Never Ending Love (a Nalu Fanfiction)

Chapter 1. The Dream

After a rough battle, Team Natsu finally returned to Magnolia City from a mission. The battle took longer than expected, and all of them were exhausted. After resting briefly, Lucy opened her eyes, and a smile was drawn on her face as soon as she saw Natsu resting in her lap. She gently stroked his hair and removed some locks from his face. Unaware that Happy was also awake and silently watching them, she moved her hand to caress his cheek, but before she could succeed, Happy snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Lucy, can we stay at your apartment tonight? I don't feel like I can walk to our house."

Lucy let out an inaudible gasp after Happy startled her. She looked at Natsu to see if her slight movement had woken him up, but he remained asleep on her lap. Then, she turned to Happy and replied, "Sure, Happy, it's a five-hour trip back to Magnolia; you should rest a little more." 

"Aye," replied Happy before going back to sleep.

A few hours later...
"Oh, men, we are finally back," Gray said, stretching his arms while dragging Natsu out of the train.

"Lucy, it's really late already. Would you like to come to the girls' dorm with us?" Wendy asked.

"I'm fine, thank you! Natsu and Happy are coming with me, so don't worry!" she replied, carrying a sleepy Happy between her arms. After saying goodbye to each other, the group split, heading to their respective homes.

Natsu and Lucy had grown very close since he took her to the guild. However, everything changed after Zeref's battle. The chatting and smiles while walking toward Lucy's apartment have now turned into awkwardness and silence.

Natsu's upside-down stomach, caused by motion sickness and this uncomfortable moment, inevitably left himfeeling sunk in the events of the recent battle. To get Master Makarov's permission to walk down the path to the '100-year Quest Mission', they have been taking on very challenging missions as a team.

When they finally got to the apartment, Lucy gently placed Happy on the couch; Natsu entered directly to the bed, rolling near the window. Almost immediately, he began snoring loudly. Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed. Her old self would have fought him and made him shower before going to bed. But her current self was more aware of what he had done to help her out in recent missions.

So, she approached the bathroom to relax her muscles and clean herself. After showering, she sneaked into the bed and lay beside Natsu. She was somewhat used to the warmth of the boy snoring next to her. Despite their uneasiness, there was still an undeniable bond forged by everything they had been through together. She looked at Natsu intently until her eyelids began to feel extremely heavy, and she couldn't help but fall asleep. Right after, she began dreaming.

Lucy opened her eyes and found herself floating in the middle of a starry sky. A bright star and a shadow approached her, and as always, she extended her arms to receive the star, "Little star, why do you keep appearing in my dreams? What exactly are you trying to show me? Is my magic changing because of you?" she asked.

"One day, everything I have shown you will make sense to you. Look down there.... what do you see?" the star asked.

Looking down, Lucy replied, "It's my planet, Earthland! But compared to when I saw it from Edolas, it looks greener."

"You are right! I have been watching Earthland for a long time now. As people move and spread out to different places, new cities are born from it. Humans are constantly changing; their lives are short but full of fulfillment."

"Short!? Aren't there humans who live 100 years nowadays? How is that short for you?" Lucy asked in disbelief. 

"You may not know, but time for stars is relative. To show you the future, a sacrifice had been necessary. Which means, I have sacrificed another future time for you. If you ever come to use time magic, you must remember that breaking 'time rules' is dangerous even for stars."