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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The girl bursts onto the scene, and almost bumps right into Natsu, staring over at the dragon - and the person it was practically purring at. "What th.."

Lucy was of a similar WTF, though when she saw Natsu, she gave him a baffled, 'WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON' look. I mean. Thank GOD it's not a violent dragon trying to eat her, but STILL WHAT IS GOING ON.

Regine gave one more tug, this time managing to pull Lucy clear, though the dragon still tried to follow - Lucy put her hands on its head and shoved as hard as she could - nope, not budging. "Jeez, you're so stubborn.." She glanced over at Natsu, "What's going on?"

"That's what *I* want to know." The girl protested, sounding more confused than angry at this point.

Regine glanced at the group, from dragon, to man, and then both girls, her gaze lingering on the pink haired girl a moment, then looking at Lucy and Natsu again. "... I think we should perhaps start by introducing ourselves." Everything just seemed to happen at once.

The pink haired girl, almost unable to take her eyes off of Natsu and Lucy, finally looked at Regine, almost relieved that she didn't recognize that woman. "... That's a start I guess." She pointed over to a table outside the guild hall, taking a seat. Lucy sidled around the dragon, giving him a pat on the nose before she moved over to Natsu's side.

Something told him this was going to be a looong story. So he decided to just walk on through the barrier. If this was really the guild and it didn't react to the dragon then it hould let him through just fine.

"Before we go in, did you come across a boy and a girl, young ones that appeared out of the blue?" He said turning over to the fusion of himself and Lucy a short distance behind him.

More than likely. The girl can summarize it if you want. Maybe. In any case, yes, everyone is able to walk through the barrier with no problem whatsoever, though Regina does pause to examine the glyphs curiously at first. Though she immediately narrowed in on the question Natsu asked.

The other girl looked thoughtful, "Hm...No, we didn't see any children, but," she glanced over at her father, who was sticking close to Lucy. Who has at least gotten used to the idea of Natsu Dragon but at the same time, was very glad HER Natsu wasn't a dragon for many reasons.

Natsu-dragon settled down to curl up in a half circle around Lucy (which made it difficult for her to actually go anywhere), now looking a bit more lucid and attentive as he watched the group. In particular, his human self.

"Before I saw you da-- I mean... you, my father and I sensed a magic that was disturbingly familiar to something we've been investigating a short distance from here, but when we got to the location, there wasn't anyone around."

Well tehre were some benefits to meeting a dragon version of yourself. It allowed you to tnot worry whether the dragon would act up and detray them. Since it still Natsu after all right?

"Maybe that shitty Fairy actually sent them to our home instead of this place then. In which case it has a looot to answer for."

Regine glanced at Natsu, "You mean it might have sent them to the correct place after all..?" Where they might be safe and just...scared and alone and wondering where everyone was and how to get back? "I'm.. not sure that's better." At least if they were here, she could keep an eye on and protect them - who knows what's happening to them if they're somewhere else.

The other girl on the other hand, looked puzzled, "Fairy?"

Lucy nodded to the girl, "Yes, that's how we ended up here and..." She paused, then grinned slightly. "Sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves have we?"

The pink haired girl shook her head, "You don't have to. I would know both of you even if I were blind.. you're my parents." A pause. "Um... much younger than my current parents... and not counting dad being stuck as a dragon right now. Oh! But I should introduce myself at least. Though it's kind of awkward having to introduce oneself to their parents. I'm Luna.. Luna Dragneel." And... judging from the frozen look on Lucy's face, she paused, then glanced at Natsu, her smile fading somewhat, "..wait are... you guys not together on your world?" She scratched her head, "Ah, jeez, I just made it awkward didn't I.."

"If it did then they're safer than here. Master would never allow anything to happen to them even if they didn't name drop me and Lucy." Natsu reassured Regine before turning back to Luna. He suspected that was the case but hearing it confirmed out loud was still quite the shell shock of a moment.

"N-No no we're together just um...didn't get around to you know..." This is awkward and it's only going to get more so if Lucy lets him keep talking.

"I suppose..." Though they were her kids, she wanted to be with them. Who knows what kind of exposure they might get. Or who might talk to them - ew, they may get Erza and Gray cooties.

For Lucy though, her face turns so red she immediately reaches over and claps a hand over his mouth. That's quite enough out of you, buster.

"Y-yeah like he said and... Hold on, if you're .. we shouldn't even be talking about that with you!" Lucy huffed.

Luna burst into laughter in spite of herself, "Oh god, I haven't seen that kind of reaction in too long." She giggled at the flustered look on Lucy's face. Though her amusement faded, "I kind of miss it."

Lucy paused, moving her hand away from Natsu's mouth glancing over at him worriedly. Oh god did she die here too?

"Anyway, you were saying something about a fairy?" Luna asked.

Natsu mumbles against her hand for a while before the topic takes a turn and he can't help but get a sinking feeling since Luna's joy seems almost wistful and then there's the fact that the him of this place is a dragon.

"Yeah a brat of a fairy who pulled a fast one the two kids we were taking care of. We put her in a jar and sent her off to the celestial spirit realm before I went chasing after...me."

Luna narrowed her eyes suddenly, "Let me get this straight... you guys were living in Magnolia when you came across a fairy, and the fairy tricked some children by sending them ..somewhere, and then did the same to you?"

"That's about the short of it. She seemed so kind at first." Regine said. Well maybe 'kind' is stretching it, she had been still kind of demanding and rude then too.

Luna on the other hand, had the look of a bloodhound on a trail as she studied the faces of the three. "Are you SURE it was a fairy?

"no no we were in a place called Genesia. But the kid saved something that called itself a fairy and as a reward said she'd grant their wish. THe kids then said they wanted to see our world. ANd they disappeared." Natsu elaborated before her pondering seemed to put him in thought as well.

"Hmmm it said it was but maybe it wasn't. Lucy why don't you bring her out so...Luna can get a look at it."

Luna shook her head. Never heard of the place. Though when Natsu suggests that Lucy bring out the 'fairy', she perked up with interest.

Lucy nodded to Natsu herself, smiling tightly, "Yeah, good idea." That said, she reached for Capricorn's key again, pulling it out and summoning the goat butler to her side. "Capricorn, do you have that 'fairy'?"

Capricorn, a man-goat of few words, simply presented the prisoner in the jar, placing it on the table in front of her.

Apricot was sprawled on the bottom of the bottle, still a little dazed from how much Regine shook her up. Luna squinted at the little fairy, and caught her breath, "You!"

Apricot looked up, looked around... grinned. "Oh it's you..heh! I THOUGHT this dump looked familiar when I sent these losers here." Not even TRYING to be nice now. She chuckled. "Still a dragon huh? Guess that means you haven't found 'her' yet. Guess that's YOUR bad luck~!" And then a glance over at Regina and Co. "Your hospitality leaves much to be desired you know. It's BORING in the spirit world, especially with that old man going on and on and ONN.. he's as bad as Ceren."

Oh oh this rabbit hole ran deep indeed. But needless to say the look on Natsu's face could not get any more blood thirsty as he gave that creature the evil eye before asking in a deep serious voice.

"You know this bug then?"

Luna nodded firmly, with even Natsu-dragon straightening with a threatening growl, looking like he was close to incinerating the table - the only reason he didn't of course, being that the people were there. Also, Lucy reaching over to put a hand on his jaw - dear god, this is like having to reign in rage on BOTH Natsu's.

Though she does nothing to calm HER Natsu - he had every right to be angry, and Regine .. looked stunned at the transformation. Luna nodded fiercly at Natsu, her hands clenching into fists. "That wretched THING is no fairy, she's something else. A.. pixie or something. Levy told me before.." She stopped, then glowered at the pixie again. "She's part of the reason everything is like this. She's the reason Mom's gone.., and why Dad's stuck like that. Her and that traitor."

"Yaaaaaaaawn, all I hear is 'Wah wah wah, my life is SO hard." Apricot sneered.

Several of the humans moved almost at the same time at that - Luna lunged forward along with Regine, wanting nothing more than to smash the jar to the ground and crush the mouthy bug into a mess. Lucy on the other hand, had to quickly take her hand off of the dragon in order to grab the jar off the table. "Calm down, both of you! She's only trying to goad you." She shoots a look at both Natsu's. That means you two ESPECIALLY.

Edited Date: 2017-11-23 01:42 am (UTC)

On one hand the damn creature was smart, taking Lucy away from this world would make it easier to rile people up. On the other hand he wanted nothing more than to reduce the damn pest to ashes. But with a voice of reason actually around he just BARELY managed to pull himself back.

"You said something about a traitor too?" Natsu asked, his wrath only barely contained. This insect messed with not only him and Lucy but him lucy and his daughter of this world! that was beyond unforgivable.

Luna eased back into her seat with a grumble, then let out a long sigh, looking over at Natsu. "Yeah. He was fine for a long time, but I guess something happened on a mission with Erza and Juvia in the past. No one ever really told me about what happened, but I could see people giving him weird glances now and then. Then one day about a year ago, he started lashing out at everyone; even me and Mom."

"Boohoo~!"

"Shut up." Luna snapped at the taunting fairy, before continuing the story. "It got to the point where he was getting into fights with everyone except the Guild Master. I think even he knew that messing with Gildarts would be biting off more than he could chew."

"Gildarts is the Guild Master?" Lucy blinked. Well that was better than Erza. Although did that mean Makarov was... no, don't think about that right now. Luna nodded silently to Lucy in either case. "I think... about six months ago it was that he left the guild. I'm not sure if Gildarts kicked him out, or if he left on his own.. I hear they had an argument, but dad wouldn't tell me what it was about. I think Mom knew, but whenever I went to ask she just gave me this look and just shook her head at me. That was...six months ago." She glanced down at the table. "Then a month later THAT thing showed up," she motioned at Apricot, who made a 'gasp, me?' gesture mockingly. "With some story about That Man being in trouble and needing her help... and Mom... she never gives up on anyone, even him. She went with that bug, and told me to stay behind to let Dad know when he came back." Throughout her story she never lifted her gaze from the table, but she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "That was the last time we saw her."

Apricot leaned forward in the jar, "Awww, poor baby...are you gonna CRY...? Go on, cwy, weeeh, weeh~~!" She laughed, "Pathetic."

"Do you WANT me to give you to Natsu?" Lucy growled down at the pixie. "I'm sure the both of them are saving up their hottest flames for the likes of you."

Give her to him? Sorry Lucy but the moment he hears that Lucy was lured away by this overgrown pest, his hand shoots out in the direction of the contained fairy and immedeiately starts heating up the glass.

"Talk. Now."

Apricot glared up at Lucy, "Feh. My only regret is that I couldn't split the two of YOU up too when I brought you here. That would have been HILARIOUS. Too bad people like you have the kind of luck that landed you close to your stupid family, I'd have loved to see which of those hot headed morons would have killed each other if SHE hadn't shown up. AAAhahahahahahHA H HA Hot HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!! YIKES what the hell?"

She ...really does have a death wish doesn't she. Lucy set the jar down, frowning, saying nothing for a moment while Natsu put the pixie in the literal hotseat. Luna's hands clenched, "Why don't you just burn and die you stupid pixie? What's the point of you taunting us. Why did you pick US to harass in the first place?"

Apricot shifted restlessly, trying to avoid coming in contact with the glass, though she was clearly uncomfortable, "H-hah! You think that'll get me to talk? My partner made sure that your stupid fire won't do a darn thing! This is just a Mild inconvenience!" This mmmmmmmight be partly true, but she was definitely feeling the heat a lot more than she was admitting to.

"Good," Regine put in, "We don't want you dead."

"Speak for yourself!" Luna interrupted, and was immediately hushed by Lucy.

"She has a point. IF she dies, that's it, we don't find anything out at all - and the way she's been taunting us I thought that's what she was trying to do." For some reason. "But if we keep her alive, Natsu's can trade shifts burning her when they get tired. Or do it at the same time." Fire from a dragonslayer AND a dragon that was a dragonslayer? Probably won't be fun regardless of the 'protection' it had.

Dragon-Natsu was already starting to open his mouth a little, growling. He had no problem whatsoever burning that jar with its pixie prisoner. Apricot glanced around, suddenly nervous, "Y-yeah? I talk and I'll be dead anyway, I'm no squealer! I'm no stoolie! I'm no --oh my GOD that's hot! What am I cooked pixie under glass?"

The moment the fairy claimed that her partner had made her immune to fire, Natsu's mouth split into the most devlish grin. "I see. That's why you got me stuck in dragon form. Too bad for you that I'm still human. Meaning~" Oh he was going to relish the look of absolute terror she was likely going to get when the flames in his hands started being wreathed in lightning as well.

"Whoah." Luna had clearly not seen her father go all out before, so there were still things about his abilities her parents knew she didn't. But still, she grinned at the sight of the lightning. YAH do it do it do it do it! In fact the only ones looking a little uncomfortable were Lucy and Regine, who exchanged glances.

"Uh...what do you mean by that?" Apricot asked warily, glancing around - until the lightning started crackling around his hands. Erp. Yeah that terror has deeeeeeeefinitely settled in place on her face, "Y.. You can do that TOO? T.. that's cheating."

"Someone who's attempted to ruin the lives of so many has no right to call others out on 'cheating'." Lucy replied. "Better start talking, because I won't stop him if he loses his patience with you."

"Starting with where my children are." Regina said flatly.

"I told you already! They're probably here somewhere, I'm not a little human tracker..! They said they wanted to go to those two's home, so I sent them to one! You should be glad I didn't send them to the one where the dragons took over. Maybe I should have though..at least these two would be dead..." ... "Oshit." he heard that didn't he.

Edited Date: 2017-11-23 01:26 pm (UTC)

Oh he definitely heard that becaus the next second the Fairy was face to face with a miniature drake made entirely of fire and lightning and it opened its jaw unleashing the twin elemental breath on the fairy.

"Strike one."

Apricot squeaked at the sight of the miniature drake. "Oh no." Is all she managed to whimper before she suddenly let out a high pitched scream more from the lightning crackling around her than the fire. She barely suffered it more than a minute before she started yelping, "Stop, it hurts! Stop stop..!"

Lucy glanced over at Natsu - honestly when she was concerned... even an alternate version of her... he can be a little... "Natsu," Maybe the pixie is ready to talk now?

Edited Date: 2017-11-23 01:48 pm (UTC)

Natsu took a deep breath and ceased the attack but did not dispell the drake.

"Every nasty answer or muttered insult will just add another one in there with you. Keep that attitude up and you'll just be fried inside of their body. Don't even think the heat or lightning are going to break the jar. I'm controling the magic specifically."

Apricot shut her mouth and folded her arms. FINE, if she can't insult them or be nasty then she won't say anything at ALL. HA. How's THEM apples? She -eyed- the mini drake warily, until Regine smacked the table with her palm. "Nev and Justine. Where are they?"

Apricot turned around to stare at Regine for a moment, about to open her mouth- stops, glancing at Natsu, and finally spreads her arms in a S H R U G.

See, she hasn't said anything nasty or insulted them. YOU CAN'T ZAP HER, SHE IS TOTALLY SAFE.

Except the Drake then bites her.

Luna just -laughed- when the drake bit the pixie.

Apricot yelps at the bite, "YOwch!!" Backing away from the drake, she glares at it, then Natsu. "What's the big idea! I didn't say anything nasty or insulting, even though I could have!"

"Being uncooperative counts." Lucy stated, "Regine asked you a question, so Answer it."

"..god this is why I hate humans.." Apricot sighed. "Well I can't, all right? I mean. They're HERE somewhere, but who knows where they went. Maybe they got picked up by someone." She hmms, and then grins. "Oh oh! Wouldn't it be funny if they got eaten by that demon? OH MAN that'd be--" SHIT. "WAIT WAIT NO, I TAKE IT BACK."