A hand clamped down hard over her mouth and jolted the girl awake. Her first instinct was to fight as unfamiliar surroundings swam before her bleary eyes, and it took several panicked moments before she registered the quieting hush of the man that pinned her down into the tall grass.

"Quiet!" he hissed into her ear as soon as recognition lit within her eyes, sparing only a short glance to make sure she would remain quiet before he let go. "People are coming."

Lucy grew rigid as her eyes widened, fear rekindling with double force. Pressing her own hands over the mouth she struggled to stay calm and inched after Natsu as he crawled across the ground to peer down the western slope of the steep hill.

He frowned when he noticed that she had followed but didn't say anything, just pressed the fair-haired head down closer to the ground so she wouldn't get seen. Pulse racing the princess peered down and watched as two men came walking towards them. In the pre-dawn gloom they looked like little more than hulking shadows draped in dark cloth that fluttered around booted legs as they walked.

Though they were still some distance away there was no way they wouldn't spot Natsu and herself if they stood, and judging by the way they kept their heads down and eyes on the ground they weren't very keen on being seen themselves. There was something very ominous about them that made unease settle like a weight in her stomach.

"Who are they?" she breathed anxiously and glanced sideways at the dragon, grateful for his hand on her head - if it hadn't been for the very real reminder of his presence she just might have panicked. "They can't be looking for me, can they?"

"Doubt it" Natsu replied, speaking into her ear again yet so quiet that she still barely made out the words. "Too soon. Looks like rogues... still not good to be seen."

He didn't take his eyes off the men even when speaking. They studied the men in silence for a while, Lucy desperately wishing that they would turn away, change direction and go somewhere else. But as time ticked by it became increasingly obvious that the rogues were headed straight towards them.

Natsu swore softly under breath. Lucy saw his eyes narrowing and felt the hand on her head tense for a moment, reluctance plain on his face. Then he pressed her head firmly down into the grass and shifted, feet planting firmly on the ground as he readied himself, muscles tense as a coiled metal spring.

"Stay here. Close your eyes."

Lucy wished she could have. But the moment his grip on her disappeared and he launched forth her head snapped back up, eyes locking on the figure that dashed down the hill with such speed it looked as though he wasn't even touching the ground. The men looked up and seemed almost as taken aback as the princess was, then they suddenly swore and threw the cloaks aside, grasping towards their hips to reach the heavy swords that hung from the belts. Only one had time to actually unsheathe the blade however before the dragon was upon them.

Lucy gasped and clasped a hand over the mouth in shock and horror as she saw a clawed hand lash out, a quick swipe towards the first persons throat resulting in a tearing sound and a cascade of blood, dark and faded in the gray light.

A gurgling sound erupted from him as he fell to his knees and collapsed into a pile on the ground, accompanied by a panicked curse from the remaining bandit. Lucy could see his hands tremble as he raised the sword in defense against the dragon, but even as he launched forward with a scream and a downward strike Natsu had moved, darting to the side and then forward once more to repeat the same swift, efficient strike towards the neck. There was another scream but it quickly faded into a choke as blood filled the throat, a muffled thud as the man fell to the ground.

Then there was silence.

The girl trembled violently as she pushed herself up to sit, hardly able to breathe. Brown eyes didn't part for a second from the frame of the man that knealt by his victims to wipe their blood from his hands and face with their cloaks. She wished the darkness could linger, that time could reverse and retrieve the blessedly obscure night so she wouldn't have to see the gruesome sight below so clearly. But dawn was as relentless as the dragon and spared no one, not even the princess who swallowed time and time again to fight back the nausea that gripped her as she saw the pools of crimson that slowly soaked the grass and seeped into the thirsty ground.

Numb with shock she saw Natsu examine the corpses, then stand and shake his head with a grim expression before he turned and came back up the hill. For every step he took towards her Lucy felt her heart beat faster until her own pulse raged like a violent drum in her head. Pale-faced she stared at the man as he stopped before her, face grave and impassive as he gazed back down at her.

There was blood on his face. Small red stains dotted the right jawline down to the neck, growing steadily larger and wetter as they crept down the shirt to chest and shoulder. The clawed hands had to be stained with it too, but against the bright red scales and sharp talons it was impossible to make out.

Natsu reached out a hand to help her up, quiet and solemn as he leaned down. The girl flinched and recoiled, eyes widening in fear when those deadly claws descended towards her. He paused in mid movement, a frown already tugging at the brows when he sighed and let the hand fall again.

"I didn't want you to see that." Natsu looked away and rubbed a hand against the side of his neck, restless fingers smearing the blood across the skin. "I can't blame you for being scared, I guess..."

A pang of guilt hit her like a slap in the face and made the gold-haired girl look down onto her shaking hands, unable to meet the dragons eyes. Saying that she wasn't afraid... would be a lie, even more now than it had been before. She was very frightened, so much that her knees wouldn't support her even if she did try to stand. Whenever she closed her eyes the scene of claws tearing open flesh replayed across the inside of the lids - she thought she could smell the heavy metallic stench of blood in the air, as though it reeked all the way up the slope and stood in a cloud around the man in front of her.

But Lucy didn't want to be afraid. Not of blood or thieves or shadows in the night, and especially not of the person who had freed her from her luxurious prison and kept her warm only moments ago. She wanted him to turn back into the smiling young man from the garden, to stop having claws and sharp teeth and dangerous eyes that darkened in determination as he went to take a life.

She wished he could stop being a dragon and be the human she had thought he was, so that she wouldn't have to tremble on the ground with his gaze weighing her shoulders down like a silent accusation... at least that was what it felt like.

But Natsu still remained a dragon when he hunched down on the spot, the movement causing her to snap the head up with compulsive need to see what he was doing, make sure he wasn't reaching for her again.

He didn't.

For the longest time the man just sat there and watched her quietly as the sun appeared on the horizon and dyed the world in shades of blue, peach and purple. The hair of the dragon shimmered in hues of brown and red that looked almost pinkish in the soft light. A part of her wanted to point it out, poke fun at it and see how he would react to her giggles... but she was too afraid to find out what kind of reaction it might be to do anything but sit there.

Slowly, very gradually the trembling faded away. There was still tension in her limbs and caution in her eyes, but Natsu sat so perfectly still that even her panicked mind eventually had to relinquish and admit that he didn't look like he was about to kill her anytime soon. A small trembling sigh escaped through parted lips as her shoulders dropped; Lucy lowered her gaze into the grass once more.

As if that was the cue he had been waiting for Natsu shifted ever so slightly where he sat, a hand rising to finger the blood-stained shawl around his head absently.

"I won't hurt you, Lucy."

His voice was very quiet, but the stillness of the morning left the words hanging between them with perfect clarity. The young woman slowly raised her head and eyed him warily.

"I won't hurt anyone unless there's no other way. This time... I didn't have a choice."

Soft brown eyes trailed from his serious face and down the hill, only to snap back quickywhen the red stains in the grass made her stomach lurch.

"W-why not... knock them out?" she whispered hoarsely, almost wishing for tears instead of the hollow daze that crowded her thoughts.

"I considered it" Natsu replied, quite calmly. "But eventually they would wake up and remember what they saw. When the search for you begins they wouldn't have hesitated to talk to spare their lives or earn a few silvers, and we can't afford that."

Lucy swallowed thickly and found her gaze once again moving back to the crumpled shapes on the ground. This time she forced herself to keep looking, even though it made her hands start quivering again. Those men...

"They died... because of me?"

"You will drive yourself crazy if you think like that" Natsu warned grimly and lowered the hand to rest it against a knee. "They're dead because I chose to kill them. If I didn't kill them today, someone else might have done it tomorrow, or they might have lived for fifty more years. Maybe they would have remained quiet about seeing us, or they would have blabbed to every person they met from here to the Teeth. Regardless of which they are dead now because they were out of luck and I was out of options."

"But... if I didn't leave the castle..."

The guilt was heavy, stifling, like a hot blanket of shame wrapped too tightly around her, so tight she could barely breathe. Lucy wasn't looking at the dragon and received no warning when he suddenly moved. All she knew was that one moment they were sitting with more than an arms length of space between them and the next Natsu was right in front of her while scaly, clawed hands closed around her upper arms and held her very still.

Lucy squealed in fright and tried to back away, but she would've had more success toppling the castle walls than she had trying to escape the dragon's grip. Even her lips were pale as she stared up at the man, his gaze so intense where they stared into her eyes that she thought her heart might just have turned into a flock of panicked birds.

"I stole you from that castle, remember?" The words came out almost like a snarl that did nothing to calm her down.

"You didn't leave, I took you away. If anyone is guilty it's me. If you need to blame someone, blame me. If you had asked me to take you away then maybe I'd be more inclined to agree, but I didn't give you a choice. I took you because I wanted to and I'm going to keep you because I want to, even if it means I have to slaughter armies and burn cities to the ground."

Lucy trembled in his grasp, breathless in face of the sudden intensity. Unbidden the old stories flashed through her memory again, all the horrific stories of their greed and power and destructive nature. The hands were burning and painful on her arms, his entire body emanating a heat so intense that she didn't understand why the grass beneath them didn't catch on fire. A flash of pink ghosted over her mouth as the princess moistened her lips, nervously wondering what in all the heavens she had gotten herself into.

"So" the man continued with only the briefest pause, marginally less intense, "don't blame yourself for anything that happens from now on. You are not responsible, you couldn't stop me if you tried and nothing you say will make me bring you back. Just smile and laugh and enjoy your freedom."

Natsu eased up on his grasp just enough that it didn't hurt anymore and leaned back slightly, though didn't let go of her arms.

Lucy took a deep breath and straightened a little, rather overwhelmed by the lecture. The fear that turned her from hot to cold and back again faded somewhat, mostly because of the blatant hole in the mans statement, so gaping that she just couldn't ignore it no matter how ruffled or shaken she was.

"How can I be free if you're holding me captive?" she grumbled, pouting slightly while eying the man from the corner of her eye. The slow grin that stretched his mouth was sly and tense and rather unsettling, though much better than the scowl he had been wearing thus far.

"Easy! It's not like I'm going to lock you up anywhere. If you want to go somewhere or do something then go ahead! I'll be coming with you though and if you try to go back to that place then I'll probably stop you."

His grin widened as she stared up into his face, quite taken aback.

"You'll come with me?"

"Of course! What, did you think I'd just drop you off in a random town and leave you there?"

He looked a bit offended, even more so when Lucy nodded with more honesty than tact.

"Hey hey, have some faith, will ya. Who'd go through all this trouble only to ditch you before the fun even starts."

The dragon shook his head and finally let go of her as he pushed himself back up on his feet, grimacing at the stiffness of his legs. Lucy eyed him incredulously as he stretched back and forth, popping sounds emanating from joints and the spine and followed by sighs of relief.

Was this really the same guy that had killed without mercy only a short while ago? If it weren't for the blood on his skin and clothes and the dead men at the foot of the hill she would never have guessed it. Yet the proof was undeniable and the simple knowledge of what this person was capable of was enough to make the girl shiver with unease. Rubbing her arms gingerly she gazed from Natsu to the nameless rogues, then back again.

"Natsu?" His name was still foreign on her tongue, clumsily formed and hesitantly released. Yet he reacted willingly enough by glancing back over a shoulder, gaze calm again and midly curious.

"Huh?"

"I-I don't... You shouldn't.. well.. what I mean is..." She had to take a deep breath to steady herself, wishing her tongue would be more cooperative. "If... it is at all possible... could you... at least TRY not to.. to kill more people?"

Brushing a strand of flaxen hair behind an ear the girl nibbled anxiously at her lip as the dragon regarded her for some time. There was something in his look that made her nervous, something cold and calluous and fierce that suddenly reminded her that despite his very person-like built this man really wasn't human. Lucy forced herself not to flinch or even move when he turned around and stepped back towards her, kept herself from recoiling again when he held out a hand towards her for the second time. Hesitantly she followed the clawed appendage up until she met his gaze, eyes widening slightly when she noticed the silent challenge that burned within it.

Pale fingers trembled as she slowly raised her own hand and carefully placed it in the dragon's palm. They flinched when cold skin connected with hot, sharp scales but didn't move away when Natsu closed the hand around hers and pulled her up on her feet. Something in his face warmed as he did so, as though an edge she hadn't even noticed before had suddenly softened.

"Yeah, I promise" he said quietly, maintaining eyecontact as well as the hold on her hand. "I don't enjoy taking lives, but if it makes you happy I'll try a bit harder to avoid ending in situations where it's unavoidable. In return though, you have to accept that sometimes there's no other way. If I say it's the only choice..."

"Mmh. I'll listen." But maybe not be happy about it. A small, grateful smile grazed her lips as she nodded. Taking a deep breath Lucy let her fingers slip from the mans hand and let out a long, slow sigh that drained the last of the tension from her shoulders, feeling as though a great weight had lifted from them.

"Good. Now come on, we need to get going before more people start to move about."

Natsu unfurled the wings from his back and reached out for the slender girl. Lucy hesitated however, turning towards the fallen people in the grass below. Somehow it felt wrong to just leave them there, discarded like garbage just because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. She ought to do something, alert someone, or at least pay some kind of respects...

She had only managed a few steps towards them when Natsu came up from behind and stopped her with a gentle grip on her shoulders.

"There's nothing you can do" he said quietly and turned her around, very careful with the dangerous claws as he pulled the girl into his muscular chest. "Someone will find them soon enough, and when they do we have to be far away. Don't worry Lucy, it will be alright."

She wanted to believe him, so the princess simply nodded quietly and draped her arms around the mans shoulders, holding on tightly as he jumped off and brought them up towards the sky. The arms that held her were strong and steady and incredibly warm despite the cool morning air. Relaxing was almost too easy; with a quiet sigh the girl let her head drop onto a sturdy shoulder and closed her eyes, too tired to even attempt further conversation.

So much had happened at such a quick pace and she knew for a fact that it would take a long time before she had sorted it all out for herself. Many questions still haunted her, too many to count; where were they going, what would happen now, why had Natsu even brought her along and why on earth was he so adamant about not bringing her back even though it would be the wisest choice? She wondered what would happen if anyone caught up to them, what the dragon would do if they kept being pursued, how they would get food and shelter and she really needed some decent clothes and why was it that the dragon never looked like a real dragon and kept using this halfway guise...

No answers ever came to her. Lulled by the rush of wind and the steady beat of leathery wings Lucy drifted off to sleep, trusting her strange new friend to keep her from falling. It was peculiar how easy it was to entrust her life to him, especially after what she'd just whitnessed. But then again the whole situation was quite bizarre, and since she apparently didn't have any other choice the princess just gave up and dozed off, hoping that everything would make more sense when she woke up again.