Chapter 36: Village Interlude
The job was simple, almost disappointingly so. A gang of braggart thieves hiding out in the hills near a small farming village, using cheap illusion magic to spook the locals and steal supplies. For Team Natsu, fresh from a guild war, it was a warm-up exercise.
The "fight" lasted roughly six minutes.
Erza requipped into her Morning Star armor and simply walked through their illusions, her presence alone causing half the bandits to faint. Gray froze their leader's boots to a boulder with a lazy snap of his fingers. Natsu, looking almost bored, lit a campfire with a puff of breath that roared to life in the center of their camp, singeing eyebrows and morale. Lucy didn't even need to summon a spirit. By the time Happy dive-bombed the last lookout with a fish, it was over.
The village elder, overjoyed, paid them the agreed sum and then some, insisting they stay and enjoy the village's modest harvest festival that evening. With the sun still high and the rest of the day theirs, they agreed.
The village was a picture of rustic charm, wooden houses with thatched roofs, a central green, and the smell of baking bread and roasting apples. It was a world away from the iron and fire of Phantom Lord.
As they strolled through the festival stalls, a flash of familiar orange hair and glasses caught Lucy's eye near a fortune teller's tent. "Loke?"
The man in question, Loke, the flirtatious mage turned. His usual suave smile appeared for a split second, then vanished as his eyes landed on Lucy. His face paled. Without a word of greeting, he spun on his heel and melted into the crowd with surprising speed.
"Hey! Loke, wait!" Lucy called, confused.
"Strange guy," Gray muttered, already distracted by a stall selling spiced cider.
Natsu, however, didn't comment on Loke. He watched Lucy's confused pout, then gently took her hand. "C'mon, Luce. Let's go check out the view from that hill. I saw some wild boar tracks earlier."
"Boar? Natsu, we just ate!" she protested, but let him pull her away from the group, a faint blush on her cheeks.
Erza, who was examining a display of hand-forged nails (pragmatic, even at a festival), watched them go from the corner of her eye. She saw Natsu's hand slip from Lucy's hand to the small of her back, a possessive, intimate gesture. She quickly looked back at the nails, her expression neutral.
Gray and Happy were engrossed in a heated debate by the cider stall. "I'm telling you, the fish here is better grilled with lemon!" Happy insisted.
"Fish is a side dish! It needs hearty bread to soak up the juices, you furry philistine!" Gray shot back.
Erza was alone with her thoughts, and her gaze kept drifting toward the tree-lined path Natsu and Lucy had taken.
***
On the grassy hill overlooking the village, with the sounds of the festival a soft murmur below, Natsu stopped. The boar tracks were forgotten. He turned to Lucy, his hands resting on her hips. "It's been a while since we've been alone," he said, his voice softer than usual.
"Since we… you know… did it," Lucy finished, her blush deepening. It had been almost a week, a frantic blur of recovery, celebration, and Laxus's unpleasant visit. "It feels longer."
"Yeah," Natsu murmured, leaning his forehead against hers. His nose nuzzled against her cheek, inhaling her scent, ink, sunshine, and the faint, unique ozone of celestial magic. One of his hands came up to tuck a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear, his thumb lingering on her jawline. "I missed this."
"I missed you too," Lucy whispered, her hands coming up to rest on his chest, feeling the steady, strong beat of his heart through his vest. "Even though you were being all weird and quiet."
"Not weird," he said, a faint smile touching his lips. "Just thinking." He dipped his head and kissed her. It wasn't a hungry kiss, but a slow, savoring one. Lucy melted into it instantly, her arms sliding up around his neck, pressing her body against his. His arms tightened around her waist, holding her close.
When they finally parted, breathless, Natsu kept his face close. "How about we do it after the baths tonight?" he asked, his voice a low, intimate rumble. "I can come to your room later."
A practical worry surfaced through Lucy's daze. "What about Erza? We usually take a room together. You, Happy, and Gray take the other."
Natsu shrugged, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "It's fine. Erza will understand. She knows we're together and want some time alone."
Lucy's eyes flew open wide. She pulled back just enough to stare at him. "Since when does she know about us?!"
Natsu looked at her, his expression calm. "It's fine. Remember when I kissed her after she almost died from Jupiter? And then, right before she fought that Aria guy, she said she saw us kissing the day before. She knows."
The logic was undeniable, but it led to a more pressing question for Lucy. "So why did you kiss Erza? I thought you liked me."
"I do like you," Natsu said, his gaze steady and serious, holding hers. "And I like Erza too." He let the words hang in the clear air. "I want you both to be mine."
Lucy's brain short-circuited. "Both… of us? Together? Talk about greedy"
From her vantage point behind a large, thick-trunked oak tree twenty yards away, Erza Scarlet froze. Her breath hitched in her throat. The handful of nails she'd been idly holding slipped from her fingers, sinking soundlessly into the soft grass. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic, unfamiliar rhythm. Both? The sheer, audacious impossibility of it warred with a sudden, traitorous flutter in her stomach.
Back on the hill, Natsu continued, his voice gentle but firm. He was speaking to Lucy, but his words carried on the quiet breeze. "Look, Luce. You and Erza… you mean so much to me. More than anything. I don't think I'll ever like the idea of you, or her, being with another man. So I decided." He squared his shoulders, a look of fierce determination in his green eyes. "I will be strong enough, and man enough, for you both."
Lucy was speechless, caught between shock, confusion, and a strange, blooming warmth at the raw, possessive conviction in his voice. Before she could formulate a response, he kissed her again. This kiss was different, deeper, more claiming, full of the promise and the daunting scale of the future he was proposing. Lucy, overwhelmed, kissed him back with equal fervor, her mind a whirl of celestial spirits, fire dragons, and the stern, beautiful face of her armored friend.
Under the oak tree, Erza's hand had come up to press against her own lips, as if to physically hold in her gasp. Her cheeks were flushed a deep, uncharacteristic pink. Strong enough for us both. The words echoed. She thought of his kiss after Jupiter, an oath. She thought of his focused power against her, his desperate rescue of Lucy, his calm defiance of Laxus. He wasn't the boy she'd trained with anymore. He was declaring himself a man with a dragon's heart and a staggering ambition.
And he knew she was listening. A slow, terrifying, thrilling realization dawned on her. The comment about the room… the raised voice just enough… This confession was for Lucy, but the audience was her. He was laying his cards on the table for them both to see.
She watched as the kiss on the hill finally broke, as Lucy buried her blushing face in Natsu's scarf, as he held her with a possessiveness that sent another shiver through Erza. He didn't look toward the oak tree. He didn't need to.
Erza turned and walked silently back toward the festival sounds, her mind a battlefield more complex than any she had ever fought on. The proposal was insane. Forbidden. Yet, as the image of his serious eyes and the memory of his firm lips against hers surfaced, she couldn't find the part of her that wanted to immediately say no. She could only find the soldier, assessing a new, impossible mission, and the woman, feeling a lock around her heart she hadn't known was there click softly open.