Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters
Chapter 12
"Mama! Mama! Look what I found!"
"What is it sweetie?" The little girl's mother asked crouching down in front of the small girl.
"Look! Look!"
The small girl held up a flower to her mother's face. They were rare flowers to this kingdom and it was said to be good luck if you found them. It looked like a lily, a white one, but at the end of each petal the white merged with multiple colors like the edges of the petals were becoming rainbows. The girl's mother smiled and took the flower from the girl's hand.
"Now where could you have possibly found this?" Her mother asked.
"It was in the garden. Isn't it pretty mama?" The little girl asked.
"Very pretty sweetie. Come inside and we can put it in one of the vases."
The little girl obeyed and followed her mother inside. The little girl loved her mother deeply so whenever she would find something she would always want to give to her mother. The girl looked exactly like her too, beautiful brown hair and dazzling green eyes. No matter if her mother tried to deny her it wouldn't be possible because they were just too similar, though she would never do such a thing to her daughter.
The little girl placed herself at the table and waited for her mother to grab the vase and fill it with water. Once on the table the little girl watched the lily drop into the water. It seemed to brighten the bare room to an extensive amount. With all of the refurnishing her father was doing the dining room had nothing to make it look lively. The girl's eyes widened with delight as she stared at the flower, her mother's hand running over her head.
"How about I make us some lunch?" Her mother asked.
"Yeah!"
Watching her mother stalk off to the kitchen she turned to the sound of the front door opening. It was her father coming home from his job. The little girl hopped down from her chair and ran over wrapping her tiny limbs know as arms around her father's leg. He picked her up and grinned before turning to face her mother.
"Welcome home. How was work?" Her mother asked trying to strike up a casual conversation.
"We're still having trouble with that one machine. I never did understand magic objects, or magic in general actually. So how are my two girls today?" Her father replied setting the small girl to the floor.
"Papa! Look what I found for mama! It's pretty right?" She asked pointing up to the flower on the table.
"It is pretty. You know I think I remember a legend about that particular flower. It's said to bring good luck if someone in these parts finds it. It's very rare so take good care of it ok?"
"Alright papa!"
Her father gave out a curt chuckle before following her mother back into the kitchen. The little girl perched herself back up onto the chair and proceeded to stare at the flower some more. She could hear her parents talking about something, her mother sounding distressed and her father trying to comfort her. The little girl didn't understand why her mother seemed stressed sometimes. Her ignorant little mind didn't understand how hard life could be when she grew, but really wasn't every little child like that? The small child smiled and turned in her chair to see what was taking her mother so long to make their lunch but she became startled from a loud noise resounding from outside. The little girl snapped her head to the side to face the front door as she felt herself being lifted up out of her chair and into her mother's arms.
"Take her to the back room! Hurry!" Her father yelled over loud banging on the front door.
"Mama what's happening?" The girl's fragile voice whimpered.
Their door flung open and broke off its hinges before her mother had a chance to speak. Men in strange metal clothing entered their home frightening the little girl even more. They were all shouting at once and her father was trying to shove them away from her and her mother. She watched as one of the metal men shoved her father back and he landed onto the floor with a loud 'thud'. Two of the men standing behind the first one passed him trampling over her father without a care to make their way to her and her mother. A disgusting cracking sound came from beneath the men's feet and a pain filled yell followed after from her father.
"Hand over the child!" They demanded, one of them baring a sword holding it out in front of her mother.
"No!"
The girl didn't know what she was supposed to do. The first man who had shoved her father down to begin with had lit a match and dropped it down on the wooden table feeding the small flame that surrounded the tip of the small object. She watched in horror as the fire spread and her mother backed away from it and the men inching closer to them. Her mother darted to the back room and shoved her daughter in their closing the door behind her and telling her to climb out the window. The little girl slammed her tiny hands on the wood crying for her mother. More shouting sounded through the house followed by ear piercing scream. The front door opened and then slammed shut telling the girl that those men had left. She stood to her tippy toes so that she could turn the door knob and make her way out. Half of the house was engulfed in flames by now but all the little girl's tear filled eyes could look at was her mother, her mother's bloody figure sprawled out a crossed the floor lifeless, the 'good luck' flower rested in her mother's hand burning away to nothing.
"MAMA!"
Artemis's eyes flew open and met with sight of the white ceiling filled with little golden designs. Her breaths were short and fast and she could feel that sweat was covering her forehead. She groaned and sat up in her bed rubbing her face. She used her uncovered eye to look out her window, sunlight trying to shove its way through the curtains making her room become dimly lit. The brunette shifted herself so that she could have her feet hanging off the edge of the bed. Her door opened behind her followed by sweet humming. MiraJane made her way to the windows and flung the curtains open letting in more sunlight, Artemis's green orbs squinting at the light's harshness.
"Good morning Artemis!" She greeted cheerfully.
"Morning." She replied sleepily.
"Have a nice sleep?"
". . . I guess." The darker haired teen shrugged not wanting to remember it.
"Good! Erza will be up in a minute with your breakfast and the morning newspaper. We don't know if you like reading but it's just our common courtesy here. Oh and you don't need to rush to be ready this morning Artemis. The prince has morning lessons today so he said you could relax until about noon time." The white haired female informed her before stalking out of the room.
Artemis sighed and pushed her weight onto her feet. Walking over to the closet she shoved the double doors open to reveal the hangers on top of hangers that had dresses hanging on them. Mira had come in yesterday while Artemis was out with Natsu to fill her closet with more simple dresses that she had requested. The brunette grabbed a plain hunter green one before shutting the closet and turning towards the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and proceeded to change and brush her hair out. She found Erza setting food down on her nightstand when she stepped out fully changed. The scarlet haired girl looked up at Artemis and gave a warm smile before bowing.
"Good morning Artemis." She greeted.
"You don't need to act so formal all the time." The brunette mumbled, her clothes being dropped onto the bed.
"I've brought you you're morning meal and something to read until his highness comes to get you. I hope you enjoy."
Erza gave a curt nod of her head and grabbed the clothes bunched up on the already made bed. The female left the room leaving Artemis in peace to eat her meal. The plate was covered in fancy food; some not even looking common whatsoever to the teen. She took a seat on the bed and dug into her morning meal enjoying every bit of it. By the time she was done she had about fifteen minutes or so till noon before Natsu was to walk through the door to get her like Mira said. Her eyes met with the newspaper set next to her plate, the thought of just skimming it over coming to mind. She lifted it up and scanned her eyes over the front page. The head line mentioned something about a robbery in some jewelry store, a picture of a black figure sitting above the article. Green orbs scanned over each page and looked at each picture carefully until she came a crossed one that startled her. The black and white picture held her and Natsu sitting next to that piano in the music store. She scanned over the first few words in the article, heat rising to her cheeks at what it said. 'Prince Natsu had been seen sitting in a music store with a beautiful girl. Could she be the one our prince had been searching for? Could she be the one to help him rule over our beautiful country of Pyre?'. Artemis's face flushed furiously as she continued to look at the picture. She must've zoned out because the sound of her door opening brought her back to reality. It was the pinkette from the picture who had entered her room, that usual smile shining. She slammed the paper down onto her bed and stood up quickly returning his smile.
"Morning Artemis! Enjoy breakfast?" The pinkette asked.
"Y-Yeah, it was great." She replied still trying to hide her embarrassment from the paper.
"Good! Well why don't you get your shoes on and we'll head out."
The brunette nodded and made her way back to the closet to go pick out a pair of shoes. The male spotted the morning paper on the bed once Artemis moved herself. He walked closer and picked it up turning it over to see the picture of Artemis and himself. He growled and lit it on fire from just the heat of his hands, its ashes fluttering to the ground like black snowflakes. Artemis turned to find an uncomfortable emotion on Natsu's face.
"Natsu?" She spoke carefully stepping closer, "Is something wrong?"
"People really need to learn how to butt out of my business." His voice spoke lowly, harshly while his dark eyes darted over to Artemis's figure.
"Ah! . . . I'm s-sorry Natsu I was just-"
"Not you, those stupid reporters. I hate it when they write false things in the paper about me." He sighed.
"S-So . . . you don't like me?" The brunette found herself speaking without meaning to, the disappointment in her tone shocking herself even more.
". . . I never said that, did I?"
The female locked her eyes with the male who was walking towards her. The contact Natsu's hand made with the side of her neck startled her, his hand twice as warm as her own skin. His lips parted into a grin as he pressed his forehead onto hers. The heart inside Artemis's chest wouldn't calm down and just continued to add more beats per minute. It was something different, something she hadn't ever felt before and it was confusing her greatly.
"I do like you a lot you know, ever since I helped you decorate that store. You're different then every other girl my father has had me meet, and I like that. They always swooned over me and I knew all they wanted was the tile of queen and money. I can see that's not what you look for, you don't care about the money do you Artemis? You like your life the way it is, for who you are now. You know I would like a girl just like you ruling next to me, so just give me a chance Artemis, a chance to show you how I feel."
Her breath hitched as he leaned closer, both of them only inches apart. Artemis didn't know what she was supposed to say. She knew she could answer the way Natsu hoped her to answer but she wasn't sure if that was what she wanted too or if it was something else she was searching for, all she knew was that her eyes became heavy and her body just shut down without letting her have a say in what was happening.