Forever a family chapter 1

First Purely Fairy Tail story i've ever written. It's NaLi, so if you don't like it, tough.

I don't known Fairy Tail.

Natsu opened his eyes, and, after recalling everything that happened in Edolas, he jumped to his feet. He was in the forest just outside of Magnolia, the same place he'd often played with Lisanna as kids. He was literally less than twenty feet from the tree where they'd found Happy's egg. His comrades were all lying around the clearing.

"We made it back!" He cheered and the other quickly joined in, until Erza spoiled it.

"We cannot relax just yet. We have to be sure that the others are alright."

"I'm sure their fine." Natsu grins, sniffing around, "I can smell them-"one scent in particular shocked him. 'It couldn't be…' He was so wrapped up in this thought, he completely ignored the exceeds showing up and explaining things to Carla.

"Natsu? Natsu?" Lucy says, poking him in the shoulder until he looked over, "What's wrong?"

"Sorry guys." He says suddenly, "I'll be back." 'I've got to be sure.' He thought as he raced into the forest behind him. Not far away, he found a vaguely familiar small black cat dragging someone around by a rope. That person's white hair…

'I was right!' he gasps, "Lisanna!" he shouts, rushing over to her.

"Natsu!" she cries, trying to drag her captor away, though he proved to be far stronger than he should be.

With one move, the now much larger black cat was sent crashing through the trees, and the rope burned to a crisp as Natsu pulled his childhood friend into his arms, "is it really you?"

She returned the hug tightly, "Yeah, it's me."

At that time, the rest had arrived to the find the two clinging to each other.

"That's impossible…" Grey whispers in disbelief.

"Lisanna?" Erza asks tentatively.

"Why did the Edolas Lisanna..?" Lucy asks quietly.

"She isn't." Natsu says, wiping a tear from his eye, "She's the real one."

"How?" Erza asks, "We all thought that you died two years ago."

"I didn't." she says calmly considering she was under Erza's death gaze, "I somehow got sucked into an Anima, and replaced the Edolas Lisanna that did die."

"Then you knew?" Grey stares, "Why didn't you tell us?"

After an awkward moment, she answered, "I just couldn't. Mira and Elfman were so kind; I just couldn't bear to see the sadness on their faces again."

Natsu held her close again as the tears started flowing, "Lisanna… Let's go. There are still two people you need to see." Turning to everyone else, he said, "You guys can head to the guild. Let the master know."

"Hold on for just a second!" Gajeel whines, "I still need to find my cat!"

"Your cat?" Natsu stares at him for a moment.

"PANTERLILY!" He shouts, looking around.

Once it clicked Natsu laughs, "That was where I knew him from. I think I punched him somewhere over there."

"What the hell were you punching my cat for?" Gajeel growls before racing into the path of destroyed trees.

"We'll be expecting you." Erza says kindly, "I shouldn't have to tell you where they are."

"I know." He nods, holding out his arm for Lisanna, "Shall we?"

Lisanna smiles and accepts it. Somewhere behind them, someone said what sounded curiously like "She lllllllllikes him!" Before it was silenced by three audible punches.

As they walked through the empty streets of Magnolia, Natsu smiles as Lisanna marveled at the many changes since she'd been gone.

"Where are we going?" she asks after they turn away from the guild.

"Two years ago, you left on that mission with Elfman and Mira." Natsu sighed, "Every year, they both go to Kardia Cathedral."

"Will they think I'm a zombie?" she grins playfully.

"I doubt it, but you might give Mira a heart attack." He smirks as the two laughs the whole way.

"It's time, Mira." Elfman says as they stand beside their sister's grave.

"Just a little bit longer." She mutters from her kneeled position. If only she'd been stronger. That was the thought that always played through her mind on this day. It was her weakness that got her killed…

"Mira! Elfman!" a voice yelled from behind them and her heart skipped a beat. 'It couldn't be…' she thinks as she hesitantly turns her head. Natsu's pink hair was visible just outside the gate, and for the briefest second, she assumed that it was him that had called them, until she saw the white haired girl running towards them.

Next to her, Elfman had dropped the umbrella in shock, "No way…."

The tears she'd been holding in all day couldn't be contained any longer as she cries tears of joy. Her little sister was still alive, and at the moment, that was far more important than how she survived or why she was gone so long. None of that mattered anymore.

Lisanna throws her arms around her sister, crying happily into her shoulder even as she does the same. Only a moment later, her brother joins in as well.

From the gate, Natsu smiles brightly at the happy reunion. He really wanted to talk with Lisanna again, but that could wait. This was more important.

Natsu walks into the guild just before the newly reunited Strauss siblings, all of whom were still crying softly together.

Wakaba couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease the 'man' Elfman by saying, "What's up Elfman? I thought that men don't cry?" He instantly regretted this when no less than half the guild eyed him evilly, including Makarov, Gildarts, Erza, Natsu, and Mira.

Elfman continued crying as he glared, "A real Man shouldn't be afraid to show his tears when they're justified!"

Less than a minute later, there was a crumpled body on the floor as the guild welcomed Lisanna back the only way they knew how. Party, followed by a brawl. Even Lisanna got dragged into it, somehow having the reflexes to dodge a wave of purple flames from Macao. Like his friend, he regretted this when confronted with Mira's Satan Soul.

Only two people weren't fighting. Makarov and Gildarts sat at the bar, talking and laughing as the others rumble.

"Worried?" Makarov asks while refilling their drinks.

"I am." He sighs, 'You know what happened to Mystogan. It'll probably be even worse for her."

"What will you do?"

Gildarts drained his glass and rose, "I'll be leaving for a few days. Keep an eye on her. At the first sign something is going wrong, get her to Porlyusica."

"Very well. Hurry back. Past experience says that we've only got maybe three or four days before it happen, and that's if she doesn't use here magic. IT'll be much sooner if she does.."

"I know." He nods, before turning and walking through the guild hall. His unconscious control over his powers sent the entire guild flying in all directions.

Early the next morning, Lisanna struggles to climb out of between her siblings without waking them, but eventually she got to her feet. Quickly scribbling a message to her sister, she crept out of the silent guild hall and walked to the outskirts of town. 'This place has so many memories.' She thought as she walked around the small 'house' she'd built while she and Natsu were raising Happy's egg.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" a voice says from behind her, and she turns around. Natsu was smiling happily from the road behind her, "Looks like great minds think alike. I just had a thought that i should check this place out."

"I'm amazed that it's still standing." She admits as she places a hand on the wall.

"I've been taking care of it." Natsu smiles, "You doing alright?"

"I'm great." She chuckles, "I'm glad that if everything else has changed, Fairy tail and this place never will."

"You've got that right." Natsu laughs, "I used to always come here, to help me remember the good old days. No one know about it except us and happy. I'm sure even Elfman forgot where it was."

"When you think about it, nothing really has changed, has it?" She says happily, "We've gotten a little older, but this is still someplace we can go and just relax, not having to worry about anything."

"I know." Natsu sighs, "I can't tell you how much I missed you."

"I missed you too." She cries slightly, "it was almost unbearable to lie to you in Edolas."

Natsu pulls her into a one armed hug and the crying subsides after a moment, "It's alright. Everything is going to be okay."

"Thank you, Natsu." She smiles.

"He llllikes her!" a voice says from the house.

"You want to or should I?" Natsu smirks.

"Together." She grins.

Three seconds later, there were two identical punches and one cry of pain from a blue exceed.

"Natsu?" She asks, dragging his attention away from the cat limping away from them "Isn't it almost time for the S-class trials?"

"Yup!" he grins, "I hope I get picked this year!"

"Well, why don't we go on a few jobs todays?" she blushes slightly, "and maybe after that we can grab some dinner?"

Natsu's grin widened as he replies, "I was going to suggest the same thing. Now, let's get back before Mira thinks I kidnapped you or something."

""oh, don't worry I left a note." She smirks, "but it still might be a good idea to hurry back. She always was pretty good about exaggerating the littlest things."

Shivering at the thought of an angry Mira, they rushed back to the guild, laughing the whole way.

"Natsu!" Mira growls the moment they walked back into the guild hall, "If you think I'm going to let you take advantage of my sister less than a day after I get her back, you are going to learn the hard way…."

Sensing a need to intervene before her sister completely lost all reason, Lisanna stepped between them, "it isn't like that. I was just going for a walk and Natsu found me. I just thought that we might eat breakfast together and catch up."

"Wonderful." Mira says cheerfully, all threat of demon attack lost… "In fact, I think I'll join you. We didn't really get a chance to talk last night." Or maybe she just decided on gathering information before she broiled him alive.

Breakfast was uncomfortable to say the least. Natsu and Lisanna were stuck between two very over protective siblings. Mira was insisting that she needed to practice her magic for the upcoming S-class Trials (Completely ignoring the fact that she was already an S-class mage) so she decided that she would be eating her meals in Satan mode. Elfman, who was sitting next to Natsu, said that a real MAN was always ready for battle, so his beast arm was plainly displayed. Neither Natsu nor Lisanna doubted what the real reason was.

"So, Lisanna, what were you going to do today?" Mira asks sweetly, despite her intimidating appearance.

"Well, um… I was thinking about going on a job with Natsu…" she mutters, taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Absolutely not." Elfman growls, glaring at Natsu, "Only a REAL Man can protect my sister!"

"We could go on a job, if you want?" Mira smiles, "I'm sure a job could be just the training I need…" Lisanna mumbles something under her breath, which Natsu can't hear.

After an awkward moment of silence, Mira nods, and grabs Natsu's arm, "Let me talk to you for a second." She growls and Natsu looks to Lisanna for help, only to find her looking at him apologetically. 'You didn't…' he thinks as he gets dragged away.

"Yes, this should be good." Mira nods once they'd reached an isolated room in the guild hall probably only known to Mira and the master, "No one else to get in the way."

'Why don't I like the sound of that?' he thinks as he slowly attempts to back away from the demon in front of him.

"This is what is going to happen." She starts, stopping him in his tracks, "I am going to pick a job for you two. That is the only job you will go to, and you will not take her anywhere even remotely dangerous. If she so much as skins her knee, you will die a slow and painful death, am I understood?"

"Aye, Sir!" He says in his best happy impression.

"If she isn't back at the guild tonight, I'll show you the Satan soul that no one has ever seen." She adds before walking out of the room, leaving him terrified at the very thought of such a thing.

Five minutes after they left, Mira came back without the pink haired dragon slayer. Lisanna was seriously worried, even more so when Elfman asked where she hid the body and she brushed him off.

"You didn't..?" she gasps, as her sister smirks.

"If he died it was because my last threat gave him a heart attack." She chuckles, "See, there he is now."

Sure enough, the slayer staggered into the room, looking like he'd just gotten off a week long train ride. His expression brightens slightly from seeing her, but it darkened even more after Mira waves to him.

Once he'd finally gotten the nerve to walk over, Lisanna glares at her sister, "What did you do?"

"We talked." She says blandly, handing Natsu a piece of paper, "Speaking of, this should be perfect."

Looking at the piece of paper, it was a simple mission to collect some fruit from the section of the forest with almost no monsters. His first reaction was to complain that it was too boring, but Mira's glare stopped that thought in its tracks.

"Great. Thanks." He mutters, than smiles at Lisanna, "Ready to go?"

"Sure, what's the job?"

"Collecting some fruit like the old days."

"Did you get cautious while I was away?" she glares, "Can't we at least take the one to take care of the over population of forest Vulcans?"

He looks to Mira, who smiles at her sister, "Sorry, but Elfman and I were going to take that one." She chuckles, elbowing her brother in the ribs before he could say anything.

"Damn. Well, we'll find another job once that one is down." She sighs, and the two leave the filling guild.

"Mira, what was up with that? I thought we were going to follow them?" Elfman asks as Mira grabs the Vulcan job out of Nobs hand, and sends him running with a glare.

"You know how Lisanna would react if she knew what was going on. I'll finish this job in five minutes and join you watching them." She says and walks to the master, "I'll take this one."

"It's rather unusual for you to go on a job?" He smiles, "I'm guessing that you want to watch her on hers and Natsu's date?"

"Just a bit." She sighs, "But I could also use a little bit of money since we'll need a whole new wardrobe for her."

"Well, stay safe, and keep a close eye on her." He nods, marking down the job, "And if possible, have her avoid using magic."

"Why?' She glares, almost scaring even a wizard saint.

"Just a precaution." He chuckles nervously, 'You never know what could've happened after two years in another world."

Part of her wanted to wring the old man for all the information he was clearly hiding from her, but the other part was still worried, so she said, "This conversation isn't done yet." And sped from the guild.

Less than five minutes flight from the guild, she reached the main section of the forest, which was overrun with Forest Vulcans. She whistles loudly, drawing most of them into her sight, "Soul Extinction!" she roars and vaporizes three quarters of them at them. Less than a minute later, the job is complete and she races over to the other part of the forest.

The first thing she did after they left the guild was grab Natsu's arm, "So, what happened?"

"With what?' He asks dumbly.

"You hate these lame jobs as much as I do, so why are you still choosing it instead of some other job?" she asks firmly, "I know that the number of jobs you complete is a factor in the S-class Exam, but still, you could've found a different job if you wanted to."

"Mira was worried about you." He sighs, "She didn't want you going on a dangerous mission, so she made it clear that she was picking the job and that I wasn't allowed to do anything dangerous."

"I knew it." She growls, "Even after I told her that I wanted to go on a real job…"

"Don't worry." He smiles, "Besides, this might be better. It'll give us a chance to talk without having to worry about getting eaten or something."

"He lllllllllikes her." Someone said from behind them, followed quickly by a loud smack and something hitting the ground. They turned and found nothing, "Weird." Natsu says thoughtfully, "Did you just hear happy?"

"Yeah, but who hit him?" She wonders, "And where did they go?"

Both shrugs and continue onwards even as Elfman holds his hand over the cat's mouth to stop it from talking. 'It's not manly to hide, but it's even more unmanly to get beaten up by your sister….' He thinks as he continues sneaking around behind them. Happy, after a brief moment of thought, joins him in sneaking.

Once they were at the section of the forest mentioned in the job, they saw that there were twenty large baskets, "The job says that we need to fill all twenty with fruit." Lisanna says reading the job to be sure.

"Alright." Natsu nods, "So, why don't we drag the baskets over to the trees and get to work? I'd like to do a better job."

"Good. I need to have some words with Mira." She smiles, helping Natsu drag the baskets into the forest. It only took a couple of minutes to find ten trees in close proximity to each other that they could use. Placing the baskets in a line by the clearing, Natsu jumps up onto a tree and starts throwing the fruit into the basket.

"Take Over: Half-Bird Soul!" Lisanna says as she turns into a harpy and flies onto a higher branch with more fruit, grabbing as many as she can and flying them down to the basket before repeating. They were able to fill on and a half baskets from that first tree.

"Good work!" Natsu grins, "Let move onto the next one."

"Okay!" she smiles back.

While they started working on the next tree, Mirajane lands next to her brother, "How is everything?"

"Nothing wrong yet." He answers.

"Aye!" Happy whispers, "They've just been talking and picking fruit the whole time. I don't see why Natsu picked this boring job. Now, if it was to catch fish…"

"Mira glances at her, and narrows her eyes, "How long has she been using magic?"

"Fifteen minutes." Elfman replies, "Why? What's wrong?"

"Master Makarov said that she should avoid it if possible…" she says thoughtfully.

"It doesn't seem to be causing any problems." Happy smiles, "lighten up, Mira! I'll even give you one of my fish!"

Mira glares at the offered fish so much it caught fire.

Forty-five minutes later, fifteen of the twenty baskets were full, and the surrounding trees were picked clean, except for one branch on the last tree. "Lisanna, why don't we take a break and finish up this fruit." Natsu asks, tossing her an apple.

Lisanna lands next to him, panting slightly as she caught it, "Yeah… sounds good."

"Are you alright?" He asks nervously, "You're face is all red."

"Fine." She says, leaning up against a tree, "just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

'She's lying." Mira thinks eyes full of concern, 'I checked every hour to make sure she was sleeping.'

Natsu, however, seemed to accept this and before long they were laughing like they always did, telling stories about the adventures they got into with happy when he was a kitten, and swapping stories of their own adventures after her 'death'.

Once the last couple pieces were finished, they set out in search of a few more trees. Less than a minute's walk, they found five smaller trees in a cluster. "Same way as before?" he asks as she turns back to her half bird soul. The job went by quickly and they soon had the last basket filled.

"Well, that should do it." Natsu says as the last piece lands in the basket, "Ready to head back?" When he doesn't receive an answer, he grows concerned, "Lisanna?" Still nothing, quickly, he leaps up the branches to the very top, where Lisanna was before. On the top most branch, she was fainted up against the trunk, "Lisanna!" he gasps, grabbing her.

Her face was completely red, and even he could tell she was running a high fever. 'Crap. What do I do? Take her to the guild? What if the master can't help her? Porlyusica? Would she help her? Wendy?' every thought crossed through his mind at light speed and he finally jumped off of the top branch. "I've got to hurry." He mutters, rushing into the forest. He must have passed through the place where Mira was doing that job, but he paid no mind to the Vulcan, blasting them out of his way with one hand.

Twenty minutes after he found her, Natsu slams the door to Porlyusica's tree house open, "Please! I need help!"

'Well, that much is obvious." She glares, holding her broom threateningly, "Your mental issues aren't something I can help you with."

"Lisanna's got a high fever!" he pants, "Please! You have to help her!"

Her expression softens slightly at the girl in his arms, "Put her on the bed." She orders as she moves out of his way. He quickly obeys, placing her on the bed. Porlyusica places a firm hand on her forehead and frowns, "This isn't good. She's spent a long time in Edolas, Hasn't she?"

"Two years." Natsu nods shakily.

"She's going to die." Porlyusica says gravely as the color drain from Natsu's face.

Poor Natsu. He just got his friend back and now she's going to die?

Maybe. Next chapter, you'll find out why, when this has happened before, and what the consequences were, plus the only way that they can save her. Until then, Rate and Review.