Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of it's characters. The plot is the only thing that belongs to me.

Please read and review, but most of all, enjoy :D

The Ice Devil's Angel

Chapter One

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Gray sighed as he made his way through the bustling of the crowd in the train station of Clover Town. It was only a short time later when he was able to arrive at station six, which would depart for Hargeon, the port city, in a about a good fifteen minutes. He showed his ticket to the female train attendant, who shamelessly undressed him with her eyes, before registering it and directing him where he needed to go.

"Why the hell did Mira have to say anything...?" he grumbled under his breath as he made his way down the train to first class.

He just finished two S-class jobs near Clover Town, and he was just about ready to go home and take a well-needed rest from the overwhelming guild. But the old man just had to send him a message to watch Natsu and make sure he didn't destroy anything in Hargeon. When he asked why, Makarov just told him that Mira mentioned about a rumor of a "Salamander" in Hargeon, and before anyone could blink, the flaming pink-haired idiot left. What Gray couldn't understand was how stupid Natsu could be to think it would be Igneel… Like, why the hell would a dragon show up in the middle of town?

The disgruntled teen could only run a hand through his raven hair in irritation and annoyance. Of all the things he could be doing right now, he just had to do this… That damn Natsu…

Gray continued walking until he made it to his first class cabin. He slid the door open and entered without taking in his surroundings, but he could feel a magic presence. It was strange to say the least. He had never felt such a…calming magic? No, that wasn't quite the word. He shrugged and decided to think nothing of it as he placed his bag under his seat. It was when he sat down that he registered the woman containing the peaceful magic. And boy was he surprised.

Sitting across from him was a girl about his age reading a book, and the first thing he noticed was she had the most amazing golden blonde hair. It gleamed and illuminated in the sunlight, almost as if she had a halo. It was long and neatly put into a French braid with some few loose strands framing her face. What really completed the ethereal, heavenly look was her apparel, which consisted only of a simple, white summer dress accompanied by some golden sandals. It was a bit surreal for him, and it didn't help the fact that her magic was just oozing with warmth, which sharply contrasted to his own magic. He could feel his magic reacting inside him in some way. He couldn't really describe it. It was just…unsettling.

Gray heaved a tired sigh and leaned his head against the window while gazing outside. This was going to be one hell of a long ride if he continued feeling like this.

"I'm sorry," she apologized suddenly, almost as if she sensed his discomfort. "Am I bothering you?"

He snapped gaze to her and was about to say "yes" when his midnight blue eyes clashed with her own chocolate brown ones. His voice suddenly left him, as he got lost in their brown, never-ending depths. He was able to rip his eyes away from hers after a few moments and scanned her angelic face. A natural beauty. Gray clenched his jaw before turning his eyes away uncomfortably toward the window. It wasn't that he was nervous because of her looks – all the girls in Fairy Tail were pretty – he was just unnerved by her magical aura resonating from her. Although, he had to admit, her appearance was a factor as well.

Gray cleared his throat. "No, nothing of the sort."

She hummed and began reading her book again. "Glad to hear that."

He looked at her again, but this time as if she were some sort of specimen. He watched as her brows furrowed as if she remembered something. She glanced up at him peculiarly, scanning his face critically.

"You look familiar," she said. "Do I know you?"

For some reason, he almost felt slightly disappointed that she didn't.

"Gray Fullbuster."

Her eyes widened. "Of Fairy Tail?"

"The one and only."

"Wow, no wonder you seemed familiar," she smiled. "Nice to meet you! I'm Lucy."

Friendly, was the first thought that came to his mind. Her smile was radiant and contagious, although he could only crack a small, crooked smile in return. Genuine, was the second thought that popped into his mind as he memorized her dazzling smile.

"Pleasure's all mine," he said, and somehow knew he really meant it.

It was quiet after that, but not uncomfortable. He was thankful actually because he was getting some shuteye for the first time in two days because of the nonstop traveling he had done. He didn't realize how much it took a toll on him mentally, but he felt it was a well-deserved rest. Besides, he had enough of an earful from the old man and Erza demanding him to make sure Natsu didn't blow Hargeon off the map of Fiore.

Gray didn't know how much time passed, but he could hear Lucy saying something and that was when he woke up. He gave a small groan and rubbed his eyes before opening them to see she was receiving a platter of food and a cup of tea from the male train attendant.

She smiled kindly at him. "Thank you very much. It looks absolutely delicious."

"No problem, miss," the male train attendant said before leaving.

Lucy turned to her tea and placed only one cube of sugar in it. She hummed softly while mixing. After a few seconds, she clanked her small spoon softly before setting it down on her small dish. She grabbed a small plate and grabbed the food that was nearly arranged on the silver tray before them.

"Help yourself," she said, noticing he was awake.

Gray grabbed a dish. "Don't mind if I do."

After their lunch, the male attendant came by again and cleared it up. Lucy began reading in her small book again, and Gray was tiredly leaning against the window. As time passed, he grew bored and slightly curious.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's bringing you to Hargeon?"

"Well, two reasons, really," she began, looking up from her book. "Originally, I wanted to pay a visit to Fairy Tail, and see it with my own eyes. I thought it'd be fun. I was actually thinking of joining, to be honest. But, oh, I don't know. I'm a bit intimidated."

"You know magic?" Gray asked, more curious.

"Ah, yes," Lucy replied shyly, looking away with tinted cheeks.

Gray felt himself smirk. "Nothing to be shy about." He found her shyness quite endearing. "What's your magic?"

"Divine Magic…"

He raised a brow. "I've never heard of it before."

"Um, well, it's a type of Holy Magic, but it's my own."

Gray felt his eyes widen a fraction, but he immediately recomposed himself. He stared at her with newfound interest. "A type of pure magic then?"

Lucy nodded. "Right."

He stared thoughtfully out the window. All this was quite groundbreaking, really. There were not many mages with pure magic in the wizarding world, and there was a theory that pure magic was the closest magic to the One Magic, the source of all magic in the universe. It was peculiar though. Now that he thought about it, both Erza and Lucy were pure mages, and he felt that same uneasiness. More so with Lucy than Erza, which possibly meant the blonde had the potential to surpass the redhead, but that was somewhat unlikely considering how inexperienced Lucy seemed to be with using her magic.

Gray looked at her more intensely with narrowed eyes.

Then why did he feel so restless? Was her magic just simply such a contrast to his own that his magic was reacting to it out of agitation?

"Hm, just like Erza then," he finally said.

"The Erza Scarlet?!" Lucy shook her head furiously. "I am far from her level!"

Gray chuckled. "Your second reason?"

"Well…I heard about 'Salamander' from Fairy Tail, so I thought I'd stop by along the way since Hargeon is close to Magnolia."

"Funny," Gray said.

"Hmm?"

"I was going to check out this 'Salamander' as well."

"But…" Lucy's brows furrowed in confusion. "You're from the same guild, so why…?"

"Long story short, I think someone's posing as him."

Lucy widened her eyes. "So he's a fake?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

She pouted. "Well, there's goes my wasted money…"

Gray thought her presence itself was unnerving, but it was even more unsettling when she looked upset.

"Tell you what. I'll introduce you to the real Salamander, although I doubt you'll be that impressed. Then I could take you for a swing by Fairy Tail. How does that sound?" he offered before he could stop himself.

Lucy's eyes sparkled in delight. "That would be great! Thank you!"

"Who know, maybe you'll join at the end of the day."

She smiled. "I think I will."

1 1 1

It was maybe about an hour later when Lucy and Gray arrived at Hargeon. They grabbed the small stuff that they had and began walking through the town. It was Lucy's first time in the port town, and she could help but admire everything. It was so pretty! The fresh air was nice for a change, and the town looked absolutely amiable. The atmosphere was cheerful and light, and Lucy cherished it since she was so used to growing up in a confined household with high expectations.

"It's so beautiful…" she couldn't help but say.

"It is," Gray agreed after a moment.

Lucy glanced at him with curiosity as they continued walking down the cobblestone path. "I take it you've seen something better in your travels as a mage?"

He glanced back at her, this time, with a thoughtful look.

"Hm," he replied, looking ahead of him once again. "Perhaps."

"Perhaps?"

"Depends on what kind of beauty you mean," Gray explained.

"What kind?" Lucy echoed.

"Fake beauty, tragic beauty, dark beauty, natural beauty" – he looked at her – "inner beauty…"

"Wow, I never thought of it like that," Lucy said with a thoughtful hum. "But I guess…the breathtaking kind! Where it makes you feel good to be alive."

"Feel good to be alive," Gray murmured, staring off into the distance. "I'm not exactly sure…"

The blonde could feel her magic shift uncomfortably as he said that. "There has to be something…" she said.

Lucy looked at the Fairy Tail mage more critically than before. She watched him as they continued to walk through the bustling town. For some reason, she felt the need for him to find a memory, even if it was rather small. His demeanor and the perspective of how he saw things interested her, but she felt he was almost bitter towards the world. Her magic could sense it. Under all the calm and collected façade, there was something dark lurking within him. It made her nervous, yet it made sense as to why she immediately took an interest in him. Her magic was holy and pure; it always searched for darkness, so it could cleanse it. And ever since she met Gray, it had been telling her that his magic was powerful and used for good yet there was something vile at bay. He was able to control now, but…

"There was this one time," he finally said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I don't remember clearly, but I do remember that I helped my mother with something, and she smiled, and it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. It made me feel good, but I don't know if that's what you meant…"

A gentle smile spread across Lucy's lips when she saw Gray have an almost soft look in his eyes from the memory. Her magic shifted happily within her in response to what he said. He looked at her, and immediately, his hypnotic, midnight, blue eyes changed back to its usual mysteriousness.

"What?"

Lucy felt her smile grow larger and looked away. "Nothing, but that's what I meant."

It was silent for a few moments until the two of them came upon a flower boutique and right across from it was a bar.

"I'll be right back," Gray said. "I'm going to ask for information about the rumors in the bar."

"Okay," she nodded as he left.

Lucy's entire face lit up when she saw all the neatly arranged flowers for sale across the street. With a sudden skip in her step, she walked up to the vendor, who was a nice old lady.

"Ma'am, you have such gorgeous arrangements!"

The old lady looked surprised. "Why, thank you!"

"You wouldn't mind if I just took a look around, would you?"

The woman laughed and shook her head. "Not at all! Go right on ahead, dearie!"

Lucy happily scanned through the flowers, taking the time to take in the beautiful arrangement. She slightly leaned forward and smelt the array of gloxinia flowers. She sighed in content. She didn't know how long she did it, but she was so engrossed that the sudden voice that spoke to her made her jump.

"Who's the handsome lad with you?" the old lady suddenly asked. "Looks a bit familiar… Are you both together?"

Lucy glanced up in surprise. "Oh, um…" She turned to stare across the street to see Gray just exit the bar, and this time, she actually took the time to look at him.

The fresh Hargeon breeze caught his white coat and caused it to sway behind him and open up a little bit, so she was able to see the tight, black sleeveless shirt underneath. It left little to imagination; she could see the outline of his muscles and abs. She also saw the silver necklace that hung around his neck. From afar, she couldn't tell what the pendant was, but she remembered it being a silver cross. The cool breeze also caused his raven hair to sway gently and look slightly tousled. Then his eyes, his midnight blue eyes were nothing but a mystery, and it only accentuated the handsome features of his sculpted face. The aura of his magic only added to its intensity, and that's when Lucy finally understood what he meant by dark beauty. With how handsome he looked combined with the darkness of his magic, it was almost sinful. The darkness wasn't on the surface, but it was deep down waiting. Waiting to break to the surface and take over.

Lucy's magic stirred.

She lost her words for a moment. She shook her head to snap out of it and looked back at the lady. "That's Gray Fullbuster."

The old woman's gasped. "Gray Fullbuster the Ice Devil?"

"Um…yes?"

"You both are such an adorable pair!"

"Uh, we–we're not together," Lucy said uncomfortably. "I just met him on the train. He's taking me to visit Fairy Tail."

"Just met?" the woman repeated, incredulous. "I could've sworn…" she trailed off with a pensive expression.

"Ma'am?"

"Hm, nothing, dearie," she waved off. "It's just I was a mage myself back in the day, so I sensed that his magic and your magic were compatible."

Lucy was speechless.

The old woman giggled and shook her head. "You can take the a gloxinia flower for free since you seem to like it so much."

"But–"

The old woman wordlessly picked a pink gloxinia and placed it behind her ear. She took a step back to take a better look. She smiled. "You're quite the beauty. Take care, dearie."

"Lucy?"

Said girl whirled around to see Gray looking at her curiously. She briefly noted how tall he was. She only came to his chest!

"Oh, did you get some information already?"

"I did..." His brows furrowed in confusion. "Whom were you talking to?"

Lucy turned back around. "I was talking to–" She stopped when she saw no one at the flower boutique. She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. That was odd. "There was a kind, old lady here just a moment ago…"

It was strange because there was magic residue indicating that someone had been there only moments ago. She shrugged and turned back to Gray to see him frowning. He looked perplexed. He probably felt the same magical residue.

"Doesn't matter," he finally said, flicking his narrowed eyes back to the boutique every now and then. His eyes finally settled on the pink gloxinia flower behind her ear. "Nice flower by the way."

"Thank you! It's a pretty little thing, isn't it?" she said with a smile.

"It is."

"Oh yeah, what did you find out?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Not much. Only that this so-called Salamander is inviting a lot of his fangirls to his ship for some fancy party tonight."

"Party?"

"Beats me," Gray said with a shrug. "But it does clarify that it sure isn't the real Salamander. The idiot has motion sickness, so he wouldn't even dare step on a boat."

"Is the real one here?"

"Yeah, he left the guild when he heard about this Salamander."

"Is it because he knows that someone is posing as him?"

Gray scoffed. "Hardly. He thinks it's his foster dad, who was a dragon."

There was a slight pause as Lucy registered this.

"But why in the world would a dragon be in the middle of a town?!" she finally asked, incredulous. She imagined the majestic creature lounging around the port and breathing fire at anyone who disturbed him. She shook her head at the idiocy of it all.

"Exactly," Gray deadpanned.

Lucy giggled. "I can't wait to meet him. He sounds like quite the character."

"You have no idea…"

Before anything else could be said, a huge crowd of rabid fangirls came running down the street squealing in excitement. They were like a stampede of bulls, charging at whatever was in their way. They came at an alarming speed that Lucy didn't know what to do. She felt Gray grab her forearm and quickly pull her to the side beside him just in time as the group of fangirls swamped pass them and went further into the heart of town, screaming Salamander this and Salamander that.

"That was close," Lucy said.

Gray let go of her forearm. "Well, at least we know where go."

"Oh Lord," was all Lucy could say as they trailed after the group of fangirls.

It didn't take long to find them. They were easily spotted from far away, surrounding a lone figure, who was probably the man posing as Salamander. From afar, she couldn't say much, but she wondered why all the women were going crazy to the point of having hearts as their eyes. When they came closer to the crowd, Gray pushed their way in to the front, and there he was.

The so-called Salamander was a relatively tall man with mildly short, spiky, dark blue hair that was swept to the side. He had an almost rectangular shape to his face and possessed sharp facial features. The most distinctive thing on his face was a dark tattoo covering the right side of his forehead. Living up to his importer role as Salamander, he wore a dark, high-collared cape, which was fastened together below his collar by a gold stylized flame. To add to all that, he had a sleazy smile to his face as he easily charmed the crowd of fangirls, and that's when Lucy noticed the charm ring he had on his finger. To top it all off, his magic was revolting. She could sense in his magic the willingness to use it for his own purposes and to cheat people. She was snapped out of her thoughts when the fake Salamander's eyes clashed with hers. He flashed her that sleazy smile and winked.

Lucy took a step back.

"Lucy?" Gray asked.

"He…his…" Lucy swallowed. "His magic is…repulsive." She could feel Gray looking at her curiously, so she went on. "He's using his magic to…to–"

"I know…"

Lucy looked up at him with wide eyes. He almost said it sympathetically; like it was her first time realizing what people could to with their magic and how corrupt someone could become. And he was right. She only left the confinement of her household recently, so she didn't know the extent the corruption of magic could do to a person and how far they would go to get what they wanted.

Gray took a step forward and the air around him was chilling, literally. It was like below freezing! It looked like he was about to release some magic when a guy with spiky, rosy, pink hair burst through the crowd with an ear-splitting grin on his face. The first thing Lucy noted was his magic; it was old, warm, and soothing, yet she could sense something within the depths of his magic. She couldn't tell what it was, so she brushed it off.

"Igneel!" he shouted excitedly.

Silence ensued. The cold air around Gray disappeared, and she could hear him mutter incoherent things under his breath like "stupid", "flame-brain", "idiot", and plenty of other not-so-nice things. Meanwhile, there was a stare-down between the fake Salamander and the pink-haired guy. His large, warm grin slowly left his face.

"Who the hell are you?"

The fake Salamander opened his mouth in surprise but recovered. "Maybe you know me as Salamander."

Before he could even finish that sentence, Lucy was astonished to find the pink-haired guy already walking back the way he came with a depressed aura surrounding him. She squinted her eyes to see alongside him was a blue cat. His departure caused quite the stir, and within a blink of an eye, half the crowd of rabid fangirls went stampeding toward him. Hell, one managed to grab him by his scarf, which, of course, began choking him as they dragged him back.

"The hell?!" he rasped out, clawing at his throat.

"You're so rude!"

"Yeah, Salamander-sama is a great mage!"

"Apologize to him!"

"That's enough, ladies," the fake Salamander said. "He didn't really mean it."

All the fangirls squealed. "You're so kind~"

He pulled out a piece of paper and began signing it. "I'll give you my signature. You can show it off to your friends."

"Don't want it," was the pink-haired guy's curt reply.

Once again, the fangirls were upon him. With little effort, they threw him out of the crowd with terrifying strength. The poor guy screamed as he flew through the air and landed, skidding across the cobblestones of the street.

"What is wrong with you?!"

"Get lost!"

"He was being nice!"

"I appreciate for the enthusiastic welcome," the fake Salamander said. "Sadly, I have some errands to run at port, so please excuse me." He snapped his fingers and purple fire erupted beneath him, which allowed him to fly in the air. "We're having a party on my ship tonight, and you're all invited. Please come!"

The girls swooned as he faded into the distance toward the ports of Hargeon. They dispersed, hearts still in their eyes, as they talked about the party with each other and what they should wear.

"You know how you were really excited to meet the real Salamander, right?" Gray asked.

"Yeah…"

Gray nodded his head to the pink-haired guy. "Well, that's him over there. His real name is Natsu Dragneel. He uses fire dragonslayer magic, hence Salamander."

Lucy raised her brows, skeptical. "You're kidding." Although, as she thought about it, when she felt his magic, it clicked together. Dragonslayer magic was ancient, which explained the old feeling she felt from Natsu's magic. Not many people used it anymore; therefore, it could be a type of lost magic.

"I wish I was."

"What about the blue cat with him?"

"That's Happy."

"Happy?" Lucy echoed. "Interesting name."

Together, they walked up to Natsu, who was sitting on the ground with a deep frown on his face as he glared where the fake Salamander went off. His blue cat was standing next to him and stared off in the same direction. Lucy made a closer inspection and couldn't help but think he was cute. He had a nice tan, which complimented his lean, muscular body. She noticed her wore an open vest with no shirt underneath, which showed his sculpted muscles and abs. His rosy hair was quite peculiar, but it just made him cute because it matched his childish and reckless personality as well as his facial features, especially his onyx eyes and bright smile. She just wanted to stretch his cheeks and ruffle his hair.

"Hey, Flame-Brain," Gray greeted.

"Ice Princess?!" he yelled in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Gray!" Happy said, raising his paw.

"Happy," Gray acknowledged with a nod of his head. "The old man told me to come here when you ran off to Hargeon. He wanted me to make sure you didn't destroy anything."

"Tch, I don't need a babysitter."

"Your lucky Erza is on a mission or she would have been in my place."

"S-Shit…" Natsu immediately paled. "You didn't tell her I destroyed seven houses along with the Devon Thief family, did you?"

"Nope, but Gramps got some paperwork recently, and it'll only be some time when she gets back and finds out anyway."

"Oooh," Happy chuckled. "She's so going to kick your ass."

"Shut up!"

Lucy giggled at they quarreled with each other childishly. For some reason, she could tell they would all very good friends, even her magic agreed with her happily. Natsu and Happy stopped as they heard her, and they turned and looked at her very curiously.

"Um, hi," she greeted politely. "I'm Lucy."

A grin slowly spread on Natsu's lips. He got up and dusted the imaginary dirt and dust off his clothes before smiling at her. "Natsu," he said. "How'd you meet droopy eyes?"

"Droopy eyes?"

Gray sighed. "We met on the train here."

"Hey, don't forget me," the cat whined. "I'm Happy! Do you have any fish?"

"Nice to meet you too, Happy, and no, sorry," Lucy apologized.

"Speaking of food," Natsu began. His stomach growled, and he slumped over dramatically. "I'm so hungry!"

1 1 1

"So that's why you came to Hargeon…" Natsu said. "Well, here I am!"

"Yes, it was a pleasure to meet you," Lucy said happily.

"And you want to join Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked with his mouth full.

"Erm, that would be nice," Lucy said. "But I don't think–"

"You'd fit right in! Wouldn't she, Happy?"

"Aye!"

"You really shouldn't have offered him anything," Gray remarked to Lucy.

"I kind of regret it now," she replied. "I didn't think he would eat that much…"

Gray could only stare, disgusted, as his guildmate shoved everything down his throat, disregarding manners and such. He ate so fast that bits of food went flying here and there. He almost felt his patience and control snap when juice splattered onto his face, but his eyebrow twitched out of annoyance instead.

"Gray?" Lucy asked.

"Hm?"

"What are we going to do about that fake Salamander guy?" she asked tentatively. Her brown eyes were filled with the utmost concern. He looked down at the plate of food she had gotten for herself to see she hadn't touched anything. He assumed it was because she was worrying and stressing over the fact that some poser was abusing magic and manipulating weak-minded girls.

Before he could say anything, Natsu spoke up.

"Oh yeah, who was that weird guy?"

Lucy looked at him surprised. "You don't know? He was posing as you!"

"To be more specific, his is Bora the Prominence," Gray informed. "I recognized him because he used to be part of the Titan Nose guild, but he was later kicked out because he assisted in a thievery with his magic."

"Say what?!" Natsu yelled.

"Natsu, you idiot," Gray sighed. "He used the name Salamander, which you thought was Igneel, but in reality, he was just pretending to be you. Think about it: why would a dragon show up in the middle of town? If you would have thought about that sooner, you would have figured out the guy was using your name."

Natsu stayed silent for a while.

"That poser was dirtying your name, Natsu," Happy stated. "You should slap him with a fish."

Lucy sweatdropped at that.

"No, not just me," Natsu said angrily. "He was dirtying Fairy Tail's name as well."

"So, what will you guys do?" Lucy asked.

"I was thinking to pay a visit to his ship at the harbor," Gray said simply, but he was implying more the just a "visit" obviously.

"And…confront him?"

Gray scanned Lucy's face to see she didn't seem to like the idea of fighting. He raised his brows. "Lucy, I'm going to have to fight him, you know. It's my job as a mage of Fairy Tail to stop these kinds of guys."

"Hey!" Natsu interjected. "I'm dealing with this guy!"

Gray glared. "Hell no. I'm not risking the destruction of Hargeon because of your reckless behavior."

"You can't tell me what do to! And don't even pull the S-class card this time!"

"Fine, I'll just let Erza know you didn't listen."

That immediately shut the pink-haired mage up.

"It's not that, Gray," Lucy finally said. "I know you have to fight and everything, but I'm just worried that you'll get hurt…and that I won't be much help either."

Gray widened his eyes a fraction in surprise at her genuine concern. He really didn't know what to say about that. First thing was that he was impressed she wanted to help them any way she possibly could while anyone else would have walked away from something so dangerous. Secondly, she was concerned. He couldn't help but feel almost slightly offended that she didn't trust their abilities as mages, but the feeling disappeared when she continued.

"I suppose it's silly," she went on. "You know, you being an S-class mage of Fairy Tail and all, but I still can't help but worry and want to help anyway." She smiled weakly. "Is that strange?"

"You are definitely a Fairy!" Happy stated. "Right, guys?"

A smirk graced Gray's lips. "Without a doubt."

Natsu laughed. "I agree, but seriously, have more faith in our abilities. We can kick his ass no problem."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Ash-for-Brains," Gray said. "And there is no we, Natsu!"

"Oh, come on!" he whined. "I bet Lucy wants to see my magic in action. I mean, you did tell me, she came to see Salamander, right?"

Gray considered this. Natsu was right. He did promise Lucy that, but he didn't remember promising anything to that extent. He glanced at Lucy to see she looked a little bit excited yet nervous about it all. He sighed in resignation.

"Fine."

"Woohoo!" Natsu and Happy cheered together. They proceeded to give a victory dance on the clattered table.

"I'm regretting this already…" Gray said.

Lucy laughed.

1 1 1

"Well, here we are," Gray announced.

"It makes me sick just by looking at it," Natsu croaked, holding a hand over his mouth.

The three of them stood on the dock where Bora's ship was stationed. Lucy couldn't help but gape at the sheer size of it, and it made her wonder what Bora had in his ship, but at the same time, she didn't want to. She had a bad feeling about all of it; she could clearly feel Bora's magic inside. It rolled off in waves, and she couldn't help but clench her jaw and scrunch up her face.

"Lucy, you okay?" Gray asked.

She let out a breath that she had been holding. "Yes, sorry. It's just the nature of his magic nauseates me."

"Nature of his magic?" Happy echoed.

Gray looked at her curiously. "You can sense magic very well," he stated more than asked, probably remembering how she mentioned how revolting Bora's magic was.

"Yes," she said. "Although, maybe a bit more sensitive than the normal mage, thanks to my magic. It specifically reads people's magic and tells me all I need to know."

"So you can pinpoint his location then?" Gray inquired.

Without a moment's hesitation, Lucy pointed to the general area of where Bora was. "There," she said. "Below the deck, in the captain's quarters, I would guess."

"All right!" Natsu cheered.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

"Lead the way," Gray said.

"Right," Lucy said with a nod.

Once again, she looked at the towering ship. She swallowed thickly and took a deep breath. She could do this; she just had to focus on her task. The blonde took the first steps on the ramp to the ship and firmly made her way up without looking back. She didn't want to show weakness to the Fairy Tail wizards. She wanted to show that she was qualified. She made it to the top and quietly hopped onto the deck and let out the deep breath that she had been holding.

Gray, Natsu, and Happy were not too far behind her.

She paid them no heed and followed her senses with ease, yet she couldn't help but feel nervous. She heard tiny paws pad against the floor beside her. She looked down to see Happy walking next to her. He looked at her and flashed her a grin, almost as if he sensed her discomfort. She couldn't help but grin back and gave him a grateful nod.

It was unnaturally quiet as they went down below the deck and walked through many halls, taking several turns here and there. She stopped walking when she felt Natsu's magic start flaring restlessly. He was ready to take action; he was ready to explode. She was about to call him out on it when she felt Bora's magical presence go lower and lower in the ship.

"Why'd you stop walking, Lucy?" Happy asked.

"He's…gone down to a lower level, right below us. I wonder what he must be doing…"

"Shit," Natsu suddenly swore, scrunching up his nose.

"You smell something?" Gray asked.

"Burning flesh." The pink-haired mage raised a fist.

"Natsu, wait!" Happy said.

Before the dragonslayer could be stopped, Natsu blew out the floor underneath them, and they went spiraling down to the lower levels. She screamed, waiting for impact, but she something wrap around her waist. She looked down to see a blue tail then looked up to see Happy himself with sprouted wings.

"Thanks, Happy!" she said, as the cat flew down and gently set her down.

"No problem, Lucy! Although, you're a bit heavy, so you should reward me with some fish later, " he teased.

Lucy chuckled and shook her head. "Silly cat."

She looked ahead and gasped when she saw Bora about to brand another innocent girl on the back. Luckily, he stopped dead short as the noise of the fall fully registered into his mind. Her eyes widened when she took notice of how many branded girls there were on this ship. It was a slave trade! Bora was collecting girls for a slave trade!

Before she could even react, Natsu came down with a solid kick to Bora's face while Gray gracefully landed in front of her, causing the enclosing men of Bora, that she sadly hadn't taken notice of, to back of with startled jumps. Lucy watched in amazement as that simple kick had the man flying back several meters. Natsu's flames exploding from his body; he was a raging fire, literally.

"You messed with the wrong people, you bastards!"

"Shit, Bora, he's got the scaly-looking scarf, the pink hair, and the blue cat…" one of Bora's men said, fear in his voice. "I think he may be the real Salamander!"

"Don't call me that!" Bora said as he got up with some effort and held his already bruising cheek. He held out his hand and a filthy red magic circle appeared and purple fire shot out, but Natsu only ate it and retaliated with something far stronger and deadlier than poor Bora could imagine.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

And the whole left side of the ship was blown to bits. Lucy concluded that Dragonslayer magic was amazing yet so ridiculously destructive.

"Is he crazy?!" Lucy screamed. "We don't want the ship to sink!"

"Maybe, but he's mostly an idiot," Gray stated, and Lucy couldn't agree more.

The men surrounding her and Gray tried closing in once again, but in the blink of an eye, every single man working for Bora was frozen.

"That was amazing!" Lucy commented in awe. "Did that really just happen…?" she mumbled under her breath.

Gray only shrugged but had a small smirk on his face.

"Shouldn't we stop him?" Lucy finally asked, a bit worried about the damage Natsu was causing. The ship was starting to burn and the slaves were panicking and hell, even jumping off the ship from the large whole Natsu created.

"Nah, a ship's better than a city," Gray replied matter-of-factly.

"Th-This is normal?" Her voice went to a high octave of disbelief.

"Sadly," was Gray's only response, yet his voice held a certain amusement to it.

"Gray!" Happy called, flying over to them.

"Hm?"

"The army's on the way here!"

"The army?!" Lucy echoed in horror

"Well, that's our cue to leave," Gray said coolly.

Lucy gaped. "That's so unprofessional."

Gray laughed. "We're hardly professionals when it comes to rules."

And with that, they fled from the burning ship, but not without Gray freezing Natsu and Bora with no problem despite the heat of their flames. They left the filthy man on the ship for the army to find, as with the rest of his men. For Happy, well, Lucy felt bad for the cat because Gray assigned him the job of carrying a frozen Natsu.

"Gray, you think Happy's going to be okay with all the weight? Maybe you should unfreeze Natsu?" Lucy suggested.

Gray didn't even bother to turn around and continued walking. "The cat will survive; it'll make him stronger. Besides, it's what Natsu gets for getting the army's attention."

"You're… so…cruel," Happy gasped out as he hauled the frozen Natsu with his tail, his wings rapidly fluttering.

Lucy remained silent for a few moments, but she had one question in her head that desired to be answered.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, but…where are we going?" she asked.

Gray looked at her over his shoulder. "You said you wanted to go to Fairy Tail, right?"

A bright smile lit her face. "Right."

He flashed her his small, crooked smile. "Then let's go."

Lucy then realized her journey with Fairy Tail already began when she met Gray on the train. She silently thanked whatever god out there for letting them meet because this feeling of freedom, adventure, and friendship was exactly what she was looking for.

And there you have it! Chapter 1! Hope you like it and let me know what you think!