So, I didn't forget this story. It just took me this long to finally realize what direction I wanted to go with it. So here's an update!
When Prince Natsu was first roused, he couldn't move. Too exhausted, too pinned down, but a warm weight pressed against him while muffled voices spoke all around: Irritating. He wanted to sit up, to demand the occupants in his quarters out for a few extra hours of rest and comfort. What good was being royalty if you had to wake early every day? No, he wanted more sleep and he would get it.
The voices faded before he could manage more than simple thoughts and the darkness fell over his mind and thoughts, lulling him back to sleep once again. It wouldn't be long enough to chase the exhaustion from his limbs.
Natsu awoke from a shot of pain that struck every nerve from toe to finger tip. A rapid heat that burned through his skin and smothered the air in his lungs. He gasped, gulping in air that stung his dry throat. As if he hadn't breathed in years. When he sat up, limbs moved sluggish and slow- joints ached like rusted hinges. None compared to the worst pain that clenched in his stomach, twisted his insides and screamed for attention.
Hunger. He needed to eat and he needed it now. His attempts to move from a room he did not recognize was confusing. The strange, dusty smell that wafted through the air tightened his lungs and he wheezed out a hacking cough. Broken boards, stone and dangling vines tripped his way and while all these things rang as wrong, Natsu couldn't focus. Couldn't attend to the obvious changes of his own, unfamiliar room.
A sickness had taken over him. One caused by starvation as he stumbled into the dim hall, once illuminated by glowflies and red tapestries. His senses saved him. A scent, familiar from his first waking -soft and floral- mixed with the heavenly aroma of a warm, hot meal. Natsu's mouth watered and desperation fueled him.
"Damn," He croaked, surprised at his own voice. Much like his joints, it resembled rusty old hinges that crackled hoarsely from within. As if wool formed the passages and prevented proper vocalization, "am I ill?"
It was the likeliest of explanations, but he wasn't stupid. He couldn't wait for a meal, he had to find the source. Though where it led him was baffling. His Father's old study - a former room he refused to enter, but the cracked doors couldn't hide the glorious scent of bacon, eggs and… something he had not tried before.
When he swung the doors open, only the thought of food was on his mind- temper flared at the sight of a woman, underdressed for her job and ignoring him, cooking the very lifeline that brought him.
Strange, he thought, but the floral scent he caught within the desired breakfast, was coming from her? A perfume, perhaps, but it didn't matter. Natsu demanded his right to a meal, but was met with a shriek so loud he thought he'd pass out to slumber all over again.
"What is WRONG with you?!" He shouted. His ears rang with her scream and Natsu's knees buckled under the strain as he crumpled to the hard -rotted?- floor.
What was wrong with her? What a laugh. What was wrong with me?!
Chapter 2:
Lucy's shriek caused many things to happen at once. With arms flailing, the frying pan flew and clattered harshly to the floor, half cooked egg spilled out as her voice echoed off the walls. Freed, Levy and Gray simultaneously bolted from their tents, each holding a heavy book, flashlight (Gray happened to grab a nearby rock) to use in their defense. When their eyes landed on Lucy, looking for danger, her gaze never left the open door as she leaped into action, scrambling backwards on all fours.
The man in the doorway looked stupefied, as still as the statue he'd been the night before. He paid no attention to the others jumping from their stations as he took a step towards the spilled meal that was now contaminated by all manner of dirt and grime.
"Oi-!" He attempted to shout, but the croak of his voice sounded pained and his legs gave out at his second step. Crumpling to the floor, he grunted from exertion and pain. "I ordered you to serve me, not- " he gasped, eyes clenched tight together, "waste it all!"
His weakened shouts were not attended to. Lucy's continued shriek died off as her three friends moved to bring her to her feet- each one sporting their own degrees of baffled confusion on their faces.
"What happened, here?" Levy asked, still holding a book in her hand as if prepared to bludgeon any threat that came near. Freed held his flashlight in a similar manner, but he lowered it in his attempts to help Lucy, but froze when he finally noticed the male across the room.
Their "stone prince" muttered, voice muffled by the floor as he struggled to move. The words were too low to catch, but Freed was certain he caught the phrase, 'have you all dismissed,' being threatened. Jaw dropping, he almost dropped Lucy..
"That… that's impossible." He claimed, mystified.
"What is?" Gray asked, turning to follow Freed's gaze. His eyes narrowed was he growled, "Hey, who the hell are you?!"
Everything was a rush. Lucy's heart felt like it would beat from her chest, but her shriek had turned to silence as she struggled to piece together what was happening. The man on the floor looked exactly like the statue from last night, but he was a statue. - but this man was clearly not a statue. Had they been followed? Were there others trying to survey the fortress? Why was he dressed like, like…
His clothes were moth-eaten, molded, dusty and faded with age. Just like….
"Please tell me this is just a dream." Lucy's words spilled forth in panic, giving her no time to breathe. "Tell me that is NOT a talking, walking-" well, kneeling now, "statue just ten feet away from us!"
The man teetered it to his knees, panting as his eyes struggled to focus. Sweat dripped from his pink, dusty hair and he stared them down. "Do I LOOK like a statue? Did this place fall to insanity while I was asleep!?"
The four didn't answer, but brandished all their 'weapons' as if prepared to attack (while Lucy raised a hand as if she could slap from a distance) - the man who should be stone grimaced.
"What sort of idiot, see a man," He gasped while words turned to mush in his mouth, "struggling to stand- sick from hunger, and thinks he's going to ATTACK them! Are you all just… just...ugh- " Blurred images took the sight from his eyes and his belly rumbled a weak request, but words failed him. Croaking an illegible defeat, he crumpled back to the floor crashing down with a heavy thud.
His chest expanded from labored breathing, but all other functions ceased. The Stone Prince had fainted.
Lucy honestly felt she could join him.
"So," Levy began, lowering her book as the reality of their situation dawned on her. "... maybe we should help him?"
Looking to the other three, only two of them shrugged and moved to do just that. Lucy's heart was pounding in her ears. Her earlier panic ruled her limbs, shaking like a leaf. Logic told her that a n obviously sick man couldn't possibly harm them, but her earlier shock drowned out her thoughts. It took minutes of watching Gray and Fred struggle the dead weight of their visitor towards their camp as Levy cleaned the floor and began breakfast anew before Lucy regained her sense of self.
What came next, was a flurry of questions and expletives that none could answer.
Lucy wouldn't believe it.
She couldn't believe it.
Slippered feet padded against the floor as Lucy strode passed, her mind settled on her destination. Levy had no time to turn around as she cooked before Lucy passed by and her questioning shout went ignored. As Freed settled the unconscious man onto a spare sleeping bag, Gray answered Levy's shout, turning to follow after Lucy.
Her steps never slowed. Rushing down the hall, she made her way up the winding, degraded stairs, following the same steps she took the day before. She slipped once, almost stumbled back down into Gray's waiting arms, but regaining her balance, she sped up.
Gray's voice echoed after her, "You're not wearing the right shoes to be running through here, Lucy! I know you're freaking out, but we can check it out later!"
"I'm checking it now!" She snapped, her raised voice sent birds flying from their hidden nests, escaping out from the open roof. Lucy had to see it for herself. Had to prove it wasn't what she thought.
It had to be a prank. Whoever this, sick man was, he couldn't be-
Skidding to a halt by the broken doors of the former Prince's room, Everything looked as it had the day before. Nature was taking over the corners and broken roof, what was left of the bed was cracked and rotting wood and the stone statue was … not there. An empty divot where a statue should have been was all that was left and with a few, disbelieving glances from the walls and back to the bed, Lucy had to accept the truth.
"H-he… he really was… -" There was no strength in her legs. Lucy slid down to her knees, breathless in amazement as Gray joined her. Sucking in air, manic laughter shook her shoulders and she looked towards her friend, unable to think passed the insanity of it all. "Gray, I didn't even kiss it, but there's a guy in our camp that looks just like it. Can you explain that?"
"No, I-"
"I can't." She didn't let Gray start, smiling through her own laughter, "I can't explain it at all. This doesn't make sense. He was stone. STONE! I felt it! Hard as a rock! Am I crazy? Was I imagining it? Am I crazy, Gray?!"
Gray gaped, tongue-tied and attempting to absorb Lucy's words, but only managing a blank stare from her and towards the empty bed. In the seconds that ticked by, he slowly knelt, looking her in the eyes. Patting her shoulder, she realized just how much he was containing in that moment. His own hand was tense, shaky even, and his jaw clenched on words left unspoken. He didn't know either.
Lucy felt shame wash over her, "I didn't mean to- I'm sorry Gray, you're probably just as -"
"Yeah," Gray interjected, exhaling exasperated amusement, "I am just as confused, but you're the one in bunny slippers, running through an ancient ruin without a care what you're going to step on," Smirking, he helped pull her off the floor and glanced to her covered toes. "So maybe you are a little whacko."
Lucy's hoarse laughter echoed down the broken stairwell and beyond, but she suddenly felt better. Shrugging off the unanswered questions boiling inside the both of them, Gray led her back to camp. No more words came between them, but a few times, he stopped her from stepping on a rock or petrified piece of wood. She distantly wondered how she dodged these obstacles in her mad dash to check Stone Statue's room, but was answered by a throbbing in her heel that spoke a different tale.
Not missed the obstacles. Merely didn't notice coming across them.
"All right," Lucy admitted when she was calmer, "That was kind of stupid of me."
"Only kind of, huh?"
"You can shush if you're going to be a jerk."
Gray laughed, "I don't know, I think you deserve being a little mocked right now."
She could have argued, but what was the point? He was right, and they both could use the distraction. Their banter started and continued just as they finally returned to their base and the smell of Levy's cooking sent an embarrassingly loud gurgle to rumble through Lucy's stomach.
Gray gave her a knowing glance, but said nothing as she blushed and shoved him aside, stamping off to her tent to put proper shoes on. She ignored the obvious form of an extra body sleeping in the middle of the floor, muttered a quiet apology to Freed and Levy, then quickly zipped the tent behind her.
In that moment, Gray took the initiative to report their 'findings.' Or lack thereof. Lucy was grateful for this, as her heart still thudded in her ears just thinking about it. Calmer. Yes, calmer, but it did nothing to chase away her mystification over the entire thing. Was that sickly man really their stone statue? Where else could it have gone? What would happen when he woke back up? Too many questions, but Lucy tucked them away to answer another time. She could waste her entire day obsessing over the insane notions of a statue walking around, but it would do nothing to fill her empty belly or further the rest of her research.
She would put it aside and take one step out of her tent, officially ready to start the day again. With bunny slippers replaced and tucked away.
It would be another hour before the mystery stranger roused again. He'd awake to a soft hand lifting his head and a strange object placed against his lips. It felt strange and smelled just as odd, causing him to grimace. He tried to push it again, angle his head, anything, but his body felt heavy, like lead. A few more seconds of struggle was met with a soothing voice shushing him as a cool substance suddenly wet his lips: water.
He didn't need further coaxing. Eyes shot open as he opened up, accepting the drink as if he'd been dying of thirst. It was colder than expected and it shot down his throat like ice, but it was a welcome change until he gulped too fast and took some air right along with it. Sputtering, the strange contraption was taken away from him as he coughed, throat burning and hoarse.
"M-more!" He rasped out, attempting to grasp for the glass once again. He didn't understand how the covered lid had given him the drink he sought, but that didn't matter. He'd figure it out if he could move! The girl who held him shrank back, Olson her hand just out of his reach as she shook her head wildly.
"T-take it slow!" She ordered, squeaking when his sudden lash towards the bottle fumbled it in her hands "You'll over do it if you gulp it in like that- ack, Lu, help me!"
A second pair of hands pressed against his shoulders and a strange, familiar scent crossed Natsu's delirious senses. A curtain of blonde blocked his gaze from the substance he sought and he was lowered back into the bedding he'd been given. Sharp eyes looked for the new person touching him, meeting the brown eyes from the other girl. The one who had been cooking. An order habitually tried to pass his lips, demanding more water, to be released, but the words caught in his throat as a strange clarity flashed before his mind.
Did he… know this woman?
"...Lucy? Why are you here?"
There was no explanation for the stunned expressions that crossed both girls' faces, but Lucy's fingers recoiled from his shoulders as she gaped at him.
"How do you know my name?" She asked. Natsu's brows furrowed, nose scrunched in distaste.
"I saw you not two days ago," he grumbled, ignoring how wrong the claim felt crossing his lips. "You came with Count Heartfilia for the Spring Dances.. You… " He licked his lips and struggled to read the expression crossing her face, "you certainly weren't dressed like a commoner though."
The concrete silence that fell between them was stifling, but it gave the other girl enough time to bring a tray of sliced fruit and eggs over. He still needed food, but curiosity kept his gaze on the woman looming over him.
Whose own voice fell silent, contemplating his answer before she laughed hollowly, disbelief twisting her face.
"You're joking, right? I knew it! this had to be some sort of prank. I've never met you before in my life!"
Thanks for reading!