midnightstar | (no subject)

Spending day after day in the cabin Natsu had built near the Guild, going on missions and living, being WITH Natsu was plain and simple, pure. Heaven. Lucy could genuinely not think of any time she was as happy as she was with him. It still amused her to think of the times she was too flustered to acknowledge her feelings for him, until things came to a head.

And then the kids came along during that mission - Nev and Justine, along with their 'mom' Regine. If Natsu becoming an integral part of Lucy's life was like completing her, then the kids and Regine were the added frosting on a perfected cake. Yeah that metaphor was all over the place. GRANTED it was a little difficult to get time alone with Nev and Justine almost demanding their attention a good amount of the time, but she didn't mind, and didn't think Natsu did either. They had their evenings together, and their little hiding spots to sneak away to, sometimes just for fun.

Meanwhile the first rays of light were beginning to filter in through the window-shades of their room, with Lucy snuggled up against Natsu's side, an arm wrapped around him with a faint smile on her lips. Not quite awake yet, but in that in-between point of just about to rouse. The birds had barely even begun to chirp when the distant BAM! of a door swinging open, followed by barely hushed giggling voices and scampering feet could be heard by Dragonslayer senses with ease, obviously heading towards said cabin.

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"This is not our home. It doesn't even look like the same world. THe sky was not red the last time we were home for one and sure as hell wasn't blown up like this!" Natsu snarled, no longer feeling any hint of fondness for the creatures that had inspired his guild's name.

"If something's happened to those two kids, I am going to make it so you will never fly again. Lock you up in a jar and throw you down the deepest well."

Not being able to fly away is TERRIFYING, okay. Being trapped in a jar at the bottom of a well - dear GOD. The fairy goes dead silent at the threat - or maybe it's because of the thunderous roar from the sky, flames ripping across it from the south, followed by a large shadow passing over head. A dragon. It took no notice of anyone on the ground, but kept going, heading north. Depending on how well Natsu was focusing at this distraction, he would be able to smell humans -- a disturbingly small number of them though, also to the north. The fairy, obviously, was just going to biiiiiiiide its time to escape. SHE WANTS TO LIIIIIIVE. But not by cooperating.

Natsu's eyes shot up to the skies immeidately when he heard that roar. A familiar roar but not the same as the one of his final foe. But there was no denying it. This was truly a dragon. Natsu watched it fly by and head towards the few human scents trying to move away form it. It was too fast. Natsu gritted his teeth and turned to Lucy.

"Hey Lucy. Call capricorn out and have him bottle up this pest. Then have him take her to the celestial spirit realm. She's a fairy. She should handle it just fine. Maybe" Natsu was going to pay her back in full for bringing them here. However right now he had to get to those people

Lucy nodded, a frown marring her face as she drew Capricorn's key from the ring. She hasn't called on her spirits that much recently, partly because they had had so much money saved up back in that other world and partly because she was using her own abilities more often. It gave them more free time to relax.

Once Capricorn had manifested, he unscrewed the cap of the jar, handing it to Lucy, who in turn passed it to Regine. She would probably like bottling it up much more. So Regine glowered at the fairy and stepped forward.

The fairy on the other hand, did not like this idea one little bit, actually trying to edge back in the cage as much as possible. "Hey hey hold on! You know I was just foolin' around right? Can't we talk about this!? I'll help I swear - I'm totally worried about little .. uh. Nevelle and Jerrica..! Yeah! Come on g-" Clink! Regine sealed the little fairy inside the bottle, glaring down at it.

"Awful creature.." She tightened her grip, and suddenly started shaking the hell out of it, "Their names are Justine and Nev!" Little clinking rattling from the jar as Apricot bounced off of the walls of her prison - until Lucy quickly stepped forward and stopped the other woman from potentially giving the fairy brain damage.

"It's okay Regine..we're going to find them. I promise." She passed the jar back to Capricorn. "Keep an eye on her. And if you can, see if you can get some information out of her." Lucy told the spirit. He nodded, and promptly vanished again with it - unless Natsu had additional instructions.

Lucy glanced over at Natsu though, tilting her head. "North?" She saw which way that dragon was heading too.

Natsu acted as if he didn't hear a single word from the fairy and just let the two ladies handle it while his focus shifted completely on the dragon and it's likely prey.

After the spirit left, Natsu turned his head to the side to look at Lucy and nod.

"Yeah. There's people in that direction too. You need to keep Regine safe. I'll go take care of the dragon and then we can get some answers from the people."

Now she was a little torn here - she wanted to help him fight, but Regine DID need looking after, the poor woman was not in a good place, mentally. And.. Natsu was /frighteningly/ strong at this point, one dragon surely was no match for him. Still.. she still looked like she was going to argue with him on the matter, and instead settled on looking thoroughly displeased. "Fine." She reeeeeeeally didn't want to let him out of her sight, but she knew he'd be fine - and if that dragon actually was tough, he'd have to go all out, in which case that was a lot of property destruction ahead of them.

She sighed softly, "I mean.. all right. I don't like it, though." No be selfish Lucy. She reached over to snagged Regine's hand, pulling the other woman close in order to slip an arm around her shoulders, soothing the distraught woman. "We'll go and head towards the guild...." she inwardly grimaced at her next words. "Or...where the guild would be." In case its gotten crushed like the rest of the buildings. "It's the most likely place Nev and Justine would go." after hearing so much about it from Lucy and Natsu, and the guild being their home for the past year or so in Fayren.

Natsu had been training to take on none other than Acnologia. A random nameless dragon didn't stand a ghost of a chance really. But Natsu could see Lucy was very torn indeed. So he howed her an apologetic smile before walking up to her and giving her a peck on the cheek before whispering in her ear.

"I promise I'll be back before you know it." With that he stepped back and quickly went fire lightning mode before he disappeared with a flash turning into a streak of light and fire that was heading straight for the dragon, starting its path on the ground for now.

He'd better. That's the only glance Lucy gives him as she watches him dash off at a ludicrous speed only he could achieve, before turning and heading off at a slower pace with Regine, towards where she hoped the Guild was still standing.

Meanwhile, Natsu, you're getting all sorts of familiar scents and feelings zooming through even at the speed of light. Places you've been and seen, though though they obviously don't look anything like you remember them. But as you get closer, there's one scent that really begins to stand out. Familiar and not at the same time - of course there's also the scent of dragon getting strong, so that scent may be getting a little mixed up in that too.

Thanks to sensitive dragonslayer hearing, you can also hear the faintly mumbled words of the people who were apparently in hiding from the dragon. There's a mix of fear and anger in the voices, but the loudest is a female, who sounds both furious and frustrated, occasionally shifting to pleading.

When you reach the spot the dragon is.. it's big. Not as big as Igneel was, but it's also much younger than Igneel was, so it wasn't fully grown. The dragon looked like it'd been in a number of battles before too - scales red and dull, its wings half furled - and it does have a few scars here and there. It hadn't started an attack yet, but it was still in the clearing near the buildings, an angry growl in an undercurrent to its breathing as it surveyed the area restlessly, flames starting to trickle out of its mouth.

The closer Natsu got, the more puzzled he got over the state of the Town. But that was not all. The scents were also confusing him further. Some familiar but also different in a sense.

But the dragon was his priority and within a few heartbeats he landed behind the creature eyeing it sharply from behind not doing anything to draw its attention yet.

Only to open his mouth and call out.

"Who the hell are you anyway, scale face?"

The dragon swivels his head at both the arrival and the challenge, golden eyes narrowing at the small Dragonslayer. Almost easy to mess is the scar along the right side of its head as if something sliced it there too and when it GLARES down at you Natsu, there's that split second where that feeling of familiarity intensifies.

... and then there's a massive amount of fire exhaled in your direction - though it looks like it means to just block off the tiny human anyway.(pff as if that's a worry for you!) But there's no response, verbal or otherwise, beyond that growl. The voices in the building do cut off with a number of screams from the people inside though, and then pounding footsteps of one person, who may be rushing to see what was going on.

"Hey you had business with me not them!" Natsu bellowed before he started sucking in air and with it absorbing the flames he'd just laid at the entrance. Dragon Fire was a rare treat indeed yet he also felt how filling the magic was as his own powers soared to their peak the more he sucked up.

Oh very filling, yes! And ... yet the taste was ... ODD. Proobably not something you'd want to inhale again, though it's more of an acquired taste kind of thing. And fortunately does not conflict with your own powers. The red dragon snarls down at Natsu, ,, tongue flicking out into the air briefly before his tail whips out - smacking several trees down and meaning to swat Natsu aside if he was silly enough to stay put.

As if he was never there, Natsu disappears from sight. But he wasn't flattened or thrown aside by the tail. Instead the Dragon will feel its tail gripped with startling strength as one word slipped out of Natsu's mouth.

"Gotcha~"

The dragon snarled when Natsu was not in fact, flattened or pinned or even smacked aside - though maybe surprisingly when Natsu grabbed hold of the tail, the dragon was already looking at where he reappeared. It's a tug of war! Because the dragon doesn't want him touching his tail thank you very much, and raises a claw, raising it in the air -

Aaand that's when the sound of a door being SLAMMED open is heard, followed by very quick, very light footsteps and a -furious- girl's voice, "GEt the HELL away from him, you bastard..!" as someone runs straight THROUGH the flames and at you Natsu! Heads up!

The dragon would find itself swiping at its own tail as Natsu slid around the tail so that it was between the dragon and the Slayer. That was when someone suddenly charged out of the building and through the flames. He...really didn't expect back up but there it was so things had just gotten complicated to say the least.

Darn right it was back up, and you and the dragon aren't the only ones able to use fire, it seems! And the figure, now that it was out of the building, was clearly female, dressed in a pleated blue skirt and a white blouse with a blue trim, her pink hair tied back into a ponytail, with brown eyes narrowed, full of fury and fire. "If you think you're going to lay another finger on my FATHER, you're..." She stops short.

... So. Putting aside the whole dragon is her father thing, this girl looks VERY familiar. Frighteningly familiar, the way those brown eyes are narrowed. And the clothing looks familiar too, come to think of it... Well, maybe familiar isn't quite the word to use, but there's a certain resemblance..

Natsu was holding on tightly to the Tail but was still positioned just right to get a good look at whoever was coming out to join the fray. Only for his eyes to widen. That style of clothing was one he recognized right away. But the one wearing them was not. No that wasn't quite right. Her features carried some sense of familiarity but not because he'd ever met this person before. No the answer was....much simpler yet he couldn't reach it. It was a good thing his arms had locked around the tail before this one appeared or else Natsu would have actually gotten flung off.

The girl seemed just as stunned, staring at Natsu like she saw a ghost. "... Dad....? How.." Wait, how could he be standing there hanging onto her father's tail like that - when ... she glanced over her shoulder to the dragon behind her, who looked like he still wanted to flatten Natsu. No, he was too angry to acknowledge any similarities.

The girl turned to the dragon, raising her hands, "Dad, Dad! Calm down! Stop for a second -!" It took her several tries, but the dragon did settle down, glancing down at the girl as if seeing her for the first time. Then he lowered his head and she was able to put her hands on his nose, soothing him. And now that flames were being hurled every which way, those scars on the dragon? Same spots as the scars Natsu himself sported.

"Dad?" He repeated curiously. She was looking at him but he was pretty sure he wasn't a father to anyone but Happy and maybe the two kids that had disappeared at the hands of that damn fairy.

Yet no because in the next moment she was calling the Dragon Dad. Point when Natsu's surprise had him let go of the tail before he floppwed on his back in the dirt.

"Wait that dragon is your dad?" Lets just put aside the fact that she was clearly dressed up like Lucy. He picked himself up from the floor and then he saw it. The scars. Scars that gave Natsu an even bigger shock as he put his hand to his own cheek.

"What the...."

The girl turned back to give Natsu a strange look, clearly weirded out by him being there. Weirded out and wary, looking him over from top to bottom. ".. Yeah, he is. Who are you?.. and what the heck is going on here...?"

"That's my line. What the heck IS going on here? Why's the sky red? Why's everything all blown up and why am I a dragon and standing over there?!" seriously he needed Lucy to come make sense of all of this because even with his recent experience this stuff was blowing his property damage inclined mind!

"If you don't know that, where did you even come from?" She would be in total agreement though, her mom was the most level headed after all! She kept glancing between him and the dragon, trying to make heads and tails of this -weirdness-. "This is too weird even for me..!" She pointed at Natsu...er... the human one... "You look just like you did before... that happened." Pause. "...no, younger, I think." About two years older than the girl herself looked.

Dragon-Natsu snorted slightly, apparently uninterested in the conversation between the two, but then lifted his head, his eyes widening a bit, glancing around. Suddenly he moves so quickly that he actually knocks the poor girl over, though he took a few steps back, preparing to lunge into the air.

The girl glanced over her shoulder, scrambling to her feet, "What? Wait wait, where are you going?" Dangit dad, always rushing off to places.

"Hey! We're not done here!" Natsu snapped after...himself before turning a perplexed look to the one who looked so much like someone took him and Lucy and fused. But wait she called the Dragon Dad and that guy was definitely him. So then....

"My head hurts." He groaned in defeat before he looked after the dragon flying away only to narrow his eyes.

The girl SIGHED, probably used to him rushing off on his own by now. Or he picked up on something that's caught his attention more than the two. "He's headed to the guild." She mutters to herself, starting to break into a run - then pauses and glances at Natsu. "Come on!" She's not letting this Dad But Not Dad person out of her sight either!

"The guild?! But that's where Lucy is!" As if he needed any more reason to run. But at least he's not going Fire Lightning dragon mode and leaving the girl behind. But he does end up overtaking her prettty quickly.