The Dragon's Mark

Your Dragon's Waiting On You

That evening, at the Guild Hall:

"Levy-chan!"

"Lu-chan!"

The two friends embraced. "I have the book," whispered Lucy to her friend. "Do you mind if we sit down and look at it together?"

Levy frowned. "I thought you and Natsu were going to look at it together?"

"Yeah, well, that wasn't happening," Lucy replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm not sure Natsu has the attention span or focus for this,even if it IS about him!"

Levy chuckled and led her friend over to a table. "I think it might be a good idea for me to learn about this as well," she told her friend in a low tone.

Lucy's eyes widened. "You and....?"

"Shh!" Levy interrupted her. "Don't announce it to everyone. However, certain little things have been happening that have made me wonder. I mean, it could all be in my head," she confessed, blushing.

"I doubt it," her friend replied. "It's rare when he's not around you, calling you 'shrimp' and 'short stuff.' Speaking of which, where is he?" Lucy asked, looking around.

"Oh, he and Lily went out on a job," Levy shrugged. The girls ordered tea and started flipping through the book, reading and commenting on different sections.

Finally, they closed the book and looked around. The Guild Hall was almost empty and the lights were starting to dim.

"Whoops! I guess it is getting late," Lucy said, letting out a yawn. She turned to Levy. "So, what do you think?"

"I think I now know way more about dragons then I ever needed. The anatomy part," she said with a pretend shiver, laughing.

Lucy chuckled. "Yeah, I could have done without knowing all that!"

Levy nudged her, teasing, "Yeah, you're right - been there, done that, right?"

Lucy blushed. "Levy!"

"Well, your dragon's waiting on you," Levy said with a grin, pointing over to where Natsu was asleep with his head resting on a table.

As if on cue, Natsu lifted his head up and looked in the girl's direction. "Oi! Luce! You ready to go?"

"Be right there!" Lucy called brightly back to him. She turned to Levy. "So much of this makes more sense to me. Just," she frowned, "I still don't know how to tell him about the training." While studying the book, she had confessed to Levy about her conversation with Loki.

"Lu-chan, I think if you're just honest with him, it'll be fine," Levy said firmly. "Just make sure he's awake when you tell him," she grinned, looking over at a once-again sleeping Natsu.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, plucking him on the back of the head. "I am NOT carrying you home! You can either sleep here or get your tail up and go!"

"Oi, Luce!" grumbled Natsu, rubbing the back of his head. "You're the one who wanted to stay so long!"

Walking home, he perked up and asked, "So, now that I'm awake, we can have some fun when we get home, right?"

Shaking her head, Lucy gave an exasperated smile. "We'll see, Salamander, we'll see."