I'm sorry.

That's all I can really say. A mixed up week of lots of assignments due plus my poor preparations for the plot line of this story have resulted in missed days for chapters. I didn't mean it to be this way, but I did a bad job planning out this story. It doesn't help having writer's block either, but then again, that could have been avoided with a more detailed plot line. At least I learned for the next one.

It doesn't forgive not updating, however. My schedule idea was a total flop. I'm not often motivated to write on Fridays because I'm always on Skype with some friends from an hour or two after I get home until I go to bed. Sundays are usually busy with homework and other things. Tuesdays are a good day for weekday writing. Although I thought it'd work, it obviously didn't.

I'm not entirely sure what my schedule will be going forward, so please be flexible for the next week until I get everything under control. Don't worry, you'll have 3 chapters a week at the least.

I hate to keep you waiting, I know I've been really bad with the frequency of updates on this story. I didn't mean to miss a decent amount of upload dates, and hopefully I can get a schedule that works by the end of this week. I'll have more news later in the week on what to expect going forward. Until then, please stick around.

I think my biggest problem overall was the poor preparations for this story. I'm not cancelling it, nor am I going to put less effort into it. No, I'm definitely going to put MORE effort in because I need to. You most likely won't see this happening ever again if I take the proper steps to avoid this. But this does mean the gap after finishing one story and starting another will increase by 3 to 5 days for me to finalize the plot.

I still have a whole bunch of PMs to answer that have been sitting in my inbox for a month now. I feel incredibly guilty not answering them, especially because I stopped right in the middle of the conversation. I'll try to get responses up to those too.

If you're reading this, thank you for sticking around. It really means that much that you'd stick around even though I've been inconsistent on multiple occasions with this story. I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I hope you enjoy the rest of it. I still have quite a bit to go, but thankfully I have so many days off next week, so I can probably mass-produce chapters for you.

Thanks bluerainst0rm, orionXD, Esme Alexis, Ice and Thunder, and Candy5554 for reviewing.

Another month has passed, and today is a special day. It's Lucy's 11th birthday! I have to get her something good today, but I can't think of anything. I don't ever have time to look for her present because when I'm not around Laxus, I'm always with Lucy, all the time. We don't ever go anywhere without each other. Especially since I finished Laxus' training a few weeks ago. I don't have any time where I'm away from Lucy.

Of course, I still see Laxus because I live with him. I'm just done learning all of the training techniques to defend Lucy, which is really awesome. I can't believe that I was able to learn every single one of them! Laxus says it's because I'm a Dragon Slayer and that Dragon Slayers naturally have faster refilling energy than most.

Since I didn't have time to run out and buy Lucy a gift, I'll let her choose something for her birthday instead. I'm upset I couldn't surprise her with something awesome, but at least she'll get it in the end. Something is better than nothing, right?

I want to get up early so that I can wake her to go shopping. I'll give her as much of the day as I can to get what she wants. It's the least I can do for her since I don't have anything for her.

When I get out of bed, I make sure not to disturb Lucy. I quickly change and tell Laxus my plans for the day before going back to our room. As I enter the doorway to our room, I remember the money that I'll need to buy her gift. I quickly grab a whole bunch out of our bag. Putting it in a pocket, I return to our room. I gently nudge her.

I whisper softly, "Hey Lucy, Lucy... Wake up sleepy."

"Mhmmmm...Not now." She responds.

"Well you have to get up now, Lucy..." I say a little louder.

"Why? It's not like we have anything to do today. It's just another day." She asks sleepily.

"Actually we do! And it's not just another day! It's very important Lucy!" I tell her.

"Okay fine. I'm getting up." She says as she slowly rises from her bed. I smile, showing her that I'm really excited.

When we're both out of the apartment, it's around 10:00A.M., which gives me more than enough time to find Lucy a present. I still don't know what to get her. She likes constellations and basically everything space. She likes exploration, but also home. Her favorite color is blue, although based on her things at the castle, pink looks like a close second. Her favorite season is summer, although I don't exactly know why. Maybe she likes the warm temperatures more. I'm not sure what I should get Lucy, all I know is that I have the whole day to do so.

As we're walking down the street, Lucy begins to question where we're going. I forgot to tell her what we're going to do today.

"Umm... Natsu? Where are we going?" Lucy asks.

"Well, shopping." I admit.

"Shopping? You hate shopping! What's the occasion, huh Natsu?" She asks.

"Nothing special." I answer. I'm not sure if she knows that today is July 1st. She hasn't really been keeping up with a calender. Hopefully she doesn't realize it because then I could surprise her.

"Oh okay. So what do you plan on getting?" She questions.

"Not sure. I'll see as I go along." I reply.

"Okay." She says.

I grab Lucy's hand in mine, so that I don't lose her while I look at the windows. I see lots of souvenirs, and I get an idea as to what I want to get Lucy. I figure that Lucy would want something to remind her of her travels. I'm sure one day she'll look back on these days happily, and when that happens, I want her to have something to remember it by. Something that she'll love not only for reminding her of Hargeon, but something that she'd use anyways.

I pass by a clothing store, and consider buying her some, but I remember that she'd either outgrow it, or have to wait until she's older to wear it. I want to get her something that would last her forever! I want it to be something she can see when she wakes up, something she can use throughout her life, and something that she could see in her last moments.

I try to think of something that would last for a long time. I doubt there are many magic shops in this town due to increase in crime, so I can't get her a celestial key. I think that it's probably better if I go for something non-magical. But what's magical that lasts a long time?

We pass a few more stores, and I glance over to Lucy and back to the stores. I wonder what she'd want. She'd definitely want something that I put a lot of time into. But then it wouldn't really be buying a gift, would it? Aghhhh! Gifts are so confusing!

But the only thing that I can think of that's long lasting is jewelry, so maybe I could get her some of that. Although, she probably has tons back in the castle. But I can't be too picky. I need to get her something today.

A look a few stores on my left, and notice that there's a jewelry store pretty close by. When I'm right next to it, I give Lucy's arm a slight tug as to tell her that I want to go inside of the store.

"Jewelry? What's this possibly for?" She asks.

"I don't know. There aren't a lot of magic shops in Hargeon so maybe the jewelry stores have some ring magic or something." I answer.

"Oh okay." She says.

I look around, at all the different jewels. Lucy likes when people put a lot of thought into things. Maybe if I got her gems with her favorite color. Or what about her hair color? Or mine! I'll get her gems with my hair color, so that she remembers me whenever she looks at them.

I walk up to the counter, and the man asks me what I'd like. I tell him that I want some pink gems that are of high quality. He leaves for a minute or two.

"So what do pink gemstones have to do with magic, Natsu?" Lucy asks. "You sure you're okay?"

"Of course Lucy! Why wouldn't I be?" I answer.

"Okay." She says giggling.

"Why are you giggling?" I ask.

"No... it's nothing." She responds, still giggling.

The man comes back and shows me the different types. I see a few cool ones that would make a nice ring, but the ones that I think Lucy would like the most would definitely be the rectangular prisms with rounded edges. They'd make a cool necklace, maybe with some gold chain to keep them together. I just realized that gold would be really awesome for Lucy's hair color!

I ask for the pink gemstones with thin gold chaining to connect the individual gems. I ask for a small amount of gold as well. I could probably make something cool that would make her happy for being creative with my present. I'm sure she'd love it.

The cost was ridiculous though. It took a quarter of the total money we have to buy that! Maybe I did go overboard. Well this one could be good for the next few years then.

"Where to next?" She asks.

"Home?" I respond.

"So you left home to buy some gemstones? No other reason?" She questions.

"Pretty much." I lie, hoping not to reveal that I'm buying her the birthday present that she deserves.

"You're seriously weird today Natsu. Are you sure that you're my Natsu?" She asks.

"Whose else would I be?" I answer.

"Do you even know what that means?" She asks.

"I'm fully aware." I respond.

"Okay then." She says, smiling.

I think she's okay with us going back to the apartment, because she doesn't show any complaints when I start walking her there. Shortly afterward when we get there, I go into the main room, and get to working on the gold I bought. Lucy watches me for a bit, but she gets bored and gets up to read one of her books. I don't know why a book would be more interesting than what I'm doing, but I'm not going to stop her. A little more for the surprise.

I forgot to think of something to make, so I decide to just roll with it. I have Fire Dragon Slayer Magic so I can always start over if I screw up. I'm not exactly sure what I'm making until I'm pretty close towards completion. When I move my hands away and stare at it, I can clearly see the dragon that I've made. A mighty dragon that looks a lot like Igneel, or what I remember Igneel to look like.

I'm content with my dragon, which actually looks pretty dang realistic. I ask Laxus what he thinks of it, and Laxus says it looks great too! I carefully go back to the main room and attach it to the rest of the necklace using my magic. Now I have a pretty cool dragon necklace for Lucy's birthday! Even if it was expensive, it's definitely worth it for Lucy. Anything is worth it for Lucy.

I don't know if I should give it to her now, or wait until later. I decide to wait until later, so I slip it into my pocket, and ask Lucy if she wants to go eat lunch.

"You eat lunch at 6:00?" She asks.

"What the hell? No way it's that late!" I say, shocked.

"It's 6:05P.M. right now, Natsu. What have you been doing all this time?" She questions.

"Oh nothing... Anyways, want to get dinner?" I ask, hoping to change the subject.

"Sure, but I thought you were coming here to ask me if I wanted to go get lunch with you." She says.

"Shut up." I grumble. Lucy giggles.

"Jeez you're such a big softy, it's not like I mean it seriously." Lucy says.

"Whatever." I respond. "Be ready soon."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you want, Natsu." Lucy tells me.

Lucy gets up and grabs her shoes, and we walk down towards the streets, so that we can find a place to eat dinner. I don't really care where we eat as long as we eat, but it's Lucy's birthday so I have to make this day extremely special for her.

We end up eating Italian food, which Lucy tends to like. I'm basically indifferent when it comes to food. But rather than eating dinner like I probably should have, I kept thinking about when I should give Lucy her gift. I don't know how to give it to her. Should I be blunt and tell her Happy Birthday? I think I should apologize for making her gift today, and then give it to her. She'd probably like that. I'll wait until I get back into the room. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

We walk back, holding hands like we usually do, and I look up at the stars. I wonder if Igneel is looking up at them too, wondering where I am. Maybe Jude is doing the same for Lucy right now. We're both looking for our fathers, aren't we?

I try to clear that thought from my mind, because today is supposed to be a happy day, not a sad one! As we reenter the apartment, I put my hands in my pocket to make sure the necklace is still there. I slowly pull it out and hold it in my hand for Lucy to see. She smiles brightly at it.

"Oh... So that's what you were planning today..." She thinks aloud.

"Yup. Well today is very special day, you know." I remind her.

"Of course I know that! Who doesn't know their own birthday? I was just wondering if you knew my birthday, that's all." She says defensively.

"Why wouldn't I?" I ask with a smile.

"I don't know, is my birthday that important?" She asks.

"To me it is, Lucy. That's why I made you this necklace today." I answer.

"Thanks Natsu." She says, hugging me. A few seconds later she asks, "But didn't this cost you a lot of money?"

"Maybe." I reply.

"WHAT?!" She shouts. "Please tell me you didn't spend all of our money on this. I mean I love the necklace and it looks amazing but we still need that money to travel home."

"Don't worry, I didn't. And besides, you're worth more than that to me." I respond.

"I never knew my dragon could be so cheesy." Lucy jokes.

I decide not to say anything more, and put the necklace on her. It fits nicely, and I'm glad that she likes it. I watch her as she goes over to the mirror and looks at herself wearing it. She seems to like it, because I can tell that none of the smiles she's making are forced at all. She looks so ecstatic! Her happiness is contagious, and begin to feel just like her, except that I'm really happy because she likes the gift so much.

A few minutes later, I walk into our shared room and lie down, wondering what I'm going to do for the next month. I officially have 1 month until it's time to go. Maybe I could spend more time with Laxus just before we both head off.

"So why did you choose a dragon?" Lucy asks out of the blue.

"Because your dragon will always protect you, from the day he met you." I answer.

"But the dragon is represented in the pink-

"And the princess in the gold. It's the princess and the dragon, right?" I ask her with a smile.

"That's the only way it could be." She answers.

Right before we go to bed, I want to ask Lucy if she liked her birthday. I didn't really do much, other than take her to a jewelry store, make her a necklace, and take her out for some dinner.

"Hey Lucy?" I ask.

"Yeah, what is it Natsu?" She answers.

"Did you like your birthday?" I ask.

"Well, you did the nicest thing someone has ever done for me Natsu. I got to spend the whole day with you. I definitely enjoyed my birthday." She replies. I smile at her, and she smiles at me. I tilt my head back to facing up when something crazy happens.

Lucy kisses me on the cheek!