Chapter 6: The Visitor

There was a storm brewing both inside and outside the castle, and every single servant was preparing for the worst.

It had long since spread that the new Queen was not getting along with the King, which meant they needed to prepare for an upset King Dragneel. Nothing good could ever come from an upset King Dragneel—that's for sure—and it was unprecedented timing that the storm decided to roll in now of all times.

As a frightening clap of thunder boomed around the castle walls, Natsu sat at his gigantic dinner table all alone. He stared blankly at the apron clad servant delivering his food, sending chills down the anxious man's spine. He hastily removed the golden dome to reveal a hefty slab of steak served with an entourage of vegetables. No sooner than he removed the dome, he quickly bowed and scurried back into the kitchen, lest he incur some sort of wrath from his ruler. Natsu paid him no mind, instead opting to glare at the food before him.

The relentless rain continued to pelt the building, further pulling the King's mood down. In fact, if Gray didn't know better, he'd speculate that the weather and the King were feeding off each other in an inexplicably toxic cycle. Thankfully that was impossible, or at least he hoped it was, otherwise they would really in for some nasty weather for who knows how long.

The knight watched as the King cut into his steak with more aggression than necessary, his eyes flitting to the door every other second. He'd been sitting in the Great Hall for thirty minutes and there still was no sign of Lucy. As yet another thunderous clap echoed around the stone walls, he made icy eye contact with the poor knight.

"I told her to come, I promise." Gray said, raising his hands in defense.

"Well, go tell her again." Natsu barked, stabbing his knife directly into the steak.

Gray sucked in a breath and hurried along. "Right away, King Dragneel."

Natsu took a swig of his wine before chomping down viciously on a bite of his dinner. "Surely, she will come this time," he mumbled himself.

Despite his hopes and the efforts of his retainers, she never showed.

Dinner time came and went quickly. Though Virgo, Mard and Gray came by to retrieve her, she refused to leave her room. Even when the young knight begged her to go, she denied his requests. Unless they carried her down by force, she wouldn't be stepping foot outside this room—and luckily for her no one was willing to lay hands on her.

That brute could eat by himself forever for all she cared. Maybe it was a waste of the beautiful dress she'd been stuffed into, but again, she couldn't care less.

Instead, Lucy pulled a pencil and notebook into her lap and began to furiously write. Writing was her favorite pastime; she always found it incredibly freeing—especially when it was raining outside. She was so deep within her own world in fact that she didn't notice the person who silently entered her room.

"What's that?" Natsu's gruff voice asked.

A tiny yelp escaped her lips as she practically ripped the notebook in half out of sheer fright. Lucy was surprised her soul did not leave her body.

She took a deep breath in order to recover her senses and then gazed up at him. Natsu was just as tall as she remembered, even more so since she was seated. His royal garb made him all the more intimidating. He had a youthful face yet a hardened expression. Underneath his deep scowl, his eyes had a hint of curiousness within them.

"K-king Dragneel?" She questioned finally.

"Just Natsu is fine, my queen." He assured her.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you how to knock, Natsu... sama?" She found it hard to be abrasive with him standing right in front of her.

"Why would I need to knock in my own castle?" Natsu replied, looking at her like she was stupid. "And please, just call me Natsu."

Lucy didn't like that answer at all. "And why are you here, Natsu? Go away."

He didn't budge. "You didn't come to dinner."

"I didn't desire dinner."

"You've refused to see me since the ball."

"I've had no desire to see you, and if I'm not mistaken, we saw each other when you deemed to appropriate to lay next to me in bed last night."

He chose to ignore that jab. "See here, my feisty Queen," Natsu started, leaning down to her eye level, "I am here because you refuse to leave this room. How dare you skip dinner? How dare you defy me? How—"

"How dare me?" Lucy seethed. "How dare you! How dare you force me to marry you! How dare you demand my attention! I want to be at home in my village. I want to be with my family. I didn't ask to come here, King Dragneel! How dare you think you have the right to my affection just because you're the king. You—you've essentially kidnapped me!"

Silence befell the room they glared at each other. A particularly loud thunder bolt chose to illuminate the oh too still air.

Natsu wanted to say all sorts of things in response to that. Instead, he sighed heavily. "Then go." He said finally, looking away from her.

Lucy froze. "Really?" The glimmer of hope in her eyes was palpable.

"Absolutely... not." Natsu said, turning back to her with a cold smirk. A knot formed in his stomach as he watched the hope immediately drain from her eyes. Even still, he pressed forward, hiding any indication that he cared. "Why would you think I'd let you go just like that, kitten?" He made a "tsk tsk" noise as he shook his head. His dark eyes were emotionless, and his smile grew more condescending with every passing second.

"I should have known." Lucy said as her eyes welled up with tears. "You are the Cruel King after all."

Natsu reached out to touch her shoulder and was immediately shrugged off. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and released a heavy sigh. "It pains me that you hate me so... believe it or not, you're special to me."

"We just met." She scoffed. "You don't even know me… how could I be so 'special' to you?" She sneered her nose at him, throwing air quotes around the word special. "You probably chose me because I'm blonde or something weird like that, I bet."

He didn't like that at all.

"Enough." Natsu said with more bite than intended, causing her to flinch. The king clenched his fists tightly and turned toward the door. "I expect you to be in the Great Hall tomorrow morning, afternoon and night—whether you like it or not." His tone left no room for argument or games.

Lucy's eyes fell to her bedsheets. He squatted down more so he could continue to hold her gaze. It pissed Lucy off. He didn't care.

"As a testament to my feelings for you, I will forget that you've yelled at me for today." His deep frown upturned into a sickly-sweet smile. "But… next time you raise your voice at me, I cannot promise my reaction, my dear Lucy."

The young blonde nodded quietly. Without another word he exited the room, allowing the weight of his words to linger.

Lucy crumpled into a ball on her bed, tears fully streaming from her face once again. "I hate you..." she sobbed quietly, not caring if he was out of earshot.

Natsu leaned against the wall outside her room. "Of course you do..." he mumbled to himself after the door fully shut.

"Was that last bit really necessary, King Dragneel?" Gray asked, leaning against the opposite wall. He'd clearly been eavesdropping.

"Shut up, Fullbuster." Natsu warned as he shot him a fierce glare. "Seriously."

"Sorry." Gray shrugged. He continued down the hall, leaving Natsu all alone in the long hallway that suddenly seemed all too big.

Natsu soon found himself in his study. Books of all shapes, sizes and colors lined the walls from end to end, each one coated full of dust from lack of use. Seeing as he didn't like to read, he only came in here when he needed space from everyone. Right now was certainly one of those times.

He stared out of the large, foggy window as the rain continued to rhythmically tap the dense glass. The sounds worked wonders to calm him down. He drew little shapes in the fog, allowing his mind to wander.

Truthfully, he didn't get it either. Why would anyone want such a difficult bride? It would be extraordinarily easy to just kick her to the curb and choose someone else. In fact, a part of him wished he'd chosen someone else, but for whatever reason, the vast majority of his conscious rejected that thought. Revolted at it, even. Perhaps they had a soul tie from another life, or perhaps they were bound by some other work of fate. Regardless of the "hows," or the "whys," Lucy was special to him, no matter if she believed him or not. Like a dragon would covet his treasure, Natsu found her more valuable than any gem he could ever hoard.

From the moment he laid eyes on her, he wanted her for his own.

And he would make her genuinely fall in love with him, without fail.

xXoO0OoXx

That's a wrap! They finally got to officially officially meet, and boy was it not pretty. Oof. Was he too hard on her? Not hard enough? Let me know!

Another short chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. As always, thank you all so, so much for your encouragement and reviews. Hopefully the next chapter will be much longer—in fact I am planning on it. I am not sure when it will be done, but hopefully sooner rather than later. School is kicking it up of course, so we'll see.

Anyhoo, thanks for all your support! Review responses are coming soon. See you next chapter, or maybe in a different story.

Much love,

AF1