1. The beginning, the fall

The place whom the murder had occurred was a house. A big house.

If it wasn't for the yellow 'Crime scene do not cross'-band, one wouldn't suspect that a dead body would lay in there. A dead body of a woman.

Loud, clicking noises came from a camera. I was held by a man in a marine-blue outfit. A flaming mustache was leaping out from his plain face and he continued taking photos of the house, one after another, again and again.

It was almost 6 pm and the moist, cool air had began to blend in the lukewarm summer. In the back of an ambulance, a girl with yellowish, blond hair sat – a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders. It was getting colder by the minute, but the girl didn't freeze.

By the way she seemed, she was about twelve to thirteen years old. Her nose a tint of red from the coolness. And she opened her mouth slightly – only to let small clouds of steam puff out under her pointy nose.

"You want some hot chocolate?"

A burly man walked up to her with a gentle smile on his face, but she could clearly see the frown underneath his mask. He was holding a thermos in the air before her with a steady, straight arm. His frown somewhat disappeared when she nodded and only in a few seconds, he fumbled with a cup. The girl nodded gratefully when he reached the reeking cup over to her, and he seemed to become quite pleased with himself.

"If you need anything then don't be afraid to ask," he smiled at her nicely, and she nodded, staring into the brown shade of deliciousness in her cup.

"My co-workers call me Mr. Patterson, but you can just call me Steve." She nodded again, looking up at the man for a brief moment only to turn her gaze down again.

"Thank you, sir." Her voice was arid, shaking slightly at the end.

"No problem Missy." He smiled at her once more and then he turned around and walked up to the other officers. The girl was well aware of them gazing at her back and fourth, never realizing her noticing so.

"It's pointless. She's no help to us in her condition." The man, named Steve Patterson, whispered to his boss – the chef of all the crime inspectors. They stood beside each other, trying to discuss the matters with the girl. She hadn't answered to any of the questions involving the case, and she had been sitting draped in her blanket refusing to speak even one single word.

And after what happened to her mother, hell. They couldn't blame her.

"Just leave her be," and with that, Steve nodded understandingly and left his boss who continued looking through his papers.

His boss named Igneel watched as his employee walk up to some of his men. He looked over at the little girl, sighing sadly as she sipped on her hot chocolate. A lonesome little girl, why did this have to happen? And her mother...

For Christ sake.

"Dragneel, boss," one of his companions began as he tugged the arm of his over-sized, turtle-necked sweater. "Some of your men are prepared to go in, unidentified fingerprints have been found next to..." He was cut off by his boss pushing him towards the house – in hope of getting him to shut up.

"That's her. Now shut up."

"Oh...-"

She was only about a hundred feet away from the two men. As she continued to drink her chocolate, they gave her a last glace and walked in, lifting the band up so they could pass through.

And so she was all alone again. She didn't knew the men around her.

Little Miss Lucy Heartfilia.

The girl with the gorgeous, brown kaleidoscope eyes who always seemed so unbelievably happy, no matter what the world threw at her.

And so she was all alone.

That was all she could think of when the snaps of the camera was heard once again.

The sound of someone getting closer was penetrating the sound of the camera, and Lucy turned her head sideways to make sure they got that she wasnted to be left alone.

But before she knew it, a boy – slightly shorter than herself – was standing in front of her.

He wore an unzipped military jacket and underneath the cloth was a white shirt with a print of a lion. Jeans, somewhat to long for the boy was gracing his average legs.

The way he was looking at her now was... Unusual.

He wasn't hiding the fact that he was staring, and he was curious about her. Like hell.

"Uhm.. So you're that Lucy-girl, eh?" She did not reply rather, she was amusing herself by examining him carefully. The color of his hair was not plain, to say at least. Some would surely mistake it for pink but Lucy knew what that shade was named for sure. It was called salmon.

He was now scratching his neck, very boyishly. He seemed nervous and Lucy couldn't help but get a little annoyed with the kid. Couldn't he see that she wanted to be alone?

~ One of Igneel's employees spotting Natsu talking to the girl, a.k.a. Lucy – the kid who's mother died. ~

"What the...?" The man turned around to look where his boss had headed out to.

"Fuck!"

And so he rushed in. Desperately trying to find the father of Natsu, Igneel Dragneel.

"You mind if I sit down?"

When she didn't answer, he helped himself. As his buttocks crashed down beside the blond girl, she lifted her gaze for a second to catch a glimpse of the boy.

He was serious, as before. And now, as he was sitting next to her, fiddling with his thumbs in his lap. He ran a hand through his hair, some of the salmon tousles making his fingers linger only second in his shaggy and tangled hair-stains. His eyebrows were deeply furrowed and he seemed to be having trouble looking at her. And so she looked away, refusing to gain eye-contact with the boy.

"I'm Natsu, if you...-" He scratched the side of his head awkwardly and smiled down at the shadow of the ambulance. When he didn't finish the sentence Lucy just had to look at him again. She wondered, what was it that he was going to tell her?

"I'm sorry if I'm being a bother to you I could just lea-"

Suddenly, he felt something warm against his torso. And although he was merely a human, he could still hear his own, steady heartbeat clearly. The girl – clenching the fabric of his t-shirt – was holding on tight to him as she cried. The heartbreaking sound of her girly voice sobbing, Natsu couldn't help but to lightly pat her on the head. The sound of running footsteps came closer and Natsu was sure that his father was one of them.

But although he knew that he would be yelled at later, holding Lucy was his first priority. And he was a man of his duty to say at least.

The gasping sounds of the men of his father was heard when they finally spotted the kids. No one shouted his name out of distress, neither did anyone drag him away. He just continued holding her close to him as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Little did he know, Natsu Dragneel had fallen hopelessly in love with Lucy Heartfilia.