The sounds of screaming caught her attention. Thankfully it wasn't panicked or pained. Though it did hurt somewhat to listen to. The noise drew her attention to a group of girls gathering. Most were around her age, some were a bit younger.

"Wonder what's going on…" Lucy mumbled. She couldn't see what they were gathered around.

Someone must have heard her, because a girl passing by answered. "A famous mage is in town! It's lord Salamander!" She practically had hearts in her eyes, and she wasn't the only one. Several women rushing past her were screaming enthusiastically and crying out for joy at the chance to see Salamander.

"Salamander?" Lucy gasped, "That famous mage who controls fire magic that can't be bought in stores? He's in town?" She couldn't help but clap her hands in excitement. She'd never before had the chance to see such a famous mage! Already dozens of questions flooded her mind, not that she'd have the chance to ask all of them. Well, she probably could, he just wouldn't be able to answer them.

She quickly found the crowd of girls. "Ohh, he's popular…" The chances of him even noticing her just dropped to rock bottom. Considering there was only one magic store in Hargeon, she hadn't thought a traveling mage could be so popular. "I wonder if he looks cool…" It would explain why it seemed that half the town's young women flocked to him. Considering the crowd, she'd be lucky to catch a glimpse of him.

Still, she had to try; there was one thing she absolutely needed to ask him about. She couldn't back down on this; her Spirits were counting on her.

Making it to the front of the crowd took more pushing and shoving than Lucy would care to admit. Eventually however she finally broke through, the question she so desperately wanted to ask was on her lips when her gaze landed on the man they called Salamander.

Her mind went completely blank.

He was the most handsome man she'd ever seen. His hair was artfully messy and just begging for her fingers to run through it. His jaw was square and strong, Lucy wanted to kiss it. The most distinctive feature was the curly and stretched X like tattoo over his right eye. A highly inappropriate part of Lucy wanted to know if he had other tattoos.

Something in her thoughts didn't seem quite right but it was so hard to think with him right in front of her, waving to the group of girls. Some nearly fainted when he made eye contact with them. Lucy could only hope that he'd look her in the eye too.

Lucy couldn't help but be confused, she felt hot, and her mind was muddled and swirling with thoughts and wants and everything was solely focused on the mage in front of her. Her heart was beating so fast; she couldn't understand any of it. She wanted to duck away, to hide; to have space to sort out this strange new feeling. At the same time she never wanted to stop looking at him.

He laughed and spoke; all her feelings got worse at the sound of his voice. "I'm had." His voice was smoky and his words were like velvet. She wanted to hear him speak, more than that she desperately wanted him to speak to her and her alone. "I can't walk like this." He gestured to the girls surrounding him, but he was smiling.

Lucy hoped with all her heart that his smile meant he didn't want them to leave; she couldn't stand it if he wanted them all to leave him alone. Unless he wanted to be alone with her. She wanted to curl up under his cloak with him, to run her hands under his shirt and over his body. It was a desire she'd never felt with regards to anyone else before, yet here and now, it was consuming her.

What was happening?

He glanced up and looked at her. Their eyes met. His dark eyes were mesmerizing pools of ink. They could have put the rarest and most expensive gems in the world to shame. He was looking, with his wonderful gorgeous eyes, at her. Only at her.

Her heart stuttered to a stop before starting up again twelve times as fast as before.

Was it because he was famous? Was that why she was so nervous, scared, excited and happy? Was that why her heart felt like it could escape out of her chest just to be closer to him?

She dimly heard someone yelling something, but that wasn't important. The only thing important was him and him alone. What was this feeling? Wasn't it something she'd only read about before? Something she'd never thought she herself would have a chance to feel?

Lucy began to move forward, wanting to touch him, wanting to know that the man before her was real. Wanting to know that these feelings she had were real. These feelings she'd only read about, these feelings that made her feel like she could fly. These feelings that said that maybe perhaps she was in-

A loud almost deafening shout interrupted everything.

Salamander was distracted enough to let his magic falter so that Lucy's own passive magic could overpower the spell placed on her. Her heartrate returned to normal and she suddenly found that she could breathe. That she could focus on things other than the man in the dark cloak.

The one who had inadvertently saved her was a young man with pink hair and sharp eyes. However it was hard for Lucy to watch him interact with Salamander when she felt so numb. Her heart started to pound again, but for a completely different reason than before.

She'd been completely taken in by that creep and she could only watch as he practically controlled the girls still affected by the Charm Ring he had on his finger. Those girls weren't mages. There wasn't any way for them to break themselves free like Lucy did.

Thankfully, while highly illegal and creepy, the Charm Ring was limited. The girls should be fine so long as they were in a group.

With a flourish Salamander gave his signature to the highly unimpressed man on the ground. The charmed girls took great offense to that and kicked the pink haired man a ways away. Lucy did her best to disappear into the back of the crowd. It wasn't hard to do; another girl gladly took her place near Salamander.

With a snap of his fingers Salamander did some impressive fire magic, flying away and inviting everyone to a party on a ship that night. The girls eagerly followed after him, however they couldn't keep up with his magic. Even if they would have been fine in a group, Lucy felt more at ease now that the girls and Salamander were separated.

Now that Salamander was gone she approached the pink haired man and the odd blue cat standing next to him. She got near enough to hear him grumbling to himself and glaring at the trail of magical fire left in Salamander's wake.

"What is he?"

"He really is disgusting." She answered, perhaps needlessly. However it did get his attention. She smiled and waved. "Thanks for earlier." Even if he hadn't intended to do so, he did help her out a lot.

Both he and the cat looked at her with confusion. She could see the man's nose twitching. He suddenly stood up and leaned closer to her. Was he sniffing her?

"You smell familiar."

A small knot of panic formed in her stomach. Had he met one of the other Lucys? Was she supposed to know him? But what he said was kind of strange; wouldn't it usually be that she seemed familiar rather than smell familiar? "Oh well, I just have one of those…Smells?" He didn't look all that convinced. She needed to distract him somehow. "I'm Lucy by the way."

"Natsu, and this is Happy." He gestured to the cat.

"Aye!"

Lucy nearly jumped when Happy spoke. Really she shouldn't have been so surprised. Considering she'd never seen another blue cat before, it wasn't too strange to think that blue cats could speak.

Before anything else could be said, a loud almost desperate grumble sounded out, it was quickly joined by a smaller, but no less desperate growl. Both the young man and the cat looked at their stomachs forlornly. Lucy couldn't help but giggle.

"How about some lunch? My treat!"

She was rewarded with twin looks of awe and adoration. Lucy laughed again as they eagerly led her to a restaurant. Yet oddly enough, a shiver of dread prickled down her spine and she would swear her wallet was crying out in fear. She gave a small shake of her head and dismissed that ridiculous thought. They were just going to have lunch, what could be so bad about that?