Title: Natsu in Wonderland
Pairing: Gray x Natsu
Rating: T
Word Count: 8,509
Summary: Natsu is looking for the perfect birthday present to surprise Gray with. However he's left it right up until the day before Gray's birthday and is having a hard time picking out a present. He sees Lucy, who is supposed to be out of town on a job, and chases after her, hoping that she can help him. However, when he follows Lucy into a park, he ends up falling down a large rabbit hole. And if that wasn't strange enough, things are only about to get even stranger.
It is another warm, sunny day in Magnolia, not a single cloud in the sky, and it is exactly one day until Fairy Tail, the strongest guild in the Kingdom of Fiore, will throw a party in celebration of the birthday of one of their mages, Gray Fullbuster. This is why Natsu and Happy are currently wandering from shop to shop within Magnolia, looking for the perfect birthday present.
"Natsu~, I'm hungry~," Happy whines as he floats in the air beside his friend.
"Me too~. But we can't eat yet. I still need to find a present for Gray."
The exceed sighs and follows Natsu as he exits another shop, empty handed, "You shouldn't have left it this late to get one. His birthday is tomorrow."
"I know that. I thought it would be easy, but I don't know what to get him. What have you got him?"
"Fish~," Happy replies, dreamily, a spot of drool escaping the corner of his mouth, "I had to get more yesterday though, because his present went missing..."
"You ate it, you mean."
"Ah, I couldn't help it, it looked so good~. Tasted good too~. Agh I'm soo hungry~. Can't we stop for food, and continue looking afterwards?"
"No, the shops will be closing soon. I have to hurry and find something."
"Can't Lucy help us? She'll know what to get."
"Lucy's working on a job, and she won't be back until tomorrow," Natsu sighs as he glances through shop windows while he passes them by.
"Natsu, look out!"
"Eh?"
As he turns to look at Happy, still not paying attention to where he is walking, it's already too late as Natsu falls down two flights of steps, landing harshly on the concrete ground at the bottom.
"Natsu! Are you okay!?"
The dragon slayer groans as he sits up and nurses his sore head, "Yeah, I'm ok."
Happy helps him up, and as Natsu gets to his feet, he sees their friend Lucy walk past them and turn into another street. Lucy? I thought she was out of town on a job...
"Oi, Lucy!"
Natsu quickly hurries after her, Happy following him, but he just can't seem to catch up with her.
"Agh, I can't believe I'm this late already. I need to hurry!" Lucy panics, glancing to a silver pocket watch in her hand.
Natsu and Happy keep calling out to her as they try to catch her up, weaving in and out of the crowds on the busy streets, but she doesn't seem to hear them. As they follow her into the Southgate Park, Natsu can't believe his eyes when he sees Lucy suddenly grow a fluffy, round White Rabbit tail, which busts out of her skirt, and a pair of White Rabbit ears which pop out on her head.
Natsu continues to run after her, Happy falling behind, as she heads to a large oak tree in the middle of the park and disappears behind it. He rushes around the trunk of the tree, and his eyes widen as he falls once again, however this time he falls into a large rabbit hole, instead of down a flight of stairs, and sees the look of panic on Happy's face when his head pops into view as he calls out to him.
The dragon slayer keeps on falling, though he unexpectedly descends slowly, and looks around in wonder as large ticking clocks, tall flower pots, and a large fireplace pass him by, along with fish and other animals which are somehow swimming and floating in the air. With a gush of wind, he crashes to the floor, landing in a distorted hallway, which never seems to end. Natsu quickly gets up when he sees Lucy once again, and follows after her as she goes through a large brown wooden door.
"Oi, Lucy! Where are you going?! What is this place?!"
Natsu ends up in a large and tall, empty room, when his eyes scan the place and land on Lucy, the celestial spirit mage is already going through another door at the other side of the room, disappearing once again. He quickly hurries over, but the closer that Natsu should be getting to the door, the further away it gets, and the smaller it becomes, until eventually it is no bigger than the size of a mouse. Natsu crouches down on the floor and reaches for the tiny door handle, trying to open it, however it doesn't budge and he hears someone shout in pain.
"What was that for?!"
Confused, he takes a closer look. As he studies the door handle, he watches as a pair of brown eyes appear, along with an engraving of cat ears just above the brass metal.
"Carla? What are you doing here? What happened to you?"
"I don't know what you're on about this Carla for, or what it is, but I am simply just a door, obviously."
Confused, Natsu closes his eyes and opens them again, only to see the exact same thing and know that it is definitely Carla who has somehow been turned into this tiny door.
"Who are you, and what do you want?"
"Uh, I'm Natsu... Oh yeah! I was following Lucy. She came through here."
"I don't know any Lucy. The only person who has been through here is the White Rabbit."
"Right, the White Rabbit then. I need to find her," Natsu replies as he tries to open the door again.
"Ow! Stop that! I can't let you through!"
"Huh, why not?"
"You're much too big, simply impassable."
"Don't you mean impossible?"
"Of course not," Carla the door scoffs, "I know what I'm talking about, and you're impassable. Nothing is impossible. Just use the bottle on the table."
"Table? What table?" Natsu asks as he looks behind him, and before his very eyes, a large, round, glass table floats down in front of him, and a glass potion bottle lands on top of it.
"Just read the directions. It's simple enough."
Natsu gets up from the floor and goes over to the table, picking up the glass bottle. He reads the words on the label, which is attached to the bottle by a piece of string, out loud to himself, "Drink Me."
Warily he takes out the cork, placing it on the table, and then takes a small sip of the contents in the bottle. An assortment of flavours explodes in his mouth, and he takes more small sips as he tries to figure out each one. "It tastes like... cherry tart... custard... pineapple... and roast turkey?"
As he still tries to figure out the taste, Natsu feels a weird sensation engulf his body, and the bottle he is holding in his hands starts to increase in size. "What's going on? The bottle is getting bigger."
Carla rolls her eyes at his stupidity, "It's not getting bigger. You're getting smaller."
Natsu struggles to keep the bottle up as he gets smaller, and drops it as he falls to the floor, the label on the bottle falling on top of him, and covering him like a blanket. The dragon slayer crawls out from underneath the label, and scrambles up onto his feet. He grins when he sees that he is now the right size to able to get through the door and reaches out to grab the handle, but it moves away from him.
"Ah wait, I forgot to tell you. I'm locked."
"Locked?! You could have told me that before I did this!" Natsu shouts, gesturing to himself to emphasise how small he's become.
"Oi, don't shout at me! It's your fault for wanting to go through the door in the first place. And what are you getting angry for anyway? You have the key."
"Huh? No I don't."
"Yes you do. You must have left it up there."
Natsu follows the door handle's gaze to see a gold key appear on the glass table which has gotten even larger to him now. The dragon slayer makes his way over and tries to climb up the table leg, but ends up sliding down it and landing back on the floor. "Great. How am I supposed to get the key now?"
"Humph, try the box of course. Boys are so stupid."
On the floor in front of him, Natsu spots a small trinket box and opens it. Inside are several small pink and blue biscuits which all have the words, "Eat Me" written on them. "What do these do?"
"Do I have to explain everything to you?" Carla asks in annoyance. "They make you bigger."
"Oh right."
The dragon slayer takes out a small blue biscuit and eats it all in one bite. He starts to panic when he starts crying uncontrollably, "Huh, what's happening now?! You said that they'd make me bigger, not make me cry!"
"Ah, I forgot, it's the pink biscuits which make you bigger, while the blue ones make you cry," Carla explains with a chuckle."
Natsu groans and eats a pink biscuit, all while still crying uncontrollably. As he becomes bigger, he ends up even larger than he was before, and his tears cause the room to start flooding. Carla's eyes widen as the water levels rise, and the potion bottle floats away. "Natsu quick, the bottle!"
Quickly, Natsu grabs the bottle, and takes a few sips.
"No don't drink it! I meant for you to grab!"
"Well you should have just said that in the first place!" Natsu yells as he shrinks once more and ends up landing in the potion bottle as it falls back down and into the water. His tears have stopped, but the water levels keep rising, and he, along with the bottle, end up being pushed along the current and through the keyhole in the door, into the ocean that resides on the other side.
"Ugh, where the hell am I now?"
Still being swept along the current, Natsu tries to get out of the bottle, but to no avail, his motion sickness has caused him to become weaker and he finds it hard to try and not throw up. Admitting defeat, he slumps down cross legged at the bottom of the bottle, groaning as his motion sickness gets worse. He lets the ocean carry him, that is, until he hears a splash from behind and senses a familiar smell.
"Wendy?"
Shakily standing up, he turns around, and in the distance he can spot a rowing boat heading his way. As it gets closer, he can see that the figure rowing the boat is definitely Wendy. She looks relatively the same, wearing her usual clothing, however, the only difference is that she has small round ears at either side of her head, and she has a long thin tail.
Natsu shouts out to her for help, and it's not long until she's beside Natsu and looking at him curiously, "are you ok, do you need any help?" She asks.
"Yeah, I can't get out of this bottle, and it's making me sick."
"Ok, hang on a minute," Wendy replies as she puts her rowing paddles down in the boat before standing up and reaching over to help.
"What's with those ears and tail?"
"Huh? They're just normal. Do you think they look weird...?"
"N-No, of course not."
"Who are you anyway?"
"It's me, Natsu. Don't you remember me, Wendy?"
"Wendy? I'm not Wendy. I'm just a mouse. You must have me confused with someone else. Try and jump up, I might be able to grab your hand and pull you out," the mouse replies as she reaches her hand into the potion bottle.
Natsu jumps up and tries to grab her hand. However, the bottle topples over causing Natsu to fall out into the ocean.
"Natsu-san!"
The current picks up, and washes the dragon slayer onto the shore of a nearby island. Disorientated, he sits up in the sand, and as his sight comes into focus, he can see and hear Wendy the Mouse rowing over to the shore, and calling out his name. When she gets close enough, the mouse jumps out of her rowing boat and rushes over to help him.
"I'm so sorry Natsu-san, this is all my fault. If I hadn't have made you jump-"
"It's not your fault. Don't worry about it," Natsu replies with a warm smile.
"A-are you sure that you're okay? You're soaking wet. What if you catch a cold?"
"I'm a dragon slayer, I don't get colds."
"O-oh, right. Well you should still change out of those wet clothes. I have some spare in my boat."
Wendy rushes back over to her rowing boat and comes back over with a treasure chest. She opens it up, and what's stored inside makes Natsu's stomach churn.
"I-I can't wear that!"
"I'm sorry Natsu-san, it's all I have."
With Wendy looking so upset as if she's failed him, to make her feel better, Natsu apprehensively gets changed. A few minutes later, after a struggle, he has discarded his soaked usual attire, and is now wearing a pink dress which falls to his knees and matches his hair colour, with a white frilly pinafore, and black and white horizontal-striped stockings.
"I can't believe I'm actually wearing this..."
"Now all you need to put on are these," Wendy says as she holds up a black ribbon headband, and a pair of black small heeled shoes.
"N-no way, not them too."
"But they complete the outfit, and you can't walk around without any shoes on..."
Seeing the sad look in Wendy's eyes, yet again, Natsu sighs, "fine..."
The mouse squeaks happily and helps him put the shoes and headband on, then puts a red ribbon into the pocket on the pinafore, "here, I have a spare red ribbon. You can have it."
"Why? What do I need this for?"
"You'll figure it out. How did you end up in the bottle in the first place anyway? I forgot to ask."
"Ah I'm looking for Lu-... I mean the White Rabbit. Have you seen her?"
"You mean that rabbit?" Wendy asks, glancing over to the shore at the other end of the beach, where Lucy the White Rabbit, has just washed up at in an upside-down, open, green umbrella.
"That's her!"
Natsu runs over to the other end of the beach but finds it difficult to run in the heels he's wearing. As he tries to catch up with Lucy, the White Rabbit has already rushed off of the beach and into the forest before he can get there, still rambling on about being late as she looks at her pocket watch.
"No, wait! Don't go!"
The dragon slayer leaves Wendy behind on the beach, and follows after the White Rabbit. The heels he is wearing gives him even more difficulties as he gets into the woodland. Lucy is no longer in sight but still he ventures further, unaware of the two pairs of eyes that are watching his every move.
"Ugh, I hate these shoes," Natsu groans as he gives up on running and takes a rest on a large wooden log, "how am I supposed to run in these?"
"You don't run."
"You walk."
"Eh, who said that?" Getting up from his seat, he turns around and looks for the source of the familiar voices.
"I've never seen him in Wonderland before, have you Tweedledee?"
"No I have not. Have you Tweedledum?"
"I can't say I have. What about you Tweedledee?"
"I don't think so, Tweedledum. Have you?"
"I don't have time for this?! Show yourselves!"
"I think we've angered him."
"So do I."
The tall weeds on his left, rustle, and he watches in anticipation to see who emerges from them, relatively surprised when Gemini, one of Lucy's celestial spirits, fly out to greet him. Huh? I thought Lucy spirits couldn't come to this world unless she summoned them? Asides from Loke...
"Why are you here in this forest? Are you going somewhere?" Mini asks as she and Gemi dance around Natsu.
"I'm looking for the White Rabbit. Have you seen her?"
"No. But if you need the White Rabbit for something, we can be her for you," Gemi replies, before he and Mini join up together and transform into Lucy, only wearing towel around their body.
"Uh, thanks, but no thanks. I need to find the real one."
"Eh, why?"
This time, when Gemini transform, they change their image of Lucy and dress her in the blue and white outfit that she wore when she first joined Fairy Tail.
"I want to know where she's going."
"What for?" Gemini asks, once again changing Lucy's outfit. This time they are wearing a purple top, navy skirt, and a pair of white and purple boots, with a blue ribbon keeping the majority of their hair up in a ponytail.
"Because I'm curious."
"Ah, that's no good. You should be careful."
"I wanted to ask her something too, but I can't remember what it was..." Natsu ponders as he starts heading away from Gemini, "I need to go."
"No! You can't go yet. Play a game with us."
"I don't have time to."
"Here, if we give you this, you will have to play. What game shall we play?" Gemini asks as they change clothes once again, and reach into the back pocket of their pants, then hands over a sheet of red paper.
Natsu pockets the paper and watches as Gemini bicker amongst themselves about which game to play, all while continuously changing their outfit, still transformed in Lucy's image. As Gemini is distracted, Natsu uses this as his chance to get away, continuing his search for the White Rabbit.
Eventually, the dragon slayer finds himself in a clearing within the forest where a small cottage resides, along with a large garden and vegetable patches. As he walks up the path, the door to the cottage bursts open, and the White Rabbit rushes out of the cottage. Lucy has changed since Natsu last saw her, but she still has her white ears and fluffy tail. She is now wearing a plain white, buttoned up, long-sleeved shirt, a white pair of black shorts, a pair of black boots which go up to just below her knees, and she is carrying a black waistcoat.
"I'm so late, I need to get to the castle, I need to hurry! Ah, Flare!" Lucy calls out when she spots Natsu, "there you are. I have no time, please hurry inside and grab my white gloves for me."
"Eh? I'm not Flare, I'm Natsu! Lucy, what's wrong?"
"I'm late! That's what's wrong, now hurry and get my gloves," Lucy quickly puts on her waistcoat and pushes Natsu inside the cottage.
"Geez, fine, I'll get the stupid gloves. Where are they anyway?"
"They're in my bedroom."
Natsu makes his way up the stairs and finds the bedroom. Inside, it's cosy and warm as a roaring fire cracks the freshly placed wooden logs. As the dragon slayer looks around for the gloves, he doesn't notice that his body is growing until he realises how further away the furniture starts to get.
"Not again..."
Natsu grows so large that his head hits the ceiling and he has to bend over to not crash through the roof, however, his arms and legs end up smashing the windows and doors, pushing through them and startling Lucy who runs off screaming about a monster, thus, losing her once again.
"No wait! Lucy, don't go! Ugh... How am I supposed to get out of here...? I'm so hungry~," Natsu whines.
As he moves his hand slightly, to get comfier, he accidently scolds himself on the fire that is still intact. Natsu grins and eats the flames to satisfy his appetite, not at all surprised this time when his body starts to shrink until he is no taller than a flower. Wasting no time, he doesn't question it, and quickly rushes out the back door of the cottage to find the White Rabbit. Unfortunately, he gets lost in the garden, trying to battle his way through the flowers and shrubs that are taller than him.
Groaning, Natsu keeps walking, unsure of which way he should be heading, and as his pace slows down, he hears a mocking laugh which seems awfully familiar. He looks around trying to figure out where the laugh is coming from but it just gets louder and less clear where the source is.
"Gihihihi~."
"Hey, who's there?! Come out now or I'll pummel you into the ground! I've been messed around enough for one day!"
"How can you hit me, when you can't see me~?"
"I can smell you and I will find you!"
"Gihihihi. I'm much larger than you."
"So? I'll still win."
"So it's a fight you want eh? Then in that case, let me give you a hint. One Side will make you grow taller-"
"Side of what?"
"And the other side will make you grow shorter."
"Side of what?!"
"Ugh, the mushroom of course! It's right behind you!"
Natsu turns around to see a large mushroom within a small clearing. He walks over and takes a piece from each side.
"Use the left side."
The dragon slayer takes a small bite from the piece of mushroom in his left hand. At first, nothing happens. As he's about to take another bite, his body becomes even smaller."
"Eh?!"
"Gihihihi. Oh sorry, I meant my left."
"Agh! You did this on purpose!" Natsu accuses as he takes a bite from the other piece of mushroom.
This time, he starts growing. However, to his dismay, he keeps on growing and ends up being taller than the trees behind him which leads into a forest.
"What the?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you~. You were supposed to lick the piece of mushroom, not eat it~."
Natsu growls angrily as he eats a little bit of the piece of mushroom in his left hand to make him smaller again. Once he is the size he was before the situation with the mushroom, he then licks the correct piece once, and sighs in relief when he's back to his original size.
He hears the mocking laughter from before, and this time he has no doubt as to who it is that has been messing with him. "Gajeel! Get out here right now!"
Natsu angrily follows the path into the forest, shoving the pieces of mushroom into his pockets, making sure they are in different ones so that he doesn't mix them up, and he hears the laughter once more, closer this time. The path he is following splits up into three separate paths, and as he looks up at the trees he sees a large toothy grin floating just above a tree branch. "Gajeel?"
Two red beady eyes suddenly appear along with the mouth, and Natsu watches at Gajeel's figure slowly materialises in his eye line, sitting on a tree branch. Gajeel is wearing his usual clothes, and looks pretty much the same, apart from the black and gray cat ears and tail.
"...You're a cat?"
"Of course. What else would I be? I'm Cheshire Cat. There are no Gajeel's here, whatever that is."
"Right... Oh uh, you have something at the corner of your mouth..."
"Hmm?" Gajeel wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, then licks it off of his hand like a cat would when grooming themselves. "Ah, it's just frosting. Anyway, pinkie, what are you doing here? And what's with the dress?"
Natsu frowns at the name, "I was trying to find a good present for Gray, and my clothes got wet. This was all Wendy had for me to change into."
"Wendy?"
"Oh, the mouse."
Gajeel grins from ear to ear, "a mouse? It's been awhile since I went out on a hunt."
"Hey! Don't even think about it! I won't let you hurt Wendy!"
"Fine. I can't be bothered anyway, this time..." Gajeel's body slowly starts disappearing, causing Natsu to panic.
"Oi! I said no hunting! Don't leave! I need your help! I don't know which way I should go!"
The Cheshire Cat materialises once more and grins, "it depends on where you want to get to."
"It doesn't matter as long as I-"
"Then it really doesn't matter which way you go," Gajeel replies as he floats down from the tree branch, slowly disappearing once more until he is fully invisible, before walking along the path in front of Natsu, leaving paw prints on the ground. The cat laughs as he reappears in another tree in front of the dragon slayer. "Oh and by the way, if you'd really like to know, she went that way," he says while pointing right and looking left before switching between the two directions.
"Who did?"
"The White Rabbit."
"She did?"
"She did what?"
"Went that way?"
"Who did?"
"The White Rabbit!"
"What rabbit?"
"Ugh! Stop messing with me!" Natsu angrily shouts, losing his temper with Gajeel.
"However, If I were looking for a White Rabbit, then I'd ask the Mad Hatter," Cheshire calmly replies as he points to the sign at the first path which says "Mad Hatter".
Natsu looks down the path, unsure of whether to follow.
"Or there's the March Hare." Gajeel indicates to the second path which has a sign pointing to it and simply has the words, "March Hare", written on them. "But of course, she's mad too. We all are. Gihihihi~."
Cheshire disappears, leaving Natsu standing between the two paths, one which leads to the Mad Hatter, the other leading to the March Hare. He stands there for a while, contemplating which way he should go, and eventually he takes the path which leads to the Mad Hatter.
Natsu follows the path and it is not long until he finds himself at a small cosy house with a roof made of straw. He hears voices coming from behind the building, and so he makes his way around and into the garden. Unlike the house, this garden is very large, beautiful too, however what draws Natsu's attention is the tea party which is going on in the middle of the garden. Here there is a large rectangular table, covered with a table cloth, surrounded by more than 10 chairs. On the table are several cake stands filled with baked treats, over two dozen tea pots and tea cups with saucers.
The dragon slayer makes his way over to the table and at the opposite end sits Juvia, Mirajane, and Cana. The three ladies seem to be their usual selves and are dressed in their ordinary clothes, however Cana, who Natsu guesses has passed out drunk, has small mouse ears and a tail, similar to Wendy's.
Juvia and Mirajane are happily sipping tea and making small talk together while Natsu sits down at the table unnoticed. Looking over the food, his stomach rumbles.
"No, no, no, no, no. You can't sit down unless you've been invited," Juvia says when she sees Natsu at the other end of the table.
The ladies, aside from Cana, make their way over to Natsu and frown, "that is a very rude thing to do," Mirajane scolds.
"A very rude thing to do indeed," Cana slurs as she wakes up for a few seconds before dropping her head back down on the table and falling back asleep.
"Ah, sorry. I didn't realise."
Natsu's stomach makes noises again and Juvia jumps at the chance to offer him a cupcake, "here, have one of these. I made them."
Taking one of the offered treats, Natsu notices that there are small drawings of Gray on them, as expected from the water mage.
"Oh my, we never offered you a cup of tea. Would you like one?" Mirajane asks.
Natsu takes a bite into the cupcake and nods "um, sure. Mm, this cupcake is good."
"You like my cakes? Then you must join our tea party. You are now officially invited," Juvia smiles as Mirajane picks up the closest tea pot and pours the dragon slayer a cup of tea, "sugar?"
"Two please," he replies before turning to face Juvia, "have you drawn Gray on all of this food?"
"Gray, who's gray?" Mirajane replies for Juvia as she is about to hand over the tea, taking it back before Natsu can have any.
The water mage suddenly calls out for everyone to move places and they drag Natsu out of his chair and move him further down the table. Cana awakes for a short while as they change places and is fast asleep as soon as she sits in another chair.
"Would you like a little more tea?" Juvia asks Natsu as she pours several cups of tea beside her at once.
"I haven't had any yet. So I can't very well take more."
"Ah, you mean you very well can't take less," Mirajane smiles as she pours Natsu another cup of tea, placing it in front of him.
"Yes, you can always take more than nothing," Juvia adds while pouring half a bowl of sugar into Natsu's tea causing it to pile up and spill out of the cup. Mirajane then takes the tea away and makes more for Natsu, once again placing it in front of him, but then takes it away again before he can have some, "and the drawings on the cakes are of my handsome Knave-sama," the water mage says dreamily with hearts in her eyes, answering Natsu's question from before.
"We never asked your name," Mirajane states as she once again makes more tea for Natsu but doesn't give him any.
"I'm Natsu.
"It's nice to meet you Natsu. I'm the March Hare."
"And I'm the Mad Hatter," Juvia says, introducing herself, "the one asleep over there is the Dormouse. Now that's out of the way, what's bothering you Natsu-san? Won't you tell us all about it?"
"Start at the beginning."
Natsu complies and leans forward in his seat as Mirajane and Juvia gather closer in order to hear his story, "Well it all started when I went shopping with Happy-"
"Very interesting. Who's happy?" the March Hare asks.
"Happy is my friend. He's a cat. Well an exceed really-"
"CAT?!"
The Dormouse wakes up at the mention of a cat and jumps out of her seat, panicking as she runs down the length of the table. Juvia and Mirajane go after her, grabbing a bottle of sake from under the table and open it. Once they catch Cana they make her drink some of the sake in order to calm her down. The Dormouse calms down instantly and sits back down; resting her head on the table and falling into an alcohol induced slumber.
"Now see, these are the things that upset me," Juvia frowns as she sits back down.
"See all this trouble you started," the March Hare says to Natsu as she pours her and the Mad Hatter some tea.
As the dragon slayer is about to apologise, he is once again given more tea which is taken away from him before he can have any.
"What were you saying Natsu-san?" Mirajane asks, "start from the beginning."
Irritated, Natsu sighs then takes a deep breath before starting the story, this time leaving out Happy, "I was shopping-"
"Whatever for?" the Mad Hatter asks.
"I was looking for a good birthday present to give, and that was when I saw the White Rabbit. I thought that she would be able to help me find the perfect birthday present. But I lost her and now I can't find her."
"Hm, well we could help you. If it's someone you like then maybe some flowers would be nice. More tea, Mad Hatter?"
"Why thank you," Juvia replies and smiles as the March Hare pours her a cup of tea, "flowers sound good, but maybe some chocolate would be better. Or jewellery."
"Sake is always good~," the Dormouse says, waking up for a brief moment before hiccupping and passing back out again.
"Ooh, maybe this could be of use," the Mad Hatter suggests as she reaches under the table and brings out a small round box, handing it over to Natsu.
The dragon slayer voices his thanks as he places the box into his pocket. All he needs now is something to go in it.
"So whose idea will you go with?" Mirajane asks, "I think flowers would be best."
"No. I don't think the Knave, would want flowers."
"The knave?! You're getting a present for the knave?!" The Mad Hatter shouts
"U-uh yeah…."
"I-I-I have a love rival?! I won't let you have my precious Knave-sama!"
"No! It's nothing like that!"
"It's not?"
"No of course not."
Juvia puffs up her cheeks, "why? Is there something wrong with him?"!
"Eh?"
"You don't think he's good enough for you?!" Is he not handsome enough, is that it?!"
"What?!"
"Is he too cold for you?!"
"I don't like him in that way! He's my friend!"
"Oh. He's your friend? Then why didn't you say so? Would you like some more tea?" Juvia smiles completely calm which is a sudden change from two seconds ago.
"No thank you. Look, do you guys know where I can find the White Rabbit or not?"
"The Queen of Hearts might know," The March Hare replies.
"Ah yes, the Queen would know," the Mad Hatter adds on.
"Ok. And where can I find her?"
"At her castle of course."
"Which is where?"
"Would you like some more tea?" Mirajane asks him, handing him a cup of tea.
"Change Places!" Juvia shouts, waking up Cana the Dormouse.
As the three ladies chance seats, Natsu takes advantage of the commotion and uses it to get away, "I'll just find it by myself then."
The dragon slayer walks away from the Mad Hatter's house and goes back into the forest. As he delves deeper and deeper, he becomes even more lost and frustrated.
"Ugh! I give up. I don't need the White Rabbit. I'll find a present by myself. Now how do I get home?"
As he tries to figure out which way to go, he hears really loud and obnoxious singing from behind him. Natsu turns around to see Gajeel appear in a large oak tree.
"Oh Cheshire Cat, it's you."
"Hm, did you expect the White Rabbit, perchance?" Gajeel replies once he's stopped singing.
"No, I'm through with rabbits. I just want to go home. But I can't find my way…."
"Naturally, that's because you have no way. Always here you see are the Queen's way."
"You mean the Queen of Hearts? I've never met her."
"You haven't? Oh but you must. She'll be mad about you, simply mad. Gihihihi~." Gajeel laughs as his body starts disappearing.
"Oi, wait! Where can I find her!?"
"Well, some go this way," Cheshire grins as he points to his right, and then left, "some go that way. But as for me myself personally, I prefer the shortcut."
The Cheshire Cat pulls on a branch and in front of Natsu's very eyes, a large, red, wooden door materialises into the trunk of the tree and opens for him. As he watches the door open, he forgets about Gajeel, who disappears once more without him noticing, and Natsu steps through the door in the tree trunk, ending up in a large green hedged maze. He pays no notice as the door closes behind him and wanders off in the maze, trying to find his way out.
"I'm late! I'm late! The Queen is going to be so mad with me!"
"The White Rabbit! Oi, wait up!"
Lucy seems to not hear Natsu as she continues running in a hurry, failing to notice when her pocket watch drops out from the pocket of her waistcoat as the chain it is attached to hadn't been clipped onto the fabric properly.
"Hey, you dropped this!"
Natsu picks up the pocket watch and examines it. The watch works perfectly and does not have a single scratch or mark on it. On the back are carvings of three identical snowflakes. The dragon slayer puts the watch into the pocket of his pinafore, and looks around for the White Rabbit. Lucy has gone once again, and it takes Natsu a while to find his way out of the maze. When he does, he finds himself in a garden outside of a castle. He groans when he sees a large rectangular table fully decorated with a frilly white table cloth, small plates, tea pots, as well as cups and saucers.
"Not another tea party….."
When Natsu gets closer to the table he notices that there is no food laid out but there is a huge pink cardboard box. He walks up to the table and opens the lid of the box to peek inside. The box is empty apart from a few scrapings of white vanilla frosting along the sides. The dragon slayer sudden hears a yell and he jumps back from the table. He turns around in time to witness an angry Erza stomp her way over. Erza is wearing a full length gown with printed heart details and gold trim, a high white collar, a hoop and tulle petticoat, a velvet jewelled choker and a sequined heart tiara. She is also wearing red heels.
"Someone has eaten my strawberry cake!" Erza shouts as she looks around then points to Natsu, "You. You've eaten my cake!"
"E-eh?! No, I've only just got here! I didn't eat it!"
"Well you're the only one here so it must have been you! Guards!"
A bunch of guards dressed as playing cards march out of the castle, along with Lucy, the White Rabbit, who is blowing the trumpet as she rushes out of the castle. Out of breath, she then announces Erza, the Queen of Hearts, followed by Jellal who has just turned up and is announced as the King of Hearts. Taking a closer look at the playing card guards, Natsu notices that they are the members from the independent guild, Crime Sorciere, including Midnight, Meredy, Angel, and Cobra.
"Guards! That pink haired boy in a dress has eaten my cake! Off with his head!"
Natsu's eyes widen as the guards surround him. Just as they are about to grab him, they stop when they hear someone snoring.
"Can you hear that?" Angel asks the others
"I think it's coming from under the table," Cobra replies as he walks over to the table, Erza getting madder by the second as her guards have not instantly obeyed her order and have not chopped off Natsu's head already.
The guards surround the table and take a peek under the tablecloth.
"It's the Knave of Hearts!" Meredy shouts, "He's sleeping under the table!"
Midnight and the rest of the guards drag out a sleeping Gray, who is typically only wearing boxers, from under the table.
"They must have been working together! Off with their heads!" Erza orders.
The Knave of Hearts is woken by Erza's shouts and looks around in a confused daze as the guards seize both him and Natsu.
"Hang on a minute!" Jellal interrupts, turning to face the Queen, "shouldn't they have a trial first?"
A trial?"
"Just a little trial?"
"Very well then. Let the trial begin!" Erza orders.
The guards keep hold of Natsu and gray as they take them to the courtroom within the castle. Lucy, the White Rabbit, plays the trumpet again as she walks into the room, followed by the guards with Natsu and Gray. Jellal is sitting in the judge's chair, with Erza not that far away, and the jury consists of several talking animals such as ducks, birds, cats, and frogs, among others.
Lucy stands at her post, and takes out a scroll, "Your majesty, members of the jury, royal subjects…
Jellal coughs, interrupting her.
"... And the king. The prisoners at the bar are charged with stealing and eating the cake that was made especially for our majesty, the Queen of Hearts, causing her to lose her temper and-"
"Ok that's enough!" Erza shouts, before turning her attention to Gray and Natsu, "Now then, are you two ready for your sentence?"
"Sentence?!" Natsu's eyes widen at the word, "but there must be a verdict first, right?"
"Sentence first! Verdict afterwards. Right, now that's out of the way, off with their heads!"
"Ah, wait. We've called no witnesses, couldn't we hear from one or two, maybe?" Jellal asks Erza.
"Ugh, fine. But get on with it!"
Jellal calls out for the first witness and the guards hurriedly bring out Mirajane, the March Hare, who is drinking tea.
"What do you know about this unfortunate affair?" the King of Hearts asks the March Hare.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?!" shouts Erza.
"Nothing." Mirajane repeats.
"That's very important!" the Queen replies, ordering the jury to write it down, in which they do.
"Next witness, please."
The March Hare is taken away while the guards bring out Cana, the Dormouse, who says nothing before passing out drunk. Natsu is getting more annoyed as the trial carries on.
The next person brought out is Juvia, the Mad Hatter. While on the spot, Juvia spends most of the time being nervous around the King and Queen. She also calls out to her precious Knave-sama, who simply ignores her, though she doesn't seem to mind. When asked where she was when the crime was committed, the Mad Hatter informs them that she was at home drinking tea.
Gray is then asked to speak, telling them how he'd only gone to sleep under the table and that the cake was still there when he did so. Natsu is furious when the knave tries to pin the crime on him. The both of them start arguing back and fore when Natsu suspects that Gray is simply trying to get him into trouble for something that the Knave did himself. Their fight becomes physical and only stops when Erza hits them both on their heads and orders them to sit back down.
"I've had enough of this trial," the Queen of Hearts shouts, "it is obvious that they are both guilty, and the only solution is, off with their heads!"
Natsu and Gray's eyes widen as the playing card guards surround them once more. It is then that Gajeel suddenly appears and the dragon slayer then remembers that when he saw Gajeel earlier, he had white frosting around his mouth.
"Wait! It was the Cheshire Cat who ate your cake! I saw him with frosting around his mouth earlier!"
"I did not, you pink haired brat!" Gajeel growls.
"Yes you did! You even told me it was frosting!"
Erza glares at Gajeel, forcing a confession out him, "alright I did it! And it was delicious too."
"I can't believe you'd do that Cheshire! Trying to get me and the Knave to take the blame, when the whole time that I've been here all you've done is help me! This was your plan all along wasn't it!? You always seem to disappear at convenient times!" Natsu shouts angrily.
"SILENCE!" Erza screams, "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"
Gajeel is pushed over to where Natsu and Gray are standing as the guards' spring into action. Natsu gets ready to fight them and attempts to knock one or two of them out. However, he finds it difficult to attack them in heels and a dress, especially when he doesn't have his dragon slayer powers. He suddenly remembers about the pieces of mushroom which he had shoved into his pockets so he quickly takes them and takes a small bite out of one of the pieces, not worrying about which one does what.
The dragon slayer suddenly grows in size, startling the guards and the other people in the room, and he uses their shock as an advantage to get out of the castle and into the castle gardens. Once he's out he ends up destroying the maze because of his large size as he runs away. He can hear the shouts of Erza and the guards as they chase after him, and as he's running his body returns to its normal size.
Natsu finds himself back at the door that he went through after falling down that rabbit hole, and so he tries to open the door, hoping that he can get away this way.
"Ow! I'm still locked you know!" Carla scolds.
"But the Queen and the guards! I need to get out!"
"You need to wake up, Natsu!"
"What do you mean!? Just hurry up and let me out!"
"You need to wake up! Just wake up Natsu! Natsu, wake up…!"
Natsu opens his eyes to see Carla , Wendy, and Happy above him."
"Natsu!" Happy cries as he swoops down and clings to the dragon slayer.
"Are you ok?" Wendy asks, "you've had quite the fall."
"We've been trying to wake you up for ages," Carla frowns.
Natsu looks around and realises that he's at the bottom of two flights of steps, the exact same ones that he fell down just before he saw Lucy and chased her into the park.
"The White Rabbit?! Where's the White Rabbit?!"
"Natsu? What do mean? What rabbit?" Happy asks with a worried expression on his face.
"Lucy, I mean Lucy…."
"She's out of town on a job. Didn't she tell you this morning?" She's been gone all day."
"But I…."
Natsu sits himself up and groans, "What happened?"
Carla folds her arms across her chest as she floats closer to the ground so that Natsu can see her, "Happy came to find us after you fell down those steps. He couldn't wake you."
Wendy helps Natsu up from the floor and a ray light blinds him. Rubbing at his eyes he then moves position and that is when something in a shop window catches his eye. Wordlessly he walks towards it.
"Natsu, where are you going?" Wendy asks, getting no reply.
They follow him curiously as he stares at a pocket watch with a silver chain which is on display in the shop window. The watch looks exactly like the one he saw in his dream, and he can sense a strong familiar magic emitting from it in waves. Natsu steps back from the window to look up at the shop's sign which indicates that it is an antiques shop. When he looks back to the watch, he notices that what is also in the window are rolls of red ridden and red wrapping paper, as well as several gift boxes varying in size. He leaves his friends even more confused when he enters the shop. The three of them glance to each other briefly before following Natsu inside. When they catch up with him he is already talking to the shop owner and asking him about the watch.
The owner of the shop informs them that the pocket watch has been around for centuries and that it has been passed down through generations of strong and powerful ice mages which explains how Natsu sensed a familiar magic from the watch. The shop owner tells them that a powerful ice mage who had possession of the watch several decades ago had sealed some of his own magic into the watch and gave it to his partner so that they could feel safe and protected when he wasn't around.
Natsu is not sure whether or not he believes the story but he can tell that this watch has been in the possession of some powerful ice mages. The watch isn't cheap, it's very expensive and the shop owner will not let them haggle on the price, but he buys it anyway with his savings which he has to go back home to get. He also buys some of the red wrapping paper, red ribbon, and one of the gift boxes that he saw in the shop window. Smiling, he leaves the shop for the second time with his friends, satisfied that he has found the perfect present for Gray.
The next day, everyone is at the guild to celebrate Gray's birthday and he is currently opening his presents. When he opens the gift from Natsu, his eyes widen at the pocket watch and chain. This is the exact watch he had seen in town a few weeks ago. He had sensed the aura of a powerful magic, similar to his own, and was drawn to an antique shop where he saw this watch in the window. He couldn't afford it and so he had been going out on more jobs lately to try and save up for it, with no luck.
"How did you know that I wanted this?"
"You wanted it? - Haha of course I knew you wanted this…."
"Yeah right, I can tell when you're lying."
"Ok, ok, I had some help," Natsu smiles as he glances to Lucy, and for a split seconds he's sure that he can see rabbit ears on her head. In disbelief he blinks and shakes his head from side to side, and when he looks at Lucy again, the ears have gone.
"What is it? Have got something on my face?" Lucy asks.
"No, it's nothing," Natsu replies and smiles when he sees the grin on Gray's face as he takes his present out of its box.
A few hours later, the party is still in full swing and Natsu steps outside for a bit of fresh air. The sun has gone down now and the stars are more visible in the night sky. The dragon slayer smiles as he looks up at the stars. He leans back against the front wall of the guild and is joined by gray shortly afterwards.
"Hey, thanks for the watch. I'd been trying to get enough money to buy it for weeks. Are you sure you could afford it? I don't want you wasting that amount of money on me if you need it."
"It's fine. I wanted to get it. No one forced me."
"Right, well thanks….," Gray smiles then looks around to check if anyone else is there before he pushes himself off of the wall then turns to Natsu and yanks him forward for a kiss.
Natsu's eyes widen in shock and Gray has already pulled away before he can even blink. The ice mage just smirks at him briefly then grins as he goes back inside the guild. Natsu recovers from his shock and grins as he follows Gray inside.
The dream he had about Wonderland had confused him, but that kiss from Gray has confused him even more, mainly because he liked it. He never expected to, but then again how could he if he had never expected Gray to kiss him in the first place? The thought of kissing Gray had never even crossed his mind, until now that is. And for some strange reason, he wants to do it again.