Trying to get back into writing, and I had to write one from this fandom. It teased me too much. I couldn't help it. I hopefully will be back to writing more soon. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail nor do I own the characters.

"But I don't wanna go to sleep!" the child squalled.

"It's way past the time you should sleep. Go to bed." Came a deep, demanding groan, clearly seeming to be slightly frustrated with the bundle of pink-haired dynamite.

The small fireball clamored up to tug on his caretaker's snarling lip, "Aw, c'mon, Igneel, please? At least a story. I won't go to bed unless ya tell me a story."

With a growl that sounded suspiciously like a heavy sigh, the mass of muscle and power curled his hind legs to his side and swung his tail around to be more comfortable. The little "dragon" whooped in excitement, snuggling himself in a crook in Igneel's folded front legs before turning to his father with a stern look on his face, "I want a real one this time, not one of them ten minute things you make up on the spot ta get me to go to sleep faster."

A low throaty noise rumbled through the creature's jowls as he raised a claw to delicately pluck a large albeit dusty volume from the top shelf of his den library, which constituted a number of wooden bookshelves stocked with mostly magic and academic works.

Opening the piece of old literature, Igneel lightly shook the book a couple times, hesitant to blow on it, especially if it would encourage Natsu to do the same. A grumble from his lips announced the clearing of his throat as he shifted on his haunches, prepared to begin. As he opened his mouth to speak, pint-sized Natsu piped in, "Wait, wait, wait! Don't start yet!"

Natsu then wiggled out of Igneel's grasp to grab a blanket from one end of the den and scramble back up the dragon's massive forearm to wriggle back into a comfortable crook in his father's arms. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Igneel returned his attention to the literature at hand…claw.

Once again, he set about the task of reading the squishy little pink child a "proper" bedtime story.

"So, there was…"

"No, no, no! It sounds stupid when you say it like that, you gotta start more epically!"

Igneel growled lowly, and began again, "Long ago, in a land of adventure…" he paused for a moment, glanced at Natsu, who was silent, and continued.

"…there lived a dragon. Powerful, strong, and handsome, he was. However, he was alone. It wasn't good for a dragon to be alone. All dragons mate for life, Natsu, you see, and—"

"NO!"

Igneel snarled, "Now what is it, Natsu?"

Covering his ears, Natsu frowned, "This isn't a…" he gulped, "…'love' story, is it?"

The dragon shook his neck as if shaking off a pest and growled, frustrated, "Do you want me to finish the story or not?"

Natsu crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders, pursing his lips, "Finish the story."

Igneel let out a horse-like snort and continued, "This dragon was alone. One day, he was patrolling his territory when he happened upon a woman crying. Now, the humans weren't on bad terms with the dragons at this point. So he went to inspect what was wrong with her. She turned and clung to him, telling him about her ailing father and the fiancé she was being forced to marry. He sat and listened to all her woes, before she stared at him with tears in her big eyes. With nowhere to go and nothing to eat, he took her back to his den and took care of her. However, the comfort did not last long, as an army came to retrieve the lady from the dragon. The army took the lady away, back to her home, declaring to the dragon that they were taking the princess back, without so much as thanking him for finding her."

Hearing a little gasp come from the child resting in his arm, Igneel let a smirk quirk at his mouth as he returned to the story, "The dragon was shocked as well, never thinking that he had been housing the princess. However, remembering all of her words of sadness and anxiety and remembering her eyes, kindness and her humility, he felt the flames churn in his belly."

Natsu pumped his fist and giggled.

Igneel spoke again, "He realized that he had found his mate, and he needed to rescue her. Flying down to the kingdom, he demanded to see her, and her fiancé, a knight, came to meet him. The two then had an epic battle for the princess's hand. And, it looks like that's all we have time for tonight."

Natsu gripped his blanket tightly, "What happened? Igneel, tell me what happened!"

The dragon slight grin, revealing some of his large teeth, "Alright Natsu, just a little while longer. So, their battle began…"

"Nyahh—Luce, you have anything to eat?"

The blonde groaned, struggling to strap the heel of her shoe in place, "Natsu, why do you have to pick NOW of all times to rummage through my fridge?"

Natsu huffed in response, returning to his task of finding food in the caverns of her refrigerated edible treasure chest. After no more than two minutes, he spoke again, nibbling on something she could only guess was some sort of meat with who-knows-what kind of condiments smothered all over it.

"Luce, what are you doing, anyway?"

Fluffing the curls in her hair in front of the mirror, she smoothed out the wrinkles in her outfit. Sucking in a deep breath, she answered him in a shallow but slightly agitated tone, "What does it look like, Natsu? I'm going out tonight. I need a little time to relax."

Raising his eyebrows, he answered without a hitch, "Great! Let me get my shoes on."

Lucy growled, "Ugh, Natsu…how do I say this…I just need some time away from the guild."

Natsu shrugged, "Okay, we'll go somewhere else then."

Running around to find her purse, she came across the bookshelf, grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on, and flung it in his general direction. He barely caught it, then flipped it over in his hands, raising his eyebrows, "Luce? This is a book on Fairy Tales…"

Nearly tripping on her heels, she heaved, "Natsu, just stay here and read it, make yourself useful or something."

With that, she rushed out the door, nearly slamming it behind her, not even bothering to try to force him out of her apartment. So, with a sigh, Natsu hopped onto the bed, glanced around, and cracked open the book from Lucy's bookshelf.

Opening the door to her apartment, she expected to be greeted by lights and the sounds of Natsu's obnoxious voice or the sounds of snoring. But she was met with silence. Pure, utter silence other than the sound of the breeze in the open window. And it was dark. Completely dark. When her eyes adjusted, she could see a silhouette in the windowsill.

Recognizing the silhouette, she hesitantly closed the door and addressed the figure, "N-Natsu?"

A twitch was the only motion that told her he acknowledged her presence. Finally, his voice came to her ears, but it sounded strange, like the voice he used when he was trying his best to hold back.

"Lucy, you're a princess, right?"

He used her full first name. That and his tone nearly sent her out of her skin. She knew that leaving him here was rude and she was planning on apologizing, but she didn't think he'd get this mad. Not to mention—wait, did he just ask…?

"Wh-What?" she could feel herself stutter.

A sigh. "I said, you're a princess, right?"

Her mouth dried out, and her hands got clammy. The tone he used. She was legitimately scared. She'd heard him use that tone before, but never directed at her.

"Uhm—Y-Yeah, sorta. I mean—"

"Right?"

This time, he turned around quickly, and Lucy tried to bolt, instead backed against the front door. He approached her, his height towering over her more than she remembered. His eyes burned into hers for a moment, and she finally summoned an answer from her throat, "Y-yes."

Natsu's frown deepened, and he said nothing, leaning over her shoulder to open her front door and let himself out, closing the door eerily quietly behind him.

Lucy stood there for a while, utterly stunned. She could feel her knees give out under her as her blood pounded in her ears. Why was she so shaken up? This was Natsu, of all people!

Exactly.

Didn't matter what did or didn't happen on her night about the town. None of that would compare to the fear she felt right then. Natsu wasn't just angry. He didn't even seem to be angry AT her. There was something else in there.

It was that tone he used when someone was hurting one of his friends.

She picked at her lunch, still unable to get his intense expression out of her mind, even after two days. Why was this upsetting her so much?

Maybe because Natsu seemed to be in a perpetually "alone" mood, the feeling of discontent nearly surrounding him wherever he went.

Not only that, but he seemed to be deliberately avoiding her…and making it clear to her, beyond a doubt, that he was avoiding her.

She had tried suggesting jobs, lunch, even free food and fishing. Anything to get him to talk to her. It was childish.

She still couldn't understand it.

So she came to the logical and adult solution. She kidnapped Happy.

Shutting the doors and windows quickly, double-checking to make sure they were all locked, Lucy sat down in front of the cat, handed him a chunk of fish from the freezer, and waited expectantly.

Happy ate, well, happily, before looking up at her, noticing her strange expression, "Lucy, there's something wrong with your face."

Perturbed, she inhaled through her nose and exhaled slowly through her mouth, "Okay. Happy. What's wrong with Natsu?"

The cat tilted his head, "Natsu?"

The mage nodded. Happy shrugged, "How should I know?"

Lucy's heave came with a growl as she got up off her seat at the bed and began to walk around her room, "Come on, Happy. You're his best friend. Why is he acting so weird? Like he's depressed or angry or something. And he keeps avoiding me. You have to tell me that you've noticed something different about him."

Happy tapped his chin for a moment, "Well, he has been reading human books a lot. Which is really weird."

As if by cue, a pounding noise came from the other side of the door, causing the girl to jump. She cautiously approached the door, "Who is it?"

She heard a low, oddly calm response, "It's me."

Ignoring Happy's excited, "Aye, Natsu!" and biting her lip, Lucy puffed out her chest, and opened the door, as if to try to make herself more intimidating. However, this obviously had no effect, as she was met with an open book in her face.

"Do all these human fairy tale books end like this?"

She stuttered another moment, "Well, uhm, yes, those ones do."

Walking past her and slamming the book, still open, on her desk, he turned to face her, "No, they don't."

Happy was drawn to her desk to look over the discarded literature while Lucy took a step closer to her partner, "Come on, Natsu, I'll make you something to eat."

He pulled away from her, a strange expression on his face, "No! Your books are lies! They're not REAL!"

He gritted his teeth, his eyes wild. The girl stepped closer to him once again, placing her hands reassuringly on his chest, "Natsu. You need to calm down. I can't believe I'm saying this, but go lie down on my bed and I'll bring you soup or tea or something."

He was breathing heavily, and she could tell the fire mage was no longer thinking clearly. So, he allowed her to push him backwards until he fell to sit on her bed. She made her way to the kitchen, and a confused Happy followed. Heating up some water and leaning on the counter, she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "You see what I mean, Happy?"

Silence, then, "Lucy?"

Happy's voice was serious. Bad news. "What is it, Happy?"

He bounded up on the counter to face her properly, "That book. You said all you humans' fairy tales end like that…"

Lucy shrugged, "Yeah, they're children's stories, why?"

Happy sighed, "You see, Lucy, I don't know all the details, but, when I was a kitten, Natsu used to tell me the stories that Igneel had told him. One of them was like one of your stories, the one with the knight and the dragon and the princess. In Igneel's story, the dragon fell in love with the princess and saved her from a life where she would be married to a rotten knight."

Lucy slowly put the pieces together, and all of a sudden, everything started to click. Her face froze in a permanent 'o'.

Pouring the hot water into a mug and stuffing the tea and lots of sugar into it, she rushed out to her main room, only to find the object of her worry passed out on her bed, a rather 'cute' discontented frown on his face.

She walked over to take a glance at the fairy tale book one more time, rereading the ending, which…well, now she understood why Natsu was upset. Sighing, she set down the cup of tea on the desk , closed the book and walked over to the edge of the bed, kneeling beside it and peering at his sleeping face. That was when when Natsu's voice surprised her.

"Mrhm…Luce….I-I'm…mm….sorry…"

His half-asleep mumblings couldn't help but lift a smile to her face as she brushed a few strands of hair from his face.

Standing, she tilted her head to survey his position. Laying upside down on the bed in a very sprawled and uncomfortable-looking position, if it were anyone other than Natsu, she would think that something was seriously wrong with him.

A tender smile crossed her features and she lifted his head and shoulders, ignoring his groaning protests as she slipped herself onto the bed and set his head back down on her lap. His frowns disappeared as he rubbed his cheek against her leg before settling his head into her lap, much like a child. Lucy smiled, slowly reaching her hand to bury itself into his mass of hair. She slowly stroked his hair, and Happy, much too tired now to aggravate anyone, curled up in the crook of Natsu's legs. Lucy continued to run her fingers through Natsu's mane as his eyelids fluttered just slightly, a word spilling sloppily from his mouth that sounded suspiciously similar to her name.

Her voice came out in a whisper, "Oh Natsu. You're such a goof. Don't you know not to believe everything you read?"

His hands meandered sleepily to loop around her, securing himself on his "pillow". Lucy shook her head, but watched him nonetheless before whispering once again, not really intending for anyone awake to hear, "Once, long ago in a faraway kingdom, there was a princess…who fell for the stupid dragon that rescued her. Is that how it goes, Dragneel?"

Fin.

Hope you all enjoyed. Leave me a line or two if you like. It's very encouraging. Be blessed, everyone, praying for you all!