The Fallen(Nalu)

21- Trust

"Lucy, I know they would."

I stare in awe at Natsu, a comfortable silence following his words.

Even after what I did, Natsu's still here.

Natsu holds no grudges against me for leaving, that I know.

His words are completely honest with no hidden feelings.

Tears spring from my eyes and I jump, slightly startled. I pull my hands away from Natsu and bring them up to wipe my eyes.

"Sorry, I- I'm not sure what's gotten into me."

I chuckle but it trails off.

Natsu smiles at me and stands up.

"No reason to apologize, Lucy. If you need to let out your emotions then you should. No reason to keep them bottled up."

He walks over to the tarp.

"I better get started on breakfast or we won't be getting anywhere today."

I nod my head and Natsu gets to work on cooking the fish.

I rest my chin in the palm of my hand, my arm propped up on my knee.

He's right.

I watch as he swiftly, but also a little clumsily, prepares the food.

He's been right about a lot of things lately.

And yet every time he tells me something that I know to be true...I still deny it at first.

I mean...when I first saw him I denied wanting to be around him and yet now look at us.

And now I still deny Fairy Tail even though Natsu tells me that I don't have to...that I shouldn't.

Maybe it's time to just put my full trust into Natsu.

That horrible feeling tries to stir in my stomach and I push it down as far as I can.

I gulp.

Natsu wouldn't steer me wrong.

Natsu walks over to me with a cooked fish on a stick in his hand and stretches it out to me.

"What do you think, Lucy? Not bad, eh?"

I take it from him and do a quick sniff check.

I nod, pleasantly surprised.

"It certainly does smell edible."

Natsu scoffs at me and goes to sit down on the ground, his own fish in hand.

I stare at the fish in my hand and a thought pops up in my head suddenly.

"Happy would be so mad if he found out about us eating fish without him."

I chuckle to myself before biting into the fish.

Natsu is silent beside me and I glance up to him.

He stares at me in a sort of awe, the fish in his hand untouched.

My chewing slows and I bring my hand up to cover my mouth.

"What?"

He doesn't move for a moment before suddenly shaking his head and taking a bite out of his fish.

"Nothing, sorry."

I raise my eyebrow.

That was weird...

I start to raise the fish back up for another bite.

What did I say that was so strange?

Wait...

I stop raising the fish to my mouth.

Happy!

I mentioned Happy...

I hadn't even realized what I said...it came out without me even thinking about it.

No wonder he reacted so surprised.

I've avoided the subject of Fairy Tail altogether.

I've just always felt so guilty to even bring up their names...to even say that I was a part of Fairy Tail felt wrong.

And yet the thought had just sprouted in my head...it wasn't forced or anything.

"Lucy?"

I raise my head.

"Hmmm?"

He points to the fish in my hands.

"You gonna eat that?"

I glare at him and scowl.

"Yes, Natsu. Not all of us are pigs like Happy and you! I have manners."

He waves a hand at me dismissively.

"Yeah yeah yeah."

He starts to look away but I catch a hint of a smile on his lips.

Trusting Natsu's word was the right thing to do.

A feeling of giddiness swirls around in my stomach and I smile cheerily as I finish eating.

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Note: It's almost time....