Chapter 1

The Princess, the Beast, and his cat?

"I'm so bored!" Lucy whined. Lucy walked over to her balcony and looked far at the horizon. Lucy always wondered what was beyond the castle grounds. She imagined a wide meadow where she can run, birds flying everywhere; flowers cover the ground like a blanket, and just the feeling of being free. Lucy wished she could be free.

That was all she could do. Wish. But what can wishes do? It's not like she can wish on a shooting star and it just magically comes true. She tried that a million times and she doesn't see herself wake up in a different place other than her godforsaken room.

Lucy groaned and threw herself onto her soft bed. She sunk into the soft covers and stared at her ceiling. It was covered with different constellations that her nannies helped her paint. She knew all of them by heart already. She can spot the zodiac constellations without having to trace and connect the stars. She can also name each one of them.

Lucy rolled to her side and stared at her bookshelf. She had so many books that she had three gigantic bookshelves in her room. The books consisted mostly of romance books, her old fairy tale books, astrological books, and many more. Her nannies are the ones who usually bring her new books to read. Lucy has already read most of the books twice or thrice, so reading was out of the list for things to do.

It's always boring in her room whenever she's alone. This started right after her mother's death. Her father just suddenly ordered her to the highest tower in the palace and locked her there. He didn't even give an explanation. He just ordered the servants to take all of her belongings and lock her in the tower. She gets the occasional visits from her nannies, rare visits from her father, and none from anybody else.

'I wish something would happen,' she thought. She sighed and once again looked up at her constellations. She wished anything would happen. Lucy was sick of being in the same room every single day when she could be outside. Lucy has been trapped inside the tower for as long as she can remember. Now she was seventeen and staring at the same wall for about ten years is making her crazy. 'If only...' she sighed.

Since it was almost dark, Lucy decided to take a quick bath to relax her nerves. Lucy grabbed a towel and some scented candles. Lucy made her way to her bathroom and while the water ran, she lit the candles on by one. The scent of warm vanilla sugar filled the bathroom. Lucy sighed deeply. Before getting into the soapy bathtub, Lucy took off her clothes and threw them into the laundry bag hidden in her bedroom closet.

Lucy finally relaxed when her body was submerged. Lucy was lucky enough to gain a curvaceous body. She wasn't fat from lying down all day. She kept her body fit by exercising daily. Her nannies also helped her watch her food consumption. From being inside all day, Lucy also gained a pale skin tone. Not sickly pale, but a cream color. Lucy also took care of her blonde locks. She kept it shoulder blade length with bangs parting to her left.

Relaxing in the bathtub helped Lucy. This would be the only time she could think clearly. The scent of the candles, the quietness of the room, and the occasional splash of water helped Lucy calm her nerves and just forget. Forget her mother died, forget that she was stuck in a tower, and forget about her father.

When Lucy began dozing off, she heard a bang in her room. She immediately sat up and grabbed her towel. Lucy knew what to do at this type of situations. Her nannies drilled her in case anything happened while they were gone or she could not contact anybody. There was also another problem. The only type of clothing she had was a towel. Lucy rummaged through her bathroom until she found a broom. She may not be able to do anything with a broom and her situation, but with her books located in her room, she may be able to at least injure or knock out the intruder until the guards come.

Lucy clenched the broom and slowly opened her door. She gulped, which was surprisingly hard to do right now. Lucy could see the intruder's silhouette with the moonlight. It looked like a man because of the short hair and muscles, but it also had wings. Wings? There's also a tail! This was not human. Lucy had no other choice but to confront this beast. It would be a matter of time until the beast discovers her location so, why not confront him head on?

Lucy took a deep breath and charged. She screamed a battle cry and swatted the beast. She felt a hit and heard something hit the wall. She turned towards the beast, but it seemed to have lost its tail and wings. Lucy still charged on and hit the beast with her broom.

"Whoa! Calm down. You just hit Happy!" the beast said. Wait. The beast talked. The beast just said words. Lucy started screaming and hitting the beast more. It said some unintelligible words and grabbed the broom.

The beast pulled the broom away from Lucy that made her fall onto the floor. The Beast threw the broom across the room, grabbed Lucy's wrist, and covered Lucy's mouth.

Lucy started to struggle. She was going to die. She hasn't even experienced her first kiss yet and she was going to die. She was going to die in this tower before she could even venture out into the open and escape her father. Whoever said wishing on a star could solve your problems was a joke. Lucy has been wishing all her life and this was the result of it all. She was going to die in the hands of a beast.

"Shh, calm down. I'll release you if you keep quiet and calm down. Do you promise to calm down?" the beast asked.

Lucy stopped and looked at the beast. She could see his black eyes looking at her. His piercing black eyes slowly captured Lucy's hazel eyes. Lucy felt dazed as she stared into them, but she remembered that she was still captured. Lucy gulped and franticly nodded, wanting the beast to get off of her. The beast slowly uncovered her mouth in case she started screaming. Lucy backed away from the beast until she hit the wall.

"Hey Happy. You okay?" the beast asked. Lucy heard groaning and an "aye". Oh great, there was also another beast that can talk.

Lucy saw the beast look at her direction. "Hey, do you mind lighting some candles?" Lucy reached for the matches that were located in her side table drawers. She took it out and lit the candles located on her tables, by the door, and above her bed. Before Lucy could blow the fire from the match away, a calloused hand grabbed her wrist.

Lucy could now clearly see the beast...er... man. It was just an ordinary man but with salmon colored hair and piercing black eyes. Lucy noticed the man's mischievous grin that made Lucy's heart beat a million times faster. Lucy couldn't help but blush under his gaze until the man did the most odd thing. He opened his mouth and at the match with the fire on it. Lucy stared in disbelief as the man just licked his lips and grinned. "Thanks for the snack!"

Lucy screamed and kicked the man into the wall. "What are you doing in here?" Lucy shouted. She grabbed the closest thing to her, which was her heart-shaped pillow. Which wasn't an ideal choice for a weapon or shield, but it was better than nothing.

The man groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "God, you really have a hard kick. You promised to calm down."

"Well, that was before that other beast talked and you ate fire."

"Beast? Are you talking about Happy? Happy is pretty cool, huh?" the man chuckled.

With the light, Lucy could clearly see her intruders. Walking towards the pink haired man was a blue cat. It was walking on its hind legs and carried a green bag. It stopped in front of Natsu and greeted Lucy. "Aye! I'm Happy and I didn't appreciate the broom to the face."

Lucy calmed her beating heart from hearing the cat talk for the second time. This was not normal. Cats don't talk and they especially don't have wings. Wait, wings just magically popped out of the cat's back.

"And I'm Natsu Dragneel," the pink haired man said. Lucy turned her attention to him. Lucy noticed Natsu wearing a black open vest that clearly showed his well-toned muscles. He also wore black loose pants with black boots. The pants were tucked into the boots that made the pants puff up a bit. Natsu also wore a scaly muffler around his neck.

Remembering her mannerism lessons from her nannies, Lucy nodded and introduced herself. "Lucy Heartfilia. Now answer my question. What are you doing here?" she demanded.

Natsu rubbed the back of his head and plopped down onto Lucy's favorite couch. "Well, me and Happy were walking by town when I smelled something sweet. So, we decided to investigate and we came across this tower. Happy flew up while carrying me and then he was suddenly attacked by a broom," Natsu explained.

Lucy grabbed her bathrobe and wrapped it around her body. It seemed like a logical explanation except for the fact that this man could smell her scented candles all the way from town. "How did you smell my candles from all the way there?"

"Oh, forgot to tell you." Happy flew towards Lucy and landed in front of her. Happy grinned evilly and looked at Lucy. "Natsu's a mage. He uses fire dragon slayer magic."

Lucy stared in disbelief and looked at Natsu. Natsu only answered with a toothy grin. Lucy has never met a mage before except for her mother. Her mother was a celestial mage and the last time Lucy saw her mother's spirits was before she became deadly ill. So, basically Natsu is the first mage Lucy has seen in ten years.

"So, is that why you ate the fire?" Lucy hesitantly asked.

Natsu nodded. "But I can do more than just eat fire." Natsu opened his hand and flames engulfed his hand without burning his skin. Suddenly Natsu stopped his flame and looked at Lucy. "I hear footsteps coming up."

Lucy gasped and started pushing Natsu and Happy out towards the balcony. "I'm sorry, but you guys have to leave. If they find out you're here, they would kill you." Okay, she exaggerated a bit, but Natsu should get the point.

"Hey, hey. Quit pushing," Natsu grumbled. "What are you scared of anyway?"

"I'm sorry, but you just have to leave. You can come by tomorrow again, but you have to leave. Now." Happy's wings appeared again and grabbed Natsu's backpack. Natsu turned back to Lucy and grinned at her. He took a step back and fell. Lucy ran towards her balcony and saw Natsu's figure running through the large field and into the forest.

Lucy sighed and as she made her way towards her bed, thunderous knocking resounded from her door. Lucy gasped and quickly put on her nightgown and robe. She quickly fixed her hair in a bun. She softly landed on her bed with a book in hand, leaned against the headboard, and cleared her throat. "Enter," she said nonchalantly.

First, her nannies entered the room. They stopped in front of her bed while the guards stayed by the door.

"We heard screaming," Jasmine said.

Lucy looked at them with knitted eyebrows. Lucy quickly formed a story in her head that should be able to explain and hopefully answer their questions about the earlier incident. "Oh! That was just me. I thought I saw a mouse, but later found out that it was just my washcloth," Lucy laughed.

With her nannies' hard gaze on her, Lucy couldn't help but look away. She needed to keep her cool and just play innocent. She looked back at them, but focused on her wall behind them.

"We heard voices," Cathy added.

"That would be me reading to myself," Lucy answered. She was safe there. She had a book in her hand, which she checked in case it was upside down.

"A male voice?" Rachel raised her eyebrow. Lucy was screwed there, but that fight wasn't over. Good thing she grabbed the right book that had a male as the main character.

"Since the story had male dialogue, I had to have a male voice." Lucy never missed a beat. She answered them perfectly and without a giving a clue about her intruders. Lucy could feel her whole body shaking as her nannies stared at her.

Rachel, Jasmine, and Cathy nodded to each other. They seemed satisfied enough about Lucy's answers, but she knew better. By the look of their eyes, they knew Lucy was hiding something, but she didn't give any indication.

Rachel turned to Lucy and bowed. "We are sorry to have disturbed your reading time, princess. Have a good night." Jasmine and Cathy also bowed and signaled the guards to leave.

After they left, Lucy let out a breath she didn't knew she was holding. She put down the book, and leaned into her pillows. Lucy couldn't get that pink haired man out of her head.

His spiky pink hair that looked so soft. Lucy wanted to run her hands through his locks and feel how soft they were. His piercing black eyes captured her hazel eyes. It was hard to look away from those eyes. Then his grin. Oh God. His grin made Lucy melt. He just had that mischievous grin that made Lucy's heart flutter.

Wait. What was she thinking? She just met this guy. Not to mention, he trespassed into her room without permission. Lucy isn't supposed to think these thoughts about a man she just met. For all Lucy knew, Natsu could be prisoner that escaped or a wanted man. Lucy couldn't fall in love. But she couldn't get him out of her head. Whenever she closed her eyes, she could see this face that made Lucy blush. When she opened her eyes. She could still remember where he stood and his face.

"God, stupid teenage hormones!" Lucy thought. This is what happens when a girl at the age of seventeen is deprived from normal girl stuff. Lucy hasn't even experience her first boyfriend yet. She never really got the chance to experience that. Lucy doubts she would experience it at all if she stays in her room for all eternity.

Lucy groaned and buried her face into her pillows. She looked off to the side and stared at the bright moon. Lucy smiled to herself, remembering that Natsu and his cat, Happy, would be visiting again tomorrow. Lucy yawned and buried herself in blankets and pillows. She couldn't wait for her guests tomorrow. Lucy knew that tomorrow would be different. Little did Lucy know how different it would be.

Okay. If this is how guests really are then guests are basically just intruders! Lucy was beyond irritated at her "guests". No, guest was the wrong word for these two considering she found Natsu sleeping on her bed while she was taking a shower. Her "guests" were currently eating her lunch that her nannies kindly left for her. These two really have no regards for other people's possessions and privacies. She found the cat rummaging through her stash of candy.

Lucy could feel her body shaking with anger as Natsu plopped himself on her couch with his feet resting on the coffee table. He used his arms as pillows and Lucy couldn't help but quietly admire how his muscles flexed. "No! Bad Lucy! You can't fall for him!" Lucy thought to herself.

"Lucy is making a weird face again," Happy pointed out with a disgusted look.

"Shut up, you stupid cat!" Lucy shouted. Lucy groaned as a headache began to rise. She turned to the lounging Natsu on her couch. Her eyes took a quick glance at his muscles but quickly averted her gaze to his face. Bad idea. A slight blush still appeared on her face. She gulped when she finally found her voice. "So, why did you guys decide to come here in the afternoon? I would think you guys would come tonight."

"Me and Happy liked the smell of your room and how soft your bed is," Natsu casually answered. "And who would want to visit at night? That would just result in less time spending with you. Hey, do you have any fire I can eat?"

A blush suddenly appeared on Lucy cheeks when he said he wanted to spend time with you, but then she had to answer his illogical answer with an answer that would make more sense in a normal person's mind. Lucy decided to ignore his fire question. "Oh, I don't know. So, that none of the guards will see you two barging into my tower."

"They wouldn't have caught us. I'll just have to burn them and come visit you."

"That would just result in you being captured, injured, and executed for trying to visit me."

"Just for a visit? Man, you're folks are harsh." Did he not know that he was in a castle grounds at this very moment?

"I swear, this guy is just an idiot," Lucy thought. She sighed and just decided to drop the subject before he stupidly answer more questions.

By now Lucy would usually be either, gazing out through her balcony, reading, writing, or just staring at her ceiling. Now she finally had somebody to talk to. Lucy noticed Natsu getting up and stretching his muscles. His muscles rippled under his vest. Lucy gulped and tried to look away, but her body was frozen. She had to look away before she started falling for this guy. She doesn't need a love life at this moment considering her predicament. Lucy tried to avert her gaze, but it didn't really help that he only wore a vest.

Natsu let out a loud sigh as he felt relief in his muscles. He looked at Lucy and said, "Why don't we go exploring? Being in one place all the time makes me bored."

"Tell me about it," Lucy thought. If anybody knew boredom, it was Lucy. Exploring did sound nice. She followed Natsu to the door until she remembered it. She gasped and pulled Natsu away from the door with Happy floating above them.

With Natsu's weight and Lucy losing her balance. She felt herself fall backwards. She closed her eyes, ready for the floor and Natsu to smash her body. Any minute now, she will be squished like a tomato. Seriously, when was she going to hit that floor? Not that she was asking to be smashed, but shouldn't she be gasping for the lack of air because of Natsu's body on top of her.

"Are you okay, Luce?" she heard Natsu's voice but didn't feel his body crushing her.

She opened her eyes and completely regretted it. Natsu's face was so close to hers and he had that serious look on his face that just made her brain stop working. She felt fire rise from her cheeks and spread all over her face. Her body just froze in shock and she couldn't stop looking at Natsu.

Her eyes looked from his own piercing gaze to his lips. Oh Lord. His lips. Lucy couldn't help but lick her lips and imagined herself kissing his lips. Lucy had to mentally slap herself. She shouldn't be thinking of a stranger that way and why did a picture of Natsu in a tux and her in a wedding dress with Happy flying above them pop-up in her head?

"Natsu, I think you broke Lucy," Happy said.

"What? I didn't break her. I caught her before she fell so I stopped her from breaking." Oh, so that's what happened. That explained the strong arms wrapped around her waist and back. They felt so warm.

"But on the other hand, why would those two talk about me as if I'm a toy?" Lucy thought.

"I think she has a fever."

"How would you know?"

"Her face is red."

"Oh, you're right." Lucy felt the arm around her back leave and a calloused hand was placed on her cheek. This just made her temperature rise. "Her temperature feels normal."

"Natsu, normal to you is above normal body temperature. You're like a walking furnace!"

"I am not furniture!" Natsu grunted and his attention went back to Lucy. "Hey Luce, are you okay? You don't have a fever right?" Natsu lightly patted Lucy's cheeks and that took her out of her fantasy world where she and Natsu were cuddling around a fireplace.

When Lucy finally came back from La la land, she noticed their position. She screamed and pushed Natsu off of her. Since Natsu had such a steel grip on her waits, he took her with him when he also tripped and fell. While Natsu felt the hard floor on his back, soft objects were pressed on his face.

He heard Happy gasp and walk over to them. "Natsu, are you okay? I hope Lucy didn't crush you with her weight!"

The soft objects left Natsu's face and he could finally breath again. Though, he felt pressure on his torso. "Shut up, you stupid cat. I am not that fat!"

"Luce, you okay?" Natsu asked for a third time.

Lucy finally realized the position she was in. She was straddling Natsu with her hands resting on his hard rock chest. She quickly pushed herself off Natsu and sat by his figure. "I'm fine. Thanks Natsu."

"No problem, Luce."

"Luce?"

"Yeah. It's you're new nickname." He grinned.

Lucy blushed for about the umpteenth time and repeated her new nickname in her head. "Luce. Luce. Luce." It sounded nice. It was like her new identity and a new persona. She grinned back at Natsu. "I like it!"

"Hey Lucy. I have a question." Happy sat in between Natsu and Lucy. He had a fish on his mouth. Lucy wondered where the fish came from. "Why did you attack Natsu like a monster?"

Lucy ignored the monster part. "There are guards at the bottom of the staircase. They would capture Natsu and make me come back to my room. I've never been out of this room in more than ten years."

"Why would they keep you here?"

"I don't even know the answer to that. One day, my father just ordered me to stay here and never come out. I've always obeyed him and never question his decisions."

"Well, that's stupid. I think you're father is stupid." Lucy couldn't help but smile and agree with Natsu's statement.

Lucy looked toward her balcony and decided to explain a bit more before Natsu started accusing her father. "My father is the king of Fiore, but I think you already know that. After my mother died, he kept me inside this room and ordered guards to keep me in here and to not let me out."

"Wait! You're father's is the king?" Natsu shouted.

"Well, yeah. Why do you think there's a tower with Fiore's flags on it and not to mention my tiara is right there?" Lucy looked back at Natsu and Happy and noticed their faces. Their faces were frozen in realization and that just ticked Lucy off.

"You guys didn't even know you were trespassing into castle grounds?"