Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Scarlet Heart Ryeo

An arm suddenly wound around her waist and she felt her hands make contact with a firm chest, her eyes opening to connect with a pair of onyx colored orbs. The horseman had scooped her up, pulling her to sit in front of him on his horse as he sped past, stopping her from falling to her death.

Lucy unconsciously gripped the man's sleeves, still unnerved from her sudden change in position as she settled onto the saddle in front of him. He held her gaze for a moment, an almost bored expression on his face, before looking back to the road and slowly bringing his ride to a stop. He stole a glance at her, as if expecting her to do something, but she could only stare at him in shock.

Scoffing as he turned his focus away again, he reached up to grip one of her shoulders and shoved her off of his horse.

Lucy yelped as she suddenly found herself falling to the ground, landing with an undignified thump.

"Ow," she winced, using her arms to push herself up before turning to glare up at the man.

He only raised a brow at her before urging his horse forward.

"Wait!" she called and he brought his steed to a halt once again with an annoyed sigh. "Wait. Hold on a second," she ground out as she caught her breath and painfully rose to a standing position. Falling to the ground from that high up had not been kind on her body.

She briefly took note of the crowd of villagers watching them as she faced him, her voice accusing, "How can you just toss someone around as if they're a bag or something?!"

His lip quirked up at the corner as he started moving forward once more.

"Hey! I told you to wait!" she had to jog to keep up with him, his horse's strides being much larger than her own. Once she was close enough, she jumped up and pulled the reigns back, successfully stopping his advance.

Annoyance flashed across his face as he turned his body towards her again.

"How can you go so fast on such a narrow and crowded road?! Look over there! Everyone had to dive out of your way!"

He only yanked the reigns from her hands, sneering at her as he kicked his steed and sped away, resuming his ride at full speed.

"Hey! Hey, come back! What is wrong with that guy?!" Lucy asked herself.

"My lady, please forget about him," a villager pleaded as she rushed over to the blonde.

"Someone could have gotten seriously injured! We should call the cops- I mean…the guards! We should call the guards!" she quickly corrected. "Where are they? They need to arrest that man," she declared.

"What do you mean?" the woman pleaded. "Do you really not know about the Fourth Prince? You're lucky just to be alive!" she stated before moving to return to her table.

"The Fourth…another prince?" she thought out loud. "Just how many sons does the King have?"

Her train of thought stopped as she remembered why she had been out and about in the first place. 'The homeless man!' Not spotting him amongst the crowd in the market, she sighed in disappointment.

"My lady! My lady!" a small voice called.

She turned to find the Levy running down the road towards her.

"What are you doing here?" the servant gripped her arms worriedly.

"Levy, who is the man with the reddish brown hair and the stubbly beard? He's about this tall," she raised her hand to estimate his height. "He came past our house earlier," she did her best to give her servant all of the information she knew about him. "Do you know of any visitors that looked like that?"

"This isn't the time to be doing this!" the girl ignored her question. "Princess Minerva has been looking all over for you!"

"It seems that our fourth brother isn't coming," Minerva remarked to her brothers who were seated in various areas across the room.

They had all come to Sting's estate for a gathering with no particular reason other than to enjoy each other's company.

"I'm glad," Gray started as he stood. "I accidentally stepped on his foot two days ago…" he smacked his hand over his left eye and made his voice more gravely to imitate Natsu's response, "'Do you want to die?'" His hand dropped and his voice returned to normal as he breathed out, "I was so scared."

"We may have the same mother, but we've never had a proper conversation," Loke complained. "He doesn't even respond to me if I say hello."

"He does have a tendency to ruin the mood," Gajeel remarked.

Their focuses all shifted towards the doors as they were roughly pushed open, rebounding loudly off of the walls. For the second time, Natsu appeared as if on cue. Their eyes followed him as he stalked towards the table that they had gathered around.

"Natsu, you've arrived," Jellal bowed in greeting, Minerva standing to mimic his gesture.

The fourth prince didn't respond as his eyes surveyed the group, landing on Gray and Loke who stood near the head of the table. The two quickly bowed to him, in fear of the consequences of not performing such an action.

Natsu roughly pulled a chair away from the table, sitting down in it heavily and folding his arms across his chest.

"You're late," Sting pointed out, though there was no anger in his voice. "You and I could rehearse together for the ritual later on our own if you would like. You missed the practice earlier."

"Yeah, we can do that," the salmon haired prince responded, sounding uninterested.

"We hadn't heard from you at all," Minerva started sweetly, "so we were going to send someone to Shirotsume to make sure you were alright. Why haven't you been writing us?"

"I'm here now, aren't I? Isn't that enough?"

"You should stay here with us while you're in Magnolia. I would like to hear about your life in Shirotsume," the princess smiled coyly.

Sting nodded in agreement, "Yes, it would be better for you to stay at our estate while you're visiting rather than in Queen Grandeeny's home."

"Sting," Laxus interrupted cruelly, "don't try so hard. He understands the language of beasts better than he understands the words of people."

"Ah, no wonder…" Natsu said thoughtfully. "I thought your words were very clear, Laxus."

Sting let out a quiet laugh, secretly proud of his brother for his comeback.

"Your Highnesses," a voice from outside the room called, "we've prepared the refreshments."

A small group of servants entered the room, each carrying trays of various foods. Lucy shyly peaked in through the open doors behind them.

Gray quickly jumped up from his seat and crossed the room to stand before the servant closest to the entrance, eager to taste all of the different snacks on her tray.

While the princes were distracted by the food, Lucy quietly entered the room and made her way over to closest pillar, using the sleeve of her pink hanbok to conceal her face.

According to Levy, Minerva had insisted that the blonde help serve the refreshments at the gathering, and, understandably, Lucy hadn't been too thrilled. Five of the princes had last seen her she 'spied' on them while they bathed. Another had just thrown her from his horse only fifteen minutes ago, and Minerva seemed to hate her guts for some unknown reason. The only member of the royal heirs that the girl considered herself to be on good terms with was Sting. So Lucy hid herself behind a pillar, not wanting to get caught by staying out in the hallway.

Unbeknownst to her, Sting and Natsu were both very aware of her presence, watching her in curiosity.

Gray also happened to glance her away, doing a double take. Before she was aware of his gaze, he had made his way to stand in front of her, leaning in close to get a better look at her downcast face.

She pulled back with a small gasp, startled when his face had suddenly appeared inches away from her own.

He quickly reached for her wrist and pulled her away from the pillar, his brows furrowed in thought, "Have we met before by chance?"

"No," Lucy did her best to keep her head down to avoid his prying eyes, "No, we haven't."

"You look familiar though," he only crouched down again, trying to get a better view of her face.

"Nope," Lucy quickly turned her head away from him again.

By now, all of the room's occupants were focused on the pair.

Gray suddenly grabbed her head in his hands, squeezing her cheeks together and forcing her to look at him.

"Y-you," his confused expression disappeared, and just as suddenly as he had grabbed her, he let go to point an accusing finger at her, "You're the one who spied on us bathing!"

"That's impossible," she futilely responded.

"It is you!" his hands were on her cheeks once again.

"It wasn't me!" Lucy brought her hands up between his, pushing them away from her face and accidentally knocking one of his hands into the tray being held by a nearby servant. It clattered to the ground, it contents spilling across the floor.

Lucy used to distraction to run from the room.

"Was that really the girl?" Loke asked.

"She seemed pretty taken aback," Jellal remarked, "so there's a good chance that it was. She sure has changed a lot. She used to be very careful and well-behaved. Right, Sting?"

"I can't really say," the Eighth Prince replied, "I wasn't that close to her."

"Gray, you must have seen wrong," Minerva started. "How could that girl have been inside the Damiwon Palace? Only royalty is allowed in there."

"I'm good at recognizing people though," he folded his arms. "I'm sure that it was her."

"Gosh, I need watch out for that little prince," Lucy noted with a sigh. She had stopped just outside the building, unsure of where to go without Levy by her side.

She immaturely stomped her feet. 'I'm seriously going to go crazy! Why did I have to wake up in that damn spring of all places?!' She lightly pressed her hand to her chest to calm herself, 'It'll be fine. If you can get through today, you probably won't have to see him ever again.'

Her thoughts were interrupted as said boy suddenly exited the building, scanning the surrounding area and clearly looking for her. She quickly and quietly crept around the corner of the house in an attempt to get away.

'Where did she go?'

Gray made sure to glance under each porch and behind each stack of hay as he wandered through his eighth brother's estate in search of the blonde haired girl. He passed a slightly open door, backtracking when he saw movement inside.

He carefully peeked through a previously torn hole in the green paper of the door. The sight that met him had him gulping.

A short, blue haired girl was changing inside, her partially bare back facing him.

As if sensing his eyes on her, the girl quickly pulled her shirt around her shoulders, securing it with a knot around her waist as she turned towards the door.

Her shriek sent him scurrying away, but he slid to a halt as he took notice of the blonde girl from before standing in his way, her arms folded across her chest.

"Hold it right there," she commanded.

"Who was it?!" Levy angrily cried as she flew out the doors, freezing when she caught sight of the prince and her lady standing only a few feet away.

"So I was right," Lucy smiled smugly, "you were spying."

Gray scoffed. "You're accusing me, a prince?" he asked, trying to find an out. He would never admit it, but he was incredibly embarrassed at the situation he had found himself in, and slightly terrified of the girl before him. "Do you actually think that I would spy on a servant like her?"

"Yes, I do," the blonde steadily replied, immune to his attempt at intimidating her.

He caught his bottom lip between his teeth and inhaled through his nose as he turned to the servant. "Are you certain that it was me?" he did his best to appear threatening, puffing his chest out and lowering his voice. Even if he was the shortest of the princes, he still towered over this servant girl, and he made sure to use his height to his advantage.

"Well…that's," she muttered, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Gray happily noted that he had had his desired effect.

"I didn't see who it was clearly…"

The prince turned back to the blonde, smirking, "Did you hear that?"

Lucy clenched her jaw, "Levy may not have seen you, but I saw it very clearly." She paused to sigh, "Look, I understand that you're at an age when you're curious about women, but that doesn't make it okay to spy on them!"

The prince flinched at her sudden increase in volume.

"Apologize to her now."

"Apologize?" Gray repeated, clearly upset by the order. "Are you telling me, a prince, to bow my head and lower myself to a servant? There is no such law in this nation. Now, step aside."

Lucy blocked his path again as he as he attempted to move around her, "Are you not ashamed?!"

"You dare disobey a prince's command?" he asked in disbelief. This girl was going against several of Ishgar's customs, "How insolent are you?"

He finally pushed her aside, stomping away angrily.

Not one to give up so easily, Lucy flung herself at him, grasping onto the collar of his hanbok, "I told you to apologize!"

Gray spun in her grip. "Seriously?!" he fumed as he grabbed her shoulders. "You're nothing more than a grain of rice!" he punctuated his insult by roughly shoving her smaller frame to the ground.

The prince paused, somewhat shocked by his own rash actions. He moved to help the blonde up, drawing back when he remembered how she had talked down to him just moments ago. He shook his head, turning to walk away once again.

He didn't make it far. Lucy had grasped onto his leg, causing him to fall to the ground as well.

"Really?!" they both glared at the other as they pushed themselves up.

As soon as they were standing the two rushed at each other, Lucy grabbing onto Gray's shoulder and short ponytail while the prince fisted one of his hands in her loose hair, the other gripping her upper arm.

"Hey, let go of me!"

"No! You let go!"

The two spun in circles as they struggled.

"I'm serious let go!"

"You let go!"

"Hey, that hurts!"

Both let out small yelps as their hair was pulled.

Their bickering had caught the attention of the group of royalty meeting in the nearby building.

"I think there's a fight going on!" Loke exclaimed.

"It's Gray," Jellal sighed, recognizing his brother's shouts.

Loke grabbed the blue haired prince's arm and dragged him out the doors, Sting and Minerva trailing after them.

"Ugh, their so childish," Gajeel complained. He was taken aback when Laxus stood to follow. "Of course, fights are very entertaining," he sarcastically remarked to himself as he stood to make his way after them as well.

Natsu remained asleep on his chair in the corner of the room, his feet resting on the table.

The group of royal heirs gathered on the edge of the yard where the childish fight was taking place.

"Let me go!"

"Ouch!"

"You! How do you like this?"

Gray pulled Lucy into a headlock, and the girl quickly grabbed the appendage that was wrapped around her neck, lowering her mouth to bite his forearm through his sleeve. He threw her to the ground with a cry of pain.

He poised to pounce on her again, but the blonde placed her foot in the center of his chest as he approached, kicking him with all of her might and succeeding in knocking the prince down onto his back as well. She moved to get on top of him, the poofy skirt of her hanbok slightly hindering her movements.

Once she had successfully straddled the prince's waist, she exhaustedly beat at his forearms, which he used to shield his face.

The princes and princess watched on in silence.

"Hey! You think you'll be able to get away this?!" Gray peeked his head through his forearms.

"You unashamed bastard! You pervert!" Lucy continued to beat at him, her exhaustion draining her hits of their force.

"You insignificant grain of rice!" the prince immaturely stuck his tongue out at her.

"What do you have to say for yourself?!" she grabbed onto his wrists and pinned them to the ground on either side of him as she drew her head back before slamming her forehead into Gray's own. The resounding smack made the spectators flinch.

Lucy huffed as she recovered. That hadn't been the best idea on her part, but at least the prince seemed to be suffering, too.

"Ow," Gray whimpered out.

"People…people like you," the blonde started, still out of breath, "need to have some sense beaten into them." Lucy pulled her arm back to slap him, only to have her raised wrist caught by a calloused hand.

"Hey! Let go of-" She whipped her head around, cutting herself off as she saw an unimpressed Natsu staring down at her. He used his grip on her to easily pull her off his brother, the now free prince scurrying to his feet.

"Natsu, hold onto her nice and tight!" Gray moved to pounce on her again, only to have the Eighth Prince throw himself in his path.

"Sting," the raven haired boy complained, struggling in the grip that his brother now had on his upper arms.

"The servants are staring, are you really planning on keeping this up?"

Gray glanced around at their crowd of spectators, roughly shrugging out of Sting's hold. He childishly stomped away, his jaw clenched in anger.

Loke failed to restrain a giggle at the sight.

"Hey, don't laugh," Jellal quietly reprimanded, lightly elbowing the orange haired prince in the ribs.

A few feet away, Lucy struggled in her attempts to free her wrist from Natsu's stony grasp. The prince only smirked back at her as she glared up at him.

Finally releasing his grip on her, he stalked away, paying no mind to Lucy scurrying after him.

"Hey, wait!"

He stopped eventually, but only once he had put a good distance between them and his siblings.

"You did this before," the girl came to stand in front of him, an angry pout on her face. "I'm not some bag that you can just tug and shove around. You should apologize," she breathed heavily, exhausted from her fight and chasing after Natsu.

"Who are you?" he asked, clearly annoyed.

"I'm Lucy."

"I'm not asking for your name," he stepped closer, leaning over her smaller frame. "What is your position, and what authority does it give you to act this way towards a prince?"

"Ugh! I told you to apologize! Why are you asking me about my rank? Are you going to ignore me if I say I'm a servant or apologize if I say I'm a princess? My position shouldn't matter!"

"So you want an apology?"

"Yes, isn't that what I just told you?!" she couldn't believe this guy. "And not just from you. That raven haired boy needs to apologize to my servant. The higher up you are, the more you should care about justice. As a prince, don't you agree?"

"Alright," he nodded, his expression cold. He crouched down to lean in close to her face, "However…once you hear 'sorry' from me, I'll have to kill you."

Lucy's eyes widened a fraction.

"But that's okay though, right? The King's probably going to have you executed anyways, considering the way you treated Gray."

The blonde tensed and looked away as he leaned in closer to her face.

"With that said," he had a cruel smirk on his face, "I'm sor-"

"Lady Yukino!" Lucy used the woman's sudden appearance off to their side to escape, running to hide behind her. "You came looking for me right? Let's go, let's go, let's go," the blonde laughed nervously, linking her arm though her cousin's and pulling her away.

Yukino and Natsu respectfully bowed their heads to each other in greeting as the blonde hurriedly dragged her past him.

"Lucy, huh?" the prince thought out loud.

Lucy stood off to the side, watching as Yukino carefully placed another stone on top of the knee-high pile. Gongs sounded in the distance, and the blonde curiously glanced around, trying to spot their source.

The place that her cousin had brought her to was breathtaking. Several miniature mountains of stones were stacked in various places across the small plateau. Some of the larger ones even had candles placed on their summits, waiting there for nighttime to arrive so that they could be lit. Lotus lanterns hung from the trees that were scattered across the grounds, adding splashes of vibrant pink to the landscape.

Yukino stepped away from the pile and swept her arms up to the sky from her sides, silently clapping her hands above her head before drawing them down her center to rest in front of her chest. To Lucy, it looked like she was praying.

"Whatever the reason was," her cousin started softly, "you hit the son of the king of our nation."

The blonde quietly clasped her hands in front of her and bowed her head.

"You will not be able to avoid the consequences. Considering you are from his household, Sting may be punished as well…"

"Do you…do you think you can help me?" Lucy quietly pleaded. She should have known better. She was in a different a time. A time where people weren't viewed as equals. She couldn't just go around fighting whoever she pleased, no matter what injustice they had done. "I'll do my best to explain the situation to the King."

"Do you think it is easy to gain an audience with King Igneel?" Yukino's voice was growing more agitated, "I don't know how you have changed so much in so little time. You were such a well-behaved girl."

Lucy bowed her head again as her cousin sighed.

"The mothers of Magnolia come here to pray for the well-being of their children. They place a stone atop their pile each time they visit" Yukino solemnly explained. "Have you thought about why I come here, even though I have no children?"

The blonde remained silent.

"This one here," she gestured to small stack in front of them, "I'm building it for you."

Lucy was taken aback, "For me?"

"When you first came into this house…when I knew that you would grow up without your mother…instead of treating you like my cousin, I took you in as my little sister." Yukino sighed sorrowfully, "I imagine that your mother would have built this for you, if she were still alive. So I wanted to do the same thing. However, on a day like today…I wonder if my prayers were not enough," she choked out as tears began gathering in her eyes. "Your mother must be watching us from heaven, and I wonder what I should do. I feel like I have failed her by allowing you to find yourself in this situation."

A tear carved its way down Lucy's cheek. "My mom," she said softly, her thoughts suddenly turning to her real mother, the one from her time. 'Will I never see her again? And what about dad?' More tears fell from her eyes.

Yukino made her way over to embrace her. "Lucy, what am I going to do with you?" she asked the sobbing girl, tears of her own falling down her cheeks. "Please, think of your mother. And do your best to live well here."

The sun had begun disappearing behind the mountains surrounding the valley as Lucy played with the hem of the top of her hanbok. She sat on the ground and lightly leaned against the small prayer tower her cousin had built for her. Yukino had left, the blonde telling her that she wanted to stay here for a bit longer.

'Lucy,' she thought to herself, 'you're a burden to others wherever you go. Everyone is being so kind to you, but you're just a nuisance,' she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. 'Is there no way to back to my time? I want to return, if only I could find a way. Mom and dad must be waiting for me...'

"My lady!" Levy called as she made her way up the steps to the small plateau. "What are you doing here?" She crouched next to Lucy and grabbed her hands with a soft smile, rubbing them between her own, "It's cold, and you shouldn't sit outside for so long."

"Levy, you know how I asked you about that man before? The one with the reddish brown hair and stubbly beard. Do you know who he is?"

Her servant's brow furrowed in thought.

"He visited the estate today with the princes."

"I'm not sure, our house has many visitors. But my lady…I think it's time for you to take a bath."

Lucy suddenly inhaled in realization, 'Maybe if I go back to the place that I woke up in, I'll be able to go home!'

"That spring that you found me in when I got hurt, let's go there for my bath!"

"We can't! I have a bad feeling about that place," her servant protested. "Besides, at this time of day it's probably being used by one of the royals. I'll get some water drawn for you, so that you can bathe at our estate!"

Lucy gave up, not wanting to cause her servant any more grief. She had done enough damage to others today, especially Yukino.

'But that man I saw before, he was definitely the homeless guy from the park. I have to find him!'

Jellal and Gajeel chuckled as they looked at Gray, who sat with his head propped on his hand in front of them, an angry pout on his face. It was the day after the fight, and the prince had an angry red splotch on his forehead.

"Yep, a bruise is forming," Gildarts stated, amusement in his voice, "and a very blue one at that."

"Oh, you'll be more colorful than a painting!" the three laughed at Jellal's joke, stopping when Gray shot to his feet.

"I won't let that girl get away with this," he growled out. "How dare she treat a prince this way?" He started stomping towards the door, Jellal quickly latching onto his shoulder and dragging him back.

"Did you say that Lady Lucy was your opponent?" the astronomer inquired. "From what I've seen and heard, she's a very lively girl. It isn't easy to find a lady like that." He placed his hand on Gray's upper arm, "You've experienced something quite rare."

"Yeah," Gajeel agreed as he sat in the chair his brother had previously occupied. "Being a prince makes it quite difficult to experience getting beaten up," he teased.

"You may have met your fate, Gray," Jellal started. "You were able to recognize her face after only having seen the girl once before…any particular reason you recognized her so easily?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"My fate? Yeah right. If anything she's my fated enemy!"

"No, you just don't know women very well," the blue haired prince said thoughtfully. "If she had no interest in you she wouldn't even touch you."

"Then, you're saying…she hit me because she's interested in me?"

"Your Highness!" the court lady yelped as Natsu shoved her aside. He'd grown sick of his mother avoiding him and refusing his visits, so he charged past the servants and roughly shoved the doors to her room open. He froze in his tracks when he caught sight of Loke and Laxus seated on the floor, happily having tea with their mother. Their grins faded as they took notice of his sudden appearance.

Loke moved to greet the fourth prince with a bow, but Grandeeny's hand on his thigh kept him seated.

"Greetings to you, mother," Natsu bowed to her before kneeling a few feet in front of her, a hopeful smile on his face. The Queen didn't even glance at him, continuing to stay focused on pouring tea for her youngest son. "Have you been well?"

"I had heard that you arrived," she stated with disdain.

"I've already met with my brothers, and thought that I should meet with you as well."

Grandeeny only let out a small, bitter laugh.

"Mother, it seems like Natsu has had some martial arts training lately," Loke excitedly explained.

"Martial arts?" she repeated, slightly taken aback.

"Yes!" the orange haired prince eagerly replied. "You should have seen him when we were practicing for the ritual earlier, he was amazing. According to the rumors Gray told us earlier-"

Laxus cut him off with a quick grunt, "They're baseless rumors. Gray has only ever spoke useless nonsense."

Grandeeny finally shifted her gaze to Natsu, "You tell me. Have you learned martial arts?"

The Fourth Prince smiled softly at her, grateful to finally have her attention, "I haven't."

"Oh, of course. Why would you have?" the queen spitefully responded. "The Strauss family would never waste their time training someone like you," she raised her cup to her lips, missing the hurt that flashed across Natsu's face. "It's been a long time since you've been to the capital, so enjoy your visit," she continued indifferently, wanting to rid herself of Natsu's presence as soon as possible. "You no longer need to visit me while you remain here. You may leave."

Seeing the disgust on her face hurt him more than he could have prepared himself for, "It's been two years…you want me to leave already?"

"It's because of your adoptive family who lies around suffering without you," she lied sweetly. "You should return to them quickly after the ritual."

The prince swallowed down his sorrow at her words. "I had planned on staying a little longer. Why don't I stay in the palace with my brothers?"

"That's impossible," her sudden increase in volume startled all of the room's occupants. "You are a member of the Strauss household in Shirotsume. The longer you stay here, the larger the grudge between the royal family and the Strauss family grows."

"You say that I was sent there to be adopted," Natsu started softly, "But I'm older and understand the situation better now. I know that I was sent there to be their hostage."

Laxus suddenly burst out laughing, "By saying that you're a hostage, did you expect to gain sympathy? Did you think that mother would change her mind? The only thing she's worried about is that your prolonged presence here will be a bother to your adoptive family. She has no concern for your thoughts on the situation."

"Laxus is correct," the queen affirmed, her expression stone cold. "What reason could I possibly have to send you as a hostage?"

Natsu numbly nodded his head, his eyes glassy and throat suddenly feeling tight. "Since you are saying that, I will have to trust you," He moved to push himself onto his feet, but he suddenly remembered the butterfly hairpin that was tucked into the sash around his waist. "Oh, right. I was in the marketplace and got you someth-"

"Didn't I ask you to leave?" Grandeeny interrupted coldly.

The prince swallowed heavily and stood, "I guess I'll be going then."

Once he had trudge out of the room, the queen turned to Laxus, "When the ritual has ended, make sure he leaves. If he insists on staying, call in the military officers, and get him out of my palace."

"Don't worry about it. He has no right to stay here," the third prince smirked.

Loke glanced at Grandeeny, still shocked by the conversation he'd just witnessed, "Mother, are you aware of the rumors about Natsu that have been spreading among the villagers? They speak of you, saying that you're the one who scarred his face."

"Loke, don't bother leaving the palace if you're going to come back with such rumors," Laxus ground out. The orange haired prince had yet to be born when Grandeeny had permanently damaged her son's face. After the fact, the queen had done everything she could to prevent the news of her actions from spreading. Zeref, the King, Laxus, Grandeeny, and Natsu himself were the only ones to know the truth.

"Y-yes brother."

Gildarts hurried after Natsu as the salmon haired prince stormed through the palace's entryway. The astronomer had overheard every word of the fourth prince's conversation with the queen, the paper walls doing little to keep their voices from carrying into the room where he'd been chatting with Gray, Jellal, and Gajeel.

"Prince Natsu," Gildarts called, bringing the man to a stop. He carefully contemplated his next words, "You should take a bath before the exorcism ritual, it might help take your mind off of things." He turned to address a nearby court lady, "Prepare the spring for the Fourth Prince."

"Yes sir," she made her way over to the salmon haired man, and he begrudgingly followed her to the bath.

"Now that I think about it, when did Natsu get that scar on his face?" Jellal asked Gray and Gajeel as they observed the Fourth Prince lag behind the servant. The three had also unintentionally eavesdropped on his conversation with his mother, and being not as brave as Gildarts was to approach him, they had settled against the wall of the palace's entryway to watch his next actions.

"I'm not sure," Gajeel remarked, "he's had it for as long as I can remember, but I've never seen the thing 'cause he always wears that weird mask." A smirk crossed his face, "But if you want to know about Gray's bruise, I can provide you with plenty of information."

"Oh, shut up!"

Jellal only rolled his eyes as the ninth and tenth princes launched themselves at each other.

AN

Gray and Lucy are my Brotp so it was a lot of a fun writing their little fight.

Not much clarification to add to this chapter, I think it was all pretty straight forward.

Thank you to all of those who reviewed, favorited, and followed. It helps me know that people actually care about reading this story and therefore motivates me to keep publishing chapters :D