Welcome to the Mafia Family

Chapter 67 - Hot Springs Part 2

Lucy's POV

"Where are you taking me Natsu?" I asked as Natsu led me up the island's mountain hand in hand. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at me. "I told you it's a surprise" he replied and looked ahead of us. After a few more minutes of walking, we arrived at a natural hot spring with only surrounding trees instead of walls to hide us from the outside world. It was in an abstract circle shape with stones of different sizes decorating the edges and white steam rose from the hot water.

"Here we are, my private hot spring that no one else knows about" Natsu said and then walked over towards a nearby tree. Underneath the tree sat a woven chest. He opened it up and took out two white towels. "Care to take a bath with me?" he asked with a cheeky grin as he handed me one of the towels. I couldn't say no to his cute smile.

After I undressed behind a tree and wrapped the towel around myself, I stepped out. I spotted Natsu already sitting in the water with a towel wrapped around his waist. My eyes couldn't help but take a glance and blush at the sight of his abs. Droplets of water dripped from his tanned abs. He smiled and lightly tapped the surface of the water. "Come on in, the water's fine" he joked. I smiled while stepping into the water and taking a seat next to him. He rested an arm on the rocks around me.

"Look up" he said and I looked up. Above us was the most beautiful starry night sky I had ever seen. It was like I was staring up at a galaxy with the clouds of colour decorating the sky along with the stars. "Wow, it's beautiful" I commented as my eyes scanned the constellations. "Oh! I can see Aquarius!" I exclaimed and pointed as I found the Aquarius constellation. I turned to Natsu to see if he could see where I was pointing but instead I saw him staring at me. My eyes were captured by his deep onyx eyes.

A passing thought crossed my mind. I'd been meaning to apologise for mixing Natsu up with Acnologia when I was under the drug. I know it was the drug that made me hallucinate but I still feel bad. It must've hurt Natsu when he saw me terrified of him. I'm sure I would feel the same if our roles were reversed.

"Hey Natsu" I said while looking down at the bubbles in the water. Worry crossed his face. "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" he asked and I immediately shook my head. "No, it's just I wanted to apologise" I replied as I looked up at him again and confusion crossed his face this time. "For what?" he asked and I took a deep breath. "For being scared of you after what Acnologia did to me. I bet I hurt you and your feelings" I replied and his eyes softened. "You have nothing to apologise for. I know it was the drugs that made you that way and besides, it wasn't me who you were scared of was it?" he asked. "No, it wasn't. The drug made me see you as Acnologia" I replied and he smiled kindly. "See! Since you weren't afraid of me, you have nothing to apologise for" he replied and then he looked up at the sky with a sigh.

"Do you want to know the reason why I'm so against drugs?" he asked. I nodded and waited for him to continue. The girls told me about how Natsu reacted while I was sedated and mentioned how he HATES drugs but they didn't know the full story of why. "Drugs were the reason my adopted dad, Igneel, died at the hands of Acnologia" he said and I lightly gasped. This explained Natsu's hatred for Acnologia and maybe why Acnologia was after Natsu.

"It happened when I was around seven years old. Before Fairy Tail, I used to be a part of Igneel's mafia called 'The Dragons'. I didn't get to go on missions though because I was too young. Anyway, it was a small but powerful mafia with my uncle Atlas, Gajeel's foster father Metalicana, Wendy's foster mother Grandeeney, Sting's foster father Weisslogia, and Rogue's foster father Skiadrum. One night, they went out on a mission to assassinate Acnologia. I remember before Igneel left our house, he gave me a big hug, ruffled my hair and tucked me into bed like he always did before leaving for a mission. They had been trying to track Acnologia down for years and made it their mission to stop him from trying to turn our society into chaos. That night was their chance to take him down but everything went wrong."

"My seven years old self woke up to noises downstairs. I went downstairs, thinking Igneel had come home but I found a figure in the dark in the lounge room. Turned out to be Acnologia. He came to kill me to hurt Igneel. Luckily Igneel came bursting into the house before he could hurt me. I hid while they fought back and forth. The fight lasted a long time until Acnologia found an opening and managed to stab Igneel with a syringe to the neck. Igneel continued to fight him but I saw he was slowly losing the strength to fight and purple veins slowly spread from where he was stabbed by the syringe. After a short while, he fell to the floor and struggled to breath. I wanted to help him but he looked at me and mouthed 'don't'. Acnologia laughed at Igneel's weakened state and said 'how do you like the new drug I've been developing?'. He stepped on Igneel's body and smirked down at him. He said 'looks like I won the final battle Igneel. Enjoy death' before leaving the house. Completely forgetting all about me."

"Once I knew Acnologia was gone, I ran to Igneel and let the tears I held cry down my cheeks. I remember Igneel's final words to me 'don't cry Natsu. Come on. What do we do in times of sadness? I told you that, remember?' I shouted 'I'm gonna keep living! I'm gonna get stronger! I'm gonna beat Acnologia!' Igneel weakly smirked then said 'That's right. Speak of the future. That is the power to live. I'm sorry for having to leave you so soon but remember I'll always be with you.' After that, the shine in his eyes disappeared."

"Afterward, Igneel's friends finally caught up and found me kneeling next to his body, crying my heart out. They were heartbroken that their leader and friend was gone. After Igneel's funeral, they left in the dead of night while their kids were sleeping and left a note explaining they had to leave to track down Acnologia and stop his madness from hurting more innocent lives. They apologise for leaving us but they had to do this so Igneel didn't die in vain. Also, in the note they told us to go to an allied mafia called Fairy Tail for shelter and you pretty much know the rest" he explained.

As soon as he finished retelling his past, I tackled him in a hug with tears running down my eyes which surprised him. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that" I said as I hugged him tightly. He returned the hug tightly for a few seconds before pulling away. "We need to stop you from apologising for things you didn't do" he joked and I giggled. I gave him another quick hug and then shifted positions, so we were side-by-side with his arms over my shoulders. "Thank you for telling me about your past" I said as I leaned my head on his shoulder. Without a word, he leaned his head against mine. We both looked up to enjoy the beautiful night sky before we needed to get out of the water.