Fire, Blood and Stars

Chapter 9

It was the long-awaited day, the day Erza would fight Natsu. The entire guild was waiting with bated breath. They had all assembled on a relatively empty road. Erza's knuckles were white from gripping twin swords while Natsu was not even bothered, as usual. Lucy was curious.

"Hey, Gray. How do these fights go most of the time?" Gray thought for a bit. "Well, mostly, Natsu doesn't even have to try, he just has some fun and drinks her blood."

Gray put extra emphasis on that, trying to get Lucy to realize that it was not a normal thing to do. She did realize it too, to an extent. However, when he wasn't looking Lucy had seen the look on his face; whenever someone cringed away from him, she could see it in his eyes, he was alone and sad. And she wasn't going to make it worse.

Master Makarov stood between the two. He raised his hand and shouted, "Begin!"

Erza slashed her swords at Natsu, only to find that he wasn't there. From behind her, Natsu smirked. "Peek-a-boo."

Erza jumped away from him and glared at him. She thrust her sword at him, but froze in horror as her sword pierced his stomach with no resistance. Wait, no resistance?

Somebody gripped her hand from behind, and she turned to see Natsu standing there. The figure in front of her disappeared.

"An illusion," Erza cursed. Natsu lifted her hand up and pinned her other hand. He held it at the wrist and let the elongated nail of his thumb rest against her artery.

Lucy had known he was going to do this. She didn't even fault him for it. She didn't want to hurt him. But she didn't want to see it. She shut her eyes tightly and moved backwards into the crowd.

Natsu had always brought about fear, so he couldn't sense it. Everybody was frightened around him, so it had become normal. He had certainly not expected to feel a sharp spike in fear from behind him.

It must be Lucy, he thought. He had given her his blood. He didn't like these side effects, though, but every time he thought he shouldn't have done so something deep inside gave him a jolt. Could it be...no, it wasn't.

He looked back and saw Lucy trembling, her eyes closed tightly. Natsu looked back and forth between her and Erza, who had closed her eyes, resigning herself to what was to come, although not after struggling with all her might.

Aw hell, he cursed inwardly. He gave Erza a pinch at a pressure point at the back of the neck, rendering her unconscious. He let go off her hand. Then he turned and walked away as she sank to the ground. The crowd parted for him, people muttering among themselves in confusion, as he walked over to Lucy. Her eyes were squeezed shut tightly, and she was trembling all over.

Lucy felt somebody tap her chin and her eyes immediately jerked open. "Is it over?" She asked in a single breath, before she noticed it was Natsu. "Oh, Natsu! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Shush. Don't worry about it." Natsu wasn't hurt. Or at least, he was trying not to be. It was a natural reaction, and she had worked so hard not to let it show. While patting her softly on the head, he felt a sort of warmth in his stomach. It wasn't bad, just different.

Lucy was spacing out as Natsu patted her head. As he walked away, she looked at him. He wasn't a bad person. Why had she shut her eyes from fear? She had no right to hurt him.

She looked around and saw everyone looking at her and whispering. "He didn't drink Erza's blood because of her." "He even patted her on the head." "Is she as dangerous as he is?" Lucy almost laughed at that one. Then she became confused. Natsu hadn't drunk Erza's blood, because of her? Why not? It struck her that if he hadn't drunk Erza's blood, he would be hungry. She immediately went after him.

Natsu had been deep in thought when he felt the pangs of hunger. For the millionth time, he questioned his decision. He was seriously contemplating going back, when he heard Lucy running to him.

When she caught up, she spoke nervously, "Um, I heard you let Erza go. Don't take this the wrong way. I'm really grateful for that, but if you're hungry, you could um...I don't know...maybe, take some of mine?"

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