Hey Everyone! Hope Ya'll are having a good day, or at least as best you can in these trying times, and I'd like to welcome you to my first story. I'm mainly doing this to get a feel for writing while I work on my actual story, and frankly these Natsu sings fanfics are incredibly formulaic, but fun, so I figured why not do this to pass the time, and practice my writing. I'm still gonna try and deliver something of substance of course and maybe try and put my own spin on the genre (I'm writing by the seat of my pants here so any advice would be much appreciated). Anyway, I appreciate any constructive feedback since it'll go a long way in helping me improve my writing, and make sure to place any song suggestions, or people for the harem in the reviews and I'll try to add them. Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima, and all songs used don't belong to me, but to their respective artists. They are, as far as I know, public domain. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Pandora's Box

Fiore, X792

It has been about 6 months since the defeat of Zeref and Acnologia, and peace was made between the nations of Ishgar and the Alvarez Empire. While the losses were great, through the efforts of its citizens, and the numerous mage guilds Fiore was quickly recovering from the war with the reconstruction efforts being led by the soon-to-be-crowned Princess Hisui E. Fiore. Indeed, the aftermath of the war had provided her with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate her leadership, diplomatic, and administrative skills. It was also she who had helped forge and sign the peace treaty with the Alvarez Empire on behalf of her father, King Toma E. Fiore. Speaking of whom, he was currently in his study preparing the paperwork for his abdication in favor of his daughter. There was also the coronation ceremony to set up for when the time comes. While he was face first in some documents he heard someone knock on his door.

"Enter." said King Toma.

In stepped a large man in knights armor. He possessed wild, wavy brown hair with a beard, and a peculiarly stubby, square shaped nose.

"Your majesty, forgive my intrusion but I felt it necessary to check on you. After all you've been cooped up in here for the last 8 hours, shouldn't you take a break at least?" said the knight with a bow. This man was Arcadios, one of the most esteemed and loyal knights of the kingdom, and a close friend and adviser to the royal family.

"Ah, Arcadios, you're a sight for sore eyes, but please there's no more need for formalities, at least not in a few months that is. After all, if even my closest friend is still bowing to me, then however will I get used to my retirement?" said the king with a cheeky grin.

"Forgive me your majesty, but as long as you're still king I will continue to afford you the proper courtesy. However, its like you said: just a few more months." replied Arcadios with a grin to match. The two shared a small laugh at their banter.

"Haha, I suppose so, but perhaps your right. Now would be a good time to stretch my legs." said King Toma getting up from his chair. "Walk with me Arcadios." he gestured to the knight.

The two eventually made their way out onto one of the Palace's balconies overlooking the capital. From where they were they could see children playing in the streets, couples laughing, shops and vendors selling their wares, and all the traffic in between. Thousands of citizens going about their daily lives, living in peace. The king looked on in contentment. Thankfully, the war hadn't hit Fiore too hard thanks to the efforts of the guilds and army, unlike neighboring Bosco which had been almost completely wiped off the map in the wake of the mighty Spriggan 12. That did create the issue of resettling the many refugees and helping rebuild the neighboring lands as the nation that not only drove Alvarez back, but emerged relatively unscathed in spite of it. Of course, Fiore suffered its fair share of losses and wounds that would take time to heal, but it was nothing the people of this hardy country couldn't bounce back from. "Look at it Arcadios, just a few months ago this land was nearly ravaged by war. Were it not for the valiant efforts of our countries mages, I fear we may never have prevailed against Zeref and Acnologia." said the king.

"Indeed. We're lucky to have such accomplished and dedicated mages on our side." Arcadios nodded in agreement. "Especially that rowdy bunch." he said knowingly. They both shared a laugh at that.

"300 years ago, my ancestors had established the kingdom of Fiore to serve as a bastion of peace and prosperity. Where people of all walks of life, mages and non-mages all living together in harmony, working to create a better world. It was no easy task, and our kingdom has experienced its fair share of growing pains, but each king knew he may never accomplish everything he wanted within his lifetime. It is our duty to live up to our predecessors expectations of us, and when it is time, to pass the torch on to the next generation. I've been fortunate enough to live a long life and see my forefathers dreams come so close to fruition. But I've done all I can, it's time for me to hand my responsibilities to someone who can usher in a new age of prosperity for our people." the king said with a reminiscent expression.

Arcadios remained silent. He then looked towards the west gate. It was one of the few parts of Crocus still undergoing repairs. He saw a company's worth of soldiers, carpenters, smiths, and laborers, many of whom were ordinary citizen volunteers all working together to restore their city to its former glory. He continued to gaze with a sense of pride before his eyes fell upon a familiar mop of green. "I don't think we'll have to worry about her being overwhelmed with the job." he said with a smile.

Toma turned his gaze to where Arcadios was looking before his face swelled with pride. There they saw Hisui leading the construction efforts, directing the workers, and going over logistics with some of the city's architects. Since the war she had taken her duties even more seriously, and was determined to prove to everyone that she was a capable ruler. Arcadios had told her that no one doubted she would make a splendid Queen, but she still insisted on helping with the recovery efforts arguing that it was her duty as Princess and future Queen to do everything she could to assist her people and establish peace and order. She didn't want to be cooped up in some luxurious castle all day while her people who had already been through so much work day and night to rebuild their country. What kind of princess, let alone future queen, would she be if she couldn't, or rather wouldn't do everything in her power to ensure their welfare. She also wished to ease the burden of handling the gargantuan task of reestablishing stability on her aging fathers shoulders. He had served and protected his kingdom for so many decades now, and it was time that the diligent yet weary king be allowed to rest a bit, knowing that it would be in good hands. Plus the experience she would gain from the administrating and diplomacy would go a long way in preparing her for her role as Queen. She ended up not only taking on the great responsibility, but she excelled at it, exceeding nearly everyone's expectations. For the first time in a while Toma felt as if a massive weight had been lifted off of him. He couldn't have been more proud of his daughter, and knew her mother would feel the same. She would make a fine Queen. "Indeed, I never doubted her for a minute, but it's reassuring to know that the kingdom will be left in capable hands when I'm gone. Makes me even more giddy for my retirement!" said Toma with a hearty laugh.

"I still can't believe you plan on becoming a chef after you crown Hisui. Never took you for the type." replied Arcadios with a curious expression.

"What? Expect me to wear a pumpkin over my head for the rest of my days? Bah! I'm gonna open up my own fish fry restaurant, and show old Yajima what a real cook is all about." the two shared a good laugh over that. The two then walked back into the castle to prepare for some Alvarez envoys that would be arriving later today.

"Well you can count me as your first customer... By the way, Your Highness, if you don't mind me asking..." inquired Arcadios.

"Not at all friend. Ask away." replied Toma.

"Well, it's just that I've been wondering... Hisui is going to be Queen..."

"Mhmm."

"But a kingdom usually needs both a King and a Queen... So..." Arcadios droned off.

"Haha. So that's it? Yes, it is a bit of a conundrum that we haven't found any proper suitors for Hisui. We've tried, but none of them ever quite fit the bill. After a while I gave up on that, and realized that I should allow my daughter to make her own decisions on who she marries. I'm not going to force some blowhard sycophant on her just because I'm eager for an heir. No, she's a smart and capable woman and I know she'll meet the right man for her. Someone who will love her unconditionally, and would always do right by her and the kingdom. I was lucky. I got to marry the woman I loved, and I did it on my own terms. I won't deny my daughter that same rare opportunity that I was afforded. Besides, I'm sure she'll do a splendid job of handling affairs on her own until the time is right." said the King with a mixed melancholy and nostalgic expression. "Still though, it wouldn't hurt for her to not wait too long to find her special someone. I'd much rather live to see my Grankid!" He laughed.

"I see. I admire your faith in her, and I'm certainly not going to start doubting you or her now." said Arcadios. "Still though... to go through so many suitors and not find a single match. There must be someone out there for her, right? Any idea on who that might be Your Highness?" he turned to the king.

"Oh," a wild mop of pink flashed through Toma's mind "I have a few."

Natsu and Happy's House

"Mmmm... fish." said a tiny sleeping cat.

Happy was still sound asleep in his hammock until-

"Aaaahhhh! I swear it wasn't me Lucy, honest!" Happy jolted out of his hammock in panic. "Oh, it was just a nightmare. Thank goodness." He calmed down a bit. Happy then noticed that it was morning and decided to get up, and wake up his best friend. "Hey Natsu wake up! It's time for- Natsu?" Happy discovered that Natsu's hammock was empty. "Hey Natsu! Where are you?" Happy called out, but received no reply. "Hmm, weird." He said with a small amount of concern. Happy searched the house trying to find Natsu, but found no sign of him until he entered the kitchen, and found a note on the table. "What's this?"

"Dear Happy,

Sorry if my absence scared you a little, but I decided to go out on a training mission for the weekend on my own. I know it seems sudden, and I'm sorry for dropping this on you the way I am, and for not bringing you with me, but I'm gonna be doing some pretty intense stuff, and I don't wan't you getting hurt. I... also needed to clear my head a bit. "Natsu..." Happy muttered in worry. 'Don't worry, it's nothing I can't handle, and if you're still mad, or worried then to make it up to you I'll buy you the biggest Tuna sub you've ever seen!' "Yay, Tuna! I'm gonna hold you to that buddy." 'Anyway, I'll be back about 2-3 days, so could you be a pal and give the guild a heads-up, but leave out the 'clearing my head' bit. I don't wanna get them worried over nothing. Anyway, I left some salmon in the fridge for your breakfast. I'm sorry to drop this on you so suddenly bud, but I'm sure you understand how important this is for me.

Sincerely, Natsu"

"P.S. In case you forget, don't show them the note. If anything trash it after you've read it.

P.P.S. I put your favorite fish blanket back in the linen closet after I dried it, just in case you were wondering.

P.P.P.S. Also tell Gajeel that yes, the carpet does match the drapes, and if he wants proof then he'll just have to come over here and see."

Happy put the note down, and threw it in the trash bin with a sigh. It wasn't the first time he left unexpectedly, granted none of those times have ever been as long as 3 days. Not that he could complain too much. He knew what Natsu was going through right now, or at least understood... somewhat. I mean it's not every day that you find out you're the brother of the most powerful and evil mage to walk Earthland while also being the most powerful of his demonic creations and are also part of a 400 year long plot to kill the psychotic Dragon King while also spending half your life searching for your father figure who was quite literally within you all along, only to have him die in front of you just as you're reunited. Ever since the war Natsu hadn't been the same. Fairy Tail's signature happy-go-lucky, hot-headed Dragon Slayer, seemed to be but a shadow of his former self, often spending time by himself, and seeming less interested in... well everything really. That's not to say he completely gave up the guild. He still spent time with the others, and did his usual antics from time to time, albeit half-hardheartedly, but it seemed more like a ruse to keep people from getting too worried, and question him. When not hanging around the guildhall, or helping repair damaged parts of Magnolia he would often take solo jobs or just bring Happy along as opposed to his whole team. Of course, he still went on missions with them, but even when he was with them he seemed more withdrawn, even a little cold. For a while they didn't question it, after all they did just come out of a war, and prevented the coming of the Apocalypse, not to mention his... special condition, but it did raise some red flags in their minds. His behavior hadn't changed enough to warrant any major intervention, so for the time being they simply observed and did their best to bring out the best in him. There was one time they confronted him about it, and he did open up about his troubles, but... it changed little. They accepted his response nonetheless and left him be for the most part to sort stuff out, but they all silently agreed that if this behavior continued for a couple more months, or God forbid deteriorated, then they would step in again. Happy was the only one who had any real indication on how Natsu felt and even he didn't have the full picture. He knew Nastu was hurting, and that he was masking it. Happy let Natsu know that he would always be there for him, to which the young Dragon Slayer was grateful. Natsu opened up a little bit about his troubles from time to time to the cat, and how he's still coming to terms with his origins, but told Happy that he just needed time... and an outlet, he said. He didn't elaborate on what he meant but Happy simply assumed he meant training to get his mind off of things, or to let off some steam.

Pushing those thoughts away, Happy got the salmon from the fridge. He was thankful to have the birds outside disturbing what would've been a rather awkward silence. After he finished his fish he decided it would be a good time to head down to the guild hall, but before he did that he figured he'd grab his blanket out of the linen closet and put it in his hammock.

"Okay, now let's see here. He said he put it in here somewhere... oh, there it is!" Happy finds his blanket on the top shelf, and grabs it, but is met with some resistance. "Rrrgh! Come on you stupid thing!" Happy pulls harder on the blanket and after a brief struggle he finally lodges his blanket free. "Yes!" Too bad he wasn't paying attention or he would've noticed the massive pile of junk that came down with it. By the time he did notice it was too late. "Uh-oh" was all he could say before he was rained on by random trinkets, with one particularly heavy item landing right on top of his poor noggin. "Oomph!" And with that the blue Exceed was knocked out cold.

5 minutes later

"No… I… Can't… Eat… Anymore… No… No, no, no, NO!" Happy sprang from his epic power nap to only be wrought with confusion. And pain. "Huh.. what happened… where am- Oww my head." Happy began massaging his cranium. Eventually his pain and confusion dissipated and it all started coming back to him. "Oh yeah. I was looking for my blanket, and when I found it I…" Happy looked toward the closet. "Oh." A sheepish expression made its way across his face as he looked down at the mess he had created. Random junk and supplies had riddled the floor. "Man I'm a real klutz… Well I guess I should clean this up before I head to the guild, besides I'm sure Natsu wouldn't appreciate the mess." Happy began putting the stuff back in place, but it wasn't before long he noticed something. "Huh, that's weird, all this stuff is too small or light to have knocked me out, so what was it then?" Happy then looked around the floor to find the culprit that knocked his daylights out. His eyes soon fell upon a medium sized black box simply labelled "Natsu Dragneel" on top. "Huh? What's this, I've never seen it before. I wonder what Natsu could be hiding in here." The Exceed inquired. "No doubt this is what hit me, it's the only object lying around that's heavy enough to send me to Fishville." As the cat was about to put it back he found his curiosity getting the better of him, and soon found himself with a dilemma. On one hand, opening something of Natsu's without his permission, let alone without him even being present, was both wrong and breaching of his trust. On the other hand, the two of them had never had a problem with sharing space, or anything really. Heck, Happy had even offered some of his special fish to Natsu when he was feeling especially down, and it's not like Natsu would have anything bad or super secret inside of it right? Plus if it was top secret, then Natsu would've written "Off-limits" on it, or something. Ultimately, his curiosity won out. "Okay, I'll take just one tiny peek, then I'll put it back." However, the moment he opened it, his previous train of thought was thrown right out the window. "Whoa…" Happy was completely taken aback by what he found. Inside the box was an entire collection of CDs and Cassette tapes all with Natsu's name on them. Each disk, and tape was also labelled with its own song title, and date of recording. "Did Natsu make these? If he did then how? Where? When did he have the time to make all of these?" A thousand questions flooded Happy's mind before he came to a realization. "I have to get to the guild! Maybe they will know something about these!" And with that Happy picked up the box and flew off towards the guild, completely forgetting about his mess and his FISH THEMED blanket.

Meanwhile, on the summit of Mt. Hakobe...

"Achoo! Man, either I'm catching a cold or someone's talking about me… and considering I might as well be made of fire… Ah, whatever." Said a familiar pink-haired Dragonslayer. "Where was I? Oh, yeah. Let's go ya dirty Monkeys!" He turned to face a pack of 50 Vulcans, all ready to maul him. "I'm all fired up!"

So that's Chapter 1. I didn't intend for the whole part in Crocus to be as long as it was, but I just kinda wrote myself into it. It won't have a huge impact on the story (Yes, I'm gonna try and make an actual plot here), but it does have a purpose. In hindsight, this whole chapter basically looks like the setup for a NatsuxHisui story, and I probably could make it that, but since I'm not taking this too seriously, I'm sticking with my original idea. I mainly wanted to establish the setting and tone with this chapter. Most chapters will be the guild and others reacting to Natsu's songs, while others will have these long exposition moments. Other characters are gonna get their own, not just Hisui, but I'll try not to make them too long. I realize both halves of this chapter have opposite tones, but I have some ideas on how to resolve it later, it's not important. Sorry for the lack of a song on the first chapter, but again I mainly wanted this to establish the setting, and honestly it just ended up being a little too long as it was. Next chapter is when we'll really start... Also I'm not sure what song I want to start with so maybe I'll take one of your suggestions lol. I'm already in the middle of writing chapters 2 and 3 btw. Silver lining to being confined to your home cuz of a pandemic.

So what do you guys think? Good? Bad? Never write again? Light myself in kerosene? Anyway I look forward to hearing back from you guys and I can't wait to see your song suggestions. Also for the harem suggestions: 1. Levy is off limits since GaLe is imo the best ship in the series and I'm keeping it here (plus I have plans for Gajeel down the line). 2. No Chelia or Wendy for reasons that should be obvious. I might give them crushes on Natsu, but that's it. Aside from all that I wish you all good health (especially in these times) and a good day. Bye!