Hi! I've been in this fandom since long ago but I hadn't had the opportunity to publish anything. I suddenly thought about this story, so here it is.

I need to clarify that this is not going to be an overly long long-fic (because I get tired of writing), although it feels like it is. And rest assured, I've already planned the whole thing! I haven't written it, but I'll get to it. At least I've got a plan. Chapters may vary depending on inspiration/writer's block and how much you all liked it. Because who's going to write a story no one likes? Reviews are a fanfiction's writer fuel. :3

Anyways, enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: English is not my first language, so be patient with me! Positive criticism is always welcome.

Also, remember this a semi alternative universe. I'm changing a few things that will be explained along the way.

Modified: 1/12/2021

Chapter 1. Encounter

When Lucy ran away from home, the first thing she did was to seek the help of a fortune teller. Her father, as stoic as he was, always discarded such magic. She didn't understand how he could say that, knowing that her mother had been an incredible magician.

But now that she was sitting down in front of a mysterious looking woman, Lucy wasn't certain that this was the best place to start her journey.

"You want to join Fairy Tail?" the woman inquired.

Without a doubt, Lucy nodded. "Yes."

"But you have no money."

"Well, yes—"

"You have to pay before we start."

Lucy glanced at her indignantly.

There was a moment of silence, where they gazed at each other's eyes. Finally, Lucy surrendered. "Fine."

The smirk on the fortune teller's face made Lucy pout as she handed the money. She had meant to pay… a little bit less. She hadn't had time to bargain her way to a lower price. As the witch caressed her ball, Lucy hoped it was worth it. She was going to be so mad if this was a scam.

"Your future seems quite filled with adventures," the woman said. "I can't tell for sure if you're going to join your dream guild, but if not, you'll have nothing to worry about. I can feel a lot of happiness and excitement."

"But how?" Lucy leaned towards the ball, hoping to see something.

There was a glimpse of a vision of her surrounded by fire. The sudden image startled Lucy, who lost balance and crashed against the short table.

The fortune teller glanced at her, just as surprised as Lucy was.

"You're a holder type."

"A what?" Lucy choked out.

"Your magic, you're a holder type. Didn't you know that?"

Lucy blushed, embarrassed.

"I wasn't trained," she admitted. Remembering her keys, Lucy held them up. "Ah, is this what you mean? This is my magic. I thought it was some kind of summoner type of magic?"

"There's no such thing as a summoner type of magic." The woman laughed as it was an amusing joke. "I didn't think you were a celestial spirit mage. No wonder you trespassed my visions."

Lucy abstained herself from asking stupid questions again when her mind itched to ask her what she meant. Her knowledge of the magic world was very limited even though she was a magician herself. Sticking to nodding at everything she said seemed like a better idea.

"You look like you've a special connection to this type of magic."

"Do I?"

The fortune teller ignored her.

"Do you want to try it yourself?"

Lucy stared at her blankly. Sighing, the woman grabbed her hand and put it over the crystal ball.

"Close your eyes and think about your magic connecting to the ball. It will show you what you need to know."

She didn't get how she could put her magic into it, but Lucy relented. She tried to relax and go with the flow. Don't think too much about it, she thought multiple times until she felt a tingle on the tip of her fingers.

Suddenly, Lucy returned to the vision of her engulfed in flames. She tried not to slip out of the vision again, breathing softly to calm down her nerves. Once she managed to steady her heart, she envisioned her surroundings.

It was a world of flames going as high as her vision could follow, surrounding her and forming paths that lead didn't seem to end. They were nice and welcoming, not nearly as scary as she had initially thought, and Lucy found herself appreciating how warm and gentle those flames flickered when her hand slipped into them. It didn't burn her. Instead, Lucy felt how the flames embraced her in a way that made her feel happy and giddy, inciting her to step her entire body into them. The sensation tingled in her entire body, excitement lurking her guts.

And the moment she let herself be covered by the flames, the vision changed drastically. It ripped apart the world, and Lucy felt like crying as she struggled to breath at the sudden change of scenery.

In just a split of a second, Lucy was bombarded with different scenarios that forced her out and into consciousness.

Hargeon. Flames. Cold. Pink.

And a smile.

Lucy had to close her eyes again to picture it again. She couldn't quite describe their features, the image slowly fading and blurring when she forced herself to remember. It was just the smile of someone she didn't know. But it felt familiar... and it made the little butterflies in her stomach go nuts.

"For goodness' sake, that was intense," the fortune teller exclaimed, shaking her red hand. "You didn't get burned? I couldn't hold it anymore."

"I wanna see again," Lucy stated.

"Hell, no."

"Please?"

"No! Are you insane? I'll die if I go in there again."

Lucy sighed.

"Fine," Lucy surrendered. If she wasn't going to help, she could find a way to see it by herself again. There was no way she would give up. It had been a wonderful yet painful emotion that she already longed to feel again. "Can I ask for one last thing?"

The woman squinted her eyes. "As long as it won't hurt me."

"Am I going to find my soulmate soon?"

"I was starting to think you weren't normal."

Lucy wrinkled her nose but didn't say anything back. Watching how the witch caressed her ball again, Lucy tilted her head in confusion at the bewildered expression on her face.

"You—you will find him soon."

"For real?" Lucy's eyes shined. "When? Is it in Hargeon? I bet it is!"

"I don't know, I'm sorry," the witch shook her head. "It's just—it's weird. I've never seen something like this."

Waiting for her to continue, Lucy bit her lip anxiously.

After a few seconds, the witch stood up. "Our session is over. I need to attend my next customer."

Lucy frowned. "Hey! You haven't finished!"

"Some things are better left unsaid, child," the witch stated. As she walked back into the dark, her voice reached Lucy as a whisper. "Let your fate guide you."

Natsu didn't quite get the unreasonable amount of people dying to know their soulmate. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he had known his since he was a child—and that quite broke the spell. There was no mystery about it, no excitement. People just told him that he was supposed to like her. Like, like her, as if that meant anything. And that, one day, he would exchange some meaningless vows about loving her until their death. He didn't get it at all. Of course, he would love her until his death, she was part of his family and he loved his entire family. He just didn't understand why he needed to put a ring on his finger to prove it or why was it different from any other person he loved.

Soulmates were, as far as he's known, troublesome. He was always getting scolded. For not paying enough attention to her, for not being romantic, or for saying he loved her the same way he loved everyone else in his guild. It was excruciatingly tiresome.

And it always broke him how utterly lost and uncomfortable that made her feel. He'd try to act the way people told him he was supposed to, but it just wasn't... right. And she would see through him, which inevitably worsened the situation. Although Natsu loved her, the whole bonded situation was ultimately the reason they had eventually drifted apart as friends and every moment together would end up being uncomfortable.

So, when people reached out to him to help them find their soulmate, Natsu just scuffed.

"Who cares about soulmates?" he inquired dryly to no one in particular.

His blue companion giggled mockingly, flying around him. "Everyone does, Natsu."

Natsu huffed, his bad mood palpable. His day had been horrible so far, to say the least. After enduring an insufferable long trip on a train while puking out until he had nothing left, he had found nothing in Hargeon. He had been excited after hearing news about Salamander, thinking that had finally found his father. But arriving at Hargeon was utterly disappointing. There was no smell. Hargeon smelled like fishes and dirt and sweat, but no dragon. He would've smelled his scent if he had been in this town.

And to make things worse, a bunch of people surrounded him when he had shown he was a wizard. Natsu had only wanted to heat up his food and ended up with a waitress asking him if she could borrow some mana to find out if his current boyfriend was her soulmate. After that, every couple in the restaurant approached him to ask the same over and over again.

Annoyance made his stomach hurt, and ultimately, Natsu left the place without eating. Or well, after not eating enough for him.

A few hours passed by walking aimless around town and he regretted not buying that delicious looking chicken, and that spicy soup, or those extra spicy wings... he really needed to stop thinking about food. He had no money and his stomach was growling with sorrow.

Perhaps hunger enhanced his senses, he didn't know. But as his stomach growled painfully, his nose caught a glimpse of a sweet scent. Now, Natsu didn't like sweets that much, but this scent was driving him insane. He needed it, a physical need that shook up his body as if he were having abstinence syndrome. It was the first time in his life that he felt such a strong desire to get something.

He trailed down the scent, his senses numb at any other thing that came on his way. Happy's voice felt like a hushed voice inside his brain, and although he followed, Natsu didn't acknowledge his presence.

That is, until he came across a crowd that mixed up every scent on that little park and the scent was lost among it.

Natsu blinked in astonishment when he was shook out of the trance. His body was still vibrating from a leftover feeling as it all went down,but he was finally able to control his own body.

"Natsu?" Finally hearing his voice, Natsu looked back at him.

"Yeah?"

Happy wailed. "You're back! Don't scare me like that!"

Natsu ignored his friend's dramatic outburst, his attention drifting to the noise of the crowd. There was a wizard babbling nonsense about soulmates and love, and an immense number of girls surrounding him. Feeling grumpy again, Natsu took a step back and pushed the scent to the back of his mind. The whole soulmates topic irritated him enough to overpower his curiosity.

Unbeknown to him, the scent found him instead a few seconds later. He didn't manage to cross the crowd when his senses perked up at the rapid approach of the source of the scent. It was such a strong odor going into his nostrils that it momentarily left his mind numb, which ultimately distracted him from the guy he tripped into and made him fall on his butt.

"Another fan?" A masculine, high-pitched voice pierced his eardrums. Natsu barely registered whatever he said next, too occupied with rubbing his sore behind.

Happy, on the other hand, was cackling uncontrollably at him and making fun of him for being a klutz.

That damned cat. Best friends his ass.

"Fine, take this. Cheer up, boy!"

A paper with a big, obnoxious-looking signature fell into his lap before Natsu could even begin to understand the situation.

"You are the Salamander people have been talking about?" Natsu muttered in disbelief.

"Why, of course! I see my name is reaching far beyond my expectations!"

Natsu growled, gaining at least a dozen of evil glares that he failed to notice. "What an idiot. I can't believe I wasted my time on this."

And he was chased out of the park by a big group of girls.

Once Natsu managed to get out of their evil clutches after a long marathon, he had to stop to regain his breath. And for the third time that day, the scent appeared close to him, sending chills through his body.

Before he could react, a hand grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to stop on his track.

"God, that guy is the worst," she complained the moment he looked back. Natsu had to stupidly blink twice to understand she was talking to him. "You saw that too, right? He's manipulating their red strings! I can't believe I fell on his trap!"

Natsu eyed her, not really getting the hang of their one-sided conversation. She had bright blonde hair and chocolate eyes that trapped his attention. There were some other remarkable characteristics—like her perfect model figure, her soft skin, and those keys hanging from her hip. But he couldn't stop glaring at her eyes. It wasn't a particularly interesting color and although her features were pretty, he was unaffected by it after spending his life surrounded by pretty girls. There was something attractive about her eyes that he couldn't describe.

"—You're a wizard, right? There's no way you could've broken the spell if you weren't. I know I don't look like it, but I am too!"

And that scent. It was definitely coming from her.

"—anyways, thank you for saving me. Do you want some food?"

Without even noticing, Natsu ended up sitting at a restaurant with her. She kept on speaking and speaking, and Natsu didn't mind as long as he could eat to his heart content.

"—I'm definitely joining Fairy Tail! I'm not nearly as powerful as them and I didn't go to a magic academy, but I will show them my worth!"

Hearing his guild's name startled him out of his food coma.

"Do you want to join Fairy Tail?" he inquired.

She leaned on her hand and sighed.

"It has always been my dream to join a guild like that. But I don't have any training. It's not really possible for me, is it?"

Natsu tilted his head. He didn't remember having to pass an examination to join his guild. Granted, he was a toddler when he did and Igneel had trained him enough, but it wasn't as if newer members had to undergo an exam. Besides, the academy had been such a pain in the ass that Natsu sometimes had nightmares about that time.

"—I didn't even know I was one! Can you believe it? I even thought that my mom's celestial spirit Aquarius had a tail because she was a mermaid."

"You sure talk a lot, uh?" Happy munched down his fish.

"How can a cat even speak?" she retorted back. "Which kind of creature are you? Or are you an enchanted cat?"

"I'm just a cat!"

"Right, of course. Then a familiar, I guess."

Happy inhaled sharply. "I'm not a familiar, I'm his partner! I'm a wizard, too!"

She spoke so fast that Natsu couldn't keep track of her words. He hadn't heard at least half of what she said. He wasn't even sure that he had caught her name.

When he was finally about to ask her, she was already walking to the door. Some money had been left behind on the counter and Natsu barely had time to thank the goddess that granted him free food.

It took him at least ten minutes more to regain his ability to walk after eating so much. He stood up confidently, ready to track her down without any other reason than to unravel the mystery behind her scent. But then he was forced to acknowledge his defeat the moment he stepped out of the restaurant.

Fortune wasn't in his favor. Hargeon's port was so overly saturated with smells that Natsu couldn't distinguish where she had gone to.

He roamed around Hargeon, thinking about where she could've gone. He had no lead besides the fact that she wanted to join Fairy Tail. When the sun set, he finally stopped besides the railing of a road and groaned frustratingly.

"Natsuuuuu," Happy called him, rolling his tongue peevishly. "Why don't we go back home? I'm tired."

Natsu disheveled his hair.

"I can't find her!"

"Who?"

"She! I—I don't know her name!"

Happy stopped in front of him, right at the same level as Natsu's eyes. "You mean Lucy?"

"Lucy?" Natsu said. "Is that her name?"

"Well, yeah. She said it many times. Didn't you hear?"

Natsu smirked. It suited her surprisingly well.

"Isn't that Salamander's boat?" Happy pointed out, looking at the sea where a ship was sailing.

The nighttime view of Hargeon was stunning, but Natsu had no interest in it. Just hearing about a boat made his insides stir.

"Who's Salamander?"

Happy sighed. "You really weren't listening, were you?"

"What—"

"That's Salamander's ship! I wish I could've gone," some girl said dreamingly beside them. There was a group of three girls a bit down the road, squealing loudly with emotion. Both Natsu and Happy couldn't help but hear their conversation.

"Who's Salamander?" Another girl asked, mirroring Natsu's question.

"Don't you know him?" The first girl said indignantly. "He's the famous Fairy Tail wizard that came to town!"

Happy and Natsu exchanged a look, fury creeping inside them.

"Fairy Tail?"

Crashing at that impostor's ship didn't go quite as planned. Upon hearing someone misuse their guild's name, Natsu's rage numbed his mind and forgot all about his motion sickness. He had still managed to teach him a lesson, but he also casually destroyed the ship and part of the town.

If someone asked him, of course he didn't want to destroy the town. But that Bora man deserved that and much more. Hargeon just happened to be on the way.

Also, he had miraculously found Lucy at his boat.

Ha! Luck was in his favor, after all.

"That's… amazing, but… isn't it going overboard?" she gasped, staring at the whole mess and flames surrounding him as he walked towards them.

"Aye!" Happy responded simply.

"Aye nothing!"

Natsu chuckled. Her reactions were amusing. Had she never seen a battle between magic holders?

Lucy suddenly perked up. "The militia!"

At her words, Natsu panicked. Gramps had scolded him enough lately about the destruction he ensued on his missions, and this was definitely something that would put Fairy Tail on the spot again. They already had enough problems with the magic council. But he hadn't managed to talk to her at all. So, he did what anyone else would do. He grabbed her and ran.

"Why are you taking me with you?!" she shouted.

Natsu didn't have to think about it twice. "You wanted to join our guild, right?"

He didn't notice he was smirking until a beautiful, excited smile appeared on her face. Her eyes twinkled in a way that made it impossible not to look at them. "Yes!"

Lucy knew that smile, and it made her smile from the bottom of her heart too.

This was the moment she had envisioned a month ago at the fortune teller. Pink. Hargeon. Flames. A smile so beautiful it made her happy. Almost everything made sense now, and she was overjoyed to finally live this moment with her real body and not as part of a vision. Being stuck during a week in Hargeon had been extremely nerve-wracking and money-sucking, as if she had been waiting for death herself to show at her footsteps, and Lucy had almost given up entirely on the idea of forcing an encounter with her soulmate by staying put right on the place she was certain to find him. But she had found right at the moment she had set herself to leave this town to continue her journey. And she couldn't be happier.

So she didn't need to think twice about following him when she saw his smile.

It had been way better in person than in her vision. His pink hair gave him a friendly look and the wrinkles of his eyes were a nice addition. His entire persona made her feel safe and happy. Lucy could even imagine herself falling in love with this person. Not yet. But she could. She would gladly throw herself at his flames and burn.

In the back of her mind, Lucy remembered about another thing. Cold. She pushed it out of her thoughts, not caring about it. She could think about it later.

She was out of breath when they arrived at the train station.

This had been the most exciting moment of her life and she could still feel the adrenaline running through her veins. Lucy wanted to jump and laugh irrationally.

So, she did. She laughed until her lungs couldn't resist it anymore.

"Oh, crap, I have no money," Natsu suddenly said, although his expression wasn't all that worried. "Do you?"

Lucy had to steady her breath before replying, but she inevitably giggled in between her words. "I'm currently broke."

"It's settled, then!" He exclaimed. "We'll be walking all the way to Magnolia!"

"Excuse me, what did you just say?"

Surely, she must have heard wrong. His words and his beaming smile didn't match at all. No sane person would be glad to walk three whole days.

"I said we'll walk to Magnolia."

"Sorry, what?"

"Are you deaf?" Natsu spit back irritably.

"Are you insane?" Lucy retorted back. "Where are we going to stay?"

"We will camp, duh!" Happy chimed in.

Lucy was at a loss of words. They made it sound so easy and normal, when she had never once in her life had camped outside of her backyard. These two people she had met today were both destructive and laidback.

And she found herself kind of liking it.

"Well, fine, whatever." Lucy smirked. "But I've never camped before."

It couldn't be that bad, right? In her books, camping always did sound kind of romantic. A night under the stars, sharing the same space as they slept, a bonfire keeping them warm.

They had just met and Lucy had already experienced all sorts of things in such a short amount of time. It felt like a dream come true. Finally, her story was about to start.

She couldn't help giggling to herself, too happy and excited to keep it inside.

"You sure are weird, Luigi."

Even though his comment had an annoyed tone, his smile was gentle. It made her feel all giggly inside.

Lucy composed herself, but her hands were shaking from anticipation and her stomach was doing some real acrobatics in there. She extended her hand, and he tilted his head cutely before accepting it.

"I think we haven't introduced ourselves correctly."

"I guess?" Natsu said doubtfully.

It was now or never. Lucy inhaled deeply before speaking.

"Hi, I'm Lucy—just Lucy is fine," she introduced herself. She smirked nervously. "And I think you're my soulmate."

There was no reaction from his side. His hand froze on hers, and Lucy tried not to break down in nervousness. Should she have waited a bit longer? But she was sure. Just his presence made her unreasonably feel all sorts of emotions she had never experienced before. Then there was that incident at the park with Bora and his charm magic, which she had initially thought nothing of. But after giving it some thoughts, it was definitely the result of charm magic being weak to the presence of a soulmate.

There was no mistaking it. Her visions all lead to this person.

And in the spur of the moment, she hadn't thought about it being too fast. She just wanted to let him know.

Every second in silence felt like an eternity.

Taken aback by his unresponsiveness, Lucy tried to release his hand. She didn't expect him to tighten his grip before she could unhand.

"Hi, just Lucy," he said jokingly, a smirk finally rising on his face. Lucy thought she could never get tired of it. "I'm Natsu of Fairy Tail. And I think you'll soon be Lucy of Fairy Tail, right?"

She couldn't help but smile.