The Princess and the Commoner

Chapter 2: Natsu Dragneel

Natsu had stolen another piece of bread and was being chased by the royal army for the third time that week. He ran forward and jumped into a barrel. Natsu held in a laugh looking at the confused army, he counted to ten, jumped out of the barrel, and started running in the opposite direction. As he was running, Natsu caught sight of a blond headed girl standing outside of Fairy Tail. She looked familiar to him, he looked her in the eye and smirked at her.

"You thief! Come back here!" Natsu turned and looked at the soldiers who had spotted him and were starting to run toward him. He looked over at the girl one more time and sprinted off in the opposite direction from the soldiers, and he could tell that his flying cat, Happy, was still following him from a safe distance from the air. Natsu pumped his arms harder and went into his secret hiding place.

"Natsu? Is it good for me to come down now?" Natsu looked around the corner in case there was someone nearby,

"Yeah you can come down Happy!" Happy flew down to Natsu and they split the stolen bread.

"You're bad at stealing Natsu. You need to be more sneaky, more...quiet." Natsu looked over at Happy and frowned at him,

"Well you're just going to have to deal with the way I do it because you can't be where people can see you. And you know that." Happy nodded his head sadly. A law had been passed a year ago that prevented magic in Fiore. Anything magical was confiscated and anyone using magic would be killed. And that included Exceeds like Happy.

"I still wonder why magic isn't allowed anymore..." Natsu nodded in thought,

"Yeah...me too. Magic isn't bad and yet they still got rid of it. I'm glad that you can be with me still and that you're safe Happy." Happy smiled broadly and put his blue paw in the air,

"Aye sir!"

~*~

Lucy started walking in the direction she saw Natsu running off to.

"I still wonder why magic isn't allowed anymore..." Lucy stopped in her tracks and listened,

"Yeah...me too. Magic isn't bad and yet they still got rid of it. I'm glad that you can be with me still and that you're safe Happy."

"Aye sir!" Lucy could hear two voices talking but only knew one of them.

"Happy, up." Lucy wanted to look at them but was afraid that they would see her. She heard a rush of air going up and pushed herself further back, making sure that she wouldn't make any sound.

"Who are you?" Lucy looked up and tried screaming but Natsu had put his hand over her mouth to muffle the scream. He raised his eyebrow slightly,

"Are you gonna scream again?" Lucy shook her head and Natsu took his hand off of her mouth and put it to his side. "You gonna tell me who you are?" Lucy looked at Natsu in shock,

"My name's Lucy He-" Natsu's eyes widened in panic and he put his hand over Lucy's mouth again. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled back into the shadows of his hiding place. Lucy was scared of what he was backing away from, then she looked and saw the kingdom's second magic user; Gray Fullbuster. Lucy backed into Natsu to push him further back. She knew that Gray would do some serious damage to Natsu if he was able to catch him.

"Did you find them Gajeel?!" Lucy's eyes widened in panic as she realized that Gajeel was there too. He was also a magic user for the kingdom and he had an incredible sense of smell.

"No. They was able to get away from our men and since I've never smelled them before..." Gray rolled his eyes.

"Yeah I know. You can't smell 'em." Gray walked forward until he was standing right in front of the hidden door. "Just go back to the castle and I'll keep looking on my own to see if I can find them." Lucy could hear Gajeel grunt and heard his heavy footsteps walking away. Natsu let out a breath and relaxed. But Lucy was still tense because Gray was still standing there. Gray stuck his hand into the small alleyway and smacked the cement 3 times. Natsu released Lucy and smacked the wall 3 times like Gray had just done. Lucy saw Gray squeeze in and look at Natsu with relief in his face,

"You need to be more careful Natsu, Gajeel could have smelled you." Natsu laughed slightly and hit Gray's back in a friendly way,

"Yeah, I know. I freaked when I smelled him." Gray laughed and looked over in Lucy's direction. The smile disappeared from his face and he frowned in confusion,

"Lucy?! What are you doing here!?" Lucy laughed nervously waved at Gray which earned a frown from him.

"Well, um...I was visiting Fairy Tail." Gray visibly relaxed and he had a light smile on his face,

"I didn't know that you liked Fairy Tail, I could have escorted you there. After all, I am a member." Lucy's eyes widened in shock,

"What?! Wasn't that a mages guild a few years ago?" Gray smiled and nodded,

"Yup. Me and Natsu were members of it and we still are. Do you want me to tell you a secret?" Lucy smiled brightly and nodded her head. Gray walked up close to her and whispered in her ear:

"Fairy Tail is still a mages guild."