Contract of Magic
Where magic wielders of Fiore are chained to the ties of the royal families, magic wielder Natsu Dragneel is found out in one of the basements by none other by Lucy Heartfilia. On his way to his next, random beating, he gets dragged out of the way, and requests something that was below anything he could've ever done.
New story? Just a prototype. Might delete this later.. I dunno.
Besides, I'm just testing some things out, nothing weird, I think. Yeah.
Anyway... enjoy this?
Warnings!: AU. Violence. Cursing.
1: Contract of the Dragon
She's always been wondering why some of the corridors ended in a set of descending stairs with a door at the very bottom, and today she decided to finally investigate. What she expected was not she saw on the other side. Instead, it was better.
"Hey, Mama?" a blonde girl, Lucy Heartfilia, asked her mother, though nobody could really tell them apart, as she was her spitting image.
"Yes, sweetie?" came the sweet reply from the older woman.
The smaller blonde lightly tugged at the bottom of her mother's grand dress, and she knelt down to talk with her daughter. "W-What are magic wielders?" she asked, anxiety but curiosity dripping in her words.
The mother smiled at her daughter, stroking her hair. "Magic wielders are people who can magic."
"Magic? Like summon rabbits out of hats and escape from those boxes?" Excitement was no laced into her words, her bright eyes more luminous than the sun itself. But then her eyes slowly darkened, as if the sun was being hidden away by the dark clouds of an incoming storm. "But... Papa said he... he hated magic wielders. Are they really that bad, Mama?"
She shook her head. "No, of course not, sweetie. They're not all bad."
Lucy pouted slightly, a slight spark of interest sparkling in her eyes. "How do you know, Mama? Are you... are you a magic wielder?" She asked the last part in a hushed whisper, because her father could be anywhere, listening in on their conversation if he could.
Softly, she smiled as she stood back up straight, regaining her gracefulness, though a flash of guilt and sadness appeared in her eyes for a split second. "You'll find out when you're older, Lucy. If I tell you now, you won't be able to understand and everything be jumbled together in your head by the time I'd finished."
"Oh... okay."
Quietly, though as fast as her feet could take her, she descended down the stairs, before coming to a wooden door with a lock by it. Carefully, she took out one of her hairpins from her blonde locks and started to work on unlocking the door, turning her wrist this way and that.
Despite taking a bit longer than she originally planned, she successfully unlocked the door, and she set the lock down gingerly, making sure not to make any sound. Grabbing the handle of the door, she pulled it open, expecting some sort of rotting smell emerging from it.
There wasn't any rotting smell.
At all.
Instead, it was a lot nicer than she expected. It was a candle-lit room, with the scent of cinnamon, firewood and a couple of other spices she couldn't quite identify lingering in the air.
"A visitor?" A husky voice called, though it sounded rasp, as if they hadn't had a drink in a long time. "Strange. I actually thought it'd be someone else. But judging by your scent, you're not him."
She stared into the middle of the room, at the other end. There, sat a person, reading a book. She couldn't see what their hair color was, or what gender they were, but by the sound of their voice, they were male. He was sat cross-legged, and she could see he was wearing knee length trousers and sandals.
"U-Um, I was just wondering what was down here, that's all. I... didn't expect a person, to be honest," she admitted, her voice timid as she kept her hands close to her chest.
"A person?" he shot back, chuckling a little. "Whatever, hold on."
She watched him close his book and place it next to him. She watched his hands swiftly move, and her eyes were brought back to his predictably handsome face. She wasn't exactly wrong.
However, she wasn't fully right, either.
Oddly enough, he had pink hair, which surprised her more than why he was here, if he would tell her now that she was here.
"What?" He had a small scowl on his face, as if he was suddenly angered by her presence. His eyes went wide, pure shock washing over his face as he saw her flinch slightly. He looked downwards, frowning a little. "Sorry. I just.. the only visitors I do have are usually guards, but that's when they want to beat me or something. I have some anger problems, but I'll sort them out soon."
Flinching once more, she shook her head slowly. "No.. it's fine..." What he said lingered in her mind. That's when they want to beat me.
What was he?
And what was he doing down here?
What did he mean by that?
"What's your name?" he then questioned.
"Um, Lucy Heartfilia."
He nodded slightly, intending that he was satisfied with the information.
"Natsu Dragneel," he then introduced, tugging on the garment around his neck.
She raised her brow, somewhat interested in the object, though made no advance to get closer to him.
Silence steadily settled in between them, and it made Lucy uncomfortable. In the position she was in, she wasn't sure whether to turn back and just leave without a word or get slowly closer to him in attempt to hold a conversation.
"Don't go. I just... I haven't seen a woman like you in such a long time. It's pretty nice."
Lucy parted her lips slightly, and she then pressed them together in a straight line. "Okay," she agreed. She wasn't sure how long it was until somebody would come down, but if she stayed any longer, her father would wake up and find her not in her bed. She replayed his words in her mind, and realized something. "Wait. What do you mean... 'a woman like you'?"
He looked up, blinking a little. "Oh... that. Sorry, it's just.. someone who looked just like you came to visit me. She was... she was a spitting image of you, Lucy," he breathed out, reminiscing the memories.
Spitting image.
"Mama," she whispered, the wind knocked out of her.
He barely nodded, his eyes traveling to the ground. "Yeah."
"B-But.. my mother died 7 years ago, and you look pretty much the same age I am. Are you.. How old are you?"
"Much older than you. I've been free until the generation of normal humans grew larger, and one of your ancestors captured me. I stopped aging after the tenth or so beating," he explained, gritting his teeth. "Your mother was... was just like you. She visited me every day, treating my wounds and giving me food. I was grateful for all of that. I never thought there'd be another her. I mean, you're a spitting image of her. Layla Heartfilia."
He ran a hand through his hair, before looking up slightly to see if she was paying attention. "You've been alive in this world for so many generations. You've seen how this world has changed. You've seen how this world has turned into... into how it is today," he heard her state.
Grief-stricken, he frowned, changing his position to finally stand up to full height. "That's right," he simply agreed. "Chronologically, I'm about 150 years old. Or something..." he trailed off, beginning to be locked in thought. "I don't actually know. I remember seeing blue sky and grass and stuff, but that's about it really, for the outside world."
Lucy tilted her head up slightly, meeting his eyes, before they went downward, her brown orbs scanning over the red scale patches on his arms and shoulders.
Then, there was the familiar crest of the Heartfilia family on his right shoulder, showing that he was part of the Heartfilian Kingdom Magic Army.
Her eyes lingered on the mark.
"I hate that crest."
Natsu raised both eyebrows, his eyes turning towards the mark on his shoulder as he lifted his arm to try and get a better look himself. "Why?"
He was hesitant to ask, and made sure with himself 200 times that he wanted to ask 5 seconds after she stated her opinion.
"I don't know. It just... it marks property. It marks you as property to... to my father. I don't like it, Natsu. It just doesn't sit right with me."
Once more, he lowered his eyes, not wanting to meet with hers. He then turned away, his back now to her.
Lucy's eyes were glued to the crest, before she noticed him turning away. Her lips parted in a small gasp, and she inspected the male's back.
He had scales dotted on the lower half, and on each of the sides, they continued around his side to his lower abdomen, if she guessed correctly.
Her eyes traveled upwards, seeing two lines of scales on his shoulder blades. It was as if...
As if those were to summon wings and fly.
Almost like a dragon.
No. It was possible.
He could've been a magic wielder.
He had the very crest she hated on his skin, but that wasn't his fault. She knew that much.
"You should... you should leave," he said, quickly sneaking a quick peek at the blonde.
"Yeah," she agreed, turning away as she gripped her arms, slightly picking at the sleeves of her Victorian-style nightgown.
Slowly, and carefully, she closed her bedroom door, sighing a little.
Leaning her head on the door, she stared at the carpet beneath her feet.
A small knock came to her door, and she immediately jumped back at the sudden sound, crawling back into her bed and pulling her duvet up right to her shoulders, right beneath her chin.
"C-Come in!" she called, a bit too loudly.
"Good morning, Princess Lucy."
Loke, one of the servants, as her father called them, came in, a smile on his face.
Sighing, she pulled the covers off of her body, swinging her legs over the edge, jumping off.
"Morning, Loke."
He stared at her, blinking at her face which looked wide awake.
"Did you not have enough sleep?" he asked, tilting her head to the side. "Or did something happen?"
The blonde rolled her eyes. "Not really. I went to one of the basements because I wanted to find out what was there, and... I..."
"You found a magic wielder?" His voice tuned down to a low whisper. "Lucy, you shouldn't have found him."
Lucy widened her eyes, fitting all the pieces together. "You know him?"
Loke shook his head. "No. I've only heard rumors. I've never been there myself," he explained.
"I... I see."
Loke pressed his lips together, unsure whether to pressure her to tell him what she saw or whether to just leave it be.
The servant cleared his throat, breaking the silence between them. "Anyway, I'll just let you get changed, since you're awake and all. I won't tell anyone what you did, okay?"
The blonde smiled at him, and nodded. "Thanks, Loke. And.. I'm sorry about my Father. Apparently, he's quite strict against magic wielders, l-like you... and the one I saw in the basement."
Grimly, he gave her a smile. "I really appreciate your concern, Lucy. But I'm fine. I promise."
He left the room, as Lucy fell back onto her bed, the bed sinking down slightly in her spot. "Natsu... I'm going to free you. I promise you that."
The pink-haired male stood there, his back to the entrance as his eyes focused on a single brick in the wall in front of him.
His sharp senses heard the lock of the wooden door being unlocked.
"Shit," he cursed, closing his eyes tightly.
As much as he hated this, as much as he wanted to be free, to feel the real air, to breath the real air, to feel the sun burning down on his skin, he had to take this.
As far as he knew, the times of these beatings were at random, and even occurred at the worse times.
For example, once, they even grabbed him whilst he was sleeping, and he took a beating that happened whilst he was half-asleep, just barely awake.
Multiple footsteps perked his ears, and he scowled slightly, half-wishing that Lucy was here.
"Natsu Dragneel," one of the guards acknowledged him, though the scarf-equipped male didn't acknowledge him back, even in his mind. "It's time."
He proceeded to turn around, an expressionless look on his face.
He ran straight into handcuffs, just like the rest of the times.
His wrists were bound by cold metal, though they quickly heated up.
"They're resistant to magic," explained the guard next to him as he walked out of the basement. Up the stairs and into the main corridor, where multiple servants and maids scrambled away, as if he had a virus in him. "Especially fire magic, so it's impossible for you to melt them and escape."
He wasn't listening to him, and carried on walking, pushing all of his thoughts out of his head.
That continued until he caught sight of her.
Lucy.
She was staring at him.
Only him.
The guards stopped in front of her and bowed, greeting her morning.
She merely ignored them, as her focus was on him, and him alone.
"Excuse me, would you mind if I speak with the prisoner? I won't be but a moment."
His eyes widened and all of his thoughts came flooding back into his head, the barrier down, and now he didn't feel like he was thinking straight.
The guard next to him stared at her, looking bewildered. He hesitated for a moment.
"O-Of course, Princess. P-Please, here you go."
The guard on the other side of him nudged him in the princess' direction, and she only had to touch his arm to stop him from toppling over her.
The guards didn't budge for a moment, and realized they were starting to be a nuisance when they saw the two standing there, in a somewhat awkward position.
The blonde opened the door to her bedroom, grabbing his forearm and pulling him in.
"Natsu - "
"Lucy, I need to ask you something."
"I need to ask you something. There's a low chance it's going to be the same thing."
"I know. Let me go first. I... don't have much time to speak with you."
The blonde nodded, a straight expression on her face.
She watched him breath in, before exhaling. "This is clearly against the law, and is definitely going to make your father's intentions for me to be death, but I want you to make a contract."
Her expression changed by 180 degrees. "What?" she breathed out in a mere whisper. "C-Contract? Won't my father know?"
He grinned at her. "That's the thing. If I escape this piece of shit beating, and take you somewhere..." he paused, his breath cutting short. "Wait... yeah, I didn't exactly think this through properly. I didn't have a lot of time."
Lucy shook her head, rolling her eyes simultaneously. "Anyway, the thing I need to tell you is, Father is starting to become ill."
His face snapped towards hers. "What." His voice become a low whisper, just like Loke's. "Does that mean...?"
She nodded. "That's right. That means I take the throne the day he officially becomes ill and ends up on the hospital bed."
"Then that means..."
She smiled softly at him. "I'll be releasing you and the other magic wielders. Granted, I won't be able to, well, release release you, like let you free into the world, but you'll be able to get out of that basement, at least."
He chuckled a little. "That's pretty... pretty nice. But, what my next beating?"
"Don't worry. I'll rescue you. I promise."
"Then, let's make a contract."
"Natsu, we're not backing towards that idea right now."
He narrowed his eyes, attempting to move his wrists before he remember he had cuffs around them. "Shit." He then stood up, walking over towards her. "Lucy, think about it. You rescue me, I rescue you. Simple. That's it."
The blonde narrowed her own eyes, her gaze traveling to the floor, burning through the carpet. "Natsu... I..."
She looked up, their eyes connecting. "Fine. We'll create a contract..." She broke the contact first, looking at the window near the other side of the room. "But how does it work?"
Natsu pressed his lips together, and a small blush silently rose up to his cheeks. "J-Just stay still," he muttered, before everything that happened after that was a whole blur to her.
I have no idea what I'm doing, sorry!
This is just a prototype, so I might be deleting this. If/When I upload a second chapter to this, uh... I dunno.
Review, I guess?