You're Warm
Chapter 35: Everything
In his mind, nothing was scarier than having to hear someone that was once close to him planning the deaths of the people that he held very close to his heart. The fact that she never gave him the time and place of when her plan was going to get carried out, he hated the calls that he would receive when he learned about their deaths.
That time when his father died devastated him and his very small family. He had no one to look after him than his relative, Sakura, who was still unstable and unwanted from others - She however, had her own life and couldn't remain by his side forever - Lessons had time, and her lessons for him ended after she learned about the truth.
Lisanna was never... Insane when she was younger. She was passionate, loving and accepting. She would never hate her extended family of non-existent blood bonds, and she would never think about anything corrupted such as causing death.
Because of Lisanna, he had to destroy many of his bonds - Bonds that he valued deep in his heart such as the one with Lucy and Sakura. Being taught at a young age that family and friends were important assets to an individual, he was forced to ignore these precious relationships when she finally snapped into her insane actions.
There, he stood behind Lucy who was standing in front of her parent's graves. The rain pelting down, he remembered the day when he was secretly watching her from the tree. The day that he was unable to visit her after hearing about her parent's death.
"Ne, Natsu... My parents - They were killed by her, weren't they?" Lucy whispered, looking down to her parents where she slightly shivered to the cold that was making their way into her skin. Rubbing her arm, she looked up and over her shoulder when she felt his warm hand hold hers. With a saddened, yet forced smile, she sighed when he slowly nodded his head.
Perhaps the world was against her.
"She did mention it once but I thought that she was joking until it actually happened. She then began threatening me with you..." he reasoned, tightening his hold where she slowly moved to face him with a grim expression.
He knew that the girl in front of him was a caring and forgiving person that grew up with both parental love. He knew that even though she was forgiving, his actions were going to be hard for her to forgive and forget.
The distant rumbling of thunder in the distance echoing into their ears, they remained quiet as they gazed at the graves that Lucy couldn't handle to stand close to. Her breathing shallow where her keys began to shine and clatter, she nibbled on the bottom of her lips as she placed a hand over them to reassure her spirits that she was fine.
"I just wanted to protect you guys... She makes everything possible," Natsu continued.
Lucy didn't say anything as tears began to fall. She knew how much Natsu cherished her when they were younger but his actions to protect her were completely hurtful - He never told her anything regarding to her health and safety.
"I was so hurt when you called me names. You sounded like you meant it, and it killed me inside and out when you treated me like an insect..." she whispered, wanting to pull her hand away from his where the beast within her growled.
The beast inside of her felt used. Belladonna was a beast of poison, but all she wanted was to be loved by her fated on and be useful when it came to protecting him - He gave her hope when they were younger - That they were together. Instead, she was thrown away without knowing the reason, putting her into complete outrage when it was time to be accepted by her other half.
"I didn't mean to call you names but Lisanna having her spies all over the school and all, I needed to show her that I was following her orders..." he replied, pulling her into an embrace when he noticed her shivering from the cold.
"Calling you names killed me. Tricking Erza and Gray was horrible and having to push you away was destroying... I needed to protect you all," he continued, snuggling into her.
"You could've told us all. We could've helped you. Lisanna is only one person and together we're able to stop her," Lucy croaked.
What kind of friends would they be if they weren't there to help him? They were supposed to be together fighting against all sorts of evil to maintain the balance of this newly magic-introduced world of theirs - Friends don't hide secrets if they involved danger.
No matter what reason Natsu had to give her, lying to them wasn't the right way to do things right. The amount of pain she suffered. The neglect after her parents died... The pain and damaged was done, and he still wanted to protect her by bullying and harassing her even though he could've told her the truth.
"Sakura told me that... I pretended to act innocent even though she knew the truth," he said where Lucy pushed them away lightly in shock. He simply nodded before looking over her parent's grave.
"She's strong, sure. She's been a lot, sure. Although she's strong..."
Lucy finished the sentence for him. "She's still weak inside of her." He only nodded once more before looking to her with conflicted eyes.
"To kill her and to destroy her, all you have to do was threaten her with her mate and then torture him in front of her. Killing her means making her return to her rebellious stage and then taking her by surprise - Strong, but weak at the same time," he explained to which he pulled her back to him.
"Lisanna knew that my main weakness was you. She knew how fond I was with you and I guess she grew jealous," he continued, kissing the crown of her head.
"I don't want to see you in that crystal ever again. I don't want to see the both of you like that."
The girl remained quiet. "I could protect myself."
"You were weak and unstable to use your magic... You couldn't summon your spirits remember?" he said, trying to reason with her that Lisanna could attack any time while her guard was down.
As she opened her mouth, he knew what she was going to say. "Sakura couldn't be there all the time, and Erza and Gray weren't by your sides after you came to our school - You couldn't trust so I had no other choice but to protect you from the shadows," he interrupted.
When she closed her mouth, he sadly smiled. "I know that what I did was stupid - Heck, I'm still stupid but I don't want you to get hurt when I love you so damn much," he confessed.
Lucy froze in her spot. That was the second time.
"Sakura knew but remained quiet. She wanted me to learn it for myself. The others knew that I had feelings but thought that I was bullying you to throw them away. They thought that I was being in denial - Maybe that part is true but anyways, I still had feelings for you even while you were unstable," he continued, tightening their hug so he could feel her warmth returning.
"Igneel wanted to see you. I know that he knew how much I adored you when we were younger, hence him often teasing us about getting married in the future..."
With a whisper, she talked in a hush tone to his ear. "Do you really mean that?"
She felt him nod his head where suddenly the rain stopped, making them look up to see a large ice cave form above them. Their ears catching the rustling of the wet grass, they turned to see a certain scarlet and raven standing in front of them with soft smiles on their faces.
"We all love you Lucy, but not as much as Natsu does..." Erza muttered where she and Gray opened their arms into inviting hugs.
A smile forming on her face, Lucy looked up to Natsu who kissed her cheek and nodded. Her face brightening where she grabbed Natsu's hand, she pulled him along with her as they ran over to their two childhood friends and into their arms.
The four of them hugging in a closed circle, they began to laugh, happy that the threat was no more for them to worry about.
As they all hugged near the Heartfilia's graves, they didn't notice how there were four pairs of eyes watching them. Three pairs of eyes from the clouds with another pair from the distant trees, they watched quietly as the rain began to cease.
In this cruel and punishing world, guardian angels exists to protect those they love. With three hidden from human eyesight, the other watched with a soft smile on her face as she slowly rose from her branch. "Aren't you glad that they're all safe and protected from harsh dangers of the fragile human mind?" the crimson asked as she gazed up to the clouds that hid the three in the skies.
A breeze brushing by, she looked down to the base of the tree and saw her wolves waiting. "I guess this ends the story of Natsu and Lucy's love story... They finally accepted each other as mates - The love of Natsu Dragneel and his desperate passion to protect his mate Lucy Heartfilia who realised her love for him but needs time to accept the story given..." she began, jumping down from her hiding place where she landed in between her wolves.
"I guess, it's time for me to go and find my own happiness," she whispered before looking over her shoulder.
"I wish you all happiness... I will protect you all forever in Igneel's place," she soft said, disappearing when her wolves howled to the moon.
The four friends hearing the howl right after the whisper that wished for their happiness, they turned to the direction of the sound where without Erza and Gray noticing, Natsu kissed Lucy once more but on the lips.
"I'll protect you the right way from now on..." he promised where Lucy blushed.
"I... I can't return your words right now but hopefully I will soon..." she promised, kissing him on his cheek quickly before hiding her face.
A few weeks later, Lucy and Natsu found out from Takuto that Sakura had disappeared. A few days after hearing about the sudden news of her disappearance, a letter was sent to Natsu's home where it was a photo of her with Sting and Rogue with scribbled words telling them all not to worry about her.
Ever since her letter, Takuto began to travel in order to find his mate.
Lisanna vanished after Natsu and Lucy left her with Sakura in the other world. With nothing left for the group to get worried about, they returned to school where they now representing the school as a powerful group of friends that fought to maintain their school's reputation.
Thanks to a personal letter written by Sakura, Lucy managed to train where she was able to fight alongside with her spirits again without getting weak. With Natsu, Gray and Erza's assistance, she was able to summon two spirits without breaking a sweat as they guided her into becoming efficient and precise on when to use magic and strength.
Natsu once thought that he would never live his life with the woman he loved. Ever since the problem was resolved, Natsu and Lucy were taking it slow with their relationship, bringing it back to stable relationship it was like how it was when they were younger.
With time and guardian angels watching over them, history will never repeat.