"Wake up, sleepyhead!"

Lucy was abruptly pulled from her slumber, eyes fluttering open and finding her salmon haired partner leaning over her. She shrieked in surprise, her fist shooting up in response and catching Natsu in the jaw. He was pushed back at the impact, placing a hand over the now stinging side of his face.

"Jeez, Luce. Since when did you get so strong?"

"I think 'what are you doing in my room' is the better question!" Lucy shouted, holding her blankets tightly over her body.

Natsu pouted. "You were taking too long to show up at the guild so I came to get you."

Lucy's eyes turned to the clock on the wall as she read the time. She sighed, annoyingly rubbing her temples with her free hand.

"Natsu, it's eight in the morning."

"And I've been up and at the guild already! The day's wasting."

"All right," Lucy caved. "Just let me—"

Lucy hissed in pain when she turned her body, moving the covers off her so that she could look at her bandage without Natsu seeing anything. He had a concerned look on his face, already moving next to her on the bed and trying to peek over the covers to see what she was looking at.

"Stop that!" Lucy lightly slapped his face before he saw her body under the blankets.

"Stop hitting me!"

"Stop giving me a reason to!"

Natsu rolled his eyes. "What happened?"

Lucy looked down again at her stomach wound. "I guess I must've moved a bit in my sleep last night. Looks like my wound reopened."

"Let me see—"

"—did you already forget the last thirty seconds?"

"Oh, right," he said. "Well, put somethin' on and let me see it."

She waved him off, "really, it's fine. I can clean it up myself."

"I know you can," Natsu said. Lucy couldn't tell if he was mocking her or reassuring her. "But I'm here, so just let me."

Lucy felt the heat flooding her cheeks. Instead of stuttering out her acceptance, she opted for a nod, not trusting her words. She knew she would stumble over them, and while Natsu probably wouldn't think anything of it, she didn't want to have another embarrassing memory to replay in her mind.

"Where do you keep your bandages?"

"Under the sink," she managed to answer.

He turned to grab them, and she took her cue to change. She grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom. Lucy was surprised to see that blood had traveled down her legs and to her knees. After wiping what she could clean from her legs, she put on a simple outfit, just jean shorts and a t shirt. Lucy made sure to not let the shirt fall over her open wound, which seemed to be lightly bleeding again.

She was just grateful that it was the only thing left on her body that hadn't healed yet. It had merely been two days since she had endured her torture, but thanks to Wendy's consistency in healing her, she was able to recover quickly. The small dragon slayer estimated that it would take a couple more days before her stomach wound would fully heal.

Lucy sat back down on her bed. She saw that blood had seeped into the sheets of her bed, and she groaned when she realized that not only would she have to wash her bedding, but she'd have to scrub the mattress, too. Natsu returned, supplies in hand, asking what was wrong.

Lucy kept her shirt lifted and tucked into her bra while Natsu went to work. He first cleaned the wound, noting how it looked really irritated.

"You don't normally move at all in your sleep," Natsu stated. "How come it's so torn? Did you have a bad dream?"

Lucy shook her head, trying to ignore the fact that Natsu knew how she normally slept. "If I had a dream last night, I don't remember it."

Natsu covered the wound, taping it in place before grinning as he announced he was all done. He got up to put the stuff back while Lucy hummed peacefully. She began peeling the sheets from her mattress, tossing her bedding in a pile on the floor. She moved to pick them all up when her eyes landed on a couple drops of red on the floor.

More blood? How did it manage to travel all the way to the floor. Lucy turned, scanning more of the floorboards in search of any more red specks. She wondered if it was recent or if she had simply missed it from before, not knowing if—

The dull ache in her head catapulted into a throbbing migraine, this one more intense than any before. She sank to the ground, the pain nearly unbearable. Lucy felt the familiar touch of Natsu's hands on her shoulders, and she was certain he was saying something, but there was a ringing in her ears that blocked out any other noise.

Natsu was panicking. There was no Wendy in sight while Lucy lay, nearly writhing on the floor. It was something he prayed to never see again. He kept calling out to her, saying her name or encouraging her through her pain, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Lucy stayed scrunched into herself, wishing to endure her previous torture again if it meant this would end. She twisted her head painfully from side to side. It felt like an hour had passed, but the torment wasn't letting up.

The dragon slayer's eyes grew wider in fear with each passing second. Five minutes had already gone by, and Lucy was still in immense pain. He tried shaking her out of it, wondering what he could do to help. His actions did nothing and his words weren't getting through to her.

Lucy's body was flaring up, sweat coating her skin. In a final attempt to make the agony any better, she held her breath and thrust her fist into her wound. The action hurt like no other, but it took away from the throbbing in her head.

Again, she jabbed her stomach. Her vision was beginning to become spotted with black dots while she drove her fist into her wound.

"—stop it! Lucy cut that out! You're only hurting yourself even more!"

Natsu's voice finally faded back in, her ears able to hear more than just ringing. She glanced his direction, finding his face etched with worry and confusion. He was holding her down with one hand while his other had a tight grasp on her right wrist. Even if she wanted to strike her wound again, she was certain Natsu's strength would outdo hers.

It didn't matter though, because the pain in her head was finally subsiding. She looked down at her wound as the black spots grew bigger. Her stomach was bleeding again, the bandage half detached. Her right hand was covered in her own blood, and Natsu looked panicked.

Her eyelids felt heavy, each blink weighing more than the last. She closed them, feeling herself drifting off and vaguely catching Natsu trying to say something. It sounded as though he were a mile away calling out to her.

"Luce! Open you're eyes! You hear me? Open—"

His voice cut off as she succumbed to the darkness.

"Lucy? Luce!"

Natsu called out, lightly tapping Lucy's cheek and trying to wake her up. Blood coated the wound he had cleaned just moments ago, and it was lightly beginning to pool on the floor. He didn't know what to do.

He wanted to run for Wendy. Bring her here and have her work her magic on Lucy. But Natsu knew there wasn't time for that. He snapped out of his daze, nearly launching himself back toward the kitchen sink to grab the supplies he'd just put away.

He snatched a neatly folded rag laying on the counter, pouring alcohol onto it and kneeling next to Lucy. He was careful but quick to once again clean her wound. Tearing off the old bandage, Natsu took gauze and put light pressure to the wound, covering it once more with the tape. He finished by wiping her hand and any other part of her body that had blood on it so that it was clean.

Wendy may not have been there, but Natsu was just glad that he at least knew basic medical procedure. He deserved more credit than he was given. Next, he delicately picked Lucy up and put her on the couch. He used the rag to finish cleaning the blood on the floor, tossing it in with the bedding pile once he was done.

He took his place across from Lucy, squatting on the back of his heels. He watched her while she took deep breaths, helping him convince himself that she was okay. It made him realize his own breathing was uneven, almost out of breath. He kept his hands balled into fists to keep them from shaking.

While he evened his breathing, Natsu wondered what to do next. He knew Lucy needed Wendy, but the last thing he wanted to do was leave her alone. What if she woke up and he wasn't there for another one of her episodes? The fact that she was in enough pain to try causing more pain to herself in order to minimize it made him rule out any thought of leaving her side.

He didn't know how long he was there, watching her face and looking for the slightest indication that she was in any discomfort. Her skin looked smooth and clear, her lips slightly parted in a straight line. There was no scrunch to her eyebrows or twitching in her eyelids. She looked more peaceful than he'd ever seen her in a long time. It made Natsu relax a bit.

The dragon slayer stood, finding the stain of blood on her bed. He thought about cleaning it for her, then realized he didn't know the first thing about what to use, so he shrugged it off. Instead, he wondered why he had felt so different around Lucy recently.

Well, he didn't exactly feel different. It was more like his feelings for her, his care and protectiveness grew stronger. He never felt concerned for her safety on their missions the way he did now. He didn't get so annoyed to see her laughing with Gray like he did now.

And seeing her in pain when she had her episodes… it hurt him. It hurt to see her in pain. It hurt feeling helpless to do anything about it. Saying he would do anything for her had a different meaning now than it did a couple months ago.

His dragon slayer ears picked up on the slightest movement, and he darted back to the blond's side. Her eyes squinted before they opened, and Natsu gave her a few seconds to even register that she was awake to say anything.

Lucy turned her head, eyes meeting Natsu's. "Natsu? What are you doing here—"

She moved to get up, but the boy was quick to gently push her back down.

"Don't get up. Take a few minutes and lay down, Luce."

"What happened?" she asked.

"You sorta had your freak out again, except this time was way worse. You don't remember any of it?"

She tried to, but, "I guess not. Nothing's coming to mind."

Natsu was confused at this. Lucy remembered the other times she had her severe migraines, but no recollection of this one? Her worst one yet?

"Stay there," he ordered.

He stood, heading to the kitchen. He opened the cupboard as if it was his own home and grabbed a glass. Filling it with tap water, he then brought it back over to Lucy and handed to her.

"Slow," he said, hand over hers on the glass as he helped her tip it into her mouth.

She had a few gulps before placing it back down. Lucy couldn't help but notice how unusual Natsu seemed. She noted how tense he was, along with how he appeared to be studying her every move.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

He let out a light sigh, answering, "something's not right, and I'm the wrong person to try and figure out what it is."

"Tell me what happened. Why does it sound like this episode was different than the rest?"

"Well," Natsu started, counting on his fingers as he went on, "for one, you didn't remember it. Two, it lasted a little longer than your other ones. Three, you were hurting yourself trying to stop the pain. And four, you don't remember it happening."

"You said that one already."

"I did?"

Lucy nodded. "What do you mean I was hurting myself?"

Natsu's eyes dropped to her covered stomach. "You were punching your wound."

Lucy's hand instinctively hovered over the new patchwork. She winced, as if talking about the wound made her remember the stinging pain she felt from it.

"I kinda feel it now that you mention it."

"After I just finished re-bandaging it for you, too. You have a weird way of saying thanks."

Lucy's cheeks turned a rosey shade of pink, turning away from Natsu. She was glad he had been there for each of her episodes. Wendy probably was the best candidate considering she helped ease the pain, but having Natsu there was almost the same thing in her eyes.

"Thank you," Lucy said, genuinely.

Natsu grinned at her. "Just don't make me do it again."

She nodded. Lucy wondered how it must have felt for him to see her in that condition. A part of her felt embarrassed to look so weak and have him cleaning up after her, but she was grateful nonetheless. Besides, Natsu seemed like he was worried, not put off by it.

"I don't really wanna move you, especially after what just happened," Natsu said, "but I think you should be as close to Wendy as possible right now."

Lucy nodded again, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position on the couch. Her wound was throbbing, but she did her best to hide it. Natsu extended his hand to her, helping pull her up on her feet. She swayed for a second, his hand wrapping around her waist to stabilize her.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah… thanks," Lucy said, covering her cheeks with her hands.

"I can carry you if you want? I wonder if Gramps found anything out. Seemed like he knew something to me."

Lucy looked at him with a confused expression. "What are you talking about?"

Natsu's expression matched hers. "Yesterday, when we talked to him about everything that's been going on?"

"I don't remember talking to master about anything."

"You're kidding. How do I remember something and you don't? We were there, and Erza, Gray, and Wendy were, too. Are you being serious right now?"

Lucy nodded. "I don't even remember seeing master yesterday."

Natsu's worry spiked, wondering if Lucy's memory loss had anything to do with the intensive migraines she was experiencing. He decided they didn't have a moment to waste.

"C'mon," he picked her up bridal style before she could protest. "We need to get to the guild, and fast."

"We're here, Natsu. You can put me down now."

"Huh? Oh, right."

Natsu placed Lucy gently on the ground as the two entered the guild hall. He saw Wendy chatting with Mira at the bar, taking hold of Lucy's hand and tugging her along. He was over the moon that the young girl was here already. But it seemed like most of the guild was. As they neared, Natsu picked up on the conversation the two girls were having.

"Really?" Wendy asked. "That's so strange."

"I don't think I'm old enough yet to be forgetting where I put things. I can't tell if someone's playing a prank on me or what, but I can't find the—"

"Wendy," Natsu cut in, "can you have a look at Lucy? She's been—"

"Listen up!" Makarov's voice carried through the guild hall, gaining the attention of every member present.

"I know most of you are aware of the dark guild that has been gathering the pieces in order to use time travel. I know I spoke with a few of you on the matter yesterday, and I claimed I knew nothing of the final piece they needed to collect. I am ashamed to admit later than I should have that I not only know what the omnicore is, but of it's location as well."

Gasps rang throughout the hall, followed by an eerie silence as they all waited for what Makarov would say next. He took a few seconds to sigh, eyes falling with his next words.

"I had possession of the orb. It was kept in this very guild. I thought that I could destroy it before this dark guild could find it, but…"

His voice trailed off, and regret and shame was evident in the old man's face. He didn't continue, and Natsu broke the silence to ask the question everyone in the room was wondering.

"But what?"

"When I went to grab the orb from it's location, it was gone."

X

I wonder what'll happen next. Thank you for your lovely reviews, they make me smile and I reread them all the time. Have an amazing week friends! ❤︎