Lucy Heartfilia wandered around the Heartfilia mansion, watching the beautiful dancers glide over the ball-room floor along with the lovely orchestral music. She looked stunning in her formal, pink, ball-gown but though her beauty was ever-present, her brown eyes were vacant and bored. Occasionally she would be stopped by a few of her father's acquaintances. "Lucy," they would say, and immediately, her vacant expression would loosen and a lovely smile would grace her face, a pleasant laugh crossing her lips.

But as soon as she could manage to break away from them, she would turn her sad face towards the arched window, longing to be out under the moon and endless stars.

She shifted her gaze to the chattering people who were laughing and talking amiably with each other. But something about them seemed- false. She knew they were only here for her father's money and high standing position. Her father knew it too. That's why he held his money and position high above any relationship with his daughter. But she was long past the point of truly caring. She had put up with it ever since her mother had died and she knew there was no way to change his behaviour by simply talking to him. And that is all she could do. That and attending his parties in uncomfortable ball gowns.

Her eyes moved over the people again, but stopped on a particular person that caught her attention.

There was a boy standing by the food table, eating, but looking just as uncomfortable and unenthusiastic about being there as she was. Lucy stared at him long enough to examine his unusual cherry blossom hair, and his pained expression as he struggled to loosen the tie around his neck. She giggled and suddenly, as if he had heard her, he looked across the room at her, his dark eyes capturing her brown ones.

Her breath caught and she immediately diverted her eyes to someone else. She was sure she had felt sparks when their eyes had connected, as if he had some sort of fire inside of him that had tried to embrace her. But she liked the feeling. It felt absolutely magical, and somehow, comforting. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, moving her eyes towards the man again. To her dismay he was still looking at her, looking almost confused. But when her gaze met his again, he smiled a genuine smile.

He finished his food much to her amusement and began to make his way across the room to her. His eyes were saying something along the lines of "Do I know you?" And she agreed. She felt like she had seen him somewhere before. In her dreams of adventure, fire, magic, laughter, friendship, love and pure happiness.

He was halfway across the room now, not too politely pushing in-between dancing people. But she didn't mind. She laughed as he got closer and stood as he took her hand with a friendly smirk.

"I'm Natsu," he said, not too formally either but she grinned.
"I'm Lucy," she told him.

For the first time in what felt like forever, she had a genuine smile on her face as she spoke to him, and her laughter was real. They made fun of the people around the ball-room, poking fun at the pudgy old man that had always been such a sarcastic and bitter old fool. He kept poking fun at her too, calling her weird and strange, but she simply made fun of him back, teasing his pink hair that she secretly adored.

It came time for her father to enter the room and gather all the guests together for an audience. They sat at the tables in the middle of the ballroom, Natsu and Lucy sitting near the back. Her father introduced himself and Lucy rolled her eyes. He seriously didn't need to do that since about 90% of the room had met him before and the other 10% knew who he was from sight.

He began the speech and everyone listened, more out of manners rather than any interest. She was just beginning to nod off when something hit the side of her head. She jumped, startled and glared in the direction it had come from. Natsu simply gestured to her lap and she looked to see a scrunched up piece of paper. Glancing up to make sure no one was watching, she opened up the note to see writing inside.

"Such messy hand-writing," she muttered, squinting to read it. It said: "Why does your dad have a rat on his face?"

She looked up in horror to her father but saw nothing there. The only thing she could see was his… moustache. She looked to Natsu in confusion but his expression looked genuinely befuddled. Lucy snorted and suddenly let out a hiccupping laugh.

Then she looked up in horror to see everyone looking at her.

She heard the chair move behind her and suddenly, Natsu grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the door. She went with him and suddenly they were both running out into the gardens, Lucy both horrified at herself and absolutely delighted. She could feel the adult's stares on her back and she knew her father would be furious. But she didn't care. She had this boy with her that she felt like she had known for a decade and for once she was truly happy.

He ran with her through the gardens until they were almost at the ends of the Heartfilia property. They were both gasping for breath and laughing uproariously together. Lucy had tears trickling down her face from laughing so much and Natsu's cheeks were pink, like his hair. Lucy took a deep breath and looked up towards the stars that she had been yearning for all night.

"That's Aquarius," she said, pointing towards her favourite constellation in the sky. It was glittering magnificently in the inky blackness and Natsu looked up to admire it with her. "Is there a dragon thingy?"
"A dragon thingy?" she asked with a giggle. "Constellation?"
"Yeah, constellation," he said, his enthusiasm causing her to smile. "No, I don't think there is," she said regretfully. He didn't blink. Just asked for her to tell him more. And she did with glittering eyes and a beautiful smile that had him smiling back.

Lucy lay with Natsu on the grass, staring up at the stars. She told him of her lonely life in the mansion and her empty relationship with her father. In turn, he talked about his friends back home in the city called Fiore. She listened intently as he spoke about his adventures and laughed as he talked about his friends. Gray, a boy he stripped often and always annoyed Natsu, Erza, a scary girl a little older than him who would beat him and Gray up if they ever fought, Mira, a beautiful young woman who actually used to be quite terrifying, and many more.

Finally, he got a phone call and he regretfully informed her he had to return home because his father was calling for him. She sadly stood up said goodbye, watching him run in the opposite direction that she needed to go. Before he was out of sight, he turned and gave her a radiant smile that made her feel warm and honestly happy.

"I'll be back for you!" he yelled, and she felt her heart warm even further. Would he really?

She lifted her hand in farewell and turned towards the building she lived in. Not really home, but as close to a home as she had. She could feel her cheeks warming and she smiled as she walked back. She felt magical. And she hadn't even gotten to tell him how happy he had made her feel. "I was enchanted to meet you," she whispered to herself, and giggled before entering the large doors of her mansion.

ooooooooo

Lucy lay in her bed, ready for sleep to overtake her. But there was one question niggling at her mind. Did Natsu love anyone? Did someone love him? She knew it was petty to be thinking such a thing, but she couldn't ignore it.

She pushed back her covers and ran to her desk to write a letter to her mother. She spoke about her experiences with Natsu today and her feelings and questions that had been evoked by him. She also spoke about her father's cold silence towards her upon her arrival home and her lack of apology as she climbed the French stairs to her room. And she ended the letter with a single question. 'Who does he love?' She glanced at the clock, noticing the time - 2 am in the morning.

Lucy walked around her room in agitation as the question bounced around in her head. She wanted so badly for there to be a knock on the door and for her to be able to run down and open it to see him. She wanted those first words over his soft lips to be,

"I was enchanted to meet you." Maybe she had been reading too many romance novels, and she knew Natsu wasn't really the romantic type, but the image simply wouldn't disappear from her head, and she was left with embarrassed steam coming from her head. He had said he he'd come back, but would he really? With a sigh she climbed into her bed and closed her eyes to dream of that very night.

It was the second night and images of the glittering night still appeared in her mind, no matter how much she tried to shake them out. But all she could do was smile, picking up one her prized doll 'Michelle' and dancing around the room with her clutched to her chest. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the image of laughing black eyes and cherry blossom hair enough to rival the pink of her blushes out of her head, no matter how many books she buried herself in.

She wished she had said it that very first night before they had gone their separate ways. That she was enchanted to meet him. That she would miss him when he left. And all she could do was hope that the story had not yet ended, judging by the countless times images of him uttering her name entered her mind, and his name entered hers. "I'll come back for you," he had said. And she just hoped he didn't break that promise.

She was horrified to think that maybe one of the girls he had spoken of… Mira, Erza, maybe even the sweet Lisanna he had mentioned, he might have romantic feeling for. And though she was horrified at herself for thinking of it, she couldn't stop. She wrote it in letters to her mother, which always helped to cease intrusive thoughts that clouded her mind. But she knew he was too dense to even think of I judging from the way he spoke of them. And she smiled to herself all the same as she stared out the window at the fading sun. Remembering that night.

"I was enchanted to meet you," she said to herself, brushing her hair on the window sill. The window was open and the warm, summer air was blowing in. She smiled gently to herself as she stared at the glittering stars and not for the first time in the past three days, thought only of him. Her dreams had been plagued with their adventures and her meeting of his friends. And she was confident it would happen someday.
She almost fell off her window chair when a voice piped up.

"I was enchanted to meet you too," said a familiar voice with amusement. She screamed and thanked the constellations that her room was basically sound proof. She recognised the voice the second the scream ripped itself from her throat. A hand appeared on her window sill and with a groan, a figure pulled itself up and through the open window. She stood there in shock as the cherry blossom haired boy stood and offered her a mischievous smirk.

"I told ya I'd be back for ya didn't I?" he chuckled in amusement.

"That doesn't mean you have to climb through my window, perv!" she yelled, smacking him with a pillow. But despite her words, happy tears streaked down her face and she laughed. "I didn't think you'd come," she admitted, her voice quivering with emotion. How did you even get up here?"

He shrugged. "I climbed," he said with a chuckle, seeing her joyful tears. "Hurry up, let's go," he said, impatiently dragging her to the window. She pulled her arm back and looked at him and he turned to her with a look of concern.

"What is it?" he asked gently.
"I.…" she paused, looking around the room.

"I ain't just gonna leave you here," he said gruffly, and she looked up to see his look of sheer determination. Her mouth hardened into a straight line and she gave a strong nod. "Hold on a sec."

She grabbed her saving from her few piggy banks and her credit card also before throwing some clothes in her back and writing a note so her father wouldn't think she had died. Then, she climbed, with Natsu, out the open arched window into the gardens below. And just before she left, she gave the mansion one long, sad look and continued on her way.

She fingered the Heartfilia ring on her finger and looked up to the happy man next to her. She gulped and stared a head.

"…Natsu?"

"… Yeah Lucy?"

"I'm glad I met you."

"….. Me too Lucy. Me too."

I was enchanted to meet you.