dedication: For Michelle—I love you, and yeah, let us continue to ship NaLu in all forms, shall we?
prompt: mercurial
thoughts: Edo!NaLu needs more love, guys. I mean it.

event horizon

Lucy Ashley is a mystery, he decides.

She is furious, and at the same time ecstatic, when he returns from deliveries that take longer than usual, scolding and complaining while holding him so close their heartbeats meld into one, and it would be a sweet moment had it not hurt so much. She is strong and yet fragile when he watches her as she sits alone at the cliff side, with her head in her hands, and he wants more than anything to make her smile again. She is frightening and then alarmingly sweet when she comes this close to breaking a hundred and some bones in his body, only to be the one that stays by his side day and night to nurse him back to health. She is adorable but aloof when she is flustered out of her wits, sitting next to him in the magical car where something may have happened between her and a very assertive Natsu Dragion; and of course, she blames it on the heat and stares out the window with clouded eyes. She is determined and yet doubtful when their fates intertwine with Earthland's; and he's never seen her so set on helping someone when she really doesn't know what to do herself.

Lucy Ashley is tempestuous, mercurial, and most of all—beautiful. And as the world all around crumbles and falls and the rivers of the sky rain down, hard, unrelenting, they stare up at the starry night sky, at the streaks of gold winding and spiraling through the dusty air. The magic is leaving. Their world is ending. Somehow, their hands meet, cold fingers tangling together, and it is in this moment that he understands. He would drive to the edge of the universe and back, for her, only for her. Standing there beside him, she is heartbroken and yet euphoric, basking in the last of the light with tears sliding past her upturned lips. Natsu smiles, ignoring the fear of what comes next, and squeezes her hand.

Lucy Ashley is, indeed, a mystery.