Once upon a Fairytail
Just your average mixed up fairy tale.
I do not (however much I'd like to) own Fairytail or any of its characters.
Please be nice…I've never written a fanfic before so I'm kind of nervous…boy I hope people like it…actually…even If they don't like it I'd be happy if someone reads it . ;P
A/N – when written in italics it's a flashback
Prologue
Once upon a time, far far away in the magical kingdom of Magnolia, there lived the beautiful princess Lucy with her mother and father. Her mother, Queen Layla Heartfilia, was a kind queen and her beauty surpassed all in the land. The king, Lucy's father Jude Heartfilia, was a bit rough around the edges but with a heart of gold, ruled his kingdom fairly and was loved by all his subjects. The young princess had all the friends she could ever want. She would go out to play with the children in the town below the castle and she would spend hours playing and when she would arrive home at the end of each day, tired from hours of battling the dragons and saving the princess, she would be carried off to bed by her father telling him and her mother of the adventures she and her friends had that day.
"Papa..." Lucy mumbled as her father carried her off to bed. "We played princess today… *Yawn* … Gray was the prince and he had to save me…from the…dragon…Jellal…" She trailed off as her mouth opened to let out another yawn. The king smiled and kissed his precious daughter on the tip of her nose. "I wanted to play the dragon…but…Erza didn't let me…she just wanted to beat Jellal…Maybe next time…I'll be the dragon?" She closed her eyes and dreamt of beautiful princesses, brave knights and ferocious dragons…
Growing up, the princess was fascinated by the fairy tales that her mother and father would read to her. She never tired of the stories and was always brimming with questions about the characters and places in them. Lucy especially loved the princesses in her books; they were all beautiful and caring. They had lots of friends, and some could even talk to the animals. The one problem with the princesses, that she could see, was that they were always letting themselves be tricked or kidnapped. Why didn't the princesses do anything to stop the witch? Or the evil queen? Or the dragon? She was a princess too, but there was no way she'd ever let a dragon kidnap her! Maybe she should ask Erza to teach her how to fight like she could next time they played together, then no dragon would dare try to take her away for a snack.
Her mother always told her that it was important to do what her heart told her to do. Her heart told her not to get kidnapped by a dragon.
"Mama! I want to be a princess like the one in these stories" The young princess, around seven years old, ran toward her mother.
Her mother smiled and laughed, holding out her arms to her daughter who snuggled into her warm hug.
"You are a princess sweetie! My princess! And any prince would be lucky to have to save you." She hugged her daughter tightly and ruffled her pretty blonde hair.
Lucy pulled away from her mother to look her in the eye not happy with the answer,
"I don't want to be a weak princess though…" she mused, her little pink lips forming a small pout. "I want to save myself from the dragon. I don't want to be stuck with a mean old dragon until the prince saves me…Mama? What should I do? I want to be the princess but I want to beat the dragon too…" Her brown eyes boring into her mothers. Layla simply smiled.
"What do you think you should do?"
The princess with her kind and doting parents was raised to be an equally kind and gentle young woman. Well…that was the plan at least…
However in a land even further away, there lived the mighty dragon Igneel and his son Natsu. Igneel loved his son very much and taught him everything he knew about dragons and the world they lived in. Natsu, however, was not a dragon. He was born very much human but, found abandoned in the woods, he was raised by Igneel who taught him to read and speak. He also taught him a long-lost fire dragon-slayer magic if anything should happen to him. Natsu over the long years grew up to be a hot-headed but also hot-hearted boy with pink…sorry...salmon coloured hair whose favourite pastime was indeed playing with fire.
Natsu liked to hear the stories his foster-father told him about stealing sheep from farmers and burning their livestock, fighting with other dragons in deadly clashes of strength and will power, Natsu loved these as Igneel would show him all the scars from his fights. But the stories that he liked best were the stories about kidnapping princesses and roasting the princes for a late afternoon snack.
"Igneel! When I grow up I'm gonna be the best dragon ever!" Natsu yelled throwing his arms wide and flopping on the soft green grass below him. Igneel laughed at his son's enthusiasm as he sat down beside the young human. Natsu looked up at the red dragon and then to the sky.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" A column of fire shot into the sky and Natsu looked back at his father grinning proudly as a bird who happened to be flying overhead dropped down at his feet. "I'm gonna catch a princess just like you did Dad! She'll be the most beautiful princess ever and I'll roast anyone who tries to stop me!" He cried out jumping to his feet pumping his fist in the air, still grinning.
Igneel's laughter shook their valley with a low rumble that sounded like thunder.
"I'm sure you will son. Just don't let the princess catch you too"
"Ha! Like that'll happen! I'm the dragon and she's the princess, the dragon catches the princess, not the other way around. Don't be silly Dad!" Igneel just gave a knowing look and lay down by the young boy.
"I'm sure you will Natsu. But now is time for sleep." And with that the two dragons curled up and fell asleep under the stars.
Natsu never did find out what Igneel meant by the princess catching the dragon. On The seventh of July Igneel the great was finally slain in a fight against another dragon.
Natsu couldn't do anything as his father yelled for him to run. All he could do was watch as his father, the strongest dragon ever; finally fall down defeated with the other dragon laughing over his dead body. With tears in his eyes he clutched the scarf that Igneel gave him and ran.
He found a small cave which he crawled into and cried himself to sleep.
The next morning he awoke to find he wasn't alone in the cave. A small blue cat crawled in sometime during the night and fell asleep against the fire dragon's warm, warm body.
The young boy was now all alone. Igneel was gone. His father was dead and he was alone.
"I will be the best dragon ever. Just watch me Igneel. I'll make you proud!" Natsu wiped away his tears as he spoke softly into the darkness.
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" A small voice piped up from beside him. Natsu jumped up, very nearly banging his head on the low rocky roof, and looked around for the voice.
"Who's there? Where are you? Come out or I'll roast you alive!" He tried to make himself stop shaking from his scare earlier and frighten away whoever was watching him.
"Down here! Wait I'll come up…" The small voice seemed to be coming from the ground. Natsu looked down and was greeted with the sight of a blue cat with wings flap his way to sit at head height. Natsu's eyes grew large as he took in the sight before him.
"Whoa…" he whispered still staring at the cat.
"The name's Happy! What about you?"
"I-I'm Natsu…Natsu Dragneel." He reached out slowly to pet the cat, Happy.
"Why so sad Natsu?" Happy's cheery voice seemed to calm Natsu's nerves as he stroked the blue fur. Natsu then told Happy everything that had happened.
Natsu and Happy since that day became the best of friends. Together they work toward reaching Natsu's dream of kidnapping the most beautiful princess and becoming the strongest dragon in the world.
Igneel's warning slowly slipped into the back of Natsu's mind.
Tbc.
So? How'd I do? Was that okay for a first chapter of a fanfic? Well, from the bottom I can only go up! (unless i have a shovel...well grr)
