AN: So MANY followers in such a short time! Thank you! To say the least, it was unexpected. You have NaluFTFanatic to thank for getting me to write this. She went on my profile and told me to do this story.
Now I am really nervous when writing this. I tell myself "No Pressure!" when thinking through what the next chapter should be about. (Hyperventilates as update this story and then promptly faints from lack of sleep).
The start of this story is heavily influenced by "Angel" by Johanna Lindsey. Then having more Hatfield/McCoy influence. And now I just don't know because I half want to make a shoot out at the OK Corral (TOMBSTONE - best western movie ever) and the other half wants to make a cattle drive like Australia (with Hugh Jackman).
Thanks to the people who message me to continue this story:
Lodemai04 + Guest + Emperor Zeref Dragneel + Guest + erekadaniels + NaLuFTfanatic + mysticmuse31 + MarSofTheGalaxies + JC
Next chapter will include my summer update schedule for this story. Preliminary outlook looks like I am going to be uploading Mail Ordered on either Mondays or Tuesdays of each week.
Hope to live up to your expectations.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Love and Lucky
The Love and Lucky Ranch was not too hard to locate.
A black cowboy hat shaded Natsu's eyes as he glanced over the dilapidated three story building that had seen better days. Most ranchers, this far south, used an adobe house that helped ward off heat. What Natsu saw was a wooden house built in a mansion style similar to houses in the cities of the north. A balcony overlooked the front of the building. The porch underneath was shaded under the balcony and framed by a white railing that connected down to half a dozen steps. Rockers and chairs scattered the area. A swing with broken chains was half laying on the lawn. Pieces of a broken railing scattered the area around the swing. Someone pretty big must have been swinging to cause the chains to snap like that.
All in all... it looked like a picturesque home.
Happy whined under him.
Something in the air was agitating him.
His blue palomino had been a long time friend of his, a gift from his father. There was unspoken communication between the two that went deeper than owner and transport.
They were partners.
Slung over the back of Happy was the kid, Sting, who was about the same age as Natsu's brother Rogue. Most likely if the two met, they would be good friends. Natsu had barely talked to either of his brothers in two years. He preferred not going home. His two brothers were full blooded Alvarezians, black hair and red eyes. Actually Zeref as oldest son was the head delegate of the Dragneel clan to the Alvarezian Parliament.
Neither one looked like Natsu. Hence why he hated going home. Everyone knew he was the bastard son of Igneel and thus he was treated differently. His dark brown eyes could have been accepted if they had been paired with a more common hair color. He had that gawd awful pink hair that immediately identified him. The pink hair that was so famous across the ocean. Natsu actually got his hair from his Ishgardian mother. She abandoned him as a child. A really young girl, who couldn't afford to keep a baby, much less one that was half Alvarezian. So she had tracked the gunslinger down and had given Natsu to Igneel. Igneel had brought Natsu home to his pregnant wife and older son.
Natsu didn't even remember the woman, but Zeref had use his resources to track the woman down. She had apparently remarried. Natsu learned he had twin sisters who shared his pink* hair, but he had never met them. He could never remember their names... Winrey and Shella? Winona and Chelsey?
When Sting had awakened after the doctor had sewed up his wound, Natsu questioned him about the people in the photo. The three people in the picture had been two boys and one girl that all sported similar hair and rich garments. The two boys were siblings. The girl was their cousin, who Sting had not seen since he left home a year ago. After the town quack had cleared the patient for travel, Natsu had not too gently tied the sucker up. Throwing the unwanted baggage on his horse, Natsu was hot on the trail, heading to Sting's home. He was going to find the devious woman and get his father's scarf back.
Natsu recognized her. He had seen a picture of the girl that Zeref had.
The pink haired man balled up his fist at the thought of Igneel's scarf sent to some random person. He remembered his brother pointing at the girl's picture and saying, "She sure looks like her mother. Her name is Lucy, and I sent her the scarf."
Natsu was not paying attention when Happy got about thirty feet from the porch. The front doors swung open to a cat about the size of a mountain lion with a huge golden mane leaped out. The horse began to prance as the growling feline stalked him. The animal got about ten feet away from Happy before stopping. It looked like a lion, but lions weren't native to Alvarez. The horse wined at the creature. Happy started to back up even though Natsu gripped his reigns tightly.
A trickle of sweat beaded up on Natsu's face as he slowly reached toward his gun. The cat just stared at him but it's face was contorted into a menacing glare. It's fangs snarled at the group. Sting started to thrash around, mumbling something, but Natsu's extra bandana was shoved in his mouth.
What?
The guy was a pain in the ass... And the ranger had gotten tired of his bitching so the bandana had been a helpful tool.
Regretting Sting's inability to tell him what to do, Natsu had only a few seconds to make up his mind as his hand gripped the handle of his gun, drawing it...
His hat was suddenly shot of his head.
Ducking and leaping off Happy, he hit the dirt before rolling in a crouch. Happy reared up throwing the tied Sting to the ground. The momentarily distraction allowed the lion to pounce.
The cat's large weight hit Natsu's back. The ranger's face ended eating up dust. As the man lifted himself, the cat knocked him down again. He thought about blindly shooting the beast, but Happy and Sting were too close. Something sharp grabbed his wrist, successfully making him drop his gun.
Natsu's heartbeat increased as he realized that his hand was clamped in the lion's mouth.
"Loke! That's enough."
The cat withdrew its mouth, but kept its weight on Natsu. It's angry breathing clearly warning the man, One move and your my new dinner, capiche?
A girl with a full buck skin skirt and vest had a smoking rifle in her hands. She stood on those steps with her blonde hair blowing in the slight breeze. Dust stirred around her almost as if framing her figure in a gold halo. He was pretty sure that there were pictures of avenging angels that did not look half as beautiful. Her eyes flashed furiously as she reloaded. He briefly wondered if she was hot in the white scarf that hung around her shoulders. A sight that was oddly familiar to him, even though it had his stomach twisting. "Demons tempt you disguised as angels. Just see their tricks for what they really are." His dad use to say.
"You damn, Phantoms! Get off my land. This here be Love and Lucky Property! Thought I told you I would kill you after you scared away half my workers and hurt my cousin!"
Another smaller girl stood behind her in the shadow of the porch. He thought he could detect the faint glint of steel in the second girl's hand as well.
Sting tried to crawl toward the girls. Natsu glared at the boy when the lion paid him no attention.
The blonde angel's eyes fell on his prisoner, and her face blanched. In a whisper, she said something that Natsu could not overhear.
The other girl gasped. The bluenette ran toward Sting, but the girl with the rifle stopped her.
"No Levy." Gritting her teeth, the blonde turned her rifle toward Natsu again before demanding, "Who are you?"
"Actually I am an Alvarez State Ranger. My name is Natsu Dragneel."
"Sure... Why should I believe you?"
"Well my gun is currently knocked away from me, and you seem to hold all the power. What use would it be for me to lie?"
"Oh I don't know. So you can kill us all?"
"Let me reach for my badge, and I will show you."
The girl with her blue hair tied up in a yellow ribbon said, "You should let him, Lucy."
'Lucy' nodded before harshly ordering Natsu to show her his badge.
"Tell your bodyguard to get off me."
"Back off, Loke."
Natsu reached into his pocket for his badge.
The girls came closer. Both guns still trained on him. He threw the identification when they were about five feet away. As they studied the metal, blonde asked, "And what was your name again?"
"Natsu Dragneel."
"Dragneel. Na...tsu? N. Dragneel?! Wait!" Lucy's eyes widen as she realized who he was. The man smiled at her rather menacing as he realized she recognized his name.
Her mind mentally screamed, HE FOUND ME! AND HE'S A RANGER! I'M SO DEAD!
That's when Loke became agitated at his mistress's tense state. He decided to jump at Lucy. In her panic, the motion caused her to turn with her finger slipping on the trigger.
Crack!
The sound of thunder echoed as the shot fired. Everyone jumped, eyes wary on what could have potentially been shot. Then all three humans' hearts froze as a thud was heard.
The blue horse hit the ground with a loud whine and remained motionless.
Next Chapter: That Pregnant Woman
*(AN2: Wendy's dragon force hair color and Chelia has a lighter shade of pink)
Happy: Ahhhh! You shot me?!
Me: Yes
Happy: Why would you want to shoot something so loveable and cute!
Me: Well you are a horse in this story
Happy: That doesn't make a difference! I'm sure I would still make an adorable horse!
Me: Well was it a plot twist?
Happy: YESS!
Me: Do you want to return next chapter to see if you survive?
Happy: I don't know
Me: What do you mean?
Happy: I have come to the conclusion that you are a horrible person. I even read you notes for the next Stories of the Stars chapter. You are even meaner than Rushiiiii...
Lucy: Shut it! You dang cat!
Me: Don't cry Happy!
Happy: I can't help it! How is Natsu and Lucy ever going to get together if I'm not there to be a referee?!
Carla: Tomcat! It's just a story. Don't get sooo emotional.
Me: Eat some fish Happy.
Happy (sniffles): I don't feel I want any.
Me (crying): I'm sorry Happy!
Erza: If you want to feel better, please hit me Happy.
Happy: No thanks, Erza. I'm just going to go home.
Gray: Or we can just hit Cres.
Me (sweatdrops) : Thanks Gray
Lucy: I have never seen him this depressed before. I better go after him.
(FT short: to be continued)
Disclaimer: I still do not own Fairy Tail otherwise I would take Hiro's trolling to a whole new level.
The site is still not showing the reviews, but I get an email with your comments when you do review. So you can still write one! (^.^)