5 years later

Lucy's breath escaped past her lips in a soft sigh as she stared up at the canopied ceiling above her. The bed was nice and warm, making Lucy relax deeper into the soft and fluffy bedspread. Her eyes shut in a comfortable silence as her mind wandered.

'Yep, this is how you're going out Lucy, almost 18, trapped inside a tower in the middle of nowhere. Just great.' With an exasperated sigh she threw her arm over her shut eyelids. 'No worries, I turn 18 tomorrow, daddy says he'll send someone to check me over and then I can leave!' She grins to herself and then slowly sits up, looking over at the towers only window with a frown.

!

She had a kitchen and all the food she could need until she died, of all different variations. Igneel had brought her paper, books, and other materials, so once she had finished reading the books she would write stories of her own, letters to her late mother, letters to her father, novels, whatever she could think of to pass the time.

!

That's where she sat now, writing one of her precious novels while waiting for the day to end. To Lucy, the novels and writing were here favorite things. Granted it was also one of the ONLY things to do in her tower. She had taught herself how to cook and sew as well but those just weren't as fun.

Sitting now at her desk that over looked the window, sighing as she stared through the window deep in thought. She couldn't remember anything that had happened to her before 5 years old, but for some reason she had a feint memory of her dad telling her about how much her mother loved the stars. She smiled to herself as she stared out at the purpling sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the first star that twinkled in the dimming light.

When Lucy finally did spot it, she smiled to herself and sat up on the desk, leaning out to look at it and the rest of the sky better. She smiled as she watched the light fade and be replaced by twinkling lights of the stars and sighed happily. 'Tomorrow you'll be 18 and someone will come to get you, and everything will be ok!' Lucy thought to herself as she found different constellations. Content with the day she hopped off the desk and went to take a bath.

While she was in the bath she felt a small tremble, making the water ripple, Lucy didn't think too much of it as her mind slowly lost consciousness and she fell asleep in the hot water. When she awoke again she felt relaxed, slowly getting out of the bath with a happy sigh. As soon as she was dried off she wrapped a towel over herself and walked back into her bedroom. She walked over to her dresser preparing to get some pajamas out when she heard what sounded like a snicker behind her.

Lucy froze, her hands inside her underwear drawer and her eyes wide, 'Surely I'm just hearing things, there's no one in here with me.' She thought to herself as she slowly turned around.

There stood a hooded figure and a small blue cat hovering in the air next to the cloaked persons shoulder. The cat had a paw to his mouth and his eyes crinkled with laughter as it stared at Lucy's toweled form.

"Kiya!" Lucy screamed, backing up into the dresser, wincing in pain as her back hit the open drawer to hard. "Who the hell are? And what are you guys doing in my tower?!" Lucy shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the two intruders.

"Are you the ones that were sent by my father to come check on me?" Lucy questioned, now starting to get excited at the possibility of going home sooner. "Did the king, my father, send you to see if I was fit enough?" The questions continued to pour out of Lucy's mouth until finally she felt a warm hand press against her open lips and she glanced up into dark, cold onyx eyes.

"Shut it will ya?" The boy that now had his hand over her mouth muttered, slowly pulling his hand away from her mouth.

He had pulled his hood back, revealing a head of pink spiky hair and a scowl on a perfectly sculpted face with a chiseled jaw and those deep, dark eyes. Lucy tensed and frowned, backing away from the creepy boy, who didn't seem much older than her. 'Why does he hate me? What have I ever done to him?' she thought as she stared at the boy who scowled back. Lucy shivered at the cold glare and then remembered that she was only in a towel.

"Ah!" she screamed finally realizing why the cat had laughed at her. She pulled the towel closer to herself and turned around as heat flooded into her cheeks. "Turn around!" she squealed, and the boy cocked his head to one side in curiosity making the princess turn back around to yell at him. "How dare you! I said turn around! It is unpolite to see a lady without clothing on! Especially the princess!" Lucy was quite proud of the way her voice held strong and she stood up a bit straighter.

Lucy hurried into her bathroom to get dressed, leaving the boy with his back turned to her. 'Why was there so much hate coming off him when he looked at me?' Lucy couldn't help but question as she quickly got dressed. She sighed and looked in the mirror at herself, she didn't look the best, but for being in a tower for 13 years, she thought she looked pretty darn good. She smiled trying to appear confident while she reached for the door handle, opening it slowly as if the past few minutes had been a dream.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, Lucy wasn't sure yet, it hadn't been a dream and the boy still stood in her room, only now he was leaning over a desk reading one of her newer and dirtier, novels. Lucy's face heated up until she was sure she would pass out as she ran over, grabbing the papers out of the boy's hand who looked at her curiously.

"Don't go snooping through my personal stuff!" Lucy screamed at him, shoving the papers in her desk without looking at how far he had gotten. Lucy watched in horror as the boy smirked and glanced down at where the papers were stashed away, letting the blonde know exactly how far he'd gotten in the story. 'Oh my god! Kill me now!' she mentally screamed and could feel her body concaving in on itself in horror.

Finally, Lucy straightened up, trying to act tougher than she really felt, "well, aren't you going to check me to see if I'm ok to go back to the castle? Although, you are a day early, my birthday's not for a few more hours." The scowl returned to the boys features and Lucy flinched, wondering what she had said to make him look so mad.

"Where's my father?" The pink-haired boy finally spoke, looking around as if he expected him to be hiding in the tower somewhere. Lucy's eyes bugged out of their sockets as she stared in confusion.

"W-Wha-?" Lucy stuttered, baffled by what she was hearing, the boy growled seeming to get impatient as he strode toward her and she could hear the cat behind him call out a name in warning, "Natsu."

Lucy's eyes grew even wider and she felt her heart hitch as memories came back of her and Igneel talking through the window, laughing at stories of Igneel's son as he tried to learn fire magic. She remembered the dragon talking so fondly of the child and she had secretly wished to one day meet the boy. Even after nearly 5 years, Lucy still often thought of the dragon, figuring that he had gone to be with his real family, his son, and had left Lucy alone because she wasn't actually his child. It had made Lucy cry herself to sleep many nights thinking these sad thoughts, but she would always have hope that wherever the two of them were, Igneel and his son, Natsu, were happy and enjoying being a real family.

"Natsu?" Lucy said, tipping her head to the side as her eyes welled with tears, "you're Igneel's son, Natsu?"

!X!

You guys! I am so sorry it took so long for me to update this! I have so much stuff going on and I was trying to decide how I wanted this story to go before I wrote anymore! Anyways I'm glad you guys liked the prologue and I hope you like the first chapter!