Hello again!

I should probably tell you guys - I've got about a month left until my classes are over, and I don't know how frequent my access to computers will be over the summer. I'm going to try and keep working on chapters, but posting them may be a bit of an issue. Anyway, I'm trying to say that as infrequent as these chapters have been, they'll be moreso for the next couple of months, most likely. Just a warning.

When Natsu realized that he had aware senses and that he was in the realm of consciousness, he desperately wished that when he opened his eyes, he wouldn't see the grimy fortress, but rather... Whatever Lucy's house looked like. And the pure white ceiling with gold finishings that he saw when he opened them gave him his answer.

Natsu darted up from the red-carpeted floor. "Lucy!" Without thinking, he darted down the well-lit hallway. He didn't know where he was going, so he just kept his eyes peeled for a door that Lucy might've been hiding behind. Passing by decorations of various values, all of which contained gold, precious gems, or both, Natsu whistled. Man, Luce really is nobility. She's freaking loaded!

"Hey Luce, did you know that when I first met you, I thought you were a noble?"

A giggle. "Nope. Only a chambermaid."

"I know that now!" he said defensively. "But you're still a princess to me. You're my princess."

These things were getting even weirder. Before, the conversations had all seemed like something that could've happened, but this time... The words had still been said by he and Lucy, but there was absolutely no way that this conversation had ever happened! Lucy wasn't a chambermaid, and he knew that for a fact! Erza wouldn't make up the fact that Lucy was the Lady Heartfilia.

Natsu shook his head. He could keep thinking about this later, maybe ask Lucy or somebody else what they thought. But right now, he had a mission to rescue who he had apparently called his 'princess' at one point.

He could hear people talking just around the corner he was coming up on. A gut feeling told him that he should try and listen to their conversation instead of doing his usual bursting in yelling. Slowing down to a creep, Natsu went up to the edge of where this hallway met the next and listened.

"What are you doing over here?" Natsu heard a man say. "Did you already finish with the Heartfilia girl?" After hearing that, it took every bit of self-control he had to stop himself from punching the lights out of these people. These had to be the Baramese soldiers sent to gain information.

"The girl didn't seem to know, so we decided to help you with her father," a woman claimed.

"So you just let her go!?" The first voice was furious and confused with his allies.

"Tch. We're not stupid. The girl is locked in one of the dozens of rooms this fucking house has," another man responded.

"Well, I think someone should go back and guard her. Anyone could go and let her out. Juvia's with me. You go back."

"Tch. You just wanna stay with your woman, Snowy."

"My name's Lyon!"

"I am not his woman."

'Lyon' grunted at that and replied, "You probably wanna go back to torturing the girl, anyways, Gajeel!" Natsu saw red. Gajeel. Gajeel was his name. Gajeel apparently tortured Lucy. Gajeel had hurt Lucy. How bad is she hurt!? Is she okay!? Why did they even target her!? After Lucy's reaction, she obviously doesn't know anything about any 'heirs'! Well, not that Baram saw her reaction... Ugh! Where is she!? I have to find her! I have to make sure she's safe! But I also wanna beat the crap out of Gajeel for hurting her!

Surprisingly for him, a plan actually popped in Natsu's head. Lyom and Buvia (those were their names, right?) were sending Gajeel back to Lucy. I can burn two bridges with one rock, or whatever that phrase is! I'll follow Gajeel, make sure Lucy's safe, and then beat him up for hurting her! He could hear the debate around the corner coming to an end, so Natsu hurriedly ducked into a door right next to him. Watching as Gajeel passed the door, Natsu darted out, putting his ninja 'skills' to use.

Natsu followed the black-haired man, darting between and behind doors and whatever decor or furniture happened to be in the hallway. When he tripped over a suit of armor, Natsu was sure he was caught, but somehow, Gajeel hadn't noticed him.

Or so he thought. After two minutes or so of following, Gajeel suddenly turned around and glared in the direction of Natsu's current hiding place, which happened to be a giant vase he'd scrambled into.

"I know you're following me. What the hell do you want?" Natsu stayed silent. He has to be bluffing, right? My ninja skills compare to no others! "You do realize I can hear you, right? I'm not frickin' bluffing and you have no 'ninja skills'."

Natsu scoffed at the insult before he remarked, "Wait, I said that out loud?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Obviously. For being a renowned knight, you're kind of an idiot, Salamander." He didn't know how the Salamander had gotten here, since he was supposedly imprisoned in Baram, but Gajeel didn't really care either way.

Natsu poked his head out of the vase. "Who said I was the Salamander?"

Gajeel rolled his eyes again. "You have pink hair and are wearing the Fairy emblem. It wasn't that hard to figure out." It was easy enough to figure out... The voice of that girl invaded his mind again. Agh, get out of my head, girl!

"Oh," Natsu remarked simply. He climbed out of the vase (an endeavor that ended with it being broken and his left hand cut and bleeding a little) and lifted his sword towards Gajeel. "Well, then you probably know how good I am with a sword. You hurt Lucy, and I'm not letting you walk away so easy after that."

Who the fuck is Lucy? Oh right, probably the Heartfilia chick. He thought he could recall Levy (no, I shouldn't be calling her by name) referring to Heartfilia as Lucy. "Tch. I didn't torture her or anything like Snowy said. I hit her once. She's probably fine."

Natsu's jaw clenched. "Whether you hit her once, twice, or a thousand times, you still gave her pain. Take me to her."

Gajeel rolled his eyes at the pink-haired man. "She's right in there, dumbass," he said, gesturing towards the door Natsu was standing directly in front of.

Natsu turned his head to see what Gajeel was gesturing at. When he saw the sturdy mahogany doors behind, he whipped his entire body around and immediately threw himself into the door, shouting Lucy's name. It gave way under his force, and the door opened and caused the frame to splinter simultaneously.

"You really are a fucking moron. The latch was on the outside of the door." The Salamander, however, paid no heed to Gajeel as he ran to Lucy within the room. She was resting on the bed in the chamber to avoid aggravating the bruise Gajeel had given her, but upon hearing Natsu crash the door open, she scrambled off the bed and dashed to him.

"Lucy, you're okay!" Natsu shouted with glee. His grin was wider than Lucy had ever seen it.

And she was happy, too, to see him. But... "Natsu, what are you doing here!? And you could've unlocked the door! You didn't have to destroy it!"

Natsu shrugged as he briefly glanced to the splintered door. "Whoops." Gajeel rolled his eyes again at the fact that Natsu had actually acknowledged the girl's remark that was virtually the same as his own. "Anyways, I'm saving you, of course! I can't tell you how worried I was, but you're okay!" Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy in a hug. Lucy was about to melt into it, but then his hug caused the stinging pain in her gut to flare.

"Ow!" she yelped. "Natsu, let go!" Natsu instantly did as she said as his grin slipped off his face.

"You are hurt. Where?" Natsu asked with a hard voice as he suddenly recalled Gajeel's remark that he had, in fact, hit her once.

"My stomach. He hit me with a giant iron club when I couldn't tell them anything about the heirs." Lucy had a dress on that Natsu, for obvious reasons, wouldn't be able to lift up to look at the bruise, but he carressed it gently to gauge her pain. Lucy winced at the touch, causing Natsu to let go. Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy again, but this time mindful of her injury. Lucy gave a smile to Natsu and then a quick, nervous glance to the man standing in the broken doorway, not unnoticed by Natsu. He smiled as a way to comfort Lucy before shooting a glare back at Gajeel.

Natsu turned his head back to look at Lucy. He was attuned to every bit of her. Every movement, every word, even every breath that passed through her lips and made her chest rise and fall. He paid the utmost attention to it all, and if anyone who knew him, including Lucy, found out, they would outright guffaw in disbelief. Natsu didn't focus like this on really anything. He focused while fighting, sure, but it was a different kind of focusing than his attention to Lucy.

Natsu buried his head in her shoulder, his smile pressed against the skin of her neck. Lucy gave a careful laugh that was almost a cry as she leaned into him much the same way.

She was okay. She really was. Her stomach was probably bruised, but if it was super serious, she wouldn't be smiling and standing with him. She was okay. What would he have done if she wasn't? Until this moment, he'd refused to think of that possibility. Sure, the idea that maybe she wasn't okay had crossed his mind, but he hadn't dwelled on it, hadn't thought about what it could mean if she'd been injured. It had been the same when Lucy had gone to fetch the keys. But now he'd been thinking about it too long, and he could feel the panic start to set in. Lucy could have died, easily, in both scenarios. In just this last day, there'd been so many situations in which she could've died, and if not dead, then terribly injured. Why am I thinking like this?

Natsu leaned back up, and Lucy must've noticed worry glaze over his features, because with a tentative voice, she called his name. Natsu shook his head to clear his dark thoughts and smiled at Lucy again. He guided Lucy's head into laying on his chest and rested his head on hers, burrowing his nose into her golden hair. Taking a long breath in of her scent and stroking his fingers through her hair, Natsu smiled. She's right here. Don't even imagine that she could be hurt so badly, Natsu. Especially since she's right here in your arms. Natsu couldn't believe how important she was to him. She's just already so special to me! We've only known each other for... What, four days!? It hasn't even been a week!? But I feel like I've known her for a lifetime already! Right when we met, actually, it kind of felt like we were old... best friends? I guess? Something like that. I don't know. But nearly everything about her makes me wanna smile! Her weirdness, her confidence, that cute pout with her puffed-out cheeks, that beautiful smile, that bubbly laugh...

Lucy looked up at him in wonder as to why he was holding her like this and looking at her like that. It felt so... intimate. Her heart was beating equally as fast as Natsu's, and they could both feel how hard the other's chests were thumping from how close they were. Lucy felt a blush creep onto her cheeks, but for some reason, she didn't feel all that embarrassed. This was so right. Everything she felt with him was so right and felt perfect. Natsu continued to stare down at her and Lucy noticed that his gaze kept flicking between her eyes and her lips.

Natsu bent his back slightly as Lucy's heels crept up from the ground to lift her closer to Natsu. They could both feel each other's breath again, just as they had on the mountain. Lucy noticed that she was starting to feel dizzy with anticipation. Her eyelids began to droop and Lucy watched as Natsu's did the same.

It was at this point that Gajeel decided he'd better leave. Even he, someone who'd grown up in a very different society, could tell when a couple should be alone. Nothing was even happening, really, but it just felt like intruding. He honestly wouldn't have cared less any time before now, but ever since that girl had done... Whatever it is she did to him, he'd just been feeling more. Things he'd brushed off before were suddenly attacking him with their full force, and he could hardly resist them. Regret for the pain he'd inflicted, especially on that girl, embarrassment and even a little understanding for the obviously-in-love pair before him... Why was he suddenly feeling all these emotions he'd tried and succeeded to ignore all these years?

Gajeel had just been waiting around to see if the Salamander would fulfill his promise to beat Gajeel up. He didn't really care if he would or not, but he had guessed he owed Natsu the chance to, given that Gajeel had punched his apparent girlfriend. Their team was never told that Heartfilia was dating Salamander, which seemed just a tad important since it was obvious how protective Salamander was, but Gajeel shrugged. It's not like I really gave a damn about this mission or Baram. He was only around to torture victims. But now that girl had apparently taken that away from him, given that the moment he hurt Heartfilia, Levy (no, don't. I still don't think it's right for me to think her name like that.) had invaded and taken over his senses.

No, there was no reason for him to give a fuck about Baram. Why should he? They spent his childhood beating him and his old friends senseless until they either died or became numb to morals, as he had. Maybe he just wouldn't return. Sure, they'd be pissed off at his disappearance, but he doubted Baram would waste resources on trying to retrieve him. Hades knew how little he actually cared for Baram's cause; if they really cared all too much about whether or not he'd abandon, they wouldn't have sent him to Fiore and make it so easy.

And so, as Salamander and Heartfilia started leaning closer to each other, Gajeel took his leave, walking out the door and heading for the manor's huge front entrance, where he took his first steps out of Baram's hands.

Or, that's how it should've happened. Instead, as he stepped through the door's threshold, he tripped on a broken plank of wood. He didn't fall all the way to the floor, but as he tripped, he did curse a few profanities rather loudly.

oOo

"What do you know, Lord Heartfilia? I will not be asking again," Lyon demanded coldly from the fearful and whimpering man in front of him. Apparently the lord was quite the coward.

"I- I told you! I don't-don't know anything! What's this about heirs? Who are- who are the heirs?" Jude Hearfilia tried to stay calm, but when he was truthfully hiding something that these vicious Baramese soldiers would do anything to get... it was a tad difficult. And he was so obviously feigning obliviousness.

Lyon groaned. They'd been at this for a while again now. Juvia and Lyon had both tried their own tactics, but Jude just kept playing dumb or freezing up to the point he couldn't say or do anything useful to anyone. "Tell me where the Princess Ceres and the Prince Jitensha are, now!" Lyon forcefully grabbed Jude's shoulders. Jude froze in fear once again, stuttering out incoherent words.

"Lyon," Juvia called from where she stood. "Back off and come here."

"Yes, Juvia-darling!" Lyon responded, his mood and stature completely flipped.

Juvia rolled her eyes. "I want you to ask about his wife. The Lady Layla Heartfilia." Out of the corner of her eye, Juvia saw Jude flinch at the sound of his deceased wife's name.

"What does she have to do with anything?"

"Do you remember the file? She seemed to arrive at Heartfilia Manor out of nowhere about a week after the attack on Celestia? We have nothing on her before that point, not even a maiden name. We didn't think much of it before, but..."

"You think she has something to do with the Ceres family?" Juvia nodded.

"And I think some of these servants might know something, as well."

"Why don't you go question them, then? Servant's quarters are just past the entrance hall."

Juvia waved as she started to leave the room. "Yes, I know." Lyon gave her a wave, and then the door was shut behind her

Lyon cracked his knuckles and stared down Jude. "Now, where were we? I'd like to ask you about your wife."

Thank you for reading, favoriting, and following!

A special thank you to XxCelestialPrincessxX, Mrs I don't care, MasterGildarts, Guest, Larissa, and mynameishelby for revewing!