Chapter 23: Skyfall
When Lucy awoke, Natsu was still curled around her, but his head was raised up to watch the sky. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, but winced at the slight pain in her arm where she'd been cut by rocks during her struggle with Natsu. To her surprise, it was cleaned and wrapped with a big leaf.
"Oh, you're awake?"
Natsu's head had turned to stare down at her. His dark eyes were expressionless.
Lucy nodded and tried to stand up, but her muscles were on fire. She groaned and sat back down, "Yeah…but I've never been so tired in my life…"
"I didn't exactly go easy on you." he pointed out.
"No, you certainly didn't." she agreed, then looked up to find the sun. To Lucy's amazement, it was beginning to set. The sky was already fading from light blue to a soft orange.
"How long was I out?"
Natsu snorted, "All day long. You slept as hard as a bear during winter. I got up after a bit and found some stuff to bandage your arm. Sorry about the bumps and bruises and stuff."
Lucy shook her head, "No, it's okay…it was very nice of you to think of bandaging this up. Thank you."
He rolled his eyes, "I'm amazed you actually survived all that."
"I'm told I can be pretty stubborn." she admitted.
"No argument there." Natsu agreed, then set his head down on the ground to look at her, "Now, I dragged you out here so my questions won't be interrupted."
Lucy smiled a bit, "Let me guess, you want to know what the Soul Link is, right?"
He just looked at her expectantly. She took a deep breath and dove into it.
"A Soul Link is what you might call a Symbiosis Spell. It joins two separate souls at a unique magic wavelength and strengthens them in different ways on both ends. Like me, for instance. Since my soul is connected to yours now, I can manage a much bigger amount of magical power."
"Good for you." Natsu muttered, "And how do I benefit?"
Lucy tapped her chin, "I'm pretty sure your mind is going to be much harder for people like Jose to penetrate because my skill with mental defense is pretty high. In other words, no run of the mill sorcerer can just walk into your head whenever they want. Which reminds me, I need to teach you how to block out psychic offenses like the ones Jose uses."
He snorted, "That could be good, I guess. So long as I keep him out and get my claws on him, I don't think it should be much of a problem to kill the bastard, right?"
"That's the idea." she said with a nod, "Okay, so let's try it now. I don't need to do anything physical for this. Just follow what I say, alright?"
"Sure."
Lucy closed her eyes and set her hand on the drake's flank. In a moment, Natsu felt her touch his consciousness through the Soul Link.
(It's harder for Jose to do this since he isn't linked to you, but he's really strong anyway. Once you can keep me out, I think you should be able to stop Jose from getting to you as well.)
(So how do I block you out?)
(Let's see…Try creating a strong mental image. A strong memory- the strongest you can think of. Either that, or a figure you think of as powerful. Imagine that memory or figure blocking me from getting at you.)
(Okay…) Natsu wracked his head, trying to find a powerful image in his mind. The first thing that came to him was Smaug. The huge drake had been immensely powerful. Surely he could…
(Try getting in.) He told Lucy as he pictured Smaug standing between the girl and himself.
Lucy smiled. (That might have worked on me before I was linked to you, but now…it's not enough, Natsu.)
She held up a hand and grabbed the dragon blockade, making it implode. Natsu felt a sudden sting in his head and snarled uncomfortably.
(That's what happens when your defense gets eliminated. It won't be that easy for Jose because I can help reinforce your mind, but you really need to get better at it. That way, I won't have to sense every little thing you feel or think, get it?)
(Alright, let me try again.)
Natsu tilted his head and frowned, trying to come up with another mental image.
(Before I forget, try and make the memory as happy and positive as you can. You can make a defense with a really bad memory too, but let's not do that, okay?)
(Right…so I'll try this.) He pictured Gajeel and Wendy, both grinning after the three of them had met up for the first time.
Natsu could tell it was tougher for Lucy this time, but she broke through nonetheless.
(Those aren't the best memories you have, are they? What about your parents?)
(Isn't that a bad memory? They're dead in case you remember…)
(Try and think of a happy memory you had with them. The happiest you can ever remember being.) Lucy tried encouraging him.
(Jeez, tough order…) Natsu growled reluctantly.
(Sorry. I know it's not something you want to think about, but we really need to get your mind locked up so Jose can't take you away like he did to Gajeel. If he takes you right now…)
(Yeah, all of you would be completely screwed. Sorry if I'm just too much.) he sounded kind of smug.
(Haha, so funny. Focus, mister.)
Even though he had a hard time imagining his parents without bad feelings to go with them, Natsu gave it his best to picture the best moment he could remember. Him, Sunrose, and Igneel all lying together in the sun when the volcanic crater was still dead. The three of them had curled up and basked in the warmth and it had felt so good. He missed that warmth.
(Can you break down this one?) Natsu asked.
(…) Lucy was silent in his mind. She shook her head and spoke normally, "I can't get through. Nice job, Natsu. You found a way to keep me out."
"Good. So I just need to do that to keep you from sneaking into my head?" he said as his tail flicked in satisfaction.
"I won't sneak." Lucy muttered, looking offended, "And if I tried to look through your mind, you'd be able to tell. We can always have our own thoughts unless one of us decides to talk to the other telepathically."
Natsu shrugged, "So long as I still have my thoughts to myself, I can live with that."
She nodded, then smiled curiously, "Hey…I kind of want to try something."
He tilted his head, "Which is…?"
"You remember when you told me what a Skyfall was?"
Natsu blinked, "Yeah, so what?"
"Do you think you can maybe show me what it's like?" Lucy asked.
The Fire Drake stared at her, "Um…well…that's, ah…"
Lucy frowned, "What?"
Natsu shifted and coughed uncomfortably, "W-well, it's kind of, uh, y'know…something two dragons do. Without another..dragon…it's kind of just a free-fall…"
He prayed she wasn't about to ask what he dreaded was coming. But Lucy asked, as expected.
"What's the difference?"
Natsu's eyes focused on the trees, the grass, the clouds, anything. He already felt-
"Why are you so uncomfortable?" Lucy asked, "Your end of the Soul Link feels so awkward!"
"I-I wonder!" he stammered and gulped, "Well…Lucy, y'see, it's kind of like…ah…a Skyfall is sort of something a drake and a..dragonelle…are supposed to do..together…alone…y'know, umm…"
He had no idea how someone as smart as Lucy could be so clueless, but she got impatient, "Just spit it out, Natsu! What happens during a Skyfall?"
Natsu felt heat crawling through his scales, but Lucy's persistence finally annoyed him enough to snap the information, "It's how dragons mate, okay?!"
Lucy blinked for a moment, then her face turned bright red, "O-oh! I uh, I see! W-well, I had no idea!"
The Fire Drake grumbled, "Honestly…you'd think that by living with so many dragons, you'd know some of this stuff by now…"
"Well they never talk about it…it's not like any of the dragons in Fairy Tail have a mate, remember?" Lucy muttered, but found humor in the situation. Enough to make her giggle, "Who knew even you could get so awkward on a subject like that…how cute!"
Natsu practically roared in embarrassment, "You really piss me off!"
Lucy got over her giggle fit and smiled at the young dragon, "Tell you what, let me call it a free fall instead, but can you show me what it's like?"
He grumbled for a moment, but sighed and used his tail to lift her onto his back, "Hold on."
Natsu got up, then leaped skyward, flying up in a spiral pattern. His wings beat swiftly, strongly, and Lucy was aware of an instinctive craving for the wind from his end of the Soul Link. The dragon was addicted to this vast, endless expanse of sky.
Lucy gasped as a sudden chill came through her when they flew through the roof of clouds. Natsu continued to climb faster and higher, higher, higher…
He suddenly stopped climbing and hovered at his peak, staring down at the world below.
Lucy's breath was taken away by the view.
The earth was laid out before her. She could see Magnolia, but it was just a tiny cluster of buildings beside the massive mountain where the Thunder Hall lay. Further on, she saw the coastline, the sea, the forest…
"Now you know what it's like to be a dragon."
Natsu didn't look at her, but his voice was surprisingly soft. Lucy could sense calm in his aura, but it was just a thin shell over what he really felt. Beneath his shell of serenity was a writhing mass of excitement.
"Hold on tight, Lucy."
Natsu dropped.
He turned his body so his head faced the earth, falling straight down out of the air. Lucy opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She just held onto Natsu tight, her eyes wide as they fell.
As they fell, Natsu spread his wings and started slowly spinning. To Lucy's amazement, he began to laugh.
Pure joy raced through Natsu.
Lucy could feel the incredible exhilaration and happiness pouring through every scale in the Fire Drake's body as he closed his eyes. This was where he belonged. He was a dragon. A creature of overwhelming might and magic.
He was a real sky king.
They burst through the clouds after minutes of falling, leaving a huge, gaping hole in the white blankets covering the sky.
Natsu bellowed in jubilation, savoring the freedom of his fall. He opened his eyes to watch the earth rushing closer and closer, but still didn't pull up. They were heading straight for the lake on the edge of Magnolia.
Lucy gulped as they got closer. (Uh, Natsu? Shouldn't you, y'know, slow down?)
(No way. Not yet.)
They were really close to the water now, just hundreds of feet above the shining expanse of lake. But Natsu kept falling vertically, eyes narrowed in concentration.
(Natsu…)
Lucy could make out the buildings easily now. They were still falling dangerously fast.
(Natsu.)
The Fire Drake bared his fangs in a grin that was nearly crazed with excitement. He could see individual people on the streets of Magnolia. They were barely a hundred feet above the lake now.
"NATSU!" Lucy shrieked both mentally and verbally.
Natsu finally let out a roar and banked up sharply, feeling his spine bend from the incredible force of momentum. His claws skimmed the water as he finally leveled out and he breathed a river of fire over the lake in a last burst of ecstasy.
Lucy gasped for breath and tried to recover from the shocking fall, "H-holy crap…"
He slowed his flight and lazily circled around to come back to the city. Natsu flashed a grin her way, "Isn't it amazing?"
She nodded, "Mmhm, can we get to the ground now, please?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Natsu rolled his eyes and shook his head, but the fanged smile on his face didn't disappear.
They landed on the edge of the lake and Magnolia. Natsu crouched so Lucy could slide down his leg, but she stumbled and would have fallen had he not caught her with his tail. She felt dizzy and her legs were wobbling.
Natsu snorted in amusement, "Did that meet your expectations?"
Lucy sat down slowly and sighed, but offered a smile, "It was incredible. Thanks so much, Natsu. I don't think I could ever forget that."
"Yup. There's no way you have a fear of heights anymore, right?" he grinned cheerfully.
Her smile grew. So flying is something that really makes him happy, huh? Good to know.
Lucy decided to mess with him a bit and smirked mischievously, "And that would be pure heaven for you if a dragonelle joined in, huh?"
Natsu's eyes got huge and he stammered, "D-don't say such weird things, you brat!"
She laughed in a crazy fit of hysterics, "Th-the look on your f-face! Ahahahahahahaha!"
"Stop making me look silly! You suck, Lucy!" Natsu yelled with utter, hot embarrassment.
Lucy continued to laugh on the ground until a few people approached them.
"I see you two are finally getting along." Layla smiled with Erza and Wendy in their human forms behind her, "I'm guessing you agreed to the Soul Link, Natsu?"
The Fire Drake grunted, "I guess so. I mean, I think Lucy kind of earned it after surviving a flight on my back."
"Rampage would probably be a better word." Erza mused, "An insane, raging-wild rampage."
Natsu shrugged, "I'm not that big on details."
"Unless it involves Skyfalls." Lucy giggled.
"SHUT IT!" he screeched back.
Wendy tilted her head, "What's a Skyfall?"
Natsu's eyes got huge, "See you guys, have fun explaining that shit to her!"
"Wait-Natsu!" Wendy protested, but the Fire Drake took off and bolted for the Thunder Hall.
Erza covered a hand to hide her laughter, "He gets embarrassed over things like that? Really?"
Lucy had another fit of giggles, "Oh, you should have seen the look on his face earlier! It was just priceless! I still can't stop laughing!"
Wendy looked between the two of them in cluelessness, "What's the big deal? What's a Skyfall?"
Layla managed to just keep a smile and patted the young dragonelle's shoulder, "Something we'll explain to you another time. It's something only dragons do, but not something you need to worry about for a good while yet."
"O..kay?" she replied, still confused.
/\/\/\/\/\
Natsu landed in the Thunder Hall and shuddered. If I had to explain that stuff to Wendy…ugh…I don't even want to think about it…
He was halfway down the hall to his cave when someone got in his way.
Lisanna glared at him. Her tail flicked from side to side slowly.
Natsu blinked, "Um..hi."
"Hey. Why'd you try to sneak out this morning?" she asked menacingly.
The Fire Drake avoided his gaze, "Oh, you know…Lucy said she wanted to fly around for a bit, and I had nothing better to do, so…"
Lisanna didn't buy it at all. He could see it in her eyes.
She's pissed.
"Funny…I could have sworn you were really against anything human-related yesterday…" she muttered, "And that sure sounded like you going wild out there earlier."
"W-well, y'know…I changed my mind a bit." he stammered.
"Uh-huh." The white dragonelle had him pinned under her unwavering blue stare.
Natsu shuffled uncomfortably. He had no idea she could be so intimidating, so he tried a different approach, "Shouldn't you be in Porlysuca's cave? Won't you reopen your wounds?"
Lisanna puffed up her cheek, "Don't change the subject. You were going to go after Jose, weren't you?"
He gulped. She had him, and they both knew it.
"…Yeah. But-"
"You big dummy!"
Natsu flinched as her tail whipped around and came within inches of smacking him between the eyes before she paused.
Lisanna growled at him, "Don't you ever try that again."
He nodded silently, his eyes a little crossed as he stared at the tip of her tail just hovering in front of his face. She huffed and spun around, walking a few paces before whipping her neck around to stare at him, "We need you. Don't do stupid things and get yourself hurt."
Natsu blinked in surprise. Was she just worried?
He relaxed a bit and watched her walk off for a moment as he murmured, "Thanks…"
Lisanna's tail twitched slightly to acknowledge she'd heard him, but she didn't look back and kept walking back up to Porlysuca's cave.
Natsu sighed and headed back to his cave. He wanted to take a nap.
/
Lisanna lay back down in the nest where she'd been resting earlier beside Mira. She rested her head beside her sister's. I wasn't too rough on him. That's what he gets for trying to do something so dumb.
She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. So why was I…so worried about him getting hurt?
/\/\/\/\/\
"Graaahh!"
"Guoo!"
Jose watched as Gajeel beat down Sol with ease. The Iron Drake was just punishing the other dragon at this point. Even though Jose made them fight each other for entertainment, it was kind of boring when the match was so one-sided.
His thoughts drifted back to the Fire Dragon he had seen Layla riding during the first raid. Jose smirked.
He was a powerful drake…I must take possession of him. With him and this Iron Dragon, the rate of destruction I can achieve will increase exponentially…
Jose stood up. The dragons he commanded looked at him.
The Sorcerer grinned darkly, "Let's take the fight once again to them, shall we?"