Chapter Text
As Lucy’s gaze is drawn towards the blue-haired fire mage, she can’t help how her heart beats faster. Is it just her, or does this man get even more attractive the more you stare at him? He meets her gaze, and she feels faint when he gives her a sly smile and a wink.
Is this… love?
“IGNEEL!”
A blur races through the crowd and tackles the scumbag to the ground, and suddenly the spell is broken. For Lucy, at least. Thank god.
“Igneel, it’s me! It’s―” The unknown girl pauses. “Who are you?”
Lucy yelps as a barrage of seething women start shoving her around, practically frothing at the mouth.
“Get off him, you hussy!”
“Salamander-sama belongs to all of us, not you!”
The blonde rolls her eyes and pushes through the angry mob to try and get to the front, grateful for the interruption, but worried about the girl who saved her. Eventually, after many unkind words and straight-up hissing from the other girls, she reaches the edge of the crowd, getting a good look at the unfolding scene.
“What the hell?” Salamander groans from his position on the ground, slowly sitting up while clutching his head, muttering, “I’ve never gotten this kind of reaction before…” He opens one of his clenched eyes to get a look at the deranged person who barrelled into him. With a scowl and a sharp insult on his lips, he opens his mouth… but the sight before him makes him reconsider.
Petite stature with bandages binding a slight chest, partly visible through her open red and white long-sleeved tunic. Wild pink hair, short and fluffy with tufts sticking out in every direction. Large hazel-colored almond eyes, framed by long pink lashes. Despite the girl’s rowdy behavior earlier, she’s surprisingly…cute.
He contorts his scowl into a sleazy smirk, using the hand holding his head to slick his hair back. “Why hello there, beautiful.” He winks at the girl currently straddling his waist, thinking to himself, This should be an easy one.
The girl, for her part, seems totally unashamed of their rather brazen position, opting instead to squint at the wizard with increasing scrutiny.
The man preens under the attention, proudly introducing himself, “I’m Salamander, though I’m sure you knew that already. Would you like an autograph? Or maybe…” He reaches out to grab her chin, bringing his face closer to hers. “You were looking for something more…intimate?”
The girl’s eyes narrow, gaze becoming increasingly heated as red slowly blooms across her face.
Lucy huffs, absolutely disgusted, righteous fury rising within her. She moves forward to pull away this too-clueless girl from that slimeball and expose him in the process, but suddenly stops as literal steam starts rising from the girl.
Salamander smirks to himself, Man, I’m good. He could feel the heat emanating from this chick’s skin; the girl was practically burning up from desire…Come to think of it, his fingers were feeling pretty hot against her skin. And what is that smoky smell in his nose?
Glancing at his hand, he damn near screams when he notices the smoke rising from it. With a yelp, he yanks his hand back, fingertips throbbing. He looks at the offending digits, red and raw just from mere contact.
What the hell is with this girl?
“What did you do to Salamander-sama, you cow!?”
“We’ll kill you!”
The furious jeers bring him back to himself, and Salamander wrestles his expression into something barely passing as pleasant. He just needs to tell the girls about his yacht party, and then he can finally get the hell out of here.
“Now, now, ladies, this was my fault, see?” He waves his burned hand around, as if it were nothing, as if it didn’t feel like his heartbeat was coming out of his fingertips. “Sometimes I don’t know my own power. What I really want to know is if you're okay, miss…?” He turns his face towards the girl still perched atop him…
…and promptly receives a sucker punch to the face.
The crunching noise it makes has the crowd of girls up in arms once again, yelling and hissing like a live bed of snakes. Lucy yells too, but in surprise, completely taken aback (again) by the girl’s violence and wondering how Pinky here has not fallen for the wizard’s charm spell. Did she figure it out?
Salamander cries out with a rather un-suave shriek and brings his hand in front of his face to cover his bloody nose. He presses the other into the ground to push himself up, twisting his lower body to buck the girl off and retreating several steps away.
“What the hell was that for?!” His voice comes out high-strung and nasally.
The girl, experienced in combat based on how she easily finds her footing, simply assumes a low fighting stance, eyes still narrowed into that scrutinizing gaze. “Something about your stupid face really gets my blood boiling. It makes me want to fight you.”
There’s silence for several moments before Lucy starts cackling.
“You…!” Salamander looks absolutely baffled. “You’re insane!” Immediately, he turns and dashes away, the crowd of girls tailing him and sending scornful looks at the pinky on the way.
The girl doesn’t give chase, luckily for him. Instead, she just crosses her arms, the scowl on her face quickly turning into a full-lipped pout. “Damn it… I really wanted to teach that guy a lesson.”
“Excuse me.” Lucy approaches the girl with a smile, happy to be free of that creep. “You probably don’t realize, but you saved me earlier. Can I buy you a meal as payback, Miss…?”
“Natsu.” The hothead grins at Lucy, and the blonde is taken aback by how warm the smile is. Natsu’s eyes crinkle into half-moons, and her canines slightly press against her bottom lip. This expression makes the girl seem so open and earnest, especially in contrast to her tough exterior earlier.
Lucy feels her cheeks redden under the force of such a sincere look. Her own smile widens in response. “I’m Lucy.”
Natsu’s grin settles into something impish, and she replies, “Well, Lucy, I’ll take you up on your offer, but only if you pay for my kid as well.”
“You have a kid?!” The celestial mage shouts, looking at the girl, the mother, up and down. She couldn’t have been much older than herself. Considering her general size―slightly shorter than Lucy, though to be fair the blonde is wearing heels―and the oversized tunic dwarfing her body, Lucy might’ve even guessed younger.
“Aye, sir!” A blur suddenly shoots off the ground from next to Natsu, and the celestial mage has to clench her chest to stop it from combusting as a talking, flying, blue cat circles around the two girls’ heads.
Natsu just laughs and laughs.
―
“You can slow down, you know…” Lucy covers her face as various chunks of meat, bread, and other foods come flying at her. “It’s all yours, so if you could kindly keep it to your side of the table that’d be great…”
The girl sighs as Natsu heedlessly continues her rampage and takes a moment to observe her savior. The pinky seems to be rather rambunctious in everything she does, including, or rather especially, eating: open-mouthed chewing, grabbing everything with her hands, shoving food into her mouth with no regard for whether it gets on her face. If Lucy weren’t so disgusted, she would almost be envious of Natsu’s complete lack of self-consciousness (and manners).
Who raised this girl? A dragon? Lucy snorts to herself, thinking back to the steam rising from the smaller girl’s body earlier. Yeah right.
“Anyway,” She shakes away her thoughts and turns her attention back to the subject at hand. “Thanks again for before. That Salamander guy was using an outlawed charm spell to sway women’s hearts in his favor. Guys like that are total scum and not to be trusted.”
Natsu swallows and finally takes a breather from her feast. Curiously, she asks, “If it was a love charm, how come it didn’t work on me? I wasn’t feeling any of that lovey-dovey crap.”
“Well, you see, the charm spell doesn’t act on your actual emotions so much as it plays with your bodily reactions―flushed cheeks, increased heartbeat, clammy hands, stuff like that. Most people interpret these reactions as love, you, on the other hand…” Lucy snickers at the memory of Salamander’s smirk being literally (and violently) wiped off his face as his spell spectacularly backfired. “Well, y’know what happened.”
Who would’ve imagined that there’d be someone dense enough to mistake their heart pounding when looking at a guy for the desire to pummel them? Well, it doesn’t matter as it worked in their favor.
“By the way,” Lucy wonders aloud, “it seems like you were looking for someone.”
“Aye!” Happy cheers around a mouthful of fish. “Ibneel, Nazoo’s fader.”
“Close your mouth while you chew.”
“We heard there was a salamander in this town,” Natsu continues, ignoring both the scolding and Happy’s dejection at being scolded. “But that guy was just a random man, and a weak one at that…” Natsu scoffs, shaking her head in disappointment. “A real salamander has more magic in its pinky claw than that dude.”
Lucy furrows her brows, wondering why she emphasized “real ” salamander. “What do you mean? He was clearly a fire mage…”
“Eh?” Natsu tilts her head. “We’re not looking for any old fire mage. Igneel is a dragon.”
“WHAT?! ” Lucy finds herself physically recoiling from shock. Shaking herself out of it, she shouts, “There’s no way you’d find a dragon in the middle of town! And wait…” She pauses, a nagging thought from before returning to her. “If Igneel was your father, then that means…You were actually raised by a dragon?! ”
“Aye.”
Lucy stands up, having just about all the wackiness she could take. “I think it’s time for me to go.”
―
“Bwahhh, I’m so full!” The dragonslayer pats her belly, a wide smile on her face. “If I ever find that Loopy girl again, I’ll have to repay her.”
“Aye!”
The sun had already set, and the pair found themselves taking in a scenic overlook of the city, sporting a beautiful view of the harbor. Natsu walks beside the railing of the viewing point while Happy strolls along on top. Since the lead turned out to be a flop, they were sightseeing a bit before going home.
Taking in the moonlit sky and the surface of the ocean speckled with light, Happy comments, “Wow, the sea is kinda pretty, isn’t it?”
Natsu stops next to Happy, leaning against the railing, her focus more so on the little vessels sailing from the harbor. “Yeah, when you’re not on a boat.”
“Hey!”
An angry shout tears the two from the view. Natsu turns her head to see two indignant girls staring her down, chests puffed out in a show of arrogance.
One of the girls, short-haired and wearing a strappy polka dot dress, haughtily asks, “Aren’t you that tramp that tried to seduce our Salamander-sama?”
The other, a blonde sporting a striped long-sleeve shirt and tight black capris, adds, “Not invited to the yacht party, I guess?”
“Ha!” Spots laughs, “Of course she wasn’t―just look at her!”
“Huh?” Natsu slumps further against the railing, uninterested in whatever these two brainwashed fangirls were yapping about. “You guys aren’t at this yak party either, though…?”
Stripey stamps her foot, huffing, “It’s a yacht party! And that’s just because we were busy!”
Natsu deadpans, unimpressed, “You look awful free to me…”
That comment seems to stoke their rage, and the two start digging into Natsu’s virtues (rather her lack thereof), most of which the dragonslayer tunes out until one comment catches her ear.
“Anyway,” Spotty steps in front of Stripes, continuing her incessant condescension. “Salamander-sama is a great wizard from Fairy Tail! He’d never be interested in a complete brute like you!”
Suddenly, Natsu shoots up ramrod straight, grabbing Dotty by the collar and pulling her in close. Blondie takes a step back in surprise.
“What did you say?”
“I-I,” the girl stammered, shocked from the rough handling. Not one to be cowed, however, she sets her face into an uppity expression and loudly proclaims, “I said that someone like you would never be good enough for Salamander-sama!”
“Screw that, I meant all that stuff you said after.”
The girl, who was gearing up for a fight, suddenly deflates, anger morphing into bewilderment. “About what?”
“About Fairy Tail.”
Stripey seems to get a hold of herself at this moment and cautiously says, “The famous wizard guild that Salamander-sama is part of…?”
Natsu narrows her eyes. “Where is that yacht party he’s having?”
.
.
.
“Ha!” Dots, still being held by the collar, crows, “So you really weren’t invited!”
“Aghh, just tell me!”
―
Lucy struggles, fruitlessly straining to pull her arms from the grip of the two men guarding her. Her keys are likely at the bottom of the ocean by now. She regards the hack fire mage before her, vision blurry with tears, as he menacingly holds the red-hot iron brand that would mark her as a subhuman for life. She closes her eyes, bracing for the burn, heart shattering into pieces as her dreams of Fairy Tail, a community of like-minded people who might finally, for once in her life, understand her (not to mention good money) slip away.
“Using forbidden magic, fooling innocent people, and turning them into slaves.” Through gritted teeth, she lists out his crimes. Despair, outrage, and a last bit of courage spur her to shout, “Is this what it means to be a Fairy Tail wizard?!”
Then, there’s a thundering crack.
The roof comes tumbling down in a shower of splintering wood.
From out of the rubble, Lucy makes out a familiar figure.
“Natsu!” She cries out, surprise and joy sweeping through her. Was she about to be saved again?
The dragonslayer slowly rises from her crouched position, dust and debris swirling around her from her lively entrance…and promptly falls to her hands and knees, hand over her mouth to prevent vomit from spilling out.
“So uncool…”
“Lucy!”
The celestial mage looks up towards the voice, feeling relieved at the sight of the flying blue cat. “Happy! This guy tricked me! He said he’d help me get into Fairy Tail―”
“No time!” The exceed swoops down and wraps his tail around Lucy. “Let’s get you out of here!”
“Wait! But what about Natsu?”
“I can’t carry two!”
Lucy stares at the slumped-over girl getting smaller and smaller as Happy flies farther away; she silently vows to help her the way she helped Lucy earlier. Even as Happy’s transformation runs out and the two drop into the roiling sea, saving Natsu is all she could think about.
―
“Shit!” Bora slams his hand against the wall. “Not only did we lose our golden goose, we just gave away our operation.”
He turns towards the source of all his troubles, a scowl distorting his face as the girl flounders around, trying to stand and mumbling incomprehensibly. He motions his goons to bring her to him, and unlike last time, she’s easily wrangled into submission.
“This chick was talking a big game earlier, but look at her now. Pathetic.” He grabs her chin the same way he did earlier that day, scowl deepening at the memory of burnt fingers. “It’s a good thing she’s cute―we can definitely get money out of her. As long as we’re on the water, she’ll be as docile as a lamb.” A slow smile spreads across his face. “Yeah.. It’s perfect! We just have to keep her like this ‘til she’s sold and then dodge the knights for a bit. Besides, Blondie should be fish food by now, and who’s gonna believe a cat!” He throws back his head in laughter, his plans all coming together.
Of course, it’s at this moment that a huge wave crashes into the side of the boat, sending it soaring back to the harbor.
Bora and his crew erupt in a cacophony of dazed cries as they’re tossed around. Eventually, the boat comes to a skidding halt as they reach the shore, and everyone drops to the floor in an uncoordinated mess.
“What the hell…just happened?” The fake salamander pushes himself off the ground, seeing double. As his vision clears, the first thing he notices is the ever present pain in his ass rising from the ground as well.
“It finally stopped.” The dragonslayer lifts her head and meets Bora’s gaze head-on, murder in her eyes.
The door to the main hall bursts open, revealing Lucy’s worry-racked frame. “Natsu! Are you all ri―?” Her words die in her mouth at the sight of the other girl, firm on her feet with the face of a seasoned hunter locked onto their kill.
“Goddamnit it!” Bora looks back at his goons and points to the pink-haired girl. “Get her. Now. A pipsqueak like her doesn’t stand a chance against all of us, anyway.”
Said pipsqueak calmly slides her tunic off her shoulders and chucks it aside, completely unconcerned by the army of buffed-up slave traders heading her way. Lucy, observing the interaction from the side, instincts telling her not to get involved, is surprised by the lean muscle cording the girl’s arms.
“You say you’re a Fairy Tail wizard?” Natsu asks, still staring Bora dead in the eyes.
The man smirks, emboldened by the guild’s prestigious title, “Yeah, what of it?”
With one precisely timed right hook, Natsu takes out two of the men ready to tackle her to the ground, movement revealing the real Fairy Tail symbol adorning her arm.
“‘Cuz I’m Natsu of Fairy Tail and I ain’t ever seen your ugly mug in my life!”
“Ahhh, fuck it!” Bora yells, deciding to scrap all of his carefully crafted plans. He directs his hand towards the dragonslayer, unleashing a blast of brilliant flames. “This crazy bitch is more trouble than she’s worth!”
“Natsu!”
Lucy watches in horror as the flames engulf the other girl’s form, but before she can intervene, Happy stops her, a gleam in his eye. Lucy turns her attention back to the fight, and notices that instead of dispersing into the air and burning out, Bora’s flames seem to be converging together in a whirlpool of fire, swirling towards one point. She just barely makes out a hand softly guiding the flames into an awaiting mouth, and finally realises what’s going on.
“Yuck, are you really a fire wizard? This stuff is nasty…”
Natsu is eating the flames.
Once the last bit of fire is sucked up, Natsu sighs contentedly and faces Bora, standing tall. “Well, thanks for the meal anyway.” Grinning cheekily, she wipes the side of her mouth.
“Bora-san, I’ve seen this guy before.” Belatedly, one of the fallen men stands up, fear making his voice quiver, “With that pink hair and a scarf that looks like scales… It’s her, the real…”
“Salamander…” Lucy breathes out, awe written across her face.
Somehow, Natsu’s grin becomes wider, power welling inside her, she gets ready to unleash her own attack―
“―But wait…” The goon from before straightens up, fear abruptly leaving his body as he curiously studies the image in front of him. “Salamander was actually a chick this whole time?”
“Yeah, hold on a minute,” another guy pipes up, a similar train of thought running through his mind. “And is this really the same person who took out whole towns? I thought she’d at least be a bit taller.”
“Me too!” Goon 1 responds. “People always talk about him―er, her like she’s some kind of monster.”
“Y’know salamanders, like, the lizard versions are kinda small, come to think of it.” Goon 2 replies thoughtfully. “Maybe that’s where she gets the name?”
“Shut UP!”
With a burst of flames, Natsu sends the two buffoons flying, cutting off all further discussion of her apparently underwhelming size.
“Who’s small now?!” She shouts, veins popping out of her forehead. Her teeth were clenched so hard you could practically hear her jaw creaking. The pair had clearly hit a sore spot.
With that out of the way, she turns to a quaking Bora, devoid of all previous sense of pride and decorum.
“Now, what was it you said about me before?” The dragonslayer menacingly approaches the human trafficker. “ ‘As docile as a lamb’, was it?” She smacks her fists together, magic circles illuminating her form. “I’ll show you just how docile this Fairy Tail lamb can be!”
―
One wrecked harbor and a pissed army of royal soldiers later, Lucy is being damn near dragged through the entrance of Fairy Tail where she is promptly forgotten in favor of starting a fight. Natsu starts throwing punches at some wizard named Krov, yelling about how his information is shit just like his nonexistent brain cells, and a guild-wide brawl breaks out.
Lucy starts to understand a little bit more about why Natsu didn’t fall prey to the love magic.
Even as tables are broken in half and beer bottles crash against the pillars, Lucy can’t help but smile at the liveliness of Fairy Tail. And when she looks at her right hand, she feels amazed that she’s now (and for the first time) part of such a welcoming family.
―
Extra
When Bora was inviting Lucy to the yacht party.
“And do not invite that pink-haired girl. I’m only looking for a certain standard of women, such as yourself. She doesn’t fit the bill.”
As the clown walks away, Lucy mutters, “You were singing a different tune before she beat your face in…”