Title: Waiting for Superman
Summary: After years of waiting, Lucy learns to be her own damn knight.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
AN: This fic was inspired by the song "Waiting for Superman" by Daughtry. I know, I'm so creative with my fic names. Anyways, I personally suggest listening to it before this fic, but it's really not necessary for the read. It's just a fantastic song and some parts of this might make more sense, in the "oh, that's why she wrote that" sense.
Lucy Heartfilia likes to think of herself as the top expert on fairytales and princess matters.
Oh sure, she's only six (but seven in just a month!) but Lucy's read all of the fairy tales and is almost a real princess (her daddy even got her a crown!), so Lucy's pretty sure she qualifies as the expert.
She knows that all princesses live in big castles and usually have some sort of evil person cast a horrible spell on them that eventually leads to the princess finding her one true love. Lucy doesn't like the idea of being cursed, but she thinks getting a knight in shining armor at the end of the story makes up for it. Everything works out in the end.
So Lucy keeps her eyes open and watches for the evil person who would come to curse her, but she isn't worried. After all, all beautiful princesses get a handsome knight (or occasionally prince) in the end and Lucy rather likes the idea of being swept off her feet by one. She's willing to bear a curse for that.
But as the months tick by, Lucy eventually stops waiting for the curse and decides she's rather happy with just Mama, Papa, her imouto, and all of the servants. Lucy likes to think that she's a lucky one and she's happy, so it's okay that there aren't any evil fairies or anything like that in her life.
And really, Lucy knows she's almost a princess and a very, very pretty one at that, so she's sure she'll get her knight in shining armor anyways.
When she's ten, the unthinkable happens.
Mama dies.
As Lucy sits and cries at her mama's gravestone, she hates herself for once wishing she would be cursed. She never thought anyone could think of a curse so cruel as to take her mama away from her and she wishes now more than anything for her knight in shining armor to come save her from her grief and her now gloomy castle.
But again, life ticks by and even as she ignores her imouto and sees her papa less and less, her knight doesn't come and Lucy has to overcome her grief bit by bit on her own. She doesn't like that her savior didn't come (hell-o, she's a princess in distress over here!) but she is only ten years old (and that's obviously how old her knight is), so she reasons that he's having trouble getting away from his watchful parents or master. Or whatever troubles ten year old boys might face.
After all, her knight wouldn't willingly abandon her.
By fifteen, Lucy's getting a bit sick of waiting for her knight in shining armor. She's sure there's a reasonable excuse for him not coming yet (she's been making them up for him for the past five years after all), but if it's something dumb as polishing his armor, she's going to give him a Lucy Kick to the face, savior or not.
Lucy's been staring out the windows of her palace lately, keeping a vigilant eye out for her knight, who she's sure is coming. He wouldn't abandon her, not when she's been waiting for five years.
The servants smile at her back sweetly, thinking she's such a nice girl to always be waiting for her father to come back from his lengthy business trips, even though he mostly ignores her. Lucy knows that they do this, and she never bothers to correct them. After all, her knight in shining armor is going to come rescue her from her palace and the monster that holds her captive here soon.
None of the servants need to know how she views her father.
Another year ticks by and Lucy keeps making up excuses for her knight. He still fails to show up, and Lucy's excuses for him are becoming more flimsy and feeble.
When her seventeenth birthday comes around, she's says to hell for it and escapes her palace and jailor on her own. She's done waiting for her savior and is going to take the world on by herself.
Lucy style.
It's day two of her new adventure, and she's already gotten herself into a shit ton of trouble.
Needless to say, Lucy's a bit disheartened and beyond pissed.
She fights with the man who claimed himself as 'Salamander' and hates how easily she's taken out of the fight (not that she likes fighting, mind you, but she's still upset with her previous treatment). She's rather relieved when the bastard's revealed as a fake and she cheers when Natsu easily blasts him away.
But, when she's yanked away by the pink haired boy and they start running away from the soldiers, Lucy's a bit disgruntled that there aren't any dashing knights to elegantly sweep her off her feet. But she's been waiting for him for seven years (even longer, really) and she's sick of it, so she just laughs and runs after Natsu because it's the best she's gotten so far.
Not that you can blame her if she wishes he were just a bit more gallant when rescuing her.
Years later, Lucy's so, so relieved that she decided to be her own knight in shining armor. She's never been happier ever since Natsu took her away to the guild where she's always greeted with laughter and smiles. Even with all the danger and trouble she's encountered (and never once thought would be a part of her life), Lucy thinks it's the best fairytale ending she could have wished for.
Though ending probably isn't the right word for it. When Natsu saved her the fateful day, neither of them thought it would be the beginning to lives filled with adventure and laughter, nor the beginning of a beautiful friendship and possibly more.
So, it may be a bit unconventional, Lucy muses, but she's finally learned to be her own damn knight and the best part of fairytales aren't the endings, but the beginnings.
And really, as she watches her best friend laugh and dance with her namaka, she knows he might not be her knight in shining armor, but he's her dragon and she wouldn't have it any other way.
What more could a princess wish for?