A Cinderella Story

Chapter 5

"Good morning sleeping beauty" a gentle voice came from beside Lucy's ear. She rolled over, clutching the blanket tighter, yawning. "Go away" she muttered. The cellar floor seemed awfully soft today. Really soft, like a bed. And the blanket seemed thicker than hers. Her stepsisters wouldn't call her sleeping beauty, and defiantly not in Natsu's voice, that was impossible...Her eyes snapped open. Natsu. She shot upright scaring Natsu who was flung back into his wooden chair. "Woah!" he said. "Where's the fire?" She looked around franticly. She was a Mr Green's house. In the spare room. She let a sigh of relief and flopped back down onto the bed.

"No fire then? Good, I was worried for a moment there" Natsu said grinning at her. She looked over at him. His clothes had changed to black leather boots, black trousers, a red silk shirt, and a long red jacket with silver buttons and a high collar that was unbuttoned showing his shirt. She frowned at him, sitting up again. "How did I get to Mr Green's? Weren't we at the dance? What are you doing here? What time is it?" "I carried you here, we were at the dance but you fell asleep, and I didn't want to wake you up so Mr Green said I could let you sleep here for the night, I went home for the night then came back to see if you were still here, and its..." he looked over at the clock on the wall. "5 O'clock in the morning" he said turning back to her.

"5 O'clock!" she screeched, flinging the covers off before racing across the room to the door. "Is there another fire?" he asked sprinting after her. She ripped the door open and flew down the stairs. "Thanks for letting me stay Mr Green!" she yelled as she burst through the door, Natsu right behind her. "No problem Lucy!" he yelled back. "Any particular reason why we're running?" Natsu asked as they raced through the streets. "I have to get back before my... mistress does" she puffed. "Got it" Natsu replied as they continued on.

They made it too the mansion a few minutes later. Lucy bent over, gasping for breath. She raised a hand and wiped sweat of her forehead. The carriage wasn't outside the house. It looked like she'd made it. Natsu looked up at the mansion, hands on his hips. He hadn't even broken a sweat from their run. "Duchess Heartfilia huh? She's your mistress?" (Her father was a duke remember so when she married her father she became a duchess) Lucy's heart stopped. How did he know who she was? "How...How do you know her?" she asked. Natsu shrugged "My Dad kind of knows everyone. He mentioned who lived here once we passed by one time" he replied.

"Right" Lucy wheezed. "She'll probably come back soon, so you should go" Lucy said quickly, moving closer to him. Natsu frowned at her. "Why do I have to go? Can't I just stay?" he asked moving towards her. Lucy looked around anxiously. "Thanks so much for bringing me to Mr Green's, but please, if she sees me with a guy she'll kill me" Lucy said. Natsu took a step closer to her. "What's wrong with you being with a guy?" he asked. They were now only centimetres apart. Lucy once again thought of how attractive he was. Lucy heard the faint sound of galloping, and looked up to see her stepmother's carriage appearing at the end of the road. Her eyes grew wide.

"Please" she hissed to Natsu "You have to go". She looked so terrified of something. Natsu could see the fear in her eyes. It was that that convinced him to move away. "Fine" he grumbled. "But I'll be back Lucy. You can count on it" he said before turning and quickly hurrying away, the tails of his coat flapping in the wind. Thank you... Lucy hurried to the doorstep and sat down. She quickly unclipped her beautiful necklace and hid it in her dress. If her stepmother saw it she would keep it for herself. The carriage pulled up, her stepmother's foot appeared and as soon as her thin lipped mouth opened, Lucy knew it would be a long day.

•••

Lucy huffed in frustration, hissing through her teeth. She sat back on her knees, rubbed the layer of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. A few loose strands of sweaty hair dangled in front of her face, so she flipped them back. She glared at the large black stain in front of her. Beatrice just had to spill a whole bloody pot of ink all over the good white rug didn't she? And of course, who had spent the past 5 hours trying to scrub it out again while her stepsisters and stepmother were at another party? Her of course. The black stain seemed to leer at her, taunting her. Lucy groaned loudly, flopping back on the cold wooden floor. She rubbed her face with her hands and sighed. "You look like you're having fun" a voice came from the doorway, scaring the living crap out of her. She bolted up and twisted to see the pink haired smugly smiling Natsu. He was wearing the same clothes as earlier. Lucy could only squeak in utter shock. The grinned from where he was leaning casually against the door frame, arms folded across his chest.