The Love of Dragons- Nalu

Chapter five-Power

POV: Natsu

Lucy's room smelled nice, like her. I knew that I should be keeping my distance from everyone, in order to help them; but I loved them all. The one that I cared for most of all was sleeping in her chair, a fuzzy pink blanket covering her perfect body.

“Lucy?” I whispered, wondering if she was a late sleeper. I saw her shift and tug the blanket up over herself,

“Natsu?” she mumbled, “Mi drming?” she slurred her words together so that I could barely identify them. I laughed quietly, sitting up and pulling the sheets away from my chest. I slid into my vest and rearranged my scarf on my neck. I stood up and walked to her, checking to make sure that she was sound asleep. At the top of the stairs I slid into my sandals and started my descent.

I nearly skipped down the stairs, she hadn't kicked me out! My feet carried me to a small breakfast place. There I ordered a big breakfast, and quickly made my way back to Lucy's apartment. She was awake.

POV: Lucy

“Natsu!” I ran to him and flung my arms around his neck, “I thought something had happened to you!” I tried desperately not to let the tears fall, I had been worried that the strange tattooed woman had taken him.

“Nothing could happen to me,I just went to get us some food.” he grinned, seemingly unconcerned with his house being gone.

“That was so sweet...” I removed my hands from his shoulders and looked into his glittery, smiling hazel eyes. “Wait... did you get fire? Because you know that I can't eat fire.” I teased, hoping that he would stop looking at me that way, didn't he know that it sent a different message? It said, 'What if I kissed you?', not, 'hey I brought breakfast'.

“I got you this...” he pulled little bags out of a bigger bag, one, two , three, four- I wondered if it would ever end. “We go out to dinner sometimes with the others, but I realized that I don't know what you like for breakfast, so, I got everything.” He grinned, then looked away from me briefly, flexing his hand that had started to glow furiously.

“Are- Are you alright?” I asked quietly, sure that it had something to do with his magical issues.

“Yeah, I'm fine, but I'm gonna go start re-building my house. So I'll catch you later, K?”

“Wait!” I grabbed his arm, then let it go instantly, it was hot.

“Luce, don't worry about me. I can take care of myself.” He insisted, then vaulted off the window, leaving a burned and peeling part of the sill. My hand flew to my mouth, this is bad, either Natsu is really pissed off and will go on a killing spree (never gonna happen) or he can't control his power...

* * *

“Erza, I have a new theory about Natsu.” I muttered when I arrived at the guild building.

“No need to be quiet about it, the whole guild except for Gajeel,Juvia, Wendy and just a few others know about this and want answers.” she replied,

“Well, I think that he's loosing control over his power.” I refused to look at her throughout the entire, long, agonizing, silence.

“I-” she started, “What makes you think that?” she struggled out.

“Is it that bad?” I asked, and knew the answer; Erza had gone pale, her shoulders sagged, eyebrows curved in hopelessness, she fell into the chair next to her,

“Yes, Natsu has only just brushed upon the extent of his powers, and if he were to fully recognize them without being able to control them... It could spell disaster for the entire world.” The fierce, powerful, s-class, mage sighed heavily, “Lucy you can't imagine how disastrous it would be if this theory of yours is correct.”

“And one other thing...”

“Can it get worse?” Erza breathed out, seeming hollow and old,

“Natsu's house was knocked down, it's gone.” Despite her weary expression, Erza's eyes flew wide open,

“What?!” she clamped her hands on the table, as I sat down gently across from her,

“The Tattooed Woman did it, and I think it was my fault...”

“The Devil! Who does she think she is to screw with us?” Pale, strong fingers tightened on the table, and a large piece of wood, the size of my head, was cracked off. Then Erza redirected her attention to me, “Your fault?” she echoed, letting the crushed wood pulverize beneath her steel grip.

“Yeah, she told me to 'blame myself later' when I...” The air between us crackled, Erza could snap any second,

“You saw her before?!” Erza grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes with a blazing combination of fury and terror, “Did she tell you anything or do anything to you?”

“No!” I closed my eyes and scrunched up my face, trying to pull away from the grip that had easily shattered wood. “She just came by my apartment now please, you're hurting me!” I shouted, and the entire guild spun around. Every one of them wore shocked expressions, and Grey came over to us.

“Erza-” he reached out to touch her arm but she swung out with a tight fist to punch him in the stomach. “Aghh!” Grey doubled over, clutching his stomach,

“I-” Erza stared at him, then looked at her hand, she shoved her chair out with her legs and walked briskly, stiffly out of the building. We all listened as her boot heels clicked across the floor, wondering...

“Are you alright, Grey?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, I'll be fine” he grunted, then he straightened out and stood, still with a hand wrapped around his body.

“Here, let me heal it.” Wendy shuffled over and placed her delicate hands on his bare skin, “Just give me a moment.” Sweet brown eyes closed gently as she focused, a blue healing light pulsing from her palms.

“Thanks Wendy.” Grey muttered when she was done, “Erza can punch pretty damn hard.” the uncomfortable quietness seemed to permeate the whole guild building, then, Romeo broke it.

“Wendy, it is time for us to be off.” he mumbled

“But-”

“Wendy, we have to catch the train.” Carla insisted,

“Okay... wish me luck!” The little girl waved at us all and walked out the door with Romeo and Carla.

“They're going on a job together?” I queried, “That's so cute!” and just like that, in the Fairy Tail way, we were back to chatting and fighting.

But it was off, almost wrong without Natsu... We all felt it.