Chapter Text
As Lucy cried in my arms, I felt a lot of emotions run through me. But truly I was sad for Lucy and for Éclair and Momo who were no longer with us. When Igneel left me, I was crushed and though I found a great but also annoying family in the guild there was always that big hole his absence left behind; worse than when we thought Lisanna was dead. And as I thought more about it, Lucy trembled against me. What if Lucy left me, like Igneel did? Would my power be enough to protect her if anything like this happened again? What if it wasn’t? I stood stone still and Lucy quietly looked up at me with tears rolling down her beautiful face. Wait, beautiful? I could feel myself blushing and Lucy must have seen because she started to look up at me, confused.
“It’s nothing.” I stammered, my face still beet red. She must have realized why I was blushing and tried to pull away.
“I’m sorry I…” I interrupted her by pulling her closer. This was not the time to be embarrassed about any recently discovered feelings.
“It’s okay, Lucy. I’m right here with you. We all are.” She hugged me tighter, and her tears fell faster.
“Natsu.” Happy whispered but of course I heard. “you liiiiike Lucy.” I only gave a slight glare, and he snickered but dropped the subject, thankfully. I wanted to focus on giving Lucy what she needed at this moment and that was a friend. I looked up and saw Makarov and everyone else getting ready to return to Magnolia. Erza wouldn’t look at the master, I could see her shoulders shaking. I was sure she was grieving the same as Lucy but for a different reason. Gramps didn’t tell her what the consequences of shooting the arrow would do to Éclair and Momon. But Éclair let me know once I pushed that arrow into the phoenix’s eye that she’d be going, Momon too. Tears stung my eyes as I continued to hold Lucy against me. Lucy really loved Éclair even though we’d only known her for a short time.
I looked around taking in my surroundings, fires still burning but dying down. After a few minutes I felt Lucy go limp against me. I looked down and sighed before stooping down and putting her on my back in a piggy-back style. She fell asleep, must’ve been really exhausted. ‘I hope she dreams of something nice’, I thought as we left the area. As soon as we left, I saw Veronica’s people working together to put out fires and help their fellow neighbor. A few glanced in our direction, soft smiles but overshadowed with sadness and exhaustion. Though the battle was finished, there was going to heaps of work to do to rebuild, both here and with the guild. So, we headed to the train station, which thankfully had no issues.
As we boarded, I set Lucy down next to Levy who smiled up at me. She laid a blanket over her and as I turned to walk away, she said, “You know when she wakes up, she’ll want to be with you right?”
“Why me? I thought she would be more comfortable with you.” She shook her head.
“You’re her partner Natsu, and her best friend. And who knows, maybe something else?” she said coyly. I narrowed my eyes at her, but my blushing face gave me away because she giggled. I turned to go to my seat preparing to be motion sick for the entire ride back to Magnolia once the train starts moving. When I sat down Gray looked up, concern written all over his face. I thought at first it was because Juvia was right next to him, but she was silently looking out the window.
“How is Lucy?” he asked.
“Seems okay right now. She’s sleeping and Levy’s taking care of her.” He responded with a nod. I sat back and thought back over the whole adventure. We made and lost new friends, fought, and defeated new enemies. And to my own surprise, I did not feel any motion sickness. Probably thanks to Wendy. But I was so exhausted from everything the next thing I knew I had fallen asleep.
Waking up, I felt a presence beside me. My eyes slowly opened, and I prepared myself to slug Gray or Elfman but with a quick sniff I knew it was Lucy. Humming softly to myself, I smiled a little. Levy was right. That or Gajeel asked her to move. I felt sort of proud and a little happy to be someone that she trusted enough to sleep next to. I guess sneaking into her room some nights paid off. ‘She really is my best friend’, I thought to myself, and as my mind wandered, I thought about the possibility of us being more than friends. I watched her sleep a bit, relishing the moment but also scared because I wasn’t so sure how to continue our friendship with these feelings bubbling just below the surface. As I was thinking, Lucy began to lean against my shoulder, surprising me but she was still deeply asleep.
There was going to loads to do when we got back so I let her sleep, taking in the familiar sights of Magnolia we were passing. Soon, we’ll be home soon. And then after rebuilding the guild hall once again, I could talk with Lucy properly. But should I tell her how I feel? To this day, most of the guild members continue to joke about the two of us after she joined Fairy Tail and we started working together. Imagine what they’d do if the rumors were finally true? That was hard. Everyone else already thinks I’m just a dense, fire-breathing idiot, which is sort of true now that I think about it. But what can I say? I love fighting bad guys and making them remember who the real Salamander is.
After thinking about how to help Lucy more once we arrive at our station, we were already pulling into the stop, so I turned to wake Lucy up. “Lucy, we’re back in Magnolia,” I said shaking her gently. Her brown eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at me. Then she noticed she was leaning against me. She shot up looking embarrassed.
“N-Natsu! I…I um,” I cut her off by holding up my hands.
“It’s fine Lucy. You know I’m always chilling at your place after missions with Happy. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t return the favor? I’m glad that you were able to sleep,” I say, hoping she couldn’t see how nervous I really was.
“Okay, let’s go home then Natsu.”
“Yeah. Oh, and thanks for not drooling on me,” I laughed. Then I felt her smack my arm.
“Ouch! Hey, that’s not very nice Lucy!”
“Hmph. You didn’t have to embarrass me though.” She said it angrily but there was a small smile on her face. Talk about contradicting.
We walked back to her place, Happy in tow, and when I began to offer to stay with her a while longer, she shook her head, stating she needed some time alone.
“Then I’ll see you at the guild? Happy and I can come pick you up. We'll need a lot of help rebuilding it. Again.”
“I appreciate it, but you know I can make it to the guild on my own.”
Nodding, I put my hand out and she took it. I pulled her in for a quick hug and told her I’d see her later. She walked inside and then Happy and I went home.
The next few weeks were spent rebuilding the guild hall. Lucy was there and helped with all the work we needed to do. We spoke briefly but she insisted on going home by herself at the end of the day. Once, we were alone together and I noticed her trying not to cry. And then Erza the construction manager was quick to yell at us to get back to work. I couldn't get a single moment to really check on her. And once the offical rebuild was deemed a success and we were open for jobs again, Lucy snuck out of the party early. I was too busy doing tricks with my fire to notice.
Erza and MiraJane told me that Lucy said she'd be back in the morning, but she didn’t come to the guild. She didn't come the next day either or the day after that. And as the days went on, I got worried. I snuck off once to see if she was home, but she wasn’t. I was more scared that she was going to leave again.
After a week of not seeing Lucy at the guild hall and getting stopped by Mira and Erza every time I tried to sneak out from the guild to find her I was getting frustrated. What was her deal? We spent a lot of time together since meeting since we met in Hargeon. That was where our journey started. So why was it taking her so long to come back to the guild? I couldn’t even visit her at her apartment. With a sigh, I sat down at the bar and asked Mira to bring me a drink.
With a sad smile she said, “She will come back in her own time Natsu. You need to be patient!”
“But it’s literally been forever. It’s not like her to disappear on us.”
Mira started to talk but then Gray decided to open his big mouth.
“Natsu! Hey ash for brains!” Man, I did not want to deal with him right now.
“What do you want ice princess? Are you bored or something? Cause your little girlfriend is right over there with metal mouth.” Gajeel glanced my way, an eyebrow raised, but said nothing.
“What was that? You wanna go you fiery mouth breather?”
“Aaaah, I don’t have time for this! I got other things to do!” At this point the whole guild was standing and waiting for a fight. Elfman was doing his usual “MANLY” stuff, Gray was standing behind me in just his underwear as per usual, and the master just looked tired. I still had a bone to pick with him anyway. My fists were clenched at my sides but I sighed and relaxed. I just wasn’t fired up.
“I’m out of here. Happy, let’s find a job.”
“Aye sir!!”
“I’ll fight you later you pervy flasher!” I could hear Gray muttering more insults as I walked to the request board. Finding something quickly, we ended up with a small job being bodyguards for a traveling merchant. No sweat there. Happy and I left the guild hall while Gray grumbled over yet again being practically naked.
Happy and I went to the person who requested the job, and luckily it was local, but I really needed the distraction. It was only a couple of hours, so a very quick job. A few unlucky thieves tried to go after the goods we were helping guard, but a quick swipe of my fire dragon iron fist sent them packing. There were a couple moments where my thoughts strayed to my blonde-haired partner, and Happy decidedly chose to comment his own thoughts by teasing me, but all in all it was a job well done. Too easy for us really.
When we received our reward money, I thought to myself, ‘huh, sort of makes me ashamed for all the times we lost reward money due to me wrecking the towns.’ I had to shake that thought away. If they knew, I’d never hear the end of it from my guildmates, Lucy especially. Happy flew us home and I fell right to sleep in my hammock, hoping Lucy would be back soon.