Hey, Fairy Tail fans, and welcome to the first chapter of A Fairy Tail Re-told, my re-telling of Fairy Tail. I'm not the first or last to do this, but this story idea has been in my head for a while, so here we are. Words can't describe how nervous I am about posting this anyway; as the summary tells you, this is an AU where the Fairy Tail guild doesn't exist so that people will talk differently to our heroes, and most characters may end up taking a bit more of a back seat.

Now, the adventure begins.

Long ago, in a land far, far away, lay the kingdom of Fiore, a small, peaceful nation of seventeen million and rich with magic. Found in every home and sold in every marketplace. For some, it's a mundane part of life. For others, it's an art; these are the wizards, many searching for fame and fortune, hoping to become legends across the land. Many have been born from this kingdom, and many more are sure to be told as time goes on.

That night was rainy. A young woman with long, wavy, pastel yellow-blonde hair that reaches down to her feet, a frilly, pink layered robe with a red ribbon tied in a bow around her neck. Around the chest are three blue diamond patterns with two blue triangles above. Each series of these is outlined in a hot pink. She wears wing-like adornments around her ears and small hoop earrings. She seemed barefoot as she came to a small, ruined house. Looking it over, she then heard small shuffling.

"where you followed."

"I don't know"

the woman peered over before stopping as thunder sounded in the distance. She looked as four children stared back at her. They stood in silence for several seconds as they looked at her with fear before she finally spoke, the shock leaving her

"Children"

Another fairy tail

In the small port town of Hargeon, where ships come and go and people bustle through to get to their destination today, a pink-haired boy named Natsu Dragneel and his small blue-talking cat Happy are trying to get off the train.

"We made it to Hargeon." Happy yelled excitedly, "Come on, get up already." he looked back to see Natsu fallen over the ground

"Um, is he alright," one of the conductors asked.

"oh yeah, he's fine," Happy Told him, "this always happens when he travels."

"Never again," he spoke up. "I'm never riding on this stupid train again."

"If our intel is correct, we should find that salamander in this town," the blue cat said while walking towards the door, "let's go."

"Just give me a minute," he said, hanging out the window.

The cat hops off the train just as soon as the train workers throw more coal into the engine and start the parade. The processions begin to move with Natsu still inside, happy turns as his friend is hauled off, screaming for his life, "Uh oh, there he goes."

"What!" a girl screamed, "you mean to tell me there is only one magic shop in this town?" This girl's name is Lucy, and she is currently in the same town as Natsu and Happy.

"Afraid so," the store clerk answered, "the people here are more fishing folk than they are magic folk," he told the girl.

"Man, looks like I came all this way for nothing," the girl said in a depressed tone.

"Aw, know, don't be like that," the man pulled out a small box. "This color switch has been trendy lately." he then moved his hand around the small order.

"Purple," he shouts, wearing olive green clothes, then turns purple.

"I already have one of those; I wanted some powerful gate keys," she tells the man.

"Gate keys, huh? That's a rare request." The man pulls out a box and opens it, revealing a silver key inside.

"aw, it's the little doggie," Lucy squealed delightfully.

"You know it's not powerful," the man tells her.

"yeah, but I want it," she replies, "how much."

"Twenty thousand jewel."

Lucy froze and peered closer to the man." How much was that."

"I said twenty thousand jewels," he said quickly.

"Oh, come on," Lucy said while sliding on the desk and pulling up her skirt slightly. "How much is it worth," she said while winking

the man froze, a slight blush forming on his cheeks

Lucy stomped away from the shop, anger evident on her face as steam came from her ears. "I can't believe that old coot only knocked off a thousand jewels," she said while grunting, "that trick normally works so much for using my feminine wiles."

some girls run by her excitedly, saying that a famous wizard is in town, "is it? I don't believe it. one of them shouts

"Wait, who is that," she asked; one of the girls stopped and looked back at her. "he's this mysterious wizard that can use fire magic you can't even use in stores," she squealed with glee before running off again.

"Really," Lucy says, "well damn, never thought a famous wizard would be in a deadbeat town like this," she said as the girls ran to meet the wizard.

Natsu and Happy are seen again walking through the town of Hargeon, "damn, I ended up riding the stupid train twice."

"you know that motion sickness could be the death of you one day," Happy told him. "Are you sure it's not curable?"

"Pretty sure," Natsu groaned as he rubbed his stomach. "Trust me, I wish it was." Natsu looked ahead. "Hey, this Salamander guy has to be Igneel, right," he asked in concern.

"Well, I mean, the only fire dragon I've heard of is Igneel," Happy said, reassuring his friend.

As they walked, they heard many girls screaming Salamander; they looked at each other excitedly. "Well, speak of the devil; we're in luck today."

"Aye"

They run over to see a large group of girls swooning over something; in the middle is a guy with dark purple hair posing as the girls begin to go even crazier.

Lucy was already in the middle of the crowd with pink cheeks. Her heart began to skip a beat as she looked at the man in the dark cloak. 'Why is my heart pumping so fast?" she thought, ' Is it because he's a famous wizard.'

Her eyes are then covered with hearts like many girls around the wizard. 'Am I in love?'

"hey, Igneel"

Just as she moved closer, two figures jumped in front of Lucy. As the girl stared at the pair for a second, she blinked, her heart calming down as she looked around as Natsu tried to get the wizard's attention.

Natsu looked at the purple-haired man in confusion. "Um, who are you," he asked, shocking the man.

"Maybe you recognize my name, Salamander," he shouts, doing another pose only to see the boy walking away.

The fangirls then attack him, grabbing and biting him. "You should be nice and apologize to him right now," they all shouted.

"Now that's enough," Salamander tells them, and they back off like animals; he pulls out a piece of paper and scribbles it. "Here you go, kid, you can rub this in all of your friend's faces," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, no thanks," Natsu tells him, which results in the fan girls tossing him into a wall.

"well, that was fun, but I got to get going," Salamander said. "I've got a business to attend."

"You're leaving already," the girls said in perfect unison.

"Time for the red carpet," he flicked his fingers, causing flames, then came up at the bottom of his feet and lifted him. "I'm throwing a party on my yacht tonight, and you're all invited," he shouted as he flew off.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Natsu inquired

"I don't know, but he sure is a creep," a voice calls out.

Natsu turns to see a girl walk up to him. "Hey, thanks for the help."

Later, the two can be seen at a restaurant. Natsu is eating faster than what could possibly be human. "Um," Lucy said as she stared in shock, "there's no need to rush. It's not going anywhere," she said as food flew past her 'there goes the money I saved at that old geezer's shop' she looked up to the pink-haired boy smiling, but this was her way of saying thanks.

"that Salamander was using magic," Lucy told the boy, "a charm spell, but they've been banned for years," she said, wondering, "I know I might not look like it, but I'm also a wizard."

"Is that so?" he asked as he took a long drink of water.

"Yeah, and I'm thinking of joining a guild soon, " Lucy told the pink-haired boy. "Oh, I should explain. You see a team form when a group of Wizards comes together to tackle jobs that no one wizard can handle alone," she tells the boy, who has a bare look on his face. "Most of the time, they form guilds, and often they have cool names too," she tells him. "I know this all sounds like gibberish to you, but let me tell ya, being a wizard is so much fun."

Natsu chuckled at her statement, 'you have no idea,' he said.

"I mean, being solo has its quirks, but being in a guild allows for all sorts of crazy adventures," she told him while squealing.

"You talk a lot," Happy told her half-heartedly.

"oh yeah, you came here looking for someone," Lucy asked, coming out of her fangirl state.

"We're looking for Igneel," Happy shouted.

"We heard that a Salamander would be coming through town, but it looks like it was the wrong guy," Natsu finished as he stuffed a whole pizza in his mouth. "I bet that poser can't breathe fire like a dragon."

"wait, so your friend Igneel looks like a dragon," Lucy asked, confused.

Natsu swallowed the pizza. "No, he doesn't look like a dragon; he is one."

"Huh," Lucy shouted in disbelief.

Even in this magical world, dragons are considered mythical creatures rarely seen by the human eye.

"What would a dragon be doing in the center of town?" she shouted at the two. "It doesn't make any sense." Lucy then stood up and placed some cash on the table. "Well, I've got to get going."

"Yeah, me too," Natsu said, standing up.

"Oh, I'm sorry I never got your name," Natsu asked as she left the store.

She turned back and gave a light smile. "My name is Lucy H." She froze; she wouldn't tell him that information. "Lucy, they call me Lucy."

Natsu gave off a big grin, "Nice to meet ya, Lucy; I'm Natsu Dragneel."

"And I'm Happy," the cat shouted.

Lucy smiled before walking away. "Nice to meet you, Natsu Dragneel."

Lucy sat on a park bench reading an issue of Sorcerer Weekly magazine. "So mysterious wizard guy strikes again." She looked over what appeared to be a picture. Still, most of the mysterious man was covered in shadow, his dark red eyes only visible. "So, this is the real Salamander. They say he knows some lost magic," Lucy said as she read the article. "I wonder what kind," Lucy said aloud. 'Salamander has been in the papers a lot recently, and people who seem to say think his fire magic is so powerful he can burn right through magic."

"Man, I wonder what he looks like." She flipped the page and read more of the story. "he had wiped out a bandit clan, but no official sighting," she whispered. "Huh, man, I wonder how he stays under the radar," she whispered. "One of the members would clearly remember what he looks like," she whispered.

"Man, the number of guilds looking for members is huge," Lucy said gleefully. "Man, I have to become way stronger," she smiled. "If I'm going to leave my mark, I have to stand out," Lucy thought.

Lucy laid back, reading the magazine. "I mean, I could join Blue Pegasus or Lamia Scale," she whispered. "That would be a good start."

"I wonder how to become a member through," Lucy wonders out loud.

"I can help you with that," a voice called out, causing Lucy to jump off the bench she was lying on

She turned to see the man, the fake Salamander, striking a pose.

"Oh, it's just Salamander," Lucy said, calming down, "what do you want."

"I wanted to invite you to my party," he said, making his trademark smirk.

"That one won't work," Lucy shouts, "a charm magic spell is ineffective once you realize it's been used on you," Lucy yells at him.

Salamander smirked. "I guessed you were a wizard the moment I laid eyes on you," he said and then looked at her again. "It doesn't matter. The invitation still stands."

Lucy turns away from the man and crosses her arms. "Yeah, I wouldn't be caught at a party being thrown by a creep like you."

"A creep," Salamander said, falling, "why would you call me that."

"You spell using it to make yourself popular," Lucy scolded the man.

"I just wanted to feel like a celebrity at my party. Can you blame me," the fake Salamander told Lucy.

"This just proves even famous wizards can be big idiots," Lucy says while walking away.

"you know the guild I'm in is looking for a recruit," he says, catching Lucy's attention.

"wait, what kinda the guild," Lucy asks the man, stuttering as she turns around to meet his gaze.

"One of the best in the country," Salamander tells her with a smile, "Phantom Lord," he says with a smile.

Hearts form in Lucy's eyes as she jumps up to Salamander. "I would happily attend your party, mister Salamander, sir."

"That was easier than I thought," he said, trying to push the girl back. "Now, don't be late," he said as he activated his red carpet and flew off.

"You got it too, mister Salamander," Lucy said in a cheerful voice as she watched him fly off, then her eyes widened in revelation. "Damn it, I was pseudo-charmed," she says, "but I'm going to join a guild. I have to be nice to that sleazeball until then."

Natsu and Happy stand on a balcony overlooking the town of Hargeon under the night sky. Natsu had back turned to the city as he leaned over the railing. " That was quite a meal, my happy."

"Aye"

Happy looked over at the port and saw a ship. "Hey, you think that's the ship Salamander is having that party on," Happy asks.

Natsu turns to see the ship and immediately turns away. "I going to blow chunks."

"Oh, come on, it's not like we're going abroad," Happy looked back at the ship before scratching his chin. "Hey, wait a second. Why did Mavis tell us about a Salamander in this town," Happy asked Natsu.

"Who, Mavis? Well, yeah, she was the one that gave us a tip," Natsu told the blue cat.

Happy's eyes widen in shock. "Natsu, I know you're not going to like this, but we have to go to that party," Happy told him.

"What? Why," Natsu asked.

"Cause that's the fake Salamander, was the one Mavis was talking about," Happy told the boy.

Natsu's eyes widened as he looked back at the ship. "I'm going to hate this," he says as he sighs.

Meanwhile, on the ship, Lucy sits in a room with Salamander; two drinks are placed on the table. "Your name is Lucy, right."

"Um, yeah," she answered nervously.

"I would like to toast your beauty," he waves his hand, and tiny bubbles come from the drink. "Now open wide and savor the taste of each drop."

'Come on, Lucy, do it for the guild. Do it for the guild, doing it for the guild.' Before the Bubbles can reach Lucy's mouth, she slaps them away. "What do you think you're doing," she asks him coldly. "You were trying to use sleep magic."

Salamander smiles, "Very impressive, my dear."

"Look, I don't want to give you the wrong idea," Lucy tells the man backing off. "Yes, I would love to join a top-tier guild, but I'm not going to date you to make that happen."

Salamander laughs as the curtains around him open, revealing tons of men holding all the women from the party. "Welcome to my shop," he tells her, smirking, "you'll be wise to behave yourself until we make it to Bosco." He then looks up at her, making an evil face, "Don't make me angry."

Lucy turned around, shocked. "I thought... you said you'd get me into your guild," she shouts at him angrily.

"Forget it. I only told you that so we could make you one of our slaves," he says with a large smirk.

The men in the back all start laughing. "That's our salamander," one of them says

"got a big haul this time," another shouted.

"Why you?" Lucy pulls out her gate keys, but Salamander shoots some fire at her, knocking them out of her hands

"So, you're a celestial wizard," Salamander ponders. "These keys will only work for the wizard they are contracted with," he said, then tossed them out of the window. "They are no use to me."

Lucy's eyes began to tear up as the men held her down. "You used magic to take advantage of others," she said, tears down her face. "You're the worst person alive."

Before they could say anything, something fell through the boat's roof. Natsu stands up as Lucy smiles. "Hey, I know you," Lucy says with pure joy.

But Natsu quickly gets sick, turning away to vomit, "I knew this was a bad idea."

"You are so lame," Lucy shouts at him.

"Hey Lucy, what are you doing here?" a voice calls out.

Lucy looks up to see Happy flying in the large whole Natsu made. "Oh, happy. This guy tricked me into thinking I would join a guild and wait. Since you can fly!" Lucy shouts

Salamander's men jumped in shock as the talking blue cat grabbed Lucy by her waist and flew off with her. "Wait, what about Natsu."

"I can't carry two people," Happy replies.

"After them, we can't let them report this to the council," Salamander shouted; they all ran outside. "Prominence whip," Salamander waved his hand, and strings of fire burst from his hand.

Happy quickly avoided all of them, causing them to collide into a small firework. "That cat is fast," Salamander said

"Hey, guys."

Salamander and his men turned to see Natsu struggling to stand up behind him.

"What about Natsu and the other Girls," Lucy asks Happy as they fly away.

"Lucy, we have a problem," Happy tells her, ignoring her question.

"What problem?" As if on cue, Happy's wigs disappeared, and he let go of Lucy

"My transformations up." They both fell into the water, Happy hitting his head on the rock.

Lucy then turned her head to see something. 'My gate keys, ' Lucy said in her head; she swam over and picked them up.

Back on the ship, Salamander's men are knocking Natsu around. "Forget about them. Let's get going to Bosco."

"Bora the province," Natsu shouts as he stops one of the men from hitting him.

Lucy then appears above the water with a large grin on her face. "All right, Open the Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" water then shoots, revealing a mermaid.

"Aquarius, I need you to get that ship into the harbor for me," Lucy asked the spirit.

"Tch." The spirit turned and faced the ship, and a dark glare grew on her face. "Oh, and don't ever drop my key again, or I will kill you." Aquarius raised her jar above her head and caused a giant wave to consume the boat.

The boat is then thrown back into the harbor, causing it to rain for a while

Lucy sits up and glares at Aquarius. "I told you to get the ship, not me."

"Oh, sorry for getting you out of the water, miss Grumpy," Aquarius shot back. "Oh, and I'm taking off for a while. I'm going on a vacation with my boyfriend," she tells Lucy, smirking, "and he's hot." She then vanishes, leaving an angry Lucy behind.

"I know," Happy says, popping out of the sand, "If the fish lady gives you any more trouble, just let me deal with her.

Lucy sighs. "I'm not sure how much more of this stupid cat I can take."

Lucy calms down, turns to the ship, and heads toward it.

Salamander climbs out of the wreckage and looks in disgust. All his captives run away; he turns to see Natsu standing on the boat.

"So, you're the guy behind all the mysterious disappearances," Natsu says as he removes his red Jacket. "It looks like this is my lucky day."

Salamander smiles, "take him," he shouts at two of his men, "yes, sir."

"watch out," Lucy screams.

"Don't worry about him," Happy tells her while eating a fish. "I probably should have told you this earlier, but he's a wizard too." Lucy's face grows wide in shock at the revelation as the two men jump at Natsu, but he slaps them away, revealing a red mark on his arm.

"Hey, boss, that mark on his arm," one of the men states. "I don't recognize that guild, but this is bad news, bora."

"Don't call me that, you fool," Salamander or Bora shouts at the henchmen.

"Wait, who's that," Lucy asks.

"That's Bora the prominence," Happy answers, "he and his titan nose guild have been suspected of aiding in theft," Happy explained. "and slave trafficking," he explained, "The council has no leads on it, but it's all out in the open now."

Natsu then begins to walk down the boat. "now listen; we can do this the easy way," Natsu says before his face becomes serious, "or I could beat you into a pulp."

Salamander, now known as Bora, smirked at this statement. "and like you can stop me, Prominence typhoon," a spiraling column of fire is sent flying towards Natsu, who doesn't even move.

"Natsu," Lucy shouts as she attempts to go and help him, but she is stopped by Happy, who has his wings back.

Bora laughs. "Well, I guess that's that," he said, walking away.

"Aw, man, this is so gross," a voice calls out. Bora turns around, and a shocked expression grows on everyone's faces as Natsu stands eating all of Bora's fire.

"Fire magic doesn't work on Natsu," Happy tells Lucy as she recovers from shock.

[##dragon slayer theme##]

Natsu then consumed the rest of the fire and gave off a huge smirk. "Now I got a fire in my belly that is raging to get out." he then slammed his fists together, and a fire started to swirl around his body. "Fire Dragon," Natsu's mouth began to puff up as he put his hands over his mouth. "Roar."

A massive fire burst from his mouth, consuming all of Bora's men. Bora had used his red-carpet spell to lift himself over the fire.

"Where did this kid come from?" the man said as Natsu rose from the wreckage, a dark shadow covering his body and only showing his red eyes.

Lucy let out a gasp "he looks just like."

"Now, remember," Natsu said, then ignited fire around his hands. "I gave you a chance to surrender."

"Red shower," Bora shoots as little balls of fire are blasted at Natu, who easily dodges them. He jumps up and hits Bora, knocking him into a nearby building.

"So, he eats fire and then attacks with it," Lucy asked, "but how does he do it? Is it some spell?"

"Aye," Happy said. "Natsu's brand of fire magic makes him immune to nearly all kinds of fire," he explained. "when he consumes fire from any source, it boosts his magic power," he smiled. "Igneel was the one who taught it to him."

"that's amazing," Lucy whispered

"you haven't seen anything yet" Happy smiled

Bora unleashed another fire attack, only for Natu to eat it again. "Now, that was a hefty meal," he said as he cleaned his face, "but I'm about to cook you like a smoked fish."

"You're going to do what to me," Bora asked, panicking.

"Get ready, Fire dragon's Iron fist," Natsu's hand jumped into the air and hit Bora with a soldering fist of fire, sending him into a bell tower.

Lucy stood there, stunned at Natsu's immense power. "That...that was incredible, but he went a little overboard," Lucy said, looking over the wreckage.

"Aye"

"Oh, shut it, cat." Lucy looked down to see that the cat was gone, and Natsu looked around and saw the same symbol she had noticed in Sorcer Weekly. "Could he be the Salamander?" rubbing her chin, she remembered overhearing something.

"Magnolia," she whispered. "I hear they take in solo wizards." she smiled. "maybe that's my shot at getting in a guild."

Me: Well, that's the end of the chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Sorry if it felt awkward; I wanted to create a Lucy and Natsu learn each other's name type scenario anyway. See ya in the next one.

Lucy: Wow, I can't believe I'm going to a place filled with wizards; I should work on my greetings.

Lucy:[clears throat] My name is [Cough]. Well, I messed that up.

Next time: Fire Dragon, Monkey, and Bull

Lucy: Man, I hope this is worth it. Okay, one more time.