I've been excited for this part since I started writing this. Who's ready for the unveiling?

I own only the plot of this story.

"You… you have my keys?" Lucy was stunned. That meant that her spell hadn't failed. When she'd done her location ritual, she'd been sure she'd found them, but her summons had failed. When she hadn't heard anything or seen anything later when she'd looked with the lamps, she had figured she'd caught some other magic signature and her keys had just gotten left behind where the dragon found her.

"And you kept them from me?" Anger welled up inside her. To think she'd been starting to think this beast wasn't so bad. She'd told him those keys were her life, and he'd continued to keep them hidden from her.

"Yes, but now-"

"I told you… I asked…" Lucy was having trouble finding the words and more trouble controlling her anger. Realizing she was still standing close to him, she turned and moved away. "I can't believe it!" Then she laughed. "I should believe it. You're a beast, so I don't know why I would expect anything less. You hunt and kill and keep your trophies. My keys and I are just more trophies."

"That's not true."

She whipped around to face him, finger raised, before she stalled out. Fear seeped into her body a little as she looked at him. She was a slim female woman, with no way to defend herself, about to yell and argue with a large dragon who could easily silence her by eating her. Her anger cooled a little as she tried to reign in her temper.

"You're not a trophy, Lucy," he said, noticing the glint of fear enter her eyes. "I don't know why, but I like having you around." He laid himself as flat as he could against the ground, trying to be smaller and less frightening. "You feel familiar, even though I've never met you before. Your smell makes me feel good, like when I'm flying high in the sky. I hate the thought of anyone entering my home, but I like watching you dig through my things and using them. I like having you around."

There was a long silence as she tried to sort through her emotions. Turning away, she put her book back with her bag and stood to stare at the tree for a while. Eventually, she took a deep breath and turned back. "Why are you telling me about my keys now?"

"I want to give them back to you."

"So do that."

"I can't until I know you won't leave."

"They're just keys," she lied. "It's not like you lock me up and I could use them to escape."

"You can use them to leave me. Those keys unlock the stars."

Lucy tried to hide her surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"I finally figured out your smell. Your keys smell the same, and I recognize the symbols on them. That's why you smell like stardust, because you're a celestial wizard."

Her eyes widened at him. "How do you even know about them? I thought you didn't interact with people."

He shrugged. "I know a lot about things I've never seen before. I think it's inherited knowledge from my parents."

This conversation was getting weird. Her anger was draining from her bit by big but she wasn't done being mad yet. He looked so remorseful, she was having trouble keeping the heat in her voice.

"Alright, so why do you want to give them back to me now?" she asked.

"I want to be friends, and friends don't hide their friends' things. I don't want you to leave though, so I can't give them back until you promise not to use them to leave."

"I can't do that. They're probably the only way I have to return home safely since you won't bring me."

"I don't want you to go, though."

"Natsu, friends don't hide their things from them, but they also don't keep them either. If we're going to be friends, you can't keep me as part of your hoard, okay? You need to let me go home. I have people I miss back home. I have responsibilities and a whole life outside of this forest."

"If you leave, you won't come back, and I won't get to see you again." His voice was quiet and sad.

She ran her hands through her hair, wishing she had thought to put it into a ponytail. "I probably can't come out here too much, no. This is a long way away from my home. I'm a princess, after all. I have a lot of people I have to meet with and there's always guards around. It was my foolishness that managed to get me caught this time, but I doubt my father will allow me as much freedom and risk me getting kidnapped again."

"So if I let you leave, you'll never come back and we won't be friends." Natsu stood up, agitated. "I don't want that. I'm sorry, I can't give them back to you."

"Wait a minute." Lucy moved towards him as he stood. "We can still be friends. Friends don't have to see each other all the time to be friends."

"If you leave, I won't ever see you again. I won't let that happen." He moved forward to grab her.

"Wait, let me think." Lucy stepped back with her hands raised. There had to be some way to do this. What she had said was true, she was probably going to have her freedom reduced a lot when she returned home. Unfortunately, he was way too big to just come out and visit her at the castle. On the other hand, she hadn't agreed to come visit him. If she could just get her keys and get home, she could just forget all about this mess. Would that work though? The longer she was around him, the less scary he seemed, but he had eaten people before. If she never came to visit, what would he do? Would he forget about her, or would he try to come visit her at the castle. If he did, either her father would rally all the countries to go kill him, or Natsu would eat everyone there, both of which she'd like to avoid. A dragon was not the kind of friend that would be convenient to have visit, though.

Eventually, she may get some of her freedom back and be able to sneak away from her guards. She might be able to get out to the woods to visit him, but they'd have to meet miles away from the castle so he wasn't seen. He was just too noticeable.

She sighed. "If only you weren't so big, it would be much easier for you to come to visit. You're bigger than the castle, there's no way you wouldn't be noticed if you came my way."

Natsu looked stunned for a moment. "Oh. I can't believe I forgot about that."

He moved back a step and closed his eyes. His brows furrowed in concentration and his back arched up as his body started to glow. Waves of heat rolled off his body as he started to shudder as he glowed brighter and brighter.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" she asked as she stepped back farther. The ground beneath her feet started to shudder a little as his claws dug into it and his wings opened up. She raised her arms to block her eyes expecting him to take off. When he didn't, she risked peaking up at him, and saw that he was shrinking. His body was half the size it had been before and it was still shrinking. The heat was oppressive and her eyes stung as they dried out, but she refused to look away. He continued to get smaller and smaller and the trees around groaned as they stood straight again. Eventually he stopped shrinking and the heat stopped pouring off him as he stood up on two legs.

"Darn, I didn't finish it," he said looking down at himself as the glowing stopped.

Lucy felt wobbly as she stared at the new Natsu. He looked more human now, but he was a little too tall. His legs looked the same, still covered in scales with taloned feet, but they were more human shaped and sized. The scales came up to his waist and covered patches along his now human arms and chest. His hands were also covered in scales halfway up his forearms and his fingers ended in black talons. Wings still sprouted from his back, about the same height as his body. The same black horns sprouted from the top of his head with scales around the bases. His chest and arms were covered in toned muscles and pale skin. Near his feet, she could see his tail moving along the ground. None of those things got to her the way his hair did, though. Spiky pink hair covered his head, hanging in front of his face as he looked down at himself.

Lucy's legs buckled and she landed on her butt. Natsu was still examining his body, so he hadn't picked up on her distress. Her breathing sped up as she tried desperately to hold herself together. It couldn't be. There was no way.

"Sorry," he said. "It's been a long time since I used this form, so I kind of forgot I had it. I must be out of practice, because I was trying to go full human."

Then he looked up at her with a familiar face and dark, onyx eyes.