Approaching a love triangle: Natsu, Lucy, and Lisanna: a thread
This has always been a topic that has been interesting to me. I know Hiro Mashima mentioned that he thought about creating a storyline with this subject but didn’t go through with it because Lisanna herself was never going to be with Natsu in the end but I do feel like there could be a good way of going about the love triangle that dosen’t dehumanize or demean any of the girls.
This thread is going with the perspective of Hiro Mashima still going a Nalu route while still making Lisanna important to not only the romance department but character wise.
Lisanna’s pov
Personally if I were given the chance to write a compelling storyline about this potential triangle I wouldn’t have the girls fighting each other over Natsu because that would be extremely out of character for both Lisanna and Lucy
For Lisanna’s story arc; why not have her struggle to find her place within the guild? She was presented to us through the narrative to have died during her mission with her siblings. Now with the knowledge that she actually stayed at Edolas for all that time and has rejoined the characters back on Earthland I think it could have been the perfect opportunity to have Lisanna trying to blend in with her surroundings and while noticing that everything and everyone has changed around her; maybe she has a hard time readjusting to a world that has continued to keep spinning while she was absent. In other words trying to accept change and finding yourself within all of that. I feel that not only would this direction be relatable to a lot of people who may have had friends they use to spend time with but then life happens and those connections have drastically changed but it would also be fitting canon wise on what Hiro Mashima could give her.
As for Natsu and Lisanna’s childhood romance aspect; specially on Lisanna’s part of it. Considering that Natsu and Happy were her closest connections before disappearing. Why not explore the idea that she wants to reconnect with them because she wants to cherish those bonds and maybe she believes that her feelings that she had long ago were just the same as she recalled?
Natsu’s pov
His perspective in all of this is quite interesting since he’s the focal character that both Lisanna and Lucy are very close to. We do know through canon that when it comes to romance Natsu himself dosen’t put that on the forefront of his mind so instead of playing the typical male role of playing dumb with romance in general it would be interesting to see him not knowing where his heart lies between Lucy and Lisanna and instead he kind of just buries himself into fighting and etc.
We could very well have a one on one scene with Natsu and Lisanna where they kind of just talk about their past and how they both feel after Lisanna’s absence to give the audience clarification that both of them aren’t just ignoring each other the second Lisanna returned to Earthland. Lisanna asking him if the memories they had when raising Happy together still mean something to him and possibly asking him if she is able to join his team and help him in some way.
Natsu’s role in this love triangle; or at least how I would go about it is that he’s trying to figure out who is the girl he wants to spend his life with. But he often runs into the issue of just putting his focus on other aspects such as how he’s going to defeat Ignia and etc. He cherishes both Lisanna and Lucy in different ways but he’s battling the feelings he once had in his past versus the feelings he harbors in the present
Lastly for him; in regards to Lucy she has always been someone who was able to reach out to him in a way that dosen’t need words to explain what their connection feels to the fans. Her being someone who can easily calm him down whenever he gets angry or out of control with his own powers is a focal development within their bond. With Natsu’s bond to Lucy he may often feel something strong about it and the pull it might have on him when comparing it to the other members within his team but dosen’t easily put the pieces together on what exactly it means for him.
Lucy’s pov
Canonically with Lucy she has usually been someone who is quick to deny having romantic feelings when asked or whenever she is teased about her possible feelings for Natsu by several FT members such as Evergreen. So for this specific love triangle and how Lucy’s characterization tends to be I feel like she would especially knowing how close Lisanna and Natsu were as kids since Mirajane has told her about that story; she would most likely not react on her own feelings and try to be supportive with whatever Natsu and Lisanna may have. Most likely to assume that they both are going to continue their story from where they left off on.
In her journey to accepting her romantic feelings for Natsu; characters like Levy (her best friend), Cana, and maybe Evergreen notice that Lucy tends to act different whenever she interacts with Natsu; more so putting up a mask to hide her growing feelings for her teammate because she herself wants to be supportive of Lisanna. So as her inner circle of friends they want Lucy to be open about how she feels and at least be honest with herself instead of bottling up her own feelings because of her selfless nature to put the feelings of others above her own
Lucy’s romance arc would focus on being honest with herself. It dosen’t necessarily need to have Lucy directly confess to Natsu on how she feels although I believe that would be the most natural way to go about confirming the endgame if going the Nalu route.
Lisanna and Lucy’s bond
Now this is the fun part in all of this. How exactly would Lisanna and Lucy’s friendship work in all of this? In regards to this subject in this hypothetical scenario Lisanna’s arc would be about adapting to the changes around her and finding her place within all of that while Lucy’s is about opening up about her own feelings.
Lisanna who once had feelings for Natsu and at first believes that those feelings are still intact starts to notice that the family dynamic that she once established with Natsu being the dad, her as the mom, and Happy as the kid changes drastically as she now sees a Natsu and Happy who view each other as partners and the formation of Team Natsu. What she yearns for is to be close to the two people she cares about but mistakens her past feelings for her yearning to just be close to the two people she spent most of her childhood with. Lucy noticed that Lisanna is struggling to just reconnect with Natsu and Happy and wants to help Lisanna in anyway that she can. Whether that would mean Lisanna ends up joining Team Natsu or simply just her finding members within the guild to build a team with and easily find her placement in the guild that way (I’m leaving the interpretation to you guys 😅) the overall end result is to have Lisanna not lose her close connections to Natsu and Happy and her friendship with Lucy will help greatly with this arc.
On the other hand with Lucy and her quick denial of admitting her feelings whenever her friends may ask her. Lisanna will notice that and over time the two of them will become close friends, being able to learn so many things about one another and Lisanna (being the super friendly person that she is) will be direct with Lucy and tell her that all she simply wants is to still be in Natsu’s life and that she isn’t actively looking to pursue a romantic relationship with him while also telling her that Lucy should tell Natsu the truth on how she feels. Lucy will take some time to think about what Lisanna said and ultimately not only come to terms with her feeling herself and be honest to any of her friends who ask her about it but evantually go and confess her feelings to Natsu.
To summarize this Lisanna will achieve her goal in not only adapting to change and not feeling like she’s a fragment of the past but to maintain all the bonds that she felt were stagnant and come to realization that her old feelings no longer stem from a romantic standpoint. While Lucy who immediately deems her bond with Natsu to just be mere friendship will open up and become honest about how she actually feels about Natsu. Both girls will benefit by becoming close and helping each other.