~Even Dragons Have Nightmares~

~Present~

Right now Natsu was asleep.
Buried deep within her covers with Happy curled on the pillow above his head. She used to yell at him and kick him off her bed, but after a while of him ignoring her demands, she dropped it. She noticed he slept better there anyway. Natsu and Happy usually slept in the afternoons so they could be up at night. Mavis only knew why he did that. Yet another stressor for Lucy, not getting enough sleep. Sometimes, to get him to settle down, she would read to the hyper Dragon Boy. She would weave tales of Knights and Princess, and yes, even Dragons.

He always loved those.

One night, as Lucy was telling Natsu a brilliant story of a Knight riding to save his Princess, the Dragon spoke.
"Why is it always a Prince?"
Lucy stopped reading just as the Prince found the Dragon's cave.
"Huh?"
Natsu lay on his back beside her, his eyes looking past her ceiling.
"Why is it always a Prince or a Knight rescuing the Princess?" He muttered.

Lucy closed the book as she thought.
"Well, there has to be a villain to create a problem within the story."
"I know that," he waved it off.
"But, why does the villain have to be a Dragon?"
"It has to be a Dragon because-"
Lucy didn't know. She never questioned as to why the fire breathing Dragon had always been the one who had taken the Princess and had tried to kill the Prince.

She had been always been so immersed within the story itself that she never even thought about it.
Why would she?
The Dragon looked and acted like a villain anyway. Why would Lucy think anything else?
"I...I don't know, Natsu."
She sighed softly as she looked over at him. Natsu's dark eyes were far away, as if he was still in the Fairy Tale.

"They have it wrong, you know." He finally said. "How they describe and portray Dragons."
"Oh?" Lucy put the book down as she listened.
"They aren't all that bad. They take care and protect their own. Sure, they may look scary, but that doesn't mean that they act according to their looks. I should know." He looked as if he was about to add something, but decided not to. "Dragons don't betray or hurt their own. They stay with their friends in a big nest. Where they would die to protect their home. In that nest there isn't one Dragon that isn't loved."
A faint smile came to his face.
"Because each Dragon, related or not, is a part of something bigger;
a family."

Lucy hung on to every word. The emotion imbedded in every word pulled at her heart. "Despite how the humans see them, and how they think they know them, they don't know a thing." His dark eyes went to Lucy and there was a fire in them.
"I wonder if the writers ever thought that maybe the Dragon was the one that would save the Princess?"

And Lucy began to imagine.

After that night, Lucy began to write again. She hadn't in a long while. It was so nice to open her mind and let her imagination take ahold of her.
This time, instead of writing stories about Princes being the good guys, she made the Princes evil. Then she took the monster of so many stories and instead made them good.
After she was finished writing each small tale, she would read them to Natsu. Who adored them. He would listen to every word that Lucy had written and now read.

Now, as Lucy read the ending words in her own Fairy Tale, she heard the soft snores of Natsu and the purring of the sleeping Happy. Lucy smiled tiredly as she folded the parchment with her newly written story on it. She slid open her drawer beside her bed and put that story with all the rest. After she closed it she went back to bed and snuggled under the covers. As Lucy began to drift off to sleep, she couldn't help but think,
The villain in all children books had been another little boy's hero...
Darkness came quickly to snatch her away.

As the Princess drifts to sleep with her Dragon close by, she now knows that not all Fairy Tales are lovely for everyone.
Or the truth.
Instead of the Princess telling her stories, it was the Dragon,
that told his tale.

****

She was awoken by raspy breathing and choked sobs.

Lucy bolted up, her heart in her throat, sweat trickling down her face. Her eyes were impossible wide, pupils dialed from her fear. Her heart was jackhammering in her chest. She raised a hand to her chest to stop it.

She had had the nightmare again.

She wasn't the only one.

Her eyes instantly darted to the shaking form next to her. His body was curled up, form shaking violently, teeth chattering. Raspy sobs and hot tears falling down his face. His long pink hair was tussled and drenched in sweat.

Natsu was in hell.

"Natsu!" Lucy whispered as she laid a hand on his shoulder, only to jerk her hand away quickly. His skin had burned her. If she looked closely, she could see steam curling around his body. She held her burned hand close to her chest as she called out his name. "Wake up! It's just a dream, Natsu!" Lucy whispered as loudly as she dared. She hovered close to him, unable to touch the Dragon, but not wanting to leave him alone.

Happy was already awake.
His dark eyes were sad as he looked down at his troubled friend. Natsu had started to mumble something under his breath. Lucy could barely make out the words over herself and Natsu's raspy breathing.
"I...Ig...neel..."
He seemed to croak.
Lucy had never heard of such a name, if it was a name at all.
Then...why did it sound so familiar to her?

Natsu suddenly jerked and released a whimper.

Lucy had had enough.

"Natsu!" She cried as she grabbed at his trembling shoulders again. The air hissed around her hands when she touched his fevered skin.
"Wake up!" She shook him, "Please, you must wake up!"
Onyx eyes flashed open.
Natsu bolted upright, his eyes were wild, his chest heaving. His eyes flittered around the room as he tried to get his bearings back. Lucy sat silently as she waited for him to calm down.

This hadn't been the first time.

When Natsu first arrived at the castle, on the first night, Lucy had allowed him to stay with her. The only exception was that he would have to sleep on the floor. When Lucy had made sure that he would be comfortable, she had gone to sleep.
Only to be awakened by wails and cries.

Natsu had slept with her that night and every other night that he had those hellish night-terrors. He hadn't had one since; until now.
Now Lucy watched him as he slowly got control of himself once more. His breathing slowed and his tense muscles relaxed. His eyes returned to normal as did his heart. After another moment, he turned to Lucy.

The haunting look passed over his face only for a moment, till it disappeared once again. Once again hiding itself in the darkest part of Natsu's mind. It would appear again.
When it's host's barrier came down.
It always did.
Now, it was just the matter of waiting for its next attack.

Natsu grinned.
There was nothing happy about it.
"Yay, I'm good."
He wasn't.
Lucy could tell. His eyes had becoming duller, haunted.
Bags under his eyes looked like he had been given two black eyes. Sweat was still visible on his forehead, his hair flattened because of it. This is what his night-terror had left behind.
A dying fire.
Lucy imagined she looked close to the same as he.

"What 'bout you? Have the same nightmare as before?"
Happy came to curl up on Lucy's lap as she recalled her nightmare.
"Yes..." She murmured. "It was the same."
Natsu shifted so he was laying back down on his back. "Wanna tell me about it?"
Do you want to tell me about yours?
She almost asked.
In time, She reminded herself, time will let the truth be spoken.

Lucy laid a hand on Happy's rising and falling flank. Her eyes lost their shine as she put herself back in her nightmare. "It was the same thing once again...except...this time, something different happened. Something that has never occurred before..."

The Princess' Nightmare Unfolds

"Lucy..."
It always started like this.
"Lucy..."
With her Mother calling her name.
"My little Star..."
Lucy knew it wasn't real.
"Come here, sweetheart."
But it was so hard to not think it wasn't.
"Mommy's here."
It was so hard to say goodbye.
"Mom!"
Even though Lucy knew what was about to happen.
"That's right, my little Star."
She still ran into her Mother's awaiting arms.
"I miss you."
Lucy sobbed in her Mother's arms.
"Shh, no crying. I'm here...I'm here..."
But she wasn't.
Not really.
"I love you so much, Mother..."
Her Mother smiled.
"I know you do."
Lucy released a sob.
"So...please, don't leave me alone again."
The tension instantly vanished as soon as Lucy felt her Mother's hand in her hair.
"You are never alone, my dear."
Lucy knew her Mom was smiling.
"When you are not here, I am."
The light always turned golden whenever her Mom smiled.
"No...they are with you always."
No matter how many times she heard her Mother say this, she still did not understand.
"Who are they, Mom?"
Like each and every time Lucy had asked her Mother this very question, she never answered.
Already, her Mother's body had begun to glow.
She was leaving.
"Remember," She told her daughter, "You are never alone."
Lucy nodded, waiting for her dream to be over, and to say goodbye.
This is how it always ended.

Until the ending changed.

Layla Heartfilia burst into flames.

Lucy's scream joined in with her Mother's anguished cry as the fire melted her flesh, only to leave behind bone.
"Mom!"
Lucy sobbed as she watched her Mother turn to ash.
"My bright Star...." Layla whispered as her face began to melt.

"The Time of Magic and Fire is coming."

Those were the last words Layla spoke before she burned away.
Her ashes scattering in the air.
Lucy screamed as she cried.
Her tears mixing in with her Mother's ashes when they splashed onto the ground.
Lucy never saw the reason why her Mother went up in flames.

But this time she did.

She heard it.

Laughter.

With tears still streaming down her face, Lucy looked up, and gasped.
Standing on her Mother's blackened bones was a monster bathed in hell fire.
Wings stretched out behind him.
Talons sharp and bloody.
A lashing tail came from his lower back, sweeping over her Mom's bones, and sending her ashes flying.
Fangs glistened and were on display as the figure's lips curled up in a cruel smile.
Fire roared and flickered behind him and cloaked him in the hellish flames.
"Lucy~," the monster hummed.
"Come into my flames."
The monster purred as he beckoned her with his bloody talons.
"I'll protect you."
An evil gleam came to his black eyes as he launched himself at her.

"Just as I did for your Mother!"

Her Mother's killer reached out blood soaked talons for Lucy.
His wild eyes locked onto her.
His fangs ready to rip and tear into flesh-

The dream vanished and Lucy awoke.

The dream had been new and far more terrifying. Lucy had never seen that monster before. He was a new addition to her nightmares. Now, as Lucy looked to where Natsu was waiting for her to continue, she stopped. He looked exhausted.
So was she.

She was so exhausted...that she almost thought...that...

Natsu looked like the thing in her nightmare.

"Let's not talk about it right now." Lucy told him as she settled back down again. She carefully placed Happy on her stomach and closed her eyes.

Then she started humming.

Soon her humming became words.

And then she was singing the Dragon to sleep.

~Snow Fairy~

Hey, Fairy where are you going?

I will gather all the light and shine it on your tomorrow

Oh yeah, can you hear this voice?

Oh yeah, it's hoarse from shouting

Oh yeah, it will last until your heart can hear it

Oh yeah, oh yeah

When you're not here to make me laugh

I can't find what I desire

Snowing, be honest with yourself and smile

Fairy, where are you going?

How strange, your smile

Makes me feel stronger

Snowing, I'm shivering alone, but

You're getting closer to wrap me up

Fairy, slowly but surely

You're walking your way, hang in there

Laughing, you forgotten that you put me under spell

You changed everything with one single smile

Fairy...

*
*
*
*

As the Dragon drifted off to sleep, the Princess sang her lullaby until her Dragon's nightmares were once again locked away in the dark corners of his mind and soul.
Never to be reawakened.
Until the Princess stopped her singing.

Let the Adventure Continue!

This chapter is for nathanhall750331