Dragon Boy and Princess

Chapter 37

Hi, guys! NOW PLEASE DON'T KILL ME BECAUSE I WENT ON HIATUS!! Although I doubt it since no one seems brave enough to comment. Naw, I'm kidding. I'm seriously thankful to everyone who reads this. 3.9K readers guys! Wow! Like, I'm seriously impressed. I never thought my story would get this much attention. So thank you. Anyway, without further ado, here is chapter 37!

            Lucy didn't know how it was possible for her to fall asleep while flying, but somehow she had. She was in a wedding dress, marrying the pinkette love of her life. All of her friends were there as well as the Ryus, and Happy was bobbing happily above them, holding out the rings. She beamed at Natsu as he grinned his beautiful fanged grin at her, sliding the ring on her finger, but all of a sudden, darkness invaded the corners of the dream as Natsu mouthed her name. And she was falling, falling, falling. When she finally touched ground, she was her seven-year-old self again, walking along the dark corridors of the palace.

            The scene was painfully familiar. She was clutching her favorite doll to her chest as she crept along in the direction of her parents' room. She had had a nightmare and wanted to be comforted. Just as the door to their bedroom came into sight, an ear-splitting scream echoed in the halls. Lucy froze and then started running, throwing open the door of the room. Spread eagle on the floor was her mother, a gaping hole the size of a basketball where her heart should be. Warm, crimson liquid reached Lucy's feet and she screamed, crawling back to the wall.

            She looked at her mother's body, her naïve child self believing that Layla Heartfilia could still be alive. She stole herself and ran through the sticky blood, kneeling at her mother's side and crying, "Mama!" as her lifeless brown eyes stared up at her, the blood seeping into her clothes.

            "MAMA!"

            "Lucy!" a voice yelled, and her eyes snapped open to see Natsu shaking her shoulders, his eyes wide with fear.

            "Natsu..." she muttered.

            "It's ok, Luce. You're ok," he said, scanning her eyes. "It was just a bad dream."

            Tears clouded her vision as she nodded, latching onto him and burying her face in his scarf. He rubbed his hand in comforting circles on her back, muttering soothing words in her ear.

            She took a couple deep breaths, steadying herself. Once she was sure that she wouldn't burst out sobbing, she lifted her head, checking their surroundings. They were in a clearing deep in the forest, on a cliff that looked over a large city. She looked to see Gajeel, Levy, Wendy, and Romeo standing a little ways away by a blazing fire, worry obvious on their faces.

            "I'm fine," she managed to get out, plastering a smile on her face. "Just a bad dream.

            She disentangled herself reluctantly from Natsu's warm hold to stand up and walk over to the fire.

            "So, where are we?" she asked, wrapping her arms around herself to mask her shaking.

             "We're on the edge of Magnolia," Levy was the first to respond, eyeing her knowingly.

            Lucy avoided her gaze by settling herself down on the grass and staring at the fire. She felt Natsu sit down next to her, and was aware of his worried gaze but did not turn to look at him. She didn't want to break down in front of all these people.

            "Wow, we've flown pretty far, huh?" she remarked, remembering from her geography lessons that Magnolia was at least six hours away from Crocus by train.