In a small cottage in the woods on the outskirts of Magnolia, a mother, two children, and a flying cat were putting the final decorations up around their house for Christmas.
"Whoa I can see the whole living room from up here!" A little boy exclaims.
The mother who was on a ladder halfway up against the Christmas tree heard her son and looked up and saw the flying cat holding him in the rafters to wrap garland around them.
"Happy please be careful not to drop Igneel!" The mother pleads.
"Don't worry Luce, this little guy's not heavy like you are!" Happy replies.
"It's not his weight I'm concerned about." Lucy growls through gritted teeth while a vein pops out of her forehead.
"He squirms around a lot, especially in that sweater so make sure you've got a good grip on-"
"AH!" Igneel shouts as he slides out of his sweater and falls towards the floor.
"Igneel!" Lucy shouts.
"Don't worry mommy I've got him!" The daughter says and runs towards her falling little brother.
Just as she's about to reach him she trips on the garland that was still on the floor and is about to hit it with her brother when they're suddenly both caught by someone who appeared out of nowhere, as if by magic.
"Never fear my dear, for your knight in shining armor is here!" The hero says.
"Loke!" Lucy exclaims in relief while holding her hand over her chest.
"Thank goodness! It's times like these when I'm glad you can open your gate on your own. And even happier that you'll come help the kids too when Natsu or I can't get to them." Lucy says.
"Well why wouldn't I? They're your children so I care just as much for them as I do for you." Loke explains as he sets Igneel down and ruffles his spiky blonde hair.
"You're so cool Uncle Loke!" Igneel exclaims with stars in his eyes.
"Why thank you young man. That is an image I try to keep up." Loke says while pushing up his glasses.
"Thanks for keeping me from falling on my face." The girl says.
"Why of course Miss Nashi. You may have inherited your father's wild pink locks but you were also gifted with your mother's beautiful face." He says and holds her chin gently.
"To see any damage come to a face as lovely as your mother's would be an absolute tragedy! Especially since I imagine she looked just as adorable as you are now when she was your age!" Loke exclaims and tickles Nashi's stomach.
"And even though many years have passed, your mother still looks just as radiant as when I first met her." Loke says and comes to stand beside the ladder Lucy was on and winks at her.
"Very smooth Loke." Lucy chuckles.
"That's not the only thing about me that's smooth Lucy." Loke adds.
Lucy's face turned bright red when she saw Loke open up his button down shirt to expose his chest to her.
"Feel free to touch anywhere you'd like to see just how smooth I am." Loke requests.
"I thought dad didn't like it when Loke flirts with mom?" Igneel asks his big sister.
"He doesn't. That's why Uncle Loke only does it when dad isn't home." Nashi explains to him.
"Loke keep your shirt on when the kids are here! It's bad enough that they're already exposed to Gray's stripping habit, I don't want them to have two men in their life that are constantly flashing them!" Lucy complains.
"Of course, I must have been so distracted by your beauty that I've forgotten my manners. Allow me to conduct myself in a more gentlemanly manner by holding the ladder to keep you safe and steady." Loke says while holding the ladder.
"This wouldn't have to do with the fact that I'm also wearing a skirt right now would it?" Lucy asks.
Loke merely chuckles and blushes.
"Well, either way it doesn't matter. I should go put a fire in the fireplace since it gets really cold in this house without Natsu." Lucy says and starts to come down the ladder.
Then Loke suddenly appeared at her side, delicately holding her hand.
"While we're waiting for his return I could think of a few ways to keep you warm." He says suggestively.
"Just what do you think you're doing with my wife Loke?" Natsu asks.
Loke's smoldering look turned to one of fear as he froze when he heard Natsu's voice from the front door behind him as it shut.
"Daddy!" Nashi and Igneel exclaim as they run towards Natsu.
He scoops his kids up in a big hug and smiles at them both before frowning at Loke who was still holding Lucy's hand.
Loke immediately let go of it before smiling sheepishly at Natsu.
"Oh well if it isn't the man of the house!" Loke chuckles nervously.
"Your wife mentioned that you were out on a job. I didn't expect you back so soon."
"It was a short job. I wouldn't take one any longer on Christmas Eve." Natsu explains.
He sets the kids down and walks over to Lucy.
"And if anyone's gonna be keeping Lucy warm it's me." Natsu says and holds her waist and lifts her off the ladder.
"Oh Natsu..." Lucy says softly and holds Natsu's shoulders before kissing him.
Natsu melts into the kiss and adjusts his hold on her to wrap his arms around her waist to keep her steady.
"Well you may be here now to keep her warm but while you were gone I was the first one to taste your wife's delicious cookies." Loke brags.
Natsu turned away from Lucy to frown at Loke.
"You did what now?" He growled.
"Natsu he's talking about the Christmas cookies I baked today." Lucy says.
"This one looks like Santa!" Nashi says, holding up a cookie.
"And this one looks like a Christmas tree!" Igneel says while holding another.
"Oh." Natsu says and relaxes.
"But if you're offering then I would love to sample those-"
"Get lost Loke!" Natsu scolds before Lucy closes his gate.
"Does he always show up and say stuff like that to ya when I'm not around?" Natsu asks his wife.
"Not enough to warrant another talk like the one we gave him before our wedding. Although because of you it was more of a threatening lecture than a conversation between mature adults." Lucy reminds him.
"I'm sorry about that Luce. I just don't like it when other guys say stuff to you like that. I've never been good at saying romantic stuff to ya, so when other guys do that it makes me feel like I'm failing ya in some way." Natsu admits.
"Natsu, Loke might be great at sweet talk but you're a sweet guy. You show me how much you love me through your actions, and that speaks so much louder to me than words ever could." Lucy says and cups his cheek.
Natsu nuzzled his face against her palm and smiled.
"That's ironic coming from an author." He says.
Lucy laughed and then Natsu scooped her up again and spun her around while pecking her lips over and over. He stopped and set her down when he felt a tug on his pants. He looked down and saw his son looking up at him with curiosity.
"Daddy what job did you take that was so important you left us on Christmas Eve?" He asks.
"Well it was a job that only I could do. That huge blizzard yesterday froze Hargeon's port and all of the ships were stuck. So I had to go un-freeze the port by melting the ice with my fire." Natsu explains.
"Whoa, you melted an entire bay with your magic?" Nashi asks in amazement while resting her weight on her hands that were pressing on her brother's head.
"I sure did! One Fire Dragon King roar and then those ships were all sailing!" Natsu exclaims.
"And how many of those ships ended up catching on fire too?" Lucy asks sternly.
Natsu scratches the back of his head as a bead of sweat drips down his forehead.
"You'll find out when Gramps yells at me about the bill he's gonna get." Natsu says.
Lucy rolls her eyes then smiles at him. Then she shivered and rubbed her arms as a chilling gale blew by the house.
"The winds pushing away the blizzard from yesterday have been freezing!" Happy exclaims before his teeth chatter as he holds himself.
"Yeah it's been really cold here without you dad." Igneel says while hugging himself.
"Hey! Daddy's not the only one who can make fire! I can help warm you up Iggy!" Nashi says.
"Oh yeah, Nashi uses starfire magic. Why didn't we just use her magic to warm up in here?" Happy asks.
Nashi holds her hands out in front of her brother and then sparkling flames come shooting up from her palms and one of them catches on the sleeve of Igneel's sweater making him scream and flail his arm before Natsu sucked up the fire.
"Because she's only allowed to use it when Natsu's here so the house doesn't burn down." Lucy reminds him.
Nashi pouted and Natsu pulled her into a hug.
"Don't be down kiddo, you'll get better at controlling it with practice, that's how I learned. Besides, if you pout then Santa won't give you any presents." He reminds her and she immediately stopped pouting and gave Natsu her biggest smile.
She squeals in delight as Natsu stands up and holds her over his head by holding her waist with his hands before laying her down over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes while she laughed.
"How about you help me make a fire in the fireplace to warm up your mom, Igneel and Happy?" Natsu suggests.
"That sounds fun!" Nashi cheers.
"Oh this feels so much better!" Happy purrs as he curls up on Igneel's lap by the fireplace.
"Great job Natsu." Lucy says and lays her head against Natsu's shoulder as they sat close together.
"Anything to make you happy Lucy." He says before kissing the top of her head.
"Hey dad, who taught you fire magic?" Igneel asks.
"I've told ya before. Your grandpa Igneel. The dragon you're named after." Natsu says and ruffles his hair.
"Wait grandpa Igneel was a dragon!?" Nashi exclaims.
"Yeah he was. Natsu didn't you tell them that?" Lucy asks.
"I thought so but maybe I forgot to mention that part?" Natsu wonders.
"Wait so grandpa Igneel was really a killer dragon?" Igneel asks.
"Whoa hey, that's my dad you're talkin' about he was no killer. He was a good dragon and he taught me how to read and write and use magic." Natsu explains.
"Yeah but he also killed a bunch of other dragons and people didn't he? That's how he became the Dragon King?" Nashi asks.
"Where'd you here that crap?" Natsu asks her.
"She may have tagged along with me and Levy to the library when she was doing research on dragons earlier this month…" Lucy admits.
"Someone wrote a book about Igneel?" Natsu asks.
"Not about him specifically but notable dragons like him." Lucy explains.
"Like that one dragon Zirconis that Levy said made mommy naked!" Nashi says.
"Of course that's the part she remembers." Lucy grumbles.
"And then it tried to eat her!" Nashi exclaims.
"Daddy how were you able to avoid getting naked and eaten by Igneel?" Igneel asks.
"I was never naked, I had pants! And I never had to avoid being eaten because Igneel never wanted to eat me in the first place!" Natsu answers.
"But he was a dragon, and according to all of those books Levy found, dragons eat people!" Nashi says.
"Well not all of them, or else myself, your uncle Gajeel, aunt Wendy, and Sting and Rogue wouldn't be here right now." Natsu says.
"How do you know they weren't just fattening you up to eat you later?" Igneel asks.
"Because Igneel would never do that, he cared about me! He even had your great-grandma Anna make me this scarf for me out of his scales." Natsu explains and pulls his scarf looser to show his kids the scales.
"Wait those are dragon scales? Dad really was raised by a dragon Nashi!" Igneel exclaims.
"Oh no what if he comes and eats us?" Nashi asks and hugs her brother in fear.
"He's not gonna come and eat ya." Natsu says sternly.
"Even if he wanted to he couldn't. He died years before you two were born, protecting your mom and the rest of the guild from Acnologia." Natsu says and stares at the fire.
Lucy reached forward and held his hand to comfort him and Natsu squeezed it in response.
"Mom does that mean you met Igneel?" Nashi asks.
"Well I saw him fighting but I never got the chance to talk to him before Acnologia struck him down." Lucy says.
"I wish I could've introduced you to him Luce. He would've loved you." Natsu says and smiles at her.
"He probably would have just confused me with Anna." Lucy guesses.
"Did he want to eat Anna too?" Nashi asks.
"What no never! He was friends with Anna, she used to be a teacher for me, Sting, Rogue, Wendy and Gajeel." Natsu explains.
"Igneel was a good dragon, he'd never eat anyone. I don't know why you kids are on about that." Natsu says.
"Because that's what the books say daddy, and mommy and aunt Levy say that books are always right!" Nashi says.
"Oh so it's you and Levy's fault that our kids think Igneel was a killer?" Natsu asks Lucy.
"Hey don't blame me I didn't write the books!" Lucy retorts.
"Come on Iggy let's go up to mommy's writing room, I'll read you the books!" Nashi says.
"Okay!" Igneel agrees and follows his big sister up the stairs.
Lucy smiles as the two of them ran up the stairs to her study before turning back to her husband who seemed sad.
"Natsu don't be so worried. They're kids, they'll believe anything they read or hear is the truth." Lucy explains.
"Then why won't they believe me when I tell them the truth about Igneel?" Natsu asks.
"I don't know." Lucy says.
"I don't want my kids growing up thinking that Igneel was some sort of terrifying monster when he wasn't." Natsu says.
"I'm sure they won't. They'll believe you one day." Lucy says.
"How do you know that? It's not like they can meet Igneel to see for themselves." Natsu says and sighs.
Lucy got a thoughtful look on her face and rubbed one of the scales on Natsu's scarf.
"But it's not like I can bring him back to life, as awesome as it would be for him to spend Christmas with us." Natsu says.
"So let's just enjoy the Holiday as a family." Natsu says and kisses the top of her head.
"Yeah, a night together as a family is always a good way to spend the Holiday." Lucy says as she discreetly plucks a scale from the scarf and pockets it for later.
Later that night while the kids were fast asleep, Lucy came into their room and gently whispered to them to wake them up.
"Mommy why are you waking us up?" Nashi asks with a small yawn.
"Is it Christmas morning already?" Igneel asks and rubs his eye.
"Not yet. But I want you guys to come outside with me and aunt Wendy. We have a surprise for you and your father." Lucy says.
After rallying her kids and her husband to get them to come outside they came to find Wendy and Carla outside of a huge fire in their yard.
"What are the two of you doing here?" Natsu asks, rubbing his eye.
"We're here to use a special spell that Wendy knows how to do, to bring someone here for the Holiday's." Carla says.
"Who are you trying to bring home?" Nashi asks.
"You'll see Nashi." Lucy says.
Natsu gives her a curious look then watches as Wendy throws something small and white into the fire and then kneels in the snow with her hands pressed together and a magic circle begins to glow underneath her.
Suddenly, the flames shoot high into the sky and they hear a dragon's roar.
"What was that?" Igneel asks timidly and shuffles closer to his sister.
A giant, red scaly arm comes out of the flames and smacks down in the snow. Natsu's eyes widened.
"No way is that…" He stammers.
The rest of the beast emerges from the flames and lets out a loud roar.
"Igneel…" Natsu whispers as tears form in his eyes.
The kids and Happy scream and both of them run to hide behind Lucy.
"Mommy aunt Wendy summoned the killer dragon!" Nashi wails.
"Tell daddy to kill it before it eats us all!" Igneel screams.
"He's not going to eat us." Lucy tells her kids.
"I asked Wendy to use a special spell that uses just one of his dragon scales to bring him back for one night so that you kids can meet him and see that he's not the monster you read about in those books." Lucy explains and waves Wendy off as she leaves with Carla.
Natsu noticed the hole in his scarf and smiled before coming over to his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist and planting a passionate kiss on her lips.
"Thank you Lucy. This is the best Christmas gift I've ever gotten." Natsu says before kissing her deeply again.
"Well are you going to spend some time with your old man or are you just going to kiss your mate all night?" Igneel the dragon chuckles.
"If I had it my way I'd do both." Natsu says before going over to Igneel.
"Dad be careful!" Nashi calls to him.
"Relax Nashi, he's not going to eat your father." Lucy reassures her.
"So you took my advice and looked forward to the future." Igneel says looking from Natsu to his family.
"I did dad, this is my family." Natsu says and gestures to them.
"I know son. I've been watching over you, and seeing you grow stronger and find love made me so happy." Igneel says.
"And now they can all finally meet you!" Natsu exclaims happily.
"Kids come on over and meet your grandpa!"
Natsu holds out his arms to his kids who were still hiding behind Lucy. She coaxes them out and gently nudges them forward towards Natsu and Igneel. They timidly walked forward to stand in front of the dragon and Igneel tilted his head and looked at them curiously.
"Dad, these are my kids, Nashi and Igneel. Kids this is your grandpa Igneel." Natsu introduces.
Igneel exhaled a hot breath onto their faces and both of the kids gasped then giggled.
"That tickled my nose!" Nashi says then sneezes and a small fireball came out of her mouth.
"Your daughter takes after you I see." Igneel chuckles.
"That takes me back to when you use to sneeze up fireballs." He reminds Natsu.
"Yeah, those were the days." Natsu says.
"I take it you two have never seen a dragon before?" Igneel asks the kids and they shake their heads no.
"Well now what do you think of your grandfather?" He asks them.
"I still think you're kinda scary-looking, but you're also a lot nicer than I thought you were!" Nashi says and gently reaches out to rub his nose.
Igneel chuckled and gently bit the back of Nashi's coat and lifted her up into the air. He tossed her and she laughed as she went flying into the air while Lucy watched with worry.
"Be careful!" Lucy warns before Igneel catches her again and sets her down on the ground.
"Do me next grandpa!" Her son requests.
Igneel heeds his request and does the same to his grandson.
"You have the same laugh as your father." Igneel notices.
"You even look at lot like him too. The only difference is that your hair is a different color. I'm assuming he gets that from you." Igneel says and looks at Lucy.
She and Happy walked forward towards Igneel and Natsu wrapped an arm around her waist while Happy hung onto his shoulder.
"Igneel, this is my wife Lucy and my best pal Happy. Lucy, Happy, this is my dad Igneel." Natsu introduces.
"Hello Igneel, it's nice to meet you." Lucy says.
"Aye Sir!" Happy says.
"Hello talking blue cat, I always found you very strange." Igneel says and Happy looks offended.
"And Lucy, you resemble your ancestor Anna very much. No wonder Natsu ended up falling for you. He did like Anna a lot when she was his teacher." Igneel laughs.
"First Gajeel now you, what the hell does that mean?" Natsu asks.
Igneel sighs and looks at Lucy.
"How he somehow managed to realize his love for you is something short of a miracle." Igneel says and Lucy laughs while Natsu looks offended.
"But when my spirit resided inside of Natsu I felt his feelings for you change as I watched your relationship grow. I knew that if any woman was ever going to have his heart that it would be you, and it looks like I was right." Igneel says.
"So you like her dad?" Natsu asks.
"I think she's great Natsu. She's beautiful, smart, and at this point she probably knows you better than you know yourself." Igneel says and grins.
"I love her more than anything dad. I don't know what I ever did to deserve her, and I don't think I could ever live without her." Natsu says and kisses the top of her head.
"If Igneel's gonna be here for the whole night, does that mean we're gonna stay up all night to celebrate Christmas with him?" Happy asks.
"You bet we are!" Natsu says.
"Yay!" The kids cheer.
"What should we do first?" Lucy asks.
"Well, the skies seem pretty clear tonight…" Igneel says and looks up in the sky before looking at his grandkids.
"Do you kids want to know what it's like to ride a dragon?" He asks and their faces light up in excitement.
"Everyone hang on!" Igneel calls to them as he swoops up into the sky over the forest.
Natsu, and his son hung onto Igneel's back while Lucy and Nashi wrapped their arms around Natsu's waist and held on tight. Happy hung onto Natsu's shoulder for dear life until Igneel straightened out and he could relax.
Nashi and Igneel looked amazed by the view of the sky.
Natsu looked over his shoulder to see Lucy's reaction but she still had her face buried in his scarf while clinging to him for dear life.
"Relax Luce, and look at the stars." Natsu tells her.
He lifts her chin up and she gasps as she sees all of the stars sparkling all around them.
"It's so beautiful from up here." She says.
"Whoa Nashi look you can touch a cloud!" Igneel says and reaches out with his hand to touch a faint cloud wisp.
"Why don't you try to catch that one up there Iggy?" Natsu suggests and tosses his son up into the air before catching him again.
Together they flew across Hargeon bay and then mountains. And then they flew across Magnolia, creating quite a stir for the residents that were still awake, thinking that this dragon sighting must be some sort of Christmas miracle, which it was.
Back at home they played games until the kids were tired, and then Lucy and Happy put them to bed so that Natsu could have some time alone with his dad before the sun rose.
When Natsu came back after Igneel was gone there were tears streaming down his cheeks. Lucy hugged him and he buried his face in her neck and held her waist.
"What did he say to you before the spell wore off?" Lucy asks.
"He said that he's so happy that he could spend a night with his family. He loves you, Happy and the kids Lucy, and he's gonna watch over us for the rest of our lives because seeing us together is what heaven is for him. Being able to spend Christmas Eve with us as a family made him the happiest he's ever been and it made me so happy too that he could be with us again even if it was just for one night. I always wanted him to meet you all, and being able to have him do that was the best way to spend Christmas, thank you so much for getting Wendy to bring him back so he could meet the family I was able to have because of him." Natsu sniffles.
"Merry Christmas Natsu. I love you." Lucy says softly while she teared up.
"Merry Christmas Luce, I love you too." He says before planting a wet kiss on his wife's lips.