Under Our Stars

…

Stargazing + nalu. To Sara

…

Natsu didn't move and his unnatural stillness is what drew her eyes to him. They were trekking through the underbrush of a lush forest to the south of Fiore, where the weather was heavier and brighter in an absence of all seasons except summer whenever the sun was out and dropping into deep winter come sundown. It was his element and he had been nothing but lively since their arrival, enjoying the scorching heat and then blistering cold, smirking whenever Lucy would cuddle close to him for warmth. His restlessness only settled when he was holding her, but the rest of the time he bounced around in a flutter, observing everything in their path. Something about the forest was fascinating to him, though she didn't know what or why.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked, hand resting on his bare shoulder, the heat of his skin surging through her pleasantly. His usual vest was absent, wrapped around his wounded arm, but it made no difference in this weather. Her eyes flickered down to the fabric around his arm, narrowing her eyes as though she could see through his vest to the cut beneath it. "Is it your injury? Did you pull the stitches again? I told you that maybe I should lead so you didn't strain yourself."

She turned him gently, not that it mattered since her friend had seemed to turn into a mindless golem, eyes locked blankly ahead. It wasn't a threat that held his attention – no, he would spring into action, pained injury or not, if there was something dangerous ahead, but his silence made it seem all the more ominous. Her eyes strayed to the trees, but she could see nothing aside from dirt, rocks, and other fallen logs. She shook her head, opening the pack on his back for water; they were running low on supplies and if they didn't find their way to civilization eventually, they would have to result to something cruder for injuries.

Like cauterizing them. Lucy wished to avoid that particular idea for as long as possible.

After poking her finger on a dull knife twice, she finally found their canteen of water. She rattled it, hearing the slosh of liquid inside. It was low, lower than usual, and they hadn't seen rain in the forest since they arrived – or, if it had, the foliage had stolen it before it could reach them. "Natsu, we need to find a stream or something still," she said, closing his pack and shoving the water in his hand. The action jolted him and he looked sideways at her with confusion. "Here, drink this. Now, do I need to redress your wound?"

"What?" He sniffed the air, fingers tightening around the canteen before releasing it with a frustrated sigh. Part of their issue was the strange flora in the area that seemed to block out all else from his nose; then, the forest seemed to be a constant buzz of activity and he could barely hear anything, even with his advanced hearing. It was a strange place, eerie in a way, though its beauty did much in easing her fear. Still, she would be glad to grab the plant for their employer and flee.

If they could ever find the damn thing.

"You've been practically catatonic for a while," she replied, tapping the canteen pointedly. With a sigh, he uncapped it and took a quick, shallow drink before offering it over to her. "Thanks. Are you okay or not?"

"I'm fine, Lucy, look I could do a handstand right now!"

"No, don't!" She gripped his non-injured arm before he could, scoffing at his laughter. "If your arm isn't bothering you, what's up? Is there something out there?" Lucy stepped closer, peering where he had stared before, rethinking her decision about ignoring a possible threat. It was unlike Natsu to freeze in place at the sight of one – but then, it was unlike her to rely solely on his instincts. Then, her instincts weren't whistling or demanding her senses; they were calm and serene, hearing and seeing nothing that demanded their attention.

What then?"

Sheepishly, Natsu shifted on his feet and she stared incredulously at him. Master had set them up together on a mission months prior, seeing that their animosity had chemistry that would be good in a battle and their magic worked well together; though Lucy was loathe to hang out with him in the beginning, his excitement and earnestness had won her over eventually. Sheepish, however, was not a personality trait he ever displayed. This was, after all, the boy who had shamelessly stolen a crown from the king on their last job.

"I was thinking," Natsu explained, head tilted so that his pinkish hair fell over his eyes, masking them from her view. She squinted at him, a brief hum escaping her to urge him on. "Nothing, it's not important. Let's go, I think there's a clear ahead, we can make camp there. Maybe we'll find a stream, too."

Suspicious, she didn't immediately follow him when he started walking, but eventually, she conceded, jogging to catch up with him. She matched his stride, trying to catch his eye with no success as they walked along a barely noticeable trail. The forest buzzed with activity around them, the creatures preparing for the rapidly approaching sunset and she didn't worry about how they would find a place to rest for the night, too confused by his unnatural silence to worry about something as silly as survival.

She stumbled over an overgrown root, hands flailing for something to catch herself on, but his warm hands caught around her waist, lifting her up and over the root in one fluid motion. The heat of his palms warmed her through her thin shirt and she ducked her head to hide the sudden flush on her face; she had seen him punch someone unconscious with one hit with these hands and yet he held her gently, carefully, as though she were something precious, even in an act as simple as helping her over a tree root. It was ridiculous for her to feel this flutter in her at every touch; though their animosity had faded since their first encounter, he was still her friend above all else. And yet the way she felt for Natsu was a far cry from the way she felt for anyone else.

"It's not much farther, I think," he said quietly, dropping his hands from her. She swallowed back all other emotion, nodding at him wordlessly, afraid that if she opened her mouth the words that would escape weren't a reply to his statement at all. He looked at her for a moment, seemingly unsure about her silence, but she ducked her head, hiding her face much as he hid his eyes and he grunted, his hand reaching for her wrist as butterflies fluttered in her stomach, leading them on.

…

It was only a short few minutes later before they stepped into the clearing, though Lucy hadn't even noticed they were close to it till he tugged her between two curving trees and over an annoyingly large boulder. One moment in the forest, the next they were standing in a dimly lit clearing, the sun just barely managing to flicker through the trees ahead. Blue, pink, and yellow flowers danced on a light breeze, their scent lifting to her nose; it was pleasant, subtler than she expected for how many of them were around.

Natsu frowned. "It's bigger than I expected," he noted, glancing around, stepping deeper inside and she blinked away the beauty of it. The flowers curved around the edges of the clearing, paving the way to a grassy, flowerless middle. Natsu crouched down, fingers pressing into the dirt before he straightened with a sigh. "The ground is dry, there hasn't been any rain here recently."

She tilted her head up. The sun was nearly gone and the temperature dropped with it; the beads of sweat forming on her face would surely freeze tonight. "Those don't look like rain clouds either," she said, wiping her face with a look of disgust.

"Probably a good thing. As much as we need water soon, I wouldn't want to wake up in a soggy sleeping bag," he said, snorting as he set his bag down on a patch of grass. He edged into the surrounding trees for dry wood and she ducked around for rocks, setting them up in the center, creating a small looking trench for a fire. The perk of having a dragon-demon for a company was the ease of creating heat, even if she would wind up curled up pillowing her head on his chest in a few hours, and she didn't bother trying to wrestle a flame into being.

When he returned, they spent a few minutes setting up before it got dark, the day trading itself slowly to the night, and by the time they had food roasting over the flames, the sky was completely dark. Some clouds lingered in the air, illuminating in shades of yellow and white from the waxing moon and she gazed up at them briefly before scooting closer to the fire as temperature began to drop.

"Gotten used to all the smells yet?" Lucy asked, adjusting the meat over the fire. Natsu watched the flames bitterly, but he couldn't eat them anymore than she could and she fought a laugh. Maybe tomorrow night she would make the flame herself, if only to offer him some of it to eat, but it was too late for that and she settled on roasting the food to perfection instead.

"Nah, too many different things, it's like you spilled all your perfume on my head," he complained, wiping his nose at the thought. "I reckon it'll be alright in another day or two."

"I hope we're not actually here for another day or two. How long does it take to find this stupid plant? Are we sure this is even the right forest for it?" Her eyes flickered to their bag. There was a map of the region inside and they had looked it over half a dozen times with the same results: this was the right place. The plant was here somewhere. They just had to find it and that was easier said than done. "He could have been more specific."

"Don't think he's ever set foot in this place, I would smell it on him," Natsu disagreed, eyeing the meat hungrily. She shivered, crouching close enough to the flames that the smoke made her eyes burn. He caught her arm with a snort and pulled her back before her face became friends with the fire, settling close behind her like her own personal heater. Considering she had been using him as a blanket the past few nights, that wasn't far from the truth. She smiled in thanks and he grinned.

"We've got to be closer. He said the temperature got extreme the closer we got to it, didn't he?"

"Hotter during the day, colder at night, closer to the center, something like that," he said, shrugging. "Dunno. Does it feel hotter or colder to you?"

Some of the meat caught fire and she pulled it from the flames, holding it out to Natsu, who preferred his meat somewhat charred. "Not really, this whole place is either a sauna or a freezer all the time, I can't really tell when it gets worse or not. We should be close to the center though if we followed the path right, it was a straight shot from last night."

Lucy's food finished and she plucked the stick from the fire, leaning away from the smoke to eat. Her back bumped into his chest, but he only spread his legs and drew her to sit fully against him. His arm settled around her, holding her close, and her heart raced. It was so… intimate and gentle, like he was holding a lover rather than a friend. Her face heated up and she shoved a piece of meat in her mouth, shaking the thought off, unable to believe she would think about him twice in one day like that.

"This seems like the type of place Igneel would take you to see. He would like the warm weather, wouldn't he?" She asked softly. Though it had been some years since Igneel had left him, she knew that the wound was hit or miss on Natsu; some days he could talk about his father for ages without pausing for breath and others it was as though all the breath had left him entirely, leaving a stony statue behind.

Today was the former.

"He would've love the heat, but the cold? Nah, it would be unbearable."

"I thought he was a fire dragon? How does he even get cold?" She tried not to notice the past tense of his words, if only because he switched between the two. She guessed that was the part of him that was losing hope.

"Dragons don't feel temperature much, he went swimming in a volcano once. Probably the happiest he's ever been that I've seen, said it was the warmest he's ever been. Nobody has frozen him solid yet, but I reckon it would be the same. Cold, but not freezing, I mean. Nah, he just likes to complain about things," he said, laughing. "I think he would like it here sometimes though, once we got over the smell." It was back to present tense and though the thought made her sad, she smiled at the fondness in his voice.

"When did he go swimming in a volcano?" She asked, confused. "You haven't told that story before." She thought there was little else she could learn about the story of Igneel and Natsu, but she supposed that was arrogance speaking. There weren't enough years to cover their entire story, but as he told her stories of his childhood growing up with the dragon, she thought they were cutting a few months off the time.

She didn't mind. For someone who couldn't write a story to save his life, he weaved a story just as well as any other author with his words alone. It was touching that he would share them with her, stories so special to him, and when the topic wandered to her own family, she opened just the same, talking of the years before her mother's death and the years after.

Sometime while they spoke, her head fell back to rest on one of his shoulders. It had been a long day leaving her little ability to focus on staying awake despite how much she craved to hear the rest of his stories. He laughed quietly and she absently felt him shifting them to their sleeping bags, giving up the pretext of sleeping separately when he settled back, holding her in his arms.

"Night, Lucy."

"G'night, Natsu."

…

She woke much later to something very cold landing on her cheek and she wiped it off sleepily, rolling onto her side to bury her face in Natsu's back. It was cold, too cold really, and every part of her that was exposed to the air felt as though it were frozen. Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and she shivered violently against him, curling closer. It would be awkward tomorrow, but she didn't care if it meant that she would be a little warmer.

Natsu shifted over to her, allowing her to nestle into his chest as his chin dropped onto her head with an incoherent mumble. Another something landed on her hair and slowly her eyes flickered open; she could see nothing except the scar on his neck, exposed without his scarf to cover it. Briefly, she wondered where that was, but she figured it was packed away for the night.

Why did she wake up again? She allowed her eyes to close again, but once more, something landed on her.

Oh, right.

She twisted a little, trying not to wake him, but froze as whiteness caught her eye. Fluttering from the sky and reflecting off the bit of light that shifted through the clouds was a snowflake. The ground itself was slowly changing from the deep green to a muddy white except for dying fire and their bed.

What had the man said? Temperature extremes?

Snow was definitely an extreme.

"Natsu," she whispered, unsure of why. The air felt so fragile that a loud noise would surely shatter it. Her breath came out in a wisp of fog and she fought a shiver as she leaned over him, lips brushing his ar. "Natsu, wake up."

It was a testament to how well he knew her that he woke up immediately, his eyes darting around for the source of her concerned voice. Seeing nothing, he blinked at her quizzically, the sleepiness beginning to return to his eyes before snow clicked into his mind. He sat up, narrowly avoiding a collision with her head in his haste. "It's snowing! How?"

"I think we must be in the center," she said, wrapping her arms around herself at the sudden gust of wind. "We should look for the plant before the snow gets any heavier, we certainly can't sleep out here anymore." For someone not wearing a shirt, Natsu looked entirely unfazed by the snow; it melted in his pink hair or sizzled against his skin to the point that he didn't realize notice it even when he stood up.

"Here, stick close to me." He held out his hand to her. She accepted it gratefully, lurching to her feet ungracefully. The coldness in the air made her feel as though her legs were made of wood, her entire body tensed to hold in heat and she squeezed his hand, grateful that he didn't release it. It might have been her imagination, but there was a steady creeping warmth from where he held her, one that did some to ease her shivering. "I can actually smell now. The snow seems to be diluting everything else."

"A snow blanket," she murmured, shifting her eyes around for something that stuck out from the darkness when their location occurred to her. She groaned, "We're in a field of flowers, how are we supposed— "

"There, do you see it?"

"I… " Lucy scowled. A tiny flower poked out from the snow in a brilliant shade of red, the very air around it seeming to sizzle with energy. Though they didn't know what the plant looked like, she couldn't imagine there were many other magical flowers around in the center of a forest with extreme, fluctuating temperatures. "I can't believe it was sitting next to us the whole time, we could have left ages ago!"

"Wasn't here earlier, one of us would have seen it. Probably doesn't bloom around people," he said, pulling her over to it so he could crouch over it, sniffing suspiciously. Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. If they hadn't gone to sleep, they probably wouldn't have found it and they would have been stuck wandering the forest for ages. "We just need one of the leaves, right?"

"Yeah, hold on, I'll get the bag." Lucy hesitated to release his hand, but scowled and dropped it, walking back to the center of their camp. Their bag was where they left it and she dug around till her fingers closed around a glass jar. She brought it back over and crouched down. "Okay, I'll do it, I don't know how well it'll react to you."

The downsides of having a dragon-demon as a companion was the unusual way magic reacted to him. Most friends would flip a coin to see who would pull the switch on something potentially dangerous, but they had little choice when it came to them.

Hesitantly, Lucy held the flower steady with one hand, wincing at the tiny prickles pressing against her skin, and reached for one of the slender leaves. When she plucked it, the plant gave an odd sort of shudder, the magic around it rippling violently. She swore and stumbled back. Natsu caught her around the waist, taking a large leap back as the flower exploded in a shower of rainbow lights, arching up straight into the sky. The previously tame clouds darkened, lightning flashing and thunder cracking as the clouds swirled around and around the beam of light, disappearing as it crept closer to the center.

With a blinding flash of light, the magic disappeared, leaving a crystal-clear sky behind.

Lucy and Natsu gaped, the leaf trembling in Lucy's hand. It was only when her teeth stopped chattered that she snapped out of it. She shoved the leaf into the jar, shaking her head in disbelief. "Did we just destroy an eco-system?"

"… Maybe," Natsu said uncertainly. "Let's run before someone finds out. Find somewhere else to camp tonight and then head home in the morning?"

"Right behind you."

They managed to pack the camp in only a few minutes, Natsu's bag laden with their few unpacked items before he caught her hand, pulling her into the trees.

"I'd rather not stick around and wait to see what investigates that," he said, shaking his head about ten minutes later. "Figures you would pick a dangerous job."

"How was I supposed to know collecting a planet would be so dangerous? I thought we were helping an old lady clean her garden."

"On second thought, this is much more fun than that. You're not allowed to pick jobs anymore," he announced, holding back a tree branch till she passed by and then letting it snap forward, seemingly amused by the noise it made. The forest was alive with noise once more, louder than it had been previous nights, and she guessed whatever magic developed in this forest had broken enough for everything to wake up.

"You can't lecture me about jobs choices. Weren't you the one who wanted to go fight giant spiders and led to us nearly getting eaten and married? If Happy hadn't come along, I'd be spider chow and you'd be married to one of their daughters."

"She was a nice lady- Err, spider."

"Could you even understand her?" Lucy asked skeptically, climbing over a boulder without his help and waiting for him on the other side.

"No, but she didn't eat me so that's nice," he said with a cheerful grin, dropping down beside her. "Uh, where are we?"

Lucy stopped walking. He bumped into her back, steadying her when she stumbled forward, but she didn't utter any thanks. "You… you don't know? I was following your lead!"

He paused for a long second, thinking very carefully about something. She hoped it had to do with knowing where they are, but then he shrugged and said, "Oh, well, then we're lost."

"Natsu…"

"So, should we set up camp again?" He dropped his bag on the ground, stretching briefly before he pulled out the two sleeping bags.

"We've been only been walking for half an hour." It was saying something that Lucy was complaining about settling down earlier; most of the time, their roles were reversed, though she admitted that wearing comfortable shoes instead of her heels meant that she could walk for much longer. (She missed her heels anyway). Then she sighed. "We can't walk any farther though till we know where we are. Having that compass spirit would be very useful right now." But, no, they had to get the reward after they completed the job.

"Let's sleep."

"You're very enthusiastic about that."

"I'm tired." Natsu plopped onto his sleeping bag, laying down.

"That's a first," she said, laughing, almost sure they had fallen asleep already. The temperature in the forest had risen since the flower disappeared, she didn't need to sleep next to him technically speaking, but there was a crispness to the air still that made her shiver. She didn't argue or move away as she would have normally – she swore she would have – and laid down next to him.

Their elbows brushed when they were both on their backs, but Lucy didn't mind so much.

She was tired enough to sleep and yet…

Her thoughts wouldn't settle enough.

A long moment passed and then another with only their breathing and the sounds of the forest. She couldn't even tell at that point whether Natsu was awake or not. She wondered if he felt it too, the weird stirring in the air. Not unpleasant like the flower pricking her did, but strange all the same.

"Hey, Lucy?" She titled her head, only a little surprised to find that his eyes were wide open. His gaze was on the sky with a puzzled frown. He didn't speak and she wondered if maybe he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. Lucy turned on her side, scooting closer to nudge him. He blinked and asked, "Which star is the north one again?"

"Are you stargazing?"

"Can't sleep." He didn't say why and she didn't ask. She scooted closer to him, resting her head near his and lifting his hand to point at the star.

"My mom used to tell me stories about it, said the north star would always lead you home. I used to think she made it up all on her own, that she was clever and creative, more so than any other mother," Lucy said with a fond giggle. "I didn't know until I was much older that everybody knew the north star fact, there wasn't anything particularly special about me knowing it. She showed me where it was though, that's more than most people knew."

"What's the point in knowing the fact if you can't use it?" He muttered.

Lucy shrugged. "There's the constellation Virgo."

"I don't see a gorilla," he said, squinting where she pointed. "Or a maid."

"The constellation doesn't look like that, you know. That's just how she looks." She paused, frowning. "Actually, I don't know what she really looks like. She said that she appeared as Duke Everlue wanted to see her and how I wanted to see her – I wonder what she really looks like? No, you don't have to appear and tell me, Virgo, I'm just musing," she said aloud, unsure if the maid was listening, but sending the words along nonetheless.

Natsu lifted one of his hands, gesturing to the sky. "Got any stories about dragons to do with these?"

She smiled. "A few actually. Want me to tell you one?"

"Yes."

She did.

There was something whimsical about stargazing that kept her awake, a bit like the world was a little brighter and a little nicer just from looking at them. Like her worries were small and inconsequential when she thought about them. When the dragon story ended, she started up with another one, pillowing herself against Natsu's side when the air grew chilly, her voice a low whisper only for the two of them to share.

For once, she didn't think about how close they were as she used his arm as a pillow or how his hand was tracing along her spine, raising goosebumps as he went. She didn't think about the way her fingers had found her way into his free hand, resting together on his chest. She didn't think about how his scent tickled her nose or the way they shifted onto their sides, faces so close together that their noses brushed. She didn't think about how her words drifted off, carried away by the light breeze, unnoticed by either of them as their faces crept closer and closer together.

Her lips brushed his in a chaste kiss. Something soft and warmed shifted in her chest as she pulled back, smiling at him and when he smiled back, the same sort of softness in his eyes, she couldn't help leaning forward, kissing him again. Her heart stopped and stuttered as his hand rested on her cheek, stroking her jaw as his lips molded against her. His lips were chapped, but oh so soft and her eyes drifted closed against her will, overwhelmed by the emotions racing through her.

It was more potent than any drink, softer than any smile, warmer than any hug. Lucy loved it and she let out a little happy sigh when they broke away for air.

She didn't say anything nor did he. They curled together, one of her legs comfortably tucked beneath his and her head pillowing on his arm, head tucked beneath his chin, and finally drifted into a quiet, peaceful sleep.

…

Their employer was a short, stout man with beady eyes and an air of haughtiness about him, but when Natsu and Lucy approached him three days later, hands clasped together, the man let out a delighted laugh. "Ah, so you were successful!"

"Eh?" Natsu asked blankly.

"We were," Lucy said, tilting her head with a pleasantly curious look on her face. "I wasn't aware that someone informed you ahead of time?"

"Nonsense, I would recognize the effects at any time."

Lucy froze, her grip on Natsu's hand slacking. Effects? Did the flower do something? "W-What do you mean?"

"It's a very powerful flower, it affects the environment where it chooses to live. It detonates when it's leave disappear, returning to the atmosphere for a while and then returning down during the next rain fall to begin the cycle again. The leaves, however, are more effective on people than the environment."

"How so?" Her thoughts raced. They had spoken a lot since they left the forest, but neither had considered the possibility that their feelings were fabricated. Had the flower done that?

No.

No flower could induce such emotion. She had been under the effects of a charm before, she had felt that tingle in her body that came from false emotions, but it was nothing compared to the way she had felt from his kisses or he from hers. It was like comparing a candle stick to a bonfire or a stick to a sword – it was similar, but it wasn't the same.

She let out a small little breath, her fingers tightening on Natsu, who watched her with a worried expression on his face. His lips twitched at the gesture, turning back to the man. Lucy hadn't heard a word of what he was saying and the blankness on her face must have shown because he laughed, a full belly type of laugh, the kind that would have done someone in Fairy Tail proud.

"Ah, I bore you with the science behind it. The leaves are the key ingredient to a truth charm, very rare to come across, of course, but very potent and very recognizable to the trained eye, I might add. I imagine people around you will be speaking only in truths for a while. You could bathe in water treated with a mixture of lavender and a special root found in Joya, of course…" The man prattled on, but neither Lucy nor Natsu paid attention to it, sharing a secret smile.

She knew their feelings were true, but it was nice to know all the same.

...

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