CHAPTER EIGHT: MOON MAGIC

"My name is Lunara." (little recap)

"you're who now?"

Lunara stared at the ignorant Sky howler in shock. "You've never heard of me? Daughter of Bone and Flower, future Pack Alpha, Heralder Of Her People, any of that ring a bell?"

The male Skyhowler stared at her in confusion. "Nope." Lunara sighed. "All right then, time for introductions."

"My name is Lunara, third pup of the second litter of Bone and Flower, fitfully trained by my great-uncle, Storm the first pup of the third litter of Mist and Fog, educated by Sahara, fourth pup of the first litter of Dust and Shire, and guarded by Fisher, second pup of the second litter of Zackary and Needle."

The male wolf blinked his eyes blankly. "Um… do you have a piece of paper so I can write that all down? Um… oh Lunara, second pup of the third litter- I mean second- of Bone and Mist- I mean Flower- forcefully- I mean fitfully-trained by Fisher- I mean… um… by Whatshisface…"

Lunara sweat-dropped. What a dense male! It's a wonder he's survived this long…

The wolf pulled himself together. "Right! I suppose it's my turn to give the introductions! My name is Natsu Dragneel-"

"Wait, what's your name?"

the male wolf blinked in surprise and indignation. "What?"

"Your name. It had two parts. Which part is it?"

He stared at her. "Um… well… Fine, just Natsu."

Lunara smirked in amusement. "Okay then, Justnatsu, continue."

He glared at her, then continued his speech. "Natsu Dragneel, second- then again, I never really knew my parents- um, fitfully trained by Igneel the Fire Dragon, educated by Igneel the Fire Dragon, and guarded by Igneel the Fire Dragon."

"Oh, also currently working in Fairy Tail with partner Lucy, best friend Happy, and frenemies Gray and Erza."

"A-also, winner of the King's Cup in the Grand Magic Games. Is that enough or do you need-"

"No, no no! That's enough! But you mentioned that you had a partner."

It dawned on him. "Ooooooooh, you want to meet her?" he frowned. "She's kinda sick from these berries I accidently gave her…"

"No, not meet her! If you have a partner you must state so, as well as how many pups/litters you've had." She leaned in with an odd twinkle in her eye. "Which I assume you've had…?"

'Natsu' stared at her for a second before jumping to his paws. "What? She's not my- I mean- she's a friend- I don't- I'm not- married, or anything…"

Lunara blinked. Married? What does that mean? She shook her head and continued. "So? You are saying she nothing but an acquaintance?"

Natsu nodded. "Friend, too." Lunara raised an eyebrow. "Just a friend?" He gulped. "Well, she's a bit more then a friend- I mean, as in a good friend, but there's actually nothing going on between us." Yet, murmured the clever voice inside her brain. She cleared her throat. "anyway, you mentioned something about her being sick?" Natsu nodded. "I gave her these poisonous berries I didn't recognize, and she started throwing up and-" She darted forward and stared at him intensely. "How long ago did you give her these berries?!" he recoiled in shock. "A-a day ago. Why?"

Lunara's mind raced. A day ago? That was bad. She predicted the she-wolf had twenty-four hours to go, tops. But she didn't tell that to Natsu. He already looked stressed as it was. She concentrated on her thought for a moment before her brain clicked on a plan. "I know a friend who could heal her. She's about half a day's walk away? But we have to hurry."

He nodded. "Please, just save Lucy." She wasn't too surprised by the desperation in his voice. He was probably lying about the bit more then a friend part of his introduction.

They heaved the weak she-wolf onto Natsu's back, and began the walk. The sun was barely scraping the sky when they reached a border in the forest. The lush green plantain stopped abruptly and gave way to dark trees and grimy moss. Fallen logs appeared in their path, and they struggled to get over them. "This is the Border Forest." Murmured Natsu.

After about an hour, it was almost mid-day. Eighteen hours left. They were about to take a break in a clearing when something blotted out the sun. Natsu glanced up. "What is that?"

Lunara's heart pounded in her chest. The shadow swooped over them like a hawk.

"Run."

What? But we were about to take a break!"

"JUST RUN!"

The snarling jaws of a hellhound closed in near her head. Hellhounds were like Skyhowlers, except they were almost always black and red, and they had bat wings instead of feathered ones. They were outcasts of the Skylands, and only dwelled in the deepest, stormiest parts of the clouds. The Skyhowlers rarely made contact with them, so they were frequently used to track down missing fugitives and kill them.

If someone was after her, this could be very bad.

They crashed through the logs and bushes. Amazingly, the female never fell off Natsu's back. They kept running till, all of a sudden, the trees cleared away to a cliff face. The hellhound was still crashing through the trees behind them, but Lunara could tell by the excited snarling that it would soon catch up. Her wings were too small to fly still, but someone else's were.

She turned to Natsu. "Keep running"

"are you crazy?! There's a cliff straight ahead!"

"just trust me!"

He gulped and started bounding towards the cliff. Just as the hellhound leapt from the trees and closed his jaw neatly where she had been standing two seconds earlier, Lunara jumped and landed on Natsu's back beside the female. She began to murmur under her breath.

Each of the stars shall rise

Take your wings to the sky

By the will of the clouds, I guide you

Now Fly!

Natsu's POV

Natsu covered his eyes with his paws. They were going to die. They were going to die, and he would never tell Lucy how he really felt. They would never see Happy again, never see the guild (he would miss that stripper Gray), never see the hopes and dreams he had imagined when they were alone together…

He opened his eyes. Why hadn't they hit the ground? Then it struck him. His wings were out. Lucy and Lunara were still on his back. HE WAS FLYING?!

He stared at the ground below. This had to be a dream. Two seconds later. It wasn't a dream! He had flown with Happy and used his firepower to fly, but never, ever, had he experienced something like this! He howled, a real wolf howl, at the sky.

The spell lasted five minutes.

Soon, all three of them came crashing to the ground. After disentangling themselves from a heap, they checked to make sure Lucy wasn't dead yet, then Lunara led them to a little hut made inside a hollow tree. Natsu froze. This place was familiar…

Lunara did a complicated knock on the door, and it opened. "I met her a couple days ago while I was tracking you." Natsu frowned. "Tracking us?" Lunara gave him a toothy grin. "Yup, that's how I found you. Anyway, she's super nice and a very good healer. She'll be able to heal your mate." Natsu felt his skin under his fur grow warm. "She's not my mate!"

Just then, the woman behind the door spoke up. "And she never will be, if you keep on feeding her poisonous berries like that! I'm ashamed that a member of Fairy Tail could be so foolish!"

Natsu's jaw hit the ground. After this moment from here on in, nothing would surprise him anymore.

Porlyusica smiled. "Funny I should find you here, Natsu Dragneel.

WTF?!

That's it for today! I may take a short break and not update every day cause I HAVE A LIFE TOO, YKNOW?!

Peace!

-KitsuneSOUL