Chapter Two

Natsu pushed himself off the bed slowly, careful not to disturb Happy. The Exceed was snoring softly as he peacefully kept on sleeping, something that had become rare since the Magic Games. Future Lucy's dying face flashed through Natsu's head and he winced as he remembered how his heart seemed to stop beating the moment she had, died. Another one of nightmares, losing his Lucy the same way, so, time travel for her was completely crossed out.

Happy shifted and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'fish' under his breath. Natsu smiled somewhat and swung his legs over the other side of the bed, slipping instinctively into his shoes. He looked over his shoulder at the flying cat and his smile widened. Then he crossed over to his dresser and pulled out a normal shirt.

Natsu didn't wear it very often, he much preferred his one armed jacket thing, but he had to admit that it was comfortable. So he kept it around and wore it whenever he went on his nightly expeditions to Lucy's house.

Natsu yawned and stretched before walking over to the window and hopping out of it to the ground. He landed softly and, with a wide smile, he began his rather short walk to Lucy's.

~...~

Lucy startled awake, her heart pounding under her chest as she looked around her room wildly. When she realized that there were no red dragons attacking her, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, forcing herself to slow her heart rate.

"Luce?" a familiar voice questioned and Lucy looked up. She met her nakama's dark concerned onyx eyes and she tried to smile for him, but Lucy was sure it was more of a grimace. Natsu frowned at her and pulled himself out of the window and onto her bed, crossing his legs as he peered into her face. Lucy couldn't be bothered to scold him for coming into her home through her window. Besides, she was rather grateful for his company at the moment, even if she found it strange that Natsu was here during the middle of the night.

Then she realized what she just thought.

"KYA!!!!" she screeched, causing Natsu to fall backwards onto the floor as she yanked her covers up instinctively. Lucy glared at her friend, taking several deep breaths to calm her heart rate down. "What are you doing here?" she finally asked in a calm, deadly tone. Or at least, she hoped that was what it sounded like. She took the widening of Natsu's eyes as proof that she had done it properly and she resisted the urge to smirk at her dragon slayer friend. Right now, she was supposed to be angry that he broke into her house, yet again.

"Jeez, Luce, you're such a weirdo." Natsu muttered as he rubbed the back of his head. Lucy took several deep breaths and dropped down next to him, crossing her legs so that she could place her elbow on her knee and rest her head in her hand. Then she would intimidate Natsu with her Lucy Stare that she had been perfecting.

"EEK! Why do you suddenly look like Edo-Lucy!?" he exclaimed, backing away from her. Lucy looked at him one last time, before she sighed and softened her glare. He was obviously here for a reason, because she was pretty sure he wouldn't break-in her house at forsaken hours in the morning without a reason...

"What do you want?" she repeated her earlier question more gently as she let her hand fall. Natsu looked relieved. "Did you have another nightmare?" she eyed him in concern. Lucy's alarm grew when Natsu blushed slightly and rub the back of his neck. So, he did have a nightmare...

"Sort of," he admitted with a sigh as his hand dropped into his lap. Lucy tilted her head as she unconsciously leaned forward with anticipation, how could someone 'sort of' have a nightmare anyways? "I," Natsu paused, suddenly looking uncharacteristically unsure. His eyes hardened, "I think Igneel was trying to speak to me." he blurted out. Lucy's eyes widened in shock as Natsu shifted uncomfortably, looking away from her.

"Ready to call me insane?" he mumbled, almost to himself, but Lucy knew he wanted her to hear those words as well. She sighed softly and shook her head, gently tapping his shoulder to get his attention. Natsu looked up with wide eyes and she bit her lip as her neck suddenly felt warm. He looked so adorable with those eyes... wait, WHAT!? What was she thinking?!

Lucy shook the thoughts out of her head and focused on Natsu's face. "No," she smiled at him, "You're not insane." Lucy's smile widened and a tiny, subdued, one made its way onto Natsu's face. "I believe you, if you say Igneel's trying to speak to you, then he is."

Natsu's eyes were wide with surprise, then he surprised both of them when he surged forward and engulfed Lucy in a hug. "Thanks, Luce." he breathed into her ear.

Lucy's heart was thudding underneath her chest so hard that she was frankly surprised that he hadn't mentioned it. Her hands were on his chest while his arms were around her waist and his nose was buried against her neck. Lucy's face suddenly felt warm as she realized their position, but nonetheless a gentle smile etched its way onto her face as she wrapped her arms around neck, noticing in mild surprise that he was actually wearing a normal shirt. A normal, collared shirt. But she had to admit, he looked good in it...

"I, it's no problem." she stuttered in response and she heard a deep chuckle in her ear. Her face felt warmer and she briefly wondered if Natsu realized just what kind of position they were in... probably not though.

He pulled away and flashed his canines at her. She couldn't resist smiling back at him, well, how could she ever in the first place? He was smiling at her like that. Natsu's smile then turned smaller, more subdued, more, dare she say it? subdued. Lucy kind of liked his more mature smile, it always seemed a little more genuine to her, although the other smile was genuine, of course. This just seemed to be more, Natsu, she supposed. The deepest part of him, and he was showing it only to her of all people...

Whoa there girl, she thought to herself. You're going crazy now. I really need to get back to sleep soon...

"Seriously though, thanks for believing me, Lucy."

And there was the mature side of him again, she could get used to it quite easily...

"No problem," she waved his thanks off as she felt herself blush even more. Lucy wondered why Natsu hadn't mentioned it, but she figured that he couldn't see her in the dim light, something she thanked the stars for. Lucy looked at him and let out a sigh, "Do you want to tell me more?"

Natsu looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. Then he went on to explain everything that happened in the vision, finishing up with the voice telling him about some kind of game. Lucy listened to his voice with half closed eyes, nodding here and there when he would pause to take a gulp of air. She opened her eyes all the way, frowning, and played with the edges of her comforter once he finished his monologue.

"I wonder who the shadow guy is..." she mused to herself as she leaned against her bed. She bit back a yawn and pulled her legs up to her chest. Natsu snorted lightly, as if he was resisting the urge to laugh or chuckle. She smiled sheepishly, "Do you think its Zeref?" she mused to herself.

Natsu shrugged slightly, "After the whole fiasco with E.N.D. and Tartaros, I'd prefer to think it's not him..." He moved around so that he was sitting next to her with his back against the bed. Lucy felt her face flush slightly when she had to resist the urge to scoot closer to him. Stop thinking about him like that! He's your nakama, that's it.

"Well, he's still out th-ere..." her sentence was punctured by a yawn and Natsu looked at her in surprise for a moment then his eyes widened in realization and he looked incredibly guilty.

"Sorry!" he yelped and Lucy looked at him in confusion. "You're tired, and I'm keeping you awake, so I should—"

Lucy smiled slightly and put her finger over his mouth, efficiently cutting him off. He stared at her with wide eyes. "It's alright, I'm kind of glad you came anyways. I was having a nightmare."

Natsu smiled slightly as he stood up, bringing the comforter with him and placing it on her bed. She watched in confusion as he knelt down next to her then she let out a tiny yelp when one moment she was sitting against her bed, the next she was in his arms. She blushed a thousand shades of red when he gently put her down on the bed and began to pull the covers up. Her blush subsided as she looked at him.

Should I...? Eh, it's only for one night and it's no use sending him back home this late anyways. Might as well try to get some sleep...

He pulled up the covers and she shifted to one side and held the other side of the covers up, throwing caution to the winds. Natsu looked at her in confusion and she rolled her eyes. "Come on," she mumbled as her face suddenly felt very, very warm. "It's too late for you to go back to your house anyways..."

Natsu grinned widely and he took off his shoes and jumped underneath the covers, joining her. The blush subsided at the childish smile he wore and she felt her own smile make its way on her face as she snuggled deeper into her sheets, suddenly feeling warm all over, but a good kind of warm.

Silence between the two of them, then, "You're the best, Luce."

Lucy drifted into dreamland with a wide smile on her face.

~...~

Lucy stood in front of the guild with an odd sense of foreboding deep within her heart. Natsu was standing right next to her, so close that their shoulders were only centimeters apart. Happy was flying above the two of them, strangely quiet, as if he had sensed the unfriendly atmosphere surrounding the guild.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she whispered to her friend. Natsu looked at her in concern and she shifted nervously as a blush rose on her face as she remembered their positions when they woke up... and how she actually, maybe, sort of, definitely liked it.

Suddenly Natsu's hand went onto her forehead and Lucy knew her face was exploding into a thousand different shades of red. "You don't have a fever..." Natsu muttered almost to himself as he pulled away, looking at her in concern. "Wait, are you blushing!?"

Lucy wanted to sink into a hole at that moment. "You liiiiiiiike each other." the annoying cat finally spoke up. Lucy took the opportunity to turn away from Natsu and to yell,

"Shut up, you stupid cat!" while waving her fist.

Happy began flying around with crocodile tears in his eyes, "Wahh! Save me Natsu! She's gonna eat me!"

Natsu looked somewhat amused by their theoretic, "I don't know Happy, I'm half tempted to turn you into a hat myself..."

Happy stopped flying abruptly to stare at Natsu and even Lucy cocked her head to once side as she reached out toward the cat. Natsu's eyes widened and a tiny blush formed on his face as he coughed. "Never mind, let's just get in there." There was an embarrassed undertone to Natsu's words and Lucy nodded in agreement as she squared her shoulders, as if she was about to enter a warzone. Natsu shook his head and marched up to the doors, flashing what should have been a comforting grin, but the nervousness in his eyes destroyed the image. He pushed the doors open.

Lucy felt several eyes on the three of them and she followed in Natsu's wake. Then Levy came barreling forward, nearly running into Natsu although he stepped out of the way at the last second. She halted right in front of the two of them, "Lu-chan, Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy had dreams of Metalicana and Grandineey!"

Lucy blinked, "What!?"

Levy turned to Natsu, the exclamation had come from him, and she nodded slowly. "You had one of Igneel too? Well, they're upstairs with the master—KYAH!!!"

Poor Levy was nearly pushed out of the way when Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and started running to the stairs, nearly dragging his Nakama along with him. Everyone stared at the trail of dust they left in their wake before going back to whatever they did normally at eight in the morning. Levy turned to the only remaining member of their team.

"Did something happen between the two of them?" she wondered out loud with a hopeful tone. Happy grinned mischievously as he thought of a way to take revenge for Natsu's comment about turning him into a hat,

"Aye! They kissed!"

The cheers could be heard all the way over to Sabertooth.

~...~

Natsu stared at his two fellow dragon slayers, Erza, Mira, Gildarts, and the master.

"Let me guess," Makarov sighed as Natsu wondered why Gildarts was there, "You had a vision about Igneel too?"

Natsu nodded in confirmation as he stepped away from Lucy and closer to Wendy and Gajeel. "Yeah," he said. Wendy looked up at him with big eyes.

"Really, Natsu-san?" she asked in her tiny voice. "Do you think they're trying to talk to us?"

Natsu was about to say yes, but Gajeel beat him to it. "Of course they are, kiddo." he began to ruffle Wendy's hair, "If Salamander got a dream from his old man too, then there's no denying it." Wendy smiled widely at him and she nodded despite the fact that he kept on rubbing her head.

Makarov nodded in approval, "Which means that all three of you should go out immediately." Gildarts looked thoughtful as Makarov finished his sentence.

"How about three groups of three?" everyone turned to look at Natsu with wide eyes, somewhat shocked by his serious tone, and the fact that he wasn't blowing anything up, yet. "Me, Happy and Lucy can be one group."

Mira was nodding slowly as she turned to Gajeel, "Yeah. How about you take Pantherlily and Levy?" she suggested although there was a cunning gleam in her eyes that told everyone that he really had no choice but to take the two of them. Gajeel nodded and Mira turned to Wendy who looked somewhat alarmed. Well, anyone would like alarmed when Mirajane was in 'Matchmaker Mode'. "And you, Wendy, should take Charle and Ro—"

"I'll go with her," Erza cut in smoothly and Mira glared at her. Erza either ignored it or was blissfully unaware of it. "It's safer for all of us if someone with S-class level magic goes anyway."

Mira was about to make a retort when a giant fist smashed through the door, nearly impaling Lucy but she dodged out of the way just in time. She let out a tiny squeak, what had they done now? Or was he just trying to get their attention? But did Makarov really have to destroy the door...? A sweatdrop formed on the back of her head.

"We are wasting time bickering around. Get going!" Makarov's order was in a low, rumbling tone as he met all of them eye for eye.

Natsu was the first one to break out of his shock and he grabbed Lucy's hand yet again and began to drag her out of the office with her screaming something about how she didn't need to be kidnapped. Happy joined the two of them and the trio made their way out of the guild, followed by the others except for Gildarts. Makarov and he watched as Gajeel dragged the kicking and screaming Levy out the door.

Gildarts finally turned to Makarov and raised an eyebrow, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Makarov looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he asked in an innocent tone, "Did what on purpose?" The mischievous gleam in his eyes put any doubts away that he lied. Gildarts chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"I wonder if Natsu will finally stop being an obvious idiot..."

Makarov snickered with Gildarts as the rest of the guild started throwing a party about how Natsu and Lucy had finally gotten together.

"WHAT!? THEY ALREADY GOT TOGETHER!? WHEN CAN I PLAN THE WEDDING!?"

Just a normal day in Fairy Tail...