A/N: Here's the second chapter!
March 4th, 1917. Manhattan Island, New York City. The Dragneel In-City Mansion.
"Well some things never change, that's for sure," whispered the red-haired bodyguard. Her maid outfit fit tightly, but there was no way anyone was going to take advantage of her with that steel look in her eyes. Lucy stood next to her, leaning against one of the the wallpapered hallways of the Dragneel Estate. She shrugged at the redhead.
"I am inclined to feel indifferent on the matter. It's not like I can do anything about it," she admitted, examining her fingernails.
"But he's been like this all morning. He won't let anyone in his room…"
"FUCKING MEXICANS!"
Lucy winced as she heard Natsu screaming from the other room. He'd become very involved in foreign and domestic politics. She sighed shakily. This unnerved her.
"I don't know about you, milady, but I have a mind to put his head in the right place," muttered Erza, the redheaded bodyguard, currently pulling up her sleeves in preparation for combat.
Lucy's hands were instantly on her shoulders, consoling her. "Calm down, please. I… I'll go talk to him." She didn't sound convincing, but then again, her goal wasn't to convince herself.
Erza straightened. "I understand. I will be out here if you need me. Just call, please."
With a tight smile, Lucy knocked on the door.
"WHO THE HELL IS IT?" More banging on his expensive wooden door.
"It's your fiancé, nutcase!" she yelled through the door. The heavy breathing sounds coming from the other side of the door stopped abruptly.
"Lucy?" asked a hoarse voice. Definitely Natsu's.
"Of course it's me. Who else would it be? Now let me in," she tried sounding soft, as she often did inside the house.
The door opened slowly, just a crack. Lucy slipped through, taking care to make sure the door stayed open long enough for her to actually get all the way in. The door slammed shut behind her, the loud, sharp sound making her jump. She closed her eyes and sighed. Natsu's angry footsteps led over to his bed, where she heard him flop down. She opened her eyes.
Natsu held his arm over his eyes, his facing up and toward the high-class chandelier on the ceiling of his posh room. Lucy stepped slowly toward him, making certain to avoid a creaky wooden floorboard and sat down on his soft bed beside him.
"Natsu," she said, her voice softer than normal when they were alone. Usual habits of screaming and name calling were strangely disappearing gradually.
"What is it?" His voice cracked a little, probably from him screaming himself hoarse about those 'damn Mexicans'. Her fingertips brushed the forearm over his eyes as she leaned over him. He didn't react.
"I know you're upset," she admitted, still lightly dragging her fingers over his arm like she was painting something, "But there are bigger things to worry about than Mexicans."
He opened his mouth to protest but she put her other arm's index finger over his mouth, silencing him. "If we go to war, you can join the military." She gulped, dread settling over her. That was not what she was planning on saying.
"What?" he asked, his voice still scratchy. His arm muscles tensed under her soft fingertips.
She blinked back regretful tears and looked out the window of his room. "Yes, you can join the damn army. I'm letting you. That doesn't mean your parents will let you, though. I speak for myself."
The next moment she was pulled down halfway on top of him. Her breath hitched in her throat, her hands pressed up against his warm chest.
"N-natsu?" she squeaked, pushing against his chest in a vain attempt to get up, but he held her fast with his one arm. The other was still over his eyes. He lifted it and wrapped it around her waist, gazing deeply into her brown eyes.
"I really kinda like you, Lucy…" he whispered
"Well thank you for pointing out the obvious," she drawled sarcastically.
"No, I mean it this time."
"Y-you're just saying that because our engagement is in danger."
"I don't care about what your parents say anyway," he huffed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Someone began pounding on the door to Natsu's room, relentlessly knocking. They heard Lucy's father's voice yelling.
"LUCY HEARTFILIA ARE YOU IN THERE?! GET OUT RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"
"Like hell," Lucy muttered reaching out and tracing Natsu's jawline. The right side of his mouth curved up in a smile. Her hand rested on the side of his face.
"You should evacuate the premises before he steals you," he mused, leaning into her soft palm.
"We should go see a musical at that theater that opened last month," Lucy whispered, "We could pretend we were running away but come back late at night."
"Should we leave a note?"
"No, nobody cares anyway, except my father. And he doesn't even care about me, he just cares about how I am going to marry someone."
"Yeah, and that engagement could be put in danger if we disappear."
"Since when have we ever cared about that?"
"You have a point."
"So… are we going to leave my poor father knocking on your door all day, hoping his daughter isn't engaging in inappropriate activities?" she asked, tracing his face again. Retaliation necessary, he began curving her hair around the outer edge of her ear.
"There's a lower rooftop outside my window," he breathed.
"Perfect."
He shifted her off of him and she flopped down to sit next to him. "Your father is going to kill me," he insisted, nudging her softly with his elbow.
"You've always been good at evading death. It's just another try at it," she mumbled, sticking her elbow out to stop his.
"Right then. Let's go jump out of a window."
"Wondrous. Sounds romantic."
"Of course."
Jude Heartfilia finally managed, with the half-hearted help of a certain red-haired maid/bodyguard, to break down the door. To the surprise of them both, there was nobody in the room. Erza had expected to see them making out on the bed or something, and Jude expected Natsu to be pinning his poor darling Lucy to the wall or something. Instead, one of the large windows was wide open, and the curtains had been ripped out of their holders.
LAW
"So what show are we seeing?" Natsu panted, running over one of the rust-colored rooftops and preparing to jump over to the next one. The wind whistled in his ears and blew his hair in his face, so he brushed it aside to look back at Lucy.
"I don't remember what it's called," the blond muttered, "It premiered recently, and I want to see it…"
"Ah, okay."
They scrambled over a few more rooftops before stopping and looking down over the streets of New York City. Lucy could hear the chugging sounds from the sweatshop across the road and she could see the smog pouring from the cracks in the ceiling from the machines inside.
"Damn rich people," Natsu grumbled, glaring down at the building. Lucy squinted her eyes at him.
"Did you forget that you're one of those damned rich people?" she asked, irritation evident in her gaze.
"Oh shut up. I'm not really rich, my father is. Same with you."
"True, but we're still considered one of the pack."
"I hate being one of the pack, though," he insisted, "It sounds like we're a group of wolves."
"Nobody hates being in a families like ours more than us," she agreed, making it clear that he wasn't the only one miserable, "And wolves is probably a good comparison."
It was silent for a moment more. Lucy broke it, like usual.
"Anyway, let's head down there. We have a musical to see, just like the privileged brats we are."
LAW
The musical was a disappointment. Natsu was distracted by the fact that all of the actors were the same as the last musical he'd seen. Lucy just hated singing in general, probably because she was terrible at it. The pink-haired boy wondered why they'd escaped in the first place. Just as the ending song was winding down, he stared at the girl, his fiancé, sitting next to him. Was this all a gesture from her? Bah. He wouldn't have to worry about such things, soon.
He was waiting for this war to start.
Lucy had different ideas. Even from a young age she'd been exposed to violence; the idea of more fighting, though it was far from the homeland, wasn't something she wanted to see. She realized, as she watched the actors dance around the stage, that this sappy example of an ancient romance was ignorant of the real world. War and death, no matter how sarcastic or happy she acted, was always on her mind, and she wasn't about to let someone that mattered to her go and throw himself away to something like it.
Thanks for readingggg! The next chapter should be out soon.
