Snow fell on another cold, cloudless winter day as the rosy haired fire dragon slayer, Natsu Dragneel, and his beautiful blonde Celestial Spirit mage girlfriend, Lucy Heartfilia, walked hand in hand through the city. It was a beautiful day in the town of Magnolia in the land of Fiore as the Sun shone brightly upon everything. People passed by greeting the couple. Mirajane Strauss, an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail and the guild's chef, had been waiting for them to get together ever since Lucy had joined Natsu's team. This couple had been together ever since the Midsummer Festival when Lucy had realized Natsu loved her and that she in turn loved him. Both of them confessed their love to each other and entered into the relationship everyone had been waiting for. Months later, Lucy still couldn't help but stare at her boyfriend. His rosy hair, his amazing smile, his unwavering loyalty to his friends and his guild, not to mention his unbreakable will, all of these things were just a little bit of what she loved about him. She sighed and pulled his scarf closer around her. She was the only one that he ever trusted with it since it was given to him by his adoptive father, Igneel, the king of fire dragons.
"Hey Luce, what do you want to do today?" Natsu asked as they got closer to the guild hall.
"Hm.."She replied as she thought. She didn't really have much to do. Then again, she could always use the rent money. "Let's go on a job! I could use the rent money plus I need clothes for the Christmas Festival coming up soon." She had been so excited about the Christmas Festival ever since she had heard about it. Even though she had been in Magnolia for around a year, she had missed last year's festival. She had heard that it's always magical, even in a world of wizards. Even though the town of Magnolia was a Festival loving town and hardly even needed an excuse to throw one, the Christmas Festival was always a highly anticipated one.
"But you look good in anything." He replied as he laughed and pulled her closer. He loved how she never failed to blush at these simple comments of his.
"Whatever." She just laughed and rolled her eyes. She really did love how he always made these small remarks about how nice she looks, smells, or what he thought of her. Just another thing that she loved about him. She lightly punched his shoulder at which he laughed.
"Oww what was that for?" He asked acting as though it hurt. In truth, she really could pack a punch. He had earned more than a few blows from her over the past year from all the times she had found him sleeping in her bed when she got home or sometimes when he said something generally dumb about her.
"Nothing. I just felt like it." She said laughing as she escaped his hold and ran ahead of him to the guild.
"Hey where you going?"Natsu shouted after her.
"Race you!" She shouted back sticking her tongue out at Natsu and laughing all the way.
"You're on!" He shouted. He couldn't help but absolutely love this side of her. The fun loving, playful, cute side of her that she rarely let out except when she was really excited about something or just feeling absolutely amazing that day. She was so cute when she acted like this. Natsu ran and was gaining on her fast. They both busted through the large oak wood doors and fell onto the floor in a heap laughing until they choked.
Lucy ran and got a job from the board and slapped it on the table in front of Mira.
"This one! We're gonna do this one!" Lucy said with a look of excitement and determination ablaze in her eyes. The job was simple. All they had to do was rid a town of wild Vulcans who had wandered into the town limits and had begun terrorizing all the villagers.
"Okay then." Mira said as she stamped the seal of approval on the on the piece of paper.
"Come on Natsu! We gotta hurry! The Christmas Festival is only a few days away!" She grabbed his hand and rushed out the door. Natsu knew she was weird, but sometimes she acted just plain crazy. They ran back to their apartments to get their things packed and then met at the train station. By the time they had gotten to their destination, Natsu was already vowing that he would never ride a train again and noticed night was already falling. They decided to check into a hotel and start in the morning.
"Natsu!" Lucy shouted at the sleeping fire mage. "It's time to wake up! Come on! We gotta get this mission done!"
"I'm up I'm up!" Natsu said groggily as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and kipped up, dressed in his normal clothes. They headed outside and started searching the town for the Vulcans that were pillaging the local food stores.
"I found one!" Lucy spotted an oversized Vulcan in the middle of eating a fruit stand. It suddenly looked over at the duo, mango juice still dripping from the corner of its mouth.
"Hey big guy!" Natsu called as he approached the large Vulcan. "I don't suppose you'll tell us where your friends are or why you're here?"
"Hahahaha! Don't make me laugh, you tiny child! What, have you come to save this town from we, the Vulcans? HA! Oh and what's this?" The oversized Vulcan scoffed before he noticed Lucy standing there. "And who might you be, other small child?"
"I'm a mage of Fairy Tail! Lucy Hearfilia, Celestial Spirit Mage and daughter of Layla Heartfilia!" Lucy stood and shouted this response proudly with a gleam in her eye. Natsu looked surprised, but why should he be? He had been around her since day one. He had spent nearly all his time with her ever since she joined Fairy Tail and his team. She was a proud person, as stubborn as she was beautiful and powerful too. She was the only Celestial Spirit Mage in existence to ever call forth the Celestial Spirit King, King of the Celestial Spirit World, and perhaps the only mage to ever open 10 Golden Zodiac Sprit gates simultaneously. The look in her eyes made Natsu all fired up seeing her boasting of her guild, lineage, and powers like this. Lucy lifted her hand up to where the back of it was showing. She displayed her guild mark with pride.
"That's right you fat jerk! And I'm Natsu Dragneel, also a Fairy Tail mage, I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer, Son of Igneel, King of Fire Dragons! And we are gonna take you and your whole group down for wrecking this place and causing panic in the town!" Natsu shouted with the same amount of pride. He jumped high up into the air, did a front flip, and cloaked his foot in flames as fire issued forth as a thruster from the front of his foot, causing him to perform a pinwheel attack to the top of the ogre-like Vulcan's head sending it crashing to the ground. It rose to its feet and started gobbling down more food.
"Wha-?" Both Natsu and Lucy knew that super kick should have taken it out. Vulcans were tough yeah, but they shouldn't be able to take a hit like this guy just did.
"The more I eat the stronger I become!" The now gluttonous Vulcan proclaimed, eating the entire fruit stand, cart and all.
"You just ate the cart!" Lucy protested wondering why she was even arguing with this Vulcan. She had been through so many weird things in all the time she had been part of Fairy Tail that this really shouldn't even surprise her. She had fought Vulcans several times either way. "That's it!" She shouted, taking out one of her Golden Zodiac Keys. "Gate of the Bull, I open thee! Taurus!" She summoned her second most powerful Zodiac Spirits, Taurus, with incredible strength and an axe that had magical earth-type properties. " Taurus, get him!" She commanded pointing at the Vulcan.
"Anything for you Lucy! Let's go!" He shouted as he jumped into the air and brought his mighty axe crashing down onto the Vulcan. The Vulcan caught the axe blade with his bare hand and threw Taurus to the ground back in front of Lucy.
"I'm sorry Princess. I wasn't strong enough." Taurus apologized about to return to the spirit world.
"Yo Taurus!" Natus shouted running over to Taurus. "This guy is tough but I have a plan." Natsu grinned a devilish grin as he told them the plan.
"Hey what are you doing over there? Are you whispering something?" The large ogre asked straining to hear what was being said. Natsu jumped into Taurus' hand and was tossed up. Taurus swung his mighty axe like a bat as Natsu pushed off of it with his feet, sending him flying through the air at the speed of sound.
"FIRE DRAGON'S SONIC FLAMING SWORD HORN!" Natsu bellowed as he flaming head-butted the behemoth in the solar plexus. "But that's not all!" He jumped into the air again and brought both of his flaming fists down on his enemy's head. "Crushing Fang of the Fire Dragon!" He then upper cutted using his fiery feet. "Flaming Talon of the Fire Dragon!" He sent his foe into the air. Natsu took a giant breath. "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" Incredible fire rocketed out of his mouth and burned the Vulcan to a crisp. "How's that for a combo?" Natsu laughed as he walked back to the others. The Vulcan started to get up again. Lucy clenched both of her fists, gritted her teeth, and a fire raged inside of her eyes. This look was one of pure fury.
"TAURUS! Launch me!" Lucy shouted and went flying through the air. Lucy's fist connected squarely with the Vulcan's face sending it tumbling backwards a great distance. When the dust had settled, the Vulcan was once and for all completely defeated. Lucy turned back to Natsu for a reaction and saw that his jaw was on the ground. She smiled and chuckled to herself.
"Geez Luce. We should have thrown you first." Natsu said in disbelief looking over at the still unconscious Vulcan. The Vulcan started to hack and cough something up. What he coughed up seemed to be a small crystal ball.
"It's a lacrima!" Lucy observed. Lacrima could do all sorts of things. Including give this recently skinny Vulcan the strength he had.
"Huh. I wonder what it was doing in his stomach." Natsu wondered. He thought about Laxus and how he had gotten his second generation dragon slayer powers from having a Lightning Dragon Slayer magic lacrima implanted in him in the past. Except this wasn't implanted in him.
"I bet someone must have left this lacrima behind when the Vulcans started busting up the town and then this guy mistakenly swallowed it whole thinking it was some kind of fruit. Haha! Who mistakes a lacrima ball for fruit?" Natsu laughed hysterically.
"Haha yeah. Hey we need to get the rest of these guys taken care of and send them back to the woods." Lucy reminded him. They set off beating every last one of the Vulcans back into the woods. This went on for the rest of the day. By the time they were done, it was night time so they headed back to the hotel.
"Man. Some day huh Lucy?" Natsu yawned after they had gotten their showers and were about to go to sleep. He fell back onto his bed and just stared up at the ceiling.
"Yeah. That one guy was really powerful. I mean did you see him grab Taurus' axe with his bare hand and then throw him? That was crazy!" She responded. She fell back into her own bed as well, exhausted from the day. She smiled. Just another day in the life of a Fairy Tail mage. She chuckled. Compared to everything that she had been through, all the kidnappings, all the missions, all the adventures she had had with Natsu, all the times she had helped save Fiore from certain doom, today was nothing. What she really wanted to do now, was go to the Christmas Festival with Natsu, give him his present she had made for him, and share their first kiss under the mistletoe. She knew that it was almost unheard of, to be in a relationship for half a year and still not even have ever kissed him. She sighed.
"Whatcha thinking about Luce?" Natsu asked, noticing something was bothering her.
"Oh nothing. Just thinking about all the adventures we've had and how today was probably child's play compared to all of the times we've saved the world, fought ridiculously strong enemies, and come out on top even against impossible odds. I mean, you, Natsu, you fight so hard. You escaped Nul, the oblivion spell, twice even after being hit with it. You escaped the heart of a robot dragon, you defeated Zero, and you saved me from the Clock of Infinity. It's just incredible. Even now, after having known you for so long, I find it amazing that you are that powerful." She still found herself in awe of Natsu's incredible power.
"Well you know it's all thanks to you right?" He replied smiling. Lucy sat up and looked at Natsu quizzically.
"Huh?" She asked.
"It's true. Without you, who knows where I'd be? I'd probably be busting up a town right now in a fit of rage. The only reason that I have become so much more mellow is you, Lucy. I mean, whenever I think about punching Gray in the face, I think to myself, Lucy probably wouldn't like that. And as much as he annoys me, I don't most of the time." He said crossing his arms behind his head.
"Natsu.." She had started to blush brightly in the now dark room. She knew he loved her but she had never quite realized the effect she had on him.
"And the reason I fight so hard, is for you. All those people that wanted to destroy the world, kill everyone, or destroy Fairy Tail, whenever we faced an enemy who wanted to steal our future away, as much as I fought for everybody's futures, I fought even harder for yours. I made a promise. I would protect your future no matter what. I wouldn't let anyone take your future from you." He said. Then he smiled one of those classic Natsu Dragneel smiles that could melt a heart of stone. Lucy walked over, leaned down and kissed his cheek.
"I love you Natsu." She whispered. Natsu was surprised at this at first as she had never actually kissed him anywhere before but then he smiled again.
"I love you to Lucy." He replied. They both went to sleep after that.
The next morning, Lucy awoke to Natsu shaking her trying to rouse her.
"Hey Luce, come on I want to show you something." Natsu said tossing her her long white heavy jacket and clothes.
"Huh? What is it?" She asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes and getting dressed.
"Come on hurry up we're gonna miss it!" He said rushing her out the door and outside. Natsu rushed her out to the edge of the hill and sat in the snow with her. He put his arm around her to keep her warm.
"Natsu what are we-"
"Shh..Just wait for it." He said putting his finger over her lips and pointing to the East.
And just as he did, the most beautiful sunrise that either of them had ever seen had come up over the horizon. Lucy was at a loss for words at this extraordinary sight. Natsu squeezed her closer to him smiling.
"N-"She turned her head towards Natsu while unable to take her eyes off the beautiful sunrise and was about to say something but Natsu had interrupted her with the most unexpected thing. He had captured her lips with his. He pulled her close and held her face in his hands as he kissed her there on the hill, silhouetted by the glorious sunrise. After her brain started working again, she kissed him back and wrapped her arms around him. This day was going to be perfect. They stared into each others' eyes and just sat there in each other's arms until the sun had climbed over the horizon. Lucy was still blushing even after they had gotten up, gathered their luggage, and gotten back on the train. This day was going to be absolutely spectacular. On the train ride home, Natsu laid his head in Lucy's lap and let her run her fingers through his hair to help with his motion sickness. He was asleep again before long. She smiled down at his peaceful face. He looked so cute when he slept unlike when he was on a rampage during a mission or picking a fight with Gray destroying the guild hall. Again. She couldn't wait to give him the present she had picked out for him. She hoped that he would like it. They arrived to the train station back in Magnolia and headed home to unpack and then to the client's house to receive their reward. The Christmas Festival was tomorrow and she couldn't wait! She walked through the streets thinking about that morning with Natsu. She had had her first kiss with him while watching a perfect sunrise. Her cheeks turned a little pink just thinking about it. She smiled and chuckled to herself. It was all because of him that she was in Fairy Tail to begin with. If it hadn't been for him, she would have been sold on the market after that fake Fairy Tail mage had captured her. Her life was absolutely perfect right now. She was part of her dream guild, she had so many friends, was following in her mother's footsteps as a powerful Celestial Spirit mage and she had just had her first kiss with the boy she loved. Everything was perfect. She felt giddy just thinking about it. She sighed. What did she ever do to deserve this kind of life? This perfect of a life. She had many friends, many keys, all of which treated her as a dear friend, she was part of the strongest guild in all of Fiore and she was loved by all of them, and she was best friends and more with Natsu Dragneel, the most powerful mage of this generation. She smiled as she walked along the edge of the walkway beside the river out in front of her apartment building. The fishermen who always seemed to be on the river at the exact time she was passing by told her to be careful as always. She waved at them and gave them a smile before she went up to her apartment. She wrote a letter to her mother and then started writing in her book. She was going to use today and how she felt today as material for her story. Night had fallen and the day had ended as she finished writing another chapter of her story. She stretched her arms and yawned wide. It was about time to go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a big day after all. She got a bath and got dressed for bed. She looked over at the neatly wrapped present on her desk and smiled.
"Natsu's gonna love it." She said to herself.
"Love what Lucy?" Natsu said from a squatting position in Lucy's bedroom window.
"Wah! Natsu! I guess I really shouldn't be surprised..You never have used the door." She said as she walked over to her bed and sat down on it next to Natsu.
"Why would I?" Natsu laughed. "There's a perfectly good window right there." He said pointing his thumb at the window. Lucy just shook her head. As amazing as Natsu was, he could be a real moron sometimes.
"I can't wait for tomorrow Natsu." Lucy said as she propped herself up on her hands.
"Why? Is it because of what's in that box?" Natsu asked her moving his hand over onto hers. He smiled playfully at her.
"It's a secret." She got up removing her hand from his and crossed her arms. "You'll just have to wait and see for yourself." She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled playfully back at him letting out a laugh. "Well. I'm gonna turn in. Goodnight Natsu." She said as she kissed him goodnight and smiled.
"Goodnight Luce" Natsu said holding her in his arms. Even in pajamas she was beautiful. How did he ever manage to make a beautiful smart girl like her fall for a destructive idiot like him? He started laughing as Lucy stepped back looking at him amused.
"What's so funny?" She asked. Knowing him, he probably just got a joke from a few days ago.
"Nothing. Just thinking about how lucky I am. Goodnight Lucy!" He said as he climbed onto the window sill. He stopped before jumping through the window and turned to look back at Lucy. "I really am lucky to have you Lucy. I love you." He said in a low voice and then gave her his trademark smile before jumping through the window and returning home.
"No. I'm lucky to have you Natsu." Lucy whispered. She grabbed her covers around her and fell back onto her pillow. Tomorrow was going to be amazing. She smiled at this thought and dreamed of yet another perfect day in the land of Fiore.
The sunlight pouring through the window and onto Lucy's face woke her to the start of an amazing day. She got up and got ready for her first ever Christmas Festival. She grabbed the present she had gotten Natsu and left to meet up with Natsu at the guild. She opened the doors and could not believe her eyes. Everywhere there were Christmas decorations, Christmas trees with ornaments, and the smell of cinnamon hung on the air. Over at their usual table, she spotted Natsu, Gray, and Juvia.
"Hey Lucy!" Everyone greeted her in unison. She sat down by Natsu.
"Hey guys! How is everybody? Are you ready for the Festival today?" She asked excitedly.
"Sure am!" Natsu and Gray said in unison. They glared at each other and butted heads.
"Don't copy me Ice Princess!" Natsu said.
"You copied me, Flame Brain!" Gray retorted.
"Ice Head!"
"Flame Breath!"
"Gray your clothes.." Lucy said. Gray's stripping habit was once again evident as he had lost his shirt sometime between the beginning of the argument and now. This was the curse of being taught by Ur, one of the most powerful Ice Make mages Gray knew.
"How'd that happen?!" He shouted looking around for his shirt. Juvia blushed but decided not to say anything at this point.
"Dang it! I gotta go get me another shirt!" He yelled as he ran out the doors with Juvia following close behind.
"I wonder if Juvia is gonna get him some clothes for Christmas?" Lucy wondered aloud.
"I doubt it would make a difference really. He always seems to lose his clothes at some point." Natsu chuckled.
"Listen up young ones!" Master Makarov shouted from atop the stage. Everyone turned to look at him.
"Today is the annual Christmas Festival! It starts tonight at 6! It Is one of the biggest festivals of this town!" He crossed his arms. "Now I want you all to behave yourselves when you go." He said seriously. He closed his eyes with a serious expression on his face. He suddenly burst out laughing as the entire guild hall filled with laughter. As Makarov tried to compose himself, he said
"That was a good one." He wiped a tear of laughter from his eye as he held his aching ribs. "My
children! Tonight, go out there and have fun! Cut up, have a good time, just don't destroy anything. Natsu, I'm talking to you!" He shouted. "After all, we are Fairy Tail!" Makarov yelled with pride as he stuck his finger up in the air, making the Fairy Tail hand gesture.
"Fairy Tail!" Everyone yelled doing the same.
Lucy and Natsu walked to the festival and when they got there, Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. White powdery snow had blanketed the entire place, so many colorful lights everywhere she looked, beautiful decorations on all the trees and everything else in the park, so much beauty and joy had filled the atmosphere. People were singing and eating food while others drank apple cider and soft drinks. Lucy could find no words. It was all that she had imagined and more. Even though she had learned to expect the unexpected, being a mage of Fairy Tail, she still was overwhelmed at the sight before her.
"Natsu, it's so beautiful!" Lucy breathed.
"Yeah" He replied drawing out the word. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "But not as beautiful as you." She turned to look at him and blinked.
"I don't know Natsu." She dropped her gaze. "This place is spectacular." She said.
"Ah you sell yourself short. Come on!" Natsu yelled and took Lucy by the hand running into the park. They sang, danced, partied, and had an apple cider drinking contest. Oddly enough, Lucy won.
"I win!" Lucy cheered as Natsu fell to the floor. Lucy slammed her wooden mug on the table and everyone around her cheered. They sat on a bench for a while after that letting Natsu get over his stomach ache. Natsu had rested his hand in Lucy's lap like he did when he was motion sick so that Lucy could run her hand through his unkempt rosy hair. After a while of doing that, Lucy took out the present she had for Natsu from her bag.
"Hey Natsu, I want you to look at something." She said pulling him up to see.
"What's this?" He asked.
"Merry Christmas Natsu!" Lucy said as he ripped open the colorfully wrapped box. Out of the cardboard he pulled out a wide metal bracelet with the words 'Natsu and Lucy' written on it.
"Lucy I love it!" He shouted in excitement and hugged her before trying it on. He pulled out a small box from his inside vest pocket.
"Here's yours. I didn't have time to wrap it." He said scratching the back of his head. She slowly opened it up and saw inside was a heart-shaped silver locket. On the outside, the front said 'The Princess' and on the back, 'The Dragon'. On the inside, the left side had a picture of Lucy, and on the right, Natsu. Lucy put it around her neck.
"There's more to it than just those two pictures. It's magical." He said as he opened up the locket. He placed his finger on the side with his picture and concentrated. It disappeared and in its place, a picture of Lucy appeared. "If you place your finger on one side and think about someone really hard, then you can put their picture on that side. Its magic will never run out. You can even do group photos like the guild. So now you can see a picture of whoever you want to anytime you want. I thought you might like it so…"He trailed off. Lucy put her finger on one side and concentrated hard. The picture disappeared and in its place, a picture of Layla Heartfilia, Lucy's mother, and her appeared. Lucy's eyes welled up. She hadn't seen her mother in many years. She hugged Natsu tightly and clutched the pendant tightly in one hand.
"Thank you so much Natsu. You really are something else." She whispered her arms around his neck. Natsu returned the hug.
"Merry Christmas Luce." He smiled as he warmed her up a little bit. He stood up and pulled away from the hug looking Lucy in her big beautiful blue eyes. "Come on. Let's go dance." He said as he smiled at her and led the way to the dance area. When they got there, a slow song had begun to play. Natsu pulled Lucy close to him and put his hands on her hips and she put her arms around his neck. They rocked and they swayed as Lucy rested her head against Natsu's chest as they danced. They had become the center of the mass of dancing couples now. Towards the end of the final slow song, Happy hovered above them holding mistletoe. The couple noticed this and stared into each others' eyes. Natsu gave her a sweet smile and rested his forehead against hers. He continued to stare into her starry eyes for a little while longer. Then, they both tilted their heads and kissed each other. The song ended and fireworks went off all around the park, shooting bright bursts of every color imaginable into the night sky. Lucy rested her head back on Natsu as the fireworks continued to explode. Today was the best day ever.
