Hi Everybody,

This is my first fanfic, and I'm really nervous. So please review and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, only Mashima- Sensei does.

A lone girl sat crying in front of her Mother's grave. That's all she seemed to do since her mother's death one month ago.

"Why did you have to leave me, Mama? Why couldn't you have stayed?" She said in between sobs, "Why does Papa have to be so mean to…"

BOOM!

She was cut off by an explosion behind her. When she turned around, she saw a huge red dragon! The dragon spewed fire everywhere, and its eyes were full of malice.

The girl couldn't move. She could barely breathe through the terror that consumed her. All she could do was stare at the enormous beast in front of her.

When she was finally able to look away from the dragon, she saw the all of the servants who worked for her family running and screaming at the top of their lungs. They were all in front of the mansion trying to escape towards the town.

At that moment she noticed two things about what was happening. The first being that the closest town to the mansion was on the other side of the dragon, so for her to be able to get to where everyone else was, she would have to face the dragon. And second thing being that the dragon wasn't attacking the mansion or the people, simply scaring everyone so that they would leave.

When everyone had finally broken away, and ran towards the town, the dragon seemed to calm down. His eyes lost the hostility in them, and he was no longer breathing fire.

But then the dragon seemed to realize that he was being watched, and he turned to look at the little girl huddled near the grave.

"P-please, you can have anything you want in the house... just don't touch Mama's grave!" She said with more conviction towards the end.

The dragon looked taken aback by her request once he realized what she said. His eyes seemed loving and fatherly when he asked, "Why does that grave mean more to you than the house?"

At first, she was startled at the fact that the ferocious beast in front of her could speak, not just growl and roar, but then she realized that he was looking at her in the way that she wished her own father would. And right then and there the once seemingly terrifying beast had unlocked everything that she had kept hidden from everyone around her. Like the tears flowing down her cheeks like a waterfall, her emotions were let out as well, "Mama was my only friend, and now that she's not here, I'm all alone. Everyday's unbearable; everything reminds me of her. Papa hardly looks at me or talks to me and when he does its all mean. It's almost as if he blames me for her death!" At that point she was crying so hard she could barely speak through her sobs, but she finished softly with, "There's no one left that cares about me anymore."

The dragon felt his heart break at her words. The girl couldn't have been more than 10 years old, yet she she beaten down by the unfair logic of the world. She had lost her childlike innocence from the tragedy around her. And he decided that he was going to help her regain her childlike nature. He wanted to see what she looked like when she smiled. When her sobs quieted down into hiccups, he said, "You know, I have a son named Natsu, and he's probably one of the biggest idiots you could ever find."

She was distracted from her mother's death when the dragon started talking. She looked up at him because she was confused about what he suddenly started talking about, "Is he a dragon?"

The dragon just chuckled, "No, he's a human just like you, and probably around your age. He's really dumb and stubborn. One time Natsu insisted that he could take down a giant fish all by himself, the fish was probably 10 times bigger than Natsu was, and he would've gotten himself eaten alive if I didn't save him!"

The girl started to giggle, "How stupid is he? Why did he think he could beat it?"

The dragon decided that the girl looked much cuter when she smiled, " You're right Natsu is very stupid. He doesn't even know how to read."

The girl gasped then glared when he said this, "What do you mean he can't read? I learned how to read when I was 4 years old. And now I can read books at an adult level!" She said impressed with herself.

"Well as a dragon I never really saw the point in learning how to read in the human language, so if I can't teach Natsu how to read then no one is around to teach him." He felt very awkward under the girls glare.

"That's no excuse! Everyone should learn how to read." She then remember what they were originally talking about, "Even if he doesn't know how to read, it still doesn't make sense how he would be dumb enough to battle that enormous fish." She was very curious as to why this boy was so dumb.

"Well, Natsu is a Dragon Slayer which means he can use Fire Dragon Slaying Magic the human form of the kind of magic that I use. So he thought that with his magic he would be able to defeat it." He realizes the girls eyes started to shine when he mentioned magic. "Do you know anything about magic?"

The girl's smile seemed to stretch across half of her face when she spoke about magic. "Yes, Mama was a Celestial Mage, and she always used to tell me stories all about her adventures! Do you have any stories you could tell me?" She looked up at him with the best puppy dog face she could muster.

The dragon realized his plan was working. "Yes, I have lots of stories. The funnier ones all have to do with Natsu though." The girl seemed so happy at that moment, and she didn't seem scared of the fact that he was a dragon.

The girl thought that this was the best present she could ever be given, stories about MAGIC from a DRAGON! "Would you please tell me some? I would love to hear all about it."

Just as he was about to start talking he realized that too much time had passed since everyone else had fled the mansion. Sooner or later they would probably come back looked for the girl they left behind. "I would love to tell you them, but sooner or later all the people who left earlier will come back, and I need to leave before that happens."

At that moment, it was like she had fallen back into the darkness that had surrounded her since her mother's death. "You have to leave?" She said quietly.

The dragon cursed himself. Just as he was getting the light back into her eyes; they clouded over again. "Yeah, but I could come back and tell you them, but I won't be able to meet you out in the open like this. I attract way too much attention."

The girl brightened up at the thought, "You promise you'll come back?"

"I promise. I never break promises with my friends."

An unreadable expressions crossed her face, "Friends?"

"You said earlier that your mother was your only friend, so I thought you'd like another one," he told her with a grin.

She started to cry after he said that.

"I'm sorry, if you don't want to be friends that's ok, I just thought.." He stopped when she started shaking her head.

"No, it's not that. It's just that I've waited so long for someone to call me there friend. I'd be happy to call you my friend!" She had tears streaming down her face, but at the same time she had the brightest smile on. "And when you come back we can meet at the picnic table over there," she said pointing behind the grave. "It's a nice big clearing surrounded by trees, and is far enough away from the mansion that no one would notice."

"Ok, in one week at noon, I'll meet you there." And with that he flapped his wings and took off into the sky.

"Bye... Wait… What's your name?" The girl screamed up to the flying dragon.

When he heard her, he flew down lower, "I'm the Fire Dragon Igneel, and you are?"

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia!" She declared proudly.

"Well then, Lucy Heartfilia, I'll see you in a week!" Once again Igneel flew towards his home and son.

"BYE IGNEEL! SEE YOU SOON!" Lucy called after her newly made friend. For the first time since her mother's death one month ago, Lucy felt as if light and happiness had come back into her life.

Please review and tell me what you thought of my first fanfic!

NekoMimiLover