Well, after six different attempts to write this chapter, it finally gets put out for all of you to see, even if it is a small one. I feel that now I can dig into the story a little better, though there is still a bumpy road ahead of us. I was seriously considering quitting this story a few nights ago, but when I logged onto FF and re-read ya'll's reviews, I got inspired to sit down and punch my brain, hard, and just like that, inspiration started to flow. Everything will begin to come together…

P.S. Thank you to all of those who submitted ideas for this story. You're insight really helps!

Disclaimer: 'Tis not mine, and I must credit many elements of this chapter to camacazi1 (don't worry camacazi san, the use of your wonderful idea has only just begun, just not quite in the way you expect.)

Edit: Thank you Zafrand! As soon as I read your review I came back here and re-worded the last bit. You saved me there, though I'm surprised that no one else noticed the change... again, thanks!

Chapter 7

When Natsu finally awoke, he was greeted by the sight of a spoon hovering over his face. A cherry red liquid was dribbled into his mouth and Natsu gagged as the taste of fresh lawn clippings assaulted his taste buds.

"Oh, you're awake." The spoon disappeared, and Natsu tried to move his head to see the person who spoke, but found that his neck was so cramped that he could hardly twitch without arcs of pain shooting through his neck and shoulders. All he could do was stare at the high wood ceiling as the person moved about the room.

From the corner of his vision, Natsu could make out a distinct circular bend in the walls of the rather small building, and with a start he realized he was at Porlyuscia's tree house. Natsu attempted to speak to the person, no doubt Porlyuscia herself, but he found that his tongue was thick and dry and felt like dead weight in his mouth.

Porlyuscia crossed the room and helped Natsu sit up and drink a glass of water before sitting down on a crate of apples beside the bed. Natsu opened his mouth to ask a question, but Porlyuscia held up a hand, signaling him to stop.

"You've been asleep for three days," the old herbalist began, slumping slightly in her seat. Natsu realized that the cranky healer had large bags under her eyes, and her hair was in disarray. She must have been up caring for Natsu the whole time.

"You're guild mates received word from Happy that you were missing, so a search was started. We were only able to find you with Gajeel's help thanks to his nose. You were on the outskirts of Magnolia in the middle of the forest. You had a dangerously high fever when they found you, and it only broke last night. I've been up caring for you for the past three days, and if I hadn't, you could very well be dead."

Natsu stared at her for a moment, trying to process all of the information. Three days, he had been asleep for a while, his guilds mates must be worried sick. His next words were stuttering as he tried to regain the use of his tongue.

"T-thank you, Porlyuscia. I'll make it up to you someday, you have my word."

Porlyuscia scoffed. "You can make it up to me by getting the hell out of my house." Her eyes softened suddenly, and her words held a hint of worry as she stared Natsu down.

"But for now, you will remain here where I can keep an eye on you. You're still physically weak, and your body has only just begun recovering from the fever. I don't want you having a relapse and ending up hanging around longer, so just stay put."

Natsu said nothing as the glare she sent his way got the message across, and he laid back down on the bed, muscles sore from lying around all day. Porlyuscia stood, hovering uncertainly for a moment before she swiftly turned her back on the young teen.

"I'll inform Fairy Tail that you're awake. Your friends will want to see you. I'll be gone when they get here; I won't hang around a bunch of smelly humans, even in my own home."

Natsu chuckled, "You're a human too, you know."

Porlyuscia stopped in front of the door, glancing back at the bedridden teen.

"No," she said. "I'm not."

With that, the healer was gone, the door to the treehouse slamming behind her. Natsu just stared at the ceiling, his eyes tracing the rings of wood within the living tree. He could faintly recall tracing those same lines many years ago, but Natsu allowed the memory to fall back under the surface, unwilling to explore deeper into his past at the moment. Yet one undeniable detail of those memories was too stubborn to go back under so soon.

"You're more human than me, Porlyuscia."

Natsu's words echoed back at him, only himself and the circular walls witness to Natsu's revelation.

FT

Lucy was worried, no, beyond worried. Worried didn't even begin to define what she was feeling right now. Anxious, fearful; that described it a little better. From the moment she was contacted by Makarov to come home immediately, to Porlyuscia telling them that Natsu had suffered serious magic deprivation and was horribly ill as a result, she had been terrified by what could have brought down the fiery mage.

Master had sent for her and Levy, as well as the other absent guild members. After Happy came crashing into the guild, spilling everything about Natsu the past few weeks, and the mysterious stranger outside the woods, Makarov had immediately ordered the guild onto the defensive. Whatever could take down Natsu was a force to be reckoned with. Even as Lucy walked down the forest path to Porlyuscia's home with Erza, Gray, Happy, Makarov, and Warren, she worried about the state she would find him. Porlyuscia hadn't gone into too much detail about Natsu's condition, but the looks on the faces of the ones who dragged him to Porlyuscia's house the night he was found only increased her dread.

All too soon they reached Porlyuscia's tree house. Erza pushed the door open quietly, and the rest filed in behind her. Natsu was asleep, snoring away on the bed, blankets pooling on the floor. He was dozing happily oblivious to the stressed guild members that now filled the room. A laugh escaped Lucy's lips before she could stop it, and then she was struggling to hold back tears of relief. He was fine, well, better than she thought he would be.

She moved towards he bed and ran her fingers through Natsu's impossibly pink hair, her fingers combing through the soft locks. Erza picked up the blanket and threw it over Natsu. He remained oblivious to all of it, a smile gracing his face even in his sleep. Lucy felt herself smiling as well, and had to restrain herself from hugging the unconscious dragon slayer.

'Everything is going to be alright.'

Lucy glanced at Erza's face as the armored mage leaned away, and the look in the scarlet haired woman's eyes sent a feeling of dread down Lucy's spine. Lucy glanced back at the sleeping fire mage, but suddenly her optimism from just seconds before had vanished, replaced with confusion and dread.

Something was wrong.

Lucy's eyes trailed to Makarov, who watched the goings on from the door. It had only been three days, but already bags had formed under the master's eyes. Lucy looked deep into them for the same expression that she had seen in Erza, but she did not find it, yet somehow her lack of progress only made her more uneasy.

Something was definitely wrong.

Makarov moved further into the house, silently seating himself on the rug by Porlyuscia's stove. He pulled out his pipe, lit it, and then took a long puff, his eyes closed in concentration.

"Warren," he said, his eyes opening and turning towards the dark haired mage.

"I need you to do a full psychic evaluation on Natsu. Be thorough. Whatever is happening to Natsu is not the result of mere nightmares. Someone's been inside his head. Track them down if you can."

Warren nodded and moved silently across the room. Placing his hand on Natsu's forehead, he closed his eyes, his face a mask of concentration.

"Don't try to speak to me while I do this," he warned, not waiting for a response as he disappeared into the depths of Natsu's mind.

Gray frowned and turned to Makarov. "You think this has something to do with the man Happy saw?"

Makarov harrumphed. "I think this has everything to do with that guy. Magic deprivation like what Natsu is suffering from does not occur naturally, even after traumatizing experiences when one's mental state is unstable. Whoever this guy is, he is a very skilled mage, and I won't risk the lives of my children on concerns of being over dramatic. This man is not to be trifled with."

Erza shifted nervously from her position by the bed.

"Porlyuscia didn't say how sever his magic deprivation was," Lucy started, ready to begin prying the master for information. "Who soon will he recover?"

Makarov just shook his head. "I wouldn't expect you to know what magic deprivation is, let alone understand the true depths of its horrors. I myself have only seen its effects once. Magic deprivation is not a natural occurrence. Magic drain, yes, but this is something totally different. Someone under a magic drain spell can still feel their magic and use it to some extent. When a mage suffers from magic deprivation, any contact they have with the third origin is lost, and contact with magic that they once used freely becomes severely limited. They no longer produce magic from within themselves, nor can they absorb it from the magic of the land."

Erza nodded grimly. "It's kind of like what happened to us on Tenrou. Normally we would have continued to absorb magic energy while we lied around for seven years, and we would have come out far more powerful, full of stored magic energy, but the first's spell that kept us from aging also stopped magic progression."

She stopped and looked over at Natsu, sadness plain on her face. "But what happened to us is different to what's happening to Natsu. The effects weren't permanent. We began using magic normally the moment we awoke. Natsu will never be back at full power."

It took Lucy a moment to realize the true weight of the situation. All she could do was stare in open-mouthed shock as the information began to process. Natsu of all people, the loudmouthed, hot headed dragon slayer had just lost access to his magic. Forever. This had to be a dream.

She gazed at the sleeping dragon slayer, trying to send some kind of signal, some warning. Lucy doubted that they had told him yet. They would have to soon, otherwise he would find out by himself. He would be devastated.

Gray clenched his hands, his knuckles white and his nails digging into his palms. "I can't believe we let this happen again," he growled.

Again?

Lucy's eyes widened. The master's words played back in her head, over and over again, until a single sentence made her freeze. The feeling of dread that had been building in her gut felt as if it was slowly suffocating her. A nagging suspicion worked its way into the foreground, and Lucy hoped with everything she had that she was wrong.

"Master," she said, her voice barley a whisper, yet he heard her, and nodded his head expectantly.

"You said you've seen magic deprivation before. Where did you see it? Who was it?"

They all stiffened, and suddenly the air in the room was charged, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Makarov stared the blond down, but she stared right back, unwilling to back down, even if it was the master. Gray was tense, his nails biting into his palms so hard that blood was dripping down his wrist. Erza on the other hand, looked tired, her eyes focused on something in the distance. She seemed unaware of the tension in the room as she opened her mouth to speak.

"She deserves to know, Master," Erza said, her voice deadly calm.

Makarov broke his stare, but only after giving a slight nod. He placed his pipe back in his mouth, taking a long puff before he spoke.

"I saw a very similar case of magic deprivation many years ago. I had been returning from a meeting when I was attacked by a wild animal."

Makarov paused here, his eyes unfocused, staring off into the distance. He took another puff before continuing.

"To my complete surprise, I discovered that it was not a wild animal, but a child, well it was close enough to one. He was covered in scales, and possessed a tail and a pair of wings. He looked like a dragon, trapped partially in human form."

Lucy's eyes widened. She could already see where this story was headed.

"He was quite easy to defeat, as he was seriously wounded and emaciated. But, even when I had knocked him down, and he was too weak to stand, he gripped onto my jacket like his life depended on it. I saw how desperate he was, and I took pity on him."

"I brought him here, and Porlyuscia treated him while we tried to learn more about him. After a few weeks, he was beginning to look healthier, and was up and about before we knew it. Little did we know that he was being drained of magic power the whole time. One day, he disappeared, and Porlyuscia, and I searched the whole day for him. We found him in the woods crying. His tail, scales, and wings had disappeared. It hurt me to watch him, a magical being, helpless to do anything as its magic power slipped away along with its last tie to its former self. It took a long time for him to recover, but when he did, I was happy to introduce him to the family. Imagine my surprise when I see that he can still use fire magic perfectly fine. He had lost his true dragon magic, but there was still plenty left over.

A dragon child.

Fire magic.

Lucy could say nothing. There was no way. She looked to Gray for confirmation, and hated that she found it. It was the same for Erza. Lucy's eyes trailed back to Natsu, peacefully sleeping on, as if they weren't discussing the end of his world right next to him.

Natsu was the child. Natsu was a dragon that had lost it's wings. He was the person who had gone through the pain and suffering of losing his magic. He would be devastated when he woke up. He would have to relive the pain of losing his magic all over again.

She couldn't imagine being detached from her spirits, or from the constant energy that flowed through her body and the world around her. How could this happen?

Lucy slumped next to the bed, her hand drifting up to Natsu's arm. She felt that if she didn't hold on to him, he would drift away like a feather in the wind.

I'm here for you Natsu. I won't let you suffer again.

Here it is! I feel soooo good for not giving up on this story and getting my butt in gear!

Reviews:

Animewiz354: Slow down buddy, all in due time! Your idea will most definitely happen eventually, but not for a bit, and not in the way you expect!

Guest: That would be cool wouldn't it?

Camacazi1: I knooooowwwww! I want to know too, because I still have no idea how this will end, I'm just going with it :D

SakuraPetal91: I'm sorry! * Desperately picks up pieces and duck-tapes them back together.

SakuraPetal91: YES SOMEONE DID MENTION YOU IN THEIR STORY OMG! This was also my exact reaction when someone else also mentioned me in their story. You're worth the text space, Sakura san, and thank you for being one of my most dedicated readers! P.S. I also wish I could update sooner, but band, food, sleep, other stories, and blah blah blah blah. I know exactly how you feel about stories though… :(

Layla1122: Cliff hangers are the best :D, and thank you!

Guest: Here it is, we're cool now right?