The Demon and The Princess | NaLu

Chapter 36 - The Dragneel Demon

Lucy watched the rain fall from her spot under the tent. She and her troops had already stationed themselves in Hargeon, waiting for the mages. She held a hot cup of tea in her hands and shivered as a gust of wind blew into the tent. General Novell walked up to her and watched the last of the soldiers march off.

"Everything all right?" He asked. Lucy nodded and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"At the moment, I'm fine."

"You didn't sound fine last night," he stated. Lucy blushed in embarrassment and hid her face from the older man.

"You heard me?"

"How could I not? You were ranting about how you hated the guild you were apart of." That wasn't entirely true. She was drunk and trying to come up with reasons as to why she shouldn't miss the guild.

"Sorry,"

"It's alright, I just know to never hand you a bottle of whiskey. . . Or let you out on your own." For a moment her heart stopped. Yes, he knew she was drunk. But how did he know she left the palace on her own?

"How did you know that?"

"Your Highness, you should try to be a little quieter when climbing over fences." Novell suggested and turned around, walking further into the tent. Lucy followed him and stopped in front of a large, plastic table. The table was littered with styrofoam coffee cups and papers with scribbled black and blue ink across them. Lucy poured herself a cup and sat down in a folding chair, her elbows resting on her thighs.

"You ready for today?" Novell asked as he handed Lucy an army green colored uniform and a sword. Lucy shook her head, no, and took the contents. She stood from her chair and headed towards a separate, empty tent to change.

• • •

The rain had started just as the mages hit the outskirts of Hargeon. Fairy Tail led the way, many of the mages believed that this was their battle and they should be the ones in control. What was a newer guild, Saber Tooth, were supporters of Fairy Tail. Some of the children looked up to the well known mages. Sting and Rogue were big fans of Natsu and Gajeel. Over the past few weeks, the two dragon slayers helped the younger one train. This was the same with many of the other mages, too. The masters training the young disciples.

"Natsu, keep up," Erza demanded, "the children are getting ahead of you!" Natsu was slowly following from behind the group. His walk was staggered and his eyes were blood shot. Erza mumbled something to Mirajane. The white haired mage nodded and walked towards Natsu's side.

She studied Natsu for a moment. He hadn't noticed she was standing next to him, he watched his feet and mumbled something. He was distracting himself. "Right, left, right, left, right . . ," he mumbled as he would lift a foot off the ground and slide it over the drying grass before setting it back down and repeating the process. As she was about to speak, Gray came to her side and pulled her away from him.

"You need to anger him," he stated.

"Whatever for?"

"I have an idea. If we can anger him enough, he'll turn into his demon self. He'll easily push past the army. By the tens, maybe even the hundreds. No one would be able to stop him."

"What about Lucy?" Mira asked. The young children were listening intently, asking the adults what the two were talking about as well.

"I said no one, she may be killed by his hand."

"Gray, you can't expect me to let him kill her?!"

"What else can we do, Mira? We'll be throne in prison if we don't fight!"

"But he loves her."

"This isn't the time for caring about love."

"But,-"

"You won't do it alone. Oi, Natsu!" Gray walked towards Natsu, few other mages following him. Mira peered over to the side and her jaw dropped. Thousands of soldiers were marching across the plains. From where she stood, she could hear the thump of heavy leather boots and the beat of drums. She tried to ignore the royal army but the only other thing she could hear were the insults and harsh statements being thrown at Natsu's face and him trying to defend himself. Then the statements became low blows.

"She never loved you! If she did, she would've let us all go. She would've lifted the ban on guilds. She would've fought to tell you so. She doesn't and won't love you. You were a fool if you believed otherwise. Did that dragon father of yours teach you anything? Guess not, that's probably why he's dead." The children listening burst into tears and tugged on the mages.

"Don't say that to him!"

"That isn't nice nor true."

"Leave him alone." But Natsu couldn't hear the child's words, just the cold words. Repeated over and over again in his head. And his voice agreeing with the statements. His breathing became heavier and his fists closed in tightly. Gray pushed the children back.

"Everyone, run!" He shouted. The mages split up and hid in separate areas of the forest. Natsu roared, he cried out into the rain and let his emotions take the better of him. His horns grew and curled, markings appeared along his body, and his eyes changed from his warm onyx color to fiery red. He seemed to be surrounded by burning heat and he once again was The Dragneel Demon, END. The poisoned brother of the dark lord Zeref and the destroyer of humanity. The first signs of humans he spotted were the soldiers of the Royal army and he dashed towards them.

The soldiers screamed in horror as the demon approached them. The demon was said to have been killed years earlier but yet, here he was. He was ruthless, taking down soldiers one by one. The mages followed behind him, crying out a battle cry. Lucy stood from her tent and felt herself cry. She was fighting the few people how truly cared about her. And a part of her believed, she would die in their hands.

• • •

Author's Note;

I wrote this Sunday night while watching period drama amv's instead of working on a poem for my English class. I hope you are okay with that.

So next chapter may be a hard one for some of you. Because it's titled Natsu vs. Lucy and that's all I'm telling you to break your nerdy, perverted, lovable hearts. I think this story will end at chapter 40 but we'll see how everything goes.

Next update will be September 26th!

~Lucy (lucythegirl)