Summary: There's a whole world outside her garden walls but Lucy doubts she will ever see it, even despite the assurances of the charming orphan boy who whispers promises through a rusty iron gate.

A/N: I've had this idea for a while so I wanted to give it a shot. Please let me know what you think!

Lucy was tired.

The breeze was cold as it caressed the bare skin of her shoulders, catching wisps of her hair and lifting them to skim her cheeks. She tucked them idly behind her ear with a heavy hand. She knew if anyone found her-which eventually, they would- they'd berate her for not wrapping herself up tightly. She hadn't even worn shoes, yet alone a coat. She'd wandered into the garden in a daze in nothing but her nightdress, as though she were floating in a dream.

She could hear the birds up in the trees, the leaves stirring in the breeze. The afternoon sun remained hidden behind the grey clouds. She closed her eyes and listened, breathing deeply in time with the hush of the wind. If she focused just right she could forget about the mansion behind her, the busy scuffles of the staff inside, the pressing weight of her responsibilities, and the miles upon miles of luxurious food that she had no desire to eat.

It made her feel guilty, but it was all too much. The energy it took to interact with people she knew secretly despised her despite their charming smiles, the effort it required to make herself as presentable as her maids desired, the strength her arm needed to raise a heavy fork to her lips. She lacked it all. It seemed all she was good for was sleeping late into the day and not quite catching the things people said to her.

Sometimes she would wander aimlessly through the grand halls of her father's stately home and an old painting would catch her eye. Paintings of herself as a child, with a full and happy family. It would amaze her that there was a point in her life when she was so happy, so full of energy, so alive.

And now she was just numb.

A breath caught in her throat, shocking her body into a violent cough. This far out in the gardens- right at the edge of their lands- no one could hear her. Even as she clutched at her sides she was grateful for it. The rush of people that always swarmed to her at the slightest tickle of her throat only made it harder to breathe.

Moments later the coughing subsided. Her lungs burned as she struggled for air, but the pain didn't bother her. It reminded her that she was still alive. The palm of her right hand felt damp, and she knew even before she pulled it away from her mouth that it would be stained with blood.

She leaned forward, elbows on her knees as she stared at a daffodil in the grass. No tears came as beads of blood trailed down her fingers from her palm and dripped onto the white of her nightgown. She hadn't even the energy to cry. She knew that if someone found her now, they'd pause for a moment and watch her sitting there on the old stone bench. Their eyes would fix on the bones of her shoulders that jutted out from under the thin straps of her nightdress. They'd notice the goose-bumps on her pale skin, and the blood that still stained her lips when she would eventually turn to them.

She hoped no one would ever find her.

This place was one of her few places of solace. The Heartfilia home was grand, but its lands were larger still. The walk from the house to her hidden corner took twenty minutes on her shaking legs, but she made it here almost every day. The old stone bench she always rested on was hidden in a small space surround on three fronts by tall bushes and trees, hiding the mansion from view.

The fourth wall of her little sanctum was a high stone wall covered in vines and ivy. The moss between the cracks in the stone was always damp, and the rusted iron gate that was masked slightly by the greenery always remained locked.

The gate, if it were ever opened, led onto the grounds of the neighbouring estate. The lands were owned by a wealthy man named Makarov, who used his riches kindly. His home, that she was told was even bigger than her own, had housed a much greater number than Lucy's small family's had for a very long time. It was no longer simply a manor for a wealthy man, but an orphanage.

Lucy smiled tiredly at the idea of the place. She'd never seen it- had never seen much outside the walls- but she could imagine it well. She could see the house itself painted in the distance from her bedroom window. Sometimes, when she was younger, she swore she caught snatches of children's laughter drifting to her over the wind. She'd had no friends of her own, and so she had longed to join them. Of course, father wouldn't have it.

Still drunk on the vibrancy of youth, she'd settled for exploring the gardens on her own. At times, she'd been missing for hours. The gardens had worked with her to hide her from the cruel and prying eyes of the house and all who visited it. Eventually, she'd stumbled upon the small sanctum she sat in now.

And it was through that rusted old gate that she'd made her first friend.

The beating of hooves in the mud pulled her from her thoughts. The sounds came from the other side of the wall, and Lucy felt her first burst of energy in days. She quickly wiped the blood from her lips before spitting on her hand and rubbing it clean with the tall strands of grass at her feet. If her maids could see her, they would have been disgusted.

Her lips quirked up at the thought.

The hoof beats stopped just as she straightened her spine. She heard the thud of footsteps in the dirt as whoever approached on the other side of the wall dismounted. As the steps drew closer she felt the familiar flutter in her heart. She did not have to see him to know who approached.

"An hour gone lunch time and you're still in your night clothes?" Natsu tutted as he stepped up to the gate, "You're so lazy Luce."

Lucy offered him a soft smile as she drank in the sight of him. He looped his arms through the gate, leaning against the metal casually. The colour of his shirt had faded from white to dull grey with age, but it only added charm to his dishevelled appearance. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing the tanned skin of his forearms and the thick cuff he always wore around one wrist. His shirt had been tucked haphazardly into his high wasted pants, of which the brown material hugged the shape of his legs right down to his knee-high riding boots. His ever present white scarf hung loosely from his neck. He looked more like a ruffian than a gentleman.

Her gaze finally found his face. His dark eyes were staring back at her, and that boyish lilt still tainted his smile. His wild pink hair stuck out in every direction. She wanted nothing more than to run her fingers through it. To look at him without bars between them as she did it.

But orphans didn't deign with heiresses. They weren't allowed to.

"What are you doing here Natsu?" She raised an eyebrow at him, feigning curiosity.

"Do I need a reason?" He laughed, pressing his face against the bars of the gate, "Can't a man come see his favourite Princess?"

Lucy rolled her eyes at his teasing. They had been friends for many years, speaking only through the forgotten gate. He knew her well, despite their differences. He knew her in a way no one else did. Her true self, that's what she called it. The Lucy that lived without the confining social rules of her home that thrived in the gardens. The Lucy that was more than her money and her name, a puppet for people to use as they saw fit. The Lucy that was still alive inside.

"I'm no Princess." She grinned as she stood.

Natsu licked his lips as his dark eyes trailed down her body.

"Oh, I know."

She often wondered why it was that Natsu stayed in these parts, and it was times like this that she thought she knew. They were the same age, which meant one thing for her and another for him. For Natsu, it meant he could do as he pleased. No one had ever adopted him, and now that he was an adult he had no reason to stay with Makarov any longer. She'd heard that the old man offered work to those of his children that never left him, but Lucy had the strongest desire for Natsu to leave this place. To discover the world outside his orphanage. But when he looked at her like that… something told her that he would never see the rest of the world unless she saw it to. He was postponing the freedom that turning eighteen a few months ago offered him. He was waiting for her.

For Lucy though, turning into an adult meant… well, she didn't want to think about it.

She paced towards the gate slowly, enjoying the way he watched her. She'd long ago lost count of how many times she'd cursed the gate, the wall, everything that confined her to the Heartfilia estate and kept her from him. She was sure Natsu had too. He'd tried to scale the wall once and almost died trying. There were spikes at the top, covered in this part by the ivy. One had pierced his side and she could do nothing but scream. Luckily, others from the orphanage that had been exploring the land had heard her and came to investigate. They'd gotten Natsu free and hauled him back to the orphanage. Lucy didn't see him for another three weeks. She feared he'd died and it had all been her fault.

When he eventually found her again, she'd banned him from every attempting to scale the wall a second time.

He ran his fingers up and down her arms as she stepped close enough to clutch at the bars. His touch made a pleasant shiver run down her spine. She wasn't quite sure when this had happened. When she'd begun to feel something more than companionship for him. When she'd let him see it. He'd told her once that he'd break down the wall if he had to; sneak into one of her father's parties and take her away. Anything so that she could see the world beyond her garden wall.

It must have been around then that she'd realised.

Natsu had never kissed her. He had never touched her without a glance to make sure it was okay first. He asked where others demanded. He never treated anything they had as though he were entitled to it. He gave her choices. Sometimes she thought it was all folly, a wild dream. She had never had a choice when it came to loving him. He was the only one in the world- both hers and the one outside it- that ever showed her nothing but kindness. Who else was there to love? But she knew deep down, that even if there were other choices, she would still choose him.

"There's blood on your dress." He said softly, fingers still tracing patterns up her arms.

"I must have scraped my knee." She lied.

"Can I see it?"

She thought of lifting the thin material of her nightdress. Of Natsu reaching through the bars and running his calloused fingers up her bare leg with attentive care. His thumb would brush across the intact skin of her knee, and he would look up at her with a curious glint in his eyes. Perhaps he'd even bring her leg closer to the bars so that he could press his lips to her knee and mutter 'all better', even though he knew she'd lied.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, taking in a deep breath before opening them again.

"No." She finally answered.

Natsu didn't know she was sick. He didn't know she used her last reserves of energy to smile at him and make him happy. She never wanted him to know. She would keep coming back until she could eventually persuade him to leave. To travel so he could tell her all about his new adventures. She knew that even if she succeeded, he would still come back. But by then, it would be too late.

He looked a little hurt at the denial of his request, but he hid it well. He stood up straight, his hands resting over hers where they clutched at the bars. He stood a head taller than her now. She remembered when they used to be the same height.

"You're not still angry about the key are you?" He frowned.

Lucy's heart ached. The key. The locked gate of course had a key. They'd realised this (a little belatedly) when they were around fifteen. Natsu had gone rushing back to the orphanage that day when he'd realised, but returned full of dismay. Makarov told him the key had been lost years ago. Apparently their old groundskeeper had left and taken it with him. Lucy on the other hand couldn't simply ask her father about the key, as Natsu had done with Makarov. She was too afraid that if he discovered all the gate did for her he'd have it blocked up. Instead she had searched her house for many years, looking for a key of undetermined size and shape. At least, she had searched for it. Until she'd gotten sick.

A few weeks ago, she'd wandered to her sanctum to find Natsu waiting for her on the other side of the gate. He claimed to have been waiting since the day before, but she was sure he had been lying. He was practically giddy with excitement. He'd found the key. He'd waited for her so they could open the gate together. He'd fumbled excitedly as he fumbled with the lock, letting a whisper of 'I can't wait until this damn thing is out of the way and I can finally kiss you' slip past his lips. Lucy had politely pretended not to hear, but she hadn't been able to hide her grin.

Their joy had been short lived, however. The key wasn't quite right, and in Natsu's desperate refusal to accept defeat, he'd tried to force it to turn in the lock. The key had broken off from its handle, the end of it remaining wedged in the lock. Now, even if they found the right key, the gate would remain unable to be opened.

"No," She smiled sadly at him, "I'm not angry about the key. I'm not angry at all."

She didn't have the energy to be angry.

Natsu sighed. He reached through the bars again, his hands skimming up her arms before reaching to cup her face. Lucy leaned into his touch as she watched his jaw clench.

"It was all my fault," He scowled, "I just wanted to-"

He cut himself off with a groan of frustration. Lucy stepped closer to the gate, her chest pressed against the bars as she tugged gently as his scarf. He looked up at her. His eyes were sad, but they sparked to life again once she offered him a reassuring smile.

His thumbs swiped gently across her cheeks. Her heart fluttered at how gentle he always was with her. Not because he was afraid she would break, but because he cared. He stepped closer as he looked down at her. She lost herself in the dark of his eyes, not realising until the cold metal of the gate was millimetres away from her cheeks and the tips of their noses brushed that they were leaning in towards each other.

She forced herself to turn away.

"Natsu," Her voice sounded pained even to her own ears, he whispered her name desperately at the same time, "I don't want to kiss you for the first time with bars between us."

Natsu sighed deeply as he leaned his forehead against hers. Or rather, as much as he could through the gate.

"Would you be opposed to an explosion?" He asked with a feigned casual air, "I could always just blow this whole godforsaken wall down."

Lucy chuckled.

"I wouldn't object," She smiled, "But my father might."

Natsu visibly bristled at the mention of Jude Heartfilia.

"When I was younger, I used to wish your dad would get caught in a bad carriage accident."

"Natsu!"

"I know, I know. It's awful." He confessed, "But I just couldn't help but wonder… if something happened to him, maybe they'd send you to the orphanage."

"Even if you'd gotten your dreadful wish," She chided him softly, "They would never have sent me to you. They would have taken me to some distant relative most likely. Someone with even less patience for me than my father."

"I just- How can he think this is any sort of life for you?" Natsu wondered in disbelief, "You've never seen the mountains, the ocean-"

"Neither have you." She grinned a little.

"That's not the point Luce." Natsu shook his head, "I could see the whole world if I wanted, but none of it would matter if you weren't there to see it with me."

"Natsu…" Lucy was lost for words as her eyes teared up for the first time in months.

"There's more to the world than fancy gardens and ornate houses. More to life than wealth and propriety and pompous assholes with more money than sense, or marriages to people who don't love you-"

"I'll die before they marry me off." Lucy ground out.

Natsu's eyes widened. She could see he thought she meant the words out of devotion to him, and not in their literal sense.

"It won't come to that," He whispered in the space between them, "I'll get you out before then. I promise."

Lucy pulled back a little.

"You've been saying that for years."

"And I mean it Luce." He insisted as her reached for her, "Just wait for me okay?"

Lucy twined her fingers with his, squeezing them tightly before pressing her lips to his bruised knuckles.

"Oh Natsu," She whispered against his skin, "I've been waiting to run away with you my whole life."

She let go of his hand and stepped backwards. She could hear the house staff calling to her in the distance. She could already feel herself retreating inwards.

"Just wait a little longer Lucy," Natsu called out to her, hands clutching at the bars of the gate so tightly his fingers went white, "Soon. I promise."

She nodded at him as she turned away. She pulled up the front of her dress to make it easier to manoeuvre through the bushes. Her feet were dirty from her journey, and there was a thorn stuck in her right foot. She didn't feel the pain. She didn't feel much of anything aside from the echo of her hammering heart.

The closer she got to the confines of her house, the less alive she felt. As though she'd handed over her heart, still beating, through the gate.