The Light Within the Flame

Chapter 8

As always I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL...whomp whomp...le sigh... all credits go to the amazing Hiro for that one!!!

WARNING! WARNING! CHAPTERS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM THE ANIME/MANGA FROM TARTAROS ARC FORWARD!!!!

Wooo, this chapter was much longer than normal but I let my little heart just write ;) 

**Update! My beta finally checked the chapter so here is the edited version!**

ENJOY GUYS!

~~~~~~ Chapter 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~

Natsu stared at the sobbing celestial wizard who at the moment, was holding him as if her life depended on it.

He inhaled deeply catching her lavender scent. Natsu smiled into her hair.

He used to make fun of her for putting so many different salts into her baths and always smelling of lavender, but wow, it had been so long since he smelled this familiar aroma.

"Are you gonna let her go anytime soon?" Gajeel smirked. "Or you gonna keep sniffing her cuz you know...We can leave you guys alone if you need the space?" It seemed that the iron dragon slayer had finally caught his breath after using so much magical power to help open the vortex.

He was making a jab at the Salamander, but the truth was he felt terrible for forgetting about the cheerleader...and he knew Levy felt even worse seeing as how Lucy was one her best friends.

WOAH! Natsu stopped himself as Gajeel's words slowly permeated his brain. What the hell was he doing sniffing his partner? He was glad they couldn't hear what he was telling himself. If he had said it aloud Gajeel and Happy never would have let him live it down.

"SHUT UP IRON ASS! I wasn't sniffin' her!"

Wendy walked over to the pair lying by Lucy's fireplace. "Lucy-san! I am so glad you're here. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" The sky dragon slayer looked over Lucy, worry etched in her light brown eyes. She also noticed how Lucy had not stopped crying and hadn't released Natsu since coming back to Earthland. It was almost as if she was afraid that she would vanish again.

"Lucy!" Happy opened his white wings to fly over to Lucy. She caught him and brought the exceed close to her hugging him.

Lucy couldn't help it. She was feeling so overwhelmed by her friends, the guild that she loved more than anything was finally here. She was finally home and...OMG I'm thrown all over Natsu and everyone's looking!

Lucy backed away from him finally looking at everyone who was in the room. She saw Wendy, Charle, Gajeel and Lily standing off to the side. Looked around her now familiar apartment trying to peer into other areas of the tiny space. Where was everyone else? Lucy rubbed her eyes, drying the tears from her face.

"Where is everyone else? I'm surprised they aren't trying to fit in my apartment...and the fact that they left you guys to handle things by yourselves is shocking too." She said smiling for the first time since passing through the vortex.

"Erza decided that it would be best for only the dragon slayers to be in the apartment in case something happened. She then decided that the whole guild did not need to be here because she knew that would be too overwhelming so it's just us, Erza, and Gray. She has a telepathic link set up with Warren in case we needed back-up. Erza and Gray are actually waiting for us outside." Happy explained content to simply have Lucy carry him. He noticed that it seemed to bring Lucy some comfort to hold him plus he didn't have to waste any magic power flying... so it was kind of a win win for him.