Her ≫ Fairy Tail Fanfic

Chapter 20: Mate

"I run away from you sometimes just because I want to know if you would follow."

As Natsu -- along with Gajeel, Laxus, Sting and Rogue -- raced off to find out who their mates were through tracing their scents, his mind overflowed with questions.

What was his mate like?

Why did her scent smell so familiar?

Did he know her?

And most importantly, who was she?

It confused him. Like, seriously confused him. The scent that he was tracing felt so close, yet so far. So familiar, yet so foreign. Closing his eyes and following the sweet, strawberry-vanilla mixture, he found himself at the train station.

'Oh no,' Natsu thought, totally against the idea of going on the train.

'I'm not getting on that metal death contraption.' The little devil on his left shoulder -- shaped like Igneel for some reason -- stated firmly in protest to having to suffer a few hours of wanting to toss his guts out.

But the little angel on his right shoulder -- shaped like... strangely, Lucy -- wouldn't back down so easily. 'But it's for his mate! Natsu-kun is willing to suffer through anything for the one to whom he is destined!'

After a bit of bickering with his good side and his evil side -- known as his subconscious also -- the pink-haired dragon slayer decided to get on the train.

To where? According to the scent, to Hargeon.

'Hmm,' Natsu thought, wondering. Why Hargeon? Wasn't that the place where he'd met that weakling, Lu-no. He couldn't think like that. Lucy was special, and she was strong in her own way. Physically, she might not have been as capable as others, but she was the strongest girl he knew, emotionally.

Ugh, finally. Dragon Mating Season is finally clearing his head and heart and realizes Lisanna was just a childhood fantasy. Finally Natsu realizes that he loves Lucy, not Lisanna.

Searching the depths of his mind, he realized. He didn't actually love Lisanna. She was just a childhood fantasy, a infatuation that had clouded his thoughts and plagued his heart.

Totally unhealthy. Duh.

The pink-haired dragon slayer scoured his heart. Deep down, he had always loved Lucy. Not Lisanna.

Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia, the abandoned princess who turned into a brave fighter...
The girl who was strong within, and possessed unrivaled beauty, both inner and outer...
The girl who used her past a fuel to strive for a brighter future...
Levy McGarden's best friend...
Erza Scarlet's little sister...
Juvia Lockser's frenemy...
Wendy Marvel's older sister...

The girl he loved.

--

Natsu was jolted out of his thoughts by announcement that they had arrived in Hargeon.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Hargeon. The temperature is currently 22 °C, and the local time is 11:30am. If you have a connecting train, please go to Terminal 2. Please remember to take all your belongings with you and we hope you have a nice stay in Hargeon."

Immediately rushing off the train, the pink-haired dragon slayer followed the scent to a small alley close to the harbor; his mate's scent stopped there. Upon reaching it, the sight that greeted him had Natsu utterly, completely horrified.

Blood. It was all he saw. Dried blood, everywhere. And in the middle of it all, he saw a tiny glint of gold in the ,toning sun. When Natsu looked closer, he gasped. It was a zodiac key; more specifically, Lucy's Aquarius key. It lay shattered on the ground, like the heart of the pink-haired dragon slayer who had picked it up and was clutching it to his chest.

Upon closer examination, he found marks somewhat like someone had been thrashing around at the time of the murder, and beneath that, a message.

Natsu's heart broke a little bit more. 'Lucy had probably tried to escape or fight back but her captor finished her off quickly, thus ending her futile attempts to defend herself.' He thought, saddened but also enraged. When he looked at the message, scrawled messily in Lucy's blood, confusion and more rage consumed him. It read 'You'll' and was signed '- E.D.'. The dragon slayer rubbed his nape, confused and extremely mad.

What did the message mean?

Who was E.D.?

Why had they killed Lucy?

Why was he so mad? Like, he knew that he loved her, but wasn't this fury that was boiling inside him -- like waiting for a volcanic explosion to happen -- too much?

As questions swirled in his head, Natsu was struck with realization.

Lucy was his mate.