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eryiss · 3 years

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Chapter Four - Equilibrium

Summary: The Justine's were always a criminal family. The Dreyar's were forced into it due to prohibition. After gaining power and influence in the criminal world, the families were forced into a fragile truce. This was until the recently disowned Freed Justine arrived at Laxus Dreyar's door, demanding a job in exchange for information that could bring his family down. [Fraxus Multi-Chapter]

This was written as part of the Mashima’s Heroes Big Bang, hosted by @ft-ez-bb. I have been paired up with the wonderful @fairiesherefairiesthere. Remember to give them lots of love.

You can read this under the cut, on Fanfiction, or on Archive of Our Own. You can find the chapter masterpost here.

Chapter Four – Equilibrium

~Six Months Later~

When they had agreed on how to deal with the Justine's, Laxus had made a rule for himself. He wouldn't allow himself to be consumed by his fear about what Freed was going through. He wouldn't let every waking minuet be hell as he tortured himself by wondering what awful things might be happening to Freed. No matter what it took, Laxus promised himself that he would get on as normal, keep himself busy and forcing his thoughts to the side whenever they got dark.

But there was an exception to that rule. That came whenever he found himself sitting in the Eisenwald hotel, a front for lots of illegal activity where discretion was expected. Because the only reason for him being at the hotel was when Freed had requested to see him, which always brought a rush of anxiety.

"Come on," Laxus mumbled to himself, hunched over at the hotel room's desk. "Just fucking get here."

A night prior an advertisement for the Eisenwald hotel had arrived at Laxus' door, as was Freed's way of requesting a meeting from Laxus without detection. The advertised room price had been $10 per night, which was how Freed told Laxus that their meeting would take place at ten pm. When Laxus had shown the advertisement to the person at the front desk, he'd been given a key and told which room to wait in.

The first time they'd met like this had been a stark reminder of just how good at being a criminal Freed could be, because he'd managed to organise everything without being detected by his father and family. It was equal parts impressive, humbling, and terrifying.

As Freed entered his thoughts again, nervousness flooded through Laxus. He never knew what Freed would look like when he walked through the door. The first time they'd met, Freed had been healthy and seemed as he always did. But the next time he'd been bloody, bruised and simmering with anger after some of his father's men had attacked him in protest of his reintroduction to the family; he'd only wanted to meet to see Laxus in person again. Laxus didn't know what to expect when Freed arrived, and it racked his nerves.

He just wished he would get there.

Eventually, the door to the room opened, and Laxus reached for the gun attached to his waist on instinct. He stood up, ready to act if any of the Justine Family members had discovered their meetings and wished to take a shot at him. It was possible, and Laxus couldn't be too careful so he kept his finger rested against the trigger.

But it was Freed, and Laxus' heart fluttered at the sight of him.

He seemed like himself. There were no injuries other than the cut on his lip from last time, which both men knew would never fully heal. But he was well dressed, clean and healthy looking, and Laxus couldn't ask for more.

Without speaking, both men walked to one another. Freed kicked the door closed behind him, wrapping his arms around Laxus in a strong hug that Laxus clung onto tightly. To have Freed in his arms again, safe and alive and seemingly without injury was something Laxus hadn't experiences nearly enough, and he would take every opportunity he could to make the most of it.

They remained silent for a short while, relishing one another's presence and the stability that they promised each other. It was these moments where Laxus wished he had fought harder against letting Freed leave and return to his father. Because as much Laxus missed Freed when he wasn't there, he wasn't the one in danger like Freed was; he didn't have to see the worst that the Justine Family had to offer; and he wasn't the one who was looking over his shoulder every day for the last half a year. The strength of Freed's hug showed Laxus just how much he was missed in return, and Laxus hated that Freed ever needed to miss him that much. Freed should never have to miss him because he should always be there for him.

"Are you okay?" Laxus murmured into Freed's neck, voice slightly gravelly.

"Yes, I just needed to see you," Freed spoke quietly, and Laxus felt the vibrations against his collarbones. "You're okay as well, aren't you?"

"I missed you," Laxus confessed, gently running his hand up and down Freed's back just so he could feel the man in his arms. "Was worried about you, but you probably already know that. But I've been fine. You sure you're okay."

"I'm as good as I can be, given the situation," Freed nodded slightly as he spoke, and Laxus knew that was the best he could ask for.

They pulled out of each other's arms, though Laxus immediately cupped Freed's cheeks and kissed him. Freed readily reciprocated, leaning against Laxus and moving his lips with practiced movements. The thrill of kissing Freed still remained, but it now mingled with the incredible sensation of comfort and safety and relief. Despite his absence in his life, Freed had become synonymous with home for Laxus, and Laxus loved kissing him and holding him whenever he could.

He would have loved it if they could just stay like this for the night. To be in each other's arms, share a meal in the privacy of the room, to fall asleep side by side. But he knew that they needed to talk – they always did in these meetings – and the small folder Freed had tossed onto the bed was a reminder of that.

"So," He whispered after pulling apart. "What do you need to talk about?"

"Well, the last two months have been productive," Freed said, walking away from Laxus and towards the folder on the bed. His tone seemed more downtrodden now he was speaking about his family again. "I thought it might be best if you looked after it from now on. Not only does it give you a bigger picture of what we've got against him, it also means there's less evidence of what I've been doing in my rooms, should someone start looking into me."

"You think that people are getting suspicious?" Laxus asked, looking at Freed slightly panicked. "If you're in danger we stop it. I ain't gonna let you go back if you think they're onto you."

"Nobody suspects anything, I just want to keep it that way," Freed said placatingly, and Laxus tried to believe him. When Freed avoided his gaze slightly, Laxus frowned and tipped his chin to force eye contact. "I was thinking that maybe it's getting near the point where I wouldn't have to return."

Laxus' stomach lurched.

"You think we've got enough?" He asked, voice cracking slightly. "If we took it to the police then we might get 'em locked up? And you could come back to me?"

"Perhaps," Freed said, sitting on the bed and taking Laxus with him. He cupped Laxus' hands softly and looked at him seriously. "I don't know if we're ready, I honestly don't. I don't remember everything that I've given you in the past, so I might be overly optimistic about our chances, but I think at the very worst we're nearly there. That's why I wanted to meet you, rather than just having someone deliver it to your door like I did in the past, because I wanted your opinion on whether or not it's time I return."

"Course I'll help," Laxus replied almost automatically.

"I need you to be objective about it, though," Freed demanded softly. "It would be very easy for us both to say that I should come back today, but we need to be realistic. Can you promise me that?"

"I will," Laxus nodded. "Well, I can try my best. But I do want you back with me."

"I want to come back too," Freed agreed quietly.

They rested their heads against each other, closing their eyes and breathing softly. Laxus stroked his fingers across Freed's hand as they sat side by side, knowing that he had do what Freed had said despite every instinct telling him to not let Freed out of his sight. The very fact that they could discuss Freed coming home was better than what Laxus had expected, and Laxus put all his hope into the fact that Freed would be where he belonged sooner rather than later.

Eventually they got to work, looking through the information that Freed had gathered against his family. Even being as objective as he could, Laxus was shocked by just how much evidence Freed had collected.

At the start of Freed's time with his family, he'd only been able to get scraps of information and evidence. Small fragments, the occasional letter, and the odd thing that implicated his father. But as he regained the trust he had once held, and he was allowed more access to the crimes committed, his gathered evidence had gotten more undeniable and had greatly increased in quantity.

This haul of evidence was his largest yet, and Laxus almost couldn't believe how detailed it was. Every important and influential member of the family had full accounts on them, almost enough to have them all put in jail simply based off of that. But Freed also had contracts stating the family's wrongdoings in general, as well as a list of people who might be able to testify his family's guilt. There were also pictures of crimes taking place, letters between Freed's father and known criminals, and even a damn gun with one of Freed's brother's fingerprints on it.

"This is a lot, Freed," Laxus said, placing down the last file on the bed. "This is so much. How did you even manage this?"

"I often used to sneak around my father. Both socially and professionally, my father and I had differences in opinion, so I learned how to avoid him," Freed shrugged. "That, and the fact that they're repulsive people. Ever damn one of them, I can't believe I used to be like that honestly. I've been impatient to leave them, I suppose that helped."

"I'm glad," Laxus shrugged. "Pretty sure you know my stance on getting you out."

"Do you think this is enough?" Freed asked, looking over the spread of information covering the bed. "It does seem substantial. Perhaps I'd convinced myself that we'd never have enough, but looking at it again… maybe it's time."

"Freed, if we give this to the police they'll throw a fucking party," Laxus said seriously. "This is enough. It's more than enough. It's fucking air tight."

"Yes," Freed nodded, then smiled. A tentative smile that lit up his face. "It is, isn't it."

Before Laxus could speak, Freed was on him, kissing him with an energy that he hadn't shown since he'd left to work with his father. Laxus took a moment to catch up with the action, kissing Freed back with the same level of enthusiasm and gusto. As Freed pushed against him, Laxus wrapped his arms around his waist to pull him close. A weight seemed to lift from Laxus' gut, one that he had long since come to terms with.

As they pulled away for breath, Laxus smiled with a look that could only be described as elated. He stroked Freed's face with his thumbs, the delightful feeling of his anxiety leaving flooding throughout him. Because Freed was going to be coming back, he would no longer be forced to deal with murderers and evil men every day.

"Are you coming back tonight?" Laxus asked, and Freed shook his head slightly. Laxus' smile fell. "Why not?"

"We need to be careful about this, Laxus," Freed spoke gently, almost remorsefully. "The police might take time to act, and if I suddenly disappeared they'd get suspicious. That might lead them to you, and I won't allow that."

"So when are you gonna leave?"

"Whenever I can be sure of both your safety and mine," Freed sighed a little, though smiled at Laxus as his expression fell further. "The moment they start arresting people, I will be at your side. And I don't intend to leave it."

It was meant to placate Laxus, but a thought struck him, and panic rose through him again. It was a different kind of fear from what he'd felt when Freed was with his family, but one equally bad. Freed seemed to notice the sudden spike in his anxiety and began holding Laxus' hands firmly, keeping him grounded rather than letting his worries overtake him.

"What if they arrest you?" Laxus suggested. "You've been working with them, they might think you're a part of it. Fuck, if you go to jail you'll be stuck with them-"

"I've thought about that too, Laxus," Freed said calmly, and Laxus looked up from his lap. "I knew it was a risk when I suggested we do this, actually, and I've done something about it," Freed shifted slightly, reaching into his suit-jacket's pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. He handed it to Laxus, smiling a little as Laxus unfolded it. "I didn't tell you about it until now because I knew you wouldn't approve."

Laxus frowned, and looked down at the paper. It was a letter, written in Freed's handwriting, with his obvious signature at the bottom. As Laxus read through the short paragraphs, his hands on the paper clenched tightly. The letter was Freed taking credit for the evidence.

"You said it'd be anonymous," Laxus snapped.

"I did, but it was never going to work that way," Freed admitted quietly, and Laxus glared at him. Had he planned this from the start? Laxus went to speak, but Freed stopped him. "Without me, this is just a pile of paper. They'd say it was falsified or unreliable. Without someone like me to credit it, nothing would happen, and he'd get away with everything."

"What if he finds out?" Laxus growled. "He kicked you out for fucking men. If he finds out you tried to ruin him, he'll fucking torture and kill you."

"I know what he's capable of," Freed snapped back. "But I am not going to let him get away with his shit anymore. He's an abhorrent person and I will make damn sure he rots behind bars, and if risking myself is the way to do that then I will. I will do anything to make sure the remainder of his life is hell, and I am deadly serious about that."

"Freed, he's a murderer! If he even thinks…" A horrible thought occurred to Laxus. "You ain't thinking about testify against him, are you?"

"I have to," Freed retorted.

"You fucking don't!" Laxus yelled. "This is enough. We've got enough!"

"I don't care!" Freed snarled. "That man - that fucking cruel bastard who calls himself a father - made my life fucking hell. He did everything he could to turn me into him, and should I show a hint of individuality I was beaten. Everything about me was wrong to him; so much so that he disowned me for something a better man wouldn't have care about. And even then, he couldn't simply leave me. He had to attack my friends, the people who would show me more care than he could dream of. He hurt the people I love; simply for the fact they offered me a life he denied me! He is a cruel, vindictive, jealous man, and the moment he tried to hurt you I knew I would go to hell and back should it bring him down!"

Freed was panting now, and Laxus wrapped an arm tightly around his shoulders. He was shivering with anger, and Laxus pressed his lips to the side of Freed's head.

"I will see that man lose everything. His freedom, his safety, his money and his empire. I will make sure he loses every damn part of the life he cares for. I will watch as the colour drains from his face, as the fear blooms in his eyes, as the realisation sets in and his future becomes clear," Freed stopped, panting again. He continued in a whisper. "I will relish every moment of pain I cause him, and I will not do it behind the veil of anonymity. I am owed that."

"Hey," Laxus whispered softly, holding Freed close. "Focus on me. Come on, eyes on me."

Laxus cupped Freed's face, resting their foreheads together and remaining quiet as Freed's breathing slowly became more calmed. Freed was shuddering slightly as the rush of anger subsided, and Laxus wished he could do something to lower the anguish that he was feeling. He could only be there for Freed, and he would do so.

"I understand you're worried about me, and that you don't want me to get hurt," Freed whispered. "But I need to do this."

"I know you do," Laxus conceded.

"And you won't object to it?"

"I won't," Laxus agreed. "But you gotta promise me that you'll come to me if you need me. If he starts acting weird, or you even think for a second that he might have picked up on what's happening, you leave and come to me. No objections, no telling yourself you're being paranoid. If there's even a tiny hint he might know, you come home and stay with me."

"I will," Freed promised, and Laxus believed him.

"When d'you need to go back?" He asked after a moment, stroking Freed's cheeks absently.

"I don't have any assignments tomorrow, so as long as I show my face at the house sometime in the day he won't be suspicious," Freed shrugged after a moment of thought. "So I could sleep here if you'd like. It's not the most hygienic-"

"Stay," Laxus demanded. "Please."

"Of course," Freed nodded slightly. There was a look of hesitance in his eyes, and Laxus frowned. "Could you… can we not… would it be okay if you just held me tonight? Do you mind?"

"Course I don't mind," Laxus assured him.

He carefully removed the papers from the bed, placing them back in the files that they'd been in when Freed first arrived. By the time the dossier of evidence was back to what it had been before, Freed had begun to undress, and Laxus quickly did the same. Sans clothing, they climbed into the crisp, cold sheets of the bed, wrapping their arms around each other. Laxus smiled, slightly sadly, as Freed buried his face in the crook of Laxus' neck, as if looking for protection. It was a show of vulnerability that Laxus expected didn't come easy to Freed.

"You never have to ask me to hold you, y'know," Laxus assured him, voice a whisper. "You told me you'd always love me, you know I feel the same, right? You know that I love you?"

"I do," Freed whispered, pressing his lips against Laxus' collarbone in a kiss.

"I'd marry you, if I could," Laxus confessed, and Freed looked up towards him. "I've thought about it a lot. If there wasn't this bullshit about two men being together, I'd do whatever I could to be your husband."

"You wouldn't have to do much. If you asked me, I'd take you to city hall and get it done now, were it possible," Freed said, smiling a little. "Though, what is a marriage but two people making a promise to love one another for an eternity. I already feel like that to you; I've committed myself to you, Laxus. Wholly and fully."

The words made Laxus swallow, and he almost felt a tear prick in his eye.

He went to speak again, to stumble out a reciprocation that would be nowhere near as eloquent nor romantic as Freed's words had been, but his lover acted before he could. He leant up, and gave a lingering soft kiss to Laxus, that made him feel so damned loved he could barely understand it.

"Just hold me," Freed told him in a whisper. "That's all the response I'll need."

And Laxus let out a quivering breath, pulling Freed closer to him. The small smile on Freed's face told Laxus that he understood just how much Laxus did care for him, and the fact Freed had pre-empted Laxus' struggles with words told him that Freed was truly perfect for him. A few tears did prick at him this time, and as he slowly stroked the other man's hair he knew that no night would be as good as one shared with Freed.

He didn't know how much time had passed, nor if Freed was asleep or not, by the time he looked down to his lover. He gently stroked his cheek, and in a whisper almost inaudible, he spoke again.

"I've committed to you too, Freed," His voice quivered a little. "Every damn part of me."

~Three Months Later~

The New York Telegraph

BREAKING: Justine Crime Syndicate Verdict Given, Family Patriarch Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

By: Jellal Fernandes

The legal court battle between the State of New York and accused Justine Family Crime Syndicate has finally come to an end after two months of intense and aggressive campaigning. Yesterday at four thirty-three pm, the jury of twelve came to a unanimous verdict of guilty against the members of the Justine Family and their associates.

After months' worth of evidence, character witnesses, testimonies and controversies, the infamous court case has come to an end. A spokesperson from the New York County Courthouse today confirmed that charges against Augustus Justine, among others, have been deemed credible, and appropriate sentencing has been doled out, thus brining and end to the criminal trial of the decade, which has captured the interest of the nation.

Speaking with lead prosecutor, Warrod Sequen, it is the Telegraph's understanding that the charges of mass-murder, grand larceny, criminal damage, arson, bribery and embezzlement (among others) against Augustus Justine have been found guilty. Sequen states that Justine will face multiple life sentences, all of which will be given without bail nor early release due to the seriousness of his crimes. It is suspected that in the days following, when other high-ranking members of the Justine Syndicate are given their own verdicts, similar sentencing will be given. Sequen claims that "today is a victory for justice and for New York," and that "the streets will be significantly safer from now on."

Often credited as the bedrock of the prosecution's case was Augustus' own son, Freed Justine. Records state that evidence collected by the younger Justine gave police the justification and standing to arrest the Justine Family's most influential members, and without him it would be likely that no action against them would have been made.

Also pivotal was Justine's character and witness testimony, where he spoke at length about the "monstrous, inhuman" nature of his father. Those in the courtroom state that Augustus Justine was visibly angry, often interrupted his son's testimony in rage filled tirades, wherein he threatened violence and revenge against his son, and was eventually removed from the courtroom so proceedings could continue. It is also stated that Freed Justine didn't seem affected nor shaken by his father's threats.

Although the younger Justine has made no public statement, he is quoted in his cross examination as saying, "my reasoning for going against my father is a combination of moral obligation and personal hatred for the man."

The court case itself was not without its drama. Most infamously, the hotel where the jury were living during the proceedings was broken into during the night, and it is believed that had hotel staff not immediately called the police, the intruders would have broken into the juror's rooms with the intent to threaten them into giving an innocent verdict. The perpetrators of this crime have been linked back to the Justine Family, and their trials have been scheduled for later this year. It is expected that they will face charges for breaking and entering, intention of grievous bodily harm, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Police proficiency has also been called into question, with many people asking why a criminal organisation as large as the Justine Family's was allowed to continue without prior police intervention. The invasion of the juror's hotel has given further cadence to these criticisms, and Chief of Police Byro Cracey is expected to resign due to mounting pressure.

The unprecedented nature of the trial makes it difficult to predict the greater effect on society that will now occur. However, in the words of the trial's judge Jura Neekis "A vial monster has been put to trial today, and we expect that many similar men will follow. We pray that the justice given today will offer a modicum of comfort to those who were affected by Augustus' actions. The city of New York is constantly shifting and changing, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. I have no doubt that today is a good day for us all."

PUBLIC INTEREST: With Rising Cries of Anger, Are Prohibitions Days Numbers?

By: Jason Thompson

Throughout its entire existence, controversy has surrounded the law of prohibition. With fiery passion coming from people for and against the laws against alcohol, it has always been a hotbed of discussion and discourse. Many claim the ratification of prohibition was a win for morality, while others believe it's an invasion of civil liberties and an attack on business.

Recently, the arguments against the law have become louder and more passionate. Not only are decriers saying that the law is unjust, but they also claim it is pointless. In a city like New York, it can't be denied that alcohol is being made and sold. We have all heard the stories of speakeasies and moonshine production. Those speaking against prohibition state that alcohol is more available than ever, and that you just need to know how to find it.

Having spent the last two years looking into this, I have to concur. Alcohol is everywhere, just hidden out of sight. Should you ask the right people, you'll can be pointed to hundreds of bars doing a roaring trade, simply being less obvious about it.

Furthermore, rather than making America a more moral and evangelical country, it acts to blur the lines between right and wrong. The people who wish to drink have not stopped, and therefore have taken steps closer to crime. Those who previously would have done trade legally and without consideration for crime are now deeply intrenched in the illegal underworld. Innocent people are now consorting with criminals, all to get a product that five years ago would be readily available.

Prohibition hasn't worked to make America a better place. It is similar to putting lipstick on a pig; however the pig seems to be allergic to the lipstick and is slowly rotting away into a gangrenous slop.

Anti-prohibition groups have started to from, and despite what our government is telling us, they are not made solely out of drunkards and wrongdoers. Many of them exist in the elite, including lawyers and doctors, the people you look up to and we are taught to aspire to be.

With these opinion groups growing larger and louder, how much longer can the rule of prohibition last? In my opinion, the writing is on the wall, and very soon we might be raising a toast without fear of arrest. But until then, we can only wait.

~Thirteen Years Later~

Fairy Tail had worked well as a speakeasy, but it only flourished in lawfulness.

When prohibition had been introduced, Laxus had been forced to relocate into an unused music store, which had been refurbished into a bar. And while it had doubtlessly worked well, and had been successful, it had never been as good as the real Fairy Tail; the one his grandfather had run proudly and with success. That was why Laxus never sold the building, even though it would have lined his pockets with gold, because he hoped that eventually he'd return, and he could run his business like his family always had.

It was an incredible building. Large, located near the city centre, with ostentatious decorations and architecture. The inside had a selection of vast tables, multiple levels, and a stage where live entertainment often occurred. It had always been crowded, and at one point it'd been a tourist spot because of how interlaced with the culture of the city it had been.

And now it was back. Prohibition was no more, and Fairy Tail was back where it was meant to be.

Laxus stood at the top floor balcony, hairs greying slightly and wrinkles begging to settle in. He now had to wear a pair of spectacled that, despite Freed saying they gave him a mature handsomeness, Laxus thought made him look old before his time. His bones ached ever so slightly, but he would be damned if he let body deteriorate even slightly, so his strong form remained. As did his loud sense of style, as shown by the fur-lined coat that he wore like a cape, draped over his shoulders.

He watched the stage from where he stood, where his lover was playing for the enraptured crowd. Freed too was aging, and although the hair dye was hiding the most of it, the frown lines were forming and Laxus took delight in pointing it out. But he was still beautiful. Still the most handsome man Laxus had known.

And he could still play a tune beautifully, and Laxus always loved listening to him.

Once the music subsided, and the crowd of drinkers applauded, Freed walked to the back of the stage. After a few moments he had walked up the staircase to the top level of the bar, standing beside Laxus. The blonde automatically wrapped an arm around Freed's shoulders, pulling him close and enjoying the feeling of the man by his side

"Good show," Laxus complimented, leaning over and pressing his lips against Freed's head.

Many patrons of Fairy Tail knew of their relationship, and they also knew that they shouldn't have any problems if they want to come back. That meant that, while they would never be overly public with their affections for one another, they never felt the need to hide it entirely.

"Thank you," Freed smiled. They remained quiet for a moment, before Freed spoke again with nonchalance. "My father was killed yesterday."

Laxus froze, then looked down to his lover with wide eyes. "Shit."

"Yes," Freed agreed.

"You okay?"

"I think so," Freed said after a moment's thought. "Rather him than me. It's not like I particularly cared for the man."

"How did you find out?"

"The prison sent me a letter explaining what happened," Freed said, leaning on the banister and looking over Fairy Tail's patrons. "Apparently he was in constant arguments with another inmate, they both saw themselves as heads of the prison I think. Apparently tempers flared, someone managed to sneak in a weapon, and my father was found with his neck cut in his cell. Apparently the public release will be next week."

"You gonna go to the funeral?" Laxus asked, resting his head against Freed's.

"I don't think so. Most of the people there will see me as a traitor who caused his death," Freed chuckled. "Besides, he was dead to me many years ago. I'll hardly grieve, so why would I need to heal from it."

Laxus thoughts for a moment, looking down at Freed's emotionless face. "You sure you're okay?"

"I am," Freed nodded. "It's not as if I lost anyone important to me. I've still got you, and your grandfather and everyone here. That's all the family I've ever had, and I expect it's all I'll ever need."

"If you're sure," Laxus agreed. "I'll get you a drink."

"Thank you," Freed smiled at his lover, pressing his lips against Laxus' softly.

Laxus walked to the private bar that was only accessible to the staff. He picked out two glasses, filled them with their favoured drinks and returned to Freed. He handed the man his port, while taking a sip of his own whiskey as he leant against the man again, looking over the tavern's main hall.

In that moment, they were two kings, looking over their empire with pride. Neither man could think of anything better.

#ftezbb2021 #fraxus #freed Justine #laxus dreyar #fairy tail #fanfic #writing #event #Big Bang #multi chapter

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stellacolletore · 3 years

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i. kanade finds chihaya alone in the club room

Finding Chihaya sprawled on the tatami mat is a sight Kanade did not know she missed until she sees it again. It is late in the afternoon and the club meeting is cancelled as the members need to pore over their studies for exam week. She herself is about to go home, but her footsteps had drawn her here before she could even think of a reason why.

She enters the room and settles on the space beside Chihaya.

“What brings you here, Chihaya-chan?”

Chihaya’s eyes spring open in surprise. She must have been in deep thought, Kanade notes. Her friend’s outstanding hearing allows her to quickly sense them whenever they’re around that Kanade’s long used to being on the receiving end of her greetings.

Chihaya sits up, turning towards her. “Kana-chan…” she pauses for a second. “I needed somewhere to think, that’s all.”

It’s understandable. In between the whirlwind of last weekend’s Meijin and Queen matches and the upcoming university entrance exams, there are merely a few moments for Chihaya to take in everything that has been happening. Indeed, this quiet hour in the club room is the perfect time and place for mulling over pensive thoughts. Still, something is telling her she shouldn’t leave Chihaya alone just yet.

Kanade lies down on the tatami mat. “This is nice,” she announces to the startled girl beside her. With a hint of wistfulness, she admits, “I should have done this more often.”

“But it’s really an unladylike thing to do and you’re a graceful girl, Kana-chan, so there’s nothing to feel sorry about!” Chihaya supplies immediately, her sincerity bringing a fond smile to Kanade. Laying back on the floor again, Chihaya mutters, “You know, I’m not sure if it’s possible for me to ever become a graceful girl. Or even understand how it is to be like one.”

The concerning tone of her voice prompts Kanade to ask. “What have you been thinking about earlier, Chihaya-chan?”

Kanade could feel Chihaya stiffen slightly beside her. A few seconds pass before she hears a muted reply. “I was thinking about what should I have said to Taichi when…when he told me he loved me before.”

Eh?! So he did tell her?! That explains a lot of things but—when did that happen? How? It took all her self-control for Kanade to conceal the dizzying questions in her mind. Feigning a calm demeanor, she asks instead, “I see. Do you perhaps regret what you said to him back then?”

“I don’t know,” Chihaya answers, seemingly frustrated at herself. “I just know it was wrong because it hurt him enough to leave karuta, to leave the club, to leave…me.”

“Oh, Chihaya-chan.” Kanade loves Chihaya for all that she is; however, she can’t deny not hoping to have a conversation like this with her dear friend, one who has long been entangled in matters of love whether or not she’s ready to welcome it. Nevertheless, it is worrying to witness her perpetually cheerful friend in distraught. It’s clear that Chihaya had been deeply affected with President Mashima’s previous departure, but she evidently had no clue about the extent that feeling went. Attempting to provide some level of comfort, Kanade says, “But he’s come back now. Everything’s fine.” She looks over Chihaya, only to find a weary expression on her face. It’s not, it seems to say.

A new understanding dawns on Kanade. If she understands this correctly, then…

“You are worrying about what happens after you two graduate, aren’t you?” Chihaya’s open expression tells her she’s right. Kanade pushes on, “Chihaya-chan, even though you and President Mashima are going to different universities, it’s still possible to meet with each other. You can ask him to eat with you or to play karuta at the Shiranami society when there’s time. Unless…” It’s now or never, Kanade thinks as she finds her voice again, “…that wouldn’t be enough for you?”

Kanade fixes her gaze at Chihaya, determined not to miss her reaction. Chihaya’s eyes are open wide, and Kanade’s sure that the intention behind her question got through to her. Then, most unexpectedly, she covers her face with her hands as starts to snivel. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Not when he says his feelings for me have faded away.”

So she’s heard us before? Pushing aside the thought, she focused on consoling her friend. “Look at me, Chihaya-chan,” Kanade waits for her to heed her request before continuing. “You trust me to know things about poetry and love, and so I want you to believe me when I tell you this: President Mashima is lying. I could tell that he still loves you. So tell him what you wish to let him know, Chihaya-chan.” Kanade gives her an encouraging smile, her own heart soaring in happiness for her friends.

Chihaya takes a steadying breath, appearing soothed, but then she’s overcome with another worry. “I can’t.”

“It’s not that hard, Chihaya-chan. You just have to tell him you want him to stay with you and—” Kanade’s advice is cut off at the sight of Chihaya shaking her head. “No. I can’t tell him anything.”

It’s Kanade’s turn to be baffled. “What do you mean—?”

Chihaya’s face crumples as she suddenly wails, “I can’t tell him anything because I can’t find him anywhere! I’ve been searching for him this whole week and he’s nowhere—not in the library, or his cram school entrance, and I can’t bother him during class…” She collapses on the tatami mat once again, “At this rate, I won’t ever see him ‘til graduation! And only to tell goodbye!”

Before she could stop herself, Kanade bursts into laughter. Chihaya looks at her, petulant. “Kana-chan!”

Wiping at the moist in her eyes, Kanade explains, “Sorry, Chihaya-chan. You’re right, Prez isn’t around right now—but only because he’s on ‘house arrest’ for the week, as Nishida-kun calls it.”

“Huh?”

“Prez has his entrance exam this weekend, and since he took the time to watch someone play last Saturday,” Kanade gives her a playful wink, “his mother had him locked him up in his room to catch up on his studies. According to Tstutomu-kun, even his phone was confiscated.”

Chihaya was awestruck for a whole five seconds before being the one to dissolve in laughter this time around. “Mrs. Pressure must’ve been terrifying.” Chihaya proceeds to stand up and stretch her arms as if she’s detaching herself from the things that worried her. Beaming at Kanade, she declares, “Well, if Taichi’s doing that much and he’s already smart, I may have to start seriously studying for my exams. All right, let’s go home!”

Before leaving their separate ways as they head for their respective train stations, Chihaya asks Kanade for a favor. “Kana-chan, if you’re free this Saturday…can you and Sumire-chan help me make chocolates again?” Kanade’s sure about the reason behind the request, but decides to indulge in the happiness of hearing Chihaya say it. “Of course, Chihaya-chan. Do you want to host another Valentine’s Day picnic at the club?”

Chihaya stammers out, blushing all the while. “T-that’s a nice idea, Kana-chan! But I actually wanted to make some for Taichi—as a congratulations present. For taking the exam. And, um,”—Kanade’s internally squealing at how adorable Chihaya tries to convey herself—“I needed a reason to tell him what you told me to tell him.” Kanade holds Chihaya’s hands, “Everything’s going to be alright, Chihaya-chan.”

In the train on the way home, Kanade recalls the turn of events at the club room. Looking up at the full moon behind the train windows, she thinks of two poems that resonates with them:

Even for a time/Short as a piece of the reeds/In Naniwa’s marsh

We must never meet again:/Is this what you are asking me?

Though I would hide it/In my face it still appears—/My fond, secret love.

And now he questions me:/“Is something bothering you?”

#chihayafuru #taichihaya #ayase chihaya #mashima taichi #taichihaya-day #come talk taichihaya with me!

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holoescene · 3 years

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title: closest to your heart. pairing: ayase chihaya/mashima taichi characters: ayase chihaya, mashima taichi. summary: Everyone in the room had been karuta players at some point in their lives, yet Taichi knows that out of all of them, it’s him who has the most precise memory. One that would prove to be useful once people start to come upon the mistletoe branches scattered all over the room. genre: fluff.

crossposted on ao3

Trust in the Mizusawa High Karuta Club to actually include a mistletoe in their christmas celebration-slash-reunion. It’s kind of sneaky, Taichi thinks, to scatter that troublesome fake plant all over the place in the hopes of catching two people under it. They aren’t lovestruck teenagers anymor. They all have grown past that point the moment they graduated high school, but lately it’s starting to feel like they’re back in the Mizusawa High Club Room, talking about things that are pretty much too immature for them at this point.

It’s Tsukuba who triumphantly announced the strategic placement of the mistletoes all over the room. Taichi tried to find them the moment Tsukuba grinned slyly at all of them, but to no avail did he succeed. The boy’s got tricks, alright, and it feels like there’s some ulterior motive here that Taichi really doesn’t want to take part in.

Chihaya is here and she’s oblivious as ever. She thinks that the mistletoes are all for Komano and Kanada instead.

Oh Chihaya, always quick to notice everything that involves her teammates but never the ones that involve her. The confidence that she’s not the main target for this elaborate scheme is overwhelmingly high that it almost makes Taichi want to laugh.

As opposed to telling Chihaya, he opts for avoiding the mistletoes all by himself instead.

Everyone in the room had been karuta players at some point in their lives, yet Taichi knows that out of all of them, it’s him who has the most precise memory. One that would prove to be useful once people start to come upon the mistletoe branches scattered all over the room.

It had been Nishida and Tsukuba to get caught in one for the first time, something that brought entertainment for everyone in the room. In the end, it had been settled that the two boys would kiss each other on the cheek.

With a dedication to committing every single location of the found mistletoes to his memory, Taichi crosses out the doorway leading to the kitchen where the mistletoe is very artfully concealed beneath a wall clock. One would have to take a few seconds to realize that there’s a mistletoe right there as only a small part of it is peeking out from the clock.

If it weren’t for Hanano who paid attention to the time, no one would have been able to point out the mistletoe at all.

According to Tsukuba, there are a total of five mistletoe branches. This leaves four that they are yet to find — four more that could possibly drive him and Chihaya into a situation that they’re both not exactly ready for.

Memories of their first kiss storm Taichi’s mind, and he wills it away almost as soon as it comes. He doesn’t want to think about that right now when he’s supposed to be celebrating Christmas with everyone he holds dear. His feelings that have since been turned down shouldn’t come to bother him today of all days.

Plus, he’d already fixed whatever strain that confession had placed on his friendship with Chihaya. They’re okay now, both within arm’s reach again — maybe even closer than he’d care to admit. He doesn’t want to ruin this by going back to the very event that caused a rift between the two of them.

He’s looking at her now. She’s laughing, filled with mirth and youth that he couldn’t help but to smile at the sight. It’s his favorite Chihaya, the one so very happy when she’s with the rest of her friends. The one who shines when surrounded by the people she holds dearest to her heart.

Chihaya may never notice it, but the way she draws her strength from other people while simultaneously handing it over to them will always amaze Taichi. He’d never met anyone as selfless as Chihaya whose greed is mostly for the people around her rather than herself, whose dream has always been something bigger than her — one that would reach the people around her, even the very ones who weren’t exactly rooting for her.

It’s so easy to be swept into Chihaya’s tide like that. Before Taichi even knows it, their eyes are meeting for the first time and she’s smiling radiantly at him.

He clears his throat and tears his eyes away from her — but not without a smile.

The next sprigs of mistletoe are discovered a few moments after they’d finished eating Christmas dinner. First it’s Hanano who got caught underneath with Nishida, and next is Kanade and Komano. The latter brought delight to Chihaya who thought that since the two finally got to kiss, the whole mistletoe fiasco would be over.

“Well since Kana-chan and Tsukue-kun finally kissed, the mission mistletoe should be over right?” She asks with a clear conviction that sends Tsukuba laughing.

Taichi would have laughed if he didn’t know that this is all a deliberately planned set-up from the beginning in order to get him and Chihaya to move closer. Like they’re trying to get a very loud message across to him and him only: What are you waiting for?

There’s nothing to wait for, but just like before, Chihaya’s feelings are still impossible to read. He could drive opponents into faulting, read the flow of a karuta match, and determine what makes geniuses the way they are. Despite all of that, Chihaya’s feelings are a huge blur to him.

Sure Taichi knows her like the back of his hand, even more than herself probably, but that’s not enough to deduce whether or not his feelings would be returned this time around.

“She’d grown since then, though, don’t you think?” Kanade had asked him a few days ago when he met up with her. “I’m sure she has a better grasp of her feelings now, especially after her dream of being the Queen of Karuta came true. She has more time to think about normal things now.”

It feels assuring, almost, but Taichi doesn’t want to ride on the high of Kanade’s words.

As for the mistletoe sprigs, there are only two left. All three positions of the discovered mistletoe sprigs embedded carefully into his memory.

He’d done a great job of avoiding them too. Never falling into step with anyone, only standing up when everyone else is seated, making sure that he’s never within the same vicinity of anyone when he’s in suspicious territory.

For what it’s worth, he had to hand it to Tsukuba though, the guy really did place all of those mistletoe sprigs strategically in hard to find places.

While the rest of his peers are laughing, Taichi slips outside, making his way to the front porch of the Tsukuba household armed with only his jacket. It’s a good winter night, a Christmas so peaceful that it would be a crime if anything were to disrupt the balance of this night. It’s also a night that forces upon him a reflection of the things that have changed over the past few months.

Chihaya becoming the Queen like she always wanted. Arata being the Meijin too. The strain on their friendship mended by time. Everyone else moving forward with the rest of their lives in their own pacing.

Somehow, everything falls into place in the end.

He doesn’t hear the door open and close, but he does hear her when she says his name in the usual gentle manner. It’s one thing that never changed despite the tribulations their friendship had gone through; the way she calls him.

It always brings his heart to a full stop, only to be revived once with a beating louder than it had ever been.

She takes a seat next to him, and places his scarf around his neck with a pout. “It’s cold out here. You should’ve stayed inside.”

“What are you doing here, Chihaya? The others might be looking for you.” He looks back at the door, but there’s no sound whatsoever that indicates any form of intrusion between them.

Chihaya simply waves him off with a smile. “Don’t worry about it! They’re all busy talking about university and all. I just…” She falters for a moment, fidgets with her fingers before clearing her throat, “I wanted to give you your present.”

“You couldn’t wait until everyone else is doing the same thing?” There’s warmth in his chest.

“Well… I mean… I want to give it to you where no one would like… overreact to it or anything.”

Anticipation sets his veins alight. He just hopes that this is not another accumulation of his horrible luck.

But try as he might to think of this situation as something borne out of his consistent misfortunes, the red on Chihaya’s cheeks and her fumbling for the gift wrapped present from inside her jacket all says otherwise.

In her hands is a tiny box wrapped in a Daddy Bear gift-wrap, typical Chihaya. He takes it gently, their fingers brushing in the process which makes her tuck her chin into her left shoulder.

He wonders why she’s flustered, but he doesn’t ask. Instead, he opens the present in front of her with a heart whose screaming only contains her name.

The gift-wrap uncovers a velvet box and his heart races even more. At this point in time, it’s impossible to attribute this moment to his misfortune or any other horrible thing in existence.

Inside the box is a locket shaped like a karuta card. Taichi chuckles, even with her presents, Chihaya has karuta in mind. Maybe at some point in his past, he would despise the way this locket looks, would probably feel his stomach sinking at the thought of looking at a karuta card like this — but times are different now.

Although his love for karuta is not as deep as Chihaya’s or Arata’s, it’s still there, lingering with the memories he’d built along with Chihaya and the rest of his friends.

“A karuta card, huh?” He looks at her.

“Shut up and look at the card and open it.” She huffs out with a blush on her cheeks.

The first two syllables of the poem are written delicately on the locket. Tachi.

“I always knew you were a big softy, Chihaya. I didn’t realize you were this much of a softy though.” He laughs before opening the locket.

Her choice of a present truly is remarkable, though. The locket opens on the white part of the karuta card, the frame being the border or the green part. It’s endearing, really, to be given a present reminiscent not only of her greatest love (karuta), but also their friendship.

The photo in the locket is one taken during their first day of establishing the karuta club.

“Merry Christmas, Taichi.” Her voice is softer, but he doesn’t need her extraordinary hearing to know what she said. His heart could hear it. His heart could probably hear her even if she’s a thousand miles away.

“Merry Christmas, Chihaya.” He keeps his gaze on her while warmth fills him up inside. Everything may have changed, but Chihaya is still Chihaya — genuine and capable of bringing happiness to others.

Chihaya’s eyes darted upwards, and a soft gasp escaped her lips.

“Mistletoe.”

So this is where Tsukuba placed one of the last two.

Taichi doesn’t wait anymore, doesn’t give into the cowardly instincts holding him down. He kisses her, and it’s nothing like the kiss they shared a year ago because she kisses him back this time. Her arms are slung over his shoulders and his hands are on her waist and on the back of her neck.

It feels like an eclipse in the best way possible. A collision of the moon and sun after a long anticipation — but the difference is that Taichi is sure this time that this collision will stay that way. That they will never have to be apart from each other anymore.

“I chose a locket because I want to be the closest to your heart, Taichi.”

“Oh Chihaya, you’re already in my heart. You always have been.”

#taichihaya #chihayafuru #ayase chihaya #mashima taichi #chihaya x taichi #writing

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xifomachos · 3 years

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@fatechosen said: ‘Ship Bias’

☆ ━━ I will provide three ship biases with small explanations! I do have others, but three is good for now!

Eins: Jerza — I think that other than the fact that we have been teased with a lot of Jerza content from Mashima, this ship has a great dynamic. The two of them have not only survived through hell together, but there is a deep bond between the two of them. Due to her past experiences she is someone who carefully guards her heart, and when confronted face-to-face with her past she became vulnerable. She forgave Jellal for everything that had happened when she abandoned the Tower all these years ago. She is there to help him remember everything, remember the pain and hardships for the both of them. They help each other grow into better people and provide support for each other that I don’t believe they can get from any one else.

Zwei: Grayza — Gray was the first person to see Erza in a vulnerable state and rather than turning his back he provided her with comfort. She respects him and can never begin to thank him enough for everything that he has done for her. When she first came to the guild being around others made her uneasy, and when Gray found that out he could have easily left her alone to continue crying. But he didn’t, he stayed there and questioned her about why she was crying. He cares so much about her that he wanted to ensure she stayed in FT so she never shed a tear again. For Erza, she finds Gray to be someone she can confide in, someone that challenges her to do better and to be better.

Drei: Erlu — Lucy is someone that is very near and dear to Erza. She can recognize her strength and is quite honestly someone that she trusts a lot. Around Lucy Erza can be herself and doesn’t always have to be on guard. She can lower those walls around her heart and easily let the other in. It’s because of Lucy’s softness that she is grounded. Additionally, Lucy brings out Erza’s softness that was once only reserved for Millianna and the others.

#fatechosen #✧ ･ ° ･↣ ❛ these words are not used for anything else that’s why there is probably no reason to honor the promise from long ago ❜(answered)#✧ ･ ° ･↣ ❛ i love when the skies are crying ❜(ooc)#✧ ･ ° ･↣ ❛ call it loneliness that deep beautiful color no one can describe: over these dark mountains the gathering autumn dusk ❜(ooc)#✧ ･ ° ･↣ ❛ out of character ❜

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lemoncakepanda · 5 years

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Top 50 NaLu Anime Moments {Pt 3}

I am so sorry it took me so long to write this! This week has been a roller-coaster to me, especially since Tuesday. I got so busy, and every time I would log into tumblr, I would only look at my dashboard and have absolutely no energy left to write. Without any further delay, let me show you guys the rest of my top 50, and today we’re covering moments 30 through 21.

Part 2 can be found here.

30. “I’ll be lonely, you idiot!” (Ep 265).

This moment still makes me so emotional. Like... i’ve said this before on my previous top 25 moments, so there’s nothing much to add, but I love this moment because it shows how much Lucy began to rely on Natsu. How much she needed his presence around her, despite always kicking him out and scolding him. And then to lose all that? Just like that? To be filled with such a huge sense of security, the certainty that someone will always be there for you, and to have that ensurance taken away from you? That must’ve hurt. That must’ve broken her heart and it’s no wonder she’s so upset with Natsu when he comes back (again, I get why Natsu had to leave and I’ve already given my thoughts on it, but I also get Lucy’s side) and must’ve stung extra harder bc she’d just lost Aquarius, something she also never thought would happen. But yeah, this is why I like this scene, despite it being sad. It was great character development for Lucy, showed the development in NaLu, and it also pushed the ship forward by giving if conflict and separation, which only resulted in bringing them closer in the future. Also, I also like how Natsu only left a note to Lucy and no one else. She really is his most precious person, along with Happy.

29. “Let’s save the tears for when we win.” (Ep 159).

As a big sucker for moments where Natsu comforts Lucy, this one’s gotta be in the list. Despite being in a team of 5, despite her whole guild being there, only one person came to pick up Lucy and lift up her spirits and that was Natsu. It could’ve been anyone, really. Erza or Gray. But Mashima thought (and I agree) Natsu would make the most sense, because of how deep the NaLu relationship runs, to showcase how they’d grown even stronger since Tenrou Island, and it worked! Natsu, who’d once called Lucy useless to her face, coming up to her and telling her she was amazing, even though she lost? Lucy, who was always so annoyed with Natsu and his fighting, looking up to him with tears in her says saying “i’m all fired up”? That’s the kinda development we strive for.

28. “You’re Lucy of Fairy Tail, aren’t you?” (Ep 23).

I swear, this ship makes me want to scream. And here we come back to a time when Natsu and Lucy were still growing as a team, and still didn’t know each other that well, but already had so much faith on one another. This, I feel, is the first time (after, you know, the tower jump) where it showed that they actually cared and understood each other, mostly Natsu, in this case. Everyone else told Lucy not to cry, not to blame herself because of what her father did, meanwhile, Natsu merely reminded her of who she was. Where she belonged to. And like Lucy said later in the arc, she believed her mother would want her to follow her heart and do what she wanted, and this was probably the first time someone other than Layla showed Lucy that her choice was hers to make, and hers only. Like i’ve said before, what Natsu said, what he did for her here, helped shape Lucy into the person she is today, as well as it’s what also helped Lucy to start relying more on Natsu emotionally, whereas she relied mostly on him physically, to protect her.

27. “Lucy!” (Ep 303).

This moment... is much lower on my list here, whereas it was so high on the first one, but that’s mostly because my opinion has changed, as well as new moments have arrived that I loved much more, and some other moments too I now realize I took for granted, and took a high spot in my list. But nevertheless, it’s still a very special moment. And despite my problems with the animation, I have to admit that I like the desperation in Natsu’s eyes as he holds onto Lucy for dear life, after almost losing her (big sigh bc we know what happens a few eps later); and he even forgets about the other people around them: Mest, Brandish, even Happy! I like how she came first here to him, how he didn’t even hesitate before grabbing her. Now, how he came from that position to groping her boobs with all his might later, I can’t even explain, just... you know... Mashima.

26. Natsu and Lucy versus Jacob. (Ep 299).

Listen, this... this is one of the funniest fights I’ve ever watched on anime. While I like the pacing better on the manga, I really liked the execution of it in the anime, and hearing Natsu and Lucy’s “dirty talk” was one of my dreams coming to life, lmao. Natsu and Lucy once again showing how great they are at teamwork, and why they work so damn well together, how their thoughts align and how their trust on each other plays a huge deal on their victory. Plus, hello, it’s this moment which gives Mavis the inspiration to defeat Zeref, so it’s an extra big moment, i’d say, despite being severely underrated. Still on topic, I liked how when Lucy was undressed in front of him, Natsu was like “how is this supposed to be hell?” and say what you want, but just because he didn’t blush didn’t mean he wasn’t enjoying that view.

25. “Thank you for protecting our future.” (Ep 187).

Not really a NaLu NaLu moment, but still a very sweet NaLu moment. In case you don’t know (and for that reason, you should not be reading this list), the one in the picture is Future Lucy, and what makes this moment so special is that, even though that’s not present Lucy, it’s still his Lucy. He trusts her word completely and understand she effort she’s made, and all the horrors she’s been through, and he kneels down to the ground, craddles her head and presses his forehead to her, to express how grateful he is for what she’s done, and to show that he appreciates her, even if she’s not from his time. And this must’ve meant so much to this Lucy, because she lost her Natsu; she watched him die (the anime even does a little flashback), and she is back at the warmth and the softness only one person could give her, and she thought she’d never have that again. And then there he was, right in front of her, still the same man she’d always known. Still believing in her. Also, a small bonus: present Lucy is watching all this with a sweet smile and a soft blush on her cheeks.

24. “Don’t worry me like that.” (Ep 310).

And now we’re back to me wanting to scream because of these, bc hey... look at this! How come these two f*ckers started a goddamn a relationship and not even realize it? Like, it’s not even possibly platonic at this point in the story! There’s no friendship that can explain this, especially when it’s purposely being parallel with Gruvia, a canon romantic ship, and especially because we know what led up to this moment. And then you have Lucy holding onto Natsu, so relieved that she found him and squeezing him closer to her, despite not knowing what happened to him or what he’d just done, and Natsu whispering her name, listening to her voice once again when he thought he’d never listen to it again, having her so close to him when he thought he’d lost her... and you want me to not ship that? You want to tell me that’s platonic? I can’t even. I literally can’t even. That’s all I have to say about this.

23. “I want a piggyback ride.” Drunk Lucy round 1. (OVA 4).

While I love Lucy jumping on Natsu and wiggling her body onto his during the christmas ova, I have to admit this moment here has a special place in my heart, which makes it higher on the list. Maybe it’s because it was the first time we saw Lucy drunk, and was still a time when we started to really get NaLu moments, and Lucy’s feelings were still 50/50 to us, and then you get this, and Drunk Lucy is all f*cking over Natsu; she has hearts around her when she’s happy because she saw two Natsus, she makes him omelet (how? idk) and wants to feed it to him, is upset when she thinks he rejects it, wants him to make her purr... this alone should tell you a lot, is all touchy-feely with him, and basks in how warm he is, with her eyes closed. And Natsu, my boy... you coulda just run. You didn’t have to stay there and you didn’t have to obey her, lol. I bet he was freaked out because Lucy had never given him this much attention before, so he didn’t know how to deal with it. Always nice to see some Lucy > Natsu action, so let us all thank Mashima for the existence of Drunk Lucy, who makes this more possible than regular Lucy bc she lives in denial, lol.

22. “Beautiful”. (Ep 73).

A classic moment, and one that is immensely loved within the NaLu fandom, and rightfully so! Not only is this the most beautiful tree i’ve seen in anime, but also gave so much more depth to Natsu and Lucy’s relationship, despite being a simple omake. I’ve mentioned this before, but after Phantom Lord arc, there was very little development on NaLu, and most of their scenes together were reapeats of things we’d seen before: them reuniting after the team is separated, working together to solve it, reuniting again, trusting each other, yada yada. Very nice, but still, mostly just friendship and nothing that really stood out. This moment here, where Natsu uproots a tree for Lucy just because she was sick and couldn’t come to see it, then putting it into a boat so it could float all the way over to the front of her house... can be seen as a platonic gesture, and probably was made with that intention on Natsu’s part, but the thing is, these kinda things only happen with them. Yes, Mashima could have given this moment for someone else like Erza or Mirajane, or even Wendy, who was new to the series and probably didn’t even know about this: so why didn’t he? The answer is quite easy, and y’all know it. Development. Growth. Natsu was upset Lucy couldn’t come and join them, didn’t even crack a smile during the whole festival, but he wanted Lucy to be able to, even if he didn’t get to see it. He wanted to make her happy. That’s very special of him, and I think there was already a little of romance there, he just didn’t know what it was, so he just followed his feelings and went for it. Okay, enough gushing and analysing, time to end this list.

21. “What do I look like to you?” round 1. (Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry).

Please, don’t kill me for not having this on top 10, I wanted to put it there, because HELLO, LOOK AT THIS PICTURE, I NEED 911, I- HOW CAN THEY STAND SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER! MY BOYFRIEND SAW ME GIFFING THIS AND ASKED “IS HE TRYING TO KISS HER” AND I JUST FREAKED OUT, SOMEBODY SEDATE ME! Mashima, what were you trying to do with this? Were you trying to kill us? Like, why does Natsu want to know what he looks like to Lucy? And why he’s gotta stand so close to her that their noses are brushing, just to ask her this? AHSIAHSJJAOSJAAKA, I KNOW THE ANSWER, BUT I STILL NEED ANSWERS! Okay, I was able to calm down a little. I really truly love this moment (love dragon cry in general), and I love how Wendy interrupted them and knew immediately she’d walked into something intimate, the poor thing, lmao, I wish that was me. But really, this is just Natsu taking any excuses he can to stand super close to Lucy even when it doesn’t make sense, because we all know he’s just got it real bad for her.

Will try to post part 4 tomorrow, but no promises. My baby niece is staying over and she takes up all of my free time, lol.

#sorry for any mistakes i've been awake since 6 am #nalu #natsu x lucy #fairy tail #top50nalu

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kaitouartist · 4 years

Text

World No. 29 : Chapter 1 [An Edens Zero fanfiction]

Summary: World No. 29. A world without Shiki. Rebecca has lost all the will to live and hence, despite months of observation, she couldn’t activate cat leaper. When there seems to be no hope left, will the fallen heroes rise again?

Pairings: Hopefully none

Also find here: Fanfiction, Archive of our own, Deviantart

----0----

Chapter-1

Impossible

World No. 29.

A world without Shiki.

There’s no hope… however you look at it.

Rebecca’s eyes have lost all smile. For about two weeks, she didn’t even bother feeding myself. She couldn’t save her friends, even after she offered to give up her powers. Happy and Pino were dumped. Shiki was shot. Professor Weisz was half-dead when she last saw him. God knows what they’ve done to Homura.

‘There’s no point in living…’

----0----

“Did the Cat leaper activate?”

“No, sir. We’re monitoring the ether readings from No. 29. We’ll inform you if anything changes”

“Good. Watch her closely.”

----0----

The door opens, bringing out the overwhelming fear in Rebecca. She tried to scurry, brace herself for what was about to come. They may have done nothing to her for the past two weeks. However, she knew they needed the power. Knowing what they had already done, she cannot help but be afraid of what’s to come next.

“Relax. I’m not the boss. It’s me”

Becky looked at the source of the voice. A blue-haired idol-like figure stood in front of her. He looked at the untouched tray of food on the side and back at the scared figure of the blonde.

Laguna reprimanded her in his own way for not taking care of herself. He offered her words of comfort and asked her to atleast take a bath. Laguna seemed to be the only decent guy on Drakken Joe’s team.

But what can Rebecca do? The events of that night played infront of her eyes. First, sadness hits her, then hatred and then fear…

Overwhelming fear…

The fear consumed Becky in a way she lost all her emotions. She couldn’t feel an appetite or find a reason to live. When Laguna told her that her friends were safe, Rebecca couldn’t feel anything at the time either. Even if she wanted to, she could trust his words. If she pried more, she was afraid she will find out they lied. She will only suffer more if she wanted to know the truth.

As she took a shower, she thought about Laguna’s words. She considered what Drakken wanted and why he was keeping her alive. She was searching for clues that will help her fightback. She wasn’t going to obey him. She wanted to understand her power and when she does, she’ll do everything so that Drakken Joe cannot have it- the power for which her friends had to pay the price.

The memories hit her again. Rebecca missed them- Happy, Weisz, Homura, Pino, the four shining stars, Moscoy, Mr. Connor and…

“Shiki… I want to see you again...”

She curled into a ball in the shower. The shower water washed away her tears, yet the tears keep flowing.

----0----

“Boss, we’re picking up a high-concentration of ether reading from No. 29”

“Has she awakened?” Drakken Joe inquired.

“They’re rising fast- wait, what happened? Boss, the ether reading fell to below normal.”

“Damn!” Drakken joe banged his hands on the table. “Watch her closely. Don’t let her get away!”

He walked away from the control room to finish the rest of his tour.

----0----

Rebecca sat there in the shower, sobbing. “Shiki, I want to see you again.”

She buried her head in her thighs.

“But I know… it is not possible...”

----0----

Chapter 1 ends

A/n: Ta-da! I'm sort of back... I recently read Eden's zero and I needed to write out a few things. Firstly, it was because I need a daily dose of Weisz now. Second, I was curious about what will in a world without Shiki.

***WARNING***

Before you proceed further and have any hopes/expectations, I must warn you. I am suffering from RSI to my wrist and I may be unable to update this story often. As a result, you may also find me updating it once in a blue moon. I might even drop the idea of writing it and maybe just decide to draw it up. I don't know. Writing this story was a spur-of-the-moment thing. So follow this story at your own risk.

That being said, I have already planned how the story will end and I don't like abandoning my stories. So, hopefully, one day in the future, I hope to finish it.

***WARNING ENDS***

***DISCLAIMER***

As you might already know, Eden's zero- the characters and the world- belongs to Hiro Mashima. I only own the plot for this fanfiction, which is created for entertainment purposes out of curiosity. If you find any similarities with other stories/anime, well, I get inspired by a lot of other things. This story is not a part of the canon and I do not profit financially from the creation and publication of this story.

***DISCLAIMER ends*** (Do I sound professional? ^_^)

#rebecca edens zero #shiki edens zero #homura kougetsu #weisz steiner #happy edens zero #edens zero #edens zero fanfiction

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mdelpin · 5 years

Photo

Gratsu Bingo 2019, Gratsu Week 2019 Prompt: Flying AO3 | FF.Net

Crash Into Me

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters belong to Hiro Mashima

"Oh for Mavis' sake, will you just make a move already?" Erza muttered in exasperation as she watched the painfully obvious longing on Gray's face as he and Natsu engaged in one of their never-ending arguments.

"I know, right? It's ridiculous," Lucy rolled her eyes as she watched their friends from the relative safety of their table.

“Natsu loooooooves him,” Happy commented from his spot next to Erza.

Erza looked down at the Exceed in surprise, “Wait, you mean Natsu too?”

Happy nodded eagerly, covering his mouth with his paws as he giggled.

“Isn’t that who you were talking about?” Lucy peered over at Erza with interest.

"No, I was talking about Gray," Erza explained, "But if Natsu likes him too I see no reason why we shouldn't give them a little push. We are teammates, after all."

"More like they have no chance in hell of getting together on their own," Lucy snickered, and Happy joined in knowingly.

"What should we do?" Erza wondered aloud, knowing this wouldn't be simple. Both boys were prideful and stubborn, they couldn't just set them up on a blind date, or send them off on a mission and force them to share a room and hope for the best. No, they'd have to try something more creative. For this to work, they'd need to get them out of their comfort zones.

“I have it!” Mirajane exclaimed, making both girls jump in their seats. Where in the world had Mira even come from?

"What?" Mirajane grinned," You were about to matchmake, and you didn't think I'd want in?" Her eyes twinkled with excitement. "Here's what we'll do…"

Xxx

“Erza, why the hell did we have to get up so early? It’s not even light out,” Gray complained loudly. He hadn’t even had a chance to have a cup of coffee. “Where are we going?”

"This will be fun!" Erza smiled, but something in her eyes made Gray think that whatever she was up to would be anything but. She'd been acting strangely the past few days, paying way more attention than usual to him and Natsu, and Lucy had been asking him lots of questions.

Oh shit! There was no way they could know his secret, could they? He’d been so careful. His heart raced as he wondered what on Earth his friends could be up to and how much pain he could come to expect if he made a run for it while he still could.

They continued to walk in the dark until they reached an open field. There was a large object there. He didn't know what else to call it. It had a basket at its base that appeared to be tethered to a massive piece of fabric. It looked vaguely like some sort of enormous balloon as it lay flat on the ground behind it.

As soon as they arrived, the fabric began to fill with air. Within a few minutes, it was floating above the basket in all its brightly colored glory. Gray was starting to get a bad feeling about this. He noticed a man he didn't recognize walking around it, making adjustments and setting it up.

"Erza, what's going on, and what is that thing?"

“Why do you look so suspicious?” Erza tried to sound innocent, but she couldn’t really pull it off, especially not when she was so clearly up to something.

“Erza?” Gray prodded.

"Fine, fine, if you don't want to be surprised, I'll tell you," Erza grinned, her eyes full of excitement as she looked at the contraption that Gray had already begun to call a death trap in his head.

"I thought we could do something fun as a team, so I went ahead and rented this hot air balloon and asked Mira to pack us a lunch. We're going to have a picnic!"

Gray studied her carefully for a few minutes before relaxing. Thank God! For a moment there he'd thought they meant to trap him in that thing with Natsu, but he could buy Erza wanting to have a picnic. She'd always wanted to have a proper one after all.

Now that he wasn't freaking out, Gray began to examine the hot air balloon, trying to understand how it worked. It was tethered to the ground, but the man had turned on some sort of fire source, and the giant balloon had finished inflating.

“You want to give it a go?” The man asked him with a shy smile, noticing his interest.

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?”

“Oh, you’ll still be tethered, it will just give you an idea of how it feels,” The man urged as he helped Gray get into the basket. “Have you ever flown before?”

"Only on a flying cat," Gray smirked at the man's bewildered expression before feeling the basket float up into the air.

It was a strange sensation, but he couldn't say he didn't like it. There was something that was bothering him about it, but Gray shrugged it off as he enjoyed the experience. He decided it would be more enjoyable without the loud noise the gas burner made as it heated up the air.

Movement... fire... loud…

Oh crap!

"Erza?" Gray called out urgently, but it seemed that his friend couldn't hear him over the burner. He motioned the operator to bring him down when he saw Natsu and Lucy had arrived.

Natsu seemed to be arguing with the girls, and Gray didn't have to listen in to know exactly what he was trying to say.

“I am not getting on that thing,” Natsu roared angrily.

“Natsu,” Erza glared at him, she was in no mood to have her plans disrupted, “You will get in that hot air balloon or else! Look, Gray is already in it, it’s not scary at all.”

"You think I'm scared to go on it?" Natsu gazed at her, perplexed that she could be so dense, "That has nothing to do with it, it's a vehicle."

"Nonsense, you don't get sick while flying," Erza reminded him, "You fly with Happy all the time, and you used to ride on Igneel."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Natsu yelled, "Happy's not a vehicle, he's a friend!"

"ENOUGH!" Erza shrieked, punching him in the stomach in one quick move. Not quite enough to knock him out but enough to pick him up and dump him unceremoniously in the basket with Gray.

“Erza, this is a bad idea, we can have a picnic anywhere,” Gray tried to reason with her but shut up as soon as he saw her eyes flash with anger.

Gray looked down at his rival with sympathy. Natsu lay in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the basket. He clutched his stomach and moaned.

Gray couldn't help himself, years of rivalry had conditioned him to see Natsu in a moment of weakness and seek out a way to capitalize on it.

“You’re so pathetic, Ash for Brains,” Gray sneered, poking Natsu with his foot.

What are you doing?!

"Gray, you're not helping." Erza grabbed the large picnic basket from the ground, handing it over to Gray to put inside the balloon's base. She wasn't overly concerned, this is how they communicated after all.

Natsu picked that moment to grab one of the sandbags that were littered on the floor and throw it weakly at Gray, who easily deflected it with the picnic basket, bouncing it out of the hot air balloon and onto the ground.

“No, don’t take those out yet, “ The operator protested, his tone urgent.

Unfortunately, Gray was having too much fun at the moment to pay heed to the man’s words.

“Were you even trying to hit me?” Gray mocked Natsu, even as he saw the Fire Dragon Slayer grabbing other sandbags and throwing them at him. “You throw like a girl.”

Shut the fuck up, you dumbass! This right here is why you’re going to die alone, not to mention incinerated.

Gray had already put the picnic basket down, so he calmly called forth an ice shield, smirking when the bags hit it dead center and continued to pour out of the basket.

The operator was getting more and more agitated, and Gray realized that he could feel the basket floating as it had earlier.

Natsu immediately made a retching sound, and Gray managed to lift him up, so he didn't vomit inside the base. He breathed a sigh of relief when Natsu vomited over the side. That was until he heard the unbridled rage in Erza's voice.

“Natsu Ignatius Dragneel!”

“Ignatius?!” Gray looked over at Natsu and started laughing hysterically.

“Shut up!”

"Oh shit!" Gray looked down and saw Erza covered in Natsu's vomit, and he quickly molded a sword and began hacking away at the rope that was tethering them to the ground.

“What are you doing?!” Natsu yelled as he felt the hot air balloon float higher in the air, “We’re going higher, I want to get off this death trap!”

"Trust me, I did you a favor," Gray muttered, scouting the ground below them. They could still hear Erza shrieking, but at least she hadn't thought of requipping into one of her flying armors yet.

“Get me off this thing!”

“Listen, Ignatius, you threw up all over Erza. If we had stayed down there, she would have killed both of us.”

"You're joking, right?" Natsu looked at Gray hopefully, but the sheer panic on the other's face was enough to tell him he'd been serious.

He had another bout of nausea, and Gray once again pointed him outward. Once he was finished, Natsu tried to look around.

“We’re just going higher and higher, how are we going to get off this thing?”

“Don’t look at me,” Gray shrugged, finally realizing that maybe this hadn’t been the best idea. He began trying to figure out how the thing worked, wishing he’d thought to ask questions when he’d had the chance, ”I have no idea how to fly this thing, I think that operator guy was supposed to come with us.”

They had already drifted a fair distance from the field, the balloon moving swiftly in the cold morning air.

"Hey, Flame Brain, look over there!," Gray exclaimed, the awe in his voice unmistakable, making Natsu curious as to what he was talking about.

He moved slowly to see where Gray was pointing and was rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise he'd ever seen, peeking behind Mt. Hakobe. Natsu tried to appreciate it but was immediately assaulted by yet another bout of motion sickness.

“Graaay, I want to get off this thing now!” Natsu whined, getting desperate as the world spun around him.

“I’m working on it, the fire keeps us afloat I think,” Gray hadn’t finished the sentence before Natsu had already moved to eat all the fire.

They began to fall as the balloon deflated quickly.

“You idiot, I just said it was keeping us afloat, is that word too big for you?!” Gray shrieked in disbelief, “You’re going to get us killed!”

"Oh, no," Natsu retched out the side, how he still had anything left in his stomach, Gray couldn't even fathom. "This is much worse, what do we do?"

“Put the fire back!” Gray screeched, beginning to panic as the speed of their descent increased now that they had achieved free fall.

"Stop yelling at me! I'll try," Natsu let out a putrid burp that reeked of eggs and propane. "Fire Dragon, Baaauurrrp! , Roar!"

The fabric the balloon had been made out of was no match for the infernal heat of Natsu's flames, it reduced to ashes on contact, and now they were falling even faster. They both screamed and wrapped their arms around each other.

"We're going to die!" Natsu yelled, and Gray tried to free himself from Natsu's death grip.

"Not if I can help it," Gray looked down to see what was awaiting them on the ground. They were careening toward some trees, but if they could make it past them, there was a field that would provide a safer spot to land, well... crash.

"Natsu, I need you to hold on to me okay? Just make sure I can still move my hands." Natsu's face looked green, but he nodded that he understood. Within seconds Gray could feel Natsu's arms wrap around him from behind as he also managed to hold on to the picnic basket, which given Natsu's appetite surprised Gray, not at all.

Gray got into his Ice-Make stance and waited as long as he could to see where they would end up. His heart was racing, both from Natsu’s body being pressed tightly against him and the fear that they would both surely die if he wasn’t able to time this right. As soon as they passed the last of the trees, he cast his spell.

“Ice-Make Cocoon”

“If you throw up on me, I swear I will kick you out of this cocoon and let you die, do you understand?”

Gray heard a labored grunt of assent and hoped for the best. He felt his ice cover them about five seconds before they crashed. The basket shattered all around them, but the ice protected them from it, and then they were slipping and sliding, their bodies spinning inside the cocoon until finally coming to a stop.

“Oy, Flame Brain,” Gray called out, “Are you okay?”

When he received no response, Gray panicked. They were Gods know where with no easy way to find a healer. All he could hope for was that Erza and Lucy found them soon, and hopefully thought to bring Wendy with them.

He was still amazed that something so innocent could have gone so badly. Then again, who was he kidding, this type of thing seemed to happen when they were together. Maybe he was kidding himself that they could ever be anything more.

Gray dispelled his ice so that he could turn around and check on Natsu. His head was pounding, but Natsu had been behind him, absorbing most of the force of the initial impact.

Gray examined Natsu as best he could, deciding that despite a massive knot on the back of his head and bleeding from a few places, Natsu looked mostly alright and seemed to be breathing regularly.

Gray opened the picnic basket and grabbed the blanket that had been packed inside, spreading it out on the grass and carefully laying Natsu on top of it.

Glad that he’d managed to keep his shirt on for once, he took it off, shredding it into long strips he could use to stop the bleeding.

He looked around, trying to get his bearings. They were on a field he didn’t recognize, but Natsu was the one who insisted on walking everywhere, maybe he’d know where they were once he woke up.

That hellish ride had felt like it had gone on forever but realistically how long could it have been? Twenty minutes? How far away from Magnolia could the wind have carried them in that time?

When another thirty minutes had passed without any response from Natsu, Gray began to fret. He sat down on the blanket and gently placed Natsu's head on his lap. He opened a water bottle, grabbed one of the strips of his shirt, and poured some water on it, setting about cleaning off the blood from Natsu's forehead. Gray sprinkled some water on his head as well, trying to get a better look at the wound.

It looked a little worse than he'd first thought, so he used his fingers to gently move Natsu's hair out of the way before calling on his ice to seal the wound.

Natsu moaned oddly, Gray couldn’t quite tell whether it was from pain or something else.

“Oy, Flame Brain,” Gray called again as he unconsciously continued to run his fingers through Natsu’s hair, “Are you okay?”

“World is still spinning,” Natsu muttered.

“It’s really not, we crashed over half an hour ago.”

"Tell that to my stomach," Natsu replied, but he opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the early morning sunlight and gazing straight into Gray's concerned eyes.

"Natsu, I think you might have a concussion, one of your pupils is much larger than the other, and you said you were dizzy."

Gray was troubled, if Natsu had a concussion it was going to be much harder to get back to the guild. "Do you have any other symptoms?"

“Stop worrying, Ice Princess, I’ve had much worse,” Was all Natsu said before closing his eyes again. Then a moment later, “Mhhm, your fingers feel nice.”

Gray stopped in mid-stroke, looking down at his hand, startled to see he'd never stopped caressing Natsu's hair. It was a much more intimate touch than anything he'd ever dared before, and his heart raced with the fear it would give him away.

“Don’t stop, please?”

Gray debated for a second or two but then decided it wasn’t like he hadn’t been enjoying it as well. He let his fingers sink back into the soft locks and continued petting his rival.

“I can’t remember the last time someone did that for me,” Natsu said contentedly, “Might have been Gramps when I first got to the guild.”

“What are you talking about? ”

Natsu chuckled mirthlessly, “Have you met me? I’m loud and obnoxious, not to mention I destroy everything I touch. Who in their right mind would ever want to be close to me?”

Me, you idiot! I'd like to be close to you. You're perfect for me. But... you're not acting like yourself, and I'm starting to wonder, just how hard did you hit your head?

Gray was floored, he’d always thought that Natsu never thought about this stuff. It was one of the many reasons he’d never brought up his feelings, he’d assumed that Natsu would just laugh at him and humiliate him in front of the guild.

“Thank you, you can stop now if it makes you feel uncomfortable,” Natsu’s eyes were still closed, his lips stretched into a soft smile that tugged at Gray’s heart.

“No, it’s fine,” Gray answered hurriedly, he wanted to see that smile on Natsu for as long as he could, before they invariably returned to their usual patterns.

“Actually, come to think of it you probably touch me more than anyone else,” Natsu murmured thoughtfully, “Figures the one person who can’t stand me would be the one to--”

Great, he thinks I don’t like him. Why can’t I just tell him?!

"That's not true, you know," Gray interrupted before Natsu could finish his thought, "I can stand you just fine."

“Doesn’t seem like it most of the time,” Natsu pointed out.

Tell him!!!

“I--I’m just confused by you, is all,” Gray skirted ever closer to saying what his mind was screaming at him to confess.

“Why? If there’s one thing that most people seem to agree on is that I’m simple.”

“Seriously Natsu, are you fucking with me right now?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you talking like this?”

"My head is pounding, and I see no point in fighting. That's exactly how we get into these messes, we fight for the sake of fighting, and then bad stuff happens. Aren't you tired of it?"

Gray couldn’t argue with that logic, but something still felt off. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Natsu chuckled, “If that’s your way of asking me if I’m dying or something, I think I’m okay. It hurts like hell, but nothing seems to be broken. Anyway, I’ll stop. You’re right, it’s strange for us to talk like this. I just thought--, nevermind.”

He tried to get up from Gray’s lap but soon fell back looking somewhat dazed, “We should probably figure out where we are and try to get back home.”

“Natsu,” Gray called out, he was going to do it, he was just going to tell him how he felt. There was never going to be a better chance than this. But to his great frustration, the words just wouldn’t come out.

Natsu turned his head slowly, his mismatched eyes flashing with curiosity, but he turned away when Gray remained silent. He attempted to get up again but suddenly found his arm trapped by Gray's firm grip.

"Natsu," Gray repeated, and Natsu turned once again, looking down at his arm and then back up to Gray's face, still looking somewhat dazed, "I need to tell you something."

“What is it?”

“I--I like you like that,” Gray said nervously still finding it hard to believe that Natsu not only thought about things like love but was sad because he had no one in his life that cared about him that way.

Gray could immediately tell from the puzzled expression on Natsu's face that he hadn't gotten it at all and he groaned.

Why? Why was he doomed to be in love with someone who was this oblivious? It wasn't fair! Gray wished he could blame the damn concussion, but sadly, this was just the way Natsu was.

“Like me like what?” Natsu stared at him in confusion, but there was something else that Gray couldn’t quite place in that gaze, regardless of how well he thought he knew the fire mage. He didn’t let himself dwell on it, worried he’d chicken out if he did.

“Fine, I’ll spell it out for you! I want to be with you,” Gray snapped in frustration, “I want to be the one that gets to run my fingers through your hair, and hold your hand and all that crap. Do you get it now?”

Gray’s heart sank when he saw Natsu’s normally squinty eyes widen to almost comical size as he processed Gray’s words. Here it comes, Gray thought, the teasing he’d been dreading. In 5-4-3-2--

“Oh,” Natsu said quietly before bursting into the most beautiful smile Gray had ever seen, and he’d seen all of Natsu’s smiles over the years. This was a new one.

"I want to be with you too," Natsu said simply, his cheeks flushing. "I was trying to tell you earlier, but you looked uhm uncomfortable."

Gray found that incredibly funny and he started to laugh, it was full of relief and amusement at their situation, and while Natsu watched him strangely, his smile never faltered.

He let Natsu sit up and opened the picnic basket to peer at its contents. “Do you feel up to eating? We should get some energy before trying to make it back to the guild.”

“Not really, I’m kind of sleepy,” Natsu answered before laying down on the blanket and closing his eyes.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to go to sleep with those symptoms,” Gray placed some food on the blanket and ate silently, keeping an eye on Natsu and shaking him awake whenever he dozed off, much to the other’s annoyance.

Gray was going to need lots of energy if he was to carry Natsu until he could walk for himself. He needed to get him to a healer.

“Oy, Flame Brain, do you recognize where we are?”

Natsu looked around and sniffed the air for a few minutes before replying, “I think Magnolia’s that way.”

Natsu pointed due east, and Gray let him attempt to walk on his own while he packed some food and the blanket, leaving the large basket behind. He picked Natsu up, relieved when the fire mage didn't fight him and carried him on his back for the long walk back.

They talked for hours, Gray trying his hardest to keep Natsu awake. Thankfully, Happy and Pantherlily found them and flew them back to the guild.

Xxx

“Are they back?” Erza asked, as soon as she and Lucy entered the guild later that evening. They had spent the day searching for their friends. When they’d finally stumbled upon the wreckage of the destroyed hot air balloon, they’d feared the worst.

Mira walked over to her, “Happy and Lily brought them in a few hours ago.”

"Are they okay?" Erza held her breath, fearing the worst, but when she took in Mira's relaxed expression, she could feel her relief at their safety transforming into a rage as she remembered the state of the hot air balloon.

"Natsu has a nasty concussion, but Gray seems to be okay, just tired," Mira reported with a smile, "Seems he carried Natsu most of the way back."

“Gray Uriel Fullbuster, you have a lot of explaining to do!” Erza screamed from the bottom of the stairs.

“Shh, you’ll wake them,” Mira glared at her, “Besides I think you'll want to see this.”

Erza and Lucy followed Mira up the stairs to the infirmary, curious to see what Mira was talking about. She opened the door gently so that Lucy and Erza could peek in. They were greeted by the sight of Natsu and Gray sharing a bed.

Natsu lay on his side, his head resting on Gray's chest, their hands clasped together as they slept peacefully. The girls closed the door quietly behind them, letting the boys get some rest.

“I can’t believe it, they managed to get together on their own,” Lucy muttered in amazement.

"What's the matter Erza? " Mira commented when she noticed Erza's crestfallen expression. "You look disappointed, I thought you'd be happy."

Erza was delighted for her teammates, she really was. Natsu and Gray were like siblings to her, and she was thrilled that they'd finally been honest with each other. Seeing them being so softly intimate brought a smile to her face. It really did, it was just...

"We never got to do all the stuff we planned, and once again, my picnic plans were ruined."

“We’ll just have to plan another one,” Mira replied cheerfully, “Maybe something less involved next time?”

The girls made their way back downstairs, choosing to keep what they now knew about their two friends a secret until they decided to tell everyone else.

Upstairs, Natsu burst into giggles, “Uriel? Your middle name is Uriel?”

“Shut it, they’re going to hear us, and Erza’s still pissed.”

Natsu smirked, “Make me.”

"Gladly," And with that Gray leaned down and captured Natsu's lips with his own, catching the Fire Dragon Slayer by surprise. There was an initial resistance which Gray wanted to chalk up to habit, but it was immediately replaced by the unmistakable feeling of Natsu's lips responding enthusiastically against his, and Gray felt joy, unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.

Gray wasn't new to kissing, although, before that day, it had always been motivated by curiosity, rather than affection. He wasn't sure he could ever go back to that, not now that he knew how it felt to share something so intimate with someone he loved.

Still, that resistance set off a warning bell in Gray's mind. This peace they were feeling, it wasn't going to last forever. He and Natsu weren't usually like this. No, this was the calm before the storm, and he knew it.

Gray's confession had only been made possible by Natsu's odd behavior due to his concussion, combined with the rush of adrenaline from a shared near-death moment.

He and Natsu related to each other in terms of violence and challenges. They were destined to clash as the opposing forces they were. The sprinkling of qualities Gramps instilled in all of them as they grew up were the only things that kept them from seriously hurting each other.

What they had started on this day, it wouldn't be easy, but it was reason enough for him to enjoy it in its purest form. He'd been given a glimpse of what they could become if they could manage to get over their pride and stubbornness.

Gray was confident he could rise to that challenge because as he watched Natsu cuddle up to him before drifting off to sleep yet again, he already knew there was nowhere else he wanted to be.

A/N: I had something else written for this prompt, the first chapter for the multi-chapter fic Anyone Who Had a Heart, but it felt odd to have that be the entry for Gratsu Week since only Natsu appears in that chapter.

So this was born out of guilt, lol. It’s quite ridiculous, but I hope you like it. I would not want to be in Natsu’s shoes if he threw up on Erza. Also thanks to @akikonatsuko for coming up with Uriel for Gray’s middle name!

#fairy tail #gratsu #gratsubingo2019 #gratsuweek2k19 #ftlgbtales #ftfanfics #humor #fluff #gray x natsu #natsu x gray #my edits

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ratretro · 6 years

Text

Prompt 2: Betrayal

Title: Deep and Dark

Pairing: NaLu

Prompt: NaLu Angst Week 2018 - Betrayal

Rating: M; Small bit of violence my friends tread carefully please

None of these characters are owned by me, they are all owned by the wonderful Hiro Mashima!

A/N:

So, here’s Betrayal this is Prompt 2 for NaLu Angst Week 2018. Pirate AUs give me life, and since I haven’t written one yet this seemed to be the best way to get it done. It felt like a good prompt to pair it to.

FF.net

The male in front of her looked about two seconds away from a mad dash to the railing to remove this morning’s breakfast from his stomach. This was the captain? He was hardly fit to be running a pirate ship; least of all the renowned Fairy Tail. This couldn’t possibly be him. The blonde stared straight at him with a look that couldn’t have been anything other than disappointment.

“Oi, Natsu! Did you not take Wendy’s tonic this morning?” it was the dark haired man that she’d met at the port first thing this morning. He’d been wandering about lost and naked for nearly an hour before she finally approached him. First, he’d been shocked at his lack of clothing, and second, he needed to locate a specific dock on the east side. That wasn’t a difficult task for her since she’d memorized every single map of the continent. She’d spent years stalking the magnificent pirate crew, and finally her wall of scribbles and connected string was put to use.

“She wouldn’t let me! Said somethin’ about—” Natsu’s body lurched forward and he nearly retched at her feet. She took several steps back, and put a single arm up in defense. “--it would lose effect.” He finished. He was holding his stomach, and beads of sweat slid from his forehead down his jaw.

“Mavis look at you. Just get out of here, and go lay down somewhere.” He had introduced himself earlier as ‘Gray’, probably. At the very least it was a color. Speaking of colors. The blonde found herself drawn to the vibrant pink mane on the sick male’s head. It was wild, and it flowed as far as his shoulders. She approached slowly with a deliberate pace. If she moved quickly she was sure it would make whatever was wrong with him worse.

“Before your head starst getting twisted around. I’m not the captain here. Our master is out with the quarterly meeting of the official pirate’s league.” She was glad that the pinkette was more than happy to correct the thoughts running through her own mind.

“I didn’t think you were.” She lied mostly to save face, but also she felt slightly mislead by the man who had once again stripped down to nothing but his underwear. She stared at him, and then pointed in his direction. “Your clothes. Again.” She mumbled. Natsu immediately began to laugh so hard that it echoed around them, and even spread towards the dock. They’d immediately taken off after Gray – she was certain that was his name – had returned to the vessel. The fact that he’d brought her had done nothing to impede their travels. It had honestly put her in shock that they had just taken off with her on board.

“So… I know I’m already here but, shouldn’t there be a process for this?” she laughed hesitantly as the hustle and bustle continued without a hitch even though a new member had theoretically joined. Joining had been her ultimate goal, and to say this made it even easier would be an understatement. They were too trusting to just let a stranger onto their ship. Especially considering she wasn’t intending to be their friend; she was their enemy. She’d sink this ship even if it meant everyone on this vessel went straight to the bottom of the sea.

“Your mother is already dead, Lucy! Stop bringing trivial matters to me.” Her dad made a sweeping motion with his hand in effort to remove her from his sight. When she cowered, but did not move he looked to desk. It was a low growl, “That wretched Fairy Tail took her. If it weren’t for them…” he’d muttered.

Those words stuck in young Lucy’s mind just as the violence of her father that day. The continued anger of her old man, and his lashing out became a common occurrence both onboard Layla’s Heart. Her father had named the boat after her mother, and he’d thought that it was cute to say Heart instead of Heartfilia. He’d felt her mother had the most kindness of all, and he said the boat’s name could never do her justice. That was nothing but a distant memory now. It had faded to the recesses of her mind, and only now did it bring itself back forward. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat, and instead plastered her signature smile to her face.

It was a smile that was rehearsed, and used consistently in her work as the mistress of the Heartfilia Konzern. She hated the thought that she’d be returning once her mission was over, but that was just how it had to be. She was to be the wife of the heir to her father’s company. Whomever he chose for that position. She hoped for someone tolerable, but with her father’s personality it was unlikely.

“Nah, not really. We’ll just talk to gramps when we pick him up in three days.” Natsu was seemingly holding it together now for someone who was ready to collapse not even two seconds ago. Then, he retched again. He hobbled off with a last order.

“Someone get Luigi settled while I nap.” He was still stumbling away, and surely she knew she wouldn’t see him for another day or so. Which meant she had a small window for her correction.

“It’s Lucy!” he responded with a shooing motion, and she clicked her teeth. It wasn’t hard to hate the crew after all. If they were all brash like him, then it wouldn’t be hard to sink this ship. She’d tear it down herself. She had a trump card after all. Even if this was the strongest pirate’s guild, and even if it had the strongest mages this side of the seven seas. She smirked ever so slightly, and it was likely that the slightest haze of darkness had touched those brown iris’.

“Well with that idiot out of the way it’ll be easier to get this done.” The man named Gray was scratching the back of his head, and he even let out an exasperated sigh.

“Right now, we’re really lacking coverage for our overnight watch. All we have is Natsu, and as you can see sometimes he’s as helpful as a bag of rocks.” She notated that each member seemed to have the marks of the ship on different locations. Natsu had his on his right shoulder. Conversely, Gray had his on his right pectoral. She was curious on other locations. She knew that tattoos were the loyalty to the pirate’s chosen home away from land. Still, she absolutely could not see herself staining her skin with the brand of her mother’s killer. Never. If she could delay it then she’d do everything in her power to make sure it would never happen.

“So, I’ll take that position then. My magic is rather well suited to water.” It wasn’t a lie, but it was specifically a portion of her power that was suitable. It seemed with Natsu’s sickness she would spend a lot of time alone. That would be good for her considering she needed to get correspondence from the Fairy Tail to Raven Tail. The two seemed to be extreme rivals. She’d never met anyone from Raven Tail, but her father seemed whole heartedly invested in them. He ‘trusted’ them. That alone made her wary of them, and from what she’d seen so far, she wasn’t sure Fairy Tail was actually capable of killing innocents. However, looks can be deceiving.

“Oh? Are ya a water mage?” they were friendly. She’d have to respond in kind. She held up two fingers in a peace sign.

“You could say that. My magic is rather specialized. It’s passed down from my mother.” It had to be just enough to seem like she wanted to be their friend. Like she wanted to be there.

“Great. Natsu probably won’t join you on any night shifts for a few days, so you’ll be all alone. Since it’s sunset you’ll hafta start now, and then in the morning Mira can assign you a bunk.” A shift right off the bat? Well, that was fine. Other than the added bonus of being able to send her letters she would also be able to frequently see the stars.

“I’m happy to get started!” another false smile. How many of these would she have to give??

------------------------------

It was a few days before she actually saw Natsu again, just as she’d thought. He was surprisingly chipper this time. She’d learned from Mira that he had motion sickness, and the resident healer’s assistant made a tonic every few days for him to drink, but nearing day 3 he was nearly always useless. It seemed that she had to change the recipe with each batch as well so he wouldn’t become immune to it. It sounded like a hassle, and she wondered if she’d even bother at that point. What was a mage with motion sickness doing as a pirate anyway?

“Oh!! Luigi! So you’re the one on shift with me, huh?” again with the name.

“It’s Lucy.” She corrected for the second time, but instead of really giving an ‘I understand’ he just smiled and plopped down next to her. She had her back resting against the railing of the ship, and previously she’d just been staring into the rippling waves of the water. She thought that she may have briefly seen something below the surface, but she couldn’t exactly be sure. She decided to hold off on alerting the crew for now.

Surprisingly she’d started to really take her duties seriously. She’d even made friends. She felt a burning in her chest at the thought.

“You haven’t chosen a place for your mark yet?” he questioned, and she froze on the spot. How could she tell him the thought disgusted her?

“No rush! I mean the marks are actual tattoos, and they’re permanent so it’s important to make sure ya like where it goes.” He seemed to sense her discomfort, and she looked at him for real this time. She took an actual full-fledged look at him. His hair was light pink, and it shone under the light of the full moon. She caught herself thinking that it was beautiful.

The way he was so serene, and the way he looked at the stars. Like her mother. She turned abruptly. There was no way she thought a member of the Fairy Tail was reminiscent of her late mother. The one they’d murdered in cold blood.

She lifted her head to focus on the one thing that had always brought her comfort: The Stars. They shone above her like a beacon giving her the feeling of pure tranquility.

“So ya can show that kind of expression.” It startled her to the point that her eyes moved to him immediately. That was when warm amber, and bright emerald met. They both looked startled at the sudden eye contact.

“What do you mean?” it was barely above a whisper.

“Well ya look like ya can’t decide whether to love or hate it here. But when ya look at the stars ya can tell. Ya love ‘em, right?” his grin spread wide across his face, and she nearly felt herself loosen up in front of him. Instead, she hardened her defenses.

“I… do. Me, and my mother, used to look at them every night from the cliff near our home. The connection I have with the stars is all I have left of her.” The small smile on her face was filled with a pain that Natsu himself recognized, and could even relate to.

“My father disappeared when I was a kid, and all I have left of him is this scarf, and the memories of the days he spent raisin’ me.” He was trying to relate to her, but something about the expression she gave him said that was the wrong thing to do. There was a brief moment where her eyes lit with hostility. It was gone in a flash, but Natsu knew what he’d seen. There was something about this girl’s past and somehow Fairy Tail was involved. To what extent he didn’t know, but surely from the look in her eyes it wasn’t good. He’d have to watch her.

--------------------

They spent many nights under the stars in the sky. The only time they hadn’t was tonight where they sat on the floor of Lucy’s cabin as the boat sloshed back and forth in the rush of the wind and rain that threatened to topple the sturdy craft. Natsu’s head was rested in her lap as he writhed and retched beneath her. Honestly, she wanted to move his head.

His hair tickled her thighs, and his breath was brushing against her skin. It made her shiver occasionally, and that caused her a self-loathing she’d never be able to fix. Still, the man nestled against her had made her feel welcome, she felt like family. It was the first time since her mother that she felt she had a home to return to. For how long though she wouldn’t know. Raven Tail was steadily catching up even though she’d been sending them on wild goose chases. They must’ve had a tracking magic on her, but she wasn’t capable of removing it let alone finding it.

Levy could have removed it in an instant, but how could she tell them she planned from the very start to betray them? Even now her heart was conflicted. They were her friends, and the Fairy Tail felt like it was even becoming her family. Had they really killed her mother? That had to be a mistake. Her father had to be mistaken. However, she couldn’t think of a time where his knowledge had been wrong. Surely, he wouldn’t lie and use her to destroy an innocent gang of pirates. Would he? He would.

Her slender fingers laced into his hair, and began to knead into his scalp. He relaxed, and the only expression on his face was faint discomfort. Though, his breath came out in heavy pants, and sweat dripped down his skin the same as the day she’d met him. She had been living on this ship for nearly a month now, and she’d become more than accustomed.

“T-thanks, Luigi…” he trailed off, and a single eye opened to look at her. Her breath hitched as she stared into that deep forest green. It reminded her of the canopy tree her mother had set up picnics under during hot summer days. Her eyes closed as a soft smile came to her lips.

“It’s Lucy, idiot.” She bopped him on the head softly before returning to the soft strokes she’d been working before.

“What if… what if I’d done something really bad?” she whispered. His eyes snapped open to look at her, and she could tell he’d been wary of her from the start. She ceased her touch, and when he sat up from her lap she immediately moved as far back as possible. Her back hit the wall with a thud.

“What did you do?” his voice was deep, but it gave her a sense of fear. It even caused a shiver of unease to run down her spine. She knew right then and there that he’d suspected her right from the start.

“What if it was just.. my being here?” she looked down into her lap where she fiddled with her thumbs, and her teeth worked her bottom lip.

“Lucy, you can be here if ya want to be. If there’s somethin’ threatening that ya need to tell us. We’re your family now.” She looked up to see that his entire body had relaxed, and he’d gone right back to his state of nausea. Then, a thought came to her: she’d done something much worse than being onboard: she’d fallen in love.

She continued to push her back into the wall even when she couldn’t go any further. Her face was the shade of bright red roses, and she wished in this moment that Natsu was blind.

“Lucy, no matter what I’ll protect you.”

He wouldn’t if he knew, but even so the sentiment was enough to be remembered. She closed her eyes, and her smile was the widest it had ever been.

“Hey, Natsu. I know where I want my Fairy Tail mark. But it’s a secret~” she’d finally chosen. She’d chosen her home. Still, there was the matter of Raven Tail. How long could she keep them at bay? She needed to send another letter, but this time it had to be one where they’d never find the Fairy Tail no matter what. She had to divert them, and remove herself.

--------

She hadn’t seen daylight in nearly two days. It’d been deliberation, and planning. She’d had to decide if she’d tell the crew, or if she should just send the letter, and send her own body to the ocean floor. Clearly, the latter was not an option.

“Lu, why’d you call me here?” Levy’s voice was tentative, concerned even. She should be.

“Do you know Raven Tail?” Levy’s face was enough to garner that she’d heard of, and did not like the pirates.

“They’re a group of dirty pirates led by Ivan, the master’s son. He’s a pillager, and often the land he’s stolen from, and the families he’s purged of their belongings don’t make it out alive.” Levy was shivering as tears threatened to spill. Worst of all, Lucy knew that they were the ones who killed her mother. The mother she loved so much had been killed by the guild she was aiding. Levy’s information just proved what she’d already known.

Her body felt disgusting, and she desperately wanted to crawl out of her own skin.

“I-I was working for them.” She mumbled. Levy instantly looked like she was ready to do combat, but her stance loosened when Lucy ran her hand over her guild mark.

“They told me Fairy Tail killed my mother. They told me that if I led them here they would help me get my revenge. So, I came aboard with the intention of sinking this ship.” Levy had always been an intent listener, and today she was doing more than just listening. She was hearing the actual sentiment coming from Lucy’s own mouth.

“The longer I stayed on this ship the more I realized there’s no way that Fairy Tail could do this. I love you all, and you truly became my entire world. My true family. I tried to send them on a wild goose chase, but they just seemed to be replying quicker and quicker to my messages.” She looked at Levy as the realization dawned on the blunette’s face.

“Leave it to me, Lu!” she threw several texts to the table beside Lucy, and quickly began to read through them. If it was Levy she could break the magic that had made Lucy a ticking time bomb for the guild.

Suddenly, the boat lurched and there was an explosion on deck. Both girls rushed to the top with a look of horror on their face. It was too late.

“Ah! There she is! Our little double agent.” The eyes of each pirate landed on her, and she could feel their gazes on her and her skin felt like it was buzzing. She heard Levy in the background, but she couldn’t make out what she was saying. Only one voice stood out from the rest.

“What did you do?” it was Natsu, and at first, she thought it was pointed at her. She couldn’t meet his eyes. She couldn’t look into the gaze of the man who had given her everything she needed to heal under those bright, beautiful stars.

She glanced up with a deliberate slowness as she yearned to disappear right where she stood. What she saw wasn’t an angered pinkette looking at her. He was looking at him. Rage filled Natsu to the brim as he stared Ivan down.

The fire mage knew without a doubt that Ivan had tricked Lucy. That was the kind of bastard he was. He’d exploit your weakness, and then he’d betray you. His fingernails dug into his palms and they surely would leave crescent moons in his skin. He didn’t care if it meant destroying Raven Tail’s Master right then and there.

Flames licked his hands, and his face seemed shadowed by his own hair. Lucy Heartfilia began to panic. This entire ship would go down in a blaze of glory fighting Raven Tail. This was a mess she made. To think she never even questioned what lies she was fed. The blonde was always reading and researching. Yet, she never thought to fact check the information about her mother’s unfortunate passing. Rage had clouded her judgement.

She shot forward to run in front of Natsu. This seemed to stop him for the briefest moment. She had a small window here to distract him and the guild so she could make her move. She probably wouldn’t get another moment like this. Not now, not ever. She pushed up on her tip toes and took one last look at those eyes that had brought her happy memories of her mother. She touched her lips to his. Soft and gentle against dry and cracked.

He didn’t reciprocate, and she didn’t expect him to. Regardless of whether it was shock or that he was mad she’d brought hell to his guild her expectations were low.

“Ivan. It’s time to end this farce. Fairy Tail didn’t kill my mother. You did. You did this out of disgusting greed.” Gasps rang out around her, and Natsu managed to snap out of the stupor she’d put him in. He flashed back to those small moments where she’d talked about her mother. The flash of hostility the first night he’d joined her for watch. And worst of all, the time she’d tried to reach for help, and instead he’d probably ended up doing more harm than good. He may have told her he’d protect her, but he hadn’t really heard her out and he now realized he should have pried more. He should have pushed to support her so she’d be comfortable telling the crew.

Natsu cursed at himself ten times before taking in her small, quivering form. She was standing up to Ivan, the master of Raven Tail, and arguably the most vile man alive. Just seeing him made Natsu want to upchuck right onto the top deck. Gray would give him such a tongue lashing if he did it again though.

“Lu—” he reached out to take her newly branded hand, but she was already gone. She was propelling forward with all the speed she had.

“Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!” there was a flash of gold just as her body slammed into Ivan’s. With her momentum she could topple them right over the edge. Natsu couldn’t remember why, at that very second, but gramps had made the railing at the bow of the craft shorter than anywhere else on the ship. Finally, his body listened to him, and he was running forward. It was too late, he realized.

“I love you.” He looked up to see her meet his gaze one last time.

“They killed mom.” As if on command the heavens above raged, and the waters below seemed to scream in turmoil. A tsunami slammed into the vessel of the Raven Tail, and ‘Lucky’ Lucy Heartfilia dragged Ivan Dreyar overboard.

They both slammed into the water, but no matter how much the man struggled Lucy held tight. He’d drown with her. Her lungs began to burn, and bubbles tried desperately to reach the surface to no avail. The thing about humans is that in the face of death it was easy to turn on the other. She struggled against him with everything she had, and his movements mimicked her own. She fought to keep him down just so she could rise, and eventually it had become less about saving Fairy Tail for good. She’d just became a desperate dying heiress sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

She hadn’t realized through her haze that Ivan was no longer struggling. Honestly, it hadn’t been for a few seconds. He was just dead weight holding her down but still she clawed at his body to try and swim to freedom. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. It was over, she realized. The shape of a body shimmered above her. She couldn’t see under the water, not any longer. But she felt a gentle grip, and then a sudden whoosh.

“Lu—” she could hear the sounds in short spurts.

“Cy—”

“Lu—”

“Juvia has been keeping eyes on the bottles she was sending. I’m sure she was unaware of the underwater night watch. At first Juvia destroyed them, but they changed. She was trying to send messages where they would go somewhere else.” The voice was female, and she recognized Juvia. They’d met briefly in the cabins. She loved Gray.

“Lu came to me for help right before the attack. I think she thought they might be tracking her with magic.” Levy. Dear Levy who trusted in her. She was thankful for that.

“Lucy!” Natsu. Loving Natsu. The man who’d soothed her wounds during nights under midnight black speckled in white.

Her eyes blinked open, and the sunlight above threatened to blind her. Her head turned slightly, and she saw the most beautiful sight. Pink with hues of dancing orange from the rays above.

“I wanted.... to have... more adventures..” she croaked out. Her throat was sore from her trip to the sea bottom, but she hoped that if she lived through this they’d let her stay.

The sun was warm on her skin, and she felt the tiniest bit of life seep back into her. Then, it was dark.

#taking us back to the dark days lmao #nalu #nalu angst week #nalubookclub #nalu ff #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #bae #dorkneel #fairy tail #ft #is it angsty now guys????#my writing

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fairytail-whathesays · 7 years

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So uh, I don’t know how coherent this will be (forgive me, it’s almost midnight here) but I’ll try anyway.

I’ve been rereading FT after not touching it for years (I am in the middle of the Galuna arc, btw, so anything after that is not as fresh to me) and I was struck both by how much better than the latter canon the early parts were (if only for the lessened fanservice, and the still believable situations) and by how a lot of what I hate about FT is already rearing its ugly head.

That they are. The real problems behind Fairy Tail start with Phantom Lord, and I honestly enjoy Galuna Island a lot more than other arcs.

Case in point: what is basically the first friendship-nakama-etc speech, courtesy of Makarov himself. (I am not 100% sure it is the actual first, but it is probably the first to be that overt and long.) And honestly, this, coupled with what Makarov said to Romeo way back in the Balkan/Vulcan arc, already makes me hate him.

Rebelling against authority is cool if that authority is corrupt. Saying “fuck you” against authority that really wants you to quit destroying property and punching people is not cool at all. Especially if your longtime friend is a member of that authority and catches shit for all of your wrongdoing.

And, having read your post about the reasons you hate Makarov, I noticed that - chronologically - it starts with Gajeel. So, uh, I wanted to add something about him that you had not written about yet, as far as I know? (and, I mean, I might have missed it if you had since I only discovered this blog today! Though i have been binge-reading it for some hours…)

It is often said -and shown- that Makarov believes FT mages to be his “children”, and tbh this shows the kind of father he is…

What I consider his “first offense” comes with his reaction to Romeo’s plea (that someone PLEASE look for his dad, since he took on a job he said would take 3 days and it’s been a week) : he literally brushes him off with the worst words he could have said. “No way! Your dad is a mage! We have no mage here who can’t take care of himself! Go home!”, and later on, to himself: “if he goes to help Macao, it will only hurt his pride. No one can decide what he should do, just leave him alone.”

Fuck, I never remember that until people bring it up–but now that you mention it, I remember thinking that was really shitty, too. 1) A man’s pride is not worth less than his safety and life or the damage it causes his child to see that life in danger, and 2) that just fucking stupid. “Mages can take care of themselves”? He was up in the mountains and it was below freezing. Makarov acts like mages are immortal and infallible and that not returning from a three-day mission after a week is cause for no concern.

Then of course, when Macao is rescued by Natsu & Lucy (and he was very much in need of rescuing), he is grateful, and his pride is not damaged at all, as he tells Romeo of how he managed to defeat 19 monsters by himself.

Thanks, Makarov. Now we know who to trust.

Mirajane, in her exposition mode, says he is actually quite worried - I can believe that, but his reaction is not good at all. And I can understand where he comes from - his words clearly come from some bad experience - but still: he is the guild’s master. Is “everyone here can take care of themselves, and thus nobody should help them, and they should be left alone” the right attitude to take with this kind of things? …Nope, no it isn’t, especially when he is dealing with literal children (whom we know have been part of FT and will soon be again. Since they were FT mages, I expect they, too, would have been considered capable of taking care of themselves?).

Right you are.

The best thing about this? Laxus later on fucking calls him on it, when he refuses to go looking for Natsu and Lucy and drag them back from their stolen S-ranked job: “Don’t be ridiculous… I have another job to take care of. ‘There isn’t a single mage that can’t take care of his own stuff’, right?”

(This, btw, is the exact moment this character became my favorite)

Translation: Double standard? Not on my watch.

Which makes me wonder, how many times has Makarov said that?

Still, I suppose that -as Hiro Mashima does show some self-reflection for once- he did not actually think what Makarov said to do was the best course of action. Although it does not really excuse him pretty much using it for years before Natsu stole that S-ranked quest…

Imagine if that had been the guild’s reaction when considering whether to rescue Makarov from the Alvarez Empire. “Eh, Makarov can take care of himself. He can handle it”. And Makarov, of all people, should’ve been able to.

Anyway, going back to the whole maybe-first friendship speech (or at least the first one I noticed) : that speech was particularly appalling, at least to me, for being awful both in-canon and out of it.

Let’s start with the out of canon (uh, Doylist point of view I think?):

Yep!

It was bad writing. Pure and simple. The situation is: Kageyama, our resident Eisenwald Shikamaru-expy, has been saved by Team Natsu but has subsequently betrayed them, escaping with Lullaby. He manages to get to the regular meeting of guild masters, and attempts to play the cursed flute in front of Makarov. At that point, though, flashbacks start to happen: at first to the reasons his guild is doing it, then to things Team Natsu said to him - that what they are trying to do won’t accomplish what they truly want, some positive stuff from Gray - anyway, sorta standard stuff, but still effective. He’s sweating and hesitating - and at that point, the dreaded Speech commences: it is, tbh, a mess that boils down to “Alone, we are weak. Together, we are strong” ™ - which ends with Makarov revealing he Knew All Along, and Kage admitting his defeat.

From a purely storytelling point of view, I was - devastated, honestly. I had really gotten into that character (Shikamaru-expy and all), and was legit tearing up a bit at how Team Natsu’s words had had such an effect on him even when they weren’t even trying to Make Him Good or anything. It would have been very powerful, imo, if what had actually happened was that he simply gave up after having those flashbacks, realizing that he never really wanted to kill the guild masters and that he was just lashing out at what he believed to be an unjust world and system etc etc. You know, character development and all - all the more powerful since he never received a Friendship Speech, but simply was impacted by a few comments.

Instead…well, Friendship Speech™, which didn’t even fit into the whole thing (I mean, what has “having nakamas” got to do with what he was doing? Eisenwald’s whole problem is that they were kicked out of the League and made illegal & dark, and that they consider it to be unjust and want to get back at those who did it. That’s… that’s his guild’s issue. His nakama’s issue. The problem with him and his guild wasn’t that they were, Idk, loners without friends or whatever: it was that they were going to kill innocents and people barely connected to those who made them a dark guild, and also that they never quite examined why they were kicked out, and why they were not blameless at all, and did deserve it*), and lessened SO MUCH the impact of a villain deciding that he was on the wrong path mostly on his own, with just a bit of help and without that help being so over the top and condescending.

Way to hit the nail on the head. There is an external problem and an internal problem. The external is their perceived unjust treatment; the internal problem is their extreme reaction to it, nor merely a lack of unity or family attitude.

Then we have the in-canon problems and- I might repeat myself, you’re warned (it’s almost 0100 uuugh). Okay, so: I can accept Makarov knowing what that flute is and what it does (since even Lucy did), and being confident enough that he could stop that kid if he truly seemed to be ready to play it (he can be fast, and he simply had to extend his arm and take it). But- that speech. Man, that speech.

He is going off an infuriatingly vague and cliched speech, basing it off- what? What does he even know about Kageyama? Does he even know about Eisenwald? Probably not, since he was simply leaving because he got worried about Team Natsu being, well, a thing. Why, then, is he lecturing this person - who, for all he knows, might belong in a guild as nakama-y as FT? (oh, wait, my bad: only the good guys are allowed to have True Nakamas ™. Bad guys get the False Nakamas, if any, who would gladly kill you for power. Always. At all times. For any reason.) He just sounds arrogant, full of himself, and very much trying to do the all-knowing wise mentor routine. With an added bonus of straight up manipulation - telling him that he should not rely on tools but on friends (insert sparkly), and thus should not use that flute (what, not because he would kill innocent people in it? Because using it would be weak? Wow, thanks Makarov, so deep). There is no way in hell this could work if Mashima hadn’t really, really wanted it to. If I was Kageyama, I’d play that flute just because of that speech. That’s how much I hated it.

So if he had followed through with Makarov’s advice, he’d have returned with allies and then slaughtered the guildmasters? Nice advice. It’s doubly stupid because Kageyama is an example of relying on friends–Erigor fell down on the job and cannot complete it, so Kageyama is picking up the slack and completing it for him. Yeah, their end goal might be murder, but the principle is the same: relying on one’s friends.

*Ok this is going to be a really weird rant, but hear me out: the plight of Dark Guilds, and mages from them. For Eisenwald, it wasn’t really explored whether or not all of them were taking up assassination requests or it was just Erigor (or idk, Erigor and a few others). There must have been at least some members of the guild who never killed anyone - and at least some who were unaware of it happening in their guild. Then the guild was ordered to disband and declared dark. …We don’t really see this in canon, but IMO mages from dark guilds probably find it at least somewhat hard to find a good guild to join. And anyway, it does mean giving up your guildmates, and the guild (which, if it happened to FT, would never be supported by the narrative). Honestly, I am not condoning the things dark guilds do - but declaring a guild dark like that is not only harsh but also actively encourages the members of that guild to do Fucked Up Shit, even if they weren’t doing it before. Couldn’t there have been some inquiries, those truly responsible be arrested and the guild, without the worst members, allowed to go on? Only arresting the guild master and declaring the guild dark and ordering it to disband is the worst course of action the council could have undertaken.

That is a weird rant. I didn’t ask this question because the feeling I got while watching the Erigor arc was that most of the members overall didn’t have a problem with murder, but perhaps I’m wrong for assuming that. But generally, I wouldn’t consider that an ill response, since once lives are taken you have to take measures. Dark guilds can be forcibly disbanded when the Magic Council hire light guilds to do so, so it would make sense that they aren’t worried about backlash.

I… probably have more to say, and what I did say I wanted to say better, but I’m tired as heck and I’ve ranted long enough now. I hope you can glean something halfway coherent from this, and also wanted to let you know your analyses are brilliant and I love them <3 Thanks for reading all this, and please maybe let me know what you think?

I think you made a lot of good points. I’m now stewing in my hatred both for Makarov and for Mashima’s tired, exhausted narrative choices. Thanks for sending!

#long post #Makarov Dreyar #crimsonnotscarlet #replies #submission #writing criticism #THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP™

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natsubeatsrock · 7 years

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Guide to Surviving the End of Fairy Tail

It's official. Fairy Tail has come to an end.

This is definitely an emotional time for a lot of people who have been following Fairy Tail, be it for weeks or for years. So I wanted to make a quick guide to help you get through the end of yet another long running series.

1. Don't panic

As cliched as it may sound to some, and pointless to others, it still is worth saying. Just because Fairy Tail has ended, your life and will to live shouldn't. Even as someone who's spent the last two years talking about this series, I'm sure that you can find something else to give your life meaning again.

2. It's okay to feel most of what you're feeling.

If you're happy to see your favorite characters get a happy ending, that's fine. If you're sad that you're probably never going to see more of your favorite series, that's fine. If you’re just glad that it’s all over and you’re able to move on to something else, then have fun with whatever you’re doing next. If you don’t know what you’re feeling, that’s also okay. If you don’t like something or anything about the ending, you’re absolutely free to say so. But if you're mad that you didn't get the ending you thought you would, well…

3. You were never the author.

I need to stress that nothing is wrong with not liking the ending. However, there is no reason to feel betrayed by the writer. You were never promised anything to happen in this ending, so there is no reason to feel cheated out of the ending you thought you were going to get. Looking at you, {insert ship here} shippers.

4. Mashima isn’t done making manga.

I think it’s worth saying that this isn’t Mashima’s last manga. He has announced in a volume afterword that he will be working on a new series. Your guess is about as good as mine on what it’s about, or whether it will be good or not. However, I’m interested in what he’s going to put out next.

5. There’s still the anime.

For better or for worse, the events of the Avatar and Alvarez arcs have yet to be animated. When I first wrote this post, it was speculation. But now it’s been verified by Mashima. And considering how A-1 has handled the past seasons, Fairy Tail isn’t done just yet.

6. This fandom isn’t going to die.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts/confesses to the effect of “I hope people stay in this fandom”. I feel that this fear is misplaced. Of course, there will people who will move on to different fandoms once Fairy Tail has ended. However, there will still be a Fairy Tail fandom. If not because people are going to stay, there will always be people who become interested in Fairy Tail and write or draw for it long after it’s ended. However, on a similar note...

7. You don’t have to stay anymore

I feel as though people will feel obligated to continue caring about this series even though they lost interest in it years ago. You don’t have to force yourself into loving the series. You never had to.

If you're wondering what you should read now that the series is over, I'd like to make a few suggestions. Some of them are based on series that I've either read or watched the anime for and others are blind recommendations from people whose opinions I value. Keep in mind that, though I might mention the anime, these are manga recommendations

First the blind ones.

1. Astra: Lost in Space

I know absolutely nothing about this series. However, I’m suggesting it because this is the series that I’m going to get into now that Fairy Tail is over. It’s relatively new and has no real fandom. So, this is my best attempt at bringing people over to a new series I’m also going to be joining.

2. Berserk

I trust the opinion of fairytail-whathesays, among the many other people who love this series. Be forewarned that this series is infinitely more graphic than Fairy Tail is. Also, don’t watch the anime. It’s not worth it.

3. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

The reason that this is a blind recommendation is that my siblings want to enjoy this without me ruining it for them. However, it's hard to ignore the phenomenon that JJBA has become in recent years.

4. One Piece

OK, I'm kind of cheating here because I have seen some of One Piece, but it was only a few episodes of the 4Kids version more than 10 years ago. Even so, what I remember of One Piece is enough to justify its spot as the top selling manga series of all time.

5. Gintama

If there is anything that I can say about this series to convince you to read them, consider that out of the thousands of anime on MAL, every single season of its anime has an average rating of over a 9 out of 10. It’s the only series to even come close.

Now for the series that I actually know about.

1. Hunter X Hunter

I've spent the majority of this year going through the anime and it's phenomenal. However, as the fan given nickname Hiatus x Hiatus may indicate, this ongoing series has spent a long time on hiatus more than a few times. Luckily, the series has recently started publishing weekly... for now...

2. Fullmetal Alchemist

This is one of the first recommendations I've made to someone else and, after finishing the original anime, I can tell you that this is one of the best series out there. In case you're wondering what my take on the anime, I personally believe that you should watch at least the first half of the original before going to the newer version or continue all the way through the movie Conqueror of Shamballa first at your own risk.

3. Rave Master

If you haven't gotten sick of Mashima’s writing and want more of him before his next work drops, then I suggest his best work to date. I should emphasize that it's clearly a Mashima work through and through. However, it's the best thing he's made by far.

4. Death Note

I was going to say Bleach because rushed ending and anime adaptation be darned, it's my favorite of the Old Big 3. However, if there is any manga that I've experienced (read: read) from Weekly Shonen Jump that deserves recognition, it's this series. Not unlike Bleach, I disagree with the people who don't like the latter portion of this series. I continued to be interested and engaged throughout its run.

5. Twin Star Exorcists

This might come as a shock to those of you who've seen me suggest the anime over the manga. However, that was mostly out of frustration of seeing it be disparaged by manga fans. I'm willing to admit the best parts of the anime where adapted from the original, even as I think it wasn't a big drop off in quality after the shift to original material. It's one of the few series whose anime has convinced me to read the manga so I don't want to join this alone.

And for fun, a few anti recommendations. Even if you don't want to go through the series I recommend, don't follow these series. You're welcome in advance.

1. Sword Art Online

There's a notion that the show/series starts good and gets worse eventually. And they're right because, minutes after starting the series, it starts to be bad. If you manage to get to the end of the first arc with your sanity in tact, it's just a constant ride to worse and worse material in different ways per arc. People who compared this to Fairy Tail weren't complementing either series.

2. Taboo Tattoo

You know how people say My Hero Academia is good because it does everything we've seen before amazingly well? This series does pretty much all the cliches you've seen before in the most average way. The absolute worst anime thing I’ve seen.

3. Usagi Drop

Usagi Drop, the anime, has been described as heartwarming and won't leave my recommended anime list on MAL. However, there's a reason that we're not getting a second season of it. Stay away from the manga. Just trust me on this one. Act like it doesn’t exist.

4. Naruto

I actually like Naruto, ending and everything. The reason that I don’t recommend it is because I’m not sure the vast majority of Fairy Tail fans, regardless of whether they know or care about endings, will want to be in a fandom that was anywhere near as bad as ours.

5. Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches.

Again, I’m enjoying this series and even recommended the anime once. But if you’re not a fan of the fanservice in Fairy Tail, stay away from this series. It’s so much worse. Wonder if it has to do with the fact that the author used to be Mashima’s assistant? Probably unrelated.

I have more I want to say about the series ending, including my own reactions to the ending and a bit of retrospective on the series, which I will post later on this week. I figured that this should be its own post that comes when the actual last chapter officially came out.

See you!

#fairy tail #fairy tail ending #oh my goodness #i'm going to need a break after the week ends #what was I thinking with rush to the finish #let's make a series where i make a long post every day until the series ends #that'll give me enough time to finish the other stuff #spoilers: it didn't #also this chapter was technically out a few hours ago #but let me live

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fuckyeahfraxus · 7 years

Text

For all the people who seem to be in dire need of a reminder or two (or more) because, while I agree that Mashima has shown some homophobic streaks with Bob or Sugarboy for example (who/what has also something to do with why I believe Freed to be bi or pansexual rather than gay but that’s a whole different story) I personally wonder how people can honestly say that Fraxus is just a joke or that Freed has turned into one whenever it comes to Laxus. No actually I don’t wonder, it’s the anime’s faut and that people seem to like focusing on comedy relief majorly, what a pity.

Why not start with the current ARC?

Freed is genuinely worrying about him and this panel also shows how well he knows Laxus, already guessing (but for once hoping that this is not the case) that Laxus will do everything in his power to win and help even if he must sacrifice himself/his health.

Here we have Laxus worrying genuinely. Plus, for all those people who still go 'Freed would never deny Laxus/he blindly does everything what he says'. HERE. One of MULTIPLE evidences that this is bullcrap lmfao goodbye.

Dammit, Freed is a leader. The leader of the Raijinshuu. Self-proclaimed Captain with great confidence. Self-proclaimed 'bodyguards'. If he'd blindly do everything Laxus says then he'd a) be a hella bad bodyguard and b) a hella BAD FRIEND which he is soooooooo not.

PROUD LAXUS FACE BECAUSE BADASS FREED SLAYED.

Some people have joked here that Freed dumped Sting so he can go search for Laxus but that's not true either. Sting has STATED that Freed helped him to find his way and then, when they both thought it'd be safe to part ways, Freed probably left to go and search for Laxus. Because he hasn't seen him since he left and of course he wants to make sure that he is safe.

Turned out he still hasn't met Laxus by now and is fighting opponents instead right now alongside with Bixlow.

Oh yea, can't you see Freed's just a joke for Laxus? So much joke that he swear to revenge him?

And Freed friggin saved Laxus' ass. Which Laxus is hella grateful for. You don't hear such a compliment out of Laxus' mouth very often and, once again, it shows the trust and support they have for each other. This was fucking great even though it would have been even better if Freed had been there in person.

S-Class Trial. And the moment he said this he already knew that it's not true because he decided to throw the fight and lose on purpose. Bc he felt like he and Bixlow owed Cana and Lucy for what happened during the Battle of Fairy Tail. If this doesn't fucking say a lot about Freed.

This is one of TWO slightly comical scenes. And even here it's honestly just pure happiness that Laxus is finally back. Unfortunately I don't have the second one of this nature saved but this missing panel was on Tenrou too so- yep, these TWO panels (wow, sooo many! in a 400+ chapter manga!) are the only panels that border on this comedy relief that's picked up more often in the anime for the sake of the amusement factor, NOT for being in character or representing the character correctly.

And these friggin pages man.

Freed talking against Laxus again. Yea this has happened very early in the series already guys.

And look how this saddens him, look how much it affects him. To see Laxus this desperate. Now that he himself has woken up from this blindess and this bad plan he had probably hoped that he could convince Laxus somehow but Laxus is so desperate and deep into this that it just doesn't work this way. It HURTS Freed to see Laxus like this.

Some funny drunk and protective Freed and Gajevy shippers get satisfied too. Also adorable confused Laxus.

Here is, again cough, Freed talking against Laxus. And again he's so damn worried, he doesn't want Laxus to endanger himself so much. But... well.

Freed's scream just makes my heart ache...

And even though he's sick as hell he has to make sure that everyone knows that Laxus saved the town. I'm glad that Makarov thanked Freed for bringing the five of them back home safely because Freed probs wouldn't have given it any importance himself since he puts his loved ones' safety before his own. But yea- he brought them all back while suffering mental and phyiscal pain, on the verge of death. Yet he needs to make sure that Laxus gets the credit he deserves, that he did something good, that he saved people (or so Freed thought at this moment).

'This guy is hopeless'. I think this speaks for itself.

Look at his face. Look at his face when he realizes Laxus is back from his exile.

THEY ALL ARE SO FRIGGIN HAPPY.

He's so sad when Laxus leaves... but Laxus smiles...

... but no he keeps his hope up knowing that they will meet again. And he smiles. He will wait for him but keep on living his own life, strengthening the bonds he has at Fairy Tail while knowing Laxus will be back one day.

DANGEROUSLY PROTECTIVE BAE.

I don't think just anyone would have dared to casually tell Laxus something along the lines of 'Don't get cold feet now' aka don't wimp out now in this time, and not today either.

And this hug was so important for all four of them, honestly. Coincidence that Freed gets an extra panel? Who knows.

Stargazing.

So much faith and support.

One of many evidences how much respect Laxus has for Freed, even back then in his bad phase and that says a lot.

Freed supporting Laxus.

Cheering on his bae.

And he’s so

super worried as he sees Laxus struggle.

Like he knows something is up, this can't be. He still believes in him.

But he's still worried.

Again protective bae.

Another casual reminder that Freed is the team's leader and they choose to support Laxus whenever they can.

No, I have not skipped any of those ridiculous and unfitting comedy moments the anime has. There's the TWO I have mentioned above and by now I am really disliking those anime additions that give people distorted views of how Fraxus and/or Freed are and work.

There's more panels PLUS great spin off ones but I think this post is long enough already. Fraxus and Freed especially need some more damn respect from the fandom. Laxus and Freed are two complex and great characters who trust each other with their lives and understand and respect each other. Love each other. Be it platonic or romantic.

#fraxus #freed justine #laxus dreyar #long post #fairy tail #freed x laxus #admin post #Admin F #important #text

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shrimpyscriptmage-aa · 7 years

Note

♒

♒ Thoughts on the fandom you're currently rping in?

I saw Mira answer this too and honestly I agree that this fandom isn’t as toxic as others will say though like most/all fandoms it can be toxic at times for multiple reasons

1.) Shipping wars- Holy shit are these the most bullshit things ever. Ship and let ship people I mean do we really have to start fights or nit pick what other’s ship. Hell I have crack ships up the ass.

2.) Very important here is call out posts and Vague posting. It honestly does happen and I will not lie I have been a bit guilty of vague posting myself. Hell I even know of a blog that’s nothing but a childish giant call out for one person in this fandom (and other’s) on basically what he has done in the past and warns people not to rp with him. I get telling your friends “Hey watch out this is my experience.” But no one really deserves a full on blog dedicated to hate and calling them out. To me that is just bullshit (and watch the hate pour in for this paragraph right here)

Another example I can make too is with myself where I am on a list of people who needs to be “run out of the fandom” because I am a “Pedo panderer.” That is once again bullshit because of a childish debate about Mavis’s real age versus what her body looks like. Trust me child porn and pedophiles disgust me to no end but there is proof of Mavis admitting her age so to me not really pedophilia but *shrugs* whatever. I would also like to mention said person runs a hate blog for FairyTail and rp’s in the fandom....

Wow that turned into a bit of call out and vague posting in its self......Whops......

3.) I mean prob more of a pet peeve but exclusives/mains/other things that make it hard to approach people. Honestly I can’t count the number of times I have been discouraged by seeing single ship or multisingleship blogs. Don’t get me wrong do what you will but like to give an example of where I get discouraged: I would love to do a romantic ship with a Freed......but Freed blogs are rare and are either single ship or already have a Levy so it’s kinda hard.

4.) Nitpicking the Manga/characters/anything. Oh my god guys if it weren’t for Mashima we wouldn’t even have this fandom. The story is ending soon and really lately people have been just bashing the shit out of the manga. Like I get having your opinions but I have seen it ruin peoples day ya know. Especially when it is stated that “Oh so and so should have stayed dead” and it’s their muse you are talking about. I also will watch people openly bash characters or ships which is kinda wow too.

Like I said 3 is more of a random thought rather than an example of how toxic the community is. Every fandom is toxic. This one is no different. You have those people who abuse friendship and forget what brings us all together in the first place.

At the same time this fandom has brought me one of my best friends and I will forever be thankful for that because I have no idea where I would be right now if I hadn’t met Desmond. She is honestly the greatest thing in my life and always knows how to shut me up or make me smile. I have met many other great friends besides her but she is the Gajeel to my Levy and I just....can’t put into words how truly grateful I am to her and her friendship.

( @pallet-proud Look at me gushing about you like always)

ANyway yea, that about wraps it up. Great Anime/Manga, a few great people with a few toxic mixed in.

#OOC: Out of Books #About The Fandom #About The Mun #Long Post #Mun Thoughts #venomslayer

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lemoncakepanda · 5 years

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Top 50 NaLu Anime Moments {Pt 2}.

Read pt 1 here.

Without any further delay, let’s get back to my top 50 anime nalu moments, and today we cover moments 40 up till 31! This part of the list is probably the most fluffy one, as it’s about to get kinda angsty from the next part on, but hey, let us enjoy our small moment of happiness.

40. Lucy's naked bell roll with Natsu. (Ep 194).

And we starting off kinda kinky, but hey, it’s a form of love, lol. Anyways, I truly love this moment because it was one of the first where you could start seeing that Natsu was actually attracted to Lucy. The anime didn’t include it (idk why) but in the manga he gets all blushy after having his face and hands rubbed in every single inch of naked Lucy, and I loved seeing how he reacted to it. And the first official boob grope (!!!) that results in Natsu getting slapped, which he deserved, lol. While not the only one, this is probably the most fanservice NaLu moment you’re gonna get on this list, so don’t worry, I didn’t include all the boob/@ss gropping scenes, I just really love this one especially.

39. “If any of you bastards hurt Lucy, I will turn all of you to dust.” (Ep 83).

Okay, but listen! As... as an honorary Natsu fan, I love when he gets all serious and goes all out on his enemies, and this scene, esp for someone who was slowly losing hope on this ship, really fired me up! It’s moments like this one where you can see how Natsu really cares for Lucy, at the point of injuring himself in the process. And the line, I love that line so much! I often use it in gifsets I make because I adore how protective he is of Lucy, even now that she’s able to fully defend herself, he still... wow. At last, I like this scene because it showcases how close they are and how much Lucy means to Natsu; ofc he’d be upset if any of his other friends got hurt, but y’all know he’s especially protective of Lucy and has been for a while, even back when the ship was only platonic, and there is a reason for it.

38. “Someone give us hope.” (Ep 119).

As I’ve commented on this moment before, I don’t have anything much different to add this time, only that it gets to my heart how much trust these two have in each other, and how much they inspire each other. I chose this moment because it’s one of the most obvious to how Natsu and Lucy’s relationship works: they give each other strength. When one is feeling down or hopeless, the other will step up and stand by their side. It’s a beautiful cycle between them. Zeref commented once that Lucy was a cheerful person, who had a huge impact on Natsu’s growth, and he ain’t wrong about that. This moment is proof of it.

37. “Let’s reform our team.” (Ep 109).

Or in Kain’s words, Natsu and Lucy getting all “flirty and hot”. God, I love Tenrou Island arc. Not only it’s what turned me into a hardcore nalu shipper, but it’s also great storytelling, and very compelling fights. The choice to combine Natsu and Happy with Lucy vs Kain and Ultear was a great one, considering they’d been kinda distant from each other since Edolas and had not really interacted much, and even during arcs like Oracion Seis and Edolas, which had been successors of the Fantasia and Tower of Heaven arcs, which barely had any Nalu in it, it felt like a breath of fresh air to see them together again and staying together, like the team they’d been since the beginning. It also showed how in sync they are with each other and how well they work together. Truly one of the things that made Tenrou Island such a great arc.

36. “Lucy, come home already.” (OVA 4).

Words cannot describe how much I cherish this omake, or in this case, the ova, where Lucy follows Natsu to find out where he and Happy live. For those of you who have not watched it, it’s set in a flashback where Lucy tells the girls about the day she followed her two lousy friends to get revenge on them for always breaking in her house; she successfully finds their house, and there she finds out Natsu keeps memories of all the jobs he’d gone to, two of which include the first job he and Lucy ever went in together and her old maid outfit, which brings a sweet smile to her face. Despite finding their house, Lucy’s plan to surprise them fails because they never show up, so she goes back to her apartment. And, surprise surprise, that’s where Natsu and Happy had been all this time. And we’re left with the heartwarming conclusion that, although they annoy the fck outta her, eat all her food, mess up her stuff, and hog her bed all to themselves, Lucy loves having them around. They turn her house into a home, they give her someone to come home to, they give her all the company she never had when she was a child. ‘Twas a very nice conclusion to the story, and served as a nice confirmation to something we’d always suspected.

35. Watch Out for the Guy You Like! (Ep 50).

This, in my opinion, is one of the most hilarious FT episodes; even though it results with Lucy finding out all her delusions of Natsu were, well, just delusions, and Natsu just wanted her help to dig a hole, I have so much fun watching those delusions, watching Lucy stop for a moment to actually consider being with Natsu; I think it’s what opened the door to her crush, even if she completely closed her eyes and tried to ignore it. Also, shoujo-like Natsu was a blessing given to us by Mashima which I’m forever grateful for, lmao. But really, I think this omake/episode is actually very important to Natsu and Lucy’s relationship; it showed that all her delusions depicted Lucy’s idea of how a romance should be, and then (spoiler) in the end, she kind of gets that romance, but not in the way she imagined, and it turned out to be exactly the way it needed to be. So, for that, I really like this and find it essential to the ship.

34. Their reunion. (Ep 276).

This moment, originally, was not part of my top 25 Nalu manga moments, and that’s because, while I do love it in the manga, I love it so much more in the anime. It felt more dramatic, with the camera shifting from Natsu and Lucy finally locking eyes after one year apart, and they’re both so goddamn shook! I like that they added this detail in the anime, because you could really feel like it was two people who used to always be together, and then spent 365 days without seeing each other, being only there ever in thought. I also like how they’re both blushing, that little showcase of how happy they are to see the other again, and the small tingle of bittersweetness because we know it’s not 100% okay between them. You know drama’s gonna follow because actions have consequences. But for that one moment, you’re just as happy as Natsu and Lucy to see them reunited once more, the way it’s supposed to be.

33. Lucy makes her choice. (Ep 49).

While I feel that this one goes without saying, the reason I chose it can be explained in two sentences: 1) Lucy has met a guy who’s like the male version of her, is kind, a gentleman, and has a nice vibe with her, but she puts all of that potential aside for the one thing she is sure of, and that’s her partnership with Natsu. 2) Have you seen Natsu’s face when she shows up in that train, ready to leave with them? He’s so shook, he blinks like three times, as if trying to make sure she is really there, that she’s real. And then he just opens the biggest smile, because she chose to be there with them; it’s the first time they’re not dragging her to a job, she simply chose to come along, and you can almost hear the sound of Natsu’s heart going all fluttery when he realizes she cast her ‘date’ aside to go with them. Another moment that, I feel, helped deepen and shape the relationship these two have today.

32. “Make me purr!” Drunk Lucy round 2. (OVA 9).

Again, nothing really different to add on this moment, only that I like how the ova extended and showed Lucy jumping on Natsu in the most s&xual way ever, and how Natsu has all the strength in the world to remove her from him, but “supposedly” is unable to do that when she’s all over him touching him in a very intimate way. Aham. I see right through you, dragon boy. Also, isn’t it interesting that Drunk!Lucy directs all her attention to Natsu if he’s around? Nvm that there’s other guys around, all she cares about is him. I love that. It says a lot about Lucy’s hidden feelings.

31. Reaching out for each other before being separated. (Ep 247).

Tartaros is my favorite FT arc, despite not having that much Nalu in it, it’s probably the arc with most emotional weight, because of everything the characters went through and makes you really feel for them. And although I love the ships, I love the story 1st and Tartaros was indeed amazing story-telling. With that said, I also enjoyed very much the little/subtle/few Nalu moments the arc provided, and one of them is the scene where Natsu and Lucy are being pulled in by the Alegria, and they reach for each other. It’s commonly said that when things get tough, you focus on what’s important to you, and it was very sweet/heartbreaking to watch Lucy and Natsu struggling to get to each other, as they were both unaware of what was going to happen, they were just trying to stay together. You can easily say it’s only because they were alone together, but hello, Mashima did not need to make it like this. It was his choice to make Natsu and Lucy reach out for each other in a way that’s mostly seen between couples, esp in shõnen, and the anime made it even more beautiful.

Part 3 will come up tomorrow!

#nalu #natsu x lucy #fairy tail #top50nalu #sorry guys if I wrote something wrong i'm just really sleep rn lol

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ratretro · 6 years

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NaLu Angst Week Prompt 3: Tears

Title: Blue Lips

Pairing: NaLu

Prompt: NaLu Angst Week 2018 - Tears

Rating: M; some gore???? Blood mention?? Unsure what to mark for triggers

None of these characters are owned by me, they are all owned by the wonderful Hiro Mashima!

A/N:

I’m not even writing these in order at this point

Living it wild style Quatro puppy are my homies tbh

Anyways as far as triggers go I don’t think there are any big ones, but if I should have one on here let me know

I’m also starting to notice the constant trend of Happy not being in a good chunk of my fanfictions. He appears in Starcrossed though I promise we just haven’t really gotten there yet

(due to my horrendous pacing skills we may never get there) anyways Happy isn’t in this one but that’s cause of the scene itself not so much of me not adding him in

FF.net

“—atsu!” His ears rang, and holy Mavis his side ached something fierce. Future Rogue had really gotten him good, but he didn’t have time to think about that right now. Two hands gripped his forearm as he tried desperately to pull himself from the shadow that was threatening to swallow him whole and leave him in eternal darkness.

He reached out to grab onto something – anything – that he could use to tug his way to freedom. He squeezed. All he felt was firm, thick fabric, but that was all he needed. He pulled, and with assistance from the two mages at his side he finally escaped the most present danger.

“Natsu! Pull yourself together!” that was Meredy’s voice. He recognized it rather easily since she had started working with Fairy Tail before they’d even arrived at the Grand Magic Games. She was yelling, and it seemed rather panicked, but he couldn’t care less.

“You mustn’t move yet!” that was Urtear. They both sounded afraid, and he supposed that was fair. The kingdom of Fiore was under attack by dragons of all things, and there was Future Rogue who had started this entire disaster. Some days were better than others, and today was definitely not one of those. His side felt like it was on fire, and he knew that sticky substance streaming from his abdomen down his leg was in fact blood.

That didn’t matter. He had to protect the future. He’d promised Lucy that he’d protect her future, and he’d protect everything she’d travelled here to save. He’d protect the very thing she died for. His mind flashed to his Lucy. To living, breathing Lucy who he’d forced to run away. She was the most stubborn woman he’d ever met, and she’d never just leave a comrade behind. Just like on Tenrou Island when she could have left him there and run off on her own to safety, but instead she took every hit that bastard had dished out.

“Because, it’s more fun when we’re together!”

Even if her smile had a tinge of sadness she was still giving him her very best grin. In that moment, he knew she was Fairy Tail. There had been no doubt in his mind that she was, but right then and there he knew. He had to make sure she’d left, and he had to make sure she was safe. Even if his entire body was covered in cuts and bruises. Even if he had to die to do it.

“Is… Lucy…?” the two woman made low noises that disheartened him immensely. He struggled to lift his head, and when he finally could his eyes were unfocused. It was like trying to see through Lucy’s favorite glass vase back home: hazy, and unclear. It took a few more moments, and then he could see the figure strewn on the ground. She was right where she’d been left. She laid in the broken rubble of the palace just barely escaping the vicious fight the two dragon slayers had just engaged in.

“Lucy..” he breathed before moving his ragged body to standing. Everything ached, and his magic was dangerously low. He’d fought the Garou Knights, and then he’d begun the war with the palace guards coming in flocks. He was weakened drastically, and the wound in his side did not help one bit. The dragon slayer’s hand shook as it pressed over the open slice in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and to hopefully stop the intense throbbing that was radiating through his body. His Lucy was safe, but the Lucy strewn on the floor had suffered for it. Had been put through such an awful situation, because he wasn’t strong enough.

He continued forward step by step, and even if someone had tried to stop him he would’ve just plowed right through them. His eyes were on one single thing: Lucy. Lucy’s unmoving body. Lucy who had been by his side from the moment she entered the guild to the moment she’d left her life. Tears threatened his eyes once again and by the grace of Mavis he managed to contain his crying to soft sobs. He didn’t even care as his knees crashed to the ground beside her causing a screaming pain to rush through his joints.

There he sat with his fingers digging into the fabric of his pants as he mulled over his own failure laying right in front of him. He wasn’t fast enough, nor was he strong enough to protect her from Rogue’s attack. Shadow or not there had to have been something he could have done. He could have done anything. She had always trusted him to rescue her, and he trusted her to save him. They’d both kept each other from all kinds of danger. She’d protected him when they fell from a waterfall, because his motion sickness had gotten the better of him. He’d saved her when she jumped from the prisons of Phantom Lord and came crashing down from the sky.

She trusted him, and he’d failed her. Her blonde hair normally reminded him of bright sunflowers, but today it reminded him of the sun. The strands seemed stronger in color when compared to her own blue-tinted skin. She was even paler than she had ever been, and his shoulders shook as he once again attempted to swallow his emotions. He had to protect the current Lucy’s future so that she could continue to live. He wouldn’t even be able to stomach a life without Lucy in it.

He reached out, and his fingers grazed her cheek. She was soft, and cold. Her skin felt like Gray’s after he’d used an ice make ability. She was so, so cold. His hand caressed her cheek, and he thought for the briefest moment that if he could warm her up she’d come back to him. But she wouldn’t. Mavis, he wanted to have her back with him. She was so precious to him, and he loved her with everything he could. He hadn’t realized it back then, but thinking on it now she was special to him, and he’d lost that today.

“Damn it!” he screamed, throwing his body over her own. He wondered once again if heating her would bring her back to life, but he knew it wouldn’t. He had to get it together. Lucy’s smiled flashed through his mind. It was the one she made every time they went on an adventure, and it was the same one she’d made when she got her Fairy Tail mark.

The pinkette lifted his body from hers after several moments, and he grazed his hand over the place where her right hand used to be. It was hollow, and the fabric sunk in which did nothing but further the clenching in his chest, and the tears were streaming from his eyes once more. He’d give anything to have kept this Lucy alive until she went home to a time that was hopefully fixed with what they would do today. He had to get it together for his Lucy. He had to keep her alive at all cost, which meant he couldn’t keep sitting here. He had someone to protect.

“Because, it’s always fun when we’re together, right Luce?” he mumbled to her, and his hand was pulled from her cheek. The place where he’d touched was the slightest bit warmer, and he hoped wherever she was that it was a place where she’d be happy, and loved.

“I’m all fired up now!” he punched his fist into his open palm as he prepared for battle. He had dragons to defeat, a man from the future to punch (it was the least he deserved), and a future to save.

#nalu angst week #nalu #nalubookclub #nalu ff #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #fairy tail #ft #fairy tail ff #otp: welcome home #my writing

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lemoncakepanda · 7 years

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My top 25 NaLu moments! (Part 2)

Okay, let’s continue this! Here’s part two for my favorite NaLu moments. Part 1 can be found here, if you’re interested in seeing the numbers 25 through 16. Now let’s move on to 15 through 6 (yes, I decided to extend it, it’d just get too big). Thanks a lot to everyone who read this, I love y’all. Also, once again, there are spoilers here for the current arc. If you haven’t caught up to it yet, it’s best if you don’t read this. Also, sorry for any grammar mistakes.

Part 3 is here.

15. “To protect our future” (ch. 317).

There are two Lucys here in this moment, and they’re both with a loving look in their eyes and a soft blush because of Natsu. If that doesn’t say something about NaLu, then... Anyways, this is a fan-favorite moment, even some of those who don’t ship it thought this moment was really sweet. Because it’s one of the sweetest, most pure moments in the entire series. As you can probably tell from the previous list, I love Natsu comforting Lucy; I love this moment here even more because it’s the first time (as far as I remember) that we see him comforting her physically and intimately. Natsu was so, so, so sweet to not have a single doubt about what F!Lucy said, simply for the fact that she was Lucy. And when he realized she was in a hard moment, he bent down and pressed his forehead tenderly against hers, reassuring her that they’d be able to stop that future from happening. Many people say this moment was sweet, but isn’t special because Natsu and Erza also had a moment like this (which was very sweet as well), but I don’t care, because Natsu’s the one who initiates the contact here. He’s even craddling her head to bring her close to him, which I thought was adorable. And this must’ve brought so much relief/pain to Future Lucy’s heart, because she lost her Natsu, and then there he was, her source of comfort, giving her hope. Bonus special here, our present Lucy watching the scene and blushing because she’s overwhelmed by how sweet Natsu is to her.

14. “You sure know how to make a girl worry” (ch. 507).

I know many people were disappointed when this chapter came out, because many expected Lucy and Juvia to be the ones to stop Natsu and Gray instead of Erza, but I was one of the few that actually liked how Mashima handled things that chapter. Erza’s a sisterly figure to Natsu and Gray, and it was nice to see her stop them, to then Lucy and Juvia show up and give support to her boys (I thought it was a nice change from friendship to romance, Erza and then the girls). And man, was it amazing to see Natsu falling to the ground and then Lucy catching him, with her arms around him and (most likely) crying out of relief. And then he breathes in “Lucy...”, he must’ve been so relieved as well. He thought she had died, and then there she was, right behind him, holding onto him, safe and breathing and alive. That was a beautiful scene, with the classic back-hug NaLu moment, and it’s also really nice that even after he passes out, Lucy’s still holding him and even carries him back to where Porlyusica is.

13. “Beautiful” (omake 182.5).

C’mon. I mean, COME ON! Natsu gave Lucy a freaking tree as a present, just because she was sick and couldn’t see it for herself (kudos to Happy too because he probably helped Natsu by cheering him on). I mean, that’s just too much love, man. I don’t know if NaLu will be canon confirmed, but I’ll say this: it’s my headcanon that this was the moment Lucy realized she was in love with Natsu. I mean, that’s the kind of thing boyfriends do for their girls, and you can see just how amazed she is, especially when she finds out what her boys did for her (tho she probably already knew). And Natsu, my boy, being a tsundere and being afraid to get caught... so cute... but really, this was a beautiful gesture. The anime adds a special touch to this, where they show Natsu feeling really bummed at the festival because Lucy couldn’t be there with them. It’s a beautiful episode, and this is a beautiful omake, and it’s really romantic, in my opinion.

12. Lucy gives Natsu body warmth (ch. 514).

Call it fanservice, call it Hiro Mashima being a pervert, I don’t care; to me, it’s Lucy and Happy doing everything they can to save Natsu, and in Lucy’s case, putting aside her shame of being naked to help the man she cares so much about. And the way it’s drawn, it’s just so beautiful, and soft, and pure tho after the 3rd time looking at this it looks like they just finished doing the deed, and it’s a panel that’s just there, it’s not a huge part of the chapter, but it’s there, and it had most of NaLu fans on tumblr freaking out because that’s how amazing this panel is. But really, the meaning behind of this is what makes this moment so special to me, and why it’s placed on this position in the list. Lucy constantly slaps/kicks Natsu because he gropes her, or because he breaks into her house, or because he’s acting stupid, but in the end, it’s Natsu. She’d do anything for him, even if it embarrasses her. That’s how much she loves him, no matter if you see it platonically or romantically.

11. “I said stop it!” (ch. 17).

Here you have one of the oldest NaLu moments ever, which is also their first back-hug. It’s not really a special moment if you look at the meaning, or at the panel itself. But guess what, it’s what got me shipping them. Seriously, I didn’t ship it from the start. I watched them interact, and thought they were funny together, but that was it. And then this moment in special came, and I was like “oh” for a few seconds, and then Natsu looks back at Lucy with a weird look on his face, and she’s kind of blushing asking “what”. And I was like, “Ooooh, there’s something here, isn’t there. This is totally gonna be a thing; I’m so going to ship this”. I wasn’t a part of the FT fandom back then, so I didn’t know if NaLu was a popular ship or if it was just me who thought they worked nicely, so I was pleasantly surprised when I realized there were over 40k people who shipped these two, like I did. This scene is what actually started this ship for me, so that’s why it’s here.

10. “This I promise you” (ch. 425).

From here on, in this list, things stop being carefree and funny, and we go down to a path of pure angst, because apparently I’m a masochist. On this moment here, we have one of the best NaLu panels ever, because holy shit, this is a heavenly art right there; I love it so much, I use it in almost every manga edit I make. As we all know, Natsu and Lucy’s relationship was a bit weird after the 1 year timeskip, with Lucy trying really hard to be okay, but part of her was still wounded because Natsu left without her; just as Natsu was trying really hard to make up for what happened, and to repair their relationship. Not too long before this moment, Lucy said something about people who get left behind felt really abandoned, and Natsu simply looked at her, knowing she wasn’t okay. In the following chapter, we had them going to look for Gray together, and suddenly Natsu turns to Lucy, pulls her really close, looks her in the eye and promises he’ll bring Gray back; which in my opinion, was his way to say he’d fix everything, he just needed her to trust him that he could do it. And Lucy’s a celestial wizard, so she values promises a lot, and that’s why Natsu has her so close to him. It’s a really bittersweet moment, but beautiful nonetheless, because let’s face, we all love seeing those two with their faces super-close, it just makes you wanna push those two together. But really, I thought Mashima captured really well in this moment how they were both struggling with everything that had happened and was happening.

9. Natsu’s reaction to Future Lucy’s death (ch. 324/325).

I told you it was about to get angsty. Heartbreaking as Future Lucy’s death was, what actually broke my heart was everyone’s reactions to it, especially Happy’s (*sobs eternally*) and Natsu’s. I mean, Natsu literally watched his best friend, his partner, a woman who’d already suffered so much and was trying to save everybody, die. And worse, she died protecting the Lucy from the present, the one Natsu couldn’t protect; this fact here is just heartbreaking. And the guild-mark scene... man, that was just a low blow. He acted so “yeah I don’t care” when she showed him her guild mark, and then we see this moment, and he’s remembering it, and we realize he actually was paying attention to her. And when Future Rogue attempts to kill Lucy again, Natsu just snaps. Ain’t no way he’s gonna let that happen, not after this, not EVER again. He swears there that he won’t let anyone steal Lucy’s future. That he’ll protect it and he’ll protect her. And the line “you took away something precious to me right before my eyes” just adds more pain to the heart, because this is Natsu saying loud and clear, while in tears, that Lucy is someone precious to him. Because like Happy said, no matter where she is from, Lucy is Lucy, his friend and he loves her. I’m sure it’s the same thing for Natsu.

8. Natsu thinks Lucy’s dead (ch. 504).

Look... *breathes in* I don’t care if he’s never said it out loud... Natsu loves Lucy, okay. She is SO special to him, and we all know that the future he was talking about in the previous chapters, he wanted her to be in it, whether as just a friend or as something else. And at this moment right here, right before he snaps and kind of becomes E.N.D., he believes that that future got taken away from him. He went berserk with Future Lucy’s death, imagine how he felt when it was his actual Lucy who “died”. That drove him so mad, so heartbroken, to the point where he lost it, and started the E.N.D. transformation. And the second panel of this is just f*cking rude, look at him craddling her body, pressing her forehead to his, trying to get her to wake up, with tears running from his eyes. If you pay enough attention, you’ll see that he’s shaking. These two really deserve a happy ending after all this, you know...

7. “I’m going to protect Natsu no matter what the cost” (ch. 501).

I know many people have complained about this last arc; indeed, it’s not a perfect arc, it has flaws, but we have to admit something: it’s been a really kind arc to the NaLu ship so far. As someone who loves seeing girls promising to protect the boys they love, I almost had a heart attack reading this chapter. My girl Lucy was such a badass fighting Brandish, even though she knew Brandish was stronger than her, she still tried and threw her everything, because she was willing to do anything to protect Natsu. She didn’t even want to fight Brandish, but this is how far Lucy’s come; this is how far the NaLu ship has come. Lucy doesn’t care how, but she has to win this, because if she does win, Brandish said she’d heal Natsu. Lucy doesn’t care what happens to her, as long as Natsu’s safe *cowers in a corner in fetal position and cries*.

6. "Let’s continue our adventure” (ch. 337).

*puts sad OST to play while writing this* Fairy Tail, the eternal adventure of Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia and Happy... like I mentioned before, Future Lucy’s death was heartbreaking. Despite this, what brought me just as much tears, was her reunion with the family she grew to love and lost. And who’s there to take her hand and take her to their eternal adventure, of course it’s Natsu, the one who introduced her to everything, the man who changed her life and gave her a home and family. Keep in mind, this was Future Lucy finding peace. This was her heaven. All she wanted was to see everyone again, and she did, and just like in the beginning, Natsu’s the one to pull her along and bring her to an adventure. After so many sadness and hurt, Lucy could finally be with the ones she loved again. And while this is more of a Lucy moment, it’s still heavily NaLu, because like I said, this is her heaven, and Natsu’s the one who brings her to it.

#nalu #natsu x lucy #fairy tail #topnalu #my post

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