A/N: ITS ALIVE! yep. I'm back. thank you so much for the nice reviews. Especially from launi9 (just so you know, you really made my day with that review. I'd kind of lost interest in this story.) Anyway, story will continue, but please be warned that updates might take a while. I only plan about three more chapters till the end (but then again this was only suppose to be a two-shot to begin with, so there's no telling?)

Anyway, thanks for the support!

Natsu awoke with his heart pounding hard against the inside his head, giving him a massive headache. He groaned and tried to sit up, only to be stopped by a screaming pain in his abdomen.

"Don't move, you'll only make it worse" Commanded a familiar voice. Natsu peeked one eye open and saw Mavis Vermillion looking down at him reproachfully. Her hands were busy applying some foul smelling salve to his abdomen where the pain was coming from. He reached a hand toward the area inquisitively, but it was instantly slapped away by the ghost.

"Don't touch." She ordered firmly.

"Is he going to be okay?" Loki asked, coming to kneel next to Mavis. Natsu stared at the spirit, his head still groggy from the blood loss. He knew he was mad at Loki, he just couldn't remember why….

"He'll live." Mavis declared. "Probably. This salve has spirit magic in it and will heal most of the tissue damage in few hours. He's going to have a nasty scar, but it won't matter much if we don't get him back to Earth land soon. He's already exhausted too much of his magic."

"Lucy!" Natsu shouted, finally remembering what was happening and surprising everyone in the room. He attempted to sit up again, ignoring the pain, but was stopped by Mavis's firm hands on his shoulders.

"I said don't move!" she scolded, but he fought against her and to get away.

"I have to save Lucy!" He shouted, "I have to see her!"

"Shhhh, Natsu be quiet!" Happy tried to calm him "She isn't here!" But Natsu ignored him.

"Lucy!... LUCY!" He screamed as loud as he could.

Mavis had had enough. She pulled back her elbow and in one swift and calculated movement she gave Natsu a swift punch to the head. His eyes crossed for a moment before rolling back in his head and he fell unconscious.

"Now." Mavis sighed pleasantly, ignoring the shocked looks from Happy and Loki "Where were we?"

"Azazel shut all the portals to Earth land. Not even we Spirits are allowed to travel back and forth right now." Loki said, reminding himself never to piss off the first master. "How long does he have?"

"By my estimate, if we don't find a way to get him back to Earth land- he'll be dead by dawn tomorrow." She said somberly.

"Natsu…" Happy whispered with fear. He was standing on his friends other side, fighting back tears.

Loki looked determinedly to his two conscious companions "The switch that allows travel between worlds is here in the castle, but only Azazel knows where. We're just going to have to search for it."

"We can't just leave Natsu!" Happy protested.

"There's nothing more we can do for him here. And it's not like he can go anywhere." Mavis said, tucking a blanked around his sleeping form. His left hand was handcuffed above his head to the bedframe. There were also two large guards posted outside to keep watch.

"She's right." Loki said. "This best thing we can do to help Natsu is to find a way to get him back to Earth land."

Lucy tied the last of her bed sheets together and tested the knot before flinging the pile of linins over the balcony. They fluttered in the wind for a moment before settling in a long line down to the lower level of the castle. She pulled the hood of her cloak down to make sure it covered her face before shimmying down the line. Lucy had years of practice from running away from her father when she lived in her old house.

When she got to the bottom, she gave a tug on the sheets- the signal that she had made it safe and sound. High above on the balcony, her own face smiled down at her as she pulled up the sheets, removing the evidence. Gemini gave her a thumbs up for good luck, and on the ground Lucy mirrored the gesture before disappearing into the castle.

She was careful to avoid making contact with anyone, disappearing into the shadows when someone approached. Because of this it took longer than she'd hopped to finally reach the dungeon.

There were two guards standing watch, but neither looked very interested in their job. One was admiring his perfectly manicured fingernails, while the other was focused on a bug that was crawling on the floor.

"Gentlemen." Lucy greeted them. They looked up rather confused, before snapping into a humble bow of respect.

"Princess." One guard acknowledged with reverence.

"I want to see the prisoner." She announced, making sure to use her best princess voice. The guards looked to each other warily before replying. "But princess, prince Azazel said no one…."

"Well I'm not just anyone." She interrupted. "Open this door and let me see him."

"But…"

"Now!" Lucy was happy to see a certain level of fear cross the guards faces, before one of them shrugged to the other one and started fumbling with the key's. They threw the door open and bowed as Lucy passed.

"Princess, we'll have to lock you in." The guard warned her.

"That's fine. Thank you for your help." She told them genuinely as they shut and locked the large wooden door. Inside the stone room was pitch black and Lucy spent what seemed like ages blinking and attempting to get her eye's to adjust. Then she saw him lying on a metal cot in the corner.

"Natsu!" She cried, running to his prone figure. He groaned and moved to pick his head up. Lucy was overjoyed by those simple actions because they proved he was still alive. She threw herself over him and enveloped him in a full body hug.

Natsu hissed violently with pain as her elbow hit the sensitive skin on his abdomen. Lucy pulled back and looked horror stuck when she realized what she'd done.

"Oh Natsu, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," He muttered through gritted teeth. "I'm fine"

"No you're not." She sighed, running a hand over his forehead affectionately. "Natsu. We've got to get you out of here."

"No. Not without you." He said stubbornly. "I not gonna stand by and watch you be forced to marry that jerk."

"Natsu….."She choked on his name. There were so many things that she wanted to say to him, to be able to tell him before the wedding. Of course she didn't want to marry Azazel. But if spending the rest of her life shackled to a man she hated meant that Natsu got to live, she'd do it.

"No. No I can't take it!" Natsu screamed, seeming to be able to follow her thoughts and not liking where they ended up. He grabbed her face in both of his hands and locked his eyes with hers and whispered in a soft voice "Lucy, I love you… I think I always have".

Lucy felt like her heart had stopped, for her breathing certainly had. She gazed back at his onyx eyes through a blurry film of tears that were spilling out the corners of her own.

"You love me?" she asked, her heart breaking. Part of her had wished he hadn't felt the same way about her as she felt about him. Then this would have been easier for him. But now he had said it and she felt like she had to tell him the truth, even if it only made things worse.

"I love you too." She whispered bringing their faces together so that their noses and foreheads rested on each other. Her salty tears dripped down her face and on to his cheek. But soon she realized his tears were adding to hers. Tears if frustration, of anguish, of determination. Lucy hated to hear the pain and longing in each breath he sucked in and moved to gently kiss away his tears.

He pulled away, again cupping her face in his hands and looking at her with a horribly Natsu-like smile. After all, this was Lucy. She was here, in his arms, and she had just told him that she loved him. Natsu was suddenly determined not to think about tomorrow, or the fact that he had never felt so weak in his life. All he thought about was the joy he felt being with Lucy.

It was that smile, so familiar and normal. It was like a candle lit to keep away the darkness that was threatening to consume them both. Lucy felt a small chuckle of pure joy escape, and she decided to mimic Natsu's attitude and worry about the hopelessness of their situation tomorrow. For the moment, nothing else existed in that or any world but Lucy and Natsu. She threw her hands around his neck and kissed him deeply.

They were both so lost in the joy of being with each other in this new way, that neither of them could remember who started undressing who (Natsu swears it was Lucy). But soon they found themselves completely vulnerable to each other in the quiet darkness of the cell on the ratty old prison cot. Not that they noticed their surroundings.

So it was there, of all places, that they gave everything they were to each other. And afterwards, he held her in his arms and breathed in her scent, all the while whispering assurances that he wouldn't let any harm come to her as they both drifted off to sleep.

A/N- Also, i will be updating the rating of this fic to T, because I'm really not in the mood to do the totally smutty stuff I had originally planed to do.

If your disappointed in that, and you were really only looking for smut, let me know and I'll write a one shot for ya.

Or if anyone else wants to write something to fill in the blanks here, be my guest (just let me know so I can read it too ;))