Hey Readers! This is my first Fairy Tail FF so please no flames. I do realize that the first chapter moves quickly, but I wanted the beginning to be fast so I could get to the good parts later on. Also, I suck at writing first chapters, so bare with me here. I hope you enjoy my story, and please R&R. It gives me some encouragement and lets me know my story isn't total crap. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer- I don't own Fairy tail in any way. All rights go to Hiro Mashima.

Now, on with the story!

Chapter 1- Strange Dreams

It had all started out as a regular day at Fairy Tail, well as normal as Fairy Tail could be. I was sitting at my usual seat at the bar, while talking to Levy-Chan about a new book she had found. Well, she was talking and I was pretending to listen, not really catching anything she was animatedly talking about. I was getting the beginning of a killer headache, and all the noise was so not helping. I allowed my head to flop down onto the counter of the bar with a thunk, and Levy seemed to notice my pained expression. She paused in her ramble about her book, and looked at me with a worried expression visible on her face.

"Lu-Chan are you ok? You look kinda pale." She softly said. I looked at her and gave a weak smile. I could always count on my family at fairy tail to notice anything wrong with me. "I'm fine, I just have a headache. All I need is some sleep, and then I'll be fine," I mumbled. The white haired model, Mira, having heard our conversation walked around the bar where she had been previously drying glasses, and sat down beside me.

"If you're not feeling well, you should go home and rest." She said quietly. Mira smiled a breathtaking bright smile and handed me a glass of cool water. I nodded and smiled gratefully at her concern. I got up slowly to keep my pounding head from getting worse after downing the cool liquid.

I trudged to the door, all the furniture flying through the air from Natsu and Gray's fighting somehow miraculously missing me. Fire and ice flew around the room, but I hardly could bring myself to scold the pair for destroying the guild. I walked out the doors of Fairy Tail, and walked in the direction of my small apartment. I didn't even bother walking on the ledge of the canal like I would usually do, in this condition I'd probably just fall in. As soon as I got in my apartment, I made it three steps into my house before my vision began to swim. Black spots danced infront of my eyes and I collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was in strange clothes that were made of leather, and I seemed to be sitting in a forest somewhere. I must be dreaming. I thought. The trees were green and tall, they towered above my head making me feel smaller than I had ever in my life. Sun shone through the holes in the canopy of leaves above me, and the light danced to some unheard music. The place practically radiated magic.

A twig snapped off to my left, and my head whipped in that direction, my hands were already reaching for the keys strapped to my belt. A shadowed figure came into view, only its silhouette was visible. As it neared, I realized it was a woman. She was wearing a cloak with the hood down, and she was wearing tight leather clothes. She had on knee-high hiking boots that laced up and were tied neatly in a bow at the top. She looked to be in her mid twenties, with chocolate hair and golden eyes that gave her an animalistic appearance.

"Calm down, calm down, there is no need to call out your spirits." I realized that the mystery woman was talking to me. The woman's voice was smooth and soothing, and she seemed to have a playful glint in her eyes.

"W-who are you? Why am I here?" I cursed myself for stuttering and my fear of the woman. Really, without Natsu here to protect me, to put it lightly, I was screwed. I had no choice but to hold my ground and push away my fear. Where was Natsu when you need him? She laughed, her voice sounding like a teenagers. "My name is Eva. I am the leader and co teacher of a dragon rider academy. You have the potential to become a rider, so I called you here." Eva said with a smile on her face. She must be crazy. Everyone knows the dragons disappeared on year X777. I thought.

"Yes they have vanished in this dimension, but in our world, they are still very much alive."I was stunned. I didn't say anything out loud! Eva smiled again and said, "No you didn't speak aloud, I have the power to read minds, so it is hard to keep any information from me. That particular skill is helpful when running a magic school filled with powerful mages and their dragons." I nodded slowly, absorbing this new piece of information.

"So dragons are alive in this alternate dimension? What makes me so special?" I asked, curious about the answer.

"Yes, it is possible to form a connection to a dragon, and be able to ride it. Only Celestial mages with a pure soul can bond to a dragon, which is why there are so few celestial mages in your world." Eva explained.

"How do I know you're telling the truth, and that I'm not just going insane?"

"I thought you might ask that. Would you like to meet my friend, Night?" Eva asked. Night…? The woman laughed, apparently having heard my thoughts. This mind reading thing was getting annoying. She was still for a second, before nodding slightly. I was curious what caused her to nod, but I remained silent.

The gentle breeze turned into a gale that buffeted me around, but Eva looked totally unaffected. A dark shape landed on the forest floor, hitting the ground so hard that dirt and small rocks flew outwards upon its impact. The dirt cleared and I got a better view of the shape that had landed in front of me. I sucked a breath in quickly as I saw that the dark shape was actually a black dragon with glowing yellow eyes. It had spikes along its head, and down its spine all the way to the tip of its tail. A long slender neck was connected to broad shoulders that rippled with muscle, and two leathery wings were folded on its sides. It was only a little bigger than a horse, but it had a terrifying beauty to it. I looked at its posture and realized that it stood in a defensive position in front of Eva; one shimmering eye was watching me closely.

I stumbled backwards and tripped on a root, landing with a thump on the ground.

"W-wow," Was my intelligent response. Note the sarcasm. Eva chuckled softly and spoke for the first time since the dragon landed. "Stand down, Night. We mustn't scare the girl too bad, we want people to like us. Be nice." Eva reprimanded the great dragon. Night seemed like a fitting name for the pitch black dragon in front of me. 'I'm sorry for startling you, young mage. Forgive me, but I just had to make sure you had the courage to face me, even when I was staring you down. Welcome to our realm, Lucy. My name is Night, Eva's soul partner, and head dragon trainer.' A deep, rumbling voice echoed in my mind. My head swiveled to stare at the black dragon. He...talks? I thought.

"Dragons here in this world can't speak, so they communicate telepathically with its partner and those around it." Eva explained with excitement clear in her voice.

"So it's possible for me to have a dragon as a partner?" I asked.

"First, you must choose to join us at the academy. Then I will answer all of your questions. I will give you one day to decide to come or not. The training and your dragon partner will make you stronger, but you will have to stay with us to train for four years before you can return." She pulled out a strange key that looked suspiciously like it was made of diamonds. Eva grabbed my hand and placed the sparkling key in it.

'Think hard about this, and we will have hope of seeing you soon. The key will disappear in a week if you choose not to join us. Now you must go from this place, I sense you are stirring.' Night said.

"Oh, and by the way, sorry about the migraine. It only happens to some unlucky people when you communicate through dreams, and I guess you're one of them. Good luck, and to use the key all you have to do is call out: Open, Doorway of the Worlds!" Eva yelled out. I barely had time to hear what Eva had yelled before I could feel myself being pulled out of the dream, and back into my room where I woke up in my bed. Wait… my bed?

I could have sworn I passed out on the floor. That dream felt so real, but there's no way that could happen. I was about to get up when I realized that there was something cool and smooth it was grasping. I looked down and saw a familiar sparkling key in my hand. Its surface was smooth and cool, and it sent rainbows dancing around the room. It looked like it was crafted out of a diamond; it was translucent, and had a blue square symbol on its handle.

I was so surprised to see the key that I let out a shriek and fell off the bed with a thump. What surprised me more was that shortly after falling off the bed, Natsu ran in my room with half a piece of burnt toast in his mouth.

"uuce are ue oaa?" (Luce are you ok?) He asked. It took me a moment to understand him, but I finally understood that he asked me if I was ok. Wow, I am really slow today. I blame it on the headache Eva and Night caused.

"I-I'm fine. It was just a bad dream." I said with a small blush rising to my cheeks. I hated to admit it, but I had a small crush on the fire mage. He would never know though, he was so dense sometimes! Natsu most likely didn't even know what love was.

He nodded, but shot me a look out of the corner of his eye. The pink haired mage held out a hand to help me up, and I gladly took it. His large, calloused hand held mine tightly as he pulled me up from the floor, and his warm hand sending tingles up my arm. I realized that he was still holding on to my hand, and I awkwardly let go. I thought I saw a look of disappointment flash through his facial features, but I probably imagined it.

"Thanks, Natsu!" I said happily, my dream forgotten for the moment. I shoved the key roughly in my pocket and brushed myself off. I looked up and saw he was gazing at me with an intensity only seen in battle. I was captivated by his onyx eyes, and found that I couldn't look away.

"Luuucy! You're out of fish!" The blue exceed whined as he flew in the room natsu and I were in. happy seemed to take in the situation in a matter of seconds and then said, "You liiiiiike each other." He rolled his tong on the word 'like' to emphasize it.

"We do not!" Natsu and I said in unison. He shot me another look that I pretended not to see.

"Happy, what do you mean I have no fish left? I went to the store yesterday!" I started yelling the last part. I swear, if they ate all my food again, I am going to explode. Or die of starvation. Maybe both.

"Naaatsu! Lucy is scary! Make her stop!" Happy cried, and then flew behind Natsu's head to hide. I huffed, and stomped out to go survey the damage in the kitchen.

Natsu's P.O.V

I was worried about Lucy. When she had left the guild suddenly, everyone had been worried for her. Mira had said that it was just a headache, but we were still concerned. I had decided to go check on her at her apartment, but when I jumped in through the window I saw her passed out on the floor.

"Oi, Lucy wake up!" I ran over and began to violently shake her, but I quickly found that it did more harm than good. I couldn't just leave her on the floor, so I decided to put her on the bed.

"Happy can you help me get Lucy in her bed?" I asked my partner. He nodded, and flew Lucy into her room. I followed Happy, and helped him get Lucy comfortably lying on her bed. I sat and watched her to make sure she was ok because I couldn't stand to see a nakama in this condition.

Happy went immediately to the kitchen eat Lucy's fish store. I sat and watched her peaceful expression while she slept. Her soft golden hair shoe in the light that came through the window and her pale porcelain skin seemed to make her look more angelic-like. Wait, stop Natsu! She is a nakama, and nothing else… Or is she?

I heard her heartbeat speed up, and she winced in her sleep. Then she started mumbling.

"Not…Possible….Night….Key" Her brows were furrowed in a look of concentration, and she kept mumbling incoherent words that were lost, even to my sensitive ears. She eventually calmed down, but my stomach decided to make its presence known at that moment. A loud growl echoed through the room, and all thoughts were replaced by hunger. I decided that Luce could survive long enough for me to raid her kitchen. I couldn't let happy have all the food to himself.

Happy and I plowed through her fully stocked cabinets until our pig-out was interrupted by a scream and thump. Happy ignored the noise, so I went to make sure Lucy was ok. I stuffed a piece of toast in my mouth, and ran in her room. I found Lucy lying on the floor in a heap, clucking something sparkly in her hand.

I tried to ask her if she was ok, but it's hard to talk with a piece of toast stuffed in your mouth.

"I-I'm fine. It was just a bad dream." She said. Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, but it vanished so fast that I must have imagined it. I nodded at her answer, and held out my hand for her. She took it and I felt tingles spread out from her small soft hand down my arm. I didn't want to let go of her hand, but she pulled hers away. I was disappointed, but I tried not to show it.

"Thanks Natsu!" She said happily. I saw her roughly shove the shiny object she had been holding earlier, in her pocket. I watched her intently to make sure that she wasn't going to pass out again, and when she looked up, she met my eye and I saw a slight pink tint spread on her cheeks. Her chocolate eyes were warm and welcoming, and she looked so fragile so… delicate.

"Luuucy! You're out of fish!" Happy whined as he flew into the room. He seemed to take in our situation, and he started grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You liiiiiike each other." Happy called.

"We do not!" we said at the same time. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. For some reason, my stomach seemed to drop when she said those words. I blame it all on being hungry.

Then she seemed to realize something. "Happy, what do you mean I have no fish left? I went to the store yesterday!" not waiting for an answer, she hurried out of her bedroom in the direction of her kitchen. If I knew her well, which I did, we were so dead. Lucy could be as scary as Erza sometimes. I shuddered as remembered Lucy's rage that was no doubt going to be unleashed upon us at any second.

Lucy's P.O.V

"Oi Luce, I'm bored! Let's go on a mission!" Natsu begged. My rent was coming up, and I didn't have enough money thanks to a certain annoying fire mage (Natsu) eating ALL my food. Again.

"We found the perfect mission to pay for the food we ate yesterday, and even your rent! All we have to do is catch some thieves." He continued to bug me until I finally gave in.

"ALRIGHT!" I yelled in order to shut Natsu up. He smiled a toothy grin that exposed his sharp canines. "Alright Lets go!" He said happily. I nodded and went home to pack.

The mission ended up with natsu having to save me repeatedly. I hated relying on him to protect me, and I wanted to be able to help out. We still got the reward, and Natsu happily gave it to me even though I did nothing. That made me feel even more guilty.

I pulled out the key Eva gave to me, and made a decision. I would go to the other world to train and get stronger. I wouldn't be a burden to my friends after my training. I would leave tomorrow morning after talking to master.