Hi Guys!

This is my fic for Nalu week Day 1: Voice! I took this one pretty literal and made it the main theme of the fic but I really can't promise it will be like that all week...
As always, comments would be highly appreciated but I just hope you guys will like it. Title is from "Moondust" by Jaymes Young.

Have fun reading!

Natsu Dragneel was straight up just not having a good day.

First, Lucy had refused to go on a mission with him - because of a date nonetheless! Which proved to him once again that despite how close they were, despite everything they'd been through together, she was still not his . And that just sucked.

Then - he'd decided to still take the mission, mostly because he now needed something to take his mind off of things, someone to punch, and Gray was not in the guild - he had discovered that he needed to take the train to get to Daisy, where the mission was located. That alone was enough to make his day even worse.

Daisy was a small village south of Magnolia. It was absolutely beautiful and very idyllic, and with Lucy, it would have been perfect - they could've strolled down the streets and gone window shopping, maybe even had dinner at one of the restaurants with a view of the river going through the village. Sure, he would've complained the whole time about it being boring, trying to rile her up, but he still would've enjoyed the time they spent together. As it was, all it did was remind him of who was missing - and that she was most likely with another guy.

The mission itself hadn't been that bad. Daisy had a problem with a mage besieging one of the main streets into the village who mugged merchants looking to sell their wares in the village. Natsu had taken the guy down fairly quickly, but had been hit with his magic during the fight - and had to discover that the guy had stolen his voice. He refused to give it back, though, and no one had been able to help him, so Natsu had handed him over to the authorities and went home. Without his voice.

He was now on his way to the guild in the hopes of finding someone that could help him. Erza, maybe, or Mira, maybe even Makarov - or, if no one had heard of this kind of magic before, he could at least ask Levy to look through the library.

Thankfully, Happy had accompanied him on his mission and had witnessed it all, so he would be able to explain the situation. Hopefully.

When he opened the door to the guild he purposely did so with way too much strength, making the door slam against the wall, therefore alerting the others of his arrival.

"Oi, firebreath, what the fuck is wrong with you -" Gray started, but he didn't get much further.

"Luuuuuuschyyyyyyyy!" the blue Exceed next to Natsu cried out, calling his attention to the beautiful girl sitting at the bar. "It's horrible!" He flew through the guild at top speed, crashing into the unsuspecting girl and snuggling between her boobs.

She screeched, frozen for a second, then she blinked. "Happy? What's wrong?"

The Exceed just kept crying, wailing loudly wedged in Lucy's copious bosom, and Natsu was getting irritated. How dare you, you little -

Of course, he wasn't able to declare his thought out loud, which only served to agitate him even further.

"Natsu? What's up with him?" The sound of Lucy's voice pushed through the tumbled mess in his mind and brought him back to reality. He managed to make a gurgling sound somewhere in his throat and made intentionally loud steps to get Happy out of his funk. He had the urge to growl when his Exceed still didn't move out of Lucy's neckline, but of course, no sound came out, and he was getting more and more irritated by the second.

He finally arrived at Lucy's side, looming over her, casting a shadow onto Happy who finally reacted. He sniffled piteously and looked up at Lucy. "Natsu lost his voice!"

By now they had caught the attention of basically the whole guild with their weird behaviour, and several jaws dropped as they shouted out a collective: "What?"

Natsu grimaced as he sat down on the barstool next to Lucy, letting his head hit the surface of the bar. He moved his hand in a go on gesture and surprisingly, Happy complied.

"We still went on that mission without you, and Natsu was sulking because you were on a date." His head snapped up at this point of the story and he threw daggers at Happy with just his eyes, but the Exceed just more or less ignored him. "We had to catch this bandit, but Natsu lacked concentration because of Lucy -" Another look as cold as ice, but Happy looked back defiantly, like what are you going to do? and Natsu just shook his head before letting it hit the bartop once more. " So he got hit with the guy's magic! Natsu defeated him, but his voice was gone. He admitted he had stolen Natsu's voice, but he refused to give it back, and what do we doooooo?"

Happy had once again started to cry and Natsu observed silently as he let himself get hugged by Lucy, cuddling into her.

Her eyes, though, her beautiful brown eyes searched for Natsu's, and suddenly, he didn't even feel that bad anymore.

Are you okay? her eyes asked and he nodded tentatively. I will be.

"Any ideas?" the celestial spirit mage asked, turning around to Mira, who put a finger to her chin and pondered over the question.

"I don't think I've ever heard of such a magic… The master or Erza might know something, but they're both out…"

"I can go get shrimp," Gajeel offered, who came up to them from the other end of the guild. Natsu eyed him suspiciously, trying to figure out why the steel dragon slayer out of all people would offer to help him, but came to the conclusion that he probably just jumped to the opportunity of talking to Levy.

"That'd be great, Gajeel," Lucy answered and gave Natsu a look, warning him to be nice. He innocently raised his arms and grinned, which caused her to roll her eyes. His heart constricted almost painfully in his chest and he let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. It was an exchange so entirely them that it almost hurt.

Some things never change , he thought, and while it was supposedly a good thing it also felt like he was being stabbed. The knowledge that it was all he'd ever be - the guy she rolled her eyes at - was a knife, and it went straight through his heart.

"How was the date?"

For a second, Natsu almost thought he had gotten his voice back sometime during his musings, but then he looked up and realized it was Mira who had asked the question.

Go figure. Snooping minx.

Lucy grimaced, obviously uncomfortable, and fidgeted in her seat, but Mira kept smiling the same, inviting yet somehow demanding smile, and the celestial spirit mage sighed as she gave up, knowing there was no way to escape Mira even if she tried.

"It was pretty shitty. He just kept staring at my neckline - Natsu calm down - and didn't really seem too interested in me."

He had shot up from his seat almost immediately as he heard her, but the way she got a hold of his hand and told him to calm down almost casually, like she'd anticipated his reaction, let his heart swell up in his chest. He intertwined his fingers with hers as he sat back down and squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back almost immediately. They exchanged a look and for just a second, Natsu felt like there was more between them then just friendship.

Then the guild doors flew open with a loud crash and the bann was broken.

"Lu-chan!"

"Levy-chan!"

The two girls lept at each other and hugged as if they hadn't seen each other for weeks, even though Natsu knew for a fact they'd had breakfast together with him and Wendy just this morning. He heard Gray give out an amused chuckle and smirked like in answer.

They all came together at one of the tables, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Levy, Gajeel and Gray, to discuss the situation, and naturally, Levy took the lead.

"Happy, can you tell me exactly what happened and what you know about the magic itself? Every little detail could be important."

So the next few minutes were spent listening to the much less upset Exceed - thank you very much, buddy , Natsu thought - until the doors opened again and Wendy stepped inside, Carla hot on her heels.

"Wendy!" Lucy greeted the young dragon slayer as she sat down at the table. "Natsu got hit by a magic that stole his voice, do you think there's anything you can do?"

"He what?" Carla asked, astonished, and sidestepped casually when Happy basically threw himself at her, now crying again. The Exceed sailed past her, falling off the table, and caught himself with his wings before he met the ground. Carla let out an exasperated sigh. "Stupid cat."

While Happy grumpily sat back down on top of the table, Lucy brought Wendy up to speed and explained the situation. She went to check Natsu's throat, but unfortunately the young dragon slayer was unable to help since physically, all was in place.

"Maybe we could…" she started and got into a discussion with Levy that Natsu lost interest in after the first word was spoken. He yawned and let his head sink onto Lucy's shoulder next to him, suddenly exhausted by the whole ordeal. All he wanted to do was curl up in Lucy's bed with her and wake up the next morning, hopefully realizing it was all just a bad dream.

When Lucy's hand found its way into his salmon locks and started to gently massage his scalp he would've purred if he would've been able to (his dragon side was just plain weird). As it was, he just softly rubbed his cheek on her shoulder, a silent thank you for her care. She hummed quietly in response and for a moment, all was well.

Just tell her you love her.

For months now, Natsu tried everything in his power to quieten the voice urging him to tell Lucy how he felt, but so far he had little to no success. If anything, the voice seemed to become louder with every hug they shared, every peaceful, tender moment, every time he woke up in the morning finding himself curled around Lucy's sleeping form protectively with her cuddling into his warmth.

He knew, objectively, that Lucy didn't reciprocate his feelings, and he assured himself so over and over again, which did little to help him -

But what if she does?

There was a sigh on his lips but no sound came out, and maybe it was better that way.

He didn't know how long they had sat there like that when Levy's voice ripped him out of his thoughts.

"Come on, you lovebirds. Time to get Natsu's voice back."

He shoot up, feeling a blush rising on his cheeks, and purposely avoided his best friend's eyes as they made their way to the library for a reason he couldn't comprehend because he hadn't paid attention. Happy snickered behind his paw, and Natsu gave him a look that spoke of the fact he was contemplating homicide, which just seemed to make the Exceed laugh harder.

A great friend you are , Natsu thought sarcastically, and Happy seemed to read his thoughts since he smiled at him brightly.

Finally down in the library, Levy slammed a book onto the table with an enthusiasm the girl only ever had about books - and, occasionally, Gajeel.

"Generally, a voice will always search for its way back to his owner," she explained when they had all taken a seat around the table, "even when it was stolen by magic. It's a pull, like magnetism, that ensures the right voice only gets pulled towards its rightful owner. Can you guys follow?"

In all honesty, Natsu didn't understand even half of what she was saying, but he nodded dutifully along with the rest of the group.

"Good. We are going to take that pull and try to magnify it, so that at a certain point, the pull will get stronger than the hold the mage has on Natsu's voice and it finds its way back on his own. Does that make sense?"

Again, the group nodded, and Natsu nodded along with them, even though Levy had lost him somewhere at the beginning of her explanation. As long as he'd get his voice back he admittedly didn't care much for the how .

"And how are we going to do that, Levy-chan?" Lucy asked her friend and an icy feeling ran down Natsu's spine as a sly smirk creeped onto the small girl's face.

"That, Lu-chan," she said, her eyes shining deviously, "will be your job."

Lucy blinked, puzzled. "Me?"

Levy nodded. "We, meaning Wendy and me, are going to need someone to remember Natsu's voice as vividly as possible. I will convert those memories into the right... let's say format, and Wendy will channel them into Natsu's throat, which will hopefully create a pull strong enough to break the mage's hold on his voice."

"Do you think you can do that?" Wendy asked in her shy way, and Levy was smirking at her best friend as if to say challenge my plan, I dare you .

Lucy blushed brightly. "Okay. Yeah. That won't be a problem," she mumbled, almost as if she was trying to keep him from making out the words. He still did, though, with his dragon hearing, but he had to suppress the urge to raise an eyebrow at her antics.

What's up with her?

"Great." Levy was still grinning almost deviously and Lucy carefully avoided her eyes. Happy was snickering once again and even Gray and Gajeel were smirking, throwing Natsu for a loop.

What the hell is going on here and why do I feel like I'm the only one not in on a joke?

He tried to meet Lucy's gaze but she wouldn't look at him, so he just wrinkled his forehead in confusion. He had the urge to ask, but, of course, couldn't; which just served to make him more anxious to get his voice back.

He tried to put the pieces together, but nothing seemed to make any sense, and by the time he gave up on his musings the rest of the group had left the room. Natsu fought to get a blush off his face when he realized he hadn't even noticed.

"You guys ready?", Levy asked, and the rest nodded. She fixated Natsu with her eyes. "Okay. Natsu, it would be best if you would close your eyes, that will make it easier for both Wendy and me."

He nodded and dutifully closed his eyes. He felt Wendy's hand on his throat, then something like a mini tornado engulfed his vocal cords and he had to keep a hold of something to keep himself from edging a way when his dragon senses kicked into overdrive.

It was by pure accident that the first thing he touched was Lucy's hand. He hadn't meant to listen in on her memories, but he got sucked in instantly, and what he heard and saw made his heart race in his chest.

Various scenes flashed through his mind, some completely mundane, like him greeting Lucy in the morning - "Morning, Luce! You up for some breakfast?" - others were more special, specific moments in their shared history where he'd felt particularly close to her and hadn't been able to keep his feelings from dripping into his voice - "Don't cry, Lucy. Let's save the tears for when we win."

It wasn't too much of a surprise that she still recalled those moments, even the mundane ones. The special thing about all those memories was the fact that his voice was crystal clear, as if it was the only thing she'd heard, despite all the ruckus going on in the background, wherever they were.

By the time they were done he hardly even cared about his voice anymore. He opened his eyes and immediately searched for her waiting gaze, tears glittering in the corner of her eyes and he felt his heart skip a beat "Luce -"

His voice was surprisingly clear as he croaked out her name, and something akin to fear manifested itself in her eyes.

"We - We're just gonna give you two some privacy…"

He hardly even heard Levy and Wendy leaving, could barely comprehend what the solid script mage had said, just continued to stare into Lucy's warm, brown eyes, soothing him despite the fear in them.

A realization had dropped like a bomb in his mind, leaving the knowledge in its wake that all this time, he'd been wrong about her feelings.

She loves me back. Holy -

Her voice ripped him out of his thoughts. "I'm so sorry, Natsu -"

"Sorry?" he interrupted her, surging forward in his seat until he was nose to nose with her. "What in Mavis' name would you be sorry for?"

He held onto her hand stoically even as she tried to loosen it out of his grip. She turned her head, pointedly looking to the side.

"I know you don't -" She broke off to let out a quiet sob. Then she took a deep breath and continued talking even through her now falling tears. "You probably realized what.. What I feel for you. And I know you don't feel the same, and that's fine, it's just -"

She broke off again, and Natsu wanted to intervene, wanted to end her pain, but he was frozen somewhere in time, incapable of doing anything but look at her as she opened her heart to him.

"I'm so sorry. Please don't - Don't hate me. Don't let this… Change things."

She let out another, heart wrenching sob, and his heart constricted in his chest. "You're my best friend," she whispered, "and I can't lose you."

For a while, it was quiet in the room, just her small sobbs breaking through the silence that stood like a wall between them. Then, finally, he fought through his paralysis and got his body to move. His left hand still holding hers held on tighter and his right hand took a hold of her chin, gently forcing her to look at him.

"Lucy -"

She flinched.

" Luce. That's not at all -" Her eyes still avoided his and he gave her hand another squeeze. "Look at me, Luce."

Only when her bright, brown eyes cautiously found his and settled there did he continue.

"You're wrong, Luce," he said softly. When she tried to jerk away in response he gently held onto her, slowly shaking his head. "Not like that. What I mean is…"

He took a deep breath.

"I love you, too. More than you'll ever know, Luce."

Her eyes, still boring into his, got wide and he carefully leaned forward.

When his lips met hers the earth around them came to a screeching halt. He couldn't hear anything, not even with his dragon hearing, couldn't feel anything but her lips on his. He was floating, flying through space, and she was the only thing keeping him together.

When they broke off the kiss nothing has initially changed - yet, everything had. Suddenly, the air seemed heavy, charged with something unidentifiable, while Natsu himself was still floating. Was this what happiness felt like?

"You… You love me," Lucy whispered, her wide eyes shining like all the stars in the sky combined.

"I do," he confirmed with all the honesty he had in him. She blinked in wonder, then, slowly, clear laughter pearled out of her mouth like the sound of chimes. For a few seconds he just listened to it, captivated by the sound, then he started laughing as well.

"We're a bit dense, huh?" she asked between chuckles, and a sound from the door ripped them out of their own little world.

"A little?" chimed multiple voices and both Lucy and Natsu broke into another round of laughter.

They both knew their friends were right. At least mostly.

"We should send that mage a thank-you card," Carla said drily when Natsu and Lucy sank into another kiss.

Happy answered as enthusiastically as ever.

"Aye!"