Disclaimer : don't own Fairy Tail, duh.

Sorry for any language mistake !

The first thing Natsu did as his house's roof fell onto him was to grab Lucy by the waist and shove the both of them behind the couch, taking cover. When dust started invading their lungs, causing them to cough uncontrollably, he pushed himself over her, sheltering her weakened body as best as he could. Lucy hid her face in his shirt, shaken up and not understanding what was happening more than he did.

Putting his arms firmly around her waist, Natsu put them into a sitting position, still coughing but allowing her to keep her face burried in his clothes to block out the dusty air. He couldn't see much, but peeked over the couch nonetheless, and froze.

There, in the middle of his living-room, stood a tall and imposant person, judging from the figure he could catch sight of behind the falling wreckage of his roof. And if he were to guess from their way to enter someone's house, this was not a friendly visitor.

Getting up quickly, he pushed Lucy behind him with an outstretched arm, an attempt at protecting her.

"Who are you ?!", he all but shouted, anger boiling inside him. It would take months to build this hole up, dammit !

At this, Lucy finally realized the presence of another person in the room, as they took a step towards them, becoming clearer. When she caught a glimpse of their face, Lucy reeled back in panick, eyes widening to the side of plates, and her body shivering from fear. Her head-ache came back full force, though she tried to calm herself down.

There stood a tall man, dark hair slicked back and sharp blue eyes cold as he stared at the two. His face seemed rather young, a large scar stretching out from his left eyes to the right side of his chin. But what mostly got her was the right arm he was pointing towards them, a red arm covered in scales. Long and sharp claws decorated his fingers, threatening to tear her skin open in one swing. A large tail, covered in the same frightening scales, came out of his behind, shifting from right to left with every slow step he took.

Finally the man, or rather creature, came to a stop, glaring at Natsu, who glared back with equal force.

"Hand the girl over and I shall go", the man stated in a deep voice, opening his clawed hand.

"Who are you ?!" , repeated Natsu in a roar.

"That's none of your concern. Now if you won't hand her over, I will snatch her from you by myself, but you may not come out of this unharmed, boy."

The sound of Lucy falling to her knees caught Natsu's attention, and his eyes went wide as he saw her on the verge of losing consciousness once again. He got on the floor next to her in the speed of light, snaking an arm behind her to keep her up.

"Lucy, please not now ! I don't know what's happening, either to you or with this roof-breaker over there but I beg you, you have to hold on right now !" He said frantically, slightly shaking her.

To his horror, their new-found enemy launched himself towards them, extending his right arm so as to get Natsu's head off from his neck. Said boy reacted in a heartbeat, laying flat on the floor and putting Lucy down with him, effectively dodging the attack. The mysterious man flew past them, twirling around swiftly, and rushing immediately forward once again.

The adrenaline stopped Natsu from shaking as he rolled to the side with Lucy encased in his arms. As his attacker nearly crashed into the door standing behind them, slightly losing his balance, Natsu fumbled to his feet as quickly as possible, offering a hand to Lucy, who thankfully regained her senses, though she didn't seem to quite grasp the full meaning of their situation yet.

"Lucy, go away !", Natsu all but roared, stretching his arms out in front of her while facing the enemy, "I'll keep him busy, you just run !"

Lucy shivered.

"What ?" she shrieked, "How can you possibly do that, do you even know how to-"

Her complain was cut off by Natsu leaping through the air, so fast that all she could only pinpoint a pink ball crashing into the reptile monster, knocking it over.

"-fight", Lucy finished in a whisper, mouth agape in a awe as Natsu squatted down to avoid a balled fist going for his jaw.

For what seemed like long, very long minutes, she stood there, a few feet away from the brawl, staring at the prince who oh-so-gently came to her rescue, as he tried to beat the hell out of the thing attacking them. And as much as she could say that it was quite impressive, she couldn't help but notice the struggle Natsu was going through, not being able to dodge every fist his opponent threw his way –though he made sure to concentrate on that clawed hand of his so as not to get ripped apart. His nose was bleeding, a trail of blood running by his lips to his bruised chin, and Lucy didn't doubt his face wasn't the only injured area by now.

"Run !" She heard him repeat through heavy breaths, just before he took off towards the black-haired man again, elbowing him in the ribs and skipping to the side the next instant to try and go for his scarred face.

"I can't !" Lucy found herself replying, tears building up in her eyes as Natsu recieved a blow at the back of his knee that made him stumble, a light groan slipping through his lips. Lucy gasped, but regained her composure when the pink-haired boy swiftly returned the favor and pushed his enemy back long enough to look at her.

"I won't run away by myself, I won't leave you alone !" She cried, taking an unsteady step forward in order to get into the battle, body shuddering but eyes fierce and determined – and help the dork ruining himself for her protection at the moment.

This must have alarmed Natsu, because she saw his pupils dilating, before angrily turning back towards the mysterious man, muttering a "dammit". With that resolved face of her, he wouldn't be able to change her mind without getting distracted long enough for him to be knocked down.

The scar-faced man tried to assault Lucy since the beginning, but Natsu managed to keep him at bay every single time, not without getting harmed in the process. However, if the girl got into the battle, it would be much more troublesome.

"Lucy, stay away !" He shot in a desperate attempt, to no avail. The girl wouldn't back down from this, no matter how afraid she might be at the moment.

Natsu gritted his teeth. He didn't know her, despite what his heart had to say, but whoever she was, she couldn't be in any condition to fight.

His heartbeat quickened, his mind hurt from trying to find an escape. He only saw one solution. But he couldn't. Could he ? It's been years.

Lucy was about to stand next to him.

The lizard man threw himself at her, claws all out.

"OH TO HELL WITH IT !" Natsu suddenly yelled, a frustrated scowl gracing his face. Jumping high, he withdrew his right arm behind his head.

His hand caught on fire.

Lucy's heart missed a beat as her eyes grew wide at the sight of the flames licking the tan skin of Natsu's fingers, the boy not seeming to feel any pain.

"Magic…" Lucy let out in a breath, hypnotized by the swirling of the flames around Natsu's hand as every bit of fire came together to form a ball in his palm.

The pink-haired boy threw his fireball forward with all his might, effectively hitting his opponent straight in the face with it, whose speed added strenght to the attack.

"Take this, Scar Face !" Natsu shouted, showing off the biggest grin Lucy had seen yet.

Said "Scar Face" groaned as he struggled to get back on his feet from the rubbles of the wall he just smashed into, a fuming burn decorating his forehead. He didn't have time to do much, another shot of fire being tossed his way, this time envelopping his scaled arm.

To Natsu and Lucy's surprise, the flames just made their way down his arms to the tip of his fingers, disappearing without a trace. But the prince couldn't let himself being taken aback, and he wasted no time in firing another ball, that exploded onto the enemy's shoulder, drawing a yelp from him.

"Scar Face" raised himself up quickly, red skin scorched and bruised all over, thin trickles of blood trailing down his cheeks and arm. Panting, he shot a cold glare towards the duo in front of him and bounced through the hole made in the roof, apparently running off.

Natsu and Lucy stood quiet and still for a moment, staring ahead, surrounded by Natsu's heavy breaths and small pieces of walls crumbling down from time to time. Plaster was falling down in thick dust, covering the all room in white.

Natsu, still as a rock, eyed the damage done to the modest house. A house he had built, with the help of some kind villagers. His house. It hurt him to stand in the middle of its rubbles. But what hurt him most was the soft sobbing he heard from behind him.

"I…I'm sorry… T-This is all my fault !" Lucy hiccuped, and he suddenly didn't care about the destruction around them.

Natsu was instantly crunching down in front of her kneeling form, gripping her wrists gently to keep her hands away from her big brown eyes, shining with guilty tears. He shot her a serious look, but before he could utter a word, she went on.

"Y-Your house… Oh my- I'm so sorry ! I-"

"The only one responsible for this mess is this jerk" Natsu stated, throwing a thumb over his back, in the same direction the scar-faced man had taken off to.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, his onyx eyes burning their way through hers, his gaze determined and soothing at the same time. Lucy couldn't stop staring at his orbs, feeling herself being dragged inside them. There, she found the same fire that has danced around his palm earlier, but as it was now directed towards her, it did not seem as harmful. It was warm.

She broke out of her revery when his hold on her wrists tightened slightly. She shook her head, some golden locks sliding on her face.

"Okay", Lucy muttered, registering despite herself each bruise exposed on his skin, every small blood-stained part of his face. Who was stupid enough to endure this for a stranger ?

But as he faced her with a sloppy grin, showing off a small, pointy canine, seeming unfazed by the pain he was supposed to be in, Lucy understood that the real question was quite the contrary.

"Good", he whispered, releasing her hands to erase the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs. "Now let's get you out of here, he'll surely come back".

Natsu stood up, followed by the blonde girl, who gently shook off his hand to get up by herself.

"What on earth did he want with you ?" Natsu wondered aloud, skirting around his house to every room in order to gather all sorts of things in a backpack.

"H-how would I know… I guess it has to do with my past but… I guess I still can't remember a thing", Lucy explained, holding herself while watching him pass by her in a blur, "I had an headache when he appeared, but no memory came back to me. I'm feeling stuck. And scared, to be honest". She looked down in what Natsu thought was shame. He paused, turning towards her, without saying anything.

"Don't be", he finally uttered.

Grabbing one last thing from his room, a worn-out scarf, he jogged back to her, taking hold of her arm and tugging her out of the house.

"W-what are you doing ?", she sputtered, running behind him on the dirty pathway along the beach, towards the North Forest.

"I said that we had to get out of here" Natsus answered matter-of-factly.

"We ? But I thought-"

"That I'd just get you some food and throw you out in the woods ? No way missy, I'm tagging along".

"But-"

"You are like a lost puppy, with an evil man coming after you ! You certainly want to gain your memory back ! I'll help you out", she heard him speak through a smile.

"Thanks, but, why-"

At this, Natsu turned his head to face her, keeping his running pace, a toothy grin stretching his lips, as he answered in a soft voice :

"So that neither of us will be alone anymore".

And as he lifted his hand in the air, never releasing hers, wrapping the white, scaled scarf around his neck, laughing like a maniac, Lucy caught something burning in his flaming eyes : the promise of an adventure.

And she felt her own laugh building up in her chest, breaking free entirely for the first time since she could remember, as it echoed with his own.

Hiya ! I'm (really) late for this chapter, I … kinda met the evil monster we call "writer block"… He's scary…

Anyway I'm sorry for the wait but now the mean monster is gone and the next chap is already on its way ! ^^'

I thank everyone who follow this story and who has reviewed, it means really much, and I hope you didn't give up on it… I'm trying my best to keep it up :x

See ya next time !