I'm back! God, it's been a while hasn't it? When was the last time I updated this? July?

Okay, long story short, I got a new computer and just...I lost everything. But I've fixed it! Thank God I had it all back upped on a flash drive...that I lost...but I've found it again! Now I had a lot of fun writing this one and I was meant to finish it several months ago...It's done now! I love it! And thankyou, once again to ObeliskX for the prompt. Enjoy!

Genderbend fantasy au-When a fearsome dragoness kidnaps Prince Lucas, he truly fears that he has met hid end. But the dragon isn't all that she seems and soon things take an unexpected turn. But when his rescue finally turns up, does he actually want to leave?


Before we begin, let me make one thing clear: Lucas Heartfilia was by no means a damsel in distress.

Okay, sure he was very feminine in comparison to the other boys his age, and sure he went against his father's wishes by choosing academics over military training, but that didn't make him a damsel! So what if he preferred to curl up with a good book rather than engage in a practice duel? There was nothing wrong with not wanting to be seriously injured before he turned twenty three! If anything, he was probably one of the more sensible people living in the castle but did others see it that way? No! No of course they didn't. He was the prince- the person who had all of Magnolia's hopes and dreams for the future lying on his shoulder. He wasn't a princess from one of those cheesy fairy tales that couldn't defend themselves. He was not a damsel in distress.

But you try telling that to the dragon that had gleefully picked him out of the marketplace one, bustling morning.

The arrival of the beast had been heard before he had actually seen it. Screams arose from one end of the market stretch and people began staring up at the sky in fear. Some ran by him to find shelter in the nearest, open buildings, others were frozen in their spaces. Lucas hadn't understand why until he suddenly felt his feet lifting off the ground and something tight wrap around his waist. It was a claw- a massive, clawed, scaly foot wrapped tightly around his waist.

He may have screamed, he may also have fainted once he looked down and realised how high the reptile had carried him, but he would never admit it no matter what witnesses may claim. There was no reason to say that he fainted simply because, the next thing he remembered, he was waking up in what he presumed to be a cave.

Everything was a blur at first. The shock was still wearing off at that point an his head was spinning when he awoke. It also took several moments for his eyes to adjust to the dark but, in those few seconds, he had already sparked the attention of the best sat idly by. It exhaled out of its nose to catch his attention and his head snapped in its direction, his eyes widened and he scrambled back across the...was he sat on a treasure pile. The dragon's scaled brow quirked up, amused. Lucas' heart was pounding against his rib cage so hard he felt as it would just bounce out of his chest at any given moment. Maybe the beast would like that, it doesn't have to dirty its claws and kill him itself.

"What...what do you want?" His voice was barely a whisper, fear evident in his tone, but that just seemed to amuse the monster even more, "P-please, don't eat me." He squeaked, a small, stupid part of him praying that it work.

The dragon's head snapped back in a roar that almost resembled a laugh, "Eat you?!" It talks! "Why would I do that?"

Was...was it serious? It didn't know why he was so afraid of being eaten by the beast known for ravaging the kingdom, killing livestock and kidnapping every princess within a 500 mile radius? Hang on a second...That dragon didn't think...I mean surely...He might not be the stereotypical prince everyone expected but he certainly did not look like a princess! Unbelievable! Even the dragon thought he was, otherwise why else would it have kidnapped him?

"Because...that's what dragons do?"

The dragon roared again, flopping down on it's back with a loud thud. "You think- HAHA- You think I wanna eat you?! No offence, but you're not my type." It pretended to wipe a tear away from its eye with its claw. This was certainly not how he expected the beast to behave (of course, he had never actually expected to meet the fearsome creature). "I like you, you're funny." The dragon suddenly sprang up and positioned itself in front of him, exhaling through its nose and sending out a breath of hot air that ruffled his hair. Lucas backed further into the wall, only just realising that the dragons paws were positioned at either side of him and preventing his escape. Oh perfect. Just what I needed. "And you haven't even freaked out about the fact I can talk yet. I'm impressed."

Lucas eyes widened, "I...I forgot about that." He rubbed his neck sheepishly and earned another happy roar from the dragon.

Oh this would be a long imprisonment.


It had been four weeks!

He had been imprisoned in this cavern for four weeks now and that damned dragon had managed to intercept every single one of his escape attempts. Freedom seemed like such a distant memory at this point. Last time he had tried to escape, he'd turned a corner only to come face to face with the glowering lizard. He turned right back around and stalked back to the treasure trove- much to the beast's content.

Why wouldn't it let him leave? He was all alone here. For the first few days, the dragon hadn't left the cave for fear that her (yes her, he'd realised from her voice that she was feminine...she may have also growled at him the first time he assumed she was a male) prisoner would not be there when she returned. But then she got hungry and Lucas feared that his time was up until he woke up to find a stripped sheep carcass on the floor. He will admit that he had screamed at that point and so she had made an effort to not eat her food around him for fear of scaring him off. She fed him as well. It was only fruit and nuts or whatever else she could find on her travels. For about two weeks he refused to eat meat and he was determined not to until he finally realised he wouldn't be able to survive on the very small rations the dragon managed to scrape together. So he gave in.

Now Lucas was not a good cook, far from it actually. He was never allowed to do things from himself in the palace and the very small amount of independence he had managed to gather in the palace was near enough completely useless in the outside world. He had no need for it now that he was her prisoner. So when the dragon dropped a slab of meat in front of him one day, he had no idea what he was supposed to do with it. Obviously he couldn't eat it raw, but he had no idea how he was supposed to cook it and when she noticed, she snorted. Everything he did seemed to bring her some kind of entertainment and he didn't know why.

"Would you like some help?" Natsumi (He'd eventually asked her what her name was) asked, quirking up an eyebrow as Lucas eyed the meat curiously.

"No...I can do it."

"Suuure." She rolled her eyes and returned to picking at her teeth with her claw.

Lucas struggled pitifully for another five minutes before crying out in rage and kicking a nearby rock at the cave wall. "Rrrrrg. I can't do anything!" He ducked his head away in disappointment. He thought he could figure it out, it can't be that hard, but it he couldn't and it was the first time it had really dawned on him just how useless he was.

A sigh echoed around the cave. Natsumi had had enough of his sulking, this was ridiculous. "Alright, come here. I'll teach you how to cook."

"Why? I'll just screw something up."

"You moron!" She slapped his shoulder. It took him longer than it should have to process that he hadn't just been hit with a dragon hand but rather a human one...She'd hit his shoulder with a human hand..."Now then," A human hand, "Let's-"

"AAARGH!" Lucas scrambled away from her...it...whatever she was! He clutched his chest in fear and attempted to steady his breathing, but nothing could have prepared him for the shock that was a girl stood right in the spot he had expected the dragon to be. She seemed surprised, her onyx eyes widening before realisation dawned on her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, surprise!" She smiled sheepishly, "I can turn into a human!"


After the initial shock of Natsumi's first transformation, Lucas grew accustomed to seeing the pink haired girl around the cave. She was in her human form more than her dragon form now but that didn't mean she didn't alternate between the two. Whenever he dared try to escape, even though his attempts had lessened the longer he was stuck there, he felt a dragon claw wrapping around his waist again and dragging him back into the cave. She would sleep and hunt in her dragon form and once, once, she had taken him out of the cave for some fresh air and let him rest on her back as they flew through the air. He still didn't know why she wasn't letting him leave but he was beginning to guess.

She was lonely, she just wanted a friend. He could understand that, really he could, but she couldn't solve that problem by keeping him captive. A part of him was actually becoming used to the cave surroundings and that scared him more than she ever could. They'd fallen into a sort of shaky routine now and, honestly, a part of him was actually starting to enjoy the little cavern he'd called home for the past month or two. All hope of someone coming to rescue him had slowly evaporated with each passing day.

"Hey Lucas?" Natsumi spoke up one day. Lucas had his nose buried in one of the few books that she had stolen for him when she learned he liked reading. She was doing anything to make him comfortable and he had to admit that it was quite sweet.

"Yeah?" He hummed, not looking up from his book.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" She had posed it as if it was the most obvious question in the world but he really couldn't figure out just what she alluding to.

"You know...that thing. With your eyes and the words and...how do you do it?" She rolled over onto her stomach and played with a coin on the floor, not daring to look him in the eye. Aw, she was embarrassed. Hm. Maybe he could use this to his advantage.

"How do I read?" Lucas raised his eyebrow and Natsumi nodded slowly, "I don't know...Guess I just can. I learned from a young age."

"Must be nice," She muttered, "I never learned."

Lucas' eyes stopped trailing across the page and sprang up to meet hers. She looked away, embarrassed, but something sparked inside of him. It was almost...protective. "I could teach you." The words had tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them. The girl seemed to perk up at them though and she quickly crawled up beside him.

"Really?!"

"I guess...sure. Why not?"

Natsumi's smile reached her eyes- she was genuinely happy- and he couldn't help but smile back. And so a new factor was added to their routine. For one hour every day, he taught her how to read. They started slow at first. The dragon had to first get a basic grasp of the alphabet and different sounds. She could read certain words and phrases but others she had more difficulty with. Some she didn't know at all. Problems arose from her impulsiveness and stubborn nature, much like the problems that arose when she taught him basic skills like cooking, but they overcame them...Eventually.

Soon, he couldn't exactly remember when, he stopped focusing on escaping.


Three months after his "capture", he awoke to a loud thud in the cave. His body immediately startled to life and every sensible bone in his body told him to be cautious. He lay in his makeshift bed just listening to the shuffling darkness and desperately praying that whatever it was wouldn't turn their attention to him. But then he heard it.

Quiet mumbling. Soft whispers floating in from the small passage hidden away at the back of the cave. It opened out into a bigger area that branched off into several smaller caves- Natsu had told him she dug them out that way because it reminded her of a proper home. He was tentative in getting up from his spot. His shoulders tensed and, for a moment, his legs refused to move but his curiosity had been peaked and he as finally able to silently force his body away from beneath the safety of his blanket. Slowly he crept to the opening and peered around the side, his eyes now having fully adjusted to the dark spaces and being able to almost immediately pick out the figure hunched over in a small dip in the wall. They clutched something tightly in their hands and Lucas' eyes widened in surprise and panic as he spotted hat it was.

Oh God. Why?! Why, of all things, did she have to find that?!

"The dragon roared...terrifyingly loud...and...and the prince bit back the urge to scream." Natsu's vibrant eyes were focused solely on the pages in front of her. Apparently, she was focusing so intently that her keen senses had not realised he was eavesdropping. A part of him felt guilty, she'd obviously moved out there i case of this very situation, but his fascination got the better of him and he soon found that he just couldn't tear his eyes away from the girl. "He thor...thor..thor-"

Come on Natsu, spell it out. He mentally shouted words of encouragement, even if he as still tempted to speed over there and just rip his personal notebook from her hands. How had she even found it?!

Natsu sighed, "Th-o-ro-ly. Thoroughly." She smiled in triumph. Picking apart words and spelling out their sounds was a technique she had quickly taken to when he had taught it to her. "He thoroughly believed that this was his end- that the last thing he would see would be the dragon's massive jaws snapping shut around him and...swo-ll-oh-wing...swallowing him whole." Natsu paused, her brows knitted together tightly and Lucas could just about see her knuckles becoming whiter around the edge of the notebook. "H-he didn't want to die yet. There was still so much he wanted to do, so much he wanted to see. Was that really going to be taken away because some...some beast wanted to have a quick snack?!"

She stopped completely now, just staring at the page. Lucas had began documenting his stay here in his own story. It would be his way of reliving the tale once it was over and a way for other people to realise that maybe, just maybe, not all dragons were bad. But Natsu was still just at the beginning. He had included his own thoughts and feelings about each experience into it and he was pretty sure that that fact had just dawned on the dragon. Suddenly, he felt very uncomfortable.

"'Please don't hurt me.' He pleaded." Natsu's voice had lowered now and Lucas decided he'd had enough of this.

"Natsu?" He slowly emerged from his hiding spot and made his way over to her. She visibly stiffened but didn't look up to meet his eyes, "Are you...okay?" The pinkette simply nodded. Oh this isn't good. The prince sighed. "I see you found my notebook." He chuckled nervously, sliding down the wall next to her.

"Is this really what you think?" Though her tone was calm, he could hear the anger simmering away beneath it. Even though they were on friendly terms with one another, he was still terrified of the consequences of dealing with her angry, fire breathing, giant lizard form. It was something he would avoid at every turn possible.

"Listen, Natsu," He began, watching the dark slits of the woman's eyes snap to catch his. He flinched at the intensity of her stare. "It is...it was what I thought when I first met you. B-but now? Now I don't feel like that."

"Why are you writing about me?" Her gaze didn't look...hurt persay. It was curious more than anything but he still felt like he was treading on egg shells here. He had to be careful.

"I..." He swallowed, "I like to write. I want to publish a book someday and...well...there aren't really any stories on good dragons. I thought that, maybe, I- we could change that."

Silence. He was met with silence.

Every part of him told him he had screwed this up somehow, that he had made Natsu mad at him and genuinely hurt her. He was ready to take it all back and destroy the story so that she never had to read it again, he was ready to do whatever it took to stop her unleashing her anger on him. She should be shouting at him, screaming, maybe even crying. But she didn't. He saw her shuffle around in her space and start staring at him again with the same intense gaze as before. Something had changed this time though. It was almost...softer.

"Wh-what?" Natsu just continued to stare, "What did I do? I'm sorry! Please, I didn't mean to upset you! Please- EEP!" Suddenly her freakishly strong arms had wrapped around him in a slightly awkward hug. She buried her head in his shoulder, muttering something along the lines of thank you, much to his surprise. For a moment he forgot that hugs were usually a two way affair and that he should probably return it before it got awkward. So that's exactly what he did. The two friends sat there in silence for a while but Lucas didn't mind. Honestly he didn't. Natsu was constantly emitting warm rays of heat and he secretly enjoyed being this close to her for that reason, especially considering the cold bite to the air outside was starting to filter into the cave now.

"You'll be an amazing write some day, Lucas."

"Thanks Natsu." She felt his smile against her shoulder.

"Just...promise me one thing." She pulled away and Lucas momentarily missed the warmth he had been engulfed in.

"Sure. Anything you want, you are the star of the story after all."

He could have sworn she blushed at that but then that would have been ridiculous. One thing Natsu didn't get as flustered. He was almost certain of that.

"Don't forget to include how badass of a warrior I am!"

A bright smirk danced playfully across her lips and Lucas couldn't help but start chuckling. Of course he would include that. She wanted to be a badass warrior? He would make her a badass warrior!


"Natsu!" Something was wrong, "Natsu!" He couldn't find the dragon anywhere, "Oi! Natsumi! Where are you?" She wasn't in the treasury, she wasn't in the cave they'd made into a makeshift kitchen. She wasn't in any of the empty caves and she wasn't near the aquifa that she had recently shown him. He could not find the dragon anywhere, and it was beginning to worry him.

There was only one option left. The cave mouth. Recently he'd been given more freedom. Natsumi no longer stopped him when he tried to leave the cave and so he'd gradually started wandering outside of it. At one point, he'd debated turning back and leaving the cave behind- just going back to his kingdom and forgetting about all of this. But then an unexplainable pang of guilt had washed over him and he found himself going back into the hole in the side of the mountain. Willingly. Natsumi seemed happy, as if she hadn't been expecting him to come back, and from then on the thought of leaving never really crossed his mind again.

"Natsu, for God's sake, where are you?!" He'd taken to calling her Natsu lately ever since she started calling him Luke. It had only been four months since she had taken him away from his home and forced him to stay with her, yet they had somehow managed to form one of the most unlikely friendships imaginable. He actually cared for her in a weird way and he was beginning to fear that something bad had happened to her.

"Foul beast! Surrender now!"

"Oh give over, you Icy Prick. What do you want now?"

Lucas followed the voices the mouth of the cave. His eyes landed on the scene below; a knight had rode up to the cave and was now challenging Natsumi (who was in her dragon form ). "For fucks sake, I'm not a damsel in distress!" Lucas growled under his breath, watching their altercation. He recognised that knight but he couldn't figure out who it was. They were too far away for him to see. But that voice...he definitely knew who it belonged to. He would be ashamed if he didn't remember the obnoxious ice mage he grew up with. "Greya..."

"Give us back the Prince and I'll let you live!"

"Oh please, like I'm afraid of you."

I have to stop this before they maim each other. He didn't doubt Natsu's fighting skills and he knew Greya was pretty handy with a sword but he didn't want either of them to com to blows. They were both so competitive and stubborn that he had a feeling they wouldn't stop until one or both of them were dead. No it was just a matter of how he could stop them before it escalated to that point. Think...Think...

"I've warned you!" Greya's hands began to glow and Lucas knew what that meant, "Ice Make-"

"Stop!" He yelled down at them, catching them both off guard, before quickly sliding down the mountain to meet them. It seems his interruption had stopped them for now, now all he had to was figure out a way to stop them completely.

"Lucas!" Greya exclaimed, "You're alive!"

"Of course I am! Natsu would never hurt me." At that, the dragon glared smugly at the knight.

"But..But...But why are you still here then?!" Greya couldn't quite fathom why the esteemed Prince of Magnolia, the person set to pull the kingdom out of the slump it had recently, would risk everything to willingly stay with this...this...this monster! "Come back to us Lucas! We thought you were dead!"

"So why didn't you come looking for me sooner?" His tone was more venomous than he had intended.

"Wha- Lucas, what are you talking about?"

"I've been gone for four months, Greya," Lucas shoved his hands into his pockets, "You've had four months to look for me and...and you haven't." The knight didn't reply but he could tell by the way their gaze locked onto a spot on the ground that they suddenly felt extremely guilty. He'd hit a nerve. "I want to know why. Why, if you were so worried about me, did it take you this long to come and find me?"

Greya still didn't answer but that as okay, Lucas already knew the answer. His father had only recently realised he was gone. He'd probably realised about a month ago and then put it up to his knights to locate his lost son. It wasn't surprising really.

"I'm wanted here. I have a friend that doesn't just want to be around me because they're forced to be or because I have a fancy title." He didn't turn around but he knew that the dragon was smiling now and he couldn't help the small grin that ghosted his lips.

The knight frowned in thought. This wasn't supposed to happen. Dragons were meant to be beasts; feared by all. They captured princesses- well, princes in this case- and held them against their will until the brave knight swooped in to save the day. They would kill the dragon, take back the grateful royal and return to praise from the kingdom. But the royal wasn't supposed to...to...fall for the dragon's charms! This was absurd. Unheard of! Completely ludicrous! Dragons were monsters, they were not to be trusted. The fact that Lucas was even considering staying with the dragon was just...Greya couldn't believe her ears.

"Lucas," She began slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose. Natsumi let out a low growl but Lucas held up a hand before she could do anything else. He wanted to hear what the knight had to say. "Look, I'm your friend. A human friend. And as your human friend, I have to tell you just how utterly ridiculous you sound right now! Dragons are not to be trusted-"

"Oh that's it!" Natsumi roared, pinning the ice mage down with a heavy foot. Greya yelped before regaining her composure and struggling under the dragon's grip to reach her sword. She was able to slither out from her grasp just enough to stab the beast's foot, rolling away when Natsu let out a howl of pain. But it was short lived. The dragon hurtled back into action, shooting a burning stream of blazing fire at the metal clad warrior. Her attack was met with a wall of ice and frustrated grunts as Greya struggled to continue avoiding the assault of the much larger opponent. This was hardly Natsumi's first encounter with a knight but it was certainly her first fight with a magic one. It would have been a fun situation had she not been blinded by her rage.

Lucas watched on helplessly. Every time he tried to intervene, one of the women pushed him back away. Neither wanted him hurt but they both wanted him to be on their side. It was infuriating. Why couldn't they just let him decide hat he wanted to do? It was his life! When Natsumi raised her claw to finally cut down a helpless Greya, who was once again struggling under the dragon's weight, Lucas finally snapped.

"STOP!" He bellowed, halting the dragon's attack. She turned her head to him slowly, a questioning shine to her eyes and, for a moment, he had no idea what he was supposed to say. But the words came to him and he soon found himself glaring at the women- a mixture of anger and disappointment. "You're acting like children!" His tone was eerily calm but it as enough to cast a streak of guilt across the features. He got angry at them, sure, but never like this. "It's my decision. I want to go home, I do, but I also want to stay here. Do you see my problem? Both people need me but for entirely different reasons. One's lonely, one's just because they're waiting on my old man to kick the bucket and need me around to take his place. I'm not having you two decide on my freedom for me, I've had enough of that in my life already! I don't need protecting and I certainly don't need rescuing!"

"Sorry Lucas..." They muttered in unison.

He sighed, "Natsu-"

"You're going back aren't you?" She seemed upset and he couldn't help the slight pang of guilt that shot through his chest. Truthfully, he wanted to. As much as he had enjoyed his time here, he strangely missed his home. He missed seeing the smiling faces of the servants every day, he missed Aquarius yelling at him whenever he screwed up something, he missed watching Leo be shot down by every sane woman he encountered. Hell, he even missed his father to some degree. He missed training with Greya, or spending countless hours talking with Levy, another one of his closest friends, and he missed visiting his mother's grave every morning and night- confiding in the head stone. He just missed Magnolia.

"It's fine," The dragon muttered, "You can go. I was always gonna bring you back anyway" She turned away and began to stalk slowly back to her cave. Greya shot the prince and curious glance before shrugging her shoulders. That was surprisingly easy. She had every intention of turning back to Magnolia now and taking him with her, but it seems Lucas had other ideas. She saw him in the corner of her eye. He had that look on his face that told her he was thinking about something and she sighed, knowing where this was going.

"Come with us!" He ran to catch up with the fading figure of the red giant, but she immediately halted the moment she head him.

"Lucas..." Greya warned, "Think about what you're doing."

He ignored her. "Imagine what people would think knowing we have a dragon to protect us. And you can turn into your human form whenever you want to," Greya spluttered at that but, again, Lucas ignored her, "Please Natsu." Lucas pleaded.

The dragon didn't even hesitate. She was human and wrapping him in a deathly tight hug before he could protest. "Natsu...Need...Air." Sheepishly, she released him and he happily drank in the fresh air once again filling his lungs. She apologised but he simply laughed, telling her not to worry.

"But...You're...When...HOW?!" Apparently, Greya couldn't grasp the concept of a dragon shifter. Lucas smiled.

"Alright, shall we?" He gestured towards the city. Natsu grinned. They could probably get there quickly if they flew on her back but they would save her transformation for when they got to the centre of town. He wanted to show everyone that his new, loud, abrasive, overly affectionate friend was just as human as the rest of them. Greya still wasn't convinced and the two women began bickering again on their way to the nearest carriage station, but he would rather they do that instead of fight to the death like they had been doing moments ago.

"Ash for brains."

"Ice Prick."

"Flamebrain."

"Frosty."

Oh God, what have I done? He mused happily to himself as he watched them interact. Seeing the joy subtly dance across Greya's eyes was enough to tell him that the to women would get along just fine now that they'd...resolved this issue. But it was the ghost of a smirk dancing across Natsu's face that told him he'd made the right choice.

He'd never needed rescuing. But maybe, just maybe, when Natsu had picked him up all those months ago, she had.