It felt as though she had lost all control over the situation. Fear and unease still coiled like slippery eels through her insides, yet for some reason she had yet to let out the scream that clogged her throat. Nor did she try to run - though this was probably more a result of that common sense again. No doubt she would be caught before she'd gotten very far, and who knew what the man would do to her this time. Not just hold her back and keep her quiet, surely. Sighing quietly the girl rubbed her arms against the sudden chill and regretted that she'd left her room at all that night.

"You're not allowed to be here" she eventually said and gave the man a sideways glance. He kept trying to wipe more blood off first his face and then the hands, with little success.

"I know." He looked back at her with a grin, looking so mischievously pleased with himself beneath the smear of blood that she had a hard time stifling a giggle - again. Swallowing nervously she managed a trembling smile, cursing the stomach that kept turning anxiously. The situation was so ridiculous! How could he stand there looking so relaxed? It was unfair, especially as her attempts at expressing calm composure failed miserably.

"Why are you..." she started, then changed her mind and bit her lip uncertainly. Did she really want to know? What if he was here to hurt someone, what if he was a bad guy - well clearly he was a bad guy but what if he was evil and she had to call the guards after all, making all this a complete waste of time? She almost thought it would be better not to know.. but he didn't seem willing to let her remain ignorant, instead awarding her with full - if brief- attention.

"Why I'm here?" he willingly filled in, before finally starting to look around with the kind of wariness she'd thought would be prudent to maintain all the time when breaking and entering. "A dare."

"A dare!?" she repeated, incredulous as he was nonchalant. Realizing how loud she must have been from the dark glare he shot her, the princess clasped her hands tightly over her mouth and took another step back, not relaxing even when the man blinked and looked away.

"Yup. Some jerk I happen to know had the nerve to tell me I'd never be able to get into the castle without being caught, so I told him I'd do it in a night and show him proof of it too."

"What kind of proof?" the girl asked between pale fingers, eyes narrowing suspiciously at him.

"I don't really know yet" he said with a shrug, then reached out as suddenly as he had before and dragged her off towards the wall he'd previously tried to scale, making her sit down next to it before hunching down himself.

"What are you..!?"

"Better not stand around where anyone can see" he said. "You kind of stand out, that dress glows like a torch." Pausing for a moment he then frowned, looking her over a bit more thoroughly. "Who are you anyway? What are you doing here?"

She felt her eyebrows rise, honestly surprised that he could be so ignorant. Sure, the whole idea of doing something so stupid as risking ones life over pointless taunts was simpleminded to the extreme, but she couldn't believe there were people around that didn't recognize their own royal family. Purely aside from her face being printed on all the silver coins in the kingdom of Firoe...

"I live here" she replied coolly, "and since I'm not the one trying to break into someone's home, I don't think I have any obligation to offer my name to anyone who's too ignorant to know it already."

It was rather satisfying to see the guy grimace and rub the back of his neck with a rough hand - apparently her remark had struck home.

"... Natsu" he muttered after a reluctant silence. "Name's Natsu... I'm not really from around here, just passing through town."

As she'd thought. Most of the people in the country were fair haired and pale skinned, much like herself. The differences between them weren't glaringly obvious, just about enough that she started a bit whenever she gave him a closer look.

"My name is Lucy" she offered with a courteous nod, expecting him to react like everyone else did; with a start, staring eyes, bowed heads and annoying humility. When he did neither of them, daring to show no sign of recognition at all, she huffed a bit and folded her arms across the chest, peeved as much by his lack of knowledge as by her own relief - it almost felt good to be unknown. Almost. More importantly, it made some of the flutter in her stomach settle along with the lingering fear that he had come to harm her. Not that she trusted him, oh no... but maybe she didn't have to be scared out of her mind.

"So... why aren't you screaming?"

The question caught her off guard. Glancing briefly over at the burglar she shifted a bit, pulling the knees up against the chest - there would be grass stains on her gown, she realized, and wondered with a pang of unease how she'd manage to explain them away in the morning.

"I don't know" she admitted after a while, rubbing a nervous hand across the face; Natsu's blood was starting to dry on her skin, annoying her with the itching and the thought of how ridiculous it must look. "You're not... what I would have expected of a burglar."

She heard him chuckle quietly and frowned in displeasure, refusing to look in his direction. Really, she ought to scream. Lucy was shocking herself with how easily she was accepting the situation. Out in the dark of night, sitting in the grass with a complete stranger who'd not only bled on her but was laughing at her as well. Yet... somehow the thought of handing him over to the guards and her fathers so called justice was distasteful, not to mention that she had no desire whatsoever to explain the situation and her own chosen course of action. The mere thought of what her father would say made her shudder.

"You should go back" she said after a long silence, finally looking up at him again. Natsu frowned, looking displeased.

"No way, I've come this far!"

"You got caught though" she pointed out, "so technically you already lost that bet."

He frowned even deeper at that, the reluctance so plain that she finally couldn't help herself anymore; pressing a hand over her mouth she tried to stifle a giggle, though he clearly must have heard it judging by the indignant face he made at her.

"I can't leave without proof!" he complained, looking severely put off. "Besides, I don't call this being caught; a girl with a stick isn't much of a threat."

"Oh you..!" She gasped in outrage, quickly opening her mouth to object; a sudden hand over her mouth quickly silenced her again however. Natsu's face split in a wide smirk as he laughingly hushed her.

"Shh, don't be so loud" he chuckled, "or you'll attract the guards."

Lucy jerked her head away and glared at him, cheeks blotchy with indignation and eyes shooting daggers at the laughing face.

"There are no guards here to listen" she snapped with a tetchy glare, "and even if there were they're usually too busy prattling amongst themselves to pay attention to anything else. You'd have to actually scream for anyone to hear anything." Though as soon as she said it, Lucy rather wished she hadn't. With a single careless comment she had effectively taken away any advantage she had over this man, and it made the flutter of her stomach return full force. He didn't seem to notice however.

"Why aren't there guards here?" Natsu asked with a puzzled expression. "I had to dodge plenty of them before I got to this point. I thought they'd be standing at every gate all the way."

"You really don't know?" she said, again surprised by his sheer lack of information. "This garden is a part of the kings quarters..." Noticing his nonplussed expression she rolled her eyes and got to her feet, gesturing for him to do the same. Backing off a bit so she could look up at the castle, she gestured to the part that was closest to them.

"See that wing and the wall with all the windows? That entire section, from the basement all the way up to the tower, as well as this garden all the way down to the outer wall, is where the king and his family lives. No one is allowed here, not even the guards. They patrol the corridors and the areas around it all, but the grounds themselves are off limits. Honestly, I'm surprised you managed to get all this way without realizing."

Looking back at the man, she found him staring at her with a strange expression on his face. Lifting a brow in question, she was met with nothing but silence and such a long, intense stare that Lucy found herself backing off a bit, shoulders tensing as if to shield herself.

"What?"

"Well..." He reached up and pulled a hand through the hair, making the short fuzz stand in all directions; it was hard to tell what color it was, the dim night had a way of dying everything in shades of gray - at least it wasn't black or blonde, but that was as much as she could tell. "Aren't you in trouble too, if no one's supposed to be here? I mean, if the royals are the only one's allowed..."

Folding her arms across the chest again, she gave him a small, almost pitying smile.

"I told you... I live here."

"But..." She could almost hear the gears tick as Natsu looked from her, to the castle, then back to her again. She wished she'd had a bell to ring when his eyes finally widened, whether in shock or surprise or whichever was hard to tell. "You're related to the king!?" he almost shouted, an odd sort of excitement dancing in his eyes.

She couldn't help but smile at him, hard-pressed not to laugh. Was he really dense, or just so caught up in his own way of thinking that any eventual intelligence simply was too foreign for regular people to understand? Then again, Lucy had to admit that she didn't really match the description of a noble lady at the moment. They weren't known to take late night strolls in their nightgowns, barefoot at that, or shove people into bushes. In fact, had she seen herself as she pounced a stranger with nothing to aid her but determination and a wooden stick...

But at that thought her smile died, the mirth fading slowly as her situation became apparent to her once more. Her gaze turned back to the castle more grimly this time, and after a moment she sighed and nodded in answer to Natsu's question.

"He's my father" she said quietly.

"You're a princess? That's awesome!" the boy exclaimed, still with that peculiar liveliness dancing about him. Lucy tried to smile again but it came out as more of a grimace; she gave up and went back to the wall, sinking down into the grass with her back leaned against the cold stone.

"Is it?" she said tonelessly, tugging at the grass with restless fingers.

"Yea it is!" he persisted, following after her but remained standing with arms gesturing wildly as if to emphasize his point. "You get to eat tons of good food and people do whatever you say..." He broke off as she snorted, looking confused. "What, you don't get food?"

"Oh, I have good food" she said, "and pretty clothes and jewelry and things. But I'm not allowed to go anywhere, I can't do anything without a flock of people following me around, I have to mind my manners and speak appropriately and heaven forbid if I ever mention wanting to do something that could be seen as inappropriate. 'A lady must know her place and act according to the expectations of the people, and a princess must be a model for the ladies themselves'..."

She flung out her hands in exasperation, unintentionally pulling up a handful of weeds in the process. Grimacing she opened her fingers and let the severed strands fall to the ground; she'd riled herself up without even intending to. It was hard to look up at Natsu, who's face had grown serious, almost solemn as he listened. He hunched down before her, elbows resting at the knees as he regarded her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, his face was strangely hard to read. Sometimes it was vivid with emotion and other times as blank and closed as ice over a pond at winter. It didn't exactly help that she didn't know him at all.

"What do you want to do?" he asked rather quietly, head tilting to the side in a way that could indicate curiosity - she wasn't sure, and didn't know why it mattered.

"I... no, it doesn't matter, it won't happen anyway." Lucy tried to wave it off, but he didn't react, simply continued to look at her with infuriating patience. The blonde leaned closer to the wall, feeling pressured; why did it matter to him anyway?

"You don't know that. Come on, tell me."

He looked so calm, so honestly interested. Lucy squirmed where she sat, struggling with herself and the barriers she always hid her own desires behind. A quick glance at the man's face left her gaze trapped in his, soft brown eyes held captive by onyx so intense and determined and kind that she felt a shiver run down the spine while something within her chest clenched painfully.

"I..! I want to leave this castle!" she finally blurted out, hating how effortlessly he tore down her walls. Without even trying they came tumbling down before him, brick by miserable brick until her dreams lay bared and exposed.

"I've spent my whole life behind these walls and if my father get his way - which he will, since he's the king - I will not leave until I'm old and gray, if then. He decided what I've been taught, he's deciding what I'm allowed to do now and he's going to choose who I marry, and no doubt when I'm allowed to die too! He never listens to what I say and the only time he even notices my existence is to give me new orders."

This was bad, she was starting to break down. Sucking in deep breaths Lucy tried to suppress the feeling of despair, blinking her eyes furiously to stave off the tears she knew would threaten to fall if she relaxed. Slinging the arms around her knees she balled herself up as tightly as she could, trying to look everywhere except at the young man before her. Despite her best efforts however her gaze kept returning to him; it was hard not to feel resentful when considering it was his fault that she was feeling this torn up. If he hadn't been sneaking around where he shouldn't be she would be back in bed now, securely shielded behind her complacent mask. Not sitting in the cold grass with threadbare dignity, trying her best not to cry.

To top it off, the only reaction she was getting to her words was a continued look of interest that demanded more in all but words.

"Leave.. and do what?" Natsu asked again, seeming impervious to her baleful glares. The only reason she didn't try to sock him was that he seemed genuinely interested in hearing the answer - perhaps that was why she was telling him anything in the first place. Good listeners were hard to come by. Yet, this question was hard to answer somehow. She felt her cheeks go red as she thought about it, once again finding herself squirming to get out of answering.

"You'll laugh, so I don't want to say.." she mumbled, hiding away the face behind her knees.

"I won't laugh!" he protested, shifting position so that he sat cross legged in in the grass before her. Resting the hands against the ankles and leaning forward, he looked so earnest and intense that Lucy faltered once more. She opened her mouth, closed it again, repeated the process a few times. How had this even happened? One moment she tried her best to kill him and the next she was telling him about her most private thoughts and dreams. It was strange, it was stupid, it was... impossible to resist.

"Laugh and I'll hit you" she warned, chocolate eyes pregnant with ominous promise as she gave up, sighed and looked away, gaze trailing along the all too familiar outline of the gardens. "I... want to go on adventures. Learn magic, find dragons... see fairies..." she muttered, red in the face. For a moment there was silence; then, a half choked sound from the guy had her leaping at him fists balled, practically shrieking in anger.

"I'm not laughing, I'm not..!" he tried to protest as he leaned back, guarding his face with his hands to avoid her clumsy blows. But he was, and by the time he finally caught her wrists in a steady grip he was laughing so hard that he fell back into the grass. Standing on her knees over him she tried to tug herself free, or at least get a good punch in on his stupidly grinning face; but it was like trying to shift a wall, the hands weren't budging. In the end she had to give up and sat down, red as a peony in the face and back rigid with injured pride. She refused to look at Natsu, even as he calmed down and heaved himself back up - apparently he thought it prudent not to let go of her hands just yet, because his hold on her didn't relinquish - and she did her best to ignore him as he spoke up, somewhat out of breath after laughing so much.

"You're weird" he stated with a grin, something that only made her tense up even more - weird, her?! If anyone was strange here...! "I've never met someone as unfit to be a princess. You should just quit and leave!"

"You say it like its so easy!" she snapped, spinning back to stare at him so quickly that she almost toppled over. Natsu steadied her before she ended up face first in the grass, but rather than thank him she continued spluttering.

"Do you have any idea what a mess I'd make if I left? They'd send soldiers after me before I was out of the city and I'd be caught and dragged back before anyone even realized I was gone. I don't have anywhere to go and even if I did I'd bring nothing but grief to anyone who tried to..."

"Hey hey, calm down!"

Something in his tone of voice made her quiet, reluctantly at first but more intently as she noticed his expression change. There was a sort of mad, wild determination growing about him that sent a new kind of chill down her spine, a look not entirely unlike that exuberant mischief she'd seen before when he spoke of his 'prank' of sneaking into the castle.

"It's impossible" Lucy repeated weakly, hating herself for saying it out loud, for admitting that she had long since given up. "It'd take a miracle to even get out of the castle, let alone..."

"If you had a miracle, would you want to leave?" Natsu cut in before she could finish, making the girl puff her cheeks up indignantly.

"There's no way a miracle would..."

"Would you?"

She pouted again for being interruptes, but slowly, hesitantly, she nodded. What harm could come of being honest? It didn't feel like it was her body moving anyway, more like a puppeteer was pulling some string that made her head move up and down. Natsu didn't seem to notice or even care. Instead he got up to his feet and pulled her up, suddenly fierce eyes staring intently down into her own. She had no idea what this was about, somehow she couldn't think straight anymore.

"You really want to leave? Even if they send soldiers, even if you have to fight? It'd be hard, sure. Maybe even scary. If you had a miracle, would you take the chance?"

"I..." she croaked, taken aback by the sudden intensity of him. Lucy tried to move away but was immediately pulled back by a firm tug on her wrists, the hands around which were suddenly hard, hot, almost burning.

Swallowing hard she tore her gaze from his and threw a long, long look at the castle. To leave. To never have to go back. No more balls or lessons or flocks of people that smiled with glittering teeth and plotted against her as soon as she turned her back...
The very thought made her head spin with relief and before she could even finish the thought, before she even knew if she really meant it she had turned back and nodded, fervently, desperately.

"You're sure?"

"Yes!"

"Then I'll give you a miracle."

Lucy stared at the man before her with eyes wide and shocked, lost for words.

Was he kidding?

Natsu grinned back ferociously and tugged at her arms again, making her stumble forward and almost fall into his chest. Bewildered she began to struggle backwards, embarrassed and confused, but with the same careless strength as before he easily slung an arm around her waist and held her firmly in place.

"What are you doing!?" she protested, blushing furiously. He was warm, she was only wearing her flimsy nightgown, she'd never been this close to any man except her father for as long as she could remember, her feet was bare and her thoughts had lost all focus and she really ought to replace that stick where she had taken it or the gardener would have a fit...

"I'm stealing you!" he laughed, and before she could comment on the absurdity of the statement a sound of tearing cloth broke the stillness of the night.

Gasping in shock the girl stared down at the back of his shoulders, suddenly no longer smooth and covered in rough, dark fabric. Instead there were wings, large and leathery and covered in scales so red that not even the night could diminish the fiery hue. With a sound like quiet thunder they expanded, Lucy caught a glimpse of a thick, thorn-lined tail that slithered down behind his legs, thrashing to and fro in excitement.

Then his grip tightened around her and with a jerk she found herself pulled from the ground, stomach sinking as she saw the ground spiral away below. Throwing away all pretense Lucy shrieked and grabbed hold of Natsu's shirt, found it a feeble support at best and clamped her arms around his neck instead. She closed her eyes tightly, even desperately, so she wouldn't have to see when they fell, when the inevitable impact with the ground would come. Trembling she clung on, moment after endless moment passing by.

Nothing happened.

"Relax, you're choking me!" she heard him shout, sounding strangled yet loud enough to drown out the rush of wind.

Lucy snapped the eyes open in shocked disbelief and turned the head as far as she could to look at him, face pale and lips trembling. To her great surprise he looked back and grinned, the wide smile even sharper and toothier than before, familiar yet so alien now that the skin around his eyes and along the jaw was covered in burning, crimson scales. Not to mention the horns that curved back over the hair, dark and sharp and decidedly not human. Hesitantly she relaxed her arms a little, though couldn't for all the stars in the sky get herself to release the grip entirely.

"You're a dragon!" she exclaimed, torn between laughter and tears and incredulous disbelief as she stated the obvious. So that was the reason why he had been laughing so hard at her! Part of her was scared beyond all senses, fed as she had been with horror stories and midwife tales of all the dreadful things a dragon could and would do if given a chance - the rest was too intrigued and rattled by the sudden turn of events to care, it was something she would have to work out later if she ever got the chance.

Natsu just grinned back at her before straightening out in the air, wings beating heavily to keep them in place as he removed a hand from around her to point downwards - Lucy immediately tightened her slackened grip around his neck again and whimpered in fright, really really wishing he hadn't done that.

"Take a good look" he just said, making her squint down towards the ground.

They were incredibly, impossibly high up in the air, the castle little more than a toy house far down, surrounded by what looked like a swarm of golden fireflies. The lights of the city, she realized with awe. How small it looked! The blonde lady had always thought of it as vast, a sprawling mass with endless opportunities and things to envy. Now, this far removed, she felt a shudder ripple through her as the realization of how truly small it was, how insignificant her cage looked compared to the surrounding dark landscape.

Taking a deep breath she forced herself to look a bit longer, then turned away with a shudder and hid away her face against the side Natsu's neck. She felt him turn the head to look down at her but didn't move; not until he resumed the secure grip around her shoulders did she react at all.

When she finally did, her voice was quiet, almost frail.

"I don't have to go back?"

For a moment he was quiet, still as he could be while still holding them up in the air.

Then he shifted forward, tightened the grip around her almost imperceptibly and propelled them forward, away from the castle far below.

"Yeah", he said, almost softly. "I'll set you free."