It had been rough days for Erza lately. Gray and Loke's destruction on their mission brought the council's punishment upon the guild, Jellal was annoyingly depressed because of his past again, and her recent mission was exhausting as hell.
It was unusual for Erza but she decided to ease up her stress with alcohol that night. After she finished her mission earlier that day she decided to visit the bar of the inn she decided to rest in before she returned to the guild. It felt like everyone was giving her a hard time recently and she wanted to enjoy at least one evening without having to worry about anything.
The problem was that Erza got 'moody' once she got drunk. And she got drunk fairly quick! A short while after her first drink she disciplined every other customer about trivial stuff like 'having a bad breath', 'sitting too relaxed on the chair' or 'laughing too loudly'. Not to mention she got thrown out because the staff just couldn't handle her temper any longer and the customers ran off in terror.
Erza was now aimlessly wandering around with a sake bottle in her hand that was labeled 'Dragon-Slayer' as it was 'strong enough to make a dragon yield'. Only armed with that bottle of sake she entered the forest around the town. Soon she reached a sign that said 'Beware! Dangerous Monster".
"Monster?! I will slay any monster that dares challenge me!"
Erza shouted in her drunken temper by herself. She was wandering around mumbling curses and smashing trees once in a while. The alcohol made the disciplined swordswoman to a scary monster. Pity the fool that dared to cross her way in this state.
As she groggily walked aimlessly she hit something and fell on her butt.
"Huuh?!"
Erza made an angered voice as she looked up to see what suddenly stood in her way. It was no tree that's for sure. It felt different, it felt scaly for some reason. Erza inspected the 'thing' in front of her. There were big round red eyes that were fixated on Erza, red scaled that covered the entirety of its body and two enormous wings that were resting next to. No doubt about it, it was a dragon.
The dragon made an intimidating growl and looked down on the puny human in front of him.
"Where did you come from, human?"
The dragon asked him in a low pitched voice. It was clearly not fond of the annoying presence in front of him.
Erza's drunk brain needed a while to comprehend everything and just blankly stared at the dragon for a few seconds. She blinked a few times but then it hit her, her eyes widened at the glance of the being in front of her.
"Whoa! A real dragon"
She ran up to it. Erza patted the dragon and rubbed her cheek on the scales on the dragon's snout. They felt so warm~
The dragon however suddenly moved his head slightly upwards to push Erza away who mindlessly trying to cuddle with it.
"Ow," Erza exclaimed as she fell on her butt for the second time.
"Leave, you insolent human! Or I'll destroy you!"
The dragon shouted and made a giant intimidating roar. The force of said roar was strong enough to bend the trees. Erza instinctively closed her eyes to protect them from the strong wind.
Once it was over Erza opened her eyes and looked up to the dragon once again.
"Well, either way, I'm going to die too. How pathetic that the last being I meet is a human."
The dragon said with a rather painful voice. It sounded like it was terribly exhausted and weakened for some reason.
Just now Erza realized the massive puddle of blood next to the dragon. The was a giant sword that was forcefully buried in the back of the dragon. The injury it inflicted looked fatal. The dragon would probably die soon if the sword wasn't removed anytime soon.
"Hey, don't you get tired of talking that way?"
"Huh?"
"It has to wear you out"
"Why, you?"
The dragon was getting pissed. This tiny woman was seemingly mocking him in his injured state.
"You need this pulled out?"
"Huh, well…"
Surprised by the woman's sudden question, the dragon was rendered speechless for a second.
After hearing the answer Erza climbed the back of the injured dragon and made her way towards the giant sword.
"Hey!" The dragon shouted in shock. "You fool! If a regular human touches the dragon slayer's sword, the magic will destroy the- AHHH!"
The dragon was cut out by Erza who already firmly grabbed the blade and tried to pull it out with all of her strength. The pain was extreme but the dragon actually felt the sword moving out a little bit. Dragons have extraordinary regeneration powers but the sword of a dragon slayer nullified basically all of its regenerative magic.
"I happen to know a thing or two about swords. But what kind of brute wields such an absurdly oversized sword in the first place?" Erza struggled because the sword was buried deeper than she expected. "… Don't make fun of actual swordsman and -woman out there!". It was not really sure whether it was the alcohol or her damaged pride that made her so angry right now.
With one final pull, the sword came off. The dragons reptile eyes widened as Erza fell down with the giant sword right next to her. The last drops of blood escaped the injury but a few moments later the wound seemed to close as a small fire appeared right on top of it that looked like it would heal the dragon.
Erza sat in front of the dragon and took a sip of sake after she poured it into her small ochoko, a small ceramic cup for drinking sake.
"Even if this is a dream, you have no reason to be so servile!"
Erza shouted angrily at the dragon in front of her.
"Ah… I'm sorry" The dragon answered hesitantly "Yet, you saved me… I was defeated in a battle with powerful dragon slayers and escaped to this forest. I imagine you managed to remove that sword because you have a very strong magical affinity yourself. I am truly grateful-"
"Who gives a damn about that?!"
Erza angrily cut off the dragon's speech of gratitude.
She poured sake into her Ochoko and reached it out to towards the dragon.
"Drink!" She commanded. "Drink with me!"
"Dragon, listen to my story!" Erza angrily ordered.
"Drink it… "
She suddenly started to look sad, on the brink of tears actually. The dragon felt very uncomfortable seeing the woman in front of him about to cry. Even if she was weird, she did save him after all. The dragon made an awkward groan as he had no idea what to do. He had never been that close to a human without them wanting to kill him before.
Finally making up his mind a giant magical circle appeared in front of the dragon and his body was soon enveloped by a bright light. After a few seconds, the light disappeared and revealed a human looking being where once the giant dragon stood.
It looked like a male with spiky pink hair in his late teenage years. The only thing that covered his body was a robelike piece of cloth and a white scarf that he wore around his neck. He looked mostly human now, except for some scales here and there and the dragon tail that hanged out from his back.
Erza was fascinated by this spectacle. The majestic dragon had transformed into a muscular, almost naked man that looked like he was around her age. Her mouth was left open in surprise.
The boy reached out for the small cup in Erza's hands and sat down in front of her.
"So you can transform?"
"Yeah… I don't like using this form though" He said and gulped the alcohol in one go.
"Oh, you're a good drinker!" Erza shouted in fascination. She raised the bottle of sake in her hands and said: "Let's drink together!"
"Are you even allowed to drink yet?"
"Huh?! I am an adult, you know!"
"I-I'm sorry"
The boy was ashamed of his false judgment and bowed in apology.
"Jeez, now I'm mad! Drink! Let me touch your sixpack and your tail!"
Erza shouted angrily.
"Of course"
The dragon boy immediately accepted.
"Huh? I can?"
…
A few hours and a couple of drinks later.
"This world is unfair! I always have to excuse Gray's and Loke's damn destructions to the magic council, and for what?! Just to engage in an all-out battle in the guild hall the second I don't pay attention!"
Erza angrily explained! She was drunk as hell.
"That's right, you tell 'em! Let me bring an end to it all!"
The dragon boy seemed to have got a bit groggy himself and easily let his guard down around Erza, happily drinking with her.
"And what the hell Jellal?! Jellal should stop being a such a crybaby around me. Get over the past, goddammit!"
"Don't assume all dragons are burning villages and demand a village's virgin daughter as a sacrifice!"
Both of them mindlessly stated their problems to one another as they've become best drinking buddies in just a few hours. Erza was surprised to see someone that could actually keep up with her.
They laughed lots and lots together. Even if Erza punched the boy sometimes in her temper after he burped out some fire out of his mouth, those two got along genuinely well.
A while later, after they drank all of the alcohol together, they were breathing heavily in exhaustion. Erza placed the 'dragon-slayer' sake bottle away and tried to rest a bit because even she was getting tired after all that partying and laughing with someone like this dragon man. Even though he had a fatal injury not too long ago, he was able to keep up with Erza and her drinking habits. Something nobody else could, not even in her guild. They were scared of her as it is but no one could handle the drunk and 'moody' Erza.
She looked at him with her eyes full fascination… fascination and sadness. She realized once again that no matter how often she was surrounded by her guildmates, her family, that truly loved her as much as she loved them, in the end, she was on an entirely different league as most of her friends back there. She regretted how her strong act forced them to be scared of her. She knew that they still loved her but it felt lonely sometimes when everyone was on guard around her trying not to make her angry.
This boy, however, didn't act that way at all. Not after she pulled that sword out of his dragon body. He seemed to be lively and joyful around her even though he looked like he despised humans himself.
"Why am I alone?…"
Those words unwillingly escaped her mouth. She felt terrible that she still felt that way even when she had a family like Fairy Tail around her. She felt troubled when she craved a special warmth around her that surpassed the one her guildmates can offer right now.
The man's smile disappeared as well after Erza's honest question.
"It's the same for me. After Igneel left… I was all alone in this world"
He looked sorrowful all of a sudden as the memories of the time he spent with his father Igneel flashed in his mind. A time where he was still a human boy that didn't need anything else but the love this giant fire dragon he called father.
"So you have nowhere to go?"
Erza asked him, expecting an honest answer. Even though she could already guess it.
"No. Though I have been alone for a long time now"
"Then…" Erza looked him right into his eyes. Her face was red the entire time because of the alcohol but this time she was blushing because of something else. "Want to come back to Fairy Tail with me?"
He looked up again with his eyes widening in surprise. His mouth dropped open for a bit. He could feel his eyes getting misty to the point he could no longer hold the tears back. He trembled and sobbed as tears started to run down his cheeks.
"I- I do"
He faced her with her and declared with all honesty. The moon that was hidden behind clouds surfaced back again and gently brightened his face with its shines. Even though tears were streaming out of his eyes he had a bright toothy smile on his face. A smile as genuine as it was innocent. This boy had experienced so many hardships in his life that he thought that a moment of joy like this would never happen again in his life but here he was now, being invited by a human.
Erza was taken aback by his sudden outburst of emotions. His smile carried so much weight that she thought it was enough to easily break her iron armor. There was this strange sensation about him that immediately made her feel a strong bond being constructed between those two. He may have been a dragon when they first met but he seemed so much more human than most of the people she had met until now.
She put on a smile on her own and faced him with all sincerity. Requipping out of her gauntlets she reached her out.
"I'm Erza. Erza Scarlet"
He looked surprised at the hand that was reached out to him. The first one to ever reach out to him in fact.
"I'm Natsu"
He finally introduced himself as he reached out for her hand. Erza Scarlet, the name of the person that reached out to him when he was about to die alone in this forest. This lone fire dragon that was rescued by a knight in shining armor. Natsu knew that from this point onward he would never want to let go of Erza's hand ever again.
Author's Notes:
As some of you might have guessed already, this is heavily inspired by "Kobayashi-san chi no maid dragon" 's first meeting scene. Of course, I changed it enough for it to fit Erza and Natsu into it and make it believable in the universe of Fairy Tail.
I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you do enjoy it too. You can share your opinions about it in a review if you want to. I would truly appreciate it. Those always bring a smile on my face :D
See you next time. :D