OH BITCHIN' A STORY ABOUT DINOSAURS. YES. YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS...

16

The Lost World

"All your life people will tell you things. And most of the time, probably ninety-five percent of the time, what they'll tell you will be wrong."― Michael Crichton, The Lost World

Lucy screamed as she, Natsu, and Taurus all went flying from the force of the explosion caused by Natsu punching ice, "Why'd you have to punch the ice?!" She shrieked as they bounced out of the cave they'd wound up in when a vulcan had carried her off shortly after the fight began, and began rolling down a snowy embankment straight towards a cliff.

It was not her most auspicious introduction to mainline jobs.

Even with Erza and Gray helping her first job, what should've been an easy monster hunt on Mt. Hakobe, had turned into a complete mess.

First, there had been more monsters than they'd realized. Then some had proved to be stronger then they realized. And now this.

It made her wish she'd stayed in bed today.

Not that she particularly had that wish on her mind at the moment. She was much more concerned with not plunging headlong into the ravine below her. She tried to scrabble for something to slow her down, but just wound up grabbing Natsu instead, "We're going to die!" She cried as she felt that moment of weightlessness hit her before gravity caught up and they began to fall, and desperately wished they were somewhere else. Anywhere else. As long as they weren't falling.

She felt a powerful tug on her magic as the wish seemed to take form and before her startled eyes a gate opened underneath them and they were falling through.

Natsu's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he looked down, his arms twisting around Lucy to keep her upright and supported. Over the time spent together, he had gotten used to being joined to her. She was a curious oddity, but with enough practice they were able to work well enough as a team they didn't accidentally almost kill one another.

However at the sight of the gate yawning open beneath them, Natsu's stomach dropped out his feet.

Lucy's talent at creating gates was hit or miss. Usually miss. One time they ended up almost on the bottom of the ocean, and had it not been for Juvia's quick thinking at the time, they probably would have drowned.

Knowing his luck, Lucy's gate was bound to launch them into the celestial realm itself or something equally horrifying.

They slid through the gate as a pair, leaving behind Gray and Erza when they dropped through, slamming into hard ground. Natsu wheezed when Lucy landed on his stomach, causing all the air from his lungs to go rushing out.

He groaned, rolling a hand around his stomach and shoving her off him.

"Idiot," He whined, "I could have just caught you and jumped to safety."

He pitched his voice high, mimicking hers, "'Oh no we're going to die!'"

"So your great idea is to throw us through some random gate and hope we don't die," Natsu muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, it's not like I did it on purpose!" Lucy protested, flushing a bit in mingled indignation and embarrassment, and climbed to her feet. She knew better than to expect Natsu to give her a hand up or anything. The one time she'd asked for one he'd laughed himself sick.

She glanced around at the place they'd wound up. It was still in the mountains, somewhere, but rather than snow they were looking at a gorgeous little valley. It made her wish she had a camera.

"So, any idea where we are?" She asked hopefully.

Natsu might be a complete jerk, but at least he was well traveled. There hadn't been anywhere she'd dropped them yet that he hadn't been able to identify. With luck the trend would continue.

When her question was met with silence she turned to look at him and found him staring at the other end of the valley with what she thought might be horror.

"Natsu? What's wrong?" She looked beyond him to what he was staring at and gasped at the very obvious signs of fire damage and other destruction that scarred the other end of the valley.

"What...what happened here?" She whispered, trying to make sense of what was clearly a battlefield, and blinked when she noticed Natsu's fists clench, but he looked rather pale under his tan.

"Get us out of here." He growled tensely, and when she opened her mouth to ask why he looked at her sharply, pulling her up short with the actual fear in his eyes, "Don't ask questions. Just do it!"

She nodded and started to concentrate, focusing on Fairy Tail, but was almost immediately interrupted by the sound of great wings flapping, and she gasped when she looked up and found another dragon bearing down on them.

Oh this could not be good.

Stumbling at Natsu's firm push against her shoulder, Lucy found herself being shoved behind him as the dragon dropped down in front of them. Its body was large, a tinted grayish blue along the hard ridges of its back. There were strange circular grooves littering the dragon, and Lucy nearly swallowed her tongue when she realized how enormous this dragon was.

This one was almost as large as Natsu in his dragon form, and Lucy had almost forgotten that Natsu's current appearance was merely a temporary situation. He was usually far scarier.

"So!" The dragon rumbled, and Lucy started at the feminine voice which left its mouth. Unable to smother her gasp, Lucy dropped her chin into Natsu's scarf.

For whatever reason, it seemed even darker and dirtier than it had before. Lucy wondered if it only looked like that because of the heavy shadow cast by this dragoness.

"The great END returns to the banished lands for a visit, what a high honor," The dragoness sneered down at Natsu.

Lucy knew she didn't imagine the way a trickle of sweat ran down his temple and the hard swallow he took. It was as if he was nervous about something. Something she couldn't put her finger on.

Why would he be anxious around another dragon?

"Motherglare, you came by yourself," Natsu said lazily, his dark eyes scanning the horizon. Lucy thought he sounded casual, but the grip he kept on her forearm to keep her behind him was anything but.

"What purpose would I have to bring the others with me?" She glared down at him, mean eyes gleaming coldly down at the two, "Although I must say, I didn't recognize you in such a state. So small... so vulnerable."

"We heard rumors your territory was unprotected, and you had somehow managed to get yourself bound to a human wretch," Motherglare inspected Lucy, "Is this her?"

Lucy took a step backwards, grateful for the way Natsu seemed insistent on shielding her from view.

"It doesn't matter," Natsu supplied quickly, "We're leaving."

Motherglare cocked her head in a way that made Lucy think she was smirking. It was a little hard to tell given how stiff and unexpressive her face was. At least, by her standards. Who knew what Natsu was reading on it. Though from the way he was tensed she doubted it was anything good.

"Leaving?" The dragoness purred darkly, "Oh, but you can't leave yet. You just got here. Don't you want to visit with your old nestmate for a while first Mongrel? It's been so long after all!"

"Nestmate?" She asked before she could stop herself, and found herself shrinking back a little under the dragoness' sudden attention.

"Oh yes." Motherglare purred in apparent delight and settled herself comfortably, "You wouldn't know would you? About how his worthless drake of a father had the gall to adopt him, the demonized human freak created by Zeref, and raise him as his own hatchling!"

She roared out a derisive laugh, enjoying the way Natsu was getting angrier, but didn't change. It seemed he really was bound. How delightful!

"Once that fool Igneel was dead we let the Demon Mongrel know his place." She continued, superiority and condescension dripping from every word, "But now he's returned to his former nest, and it brings me such delight that I was the one to get here first."

She focused her gaze on Natsu, her hatred shining through, "After all, we yet have unfinished business." She growled.

Was that really true? Lucy watched the way Natsu's teeth grit, fierce and angry. His body trembled in rage, fury coating the back of his throat by the looks of the smoke spilling out the corners of his lips.

Had he really been once a human?

And what kind of past did he have with these... people?

Or dragons.

Or whatever.

Natsu's entire body seemed to coil as the dragoness' teeth bore down into a sharp-toothed snarl. Every fang was as sharp as a needle and just as deadly as any knife. Lucy's heart strangled itself in her throat, a real, instinctual fear gripping tightly onto her very soul.

She had forgotten how terrifying a dragon was. How out of the ordinary, even this world, a dragon could be.

Natsu didn't seem phased by the intimidating appearance, considering he was a dragon himself, Lucy supposed it was the same as looking into a mirror.

"Fine, you wanna fight?" His fists balled up, fire flaring to life bright enough to surround his elbows.

"I don't need to transform to be able to tear you to pieces Motherglare," Natsu snarled up at her, "I kicked you and your pathetic nest clear off my territory before, and I can do it again."

"The small one is so confident," She sneered back, "But how can you hope to possibly beat the whole nest again, weakened as you are."

Natsu had nothing to say, and Lucy felt a real shock of fear run through her. Natsu always had something to say, but for whatever reason, words seemed to fail him.

"So what? I'm here to help him, even if all you want to do is pick a fight!" Lucy shouted up at her, somehow finding her voice even gripped by fear as she was.

Both dragons turned to stare at her incredulously for a moment before Motherglare burst into roars of laughter.

"You?" The dragoness laughed, "And what can you do human girl?" She lowered her head to Lucy's level, giving her a very uncomfortably close view of her teeth, "You don't even know dragon magic. You couldn't scratch my scales!"

Lucy's eyes had widened a little again with the sudden proximity, but then a faint smirk curled her lips as an idea came to her, "Maybe not." She replied, ignoring Natsu's frantic efforts to keep her behind him as she stepped around him, looking far more bold than she really felt, "But I don't have to scratch your ugly scales to defeat you!"

"Lucy what are you doing?" Natsu hissed, genuinely alarmed over the way Lucy was standing up to Motherglare. Though he kind of had to admire her brass for talking back like that. Insulting a dragon's scales was a deep offense. They were vain creatures after all.

"I will swallow you in one gulp human!" Motherglare roared indignantly, "Who do you think you are to insult me?"

Lucy glared back at the dragon despite her fear, "Who are you to insult Natsu?" She demanded, even as she began desperately working the magic that just might give Natsu the opening he needed, "You insult his father for being able to see beyond his own species and take him in as his own son. You insult Natsu for his heritage, which is not something he had any control over, and is not only wrong, it's narrow minded and bigoted!"

"Lucy..." Natsu murmured, stunned by her words, but she wasn't finished, "And then you kicked him out after his dad died because he was different? What kind of monsters are you and this nest of yours?! I don't blame him for terrorizing you jerks after something like that!"

She felt her magic surge and for once it did what she wanted. The golden outline of a gate formed underneath the dragoness, and she smirked, "And I definitely won't blame him for beating you straight to the bottom of the ocean!"

"What?!" Motherglare growled in surprise as the magic surged again and the gate opened under her feet.

The gate wasn't quite large enough to do the task Lucy wanted. After all, Mother Glare was a very large dragon and she had never opened a gate large enough to carry more than two human-shaped passengers. Mother Glare was far larger than that.

However, it did have the effect of capturing her back two legs and tail, sliding her backwards until she was rolled onto her back and lodged into the opening of the gate.

"Oh! Shoot!" Lucy gasped, watching the dragon's claws scrabbling against the hard dirt to try and find enough purchase to pull herself up.

The sound of splashing, and water bubbling out around the dragon's body, showed evidence to just where she had been trying to send the dragoness. Just to no avail.

Still, at least she looked ridiculous, swinging her long neck back and forth as she tried to wrestle herself free.

Natsu didn't bother to hold back his roars of laughter, his head throwing back and hard chuckles shaking his broad shoulders. Tears of mirth streamed down his cheeks and he doubled over his stomach.

"Gods! W-Were you trying to...send her to the bottom of the ocean!?" He wheezed between words, ignoring how the dragon was howling her fury into the sky.

"Don't laugh!" Lucy protested, cheeks rounding out when she puffed out a breath. "I tried my hardest! It's not my fault she's so- so- huge!"

Still, she couldn't help but admire the body-shaking laughter her little magic trick had caused in Natsu. It was as if his face was made to smile, even if his current expression was a touch on the mean spirited side thanks to the recent mockery from Motherglare.

He shook his head, his choking laughter breaking off into hacks and coughs, his smile never fading while he fought to regain his breath. It was clearly a hard battle, but he won out just as Motherglare was regaining her balance.

"I will kill you both!" The dragoness' cry shrieked into the sky.

In her mouth, the faint glow of light began to form, even as her neck thrashed from side to side, trying to free herself from her watery prison even just an inch.

"Uh oh, better go," Natsu snagged Lucy's hand and turned, dragging her a few steps forward.

Then all of a sudden, she felt him twist, and a strong arm caught just under her knees. When suddenly she was lifted into the air.

"Hold on tight." Natsu purred at her, his grin still tugging at his lips, and smirked at her look of confusion before he tightened his grip on her, ignited his feet, and rocketed out of there.

His smirk widened a little when she shrieked a little in fright and grabbed hold of him tightly as they moved. Lucy really was completely ridiculous. She yelled and screamed all the time, mostly in fright, and complained when she wasn't doing that. She chattered about useless, boring, things and...she had stood up for him. To Motherglare.

Admittedly it hadn't been the best defense he'd ever heard, but she'd meant it, and that caused a small curl of warmth, that had nothing to with his fire, in his chest.

"You're such a weirdo." He told her, but for a change his tone wasn't derogatory.

He couldn't help reluctantly admiring her for what she'd done. Not a lot of people could

stand up to a dragon. Especially humans. Their fear of dragons was practically racially instinctive after how long dragons had spent eating them.

Maybe it was stupid courage, but he could still admire that kind of courage.

If only a little.

"At least it worked!" She replied, a smile curling her own lips as she settled more comfortably in for the run.

Natsu didn't understand her. He really didn't. Lucy seemed perfectly content with clinging to him and letting out the occasional shriek when Natsu swerved around a rock, cliff or burned out tree. The roars of Motherglare whispered in the distance, but Natsu didn't slow his pace since she could be on them in an moment the instant she freed herself.

Still, he busied himself with running through the old territory he had grown up in, muscle memory taking over and doing nothing to distract his thoughts. The ground was soft to his right, he avoided it. An old tree up ahead had a low branch that was curved just out of sight - how many times had Natsu sprinted headlong into it as a hatchling?

This time Natsu hopped over it, snorting out a laugh as Lucy's arms flung themselves around his neck. She squeezed hard enough to choke him, but her small scream humored him.

He landed down on a heel and pivoted behind him to see if they were still being followed. Luckily they weren't, but that didn't mean the dragons wouldn't try to hunt them down so long as they remained in their territory.

He had grown up in these lands, but was also responsible for burning apart every acre of it he could destroy. After he had been pushed out from his nest, Natsu had been so confused.

No matter how many times he tried to return, he had been chased out. Igneel had told him at the time that the dragons were his family, so Natsu hadn't wanted to give up on the possibility that one day he could go home.

Eventually, when the years wore on, and it became clear Natsu didn't have a home anywhere, he returned once more. But this time he came with fire on his mind and revenge heavy in his heart.

Natsu burned the entire lands, forcing the dragons to live in their pitiful wasteland. The territory to the south belonged to him, and should they try to take it - he wouldn't hesitate to destroy them.

After all, they made it clear they weren't his family.

Still, he never thought he could come back here. Especially not in this form.

Much less smile while he was here.

He gave Lucy a mystified look. She was too distracted by his wild swerving to notice, but he was happy enough not to point it out to her.

Humans rejected him since his turn into a demon, the demons only cared on how to use him, and the dragons thought he was a monster.

Even the supposed paragons of this world all saw him as a monster. Even after he assisted in fighting alongside the humans in the Celestial war. It didn't matter.

Was Lucy's defense of him all an act? Or was it genuine? He didn't know, but the effect it had on him was unnerving.

...FRIKKIN DRAGONS!

Pixelbow brought up a question concerning the ages of the characters. In chapter ONE, (yeah, going back a while), Lucy reads in her book that the wizards of Fairy Tail are centuries year old. Going off a more traditional old-book style of aging magical people/creatures.

Natsu by himself is reaaaaally old. Which means his conflict with Fairy Tail has easily been going on for centuries.

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