The Tragic Hum Of A Fairy (NaLu Fanfic)

Chapter 3 ~ Walking and Running

Lucy POV

     He stopped in his tracks. For a minute, I thought he was going to turn around and listen to what I had to say but he just kept walking away. "Check the paper, Luce. Then talk to me", he growled and disappeared through the glass doors into the school. Disappointment rushed through my blood veins but I pulled out the note he had slipped to me earlier in the day. Unfolding it, I began to read through the messy handwriting:

Lucy,

It's been a while. Meet me by the entrance to the school at 2:30. Don't be late.

                                                                                                                                 -Natsu

     I read the first sentence over and over. So he did remember. Did I do all this damage to him? Was I the reason he was disobedient and troubled? Surely not. He wouldn't let just one person break his love of magic and people would he?

Natsu POV

I walked into the door of the private training room. Gildarts met me with a friendly grin and slapped me on the back.

     "Natsu! How ya been son? Life been treating you okay today?"

     I grimaced, knowing what my answer was going to get me, "Not so great. It's been a pretty bad day. I'm just glad to be able to let out my stress somewhere now." I smiled, hoping Mira hadn't talked to my other teacher and found out about my "outburst" in class and told Gildarts. 

      His smile dropped into a frown, "So that's how it's gonna be, huh? Just gonna pretend like nothin' happened in your physics class? Natsu, you know what their talkin' about doing right?" 

      I turned away from the man who had saved my life by posing as my father until two years ago. "Does it look like I care? I'm tired off all the crap people do." I took off my shirt, revealing the little device attached around my waist like a small belt. Gildarts pressed on it with a magic key, releasing it from my body and I felt magic power flow back into my body from the earth. A smile crept up and I swung my arms around to circulate the new found power surging through my veins. 

     Gildarts tone changed to solemn, "Natsu, it's not going well out there in the courts. If you keep having outbursts and trying to break through these barriers", he gestured to where the little belt was lying, "they're going to get fed up and put you in the military." 

     My ears perked at the last word. That was new. They had talked about keeping me restricted or attempting to remove some of my magic power but the military was new. I looked at him, my eyes wide. The Fiore military was nothing to mess with and they definitely wouldn't take kindly to a delinquent like me. I gulped, "The military?"

     Gildarts just nodded, "You're powerful, and not to mention you're the son of the fire dragon king. If they could whip the bad out of you, you'd make a good puppet for them."
Puppet. A puppet was all I'd be to them. I looked at my destructive hands then back at Gildarts, the man who had been my father for nine years. "You wouldn't let them take me, would you?" I sounded like a little kid asking for protection from a thunderstorm.

     "Well, I wouldn't want to, but if this keeps up, I won't have a choice. But that reminds me", he flashed a devious grin at me, "for your little outburst earlier, double - no triple - your normal warm up. 900 push-ups, 450 sit-ups, ninety rounds of the defense-offense routine and just for fun, fifty laps on the track. We'll talk about food after that."

     I groaned and started to slowly get down to the push up position when Gildarts slapped me to the ground, "Did I say we were gonna take this at the pace you think at? Get your ass on the ground and get going!"