Chapter Text
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, two brothers lived together in a little village. They were poor, but happy.
One day, a dreadful plague took over the land. The elder brother managed to protect himself, but the younger brother was not so lucky. Desperate to protect him, the elder brother encased his sickly younger one in a crystal made of pure magic and travelled for many moons, through many lands, learning all he could about the depths of magic.
When he returned to the village, he cast one last powerful spell.
But all things come at a price.
The magic had betrayed the elder brother and left the younger one in a scarred, hideous form, trading his humanity for survival.
The villagers rose up in fear and cast the little brother away into a dark cave, never to see the world again. But they say he waits there, watching their steps, waiting to enact his revenge.
“That’s so grim!” Natsu whined, rubbing his face into Lucy’s lap.
“It’s not my fault Igneel kept such sad books! Besides, not everything ends in happily ever afters.” Lucy sighed, rubbing his spiky, pink hair.
Natsu lifted his head, a defiant pout on his head. “For that, I’m gonna enact my revenge.” He pounced on the blonde princess, tickling her sides, making her squeal in the way he adored.
“Okay, okay, I yield!” Lucy panted, pushing him off of her.
“Good!” He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled into her back, “No joking about sad endings. After all, we’re supposed to live happily ever after.”
“Dummy. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
-----
Natsu Dragneel was considered odd, even by Earthland standards. It wasn’t for his peculiarly pink hair, nor his weird, cavernous home. No, the oddity that scared people, or just about anything with a sense of survival, was the dark red scales littering his body. He’d had them for as long as he could remember. In deep, ruby hues, they lined his whole back, the sides of his neck (though no one aside from Lucy had ever gotten a good look there due to his insistence on wearing a white, dragon-scale scarf his adoptive father gifted him), the top of his arms and the front of his legs and under his eyes. Another very peculiar feature was that he was missing a right arm and in its place was a large, red dragon’s claw. And the last peculiar thing was the fact that Natsu had the ability to produce dragon fire.
All of these things should point him to being some form of dragonkin, but that was not the case.
“Nah, you ain’t one of us.” Gajeel, a dragonkin from the north, had informed him after Natsu let the guy move into his forest. “Dragonkins have the ability to cover their whole body in scales on a whim, see?” Gajeel waved his arm and his whole body became sleek and shiny like polished iron.
But Natsu got over it. Mostly. And that was thanks to his beautiful, lovely, wonderful True Love, Princess Lucy Heartfilia of the Stella Kingdom.
“It’s going to be Leo season next.” She murmured, tracing her collarbone. Lucy had been the treasure of a fetch quest gone horribly right. Over a year ago, Natsu, and his best friend, the blue exceed Happy, had been tasked with rescuing Lucy from a dragon-guarded tower (said dragon actually ended up quite the friendly fellow and had come over for tea the other week) and gifting her to the obnoxious Duke Cream (may he rest in peace). A beautiful princess with long, golden hair and deep brown eyes, Lucy Heartfilia stood out in her own odd way. Her entire body was covered in black constellations, a star map, tracking the twelve zodiacs. They’d move slowly across her skin, positioning the one in season on the centre of her chest, and emit a soft, warm glow. It was a gift she had been given by the Celestial Spirit King at birth, granting her the ability to use the powers of whomever was in the sky at that moment. Right now, it was Cancer season.
After the Duke Cream fiasco, Lucy and Happy had moved into Natsu’s vast forest, specifically his cavern, a home carved into a large mountainside. The forest itself was massive, with numerous waterfalls, caves and cliffs, it was no wonder the refugees of Duke Cream’s rule had moved in there, initially dubbing the area ‘Fairy Tale’ in reference to them all being magical folk, but after someone had misspelled the wooden sign at the entrance as ‘Fairy Tail’, everyone was too charmed to change it back.
Gajeel and his recently pregnant wife, the pixie Levy, had moved into one of those caves in the east, near a human village where he could work as a blacksmith and sell his wares. The scarlet-haired fairy, Erza, had taken position of the mediator between the various inhabitants, residing in a tree she had hexed to become wider so she could carve her home into it. The Undine, Juvia, had moved into the waterfall in the south and the Caladrius-kin, Wendy had settled on the cliff above it with her best friend, a white exceed named Carla. And there were many, many others. But most of them stayed clear of Natsu’s cavern, he valued his and Lucy’s privacy greatly.
The sky was a soft blue the next morning, Lucy had given him a kiss and went to visit Erza with Happy, all according to Natsu’s plan, who headed west for Gajeel’s smithery.
“Oi, metal face! You here?” Natsu stepped into the large hut that Gajeel worked in. The dragonkin had his wild, black hair pulled back and was pounding some metal on an anvil. His wife was lazily sprawled on a hammock attached to the roof, balancing a book on her pregnant belly and flicking through it.
“Don’t call me that, Salamander!” Gajeel scowled, wiping his piercing-covered face. “What the hell do you want anyway?”
“Is Lu with you?” Levy perked up, her red reading glasses sliding down her nose.
“Nah, she went to visit Erza. Sorry, Levy.”
She sighed and went back to her book, Gajeel shooting Natsu a look of impatience.
“Listen…friend.” Natsu forced the words slowly out, “I need your help with something serious.”
“Spill.” Gajeel dunked his creation into a bucket of water.
“Do you make jewellery?”
The dragonkin narrowed his eyes, “Don’t tell me you want a ring.”
Natsu nodded slowly and Levy squealed excitedly, “Seriously? Finally! About time you and Lucy actually got married!”
“I’ll say.” Gajeel scoffed, “What took you so long to pop the question anyway. You already live together and technically ‘True Loves’ and crap.”
“It’s not like that! I just wanted to take it slow for her!” Natsu sat on a barrel and groaned, “She’s been locked up in that thing since she was a kid. I didn’t want to force a marriage on her and make her feel locked up again.”
“Oh, Natsu…I didn’t know you could be considerate.” Levy said gently, though it felt insulting. Gajeel groaned and rubbed the back of his neck.
“So, what kinda ring do you want for her?”
“Uh, like…a normal one?”
He rolled her eyes and shot a look at Levy who glared back, “Listen here, Salamander. Rings are special, you gotta make something specifically for her. Get down here, Shrimp, let me show him ours.”
Levy pouted at the nickname but flitted down, holding her small hand out. Seated on her finger was an iron ring with intricate detail, the prongs seemed to frame the square-shaped, milky stone in the centre to create the illusion of an open book.
“That’s sick! Would Lucy like something like that?”
“No, idiot!” Gajeel snapped as Levy flew back to her hammock, “You need to get something Lucy likes. Does she even like this kinda metal?”
Natsu frowned and rubbed his chin, technically he’d seen her wear all sorts of colours and metals but the one that suited her most was...“Gold. She’d look good with gold.” He murmured, “And I don’t think she’d like some glittery diamond in the centre. Holy crap! I got it! Wait here!” He bolted out of the smithery, the couple within giving each other exasperated looks.
-----
Natsu sprinted to the very back of her cavern where he had moved Igneel’s old treasure hoard. He dug through the gold coins and glittery gems until he found what he was looking for. Natsu held the small gem up in his palm, smooth as a pebble and a deep blue colour with a striking, white, six-point shape in the centre that resembled a star. It was perfect for Lucy. He kept it safe in his hand as he ran back to the smithery where Gajeel was inspecting gold samples.
“This one.” He held the stone out.
“Holy crap, Salamander. A star sapphire. A real one!”
“It’s perfect for Lu!”
“Metal brains. How long will it take to make a ring?” Natsu asked, panting slightly.
“Eh, gimme a week and we should be good.” Gajeel grunted, “I’ll send Pantherlily to deliver it to you when it’s done.”
Natsu whooped and jumped up and down until Levy kicked him out.
-----
As Gajeel had said, one week later, a black exceed delivered a small box to Natsu.
“This is it.” Pantherlily said, “We put it in a blue, velvet box since it seemed to suit Lucy.”
Natsu opened the box quickly and observed the small golden ring, “It’s perfect! Lucy’s gonna love it. Thanks, man.”
“Now, about the payment-”
“What was that? Uh…I think Happy is asking for me so…” Natsu bolted away into his cavern, leaving an exhausted Pantherlily hovering on the spot.
-----
Natsu spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the cavern with Happy, hunting down a plump wild chicken, seasoning it with various herbs and garlics pieces. He then used his flames to cook it with little potatoes that grew behind his cavern then finally set the table. He lit the little candles Erza had gifted them and placed the weirdly fancy plates Juvia got for them.
“Phew! It’s perfect.” He wiped his brows and patted the box tucked safely away in his pocket.
Happy escorted Lucy in, covering her eyes with his little, blue paws.
“You’re not allowed to peek, Lucy!”
“Happy, I can barely see and I’ve tripped five times since we left Erza’s! Oh, what’s that smell!”
“You’re always hungry, Lucy.” Happy moved his paws away and flew back. Lucy gasped softly at the feast and smiled at the nervous looking Natsu by the table.
“Natsu, did you do this? It smells incredible.”
“Thank you! Uh, take a seat.” He fiddled with his scarf and sat down across her. He cut down a large, juicy chunk and placed it on her plate with a bunch of little potatoes then served himself. “Eat up!”
“This looks great but what’s the occasion?" She looked up, her smile dropping into a concerned frown. "Uh, are you okay?”
Natsu shovelled a bunch of food into his mouth, “No ishues. Jush wanne make goosh foosh for you!”
She curled her lips slightly and picked up a silver fork to take a bite, “Very yummy. Oh! Wait, did you use that nice pepper I bought from the merchant who visited next week? Mmm!”
Natsu swallowed deeply then poured her some juice, “Drink up.”
“Thank you, uh…”
He slurped down his own drink, emptying the pitcher at once and cleared his throat. “So, Lucy….uh…you know I love you, right?”
“Are you…trying to dump me?” She asked quietly.
“No!” He shot up to his feet and walked over to her side of the table, “No, uh. Wait, what? No! What’s wrong with you? Whatever, we can discuss that later. Okay, so…I love you, you love me…” He trailed off slowly then continued when she nodded her blonde head, “And we’re always together, which we both love. So, what I’m trying to say is…Lucy, will you-”
A loud trumpet rang through the forest.
“Lucy Heartfilia. By order of the honourable King Jude and wise Queen Layla of Stella, please step out at once!”
The couple looked at each other then hurried outside. Rows upon rows of soldiers in silver were lined up, tooting trumpets with one at the very front, reading from a scroll. The other Fairy Tail citizens had gathered from their homes to watch, slightly wary. The man in the front spotted Lucy and took another step forward.
“Princess Lucy Heartfilia.”
“That is I.”
The man cleared her throat and began to read from his scroll, “Dearest Princess Lucy, you have been summoned to the royal court of Stella to attend a royal ball in honour of your successful rescue from the dragon-guarded tower. We look forward to the attendance of you and your…prince.” He ended his sentence slowly, giving Natsu a judgmental look before clearing his throat, “We look forward to seeing you. Sincerely, King Jude and Queen Layla, aka Papa and Mama.”
“A royal ball!” Happy cheered, circling around them. “How exciting, we have to go, Lucy!”
“Of course!” She smiled, holding her arms out so Happy could dive into her arms, “I miss my parents and they are going to love meeting my heroes!”
“Is that… a good idea?” Natsu asked with a frown, “I mean, won’t they be surprised seeing you like this?” He gestured to her black markings.
“Maybe a little, but they love me and they’re going to love you too, Natsu.” She smiled, touching his arm.
He frowned and shook his head, “You’re gonna hate it. We’d be forced to be wear stuffy outfits and pretend that people aren’t scared shitless of us.”
“So, you don’t want to go?”
“No. I don’t.” He stated bluntly.
Lucy narrowed her eyes and Happy squirmed quickly out of her arms, “We’re going, Natsu. End of story.” She gathered the bottom of her dress and went up into the cavern. He sighed and looked helplessly at Happy who shook his head with a disappointed frown.