Chapter Forty-Eight
Lover at the Lake
It hadn't taken long for Lucy to figure out that Natsu and Happy were at a small spot north of Magnolia, in the forests that lined the path towards Porlyusica's home, but that short ten-minute walk had taken her at least double that as she'd been observing everything along the way.
When she finally did get to the edge of the lake, she saw Happy sitting in what she knew was Natsu's coat, but she could not see nor smell where he was.
"Happy?" She called out, not wanting to wake him if he was asleep.
"Yessir," the feline yawned, barely awake, and not collected enough to realize that it was Lucy that had called his name.
"So much for fishing, you're just making Natsu do the work, huh?" She mused, looking down at her lazy cat.
The surface of the water erupted with the emergency of the pink-haired Dragon Slayer in question.
He walked right through the broken surface, one hand holding a fish almost as big as he was, slung over one shoulder, as the other hand swept the water out of his eyes.
The Celestial mage had absolutely no defence, her eyes were firmly glued on the rippling muscles that moved underneath the wet skin.
"Holy shit," she breathed out as quietly as she could.
"We've only been gone half an hour," he told her, looking at her suspiciously.
"I know, it's just that," Lucy crossed her arms, determined to focus on just about anything rather than the half-naked Fire Dragon.
"It's a nice place, this lake. The fish, the trees, the birds." He told her, putting the fish down on a few rocks that he'd gathered beforehand.
"The birds…" Lucy stopped, looking at the treeline on the other side of the lake.
"Even if they can sometimes be a bit loud." He added quickly, "You can hear them, can't you? The baby birds on the other side, they sound hungry." He muttered.
"They're so loud," she said, clutching her arms, holding herself tighter, "Everything is so loud," she admitted.
"Yeah, I thought that might be the case. You've surprised me at every turn, I should have anticipated that you'd be further developed than expected." He said, rising from where he'd been tending to the fish. He gave a subtle wave of his hands, a puff of fire incinerating all traces of the fish from his hands.
"Lucy," he said softly, placing a warm finger under her chin making her head rise so that she could look into his eyes.
"You have to learn how to focus on those things, only once you can pick them out can you also dull yourself to other things." He explained, grabbing one of her hands and placing it on his chest.
She could feel the ebb and flow of magic underneath, alongside the heavy pull from the key.
"Hmm," he hummed quietly, "Can you feel it?" He asked, watching her intently. She closed her eyes, focusing solely on the powerful thrum and beat of his heart. It almost echoed around the key before both beats reached her fingertips.
"I can, it feels, strange, like there's two hearts." She nodded.
"Only one heart, but it does beat for two. One is mine, the heartbeat of the Dragon, and the other is a reflection from Anna's key, that's the heartbeat of the other guy." He explained softly.
"Now," he said, taking her hand away, "Can you still feel it?" He asked.
"No," she said, scrunching her eyes tighter as she focused, "But I can hear it, clear as day." She said, a soft smile creeping across her lips.
"And the birds?" He asked.
"I hear them too, but they aren't too loud, not while I can hear this," she said, placing a hand back across his chest, not wanting it to go away.
He slowly pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. The heat of his body had already dried his skin.
"Warm," she said with a shudder as it flowed through her. In that moment she sounded a lot like Happy did whenever Natsu was close.
She took a deep breath through her nose, inhaling every last bit of his scent that she could.
It was intoxicating. She felt more alive in this moment than any other.
She'd felt Erza and Mira's power stand out in the guildhall, outshining everyone except Makarov. She'd felt Gajeel's magic on a different level, recognising it as the same type as her own, but this…
Natsu stood alone in terms of power. She could feel the ceiling of Erza's power, mighty as it was, but she couldn't even fathom how deep Natsu's magic went.
"Lucy, you smell way too good, we're going to get into some trouble here unless I let you go," he whispered to her, not moving his arms away from where they rested on her back.
"You haven't let go," she said, her own voice nothing more than a hushed whisper perfectly matching his. Their faces were inches apart. She could feel his hot breath delicately brush against her skin.
"I have not, but I can fix that." He said, lifting her with ease. She was still at eye level with him, but now he was standing straight.
She took the chance and pushed herself down, her lips catching him exactly where she'd wanted to. She hadn't expected it to go right, or for it to be even slightly coordinated, but between them they had a perfect rhythm, their lips working in tandem with one another.
The chemistry of the two Dragon Slayers was perfect. Natsu hadn't been joking, he was struggling internally, waging a war against his instincts that were screaming at him to make her his.
One final step forward and they plunged into the cold water of the lake, stealing Lucy's breath as her lungs went into panic mode.
She was immediately calmed by his hands on her face, his deep black eyes locking onto hers. He closed the distance for another kiss but was ripped away from her, the currents sweeping him through to the centre of the lake.
It took him a moment before he managed to get his body back under control, and then he saw it, the thing that made his day go from relaxed and slightly steamy to unnecessarily painful.
The water-bound Celestial spirit that had taken an overwhelming dislike to him recently was staring right at him, with eyes that promised a painful death.
"You need a chaperone, boy." She said, her voice echoing through the water perfectly. Holding his breath underwater for an extensive period wasn't a problem, but he didn't have a way to respond to her.
He simply crossed his arms and mirrored her expression.
"Lofhng tufhm no sfee, Sfelrius." He managed to garble, knowing that it would infuriate her to no end.
It did.
He was painfully ejected from the lake, his body flying all the way back to the bank where Lucy had managed to crawl out on her own. She winced at the sound his body made when it slammed roughly against the mud.
"Ow," he wheezed, rolling over and pushing himself up. "I think she may not like me as much as I had initially believed." He added, sending a glare at the spot where Aquarius' body rose up until most of her was poised above the water, indifferent to gravity.
She continued to burn a hole through him.
"So, much more power at your disposal, I'm guessing your ability to open gateways is laughably easy now?" He queried, only receiving a quick nod in response, she was far too busy glaring at the spirit.
"What," she began, standing tall, "Was that for?" She demanded.
"You interrupt my dates all the time, get over it. Plus, I said before that one day I would find a way to kill him." Aquarius said, going back to glaring at Natsu.
"You can't drown or suffocate a Dragon, it would take weeks. I don't even remember why you're upset with me, Selerius!" He shot back, drying himself off once again.
"Aquarius!" She screamed.
"Are you sure? And were your eyes always this blue? I could have sworn they were green." He said, looking at her thoughtfully.
"Yes, I am certain of my own name, and you know damn well what you've done. For any other that would be a sleight worthy of death, but you are irritatingly powerful." She cursed him, her glare incredibly threatening.
"Power attracts power, you must remember the first time we met." He grinned, seeing her gaze soften slightly.
"I do," she nodded.
"I was being hunted, I stumbled into your temple and you fell into my arms, the romance was in the air." He added, suddenly feeling that Lucy's glare had been turned on him.
"Excuse me, can you not?" She asked rhetorically. "We were having a moment, can you keep it in your pants when it comes to my spirits?" She added.
"I mean, I can try, but for some reason the few spirits that I remember from way back when were all unnecessarily sexy, case in point." He replied, waving a finger at Aquarius who didn't seem so angry with him all of a sudden.
"Well," Aquarius said, turning her head away, "I guess I'll let you live for now, just know that I have a boyfriend, so you and I aren't happening." The spirit told him, faux anger in her voice.
He'd been about to retort, to escalate it further, but she deftly disappeared in a radiance of light, leaving the two alone with the sleeping cat.
"That was close," Lucy breathed hard.
"The fact that Aquarius basically tried to kill me or because we-"
"The second thing." She told him abruptly, already knowing what he was alluding to.
"I told you in the guildhall, that you and I are the same on a level that other Dragon Slayers won't be. We're connected by many things, but this…" he trailed off.
"We share the same nature, do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to control myself? I already have to put conscious effort into keeping that darkness contained, this is just something else entirely." He laughed.
"Yes, I am painfully aware of the fact that the sexual tension is almost tangible." She glared at him.
"We should surround ourselves with other people before things get out of hand," he said, carefully scooping up Happy.
"Hey buddy, caught you a fish," he said motioning to the piece on the rocks. Happy, happy as ever, leapt down and picked it up, singing to himself, already floating back down the path to the guild.
"Come on, show me around the town, I need to look at getting a place closer to the guild, I think I've possibly already worn out my welcome in the dormitory." He chuckled to himself as the two left the lake behind.
"Or… I have my own apartment, I don't live with anyone else," she said, letting the statement hang in the air.
"That…" he said, unable to think of anything, "Is probably not…" he stopped again.
By that point, Happy had roved well out of sight, presumably on his way to the guild to show off the comically large fish he had.
"I can only imagine that going one of one ways, and I just don't want to fumble and mess any of this up." He admitted with a mild shrug.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Lucy asked with a sultry grin.
"The worst… Probably nothing that you'd expect. Recently I've been having these dreams, they're actually memories, but I think that they were planted in me when Anna forged the key." He told her.
"If nightmares are the worst thing; I'm pretty ok with having you there," she said, moving closer to him.
"It's not that," he shook his head, "Last night was another memory. As you know, I was with Erza last night. I removed the contract brand that I have her, but she wanted to keep it so I gave her a different one, and somehow, she was pulled into my memory as well." He explained.
She remained silent, not wanting to break where he was going, "I'm worried that the same would happen to you and you'll see something terrible." His voice had quietened to almost a whisper. She knew that he was struggling to find the words to describe his internal strife.
"There's something specific that you don't want me to see, isn't there?" She tilted her head, knowing that no matter how hard she tried she wouldn't be able to drop this.
"These memories, they're all linear, eventually I'm going to be forced to relive Anna's death." He admitted.
"I won't let you go through that alone," she said, taking his hand in hers, surprising him with her resolve.
"If you're going to get this dream no matter what, then I want to be there when it happens. There's nothing in that head of yours that's going to change my mind, not even that thing hidden away. You go that, Dragon?" She asked, prodding him in the chest. Her fingertips resonated with the Heartfilia key, pinging a soft jolt of energy through his body.
She'd felt it too, enjoying this newfound control. She stared in mild awe at her hand, knowing that this would give her great entertainment value in the future.
"So, will you stay with me, even if only for a little while?" She asked, hopeful.
After a moment of deliberation, he nodded, "Yes, I will, but you know how tense that's going to be, right?" He asked.
"I do, I can still feel that tension now." She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Let's go back before Evergreen starts fabricating rumours about us as well." Lucy stifled a laugh.
"Go on ahead, I need to head out the other way, I'll come back to the guild soon, I just need to check something out." He said, smiling as she waved at him, following the path Happy had trailed that led to Magnolia.
He turned his attention back to the scent that had crossed him. Normally he wouldn't have thought anything of it, but he could also feel the vast magical power.
Why were Makarov and Mirajane going towards Porlyusica's hut?
It was time for him to visit Porlyusica anyway, this was just an added bonus.
A/N: I'm still figuring out how the time aspect of their dynamic will work. The biggest challenge here is making sure that it doesn't feel like any of them are being forgotten about while the story arcs progress. Looks like things are going to start stepping up a gear between them. Review?