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."

Astonished by being caught red-handed by Happy, Lucy jumped a little in her seat and left an almost inaudible gasp. Then she looked at Natsu, and once she confirmed he didn't wake up, she turned to Happy and replied, "Sure, Happy, It's a five-hour trip back to 'Magnolia'; you should rest a little more." Happy nodded in agreement and went 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, taking a sleepy Happy between her arms. After saying goodbye, each one continued on their way home.

Natsu and Lucy had grown very close until the battle of Zeref when everything changed. They walked back to her apartment without saying a word or even looking at each other, and the silence made their relationship somewhat awkward.

His upside-down stomach, caused by motion sickness and this uncomfortable moment, inevitably sank Natsu in the events of the recent battle. In order to get Master Makarov's permission to walk down the path to the '100-year Quest Mission', they have been taking 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 missions.

So, she approached the bathroom to relax her muscles and clean herself. After showering, she sneaked into the bed and lay beside Natsu. After all, the two of them had been through a lot together, and she was somewhat used to the warmth of the boy snoring next to her. 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 giving me these dreams? When will this end? Why me? Can you explain to me what is happening with my magic?" 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'!"

"True! Listen, time for stars is relative, and breaking 'time rules' is dangerous even for stars. To show you the future, a sacrifice has been necessary. That is, I have sacrificed another future time."

"Wait! But you haven't shown me the future..." Lucy said, confused.

"Maybe I should show you from the beginning so you understand. You must have heard of the primordial essence of magic, 'The Magic of One.' I'll take you where everything started."