It was reckless of me, but I was pushed on by some unseen force, this embodiment of passion, to lean forward and press my lips against his.

He was sculpted, sculpted to the T. Glistening muscles that rippled at the slightest touch, chiseled jaw with a breath taking smile, a scent that made my mouth water and a voice that could send my heart beating a thousands times per second and stop it all at the same time.

I was wearing a bikini for some weird reason, which made this all the more reckless, the feel of those strong arms pressed against my back just sent shockwaves rippling through my body, the absolutely delectable feeling only making me arch my back into his body, until we were molded together.

He had warm, soft lips against my own, a devious, delicious tongue playfully flicking at my own, and an overwhelming feeling that I was safe.

That I was home.

It was always in these dreams that I thought I could live in forever, the thought of someone waking me up from these dreams completely appalled me. I would never want to wake up.

It was weird, because always in the dream, I knew exactly who he was. I always knew every nook and cranny on his body, every detail of his life that he allowed me to know, I knew him completely.

But when I would wake, the name, the face, slipped from my mind, and I was left with no notion, not even the slightest indication, of who my prince charming was, who those heavenly lips and touches belonged to.

In any event, that's how I woke up from my dream. I was rudely woken up by Happy, who had landed on my head.

I sighed and opened my eyes, looking out at the world, my nose immediately engulfed in a musky, cinnamon ash type smell.

"Are we there yet, Natsu?" I asked from my position on his back.

He turned back to look at me, "We're in Hargeon, so almost. Can you get off now, Luce?"

I nodded and hopped off of his back, chuckling when he stretched a bit and cracked his neck.

Before we left, I had been feeling a bit sleepy, so I had conned Natsu into carrying me to the Port City, telling him that he owed me for causing me so much stress over the S-class job and whatnot.

Of course, he fell for it.

Which resulted in a Natsu ride for me.

We walked on in silence, the shops drifting slowly by as we paced ourselves.

"So, a cursed island, huh?" I asked. "What are the details on this?"

I could almost feel him roll his eyes, "Luce, you never read the job flyers do you?"

I shrugged and clasped my hands behind my back. "It's not like I have to. You always read them."

He gave a weird smile at that then proceeded to tell me the mission details.

We basically had to try and figure out how to lift a curse and then he told me the mission's reward again, but included one detail I hadn't heard of up until that point: I would get a Celestial Key as my reward.

It was perfect!

I grinned the rest of the way, at least until Natsu, Happy and I reached the salty port, where I stopped right in my tracks and reached over to hold Natsu by the back of his shirt when he made a move to dive into the water.

"Luce!" he complained loudly. "Why are you holding me back? Don't tell me you want to find a boat?"

Happy hovered over to my shoulder and sat down. "What other option do we have?" I asked sarcastically. "Swimming is out of the question—"

"Why?"

"Because there's no way I'm getting into murky, potentially shark infested waters, where both of our magic is rendered practically useless. So, our only option, whether we like it or not, is to find a boat to get to Galuna Island, and have Happy look over us while we collapse from motion sickness," I reasoned, nodding to myself.

Natsu could only quirk a pink eyebrow at me and cross his arms over his muscular chest. "Fine."

"How did this happen, how did this happen how did this happen?" I mumbled under my breath, bemoaning the day we allowed Gray to come with us.

I didn't know at what point he decided it was perfectly fine to escort his exhibitionist ass over to where we were and then just dandily decide that we needed his help.

At first, he tried to swing it as, "Master wants you all to return!" and then he tried to tell us "You might be kicked out of the guild" but in the end, we somehow ended up on Galuna island along with him. I have no idea how the hell it happened, I really don't.

"Erza's going to kill you guys," I mumbled while shaking my head and trudging ahead of Natsu, Happy and Gray.

"EH?" they all said in unison, losing all visible color.

"L-Luce, what makes you the exception? Why wouldn't she kill you?" Natsu asked, trembling.

I turned my nose up and sniffed, "Because there's no way in hell that woman would be able to vanquish me in a fight, I would never fall to such a weak opponent."

There was a beat of silence.

And then all three burst into roaring laughter.

I waited a full minute before I turned on them and punched them all at once into the sky, leaving only a small twinkle as any note that they had been banished by me, the almighty Celestial Dragon Slayer.

The end of the mission for me came rather abruptly. I went to sleep that night, but for some reason, I blacked out?

I wrapped my arms around my middle as we set foot in Hargeon Port again and Natsu raced ahead of everyone.

How the hell had this happened?

One minute, I was punching everyone's lights out, the next, we were returning from Galuna Island, a new spirit key was in my pocket, Erza was accompanying us, and all three were congratulating me for things I never remembered I did.

I shuffled my feet after them quietly, behind all of them. I shifted my eyes from person to person, noting that they hadn't noticed anything wrong. Occasionally, one of them would try and make me join in, or make some such comment about my fighting style and I would just nod my head then give them a faint smile.

I could only try and reflect on my situation.

Everything felt the same, yet not.

The scent of everything felt…off.

The strong scent of ginger and curry and cumin were far beyond my senses, they felt dull, almost like a mild tickling in my nose rather than how the roar that they were.

Sounds were muffled to some extent, and I had to struggle to hear a conversation across the street.

I grabbed my dragon-scale belt and rubbed my thumb over it, wondering what the hell was wrong.

"Lucy, where are you going?" Natsu asked me, flashing me a brilliant smile when I made to move in the direction of our house instead of the Guildhall as we arrived in Magnolia.

Happy hovered around his shoulders.

I shook my head and limply raised my hand to wave him off, "I'm going home, and you go on ahead."

He shrugged and nodded, then ran in the direction of the guild.

There was no rational reason for me to have such symptoms, I had never gotten sick, not once. I was pretty sure it had to do with being a slayer, but I wasn't sure. So if I had this inborn immunity, then why the hell was I feeling like such complete and utter crap?

It took me a while to do all the usual maneuvering around to get to the house, and when I got there, I didn't even have the strength to open the door and climb inside. I just sort of flopped uselessly onto the welcoming matt and closed my eyes.

And I could only resort to wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

It was near nighttime when I heard people tromping through the forest that led to Natsu's house, but I couldn't do much more than squint my eyes open pathetically. There was sweat on my forehead I could feel it, and the back of my throat felt as if a colony of phlegm gremlins had made a new home there.

And I didn't even have the energy to move away the blonde hair that was pasted to my forehead like a morbid second skin.

"What the—LUCY WHAT'S WRONG?" went the booming voice of Natsu as he ran over, a chorus of other steps and voices following him.

It was seconds later that I felt myself scooped up from the ground, my head flopping forward uselessly so that my chin was against my chest, warm muscular arms supporting my back and holding my legs up as Natsu carried me inside bridal style, absolutely freaking out.

If I hadn't looked so pathetic at that moment, I might have teased him relentlessly.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Gray asked, probably turning to Erza, whose clinking metal armor was unmistakable.

"I don't know. Maybe Phantom Lord poisoned her?"

I tried to shake my head and say no, but to my horror, only a moaning "Nnnnggh" came out.

Natsu, though, got the picture as he settled me down on the small couch in the house.

"No, she left to the house before we even saw the guildhall completely destroyed. And she's been a bit off since we returned," he said, putting a hand on my forehead then snatching it back and running off somewhere when he probably felt how my forehead was hot.

Strange though since I was freezing and trembling from the cold feeling that enveloped my body like a cruel blanket.

"Hm, do you think that somehow our time on Galuna Island affected her?" Erza asked no one in particular.

I felt a ball of fur land on my stomach, "Haaa-ppy," I mumbled.

"Luce, be quiet," Natsu said, having returned and sounding much more calm then before. I heard a strange drippy-plopping sound, before a wet washcloth was placed upon my head. "You're probably just having a Dragon Fever, it happens every once in a while if you don't eat your element often enough."

At this he sounded a bit grumpy, his hand finding my wrist and squeezing it, "When was the last time you ate your element?"

I shrugged as best I could, "T-t-t-two w-w-weeks?"

"Huh? I didn't know such an illness existed," Erza said, presumably crossing her arms.

"Yeah, Flame-brain, and why have we only heard about it now, considering we've known you for so long," Gray added.

Happy cuddled closer to my face, his tail swishing and tickling my bare, grass-stained belly. My lips twitched up a bit.

Natsu sighed and let go of me, from the sound of it, plopping down on the floor by the couch, his spiky hair brushing against my hand. "Because, it's not something Dragon Slayers like everyone to know. If everyone knew that Dragon Fever existed, then all Dragon Slayers would be dead. The symptoms are enough to kill you; amnesia, dulled senses, loss of energy, fever, until the body itself starts shutting down."

Silence.

"How the hell did you remember all of that?" Gray asked sounding pretty dumbfounded.

"Igneel made me memorize it when I was younger. He said 'What good would my teaching do if you're dead?'"

I could have laughed, it sounded like something Stelliana would say.

"Anyways, Lucy, for your magic what do you eat?" Natsu asked, turning to me. I squinted my eyes open and glanced at him, seeing the concerned glint in his dark eyes.

I swallowed, licked my lips and said as clearly as I could, "Earth. Rocks. Dirt."

And then I kind of fell back asleep.

I had never intended to be so pathetic. When did I warrant such behavior?

Forgetting to eat…that was the mistake of a small child, not me.

In my dreamscape, I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my knees, heat building behind my eyes. Why was it that no matter what I did, I was still so incredibly weak and stupid?

There were any number of instances in my life where I could have done something different and actually have made myself better, but what I ended up doing was making myself weaker.

I glanced up in my dreamscape, noting that my Prince-charming was approaching.

I only turned my head away and was met with the amber eyes of Stelliana.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked me, hands on her hips. "Get up off your ass and smooch that boy like you always do."

"No," I mumbled, not even questioning why the dragon was in my mind, it was a dream after all, anything could happen.

"You're so damn stupid, Lu-tan, get up and smooch him. It'll make ya better, I promise," she said, leaning back against a tree that had magically appeared, crossing her arms under her ample breasts staring straight ahead.

"I'd kiss him if I could," I mumbled, still not even looking in the direction of mister Charming. "But it's not like I'll remember him once I wake up."

Stelliana rolled her eyes, "Sometimes, you really are stupid. Look, I'm going to answer all of your questions right now, since you're too preoccupied with self-pity over there, Miss Heartfilia. When have you been pathetic? You're pathetic only when you let yourself get into these stupid moods. Why are you incredibly weak? You're damn blind, kid; you're stronger than most wizards I have ever known. Why are you stupid? Now that one, I really don't know about. You've always been my stupid son."

She shrugged, closing her eyes.

I sighed, and then looked at the ground in front of me, noticing that a pair of familiar sandals was in front of me. I blinked twice, and was about to crane my neck up to see that the feet belonged to before I was completely wrenched from the dreamscape, my only hint was a flash of black.

I woke up groggily, finding myself in my hammock next to Natsu's, my hair fanned across my starry pillow. I pushed myself up gingerly, noting the aches in my body.

Sighing, I looked around, twitching a bit when I saw Erza and Gray lying on the ground on sleeping bags. Why were they here again?

And more importantly, were they going to mess up all of my hard work?

I hopped off of the Hammock; my limbs wobbly like a newborn foal. I scooted my butt on over to the front door, and stepped out to sit on the stoop.

My dream…why did I have a feeling that Stelliana was in it?

I wrung my hands out, staring at the tree line, and then a little bit afterwards, I heard someone wake up and start fumbling around in the house. A few minutes later, the front door opened behind me and someone slipped out to sit next to me.

I didn't turn to look at them, just kept my eyes on the dark crevices of the tree.

"Luce, are you alright?" Natsu asked me, his hand landing on my bare shoulder.

All I could do was nod, "I guess. I don't feel sick anymore, at least physically."

He scooted closer to me and slung his arm around my shoulder, "Yeah. I got Dragon Fever right after Igneel left, I was so focused on finding him that I wouldn't eat, so I know what you mean. You just feel down, am I right?" he asked me.

"Yeah, pretty much," I said, turning to look at him. Natsu wasn't as big an idiot as he usually made himself out to be. He was an idiot, but he was also pretty damn smart when he wanted to be.

"You have to be more careful, okay?" he said, with a somewhat sad somewhat angry tone of voice. "The guildhall got destroyed yesterday while we were gone."

My jaw dropped.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't completely sad from the way his other fist was clenching, the tendons straining below his skin.

"Who did it?" I asked, my eyes wide, and my body tensing up.

He was silent for a minute, but then I saw the tell tale flames of anger start flickering around his fingers, then his entire right hand was engulfed in flames. "Phantom Lord."