•••

Happy's little blue paws covered Levy's mouth, preventing her from letting out a scream.

The poor bluenette was eyeing the dragon slayer and the blue cat, who had seemingly appeared out of thin air with horror, unable to make anything of this situation.

"Levy! Please don't freak out! I can explain!"

Her attention now instead focused back to her best friend and she was momentarily lost, until giving a small nod.

Happy sighed, gingerly removing his paws.

"W-W-Wha-"

"I don't know where to start.." Lucy mumbled nervously, taking a seat next to her best friend.

"Maybe start by telling me why a boy and a blue cat that can talk and fly seemingly appeared out of nowhere!" Levy shrieked.

"Erm..well, it's complicated.."

"Try me!"

Lucy sighed, closing her eyes momentarily.

"Levy, this is Natsu and Happy. Natsu is a dragon slayer and Happy..erm..Happy is exactly who he seems."

"I'm lost."

"I would be surprised if you weren't." She chuckled. "I saved Natsu's life without knowing about his supernatural being. And he is here because he is bound to repay the favour."

"So he isn't leaving until he saves you?"

"No can do!" Natsu chirped in.

Levy looked over at him, her eyes filled with skepticism.

"A dragon slayer you say?" She asked.

"He is a prince too." Lucy added, sweat dropping when he lit his hands on fire to prove his claim.

"Are you the same Natsu who took her home the other day?"

Lucy's cheeks tinted pink from embarrassment, remembering the events of the morning after.

She stole a glance to him, and was not surprised to find him grinning from ear to ear.

"You bet! I was following her the whole day. At one point I even debated whether to save her from that redhead friend of hers."

"Erza?"

"Yeah, she is scary." Natsu said, trembling a bit from the memory.

Levy let out a laugh, amused. "That's Erza for you! Even a dragon prince is scared of her. Damn!"

Natsu grinned along too, while Happy settled himself comfortably on Lucy's head yet again.

"Hey!" She whisper-yelled at the blue cat.

"So Natsu, why did you suddenly decide to appear in front of me? Knowing Lucy, she must've specifically told you not to do so."

The grinning and laughing stopped, and he looked sombrely at her.

"Tell me everything you know about Zeref. I need to know."

The bluenette thought for a moment, before making the connection.

"Zeref Dragneel..Dragneel..Natsu Drag-! HOLD UP! Are you guys related by any chance?"

The latter gave a hesitant nod, and Levy's eyes widened.

"He is my brother."

"Brother? But how is that even possible? Mavis co-founded Fairy Tail about 80 years ago.."

At this, even Lucy's ears perked up, grasping her attention.

"No way! It'd been that long!" Natsu exclaimed.

Levy looked at him, confused.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Time flows differently in our realm unlike yours. Ours goes slower. We even age differently than you."Happy explained.

"That's amazing.." Levy mumbled in awe.

"Zeref has been missing for 8 years in my time."

"So that probably means that 1 year there is equivalent to 10 years here!"

"Ughh. Never would've thought that he would have come here, of all places. But why?" Natsu wondered out loud, taking a seat himself on Lucy's work desk. "It's time to talk to my brother dearest!" He announced.

Levy's face fell and she looked down. "You can't do that." She muttered.

"Why not?"

"Zeref has been dead for about a decade now. So...so has been Mavis."

"But..it's not possible..I mean..he is from.."

"It would seem that his body aged with our flow of time after he came in here."

The dragon slayer was silent, unable to say another word. How was he supposed to react on hearing about this? That his brother, his family, had been dead for a plausible decade?

Come to think of it, he barely even knew his own brother.

So he shouldn't be sad. No, he should be sad, after all, they were family. But he shouldn't be heartbreakingly sad. He shouldn't feel constrained and helpless.

So why, why I'm the world did he exactly feel like that?

Levy didn't dare glance up again but Lucy couldn't dare to look away . She could clearly see how he felt. She could read him like an open book, seeing how vulnerable he was in that moment, how constrained he felt, how helpless and unexplainably guilty.

After all, she had felt it a thousand times herself.

She got up from her place, Happy now sitting quietly down on the couch. She didn't know what made her do that, she didn't know why she is doing that, but she took timid steps towards him.

She knew that they weren't that close for her to do this, so why was she? And why couldn't she stop herself?

She gingerly approached him, and then embraced him. No words were spoken, no tears were shed. Each just took in the comforting presence of the other. The rhythmic breathing of Lucy eased Natsu and it calmed him down. He tightened his hold on her and stayed like that, wishing for just a little while longer.

"Thank you." He mumbled.

He could feel her smile against him, and brush her hands through his hair in a calming way.

"Anytime. It'll be okay. I promise."

"I know."

She pulled back, looking deep in his eyes with a twinkle in her own.

"Well then.." she began. "Who's hungry?"

•••
I'm so pissed rn.
Seriously is it just me who dislikes Mest? He fucking pulled a StarLord in FT.

Like why? August agreed to talk, but he just HAD to go ahead and do that.

ALSO GAJEEL CONFESSED! WE SAW A GLIMPSE OF GALE KIDS!  But poor levy😭AND NATSU BEING PROTECTIVE OF LUCY WAS JUST😍😍😍

Anyway, a new chapter for you all! Thank you so much for 1 K followers and almost 1K reads! I'd really appreciate it if you guys could vote, comment and share this story!
Spread the word ^.^

Also, this is coming to an end. Soon. It was fun writing it!

Belle🌸
🔥❤️🔑