Author's Note: Hi guys! I'm new to , and this is the first fan fiction that I've ever published. Hopefully all of the Natsu Dragneel fans enjoy!

I do not own Fairy Tail. The credit goes to Hiro Mashima.

"NATSU!"

I watched in utter horror and disbelief as Natsu's form began to change.

The dragon slayer knelt down on his knees and let out a piercing scream of agony, that tore through the atmosphere. His tan skin began to turn dark red, and scales started to appear on half of his body. A tall, sharp horn grew out of the side of his head, sprouting from his hot pink hair. Two crimson wings sprouted from his back and began to flap madly. One of his onyx eyes turned to slits, like those of a reptile… or more specifically, like those of a dragon.

He put one of his hands onto his face and shook his head slowly.

"Natsu…" I murmured softly. I took a step towards him.

All of a sudden, Natsu looked up at me. His eyes were widened in alarm. He let out an unintended growl. "NO! STAY BACK, (Y/N)!"

I felt as if I had been punched hard in the stomach, but nonetheless stopped walking. I could tell, he was in pain. Major pain. But what killed me, was the fact that I couldn't do anything to help him.

Acnologia had cursed Natsu, when he had stood up to his ruthless and cruel treatment for humans.

I wasn't sure at that time whether he had been acting brave, or foolish in that circumstance. But after seeing the price that he had to pay for his actions, I knew that he had made a huge mistake.

Acnologia had cursed Natsu by putting a spell on him, that would slowly transform him into a dragon in the most painful way possible. And once he is turned into a beast, he'll have no choice but to serve Acnologia for the rest of his life.

"Natsu, stay strong!" I yelled with tears streaming down my face. "You can fight this!"

Suddenly, Natsu stopped screaming. His body, that had been tense just moments ago, seemed more relax. He was breathing heavily, but look much better than before. The pained look on his face vanished instantly. Now, he looked tired, as if a lot of magic energy had been drained from his body.

Natsu turned his head. To my surprise, his eyes were back to normal. As his onyx eyes met my own, he gave me a sheepish grin.

"Natsu!" Without any second thoughts, I ran to him. I felt my head filling up with so many emotions; relief that Natsu hadn't completely changed into a dragon, shock that he was still alive, stress on whether he'll have to go through the same pain again, but most of all… I just felt overjoyed that my friend was alright.

Before I could reach him, I saw Natsu stand up, swaying for a moment, trying to maintain his balance, but eventually stood still. His back was turned away from me.

I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling the warmth from his body, and his familiar scent flood into me. "I'm glad you're alright…" I murmured.

For a second, I could feel his body tense.

My eyes widened slightly as I noticed how suddenly I had hugged Natsu. "Oh… uh… sorry 'bout that…" I could feel my cheeks burning. I pulled away from him, feeling pretty embarrassed at that moment.

I looked away from him, feeling his shocked gaze burning into my soul.

A few seconds of silence passed before I felt a few cold fingers lift my chin up. "(Y/N), look at me."

At this moment I could feel my entire face burning, and my heart beating rapidly. Despite this, I looked at his face. The transformation had not yet been complete. Part of his face was covered in red scales, while the other looked completely normal. His wild pink hair moved slightly to the side as a breeze came by. He wasn't wearing his usual white scarf with its scale like patterns that Igneel had given to him as a child. This left the mysterious scar at his neck exposed.

I looked down at the hand that was holding my chin up, and couldn't help but gasp. His so-called fingers had turned into freezing cold talons. His whole entire right arm was now covered in scales, just like the rest of the right side of his body. Even the place where his Fairy Tail mark had been on his shoulder had disappeared.

"Hey, now, you didn't think I'd give up so easily did ya?" His black eyes sparkled with its usual glint of humor.

I smiled, feeling more tears escaping from my eyes. "Natsu… I'm so glad that you're still human…."

"(Y/N), I would never leave you or any of our friends in Fairy Tail without giving a good fight. Looks like that spell couldn't take total control over me!" He gave me a smug grin.

I rolled my eyes playfully at his childish behavior. I shook my head slightly, and leaned in closer. "You idiot…" I whispered in his ear.

I gently pushed myself away from his grasp and turned away from him.

I looked out at the scenery around me. I saw a beautiful yet terrifying waterfall of lava cascading down into the depths of an ocean, also made entirely of the fiery liquid.

Natsu and I were standing alone on a rocky cliff. I didn't have the slightest idea as to why he came here. All I had known was that I had to follow him.

Lucy, Gray, Erza, and Wendy, along with the rest of the guild, were back at Magnolia, trying to fight off the immense army that Acnologia had sent. It wasn't very long ago that I was standing by their side in the battle, preparing to face what came at us. But that was before I had looked at the sky and saw a winged Natsu flying away from our guild. Our guess had been that he wanted to escape before he could hurt other people after being transformed into a beast.

Erza had given Happy orders to fly me over to wherever Natsu was going, to make sure that he was safe. And to do my best in stopping him from transforming into a dragon.

As soon as Happy dropped me off, he left to go see to it that the others were doing alright.

"It's gonna try again, you know."

I blinked in confusion as I heard Natsu's voice behind me, interrupting my endless train of thoughts.

I looked at him, perplexed. "What do you mean? What's going to try again?"

He sighed to himself, and slumped down onto the ground. He patted the ground next where he was to indicate that I should sit too.

I sat down close to him. "Can you tell me what you're talking about?"

Natsu looked up into the blood red sky, now covered with clouds of ashes and smoke. "The curse. It'll come back. It'll try to change me again."

I couldn't bear to see him in pain again. But… Natsu was right… Acnologia would never give up so easily. Natsu had been lucky to survive the curse this time. But next time? He'll need a lot of strength.

"I hated seeing you like that," I muttered sadly. "The way you were screaming in agony, and how your face was twisted in pain. And being the weakling I am, it isn't like I could've done something to help!"

"(Y/N), you're not some damn weakling. You're the complete opposite. You're one of the strongest fighters in our Guild. No one could've done anything to help me. Don't beat yourself up for me." His voice sounded serious, yet caring at the same time. "You're the strongest person I know."

I looked at him in shock. "How am I the strongest person you know? Ha… I thought that'd be Erza," I joked grimly.

He gave me a small smile. "Nah. She's the scariest person I know." He gave me a goofy grin.

I couldn't help but crack a genuine smile. Despite the fact that we had a zero percent chance of winning the battle against Acnologia… Natsu could still make me happy, make me feel as if there was still hope… still a chance.

When the odds were a hundred to nothing against us, he'd make it seem like it was a hundred to a thousand.

"That's the smile I know and love!"

This only made me blush. "Yeah well, you're really good at bringing that smile out."

"Yeah, I know." He gave me another one of his smug smirks. "One of the things I'm proud of."

He's proud of making me feel happy. I wasn't sure why, but the thought itself made me feel as if there were butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

The butterflies didn't get any calmer when I felt Natsu's head lean against my shoulder. I let out a small gasp in surprise. I automatically looked at him to see his expression.

Natsu's face looked blank, and vacant. He didn't seem to react that much to our closeness. "(Y/N)…"
"What is it?" Suddenly, and to my own surprise, I reached my hand down to his soft, salmon hair. I caressed it gently.

This time he did react. Natsu looked at me with shock for a short moment, but then smiled smugly to himself. I rolled my eyes playfully. "So?"

"Yeah… about this whole curse thing…" His smile immediately disappeared.

"Hey, is something wrong?" I looked at him with worry. This wasn't like Natsu. He wasn't ever depressed unless the situation was really bad.

He took a deep breath. "Igneel told me that… once I turn into a dragon…" All of a sudden, his head moved from under my fingertips, and he buried his head into the crook of my neck.

I was caught by surprise, but didn't pull away. I suddenly became aware of my uneven heartbeat.

"I won't remember you… or anyone else..." His breath tickled my neck.

"Wait… what?!" No… Natsu… he was going to forget all of us…

That was when I felt wet tears at my neck. Natsu was crying.

"(Y/N)… I don't want to forget you… or Lucy, or Erza, or even Gray!"

I smiled sadly as my own tears fell from my eyes. I placed both of my shaky hands on Natsu's back, and hugged him tight.

He adjusted his head so that it was over my shoulder, as mine was over his. His strong, muscular arms hugged me back as his tears fell onto my back.

I didn't care that he was getting clothes wet. I was probably doing the same to his with my own endless waterfall of tears.

"Natsu…" I finally spoke in a raspy voice. He'll forget me… He won't know who I am… "I'll never forget you… No matter what, you'll always have a place in my heart…"

Natsu gently pulled away from me and looked at me, his face only inches from mine. His onyx eyes boring into my own brown ones. "Never?"

I closed my eyes as I felt his hot breath close to my face. I smiled while crying."Never."

It was then that I felt the space between us close. His hot lips crashing into my own, in a passionate, yet desperate, embrace.

My eyes shot open at once. My heart felt as if was going to fly away, and my breathing felt uneven, all the while my face just became hotter and hotter.

I didn't think the fact that Natsu was a Fire Dragon Slayer had anything to do with this though.

After a few moments, I closed my eyes and leaned in, closer to him. I felt his lips form a smile under mine.

I couldn't believe how one person could make you experience so many emotions. I could feel them all inside of me… building up, trying to find some way to get out. Natsu was a part of me, I could feel it. He was the one who could make me feel so happy, so alive. I never wanted this moment to end. It felt as though I was in Heaven, despite the war raging around us.

At that moment. It was just us, and no one else.

As if by instinct, I wrapped an arm around his neck, and ran my other hand through his messy hair.

Natsu wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his lips harder against my own.

After what seemed like a lifetime, I gently broke apart from him, gasping and breathing heavily as I tried to regain my breath. I gave the fire mage a small, awkward half smile. That was… intense… At this moment, I was almost certain that I'd need a doctor to take a look at my irregular heartbeat. And probably my breathing too while they're at it.

Natsu's black eyes were filled with happiness, and something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Unlike me, he looked much more relaxed and not the slightest bit flustered. This struck me as odd, since the…. kiss we had just shared had been so affectionate. His pink hair looked even more tousled than before.

Natsu grinned at me. "Well, that was one of the best five minutes of my life."

My eyes widened slightly. "That didn't last five minutes!"

He smirked as he saw the embarrassment on my face. "No, but I wish it did."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that so?" At this point, it was hard to ignore the way my heartbeat stopped for a moment whenever the Dragon Slayer would give me one of his dazzling smiles. Natsu wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Yep."

I leaned into him. "Well in that case, I should say I feel the same." I couldn't help but grin.

I may have tried to ignore this feeling before, but now there was no use.

I was in love with Natsu Dragneel.

And surprisingly, he was in love with me as well.

"Come on, (Y/N). Let's go help the others fight Acnologia and his gang of creeps." Natsu stood up. He raised a fist that was lit up with flames. "I'm fired up now!"

I smirked, and stood up along with him. "We got a battle to win!"

He took my hand gingerly in his own. "Ready?"

"I was borne ready, Natsu."

He leaned in and gently placed a kiss in my forehead. "Let's go save our friends… our family…"

I smiled. "I'm with you, every step of the way."