The Love of Dragons- Nalu

Chapter fourteen-remembrance

POV: Lucy

            Sitting in the quiet guild building felt wrong. Very wrong. It was like seeing someone's mouth moving but not hearing any words. Sitting alone, I realized that I never gave him the gift. I had been planning on showing him something at my house later, turned out he didn't get to see it. It was a shame really, because I had finally gotten up the courage to let him read at least the first chapter of my novel. I had bound it in a hardcover and sewn it together myself, all for nothing.

            “Yo, Lucy.” Levy tapped my shoulder and stifled a yawn, the sun was starting to go down.

            “Hmm...” I groaned, lifting my head off the table, “What is it?”

            “Erza.” Levv rubbed one eye and pointed to the red-haired woman sitting at the bar with Cana, the notoriously drunk wizard.

            “Oh dear.” My eyes widened as I took in the scene. Erza had a deep blush and was smiling hugely, laughing loudly and nearly tipping off the stool. Cana next to her was grinning and slapping Erza on the back. The two were both massively drunk and it didn't seem like it would end well with Erza's easily ignited temper.

            “I've never seen her get drunk before, not even drink at all.” Levy observed, “Anyway, you may want to do something about it. I'm going home to sleep.”

            “Goodnight.” I murmured as she left, then I redirected my gaze to Erza. The woman took another huge gulp of liquid and poked Cana in the face,

            “You have squishy cheeks!” she exclaimed, Cana giggled and poked Erza back,

            “So do you!”

            “I do not!”
    

“Do to!” Their argument began to sound like that of two five-year-olds and I saw Erza's face getting flushed.

            “Hey, guys!” I walked up to them and quickly removed their hands from each other's faces. “Maybe you should go back home now?” I suggested, trying to pull Erza off the stool.

            “Whyn't you come ‘ere an fight meh? Le’s see who has chubby cheeks!” Erza waved sluggishly to Cana as I dragged her by the arms out of the building. 
       

“Come on, Erza! I can’t drag you the whole way!” I groaned as I hauled her down the street.

            “Lucy! Guess what?” she giggled a bit and rolled her eyes back into her head,

            “What!?” My arms stopped straining and I just flopped down on the ground with her collapsed next to me.

            “Natsu’s gone.” She sounded halfway sure, but the roughness and slur of her words still pierced my heart. Natsu really was gone and even in her drunken state Erza knew it.

            “I know.”

            “But we’ll get ‘im back and you guys will get married and Igneel’ll have to walk you down the aisle ‘cause your dad won’t.” she mumbled on and I felt her head hit my shoulder, she wants him back too, and she thinks we’ll get married…

            “Imagine a dragon walking down the aisle; I wonder how big he is? I wonder if Natsu misses him.” She continued, waving her hands in the air like she was painting a picture.

            “Yeah, I know he does. I can tell whenever he sees Gildarts and Cana.” I murmured, then I grabbed Erza’s arm and hauled her up,

            “I can walk.” She wobbled a bit and then took her own steps,

            “How about you stay at my place for a while?” I suggested as I caught her from a particularly large topple.

            “I’m fine!” she insisted, but the gracelessness with which she walked said otherwise.

            “Just stay at my place, it doesn’t mean that you’re not fine, we can hang out like friends.” I slapped on a bright smile and hauled her with me, talking the whole while. “The street is so empty, you know that little river over there? Acnologia almost fell in it.” I pointed to the distant water, slowly all the memories of Natsu and I setting off for jobs, walking along this very street, came rushing back to me. Immediately I changed the subject, “And when I was younger I always dreamed of marrying a prince, his father, the king, would walk me down the aisle. I also played pretend with my friends, not that I had many, but this one guy – a lot of people mistook him as my brother – would always play dragons with me.” My fake smile began to fade, the stitches holding it onto my cheeks started to unravel. “He would get on his hands and knees and pretend to kidnap me because I was the princess, I guess I loved dragons even when I was younger…” Finally Erza and I arrived at my apartment and I tugged her up the stairs, trying to avoid the odd looks from my landlady.

“Thanks, Lucy.” The older mage said, the blush was diminishing on her face and she wiggled her fingers individually. “It seems that some of us are just born with hopeless expectations…” she stifled a yawn, “An easily manipulated mage can’t be with a man who insists upon wrong deeds of the past and a princess can’t love a feared dragon’s son.” Erza took one look up at me before letting her head sink into the thick carpet and falling into a fitful sleep.

“Get some good rest.” I pulled one of the sheets off of my bed and draped it over her shoulders, noticing that the deep wound through her fairy tail tattoo still hadn’t healed and was heavily bandaged.

“I thought you may have to take care of her.” Grey appeared, sitting up on my bed,

“GREY!?” I yelled, almost tripping backwards over Erza.

“What? Natsu did this all the time.” He shrugged and started to tell me something else but I silenced him,

“Grey, I’ll go with you and Erza whenever you’re ready, but tonight I need space.” I took a deep breath and gently slapped his shoulder to shoo him off the bed. “By the way, you may want to…” I stared at him for a long moment, he was wearing his long white coat with the belts and everything, it seemed ridiculous but that may have been the first time that he showed up at my house with all his clothes on.

“What’s wrong? What do I want to do?” he asked, clearly confused,

“Oh, nothing, never mind.” I waved it off and pulled away the remaining, pink sheet from my mattress,

“Luce, I just thought you should know that…we are going to get Natsu back.” He gave me the most determined look I had ever seen, it looked like Natsu’s face when he took on a particularly strong opponent. His eyebrows lowered and some combination of a smirk and glower crossed his face, his icy eyes blazed with passion and purpose; this side of Grey would do anything in his power to protect our friends.