Little Thief

Chapter 1

Underestimating a dragon's greed would be far from the first mistake Lucy Heartfilia had made in the past couple of months. Though, the blonde thought staring into the towering slitted pupil thrice her size, it might have been her greatest. It might even be her last, though she had slight reservation on that thought.

Lucy had thought of herself very clever - since she did run away from her esteemed family and took on the life of a treasure hunter, determined to make a name for herself that wasn't just Heartfilia. During the months of pouring over ancient texts and joining in a partnership with a group of treasure hunters who called themselves Fairy Tail, Lucy had thought herself ready to take on the most legendary of treasures in all of Earthland. Everyone knew of it, even with the occurrence happening well over two hundred years ago. An ancient city, Magnolia, known from the far reaches of the earth, famous for their unbelievable riches had been overrun by a dragon named E.N.D. The drake had been attracted by the unsurmountable amount of gold, burning the city to the ground and locking himself away with the treasure within a mountain the ancient civilization had carved into to gain their vast riches.

Lucy could not fight the dragon with a sword and shield, just as she couldn't even hope to win at all with brute strength. But what the blonde could wield was her mind, she was very clever indeed. It was what had gotten her this far, after all.

So when she was scrambling backwards, fifty graceless steps for every single one of the monstrous beasts own, her mind spinning and unfocused from the musty thick air and the roaring of her blood in her ears, she paid attention. Doing so she noticed something, the dragon was monstrous beyond her imagination but one thing caught her eye, he seemed prey to any creature who thought to much of himself.

That would be his vanity.

So Lucy began to babble praises and flattery, the dragon's monstrous steps slowed and the snap of his mighty jaws began half-hearted and nearly playful as he stalked Lucy through his mighty treasurey. Lucy's feet slipping on gold coins as she continued to stumble backwards. But when she became quiet, the dragon's large green eyes would darken and the air around her would become hotter as the fire in his belly grew with his annoyance, interest of keeping Lucy alive vanishing like water on a hot day.

E.N.D was monstrous in size, he stood on four strong legs and two humongous wings were tucked neatly at his sides. His scales were the very embodiment of fire itself, mostly red, orange and yellow, even white and few tinges of blue. They glittered in the dim light of the cave. His head was triangular with slanted green eyes flaked with gold and even black. Two huge burgundy horns protruded out of his temples, smaller spikes ran along his jawline and down his spine. His long, seemingly endless, tail was tipped with a deadly black blade. He had a broad chest and thick torso, his whole body laced with sinewy muscle. He was elegant yet dangerous and undeniably beautiful.

E.ND the monstrous, Lucy said; E.N.D the terrible, she quipped; E.N.D the magnificent, she flattered. Your scales are as red as the blood of your victims, and, More deadly than a thousand thousand plagues, left her lips. She said words like gallant, and legendary, and wise, and stunning, and clearly stretching her vocabulary to its limits.

This wasn't good, not at all. E.N.D had made a ruckus when Lucy had accidentally woke him from his century long slumber. He had made the mountain quake with his furious roar, each of his steps sending tremors through the earth. His snarling and growling had most definitely been heard from outside of the mountain, her company had most definitely heard and were probably throwing a fit. She knew Erza would be trying to come in and valiantly save her, she prayed to the stars the temperamental red head was held back. E.N.D had begun to relax, he didn't seem in the mood to gobble her up just yet. And someone else entering his domain and touching his treasure certainly wasn't going to help.