Rated M
M is for MATURE, people.
If I can pretend to be, then you can too!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! *sob* However sometimes I wonder if Mashima-sama used to follow me and my friends around to help him dream up a few of his characters!
At least let a girl dream!
*~.🌒.~*
One Soul
The morning was astonishingly peaceful. The human girl found it rather funny that so many times in the past she would wake in a sweat; yet here she was sharing a bed with a figurative flaming furnace and there was nary a sheen. It could not be denied that his presence soothed her... idly, she wondered if she'd simply been a stressful sleeper until he came along to share her bed. With the sun barely peeking out, Lucy stretched—and every proper stretch goes hand and hand with a refreshing moan. And that was a sound that roused the dragon next to her. With his head still buried in a pillow, a claw reached for her as she lifted out of bed. Natsu barely kept from whimpering when all his arm hit was mattress. He peeked over the pillow and watched her walk to the room's vanity where she began to run a brush through her hair. His mind wandered to the best of places as he enjoyed how golden locks tumbled down such a silky back with each stroke. The nightgown she wore melded with her ivory skin in a way that had him imagining it to be the icing on his cake. He hadn't realized he'd flipped around on the bed to get a better view until she looked over her shoulder at him. Mavis but her smile was the cherry on top.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
A smile curled onto his lips then, making it very obvious what game he wanted to play as he replied, "If you were really sorry, you'd get back in here and try again."
When a delicious pink started to stain her cheeks, she quickly turned around and tied her hair up. Looking at him in the mirror she said, "You seem a bit too wound to go back to sleep, Master Dragneel."
Deftly rolling off the bed to land on his feet, Natsu strolled over to stand behind her and planted his hand onto a creamy shoulder. Slowly bending down, he nibbled her neck and replied, "No more than usual."
His teeth had felt exceptionally hot... had he meant for that? Lucy kept an eye on him in the mirror as he sauntered off like he hadn't done a thing and dug a very abstract tea kettle out of an interior coat pocket. Lucy gawked, "How do you manage to keep so much in such a slim coat?"
He winked at her as he placed a special assortment of leaves he'd prepared last night into it. "When we bond, I'll show ya."
"What? Bond? Of course we share a bond." Lucy waved him off and went to his coat to investigate.
Natsu poured water from a pitcher on the nightstand into the kettle and yawned as he steeped it in a flaming hand. He chuckled when Lucy came up empty from searching his coat, "There's nothing in here!"
"Sure there is," he grinned. "I got tons of stuff in there. You just can't see it cuz it's not your coat."
"Okay. That makes... zero sense." Lucy frowned. "...my mirror's still in there, right?
"Zero sense is kinda what I'm best at." Natsu peeked into the kettle, though there really shouldn't have been a conceivable way for that lid to have hinges.
That's when a chill went up Lucy's spine. She knew that tea kettle! Utterly dumbfounded, the lady pointed at the pot he held. "That's..."
"Hmm?" Natsu cocked a brow.
"That's my kettle!" Lucy gaped, tossing a hand on her head in disbelief.
"It is?" Natsu looked at it again, "That's weird, I've had it as long as I can remember. Kinda thought is was mine."
"No, no," Lucy bounced on her feet. How could it be? "I've drawn this... exact kettle before... with matching cups and tray!"
This tickled Natsu's fancy greatly. She was getting so excited over this old thing! He watched as she walked around him, checking all the angles of what used to be nothing but a two dimensional doodle. Once she stopped circling, she sat herself on the bed and stared blankly. Thinking out loud, she asked, "How do you have a tea set I drew out of the blue like... a year ago?"
With the water boiling, Natsu placed the kettle down, "A year ago huh? That settles it then." He turned back to her with a victorious smirk as he approached where she sat.
The (still) bewildered blonde looked up at him and asked, "Settles what?"
Placing his hands onto the bed with his treasured fiance between, the dragon leaned his forehead to hers and spoke plainly, "That the kettle is mine, of course."
"Damnit Natsu!" Lucy chuckled and slapped his chest, causing a laugh out of the Hatter who then leaned her the rest of the way onto the bed. She tried to say something more, but the Hatter finally had her back where he wanted and snaked his tongue right past her lips. She sighed at his taste and the delicate fingers she'd struck him with now dug into his hair. Though as the dragon slithered a hand down her side, Lucy gripped his hair so tightly it forced a grunt out of him. Giving the hatter a growl of her own, she hissed, "Don't you start burning things! This gown is not mine!"
Curling a smile and reveling in Lucy's dominating tone, the dragon replied, "Foiled again already." Accepting the riveting pain of her hair pulling, Natsu pressed his lips against her neck. He'd meant to simply kiss it, but the scent of her proved far too much for him and he began to suck in such supple skin. Feeling a chill from his love's moan, he continued engulfing her as one on her hands slid down to clutch the nape of his strong neck. She trembled and arched against him as her tender neck felt both teeth and tongue. Her whole body warmed, yet grew goosebumps, a feeling that only heightened when the claw at her side raised to massage a breast. An indiscernible sound escaped parted lips that the Hatter knew he must make his as he freed her neck to kiss her once again. Her smell was changing to that delightful scent of arousal, and it urged his feral instincts to make this woman his once and for all. Natsu hummed as his Juicy curled a leg around his and his hand left her breast cold as it went down to anchor itself at her hip.
Barely lifting from Lucy's lips, Natsu panted, "She won't miss one little night gown."
Lucy felt the beast's hand heating up and quickly entwined hers in his, "No way! She'll never let me borrow—!"
In a fit of frustration and need, Natsu lifted her up and Lucy reflexively wrapped legs around his sides as he swung her against the wall. Lucy cried out her surprise, but the sound was swallowed once the beast delved past her lips again. She could feel his fully erect desire for her as legs tightened just above his hips. She sat on fevered hands that gripped her hungrily and they both moaned their passion, though the lady tried to withhold hers. Somehow Lucy managed to wrangle choppy words between their embrace, "Naaatsuu! They'll hear us!"
"Who cares," he chided, sliding her core over the bulge cruelly locked away within his pants. "You want me, I can smell it."
In a wistful pitch, Lucy agreed, "Gods I do..."
Taking that as victorious consent, Natsu heated his entire body. More than ready to light up both their remaining clothes. However, the two of them froze at the sound of Gajeel's incredibly loud yelling a few doors down.
"WHAT THE FUCK!? GET AWAY FROM ME YA DAMN QUACK!"
Learning a new meaning for the word slippery with how deftly Lucy slipped right out of his grasp, the maiden swung on a robe and tumbled over words of her own. "Sorry Love, but I've got to make sure Levy's alright," and raced out the door.
Now facing nothing but a wall, Natsu growled menacingly and pounded the hated wall with a fist. "I'm gonna kill'em..."
Lucy ran into the infirmary to see Mirajane, now somehow now Demon Mirajane, and Tweedle Dum trying to restrain Gajeel from smashing the little blue caterpillar slowly inching off of him. Lucy bolted over and picked Porlyusica up and set her on the window sill. The healer was very unnerved and did not withhold her disdain in the slightest. "Damn stubborn dragons! I'm finally able to study the effects of mind control yet he won't even allow me a peek into his psyche! This won't do! This won't do at all!"
"IF I WANTED ANOTHER DAMN CREEP IN MY HEAD THEN I WOULDA SAID SUMTHIN!" Gajeel boomed, fighting against the queen and Tweedle Dum.
"Settle down wouldja...?" Came another voice in the doorway. Petite, little Levy was rubbing an eye, still completely out of it in an over-sized button-up shirt that probably belonged to her mate once upon a time. Her only concern being the pounding in her head, it took a moment of gazing at her beloved to realize that he was actually there. "Mavis... is it really you...?" With not another question, Levy dived onto her dragon love and Mirajane and Elfman released the beast so that he could wrap arms around her as well.
Levy cried into his chest and Gajeel leveled a frightening glare at the onlookers—who then realized it was time to leave.
Tweedle Dum scratched his head and continued on down the hall, but Lucy stopped to speak with Mirajane as she closed the door behind them.
"Queen Mirajane, you're a shift—"
"Oh my..." The queen gaped at the blonde.
Blinking curiously, Lucy put a hand to her cheek. "Wha-what? Is there something on my face?"
"Not your face." Mirajane giggled, shifting from a buxom demon back into the queenly form Lucy had known. "You let that hatter of yours into your room last night. Naughty, naughty!"
"Huh?" Lucy tilted her head in confusion as Mirajane passed her, still giggling.
Rushing to a hallway mirror, Lucy peered into it and gasped. Natsu had left a rather large love bite on her neck! Abashed, Lucy fled back into her room and leaned against the closed door.
Standing right next to her was the Hatter, who'd just finished fastening his coat. "Hey ya Juice. What was Anvil Face's boggle?"
"You!" Lucy glowered at him and tugged the scarf off his neck. "You left this-this thing on me!"
Natsu blinked and investigated the blemish she pointed to on her neck. "Oh hey! A hickey!"
"A hickey? A hickey?!" Lucy groaned at him. "You're not supposed to leave marks like this on me!"
"I'm not?"
"No!" Lucy held up his scarf, "I'm keeping this until all evidence of your animalistic tendencies are gone!"
"But we're still clear on the fact that the teapot is mine, yeah?"
"Who cares about the stupid pot! Natsu, I can't go out like this!"
"Alright, fine, fine." As he started to leave with teapot in hand, then hesitated by adding one more thing. "I guess I'll just have to bite cha somewhere else next time." He snickered as he shut the door when Lucy's response was throwing something at said door—for his love would never throw something at him. Surely not.
While Lucy dressed, she realized exactly how thin the walls were in this ramshackle building. She overheard Natsu knocking on the infirmary door, delivering tea to Levy for some reason, and welcoming Gajeel back—and punching his fellow dragon... for some reason. Then (of course) there was yelling that Lucy truly did not listen to, and a tapping at her door. With another glance at herself in the mirror with her Natsu-made outfit on plus scarf, she answered the door. Levy stood there, "Hey Juju, could I come in? Those guys missed each other so much they're gonna leave bruises."
"I was just heading downstairs, want to join me?"
Levy nodded with her mouse ears perked. It was wonderful to see her so happy again. As they descended the stairs, the Dormouse gawked at Lucy having the Hatter's scarf. "Wooow Juju! First his hat, now his scarf?"
Hearing Levy as she passed them with trays from the ground floor, Mirajane hummed, "Next will be his coat and pants!"
Lucy grumbled something about queens minding their own business that made the Dormouse giggle as they watched Mirajane walk the rest of the way behind the bar.
The tavern had a few colorful people that Lucy had never seen before breakfasting on eggs, bacon and a bit of whey. The two ladies sought out their own table and the Dormouse leaned in toward her. "No, but seriously. Natsu doesn't ever let anyone near that scarf. It's even more important to him than his hat!"
"Really?" Lucy tilted her head, "he didn't even raise a fuss when I took it." Did her fiance have an unhealthy attachment to his belongings? Could some dragon stereotypes be true? She couldn't help but remember his talk of the teapot being his and not hers—the thought humored her.
"He must really trust you, it's so sweet! Have you two bonded already?"
"Exactly what do you mean?" Lucy asked as Mirajane brought them their morning meal.
"Are you his mate? Dragons mate for life ya know." Levy replied, as though the subject wasn't intimate at all.
Neither of them noticed, but their conversation had the White Queen slowing her steps.
"Are you really asking if we've... made love?" Lucy fought down a blush while she whispered discretely.
"Well... yea, kinda." Levy actually swooned—discretion not a concern for her at all. "The first time is special though. It bonds you, kinda like a marriage does. But a dragon mating is just so hmm... there's a lot more uh... muchness to it."
Blush wasn't beaten, but rosy cheeks not withstanding, Lucy was intrigued enough to ask. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
Levy chewed her cheek trying to clarify, "I guess you could say it's like a wedding, but dragons wed physically."
The blonde gulped, "So... consummating the marriage is... more ceremonial...?"
Levy blushed and her eyes fogged, remembering her blissful first time. "Not at all. It's way more feral than anything else."
"Feral...?" Lucy's voice squeaked, was it getting hot in here? Oh gods what was she getting into! Was that why Natsu kept trying to bed her? It was his own version of—ahem—sealing the deal...?
"Oh my... Levy-dear!" Mirajane set down two teacups filled with warm peppermint tea, "I may need a little bit more detail about such carnal appetites! My goodness, our dragons really must be beasts!"
Lucy desired to shrink again as Levy simply nodded contently, "My Gaajie is for sure. I wonder how different your experience with a fire dragon will be? After all, I can only prepare you for what I know from my iron dragon."
"I think I'd like to skip all this, uh, prep talk... if it's all the same to you..." Lucy sweatdropped, sinking into her chair.
"Dear me, I think we've embarrassed the poor girl." Mirajane giggled, "drink that tea dearie, it'll help calm the nerves."
Stammering, Lucy cried, "I only have nerves because somehow we got on the topic of... uh..." noticing how loud she was being—and all the eyes suddenly on her, Lucy put her head on the table.
"Aww..." Mirajane smiled, sat next to her and patted her head.
Levy stated happily, "The subject came up cuz I asked about you bonding to Natsu!"
"I know how the conversation started Levy!" Lucy snapped.
Simply giggling, Levy asked Mirajane if she could have some cheese to go along with her eggs.
Once the queen departed, the Dormouse smiled at Lucy with her head down, "Chin up Juju! We're getting cheese! Cheese!"
"Hey Levy?" Lucy peeked out from an arm, "remember that talk we had with the queen about Natsu's birthright?"
Levy's ears wilted a tad at the question, "Yeah..."
Lifting herself back up and taking a bite of breakfast, having beaten down her blush—finally—she asked, "It seemed like something important had occurred to you."
Seemingly nervous, Levy's eyes darted to where Mirajane had disappeared into the kitchen. "I wonder what kinda cheese she'll bring out?"
"Levy!" Lucy whined.
"Oh Juju..." The Dormouse lamented, "I really think that's something you should ask the Hatter... If I'm right, then it must be just as personal as Gaajie being," she whispered the last part, "the Jabberwocky."
"I wouldn't even know how to bring it up..." Lucy sighed.
"Just ask him about his parents." Levy replied with a smile. "If my suspicions are correct, then you'll know, and if they're not—then you'll have fun learning something new about him!"
"Well..." Lucy mulled it over. "I know he's the son of Igneel. Is that a boy's or girl's name?"
"Oh, Igneel was his dad. A marvelous fire dragon that flew the skies back when Mavis ruled."
"And his mother...?"
The queen returned with freshly grated cheese, and Lucy knew her time for questions had reached its end. As Mirajane dumped it on Levy's plate, the girl practically had stars for eyes and transformed into a mouse—diving right into her plate.
It was such a silly sight, watching the mouse's breakfast collapse into itself as she ate.
About midway through her meal, Lisanna burst through the door, panting. "Mira! You need to come, now!"
This caused quite the commotion among the patrons, so as Mirajane pulled off her apron she tried soothing them. "Now, now, dearies, we aren't being attacked or Dee would have said so. Settle down, enjoy breakfast and I'll be back soon."
When the queen rushed out after Lisanna, Levy queried in her little mouse voice, "What do ya think that was all about?"
"I have no clue." Lucy sighed, taking her final bite of whey. "Do you think we should bring some food up for the boys?"
"Nah, they're not here."
"What?" Lucy gaped, "but they were in the infirmary!"
Levy shrugged and shifted back into her human form, sitting cross-legged on the table. "They probably went hunting. I can tell that Gaajie is out in the White Woods somewhere."
"You can?" Fascinating!
"Mmmhmm. He mentioned that he still felt pretty wild."
"Wild... how?" Lucy rose a brow.
Levy giggled, "I can't wait til you bond with Natsu. You'll understand."
Cursing another blush into oblivion, Lucy opted out of the current conversational direction and edged it another way. "Do you think they're in their dragon forms?"
The Dormouse put a thoughtful finger to her lips. "Hmm... maybe. That'd make for some efficient hunting."
There goes Lucy's imagination again... picturing all the different kinds of dragons she'd seen in books and which one the Hatter might resemble.
Levy elbowed her, "You wanna go find'em, don'tcha?"
"Damn right I do!" Lucy smiled darkly, "let's go dragon hunting."
"Yippee!"
^.^
The Dormouse was very impressed by Lucy's idea to hide their smell, for both of them had learned long ago that no matter how clean they were—they still carried dragon tattle-tell stink. Becoming muddy was the easy part though. What sort of clothes were they willing to ruin, and how to hide the noises they'd make tromping through the White Woods was the other. And because Lucy was dead set in catching her future husband in his natural element, she even thought to ask if Levy's bond to Gajeel might expose them.
A question she asked while they were covering themselves in mud, wearing these odd swim suits Mirajane had given them called bikinis. Apparently Lucy would have to try harder to learn the customs of this world if THIS was the caliber of modesty she would be expected to assimilate to. This was so much worse than the nightie Natsu had made her.
*Two hotties slathering mud on each other mental image GO!*
**Iconic: Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!**
The Dormouse was squeezing mud between her toes. "I can't be one hundred percent sure... but I think I'm the only one of us who's able to sense his general location. He's never mentioned anything but smell all the times I've tried to surprise him." Levy snickered, this was going to be so much fun! "I can't believe all this time I've just needed a sissy-in-law to finally give me some hope in scaring that guy!"
Piling mud on Levy's hair, Lucy shook her head with a chuckle, "We aren't trying to scare them, I just want to see Natsu."
"That's so boring though! Come on Juju!" Levy pleaded, turning around and tackling Lucy into the mud. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeze?! Gaajie's had this coming for years! Help meeeee!"
"Aaaaag!" Lucy sputtered, "Yeah, that's mud in my mouth. Ugh!"
"Come oooooon Juju! It'll be such a fun game!"
"Okay, okay Levy! Geez! I'm muddy enough! Gah!"
"Yaaaaaay!"
As the ladies rose, Lucy nearly slipped and Levy caught her—but since they were both ridiculously slippery—this made both of them fall. "Ouch..." Lucy groaned, "how are we supposed to be crazy quiet if we're slipping all over the place?"
"I could change into a mouse, at least then they wouldn't recognize bipedal footsteps."
Lucy frowned, "If they are hunting, wouldn't changing into an animal be a, hmm, bad idea?"
"Blast. You make a good point." Levy thought more, then her tail went fully erect when another idea struck her. "Oh, oh! Oh!oh!oh!oh!oh!oh! I know!" Bouncing to her feet, Levy used her script magic. "Soundproof Barrier!"
Letters appeared and Levy plucked the words right out of the air. The words fluttered about almost like a scarf. "Here, tie this onto you and you'll never make a sound. But we won't be able to talk to each other either."
Lucy held the words in her hands. "Wow... this is amazing... hey! Why didn't you just make one of these for smell too?"
"I'm glad I only just thought of this—rolling around in the mud with you was fun!" Levy giggled as she made another 'barrier' for herself.
"Of course you did..." Lucy sighed, tying the barrier around her neck (she'd hid Natsu's scarf in her room with her other clothes. After learning of it being one of his most prized possessions, she hadn't been willing to get it muddy).
Before Levy tied hers around her left leg, she added one last thing. "Follow my lead, Gaajie's taught me a thing or two about tracking."
Walking about a forest without making a sound was notably different than Lucy expected. Until forest creatures actually saw them, they did not scurry away. Something that also gave them hope, maybe their scent really was good and covered. The animals living in these parts were noticeably different as well. Many of them were covered in white fur that blended in well with all the white tree trunks. Lucy saw a colony of striped rabbits with antlers, squirrels with pointed ears, and once she even saw a mother deer with her fawn. Though instead of spots, the fawn had gorgeous black swirls swimming about its snowy hide. Lucy couldn't be sure how long they walked before Levy pointed out tracks. She didn't know much about footprints, but she was fairly sure they weren't dragon prints. Nevertheless, she followed her friend deeper into the forest.
Along the way, Lucy watched trees since the Dormouse had the ground covered. When she noticed rather large claw marks on one though, she quickly tapped the blunette's shoulder to point it out. The sight saddened her, and she investigated it thoroughly. Once finished, Lucy raised a brow at how Levy stroked the tree's trunk. Almost as if in a silent apology. Were these trees alive—of course they were—but like the living garden was alive? The revelation broadened the star maiden's experience as she walked through the forest. She even recalled how Natsu had patted the trunk of the red leaf weeper he'd made their new home under. A smile graced her lips as it occurred to her that she might never grow lonely in a forest again. She wondered if trees spoke like the flowers had. Would they be wiser? They certainly would have more years under their belt—err, trunk. How long did the typical flower live anyway?
Was Fall painful for trees?
Were termites like parasites?
Do trees like hugs?
The queens don't like forest fires.
Were trees citizens of Wonderland?
Her mind had wandered far as she watched the foliage with what felt like a brand new set of eyes. She hadn't even noticed how the mud had begun to dry and crack, that is until she bumped into the Dormouse anyway. Levy had stopped to peer through a bush, you see, her large mouse ears had heard voices. What she hadn't heard (due to her own magic) was Miss Dreamer Daydreaming, tripping right over her.
Soundlessly... they both tumbled into the bush, down a hill, and right into a shallow stream. While Lucy pulled herself up with a wince, Levy was rolling in the stream, laughing so hard tears were coming from her eyes. The sight of her muted mirth had the blonde disregard all aches and pains and giggled right along with her. Once such cachinnating (word of the day my lickable luvs!) ebbed, Levy mouthed out plainly, 'That was SO much fun!'
Lucy giggled, but ceased when the Dormouse sidled a hand next to her mouth and pointed in a certain direction. Nodding, both of them stayed low to the ground as they approached. It was downright perplexing how the Dormouse actually looked graceful as she crawled. Lucy couldn't help but feel that she did nothing but shamble along in the lovely mouse's wake.
Voices. First came disappointment. Lucy was pretty sure that their voices would've been a far cry from the norm if they were in their dragon forms. It was Gajeel speaking.
"I don't know man. Can't help but think that the chick's just lonely."
As Lucy peered through a hedge, she saw her Hatter pacing about a fire. "Don't fuckin' matter. Taking over you like that? That's the kinda crap you'd read Iracebeth do. Never thought Erza would pull shit like that."
Levy tapped her shoulder and hand gestured for Lucy to head over to the side. Then she theatrically acted out Lucy pouncing Natsu with more hand gestures. Lastly, Levy held up one, two, then three fingers. Did that mean that she wanted them to jump the guys in three minutes? Praying her interpretations of Levy's sign language accurate, Lucy nervously nodded and slunk away.
Great. Not only do I NOT get to see Natsu's other form, I still gotta try to surprise him! He sounds so... agitated! What if he gets mad? Who am I kidding... he's already mad. I just wanna go home...
"It was her eye patch." Gajeel grumbled, sitting on a tipped over log. "Damn thing's got some weird ass lacrima in it."
Natsu paused, holding a hand up as a signal to Gajeel. "Hold up. You smell sumthin?"
"Sure do. Dirt, mud, and your lame ass."
"No..." The Hatter's nostril flared. "Smells kinda... no... hmm."
Lucy's eyes widened when his head turned in her direction.
With both men looking in the Juicy's general area, our little dormouse couldn't pass up the opportunity. With great celerity, she pounced onto Gajeel's back and dodged the very counter she knew he'd react with. "RAUGH!" Gajeel grunted, "get offa me punk!"
Natsu pivoted back around, ready for anything—or so he thought. When he saw a silent Levy jumping off his partner's back and already on the ground laughing, he faltered and fell into foliage. "What the hell!?"
"Shrimp?" Gajeel turned around and raised a brow at his muted mate loosing her mind laughing.
Smiling to herself, Lucy stalked right out of the bushes and covered Natsu's eyes shortly after he picked himself back up. "Huh?"
Lucy had tried to say, guess who, but no one could hear her. Fortunately, Natsu connected what he'd smelled with the feel of her skin. Gajeel was the one that identified her though. "And bunny girl?"
The Dormouse ripped off her barrier and laughed out, "Bunny girl? Oh man that's great!"
"What you guys do, roll around in mud?" Gajeel looked his mate up and down.
Natsu removed Lucy's hands and turned to face her. Though his expression wasn't what she'd thought it'd be. His eyes darted two and fro all over her body, "Are you hurt?"
Lucy answered, but was still silenced, so she tore the barrier from her neck and tried again. "No, why?" Lucy's voice faltered when his gaze lowered, and lowered some more. "Uh... Natsu...?" She blushed brightly when he squatted down as hands brushed down her hips. Why was wearing a bikini such a good idea again?
"What happened?" Natsu grabbed one of her legs and hiked it onto his shoulder, exposing a cut on her inner thigh where blood mingled with mud.
"Oh no Juju!" Levy gasped, "that's gonna get infected, why didn't cha say something?"
Lucy shrugged, steadying herself by planting a hand on the Hatter's other shoulder. "It's just a little scrape. I'll be fine."
Staring at his love's pain, Natsu's pupils narrowed into the slightest of slits. First, he just licked his lips... then something came over him. An instinct he never thought he had. Slowly, Natsu dragged his tongue over the cut. His lick... erased all pain, and closed the abrasion. The only evidence remaining was a small scar that might heal with time.
Neither Lucy or Natsu noticed this tiny miracle though. Lucy's heart was pumping far too fast, his nose mere centimeters from her core. And the fire dragon? He was far too ripe with need to make her his. After tasting the Juicy's blood, he no longer wondered why so many dragons before him simply ate their counterparts. Unable to control his feral desires, the beast licked her again, but this time aiming closer to the treasure she always kept to herself. The spell the two's mutual attraction held them under was whisked away the moment the Dormouse victoriously gasped out, "I KNEW IT!"
The Hatter had been just a hair away from his goal when the Dreamer suddenly shied away and stared at her thigh, "It's... it's gone!"
In her excitement, Levy bounced and cried out, "You really are the—whaaaa-!"
Gajeel had scooped the Dormouse up, "You ready to head home yet, Shrimp?"
"I dun wanna go yet!" Levy squeaked.
Natsu heard none of it. He lifted back up and took Lucy by the hips and pulled her against him, his gaze all encompassing. "Someone needs to wedding us... now."
"Wha-what?!" Lucy sputtered.
This made Levy jump even more, putting a major cramp on her mate's shoulder. "I'll betcha Cana can! She has Mother's Rites, after all."
"And ya say 'marry us,' Flamebrain," Gajeel laughed at his comrade, while wrangling the hyper mouse.
The shape of Natsu's eyes softened as he leaned his head to Lucy's. "I learned a pretty great new word today. Whaddya say to eloping?"
The idea was enticing... much more so as she stared into his eyes. If she said yes... No! This was crazy! "Na-Na-Natsu! I'm all dirty!"
Tightening his grip on the Juicy's hips, his voice was low and... frankly? Rather intimidating. "I'll bathe you afterwards."
Was the mud covering her blush? Gods Lucy hoped so... being in the water with Natsu again sounded amazing. "Uhh... maybe we should talk this over in private?"
"I'll see to it we have lotsa privacy tonight, and as much as you want for the rest of our lives."
Gajeel was growing impatient, "Jest say yes already damnit! Some of us gots other things we wanna be doin'!"
"You know you want to!" Levy cheered next to the March Hare, having finally wrested from his grasp.
"Father is going to kill me..."
"Hehe," Natsu laughed, suddenly carefree. "Mira said that's one'uv the things about eloping."
Lucy had never said it out loud, but she'd imagined her wedding to Natsu in the same garden as her Debutante. There, she'd have the opportunity to shove her fairy tale marriage down British aristocratic throats. Now facing the thought in the forefront though, she realized that that in itself was a very aristocratic way of thinking. She'd seen many ladies pull the whole 'ha ha, lookit me' maneuver not to realize that she would be doing the exact same thing. Wasn't that one of the many practices she detested about her life in London? What had she been thinking! She didn't need a fancy wedding!
She just needed Natsu.
And he was right here, trying to convince her to agree to marry him again.
Well... she'd promised him a short engagement, hadn't she? Growing giddy suddenly, Lucy's smile was the Hatter's delight as she nodded. "Let's do it! Let's elope!"
With golden eyes that now burned brighter, Natsu never looked away from his soon-to-be lover as he called out for the Cheshire Cat.
Amidst Levy's gleeful volunteers to be their witness, a laughter that resembled the merry sound of jingle bells could be heard bouncing about white trees. Not long after such levity coalesced around the fire, the transparent purple and pink Cheshire Cat faded into view lounging above the flames. "Ugh. The White Woods? Really?"
"Marry us." Natsu demanded simply, still eyeing his prey.
"What? Here?" One did not catch an entity like the Cheshire Cat off guard often. "A gal can't even grab a drink out here in the boonies!"
"Oh! Oh!" Levy had a cheese eating grin, "we'll throw a reception tonight!"
The Hatter wasn't hearing that, "Tomorrow."
"Uh..." The Dormouse sweatdropped with a small blush of her own, "tomorrow!"
"Well at least let the girl clean up first." Cana rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, returning the bride to immaculately clean in her white bikini as well as changing her hair from a ponytail to an intricate braid.
"Hey!" Natsu pointed at Lucy and stomped dramatically, "I was gonna do that!"
Lucy jumped when the cat was suddenly standing before bride and groom (in a solid form this time), holding a Fairy Tail history book and dressed in a rather fetchingly feminine (and revealing) tuxedo. "Oh please Hatter. A classy broad like our dreamer here does not want to wed covered in muck." Cana then turned to Lucy with a wink and handed her a red lily, its petals edged in white.
"Aww," Lucy accepted the flower, "she's not wrong, Natsu."
Cana tapped her chin. "Lets see... something's still missing... aha!" With her cat-like grin, she snapped again and Natsu's scarf made its home back around the groom's neck. "Can't get married without that." This calmed the dragon down some, but he still grunted at the ever so considerate kitty.
As Cana opened her book to a random page, she cleared her throat. Then her expression grew uninterested just as quickly as her tone changed to disingenuous when she asked, "Natsu do you?"
"Wait, that's it?!" Lucy stammered while Natsu just smiled and said, "Hell yea I do."
"Juicy—"
"HOW IS THIS A WEDDING?!" Lucy waved her arms in futility.
"Ahem..." The Cheshire Cat's eyebrow twitched. "Look lady, I'm doing this as a mercy here. I'm not doin' the long version."
"WHAT?!"
Natsu was snickering at his adorable bride as Cana started again, "Juicy do you?"
Whining now, the blonde cried out, "At least get my name right!"
Still chuckling, the Mad Hatter lifted his hands from his bride's hips to favor her hands. "Alright, Juice, listen up. I'm pretty sure I won't say it enough, but I'm nuts about ya. And though I might not think to tell you all the time, I will be makin' sure I'm always showing you. My love, my life—well—it's all yours to do with whatcha want. So... would you do me the honor of reuniting our soul, Lucy Heartfillia-Dragneel?"
His bride stared up at him, her mind a blank. Somehow this whimsical man had found just the right thing to say to make their wedding perfect.
"This is the part where you say I do—" The Cheshire Cat whispered.
Without looking away from her beloved hatter, Lucy pushed Cana's face away and wrapped arms around Natsu's neck. She then leaned in and kissed the dragon's smiling lips and sighed an "I do," before deepening their kiss.
"Uh... you may kiss the bride?" Cana shrugged.
"YAAAAAAY!" Levy jumped up and down, "I has dragon sister person! Wooooo!"
"Again," Gajeel groaned, "we ain't brothers!"
"Sure you're not, tehehe." Levy grinned.
Cana materialized between Gajeel and Levy with arms around their necks. "Let's head back to Mira's for a drink or ten."
"Sure!" The Dormouse beamed, "Hey Juju, you com...ing?"
The bride and groom were only just parting from their first marital embrace.
"Nah," The Hatter smirked, tossing his bride over his shoulder which produced a feminine yelp from the blonde as he continued, "promised the Juicy some privacy."
White petals began raining over the couple, compliments of the Cheshire Cat's power. Cana laughed as the Hatter took Lucy away.
^.^
The Cheshire Cat accompanied the March Hare and Dormouse back to the White Castle/pub. The three of them planned on throwing a party with or without bride and groom, but they opened the door to an empty building. No smell of food cooking, no low hum from denizens of White Country.
"Aww sweet! The casks are all mine!" Cana chortled as she floated to the nearest stack of barrels of ale.
"Where is everybody?" Levy peered around. It was about the time Mirajane should be lighting candles, but not a single one held a flame.
"Guess they closed up early," Gajeel raised a brow. "Nobodies even home."
"Can you smell them at all?" Levy yawned.
Gajeel shook his head. "They ain't anywhere nearby."
"Oh well..." The Dormouse contented herself with leaning against her mate. "I was gettin' pretty tired anyway. It's hard to stay awake all day."
Goodnight everybody! Sleep sweet. Dream well.
Seriphia
aka
Lick
*~.🌒.~*