~Fairy Tail One-Shots~

~Heart Full of Happiness~ (NaLu)

~Heart Full of Happiness~

Her couch was a mess.
A mess of fluffy blankets, pillows, and couch cushions. And the source of the mess? As if you even had to ask. Why, the person responsible was under the whole mess. And by under, she meant under.

As in he was buried underneath layers of blankets and pillows, with only his eyes and some locks of cherry blossom hair to be seen peaking out.

Lucy Heartfilia sighed.
Natsu Dragneel, her Dragon Slayer partner, was wrapped up in all of her blankets. Normally, she would have not let him get away with such things like this. But...these past few days had been hard for him. The days had taken a toll on her as well. They had gone on a mission, the three of them.
Natsu, herself, and Happy.
It was supposed to have been an easy job. One where Natsu alone could easily handle it.

It hadn't been.

Things had gone wrong.

Things that were never supposed to.

And the result?

Happy had gotten hurt...badly.

That had been a few days ago, though. Happy was getting better by each passing day. But he still hadn't woken up yet. He hadn't even moved...and neither had Happy's Dragon Slayer. Lucy knew, like the rest of the Guild, that he blamed himself. He always did when one of his family got hurt and he couldn't prevent it. So he had stayed by his buddies' side and had not moved an inch since.

That is until Lucy had had enough.

Of course she was also concerned for the blue Exceed, but that didn't mean that she let herself starve, and be sleep deprived! That was what her fiery partner was doing to himself.
Lucy wouldn't have it!

She herself had dragged him out of the Guild, (ignoring his whines and attempts to get free from her iron grip-seriously, even Gajeel would have trouble escaping) all the way to her apartment. There, once she had secured the place to make sure he couldn't escape, she had begun to give him a lecture. A long one. She had softly told him-okay she yelled-about how Happy wouldn't want his best friend to act this way.

Lucy had told the Dragon Slayer how Happy would want him to take care of himself and be in high spirits.
"You don't want Happy to wake up to such a sorrowful scene, do you!"
Lucy was proud to admit that her little pep talk had...sorta...worked. Natsu had remained shockingly silent after her speech. However, she had gotten him to eat and he had even slept some.

But he still hadn't muttered a single word.

It was noon now. The sun had begun to set, basking a golden glow on everything it's tendrils of light chose to touch. Natsu had wrapped himself up in a cocoon of everything soft he could get his hands on. Lucy supposed by wrapping himself up, he could hide away from all the negativity swirling around in the air.
This didn't stop herself from worrying about him though. Which was very inconsiderate on his part!
Now on top of the worry already eating away at her about Happy, she now had to worry about her depressed partner!

As Lucy stood, staring down at Natsu's cocooned form, she felt her facial expression relax into a more softer look. "Natsu," she muttered. He didn't move and this drew a sigh from her. Lucy didn't like this. She didn't like how silent he was. How devoid of emotion he was. Where was that loud, bright hearted, Dragon Slayer that she loved?

Lucy decided.
She was just going to have to bring him back.

"Yosh," she whispered to herself as she plopped down on the couches' arm rest. She shifted so she was looked down at her partner.
Alright, Lucy, she thought to herself, you can do this! She grinned as determination filled her up.
"Natsu," she began gently, trying to guide him back to the light. "I know you think this is your fault. You have somehow blamed yourself for something that you have not done. Or could ever do..." Lucy took a breath before continuing. "I have no idea how you could ever blame yourself for something that you have no control over. But for some dumb reason, you have." Lucy shook her head, her long blond hair flying.

"Now I can't say anything that will get you to change your mind about all of this and I can't do anything that can change this. If I could, you know I would." Lucy's brown eyes sharpened as she jerked her thumb at herself. "But what I can say is this. If you blame yourself, then I also will take the blame for what has happened to Happy. You hear me, Natsu?" Underneath the layers of covers a set of black eyes stilted. "I couldn't save him either, just as you couldn't. So I will shoulder the burden of regret as well. I will take some of it so you won't have to!" Lucy said, her tone strong and unyielding.

"You have already done so much, that you shouldn't have to do anymore! But you keep on moving, you keep on going, all for the sake of protecting your family." Lucy's voice lowered till it was no more then a whisper. "And they all thank you for that. Just as Happy thanks you for being his best friend, the one who found him, the one who raised him. The one who loved him and still does."

She smiled, "Happy will be alright and so will you."

Even though he still remained as silent as the dead, Lucy knew her words had sunk in, and hopefully remained there. Her words had held no lies within them. They had been coated with nothing but the truth. They were so true in fact, that Lucy's cheeks began to have a light dusting of pink on them. Her embarrassment would probably drown her when all the worry seeped out. She waited a moment longer before standing from the arm rest. Her back was aching with pins and needles from sitting there for so long.

Lucy needed a bath...and food...and sleep.
Yas, sleep, sleep is always good. She hummed to herself as she started to walk around the couch, toward the kitchen. Maybe she would prepare a sandwich for herself and perhaps-

A startled 'kyaaa' ripped from her throat when an arm shot out of the many layers of blankets and snagged around her waist. With a tug, Lucy found herself being pulled into the mass of blankets and pillows, and into a warm embrace. Once she was buried underneath the piles of blankets, and once her heart rate slowed, did she open her eyes.

Brown clashed with black, stilted eyes.

"Natsu!" She whispered breathlessly. "You almost gave me a-"
Her words turned to ash in her mouth when he leaned in and placed his forehead against her own. The simple act threw her back a few years ago, back when he had first done this.
To her Future Self...and not to her.
Jealousy had raged hard within her then. Which had been very dumb. Since that had been her.
But, no matter how hard Lucy told herself that, she just couldn't quite believe it.

Future Lucy, who had her face, was not her. She was herself and only herself. She would be lying to herself if she thought differently. That was her Natsu and only her's. Her heart clenched. Lucy had known what had happened to Future Lucy's Natsu. She could see it in the way her Future self's eyes had glazed over with unimaginable agony and joy when her Natsu had filled the other's vision.

Lucy had known.
Future Lucy's was gone.
No more.
Dead.
Not smiling anymore.
Not laughing anymore.
He was just...gone.

Future Lucy's Natsu may be gone.
But the Lucy in the now's Natsu was never going to have the same fate.
So now, here they were.
Underneath a cozy cocoon that kept the darkness away. Lucy so close to the person that she needs.
And then, Natsu muttered, so softly, that even a falling feather could rival it's quietness...
"You make my heart happy~"

~The End~

•Bonus•

The fading sunlight bounced off a shining pair of white wings. If the two Mage's had seen the gleam from within their fortress of blankets, then they didn't say anything about the gleam. They were to caught up with each other. But that was all right. It didn't bother the magical creature who had been watching and listening to his two favorite Mages. A smile curled across the animal's muzzle, making his whiskers twitch.
The blue Exceed's black eyes flashed brightly with amusement.
Fresh out of the Guild's infirmary with only a few bandages wrapped around his pelt, the cat purred in happiness.
Happy the Exceed brought his paws up to his mouth and purred,
"They liiiiike each other."

And the thing was...
~They really did~

This One-Shot is for
candy_lover_yay