A ScarletHeartRyeo!AU

Lucy thought that visiting the lake would make her feel better. The sound of the falls hitting the water after sliding over the canyon's edge had always been soothing. But seeing everyone else happily picnicking and playing in the water only made her feel bitter, and her split lip stung like hell. So she brought her bottle of soju to her lips once again and took a swig. The drink didn't feel pleasant going down, but she hoped it would help take her mind off of things.

Despite having found a small nook in the gray canyon walls to tuck herself into, she still felt eyes trained on her.

She looked over to see a man sitting on the steps just a few feet away, most likely well into his forties and clearly homeless. His black clothes were torn in various places, and his reddish-brown hair fell to his shoulders. The expression on his stubbly face showed yearning. His eyes were locked on the drink in her hand, so she held it out to him.

He didn't hesitate to grab the bottle and settle closer to her before chugging nearly half of its contents. To Lucy, it appeared that the soju didn't go down pleasantly for him either.

"Mister," Lucy started nervously, hugging her knees tighter into her chest. This man was a complete stranger, but she desperately needed someone, anyone to listen to her. So she began to pour out her heart, "Have…have you ever wanted to fall asleep for a thousand years? Everything keeps going wrong and you don't see any hope of life getting better. And you tell yourself 'I'm sure things will look up' but then another thing goes wrong." She let out a soft, bitter laugh before continuing, "So you would rather just fall asleep and never wake up again."

In the silence that followed her statement, the man took another drink.

"I want to forget everything, but it's not working," tears began gathering in her eyes. "That bastard who left me with a pile of debt, and that bitch that betrayed me and ran off with him. God," she sniffled out as she wiped a tear that had slipped free, "I never should have trusted anyone."

She paused as more tears fell before shakily continuing, "Mister, I thought that if I didn't change, the people I trusted and loved wouldn't change either. I was wrong though," a single sob escaped. "How did my life end up this way?" she lowered her head to cry into her folded arms.

She could vaguely hear the man screwing the lid on the bottle, and it surprised her when he finally spoke, "Your life can't change just because you want it to. Maybe if you died and came back again it would."

"What?" she brought her gaze up to meet his, but he was focused on pulling his bag closer to him. Once he had put the now empty bottle inside, he reached over to grab his bundle of extra clothes and laid down to rest his head upon it. His deep sigh let Lucy know that he wasn't going to respond.

So she focused on getting her crying under control and did her best to ease the tightening in her chest by lightly pounding on it with her fist.

After she had calmed down a bit, she noticed a small girl dangling her foot over the edge of the dock, trying to touch the water. Lucy smiled to herself. She had often done the same thing when she was younger. She and her mother once visited the lake together weekly, and it was a place that held many of her childhood memories.

Her reminiscing was interrupted by a loud splash. When she looked back up the girl was no longer there and the water beneath the dock was unsettled. It wasn't long before the girl resurfaced, struggling to remain above water without her life jacket.

Lucy was immediately on her feet, quickly rushing down the dock before jumping into the water to save the girl without hesitation. Her much larger splash alerted several other surrounding lake-goers of the situation, and by the time she had resurfaced and swam the short distance to the girl, a man with black hair was hurriedly untying his small boat from the dock. Lucy helped the young girl stay afloat as he rowed towards them.

"Asuka!" the man called as he reached to pull the young girl into the boat.

"Daddy," she responded, sounding frightened. As Lucy helped pushed the girl up from the water, she noticed a slight shadow fall across the lake. 'An eclipse?!' she thought as she looked skyward.

Just as the man was reaching out to help her into the boat, she felt her body cease and she slipped back underwater.

'Why can't I move?!' Lucy thought. She couldn't even close her mouth as she watched the air escape her in the form of bubbles that floated their way to the surface. Something unseen seemed to have taken hold of her body, dragging her downwards.

As she faded into unconsciousness, the homeless man's words from earlier resurfaced in her mind.

"Your life can't change just because you want it to. Maybe if you died and came back again it would."

Over a thousand years earlier…

The light of the sun showered the land once again. The eclipse had ended, and the group of men could now easily steer their horses towards the Damiwon Palace.

A man wearing all black led the small party. He set a fast pace, paying no mind to the light snow that fell. His hood was pulled up to conceal his hair, and a ceramic, obsidian mask covered the majority of the left side of his tanned face, stretching from beneath his cheekbone up to his hairline.

It didn't take long for the company to arrive at the small marketplace just outside the palace. When the villagers saw the man at the head of the group, there was immediate unrest.

"It's END!" one villager fearfully cried.

In response to the shout, the villagers dove behind the stalls lining the street, knocking their goods from their places and scattering them across his path.

Although he slowed his pace, the man remained steadfast in steering his ebony horse towards the palace, uncaring of the many eyes that watched him in terror.

He only stopped once during his advance. He wordlessly dismounted and plucked a single hairpin from a nearby table before continuing on his way.

"Hurry, let's go!"

"Alright, I'm coming!"

Gray was relentless as he dragged his youngest brother to the steps descending into the spring. He didn't hesitate to jump into the shallow water once they got there, and he dramatically resurfaced with a content sigh, his arms extended out to the sides. He was the tenth of fourteen princes, the fourteenth being Loke.

And the orange haired boy certainly lived up to the reputation he had created for himself as the youngest. He theatrically stripped the robe covering his bare torso, briefly flexing and roaring like a lion before throwing himself into the water alongside his brother. The two laughed boisterously as they splashed and swam circles around each other.

Jellal, the thirteenth prince, watched them with amusement as he strolled down the boardwalk along the edge of the secluded spring. He arrived at the part of the pool that lay inside the Damiwon Palace just as Sting, the eighth prince, was descending the stairs from the balcony of the wooden structure. Gajeel, the ninth prince was there too, doing tricep pushups on the edge of the spring.

"Brother," he strained out as Jellal entered the building, "feel this." He twisted his arm to flex the muscle he had previously been working out. "Do you see this definition here?" He was speaking to the third prince, Laxus, who sat in a chair just a few feet away from the edge of the spring, his untied robe resting on his shoulders. He only smirked at his younger brother's antics.

"Loke, I'll be going now!" Gray shouted as he moved to join his brothers in the indoor spring.

"Gray," the orange haired prince called after him, "wait for me! Gray!"

As soon as the two young princes had scurried inside the Damiwon, they both settled back into the steaming water, letting out satisfied sighs. However, they were quickly back to their playing, plucking rose petals from the spring and blowing them at each other.

The peaceful atmosphere vanished when a court lady missed the teacup in Laxus' hand, accidentally spilling the liquid across the backs of his fingers. The third prince's expression immediately soured, and he moved to slap the servant.

"Brother," Sting spoke, purposefully stopping him from completing the action, "is our fourth brother not here yet? He should come to bathe if he is to attend the spiritual ritual."

With Laxus' attention successfully shifted elsewhere, Gajeel shooed the court ladies away.

"Has he ever done things our way?" Laxus responded as he angrily poured his own tea. "Don't bother with him, he's too much of a pain."

"Don't you know how Sting is?" Gajeel accused. "He's always worried about others."

Sting slipped into the water before remarking, "Natsu is the only prince born in the same year as me. I should at least try to take care of him."

"This is the first time our fourth brother will be attending the ritual, right?" Jellal asked as he attempted to balance himself on the edge of the spring. "I wonder if His Majesty has a specific reason for asking him to come this time." He paused to strip himself of his robe before making his way over to a pair of court ladies waiting at the entrance of the bath. He laid his discarded clothing in their hands and grinned, "Use steam and make sure to get all of the wrinkles out."

The pair giggled softly as they bowed and exited the room.

"Jellal," Gray's tone was flippant as he made his way over to the thirteenth prince after he had entered the pool.

Having lost his playmate, Loke began doing pushups on the edge of the spring.

"Did you hear that our fourth brother massacred his family out in Shirotsume?" the tenth prince continued. "They say it was very brutal, like a wolf killing people." Following his statement, Gray jokingly howled.

"You can't believe all the rumors like that," the thirteenth prince reprimanded, reaching out to lightly yank on the small towel tied around his brother's head. "Not even the criminals in our nation speak of such things."

"But all of our visitors from Shirotsume say so," Gray playfully refuted. "It must be true."

"It's merely a rumor," Loke pompously began. "How could he take down a local government on his own? And what about the local army? Only top notch martial arts would suffice, and Natsu never had a teacher train him to fight."

During the fourteenth prince's speech, Gray had moved to lean against the edge next to him. "Loke," he said animatedly, "you and Natsu have the same mother…you never know when you'll turn into a wolf, too!" Gray let out another high pitched howl and moved to pounce on Loke with his fingers curled.

In response, Loke let out a much deeper howl and threw himself towards his older brother.

They were startled by Laxus slamming his teacup onto the table beside him, "Shut your mouths!" The boys froze, still holding onto one another. "I am also born from the same womb as our fourth brother. Does that mean that I am inhuman as well?" He fixed Gray with a glare.

"His jokes were too harsh," Sting interrupted, fulfilling his role as the peacemaker among the princes, "I will speak to him later. Please don't take it to heart."

As he spoke, Gray and Loke pulled away from each other, the raven haired prince submerging himself in water up to his mouth and blowing bubbles irritably.

"The fourth prince will be returning to Shirotsume once the ritual is over," Laxus stated. "If the king hears of any nonsense, I will not stand idly by. Do you understand?" His gazed rested on Gray and Loke.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Brothers," Gray began, eager to change the subject and clearly immune to the tense atmosphere, "do you want to make a bet on who can float the longest? Let's go to the outer pool!" True to his words the tenth prince pulled himself out of the water and started towards the outer part of the spring.

"Gray, that's enough," Sting said.

The boy didn't stop.

"I said that's enough," he called after Gray as he jumped into the pool.

"If you give me just one chance, I can get him to be quiet," Loke stated, determined.

"It's fine," Sting shut him down. "Although our tenth brother is childish, he is still older than you, and you must show him the proper respect."

Loke's face turned sour.

"Brothers!" Gray called happily. "Come quickly!"

The other princes only sighed and ignored their brother so they could continue bathing.

"Loke! Come on!" He floated on back and raised his foot above the water to beckon him.

Lucy wasn't sure how long she had been under, but when she resurfaced she was desperately gasping for air. She figured that she must have drifted closer to shore while submerged. She was able to stand now and the water, which was much warmer than she remembered it being moments ago, only came up to her mid thighs.

Once she had wiped her eyes clear, she took in her surroundings, her brows furrowing at the sight that greeted her.

'What...what is this place?' she confusedly thought. The steam that was rising from the water to tangle with leaves hanging over the rocks that were piled along the edges of the pool made it obvious that she was no longer at the lake. No such sight existed anywhere close to where she had been.

'I must be alive,' she brought a hand to her chest. She had been certain that she was going to drown, 'What a relief."

She was pulled out of her thoughts when something bumped into the back of her leg. Twisting her upper body to look behind her, she made eye contact with a raven haired boy that looked just as confused as she felt.

He let out a shocked scream, which triggered her own, as he floundered in the shallow water, struggling to move away from her.

"Hey! You….you…" the princes shifted their gazes to the outdoor pool, startled by Gray's sudden shouting.

What they saw left them speechless. None of them could fathom how a girl had found her way into the royal springs. Given her expression and startled scream, she didn't seem to know how she had accomplished such a feat either.

"What are you doing here?!" Gray pointed an accusing finger at the girl while he still lay submerged in the pool. "How did a girl…" he finally brought himself to standing, but continued to struggle with moving through the water. "Brothers! Brothers!" he called as he stumbled towards them.

Loke joined in his cries as well, disbelievingly pointing a finger at the intruder, "It's a girl!"

By the time the raven haired prince had joined the other princes, the girl had begun making her way to the opposite edge of the pool.

"Hey! Stop right there! Stop!" Gray jumped back into the spring to go after her, but his efforts were futile, as only found himself struggling to move forward once again.

The other princes were still too shocked to join him in his fruitless pursuit.

"You dare spy on the princes!" His floundering drained the enthusiasm of his declaration.

As the girl made her way over the rocks and disappeared into the bushes, Sting was finally able to recover from his shock.

"Lucy?"

Lucy had never been more confused. A few moments ago she had resurfaced only to find herself in a completely different place and face to face with six very shirtless men. She had been intimidated, and following the blue haired girl calling to her from the bushes had seemed like a good idea. Now she was being pulled through a series of caves, following the small girl who all the while was muttering things like, "What are we going to do now?" "You're going to be in so much trouble, my lady," and "Hurry, we need to go!"

In addition to her incredible confusion, Lucy had a pounding headache. It had been assaulting her senses since she had regained consciousness only moments ago.

They finally exited the caves, and the girl continued to drag the stumbling Lucy behind her.

'When did I put on this hanbok?' her confusion only grew. The soaking material clung to her ankles, constantly getting caught on the rocky ground beneath them and making it harder to walk.

"You didn't come out for so long," the girl started muttering again, "I knew something was wrong. The princes had started bathing, so I couldn't even go looking for you. This is insane! Hurry up. Let's go!" The girl seemed to finally notice Lucy's stumbling. She turned to face her, her eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Are you okay, my lady?"

'My lady? Princes?' Lucy did her best to push through the pain in her head and focus on the girl's face. "I…do you know me?" she rasped out.

"What?" the girl almost sounded hurt.

"This isn't the park. What is this place?"

"My…my lady!" the girl pleaded. "What do you mean you don't know where this is? This is the largest washing area in all of Magnolia!"

The girl stepped aside, allowing Lucy to see the multitude of people washing their clothing and themselves in various steaming pools across the rocky landscape. Mountains filled with trees surrounded the valley on all sides. The landscape was beautiful to look at, but it was one that Lucy was completely unfamiliar with.

Her breathing quickened. 'What the hell is this? I must really be dead. So this place…is the afterlife?'

She was unconscious before she was able to feel the impact of her head hitting the ground.

AN

As I said before this is a ScarletHeartRyeo!AU. If you're interested in seeing what the original series looks like, I suggest you check out Old Pepper Pot's fanmade trailer for the series on Youtube. It may help you get a better feel for the setting and it will give you a sneak peak of whats to come! Of course there's the official trailers, but they're all just thirty seconds long and there is a seven minute highlight reel...but I recommend that you check out the fanmade trailer, in my opinion it does a better job at conveying the atmosphere of the show :)

Scarlet Heart Ryeo is a South Korean historical drama set in the Goryeo Empire (Korea's namesake) during the 900's, so for those of you who are unfamiliar with Korea's history, here's a quick clarification. The King had many wives, which is why there are so many princes around the same age. The only princes in this story that share a mother are Laxus, Natsu, and Loke. Only eight of the fourteen princes will be making an appearance, the other princes either didn't survive into their adulthood or live away from the palace. There are also several princesses but all but one has been married off at this point. You'll find out who the princess is in later chapters!

Another important note: Age is very important in South Korean society, and it has been for centuries. You are expected to show respect to those that are older than you and you hold authority over those that are younger than you, but you are also expected to take care of your juniors. This is very important when trying to understand the dynamics of the relationships between the princes. I'll add a quick guide below with the princes' numbers and the ages I'm imagining for them:

1st Prince (Crown Prince)- to be revealed soon, 30

3rd Prince- Laxus, 24

4th Prince- Natsu, 23

8th Prince- Sting, 23

9th Prince- Gajeel, 22

10th Prince- Gray, 20

13th Prince- Jellal, 20

14th Prince- Loke, 20

Also, Lucy is 22

I know a lot of their ages are pretty different from Fairy Tail (especially Jellal), but like I said earlier, their ages will play a huge part in the dynamics of their relationships with each other.

I'll be adding clarifications in the AN beneath the chapters as I see fit, and if there's anything else you guys feel like I should clarify then just let me know!

Although some of the characters may seem OOC now, I promise why I put each character where I did will make more sense later. This chapter covered only the first ten minutes of the first episode, and there are twenty episodes, each being an hour in length, so we've got a ways to go.

Thanks for reading!