Chapter Three: Dragon's Defense

Blearily, Natsu's onyx orbs fluttered open, glancing around with the cavern in a haze. His wings shuffled against his sides, head swerving to each side. Panic surged through his blood as he realized Lucy was no longer under the safety of his wing. In fact, she was nowhere to be found within eye's reach.

"Princess?" he called, unsure as he rose from the bed, scrambling off with his claws scraping against stone. Giving another search with his eyes, he noticed Happy was missing too. Another rush of fear swept up in his head. What if they were hurt?

Inwardly trembling, Natsu barreled down the corridor leading outside; the light at the end of the tunnel illuminating false hope. Claws scoring cuts in the rock, the scarlet scaled dragon screeched to a halt, relief flooding over the fear as he spotted the blonde on a flat rock currently shaded by an overhanging tree.

She had a needle and thread, along with red fabric laying across her lap and a blue cat with feathered wings sitting atop her head. By her relaxed stance, Natsu could assume she hadn't even heard his sudden approach.

"Princess?" he questioned, halting in front of her. Lucy dropped the needle, startled. "Oh Natsu, you gave me a start. What's up?" She bent down to pick up the needle again and continue threading the fabric together.

"You weren't in the cave; I was worried," the dragon explained sheepishly. Lucy laughed, teasing, "Aww, was the overgrown lizard worried about little 'ol me?"

The lizard in question stiffened, snorting in his defense. "No. I was just simply looking out for you in case you were carried off or something. You are ok, aren't you princess?"

"Natus, no need to be so formal," Lucy smiled warmly. "You don't have to call me princess. Lucy will work. In all honesty, formalities and royal titles don't work for me." The red dragon scuttled closer, shuffling his talons across the rock ground to place himself beside the blonde. "Sorry, Luce. What'cha doing anyways?"

"Well in case you hadn't noticed, my clothes are a little worse for wear," she motioned to her torn blue dress. "I searched a little around the cave and found some fabric, needle and thread and decided to make myself something that I could walk around in instead of...well this."

"You're very talented," Natsu remarked. "I didn't even know I had this stuff."

"It's very hard to notice this stuff when its crammed under rags, wood, books, and anything else cluttered around," Lucy's eyes rolled. "But thank you anyhow. Mother taught me at a very young age, I guess it kinda stuck. I even had the time to make Happy this."

She held out the small feline, displaying a forest green scarf that loosely tied around his neck. He let out a small mew in response.

"Cute," the dragon chuckled. "Matches mine," he held a claw up to his black and white checkered garment. Lucy gave a smile and returned to her work, threading another area together. Natsu couldn't relish her joy for longer than a few minutes, a soft rumble twitching his senses uncomfortably. The princess noticed his displeasure and looked up, "Natsu? Something wrong?"

The dragon released a throated growl, tail swishing against the earth and wings shifting along his back, as if preparing to take off into the air at any moment. "Someone approaches," he muttered darkly, taking a step forward to peer over the edge. Lucy rose and followed, her brown eyes searching for the disturbance. Further down the ridge, thundering across the barren plain raced a black stallion; a Friesian to be exact. Atop the proud equine sat a raven haired youth in a blue coat, determination set in his dark blue eyes. Once approaching the cliff face, the Friesian jerked to a halt, allowing his ride to dismount.

"I have heard rumors of a dragon nesting here; do you hold Princess Lucy Heartfilia in your possession?" the boy shouted up at the ledge, having spotted the looming shape of a dragon-like figure on the ridge.

"That I do," the dragon snorted confidently, taking pride in the action as his wings shifted. "Who are you to ask, human?"

"I am Prince Gray of the Ice Kingdom," the boy announced, striking a heroic pose. "And I have come to help her return where she belongs."

"You fool!" spat the pink tipped, scarlet scaled beast. "The princess has no intentions of returning! Leave well alone and take your horse back to wherever you came from! Don't test my rage!"

"You are taking her prisoner!" Prince Gray yelled, subconsciously discarding his coat and somehow his shirt. "I will not return without the princess! Hand her over now and you won't get hurt!"

"You're worried about me?" the dragon bellowed in amused laughter. "It is you who should be worried about getting hurt, stripper!"

"Natsu," Lucy gently poked the dragon's side. "Don't overdo it. He may be trying to take me home but I won't stand against you killing someone innocent."

Natsu gave an audible sigh to which only Lucy could hear. "Alright, Luce. For you, I won't rough him up too badly. Even if he is an arrogant stripper." His wings flared, roaring down to the prince who hadn't moved. "I thought I told you to leave!" With that, the scarlet beast suddenly descended from the cliff, talons extended as he prepared to snatch him from the earth.

The prince took to a stance, hands thrust outwards. "Ice-make sword!" With the magic words chanted, a sword made completely of ice appeared in his grip. He slashed forward with the sword; ice meeting claws as Natsu swooped and his talons brushing as he flew past. He drove the weapon forward, slashing against one of the beast's hind legs. This caused a roar of pain from Natsu inwardly berating himself for letting such a foolish attack strike him.

Oh great, he's a mage, he thought bitterly, wings curving, changing maneuvers as he whirled around for a second attack. Talons extended again, now coming into contact with an actual human as the prince was lifted from the ground, stuck in his foe's tight grip. He struggled but found it futile as the dragon kept his hold. Smirking, Natsu threw his prey into the air before spinning with a fancy dive and using his tail to knock him down to the ground. As the thrashing tail came in contact with Gray's body, he felt his descent increasing with the added push and gravity's help.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried fearfully, knowing the fall would surely kill him if not seriously injure him for a long while. With reluctance, Natsu dove for the falling raven haired youth, snatching him several meters from the ground before swiftly ascending and giving him a hefty toss to the cliff ledge.

Gray's body slumped on its side from the impact. His hand still clung tightly to the sword, struggling to rise and defeat the beast. It was then he spotted the blonde; the princess he was sent to retrieve after she was kidnapped. He started reaching out to her but was stopped as a heavy thud landed in front of him. There stood the scarlet scaled dragon, snorting coils of smoke and embers from his nostrils.

"You have lost," he growled, standing protectively in front of his treasure, tail swishing slowly against the rock. "You have now seen the princess, begone before I start to lose my temper."

"You mean you haven't yet?" Gray coughed, smirking as he shakily stood, quickly regaining confidence. "You're keeping a royal member of the Heartfilia family hostage; that is not something I can ignore. You will either stand aside and not get hurt or I will slay you and take the princess. Both options involve me taking the princess to where she belongs but only one grants you life. Choose wisely."

"Choose?" Natsu broke out in childish, chortling laugher as he flopped on his side. "That's rich coming from the one who's obviously been defeated!"

"Don't laugh you fat newt!" Gray snarled, losing his own temper with the childish dragon. Enraged, he rushed forward and swiftly drove the sword at the exposed flank, causing a startled screech to come from the receiver. The ice sword then embedded itself through the scales and into flesh, refusing to be removed as it was tugged on.

Natsu then tried to lunge, his sense of focus slowly lost from the impact of the sword lodged in his flank. He stumbled a few paces forward, lashing out blindly at the prince who continuously dodged each swipe with a surprising amount of agility. "Ice-make hammer!" Like before, a large weapon created of ice appeared in the youth's hands, driving full force at the dragon. Each swipe was aimed at the muzzle, preventing the dragon from using a breath attack.

Lucy stood paralyzed in fear at the cave tunnel, comforted by the presence of Happy on her shoulder. Dread flooded through her mind. Natsu was losing! What if he lost completely? Would she go back with Gray? To the Ice Kingdom? To her father? To marriage?

No...Never...

"No!" she shrieked, drawing attention to herself as she lifted the feline from her shoulder and hurled him at Gray. The attack was unexpected and Gray found sharp claws now slicing against his entire face as Happy started freaking out. He frantically tried to stay clinging to Gray which was rather hard when the prince was shaking his head and using his hands to try and pry away the cat. Hissing and spitting, Happy was removed and quickly scampered off with the use of his wings towards the safety of the cavern.

Natsu's slender head lifted to size up his opponent, Lucy having bought the time he needed to recover and strike back. He swung out a thrashing tail under Gray's legs, causing the prince to trip and topple over in surprise. The dragon laughed, having the upper hand as his tail swung around again.

Despite being injured, Gray surfaced to his feet and started where he left off; another ice made weapon swiftly striking the muzzle of the scarlet scaled reptile. Natsu wouldn't allow such a pathetic human defeat him, especially since he had promised to protect Lucy. But Lucy was fresh out of distractions and Natsu was currently locked in furious battle. With weakened onyx eyes, he stole a glance towards the princess huddled close to the tunnel entrance. He would have to win for her sake.

"I said begone!" he roared, tackling Gray with a powerful spring that sent both over the cliff edge. Both were suspended in air, quickly falling from the high amount of gravitational pull. Natsu's wings flared open to keep himself upright while his claws pulled away leaving Gray to fall from a fairly decent height that surely wouldn't kill him. He landed next to his horse, grunting to stand and mount the Friesian. "You may have won this time lizard, but rest assured I will not let you have the princess!" he shouted up at the hovering dragon, turning the horse away and galloping back the way he came.

Natsu snorted at his victory, suddenly reminded of the sword lodged through his scales on his flank. Snorting, a small fire blast began melting it, some of the pain relieved. He shook his head to pull away from the dizziness and started ascending towards the cliff.

From the ledge there erupted a roar, soon followed by a human scream and a heavy set of wing beating. Natsu felt a rush of panic. Lucy screamed. But from what? His question was quickly answered as a large silvery-gray shape took to the skies, clutching something in its front talons. A flash of blonde told who it was.

"Natsu!" the dragon heard her voice, faintly from the height and nearly completely masked by roars.

"Lucy!" the dragon roared back, wings flapping furiously to gain altitude after the silver shape. But to no avail. Whatever it was had a clear advantage in not being wounded and already several bounds away. Lucy's voice was gone within seconds.

Cliffhanger! Who has captured our dear princess? I suppose you'll have to wait and find out. Any guesses to who kidnapped her?

-Snarky