001. Beginnings

Natsu, Lucy - "Take my hand, and I'll show you a real fairy tale."

She is an entire year and a day older than sixteen now, and has never felt so free.

Gone and away are the days of stuffy dresses and demure expressions, of consenting silence and empty echoes. She has walked miles and miles on her own two aching legs, slept under a blanket of stars knowing each of their names as well as her own, sent a would-be robber running for the hills with her whip, found out what a few coy words and the loosening of a top button can do, and even tasted ice cream for the first time, relishing the frigid sweetness and satisfying crunch of a cone. She has shed sweat and blood and tears since leaving that prison that - despite everything - is still a home, never even daring to imagine that such a day could come. Life is wonderful.

Except.

There is always an 'except'.

Except the loneliness is still there, a familiar, crushing feeling that seems to drag her farther from the sun each day.

But in the grand scheme of things, it seems like a small price to pay in exchange for the world.

She is happy. She will be happy.

He has never found his age to be something important enough worth knowing, though everyone agrees he must be about as old as Gray and he does too, even if the idea of sharing anything with that ice bastard is about as infuriating as it gets.

Here and now are the days of new missions and exciting experiences, of routine brawls and the warmth of togetherness. He has learned to read with the help of a terrifying demon, punched his annoying rival in the jaw more times than the number of scales in his scarf, hatched a little blue cat of happiness into his family, and known loss one too many times. He has grown and changed and understood countless new things since leaving his forest in search of a father who never returned, still hoping like the boy he is. But, despite everything, he will make life wonderful.

Except.

There is no 'except'.

Life will be wonderful, and he is determined to make it so.

There is no price he would not pay in order to ensure that.

He is not Happy, because Happy is simply Happy, his faithful friend and partner. What a strange thought.

She meets him and he meets her in a little town by the sea, two people wanting and wishing for vastly different things. It seems to have all the makings to the beginning of a beautiful story, the kind of fairy tale where knights rescued princesses and dragons were slain and everyone lived happily ever after.

At least, that's what it seems. The truth could not be more different.

Make no mistake; it certainly is a story. A beautiful story, with a girl who ran away towards the future a little too fast and a boy who couldn't stop looking back at his past.

"You want to join Fairy Tail, don't you? Come with me!"

But, if you listen carefully, this is how it really starts.

A/N: Because I need short things to write that aren't as headache inducing as typing out long chapters. I've always loved drabbles anyway, and writing to a prompt list is kind of fun. These will be about absolutely anyone and everything, including all pairings because I literally ship everyone and everyone together, but mostly general and friendship because Fairy Tail's friendship is super perfect.