~My Dragon, My Friend, My Protector~
Update on Fairy Tail's Assassin; I am working on Chapter 3, and I am not gonna give any of you a breather with the second book about Freya!
The carriage was rumbling down the uneven path that it was following. With every bump the two girls inside were jostled. It was uncomfortable, but Lucy could care less. The ominous feeling that she had felt earlier had faded away. It was still in the corner of her mind though. Snapping and screaming for her attention.
Lucy didn't understand.
She was going home. She was going away. Which each step of the horses' pounding hooves they were taking her away from the darkness that she had felt. Then, why did she feel so sick?
Her heart was pounding, making her stomach fill up with butterflies. Sweat had started to coat her face and under her arms. She rubbed her hands on her arms, feeling the goosebumps underneath.
Something wicked was chasing her.
The carriage flipped over.
It was so sudden.
So unexpected, that Lucy couldn't even scream, before she was launched forward. Faintly, she could hear Levy's screams as she to was thrown around inside the flipping carriage. Pain shot through Lucy's spine as her back collided with the roof. Then she was flung again. Lucy desperately raised her arms up to block her face as she flew.
Her bags filled with clothes and books became her enemy. The books zoomed towards her and she gasped when one hit her side. Lucy curled into a ball just as the carriage finally stopped its deadly roll.
Everything was silent.
The only sound was the pounding of Lucy's rapid beating heart.
Then, another sound rose up.
The sound of laughter...
Multiple footsteps...
And the sound of liquid splashing onto a surface...
Lucy's eyes fluttered as she sought out the source of the sound.
Drip...
Her eyes widened.
Drip...
Her heart stopped.
Drop...
"Levy!"
Blood poured freely from a nasty gash on the small girl's forehead. Her left arm hung at a strange angle and her eyes stared blankly at the petrified Princess. "L-Levy-chan?" Lucy whispered as tears flooded her hazy vision. "Levy..." That is when the Princess screamed. A heart wrenching cry that shook the very earth.
Then Lucy was being dragged out of the ruined carriage.
She screamed again and twisted her head to see who had grabbed her. Two men stared back at her, none who she recognized. "G-get my friend!" Lucy cried as the two men's grips turned to steel on her arms. "I think-I think she's hurt!" She wailed, her tears never seeming to let up.
Lucy's screams of agony were cut off when a hard slap struck her cheek.
It made her head spin and her teeth smash together. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard her jaw crack.
With tears still streaming down her face, she brought her shaking eyes upward. There she took in a man who towered over her.
His black hair with red highlights was pulled up into a high ponytail. His dark green eyes were sharp with triumphant as he looked down at her. He wore fancy blue clothes with yellow outlines. His stance and face were stern and he was practically dripping cockiness.
This man was the wickedness that had been chasing her.
Fear and adrenaline hit Lucy hard, high lighting her senses, and making her head spin. Her body felt light but heavy at the same time as she faced the man. Her own brown eyes were blazing and her body was tensing.
She wanted to hurt him.
Oh, how she wanted to.
He had hurt Levy.
He was the cause.
Then Lucy remembered the other two souls that had been with her and Levy.
Where were Scorpio and Taurus?
Fear for her Guards well being flared up.
The man must have sensed her worry because with a snap of his fingers, three men came over with her Guards, unconscious, in their hold.
Lucy Heartfilia yearned to unleash her anger onto him.
But the time wasn't right.
She couldn't move yet.
But she would wait.
After all, she was a patient Princess.
"Excuse my harsh ways," the man said. "Princess Lucy. But I needed you fast, you see." He leaned in closer to her and Lucy had to fight not to jerk back. "How rude of me to not introduce myself," he laid a hand onto his chest. "My name is Jose Porla and I am the Master of the Phantom Lord Bandits!" This man, Jose, had declared his role so grandly, that Lucy thought he wanted her to feel impressed...or scared.
She felt neither.
The blond haired Princess stared up at Jose with a blank face and bored eyes.
This seemed to shock him for he stared down at her with black lines taking over his face.
"Did you not hear me, girl?" Jose seethed. Instead of answering, Lucy asked her own question, "Why are you here? What do you desire from me?"
The man's dark eyes suddenly lit up with greed. "Why, I've come to give you back to the King," he rubbed his index and thumb together. "For a hefty price of course." Dark laughter rang out around her as the multiple men that made up Jose's crew agreed with their leader.
Lucy's own lighter laughter also joined them. That silenced everyone else at once. "What is so amusing to you, girl?" Jose demanded, breaking through her personal space.
It reminded her of someone.
Someone happier and waiting for her to come home.
"Oh," Lucy chuckled, "As if my Father would waste a Jewel on me." Her brown eyes rolled upwards as another laugh shook her body.
"How pathetic of you to think he cared."
The Master of Phantom Lord clicked his tongue, "You are lying to me. A King needs his Princess."
Lucy wished she were not lying.
How she wished that her Father did care about her. She wished that her Father would give away every single thing he owned, just for her safety.
Then she would be lying to not only Jose, but to herself as well.
"I'm not lying! It's not my fault that you are to stupid to listen!" Lucy yelled through gritted teeth. The slap turned to a punch that sent her to the ground. Her right cheek burned and she bent forward. Her arms were being held painfully behind her back. Making her already bruised back flare up with pain. Lucy cried out when Jose pressed down on the back of her head with his heavy boot. Smashing her tingling cheek down into the dirt.
Tears of pain and humiliation streaked down her red cheeks as Jose laughed at her pain. "What is it, Princess? Got nothing else to add?"
She cried out again as one of the men holding her arms suddenly jerked her right arm to the side painfully. It was not enough to break the bone, but it was enough to dislocate her shoulder with a pop!
Fear clung to her. Choking her. Black dots swam in her blurry vision.
I'm sorry...
Levy.
Scorpio.
Taurus.
Even with all the training with Erza, Lucy still couldn't help her friends.
I'm so sorry, minna.
Then she heard it.
And she wasn't the only one.
It had begun as a soft sound, barely worth hearing. Until it suddenly increased in its volume. It sounding like something slicing through air. It was close to the sound a bird made when flapping its wings, but louder and with more force.
It was coming their way and fast.
"What the hell is that sound?" One of the men holding Lucy captive asked as he roughly pulled her closer to him.
As if she could protect him. The other men paused, including Jose, as they all looked to the sky. Their mouths dropped open simultaneously at the sight that they saw. Lucy twisted her head to also look to the sky just as a large shadow fell over them all, blocking the moonlight, leaving them blind for a moment.
Then they saw him.
A young man, with cherry blossom hair that was covering his burning eyes from view. His wings were widely spread out from his back, the large wings gently sliced through the air, keeping him hovering in the sky above them. Those blood red wings of his were the cause of the shadow that shrouded Lucy and the rest in darkness.
Lucy's skin burned and the men holding her squirmed.
They felt it too.
The burning intensity of the Dragon's eyes on them.
Natsu Dragneel stared down at Lucy with such intensity in his eyes it left her frozen. He cocked his head, almost curiously, as his eyes darted to Lucy, then flashed behind her. He flapped his wings to keep him in the air as his dark eyes narrowed onto the hands holding her. His lips pulled back from his teeth to reveal the sharp canines Lucy knew were there. His nails, which had lengthened to talons, flashed dangerously in the silvery light as he brought them up to eye level.
Then, he spoke, low, and dangerous. "Let. Her. Go." He punctuated every word with a growl that sent shivers through Lucy who couldn't take her eyes off him. One of the men instantly let go of one of her arms, he was the smarter of the two. The second man only dug his hands into her arm harder, he was the dumb one. Whether it was by fear or on purpose she didn't know.
"W-what the hell is that?" One of the other men asked in an horror struck voice. "A M-monster." The man holding her stuttered out as he stared up at Natsu. Lucy's anger overrode her shock and pain at the man's words. Natsu was no monster! He was nowhere near the definition of one. He was kind, sweet, protective, and goofy.
And he had come to save her.
Strangely, Jose hadn't uttered a word since Natsu's arrival. He just continued to stare, unblinkingly up at the Dragon. In that exact moment Natsu tucked in his wings and dived bombed out of the air just as Lucy cocked back her arm and punched the man that had called her Dragon a Monster in the face. The man let out a cry as his hands shot to his bloody nose. Lucy smirked as she broke away, heading towards Natsu who was heading for her.
She heard Jose shout a command but she was deaf to it. All she could hear was her heart beat and her feet as they ate up the distance between her and Natsu. Lucy reached out a hand, about to call out his name, when pain shot through her skull. She yelped as one of Jose's men buried his fingers into her hair and yanked.
The pressure was gone in the next second.
Instead, heat flared up around her body and her sight was filled with red and orange. Then something warm and heavy was being draped around her shoulders. Suddenly she was pulled back up against a warm, hard surface. Red wings bathed in fire came down on both sides of her and something curled around her feet. She looked down and saw it was a scaly tail that was the same color as the wings.
"You okay, Lucy?" A warm breath tickled her ear as the voice that belonged to the question registered in her mind. Lucy wasn't sure if she could even speak. Words had abandoned her.
Except for a name.
"Natsu." She whispered as she curled her one of her hands around the tan arms wrapped around her chest and shoulders. She could only lift one of her arms, for her left shoulder had been brutally dislocated.
She felt a chin drop onto the top of her head and a chuckle rumbled through him. "That's me." Outside of the wall of fire that Natsu had created to protect them, Lucy could see silhouettes of tall figures circling around them. Once the fire simmered out, they would be surrounded.
Lucy's hold on her Dragon tightened.
"Don't worry, Lucy." She heard Natsu say lightly. "I gotcha." With a flap of his wings, he and Lucy burst upwards from the flames. She didn't even get to think about how she was flying before he set her down feet away from the shocked men. The warmth that he always had left her when he let go of her.
Natsu stepped back and grinned, "Be right back, okay?" Before she could say another word, he kicked off the ground, and flew straight over to the Phantom Lord Bandits. He landed right in the middle of them, already throwing flaming punches, and roaring out blasts of white hot fire.
Lucy's mouth was wide open as she watched him fight.
Natsu was an army by himself.
Lucy knew she couldn't just stand there and watch. Her eyes snapped to her wrecked carriage. She needed to get Levy out of there. The Princess ran over and fell to her knees to crawl through. She paused as her messed up shoulder caused her to cry out in pain. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut before taking a breath.
You can do this.
Lucy snapped open her eyes and began to crawl slowly forward. She hissed as a piece of broken wood lodged into the palm of her hand. Blood instantly pooled from the cut but she continued on.
Lucy didn't have to look for long before she found who she was searching for. A relived sigh left her as her eyes spotted the soft blue color of her best friend's hair. "Levy!" She called as she picked up the pace, uncaring about how it affected her shoulder. Outside she could hear curses and screams and the occasionally frump! as new fire was created. At least I don't have to worry about, Natsu. She reached her friend and carefully wrapped her arm around her waist, being mindful of her, and Levy's injuries. Levy was so light that even Lucy could carry her out without many problems.
She set down her friend once she made it outside of the overturned carriage and looked back to the fight as she pressed the bottom of her torn cloak to Levy's wound on her forehead. Natsu was still going at it. Throwing punch after punch.
Kick after flaming kick.
With each blow, someone dropped.
Sometimes he would even use his tail to his advantage. Either to trip the men or to land a blow on their midsections.
A predatory smirk crossed his face that showed off his sharpened canines. His tail thrashed through the air as he stalked forward. He had folded his wings so they wouldn't get in his way. Natsu was making a path toward her, knocking out anyone who dared get in his way.
One of the men, a tall one with trunks for arms, broke away from the rest and came at Natsu from the side. The Dragon had just turned away to deal with another bandit, leaving him open, and blind on his left side.
Where the bandit was aiming for.
Lucy opened her mouth to scream a warning but it was too late.
Natsu didn't see the guy in time and he managed to land a hard blow to the Dragon's face.
Natsu didn't even flinch.
The man paused as Natsu's burning eyes flicked towards him. Then the man screamed and jerked his hand to his chest where he cradled it. Even from feet away Lucy could tell that the bones in his hand had been shattered.
All from just punching the Dragon in the face.
Natsu smirked, "Hehehe, that all ya got?" That was enough for the man to run. Lucy could hear the Dragon's laughter from where she stood. Natsu didn't even look winded and he still moved as if he had just started. Each step he took and each blow that he dealt out was fast and precise.
No movement was wasted.
Lucy could feel her lips curl up into a smile.
Natsu was her Dragon, her friend, and her protector.
She had never felt so grateful in her life.
Lucy choked as an arm curled around her throat and pulled her back harshly against a chest, forcing her to drop Levy, and for tears to prick at her eyes as her shoulder screamed in protest.
Suddenly, she couldn't breath. Panic was setting in as her lungs fought for air. Air that was all around her and yet impossible to obtain. She wheezed as someone whispered in her ear, "Let's see what the Dragon will do..." Lucy could feel the man's lips curl up into a smile against her cheek as something sharp and cold was pressed against her throat. "Now that I have his Princess."
Jose...
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The Dragon has come to save the Princess from an enemies' clutches.
As the Dragon leaves behind smoking bodies, the real threat has slipped away, and now reappears.
This time with the Princess in his arms. What is a Dragon to do?
Get his Princess back of course.
Let the Adventure Continue!
This chapter is for