The Gods of Fairy Tail

Chapter 11

"Come back here Natsu! I still need to train you on how to be a real man!"

Natsu had been training with Elfman on how to fight in battles and defend others but a lot of Elfman's methods proved to be quiet brutal. Unable to take it anymore, Natsu decided to end training early.

"No way man! You're crazy!" Natsu shouted as he fled from the god of the war.

"How do you expect to become king of the gods if you can't defend yourself?!" Elfman cried chasing after him.

Eventually Natsu managed to give him the slip by hiding in the trees of a forest.

"Phew!" He sighed in relief when Elfman ran by. "I better get out of here before he comes back."

He was just about to leave when he heard the giggling and laughter of young women. Feeling his hormones rise, he went to investigate. As he suspected, a group of pretty young wood nymphs were bathing in a river bank.

"Now there's a sight for sore eyes."

He quietly his in the bushes and eagerly awaited for the nymphs to disrobe. However all his perverted hopes were squashed in an instant because at that very moment Natsu realized that those nymphs weren't alone. Joining them were Erza and Cana two of the most violent goddesses in the world. Natsu wouldn't dare spy on either one of them because he knew that they were both capable of hurting him without even touching him.

"Oh man! I gotta get out of here!" He thought in a panic. "If Cana or Erza sees me here I'm a dead man."

He slowly started to back out of the bushes but he accidentally stepped on a fallen tree branch which broke and made a noise.

"Who's there?" Erza asked.

At once, Natsu bolted like lighting but one of the nymphs got a glimpse of him running away.

"Eeeek! It's a man!" She screamed. "A man was spying on us!"

"The sneaky little pervert!" Cana cried angrily. "He won't get away with this!"

She grabbed her bow and arrows, made her aim, and fired. Now Cana's arrows carried a magic charm which ensured that once fired, the arrow would never miss it's target. They arrow flew like the wind and it chased after Natsu.

He tried to outrun it the best he could but that arrow wouldn't rest until it reached it's intended target. At last the arrow struck him but instead of being killed or severely injured, he was transformed. Cana's arrows could inflict one of three terrible fates upon who ever was hit by them. Number one was instant death, number two paralyzation, or number three transformation into animal.

Natsu felt himself grow smaller and smaller. Feathers started to sprout from his body and his arms changed into wings. In no time at all he was transformed into a little cuckoo bird.

Cana smirked down at the bird who was formerly the God of the skies. Of course she didn't know it was him, she thought that he was just some random peeping tom.

"Serves you right for spying on us." She told him. "Don't look so worried you'll change back though I can't say when. Let's hope that until then you can avoid getting eaten by hawks and snakes until then."

"Cana!" They heard Erza call. "Cana come quick!"

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I just realized that Juvia is gone!"

"Oh no!"

Cana rushed back to where Erza and the nymphs were. Natsu used this chance to escape, he spread his wings and flew away. Once he had flown off to somewhere safe, he tried to use his powers to change himself back but alas he wasn't strong enough to overcome the powers of other gods yet. Which meant he wouldn't change back until the arrow's effects wore off.

"Okay this isn't a big deal." Natsu thought to himself. "I just need to avoid predators until this stupid arrow's magic wears off. How hard can that be?"

Apparently it was much harder than he thought. For the whole day he found himself being chased and attacked by snakes, birds of prey, wolves, hunters, he had no time to sit, he was always flying. In his haste to escape a hawk he accidentally flew into a very hard stone which broke his wing.

"Ouch!" He thought. "Oh man now I'm stuck on the ground! This couldn't possibly get any worse!"

He was proven wrong when it suddenly started to rain. Hard. Buckets and pails of cold, wet, rain water pouring down on top of him.

"Okay I can't say that I didn't see that one coming."

The little cuckoo hung his head in misery and began to search for some sort of shelter. He tried to climb or fly up a tree but the pain he felt in his broken wing prevented him from doing either.

"Hello there, what are you doing on the ground little bird?" A gentle voice above him said. Natsu looked up and saw the goddess Lucy standing over him. She bent down, Natsu flinched away from her.
"Oh don't be afraid. I won't harm you."

With great care, she gently picked him up.

"Oh you poor thing you've broken your wing." She realized. "No wonder you're not safe and warm in a tree. Well I just can't leave you out here in this dreadful weather."

Natsu had never heard Lucy's voice sound so soft and kind before.

She took him back to her palace where she bathed him in a bird bath of water, bandaged his broken wing, and fed him bits of bread and fruit. It was an interesting experience for Natsu. He thought that she was just some stuck up, snobby, prudish, goddess who looked down on everything and everyone but she was actually very kind and sweet. At least around birds she was.

"Feeling better?" She asked him.

He replied with a chirp.

"That's good to hear." She said as if she could understand to him. "I wonder how you broke your wing, well it's not important. I'm just glad that I found you before any more harm could befall you."

"Not as glad as I am." Natsu thought.

She carried him over to the fireplace in her bed chamber where a warm flame was burning and placed him on a soft, cushiony pillow that was next to the fireplace.

"This should be a decent place for you to sleep tonight." She told him. "And I'll be right here if you need anything."

Lucy then started to disrobe. Natsu was tempted to watch her change but she had helped him. Brought him in from the cold and tended to his wound, no he would be a gentleman while he was staying with her or rather a gentle bird.

He cover his eye with his good wing and he didn't remove it until Lucy was dressed in her sleep wear. Once that was done she took a book from her desk, climbed into her bed, where she read for a little while then she turned out her lanterns and fell asleep.

Natsu gave her one last smile before curling up on that cushion and falling asleep himself.