Chapter Two

The Northern Empire

Gray knelt beside the strange young woman who lay unconscious by the shore of the icy eastern sea, trying to wake her. "Hey! Miss! You alright?" the nineteen year old prince called.

Her skin was ashen and cold to the touch. Then again, he supposed the fact that only a seashell bra covered her had something to do with that. A navy blue tail with shining, almost iridescent scales comprised her bottom half.

He wondered briefly if she had drowned. Was that even possible for a mermaid? But, slight and unsteady as it was, the rise and fall of her chest ruled out that option.

"Hey! C'mon! Wake up!" The dark haired ice mage had no idea how he always seemed to end up in such situations.

After a few more minutes of this, the girl's eyes opened with some difficulty. Frost already started to accumulate on her thick eyelashes. "J...Juvia is alive?" she rasped, wincing at the sound of her own voice.

"I'm guessing that's you," Gray observed.

She only nodded weakly, eyes welling with tears. Everything was gone. Her home. Her family. She was the only one left.

"Well, not for long if we don't get you out of the cold." He sighed. "I'll bring you back to my place so you can get yourself together." He looked down at her tail again. It would be incredibly challenging to get a mermaid on a horse. "Can you um...well, you know?"

Juvia nodded again, and with a violent shudder her magnificent tail was replaced by a pair of well toned legs. Exhausted as she was now, changing forms took nearly all her magical power. Usually she could do it without even thinking.

Gray's face turned crimson as he looked at the now naked young woman. He tried, with little success, to keep himself from appreciating her gorgeous skin and enticing curves.

"D-do not take...advantage of Juvia," she whined hoarsely, pulling the prince from his musings. Neptune had always cautioned her against going bare around land dwelling men.

"I'm really not like that!" Gray insisted, even more flustered than he was before. Without hesitation, he unclipped his fur lined cloak and covered her with it. "I'm sorry for looking, I've never seen-"

"A mer-person changing," she sat up, shivering even as she wrapped the cloak tightly around her, "or a woman's body?" Now that she really looked, he had to be the best looking man she'd ever seen. Highborn, too. Minerva had shown her how to tell by the way they dressed.

Gray twitched in annoyance. "The first one."

Juvia laughed weakly at his reaction and tried to stand, but her legs gave out underneath her almost immediately. He...did things for her. Physically, at least. Under an alternative set of circumstances, she imagined this conversation would play out much differently.

Gray caught her and carried the mermaid bridal style to his steed. "It's only a half hour's ride from here," he said once she was settled in front of him.

Juvia's back rested against the prince's chest as her eyes drifted closed. "W-wake Juvia when w-we get there." Her voice trembled as she continued to shiver from the cold.

Gray frowned at this. She seemed worse than before. Maybe her mermaid form had more tolerance for the cold. "Don't go to sleep."

"B-but Juvia is tired," she protested, sounding quite dismayed.

"No you're not," Gray replied. "Your body is trying to shut down because you're freezing." He had never been the best at sugarcoating things. That way more Lyon's department. "If you sleep, you'll die."

"That's...nice," the mermaid sighed.

"You're not even listening." The ice mage's left eye twitched. "Never mind. Tell me something about yourself. How did you get here?"

"Swam...Juvia thinks," she cleared her throat, "...you know this already."

If he hadn't been holding her and the horse's reins, Gray might have slapped himself in the face. Why else would a girl with fins be washed up on the sea shore? "You're right. That was a bad one. And I guess you're from the Sea Kingdom, right?"

"...Correct." She scrunched up her nose in distaste. His chest was too muscular to be a good pillow.

Gray could tell she was only half conscious at that point, if not less. He had to keep her talking somehow. "That's more than a week away by ship. What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Juvia had to run…" She sounded a bit more lucid now, but her words were tinted with a deep sadness. "She wanted to try and fight but they were already…" Neptune. Adrian. Marinella. Juvia felt like the tears were freezing on her cheeks as soon as they fell.

"Is something chasing you?" Gray asked, with real concern this time.

She nodded.

"Care to tell me what?"

"Juvia doesn't...want to talk about it now. She will leave as soon as she c-can so you are not endangered."

Then, to her surprise, the young man squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Listen, I don't know what you've been through, but I can promise that nothing's gonna get you up here." No army had successfully penetrated the north in over two decades. "You're under our protection now."

This piqued Juvia's interest. She glanced up at him with bleary eyes. Here he was, chipping away at her life story and she didn't even know his name. "Who are you?"

"Long answer or short?" He sighed.

Juvia gave a shaky smile. Highborn, indeed. The more noble a person's bloodline, the more they hated introducing themselves. "Long."

"Gray of House Fullbuster, son of Empress Ur and Silver the Conqueror, prince of the Northern Empire and third in line for the throne." He shook his head. That was always a mouthful. "Now who wants to know?" Although he already had a pretty good idea.

"Juvia of the Great Sea...House Lockser. Daughter of King Neptune VII and Queen Vivianna…" she flinched at the next part, worsening her trembling despite the heat of her rage. "And sole heir to the aquatic...throne."

"I would say it's nice to meet you," the dark haired prince replied, "but I wish it was under better circumstances." When she didn't respond for over a minute, he shook her slightly. "Juvia, you can't go to sleep."

"Please…" When she looked up at him, the prince saw that her lips were taking on a bluish color. "I'm cold." She felt like her insides were turning to ice. Her maritime home never got any colder than temperate.

"I know." He wrapped his arm tighter around her waist. He didn't know her very well, but he figured her dropping the third person had to be a bad sign."Just hold on. We're almost there."

Then, something occurred to the princess. "W-will Gray's family l...like Juvia?"

He looked down at the shaking girl incredulously. That was a strange thing to be worried about when one was in the process of freezing to death. "Sure. They'll love you."

"But J-Juvia has no clothes. S-she looks…like a wreck."

Gray prompted his horse to gallop even faster as they approached the palace's towering clear gates. How did her mind even work?

"You're beautiful," he assured halfheartedly. And it was true. His brother probably wouldn't be able to keep away from her. "Now, let's get you inside."

The Kingdom of Celestial Lights

Yukino released a pained gasp as her ladies tightened her corset. Dressing always became a more gruesome ordeal than usual on special occasions.

"Your Royal Highness has finally come of age." One of them sighed nostalgically as she helped her into a powder blue gown with white feather trimmings along the neckline. White silk gloves extended up to her elbows.

"You are as beautiful as your royal mother, gods rest her soul," another praised as she brought forward Yukino's tiara case. "Which of them would you like to wear today, princess?"

Yukino shook her head slightly. Between her father's memorial service and her sister's coronation, the past few days had been far more formal than she found tolerable. "Oh, none of that today," she said. "Can you bring my flower, please?" It was a mystery to the serving staff how she wore the same rose almost every day without it ever losing an ounce of its vitality.

The maid hesitated for a moment. "I-I'm afraid the high queen insisted."

Yukino gave the servant girl a small smile to show she wasn't upset with her. "Of course she did." That Sorano. "Alright, I'll have this one." She selected a simple silver tiara adorned with a single sapphire.

Yukino then proceeded to the war room for that morning's meeting. Her sisters and the rest of the lawmaking council—most of it comprised of women since the start of Sorano's reign—were already present when she arrived.

Once she took her spot between Mira and Lisanna, the meeting commenced.

"I have called you all here on such short notice chiefly to ask forgiveness for not consulting you all on this matter sooner." The room was eerily silent. Even in her youth, the high queen had never been the sort that required anyone's forgiveness. "I am not despotic, nor do I enjoy acting unilaterally, but the situation has become dire. Our old enemies will search for any sign of weakness to exploit. Also, as we all know, Zeref and Acnologia have begun to move."

A concerned murmur briefly moved its way around the room. Everyone knew that the Sea Kingdom had already been laid to waste. Their last surviving princess has fled north."

"Poor Juvia," Mira said, voicing everyone's thoughts. "She must remain in our prayers."

"Hopefully Prince Gray and Prince Lyon are keeping her occupied," Lisanna whispered naughtily into Yukino's ear.

"Lisanna," she chided.

"At any rate," Sorano continued, reclaiming the room. "To avoid our own kingdom meeting a similar fate, I have contracted with the holy dragon Weisslogia for his protection. His human representative shall arrive today to negotiate the details."

Yukino's heartbeat quickened as she remembered the boy in the woods who charmed her cherished flower with holy magic.

"Your majesty, you know not what you do!" Lord Byro exclaimed. "This is a dragon we're speaking of. How can we trust him whilst we all know of Acnologia's wickedness?"

Sorano's eyes narrowed dangerously. "My lord, need I remind you that Acnologia was once a man?"

"Folklore!"

"Heresy!"

"No, my sister is correct," Lisanna piped up. "No species is more capable of malevolence than our own."

"Then, will the queen have us pay for it by becoming dragon feed?" Lord Brain, the late king's advisor challenged. "King Lucien would never-"

"Well regretfully, my lords, father is no longer with us," Mirajane cut him off. "My sister is queen now, and you will heed her."

"This is what happens when you allow a woman to rule in her own right," another older member of the council lamented. "Back when we had the north-"

"Enough!" Sorano commanded. She ought to have his head for such insolence. "What's done is done. I trust the dragon, and anyone who questions the decision can try their luck back north in the dungeons of Empress Ur. Now," She pulled a scroll out from the wide sleeve of her dress. "On a different topic, I will need someone to deliver this request for an alliance to the rulers of the distant Flame Kingdom. Presently, only they have the means to counter Zeref and Acnologia."

The assembly was shocked. Little was known of that kingdom save a rumor that it was ruled by a dragon king and a human prince. Few on their side of the world had ever dared to venture there.

"I will go," a voice called out after a lengthy pause. It was the duchess, Lucy Heartfilia, whose mother had trained two of the princesses in celestial spirit magic. It would be better than sitting around waiting to be sold off to some duke or count by her father.

Sorano smirked. Save her own sisters there was no one she trusted more with the job. "Permission granted. We will begin to make the preparations for your journey immediately."

"Thank you, my queen." The blonde tried hard to contain her pleasure. She would finally follow in her mother's footsteps. This was the adventure she'd always been waiting for.

Moments later a guard entered to inform the queen that the dragon's emissary had arrived. Sorano dismissed the council and ushered her sisters into the throne room to receive their guest.

At this time Yukino, excusing herself, dashed back to her rooms and traded her tiara for her flower while the maids were otherwise occupied. She strategically returned to the throne room when it would be too late for Sorano to send her back.

Just as she'd planned, the high queen could do nothing more than send an irritated glance her way before the arrival of their guest was announced.

"Presenting Lord Sting Eucliffe, heir of the holy dragon Weisslogia…and Sir Lector, the most noble exceed of Extalia."

Yukino could not keep the wide grin off her face for the life of her. The years had been good to him. He'd grown tall and muscular, his features angular while still preserving his boyish charm.

"Your majesty, Queen Sorano I presume," he said bowing politely at the eldest sister.

"You guess correctly." She nodded in acknowledgment, but did not bow as doing so would defy her new station. "These are my younger sisters."

"Mirajane, Grand Duchess of Magnolia and the Southern Isles."

The wavy haired mage introduced herself with a curtsy. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasure is all mine, your highness."

"Princess Yukino, sovereign of Crocus and the Blooming Hills," Sorano continued.

Sting bowed and kissed her gloved hand. "Princess." He winked discreetly at Yukino, presumably as he caught her staring. Yes, he had remembered her.

"My lord," she breathed, hesitantly meeting his electric blue eyes.

Something vaguely intimate in their voices made Mirajane grin and Sorano eye them warily.

"And Princess Lisanna, heir to Haregeon and the Coastal Plains," the queen said, rushing the encounter along. A feeling of loss came over Yukino when he had to let go of her hand.

"Welcome to our kingdom," Lisanna said with a deep curtsy.

"Thank you for your great hospitality."

"Mirajane," Sorano began, "would you mind entertaining our guest until the feast begins?"

"Actually," Mira said with a smirk. "I am feeling a bit under the weather, sister. Yukino, would you mind showing Lord Sting around instead?"

"No problem at all." It took all of Yukino's strength to contain her glee. "Rest well, Mira. Sorano, Lisanna, I will see you both tonight."

Once they made their exit, and the grand double doors closed behind Sting and Yukino, Lector piped up. "Long time no see, Yukino!"

"Hello, Lector!" she laughed, before eyeing Sting. "I take it you believe me this time."

"I could say the same of you, princess."

"You're still not a knight," she quipped before her mind could even process her speech. How long had it been since she was last able to banter so freely? "Although you do clean up quite nicely."

"You still wear the flower," he noted. She seemed to prefer it to the ornate crowns her sisters donned. "And it still suits you."

"Thank you. It is my symbol after all." Yukino flushed, her shyness getting the better of her again. "W-would you like to go riding around the kingdom? If your steed is tired from the journey here, you can take one of ours from the stables."

The red furred exceed laughed aloud at this. "Yukino, don't you know that dragon slayers get-"

"We get more out of tours when we're on foot," Sting interrupted. There was no reason for her to know about the debilitating motion sickness just yet. "It's all about mingling with the people."

Yukino looked at him questioningly. That was an odd reason. "Oh, um...alright. Whatever you like."

"So," Lector began, turning towards the princess. "What do you guys do for fun around here?"

"Well," she smiled. "I do rather enjoy swimming in the lake near the forest...and after that," the princess blushed, half sure he would think her an idiot. "I do believe I owe you a game of tag from the last time we met."

The dragon slayer and his cat exchanged a glance. She hadn't changed much in the ways that most mattered. This would be the start of a very beautiful friendship.

The Land of the Dark

"Perfect. Just perfect," Kagura lamented, surveying the pandemonium around her. She and Erza, on their recently resumed search for their long lost friends, had decided to spend a few days in the lovely city of Crocus.

It was all people raved about on this side of the world. Visit the blooming city, they said. Great food, lovely sights. Nobody mentioned that it would be under attack. "This is going to put us behind," she complained as the they fled the cafe they'd been sitting in moments ago. It was now burning to the ground.

"It can't be helped," the red haired woman replied, more ambivalent than irritated. "We knew what we were getting into once we left the Flame Kingdom. Now, come on," she dodged a spear poorly aimed at a man in chain mail. "We can get on the western pass."

"Wait." Kagura held her hand out in front of her friend. "Look at their crests. Those are King Erebus' men." Unconsciously her hand fell to the hilt of her sword. How Archenemy thirsted for that man's blood.

Erza sighed, holding up her peasant skirt to keep it from getting dirty. "Getting involved here won't help us find Simon and the others," she reasoned. "And it's highly unlikely that he's here."

"Maybe one of his sons is." Gajeel. Ryos. Warmongering bastards. She'd gladly sink her blade into their hearts as well.

"What are the chances-"

"For Prince Ryos!" Another dozen soldiers in dark metal armor hollered as they charged past them to ride against Queen Sorano's men. "Storm the Lores' palace!"

Erza and Kagura's eyes locked in a silent standoff before the latter turned on her heel and took off deep into the thick of the battle. "Meet me at the city gate in an hour!"

The scarlet haired woman sighed, annoyed, before darting after her travel companion. "Oh my...wait!"

When Kagura reached the stronghold of House Lore, the dark army appeared to be mere minutes away from taking the city. With much skill, she cut her way through throngs of fodder men until she saw a well dressed blond struggling against what looked like a moving shadow.

"Memory-make: Lightning Stream." While Lord Rufus wasn't deft with a sword, his magic usually left him and his impervious to attack. However, the shadow-being evaded his conjurings with ease.

"There's still time to surrender this place to me," the man, who Kagura assumed to be Prince Ryos, warned. "You can escape with your life."

"My memory tells me," the make-mage shot back, dodging him again but more clumsily this time. "That an angry Sorano will be more severe than your father if I allow her favorite sister's city to fall."

The prince had no illusions about what would come next. After all, his father had told him explicitly not to show mercy. Readying his blade, he moved in to sever the make-mage's head—a clean, painless strike.

However, instead of cartilage his blade was met by another. Before he could gain his bearings, the mystery opponent kicked him square in the chest. The force winded the prince and sent him back a few feet.

"Who are you?" Rufus questioned, perplexed by her swift arrival.

"Consider me your champion." She readied her battle stance, not even bothering to look back at him. "Get to safety. This one is mine."

In less than a moment, she was back on him. Their swords danced swiftly, leaving them without time to study the each other's faces.

The only things Rouge could tell between the rapid shifting and clanging of metal on metal were that his opponent was a woman, and her sword was still sheathed.

He vaguely remembered seeing a similar style years before in the courts of the dragon king...wait.

He tried to get a good look at the girl, and was rewarded with a knee to the groin. Her next slash, probably meant to be fatal, left a gash across the bridge of his nose.

"Are you a sellsword?" he asked, trying to work through the profound pain in his nether regions. No trained soldier would fight so ruthlessly.

"I'm an avenger." She steeled herself as he took his shadow form again. She shut her eyes, listening. He was too fast. She wouldn't be able to see him, but she'd hear his blade cut the air.

"Shadow dragon's claw!"

Kagura's body slammed into the back wall. "Fuck." A dragon slayer. Like Natsu. This would be more complicated than she'd hoped.

Wincing at the pain in the back of her head, she quickly jumped back to her feet.

"And who, exactly, are you avenging?" Gajeel was the one with a blood trail that ran miles long, not him.

Cancelling the gravity in the room, Kagura elevated the prince to the parlor's high ceiling and then dropped him hard on his back. Without missing a beat she straddled him holding Archenemy, now unsheathed and pulsating with her pent up rage, at the base of his neck.

"This is for Rosemary Villa-"

"Kagura?" he questioned, finally getting a good enough look to know for sure. Those honey-hazel eyes. That almost purple hair. Without a doubt, it was the same person he'd met in Natsu's kingdom.

"You?" She lowered her sword fractionally. It was the innocent rich boy—ruby eyes—the only person in all those years to make her feel a bit less hateful. "You're Prince Ryos?"

"Yes, but-"

"You said your name was Rogue!" She slapped him across the face, making sure to use the hand with rings on it. "You twisted ass. You listened to me talk about my village. You listened to me talk about my family, and you knew it was your father pulling the strings!"

"I don't know how you got this information, but you're mistaken. There is no Rosemary Village in my kingdom." He would know. He was the one who dealt with the financial records, as his father and brother both preferred devoting their time to military matters.

"No, there wouldn't be," she spat. "Not since its population was taken by King Erebus' army. His own subjects sacrificed to resurrect a demon shadow."

Shadow. That was what the malevolent voice that often poured wickedness into his thoughts called itself. It tried to take over him whenever he was at his weakest. Everyone had always told him it was nothing—just a lingering symptom of the illness he suffered as a surely even his father wouldn't go that far…

For Gajeel's sake, maybe, but not for him. "We would never sacrifice our own people. It's forbidden. Sacrifices are only taken from-"

"War prisoners, I know," Kagura sneered. She had spent years studying the law, history, and religion of her old home trying to find out more about the massacre. "You only ride into battle for the sake of your gods. Is that what your mother and father told you?"

"It's the truth-"

"Maybe, in prosperous times. But what about when there were no prisoners? When your father was losing battle after battle against King Lucien? Who had to die then?"

He looked her dead in the eyes. "We don't lose battles, Kagura. Our military is the strongest below the frigid north. The last time had to be over ten years ago."

"Ten years exactly," she replied icily. "And what did the king do? He picked the poorest, least productive peasant village in his kingdom and condemned every man, woman, and child to death."

"That can't be," the prince protested, though his uncertainty grew stronger by the second.

"You really don't know anything." She laughed disjointedly. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Kind and peace-loving as he appeared to be, it was probably better to keep the young royal in the dark. "But if you still aren't sure, meditate upon your father's character just for a moment. Then try to tell me that I am mistaken."

And then he knew it. Truthfully, a part of him had known from the moment she first said it. His father was a ruthless man. He had ordered the deaths of hundreds—maybe thousands—of his citizens to put the shadow inside him. He was the demon.

"I believe you...and you don't know how sorry I am." He guided the tip of her sword to line up with his heart. Although he'd been too young to have any say in the decision, he felt complicit in her suffering. "Take your revenge, Kagura."

Her eyes widened in shock. She could tell from his deeply wounded expression that it was not a trick. Her hands, wrapped tightly around the hilt of her sword, shook more and more with each second she looked at him.

Angry, frustrated tears welled in the corners of her eyes. For a decade she had been training tirelessly for this moment, but in the end she was weak. Because she knew in her heart, or whatever was left of it, that he was as innocent as the people she lost when she was a child. Kagura slid her sword back into its sheath with a definite clang.

"I cannot bring myself kill you, Rogue." It would leave a bad taste in her mouth, and a profound sadness in parts of her soul she thought no longer existed. "I just want you to swear me an oath."

This was quite the turn of events. "What is it?" Did she want her weight in gold? A fist full of diamonds? A seaside estate? She never struck him as the type that could be bought.

"Succeed your father, and do better." She stood abruptly and started to walk away from him. "Rule with mercy, like that I have just shown you. I know you will. It is your nature."

"Kagura," he stood and started to walk after her. "Wait, I-"

"Don't make me regret this decision. That is all I ask of you." And then she escaped out of the double doors and into the chaotic streets, making herself impossible to find.

The Flame Kingdom

Lucy Heartfilia watched as her travel trunks were loaded onto the stage coach. A heavy fog hung over the morning, as though the land itself was mourning her departure.

It was the first time the eighteen year old duchess would leave her home, the Kingdom of Celestial Lights, and now she was off to a land to which very few had ever ventured.

She held fast to the scroll in her gloved hands for comfort. This alliance would be essential to the survival of her people, and maybe to that of the entire world as she knew it.

"Lucy," the high queen, Sorano, called to her. "The kingdom thanks you for your service."

"Of course, your majesty."

After receiving the blessing of the queen's three sisters, princesses Mirajane, Yukino, and Lisanna, the duchess stepped into her carriage to be ferried off into the unknown.

She traveled for weeks by coach and by boat and after more than a month she finally arrived in the ever mysterious Flame Kingdom. In the markets, humans and dragons conversed and traded goods with one another. The vibrant scents of spices, perfumes, and roasting meats mingled and wafted towards her from all sides.

The oppressive heat made her corset and petticoats stick to her in the most undesirable of ways and she looked upon the local women in short tops and loose, flowing skirts with great envy.

When she reached palace of the dragon king, the largest and most magnificent structure she'd ever laid eyes on, Lucy took a moment to adjust her bun and dab the sweat from her face with an embroidered handkerchief. Only then did she announce her arrival to one of the human guards.

"Introducing Lady Lucy Heartfilia, emissary to Queen Sorano of the Kingdom of Celestial Lights," the guard declared in the common tongue before backing out of the room.

Then a dragon with magnificent crimson scales, much larger than the ones Lucy saw in the market, emerged from behind a scarlet curtain.

"How can I help you, dear?" the dragon inquired.

Lucy blinked and shook her head. Before this day she had never even seen a dragon, now she was supposed to be negotiating with one. "W-well my queen sent me to meet with you, your majesty-"

The dragon shook his head at her. He was far too familiar with humans and their excessively formal monarchies. "There aren't any majesties around here, young lady. I'm Igneel."

"Pops," another voice called from behind the curtain. "Who are you talking to in there? Is Erza back?"

"No, Natsu! I'm meeting with a dignitary!" Igneel sighed, turning his attention back to Lucy who was quickly losing the struggle to contain her amusement. "You'll have to forgive my son."

"No problem at all," the blonde replied despite her apparent shock. If one of the four princesses dared to disrupt the late king of her land in a meeting there would have been hell to pay.

"Um, resuming my place, I am here to propose an alliance between our lands to combat the assaults of Acnologia and his forces. Of course, we will have to discuss the formalities of this agreement over the next few-"

"I agree."

Lucy blinked. No monarch ever agreed to anything that easily. "I-I beg your pardon?"

"You heard my dad," then, to Lucy's absolute shock, a human with spiky pink hair emerged from behind the curtains. "Anyone who wants to stick it to Acnologia is a friend of ours."

"It is as my son says," Igneel declared. "Tell your queen that she has our full support."

All Lucy could do was stare on in shock. She had been prepared to debate the conditions of the alliance for weeks. The queen had even given her authorization to relinquish certain provinces if all else failed.

"O-oh, um, thank you. If that's the case, if your maj- I mean, Igneel would just put his seal on this, I can be be on my way." Lucy held out the scroll to them. "It took me over a month to get here so-"

"Stay for a while," Natsu encouraged with a grin. "We'll get somebody to fly you back."

"It cuts the journey down to two days," the dragon king informed. "Please receive our hospitality. Cana will show you to your rooms."

A young woman with wavy brown hair appeared from behind another pair of curtains in a smaller corridor. "Come on, I'll get you ready for the feast tonight."

"A feast?" the blonde questioned. "What's the occasion?"

"You," the prince answered as though it were the most universal of truths. "We made a new friend."

Lucy met his eyes and something in her stomach began to flutter. The open and honest nature of this man, of this entire realm, was something completely foreign to her. She couldn't remember the last time someone had looked upon her with such unadulterated kindness.

"T-thank you, your highness."

"It's Natsu!" she corrected as Cana led her away. "See you tonight, uh, what was your name again?"

"Lucy Heartfilia!" she shouted back, momentarily forgetting her manners.

"See you tonight, Lucy!"

Oh, the stories she'd be able to tell once she got home. This was exactly the adventure she had been looking for.

Author's Notes: Ah, the fated meetings (Gray and Juvia, Natsu and Lucy). Now the story has really begun lol. Thank you for reading, everyone! Please review and tell me what you think :)