“You’re not going to win, Natsu,” Ignia smirked, dodging fiery punches from the pink haired man. Natsu only let out a war cry, ignoring Ignia’s nonsense coming out of his mouth. Missing his punches, he immediately moved his left leg to kick Ignia, but like before his efforts were in vain.
Ignia wasn’t joking when he said he was strong. Strong even without the aid of his comrades not that he had one. His power was ridiculously destructive. He didn’t need emotional support from anyone; maybe even he had never had power ups in a battle. Such contrast with Natsuㅡthough the fire dragon slayer hated to admit this, he couldn’t help but agree: Natsu wasn’t even near Ignia’s level.
The thought made him growl in frustration.
“What’s wrong, Igneel’s pride?” Ignia yelled from the air. Natsu looked up, only to find a huge ball of fire coming to his direction. He jumped away before it hit the ground. “Can’t even stand a little flame?”
“SHUT UP!” Natsu roared angrily.
“Natsu!” Lucy shouted from afar, concern latching on her face. There also stood Erza, Gray, Wendy and the exceeds, they were all but cautious and worried.
“Lucy! Run away! I’ll handle him! He’s too-” Natsu panickedly shouted back, but his tongue couldn’t move when suddenly Ignia flew toward Lucy. He smirked devilishly, sharp fangs were shown.
“How about we make use of your biggest power up here?” Ignia asked to nobody in particular. Lucy scrunched her nose in confusion while Natsu’s eyes widened in realization.
“NO!”
The next thing he could see was a blurry shot of flame to Lucy, followed by a fiery explosion, rocking the earth in a destructive manner. Natsu shut his eyes due to flying debris and stone everywhere, but as soon as his peripheral caught what was in front of him, his mind went blank.
Not again. No, this was not happening. His biggest nightmare of all timeㅡhis fear that haunted him every night to the point he cried himself to sleep.
Losing Lucy Heartfilia.
He didn’t care if he couldn’t entirely make out what was happening there because of the thick smoke surrounding them, but he knew from her shadow that his Lucy was sprawled on the ground unmoving. He gritted his teeth, momentarily forgetting the rest of the team because all he could see was red.
Everything was red. He swore that he could hear something whispering inside his head, right next to his ear, promising the happy ending he had always wished to have with Lucy; so he gave in. His body moved without his own accord; smoke coming out of his mouth as he snarled. Red pupils searching for his one and only enemy right now, he let out a growl so loud it created a large gust of wind.
It felt so good. He didn’t know why. He didn’t care if his nails felt longer and sharper than before, or that his flame were hotter a few degrees than usual. All he could feel was a sudden overwhelming power. And he loved it.
“Y-you,” he heard a choking sound from above. Ignia’s mouth was hanging open, clearly shocked. “It’s true. You’re E.N.Dㅡ!”
No, Natsu would not let him finish whatever Ignia was about to say. He’d found his target, and he’d be damned if he didn’t do anything about it. Natsu jumped into the air, kicking Ignia from behind so he crashed onto the hard ground. Natsu immediately took advantage of his state. He followed his instincts afterwards, claws sinking deep to the flesh in front of him, fire burning so hot it left marks, punches, punches, and more punchesㅡ
“Natsu!”
He froze for a while, his hand went rigid when he heard a very familiar voice. It couldn’t be. She’s dead, Ignia killed her, she couldn’t- he shouldn’t be hearing her!
He balled his fists, ready to punch Ignia again only to feel soft, warm hands on his shoulder. Hands that he recognized so well. He let those small hands pulled him away from the unconscious Ignia and spun him around, however he didn’t expect a pair of sweet lips pressing against his own. Honey and vanilla scent filled his nostrils, his red vision slowly fading. His thirst to kill disappeared, replaced by a sudden urge to reciprocate her kiss. So he did.
And this definitely felt more amazing than he had ever imagined.
He pulled away, hugging her small frame against his dirty body. She didn’t seem to mind, instead she wrapped her arms around him too. He kissed the crown of her head, a single tear falling down from his left eye.
“Sorry,” his words were muffled. She sighed, smiling a bit.
“I know.”
“I swear I’ll never let you go again,” he whispered.
“I know.”
“I’ll think of you more seriously Luce, I-”
“I said, I know,” she pulled away a bit to stare at his face, a smile still adorning her face.
He fell in love again and again with her, hard, that day.
