Hey guys! So inspiration came for this sooner than I thought it would. I like this one a lot more and I think it'll be more different. Natsu's going to be kind of OOC. All of them probably will be (it is an AU) but I think it'll be a lot better than the previous version of this. Hope you guys enjoy and constructive criticism is welcome. This story will also be on tumblr, so check out my blog for a bunch more fairy tail wildest-dreams-at-midnight!

Chapter 1

Lucy had been dreaming of running away for years. The thing that finally pushed her over the edge happened the day before her seventeenth. Her day had started off normally enough. She had her maid, and one of her only friends, Virgo, wake up and help her get ready the day. After she was ready she headed down to have an awkward, silent breakfast with her father before having lessons with her tutor, Capricorn.

Any other girl in Fiore would have killed for Lucy's life. If Lucy wanted anything she got it immediately. She had money, clothes fit for a princess, tutors, and a sprawling estate that could easily be mistaken for a town. Only a couple of years ago Lucy had loved being here, but that was when her mother was alive. Layla Heartfilia had been seriously ill for two or three years before her sickness claim her life. That was when Lucy's life changed dramatically, and not for the better. The graceful gates that surrounded the estate turned into barbed wire and the wealthy estate, a prison. Lucy's father had become the warden, never letting her leave the property without permission (which he never gave), or when she did leave, it was in an armored car going to meet a potential suitor that her father had arranged for her. Maybe if she wasn't alone her captivity would have been more bearable, but her only friends were the staff that worked at the estate. Some nights, Lucy still cried and mourned the life she had before her mother's death, when Lucy felt loved and well-cared for, not now when she felt like something you could use to trade with at a market. Layla had taught her daughter all there was to know about the stars, their positions, and their stories. Whenever Lucy was feeling particularly sad, she would go into the manicured gardens next to her mother's grave, lie down on the soft grass, and stargaze for hours before eventually falling asleep. The idea that the stars had once been living things that had been pinned up in the night sky made the heiress feel less alone, made her feel comforted.

The rest of her day passed uneventfully, the only thing that could have been considered interesting was when her father called for her to come to his office. A ball of lead coalesced in her stomach and she felt nauseous. Not because she was sick, but because of the fact that this would be another meeting for her father to demand that she go visit a business partner and his son. As Lucy walked down the marble-floored hallway her footsteps echoed throughout the silent hall. Then, more than ever, she realized just how vacated this mansion really was. It was designed to house dozens of people and to entertain hundreds, but the only occupants were her father, the servants, and herself. Once Lucy reached the solid oak door, she gathered her courage and tried to curb her anxiety, and knocked on the door. "Come in," called a gruff voice and the oak door slid open silently at the press of a button from her father.

"You called for me Father?" Lucy asked, not wasting time on pleasantries, they would just have been ignored anyway. She would have taken a seat on one of the leather chairs in front of his large desk but didn't want to seem disrespectful. After a couple of moments of Lucy standing there awkwardly while he looked through papers, Jude Heartfilia cleared his throat.

Jude Heartfilia owned one of the more powerful businesses in Fiore. He held a monopoly on transportation like trains and airplanes. After his wife passed away, work was the only thing on Jude Heartfilia's mind. The only time he ever spent with Lucy was if a marriage could be arranged to help benefit the family company. Based off of that, Lucy assumed that this visit would be about another potential suitor. She would argue back, and if he was angry enough he might even go as far to hit her, which he had done before.

"I received a message from one of my associates from another business," he began and Lucy internally sighed. Here we go, she thought. "He has a son five years older than you that is ready for marriage. If it's agreeable with you, we will visit them tomorrow." A bitter laugh almost escaped the blonde's mouth but she bit her tongue. The fact that he made it seem like she actually had a choice in this matter was laughable. Lucy could lock herself in her room and he would probably bust the door down.

"If I do have a choice in this, then I politely decline. I don't want to marry someone who's older than I am, let alone someone I've never met before." Lucy's indirect challenge to his authority caused a vein to pulse in his forehead. Preparing herself for the inevitable she backed up from where she was standing, planning a route to the door incase she had to escape. Jude stood up so forcefully, his chair flew backwards into the wall and Lucy's heart rate accelerated. In three wide steps he reached where she was standing and mercilessly grabbed her wrist. If it were possible her heart rate skyrocketed and she winced at the pain, knowing a bruise would form by tomorrow.

"Whether you like it or not, you are going tomorrow evening and marriage arrangements will be made by the end of the night. This could be my one chance to expand our business into another region in Ishgar," he growled. "You will not ruin this for me. Now go to your room, I'll have dinner sent up for you." In a last ditch attempt to persuade him Lucy collected her courage.

"Tomorrow is my birthday," she whimpered, her courage failing as tears flooded her brown eyes. The only response was a sharp blow to her face. Trying to quiet the sobs that were wracking her body she ran out of the room and back to her figurative prison cell. That's it, Lucy thought through her tears. I can't be here anymore.

Later that night, 12:30, according to the clock on her nightstand she slipped out of bed and changed into a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt that she had incase she decided to go and work in the gardens. Thankfully Lucy had a black cloak with a hood in her closet and she put that on too. After pulling winter boots on her feet she stepped out onto her balcony and debated if she could climb down. Lucy's mind was working fast as she tried to figure out a way to climb down. The sheets and window curtains, she thought. With her triumph she closed her eyes and let the cool night air wash over her. The air smelled fresh and a breeze blew through the air and Lucy felt at peace. She proceeded to yank all of the sheets and blankets off of her bed and tied them together to create a long rope. Just to be safe, Lucy slid the window curtains off of the rod supporting them and added them to her makeshift rope. What she didn't count on was the curtain rod breaking off the wall due to her insistent pulling. A loud clang resonated throughout the room and due to the stillness of the air it seemed a hundred times louder than it actually was. Frozen Lucy waited several moments to see if there would be any pounding footsteps in the hallway that lead to her room. When only silence greeted her, she let out her pent up breath and continued with her work. Back on the balcony, Lucy tied one end of the fabric rope to the metal bars that enclosed the outdoor space. Giving it a firm tug she climbed up onto the railing and wobbled precariously before lifting herself over and slid down the rope. Lucy wasn't surprised that her landing was far from graceful and she fell on her back in the grass. Internally groaning in pain, she picked herself up and ran for the gates.

"Damn it," Lucy whispered as she stared up at the gates before her. "Now what am I supposed to do?" Her eyes wandered around the yard to see if there was anything she could use but her mind drew a blank. "I guess I could try to climb it," she answered herself. Thankfully the wrought-iron gates weren't that high. As soon as she put a hand on it, the gate gave her an electric shock. Impulsively she drew her hand away and swore under her breath. Wait isn't there a keypad to open the gate? If she craned her neck a certain way she saw the keys illuminated in the darkness. I know the password, and if I had a branch I could probably use it to put the code in. Lucy sighed and then set off to find a low-hanging branch she could just snap off of a tree and use. Lucy was successful in her search when she found a short tree near her mother's grave. Looking at the tombstone made Lucy's heart hurt and as a last minute thought she picked some flowers and laid them on the grass in front of the gravestone. "I love you Mama," she whispered. "I know you're supporting me." With that she turned and ran back to the gate, branch in hand. The keypad wasn't far away and it seemed easy enough but Lucy knew if she put the code in wrong three times, the security system would go off. Carefully Lucy entered the code with the branch and thankfully nothing went wrong. The gate silently swung open and she ran out away from her prison to freedom.

Now came the next problem, where was she supposed to go? It's not like she had any friends. With a sigh she continued running until she was well away from the estate and approaching the outskirts of Crocus, the capital of Fiore. During the day, from what Lucy had observed, the capital was filled with flowers, laughter, and people swarming the streets at open-air markets buying food, and of course the flowers. Crocus was famous for its flowers and it attracted a lot of tourists. Now at night, the streets were deserted. Some pubs and taverns were still open and light, laughter, and voices spilled out of the windows and into the silent streets. As much as Lucy would have loved to go into a tavern and get something to eat, she hadn't had the foresight to bring money or anything worth trading with her. Tired and running out of energy she stopped walking and rested against the side of a building. Lucy would have used this time to think but scuffling noises and voices distracted her. Quickly she flattened herself up against the wall and held her breath.

"Is this the place?" a male's voice asked.

"Yeah it is. Lay the explosives at the corners of the building, then we can just get out of here and activate them when we're farther away," another voice instructed. Lucy's heart raced. This had to be one of Fiore's notorious gangs that people knew of but didn't know much about them. Every now and then you would hear something on a news broadcast about how a gang started a shooting or blew up a building. Lucy was frozen, if she wanted to move she couldn't. If she moved she probably would be caught. It was even more dangerous because she didn't know what group this was.

"Gajeel is something wrong?" the voice that was giving instructions asked. Lucy's eyes widened. Gajeel was a member of Fairy Tail, the most powerful gang in Fiore.

"You don't smell anything off Salamander?" Lucy knew she was dead. Salamander was Natsu Dragneel's nickname and he was Fairy Tail's they couldn't smell her…could they?

"No, there's someone here." A sharp crack pierced the air and a "what the hell was that for?" in response.

"Idiot! I thought you told me the area was clear!" Salamander yelled.

"I did, don't blame this on me," Gajeel argued back. "Fine, I'll go find this person." Running would have been the safest option at this point but Lucy was shaking so much she couldn't move. From what she understood, Fairy Tail only killed people who either made them angry, posed a threat, or was just problematic whether it was just for them or for the whole of Fiore. Maybe she would be safe, maybe. Lucy's eyes were squeezed shut but she had the feeling that eyes were on her. Very slowly she opened them and saw a bulky figure with red eyes peering at her curiously. "Found her Salamander."

"No don't take the explosives away! We won't get this chance again! Don't give me that look Ice Princess!" Salamander yelled before making his way over to where Gajeel and I were standing. The figure that was approaching them seemed to flick something on a lamppost and suddenly there was light. Lucy noticed that the gang leader had dark eyes and the pink hair that he was well known for. His trademark scaly scarf was around his neck and he peered at Lucy curiously. "Gajeel go away, you're scaring her."

"How am I doing that?" Gajeel protested.

"Because you look terrifying and your creepy red eyes don't help at all," Natsu reasoned. "Now go make sure that they don't screw up please." Grumbling under his breath, Gajeel left Lucy and Natsu alone on the street corner. "Would you mind telling me your name?"

"Lucy," the blonde whispered refusing to make eye contact. His eyebrows drew together.

"You're not going to tell me your last name are you?" Natsu asked softly and Lucy shook her head. "Can you at least take the hood off?" With trembling hands Lucy pushed the black fabric off of her head and waited for the pinkette to recognize her as the Heartfilia heiress. "You're Lucy Heartfilia right?" Natsu pressed through gritted teeth. Once Lucy gave a small nod Natsu continued his interrogation. "What are you doing here? I swear if your dad sent you here as a trap I'll kill him."

"Why would he set a trap?" Lucy questioned nervously. "He's never had any contact with Fairy Tail before, not that I know of anyway."

The pinkette's mind was whirling. Jude Heartfilia's daughter was standing in front of him trembling from fear, and apparently she had no idea that her father was tangled in Fiore's gang system? "How much do you know about his work?" Natsu asked, as he began to relax. She might not pose as much of a threat as he initially thought.

"Nothing I swear! He doesn't tell me anything, unless there's a potential suitor," the Heartfilia heiress replied bitterly.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" Natsu continued his interrogation but now his voice was less harsh and Lucy slowly began to feel less threatened.

"I ran away from home," Lucy told him, "I couldn't take being there anymore."

"What happened to your cheek?" Natsu shot out another question and Lucy instinctively put her hand to cover the left side of her face. Natsu frowned and gently grabbed the blonde's hand and pulled it away from her face. With his other hand he turned her face towards the light only to see a purple bruise. "How did you bruise it?" The question came out more tender and concerned than Lucy would have thought. Natsu's mind was working quickly, trying to put together all the pieces of the information that Lucy had given him. Obviously she and her father weren't on good terms but, Natsu hoped that even Jude Heartfilia had some decency to treat his only living immediate family well.

"My father hit me for not wanting to meet a suitor," Lucy whimpered and she felt tears come to her eyes. Natsu started to freak out, if there was one thing he hated dealing with, it was crying girls.

"Don't cry, you don't have to go back there if you don't want to," he quickly reassured her and she looked at him with wide, tearful brown eyes. A pang went through Natsu's heart and he felt bad for her. Yes his father had disappeared a couple of years ago, but he and Natsu had an amazing relationship. The fact that there were innocent people like Lucy being hurt for no reason made him angry.

"Really? You mean that?" she sounded hopeful and Natsu smiled.

"I mean, I can't let you go regardless because the last thing I need is someone finding out that you met me. That would bring a lot of trouble that I really don't want to deal with. And besides, I can't let you go back to an abusive father. I always knew Jude was an asshole but I thought he'd be above abusing his only family at the most. Anyway you didn't have any plans did you?"

"No I didn't. I wasn't thinking about that when I escaped," Lucy admitted.

"You're going to have to tell me how you did that, I'd love to hear that story. But you're coming with us." He stretched out his hand and Lucy grabbed it tentatively. "Guys get in the car! When we're ten minutes away activate the explosives." And just like that Lucy was forced to accept her new reality. Was she captured? Or was this a blessing in disguise? She wasn't entirely sure. At that moment Lucy was trying to combine what she had heard about the infamous Natsu Dragneel on the news with the person she had just met. Maybe he was a gang leader, but he seemed so angry at the fact that Lucy had been abused, even if it was just a little bit, that she couldn't help but think that he was, at heart, a good person.

"Where'd the girl come from? Did you find a girlfriend Flame Brain?" a teenage boy around Lucy's age teased.

"Shut the fuck up Gray, I'll tell you about it later. Right now just get us home," he ordered. "Go to sleep Lucy, it'll be a couple of hours." Lucy didn't need encouragement. She rested her head against the plush leather interior and drifted off to sleep.