Chapter Five
The next few days were a blur for many in the guild. Their team all helped Gray and Juvia move into their new house and the couple was finally settled. That same day, instead of paying her next month's rent Lucy gave her notice. The landlady was actually quite sad to see the Fairy Tail mage go, but understood when she found out about her new relationship with Natsu. She'd also been generous in the amount of time she gave to Lucy to move out. After a week she was finally moved out of her apartment and was fully moved into Natsu's home. She'd been so proud of that place. It represented so much more than just a roof over her head. But she knew the next chapter of her life was finally starting.
"Here's the last box Luce," Natsu placed a small box on their bed in the bedroom that was labeled clothes. Based on the small size she knew it to be her underwear box.
"Thanks," She smirked at him. "I think you'll enjoy unpacking that one. You can put them in the top right-hand drawer."
Natsu glanced curiously at her and opened the box. His face lit up as he exclaimed, "Panty raid! I'm all fired up now!"
Lucy chuckled as she laid the last of her things in the bedroom. Natsu wrapped his arms around her, his chest pressed against her back. She gripped his arms and leaned into the kiss pressed at her temple.
"It's official Luce," He whispered into her ear. "This is our house."
She turned in his arms and wrapped hers tightly around his neck. "Ours. Now let's head to the guild to grab a job to pay for that bathroom you promised me."
Natsu pressed a kiss to her lips as he chuckled. They found Happy in the kitchen looking for a fresh fish in the fridge and headed toward the guild hall. It was mid-morning and surprisingly Laxus was not at the bar in his usual seat. Although none of the Thunder Legion were present so they were likely on a job. Mira wasn't behind the bar either, but Kinana was instead. Wakaba and Macao were at a table arguing, but Romeo wasn't with them.
"Wonder where Romeo is?" Natsu asked as they headed for the job board.
"Probably on a job with Wendy," Happy said. "Carla said they'd been getting close lately."
"It's so hard to believe that little girl we met all those years ago is old enough to go on jobs alone with a boy she likes," Lucy replied with a smile.
The three teammates perused the job board to find something worthwhile. Lucy was reaching for one when she heard her name being called from the guild entrance. Yukino and Sting from the Sabertooth guild were standing in the doorway waving to her. They met in the middle of the guild and wrapped each other in a tight hug.
"It's so good to see you," Lucy pulled away and grabbed the woman's left hand in shock. "Oh my god Yukino! When did this happen?"
Yukino blushed as she smiled down at the engagement ring on her finger. "Just last week actually. We're still getting used to it."
"Congrats man!" Natsu clapped Sting on the back. "What brings you guys all the way out here?"
"Aquarius actually," Yukino smiled at Lucy whose eyes grew huge at the mention of her former spirit. "I don't have her key, but we have a lead to pass on. There's a little magic shop in Malba City and the daughter of the Lord we helped on our last job said she thought she'd seen a celestial key there. She wasn't sure if it was gold or not, but she definitely remembered a key being there."
"It's definitely worth checking out," Lucy looked to Natsu who nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you so much. You could've just taken the key for yourself you know."
"I could never do that to you," Yukino smiled at her friend. "I know how special she was for you. I'll keep my eyes and ears open until you find her again."
Lucy threw her arms around her in a tight hug. Yukino and Sting waved their goodbyes and left the Fairy Tail guildhall hand in hand. Lucy turned back to Natsu bouncing on her toes in excitement. Natsu smirked at the expression in her eyes. He reached for her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Let's not get too excited cause this could just be a silver key," He cautioned not wanting to dim the lively glint in her eye. "But we have to check this out. Let's grab a job near there and head out."
They ran back to the job board and grabbed a simple request to get rid of a monster in a town right before Malba City. Lucy took the job to Kinana at the bar to let her know they were taking it and ran to catch up to Natsu. They made a quick stop at home to pack bags and headed to catch the last train of the afternoon. As soon as it started moving Natsu turned to a puddle as his motion sickness kicked in. Happy rolled his eyes and sat in the seat across from Lucy who set her bag on the floor and reached for him.
"Come here babe," She said softly to him with a sympathetic smile. She helped him settle on the seat next to her with his head in her lap. She gently ran her fingers through his hair, scraping her nails across his scalp until he practically purred. "Does this help?"
"Yes," Natsu muttered gripping her more firmly. "Should've been doing it sooner than now."
She smiled down at him. They probably should've waited for Wendy to put the Troia spell on him. She leaned her head back against the seat and stared out at the passing scenery as she tried not to get too excited about Aquarius' key. The likelihood that it was this close to home was probably pretty low, but she appreciated Yukino giving her the lead. Still the thought of being reunited with her old friend gave her hope.
A few hours later they pulled into the station of the town before Malba City and Lucy had to drag Natsu off to regain his equilibrium on the bench on the platform. Natsu groaned as the last bit of nausea faded. Happy landed on Natsu's shoulder as Lucy cocked a hip with her arms loosely crossed under her chest.
"Are you alright Natsu?" Happy asked.
"Yea buddy I'm good now," Natsu replied with a smile. He took Lucy's outstretched hand and threaded his fingers with hers.
They headed for the home of the mayor of the town who'd been the one to put in the request for the job they'd grabbed. He greeted them happily and gave them all the information they'd need. There was a monster out in their fields that was stealing all the crops from the village and so far no non-magical folk had been able to do anything about it. As they made their way out towards the fields Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand again and twisted their fingers together. Being able to do this with her now meant more than he ever thought it would. Every time her fingers tightened around his, his heart skipped a beat and his smile would grow a little bigger.
As they neared the fields they could hear the monster's loud growls as it could obviously hear and smell them coming. Lucy released Natsu's hand to pull out Taurus' key and muttered the incantation to switch to her Taurus dress form. Standing in the middle of the field of crops was what looked like a bear only it was three times the size of a normal one so its' teeth and claws were huge. Lucy pulled the whip off her belt and glanced over at Natsu.
"You ready Natsu?" She held up Taurus' key ready to summon the spirit.
"Oh yea I'm all fired up," Natsu lit his fists on fire and glanced up at Happy to signal to him.
Happy flew down and gripped the Dragon Slayer's vest and flew him into the air while Lucy summoned Taurus to join in the battle. Natsu quickly shot a roar at the beast and just as quickly realized that was probably not going to be the best strategy with this monster if they were going to protect the fields. Natsu looked around the area they were in trying to figure out if there was an alternative. Without either Juvia, Gray or even Aquarius with them to douse any stray flame, Natsu's magic would more than likely destroy what crops were leftover. Just beyond the fields was an open area that didn't appear to have any type of crop planted.
"Happy let's lure it over that way," Natsu pointed towards the open area and looked down to Lucy who'd noticed what he wanted to do and nodded. Lucy ran for the open area with Taurus hot on her heels.
Natsu shot off two small fireballs at the head of the monster. "Hey ugly!"
The monster growled and looked up to the flying mage and swiped its' large paw. With its immense size and wide swing arch Happy only barely managed to move in time. They headed for the direction Lucy and Taurus had ran and thankfully the monster followed. As soon as the monster was within reach Taurus took the opportunity from its distraction as it continued to swing at Happy and Natsu and swung with his axe catching the monster in the leg. Lucy wrapped her whip around the injured appendage and with the added strength from her star dress yanked. The monster wailed and tumbled backwards to land on its back. Momentarily stunned, it failed to notice that Natsu and Happy had stopped right above it.
"Gotcha now," Natsu smirked. "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!"
Natsu's flames engulfed the monster and it wailed in pain. After a few minutes the flames died out and left behind a charred, but very dead monster. Natsu and Happy landed smirks on both of their faces as Lucy released her star dress to return to her normal attire.
"Thanks for your help Taurus," She said to her spirit.
"Yea thanks man," Natsu replied in agreement. "That was a nice hit."
"My pleasure," Taurus said. He let his eyes rove up and down Lucy's figure. "You're rockin' that bod in that outfit Lucy!"
Natsu crossed his arms and glared at the spirit while Lucy rolled her eyes and with a swipe of her key closed his gate.
"He's not wrong, but only I get to say that now," Natsu had unwound his arms from his chest and instead had wrapped them around Lucy's waist.
"Thanks Natsu," She smiled. She nodded over at the monster that lay roasted in the open field. "What do we do about him?"
"Let's head back to the mayor's house and let him know it's dead and see what he says," Natsu suggested. "Happy will you take Lucy back? I want to stay with this thing just in case."
"Aye sir!" Happy perched on Lucy's shoulder while she glanced up at him.
"Be careful Natsu. We'll see you in a few," She nodded to Happy who picked her up and off they flew to the mayor's house.
Lucy and Happy returned shortly after followed by what served as the town's law enforcement squad along with a few young, but strong looking men. The mayor thanked them profusely and told them they'd handle the clean-up of the monster and handed them a sack full of the jewel promised in the job request. Natsu handed it to Lucy who put it in her bag nearby. Natsu refused to leave the townspeople to clean-up on their own so he, Lucy and Happy assisted. Together they had the monster's remains cleaned and disposed of quickly and the Fairy Tail mages were on their way. They'd decided to walk to Malba City from the town they were in because it wasn't all that far and they'd rather that than subject Natsu to more motion sickness.
They walked until the sun began to set in the sky and decided to stop and camp for the night. Natsu got a fire going while Lucy and Happy worked on trying to catch a few fish from a nearby lake. Lucy held onto the make-shift fishing rod as she attempted to catch a fish. She normally failed and just let Natsu catch a few extra when they had to camp out like this. She jumped when she felt two strong arms wrap around her from behind, but immediately relaxed and sank back against the familiar chest of her partner. He pressed a kiss to her neck, letting his lips leave a trail up to the sensitive skin behind her ear and finally ending at her temple.
"Havin' any luck?" He whispered.
"Happy's caught one already, but so far I haven't had much luck," Lucy replied. Her head fell back against his shoulder as he continued to kiss down her neck. "Natsu, Happy is right there."
"I know," Natsu kissed her neck a few more times before stopping and pressing his forehead against her shoulder. "I can't help it though. Now that I'm allowed to touch you like this it's hard to resist."
Lucy felt her heartbeat pick up at that husky proclamation. The fishing pole in her hands began to droop as she felt his warm hands slide up under her shirt to rest against her flat tummy. She knew she had to stop this before Happy noticed both to avoid the teasing comments he'd be likely to dish out and just out of respect for the little Exceed. Thankfully she didn't have to as Natsu's hands didn't roam much further and instead just wrapped around her until they rested on her hips to pull her as tightly against his chest as he could. With one final kiss against her neck he fully released her with a slightly strained smile.
Lucy placed a hand against his cheek as she sympathetically smiled. "We'll have time later. I promise."
He pressed a kiss to her palm that rested on his cheek. "I'll hold you to that."
Natsu headed to where Happy stood just downstream with his own fishing pole. Happy glanced up and held up two fishes proudly.
"Look Natsu! I caught some already!" Happy exclaimed.
"Nice buddy. Those will be perfect," Natsu replied with a pat to his best friends' head.
"I'm gonna try for a few more. I figure you'll eat a couple right?"
"Oh yea I will," Natsu nodded in agreement. Lucy plopped down next to Natsu and handed him the fishing pole.
"I give up," She said with an annoyed huff. "You try."
Natsu smiled at her and tossed the line of the fishing pole into the water. After a few minutes, the fishing line began to pull signaling he'd caught a fish. Natsu yanked back and pulled a slightly bigger fish than Happy had caught so far. Lucy huffed in annoyance.
"How come I can't do that?" She grumbled.
"Why do you need to know Lucy? You've got us," Happy exclaimed as he pulled another fish out of the lake.
"Besides you're the cook in this family," Natsu laid his fish in the pile Happy had started and cast the line back out. "Happy and I don't make it nearly as tasty as you do."
Lucy nodded in agreement at that. She'd finally started bringing a small container of spices with them when they went on jobs a few years back because these two didn't tend to do anything when they cooked them. Natsu caught one more fish and laid it on the pile then set the fishing pole aside. Happy followed suit and they gathered up their fish and supplies and headed back to the campsite. Natsu fed the fire a bit and helped Happy set up the spit over it for Lucy to begin cooking.
"How many do you want me to leave raw for you Happy?" Lucy asked from where she knelt by the fire.
"Two please," Happy replied from his place on Natsu's shoulder.
Lucy prepared the other fish with the spices from her pack and placed them on the spit to roast. She then settled on the ground next to the spit to keep an eye on the fish. Natsu sat down on a fallen log behind her with his legs on either side of her. He reached out and pulled her to him until she rested against his chest. He pressed a kiss to her temple as she fully relaxed against him.
"How are things with Carla, Happy?" Natsu asked as he rubbed Lucy's upper arms.
"Great! I think she's really starting to fall for me," Happy cheekily replied.
"That's great Happy," Lucy said as she leaned her head against Natsu's knee.
The three continued to talk while the fish roasted and all the while Lucy stayed nestled against Natsu between his legs. Happy didn't seem fazed, but did appear to have a tease stashed up his sleeve. When the fish were done roasting she reluctantly leaned away from his chest and carefully took the rest of the fish from the spit. Lucy handed two over to Natsu and kept the last for herself. As they ate they talked and laughed together just as they always did and when their bellies were full they doused the fire and laid their sleeping bags out. Natsu unzipped his sleeping bag and laid it out then took Lucy's and unzipped hers creating one big sleeping area so they could still sleep together. Natsu laid down first and pulled Lucy down next to him. She smiled and settled on her side with her head against his chest. Happy settled for curling up on Natsu's other side. Natsu wrapped an arm around each of his best friends and they all fell into a deep sleep.