Standard Disclaimers apply.

Faith

Summary: He wasn't her prince. He was her dragon. And that gave her more than enough to believe in any man on a white horse could.

Lucy sat at the bar, mulling on her thoughts, as Mirajane went around refilling the alcohol. She gazed at Natsu as he threw chairs and tables at Gray.

"But really though..." Lucy told herself watching him, "He really does remind me of a dragon."

"Oh but doesn't he, Lucy?" A voice piped up behind her. "I'm sure that's what he going for, in any case."

She glanced back. "What makes you say that Mira?"

"Well, I'm certain every man idolizes to be like their father, right?"

"I suppose…" She mumbled as she thought of Igneel, the 'Father' that Natsu was always trying to find.

"Well, he can't be any more like him, I guess. I mean, he roars fire, he's destroys everything, hell, and he even eats fire! The only thing he can't do is fly!" She listed off her fingers. She put her head on her hand as she mumbled. "If this were a real Fairy Tale, he definitely wouldn't be a prince by any means at all."

"That's true, Lucy." Mira told her as she cleaned the bar glasses. "But maybe, a prince isn't what he needs to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Mirajane paused. "All princes usually do is hold a sword and run up towers to the princess while attached to a horse, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"But think of what a dragon could do if it were the hero of a fairy tale. It can breathe fire, while a prince holds a sword and could lose it, leaving him defenseless. He can fly, while the horse is stuck to the ground with the prince. And, he can keep the Princess safe from any harm no matter how many invaders come, but the prince will take you and probably run if he can't handle it." She told her. "After all, what can swords do to dragon scales?"

"Well, I guess." Lucy pondered.

"But I wonder Lucy." Mira told her. "If this was a Fairy Tale, I wonder who the Princess would be?"

"Well… I'd say Erza, but she's definitely got the knight thing going for her with the swords and everything. It would have to be someone that was pretty, royal blood, and people would probably kidnap her for ransom or something."

Lucy paused. Then stared at Mira as she smiled.

"I don't like that smile Mira."

"Don't you see Lucy?"

"I don't think I want to see."

"You're Lucy Heartfilia. The daughter of the richest man in Fiore. You're practically a Princess already." Holding up her hand to hush Lucy, she continued. "You are very pretty, I'm sure you've noticed that. And are you forgetting that you were in fact kidnapped?"

"Ok, say I am the Princess." She told her. "What's Gray?"

"The sidekick."

Lucy laughed. "I don't think he'd like that."

"Probably not, but we've run out of characters."

Lucy smiled. "Then Erza defeats Natsu, and it's happily ever after then?"

"No." Mira smiled. "I'd like to think Erza needs the help of the dragon and the dragon saves the princess from falling from a high tower. Then it's happily ever after."

Lucy was quiet as she mulled her thoughts.

"Lucy. Not everything has to be so cliché. You know that." Mira smiled at her. "Give the dragon a chance. Maybe he'll be like the Frog Prince, eh?" Mira winked, as she left Lucy alone, gliding towards Levy and Cana at the other end of the bar.

Lucy turned at stare at Natsu again. Then they glided towards Gray and Erza before stopping on Natsu again for the last time.

She groaned as she buried her face in her hands. "This is far too frustrating to think about."

But Lucy understood one thing during that conversation.

He wasn't her prince. He was her dragon. And that gave her more than enough to believe in any man on a white horse could.

After all, a white horse was restricted to the land. A dragon's wings could bring you higher than the sky itself.