I do not own Fairy Tail. This is an alternate universe from Hiro Mashima's work.


Chapter 4:

Three days went by without any sign of Igneel. Every night Natsu sat the opening of the cave and searched the sky for his father. The pinkette barely moved from where he sat unless he needed food or had to relieve himself.

Lucy sat down next to him as the sun started to set on the fourth day. The blonde said nothing as she sat next to him and left him to his thoughts. But she started to hope that Igneel would come back in one piece. It was true that as she spent more time with Natsu, the more relaxed she felt.

Natsu sat at the opening of the cave with his knees to his chest. His eyes focused on the sky as he searched for his father's figure. It had been quiet the last few days since there was not much to talk about. He only spoke when she handed him food from the back of the cave.

They just sat there and watched as the sky went from pink to black. Lucy looked at Natsu as he started to yawn and smiled a little bit.

"Why don't you try to sleep?" The blonde said to him as her brown eyes stayed on him. "I'll keep watch for you." She said to him.

Natsu thought for a moment before looking at her and smiling. Not his signature grin she was used to seeing but it was his first smile since Igneel disappeared. And that made her happy.

"Thanks, Luce." He said before standing to walk back to where he slept.

"No problem." Lucy was a bit surprised at the nickname he gave her but she smiled. She watched him walk over to where he slept and laid down with his back to her. The blonde then turned around and looked towards the sky.

When she did, Lucy was met with the face of the missing dragon. His tail wrapped around her mouth to keep her from gasping in surprise. Igneel knew that Natsu was not yet asleep because he was not snoring. The dragon gave her a letter to read before he removed his tail from her mouth.

Igneel smiled at her before flying off from the cave. Lucy looked down at the letter and was surprised to see that the dragon wrote in English. Her brown eyes went to the sky then back to the letter before walking to her bed on the other side of the cave.

She opened the piece of paper and started to read the words the dragon had written.

"Princess, please forgive me for taking you from your home but I am glad I did. Natsu is growing into a man and has never talked to a woman. As I get older, I want him to go out and explore the world. To do that, he will need to learn how to talk to his own species. I hope that you will be able to teach him what I could not.—Igneel"

Lucy closed the letter and then through it in the fire that Natsu had started. She thought over the dragon's words and sighed as she looked up at the cave's ceiling. The princess now understood why she was here but it still left so many questions unanswered.

Natsu lay on his mat utterly confused at what had gone on. He smelled Igneel's scent but when he turned to look at Igneel. The dragon was giving Lucy a piece of paper and had his tail over her mouth. After watching this, there was an emotion he never felt before rising in his chest.