Chapter Five: Dragon's Fever

Lucy awoke with a start, her body feeling incredibly hot for such a cold autumn morning. Confused, Lucy looked to her side where she saw her dragon companion sprawled on his side, his wing still kept over her head to retain warmth and comfort. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't worry. Practically every morning the two awoke like this; Lucy would sleep under Natsu's wing, the scarlet dragon would lay on his side and the blue cat would find a warm spot in the blonde's arms.

But today wasn't a normal circumstance.

Instead of breathing normally- a slow content pace with a snort or two in the middle, Natsu's breathing was depicted as heavy and quick. Not to mention his scales were drenched in a layer of clear, wet substance that Lucy would probably guess as sweat.

"Natsu?" she nudged his side, the previous wound no longer thanks to plenty of soaked tapestries. She recoiled with a frown, her hand sticky from the dragon's sweat. Ick. "Natsu, wake up," she ordered in a louder voice, and despite her own disagreements, she began roughly pushing him with both hands and trying desperately to ignore the gross mess of liquid now encasing them.

The dragon murmured his protests, cracking an onyx eye open with a look of distress. "Luce?" he murmured in a hoarse voice, unusual to his normal morning person routine of practically yowling and jumping all around the cave. Lucy felt worried.

"What's wrong? You're covered in sweat and you look absolutely wasted," she observed with a frown.

"Ngh," the dragon muttered, rolling onto his other side with a grunt. "I'm sick."

"Sick?" Lucy gasped, eyes wide. "From what?"

"Fight with Gajeel," Natsu answered through tiny grunts of pain. "I entered a stage called the Dragon Force- Gajeel did it too. That's why I had the barrier of fire and he had grown in size. It takes up a lot of energy but it's really powerful and quite useful if absolutely needed. I wasn't about to half-ass my job as your protector so I did what I had to do. To keep you safe I needed to use the Dragon Force. And now I'm paying the price..." His voice trailed off with an added cough. "If a dragon uses the Dragon Force their energy will quickly be diminished and leave the host in a sickly state for several days. Or long enough to replenish their energy."

"What can I do to help?" Lucy asked frantically, extremely worried for the fate of the scarlet scaled dragon.

"Nothing," Natsu rasped, voice growing faint. "But I wouldn't mind some water."

Lucy forced a smile, rising from her seat and wandering towards the cave entrance where sat a pail. That was the source of carrying the water from the stream at the cliff base.

"And perhaps a blanket," the dragon continued. Lucy could see his grinning face even with his back turned.

"Yes your majesty," she curtsied and continued forwards, catching the last part of his sentence.

"And I wouldn't mind a story."

"You're pushing your luck, overgrown lizard," Lucy rolled her eyes, quickly departing through the tunnel, pail in hand. She could still feel the smirk bore into the back of her head. Such a Natsu thing to do.

...

Upon her return, Lucy noticed the fire dragon still curled up on his side in a tight ball in the center of the half broken piece of furniture. His body was still drenched with the sticky, wet sweat and his breathing was still faintly ragged. She brought a tapestry over his still form to use as a large blanket, noting how useful they were considering how many were scattered about the cavern. She set down the pail by the bed and sat on the edge. She looked closer and saw Happy pleasantly asleep on the dragon's head. Lucy smiled. At least they weren't suffering too badly. Settling herself upon the creaking bed, she leaned up against the blanket draped reptile and set a hand atop the scarlet crown.

"You wanted a story, right?" Lucy murmured, gazing off at the mouth of the cave where light flickered in. She held a hand over the sapphire necklace that miraculously remained intact during the past few days. "I'll tell you a story. Long ago, but not too long ago- perhaps ten years ago, there lived a young girl. This girl happened to be a princess of a prosperous kingdom. She was very happy with her mother and father. But then, one day her life turned upside down..."

The girl charged down the long hallways, in her hands an interestingly made "muffin". Her hands and face were covered with flour, sugar and other assorted cooking ingredients. Earlier in the morning, she had begged the cook to let her cook something for her mother. After looking into the six year old's pleading face, how could he say no? So the young girl made herself comfortable in the kitchen while the cook made himself scarce. She ran around from one end to another, grabbing necessary items for the treat.

During her cooking extravaganza, noises of clattering pans, electronic whirring, and cries of "almost perfect!" were heard from the kitchen. However, no one dared to go and check it out. The cooking staff was relieved when the blonde girl came out with her prized possession and began prancing down the hall. Their relief faded and was quickly replaced with dread as they saw the mess they would be forced to clean.

"Momma! Momma!" she cried joyfully, barreling into the room at the far end of the hall, stopping short as she saw a gathered crowd surrounding the bed where the Queen lay. She curiously stepped forward. At the girl's slate face, the Queen forced a smile.

"There's my flower," she rasped horsley, yet with an air of feminine grace as she cupped her cheek. "What is it, dear?"

"I made this for you," the girl thrust the "muffin" forward. This action earned a few disgusted stares from those around the bed. With a weak hand, the Queen took the food from her daughter's hand and took a bite. Her eyes closed as she swallowed. "Wonderful, dear. I loved it. And I love you. Remember that..." her voice faded and her hand went limp, the muffin loosely bouncing from the sheets to the floor in a swift motion.

"Momma?" the girl whined weakly, uneased at her mother's sudden silence before the muffin dropped to the ground. She placed hands on her shoulders and gave her a rough shake. "Momma? Momma wake up!"

"Virgo, get Lucy out of here," rough hands gripped the girl's arms, pulling her away from the bed. As the grip released, she was clamped in another from the lavender-haired maid who slowly dragged her out of the room.

"Sorry, Mistress Lucy," the maid apologized quickly as she pulled the struggling girl from the scene. "But Master Heartfilia requests your absence."

"But Virgo!" the girl wailed through forming tears. "Let me back in there! I wanna see Momma! I wanna see my mother!"

"You cannot," Virgo stated flatly. The blonde broke from her grip with a wild cry and glared with chocolate brown eyes. "I hate you," she spat clearly before tearing down the hall in the opposite direction, most likely back to her room. The maid sighed, turning her attention back to voices echoing from the room.

"It was her!" cried one of the servants angrily. "It was that so called 'muffin'! That 'muffin' killed our queen!"

"Quiet, Midus!" spat another. "The Queen was dying anyway! You shouldn't blame the girl! Right, Master Heartfilia?"

There came no audible response from the King, the room falling into silence.

Over the years, the Queen's death still remained in the kingdom's hearts, the memory of their beloved Queen struck them inside deeply. And over these years, her daughter closed herself up from the rest of the world. More often than not she would be found locked in her room, either scribbling on paper or asleep with tears across her face; evidence that she had cried herself to sleep. Her father became cold and distant, refusing to even acknowledge he had a daughter to take care of. The girl was entering her teen years, resulting in several mood swings around her former friends around the servants. It wasn't long before no one wanted to even talk with her for she was so distraught.

Whenever she tried to crawl out of her shell to try again, she would shy back in due to her father's actions. She constantly tried talking to him, trying to get him to move on. But whenever she brought it up, most likely it resulted in a slap or harsh beating. She eventually stopped completely and lived up to her father's expectations. She managed to avoid beatings and somehow managed to get over her mother's death. Some people in the kingdom still held it over her, knowing about the whole "muffin" incident.

Then one day, she was called down to her father, instructed that she was to be married off to prince in the neighboring kingdom. Though she inwardly wanted nothing to do with marriage, the girl begrudgingly accepted...

"Luce?" a weak voice broke the silence after the princess had paused, signifying the end of the story. Lucy's head turned to the side, staring down at the dragon. "Yes, Natsu?" she murmured in reply, struggling to keep the tears from falling.

"That girl in the story...it was you, wasn't it?"

The blonde nodded, glancing at the ground. "Yes," she answered simply. "Yes it was."

"Sorry," the dragon gave a weak sigh, coiling his tail around the traumatized princess. "You didn't have to tell me that."

"Sorry doesn't change the past," Lucy sighed. "And it was my choice to tell you anyways. It was all my fault." She pushed away Natsu's tail and climbed off the wooden structure. "I'm going to clear my head. Stay in bed and get some rest." With that said, she began to sullenly walk towards the cave entrance. Worried, Natsu's scarlet crown lifted to watch her wander away. He made no motion to stop her. A curious whine sounded from the top of his head, the blue furred cat mewling as the blonde disappeared out the cave entrance.

"I know little buddy," Natsu sighed, longing to follow her and offer comfort. "But she's got to figure this out for herself. She's gotten past the next stage. She's got to start recovery on her own. We can offer support, but she's the one who has to get through it."

Happy offered a squeaky mew, wanting to comfort the considerate princess but obeyed the dragon and remained where he was, curled up on his head. Natsu lowered his head and snuggled back under the tapestry. His inky black optic looked back longingly at the entrance as he released a subtle sigh. He slowly closed it and fell back into a tired sleep.

Sorry I couldn't leave it on a fluffy note. Perhaps next chapter. I don't know where the muffin thing came from honestly. I must have been baking before writing this and ended up messing up some ingredients. Yeah...Snarky fails at cooking...Anyways, remember to read & review! My heart glows with pride after reading each and every comment so far. It's actually embarrassing to me in some ways considering I'm still unsure about letting other people read my work. Self-consciousness stuff. But I suppose I'll get over it eventually. Snarky out!

-Snarky