Solitary Princess - Nalu ✔️

Chapter 17

Lucy waited for Natsu to make his way back to her. They walked in silence along the bright fields for a few minutes, enjoying the silence.

Lucy didn't even realise she was grinning until Natsu asked her, "What're ya thinkin bout?"

Lucy attempted to cover her smile and sighed in content, "This is so nice, being with you again and wandering around instead of being cooped up in my room. It's been so long since I've enjoyed myself." Lucy tried not to think about how she would probably have to face reality soon when her father found out. All good things had to end, after all.

Natsu shook his head grinning, "I'll never leave you again, Luce."

Lucy's mind went blank as she stopped walking, "How can you say that?" She whispered, as if the wind would be able to carry her words away with all of her pain.

Natsu stopped walking as well and turned to look at Lucy as she continued, "How can you know you will never leave me?"

Natsu, taken aback, sharply inhaled and looked away, "Luce, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... Make you think," He threw his head back and gazed at the bright sky, "But I'm not gonna leave you Luce. And I won't let you leave me." He looked at the frail girl again, "I make that promise on..."

Saddness clouded his eyes for a moment and Lucy finally threw all caution to the wind flowing around her, "Natsu, what happened? Don't think I don't notice you acting weird. If you don't wanna talk about it, fine. But you can't keep it a secret forever." Lucy stared hard at Natsu who stayed silent.

After a moment, Lucy could feel his walls shutting her out. He wouldn't talk. Lucy broke the silence breathily, "Okay."

She waited a moment before turning on her heels and walking briskly back to the castle. She knew it wasn't right for her to get mad just because Natsu didn't want to share, but she felt like she knew nothing about him now. It was so selfish, but they were also best friends- or at least she thought they were- and best friends were supposed to open up about that stuff.

Lucy just wanted to clear her mind, and she didn't hear Natsu follow her, so she silently went to the library, a place she went to try to relax.

Lucy slowly skimmed the walls of books for something new, knowing full well she'd read every single slightly interesting one but still hoping she'd somehow find a new story to get lost in. The soft spines felt good against her fingers and calmed her racing mind.

She plucked a book she had only read once from its spot among the others. Running her fingers along the cover, she decided to pick a seat by a window and read to clear her head of everything and get lost in the story.

...

Lucy was had just finished the book by the time the sky began to change colors. She knew she should never have been mad at Natsu, but she was finally willing to stop being so stubborn about it.

The princess sighed and stood, stretching her muscles that were stiff from sitting still for hours on end. She glanced out the window and watched the clouds move lazily across the golden and red sky.

Lucy put the book back in it's spot and headed to the kitchen to grab some food. She hadn't eaten lunch and felt her stomach growl in protest at the thought of going any longer without food.

The blonde princess meant to sneak in and out quietly but tripped on her own dress in the process of reaching for a loaf of bread in a high cubbord. Cursing her cruel life, she fell forward and hit her hip on a countertop. Lucy cringed and folded her body to try to ease the pain. She muttered angrily until she felt large hands gently grab her waist, spreading warmth around her body.

She involuntarily shuddered as she heard a femiliar velvety voice, "You okay Luce?" Natsu stood next to her, trying his best to help ease the pain but having no idea where to start.

Lucy would've laughed at the sad situation if her heart wasn't beating in her throat. She felt the dull ache in her hip and focused on it before remembering that she was supposed to be in pain.

Lucy laughed breathlessly, "Sorry, I tripped because I couldn't reach the bread." She couldn't understand why she was so flustered but decided not to think too long on it.

Natsu chuckled softly and slowly reached up over her head to grab the bread and butter from the high cubbord.

Lucy tried but failed not to inhale the pinkette's smell. She covered it with an akward cough and quietly thanked him for helping her.

She smiled sheepishly up at him as he handed her the desired food. Still quite hungry, Lucy quickly buttered the bread and shoved a piece of it in her mouth, disregarding table manners for the first time in a long while. She tried not to think about the way he was staring at her and focused on not blushing- though that might have made it worse.

Remembering her inconsiderate anger from earlier, Lucy swallowed the last bite and opened her mouth to speak at the same time he did, "Natsu-" "Luce-" They both apologised akwardly and after a moment of silence, Lucy cleared her throat and continued, "I'm sorry about earlier, it was entirely selfish of me to expect you to share something you weren't ready to. I hope you can forgive me." she finished unsteadily, deciding not to even give an excuse.

Lucy was intently watching the ground, but glanced up just in time to see something flicker in his eyes before he said, "No, Luce. I understand. It's not that I don't want to share with you, I just wasn't totally prepared for the subject to come up so soon," Lucy waited in silence as Natsu took a deep breath before continuing, "After your mother died, my family ran into some debt issues. Like many others, we owed a lot of money in a short amount of time because of the ruin that the kingdom quickly fell into. We ended up owing some bad people. Stuff got out of hand and someone was willing to hurt our family just to feel like they got payment. I don't really know the details, but I remember being woken up in the middle of the night by my mom. She told me I had to get out. I didn't know what she was talking about until I smelled the smoke," Lucy stood in shocked silence as Natsu paused, running his fingers roughly through his already messy hair, "Someone had set our house on fire, Luce, and it was burning fast. I got a few burns, but my mom threw me outside just as the roof collapsed. I was the only one who made it out. She died because of my slowness and I never even saw my dad or my brother," he gestured to the scarf around his neck, "this is one of the only things I could salvage."

Lucy didn't feel the tears until he was reaching out and wiping them away. Her mind was hazy as she looked up into Natsu's blazing eyes. They held so much saddness and anger that she wondered how she didn't realize earlier. She stepped forward slowly, then gripped Natsu's waist as if squeezing him would take away all the pain. She sobbed into his chest for what could've been hours, burying her head as close as it could get to his warm, beating heart. All she could think about was the loving faces of his parents and how completely alone and abandoned he must have felt. And she was selfish enough to think she ever had it bad.