We had a few questions. Some of which I won't answer because PATIENCE. The other question was about sneak peeks. If we get at least 30 reviews we provide a sneak peak! As Kytrin and I would never withhold a chapter from you guys, this is our way of encouraging you to drop us a few words!


CHAPTER 3

Salamander

Aristotle, (384 BC – 322 BC), and Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23–79) associate them with fire and it is with fire that most of the fantastic powers are connected. People thought that salamanders were born or created from fire.


Lucy smiled as she strolled through the marketplace. It had been a week since her mostly silent and blank roommate had moved in with her, and she was slowly getting used to having him around and giving him orders.

The first few days had been... interesting.

END, or the newly dubbed Natsu, sometimes had interesting interpretations of her orders. Not that he ever disobeyed her, but she'd very quickly learned that if she didn't specify what he was supposed to do he was more likely to pick the strangest method of following through possible.

There were other times she was almost sure he was just being a brat.

Like the time she'd told him to put the laundry down the chute and he'd interpreted it as "Put every article of clothing in the apartment down the laundry chute."

She had not been amused to discover him stripped naked and all of her clothes, clean and dirty, gone.

At least she'd gotten back before he'd tried stuffing the pillows or something down as well.

"You look really relieved about something Lucy." An amused voice interrupted her musings, coming from just to her side.

"Ah!" Lucy looked up in mild surprise, "Juvia! Sorry, I didn't see you there." She grinned, "And I guess you could say that. Has Gray told you about my new roomie yet?"

She gestured vaguely to where Natsu was showing definite signs of interest as he sniffed at the various goods on display.

She pulled her eyes away from him, a little reluctant to stop watching over him for even a moment. She was afraid he would begin removing everything from vendor's display tables or something. He certainly hadn't hesitated about her spice cabinet.

Last time she asked him to get out garlic, cumin, and paprika for their meal, Natsu had opened every single spice she owned to sniff the contents.

She suspected that meant he didn't know how to read. Or if he did, he wasn't actively looking at the labels.

And if that was the case, then Natsu was being a brat.

Lucy had no way of proving it though.

"Gray might have brought it up once or twice," Juvia said in amusement as she watched Natsu stick his head in some baskets.

Perhaps Lucy shouldn't have given him permission to explore, because it seemed even for a puppet or whatever he was - Natsu was curious.

And nothing short of a walking disaster.

Every time he investigated something, a part of her house seemed to break in record time afterwards. It was beginning to drive Lucy up the wall.

She was beginning to suspect she had bitten off more than she could chew when she agreed to watch the demon.

Juvia laughed softly at Lucy's expression, "Would you like to join me for some brunch then?" She offered sympathetically, "I'm not expecting to meet Gray until later, and I can help keep an eye on your new friend."

"That would be great Juvia." Lucy smiled, "Thanks. I'll pay though. It seems Natsu is a bottomless pit, and I don't want him eating you out of your paycheck."

Juvia nodded as she led the way to the restaurant, "Gray told me how you demanded a budget for Natsu's food after the third day."

Lucy groaned, "Ugh, it was self-defense! He'd already eaten more in three days than I can in two weeks! There's no way I can afford that on what they pay me." She noticed Natsu had gotten distracted by a display of leather goods, and backtracked to tug on his wrist, "C'mon Natsu. We're going to get food."

It was hard to say for sure, but she thought his expression might've lit up a little at the idea of food. Certainly his steps quickened, and there was no imagining the drool trickling out of the side of his mouth.

But she was used to that by now. Food was a word he obviously understood very well, and loved as much as he understood it.

She supposed it was a good thing since he was made out of flesh and that had all the attendant needs, but it was a trifle strange how he reacted to that and stared blankly at almost everything else.

When he wasn't getting into her things and breaking stuff anyway.

It was confusing to say the least how some things seemed to inspire more of a response in him than others. But they had a theory it was because he responded to his baser needs.

Who knew how much food his own strange biology demanded. It wasn't like Lucy had a way of seeing how much demons ate. Natsu was the only one she even knew.

He followed them into a small corner barbecue, and Lucy thought it would be a good place to satisfy Natsu's endless appetite.

His eyes had taken on a hungry light, and Lucy noticed his gaze had automatically drifted to the firepit where a fat pig was being roasted.

They hadn't even been seated yet, and Natsu looked like he very badly wanted to lunge at the pig itself.

Of course that didn't explain his reaction when the employees took the pig away, and he still was staring at the pit with a tightness around his eyes.

It was a strange expression for him to have, but Lucy didn't know what he was looking at with such hungry intensity.

Only when they were seated did Natsu passively pull his gaze away, sitting down obediently when Lucy ordered him to.

However, even then he kept sneaking glances at the fire pit while Lucy and Juvia ordered. Whatever it was that had him so fascinated by it Lucy figured food would probably cure it so she ordered an enormous platter of various roast meats for him. He could, and did, eat nearly anything, but she'd learned that he seemed to have a particular fondness for meat of any kind.

Sure enough, her gamble paid off and as soon as the food was in front of him he dug in with what could almost be considered gleefulness.

"Oh my!" Juvia exclaimed as he devoured his food with a complete disregard for table manners, "He really is hungry!"

"Yeah." Lucy sighed, "This is normal unfortunately."

"I can't blame you for demanding a food allowance if this is how he normally is." Juvia murmured, slightly mesmerized by the sight until her own food was placed in front of her.

"Yeah. I just wish I knew what a normal amount of food for him really was. He eats every chance he gets, so I have no idea if I'm not feeding him enough or if he's being a pig."

"Well he certainly doesn't look like he's starving!" Juvia laughed, and flashed Lucy a smile, "I'd try not to worry too much about it. He looks perfectly healthy to me, so as long as he's eating and keeping it down you're probably getting it right."

"I guess you have a point there!" Lucy grinned back, starting to relax fully as she started her own food, slapping Natsu's wandering fingers before he could grab what he shouldn't, "So what brings you to the market today? Just shopping or enjoying the day?"

"A little of both." Juvia admitted, "Juvia's anniversary with Gray is coming up, and Juvia wanted to do something extra special!"

Lucy bit back a laugh as Juvia slipped into the third person. She had no idea why, but whenever Juvia started talking about her and Gray together she did that. It was both hilarious and kind of endearing. Almost as much as how devoted to Gray she was. He was a lucky bastard that was for sure, and if he didn't propose to her soon Lucy might have to sic Taurus on him or something.

Eager for a little slice of normalcy, Lucy turned her chair fully towards Juvia, both of them looking out towards the street.

"Well you know," Lucy began, eager start of her gossip with Juvia, "I think you and Gray should do something really special! After all, you two have been together for ages. I'm almost jealous of your relationship."

Juvia gave Lucy an amused, if slightly pouty look, "Juvia thought the days of competing with love rivals was past!"

Another one of Juvia's more terrifying traits, but thankfully one she had almost completely shaken off.

"I meant how you have someone special in your life," Lucy smiled at her, "Between work and life, I don't have time for anyone."

She turned towards their demonic companion, "All I've got is-"

But Natsu wasn't there.

He was gone.

Lucy gasped in shock and alarm shot through her, immediately standing up and almost knocking over her chair in the process.

"He's gone! Oh no Juvia, I lost him!" Panic colored her voice and tone, her whole body tensing as she thought of all the horrible consequences of END running loose around Magnolia.

"I looked away for just a second!" she wailed, throwing her hands up to her cheeks.

Juvia stood up also, "Don't worry Lucy! He couldn't have gone too far. We'll find him!" Although the expression on her face did not fill Lucy with certainty.

No, she looked unsure, and almost a little nervous. Which she should be. After all, END was not a creature anyone wanted to run into.

"Sir! What are you doing?!"

Lucy whipped around, expecting the worst, only to stop and gape in shock at the sight of Natsu perched on the edge of the fire pit he'd been staring at so intently and eating fistfuls of the flames as if they were solid chunks of the meat he'd been devouring not minutes prior.

"H-he's... he's eating the flames?!" She managed after a moment of trying to process what she was seeing.

"It... appears so." Juvia replied numbly, looking just as astonished as Lucy felt.

"Please sir!" The owner pleaded, "You could hurt yourself up there!"

That galvanized Lucy into action and she rushed forward, "I'm really sorry!" She apologized, "He's a type of fire wizard you see, and when he gets extra hungry..."

The owner frowned at her for a long moment, "Be that as it may, he shouldn't be up there. We need to use that pit and the last thing I need is my patrons getting crazy ideas!"

"Oh absolutely!" Lucy laughed nervously, and turned her attention to Natsu, "Natsu! Get down from there! That's an order!"

Natsu paused in his obvious enjoyment as the order took effect and looked at her. When she showed no signs of rescinding her order his shoulders slumped, and he whined pitifully.

Lucy's jaw unhinged again for the second time in as many minutes. Natsu had never, ever, displayed that kind of reaction to anything. He'd growled on occasion sure, but he'd never actually begged for anything for himself as he was doing now. Exactly like a dog would.

Despite her best efforts, Lucy's heart strings tugged at the sound, and she sighed, "I'll get you some more fire later." She found herself promising, "But you can't be up there. The people here need that fire."

He stared at her blankly, his head cocking at the word 'fire' and what she was saying. His span of comprehension always seemed to fluctuate, but he obeyed as he always did.

He jumped down as he was compelled to listen to her commands, straightening up and staring blankly head.

Although she did notice how his eyes seemed to linger over the owner for longer than was necessary.

When Lucy returned to the table with Natsu in tow, and the firm order for him not to leave his chair unless stated otherwise, Juvia smiled at her.

"It seems you might have figured out why he eats as much as he does" Juvia smiled as Natsu resumed eating his ordered food at a much more sedate pace.

"You think he's been compensating the sheer volume because he hasn't had access to fire?" Lucy asked in bewilderment. Was it even possible for something like that to happen?

Natsu was a demon, sure, but never had they heard of demons eating their own elements like that. Not even mages did that. But she had witnessed it with her own eyes, which was good since otherwise she would not have believed it.

"Alright," Lucy groaned, thinking about all the new complications this discovery about Natsu had caused, "now I'm going to have to actually figure out how to use my fireplace."

"Yes, but at least your costs will go down to some firewood and matches." Juvia pointed out cheerfully, "That will be much easier on your budget than a constant supply of food right?"

Lucy cocked her head slightly, "I guess. It depends on how much fire he needs to eat I suppose."

Juvia shrugged eloquently, "Bonfires are permitted on the beach." She pointed out, "Maybe once we're done here we can get a bunch of wood and head down to the beach to build some bonfires? If nothing else it'll fill him up."

Lucy frowned slightly, "That's a good idea, but what about your plans?" She asked worriedly, "I don't want to keep you."

"Think nothing of it!" Juvia smiled, "There's still time before the anniversary, and this is important right? We could even call Gray and Levy to join us! I'm sure Gray could help, and Levy is always looking to add to her research."

Lucy wondered idly when Juvia had met Levy, but brushed it aside a moment later. Gray didn't exactly hide his relationship, even if there were those among the Knights who didn't believe he actually had a girlfriend, and she knew very well he talked about his co-workers and anything else that wasn't classified to Juvia.

It was entirely possible the two women had met at some point when she wasn't around, or Juvia was just mentioning someone she knew Lucy would know as well.

"Well if you're sure..." She hesitated, hope lighting her eyes, and Juvia responded by pulling out her phone to dial Gray.

"Thanks Juvia." She murmured gratefully.

A few phonecalls, and a wild hunt for chopped wood later, they were dragging their load to the beach.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Lucy groaned as she managed to dig her heels into a particularly stubborn ditch of sand and drag their sleigh of wood closer to the water.

Making an impromptu feast of fire for a four hundred year old demon that was responsible for razing the wastelands.

It was ludicrous even in her head.

She could hardly even remember the last time she had been to the beach. It had certainly been ages since the last time she took the time out of her day to enjoy it.

It seemed almost ridiculous that she would now be there, forced to enjoy it because of Natsu.

"Hey guys!" Gray's voice called out, and Lucy looked up to see the man already stripped down to a pair of swimming trunks and walking towards them with a cooler.

Behind him Levy ran to catch up with them, a large sunhat flopping on her head, much too big for her. She grinned and waved at Lucy, who returned it just as enthusiastically.

"So what's the occasion?" Gray asked, looping his fingers behind his head as he watched Natsu sitting on the sand by itself.

It had been an interesting experience to convince him to put on some swimming trunks, but she had made due nonetheless.

They wouldn't be able to go very far into the water, as even in the cities they ran the risk of running into underwater monsters. But they would be fine if they stayed in the shallow end.

Lucy flashed him a slightly sheepish grin, and jabbed her thumb at Natsu, "Actually, he is."

"Natsu?" Levy asked in confusion, "But how? He doesn't look any different."

"No, but it turns out he actually eats fire." Lucy explained, and laughed at their shocked expressions, "I know! I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, and Juvia hadn't confirmed it."

She shrugged, "Anyway, it was Juvia's idea to come down here and build him some bonfires to gorge on. She thinks that might be why he's been eating so much, and I can't disagree with her."

"And I'm betting Juvia was also the one to suggest turning this into an afternoon off?" Gray smirked as he sat the cooler down and curled an arm around his girlfriend's waist, "Since we would be down here anyway to help feed Natsu right?"

Juvia blushed a bit, but smiled at him, "Well, it would be such a shame to waste a chance to see the lovely Gray in a swimsuit!"

Lucy choked on a laugh, "Not that he needs the excuse." She teased, "We're lucky if he's in pants and shoes at work!"

"Hey!" Gray huffed, "It's not like I do it on purpose!"

That caused all three women to laugh.

"Well anyway." Lucy grinned, suddenly feeling a lot better about things, "Let's get the first bonfire set up, and see what's in that cooler!"

They all gathered around, Lucy keeping her arm linked with Natsu to make sure he wouldn't wander off in the ocean or something like that. Together they worked on building a nice cone shape for the wood to sit in, and while Gray failed a couple of times at lighting a match, Levy provided the spark.

Quick gestures and a flash of magic later, the word FIRE erupted to life through the air and crashed into the pile of wood.

Lucy felt Natsu stiffen as the cheery flames began to crackle to life. His gaze seemed to sharpen on the flames again, staring at them with that blank intensity she was beginning to realize as his signs of hunger.

And then he did it again. That small, whining sound in the back of his throat. His feet shuffled through the sand and Lucy felt his arm straining to stay put.

She slid her arm off of his, and lightly pushed the demon forward. Fingertips pressed against the muscles of his back right between the shoulderblades.

"Go ahead Natsu. Eat as much as you want," she allowed.

No sooner had the words left her mouth, than did he lunge for the flames, a throaty sound escaping him as his hands dove into the fire.

"Holy!" Gray yelped, unable to say anything else when Natsu opened his mouth and began ripping chunks out of the flames. Razor sharp teeth danced across it, and the fire glowed brightly before he swallowed them whole.

"Incredible," Levy breathed in fascination as Natsu ate enough of the flames that just a small crackle was left.

The fire pit smoldered a dull glow, and Levy cast another FIRE to light the pit once more.

There was a definite spring to Natsu's step that Lucy didn't imagine when Natsu continued to eat ravenously.

It seemed he had an inherent need to eat fire, just as he did food. That explained why he seemed like a bottomless pit.

Lucy would have hated to think what would have happened had they not been able to discover Natsu ate fire. He might have wasted away until there was nothing left. The council would lose their weapon to turn the tide in their war.

Natsu settled down quickly after eating half of his way through the fire pit again, sitting down on the sand and staring blankly ahead once more.

Still, he had picked his spot very close to the fire, as if afraid it would go away when he wasn't looking.

Or at least that was the impression Lucy got.

Satisfied they had finally satiated Natsu's hunger, Lucy could spend the rest of the time enjoying their day at the beach.

"Come on! Let's bury Gray!" Juvia sang out, hugging onto her boyfriend's arm and flashing him a radiant smile.

His cheeks turned a little pink and he stammered, "Wait! Doesn't Gray have a say in this?"

His protests were unheard as Levy laughed and snagged his other arm, helping Juvia pull him to the sand.

"Relax! It'll be fun!" Levy giggled so hard, her hat slipped down over her eyes. For a moment she struggled with it before abandoning it to the side to devote all of her attention to the task ahead of her.

"For you maybe." Gray grumbled, but his struggles were more token than anything, and it wasn't long before he was being stretched out while the two women giggled and started piling sand on top of him.

Lucy laughed and gently touched Natsu's shoulder, "Do you want to stay here?" She asked him.

Maybe he didn't have much more intellect than your average dog, but there was no doubt that there was something in there. And now that he was looking happier, for him anyway, it seemed rude to order him to stay put.

Of course the vague, slightly confused, expression on his face when he looked at her made her sigh.

Of course, he wouldn't understand.

"It's alright." She told him, feeling vaguely sorry for him, "You can stay here." She looked over to where Gray was slowly but steadily being buried and grinned, "Unless you want to come bury Gray!"

His expression didn't change and she shook her head. Wants were obviously beyond him. Except when it came to fire.

"Hey Lucy!" Levy called, "Come join us, and order Natsu to help us bury Gray!"

Lucy blinked at the idea and laughed, "Good idea! C'mon Natsu!" She grinned standing up, "The fire will still be there later. Come help us bury Gray!"

Natsu blinked and Lucy almost laughed aloud as he no doubt struggled to process her very strange command.

He stood up at her request and bent at the knees, lifting an armful of sand and trudging over towards where Gray was currently coated to his legs.

"Uh, Lucy," Gray said a little nervously as Natsu approached him with his load, "Maybe you should clarify that he shouldn't drop that on my fac-"

Too late, Natsu did just that.

Lucy winced as Gray flailed and Natsu simply stood there with his arms covered in sand. Cursing, Gray snarled a few uncomplimentary things around a mouthful of sand at Natsu, while Juvia was busy rinsing the sand from Gray's face. Levy choked on giggles, because of course Natsu would have misinterpreted the order. Lucy herself was kicking herself for not thinking to refrain from including Gray's head in the order.

However as Natsu stood there, bending down to pick up another load of sand to try and dump back on Gray's head, she could have sworn she thought she saw him smile


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"Get ready," Lucy breathed to Levy, her eyes on the crowd of angry protesters cut off from the audience.

It was a larger crowd than she had expected, and many of them held signs that made Lucy feel various degrees of disgust.

Among those was a sign toting large print that read 'LEGALIZE GUILDS.' Lucy frowned and shook her head. It was a shame they couldn't see what the council did for them. Or the amount of crime and underhanded tricks that Guild hide behind smiles and welcoming hands.