It is impossible to love and be wise- Francis Bacon


One: Sing Me to Sleep

Lucy Heartphilia's stomach did a flip.

Then a somersault.

Then it did a complete 360 rotation several times, which her heart thought was appropriate and soon did the same.

In short, Lucy felt sick.

"Natsu, I wish-"

"Woooohhoooooo!!!"

"Natsu, hey-"

"Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!"

"Can you just-"

"YAHOOOHOOOOHOOOO!"

"Damnit, you idiot, knock it off!!"

The fire dragonslayer heard the insult and cartwheeled off the flaming platform he currently stood on much to the chagrin of the fire dancer who was chucking fireballs at the mage. Natsu landed on the ground and glared at Gray before cracking his knuckles- a sign that always did not bode well for a peaceful afternoon. "What'd you say, Gray?"

As Gray was about to respond with an ice fist to Natsu's insolent face, Erza interjected. "You guys, stop messing around. We've got to get back to Fairy Tail today. I won't tolerate tardiness even if it is from our group." Effective as always, Erza's authority settled the boys and the group began walking once more with Happy leading the way.

The teammates headed out of the beautiful city of Mordania and its spectacular cultural festivities with the mission completed and pockets full of the hard-earned jewels. Although the city was quite hospitable and lively, the Fairy Tail mages eagerly awaited the comfort of their guild. They walked out of the city's gates with lighthearted steps and thoughts toward returning home to Magnolia.

Lucy, on the other hand, lagged behind her teammates with hands clutched before her heart. Despite the 75,000 jewels currently in her possession (meaning she wouldn't have to be homeless for at least the next couple of months), Lucy gave a depressed sigh as she saw Natsu once again pick a fight with Gray- this time, it seemed like it was only going to be a verbal affair.

The blonde tried to forget the fact that only seconds ago, Natsu had been engulfed in roaring flames, twisting about the dancer's intricate body movements and sensual use of fire, but she couldn't.

For some reason, she missed the part where Natsu haphazardly gobbled up any fire thrown his way in a very childish manner; his only interest being to get in an extra meal before dinner.

Lucy glanced back at the girl, who was (in Lucy's opinion), thin as a toothpick and wore way too much makeup. What was up with that silky see-through top and slit up to the thigh? And red was so last season.

"What a slu-" Finding herself suddenly smacked against Natsu's back, she stopped mid-insult. "Wha-what is it? Why'd you stop so suddenly?"

Strangely enough, Lucy had also missed the fact that Erza and Gray had stopped walking as well. There was tension in the air that completely flew over our favorite stellar spirit mage's head. You'll have to forgive her lack of awareness for she was a little too preoccupied being so close to the boy she deeply cared for.

Suddenly, a shimmering blue mist rained on the party from above. Erza immediately countered it with a strong gust of wind from her sword. Gray, likewise, had built a shelter out of ice to keep the unknown substance from harming him.

"Guys, get under here, quick!" Happy yelled as he flew next to Gray.

Natsu scoffed but ran over anyways with Lucy right on his heels. As they passed under a tree, a large amount of the mist poured down on the two. Lucy, finally noticing danger, quickly shot out both arms and pushed Natsu out from under the tree just as the shower of mist closed in around her. She saw Natsu stumble but regain his balance as he whipped around seeing her trapped under the tree.

"LUCY!!"

Her eyes felt heavy; she strained to keep them open longer just to see Natsu's face on the other side of the curtain of mist, but it proved too much for her. Lucy sank down to the ground losing consciousness, but feeling relief that Natsu was out of harm's way.


"Wow, talk about dramatic."

"We overreacted to nothing."

"Did you see Lucy? She acted like we were about to die!"

"Well, I thought it was very brave of her. We didn't know what that substance was. It could have been acidic and melted right through our skulls."

"Brave sure, but it was hilarious."

Lucy stirred as she heard her name. She cracked open an eye to find the vision before her bouncing along.

"You awake, Luce?"

Hearing Natsu's voice, Lucy's senses cleared instantly. "What?"

Erza, Gray and Happy's faces suddenly bobbed into her field of vision. "Hey there, superwoman. You fell asleep."

Lucy cocked up her head and realized she was riding on Natsu's back. Seeing as how the whole group's attention was on her, Lucy tried desperately to keep the ferocious blush on her cheeks as inconspicuous as possible.

"Aw, Lucy, do you have a fever? You're turning all red!" Happy asked worriedly as he flew over and put a tiny blue paw on her forehead. So much for being inconspicuous.

"Ye-yeah, I think so," Lucy muttered as she sank down. She almost buried her face into Natsu's shoulder but found that doing so might really make her feverish and that was the last thing she needed.

"It doesn't hurt to be cautious though. The affects of that mist could have been dangerous to outsiders," Erza stated. "After all, only the villagers are used to the blue bird's mist seeing as how they utilize it for their daily resting periods."

As Erza continued her analysis on what strange creatures inhabited the vicinity, Lucy knitted her eyebrows in concentration in an attempt to get the story straight. When the girl finally understood what had happened, she had to refrain from slapping herself on the forehead for being such a dolt.

To put it in the nutshell, Lucy had overreacted to just an everyday occurrence that was caused by friendly birds—albeit friendly stupid birds that made it their stupid solemn duty to put the villagers to sleep so they could catch some stupid forty-winks. What the hell.

Lucy decided from that point on that she didn't like birds.

"Don't worry, Lucy," Natsu held onto her tighter and picked up his pace. "We'll get you home soon so you can get better! No problem!"

Little did he know that his small act of kindness only made Lucy's condition worsen.


A/N: Get ready for some crazy predicaments in adolescent love, Lucy. And good luck!

There will be plenty of need for it because there is one sadistic author pulling the strings this time around ;)