Chapter 1. Birthday Ball

I walked swiftly into the palace courtyard, my dress so long I tripped on the way to the entrance. As I walked past my "servants", a pink-haired maid stopped me. "Princess, Where have you been?" She asks me. "Ah, Virgo. I was...just out on a walk," Another pink-haired maid, that vaguly resembled a lamb, Aries, speaks. "Lucy-san you know your father doesn't like you leaving the palace grounds alone! I'm Sorry!"

I sigh. Years ago my mother, Layla Heartfilla, passed away. Now, my father never lets me leave the place. "You don't have to say you're sorry Aries, it's not your fault," I say to the lamb. Then I turn towards Virgo, "Is it time?" I ask. She nods her head and pulls me along to the inside of the palace.

Inside, the halls are filled with elegant and practical decorations. Every table is covered with a plain white sheet and has a vase. The walls are filled with exspensive paintings and lights but, not a single balloon.

I guess I shouldn't have had my hopes high, father does this on all my birthday's. He sends out invitations for a ball, inviting only old rich geezers, and treats it more as a buisness meeting then a party. I can't help but sigh again, the same as always.

Virgo leads me through the halls to the last door on the left, my bedroom. She closes the door behind me and takes my hand. "Lucy..." She says my name, "If you want you can just leave the party after you welcome all the guests," I smile, "Thank you for trying Virgo but, father would be angry if I left. I don't want him to punish you all,"

She nods sadly and starts to look in my closet for a dress. She finally finds a red one that I wore on my 15th birthday, it still fits. Quickly, she helps me get it over my head and I pull it down. I always liked this dress, it wasn't really anything special, it was simple. Then Virgo gently puts on some makeup for me and I'm ready.

"Are you nervous?" She asks me smiling lightly. "A little..." More like my heart was pounding out of my chest. She takes me by the arms and helps me stand out of the chair, "Don't be," I look up at her, "You're beautiful," And with that I walk to the ballroom.

When I finally reach the grand staircase to the room everyone stops to stare at me for a while. My heart beats fast as I try to walk down the stairs at a normal pace. But, that's hard when it's like there's a spotlight right over your head. I ended up tripping on the last step.

By that time everyone had gone back to whatever they were doing so, I was suprised when someone caught me. "Thank you," I mumble, looking up to his face. I was pleasently suprised to find out that it was a young man, probably around my age. He had dark onyx black eyes and pearly white, sharp canine teeth. And...salmon hair. I can't help but laugh when I see it, it just seems funny to me somehow.

"What?" The man pouts and I laugh even harder. He lets go of me and oddly enough I feel a little cold. 'Y-you're just...really funny," I laugh, whipping tears from my eyes. I can just imagine father's look of disappointment at me being so childish. The man smiles and crosses his arms together, "I'm Natsu. Nice to meet you-" "Lucy," I interrupt him, smiling, "My name's Lucy,"

"That's a nice name," Natsu says smiling really wide, "So today's your birthday?" He asks. I nod my head. "It's not very exciting is it," He says looking around at everyone. "Well, my birthday's are never really exciting," I answer slowly. He grins, "Well, why don't we change that, Lucy?"

I laugh, "I'd love that but how?" I ask. Natsu stratches the back of his head. Then his eyes light up with an idea. He looks around the room before he answers, "Come with me!" My eyes widen with suprise, "C-come with you?! Where?" I ask. He grins, "A place called Fairy Tail!" I feel my face heat up a little, he doesn't mean it like that! Before I can say an answer Natsu takes my hand and pulls me along out of the ballroom...

Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated for awhile my computer's been broken, had to buy a new one! :( But now I'M BACK! So, from now on I'll be trying to update this story and my other one once a week. We'll see how that goes when school starts... Bye! Remember to review it helps me grow as a writer!