Chapter 8: First encounter with Lucy

As soon as Lucy came out of the Temple, the whole village rejoiced.

"We knew you were going to succeed!"

"Lucy-sama, congratulations!"

"Yay, we have a Dragon Summoner from our village!"

The villagers started gathering towards the centre. Natsu was curious.

"What are they waiting for?"

"For Lucy to perform her summoning magic" answered Erza. Natsu looked at her; it was the first time she talked to him in a normal way.

"It's been a while we have had a Dragon Summoner here. Everyone wants to see if it's true"

"I see…"

"And…" Erza looked a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry I attacked you earlier. I jumped to conclusions. My apologizes"

Natsu looked at Erza. He then smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm not bothered by it. Thank you"

Erza looked at Natsu with a bewildered face. She looked away; she could feel she was blushing.

"Um… what's up?" asked Natsu.

"Nothing!" said Erza. But then she smiled, "thank you for accepting my apology"

"It's ok" smiled Natsu. Erza had to look away again; Natsu's smile seemed to make her blush a lot. Laxus raised an eyebrow towards Erza.

"Guys, look!" said Gray. Everyone focused on Lucy. Lucy started to gather her magic; the magic pentagram was forming below her.

"I summon thee; Sky Dragon, Grandeeney!"

The ground shook for a little bit. From the magic pentagram, a dragon came out, causing strong winds. Everyone was doing their best to keep their composure. Natsu was awed by Grandeeney's appearance.

"It's a dragon…"

"Beautiful, isn't she?" said a voice behind him. Natsu looked back; it was Wendy.

"WENDY!" Natsu screamed. Everyone around looked at Natsu. Natsu went in to hug Wendy.

"Where the hell have you been?! What's going on?!"

"I'll explain later, Natsu-san, in private. Right now, its better to focus on her"

"Her?"

Wendy pointed at Lucy. Natsu looked on; Lucy looked drained.

Lucy was about to collapse, when Mirajane was able to hold her.

"You ok? You need to rest now, Lucy"

"Thank you, Mira-san. I'm beat", said Lucy with a weak voice.

"Everyone go back to your houses!" said Vincent. "We'll have a celebration later tonight for the birth of Lucy the Dragon Summoner!"

The entire village roared, and dispersed.

- Later that night –

The whole village was celebrating the birth of Lucy the Dragon Summoner. Many people went up to Lucy to talk to her; many of them were wishing her luck and said they were proud. Lucy was smiling and saying thank you to all of them.

Natsu was sitting down a little far away from all the commotion. What Lucy was going through now reminded him of what life was like in Symphonia. It seemed such a long time ago when he was there.

Will I ever be able to get back? Natsu thought sadly.

"Why the sad face?" said a voice. Natsu looked up; Lucy was kneeling down checking his face.

"No… nothing. Sorry" said Natsu sheepishly.

Lucy smiled. "You're Natsu, aren't you?"

"What? How did you know my name?" said Natsu in a surprised tone.

"I asked Gray and Erza. You're the one who barged into the Temple"

"Ye… yeah" said Natsu, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that"

"No, it's ok. I was happy to hear it"

"What?" Natsu looked up.

"No-one really does that around here, especially breaking the sacred laws"

"Oh…. Well-"

Suddenly, he was pulled away from Lucy. Natsu looked around; a few young men were pulling him away.

"Hey, let me go!"

"No!" said one of the young men. "You are unworthy to talk to her! You law breaking brat!"

"Guys, stop!" said Lucy, but they won't listen.

"Don't worry Lucy-sama, we will dispose of him!"

Natsu engulfed himself in flames. The young men were shocked.

"I SAID", Natsu screamed, "LET ME GO!"

The fire engulfed the young men; they were blasted away. They all fell onto the ground, groaning in pain.

"Oww"

Natsu heard laughter. Vincent and Mirajane were walking towards him.

"Brilliant Natsu. I have not laughed that much in a while", said Vincent with a smile. Before Natsu could answer, Vincent leaned down to one of the men on the ground.

"Do something like that again in front of Lucy, you won't just have her to answer, you will have everyone else to answer for. You got it?" Vincent whispered in the man's ear. The man's face turned white.

"Isn't that right, Lucy?"

"Yes", said Lucy. She looked down upon him, with coldness in her eyes. It made Natsu feel fear down his spine.

Wow, she's scary when she wants to be…

The young men ran away, having fear on their faces.

"Sorry about this", said Lucy.

"Huh? Oh its ok, I'm not bothered," said Natsu. "They should be lucky that I held back"

Lucy giggled at that comment. Natsu smiled; Lucy was quite cute when she giggled.

Vincent and Mirajane saw the conversation between the two, and raised their eyebrows. They looked at each other, and nodded.

"Right, Lucy, you should go now. We've got a long day ahead of us" said Vincent.

Lucy pouted a bit, but understood. "Ok"

Lucy looked at Natsu. "Sorry, have to go"

"It's ok", said Natsu with a smile.

Lucy smiled back, blushing a little.

"Please tell me more about Symphonia when we have time next time"

"What?" Natsu looked at her with a shocked face.

Lucy waved, and went off to her house, followed by Mirajane and her guardians.

Natsu was just standing there. He was shocked that Lucy mentioned Symphonia. Her tone was different from the others; she wanted to know about Symphonia.

"She's one of a kind, isn't she?" asked Vincent.

"Huh? Oh yeah… yeah she is" Natsu said sheepishly.

Vincent smiled. "Get some sleep. We're leaving for Garage Island tomorrow morning. You're going to Magnolia right? Then until then we're traveling together"

"Yeah. Thanks Vincent"

Vincent nodded, and walked off. What Natsu didn't realize that time, was that the people he met today, and Lucy, will change his life forever.