Solitary Princess - Nalu ✔️

Chapter 21

Natsu called for Panther Lily for 30 minutes before he saw the bird's large body clear the high wall surrounding the castle grounds.

Relief flooded him, and he immediately sent a message detailing Lucy's near kidnapping by outsiders pretending to be soldiers. He trusted the carrier bird of Gageel's to get the message to the guild and could only wait for them to find information.

The general waited two full days, in which he carefully kept an eye on Lucy, before the bird returned to him in the cover of night.

He hurridly unbounded the scroll from the birds leg and unrolled the rough parchment.

The message only said one line, but it was enough to send chills down Natsu's spine.

'The Black Wizard's on the move.'

Natsu's heart began to race as he gripped the paper in a fist- almost tearing it. This was bad news.

Nobody knew his identity, but the black wizard was a powerful gangster that was said to possess a frighteningly high kill count. He had successfully leveled villages with his men and left not a single soul alive to tell the tale. The only thing that told what happened was the sign of the gang that they always left at their crime scenes: the head of a dragon.

With shaking hands, Natsu used the same paper to write, 'I need evidence, motives, and plans', and sent the dark bird off into the night.

He then walked back to the little hut that served as his new residence. He could get a room inside the castle after a few months when he was more official and the castle staff did more background research on him.

He ducked a bit through the doorway into his new home, and took off his shoes and shirt, sprawling on his thin bed. It wasn't as nice as his bed back home, but it was better than sleeping on the streets. That train of thought brought him back to the fire that took everything from him. He could still smell the smoke that stung his eyes as his mother dragged him through the burning house.

She was crying out for her husband who was supposed to be grabbing Natsu's brother. With no sign of either, his mother pushed on through the house, hacking as her lungs burned from the deadly smoke that made Natsu's small body begin to weaken. Beams had already fallen down, and it was hard to maneuver around everything in the haze. It felt like an eternity, but she finally saw the doorway. Relief flooded Natsu just as a loud crack was heard. They were only a few feet from the doorway, and the ceiling was falling in on them. With motherly instinct, Natsu's mom picked up the boy and threw him through the collapsing doorway out to safety. Natsu tumbled a bit on the hard earth, but was virtually unscathed. When he was able to look back, his mother was already gone. He watched with wide eyes as the burning house blurred with his tears. The small boy shakily started to crawl toward the house, trying to somehow get to his mother, but he blacked out before he was able to reach the burning building.

Natsu squeezed his eyes shut, closing off the memories as a tear escaped his eye. There was no use in regretting or hurting over something that had happened so long ago. He knew this, and still Natsu could not bring himself to be okay.

He rolled onto his side, trying to ignore the memory that was permanently etched into his eye lids:
The dragon's head that had been carved into the destroyed gateway of his home.

...

The next day, Natsu wanted to be as close to Lucy as possible. She needed someone to keep an eye on her and he didn't trust anyone in the royal staff to keep her safe more than he trusted himself.

He casually walked towards the castle just as the sun was showing itself over the treetops. The guards let him in, and he strolled down the hallways in the direction of the kitchen. Might as well keep his stomach full while he was protecting Lucy.

Natsu arrived in the kitchen and all the nice ladies immediately greeted him as they bustled about. The older one that he liked to help beckoned him over with a threatening knife, "Chop these up."

Natsu nodded, and looked down to the tray of carrots, celery, and peppers. He expertly diced the vegetables and turned to the lady to ask for more instructions, when he saw his own mentor walk by the doorway, no doubt looking for the pinkette. Natsu already had a habit of running away from his responsibilities, and it drove the lazy older man crazy because he had to go out of his way to look for the kid just to keep his job.

Natsu froze and prayed the man wouldn't walk back and look into the kitchen. The fates were not on his side though, as the scruffly man peaked through the doorway moments later, immediately making eye contact with the pinkette.

The man rounded the corner into the kitchen with a grumpy look on his face.

"Dammit..." Natsu mumbled under his breath.

So much for staying close to Lucy.

The gravelly voice of the old man reached his ears as a firm grip appeared on the back of Natsu's neck, "Kid. How many times do I have to tell you? I am not your butler, and you are not some rascal prince. I refuse to search for you so early in the morning any more," he ignored Natsu's mumbled response, and continued, "I don't wanna have to do this dumb training either, what makes you think you can so easily avoid the duties that this whole job entails?"

The kitchen lady spoke up, "Cut the boy some slack Gildarts, he just wants to see the princess."

The rough man gave Natsu the side eye for a moment before sighing in defeat, "Ya got ten minutes kid. That's all. And I expect you to use those ten minutes to the best of your ability," a creepy look came across his face, "after all... I'm sure you've seen the princesse's-" he was cut off by the kitchen lady smacking the back of his head with a heavy-looking baton.

"She is quite too young for you, don't be so crude. She's not even the age of your daughter you sick bastard..." She mumbled profanities to herself as she continued kneading bread angrily.

The look of pain on the old man's face quickly morphed into a dreamy expression at the mention of his daughter. Natsu rolled his eyes and left the kitchen before Gildarts could launch into another story about how wonderful his daughter was.

When Natsu first realized his mentor was talking about the drunkard woman from his own guild, he was interested to learn more about her past. But after a while, it just got annoying to hear such an evil woman be painted in an innocent, saintly light.

Natsu set off down the hallway in search for the princess. He only had ten minutes to be with her, and he would take every moment he could get.

He entered the dining hall with both of their plates filled with food and waited for what felt like too long until Lucy finally arrived. She saw Natsu and smiled graciously.

Natsu grinned back, "Mornin' Luce."

"Good morning Natsu," came her soft reply.

They ate in silence, enjoying each other's presence until Natsu's time ran out. He finished his food before her, and launched into stories about his training.

Lucy listened intently and giggled at the tales he animatedly told. She enjoyed listening to the pinkette while she was eating. His stories were better than any paid entertainment she could remember.

She smiled as he finished a story about some crazy bird that attacked Gildarts' head for being too close to it's nest.

Just as he was doing an impression of the terrified brute of a man batting away at his hair, Gildarts himself walked in.

He chopped the back of Natsu's neck and as the pinkette toppled to the floor, he spoke to Lucy, "My apologies for this nuisance your highness. He has training now, so I'll scrape him out of your hair," he turned to Natsu on the floor, "Shows over kid. We got work to do."

He quite literally dragged Natsu out, and Lucy giggled as the new general called out for her help.