Chapter 18: Working Together Again
It was the morning of August 11 and Luna woke up to the early morning sun's rays hitting her face through the bedroom window. Natsu was still sleeping beside her completely naked. She blushed when she remembered what happened last night between them. Heat started to build up in her core as she became aroused from the thought. Suddenly she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her, pulling her back against a toned chest. Something hard was throbbing against her back. She looked behind her to find Natsu's onyx eyes staring right back at her blue orbs.
"N-N-Natsu! How long have you been up?!" Luna asked in surprise. Natsu smiled, his smile somewhere between a gentle one and a smirk.
"Oh, just when the sweet scent of your pheromones woke me up." Natsu answered as he nestled his nose into the nape of her neck and breathed in her scent. He then brought his soft lips to her neck, leaving gentle tickling kisses up and down her supple skin. He held Luna closer to his body, which was heating up from arousal. He gently rocked his hips, grinding his bare erection against her back.
"Mmnh Natsu..." Luna moaned, starting to breathe heavier from the sensual stimulation. Natsu stopped kissing her neck and reached down to guide the tip of his penis to her entrance. His length slid in smoothly because of how wet she was. He started thrusting his hips gently at first, then picked up speed and force. He held her in a tight embrace from behind, his hands cupping and squeezing her breasts as he thrust into her. He kissed and sucked on her neck right above her shoulder, leaving a purple mark. The sound of skin slapping against skin and sweet moans filled the room.
"Ah~ Natsu... I love you~!" Luna moaned out loud.
"I love you too, Luna~!" Natsu responded through rugged breaths. As he thrust, he brought his hand to her cheek and turned her face towards his and started to kiss her passionately. Their tongues entangled with each other, not fighting for dominance but rather dancing together. As they kissed, Natsu's hand trailed down her neck from her cheek and over her shoulder. He continued to slide his hand along the side of her torso down to her hip. He snaked his hand along the curve of her hipbone to the front of her pubic area, down to her clit. He pressed down on and rubbed the sensitive bundle of nerves with his middle and index fingers, increasing the amount of pleasure Luna was receiving.
"Mmnh~!" Luna moaned into the kiss. Natsu withdrew his mouth from hers, a string of saliva connecting their tongues. A knot built up in her stomach as she was nearing her orgasm. Natsu was also getting close to climaxing.
"Luna... I'm gonna cum!" Natsu announced as his thrusts became more frantic and sloppy. The increase in his speed drove Luna over the edge as she came, her walls tightened around Natsu's member. With one last thrust, he shot his seed deep inside of her. They both panted as they caught their breaths. Natsu slowly pulled out of Luna, some of his semen leaking out of her onto the bed sheets.
"You know, I'm probably going to get pregnant from all this love making." Luna chuckled as she rolled over to face Natsu who looked at her worriedly.
"It's okay though. If I'm going to start a family, I want to do it with you." Luna said as Natsu smiled, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek.
"I'm glad." Natsu said as he lovingly placed his forehead against Luna's. He then sat up and got out of bed.
"Let's get ready and head to the guild." Natsu said as Luna nodded and followed his lead. They took turns taking a shower, Natsu went first and Luna last. Once they were ready, they headed to the guild together with Elise and Happy.
"Feeling better Natsu?" Lucy asked Natsu, referring to the hangover he had earlier yesterday.
"Much better! Even got to release a few loads too." Natsu said with a smile as he casually locked his hands behind his head. Both Luna's and Lucy's faces went red.
"Natsu! Don't say stuff regarding our sex life out loud!" Luna said, smacking his arm out of embarrassment.
"Ehehe, sorry Crystal." Natsu apologized in a playful tone, using Luna's nickname from their childhood days. Luna just sighed and shook her head.
"Just... don't do it again." Luna told Natsu who just nodded.
"Hey we should do a job together! Just you, me, Lucy, Happy, and Elise. We haven't been on one together for a while. How does that sound?" Natsu suggested as Luna and Lucy smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Okay then it's settled! Let's go!" Natsu said as he lead the way to the job board. They picked out a simple finding and retrieving a stolen shipment quest sent in by a local magic shop and set out together. The shop was within walking distance so Natsu and Luna were extremely happy that they didn't have to ride any form of transportation to get there. When they got there, the shop owner gave them all the details he knew. He told him he had been expecting a shipment to come in today. It contained some rare magic items he had ordered. When it hadn't come in early in the morning like it was supposed to, he began to look for it himself. He said that he encountered some traveling merchants while out looking for his missing shipment. They told him they saw a group of bandits attack some delivery people and steal the shipment earlier on their way into town. According to the merchants, the bandits wore cloaks with red claw-like symbols on the back of them.
"Sounds like those guys are part of the infamous bandit organization called the Red Claw. I've heard rumors they've been more active lately." Lucy said as everyone nodded in agreement.
"That's what I was thinking. I don't believe they knew what was in my shipment, but when they find out, they're definitely going to fight to protect it if anyone goes looking for it. I'm not a fighter so I wouldn't stand a chance against a whole gang of bandits. That's why I put in a quest to retrieve my shipment." The shop owner said to the Fairy Tail members.
"Don't worry, we'll get your shipment back, every single last item!" Natsu said with determination. Luna, Lucy, Happy, and Elise nodded in agreement. The shop owner thanked them and they went on their way to find the bandit camp. They asked around town to gather clues on the camp's secret location. Some people said they've seen a lot of suspicious people with the same cloaks described by the merchants the shop owner talked to head toward the west side of the East Forest of Magnolia. The group then headed there to look for the entrance to the secret camp. After of wandering the forest for a while, Natsu started to get frustrated.
"Where the hell is this stupid camp?!" Natsu raised his voice.
"It's a secret location Natsu. If it wasn't, the bandit organization would have already been taken down for good." Lucy pointed out. Elise suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Move and find cover now!" Elise yelled as everyone did as she was told and dove behind a nearby boulder, right as a bullet hit the area they were just standing a second ago. Elise had the ability to sense incoming attacks right before they happened. Kind of like how Carla had precognition abilities, but a bit different. Elise's ability had saved Luna and her comrades many times in the past.
"Thanks for that Elise." Luna thanked her exceed who nodded.
"I thought I smelled someone following us from a distance." Natsu said as both Luna and Lucy just stared at him dumbfounded.
"Then why didn't you say something earlier?!" Luna and Lucy both said together, angry that Natsu never mentioned that he sensed someone following them this entire time. Luna had an exceptional sense of smell being a dragon slayer, but Natsu's sense of smell far surpassed hers. This person must have been just out of her range.
"I just thought it was a coincidence and that if they were hostile, they would've attacked already!" Natsu said, trying to rationalize his actions.
"Whatever. Looks like we have a fight on our hands." Luna said as she got ready to fight forming jagged armor made of ice. She jumped from cover and as soon as she did, bullets started firing at her again, one after the other. Fortunately, they couldn't pierce her ice armor. The bullets froze as soon as they made contact with her armor. But there was quite a bit of a pause between every nine bullets like the person was reloading a sniper rifle. Luna tracked the direction where the bullets came from and took off in that direction. Bullets kept firing at her, failing to do any damage to her. The firing rate of the bullets seemed to get more frantic, like the person was panicking. As she got closer to the source of the bullets, she caught the scent of the person firing them. Eventually, the bullets stopped firing and the scent she caught earlier moved elsewhere.
"It's too late! I can track you by your scent. You're finished!" Luna said as she caught up to the guy who was wearing a cloak with a red claw symbol on it. She dashed at him, and tackled him to the ground, pinning his hands behind his back as she froze them together with her ice dragon slayer magic.
"C-c-cold!" He screamed as his hands began to feel numb from frostbite.
"So you're a member of the Red Claws, huh?" Luna said as she forcefully yanked him up by his shirt collar. The man furrowed his brows and refused to cooperate.
"Tch!" He said and attempted to spit at Luna who froze his saliva in mid air before it reached her. She gave him an ominous dark glare that terrified him.
"You won't do that again. And if you do..." Luna said as she formed many sharp icicles in the air aimed right at him, ready to fire. The man cowered in defeat.
"P-p-please! Don't kill me! I-I'll tell you anything you want to know! Just please don't hurt me!" The man pleaded right as Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Elise arrived on the scene.
"We're after a shipment you guys stole that was on its way to a magic shop in Magnolia. Know where it is?" Natsu interrogated the Red Claw bandit as he set his fist ablaze.
"I don't know anything about a stolen shipment! I wasn't part of the heist! Groups of bandits within the camp don't tell each other their business, we just share the profits of what's been taken in!" The Red Claw bandit said frantically.
"Then where is the camp?!" Luna demanded as a menacing aura surrounded her and the bandit cowered before her. He told them where the entrance to the camp was and how to get inside.
"You'll never get inside though. There's a thousand of us! You can't win." The man said as Luna and Natsu glared at him.
"Don't underestimate Fairy Tail mages." Natsu said, punching his fist into his other hand, lighting them on fire.
"We will get in... Just you watch!" Luna said menacingly as she froze the guy in place with only his head free to eliminate the possibility of him stabbing them in the back. She left him a lacrima that would allow him to watch as they infiltrate the camp. Then the group set off in search for the stolen shipment. They arrived at the area where the entrance to the Red Claw bandit camp was supposed to be. They were ambushed immediately by hundreds of bandits. Some of them used weapons varying from guns to various melee weapons, and some were mages. Lucy summoned her spirits Taurus and Sagittarius. Taurus took care of several of the close range bandits and Sagittarius took care of many of the bandits further away with his ranged archery skills. Natsu used Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade and Luna used Crystal Nova: Freezing Ice Storm to eliminate the rest of the bandits that Taurus and Sagittarius missed, destroying a large portion of the surrounding forest. They destroyed the magic illusion barrier too, revealing the hidden entrance to the camp. Meanwhile, the bandit Luna froze earlier was watching the whole skirmish through the lacrima she left with him.
"Holy shit! These guys are monsters!" The Red Claw bandit said, shuddering just as the lacrima showed Luna's group entering the camp and eliminating the rest of the Red Claw bandits. After Natsu, Luna, and Lucy took care of the bandits, they found the shipment in the camp. In their fight with the bandits, they had destroyed most the camp. But miraculously, the small section where the shipment was being kept was the only place untouched in the entire camp. Natsu and Luna worked together to wheel the cart of magic goods back to the shop while Lucy, Happy, and Elise accompanied them back. The shop owner was really happy that his shipment was returned to him.
"Thanks for bringing me back my shipment. To be honest, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to pull it off, especially not on the same day." The shop keeper said, scratching the back of his head.
"Never underestimate the potential of Fairy Tail mages." Luna said while winking and giving a him a thumbs up. The shop owner chuckled.
"Hehehe I guess not. Thank you so much. Here's your payment as promised." The shop owner said as he handed them a large bag of jewel. Luna took it and thanked him as they left the shop. On the way back to the guild, Natsu sighed contently.
"Ahh, feels just like old times. You, me, Happy, Elise, and Lucy all working together again on a team taking on a job." Natsu said as Luna chuckled.
"It is pretty nostalgic isn't it. We used to do this all the time before Fairy Tail got disbanded." Luna said as she reminisced on the days when she, Natsu, Lucy, Elise, and Happy would form a team and go on jobs together. Lucy smiled but her smile was laced with a hint of sadness. She loved Natsu and he and Luna were getting married in sixteen days. Things were never going to be the same again. She never held any hard feelings towards Luna. She was her best friend after all and she really was genuinely happy for her, but now she felt like a third wheel in the team. Luna noticed Lucy starting to fall behind the rest of the group a little.
"Hey Lucy, what's wrong?" Luna asked the celestial mage. Lucy shook her head and dismissed it.
"Ah, it's nothing important." Lucy said as Luna furrowed her brows in suspicion.
"Come on Lucy. I know you well enough to sense when something's on your mind." Luna pressed her. Lucy sighed, realizing she might as well tell the group what she was thinking.
"I just feel like a third wheel on this team now that you two are engaged and going to get married soon." Lucy said, lowering her head.
"You don't need to feel like a third wheel. You're always welcome in our group whether me and Natsu are in a relationship or not." Luna said as Lucy shook her head.
"No, you don't understand! You don't know how much it hurts to see the one you love get married to your best friend! Of course I'm happy for both of you, but..." Lucy raised her voice, tears starting to run down her face.
"I love you Natsu!" Lucy confessed to Natsu as she started sobbing. He approached her, pulling her into a hug.
"Lucy... I love you too, it's just... my feelings for Luna are stronger. We've known each other for longer, we practically grew up together. And we're both dragon slayers. I hope you understand. Please don't hold this against me or Luna. You'll always hold a special spot in my heart." Natsu said in a soothing tone as he patted Lucy's head.
"R-really?" Lucy asked Natsu who nodded.
"Really." Natsu said as he pulled away from the hug. Luna then put her arm over Lucy's shoulders.
"Shall we head back to the guild then?" Luna said as Lucy wiped the last of her tears away and nodded as the five of them continued to head back to the guild together.