#and if i say this is how my wendy's dragon force looks like

[claire-starsword]

Bloodline of the Sacred Dragons - Chapter 3-2

The following day, the tents set up around were all taken inside, and the Pao Train departed.

The soldiers from Bustoke parted ways with them there, and went back to their own country. Only Wendy wanted to come with Bleu and his team, but Zylo wouldn't accept that selfishness. Bitterly, she took the way back home.

For every departure, there are meetings as well.

Just as Lyle had said in Rindo, an old member of the Shining Force, Guntz, was on the Pao Train as well. It seemed he had been living there for quite a while already, to research the huge machine.

Bleu was overjoyed with the reunion, but couldn't follow much of Guntz's talk about machines. Instead, it was Krin who jumped at that topic. She spent almost all her free time on the cab and the power sources.

Tyrin said he had orders from Otrant to not let Bleu and the Manual out of his sight. Bleu doubted if he was competent enough to oversee this, but couldn't easily refuse Otrant's wishes. Randolf too, with their deal from before still in place, wouldn't leave his side until meeting the Sacred Dragons of Parmecia. Bleu regretted having taken that deal so hastily, but it was too little too late. And Karna as well seemed to have no intention of leaving until she found some clue of Gong's whereabouts. More than that, she seemed more passionate about the task of helping the Sacred Dragons than Gong right now.

Their views are all different, but an odd feeling of unity grew between them as they traveled together. Perhaps, while their goals were different, their reason for traveling was the same. The center of all that had always been Bleu.

For Karin in particular, her desire to stay beside him was very clear in her face.

With nothing obstructing its path, the Pao Train continued on without issue. Of course, there was nothing that could stop the advance of that huge machine. If any careless creature stood in its path, it would obviously be crushed underneath it.

However, pretty much no creatures were hit by the machine. It crossed the plains like wind. Such was the defining image of the Pao Train that Queen Koron rode on.

It continued to run even as night fell.

The typical sounds of the engine could be heard through the walls, along with the wind blowing by the windows. Not drowned by any of this, one more sound rang through a small but cozy lounge, the clear melody of a lyre.

Bleu and his friends were spending their hours peacefully after dinner.

Everyone had made a circle, and Karna was in the center, sat atop a small box. Carrying a lyre of 16 strings shaped like a swan atop the waters, she sang a song. Her voice, clear and high pitched due to her youth, would go from cheerful, to sweet, to frenetic, weaving together the threads of the song.

In her song there were people, and beasts, creatures playing in nature, wind for the birds, water for the fish, everything finding its place in a cycle, everything finding harmony, their daily work spinning on the threads of time, like a spinning wheel singing a song, weaving together a singing voice, people finding harmony, and harmony giving birth to more people…

"Is that a song from your homeland, Karna?" Tyrin asked her once she finished a section, and took a break to rest her throat.

"No. I actually grew up among wanderers. I don't have a particular homeland. If I had to answer, I'd say all of Rune is mine."

"You mean 'my home', not 'mine'."

She stuck her tongue at Tyrin's correction.

"So, without thinking, I had become a traveler. It was in the middle of my travels that I met Master Gong. The song I just sang is one Master taught me."

"That song is Gong's…!?"

Bleu and Guntz immediately looked at each other. Neither of them could imagine it at all, that quiet man singing anything. Eventually, the image of the monk singing a broken and out of tune song while red in the face came to their minds. But, looking as how Karna talked nostalgically about it, that was probably not how it was. Maybe he was unexpectedly good at singing, the two whispered.

"Master told me: 'If you think I've been kind to you, share that kindness with many others. If you are grateful to me, then you too work every day to receive that gratitude from people.' That's why I'm coming along until Sir Bleu feels grateful to have me. If I didn't do this, I wouldn't be able to look Master in the eyes. Besides, while I'm with Sir Bleu, maybe Master will show up to see his fellow Shining Force members."

Karna touched over and over the White Ring that Gong had given her in the past. The ring was made of platinum with an Aquamarine stone inlaid in it, and glowed warmly in her ring finger, hiding healing magic within.

"I don't think Gong is coming to visit me any time soon though. Besides, I'm already grateful enough for you. What he was trying to say is that if you were helped by a certain someone, you can pay it forward to anyone else. You're misunderstanding things."

"Aah, so is it a bother that I'm coming along?"

Her eyes started filing up with tears.

"It's not like that..."

By reflex, Bleu averted his eyes, staring at the ceiling instead.

"I think you need a healer around for traveling, for when you get injured and such. I'm sure of it. I'll train with Karin too and become stronger, so I won't be a burden to you."

"I've told you already, I don't look anything like Gong," Karin jumped in the conversation to stop her, "if you want to train with someone, do it with Camallia."

"Nooo, a gallant big sister is my ideal kind of woman!"

Karna made heart-eyes at her.

"Wait, Bleu, help me out here!"

Troubled, Karin turned to Bleu. He laughed with Camallia, who was sat at their side, their shoulders rubbing together. Their carefreeness got on her nerves.

She dragged him away from Camallia, trying to get him between her and Karna.

Having watched everything from the start, Randolf was roaring with laughter. Many of the others joined him as well.

Karna got a grip on herself, and set to play the lyre once again.

The song went on. The birds to the wind, the fish to the water, the plants to the light, the people to all living things… They all gave their thanks to that which sustained them. They all gave them gratitude and care. They all gave their thanks and prayers…

Karna's song told of all living things, and the earth and sky and sea around them, with benevolence.

"What a strange song."

Once the song was over, Camallia mumbled her thoughts on it.

"Why does such a song exists? All things are not equal, the weak feed the strong, and the strong feed the even stronger. These relationships between them are what the gods decided."

"And if that's how it is, then the strong must be grateful to the weak. Master Gong talked much about it. Everything in this world is kept alive by someone else. Those who rule can do so because those ruled over allow them to, and those who protect can do so because those they protect let them do so. We can't forget to pray in gratitude to even the smallest bugs and the blooming flowers."

"If I prayed for every single one of those, my neck would end up pretty stiff."

Randolf laughed off Karna's words as lectures from a cute child.

"That's not how she meant it."

Sat by Karna's side, Karin came in her defense as the younger girl sulked, petting her head lightly as she took the chance to snuggle closer and be spoiled. It seemed that had Krin been around instead of exploring the train, she'd have to fight to get her sister back.

"We hunt birds and beasts," Karin said, "but we shouldn't ever kill them for no reason."

"Well well, there's no need to quarrel about this. Instead, I would like to request one more song. Would that be okay, Karna?"

Tyrin entered the conversation as if trying to mediate. In a better mood, Karna accepted, and began playing the lyre again.

And her songs continued.

Bleu wanted to agree with what Randolf had said. If living things needed other things to live, then they were too unreliable and frail. That went for Sacred Dragons too, how much of a fleeting dream it was to expect them to be allowed to live all this time just for the sake of protecting the Manual?

Bleu didn't voice any of those feelings, and Karin and Karna did not find out how much he disagreed with them in that night.

>To next part

Translation notes:

I feel there's a relevant distinction made here about Karna coming from a group of wanderers (さすらいの民), evoking the idea of people who have no destination, and as she puts it, went through all of Rune, while the Pao people are described as nomads (遊牧民), who usually have some set pattern of moving according to the season or some other resource.

Karna is described here with a high-pitched voice, but curiously, she has a lower voice game than any girl in game, matching young boys like Peter and Rick. I doubt anyone paid attention to that detail though, but it does strengthen a feeling i have that Karna was intended as an adult in the game, and it was the writer's choice here to make her younger.

A hard one that I'm still struggling with a bit. Karna refers to Gong as 道士, a term that seems mostly associated with Taoism, but that some dictionaries claim also apply to Buddhist monks as well, or simply someone of great morals, which is likely how it is intended here. I'm not at all knowledgeable to discuss the religious implications here, and I also don't think they matter in a series that has basically no worldbuilding for their own religion. Since she uses the -sama honorific as well and clearly has some unofficial master/pupil relationship she has already talked about, I've been simply going with "master". I feel capitalizing it makes it feel a bit more like a title though, so I'll be changing a few instances of it in the previous chapter.

Did you know? "Ring finger" in japanese is written as 薬指, literally "medicine finger". Apparently it comes from it being used to mix up medicine and such in old times. Either way, it feels curious to see a healing ring placed there. And for those who forgot, the White Ring not only raises defense in-game, but also allows you to use the Aura spell for healing. Its appearance also matches the description here just fine:

I don't need to put that in a translation note though, I'm just here to gush. This is the part I looked forward to read the most in the novel and i love everything about Karna in it. And the ring is, very much what I actually expect from a spinoff novel of a game, you know? Some little mechanic or detail being given more meaning in its world and to the characters. I'm never gonna look at a White Ring the same way again. That's fun.

[brandonwayneb]

make life easy as possible

Eureka! Regina

keep boys scouts

keep girl scouts

anyone; gods;

queens; kings

rico rico;

wendys Hercules invincible

androgyny always

#spanish #news #greek #irish #allah

and babe;

the word espérera

will heal 'desperado' language

espérera, the entire galaxy is espérera

esp, is better than psy

esssssssssssay way

imagine,

all that blue life you've been throwing around lol... but there's an endless number of those

those blue colors can be babies and people life essences. be careful

u can go fast, but i just want you to know, its like DBZ, dragon ball z.

there's 100000000's of spheres in the sky

their all giant glowing balls of essences and energies

ur actually supposed to just fly, and swim around anywhere in anti gravity

so the word espérera

will heal 'desperado' language

my entire soul is just oil

like eternal oil

i save womans life from other oils

imagine most guys are oil,

and most woman are essences

woman fly around with galaxies of stars

and usually the men are like thick oil that chases them

but men can learn how to create their own essenses and becomes kinda womanlike or godly in a god father way

but there's so many foolish men who think they can force essenses to stay in themselves

you have to fly up,

when you feel like you have 1 perfect focus

and dont lose that 1 focus,

and then you can fly around anywhere

until you get used to an environment,

then you can make more of yourself

well you do, whatever u want

Im just saying there's thousands of those blue balls in space

their peoples essenses of life i believe...

some demented stuff has happened to most of them

so just keep ur righteous, and purity

and im sure u can free so many people

u can do whatever u want

just long as u know the main points

within easy reason

so the word espérera

will heal 'desperado' language

i dont need those, i just noticed the spanish were hit by white guys really hard on those words

thats not how i do my essences lol

i am part spanish,

but in english/irish man at dept

depth*

if ur looking for me,

u can research anything in this entire world

just dont let anyone violate u, specially physically

and spend as much time floating, flying, and meditating

this is why i never understand all the fights...

the galaxy is literally infinite

so everytime someone says theres a l'imitation or law

totally bogus

there's only respect,

give and get.

the only magic words,

is just respect, or please n thank you..

but at these tragic levels,

there's no more reason for you to obey anyone

you might as well say ur a free may zen or free agent forever

just be a nobleman, and refined gentleman

just dont forget our essays who speak more vato, or pravato

riCH

witCH

CHurCH

ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch

channel infinitia

channel innnnnfaaaaaaynnnnnnaaa

"fin" means end in w1 language

so if u hear fin,

ur supposed to say Dolphins

Dolphins laugh really high frequencies

Doll Fans

not dead fins

[sirthisisa-wendys]

Wendy!! i was angst-inspired and wanted to share - Shinichiro finally having his feelings reciprocated by one of the people he confesses to, and the other Black Dragons are happy for him, until Akashi realizes he's also having feelings for this person. Of course he respects Shin enough to not get between them, but... it's fine if they get some time on the side, right...?? y/n's got two hands, what he don't know won't hurt him, etc etc. eventually it gets to the point where they feel like things can't continue the way that they have without someone feeling betrayed. so they're preparing to tell Shinichiro but they don't get to before uhhhhhh His Naptime💀 and they both have to live with that guilt and decide how they're gonna move forward, like do they get together?? do they back off of each other?? does it even feel the same if they're not sneaking around? does it make each of them think too much of Shin whenever they see each other??? it just hurts, it hurts my heart because emotions and hurts my brain because i could not write this if i tried lmao

I WAS ABOUT TO GO TO BED UNTIL I SAW THIS AND YOU GAVE ME

H E A R T B U R N

This prompt is ABSOLUTELY INSANE.

And I love it, I'm writing it. Y'all better strap the fuck in, BECAUSE MR. TAKEOMI IS MY ANGST KING. FREAKING GENIUS MASTERMIND, YOU ARE.

Rain Bringer: Shinichiro Sano & Takeomi Akashi x Fem!Reader

wc: 1.4k

tw: NSFW

masterlist

song recommendation (I have been saving this song for a good one. I think this is it):

"We should stop this..."

Takeomi's lips slide up the side of your neck and back down, ignoring your statement in the dim light of the room. The lamp in the corner is red, your signal to Takeomi that you're free for him to come over, which happened every so often after Shinichiro left your apartment for the evening.

"You don't mean that," he replies finally, and you huff, feeling his hands course up to your waist.

No, you don't mean it.

Yeah, you like Shinichiro, but Takeomi makes you feel things no man has ever made you feel. Ever.

It's as if Takeomi took your essence and wrapped it around his wrist, chaining him to you forever. Shinichiro was a safe bet. Takeomi was what your entire body lusted for and desired in the middle of the night when your bed wasn't warm.

"Kiss me," Takeomi whispers and you obey, leaning back to catch his mouth as he leans over your shoulder. "Everything's fine." You kiss each other until the result is the both of you laying in bed, bodies tangled around each other as he pumps into you with sinful and terrifying lust. "God, you're so damn perfect," he breathes, holding your wrists above your head and nudging your nipple with his tongue. "Wish I could have you like this every night."

And you do, too. Sort of.

Out of all of the Black Dragons, why did you have to fall for both Shinichiro and Takeomi? If it wasn't for that night when he walked into Shinichiro's shop and gave you that look... fuck, that heat-filled and desire bringing look!

You'd gone weak-kneed and landed right on them in front of Takeomi, taking him in the backroom like a devious and scheming whore. It wasn't okay. If Shinichiro found out... you'd both be dead. You'd gotten lucky multiple times with Takeomi's dalliances, from almost getting caught in the shop to the warehouse to the fucking bathroom at the club...

You liked Shinichiro. You did.

But Takeomi was just... something else.

After his single orgasm and your fifth one, your head rests against his chest and you hear his heart beating slowly beneath his rib cage.

"We need to tell Shinichiro," you exhale. Takeomi goes stiff, but the thought had crossed his mind before. He thought about pulling Shin aside and trying to tell him in the nicest way that he was fucking his girlfriend. But... to his shame, he never got the courage. But now that you're bringing it up, he feels some sense of 'morality' or whatever it was.

"We'll tell him tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah," you reply, falling asleep on the man's chest after a few moments of silence. Takeomi wished he had his cigarettes so he could smoke to ease his mind, but not wanting to wake you, and not wanting to move - he forgoes them, instead letting his mind roam while you rest.

_____________________________________________________________

The news comes that morning.

Both of you had multiple missed calls and a tear-filled Mikey and Emma trying to get a hold of you, get a hold of someone.

But you both had been deep in the throes of sleep, nestled in with each other as the sun rose on the bleak-ass day. You part without words, Takeomi pressing a kiss against your forehead as he leaves out the door, forgetting the breakfast you tried to make and the coffee that had gone cold in your silence of getting ready for the day. How could you face the younger Sano children like this?

You were sure that Takeomi's cum was still nestled between your thighs like the stain of your sin, visible for every single person to see as you walked down the street to the Sano home. You're shaking as you walk through the door, shivering even though it's not cold and your body curling in on itself, even though you haven't been hurt.

Takeomi is sitting at the table, facing away from you, but you can't find the strength to call out to him. Instead, you feel like a fraud as you cry in Keizo's arms, trying to find something that feels authentic to you deep in your heart. You had feelings for Shinichiro. But you cry more out of guilt than your pain, trying to make sense of your own actions.

At the funeral, you wonder if you had just asked Shinichiro to stay the night - instead of being so eager to push him out - if he would have survived. And again, Takeomi doesn't speak to you, and you don't try to speak to him.

Neither of you can face what you've done.

Especially not with each other.

_____________________________________________________________

A week passes.

Two.

Three.

And you find yourself in your apartment, staring at the things he left you with a sense of dread. The chain, the shirts, the bracelet he stowed away for your birthday...

You swipe the things off the dresser top, enraged at yourself for being such a horrible person. You can't face yourself - all of the mirrors have been turned around. All of his clothes were still in your closet because you knew if you touched them, you'd be forced to face what you've done.

But anger drives you forward, pulling at the items and yanking them off their hangers, each shirt, each pair of pants, each hat falling to the ground in a heap of laundry that you can't find the heart to dispose of.

You could find the heart to fuck his best friend, though.

The swarm of accusatory thoughts begins to plague your mind, and you sit on the floor, tears falling from your eyes as you try to knock them loose or free them so they can't hurt you anymore.

Your thoughts are so loud that you almost don't hear the sound of someone knocking on your door.

You swallow your tears, wipe your face, and trudge to the fixture before opening it without checking to see who it is.

Your mouth dries up when you see Takeomi, his eyes full of sorrow.

"Takeomi," you breathe, but he pushes past you, ignoring the sound you make when he grips your wrist and drags you to your room. when he sees all of the clothing scattered across the floor, something in him recognizes your dilemma, but he doesn't say a word. Instead, he turns around and kisses you roughly, pushing you against the door and swiping his tongue across your bottom lip.

It's not wrong if Shinichiro's dead, you chant to yourself, trying to make sense of the feeling in your body as Takeomi takes you and claims you as his over and over again in the bed you once shared with a dead man. And you can't help it, you rationalize.

Takeomi's the only one who understands your pain, your suffering. It's unique to both of you and drives you back together, even though his death drove you two apart.

"I don't regret what we did," Takeomi pants, moving you up and down in his lap while you face him. "I don't regret a single moment of it."

And deep down, you don't either.

_____________________________________________________________

But sadly, those feelings of lust and desire peter out with time.

You realize that the relationship between you and Takeomi was built solely on the fact that you were sneaking around, that you were being little shitty kids and playing a game that didn't make sense anymore. It's like playing hide-and-seek with a ghost, but that ghost is how you felt about Takeomi before, and how you feel about him now is staring you right in the face.

The face before you is Shinichiro's, and you stare into his dark eyes and see the betrayal lurking there in your dreams, in your nightmares, in your thoughts when you pass by the former S.S. Motors.

"We should stop this."

This time, Takeomi looks up at you and into your reflection in the mirror. His eyes seem to betray how he truly feels, which is nothing short of empty.

"Yeah."

You get dressed in silence again, just like the time when you found out Shinichiro died, and he leaves without saying and word and without a kiss. You watch him walk away into the rainy night, hands in his pockets, and wonder if Shinichiro hadn't died... would you two still be doing what you did before? Would you sneak around with him and play the gamble of getting caught? Or would you settle for a man who made you feel safe?

Maybe you'd dump him for Takeomi.

You don't know.

But all you know is that every single time you remembered Takeomi Akashi, you'd have the painful memory of betraying someone you cared about... twice.

[egc2002]

Here to read in AO3, or click on the link down there

Summary: Wendy wants her new guests to feel at home and thus prevent the fact of being dead affect them, however it begins to become a problem that affects everyone. Pietro is the only one who notices it, but he doesn't know how to act with Wendy, after all, they are non-twins.

(Thanks to @jadoue1999 for helping me in my grammar)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Lying to yourself, hurting yourself

Pietro could be many things: a bitter, sprinter, glutton, twin, friend, antisocial and super hero, he had even been a prince once... Well, he was when he played with Wanda when they were little, and he believed that those times were over a long time ago.

He didn't think he would be forced to be a prince again.

"Come on, dear prince!" Nina yelled. "We must go, there is a princess to save!"

Nina had a beautiful yellow dress and a crown on her head, she was the queen of the castle. Pietro, on the other hand, was dressed in a prince's suit, had a sword in hand and a different cut of hair.

'Did Wendy really have to create a life-size castle just for Nina to play?’ thought Pietro.

"Yep, come on, dear Prince!”, said Wendy in his mind. "Come and save me!"

The only thing he'd been grateful for was the new hair cut, his hair looked clean and a bit fluffy, and if you added that she'd shaved him, he really looked good.

Or, as Wendy had said: “those blue eyes were hidden behind so much hair”.

He had liked that comment more than what Nina had said: “You no longer look like an old man”.

They went through a door that led them to a kind of dungeon where Wendy and a giant robot dragon were found that was easily defeated by Nina, when she gave it a kick.

"I'm sorry dragon ”, she responded regretfully when the robot fell to the ground. "But you kidnapped the princess, and that's not right.”

Then she turned to see Pietro.

"What are you waiting for, prince?", she said, really annoyed. "Do I have to do everything myself?"

"Yes Pietro, save me! I'm bored of being here”, Wendy said.

Pietro let out a sigh and, tired of resisting Nina's game, he went to where the dragon and reluctantly kicked it.

"Weak", said Nina, ran to Wendy and easily untied the knot of the rope that kept her immobile.

"Thank you Queen Nina! You and the boring prince have saved me!"

Nina laughed uproariously.

"B-boring prince” she managed to say with a laugh.

"What, isn't he a boring prince?" Wendy asked playfully.

"Yes, he is!"

"Who do you call boring?" Pietro asked as if he didn't know what they were talking about.

"You," said Nina, still laughing.

"I am not boring!"

"Yes you are!" Nina said.

"I am not”.

"Sure”, Wendy said with a wink at Nina. "Well, Nina, a lot playing today, but you must go with your mother.

"No! I want to play a bit longer."

"But your mom said that you should continue with your classes,” said Pietro. "And you should always obey your mom”.

"Pietro, you must be the boring prince in the game, not in real life”, saying that, she said goodbye to the two not-twins and left the dungeon.

"Impossible that this is in real life, we are dead”, thought Pietro.

And while Pietro must have been offended that a girl had called him boring, he really was left wondering what point it made for a dead girl to study, she wasn't going to need it anyway.

Sensing the thoughts of her more-or-less-twin, Wendy said in his mind.

"I suppose it will be to prevent Nina from realizing her reality”.

"Won't it be even more cruel when she realizes that all this time she has been dead?" Pietro said mentally in response.

"At least it will avoid trauma”.

When Wendy first saw Magda and Nina she thought of two things: 'more people? Why?' And 'yay!'

For a long time she had fooled herself by saying that she had put many rooms in her house because they looked good, but the truth is that part of her wished that one day more people would come to that place.

Which made her feel guilty because she didn't want anyone to die and end up in that horrible place, but she didn't want to feel any more alone, and creating robots was tiring because for some reason they were completely dependent on Wendy to exist and function.

She supposed it was because life as such was not entirely allowed in that place.

Then, when Pietro arrived, she went crazy to create the coolest room he could ever dream of, even though he really only wanted a comfortable bed and that's it.

And when Nina and Magda arrived at that place, which the little girl had baptized as "The Cloud” because of how white it was (although Pietro preferred "Nothingness” but he didn't complain), Wendy almost fainted when she realized she would have to create two more rooms.

She really loved it, and she was very good at it. Pietro thought that if she had lived longer she could easily have become a fashion designer. Or an architect, considering that she had technically designed the entire house.

Anyway, Wendy went crazy creating a room of yellow and blue for Nina, because they were her favorite colors, with a princess bed, toys of all kinds, dolls and stuffed animals of all colors that could be. A slide, a carousel, a mini office for stuffed animals (for her to pretend to be a vet) and a small movie theater all to herself.

' I didn't exaggerate ' said Wendy.

' I didn't say anything ' Pietro defended himself.

'But you thought about it.'

With Magda it was very different, although Wendy really wanted to do something amazing this other one refused. She just wanted something simple that would remind her of a life in the country.

That didn't stop Wendy from doing her best to give the room a luxurious seventies air.

The detail of creating a window with a view into an open field was nice, but it made Magda a little sad that she couldn't see a real field anymore.

So Wendy made a hyper-realistic plastic field outside the house, she still didn't know how to create the illusion of a sky to eliminate that ugly white that was "The Cloud”, but she created a nice pond for Nina to play with her toys.

"I'm not exaggerating”, she repeated again.

"I didn't tell you anything”, Pietro replied again.

"But you thought about it.

The fact that Wendy was excited to make her new residents feel as alive as possible made sense to him. She had already told him that she wanted them to feel their stay there as beautiful as possible, to avoid that each time they remembered that they were dead affected them too much, but what he did not understand was why sometimes it seemed that she began to exaggerate in her task.

Wendy treated him crazy every time he tried to ask her.

That made Pietro worry more about her, because he knew what Wanda was like and how to deal with her, but about Wendy he didn't know enough. They were the same and so different.

Wendy was much friendlier with strangers (which could be the result of being alone for a long time), she was more explosive, more dramatic, more romantic and for some reason more reserved about what bothered her, she liked to please others.

Wanda was very romantic and always brought out her romanticism whenever she could, she showed it. Wendy was ten times more, but she didn't say it, she had the silly idea of having to save her emotions for fear of exploding, why did she have to? It was stupid, they were already dead, it's not like they could die another time.

Wendy didn't want to find out, that's why she always squeezed her hands.

Things started to get more and more serious when she started doing a lot of modifications in all parts of the house.

Pietro had already made it very clear that he wanted a comfortable and simple room, that only had what was necessary and that's it, and Wendy had respected that (in her own way, obviously exaggerating things a bit) at first, but as time has passed since Magda and Nina got there, she began to make modifications in every possible way to his room.

She had left several musical instruments, video games modified to go up to Pietro's speed, a giant television, speakers, a gigantic water bed, board games, a ping pong table, many movies and series on cassettes and… that was a steakhouse?

Pietro didn't even know how to tune his singing, how could he know how to play drums or electric guitar? They were of no use to him. Sure, they really looked great in there, and maybe he could learn to use them since he had nothing else to do, but what about the video game 'Pong'? He didn't like it at all, and Wendy knew it, and still she had decided to put one in his room. Or how about the steakhouse? The food had no taste there, it made no sense.

And despite that, what definitely made Pietro's mental alarms sound like crazy was when one morning he was passing through the living room, and almost by pure chance he saw a picture that caught his attention.

It was a family photo, not so strange considering that Magda and Nina had become almost family to Pietro and Wendy, but around those photos, there were many more.

And these were not from just recently, they were pictures of Pietro as a child, Magda pregnant with Nina, Wendy and Pietro as children blowing an 8-shaped candle from a cake, Nina newborn, Wendy and Pietro dressed in sailor suits, and many more. But the one that caught his attention the most was one where Magda was pregnant and next to it Wendy and Pietro, who were about 10 or 11 years old, were smiling.

And he supposed that Magda hadn't seen any of these photos yet, because she would be clearly confused and would have been looking for an explanation from the beginning.

Nina was just passing by, while she was holding a teddy bear, she was wearing a yellow princess dress, a plastic crown badly placed and she was disheveled.

"Hello Pietro,” she greeted cheerfully.

"Hello Nina,” he greeted back, while trying to prevent the girl from seeing the photos on the wall.

"What are you doing?" Nina said.

"Nothing, I’m just ...stretching.”

"Okay …do you wanna play with me? "

"I can't, I have something to do,” said Pietro.

"Are you going to stretch?"

"Something like that. ”

Still hugging her teddy bear, Nina stared at him trying to decipher the lie Pietro had told her, but gave up easily.

"Mom is right, you've been acting weird lately,” Nina sighed. "Anyway, see you later Pe-Pietro.

And with that strange goodbye, he had no more doubts in the hypothesis that had been created by seeing those photos, he had to talk very seriously with Wendy about it before Magda knew it.

Wendy had a gleam in her eye.

A sparkle in her eyes that Pietro hadn't seen since the first time they met, this time it was intensified, that sparkle was bigger day by day and it was really comforting to see her like this, but he also knew that the way she obtained that vitality and joy it was neither good nor healthy.

Since they hadn't really come up with something better to do, Wendy, Magda, and Nina were painting pictures.

"This is the first time I have done this,'' confessed Magda.

It was obvious, maybe she hadn't had 'time' while she was alive, or perhaps she had never tried, but instead of saying that, Wendy replied:

"Really? Well, it looks great, look at those grapes, they look fantastic!"

"Oh Wendy, thank you very much”, Magda replied. "Your flowers are precious too.”

"It is not true, they are very ugly ”.

"What about me?", Nina asked. "How is the kitten I'm painting looking?"

She was already battered, her place was a mess of acrylic paint, glue and glitter, and on her canvas there was just so much more chaos, Pietro could have said it looked like vomit.

"It is beautiful, my love!" Magda said very convincingly.

Typical white lie from mom.

"Yes, it is... beautiful!" Wendy lied, she did not come out the same as Magda. "I love the glitter."

"Wendy, if you don't like it, you don't have to lie”, said Nina.

"Who says I don't like it?"

"You!"

"No, it is not true ”.

"But you thought about it .

"No, I didn’t ..."

"I know you, Wendy”, said Nina.

And before she could say anything, Pietro arrived at the Paint Room.

"Hi Pietro, look at my painting! Isn't it great?"

"It 's great, Nina!"

"Thank you, there are people who still know how to value art in this house ”.

Wendy crossed her arms and Magda stifled her laughter.

"Nina, don't be rude”.

"I’m telling the truth, mother”.

Magda suddenly glanced at a clock on the wall, Wendy had installed them all over the house so that Magda would keep her schedules and to know when it would be time for Nina's classes.

Wendy didn't really like watches, they only served to remind her that the time in that place was strange and that she would never be able to escape from there, but she had still done her best to avoid going crazy with them.

"Nina, it's time for your reading class", Magda warned.

Nina complained, but she still followed her mom into a room that Wendy had created for her to take her classes with her mother.

When Magda and Nina left, Pietro spoke.

"We have to talk".

"About what?", Wendy asked, going to a sink to clean her brushes.

"You'll know, I'll see you in the living room in five."

When Wendy arrived in the living room, Pietro was in the armchair in front of the giant television, really staring at nothing, because he was more focused on finding the right words.

"I’m here, what do you want to talk about?", Wendy asked, sitting in the chair next to Pietro.

"What's happening to you?", Asked Pietro bluntly.

"What...?"

"What do you miss most about being alive?", he changed his question, realizing that the previous one had sounded very aggressive, he had that bad habit.

Wendy waited to answer, she did not know what was happening with Pietro, but decided to cooperate to find out.

"Being with my family", she answered without hesitation.

This time it was Pietro's turn to think about the next thing he would say, he really knew what to ask but he didn't know how to bring the conversation to that point, so with no more time to waste, he asked:

"You see Magda as ...your mom?"

Wendy's response was a laugh.

"Magda, like my mom?"

"It's serious Wendy, don't laugh."

"How do you want me not to laugh when you ask those kinds of weird questions?"

"Well, how do you want me not to ask questions like that when it appears that it is so?"

Wendy stopped laughing, but didn't remove the smile from her face.

"What are you talking about?”

Pietro got up and gestured for Wendy to follow him, they took a few steps and reached the door that led to what should be the kitchen (which was only for decoration), where the 'family' photographs were.

It was when Wendy looked at them that her smile faded completely, she realized what Pietro had been referring to all this time.

"In the morning Nina got confused and almost called me 'Peter', my room has a machine to play Pong and I have a shirt of a band that I did not know of its existence, there are movie posters that I have never seen and a grill when the food here has no flavor”, and Pietro could have continued, but he didn't want to make Wendy feel bad.

No more than she clearly already felt.

"Nina ... She dresses just like my little sister ...", Wendy said in a whisper. "My mother loved trees and fruits, she loved painting them, that's why we lived in front of a park, it was the closest we could be to a natural environment."

The television screen began to turn red, they did not pay much attention to it, since they had lost the connection with Wandavision it always happened, but it had never reached more.

"Peter was almost a hoarder and he loved to decorate his room with thousands of things that he stole."

Pietro thought that the sense of style and decoration was shared by Wendy and Peter.

"He loved playing Pong, in fact he modified the machine so that it could go up to his speed."

Pietro was silent.

"Pietro ... Am I doing a Westview 2.0?", Wendy asked in a whisper, terrified, her eyes were red and with small tears.

Pietro shook his head and tried to hug Wendy, but she started walking around the room, he was following her.

"No Wendy, it's not like that."

"Well, it seems so, because unconsciously I began to modify the rooms of each one, the clothes, even Nina's mind!" Wendy was already crying, and her hands began to take a scarlet red.

"Wendy ... "

“I got into the mind of a little girl, Pietro! I'm a monster! I lied to myself, and if you hadn't stopped me, I don't know what else I would have reached! I really miss my family, but I shouldn't have tried to replace them with you”.

"But it wasn't planned Wendy, it's fine…”

"Just because I didn't plan it doesn't mean it's okay!"

Wendy's hands were clenched into fists, she was shaking, she was gasping for breath, she had tears in her eyes and her heart was beating as if she had run a marathon. If Pietro were Peter, Wendy's true twin, he would know that she was about to have a panic attack, and he would know how to deal with it, but he was Pietro, and he did not know what to do in that situation.

Wendy had told him that all those monsters were created by the pain, fear and / or sadness that she felt, he needed to reassure her, he really did not want to face one again, especially when Nina and Magda were there now.

"Okay Wendy, take it easy, breathe”, he said putting his hands on his non-twin's shoulders.

And clearly that was not working, Wendy was still the same, and the house around began to have glitch and flashes of red, but was still firm.

He stayed that way for half a minute until it occurred to him that he should distract her from the guilt she felt and bring her closer with happy thoughts. In his mind it made a lot of sense.

"Wendy, do you remember what your gift was when you turned eight?"

Wendy understood what he was trying to do, and began to calm down. At that Magda and Nina came to the living room, scared by what was happening to the house, but when they saw Pietro trying to calm his almost-but-not-twin, they remained a bit calm.

"It was a kitchen kit”, she answered between breaths. "it was horrible ”.

"Why?"

"I wanted a toy car, like the one Peter got, but they told me it wasn't for girls," Wendy replied.

"What was your best gift?"

"A g-gardenia perfume”, Wendy said, panting a little. "Gardenia flowers are my favorite.”

"I also like gardenias”, Nina said without much thought. Magda made an attempt to silence her, but Pietro asked her not to, she was only a girl after all.

A girl that Wendy loved very much, and that she could help now.

"Cool!, why do you like gardenias?” Asked Pietro to make Nina manage to distract Wendy, the truth is that he couldn't think of a better option.

"Their smell, and how white they are”, Nina said, running to where the non-twins were. She delicately gave Wendy a hug, from which neither of them separated.

"They were my mom's favorite flowers”, Wendy said and wiped a tear from her cheek. "She and my little sister always smelled like gardenias, they both used to spend time in the little back garden, Peter would help them sometimes.”

Wendy hugged Nina closer. She no longer looked anxious, but she did look sad, so she started to cry while the little girl in the yellow dress ran her delicate hand on the girl's back to reassure her. Magda sidled up to the group, afraid of doing the wrong thing but with every intention of helping, she had grown very fond of the almost-but-not-twins lately, and it didn't feel right to see one of them cry.

"I miss them so much”, Wendy said between sobs, as she clung tightly to Nina.

Nina, like the emotional and empathetic little girl she is, wanted to cry too.

"Do they live very far from here, Wendy?" Nina asked innocently. "Why don't we go visit?"

"They… are very far from here ”, answered Pietro knowing that Wendy would not be able to do it.

"How much?"

"It's where Daddy went”, Magda replied, walking over to Nina and Wendy. "They are very far away, and we cannot go to see them for now”.

"And your sister is there too, right, Pietro?"

The young man only managed to nod his head.

"Oh, maybe one day we can go see them, and Dad will meet Wanda and Wendy's family, we can all be a family!", said the little girl with tears in her pretty eyes.

And how no one had the strength to contradict Nina, they all agreed.

"Wendy, I miss my dad too”, said the girl in the yellow dress, moving a little away from the young woman to see her face. "But maybe one day he'll come back, and maybe your mother and your sister and your brother too”.

"Will you come with me to wait for them?" Wendy asked, trying to get along with Nina.

"We will, everyone”, Magda replied.

Pietro nodded.

And they embraced.

They no longer felt so strange, they had to learn to get along as a family whether they wanted or not, it's not like they had any other option.

Wendy began to feel a strange combination of sadness, melancholy, longing and acceptance. They felt like her emotions, but they also felt external. It was as if she was living two moments at the same time, two moments in which those emotions were appropriate. Two moments with different endings.

Her hands glowed red, and the giant television screen in the living room began to melt. Everyone broke away from the hug to see what happened.

"Wendy?" Said Pietro.

"It's not me”.

That melted scarlet screen reached the ground. For a moment nothing happened and then the emotions Wendy felt increased.

Wendy's powers acted automatically, from her hands red energy came out that went directly to the melted screen, which little by little was creating two scarlet clouds that faded into bright dust of a dark red. That same dust was gathering, creating bigger and bigger pieces of something.

Wendy remembered where she had seen that before, they were similar to the pieces she had broken into when she died. But now those pieces that her power was forming did not mean the destruction of someone, in fact it seemed that it was the birth of something.

Those pieces came together creating two silhouettes that could barely be distinguished between the swirl of red energy and scarlet dust.

Then two voices were heard, two voices that suffered enormous pain from what was happening, two voices that felt as if they were being taken apart into thousands of pieces and being put back together. Two voices begging for help, but only one was louder to Wendy.

"Mom, help!"

Wendy felt the desperate need to stop the suffering of those little voices, a feeling that did not seem to come from her, a feeling she had never experienced.

With a heart-rending cry from Wendy, that whirlpool disappeared and the identities of those two little people who had just arrived were revealed.

They were two children who had been exhausted and passed out in the middle of the room. Seeing them, Pietro knew exactly who they were.

"Who are they?", Nina asked.

"My … nephews”, Pietro said, still not believing it.

Both non-twins approached the twins very cautiously, fearful of scaring or waking them up.

"Billy, Tommy”, Wendy said wearily.

@fuesch @you-said-yes @you-see-something-strange-here @mcu-fietro @neptuvve @rileybug14 @speedywebhead @a-boy-too-weird @deviated-from-adulthood @geekinthecorner @katrinacastillo @hiddleloki aaannddd I hope you like it! :3

[animezing-fandoms]

Willow

Masterlist

Relationships: Nalu

Warnings: Blood, injury, stabbing (basically there’s a fight and injuries are sustained but it’s not graphic detail) Implied/referenced lemon. Abusive parents (Jude’s a real bad parent in this AU) 

Summary: During a job with team Natsu, Lucy gets hit in the head and wakes up in a dream where she's a princess who runs away from home to be with her lover, the half-dragon half-human Count Natsu Dragneel.

A/N: So I had this wild dream one night about nalu and decided to write it as a fic. I hope it isn’t too crazy! And yes I also incorporated some lyrics from Taylor Swift’s Willow. Enjoy! 

----------------------

“I am seriously starting to regret taking this job with you guys!” Lucy wails.

She was currently on a job with Team Natsu. The job seemed simple enough on paper. They just needed to find a rare crystal in a forest. Sounds easy right? Well, the client forgot to mention that this forest has weird clearings that need to be crossed in order to get to the crystal, and giant killer eagles that attack you when you’re in the clearings! 

That’s why Lucy was currently running for her life, heading for the tree-line. She dares to look over her shoulder and instantly regrets it when she sees one of those eagles swooping down towards her. 

Before it can grab her, Natsu kicks it with his fire dragon’s claw and then scoops Lucy up in his arms bridal style and they leap into the tree-line as another eagle swoops by, just missing them. 

Natsu looks down and sees Lucy breathing heavily with her face buried in his scarf. 

“Lucy are you okay?” He asks her softly. 

At the sound of his voice Lucy turns to look at his face and blushes. 

“Y-yeah I’m fine.” She replies softly. 

As her fear began to fade a new feeling was arising. Well it wasn’t entirely new. She’d felt this before. A warm feeling in her chest and butterflies in her stomach. She felt like this whenever she was close to Natsu. And she knew what it meant, she had felt it before whenever a cute guy got close to her. But Natsu wasn’t a potential boyfriend? That ship had sailed after she got all dressed up to meet him in the park to dig for holes instead of a date.

He clearly doesn’t think about her in that way. And even if he did, she never would have known from the look on his face. 

So she shouldn’t think of him that way either. He could be really annoying sometimes. Breaking into her apartment, wrecking her plans. And yet, sometimes at night with her head on the pillow she could feel him sneaking in. 

He was like some mythical thing. And not because he was created as a demon, was taught dragon slayer magic and time traveled 400 years to be with her now. To be with her now...

As she looks at him she wishes she could know what he’s thinking. 

There’s one prize I’d cheat to win. 

“Oooo Lucy’s blushing!” Happy teases pulling Lucy from her thoughts. “I think she’s in lo-“ 

“Shut it cat!” Lucy retorts before Happy can finish. 

“I agree with Lucy. Now is not the time for jokes.” Erza says seriously as Natsu sets Lucy down. “We have one more clearing to cross before we can reach the willow tree that holds the crystal.” 

“Another one!?” Lucy exclaims. “We can’t find some other way around?” 

“Unfortunately we can’t.” Erza says. “Our only option is to run for it and fight too if need be.” 

Lucy looks past the tree-line to see the large willow tree on the other side. It would be a long, dangerous sprint. She takes in a shaky breath then exhales when she feels a warm hand slide into hers. 

She turns to see Natsu smiling at her. But not with that goofy grin he usually wore. This time, he was smiling at her softly with an endearing look on his face, as if he was looking at something precious. Her heart was pounding and she could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks.

“Don’t worry Lucy. I won’t let any of those birds hurt you.” He promises.

Lucy smiles back at him. 

“Thanks Natsu.” Lucy says. 

“Alright now let’s go fry up some chicken!” Natsu shouts and runs into the clearing.

“Natsu wait!” Wendy shouts after him.

“That idiot! We were supposed to come up with a plan together first!” Gray exclaims.

“Well it’s too late for that now!” Erza says with a frustrated sigh before drawing her sword and following him.

Lucy figures that Natsu’s plan was to draw all of the attention to himself, so that the rest of them could sneak past. And that would have been a good plan if they weren’t in an open clearing. There was nowhere to hide and now they were all spread out. And there were more birds this time too! 

What’s worse is that these birds were quicker. Lucy knows that if she slows down to summon a spirit, she’d surely get picked up and carried away! And she was definitely having a few close calls right now.

I thought Natsu said he would protect me? She thinks to herself as another bird swoops low.

Lucy was almost at the willow though. Just right through those branches and then she’d be safe! 

But she was so focused on getting there that she didn’t see the branch hanging down from one of the other trees in her path! And as soon as she made it there, she smacked her head on the branch and everything went black.

—————————

When Lucy awoke, she was laying under the willow tree all alone, her companions nowhere to be found. 

As she rose to sit up she found that her head was in no pain from getting hit, like she had never hit it in the first place. And the killer birds were nowhere to be found either.

She gently brushes the leaves off of the long purple skirts of her corseted dress as she tries to remember what she was doing out here in the woods. 

“Did you rest well Princess?” A familiar voice asks and Lucy smiles.

“Virgo!” She exclaims, happy to see her face. 

Suddenly her memories of how she wound up in this situation came flooding back to her. She, Princess Lucy Heartfilia of the kingdom of Fiore was betrothed to a man she did not love by her father who cared little for her happiness. So she ran away with the help of her most trusted maid Virgo, to a place where she knew she would be safe. The territory that was home to the man she truly loved. Thinking of him made her chest feel warm, yet she could not picture his face at the moment. Nor his name. 

“Wait for the signal and I’ll meet you after dark.” 

Those were the instructions he gave Virgo. She waited for the signal. A dragon flew over the castle, casting a dark shadow over it to give she and Virgo cover as they escaped. 

And now it was dark. She was in the place. But her man was nowhere to be found. 

“Have we made across the border to the Dragon’s Forest yet Virgo?” Lucy asks eagerly. 

“We should have, if that is the Dragon’s Roar River.” Virgo says, pointing at the rushing white-water river that was behind them. 

Lucy couldn’t begin to think of how they managed to cross it. But she wasn’t as interested in figuring that out as she was about another matter. 

“If we’re really in the forest then he should have known I’m here and come by now. Unless I was napping for a shorter time than I thought...” Lucy says.

“Hmm...well it could be the second river further up ahead?” Virgo says and looks ahead. “Perhaps we should continue to move inward onto his territory, just to be sure we’re in the right place.”

“I agree.” Lucy says and brings herself to stand, brushing the dirt off of her skirts.

Then fear grips her heart as she hears horses whinnying nearby, followed by men’s voices shouting. 

“No...” She mutters as she turns to see a carriage followed by a group of soldiers crossing a bridge over the river.

A few of the soldiers ahead of the carriage began to approach with their spears drawn. 

“There’s the princess! King Jude, we found her and the traitorous maid!” The soldiers shout as Lucy and Virgo turn to run away. 

As Lucy desperately hiked up her skirts to run away, she regrets not changing into a different outfit. These large skirts definitely weren’t made for running away from danger in the woods. But once she and Virgo had discovered what her father’s plans for her were, there was no time to change. They had to leave immediately to get to the one person Lucy knew could protect her. And as the soldiers surround her and Virgo, and her father approaches them, Lucy hopes that he’ll come soon.

“Daughter, have you gone mad!” Lucy’s father, King Jude exclaims. 

“I could ask you the same thing!” Lucy bravely retorts. 

She may be surrounded by soldiers and facing the man who had been controlling her life since she was a child. But if he was going to lock her away in the castle and force her to marry a man she didn’t love, then she won’t succumb to that fate without a fight. 

“You’re saying I’m the one at fault!” Jude exclaims. “You snuck out of the castle on the night of the ball being held to announce your engagement because you trust in the counsel of some lunatic maid over that of your own father! And now I find you here with that maid trespassing on dragon’s territory! And you think I’m the one who’s mad!” 

The anger behind his words made tears sting at the corners of Lucy’s eyes, but she wouldn’t back down from this fight. She couldn’t. There was too much at stake. 

“What kind of father would ignore the happiness of his own daughter and make such a huge decision for her without even asking her what she thinks!” Lucy exclaims. 

“Because a father knows what’s good for his daughter!” Jude replies. “And a good daughter would obey her father and do what’s best for her kingdom!”

“It’s not what’s best for the kingdom! It’s what’s best for you!” Lucy retorts. “The royal families you wish to make alliances with only care about their own wealth! They don’t care about the citizens of their own kingdoms much less ours! I could never marry someone like that!” Lucy shouts. 

“What the hell are you all doing in my forest!” A voice shouts from somewhere in the trees. 

Gasps of fear erupted amongst the soldiers while Jude’s face pales. Virgo cracks a small smile and a look of relief washes over Lucy’s features as the figure of a man drops down from the trees. 

This was no ordinary man though. Even though he wore the typical noble attire for a human man, he also had large maroon dragon wings sprouting from his back, and two matching horns pointing up from the spiky pink hair on his head. He even had matching maroon scales on the sides of his face and trailing down his neck. Most people were terrified when they looked into his bright reptilian green eyes. But Lucy felt something very different. She felt warmth, and love. 

“Natsu...” she sighs in joy and relief.

“Lucy.” Natsu replies with the same warmth in his voice.

The warmth in his voice makes warmth flood through her chest. No matter what world they were in, Natsu would always be her knight in shining armor. 

He holds out his arms for her and she moves to go to him but her father grabs her arm and yanks her back.

“Hey! Let me go!” Lucy protests and tries to yank her arm back but her father only pulls harder “Ouch!” She yelps.

Upon seeing his damsel in distress Natsu’s  soft demeanor immediately changes into something more reminiscent of the beast he resembles. 

“Get off of her!” Natsu roars.

He charges forward at an inhuman speed, right past the guards and yanks Jude’s hand off of Lucy’s arm, not caring to be gentle with him at all, causing him some pain as he takes Lucy into his arms and hugs her.

“Are you alright?” Natsu asks her softly. “Did he hurt your arm?” 

“Just a bit when he grabbed it. But I’ll be alright now that you’re here.” Lucy replies and rests her head under his chin, taking comfort in the warmth his body provided. 

Natsu holds her in his arms and gives her a light squeeze as he rests his cheek on top of her head. 

“You’re safe with me. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.” Natsu swears and presses a light kiss to her forehead.

“And yet you dare hurt me, her father?” Jude asks Natsu angrily, making him frown. “The King that your father is loyal to!”

“The Dragon King Igneel doesn’t swear loyalty to humans. He’s only loyal to his friends, and mine. And you’re no friend of his.” Natsu growls back. 

“But I made a deal with him! I let the dragons live in this forest in peace without any humans trespassing on your land and give you the noble title of Count to represent the dragons in our kingdom and in return the dragons protect us from invaders. We have an agreement, your father is loyal to me, and therefore as his son you should show me some respect!” Jude declares.

Natsu can’t help but smirk and laugh. 

“What’s so funny?” Jude asks. 

“You clearly misunderstood the purpose of the deal.” Natsu says. “The only reason my father protects your kingdom instead of burning it to the ground is because your daughter lives in it.”

Lucy smiles as Natsu gently nuzzles his face against her head before continuing.

“I’m half-dragon half-human. Igneel fell in love with a human woman and through some source of magic they found he was able to have a child with her but she died giving birth to me. So I stayed with my father’s people, the dragons. They were the only ones that accepted me. The humans all thought of me as a monster and when I was a kid they would chase me away when I would go into their towns looking for desserts and other treats I could smell from the outskirts of town. And because of the death of my mother my father is very protective of me so he’d burn down any village that treated me poorly. Then one day we came to Fiore and it was the same story as the other kingdoms. I got chased out of the markets and somehow wound up in the palace gardens to hide. Then that’s when I met Lucy. The first human I’d ever met who wasn’t afraid of me. And to this day, the only human who’s treated me with kindness. That’s why Igneel agreed to protect Fiore. Because it’s where my new best friend Lucy lived.”

“So the only reason Fiore isn’t ashes right now is because King Igneel wanted you to be able to have play dates with my daughter?” Jude asks.

“Yep.” Natsu replies. “If we burned the place down then my Princess would cry. And I can’t have that.” Natsu says.

“Your princess?” Jude asks. “You think she belongs to you?”

“She doesn’t belong to anybody she’s a person not an object!” Natsu retorts. 

“That’s where you’re wrong! I’m her father so she belongs to me!” Jude replies. 

“Not anymore!” Lucy shouts back, finding her courage now that she was with Natsu. “Count Natsu Dragneel and I are in love and he won’t let you take me away from him to marry me off to someone else!” 

“He was going to do what?!” Natsu exclaims and growls at Jude.

“He was going to sell me off like a brood mare to some horrible prince so I came here to run away with you so we can be together!” Lucy explains.

“I’ll never let my daughter marry a monster!” Jude yells. 

“Natsu’s not a monster! But you are!” Lucy retorts. 

Jude smirks and nods his head. 

Then a loud smacking noise comes from behind them and Lucy and Natsu turn around to see that one of the guards slapped Virgo in the face. 

“Virgo! No!” Lucy exclaims and turns back to her father. “Why would you hurt her?”

“Because I can’t hurt you at the moment. So your dear little treasonous maid will bear the punishment for your disobedience instead.” Jude explains. 

“You’re disgusting!” Lucy replies reflexively but then regrets it when Virgo gets hit again. 

Natsu frowns as he notices Lucy starting to cry so he turns to the soldiers with a frown.

“Virgo duck!” Natsu shouts before breathing fire at the soldiers. 

They scream as the flames hit them and Virgo gets free of them. Lucy runs over to hug her. 

“Virgo I’m so sorry!” Lucy apologizes. 

“It’s alright princess! It wasn’t your fault!”Virgo says. 

Natsu smiles as Lucy embraces her friend. Happy that she wasn’t crying anymore. Then he grimaces as he feels a shooting pain in his side. 

He turns and sees Jude holding the sword that just stabbed him. 

Virgo gasps when she opens her eyes and sees what happens. Then Lucy turns and her heart shatters. 

“Natsu! No!” She wails. 

“Don’t worry Lucy I’m fine.” Natsu says and grabs the sword in his hand and pulls it out of the wound with no pain whatsoever. 

The look on Jude’s face was priceless. 

“I’m half-dragon. You should’ve aimed for my head if you wanted me dead you moron.” Natsu says. 

Lucy giggles at the fact that Natsu called her father a moron.

Jude brings the sword up to swing at his head and Natsu just plucks it from his hands and throws it away, hitting some poor soldier in the helmet and knocking them out. 

Virgo and Lucy get grabbed by soldiers again so Natsu breathes fire to get them free. But while he’s doing that a few more soldiers stab him in his back and stomach. 

“Shit will you guys just quit that it feels weird!” Natsu exclaims and fired up his fist to take them down and that’s when one soldier gets a lucky stab in Natsu’s chest too. 

“Princess you and Natsu need to get out of here!” Virgo urges. “He’s strong but he’s also outnumbered!” 

“I know but what about you?” Lucy asks. “My father will kill you for helping me, I can’t just leave you here!” 

“Don’t worry! I’ll be fine.” Virgo says as she picks up a sword and grins.

Lucy smiles, feeling reassured that Virgo would be able to handle herself and she runs over to Natsu. 

“Natsu!” Lucy says as she runs towards him and he takes her into his arms. “Let’s get out of here!” 

“I was thinking the same thing.” Natsu says. 

And the next thing Lucy knows she’s being lifted into the air with Natsu. 

————————

As they fly over the trees, away from the willow tree and deeper into dragon territory Natsu notices that Lucy is surprisingly unafraid.

 “I thought you were scared of heights?” Natsu asks. 

“I can’t see how high up I am if I’m only looking at you.” Lucy replies.

Natsu can’t help but kiss her. 

————————

When they finally land at the Dragon King’s den, Igneel is there to greet them. 

“Greetings great dragon.” Lucy says and curtseys for him. 

“Lucy! How lovely it is to see you again!” Igneel greets. “I had a hunch that you were the reason Natsu was out today but I had no idea he would be bringing you to our den.”

“Natsu why have you brought her he-Natsu?” Igneel asks. 

Lucy turns around and gasps. She hadn’t noticed before because it was dark but now that they were under the light of the moon…there were red stains on his clothing and he looked paler than usual. 

“Natsu your wounds! I thought you said they weren’t serious?” Lucy exclaims as she runs over to him to inspect his injuries closer.

“I lied so you wouldn’t worry over me until we were safe. If I had said something sooner then you would have panicked and it would’ve slowed us down and then we would’ve never gotten out of there.” Natsu admits and Lucy cups his cheek and Natsu leans into her touch. 

“Who did this to my son?” Igneel growls. 

“My father and his goons.” Lucy answers with gritted teeth, her rising anger matching that of the great fire dragon behind her. 

“And why would they dare do such a horrific thing to betray me?” Igneel demands. 

“Because I was protecting Lucy.” Natsu says hoarsely and groans as Lucy sets him down into a more comfortable position on the ground. “King Jude was being cruel to her, he was going to try to take her away from me and give her away to someone else so he could expand his fortune. So Lucy fled here to find me so we could be together, but the King and his soldiers caught up to us and we had to fight our way out.” 

Igneel watches with concern as Lucy tears off strips of her dress fabric to soak up the blood on Natsu’s wounds. But there were multiple wounds, and she only had two hands. 

“Then they will pay for this!” Igneel declares. “I’ll burn them all!” 

“No! Please spare Fiore!” Lucy urges. “The citizens have done nothing wrong. Please don’t let them suffer just because of their King’s wrongdoings!” Lucy begs. 

“I understand.” Igneel says. “And I agree with you. I apologize for being quick to jump to violence but after losing Natsu’s mother, all I’ve ever wanted is for my son to be safe. And when you have powers like mine that allow you to burn away anything that troubles you well, it’s easy for that to become the default response. But after Natsu met you I realized that there are other humans like his mother that don’t see dragons as monsters that need to be slain.” 

“I’ve never seen your son as a monster. I met him after my mother died from illness and he brought such joy into my life by being my friend. And now he’s grown into the man I love. When I’m with him, I know I’m home. Anywhere else is hollow. And so with your permission I’d like to take his hand, wreck my father’s plans, and make Natsu my man.” Lucy says and smiles at him and Natsu smiles back. 

A look of pure joy spread over the dragon’s features and he looks at the lovers before him. 

“Oh Lucy I know how much my son cares for you. He’s already told me of his intentions to make you his mate so yes of course I approve!” Igneel says. “But first we should really treat Natsu’s wounds.” 

Lucy gasps. She was so caught up in the euphoria of being able to marry the man of her dreams that she completely forgot he was bleeding internally. 

“Oh my goodness! I completely forgot! Natsu I’m so sorry you must be in so much pain right now!” Lucy rambles and Natsu can’t help but smile at how cute she looks when she was worried over him. 

“It’s not that bad actually. I’ve had worse.” Natsu says with a shrug. 

“In this tower over here is where Natsu lives.” Igneel says and gestures his head towards an old stone tower on the edge of the clearing. “You’ll find some medicine in there that the dragon Grandeeney made to heal any wounds that a dragon or half-dragon might sustain.”

“Thank you. I’ll take care of him right away.” Lucy says and puts his arm around her shoulder and leads him inside. 

————————— 

As Lucy and Natsu sat on his bed together, Lucy takes note of how amazing this healing dragon’s powers must be. This medicine was a miracle. His wounds had stopped bleeding the instant she put the bandage with the magic salve over them. 

But other thoughts were crossing her mind. As she dresses his wounds in the dark room lit only by candle light, Lucy can’t help but feel a bit aroused. He was shirtless and her hands were all over his muscular torso, and she couldn’t help but take note of the strength those muscles conveyed. She wonders if he feels anything either. 

The silence starts to feel deafening so Lucy decided to ask a question that’s been on her mind for awhile.

“Natsu, now that we’re betrothed I think I should ask you, how do dragons get married?” Lucy asks. 

“They don’t.” Natsu says simply. 

“Oh...” Lucy asks unsure of how to respond. “But I thought you told me once that dragons mate for life.” 

“They do. Just not in the way humans do. Dragons don’t really have an official ceremony or anything like humans do.” Natsu explains. “When two of them decide they want to become a couple they just…mate.” 

“I see.” Lucy says as she dresses the gash on his left pectoral. 

The tension that was already starting to build between them had now fully crept it’s way into Lucy’s mind as Natsu mentioned mating. She had been thinking about doing this with Natsu for a long time. She does want to marry him after all, so she already found him attractive. But now, she had run away from her home, and the rules that came with it. She and Natsu had already promised themselves to each other with words, why not follow through with actions as well? 

“Well, weddings take a long time to plan.” Lucy begins to explain as she gently lets her fingers trail down his torso after setting the dressing. “And even if we were to have a wedding, it would probably be just your father’s clan anyway, since my father would sooner plot your murder than hand me over to you as a bride. He may even be plotting something to steal me away from you sooner rather than later. So instead of waiting for a wedding…” Lucy says, moving her gaze up to look into his eyes. “I think that we should just get married now. The dragon way.”

Natsu takes in a deep breath when he realizes what she’s asking. What she’s offering him. And Lucy could tell by the tent forming in his pants and his breaths becoming heavier that his primal instincts were starting to awaken. But Natsu kept himself in check. Sure he’s had these thoughts about Lucy before but only when he was alone, leaving him to deal with those urges on his own. But now she was right here and moving closer to him, with dilated pupils and his brain was screaming at him to just tear off her dress and claim her now. But he holds back. Because this wasn’t just some fantasy, this was real. This was Lucy, the love of his life and before he accepts her offer he has to be sure it’s what she wants. 

“Lucy are you sure that’s what you want?” He asks.

“Yes I’m sure.” Lucy says “We are in dragon’s land after all. And I’ll be living with your father and his clan. So I want to do things their way.” 

Natsu’s arousal builds even more as she takes his hand and places it at the top of the corset that was keeping her ample chest confined while her other hand slowly trails down his abdomen. 

“I love you Natsu. And I want you to claim me, if you want me too.” Lucy says. 

Natsu searches her face for any sign of unease or reluctance, but he only finds the same emotions he was feeling for her. Lust and love. And as she places her hand over the bulge in his pants, all doubt leaves his mind and he lets his primal urges take over as he cups her cheek to speak to her.

“Lucy my love you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Of course I want to claim you as my mate.” Natsu declares before tugging at the bow on her corset.

Lucy gasps as she feels the garment loosen before Natsu seals his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss as she unbuckles his belt and they proceed to undress each other, and make love not long after.

——————————

That morning when Lucy woke up she was still naked in bed. She follows the sunlight streaming in from the balcony, and sees her clothes scattered on the floor. 

Lucy felt goosebumps form on her skin as she remembered the warmth of Natsu’s touch from the night before. His hands hands were strong and felt rough against her soft skin, just like the parts of his body that had scales, and the contrast felt divine. He caressed every part of her body with his hands, and then re-traced his path with his mouth which had only aroused her more and encouraged her to explore his body as well, wanting to know him as intimately as he knew her as they consummated their love and became one. 

Her father couldn’t marry her off to anyone now. Natsu had claimed her for himself last night, and she loved every minute of it. She was his, and he was hers. Mates. And Count and Countess to the human kingdom, and prince and princess among the dragons. 

And right now her Prince was standing on the balcony, still naked as well. They were deep in the woods after all, it’s not like any passers by would see them. But then he turns around when he hears her stirring in bed. 

“Good morning my princess.” Natsu says and smiles. 

“Good morning my prince.” Lucy says and smiles warmly back at him. 

He comes over to her and leans down to place a gentle kiss to her lips. 

“Did you sleep well?” Natsu asks. 

“Yeah. I slept great.” Lucy says. “The bed was so warm with you in it.” 

“Well duh, fire dragon.” Natsu reminds her and Lucy giggles and kisses him again. 

Then Natsu’s expression turns serious. 

“Before you woke up, my father talked with me. He still wants revenge for what your father attempted to do to me, and what he attempted to do to you too.” Natsu says. 

“Oh…” Lucy says. 

She looks down at the blanket in-between them as she tries to think. On one hand she certainly agreed that something needed to be done about her father. But on the other hand, he was her father. 

“What does he want to do?” Lucy asks. 

“He wants to remove your dad from power.” Natsu starts. “And let you take his place.” 

Lucy perks up and looks at Natsu who was smiling with pride. 

“So I’d be Queen of Fiore?” Lucy asks. 

“Yep. And we don’t have to kill your dad. We can just lock him up in the dungeon or something.” Natsu explains. 

“Then you’d be my King?” Lucy asks. 

“King Consort, since you’re the one with the power but yeah.” Natsu says with a shrug. 

“That sounds great.” Lucy says. “Except…You and your father like to travel sometimes, go to other lands to train together…If I’m Queen then I won’t be able to come with you.” 

Lucy looks away sadly but then Natsu cups her chin in his fingers and tilts her head towards him. 

“You’ll never be alone again.” Natsu says and gently cups her cheek. “You’re the love of my life, and I promise we’ll always be together Lucy.” 

He leans forward and kisses her.

Lucy closes her eyes and melts into the kiss. 

——————————

When her eyes flutter open she sees Natsu’s face and smiles warmly. 

“Oh Natsu…” she sighs dreamily. 

Natsu frowns at her. 

“Uh, Luce you’re looking at me funny. Are you okay?” He asks her with a frown. 

“Hmm…” Lucy hums in confusion. “Of course I am! I’m with you my…” She explains until she notices his horns are missing, and that there are no scales on his body either. 

She reaches forward and feels the blankets and realizes she’s no longer naked in the expensive large bed she was in before, but wearing her pajamas while in a bed at the infirmary in Magnolia! 

“My…what?” Natsu asks, wanting her to finish her sentence. 

“My…idiot!” Lucy shouts and kicks him in the stomach with her foot. 

“Ouch!” Natsu yelps and doubles over in pain. 

“Yep! She’s fine!” Happy says cheerfully from the other side of Lucy’s bed. “You really had us going there for a second Lucy, I was worried that that bump on your head might have made you go crazy!” 

Lucy reaches up and feels that there are bandages wrapped around her forehead. And she winces slightly in pain as she touches the injured spot and remembers reality. She must have hit her head pretty hard in order to have envisioned Natsu as some sort of romantic Prince. 

“Honestly, I’m not too sure I’m entirely sane.” Lucy says. 

“That would explain why you kicked me.” Natsu grumbles. 

“Want me to do it again?” Lucy growls and Natsu yelps in fear. 

“Nope! I learned my lesson, please don’t hurt me again!” Natsu pleads. 

“Maybe I should still go get Porlyusica?” Happy suggests. “I mean, she’s mad at you now, but when she woke up she was looking at you like she was in love.” Happy teases. 

Lucy frowns at Happy but at the same time can’t help but blush as she remembers how she felt about the Natsu she met in her dream. I mean there were obviously some differences between the two of them. But now that she thought about it...there were a lot of similarities too. The Natsu from her dream may have been more obviously romantic but most of what he was saying to her and the way he was looking at her...the real Natsu did all of that too. And she loved him for it. 

And then it hit her...did she love Natsu?

“I’m sorry Lucy.” Natsu says softly and looks into his lap. “I said I’d protect you and you got hurt.”

“Well, you said you wouldn’t let the birds hurt me. And I got hit by a willow branch. So you didn’t break your promise. You’ve never broken any promise to me.” Lucy assures him.

Ever since they met in Hargeon, he had been the major catalyst for the events in her life. Both good and bad. And this job was no different.

Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind. 

“I know but still, you got hurt because I was so busy keeping those birds away from you that I didn’t notice that damn branch.” Natsu pouts. 

“It’s not your fault. I should have been watching where I was going.” Lucy says.

“If I was with you you wouldn’t have had to worry about that. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I know that ever since Tartaros you get upset when I do that.” Natsu says and Lucy’s heart skips a beat.

So he really did notice how his year long absence had affected her...Who would have known? Certainly not Lucy. He really paid attention to her feelings like that? 

“And I don’t like it when you’re sad. It makes me feel weird, like I want to fix it and make you happy again as soon as I can. It’s easy when I can just punch whatever’s bothering you until it goes away. But it’s different when I’m the one that hurt you. It makes me feel worse because I never want to be the cause of your pain. I want to be the one that takes it away, or even better prevents you from getting hurt in the first place. All I want is to keep you safe and make you happy. But I failed...” 

The more that you say, the less I know. 

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Only the lovers in the books she reads say things like this. Maybe he wasn’t as dense as she thought? Did he know what love was? Did he love her?

“Instead of fighting for you I should have just been with you. I made a mistake and you got hurt. But I won’t make it again. I’ll be more mindful of you the next time we’re on a job.” Natsu says. “I swear I‘ll protect you next time.” 

“Natsu...we’ve been doing jobs together for years. Nothing ever goes the way it’s supposed to.” Lucy says and holds out her hand for Natsu. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

Wherever you stray, I follow.

Natsu smiles and it warms Lucy’s heart as he takes her hand. 

“Promise that tomorrow you’ll wreck my plans again by taking me on some wild adventure?” Lucy asks.

“You bet!” Natsu says and flashes her his signature goofy grin.

That’s my man.

[dzamie]

/\ Would you vore your clone?

(directed at everybody, but if thats too much of a hassle then just HM)

Send me a △ and ask a really invasive question aimed at my character! They have to 1) Rate on a scale of 1-10 how much they don’t want to answer that question, and 2) Answer that question.

Dzbold: "Eh... three? And no, I wouldn't put myself through that. For reference, though, anyone at three or higher would just say no if they weren't being forced to answer honestly. Except for Sleek, who would try to get you close enough to bite."

Dzamie: "Hmm... if it's just a clone rather than a copy, that's a 1 and a no - I try to avoid cannibalism when possible. A full copy, though... 2. I would if either of us were transformed to an easier form to eat or be eaten by. I know I'd go for it if I were him. Not like I'd die or anything."

HM: "1. No. Dragons aren't for eating."

Mistress Dreamwalker: "What HM said. There are far more fun things I'd do with my clone."

Kenneth: "Ten. Unlike those three, some of us do have a reputation of avoiding utter nonsense. Anyway, of course I wouldn't. I have no desire to look into the magic necessary to make it possible."

Vanille: "Uh... four? I can't think of a reason I'd want to, and I'm not sure if I'd be able to get her back out, so I'd feel bad..."

William: "Four as well, but only because of your choice of words. I don't think I'd get any useful enough info out of the experience to justify it against throwing the clone back up - and I find cannibalism abhorrent."

Sleek: "Eight. Come closer when you ask that; you're a bit out of my strike range. But yes, I would - any so-called clone of mine who I can catch isn't worth leaving uneaten."

Sylvia (dragon): "In a heartbeat."

Sylvia (katul): "Four if we're not friends and I haven't invited you to my workshop. One otherwise. As for my answer... what do you mean, 'would'?"

Sel'riss: "...two. I would, but it wouldn't be a show. Actually, wait, I could frame it as a fight against an alternate version, and... okay, yeah, that could be a fun time."

Cloaken Dagger: "Seven. If I did, it would be in service of faking my own death, not for pleasure. Changelings don't taste very good."

Eris: "Hold on, let me finish my bowl of tiny Erises. What was the question?"

Fyoor: "Ten. You would insult a god with such a juvenile request? Do you see me as some harlot with which to fill your mind with filthy thoughts? No, no, a thousand times no. Now fuck off and I might let you survive the night."

Azurel: "Five. Just once, to see if I could. I'd let him return the favor, of course."

Rinta: "Four, and n- oh, wait, you just said 'vore,' not 'eat?' Ooh, I bet my tail would feel wonderful squirming around between my legs..." (Cloaken Dagger: "I would like to amend my answer in light of miss VitAzurel's analysis.")

Kassar: "One. No. To eat a dragon is heretical, and a kobold, while distant, is still too close for comfort."

Rekus: "I'm pretty sure I would die. Three. No."

Sinera: "Nine. No. Dzamie passed on his magic knowledge, not his fetishes. Why are most of you all so calm about this?"

Galleon: "Two. No. I might die, and I'd certainly not enjoy myself. So why would I try it?"

Smugleaf: "Nine, unless I've eaten you before, in which case four. I think I would swallow my clone, after entrusting her with my ball. Serperior are rare prey, and I wouldn't pass up the opportunity."

Dazzle and Razzle: "Nine." "Two." "I would make a fantastic vibrator for myself, and fill my pussy up just the right amount." "...what she said."

Ji-Lun: "Six. I dare not, for fear of my clone's selves having an unexpected interaction with my own. But if my safety were guaranteed... yes, if only out of curiosity."

Wendy: "Four. Yeah, sure. I can probably fit myself, and it's not like I don't eat plenty of fish elsewise."

Cerise: "Food is food. I would avoid killing a fellow of my group if I could, but if the scenario is not my choice, I would not hesitate. Of course, I don't swallow my prey whole; does that change what my answer would be? Oh, uh, one."

Dzbold: "Ugggghhhhh..... why did I think doing so many of them was a good idea...?"

[nalu4emily]

The Unexpected Reward - Chapter 16

Summary:  Natsu and Lucy go on a job together, but what they bring home is something neither anticipated. Forced to make a life changing decision, they have to adapt quickly, but that's never easy, especially given the circumstances. As they work together on their toughest adventure yet, they find themselves drawn to one another, in ways they never realised. Nalu/cute/fluff

Rated M for a reason!

"Hey, old lady! Open up!" The slayer bellowed through the tiny keyhole, beating the same spot on the large, ornate door repeatedly with his fist. "I know you're in there; I can smell you!"

"Go away, boy! I don't like visitors!" The occupant shouted from the other side, infuriating the dragon further.

He hammered his fist harder, determined to get some answers. There was no way he was turning back, not after running all this way. He'd kick the door in if he had to.

Haru, who was tucked into his arms, didn't seem to mind the small detour, or the loud clattering and yelling. He was perfectly content playing with anything he could get his hands on, namely Natsu's clothing. The occasional "Mama" or "Dada" would escape him but he mostly babbled nonsense to himself.

"At least you're having a good time. Daddy's starting to lose his patience." Natsu muttered the last bit under his breath, grinning at the child through his chagrin. He turned back to the door, "Look, I won't take up much of your time, I just need your advice. It's about Lucy…"

The door swung open with a rush and a thud, crashing into the very tree it was nailed to, causing leaves to fall from their branches. The noise had stunned Natsu into silence as he stared at the very person he'd come to see—Porlyusica. Dressed in her usual attire, she stepped out onto the porch and glowered at the young man, broom in hand, ready to chase him away.

Opening her mouth to scold him for the disruption, she caught sight of the little one he was carrying and closed it again, her hard lines softening. Instead of beating the slayer with her broom, which was the original plan, she held something out in her palm, expecting him to take it.

Eyeing it curiously, he took it from her hand and held it to his face, inspecting it further. It was a small, glass vile with a cork stopper lid, that contained a strange yellow liquid, its consistency was thick and it reminded Natsu, somewhat, of mashed up baby food—the kind Haru loved to eat.

"It's called morning sickness. Give her a few drops of that potion and it should quell its severity." She explained.

The boy accepted her potion and put it into his pocket for safe keeping, "Thanks! Lucy'll be glad of that. Only, it's not just her sickness that I'm-"

"I know why you're here. I could tell when I saw you all the other day, I'm just surprised it's taken you both this long to come knocking. So, where is she?" Porlyusica asked, looking behind Natsu for the blonde.

"At home actually. She… kinda doesn't know I'm here… but, I can't watch her suffer like that, I need to know what to do." Natsu pleaded, hoping the healer would help him.

She sighed, unable to refuse his request, "Has it been confirmed?"

"Not really… How do you do that?" Natsu asked, his knowledge on such things were limited.

"Get Lucy to test it, she'll understand. Then once it's confirmed, come back to me, I'll need to run some checks." She said, turning to go back inside.

"Checks? What checks?" There went his plan! Lucy would have to see her after all.

"You want a healthy child, don't you?" She said, as if it were obvious.

"U-Uh…"

The fire mage didn't get a chance to think too much into that before the door was slammed shut in his face, making him along with the baby jump.

The wind picked up a little as he turned to walk away, looking down at Haru, who was starting to snuggle down against his chest. Natsu smiled again at him, trying to mask his annoyance with the old woman's abruptness, "Sorry for making you wait, Haru, I bet you're super bored?"

"Dada…" The child yawned cutely on cue, making Natsu chuckle.

"Yeah, Dada's gonna take you home." He reiterated, turning to make tracks for home.

Natsu all but crashed through the front door, nearly breaking it off its hinges. "Luce? Lucy? Are ya home?" He yelled out into the house. Out of breath and panting, having just ran all the way back.

"Lucy?" He called out again, but with no answer still, he wondered where she could be, "Hmm… Let's go find Mama; she's around here somewhere."

"Mama…" The infant muttered, before going back to sucking on the ends of Natsu's scarf.

Once reaching the top of the stairs, he heard what he suspected might be the reason for Lucy's silence. A noise that'd become all too common over the last few days. Pushing the bathroom door open, he stood in the doorway, smiling sadly at the girl hunched over the toilet bowl once again. He felt nothing but empathy for her, the feeling of being overwhelmingly sick wasn't exactly foreign to him either, so he understood her pain.

The young man crouched down behind the blonde, cringing as she wretched her guts up. "It's alright, Luce. I'm here with you now." He spoke quietly, as not to alarm her of his presence. Placing Haru down next to him, he reached a hand out to her shoulder, the warm touch spreading over her clammy skin.

With one last cough and spit into the bowl, Lucy leaned back, breathing heavily while her watery eyes streamed down her face. She sniffled and blew her nose with a tissue, wiping her mouth at the same time. She took in a large breath and shifted to the man behind her, clutching hold of his jacket while she cried into his chest.

Enveloping her with his arms and cradling her head to him, he spoke tenderly to her, "Has it eased off now?"

"I-I don't know." Her voice was hoarse; her throat sore, "Please don't leave me again."

That struck a chord with Natsu. Never had he heard Lucy ask for him, not like that. She was always way too proud and independent, but this had really taken it's toll on her, not just physically but mentally also, making her feel vulnerable and it saddened him to see her so.

"I won't, Lucy, I promise." He said lowly into her ear, placing an affectionate peck just behind her lobe.

Nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck, she sniffled again, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, "I don't want this, Natsu. I don't care what's causing it; I just want it gone."

Really her words shouldn't have affected him like they did, yet he still felt a sharp tug on his heart. She didn't know the reason behind her vomiting; how could she? He hadn't told her. And now with her so upset, he really didn't know how he was going to do that. Where did he even start?

He'd been so ready to just blurt it out, never considering how Lucy might react to it. In fact, if memory served him, she'd most likely freak until she combusted, or worse, began to cry. This subject had to be handled sensitively and with care, but the longer he left it, the longer he had to dwell on her reaction.

"I know, Luce. Are you sure you still want to wait for Wendy? Gramps told me she won't be back for a week at least." He explained, hoping she might change her mind about seeing the old dragon woman.

"I don't care who I see, as long as they can get rid of it." She said, finally pulling back and wiping her eyes with her sleeve, "I'm just so tired! It's been so long since I've had any real sleep and the puking just won't let up. My tummy hurts, my back aches and my ribs feel like they're being squashed, I have a constant headache and food-" She placed her hand over her mouth again, feeling that overwhelming nausea return. The mention of food, any food, was enough to set her off.

"Just try and take a deep breath, Luce, think of something else."

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath through her nose and let it slowly out through her mouth, turning her attentions to Haru, "Sorry, little man, Mama didn't mean to ignore you, although you seem pretty content sucking on that scarf."

"He's been doing that all afternoon." Natsu answered for the baby, before switching back to Lucy, "Has the feeling gone now?"

"Not yet, it never really does. It just sits there until something triggers it." She explained, trying to breathe through the queasiness.

"That sucks… Oh, that reminds me, I have something for ya!" Remembering the little gift the old woman had given him, he started rummaging through his pockets, pulling out the item he was looking for and handed it to her, "Take it, Luce, it'll help with your, uh…" Wracking his brain for whatever Porlyusica had called it, "…Sickness." Was what he settled for.

Taking it into her hands she stared at it, frowning at the gross substance which could barely be called a liquid. "Um… Are you sure this is fit for human consumption?" She asked, hesitant to put it anywhere near her mouth. "And where'd it even come from?"

"Well, you know you said you didn't want to go to Porlyusica?" He blushed a little, putting his hand behind his head and grinned sheepishly, "I kinda did for ya and she gave me that. She said to take a few drops of it."

"Hmm… If you say so." She popped the cork lid open and let a few small globs dribble out into her mouth, pulling a disgusted face as it slid down her throat and stuck out her tongue. Little Haru found it hysterical and began laughing at his mother, his whole body jiggling up and down, "Well, I'm glad you're finding this funny, because that is repulsive!"

Natsu smiled, "You did look kinda funny, Luce. But at least it'll lessen your morning sickness now." That was it!

Eyes widening, Lucy snapped her head to Natsu, her amusement gone, "Morning sickness?!"

"Yeah, that's what she called it—which is dumb! It's more like all day and night sickness." He chuckled to himself, quickly falling silent when Lucy's expression didn't change at his little joke. He didn't understand; had he said something wrong? "What's up, Luce? I thought it might help."

"You… you think I'm pregnant?" She asked, eyes wide and mouth agape, her stare never leaving him.

Shit!

So morning sickness was a pregnancy thing? He wished he'd known that sooner!

Cursing himself again, he hadn't meant for her to find out like that and what's worse—she looked utterly horrified. Dammit! What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't lie to her; he wouldn't do that. With no other alternative, he did the only thing he could and sighed, nodding his answer and cringing at the sharp inhale he heard pass her lips.

Hoping she wasn't about to blow a fuse, he approached the stunned girl carefully, taking the vile out of her slack grasp and placed it back in his pocket before entwining their fingers together. Quirking one side of his lip into a half smile, he kept quiet and allowed her to process the information she obviously was not expecting.

His eyes dropped from her shocked face to her partially exposed stomach, catching her other hand instinctively come down to cradle it protectively, like an expectant mother would and it made the adrenaline course through his body.

"Pregnant… How did I not think of that?" She muttered under her breath, truly shocked that she hadn't once considered it a possibility. All the signs were there, everything pointed to it—shouted at it in fact, yet it was Natsu who'd realised it first. The boy that once thought humans laid eggs had figured it out before her? Something seemed fishy! "How come you knew? Who've you been speaking to?" Mortified to think that the whole guild knew before she even did.

"Gray, actually." He replied, shrugging, "And Porlyusica helped, obviously."

"Gray?! What does he know about having a baby? Doesn't he usually shy away from that kind of stuff?" She was astounded to find that it was the ice mage of all people. One of the girls from the guild was understandable or even someone like Gajeel who'd experienced it, but Gray?

"You think Juvia gives him a choice? She was crazy before, but now it seems she's on a whole other level." He sniggered a little, feeling kinda sorry for Gray, but kinda not. He'd made his bed and now he'd have to lay in it.

"Oh, so Juvia's pregnant too? How sweet, she's been desperate since… well, since forever!"

Natsu hummed in agreement, his attention focused more on Lucy's calm and collected demeanour, which honestly, he hadn't expected. She seemed happy by the prospect of growing their family, and that filled him with joy.

"Baby fever all 'round, it seems." Chuckling and tapping little Haru's head, the spirit wielder met the slayers eyes, smiling brightly at him with her hand still firmly placed on her lower belly, "I guess being so sick will be worth it, if it's for a baby."

"Our baby, Luce." Wiping the few stray tears away with his thumb, Natsu grinned at her, glad to see that gorgeous smile of hers split her cheeks, "Now we just gotta test it, right? Only, I don't know how you'd do that?"

"Hmm… I do, but… Oh wait! Cana!" She yelled, scrambling to her feet and nearly tripping on the bath mat. Luckily, Natsu was there for her to grab a hold of.

"What's this got to do with Cana?" He asked, confused—nothing good could ever come of her being involved.

"Her 'gifts'." The boy tilted his head; that made even less sense! "You know… ages ago, she pranked us with the condoms and a pregnancy test?" Lucy whispered to him, not wanting to say it out loud in front of Haru.

"Oh yeah! I wondered where they all went!" His eyes lit up when the memory returned to him.

"Please don't remind me…" Happy mumbled under his breath, a look of trauma on his face.

"Oh, hey Happy! I didn't hear ya come in!" Natsu greeted, waving at the exceed hovering in the doorway.

"Why're you guys looking for those things? You mean you're actually gonna use 'em?!" Nearly passing out at the thought, but shut his mouth quickly when he noticed Lucy glaring at him.

Returning to the task at hand, the blonde continued to search through the bathroom cupboards, "I put them away in here somewhere… Aha! Found it!" She cheered, holding and waving it in her hand to show Natsu.

"Awesome!" He cheered, "Now what?"

"Yeah, uh, you're gonna have to wait outside, and I'll let you know when I'm done." Pulling out the stick from its packaging, she crossed her arms and glared at the boy still standing there.

"Wait, what's happening?" The exceed asked, completely lost on their conversation.

"Why do I gotta wait outside? Can't I stay in here while you do it?" Natsu didn't want to be locked out again, it wasn't fair! He wanted to be in on the action!

She deadpanned, "Unless you want to watch me pee on a stick?" He was clueless.

"No, thank you!" Happy was gone in a flash, back down the stairs, no longer caring what they were talking about.

"So what, Luce?" The fire mage shrugged, "I've seen ya do worse."

"Just get out, Natsu, I'll call you back in when I'm done!" Lucy huffed, shooing the idiot out of the bathroom, ignoring his protests and shutting the door behind her.

Natsu exaggerated his huff, chuckling when Haru copied him, "Looks like we gotta wait out here, little guy. Are ya hungry?" The fire mage asked, taking them both down to the kitchen to retrieve some food.

Once returning to the bathroom door, food thoroughly shoved in their pie holes, they waited. When the door finally opened, revealing the girl with the stick in her hand, Natsu could barely contain himself; he wanted to know the results.

"So, what's it say? Are ya, Luce?" He asked, feeling like a kid at Christmas. Upon setting his own eyes on the girl, his face dropped instantly as he watched fresh tears build in her eyes. "Lucy?"

She wiped her snuffling nose and handed the stick to her partner, allowing him to look at the results. "Two lines means positive; one line means negative." Was all she said, using her sleeve to rub at her irritated eyes.

Peering down at the peculiar shaped object in his hand, he knitted his brows together. On the little screen, there was but a singular line—just one. He looked back up to Lucy, confusion still etched into his expression, "Negative?"

"It means, I'm not pregnant." Disappointment flowed out of her very pores; saying it out loud only reaffirmed it; a bitter truth escaping her lips. "Back to the drawing board, I guess. I'm sorry, Natsu, I know that wasn't what you wanted to hear."

Natsu remained silent, processing it all. It was definitely not the result he had been expecting, but it didn't seem to be bothering him as much as it should've. That niggle along with everything else that lead him to that conclusion, surely hadn't been wrong? He should've felt sad, a little disappointed, maybe? Or even a tad guilty for giving Lucy false hope—but he felt none of those things.

It was true that he didn't have well of medical knowledge like Porlyusica or some other doctor. He didn't read a load of books to get his information like Lucy or even Levy, and he certainly had no experience to pull from, and yet his gut still believed there was hope.

He placed the test down and pulled Lucy to him, enveloping her in his warmth to soothe her aching heart. With her nestled into his chest, he nuzzled his head into her hair, breathing in her scent, allowing it to relax him, when an idea struck.

Unexpectedly he pulled away from the sad blonde, passed her the baby and dropped to his knees, much to her embarrassment. He hugged her close, placing his nose on her lower belly and inhaled deeply, ignoring her flustered rants about 'reading the mood'. After several awkward minutes of her whining and his determination to be proven right, he smiled and let go.

"Natsu, you can't just sniff people like that! What were you doing?! I'm not in the mood for jokes." She sighed, watching him hop to his feet.

"Lucy, I think the test is lying."

Perking her head up to meet his eyes, with brows knitted together, she spoke, "Huh? Tests don't lie, Natsu! Don't be so ridiculous! I know it's hard to hear, but we're not having a baby."

"We'll see about that!" He grinned and hoisted her up, carrying her bridal style down the stairs with Haru perched neatly in her lap, ignoring her yells to be put down.

"Right Haru, let's go get some answers! You coming, Happy?" Natsu's usual electric enthusiasm shone brightly through his grin.

"Yeah! Where are we going?" Happy asked, hovering above the slayer's head.

He winked at the Exceed, then proceeded to kick the front door open and walked out into the front garden. "You ready, Luce?" His grin turning mischievous.

"Natsu, put me down! I don't even have any shoes on! Where the heck are we going?!" She screeched into his ear, making him wince, but smile all the same.

"You don't need shoes when I'm carrying you! Hold on tight guys, we're off to see the old dragon woman in the woods. She'll be able to tell us." He said, sprinting off down the path towards their destination, with Happy flying behind.

Eventually, Lucy gave up her struggle. She wasn't going to win; she never did once he'd set his mind on something. That was usually how all of their adventures started off, him dragging her off somewhere new and exciting. Although, she couldn't say going to see the old woman was new or particularly exciting, but if Natsu thought it was the right thing to do, even if the result remained the same, then she had no choice but to tag along.

Finally nearing the tree, Natsu could see from a distance that the door was open, meaning said woman was out and about, probably collecting ingredients for her next potion.

"So you've returned." They heard the gruff voice from behind, swivelling their heads to meet Porlyusica as she walked over to them. "And you've brought the whole cavalry… Well, don't just stand there gawking, in you go!" Natsu quickly made it into the tree, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the cranky woman with a broom. "And put Lucy down, a pregnant woman is more than capable of walking, boy!"

Lucy all but jumped to her feet, mortified and embarrassed by the whole situation and turned to the healer, "That's the thing though, I'm not pregnant, but Natsu insisted on dragging us out here. We're sorry for wasting your time." The flustered blonde seemed a little too eager to leave and tried to make a break for the door; however; the fire breather's quick reflexes caught her wrist before she could reach the door handle.

"Luce, I told you already: the test was lying!" He repeated, eyes pleading with her just to wait and see what the healer might say.

She sighed; feeling a little frustrated by it all, "Tests don't lie, Natsu. I'm not pregnant and that's all there is to it. I'll just have to muddle through whatever this sickness is until it goes away."

"It came out negative, I assume?" Porlyusica intervened, focusing on the blonde huddling close to the door. "Natsu is right, tests can give false negative readings, especially if it's old or hasn't been used properly." The pink haired woman walked closer to the girl, looking her up and down. "I thought that you might be when I saw you last and I'm rarely wrong."

Lucy hadn't expected the woman to actually agree with Natsu. She hadn't thought that there could be something wrong with the test, but then again, it was from Cana and god knows where she'd got it from. She perked her head up a little and was almost reluctant to look at the dragon slayers expression, knowing the smugness of being right would be written all over his face.

"Ha! See, I knew it! There's still a chance, Lucy!" Natsu shone his vibrant, toothy grin at the blonde girl. She could see the hope in his eyes; he really wanted this; to be a father again and her heart all but melted.

"I have other, more thorough ways of testing, if you'd let me?" Porlyusica asked the celestial mage, bringing her back to the present.

Apprehensively, Lucy nodded her head and went to sit on the bed by the window to await further instructions. She was so nervous, hoping for some positive answers, that would prove the test was false. She wasn't sure her heart could take the disappointment a second time, especially if it included Natsu's this time.

"There are a few different ways I can confirm a pregnancy, blood tests and so forth, but the most efficient way is a scan of the area." She said, gathering the instruments she needed whilst awaiting Lucy's approval. "I use a lacrima and it shows an image of your womb."

"O-Okay." Lucy replied, uncertain of what she'd just agreed to.

She laid back on the bed and pulled her top up, revealing her stomach. Taking a deep breath, the celestial mage twisted her head to Natsu, who had knelt down beside her. Her nerves were rattling within her body and was looking for a little reassurance, something to take the edge off of her apprehension.

He smiled at her tenderly and reached out for her hand to hold tight, not entirely convinced it was to ease just her anxiety as opposed to his own. They were about to find out whether or not their own little creation had taken residence in Lucy's womb, and he couldn't describe what an incredibly surreal feeling that was.

Porlyusica first needed to locate where the lacrima should be placed. Using one hand, she pressed firmly just above Lucy's pelvis, then several times around the area. Still tender and overly sensitive, Lucy tried her hardest not to show the discomfort it was causing. It rippled up into her throat, making her feel sick again, only this time she had no choice but to hold it back.

The wincing and quiet gasps didn't go unnoticed by the dragon slayer. He'd been watching the healer like a hawk, making sure nothing hurt Lucy too much. He leant over, understanding how unpleasant it must be and kissed her temple, whilst running his fingers smoothly through her blonde tresses.

The lacrima was a simple looking flat, green crystal that the older woman laid onto the stellar mages bare skin and waited for the image to appear. With a few flashes of light, a picture was formed like a projection hovering just above the lacrima.

"What the heck is that?! It looks like you swallowed a ball!" Happy couldn't take his eyes off of the image.

"That's so cool! I'm totally looking at your insides, Luce!" The fire breather enthused, unable to take his eyes off of the image.

Lucy rolled her eyes at the pair; typical Natsu and Happy, "You're both such idiots…"

"When you're done bickering, I'll explain what you're looking at." Porlyusica cut in. She pointed to the big black oval shape on the projection, that Happy kindly pointed out, and looked at the pair, making sure they were paying attention. "This is the outline of your uterus, Lucy. And from what I can see, it looks perfectly normal and healthy."

"Oh okay, that's good then." She pointed to a smaller, light coloured ball at the bottom of the black oval and knitted her brows together. "So, what's that?"

Moving the lacrima crystal slightly, the healer repositioned it to get a closer look at the small ball and both mages eyes near bulged out of their sockets. Their mouths dropped open and breath hitched simultaneously as the image took on a more human shape, its arms and legs moving rapidly.

"Oh my… Is that…?" Lucy had never seen anything like it, her mouth had gone completely dry and she felt the butterflies in her tummy cause her to quiver, she was in awe.

"Look at what we did, Lucy…" Natsu murmured after a few shocked, silent moments, catching the girl's attention. His eyes were glued to the image, watching it kick out with it's tiny little developing legs and feet. "It's an active little thing…"

"It's a baby, Natsu…" The celestial mages eyes glazed over, unable to control the flood of emotions that entered her system.

For the first time, the fire breather peeled his sights away from the projection and looked to his partner. His own tears peaked at the corners, feeling so overwhelmingly happy to be able to share this with her.

"Mm… it sure is, Luce." His voice sounded airy, sleepy almost, like his body had simply relaxed. His brilliant smile beamed at the blonde, making her heart skip a beat as she turned to face him fully, the sound of their little one's heart beat filling their ears.

"Look Haru, you're gonna have a little brother or sister." Lucy said as Natsu held him up to see, pointing at the even tinier one wriggling around on the projection. "It's a little one, just like you!"

Porlyusica turned the crystal once more, allowing them to see the baby from a different angle, "As you can see, Lucy, you are pregnant and by the looks of it, I'd say you have been for about ten weeks now."

"Ten weeks?! Surely that's not right; I would have noticed long before now!" Lucy was stunned to learn she was that far along already. The symptoms had only just started and she'd menstruated within that time—hadn't she?

"Not necessarily, pregnancy doesn't follow a certain set of rules. When Juvia came to see me regarding the same thing, she'd been suffering with symptoms from around the six week mark. Levy, on the other hand, had no symptoms and she was carrying twins. Some women experience symptoms just at the beginning while others, all the way through. Some later and some sooner, and some none at all."

"Oh… I didn't know. So, what happens now?" Lucy asked, feeling a little bit of disappointment when the healer deactivated the lacrima and removed it from her belly—she could've easily watched it all day.

"Yeah, when will it be born? Is it a long wait?" Natsu butted in, moving to sit next to the girl on the bed.

"And I thought Gray was clueless… A pregnancy takes nine months or approximately forty weeks, meaning Lucy has about thirty weeks left to go."

"That long? But that's ages away!" Natsu whined, turning into a child himself.

"Yeah, why can't it be born now?" Happy joined in, wanting to meet the little one already.

"Quiet, boys, before I kick you out!" She threatened, returning her attentions to the blonde, "Look after yourself, Lucy. A stressed mother is a stressed baby, but so far everything is looking as it should." The woman returned her equipment to their places and snapped her head to the little family still sitting there, "What're you both still doing here? Get out!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Natsu and Lucy jumped to their feet at lightning speed and ran out of the door, making sure they were out of sight of the old woman before slowing to a halt.

"Ugh! Now my feet are all dirty!" Lucy groaned, lifting her bare feet up one by one to inspect them, grimacing at all of the mud now coating them. "This is your fault- Mmph!"

A pair of warm, smooth lips silenced her, pressing urgently to her mouth, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine. With him taking the lead, Lucy relaxed into it and enjoyed the feel of his mouth on hers, their tongues interloping, causing butterflies to re-enter her stomach.

Pulling apart, but barely, he stared at her angelic features and couldn't help but smile at the beautiful girl before him. Thanks to her, he was going to be a father again. A father not to just one, but two precious babies and he felt like the luckiest man in the world.

"I love you, Lucy." He grinned, the biggest, widest grin she'd ever seen, so enormous it was almost too much for his face. But it was still heart meltingly cute and to hear him say those words again was enough to turn her into a puddle. It wasn't something he said very often, but she was fine with that. It made times like this all the more special.

"I love you too, Natsu." She could see just how happy he was, his very soul glowing like the fire he wielded. "So, are you going to tell me how you knew?"

He quirked his brow, "Knew what?"

"That the test was wrong." She said, her eyes flickering between his.

"Oh… I, uh, sorta had a feeling, I guess. And I was sure I could smell something." He shrugged, about to lean in for another kiss.

"You could… smell something?" Horrified she pulled her face back; did she smell?!

"Yeah, another scent. I've been able to smell it since I came home the other day, but didn't know what it was until now." The boy explained, bringing her head back to him.

"You can smell the baby?" Lucy's eyes widened in fascination.

"Sure. It's real faint, but if I try hard enough, it's there."

"Wow! That's incredible!" She looked down at herself again and cradled her belly, right where the lacrima had been and pictured their perfect little baby safe and sound in there. "I'm so happy, Natsu."

"Me too, Lucy." Natsu chuckled and finally managed to pull her back in for a loving and tender kiss, relaying all of his own happiness to her in one fluid motion. His hand came up to rest on top of hers, caressing the soft skin of her belly, imagining just how beautiful she was going to look in the months to come, carrying his child.

But their passion was swiftly halted when a certain little fella stopped them in their tracks, placing a hand to where their lips joined and made a cute babble sound, as if he were trying to work out what they were doing. Chuckling, they both turned to Haru, who was still looking at them curiously.

"You two are just nasty!" Happy said, placing himself down on the floor. "Not only do you eat each other, but you're now doing it in front of Haru!"

"We don't eat each other, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Lucy defended, shaking her head.

"Yeah you do and other… more explicit things!" Happy shivered at the thought, "Otherwise you wouldn't be in this situation."

"What situation is that then?" Lucy asked, defiance lacing her voice.

"He means the baby, Luce, even I understood that one!" Natsu piped in.

"Really?!" She exclaimed sarcastically, "Ugh! You guys are infuriating! With any luck, this baby will be a girl, then I won't feel so outnumbered!" She huffed, crossing her arms.

"And she'll still end up like Natsu, and you know it!"

Lucy's expression deflated, her arms sinking to her sides ans sighed "You're right…"

"Anyway, with another mouth to feed, you might wanna reconsider that job, Natsu!" The exceed mentioned, not noticing the dragon slayer shoot daggers at him.

"Oh… What job is that then?" The blonde asked, curiously. She didn't remember Natsu mentioning anything about a job.

"It's nothing really, Luce." Natsu shrugged, playing it down.

"You should have seen the reward! I've never seen that many zero's in a number!" Happy chirped, only now noticing the look his friend was giving him, telling him silently to shut up.

"Natsu, what's up? How come you never said anything?" Lucy asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"It's not that big of a deal. Gramps gave me a request yesterday, but I turned it down, that's all." He explained, seeming a little dismissive but otherwise normal. "Why don't we get ya home? It'll be dinner time soon." Seeing the reluctance in Lucy's face to believe him, he sighed and smiled at her, not ready to have that conversation just yet.

Suddenly her feet were whipped out from under her and she and Haru found themselves in the air, with two strong arms holding them up, "Natsu!"

"What? Can't have Mama all pooped out now can we, Haru?" Natsu laughed along with the infant, grinning widely, "'Cause she's still gotta cook us dinner!" He smirked at the young woman in his arms, who's eyes snapped at to him, glaring at his handsome face.

"Hey! How come I gotta slave away in the kitchen?! I'm pregnant now, you should be making me dinner!" She retorted, huffing and turning her head to the side.

"I don't mind cooking, it's whether you mind having a kitchen or not?"

"On second thought, stay out of the kitchen, you're too much of a fire hazard. But you owe me a foot rub, after all, this is your doing!" She smirked back at him.

"Oh… I never remember you complaining, maybe I'll have to get you to jolt my memory later." He chuckled lowly back, rising to the challenge.

"That's it! You two are disgusting! I'm taking Haru and you can both find somewhere else to do your dirty stuff tonight." Happy whizzed down to snatch the giggling baby from Lucy and speedily zoomed off into the distance, leaving the other two behind.

"Hey! That's no fair! You got a head start!" Not willing to be beaten by a flying cat and a baby, Natsu hurtled himself and Lucy in the same direction, her screams of terror echoing throughout the forest.

[k-laconia-bug1]

Celestial Wind

Posted on Ao3

Luz had screamed herself awake that morning. The entire owl house had heard her rushing in thinking she was being attacked.

Truth was it was a memory of hers

Her big sister Lucy had been murdered infront of her, the future version of sister was killed by future Rouge she doesn't remember ever being so angry and sad at the same time.

She remembers looking at Nastu she's never seen him like that either so scared for lucy future if she didn't already know that he loved that would have solidified it.

Eda was also concerned for along with King and Hooty with how many times she was screaming or crying herself awake. They had made her stay in bed for breakfast it wasnt until after bed she was aloud to get out.

Which was perfect timing as she was supposed to meet with Hunter today

When she had arrived in their usual meet up spot Hunter was already there

With a quirked eyebrow Hunter turned towards Luz "What took you so long your never late?" Luz blushed embarrassed "Eda made me stay in bed until after lunch i-uh had a bad dream.. I woke up screaming" Hunters eyes shine in concern "want to talk about it" Luz pauses for a few moments seeming to think about it 'Could she trust Hunter about Fairytail? About her real life? Well he hadn't sold her out to BBelios he seems to really care about her'

Luz smiled softly with a hint of sadness in her eyes "yeah I'd like that Hunter"

Hunter eyes had widen not expecting her to say yes but happy at the trust shown to him, he really cared for Luz. He patted the spot next to him when Luz sat down in the grass and waited for her to talk.

"It was less of a nightmare well It was but it was a memory" Hunter nodded showing he was listening

Luz scrunched her eyebrows

"One thing you should know I guess is well how do I put this? ... I don't come from the human realm? No wait I do.. just a different universe of it.." She spoke softly

Luz had turned towards Hunter to watch his expression

His eyes had shot up in surprise at the confession "Wait really I didn't even know something like that was possible!"

Luz smiled a bit brighter at Hunter "yeah it was called EarthLand there was magic there too but it was different.. Guilds were formed to protect those who couldn't protect themselfs"

Hunters looked curious but urged to her to get to what her nightmare was about

Luz looked down eyes filled with pain

"I had watched the future version of my older sister get killed infront of me"

Hunter eyes widen at the thought of Luz seeing something so brutal he wrapped his arms around her to comfort her

Luz smiles gratefully "it didn't help that there was a huge battle going on during it... Mavis... I miss my guild" Luz looks down at her right hand taking off the fingerless glove she wore

Hunter eyes followed her movement

"You have a tattoo?" Luz eyes widen

"What no it's my guild mark it was applied with a magic stamp by Mirajane! Lucy would kill me!!" Hunter was surprised at such a reaction from Luz

"Oh so like was proved your from a coven? And I assume Lucy is you sister?"

Luz blushed "yeah that's right"

"Is magic different there?" Hunter questions curious

Luz looked up in surprise

"Huh yeah it is quite a bit when I think about it!.... one key difference is that if you use the last bit of your magic you'll Crack like your glass and turned into seeable magic... Oh! And we don't have a magic sack attached to the heart with have containers within us 'Luz suddenly pales' and when someone with time typ magic.. she can open a second container with out training 10 out of 10 do not recommend that fudging hurt" By the end of her sentence she was glaring at the ground if looks could kill that flower would be dead

"How bad does it hurt?" Hunter asked nervous Luz stared him dead in the eye

"I'd rather do over 100 missions in one day nothing could ever hurt more my pain tolerance went screw you gramps for choosing me to compete at GMG!!"

Luz blushed hard in embarrassment

"Ahh sorry I guess I should tell you... I do have magic as you could guess after all I work at a magic guild!" By the end of her sentence she was smiling brightly

Hunter again surprised and intrigued asked "if there a certain kind of magic you spealize in?" Luz eyes brighten she jumped up "Yes! Infact..!" Luz closed her eyes and stretched her hand out and a key appeared in her hand she twisted as if opening a door "Open gate of Madien Virgo" suddenly a doorbell sound was heard and in a golden flash there was a women with short pink hair in a maid outfit infront of them "Punishment time princess?" The pink haired girl asked bowing Luz face turned a bright red "VIRGO" Luz let out a miserable sigh "no Virgo how man times do I have to say I'm never going to hurt you?" Virgo pouted and turned towards hunter her head tilts to the sized at Hunters jaw dropped expression "Princess? Who is this.. Virgo gained a smug smile Is he your Lover? Aquarius and Hime would be proud!" She finishes off with cheerful smile

Both Luz and Hunters Faces were red as Erza hair "F-Force closher!" Luz stuttered out after Virgo dissappear along with her key in her and her sister shared space pocket as much as she was grateful for the Celestial King blessing the Heartfilia siblings to share Celestial contracts it could get a bit tiring sometimes ..

Luz turned towards Hunter both of there faces still red "I shouldn't have summoned Virgo first but she's better then Loki or Taurus ehh then again like half our spirits are pervs " Luz face breaks out into a smile "oh I can show you Plue! And I show you star dress an a form of Celestial magic only known by the Heartfilia's!" Hunters blush had died down "star dress?.. Wait what do you mean by half your spirits are pervs!?"

Luz who purposely ignores him summons plue "pun punn puun pun!" Hunter stares at the snowman like thing that's shaking "oh really plue fairytail rebanded!!" Luz nearly yells in surprised but happy the snowman like creature shakes it head "oh right" Luz says as she remembers she needed to show him stardress "w-wait a minute" Luz cheeks flame up "what gate key do I use?"

"Luz why does it look like a snowman?"

Luz sweat drops "it's a dog.. now back to where I was.. oh right" she pulled out another key out of thin air expect she didn't turn the keys and summons a spirit like the past 2 times. "Star dress leo!" A flash of gold surrounded Luz and when it died down Luz was in formal attire wearing a fancy Black and gold strapless dress that had a slit all the way to her hip she wore grayish black thights underneath it a black ruffled choker and small black high heels and hair in a tight bun with a pink rose along with a tattoo mark appeared on her chest

Hunter was blushing at how beautiful Luz looked "uhh what does it do exactly"

Luz smiled devilishly "watch!" She walked towards the tree "star dressing allows me to Fight beside my spirits better! It gives me the ability to use there magic" Luz got in a fighting stance with a deep breath she yelled out "Reglus Impact!" As her fist made contact with the tree Hunters eyes widen as the tree expoled "your spirits are only as powerful as your magic! So the stronger you get the stronger they get!" Luz smiled "Leo or Loki as I said his name before is the leader of the Zodiac Spirits there golden gate keys his a fist to fist fighter"

Hunter still in shock "your world's magic is so different then ours" Luz blinks

"You don't think this is the only magic right on my world?" Hunter jaw drops

"There's more?!"

Luz giggles "yeah Me and my sister mainly use Celestial magic with Minor use of Requip magic" Hunter eyes gleam with awe "can you tell me more

Luz happy to have some one to talk to about her family agrees

"Let's see There's Nastu he has Fire dragon slayers magic he can replenish his magic stores by eating fire! He super strong to! He's also inlove with Lucy my sister

There Erza she has the most advanced forms of requip magic! You should see her!! She can bring out so many swords in under a second

Oh and Gray he has Ice make magic anything he has touched he can create with ice! And works just as well as what he touched! But he has a seriously bad stripping habit! He asked me for my underwear once! Lucy beat the crap out of him that day 'she grins' the boys say she was scarier the Erza that day

Of There's wendy to! She a sky dragon slayer! Her Element is good in both fighting and Healing! Truth be told Healing Magic been dieing out!

Oh and there's the exceeds to! There talking flying cats Happy and Carla they drag around their dragon slayer parent because a side affect of dragon slayer magic is motion sickness! And of course my older sister Lucy anything I can do she can do to! All of us together make team Natsu! The strongest team in fairytail!" Luz says proudly hugging plue close to her chest "punn pun" plue exclaimed

Hunter was in awe at the magic they have Luz had looked down at plue in thought before a giddy smile overtook her "Your right Plue he does have the Potential for Ethernanos Magic! Or right that's what we call our worlds Magic"

Hunter eyes turned hopeful and ready to cry he voice breaks as he speaks "re-ally?" Luz nods "yeah but be prepared it's tuff to gain access to it and you don't exactly chose your main magic"

Hunter giddy at thought of not having to rely on his staff "please teach me!"

Luz smiles softly "I will but not today we'll make a schedule ill consult capricorn for the best way to train you"

Luz breaking out in a yawn looks at Hunter "we should head back see as scheduled? I'll have everything ready by then" Hunter excited nods "same time" he confirms that night he could barley sleep

Over the course of next few weeks he was trained hard and he required alot of meditation but by the 2nd month he showed signs wind magic he was happy because Luz had told him that wind magic users had the potential for healing spells but only if they were strong enough that could also perform enchanting magic

By the 5th month mark Luz had told his progress at 2 years worth even though he just trained for 5 months she gave him braclet from Celestial spirit realm

When he hit 7 months Luz told the he was going if he ever met Wendy she wound most likely share healing spells that aren't connected directly to her sky dragon magic that had made his month he was really happy at the thought of being able to heal others

At 8 months Luz said he should just focus on expanding his magic storage which meant take it easy but not to easy she had said she would start to train with him after a week and if he thought

capricorn trained him hard he doesn't know what to call Luz's training he wanted to ask but he didn't

At month 10 he finally asked her why capricorn trained her so hard she told him it was because of the Heartfilia family Duty to the Celestial Realm the Heartfilia bloodline was practically royalty to the Celestial Realm that being the reason they were Givin the title of princess, Hime, etc Heartfilia were the Gaurdains of the Celestial Realm and its not a stretch to call them the princesses of the realm if a Celestial Spirit was ever being mistreated by there summoner it was the Heartfilia's duty to take care of it. She had also made the comment of him making 5 years worth of progress no doubt that was due to capricorn being a drill Sargent

It was a full year before Luz sat him down to tell him what his power level was capable of here that technically he was stronger then his Uncle now that when he was just at month 2 his magic pressure could have defeated belios that team Nastu was quite famous for being destructive during missions people thought it was because of them not watching where there spells go but it was actually of there mp and that through Virgo her sister asked Wendy for some low level healing spells that he could learn she had also Givin him a bracelet that if he sent magic to jewel in it that it would notify her that he's in trouble

It was 5 months after that she sat him down again and gave the ins and outs of magic it was a week after that they had confessed there feelings for each other

At a year and half Luz told Hunter that if he wants he could become a fairytail member she told him stories of fairytail

She told him how one person tears were everyone's tears and how no one cares about members past just who they are now. That month she told him everything about the Heartfilia horizon about her father about being frozen in time for 7 years about the eclipse gate and what happened to the Celestial Realm right after about the Anima.. she told him everything she also told him about one magic.. and how it was only accessible through certain circumstances she told him one magic was basically the purest form of love the knowledge and power of one magic was to Heartfilia line

She also said her sister could use it because of Natsu and that Luz herself can use it Because of him basically she just gave him the biggest I love you ever and that made him feel so loved to know that

When it came time to finish the portal to back home to earthland she had told everyone of her real origin with hunter by her side

And with the help of the Celestial Spirit King who by the scares the crap out Hunter Luz how can you call that man Stache face? To his face! Created a portal in the use of jewelry Givin to everyone Luz and hunter cares for

[cobrakiin]

I Wouldn't Fall For Someone I Thought Couldn't Misbehave

Cojeel | Mentioned Lulev + Stingue | Rated: M (Nothing Super Explicit but ends with Very Spicy Fluff)

When Gajeel signed on for helping re-stabilize the Magic Council after the bombings, he didn't expect all the redundant paperwork, nosy coworkers, or the smokin' hot redhead that likes to play dangerous games with him.

And he should really learn to lock his front door... but why should he? He's practically rewarded for leaving it unlocked!

Aka the post-Rhodonite/Road Knight oneshot that my brain decided to inspire me to write by repeatedly chanting "COBRA SHOW HIS LEGGY" repeatedly until I finished writing it.

[AO3] [FFN]

________________________

"Everything okay?"

"Nn?"

"You've been quiet," Levy reiterated.

"'Course I am, I've got all these bullshit reports to do," Gajeel grumbled, motioning to the mess of papers on his desk. "If I'd known helping clean up after the Council was gonna involve so much goddamn paperwork, I would've told 'em I can't read and saved a hundred trees."

"That's very noble of you," Levy said, unconvincingly flat. She leaned her elbow on her desk, resting her chin in her hand. Her honey brown eyes narrowed, watching him suspiciously. "I meant that you haven't seemed to be your usual self recently. You've been way more distracted lately."

He snorted dismissively. "I ain't you. Sue me for findin' never-ending paperwork boring."

"Come to think of it," Levy ploughed on, "It started right after that mission to recapture that Oracion Seis member." She tapped her index finger against her chin, feigning thought. "And he got away…"

Gajeel sharply eyed her.

His position in the New Magic Council was… unique. Gajeel was only handed cases regular Rune Knights couldn't handle - he was a Dragonslayer whose magic made near-unbreakable iron objects and also happened to be an expert tracker, so he became the guy who could track and capture the more elusive, difficult targets.

An escaped, dark mage Dragonslayer? Right up his alley.

Officially… Gajeel had found Cobra, but the sudden issue of an active child trafficking ring took precedence and Cobra 'got away' in the mess of it all.

Unofficially… Gajeel had found Cobra and they'd exchanged blows at first. Testing each other until Cobra's real target had revealed itself. Then the two Dragonslayers tore those kidnappers to shreds. Once the kids were safe with Council forces, Gajeel had managed to track Cobra down again a few remote towns over. (Gajeel tracked him; Cobra didn't 'let' Gajeel find him again - nope! Finding him again was all Gajeel!) And that's where everything got a lot messier and a lot hotter… and a lot stickier...

Dragons were very much creatures that abided by the Universal Law of the Four F's - food, fight, flee, or fuck - sometimes there was a Fifth F in there, too… something about "Friend" or whatever.

Gajeel meeting Natsu? Fight on sight.

Meeting Laxus? Yeah, there was a Fight, but Gajeel was a little more honest with himself these days that he had actually wanted to Flee the Thunder God.

Wendy and Rogue? He guessed that's where "Friend" came in. Maybe also Food somewhere mixed up in there; they both really needed to eat more. That counted, right?

That blonde idiot mated to his brother? Well… if Sting weren't practically plastered to Rogue's side every waking minute of the day, Gajeel wouldn't mind a Fight with him. (Besides, the guy reminded him too much of Salamander.)

But meeting Cobra? That was the first time his inner dragon skipped past all the other F's - looked right at that cocky little shit-eating elf - and decided on Fuck. And it soon became apparent that Cobra's inner dragon had come to the same conclusion about Gajeel.

It was not at all what he had expected when he'd been handed that case file. He'd expected a Fight and not a Fuck. And while he got both - he was getting plenty of the second one. Even now.

He wasn't stupid: Cobra would do a lot more good out there slaughtering slavers than locked back up for, what? Crimes he committed as a teenager? (Following that mission, Gajeel had checked what was left of Cobra's file after the bombings. While he was sure the redhead had done much worse than what was in there, legally all they could hold him on now was "association with dark mages" and a couple of assassinations they "suspected" him of.) Killing traffickers the Council couldn't (or wouldn't) go after was basically community service, in Gajeel's opinion.

An added plus to all that "community service" was that Cobra sometimes showed up after Gajeel was done with a mission. Always approached him alone, always knew where they wouldn't be seen, always teasing so many somethings without saying anything directly. And sometimes whispered somethings led to somewheres - like the bed of a shitty inn for the night or a tent deep in the woods... or that alley behind that diner that one time.

"It's okay to give yourself some slack, you know," Levy's voice dragged him unwillingly out of his thoughts. "Sure, you didn't catch him. But you saved twelve kids and stopped more from being kidnapped. That's an accomplishment, too!"

Gajeel rolled his eyes. He 'hasn't been himself'... tch, yeah - 'cause he's been getting regularly fuckin' laid! He wanted to brag and practically had to bite his tongue to force himself not to.

"I don't really care that much about catching him," he half-lied. He did want to catch Cobra - to keep chasing and catching him, over and over - he just didn't want to arrest the poison dragon. "I ain't beating myself up over that. I've- Look. It's somethin' else, okay?"

The short bluenette blinked her surprise at him before her mouth widened into a smirk. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay," she said, pretending to go back to her own stack of reports. "I thought you might have been upset about the Cobra situation. But from that reaction, I'd almost guess you were seeing someone."

Gajeel forced a scowl in an attempt to squash the heat rising to his face. "So? Even if I was - and I'm not sayin' I am - it's not a fuckin' crime." Except that in his case, it most certainly was. He snorted indignantly. "I didn't bother you half this much when you an' cosplay girl went away on that gal-pal trip to that couples-only hotspring."

Levy's eyebrows immediately arched at that. "Gajeel, you sent me a text message that contained a book, a bunny, and a scissor emoji. Fourteen times." She shook her head. "Lucy saw it and almost passed out from embarrassment because she doesn't know what a kind, supportive asshole you are."

He spluttered. "Don't remember, didn't happen."

"If you ever start dating someone, just know I'm going to have my revenge. Tenfold."

TWUNNNG.

The sound of a lone, reverberating guitar string being plucked played as his lacriphone buzzed in his pocket. (With his tough skin, he couldn't always feel when his phone vibrated. When he had first started using it, he had the notification sound set to an annoyed cat's meow, but Pantherlily refused to go out on missions with him if he didn't have his phone set to silent. Reluctantly, he'd change it to a guitar twang to appease his friend.)

The lock screen showed he had two messages from a number he didn't recognize.

The first message was an image. Taken from a bathtub... his bathtub! In his house! A leg - warm chestnut skin dripping wet as soap streaked down the exposed, toned thigh - casually hung over the side of his bathtub, suds and the shimmer of the overhead light on the water obscuring anything more tantalizing lurking below.

Light, faint purpling could be seen on the inner flesh of the thigh, and Gajeel's mouth went half-dry at the memory of suckling and pinching the soft skin there between his fangs.

The second message flat-out taunted Gajeel: [You should really learn to lock your doors, Mr. Councilman... who knows what kind of criminal could break in?]

Gajeel could practically feel the blood rushing from his rapidly blanking mind to somewhere much, much lower. He managed to hold back the approving, dragonish purr that threatened to rumble from his very core.

"So you are seeing someone," Levy troublesomely commented over Gajeel's shoulder, causing Gajeel to jolt and nearly fumble his phone onto the floor. That sneaky little shrimp! When the fuck did she even get there?! "You know, you don't have to hide it, we're friends. Who is she?"

Right. The pic was only of a leg. (And it was a fuckin' nice leg, the guy had a great pair of them with a perfect, shapely ass to match.) All Levy had seen was a leg. Sent from a burner phone, not that she'd know that just from the quick peek. Nothing identifiable.

Taking a few calming breaths, Gajeel grit his fangs in a friendly yet dismissive frown. "It's a he, Shrimpy. Don't go makin' assumptions 'bout who I bed." Despite how they picked on each other, she was his friend, and he'd toss her that one bone. "And he would prefer if my work life didn't go poking into our personal life. As a matter of fact, so would I."

Levy feigned thought for a moment. But the teasing, troublesome glint in her eyes remained. "You mean to tell me that he doesn't want to be seen with a grown man that collects Hello Kitten merchandise and refuses to lock his own front door?"

________________________

It was impossible to ignore the other male's scent in his home, warmly dampened by a recent bath. Gajeel tossed his uniform coat on the hook by the door and kicked his boots off in a hurry. The scent carried into the kitchen, where it was obvious a certain home invader had definitely helped himself to the contents of Gajeel's fridge, and he followed it to the living room and to who he knew was waiting there for him.

Gajeel knew who he was dealing with by now: Cobra went where he pleased, when he pleased. Nothing could hold him in one place for long and, knowing how much Cobra valued his freedom, Gajeel didn't care to try. Besides... the redhead was just as enticing whether he was standing in front of him or walking away - neither was a bad view.

And it wasn't a bad view that waited for him at all.

Freshly bathed and stretching the length of the couch lounged a certain redheaded poison dragon. His hair was still damp and… and Gajeel had to blink a few times, because Cobra was wearing his clothes: a loose black t-shirt and pair of gray sweatpants, both a little big on his lithe frame.

"What," the lounging elf playfully sneered, "Did you stop for flowers?"

Gajeel crossed the space between them in two strides and practically dove into the arms of the smaller man. Their mouths met and the battle for dominance began. And Cobra pulled, fought back in their embrace; he didn't lay there passively. Cobra was flexible and could move with ease, but Gajeel had more mass on his side and used it to his advantage as he rolled them both off the couch and onto the carpet.

He managed to pin Cobra beneath him, settling his hips between Cobra's legs, and almost losing all rational thought as he rutted against him.

The iron dragon's lips parted as a husky growl rumbled from his throat and slipped out past his fangs: "So ya broke in, used all my hot water, stole my clothes, and cleaned out my fridge? And you expect me to let you get away with that for free?"

Gajeel was far from mad. Cobra being in his house, seeing Cobra wearing his clothes, knowing his mate was sated by food he provided - it was all pulling right at that primal, possessive side of him in all the right ways.

"Not breaking in if you don't lock your doors," Cobra replied cooly. "You were practically asking for it."

Gajeel wanted to fuck him through the goddamn floor right there and then.

"Let's play a game," Cobra said, mouth still so close that their lips brushed with each word, single violet eye glinting up at the man above him.

"Yeah? Since when do you wanna play games...?"

Smirking, Cobra pulled back, knowing just how to egg Gajeel on: "If you're afraid you'll lose, I could always-"

Gajeel silenced him with a kiss, pressing him firmly against the floor with his body. "I like winning games," he rumbled, "'Specially against you."

"If I can pin you to the couch, I get to fuck you," Cobra explained the first part of the game.

The iron dragon immediately perked to attention. He loved when Cobra spoke dirty, and loved the sound of this game - just as much as Cobra knew he would. "That sounds kinda one-sided," he said, though he shifted his weight in anticipation anyways.

"Let me finish," the redhead scolded him, enjoying the way Gajeel's breath hitched as he pressed himself flush against him. Cobra's hand slid between them, sliding down, and his palm paid special, gripping attention to a growing bulge in Gajeel's pants. "If you can get me upstairs, you can tie me to the bed and do whatever you want to me."

Gajeel clenched his eyes shut as Cobra's hand squeezed suddenly, firmly, as a faint groan escaped him. "Really, you're s-sure?"

"Yeah," Cobra confirmed. It hadn't been too long ago that the thought of being tied up and fucked would have made him recoil, but he trusted Gajeel. He knew Gajeel had a thing for bondage and trusted him to not take things too far - and Gajeel wanted to show him that trust was not misplaced.

Iron claws surfaced and flexed, hungry fangs peeked out of Gajeel's mouth in barely contained urge. "Funny, you gave yourself the closer spot."

"You've got more muscle on your side."

"You've got fancy ears, you know what I'm gonna do," Gajeel pointed out.

Cobra gingerly traced a finger down Gajeel's jaw, fangs glinting in a devilish little grin. "When's that ever stopped you...?"

________________________

"Hn?" Gajeel cocked a studded brow, noting how easily his fingers had gone in.

The tied-up redhead under him still somehow managed to scrape up enough cockiness in his voice: "I was ready for either of us to win tonight."

"Ya mean ta tell me that you were up here pleasing yerself in MY bed and you just let me sit at my desk ALL FUCKEN DAY?!"

[lances-wormhole]

An Extra Reward (NaLu One Shot)

Based on Hiro Mashima’s Graffiti for White Day

Read on Ao3 here

“You’re nervous ,” Happy cooed once he found Natsu hiding behind the guild hall.

Natsu glared down from his squatting position, hugging the blue stuffed bunny close to his chest. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. I don’t get nervous. I never get nervous, matter in fact.”

Happy landed down beside his partner, his cocksure grin still plastered on his face. “Then what do you call this?” he asked, patting Natsu’s tense arm teasingly. “If you’re not careful, you’re going to pop the head off the bunny.”

Natsu let out a soft, surprised, gasp before loosening his hold on the present. “No I— Happy. ”

Happy giggled, plopping himself down beside the poor, smitten, wizard. “You give Lucy gifts all the time, you know? Why should this be any different?”

Natsu frowned, looking down at the bunny in his hands. It’s button eyes looked back up at him, almost appearing like it was trying to give him some sort of extra push. “I’ve been asking myself the same question, honestly.”

With a sigh, the blue Exceed climbed his way onto Natsu’s shoulder, hooking his paws into his scarf as to keep himself in place. “Moping around won’t get the job done.”

“Job?” Natsu echoed, glancing over at Happy from the corner of his eye.

“Well I wouldn’t say a job but—” Happy paused as he saw the look of desperation in Natsu’s eyes. “—actually yes. A job.”

Natsu visibly perked up, giving Happy his full attention. “So there will also be a reward?”

Happy pouted, thinking for a moment before giving a tiny shrug. “Besides the gratitude Lucy would surely show you?”

Natsu blushed, while giving a slow hesitant nod.

“I’ll let you decide how we’ll be eating our fish for a week.” Happy grunted, visibly unsettled by the proposition.

The dragon slayer narrowed his eyes, pursing his lips.

“Two weeks?” Happy squeaked, inching back until he was hanging off Natsu’s shoulder.

“Two weeks.” Natsu agreed, shooting up from the ground with the stuffed bunny in his arms. However, doing so caused Happy to lose his grip and drop onto the ground with an oof.

“You can do it, Natsu~” Happy spoke weakly, showing his support by thrusting his tiny fist into the air.

“Right!” Natsu nodded, jogging in place for a couple seconds to pep himself up. “I’ve got this.”

***

Lucy watched in confusion as Natsu side stepped inside the guild hall, very obviously hiding something behind his back.  “You think he’s okay?” she asked, keeping her gaze on the boy, before looking down at Wendy who sat by her side.

The younger girl gave a confused hum as she looked up from her breakfast, “Who?”

“Natsu.” Lucy responded, looking back over at the dragon slayer. He had very briefly been staring back at her before they locked eyes. Because of so, he flinched away and hid behind a column. “He’s acting kind of strange right?”

Wendy watched carefully, a small smile making a way onto her face. “Not sure. But I smelled him outside for awhile now. Maybe he’s planning something.”

Lucy bristled at that, narrowing her eyes as she spotted Natsu again, peeking out at her from behind his column. “So another one of his pranks, eh? Well I won’t let him get the best of me.”

“Lucy—” Wendy started, raising her hand out to her, which was avoided when Lucy hopped out of her seat.

“Guess I’ll just have to get him first, huh? He won’t know what's coming.”

“Ah…” Wendy said helplessly, her hand dropping down onto her lap pathetically.

“Oh dear.” Mira spoke from behind the sky dragon slayer, leaning her cheek against her hand as she leaned against the bar. “This will be quite interesting, won’t it?”

Wendy whimpered and spun back around to face her meal. “I can’t watch.”

***

“Natsu!” Lucy called, reaching around the column to try and pull him away. “What are you doing?” she pried, following the wizard as he kept jumping away from her hand.

“Lucy—” Natsu squealed, keeping his back and hands out of her line of vision. “I—hold on. Stop grabbing!”

Lucy pouted, pausing for a moment before attempting to reach out to him once more. On instinct, he bounced backwards, this time towards the front doors of the guild. “Tell me what you’re hiding, Natsu. It better not be another prank.”

Natsu laughed awkwardly, looking around at all the intrigued gazes from his guildmates. “It’s not a prank. I swear.”

“Really now?” Lucy scoffed, not paying mind to all the attention they were getting. “Then care to explain what all your sneaking around means? You keep hiding from me whenever I merely look at you.”

Natsu nibbled on his lip for a second before taking Lucy’s hand with a free hand, using his other to keep hold of the stuffed rabbit. “Just… follow me… please?”

Lucy looked down at their hands before looking up at him cautiously. “You promise you’re not going to do anything bad?”

“I promise.” He said seriously, fumbling with the door before kicking it open with his foot. “Just… follow me. Everyone is watching.”

Lucy blinked and looked behind her, noticing how quiet the guild hall was as they all watched the duo… at least until they caught her watching and they immediately returned to whatever they were doing beforehand.

Looking back at Natsu, she finally took in how sincere he was being. In fact, he almost seemed… nervous. Even the thought of him wanting to be alone was odd. Usually the dragon slayer would just thrust something upon her and the others without any thought or consideration.

“Okay.” She nodded, blushing lightly as he gave her a gentle, relieved, smile.

***

“So will you tell me what you’ve got hidden behind your back?” Lucy asked, fiddling with her thumbs as Natsu stared down at her with such concentration.  “Natsu?”

“Yes!” He announced, rather loudly. However, they stood in silence for another minute.

“Nat—”

“It’s white day!” He continued, his voice still boisterous. “Right? You gave me chocolates on valentines day. So I have to give you something in return, right?”

“White day?” Lucy repeated under her breath, her cheeks turning redder by the second as she started to understand.

“I know you gave everyone chocolates but… But you’re Lucy. My Lucy.” Natsu forced out, gripping onto the present behind his back. “I mean… No I don’t own you. I said that wrong I—urgh.”

Lucy soon smiled, letting out a soft giggle. “So you gave me a present?” she spoke, taking a small step closer. “Is that what you’ve been hiding?”

Upon seeing Lucy’s smile, Natsu finally convinced himself to relax… though the blush on his cheeks refused to leave. “Yes,” he grinned, taking a deep breath before swinging the stuffed rabbit out from behind his back, presenting it to her proudly, “See?”

Lucy raised her hands up to her chin in surprise, looking forward at the cute stuffed animal before looking back up at Natsu. “It’s adorable, Natsu. Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. ”

Natsu watched happily as she took hold of the bunny, hugging it close to her chest. His heart skipped a beat as she cuddled it up close to her cheek. Flustered, Natsu took a step closer.

“It’s a wonderful gift.” She said fondly, looking back up at her partner, only to see that he has gotten closer. “Would it be overkill if I said thank you again?”

He chuckled, “No, let’s hear it.”

“Thank you.” She complied, beaming up at him gratefully.

Natsu couldn’t help the giddy laugh that escaped his throat as he leaned down to give Lucy a quick kiss, smiling to himself as he felt her return it.

“Thank you again.” Lucy whispered, inching closer so that they were as close as possible with the stuffed bunny between them.

***

“So about that reward…” Happy said that night, holding onto his fish shakily.

“Forget it,” Natsu said from his hammock, a lovestruck smile on his lips. “I don’t need the extra reward.”

Happy let out a surprised squeak, nearly crying tears of joy. “I can keep my fish the way I want?”

“Yes,” Natsu chuckled, waiting a moment before getting up from his lying position, “I’m going to Lucy’s apartment.”

Happy watched as his partner bolted out the door without another word. Even though he wished to follow, something inside him told him that it would be best to wait.

[ben-the-hyena]

Ok so far

I HATE The Legend of Korra for focusing on a Mary Sue and ruining a lot of things from the original show (OH LOOK NEW AIRBENDERS ! HEEHEE NO MORE AVATAR CONNECTION ! IROH IS IN THE SPIRIT WORLD BECAUSE HES A FAN FAVORITE ! AANG AND KATARA ARE BAD PARENTS ! TOPH IS A FUCKING COP !) and adding a lesbo couple to be Tumblr bait reall was the cherry on top with HOW MUCH IT SEEMS TO WORK

I HATE Star VS the Forces of Evil except the Meteora and Eclipsa (and Toffee let's admit) arcs for all the forced humor and THE MOTHERFUCKING ROMANCE PLOT THAT IS TOXIC AS FUCK AND MAKES THE 2 MAIN CHARACTERS TOXIC PEOPLE ESPECIALLY THE VERY LAST EPISODE WHERE THEY COMBINE 2 UNFITTING WORLDS INTO ONE WHICH WILL LEAD TO WARS AND PROBABLY KILLED A LOT OF PEOPLE SINCE ALL MAGICAL BEINGS DIED BUT IT'S OK THAT WAY THEY WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE OUT

I HATE the 2nd and 3rd season of Ducktales while I loved the first one but season 2 with all its "lit coolio cynism whatever hip" jokes, characters and pacing and forced nostalgia baiting crossobers and Frank Angones being a hypocrite holier than thou discord creator disgusted me

I HATE Steven Universe with its stupid morals, rushed developments and episode pacing choices from season 5 and forward while I loved the previous seasons and that made me sad especially with me not knowing if Rebecca Sugar is a holier than thou hypocrite or an actual dumbass when it comes to her view in bullies and that "nOboDY is BorN eVIl aNd eVERyoNe caN reFOrm wItH LOVe" she keeps saying on her social media accounts

I don't HATE She Ra but I HATE its ending for the sake of diversity baiting (CATRA IS TOXIC AND ABUSIVE DAMMIT AND WAS TIL THE VERY END BUT I GUESS "IT DOESN'T EXIST IN LESBIANS" !?!?!)

I don't HATE Rise of the Guardians but it's tasteless with bidimensional characters and a moral that doesn't know where it goes to me and a rushed childish ending with the human kids helping in a ridiculous way like a 1990's kids TV movie

I don't HATE Bojack Horseman but I DISLIKE it for even if indeed it is smart and realistic the humor is forced and it is not because it is smart a d realistic it makes it good IT IS WAAAAY TOO DARK I know life is dark and cruel but we have the real world for this thank you I mean of course dark stories exist buuut they really are not my cup of tea especially when they just keep and keep and keep torturing the characters for the sake of saying "life is shit, you audience will never be happy", I just love the psychology notably Beatrice's arc

I don't HATE but Hazbin Hotel feels very MEH to me

Same, I don't HATE OK KO but it's even more MEH

I HATE Frozen 2 while I loved the first one for making so many retcons, so many tasteless songs to try to insult/redo Let It Go (A FUCKING BOYSBAND PARODY... BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT...), forced and rushed developments and cancelling the ones from the first movie

I HATE the tv show of Tangled for forcing its villains not subtley at all and DARING to force their redemption afterward

I don't HATE Gravity Falls in fact I love it but I HATE how Wendy Ford and Mabel are awful people the show tries to show as good and on the contrary plays dirty in the end against Pacifica while she already had a redemption as if nothing had happened

The first movie aside I HATE the How to Train your Dragons franchise for so many reasons : the tv show for having too many clichés and exagerating Hiccup's alpha role and again the bad humor, the second movie for forgiving so easily his mother while she could have been home anytime "but boohoo I didn't dare" bitch you just were happier far from your family don't dare regretting and also for forcing humor as usual and forcing tiny ass Toothless to become the dragon alpha of all just because he roared the best and LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT ALL THE SHIT THE THIRD MOVIE DID (GIRLFRIENDS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FRIENDS, IT'S GOOD TO RELEASE THE DRAGONS AS IF THEY WERE ENSLAVED WHILE THEY ALL CHOSE TO BE TAMED BEFOREHAND, TOOTHLESS STUPID AS FUCK, VILLAIN DUMB AS FUCK, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENTS ERASED AND NEW USELESS SIDE PLOTS AND THE LIGHT FURRY BEING AN UGLY SNOBBISH BITCH AND ALL THE BOYS THINKING ABOUT THEIR COCKS FIRST BEFORE THEIR FRIENDS TOOTHLESS NOTABLY IT JUST THE WHOLE FRANCHISE'S MESSAGE AND MORAL I HATE IT I HATE IT SO MUCH)

I HATE Miraculous Ladybug for habing bidimensional characters, focusing on a very forced and toxic ship, constantly teasing and disappointing fans' expectations, ruining character arcs out of whims and Thomas Astruc for acting like it is the most wonderful show ever and being rude if you dare to remark something or do fandom things

And now I HATE the end of the Dark Crystal prequel Mayrin comic for being a WHOOOOOLE retcon ruining the hopes of making a bitch sympathetic and actually making her a total irreedeemable bitch when raking account of the show while these retcon comics ignore the show just for the sake of cute OC X Canon ships from the writers (AND LET'S NOT TALK OF SKEKSA'S CHARACTER AND THE CLANS' RELATIO SHIPS)

In short I feel like I less and less share Tumblr's mind and excitement regarding fandoms and quite feel lonely these last years

[luciikuroo]

time to appreciate this fuckin angel

Ok I gotta do this. It is officially appreciate Lisanna time. Sit the fuck down bitches, because I’m about to tell you how much I love this girl

Also quick side note, I made this at 5 in the morning without glasses on. there will be mistakes. if i ever feel like it, i might go back to fix them but for now it’s staying the way it is.

2nd ps, this post is probably gonna jump around the timeline. i’m just typing as i remember things off the top of my head. i’ll try to keep it as in order as possible but i’m not making any promises.

ok so i found this in my drafts from many months ago and i never posted it for some reason. so here you go Lisanna stans

spoilers under the cut!!

Ok first of all I need to start off with this fuckin adorable angel child

like

this wonderful, beautiful, 

amazing fucking baby.

like. she’s fucking amazing. 

ok now for the actual loving.

first of all, this pure baby angel literally died when she was like 13-14. She was forced to leave her family and took over the life of a different version of herself. She didn’t even have to do that. This amazing kind girl literally lived a different life so her other self’s siblings wouldn’t be sad again. She could’ve just told EdolasFairyTail the truth and I’m sure they would’ve understood. But being the perfect angel she is, she endured everything. And when her childhood bestfriend randomly showed up in this new world out of nowhere, she kept up the facade to make sure everyone in Edolas stayed happy. Like, girl had a chance to return to her home and she didn’t for the sake of her friends. we stan a selfless queen. When she was literally sucked out of this world, she still tried to console the Mira and Elfman of Edolas and mourned as she left.

Going farther into her past, her parents died at one point or another and her older sister was forced to be a parent for her and their brother and raise them on her own, (we’ll get into Mirajane being fuckin amazing later). Her sister was hated by literally everyone in their former village because of the demon power thingy, (more into that some other time), and they were quite literally driven out of their village. Despite all that, she still remained cheery and kind and wonderful.

Jumping to Tenrou Arc bc she doesn’t get enough screentime 😭😭

During the S-Class trials, this girl literally decided, “Oh I’m gonna die here and I’m not letting my sister die with me”. Mind you she’s like 16-17. This teenager decided within seconds that instead of letting her sister die for her that she would die instead. Like damn girl.

Also people who are shitting on Lisanna for “getting in the way of Nalu”, why? like she is a well rounded character on her own and her and Natsu and Lucy are canonically good friends. Y’all do realize that childhood friends/crushes don’t always end up staying romantic, right? Like a girl and a guy that were friends when they were kids don’t always end up dating. Also, even if they liked each other as kids you’re forgetting something. THEY WERE FUCKING KIDS. Tell me, how many of you actually ended up dating/married to your childhood crushes from when you were 5-7? I’m gonna go out here on a whim and assume that not a lot of you married the person you fancied as a kid. They’re allowed to be friends and she’s not getting in the way of Nalu and that is final.

But back to Tenrou. Ok so we didn’t see much of her this season or we did and I’m just an idiot and forgetting. There is this one scene that I remember super well though. It’s kind of right before Team Natsu go to fight Hades, like right before when they’re all at the makeshift camp and Lisanna stop Lucy for a minute to say something. I can’t remember her exact words, but they were somewhere along the lines of “please stay near Natsu, he’s better when he has people that are important to him close”. Lisanna could have asked anyone else to do that. Gray and Erza, who Natsu has known since he joined Fairy Tail (childhood bestfriends). Wendy, who he has a very close bond to. Especially after we found out that the dragon slayers were from 400 years before and that Natsu and Wendy were particularly close and that he looked at her like a sister. She could have even asked Happy and I don’t even need to explain that one. Instead, Lisanna asked Lucy. Ignoring the fact that people might consider this to be Lisanna wanting Lucy and Natsu to be in a romantic relationship, Lisanna clearly has no problem with Lucy or her relationship with Natsu. I can’t say for sure but I’m almost certain that if Lucy and Natsu did start a romantic relationship, Lisanna would be completely and utterly happy for them. Even if Lisanna had feelings for either of them, she’s very clearly an unproblematic and a very kind person, meaning she would be happy for the two, regardless of her feelings for them.

We simply just don’t see Lisanna very much at all during the series. I mean it’s understandable I guess. She’s a supporting character so it’s not that big a deal but it would be super nice to see Lisanna more and see her and her relationships with other people grow.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[twomanyideas]

The Search for the Supreme Scent

Fan art used with permission from @x-thekid A Collaboration by @mdelpin and @oryu404​ with @x-thekid

Fairy Tail Reverse Bang 2020 Pairing: Gray x Natsu AO3 | Ch 1 | Next: Ch 2

Summary: Natsu has decided he’s lived with his feelings for Gray long enough. It was one thing when he thought that Gray and Juvia were together, but now that he knows differently, he refuses to wake up one morning only to find that it's too late.

When Erza forces the two of them to do a job, he discovers it's just the opportunity he needs.

0-0

This is our entry for the Fairy Tail Reverse Bang, which was a really fun event hosted by @ftguildevents.

We were lucky enough to be paired with @x-thekid who is the wonderful artist behind this fan art. You can see her post here. Please take a moment to let her know how much you liked her art!

A few notes:

This story touches upon three in-game quests - Isosceles or Love Triangle (Juvia Character Story), Monster Outbreak from the Very Difficult Requests Set DLC, and The Search for the Supreme Scent (Ichiya Character Story).

This AU has elements of Fairy Tail canon, game canon, as well as game elements we have attempted to incorporate into the story. An example of this is duels, which is an in-game mechanism and not at all as dramatic as Gray might make them sound. ;)

In the game all the playable characters are always at Fairy Tail, this includes Jellal, Ichiya, Kagura, Sting, Rogue, Lyon and Chelia.

We had a lot of fun working on this story and we hope you enjoy it! It is four chapters long and we will post a chapter daily until it is done.

Chapter 1

Natsu entered the newly restored Fairy Tail Guild in his usual manner, kicking the door open and announcing his presence.

“I’m back!”

Only a few people looked up from what they were doing, accustomed as they were to his loud entrances.

“Morning Natsu,” Lucy greeted from her spot at their team table.

“Oh, hey Lucy,” Natsu walked over to the table, plopping down across from her while Happy went off searching for the other Exceeds.

“Are you taking a job with the slayers today, or are we going on a team job?” Lucy asked, and from the look on her face, he could tell which answer she was hoping for.

“No rent money again?” he asked with a knowing smile.

“I’ve been going on a few requests with Levy and the others, but the jobs they take don’t tend to pay as much,” she explained quickly. “Although,” she teased, “there’s definitely a lot less destruction.”

Natsu chuckled. He certainly couldn’t say the same of the jobs he’d been going on. He was bad enough on his own, but adding Sting and Gajeel to the equation, it soon grew beyond anything he could have imagined.

“Sorry, Sting and Rogue should be here any minute.”

“Oh well, I’m sure I’ll figure something out,” Lucy began, but her voice was drowned out somewhat unexpectedly.

“For the last time. NO,” Gray’s yells cut through all conversations, and everyone turned to see what was happening. “I don’t want to go on another job with you!”

Gray stood by the request board, holding a flyer in his hand. His mouth was set in a hard line, but his fingers moved ever closer to the hem of his shirt, which Natsu knew meant he was anxious. Juvia stood next to him, leaving barely any space between them, as she usually did. Her eyes filled with tears at Gray’s tone, her gaze imploring him to change his mind, but it seemed for once the ice mage was determined not to back down.

Natsu heard the murmurs start, and given the things that were being said, he hoped Gray wasn’t able to.

“But Gray-sama, we make a perfect team,” Juvia pleaded, still determined to get her way, “Our magics are compatible, and Juvia can protect you better than anyone.”

“I don’t need protecting,” Gray scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. “What I need is a partner who can keep their head on the job, and not on me.”

“Juvia can do that!” Juvia exclaimed, utterly oblivious to the rebuke. Her tears disappeared, and in her excitement, she grabbed on to Gray’s arm.

Gray shook himself free from her grasp and took a step back. “I said, NO,” he repeated firmly.

The guild’s murmurs only grew louder and more disapproving of Gray as Juvia once again began to cry, running off towards one of the rear exits that led to the pool. Many heads turned to follow her, some even sparing sympathetic looks, but no one offered to check on her, and after a few awkward seconds, Gajeel sighed and stepped up to the task. Natsu couldn’t help but feel bad for his rival, although his mind was swimming from what he’d just seen. Gray, however, seemed to have had enough. One second he was there, the next he was gone, and all that could be heard was the sound of the heavy guild doors slamming shut.

Natsu was as shocked as everyone else. Gray had always had a temper. He knew that better than anyone, but it was unlike him to lash out at any of the girls.

“What was that about?” he asked Lucy, who, like Mira, usually knew just about everything that went on in the guild.

Lucy peered at the guild doors thoughtfully and shrugged, “I guess she finally pushed too hard.”

“I thought he liked going on jobs with her,” Natsu commented, his brows furrowing in confusion when Lucy began to laugh.

“You really have been gone a lot, haven’t you?”

“What do you mean?” he frowned, not liking that there was something about Gray he didn’t know.

“All I know is last week he practically begged me to go on a job with the two of them,” Lucy confided, “I thought Juvia was going to find a way to stab me with her eyes. It was so awkward.”

She glanced around the guild to make sure no one was paying any attention to them before revealing, “He looked miserable too. And the sad thing was when I asked him why he wanted me there,” Lucy paused, looking pained by her next words, “He said he didn’t feel like his body was safe around her.”

Natsu tried to come up with some sort of retort but found he couldn’t focus on anything but the maelstrom of emotions brewing inside him at hearing those words. On the one hand, he was cautiously hopeful that maybe Gajeel had been right when he’d told him he was reading too much into Gray’s relationship with Juvia. But that was short-lived. It was soon replaced by an increasing fury at the idea of Gray feeling that way about someone in their guild- the one place where they should all feel safe. “Aren’t Cana’s drinks great?” Erza commented as she joined them at the table, holding a mug full of some strawberry smelling concoction, and saving Natsu from having to come up with a reply.

“They sure are,” Lucy agreed, seeming just as relieved to change the subject. “Just the thing before going on a job.”

His two friends continued talking about some of the other upgrades they had added to the guild while Natsu struggled to control himself. He could understand being angry on Gray’s behalf, but this rage flowing through him seemed excessive, and it disturbed him.

Gray had always been able to take care of himself. He didn’t need protection from anyone, least of all him. Natsu tried to take part in the conversation around him when Juvia happened to walk past him. The hair on the back of his neck rose, and to his great shock, he found himself growling at her, his fists balled and ready to attack. Juvia gaped at him before hurrying away from their table.

Lucy glanced at him curiously while Erza’s eyes narrowed at the display. Natsu could already tell he was in for it, and he wasn’t disappointed when he felt the sharp sting of her fist connecting with his head.

“For goodness sake, pull yourself together, Natsu! Is that what you slayers do on these jobs, act like wild animals?”

“Of course not!” he complained, rubbing his head, even as he tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.

“Did we miss something?” Sting Eucliffe asked as he promptly shoved Natsu further into the booth to make room for him and Rogue. “We saw Gray as we came in. He looks pissed.”

Natsu shrugged in reply, not wanting to get into what had happened.

“Are Gajeel and Wendy here yet?” Rogue asked, looking around the guild for the other slayers.

Natsu could tell the moment Gray reentered the guild, not just by the surge of his familiar scent but also by the whispers. When the ice mage took his seat at their table, Natsu made sure to look down at the tabletop so that Gray wouldn’t be able to see his face, just in case it betrayed his feelings.

Natsu could feel the guild’s temperature drop a few degrees as soon as Gray noticed Sting and Rogue. “Great, you two are here again.”

“Gray!” Erza scolded, “Is that any way to talk to our friends?”

Gray covered his eyes with his hand in what Natsu recognized as a futile attempt to control himself. A few moments later, he fixed his gaze on Natsu and scoffed, “So I’m guessing you’re going off with them again today?”

Natsu nodded, not trusting his words not to anger Gray further when he was so clearly holding on by a tenuous thread.

“When you talked to us about this, you said this shit was only going to be once a week,” Gray reminded him.

“I haven’t been gone that often,” Natsu protested, even though he knew it was certainly more than they had initially planned. “I don’t hear anyone else complaining.”

“Oh, believe me, we’ve all done plenty of complaining. You just haven’t been around to hear it. Lucy can’t make her rent from the jobs she can manage on her own.”

“If you’re so worried about Lucy, why don’t you go on a job with her?” Natsu challenged.

“Hey!” Lucy snapped, “Leave me out of this.”

“That’s not the point, and you know it,” Gray pinched the bridge of his nose, “Ugh, you’re giving me a headache.”

“What’s the matter, Princess?” Natsu goaded, “You miss me?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Flame Brain. You’re neglecting your friends- our team- to go off to play with the other dragon slayers.” To make matters worse, Sting decided to butt into the conversation. “Nah, we’re not playing! We’re, uh...pushing each other to get stronger!” he grinned, casually resting his elbow on Natsu’s shoulder. “You know, similar magic and all that.”

“Oh God,” Rogue hid his face behind his hand, looking ready to slide underneath the table.

“Did you just say I’m weak?” Gray spat furiously.

“Huh? Where did you get that from?”

“Just shut up, you’re only making things worse,” Natsu scolded his friend.

“Natsu! You can’t talk to Sabertooth’s Guild Master like that!” Erza berated, horrified by his words.

“What?! He doesn’t care!”

“That’s it!” Gray pounded his fist on the table, “I challenge you to a duel!”

If looks could kill, Sting would have dropped dead that very second.

“Yes, that’s a great idea!” Lyon exclaimed, suddenly appearing next to Gray. “If Sting wins, Natsu and Wendy can go to Sabertooth. And if you win, they can stay in Fairy Tail!” “Not this crap again!” Gray scowled at his foster brother. “Where the hell did you even come from? And why are you people here all the time?!” he complained, raising his hands in disbelief at all the non-Fairy Tail mages lounging around. “Don’t you have your own guilds?”

“I don’t see what your problem is, “ Lyon shrugged, “seems to me like it would fix everything.”

“Oh, hell no, I do not agree to that,” Natsu chimed in, “I love you guys, but I am a Fairy Tail wizard.”

“What the hell, Flame Brain, are you implying I’m going to lose to him?” Gray scoffed, looking offended, although Natsu thought he caught a glimpse of hurt in the ice mage’s expression for a moment.

“What?! I didn’t say that!” Natsu objected, but Gray refused to look at him.

“Who even said we wanted you?” Rogue pointed out, even though it was evident that Sting’s eyes were already lit up at the idea of a challenge.

“ENOUGH!” Erza shrieked, and when they continued to bicker despite her outburst, she muttered, “I’m surrounded by complete idiots!”

She watched them for another minute, looking from one wizard to the next. She grabbed Natsu and Gray by the collar, swiftly realizing they were the only two she could do anything about. Knocking their heads together, she managed to shut up Sting, Rogue, and Lyon, who could only stare at her in shock.

“They’re all insane,” Rogue muttered under his breath, but thankfully Sting was the only one to hear him.

“I’m sorry I’m late. Carla wanted to stop at the market and-,” Wendy stopped mid-sentence, marking the unnatural quiet at a table filled with people known for their loudness. She peered closer, noticing Natsu and Gray glaring at each other and sporting two large bumps on their heads. “Did I miss something?”

She moved over to their side of the table, calling on her magic to heal them, although this didn’t seem to ease their hostility in the slightest.

Thankfully the awkwardness was interrupted by Master Makarov making his way over to the stage.

“Settle down brats, I have an announcement to make,” Makarov yelled from the stage, waiting for a few minutes until he was sure he had everyone’s attention. Peering at the faces that were now intent on him, he remarked cheerfully, “Oh good, I see many of our friends are here! This concerns you too.”

“Do you know what this is about, Erza?” Lucy whispered, but Erza only shook her head.

“We have been through a lot in the last couple of years. All of you have shown courage and skill far beyond your years, and I am incredibly proud of you.” Makarov beamed.

“Now, about eight years ago, we were rudely interrupted in the middle of one of our time-honored traditions, and I, for one, think it’s time we finish what we started.”

“S-Class Trials?” Natsu and Gray chorused eagerly.

“Indeed!” Makarov confirmed with a wide grin, “When I informed the Council of my intentions, they asked that I open the testing up to the other guilds since we currently have the best setup for it. For that reason, the rules have changed a bit.”

“There will be no nominations this time. As far as I’m concerned, you have all more than proven yourselves, so anyone who feels ready is welcome to participate. Teams can have up to five members and may include wizards from different guilds. You may ask one S-Class Wizard to be part of your team if you wish. Any team that completes every exam phase successfully will see all its members promoted to S-Class. The exam will once again take place on Tenrou Island."

“That’s all I have for now. I will have more details on the test itself once I have spoken to the other Guild Masters,” Makarov peered down at Sting and Rogue with a smile. “Master Sting, am I right to assume you and Rogue will be participating?”

"Of course we are!" Sting was almost glowing with excitement, and even Rogue gave an eager nod.

“Alright then, we’ll figure out a way to keep you in the loop so you can pass the information along to the rest of your guild,” Makarov informed him, “We’ll talk about it later.”

Sting nodded in agreement, and Makarov turned his attention back to the others, “ I want you all to think about whether you will take part in the exam or not. I firmly believe you’re all capable of this, but only you can decide if you’re up to it. I’ll need your response by the end of the week, along with a list of your team members.”

With that, Makarov walked off the stage and made his way over to Cana’s bar, climbing onto a stool and ordering a drink. Everyone began to talk all at once, the guild’s noise rising to almost unbearable proportions for the dragon slayers.

Natsu couldn’t contain his excitement any more than the others; he would finally become S-Class! Something he and Gray had dreamed of doing from the moment Erza had joined their ranks so many years ago. He looked towards where Gray had been sitting just a few minutes earlier, only to find the seat empty.

[whumpster-fire]

Hi, Tumblr! It’s your favorite cartoon star and overall badass, Wendy Weasel! IHC left a little crack in the fourth wall, and as you know us weasels can slip through a space one sixth the thickness of a human hair, so I’ve taken over this blog for April Fool’s Day. You probably won’t notice any difference other than the posts actually being on topic instead of making stupid jokes about a ship stuck in a canal.

And “on-topic” means... “whump?” Seriously, that’s a stupid name - anyway,  apparently this sick fuckin’ creep made an entire blog dedicated solely to torturing fictional characters. Can ya believe it? Obviously even reading about such twisted, wanton cruelty is going to scar my young, impressionable mind for life, but based on my meticulous study of this blog, I think I can write prompts that are completely indistinguishable from the ones usually posted on this blog. Check this out!

(Jokes aside, this is going behind a cut for jokes about animal cruelty and suicide, read at your own risk)

Imagine the whumpee attempting to rollerblade down an endless flight of stairs. The moron. The dunderhead. The absolute buffoon. Imagine your favorite character immediately losing control, falling, and tumbling down the unyielding concrete steps like an idiot slinky. Imagine them breaking the sound barrier, hitting a landing, and their rollerskates disintegrating on impact. Imagine the whumpee lying, bruised and broken and mangled at the bottom on an infinite flight of stairs, in a pool of their own blood, as bystanders point and laugh and take videos to put on Youtube. Imagine a single rollerblade wheel bouncing down the stairs and smacking them in the face.

Imagine the whumpee slipping on a banana peel. And breaking their spine. And then being in a wheelchair for the rest of their life. But then their wheelchair also slips on a banana peel and flips over. And they can’t get up, so they have to crawl around everywhere. But then their strength gives way, and they collapse from exhaustion... onto the original banana peel. Which is really fucking gross because it’s been like a month by now. And that causes them to throw up in their mouth.

Imagine a box of meowing kittens. Imagine all of them being taken home by kind, loving owners, except one. The kitten’s all alone in the box. Orphaned. No friends. And it’s raining. Imagine your favorite character walking by, and hearing the tiny kitten crying, and their heart being moved by such a pathetic sight. Imagine them reaching into the box and picking the little kitty up. Heartwarming, isn’t it? Now imagine them picking that little kitty-cat up by the scruff of its neck. Imagine them taking a lighter and, uhh, breaking it open and pouring all the lighter fluid on the kitten. And then taking another lighter and setting it on fire. And drop-kicking it onto the busy freeway. And the kitten being run over by a truck. And then as it’s lying there, guts all over the fucking pavement, meowing “Why doesn’t anyone love me?” imagine a guy on a motorbike stopping and walking up to the kitten. And stomping on its face. Because it’s still on fire. See, this is the realism and internal consistency Whumpster-Fire prides himself on, he’s really fucking full of himself. And then a limousine screeches to a halt, but runs over the kitten again anyway, and a Hollywood talent agent steps out. And he goes “Oh my god, what a heart-wrenching emotional performance! What do you call it?” And your favorite character says: “The Aristocats!” And then Mickey Mouse shows up and he runs the kitten through a meat grinder and sues it for copyright infringement!

Imagine a dragon. But it’s a nice dragon. It’s a nice adorable tiny baby dragon but nobody knows it because humans are mean and nasty. Get it, I’m subverting fantasy tropes by having the monster be the good guy. Aren’t I original? My Nobel Prize in literature’s in the mail, I swear. Anyway, imagine a bunch of evil knights kicking the baby dragon, and hitting it with swords, and then stapling its wings to a billboard and leaving it up there. Forever.

Imagine the whumpee’s this sad-eyed raccoon kid, who’s a criminal because raccoons are sneaky. And he gets caught and taken to jail because he’s not as sneaky and clever as he thinks he is. And all the other criminals all make fun of him because he has this stupid fucking fake British Oliver Twist accent. And his voice always cracks and gets really squeaky whenever anyone calls him a Trash Panda. So he’s sad and he ties his orange prison jumpsuit into a knot and hangs himself from the bars. The end.

Imagine the whumpee is a robot who gets kidnapped and they smash dents with her with a crowbar and force her to wear clown makeup, and go out on stage and perform for a bunch’a dumbass kids, but nobody likes her because clowns aren’t funny. So she snaps and tries to scare the kids instead, but nobody scared of her because clowns in horror is so fucking overdone. And they all boo her and throw tomatoes at her, and the clown robot just stands there and cries tears of oil that ruin her clown makeup.

Imagine the whumpee’s a fairy, but with bird wings because he saw what happened to the kitten and doesn’t want to get sued by Disney. But then he flies into one of those bug zapper things and gets electrocuted - but he’s still alive - and then a bunch of kids burn him with a magnifying glass.

Imagine the whumpee shivering, and trembling, and whimpering, and breathing heavily, for ninety paragraphs straight, until they pass out from exhaustion and boredom at the repetitive writing.

Imagine the whumpee getting stripped naked and chained to a bed... and then the bed getting thrown out a window and the whumpee getting sliced to ribbons by the glass cuts, and then falling into an icy cold river and nearly drowning! Gotcha, didn’t I? This is a family friendly blog, so that means no actual porn, only torture porn!

Imagine a cute, innocent puppy being horribly mauled to within an inch of its life by other dogs, and dragging itself across five miles of rusty nails and broken glass and barbed wire, but then the caretaker picks it up and cuddles it and gives it a band-aid so everything’s fine.

Imagine the whumpee slowly sinking into quicksand. Nah, how about a tarpit. Or that slime stuff they have on Nickolodeon.

Imagine the moment when the whumpee realizes they’ve just walked off a cliff and there’s no ground underneath them, and looking back with a really sad look on their face before they start falling.

Imagine the whumpee is a pokemon who gets caught by Michael Vick and forced to brutally fight other pokemon and get mauled over and over and over.

Imagine the whumpee sobbing into a bowl of Cheetos as they realize nobody reads their fucking animal cruelty torture porn or cares about their dumbass opinions, and nobody’s laughing at their shitty bloodstained solo cup background image.

Wow... y’know, I really think I’ve captured the essence of this blog perfectly. You might as well just shut it down after this, it’s all downhill from here. I’ve broken “whump” down to its bare essentials. All the emotion! All the character development! All the poetic imagery! Hey, maybe I should just run this blog all year round! I’m obviously a way better writer than you - although that’s kinda scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Fuck it, I’m going to bed. Actually, nah, I’m printing this out for Riley to read. Maybe he’ll recognize himself in one of the characters, who knows...

[the-god-of-ruining-good-shit]

@sociophobia459 @casey-bean @sandistrudel @aftershockspark and anyone else viewing

This may be the last thing I post on anything, ever. Unless I can be talked out of it by my best friend @depressedsidecharacter, a friend on discord, a friend on Xbox, or one of you, I will be committing suicide soon. I have lost damn near every reason to live and don’t feel like I can go on. It might just be the mental illness talking, but I really feel at a loss. I have almost nothing left, and if you see a post after this, then I have successfully been talked out of it. I might have had a bright future once, but that has all but faded and nothing remains of it. Germany? Finland? Getting a male genitalia and keeping my female genitalia? Broken dreams lost to everything else. No money, no supporting family, so few friends I only need one hand to count them, nothing.

Lili, my Russia is by a creek crying his eyes out and, being a representation of me, is contemplating and planning to go through with suicide, Æ will never get the painting, Franklin will fail to do more with himself, Tennessee will never see her foster parent again and will never find any love, Damir, Iskra, Emelia,and Wilt will get separated and never see each other again, the two horrible Kievans will never face justice, the rest of the Kievans will never see their sons again, the Mons with either suffer or prosper in the wrong way, and all the Ru’s will be lost without their papas. Anyways, I’ve known you for a little over a year, and you’re wonderful and kind. Keep it up and don’t be like me. Ever. I will haunt you if you do.

Socio, you are all a wonderful person who deserves the best in life no matter how long it will take you to get there. You are a wonderful and best friend(s). Hold strong and never let go of hope.

Casey, keep being the awesome bean you are.

Spark, I apologize for getting upset when an old ass artwork was used in a video without my knowledge, permission, or credit. You were right that it wasn’t a big deal and had been there for years, it would be useless to say anything about it now. And I’m still very sorry for how I acknowledged your other amino accounts in other communities in such a way. I truly enjoyed our roleplays together even if, when looking back, they were a bit cringe on my end.

Sammy, oooh Sammy, where do I begin! You’ve been my best friend since at least 2017, and you have been there for me just about every step of the way on my internet journey. From the moment we met on quotev to now, you have been my best friend in the whole world. Our cringy roleplays, that one time autocorrect changed plop into poop when referring to plopping on a couch, our massively chaotic BFF energy, and your everything. I have had crushes on you, and even had a suicide pact with you at one point! Remember that dragon roleplay in dms that one time...? Or that hetalia x ch/cb/SH/everything in between roleplay? Or how I’ve pestered you since December about the parasitoid wasp roleplay? Or that time soundwave and Fantasy was forced into a relationship by our cringy roleplay antics back then? Good times. I miss those. I still remember your lovely cat skull and the fact you’re a witch. I know you’re an Anarchist. I know so much about you, and I always associate you with teal and scarlet. I hope you get to France or Italy to get that culinary degree, and I hope you and your bf have a great life together. You matter so much to me, and I know I matter to you, but I feel like that’s just about where I stop mattering now. I’m just one soul in the sea of billions of others. There are plenty of people just like me, and I wish you luck. I hope you get out of your abusive household soon.

As of Monday, June 21st of 2021, the day of writing this, you may expect me to be feeling sad or in some sort of non-physical pain, when I’m truth, I feel numb. I just feel numb. My idol stepped away from what got me to idolize him, some of my closest friends abandoned me, and my favorite people departed. Most of this was within less than a year. I’ve gotten accustomed to loss, and surely it will be no different if I am a loss. Goodbye.

Wendi Golden, 15, logging off for possibly the last time.

[ft-stories-lgbt]

Two men in love

Pairing : Gratsu

Warning : blood and violence

*

“If I asked you now

Will you be my Prince?

Will you lay down your armour

and be with me forever?”

The Irrepressibles – Two men in love

Love.

For the longest time, Natsu thought that he knew all about it. He was fully aware of this special emotion since living in Fairy Tail meant sharing love and trust with every member and being proud of it. He knew how important it was so their guild could stay united and stable.

So, he loved them; every single one of them. Hard and equally. Because this is who he is: when he puts his mind into something, he has to do it perfectly.

But as for many things—and really, Natsu should have known— there is an exception. An anomaly which was painted out of the spectrum which the dragon Slayer had seen.

A new colour.

For him, this exception was Gray.

On every level, Gray had managed to destroy everything Natsu believed into; like the fact that the love running through Fairy Tail's veins wasn’t capable to make everything better for a damaged soul. That it was not because Natsu came and found peace in Fairy Tail with ease, that anyone could pass that door and feel whole again. That some people were sometimes so deep in their grieve, love was simply not enough. At least not the kind of love Fairy Tail has to offer.

And therefore, Natsu tried to understand. He tried to understand through fists and tears. He tried to understand through yells and curses. He tried to understand because to him, everyone deserved to feel peace. He wanted the same for Gray.

But somewhere over the years he fell and failed. Because his life presented him a new colour, Natsu soon discovered a whole new palette from it.

He fell because he found a new kind of love, he never thought he could have.

And he failed because when he finally understood why those blue eyes were always so sad despite the smiles and the laughs, it was already too late.

*

It’s raining.

He is drenched from head to toe and the cold air around him isn’t helping. He tries to catch his breath as he stares at his enemy in front of him, panting with a hand pressed to his side. He knows he has a few seconds with him before his opponent will strike again, so he takes the opportunity to look around him quickly.

Lucy and Erza are on his right, fighting three members of the dark guild they were sent to dismantle. It should have been simple. This was not their first time fighting like this, but the information they got turned out to be wrong— the guild being much more powerful than what they were supposed to be and now they were barely able to stand on their ground.

Natsu never loses faith in their team but he knows that if they don’t find a solution in the next few minutes, they won’t be able to return in Fairy Tail in one piece.

A block of ice to his left steals his attention, and his eyes fall on Gray and Wendy. They are only fighting one person but he knows by the frown on Wendy’s forehead, and the way that Gray is particularly focused on the man in front of him, that this is far from being an easy fight.

In other circumstances, Natsu would have made fun of Gray for it, getting him more riled up and he would have put an end to this battle.

But this is not a regular fight, and the way the ground suddenly grumbles under his feet only reminds him that he still has one to finish.

He jumps a few times, watching the way the earth is moving like waves, a few holes making their appearance occasionally. They are traps and he never know where they are going to appear but the Dragon Slayer makes a point to never stay too long in one place.

He doesn’t know what kind of power the others are fighting against, but if they are as powerful as the one he is dealing with, he understands why none of their fights is over yet.

“Let’s end this,” the man in front of him says.

And Natsu cannot agree more at the statement as his fists light with flames again. He is exhausted, his body hurts in a way he hasn’t felt since the war against his brother, but one thing is sure: he won’t lose. He won’t die.

Not like this.

*

Natsu coughs in his hand as he lets his body lean against the tree behind him. His fingers are tainted in red when he retreats his hand from his face. He can’t really focus on it though because his head is pounding, making his vision blurry. He takes a moment to close his eyes, trying to retake control over his shaking body, and when he feels steady enough, he opens them again, eyeing the body on the ground next to him. The guy is not dead but he’s definitely unconscious and Natsu is glad that he somehow managed to end this fight.

He withdraws his gaze from the male to look around him. Erza and Lucy are nowhere to be found, which is alarming. And despite the pain he is currently feeling, he finds himself somewhat standing without the help of the tree, ready to go find the girls.

He manages to make three trembling steps when he hears Wendy’s voice yelling. The force of it brings a shudder along his spine and when he finally turns to see what’s going on, he freezes.

Natsu isn’t sure if it’s because his head is hurting, but it feels like everything is suddenly in slow motion.

He sees the way Wendy’s body violently hits the ground before she stills, her hair falling on her face making it impossible for Natsu to know if her eyes are open or not.

He sees the way Gray makes a move towards their younger member, worry and fear taking over him.

He sees the way the man they were fighting smile, because, with that, Gray leaves his sides open for any attack.

He sees the way the same man makes two blades appear from his hands and the way he is making his way towards Gray. Gray who is very unaware of what is happening.

And the Dragon Slayer could have yelled for Gray’s attention. To warn him of the upcoming danger.

But instead, he finds himself moving. He doesn’t know from where he has managed to draw that remaining force. After all, his body is in a bad shape, so if he has to guess, he will say: fear made him move.

He already has one guildmate on the ground, unmoving, and two others missing. The last one standing has now his life threatened.

The very last one standing, who has shown him a whole life full of strange and new colours, is about to fall as well.

And Natsu isn’t ready for that. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be ready for it. Not when it’s about him, his little exception.

The movement he makes and the tantrum of his feet on the ground are what catches Gray’s attention. Natsu watches as his eyes widen at the sight in front of him. He watches as the Ice Mage stands up, stretches a hand towards him, as if this simple gesture can make a difference in what is about to happen. His mouth opens and although the dragon doesn’t hear him, he can distinguish his name coming out from the lips.

Natsu keeps his attention on the man though, and quickly he finds himself between the blades and Gray, acting as a shield.

He suddenly feels cold, the last of his fire going away with the body of the man he protected Gray from. Relief washes over him as the danger is finally put at bay. He’s ready to turn to Gray, to make sure that he is indeed okay but instead, he feels a harsh strain in his side and then his knees meet the ground. It’s at this moment, he sees one blade buried on his right side and the other in his shoulder.

Strangely enough, he doesn’t feel any pain. He can see the blood dripping out of his injuries and he is aware that the amount of it that he is losing should make him at least panic a little. But the exhaustion takes over it and he can’t bring himself to care about it.

There are warm fingers on his cheeks that make him lift his head slightly. His eyes meet Gray’s. The glint in them is dancing with so much fear that Natsu wants to make fun of him, but when he opens his mouth he coughs.

“Idiot-wh-what did- why did you do this?!” Gray panics as he moves to take some of Natsu’s weight on him.

Natsu doesn’t complain and lets himself completely melt into Gray’s arms.

“Y-you’re warm,” Natsu somehow manages to say. “And I-I feel c-cold.”

“Natsu,” there’s desperation in Gray’s voice.

“That’s fucked up,” Natsu finishes painfully which earns him a few more coughs.

He closes his eyes, hoping that it will help with his dizziness.

“Open your eyes, Natsu. You can’t fall asleep right now. Natsu, please, open them!”

He feels himself overcoming by a daze of fog. Everything around has started to quiet down.

Just a moment, he thinks, just a moment so he can compose himself.

But instead, he finds himself in the darkness, with the distant of Gray’s voice ringing in his head.

*

Well... Surprise ?

Thank you to my sweet, my rock, my magical little Fairy @watcher-ofthe-sky for your help with this one! You're ideas helped me a lot!

Also I might add another part to this piece of shit -as I fondly call this writing- if you are interrested in it !

*

@fuckyeahgratsu