Natsu awoke to the sun light shining on his face. He stood up and stretched his wings out. Wait a second wings? That's right he was changed into a cuckoo by one of Cana's arrows. He was then found by Lucy who tended to him. He wondered how long it would take for the spell to wear off.
"Good morning." The blonde goddess greeted. "I hope you slept well."
She then laid a small bowl of berries, almonds, and dried corn in front of him. Not his usual choice of breakfast but he was bird now which meant he had to eat like one.
"And here I thought birds didn't eat much but you have one large appetite little fella." Lucy chuckled as the cuckoo scarfed down the food.
Just then she heard a strong wind blow through the window of her palace which only meant one thing. Bickslow had arrived with a message for her.
"Good morning Bickslow." She greeted politely. "What brings you by?"
"An emergency. I'm supposed to alert all the gods about this." He said. "Two gods have gone missing."
"Really? Who?"
"Natsu God of the skies and Juvia Goddess of spring. They've both vanished completely off the face of the Earth. Mavis is worried out of her mind about him and poor Levy she spends night and day long looking for her."
"That's terrible. Is there anything I can do?"
"Just keep an eye out for both of them and if you see or hear anything summon me and I'll report it immediately to Mavis and Levy."
"Of course. Do all the gods know of this?"
"Pretty much... Except for Gray, I won't be able to get a message to him for awhile."
"How come?"
"The gates to the underworld have been closed off, apparently someone was messing around with the lower regions of the earth and Gray wants to make sure nobody is trying to break out of Tartarus."
"Oh dear."
As Natsu listened to the conversation he couldn't help but feel guilty for making his mother worry so much. He didn't mean to disappear without a trace, but it's not like he could tell her where he was. He was stuck in the body of cuckoo bird and he couldn't speak.
"I promise if I see or hear anything regarding either of them I'll report it to you right away." Lucy told Bickslow.
She then bid the God of the messengers and returned to her feathered friend.
"So would you like to come with me to work?" She asked him.
Natsu nodded. Lucy's job for the day was to map out the family trees of all the gods. It was tradition that no god or goddess could not marry until they knew everything about their intended spouse's family so she made records of family trees that future brides and grooms could look over.
"Now let's see." She said writing on a scroll. "Gray, Jellal, and Natsu. Sons of Zeref the king of titans and Mavis the queen of titans, grandsons of Acnologia titan of the sky and Sonya titaness of the earth. Zeref was the firstborn son of Acnologia and Sonya, Mavis had no parents she was created from marble."
Natsu perched himself on top of Lucy's shoulder and listened to her words carefully. He actually liked learning about his family, it seemed fascinating.
"Levy and Juvia daughters of Arcadios the titan of fire, he gave fire to the mortals and Hisui the titaness of hope...Oh dear she's the one who accidentally opened that forbidden box...Ouch." Lucy flipped a page. "Elfman, Mirajane, Lisanna, children of Riko titaness of law and order. Erza daughter of Irene titaness of violence and blood shed whoa! This is interesting, apparently she tried to overthrow Mavis so Makarov turned her into a fly and swallowed her but she was pregnant at the time and due to that Erza was born from Makarov's head."
"Gross!" Natsu thought.
"Cana daughter of Gildarts titan of the day and Cornelia titaness of the night. Laxus son of Ivan titan of strength, grandson of Makarov titan of wisdom and oracle. Bickslow and Freed sons of Warrod titan of nature and his mortal lover but she died in a fire while she was still pregnant so Warrod had them be reborn from him as gods. Like Mavis Evergreen and Gajeel have no parents she rose up from sea foam and he was craved from iron and metal."
Natsu was amazed. He never knew that so many gods were born in so many different ways.
"Finally there's me." Lucy sighed. "My father is Jude titan of balance and my mother is Layla a nymph. His job is to hold up the earth and tend to Sonya. He wasn't around much when I was growing up but I can't really blame him because he has to keep the whole world in balance."
"At least he didn't try to eat you like my father did." Natsu said.
"That's all the gods family trees mapped out and recorded." Lucy said putting the scrolls away. "Now why don't we go for a walk?"
They went outside together and looked up at the morning sky, feeling the fresh breeze blowing. The temperature was perfect, not too cold or too hot. Nice and warm. She sat down under the shade of tree and just looked out at the beauty of the world.
"You know what's funny?" She told the cuckoo. "I'm a goddess of love and marriage but I don't ever want to get married."
Now that was a huge surprise to Natsu. He figured that a goddess like Lucy couldn't wait to get married.
"Do you wanna know why I don't want to get married?"
Natsu nodded.
"Promise not to tell?"
He nodded again.
"Okay. Once I did want to get married in fact it was my greatest dream. To fall in love, get married, and have a family. I came close to achieving that dream when I met him, Loke God of the stars. He was so handsome and charming and attentive. It wasn't long before we became engaged, our wedding would have been the greatest event of the millennium but...It wasn't meant to be."
Natsu looked at her as if to ask her what had gone wrong.
"It all started when Loke gave me a very interesting wedding gift, a beautiful white lamb to serve as my companion. I called her Aries and I found her to be such a delight but I noticed that Loke was awfully affectionate with her, more so than I was and every night he always insisted that she spend the night in his chambers. One night I asked Erza to have her pet owl spy on them from the window of his chamber and I later found out that Aries was really Loke's mortal mistress who he disguised as a sheep in order to sneak her into the palace and right under my nose."
Natsu saw her cheeks turn red with rage.
"I couldn't remember the last time I was so angry and hurt. I punished him by turning him into a lion and selling him to a human circus."
"Harsh." Natsu thought.
"But some time after that Aries came to me begging that I change him back. She insisted that they were in love and that Loke was planning on calling off the wedding so he could marry her instead. At first I refused, then she asked me if I would turn her into a lioness and sell her to that same circus because she couldn't stand to live without him and well I'm a hopeless romantic so I changed him back. Bottom line is I don't want to ever get married because I don't ever want to get my heart broken again like last time."
Natsu felt a great compassion for the young goddess. No wonder she was so strict about marriage and harbored such an intense hatred toward unfaithful men. Now Natsu was a womanizer but even he believed that cheating on your fiance or your spouse was low. Real low.
Natsu saw tears streaming down Lucy's cheeks. He flew up to her shoulder and began to nuzzle her neck comfortingly. She smiled and rubbed his feathers with her fingers.
"It's okay." She said. "It doesn't really hurt me as much as it used to. My work keeps me from thinking about it and I'm not really lonely. I have my friends Erza and Mirajane and now you...That is if you want to stay. You're free to leave any time you want, I don't believe in keeping animals in cages."
Yes, Natsu was indeed free to fly away if he wanted to but he chose to stay with Lucy. From that moment on the two of them were always together and she took very good care of him. She feed him fresh nuts, berries, and seeds, she bathed him, and she always checked his hurt wing. He went with her to work, they ate together, walked together, and sometimes they would sleep together but not like that. He would sleep on a silken pillow that was laid next to her. He was her constant companion and she felt like that she could talk to him about anything but what she didn't realize was that during all that time they spent together, Natsu was falling in love with her.