Lucy was sitting beside a bed in the infirmary, a bed that was currently occupied by a certain pink-haired dragon slayer that was now crying in pain.. His fists were clenched so tightly around the scarf around his neck that his knuckles were turning white. Lucy was beginning to get worried, she had woken up an hour ago, in a bed next to Natsu's, and quickly rushed over to his side when he moaned in pain. ~~~
flash back

She woke up slowly , trying to adjust to her surroundings. Her vision was blurred, so she rubbed at her eyes, to finally see the white stone ceiling of the infirmary. She jerked upright, and held her head as all the blood rushed from it. Her hair had been tied back for her, and she could tell it was one of Cana's ribbons from the smell of liquor. SHe quietly began mulling over her memories, she wasn't here to start with...she had been captured by Phantom...then Natsu came to save her...then what? She couldn't find that memory no matter how hard she tried, so she returned to look over the details.

Natsu had caught her as she took the extremely risky jump, and Happy had told them that they needed to get away, so they began running. After awhile she got tired so Natsu began carrying her. A frown came to her face as she remembered that the Dragon Slayer had begun to slow down when they got further and further away from the Phantom could that have meant? Wait ... where was Natsu? Wouldn't he usually waiting for her to wake up? She turned her head as the sound of someone quietly sobbing reached her ears. The sound was stifled slightly, and she realized why as she saw Natsu's head shoved down into a pillow, the painful cries coming from him. He was curle don his side, his vest-less back towards her.

She quickly scrambled out of her bed to stand by his, leaning over his still form.

"Natsu!?" She asked fearfully, seeing him shudder slightly as she said his name. She couldn't have worn him out that much...right?

No, the way he was clutching at his scarf, and his silent sobs, they were pain filled. She gently touched his shoulder, and rolled him over onto his back. Trying to ignore the way his face contorted, she brushed his bangs out of his eyes that were clenched shut.

She didn't anticipate that he would flinch back, or that his hand would instinctively smack hers away. She drew back slightly, but creeped forward again when he began mumbling something.

"What're you..." she began, but stopped as her hand drifted over his arm. This heat...his body heat was increasing! She pressed a palm to his face and gasped as her fingerprints were burned off. As she yanked her hand of of the fire-breathers face, she thought she saw...the outline of scales. His ears grew slightly more pointed as well. As she leaned over his body, she noticed his hand begin to glow in that all-to-familiar-way. Looking around in a panic, she grabbed the glass of water on her bedside and tossed it over him. He moaned slightly and the glow faded. He turned over and curled in on himself once again, still clutching at his scarf.

Lucy began to bite her lip and think, what would cause this? How could Natsu be so unpredictable at the moment? She honestly hoped that she had nothing to do with it, but knowing her, and her heritage, it was the most likely conclusion.

She stopped her mind babble as the door opened and three figures walked in. One was Mira, who avoided Lucy's gaze as she hurried over to Natsu, wiped off his face, whispered something in his ear, then quickly darted away again. Lucy was curious about this transaction, but refocused her gaze on Erza and Gray. Titania walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug, her armor clanging slightly as Lucy struggled. Erza sighed in relief and released her after only a few seconds, thankfully.

"I am glad to see that you are finally awake Lucy," she said kindly,smiling slightly. Gray didn't say anything, simply nodding in her direction.

Lucy bowed slightly in thanks to their warm greetings, before turning back to Natsu, who seemed to have relaxed slightly since Mira had walked in.

"What's wrong wit him?" She murmured, watching as the relaxation slowly faded away and he tensed up again. She usually wouldn't mind looking at a half-naked Natsu, but not while he was in pain.

Gray shook his head sadly, then looked over at Erza, but she looked away as well.

"He carried you in here, then he just sort of...collapsed," He said softly, frowning slightly as Natsu mumbled something again.

"You were passed out on his shoulders so we went ahead and brought you in here so that you could rest," Erza continued, looking at her now-empty bed.

A thought came to Lucy's mind as her gaze fell on Natsu once again.

"Where's Happy?" She looked around the room, trying to catch a glimpse of the sky blue flying cat, but the color was no where to be seen.

"He went back to his and Natsu's home, for what reason, I don't know," Erza replied.

Lucy's reply was cut off as Natsu suddenly yelled something and his hand lit on fire.

gray swore and used some sort of mixed technique to cool him down, as in: He completely doused him in water. Natsu normally would've woken up and yelled at him, but instead he growled as his skin glowed once again. Lucy frowned as the scales seemed to re-appear, and now that his mouth was open she watched his canines grow into dangerous points, then shrink back slightly.

Natsu flipped onto his back again, teeth clenched and fist tightened as the scales re-appeared then faded back.

"His face..." Erza said as she stood beside Lucy at Natsu's bedside.

"Those are real scales, like on a dragon," Gray muttered as he watched them flash again. The two of them looked at him, slightly shocked that he would make this kind of observation, but as the two female mages watched him again, they realized that it was true.

"...is," Natsu murmured. The three of them jumped slightly as they heard him speak.

"Huh?" Lucy asked brilliantly, but Natsu seemed to hear,as he flinched and muttered louder.

"I-Ris,"he said shuddering-ly. This caused Erza and the other two to frown.

"Iris...I can't think of anyone who goes by that name," She said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin.

As she said that, Natsu sat up, his eyes open wide, but they were still unseeing. Lucy focused on his pupils, and noticed they had taken on a more fiery hue, and they seemed to burn through the wall he was blankly looking at. Gray leaned in close to the dragon-slayer's face,opening his mouth to say something, when Natsu said ,

"She's close," He swung his legs over the side of the bed, causing the three of them to back off.

"...who's close," Lucy asked softly. Scales flashed on then off of Natsu's cheeks as she spoke.

In response he stood up and began walking toward the door, saying quietly, "...so close..."

They watched as he reached with a clawed hand to push open the heavy wooden door, then stumble out into the corridor. They silently agreed to follow, and quickly took chase after the dream-walking Fire-breather.

They followed him into the commons area, where he was quickly noticed by the rest of the members, however before any of them could even yell a syllable, Erza shot out her arm in a "shut the hell up or you'll taste my blade" motion. They all sat back again, observing with most of the strongest team. The Titania focused on Natsu's movements, seeing how they were off as they were when he carried in Lucy.

The pink-haired dragon shuddered to a stop and opened his mouth. Everyone stared in confusion, until Natsu let out the loudest roar any of them had hear.

The bellow was loud enough for Erza to cover her ears in pain, and cause many of their guild-mates to crumple to the ground, cowering and waiting for it to be over. By the time he stopped the deafening call, their ears were ringing painfully, although some were recovering more quickly than others. Erza slowly pulled her hands away from her ears and stared in shock as Natsu seemed to tilt his head and listen for something.

That something, was a roar in return.

/Authors note/
So I did type this up at 1 am while watching Toonami, but hopefully I didn't make to many mistakes.

So TWO people requested a pairing and I thank you guys for that, because I did my best to start incorporating that in this chapter (I dare you readers to guess what it was :3) But any way, I'm OK with adding any pairings, so request away people!

And I decided that I would be willing to write commissions for people (isn't that what you call them? I'm willing to write stories for people, how about that)

SO if you want, ask me, and I will do my best :D

I will try to update a few more chapters tomorrow if I possibly can, I've got this story handwritten, I just need to type it up.

Disclaimer~ DOn't own Fairy Tail or anything in this story besides the plot