Chapter 12: Confrontation

Two days after leaving the waterfall cave, Lisanna came home.

Erza was sitting at the entrance to the Thunder Hall, and visibly brightened when her friend came into view. Lisanna landed and the Blade Dragonelle met her with a smile, "I'm glad to see you're okay, Lisanna. We were worried about you."

Lisanna blinked, "Why?"

"A Flame Drake attacked a village fifty miles south of here, just over the forests where you were hunting." Erza told her.

Natsu, she realized. Lisanna nodded, "That reminds me, I have to tell you something."

Erza's eyes narrowed, "What? Did you see him? Was there a conflict?"

Lisanna opened her mouth to tell the Blade Dragonelle that she'd definitely seen him, but then faltered. She frowned. What am I hesitating for?

"Lisanna?" Erza said, trying to get her attention, "What's wrong?"

"I-I just…" she shook her head, "Sorry, I was just thinking that I may have seen the dragon, but all I really saw for certain was the smoke cloud. The human town is still burning…"

Erza studied her for a moment, then nodded, "I expect it is. That dragon is apparently quite powerful…Well, I'm glad you didn't run into him. There's no telling what would have happened. Go find Mira and Elfman, let them know you're okay, then go get some rest. You look exhausted."

Lisanna nodded in return, "Thank you, Erza."

As she padded past her friend, the Blade Dragonelle murmured, "And Lisanna? If there's anything else you need to tell me, I'll listen. Okay?"

Lisanna smiled tiredly, "Okay. I appreciate it."

Erza turned her gaze back towards the outside, while Lisanna walked slowly down the hall.

What happened? I couldn't tell her about Natsu and I lied! I didn't even think twice about it!

Lisanna shook her head. She was just tired. After some rest, maybe she wouldn't be so uncooperative.

So without even bothering to remember that Mira and Elfman still didn't know she was back, Lisanna retreated to her cavern, got a quick drink, and fell asleep shortly afterwards.

/\/\/\/\/\

"Lisanna? Hey, wake up!"

The dragonelle blinked her eyes open tiredly and glanced around, but saw nothing.

"Uh…down here."

She looked down to see a young human with a head of spiky pink hair, goggles, and dark eyes looking back at her. Lisanna was surprised, "Dragion, what are you doing here? You never come to the hall…"

"I-I need help." Dragion stammered, looking away from her nervously, "I uh, well…"

Lisanna almost hummed with amusement. Humans could be so weird sometimes, and Dragion was one of those who got nervous for seemingly no reason at all. She tried to hide the fact that she found this funny though, "Go ahead and tell me. I'll help if I can."

Dragion glanced around, as if to make sure no one else was there, then muttered, "It's Lucy…she's got writer's block or something, and it's making her really upset…What should I do to make her feel better?"

The question surprised her. Lisanna tilted her head, "Wouldn't it be better to ask Levy? She knows Lucy better than I do."

"Yeah, but Levy keeps making fun of me." Dragion complained, "She keeps saying that I've got a crush on her, or something."

Well, in her defense, she's not far off, Lisanna thought, then shrugged, "Well, I suppose you can try and take her somewhere interesting. Take whatever's got her bothered off her mind. That should help her, I think."

Dragion offered a grateful look, "Thanks! I'll see what I can do for her. Oh, can this be a secret between us? I don't want Levy to make fun of me again."

Lisanna laughed, "Alright, my lips are sealed." She thought about her own problem and stopped the teenage human before he left, "Hey, could you do me a favor?"

The boy looked back at her and shrugged, "Sure, what's up?"

"Have you ever had a problem telling someone something important?" she asked.

Dragion scratched the back of his head, "W-well…yeah, I still have that problem, actually…"

"How would you tell them?" Lisanna pressed.

"I-I'm not really sure." he stammered, "I, uh, I've never gotten around to saying anything…Why ask me?"

Lisanna frowned, "I couldn't tell one of my friends something important yesterday…and to be honest, I still can't bring myself to say anything about what happened the other day…"

Dragion watched her with concern, "Well, what happened?"

She opened her mouth, but faltered again, making her hiss in frustration. Dragion jumped at her sudden upset, flinching when her tail slapped the ground. Lisanna wanted to growl, "Rats! What is wrong with me?! I just can't say anything!"

Abruptly, she got up and stormed past the human boy, making him back up fast to avoid getting in her way. Lisanna grumbled to herself, "I'm gonna go back there and give him a piece of my mind! Maybe that'll make it easier!"

Dragion tilted his head in confusion, "Who? Lisanna, are you okay?"

The dragonelle promptly ignored him and almost ran to the hall entrance, leaping out of the cliffside to fly off south towards her secret forest again.

Blast that drake! He's messing with my head!

/

Dragion stared after the retreating figure of Lisanna as she flew off over the lake to reach the forests. He heard footsteps behind him and glanced back to see Erza pad up.

The Blade Dragonelle looked confused, "What's wrong with Lisanna?"

"I don't know." he admitted, "We were talking, then she just freaked out and got all mad. I've never seen her do that before. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen her get mad at all."

"Neither have I." Erza said slowly, "Well, let's leave her be for a little while. Maybe whatever has her so worked up will blow over with some time alone. Don't tell anyone else, okay?"

Dragion nodded, then made for the stairs by the cave mouth that would lead down to the city. Erza narrowed her eyes as Lisanna's disappearing figure became almost too small to see. She wasn't behaving normally when she came back, and now this…

"Was that Lisanna?"

Erza said nothing as Mira came up beside her with a frown, "She didn't even say goodbye. Is she upset?"

"Maybe." Erza muttered, "Give her time. I'm sure whatever it is won't bother her for long. She'll be back soon."

"If you say so…" Mira sighed, then turned away, "I was going to tell her that Laxus wanted me to go hunting tomorrow. I thought she might want to come."

Erza snorted, "I seriously doubt Lisanna would want to go anywhere with Laxus. How you put up with him is a mystery even to me."

Mira flicked her friend with the tip of her tail, "Oh, come on, Erza! Laxus isn't so bad once you get to know him! I mean it. Hey, do you want to go?"

"And I doubt Laxus had a third party in mind when he made that offer." Erza reminded her, to which Mira ruffled her wings and headed back to her cave, probably to hide any embarrassment.

Erza rolled her eyes and hummed with amusement, "Honestly…drakes can make things so complicated…"

/

Lisanna flew straight back to her waterfall cave and burst through the spray with a growl. Not to her surprise, Natsu was asleep when she entered, but he opened one eye when she landed.

He offered a smirk, "Hey, there. Where's the rest of the Thunder? I thought you were going to destroy me…"

"That's not funny." she growled, "What the heck did you do to me?"

Natsu blinked in confusion, "Do?"

"I can't tell anyone about the other day!" Lisanna hissed, "I tried, but I couldn't tell them that you came here a few days ago! So what did you do?!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down." Natsu muttered, "I didn't do anything. I swear, I have nothing to do with..whatever problem you've got. What do you mean you can't say anything?"

Lisanna looked him dead in the eye, daring him to lie to her, "I tried telling my friend about you, but I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. When I tried again after sleeping, I still couldn't say it."

Natsu stared at her, "Seriously? Bummer, and I was all fired up for a fight, too…"

WHACK!

He recoiled as she slapped him across the face with her tail. Natsu snarled, "What the heck is your problem!?"

"What's yours?!" she shot back, "You shouldn't even be here! Can't you just go away and not come back?! You're messing with my head, and now I can't even talk about you!"

"Firstly, I have nothing to do with your little speech problems." Natsu started, "And second, am I really that bad company? I was even being nice and waited here for you to come back with your Thunder!"

Lisanna lashed her tail, "It's not a matter of being nice or not! You just shouldn't be here, okay?!"

"So, you admit I'm not all bad." he crowed.

She hesitated, then snarled, "Ugh, you…you…!"

"You what?" he asked.

"Will you just SHUT UP?!" Lisanna screeched.

Natsu went dead silent and stared at her.

Lisanna was clearly upset, her scales bristling and her fangs bared while she growled with frustration, "You're doing something weird to me, and I don't understand what it is! I never got mad like this, and I was never so snappy until I met you! I don't get what's happening to me, but I certainly don't like it!"

He frowned at that. Natsu visibly deflated, his tail drooping slightly while he looked away from her, "Sorry…I didn't think…I didn't know you'd be so upset about me being here…" He shuffled his wings and sighed, "Well…I guess I'll just go…I don't want to be a bother to you…"

Natsu trudged towards the waterfall, looking more than a little unhappy to Lisanna. She'd thought that telling him off would solve the problem, but now she felt worse than ever. She remained in place until she heard him fly out of the cave, then stood still for another minute.

…Oh, I'm REALLY going to regret this!

Lisanna turned and flew out through the cave, scanning the skies until she caught a glimpse of red and bolted after it. It took her a few minutes before the Flame Drake realized he was being followed and stopped to wait for her.

Natsu gave her a look that wasn't quite a frown, but not mean enough to be a glare, "What?"

"I'm sorry." she blurted out.

That caught him by surprise, "You're what?"

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, okay?" Lisanna managed not to hiss at him, but sighed, "Look, I'm…I'm confused and frustrated. Whatever's keeping me from talking about you is freaking me out. This has never happened to me before…"

Natsu judged her sincerity for a bit, then nodded, "Apology accepted…so..see you around."

He turned in midair to fly off again, but suddenly Lisanna swiped his tail with her claws. Natsu whipped back around with a snarl, "What is it now?!"

"Stay."

Now he was more than a little confused, "What?!"

Lisanna looked away, "Uh…You can stay in the waterfall cave, okay? Just for a little while."

Natsu stared at her, "Are you serious? Geez, you're weird…"

"I am not!" she protested.

"Reality check: You kicked out an enemy, so that was reasonable." he deduced, "Now you want your enemy back in the same cave you stay at when you go hunting."

"So?" she muttered.

"What if I change my mind and decide to kill you instead?" he growled threateningly.

Lisanna glared at him, "I don't think you will."

Natsu bared his fangs, "Guess wrong, and you're dead."

"I'd like to see you try." she hissed.

He looked her dead in the eye and breathed out a low growl, "Is that a challenge?"

Lisanna didn't flinch, and even growled back, "How about you come find out?"

The two dragons hovered in midair for a few moments, briefly assessing the seriousness of the other. They both hissed, their jaws slightly open and baring sharp fangs.

Lisanna struck first. She flapped up twice, rising fast with her lighter frame, then lunged to try and get at Natsu's throat. The Flame Drake twisted and dodged her snapping jaws, then slashed with his talons. She too, dodged effortlessly, retreating a few meters to try a different approach.

Natsu lowered his head and lunged with surprising speed, ramming the dragonelle's stomach with his horns. Lisanna coughed and staggered in midair, but took the chance to strike back and grip his neck with her claws. He growled and shook her off easily, using his greater size and strength to overwhelm the dragonelle.

When she retreated further, he offered a fanged grin, "Is that all you've got?"

"Don't underestimate me, Natsu!" Lisanna shouted, taking in a deep breath, then unleashing a powerful roar that smote the Flame Drake with a shockwave.

Natsu was actually forced back quite a ways. He shook his head in surprise to clear the ringing in his ears. Was that a breath attack?

"I'm a Tigress Dragon." Lisanna brought her head up proudly, "So my roar is way stronger than most other dragon's. That's what my breath attack is. A super powerful roar."

"And it packs a wallop." Natsu muttered, but grinned wider. He was starting to enjoy this.

Lisanna flew at him with another roar, "You're gonna lose!"

"Don't bet on it." he hissed, sucking in a deep breath, then opening his jaws to-

Lisanna froze as a huge blaze of fire erupted out of his jaws and just barely missed her wingtip, but the incredible heat stunned her. The inferno went far past her, nearly two hundred meters before the flames dissipated.

She was unable to move, her eyes wide with shock. For a moment, Lisanna almost forgot how to breathe.

Natsu had missed on purpose.

He was staring at her with a confident expression, apparently quite satisfied with the look on her face. Then he murmured, "Get it now? If I go back to that cave, then you'll be at my mercy. Can you deal with that?"

Lisanna gulped. Now she really knew how far apart they were in terms of power. Natsu was by far her superior. But even so…

"…I..I'm not afraid of you." she whispered.

Natsu's eyes narrowed, "I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"Neither am I, but…" Lisanna swallowed, "I..I think I can trust you…After all..you could've killed me just now…but you didn't…" She looked back up at him, "I think maybe you should stay in the waterfall cave until I figure out what's wrong with me. I mean, this problem started with you, but I don't think it'll end if you go away."

"…" he appraised her for a while, probably still uncertain about her proposition.

"…I won't tell anyone." she added.

I must be crazy…

Natsu stared at her, "You'll be betraying your Thunder by letting me stay."

Lisanna shook her head, "I'm not going to help you. I'll watch you and make sure you don't get into any trouble. Like that village you destroyed a few days ago. At least if you stay here, you can't go destroying more of our territory."

Natsu kept staring at her, confused by her behavior, but…

He flew past her in the direction they'd come from, throwing a backwards glance her way, "Well, come on. I'm a little thirsty after all that fun."

Lisanna said nothing as she followed him, but it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She shook her head in bewilderment.

I won't let this go on for long…Just for a little while…that can't be such a bad thing...