Chapter one
Silence hung heavily in the air, something that both thrilled and annoyed the midnight haired woman, the stillness only ever broken by the rustling of shuffling papers or one of the old men present clearing their throat, just for the sake of being able to speak without hacking later on in the meeting. After only a few more moments of this, the young woman rested the swell of her hip against the left arm of the chair that the youngest member of the council occupied and a tiny marble rolled out of the sleeve of her left arm. The sphere rolled rather noisily around the granite table, which was so obnoxiously large that it took nearly a minute for the leisurely crystal to make its way back in front of the woman, where it promptly shattered, pieces falling loudly to the tabletop. All eyes seemed to snap up at this, an amused smirk playing on the woman's features as she mouthed the well practiced spell and tightened her hand into a fist, the stone melding together once more to continue around its track, to the annoyance of one of the men across the table from her. "Ultear!" he snapped, slamming the papers he was reading down on the table, hoping to disrupt the marble's course. His thin, peanut colored eyebrow ticked in annoyance as the sphere merely danced around the pages, his inky eyes catching the slight twitch of the younger mage's fingers as the stone weaved around the other reports on the table with impossible accuracy. "Stop playing around during the meeting!"
With a snap of her fingers, the ball was flying through the air, orbiting around the woman instead of circling the table, an exaggerated pout forming on her plump lips as she leaned more heavily on the youngest man's chair. "But I'm bored," she breathed out in a voice like satin, smooth despite the fruity undertones. She flicked her wrist, the sphere rolling across the cobalt haired man's shoulders at a leisurely pace, turning his dull mocha eyes towards her as her own obsidian eyes seemed to glow, the garnent flakes all the more apparent in the flickering candlelight. "Aren't you bored as well, Siegrain-sama?" His dark eyes seemed to light up at her playful tone, the woman pushing herself back to her slippered feet at the sight of his almost twisted delight, something she was sure every other council member would brush off as the effects of the mahogany tattoo curling along the right half of his face.
"Yeah," he agreed, head turning forward with a devious expression, "I'm bored, too." He let out a sniggering breath as Ultear stalked threateningly behind his chair, like a predator waiting for the opportune moment to pounce on its prey, the crystal marble never once faltering as it created a new orbit around both of the youngest council members. "I hope someone will cause some kinda trouble."
"Watch your mouth!" an elderly man snapped furiously, the everpresent bat ornament on his head bobbing as he slammed his hands on the table. "How could these brats become council members?!" He was positively fuming, not even his well manicured mustache and the long beard hiding his grim expression, both of his shaded eyes open and glaring despite his preference to keep one eye closed, usually the one closest to light, due to his shadow based magic.
"'Cause we have a lot of magic power, old man," Siegrain hummed out almost condescendingly, obviously attempting to goad the man on. He was smirking, knowing full well by the quickening of the marble's orbiting that Ultear was preparing her ever dangerous magic to defend him, if need be, as the man began a shout while shoving his chair behind him.
A loud booming silenced the room once more, the marble disappearing into the folds of Ultear's dress as the tassels on the end of the chairman's staff chimed together inaudibly. "Silence, both of you," an imposing man with a pewter grey beard called out, his voice as piercing as his glare. "The magical world is always filled with many problems, but we especially want to take care of the idiots of Fairy Tail."
Through the haze of nausea and dizziness, the teenager was nearly positive that he could smell the salty sting of the sea, though the idea seemed unlikely as he slumped back against the wooden wall of the train and struggled to even out his gasped breaths. Sweat had long since beaded on his clammy skin, drenching the hem of his coat and the roots of his spiked punch hair, and his stomach gave another fluttering roll as the last of the passengers exited the train, causing the entire car to rock. After a couple minutes, a rather timid looking man approached him hesitantly, something he could hear over the ringing in his sensitive ears and see through his enhanced vision, which was currently curling around in bizarre ways. "Excuse me, sir?" a reedy voice stuttered out, the conductor anxiously fiddling with his hat. "Are you okay?" Opening his mouth to reply, he merely gagged for a moment as a passing worker bounced the cart to the tune he was humming, sparing only a pitying glance towards the boy.
"Aye," his cerulean furred companion cheered out instead, waving off the curious eyes as the feline glanced from the boy slumped against the wall to the worried crew. "This happens all the time. He just needs a minute to recover." Giving a hesitant nod, the conductor moved out onto the train's platform, calling for Akane passengers to board the train.
"Impossible," the male struggled to gasp out as he dry heaved. "I will never ride a train again!"
Ignoring his usual antics, the cat began his towards the door that passengers had finally stopped flooding through, the quaking leaving the rosy haired boy to lean out of the window and vomit. "If the memo we got is correct, then Salamander should be in this town," he chirped out jovially, glancing back to see the boy draped pitifully over the sill of the window. "C'mon, Natsu. Let's go!"
"Let me rest for a while," he gasped out around shuddering breaths, the feline bobbing a shrug and making it on onto the platform as he muttered his assent. Not a moment after he turned back around, the train began rolling once more, the rosy haired boy screaming for help from his cerulean companion as the device picked up speed and disappeared from sight.
A certain pang of longing filled her chest as she watched the bystanders go about their days, a young couple clasping hands and strolling down the cobblestone street, a father plucking his young daughter off of the ground and settling her on his shoulders when the uneven pathway nearly made her fall, the mother giggling as the infant in her arms cooed incomprehensibly. Taking a deep breath and praying that her well practiced smile would hide the bitterness in her smoked topaz colored eyes, she turned the round orbs to the shop she was standing in front of once more. Magic Store 3ZX3, a council funded magic shop that held the same average trinkets as every other government run magic shop, and yet she had gone nearly three months without any new magical trinkets, not since that color magic came out and she somehow got tricked into purchasing it with the promise that her outfit would look lovely in orange- it didn't. Rolling her shoulders back in a show of confidence, she strode into the tiny store, which was cramped and cluttered with dust lining each shelf and a fossil of an old man manning the counter. "Hello," he croaked out slowly, a fatigued grin crossing his dry lips. "Welcome to Hargeon's magic store. Is there anything I can help you with, missy?"
"There's only one magic shop in this town?" the golden haired teenager asked without really thinking it over, sure that any other store would surpass this broom closet that was desperately in need of a good cleaning and organizing.
"Well, yes," the elderly man began, his tremulous voice taking longer to get out. "This town is more prosperous in fishing than magic to begin with. In fact, only less than ten percent of the townspeople can use magic, so this store is mainly targeting travelling mages." She didn't want to be any ruder than she had been already, sure that the etiquette teacher she had grown up with would have a heart attack if she had just seen the blonde- though that could be said about most of the people she grew up with, if she were being honest- so she turned around after giving a smile of acknowledgement to the old man's words, searching the shelves for anything worthwhile. "Please look around for anything you might like, missy. We have some new items, too." She winced slightly, knowing that he was about to pull out that damned booklet that she wanted to burn everyday after that whole orange outfit fiasco, so she settled in to translating the foreign titles lining the shelves. "This 'color's magic is probably the most popular one among girls. Depending on your daily mood, you can change the color of your outfit, like this." He proceeded to flip through the flimsy book, finding a color he liked and tapping it while shouting out its name, a plume of smoke hiding the shifting colors from prying eyes.
"I'm afraid I already own one," she apologized, shoving a couple foreign tomes into the crook of her elbow and quickly moving away from the books, knowing that she would spend the rest of her jewel here and be stuck doing jobs in a merchant guild if she stuck around. "I'm actually looking for some gate keys, preferably stronger ones."
His dark eyes flickered to her hip, where a ring of silver and gold keys, with decorative grips and customized teeth that couldn't possibly open a door, hanging from her belt. "Gate keys, huh? Now that's not very common," he said, pointing her towards the display case in the middle of the shop regardless. She sent him a grateful smile, moving towards the glass with purpose, and he found himself smiling slightly, glad that there was still some youth who could pull together some manners for a complete stranger, like him.
"Canis minor!" she suddenly gasped out, nearly dropping the thick books in her arms. She reached forward slowly, obviously not purchasing her first key seeing as she knew how to work the clear lacrima, and he felt his eyebrows furrow slightly when she allowed the crystal to swallow her wrist.
"That's not very strong at all."
She pulled her hand back, thumb smoothing lovingly against the key's ivory embellishment. "That's alright. I've been looking everywhere for it," she breathed out, face filled with pure joy. "How much would this come out to?"
"Thirty-thousand jewels," he said with a curt nod of his head, the close proximity giving the blonde the privilege of making out his boarish features, from snout to rosy skin.
"I wonder how much it is," she hurried out, hoping for a moment that it was merely the shock of his features hiking up the price. When he repeated the number, however, she allowed a sultry smile to come onto her lips, something she despised doing and loathed afterwards, when she felt prideful of her discounts and the praises she got from the male population. "I wonder how much it's really worth, dandy mister." She pressed the books against the underside of her breast, keys chiming as she shifted her hips, and her cleavage became all too apparent in her lowly zipped vest.
Slender arms curled around her waist, right hand switching out the freshly bought silver key for another one, this one housing a picture of a slitted eye on the ivory embellishment, the teenager whispering out her quick chant of, "Open gate of the northern dragon, Draco." Feeling the familiar weight settling on her shoulders, hidden beneath her golden hair and the shadows it casted, she clipped her key back into its spot on the bronze ring. "I can't believe it, Nyra." Icy scales brushed comfortingly along the side of her throat, helping her to fight away the humiliated and degrading thoughts that began circulating in her head. "I shamed myself for a measly three thousand jewel discount. That old geezer thought that my sex appeal was only worth three thousand jewels." She pursed her lips into a thin line, fighting away the tears that threatened to spill, reminding herself that they would get her nowhere good, and she quickly jumped back when a sudden pair of young women nearly knocked into her in their rush to join a growing crowd. "I wonder what's going on over there."
"A famous mage is in town!" a shrill voice squealed out from behind her, the blonde jumping to the side quickly to avoid the newest wave of fangirls stampeding towards the group. "It's Salamander-sama!"
"Salamander," the blonde gasped, topaz eyes lighting up like jewels as she spoke hurriedly to her companion. "He's a famous fire mage who can control fire with a magic that can't be bought in store! I've heard so much about him while I've been traveling, Nyra, and if he's in town, I can finally see what all the hype is about!" She took three steps towards the group before grimacing at the crowd, a spike of anxiety digging itself deeply into her heart, but she took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that everything would be fine, because what did it matter if it was a condensed population or bystanders on the street? "He's popular." She let out another shuddering breath, smiling softly as a slender tail brushed soothingly against her collarbone before dipping back into the shadows. "You're right, Nyra. Just a peek. It couldn't hurt."
An upturned nose wrinkled slightly, biting back a disgusted snarl as some local teenage boy passed by him, reeking of sweat and rotten foods, and the punch haired man quickened his steps slightly, determined to get out of the port town as quickly as possible because, despite liking fish, he didn't like the scent wafting off of the foreigners who had just come to port looking for a life in Fiore. "I can't believe you ended up riding the train twice, Natsu," a small voice said to his right, earning a quick glance from the teenager before his onyx eyes returned to the cobblestone pathway his leather soled shoes were scuffing against. "You're so bad with transportation." Fighting to reign in an angered snarl, he liked the feline far too much to scare him off after six years of persistent attempts at friendship, the man clicked his tongue irritably.
"I'm hungry," he declared apathetically, longing for the food he smelled from within the dinner up at the corner. Inky eyes turned up to him for a moment, a sympathetic look crossing his face that could only mean one thing.
"We don't have any money," the cat told him softly. He couldn't blame the feline for that, they had used up the jewels they had packed away for food on his tickets to and from Akane Beach. Silence stretched between them for a while, the rosy haired male following the snippets of conversations he overheard to navigate towards their goal, a moldy hay bale in the alley they were passing making his stomach roll nauseatingly and reaffirming his desire to leave. "Hey, Natsu, do you think they meant Igneel when they said Salamander, too? I mean, I can only think of Igneel when I hear Salamander." He hummed, the cat watching his expression intently, and it unnerved him slightly. He had worked hard to hide his emotions and thoughts from those around him, and yet this child of a magic cat could see though every barrier within seconds. "We finally found him!"
"Thanks, Haps," he said lowly, smoky voice affectionate as his eyes softened. "I feel a little better now."
"Aye, sir!" the cat chirped out, pleased with the rare praise. "And look! Speak of the devil!" They were staring ahead, a group of screaming, squealing, fainting women sitting in between the pair and their objective. "Let's go!"
"Just a glance," she reminded herself, ducking around a flailing arm and whimpering when someone's elbow rammed into her side. She winced at what would likely be a new bruise before hurrying through the crowd, earning a collection of new bruises that would stain her pale skin for the next week at least, and the blonde had to wonder which deity she had insulted to be so abused just trying to catch a glimpse at her idol. Well, perhaps idol was a stretch, but the stories of his magic power and his raw determination had kept her going through the struggles of being an independent mage. When she finally broke through the crowd, she felt herself flush in embarrassment when the girls around her protested loudly at her interruption, though she forced her eyes up to see the admiral haired man with bronze skin and enchanting butterscotch eyes. He was waving at the crowd, blowing kisses and winks at the awestruck girls, and the blonde felt her heart skip a rather long beat as she studied his angular features.
"I'm had," the man chuckled out, brushing his thumb against the cheek of a girl across the circle from the blonde. "I can't continue like this." All she could think was how attractive his voice was, thick and flowing like honey with a cool undertone that made her knees quiver. He shot her a confident smirk, the look making the teenager whine in a kind of longing she didn't understand, though talons dug sharply into the skin of her shoulders, snapping her back to her right mind as she tried to work through the fog of emotions. She was analyzing everything, the words flowing through her head making her dizzy as she tried to sort them out, and yet she found the mix of languages describing different parts of this Salamander was too thick for her to break through.
"Charm," a silken voice purred in her ear, the familiar, if not unusual, voice of her companion spirit snapping her back to her senses in time to look at the man's fingers. Gold, silver, bronze, and an assortment of gems glittered, though the markings were clear as day; a ring for the attraction charm, more commonly known as charm, and a sleeping spell. Both of which were outlawed.
The once seductive look was now something out of a nightmare, horrifying and perverse, and she wanted nothing more than to sink back into the crowd and melt away from sight. "Igneel!" a young boy shouted somewhere in the crowd, coming front in front of the girl. "Igneel!" Salamander was almost in front of her now, heart fluttering like a caged bird, and she was beginning to feel cornered by this man and his mob of hussies. "Igneel!" All eyes turned to the shout, watching as a cerulean furred cat appeared, dancing over on his two hind legs, with a rather tall man following after him, a scowl taking over his defined features when his onyx eyes landed on the dark haired man steps in front of the blonde. "Who are you?"
It was quite a shock to see the feline talk, something that none of the charmed girls seemed to care about as they looked at the offended look on Salamander's face, something that was replaced rather quickly with a confident smirk and a flourished hand. "Perhaps you know me as Salamander," he said, voice honeyed and the danger all the more apparent to the celestial mage trying, once more, to slink back into the crowd and lose the eyes that seemed to snap back to her every few seconds. The cat heaved out a sigh, as if he was supposed to portray his partner's emotions, and turned to disappear between legs.
"C'mon, Natsu, this was just a waste of time," he whispered out, small voice quivering in disappointment, and the blonde's heart ached for him, leading her a grand two steps towards them before someone snatched him up by the scrap of his neck.
"Hey, you're so rude! Salamander-sama is a great mage!" she yelled in the animal's face, others around her joining, and the golden haired teenager hurried her steps to intervene, only for the rosy haired male to snatch up the cat and place him in his spiky locks, glaring heatedly towards the group who shrunk back out of self interest more than remorse.
"That's enough, girls," a disgustingly familiar voice cooed out in her ear, arms landing on her shoulders with surprising stability. "I'm sure he didn't mean any harm. The crowd cheered back and sang his praise, the heady atmosphere too much for the blonde to process so close to that sleep charm, trying weakly to duck out of his grasp and make a break through the crowd that had completely bypassed the man comforting his cat. A hiss sounded, the man on her squealing as he jumped back, and it took the blonde a moment to process that her guardian spirit had just bit the criminal, giving her a chance to escape the crowd. She wasted no time, diving into the masses and elbowing her way to the back in order to have a breath of fresh air, practically gasping it down in an attempt to remove the lingering haze over her mind.
"Thanks, Nyra," she panted, sinking to her knees as the chanting behind her dimmed. The dragon resting comfortably on her shoulders nudged her head to the left, showing her where the only other sane person had ended up with his cat, the celestial mage feeling her heart race at the thought of initiating conversation with such an intense person, though the low growl in her ear tore her from her musings and sent her stumbling to her feet. "Yeah, I'm on it." Dark eyes, seemingly pits of onyx until the sun highlighted the flakes of gold, ruby, and emerald and making it become a hazel color, snapped to her the moment she stopped walking, the feline in his arms to trembling, and she offered a sympathetic smile. "I saw what happened back there. I can't believe that charm could make people behave like such monsters." She moved her gaze from the cat, who had curiosity in his inky eyes, to the indifferent man and back again, strengthening her smile into something inviting, well practiced but kind all the same. "My name is Lucy. Would you care for some lunch or something?"
She hadn't been all that hungry in the first place, something she was grateful for when the cat began firing away his companion's order, so she merely ordered a vanilla latte, a treat she hadn't indulged in since Crocus, and settled down to wait for one of the strangers to strike up a conversation.
Which they didn't. "So," she began instead, earning the full attention from the other side of their booth table, "your names are Happy and Natsu?" She had overheard the pair bickering on the way over, though she had thought she was mishearing the cat's name until the man had whined it- she had to admit that his voice, all smoky and plenty attractive, was undeniably adorable when he whined. Nyra was still with her, the silver dragon having settled more comfortably around the back of her neck, and she had quickly realized that the spirit was curious about one of the strangers, not that she could blame her.
"Yeah," the feline, Happy, had answered her, watching the food as a parade of employees began to set it down like some feast. "And you're Luigi!" She bit her tongue to keep from seething, frustration overriding her social anxiety for a moment, and she took a long moment before correcting him.
"Lucy, not Luigi." After another period of silence, she let out a defeated sigh, leaning against the wall of the booth and pulling her feet up onto the cushion, a thick book and a pair of dainty reading glasses coming from her tiny bag and being nooked and nestled in their correct places. The rosy haired man watched her for a moment, topaz doe eyes skimming through the foreign text with the ease of a fluent speaker and the speed only enchanted reading glasses could manage, and he tried to catch her scent yet again to come up blank. He had thought it had been the overpowering smell of perfume from before, and even now he could write it off as the food in between them, but even on the walk over, she hadn't left any trail to follow. It was annoying him, he tended to judge a person on their smell first and foremost, so to be so blind to what smells she carried was utterly unnerving. Even her book, from Desierto if the spiced scent and scribbled text was enough to go by, had lost the overwhelming scent the moment it had entered her personal space, leading him to believe that she had some kind of enchanted item hiding her scent.
He hesitantly decided to learn more about her one way or the other, if only because the call of her golden hair was compelling him to hoard her. "You must be a pretty strong mage to break the hold of charm all by yourself," he drawled slowly, shocking her into jumping slightly on the bench. He fought back a laugh at her skittish behavior, watching her fumble to mark her page and shove both the tome and her glasses into her purse once more, the man finally noticing a small key symbol, a few shades lighter than her own porcelain skin, on the base of her thumb.
"Oh, I'm nothing special," she argued, closing up the surprisingly flat bag once more. "Actually, it was my guardian who told me that he had charms on his fingers. I'd be a goner without her." She reached up, fingers smoothing over something hidden behind her lengthy hair, before smiling almost solemnly. "I'm not even strong enough for a guild yet." She waved off the obvious questions that were gathering in his mind, startling him for a second given she had just met him and treated him almost as familiarly as Happy would, before weaving her fingers together and propping her chin on the backs of her hands. "Hey, weren't you guys looking for someone earlier?"
"Igneel," the rosy haired man answered curtly, startling the blonde once more with his smooth voice. "A dragon who adopted me when I was a kid."
"A dragon?" she inquired amusedly. "Why would the first dragon in centuries show up to Hargeon of all places? Besides, wouldn't a dragon sighting be far more broadcasted?" The pair before her looked a mixture of shock and defeated acceptance, making her amusement fall off of her face and confusion to take its place. "Neither of you thought of that?" She waved it off quickly, not wanting to upset the man after he had just started talking to her, and settled herself more comfortably into the booth. "Enough about my thoughts. Tell me a little bit about yourself."
He was silent for a long while, making the blonde shrink back and take a distracting sip of her latte, before the cat finally spoke up. "He's not every talkative," Happy assured her softly. "In fact, I've never heard him talk to a stranger so much before!" She figured it had to be a joke, he had hardly said five words to her after all, and yet she could imagine strangers straying from the intensity he seemed to radiate.
"I'll take that as a compliment, then," she said with a soft smile, finishing off her coffee and peeking outside. "I'd better get going, though. I have to pack up my hotel room. I don't think I'll be staying in Fiore much longer, after all." She laughed lightly, unaware of the panic Natsu's mind had just thrown him into at the thought of someone with gold hair disappearing to some unknown lands, and laid down a majority of her remaining jewels for the tab. "I hope this covers the meal. Please, stay as long as you'd like!" She was walking away after that, no scent to follow should he decide he liked her hair or silvery voice a little too much to forget, and he nearly sprang to his feet.
"Wait!"
"Thank you for the meal!" He had never thought he would curse Happy, let alone the manners that made up for the both of their rude habits, and yet there he was, fighting back a snarl as Lucy waved off their gratitude and disappeared through the door. "Natsu?"
"I hate my dragon instincts," he snarled before his forehead hit the table, scaring a few neighboring customers.
First and foremost, hello and thank you for reading my story. I've been writing a lot in my Google Drive and just not posting it, but this is definitely a story I've wanted to get out for a while now.
To begin, this kind of dabbles with the whole "Natsu being raised and trained by Acnologia" thing without really giving Natsu Chaos dragon slaying, because Acnologia is a dragon slayer himself and I don't know how the technicalities work for that whole thing. Instead, this is "Acnologia trained Natsu secretly on the side for like a year before Igneel found out" story, because Acnologia is a major bad guy and I don't see Igneel ever filling that space. Besides that, I get that Natsu's lovable for being able to be all bright and cheery despite his abandonment issues, but it's kind of unrealistic.
On account of Lucy, this is what I feel she would have done to stave off depression and such, so she's more book smart and learned several simple forms of magic while also becoming fluent in some languages.
Again, this is just how I think things would happen and I'm really excited to get this out there. So please, review and let me know what you think.
Thank you!
Song for this chapter: Dark Times by Ed Sheeran and the Weeknd