The Dragon's Mark

Kicking Butt Right and Left

Later, at the Magic Library:

Lucy had called Crux who had helped them find the book. Lucy and Natsu were now sitting at a table flipping through it.

Lucy was studying the table of contents and figuring out where to start when she heard a soft snore.

"Natsu!" she cried, poking the sleeping mage next to her. "This is about you, you big goof! Stay awake!"

"Sorry, Luce," he replied with a sleepy smile, "but we did get up awfully early." His stomach rumbled and he groaned. "And you tricked me into skipping breakfast!"

"I did not," she mumbled while flipping through the book. "You ate all the granola bars and other food we packed. I can't believe you're still hungry!"

Natsu moaned and laid his head on the table. "That wasn't enough! I can't focus when I'm so hungry!" His stomach growled in agreement.

Lucy sighed. She should have brought Levy! "Do you think we can take books out of the library?" she wondered aloud. She looked around, but like the last time she was here (she shuddered thinking of Virgo's alternate form punishing her!), there were no librarians and no way to check out a book, like a normal library.

"Sure," mumbled Natsu, his voice muffled by the table that he had his head laying down on, "and then you can look over it while I eat breakfast."

Shaking her head, she stood up, not realizing Natsu had been leaning up against her. He fell to the ground.

"Owww," he moaned, rubbing his head where it had hit the corner of the table. "What did you do that for?"

"Come on, crybaby," Lucy said in what she hoped was a stern voice. Although his childish behavior usually annoyed her, lately she had thought it was kind of cute. She helped him up and tucked the book under her arm. Looking around, she shrugged, saying, "I hope we don't get in trouble for borrowing this. But it IS called a library, so I'm sure no one will mind me borrowing this if we return it."

Later, in a nearby town:

"Geeze, slow down, Natsu! You're going to give yourself a stomach ache!" Lucy watched as her mate shoveled food into his mouth. Just like when we first met, she thought sentimentally, although Happy was with us then.

She started. I just thought of him as my mate! Her eyes widened. It seemed strange to think of it in those terms - boyfriend, husband, lover....yeah, she got those. Mate, though, was strange, but it somehow worked. She shrugged and took a bite of her sandwich.

Her fingers started to tap on the table as she thought about her conversation with Loki. She hadn't mentioned it to Natsu just yet. How to bring it up? Obviously they needed to learn more about this dragon mark and how it worked. She patted the bag next to her that held the book. However, she was really antsy to get started with her training. She'd have to tell Natsu, although she would love for it to be a surprise. She started imagining herself in battle, her teammates as usual taking the lead, when here comes Lucy, kicking butt right and left. The shock on their faces as they realized how strong she really was....

"Luce? Why do you have that weird look on your face?"

Lucy snapped out of it and looked across the table at Natsu. "What weird look?"

Natsu set his fork down on his empty plate. "I don't know. You just had this goofy smile and you started giving this weird chuckle. What are you thinking about?"

"Um, nothing. Don't worry about it," she laughed nervously, waving her hand. "Are you ready to go? If we leave now, we'll be back in Magnolia before dinner!"

Natsu started to grin, but then tilted his head and gave Lucy a questioning look. "You're not tricking me onto a train or carriage or something are you?"