Chapter One: The Thieving Rabbit
The storm rain pounded against the windows of the Heartfilia castle and kept all the inhabitants inside for the day. This was particularly upsetting for the castle's young Princess Lucy, whom was not permitted to leave the grounds. Today was the anniversary of her mothers death and with this ever raging storm, the servants were cautious to allow her outside to visit her grave. Her father, the king, was no where to be found, but at this point Lucy had gotten used to his neglect. She sat next to a large window nook in her bedroom and pulled down the collar of her dress to reveal a golden key necklace that was left to her by her mother. It was the only thing she had of her since all of her belongings had been shut away after her death. The king did his very best to hide away all reminders of his lost Queen and told no one to disturb her preserved bedroom.
"I miss you..." Lucy whispered under her breath as she gazed at the golden key. The melonchaly of this day was quickly interuptted when the key was ripped from her hand and broken from its chain. She barely had time to gasp when she whipped her head around to see the strange white rabbit that held the key in it's mouth.
"Wh-What?!" She exclaimed as she met the animals eyes for just a moment before it dashed off into the hall. Lucy scrambled to her feet and chased after it desperately in order to retrieve her mother's memento. She didn't have time to question why a rabbit was stealing from her or how it had gotten into the castle without notice, she simply refused to let it get away. The rabbit made a quick turn and burst into her late Mother's bedroom. Though her father had forbidden her from ever stepping foot into that room, she was too distracted to realize where the rabbit was leading her. Lucy swung the door open a little further and looked around the empty room in a silent panic. The rabbit was no where to be seen. For a moment, she thought it had gotten away from her, but with a another quick scan of the room, she noticed a poofy white tail wriggling into a sheet that was draped over a piece of furniture. She lifted her dress a bit in order to sneak over before she silently closed the door so it couldn't escape.
Lucy held her breath as she gently gripped the sheet in order to lift it and trap the creature, but before she had the chance, something emerged and began thrashing around inside the sheet. From the muffled sounds inside the fabric, it sounded as if a cat had appeared and was now fighting the rabbit. Lucy was completely taken aback by all this. Where had the cat come from now? As she pondered this strange occurance, she noticed the golden key had been dropped in the scuffle. The blonde princess rushed over and kneeled down to take it in her hands happily. Her elation over having her mother's keepsake returned was short lived when she heard something rocking slightly behind her. Looking over her shoulder just long enough to see that the previously covered mirror was falling forward and would no doubt crash against herself and the animals. Since the creatures were stuck inside the sheet, they wouldn't see it coming and rabbit thief or not, she was not about to just let innocent creatures get hurt if it could be helped. Lucy quickly huddled over the two quarreling animals and closed her eyes tight in preparation for the glass that was about to shatter against her back. Though instead of hearing broken glass, she started to hear voices coming from the sheet that she was hunched over.
"Come here, you dirty little rat!" a muffled voice cried out.
Lucy panicked and quickly rose to her feet, gripping the key in her hands and staring down at the sheet in wide eyed confusion.
"I'm a rabbit, you dolt!" another voice shouted as the sheet was slowly rising from the ground and slipped off the figure that was now too tall to fit beneath it. A young woman with sun kissed skin and blood red eyes was now standing before the princess. She had white rabbit ears and wore white fuzzy gloves and boots. The woman had a black clothe that covered her ample chest and torso, but seemed to actually have a fluffy white rabbit tail. Lucy was speechless as she watched this unfold. What was going on?!
The rabbit woman just now seemed to realize that she was in human form as she looked herself over. She turned to Lucy and her gaze found the golden key at once.
"Hand it over, little girl," she demanded.
Lucy wasn't sure what was happening, but there was no way she just going to hand this over, "No!" she shouted in defiance, "Mother left me this Aquarious key!"
It was no sooner that Lucy had shouted, that a ball of fire came out of nowhere and shot straight for the rabbit woman. Lucy didn't move, but the woman jumped into the air to avoid it, flipping herself up onto he nearest tree branch.
"Salamander..." the woman growled in annoyance.
A cherry blossom, spiky haired young man ran towards Lucy and the woman with an excited grin on his face. He planted his feet firmly in front of Lucy, holding out his hands to defend her. The princess smiled and felt a blush lace her cheeks as she gazed at the back of the man that had come to help her. He had a strange red mark on his shoulder and wore a scarf, but didn't seem to be wearing a shirt at all. In fact, with a quick once over, she could see that he wasn't even wearing shoes. She could only thank her stars that he happened to be wearing pants. Though they seemed to be a part of a uniform that he just didn't have the rest of. The pants were white, (though covered in dirt stains) with an expensive looking belt and gold strap that appeared it might hold a sword.
"Don't worry Layla! I got this!" he announced confidently.
Lucy's heroic image of him shattered a little when he mistook her for someone else. Still, he called her by her mother's name. Did he know her mother?
"I-I'm not Layla. I'm Lucy, her daughter!" Lucy replied quickly.
"Eh?" the young man exclaimed as he turned to look at her closer now. He seemed a little unsure as he leaned in a little more and sniffed the air around her. Lucy blushed further as he brought his face closer to hers. She was about to push him away until she noticed the Rabbit woman lunging for the boy. She panicked and launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around his waist to push him out of the way.
It didn't take too long for the stranger to register what was happening. As he was being tackled to the ground, he saw the Rabbit and sliced the air with his hand. A large flame left in the wind of his swing and caught the the sun kissed girl. It singed her arm a little as she covered her face from the flames. With a painful gasp, she hopped back into the trees and glared down at them.
"This isn't over, Salamander!" she hissed angrily before rushing off and out of sight.
With everything finally settled down, the young man gripped Lucy's shoulders and helped her to her feet along with him. The Princess was a little disheveled at this point. Her long blonde hair was released from its previous bun and her face was slightly dirty from the tackle, but she was still able to keep her grip on her mother's key.
Standing face to face, Lucy looked at the young man in stunned silence. This day had really been a strange one and she wasn't sure it was real. Maybe the mirror had actually hit her and she was passed out on the floor. Or perhaps she didn't wake up at all this morning and was dreaming all this. No matter the reason, a rabbit that changed it's form, a strange young man who could shoot fire from his hands? What more could she imagine in this dream of hers?
"Natsu!" a voice cried out as a blue cat with white wings quickly rushed past her eyes and hugged the young man, "you almost burned me again!"
"Aw, I'm sorry, Happy. I thought you were in the air." Natsu admitted with a grin.
"..t...talking...flying cat?" Lucy muttered in a daze. This had to have been a dream. It must have been. In fact, she felt dizzy. Perhaps she was about to wake up? Actually, everything was starting to get rather blurry and before she knew it, a darkness covered her vision as her body went limp.
Natsu acted on instinct and held out his arms as the Princess lost consciousness and fell forward into his arms. He gazed down at her curiously before he noticed a small amount of blood slowly trailing from her head.
"She must have been hit when she pushed me out of the way..." Natsu thought aloud before he adjusted his grip on the girl.
"What do we do, Natsu?" Happy asked in panic as he flailed his little paws frantically, "This isn't Layla, and the portal isn't even here anymore."
Natsu looked at the injured girl and his gaze fell on the golden key that was still firmly in her hand. Even through all that, she refused to let it go. She said she was Layla's daughter and she tried to help him. He smiled a little now as he thought about all this. There was no way she was bad.
"We'll take her home." Natsu replied as he began an attempt to lift her onto his back so he could carry her better.
"What?!" Happy asked in shock, "but-but what will Charle say?! We were only supposed to find Layla and ask for her help!"
"Well, the portal is gone anyhow and she has Layla's key. So I'm sure she knows where she is. Besides, she helped me, we can't just leave her here for Trixie to find." said Natsu with a finality as he adjusted her on his back and gently took the key from her hand. He handed it to Happy who tucked it away inside the little white sack between his wings. With that, he began walking down an old dirt road in the direction of home. It seemed that this was a surprise day for them all.
A/N: First, this is clearly an AU, (Alternate Universe) of Fairy Tail and it's characters. Primarily, this is a Nalu based romance, but they are not the only couple that will be showcased. Admittedly, I kind of rushed the first chapter a bit, but I hope you will look forward to the next chapter in this Fairy Tail Wonderland. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.