Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Note: This is a short story, spanning about a few chapters as Lucy would remain as a child for a short period only, probably about 3 days or 5 days at the maximum. Anyway, enjoy and give feedback please! Thank you.

" HAPPY! We did it again!" Natsu shouted as he gave Happy a high-five which the blue cat mimicked by saying " Aye, Sir!"

"Yeah, you sure did a lot of damage as usual. JUST LOOK AT THE FOREST!" Lucy exclaimed and sighed despondently at the thought of paying for the damages. Why was she stuck with two idiots in the middle of a forest, or rather what was left of it, when she had better things to do such as shopping for more clothes which were constantly being destroyed, courtesy to Natsu. Oh right, her rent. THE 70 000J rent. Apart from the rent, she still had to earn some money to cover her daily expenses such as food which was always in short supply, courtesy to both Natsu and Happy. Thus, she had to take on another mission- capturing bandits who abused their magic by robbing people who passed through the particular forest which they were in. It was a simple task as the bandits were weak and disorganised. They were easily separated and Happy even managed to knock one unconscious. Natsu, however, had no patience to search for them so he burnt the forest to force them out of their hiding places. By the time Lucy defeated her share of thieves and found Natsu, he had practically burnt a pathway through the forest.

" WOW! LUCY, LOOK! There's a pathway through the forest! Now, we don't have to walk through the thorny bushes anymore. If only I have seen it earlier, what a smooth journey we would have taken!" Natsu shouted in glee as he looked at Lucy and pointed at the pathway simultaneously.

" I don't even know where to start about your obliviousness!"

" Huh? Lucy, look at this!", Natsu exclaimed excitedly as he showed Lucy a piece of purple paper that had flown into his hand.

" Argh, I don't even want to open my eyes right now." , Lucy grumbled at the image of the path of ashes that she would see if she were to open her eyes.

" Then, I shall read to you! dsafknlmlsdkfienfjngk. nkjnfnfiweplooifmks. fsoqxpghnbjk. HUH? WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN? " Natsu pulled his hair in frustration while Happy simply sat on his shoulder, pondering over the words. Just as Lucy was about to reply, a blue mist appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the trio. A strong mixture of floral scent came along with it but it was so pungent that it irritated the noses of all three of them, especially Natsu, since he had a strong sense of smell. Within seconds, they had broken into coughing fits as the choking scent flowed through their nostrils and down their throats. Happy, who was still on Natsu's shoulder, made a futile attempt to scan for his blonde friend through the blue fog. Unfortunately, the fog was too thick to even see Natsu. Finally, Happy managed to gather his voice after numerous bouts of coughing fits, " LUCY, WHERE ARE YOU?"

" LUCY, CAN YOU HEAR US? ANSWER US!" Natsu shouted anxiously as he joined in the search for their blonde friend. After a minute, the fog and its accompanying scent started to fade slowly, enabling Natsu to locate Lucy's new position through his sense of smell.

" Natsu, is Lucy near us?", Happy asked worriedly as he tried to scan through the last bit of blue fog hovering below Natsu's waist.

" She should be here. I can't be wrong but there's no sign of her!", Natsu replied. Where could she be? Just as Natsu started to doubt whether he had recovered his sense of smell, he heard a cough. Strangely though, it came from below. Ah! Lucy must be lying or sitting on the ground. With that, he shouted her name happily.

" LUCY!"

Now that the blue fog had almost faded, he could clearly see her blonde hair but where was the red ribbon that she tied her hair with today? He had remembered it distinctively because it matched her brand new red skirt that she was wearing which she had excitedly showed off to Natsu in the morning.

As the fog disappeared, Natsu and Happy could only gasped in horror as Lucy was revealed to them slowly. This was because...

in Lucy's place stood a child, no taller than Natsu's hips, in fact, she's only a head taller than Happy. Her blonde hair was tied into two French braids. Each was secured with with two tiny red balls and she wore a navy blue dress with a white ribbon sown on the neckline of her dress and a pair of black flats. Lucy, or rather tiny little Lucy tilted her head to the side and stared curiously at the boy with pink hair and a blue cat in front of her who had opened their mouths in the shape of an ' O'. Their expressions were a mixture of shock and horror, though it comprised more of the latter. Finally, she mustered up her courage and asked,

" Whooo...are you? Annnd hooow do you knooow my name?"