Once upon a time, there lived a dragon who fell in love with a beautiful princess. The princess was not your ordinary princess, nor the dragon your ordinary dragon. And this most certainly is not your ordinary fairy tale.

         In the land of Fiore, in the Heartfilia Kingdom, there lived a small blonde princess named Lucy and her father, His Majesty, King Jude Heartfilia, Ruler of the Southern Lands of Fiore. Sadly, Her Grace, Queen Layla Heartfilia, died while the princess was still very young. This in turn caused the great King to withdraw from society and even his one and only child, causing her to be very lonely. But as lonely as she was, she couldn't shake the sneaking suspicion that someone just as small and lonely as her, was watching from the shadows just out of sight. Sometimes she would catch a glimpse of a red scaly tail, locks of pink hair, or the end of a fluttering white scarf as it disappeared into the shadows. Each and every time this happened, she couldn't help but wonder if there truly was another small child as lonely as her out there. One night, her father snapped at her without reason and sent her to her room without supper. As lonely as tiny Lucy had been, she never shed a tear because of it. Even though she was still a child, sweet Lucy was incredibly strong. But even though she was so strong, that night, for the first time since her mother died, Lucy cried and let out all of the pain from the past two years since her mother died out. All of the loneliness, all of the pain and longing for comfort, all of the confusion and frustration as to why her dad no longer hugged her or tucked her in himself at night, and the pain of missing her mother so much all came pouring out of her eyes like waterfalls of emotion. She hated being a princess. She didn't like all the fancy dresses all the time or having to be tutored by herself by the hired tutors. She didn't like being the only kid she knew. She wanted to be free from all of it. She wanted to be able to be around kids her age, wear normal clothes like the kids she saw wear, and she wanted to have actual friends other than the maid assigned to take care of her. She wept for what seemed like hours into her pillow on her bed. Just then, she heard a rustling in the tree outside her window and the sound of the window opening. She turned around and saw a rosy haired boy with a white patterned scarf around his neck. Except he wasn't simply a boy. She saw that he had red scales covering his entire lower half and he had a tail as well.

"Who-who are you?" She sniffled while clutching a pillow to her chest.

"Please don't cry anymore, Princess. My name is Natsu. I'm a dragon!" The small dragon replied with a smile and took a step towards the young princess.

"You have scales like a dragon and even a tail but you don't look like any dragon I've ever seen in my books. Why do you look like a person instead of a monster?" Lucy asked, putting the pillow down and grabbing one of her many fairy tale picture books from her bedside shelf. She remembered that her parents would read her bedtime stories every night from these books. Natsu took a few steps closer to her seeing the evident sadness on her face.

"Please don't cry, Princess Lucy. I don't want you to cry anymore." He reached out a hand towards her and put it on her shoulder. "It's okay." He said softly. "I don't have a mom either. My dad is gone too. But that's okay. Because they still live inside of us. In our hearts." He said smiling at her. The tears stopped streaming down her face and she looked up at him.

"You don't have any parents?" She asked. So he really was all alone, just like she had felt ever since her father had changed. Ever since her mother had died. His smile faltered as he said "No. I never knew my mom. But my dad was amazing until he disappeared. I'm gonna find him again one day though. And even if I don't find him soon, he's always with me." He put his fist over his heart. "Right here." He said giving her a smile. "Your mom is with you too. Even if you can't see her." Lucy placed her hand over her heart like the dragon boy in front of her had.

"Yeah. Thanks Natsu." She replied smiling back at him. "Wait you never answered my question!" She said suddenly.

"Huh? What's that?" He asked.

"Why do you look like me instead of a big scaly monster? And where are your wings?" She replied. Natsu's smile fell.

"Is that what you think of us? That we're monsters? I'm not a monster! Would a monster care about a complete stranger enough to fly up above an entire courtyard of guards, climb a tree in the dead of night, and climb in through your window just to make sure you don't cry, every single night!" He asked frustrated and somewhat hurt by being referred to as a monster. Lucy was taken aback.

"You did? Every night? Is that why you came in tonight when I started to cry?" She asked.

"Yeah. I know how hard it is being alone. I've been there and I don't want another person to feel alone like I did. I followed you everywhere because I somehow sensed you felt alone like me. I never talked to you though because well I'm a dragon. Your stupid guards would probably have tried to kill me if they saw me anywhere near you. Not that they'd be able to get anywhere near me that is." He said with a sly grin. His wings had been folded up behind his back and were now visible. They were red and scaly like the rest of his dragon parts but also a little bit fluffy where the skin of his wings was. Lucy also noticed that he had claw-like toes.. Lucy couldn't help but let her eyes grow wide in wonder and amazement of the magical person in front of her.

"Wait so, if you have wings and can fly, and you're a dragon, does that mean you can breathe fire too like the dragons in my book? And you STILL haven't answered my question dragon boy! I'm gonna call my maid if you don't answer it this time!" She pouted.

"Alright alright. Geez." He answered. "As much as I can understand, dragons are born this way. We aren't like any other creature in the world. We look human in our early years and then when we reach adulthood, we transform into the dragons in your book but we still have the power to change into human form like I am now. Well. I guess I'm not quite human looking I guess. And yeah I can breathe fire!" He took a deep breath but the young princess stopped him short.

"You idiot don't show me in here! You'll burn all my toys!" She had one hand covering his mouth and the other on her hip.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Hmm." He stretched his wings out and gave her a smirk. "How about I show you something better than a fire breathing dragon boy?" He asked.

"Huh?" Was her reply. She looked at his outstretched hand and then back at him.

"Come on, Princess it'll be fun! Take my hand." He said. She didn't know what it was about this dragon boy Natsu who didn't look to be any older than her, but she could tell he was genuine and wouldn't hurt her. She was hesitant at first but she took his hand.

"Good. Now hold on tight okay? It's gonna be a wild ride." He gave her another smirk and before she could respond he jumped through the window bringing her through with him. She wanted to scream but knew that if she did, the guards would see her and think she was being abducted by a monster and that wouldn't exactly be good for her only friend. Soon they were high up above the kingdom and Natsu tossed her in the air and caught her on his back.

"That scared me you-!" Her breath caught mid sentence because looking around, she saw many lights scattered abroad which were towns and cities. "Wow..." The tiny princess breathed. A thought struck her. "Natsu, is this what it's like for you all the time? Is this what you see whenever you fly?" She asked.

"Yeah. But this is the first time in a while that I got to share the view with someone." He answered.

"I'm sorry. The view is amazing." She said. She shivered a little bit. Even thought it was a Summer night, the air was still cold this high up. Natsu felt her shivering.

"Hey, put your arms around me.:" He said. She did so and immediately began to feel warmer and warmer.

"You're so warm." She pressed her face into his back and a feeling of warmth and comfort washed over her. It was a feeling she had not felt in a very long time. "Hey, Natsu?" She asked after a little while.

"Yeah?"

"Are we friends?" She spoke softly with both great hope and great fear of the answer.

"Of course we are. Would a friend sneak past fifty armed guards knowing that if he gets caught they'd try to kill him on sight just so he could climb up a tree and sit there by your window just to make sure you didn't cry?" He replied.

"Um."

"Or would they take you high up above the kingdom and warm you up when you get cold?" He asked as he made himself slightly warmer. "Of course they would, Princess. Come on. Let's get you home before anybody notices you were gone"

"Don't worry. They wouldn't notice..Even if I am a princess." Lucy replied in a wavering voice on the verge of tears. Natsu landed in the window of Lucy's room and let her slide off of his back. She started to say something but Natsu simply hugged her tight.

"Don't cry Princess. You're not alone anymore okay? Please don't cry." He said softly. It was the first time in a very long time since the young princess had felt like this. She didn't know what it was about this boy, but just being around him made her feel reassured and confident. Not to mention this hug filled with care and warmth made her feel like she wasn't alone anymore. She finally had a friend. She couldn't stop the flow of tears that poured out of her eyes from how happy she was to have a friend like Natsu. She hugged him back hard not wanting to let go of her new friend.

"Thank you Natsu. For everything." Lucy whispered when she finally stopped the flow of tears.

"What are friends for Your Highness?"Natsu replied playfully. "We're gonna be friends forever. Right?"

"Right." Lucy answered with a smile.

"You will never be alone again, Lucy. I'll always be there right when you need me." He said.

During the following months, Natsu the dragon would visit the young princess every day and take her flying. Natsu would become more dragon-like as he had told her he would when they first met, but what happened next is a story for another time.