***Bwahahaha, the game is on my fellow fanfictioners, and those of you who mainly enjoy reading this stuff. I do not own Fairy Tail, nor its characters or its storyline. Aren't you lot surprised by my unforeseen early return. I bet some of you didn't expect an update until late August sometime***

The book was boring. It bored me. I was sitting on the floor, by the bed and the nightstand, using the lamp on it to light up the pages as I read about some political issues between two adjacent family houses. The story itself might be interesting with the correct way of describing it, but this one was all about family names, marriages from the last nine generations and their influence on the disagreement about some coastline and a forest that might or might not be haunted. Since I had nothing else to do I still read it, however, especially since it might be relevant to this castle.

Like the fact that the Curson family specialized in curses, and that the Demmons family was suspected of being masters in the summoning of familiars, or lesser demons, a magic similar to Celestial Spirit Magic, but with the things waiting on the other side of the gate being considerably more sinister and bloodthirsty, and not bound by law not to kill their master. And the fact that those two families decided to merge through the marriage of their heirs. A woman named Mia, and a man called.. I would never be able to pronounce that. Ever. The man might be very unknown to me, but the girl. I HAD met a certain heiress with that name, and I doubted that to be a mere coincidence in this whole mess.

"Hmmm... Luce.. Lucy..?" the sound of a waking Dragon Slayer sounded, and I grimaced at the very notion of him waking up AGAIN before I carefully let go of my blanket and got up, turned the light off in a slight hope that it would keep him from waking up. But I knew that it was pretty much useless, so I sat down next to him where he lay on the bed instead of fleeing, looked at his silhouette in the darkened room, at the moment only lit up by the moon outside. It was quite a moon too, by the looks of things, since it cast a lot of moonlight in through that tiny opening. Perhaps was that part of the curse too.

"I'm here. You feeling any.. different?" I asked. I was going to ask him whether or not he felt better, but found the question a bit.. odd. It wasn't like he was sick or anything. He was just restless. Or.. something. But whatever it was that he felt before, different would probably be better.

"Lucy?" he questioned again, and I saw him sit up, though the fact that he was facing away from the window made his face shrouded in shadow, so I couldn't make out his expression. Had I done that I might've seen the approaching disaster before it happened...


The book was boring. It bored me. I was sitting on the floor, by the bed and the nightstand, using the lamp on it to light up the pages as I read about some political issues between two adjacent family houses. That very same book that I had been reading before once more served to keep me occupied, boring or not. It actually kept me so occupied that I DIDN'T notice the sound of a key turning in the lock before the door opened wide, and Titania entered, together with Gray, and Juvia. Finally, they were back.

"Yo." the Ice Mage greeted me. He passed by Erza so she could securely lock the door behind him. Then he continued forward to the bed, carefully placed the water mage on the bed before he looked down on me, where I sat on the floor, snuggled in a blanket and reading some old tome.

"Where's.." he began, and I pointed. Pointed to the corner farthest away from me, next to the bathroom door, where Natsu currently sat while sleeping.

"Don't wake him. He finally fell asleep about an hour ago." I commented, sent him a look. At least he had stopped banging the back of his head against the wall now. It made it easier to read. As if he heard my thoughts and decided to annoy me, he opened his eyes just as he took a deep breath.

"Lucy." was all he said, and his eyes roamed the room.

"I'm here." I replied, though he hadn't really asked a question. His eyes followed my voice, met mine before he groaned again, closed his eyes and resumed his task of banging the back of his head against the wall.

"What's wrong with you, ash for brains?" Gray asked.

"Shut up, stripper." Natsu uttered back, clearly not in the mood.

"The room is cursed. Natsu is.. dealing with it," I explained before anyone got to ask about his suspicious behavior.

"Cursed?" Erza questioned, turned to me, and I sighed.

"Not to worry, in theory this one only affects the lord of the castle. Since I'm the current lady of the castle and he's.. married.. to me, that makes HIM the current lord." I specified. At least I hoped for that to be the case. No one else seemed affected by it the way he was, in any case, and the tome DID refer to a RED room as a special room the grandfather of the bride had prepared especially for the groom. And the bride. What it did it had not been specified, but I had experienced first hand the effects of it. It only seemed to worsen with me in the room, so I really wished to leave. Not that I could.

"How is Juvia doing?" I asked as I got up on my feet, looking at her unconscious form where she lay in the bed, in the place where I.. on my side of the bed. Not that I really had one. Anyway...

"She got injured when a giant octopus attacked and she couldn't use magic, but she'll be fine with some rest," Gray replied. Giant.. Octopus? She was attacked by a giant octopus. Inside the castle. Did no one see ANYTHING weird in what he just said?


"Ok. Good. We're all here. So what's the plan?" I asked, sat down on the bed.

"Will there be fighting?" asked Natsu, suddenly beside Gray that shrieked and jumped sideways. Some of the old gleam in his eyes had returned once more. Figured that the two things distracting my partner from the curse would be food and fighting.

"Well, firstly, lets find out what we know so far." Erza commanded, and the lot of us, Team Natsu minus Happy stood in a circle and agreed.

"Well, me first then..." the scarlet Mage continued.

"The main target for all the things in this castle seems to be the current lady, which would be Lucy. Further on the monsters seem to be searching out all wedded couples to explain some rules," she said, and Gray nodded.

"The rules are simple. The lady in a marriage is not supposed to use magic, and is also pretty much stripped of most magical abilities." Gray added.

"And using magic IS possible, but it's very painful," I added. Erza nodded. I had a feeling she knew what I was talking about considering the way she looked, upbeat and partly covered in blood still, hopefully not her own.

"It's impossible to find the way out of this castle too, and for those that aren't married they can't even find their way away from the great hall," Natsu said.

"And the castle itself seems to heal whenever it's damaged too, so escaping that way is as good as impossible," he added. We all knew that. Natsu and I had been trapped in this room for quite some time because of that.

"The ghost that visited us also told us that there are certain cursed rooms with special properties." Gray added.

"Are the ghosts hostile, or are they just messengers?" Gray asked. For him to be asking that question, the girl clearly wasn't there anymore.

"They're hostile, just maybe not so much yet," I commented. Remembered the former lady of the castle. I had a feeling she wouldn't just remain on the sideline forever. And the girl, though her teeth had made me think of her as demonic, might be a ghost as well.

"I agree. They also possess physical bodies, as I have tried out on the ghost seeking me out and some lady wearing a pink dress." Erza said. Pink dress... sounded distinctly familiar.

"And though the whole castle in itself is cursed, there are also different rooms that are cursed individually to make people within them act in a certain way," Gray said. I sent a quick glance towards Natsu, that at least for now seemed fine with the relatively close proximity. We were a good meter or so apart, probably more, but earlier even that distance had seemed to affect him. Maybe were there hot spots within the room? We HAD been by the door, and not by the bed when the.. event.. occurred.

"And at this point, there is only two ways out." I said, the three of them turned to me.

"If I die, the castle will be open for a whole day afterwards, letting the people within out. The only other thing I can think of is finding the main curser and destroy him. Other curses might remain, but the main issue is the one that keeps people trapped in here. And according to my ghost and this book, that would be grandpa." I said. They stared, and I pointed on the book in my lap.

"This book is a tome about two families that owned adjacent properties that met around these parts. At least I assume that it's here, since the line was at the coast, where an even older ruin would be placed. These families were magically gifted. The Demmons Family were Demon summoners, making deals with them that according to legend was what allegedly led to their wealth in the first place. The Curson Family were gifted cursers, though they profusely would deny any such claim, since their curses according to some sources would be what affected their competition into submission, the Demmons being a exception due to their Demon Deals." I explained, and Team Natsu awaited my continuation.

"They rebuilt the castle upon those same ruins to house the couple that would symbolise their union after generations of feuding and bloodbaths. Obviously they didn't trust each other, so they laid a lot of traps as the building of the castle proceeded. The grandfather of the bride to be was not fond of magic. That was probably why he, the current Clan Leader of the Demmons family and one of the main contendors wishing to end the feud, decided to collaborate with the current leader of the Curson Family, and they planned to put a simple curse on the castle, keeping the young Lady from performing magic ever again." I stopped, sent another look at Natsu. Still sane. Somewhat.

"How do you know if the castle will open up if you die?" Gray asked.

"My ghost told me so, and when reading this history, it makes sense. The main objective of this castle, and all magic bestowed upon it, was to restrain the Lord and the Lady so they did not kill each other, and of the two the Lady was the biggest threat, so she was basically stripped of all power. If I died, the curse would be all but void, at least until it found a new object." I explained.

"What do you mean about that, a new object." Erza questioned.

"The curse is alive, and adapting, especially since it is linked to demons, actual live creatures. While it is in place it will always try to remain whole, and that would probably be why so many people died in here. They didn't leave, and became the next victims, the next ladies and lords. And as bodies piled up the curse have grown stronger, and darker." I explained. I was not overly familiar with curses, especially not those linked with other kinds of magics, but the basics should remain the same. A curse, and a deal with a demon, required blood. More blood made the curse or summon stronger, made it live on longer. Just like there were two ways of escaping this place, there would be two ways of breaking the curse.

One, destroy the main curser.

Two, rid it of its sustenance. With time it would fade away. But going by the great number of ghosts within, the second plan would take a long time, and it required Fairy Tail to get out. At the moment the easiest way stared my in the face and mocked me.

"Well, let's find this grandfather then. Mind if I borrow this?" Erza stated while pointing at the book, not at all even considering plan D, Death over Lucy. Of course not. This was Fairy Tail.

"Eh, sure. Here." I handed the book over, and Erza was about to grab the collar of Gray when she noticed that he didn't have one. A brief yell and a hit later, and he was dressed, dragged out the door, and before I managed to protest I once more found myself locked inside the Red room with Natsu Dragneel. The only difference now would be that I had no book to pass the time, and Juvia occupied the bed. Apparently Levy would be assigned to interpret the contents of the book, but that might take some time. Why couldn't at least Gray stay behind and keep the flaming idiot occupied? Sure, Erza needed company too, but couldn't Gray and Natsu just switch places then? While Master had said that married people ought to stay together, no one else seemed to be doing so, so why me?!

"You look like shit." Natsu commented, interrupting my inner monologue of doom.

"I should've made you go with Erza. Or I should've made her knock you out." I replied. I still sat on the bed, watching my husband and partner intently, looking for signs of him snapping. So far he had only insulted me, which normally would've made me hit him. I didn't do that though, since that would require me to get closer.

"You're really mean." he commented while giving me a look, and I was once more tempted to hit him. Really hard. If I hit him hard enough would I manage to knock him out myself? With my current strength, probably not.

"You're no better. Why didn't you volunteer?!" I yelled.

"You saw her! SHE LEFT TOO SUDDENLY! Besides..." and he averted his eyes, Natsu Dragneel, and I decided right then and there that unless he had a bloody good reason besides lack of time, I would ignore all warning bells and SMACK THAT SON OF A..

"Lovers quarrel?" and I ended up screaming bloody murder, not too much unlike Natsu due to the sudden appearance of... Mia. The Lady of the castle. Well, the FORMER lady. And unless we did something about the curse, I would be stuck with her forever.

"We're NOT lovers!" the two of us yelled almost immediately out of pure instinct. The shock only lasted for that split second while my heart decided whether or not it should just stop beating, before the current Lord stood before me, hands alight and ready to rumble.

"Oh my, you're even more handsome up close." Mia cooed, completely unaffected by our denial, though she took a step back as the idiot took a step forward. I was behind him, but I could practically see his cold eyes, the ones he pointed at his enemies when the time for jokes was over.

"Aw, come on guys, you're so violent! I'll have you know that you're currently in one of the safest rooms. Relatively speaking." she revealed, wriggling her pointing finger from side to side, smiling suggestively and thus opening up those horrible gashes again.

"Even if I wanted to it is strictly forbidden to use violence against the Lady in the room. In fact, being the Lady and all, I'm not even allowed to use violence. In here, anyway. Other than slapping you. I CAN slap you. A little." she laughed, and some old, lumpy blood escaped one of her gashes, wobbled its way down to her lower chin before it joined other stains on her dress. I could feel the boy in front of me easing up a little due to her words and the lack of general malice, though that meant... Now I took a step back.

"You know, Lady Lucy, I like you. Like I said earlier, it's been ages since I met someone with a similar upbringing, and let's face it, it's been dead around here for ages. That's why I'll help you out." Mia the dead heiress said matter-of-factly.

"You'll open the door?" I asked hopefully, and I saw Natsu sending me a miffed look. What was up with him? Earlier he was just as eager as I to get out of this place. Well, he'd at least spoken as if that was the case. I still remembered how his words had contrasted against his actions earlier.

"No silly. You'd die out there, and having you die right away would be no fun, especially with such a hot husband. Too bad he's so stupid, or... well, maybe not THAT stupid. Easy there, Tiger, I mean no harm." she laughed at his insulted glare, before turning to me.

"Don't you feel weak, Lucy? Don't you tire easily, and sleep a lot? In here it's better, but outside? I was a strong mage I'll have you know, so to keep me nice and ladylike they had to use some pretty strong rituals. It sucks the magic out, slowly and steadily, until you're all out. Well, unless you regularly visit the Coloured Rooms, but anyway. I never got to zero, because something else got to me first, but you do know what happens when all the magic is gone, right? Not pretty, I know. No, I'm here to tell you how to make THIS particular room easier to deal with." the smile was gone now, closing the gashes in her face, though she still clearly was in a good mood. I had been feeling tired. And weak. And I felt like sleeping a lot. Memories of the Incident where Master lost all his magic came back to me. He almost died. A mage without magic was barely anything at all, just an empty shell. I saw Natsu send me a look, showing me that he thought about the same thing.

"Loverboy here has some strength of mind, I'll give you that, for resisting the curse. Or it might be because it's only halfway effective because its incomplete..." Mia trailed off. Halfway? Incomplete?

"If you're talking about THAT..." I muttered threateningly, starting to redden again, and she lifted her hands in surrender.

"Oh, not THAT, the other thing. You have a second husband, right? It's never happened before, you know, but I suppose that theoretically, that'll make the curse split in two and lessen the effect." she specified.

"Believe me, this room has potent magic, but in any case. Stop fighting it." she looked at me. I looked at her.

"Are you barking MAD?!" I yelled, red as a beet and getting angry due to the embarrassment. The incident by the door was coming to mind, and I felt my face practically boiling. She meant that I was just supposed to.. accept it?!

"I didn't say give in, so take it easy. Sheesh, you're too innocent for your own good. I said stop fighting it. You're married. Twice, no less. The other hottie seems a bit less nice than this one, but you're lucky you have such fine hunks to... anyway. Since you're fighting it, it's like trying to stop water from flowing through a valve by closing the opening with a cork. It explodes randomly and becomes so much more potent whenever that happens. Just be like a couple, or more like a couple. If you stay close to each other the shock to the system is less extreme, and he'll be less likely to jump you." she stopped since my red face was nowhere near getting cooler. A couple? A COUPLE?!

"That's my theory in any case. So long." she waved, and gone was Mia the dead Heiress. She really did enjoy dropping bombshells on me for then to just vanish, didn't she...

***I will give no promises as to my return, but until then, so long folks!***