#02: Vamping 101


September 9th, 1999.


Lucy reminds Natsu of themself a lot.

That picture of dread captured on her face, the despair in her voice; it was the exact same face and tone they had had seventy years ago when they first encountered gramps Makarov after being left alone to their own devices. When their own reality turned upside down.

Maybe it's the long ignored memories of those first weeks, wishing someone had been there to tell them what was happening, the thing that drives them to knock on Lucy's door right the next day.

Natsu raps their knuckles on the hard wood. They hear steps getting closer but the person who answers the door is a blue haired woman that they have never met.

"Who are you?" She asks with an intimidating frown and narrowed eyes.

"I ehh is Lucy here?"

"Lucy, someone's looking for you!" She yells into the apartment and is given a loud and pained groan from the blonde's bedroom. She pays no attention to it and walks away, so Natsu assumes it means they can come inside.

"Go away!" She shouts before even knowing who it is.

"It's Natsu. I was a little concerned after last night." The door opens, and she pulls them inside with a strength she didn't have before, mumbling under her breath.

"You can't just say that with Aqua here. She's gonna eavesdrop and annoy me all day." Once Natsu is inside, they notice the room is in complete darkness, Lucy is still wearing her pajamas —even though it is two in the afternoon— and the bed is a mess.

All signs of a newly made fledgling. Or in this case, signs of an underfed fledgling whose first meal caused her powers to come in full force.

"What were you saying?" she takes a brush and sits on her bed, so she can start to untangle wavy blonde hair. Natsu is a bit relieved to see that her hair looks less damaged after she fed, her skin also seemed to have acquired a healthier glow to it.

"I see you're having a rough time." Lucy cringed when they spoke and the pink-head tried not to take it personally. They knew their voice wasn't the nicest one on sensitive ears.

"Yeah, no shit. I didn't know you could get a blood hangover."

"You can't. You can get blood fatigue though if you get too full. Makes you want to sleep all day." Or if you were like them, it'll make you sleep three days.

"Then why do I feel like there's someone drilling on my skull?" Her voice didn't raise over a whisper, but they noticed the slight lisp that came from long canines.

"Cause your body is finally healthy. You even got your fangs now."

"Don't you talk to me about those. I pierced my lip this morning." They flinched at the memory of doing the exact same thing when their fangs first appeared.

"Yeah, that's why I'm here actually." They took seat beside her. "I thought you might like some counseling."

The blonde's tense posture relaxed ever so slightly. "Alright, then I have questions."

"Ask away."

The elder vampires could say whatever they wanted about pop culture distorting people's interpretation of them, but truth be told, they did a fair job of explaining the basics while only leaving a few misconceptions.

"Do we turn into bats? Do I get a bat face? Because I never liked the bat face." Lucy had finished brushing her hair and was now twisting it into two loose braids. Natsu grabbed a pair of hair ties and passed them over to her. She gave them an odd look, but took them regardless.

"We can turn into bats, but the bat face is not a real thing. You don't even have to have your fangs out if you don't wanna." They proceeded to teach her how to shorten her fangs and warned her to be careful with her tongue since they maintained their sharpness.

After that, there was a long moment of silence as Lucy finished her second braid. Then she looked at Natsu's messy hair that always managed to both, fall on their face and stick up in the back of their head.

"Can I give you pigtails?" They shrugged and nodded. She continued asking as she started working with their hair."So, I'm guessing the whole 'sun turns us to ashes' is not real?"

"Yep. It only makes us weak, but not enough to be dangerous. We made up the myth so mortals would leave us be. Same with crosses and other stuff."

"Wait," she stops in the middle of gathering their hair, "crosses don't work but garlic does? Are we invincible unless we eat italian?"

Natsu bursts out laughing, apologizing between giggles when Lucy flinches at the sound. "Not exactly. We can still be killed with weapons or fire."

They thought about a good way to explain the effect garlic had on them. "Garlic...causes a lot of things to us but there are some vampires that have a higher tolerance. Gray can eat a lot of garlic and only feel a mild throat irritation, but if Erza tries to eat the same amount she gets all covered in rashes and can't speak."

The blonde hummed in understanding and finished styling their hair. "What about this?" She pointed at her ears that were probably exasperating her by now. "How do you deal with the noise?"

"That one's complicated. You'll have to learn how to tune out what isn't important. It helps to focus on a specific sound."

"What do you focus on?"

"Right now, the bird singing on your roof. It's good to choose depending on your surroundings." Her grimace only deepened at their response.

"I hate that bird. I wanna go out and throw something at it."

"Alright...why don't you concentrate on something quieter and constant. Like your heartbeat."

Lucy gave them an odd look but complied. She closed her eyes, the seconds passed and Natsu noticed the crease between her eyebrows slowly disappearing.

"Nicely done. Now let's go!" They jumped off the bed, pulling the confused blonde along before she had time to refuse.

"Where?" She forced them to tip toe quietly to the door in order to avoid her nosy roommate. Luckily, Aqua wasn't on sight.

"You gotta practice how to be outside." Lucy didn't argue, following as they took her out of her building and in some random direction.

Natsu new the basics, yet they had never initiated a newbie. They had been around when gramps gave the introductory course to Cana, back when they were still part of that flock, but that had been several decades ago and 1940's Magnolia was certainly different —and much quieter— in comparison to modern day Magnolia.

They settled on taking her to the mall since it shouldn't be as overwhelming at that hour —and definitely not because they remembered Erza had asked them to run an errand—.

Still, Lucy winced as soon as they stepped into the large building. After a moment of gritting her teeth, she sighed and eased down. Natsu smiled and encouraged her.

"Well done. You think you can stay calm in that shop?" they pointed to an electronics store. Lucy narrowed her eyes, as if the assumption offended her. They went inside the store.

Natsu looked through the aisles a bit lost, they were supposed to get a new radio, since the one they had was starting to malfunction too often, but they could not find any equipment that looked like the one at home.

"Natsu," Lucy called while they stared puzzled at a device that looked like a TV but with a transparent screen. "What are you looking for?"

"A radio."

"...That's a toaster oven." She pointed to another aisle. "The radios are there." Natsu gaped like a goldfish. "Do you guys don't have a radio?"

They scratched the back of their head, feeling a little embarrassed all of a sudden."It broke. Erza told me to get a new one but the designs have changed a lot since the 20's."

Lucy stared at them with disbelief for a moment. "You have had the same radio since the 1920's?" Natsu nodded. "I suppose the TV too?"

"That one's from the 50's. We don't buy many of those kinds of things."

"Do you only change your appliances when they break down?" They nodded. "Do you have a microwave? A blender? A hairdryer?" They shook their head for every question. "Ok, we're gonna have to get some if you want me to move in."

Natsu perked up at that. "You're accepting our offer?"

"I'm still thinking about it...but I appreciate the help." She gave a tiny smile that contrasted with Natsu's own giant grin.

They grabbed a shopping car and started filling it with many boxes of electrical appliances, but when the moment came to pay for them, neither of them had enough money.

"Don't worry, I've got it all covered." Natsu insisted when Lucy started complaining. They waited until there were no other customers by the cash register and approached, twirling a pigtail with a finger.

"Hi," they said to the clerk, who didn't seem like he was going to be persuaded until Natsu's eyes turned ruby red, activating their hypnotizing powers. "You will let us buy all of these products for only two hundred and fifteen jewels with fifty cents." They took a piece of paper from the desk and a pen from the clerk's pocket to scribble something. "Then you will send them to this direction because we don't have a car."

The clerk repeated what they said with a monotone voice and accepted the money. Natsu pulled Lucy out of the shop as the clerk took the shopping car to the back, so he could start preparing the delivery.

"Did we just commit robbery?"

"Nuh-uh, I paid. It's not my fault mortals charge so much for things." Lucy didn't look convinced by their excuse, so they decided to take her mind off of the technicalities by treating her with ice cream.

She was doubtful at first, since she didn't want to add another crime to her conscience, but they assured her that they were going to a special Ice Cream shop. The shop their friend Lisanna worked at, which even if it catered towards mortals, served to other vampires free of charge.

Lucy ordered a double cone of cookies and cream while Natsu had a waffle bowl of rocky road. They attempted to get something for Gray and Erza, but apparently Lis had put a rule of no to-go servings since that time Natsu got a cup of each flavor ―which is honestly unfair―.

They took a stroll at a nearby park. She asked questions about their old life, but besides talking a little about their childhood, Natsu didn't say much. They tried not to think about the years before their turning and the couple of years after the change. Thankfully, Lucy didn't press further on the subject.

When the sun started setting, the blonde stood from a bench they had sat at and said goodbye. Before parting, however, she told Natsu, "When can I move in with you?"

They beamed at her with excitement. "Whenever you want, we can help you pack." She nodded and stayed for a moment.

"Can you do me a favor, though?" Her expression was particularly serious. Natsu wasn't sure what she would ask, yet they nodded. "I want to find whoever did this to me and I want them to pay."

Apart from Erza, Natsu had never found another person with such a threatening gleam in their eyes. Like she could guide a battalion to victory.

They nodded again, for good measure.