Hello everyone!

Here comes the chapter! Thanks for those who reviewed and liked (favorite&follow) this story. :D

ANNOUNCEMENT: I've made a pole to see which one of my stories you would like to be prioritize in updates! Check it out on my profile.

Special note to Nora: Thank you! Yes, the story was quite similar with Aladdin isn't it? I realize that as I write this. I thought of incorporating fairy tale figures here, fairy godmother, prince charming, and princess in distress. It will be like a fairy tale . . . except with a twist. xD

Then, Enjoy!

Fifteenth Wish:
To Hear and Speak Truth

"You're not bullying this girl are you?"

A young man with pink hair and sharp eyes placed a hand on her head and grinned.

"Ah. . ." her eyes widened at the sight of him, surprised at the sudden gesture.

"Who are you?"

"How dare you accuse us?"

The crowd turned back to them to see the new arrival. He looked at them confidently. "Well, I thought you were, after seeing her in tears and all. . ."

Suddenly, Wendy felt very embarrassed. Ugh. I'm crying again. At this rate, I'm going to be labeled as a crybaby! She looked at him determinedly. "I'm not cr –"

"Hah. That girl is just spouting nonsense to gain attention" one of the guys told him, a muscular and tall man.

He raised an eyebrow and turned to her. "Oh really? What nonsense are you talking about?"

"I-It isn't nonsense! I'm telling everyone that they shouldn't eat the Fimorians because they're poisonous!"

"I told you! Everyone saw that eating those giant fishes had healed everyone in the village!"

Natsu blinked, sweating a bit. Oh boy, are they talking about the same fish Seaweed warned us off?

He looked down deep in thought, touching his chin. "Giant healing fishes, you say? Hmm . . . Could you be talking about the Noden's fish I gave to that boy named Romeo?" he looked at them curiously, as if he was just making a simple and innocent inquiry.

Truth be told, he never gave Romeo that so-called "Noden's fish". It was stolen from him. But he didn't dare say that out loud. From what he observed from their previous encounters, Romeo was someone everybody liked and respected. He was the 'good boy' with great reputation. And rightly so, his conversations with him proved that he was a righteous man.

No one would believe him if he suddenly said that he was stealing. Instead, it would backfire on him. After all, he was also the son of the captain. Who would believe his words against such a person? Not to mention, he, Natsu Dragneel, was the true and well-known thief.

No one would believe him. A lowly street rat like him had no voice in this society. A cruel world, isn't it?

Well, even if he could make them believe his words, he still wouldn't want to do it. Romeo was a good guy, and he wouldn't want to ruin his image by saying that he became a thief just like him. That one act of stealing which he did out of desperation could ruin him. It's not even for his self, but for the people. He doesn't deserve that.

People frowned. "You gave him the fish? From what I remembered, he said he fished it in the Noden's river?" the cocky man they were talking with earlier said in doubt.

He smiled, his usual poker smile he always used when dealing with people. He had almost forgotten how to use it ever since the genie came to his life.

"Yeah. Did you seriously think that a little kid can handle such a big fish? As you see, I'm a merchant. I specialize in goods that are rare and such. I got lucky to get my hands on such a legendary fish. Unfortunately, I've met with some bandits who tried to steal and kill me. That kid saved me. After hearing his story, I was touched so I gave him that fish as thanks. He said he'll use it for the sick. I told the kid to not tell anyone about it though, in case those bandits wanted to come back for my life."

Lie after lie after lie. He just hoped these people were stupid enough to believe him. He didn't look like a merchant at all!

A woman raised her eyebrow. "A merchant? Then why are you telling this story to us now if you didn't want it known?"

Oops.

"Ahh. . . well, I heard the bandits had been taken care of so there's nothing to worry about" he quickly made up.

She still looked at him doubtfully. Women had that keen intuition at judging the standing of a person. "Why are you shabbily dressed then?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. Showing confidence was one of the keys of deception. "Cause it's my style? I'd rather blend with the crowd in this 'shabby clothes' than wear robes of gold to stand out and be targeted by more thieves. I learned that with the bandits."

"I . . . see. . ." the woman nodded reluctantly, thinking that what he said made sense.

Natsu could pat his back on how well he's good at patching up his lies.

"Well, just as good. I actually came here to meet with Romeo, where is he?" he asked, smoothly changing the subject before someone question him again.

"Oh, he went with those fisher folks who were grilling those fish you gave him," someone from the crowd told him, now with the friendly tone of an acquaintance compared to their initial apprehensiveness earlier.

He frowned. "Those? I only gave him one, and it's only the half of it," he told them.

The woman laughed. "Oh, he meant the species. They were fishing and caught many more of those healing fishes." She tried to sound friendly as to make up with her questioning attitude earlier. There was nothing bad with getting a trader as a friend, after all.

He looked at them, acting confused. "More miracle fishes? Wait . . . how can . . ." his eyes widened in a worried expression as he thought of something. "Oh no . . ."

Upon seeing his expression, the people became worried and tensed.

"Oh no. . . no . . . that can't be . . . my fear came true . . ." he made a dramatic expression as he look down and combed his head with his hand in nervousness.

"What? What is it?" the woman asked anxiously. She knew something bad had happened.

"Well, there was a reason for my visit. . ." he started, as if hesitant. "I . . . I actually heard that there are fake products being spread about. Unlike the miracle fish, these fake products are extremely hazardous. I came here to check if the fish that I had was authentic. Because if it's not . . ." he gulped.

"What? What will happen?" people fretfully asked.

"Whoever eats them will die . . . right?"

People looked at the source of the voice. It was the girl they were laughing at earlier. She looked at them seriously. Thanks to the random stranger, she finally got them to listen to her.

"Fimorian's blood. . . It's a popular poison in the west. It has many uses. Its fresh raw blood turns acidic when exposed in air; slowly the victim's skin will corrode up to his flesh and bones if not treated immediately. When heated, it will turn into a deadly poison that could paralyze the body when consumed. Not only will the victim won't be able to move as the poison spreads, the lungs and heart muscles will begin to malfunction. Not to mention, the bacteria and viruses from the waste of their habitat would infect the victim's body. With the immune system paralyzed by the blood effect, the person won't be able to fight back the infection and his organs and muscles will begin to swell and his slightest injuries will begin to rot."

The people's face darkened as they listened to her talk in detail about the Fimorian's poison.

Natsu nodded as if he knew the explanation the girl was giving. He knew nothing of the fish aside from the fact it was bad. He couldn't even remember the name properly, not like he bothered remembering anyone's names anyway. The girl took the bait when he paused for dramatic effect. He had expected and gambled that the girl, who seemed very eager to tell them, would take over and talked in his place when given the chance. Well, if not, he could just make something up. But there was a chance that the girl would interrupt and say he was wrong which would make him doubtful to their eyes.

"This will cause the victims to die in pain without being able to move or even breathe. . . "

The girl finished her explanation, relieved that she was able to finally explain it to them. The people stared at each other anxiously.

"Oh no . . . if that is true . . ."

"Now that you mention it, I did think that those fishes were weird. I mean, they were smoking and making this strange sizzling sound . . ."

"Their greenish colors already gave me shivers. . . that's why I didn't touch them . . ."

What are they still doing? Shouldn't they be running after those fisher guys already!? Natsu watched them as they anxiously exchanged words with each other. He felt very annoyed at how slow these guys were. Unable to take it anymore, he yelled at them. Someone had to drive the nail in these idiots.

"Come on! Did you really believe that such a miracle fish could appear in a dozen at once!? That healing fish can only appear once every century!" he made that up. It's a legend so no one would tell on him for that. "What those people caught were most likely the fake fish being sold and the poisonous fish this child is talking about!"

They turned to the pink haired merchant and the blue haired child, sweating. The urgency of the situation finally sunk in to them.

"He's right!"

"Oh no! We should hurry and warn them!"

And with that the crowd finally moved and chased after the people who planned to cook the Fimorians.

Natsu stared at the people. "Sheesh, finally they moved" they sounded like a bunch of mobs to him. He turned and noticed the girl was still there, looking at him. "Hm? Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be chasing after them too? They still need a medic after all."

The girl looked at him nervously. "Uh . . . umm . . . ano . . . T-Thank you . . . for . . . that . . . If it weren't for mister . . . they wouldn't listen to me . . ." she bowed to him.

He was surprised that she bothered to thank him. It's not like he did much. "Ah, it's okay. I'm just passing by anyway . . ." he told her.

She looked up at him. "Umm . . . I'm Wendy. . . What's your name, mister merchant?"

"Eh? Ah, I'm Natsu" he grinned at her, though anxious inside. He's not comfortable with giving his name. Still, it was too late to think of a new one. Besides, Romeo already knew his name so it would be bad if it was inconsistent.

She smiled at him. "Nice to meet you Natsu-san."

He smiled back. Crap . . .

At this rate, he had to keep up the façade until he had the chance to leave this place or didn't run to anyone he knew. Guards would recognize him in an instant and blew things up . . .

Now he was kind of regretful that he dug himself into trouble. He jumped in without thinking and made things up as he goes. Luckily, he was skilled enough to fool them. Now everyone believed that he really was a merchant.

He only said those words because no matter how much a person was stating the truth, if he doesn't seem to fit their standards, no one would believe him. People only believed what they wanted to believe. They don't really care for truth, they just go for what seemed right to them and what would fit their norms and believes. That was why he'll play by their rules and make them do what he wanted.

Well, that was just the kind of person he was after all. He couldn't help but think that she rubbed off to him somehow. The genie messed up his ways a bit which caused him to be in this situation, but he was the sneaky and heartless man who would just do as he pleases. He'll steal, he'll rob, and send anyone who dared come his way flying. Fooling people was the least of the bad things you'll learn in the dark world of the streets. If you don't wear a mask to protect yourself, you'll be busted and die.

Unlike the honest and bright girl the genie was, this deceitful and selfish man was just who he was.

Natsu was a man of lies.

. . . * . . .

End of Chapter

Natsu was finally getting closer to solving the whole issue of the plague! With Wendy as an ally, how will they end the disease?

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Author's comment: I find the title quite ironic this time since it's about "speaking and hearing truth", however all Natsu did in this chapter was lie. If you hadn't notice, chapter titles were the desires or wishes of at least one POV character (mainly Natsu or Lucy). Could it be . . . even though he believed he was a liar and a selfish man, he actually wanted to . . .

Haha, I'll leave character analysis to you readers. I'll love to see what you think of the characters here. Though, I'll leave this obvious point about Natsu:

Natsu believes himself to be a man with a dark heart and life, that was why he was so in-love with the light. For him, that was Lisanna.

PS: Haha, sorry there is no Lucy in this chapter. Maybe she'll appear later? :P