I love Fairy Tail, and I love fairy tales, so this was bound to happen sooner or later.

All you need is a little faith, trust, and oh yeah – pixie dust! – someone

Once upon a time, Lucy Heartfillia's life was perfect.

Layla and Jude adored their daughter to no end, showering down upon her love and affection like no other child had received. Layla had been diagnosed with a disease that prevented her from having any more children, so she was determined to make sure that the one she had would grow up happy and strong.

And grow up happy and strong she did. Lucy flourished like a beautiful flower, sparkling and bringing joy to the entire household. No other child loved or was loved as she was.

But then, as it so often does, tragedy struck.

Layla finally fell victim to the disease that had been gripping her for twelve long years, and on the worst morning of Lucy's entire life, she passed away.

Lucy's happiness was shattered after that. Without its mistress, the Heartfillia mansion grew cold and dreary, and everyone was too busy trying to take care of things to notice poor, broken-hearted Lucy.

Jude tried to take care of his daughter, but every time he looked at her, he was reminded of his beloved wife. In the end, he succumbed to his grief and locked himself inside his room, where he would remain for the next four years.

Lucy was relocated to the attic, as her father wished, for he could not bear to see her face. It was much more cramped than she was used to, but Lucy hardly noticed this. Her mother was gone, and her father did not want to see her. All trace of the beautiful flower she had once been vanished, to be replaced by one that was wilted and drooping. It was painful to watch, but barely anyone took notice.

And this is where we find Miss Lucy Heartfillia four years later, on the evening of her sixteenth birthday…

xXx

"Princess, I've come to bring you your dinner."

Virgo, Lucy's favorite maid, knocked on the door of her bedroom. "There is cake!"

The door flew open, and there stood Lucy, in a sweatshirt and jeans. She smiled.

"Thanks, Virgo. What kind of cake is it?"

"Your favorite, of course. Chocolate."

Lucy's eyes lit up. "You're the best, Virgo! Thank you!"

"It's my pleasure to serve you, princess. Will there be punishment?"

"Wha – No! No, you can go. I'm good. Thanks for the cake!"

Virgo looked almost disappointed as she left. Her maid's love of punishment was something that baffled Lucy to no end, but she had learned to let it slide.

Having no one to tell her what to do, Lucy dug into the cake first and melted with pleasure. "Chocolate," she sighed dreamily.

She laid the plate of food on her desk and sat down, picking up her fork, which she instantly dropped. Lucy sighed again, an exasperated one this time, and ducked under the table to get it.

Her hand brushed against the worn cover of a book.

Lucy froze, her heart in her mouth. Hands shaking, she pulled out the book from under the bed. The book she'd stashed down there so that she wouldn't have to think about it.

Fairy Tails, the cover read, a typo that Lucy had never understood, but was etched in her memory forever. She hugged the book to her chest, swallowing her tears.

The book was her last present from her mother, the only thing of hers that Lucy had been able to keep. The rest was locked away in a closet somewhere, because Jude couldn't bear to see them. Just like Lucy.

She opened the book, and it fell open to a well-read page, the story that Lucy had loved most of all as a child – Peter Pan. She traced the silhouette of the flying boy, remembering all those nights she spent reading it with Layla. Against her will, a tear splashed onto the page.

The whole situation would have ended with Lucy sobbing her heart out if a boy with pink hair hadn't crashed right through her window at that very moment.

"OW!" he cried. "Happy, you really have to work on those landings! You can't let the Happy dust wear off before I land!"

"That's because you don't use enough, Natsu," another voice grumbled, and to Lucy's extreme shock and terror, a blue cat popped out from under the boy and spoke.

"You really shouldn't make so many bets with Gray, you know. Twenty grains of Happy dust is barely enough to get you off Fairy Tail Island!"

Lucy would've screamed, but her throat was closed tight from shock.

"Wh-Who are you?!" she squeaked, two octaves higher than her regular voice.

"Oh!" The boy jumped to his feet and saluted for some reason. "I'm Natsu, and this is Happy! Say, have you seen my shadow around anywhere? I really hate that Kageyama guy. Ever since I beat him up, my shadow's been detaching itself over and over again. It's a pain. Who're you?"

Lucy stared at him. "You have pink hair."

"Salmon," he corrected. "But yeah, I guess it's around the pink region. I'll ask again, have you seen my shadow?"

"Your cat talks," Lucy breathed, her brain still stuck on the fact that a boy and his cat had just flown into her room, and that this situation was suspiciously reminiscent of a certain fairy tale that she loved.

"Yes," he agreed, sounding slightly irritated, "but I really need my shadow, so for the third time, have you seen it?"

Lucy silently shook her head. She wasn't sure she had the ability to speak anymore.

"Well, I'm sure it's in here somewhere – GOTCHA!" And to Lucy's even bigger shock (she hadn't known it was possible) he tackled a dark, squirming shape on her bedroom floor.

"There we go!" he declared happily. "All right, now that that's done, let's go – "

"I could sew it on for you!"

Lucy clapped a hand over her mouth. She hadn't even known why she blurted it out, but she knew that she was experiencing something magical, and there was no way she was going to let this boy leave before explaining some things to her.

Natsu stared at her. "Sew it on?"

"Y-Yeah. So it wouldn't get loose anymore."

He continued to stare for a few more seconds before breaking into a huge grin. "That would be a huge help! Thanks – wait, what was your name again?"

"Lucy," she replied, still not believing it. "L-Let me go find my needle and thread, and I'll sew it on for you."

"Cool, thanks, Luigi!"

"It's Lucy! How did you already forget it?!"

"Oh, right, Lucy, Lucy. Got it." He smiled. "Hear that, Happy! My shadow won't get loose anymore! I wish I'd thought of that before!"

Lucy retrieved her needle and thread, hands still shaking, but this time from excitement. She had Natsu sit on the bed, while she sat cross-legged on the floor.

"So," she said, biting off a bit of thread. "Where did you come from?"

"From Fairy Tail Island!" was the cheerful reply. "It's a really cool place where no one ever grows old. It's usually awesome, but you gotta watch out for this pirate dude named Gray, he's a jerk. It's full of fun stuff."

"Really? It must be great there."

"Yeah, it is! Say…" He looked at her, a grin spreading across his face. "Would you like to go?"

"Go? T-To Fairy Tail Island?" Lucy echoed, eyes wide. "Me?"

"Yeah. It doesn't look like you've had much of a life here. I mean, what with your dad and all…"

"H-How did you know about that?!"

"I've been watching you. Sometimes at night, you'll take that book, and you'll read out loud. I like to listen." He nodded to her book of Fairy Tails. "I can't read very well, but I really like stories. By the way, sometimes I have to leave early, and I don't get to hear the endings. What exactly happened to Snow White, anyway, like, after the apple?"

"Oh! Well, the prince kissed her, and they lived happily ever after!"

"Really? That's great! What about Cinderella?"

"He found her glass slipper and used it to find her. And they lived happily ever after."

"Cool! What about Robin Hood?"

"Well, he and Maid Marian got married, and Prince John was defeated in the end."

"And Hamlet?" he asked eagerly.

Oh.

Oh dear.

"Well. Um," Lucy stated, wondering how she was supposed to tell Natsu this. "Uh, well… Hamlet…died."

A gasp.

"And Ophelia?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Um, she died too."

"What?! What about Polonius?"

"Oh, uh, he met the same fate."

"Demetrius? The king?"

"They died too."

Natsu's mouth hung open, and Lucy thought fast. "But everyone else lives happily ever after!"

He sighed in relief. "Okay, well, that's good. Are you done with my shadow?"

"Oh! Yeah, I'm done." She tied off the thread. "Good as new!"

"Yes! You're not getting away from me anymore, shadow!" he crowed, running to the window. "Happy, let's go!"

Lucy bit her lip as he prepared to fly off. Oh, well. Maybe her life wasn't meant to be a fairy tale, after all…

But then he turned back and flashed her a grin. "Aren't you coming?"

She stared, heart hammering in her chest. "Wh-What?"

"You wanted to go to Fairy Tail Island, didn't you?" he asked. "Well, then, come with me! All you gotta do is have some faith, trust, and uh…"

He looked at Happy for help, and the blue cat raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah! And Happy dust!"

"C-Can I?" Lucy stammered. "Can I really go to Fairy Tail Island?"

"Sure you can! Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning! Happy, dump the dust!"

Happy flew over her and spun, showering Lucy with glittering particles of light. She suddenly laughed out loud.

"It feels so bubbly!" she giggled, and suddenly, her feet lifted off the ground.

"You're flying!" Natsu shouted, laughing with her as she spun in midair, eyes alight with happiness for the first time in four years.

"This is great! Whoo-hoo!" she squealed.

"Let's go!" he called, pointing out the window and then soaring out into the cool night air. Lucy followed suit, feeling the wind against her cheeks.

It was magical.

"Remember!" he called. "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning! Let's go!"

And Lucy soared after him into the night, happy for the first time in forever.

xXx

Captain Gray was bored.

Very bored.

Dangerously bored, in fact.

After all, Gray might be somewhat of a gentleman, but he was still a pirate, and a pirate captain, at that. One who was currently wishing for a good fight.

"I'm bored," he told his first mate, Smee.

"Well, cap'n, it does get pretty boring without that flying boy Natsu Dragneel around to make fun of," Smee admitted.

Gray glared at him. "Are you saying that I need Natsu Dragneel around?"

"No, no, cap'n, no such thing. Um… Would you be interested in a game of chess?"

"We've played that. Twenty times," Gray waved his suggestion away. "What we need around here is some entertainment. Heck, even a natural disaster would be good right now. At least I'd have something to do."

If you're one of those people who either read a lot or watch TV a lot, you know that this is something you should never say. To say such a thing is a very, very bad idea.

Extremely bad.

However, being a pirate captain, Gray was not aware of such things. So when the sky instantly darkened and it started raining, he was taken by surprise.

"Huh. Well, would you look at that. A storm's brewing."

"That was convenient," Smee remarked.

"Well," Gray stood up and stretched. "Guess we'll have to anchor here."

The storm hit before he even finished his sentence. Fairy Tail Island was a place where such things happened daily, so no one was really worried.

That is, until the storm got worse.

And worse.

And worse.

And worse.

All in the span of five minutes.

Until even Gray was hanging on the railing for dear life.

The wind howled, rain lashing into the poor pirates as some of them dived below deck and others just tied themselves to whatever solid items they could find, too afraid to risk the run across the deck to the hatch. Gray's hat blew off his head, and instinctively, he grabbed for it – just when a wave of water washed over the side of the boat, taking him with it.

You have to give him credit, he grabbed onto the railing at the last minute, dangling over the side of the boat. Gray was just about to pull himself up when thunder crashed and another wave of water slapped him in the face. He gritted his teeth.

It was like the sea wanted to claim him or something. What in the world was going on?

"This storm blew up out of nowhere!" Smee gasped. "Sometimes I really hate living on Fairy Tail Island – CAP'N!"

Gray had let go of the railing. The storm was the island's doing, he'd realized, and it was best to give the island what it wanted. Water exploded around him as he slammed feet-first into the water.

That was when he realized he couldn't swim.

I know what you're thinking – what kind of self-respecting pirate captain couldn't swim? But Gray had never bothered to learn. His mother, Ur, had died in a swimming accident, and he had no wish to go the same way.

He was really beginning to regret that decision.

Island, I gave you what you wanted. I'd so better not die.

And slowly, Captain Gray sunk beneath the waves…

Eh, the beginning's not all that funny. But hey, it's the beginning.

So here you have Natsu Dragneel, the flying boy, Lucy Heartfillia, the girl the flying boy met, and Captain Gray Fullbuster, who does not know how to swim and hates Natsu for unknown reasons. Hmm…

Do review and favorite, and I'll be back soon with another chapter!

Water, out