Her Little Secret

A Friendly Reminder

Lucy's POV

"Natsu, why are you following me home?!"

He picks up his stride, aligning with me.

"Training starts now!"

Now?!

"But I'm tired!" I whine as we reach the door to my building.

"Then we'll go easy!" He says loudly.

I roll my eyes, continuing my walk up the stairs.

I know he meant well, and he was doing this big favor, but I just wanted to rest.

My fatigue seemed unbearable at this point, like I could just collapse.

Natsu seems to understand what I was feeling, grabbing my waist.

He throws me over his shoulder, almost as if I was a sack of potatoes.

"I would complain, but I'm too tired to care."

He starts his way up the stairs, my body hitting his back in response to his movement.

"Natsu, go slower..." I complain.

He chuckles.

"I thought you said you were too tired to complain?"

"About you carrying me like this, not about the fact my face is being crushed!"

"Fine, Fine... I'll slow down."

Finally, we reach the top of the stairs.

Though I hadn't used my energy much, I'd felt so drained.

Natsu plopped me onto the bed.

"Okay, let's start train—"

He stops talking.

I've already settled down in bed, feeling in need of a recharge.

"Lucy, come on!" He nags.

I only press my head further into my pillow.

"Training is always better when you have the energy." I mutter before closing my eyes.

I remember drifting into a calming feeling.

It felt as if everything in my life wasn't screwed up just yet.

It was a moment of silence.

A pause.

Then I awoke.

Natsu seemed pleased I'd opened my eyes.

"Now that you've had your beauty sleep, can we start training?"

I look to him with a sigh.

"Yes Natsu, we can start training."

He smiles with determination.

"All right! I'm going to make you the best Celestial Dragon Slayer that's ever lived!"

I laugh.

"I surely hope you can keep that promise by the end of this."

"Don't worry, I'll be a great trainer!"

"I surely hope you realize what you're dealing with..." A voice comments from the side.

I turn to see no other than the lion himself.

"How would you know, Loke?! You don't have dragon slayer magic!" Natsu yells.

"Well, for starters, it's still partly spirit magic, and also, I've been in this game a while now."

He looks to me.

"Don't forget what I told you. You don't want to make the mistake of ending up on the wrong side of the solar system."

Loke vanishes.

He was right.

I couldn't forget it.