A/N
You guys made me happy with your reviews and follows so here's another chapter! :D I know Natsu's been acting like a jerk…I'll have him clean up his act soon.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
Lucy and Happy finally found their way to the clearing. There was a crater and scorch marks on the ground, a clear sign that there had been a battle here. "Natsu! Where are you?" Lucy calls out cupping her hands around her mouth. There's a shrieking noise from a ways away and a dragon rises up out of the forest. It flies to the clearing and hovers above it staring at Lucy and Happy.
"It's a dragon, Happy! What do we do?" Lucy whispers fearfully.
Happy shrugs unhelpfully and comments, "Run?" Lucy nods and they back up slowly before turning around and starting to run. The dragon is much faster than them; it swoops down and grabs them in its front clawed feet. They're carried up a mountain and into a tall cave far off the ground. The dragon sets them down on the hard grown.
Lucy immediately scoots far away from the dragon and pulls out one of her celestial keys. "Gate of the Goat I open thee, Capricorn!" she chants and the goat-man appears. He is covered in white fur, and has horns and hooves. Capricorn wears sunglasses over his eyes and a sharp looking, two tailed butler's outfit. "Do something to save us from the dragon!" she orders him. Capricorn moves to attack and Lucy lets power accumulate in her hands. Stars swirl in each palm ready to be used. She pulls back about to release and simultaneously attack with Capricorn when Happy flies in front of them.
"Wait! Lucy, look closer at the dragon!" Happy instructs. Lucy does, it's strange; the dragon isn't making any move to harm them. It has onyx eyes and sharply pointed pink spikes running down its spine. Its scales are blood red, but there's a white strip circling its neck. The dragon turns revealing the darker red Fairy Tail mark on its right shoulder.
Lucy gasps, "N-Natsu?" It bobs its head and shrieks. Lucy, Happy and Capricorn cover their ears until he stops.
"It appears my services aren't required here, miss," Capricorn says and bows before disappearing. Lucy doesn't know what to do so she sits down and stares at Natsu thinking. Happy flies up to him and sits down on his snout making Natsu go cross-eyed to look at him. He shrieks again and thumps his tail.
"Stop doing that, Natsu! I know you're trying to communicate, but that just hurts our ears!" Lucy exclaims. Natsu snorts steam, but stops. "Hmm…Do you have certain sounds you make for words?" Natsu does as close to a shrug as possible for a dragon. He doesn't know, for the past hour he's just been panicking. He can't be a Dragon Slayer if he's a dragon! "Try saying my name slowly, ok?" Natsu nods.
Lucy. His eyes light up. That worked! When I think through what I'm saying you can understand me! Before I was kinda freaked out and was just screaming. He grins and so does Lucy.
"Now, how do we turn you back?"
Natsu shrugs again. The dark mage did this to me. She tricked me into eating her serpent fire. I don't know how, but it turned me into this. What if we defeat her first and if that doesn't work we can go back to Magnolia for help?
"Ok, that sounds like a good idea. If she beat you though we should fight her together?"
Natsu nods, But how, Lucy? I don't know what it's like to fight as a dragon and we gotta repay that fiend a hundred times over for this!
"Everyone at the guild knows that an S Class job can take a while so we just stay here and get you used to it so you can help me fight," Lucy replies.
Ok. Natsu walks to the entrance and looks out over the vast forest. In the distance he sees a flare of the dark fire. He swings his tail around, sweeping Lucy out of the cave. She falls, screaming.
-Flashback-
She's in a dark room. A tall, slim man stands before her. He is wearing a purple hat, cape and red pants as well as what looks like dark eyeliner and lipstick. Bat wings are on his back and his redish-black hair hangs out from under the hat. He has a thin, droopy mustache. He's telling her that he and his guild, Phantom, attacked Fairy Tail because her father paid them to.
She kicks him in the groin and runs to the door which is wide open only to find that it opens onto a edge far off the ground. She stops at the edge and looks down into the clouds below. The man behind her is crawling toward her with an evil gleam in his eyes. She feels like Natsu will be there for her; she jumps. After a free-fall, she's caught by Natsu.
-End Flashback-
Lucy lands in a large, clawed red hand. Memories filling in the gaps around the memory she had while falling, spill through the hole. The hole closes up leaving the wall in her mind more fragile than before. It seems that the more she remembers things, the less whatever is holding her memories back can control them. Hey, Lucy, you ok? Natsu smirks; he knows this situation is similar to one in the past.
She nods as Natsu carries her back up to the cave. "Yeah, I remembered something more."
Oh?
"I remembered the whole Phantom Lord ordeal. Thanks for catching me," she says.
'Course.
"Want to experiment with your new body? We could go to the beach so you don't destroy anything or roast Happy and me."
Natsu shakes his head, Nah, it's gettin' dark and I'm tired. It was painful becoming this. Everything got bigger, hot fire roared in my stomach and lungs and my skin hardened and sectioned off into scales. Not fun.
"Ok. That's terrible! I didn't realize it hurt so much." Lucy leans up against Natsu following Happy's example who is laying on Natsu's snout. He doesn't turn her into ashes or roar so she thinks he's ok with it. Soon, listening to the steady thump of Natsu's heart, she dozes off. The dragon stays awake watching the girl and cat. When he is sure both are asleep, he curls his tail around Lucy. He doesn't know why he tries to only show affection to her while she sleeps. It's really creepy when you think about it. Maybe it's just because he can feel like this Lucy is still Lucy. Natsu shakes his head, he knows they're the same person, but his mind is struggling against the idea. Finally, he lowers his head and closes his eyes.
-Line Break-
Lucy and Happy are shaken awake as a loud gurgling noise echoes around their stone home. "What is that?" Lucy asks to anyone who's listening. She looks at Happy who just shrugs. The noise comes again, this time it seems to be coming from Natsu. "Natsu! Natsu wake up!"
Uh? He blearily looks down at his companions. He yawns, long tongue sticking out.
"What's that noise?" The wait before once again it sounds.
He chuckles, I'm hungry. Hop on. Natsu lowers himself so Lucy can climb onto his neck. She looks hesitant and pauses for a moment before getting on. She gets situated on his neck, gripping one of his pink spines. Ready, Lucy?
"Yup!" Natsu goes to the edge of the cave and hops off, spreading his huge orange wings. "You know how to do this?"
Nope, but I think my instincts will due. He sniffs the air, turns and flies off. Natsu's powerful wings beat rhythmically making the air around him throb with the sound. Lucy stays silent; she doesn't think Natsu could hear her anyway over his own breathing, flying and occasional roar. She takes in the surroundings; there's the mountains where they're currently living and everything else is covered by dense forest that only relents at the beach line. Wind rushes into her face and she feels herself plummeting. She's still holding onto Natsu's spine though so she's not falling. Lucy feels dizzy, like she's spinning and realizes that Natsu found something and is going in for the kill. There's a plop and all movement is ceased. Lucy slips off Natsu, landing on the ground skillfully despite the remainder of her dizziness.
She's about to praise Natsu for his work when she hears a tearing noise, what she finds surprises her, Natsu has dug into the dead hog. His face is spattered with blood as is the ground. She moves toward the kill to examine it, but Natsu bears his bloodied fangs and wards her off. Lucy and Happy just stand in shock until Natsu looks up as if finally sensing their presence. What? You look like you just saw something incredibly gruesome! Natsu chuckles.
"Um, Natsu, I think you let your dragon instincts take over too much. You just devoured three-fourths of a pig the size of a small house."
I did? He spots the ground and takes a step back. Oh, I did, didn't I? Here, I'll cook the rest for you guys. Sorry, 'bout that… Natsu trails off as he breathes a flame over the carcass. Lucy and Happy take pieces of the cooked meat and try it. Before long, both of them are eating happily. It tastes like normal ham, just jumbo sized. Natsu sits on his haunches watching them. Once they're finished he plods over to them and bends down. Let's go to the beach to train.
"Ok." Lucy climbs onto Natsu in the same position as before. Happy sits in front of her. "What was that before?"
I guess I was really hungry and the dragon took over. Now that I think about it, I wish that I had cooked it for myself as well. Lucy smiles and pats his side. He takes off into the sky heading in the direction of the closest beach. Wind blows back the girl's hair and turns her cheeks red. Her pretty brown eyes sparkle with the excitement of riding a dragon. She spots a flash of dark flame in the forest, but ignores it knowing that now's not the time to fight the dark mage. They land on the beach. So what do you think I should do?
"See if your attacks still work?" Lucy suggests while Happy plays in the crystalline water. Natsu nods and his whole body bursts into flame. She watches as Natsu works through his attacks centering the flames at separate locations, the horn on his nose, his wings, his clawed feet and then breathing out a blast of fire.
It still works! I also found a new one, Flaming Tail of the Fire Dragon!
"Good job, Natsu!" He smiles. "Now let's try some combo attacks!" They spend the rest of the daylight practicing, Lucy with her spirits and celestial magic and Natsu with his fire dragon abilities. Occasionally, Happy helps by carrying Lucy when Natsu is in the middle of something, but he contents himself the rest of the time with throwing snide remarks and laughing at the two mages. Natsu and Happy left at one point to hunt down another giant pig, this one much smaller, only the size of a couch, which they brought back for lunch. Natsu was fully in control this time though, cooking the meat before eating and even leaving enough that the three could eat the leftovers for dinner. Lucy sighs and leans up against Natsu's warm flank. Her blonde hair is damp with sweat and she's breathing heavily. "I think that went well."
Natsu does that strange dragon chuckle. Me too. I can't wait to kick that idiot's butt! We ain't gonna lose! This makes Lucy giggle.
"I'm going to bathe," she declares. "Do you know where there's fresh water?"
Yup. I'll bring you there. Lucy and Happy climb onto Natsu. They fly for a little while before lighting down next to a river, knocking down some trees in the process.
"Thanks, Natsu."
'Welcome. She walks toward the river, takes off her boots and shoes and tests the water with her toes. It's cold, but not bad. Besides, she'll just warm up with Natsu after. Lucy wades in up to her knees; this is the furthest she can go without removing any more clothing. She's about to when she remembers the two boys she left on the bank.
"Go away!" she yells at them waving her hand to shoo them away. Appearing slightly disappointed, Natsu turns around and ambles into the nearby woods. Feeling more comfortable, Lucy removes the rest of her clothing, wading in deep so nothing is showing. The river is very deep, but thankfully there isn't a strong current. She takes the ribbon out of her hair and ties it around her wrist so she can wash her hair. Lucy starts scrubbing herself down with her hands and some of the soft silt from the ground. Natsu doesn't go far when Lucy shoos him away. As soon as she resumes cleaning herself, Natsu turns around and spies on her. Nothing more than usual is showing, but Natsu enjoys watching her anyway. Lucy's wet hair framing her face, the serious look in her eyes as she scrubs her arms and the curve of her bare shoulders.
Natsu can tell she's about to get out when Happy takes his attention, "Hey, Natsu, is it fun to be a dragon?" Natsu was actually really scared at first, but there's no way he's going to admit that.
Heck yeah!
"I wonder what it'd feel like if I were a dragon…" Happy ponders; a paw at his chin, eyes focused on something distant. By the time Natsu looks back, Lucy is fully clothed and coming in his direction. He makes it look like he just got back, coming out of the trees.
Hey, Lucy, ready to go back to the cave? She nods and climbs on. The fly back is quick and they settle down in the same places as last night, Happy on Natsu's snout and Lucy leaning against Natsu's side.
"Does Gray like me, Natsu?" Lucy questions; breaking the quiet of their Exceed friend's gentle snores. He thinks back to his and Gray's conversation when Lucy first woke up. How he'd said he thought she was cute, but that he'd let Natsu have her. The thinks about all the men he's seen gawking over Lucy despite Happy complaining that she wasn't pretty and that she was heavy. Natsu ponders all of this and thinks of the safest answer he could.
Lots of men find you attractive, Lucy. He replies.
"You included?" The look on her face is so innocent, usually he's the naive one, but if she can't see that then it seems they've switched places.
Natsu kind of chokes, Um, well…mmmhrm mmrmble mur, hemutters.
"What? I didn't get that last part. Could you repeat yourself?"
The dragon squirms uncomfortably, I said me included… Lucy blushes, usually she's really vain about her beauty, but from Natsu, somehow it's different. My turn for a question; how did you get all that power, Lucy?
The girl cocks her head to the side, "What do you mean?"
You didn't used to be able to make stars in your hands or that attack you used on that guy who attacked the guild. How did you get that?
"I-I don't know. Maybe I can ask Crux. Open, gate of the cross!" A silver cross with a white mustache appears. "I gained power after being asleep for ten years, do you know how this happened?" she asks him. The cross closes his eyes and appears to have fallen asleep.
Suddenly, his snot bubble pops and his eyes open. "Miss, Lucy, I have found that when Gray interrupted the dark mage's spell, it highly increased your power granting you new abilities. It came at such a rush though that you went into a coma and your memory was suppressed. It should eventually return entirely if it hasn't started to already. I hope I was helpful," Crux informs them and then actually falls asleep. Lucy closes his gate.
"Wow. That's cool."
Yeah.
"'Night, Natsu."
G'night, Lucy. Lucy hugs herself and her breathing slows into the ones indicating that she's sleeping. Finally, something in Natsu's mind snaps, this Lucy is the same as his Lucy. Her loudness, her vanity, even her fighting style, the important parts of her personality are the same. She's still caring about her spirits and her guild. He has to help her remember. He decides that he'll open himself to this girl again. Natsu closes his reptilian eyes; glad that even under unfortunate circumstances he gets to be alone with Lucy on this job.
A/N
Please favorite, follow and/or review if you haven't already! :) If anyone wants to be my Beta reader, please PM me. I'd like someone to look over my writing before I post it.
~Maggie