The Demon and The Princess | NaLu

Chapter 14 - Adrian

"I can't believe you didn't clean that up!"

"I can't believe you don't know me as well I as I thought you did." The group was on their way to guild. Natsu had quickly forced Lucy out of the apartment as soon as she was ready. Two minutes into the walk, Happy was talking about Natsu's cleaning abilities and the stove came up.

"I'm sorry, Natsu, but she was going to find out eventually."

"Whatever, I would rather have the eventually." He said. He was interrupted by the loud laughter of a solider. At a café across the river, a group of soldiers were eating breakfast. They were dressed in navy blue suits. A strong looking one was telling a story about a sports game from when he was in school. He was disturbing the people near by. As he was talking a waitress brought his his drink. He smiled and thanked her. As she walked away, he made a comment that made the other soldiers laugh out loud.

"Natsu," Lucy grabbed his arm and pulled on it, "just leave it be." The soldier continued making comments. The waitress, red as a  tomato, ran into the café.

"That guy-!"

"I know just leave it alone."

"But, Lucy-!" Happy was cut off by the sound of a soldier shouting.

"Heartfilia?!" The soldier  shouted. Lucy recognized the voice and broke off into a sprint towards the guild. Natsu and Happy follow close behind.

"Lucy! What do those guys want from you!" Happy shouted.

"Me!"

"But why?"

"You don't know?!"

"Know what?!" Happy asked. Lucy groaned and continued running. When the group reached the guild, Lucy ran behind the bar and sat in the corner. Mirajane kneeled down next to her and asked what was wrong. Lucy explained to Mirajane that the kingdom's army was looking for her and she needed to stay hidden. As she finished, the army stepped into the guild. Mirajane quickly stood up and acted like nothing was wrong.

"And who are you?" The master asked. A solider replied:

"I'm General Novell, a solider to his majesty's army." He shuffled through his coat and pulled out a picture. "We are looking for Princess Lucy Heartfilia, she ran away about a month ago and sources have told us that she is in the town of Magnolia and perhaps joined this guild."

"A princess? . . .I don't believe so. There's, Carla," he pointed to the white, female exceed, sitting on a table across from her owner, Wendy, "but she's not from this world so I doubt that you're looking for her."

"What?"

"We also don't have a Lucy in our guild. There's a Levy and a Lily. But he's also known as Pantherlily. There's also a-"

"Will you just shut up, old man!?" The General was clearly annoyed with him. As the guild was with the General. "We know that she's here, now where is she?"

"Where's who?"

"The Princess!" Lucy looked up at Mirajane smiling slightly. She, like everyone else, knew the master was playing the old-man card.

"There's a princess here?" The master asked. The General groaned. As Mira was giggling a solider stepped up to the counter.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yes, can I have a blondie?" He asked.

"A what?"

"Oh, it's fine," He reached under the bar table and yanked Lucy out from under it by her hair, "I'll just have this."

The General smiled brightly, "Excellent work, Captain!" The young solider roughly grabbed Lucy's arm and pulled her over the counter, dropping her on the floor.

"Do we take her?" He asked. The General thought for a moment.

"No, we'll stick to what his majesty said."

"And that was?" The General looked in the direction of the voice. A buff, lighting Mage, was sitting with a green haired Mage. Both holding mugs of beer.

"You have till the end of the month to return the princess. If you do so, the guild will be spared. If not, I can't promise your safety." He said, as he talked, the younger solider put his foot on top of Lucy's back. He kneeled down and grabbed Lucy's hair, pulling her head back so it was closer to his.

"I'm not the only one who's known you since you were a child." He whispered. Lucy looked at the man who had her on the ground.

"A-adrian?" Mira watched and noticed something pop into Lucy's eyes, fear.

"I'm glad you remember my face."

"Captain? We're leaving." Adrian nodded.

"I'll see you soon enough." He said. He forced Lucy to stare at the floor, before slamming her into the floor boards. He knocked her out. He stood and looked around at the guild. Everyone was glaring at him, except Natsu. He was pinned to the ground by a couple of the guild members.

"I'm gonna rip your throat out!" He exclaimed.

"I'd like to see you try." Adrian replied, before following the troop out of the guild. Minutes after he left, Natsu began running towards the door. Only to be stopped by the Master's enlarged fist.

"Let me go!"

"Natsu-"

"SHUT UP! I'M GONNA MAKE SURE HE NEVER LAYS A HAND ON HER EVER AGAIN!!"

"NATSU, LISTEN!!" The Master shouted. The guild was quiet except for the members who were getting Lucy into the guild's hospital ward. "I know how you feel, we all do. But we can't attack right now. A few days before the thirtieth, we'll be prepared to fight. For now there's nothing to do." He said. Outside the guild, Adrian was brushing off the dirt from his gloves as he listened to the guild master.

• • •
Author's note:

You're supposed to hate him. Adrian was inspired by Captain Jack Randall of the Outlander series. Chapter 15 will have explanations for why he treated Lucy the way he did and other answers to your questions. Yes, I feel like a dark person after writing that scene. Next chapter will be posted April 25!

~Lucy

• • •
Extras:

Song of the chapter - Runaway by Ed Sheeran
I'll have a "playlist" of all the songs and others when the story is finished. The songs won't be specific to each chapter but just songs that I feel relate to the story.

Preview of chapter 15 - Past Experiences:

"You don't know the first thing about ruling a country. And you're drunk. I can't let these people have a leader whose hungover eighty percent of the time." She said. She continued listening reasons as to why he couldn't rule. He didn't appreciate her stubbornness. He stepped over to her. She stepped back as he came closer. She was afraid of him. He grabbed her hair and had her listen to him.

"You." He pointed at her, his finger inches away from her face, "Will listen to me and me only." He said. Lucy quickly grabbed one of her keys.

"Open, gate of the scorpion! Scorpio!" The celestial spirit appeared behind Adrian. His skin was dark and his hair was black, red, and short. The spirit quickly attacked, forcing Adrian against the cold, cement wall. He smirked.