The manor house was a very lovely estate. Probably one of the loveliest and most comfortable ones that Natsu had ever seen. Richly furnished with many rooms full of grand riches and luxuries. Of course that was to expected of any type of abode built specifically for a royal family. The land in which the house had been built on was also quite radiant. Golden fields, green grass and tree leaves, wild flowers blooming all around, and it all now belonged to Natsu. He had his own home, his own land, and his own wealth. He had everything that his father would have given him had his stepmother not interfered.

He rather enjoyed sleeping in a bed again and being able to dine at a dinner table. He gave Happy a silken cushion to sleep on by the fireplace and once in while he would give him some sweet cream to drink as a special treat. With the livestock he had been given the meals were very satisfying and with what he had leftover he would sell to the nearest village but they were always private dealings as he did not want to encourage panic.

It was a comfortable life but after two weeks it proved to not be a completely content one. Now it wasn't that the house was to his disliking or that he ran out of what he needed to sustain himself, but now that his sister no longer lived with him he had become lonely. True he had Happy for companionship but alas a cat could not do the simple yet meaningful things that a gentle hearted maiden could do.

Like cover him with a blanket or bush off the dirt and brambles that would get stuck to his scales or hold him and cradle his head whenever he felt ashamed of his appearance. Now he was no longer a little boy and he understood that he did not need anyone to do that for him but the knowledge that someone in this world cared enough to do that for him was enough. He wanted to visit her but he was terrified of causing another angry mob. Nevertheless Juvia would still write to him and in turn he would send her bouquets of the prettiest wild flowers that grew on his land. She would most likely be the only woman in all the world who would ever see a monster like him as handsome.

But then one day a king got lost in the forest. He had been traveling to Isvan but a snake had spooked his horse into throwing him off and running away without him. Which was especially terrible because his horse was the only one of them who knew the way back to his home. As the king tried to find his own way back he only became more lost. Until he was so lost that he began to tug his ear which is a sure sign of big trouble.

"What am I to do?" The man thought. "How shall I ever get back to my wife and daughter?"

Finally he came to a clearing where he laid eyes on Natsu's magnificent manor house. He approached the door and knocked on it, while hoping that the master was a kind and merciful soul. When said master came to his call, the king was greatly frightened by his dragon like upper body.

"May I help you sir?" Natsu asked politely.

"I...I..." He started. "I am a king...And I...I was trying to reach the kingdom of Isvan but my horse was scared into leaving me behind. Now I am now very lost and very hungry. Won't you please help me?"

"You are welcome in my house sir and at my table."

Natsu served the king who was called Jude one of the most sumptuous meals he had ever dined on and when he ate his fill he said to the creature,

"Do you know the way to the kingdom of Dragnof? That is the kingdom of which I rule."

"I do not. But with my sharp nose and ears I should be able to find a trail that leads there."

"If you help me return to my kingdom I will grant you anything you desire as a reward."

"Anything?"

"Anything you wish. Just name it."

"Alright then."

Natsu thought long and hard about what he could possibly want. He had just about everything he needed and the only thing he could ever want was his humanity back but for obvious reasons, the king could not grant that request. But no, he quickly realized. No there was something else that he wanted very much and perhaps the king could provide it for him.

"I am a lonely beast with no one to converse with or to share my meals with or to entertain. Everyone fears me too much to even consider possibly visiting my home. If you truly intend to reward me for my services then I would like for you to give me a companion to live with me."

"That is all?"

"That is all."

"Very well. Is there a companion in particular that you had in mind? A dog perhaps?"

"I'd much prefer a human companion. Someone that I can talk to, dine at a table with, and play music for. I am not so picky about who it should be. Make my companion the first person who greets you upon your arrival home."

Now normally that would be the royal hand maid Mirajane who's job was to clean off the king's dirty apparel before he entered the castle after returning from a journey. So he saw no issue in agreeing to Natsu's terms.

"You shall have what you wish."

"Give me your word." Natsu insisted.

"As King of Dragnof I give you my word that the first person who greets me at the royal castle will be given to you as a companion."

With King Jude's word given, Natsu used heightened senses to lead him back to Dragnof. They reached the kingdom in half of a day and Natsu told him that he would come to claim his reward in three days as he wanted to prepare his estate to house another. Jude thanked Natsu for his assistance and carried on to his castle expecting to be greeted by the maid Mirajane. But things did not go as he had planned. For while Mirajane was already walking toward the king ready to wipe away the dirt and mud on his clothes and boots, it was his daughter the Princess Lucy who got to him first.

Since he had been gone for much longer than expected the princess had been waiting with great worry. As soon as she saw him she was filled with so much relief and eagerness to see him that she just couldn't wait until the maid had cleaned him off. So she ran out to him, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, and was ever so happy that her old father had returned home safe.

"Oh Father I was so worried that something terrible had be fallen you." She said in relief. "I am so grateful that you are alright."

But the king let go of the princess and his face clouded over for he now realizes that the companion that he must give Natsu was his own daughter. Now at first he's very afraid and not sure what to do. But then he thinks to himself,

"Wait how will he know that Lucy was the first person to greet me? As soon as my kingdom was in sight he returned to the forest. He has seen nothing. I can just give him Mirajane as I originally planned and he will never know the truth."

"Is something wrong Father?" Lucy asked upon noticing the change in his mood.

"No my daughter." He assured her. "I am just tired from the journey."

"Why were you gone so long?"

"I had become lost."

"How did you find your way back?"

"I shall tell you after I have rested for a moment. I am greatly exhausted from walking for half a day. Please allow me to recuperate before I answer your many questions my daughter."

"Of course Father."

Lucy then said no more and allowed Mirajane clean her father's clothes and boots of dirt. After they entered the castle and he had rested for good amount of time, he told his daughter everything about how he was able to find his way back to her. Well almost everything. When explaining the arrangement he had made with Natsu, he did not tell her that the companion was supposed to be the first person he greeted. Merely that the king himself would choose the companion.

"Mirajane is fair and good." He said. "She will make a fine companion and the creature's house is very elegant and refined. She'll be content there I am certain."

But Mirajane was not just a random maid servant. She also happened to be Lucy's dearest friend and confidant, so you can imagine how concerned Lucy was upon hearing about this bargain.

"But Father what if Mirajane does not want to live with that creature?"

"That does not matter. I am king. My word is law. What I say must be. I promised that thing that she would be his companion and so his companion she shall be."

"But what of her feelings on this matter? And what of her family? Of her brother and sister? They all love each other so dearly and would be greatly saddened if she were to leave them. Can we not work out some other arrangement?"

"No we cannot. A promise made is a bargain done and there is nothing more to be said about it. Now I shall send for Mirajane and inform her of what she must do. No doubt she will comply for she is one of our most loyal servants. She would gladly do anything for us."

"Yes Father." She sighed.

Now King Jude was not a bad man. Most of the time he was a very good man. But since the death of Lucy's mother Layla, he had developed a habit of being under negative influences and making very poor choices. Choices like not keeping a promise and assuming that the person he made the promise to was an easy fool. You see little did the king realize that Natsu had in fact seen who greeted him first at the castle. Yes he had retreated into the forest once the king reached Dragnof but he only went at a distance to where he could not be seen by others, not to where others could not be seen by him and when saw that his companion to be was in fact the very same princess he had spoken to during that awful storm he was very excited but also very worried.

He was thrilled at the thought of living with such a beautiful and sweet young woman but he was terrified that she would only fear him. So for the next three days he did his very best to make it so that she would not only be comfortable in his household but that she would also see him as a man instead of a monster. He cleaned the entire house til it was sparkling, made her a bedroom that would be the most pretty in the whole house, and after three days had passed he washed his scaly body, whitened his teeth the best he could, and dressed himself up in a finely rich suit that gentlemen would wear.

"What do you think?" He asked Happy as he modeled the clothes for him the morning he was to leave.

The large cat smiled as a way to tell his master that looked very pleasant.

"I know she won't like me right away. But if I dress like a gentleman and act like one then maybe, just maybe she could learn to see me as a friend. That's really all I'm asking for. A good friend."

Happy gave Natsu a look that seemed to say,

"Hey what am I? Chopped liver?"

"Oh sorry Happy." Natsu said after realizing what that last phrase sounded like. "You're my best friend in all the world but you can't really carry on a conversation."

He took another look at himself in the mirror and made sure that he looked presentable. oh how he wished that he didn't have this terrible dragon face. He often wondered what his face would like now had Kyoka not cursed him. Would have grown up to resemble his father more or his mother like Juvia did? Would he have been handsome? So handsome that a princess would spare him a second glance? These were questions that he had been asking himself for years.

"I don't intend to have her live me forever." He said as he fixed his shirt collar. "Just til the end of summer. I believe that should be when Juvia finishes the scarf and once that is done I'll be able to live among people again. I won't have to continue living an isolated existence."

Happy nodded and then Natsu saddled up to his back and the two made their way to the kingdom of Dragnof.