Chapter 6: Stories Under the Stars
Natsu rolled over listening to the hum of Elfman's snores echoing through the bunkhouse. Night had fallen on the sleepy little ranch, but sleep eluded him. He was antsy, ready to do something than idly sit by twiddling his thumbs. Jellal was nowhere to be seen. It had to be at least midnight, yet he had failed to return. His guarding shift should have been over. The rest of the night would be divided between Sting and Elfman.
Thinking about the missing man finally got Natsu up.
He yawned, trying not to wake his sleeping compadre.
Natsu had not offered any assistance to the ranch, knowing he would leave at the first chance he got, but the guilt was eating away at him. These people clearly needing help, and it didn't sit well with him to turn a blind eye toward it. Immediately the ranger shook his head. He didn't really care about what was happening. It was none of his business. He had his scarf, and as long as he had Happy than there was nothing tying him down here. He groused at the fact he was still hungry. Dinner had been a simple affair consisting more of food you would find on a cattle drive: beans, ham, biscuits, dirty rice, turnips and apple pie.
Maybe he could scare up some food in the kitchen.
Getting out of bed, he shrugged into his jacket before grabbing his gun. Maneuvering through the pitch black room proved to be more than trying after half stumbling over his boots. He carried them outside where the sky was clear and starry with a waning moon.
The object provided enough light to see the house and allow him to finish getting dressed. Something caught his eye. He didn't need the light to see something bright in Happy's tipi. The grip on his boots tightened.
Was Happy in danger?
He felt the unease shoot up his back. He could tell by the greeting he got that the ranch was being harassed. He also knew from what little Lucy told him that the workers' had been scared away.
Taking a calming breath, Natsu decided to investigate, leaving his gun in a holster at his side. Carrying a gun at night with no lantern could be dangerous. You run the risk of falling or stumbling and pulling the trigger.
He marched over the grounds, half expecting something to attack him.
As he crept closer to the tent, he heard a voice. Lucy was telling Happy something. He couldn't understand the words. A cat and a prince? It was all rather confusing.
"The white cat begged the prince to cut off her head.
'I!" cried the prince, "can't hurt you fair cat.'
'Please kill me or you will never find your soulmate, Oh King's Son.'
'But Blanchette, you are my best friend. Are you some fairy or enchantress disguised as a cat?'
'No you must kill me to finish your father's quest.'
Nothing would sway the cat's decision and knowing she had been right about that answer to all the other quests. He sliced her head off. At the same time a light so bright shined before him. The white cat had turned into a beautiful princess. Their friendship throughout the years was rewarded, and the prince broke the spell on the girl.
'To break the curse. I had to be killed by someone who loved me.'
He immediately took her to the castle. The king upon meeting the princess that had been cursed into being a cat, fell upon his face at her beauty offering the crown to his youngest son. They lived happily ever after."
"It's nice to read fairy tales."
Natsu realized she was reading Happy a bedtime story.
"You always hope that a prince or magic is right there within grasping distance ready to save you. But it isn't." She sounded like she was about to cry.
Her geniuine distress made him uncomfortable. Natsu didn't like the girl but it was hard to keep animosity toward her in the face of her kind actions to Happy.
The horse himself already lost his battle to her wooing. He bayed at her.
She laughed, a sound soft and musical, "You're such a good baby. Yes, you are. Soo much nicer than your master."
Wait was she talking about him?
"He was so mean to me today when I toured the grounds."
Was I?
"I bet he is use to..."
His stomach growled.
The girl snapped what sounded like a book shut, "Who's there?!"
He debated whether he should tell her or not when she called out, "Loke!"
Something moved on the porch, headed in his directions.
Natsu screamed, "Keep that critter away from me!"
Lucy stuck her head out in time to see Natsu dash away from the incoming lion.
"Well you shouldn't be sneaking around. I could have shot you." And she indeed pulled a little pistol out. "Especially since someone broke my rifle when they emptied the ammunition today. Loke down."
The cat didn't stop.
"You better not move. I'm not sure what he's doing if he's not listening to me."
Natsu froze.
The cat walked up to him, winding around his legs before sniffing his feet. The next second, the two hundred pounds animal fell on him nibbling his boots.
"What's he doing?" Natsu asked in terror.
Lucy refused to answer as she zipped up the tipi. She placed the lantern away from the cloth before heading to Loke and Natsu.
"He probably likes your smell. He did get a big wiff of it gnawing on your hat today."
"You had to remind me of that, didn't you?" Natsu frowned at her before stepping away. The cat glared up at him before growling.
"Don't get mad, Puss-On-My-Boots. You're the one who ruined my hat."
Lucy gave him a narrow look, "At least, he didn't unhinge your rifle. That happened to be a custom made weapon, mister. Costing about twenty times what that hat was worth."
"Please. That hat happened to be $18. More than most people make in a year."
"I'll replace your damn hat. Told you that already! How about you replacing my gun. It was $340. All of our weapons came from the time when our ranch hands could afford to have only the best."
The two glared at each other. Natsu was somewhat amused at how her eyes sparkled in the lantern's light when she was mad. Fireflies. Yep, there were definitely fireflies living in in that brain of hers.
"Should you be more wary of me? I could arrest you for having stolen property and for wounding an officer of the law."
Her eyes grew round. He didn't mean it, but she didn't know that. He was just picking at her, but he hated how the fireflies seem to disappear. He wanted to see them again. Why the hell was he so interested?
"Forget I said that," he said curtly. "I don't plan to arrest you."
"Gladly," She replied drawing the blanket around her. That's when he finally noticed she was barefoot. The dress she wore underneith also was pale, probably white and was shorter than custom allowed.
"Ma'am. Are you in your night gown?"
"Am... Not!" She blushed.
The fireflies were back.
He almost smiled. Her flustered nervousness soothing his mood swings as nothing else could.
"Do you always meet strange men at night dressed for bed?"
She blinked, pursed her lips - he noticed were lushy shaped - as she thought about what he said.
"You perverted jackass!" She screeched. He winced, wondering if her noise would wake up the entire house.
The lion sensed her town changed and moved toward her, knocking his head into her hip.
Lucky cat.
"I should shoot at you again." The girl straigtened her spine. He could see her courage coming back.
"Really? Didn't you plan on marrying me at one time?"
"That was a long time ago."
"Little over two years."
She stood silent.
His stomached rumbled, reminding him of his hunger. He ignored it. He pressed on into something he was curious about. "You not going to tell me why a smart young lady like yourself wanted to be a mail ordered bride? I mean its very dangerous... answering adds."
Sadly, she turned away and walked off before answering.
"Hey you weren't suppose to leave."
He followed walking in step behind her.
"I'm going to get you some food. Isn't that why you were up before you saw the light? You are still hungry? That's why I'm up. Heard Sting raiding the cupboards an hour ago."
"Oh."
He ran ahead to open the door for her. She thanked him before leading to the kitchen.
"Sit." She gestured towards a high chair next to a minibar.
Grabbing random items, Lucy started making him a sandwich out of the cold cuts left from dinner.
She finally spoke after handing him the food, "Lots of prostitution rings set up advertisements as boarding schools and lonely men, looking for young girls like myself. When the girl reaches them, they have no cash and no contact with anyone so they make easy pray. Initially I wanted to marry the person that answered the add. He sounded so well spoken. I realized he may not be real. Instead of risking the chance of jumping from one bad situation into another, I asked him for money and proof who he was. He sent the money. That helped me cover the cost of the travel expense. He also sent his father's scarf, made from the scales of a desert lizard. It was very nice and old. Still I was nervous in leaving home so decided to come here to my families ranch instead."
"Why would you want to leave home?"
Placing an arm on the bar and leaning her face into her open arm, "What is so wrong about wanting to leave? Do women have to stay at home until a man takes them away? If I had stayed, I would have been like every other female on the planet. Married off, bouncing babies on my knee. This was an adventure. Turns out its an adventure that never stops."
"Life in the West is hard. Did you expect that?"
"Not really. I read my mom's books about the gunslinger, "Salamander," Natsu coughed, "which taught me some things about the West but experiencing it was an eye opener."
"So what about now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you ever regret the experience? Would you want to go back to your old lifestyle?"
"No! I love my family here. And the challenges it brings just makes me love it more. Wouldn't trade it for the world." She paused before adding, "If that means I had to steal your scarf again or take money to do it, I would in a heartbeat."
He shook his head. It wasn't his place to teach a fool woman that she was being foolish. She had more to her than he was willing to admit.
"You know what? I have decided to help you."
"What?"
"You need help. This ranch needs help. The answer is simple. While I wait, I will do chores, scare off whoever is harassing you, and work with the men." Natsu pointed the end of his sandwhich at her, causing a tomato to fly at her face.
Lucy dodged before grumbling, "What you think? I'm a damsel in distress."
"Didn't you want a prince to save you? Although cutting off a head is a bit harsh."
She punched him.
"Oww!"
"That's for eavesdropping on my conversation with Happy."
His favorite thing so far was her reactions. They were hilarious.
"Guess it looks like you are stuck with me, Queenie."
At that time, Natsu thought it might be pretty fun living with her until his horse healed. He laughed as she bristled, grumbling more about chauvinistic men.
However...
Natsu learned by the end of the week that living with the woman was a walking catastrophe. He hadn't got good and settled into the ranch before he was punched, kicked, shot at, tripped. And not by her either. Figuring out what bad luck followed Lucy Heartfilia was beyond even a seasoned soldier like him.
Next Chapter: Broken Fence
AN: The fairy tale used is from Madame D'Aulnay's The White Cat. My favorite fairy tale growing up.
Thanks to everyone who left a review. Critical reviews are good to leave. They teach me what problems I need to focus on because I don't pretend to know everything about writing. Mostly I write to improve my writing and for fun. This story is completely opposite of all others because it isn't fantasy base so I'm writing outside my comfort zone. One reason why it has a lot more drama at the beginning. Mainly my romances tend to be secondary to plot. I like to develop an overarching story with subplots first and romances second. However I was also trying to write a more romantic based story with Mail Ordered, so if I am taking too long to get to the main plot by developing the side characters than that is something I need to watch for.
The backflash was not just about Laxus but served to be a general information dump... (example like why Jellal is at the ranch and how Mira got pregnant)
Uh, western stories typically follow a cattle drive, a gunfight, bank robbery, or shoot out. My bases for this story is Hatfields and McCoys meets Battle at the OK corral. Both of those stories have lots of characters on both sides. Sorry if it is a bit boring setting this up.