Natsu POV
"Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you," I stated, my voice flat and monotone.
The military man nodded and shut the door behind him with a gentle thud. I collapsed onto my pillow and pulled it up over my face. "What am I gonna tell Lucy?" I groaned.
Happy was crying small tears, "Natshu... You can't!"
"I have to, Happy. I don't have a choice. Right now, I have my hands tied," I stared down at the blank sheets, trying to avoid eye contact with the people I cared for.
"Natsu, we wouldn't have done it if we didn't have to, but we know how much you wanted to-" Gildarts started, but I stopped him.
I growled, "Want to find Lucy. It's not over yet."
"Fine. We know how much you want to save Lucy and it was our only hope. I don't like it either but they approached me and... They didn't go to Mira. They came to me, which means they know the whole story."
"I'm not mad, I just don't want to leave Luce for that long."
"Kid, it's been six hours since they left and began the final search and..."
A scream from the hallway interrupted our conversation, "I need oxygen and an IV over here! We won't be able to hold her for very long!"
"She's losing color and temperature! Someone bring me some fluids, stat!"
Without thinking twice, I jumped out of the bed, snapping most of the wires and tubes in two, and rushed to the door. Pulling it open, I poked my head out to see a sight I was beginning to lose hope I'd see.
Lucy breathing.
Just barely, and I could only just hear her heartbeat, but it was there.
She was alive.
Gildarts POV
"Lucy!" the pink haired teenager roared, throwing open the door and reaching out to the gurney she was speeding past on. His hand brushed her arm, and the color came back into his face.
So it was starting.
His dragon instincts are beginning to take over and realize Lucy's the one he needs.
All the symptoms and signs are kicking in. He's growing up.
I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder; his face was beginning to scale up but disappeared when he saw me, a confused expression on his face. "Was that Lucy?"
I nodded, "Didn't you see her?"
He gave a slow nod, "Yeah, but she looked different."
"How'd she look?"
"Beautiful."
Levy POV
A roar made me turn on my heel and look back down the long, white hallway I had just come from.
Was that Natsu?
A deep voice interrupted my solace, "What's up, Shrimp?"
I yelped, turning back around to face a large man with black hair and a cocky smile. "Nothing, I just thought I heard Natsu..."
Gajeel nodded, "I heard it too. His dragon instincts are awakening and realizing what Lucy is to him." He sighed, "I'm gonna have to have the talk with that idiot."
Cocking my head to the right I asked, "Why can't Gildarts?"
His red eyes rolled around, "Do you know how that would go? 'Natsu, when a dragon loves a girl, they take them and have sex with them, do you understand?'"
I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks, "Yep! Yep, okay! I understand."
The burly man laughed and an awkward silence filled the air.
My mind couldn't stop my heart from talking, "Gajeel, have you found your mate yet?"
He sighed, "I think so."
My heart sank. "Oh, really?"
"Yeah. But don't worry."
"I'm not worried," I screeched.
He gave his signature laugh, "Gi, hi, hi. Sure you aren't, Shrimp."
Another loud squeal and a thud coming from Natsu's room broke through my barrier of exhaustion and pushed me towards the screams. "I think Lisanna found Natsu," I stated, starting the walk back. Gajeel chuckled softly and followed me back down the hallway, undoubtedly deciding the best way to explain dragon mating to Natsu.
I poked my head in the door to find Natsu on the ground, Lisanna on top of him and Gildarts standing off to the side, trying to decide the best way to help. "I'm so glad your alive! Juvia, Levy and the others should be back soon to visit you too but they needed to rest. I tried to get Levy to go home but she insisted on coming to see Lucy to the hospital." Lisanna finally went quiet, noticing the grimace on Natsu's face. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you still weren't better." She sat up, helping Natsu up as well while he tried his best not to show how much pain he was in.
"It's fine. I'm not in as much pain as I was earlier today. Knowing Luce is okay helped a lot, I think," Natsu responded, giving a sideways grin.
For the first time since we entered the room, Gajeel spoke, "When did you start feeling better?"
Natsu shrugged, working hard to get up and get back in bed, "I dunno. It was right when Lucy went past my door."
Gajeel stepped in front of me, going up to the pink haired slayer and grasping his shoulder firmly and turning him around, "Did you touch her?"
"Why does it matter, metal head? So what if I did?" he spouted back, ripping his shoulder back from Gajeel's grasp.
Briefly, I saw Gajeel and Gildarts exchange glances then the iron slayer sighed and turned back to me, "How much do you know about dragons?"
Gray POV
I glanced down once more at the sleeping water mage in my arms. Her eyes were shut ever so gently, blue hair framing her face with ease as her chest rose and fell with the rhythm of the forest I was walking in.
After we found Lucy, she tried to insist on coming to the hospital with Lisanna, Levy and Gajeel but we could all see she was in no shape to travel any where far. Her breathing was ragged and forced as it was, and only rest could help her lack of magic power. Two minutes of belligerence went past before I caved and said I'd carry her if she went back with me. After a slight hesitation, she agreed, and actually tried to walk beside me, before passing out and forcing me to carry her.
I decided to take her back to my apartment, since I had no idea where hers was and there was no way I was going to wake her up to find out.
Besides, I'm sure she already knew where mine was.
My eyes flickered back down to her features. The way her jawline flowed seamlessly into her neck and chest; the way her waist curled into her hips and then into her pale legs, but what caught my eye was her Fairy Tail Mark: the mark all students of Fairy Tail get when they pledge allegiance to the school.
We usually don't get members from other schools, once you join a magic school, it's generally for life. But after Phantom Lord declared war on Fairy Tail, and we won, she switched over. I'll never forget the day Master had me help remove her hold mark of Phantom Lord. The way sweat glistened on her brow as Master worked away at the curse his son had put on one of his new students and children. My job was simply to keep her cool during the removal, but I had a feeling Gramps secretly wanted us to hook up since he could've used anybody with access to a freezer.
And considering the fact he didn't need me for Gajeel's removal.
The apartments were now in sight and just in time; the last of my energy was dwindling by the second. I walked slowly up to my apartment in the coming night, switching Juvia to one arm only as I unlocked and opened the door. Kicking it shut behind me, I carried the blue haired woman to my bedroom, laying her gently on my bed and covering her up with the only blanket I owned: a beautiful quilt I had found that was made in my home village. She shifted ever so slightly, but only to turn on her side and snuggle the blanket I had just put around her. A smile maneuvered its way onto my lips as I watched her rest.
Maybe she wasn't as bad as I thought.
Her heart was huge, bigger than anybody's I had ever met, including Levy's and Lisanna's. I don't think she was capable of truly hating anybody for longer than a week. Forgiveness was just something she did. I would know. She forgave me every time I said something mean to her or rejected her. She was also beautiful. Not like the other girls I had in the past, but in a pure, "all the way through" beauty. Of course, she was beautiful in the traditional sense as well, I mean, hell, she could be a model but she had a certain purity about her that enhanced her beauty all the way through to her core. Her very essence was perfection.
I chuckled and made my way out of the bedroom and into the living room, where I crashed on the couch, not even bothering to take off my clothes. And I lost consciousness, thinking about the blue haired beauty sleeping one room over.
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Only a few chapters left, and like I said, most of them are written, they just need to be revised.
Let me know what you think!
I'm also working on rewriting my other book "Can You Hear Me?" When I first started writing it, I hated it, so what's up now, is about to all be erased. I realized I was trying wayyyy too hard for something that usually comes naturally. So, same characters, same story line, less effort. Because characters should run their own lives, right?
Thanks for reading and sticking through the breaks. And if you reading this in the future, Jar Jar Binks is the dark lord and *I still don't own Fairy Tail.*
~MelodyElaine