do you think Lucy loves natsu? i cant really tell with her, but natsu on the other hand i think he does, can you do an analysis on this if you have time, thanks :)
Let me just say two things before I start:
1. Thank you SO MUCH for sending this ask!
2. I’m sorry I’m late with the answer, but I hope you see it nonetheless! ^_^
3. I’m VERY LATE. I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I couldn’t post my answer earlier, but with Fairy Tail ending, I had to do it. So here it is, my take on Lucy’s feelings for Natsu. It’s a bit long (and a bit all over the place), but I hope that’ll compensate for its delay.
To me, the best way to define Natsu and Lucy’s relationship is as a solid friendship which has begun to turn into something more. Or as Mashima likes to label it, “more than friends, less than lovers”.
I’ll start with something that I believe is a very important aspect of their relationship.
Before Lucy and Natsu met each other, they were only close to people from their respective families (in Natsu’s case that’s the guild, in Lucy’s case I consider the servants in the Heartfilia mansion a part of the family). Natsu had spent 10 years in the guild, going on missions and meeting new people, but it wasn’t until he met Lucy that he made a friend outside of the guild. As for Lucy, Natsu is also the first friend she’s made that isn’t somehow connected to the Heartfilia business and house. So I’d like to think of them becoming friends as coming out of their respective shells and I consider it something very special and important. It’s a turning point for both of them. And if either of them didn’t feel they could trust the other, this wouldn’t have happened.
Lucy’s childhood. Lucy grew up witha loving mother by her side with whom she shared a deep and strong connection. IfLayla hadn’t died just before her daughter was of the age when kids start toget curious about love, Lucy would’ve had someone to guide and help her understandthe complicated feeling that love is, while also letting her make her ownmistakes so she could learn from them. Unfortunately, Lucy was left to grow upwith an emotionally-distant father. Yes, she had servants who loved andcherished her deeply as shown at the end of the Phantom Lord arc, and she alsohad Aquarius. But, after all, the bond she shares with them would never replacethe bond she shared with her mother. On top of everything, Lucy didn’t have anyfriends around her age. She had no one to talk to about love. So, naturally, Iimagine she learned about it from books (it’s canon she loves books) andmagazines (she was a Sorcerer Weekly reader.
This is where things clash. On one hand, books usually represent love as pure, romantic,all-consuming, eternal. On the other hand, magazines tend to go for “what sellsbest”, which, yes, is very similar to the image love has in books, but moreoften than not, is beauty and sex appeal.
Lucy’s first months in Fairy Tail.Lucy keeps the idea of pure love in her heart. We see that in episode50 when Mirajane suggests Natsu has feelings for Lucy. The Celestial Mage thenstarts to imagine a fairy-tale-like scenario where they’re in love, their eyessparkle when they look at each other and Natsu is the perfect gentleman.
The first time we see Lucy, though, back in episode 1, she’s trying to use hersex appeal to get a discount at a Magic Item Store. The girl’s way ofconnecting to people her age was through Sorcerer Weekly. It’s the coolmagazine with cool mages (many of them her age) giving cool interviews andhaving cool photo shoots. It’s trendy. It’s cool. Lucy’s influenced by itwhether she realizes it or not. The way she sees love is also influenced by it.
Long story short: Lucy’s idea oflove is a mix between what she’s read in books and what she’s seen in magazines.She has never experienced it first-hand. She doesn’t really know what real loveis like, with all its ups and downs. Realizing the true essence of her feelingsfor Natsu, or any other possible love interest really, would take time.
Joining Fairy Tail hasundoubtedly changed Lucy’s life. She went from being uptight, often irritatedby Natsu and Gray’s antics, to a more chill and calm person. She grew up in anisolated household with no friends her age and almost no one to talk to. As thesole heir to a huge conglomerate, she grew up having to behave, follow somestrict rules and basically be a good girl.
In contrast, Fairy Tail lets Lucy be who she actually is. It sets her free. Herguildmates are loud, often act immature, sometimes destroy whole buildings(*cough* Natsu *cough*), but they are true to their heart. As someone who neverhad the freedom to truly be herself, enjoy youth and go on adventures, Lucyneeded some time to get used to her new life. It’s what she wanted and needed,but such drastic changes always take time to get used to. That’s why I believethe first few months the thought of love rarely, if ever, crossed Lucy’s mind.
Lucy and Natsu’s relationship. Natsuhas always had a huge impact on Lucy. The moment they met was marked by Natsu’sbreaking the Charm spell that had Lucy under the fake Salamander’s influence,which implies Natsu is the one who’s gonna help her break free from her oldlife. This fateful encounter is celebrated in a later episode, because it isimportant to both characters. Although at that point in the series I thinkneither of them thought of the other as a love interest, their friendship hadbecome very important to their development as individuals and I’ve alwaysbelieved that people in a healthy relationship should be able to retain theirindividual identities while building their relationship.
We often see Lucy irritated by Natsu and his antics during her first monthor two in the guild. It’s usually used for comic relief (Lucy violently kickingNatsu in the face when he breaks in her apartment for example), but itgradually disappears with time to the point where she accepts him for who heis, with all his flaws and the annoying habit of destroying buildings (thatcost a lot to repair). That by itself is not enough to show Lucy’s in love withNatsu, but it is proof that their relationship is changing.
The realization that you’re in love with someone usually takes some time. It’sthe little things that add up and mark this whole process as “falling in love”. Thingslike Lucy shouting Natsu’s name when jumping off the tower in the PhantomLord arc, her comment on how cute he looks when he sleeps after they returnedfrom Edolas, even her getting all nervous about a possible date with him (ep.50)show that although they are still at the friendship stage, Lucy’s starting toacknowledge her growing feelings for him and to consider him as a loveinterest.
The Tenrou arc showed that both Lucy and Natsu seeeach other as “more than friends, less than lovers”. By that time, Lucy’salready realized her guildmates are incredibly strong, has received some decentcharacter development (mostly in the form of her bonding with her CelestialSpirits, helping Cana in the S-Class exam and emphasizing FT’s favorite nakamapower theme) and is doing her best to become even stronger and confidentlystand next to powerful mages such as Erza. Even though they start off as “enemies”,Natsu and Lucy reform Original Team Natsu halfway through the arc to defeat oneof the real villains. The fight shows just how far their friendship has come.Although it wasn’t labeled as such, I consider Lucy’s fire attacks a unisonraid with Natsu.
When it comes to Lucy’s feelings for Natsu as shown in this arc, it allstarts with Lucy refusing to leave Natsu to fight Kain Hikaru alone. It’smostly her character development and kind nature speaking here, but the factthat she’s in a life-threatening situation (her skull is about to get crushed!)and still doesn’t want to leave her friend alone that subtly hints at somethingmore.
The fight against Hades and Lucy’s actions when all hope was lost hint even moreat the Celestial Mage’s changing feelings. In a dire and hopeless situation,she’s tightly hugging Natsu. It’s a moment where she’s vulnerable, afraid, weakand it is Natsu’s presence right beside her that helps her go through it. Runningafter and recovering the Dragon Slayer’s most precious possession, the scarffrom Igneel, further emphasizes how important Natsu has become to Lucy.
After the 7-year time skip itlooks like it’s mostly Natsu’s time to acknowledge his growing feelings for hisblonde friend. But he’s not the only one who has some acknowledgement to do. Lucy’s character undergoes even more development and thatincludes the feelings she has for the Dragon Slayer. The GMG arc was veryimportant for Lucy, because she was doing her best in her fights, but keptlosing because her enemies used underhanded tactics. During those times, Natsuwas there for her. She could rely on him to help her move on and shake off thefrustration of such unfair losses. At this point of their relationship, it’sclear that Lucy trusts and relies on Natsu (especially evident in the f!Lucy’sscenes), cares about and believes in him (the hospital scene before his fight againstSting and Rogue) and is grateful to him (the sweet back hug at the end of thearc).
While we’re on it, the back hug isvery special to Natsu and Lucy. In the earlier arcs, Lucy does that to try andstop Natsu from doing something reckless (the first time she did it was in theLullaby arc to stop him from hurting himself; she also did it in the Edolas arcto stop him from blowing up their cover). The end of the GMG arc is the firsttime she hugs him like that to simply show gratitude. She’s thankful this isover. She’s thankful everybody seems to be alright. She’s thankful f!Lucy foundhappiness in the afterlife. She’s thankful to Natsu.
The Tartaros arc was a painful experience for everybody in the Fairy Tailguild. It was an arc in which many people lost someone important to them. Whenit was all over and it was time to face the future, it turned out Natsu’sapproach to things was different from Lucy’s. In order to not lose anyone elseanymore, the Dragon Slayer left the town to train and become stronger. Lucy, onthe other hand, while not explicitly stating it, wanted to once again feel safeat the guild and rebuild what was destroyed during the Tartaros conflict. It’swhen Natsu was gone, not just the fear of losing him, he was actually gone, whenshe realized exactly how much he means to her.
I consider the year before the Alvarez War a year meant for healing, comingto terms with yourself, acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses and(possibly) working on improving. During that time, Lucy worked hard as areporter, trained even harder and got on a whole new level with her stardresses and tried to deal with her loneliness by keeping track of where herguildmates were and what they were up to. While she and Natsu never really talkedabout his sudden disappearance, I think the tension between them was somewhatresolved throughout the last arc.
After Fairy Tail had once again become a guild, we all noticed how Mashima startedusing some old elements (like Natsu infiltrating Lucy’s apartment; Lucy gettingangry at him; Lucy Kick) with some changes in them. It was attributed to himtrying to convey the feeling that everything’s how it was in the beginning(with some small changes here and there), but I also believe it was a necessaryprocess Natsu and especially Lucy had to go through to rekindle theirrelationship.
During the war, Lucy had to face the fear of losing Natsu, but this time thedifference was she was not quite helpless. Albeit indirectly, she first helpedNatsu by being kind to Brandish, which made the Spriggan reduce thesize of his tumor, thus saving him. When later she enlarged it and Natsu’s lifewas threatened again, Lucy fought fiercely to protect him. She will keeprelying on him, and he on her, but what makes things different is that now theyare equal. More importantly, Lucy considers them equal. Yes, she might not(yet) be as powerful as he is, but she proudly stands and fights next to him –a change in her attitude that started back on Tenrou island and that is very important for a healthy relationship between those two.
I want to end this post with a recent panel of Lucy that brought a couple ofhappy tears in my eyes.
Lucy’s heard what other people said: Natsu is END, Natsu is a monster. Butshe sees through this and realizes that he’s not defined by that. He’s a normal boy. He’s the Natsuthat brought her to Fairy Tail; the Natsu she went on so many adventures with;the Natsu who can’t handle vehicles; the Natsu who has a tendency of destroyingbuildings; the Natsu who often breaks in her apartment; the Natsu who is loud,energetic, and supportive of his friends; the Natsu who’s always been there forher; the Natsu who left her for a year; the Natsu who helped her reform FairyTail; the Natsu who spent the last few hours before the war goofing around withher and Happy; the Natsu who will always support and help her; the Natsu shefell in love with.
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