Dragon Boy and Princess

Chapter 33

Hello, everybody~ NOW BEFORE YOU START THROWING THINGS AT ME AND KILL ME, PLEASE WAIT!!! I HAVE A VERY GOOD EXCUSE! Ahem, I had tons of work to do, finish a 19th century french book and write a five page paper about it, art project, and a ton of other stuff! I was seriously overloaded. And I am a bit obsessed with The Originals right now... Anywho, I'm sorry but my education does come first. I will, however, try to get more updates up as soon as possible by improving my work schedule. Thank you as always for understanding, and without further ado, here is chapter 33!

            King Jude Heartfilia of Fiore stood proudly upon the golden dais, looking down on all the guests with cold eyes. His eyes scanned the deadly silent ballroom until they landed on Lucy and lingered for a moment before passing on. A chill ran down Lucy's spine as he moved on from her, and started to address the crowd in a deep echoing voice, "Thank you all for coming, great citizens of Fiore. We are gathered here today to celebrate the arrival of Prince Loke of Celestial. However, it is not only for that, for I am proud to announce to you that our kingdom of Fiore and the kingdom of Celestial will from now on be joined by the marriage of our own Princess Lucy and Prince Loke!"

            The crowd roared around Lucy as her heart contracted painfully. Time seemed to slow and sound to cease as Lucy and Loke's eyes met, his anguish mirroring her own, then her gaze turned to her father who was already looking at her intensely. His gaze was steady and hard, as if daring her to challenge him. He lifted his chin and turned away from her. Anger bubbled up in Lucy at the fact that he was still looking down on her, that he felt her life was an object he could swing this way and that at will, but most of all, anger at herself for always standing by and letting it happen.

            The mass of bodies applauding and crying joyously suddenly became suffocating, and Lucy pushed through the crowd, not caring whether she jostled someone too hard. She found herself out on one of the terraces, the cold air greeting her harshly, and she leaned heavily against the railing, gagging. She rested her head against the cool metal in an effort to calm herself, taking deep, shuddering breaths.

            She turned her head just enough to see the large red and gold curtains drawn back at the entrance of the terrace; she didn't even remember passing through them to get out here. She was about to lay her head back down on the railing when the curtains fluttered slightly and a flash of blue entered her vision. She whipped around, senses now on alert. The curtain fluttered again, and she saw the blue again, closer. She tiptoed slowly, trying not to make any noise until she was directly in front of the curtains. She reached a hand out, thought better of it, and reached both hands out before drawing them both in suddenly, clamping a firm grip on the curtain where she had last seen the blue. There was a muffled yelp and the mass of curtain between her arms started struggling and moving. She managed to keep a firm grip on whatever was in the curtain with one arm while ripping it open with her other hand to reveal... a cat? In the bundle of curtain she cradled sat a blue cat with a green bundle wrapped around his neck. Its eyes were large and black and were glaring at her intensely. Lucy grabbed the cat and lifted it up as it struggled in her grasp. Something nagged at her in the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite grasp what it was.

            Suddenly the cat bit her hand hard, and Lucy yelped and dropped it, but the cat didn't fall. Instead, it suddenly sprouted white-feathered wings from its back and hovered in midair glaring at her. Lucy's jaw fell open as she stared at the flying blue cat in front of her. The nagging at the back of her brain became more insistent now, but she still couldn't discern what it was that she should be remembering.

            "Well are you just gonna stare at me all day or what?" the cat spoke in a high pitched, childish voice.

            If Lucy's jaw could have hit the floor at that moment, it would have.

            "Y-Y-You can talk?" Lucy managed to say. "You can talk... you can talk! A cat is talking to me!"

            "What? You've never seen a talking cat before? Typical human," the cat said again as he smirked, obviously relishing the fact that she was so disoriented. "Damn, I can't believe I have to deal with you now when all I want to do is look for- it's not important," the cat changed the subject suddenly, and then turned and pointed an accusing finger at her. "You have to let me go and promise you won't say anything to anyone."

           Lucy had been able to recollect herself during the cat's monologue, and now sweat dropped.

            "Um... aren't you already free? I can't exactly let you go," she pointed out.

            The cat opened his mouth and immediately closed it again. Apparently, he wasn't very smart.

            "Then you have to promise that you won't tell anybody that I was here, got it?" the cat said.

            "I don't think anyone would believe me anyway if I said I saw a flying, talking cat," Lucy said, not that she was going to tell anyone anyway.

            "Alright, I'm going now. Terrible meeting you, human, oh and thanks for the food!" he said cheerfully, as he patted the bundle on his back.

            Well that was a rather strange exchange, Lucy thought to herself as she watched him fly off into the night. Meeting Natsu for the first time certainly was way more shocking though. At that thought, a long ago conversation she had had with him drifted into her mind and the something that had been nagging at her clicked in her brain. She threw herself against the railing in desperation, and she called out as loud as she could, "WAIT, HAPPY!"

I hope you liked that chapter even if it was rather short. I don't have time to do our little interviews, and I am so sorry that I haven't been doing them. I will try to resume as soon as possible. Plus I'm in latin class. Anyway, stay tuned. Vote, comment, and share! And I will see you soon! Ja ne!