Natsu and I flashed before my eyes. The pure force of it all caused me to remove my hand, everything back to normal as a warm feeling spread throughout my body. Then I felt a familiar heat upon my right hand, it wasn't hurting but it did feel warmer than usual. Glancing down, I almost screamed to see my hand on fire. Automatically running around the bathroom like a maniac, waving both arms in the air and screaming inside my head to not wake Natsu.
'AHHHH! OH mavis, what do I do?! What should I do?! My hand is freakin' on fire, how is that even possible?'
I was scared, nothing seemed to put the fire out as I accidentally tripped, falling backward into the curtains and right in the tub… The curtains lit on fire as my hand tried to steady myself, accidentally turning the faucet on as cold water fell from the showerhead, drenching me entirely. Although the water put out the curtains, it did nothing for my hand.
'What the hell—'
"You'll find that quite impossible Luce."
I stopped panicking, glancing upward to see an annoyed Natsu… No, that wasn't right. He looked to be an annoyed dragon, his wild eyes narrowed and horns more seeable through his fluffy hair. There were blood-red wings now behind him, almost flexing wide to show dominance as a dragon tail thumped lightly—My eyes widened at the sight, I wasn't scared… Just shocked that this was my Natsu. The realization hit, the look on Natsu's face wasn't happy and it sent shivers down my spine. All he had to do was growl and my knees would've buckled if it wasn't for me already laying in the tub.
'Ah fuck. I made a dragon mad… Bad Lucy! Why did you have to do the pillow swap to try and trick him!'
Mind racing like crazy, I perked when remembering the book's advice. So I moved my wet blonde hair outta the way, showing off the mating mark to him. Natsu watched my actions, calming and returning to semi-normal… His wings folding back and tail disappearing in a burst of flames. Natsu walked over to me, turning off the shower and lifting me up until I was wrapped in his arms as he started nuzzling my neck… Wait, was he purring? 'Funny, I always thought dragon's only growled.'
Although reality hit me once more—My hand was still on FIRE! I started panicking again, not noticing Natsu chuckle as he warmed up my clothes (Gray always did say the only thing great about Natsu was that he was a human-dryer).
"It's okay Luce, don't worry so much. My fire will never hurt you—You just need to take a deep breath, calm your mind so it'll go out… In and out."
I did what Natsu said, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, 'Deep breath in, deep breath out… Calm down Lucy, everything's gonna be okay. I hope.' After a few more breathing exercises, the fire went out and Natsu gave me a smile seeing that I was finally relaxed. I couldn't help but smile back, only to change to curiosity before irritation as I raised an eyebrow.
"What was that? Why was my hand on fire, and how come I couldn't put it out? But most importantly… WHERE THE MAVIS ARE WE? What happened?!"
Natsu didn't appear fazed and if he was, the fire dragon slayer certainly didn't show it by the sudden interrogation. Only keeping his arms wrapped around me.
"You yell a lot… The reason you were on fire was because you are mine. Earlier, when you were sleeping, I marked you as my mate. That's where the tattoo came from, some of my magic went into you so now you can use a little bit of my power. That way if I'm not around, I'll always be there to protect you! My flames for you are something that can never go out, not even ice or water could extinguish them. It's okay that you're still not in control of them but you will overtime—As far as where we are… We're in Fairy Tail's safe house! I had to fight everybody at the guild to get to you, then I kidnapped you and brought you here."
Natsu gave me his usual goofy grin… I was shocked at what he said about the mating mark and magic, but then I was even more surprised at the fact we're in Fairy Tail's safe house. I didn't even know Fairy Tail HAD a safe house… and this baka makes it seem like it's a normal thing, going around kidnapping! Is Natsu's inner dragon really as dense as him too?!
Huffing, I tried to calm down before I did something I'd regret later only for Natsu to call me, "Lucy…" Snapping up with a glare, I froze seeing Natsu's serious expression. "Do you trust me?"
I was baffled at the question, eyes softening as all the fighting spirit went out of me as Natsu slowly led me back to the bed to rest some more—How could this idiot just ask a question like that to me?! "Always."
(Levy POV.)
'Ouch… My head and neck. What happened?'
Groaning, I shook my head to focus on my surroundings only to see I was in an unfamiliar bedroom. It didn't even look like any of the room's the girls had at Fairy Hills. I planned to get up until a loud snore had me shrieking in surprise. Turning around to see Gajeel asleep, his usual hard expression gone as he lazily had his arm around my waist. The action had me blushing red, covering my face in embarrassment as I tried not to panic and figure out what to do—Should I wake him? Let him sleep? …Leave? However, remembering the events that happened early this morning, I decided it was best not to wake the sleeping dragon. Tensely, I slowly got out of bed… Gajeel's arm being an obstacle from how heavy it was.
As I reached down to grab my bag off the floor, the sunlight shining through the curtains had me gasping. Immediately flinching from the light, pulling my arm towards me as I yanked the sleeve down—There on my wrist was a beautiful iron chain, shaped as a dragon's head… Silver and iron scales decorating and creating the design. Touching it, I blushed seeing memories between Gajeel and I, all the times we've yelled at each other only to mean the opposite of what we say… Even some of me hitting him in the face with my bag. Though next thing I know, half my body felt heavy as I fell to the ground with a thump. Looking down, my jaw dropped seeing my entire arm turn into iron.
"What the hell… GAJEEL, YOU IDIOT! What did you do to me?!"
I screamed, more loudly than I meant too. My ears are picking up shuffling from behind me.
"Hmh, so you're finally up shrimp? I see you also got my mark… What I did is make you mine, you're officially my pocketed-size mate," Gajeel smirked, bending down to my level that had me practically fuming, inside and out. "Long-story short, because you're my mate, you get a part of my iron-magic. So deal."
My mouth dropped open, seeing and hearing Gajeel's evil chuckle as he knocked lightly against my arms. Clanking sounds echoing around before getting up and heading back to bed—That… That tall jerk!
"You jerk! Like I'd ever accept being mates with you, now come back and fix this!" I shouted, not caring that I was fighting with Gajeel's inner dragon or breaking one of the book's rules. My face was red, out of anger or embarrassment of the lie I just told, I didn't know. Though it certainly put a halt to Gajeel's steps.
The next thing I knew, Gajeel's pitch black eyes were narrowing in front of me… Tilting my head to look up with a single finger underneath my chin. The last time he was this fast was—My breath hitched in anticipation seeing Gajeel almost study me before leaning further into my personal space with a knowing grin.
"Didn't accept… Really? You're racing heart sure did, the mating mark is proof enough. Are you expecting something exciting? What about a kiss like in one of those books you read when thinking I'm not paying attention—Now shut up and come back to bed before I have to carry you there myself, shrimp," Gajeel huffed in amusement, before his eyes softened seeing my struggle. A hand softly reaching for mine and rubbing where the mating mark rested, "Just relax and take deep breaths."
Nodding, I decided to listen to Gajeel, following his lead until my arms went back to normal. The sight had me sighing in relief, slumping further on the ground to see my fingers wiggle free instead of being iron statues. Gajeel offered a hand up that had me softly smiling, only to gasp to see out the window—We were surrounded by trees, probably in a forest, but that's not what caught my eye… Despite the sun past the trees, outside, there are fireflies lighting up the forest from the shadow's darkness. I placed both my hands on the glass, staring in awe.
Soon I started dozing off, Gajeel taking notice as he carried me toward the bed and practically dropped me on the comforters. "Go to sleep, shrimp—You need rest as your body adjusts to the new magic and bond from the mating mark," Gajeel grunted, pulling me with no resistance against his body. Yawning, I unconsciously wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face into his chest from how tired I was feeling. Gajeel's grip tightened around my small waist… The last thing I heard before falling asleep was, purring?
…However what no one noticed, was outside the forest's floor, was not fireflies. Instead fairies, protecting them and the forest around— "What a lovely bond this guild has… Say Mavis. Do you still believe in fairies? Because they believe in you, and someday, you'll see that too." A voice whispered in the air, the figure happy smiling before disappearing into thin air as if they were nothing more than an illusion to the heart.
(Mirajane POV.)
A major headache pounded against my head that had me hissing in pain… I know, for a fact, that this wasn't because of a hangover since I haven't had a drink since Lisanna died, not even when she came back.
Reaching over for my lacrima alarm-clock, I scrambled up when finding nothing there. Glancing around the strange room in panic, doe-eyes widening when feeling an arm wrap tightly around my mid-section—'How, how dare this person try to take advantage of me?!' A crack started forming underneath my eye, body physically shaking at some creep bringing me to their house during my unconscious state. Hearing rumbling next to me, I turned towards the bundle with narrowed eyes and practically yanked the covers off only to see a familiar blonde dragon slayer with a lightning scar. The sight of Laxus had the crack fading, it also helped that both our clothes were on… For some reason, I trusted him to keep me safe.
However, remembering the berserk dragon slayers, I thought of what happened to Lucy, Levy, and the entire guild in a panic—Lisanna and Elfman are supposed to be back today too! How will they react to me being kidnapped by a hormonal dragon?! Elfman could lose control over his takeover, Lisanna… My heart hurts thinking of the chances she'll cry. Pacing back and forth, I eyed a door with one thought in mind; Run.
However as I rushed past a body-length mirror, I froze seeing something out of the ordinary—There, peeking out slightly from the back of my shoulder blade, I saw a giant golden-dragon illuminating lightning. I wanted to touch it, and I did… Blushing seeing memories of Laxus and I, the good and bad ones. Before anything else, I sneezed and accidentally shot lightning out of my mouth… The bolt making the mirror shatter and the powerful force causing me to fly back on the bed where I hit a sleeping Laxus.
Immediately, Laxus woke up. His dragon eyes held that same glow.
"What happened?"
His voice was blunt, a low grunt from being woken up as I sneezed again, lightning blasting and singing the part of the wall. The sight had Laxus raising an eyebrow, especially at the broken mirror, before finally turning towards me with a grin.
"I see… Believe it or not she-devil, but you're my woman now—Technical terms, you'd be considered my mate since I chose you, and it seems your heart did as well. As for the lightning magic… It's mine. You now have some coursing throughout your body. I'm not worried about you trying to control it, knowing your demon-self… You'll master it in no time."
Blinking in surprise, my mind tried processing all this new information—Sure, I was used to matchmaking in the guild, but never once have I thought about MY love life. Suddenly a flash of blonde and white babies flew into my mind, eyes widening when realizing who's children they were, my face exploding. I unconsciously fainted in the arms of Laxus. The lightning dragon slayer grunting, adjusting me in his arms before falling asleep once again, hoping you wouldn't disturb his rest for a second time.
