This chapter is dedicated to Kodiak Bear Pickle Beck, a faithful dog, friend, and brother, who died on March 28th, 2015. He was more commonly called Kodi (pronounced- Code-EE) and has been with me for almost thirteen years. May he forever rest in peace. He will always be missed.
"Lucy!" Aries squeaked. Lucy wasn't listening to her though, her eyes staring in disbelief at the guy standing before her. It couldn't be him, could it? But his hair and eyes were unmistakable.
He returned her stare with curiosity. He studied Lucy from head to toe, his frown growing as it traveled downwards. Silence settled over the room as Leo continuously looked between us, his brow crinkled. Finally, the previously claimed "Randy" eyes widened in realization and Lucy internally flinched. He snapped his fingers and grinned.
"You're that Luigi chick."
Lucy's horrified expression morphed into a furious scowl. "My name is not Luigi!" she hissed. He shrugged, seeming unconcerned. The Prince grinned. He didn't look phased by her sudden appearance at all.
"So what are you doing here?" he asked. Lucy bit her lip nervously and glanced at Leo and Aries who both seemed too shocked to say anything. Clearing her throat, Lucy decided to continue with the plan and salvage what was left of it.
"I'm Leo and Aries's cousin, I'm visiting. My name is Lucy Baines." She curtsied, though it physically pained her to curtsy to him. She hid her grimace behind a polite smile.
"Oh." He sounded slightly disappointed by her answer.
"You've met the Prince?" Leo finally spoke up, recovering from his initial shock. Lucy nodded mutely. He shot Natsu a scowl before turning back to Lucy with a look that clearly said 'go on'.
Sighing, Lucy said, "We met in Hargeon, when I was exploring."
Leo turned to Natsu who had taken to staring at the ground, trying to look innocent.
"Prince-"
"Call me Natsu, Leo, we've talked about this," Natsu snapped. Leo let out a frustrated grunt before continuing.
"Natsu, you can't keep sneaking out, it's dangerous. There are people out there who would enjoy seeing your head on a stick," he scolded. Natsu rolled his eyes before turning back to Lucy. His eyes roamed her up and down again, making a small blush from on her cheeks.
Focus, Lucy! She snapped at herself. Remember the mission.
"You look different from before," he commented. "More weird."
"I could say the same to you, Randy!" Lucy snapped back, before she could stop herself. Natsu had the audacity to smirk. Meanwhile, Aries let out a yelp of shock, looking scandalized.
"Lucy," she whispered, "be polite!" Aries turned back to Natsu. "That goes for you too Natsu!"
At least he had the common sense to look sheepish. "Sorry Aries," he mumbled.
Lucy looked at Aries in surprise. When scolding someone she lost her usual nervous energy and became more motherly. Lucy chuckled at the change. She was still having a hard time getting a good read on her personality. It changed so often.
Leo sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Since you two have already met I suppose this makes things easier. Natsu, show Lucy around the castle, she doesn't have much else to do. Aries and I have things to attend to."
He leaned towards Lucy and whispered, "Be nice! And remember our deal."
Before they'd left for the castle she had promised to not do anything threatening towards the Prince for an entire day, to give him a proper chance to show off his promising ways. Lucy wanted to roll her eyes at him. It wasn't like she'd be able to do anything with all of these guards on watch.
"I promise, I promise," Lucy assured. She glanced back at Natsu who was crouched down and talking to the blue cat. There was something seriously wrong with the boy.
Natsu looked up at them, frowning, but nodded, his eyes flickering to me again. Lucy almost wanted to beg the both of them to stay but they were already walking away. Biting back a sigh Lucy turned back to Natsu.
"So, Prince, what will you be showing me?" she asked with her best form of politeness. He scowled as he stood to his full height.
"Just call me Natsu, please. I hate that title." She shrugged, unconcerned. It didn't really matter to her what she called him. He grinned at her, his demeanor changing. "I guess I could show you the garden, girls usually seem to like it." Rolling her eyes at the assumption, and biting back the question of how many girls he showed the castle to, Lucy followed him as he walked out of the room. Happy walked at Natsu's heels.
"Alright, Natsu," Lucy said after a few minutes of silence. "What were you doing in Hargeon?"
He shrugged. "Sometimes I just need to get out of here."
"So you travel to the next town?" she asked in disbelief. He shrugged again as if traveling for leagues was an everyday occurrence.
"You know what they say, go big or go home?" she blinked at him, and then started to laugh. He stared at her silently before a smile tugged at his lips.
She couldn't believe him, he was absolutely ridiculous.
"Do you do that often?" she asked after calming down.
"What, leave? Yeah, but not leaving Magnolia. That's only on particularly bad days."
"What happened?" she asked. Instead of answering he quickened his pace until suddenly they weren't in the confines of the castle, but in a courtyard. He turned to Lucy and grinned.
She felt her eyes widen and mouth pop open. She had seen plenty of gardens in her life; most of the people her job required her to kill were rich and had plenty of fancy gardens. This was different though.
It was like an explosion of colors. Dotting the ground were flowers of all different colors and shapes that she didn't even know existed. Winding in between the plants were pathways made out of cobblestone and she could have sworn she smelt the scent of peppers drifting through the air. The garden seemed to stretch out for miles; a never ending supply of plants.
Lucy slowly made her way down one of the pathways, hesitantly reaching out and touching one of the vines that was spread out on a wall that stood in one of the small islands that housed flowers. Happy let out a small meow and she glanced down in surprise to see him trying to climb the vine.
Stifling a giggle she leaned down and picked him up, placing him on top of the wall. He let out a triumphant cry as if he had done it himself.
"So you like it?" Natsu asked. Lucy spun around to face him. She forgot he was even there. A smirk, much like Leo's, full of cocky arrogance, was playing on his features and she itched to wipe it off. Lucy sniffed in disdain and said, "I've seen better."
His smirk widened, if possible.
"So," he said curiously as we continued our walk. "I've never seen a noble wear commoners clothes like you did in Hargeon."
Lucy's insides shifted uneasily. She knew she needed to act like a proper noble, and maybe even act a little snobbish, but it didn't seem like he'd appreciate that. She needed to understand him just a little better and deduced that the only way to get that was to let him understand her just a little bit. How frustrating.
"I've never really liked these dresses," Lucy reluctantly admitted. Or the corsets, or the shoes, she silently added. Natsu nodded as if he understood, though she found that hard to believe as she eyed his attire.
"Do princes always dress like that?" Lucy asked, pointing at his clothes.
He shrugged. "I guess not, but I can't stand those stiff clothes I'm always told to wear."
Lucy scrunched up her nose at the image of Natsu in formal clothes. She hadn't known him for a very long time, but even she could tell that it didn't seem like him.
"Well," he said, "if you visit me again, you should wear your normal clothes."
Lucy frowned at him. Aries and Leo wouldn't like that idea. As if sensing her thoughts he added, "Don't worry about those two, they'll understand. Besides," he grinned, "you look weird in those clothes."
Before she could snap at him he spoke up again. "And you know, you look a lot better in what you're most comfortable in. Right?" He grinned at her before continuing on.
Lucy stopped as he continued walking ahead of her. Her face had turned a deep shade of red and she knew with sudden certainty that this job had just gotten a lot harder.
Comments, suggestions, reviews? Yes, no, maybe so?
Sorry if this chapter sucked, it has been a hard weekend. Kodi died, and I'm still in tears about it. I almost didn't want to write this. I kind of just want to curl up in a ball and never speak again. Kodi wasn't just my pet, he was family. What makes it worse is that when I go to school tomorrow, I have to tell my eleven year best friend that he died and my seven year friend that he died. I'm not looking forward to it or the crying that will follow.
In other news, I'm kind of laughing guys. You all say you enjoyed Lucy's reaction but it was literally one word. One word. Lol, I didn't realize I was that good at writing...
Like always, thank you for your kind words. I need them. Hopefully I'll be able to post the next chapter in two days but who knows, life just got a lot more complicated. I'm still not 'okay' but I hope I will be soon. Kodi will forever be missed.