Realization: A NaLu Story

Chapter 2: The Curse of the Phoenix

Thank you, nalufanforever123, for that kind compliment on my first chapter of Realization! :D For the second chapter of Realization, I deidcate it to ErRiStaGlo for being my best friend since we were babies. ^_^ Oh, and, from now on I'll try to write at least two pages for each chapter of my stories. GO, FIGHT, WIN! xD

-----------------------------------------------------------------

~LUCY'S POV~

We had met up with the chief of the village who wanted us to retrieve the pendant of Skyreed. He was a short old man, with large brown eyes. At his back, he had a large variety of colorful feathers. "At last! Finally, a guild has responded to our request! I am Shizukesa, the chief of Skyreed."

I bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Tell me, what guild are you from, young lady?"

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia, and this is my friend Natsu Dragneel. We're from the guild Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tail. Thank you so much for coming. We have been trying to retrieve the sacred pendant of Skyreed for countless millenia. Hundreds of generations have died trying to do so. Please, Fairy Tail, you must give us back the pendant."

Natsu joined in. "Don't worry, Shizu-sama. We'll get that pendant."

"Thank you. The temples of Skyreed are just a few miles west of the village."

I smiled at him reassuringly, but the smile soon disappeared. "Shizu-sama...Forgive me for asking, but why do you need the pendant so bad?"

Shizukesa breathed heavily. "...We...Hundreds of years ago, the pendant belonged...to...my daughter."

Our eyes widened for a moment. "Your...daughter? The princess of Skyreed?"

"Her name was Hana. She lived up to her name, she was as beautiful as a flower. Everyone in our village simply loved Hana. She was kind, loving, and always trying to help people in every way she can. One day, Hana wandered off into the forest by herself and suddenly a phoenix flew down and bowed to her."

"The phoenix...bowed?!"

Shizukesa nodded. "Yes, bowed. In its beak the phoenix carried the pendant. It gave it to her. The phoenix said that every year, Hana needed to take the pendant to the temples and perform a secret ritual that nobody knew of except her. The phoenix also said that, if Hana failed to perform the ritual annually, a terrible curse would fall upon Skyreed. If she failed to complete the ritual for fifteen consecutive years, everyone in our village...will die. But on the seventh year...Hana went to the temples without even telling us." I noticed that tears welled up in Shizukesa's eyes as he spoke. "Usually it takes her around three days to get to the temple, and thirty minutes to perform the ritual. But a week had passed and she hadn't returned yet. I sent our finest warriors to go get her, but they did not return as well. When the eigth year had come, we couldn't do anything. The pendant had disappeared, along with Hana. It was at that moment that the Curse of the Phoenix happened."

I gasped in horror, and Natsu placed a hand on my shoulder.

"At night...we would all turn into horrible creatures...werewolves."

"Werewolves? B-But I thought those things were only mythical!"

"...We would lose control and scatter. We would eat everything we come across. But lately, we've devoured most of the creatures in our beloved forests, so...we turned against ourselves."

"Oh my god..."

"When we run out of food we eat our fellow villagers. We want nothing more than to put that horrid curse to an end. And this...this is the fifteenth year if we fail to do the ritual."

Natsu asked intensely, "How many days do we have before Skyreed comes to and end?"

"Three."

"Three days?!"

"Yes...three days. But I must warn you...At night, you have to be very, extremely, careful. Forgive us if one of the Skyreed people attack you. The werewolves have exceptional sense of smell and can run 35 miles an hour."

Natsu took a step closer to me and lightly touched my arm. "Don't worry, Shizu-sama. I won't let the werewolves harm Lucy--er...us." I blushed.

Suddenly I noticed Shizu-sama was trembling. "Please! Fairy Tail, please save us! You don't know how it feels to become the very creatures of the night parents tell their children about!"

"Don't worry, Shizu-sama...When we find that pendant..." I looked back at Natsu. "I'll do the ritual myself."

Shizukesa looked at me in shock while Natsu's eyebrows slightly slanted downwards. "What?! You don't even know how to do the ritual! Further more you don't know what'll happen!"

"What'll happen is we'll save the village from the Curse of the Phoenix and we won't bring Fairy Tail to shame."

He grabbed my arm. He led me out of the tent we were in while murmuring a quick 'excuse me' to Shizukesa.

"Natsu, you're hurting me!"

He inched his face closer to mine. "I don't care about putting Fairy Tail to shame! We've been put to shame countless times and yet we were able to rise again! I care about you, Lucy! What if you get hurt while doing the ritual?! What if...What if I lose you forever?!"

My eyes widened. "N...Natsu...We have to do the ritual. We have to save Skyreed."

"Lucy, no. I won't let you do that ritual unless I know for sure that it's safe. Hell, I would sooner kiss Gray's feet than allow you to do something dangerous!"

"Natsu, I've done a million dangerous things and yet I came back. I came back to you. Natsu, I'll never leave you. I'll always be here, I'll never leave."

I was taken aback when Natsu suddenly pulled me in for a tender embrace. "Natsu." He tightened his grip around me. My gaze softened and I finally returned the hug, burying my face in his neck. His scent was nothing like anything I've ever experienced. He didn't smell bad at all, unlike most boys. He smelled toasty, like freshly baked bread. I could sniff him all day. I didn't want to let go of him, I didn't want to break our embrace at all. Not one, teensy, tiny bit. I just wanted to freeze time and stay in that moment forever. At that time, everything...Everything felt just...perfect. How he wrapped his strong arms around me, and...and how his nose brushed against my neck.

---------------------------------------------------------

AUTHOR'S NOTE: How was it? I wanted to create some sort of 'adventure' feel in this story so I could, like, have a little twist in it. FYI, Realization is only the FIRST BOOK of my SERIES. The real series is called "THE KEYS OF THE GODDESSES". In the next four books, I'll be writing about how Lucy retrieved the keys of the four remaining keys of the goddesses and became a Celestial Priestess. With a touch of NaLu, of course. Oh, boy. This is going to be a bloody long book series. TT^TT I REALLY want to finish the series before summer ends because I'm going to be SO busy as a freshman in the upcoming SY. But if I don't finish the series in time, I may need to put one of my stories on hiatus for a while. READ AND REVIEW, GUYS, THANKS! =))))) ~Lily <3