AN: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to update I promise I'll try and update this fic quicker with the next couple chapters. I can focus on them a little more now that Housekeeper is done xD Hope you enjoy this chapter and continue to enjoy the fic. As always please comment/review and let us know what you think! Hopefully for those of you who like our fics we can get another surprise out to you soon too :) Thanks for the continued support!

Lucy sighed pleasurably. Nothing beat having a nice relaxing shower in nature. She had found a beautiful secluded waterfall and decided to bathe in it. It had been awhile and she wanted to make sure she was clean since Wendy was kind enough to modify and give Lucy one of her dresses. Lucy felt bad knowing that their body types were quite different and so figured Wendy had to do quite a bit of adjusting. Sure there were other female hybrids but seeing as dragons were possessive creatures, her chance at getting new clothes was close to zero. It was kind of Wendy to let her borrow a dress. She thought back to when Wendy had stopped by this morning. While happy to give Lucy something, she noticed that the young hybrid looked a bit dejected and kept stealing glances at Lucy's chest when giving her the dress. Poor Wendy. She thought about the top that Natsu had given her to wear when they first arrived. Yeah he had ripped her dress, a memory that made Lucy frown and grumble, so he better had given her something to wear. Lucy wondered, though, why Natsu had gotten grumpy when Wendy stopped by and offered her the dress. He had kind of been against it and it puzzled her. Finally, though, she and Wendy had convinced Natsu that his vest wasn't enough for her.

Lucy finished with her morning bath and began to wade toward her clothes that sat on a rock surface nearby. Suddenly she begins to hear rustling sounds coming from jungle around her. She looked around quickly looking for the source of the noise and crossed her arms across her chest, covering her breasts. She shouted out for whoever was there to show themselves. Seconds later Natsu pops out from the treeline and lands in front of her near the edge of the water.

"Yo."

"Kyaaahhhhh!" she yells out at the sudden intrusion, dropping down so that she was immersed to her neck in the water.

"You really shouldn't be so scared, but you're weird so I guess it can't be helped." he said snickering.

"I'm the weird one?! I'm not the one walking in on you taking a bath!" she said angrily rising from the water and moving toward him.

"Yeah but you want to." he smirked and her face flushed red.

"N-no I don't! Shut up you weirdo!" she spouted back. "Why are you here anyway? I'm naked, is there no privacy here?"

They were now just inches apart as she had moved forward again. The way Natsu crouched down on his knees, combined with the spot Lucy was standing in, it being more shallow near the edge, allowed for them to be face to face. Natsu's eyes trailed down from her face, past her breasts, which she had somehow managed to unconsciously cover. His eyes followed the trails of water that dripped down her stomach, allowing him to see just how soft, how perfect her skin was, once again. They followed down to where the droplets met the water again, the waterline stopping a few inches below her navel forbidding him to see her entirely. He swallowed hard as his eyes lingered on the area just below her navel, before the waterline. He found himself suddenly wanting to lick the water off of her stomach.

Natsu's sudden distraction did not go unnoticed by Lucy. She frowned wondering what could be so interesting as to grab his attention so easily. She look at him curiously and follows his gaze, realizing it was still aimed at or near her. That's when she looked down and realized that at some point she had raised, almost completely and dangerously, out of the water.

"P-pervert!" she squeaked covering herself more with her arms and turning away from him.

"Pervert?" Natsu asked amused by her embarrassment. "I'm not the one stark naked."

"Hey! Yo-"

"Quiet!" Natsu said seriously before looking around and Lucy pouted, still covering herself but listened. He sniffed the air and listened for what he had heard seconds ago, someone was coming.

"Hey." Sting smiled landing a few feet to Natsu's right, Lucy squeaking in surprise.

"Hey man." Natsu says looking at him. "What's up?"

"You're gonna miss training with the others." he tells Natsu, who simply nods.

Training? As in dragon training? Lucy perked up at hearing about their training. She was curious about it. Sure she would LOVE to see them training. But would they even let her? What if it was a secret? Or maybe it was something sacred to them? That would mean she'd never be allowed to see them training or doing other dragon-y things. The boys heard a sound of frustration come from the blonde. They both turned to her to see her with her hands on her head, a look of concentration on her face and her breasts exposed for both boys to see. They had no idea what was wrong with her and right now, Natsu didn't care as he was distracted by...other things. That's when he realized something and he looked over at Sting who was looking at Lucy also, a look of curiosity on his face. Natsu got annoyed and dropped down into the water walking toward Lucy. He stops right in front of her and she looks up at him curiously. He slightly bent forward and cupped her breasts in his hand, immediately realizing he liked the feel of them.

"What the hell are you doing?" she squeaked , her face she was sure was as red as Erza's hair.

"I'm covering you up." He says nonchalantly and then glares at Sting, who laughed nervously, realizing what he had been looking at. He immediately understood Natsu's actions, knowing how possessive dragons were of their 'belongings'.

"Sorry. We'll wait for you at the training grounds." Sting said cautiously before leaving in a hurry.

Natsu was still annoyed at Sting having seen something he shouldn't of. Lucy looked down with a frown at his hands still covering his breasts, though it wasn't the worst feeling. "How long are you gonna keep doing that?!" she asked in annoyance, her eye twitching slightly.

Before he knew it he was slapped on the face AGAIN. Boy this girl was violent. Natsu growled softly but saw the look of anger and embarrassment on her face and decided to let it go. He turned from her in annoyance as he rubbed his cheek. He walked out of the water with his back to her giving her privacy.

"Just get ready." he said. She followed him out making sure he kept his back to her but was confused by his words.

"Why?" Lucy asked as she grabbed the dress Wendy had given her and looked at it.

"To go to training with us. What else?" he said in an obvious voice and she paused looking at him. Training? Natsu was going to take her to their dragon training.

"Yes!" she shouted happily dropping the dress and raining her hands up in the air.

Natsu smiled at her kiddy response but then his expression changed. Seconds later, Lucy realized that she was still naked and had just revealed herself completely to Natsu. She looked at him and saw him staring at her, not knowing what he was thinking at all. His intense stare was a mix of obliviousness and pure lust, his arms folded across his chest. She felt her heart beat faster and her body temperature rise drastically, getting red from top to toe.

"Turn around NATSUUU!"

After a while, Gajeel finally caught sight of Natsu coming toward the training grounds. He sighed heavily and asked him what had taken so long but then paused in surprise. On the left side of Natsu's face was a red mark. A smirk started to spread on Gajeel's face until Natsu glared at him with a "Don't you dare ask" look. That's when Gajeel caught sight of Lucy coming toward them and everything made sense. He chuckled softly looking at a still pissed off Natsu. He heard the fire user mutter something about "Sting's fault" leaving him wondering what had happened. Natsu and Gajeel headed toward the other hybrids while Lucy was called off to the side by Wendy.

Lucy smiled at Wendy and walked up to meet the young girl who was running toward her. Wendy smiled brightly looking at Lucy, who was wearing the white dress she gave her. In reality, the dress was a little too short for her taste, stopping well above the knees, and the top of the dress was a bit small thus showing off Lucy's ample cleavage. Lucy had been embarrassed by how revealing it could be when she first put it on but Wendy had gone through the trouble of trying to get her some real clothing so she couldn't refuse it now. Looking down at Wendy, Lucy caught sight of her dress. Their dresses had looked somewhat similar, both being pure white. Wendy's dress had a ruffled light yellow trim around the skirt, and large red bows tied around her waist and then loosely around her neck. Lucy's skirt was ruffled but remained white like most of her dress but there was a blue design that went up the sides of the dress and over Lucy's bust, and a blue bow was tied around Lucy's neck. The way they were dressed, Lucy thought maybe they looked a bit like sisters making her smile. She had never had any siblings, well there was Erza who was like a protective older sister, but she didn't have anyone to be like a younger sister. That's what she saw in Wendy and she liked that, hoping that maybe Wendy felt the same.

As Wendy walked Lucy over to where she was sitting, Lucy looked around noticing now that they seemed to be in some kind of outdoor arena but that was free of any fences or cages. Dragons and other cats like Happy and Carla surrounded the arena like they were spectators. She looked at the cats and noticed that they all had wings just like Happy. She remembered Wendy calling them Exceeds or something like that. There were slightly more exceeds than dragons and hybrids and they all seemed to be about the same age as Happy, with only a few a bit older. She then turned her attention to the dragons and hybrids, noticing that the number of hybrids was higher. Most of the hybrids seemed to be specifically by a certain dragon. Then she had noticed that a few were by themselves, not by a dragon. She wondered why. Then it hit her. The war. Not only people, but dragons too had died. Lucy lowered her head sadly at the harsh realization. Out of the corner of her eye she looked over at the hybrids who were without dragons. There were a few she didn't know but the she had caught sight of Gajeel and Natsu. Her heart sank as she remembered Wendy telling her that dragons were the parents of hybrids. Sure it was weird trying to think about how a human and a dragon went about making a hybrid given certain...factors, but that was the last thing on her mind now. She thought again about the fact that Igneel was killed in the war. That was Natsu's father, his only family. She remembered again about Natsu talking about Igneel, the enthusiasm and love in his voice. He loved Igneel just as she had loved her mom.

She blamed herself for stealing someone so important to them. Yeah maybe it wasn't her directly but it might as well have been. It was her bloodline after all. Lucy was shaken from her thoughts as someone hit her shoulder as they walked by telling her to move. She realized she was still in the arena and saw the hybrids gathering off to the side ready to start or something. She looked up and heard Happy's voice calling out to her and Wendy. She looked at the hybrids and uttered a soft 'sorry' before following Wendy to where Happy was with Carla and Grandeeney. As they reached the seats, Happy looked at Lucy and called her weird for spacing out the way she did making her pout. He turned to offer Carla a fish which she refused with a 'hmph', leaving the blue cat with tears in eyes. Lucy couldn't help but smile and pet Happy on the head.

"So, how exactly do they train?" she asks him turning back to look at the hybrids.

"Just wait and see." Happy said casually as he munched on his fish.

She frowned at Happy because of his attitude and turned back to the arena. It looked like the hybrids were talking amongst themselves before suddenly splitting apart. She watched as two of the hybrids stepped forward and seemed to get into a battle position. It was then she understood that the way they trained was by brawling with each other. Lucy watched in awe at the magic being used in the brawls before her. She had never seen fights like it, making her wish that she could use magic and fight too. It actually looked kinda fun to do.

"I'm bettin on Sting! He's definitely gonna win this time." a brown cat said stepping up next to Happy. He had his hands on his hips and a smile plastered across his face, and wearing a blue vest. "Fro thinks so too." Lucy looked over to see a green exceed in a type of pink frog suit. It was a bit odd but she thought he or she looked cute in it and it somehow fit.

"Nah, Natsu will win." Happy said cheerfully.

"No, Sting will. He's been training hard, Natsu doesn't stand a chance."

"Natsu will always win. He's the best and strongest." Happy said and the two began to argue about who was going to win with Frosch agreeing in his own way.

"Boys." Carla said shaking her head at them.

"At least our masters can fight. Wendy is just a healer." Lector teased and Lucy got a bit upset at that.

"Wind magic can be used for battle too you know." Carla spoke up before Lucy could say anything. "But not all battles are just about strength and power. You need tactics and brains to be able to outthink your opponent. Also, Wendy's healing ability is a big advantage in any ability. Or who else would you have heal Sting and Natsu?" Lucy smiled but felt like a foreigner in the conversation. She listened intently, though eager to learn more about the magic they used.

"And who are you human?" Lector said looking at Lucy, noticing how she watched them. "You Natsu's woman or what?' he eyed her with a smirk, a hand on his chin as if he were thinking it over. Lucy blinked at him once...twice.

"N-no." she blushed madly as she denied it.

"Hohoho then why are you blushing human?" he asked in a teasing manner making her more embarrassed.

"Heh, that Natsu is finally into a woman huh? It's about time." a green dragon said looking down at Lucy.

Lucy looked up at the dragon and noticed he seemed to be a jade color. She looked at him studying his appearance. This jade dragon had a flat skull and big jaw, two strands of hair hanging from it. His eyebrows were a contradiction being a thick and bushy and being a kind of light pink color. Hie eyes were a soft green color but intense looking at the same time. She was fascinated by the row of spikes that traveled down his spine, and he had jagged scales. It seemed like he was made to fight.

"Hehe, looking closer at you it seems you have curves in all the right places. I wonder how he keeps his hormones in check with you around." he smirks and Lucy gets red from top to toe.

"Quiet Zirconis! The noises you're making are disturbing my concentration." Grandeeney scolded making Zirconis smirk more.

"Hey, I'm just stating a fact here." Lucy was now redder than ever, probably even redder than Erza's hair and she didn't think that was possible. She shifted uncomfortably. She wasn't a big fan of the attention she got from them, it made her feel a bit dizzy.

Back in the arena Natsu won his match by sending Sting flying into the ground harder and further than he's ever done to anyone. He stood panting as he watched Sting skid across the ground, his body tumbling. Sting finally stopped, laying on his stomach with an audible groan.

"Yoshaa! Who's next?!" Natsu smiled as he looked in Sting's direction. "That was for seeing Lucy naked."

"I said I was sorry." Sting said weakly and sorry he had ever gone to look for Natsu earlier.

Natsu paused noticing he wasn't getting as much attention as usual. Not that he was conceited but he had to admit he did like getting some attention. Who didn't? He looked around and that's when his ears caught part of a small conversation between some hybrids that were standing in a group, mostly males. They were talking about...Lucy. Natsu's eyes narrowed as he heard them talking about how pretty she looked and how hot she was. He should've expected this being that most of the hybrids were male. He looked in Lucy's direction and saw her looking all flushed with Zirconis smirking, Grandeeney looked slightly annoyed, and a few exceeds were around her also. He heard a whistle from behind and turned his head sharply back to the group of hybrids. They were eyeing Lucy with hungry eyes. He knew exactly what was going through their minds. He didn't mind them acknowledging that she was hot and beautiful but that was all. She was not for them.

"Tch." Natsu muttered and walked out of the arena in Lucy's direction.

He looked at her from head to toe. Of course that dress HAD to outline her curves more than it should. She should've kept his long vest. At least that covered her chest a bit more and went down to her knees. Lucy caught sight of Natsu walking up. She watched as he took off his vest and threw it to her. She caught it and looked at him curiously, blinking.

"Put it on." he said more as an order with an annoyed face and voice.

Lucy obeyed and started to put it on. At least it would cover her chest up a bit. Natsu glared at Zirconis and then turned to glare at the other hybrids. Upon seeing that they had gotten his attention the group split up and pretended as if nothing had happened. Zirconis smirked and Happy covered his mouth with a cheeky grin leaving Lucy confused. The confusion quickly left as she watched a now shirtless Natsu walk back to the arena. She swallowed hard and felt her blush beginning to return.

"Who's next?!" Natsu challenged as he entered the arena again.

Gajeel watched him and wanted so badly to tease him but he knew better. Natsu looked utterly pissed and with what he just witnessed it was better to leave him be. After all it was never a good idea to challenge a dragon where his 'possession' was concerned, especially not the future dragon king's. Everyone watched as the match proceeded with no further complications, at least concerning Lucy. Everyone had gotten the message even if she didn't.

Lucy kept her eyes on the fight and on Natsu. He never lost a match. Her stomach did backflips as she watched him fight. The moves he executed along with the way he roared and used his fire magic. She watched his half naked body do flips and fly and spin as he fought. She blushed slightly at the sight of his sweaty body, his hair heavy with sweat making his bangs cover his forehead. After the match, she thanked the dragons and hybrids for letting her watch them train. She was happy that she was learning more of their traditions and felt like she was still making progress. She just hoped she could fix the mess her bloodlines caused...especially for Natsu.

The Caves

"Damn it!" Gray chouted. "I'm tired. How long have we been in these damn caves?!" he asked annoyed and panting.

"I'd say about two days probably." Laxus says.

"Screw it. You sure there's an exit around here? Our supplies are running really low you know."

"Silence, Gray. We're all tired." Erza said stepping forward.

"We're getting nowhere." Gray complained.
"Erza. We should take a break." Jellal said logically and giving her that look he normally does when he knows she's overdoing it.

Erza sighed, she didn't want to but he was right. "Fine." she gave in and walked over to sit on a large boulder.

After the first day walking around in the caves they felt like they had made progress by finding passages leading deeper into the caves. It seemed to makes sense and like it was clear what direction they had to go in. But as they got deeper the caves multiplied and got confusing. They spend most of the second day wandering around and going in what seemed like circles. As they got deeper the caves had luminous crystals that they at first had liked and admired. Now though they seemed to be a deadly trap.

"They look like stars." Gray said to no one in particular as he looked up.

"Now, is not the time to sound dramatic." Laxus told him. "Stop complaining and let's get on with it."

"Hey, I'm not complaining!" Gray said getting up. "And you're the one who found this hellhole! This is your fault!"

"What did you say runt?!"
"Shut up!" Gildarts said getting in between them and grabbing their shoulders. He moved them a few steps and turned them to face the same direction. "Look at that." he smirked.

They squinted their eyes and rubbed them. Surely what they saw wasn't right. Light. It was faint but it was light, different from the luminous crystals. That meant only one thing: exit. With one final spurt of energy they took off running in that direction. As they rounded the cave wall and continued toward the light they found it. For the first time in two days they saw light. For the first time they saw an island in the middle of a gigantic lake, mountains surrounding the lake. A large tree grew from the center of the island. They were speechless. They had never seen anything like it. From the looks of it, it was evening. The fading light casting its last few rays across the island and clear water. This had to be where she was.