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Lucy felt Virgo finish braiding her long blonde hair. Then the maid stepped back and let Lucy look at herself in her vanity mirror.
She looked beautiful, of course. The Princess of the Kingdom of Magnolia wasn’t allowed to be anything less than perfect.
Especially on her wedding day.
In another life, Lucy would be anywhere but here. In the perfect life, she’d be by Natsu’s side, spending the days with him and his friends at Fairy Tail.
Unfortunately, the second that Jude found out that Lucy was spending her time with an outlaw, he locked her in her room and forbade her from leaving until the day of her wedding with Duke Bora. That’s where Lucy had been wasting away for the past several weeks: looking longingly out her window.
I’m sorry, Natsu, she thought as she stood up and brushed the wrinkles away from her poofy white dress. Her veil was made from the lightest and softest muslin in all the kingdom—some even called it as light as air. Regardless, it felt suffocating trailing down her back all the way to her feet.
I never got to say goodbye.
The two of them were supposed to flee together the night that her father figured out about their secret relationship. She had left through the gardens, only to find the castle guards and her father waiting for her when she went through the exit. It took all of five minutes before she was locked back in her room with her father promising her that she wouldn’t set foot outside the palace until she was the duke’s ‘loving wife’.
That night, she and Natsu were meant to find the rest of his crew and leave the country together until they could devise a plan to take her father off the throne. Ever since the death of Layla Heartfilia, King Jude had never been the same, and Fairy Tail thought it was time for a new king to be put in charge.
Natsu told her all about Fairy Tail and how much she was going to love it. The stories she heard of people like Gray and Erza made her fall in love with their organization the more Natsu told her about them. She couldn’t count how often they would meet on her balcony to talk about a new adventure Natsu had gone on with his cat, Happy.
Lucy sighed pitifully. If only she had been able to meet Natsu’s friends before they were found out.
If only she could have kissed him one last time.
She was jolted from her thoughts when her bedroom door was thrown open, a tall guard peering through the gap in his steel helmet. Lucy felt shivers run down her spine at his cold stare—no doubt he assumed she was as spoiled and selfish as her father. She couldn’t even blame him.
“It’s time, Your Highness,” he told her coldly.
Lucy spared Virgo one last sad glance and looked over at the balcony where she and Natsu had shared so many late-night visits before following the knight out of her room. The door slammed shut behind her like the door of a cell. However, Lucy was simply trading one prison for another.
Breathing slowly as she followed the guard, Lucy prayed that Natsu knew she never meant to leave him without a farewell. Even more, she hoped he was safe and that he and the rest of Fairy Tail weren’t found out by her father. Luckily, it seemed as though that were the case, seeing as Lucy hadn’t heard any news about their arrest.
She should have ended her life. She should have thrown herself off the side of her balcony and waited to see Natsu in the afterlife, but there was still this last bit of hope lingering in her heart that he might come and save her.
That hope dwindled by the time she was walking down the aisle, her father latched onto her arm while staring at her coldly from the corner of his eye. Lucy felt cool beads of sweat running down her neck as she clutched the bouquet of flowers in her hands tighter. Tears threatened her eyes, but Lucy bit her lip to keep them from falling. She didn’t want to give Jude the satisfaction of knowing he’d successfully broken his little girl.
The sound of the piano playing music was like a death knell as Lucy unlatched from her father’s iron-like grip. As the two of them parted, Jude whispered in her ear.
“Don’t even think about running off with that vagrant.”
Had the most important people in the kingdom not been congregated in that one room, Lucy may have just spat in her father’s face. Instead, she glared at him and shot back, “He’s not a vagrant.”
Jude didn’t get the chance to respond, because Duke Bora was already grabbing her arm and tugging her in front of him. He held onto her hands like she was prey between his talons as he shot her a sleazy smile. Lucy shivered.
Her soon-to-be-husband was known for his “adventures” with the other women of the kingdom. It didn’t matter whether they were wealthy or poor, duchess or maid—Bora had his fun whenever and wherever he pleased. Had it not been for his large hoard of wealth, he would have been shunned from society ages ago. Lucy was supposed to be happy that she got to marry the bastard.
“You may be ‘Lucky Lucy Heartfilia’,” Bora whispered, “but I think I’m the real lucky one here.”
Lucy cringed at his attempt at flirting and did her best to ignore the leer he gave her as the priest read something from his holy book about how the two of them would spend the rest of their lives together happily.
“If there is anyone who objects to the marriage between these two, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Silence echoed through the room.
Lucy took a deep breath in, closing her eyes as she tried to prepare for what was coming next. Maybe if she imagined it was Natsu she was kissing, she could bring herself to do it without throwing.
“Well then,” the priest said, “Bora, you may now kiss—”
The window behind the altar shattered, causing Bora and Lucy to let go of each other’s hands. Lucy covered her face as shards of glass flew past her and broke on the ground. Before anyone could react, people dressed in black began jumping in through the “open” window. Lucy let out a scream as a woman with vibrant red hair tackled Bora to the ground.
“What the hell!?” Lucy cried as she backed away from the chaos. Knights had already begun fighting off the intruders, who looked to be some sort of bandits of thieves. Lucy grabbed her dress and lifted the bottom off the ground, preparing to run when she felt a firm hand latch onto her bicep from behind. Instinctively, she tried pulling her arm away, but the person didn’t let go of her arm. “Let go of me!”
Lucy spun around and kicked out her leg, hitting the person’s shin. The stranger let out a deep groan of pain, but it caused Lucy to freeze. She’d recognize that sound anywhere.
She didn’t have time to call out his name, because he was already scooping her in his arms.
“Sorry I’m late, Lucy,” Natsu said with a carefree grin. An arrow whizzed towards his head, but he stepped to the side quickly enough to dodge it. He hardly faltered. “Gray was takin’ forever to get into his position.”
“Was not!” Lucy heard someone shout from somewhere in the maelstrom of clashing steel. Natsu merely rolled his eyes.
Lucy didn’t care about the stranger in the crowd. All she cared about was the man in front of her.
“N-Natsu?” she squeaked as he dashed towards the shattered window.
He raised a brow as he hopped over the body of a guard. Lucy wasn’t sure whether it was alive or not.
“That’s my name,” he told her as he ducked under a swinging sword. Lucy tightened her arms around his neck as she looked at him in awe.
Wide-eyed, she whispered, “You came.”
“Of course I did.” Natsu’s deep voice rumbled from within his lungs as he looked towards the exit he and his friends had made, and Lucy felt the vibrations of his chest against her breast. “I wasn’t about to let ya get married to Sir Flirts-A-Lot.”
For a split second, he looked down at her through hooded eyes.
“Not when there are better people out there for ya.”
“Put my daughter down!” Jude cried from behind the altar. His arms were restrained behind him by a woman with long white hair and striking blue eyes. Despite her clear battle prowess, she shot Lucy a kind smile and a wink, and Lucy swore she felt all her worries melt away.
Natsu called back, “No way, Old Man! Lucy’s comin’ with us!” He looked at her one more time with the bright grin she’d come to know so well. “If you want to.”
Lucy felt her heart halt in her chest as she got lost in his dark onyx eyes. Wordlessly, she tightened her grip around his neck and smashed their lips together, not caring who was watching. When she pulled away, she swore she saw Natsu’s cheeks turn a little red.
“Let’s go home,” she told him.