"Y... You smell him?!" She asked him, flabbergasted. She was astonished, paralyzed and all the other synonyms you can ever find in your dictionary for that word. Him nodding vigorously as respond didn't really help her to calm down.

"Here? In this forest?" Still questioning him in disbelief. Another nod from the fire dragon slayer was her answer.

"Let's go catch a dragon Luce!" he yelled happily, flashing his adorable toothy grin and pulled her on her wrist so she would follow, or more dangle after him.

"O...oi Natsu!" She yelped, getting dragged by him as if she were a ragdoll. She did ponder how it was possible since he always complained about her weight. Then she wondered though, if Natsu might have picked up the wrong scent. After all, why would a gigantic dragon be in a forest? And why haven't they heard him then? Wouldn't Natsu's excellent hearing skills have picked the sound of his flapping wings or something? She glanced at Natsu's face. Just one look at the delightful small tears in the corner of his eyes and she swallowed all the questions down. She couldn't possibly ruin his joy or hope right? She let out a soft sigh and silently prayed to Mavis that it really was his foster dad. She never saw Natsu this happy, it somehow made her feel overjoyed. She continued being dragged by him, sometimes cursing under her breath when a branch would make contact with her face or any other parts of her body. She couldn't do anything but to accept this hurtful marathon run. After all she did just kick him and made him flying against a tree. That was quite mean of her and she totally forgot to apologize. Karma can be a b*tch.

"Igneel! Igneel! Where are you?! I challenge you to a battle," Natsu yelled at the open wide area, finally stopped his dash since the scent was slowly fading away. Lucy almost choked up on hearing the words of challenging the dragon. The outcome was already predictable and after Acnologia and these seven dragons that escaped through the stupid eclipse portal made her sort of scared of dragons. It was just a scary sight to her, with their big teeth and crushable claws also these piercing eyes weren't really kind, but it seems like Natsu fears nothing and no one. Well, exception for that one time that he remembered a monster from the past, which so happened to be himself and then there was Erza, but everyone is afraid of the Titania. Lucy let out an exasperated sigh as she stretches her arm. Natsu's excitement surely weighted heavy on her arm. She could definitely feel it. With a sigh she mumbled something which could be heard as:"Cramps... Muscle pain,.."

"IGNEEEEEEL!" Natsu yelled, or more roared, making Lucy flinch from his suddenly outburst. He was definitely getting frustrated that he couldn't find him, "His scent... is fading away..." he was quivering. Tears of happiness were now stained with sadness in the corner of his eyes, his once happy grin disappeared and a small sob was audible. He was close, so close and suddenly everything, every sparkle hope faded into nothing, into the empty air. The sight was heart wrecking for the celestial mage and she immediately felt anger spur inside her stomach. Rage that his idiot father gave him hope in ever finding him. Couldn't he left a letter behind or a book for this poor boy to at least give him some sort of a hint or maybe an explanation why he left? She didn't have the best relationship with her father back then, but even he managed to leave a goodbye letter for her. Without thinking twice about her actions she wrapped her arms around the emotional wrecked dragon slayer. Ruffling softly through his spiky salmon hair and whispering comforting, soothing words inside his ear. The scent of vanilla and summer breeze filled his sensitive nose and it made him feel comfortable. Real comfortable. He smiled as he nuzzled closer into her embrace.

After a few second of silence the girl came to realize to what she was doing. Her cheeks tinted with a reddish pink color as she wanted to pull herself back, but the salmon haired boy immediately sensed this and only hugged her closer. He felt warmth, comfort and very relaxed in her hug. Her scent made his head feel light as if he was being carried by clouds. As the dense and oblivious idiot, he obviously didn't see through his own intentions or feelings. He just simply likes Lucy. He likes all his nakama. Though his Luce is more special, but obviously he wouldn't tell the others that. Their teasing would come to no end, most frustrating part being him not even getting the most jokes. He just wanted her so badly to be at his side forever, actually he needed her. When their eyes met for the first time he felt a connection between them. Like, he knew this girl, he knew her, but just couldn't grasp from where. He also knew that they would become the best friends. His intuitions never disappoints him.

"They liiiikkkkkkeeee each other," hearing the tongue rolling from Happy, Lucy immediately pushed Natsu away.

"Gwoah!" he grunted when his head connected with a nearby tree for the second time that day.

"This is not what it seems like Happy!", the girl tried to explain herself, but Happy took none of it and kept giggling, "You... ... ... idiot blue cat!" Lucy yelled before taking off and chasing the cat. Obviously the little feline wouldn't just let her catch him. Natsu rubbed his head at the compact, but couldn't help but to grin at the sight. He liked the fact that his two best friends were getting along with each other.

"Man, Luce is strong," he chuckled before dashing to his friends, "Happy, you found the exit?"

"Aye, sir! Follow me!"

"How much longeeeeer?" Natsu whined, the sound of his growling stomach also getting louder after each step. They finally made it through the forest and were now on their way to the mountain. When they found the exit of the forest and tushed out of it they came across a small village named Hsugu city and decided to take a small breather there and maybe find a new map. Gladly the folks there were welcoming the wizards with open arms and had offered them free food. Lucy being polite as she is wanted to refuse the food offer, but how was that even possible with a food monster as Natsu beside her? The answer is simply no, it's not possible. Natsu probably drowned half the village's food. Poor villagers, they have to get more supplies after that. They also gave her a much clearer map, at least it was clearer than the last one, not perfect, but it was good enough. Lucy pondered though, why were they so friendly towards them? Did they favor mages? Even so weren't they a bit too friendly? With a sigh she decided to leave the topic behind. An electrifying headache came to her as she took another step. Something like a flash appeared, but she didn't even got a second to think or even see it. She blinked her eyes a few times. She frowned her eyebrows in confusion.

"Saaaaalmony! ~," whined a little four year old little girl.

"I told you to stop calling me that Luigi, Gao!" the little boy snarled annoyed. This was their second time meeting and the younger girl was somehow thrilled seeing her forest friend again. "I do not recall you saying that to me and besides, you're also saying my name wrong," she pouted cutely at him. A small tint of pink was seen at the both sides of his cheeks. He wondered if it was wrong to think that she looked... he flipped through his vocabulary list, looking for the right word, wasn't it cute? Yeah, Igneel said that he should use the word cute to describe girls.

"W..whatever... gao," he turned his head to the sides, avoiding the gaze of her big brown eyes. He even wondered how the heck they could sparkle.

"Neh, Salmony, want to hang out with me?" she asked the little boy. He raised an eyebrow, thinking about the offer.

"What we going to do gao?" he asked her.

"Well, I don't know! Anything is fine!" she giggled. He couldn't help but to grin back at her.

"You weirdo gao," he replied before taking her hand and dashing through the forest.

"Still not there?" Natsu whined once again.

"Just a little more Natsu," she replied him, not taking her eyes off the map. Natsu groaned again. He was hungry. Really hungry. Even though he ate like a pig just an hour ago. The villagers were probably now low on supplies after their visit.

"But Luceee ~ I am hungry," he pouted. Lucy couldn't help but to sigh. She knew, that if she now looked back she'd immediately give in to his pouting and go look for a place to eat, but if they don't keep walking they wouldn't make it in time. The requestor only gave them three frigging days. They still had to beat the Raven and go all the way back. The fact that they lost a whole day in the forest and a half day today wasn't really helping their schedule. Though it really wasn't their fault. If he had just gave them a clear map to begin with then this wouldn't have happened.

"Luce ~," Natsu pouted, now walking beside her.

"What?" she asked him, eyes steadily focused either on the road or the map.

"Hungry," he groaned again and to emphasize his point his stomach started to growl again. This time she chuckled.

"Okay okay... wait," she responded with an exasperated sigh. She slid her hand into her pocket and dug around for a few second before taking out a pack of matches. She knew him too well and always prepared these for emergencies.

"Oooh! A snack!" Natsu grinned widely and a drool formed on the corner of his mouth. Lucy smiled at him and lit up a match. She handed it to Natsu and told him to not eat it yet. She took another five matches and lit up them up from the fire of the other match.

"There you go, an afternoon snack," she replied him and put the pack back in her pocket. Natsu absorbed the fire on the matches in a whim and rubbed his stomach in satisfaction.

"Thanks Luce! You're the best," he grinned happily. She couldn't help to also reply him in a small smile, she was glad that he smiled again. Though this idiot only had a concentration of three year old, so making him smile wasn't that much of a problem.

"I see the mountain!" Natsu yelled in excitement and dashed forward, again.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled after him, about to dash after the brainless idiot, but much to her surprise he slowed down, turned towards her and grinned. He was waiting for her. Her eyes widen at the realization and stared at the boy dumbfounded. Her mouth slightly open, trying desperately to dig into her wide vocabulary for the right words, but the sentence construction in her mind failed her.

"Of course we wouldn't want you to get lost again do we?", that being said he grabbed her hand without a warning and ran ahead, never loosening his grip on her. Without her, everything seems less colorful and more boring around him. For some reason he found her really amusing. So his conclusion was simple and short. As cheesy as it sounds. Lucy, his Luce, is a shiny star.

AU : I have no words for my delay... -Bows- My apologies ; ^ ; Just... holidays makes you lazy. Ahaha :'D