Lucy regained consciousness in the guilds hospital. Natsu was next to her, asleep.
"Lucy!" Levy exclaimed as she entered. Lucy slowly turned her head to her friend.
"Hey. . ."
"Are you okay?" She asked as Natsu was waking up.
"Yeah, just tired." She said.
"Who was that?" Natsu asked.
"What?"
"That creep, who was he?"
"What are you- oh! That was Adrian." Lucy said as she remembered what happened.
"What was his problem."
"Which one would you like me to start with?" Lucy asked. Other members came into room and started asking her questions. The most common one was "who was that". Once Lucy gained enough energy, she explained.
• • •
(Fiore castle, 7 years earlier)
"Lucy, come in here please!" The King ordered. The Duke of Hardia and his son were standing next to him. The Duke was about the King's age and the son was Lucy's. The boy had light skin and light blond hair, his eyes were ruby red. Lucy entered moments later. She was dressed in a white collared shirt and a dark blue jumper. The collar was detailed with a Japanese painting of waves.
"Yes, father?" She said. She didn't smile, though. Her father gestured to the side at the two males.
"You know The Duke of Hardia, don't you?" He asked.
"Yes," Lucy replied as she curtsied to the older man.
"This is his son, Adrian." The boy bowed.
"Pleasure to meet you."
"Same goes to you." Adrian bowed as he responded.
"Lucy,"
"Yes?"
"Show him around, would you?"
"Of course," she gestured to the boy to follow her. As the two walked out of the room. The King noticed something.
"Lucy what's on your shoes." He pointed to her white Mary-Janes which were covered in mud.
"Run!" she grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him out of the office.
• • •
"Where are we going?" Adrian asked. He was following Lucy up a stair well which clearly hadn't been used is decades.
"I tend to explore the castle in my free time. I found this room about a month ago." She lit the way by candle light. Adrian cried out in fear when he felt something crawling on his neck.
"Relax," She said. She picked up the spider on his neck, "It's just a spider." A few moments after Adrian got over the spider, the two reached the destination. A big wooden door. Lucy handed him the candle and pushed the door open.
The grey room was lit with multi-colored light coming from the stain glass windows. The walls and floor were cement and a fire place was right across the room from the door. The room had layers of dust but the princess didn't mind.
"I found this room a while ago. I practice my magic in here so no one will notice. . . Please don't tell anyone."
"You have magic?" Adrian asked. Lucy smiled and pulled a golden key out of her pocket.
"Open, gate of the golden bull!" Lucy said. A circle filled with different patterns appeared underneath her. "Taurus!" Adrian watched in amazement as a bull standing on its hind legs appeared, holding an axe.
"Moo~!"
"That's amazing, princess!" Lucy smiled brightly along with the bull. Lucy explained that she was a celestial spirit wizard, she could summon spirits with her keys. The one she just summoned was, Taurus, the golden bull. After a few moments of Adrian asking the spirit questions, she closed the gate.
"Oh, and don't call me "princess", please."
"What?"
"Please don't call me princess, it's a dumb title."
"Oh. . .okay. Uh, what's your name again?"
"Lucy."
"Oh yeah, my name's Adrian."
• • •
"It's the summer festival!" Lucy exclaimed. Three years had passed. She had been helping Adrian with magic since the night with Taurus. He had improved greatly and had learned how to control his magic. Tonight would be the night where he would display his talent. The summer festival always held a show for young wizards to display their magic. The two recently took interest in peasant life and entered.
"I don't know if I can do this. I mean it's not even real magic." His magic wasn't natural like other wizards. His was artificial. When he was ten, not long after he met Lucy, his father learned about artificial magic. And had surgery done to his son. A lacrima was implanted in him. The duke's excuse was,"I don't want a son with no will to fight."
"You'll do fine." She encouraged him. Adrian had learned a different form of celestial magic. He learned how to summon gods with cards. A rare ability, much more powerful than Lucy's magic.
"Okay, but if I win, you owe me something."
"What would that be?"
"You will kiss me." Lucy blushed and smiled.
"Alright. Only if you win." Adrian nodded.
• • •
Adrian made sure to wow the judges. He was dressed in worn out clothes, one was an old, black fedora. When it was his turn, he laid out cards across the stage. Each one face up. The cards were different. Each had a mosaic like picture of a Greek god or goddess. The names of each were written below in Latin.
The first one he summoned was Apollo, the twin brother of Artemis. The judges were impressed and continued to be as other appeared. Ares, Dionysus, and Hestia were only a few examples. For his final one, he summoned Hades. The crowd went wild. Even Lucy, who was back stage. She was dressed in a light green chicken feed sack dress and an old, navy blue coat. She was jumping up and down and clapping like an idiot.
"That was amazing!" She said after he stepped off stage. He smiled and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Thanks, I just hope I win." He blushed.
He was standing on stage with the other contestants ten minutes later. The host was announcing the winners. The host was a big fan of Adrian's performance, after it he kept saying "cool" over and over again.
"And now, the first place winner is . . ." He opened an envelope. The crowd was silent. Lucy was waiting in the crowd, next to the mother of the second place winner. She said, "that boyfriend of yours is definitely going to get first," she said after her daughter, an air mage, won second.
"Adrian Carrio!" The crowd cheered. Adrian smiled brightly as he was handed a check from the host. The grand prize was a check for a couple thousand jewel. He had his picture taken with the judges and the host. As he was walking off stage, Lucy was running towards him. Before he could comprehend what was happening, she kissed him. Her hands held his face, thumbs on his cheeks. It took a moment but he kissed her back, arms encircling her waist. They broke the kiss and smiled. He held her tightly before they both went back to the castle.
• • •
As time went on, the two grew closer and closer together. At this point they were in love, but problems were occurring. Adrian having a drinking problem was one. Him being abusive and controlling was another.
"Adrian again?" Lucy asked. The two were up in the stain glass room. Adrian had just opened the door. His white hair was disheveled and he was having trouble standing. His ruby red eyes were also bloodshot and showed he was tired. He had a bottle of whiskey in his hand.
"Yes, again."
"You can't keep doing this." She said. Adrian shrugged.
"I can do whatever I want. I'm going to be king, Lucy! King!" He exclaimed. He closed the door and leaned against it.
"What are you talk about?"
"Here's the thing, since we met, our dads have been planning out our marriage. I've known since we were like I don't know, twelve maybe." She'd known for about just as long. "Anyway, since then I've been trying to get you to at least like me. And that worked, remember?" Lucy nodded. They were 17 and 18, still together. She had been considering breaking it off after he started to have a drinking problem.
"I'm going to rule this country. You're going to be by my side." Adrian laughed as he finished, he remembered a joke that someone had told him.
". . . No." Lucy said.
"What?"
"You don't know the first thing about ruling a country. And you're drunk. I can't let these people have a leader whose hungover eighty percent of the time." She said. She continued listening reasons as to why he couldn't rule. He didn't appreciate her stubbornness. He stepped over to her. She stepped back as he came closer. She was afraid of him. He grabbed her hair and had her listen to him.
"You. Will listen to me and me only." He said. Lucy quickly grabbed one of her keys.
"Open, gate of the scorpion! Scorpio!" The celestial spirit appeared behind Adrian. His skin was dark and his hair was black, red, and short. The spirit quickly attacked, forcing Adrian against the cold, cement wall. He smirked.
He stood, wobbled slightly, and pulled out a card. "Open, gate of the lightning god! Zeus!" In front of him, a clearly strong man emerged. He had light blond hair and a crown of olive leaves. He wore a pair of brown, leather sandals and a white skirt like garment.
"Remember, I have magic too."
Zeus quickly took out Scorpio. When Lucy summoned Leo, the lion, he summoned Poseidon. The fight continued like this. Opening and closing gates. Eventually, Lucy couldn't keep up with him.
"You're tired already?!" He asked. Then, she herself attacked. No spirits, no weapons, nothing. Just herself. Adrian still had the advantage, he was an army solider. After just minutes, Lucy was down. He pinned her to the ground.
"Anything else?" Before Lucy could reply, she lost consciousness. She woke up in her room hours later. Adrian was crying at her bedside and her father was calming him down. There was a newspaper on the nightstand. The front page read, Fairy Tail Soon To Be Disbanded?. She thought to herself, 'I need to leave'. As soon as she healed completely, she left the castle. Looking for a well known guild in, Magnolia.
• • •
Author's Note:
I'm pretty proud of how well this story is gaining popularity. I'm not trying to brag, but I'm impressed. I'm from the Midwest and the only good thing that came out of here is Culvers and the Packers. You don't really expect much out of a small town high school student. I may start posting chapters twice a week, depending on how far ahead I get with this once a week thing. Thank you so much for 10k views! Next chapter will be up on April 25th!
• • •
Extras:
Song of the chapter - Running Out by Grace Grundy