A/n: This doesn't have anything to do with Noelle. Hiro, I'm issuing you a warning; if you harm either of my loves, we're going to have a real problem. That is all. Sorry, if you read the manga, you'll understand.
Oh, and fight scenes are not my strong point. But I tried my best, promise.
Summary: She once believed that like her magic, her heart was made of ice. That no matter what she did, she could never unthaw it. A chance encounter with a blonde-haired girl leads her on a adventure she never dreamed possible. From joining a crazy guild, to rekindling an old friendship, and a second chance at romance; for the first time, in a long time, she believes her heart can be thawed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy. The only thing I own are my characters, and my characters alone.
Cover Art: Rebecca0105 on DeviantArt
Chapter Three: Noelle Vs. Natsu: The Dragon Duel
"Please!"
"No."
"Come on, Navi!"
"You expect me to fight you when you don't even know my name?!"
"I know your name! It's Norma, or Nueva, something like that! Come on, just fight me! What? Are you too scared to find out who the stronger dragon is?"
"It's not that, Natsu. I just don't feel like fighting. So back off."
"Jeez, Igloo must have been a real coward."
Natsu could only grin when Noelle said nothing. At that moment, he knew he had won the battle. It did take longer than he thought; but in the end he was going to get to fight with another person of his skill, and he was radiating excitement.
"What's wrong Noelle? Scared?"
By this point, everyone in the guild had stopped what they were doing to watch the spectacle happening between Natsu and Noelle. To say they were curious would be an underestimate. Everyone in the guild wanted to know what the new girl had to offer; it had to be something good if Natsu was perusing fighting her so badly.
Noelle sighed. She could see there way no way she was getting out of this. Natsu seemed like the type who didn't give up easily; and it annoyed her, since she didn't like giving in to peoples demands. But, just for this once, she would play his game. And she would make him regret challenging her.
"Fine. I'll fight you."
"Oh man, I'm all fired up now!"
Noelle sighed. She was going to regret this, wasn't she?
Everyone gathered outside, surrounding Natsu and Noelle in a circle, but giving them enough room to fight, and to be able to keep out of harms way. Everyone was taking bets on who they thought would win, many placing their bets on Natsu, and then others on Noelle. Cana sat off to the side with a barrel of beer between her legs, and a board that had Natsu and Noelle's name written on it with varying tally marks beneath.
Noelle wasn't particularly happy about being surrounded by so many people at once; but she couldn't deny the rush of adrenaline she was feeling. She had faced many opponents in the past, but never another Dragon Slayer.
"You ready to do this?" Natsu grinned as he held up a flaming fist.
Noelle nodded. Natsu may believe he had the upper hand because of his fire magic, but Isoldeth has taught Noelle many on how to conquer over flames. I won't lose to you, Natsu. Noelle got into a fighting position as a shimmer of blue light glossed over her body.
Natsu wasted no time in charging at Noelle with his fist drawn back. "Fire Dragon: Iron Fist!" he roared, swinging his flame coated fist at her.
"Beat the crap out of him, Noelle!" Marlow yelled from the sidelines where he stood with Happy. "And you better not hold back - and one of you better end up bleeding or crying!"
Noelle sweat dropped. "Yeah, yeah!" She growled dodging Natsu's fist. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead from the closeness of the flames. The thought of the fire making any form of contact with her skin made her stomach jump; but she refused to lose to Natsu - he would never shut up if she did.
"Ice Dragon: Diamond Fist!" Noelle called out her attack and mirrored Natsu's move. She twisted round, and slung her fist into the underside of Natsu's jaw, and as he was recovering she took the opportunity to send her heel into his gut; the Fire Slayer was sent flying across yard, but was quick to bounce back to his feet.
Around her, people whispered about her magic. They were shocked to find that she and Natsu shared the same magic; this didn't surprise Noelle. Her magic was unique, to the point that not many people knew it existed, or believed it to be true, for that matter. It still made her angry when she thought back to the people who laughed at her when she told them of her foster mother being a dragon. Eventually, she stopped telling people.
Natsu charged again and Noelle joined them. Their fist clashed against one another. Hues of red and blue mixed, creating a purple blue as their bodies and magic collided. "Fire Dragon: Claw!" Natsu roared, slashing his claws across Noelle's face, who was busy shoving her ice-coated fist into his stomach. The two lurched back. Natsu, doubling over to hold his aching gut; and Noelle, viciously swiping at her face to ebb away the burning sensation that molded into her sensitive skin.
Noelle glared at Natsu, her canines bared. "Bastard!" She hissed. A thin, horizontal crimson mark marred her face; no doubt it would leave behind a scar. As if I don't have enough of those..
"You're not half bad, Noelle." Natsu grinned as he cracked his neck. "But I'm not going to lose to you."
Marlow who had been relatively silent(too absorbed into the fight), raised himself into the air and cupped his paws over his mouth. "Noelle, you better not lose to this idiot! It's hard enough listening to Lucy, I don't want to have to listen to this guys boasting for the next month!"
Lucy glared at the cat. "Shut it, fleabag."
Gray was silent as he watched Noelle and Natsu clash. She had really changed in the years they lost contact. She wasn't the same, tomboy-ish girl who went around picking fights; those she did still have a bit of an attitude in her. And it wasn't just mentally she had changed, but physically too. Her hair was much longer now, opposed to the short, unkempt bob she always sported as kid; every time they turned around she was in the bathroom, hacking off her hair whenever it grew past her ears; and now, Gray couldn't even tell where it began, and where it stopped. And of course she had matured as well. It would have been a bold faced lie if he said he hadn't noticed her accentuated curves, and how much she had filled out.
Gray blushed a little and shook off the previous thoughts.
But mostly, Gray was amazed by how far she had come in terms of her magic. As children, she could barely cast a spell, let alone hold herself in battle. Her magic was always jumbled, and unbalanced, and she barely hold her own in a fight without Ur having to step in and break it up. Gray's arrogant younger self had once asked Ur why she had taken in such a weak student(Something that had earned him a sharp smack upside the head). Ur had told Gray that Noelle wasn't weak physically, but mentally; that whatever she had suffered was holding her back, and not allowing her full potential to come through. And now, here she was holding her own against one of Fairy Tail's strongest mages; and Gray would be lying again, if he said he wasn't impressed with how far she's come.
He smiled, and watched the fight while silently cheering on his old rival.
Okay. Now I'm really getting pissed off.
The thrill of battle had long since left Noelle, and have been replaced by pure annoyance. No matter how many spells, or hard hard she hit him; Natsu refused to give up. Every time, he would pick himself up, wipe the blood away, and jump right back to it. Noelle continued to fight as well, though the constant contact with his fire magic was irritating her skin, turning her creamy skin red, and causing it to swell and blister, and crack; one of the side affects of her magical affinity.
Noelle decided to put and end to this fight. She stood tall, and held her hands out at her sides. In a soft, quiet voice she spoke foreign words in a tune that almost made it seem like she was singing. Natsu, was taken back by this, and stood scratching his head while wondering what kind of weird spell she was planning.
The other members were curious too as they watched with bated breaths, even the Master, who had been impressed by Noelle's performance so far.
Slowly, Noelle began to twirl and make odd gestures with her body, it was as if she was dancing. Everyone around her took notice of how the temperature dropped, and how an icy wind began to pick up around Noelle; a very faint, blue light surrounded her as the icy wind moved to her hands, and slowly formed into two, frozen blades. Noelle then stopped dancing, and looked at Natsu with a mischievous smirk.
Natsu scoffed. "What, am I supposed to be afraid of some dumb dance? Come on, fight me for real!"
"Okay." Noelle grinned. "Let's see if you can keep up." Her eye narrowed as she clutched the blades tighter. "Ice Dragon: Dancing Dragon, Frozen Blade Dance!"
"What the?!"
Natsu barely had time to register the speeding blur of blue that barreled towards him. Her movement was nothing more than a blur as she twirled around Natsu at untraceable speeds. If it weren't for Natsu's cries of pain as the swords slicing him, and the shredding of his clothes; one might have thought she disappeared into thin air! With one last strike against the chest, Natsu crashed against the ground with a strangled groan. Shortly after, Noelle reappeared, panting, and sweating bullets.
And before anyone could congratulate her on her victory, she too fell to the ground unconscious.
"Nice job out there, Nelly!"
"It's Noelle, and thanks. I can't believe I actually won, even if only by a second."
"We should fight again, I want a rematch!"
Noelle sighed. She should have known that Natsu wouldn't give up that easily. "Maybe some other time, Natsu." Noelle smiled and sipped the glass of ice water that Mirajane had given her. "That last spell takes a lost out of me. It requires a lot of concentration and focus, which is hard to do in the heat of battle."
Lucy, who was sitting beside Noelle, tilted her head to the side with a frown. "You were really going for it out there." Lucy said. "I don't think I've seen you fight that hard in the time we've know each other."
"I uh, got a little carried away." Noelle blushed. "It was exciting, fighting against someone else of my kind."
Gray who was sitting across from Noelle smirked, and folded his arms over his chest. "I gotta say, I was impressed. I was expecting you to yell and give up halfway through it."
Noelle glared at Gray. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Gray." She huffed, puffing her cheeks out as she sipped her water.
"I noticed." Gray said. "When did you get so strong?"
A haunting looked pass through Noelle's as eye she gripped her glass a little tighter. Gray's eyebrows knitted together. Her hands were shaking ever so slightly, and he could see the way her jaw tightened. It took a second before she recollected herself, and calmed down. She put on a faux smile, and twirled the straw around in her glass.
"I don't know. I guess, it just happened." Noelle shrugged.
Gray narrowed his eyes. He knew she was lying, but he didn't call her out on it; whatever had happened during all those years had some kind of negative effect on her, and it was still affecting her to this day. He just had to wonder what it was that happened, to completely reshape the person she used to be.
Noelle caught Gray staring at her and looked down into her drink. He knew she was lying, she knew that. But as long as he never found out the reason for her secrets, then everything would be fine.
She would never forgive herself if she were the cause of another life being robbed.
End Note: Fight scenes are something I still need to improve on. I don't think that they are too bad, but they can definitely improve. Like, I can envision the fight perfectly in my head; but it's hard for me to put it into words, if that makes any sense. Overall this chapter was meh, and I'm not completely happy with it.
I create weird moves, I know.
Isn't Marlow just charming? Some people might wonder why I chose to make Marlow have such violent and abrasive personality; and it mostly stems from the fact that when you read about Exceeds, they are always cute-sy, and precious, and their just little lovable balls of fur! So I wanted to do something different. So, Marlow, the violence loving, abrasive, ball of mangled fur was born - and I love him dearly, but not nearly as much as CocoGirlRevised; she's his biggest fangirl.
Also I'm so happy that people are picking up on the changes. I didn't want to make this a carbon copy of all the others. Yes, I wanted to keep things similar, but also very different. And this time around I wanted to explore more of Noelle's personality and her inner thoughts; something I didn't do last time. I gave her traits of mine like her anxiety, and blended that into her character as it's something I know I can write.
This isn't important. But I ship Noelle and Juvia hardcore. I just, I really love the rain woman, she's very important to me. But so is Gray, and those two, they just complete me. No, this is not going to turn into a Nuvia fanfcition(That's their official ship name. Fight me.), but, one day, I just might be tempted to write a fanfiction dedicated to her, because I love her. I love her so much. Hiro, are you reading this? I love her. Leave her alone. Leave Gray alone. Leave my babies alone!
Totally off topic...
You should DEFINITELY go read Skin Deep by Nocte Nebula: She's a brilliant writer, and she's created such a unique Fairy Tail oc with a type of magic I've never seen before; and the pairings for her story are just perfect, absolutely perfect. Seriously, I really love this story, and I'm constantly being amazed by how well written it is, and the amount of detail she puts towards her story and characters. It may seem like I'm fangirling, because I am. But you all know by now that when I come across a story I enjoy, and that I think deserves more recognition; I'm going to shout them out. So go, go read it! And show her some love and support for her awesome story!
Go read, follow, favorite, and review Skin Deep! Neb's deserves it. :)
