The next morning as sunlight filtered into the room through the two windows (which she assumed were bulletproof) at the front of the cabin. It took the blonde medic about a second to remember where she was. She was in Natsu's bed in the middle of her enemy's camp. Taking in the room, she noticed that the said pinkette wasn't there which she should have noticed right away due to the absence of his loud voice. When she first met him he was a bit more quiet and composed but in the end he really was not the scary and stern captain he wanted his soldiers to see him as. Instead he was just a big dork, but a rather cute dork she had to admit.
Since he was gone, Lucy took the time to slid out of bed and neatly fold the blankets and then folded the blankets strewn across the couch. She tidied up a few more things in his little house because it was the least that she could do for him after all that he had done for her already even if she had saved his life.
"Come on Lucy, stop thinking about him," the blonde scolded herself lightly. This wasn't the time to be thinking about boys, she had to get back to camp! With new resolve, Lucy went into Natsu's two showered bathroom to grab her medic uniform and changed back into that. She knew that it probably smelled but there was no way she was going to walk out in Natsu's clothes. Her blonde locks had dried completely over night from her shower but she still tied it up into a high pony tail.
After finishing all of that and Natsu still not having returned, Lucy decided to venture out into the camp. Her medical bag was running low on supplies, especially bandages after having to use many to stop Natsu from bleeding to death. Maybe she could sneak into the medical tent and grab some more before Natsu even got back. The only problem with that plan was that she had no idea where the medical bunker was. Oh, and also the fact that someone might see her emblem of Fiore and kill her on the spot.
"Well, let's hope that the building is labeled!" Lucy chirped optimistically. She also couldn't forget that Natsu threatened to kill anyone who touched her. With a determination lighting up her brown eyes, she marched out of the house…only to be stopped right away before she even stepped three feet away from the house.
"Where do you think you're going blondie?" a man sneered, swiping his tongue over his fang like teeth hungrily. He moved to stand in front of her, uncomfortably close.
"I'm doing something for Natsu before he gets back," Lucy answered without missing a beat, staring back at the blonde haired man with a steely gaze. She recognized this man from yesterday, she thought Natsu called him Jackal, and he did kind of look like one with the way his hair spiked up into two points which resembled ears.
"Is that so?" Jackal quirked up an eyebrow, giving her a look that showed he didn't believe her one bit. "And it's Captain Dragneel to you. No one gets to call the Captain by his first name, only the Emperor does."
Lucy was ready to bit back with a sharp reply when she fully comprehended his words. Dragneel was the last name of the emperor. She knew from her studies that the only family left the emperor had was a younger brother. "Natsu is the Prince of Alvarez?!" the medic couldn't help but shout out, her jaw dropping to the floor. As if her life couldn't get any crazier.
"Yeah, you mean he didn't even tell you?" Jackal doubled over laughing. "Looks like he really just is keeping you as his plaything," he suddenly stopped laughing. "But the Captain can learn to share his toys with us sometimes," he whispered in her ear, swiping his tongue over her ear. Shivering in disgust, Lucy tried to pull away only for Jackal to grip her wrist tightly. He leaned his head towards her pale neck. "Don't worry, I won't make it hurt too much," he purred. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, Lucy raced through different escape plans through her head but before any of those could be implemented a force like a hurricane ripped him away from her.
"What did I say about touching her?" Natsu stood over the cowering man, his eyes gleaming with anger, looking ready to pound the guy into smitherines. The look on the Captain's face was enough to make anyone want to crawl into a hole and die, that is if they even received that mercy.
"T-to not touch her," Jackal whimpered pathetically.
"Then why did I see your hands on her?" Natsu growled, while doing so gently grabbing Lucy's wrist and tugging him behind her.
"I'm sorry Captain!" Jackal yelped out.
"It's too late for sorry," Natsu hissed, leaning in closer and gripping the collar of his shirt. "You have 1.5 seconds to get out of my sight before I kill you right now." The lower ranked soldier did not waste any time to scramble to his feet and take off. Once he was gone, the hard look disappeared from Natsu's face as he turned back to Lucy. "Are you all right?"
"Dragneel?" she questioned instead. She had a feeling that Jackal was a lot of things but that he wasn't lying about this.
"Yeah, I didn't mean to hide it from you but I also didn't want to scare you off," Natsu shrugged it off. "It's not like it's a big deal anyways."
"Not a big deal?" Lucy gaped at him like a fish. "You are the prince of a country, the country that my country is currently at war with!"
"Yeah, see? No big deal."
"You are so impossible!"
"Nah, you're just a weirdo."
"Would you stop calling me a weirdo!"
"Hehe, but it gets you all riled up!" Natsu laughed, warning him a glare from his blonde haired friend. "So what were you doing out here anyways?"
"I needed some more medical supplies," Lucy held up her bag to prove it. "I needed more bandages."
"Well why didn't you tell me that earlier?" Natsu snorted and handed her three rolls of bandages. "I left to get you some."
"Wow, thanks," Lucy found her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink but she didn't know why.
"No problem!" Natsu grinned at her and steered her back to his bunker.
"Wait, aren't we going to go now?" Lucy asked in confusion.
Natsu snorted at her. "Leave in broad daylight? No way, we are going to leave in the middle of the night that way no one will even notice we're gone."
"But won't someone notice that the prince is gone?" she questioned.
"I'm only the Prince, not the Emperor and I make it very clear that they leave me alone," he smirked, cracking his knuckles.
"By threatening to beat them up?"
"Works every time!"
"And how far does that get you in life?"
"No one bothers me," Natsu pointed out with a shrug.
"Then why bother with me?" Lucy asked, causing the soldier to stiffen as his cheeks matched the color of his hair. She noticed how he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.
Because you saved my life. I'm paying back the favor, that's all," he huffed. "And you aren't so bad to have around. It's fun to mess with you."
"Hey!" Lucy stuck her tongue out at him childishly but it was the best she could do since she didn't have a comeback. "I'm not here just for you to mess with!"
"That's not the only reason," Natsu stared at her, his intense gaze pulling her in. "You are fun to be around too, Luce." Luce. She had never had a nickname before.
Giving him a tiny smile she said, "It's fun being around you too Natsu." Before things could become too awkward, Lucy cleared her throat. "So what do we do until night fall?"
"I've got an idea or two," Natsu lead her back into his room as something scratched at the window. "Happy!" his eyes lit up as he hurried over to the window and flung it open, allowing a bright blue cat with a green bandana tied around his neck to hop in. "Did you bring me anything?" The cat in response meowed once in affirmation and lifted his neck so that Natsu could untie the rolled up piece of paper.
"Why is your cat blue?" Lucy asked in shock, not even bothering to ask if this cat was like a carrier pidgin and delivered messages.
"Because he's a cat!" Natsu answered like it were obvious.
"Cat's aren't blue…"
"But Happy's a cat and he's blue!"
"You named him happy?"
"Well what else was I supposed t'name him?!"
"Maybe something normal?"
"I don't think I know what normal is anymore," Lucy muttered to herself but couldn't help but smile. Despite how crazy her life had become in the past day, she couldn't help to admit that it was a lot more fun.