Fire and Gold (Nalu)

Chapter 9 ~ Never again

4 more days passed before Lucy finally opened her eyes again.

She awoke with a groan, pain shooting through her back the moment she tried to move. She pushed off the mucky blanket that swaddled her and eventually got up into a sitting position after an embarrassing amount of effort and tried touching her back, only to be met with bandages.

She lifted her top to find that the bandages went all around her torso, but they looked greasy. They appeared to be well past their changing date; they'd gone a sort of off-cream colour.

She made a mental note to take them off ASAP.

The next thing she noticed was her empty stomach, damn was she starving. She couldn't recall the last time she had a sufficient meal... must have been before her, Natsu and Happy left her apartment.

Hang on a second... Natsu!

She whipped her head around, scanning the interior of the little cave for her guild mate.

She found him quickly... or, she thought she did?

A figure sat cross-legged at the entrance of the cavern, shrouded in darkness from the light rays that only just pierced the ingress. The figure held a long wooden rod that was pointed bolt upright. It had a long, sharp and ominous point that would have required much precision to calve. Creepy.

She was assured of the figure being Natsu after a glance at his hair, though unkempt and no longer sticking up, it's bright, salmon colour glowed round the outside as the light bounced off of it from the front.

With another grown, she slowly got up, flinching as pain shot through her.
"Natsu?" She voiced, drawing her brows.
No response. Apprehensively, she walked up to him.

As she got closer, she noticed the untreated lashes on his back. They were severely inflamed and looked as though they hadn't been tended to at all. However, there were slight signs of healing, suggesting it'd been a while since they happened. She grimaced, how long actually has it been since they were in that prison?

"Natsu?" She repeated when she was right behind him. When she once again got no response, she peered round his body so she could see his face.

"Oh my Mavis, Natsu!"
Never had Lucy seen the fire wizard in such poor condition. His eyes looked so tired it almost seemed as though there wasn't a soul behind them. On top of that, the bags that lay under them were so dark and protruding that one could assume he was dead. His skin was dry and his lips were chapped suggesting severe dehydration and his hair flopped messily over his face, matted and dirty.

When he saw her, his face lifted into a weary, bright smile.
"Lucy..."
"What in the- Natsu, what happened to you?!"
"Lucy..."

He rose from his seat on the floor. He was so weak and tired however that he toppled half way up, dropping his spear. Lucy sort of caught him, but with the collection of his dead weight, her injured back and her lack of food and water, she couldn't support him and ended up falling on the ground alongside him.

He immediately grabbed her, tackling her body into his and burying his face into her neck.
"What in the-"
"You're awake..."
She felt him take in a large breath against her nape, making her stupidly blush.
"Natsu! Wha-"

"Kept hearing you... ya kept calling me... but every time I turned to look you were still asleep... thought I was going nuts... but this time you really were calling me... you're awake again..."
He continued to sluggishly mumble into her shoulder, some parts so quiet that she could barely understand what he was saying.

"W-when was the last time you slept?!" She asked in both concern and embarrassment as she attempted to peel him off of her,
"...dunno... Lucy smells like Lucy again..."
He took another deep breath in against her neck, refusing her pull to get away, making her shudder.