Twelve Epistles From Letter's To Wendy's By Joe Wenderoth

NaLu Prompt: Natsu listening to Lucy's heartbeat as she rewrites the book of E.N.D; E.N.D markings spreading to her heart as she does so

Natsu stiffens the moment he hears the sound. The sound of someone's heart beating, heavy breaths and pained groans. He recognises the source, of course he does, every single thing about her is ingrained in his system. There's absolutely no doubt.

It's Lucy.

He can hear the frantic beat, but it's slowly fading away. She was in some sort of trouble... wait, weren't Gray and Happy with her? No Natsu can trust them without a doubt, Lucy has to be okay. She must be safe with them.

The slayer can't smell her, because he knows she's far but he realises that she's crying. His chest constricts painfully. What's happening?

Natsu wants nothing more than to go to Lucy, make sure she's alright. And not crying. Then hold her in his arms for as long as he can, as long as she allows him to. Because God, it has been too long.

But he also needs to defeat the man standing in front of him. Zeref Dragneel, the black wizard. And... his brother. Things aren't easy for Natsu. Never have been.

"Zeref!" The dragon slayer lunged forward, fists lit with flames of emotions. Natsu strikes again, he will, till he can convince himself that Lucy is just fine. His Lucy.

---

Lucy clutches her chest, there's a hot and burning sensation in her body and it slowly creeps into her heart. Molten markings all over her frame as she makes croaks in pain.

"Shit," Gray curses, applying more devil slayer magic onto Lucy's body. "My magic isn't working dammit!"

A tear escapes her eyes, the blonde barely smiles amidst the pain. "I've... fixed the... Natsu's book. He's not... E.N.D anymore..."

Happy cries in response, "Lucy! What's happening to you?!" His small paws rubbing her shoulder anxiously, the feline wails loudly. "Lucy!"

Gray leans her back on his side, gritting his teeth harshly as he continues to use his magic. The ice devil slayer doesn't give up, he pledges he won't. No way in hell, he can ever let his dear comrade die like that.

"Hang in there Lucy," he says. "Don't yoi dare die on us!" Lucy doesn't respond.

---

Natsu suddenly feels a surge of power within his brusied self. A warm, so soothing feeling settles inside his chest replacing the unwanted throb there. He's used to this sensation, it's the comfort Lucy radiates. He doesn't fail to recognise.

Of course it's because of her. She always manages to save his ass in time. No exception this time. His chest swells in pride. Such a girl she is.

But he can't feel her heartbeat anymore. He can't feel her, as if the connection was abruptly cut off. He swears he felt her presence a moment ago and now it's a void. Hollow.

The black haired man before him stares at the slayer with a sad expression.

"Everything comes with a cost, my brother Natsu."

Cost, Zeref said.

ねこじゃらし - DO NOT REMOVE SOURCE. DO NOT REPOST ANYWHERE. Posted with Artist's Permission

The flirtatious look tho

by Japanese night view photographer okabechi0 @okabechi0.

by Japanese artist おたま姉妹 @otamashimai

Natsu didn’t friend zone Lucy!

I’ve seen lots of debate in the fairy tail tag today over whether NaLu is actually canon or not, so I wanted to share my opinion!

*WARNING: This is a long one!*

Personally, I believe NaLu is canon, but not in your stereotypical “I love you” “I love you too” confession and makeout session kind of way. Ever since Natsu and Lucy first started acting like a couple and were shipped, we know that the pair have zero experience with love. Neither have ever been in a relationship, and therefore don’t really know how to act when confronted with the idea of one. Lucy has a slim idea, after her early fantasies of a “knight in shining armour” figure, however Natsu is completely oblivious. I think Natsu and Lucy both share an idea on what love is, but neither can properly tell when they are in love unless when the moment is right.

So here comes Chapter 545! Of course Lucy got incredibly emotional when thinking back to the jobs:

Which is only natural, the poor girl has been through so much and just at the thought of going on another job brought back so many memories and tears to her eyes.

So what does she do? The only thing she can do:

Embrace and thank the man who made it all possible; Natsu.

At this moment, with all the memories flooding back into her, Lucy is finally coming to terms with her feelings for Natsu. She loves him. She loves him out of pure gratitude for everything he’s ever done for her, and for being her first ever friend. As Lucy said herself, if she’d never met Natsu, none of her life would have been possible; she wouldn’t have joined Fairy Tail, she wouldn’t have made friends, she wouldn’t have grown stronger, and she probably wouldn’t have won the best writer award!

And Natsu knows this.

Of course initially he pulls his signature “o shit” face because Lucy is crying and he’s not really sure what to do. 

But this isn’t necessarily a look of “o shit” because he’s uncomfortable or feels awkward. Both him and Happy look incredibly concerned, from their creased eyebrows to the bead of sweat dripping from them. So why is he pulling that face? Because he is confronted with love.

As I said before, Natsu has had no experience with love before, therefore when Lucy hugs him and tells him how much she appreciates him, he doesn’t know how to react.

Now, the next part I think is the most important:

Of course Natsu has never been one to give Lucy any form of personal space, and here is certainly no exception. But this scene is different from all the others. Natsu respects Lucy more than anyone else in the guild, therefore if he were to tease her or invade her personal space, it’s purely in a jokey scenario. This scene here though? This isn’t a joke. Natsu and Lucy are being serious. So that merely means that Natsu leaning in is not a way to tease her, he is being serious with her, a trait rarely shown by the dragon slayer unless in combat.

Now, you’d all be lying if you said you didn’t think Natsu was going to kiss Lucy on the next page, because at this point I was screaming at him to kiss her and this is the point most people believe Natsu rejected Lucy. But in my opinion, it’s the complete opposite.

As I said, Natsu has had no experience with love, so the time he is actually faced with it (right now), he’s not joking around, he’s not teasing, because he has finally realised how Lucy feels. Granted I don’t think he’s absolutely certain, and here’s why:

When Natsu leans in - I promise this isn’t my NaLu senses taking over - I believe he was actually planning to kiss her, like many of us hoped. However, I think he changed his mind at the last minute, purely because he doesn’t want to hurt Lucy. He knows she’s in a vulnerable situation, and he would hate more than anything to make her more upset and tearful than she already is. Natsu knows that he loves Lucy, and is starting to think she returns those feelings, but he doesn’t want to confess when she’s in such a state and all emotional. He doesn’t want to hurt and/or confuse her.

Now let’s discuss Lucy’s feelings towards all this. Throughout the entire Alvarez arc she’s being toying with her feelings towards Natsu, as to whether they’re strictly platonic or whether there’s something more. This is the point where she’s considering perhaps there is something more. She’s so overwhelmed with gratitude and emotions she’s finally putting two and two together and deciding she is in love with her best friend. When Natsu leans in, she thinks he’s about to kiss her. How do we know?

This. The face she makes. You can interpret this however many ways you like, I’m definitely not saying mine is the correct way, but I’ll explain my theory.

Lucy’s contemplating her feelings again when she says “Wait”, but stops in the middle of her sentence. Why? Because she’s panicking. She - much like Natsu - has never had any experience with love, never had a boyfriend, and never had her first kiss. She thinks Natsu is going to kiss her, so what does she do? She closes her eyes and leaves her mouth open. She’s waiting for him to kiss her, so she can properly decide how she feels. She wants Natsu to kiss her.

Need more evidence?

She thought he was going to do something interesting.

What kind of interesting thing were you thinking, Lucy?  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

However, what really ties the knot, (see what I did there), about Natsu’s feelings towards Lucy is this:

He wants them to be together forever.

Natsu and Lucy wouldn’t have a stereotypical love confession because they are not a regular couple. Natsu saying he wants to be with Lucy forever just about proves that he loves her. And let’s not forget who else said they wanted to be with their significant other forever:

And who are together and trying for a baby in the final chapter?

From the words they speak to the expression they make, Natsu in no way friend zoned Lucy.

I believe he confessed to her, but in his own sweet, dense little way! He’s too inexperienced to know how to properly confess, and although he initially considered kissing her, it’d be far more like him to aggravate Lucy but confess his love at the same time. After all, he can’t resist teasing her!

Hopefully this put some of your minds at ease, let me all know your opinions and theories, I’d love to hear them! <3 

Pop up shop illustrations!