SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT A/N AT THE BOTTOM. NOT GONNA TELL YOU WHAT TO DO BUT MAYBE CHECK IT OUT, OKAY?

okay.

Master Makarov of Fairy Tail sat precariously on the bar counter, sipping eagerly at the tankard of beer that Mirajane, resident bar-maid and swimsuit model, had just poured for him. He looked over the lip of the glass to see one of his favorite little turds acting extremely suspicious. A sigh escaped the old man's lips and he turned to set the tankard back onto the bar beside him.

He glanced at the dragon slayer through the corner of his eye before turning back to face the idiot, a tired haze settling around his body. It was too early for this shit. "Natsu." He said, stopping the boy in his tracks. Natsu turned on his heel to face Makarov, a sheepish smile creeping onto the younger boy's face as his hand came up to scratch the back of his head.

"Yeah Gramps?" Natsu said a bit squeamishly. "What's up?" There was a suspicious lump wriggling around in Natsu's already suspicious looking backpack. Seriously though. What would Natsu even use a backpack for? Extra food? It's not like he planned ahead for, well, anything.

"Natsu." Makarov said again seriously. "What's in the bag?"

"Oh," Natsu said uncertainly. "Um, well, you know…" His voice trailed as he tried to think of a believable lie. "Just, uh, just… extra food?"

Yeah. Right.

"Uh huh." Makarov hummed, not at all convinced by the younger man's feeble lie. "You must really enjoy fresh food then, Natsu. Seems to me you've got a few live chickens in that bag."

Natsu glanced behind him and, seeing the wriggling and writhing of… whatever it was that was in the bag, he swore under his breath. "Happy!" He exclaimed weakly. "What the hell are you doing in my food bag? We've been over this. Get out!"

Happy looked up from the fish he was eating, having been seated at the same table as Charle the whole time. He was a little confused and very insulted, or very confused and a little insulted. He was too distracted by Charle's all-around adorableness to care that much about Natsu's all-around weirdness. "Aye?"

"Natsu." Makarov said once more. "Stop with this foolishness and show me what's in the goddamn bag before I smash you into next week." To prove his point he raised his fist threateningly.

Natsu shivered and grimaced but complied nonetheless. He slung the pack from his shoulder gently and set it on the ground. The fact that Natsu, crazy violent out of control Natsu, did anything gently was more than enough to convince Makarov that something suspicious was indeed going on.

By the time Natsu unfastened the bag half the guild had turned their attention to the dragon slayer, curious as to what kind of stupidity he'd gotten himself caught up in this time.

It didn't take long for them to find out, because the second the latch was undone a ball of vibrant silver and gold fur bounded from the open pack to circle warily around Natsu. The small animal wasn't wary of Natsu himself, but rather of everyone else in the guild. It seemed to Makarov that the animal was trying to protect Natsu.

Natsu looked a bit frantic at the animal's actions and got down on his knees. "Lucy." He said quietly. "These are the people I was telling you about." He gestured to the guild with one hand and ruffled the animal's ears with the other. "Fairy Tail."

Erza was the first to step forwards, and the little animal began to growl at her though the Titania paid no heed. "Natsu," She said angrily. "What is the meaning of this? How many times have we told you not to pick up strays!"

Erza lifted her hand and a sword appeared in her fist. The animal's growling intensified as the redhead stepped closer to Natsu but again, the Titania paid no heed to it. "Erza," Natsu said softly, his eyes flickering worriedly from the animal to the terrifying woman. "I would really stop right where you are."

Erza's temper flared as she continued to advance. "How many times have I told you this!? Just because they're cute doesn't mean you can bring them home! Last time you gave the entire boy's dorm fleas and we had to burn the whole damn thing down to the ground just to keep them from spreading!"

"Erza I wouldn't do that." Natsu said hurriedly, a warning clear in his tone as he glanced at the sword swinging freely in the redhead's grasp.

"Not to mention the snake that-"

"Erza, you should really stop now." Natsu's voice had hitched up an octave, but the redhead wasn't listening.

"Or the badger, or the elephant-"

"Erza-"

"Or the crocodile, goddamn it where did you even find a croco-"

Erza's rant was cut short as the tiny animal began to glow a vibrant gold to match its coat and its growl grew to a low thundering roar that sent Pantherlily scampering under Gajeel's seat. Erza stopped walking, surprised but not at all scared. She looked to Natsu . "What is it doing?"

"Erza," Natsu said in a hushed, exasperated tone. "I told you to stop. Lucy is scared and that sword is not helping. Just put it down and back away. Please." The last word was forced and somewhat angry, clipped in a tone that was almost a growl.

"Preposterous." Erza snorted. "I am not the least bit scary. See?" She took another step closer, a proud defiant look on her face. She was obviously convinced of her words.

The second Erza's foot touched the ground all hell broke loose. It started with Lucy. The animal's growl instantly grew to a volume that made the rafters shake and the glowing light flared to a brightness that forced everyone to look away. An ominous wind picked up, swirling around the little fur ball as the floor shook.

The storm ended as quickly as it began and a sudden still silence held the whole of Fairy Tail in its clutches. The small furball that had started the whole thing was gone and in its place stood a lithe, muscled wolf who was easily as tall as Laxus. A threatening bark erupted from the wolf's mouth as it faced Erza, its body curled protectively around the now standing Natsu.

She was beautiful in every aspect of the word. Her lush fur was a vibrant silver with glimmering golden markings along her chest and tail. Muscles coiled and relaxed visibly even beneath her plush layer of fur. Her bared fangs were longer than Erza's hand and they glinted with an obvious sharpness. Her golden claws dug deep into the wood at her feet, leaving anxious gashes bigger than Gray's thumb.

"Natsu." Erza said, trying to keep the squeak out of her voice as the wolf barked at her once more, sending a shiver through the entire guild as all but Erza took a collective step back. "What is going on here? Who is your new friend and why is it so…. big?"

Natsu sighed and patted the wolf on the shoulder, catching the animal's attention away from Erza. He ruffled her head between her ears and the wolf obviously relaxed, melting into his hand. "This is Lucy." He said as a side note. "And she's a she. Not an it."

The wolf circled around him once excitedly and bumped her head against his arm, forcing it over her head and around her neck. Natsu took the hint and began petting the giant beast who then fell to the ground, lying her head over her paws in content as Natsu crouched to follow her and gently ran his hand over her neck. The giant wolf's tail thumped happily and a soft smile melted onto Natsu's face.

The guild looked on in shocked silence.

"Uh-huh." Gray said, deciding to go along with it for the time being. "And why is she with you?" The wolf turned her attention to Gray, regarding him with intelligent amber eyes. The man froze, but the animal didn't stir save to cock her head to the side and snort amusedly before laying her head back down on her paws.

"I found her while we were on our latest job." Natsu supplied, deciding he was done petting Lucy and turning to the guild with his hands behind his head, leaning his back against her side. "So I brought her home."

Gray snorted and then burst into laughter, drawing everyone's attention away from the furry newcomer and onto himself. "So what you're saying is, you found a giant wolf in the middle of god knows where and decided that the best course of action would be to bring it home with you and name it Lucy."

Natsu began to nod, a proud smile on his face before he stopped himself and cocked his head to the side. "I didn't name her Lucy." He said as though that were the only thing he found to be wrong with Gray's otherwise insulting assumption.

Gray snorted. "Okay then. Who named her?" He said in a somewhat patronizing tone, his confident smirk marred only by his sudden lack of trousers. "Happy?"

Natsu snarled at the half naked man. "No." He said indignantly, much like a child. "I don't know who named her. I just know that Lucy is her name."

Gray nodded, simpering smirk still sliding about his face. "Yeah, okay." He said icily. "Then how do you know her name isn't Margaret or Gertrude? How do you even know she is a she at all?" The wolf looked up at him and snorted once again, glancing at Natsu as if to express her disbelief at Gray's level of stupidity.

"I know, dumbass, because she told me." Natsu snarled. Gray, and every other member of Fairy tail for that matter, froze where they stood and glanced from Gray to Natsu to the large wolf that still sat curled around Natsu's seated frame, her tail resting contentedly in the dragon slayer's lap.

Gray's face betrayed ever shred of shock he was feeling as he glanced between Natsu and Lucy, eyes wide and probing as if trying to figure out exactly which one of them was completely and utterly insane. "The wolf can talk?" He asked, a slight intonation of his voice betraying the part of him that begged for Natsu to reveal that it had just been a prank and that no, there were no talking wolves and that yes, Natsu was just an asshole.

However…..

"Yes." Lucy answered for herself, her voice was melodious as it echoed from her closed mouth and around the large guild hall. A few members felt the words echo straight into their knees and promptly fell on their asses where they stood, quivering slightly.

"Also," She said merrily. "I believe, Gray Fullbuster, that you have once again misplaced your underwear."

Gray screamed like a girl.

A/N (no hono lol... I'm sorry I'll stop):

Anyway so okay I know this isn't April and it sure as hell isn't March but some things came up at the end of March (yay school) and then April was kind of hellish (go emotions and school) and I wrote this about halfway through April but I still wasn't satisfied with it and so I'm still not 100% sure where I'm going to take this one so just bear with me on this, okay? I literally wrote 7-12 different drafts of this rewrite. No lie, check my documents folder (damn I really need to organize that shit)

I'm thinking next chapter will be when Natsu and Lucy met or whatnot but I left it in one of those places where I could really go anywhere with it. So I've got three final projects and three exams all going down within the next three weeks not to mention whatever other hell they decide to assign me so I'm not going to make any promises on updates but look forward to it, okay?

You guys rock for being so patient with me. I also recently got a tumblr. I may have made the worst mistake of my life with this thing tbh b/c it's literally all Kuroko no Basuke, Fairy Tail, a couple Doctor Who, and a few Astrology blogs. Like that's it. I need help.