Princess Lucy Heartfilia was a name well adored, known, and celebrated throughout the vast kingdom of Fiore. She was beautiful, elegant, poised, graceful - she wore the most intricate and detailed dresses, ate only the finest foods prepared by the finest chefs, and was gifted with many riches and jewels that were handcrafted by master forgers.

Princess Lucy Heartfilia was beautiful, loved, and perfect for the throne.

Princess Lucy Heartfilia was beautiful, loved, and alone.

Lucy, a girl with blond hair who loved the stars and smell of books, was just a girl with no friends nor freedom, and also who she desperately wished she could be without the weight of a crown on her head.

Princess Lucy Heartfilia and Lucy hated all of it.

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She was silent as the carriage was drawn with control and care by Capricorn, the wheels turning smoothly against the dirt road and bumping only slightly whenever a rock or stone hit the wood.

The heat of the late summer afternoon was enough to make her want to rip off the heavy and lazy layers of her dress, her skin sticky with sweat and her head aching harshly from the actual pain of having to stay in the small confined space while the sweltering air pushed at her from all sides.

But she merely gazed forward, lips relaxed as well as her brows, and she kept lightly blowing air at her face with her white fan, never going beyond the gentlest of flutters and the smallest flicks of her wrist. Her hands, trapped in white gloves, were sweaty and gross, but she didn't throw them off and chuck them out the window like she wanted to.

Her feet ached from being trapped in such tightly made shoes for so long, her collarbone pooled with sweat, and she was so tempted to reach over and scream for Capricorn to stop for god's sake so she could go jump in a river to cool off, but she didn't because that wasn't what a proper princess would do, Lucy.

Yeah, right.

She was about ready to rip this dress off and go stalk off into the woods all by herself, because being a princess, for a lack of better word, sucked. If Aquarius ever heard her say such an informal and childish word, she would've had her hands slapped with the ruler by now.

Lucy resisted the urge to whine.

She just wanted a break! It was so hot. As in she felt like she was about to melt, and holy god she could feel her sanity dripping away with each second. This damned duke or noble (she hadn't been paying attention when her father had told her about her betrothed) better have some kind of water for her as soon as she arrived, because if he didn't then Lucy would deck him.

She hadn't badgered Loke ("My name is Leo, my princess!" "No. You're Loke. Now come play tea set with me." "... yes, your highness.") for those secret sparring lessons for nothing.

Just as she was about to scream and actually punch the door of the carriage open, it stopped.

Loke was immediately on alert, his arm protectively darting out and hovering in front of Lucy's face as he called out, "Capricorn! Why'd you - "

This time, Lucy did scream, only out of shock and her sudden spike of fear. The very earth shook, rattling the carriage and those who waited inside, and Loke made a movement towards her, reaching for her arms and waist so he could carry her outside -

Except the ground boomed, coming alive, and the carriage overturned, Lucy holding desperately onto Loke as he tried to take most of the impact.

The carriage stilled, and the princess grabbed onto her guardian with wild hands and a desperate voice. "Loke! Loke, are you okay? Oh my god, please don't be hurt - "

He was out cold, head having smashed against the wall of the carriage and knocking him out entirely.

Lucy tried to crawl across the top of the carriage as she reached for the door, but grunted in annoyance as her dress, with its many flowy layers and incredibly heavy from the expensive fabric, refused to let her even so much as wiggle her way across. Hissing in frustration, she scrambled for the bodice, and after a moment of struggle, the beautiful fabric gave away and she managed to shove off the dress until she was only left in her under dress.

She breathed a sigh of relief, because she felt both cooled down and could now also grab Loke's arm and drag him with her to the door.

She inspected it, and with a good kick (Aquarius had also given her secret fighting lessons - well, all of Lucy's personal staff did, actually), the damaged door gave away.

Lucy stumbled outside, pulling Loke with her, and she gave out a soft cry as she realized Capricorn was knocked out as well, collapsed on the ground while the rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was still alive.

Shakily, she dragged Loke next to him, and went back to fetch the remaining tatters of her dress. Not feeling any remorse for the once beautiful outfit, she laid the ruffles and layers across them gently, hoping that they could provide some sort of protection once night came.

It was clear they wouldn't be up and walking anytime soon.

Lucy stood up, and she almost laughed hysterically at the thought of what she looked like - dress in tatters, her only clothing being now the thin, white under dress, her hair definitely messed up, and her gloves shoved off as soon as she could. She probably looked like a commoner, and she had no qualms about it.

Lucy pressed a kiss to Loke and Capricorn's foreheads. "Please stay safe."

She would leave and go seek help, because she knew she couldn't stay here. Even if she did, she couldn't guarantee them protection - she was one girl against everything else, and if she did her math correctly, the nearest village should only be an hour away by foot. If she went quickly and came back on horse, she was sure she could find help for her two companions.

So the princess gathered her wits, and with slightly shaky knees, she headed towards the west where they had been going in the first place.

It inevitable that this would work.

It was also inevitable that she would get lost.

"Oh, god," Lucy whined as she leaned against a tree, slumping against the wood and letting it take most of her weight. She glared at her feet where the delicate and now excruciatingly painful slippers sat - she was sure that she had many blisters by this point. She ripped them off and chucked them away into the bushes and leaves, satisfied that she would never see those godforsaken things again.

Now.

Where the hell was she?

Lucy squinted around her, trying to gather where the heck she had stumbled to - obviously she had accidentally taken the wrong turn at one point, because she couldn't even see the path anymore.

At this point, she wanted to turn back, but what if she only got more lost? She looked up at the setting sun and thought to herself that Loke and Capricorn should definitely be awake by this point - they were incredibly strong individuals, and also were definitely panicking about her.

She inwardly winced. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to leave them, after all, but she trusted them. She knew they wouldn't make a dumb decision like she did, and they were most likely off to the village in search of her. Even if she wasn't there, maybe if she kept walking, she could find her way eventually and meet up with them.

It was the only option that didn't involve her kneeling over and crying into the earth, so she took a deep breath and continued, clinging more and more to the trees as the night fell and the moon became her only source of light.

Lucy sighed as she continued, her regret growing with each second. She really shouldn't have left them behind, but honestly she had panicked. Nothing like this had ever happened to her, especially with the ground shaking like it did. She still honestly had no idea what happened, but that didn't concern her. What she was worried about was the state of Loke and Capricorn's heads, and also her father's reaction.

King Jude was not a kind man, and it was inevitable that she would be punished for running off.

Lucy bit her lip and cast off the thought, because she had no time to worry about her father. Instead, she blinked, and she could suddenly see something.

Well, that was an exaggeration - in truth, she could only see a faint golden glow, flickering in the distance and casting dancing shadows across the leaves of the trees, but she knew what it was. Fire. And fire meant people.

Quickly, she stumbled to its direction, tripping several times across roots and sticks that she didn't see, her eyes only for the growing glow of the fire that she was getting closer to.

It was just beyond this bush now! She eagerly pushed past it, gaining a multitude of scratches, but it was there. In front of her was a large and beautiful flame, flickering and entrancing her with its dance, and though the day had been hot, the night was colder, so she was grateful for its warmth against her bare arms. The under dress was thin and not good against the chill.

She crept closer, craving its warmth, and reached out a hand, wanting to feel it better.

There was a great huff of warm air against her back, and she froze.

The smell of smoke wafted through the air, not having anything to do with the fire in front of her.

There was the quiet breathing of something large and alive.

A shadow far bigger than her loomed through the trees, blocking against the fire's light.

She looked up.

And then screamed.

A dragon stood behind her, arching its neck to look down upon her, its dark eyes sharp and glowing as the fire reflected against it, the pupils large slits. It was large and tall, bigger than anything she had ever seen before. Its paw (paw?) had gigantic hook-like claws at the end, curving down and into the earth - they terrified her. It terrified her. She was smaller than a single claw, and she knew that with one wrong move, she could be crushed or sliced with a mere twitch of its wrist.

Its scales were a gleaming pink, looking somehow both smooth and rough at the same time, and if this were any other time, she would have laughed. The notion of a pink dragon should have been hilarious, but right now, she could only be terrified. Its horns were dark and curled out, and it seemed to be just as frozen as her, its lips pulled back in a half-growl, revealing teeth that could crush rocks and stone easily with a single snap.

It was… beautiful. But it could also kill her if it stepped somewhere wrong, so she could only scream even more.

"Oh god, oh god!" She yelped, and tried to desperately scramble back, only to stop when she felt something block her.

She froze at the feeling of scales rubbing against her bare back.

"Yeesh!"

She looked up.

"You almost stepped into the fire, weirdo. I dunno what it is with you humans, but don't you all know it isn't good for you?"

She gaped.

"I mean," the dragon continued, its voice too young and boyish for something so beastly. It sounded human. "I know fire's awesome and stuff, and it doesn't hurt dragons, but it still hurts mortals."

It squinted at her, and suddenly it grinned, lips sharply pulling up into a goofy and smile. "You're such a weirdo human."

She felt her face go pink at the jab, and god help her, but she couldn't stop herself as she yelled, "my name is Lucy!"

It tipped its head to the side. "Luigi?"

"Lucy!"

"Geeze, easy on the ears, Luigi," the dragon grumbled, flipping an ear indignantly in her direction. She couldn't help but feel offended.

What on earth was this really weird dragon even doing? Wasn't he supposed to, say, eat her? She's heard of dragons, after all, and had received plenty of warnings from both the staff and her father. Royal families were familiar with the workings of a dragon and their tendencies to, er, kidnap princes and princesses, so why wasn't this one doing anything?

Anything aside from insulting her, anyway.

(How the hell does someone mistake Lucy for Luigi?)

"Well," she said cautiously, because heck this thing was still a towering beast that could most definitely kill her if she made even the slightest mistake, "what's your name?"

"Name?" It - he - said.

"Your name," she repeated.

He seemed to think for a moment, and even tapped his claws against the ground in thought. Finally, he answered, "I don't know."

She blinked.

"Guess I don't really have one," he wondered out loud. He suddenly grinned once more, and he had a childish gleam to his eyes as he practically bobbled his head in excitement. "You should give me one!"

What.

"What?" She repeated, this time out loud. What?

Oh my god, she thought. This dragon was insane.

I'm going to die, she wailed inwardly.

"You should name me," he said almost impatiently. "Geeze, pay attention, you weirdo."

Lucy fumed, and ugh, if she was going to die, then she was going to die with this dummy actually knowing her name! "It's Lucy, pinky!"

He actually gasped in offence. "I'm not pink! It's salmon!"

She just couldn't help but chortle at that. Because oh my god, she was at the hands of a dragon, and instead of being eaten, she was arguing with it because it was actually in denial about its own scale color. She relaxed, and laid against his hand, the scales warm and smooth against her skin.

Well, she thought.

Maybe he was a dragon, but he wasn't going to kill her anytime soon. At least, she hoped.

"Fine, you're salmon," she relented, giggling when he grinned in triumph.

She thought for a moment, and said, "and I think I'll name you Natsu."

He tipped his head. "Natsu?"

She nodded and pointed up at the sky, where the stars shined brightly in the otherwise inky darkness of it, and she said, "today's the last day of summer. It's also the day I met a pink - sorry, salmon - dragon, and he didn't eat me, for some reason. Natsu means summer. Sounds nice, doesn't it?"

His chest rumbled, and after a second, she realized that he was purring. She almost giggled.

"I like it," he declared.

And with a quick movement, he lowered his head down, snout moving closer to her chest and his eyes staring into hers - the sudden change startled her, but as she stared at him, she realized that his pupils, once mere slits, were now dilated and larger. They weren't just dark, because when she looked closer, she could see little flecks of gold within them, flickering in time with the flame that she had nearly forgotten stood behind her.

"And I also like you," he said quietly.

Her cheeks went bright pink at the bold statement.

He grinned widely, and nodded, as if agreeing with something. "Yup! I've decided."

She swallowed. "Decided what?"

"That you're mine!" He chirped, and he suddenly pushed the hand she was leaning into forward and up, successfully scooping her.

She shouted in fear at the height of everything, and clutched desperately onto a finger (finger? Oh, she didn't know), careful to avoid the claw. "Natsu!" She yelled in both anger and shock. "Put me down!"

"Nope! You're mine now, Luce." The dragon grinned, and she squeaked when he started to spread his wings, air whooshing from the movement and putting out the fire that now seemed so tiny with how high up she was. "Means I can take you home! Don't you wanna come with me?"

She gulped.

Princess Lucy Heartfilia was the epitome of a princess - beautiful, quiet, and graceful. She knew how to make people fall in love with her quiet charms, she knew the waltz and many types of other formal dances like the back of her hand, she had memorized every inch of her royal history and its people. She knew how to rule, how to be perfect, and how to be the heir to the throne.

Lucy hated it.

And right now, under the stars, in the almost cold night of the last day of summer, Lucy, not Princess Lucy Heartfilia of Fiore, was gazing up into the earnest eyes of a dragon as he claimed her for his. His gaze was far more truthful and genuine than anyone else's, something she hadn't seen in a long time. She could feel the warmth of his scales, of his claws that were curling slightly to prevent her from falling, and his grin was wide and, dare she say it, beautiful.

He was a dragon, but to her, he had been far more human than anyone else she had ever met.

She was Lucy, at that moment. Lucy in her rather ruined under dress, her hair ragged and matted with sweat and dirt, her skin scratched and her gloves left behind.

She thought of her duties, and she thought of her personal staff, all of whom she came to love dearly, but she wouldn't be missed, at least not truly. Her staff - friends - loved her as well, and would never forget her, but her father, her subjects?

She had many royal family members eagerly lining up for the throne.

She wouldn't be missed.

So Lucy grinned back at this weird and kind pink dragon, left behind her crown and her title, and said, "okay!"

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Oh wow. It's been a while since I've been on fanfiction, and an even longer while since I wrote something for Fairy Tail.

Well guess what?

I'M BACK BABY.

Also please don't read my older fics. I begrudgingly left some undeleted because of nostalgia factors, but anything before 2017 was a disaster. Please take this warning seriously, otherwise your eyes might bleed.

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This isn't a one shot, and the story will continue eventually.