A/N: You see, when NaLi Fluff Fest was announced, this was the first prompt I had an idea for. It was supposed a simple fluffy thing, slightly inspired by Undertale since I was obsessed with the game at the time, but anyway, a nice short story.

And yet it somehow ended up as this 8000+ words long monster of a fic and an weird AU that I now wish to explore more in the future. So yeah, that happened. Hope you guys have as much fun reading it as I liked to write it, because it was a blast to me. ^^

They say the ruins of Edolas are home to a demon.

It was a well known story. Edolas used to be just another village across the woods, until it was wiped out in a single day. Everything was destroyed, except for the church building, which was old and worn but still standing. While everyone was convinced that it had been the work of a demon, no one was quite sure of what happened to the creature afterward. Some said it was defeated and sealed in that lone remained building, others said it had took the church as its home now, taking pleasure in desecrating the once holy place and preying on the lone travelers foolish enough to wander by.

Needlessly to say, those rumors were enough to scare off all the other villages. No one wanted anything to do with that place.

No one except an odd kid that grew up dreaming of magic and beasts.

His name was Natsu and he was completely, absolutely sure he had been raised by a dragon. He had always claimed that with unwavering faith ever since his father disappeared, and most of the village either pitied or disliked him, thinking he was crazy and too caught up in childish fantasies. Besides, just the story of a man who would vanish for no reason leaving a kid behind was already suspicious enough.

Natsu hated that. He hated that the person he loved and admired the most was gone and no one even cared, and that he couldn't even prove what a great father he had been before disappearing. Even being stubborn as he was, he eventually gave up on convincing people of that, but his repressed anger and sadness turned him into a both troubled and troublesome child.

Because of that, he would often hang by close to the woods whenever having a bad day. Since no one came there, it was the perfect place to isolate himself. Besides, it also felt like a petty revenge of sorts: they didn't believe in his dragon, so he wouldn't believe in their demon. Simple as that. For all he knew the demon could actually be nice and the villagers were misunderstanding things as usual.

Despite those thoughts, he wasn't daring enough to go explore the woods and uncover the truth. At least not yet. An encounter with a mysterious girl would soon change that.

It was a bleak, cloudy day and it had just started to rain, the kind of weather that seemed to suck all the life and color of the world and replace them with only a heavy, depressing feeling. And that suited Natsu's mood just fine then, because he certainly didn't have a pleasant time and was moping in his lonely place as usual.

"You're going to catch a cold."

Startled, he looked for the source of the unexpected voice. The first thing he noticed was the bright red umbrella the person carried. They wore a simple cloak and thus he couldn't see much of their features, but judging by their height they seemed to be a kid just like him. They were carrying a basket full of groceries, which made it even weirder that they were hanging around there instead of back at the village going home.

"Who are you?" he asked defensively as the other kid approached.

"My name is Lisanna." The girl introduced herself, and now that she was closer he could see a bit more of her face, especially the bright curious blue eyes and the gentle smile she had. "Don't you have an umbrella? It's not good to stay out in the rain like this."

"...whatever. Why are you here too, then?"

"Just going back home. I'm not from this village, I was just running some errands here." she promptly answered. "And you?"

He didn't answer and remained in the same sour mood, so she decided to try something else.

"You're Natsu, aren't you? I've heard a bit about you back there. You've been raised by a dragon, right?"

That got him. Part of him was immediately angry because that was the very subject he had been avoiding to discuss with anyone and that brought him so much grief, and it annoyed him that apparently people didn't mind talking about his weirdness even to strangers.

The other part was caught in the fact that unlike anyone else she had asked that with not a hint of distrust, malice or mockery in her voice. She sounded pretty cheery actually, and he didn't quite know what to make out of that, so he just kept staring rather dumbly at her, which she thankfully didn't mind. She only took it as a sign to continue talking.

"That sounds amazing, really, to know a dragon! I wonder how they are like..."

"They're great! They're the best!" Natsu couldn't really contain himself anymore, having someone who was willing to listen to him was everything he needed to start rambling excitedly. "They are really big and cool and... well, not that I got to see it, because dad lived in the village so he was disguised as a human all the time, but he told me everything about it! And he could do a lot of cool stuff with fire too, and he would never get burned, he could even eat fire! And, and...!"

They stayed like that for a while, Natsu talking nonstop about his father, with Lisanna making a few questions here and there and encouraging him to keep going. Also, while he barely noticed it due to his excitement, she had also moved closer to him, trying to cover them both with her umbrella and keep him from getting soaked, or at least more soaked than he already was.

Eventually though, Lisanna had to interrupt him.

"I'd love to hear more, Natsu, but it's getting a bit late. My family is probably worried already, so I should go back."

"Ah." his face fell immediately. They had only just met each other, but he already liked her a lot. She had listened to him not just due to pity but also with genuine curiosity, and kindly tried to comfort him in the few moments where the stories began to remind him a bit too much of how he missed his father. In general, she just looked like a good person, and his day already felt a bit brighter thanks to her.

"You can stay with this though." She handed the umbrella to him. "You should get to a warm place soon, it would be bad if you got sick. Besides, the son of a fire dragon shouldn't stay in the cold, right?"

"Okay, thanks." he grinned at her. "Uh, but what about you? Your home is even father away than mine."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. This cloak is big and warm enough and it covers me pretty well." she carefully adjusted the hood a bit to illustrate the point, concealing her head a bit more. And indeed, the cloth covered her very well, looking even rather big for someone her size.

"Uh, okay then..." he still wasn't so convinced, but he didn't know how to argue with her. "Say, do you think you'll come back again someday?" Lisanna hesitated a moment before answering.

"Well, I don't see why not. I don't know when, though. But when I come, I'll go find you and we can hang out again, okay?"

"That would be great!" he grinned, and she found herself smiling widely too.

"Then it's a promise! Well, bye!" she bid farewell and turned her back. But after a few steps away, she spoke again, and for the first time there was no sign of happiness in her tone. "Uh, just a thing though. Next time, let's stay away from the woods, okay? You know what they say, there's a demon who lives there, and... it's dangerous."

That took Natsu by surprise for a bit, even though there wasn't any reason for that. Sure, Lisanna was very different from the other people he knew and more open minded about stories of magic and beasts and dragons, but whatever lurked in the woods was actually dangerous and there was an entire village in ruins to prove it. It was only sensible to stay away, and now that he was being warned about that from someone he actually respected, he had to admit his disregard for that wasn't much more than a childish rebellious act and a desire to be left alone. And he actually felt bad that he had kept her there with him when she was probably scared.

"Okay then, I'm sorry. I'll stay away from here from now on."

She nodded slightly to show she had heard him, and turned away again, though Natsu could swear he heard her murmur a small "thanks" before going away. Slightly unsettled, he didn't have much to do besides pondering about that all the way back to the village. And eventually he did realize what was bothering him about Lisanna.

It was totally possible, and even easier, to go to the nearby villages and towns by other roads that didn't come so close to the woods. If Lisanna was going back home, she had no reason to be at that place at that time, especially if she really feared the demon.

And maybe most people would just excuse that as "weird stranger being weird" and move on with their lives, but Natsu was a stubborn and energetic kid with a life too boring and annoying to his tastes, so a mystery to ponder was just what he needed.

Besides, it sounded much less embarrassing to say he was focused in solving a mystery than admitting he was already very interested and attached to a new friend he had just met.

The next day, Natsu did pretty much the same he did everyday: spend time with his best (and only, at least before Lisanna) friend. Happy was a weird but charismatic kid of the village who only wanted to have fun and be friendly to everyone. So while everyone was shunning Natsu judging him a liar, a problem, or a pitiful child, Happy's only thought was that, fake or not, hearing stories about a kid raised by a dragon would be really cool. And so they had started this odd friendship where neither was sure if the other was taking them seriously but accepted each other's weirdness just fine. And as time went by it became clear they cared about each other a lot too. They were almost like brothers.

So of course the first thing Natsu thought of was to tell Happy about his meeting with the stranger girl. Happy was more well informed and in touch with the region's issues than him, so he thought maybe his friend could figure out where Lisanna was from and why had she taken the path she had. But unfortunately for him, the whole talk had taken a completely different turn.

"You liiiike her!" Oh boy that was going to be hard wasn't it?

It was no news to Natsu that Happy was fond of romance, he had a lot of fairy tale books lying around his house and was always paying attention to the gossip and drama among the villagers. Outcast that he was, Natsu couldn't tell if that was normal for sociable people or if his friend was just a nosy silly kid, but whatever it was, he thought it was an annoying and stupid thing and he didn't care about it, so of course he wasn't happy to be the focus of it this time.

"Stop rolling your tongue like that, damnit! That's not even what we're talking about, I asked you if you knew where she could be from!"

"Okay, okay, calm down, Natsu." Happy said rather smugly, waving his hand at the other boy. "There's no need to get so worked up. It's just that it's the first time I see a girl pick up your interest this way. I guess I did real good telling her about you then, hehe!"

"Wait, what?"

"What, she already knew about you and your father when she went to talk to you, didn't she? You really think people here would bother to warn a stranger about you or something?"

"Okay, but then why would you bother telling her that?!"

"Because she looked kinda lost and out of place here, so I wanted to talk to her to cheer her up, and when I started telling stories to her she was really interested, so I thought you two would get along well. And I was right! I mean, she was really nice to you, right?"

If Natsu was honest with himself, that explanation did make sense. Optimistic and friendly as he was, Happy had already expressed concern sometimes about Natsu not getting along with anyone besides him. It wasn't so surprising that he would decide to try some weird plan to pair the boy up with someone nice when given the chance. In fact, while it sounded kind of forced, Natsu could at least appreciate that his friend cared about him and didn't want him to be so lonely.

However, being honest to himself and admitting to be lonely were not among Natsu's greatest skills. So instead he just continued his bickering about it.

"You're just trying to pair me and her up for the cute lovey stuff you always go on about, aren't you...?"

"Oh c'mon now, Natsu." Happy pouted. "Just because I enjoy the gossip in the village doesn't mean I go around matchmaking everyone. Have you ever seen me doing that around here?"

"No, but that's just because everyone here would notice your meddling right away, so you're picking on me instead!"

"Did you just admit being easier to fool than anyone else?"

Silence.

"Shut up, that's not what I mean!" The pink haired boy was shouting, face red. "I'm just don't get the romance stuff, that's it!"

"Yeah, that's why I had already dropped that talk before you accused me of matchmaking..." That didn't help Natsu's mood at all, and it took a good few seconds before he stopped flailing around and calmed down.

"So, now," started Happy, trying to get the conversation right this time. "we were trying to figure out where the mysterious girl went back to, right?"

"Yeah, though I guess it's not anything mysterious anymore, right? I mean, you just said you sent her to go looking for me, so that's why she went near the woods. She must have just taken a normal path later."

"No, I didn't send her, I didn't even know you were there. I mean, no one should be near the woods, Natsu, I thought you had common sense." Natsu grumbled irritated at that, but didn't object. "I just told her to talk to you if she wanted to hear more about dragons. So either that really was her way home, or she was really wanting to meet you and searched everywhere, scary demon or not. She must be really interested in dragons... and really brave too, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Natsu nodded. To him, Lisanna didn't really look like some dragon enthusiast, just a curious and nice girl. But, who knew? "But, any idea of where she could have gone to after that?"

"Not really, there are some villages the way you said she was going but, they are pretty far away, it's kinda dangerous for a girl to come and go all that way alone... Besides, what did she need to do here? All the stuff I saw her buying was kinda normal, she could have bought it at home."

Natsu didn't say anything about that. He was starting to wonder if he should really be so invested in that. She was just a girl, with some story he didn't need to know and some life he wasn't part of. Was it really worth trying to figure out someone just because they were nice to him for once?

...Yes it was, he eventually decided. He liked her and wanted to see her again and know more about her, because that's how you become friends with others, right? And Natsu was honestly tired of disliking mostly everyone around here.

Sadly, there probably wasn't any other way to discover the truth besides waiting for Lisanna to come again and asking her directly. But he and Happy sure could have some fun imagining until then, and that's what they did, having all kinds of theory from "maybe her village is short on food and she had to came here" to the more outlandish ones, like "maybe she's a legendary heroine from a prophecy and is going to slay the demon who is actually her cursed brother who disappeared years ago!". Most of the ones in the last category were just Happy getting too carried away, but Natsu would be lying if he said he wasn't having fun with them.

The uneventful days went by, and finally, at some point, Lisanna came by once again.

She wasn't any different than before, same oversized cloak, same basket, buying normal groceries and stuff. She also seemed to be selling some random ornaments and flowers for money.

Natsu and Happy approached her as soon as they could, and she seemed delighted to see them again. They spend a lot of time hanging out together, showing her the place (not that there was much to see, it was just a small village after all) telling stories and having fun. This time, Lisanna was the main focus of the attention since the boys were so curious about her, but nothing about her story sounded unusual to them. From what she told, her parents had died when she was young, and she had been raised by her two older siblings, whom she loved dearly. It was a hard life, but they did the best they could to make ends meet, even if it meant selling around whatever stuff they could get their hands in.

Lisanna's personality was also completely normal to them. She was gentle, polite and cheerful despite her troubles, and very loving of her family. She was also greatly fond of animals, and many of her stories were about the creatures she had seen in her village and the places she had been to. And she also seemed to share with Happy the same interest for fairy tales and romance, though it was more personal in her case. She was the kind of girl who dreamed of a beautiful marriage and raising a family along a caring husband.

Natsu initially said that was silly, but once she got him to think more about it, he had to admit it could be nice to be a father. To protect people you loved no matter what. To be as great to someone as his father was to him. And, while he didn't know much about mothers, he felt Lisanna would be a good one too.

That was probably one of the best thoughts he ever had, because as soon as he said it out loud Lisanna lit up with the brightest smile he had ever seen.

"Well, now isn't that just perfect?" she said, after the silent moment of pure joy at his compliment had passed by. "I'm a good mother, you're a good father, now all we need is a baby and we are a perfect family already!"

"Really now?" Natsu said, a bit weirded out. Happy, on the other side, seemed to find that the cutest idea ever.

"Great idea! What if you guys adopted a cat then?" he suggested excitedly.

"That would be great, wouldn't it?" Lisanna exclaimed, but then her face fell. "If we weren't too poor to sustain them, I mean."

Happy immediately regretted touching the subject. Someone like Lisanna probably had always wanted pets, but that was impossible in her situation, and she probably felt very bad about it. Wanting to fix his mistake, he rushed to find anything else to say.

"Then what if you adopted me instead? I'm a really good kid, and my parents can pay all the stuff for me, no problem!"

"...isn't it missing the point if you already have parents...?" Was all Lisanna could manage to say about the strange proposition. Meanwhile Natsu was already chasing the kid around to slap him because that was a completely stupid suggestion to him. But hey, at least Lisanna was laughing at their antics now, so that problem was solved, in a way.

"But what about you, Natsu?" Happy asked after he and Natsu were over their brotherly fight/chase. "Don't you have any suggestion as to what kind of creature would be nice to raise?"

"Isn't it obvious? Of course it would have to be a dragon, that would be the best! We just need to find a dragon egg around here somewhere..."

And so they kept enjoying themselves until it was late enough that Lisanna had to leave.

"Thanks guys, I had a lot of fun with you today, but I need to go now."

"Aye... I guess it's really late already..."

"So, will you be safe going home? You didn't even say where exactly you live, anyway." Now that the fun was over Natsu was reminding himself once again that he was supposed to be asking Lisanna the things he wanted to know.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, I'm used to it. It's not that far away anyway." Natsu's look showed he still wanted a clearer answer, so she quickly added. "It's a village east of here, it's named Buttercup."

"Okay then." Natsu wasn't truly satisfied with that either, but he had to admit there was no logical reason for that, there was nothing abnormal about Lisanna's life. In all honesty, he was just frustrated that the only person he could befriend in so long couldn't stay with them. That he would probably never had the chance to be as close to her as he wanted to.

And so he and Happy waved their goodbyes and watched her leave. For a moment Natsu had the impulsive idea of simply following her, but that was stupid. He couldn't just leave his home because of a girl he just met, he didn't even have a reason to do so, he was just being a lonely idiot and-

No wait, he kinda had a reason.

"Oh crap, I forgot!" he suddenly exclaimed, when she was already far from sight.

"Forgot what? I think we asked her everything we wanted to know, didn't we?"

"It's not that! She lent me the umbrella back then, remember? I wanted to give it back, but I completely forgot about it!" And he rushed to get the umbrella and then find Lisanna again. She was probably already too far, but since she wasn't in a rush while he was running with all energy he had, he probably had a chance to catch up. Or at least he wanted to believe so.

Blindly following the direction she took when leaving, he realized that unlike what Happy said, they did forget to ask her something, which were actually the very questions that started all that: what was the road Lisanna used to go home, and if it was close to the woods.

Natsu mentally slapped himself, and made a note to slap Happy later. They had got so caught up in what kind of mystery someone like Lisanna could hide that they forgot their had only a simple question for her. For two kids that loved to dream of adventure, they sure were bad at solving even a ridiculous quest like that.

Either way, at least he was going to figure out everything now, because following her had led him to the accursed woods, right at the same place they had first met. And Lisanna was indeed there. But unlike last time, she didn't go around the woods in the direction of her village.

She just kept going forward, entering the very place she had claimed to be dangerous. There didn't even seem to be any hesitation or fear in her steps.

A small part of Natsu was angry that she had so seriously asked him to stay away from there when she clearly didn't follow her own advice, but the rest of him was smart enough to know that there was no point in being angry when he should instead be finally figuring out what was going on.

For a small moment, he hesitated in front of those trees, standing at the same spot Lisanna just stood. He might have been always a tough adventurous kid, but he didn't mean he was completely indifferent to the rumors he had been hearing for years. If there was anything violent lurking in that place, he had no chance against it.

But that thought only led him to realize Lisanna could be in danger too, and that made up his mind. He had to be there for her. After all, didn't he just say at that same day he wanted to protect those he loved? And she certainly was already a great friend of him.

And so he pushed onwards, looking for any sign of his friend, but the woods got thicker and the sky got darker and then he couldn't see much in front of him, so he didn't even know if he was even going the right way, he only kept going in a straight line, hoping that way he could avoid getting lost.

Time passed, the boy could already feel himself getting tired, and no sign of Lisanna, even because it was yet darker now. He was pretty sure he wouldn't find her anymore, but it felt awful to think of going back after going so far. Besides, so far he hadn't met any demon or anything remotely dangerous, so it wasn't so bad, was it?

Finally, after some more walking, he got out of the woods. The moon shone brightly at the sky above, and without trees in its way it could illuminate the place well enough for Natsu to figure out where he had arrived at least.

A ruined village. A lone church standing among the wreckage.

Edolas.

Not seeing what else he could do, he entered the village. It was creepy to walk among all that destruction, but after all that time in the dark woods Natsu was already ignoring his fear pretty well.

He was naturally attracted to the church building, since it was the only thing that stood up there, and it did prove to be the right place to investigate, because when he got close, he could hear voices inside. Could it be Lisanna? He had no idea what she could be doing there, but at this point he expected anything. Besides, he was getting frustrated of not finding her anywhere when that's what he came there for.

So, partially due to his tiredness, he went for the most simple minded, straightforward approach for the situation.

He knocked on the locked doors and called her.

"Hey Lisanna, are you there?"

Silence.

Then screeches of the damned.

There was no other way to describe what happened, whatever was inside the building let out hellish inhuman shrieks and began ramming against the doors. It didn't take long for Natsu to get convinced that this was the demon he had heard about for so long. In a way, it was kind of exciting to finally get that rumor confirmed, to know that he was brave enough to stand in front of such a feared creature.

All that excitement lasted around two seconds before he decided being brave wasn't worth dying in the hands of a monster, and that it was better to just run for his life before the thing managed to get free.

He ran and ran and ran, adrenaline fueling his steps despite his tired state. He was lucky enough to manage to get out of the woods safe, and thankfully, it didn't seem like the demon had followed him. Maybe it really was sealed in the church and couldn't leave? That did make his panicked escape look stupid, but deep down he knew he was right to not have risked his life back there. This misadventure had been troublesome enough.

The next day came, and as usual, it was time for Happy to get the news.

"So you met the demon of the ruins?!" he looked incredulously at the mess that was his friend.

Mess was the right word to describe Natsu's current state. He hadn't got much sleep after all that, was exhausted from all the running around, his body hurt, and on top of all that there was the disappointment and embarrassment of completely failing on doing what he went there to do, and being even more confused by Lisanna than before, and also provoking a demon while he was at it. The last night had been a disaster in every way possible.

"Ugh, I wouldn't call that a meeting..." he whined.

"Well, that's actually good, 'cause if it had been a real meeting you would be dead." Happy frowned. "That was really dangerous, Natsu, you were lucky to be able to escape."

"Well, it wasn't my fault, was it? The real question is why Lisanna decided to go there! What the hell does she thinks she's doing?!" Natsu was exploding with fury at that point, because he couldn't figure out the girl. Did she just knew the right way to travel safely through that place? But why, if there were other roads available? And why would she want him away from there so badly if she didn't mind the place herself?

"She is hiding something, I just know it..." he kept mumbling grumpily.

"Well, of course, we discussed that from the beginning, didn't we? She's a girl coming out of nowhere and hiding herself with a cloak, that just spells mystery. But the thing is, do you really want to stick your nose so much into it? She has a right to have her personal business, you know."

Natsu went silent at that. He knew Happy was right, he was only obsessing so much about that because he had nothing else to do and she picked his interest.

And so he tried to push that off his mind, even though he would certainly question Lisanna when she came around again.

But as time passed and he mulled over things a bit more calmly, his petty curiosity and entitlement to Lisanna's secrets made way to less selfish and shallow feelings about her.

To put it simply, he started to get worried. Because he remembered hearing voices inside the church back then, more than one voice, and none of them like the demonic screech that came later. Could there be people inside along the demon? Like prisoners or something? Could Lisanna be one of them?

He voiced those thoughts to Happy one day more out of habit than anything, and the answer he got was much more intense than he expected.

"So you wanna go back there and be the hero and save the girl." It wasn't even a question, Happy was just stating it like it was an inevitable fact.

"Stop making everything sound like a fairy tale, damnit! I didn't even say anything about going back there."

"But you want to, right? You don't like staying quiet about things, and you're still curious about this stuff even though it's dangerous."

"Well, yeah..." Natsu admitted after a while. He knew it was a stupid idea but stupid ideas had a great affinity with his brain. "But it's not just that I'm curious, Lisanna might be in danger you know! That demon might be doing... uh, I don't know, whatever demons do with people they capture for... whatever reasons? I don't know okay, I never understood demons, I just know that there are people in that church."

"Aye, and we don't have any way of saving them or fighting a demon and will probably only get captured too." Natsu sighed. He already knew all that too. He could brag all he wanted about being son of a dragon, but in the end that didn't give him special powers or anything. As much as he wanted to be strong and protect others, that last quick misadventure in the ruins had reminded him of just how helpless he was, and Happy was just giving the last confirmation of the fact now...

"So, when are we going?"

...Or maybe he wasn't?

"What?"

"When are we going to the ruins again. I mean, that's the plan, right? You're not going to stop worrying about Lisanna anytime soon, will you? If you can't get all this story off your head, we might as well just go there and clear all this up one way or another."

"But you just said we don't have any chance, why are you agreeing to it now? And why are you even wanting to come along? This is my stupid idea!"

"Cause we're friends. If you really want to continue with this then the least I can do is to stay with you. Besides, Lisanna is my friend too now. I'm also worried about her. So if we have a chance to help her I wanna try."

Sometimes, as their normal routine went by, uneventful days piling up one after another, it was easy to think of Happy as just an annoying kid he liked to talk to and bicker with at times. But whenever Natsu actually needed him, he would be reminded that that kid was the most loyal friend anyone could ask for, the only one who would listen to him no matter what.

And thus the two best friends set out to what could end up being a heroic quest, a thrilling discovery, or a foolish impulsive death at the hands of a demon.

Natsu did the best he could to retrace his steps from last time, and they reached the ruins quite easily. Being there during the day unlike last time made the place look less scary at least. It was more just sad and desolate.

As they walked to the church, which stood out like always from the rest of the rubble, Happy, who had been eerily quiet so far, finally spoke:

"So... you said you just... knocked on the door, right?" he whispered, as if afraid someone could hear them in that empty place. Which was actually very likely considering what they knew so far.

"Well, yeah, there wasn't much else I could do..."

Happy stared at the doors for a moment, as if hesitating on what to do. By his expression it was very easy to see that he was scared, which was completely understandable. They didn't have any plan, they were messing with things they didn't even understand, and all of that just because they were too stubborn and couldn't let their worries about Lisanna go.

"So, you have any ideas?" Natsu asked, trying to distract himself from all the doubts he had about everything they were doing at the moment.

"Aye. But they are not smart."

And they really weren't, because in the end he just knocked in the door the same way Natsu did before.

"Knock knock!" he cheerfully mimicked the sound every time he knocked, which he did many times, determined to get an answer at some point.

And the answer he eventually got was a muffled, worried voice that also sounded quite familiar at this point. Natsu rushed to come closer and hear it, though Happy made a gesture for him to stay quiet.

"W-what?! Oh no, why did you come again?"

"You're supposed to ask 'who's there'."

There was a moment of hesitation before she decided to play along, though her voice was still distressed.

"Uh, who's there?"

"A broken pencil." he stated simply, confusing her even more.

"What?!" her voice was a just high-pitched squeak at this point.

"Never mind, it's pointless!" and he laughed, looking very proud of the joke. Lisanna might have laughed too, Natsu wasn't quite sure, he hadn't figured out yet what was the noise he heard from beyond the doors, it was like something between a snort and a confused yelp.

Before he could ask what Happy was doing, the kid gestured once again for him to be silent, and started another joke. Then, as Lisanna spoke her lines (she seemed more at ease playing her part this time), he held out a book in Natsu's direction.

"You can do the next one if you want." he mouthed quietly before returning his attention to the girl in the ruins.

Natsu picked up the book. It was full of bad jokes and puns similar to the one Happy had just told.

Speaking of that, it seemed he had just finished the second joke, and this time Natsu could hear genuine giggling from Lisanna at the other side.

This time, he made sure to say something fast before Happy had the chance to stop him yet again.

"What the hell is this idea, anyway? You're just telling jokes!" he hissed.

"Well yeah, I said it wasn't really a great idea or anything, but you see, I once read this really fun story about two people who became friends by telling jokes to each other through the door of a sealed ruin, and I thought our situation was really fitting so it could be fun to-" and he had to stop talking because Natsu grabbed his shoulders and started to shake him quite violently.

"Are you trying to say all you wanted was to reenact one of your stories?! That's why you came here?!"

"Hey, I already said why I wanted to come with you, it's not because of this! I just thought this was a fun idea to try!"

"No, it was the worst idea ever! What would you do if the demon was the one to answer?"

"Maybe it would like the jokes too." Happy answered with a smile that made Natsu sure he wasn't being taken seriously. And so he started to chase the kid around as usual.

"Oh c'mon, Natsu, why are you even so mad about this, it's not like you had a better plan!"

"Yeah but at least I was taking things seriously!"

"Yeah, you're right, that's kind of impressive." Happy teased him, which didn't help calming Natsu down at all.

What did help at that was hearing Lisanna's reaction to the fight. Unlike the muffled giggling of before, this time she was just howling with laughter, as if their antics were the best joke she had heard in forever. And while that was kind of embarrassing, Natsu realized he didn't mind it as much as he expected to.

After all the time spend worrying and fussing about her, her laughter was music to his ears.

When she began to quiet down, they approached the doors again, but whatever words she was mumbling were too low for them to hear.

"Lisanna?" Natsu called after a while.

"I can't believe you guys..." she said endearingly, but there was a barely concealed sadness behind her words. "How could you even come back here after that? I mean, it was you that night too, wasn't it? We found the umbrella here so I thought it was you."

"Uh, yes." he answered, realizing he had probably dropped the umbrella during his panicked escape. "We came back because we were worried about you, damnit! And also because I really don't get you!" He let his frustrations out all at once. "I mean, you said the forest was dangerous, but then I see you coming here, and then it turns out there really is a demon and it's the scariest thing ever and you're here with it? What, are you a prisoner or something? And if so, why do you come to the village at times? Why didn't you ever escaped or asked for help or, or, I don't know, anything! I really don't get it, okay?! I just wanna know if you're fine here!"

There was a faint sound from the other side that Natsu could only interpret as a deep sigh.

"Well, I guess is really nice that you care so much. I-" she sounded a bit choked. "I'm sorry, okay? You are great friends, you are the best friends I could ask for, I really wish I could explain all this to you but... I can't. All you guys need to know is that, you don't need to worry, okay? I'm fine, this is actually the safest place for me. And for my siblings, I need to keep the secret for them too."

"Are you guys hiding from something?" Happy asked, trying to wrap his mind around all she just said.

"Yes. Sorry, it's complicated."

"And about the demon?" it was Natsu's time to ask a question. "I mean, that thing I heard back then was a demon, right?"

"Yes. Yes it was. But you don't have to worry, Natsu, the demon would never do anything to me."

"I still don't get it."

"I'm sorry, I really can't explain it, my siblings are already mad enough that I let someone follow me to here."

"Wait, what?"

"That's why I said you should keep away from the woods, Natsu. We are hiding here, the less people come around the place the better. I already didn't go out much because I knew I was gonna mess things up. That I was going to befriend someone and let something slip up, and put us in danger. I'm not as tough as my siblings."

"But wait, that's all wrong!" Natsu shouted. He was having a hard time dealing with the fact he might have had put Lisanna in trouble. "I was the only one who followed you here, I'm not gonna put you in danger or anything! If you are worried about your secret, then we'll just not tell anyone! Right, Happy?"

"Aye! We really just wanted to know if you were okay, Lisanna. And if you say you're safe here, we believe. We won't tell anyone we came here."

"Thanks guys, I know you will." And they could feel she was said that with complete trust. "I wish things didn't have to be complicated like this, but, despite all this mess, I'm glad I met your guys, I don't regret that one bit."

The two boys nodded in agreement, even though the action was pointless since she couldn't see them. They spend some moments in silence like that, just letting the weigh of Lisanna's words and trust sink in.

"Say Lisanna," Happy suggested after a while. "do you think we can come back here sometimes? You know, just to have some fun together. Even if you can't leave this place much, we can still talk at least..."

"...and hear more of your amazing jokes." she finished, causing the three kids to chuckle a little. "Well, I don't know, there's always a risk that someone might follow you here. But yes, Natsu, I know you'll take care." she added as soon as Natsu started to protest. "And, I already said, didn't I? I knew something like this could happen. I don't want to be apart from you guys."

And that's how the friendship between them continued. They would visit the ruins almost everyday, making sure to come at the right time Lisanna saying, when her siblings wouldn't be around. Though he didn't say it, Natsu felt a bit frustrated that they couldn't see each other. It felt so stupid, to be close and yet kept apart by a single door for some unknown reason. But as Happy said before, he had no right to dwell in her personal business, especially when she had already explained she couldn't say anything to them. He should just be glad she was safe.

And besides, as much as he wished to be able to do more, he couldn't how much good they were already doing for each other just by making each other laugh. Be it with the silliest of jokes or with some other stories they had to tell at the moment, they always knew just what to do to make each other happy, to brighten their days. Lisanna had came to him at one of his saddest, loneliest days and somehow changed everything for the better. He wanted to do the same, to be there for her, to care for her and cheer her up, because he was sure that a life of being stuck in a ruined village was very lonely too, and he just wanted her to be happy now that she had friends.

Days and weeks went by, without anyone being too worried to keep track of them. By now, visiting Lisanna was so normal that Natsu didn't even register how interesting it was that the once scary ruins had now become such a welcoming place to him and Happy.

They knocked on the doors like usual. At this point, Happy had already repeated his idea of using knock knock jokes to lighten up the mood a lot of times, much to Natsu's annoyance as he didn't see anything funny on those. But Lisanna seemed to like some of them, and also like how bad the others were. As for Happy... maybe he really liked them, or maybe he just liked the idea of acting like someone of his favorite stories, or maybe he actually liked people's annoyance at them. Natsu hadn't figured him out yet, and to be honest the truth was probably all of those factors combined.

"Knock knock!" the kid started, cheerful like always.

"Come in!" was the friendly reply from the other side, and the two boys blinked in surprise.

"Huh?" And before they could have any smarter reaction to that, they were distracted by more sounds coming from inside the church. The sounds of doors being unlocked.

And then there was Lisanna, standing in front of them with open arms, looking the same usual, old cloak covering her whole body.

"Whaaaat? You're, you're letting us enter now?!" Natsu exclaimed, barely containing his enthusiasm.

Lisanna happily nodded.

"I'll explain it better inside, I don't want to leave this open for long. Come in!" she repeated the invitation, and they quickly followed it.

"So, what's the deal, your siblings are not mad at you anymore?" Natsu asked while she closed the doors from the inside.

"Sort of, yeah. I've been talking a lot about this to them lately. I couldn't really hide your visits from them forever, so when they started to get suspicious about things I decided to tell the whole truth. And well, they were upset at first, but you've been visiting for a long time and nothing bad has happened, so I managed to convince them to give you a chance! So now they want to meet you, and also know how you'll handle the whole truth."

"That's great!" Natsu was totally pleased with this turn of events. "So c'mon, tell us already what's the whole story!"

"Calm down, calm down, I'm gonna do it already!" she whined, raising her hands in a gesture that asked for a bit more patience from him. After spending a moment to collect her thoughts, she asked: "So, what do you guys know about the demon, after all?"

"Uh, that it screeches a lot, and it's really creepy, and that's it? I mean, I didn't get a chance to see it or anything at that time..."

"I know, I know, but I wasn't thinking about that night, actually. I meant the stories they tell around here. About what happened to Edolas."

"It was destroyed by the demon." Happy answered this time. "And then... well, no one is really sure of the ending, some say the demon was imprisoned in the church, and others say it's actually free and uses the church as its home."

"Both versions are wrong actually." she calmly stated. "Or at least very incomplete. The start is accurate though. My siblings and I lived in Edolas all our lives. We were in this church during the demon's rampage. We thought we were all going to die, but... someone showed up with magic capable of sealing the demon. And so they did, but all of the demon's energy couldn't be trapped at once. It had to be split into three seals."

Happy made a small noise at his side and Natsu could only guess he had figured everything out, but he hadn't fully made the connection himself before Lisanna took off her cloak and gloves and made it clearer.

A pair of small purple horns stood on top of her head, and dark scales covered her arms from the elbows to to the hands, with the fingertips ending in sharp claws. A thin, pointy tail waved around from under her worn out dress. There were also short spikes on her shoulders, and following a quick, flapping sound, two small bat-like wings spread out from her back.

"That person used me and my siblings as the seals. There's not a demon imprisoned at the church, there are three hiding here." She stared sadly at the ground, her voice now somber. "Because the villagers weren't so happy to see us like this after everything, so we thought it was better to just drive everyone away and stay unseen here."

The two boys said nothing for a moment, taking in the girl's appearance. Natsu could barely believe that after all this time, once again he had a magical being in front of him, and not even one disguised like his father.

"That's..." he finally spoke. "so cool!" and to her surprise, he ran to her, wanting to take a closer look at her, and completely forgetting about things like personal space in the meanwhile. "I mean, you've got horns! And scales, and claws, that's so awesome! You look like a... like a..."

"Like a dragon, you mean?" Lisanna giggled.

"Well, yeah! Sort of. I mean, dragons and demons are pretty different I think... but still, it's cool, you're so awesome, Lisanna!"

"Aww, you're making me blush, Natsu!" she playfully retracted from him, though her face looked much more relaxed now, as if she was relieved to see her friend taking the revelation so nicely. "If you keep complimenting me so much, I might just have to marry you in the spot!"

"Wait what? How did we get to this subject?!"

"Well, we're already on a church, aren't we?"

Already a reddened mess, Natsu just angrily stuttered in front of her, struggling but failing to make any kind of comeback. Lisanna was very good at leaving him speechless.

"Well, okay," Happy sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have expected any other reaction from Natsu. But still, are you guys okay like this, Lisanna? I mean, being demons?"

"It's not the perfect life, but we try our best to make it work. It's not like it changed our personalities or anything like that," she looked at her own claws, wriggling her finger a bit. "and honestly, you get used to the changes after a while." then her mood dropped again. "We just worry about how people are going to react, that's all. It wasn't nice the last time. Though I also don't know how much longer we can survive here alone..."

"Yeah, I always knew this demon thing was just another misunderstanding from those idiot villagers."

"Oh yes you did." Happy deadpanned with complete disbelief, much to Natsu's annoyance because he wasn't lying. Maybe exaggerating a bit since that had always been more of a feeling he had about the story than a certainty, but not lying.

"Alright, you two, this is not the time to get worked up over this, don't you think?" Lisanna gently scolded them. "We're not here to discuss our problems right now. I brought you here to tell the truth, and since I already got lucky to find someone who think demons are reeeeaaally pretty," she almost sang that part, winking at Natsu and making him blush yet again, and while he kinda wanted to deny that because he had said "cool" and not "pretty", he held himself back. After all, it wasn't like she wasn't pretty, and she looked so happy with his previous praises he wouldn't ruin that for anything in the world. "how about we go meet the rest of the demon family." she finished, opening up a passage to the basement.

And as they went, Natsu thought, not for the first time, how much Lisanna had changed his life in so little time. While before he was just a lonely kid which no way to back up his claims of knowing a dragon, he was now friends with a demon and about to meet two others. And he had no idea of what to expect from that and kinda felt like this was more than a normal human should get involved with.

But through every step of the way, being finally able to open up about all secrets, Lisanna was happy and smiling.

And that was everything he wanted.