16this is a week late TECHNICALLY pfft but I published them all on time on Tumblr so don't come for me lmaooooo
There was something about him that always felt…off. Natsu could never really explain it himself.
He woke up feeling just fine, it wasn't like he was sick or anything. He got through every day just fine and wasn't failing any of his classes.
He was plenty strong as well, though he couldn't go up against Erza. However, Jellal was the only person who had any real effect on her, which was beside the point.
But there was an odd feeling inside of him every time he conjured his magic, every time he tried to summon the beast within him.
He'd seen Gajeel do it plenty of times, that being him using his dragon force. When scales would cover the entirety of his body and gave him the strength to go toe to toe with Laxus Dreyer of all people.
Not that Natsu couldn't handle Laxus, the times he lost only counted as training matches.
His fire seemed dim, which was the only way he knew how to word it. It was like the flame in his belly was snuffed out by something when he tried to force it to grow.
He brushed aside this matter, knowing he was strong and still had much to learn, so there probably wasn't anything to worry about.
That was until he began to have these weird dreams.
Natsu would draw in a sharp breath as he suddenly opened his eyes, shocked out of his sleeping state.
He looked around his room carefully, his chest settling down from its rapid movement.
He heard a voice that hadn't been there before.
"Natsu…"
It had said, which wasn't a scary thing to say in general. But he didn't recognize the voice.
It was light and bubbly, it made his heart suddenly yearn for more of it.
He turned over and squeezed a pillow tight in his arms.
He decided to brush it off, thinking that it was probably just a dream.
But Natsu couldn't seem to stop dreaming about this voice.
There were some that he remembered. It was usually just him walking around town or in his neighborhood and hearing that voice call out from behind him.
He'd turn around to find no one there, even though it felt as if they were whispering in his ear.
He was more annoyed with the fact that he wasn't annoyed at all. He was excited, jittery, happy at the tone of voice. Something about it ignited the flames that rested in his stomach.
Natsu kept this to himself, thinking that maybe he had just gone crazy and this series of dreams would just end at some point.
But one night as he dreaming of walking through the woods and hearing that voice, when he turned around, a name slipped out of his mouth this time.
"Lucy…"
Something about that name…he couldn't quite remember. It itched at his brain, it clawed at his skin. But who the hell was Lucy?
He decided to ask his parents, nonchalantly to see if they knew or if he was just tripping.
"Lucy?" The name seemed to make them wary, their eyes settling on one another as they all sat at the dinner table.
"Yeah, do we know a Lucy?" He asked again, pursing his lips as his parents seemed to muddle over the decision to tell him or not.
"I guess it's okay, he's eighteen already." Grandine shrugged but looked a bit standoffish like she was scared of him knowing the truth.
"That's true," Igneel nodded his head slowly, turning to face the confused teen.
"She's your mate," His father began, Natsu's eyes slowly widening. "You two met when you were five, she used to live next door to us,"
"W...What?"
"It's rare that the two of you were able to meet at such a young age," He continued, holding Natsu's gaze with a solemn look. "It was hard to explain to that part of you why she couldn't be around every day. You ran away almost every night to go see her."
"When the two of you turned twelve, she had to move away because of her father's job," Grandine said, clearing her throat. "And…you didn't take it very well. Your instincts awakened when you two met, and so they had a big control over your actions. Usually, young dragons are allowed to integrate with that separate personality, but you weren't able to. Dragons don't often listen to reason when they're upset,"
"Did I hurt her?" Natsu asked, feeling chills run down his spine as he felt…well he couldn't really place the feelings he held.
"No, no," Igneel chuckled, sighing with a light smile. "But you really gave it to your old man. And you would've burned down half the neighborhood if we hadn't fire-proofed the whole street."
"We didn't really know what to do, and we couldn't just move to follow behind them. And you were stuck in that state of instinct, crying out for her and hurting anyone who tried to get close to you. So we had my mother lock those memories away, and she suppressed that side of you as well."
"Woah woah woah, wait! What?" He stood up from his seat quickly, anger overtaking his features. "You suppressed my dragon?!"
"You have to understand that you would have hurt yourself, and Lucy," Grandine quickly explained. "If we left you like that you would have run away, you might have taken her against her will! It wasn't safe for either of you."
"B-But you can't just do that! No wonder I can't get in touch with myself, why haven't you—why didn't you…! Urgh! What the hell?!" He clenched his fists, smoke curling from the corners of his mouth as he ran a frustrated hand over his face.
Natsu grimaced and ran from the table, slamming his door roughly behind him. He wasn't even sure what he should be angry about at that moment.
He couldn't even yearn for the loss of his forgotten love or the absence of his better self.
Truthfully, he couldn't be that mad at his parents, they said themselves that they had no other choice. If he was in that much pain because she left…he was scared to know the weight of their sorrow on his heart.
But now he wanted to know her, realize himself, and unlock the precious things he had lost those years ago.
Natsu didn't come back down until the next morning, finding it awkward to be near his parents at all. So he chose to avoid them like the plague, running away before they could say anything to him.
It wasn't the most mature thing to do, but there was a lot he had to process.
"Gray, Erza!" He jogged up to his two best friends as they turned the corner in front of him, the two of them stopping to wait.
"You're out here pretty early," Gray scoffed, glaring as Natsu snatched the rest of the toast he held in his hand.
"I kinda ran away from home," He shrugged, shoving the food in his mouth before Gray had the chance to steal it back. "Before my parents could see me,"
"What? Are you okay?" Erza asked, willingly handing over the rest of her morning yogurt parfait.
"Yeah," Natsu sighed, pouting into the mix of strawberry puree and granola. "They just gave me some heavy stuff to think about. I don't really know what to do with the information they gave me."
"Oh, they finally spill about Lucy?" Erza glared at the ice devil, elbowing him hard in the chest to keep him quiet.
Natsu stopped and stared at them both, his nostrils flaring as he swallowed his mouthful of yogurt.
"You guys knew about her too?!" He shouted, Erza quick to try and explain.
"She was our friend too, Natsu, and your parents made us swear not to tell," She said in a calm voice. "We would have done something if we could have but losing Lucy really did a number on you,"
"Yeah," Gray groaned as he rubbed the sore spot on his chest. "You could've killed someone, it was a serious meltdown. Worse than when one of us steals Erza's cake. My dad had to freeze you solid to get you to stop,"
"Geez…" Natsu quelled the rage that was building up inside him, scrunching his eyebrows together as he frowned. "I really hate not being able to remember any of that. Were you all there for it?"
They both nodded, the trio continuing towards their school in short steps.
"You found out the night before she left and roared your goddamn ass off. I was with Juvia and had to hide her. Dad was afraid she'd evaporate if you got too close." Gray sighed, Natsu feeling his heart drop at the thought.
"Your parents tried to stop you from leaving your house, but eventually you got out into the street. We were all at Lucy's having a goodbye party."
"It was pretty sad," Gajeel hummed, coming out of nowhere from behind them. "You were crying like a fucking baby."
"Shut up," Natsu glared at his cousin, his eyes falling to Juvia who walked beside him. "You weren't scared of me then, were you, Juvia?"
"Oh, no, not at all!" She quickly shook her head. "Juvia thought it was a lovely night in some ways. Gray-sama was so chivalrous when he took Juvia's hand and rushed her upstairs. And Natsu-san was so in love with Lucy-san that he couldn't bear to see her go. It was like a romantic movie,"
"Uh-huh," The devil slapped a hand over her mouth and hid his blush. "Still a real pain in the ass otherwise."
"What'd Lucy think then? Did I scare her?"
"She wanted to go calm you down, but no one let her out of the house," Erza sighed. "It was painful for her too, the two of you were really close."
"It was pretty sick with the way you two were always all over each other," Gajeel shivered and stuck his tongue out. "So fucking lovey-dovey all the time,"
"Juvia thought it was sweet! Gray-sama would always––"
"Shush! They don't need to know that!" He hissed at the siren, Juvia giggling as she clung to his arm.
The gang told stories about him and Lucy for the remainder of their day, going into detail about her personality, tiny quirks, and things Natsu loved most about the blonde.
Gray was embarrassed to relay most of the information that he knew, knowing the most since Natsu never stopped sharing anything with the devil when they were younger.
The dragon was happy to learn these forgotten things, to hear about the girl he'd been absolutely crazy about. Some of what he learned was embarrassing, especially with the way Juvia told it. But he felt a bit of pride in his chest, knowing that he wasn't afraid to be affectionate with Lucy even when they were in public. It showed how comfortable he was around her, and how much he wanted her to know that she was loved.
He went home that night with a swelled heart, not even thinking about how he should face his parents.
He wasn't mad at them anymore; he just figured the conversation would be awkward. What was he even going to do now that he knew about her and his dragon?
"We went ahead and decided to call Lucy's family last night," Grandine said abruptly as she set down their dinner. Natsu's eyes widened as he looked up form the table.
"I…I—didn't you want me to stay away from her?"
"That was when you were younger, I'm sure you're more than capable of handling a reunion now," Igneel chuckled, his fork clattering against the plate. "It was unfair of us to tell you everything without looking for a proper solution."
"Okay...so, what now then? Are you going to call Porly-obaa-san to fix my memories?"
"Lucy is the trigger to unlocking them," Grandine clarified as she passed the bread. "I set up a date for you two tomorrow. She's in Hargeon at the moment, so you can take the train to meet her."
"Woah, woah, a date? That's…" He pouted as his parents laughed at the sight of their son's sudden blush. "W-Well, won't it be weird for me to see her all of a sudden?"
"Lucy remembers everything." Igneel shook his head, grinning as Natsu only blushed more. "Her mother said she's been waiting for the chance to finally see you again,"
Natsu exhaled a deep breath as he sat on the early morning train to Hargeon, his hands clasped together tightly in his lap.
Everything seemed like it was happening too fast like he really shouldn't have been on that train.
Even if Lucy did remember everything, wouldn't it still be weird? To just suddenly see each other, and then what? Pick up right where they left off?
And if his memories were to unlock at the sight of her, how would she be prepared for his reawakening? What if he were still separated from himself when it happened? But his parents were confident that things would at least be somewhat okay...they put their faith in Lucy to handle whatever the outcome would be.
He was given a time and an address; Lucy would be meeting him in a park adjacent from the ocean, one not too far from the train station.
When he stepped out onto the train platform, he looked down at the map on his phone and began following the traced layout that would lead him to their meetup location.
He felt nervous and excited as he approached the park, glad it was basically empty at this time of day.
She'd be near the northside entrance, underneath a large tree towards the center of the park, so his mother had told him.
He stuffed his hands in his pants pockets, his eyes darting around, and looking for his supposed partner's fabled blonde hair.
A gust of wind rushed past him, carrying the salty smell of the sea, as well as an intoxicating aroma that made him stop in his tracks.
He looked to the right and saw a girl standing between the trees, her bare feet stepping onto the picnic blanket she'd laid out. A hefty basket sat upon it, and she swayed slightly with her hands held behind her back.
Natsu gulped and felt a shiver crawl down his spine, feeling a rush of magic swell in his heart.
It began with a burst of fire at the pit of his stomach, the flames raging, and climbing within him. It seemed to move and connect to the other parts within him, rushing through his blood and his bones, igniting everything it could touch. He didn't know how cold he was up until that point, missing the feeling of his fire spread out like this.
A weight lifted off of his shoulders, one he hadn't realized was there. He felt more relaxed, his posture improved, the colors around him were suddenly brighter. Natsu could smell bread baking miles away, hear the cry of a baby from a house on the other side of town.
He heard a voice in the back of his head, his own, but at the same time, it was foreign. It was deeper and instinctual, spreading its legs out like a cat on a rug.
His thoughts rushed with the lost memories of his childhood, those containing solely Lucy and the ones he had with her and their friends.
He remembered those nights his parents told him about when he snuck out of his bedroom window to fly into hers. He remembered how it felt to cuddle the vibrant star, how it felt to listen to her laugh, to hold her hand, to give her soft and affectionate kisses.
He remembered what it felt like to lose her and how much his heart ached when he received the news. He had no choice but to scream out his pain, want to get close to her, hold on for dear life, and remember the feeling of her skin against his.
"Luce…" It felt good to breathe out her name, to run towards her again. She turned to look at the approaching figure, her eyes widening as he came closer and closer.
"Natsu!" She said as he quickly scooped her up in his arms, pressing a fervent kiss to her lips as he desperately held her close.
"Fuckin' hell…" He groaned, resting his forehead against her now pink skin. "You have no idea how much I missed you,"
"I missed you more," She sighed, nuzzling her head against his chest. "It was hard knowing that you couldn't have even thought about me this whole time."
"I'm sorry," He muttered, peppering her cheek with small kisses. "That must've been hard for you,"
"I knew I'd see you again, so it's okay," She giggled, pulling away slightly to grab his hand. "Are you hungry? I made brunch for the two of us,"
"Think it could wait a few? I need to hold you, just a bit longer." Natsu sat down with her in his arms, his head laid against her best as she gingerly ran a hand through his hair.
in other news, I have to stay home for two weeks to self-isolate cuz someone I worked with has a positive symptom
I'm healthy and keeping track of my temp!
