"Papa! Papa!" Natsu yelled excitedly as he shook his sleeping father's figure, jumping up and down as he waited for the dragon to wake up.
"Natsu…geez, is it even morning?" He groaned and rolled over onto his back, bleary eyes blinking open as his son continued to pull on his hand.
"The light outside, papa! The stars are falling, c' mon! We gotta go watch!" The young boy insisted as he tried his best to pull his father along with him, grinning as he slowly got up to follow him out.
"Wow, you were right," Igneel gasped at their first steps out of their small cabin in the woods, the night sky flooding with shooting stars rapidly moving past them. "We're lucky you woke up to see this, shooting stars are pretty rare,"
"Really? That's so cool!" The older dragon chuckled as his fledgling jumped up and down, watching his excitement fill with a wide grin, knowing that as he continued to fill with adrenaline, it'd be even harder to put him to sleep again.
The two decided to lay in the grass in front of their home, staring at the stars as they continued to pass, the colors a whirlwind of the galaxy, glitter trailing the celestial bodies as if they were fairies.
"Papa, look! That one's coming super close!" Natsu awed at the sight of one star breaking from the stream of the others and tumbling towards the earth.
"Crap!" Igneel quickly grabbed his son and turned to shield them both from the impact, the star colliding with the ground in the woods shortly beyond their homestead. They shook along with the collision, a blinding light enveloping the trees as they felt the heat of the source, hair whipping as a flurry of wind rushed past them.
"Can we go look at it, papa?" Natsu asked as the light and wind calmed, the little dragon eager to look at the foreign object.
"Sure, but only so we can be sure there's no fire out there," He sighed as his son quickly squirmed out of the hold to run straight for the crash site.
"Hurry up, papa! You're so slow!" Natsu cackled as he whisked off into the woods. "She's waiting for us!"
"What? Who, Natsu?" The dragon asked as he caught up with his son, trying to reach out and grab his energetic self before he got lost in the trees; but as if he would, they were lucky enough to be able to see in the dark.
"The star! Don't ya hear her, papa?" He said, standing at the edge of the crater, pointing at the passed out child sprawled out in the center of the hole. "She said she's cold,"
"My god …don't move," Igneel slid against the dirt side and down to the center, grabbing the girl void of any color and conjuring his wings to pull himself out.
"Run ahead and go light the fire, Natsu," The father said, his son nodding before taking off again, Igneel carefully cradling her to his chest, grateful the grayed girl at least had a breath.
"I did it, papa!" Natsu grinned as his father walked in, smiling as he set the sleeping girl down in front of the roaring flames.
"Good job, Natsu. Now, the best thing to do is let her rest until she wakes up, okay?" The little dragon nodded rapidly and plopped onto the carpet by her side, staring intently at the stranger.
"You can go to sleep, papa. She doesn't wanna be left alone," He said justly, Igneel quirking his brow curiously.
"How do you know what she's saying?" He asked, Natsu quick to point a finger at her heart.
"The tiny fire! She sounds scared, I think she got lost, and she's really really cold 'cuz it's so little. Maybe I should use some of my magic!"
"I-I don't think that's a very—"The excited boy interrupted his father as he stood to his feet and cupped his hands around his mouth, bellowing the chant he'd most recently been taught.
"Fire Dragons Roar!" Their home was fireproofed for a good reason, Igneel groaning with a shake of his head as the fire washed over her body. She was a star, so he was sure she wouldn't be burned…but even as long as he'd been alive, the dragon knew nothing about these heavenly bodies. He wasn't even aware they could become human!
"Ooo, she's glowing," Igneel fawned over his son's pure reaction as he crouched next to the girl no younger than himself. "Lucy, hey, Lucy, you can wake up now,"
"She told you her name too?"
"She's been talking this whole time, weirdo papa, can't you hear anything?" He pouted as the fledgling snickered, continuing to try and coax his new friend awake. "I told her my name too!"
"M-Mama…!" Lucy shouted, her eyes opening suddenly and starling the two. She shot up and ran for the door, running in quick circles as she looked to the sky. "Where are you?! Mama! Papa!"
"Oi, oi, calm down," The older dragon whispered and caught her before she tripped over her feet. "You just woke up, you might make yourself sick runnin' around like that,"
"Where'd mama go…? She was just there…" The girl hiccuped and fell into tears against Igneel's shoulder, the man sighing as he rubbed her back and took her inside.
"Don't worry, we'll find her for you. But right now, it's time to warm you up and rest, okay?"
"Yeah, rest! We can have warm milk together! With honey, right, papa? It makes sleeping really easy!" Igneel nodded with a light smile as he set the girl down on their couch and next to the hyper dragon, Lucy sniffling as he wrapped them both in a thick blanket.
"Natsu!" She wheezed and clung to the pink haired boy who eagerly received her hug, warming his skin and soothing her own, nipping at the chilling feeling still biting at her fingers and toes. "Natsu's really warm…"
"Yup! I'm a dragon so we're really warm! Don't worry, Luce, I'll keep ya warm!"
