When Worlds Collide

Chapter 13

As Lucy told Natsu all about her interests and hobbies, Natsu lead her through the city and introduced her to more exciting sights. He showed her more shops and stands, bought some fruit, nuts, and bread from one stand to have for lunch later on, and then he took her to a part of town where people were performing. There were men juggling swords, belly-dancers, contortionists, and other exotic displays of talent that the princess had never seen before.

"Hey check this out." Natsu pointed over to a basket where a man was playing a flute. A snake rose out of the basket, dancing to the rhythm of the flute's music.

"Eeep!" Lucy cried before clinging to Natsu in fear, which led to the young man blushing.

"Uh...Are you okay?" He asked her nervously.

"I'm scared of snakes." She squeaked.

Hearing this Natsu quickly led her away from the show.

"Here, watch this."

Using the ring, he sparked a fire on his finger, swallowed it, and blew out a huge flame that was like a dragon's breath. The crowd was amazed but not nearly as much as Lucy was.

"That was incredible." She clapped for him.

"Thank you."

"How did you do that?"

"Sorry it's a trade secret."

After that they went to sit down somewhere, eat their lunch, and continue conversing.

"My mother was the one who got me interested in painting in the first place. When I was little, we loved to paint the walls together. We'd create our own world where color would come to life." Lucy told Natsu. "After she died, I used painting as a means to cope but then my father became terrified of the world, and tried to keep me away from it. So my method of coping turned into my only way of seeing the outside world. I painted what I couldn't be apart of."

"What kind of things did you paint?"

"Landscapes, plants, animals, but my favorite thing to paint was always the sky. The endless void of blue with white fluffy clouds at it's side, the pink and orange of the sunset, and the most lovely of all, the black night adorned by twinkling stars."

"That does sound pretty. Why is the sky your favorite?"

"I can't tell you. You would laugh at me."

"No I wouldn't."

"Yes would. My own father laughed at me when I first told him."

"I won't! I swear!"

"Cross your heart and hope to die?"

"Stick in a needle in my eye."

"Okay." She sighed and waited in silent hesitation before giving her answer. "The reason why I love painting the sky is because I...I want to fly."

"Fly? As in, fly like a bird?"

"Yes. Ever since I was little, I thought that it must be so wonderful to be able to lift off the ground and soar high above, seeing everything from down below. To me, flying would be the ultimate freedom. I know it's impossible and that it's a fool's dream but, sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would be like."

Natsu didn't laugh at her at all. She appreciated that more than he would ever know.

"What about you?" She asked him. "Do you have any dreams or impossible wishes?"

"No. Nothing like that for me. I'm a simple man who leads a simple life. As long as I got a roof over my head, food on the table, and Happy here, I'm a happy guy."