''DAM* IT!'' Natsu exasperatedly screamed. He had tried to stop her, he really did. But now he was forced to watch as she threw with rocks in the dragon, and distracting it from the castle. She was on the exact opposite side of Erza Scarlet, who was surprised as to why the Dragon kept turning around. She looked in the direction the dragon just tried to hit with its enormous paw and she saw somebody dodging perfectly by throwing herself at the ground.

''Whew, that was close.'' Lucy thought wide-eyed while her heart was running one hundred miles per hour after just being stopped.

Erza narrowed her eyes trying to distinguish the person.

''What in the world…'' she started while her eyes her growing wide. ''IS SHE DOING HERE?!'' she screamed through her teeth while she recognized Lucy 'Sketchnik' trying to fight or something. She watched as the dragon's attention was completely drawn by the annoying girl who kept tickling it with some kinds of minuscule rocks.

Lucy jumped away the moment the claws jabbed into the earth and retrieved through it, digging four deep lines. Two seconds later, she tripped on a rock just in time to fall and dodge the other paw flying through the air to crush her. The annoyed dragon let out another terrifying roar of frustration; this little prey was pretty hard to get. Lucy took advantage of the break and threw Erza a desperate look. The woman didn't get her message. The monster opened its mouth and closed the distance between it and Lucy in no time with the intention to swallow her whole. Lucy rose up fast and ran away.

Unfortunately, she was a step too late. The dragon took a mouth full of earth and underground rock and, because of that, couldn't close it so fast. Because of that, Lucy managed to get her foot back. She panted desperate as her wide eyes looked at the black fangs piercing through the stone and being oh-so-conscious that instead of the rock it could've been her foot. The dragon, swallowing the earth with the rocks, was left with the inducement it had managed to eat Lucy. That moment Lucy noticed this important detail. The dragon didn't have eyes. That was why it was convinced she was in its stomach now. She probably smelled the same as the earth and dust because of the falling, so her scent was no longer there. The dragon could orientate with the help of its nose. She found this as an escape door.

The huge thing turned around smelling in the air. He easily spotted Erza. Lucy also looked at the woman. It seemed like she hadn't noticed yet. She took a fighting position and waited for the dragon's attack.

Think fast, think fast, Lucy agitated. Ah, this is it!

She smiled as she had found the perfect thing. If the beast had a nose, it must've had ears too.

''HEEEEEEEYYYYYYY!'' Lucy yelled over to both the dragon and the queen. The dragon turned its head around and smelled in the air while its ears were moving. Erza also looked at the girl overly pissed. This little princess must've been crazy! She was first throwing herself in the fight as if she could actually be helpful and then she didn't even let the experts do their job!

But while she was thinking these, it finally hit her. She was distracting it! She looked at Lucy with wide eyes while the girl was yelling her life out. When Lucy saw the queen was looking at her at last, she pointed to her eyes while screaming:

''ITS EYES!''

The distance between them was big, so the woman only heard the young 'princess' the second time. She immediately looked at the dragon's eyes the moment it turned its attention back to her while trying to identify where the noise was coming from since it couldn't smell any human besides Erza; but she saw no eyes. Her own eyes grew even wider. Lucy figured this out in only a few minutes?

Lucy threw another couple of rocks with her trembling hands and yelled again with her shaky voice. Yeah, she was afraid. The dragon got pissed again and jumped on Lucy. The girl was lucky enough for the animal was blind and couldn't feel her presence very well. She ended up surrounded by four enormous and muscular feet. She saw a chance of escaping and at the same time a chance of hurting it. She ran towards the right front foot where there seemed to be a wound and a piece of its skin was ripped and left hanging. It had the width of her foot and it was as thick as her arm. She jumped and caught it. She wasn't very strong, but in this moment of desperation she found the power to climb it and grip it like her life depended on it. Not like it didn't. The dragon felt her form the first moment. With a big roar, it rose on its back feet and fell with all its strength back on the ground with the intention of throwing her away; she was hurting it because she was hanging on its wound. She squeezed it as much as she could while screaming. At the impact with the earth, she slipped and the scale the skin was hanging on ripped a little more making it dangerous for her. One of her hands slipped on the blood and she was left holding herself with only one hand. A moment of hesitation from the dragon turned out to be her saving moment. Erza had thrown with all her might a knife that struck the foot right beside Lucy's arm. The girl guessed the good intention and her free hand immediately caught the handle of the knife, leaning against it and so, saving her from falling. She gritted her teeth in the effort of climbing further. She pulled out the knife and jabbed it higher in the skin. She was panting and sweating. She managed not to fall and eventually reached the top of the shaking foot. She couldn't have managed it Erza hadn't fought with it in the meantime. It was like they exchanged places and the queen was now distracting it. However, they were working together.

Lucy stuffed her cheeks with air many times, panting short breaths and preparing to climb further. This was the hardest climb. She had to get on the dragon's back while she had no skin to hold any longer.

Come on, Lucy, you can do this! she encouraged herself. If she made it on the back, she would reach the head easily and the things would flow easily from then on. The only problem was that she was already starting to feel exhausted. She jabbed the knife once more and the fingers from her other hand were looking for support on the animal's slippery scales. The dragon felt her and shook his whole body while another roar pierced her ears. She could feel the vibrations in the animal's skin. Obviously, her hand slipped, only to be followed by her other hand. She let out a desperate yell. Her whole body was covered in sweat and she had no energy left to try and get a hold of another scale. But she didn't even fall ten centimeters when she felt a strong hand grip her elbow and making her balance in the air. She opened her eyes widely and watched Erza help her up of the back of the animal. She would have fallen, but her long sword was already jabbed deeply in the thing's flesh keeping her stable where she was standing. Lucy's stare fixed the woman's eyes. The queen smiled while holding the girl with little effort. Silence fell over them despite the dragon's desperate shaking. That moment, they both knew a bond was created between them. Lucy nodded with gratefulness and Erza replied lifting her. Lucy also made use of the knife and helped herself up. Then she took out the weapon, giving the woman another look. They were still holding hands even after they were safely sitting on their knees on the back of the dragon.

Erza was the first one to break the eye contact when the dragon was already getting overly annoyed of the two and started either rising up on its back feet, either shaking the skin off him. Before having the idea of rolling on the ground and crushing them, they had to act fast. The queen left the already jabbed sword for Lucy's reliance and gripped her hand around the other sword's handle. She took advantage of a second of stability of the beast and ran towards the head. Hey! But that was Lucy's idea! Thinking about it, the girl wondered how the woman even managed to get on the animal so fast. Maybe she had used the tail. If that was true, she has probably been a good distraction, giving Erza the right chance to climb.

An arrow suddenly appeared in her sight in the night sky starting to lose height slowly. It finally jabbed pretty close to the girl. She sweated nervously even though she knew it wasn't her who was the target. She couldn't see who threw it, but she heard somebody command something in a scream and that first arrow was followed by at least one hundred of others. She looked in the sky, amazed by the view, until she was suddenly struck by reality. She started screaming horrified while gripping the handle of the sword and letting herself fall on the other side of the animal in which she was safe from the falling arrows. After the rain weapons was over, she rose up again angrily. Geez, didn't these people see there was somebody on this dragon?! The air was pierced by the dragon's roar, but for some reason, Lucy didn't think it was because of the arrows, which barely managed to enter the thick skin. The animal shook so badly that if Lucy wasn't holding the sword, she would have ended up thrown somewhere in another Kingdom by now. She got a hold of herself and the dragon roared again, this time because of her. When she looked at the thing that caused this to happen, she was surprised to see a thin line cut by the sword she has been holding during the shake. Blood filled the line and slipped through the scales, falling down the back. She gave herself a triumphal smile and then looked towards where Erza was supposed to be. At first she didn't see her and frowned. But then the woman showed up while she jumped like Tarzan up in her view and on the dragon's snout. Heck, did she look cool. Without hesitation, she rose the sword up in both her hands, the blade pointed downward. The next moment, she let out a fighting scream and jabbed it in the thing's head, most probably where the brain was, with all her strength.

While watching the scene, in a glimpse of a second, a thought crossed Lucy's mind, which made her widen her eyes. More like an idea.

The dragon rose up on its back feet again and let out the most horrifying roar ever. Lucy felt a huge shiver fill her body while she was feeling her feet not touching the skin anymore and he body being suspended in the air. Her hand held well the sword. But even so, the tight grip on the handle wasn't any useful anymore. The blade was slipping out of the wound.

Lucy's pupils dilated as she saw her only salvation come out and fall like sand through her fingers. She saw the wound get smaller as she was losing height. The scales were running before her eyes as fast as her panic started to grow. The beast's tail flew right above her head blowing her hair like the wind and she was about to crush into the ground. She closed her eyes shut like she just realized she had fallen off the dragon.

All that she felt were two arms surrounding her waist, a chest bumping into her back cutting her breath and then herself rolling on the ground after being thrown away. She opened her eyes once she felt she was safe and found Natsu keeping her safe in his arms. He also had his eyes closed tight and his teeth were gritted with pain.

''Natsu!'' she exclaimed shocked. He had just saved her life. Or at least saved her from breaking her bones. ''How did you…?''

She couldn't finish her question.

He gave her a weak grin.

''I couldn't just leave you fight by yourself, now could I?''

Her eyes started glowing. A mix of feelings filled her heart and made her lip tremble and her sight get blurry because of the tears. She was so happy and grateful! There has never been anybody in her entire life who would do something like that for her. This person just risked his life to save her. The tears started pouring down her dirty cheeks.

''You idiot.'' she said with her shaky voice. ''Your leg is broken.''

''Not like I haven't noticed.'' he replied smiling. He rose up on his butt and looked at the beast in front of him. His entire face was contracted and white, telling Lucy just how much every single move hurt him. And he had come all over there from his safe spot only for her. He had caught her from falling and rolled a few meters along with her. Just for her.

She wiped away her tears dirtying her face even more and sat up confidently. She looked down at him with shaky lips but a doubtless frown. She couldn't let him suffer anymore for her.

He watched her shake her head.

''You can't fight. You know you can't fight.''

''W-Well there must be something I could do.'' He was already aware that this condition kept him from helping.

Lucy smiled. There was, indeed.

''Distract it.''

. . . Ok. He already knew that he wanted to fight, but he also knew that he couldn't. But what Lucy was asking from him now was self-suicide in his condition.

''Don't worry. The queen will protect you.''

''Lucy, the queen is the queen.'' He told her with a sarcastic seriousness.

''No sh*t.'' she replied also sarcastically.

''What I'm saying is that there is no way she will protect a sentenced prisoner.''

''Trust me, I have a plan.'' she said before running off towards the dragon.

''I trust you, not that woman.'' Natsu muttered to himself.

He searched the grass for rocks thinking about his mission as suicide.

Erza saw Lucy running toward the head of the dragon. What was she doing? She had had the chance to run away when she was thrown off! So what if she didn't get the chance to strike the dragon, now wasn't the time to turn back!

''Your Majesty, get its attention a little!'' she yelled. Erza did as she was told, piercing the head for the fifth time and managing not to fall once more. Lucy gathered all kinds of sticks she found in the grass along with dry leaves and grass. Natsu, watching what she was doing, widened his eyes.

''YOU'RE BUILDING A FIRE?! NOW?!''

She ignored him and took a little branch that was split in two and placed it between her knees so that the split was free and steady. She took another branch and started spinning it inside the V with all her might. Her palms were beginning to ache soon enough, but she didn't seem to notice. She needed a spark and she needed it fast.

While she was working on the fire, Erza and Natsu were doing their best to draw its attention from the girl. The dragon was now pissed on the third person and faced Natsu. As it couldn't sense anything from his direction, it kept changing positions and hitting in nothing while trying to get rid of Erza as well. Everybody had noticed a long time ago that this dragon was one of a kind. It didn't have any wings or eyes. It must've been an Earth-Dragon, Erza and her bunch of soldiers had thought. Long claws and tail, no eyes, strong sense of smelling and hearing, but kind of dumb. It definitely had to be an Earth-Dragon. As for the color of the skin, they couldn't know because of the dark.

Lucy flinched. A spark. She was positive that had been a spark. She started spinning faster and with more strength until she got a couple more sparks. She almost started laughing with happiness when one of the sparks landed on a dry leaf and lightened it up. She immediately threw the sticks away and sheltered the little flame with her palms. It took only a minute until it turned into a small fire. She carefully placed more sticks on it feeding it with hope. Her fire was growing bigger and bigger and she was smiling like a madman. She searched the ground for more wood as fast as she could. She was running out of time. Erza couldn't do anything to control the animal anymore. It kept trying to kill her and Natsu. Without hesitating anymore, she took off the dress that she had changed into before Natsu's visit. She was left in the white dress and her whole body was struck with the feel of sudden cold of the night while her whole body was sinking in sweat. She threw her clothes into the fire and a lot of sparks jumped on her, burning her arm's skin in the moment she took them forth to protect herself. She let out a scream and got further of the fire. She ignored the pain with tears in her eyes and ran toward the forest, which was fortunately a few meters away. She gathered as many sticks as she could carry and threw them on the devouring flame, this time being more careful and staying further. She did the same thing over and over again, but it was still not enough. The next time she entered the forest, she searched everywhere for bigger sticks. Her eyes spotted a huge branch a little deeper into the woods and grinned victoriously. She started dragging it towards the first fire she ever made in her entire life.

Another bunch of sparks rose up in the night sky when she threw it on the heap. She was so glad the wood was pretty dry and it caught fire fast!

It didn't take long until the fire was as tall as herself. She even let out a happy laugh. Just as she had hoped, a lot of smoke was coming out.

''ERZAAAAA!'' she screamed. The called woman flinched. No one has ever called her that way since….

She turned her head around and saw the girl's fire has gotten bigger. She smiled seeing the princess' happiness, but she couldn't understand why.

''TELL THEM TO MAKE AS MUCH NOISE AS THEY CAN!'' Lucy screamed.

Erza figured she was talking about her army. She indeed screamed over to them the same thing and after a while of confusion, they started yelling and making noises with their armors, swords and shields. Erza watched with shock as the dragon stopped making any move. It raised its head up in the air and started listening to the disturbing noise. It pointed its head towards that direction, but Lucy also started yelling and throwing with stones into the beast.

The animal let out a big, annoyed roar and since Lucy –the source of noise- was the closest to it, it started to walk towards her. Suddenly, it was struck by the smell of the fire. The smoke entered its nose and totally destroyed his sense of smell for then. Lucy continued to scream that kind of scream a girl was making when a rat was stuck in her hair. But the soldiers were also a powerful source of noise, so for a moment, it had turned its head like it was listening to their sound.

Erza caught up fast with what the girl was trying to do. She, as well, started to yell and, for a moment, everybody stopped making any kind of noise as they were shocked. Erza flushed a little embarrassed, but didn't stop yelling. Soon, even Natsu joined her and the next moment, everybody was making a ruckus.

Needless to say, the dragon was confused. Lucy was screaming from its front, Natsu from its right, the army further from its left and Erza from its top. And the smoke blocked any way of smelling the enemy.

It was working! Lucy's plan was working! It was obvious for everyone that the dragon was literally surrounded. This fight was as well as won!

While everyone was now more like laughing happily instead of shouting, something happened. The dragon, drawn into the culms of its confusion and energy, couldn't bare it anymore and felt the need to make use of its last weapon.

Some of the scales that were covering its head, three on each side, suddenly moved. Slowly, they rose and uncovered something that they could never guess it would uncover –small, black, horrible eyes. Lucy's shouting slowly faded away. She watched shocked how the dragon opened the eyes they never thought it had. In fact, she was the only one who noticed this. Her mouth partly opened and any move of hers was stopped. Her heart also stopped. She stood exactly in front of the dragon's head, which lowered, fixing her with the eyes with anger and a threatening look.

Now the target was finally spotted.

Erza felt the sudden move that almost made her fall off. But she recovered her balance and stared forward with surprise. Her eyes widened and, at the same time, the yelling and shouting were slowly vanishing in the wind. Something happened and they were all too shocked to move.

Natsu's heart stopped and his neck felt suddenly too dry to make any other sound. His wide, trembling eyes fixed the exact spot in which Lucy had stood no earlier than five seconds ago.

But now she was being swallowed by that angry dragon.

Everyone was too shocked and taken off-guard to react.

.

.

.

A little, faint sound echoed in the silence. The dragon suddenly bended forth. It opened its mouth to roar, but nothing came out of its neck. Everybody's hearts started beating faster as they watch the beast start to struggle.

It took its paw to the end of its neck and without thinking a lot, just reacting to the sudden pain, it jabbed its own craws in it. Again, it opened its mouth, revealing its fangs and thrusting its disgusting tongue forward. But no whimper, so cry and no roar came out. Everybody was even more shocked now. The animal suddenly spun around, fell on the ground and started rolling on the earth trying to wash away the unbearable pain. But struggling did no good. The next second it jabbed the claws of its other paw also in its neck. Its blood was pouring like a river on the green grass and spreading a sickening stink in the air. Erza had jumped off the animal a long time ago already and she was watching the show with no less shock than everybody else.

It took more than five minutes of struggling in the pain of death until it suddenly stepped on the fire. It jumped back and opened the mouth to roar, but, again, nothing could come out. It tripped being left out of energy and fell on one side. Everybody waited blown for the monster to arise again. But it didn't. Its chest made a last effort to rise, but it never lowered. Its muscles relaxed once and for all and the fierce dragon never moved again.

The silence that followed was so deep that nobody even dared to move. They all watched wide-eyed the monster that suddenly died. Its long neck suddenly moved. Some from the audience flinched. And it moved again.

The thick scales from the top were pierced and everyone saw with shock an arm coming out of the cut. They hesitated still watching as the arm bended and the fingers looked for support on the rest of the neck.

The figure of a girl covered in dirt and gross substances from the dragon's neck showed up and everybody suddenly burst into cheers.

Lucy, coughing and gasping for air, threw away the sword that had saved her life by killing the beast from its inner. Natsu and Erza ran towards her happy and excited. Never have they seem a girl so brave and with the blood of a fighter inside her.

Natsu smiled as around Lucy was formed a group of cheerleaders.

He sighed with relief.

He was so glad she was alright. He looked at queen's face and knew she was thinking and feeling the exact same thing.

His smiled grew wider. Maybe they could actually do this, he thought.

Maybe they could earn her trust and get out of here.