Author's Note: Hello! I've decided to dip my toe into the murky waters of Fairy Tail because this idea just won't leave my head. I would like to ask that people limit the "You should pair x with y" suggestions to zero. I have some pretty solid pairings in mind and I won't be budged. For those who also read my One Piece story, True Justice, I am working on the next chapter. It will remain my dominant story, with this one having a slower update cycle.

Chapter One: A Tragedy in Flame

It was a balmy afternoon in Magnolia, and Natsu, Lisanna, and their 'son' Happy can be seen relaxing under a tree. It has been two months since the pair bashfully admitted that their feelings are genuine and mutual. While the guild threw yet another party, a certain white haired demon was less than pleased.

Sniffing the air, Natsu cracks open one eye to see the haughty glare of Mirajane and the uncertain, yet looming, presence of Elfman Strauss. With a yawn, the pink haired dragon slayer smiles, "Good afternoon, Mira! You two should pull up a patch of grass. It's excellent nap weather."

At the sound of his voice, Lisanna blinks owlishly and stretches. "Mira-nee? Elf-nii? What are you doing here?"

With a smirk, Mirajane responds, "We have a job, Lisanna. Say goodbye to your little boy toy here. There's an emergency S-class mission and since I'm the only one currently at the guild, the Master is sending us."

Natsu leaps up with vigor, "Let's get going then!" His vertical momentum is halted by a delicate fist smashing him back to the ground.

Lisanna checks him for bruising as Mira retorts, "Not you, crybaby. This is a Strauss only mission."

With a low growl, Natsu glares at the demon. Mira takes an unconscious step back as he has never directly challenged her like this before. "Are his eyes… different?" She asks herself as his eyes flash from their usual dark pools to a reddish tinged slitted eye. Before she can ask, Lisanna speaks soothingly to her boyfriend. "Shh… It's okay, Natsu. We'll be done before you know it, and then we can get Team Dragon Soul back out there for missions." With a kind smile, she captures his attention. "Just wait for me here in a few days."

His eyes returning to normal, he regards Mira and Elfman. "Fine. Though keep this in mind, you two. Any scratch, any bruise, that she returns with, I will give you tenfold." Elfman staggers back at the sheer force of the dragonslayer's aura before stammering, "A man protects his sisters! You have my word."

Mira merely nodded, concerned by his sudden display of power. Collecting herself, she waves him off dismissively, "As if anything could go wrong with me there. See you in a few days, crybaby."

Lisanna gives Natsu a lingering kiss before following her siblings. A kiss that Mira is doing her level best to ignore.

With a single hand raised, almost as if to summon her retreating figure, Natsu sighs and returns to the guild, collecting Happy as he goes.

ooOOoo

It has been a day and a half since the Strauss family left on their journey and Natsu has not budged from the guild hall. Makarov sighs deeply as he looks at the lovelorn dragonslayer. "The boy has got to learn patience. There will be times the two of them have to be apart from each other." He chuckles softly to himself. "Ah… first love."

Gray, tired of his rival's sullen attitude, readies a surprise attack. "ICE MAKE: HAMMER!" He smashes the summoned weapon upon Natsu's head and back, sending the dragonslayer through the table and into the floor. He smirks at the wreckage and prepares another attack. He is so caught up in his own 'cleverness' that he does not smell the scent of burning wood and ash that begins to fill the air. "ICE MAKE." He gets out before being interrupted.

A deep, raspy voice emerges from the pile of broken wood. "FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST." And just like that, with a force not unlike a battering ram, the ice make mage finds himself embedded in the far wall. Makarov opens one eye in surprise at the dramatic increase in magic from the young dragonslayer. He nudges the red headed wizard next to him who had, until this point, been entirely distracted by strawberry cheesecake.

Finishing her treat with a happy hum, Erza rounds on Natsu, who has been slowly stalking towards his assailant. Reaching out to halt his progress, she begins, "Alright, Natsu. That's enough. You've gotten your..." She lets out a tiny shriek as her gauntlet becomes superheated upon contact with the dragonslayer. Jerking her hand back, she quickly requips the gauntlet away before it can do any permanent damage to her hand. "Natsu, what…"

The orange flames that normally wreath the young man when he is in a fight begin to flicker with colors from orange to yellow, and from yellow to white. His motion suddenly stalls and his back arches as he collapses to his knees, his face twisted in a rictus of pain. The air begins to grow hazy due to the intense heat being emitted by the dragonslayer, the floorboards scorching before turning into ash. His body slowly begins to levitate and a soul piercing scream bursts from his lips. Only one wizard in the guild has the fortitude to withstand the sound, and Makarov's eyes widen as he deciphers the word: 'Lisanna.'

Thinking quickly, and thanking Mavis that the Thunder Legion happened to be stopping by, he quickly bellows to Freed and Levy to put fire and magic suppressing runes around the blazing wizard. Laxus gestures to Freed to continue, if only to silence the piercing tones. He hasn't let anyone know of his status as a dragon slayer, but his ears are certainly aware. Letting out a sigh of relief, then looking around quickly to make sure nobody noticed, Laxus glares over the balcony to see the double row of runes surrounding the crumpled form of Natsu. What he sees shocks him. Natsu's skin is covered in a layer of scales, and his fingernails have become claws. "What the hell?"

ooOOoo

Hours pass as the wizards all sit in nervous anticipation of Porlyusica's diagnosis. With an ill-tempered sigh, the pink haired healer turns her glare at Makarov. "I've never seen anything like this. You said he yelled for Lisanna while this was going on?" The old man nods, a feeling of dread creeping over him. "Then we may have a problem. Something may have happened to the girl. Dragon slayers are a Lost Magic and the research we have on them is incomplete at best, a joke at worst."

Before the guild master can respond, the front doors to the guild open admitting the bandaged and broken duo of Elfman and Mirajane. Tears and heartbreak etched deeply in their faces, Makarov's worst fears are confirmed. "What happened, child." He asks as he approaches the traumatized demon. He is almost knocked to the ground as she collapses into him, his shirt saturated with tears. "She's dead… Lisanna is dead… and it's all my fault." Makarov mutters comforting words to the heartbroken mage and looks up at Elfman's face. The haunted expression and unconcealed looks at his own hands tells the story that the old mage will not ask.

Elfman's glassy eyed stare casts around him until he sees Natsu's fallen form. "Natsu?" Mira's tears cease as she gasps at the sound of his name. "Where is he, master? I… I should be the one to tell him." She looks around until she too spies his body on the ground.

Placing his hand on her shoulder, Makarov quietly begins to speak, "Earlier today he suddenly burst into flames and called out for your sister. Now we know why. As to what is happening to him… We don't know." Her eyes widen with the input of new trauma, she begins to speak, her words loud enough that only Makarov can hear her. "She… there was a dragon covering her back. I didn't notice it until she used a Take Over form… When she died… she burst into golden light and a fiery dragon. Oh god, this is all my fault…" Her eyes grow unseeing, as she turns inward on herself.

With a sorrowful look, Makarov reaches out to the grieving woman. "SLEEP." Elfman catches her crumpling form, his eyes meeting his master's. "Take her home, Elfman. Don't leave her alone." He gestures to Erza and Cana. "Go with him. We can't let her destroy herself with grief." The two tear streaked mages nod and help Elfman escort his sister home.

The healer sighs and shakes her head, "It is as I feared. She was his mate and their souls were bound together. Legends say that dragons rarely outlive their mates, and only in extraordinary circumstances can they emerge from their pain. The boy lost his will to live and is changing into a beast with one goal. To destroy what took his love before he dies as well."

The guild master looks in shock, then in suspicion at the healer. "You said you didn't know what was happening to him." She grimaces at his tone, "I said I had never seen anything like this. I didn't want to borrow trouble by assuming the worst." Grumbling at her very shrewd point, Makarov regards the fallen wizard. "We need to do research on what this all means. Until then…" A tear courses down his aged face. "I have no choice… I promise, Natsu. We'll find a way to save you."

The old mage settles into a cross legged position before Natsu's body, his arms extended. Porlyusica's eyes widen when she realizes what he intends to do. "You can't!"

Cutting her off with a glance, Makarov interrupts her. "I have no other alternative. He will continue to change if I don't. This way we still have a chance to save him." His hands begin to glow as runic symbols swirl around the dragon slayer, "I'm sorry… LACRIMUM ENCAPSULEM." Crystals begin to grow around the young man until he is fully encased, his agonized form preserved perfectly.

Makarov stands shakily then falls to a knee. "Take him to the basement to the research area by the library." The old man collapses as the sheer magical drain takes its toll. With an exasperated sigh, the healer glares at the guild. "YOU HEARD HIM! AND TAKE HIS USELESS CARCASS TO THE INFIRMARY."

Terrified of the angry woman, the guild hops to, Jet racing the old man to a bed as Nab dead lifts the crystal and carts it down stairs.

In the chaos, nobody notices the look of fierce determination and longing on the face of a petite bluenette as she slips out of the guildhall.