Hi everyone!

Ok, this is my first story, and I wanted to start it off with a ridiculously long AN - you know, to really set things off on a good note ^_^ please feel free to skip to the word "Hiro"!

*Spoilers*

How many of you have looked at Fairy Tail's timeline all mashed up together? Because seriously, it's just crazy. I wanted to set this fic sometime close to the end of Natsu's year long training mission, but once I started looking at the timeline I realized it would be impossible to make anything fit anywhere in the canon - there are no gaps.

If you include all the time Natsu and Lucy have been conscious (aka - excluding the 7 year timeskip), up to when Natsu leaves after Eclipse - they have only known each other for a maximum of 9 months. Really, though. If you count the time after Natsu returns and he and Lucy decide to reunite the guild, it's only been maybe another 3 months between then and all the craziness with Alvarez.

So, not including the time Natsu spent away from everyone when Lucy was basically alone - they've been around each other for a MAXIMUM of 11 months, and I'm being pretty generous there.

This super short timeframe includes the Tower of Heaven, Edolas, the GMG, Eclipse… oh and the party in the Celestial Spirit World that lasted about 3 months on Earthland, so go ahead and subtract another 3 months from the 11 mentioned above! This brings our total to a whopping 8 months.

In fact, the length of time between Lucy joining the guild and everyone being sealed on Tenroujima WAS LESS THAN 6 MONTHS. It's no wonder Lucy was freaked out about the S-Class trials - she'd not even been in the guild for half a year at the time!

I am stunned. The couple everyone is shipping have known each other for less than 2 years and one of them was spent with them separated. This also gives a whole new perspective on Lucy's character. This is a rich girl who lost her mother, ran away from home, had an emotionally abusive father, rejected her hoity-toity lifestyle, never really trained for combat until recently, and is now being put in crazy situations with people who have trained for LITERALLY THEIR WHOLE LIVES. Suddenly she has to learn how to properly defend herself, rapidly master her magic, learn how to function in team situations, and still she immediately jumps in to defend people she's only known for mere months - initially weeks - with her life. I already thought she was great, but man - that's just overwhelmingly awesome. I'm not so irritated with her tendency to become a damsel in distress now - plus, in recent chapters, she's dropped a lot of that feeling (even when she does get captured).

Not to mention Natsu's immediate attachment to her. (Though sometimes I wonder if this was pre-ordained with her being named "Lucy" (Light) and Natsu having the whole "leading demon of Tartaros" thing going for him while specifically calling her "Luce" which is even more specifically "light".) This just further encourages my belief that NaLu is/will be canon. (MASHIMA BASICALLY CONFIRMED IT! *fangirls ecstatically*) Natsu doesn't seek out anyone's attention like he seeks Lucy's - though it can be said that Fairy Tail mages in general are incredibly accepting and more-than-borderline invasive - he only pairs himself off with her, and Mashima intentionally had them find each other first after Natsu's year-long absence. He behaves more intimately with her than with guildmates he's known since he was a child. Yes, he tends to just jump headlong into relationships like he does with everything else, but it is still obvious that he sees Lucy differently than he sees others - even Lisanna. And, even if Lucy doesn't see Natsu as a romantic interest at the moment (which she might if recent chapters are any indication *cries about manga ending*), it doesn't mean she won't in the future - because, again, they'd only known each other for 8ish months before Natsu ran off on his own with Happy. Far be it from me to denounce the validity of a love formed in 8 months! That was more than long enough for me to know I would marry my husband, and we've been together for 8 years now. Man, I'm old.

Anyway, I'm just ranting now. All of that to say - this fic will begin outside the timeline sometime during Natsu's year of training. Just act as though the whole "Makarov leaving to go figure Zeref out" thing isn't happening yet, but might happen sometime in the future. ^^

*Spoilers over!*

I'm writing this to practice with character portrayal and development, so some characters may end up OOC, but I'm going to try to stick pretty close to their traditional personalities. I also really wanted to write a NaLu fic, so there's that. On with the show!

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail! I just force his characters to get up to no good (or very good ~_^).

Natsu was confused.

While traversing life as a dragon slayer, he had grown accustomed to his sometimes overwhelming senses of hearing and smell - the vast majority of which he had learned to tune out as a child. What's the point in being distracted by literally everything within a mile radius? He did, however, have a catalog of familiar scents and sounds that he was always aware of - food, his guildmates, fear, aggression, etc. - foremost of these belonging to his blonde partner who should currently be halfway across the continent from him.

"Should" being the keyword since he could smell her at that very moment. Well, more like he could smell something that seemed to have been touched by her. Kind of like how Lucy's bed had its own smell, but was covered in hers. Natsu trusted his sense of smell above all else. He knew he wasn't wrong. Stardust, plum blossoms, and something deep and heady that was inherently, specifically her. He crossed his arms and turned his face toward the scent. Opening his senses a bit more, he noticed a second scent that definitely belonged to a human… a very young female human. That explained why his instincts didn't bother him sooner; there was no way they'd consider a little girl a threat.

Happy noticed Natsu's furrowed brows and thousand-yard stare as he munched on a fresh fish. Natsu was still getting over future Lucy's death and would sometimes withdraw - even to the point of forgetting about his food halfway through eating it. The first time that happened, Happy couldn't get his attention at all and, after ten minutes of trying, had resigned himself to curling up on Natsu's lap until he snapped out of it more than half an hour later. The more Natsu trained the less it happened, but it was still disconcerting.

"I'm fine, Happy." Natsu said without turning away from the strange scent that had suddenly wafted from the middle of the woods. "Stay here for a minute, ok? I'll be right back."

"... Aye, sir."

Natsu stood and made his way toward the trees at the edge of the clearing where he and Happy had made their make-shift home. He could hear and smell the numerous forest creatures slowly milling about in the afternoon heat, but couldn't hear the girl. She couldn't have been moving much, if at all, because the undulating drone of cicadas completely drowned out any small sounds she might've been making. Natsu found himself worrying for her wellbeing. Judging by her scent, she couldn't have been much more than five years old and she was alone. Not to mention she smelled like Lucy - which, to him, was reason enough to worry. He could tell he was getting close. The scent was intensifying and he could hear small, shallow breathing somewhere nearby.

She was hiding. It smelled as though she'd been walking in circles around the base of a gnarled old tree. Her breathing quieted. She could see him. Natsu sank to rest on his haunches beneath the tree and closed his eyes to let her know he wasn't a threat - he knew what it was like to be small and alone.

"It's ok for you to come out," he said, hearing her jump at the sound of his voice. "I won't hurt you. I can tell you're exhausted by your breathing. If you want some food and a safer place to rest, I can take you to meet my friend Happy. He's small like you, but he's a little older, I think."

He heard leaves rustling above him, but opted to keep still.

Ever the show-off, he couldn't keep a grin from spreading across his face. "If you want, I can even show you some really neat magic! I can tell you use magic too! I bet it's something awesome like Lucy's celestial magic since you smell like her! But, I guess even if you used ice magic like the stripping popsicle it'd be alright."

Bright eyes watched the strange, pink-haired adult from above. She couldn't help but giggle at his odd words and spastic emotions - he seemed so excited while talking about "Lucy" but his voice had immediately dropped to a low, irritable grumble when mentioning the "stripping popsicle," whatever that was. Of course, he was right when he said she was exhausted. She'd been wandering around the forest for hours with no sense of direction at all. She didn't even know how she'd gotten to the forest in the first place.

"What's your name?" The man asked her.

"Orelia." She said.

"It's nice to meet you Oreo! I'm Natsu. Are you ok with me standing up now? I can help you out of the tree if you need it."

To Natsu's surprise, he heard her drop nearly fifteen feet to land a few paces to his left. He heard her walk slowly toward him and felt small hands touching his. Somehow, the gesture was nostalgic.

"It's ok," she said, "I'm not afraid anymore. And my name is Orelia, not Oreo."

Natsu opened his eyes and was momentarily stunned by the sheer loveliness of the child's face. She had large, vibrant - nearly glowing - seafoam green eyes, freckles on her little nose in spite of her tan skin, and pronounced cheekbones all framed by fluttery peach-colored hair. This was all in stark contrast to her wide, overly sharp smile and the plethora of leaves and sticks stuck at odd angles in her hair. Natsu shook his head and wondered for a second if she was actually human - she looked for all the world like some kind of forest sprite. She couldn't be, though; underneath all that Lucy smell, she smelled like sunlight, and mint, and… and he could swear there was a hint of woodfire in there, but he shrugged it off since he'd probably carried the scent with him from the campsite. At any rate, she was certifiably human.

"Well," he said while standing, "Wanna go meet my friend?"

"Sure," she replied, placing her tiny left hand in his right as they walked.

"So, what are you doing in the woods?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you know where you're from?"

"No… I know I'm Orelia, but that's it."

"Do you know how old you are?"

Her steps slowed as she thought for a moment. "Five," she said, fanning out the fingers on her right hand and smiling up at him.

Natsu punched his free hand into the air, "YES! FIVE! I knew it! Score one for the nose! Wait, you're really tired, right? You wanna ride?" She nodded as he picked her up and settled her on his shoulders. Orelia wrapped her arms around the white scarf on his neck and rested her chin in his long pink hair. She was surprised to find his hair smelled like burning incense - though she couldn't remember how she knew what incense was - and relaxed into his overly warm hold.

"You're gonna love Happy!" He continued, hoping to keep her from dwelling on her obvious amnesia, "He'll be so excited to have someone to play with when I have to train alone!"

Though he was still curious about the apparently permanent Lucy-scent attached to the child, Natsu was content, for now, to revel in the warm feeling that seeped into his bones as though the busty blonde was walking right beside him. After months of traveling without her and beating himself up over the death of her alternate-future self, the universe had seen fit to send Natsu an adorable, interactive, Lucy-scented, Happy playmate. He wasn't about to question it.

Happy had tried very hard to keep watch while Natsu trekked into the forest by himself. He wasn't worried about Natsu's safety or about waiting alone - the two had stayed in this clearing for months with visits only from passing animals - but he still wanted to be responsible and keep an eye out. However, with his little tummy so full of fish, and the sun so warm, and his spot on the grass so comfortable, he decided a short nap was in order after all his hard work earlier that morning.

That's how Natsu and Orelia found him - sprawled out on a sunny patch of clover mumbling incoherent syllables in his sleep that sounded vaguely like "fish" and "Charle".

Natsu smiled impishly up at Orelia and held a finger to his lips.

"Watch this," he whispered.

With Orelia still on his shoulders, he crept behind the defenseless Exceed, crouched down with his hands cupped to his lips, and screeched:

"HAPPY, IT'S HORRIBLE! LUCY ATE ALL THE FISH!"

The poor fish-loving feline jolted from his peaceful slumber, flying around in tight spirals in search of the blonde culprit wailing, "NOOOOOOO! LUCY WHYYYYYY?!"

Orelia nearly fell from Natsu's shoulders as she laughed at their antics. She had not expected any of this at all - a talking blue cat was strange enough, but a flying talking blue cat? She had originally thought "Happy" was an odd name, but now she realized Happy was odd anyway, so the name suited him.

Hearing her small, tinkling giggles grow into a fit of full-fledged belly-laughter, Natsu smiled to himself - proud of the prank's effect - and placed her on the ground in front of him. Happy had finally woken up completely and flopped onto Natsu's head in exasperation.

"Natsuuuuu, that was mean…. I miss Lucy…. I miss her so much that my nose thinks she's right here…."

"Sorry buddy, I know it smells like her. That's why I ran off in the first place! But I brought a friend you need to meet - this is Oreo!"

Happy finally noticed the laughing girl in front of Natsu. He floated down to her and held out a paw for her to shake.

"Hi! I'm Happy! You're pretty for a human, but you smell like a weirdo."

"Um…. I'm Orelia," she emphasized while shaking his paw, "I don't think I smell weird, and you're weirder because you're a flying, talking, blue cat. So there."

"NATSU! She smells like Lucy and she's mean like her too!"

"I know! Isn't it great?! You two can play together instead of just waiting for me to finish training every day!"

Orelia yawned, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. "I hope you know some good games to play, cat, because I can't think of any," she rubbed her eyes as she curled up in her spot on the ground.

Happy eyed the girl as she quickly nodded off. "I hope she's more fun when she wakes up," he said.

"Good Morning!" Orelia shouted as she body-slammed her new best friends.

"Missed me!" Happy shouted as he dodged and let Natsu take the brunt of the attack, "Hahaha! You thought you could get the Amazing Happy five days in a row?" He wagged a prideful finger in her direction.

Natsu, on the other hand, decided to counterattack.

"SURPRISE-ULTRA-INCREDIBLE-SUPER-TICKLE-EXPLOSION!"

Orelia tried to get away, but she was no match for the much larger mage. She cried and squirmed as tears of laughter obscured her vision.

"Ok, what have we learned?" Natsu asked.

"I won't say it."

"Really?" He wiggled his fingers menacingly.

"AH! OK! It's impossible to sneak up on the best, most awesome, Natsu Dragneel: Dragon Slayer… Extraordinaire." She grumbled.

"Exactly. Now, my adoring fan, wanna go catch breakfast?"

"Fine. Watch out though. I'll get you when you least expect it." She narrowed her bright eyes at him before growing thoughtful. "Natsu-nii, what does extraordinaire mean?"

"It means ME!" He picked the small girl up and placed her on his shoulders - a steadily solidifying habit he'd established. "When you meet my friends Lucy and Levy, they're going to love you and try to teach you everything you don't already know." They bickered back and forth on their way to the river.

Natsu and Happy had been delighted to discover that Orelia was a natural fisher-woman. She'd also been able to do just about everything else they'd presented her with - she helped Happy train by holding his feet to see how long he could hover with extra weight, she helped gather firewood and knew how to pick the best, driest wood and stack it the best way so it would burn the longest, she somehow even knew how to clean fish, but Natsu and Happy didn't carry a knife with them, so she'd sharpened a rock all on her own and used it without cutting herself once. Yet, some words and all of her personal memories still escaped her.

It was hard to believe the child was only five years old.

Still, during Natsu and Happy's more intense training, she was ordered to sit on the sidelines and watch, so she'd also become something of a cheerleader - if yelling insults and posing in mocking postures counts.

After lunch - first lunch, really - she and Happy would play games while Natsu headed off to another clearing to train alone. Orelia was supposed to stay with Happy, but once the feline fell asleep for the fifth day in a row, she decided it was time to go find Natsu.

Natsu had secluded himself in the center of a recently-scorched clearing a few minutes' walk from their little home. He and Happy already worked as a virtually seamless team, but the possibility of hurting him, not to mention Lucy and his other guildmates and now Orelia, had persuaded the fiery mage to meditate as the core of his training. Punching and kicking and roaring were fun, and usually pretty damn effective, but he knew that as his magic power grew, the chance of incinerating his teammates (… and forests… and towns) increased as well. As such, Natsu had left his unfortunately flammable companions to have fun without him. He had been working for months on controlling his magical aura to the extent that he could now choose what would burn and what would remain unaffected. He had gained substantial confidence in this ability, but not enough yet to chance endangering his friends.

Super-heated air shimmered and danced in the clearing around him, though nothing but the air itself seemed to burn - the grass around him was still cool and green. He was pleased with his progress and expanded the heat to encompass the grass. Smoke and steam billowed and swirled upward as the green blades caught fire. Through the crackling and burning, he heard footsteps and noticed a familiar smell. Cracking open a single eye, he spied peachy hair flowing in the waves of heat and small bare feet walking calmly toward him through the smoldering brush.

"Reli!" he breathed, abandoning the aura and scrambling upward into a run. "What are you doing? Your feet are gonna blister! Didn't I ask you to stay with Happy til I got back?!" He swept her off the ground and over his head to inspect her feet… her completely pristine, undamaged feet. He lowered her to hold her like a toddler, little legs around his waist, and gave her a pointed look that clearly said it was time to explain.

She smiled her over-large smile at him, "Happy fell asleep again and I got reeeeeeeally bored. But don't worry, Natsu-nii! You can't burn me! Can I meditate with you?"

Natsu was puzzled… and a bit offended. "Can't?" He said incredulously - pouting at the presumptuous little girl. "What do you mean, can't? I can burn anything! Not that I want to… but still."

Laughing at his childish expression, she said, "You can't burn a sun because it's already on fire! That's where my magic comes from, so I'm fireproof!"

"Your power comes from the sun?! Can you make fire?!" His wounded pride forgotten, Natsu was suddenly beside himself with excitement. A sniggering Orelia had to cling to his scarf to keep from falling. "Wait," he paused, "are your memories coming back? How did you know that's where your magic comes from?"

Her laughter quieted. "I don't remember... I just know that it does. I can feel it." She smiled fondly toward the noonday sun. "I can feel it a little at night, but during the day is when I feel the strongest! I don't know if I can make fire or not…. "

"Well," he said, "if heat really doesn't affect you, then sure you can meditate with me! But let's test it first. I don't wanna hurt you." He put her down and held a flaming hand out, but was surprised - again - when she plopped her sharp chin straight onto his fiery open palm.

She was right. Her melon-colored hair danced in the waves of heat, but she wasn't in pain and he couldn't smell any burning flesh.

"See? I told you!" She grinned at her trick.

"THIS. IS. AWESOME!" Natsu crowed, falling flat onto his back. "Even Romeo and Macao aren't totally fireproof!" He had stars in his eyes as he imagined all the fun he could have with a completely fireproof training partner. Sure, she was currently only five years old, but the future possibilities were endless!

Orelia giggled as she watched his antics - he was nearly foaming at the mouth! She really did want to try meditating though, so, surprising Natsu yet again, she crawled onto his lap as he sat up. Facing away from him and leaning her back against his chest, she criss-crossed her legs over his and virtually sparkled with determination.

"Ok! I'm ready!" she said.

At first Natsu thought to protest - what five year old child has the attention span to meditate for an hour or more without moving? But seeing her already intense focus, and again being enveloped in Lucy's heady scent and Orelia's own strangely comforting one, he was willing to test out the heart-warming arrangement even if it only lasted a few minutes. It's a good thing Gray isn't here, he thought. I'd never hear the end of this.

"Alright," he said, shifting back into his own cross-legged meditation pose. "Just focus on your magic. You don't hafta produce anything flashy, just feel for its flow and get comfortable with it. Let me know if the air gets too stuffy for you, ok?" She nodded silently in reply and Natsu could instantly feel the steady pulse of her magic as she set to work.

Three hours passed without interruption. Three. Natsu knew he needed to check in with Happy soon - he was actually surprised that the easily-worried Exceed hadn't panicked and torn immediately through the forest to find Natsu upon noticing Orelia's absence. Natsu could smell the rekindled campfire and even dared to hope this was one of Happy's thoughtful days in which he started skewering fish before Natsu made it back. Orelia was probably hungry too - at least Natsu was certain he was, so surely she was as well, right?

He couldn't help but to be impressed by the young girl. Few adults could manage the focus needed to meditate for more than ten minutes - let alone more than three hours - and this child had done it on what Natsu assumed was her first try, while surrounded by his own superheated aura that continuously fluctuated as he experimented with its boundaries. To say she was in a distracting environment would be a major understatement.

He let his chin fall on top of her fluffy head. "Reli," he said, "are you ready to go eat? We can stay longer if you really want to, but I'm hungry."

Silence.

"Uh…. Reli? You alright? Ya sleepin'?" He leaned to the side to catch a glimpse of her face.

Her eyes were open… and glowing a soft, molten gold.

"Orelia!" Natsu felt a wave of unfamiliar panic shoot like lightning through his veins as he flipped her tiny frame around to face him. Thankfully, she looked calm. Her breathing was even and unlabored, but she was obviously in some kind of magical trance. Her head lolled to the side as Natsu gingerly shook her by the shoulders.

"Hey, Peachy!" he demanded, "Come back to me!" Dammit, He mentally berated himself, I bet she's been out of it like this for more than an hour and I didn't even fucking notice! He could tell she was still… awake-ish. Her magic was still happily thrumming away like it had been since they had started at noon - otherwise he would have noticed her unusual state much sooner. Seeing that she seemed fine other than not answering him, the panic began to subside, but uncomfortable adrenaline stuck around. His heart still clanged an erratic beat and he felt like he could run all the way to Magnolia and back without stopping….

But, he didn't know what to do now except wait… whiiiich, if he was honest with himself, he wasn't any good at. Porlyusica was much too far away to reach in any reasonable time frame anyway, so he'd just have to take Reli to a doctor in the nearest town if she didn't wake up soon….

An odd sense of failure slowly ghosted over his mind. He felt very keenly that he'd let this mysterious little girl down.

He chalked it up to her smelling like Lucy.

Shit, he thought, even with Happy here to help, I can't take care of a badass, freakishly self-sufficient five-year-old for a week without messing up… what kind of man am I?

He tried to close her eyes gently - the glowing, unblinking stare on her pretty little face was admittedly creepy - but to no avail. He turned her face into his shoulder to avoid the unnerving gaze. Sighing in frustration and defeat, he gathered her limp form in his arms and set off back to the camp near the river.