-~NATSU~-

I sometimes can't believe how much of an idiot I can be.

I try my best to run away from her, to actually stay away from her but it always seems impossible.

I was so, so pissed at that moment that I forgot about Luce being around and concentrated on getting my anger out on that dying flashlight. Punch after punch, shove after shove, I kept thinking about how much she has suffered and why she never told me about it. Didn't she trust me? Didn't I deserve to have it because I'm a best friend and was supposed to protect her but failed miserably?

When I heard her scream my name, I knew something was definitely not right. Luce's normal screams sound different than the one I heard that time. Being glad that I can hear like a dragon, I dashed at the direction of the voice and found her, almost raped by that motherfucker's disgusting existence.

Pathetic excuse of a human that flashlight is...

I was always the one who loved to fight, especially if it was for the ones I loved. I would be so fired up that I wouldn't know how much trouble I caused around me. I would definitely cause a ruckus, and my friends would clean it up for me while I'd be mostly chowing food down and helping them a little.

This time, I was beyond furious.

He was touching her in all the wrong ways. He was kissing her. He almost raped her.

The only thing that felt right to me was to yell at him and let him know that he did a big mistake when he touched my girl.

But when I ignored Luce because I was blinded by the anguish and fury I felt, I couldn't regret it more.

She was having another of her anxiety attacks when I turned around. I thought she could come with me but she had it worse than before. She was trying to breathe, get some air in her body somehow but she collapsed, right in front of me. At least my subconscious self was a little intellectual that ran to her and caught her in time otherwise her head would've hit the pipe hard and... I don't even want to talk about it.

Muttering a soft apology, I picked her up and slowly walked to the place where I parked my car, being careful not to fall or let her body slip from my hands. I rocked her once so that her head could rest on my right shoulder- which worked- and then sighed. She snuggled up to me and called my name softly. It took so much of my self control to not just kiss her at the moment. Even though she doesn't remember who I am, I do, and I still love her... just more than I ever had.

"Mom, who is she?" I moved my thumb over the picture of a girl with two blonde pigtails, moving her arms forward to grab a teddy bear who was twice as big as her.

"Oh this is Lucy, my little dragon." My mom Grandeeney smiled when she spotted me in that position. I had lost my parents when I was barely a toddler and so Igneel adopted me, who later married a pregnant Grandeeney. Her husband was killed in a crossfire when he was fighting with men of another opposed company before she got pregnant with Wendy. Soon, she fell in love with Igneel who was her husband's ally and married him. 'It was a forced matrimony, dear. I don't regret it at all. In the end, I found my soulmate and was blessed with three amazing children.' She always used to say that.

"She's so pretty!" I exclaimed giddily. Growing up as a Dragneel, I did not have many friends to begin with. I was always spotted around with Gray and so I wanted a friend who was a girl.

"But why does she look like Layla?" I asked her in confusion.

She laughed whole-heartedly and motioned me to come closer to her. She was sitting near the hearth, a photo album in her right hand and her left on her round belly. It was like the fire in the hearth grew or shone brighter whenever she laughed and I couldn't help but be amazed by that.

"See this picture?" She showed me a photo of Layla Heartfilia, standing alongside her husband Jude Heartfilia. I nodded and said, "This is Layla for sure."

"Yes and now see this baby," she turned the page and I saw a very cute baby in Layla's arms. That baby was yawning and Layla was smiling so brightly. Even from the picture, I could see the adoration she held for that baby and I could sense the happiness radiating from it. "This cute little angel is Lucy, her daughter. She's just a few months younger than you, Natsu." She ruffled my hair and handed me the album.

"Layla sent me this photo album for us to see." Layla was Grandeeney's best friend from her college. There wasn't a time when I'd heard their stories together and so I had always wanted to meet the lady again who made my foster mom smile so much.

"Is she not coming?" I asked her innocently, yet sadly. I had met Layla once and immediately felt a connection to her. She had an amazing aura around her wherever she went. She was a kind, intelligent and a helping woman.

"She promised to come next year, Natsu. She told me that she is busy but will surely come next year. You'll get to see her little princess too. Maybe she can be your friend." Grandeeney reassured me.

"Really? Will she like me?" I asked her eagerly.

"Of course she will. You're a dragon after all!" Igneel bellowed and walked to me, ruffled my hair to my annoyance and sat besides Grandeeney who kissed him on his cheek.

"But princesses don't like dragons. They like princes." I pouted, to which both of them laugh and shook their heads.

"It's just what fairy tales say, child." Grandeeney said.

"And Iggy told me my life is a fairy tale!" I exasperated, my hands flailing in the air and I huffed.

"And it is. Remember what I told you, Natsu. The result of this fairy tale is in your hands. Either you want it to end happily or ruin it, it's up to you. Also, if that girl says bad about dragons then teach her what I told you that-

"All dragons are not bad." All of us chanted together and we laughed.

Little did I know, I would turn into a dragon prince soon.

I shook my head, letting a small smile slip on my lips when I laid Luce down on my passenger seat. She mumbled incoherently and turned to find a much more comfortable position. If she had been awake at this moment, I would've said, 'My arms and lap will be much more comfortable than this passenger seat Luce.' Sadly, I couldn't have said that to the passed out angel sleeping comfortably besides me. I kissed her forehead, buckled my seat belt and drove straight to the hospital. My knuckles were all bloody and bruised but they still turned white with veins popping out of them just because I could not control the loathe I felt for myself. I felt so horrible for being angry at Luce when all she did was to protect herself. She could have told me that. She should've told me that, but I know there's a good reason she didn't. After all, she always has her walls up like me.

Entering the hospital with her in my arms, I rushed to an empty bed in the emergency and asked for Dr. Roka. In a minute, he came running and asked me many questions to which I only said that she had an anxiety attack and collapsed. He told me to get her registered while he takes care of her and so I went to the counter and got her registered under the name of 'Lucy Dragneel' again.

Oh how I wish to make her a Dragneel.

Fuck you Natsu! Stop it!

I switched on my phone and texted Gray to come here while I deal with a few situations, including my current mental state. In a second, he replied that he'd be here in 5. I sighed and turned to the frustrated doctor who was rubbing his eyebrows.

"Everything okay, doc?" I asked him.

"I don't know how this girl got potential to keep this much stress all in her head but she's really amazing, handling it all on her own. You told me she had amnesia, right?" He asked me back. I nodded my head.

"Seems like she's rapidly getting her memories back, but she is not sure if it's her mind playing tricks or if they're actually snippets of her own memories. You have to be more careful around her. She will have more frequent attacks like these. She needs therapy and she will definitely deny, that's why I'm asking you to be more around her and take care of her. Natsu you will slowly need to remind her of her past. She will mostly zone out, start crying for no reason and do very random things and that's up to you how you handle it. Only you out of everyone can help her. Even I don't know how to handle this case, so I'd recommend you going to Ms. Porlyusica." He said.

"But I'm not going to that scary lady!" I exclaimed.

"You can trust her even more than me. She can definitely help her." I gulped. 

"Okay then, but please, don't tell anyone about her true identity." I said.

"I promise Mr. Dragneel. For now, I'm going to prescribe light medicine but go to Porlyusica soon. She has a light fever now. If she rests for two days, she'll be fine. It was nice helping her." He shook my hand and I nodded.

"Thank you." I humbly said.

"You're welcome. I'd be taking my leave now. Excuse me." He smiled, gave my shoulder a tight squeeze in reassurance, clipped his ball pen and exited. When I twisted the door handle to Luce's room, I heard my name being called from the left. Leaving the door unopened, I turned to find myself looking at a very worried Gray, panting.

"How's she?" He asked.

"She has a fever for now. The doctor told me to consult the pink-haired demon who will probably castrate her." I shuddered.

"Natsu, you fire breathing lizard," he face-palmed and said, "You know she's a professional. Lucy is bound to get better!"

"She's slowly getting her memories back."

I dropped the bomb on him. His eyes were wide. His mouth was agape and he stopped breathing. He tried to form some words but he couldn't. His mouth look like a fish's moving mouth in an aquarium.

"She's been seeing small fragments of it for a few days. She thinks it's her mind messing with her. Gray what will I do if she gets all of them back? How would she act like? I know I always wished for her to get them back but there are... so many horrible memories... memories that I want her to forget. I just wanted her to remember me... remember us. I never wanted her to go through this pain. Sting is after her. He... he almost... Luce looked so terrified. Her eyes showed hopelessness. I want to be the one who puts hope in them. I want to be the one who'd bring life back in them. I want her to remember all of our best memories. I want her to know that she's the most beautiful, kind, caring, smart, sweet, humble, forgiving, patient, tolerant, sassy, sarcastic, bad-mouthed girl but she's the girl I fell in love with since I was nothing but a child living in his dream land." By now, I was sitting by the wall with my hands clutching my hair tightly. Gray was sitting besides me, his head resting on the wall, eyes closed and breath steady.

"You're so hopelessly in love with her, flame brain." Gray scoffed.

"And I want her to love me too. Is it bad? Am I being selfish?" I asked him.

"You know you're an idiot sometimes," he laughed, "but you still are the guy who'd do anything for the people he loves. Natsu, all of us know that you love her, and by now you should've realized that she loves you too but then again your brain always thinks about eating and that dynamite hot sauce has now started killing that pea-sized intelligence you had." I scowled and pushed him, causing him to lay down, flip a finger at me and get back.

"Come back to the topic, frozen dick." I ordered him.

He sighed and looked at me, "Look, have you ever noticed how she looks for you when you're not around her? Or how she reacts when she sees you emotionally or physically hurt? Have you ever seen her looking with adoration whenever she sees you goofing around or having a math problem solved successfully? Have you ever seen her how her mood changes from gloomy to happy-go-lucky when you come around? Have you ever seen how she's so comfortable only around you? Have you ever noticed how she mostly turns to you instead of Levy to share her problems? Have you ever thought of how she only calls out your name when she needs help?"

And I have. I've seen her looking relieved and comfortable when I'm around her. I've seen her freak out when she sees me drunk or hurt. I've seen her looking at me with warmth in her eyes when she asks me if everything's okay. I've seen her lighting up when I bring her her favorite food items. I've seen her grinning like a child when she's in the playground. I've seen her getting worried if she sees me not acting like myself.

Does she really love me even though she hasn't seen how I've become? Does she love me even though I hurt her and made her worry about me so much that it suffocates her and causes her to get anxiety attacks? Do I really deserve her love after what I did? Do I deserve her love after leaving her just because Jude ordered- no, threatened us- to leave her after she had amnesia? Do I deserve her love after leaving her alone like this today? Do I deserve her love when I want to distance myself from her so she can be happy and live without having her to worry about me despite her problems?

"Gray?" I whispered.

"Hm?" He hummed.

"Do I deserve her love?" I asked her, tears brimming in the corner of my eyes.

"Of course you do, you idiot!" He whacked my head hardly before saying, "Only you can have her, not anyone else. Only you. She can't ever think of loving someone else but you."

That made me sigh in relief. Before I could think of anything else, I heard a scream from Luce's room and the world spun in front of my eyes.