The Roku Curse

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🔥 Natsu 🔥

"Stop your crying," I said quietly, resting my head on her shoulder, her blonde hair wisping in front of my face. It smelled nice.

And familiar.

"P-please, don't l-leave m-me."

~

Y-you're so stupid!" She cried and jumped on to me, causing Happy and I to fall back. "Don't ever leave me like that again!"

"Lucy.." I mumbled.

The blonde had a tight grip on my black cloak, sobbing into my chest muttering incoherent words. Did I hurt her this bad when I left?

"P-please, don't l-leave m-me again."

I stroked her hair slightly, smiling. "We're back now, Luce."

Then I felt a smack to the head. "Ouch!" I shout but she continues to beat me. "Try pulling something like that again, I dare you. You leave a flimsy note and expect me to forgive you!" She yells and I sigh, bowing my head slightly in apology.

At that moment she noticed my hair. I didn't bother to cut it much while I was 'training' so it grew quite long and messy. "Ooh~" She sang and ran her fingers through it, which felt oddly nice and relaxing.

"You need a hair cut Natsu, not to mention a bath." She said with a laugh, I'm guessing stroking my hair calmed her down a bit.

That weirdo, one minute she's beating me up and the next she's being all sweet.

I loved it.

"Yeah Luce, I know."

For the first time in a year, I smiled a genuine smile. Not one because I had finally found grub, or because my powers were progressing, but one because someone I cared about was near.

"I know..."

~

"Natsu? Natsu, are you alright?" Lucy asked, waving her hand in front of my face.

I shook my head to snap myself out of it. What was that? It looked so real, so I couldn't have been a daydream but I don't remember anything like that happening.

"I guess I just dozed off," I muttered, slightly embarrassed.

The blonde nodded and smiled a bit. She was now sitting in front of me on her knees, eyes still watery and face still streaked with tears, but at least for the moment, she was forgetting her worries.

"How'd you get here, how did you even find me?"

It was a good question, a reasonable one, but I honestly didn't have an answer to it.

I just ran here as fast as I could, panicking the whole way here about if Lucy was alright, it was like my legs just knew where to go. Looking back, I don't even think I was motion sick when hitching a free ride on the back of those horse-driven carts, I was too focused on getting here. All I knew in those moments was that Lucy was at the Heartfilia Mansion, and I needed to get to her.

Maybe I've been here before and that's why I knew where to go and when to hitch rides.

I realized I had been thinking for too long because when I looked up at Luce was looking into the large hole in front of her, surrounded by dead plants and piles of dirt.

"Uh, what is this place?"

"This is my mother's grave- or at least was."

It was silent for a moment, but I was slightly confused, what happened to her father. "Is that the reason why you're upset?" I ask.

Lucy let out a long sigh. "I-I don't know, it's part of it I guess? Everything's gone wrong, all my friends are missing, Mrs. Spetto is dead, my father is dead, mother's grave is gone, Aquarius has disappeared, it's like everything I thought would always be there has left."

I knew that feeling better than I would have liked. "Look, I'm sorry for giving you a hard time," I huffed out, apologizing wasn't one of my strong suits. "But it's not like everyone that cares about you is gone-"

"Yes, they are!" She shouted suddenly, grabbing a fistful of dirt and throwing it in the grave, hot tears making there way out of her eyes again. Lucy stood up and began to kick the dirt into the hole, thrashing about, riping the flowers and grass up by the roots, tossing the rocks and gravel.

I knew destroying whatever was left of the grave was something she would regret later, so I was quick to stand up and grab her from behind, dragging her away. "Woah! Calm down, Luce!" I shout, taking a few steps back with her in my arms.

"What are you talking about? The only reason I ever got mad at you was because everyone at Fairy Tail cares about you for no reason. Erza and Levy, Mira and Gray, hell, even Gramps has a soft spot for you!"

To this her body went limp, tears still sliding down her eyes as I supported her body to stand, arms wrapped around her waist. "Really?"

"Really, Luce."

Luce, that name just seemed to come naturally. It was so fitting for her.

"Luce?" She repeated with a laugh. "You've called me that a couple times, why?"

"Because- you're Luce of Fairy Tail now!

Heyo guys! Merry Christmas~ (and Happy Holidays!)

Now I know this is a short chapter but consider this a small gift from me to you. The main reason I wanted to do this chapter was because I wanted to test out my laptop.

That's right, no more Ari breaking her back for an hour on that stupid desk chair while writing chapters on the computer, instead, I can write chapters on my couch next to Gizmo. You don't know how much easier this is going to make writing, me being lazy is part of the reason chapters are usually posted late, because I don't feel like sitting in that uncomfortable chair, but now that wont be a problem.

Currently, I am upstate New York with my father for the rest of the holiday, so when I came up for my second round of presents I found this bad boy I'm typing on berried under my cats.

I do realize Natsu and Lucy's reunion flash back isn't the same as the anime, but I'm to lazy to go back to the episode and recall it, don't worry, the next flash backs will be more accurate.

I also got a bunch of manga books, I've read most of them, but these are new copies so I'll try not to ruin 'em like I usually do (I'm bad at taking care of stuff, one time I plant sitted for my mom for a month because I was trying to convince her to get Gizmo, long story short do not mix up plant food and carpet powder. I killed them all)

What's your favorite gift you got? Mine is either the laptop, or the manga books, but I did get a really cool Gryffindor sweater and a nice 'Dog Mom' shirt for when I walk Gizmo.

That's all for now, see you guys Thursday!

Wednesday, December 25th, 2019

1177 Words

~Ari~