A/N: And here's the chapter we've all been waiting for! Let me know what you guys think! You guys have such a positive feedback to my story and it makes me so happy! I love hearing from you :) At the bottom of the chapter I'll be answering some of y'alls questions! By the way, don't feel shy to ask, I don't bite...Much :p

Chapter Four: A Fateful Encounter

In the past two weeks, Natsu had worked with some of the strangest animals he had ever encountered. Besides the undead goats, there were the squealers. Massive pigs with a pair of lungs worse than a screaming two year old. Their squeals were loud enough to make a normal human faint after only hearing it for three seconds. These animals were kept in a completely sound proof barn with two sets of doors. One to get into the building itself, the other to get where the pigs were. Apparently the range of their cries can be heard from nearly a mile away and can knock a person to the ground from only seven hundred feet. He had to take extra precautions with them. First, he would put in a pair of ear plugs, then put on some headphones, and lastly, he wrapped his scarf around them for good measure. If they could do that to a normal person, he'd probably become permanently deaf due to his enhanced hearing.

Then there were those sheep that he saw the first day. Somehow they change the gravity underneath them in the instant that they jump, but only for a couple of seconds, which allows them to leap almost thirty feet into the air. Other than that, they were normal sheep, just little shit heads to round up in a pen.

His third favorite though, would have to be the geese.

Why?

Because they laid golden eggs.

Literally.

And Natsu loved all things gold. He was the cliché dragon in all the human fairy tales, having a deep greed for anything gold and shiny. His hoard could testify to that.

He should probably feel bad for having taken at least a dozen so far, but he really couldn't be bothered.

Then there were the pyrotisserie, a name he so lovingly bestowed upon the chickens that spat fire. Natsu was told that the chicken coop was mostly made out of concrete, and the parts that weren't were coated with a fire resistant oil. They were so badass. With long claws that were basically serrated shark teeth and patches of scales covering their chests and the sides of their heads, these things were practically tiny mutant dragons. Their plumes ranged from all types of various bright colors, just like dragon scales. Natsu couldn't help but love the ugly little things. It was probably really cheesy, but he felt a connection to them. Almost as if they were family. Like third cousins.

A couple thousand years removed maybe…

But Capricorn hasn't let him work with them since they caught the back of the house on fire…

He got so distracted one day that he didn't realize that the chickens, and himself, had gotten too caught up spouting mini fireballs and had ran out of the pen entirely and to the house where their scorch marks are still there.

Natsu liked the scorch marks though, he thought it gave the plain white house some character.

So today, he's supposed to be helping Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio round up the herd of cows into a separate pasture.

Easy enough, right?

...Probably not.

The bulls in this particular herd were something out of an old cartoon show.

It was an evasive maneuver that they did to avoid predators and to protect the young ones and their mothers. They could puff actual smoke out of their nostrils, and while it was totally kick ass, it made it really hard to see anything that wasn't five feet in front of you.

Natsu still hadn't got quite used to working with the others yet, he was used to working by himself, or just Happy.

But he knew the he hadn't exactly been alone at all the past two weeks.

He didn't know who it was, but someone was watching him. He'd be working, and then suddenly he'd get that prickly feeling on the back of his neck, but every time he turned around, nobody was there.

He couldn't catch their scent either, which was what really bothered him. It meant they were cloaking themselves, and it made him uneasy.

So one day while he was feeding the devil goats again, and simultaneously trying to avoid that little fucker Lucifer, he felt the prickles and decided to play it cool. But after a bit of time had passed, enough for the person to get comfortable, Natsu quickly turned around and snarled in the direction of the woods he felt like the spy was lurking in.

He heard a gasp, and then a thud, followed by what sounded like a person scrambling on the ground to get up and run. Natsu didn't waste a second. He jumped over the fence and sprinted towards where he heard the mystery person, but when he came around a big tree, all he saw was a massive hole quickly close up from the ground.

He hasn't felt the prickles since, and that was five days ago.

"Natsu!" Leo called out. "Get your head out of the clouds and come on!"

Natsu quickly jogged over to the group, quietly grumbling all the while. The guys were off today, something was making them antsy. Every so often during the time they had been working one of them would glance around, as if they were looking for something… Or someone.

"Alright," Taurus started, "I'm gonna head in there first. Once I give the signal, the calves and their mothers will follow me and that's when I'll need you guys to moooove in."

Natsu had to hold back his snort, Taurus' way of speaking was too much sometimes.

"Leo and Scorpio, I want you two to get my flanks in the rear. By this time, I'm sure the bulls will have put out enough smoke to make it hard to see, so I'll need your help keeping the herd together." Both men nodded their heads in agreement.

Taurus turned to Natsu. "Natsu, I want you to stay in the back and make sure there aren't any stragglers. I'll need both you and Leo to use your magic to make enough light to see."

Natsu grinned and smacked his fist into his opened hand. "I'm all fired up!" He said enthusiastically.

Taurus gave him a nod, and then started jogging towards the gate of the pasture.

"Alright!" He shouted, "Let's get moooovin'!" With speed much faster than Natsu thought the brute of a man was capable of, Taurus bolted further into the pasture, and within a blink of an eye, he was out of sight.

There was just a few moments where the last three men were standing awaiting the signal before Taurus belted out a loud, continuous "moo" when Leo took off towards the left and Scorpio on the right in the same manner Taurus had. On foot.

At first Natsu though it was odd that they weren't using horses like he'd seen other ranches do in movies, but with how fast those three men could run, Natsu guessed that they really didn't need them.

Natsu mentally wrote down their speed in the list of things that he had in his mind that made these people different from humans. He'd seen all of their magical abilities in the times he's spent here. Natsu was magical himself, but he knew that there was something else about these people that didn't make sense, he was just having a hard time figuring out what it was.

Putting those thoughts aside for now, Natsu took off straight into the smoke screen that was continuously getting thicker.

Lucky for Natsu, this was his element of expertise. He lit his hands on fire and began a light jog throughout out the pasture, sniffing every few seconds to see if he smelled a stray.

Even though his eyesight was hazy due to the smoke, Natsu's hearing was sharp. He could hear Taurus calling out to the cows ahead, coaxing them into the pasture with fresh grass for them to eat. He could hear Leo and Scorpio's light breathing on either side of pasture. Making sure that the herd didn't split. He could even see Leo's light a ways in front of him glowing slightly.

Wait. Wasn't Leo supposed to be on the left side of the pasture?...

Natsu set his sights on the speck of light and began to advance towards it. He unlit his hands and sniffed the air for anything abnormal, but all he could smell was light.

Just light.

Curiosity was driving his legs to go faster, and so he did. He was getting closer now, he was nearly on top of it...

"Oof!" Natsu flailed his arms around as he fell over from colliding into something hard.

He grimaced as sat up and rubbed the back of his head, opening his eyes to look at the girl sitting on the ground across from him.

…A girl?

Natsu narrowed his eyes and looked over her carefully. She didn't look suspicious. She was probably around the same age he was. She was wearing a simple outfit, a pair of ripped skinny jeans with a blue shirt and black converse. Her long, blonde hair was in a high ponytail, a few strands left out to frame her round face. And her chocolate brown eyes, they were large, and intuitive. Almost familiar…

Then it clicked. "Hey!" Natsu blurted a little louder than necessary, making the girl flinch. "You're the one who's been spyin' on me!"

She was looking at him wide-eyed, her mouth slightly open in shock. Her right arm was stretched across her chest so she could hold her left shoulder blade, which Natsu now realized was what was glowing.

"I-I'm sorry!" She stuttered, "I didn't mean to be so sneaky, I just…"

"Just what?" Natsu asked, "And why are you out here?"

The girl blinked a couple of times before simply replying, " I wanted some chocolate milk."

...This chick is such a weirdo, Natsu thought.

"Chocolate milk? Out here?" Natsu asked skeptically.

"Yeah," she replied, "Our cows make the best."

So she lives here, but how come he's never seen her?

"Wait, wait, wait. You're tellin' me that these cows make chocolate milk?"

"Yep!" The girl smiled, "And strawberry too!"

"Huh, never heard of that before." Natsu mumbled.

The girl's brows furrowed before asking, "Do they not do that where you're from?"

"What do you mean weirdo? You live in Magnolia too, you should know! What, have ya never left the ranch before?" Natsu teased with a smirk.

The blonde opened her mouth to say something, but sighed and pulled her legs up to her chest and laid her head on her knees.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock. He was just joking, but he couldn't have been right…

Could he?

Natsu was about to apologize when the girl jerked her head up, eyes wide in fear.

"Oh no," she breathed out before she squeezed her eyes shut in pain, and fell back against the ground to curl in on herself. Her shoulder was glowing brighter now, the light was starting to cover the left side of her neck and down her back.

"H-Hey!" Natsu called out, quickly getting up and rushing over to kneel down next her. "What's wr-" He started to ask, but at that moment, whatever barrier the girl had to conceal herself broke, and Natsu was flooded with the smell of starlight and strawberries and the underlying scent that was just her and dear god did she smell heavenly.

"You need to g-get out of here." She said between gritted teeth. Her eyes opened to look up at him apologetically, fresh tears beginning to trail down her face. "Now."

"I'm not leaving you." Natsu said stubbornly, reaching down to scoop her up into his arms. Her magical levels were increasing too quickly, he needed to get her help, and fast.

She gripped his scarf tightly in her hands, "Please," she said softly, a slight sob escaping her, "I don't want to hurt you."

She looked so broken at that moment. Regret and guilt swimming in her eyes, her hands shaking in pain.

"Ya know, where I'm from," Natsu began as he started to jog across the pasture, the girl securely held in his arms, " we never leave anybody behind. Fairy Tail takes care of each other. So I'm not gonna abandon you."

He bent his head down to look at her, but she was already staring at him. Her eyes were wide with wonder. Natsu was a bit taken back, he'd certainly never had anyone look at him like that before.

He gave her bright grin, but then hissed in pain and had to keep himself from dropping her. Whatever was happening to her shoulder that he was holding in his left arm was making his arm sting terribly.

Being a fire dragon had many perks, but one of the best was that Natsu couldn't be burned. He wondered if this is what it would feel like.

"Yo, Natsu!" He heard Leo call out to him as he, Scorpio, and Taurus were approaching them quickly, "why are you raising your mag- Lucy?!"

All three of the men increased the strides until they were right in front them. Leo immediately reached out and took the girl, Lucy, from Natsu's arms.

"L-Loke," She breathed out hoarsely, "I'm-"

"Sshh," Leo quieted her gently, " we'll talk later princess, right now we need to get you inside."

Leo turned and started racing towards the barn, the other men following closely behind, Natsu included.

Scorpio noticed where they were headed, and it wasn't the house like he thought it would be. "The barn? Seriously Leo?"

"We won't make it to the house in time." Leo shouted over his shoulder. And he was right, the light was so bright now that it looked it was covering Leo as well. Lucy was trying her best to not cry out, but the pain was starting to become unbearable.

Taurus charged ahead of the group to make it to the doors first so he could open them for Leo.

Natsu was about to go in as well when Scorpio turned around and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"You stay out here," he said firmly. "You don't need to see this."

"I can-"

"You can do what?" Scorpio snapped bitterly. "You don't know her. You don't know what she's going through. So just stay out here, and out of the way. We'll talk later." And with that, Scorpio ran inside the barn and shut the doors, leaving a confused and pissed off Natsu outside.

He couldn't just leave though, he promised Lucy he wouldn't abandon her. With his mind made up, Natsu ran to the back of the barn where he scaled the side of wall and up to the little window. He peeked his head over to see something that he'd never forget for the rest of his life.

Leo had laid Lucy on the ground where she was chained by her hands, feet, and torso. She was thrashing too much from the pain, they had to restrain her. Virgo was in there now, seemingly come up from one of her tunnels. Natsu thought she was a strange woman, but he liked her well enough. Her eyes were always unblinking, appearing to be emotionless, but right now they were pulled together in worry.

She was on her knees behind Lucy's head, running her fingers through her hair trying to comfort her.

Leo was at Lucy's side with his hands glowing, hovering over her. Scorpio and Taurus were standing to the side with their arms crossed, looking over the situation with somber faces.

But Natsu could only look at them for a moment, his focus was on Lucy. She was crying openly now, the light was getting so bright that Natsu had to squint to see, but even then it wasn't clear.

"Loke," she sobbed, "Loke, it hurts!"

"I know princess," Loke said calmly, despite his shaky hands and the sweat running down his face. "It's almost over."

But Lucy was not appeased by his soothing words. Her screams of pain only became louder, until the whole barn was filled with such a bright light that Natsu had to jump down from the window to cover his eyes.

When he opened them, the light was gone, and it was completely quiet. He ran around the front of the barn only to stop in his tracks when he saw Leo walking through the doors with an unconscious Lucy lying limp in his arms, both with burned and tattered clothes.

Natsu looked inside of the barn to see burn marks on the wooden posts and walls, some of them still smoking. Scorpio and Taurus followed Leo and Lucy to the stairs of the mansion where a furious Aquarius burst through the front doors, shouting at the men to quit dragging their asses and bring her inside already.

"Master Natsu," the young man flinched at her choice of words, yet turned around to look at the pink haired maid. Her clothes were burned as well, including her hands and different parts of her arms, but they appeared to be healing already.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to not speak of what happened today to anyone. Or else you will be punished." Her eyes shined at the end of her statement for a moment before they were back to looking hollow like they usually do.

"Why?" Natsu asked confused, "she needs help! I know a couple people who could-"

"Master Natsu," Virgo interjected, "I'm glad you are concerned for her well being, but you do not need to worry. We've been helping princess deal with these type of...situations, all her life. We know better than anyone one else on how to care for her.

"But with that being said, I'm afraid I have to tell you to forget about her, completely."

Natsu snapped his head up to look at her.

"What?!"

"This wasn't supposed to happen, Lucy never should have been outside of the mansion. You two never should have met."

"But I-!" Natsu tried to protest, but Virgo raised her hand to silence him. She slowly shook her head, and then walked away without another word, leaving Natsu to think about all these weird, and confusing things scattered in his mind.

But there was only one thing he could really focus on.

...Lucy.

I've had a few already ask about Lucy's "curses" and I don't want to spoil too much because it WILL be revealed in later chapters what's going on, but she, as of right now, has little to no control over her powers. Some of you are so close on guessing! I'd love to hear your theories :D