A/N: Also, I'm sticking to Zack's POV for a bit. Just preparing you guys for that. In addition, I'm too lazy to switch POVs mid chapter but its also because I know most of you hate that.

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: The Princess, The Legend and...A Captured Dragon?

Zack's POV

Well. Things couldn't get anymore weirder than it did. Then again, I'm a wizard. Nothing is ever normal for me.

But that still didn't mean that I would find myself in an ancient castle with Blossom and Brick, sitting and talking to Erza Scarlet, a mage from Fairy Tail, along with Astrid Hofferson and Hiccup Haddock, one of the first people to train dragons.

"So, wizards in the future go to a wizarding school called Hogwarts?" Erza said in amazement. We were sitting around in a circle at one of the castle's terraces, swapping stories about what happened in the present.

"Yeah," Blossom confirmed. "Wizards go there starting at the age of eleven and learn whatever you need to know about becoming a good and capable wizard."

"It's actually really cool," said Brick. "Different spells, learn how to brew potions-"

"The history of magic, how they see muggles-"

"Wait," Hiccup interrupted. "Mortals don't know about wizards and dragons anymore?" He glanced at Toothless worriedly. Toothless, in the meantime, gave Hiccup a side tilt and a nudge while Hiccup gave him a rub. "I kinda find that-"

"Impossible?" I finished for him as I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, that's like a really long story. Nowadays, only people with magic know anything about magic at all."

"And why call people without magic muggles?" Erza asked.

I shrugged. Honestly, I had no idea on how to respond to that.

"It's been like that since forever," answered Blossom. "We honestly don't know."

"By the way, do you guys know the story about this castle?" asked Hiccup.

Brick and I shook our heads but Erza, Blossom and Astrid nodded. "Of course we know," said Astrid. "It's practically become storytelling legend since you became chief, Hiccup."

"Do remember that that Jodha used to be part of our guild," added Erza. "Natsu's still not happy about her being killed. And he's still not letting Meena go out on a job alone because of it."

"Wait," I put my hand in a time-out gesture. "Who the heck is Meena? And how in the world is Natsu Dragneel, a freaking Dragon Slayer, involved with this?"

"He has more of a connection with Jodha than the rest of us in the guild. Meena is Jodha Randall's daughter."

Jodha had a daughter? Well, that explained the 'former princess' part. Subha definitely had a weird family tree. "But that still doesn't answer my question. What does the one and only Salamander have to do with all of this? We all know that he had...oh."

"Yup," confirmed Astrid, "Meena is actually his goddaughter, in contrary to your time's legend."

"But one of the reason why almost everybody thinks that Meena Randall was Natsu's daughter is because Jodha's history had faded over time," said Blossom. "That is, Jodha is still remembered as one of the most powerful multi magic type user, but how she died and what happened to her shortly before her death sorta faded away into mystery. Binns only ever taught us about Jodha through her time in Fairy Tail as an S-Class mage. In fact," she added as she held up her book for emphasis, "this book gave far more information than Binns' lectures ever did."

"Well, I have no idea on Jodha's history," said Brick. "Care to read about her legend?"

"Well, if you even bothered to listen-"

"Guys, please don't start this," I moaned. "And Blossom, Brick was in the hospital wing sick when we went over the history of Jodha Randall. And even then, it was really, really, vague."

"Then how the hell did he even pass the bloody exam?!" Blossom cried out. "At least quarter of the stupid thing last year was about Fairy Tail!"

Erza, Hiccup and Astrid in the meantime, just stared at us in amusement, not exactly sure what to make of it.

"...Honestly...I never thought that Fairy Tail would become famous enough for magic schools to learn about us..." Erza trailed off. A sweat drop seemed to appear at side of her head.

"Oh, does anyone know that Jodha used to have a dragon?" asked Hiccup. "A Night Fury, to be exact. Her name was Nicolette, but only Jodha was allowed to called her Nikki."

Everybody shook their heads, including Erza. Hiccup and Astrid shared a glance like they were afraid to tell us something.

"We never knew that Jodha had a Night Fury as a companion," said Erza. "When did you see her with such a dragon?"

"Uh, bit of a long story," said Astrid. "It was shortly after she left the guild and got married. She had dropped in at Berk for some reason around the time Hiccup was looking for more Night Furies. We found only one though...which just happened to be Nicolette."

Everybody went dead silent. Yup. Subha's family tree was definitely screwed up. First off, she related to an ancient princess. That's shocking enough. Next, she's somewhat related to Natsu Dragneel. I sighed and raised an eyebrow, but I definitely didn't regret meeting Subha, even though her family tree and her powers never completely wrapped around my head.

"She-she got a dragon as a pet?" stammered Erza. "We all knew Jodha got married but-"

"I think it's time that Blossom reads that book of hers," I cut across her. That may have been a grave mistake on my part but at that point, things were getting so confusing that I was actually up for a history lesson. "That book may have all the answers that we desperately need."

Blossom sighed in relief. "Zack Martin, I thought that you would never ask." She glanced around, daring anyone to object. She then opened up to a page in the book and started to read:

"Jodha Randall, a former Mughal Princess, was born to King Duryan and Queen Anne in Indraprastha, (now known as New Delhi). As a child, she exhibited great talent for controlling the six elements of earth, fire, water, air, ice and lightning. See-"

"Just like Subha," Brick intervened. Blossom glared at him as he added, "What? Just stating a similarity."

"Yeah, I can see that," Blossom retorted. "It's part of the reason why we're here, you idiot." She rolled her eyes and continued:

"Seeing great potential, her mother secretly trained her to use her gift properly. But her disapproving father found out and exiled the mother and daughter, leaving her younger brother in line for the throne. They moved back to England, where Anne married another man and Jodha spent half of her childhood with her half brother Clow Reed and adopted sister Nikita Ranjistani. The family later moved to Magnolia, one of the central cities in Fiore, Italy, where Jodha joined Fairy Tail, one of Fiore's most strongest guilds, at the age of ten. "

"According to Lucy, Jodha moved back to England after the guild disbanded," Erza mused. "She never came back after that, and a few years later, we all found out that Jodha had gotten married, died a year after she gave birth to Meena and that Natsu was her godfather."

"Yeah, the book later explains how she met the Night Fury that Hiccup and Astrid mentioned as well." Blossom handed her the book. Erza flipped through it with a surprised expression.

"This is pretty accurate, as far as Jodha's history goes," confirmed Erza. She faced Blossom. "Where did you get this?"

"I got it at a place where we get all of our school supplies...Diagon Alley. Here's another thing: the book also says that the Night Fury-"

She suddenly stopped speaking as we heard a strange roar. The weirdest thing was that along with it, with the huge empty castle, it felt like chains were clanking everywhere when it could very well be one place.

"SEARCH THE AREA!" a shrill voice shrieked, "I WANT THAT NECKLACE!"

"What?!" Erza said murderously. Her facial expressions, which were smiling and mature, had suddenly turned demonic. I wanted to crawl into a hole when I saw her face change.

That's when I realized that Erza Scarlet is the last person I wanted to be enemies with. Hell, she kinda looked like Subha whenever she planned to blast Malfoy out of the classroom. Except with Subha, you can at least know that she's angry when her eye color turns orange but honestly, its not like you could tell the difference.

Blossom and Brick on the other hand, I didn't know what their problem but a minute later, they shared a glance with an annoyance. I don't think it was directed at each other though. For once.

"Blossom, Brick, are you two alright?" a concerned Astrid asked. The two of them shook their heads as Stormfly and Toothless started snarling. The dragons simply got in front of us and looked over the terrace suspiciously.

"What's their problem?" I asked Hiccup and Astrid as I pointed at Toothless and Stormfly.

"Oh, that? That's just the dragons being protective," said Hiccup. "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"Okay, but..." I trailed off, glancing at Blossom and Brick, "What's your guys' deal?"

"Princess Morbucks," muttered Blossom.

"Oh great," said Brick, looking equally annoyed. "I thought I got rid of her last year."

"Sorry, Brick, but you'll never be able to get rid of Morbucks. Trust me, we've tried."

Sharing a confused glance with Erza, Hiccup and Astrid, we asked, "Who the hell is Princess Morbucks?"

"Just the most annoying spoiled brat we ever come across," said Brick.

"Honestly, the only thing me and Brick will agree on is that Princess is a bitch," agreed Blossom.

Brick and I slowly turned our heads towards Blossom with a questioning look.

"What?!" she cried out at our shocked expressions. Then she groaned. "Come on, I'm not five years old anymore. Let's just go and kick her butt." She grabbed her jacket that she was sitting on and stormed off towards the entrance of the terrace, fuming.

Brick faced Erza. "I thought that the castle had a spell that prevented people without magic from entering this part of the castle."

Erza looked stunned. "It did. It still does. But...age and time can do numbers on a spell."

"Well, then I wouldn't be surprised that Princess would be in any part of the castle then," he snarled as he proceeded to storm out of the terrace as well, possibly following Blossom.

And I, in the meantime, had definitely had enough of the weird and vague things that I'd heard in the last couple of minutes. So I simply shrugged and the rest of us followed suit.

Erza, Hiccup, Astrid and I followed Blossom and Brick as they continued to storm towards the screaming and yelling.

"Okay, is it me, or is Morbucks grating on my nerves?" Blossom snapped furiously.

"Nope," answered Brick. "And aren't you the one to finish beating her up every time she causes trouble? And...I'm actually kinda curious: what in the world is your history with her?"

"Hasn't Bubbles already ranted about her?"

"Oh, she has. Trust me when I say, when I dated Morbucks over the summer-"

Blossom put her hands over her mouth and puffed her cheeks in disgust. "Oh my god, you dated her?!"

"Don't blame me, I was forced to! Bubbles and Boomer did everything they could but Mojo didn't buy it!"

Blossom smacked her head. "I swear to god, Mojo doesn't even have the least bit of common sense."

"Tell me about it."

The two of them were silent for a minute. All of a sudden, their eyes bugged out of their sockets and the both of them crossed their arms, turning their heads away from each other.

"Well then," I said dryly, "Looks like we're all going to be dealing with one angry ex-girlfriend."

"Oh, that's just great," Hiccup responded sarcastically.

"By the looks of it, Princess sounds like she's-" Astrid started to say.

"-a witch?" finished Erza. "A wrench? Spoiled bastard?"

"I was gonna say 'not pleasant'. But any of those would work as well."

"I'm with Erza," said Blossom. "I'll take all of those. When Bubbles, Buttercup and I first met her, she wasn't exactly warm and kind to begin with."

"How is it that I ended up with the craziest bunch in the world?" I asked them. "Today was supposed to be me trying to get those two to get along and here I am, trying to find an ancient necklace for my best friend."

"Oh?" asked Erza. "Your best friend?"

"Yeah. Didn't we tell you earlier that the reason why we're here is because of Subha?" I took out the picture that we took last year at Hogwarts that consisted of me, Subha, and Cody and gave it to Erza to look at. Her eyes widened immediately.

"I...she looks just like Jodha!" she exclaimed.

"Let me see," said Hiccup. Leaning in, his eyes widened. "Oh wow. I can see why you guys are a bit suspicious."

"The problem is that Subha doesn't even know about it," I explained. "By the way, Jodha's pendant...is that the reason why that Morbucks girl is here?"

"I wish I could say that it's a possibility," Blossom grumbled, "if I knew how she found out. Even if she found Diagon Alley, the shopkeeper at Flourish and Blotts said that the copy I have was the only one in the shop."

Before Blossom could say anything else, the exact same roar came out with all the yelling. That's when Hiccup cried out: "I'd know that cry anywhere! It's the sound of a Night Fury!"

"But...that's impossible!" I stammered out. "Even you and Blossom said that they were really rare!"

"And with that said," said Erza, "The only Night Fury we know is Toothless, who is with us right now." She gestured to Toothless, who had been snarling since the minute we started following the screams and roars.

"Guys, I'm telling you-" Hiccup started to say but Astrid intervened by saying: "Hey, did anyone see Blossom leave?"

Startled, we all looked around to find Blossom nowhere in sight.

"Oh, that idiot," Brick groaned. "You gotta be kidding me."

He started floating in the air for a few seconds and a red streak followed him as he flew towards the sounds, swearing loudly as Hiccup pointed at Brick like and gave me a flabbergasted look. "Um...how can he do that?"

I shrugged and said: "They were born with it. Not all of us are superheroes." I ran after the two with the three following suit. When we finally caught up to them, gawking at an entrance...let's just say that I expected something else.

The room was huge. The ceiling was as high as a twenty foot building, the walls were covered in pink (something tells me that the walls were painted recently), and the windows were covered in wilted roses. And when I mean wilted, I mean wilted. They were all a dark shade of brown and the thorns were clearly visible, looking sharp as nails.

"What the hell is up with the roses?" I asked. "Like, this is not normal..."

"You think we don't know that?" said Brick, rolling his eyes exasperatedly. I countered his eye roll with my own and a facepalm.

"The roses are magic," informed Blossom. Her voice, more or less, had turned into a whisper. "They're made to last forever. They only bloom when the purest of heart are near them. And Princess isn't exactly 'pure of heart' material."

"I remember when Jodha mentioned something like this," Erza mused. "Before she and her mother were exiled, her castle apparently had a garden full of these. The blossomed fully whenever they entered but slowly started to fade over the years whenever her dad entered."

"Anyway..." said Blossom. "Nicolette should have chased her away though...something's up."

We all gave her a confused look. "What do you mean by that, Blossom?" Erza asked in a troubled tone.

"What I was trying to tell you before we heard Princess screaming was that the Night Fury that Jodha and Hiccup found...um..." Blossom twirled one of her hair stands, trying to find the right words, "...it's still alive."

Our jaws dropped to the floor. "That Night Fury is still alive?!" I yelled. "How?!"

Toothless' growling grew even louder as the sound of a dragon rang through the room.

"Well, might as well see where it's coming from," said Brick as he shuffled his way backwards inside.

"Brick, what are you-" Blossom started to hiss but stopped and stared at him when he stepped inside. "What the hell..."

"Come on, Utonium. My soul's already a swirling tornado of black. I don't think that me stepping in will change anything."

Confused as to why Blossom was slack-jawed, we all peered behind him. My eyes bulged out as I saw the roses blooming slightly, the brown shade being replaced with dark red and the thorns literally shrunk until they were barely visible.

Here's the thing: I knew why Blossom was worried. With Blossom and Brick's rocky history, Erza would have had a sword down Brick's throat if the roses didn't bloom for him. But while it was surprising for Blossom, I kind of expected this to happen. Even without anybody's interference, the Boys have started to get along with the girls. Mojo and HIM created the Boys to destroy the Powerpuff Girls. What he said to Blossom still rung in my brain: "Things change, Blossom. I think you, of all people know that."

And I'll be the first to admit that he had a point.

Erza eyed him and our reactions for a few seconds. Letting out a small chuckle, she said to Brick as she pointed behind him: "Don't look now but I believe that your heart is starting to change for the better."

"What?" Brick raised an eyebrow at her, turned around and jumped high in the air. Blossom doubled over in laughter as he yelled, "Holy shit!"

"Surprised?" Hiccup asked as he pulled Brick back to the ground and patted him on the back.

"Um...yeah!"

"I thought that you said things change," Blossom smirked at him.

"I meant events," countered Brick with a grumble, "not personalities."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking." She punched him on the arm as she gave him a genuine smile. "Personalities can change as well, you big lug."

Rubbing his arm, he returned the smile. I couldn't help but notice that this punch seemed way more friendly than the other ones they have both been giving each other over the past few years. Also, have those two ever smiled (genuinely) at each other? Either way, I decided to have a little fun with this. Putting my fingers to my mouth and gasping mockingly, I said, "Oh no! Are Blossom and Brick...actually getting along?!"

Blossom sighed. "I honestly couldn't care less at this point. It's making me exhausted. What's the point in fighting these days?"

"Yeah," said Brick, "We were five when we were beating each other up. I think it's about time we just put everything behind us. You're not so bad every once in a while anyway, Utonium."

Oh gee, ya think?! my mind internally screamed at them, That's probably what your brothers and sisters were trying to say this whole bloody time!

I sighed in relief. "Thank god you more or less figured it out. Now...about that roar..."

We all stepped inside and the roses bloomed even more as all of us walked a few steps further. The roaring stopped abruptly. That's when Toothless also stopped snarling and started sniffing the air. His ears perking up, he ran past me over to a wall with no door whatsoever but started scratching the wall. Hiccup and I went over to him and that's when all hell broke loose.

The minute we reached Toothless, he started snarling again before Blossom and Astrid yelled, "Zack, Hiccup, watch out!"

We barely got out of the spot without getting our faces burnt. I had to admit, Toothless was pretty fast, considering that he got two people out of an explosive blast. Looking at where we last stood, there was a huge gaping hole in the wall with black soot covering at least eight feet of the floor, just inches away from us.

"What the freaking hell was that?!" Astrid cried out. She got out a battle axe and looked around suspiciously for anymore disturbances. Stormfly was behind her back, the spikes on her tail ready to fly.

"Brick, Zack, get your wands out," Blossom ordered. We got them out immediately as I also whipped out my air staff.

"How in the world can you do that?" Erza pointed at my staff created literally out of air.

I laughed nervously. "Um...did I mention that Subha gave me and some of her friends an element to control?"

A sword materialized out of nowhere into Erza's hands. "Hmm. Well, it looks like I'm not going to learn about you all at once, am I?"

I smirked. "I think I could say the same about you, Scarlet."

As if on cue, a loud cackle echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls. "You honestly thought that you can find me? WELL THINK AGAIN! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Princess!" Blossom yelled at the top of her lungs, "Show yourself or I swear I'll find you and murder you!"

"Oh, like you could do that to begin with," a voice sneered at her. In the corner, I saw a shadowy figure waltz her way out of the dark. The roses, I noticed, deteriorated slightly as she slowly came into view. And I could see why Blossom and Brick hated her almost immediately.

She wore a suit that was similar to Blossom's shirt, except Princess Morbucks's shirt was striped yellow in contrast to hot pink. She also wore high heels that a fourteen year old probably shouldn't be wearing. She had the typical rich girl look with her orange hair in a braid but unlike Subha, Tomoyo and London Tipton, she had a rude look in her black eyes that pretty much tried to ward off any type of company. And when she spoke, it was very high pitched. It was like listening to Cody's singing in the shower and that is the last thing you want to hear unless you want a grave with your name written on it.

"What do you think, Blossom?" Princess sashayed towards Blossom, laughing cruelly in seeming victory. God, even her laugh was annoying. "I think we all know who wore the better outfit to this-" she mockingly sighed, "-to this oh so fateful gathering."

Blossom laughed sardonically and rolled her eyes. "Is clothes and fashion all you care about now?"

"Isn't that all she ever cared about other than money?" Brick huffed.

Princess struck a pose that even Victoria Spice would call an eye sore and shot a death glare at Brick. "Well, I don't see you asking me to take you back."

Brick glared at her with an annoyance that simply said, I'm done with your bullshit. "Beg you to take me back?! Please! You have no idea how freaking happy I was when you broke up with me. I'd rather have a cannon go through my head than be forced to date you again."

Hiccup and I were watching this entire exchange with our mouths open. Astrid had her mouth covered up with her hands, trying to hold in laughter. Erza also had her mouth covered, except for different reasons.

"Dude..." Hiccup managed to say, "crashing into your ex is one thing but-"

"You don't know her like I do," Brick interrupted. Glancing at Blossom, he added, "or we, for that matter."

Unfortunately for Brick, Princess noticed this immediately. "So you and know-it-all Blossom are a thing now?"

Ha, I thought. I wish that was the case. Princess's comment had Blossom and Brick both turning red, glaring murderously at her. That's when I decided to speak up.

"I know for a matter of fact that they aren't dating. And I can obviously tell that you have something to do with the disappearance of Nicolette."

"You know very well what Zack is trying to say, Morbucks," snarled Blossom.

"I think that it's in your best interest to spill," said Erza. Putting out her arms, she cried out, "Requip!"

I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Her body glowed brightly for a minute, later revealing an black armor, which sported some silver trimming with a pair of wings, which kinda reminded me of a dragon and a bat put together. Around her neck was a neck guard decorated by several gems, and finally, her long scarlet hair was tied up in a high ponytail, with two bangs framing her face. The armor was eerily similar to that of a dress. It had to be her Black Wing Armor.

I actually lost focus on the situation at hand for a minute. It looked just plain badass.

"Like I asked a minute ago," she continued, which brought me back to earth, "Spill. Now."

"And what if I don't?" Princess retorted.

"You want a sword down your throat? Cause right now, considering the circumstances-" she glanced at the painted walls with a look of disgust. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she continued, "-I'm not in the mood for games."

Fear flicked across Princess's face but went away as quickly as it came. She then jumped onto a huge grand chair covered in gold. (That's when I realized that we were in the throne room.) Pressing something on the handle of the throne, a wall on her right opened up to reveal a Night Fury in chains. I could tell that the dragon was a female by her eye color. Her pupils were glowing lavender literally.

"Oh my Gods..." Hiccup trailed off as he discreetly put himself in front of Toothless, who had lost the innocent look and looked downright ferocious. His wings have gone up, ready to fly and his pupils narrowed to a thin vertical line. "How could you...?!"

"Oh, it was rather easy," Princess replied with a wave of her hand. "This stupid thing snuck up on me and-"

"Don't you dare call them stupid!" Hiccup roared angrily. His fists were clenched as to avoid punching her. "You don't know anything about them! You-"

"Hiccup, calm down," Astrid said soothingly as she gripped tightly on his arm. "We'll find a way to get Nicolette out of there."

I glanced at the poor dragon in the chains. For a minute, the dragon turned its eyes towards me. It wasn't even a pleading look but when I returned her glance, something connected. I couldn't explain it. But there was something that Nicolette saw in me that made her give that curious look. There was something in her that reminded me of Subha. I suddenly got a rage in my heart the more I looked at Nicolette in chains. I had to rescue her.

I put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder and gave scrutinized Princess with pure disgust. With the rage swelling up inside me, it wasn't hard to do. "You really are a bitch, aren't you?"

"You really don't realize the extent I'll go to get what I want, Zack Martin."

I flinched. How did she know my name? Gah, never mind that. Right then, all my focus was getting the dragon out of Princess's reach. I slowly backed up by Erza's side as Princess redirected her attention to Blossom and Brick.

"Erza." I pulled her down by the arm to my height and whispered into her ear: "Distract Princess. I'll find a way to get Nicolette out of those chains."

Erza, at first, looked at me like I was the most craziest person in the world when I told her on how to distract her. Then a minute later, she sighed and gave me a small smile.

"You reminded me of Natsu and Happy when you said that. Oh well. You better hope this works, Martin."

"Yeah," I nodded nervously, "Hopefully."