Tail Of A Fairy

06.

Lucy adjusted Happy's lying head. He had fallen asleep not two minutes into the film. Natsu didn't last much longer. The celestial wizard moved his hand from her waist, with only a bit of a struggle from Natsu. The dragon slayer's head fell to the floor as soon as Lucy lifted her head. He made a small whimper. But nothing hinted to his waking up. Happy shuffled a little when Lucy laid him on the couch, but he too made no movement of waking.

"Baka, going and falling asleep before the movie was over... you must have been really tired."

Lucy pushed the cat to the side and joined him on the couch. The blue exceed's paws wrapped around her wrist, and his face tightened. Lucy smiled softly and stroked his fur. She laid her head down on the arm of the couch, and soon she joined the boys in slumber.

Little did she know, that her hand fell next to Natsu's face. He twitched, and his onyx eyes opened. He smiled, moved his own hand into hers, and closed his eyes again. His thumb slowly brushed over the opal ring as he fell back asleep.

When Lucy awoke neither of the boys could be seen. Her nose twitched with the faint smell of a fire but that was nothing new. Natsu was a fire dragon slayer after all. But as she looked around the house, she began to worry. Where were they?

As she made her way through house, she stumbled upon a door. It was a plain wooden door, like in the rest of the house. What made this door different was the obvious burn marks. They wound up from the bottom like snakes. Lucy shivered, despite the heat leaking out from the door. The pungent smell of smoke seeped through the door. She gently placed her hand on the door and found it to be a little warm, but still okay to touch. Slowly, she pushed it open.

Inside, there was a disaster. The room appeared to have once been a kitchen. There was a blackened stove next to an ashen fridge, which was currently covered in fire. A simple wooden table was slowly turning to ash, and Natsu stood to one side fanning the flames.

"Luce? What — aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"

Lucy ignored the fire dragon's question and ran back to the couch. Grabbing a blanket, she returned to try to smother the flames.

"You baka! What did you try to do?" She screamed over the flames.

Happy kept flying above in circles, providing no real help. "It was my idea, Lucy! I said we should make you some breakfast."

The constant tears flying off his face did little to douse the fire. But as Lucy saw the liquid fly from his face, she got an idea. Running from the fiery kitchen she dashed outside. By the side of the house, there was an old well. She had always avoided it; the moss and grime had turned her away. But today she kept onward and cranked the rusted handle. Her thin arms screamed but she kept at it. Finally, a grimy bucket appeared from the blackness. Sloshing the water about, Lucy ran back into the house.

As soon as she had pushed the door open, she flung the water at the fire. It moved in an incredible arc, splashing over the stove, the fridge, and little bits of the ashen table. There was one more that got wet, however; Natsu. He stood shocked, his hair dripping and limp around his face. His jacket stuck closely to his skin. It revealed the toned muscles that Lucy couldn't look away from. And his eyes looked straight at the blond haired witch, and she lifted her eyes to look back at him defiantly.

"Natsu, you baka! Why didn't you get water or eat the fire?!"

He stared at her dumbfounded. "First," He said, calmer that Lucy had expected from him. "I can't eat my own flames. You know that, baka, and secondly," He began to take off his soaked jacket and wring it out. "Why would I leave a flaming room? That seems stupid."

Lucy stopped. She felt sheepish all of a sudden. She drew in her arms to hug her chest and stared down at her toes, drawing circles on the kitchen floor. "I'm sorry..."

Natsu's eyes widened. He had never seen her pull in so much from her extroverted self. She had always been up for a challenge, never pulling back from anything. He slowly crept towards her without her notice.

"Luce?" He asked in a quiet voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm just a little frazzled. It's not like I normally see you lose control of fire." She sighed and raised her head, her long bangs still covering her eyes.

Natsu's expression softened. He could feel his chest shake with a quiet chuckle. "You know, it's okay to be scared every once in a while. Fear isn't evil. At least once you know what you're scared of you can start to push past it and become stronger."

Slowly, Lucy pushed her bangs out of her eyes. There he was, a little grin on his face and his head lowered to her eye level.

"Where did you learn that?"

"Old man Gildarts. He taught me that at Tenrou Island."

Lucy closed her eyes and chuckled. "Of course. I wouldn't expect you to realize something so deep."

"Hey!" Natsu furrowed his brows. "I can be deep if I want to!"

Lucy grinned an evil grin. "Oh yeah? Prove it, flame for brains."

Natsu stuttered, his mouth like a fish out of water. When he finally collected himself, all he could say was "That's not nice, Luce!"

Lucy laughed and headed for the door.