Crimson ( discontinued )

Chapter 24 : Stay

Disclaimer : I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. Hiro Mashima does.

Third Person Pov

"This is the right place...I guess" the twin dragon slayers, along with their exceeds looked at the small cabin in the woods, unsure of what to do.

Damn, is Loke-san just messing with us?! The shadow dragon slayer hissed in annoyance while holding his shivering exceed in his arms.

"Should we enter inside?" The maroon furred exceed asked his partner as he sat on his shoulder. As he was about to reply, an oddly familiar loud voice rang in the air.

"Karyū no Hōkō!"

A barrel of fire came from the inside of the small house, causing an explosion. A man was flying in the air who seemed unconcious, clothes burned.

Fire dragon slaying magic? Then...

With that, they saw a figure stepping out the dark smoke due to the burned wood and explosion. In his arms was the celestial spirit mage they were looking for, followed by the blue furred exceed who was flying beside them.

"Natsu-san"

The said teem looked at them. His salmon locks grew long reaching two inches below his shoulders. He wore a black cape with the bottom part of the fabric burned out.

"Ah! Sabertooth mages!" Happy declared as they approached them. "What could you be doing here?"

Lector spoke for their two human companions who seemed daze about their fellow fire dragon slayer's appearance. "We came to rescue Lucy-san, yes!"

"Rescue?" Natsu asked, eyebrows knitting. "When we found her, she was about to get killed and you say you four came to rescue her?"

Rogue knitted his eyebrows.

Why is Natsu here in the first place? Did he not left the country to go 'training'? And why does this guy seemed to sound a bit more mature than he was the last time he encountered him?

"Says the one who left her alone" Sting said, taking a step forward to take the blonde away from the pinkette. "Give Blondie back to us"

"Lucy belongs to us in Fairy Tail" Natsu stated as he locked glares with the light dragon slayer. Aura began glowing around them not until Happy decided to intervene.

"Um..actually Natsu" he then gestured at the Sabertooth mark on the blonde's right hand.

"What the heck?"

...

Yukino sweatdropped as she stood beside their guild master who was in the middle of a glaring battle against their pink haired visitor unlike their exceeds who were happily dining in the hall.

"U-um.." she tried to speak only to get cut off by Natsu who growled in annoyance.

"I'm clearing things once more" he started, crossing his arms. "Luce belongs to Fairy Tail and not here"

At that, Sting let out a dry laugh. "Oh yeah? Blondie chose to stay here after you fairies left her alone!"

"That doesn't mean you would take advantage of her broken heart to persuade her onto joining this place!"

"What the hell are you planning to do after taking her back then?" the light dragon slayer asked, calming himself and using his reasonable self to solve this.

"We're gonna bring Fairy Tail back together" Natsu stated, final.

Sting placed his hands in his temples. "What a delusional dream you have then"

Bringing a guild back together ? There's so many job to do. Gathering the members who might be far away from where they currently at, looking for the lost guild master and the headache to be brought by the council.

"And don't go deciding by yourself" Sting glared. "Lucy-san gets to choose her own path"

"We'll see which guild will she choose then" with that, the fire dragon slayer stormed off to go on the room where the blonde was brought into, the two sabertooth mages following shortly after him.

...

The blonde opened her eyes only to see a plain white ceiling. She tried to sit up only to slump down in the bed once more when her body ached and forced her to lay down.

She let out a small sigh only to hear the door creak open.

"You're finally awake"

The shadow dragon slayer placed a tray of food in a small table beside her. "You were asleep for two days, everyone was getting worried"

Wait, what exactly happened to her?

In a minute, the memories on the yatch and dungeon sinked in, bitterness filling the blonde's stomach making her almost vomit in disgust and fright.

"Natsu" she mumbled, eyes darting at Rogue. "He was there right?"

The shadow dragon slayer gave a small sigh and nodded shortly at her question. He didn't really like the attitude of the Fire Dragon Slayer towards them and he did not want Lucy to leave their guild.

"Where is he?" the celestial mage asked, forcing herself to sit up and stand. Before she could force her feet to balance herself, Rogue pushed her back on the bed.

The blonde whimpered. "What was that for?"

"Do you plan to go with him? Back on Fairy Tail?" he asked briefly.

The blonde shook her head. "I told you already, I won't. I just.." then, tears began forming in the corner of her eyes.

Rogue's eyes widened as his elbows almost gave up as it weakened at the sight of the almost crying maiden below him.

"I missed them you know..." she finished, covering her eyes.

Rogue regained his composure and placed his hand behind her back helped her stand up and used the chance to wrap her in a tight hug.

Cheeks flushing red, Lucy felt her heartbeat speeding up.

"W-what's wrong?" she asked.

The shadow dragon slayer shook his head and buried his nose on the crook of her neck.

"I missed you, Lucy-san"

The blonde snaked her shaking hands around his waist and hugged him closer and snuggled in his torso.

He smelled like home. This place felt like home.

She felt safe.

"I'm home.."

...

A/n : I got addicted into baking goodies these past few weeks that I got lazy to update😹 If you haven't checked out my other book, "Bittersweet" check it out 😄 Stay safe lovelies 🤗❤️