The Shield (Prince Harry fanfic #2)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Harry let Lucy take him, a minute after the man left, and they escaped through the crowd. A taxi was hailed by Lucy, and the couple rushed back to their hotel. Harry had anger rising within him, and he refused to explode. Anger wasn't meant to be directed at Lucy, when anger was directed at the whole situation. There a deep regret with Lucy within Harry, confusion and fear. He didn't want to admit it, but it was there. Their hotel door closed behind him, and Lucy locked them in.

"What was that?" Harry demanded, his voice raised.

Lucy shook her head. "I won't talk to you unless you calm down." Her voice was still calm and collected, but her body trembled slightly.

"Lucy, what the hell--"

"What did I just say?" she spat.

Sighing, Harry calmed himself down. It took a minute, but finally he breathed enough. "Luce, what happened? Why didn't we call the police? Why did you let those guys go?"

"Because we had to," she said. "We had let them go; we were outnumbered, even though they were drunk. And I would've never forgiven myself if something happened to you, Harry."

"Something already happened to me, Luce, and I'm fine. I've recovered." He understood though, because he wouldn't have forgiven himself if something happened to Lucy. Yet, his anger was there.

"Harry, you can't just recover from something like that. I know--I've done it." Her breath was shaky. They would speak about his recovery again, later because now there were other things. Plus, the conversation would've been long and hard. "They outnumbered us. One was bigger than us. But we also have to respect the victim."

"He was in shock!" Harry exclaimed. "He was also just beaten."

"Exactly."

"Yes, Lucy, exactly. He wasn't in his right mind. We should've called the police, and he would've gone to the hospital. The guys would be in jail."

"Harry, I really like you but don't be daft."

His crystal blue eyes snapped over to her. Anger arose in him again; this time directed at Lucy. However, he didn't say anything he might regret. With Lucy, there was a lot he could've said and would've regretted. "What?" he asked, voice calm; this was his princely voice.

"Harry, you grew up in a castle. Some bad things happened. You served in the Armed Forces. You spent time with different people in different cultures from different places. But you can't deny that you grew up privileged, above a lot of people. You went to boarding school and you went on cool vacations. You could get away with things. Normal people can't do that."

"I realize that, Luce."

"Then think about it," she said. "Think about the world that we live in. Think about my job in London. How many refugees come into a country? How many refugees are welcomed by the country and by the people? Most of them are illegal, because a country can take in only so many people. Where else are those refugees supposed to go? Are they supposed to go back to the land that they escaped from?"

"No."

Lucy nodded. "He's probably in Germany illegally, because they can't process fast enough, and Germany is taking in many more refugees than other countries. And some of these people don't accept these refugees, and it's not just Germany! It happens everywhere, all the time. Racism and hate." Pausing, she took a deep breath. "Germany has come extremely far and is doing great things. Over seventy years ago, Hitler was in power and tolerance was low. Germany has come back from that to be an incredible and accepting country. That is the thought, but not everyone agrees. Not everyone in a country can."

"I get it, Lucy."

She stepped forward. "He was scared, Harry, the man that was beat up. He has a family here, and he's trying to survive like anyone else. But the police have to do their job, and that means signing papers and being in the system. And he might be kicked out of the country. Fear controls people, and he needed to save himself."

"Do you think he'll tell the police?" Harry asked.

"I hope so, but I doubt it," Lucy admitted. "Even if he did, it's dark and he can't find his attackers. He wouldn't be able to find the people who helped him."

"I wish this wouldn't happen." Harry's voice was barely above a whisper. "We should be able to stop this. We are better than this."

"We're not heroes, Harry," Lucy hissed. "We're normal people--one of us is a normal person. But we're not superheroes, with super powers. Bad things happen constantly, and we can't stop them. We can tell people to be nicer and we can try to set examples. But we can't police the world. People are going to do whatever they want."

"Luce, we are above this."

She shook her head. "We might be but others aren't. People make their own choices. Those guys, no matter how drunk they were, they made their own choice. That man, no matter how scared he was and probably is, he made his own choice. We can't change that. We can't change people. We can't change the world."

"You're wrong," Harry whispered. "We can change the world. I've seen it. My mother did it, and I can too."

"You can, Harry," Lucy admitted, "but some of us can't. People don't have the platform that you were born with. You can change the world, Harry."

"You can change the world, Lucy."

"Why? Because you believe in me?" she asked. "I'll have the platform if I come out as your girlfriend. People will care then. They have to, but if I'm just a normal person, no one cares."

"Luce, you told me not to be daft and now it's your turn." His blue eyes shined. "I have a platform; people naturally want to come see what I'm doing. However, you're not a normal person. I can agree it is hard for people to make a change in the world, if they're normal. People don't care enough in the world." He stepped forward and held her hands. "Luce, you have left your mark on the world. You were either in the right place at the right time or you were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Both times, you saved people. People remember your name."

"That's my platform?" she wondered. "I stopped a guy from continuing to shoot up a school, where he killed a bunch of people already. Or I stopped a guy on a train from killing people."

"You don't want to be remembered as a hero, I know. But you will be a hero to them, forever." His thumbs ran over the back of her hand. "When you die some day, even now and no one knows about us, your death will be reported across the world. People will not forget about it, once they are reminded. And many people have to thank their lives to you as well as their families and friends." He kissed her on the cheek. "You are filled with the ability to change the world, and unlike other people, you have the platform."

"If I scream loud enough, you think people will hear?"

Harry smiled. "I don't think you need to scream. People will listen even if you whisper."