Hey, everyone.

I wrote this piece for gruvia is coot from Discord since today is her birthday.

It's yet another plot twist I've thought of-though this time it's less insane- and the focus will be on NaLu and Gruvia.

I hope you'll enjoy!

"I need to get stronger." Natsu whispered while he concentrated on increasing his magic power. Flames ignited his skin, however he didn't mind the heat. "For Lucy. I have to protect her."

He remembered the first time he had failed to protect her and how much it had changed him.

It had happened during the battle against Phantom Lord; when Lucy had been kidnapped while he was too busy fighting them. When he should've been there for her, but he wasn't.

The dragon slayer could never forget how his heart had stopped and his blood ran cold once he overheard Gajeel talking about Lucy's successful capture by the Element 4.

Natsu recalled emotions that overwhelmed him at that moment. Fear. Dread. Anger. Regret. He had been so scared of losing her, of losing his best friend-besides Happy, of course.

Thankfully, he was able to rescue her from Jose Porla.

After she was back at the guild, safe and sound, the realization still stayed with him: something had changed that day.

After that, he became more protective, careful. Remembering what it felt like to lose her, even if for a short while, was enough to make him always wish to be by her side.

Unfortunately, he couldn't always be.

During the Battle of Fairy Tail, it happened again. Lucy was taken away, or at least that's how he saw it when she was turned to stone.

Once again, he wasn't able to protect her. He didn't even see the danger coming because it came from old friends.

That moment also changed him forever, because he finally understood the phrase: "Betrayal only hurts so much because it always come from those we would least expect; those we trust the most."

Natsu kept those words in mind during every mission; every battle. It made him less trusting of people, but also enabled him to protect Lucy better.

Over the course of the next few battles they had-against Oracion Seis, in Edolas, on Tenrou Island- Natsu managed to keep her safe.

He wasn't always by her side, but that was okay because Lucy had grown stronger over time. He was proud of her; even more so knowing that he was the one who had helped her grow.

Thus he hadn't worried much during those fights, knowing she could take care of herself just fine.

Until the Grand Magic Games.

Those 7 days when they were competing, Natsu failed her more times than he could count.

First there was her battle with Flare, when he took so long to figure out why she wasn't fighting back.

If he claimed to know her so well, why didn't he realize that she was selflessly taking the heat in order to protect the ones she cared about?

Then, during the fourth day, he was forced to watch once she was mercilessly tortured by Minerva.

In those terrifying minutes, Natsu completely lost it and later he started to wonder about his reaction to seeing her get hurt.

He realized that if it had been anyone else he wouldn't have been as scared, angry or broken. Not because he didn't care about his other friends, but Lucy was more important.

She was his best friend, but was she just that?

Remembering when Erza and Gray had been talking about his situation with Juvia a few days before-they always forgot he had dragon slayer hearing-he decided to figure out exactly how he felt about Lucy.

The answer came 3 days later and it wasn't too unexpected.

Natsu loved her. For real.

When Future Lucy died right before his eyes during the most dreadful moment that would haunt him forever, his feelings became crystal clear.

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure what to do about them. Should he tell her? Was that a good idea? Or could it ruin their friendship if she rejected him?

Natsu didn't have time to think about it, though, for their world was soon thrown into chaos. After the long, exhausting battle was over and they had won, all he could think was that he had failed Lucy.

He had let her die-or at least a version of her-thus he didn't deserve to love her. He wasn't good enough.

That's why, in the following months, he pretended as if nothing had changed and they were still just good friends. Even though it killed him to be so close to her without being able to truly be with her, he stayed strong.

When they fought against Tartaros and he failed her again, that was the final strike.

He wasn't there for her when she had broken down. He wasn't there when she was forced to fight against Demons by herself.

Thus Natsu decided that he needed to get stronger; not just to defeat Zeref, as his friends had assumed, but to make sure that he would never fail Lucy again.-also to avenge Igneel, but that was another story.

The dragon slayer decided to leave for a year of training and, when Happy wondered why he didn't bring Lucy with him, Natsu was honest.

"Lucy just lost Aquarius, so I think she needs some time by herself to come to terms with it." He shrugged. "Besides, this training mission will be dangerous. I don't want her to get hurt again."

Happy understood then that leaving Lucy behind was Natsu's weird way of keeping her safe.

With Tartaros gone and the Balam Alliance broken, he believed there no immediate threats to her life. She would be fine until he came back and, and afterwards, he would always be there to protect her.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out the way Natsu had wanted. Though he did grow stronger during that year, when he returned it was only to discover that Fairy Tail-his family and home- had been disbanded.

He came home to find none of his friends and Lucy really mad at him. It saddened him that he had spent a whole year trying to become a better man who could protect her only to fail her again.

At least, this time, he could make it up by bringing Fairy Tail back together.

Their journey to find their friends led them to Gray's secret mission at Avatar and they helped the ice mage defeat them.

Then, the day after this battle, an unexpected threat presented itself and Lucy's life was in danger once again.

They were back in Magnolia, having traveled there for Fairy Tail's reunion.

Natsu was proud upon noticing that most Fairy Tail members came despite Lucy's fear that they might've moved on. If he were to be honest, he had been scared too.

Fortunately, their worries were untrue, thus he was able to relax while watching everyone sharing hugs and talking about the past year.

The dragon slayer chose to stay silent; taking in the atmosphere once memories of the good days crossed his mind.

Until he suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong.

It was like a chill ran down his spine and he immediately knew that the enemy was close.

Natsu looked around, waiting for someone to come and attack then. There was nothing.

Once he watched his friends, he saw nothing different. There were no strangers ready to ambush them and no one else seemed to be alert.

Except for Gray that is.

The dragon slayer followed his gaze towards Lucy and Juvia, who were hugging. Though he failed to understand why the ice mage seemed so tense, he figured Gray must sense it too.

Noticing his stare, the ice mage looked back at him and there was a familiar expression on his face.

Natsu knew then that he was hiding something, but before he could ask, Gray looked back at the two girls; even more anxious.

Trying to figure out what made him so tense, the dragon slayer chose to follow his gaze again. His blood immediately ran cold once he saw it.

There was a knife. Juvia was holding it and she was about to swing it at Lucy. What the hell?

It made no sense, but in that moment all Natsu could think about was keeping Lucy safe.

"Lucy!" He screamed her name at the same time as Gray.

The celestial wizard looked at them, confused, before turning around and stepping away from Juvia's embrace. "What's wrong?"

The water mage rolled her eyes at this and, before either man could say anything, she was behind Lucy. The knife pressed against the celestial mage's throat and suddenly Natsu couldn't breathe.

He vowed he wouldn't fail her again.

Once everyone stared at the scene in complete shock, Juvia turned to Gray with a smirk that they had never seen.

"What's it gonna be, Gray? Who are you going to save?"

So, thoughts?

Did you enjoy my analysis of Natsu's feelings?

Also, any theories on why Juvia is suddenly trying to hurt Lucy?

Next chapter is coming on the 7th of August.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!