The Dragon Princess

Chapter 24

Lucy POV:

I thought that when the trap door beneath my feet was released then I would have felt my body drop and then I would have died, but all I felt was warmth. I felt strong arms wrapped around my body, was I dead? I opened my eyes slowly to see pink hair and deep onyx eyes looking at me with a worried expression.

"Lucy are you ok?" Natsu asked.

I quickly put my hands to my neck and I winced in pain at the rope burn that was now there, so it wasn't a dream? They actually hung me? But if they did that then how am I still alive?

"What happened?" I asked confused. "Didn't you want me dead?"

"Lucy, we're so sorry. We treated you badly, we almost got you killed. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." Natsu said and I could see tears filing his eyes.

I could hear the sound of feet running towards us along with the familiar noise of a sword being released from its holder. I cast a small glance around us and saw that we were now surrounded by the Fiore army, and not to mention the Grand Doma was looking at Natsu shocked.

"How dare you do this Salamander!" He yelled at Natsu. "She is the spawn of Zeref him-self! Given half the chance she would kill us all!"

"She would never do that!" Erza yelled.

"She's one of us!" Wendy cried.

I could hear the Fairy Tail guild cheering me on, giving me support and calling out to me. But I was so weak, I could hardly keep my eyes open. Natsu looked at me and noticed how weak I actually was, and he was shocked to his core.

"Look at her! She's a child and you almost killed her!" He yelled and I could feel his body getting hotter.

I could see my keys resting on Natsu's hip and I dared to reach out for them, he helped me to grab them but just as my fingers touched the cool metal of the keys a guard ripped me from Natsu's grasp. Natsu was thrashing under their hold as I was dragged away, I could see the pain in his eyes and it broke my heart. But I don't understand, they thought I'd killed Mirajane so why are they risking everything to try and save me? I just wanted to be home with my family, I wanted my mother...

"You dare to lay a hand on her!" A voice bellowed sending the guards cowering in fear.

I saw that Master Makarov was now the size of a giant, he was stomping towards the guard who was holding me and I noticed the guard wasn't afraid. He wasn't scared of this giant walking towards us and I couldn't understand why, then I saw him pull out a dagger and place the cool blade against my neck.

"You really want to come closer old man?!" He yelled and then I recognised his voice.

His name was Melville and he was the guard who would torture me for hours on end, I was his toy and he loved to watch me cry out in pain. He would always beat me until I fell unconscious and then once I woke again he would continue. And his favourite tools were blades and whips, because they would give me the most pain. He pressed the blade harder into my neck causing a small stream of blood to drip down onto the dress I was wearing, tears stung my eyes as I tried to hold back my cries of pain. Melville glanced behind Master Makarov and noticed something, all the guilds in Fiore were rallied up and preparing to fight. They were preparing to fight the council to save me. My heart swelled with love for them, they had no idea who I was and yet they were willing to risk everything to save me. I could feel a small amount of Magic energy inside my body and knew exactly who to call, I held my hand out and a golden key came flying to my hand. Melville glanced down at me in shock as I filled my lungs with air and cried.