Konnichiwa, minna! I've missed you weirdoes! So, it hasn't been too long since my last update. Yay! As you all know, I'm on vacation, so that is definitely helping with me updating again. Even though it's vacation, I am so spent! I am so unbearably tired right now, you guys have no idea. I've been out and about in the city all day today cause I've got some friends from Switzerland over and we're making them visit the city. Although, I guess you could say that I'm also a tourist in my own city since I know like nothing about it! I guess that's just part of being an introvert, huh? So, yeah. I am quite happy though. I've discovered a lot, and I'm writing so that always makes my happy. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, and without further ado, here is chapter 25!       

     Lucy's legs and feet felt like they were on fire. After getting back from town where they had left Levy, Lucy was forced to do four hours of nonstop dancing lessons to perfect her technique, although she didn't how much more perfect it could get: she had had done lessons since she was old enough to walk. On top of that, she had her hand-to-hand combat training with Erza, which only added to her physical pain. She was going to have one hell of a time climbing down the castle wall and walking all the way to the clearing.

     Once she had gotten what she needed from the kitchen and gotten back up to her room, she flipped herself off the balcony and scaled it skillfully. As she landed on the floor, she groaned in pain. She was sure she was going to collapse as soon as she reached Natsu.

     The trek there was painfully slow, literally. It probably took double the time it should have taken her, and as soon as she stepped into the clearing, she let herself fall. Well, she was expecting to fall anyway. Instead, she felt a pair of strong arms she knew so well wrap around her and pull her up, relieving her feet of the pain they were in. "Oi, Lucy! What's wrong?! Why did you just suddenly collapse?!" Natsu's worried voice came to her, and from her position against him, she could feel the vibrations in his chest as he talked and found them quite soothing. Natsu lifted her bridal style, and Lucy buried her face in his scarf, inhaling his fiery scent.

     He eventually sat down at the base of the willow tree and settled her in his lap. "Oi, Lucy, you gonna tell me what happened now?" Lucy heard a sniffing sound, then Natsu said, "I don't smell any blood or anything and you don't seem hurt? OH MY MAVIS, LUCY ARE YOU PREGNANT?!!"

     Lucy snapped up in surprise; of all the things Natsu could have thought of, he thought of that?!

     "What the-no, you idiot! Why the hell would you think I'm pregnant?!!" she yelled, punching him for effect.

     "OW! Well, I don't know, you're a woman and you're not visibly hurt and Carla's always going on about how women suffer more than men do because being pregnant is painful, so I thought-OW, LUCY!"

     Lucy had smacked him over the head again, a vein pulsing on her forehead. "Don't just jump to conclusions like that, you dummy!! Do you even know how babies are made?!"

     Natsu started shifting uncomfortably beneath her, his tail hitting the ground as he flicked it back and forth. He wouldn't meet her eyes and she swore she saw smoke coming out of his ears.

     "Y-Yeah, G-Gajeel told me...like a week ago," he muttered.

     "You only knew about that a week ago?!" Lucy asked, eyes bulging in disbelief.

     "Y-Yeah, so what? I'm sure there are plenty of people who find out when they're eighteen," he defended himself.

     Lucy sweat dropped. "Natsu, most people know when they're twelve, and some even earlier."

     Natsu grew even redder in embarrassment and tried to hide his face in his scarf. His expression was so cute and utterly hilarious at the same time, that Lucy burst out laughing.

     "O-OI! It's not funny!" Natsu protested.

     "It-It so is!" Lucy said, laughing her heart out.

     Natsu grumbled incoherently under his breath and turned away. Lucy stopped laughing, although a smile was still present on her face, and pinched Natsu's cheek, forcing him to look at her. "You're just too cute for your own good, you know that?" Lucy's eyes were closed as she smiled at him so she didn't see the blush making its way onto his face as his eyes widened in surprise.

     "D-Don't call me cute..." he muttered.

     Later, as they were eating, Natsu turned to her and asked, "So why were you in pain earlier anyway? You never told me."

     "Oh, my feet were on fire," she said, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.

     "Say what?!" Your feet were on fire?! What? How? Lucy, you shouldn't be running if your feet are on fire!" Natsu said as he started lecturing her on what to do if her feet were on fire.

     Lucy gawked at him for a bit before she stopped his tirade by stuffing a chicken leg in his mouth.

     "-Ey, vhat vas that-" he started as he tried to chew the mouthful of food.

     "My feet weren't on fire, silly goose. It just felt like they were from all the dancing I did before coming here."

     "Dancing?" he asked, having finished the chicken.

     "Yeah, the king canceled all my classes to concentrate on dancing this week. Apparently some important prince is coming."

     "A prince? Why do you have to kill your feet for a stinking prince? Dragons are way cooler!" Natsu said, breathing a plume of flame into the air.

     Lucy laughed and said, "You have a point, but I'm afraid my father doesn't see things the same way. Besides, he doesn't know that dragons exist, and if he did, I'm sure he wouldn't invite one with open arms to the castle."

     "Tch, well I didn't want to go to the stinking castle anyway," he said as he crossed his arms, as if this would somehow offend her absent father. It was totally clear by the way his tail drooped though that he actually did want to see the castle.

     "Don't worry, Natsu, I'll get you into the castle someday," she said as she patted his head.

     "Real-I mean, I told you I didn't want to see the stupid castle anyway," he said, turning his face away.

    "Whatever you say," she said, shrugging.

     "Anyway," he said, obviously eager to change the subject. "Why's a prince coming to the castle?"

     Lucy froze and didn't meet his gaze.

     "Um, no reason. It's pretty normal for princes to come to the castle to visit..."

     Lucy really didn't want to tell Natsu that he was there as a suitor for her; for some reason she didn't think he would react well to it.

     "Luce, you know you're a horrible liar. Even I know that princes don't just come and go as they please between kingdoms," Natsu said, crossing his arms.

     Damn it, she had underestimated his knowledge of royalty.

     "That's not important anyway. You know something that is interesting though, I went into town today and bought tons of books, and I saw Gajeel," Lucy said hurriedly, trying to change the subject.

     "You saw Metal Head? How's he-wait, no, no, no, no, no. That was a good try Lucy, but I will not listen to your visit with Gajeel until you tell me why a prince is coming to the castle," Natsu declared, his face hardening so that Lucy knew he was serious. Well, there was no getting out of this one.

     "Uh," Lucy started, twisting her hair. "He's-he's coming because my father probably wants him to seduce so that I'll marry him and unite both our kingdoms." She said the last part hurriedly and almost below a whisper, but she knew Natsu heard her, what with his dragon hearing and all.

     "WHAT?!" he roared, but it wasn't just a loud shout, no, this sounded much closer to a dragon's roar, terrifying Lucy for a moment before she snapped back into action. She immediately clamped her hand over Natsu's mouth and put out the two torches that were lit. Natsu tried to push her hand off his mouth, but Lucy's grip was iron strong. Her eyes were wide and darting all over the place, ears alert to the slightest rustle of grass, and her body was tense and ready to spring into action at the slightest sign of danger. The truth was, Lucy was terrified. Terrified that the palace guards had heard Natsu's roar and that he would be discovered. Just the image of guards rushing into the clearing and seeing him sent chills through her body.

     Natsu seemed to notice that something was wrong because he stopped trying to resist her, and just looked at her worriedly. Lucy didn't move a muscle. She didn't even twitch. Pure adrenaline was coursing through her and nothing had even happened. She felt a warm scaly tail come and curl around her waist, pulling her flush against Natsu's body. Just his warmth had her relaxing already as she realized that nothing was coming. She released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and uncovered Natsu's mouth. She relaxed against him for a split second, trying to get her heart to stop beating so fast.

     "Luce," Natsu started.

     Lucy bolted up, scooted away from him, and glared the iciest glare she had ever glared at him. His mouth shut immediately and he seemed scared, but also a bit confused about what she was mad about. How dense could he be?!

     "What the hell did you think you were doing?!!!" she finally yelled. "Are you that much of an idiot?!!"

     Natsu opened and closed his mouth like a fish gasping for air, confusion written even more clearly across his face. Lucy was so angry with him she couldn't directly put it into words. Her eyes started to sting with hot tears as she started yelling at him again: "How could you just roar like that, stupid?! You are such an idiot! Do you want to get discovered?! Because it sure seems like you do by roaring so damn loud!!"

     Understanding suddenly filled Natsu's face, followed by regret. By this point the tears had started falling. Lucy swiped at them angrily, but she couldn't stop them. She wrapped her arms around her legs and cried. Natsu reached out to her, but stopped, knowing that she probably didn't want that from him right then.

     "Luce, I'm...I'm so sorry. I-I wasn't thinking straight," he said slowly.

     "Yeah, no shit," she said, glaring at him through the tears.

     "I just got so mad when you said that your dad probably wants to force you to marry this guy, and I-I just lost it," he said bowing his head in shame.

     Lucy didn't say anything; neither did Natsu. She was about to speak, thinking he wasn't going to say any more, but he started again ever so slowly: "That's not all. That's not the only reason I got mad. I-I just can't stand the thought of you marrying some other guy, especially someone you don't love."

     Lucy's eyes softened. Just the fact that he cared so much made her want to hug him. It didn't excuse him putting himself in danger though. Natsu was clasping his hands so tight, his knuckles were white, and his tail was drooping. Lucy reached over and put her hand in his, taking his eyes off his hands to her face.

     "Thank you for getting mad about that. I know it sounds strange, but getting angry shows you care, and I'm really glad you care," she said, smiling slightly. "But that doesn't mean that you can just roar freely like that in response to your anger. Do you even know how much danger you're putting yourself in? What if the guards had heard you, huh? What then?" Lucy asked.

     "I would be fine, I could take them all on," Natsu said confidently.

     "No, you could not; you're injured. Even if you could, what if they got the better of you?"

     Natsu seemed like he wanted to protest the possibility, but Lucy beat him to it: "I don't know how, but just imagine that they did somehow. What would you do then, huh? What if they hurt you? Or worse, what if they killed you?"

     Lucy hadn't meant to go to such a low note, but it was true. Just thinking about that last possibility made her feel like puking. Natsu's face darkened.

     "I would never let that happen, I'm stronger than any measly human."

     "That is not my point!" Lucy sighed exasperatedly. "Do you know what I would do if something happened to you? Heck, I don't even know what I would do, but I would sure as hell not be happy! Did you see me before? Nothing even happened and I was terrified out of my skin just thinking about the guards finding you, not to mention what they would do afterwards!"

     Natsu shut his mouth at that.

     "And you know I'm not the only one who cares about you. Gajeel, Wendy, Happy, and everyone else you've talked to me about. They all care about you too! How do you think they would feel if something happened to you?"

     Lucy had to stop a moment to compose herself.

     "Listen, Natsu. I know all too well what it feels like to lose someone that I love and what it's like to be left behind," Lucy said, remembering the emotional aftermath of her mother's murder. "Would you want to do that to me? To all the people that you care about?"

     He shook his head solemnly.

    "Good, then please don't do anything reckless like that ever again," Lucy said.

     Natsu avoided her eyes.

     "Natsu, promise me."

     Natsu lifted his eyes to hers and said in a deep, unfaltering voice, "I promise you, Lucy. I will never intentionally do anything like that again."

     "Good," she said, ruffling his hair with a smile, trying to lighten the mood again. "Cause I really don't know what I would do if something happened to you."

     Natsu suddenly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him, eliciting a squeaky sound from Lucy.

     "Natsu, what-" she started, caught off guard.

     "I'm so sorry," he said into her neck.

     She stayed shocked for a second before smiling and tangling her hand in his hair again.

     "You're such an idiot," she whispered. But I love you anyway.

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things did take quite a dark turn there, huh? I actually have no idea where that came from, but it suddenly just popped up. I thought it was resolved quite nicely though. So, Lucy admitted to herself that she loves him, huh? Hue, hue, hue. I wonder what's going to happen next. We shall never know! Just kidding! So, I do need your opinion on something. Should I start doing my little Fairy tail interview disclaimers again, or nah? Please let me know in the comments or pm me, but I do want to know. Please vote and comment your thoughts on this chapter. Constructive criticism to my writing is always welcomed; I am here to improve after all. And other than that, until next chapter! Bye!