The Celestial Princess (A NaLu Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Chapter 3

                 

Five months. It has been officially five months since Princess Lucy had gone missing and Natsu had been training non-stop, as well as searching for her. He tried everything, from searching spells to tracking her through his powerful nose, to searching for her with dream spells. Nothing was working so far. Even his vast library had nothing that had worked. But he still read through the books and searched the library for answers. And what was his mother doing at the time of all this? Queen Erza was trying to get her pink haired son with some other princesses, and practically brutally force him to attend her royal balls or other boring social events that she set up every now and then, interrupting his training time or research. Like exactly now, for example. While Queen Erza was hosting a small party, mingling with the guests and what not, Happy was able to sneak Natsu out so they could train some more. Words could not expressed his relief, so he basically summed them up. "Thanks Happy, I owe you one" Natsu told the blue exeed who was flying beside him. "Please, You don't owe me anything Natsu. After all, I was saving you from one of the worst punishments Erza has come up with" Happy said. "Good point" the rosey pink haired fire dragon slayer said to his friend as a shiver ran down his spine. Royal events. It really was the worst punishment for Natsu, and he knew Erza had to know it too. It's not that Erza was mean or anything, she was just, well... let's say she was determined in a really weird way. But she was a great mother, caring, beautiful and strong. She was probably the strongest mage in the kingdom, with her having the ability to have magic armor and all. She taught Natsu almost everything he knew. But she was still pretty strict, and he was not going to another party for half the day when he could be using that time to train. Like Jellal said, he should be prepared to fight the biggest battle of his life, but what Natsu really took to heart was to never stop looking for Lucy. And he hasn't, which was probably the reason his mother worried about him half the time. Happy surprised Natsu by flying straight for him, and if not for Natsu's quick reflexes, they two friends would have painfully collided. But instead, Natsu turned so he was facing Happy and caught his soft blue head like a fist. The only difference was that Natsu caught Happy's head more gently. "Com'on Natsu! We gotta train if we want to save Lucy!" Happy exclaimed as he detached his head from the fire dragon's firm grip. "All right! Let's do this Happy!" Natsu exclaimed, putting his fist in the air with determination. "Aye sir!" Happy replied.

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"I don't know if I can do this!" Natsu very nervously told Happy as he was thirty feet in the air. "Well, the way I see it is if you can survive a fall from thirty feet up, you can live through anything" Happy stated with a smug face, his tail and pass listening their grip on Natsu's shirt. "I'm sorry I ate your fish! It won't happen again! Just put me on the ground!" Natsu pleaded with his blue exeed friend. "Alright, fine. I'll put you on the ground. Happy said as he let go of Natsu. "THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!!" Natsu yelled at Happy, who was floating down peacefully. Natsu was freaking out , flailing his arms and legs out. With the ground coming close, Natsu looked around for anything that could be useful. All he saw were tall trees. Wait! That's it!, the pink haired fire dragon slayer thought as he formed a plan. Fire shot out of his mouth as his back faces the trees. And just as he had hoped, Natsu fell, or floated, towards the tree tops. And before he could even think, Natsu crashed threw all of the branches. Each branch or leaf hitting, smacking, scratching, or whipping his fair skin. By the time he landed on the ground, face down and created a small crater on the ground, Natsu felt as though all his bones were broken. Since he was a mage, his body was physically stronger by a looooooong shot, being able to take on much bigger hits than a normal human. But that didn't mean the pain was lessened a lot. "What the hell Happy! I could have died!" Natsu yelled at his friend. "We both know that if I truly questioned weather if you lived or died I wouldn't have put you on the ground" Happy said using his teacher voice, his eyes closed, hands behind his back, and a small but cute smile on his face. "You dropped me!" Natsu corrected Happy. "Thats besides the point. We oughta get back home" Happy said looking as the rising moon. Man, Mom's gonna kill me for sneaking out and coming home late, Natsu thought, getting up. It was a painful walk back home to the castle. At least on the way back Natsu and Happy made up and apologized to each other. Nastu for eating Happy's prized fish snack, and Happy for "trying to put Natsu back safely on the ground". Natsu figured it was his way of saying 'sorry I dropped you from thirty feet up'. They were scared when they were in front of the door, fearing it Natsu mother was in the other side. And they were both welcomed with a steaming mad Erza when the came back home. Go figure,Natsu and Happy couldn't get away with anything again. "What were you two doing for the whole day when you were gone?" Erza asked using her calm, yet strict mother voice. And that's when you knew all kinds of shit was about to get real in that room. In a matter seconds, all of the castle workers hurried and rushed out of the entrance room, some even praying to Mavis for Natsu to end up on in the long run. "Well, you see, me and Happy were training some more. You know, since Jellal said I'd have to" Natsu explained, his voice pretty much made out of fear itself. Happy slowly started to fly away, until Erza told him to get back here. "Now, my question is what should your punishment be for sneaking out and then coming back home late, and while having bruises and blood all over you" the scarlet haired queen said to her son and his best friend. "Since you too wanted to train, you'll have to train with me now" Erza said when she made up her mind.

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Everything hurt for Natsu and Happy. Those bones hurt, their muscles hurt, everything. Then again, that's what happens when really anyone fights the queen. It even hurt laying down in bed. As Natsu went to sleep, something shined in his eyes. Opening them, he saw Lucy's gold and silver celestial keys on his small table where the moon, high in the sky, was shining its pale light into them. You hang in there Luce, I'm conning for ya, Natsu thought as he fell asleep. Unknown to anyone, Lucy looked up at the night sky. She had just turned Mard Geer's marriage proposal when she heard something crash into one of the willow trees. Rushing over to see what it was, she was that it was a small white owl with light blue wings and brown eyes had an arrow in her wing.