Hello one and all!
It's GreentreeFrog here, reporting in with a new story! I was kind of depressed at the lack of NaLu stories over 20000+ words, so when this idea literally hit me at one o'clock in the morning, I grabbed it by the tail and started writing! I'm actually quite proud of this one, I've written enough stories to fill up my harddrive, but this is one of the only ones that seemed to fly off my fingers and onto the keys.
So, as I said before, this IS a NaLu story, because I'm a sucker for that pairing... I don't mind Loke either, but that's another story. *evil grin* This story will more than likely have a lot of dialogue from the anime/manga, because of when its set... that doesn't mean I won't be changing things... oh no, I definitely will be twisting the plot, quite a lot, in fact. Almost so its unrecognisable to the original story. But it will have the main plot points that cannon has. But that won't be for a couple of chapters. I do have to get the story set up, after all.
Disclaimer: I, GreentreeFrog (who is too paranoid to reveal her own name), do not own Fairy Tail. Proof of this is the fact that Natsu and Lucy are not together yet, and Sabertooth's two dragonslayers exist... they are so freakin annoying and arrogant!
Layla Heartfilia smiled as she watched her daughter shift around impatiently. The five year old and her mother had been in the carriage for ages(when in fact, it was only an hour, but that's like, ten years to a kid Lucy's age), and the woman had not told her daughter where they were going. The woman lifted Lucy onto her lap, so the little girl could see out of the window. Many trees went past, the occasional rock or bird, but once in a while, Lucy would spot a deer or a bunny racing through the woods. She tried pointing them out excitedly to her mother but they were gone before the older woman could see them.
"Where are we going, mama?" Lucy eventually asked, tired of watching out of the window.
Layla shifted the little girl in her lap so she could talk to her face-to-face. "We're going to take you to see an old friend of mine. You're going to stay with him for a week."
Lucy's eyes widened, as she realized why her mama wanted her to pack a big bag of clothes. Suddenly, panic gripped the little girl when a thought struck her. "You're staying too, aren't you, mama?" Her high voice trembled a little, so Layla hugged the girl to her chest.
"No sweety, mama has important stuff to do," she stroked her daughter's hair when she felt the little shoulders shake beneath her hands. The carriage's pace slowed a little, and the bouncing increased, but they didn't stop. "It's alright, my friend won't hurt you. He's really nice, even though he may seem a little scary at first. Kind of like daddy." Lucy wanted to disagree with what her mama said- her daddy was scary all the time. This did not sooth her fears at all. "And besides, I hear he has a son, around your age that you can play with."
Lucy unburied her head from her mother's chest and stuck out her tongue in disgust. "A boy? But they have boy germs!" Lucy suddenly started bouncing up and down (even more than she was already thanks to the carriage and the rough road), and she looked up to her mama's face to see her laughing. Lucy huffed and crossed her arms. "It's not funny! They do! I'll probably catch some type of boy disease!" This did nothing to halt Layla's laughter. In fact, it seemed louder. The expression the blonde five-year-old was pulling was absolutely adorable.
"Oh, my dear Lucky Lucy," her mother finally said, tucking the girl's head under her chin. "You're beautiful. By the way, did I tell you that my friend has magic?" Lucy sucked in a quick breath, shaking her head as best as she could in her position. "Well, maybe if you're a good girl, he'll show you some. I think you'll like it."
"Is it like yours mama? Can he make pretty mermaids and crab-people too?" Layla giggled. Lucy was quite taken with her spirits, and the feeling was mutual. Aquarius, whenever summoned around Lucy would always rush to the little girl and spoil her rotten. Cancer would make art with her, and do her hair all nice and pretty. Capricorn (a weird, hairy-looking goat-man) had become a doting uncle, a little aloof with the girl, yet still caring for her, acting much more like a father than her own. "Can you get Ak-waw-i-us out now? She's fun!"
"Sorry Lucy, there's no water around, so I can't summon Aquarius. Besides, we're just about there." Lucy jumped out of her mother's lap and bounced up to see out the window, yet there was no house in sight. Just trees, trees, more trees… and was that a mountain? "And my friend's magic is a little different to my own, but you'll like it all the same." Layla looked out the window, and deemed they had gone as far as they could. "Driver!" She called, this time in a louder voice, "you can stop here! Lucy and I can walk the rest of the way!"
The carriage stopped, but Lucy pouted. "Walk? But that's gonna take forever!" Layla gave her daughter a stern look and Lucy relented, following her mother out of the carriage. Layla grabbed her daughter's bag from the compartment in the back and flung it over her shoulder. It wasn't heavy at all, and she had vowed to herself to never summon any of her spirits to do menial tasks like carrying objects for her.
The driver hopped off his seat and bowed to Layla. "Will you be alright from here, madam?"
"Yes, we should be fine, Toshirou." With that parting phrase, mother and daughter started their trek through the woods, towards the mountain Lucy had spotted earlier.
Lucy still hadn't seen any sign of a house, and was beginning to wonder if this was all just some big trick her mama was playing on her. Yet, she followed the older blonde, marvelling out how graceful she seemed walking through the woods, in a dress of all things. Lucy gripped her mother's hand when she heard scuttling to her left, her head whipping around to see what was making the noise. She only caught a flash of white, and assumed it was a bunny or something. But Lucy still hung onto her mother's hand.
After walking for about ten minutes straight, Lucy's feet were starting to hurt. She had never walked this much in her whole life! And it was boring too, just tree, after tree, after tree, after rock, and the occasional bush. The sounds of twigs breaking or disturbances in the bushes didn't stop after the first time and Lucy was starting to get really frightened. Did her mother know where she was leading her?
It appeared she did, because soon after the thought, they arrived at a clearing at the base of the mountain. A cave was carved into the mountain wall, so dark that Lucy couldn't see anything past the massive entrance. A stream was running down towards her left, at the edge of the clearing. Trees bordered them, acting like walls, flowers growing in patches here and there. It was beautiful, in Lucy's mind, sort of like the place fairies would live, yet it was sort of creepy, with no one there.
"Now," Layla broke the silence, "we wait."
Lucy didn't know what she was supposed to be waiting for, and it was getting hard to see, because a large, fast cloud was quickly blocking the sun. Lucy squinted her eyes and looked up to glare at the cloud when-
Wait, that wasn't a cloud.
A large shape was coming towards them, and Lucy felt herself go cold. The wind was picking up, and the little girl hid behind her mother, who wasn't moving an inch. A loud thud resounded through the once peaceful clearing, the thing that caused the noise shaking the ground with its weight.
Layla felt her face pull into a wide grin. "Igneel! It's been a while, hasn't it? Have you gotten bigger?"
There was a chuckle that sounded like stones grating against one another. Lucy screwed up her eyes and hid her head into her mother's skirt. "Layla, it has indeed been way too long. And I may have grown a bit more, yes. And who is this little one, hiding behind her mother, hmmm?"
Layla tugged her daughter out in front of her. "Lucy, say hello to Igneel-san, don't be rude."
Lucy opened her eyes to look at 'Igneel-san', what met her gaze shocked her. In front of her was a dragon, a real, live dragon. He was massive, bright red with sharp spikes lining from the top of his head down to the bottom of his tail. His wings were folded in, and he gazed on the little girl with humour in his golden eyes. A tuft of pink fluff seemed to be sitting in the middle of his back, but it was mostly concealed by a large wind. Lucy was utterly terrified, but her mother was behind her and didn't seem afraid of the dragon, so obviously he wouldn't hurt her.
"I-I'm Lucy," the five-year old stuttered, failing to meet the dragon's eyes, preferring to look at the pink tuft of fluff that seemed so out of place on the fearsome dragon. Pink wasn't a scary colour at all.
There was the chuckle again, the one of grinding stones. "I am Igneel, little Lucy, Igneel the fire dragon. It's a pleasure to meet you. We don't really get too much company out here, but I guess that's to be expected when you're living as a dragon." Layla giggled slightly, agreeing with her friend. "Oh, why are you being so quiet back there, Natsu? Don't tell me you're shy?"
Lucy faintly heard a muffled 'I'm not shy!' Then, without warning, the pink tuft of fluff on Igneel's back moved, quite quickly in fact. Before she even realised it, Lucy was face-to-face with a boy her age, with pink, spiky hair. He was only clothed from the waist down, the exception being a white scarf that looked to be made out of scales. There was a wicked grin on his face, a mischievous look in his odd, slanting onyx eyes.
"Who are you?" Lucy jumped when the boy was whacked, rather hard, by a dragon's tail. "Ow, Igneel! What did ya do that for?"
"Don't be rude, Natsu! Introduce yourself!" Igneel exclaimed, internally debating about whether to be appalled or amused by his 'Son's' behaviour.
"Fine," the boy muttered, nursing a rather large lump on his head. "I'm Natsu. One day I'm gonna be the most powerful wizard in the world! Igneel is teaching me dragon magic, so you better watch out!"
Layla laughed once again, but composed herself. Seeing Natsu suddenly act all big and tough reminded her of why she wanted another child, a son, but her health wouldn't let her. "My, I will certainly watch out for a handsome young man like you, Natsu. And I'm sure, one day, that you'll be the most powerful mage in the world." Little Natsu beamed at the phrase, briefly showing sharper than average teeth, that would no doubt turn into fangs one day. Lucy giggled at Natsu's new 'I'm so tough' attitude, it was quite funny seeing him stand with his hands on his hips like that.
Natsu whirled around, scowling at the blonde. "What's so funny?"
Lucy shook her head. "Nothing," she replied sweetly.
"Natsu, Lucy will be staying with us for a week. Why don't you show her around the cave?" Igneel suggested and Natsu nodded, grabbing Lucy's arm.
"C'mon! I'm gonna show you around!"
"Wait!" Lucy cried, facing her mother for a moment. "Bag please, mama?" Layla nodded, and passed the pink bag to its owner. Layla was pleased at hell well her daughter was taking meeting a dragon. Perhaps for her, it was all one big adventure? "Alright, come on Natsu!" the girl skipped alongside the boy until they disappeared into the cave.
Layla stood beside her dragon friend, staring after her daughter. "Thank you for doing this."
Igneel chuckled. "It's my pleasure, really. When you wrote to me and told me about the dreams you were having about your daughter and my adoptive son, I thought it would be a good idea for them to meet. It'll be a learning experience for them both. Natsu's never had any human friends."
"Lucy doesn't have many friends either. The closest she's got are the household staff and her books. Aquarius, Cancer and Capricorn act like family towards her, but my spirits can't be around all the time," Layla told the dragon.
"How are your powers going, by the way? Are you progressing any further with the number you can summon?" the dragon inquired.
The celestial mage nodded. "Yes, I'm able to summon all three zodiac at once, and keep them there without draining my magic too much. But I'm not the only one making progress: Lucy's shown to be a natural with spirits. She made her first contract on her fifth birthday- I gave her Crux, the Southern Cross. I'm so proud of her." Layla smiled fondly in the direction her daughter disappeared in. "Anyway, you have barely told me anything of Natsu. How did you find him? Is he any good at magic?"
Igneel lied down on the round, stretching his wings over himself like a blanket. His claws toyed with a small boulder that was lying near him, tossing it like one would toss a ball into the air. "I found him bleeding to death out of an intentional wound in his neck. He must have been around ten months old. He had no parents in sight, and I couldn't spot a carriage or anything of the like in a twenty kilometre radius. So I took him in, and once he got old enough, I started teaching him Dragon Slayer magic. He had a natural affinity with fire to begin with, I once caught him playing with hot coals when he was only two. Natsu is great at dragon slayer magic, progressing very quickly for his age. Though he is still lacking in his literacy skills."
Layla smirked slightly, an expression that seemed out of place on her kind face. "Don't you think it's weird that a dragon is teaching a human dragon slayer magic?"
Igneel laughed. "That's just the way it is."
The woman gazed up at the sky, internally cursing when she realised how low the sun was in the sky. She petted Igneel's snout once, the dragon leaning into her hand. "I have to go. Take care of Lucy, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble."
"With Natsu around? I'm sorry Layla, but with that little pink haired monster around, trouble lingers like a bad smell!" Igneel snorted, sending out a gush of flame through his nostrils.
"Lucy!" Layla called, and it only took thirty seconds for the little girl to appear in front of her mother. "I'm going now, be good for Igneel-sama, ok?"
Lucy nodded, hugging her mother tightly around the waist. "I will mama. Come back soon! I'll miss you!"
"I'll miss you too sweety, I'll miss you too." She kissed the top of her daughter's head before letting her go and walking back through the woods. Lucy sniffled and turned back to Natsu and Igneel.
"Are you crying?" Natsu asked, getting so close to Lucy their noses were almost touching. Lucy took a step back to regain her personal space.
"No!" she yelled, furiously wiping her eyes.
"Yes you were!" Natsu argued, pouting a little and crossing his arms.
"No I wasn't!"
"Was!
"Wasn't!"
"Was!"
"Wasn't!"
"Was!"
"Was!"
"Wasn't! …damn!" Natsu scowled, glaring at Lucy a little. Igneel, who was still lying behind them, laughed so hard that flames once again spewed out of his nose. Lucy jumped as the flames missed her by centimetres.
His laughter eventually calming down, the fire dragon spoke to Lucy directly. "So young Lucy, do you want to learn a bit of fire magic?"
Lucy's eyes widened, along with Natsu's. "But I'm the only fire dragon slayer!" cried the pink-haired child.
"Yeah, and I already know celestial spirit magic! Look, I've got a spirit!" The blonde pulled a silver key from her pocket. "See! It's Grampa Crux- the southern cross."
Igneel grabbed Lucy with a large talon to bring her closer to him. "Yes child, that is very good. However, it is not unheard of for a mage to learn a secondary form of magic, just in case."
Igneel's scales felt weird under her hands. They were hot, but not unbearable, stretched over bones and muscle just like skin would. The dragon tucked her neatly under one of his wings, and Lucy couldn't help but relax. He was warm and comforting, like her mama.
Natsu was getting a little restless, and decided to hop under the same wing that Igneel was keeping Lucy in his claw.
"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked, her personal bubble popped again.
"Loony!" Natsu imitated ('it's LUCY!' was the counter which the young dragon slayer ignored), sticking out his lower lip in a small pout. He was rather cute in Lucy's opinion… but he was a boy, and boy's couldn't be cute whatsoever. "Can we go swimming? It's hot and I wanna!"
"Natsu, don't be rude," Igneel reprimanded once again, shifting so his wing was large enough to fit the two comfortably under it. "Let Lucy get settled first, then you can swim." Natsu pouted, but fearing another whack to the head, he stayed quiet. Lucy giggled again, making Natsu think his nickname for her (Loony) was pretty accurate.
Lucy's tears had dried up by that point, and the little mage was ready to have some fun. "It's ok, Dragon-sama. I wanna go swimming! Do you have a pool?"
Igneel chuckled. "Dragon-sama? That's a new one. You, little Lucy, can call me Igneel." Lucy blushed, but nodded her small head.
"Pool?" Natsu asked. "Are you crazy, Loony? Do you see a pool around here?" Lucy scowled at the boy at the use of the nickname once again. "Nah we swim in the lake, just around that mountain! C'mon!" He grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her out from underneath Igneel's wing. He ignored her protests, and had managed to make it past the opening of the cave, when he felt pain from the inside of his knee and the young dragon slayer dropped to the ground, releasing Lucy's hand.
Said mage was standing above him with her arms crossed over her chest frowning at the boy. She lowered her foot, which was responsible for Natsu's pain. "It's your own fault, you know," she told him as the boy got up again. "If you listened to me, then I wouldn't have to kick you! I need to get changed, I can't swim in what I'm wearing now!" Natsu frowned, looking the girl over. He couldn't understand why she didn't want to swim in her dress, but then again, she was a girl, and according to Igneel, all girls are mysteries.
Igneel was pleasantly surprised at how well Natsu and Little Lucy were getting along. After Lucy had convinced Natsu to let her get changed into her swimming costume, they had both run at full speed towards the lake. The dragon sat on an outcropping on the mountain wall, watching over them as they swam, had water wars, and just had fun. Little Lucy was good for Natsu, she was able to calm him down after he was fired up, and she brought a new adventure, a new mystery into his life. She would teach him how to respond to people around his age, and not just dragons.
Natsu was also good for Lucy, in a way. Having a strict upbringing so far had made the girl a little uptight, but soon the young dragon slayer was able to bring her out of her shell and get her to loosen up, all in the space of an hour. His teasing jibes often got the girl riled up, but he just laughed her off. This type of instance normally ended with Lucy whacking Natsu on the head with something heavy, and they both laughed with each other. Igneel pondered, if this is what happens in the space of a few hours, what would be the result of a week?
Another thing that had the dragon surprised about Lucy, was her attitude towards him. Sure for the first few moments, she was scared, but then she welcomed the dragon into her life, as if he was just a normal person. Perhaps it was just the child's imagination or curiosity, but Igneel would definitely be talking to Layla about this.
Dinner was… different, to say the least. After an exciting afternoon, both of the children were starving. Of course, Natsu had to open his big mouth and start requesting stuff like 'deer' for dinner. Lucy was appalled- how could anyone want deer for dinner? Deer were beautiful creatures, innocent, and they were certainly not food! However, the damage had been done and the episode ended when Igneel whacked Natsu on the head with his tail, and explained to Lucy about how life works in the wild, without chefs and the like. Lucy grudgingly agreed to eat what was served (thankfully, not deer, rather, a large pheasant), which was cooked using the fire from Igneel's own breath.
Now, it was time for the children to sleep, and Igneel stretched across the entrance of the cave.
"Here, Luce!" Natsu practically shouted in the poor girl's ear, "this is where you're sleeping!" He showed her to what looked like a moss-covered wooden slab. It was close to where the fire dragon had lied down, in fact, she could feel Igneel's warm breath from where she was standing. Lucy experimentally sat down on the slab, to find it was surprisingly soft and very comfy. Natsu grinned at her knowingly, showing his small fangs. "Well, if that's all, then g'night, Luce!"
"Wait!" she cried, catching the boy's hand before he could get too far. "Mama always reads me a story before I go to sleep. C-Can you tell me a story?" she asked Igneel, with pleading eyes. Natsu and the Dragon exchanged looks, and Lucy was worried that he might reject her plea, but then Igneel nodded.
"Alright then. I believe I have just the right story for you. Natsu, come here and lie down. You've heard this story before, but it has been many years since you've heard it last." Natsu nodded, scooting under Igneel's wing to rest his head on the Dragon's soft underbelly. Lucy reached down to her bag and grabbed out her favourite, forest green blanket, wrapping it around herself and lying down. Seeing the children all comfy in their places, Igneel started his tale.
"Many thousands of years ago, this land was ruled by dragons. Humans and dragons lived in harmony, working together. It was said to be a golden age. But one day, an arrogant, but very charismatic human male called Dengen voiced his opinions to the people in his village. He thought that the humans should rule, not the dragons, who he thought of as beasts. He convinced the rest of his village of his point of view, and so soon, he was off around the countryside, gathering followers. The humans then quickly revolted against the dragons, with Dengen as their leader. The dragons did not realise that this was all the work of one man, so they started a war with the humans. Many died on both sides. One dragon, whose name was lost to time, however, saw this was all the work of Dengen, and chased after the man.
"The dragon was ancient, and very powerful. He was something akin to royalty amongst other dragons. He was normally very wise, but anger and need for revenge had clouded his mind. He knew that killing Dengen would not solve anything- the humans were too far gone for that to matter. No, he just wanted to see the human's blood on his claws. He chased him to his home village, which he burnt down in a matter of seconds. He was close to capturing Dengen, but then a man had appeared behind his leader.
"Dengen had prepared for something like this, and had sought out a powerful mage to protect him. The mage captured the ancient dragon in his own fire, sealing the flames, along with the dragon into a glass rose. The dragons, losing all hope with the ancient one's defeat, fled and went into hiding."
Lucy frowned. "This is a sad story. I don't like it very much." Natsu frowned at the interruption.
Igneel laughed softly. "It is only the beginning, I am not finished yet. Shall I continue?" Blushing, Lucy nodded.
"The glass rose that contained the sealed dragon fire was taken with Dengen to his new palace, and put in a special room on a golden pedestal. The now Emperor, Dengen often went into the room to taunt the rose and revel in his victory. He did this every day of his life, until the day he died. The rose sat there on the pedestal for hundreds of years after he died, as a monument to the first Emperor, who defeated the dragons.
"One day, around a thousand years since the dragon was sealed, a lowly servant girl had escaped her cruel master and ran into the room with the rose. She had little luck in life, her parents dying at a very young age, and no relatives to speak of. She had grown up on the streets, before the current emperor had seen her beauty and forced her to work as his servant. He was harsh and cruel to her, forcing her to do things she definitely did not want to do. Her name was Yuki.
"She saw the glass rose, and for the first time, someone felt pity for it. The fire inside was trapped in a place it didn't want to be against its will. Yuki heard someone coming down the hall and made her decision. She was getting out of the palace. Just as the door was slammed open, Yuki grabbed the glass rose. The emperor, the one chasing after her, watched her with wide eyes and tried to get her to drop it. He called the guards, and they entered quickly. With all the swords now at her throat, Yuki saw she had only one option left. She smashed the rose.
"Fire escaped and surrounded everyone, burning everything it touched. Everything, except Yuki. The girl felt something sharp touch her chest before the pressure disappeared. The girl blacked out, and the palace was engulfed in flames. When Yuki awoke, she was in a field, surrounded by trees, with a small stream running not too far away. The dragon had awakened and had taken her away from the palace. Yet it was no longer in sight. It had disappeared as soon as it confirmed Yuki was safe. The girl's life then went on, happier. She had found out she was pregnant, which she suspected was partially the dragon's doing. The dragon, had in fact, granted her with a son, as a way of saying thanks. Months later, she gave birth to a boy with Dragon abilities. This boy is known to us dragons as the first, true dragon slayer."
Igneel's voiced died down, and Lucy stared at him with wide eyes. That was a very different type of story her mama would tell her, but she loved it anyway. She was going to ask Igneel for another of his stories- the dragon had a way with words that Lucy loved. The story pulled her in and she enjoyed the feelings it gave her. However, it was late, and as if there was some unspoken signal, Natsu and Lucy yawned widely in unison, making the dragon laugh.
"Sleep, you two. Tomorrow's going to be a big day," Igneel advised, and the two children agreed with no complaint (something the dragon was thankful for). Natsu curled into a little ball, comfy against the fire dragon's side, with a wing resting over him. Lucy snuggled deep into the bed, waiting for sleep to claim her.
It was around one o'clock in the morning when Igneel stirred. He heard the pitter-patter of little feet against stone and cracked open an eyelid, unnoticeably to Lucy. The little girl was making her way towards him, dragging along her green blanket. She crawled under his wing, where Natsu was lying, and rested her head on his underbelly, just like the young dragon slayer. Smiling, Igneel closed his eye folded his wing slightly so he was embracing the two children. He quickly drifted back to sleep, briefly wondering what Natsu's reaction would be like when he wakes up, with Lucy curled up beside him.
Cut! That's a wrap for now, folks!
So, do you like it so far? How did you like Igneel's story? I kind of based it off different dragon myths, and then crossed it with my imagination. The names, Dengen (power) and Yuki (courage) obviously have meaning. In every story I write, I try and make sure that the names have meaning.
If you're worried this story will turn Lucy into a Mary-Sue, that is definitely not the case! Theres a reason why she accepted Igneel so well, and other things that will come into play later on.
I really enjoy writing little lucy and Natsu. They're not much different to their older counterparts (is that saying something about them?). More little Lucy and Natsu to come!
I appreciate reviews, so please press that button.
Until next week,
GreentreeFrog