The Princess and the Commoner

Chapter 13: Wounds

"Now, Erza. Can you tell me what happened before you got back to the guild?" Erza nodded and took a deep breath before beginning, 

Natsu kept going with his attack until he was completely out of magic energy. He went completely limp and slipped out of Happy's grip. 

"Natsu!" Happy didn't have enough magic energy to use max speed and he desperately flew towards his friend, "I won't make it!" Suddenly, Gray burst through the trees and caught Natsu before he hit the  ground. Happy sighed in relief and flew the rest of the way to the ground. When he got down, Gray set Natsu on the ground and smiled at Happy, 

"Good timing, don't you think Happy?" Happy nodded and Gray picked Natsu back up and he walked back to their makeshift camp. When they got near, Lucy ran up and looked at Natsu worriedly, 

"Is he ok?" Gray nodded and laughed, 

"Yeah. He just too much magic energy." Lucy sighed in obvious relief. She looked behind Gray in worry, 

"But what happened to the man that was attacking us?" Gray looked behind him and saw a black cloak stuck to a tree branch. Gray frowned and looked back at Lucy, 

"Either he got away or he was turned to ashes by that attack." Lucy nodded and started walking away, 

"Ok. Let's get going. I bet everyone is worried about us." Gray nodded and set Natsu down on the ground. Him, Lucy, and Happy let everyone sleep for a little while longer, but after about 2 hours of sleep, everyone woke up and they started moving towards the guild. After a few more hours, Natsu woke up and started laughing and joking with Romeo like he used to. Lucy walked back to the two boys and smiled at Romeo, 

"Can I talk to Natsu alone for a little while Romeo?" Romeo nodded and ran forward to talk to Juvia and Gajeel. Lucy looked at Natsu, 

"What do you want to talk about?" Lucy looked down to the ground and took a deep breath, 

"Are you ok? Like, are you fully recovered after everything that happened?" Natsu's eyes widened in surprise and he grinned at Lucy, 

"Yeah. I'm fine Luce." Lucy smiled at her old nickname. She looked at Natsu again with a slightly confused face, 

"Do you really remember everything Natsu. From when we were kids?" Natsu looked away from Lucy and nodded. "Then do you know what happened that night, when you were taken away?" Natsu sighed and nodded his head, 

"Zeref went to the castle and erased part of everyone's memories to take you out of them. He was planning to kidnap you for something. I still don't know what he was going to do though. But for some reason, he took me instead..." Lucy looked down to the ground in sadness, 

"I'm sorry." Natsu looked at Lucy in shock, 

"What are you sorry for? It wasn't your fault. If he really wanted me then he would have found me anyway." Lucy shook her head and looked at Natsu with tears in her eyes, 

"I'm sorry that you have to keep protecting me. That you always keep getting hurt because of me. It's my fault that I'm not strong enough to protect myself, but the people around me keep putting their lives at risk to protect a weak girl like me. I'm sorry." Natsu stopped Lucy and he put his hands on her shoulders, 

"It's not your fault Lucy. If we die protecting you, that means we want you to be safe. We would do it for anybody else too. It's not just you. If I was weak then I know that my friends would do anything to keep me safe. But I got strong so that I could protect people like you Lucy." Lucy smiled and nodded. Natsu grinned a toothy grin and Lucy laughed.