Bloody Love [A NaLu Fanfic]

Chapter 5: Found

"Lucy!" a male voice suddenly called out to her from the distance, snapping her out of her reverie. Lucy turned around and found Natsu running toward her. "Luce, I've been looking everywhere for you! I've been so worried!" Natsu ran up to her and pulled her into his arms. "The others have been looking for you too! What are you doing up in the mountains? Are you hurt? Come back to the guild!"

Lucy eyed Natsu suspiciously, not certain if it was another one of her hallucinations. She waved her hand in front of his face. Natsu frowned. "Luce, what are you doing?" he asked.

Then she punched him.

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Natsu yelled, rubbing his jaw.

Lucy winced and shook her hand in the air. That stung.

"Sorry, Natsu," she laughed nervously. Then she threw her arms around him. "I missed you. I missed everyone..." she murmured.

Then Erza, Gray, Happy, and Wendy caught up to them. "Lucy!" Wendy shouted happily. "You're alive! We were looking everywhere for you! We were so worried!"

"Lucy, is everything okay?" Erza asked, concerned.

"Yeah, um, I'm fine.." Lucy replied. "I guess I just wanted some alone time and then lost track of where I was going.. But it's okay now! I was just about to go back anyway." Lucy faked a smile.

Natsu narrowed his eyes at Lucy as she walked away from him and started going down the mountain. The rest of the group followed.

--------------------

Back at the guild, Lucy sat at the bar facing Mirajane. Natsu and Happy were gorging on food nearby as usual.

"Mira, I'm in need of a job," Lucy told the white-haired mage. "Is there anything interesting for me to do... far away from here?"

Mira paused cleaning the counter and thought for a second. "Hmm... I think I do have a special job that came in just this morning... why don't you take a look at this?" She handed Lucy a flyer.

Lucy read the ad:

"HELP NEEDED. URGENT.

"Location: City of Caligo.

"Job Description: A dark mist has enveloped that city and rendered the residents unable to exit their homes. No one has been able to identify the cause or essence of the mist. This mist must be cleared away ASAP.

"Requested by: The mayor of Caligo

"Reward: 5,000 jewels + mystery prize."

"Hm, sounds interesting," Lucy mused. "I'll take it. Thanks Mira!"

Lucy started heading out the door. "Lucy, aren't you going to bring Natsu and Happy?" Mira called after her.

Lucy looked back. "Well, I was going to go on this job alone..." She glanced at Natsu, then frowned when she saw Lisanna talking to him. Neither of them noticed her. "Besides, maybe he'll want to go on a job with Lisanna." Then she headed out the door.

--------------------

Lucy took the night train to Caligo and got off in a city that was even darker than night because the light from the moon and stars was completely blocked off by a thick, heavy black mist. What a beautiful city this would have been if it weren't for such low visibility and misty creepiness, Lucy thought.

After some difficulty, Lucy managed to find a hotel to check into. As she was about to walk to her room, a man suddenly grasped her arm and stopped her. "Hey beautiful," he leered at her. "Fancy a drink? It's on me."

"Uh, no thanks," Lucy said nervously, shaking him off. She walked away quickly, only to bump into another man.

"Hi," the man said cheerfully. "You seem like a newcomer. Why don't I show--"

"No thanks," Lucy cut him off quickly. But the previous guy came back.

"Come on, girlie, I wanna talk to ya," he said, reaching out for her. Then out of nowhere a foot crashed into the side of his face and sent him flying sideways into the wall. (o.O)

Lucy whipped her head around to see whose foot it was. And whose was it but... Natsu's!

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed in relief. "Wait, what are you doing here?" She frowned, because she knew she hadn't told him where she had gone. She faltered when she saw Natsu frowning at her.

"You didn't tell me where you went," he said sternly. "So I asked Mira. She said you had taken a job here, so I went looking for you. Why would you go on a mission without me?"

Lucy got mad. "Why can't I go on a mission without you? I don't belong to you! I can go wherever I want!" she exclaimed hotly.

Natsu was about to retort, but seemed startled by this exclamation. "Yea, that's true," he said sheepishly. "Well... if you really wanna be alone, then I'll see ya later, Luce."

"Wait, Natsu," Lucy said more gently, putting her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry. I know we usually go on missions together. So, since you're already here, you might as well stay," she blushed.

"It's okay if you wanna be alone."

"No, Natsu, I was just... never mind. It's not your fault anyway. Please stay."

They were about halfway up the stairs now. Suddenly something in Natsu's facial expression shifted. He turned his arm around and gripped Lucy's hand, pushing her against the wall.

"Natsu?" Lucy squeaked, looking up at him. His brows furrowed as he looked down at her, their noses inches apart.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut. Nothing happened, so she opened one eye tentatively. Natsu seemed to have snapped out of whatever got ahold of him, and he let go of her hand.

"I think we'd better get some sleep now," he said, not taking notice of what just happened. "We have work ahead of us tomorrow." Then he walked off toward his own room.

Since when has Natsu been this... rational? Lucy wondered as she walked to her room, opened the door, and closed it shut behind her.

----------

Thanks for reading the fifth chapter of my new NaLu fic! What overcame Natsu just now? And what's going on in the strange city of Caligo? Does it have anything to do with what happened to Lucy? Stay tuned to find out!

~xoxo Kai Rulan~