As per usual, I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Salam(ence)

Lisanna really likes dragon slayer magic. She always did ever since she met Natsu all those years back.

Oftentimes, when out on a mission or just walking through the woods, she hopes that a dragon-slayer lacrima would appear for her own use. But allas, that never happened and instead the ivory girl is stuck with her 'boring' (in her opinion, like Elfman and Mira take god damn monsters!) animal take-over. Don't get her wrong, she's grateful she even has magic, but at the same time it would be great to be like her 'husband'.

It is March the 12th, and her 19th (26th chronologically) birthday is quickly approaching. She is currently working at the bar, serving Natsu a vodka shot.

Wait...

Natsu and vodka...

The girl nearly drops the bottle at this realization. Why is her 'husband' drinking! And where is their 'son'?

She places down the shot glass of the liquid and asks his these questions.

"Happy decided to go with Wendy for the day, and the alcohol is for some fire."

Ah, that makes sense. The blue exceed really likes Carla. As for the fire...

"You wan't me to light it up for you?"

The dragon-slayer nods and looks at the time.

Lisanna frowns, her childhood friend is usually very enthusiastic and boisterous. She brings out the magic lighter (a metal rod infused with fire magic) and lights the vodka shot.

She watches as the pinkette slurps up the fire, places down a handful of jewels and leaves the guild.

Wendy soon walks in with her white exceed, Charle.

"Hey Wendy!" She greets the little blue girl, "Happy's not with you?"

"Hey Lisanna!" She greets back "No, ran into Natsu along the way and he left, said something about an important mission."

For the second time in an hour, the barmaid frowns, Natsu had not taken a request from the board earlier. Perhaps it is a more personal quest?

"Those buffoons are probably going to get in trouble then." Carla added in, not helping the troubled girl whatsoever.

They all chat for a bit while Lisanna works her shift. When Mira takes over, the younger Strauss heads out to buy some groceries. In the end, the day is uneventful and boring.

The next day is anything but.

Both Mira and Kianna decided to take the day off, so it is up to the youngest Strauss to handle the bar and request forms.

The day goes on and she can't shake an odd feeling from her stomach. No, she isn't sick. It's the kind of anxious and mentally draining. The barmaid sighs, maybe if she had found that dragon lacrima she could go on a mission instead.

Evening comes, and nobody of note had come back. Natsu and Happy are still on their mission, Mira is probably at home and Elfman left on a quest a while ago. Wakaba had asked her for a date 16 times today (he gave up on Mira after she got fed up one day and threatened to castrate him), Juvia tackled Gray 4 times, Gray stripped twice and Erza ate 9 strawberry cakes (how they even had that many in the fridge, she had no clue).

As she is locking up the guild for the night, the strange feeling persists. Once the doors are closed, Lisanna looks far into the distance. She prays for the safety of whoever is giving her this feeling. Arriving home, the young Strauss collapses on her bed, completely exhausted from all the bar work.

Her birthday is today (March 14th for those who weren't keeping track) and Makrov gave her the day off of all duties (minus Lisanna specific emergency requests).

As such, she decided to sleep in. She needed the rest from her hectic day yesterday after all. When noon hits and the church bell rings, the little beauty decides to get up and get to the guild.

What she doesn't know is that almost every member of the guild has been waiting since 9 in a pitch black guild.

Earlier...

"Yo Cana! Are the streamers ready!"

"Don't worry Mira! I got them!"

The guild hall is absolute chaos, everybody (sans Lisanna and the 3 members that are out) are running around decorating the place. The one directing it all is Mirajane Strauss.

"You lot better hurry up! I am not having my baby sisters' birthday party ruined!" She yells, transforming into her satan soul as she flys around to hand balloons up.

They all finish up their decorations, take a quick water, washroom and overall break, and turn off all the guild lights.

They waited for well over 2 hours in darkness. Nobody complained or objected however, the looming threat of 'The Demon' keeping them silent.

Present...

"Happy birthday Lisanna!" All the hiding guild members cry as they jump out, turning the lights on.

Lisanna, who just opened the doors to a pitch black room, jumped up in surprise. The hall is fully decorated, various animal-shaped balloons litter the area, several cakes spread across the bar and a large mountain of wrapped presents (some well, some poorly) lays in the centre of it all.

"Thank you." She cries, kneeling down in her surprise and happiness, "But why just me?" She asks, wiping her tears while standing up, "We usually don't celebrate anybody's birthday on this scale."

"We thought since we missed over 3 years of yours, we would throw a huge, guild-wide one!" Exclaims Mira, practically throwing herself onto her younger sibling.

The youngest Strauss felt that bad feeling come back "Sis, where are Natsu and Happy?"

Erza walks up to them and pries her rival off the little girl, "He hasn't come back since two days ago," she scowls "When that brat come back I'm going to punish him for missing your birthday!"

Otherwise, the celebration goes without hitch. Lots of beer goes around, a small brawl (only small out of respect for the animal take-over) breaks out and Erza deals her usual punishment to those who 'disrespected the birthday maiden'.

It is time to open the presents, Juvia gifted a red ushanka, Gray a Happy ice sculpture, Erza a pocket dagger, Mira a new orange dress and Elfman had left a gift before he went away, a unicorn soul (she sighed at this, it's not a dragon lacrima).

There is one person missing from this gift pile, Happy gave a really rare he found, Natsu. The young Strauss nearly cries when she sees her childhood friend not amongst those celebrating her birthday. He never forgets her birthday, so what makes this year different?

Gray notices this, "Flame-brain didn't even leave you a gift? What an asshole."

Lisanna nods, Natsu was the person she most looked forward to for her birthday. The dragon slayer always made her day cheerful, and was always there to talk together.

Suddenly, the uncomfortable feeling comes back. This time, it's gut wrenching and causes all of her animal souls to shoot warning signals through her body. She asks Mira about this, to which she is met with:

"Someone you care about is in danger."

Both Strausses realize that the warnings could be for either Elfman or Natsu and Happy. Both feel panic set in worrying for their brother and guild mates.

"What's wrong, Lisanna-san?" Wendy asks, approaching the siblings.

Lisanna jumps out of surprise "I have had this feeling in my stomach..."

"The one where your family is in danger?"

"Yes."

The little dragon slayer sighs in relief "So it isn't just me right now, my draconic instincts have been blaring alarms since yesterday."

"It really wasn't just me, huh pipsqueak?"

The group looks over and sees Ganjeel walking over.

"Ganjeel, you have it to?" Lisanna inquires.

He grunts in affirmation, "Yeah, only really when a fellow 400 year old, Pantherlily, Levy or Juvia are getting themselves in trouble."

"For me it's the other slayers, Chelia and Carla." Wendy adds on, "Lisanna-san, what about you?"

"My siblings, Happy or Natsu..."

The three of them pause (Mira left, realizing this isn't her chapter) and come to the same conclusion. The only person the three of them would collectively share their concern is...

"Fuck."

They all agree to not act on their worries for a few reasons. One, they have no clue where Natsu is, and his scent trail is long gone. Two, they don't want the guild to panic during such a joyous occasion.

Eventually, when the sky is tinted a light orange, the bad feeling calms down. Everyone is passed out from the party, sans Romeo, Wendy, Carla and Lisanna herself (Mira got into a fight with Erza and they ended up using magic, knocking everyone else out).

The guild looks normal, all the decorations were destroyed in the chaos of swords and flying bodies. The remaining conscious members are chatting, having being used to the chaos.

Suddenly, the door fly open (sending some unfortunate unconscious members across the hall). Standing there is a pink-haired man and his flying blue cat.

"Yo! Sorry I missed the party!"

"Natsu!"

He looks terrible. Several cuts litter his arms. A large claw-like slash is present in on his jumper (Lisanna suspects that either Happy bandaged the wound underneath or that the fire mage cauterized it with his magic) and may green leaves litter his hair.

"Oh my god! Natsu-san let me heal you!"

The small blue-haired healer runs up and starts using her magic. All the wounds start disappearing and the man looks normal (as normal as a spiky pink-haired Scottish-looking guy can be). Lisanna walks up to the healed patient and...

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!"

The 'father-son' duo cover their sensitive ears in pain. They decide to stay quiet and head over to the pile of unwrapped presents.

The still furious Lisanna looks over at them curiously. She sees Natsu place a small, cuboidal package wrapped in brown tissue paper. He heads over to the bar and helps himself to a mug of beer. Happy goes over to give Carla a fish he pulled out of his bag.

The birthday girl, now very curious as to what is inside the package, walks back to her pile of presents. She slowly unwraps the object, praying that it's not a prank and...

"Happy birthday Lis-chan."

She jumps at the voice. Natsu had come back to see her opening his gift.

The girl pouts. "This better be worth you missing my party."

He laughs. "Of course it will be. Why would I need to miss it otherwise?"

The unwrapping of the object is finished. In her hands lays a turquoise box, almost like the ones for jewelry. Inside lays a ring. Band made of a lustrous gold, engraved with runes. Imbedded is a ruby-like gem with a flame-like entity in its centre.

"Thanks Natsu-kun." She says, turning to her gifter.

"No problem, just making up for all those missed birthdays."

Lisanna asks about the origin of the metal and gem. The "ruby" gem being a crystalised chunk of Natsu's own fire dragon magic. It will glow when the holder is feeling a strong positive emotion. The metal is a special type that is highly resistant to magical damage.

"If I may ask, where did you get it?"

The man chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his head. Lisanna is confused by this behaviour.

"Well..."

"Nashu made it himself!"

Both humans turn to see Happy floating with a salmon, doing his signature salute.

The girl nods, "Okay, so why are you so nervous then?"

"Well, I fought a drake den for that gold."

"WHAT!" She shouts, surprised he would do that for her.

"Yeah, encountered it a while ago. only went a few days ago in hopes that during that in time it would have been evicted." The dragon-slayer explains, "I then molded and engraved the ring using my E.N.D flames."

Lisanna stares at her friend in awe. She did not expect such effort to go into her birthday. The nervous feeling in her stomach is no longer present, and has been replaced by a warm and comforting feeling. She puts the ring on and holds it to her chest. The flame "burns" brightly in response. Happy flys away, understanding that this isn't his place.

"There is still something I want." She states.

"Hm? What is it?" Natsu asks, slightly nervous that he messed up.

"This."

The silverette pulls him down a places her lips on his. Natsu, initially shocked, returns the kiss. They break apart for Lisanna to get some air.

"I love you Natsu-kun."

"I love you too Lis-chan."

They stay in each other's embrace until the guild doors slam open. There stands a panting Elfman.

"Did I miss anything?" The big man asks.

The previously hugging couple look at eachother, blush and quickly say "No".

"Well, happy birthday little sis."

"Thank you Onii-chan."

A few days later, Natsu and Lisanna announce their relationship to the guild, sparking a celebration. The former got "the talk" from Elfman, Mira, Laxus and by extension the rest of the thunder legion. Needless to say he was absolutely terrified.

Now, Lisanna is sitting in front of the hut of her childhood. She reflects on her dreams and the events of the previous few days. She places her new ring on her forehead, feeling the warmth emitting from it. She then decided that she didn't need to be a dragonslayer after all.

Why would she when she tamed a dragon of her own?

Alright that's a wrap! Took a while to write, writer's block and yada-yada.

I always like NaLi, but found it had too little representation. I also felt like their relationship was underrepresented in the anime. Like, when's the last time they had a scene together? (I mean Natsu really doesn't get many scenes with his female friends because Lucy takes all the attention)

Inspiration of the title comes from the Arabic word for 'peace', and the Pokemon Salamence. Salamence is a pokemon that wished so hard to fly as a child that it became a dragon.

If this chapter seems kind of random, I was going through really rough writer's block. I might work on another story to help remedie that.

Review and Enjoy!