A/N: Happy Halloween! I hope you all enjoy :)

The flames of the campfire danced and crackled. The heat emanating from it was enough to melt away the cool night breeze and warm the seven mages gathered around it. Though Gray complained it was too hot and proceeded to remove himself from his clothes.

Team Natsu was currently on a mission to find and capture a group of bandits that had been sighted in a small village a few miles from Magnolia. The directions the mission flyer gave for the village eventually led them to the woods. The mages walked until sundown, then decided to make camp.

The group was uncharacteristically quiet; the night was silent save the chirping of crickets and the hooting of owls. That is, until a certain blue exceed leapt into the air with an exclamation of, "I have a great idea! Let's tell scary stories!"

Lucy couldn't help but roll her eyes at the suggestion. Scary stories around a campfire? How cliché, she thought in amusement. Even so, she couldn't deny that she was interested as everyone agreed with Happy's suggestion.

"Alright! I'll go first since it was my idea," Happy said, chest swelling with self-pride. There were no objections, so he began.

"It started out as a day like any other. I was out shopping in town, right? Except, when I got to my favorite food shop, they told me they were out of fish! Out of fish, I say! Can you imagine?" Happy finished telling the story by hiding his face in his paws, as if he couldn't bear to even think about it.

After a moment of silence, it was Natsu that spoke first. "Uh, Happy? No offense, but that actually happened just the other day."

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "Natsu and I were there with you when it happened."

Happy huffed dejectedly. "Well it still gives me nightmares."

"I liked your story, Happy." Wendy said to cheer him up.

"I think Lucy should go next." Gray chimed in.

"I agree," Erza said, nodding. "She is a writer, after all."

Suddenly, all eyes were on her. "What? Um, I don't think… Natsu, why don't you go?" It wasn't that Lucy didn't want to tell a story, she just wasn't ready to yet. Lucy had always felt self-conscious when it came to her writing, so she needed time to compose herself before telling her friends even just a scary tale. As silly as it sounded.

The fire dragon slayer shrugged. "Sure."

"Once upon a time there was a mighty dragon named…" he paused, trying to come up with a good name. "Iggy." Everyone groaned at the name but he continued, pretending not to hear them, "The mighty dragon's son… Summer… trained hard to surpass his father every day. Until one day, Iggy told his son to go on a mission to defeat the infamous Ice Devil Slayer who's so dumb he doesn't even need a name."

Gray's eye twitched at that. "In a duel, that is. Anyway, Summer left to find and beat him, but along the way he met a princess named, uh, Lily. She joined Summer on his adventure. After a while, they found the guy and it turns out, he was so ugly that anyone who looked at him turned to ice! But in the end, Summer kicked his ass and he and Lily left and got married. The end."

Gray shot up, a look of outrage on his face. "That story sucked! It wasn't even scary!" He exclaimed.

"I wasn't even in it," Happy added, but no one heard him.

Natsu shot up as well. "Oh, yeah? Like you could do better!"

Erza glared at the both of them. "Natsu, Gray…" She warned, and they hesitantly sat back down.

"Fine, I will." Gray huffed.

"In a faraway village, once a year a demon raided it for sacrifices. The village folk willingly gave the sacrifices to the demon because they were too scared to fight it. The demon was huge and powerful; it easily stood over the entirety of the village. One day, a brave, foolish young soul decided he would stand up to the demon for attacking his village every year. Unfortunately, he was no match for the demon, and the kid's mentor sacrificed herself to seal the demon away. The poor kid never saw her again because of his own mistakes."

Lucy looked over to see Natsu about to shout something, probably how terrible he thought it was, when they suddenly heard soft snores. It turned out that Wendy had fallen asleep sometime in the middle of Gray's story.

It was late, after all. And today had to have been a long day for the young dragon slayer. Charle clicked her tongue and brought the unconscious Wendy into the tent.

Then Erza declared, "I shall tell my story next. It's a rather good one if I do say so myself."

"There is a man, a terrifying man, with a face that would scar you for life, and a personality that gives you the shivers. I think you all know who I'm talking about—" She paused for dramatic effect. "Ichiya."

The group shuddered as they recalled the Ichiya virus incident from a while ago.

Lucy took a deep breath, then volunteered to tell her story.

"There is a legend about seven friends who journeyed into the forest for a camping trip. They planned to stay for a week. On the first night, one of the friends left to use the bathroom, but never returned. The rest searched for them all day the next day, but to no avail. That night, another one heard a scream when the others were asleep. Foolishly, they went to investigate alone, and never returned. By the next day, the five that remained looked everywhere for the two of them.

"Then they realized the forest was cursed, and went to leave as fast as they could. However, the path they were on was no longer there. They were stranded, and no matter how hard they looked, there was no way out of the forest. Each time the sun fell, one more person disappeared, until there was no one left." Lucy told the story as ominously as she could, and it worked. They stared at her in stunned silence. Even Erza was shaking in fear.

"Wh-what happened to them?" She asked.

Lucy shrugged. "They were never seen again."

The celestial spirit mage yawned. "Well, I'm heading to sleep. See you guys tomorrow."

A short while later, Lucy heard the girls' tent flap open and someone enter. That's weird, she thought. Wendy, Charle, and Erza are already asleep…

She held her breath as the person who entered their tent sat down near her.

"Hey, Lucy?" A familiar voice asked. Natsu.

She exhaled in relief. "Yes, Natsu?"

"Could I sleep here with you tonight?" He whispered.

Lucy blinked. Sure, he's slept in her bed plenty of times, but he's never actually asked before! Why would he— "Natsu! You're not afraid, are you? You do know I just made that story up, right?"

She practically heard his grin when he said, "I know."

Any questions Lucy had died on her tongue when the dragon slayer draped an arm across her shoulders and promptly fell asleep. She sighed in resignation, knowing there was no way he was going to leave now.

As she closed her eyes and began to doze off, Lucy thought not for the first time how unpredictable Natsu was. It wasn't a bad thing, however. After all, it was what she loved about him.