Hello my good people, sorry for the long update time. Things came up, I started to work on other stories.

Anyways here's the next chapter!

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The dusk before the dawn

Natsu and Lucy stopped to catch their breath as they finally out ran the authorities. The town of Harogen was far in the distance, the yells of military commanders were long out of ear shot.

"T-that's one way to start." Lucy laughed as she doubled over to catch her breath.

Natsu looked over his shoulder at the blonde. "What you doing Lucy? We don't have time to rest if we want to get to Fairy tail."

Lucy looked up shocked by Natsu's calm posture and the fact that he looked as if he hadn't even broke a sweat 'If these are the type of people who join Fairy Tail do I even have a shot!' she thought as her eyes cast done along the bare torso of the man in front of her. "W-we should change." She said as she then looked down at herself and noticed she was still wearing the drees also. He face fell "OH GOD! I FORGOT MY STUFF!" she yelled as she pulled her hair. Her heart attack ended when she noticed a familiar looking suitcase suddenly fall before her feet. She looked to where it came from to see a now clothed Natsu.

"When we were running away on the beach we passed this case. I didn't have a lot of time to double check but it did have you scent on it so I just grabbed it when we ran by." Natsu smirked as he grabbed his own pack from beside him.

"Wow that's amazing." Lucy said shocked as she bent down and opened her suitcase. "I didn't even think about my clothes when we were leaving."

"Yeah well when you've been through as much as me then you start to remember things like that." Natsu chuckled as he stood slung his pack back over his shoulder. "It's pretty late, we could make it to Magnolia by the time the sun starts to rise or we can camp out here." He said turning to Lucy before shrugging "It doesn't matter either way to me. But if you wanna camp out then we should start a shelter and a fire."

Lucy looked up to Natsu with wide eyes "Y-y-you mean just us two." She pointed between them "camping in the dark? Together?" she gulped.

Natsu raised an eye brow at her "Well yeah. Unless you wanna walk for another twenty miles or so." He shrugged. "You look exhausted though so you can use my tent if you want and I'll keep watch tonight." Natsu smirked as he tried to act as nice as possible.

Lucy quickly gathered her things and started to scoot farther away. "No way! I've already been kidnapped and almost sold as a slave one too many times today!" she narrowed her eyes "how can I know you aren't just going to wait for me to go to sleep then do stuff to me."

Natsu sweat dropped "because I'm the one that saved you from being kidnapped and turned into a slave. Also aren't we going to be guild mates starting tomorrow?"

"Oh… yeah…sorry…" Lucy said as she awkwardly lowered her hand.

"I can go on ahead if it makes you that uncomfortable." Natsu shrugged indifferently "Just watch out for the wolves and make sure you start a fire." He said over his shoulder as he start to walk down the road.

"HEY YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME!" Lucy shouted as she ran up to him and grabbed his hand forcing him to stop.

Natsu turned "We'll if it makes you uncomfortable then I will." Natsu said as he looked to Lucy "Igneel always told me to make sure women are comfortable." He smiled causing Lucy to blush.

"W-well I can't fight off wolves and sleep at the same time." Lucy said as she looked to the side, her cheeks coated with a pink tint. She suddenly heard the thump of a pack hitting the ground and felt as a large bag was pushed into her arms. "W-w-"she started.

"Alright I'll stay and keep watch tonight. You put up the tent and I'll get the fire started." Natsu said as he walked past Lucy.

"A-alright!" Lucy said as she quickly ran behind Natsu. Her faced turned another shade of red at the thought of spending the night with this man that she just met early that day. Yeah he saved her life but he was still a wild card that she couldn't put her finger one.

Lucy dropped the tent bag down and pulled out some stacks and rope as she looked over to Natsu. It was weird watching the pink haired man work. He moved like he had done this hundreds of times in the past, which as far as Lucy knew was completely possible, since none of his movements were wasted and it only a matter of seconds he had started a small fire before walking towards the nearby trees and collected dead branches.

In the matter of minutes their camp was set up for the night. Natsu had a huge stack of dead branches near the fire. He even pulled up two larger logs for the two to use as benches.

Lucy opened the flaps of the tent as she finished changing out of her dress and into a pair of short shorts and a pink tank top. She looked to the fire to see Natsu with a pot of boiling water.

"Hey Lucy can you get me some of dried meat and food from my bag?" Natsu asked as he pointed towards the ground behind Lucy.

"Uh yeah sure." Lucy said back as she walked towards his pack. She opened it up and was surprised to see that most of it was food and that there were only a small amount of clothes. She then remembered how much Natsu ate at the restaurant. She quickly found the bag that was full of dried meat and graded it along with a bag of vegetables and a few potatoes that were just laying on top. She turned around with her mission completed.

"Alright here they are Nat-"she stopped as she heard the sound of shattering glass behind her. She turned around wide eyed as she saw picture frame laying broken right where she pulled out the food.

"What was that Lucy?" Natsu asked as he put some spices he found in the woods in the pot of boiling water.

Lucy reached down and grabbed the picture frame as she quickly ran it and the food over to Natsu "Natsu!" she said as she dropped the food and held out the broken picture frame "I'm sorry I didn't mean to break it! I didn't even know it was there!"

Natsu looked up from his pot to see Lucy holding the frame. He quickly snatched it away causing the blonde to look at the ground and close her eyes, waiting to yell at. He looked over the picture before letting out a sigh "It's alright Lucy, the picture is fine so everything is alright." He smiled as the blonde relaxed, after seeing what Natsu did to Bora she really didn't want to get on his bad side.

"Um if you don't mind me asking, who are those people in the picture?" Lucy asked nervously as she picked up the food she dropped and handed them to Natsu, hopping that her question wasn't crossing any lines.

Natsu only smiled as he took the food "those guys are my little brothers and sisters." He grinned as he put the food in the pot "Well they aren't technically my brothers and sisters." He said as he picked up the broken frame and looked at the picture within. He smirked as he saw the photo that was taken right before he departed on the train.

Lucy looked over his shoulder as she finally got a good look at the picture. In the middle was Natsu in the same clothing she had met her in as well as a huge smile on his face. Around him were a group of younger children, probably around the age of 12. One was had jumped on Natsu's back and had a huge smile, he was a slightly larger kid with a brown hair, a denim jacket and some fingerless gloves were all Lucy could see of him. To Natsu's right a small kid with a hoodie and a doctor's mask. Then to Natsu's left was a smiling dark haired girl that was wearing a blue and gold colored robe with white ribbons in her hair. Next to her stood a grinning bald headed boy with a fish rob in his hand, he had a head band and a flower button up shirt on as well as some tan shorts. What really caught Lucy attention however was the pink haired girl that stood in front of Natsu. She wore a small white hat as well as a small white and pink dress. Lucy was confused though why she was looking away from the camera with an unhappy glare.

"Your brothers and sisters?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, we are all orphans and were put in the same orphanage." Natsu said as he looked to the photo. He pointed to the larger kid on his back "That's Neppa, he can be a little snob but the kid means well." Natsu smirked as Lucy gave a giggle at his description of the boy. "And this is Kama." He pointed to the boy in the hoodie. "Then here is Kamika and Uosuke." He continued as he pointed the dark haired girl and bald boy. "And finally." Natsu said as he smile fell slightly. "This is Cosmos. "He said pointing to the pink haired girl.

"Why is she the only one not smiling?" Lucy asked curious.

"Well." Natsu said as he scratched his neck "She wasn't too happy when I told her I was going to be leaving again."

"Leaving again?" Lucy poked "Do you leave them often?"

"Well, I mean." Natsu said as he looked at the photo "I have to go find work. And sometimes I'm gone for weeks and even months." He explained as the blonde nodded. "And Cosmos is always mad at me." He laughed a little.

"Well she's just worried about her older brother." Lucy giggled. "But that's interesting, I didn't know you were raised in an orphanage." Lucy said as she began to touch her chin "Actually now that I think about it I don't know anything about you beside you name and that you want to join Fairy Tail."

"Well I know even less about you." Natsu countered, form his experience as a council agent he knew that giving to much info without taking in any could cause many problems in the long.

"Well there's really not much to know…" Lucy said as she awkwardly rubbed her neck.

"Well let's start over then." Natsu grinned as he extended his hand towards Lucy. "My name is Natsu Dragneel."

Lucy looked at his hand for a second before she reached out and grabbed it as well as return his smile "Nice to meet you Natsu, I'm Lucy. Just Lucy."

"So why do you want to join Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked as he started to stir the stew that was cooking in the pot.

"Well." Lucy said as she crossed her arms in front of her "I've heard about how they are such a great guild… and there was this one time that some women saved my life. All I remember was the fairy tail insignia." Lucy smiled as she remembered the memory of the crazy women that saved her form the runaway cart. She looked up at Natsu "Why do you want to join Fairy Tail?"

"Well…" Natsu said as he had to think of the backstory that Ultear gave him, unfortunately he forgot it completely. So he just decided to wing it like most of his missions "I heard they had some really powerful and destructive mages, so I thought I'd check it out."

This caused Lucy to let out a laugh "Yeah destructive is one way to put it, they are always in sorcerer weekly for doing destructive stuff." Lucy said as she reached back into her suit case to pull out a magazine and handed it to Natsu. Natsu grabbed it and started to read the page, like most information on Fairy Tail though he knew the official records anyways.

"So you say you're usually gone a lot for a long time for jobs. What did you do?" Lucy asked.

"Well" Natsu said as he thought of the best way to word his predicament without giving to much information. "I guess you could say that I was a mercenary."

"M-mercenary!" Lucy said chocked "But I thought mercenaries were supposed to be big scary brutes."

"Hey I can be scary when I want to." Natsu pouted causing the women to giggle "And I wasn't just a mercenary, I was like a body guard sometimes too." He shrugged.

"Ohhh that cool, guard any important people?" Lucy asked playfully.

"Well I did guard the princess at one point." Natsu said casually.

"Oh the princess that's coo- THE PRINCESS!" Lucy said shocked again.

"Yeah it's a little green haired girl, she's really cute actually and not even snobby." Natsu smiled as he started to laugh "Cosmos got really mad when I got back form that and told her about it."

"Wow…" Lucy said in shock "If you were the princess's body guard then you have to be a pretty powerful mage."

"I have been training for as long as I can remember." Natsu explained "I mean ever since Igneel found me all he ever did was raise and train me to use fire magic. Then after that I was found by some of them military and trained with them when I was little. Then after that I've been doing whatever people were willing to pay me to do so I got a lot of experience in fighting." Natsu shrugged as he purposely left out the years of training as a rune knight and even more when Yajima took him to train himself.

"Igneel? I've heard you say that name before. He must've been a good man." Lucy smiled.

"He wasn't a man." Natsu said getting a confused looked form Lucy "He was a huge dragon." Natsu said with pride.

"Dragon?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

"Yupp, he taught me my magic." Natsu grinned "Fire dragon slayer." He said as he thrust his hand into the fire causing Lucy's eyes to grow wide.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Lucy yelled as she jumped from her seat across the fire and tackled Natsu. She grabbed his hand to check on it "YOU IDIOT WHY DID YOU BURN YOU-"Lucy yelled as stopped once she looked at his hand. "H-how?" she said as she ran her fingers over the rough skin of the very NOT burnt hand of Natsu's.

"I'm a fire dragon slayer, fire can't effect me." Natsu grinned as Lucy just looked up at him. "Also I can do this." He said as he took in a breath of air, Lucy's shock grew even more as she saw the fire flow form the pit into Natsu's mouth. "Ahhh taste so good." Natsu grinned.

"I-I-I-I…." Lucy stuttered "I believe you." She nodded since she couldn't find any other logical explanation as to why his hand was a charred piece of flesh.

"Great." Natsu said with a smile "so can you get off of me?"

Lucy looked down to find herself straddling Natsu from where she tackled him earlier. Her face flushed "S-Sorry!" she shot out as she quickly stood "I-I'm going to go sleep." She said as he quickly made her way to the tent.

"But what about your share of the food?" Natsu asked confused as to why anyone in their right mind would pass up food.

"You can have mine!" Lucy yelled as she ducked into the tent.

"Really?" Natsu asked, when he didn't get an answer he took it as a yes "HELL YEAH!"

Lucy was currently laying on her face in the tent with a crimson face 'C'mon Lucy it was an accident, he didn't even notice!' she repeated in her mind over and over as she rolled around on the floor of the tent. She continued this till the struggles of nearly being kidnapped and running from the authorities finally caught up with her. Her body slowly started to succumb to exhaustion as her movements slowed and sleep overtook the blonde.

Natsu was sitting by the fire as he stared to hear the women's breath begin to even out. His enhanced hearing allowing him to tell from even this distance. Natsu slowly put own his food as he stood. He turned from the small camp site and walked into the nearby trees.

After some time he eventually came to a small stream where he took a seat on the bank. He looked around and took a few sniffs to make sure that he was alone. He then reached into his pant pocket as he pulled out a small crystal ball. He started to syphon magic into it, causing the orb to start to slowly flash a dull green. Natsu waited patiently as he looked around to make sure that he was till alone.

"-su?" came a familiar sound as Natsu snapped his attention to the orb.

He grew a toothy grin as he saw the familiar face "Good evening Ultear." He smiled as he saw the woman from through the glass ball. She looked as if she just rolled out of bed. Her hair was is a mess and she was only wearing a white robe that was carelessly thrown on resulting in her showing a healthy amount of cleavage and the majority of her black bra.

"Natsu, what do you want?" Ultear groaned as she started to rub the sleep from her eyes, Natsu watched as she looked to her side before she shot him a glare "And why the hell are you calling me at one in the morning." She narrowed her eyes.

Natsu only grinned at the angry women "Well you told to contact you if something happened." He shrugged.

"Oh? And what happened?" Ultear said as she rolled back onto her bed, she held the orb above her head so that she could still see and talk to Natsu. "Was there something the big bad dragon couldn't handle?" she giggled.

"Nah not at all." Natsu smiled "I ran into that Bora guy though and finished him off-"

"Natsu." Ultear cut him off with a glare "We told you not to get involved with any authorities. The council won't be happy if you get caught so early on."

"I know!" Natsu said throwing his hand up in surrender "But when have I ever let you down?" he asked.

Ultear sat silently for a moment as she thought, she finally let out a sigh in surrender "Never once." She smirked before giving him a small wink "Such a dependable guy aren't you."

"Told you." Natsu smiled "I couldn't let that Bora guy go anyways, I'm part of the council to help people so that would've gone against everything I've come to believe in."

Ultear let out another sigh "If you keep doing stuff like that though you might get caught, not that I would mind if you came back early." She smirked "but the council will be angry with you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Natsu said "But it's a good thing I did. I saved this blonde woman by the name of Lucy, she even bought me lunch and we are both gonna join Fairy tail together." Natsu laughed and turned to the stream "she's actually alright when you get to know her, it's hard to think that with people like that that Fairy Tail is a destructive guild. And we're camping out tonight, we'll probably be in Magnolia sometime tomorrow, then we'll join together. I figure that would help take some eyes off me, don't you agree?"

…

…

…

"Ultear?" Natsu asked as he turned to the orb. He saw Ultear giving him a completely indifferent look.

"So you're traveling with a women?" Ultear asked with a flat tone.

"Well yeah." Natsu said confused at her sudden tone.

"And you are both camping together. Alone?" Ultear continued.

"Well yeah." Natsu said again "It's funny because she said the same thing as you when I gave her the idea."

"Do you have anything else to report Knight Natsu?" Ultear said catching Natsu off guard by her using his official title instead of just his name like usual.

"Uh… I guess not." Natsu said as he scratched his head. "I'm about to go finish eating the rest of the food since Lucy didn't eat what I made for her."

"Goodnight Natsu."

"Huh wait Ultear." Natsu said but he was too late as the orb was back to its plan blank self. "Was she mad at me?" Natsu asked himself as he stood. "Guess I'll just have to finish this mission quickly somehow and make it up to her." Natsu shrugged as he stood and kicked a rock into the stream before heading back to camp.

Meanwhile Ultear was currently laying in her same position with the glass orb still in her hand.

"That idiot." Ultear growled as she threw the ord across the room where it chattered against the wall. She didn't care however as she threw her robe off and threw herself back into bed, wrapping the covers around her as she mumble more curses towards the dragon slayer. She eventually found her comfy zone and sent a glare out of the window of her room.

She could see the clouds pass by as she watched. Her mind going in circles after her talk with Natsu. "Stupid idiot waking me up so late." She growled again "dependable my ass." She said once more before burying her head in one of her many large pillows. Her body finally began to relax after a few minutes from her fit. She sat back up and threw her robe back on, fixing it so that it was actually on properly. She walked to the window before unlocking it and looking out.

The fresh air blew into the room causing her hair to fly behind her. She looked down at the ocean below her and let out a sign. This was one of the few perks about living in a giant flying fortress, you could see amazing sights at any moment.

She rested her elbow on the window seal and rested her jaw on her hand. She let out another sigh as she looked into the night, the moon causing a dull glow across stretch of water beneath her.

"Why am I the one being an idiot." She said to herself as she continued to watch the land in the distance pass. After a few minutes she closed the window and made it back to her bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day of work.

Meanwhile Natsu finally made it back to the camp site. He could still hear the small even breaths of the sleeping women in the tent. He made quick work of the food that was left over before grabbing his water and rinsing the dishes. He stowed everything away and then placed his pack against the log her was sitting on earlier. He looked to his side and saw the broken picture frame with the pictue still inside. He reached over and grabbed it as he examined it once more.

"First you then Ultear." Natsu sighed as he looked at the angry pink haired girl in the picture "What about me just makes all the women around me angry." He chuckled to himself. A commotion in the tent caught his attention as he heard Lucy shift position.

After deciding that there was no danger he looked off into the night's sky. "Gonna be a busy mission this time. Hope nothing bad happens." He said with a small smile before stowing the picture back into a safe area of his pack and resting against it. After he was comfortable he sucked in the last bit of fire. The night was engulfed with darkness as sleep took the dragon slayer.

/

And that's it, sorry if it was a little short.

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