Lucy swam as fast as she could, she didn't care where she was going, she just needed to get away and swim. Tears welled up in her eyes but they were washed away in the water as she swam. She quickened her speed with every minute passing by until finally she came to a halt, panting loudly.

"Why does father have to such a jerk…why does he have to force me to…control me…I hate him! I hate him for bossing me around. I hate him for keeping me locked up and watched every minute. I've had it!" Lucy harshly yelled. She sighed loudly and sat on a big boulder that was laying around, wiping her tears away. The sound of the water splashing calmed her a bit, yet her anger was still evident.

Lucy had just had another fight with her father, yet this time it was worse than the others. Her father, King Jude, had arranged a ball for Lucy, the blonde clueless as to why until the final speech at the end of the ball.

An arranged marriage. They were celebrating her engagement to one of her father's allies, a sickening old man who had her sick to her stomach whenever he looked at her with a creepy glint in his eye. To say Lucy was angry was an understatement, she was livid. She didn't care if she made a scene when her father announced this engagement, she didn't care about the looks people gave her when she yelled at her father and stormed out. She had it. This was the final straw.

"I want to be free…to explore…I can't do that if I'm engaged to this old man…gosh what has father done? he truly hates me if he has gone this far." Lucy mumbled to herself and sighed. At some point, perhaps when her mother was alive, her father wouldn't have done this, yet after her mother's death, he changed for the worst. He became controlling, intimidating, and at some point Lucy came to fear him, to hate him. Just thinking about the events before had her seething.

Lucy swam beside her father, a stony expression on her face used to conceal her annoyance. Her father's words before entering the ball played in her head. "You will stay beside me throughout the day. You will greet but you will not speak further unless spoken to, you will not wander off unless I specifically order you to go somewhere. You will be the perfect princess and if you make one mistake...there will be consequences. Am I clear?"

Lucy released a small sigh, shaking the thought away. Throughout the day she stood beside her father and greeted guest, her frustration slowly growing as she was basically a puppet. At some point everything became a blur until the grand dinner started.

"Ah Duke Howard, pleasant to see you hear" Jude greeted an old man that stood in front of them. His greasy hair and oily skin had Lucy cringing and to make matters worse, he had barnacles growing on his tail. Something about the man didn't sit right with her immediately.

"Honored for having me here your highness" Howard greeted, his eyes shifting to Lucy and Lucy had to fight back a gag as his sent her a creepy smile and wink that had Lucy shivering in disgust. His eyes held a glint as he gaze traveled up and down her body until landing on her chest which he then proceeded to lick his crinkly old lips. Lucy wanted to cover up her body and get away from him yet she had to stay beside her father with her hands balled up against her back. Yea, she definitely didn't like the man.

"Nice to meet you Duke Howard, I'm Luc-" Lucy greeted but was cut off.

"Lucy Heartfilia, princess, how could I not know? It's an honor to meet you" Howard bowed and sent another crooked smile to her. Her father then decided to step in and lead Duke Howard to the dinner table.

"Follow me Howard, we have much to discuss and wouldn't want to miss the grand announcement."

The mention of this announcement seem to spark an excitement to the old man yet further drew confusion to Lucy. She didn't know why her father decided out of the blue to hold a ball for her, only saying there was to be an announcement to be made that will be of benefit to her and her father.

All the guest gathered and sat on the rather large dining table made of gold, Lucy having to sit beside her father and Duke Howard across from her. Once everyone had quieted down, King Jude stood up and clinked on the crystal glass to draw the guest attention.

"Thank you all for coming here today. I am very proud to hold this event for such matter. Today's ball was held to announce and congratulate my daughter, Princess Lucy Heartfilia on her engagement to Duke Howard. We will be uniting la-"

What.

Her father's speech became mute as all she could hear was strong"Lucy Heartfilia on her engagement to Duke Howard"

Her father arranged a marriage with the disgusting old duke. Lucy's gaze shifted towards Duke Howard who was staring intently at her with a mischievous grin.

Engaged

To him

You have got be fuc-

"Lucy?" Her father's cold tone snapped her out of her thoughts. She lifted her gaze to meet her father's cold eyes who looked at her with anger. "Lucy please stand up, any words to say about your engagement and Duke Howard?" Jude asked. Her father expected her to stay down and shake her head as always as she never had a say in his decisions but imagine his surprise when Lucy slowly stood up and smiled at the guest. Yes, she had much to say.

"Yes father I do. I'd just like to say fuck Duke Howard and fuck you" Lucy began, small gasps could be heard among the guest but Lucy continued further, staring sharply at her father who stared at Lucy with shock and rage which Lucy fought the urge to smile at.

" How dare you! how could you even arrange a marriage with that man! I have stayed silent all these years, putting up with all your crap but this has topped it all! I would rather be fished out than marry a sleazy old man like him! At least then I would be away from you and your controlling abusive self! You got that Howard? We aren't getting married. I hope you guys also caught that too, this marriage isn't happening and I deeply apologize for you guys having to waste your time coming here when you can be home."

Lucy squared her shoulders and finished off with a glare of her own directed at her father who was already fuming. " If you so much as think that I will go along with this marriage, you have another thing coming" she said with eyes blazing and tone seething. Lucy turned and smirked when she saw the shocked and some amused faces on the guest. This will surely be on SeaTV tonight she thought.

Lucy turned and swam away, ignoring her father's raging yells for her to come back. She swam for what felt like hours until she was out of breathe and was sure she wouldn't be caught for a while.

Lucy sighed and shook her head. From the corner of her eye, she saw an object floating down the water. "What is that?" Lucy asked herself. She swam closer to it and gasped when her eyes landed on the object.

A scarf? No…a human scarf.

Lucy cautiously touched the scarf, the soft fabric new and pleasing to her fingertips. Every mermaid clothing was made out of a special seaweed and shells material, rough and textured, yet she had seen that the human clothing were different, they looked soft, different. She always wondered what they felt like and now she knew. Even though the scarf was in the water, it seemed to be resistant to it, the soft scale fabric warm against her fingertips. Strange.

She inspected the scarf closely and wondered where it had come from. She couldn't help but feel something special about it, whose scarf is it? Where are they now? For an unknown reason, a smile touched her lips as she held the scarf tighter.

"If the scarf is here, maybe they are close by" Lucy whispered. She couldn't help the butterflies that came after as she said that.

Why does this feel like it's the beginning of something.

"Oye Happy! No my scarf! It's flying away!" Natsu yelled as he ran after his scarf trying to catch it. Erza grabbed Natsu by the shirt before he could fall off the boat. "Easy there Natsu…we'll get it don't worry" Erza told him. Natsu couldn't look away from his scarf as it flew farther away until finally dropping down in the water.

"Okay Gray! Turn over the boat, we have to get Natsu's scarf" Erza ordered. Gray steered the boat around and as they started getting closer to where the scarf fell, Natsu couldn't help but get butterflies as they got closer, and no, it wasn't from the motion sickness.

Ah so there you go, first chapter of my AU of mermaid Lucy and Natsu hehe. I'm not a good writer but I hope you guys liked it! I'd love to hear your opinion on this chapter so please leave a review!

There are quite a few mistakes since I haven't gone over it and edited edit but I hope it was alright and sorry for it being a short chapter.