Found & Forgotten

Chapter 29

The sound of somebody clearing their throat sent Natsu and Lucy springing apart, both staring round the room at anything but each other.

"Lucy, should I call our doctor in to have a look at you?" Hisui asked, a small smile playing on her lips. "That looked like quite a serious fainting episode."

"No, no, I'll be-" Lucy started to say, but found herself cut off.

"Yes, I think a check up would be wise." Erza was saying. "Natsu, you should go with her. Gray, Happy and I can finish up here."

"Of course," Hisui nodded, then turned to the nearest guard. "Could you escort Natsu and Lucy to the infirmary, please?"

"Of course, Princess," the guard bowed, and strode out of the room, not even checking first to see if Natsu and Lucy were following him.

Meanwhile, Hisui turned back to Erza. "I am sorry about what happened to Lucy. I do believe she should be in a hospital right now, but I know what Fairy Tail is like." She smiled.

"Lucy is stronger than she looks," Erza told her. "And she has Natsu."

"Yes. I do hope he manages to explain everything to her..." Hisui glanced in the direction Natsu and Lucy had disappeared, a slight frown appearing momentarily on her features.

"Don't worry!" Happy looked up from his fish. "He's Natsu and she's Lucy, so it'll all be fine!"

"Well said, Happy," Erza smiled at him.

"Aye!" Happy raised a paw.

In the infirmary, however, awkward silence reigned. Lucy hadn't looked at Natsu since they'd left the others, despite his best efforts to catch her eye. She'd kept silent throughout the doctor's examination, thankful for the distraction, and now was waiting anxiously for the results, hoping they'd come before Natsu tried to start the conversation she knew was inevitable.

She didn't want to talk about her feelings. It was confusing enough just thinking about them. Her mind was churning, heart pounding. She'd only known Natsu for about a week, so how could she feel this way? The small part of her brain that remained rational pointed out, once again, that Natsu had known her for a lot longer than she'd known him. But still!

"Luce."

The sudden address made her jump.

"H-hai?" she answered, staring at the floor.

"Look at me." He answered.

She did so, slowly raising her eyes up to where he was leaning against the wall, feeling her cheeks heat up when their eyes locked. There was a heavy silence as she watched Natsu struggle to voice what he wanted to say.

He finally settled on, "I'm sorry."

Lucy blinked. That was not what she was expecting. "What for?" she asked him.

"I kissed you without your permission," he explained.

"O-oh," she stuttered. "That's...I mean, I, well, I forgive you."

"Lucy." His voice was unusually serious now, his gaze causing her to shift her weight under the intensity of it.

"Hai?" She answered.

"How far gone were you?" He asked bluntly.

Now that she definitely wasn't expecting. She laughed nervously, trying to pass it off as nothing. "What do you mean, Natsu-san?"

"Don't joke around, Lucy," he ignored her use of the honorific and continued staring at her. "I was watching. Your eyes...it was like they switched off. I could see it."

Lucy shivered and wrapped her arms round her shoulders, remembering the cold blackness. "I was pretty far gone," she whispered.

She sensed, rather than saw, Natsu tense up, clenching teeth and fists as he did so. She stretched out a hand and caught his fist, trying to pry it back open.

"You saved me." She said quietly. "If you hadn't kissed me...I would have been gone. But you brought me back. You saved me."

"I shouldn't have to save you!" Natsu burst out, pulling his fist away. "I should be able to protect you in the first place! If I'd just stayed with you none of this would have happened! It's all my-"

"Don't you dare say it's all your fault." Lucy interrupted, voice quiet, intense, dangerous. She got to her feet and stared up, pinning the dragon slayer in place with her gaze.

"Don't you dare," she repeated, "say it's your fault. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been here. I woke up in Fairy Tail missing a year of my life. I didn't know anyone or anything there, and yet somehow I recognised you. There was a connection to you. You've helped me through everything, hospital trips, my father's death, you stayed with me even when I made it hard for you. So don't you dare apologise for all that."

Natsu opened and shut his mouth a few times, trying to form a coherent response from the mess of emotions inside him. In the end he gave up and simply leant down to kiss Lucy's forehead.

"You should sit," he told her. "You're still recovering."

Lucy obliged, returning to the chair just as the doctor opened the door.

"I've been sent your notes from the Magnolia hospital to parallel with my own and I have some bad news and some good news," he told them. "Which would you like first?"

"Bad, please," Lucy answered.

"The bad news is that there is still some swelling in your brain. It seems to have been exacerbated by something, although I'm not sure what. It's likely you've been having headaches recently due to the pressure, and it's why you fainted just now." He told them, briskly, clinically. "The good news is that the swelling is on it's way down, so you should be fine in a few weeks. Until then you should check in regularly with Magnolia hospital. I've made the arrangements for you, your first check up is in three days time. In the mean time, avoid any strenuous activity and make sure you rest well."

"Thank you." Lucy bowed her head to the doctor and took the papers he handed her.

"Not at all, not at all. Now you'd best be getting back to your friends." He dismissed them from the room.

"Hai, matta ne," Lucy responded as she and Natsu followed the guard who brought them there back to the others.

Erza scrutinised the two as they entered the room, noting the grin on Natsu's face, the slight blush on Lucy's and, most importantly, that the two were holding hands, although they didn't seem to realise. Smiling to herself, she thanked the Princess and her father for their hospitality, and ushered Natsu out of the palace. She wasn't paranoid he'd break something, no, of course not, she just...wanted to return to Magnolia as soon as possible.

She also wanted to find out what had happened between them.

Ohaiyo minna-san!

It's been so long since I updated, I know. ^^; I'm really sorry, but I've been so busy with school work that I just haven't had a chance to be on wattpad for weeks.

I feel a bit out of the swing of things. I'm not entirely sure I'm back into the feel of the story or characters yet, so if the flow feels a bit odd, I'm sorry. I know Natsu was uncharacteristically serious in this chapter, but I felt it was needed. In light of everything that's happened to Lucy (I feel so mean, I've  put her through so much pain at the hands of Shin Uchu :/ I'm sorry, Lucy!) and his own worries about it, I felt that Natsu would deal with the kiss, and Lucy's black out, very seriously.

So not much by way of plot happened this chapter, but I think it was needed. Natsu and Lucy needed to sort out where their relationship was. They've now made good headway on this, so I can move on to other things next chapter.

Again, I'm so sorry for the ridiculously late update! Thank you to everyone who's stuck with this story, you can all have hugs.

~AA