AN: I was alerted that I didn't put my disclaimer here. Herp derp~ whoops. I forget this isn't the first place I post my stuff so my Authors Notes get lost sometimes. This fic is based off the TV series by the same name, Once Upon a Time. So it will follow the same format as the show itself does. It may not follow the same plot in the same ways, I like deconstructing things sometimes and Lucy is very different from Emma.

For future references, I will put a disclaimer in my profile so I don't irritate anyone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time there was a beautiful goddess, with hair spun from the stars. The sun itself shone in her eyes, and her smile was silvery like the moon reflecting off a dark lake. So gorgeous was she, it was said that a single favorable smile from her could capture the hearts of mortal men from its brilliance alone. Furthermore, rumors of the goddess' kindness spread far and wide through every corner of the mortal kingdom. Her name was Layla, Queen of the Stars and Ruler of Worlds.

Suitors of all kinds flooded against the gates of the celestial realm. They flocked to the gates in hope they would be granted admittance to so much as look upon the goddess' beauty. Not all their actions were pure. Some men were overcome by lust, others by greed, but what drew the darkness of mortals hearts to her more often than anything else, was power.

The realm of the stars connected all worlds together. Just as water flowed through each world, nourishing life on the surface, the stars did much the same. It was a single unifying factor, a portal to all the worlds. To have such power at ones fingertips, any human could become a god.

So Layla breathed life into thirteen of her favored stars. The twelve zodiacs rose from the heavens, while the thirteenth star took to the ground, living among the mortals. This one was Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer. Her mission was to gather knowledge on the humans. Those that remained stood by Layla's side as her twelve guardians.

Together they shielded her from those who would do her harm, and in thanks, she gave them the ability to dictate who was worthy of holding her throne. For a time they were happy together, spirits and goddess, living above the world in the stars.

Until one day Layla fell in love.

The man was a poor merchant with a shrewd sense of humor, a kind heart, and a loving nature. He was clever, and Layla knew one day he would find success for himself. His kind hearted and driven nature was more than indication for her to deem him worthy of gracing him with her time.

Despite his relation to her, the man never once asked for anything from her. He was content to simply exist in her presence, and she his.

This caused worried murmuring among her spirits. They were concerned for her safety, and for good reason. Outside of the celestial realm, Layla was left in a weakened state. They could not easily defend her outside of her kingdom in the sky. It was also a fear of theirs that one day those wishing to do her harm would take advantage of her relationship to the mortal man.

First Leo, the leader of the Zodiac, pleaded with his mistress to be careful; she soothed a hand through his hair to reassure the mighty lion. Then the others followed with warnings and concerns of their own. All of which landed on the ears of the love struck goddess. She understood what they said, why they said it, and for what reason. But true love was never easy, and her heart had decided on what she wanted long before her rational mind could catch up.

The talks ended with Aquarius. Known as the most abrasive of Layla's spirits, she had the power to turn entire tides of oceans down onto those she deemed unworthy of her precious time or space. She was outspoken and she argued with Layla about how mortals could only lead her astray.

But Layla was not angry with Aquarius. She embraced the water spirit and told her one day she would know the love she felt.

So together Layla and her mortal married with the stars as witness. It was said the night sky glittered like diamonds against a velvet blanket that day. Together, they conceived a child. A little girl who would rule over the stars when Layla stepped down from her throne.

But as the goddess grew heavy with pregnancy, visions of the future came to her. Her divine sight troubled her. Many of the visions were disjointed and impossible for her to discern. Each time she delved into the future, its path became more and more uncertain until a gray fog too thick to see through settled over it.

Only one thing was certain. A terrible battle fast approached, between herself an evil queen. It would be marked upon the day of her daughter's birth when the goddess would be at her weakest. Bringing life, even divine, into the world would take a large toll on both Layla's magic and strength.

She would be helpless against the Evil Queen. The woman who approached from beyond the land of Tully, past the guild of Lamia Scale, and into the kingdom of Sabertooth.

There the Queen with dominion over Space would come for her.

So the goddess slaved over her plan to save her family and keep her kingdom safe. She held faith in her loyal stars, those that would one day pick the true leader of her throne. Faithful in her hope, Layla continued to make sense of the fog over her daughter's future.

A dragon.

Fire.

A never-ending adventure.

Whether that adventure brought her daughter joy or sorrow, Layla put all her faith in the child growing in her stomach. She made her decision.

So on the day Layla was to deliver her child; she readied a spell to take both her husband and daughter to a place where the Evil Queen and all of her magic could never hope to touch them.

Layla plucked the star from the heavens, the silver, glittery gem a brilliant beam between her fingers. It was a bustling place, one devoid of magic aside from the scant advances on it. But the world was hearty in other areas, one her daughter could learn many skills.

More important than anything else, her family would be free from the wrath of their enemies.

What went unknown to Layla were forces in the works not even she could control. When the day came, she cast her family away to the Land Without Magic in the hopes they could lead a normal life.

Layla died at the hands of the Evil Queen, not knowing her enemy had a way of following.

Nor that she would follow at the cost of an entire world.

-Thirty Years Later-

On a scale between one to totally fucked, Lucy was scoring somewhere along the lines of 'bend me over.'

Maybe it was just her optimistic outlook on life, but lucy didn't see how her day could get any worse. Her car decided to die in one of the most explosive and dramatic ways the reporter had ever seen. Really, the engine exploded. That wasn't a joke. One moment she had been leaving an old looking diner, a hot chocolate in one hand and her stack of interviews she still had to transcribe in the other — the next her car went boom.

Boom in a big way.

Now lucy was standing in shock, her charred papers floating down around her in ashy confetti. The heat coming from her car was almost overwhelming long after the firefighters came to put it out. It took a few times, but she gave her account on what happened to the fire marshal and grinning lieutenant.

She only stopped in town for a quick bite to eat before hitting the road again. She was supposed to be in New York by morning for her annual meeting with her father. This town was so out of the way, it didn't show up on GPS or any map. It was called Fiore, and it had a quaint small town vibe to it. So she had decided to stop and take a break.

She wasn't looking forward to meeting up with Jude again after being away from home for so long. She left the comfortable life he offered behind her a long time ago. The money she got freelancing as a journalist was not substantial, but every dime she had was one she earned.

Perhaps this was her punishment for putting off meeting with her dad.

Miserable and cold, Lucy watched as the department roped off the smoldering shell of her beloved car. They were arranging to have it towed by the local mechanic, a foul mouthed man with silver piercings jammed in several confusing surfaces on his face. He was a little rude when he gruffly dragged the behind him. The uncomplimentary thought that he had fallen face first in a tackle box floated to her mind before she dismissed it. What was she, five?

A shiver ran up her spine, reminding her that the hot chocolate she bought was ice cold now. Her car had picked the perfect time to implode since winter was just around the corner. It was lucky the diner had an inn around back because she was going to be stuck here for a while until she recovered a new mode of transportation.

A blanket fell over her shoulders.

Blinking, Lucy's fingers caught it around the hem. Her head turned to meet the smiling face of the lieutenant she spoke to earlier. At the confused look in her eyes, the man leaned against the picket fence lucy had taken to standing next.

"You looked cold, don't worry. We've got dozens more blankets in the engine," he nodded to the red vehicle parked nearby.

The gesture was met with gratitude and lucy curled the blanket around her shoulders. She breathed out through her nose, eyes trailing over the firefighter who had come to her 'rescue.' Handsome was an appropriate word for him. He had dark slanted eyes, tanned skin and a smile that could break clouds on the gloomiest day. The oddest thing about him had to be the color of his hair. Pink.

Seeing the direction Lucy's eyes took, the man snorted and pulled a dirty glove through his hair.

"Ah, I knew I should have left the hood and helmet on," He grinned at her, "It's natural. Don't ask how, must be something in the water. We've got a few weird colored heads of hair around here and they're all natural"

Lucy's eyes fastened to the patch on the heavy jacket he wore. Dragneel, "Well thanks for the lesson lieutenant Dragneel, and the blanket."

She watched the man cringe back at the formal title. As if it wounded him in some way. Lucy hid a smile at the way he clutched at his chest. Casual observation told her he was a rule breaker. His hair was wild and he was talking to her like a casual friend. It was like he had no spatial awareness of the arson unit giving her suspicious glares.

The man's jacket was hanging open, giving her a free view of the dark navy shirt and suspenders connecting his bunker gear together. Considering this was still an active scene, Lucy found herself wondering if a clerical error gave him his rank.

"Call me Natsu," he said with a gleaming smile.

Lucy's eyes fell on that sunny grin, but almost fell out of her head when she saw how sharp his teeth were. Long canines — no, fangs — shimmered in the dull light like razors. In her time reporting, Lucy had seen a number of crazies. People who filed their teeth to sharp points, others who altered their body to represent weird tastes. Every time she saw people experiment with themselves, the changes looked out of place or artificial.

Natsu's fangs looked everything but.

They looked strong, with no strange gapes between his teeth from filing. No, they looked natural, as if they were meant to puncture through skin and flesh. It seemed impossible, but was he born with pink hair and unusual fangs? Farfetched to be sure, but Lucy could not see another theory behind it.

Implants?

Dentures?

She opened her mouth to ask him about his weird teeth, the reporter in her buzzing with curiosity. Mysteries. They were her bread and butter. It was what she lived and breathed for, solving curious oddities most people glanced over.

Unfortunately, Natsu's attention turned away from her and towards the gathering crowd, " 'scuse me! Duty calls."

He jogged over towards the line, his gear bouncing along with his movements. It was like a switch flipped in the space it took for him to walk over. He was all confidence and strategy, giving the two rookies under him commands to keep the line at bay. Lucy was so focused on him, she didn't notice the small hand tugging at her skirt at first.

"They call him the Salamander."

A blue haired boy with a green sweatshirt and backpack stood beside her. His eyes were large and black, fathomless like Natsu's. He couldn't have been older than ten and Lucy searched the crowd for his parents. Seeing no worried faces, Lucy decided to talk to the boy until someone came for him. It wasn't like she was doing anything productive anyway, and the only one who bothered to talk to her was in the middle of doing his job.

"Who?" Lucy asked.

The boy shifted his pack on his shoulders and pointed out the subject of her thoughts, "Natsu. They call him the Salamander because he understands fires so well."

Lucy supposed that answered her question why he was lieutenant.

"I see," Lucy smiled at him, and shrugged off the blanket from her shoulders to offer the boy. He looked at it with those dark eyes and smiled, taking it and dragging it around himself like a burrito, "what's your name? I'm Lucy."

"I'm Happy!" He proclaimed with such pride it took her aback. Or maybe it was because the name was so weird.

"That's a strange thing to be called," Lucy smiled at him. The boy's eyes narrowed, but the sly mischief she saw there spoke of nothing good.

"You're the weirdo here," Happy grinned. It almost sounded like a purr escaped his throat, but that was impossible. The way he said that though, there was an edge to his voice. Almost a warning.

He tugged her skirt through the blanket this time, "They call him the Salamander for another reason though, no one can remember."

She waited for him to continue, ignoring the bite of the cold coming from all around. Lucy hoped she would be done waiting soon and the boy's parents would show up. She couldn't wait to get a room at Granny's and pretend her car hadn't pressed the self-destruct button on itself. Natsu was running around, jacket flapping open wide, his radio tangling around his shoulders. He looked so disorganized Lucy couldn't help but laugh.

The smile slipped off her face at her companion's next words. They were spoken in a conspiratorial whisper, so low Lucy had to lean way in to even make them out. Happy breathed out, softer than should have been possible.

"Natsu is a dragon."

Lucy blinked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. But as a reporter, she was professional enough not to scoff outright at a ten year old calling a firefighter a dragon.

Because really? That was a little cute.

Happy did not seem to find it amusing in the least, "You're not ready to know the truth yet."

He bit his bottom lip and curled against Lucy's leg. His dark eyes were locked on Natsu, "But you will… Operation Exceed is a go!"

It seemed the boy needed a little bit of hope in his life. For whatever his reason, it was important to Happy. Lucy couldn't say no to anything he said.

"Will you join?"

Lucy didn't know why this boy wanted her of all people to join. She wasn't that special, but she could hardly resist nodding her consent. It was almost worth watching Happy swirl around her in an excited ball of excitement. The boy used the blanket as a pair of wings, flapping his arms with enthusiasm.

It was hard to explain, but the feeling she got when she nodded her consent to join him with his little project would not go away. The storm was just at the horizon, and Lucy had no idea how badly she would need that blanket from Happy.

Pandora's box had been opened by her small consent.