X779

Within a vast land somewhere in the land of Ishgar. endless drops of rain poured upon the land with smoke soaring into the air as a burned down village is present. Within the burned down village, dead bodies littered the field as each one had cut marks on their chest which was caused by something very sharp.

Amidst the field of corpses, a single woman with pink hair and wore a white kimono stood within the rain as her name is Ikaruga Ryu. Within her right hand grasp is a small sakura tree branch that fell out of her grasp and into a small pool of water beside her bare feet.

Ikaruga had tears running down her eyes as they mixed with the rain of water from the stormy clouds above. She face towards a man who had similar hair colour, wearing a torn yukata and in his right hand's grasp a katana that had drops of blood dripping down its cold steel blade and down to the wet ground bellow.

"Why?..." muttered Ikaruga as she took a single step forward before the sound of thunder is heard from the storm clouds above and a flash of lightning accompanied the roaring thunder.

Ikaruga looks at the man who didn't reply a word, only to glance at her direction with dead cold emotionless eyes.

"Natsu…" Ikaruga called out to the man as she slowly reached her right hand out to him, only for an air slash to fly pass her side and a part of her kimono by her shoulder got shredded. Ikaruga's eyes widen a bit as she slowly glanced at her right side and sees a bloody cut opening up on her exposed right shoulder.

Ikaruga's blood pours down while mixed with the falling rainwater above as the red colored water soaked into her white kimono, slowly turning its color into that of a light red.

"forgive me" muttered Natsu in a cold lifeless voice as he glanced at Ikaruga before turning around and started walking away while sheathing away the bloodied katana into its scabbard attached to the right side of his waist.

Ikaruga looks at Natsu as his figure slowly shrinks away from the distance, the rain intensifying to the point that it covers the whole area. The woman fell to her knees before slowly placing both her hands to her stomach which is slightly bulging under her kimono.

"how could you?" uttered Ikaruga as her tears endlessly fell from her eyes with her hands holding her stomach.

X84 at Hargeon Town

Within the town of fishermen, its citizens were walking around either to go fishing, shopping, eating, or anything that is in their daily schedule. At a point of time, we turn our attention to a local magic store which is in an open street.

"Eh?! This the only magic store in this town?!" exclaimed a blonde female customer named Lucy Heartfillia as she looks at the store owner with wide and disbelieved eyes.

"Yes." Replied the store owned before continuing "Because fishing is more prosperous than magic in this town. Only 10% of the citizens use magic here"

Lucy sighs in frustration as she had to accept the fact that Hargeon is a town by the sea which means that there would be lots of people fishing rather than using magic for the need of their daily lives.

"Ahh! I guess I came here for nothing" said Lucy while scratching the back of her head before letting out another frustrated sigh.

"Well, well before saying that. please take a look around my store, you might find something you like" said the store owner, trying to cheer up Lucy and get her to buy something to give him some income money.

Lucy looks at the store owner before she started looking around the magic items that are around as she searched up and down for anything that pique her interest. It took a few seconds, but she found what she wanted, and it is a silver key stored in a small wooden case that had its lid by its side.

"That's the white puppy, White Doggy!" exclaimed Lucy with a smile as she takes hold of the key in her hands and her eyes sparkles in seeing the object. "it's a Celestial Spirit Key!"

"Are you sure you want that, Missy?" the store manager asked her while cupping his chin with his right hand. "those Silver Key aren't that special, you know?"

"it's fine! I do Celestial Spirit Magic so its common sense for celestial mage to collect celestial keys!" said Lucy with a happy smile to the key with sparkling eyes. Lucy quickly slides towards the store owner with the silver key in her hands and asked "So, how much does it cost?"

"20000 jewels" replied the store owner.

Lucy is walking on the road with her feet stomping on the brick road, her expression grumpy and frustrated.

"Man! I can't believe that guy only gave me a 1000 jewel discount for my sex appeal!" said Lucy with her face fuming, but in the end, she got her key in her hands at the cost of 19000 of her savings. "What a rip-off!"

As she walks away, a man in a red cloak passes by her as he just walks with such quiet footsteps that it could make otherss believe that he is a ghost. Lucy turns a corner on the road while the man just keeps on walking before he stopped when he heard some girls fan screaming from behind.

"Kyaaaa! It's the Salamander!" "he's in this town?!" "he's here!" the fangirl screams rang out as the cloaked man turns to look where the direction of the screams is coming from.

"there" said the cloaked man as he turns his direction of walking and heads to where the fangirls' screaming is coming from.

girls with hearts for eyes were going gaga over a single blue haired man who has a tattoo on top of the right side of his forehead, wears ornate clothing with metal accessories.

"Salamander~!" squealed the fan girls as were all in love with the man, even Lucy whose heart is beating fast to see the man. The man did a pose before he winked at the fan girls who all squealed even more.

'what's going on?! What's going on?! My heart is beating so fast, but why?!' screamed Lucy in her head as she unconsciously moves towards the man 'could this be!? Love at first sight!?'

-SLASH-

An echoing metal whistle sound is heard as the man's rings on his left hand were suddenly cut in half and falls to the ground in pieces by a mysterious force.

"Gaaah!" screamed the man as he got down to his knees and tried to reattach the rings back together, but they just broke into more pieces upon attempt. The moment the rings broke into pieces, the hearts in Lucy and the fan girls' eyes were popped as they all started to loke confused on where they are and what they were doing.

"eh? What just?" said Lucy as she looks confused. Moments later, the sound of footsteps is heard from behind her as the blonde girl turns and sees the cloaked man walking towards them.

"move aside" he told the girls in a low tone as he moves a part of his cloak to the side to show them a sheathed katana which could mean a bad thing for them.

Lucy and the girls made way for the cloaked man who walks pass them all and got face to face with the blue haired man who proclaimed to be the Salamander.

"you have forbidden magic items within your grasp" said the cloaked man as a glowing red dot appeared in the shadow of his hood. "have you prepared to pay for your sins?"

"I-I have you know that I'm Fairy Tail's Salamander! The Dragon Slayer!" exclaimed the blue haired man while acting tough with his chest puffed to make intimidation towards the cloaked man.

"you are the famous Salamander of Fairy Tail?" said the cloaked man who places his hand on the grip of the sheathed katana as he slowly pulls the weapon out a few inches before pushing it back in and said "such a lie you have committed"

The katana's hilt clicked as the cloaked man turns and started walking away.

"W-What? you are just walking off!? Coward!" exclaimed the blue haired man before he got engulfed in a twister that appeared out of nowhere and screamed "Guaaahhh!"

The blue haired man's clothes got shredded into pieces before the twister disappeared and the man fell to the street, only in his underwear and nothing else. The girls around the man slowly dispersed as they went away without giving a car to the blue haired man.

"repent on your sins, foolish one" said the cloaked man in a quiet prayer while leaving the area, but just as he is about to leave, Lucy came up to him

"wait!" exclaimed Lucy as she got behind him.

a few minutes later, Lucy and the cloaked man are now at a restaurant where the waitress had served them cups of tea and a plate of toasts.

"I'm Lucy, Nice to meet you" said Lucy, greeting the cloaked man as he takes off the hood of his cloak and reveals himself as Natsu.

"Natsu" replied Natsu as he takes hold of his cup of tea and slowly sips the drink.

"I really got to thank you for saving me and the other girls back there" said Lucy with a smile and continued "that guy was using an illegal magic item on his ring. Using one of those can get someone in jail for a long time!"

"yes" replied Natsu as he sighs a bit when the warm tea slides down his throat before he takes another sip of the tea. "i am sure that he is not the Salamander, but rather an impostor"

"so…Natsu. are you a wizard?" asked Lucy as she got interested on how Natsu find out that the blue haired man is an impostor in the first place. "and also, which guild are you from?"

"I am a wizard…." Replied Natsu as he slowly placed his cup of tea to the table "..and I belong to the guild, Fairy Tail"

"eeehh?!" screamed Lucy in shock as the customers in the restaurant look at her funny. Lucy quickly realized and started bowing while apologizing before she sat down and recomposed herself.

"is there a problem?" asked Natsu as he took a piece of toast and bite its edge.

"Joining Fairy Tail is my biggest dream! I always wanted to join that guild!" squealed Lucy with stars in her eyes "I can't believe that I'm actually meeting someone from Fairy Tail! This is amazing!"

"is that so?" replied Natsu with a raised eyebrow before he takes his cup of tea and sips it then asked "would you like to join the guild?"

"really!? I would love to!" said Lucy with pure excitement in her eyes.

"there is a train leaving for Magnolia tonight at 9 pm" said Natsu as he stands up from his seat and placed 1000 cash jewel on the table for the tea and toast that Lucy had treated for him but he is paying instead, he then said "if you wish to join now, then come with"

"Gotcha!" said Lucy with a salute before she bolted out of the restaurant with a trail of dust behind her.

Natsu looks to where Lucy had gone to as his lips formed a small smile that stayed only for 2 seconds before disappearing. Natsu started to leave the restaurant as he puts on his hood again before going out of the restaurant.

Lucy is running to her motel as she is extremely excited with the idea of joining Fairy Tail, a struck of realization went into her mind.

"Natsu?" said Lucy as she stopped running and started thinking of the young man's name, she placed a finger to her chin and went into a thinking moment where Natsu's name is in her head "where have I heard that name before"

Lucy rubs her chin as she thinks through before her eyes spotted a Weekly Sorcerer's Magazine by a bench as it seems to have just been left there by someone. Not seeing anyone using or taking the magazine back, Lucy went and picked the magazine in her hand before sitting down on the bench. She flips open the magazine as she flips through the pages to find the section about Fairy Tail.

"I think it's right around….." said Lucy before she gasps with wide eyes when she finds one page that showed a photo of Natsu in his cloak and is in some sort of mountain area. Lucy looks at Natsu's photo thoroughly as to make sure that she is seeing the photo of the same man who she shared a cup of tea and a plate of toast with.

Lucy reads through the details writing on the page of the magazine as her eyes scanned the content while her mind is not believing in what she was seeing at all

"TheDragon Slayer of Fairy Tail is a man filled with the mystery of his past life that is not known to many. what is the ring in his necklace for? Where and who did he receive it from? Is it from a former love or just a modern-day fashion style?" the details of Natsu in the magazine showed Natsu in various photos, all of him just not showing anything underneath his cloak and he is always out in the woods or somewhere not in the city or town.

Lucy looks at one photo as it showed a ring attached to a necklace around Natsu's neck which is revealed when the cloak floats up and revealed the metal accessory. She flips to the next page and made a louder gasp then that last one as in this page it showed a photo of Natsu carrying two children in his arms in a town at night She read the details on the magazine as it says "Fairy Tail'sDragonSlayer is seen with two children with identical hair color to his! Real children or adopted?!"

Lucy looks at the photo close before she closed the magazine and screamed in pure confusion

hours pass after the meeting with Lucy, Natsu is now at Hargeon Train Station as he is sitting on a bench while in a somewhat meditation-like posture. The man's eyes are closed as he didn't move nor speak.

A few seconds later, Natsu opens his eyes and glanced at the clock which hanged on the roof as it shows 9: 10 showing that Lucy is either late or not joining him in the train's departure.

"she is not coming, huh?" Natsu thought out loud before he stands up from his seat and started walking to the train that is getting checked by the conductor and engineers.

As Natsu is slowly walking towards the train, a small family of a father, mother, and a son walks pass him and went towards the train while having happy smiles.

"come on~! We don't want to be late!" said the father in a playful tone to the son while having a briefcase in his left hand.

"I know!" replied the child with a smile.

"our train is here! Let's have a race and see who gets there first!" said the mother as she started a game where the child instantly went on a bolt for the train with a laugh. The father and mother quickly gave chase as they had happy smiles.

Natsu looks at the small happy family by the sidelines as his lips had formed a sad smile with his eyes softening. His right hand came out of his cloak as it went inside the man's collar and took out Natsu's necklace that has a ring attached to it.

"if only I had made the right choice…." Said Natsu as he saw an image of Ikaruga appearing in his mind. He looks at the ring attached to the necklace before Natsu puts it inside his shirt and went straight for the train, but he stopped again when his eyes spotted a little store that is selling a variety of toys which caught his attention. Natsu looks at the toys in the store for a good minute before he decided to go inside and have a look at the products which were for sale

10 minutes later, Natsu came out of the toy store with two plastic bags in his right hand that is under his cloak. Natsu smiled a bit when he bought the items in the plastic bags before he turns and heads for the train but stopped yet again when he heard running footsteps from behind.

"Natsu!" shouted Lucy who is running towards him while pulling a suitcase behind.

Natsu turns and sees Lucy coming towards him in a haste pace then said "you decided to come, huh?"

"sorry that I'm late!" said Lucy while doing a hand prayer in an apology pose then continued to say "I just had a lot of things to pack up!"

"it is fine" said Natsu before he turns and started walking again. "come. The train is awaiting us"

"Ok!" replied Lucy as she followed behind him.

The train engine whistles as the train's wheels started moving and steam came out of the engine before the train heads off for Magnolia.

minutes pass as the train is racing through the tracks while carrying its passengers heading for Magnolia in the middle of the night. Natsu with Lucy was sitting by their passenger seat as the blonde girl had fallen asleep while resting her body on her seat.

Lucy softly snores in her sleep before a blanket is draped to her shoulders by Natsu who placed it for her, so that she won't be cold at night. Lucy smiled in her sleep before Natsu sat back to his seat as he smiled a bit before closing his eyes and slowly drifts his mind to dreamland.

flashback

Natsu saw that there were Sakura Blossoms flying around the wind as he looks in wonder to the amazing sight.

CHING

He heard the bell sound and turned around to see a woman dancing around the sakura blossoms as she saw him and smiled to him

flashback

Natsu's eyes slowly opens as they have soften when the man saw the woman in his dream.

"Sakura Blossoms with Love….." muttered Natsu in a very low voice before he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep.

The train runs on its rails as its engine whistles while it heads off for Magnolia in the night sky that had the full moon and the thousand stars above.

That's a wrap

Bye bye