Disclaimer - I don't own Fairytail characters
Chapter Two
Day 2 –
The sound of a cattle caused her to stir in her sleep. She nuzzled her head into her pillow and sighed sweetly, brushing her hand over to duvet and pulling it closer to her chin. Then the sound came again.
She fluttered her eye open, looking around the dark room. A groan escaped her lips as she instantly recognised the room she was in. It still wasn't her apartment. This was disappointing. But then the sound struck again.
Lucy shot up from the bed, her eyes now wide awake and on alert. Was a child up and out of bed? Or was it someone was in the house?
With a low whisper, she attempted to call for Loki. No answer.
Fear raised through her as she threw the covers off her body and stepped onto the soft carpet. Grasping the keys on her nightstand, she silently tiptoed to the edge of the bedroom and opened the door slowly. She peeked her head out to investigate. The children's doors were shut close which meant there was definitely an intruder.
With another slight sound, her ears twitched. It came from downstairs. She moved slowly across the landing and peered over the banister, looking down into the darkness. Her brows tightened as she saw movement on the sofa. This was her time to strike. She had no one else to protect her family, except her. She flew down the stairs, her keys shining as she summoned a spirit to her side and performed a famous Lucy Kick.
"Open-" she stopped as her foot made contact with something hard and warm. The keys light shone over the intruder, which happened to be a body.
A tall muscular man had been draped over the sofa, rubbing the back of his neck from the uncomfortable position he was trying to sleep in. He looked at his chest where Lucy's foot was still pressed to and groaned lightly, brushing her off while squinting at the light.
"Jeez Luce" her heart stopped.
"N-Natsu?" fear swallowed her as the key's light faded and there she stood in the dark, staring at the shadow of her best friend. She removed her foot instantly.
"Who else did you expect?" he chuckled to himself, finding the joke amusing. He sat up from the sofa, reaching across to the lamp.
"I thought you was a…" she paused, cursing to herself as she stared at him. "A burglar" she finished.
A small dim light revealed his fanged grin.
"Hey" he greeted, squinting his eyes from the sudden light. He causally waved at her as he hunched over the sofa. A small blanket covered his legs. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you"
There was silence as Lucy studied him. He was still the same Natsu she knew, the cocky grin, the body and pink scruffy hair, just slightly taller and broader. She felt her cheek warm by the sudden thought as she glanced at his hand…there was a gold band…a wedding band firmly circling his finger.
"Um…" she couldn't speak. Her mouth had gone dry, her lips couldn't seem to get the words out. Her hands suddenly felt clammy and her heart beat pounded harder than before which could only give things away that something wasn't right. His hearing was good at those sort of things.
"Luce, I know" he spoke first, catching her off guard.
"What?"
"I know that you've forgotten" he sighed lightly, finally leaning back in his seat. "Erza told me" her eyes fluttered to his chest and the blush crept up on her cheeks. He wasn't wearing a shirt, was he aware he wasn't wearing a shirt? "You gave me a scare you know…Loki said you spat milkshake on Mira" he paused. "I mean, I'm surprised" he started to laugh. "I didn't think you were that ballsy"
Was he trying to amuse her? Trust him to be childish- as usual.
"Is this some joke?" she snapped. That was the first thing he could say to her? "Do you seriously find this funny?" his expression quickly changed as he watched her legs tremble. "I don't know where I am" she said angrily. "I happened to be married to YOU of all people" she watched him twitch as she brought her hands up to her face.
"Happily married" he added causally. She stared at him through the gaps of her fingers.
"I have two children" she stated. "Two that I don't actually know" Lucy's heart was racing, like the emotions were running through her and she couldn't seem to control them. Was she having some sort of mental breakdown? Her body jittered against her will, her chest tightened, like she was struggling to breathe.
However Natsu simply rolled her eyes at her comment, and that really didn't seem to help the situation.
"Lucy, you do know them. Don't be ridiculous"
"NO I DON'T NATSU" this point she seethed. She had expected to be calm and careful with her words but her emotions swarmed her. She was scared of what had happened to her. Why she couldn't remember any of this, her life? And this made her angry. But Natsu continued to sit there, listening to her every word. "I don't remember any of this" she shook her head angrily, her hands now rested to her side. "I don't remember how you and I…are like this" she pointed to his wedding band.
"Look" he rose up from the sofa and as he did, Lucy realised how tall he had gotten. She stepped back just as he moved forward, flinging the blanket to the sofa with a light flick. "I know your scared, but don't be. I'm here alright?"
"How are you so calm?" she squeaked weakly.
"Because my wife is struggling and scared. And the best thing to do is be calm in the situation" he attempted to reach out to her, but she quickly batted his arms away. "I learnt it from Mira of all people" he tried to chuckle but Lucy snapped back at him.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" this time her voice was a lot louder than usual. And seconds later, there was a small thud from the ground above them. This made Lucy panic. "You woke them up" she accused.
"I think that was perhaps the shouting you were doing Lucy" his attention turned from his stressed out wife to the top of the stairs, where he noticed the presence of his daughter. She was standing on the top of the stairs in her nightwear. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, staring at her parents with a worried frown.
"Mom…Dad…are you two fighting?" she asked sadly. Lucy said nothing, turning her face away from the child, feeling blood boil from inside her. She was screaming inside. She would have hoped that Natsu would help her, but he just thinks it's a silly joke, a prank as usual. She clenched her fists and counted to ten in her head. While Natsu slowly took over the situation.
"No way kiddo" he was soothing and calm. "Mommy's just tired because Daddy woke her up by accident" he made a nervous laugh while Lucy growled at his white lie. "Go back to bed, I'll be up to check on you shortly" he nodded for her to move along which the child did slowly, following a large yawn. His head snapped to Lucy as soon as he heard his daughter's bedroom door shut.
"You lied to her" Lucy croaked. "You actually lied to your own daughter"
"Well I wasn't going to tell her the real reason was I?" this made Lucy step forward, standing up onto her toes to intimidate him. But no matter how much she tried, she stilled seemed like a shrimp to him.
"And what was the reason Natsu?" she hissed, her eyes flashing dangerously into his.
"That you're being super weird" he answered with a shrug. "I'm not telling Nashi that your stressing out over a bit of memory loss"
"A bit of memory loss? I wouldn't count 12 years as a bit of memory loss" she grumbled. "How do I even know were married? How do I know they're my children?" she waited for him to answer as he stared down at her with complete confusion.
"Isn't the fact that there here enough for you? The fact that they know you're their mother?" he stepped back, looking at her with a quick thought. "And this" he reached towards her, pulling her top to reveal the scar on her body.
"Natsu! What the hell" she screamed, her hands forcing her top back down and batting his hand away.
"You wanted proof. You got that scar from…" he paused, suddenly realising he should have kept his mouth closed. He turned away from her.
"From what?" Lucy growled. "I thought it was where someone stole a kidney" she rubbed her scar lightly, a blush appearing on her cheeks. She watched as Natsu slowly relax on the sofa, placing the blanket back over his body.
"You have both your kidneys Lucy" he stated.
"I don't know that"
"Well it appears I know your body better than you do" again, her blush deepened. "Just go back to bed, it's like 2am…" was that an order? Lucy growled in her throat, her anger still bubbling through. She stomped up the stairs like a child, to which she heard Natsu call out to her. "Quietly! You'll wake the kids up"
This made her mutter under her breath, she closed the bedroom door and threw herself into the large bed, which could happily fit 4 people. Now she felt guilty he was sleeping downstairs, there was plenty of room for him to stay on one side and not be near her. Not that she wanted him near her. Not at all…
...
The morning was sunny, again it was a beautiful day in Magnolia. Lucy had gotten up at around 8am and was already in the garden, picking out the vegetables. She had noticed them yesterday when waiting for Loki and the children to come home. And it was quite clear to her that Lucy Dragneel was a green thumb. There was many vegetables growing in the plot of land fenced off around their home. She had found potatoes, carrots, onions and also a few fruit pickings like strawberries and raspberries. There was a basket to the side of her, as she knelt down pulling out the single carrots rooted in the ground. She had thought to herself, how could she possibly enjoy this? In what mind would this be fun to anyone? Getting her hands dirty and using up all her energy to pull out a single orange vegetable that would probably be devoured in less than a few seconds made her question her life's choices.
She did however feel better after using up all her rage from last night's heated discussion.
Yanking out another carrot from the ground, she tossed it into the basket and sat up feeling rather proud of herself. She was now looking forward to putting them to the taste test, whether there was a difference between home grown and locally shopped.
She brushed off the dust from her gloves and looked up by the sound of her two children laughing from the front of the house. Her attention was captured quickly as she sat up further to call out to them. Her motherly instincts striking as she watched them race off into the woods. Her voice raised.
"Nashi, Ryu, where are you going?" she sounded like a worried mother, perhaps that was because she was. Both Nashi and Ryu heard her voice and turned with wide grins.
"We're going to Mace's house to play on his new trampoline" Nashi shouted over to her. "Dad said it was ok!" she reassured her mother quickly.
"Oh…uh, ok then… have fun" Lucy waved them goodbye, watching like a hawk as they turned their backs and ran off into the distance. She then opened her mouth to shout back, suddenly out thinking. But this turned out to be a short whisper.
"Whose…Mace?"
"Gray's kid" her reply was not from either of her rushed children, but from their father who had opened the door to check on her. His dragon hearing must have picked up on her soft utter and answered it without even thinking. "Morning Lucy" he greeted immediately after.
Lucy turned her head, grumbling in response.
"Are you going to be grumpy with me all day?" he asked, frowning at the back of her head. She chose to ignore him. "Oh, the silent treatment instead. Well then, I suppose I should tell you that my mission went well and I'm collecting the reward today" this made her turn to face him as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Should be a good amount too, just what we needed"
Lucy frowned.
"Why are you telling me this? It's your money, do what you want with it"
"What's mine is yours too, baby" he chuckled as he noticed her shiver.
"Ugh, your so immature. Just go away Natsu" he was lucky she hadn't decided on throwing one of her manky carrots at him. Again this made him snigger.
"Just trying to cheer you up Luce" this made her scoff at him. "Well either way, I'm heading up to the guild. Seems like they sent the reward their way. So I'll pick it up and I'll be back shortly. It's up to you what we do for the rest of the day, the kids aren't home so…" his voice trailed off slightly, but Lucy seemed to hear what he was saying and her face slightly paled. Especially after her little meet up with Levy yesterday, her face soon turned ghost like. "Unless you want to come with me of course?"
"And what…learn of my sex life from Levy again? No thank you" she scrunched her nose up and snapped her head back to her gardening. "I'll rather stay here and pull out carrots" Natsu frowned at her sudden outburst.
"Why would Levy know…our sex life?" he tilted his head to one side, slightly interested as well as confused.
"I don't know, I'm the one with memory loss here" she remarked with a heavy sigh.
"Point taken" he laughed to himself cockily. "Ok, well I'll see you later…if you need me, call me" he turned round to leave but stopped swiftly. It was like he was waiting for something to be said. But as Lucy continued to garden away, his shoulders slouched and he soon finally made his way back inside the house, shutting the door closed.
Lucy didn't quite understand what he had meant by 'call me'. She assumed his dragon hearing had amplified too much to the point that he could hear her from all the way out here from the guild hall? Surely his hearing wasn't that extreme. Was it?
She shook her head, answering to her own voice in her head as she collected the basket up into her arm. She brushed off the remaining flakes of dirt from her legs and heading indoors, catching her husband placing his jacket over his shoulders and leaving through the front door without another word said.
Once he was completely out of sight, Lucy decided to use this opportunity to browse the house properly and while she was at it, she decided to tidy. She placed the basket of vegetables onto the kitchen counter and off she went to scout. A few items here and there stood out to her as she wandered the living room, admiring little trinkets that she would only assume had come from the kids. A few drawings from Ryu were scattered across the coffee table, drawings of dragons and randomly trains.
She had never pictured herself living like this, with children and Natsu. She had always thought she would just be going on adventures all the time and never officially settling down, especially with Natsu of all people. Of course he was caring and protected her, but she never thought he would be capable of married life, children… like this. The whole situation kind of threw her off a bit. She never expected this sort of attention from him and now that she thought of it, seeing him wearing the gold band on his finger did give her some security and a flutter in her stomach.
There was also something else that bothered her. There appeared to be no sign of Happy.
She half expected that little furball to comment on something like this, especially with all the teasing he used to do with them both when they were younger. But even so, there was no sign of him. She worryingly frowned by the timeline. How long to cats usually live for? Was being an exceed different? Her mouth tensed and her eyes swelled as she believed that would be the case. Was he even alive? Did she miss that too?
She didn't feel like it was right to ask or mention it in front of Natsu.
Just the thought of not having the annoying little hairball made her heart tense. Although he was a pain, she still loved him. Things weren't the same without him. That was for sure.
She pulled away from her thoughts, causally snooping through the bookshelf in the living room. The collection of books she had seemed to amaze her. Though she highly doubted she managed to read through them all. Some were in such pristine condition, that they hardly looked like they had been read. She pulled one in particular and brushed the cover lightly. Reading the summary it seemed like a romantic novel about a woman and her life with her husband. Lucy frowned, there didn't appear to be any particular plot line to it.
She left it on the side of the coffee table, a reminder to start reading it while she continued to dust around the cabinets. Until she heard a strange noise that made her spin round with a fright. It chirped.
Ring ring.
What was that?
Ring ring.
And again? What's that sound? Where's it coming from? Lucy turned her body clockwise, trying to pinpoint the sound of this particular ring. She staggered ahead, clutching a silver device that buzzed lightly on the table across the room, playing the ringing tune. Carefully she flicked it up and stared at it curiously.
"Hello? Lucy are you there?" a voice called out from it, making Lucy's nose scrunch.
"Hello?" she placed it to her ear, amazed as she heard someone giggle on the other side.
"I thought you wasn't going to answer my call" she recognised the voice instantly. Her friend from Sabretooth, Yukino. "You ok Lucy?"
"Uh…fine" she spoke out loud, finding it remarkable that Yukino could hear her from this speaker device. Is this what Natsu meant by calling him?
"That's good. I was wondering if you wanted to meet up for tea sometime?" Yukino asked sweetly. "I have those papers for you to read through"
"Papers?" Lucy gulped. "What papers?"
"My story…" Yukino whispered. "You said you didn't mind reading it?" she sounded hesitant. "Remember?"
Lucy sighed heavily.
"In all honest Yukino, remembering isn't my best speciality right now"
"Oh, is everything ok?" the worried Sabretooth wizard muttered through the speaker. "You do sound…sheepish"
Lucy sighed harder this time, quickly explaining to Yukino what had happened over the course of two days to which Yukino appeared shocked and tried to come up with some sort of explanation.
"12 years though" Yukino uttered softly. "You poor thing, you can't remember anything at all?" she wondered, trying to pick at Lucy's forgotten memories. "What about the births of the kids?" she quizzed. Lucy quickly shook her head, muttering a 'no' after realising Yukino could only hear her not see her. "Hm, what about your wedding day?"
"No, nothing"
"That's strange…have you thought of watching your wedding video?" Yukino suggested. "Maybe that would jog your memory, of at least being married to Natsu that is" Lucy frowned by Yukino's idea. Did she even have a wedding video? "You should ask Natsu where it is" she said promptly.
"Yeah, I guess that's an idea- thanks Yukino!" Lucy smiled as her eyes nervously stared around the living room. What did a wedding video look like exactly?
"Did you want to book some time in for tea?" Yukino asked. "I'm free in the middle of the week?"
"That would be lovely. We'll arrange closer to the date"
"Perfect ok Lucy, oh and good luck!" Yukino whispered sweetly. Suddenly there was a flat line and the call had gone dead. Lucy wasn't exactly sure how to use the device correctly, but she flipped it down and placed it back on the side she found it. Hoping that it would be fine like that.
With a sense of achievement, she dusted her hands and smirked. Now to look for that wedding video.
...
Lucy had spent the last 2 hours hunting through the house in search for a wedding video, as well as a diary that could piece together her life she had forgotten. Instead of tidying up, she may have made things worse. In the end all the books from their shelves were scattered across the floor, with every cupboard door open and things flung out of it.
When Natsu arrived home, he hadn't expected to see the living room to be turned upside down and everything to be completely out of place. His brows lifted when he heard rustling and a thud from upstairs.
Taking his jacket off, he placed it on the coat rack to the side and walked up the stairs, peering over at the open door of their bedroom. He could already see half of Lucy sticking out from the bottom of the wardrobe, as she pulled out boxes and shoes that were stored inside it. Stepping into the room, he tapped the door to disturb her.
Quick enough, Lucy bolted upright, bashing her head as she pulled herself out. She rubbed it sorely, turning to Natsu with a gruff.
"What you doing?" she groaned, twisting in pain.
"I was going to ask you the same question, it looks like we've been robbed" he stated, indicating the downstairs and their now messy bedroom. "What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for a wedding video" she replied, still huffing under her breath.
"Our wedding video?" he wondered, curious with her actions.
"Yes" she breathed. "I can't find it"
"It's in the attic…" he told her. "Along with all the other wedding bits we had" he shrugged his shoulders as Lucy slowly mouthed an 'oh' before regrettably looking around the messy bedroom. "I can go up there and get it if you want?"
"Can you?" she looked at him with plea, hoping that this one moment would bring her some sort of flashback to a memory that she had lost, or she would be forever stuck in this dream that she could never get out of. "Please"
"Sure, just…" Natsu looked around the room hastily. "tidy up a bit will ya?" he span round, his back now facing the perplexed Lucy. She looked so confused as she stared around the bedroom then back at him.
Since when did Natsu worry about mess? If anything, he was the messiest person she knew.
Her eyes followed him as he stood on the landing, his arm reaching up to grasp a gold hoop that stuck out from the ceiling. It was something Lucy had never noticed before, but as he watched him pull it down, she was thrown away by the contraption when a rectangle piece of ceiling folded down, displaying steps for Natsu to climb up. Interested by this, she shuffled up from her feet and crawled towards it.
Natsu had disappeared up the steps and through the hole.
Enthralled, Lucy quickly followed suit. She gripped the bars and hoisted herself up, peeking her head through the dark attic filled with random junk. She instantly stared across, admiring a mannequin displaying her maid outfit, which marked their first mission together. Lucy recalled that Natsu had kept that before when she came to clean his home.
"You kept it then" she said out loud, lifting herself up into the dark room.
Natsu was crouched in the corner of the room, his head flicking over to the sound of her voice. His eyes lingered onto the model outfit and shrugged causally back at the sight of it.
"It was from our first mission…" he stated. "I kept it cause it looked good on you"
"A maid outfit…looked good on me?" she found it hard hearing him compliment her like that, especially when their mission had been so long ago, even prior to losing her memories. How long did he actually start to like her?
She heard him mumble to himself, his hands fumbling around in a large chest before pulling out a small cardboard box with a black tape inside. She hadn't seem to notice him get up to walk towards her, her eyes still fascinated by the amount of things that had been dumped up in this cold dark room. Mainly books, boxes of things that had been packed up from her apartment, as well as baby stuff. She frowned, leaning down to a box of old baby clothes and a makeshift scrapbook.
She opened it, amazed to see that the first page was a scan, with her own handwriting written underneath to celebrate the day they first met the little bean.
"That's Nashi's baby book" Natsu announced, peeking over her shoulder.
"Her baby book?"
"Yeah, you was determined to write about it. That's the first scan of her" he pointed out the picture, showing where her head was. Lucy awed at it. "She was…12 weeks?" he tried to recall back the memory himself.
"Oh" Lucy gawked at the picture, amazed by how real it appeared. She felt a light blush on her cheeks as she thought of the scenario in her head of how it came to be, with her and Natsu conceiving the little bean that was evidenced in her hand. She was thankful the attic was dark, feeling her cheeks flush by his close presence behind her. His breathing was slow and steady as he leaned over her shoulder further to take a look into the box of things she had found. She could feel the hot air flaring from his nose as he reached forward, pulling out knitted blanket that had been rolled and stored amongst the rest of the treasured memories. It was only a small blanket, just big enough to wrap a small baby inside.
"This was the blanket she was wrapped in the day you gave birth to her" he said softly. It was soft to touch as Lucy reached out to take it from him. As Lucy admired the treasured fabric, her eyes slowly cornered to the shadowy movement behind her where Natsu had got up and made his advance back down the hole via the ladder steps. She placed the blanket down and turned swiftly. Some part of her didn't want to be alone in the dark, surrounded by the memories she had forgotten. She scurried from the flooring and hovered to the hole, looking down it as Natsu had reached the bottom and looked back up to her.
"Do you need help getting down?" he asked. His free arm reached up, with the other attached to the hand clutching a black tape that Lucy had assumed was the item she required. "Luce?"
"No, I'm ok!" she exclaimed. She bit her lip, her flush of pink drawing red across her cheeks. She didn't really like the idea of him touching her, just the very thought of it made her feel mushy. Declining his offer, Natsu stepped back and watched as she turned her back to him and began to slowly step down the ladder to the soft carpet. "Um…thanks" she span round to face him, her eyes level to his chest. She gulped, slowly looking up as he looked down.
"Are you going to tidy up the mess you made?" he wondered, suddenly flashing his sight across to their bedroom. Lucy yanked her head back, a bit too quickly that she felt mild whiplash.
"Oh, yeah…" she giggled nervously, flapping her hand at him. "I'll do that now"
Natsu frowned as she timidly danced on her heels, spinning round to dart across the landing to their room. She neatened the room up, placing the items back where she found them and in an organised fashion. It didn't take her long to get it back to the way she found it, she did actually have a great memory of things- despite her predicament of more recent events.
After straightening the room, her eyes turned to her large bed. She shook the covers and lined them up neatly over the mattress, placing cushions and pillows in a styled order. She nodded to herself, admiring her achievement before heading down the stairs to resume her business of tidying to the other rooms she had cluttered.
While putting everything back in order, her eyes had subconsciously searched for Natsu. The pink haired male was sat in the kitchen at the round dining table positioned in the centre of the room. In front of him were papers and scribbles, and green papered jewel. She deliberately passed the open door to the kitchen to investigate what he was doing, with her arms full of the books she had taken and rearranged from the bookshelf.
Examining closer, she stepped inside the kitchen and hovered the collection of books on the table beside him. Her eyes lingered to the paperwork.
"Whatcha doing?" she asked, a little too sweetly.
"Just bills stuff" he shrugged, tapping the paper he was reading. "Just making sure the council made me properly for that last job I did"
"You work for the Magic Council?" she asked, her brows knitted with surprise. He nodded, avoiding her curious stare. "Permanently or just occasionally?"
"It started as a quick here and there sort of thing" he stiffened by the conversation, like he was unsure whether to continue on. "Just quick cash for when Nash was born, we needed money and you couldn't come on missions with me…so" his hands brushed the papers in front of him, his finger tapping against them. "They paid more, mainly because of my title"
"Your title?" she repeated.
"I'm a wizard saint, Luce" he said it so plainly that Lucy hadn't reacted to how she really wanted to. Of course, she knew he was strong. After all he had defeated the Black Wizard Zeref (with the help of her) and managed to set the powerful Acnologia to rest- like Natsu had already claimed Dragon King by that point. Had his power accelerated that much since then? Was that was Ryu meant by him being the strongest wizard? Was he really, the strongest wizard in the world now?
She gulped, feeling her stomach twist as he sat there completely unamused by her feared reaction.
"A…wizard…saint?" she choked, forcing the words from her mouth. "You?"
"Obviously…" again, he sounded so causally about it. Like the wizard was completely unfazed by his title. "Rank 1"
"What?" Lucy murmured. Did she hear him right? "Did you say…rank 1?" he nodded, his eyes now looking up at her. "So…you really are…the strongest wizard" she frowned, stepping back as if she was going to fall from shock. But she instantly felt a flexed arm reach around her to keep her steady.
"Steady on Luce" he pulled her to him, allowing her to rest against the arm of his chair. "It's not a big deal" he told her firmly. "But it does mean I get called on a lot by the Magic Council, but the pay is good" he slithered his arm from her back to the table and held up the green papered money. "Jewels" he smiled waving it delicately in front of her.
"You have a lot of titles then" Lucy admitted suddenly, her eyes following the cash in his hand. Natsu shrugged at her causally. She could see he was apathetic in the whole conversation, but she even knew that titles and claims meant nothing to him, even before she lost her memory.
"Meh, I'm just Natsu" he said assertively. "Titles mean nothing, it's all about what I do and how I do it, that's what really matters" he added boldly. "But I do try to protect the world, however I can"
"The world?"
"Yep"
"That's a big…responsibility, Natsu" Lucy whispered, her face meeting concern. "Especially when…" she paused, blinking and suddenly realising why he was tense by the conversation. How often did he leave to protect the world? The missions that the Magic Council would give him? How often would he go? Her thoughts snapped back to yesterday with Nashi, how the little girl was seemed so sad that her father didn't have time to train her, was this the answer to why?
Natsu hummed to her, watching her eyes widened.
"Do…you leave often?" she asked.
"Often? For my job, yeah" he could see where this was going, suddenly feeling Lucy about to confront him more intensely about their lifestyle. Recognising this, he felt himself slowly rise from his chair, dawdlingly enough for Lucy to retract herself from the side of it where she had perched.
"You have a family…here, are you not here for them?" she asked, watching his shoulders hunch by the sudden enquiry. "Natsu?"
"I don't think this is the time to really talk about that" he said wearily. "Especially when you don't know anything about your life" his eyes tiredly moved away from hers, collecting up the papers from the table. He placed them into a neat pile and shuffled them into his chest.
"But that's why I'm asking" the blonde proclaimed, feeling jaded by his sudden desire to shield her from information. "I just want to know, are you…active as a father?"
"Active as a father?" Natsu's nose scrunched by her probe. "What kind of silly question is that?" his tone shifted, a hint of aggravation cloaking his voice. She was taken back by his frustration, but still she continued to bait him- knowing he was avoiding the answer to which by now she was certain she knew. "Lucy…" he grumbled. "I'm not…discussing this with you" he dismissed the topic, pushing his chair into the table to take his leave.
"Why? Have you suddenly lost your values?" the blonde tilted her head to him, interested to see how he would react. The Natsu she knew had principles- friends and family were everything to him. And he always used that to his advantage when it came to protecting them and their guild. The world would be fine, as long as they fought and protected it together. That's what she had always believed, that's what he had always told her.
He had stopped abruptly by her comment, making Lucy's brows tense. She caught his edge. His breathing hitched as if about to say something, something dark. Though he was mindful, keeping his back to her as he attempted to regain himself. She really had tickled a nerve- she'd never done that before with Natsu. And apart of her recoiled because of it. They had bickered in the past over silly things, sure, but it was never this intense…this thick.
Part of her wanted to quickly apologise and back down to him. After all, learning he was indeed the strongest wizard in all of Fiore meant that he could easily take her out in one swoop. His power was a lot more concentrated and extreme compared to hers, she would have been a sitting duck. But something inside of her was also torn to the other side of the scale- something alluring her to pursue this niggle. After all, in her heart she knew he would never actually hurt her. They had never had a serious fight or argument before and curiosity was getting the better of her, she wanted to know how far she could really push him.
And the fact that she wasn't his little wife that he could just boss around. Lucy was stubborn, even at the best of times. She wasn't going to back down on something she truly believed in.
Her concerned expression melted into a fearful one. She stood her form, eyes blaring into the back of his head as she waited for him to respond to her. Step over that line…
Though it never came. Instead, she heard him scoffed through gritted teeth- like he really struggled not to say something back to her. Admittedly she expected more from him. The raging fire dragon king to bring all hellfire in her direction, but nothing. Just a bitter grunt as he stormed off across the hallway to their living room, hugging his letters tightly to his chest.
She groaned back at him, knowing her answer was what she had assumed.
...
The rest of the day went by at a snail's pace. With the thick tension in the air still haunting them both as they avoided each other. Lucy had decided to start reading the book she found about a wife and her married life- finding it convenient for certain circumstances. She was sat in the single cushioned chair in their living room, with one leg brushed over the other while her back sinking into the support of the chair's backrest. Her arm relaxed against one of the cushions as she held the book on her thigh, flicking through the pages as she causally read through them.
Every now and then her attention was disturbed by the appearance of her husband who had strolled in and out the room, ignoring her existence. This time however, her eyes jolted from the paragraph of words, intrigued as he slumped himself on the large three seater couch beside her chair. His arm stretched over to the coffee table in front of them both, his hand snatching a strange black device with buttons on it. Her brow lifted suspiciously as he folded back into his comfortable position and aimed the black stick at the strange black mirror positioned on the wall.
Lucy frowned, watching him.
He thumbed a green button at the top of the strange black device and suddenly the black mirror changed. Revealing what Lucy could only describe as moving pictures.
A woman appeared on the mirror, dressed in a grey suit with perfectly combed bobbed blonde hair. Her eyes sparkled as she was mid-sentence, discussing something about birds migrating back to the coast.
"And in other news, the King announced the arrival of his 2nd grandchild this morning. Reports from the castle have concluded that Princess Hisui and baby are both doing well-"
Lucy squeaked from behind her book, causing Natsu to click his neck over to her.
"Hisui…had a baby?" the blonde squealed excitedly.
"Hmm…expect a invite soon then" the husband muttered. He pressed another button on the device, pointing it to the screen to change the moving picture to something else.
"An invite?"
"You and Yukino are good friends with the princess…pretty sure she'll be inviting you and the kids to the castle to meet the new royal" he explained dully, as he flicked through the many random moving pictures. Lucy stared at it wildly, fascinated.
"What is that?" she asked, motioning to the black mirror.
"The Lacrima television?" he wondered back at her. "The TV"
"TV…there's one of those in the bedroom" she noted. "It shows moving…photos?"
"Programmes, films…the news…" he told her. "Recordings of people, movies…" his eyes casted to the black tape he left on the side cabinet in the room. "Our wedding video…"
"So, you actually watch it like a memory in your head…but on that mirror thingy?" she quizzed, frowning. He nodded, sighing as he pulled himself up from the couch to the black tape across the room. "What…are you doing?" he didn't respond to her, collecting the tape and pushing it into the side of the television. The tape was stuck into it, suddenly displaying what Lucy would have assumed been a memory in her head.
She gawked at it, eyes wide and mouth open. She stood up from her seat, her book chucked from her lap as she stared at moving screen. The colour, the movement, everything seemed so real to her.
"Lucy, Lucy…look at me!" Lucy frowned, hearing Mira's squealing voice. It amazed Lucy, as she was staring at a recording of herself, dressed in a long white brides dress with a veil over her head.
"That's…me" she gulped. "In a wedding gown"
Natsu smirked, folding his arms over his chest as he too began to watch it.
"Mira! What are you doing? Don't point that thing at me" Lucy squealed as her arms protectively grasped at her body, shielding herself from the device.
"It's a camera Lucy, I want to record your day…you'll be able to look back at this and all these emotions your feeling now will come flooding back" the she-demon chuckled. "Now smile and tell us what day it is today"
Lucy blushed, pulling her veil up from her face.
"Mira…"
"Come on Lucy" the woman begged. "Just tell us"
"Fine" Lucy looked at the device, starting directly at it. "Today is my wedding day" she said brightly. "15th of August" she added.
"And who's the lucky guy?" Mira teased. "Who will be waiting for you at the end of the aisle?" Lucy rolled her eyes, her blush deepening as she rubbed her fabric laced arm.
"Natsu Dragneel" she admitted sweetly.
"Oh Lucy! You look so pretty!" another voice echoed. She rushed through the door behind them, dressed in a light pink dress. "Just look at you, my god…Natsu's going to be melting when he sees you!" Levy gushed.
"Levy! I'm being recorded right now!" Lucy grumbled, pointing to Mira and her camera. Levy's eyes flashed to the device and smirked at it.
"Well for anyone who sees this! This is the last and final time you get to see the gorgeous Lucy Heartfilia, because today she will now forever be known as Lucy Dragneel! AHHHHhhh!" she screamed excitedly, yanking to Lucy's arm with a firm hold. "I can't believe it, you and Natsu…finally…married"
Lucy's eyes flashed to Natsu, who appeared to be smirking. Her face heated by the recording, watching in full detail of her wedding day. Mira had wasted no time in showing the dresses they wore, the suits the men were wearing, the decorations and the displays of the tables and even the flowers. And yet Lucy hadn't actually remembered any of it. Nothing appeared familiar, nothing stood out. It was like she was watching some sort of strange fantasy dream.
She had blushed at the part of them exchanging their vows, her stomach erupting butterflies even more when she saw them kiss. Her and Natsu? Was that even a thing? She had never expected to have him plant something so delicate and passionate on her lips like that, but the proof was there- she was watching it. And it had definitely happened, even though she couldn't remember it, she was watching it all with her very eyes.
"I really am…married" she flopped back down into the chair, completely dumbfounded by the course of the wedding video she had watched. By now she couldn't even look at Natsu. She was so embarrassed by emotions, he really did marry her, he really did have feelings for her…all this time? And he had never said a thing to her before? But here he was now, with that blasted gold finger on his finger.
"You are" Natsu confirmed, releasing the black tape from the television. "11 years…"
"11?!" he nodded as Lucy plonked her head back against the chair with despair. "11 years! And a year later Nashi came?" she wondered. Natsu shook his head.
"You were already pregnant with Nashi then; I announced it at the reception" he admitted softly. "People kept trying to convince you to drink booze on your wedding night" he explained. "We made the decision to tell them"
"Oh…so, we had already" she blushed, forcing down the lump in her throat.
"We weren't strangers to it, put it that way" he told her bluntly. Lucy felt steam come from her ears, grabbing the nearest pillow and shoving it into her face as she squeaked out her embarrassment. There was no way, surely. In her head, she had never even thought about that sort of thing- of course she had dates before, but nothing ever led to that. Did that mean, he was her first time?
She panicked, her heart racing. Something else she had forgotten.
And it was Natsu! He didn't appear to have a romantic bone in his bone, the even idea of him included in the act was enough to send Lucy up into the heavens and not come back down.
She held the pillow to her face, to shy to show her appearance. She knew Natsu would have been watching her, most probably finding her the whole situation amusing to him. It was entertainment for him, seeing her mortified and humiliated. It may had even given him some higher ground.
Now who was the childish one? It was always Natsu, he was always the one that could never mature. And yet roles had been reversed as she was sat here red in the face and self-conscious by her future self's actions while he was there completely at ease.
"Are you done?"
"Not…yet" she muffled into the cushion, collecting herself and regaining her breathing before finally lowering the shield down to face him. He was looking at her, one brow lifted as he judged her awkwardness. "Stop…looking at me! Perv" she grimaced, grabbing the nearest, smallest pillow from her side and launching it across to his face. Her throw wasn't that shameful as it donked him in the chest and dropped peacefully at his feet.
"You're still a weirdo" he chuckled.
"And you're a perv" she snot back, turning her face from him. He rolled his eyes, pride shimmering across his smile. "What are you smiling at?" she growled, reaching out to throw another cushion at him.
"Kids are coming…" he said softly, tapping his left ear. "I can hear them, they're on their way. So pull yourself together will ya?" he smirked, bending down to collect the small cushion she had thrown. He looked over at her as she grumbled, picking up her book from the floor. She sat back in her chair, getting herself comfortable once more before having a the same small cushion dumped in her lap. She looked over at him smirking back at her.
"Annoying…" she paused, her ears tensing by the front door swinging open and two familiar voices bellowing into the house.
"Mace likes Nashi, Mace likes Nashi!" the boy sang in a teasing manner, jumping out of the way as he avoided a punch from his older sister. The younger sibling charged into the living room, running around the coffee table, expecting Nashi to chase him. "He likes you…" he taunted.
"Shut up you stupid-" the sister barged into the room; her eyes wide as she launched at him. Gaping as she fell flat on her face by tripping up on her own feet. Ryu had taken this moment to slide behind his father's tall legs, clutching them as he looked down at his sister. "Ow!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" the little boy laughed triumphantly, pointing down at her.
"Ryu!" the stern voice of his father immediately caused him to be silent. "Nashi, get up" he demanded, his arm reaching to pull her up. The girl sniffled softly as she felt his grip hold the back of her top to lift her up. She rubbed her sore arm, holding back the tears from both the emotional pain and the more physical one from the fall. "Hey now, I don't want tears" Natsu informed, watching her eyes become glassy.
"B-But…" her voice wobbled delicately, a thin line between trying to be brave and spilling out her sadness. Lucy frowned instantly watching the scene play out in front of her. She stared at Natsu's cold behaviour and then cooed softly towards the sweet child. Folding her book to her side, she got up quickly from her seat and embraced the daughter. "M-Mommy…" she wept.
"Shh, it's ok. Are you hurt?" Lucy asked, pulling her back from her chest. Her eyes peered to her red arm. "Did you fall on your arm?" the girl nodded, sniffing. "Let's have a look"
"Lucy…" Natsu groaned. "She can't cry every time she hurts herself"
"She's a child Natsu" Lucy grunted, inspecting the girl's arm. "Children cry when they hurt themselves" she rubbed Nashi's arm gently, comforting the child before turning her head to her husband. "Have a bit more empathy"
He rolled his eyes at her, tugging Ryu across the room with him with a low grumble.
"I'm ok Mom, thank you" Nashi whispered softly. She looked to her arm, a yellowish bruise now already beginning to show. "I'll be ok, I'm a big girl and I shouldn't get upset" she held her little nose up high, forcing her run of tears to stop.
"You've very brave" Lucy told her with a smile. "If it was me, I would have flooded the house with my tears" she said with a giggle. Nashi smiled back at her mother, a toothy grin revealing.
"You're brave too Mom" Nashi admitted. "Even when you do cry"
...
Dinner was quiet and Lucy felt it strange. All four of them around the table, in complete silence. Lucy had been nominated to prepare dinner by her 6 year old son Ryu who had practically demanded it and declared that "Mommy's cooking was the best" regardless of what anyone else had said. Nashi didn't seem to mind, food was food for her and Natsu just went with the flow, even though he had expected not to receive a bowl of whatever she had cooked but surprised nonetheless by a plate of pasta dumped in front of him at the seat he was sat in.
But as said before, dinner was quiet. There was an eerie thickness of what Lucy could only assume as friction between herself and Natsu. There first day together hadn't been what neither of them had imagined, already a strain in their 'marriage' or 'friendship' whatever you decided to call it. As Loki had said, Lucy was to pretend to act as normal as she would have believed her married self would be- for their children. Yet it was clear that her and Natsu weren't compatible in the slightest to this problem.
When dinner finished, Natsu had taken charge of washing up allowing Lucy to have a play around with the so called television in the living room. Both Nashi and Ryu had been beside her, urging her to pick something that they wanted to watch while Lucy was more fascinated by how many 'channels' as they called it, were actually on this device. From anime to live action, animation movies to talk shows and quiz shows, Lucy was amazed. How far had the future come to produce something as magical as this. She was keen to understand how it worked, what sort of sorcery it was.
By the time she finally decided on something, Natsu had entered the room to evict the children from the sofa. They both whined at him as he stated the time on the clock and commanded the word 'bedtime'. He was able to do this duty much better than she did the night before, Lucy noted. He urged both children up the stairs without having to release out the tickle monster. She was shocked, as both her pink haired children kissed her cheeks goodnight and trotted upstairs to their rooms.
"Brush your teeth first!" Natsu ordered, calling at them up the staircase. "I'll be checking- Ryu!" the father heard his son complain, stomping his little feet towards the bathroom with a strop.
His eyes glazed to Lucy.
"Are you staying down here?" he asked, a bit more sternly. Lucy shrugged at his answer, strolling through the channels on the TV. "If you're just going to watch telly, you can do that in the bedroom" he told her.
"What's wrong with being in here?" Lucy pondered bitterly, avoiding his glare.
"I rather you not keep me up" he admitted. Lucy frowned harder by his answer, watching as he walked across the room and collected the same blanket he had slept in when she saw him this morning.
"Wait, are you…sleeping down here?" she looked to the scrawny blanket in his hands.
"I am"
"Oh" her face wrinkled slightly as she brushed her hand on the couch she was sitting on. She quickly felt guilty. He was giving her the bed, while he slept on the couch. "Are…they the sleeping arrangements you want?" she looked away from him, hiding the blush on her face.
"The one I feel most comfortable with, yes" he stated coldly. Immediately her blush faded, suddenly hurt by his tone. "I wouldn't expect you to sleep on the sofa" he added firmly. "I rather you take the bed"
"The bed is big enough for the both of us" Lucy noted. Apart of her giggled inside, wanting him to accept the offer she had quickly made, but again he shook his head.
"No, I rather the couch"
"Wow…" Lucy started, surprise glittering her tone. "You've never passed up that opportunity before"
It had shocked her. All those times she would wake up in her apartment and find him and Happy uninvitedly in her bed in the mornings. The times they would have sleepovers at hers and wouldn't even need to offer before they both declared sleeping arrangements be with them joining her.
Was she bitter about it? Of course she was. The fact that they were now married, and he didn't want to be near her. It made her cold.
"Very well then" she rose up from her couch, ignoring his look as she left the room. There was no point her wishing him a good night, or a restful sleep. Instead, she lightly jogged up the stairs into her bedroom, closing the door over and bringing the night to a close.
...
Thanks for all your support!