Hello everyone!

Here is chapter 30! As for this chapter, blame those Chinese Novels I've started reading. Unconsciously, my writing is starting to lean on the bad side! This story's romance is supposed to be "pure and fluffy"! It's pure and fluffy! I'm telling you!

Haha, no worries, this chapter is still safe for kids. I'm just reacting on Natsu's thoughts.

Enjoy!

Thirtieth Wish:
Be The Hero

Yukino Agria was an orphan girl living on the streets as a beggar when she came upon a chance meeting with her savior, The High Priestess of the Stars, Mavis Vermillion.

She had nowhere to go so she was accepted by Mavis herself to become an acolyte and also became her apprentice. Mavis said that she had an affiliation with Divinity and had taught her about reading the stars, astronomy, and ancient scriptures. Her talent was good and certainly above average. There were even rumors that she was actually Cana's competitor to be the High Priestess's successor.

Though in all honesty, both two people, who are expected to succeed the title, really didn't care about it. She doesn't know about Cana, but Yukino merely wanted to repay the debt of gratitude for leading her life away from the streets. That was why she always tried her best.

She used to be serving on the Divine Halls but that was changed during the yearly aptitude test. Someone from the higher ups saw her and concluded that her talent was not with reading the scriptures and prophecy, but with combat and martial arts. Because of that, she was transferred to the Militia division of the Great Temple. She was trained with various weapons and martial arts in order to protect the peace of the people.

And just like that, she was sent to the Palace and was given the mission of assisting the Second Princess of Magnolia.

It was still debated among the gossips whether this move was to remove her from the candidates, or to give her opportunity to get closer to the royalties. Whether it was a blessing for her or not, Yukino regarded this as a blessing.

Because she met Lisanna Strauss.

". . . Ugh, what happened?"

Groaning, Lisanna slowly opened her eyes and sat up from the comfy pillows of the carriage seat.

"Princess, stay low. I don't know what happened. It seemed the fighting outside had stopped. . ."

Yukino cautioned. They were heading for a village that was suffering from the plague when bandits suddenly came and attacked them. She had took out the crossbow and held onto the short sword hidden in her skirts while urging the reluctant princess to hide in the compartment underneath the seat.

At that time, she was suppressing the fear on her heart. She had been trained for combat, but she never had actual experience outside of practice. She had never fought with people full of ill intent. Just the thought that anytime, there would be a bandit that'll barge open the door to kill them or worse would make her legs turn jelly.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

She couldn't lose composure in front of the princess!

Worse come to worst, she'll pretend to be the second princess and have herself become the bait while the real princess hid in the carriage until help arrived. She always had this suspicion that she had been transferred to the militia and sent to the palace for this reason. She almost looked the same as the princess.

Even the first princess said that she sometimes reminded her of her little sister. Of course, for Yukino, this was not true at all. It was true that they were about the same height and figure but their features weren't completely the same. They both have short white hair, but Lisanna's hair was more pure silvery white compared to Yukino's bluish white. Their eyes were both big and round, but Yukino have slightly sharper eyes compared to the princess's doe-like eyes. There's also their skin where the princess's was smoother and softer due to sheltered upbringing, and hands where Yukino's more rough and callous due to the daily training with swords and bows.

But the biggest difference between them was the color of their eyes. Yukino's eyes were that of a commoner's brown eyes, meanwhile, Lisanna's eye color was that of bright sapphire gleaming under the moonlight.

"Will you be alright?" Lisanna asked worriedly.

They were waiting cautiously inside the carriage, wondering if someone who would come at their door would be enemy or friend. Lisanna's face was completely pale although she tried her best to stay compose as a princess would. But when they heard the screaming and saw that outside was ablaze with fire, her face turned into horror. They didn't have enough time to gather their thoughts as their vision was suddenly filled with blinding light. That was the only thing they remembered before losing consciousness.

They weren't sure what happened. The only thing they could think of was that the enemy had used some trick on their sleeve. Yukino wondered if they had burned some herbs that would make one unconscious from smelling the smoke and planned to kidnap an unconscious princess after that. If so, they were lucky that they somehow managed to wake up before they could enter the carriage.

Yukino smiled. "Don't worry about me, princess. I am to protect you. Please hide, no matter what happens, you should wait until everything calms down or reinforcements arrived."

And so, that was how things ended up like this.

"All of you! Drop your weapons and raise your hands in the air or I'll shoot!"

Yukino glared at the two men and strange blue cat, raising her crossbow.

The sight that greeted her when she stepped out of the carriage was not what she had expected. She had thought a sword would be pointed at her neck once she poked her head out, but reality was far from it. She had expected the princess's men to have fallen, but she didn't anticipated that the enemy would all have been knocked out on the ground too.

Which lead her to two conclusions: either the group of bandits were actually stupid to fall for their own trap . . . or a "third party" was involved.

If it was the first, then it would be all well and good. She just had to tie up the criminals together and they could return their own way. If it was the latter, then it'll be not quite good. She doesn't know the intentions of this "third party". She needed to remain vigilant.

Sure enough, there were two men in the center of all the chaos here. They must surely be the ones responsible for this mess. Now, to figure out if they were friend or foe. . .

Upon seeing the short white haired lady, Lucy's hair stood up on ends. She had forgotten that she was rescuing a princess!

"Kyaa! Hide me! I don't want to be caught!" Lucy paled as she yelled, hiding behind Natsu. She wanted to say 'I didn't do anything', but that would be a lie. For the first time, she lamented on how celestial beings couldn't speak lies.

Loki frowned at that. Why are you hiding behind him? If anything, he had expected her to rely on him.

Natsu raised an eyebrow. He wanted to ask what did she do this time but there was another person here so he couldn't directly ask.

Whoosh!

Sweat formed in Natsu's temple, glancing at the arrow that missed his head by merely an inch.

"Didn't you hear me? I said drop your weapons and raise your hands in the air!" the woman threatened, another arrow was quickly loaded on her crossbow.

Stiffly, Natsu raised both his hands, his mouth twitching in restrained anger. What kind of insane person would randomly shoot at people!? Hey! What will you do if that thing hit me in the head!? Happy was already scared when the arrow was shot and had his two little paws shot up in the air. Loki, meanwhile, just nonchalantly raised both his hands and was obviously not threatened at all. Actually, you could see that his lips actually curved a bit upwards as he tried and failed to suppress his glee at having an arrow shot at Natsu.

Bastard!

You're actually hoping that thing to pierce my head, aren't you!?

"Okay. What the hell is happening here?"

Natsu asked, his tone obviously holding a bit of anger and indignation from this confusing situation. He didn't look at her, but Lucy knew that the question was actually directed at her. Face full of guilt, she ashamedly lowered her head like a child caught stealing the cookie from the cookie jar.

"I'm the one doing the questioning here!" Yukino yelled at him.

Lucy could only act meekly and try to wiggle her way out of this situation. No matter what, she doesn't want to get married to a random princess. It should be a princess she loved at least!

Since they were already comrades in crime, he should help her out!

Actually, Natsu was initially just indignant after being put in danger. And he was shocked, so he tried to hide his scared beating heart by acting angry. But now, his mind was suddenly put into disarray as the beating in his chest started to rise for a completely different reason!

Lucy was hiding behind Natsu, both hands on his left shoulder as she peeked meekly at him. She was quivering like a scared little white rabbit, causing one's heart to melt and be filled with warmth. Who would dare to scold her when she was like this? Even if she toppled cities or cause the world destruction, it would definitely be forgiven!

Ah, but Natsu's mind was somewhere else.

It was because this girl that lacked self-awareness was actually nestling her head on his shoulder, her breath tickling his neck and shoulder while the scent of her hair reached his nose. This kind of close proximity was enough to intoxicate a man and indulge on weird ideas! But to make things worse, there was something soft being squished at his back and upper shoulder!

Natsu had definitely seen girls, and he was not shy from touching them. Though he doesn't go so far as to really touch them, there were those that tried to charm him into having a pleasurable time. Luckily, he was never interested. No one had really caught his attention aside from that one unattainable woman.

That was why he doesn't know why he was reacting this way now!

Warmth spread over him as something ignited deep inside him. He almost forgotten the predicament he was in now!

"I wasn't really doing anything bad! I'm only helping them chase away some vi – I mean, bad guys! Really!" Lucy stopped herself from saying "villains" as she was afraid that they would caught on that she actually became "The Hero that saved the Princess" and offer her as tribute for marriage.

Really! She didn't know that being a "Hero" was this hard!

No wonder they say that the path of the Hero was tough and full of sacrifices!

". . . Please don't marry me off . . . please don't marry me off . . ."she mumbled very meekly as she looked pleadingly at Loki. Considering Loki's brain, he would have known what was going on already. She doesn't know about Natsu yet, but she knew that no matter how much she messed up, Loki would always be there to help her clean up! Reluctantly or not!

Natsu's mind was still in chaos so he didn't fully register the words Lucy was saying. Loki raised his eyebrow as he understood what actually happened and this little celestial's strange mentality. He shuffled closer to her and leaned next to her ear, ". . . then just let him be The Hero".

"Eh?"

"You two, what are you whispering about!? At least answer my question first!" Yukino was already frustrated and was wondering whether she should shot a second warning arrow.

"Wait!"

A voice very pleasant to hear sounded throughout the forest and startled the five people facing against each other. It was a voice that woke Natsu up from his stupor. This voice . . .

Yukino looked behind her, surprised and exasperated at seeing the delicate lady with short white hair and bright blue eyes like a pair of sapphires.

Her eyes were clearly saying, Princess! I told you to hide!

Lisanna Strauss pouted indignantly, but such an action didn't affect her poise and aura of a noble lady. Rather, she only looked like a young inexperienced princess that was definitely adorable to the eyes. One couldn't help but want to pamper her.

Yukino looked at her helplessly, Lisanna stared back. Her resolute and determined eyes were clearly saying 'why should I hide? I won't run away when my people are suffering and in danger because of me!'

"The enemies are already down. Why are you pointing that bow at people who didn't even have weapons? Who would answer properly when you are scaring them with such a weapon?" Looking at the cat, they might not be bad people, right? If they were evil, they wouldn't have a heart to take care of a cat and bring him while they ambush others! It was a bit naive thinking of hers, but she was right that these two people did not have ill intentions in their eyes (well, Loki's eyes were the unreadable kind which only those who are the same as him or close to him could read, but she wouldn't know that).

She spoke in reprimanding tone, her visage full of energy and was like a bright flower in spring. All this while, Natsu couldn't help but stare at her as if in a trance, unable to believe his eyes that the woman of his dreams was actually right in front of his eyes.

. . . * . . .

End of Chapter

Dun dun dun! Finally! Lisanna Strauss had formally entered the stage! Now meeting with Natsu and co, the gears of Fate move to a new stage?

A/N: Now we can finally move on with the story! From summary to previous chapters, Lisanna had been mentioned several times but I haven't got time to show her up as I set the stage (aside from the beginning when Lucy landed to Human Realm). I wonder what Lisanna will be like in this story?

PS: To be honest, I typed this a bit in a hurry. I didn't proofread and posted without editing. Still though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and find it a smooth read.

Thank you for everyone who favorite and followed this story!

For those who reviewed, thank you! I'll give a teaser for the next chapter (if I can PM you).