The Princess's Protector

Chapter Five: Breaking

Natsu was breaking.

His heart was stopping.

His lungs were stopping.

His feet were stiffening.

Natsu was breaking.

Just thinking of what Zeref was doing to his father--

It was too much.

So he didn't think about it.

Instead, he thought about the girl in his arms, his last order, plea, and command from his father: run, and keep her safe.

He planned on doing just that.

Lucy was still unconscious in Natsu's arms, her once-lovely white dress torn and blood soaked.

Her frail wrists, once lovely and graceful, hung at odd angles from her arms. Most likely broken.

Damn you, Zeref.

Natsu was running on the familiar cobblestone roads of the less-popular streets in Fiore.
The days he'd spent here...those were dark days.

He sped faster, or as fast as he could with the girl in his arms, until Natsu reached the outskirts of the city. He set Lucy down in a clean patch of grass in a ravine by the road and sat next to her, his pink hair rustled by the unfamiliar winds of the open field.

It was rare that Natsu left the castle. Only when he was young did he ever seem to be anywhere than that basement or the tower.

Lucy stirred. Natsu could see the pain flicker across her face as she struggled to move.

"Shhh..." He whispered softly, stroking the hair from her face.
She didn't wake up.

Moving from his sitting position into a standing position, Natsu scooped Lucy up into his arms and started walking. The first road was even, steady.
He reached a nearby inn in less than two hours.

"A room for two. Please."

Natsu tried to hide his face from the inn keeper, though Natsu knew that the wise old man recognized him right away.

"Is there anything else you require, sir?" The man opened the last door on the right.

"Bandages. And hot water, if it isn't too much trouble." Natsu walked inside the room and set Lucy down on the bed.

"Of course, Your Hig-"

"Natsu" he blurted to the man. "Just Natsu, please."

The man smiled.
"I'm Makarov. It's a pleasure to have you...Natsu. And your friend."

With that, Makarov left.

Natsu sighed, sinking into one of the two one of the two chairs that sat around a table. He couldn't believe how much his world has changed in one day.

Natsu went to the bathing chamber, washing his face and arms. In the mirror, Natsu saw a semi-deep gash in his left shoulder blade. How he hadn't noticed the throbbing pain until know, Natsu didn't know. Gritting his teeth, Natsu strode back into the bedroom where there was a bowl of hot water and a large basket of gauss and bandages piled on top of one another, along with an assortment of ointments and oils.

Makarov was being too generous to a stranger. Even if Natsu was the prince.

"I'll pay him back later.." Mumbled Natsu, selecting a pale green ointment for cuts from the basket. Lucy lay on her back on the bed, breathing shallowly. Natsu used the water and cloth to clean her cuts and minimal burns before wrapping them in gauss, as well as the wound she had sustained to her head.

But her wrists...

Gods, her wrists...

Natsu gulped, looking at them. He knew how to set them; they weren't broken, just sprained.

It would just hurt like hell.

"Princess, I'm so sorry, but.."
Natsu whispered as his fingers stroked over the skin of her left wrist. Breathing more heavily than he should have been, Natsu counted

One
Two
Three
Pop

Lucy cried out, desperately. Natsu cringed away from the sound. Lucy panted and sweat gleamed on her forehead.

Her body started to spasm, and her eyes darted around the room.

"It's okay, it's okay, your safe. Look at me. Princess, your safe."

Natsu's hands were stroking her head. He- where did this come from? Natsu had never felt this much compassion for anyone..not this way.

But he still had one more wrist to go.

"Princess. Princess.your going to have to look at me. Listen. I have to set your other wrist, okay?"

Natsu held her head in between his hands, her tears running freely and moistening his calluses palms and fingers.

"Okay?" He asked again.

This time she nodded, and he stared into her chocolate eyes for one more second before moving his hands to her other wrist.

"On three," he said.

"One"

Crack.

Lucy shrieked louder this time, trying to jerk her whole body away from Natsu's grip. He held firm. After she calmed down enough so that he could let go of her arms, she latched herself around his neck, or as much as she could without the use of her wrists or hands.

Lucy cried into his chest, softly, whimpering, cradled in Natsu's unfamiliar warmth. His arms wrapped around her in a safe embrace.

He stroked her hair and told her how it was "all right" and that she "was safe now" until the princess's breathing slowed into a rhythmic beat and she fell into a fitful dreamland.