Disclaimer: We all know we wished we owed Fairy Tail, but the honor belongs to none other than the great Hiro M.

Chapter 9

Lucy stumbled blindly in the East forest, or at least what she hoped was the east forest. Since it was outside of Magnolia, Lucy had been on alert ever since she stepped of the train platform. She hoped Natsu wouldn't be here or else he would be able to track her through scent. As an extra precaution she had sprayed an ungodly amount of perfume on herself (the type that Natsu hated) and wished for the best. Now after two weeks, she still didn't know where she was going outside of Magnolia.

Damn, I should have paid more attention last time we came. It has already been two weeks! How does Porlyusica hid herself so well. Damn. I have to talk to her and get back home soon or else Shunko and Saku will worry.

Lucy thought darkly as she tripped over a tree branch. So far, the forest was relatively peaceful with small squirrels and bunnies running around. However, Lucy was still cautious of the most dangerous predator in the forest. The Vulcans. Natsu was with her last time, but this time, she was just by herself. It made her fearful but also excited to see how far she grew during the past year with Saku. It would be the first real battle she had since leaving Fairy Tail. It would be her first battle to use Spirit Magic in.

Despite her anticipation however, she was still stuck in her current dilemma. She had no idea how to get to Porlyusica's house or where it was.

"Damn it! I give up!" Lucy screamed and kicked a tree. The birds in the branches all dispersed in a flurry of squawks. Suddenly, Lucy heard a crash and thudding footsteps going in her direction. In fact, the amount of footsteps led her to believe that there were more than one person or thing coming towards her. Lucy hid herself in the bushes and waited.

Soon enough, a group of Vulcans arrived at the spot where Lucy kicked the tree. The chattered aimlessly amongst themselves but did not see to be leaving anytime soon. It was strange seeing Vulcans traveling in a group since her previous encounters with them were all with solo Vulcans, but Lucy thought the best course of action was to retreat for a while. Of course, she really did want to try her magic but taking on a group of monsters on her first time was a bit too much of a risk for her liking.

Saku was so right that Shunko wasn't ready. By now, I wouldn't be surprised if he was bawling his yes out alerting everyone of where we are.

She chuckled quietly as she began backing away. A twig snapped and the Vulcans focused their attention on her hiding spot as they slowly approached.

"Oh No, no, no, no." Lucy muttered. As she tried to back away faster. It wasn't working and she gave up and began sprinting instead.

One of the Vulcans spotted her and screamed.

"WOMAN! BREASTS!"

The other Vulcans snapped their attention onto her, a perverted look taking over their face. Lucy clenched her jaws, her face a mask of determination. If these Vulcans never learned … well they got what's coming for them then.

Lucy reached inside herself and created her flame again. This time when she used magic, she created her flame in the shape of a whip. Unlike her fleur d' etoile, this whip was made out of pure golden flame and Lucy could freely extend it or retract it. In fact recently, she learned that her Spirit Magic was a lot like Erza's ex-quip. She could also form armor with her magic except it didn't give her any special attributes like Erza's armor did. Her spirit armor just protects her like a regular armor. Theoretically, Lucy could also transform her opponent's magic to her own through the contact between her own magic – in this case, her armor – and theirs but she hasn't quite mastered how to do that yet.

Feeling the familiar feeling of her magic coating around her and the whip around her hands, Lucy prepared herself for the attack. One of the Vulcans lashed out and Lucy swung her whip to hit him fairly across the chest. The Vulcan stepped back and moaned before falling unconscious on his back, a dark, red, gash appearing in his chest.

The other Vulcans looked at their fallen companion and began grunting amongst themselves. The stranger had hurt on of their own, and the whole tribe was feeling vengeful.

They all attacked at once. Lucy flicked her whip back and forth between them. She was actually able to keep up with all the Vulcans for a while. When she finally felt the pressure of the magical drain, Lucy quickly strengthened her whip and viciously attacked the Vulcans. She was finally able to take a breath when all of them laid across the ground, unconscious and sporting some nasty wounds.

Lucy took stepped across the bodies and quickly made her way across the battle. Daylight was fading and night would soon be here. Her battle was longer than she anticipated but Lucy was glad she was able to hold her ground against the Vulcans. Spotting a easily climbable tree, Lucy climbed up and tried to make herself comfortable amongst the branches. Certainly it was not as comfortable as her bed at all, but beggars can't be choosers. The blond quickly fell into a dreamless sleep as exhaustion from the day overtook her.

~ Small village somewhere ~

Natsu groaned as he walked around the new village. After he ate a bite at the inn, he went around the market asking if there were any mage in the village that could help him break the curse. There wasn't any mages here, just a person who taught at a martial arts dojo. However, he did hear about an old woman well versed in medicine who lived at the edge of the village. But the bad news was that the old man who had told him that also told him the same old lady could be quite vicious to those she did not like and also stopped practicing medicine years ago. In retrospect, Natsu wondered if he should have just gone to Porlyusica. But from recent news, Porlyusica has stated that she wanted no visitors in her forest and that they would be kicked out if she found them. Knowing her temperament, Natsu felt that it would do more harm than good to actually visit her.

He was walking near the edge of town around the forest looking for the house of the old lady when he heard a small rustle in the bushes. Cautious, but mainly curious, Natsu went to investigate. He found a small child huddled up besides the tree crying silently. Natsu was slightly surprised that he couldn't smell him earlier. The child gave off a very faint scent, unnaturally so as if something was suppressing it. Natsu's mind would have gone off and wondered at the possibilities but he also had more pressing matters to attend to like why was a kid crying by the edge of a forest.

"Hey kid, are you okay?"

The child jumped in surprise, his crying momentarily forgotten at the arrival of the stranger. He was mostly covered in the shadows so Natsu couldn't see what the kid looked like clearly. When he saw that it was Natsu, the child began crying again, this time bawling his eyes out and wailing. Natsu was beginning to panic. He never had to deal with a kid before. Sure, he took care of Happy, but Happy was a cat and cats knew how to take care of themselves for the most part. Natsu rummaged around hi bag to see if he happened to have candy or food to give to the kid. Food always made him happy, he figured it should make the kid happy too.

Coming out with no luck, Natsu sighed. He didn't want to leave the kid alone, but the kid didn't seem like he was going to stop crying anytime soon. Natsu really wanted to bring the kid into town but having a kid crying by you when you have no relation whatsoever with them doesn't really give off a good vibe. Natsu flopped down onto the ground and stared at the kid.

"Where are your parents?" He asked. The kid continued crying as if he didn't hear him, if he did, he gave no response.

Natsu sighed again and resigned him to babysitting a strange kid by the edge of the forest. He supposed that he could leave him there, but the situation reminded him too much of himself when Igneel disappeared and he was in the forest alone.

Out of boredom, Natsu created small balls of fire on his fingertips and began playing with them. He thought about Lucy and what he could do to bring her back. With every day that passed without her, the void in his heart grew bigger. Now that he realized how important she was to him, he wanted to yell at his past self for ever letting her go.

"Mister, you have pretty too!" The boy was no longer crying. Instead, he stared at Natsu's flames with apt interest.

"Yeah, I learned them from a dragon. I'm a dragonslayer. By the way these are called flames, not pretty. Calling it pretty makes it sound childish. You should call it … hmm…" Natsu thought for a moment, "Dragon Fire!"

"Oh." The kid's face fell. "That's not cool."

"What do you mean that's not cool? Dragons are awesome!" Natsu retorted

"But mommy doesn't like dragons. Whenever she talks about dragons in my bedtime stories, mommy gets sad. I don't like things that make mommy sad." The child huffed.

Natsu frowned. "Well, if that dragon made your mom sad, that must be a very bad dragon. I promise, my dragon is super nice. I bet your mommy would be happy if she met him."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

The kid smiled, but his face soon looked troubled again.

"But mommy won't be able to meet your dragon Mister. She's gone. Whenever I ask, they say that she will be back soon, but they never say when."

Natsu felt a pain in his heart. So the kid was like him, someone without family. He gave the kid a reassuring grin.

"You know what? I promise I will help you find your mom. No matter what. So you can just rest easy and be assured that she will be back someday. What is your name?"

"Shunko."

"My name is Natsu. How about I get you back to the village, and we try to find your mom there?" Natsu suggested and offered his hand.

Shunko gave a small nod and took his hand. As Natsu stepped in the light, he noticed the unusual hair coloring of the kid. It was … peachy with a lock of black hair. It was unusual to meet other people with this color but Natsu thought it was interesting.

As they walked back to the village, Natsu began telling Shunko about all the adventures he and Lucy had. Although Shunko didn't understand some of the things the dragonslayer rambled about, he walked and listened with his full attention.

A/N: So Sorry for the late update. I'm finally in college! This is the first week, and Monday was the first day of classes which is why this was delayed. Anyways, for my very observant readers who picked up hints about Shunko's identity that Natsu didn't pick up on, I'm going to say yes, it is on purpose. So look forward to the next chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, hoped you enjoyed it.