Lucy could only stand and stare in shocked, frightened silence as the angry pink-haired demon towered over her.

"I'm waiting."

She didn't know what to say, since it didn't seem like, "Hey! I was just wandering around and just happened to walk into your home!" would satisfy this intimidating man, or anyone else for that matter.

"I-I was just leaving," she stuttered nervously and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. The demon only narrowed his eyes as his scowl deepened and he crossed his arms, exposing them from his cloak. Lucy couldn't help but note how toned they looked.

Now is not the time, Lucy, she scolded herself.

"You're not going anywhere, trespasser. Breaking into someone's house is a crime, you know," he growled, taking Lucy out of her reverie.

She had to bite her tongue. But the door was cracked open!

She thought about subtly looking over his shoulder in hopes to get some sort of assistance from the kind sisters behind him, but there was no way for her to do it without him noticing. She was on her own. This was it. She was going to rot in this guy's dungeon for the rest of her life, old and alone forever. This was all her fault. No one had asked her to take that forbidden path and betray her father in favor of her curiosity.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't know anyone lived here!" She pleaded for forgiveness, now wanting desperately to just leave and run home. She'd had enough adventure for one day.

"Save your excuses. Mira, send her to the dungeon."

Mira didn't move.

"Now!" He turned to glare at the beautiful white-haired demon next, but faltered when he saw the deadly look she was giving him. She was mad. Not good. He'd forgotten how scary she was when she was upset. "... I mean, if you want to…" he rushed to add, his tone abruptly shifting from intimidating to cowardly.

Lucy sweatdropped in bewilderment. Is he… scared of Mirajane?

Mira walked around a frightened-looking Natsu to lightly take Lucy by the arm and lead her out the front door, both of them being instantly hit with the cool night air. Lucy could only let herself be taken to her fate in dazed shock. Her breath hitched as she felt a sudden jab to her side, and before her sight faded into blackness she could hear Mira whisper.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of this."


Mira returned alone, and closed the front door lightly behind her. She remained facing it for a few seconds, her expression a mystery to Natsu before she whipped around to glare daggers at the demon that had sent an innocent girl to the dungeon. He fearfully met her eyes and recoiled slightly, but refused to back down. He had let her demonic stare intimidate him into submission many times before, but not this time.

"That girl didn't do anything wrong!" She hissed through clenched teeth.

"She broke into the castle. That's a crime. And you're in no place to argue, servant," he attempted to assert, but lacked the confidence to do so knowing that he had just provoked her.

"You'd better take her out of there now, or so help me I'll-"

"Why should I? She's a prisoner," he said flatly. Mira's scowl shifted into something darker, more terrifying. Don't let her scare you, Natsu. You're the goddamn prince, not her.

She took a step forward.

He took two steps back.

She's still pretty damn scary, though.

Lisanna took this opportunity to interject, before her sister went on one of her infamous rages that often resulted in a mentally-scarred Natsu locking himself away in his chamber for several days.

"Umm... If I may interrupt, I also think we should take her out of the dungeon."

Natsu whipped around to glare at her next, clearly unimpressed by her response. She fearfully stepped back and threw her hands in front of her face in defense, though she knew Natsu would never hurt her.

"I-I just think she may be the one to break the curse!" She added hurriedly. His expression faltered slightly at the sudden subject. She noticed the change, causing hers to soften as well as she lowered her hands and continued calmly. "Don't you think this is fate? It's not every day a beautiful girl just comes waltzing in a place like this. This has to be a sign!"

A… sign?

His eyes widened briefly in revelation before his gaze shifted to the floor. His head was downcast, pink locks drooping over his eyes, hiding his emotions. The curse. It's been so long he had nearly forgotten. It could never fully slip his mind, however. Every day he looked in the mirror, and was reminded of what they all have to go through for the rest of their eternal lives, all because of him. Not a day went by where he didn't feel regret for putting the nice people who raised him in their current position. They didn't deserve this. How had he not realized sooner? Lucy could fix it. It was possible she could be the one to break the curse, and he would be a fool to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. He owed it to himself and his servants- his friends. He also couldn't deny that this "Lucy" character was indeed very beautiful, even though she was a bit weird.

Natsu swiftly turned back around to face Mira. "Get her out of the dungeon and bring her to one of the spare rooms."

He could hear Lisanna sigh in relief and happiness as Mira's scowl was replaced with a large grin. She nodded and opened the front door once more.

"Good choice," she added before leaving.

When the door closed, he heard Lisanna's footsteps closer and closer as she boldly walked over to hug him from behind, startling him.

"... Thank you, Natsu."

He didn't shove her off or send her away. Instead, he felt the tiniest of smiles graze his face, knowing he had given Lisanna- no, everyone, the hope they thought had been lost.


Lucy had expected to wake up in a cold, dark, dreary cell, with a mattress of spikes in one corner and some sort of demonic torture device on the other. What she had not expected was exactly the situation she had found herself in.

As soon as her eyes opened, she immediately registered the fact that she was comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that she did not want to get up from her forced sleep.

A bed?

She eventually found the strength to open her eyes but for the first few moments, everything was blurry. She could barely make out a high, white ceiling. When her vision began to clear, she was able to see intricate, indented designs in it, though the ceiling itself was worn, some parts of the paint beginning to peel.

It was then that she remembered her situation.

She shot up, but somehow she had managed to do it so ungracefully that she fell off the bed and landed flat on her face, a dust cloud rising around her from the floor that had obviously not been cleaned in a very long time. She struggled to rise to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes and unattractively coughing out dust that had managed to get into her mouth.

"Doesn't anyone clean up around here?" She muttered through ungraceful coughing.

"Lucy? Are you awake ye-"

The door to her left opened and Mira walked in to find Lucy sitting on the floor, coughing relentlessly. She gasped and ran to Lucy's side, repeatedly slapping her on the back with one hand in an attempt to help (but in reality she was just making Lucy's back hurt), and helping her off the ground with the other. As soon as they were both back on their feet Mira removed her hands, and Lucy had to restrain from cringing at the pain in her back that Mira had caused.

"Are you ok now? Did I help?" Mira asked frantically. Lucy nodded with a smile, not wanting to hurt the kind demon's feelings.

"Yes. Thanks for that," she reassured her, brushing off her dress that had been covered in dust.

"How did you end up on the floor?" Mira asked incredulously as she lightly gripped the blonde's shoulders.

"I, um, fell," she answered shamefully, and the demon's shoulders relaxed, as if she had expected something worse.

"You should be more careful. Anyway, you're probably wondering why you're here and not in some cold, depressing underground chamber," she changed the subject, seeming to read Lucy's mind as that was exactly what she was thinking.

It was then that she took the time to take a look around the room. If this was how they housed their prisoners, she may not even mind being locked up here. The high walls were white with an intricate but faded gold trim running along the edges, and large, old looking double doors stood tall on one side of the room. The area was furnished with fancy yet worn chairs and other furniture built obviously for royalty. A dome shaped window on the far side of the room overlooked the whole front yard of the castle, with a cushioned space for a person to sit by and look over the scenery. The spot where Mira and Lucy stood was on its own raised platform. The room as a whole was beautiful. Was she really in a dungeon?

All she remembered at the moment was being led outside by Mira, followed by a slight sensation of pain before she was thrown over someone's petite shoulder.

"At first, you were put in the dungeon, because as much as I hate to admit it, Natsu is the boss around here. He is the prince, after all. I cannot just disobey him whenever I want, but I am able to sway him to my will most of the time," she stated. Lucy's eyes shot wide open in surprise. A prince? Evil, merciless Natsu was a prince? "... So I managed to convince him to get you out, and now you're in one of the many rooms we have in the castle. Personally, I feel it's a lot better than being in the dungeon, if I do say so myself," she giggled, hoping to lighten up the mood a bit.

Lucy stayed quiet for a few moments, processing the new information. "I see," she nodded, then suddenly threw her arms around the demonic beauty and held her tightly, being careful to avoid her horns. "Thank you for your mercy, kind stranger! I owe you my life!"

Mira had been startled at first, but slowly began to return the hug after a few moments. "Enough of that. You're more than welcome here, so feel free to make yourself at home, 'kay? You might as well, since Natsu isn't going to let you leave," She said sweetly, pulling away slightly to see the blonde's face. Lucy took a quick glance out the window and nodded slightly.

"I guess you're right," Lucy muttered, a bit upset at the information. It was definitely interesting here, but it's not where her life was. "But I feel like an unwelcomed guest, he hates me," Lucy pouted. Mira merely scoffed.

"Don't worry about him, he's a bit of a hardhead. I ought to throw him in the dungeon," she growled with a scowl, which shifted into a soft smile after a moment. "... But he is not a bad person, at least, not anymore. You will be fine. I'll make sure of it."

After a few seconds of silence, Lucy decided against asking what Mira had meant by "not anymore", figuring she would be better off not knowing. She instead opted for a smile and nod. "... Okay, I'll take your word for it." Mira hadn't done anything to make Lucy feel suspicious of her yet, so she felt like she could trust her. She also gave off this motherly vibe that somehow made Lucy feel safe around her. Mira grinned widely, causing Lucy to do the same as she let the older demon grab her lightly by the hand and lead her out the door.

"Great! Come, let me introduce you to everyone."


Mirajane led Lucy through several different hallways and corridors (seriously, someone could get hopelessly lost here, Lucy was sure it had happened before) on the same floor, and Lucy couldn't help but admire the many beautiful and expensive-looking paintings on the walls, though many were crooked and beginning to tear at the edges. She became even more curious with this mysterious castle with every passing step. What had happened here? It's so dark and dreary. And everyone is a demon. She was sure she had read about something like this in a book, but she had never imagined ever experiencing something this… bizarre in her actual life. It was almost like she was in a novel herself.

It somewhat excited her, in a way.

She was in an abandoned castle in the middle of the woods, where she had met kind demon sisters, an evil demon prince that almost threw her in a dungeon for probably all eternity, and now she was being led by the eldest sister to go meet other demons. It ignited a thrill in her that she had never experienced back in her town. A thrill she had longed for since birth, finding it only in the many books she read. She almost didn't want to leave.

Mira eventually stopped by a door to the left, and swiftly turned around to lightly shove Lucy next to it. Lucy's brows furrowed in confusion and she began to open her mouth to speak, but Mira stopped her, bringing a finger to her lips with a "shh!". Lucy closed her mouth and decided to just go with it. "Wait here," Mira whispered before she stepped over to the doorknob and swung the door open, causing a slight draft to sway Lucy's hair slightly from the impact of the large mass being moved so quickly. She couldn't see what was inside the room, the open door she was now standing in front of now blocking her of anything.

"Ok everyone, are you ready to meet Lucy?" She heard Mira's voice echo in the room. Had she gathered everyone to meet her? How'd she do manage to pull that off so fast?

"Yes! Bring her in!" A female voice squealed excitedly. Lucy couldn't help but smile in flattery.

"We haven't had a guest in years!" A male voice called out.

"Let's lift this curse!" Another yelled, causing an exceptionally loud cheer to erupt. Wow, sounds like a lot of people, Lucy thought, suddenly feeling nervous. And what's this about a curse?

She was dragged out of her thoughts when a grinning Mira showed up from behind the open door and grabbed Lucy's hand, walking her around the door and into the room. Lucy's jaw almost dropped at the amount of people in the large room that looked somewhat like an royal hall, lit up by a huge chandelier with wide, tall windows on the far end. Mira left her side to go stand by her sister in the crowd and the entire room went silent at once, all eyes falling on the petite blonde. She flushed at the sudden attention, now extremely nervous.

"Um…" She began, uneasy. "Hello, my name is Lucy Heartfilia, and I'm-"

The room suddenly erupted into cheers and music began to play, cutting her off.

"She's so cute!"

"She's perfect!"

"The curse will be lifted!"

Her eyes shot up at the mention of "curse" again, but before she could think anything of it, she saw a man with cat-like ears sprouting from his hair walk up to her and grab her hand, raising it up to his lips to kiss it lightly. She flushed even deeper at the action. "Lucy Heartfilia! What a lovely name! How very fitting for a beauty like you," he sang, still holding on to the blonde's hand. "I'm Loke. May I call you 'Princess'?"

"Um…"

The flirtatious demon suddenly flew to the other side of the room as an armored red-haired demon stood in his place, facing him with a fist raised.

"How dare you violate this innocent young woman?! Intolerable!" She growled at his limp figure, and Lucy swore she could see his soul leave him. A shiver went up Lucy's spine as the woman turned around to lock eyes with her, a welcoming smile now adorning her face.

"I apologize for his behavior. Please pay it no mind. My name is Erza. Pleasure to meet you," she greeted, and stuck a hand out for Lucy to shake. The blonde complied with a nervous smile, though hesitantly as she just witnessed this woman send a man flying. Wow, she's really pretty, like Mira, Lucy thought to herself as she studied the demon's face. She'd begun to notice that all the demons had similar inhuman features, such as horns and black patterns outlining their faces. Some, though, had animal ears instead of horns, like the one called Loke.

A man with dark, droopy eyes and raven hair walked up from behind Erza with a hand raised. "I'm Gray. And this-" he moved aside slightly to reveal a blue-haired beauty clutching tightly to his arm, "... is Juvia."

She shook hands with Gray, but quickly pulled her hand away after a second when she saw that Juvia has been glaring intensely at their conjoined hands. She could've swore she heard the woman mutter something along the lines of "love rival". She sweatdropped. These demons were… very interesting.

She loved it.

She spent a good part of the night meeting everyone in the room. How Mira had managed to gather everyone in such a short period of time, she didn't know, nor did she mind. Every individual had a character that was much more lively than anyone back in town (besides Levy of course, her best friend ever since they were children) and though they were all quite odd in their own way, they were all very friendly and inviting (all except for this one tall man who had long hair and piercings for eyebrows, but he seemed to isolate himself from the rest of the crowd quite often). Loke had apologized for making Lucy feel uncomfortable, and took significant steps in avoiding Erza for the remainder of the party. A drunk named Cana had convinced Lucy to take her very first sip of alcohol. A large demon named Elfman gave her a lecture on all things "man", and Juvia gave her not-so subtle harsh stares often, making Lucy constantly feel uneasy. She had been having a lovely conversation with Erza, Gray and a shy, young demon named Wendy when the evil demon prince Natsu decided showed up, a scowl plastered onto his face. At this point, Lucy had begun to think that was his natural expression.

He stood at the entrance of the room and briefly scanned the audience, then cleared his throat rather loudly. The entire room went silent at the sight of their master standing in the door frame.

"Everyone, what's going on here?" He asked calmly, but with a threatening edge.

Everyone turned to look at Mira, who stood a few feet away from him, her stance defiant and unafraid.

"I wanted to throw a party for Lucy, our first guest in a very long time," Mira stated rather nonchalantly, resulting in a few worried glances.

"And why wasn't I informed of this?"

Barely a second passed before Mira replied. "You seemed rather upset, so I didn't want to bother you."

A pause.

"... I see. Carry on, but don't let it happen again," he asserted before he walked out.

It remained silent as the jaws of nearly everyone in the crowd dropped to the floor in shock. They had not expected Natsu to be so… calm.

"Is he okay?" a voice in the crowd asked.

"He's so angry that he's calm! That's the worst level of angry!"

"Should we run for our lives?"

"Relax, people. He's not angry," Lisanna spoke loud and clear, walking to the front of the room to face everyone. "He's come to terms with his mistakes and is now trying his hardest to rectify them."

There was a moment of silence before everyone seemed to nod their heads in understanding, some taking a second to sneak a glance at their blonde guest.

"I have the utmost faith in Natsu that he will prevail. He'll break this curse, and we'll all live happily ever after!" The room erupted into cheers, and the music started up again. Mira looked like she was on the verge of tears as she stared proudly at her younger sister, a hand over her heart. Lucy only stood and watched everyone, completely clueless.

What was this curse everyone kept talking about?! Was it the reason they were all demons? Would it be rude of her to ask?

She was forced to once again put those thoughts in the back of her mind as Mira took her hand and dragged her to the center of the room to dance.

Oh well, I'll have plenty of time to find out, I guess.

The thought made her bright smile waver slightly, only for it to return when Mira spinned her around and into the arms of grinning Lisanna, who proceeded to continue the dance Lucy had been doing with Mira.

Who knows, maybe I'll like it here.


This was his chance.

His only chance, possibly.

Natsu was not going to let this opportunity go to waste.

Something inside was screaming to him that fate was waiting for him downstairs, in the form of a beautiful blonde.

"Lucy, huh," he muttered to himself, staring out the large window of his dark chamber, lost in thought. "How in the world am I gonna get you to fall in love in someone like me?"

Deep in the woods just outside the castle gates, a figure lurked in the darkness, watching everything happening in the castle with the mirror that that man had entrusted him with.

"... So fate's beginning to make it's move, eh. Time to get started."

A low, evil snicker emitted from the mysterious man, before he headed back to his home in town to devise a plan.