X. Magnolia Town

Lucy sighed as her fine blonde hair slipped once again from its braid. It was apparent that, after nearly an hour of working on it, her new hair style was much too short to be put in a braid. She tried leaving it down, but it looked so dull.

Natsu, a pack slung over his shoulder and ready to go, burst into her room in his customary manner; which is to say, without warning other than the boisterous call of her name.

"You're still not ready?" he huffed impatiently, depositing his dusty pack on her bed. "What's taking you so long? We should be in Magnolia by now!"

"Sorry, I just can't get my hair right!" said Lucy with a sarcastic bite, frowning at her limp-haired reflection in the mirror. She jumped a little when it caught her eye. She looked so different from only two days ago, when she had hair that extended for a mile and gowns made of the finest silk and satin.

Now her hair only just passed her shoulders, and her attire was anything she could scavenge from the abandoned Phantom Lord Castle, which consisted of several revealing tops, short skirts, and boots.

Lucy's appearance wasn't the only thing that had changed over the past couple days. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had taken Phantom Lord Castle, defenseless without their three prominent managers - the only person who truly was equally matched to Natsu was a fire-mage called Totomaru, but in the end it was Natsu who triumphed - and easily taken care of. Natsu sent a letter with Happy to Magnolia Town, the closest civilization, and within the next evening every employee of Jose's was arrested for aiding and abedding a wanted criminal.

As for Jose, he was arrested with much more serious charges. When the Rune Knights saw Lucy, they'd exclaimed that she was the spitting image of Queen Layla Heartphilia, enough proof for Lucy to officially deduce that she was indeed the Lost Princess, the Rapunzel, of the Heartphilia family.

Her next move was undecided. She supposed that she would travel with Natsu and Happy until they reached Acalypha and she would search for her father to get more clues concerning her lineage. According to the combined information provided by the Rune Knights and Natsu, her mother was dead, her twin brother had disappeared off the face of the planet, and the once regal Heartphilia family was thriving in a prospering business association run by her father.

Lucy pushed all of this from her mind as the sheer weight of it threatened to knock her over. For now, she was focused on getting her hair right.

"Just leave it like that," Natsu suggested, waving a dismissal hand. "We've got to go if we want to make it there before it gets dark."

"But - "

"Lucy," interrupted Natsu, "do you really want to camp out in the woods tonight with all the bugs and snakes and owls?"

Before he had even finished his sentence, Lucy had forgotten all about her hair and was rushing out the door. "Come on, we don't have all day!" she said briskly, hastily dividing her hair into pigtails and hoping that would do.

The day was as sweltering as the ones before it. The wary travelers were abused by the harsh rays of the sun, resting whenever they could in the splotchy shade of the thinning trees. Thick, abrasive thunder clouds were rolling forward on the horizon, promising rain and suffocating humidity. Lucy was very glad that she no longer had to carry the weight of her hair.

Finally, after several hours of endless trekking, Plue fell face-down into the mulch. Happy, who was too tired to fly, tripped over him and refused to get back up. Lucy flopped down under the shade of a tree, letting the faint breeze kiss her skin.

"C'mon, guys, we're almost there!" Natsu urged. He had been by far the most energetic on the trip, but it seemed as though even he was beginning to feel the effects of the stiffling heat.

"Just give us a break," Lucy said thickly, throwing an arm over her eyes. "We've been walking all day, and it's so hot."

Natsu huffed reluctantly. "Fine, a quick break. You know, if you hadn't spent so long getting ready this morning, we would be there by now."

"If you didn't have motion sickness, we could have taken the carriages the Rune Knights offered us and been there for two days," Lucy pointed out, shooting him a nasty glare from her vantage point.

Natsu made a face and laid back in the grass, folding his arms under his head. He pointed at the swaying branches of the tree, and the beautiful white flowers that danced amongst the heavy round leaves. "We're under a magnolia tree," he sighed, eyelids drooping. Lucy had already dozed off, calmed by the gentle sound of the breeze and the sweet scent of the flowers. The heat was no longer stifling; in fact, it was comforting, like a big warm blanket...

"Oi!"

The pair scrambled off the ground, looking shocked. The warm afternoon was gone, replaced by purple twilight and churning clouds above them. Lucy blinked up at the sky and a raindrop fell squarely on her nose.

Two figures emerged from the trees, a man and woman who were obviously related. The mane was tall and bulky, with stiff white hair that stood in uniform spikes and a long black scar that ran down the side of his face from his eye to his chin. The girl was younger and pretty, with short, sleek hair and big blue eyes.

There was a moment of silence as the parties assessed each other. Eventually, the white-haired girl shot them a disarming smile and stepped forward. "Hello," she said pleasantly, sticking out a hand to help them off the ground, "I'm Lisanna and that's my older brother, Elfman. Are you guys lost?"

"No, we just fell asleep," Natsu explained.

"We were on our way to Magnolia Town," Lucy added.

"Aye," Happy said, rubbing sleep from his eye.

"We live there!" Lisanna chirped, as if this was the best coincidence in the world. "It's only a few minutes' walk that way. We were just taking a walk, but we were heading home so we wouldn't get caught by the rain. Elf-bro noticed you, and I didn't think you'd want to get rained on, so..."

"Thanks, that would've been awful," Lucy said gratefully, tugging at her white shirt.

Lisanna giggled. "No problem. Elf-bro and I will walk with you to Magnolia, if you want. We always like company, isn't that right, Elf-bro?"

The five of them chatted as they walked. Lisanna and Lucy got on pretty well, as they had a lot in common, and by the time they were nearing the outskirts of Magnolia Natsu had made Elfman promise him a friendly brawl.

"Welcome to Magnolia," Lisanna announced as they stepped out from the trees.

Lucy felt her jaw drop. Magnolia Town was even more beautiful than she had ever imagined, with candy-colored buildings that made her solitary tower look like a military fortress and ancient cobblestone streets bustling with activity. And the people! All the people, more than she had ever seen in her entire life, selling and buying and walking and playing, and doing all sorts of things that people did. For a moment, she felt herself shrivel up. What if she was different, odd, out of place amongst all these people? They intimidated her greatly, and she felt her stomach clench at the thought of walking right into their territory.

Natsu elbowed her. "D'you see that?" he inquired, pointing into what seemed to be the horizon. Lucy narrowed her eyes and saw, at the other end of the town, the tip of a tower. Her stomach leapt up into her throat. Was Natsu making fun of her?

"That's Raijinshuu Castle," Lisanna said. "That's where the royal family lives. Prince Fried is actually having a ball two days from now so he can find a suitable queen, now that he's of wedding age. Everyone in Magnolia is invited, and representatives from all the other towns will be there. If you guys are staying, you should come! I hear it's going to be a lot of fun."

"We should, Lucy!" Natsu grinned. "Maybe your dad'll be there! Or maybe somebody who's seen Igneel! The Raijinshuu live in Raijinshuu Castle too, right? They're supposed to be some of the strongest S-Class mages in Fiore!"

"Really?" Lucy said, reassessing the little bit of tower she could see. Natsu wasn't being cruel after all. He was just pointing something out because he thought she might find it interesting.

"The Raijinshuu aren't the only powerful mages here, either. There's also the Dreyars, who live in Fairy Tail Castle that way." Lisanna pointed to another castle, closer to where they were standing. "Master Makarov Dreyar is the mayor of Magnolia, he's supposed to be super powerful. His grandson, Laxus 'Lighting' Dreyar, is also really powerful, but..."

Lisanna's gaze flickered to Elfman and she lowered her voice so that Natsu and Lucy had to lean in to hear her. "Laxus and Makarov had a dispute a few months ago, and rumor has it that Laxus is living in Raijinshuu Castle right now. People say that Prince Fried is even taking orders from him. He's always kind of admired Laxus, you see, and if he respects him enough to make him is primary adviser or even relinquish his throne to the Dreyar family, then things could get pretty messy."

"Messy? How so?" Lucy inquired, thoroughly enraptured by this local scandal.

"Laxus's idea of a good government is different from the Justines'," Elfman grumbled, crossing his arms and scowling. "He thinks a town should just get rid of all the people who aren't good enough to live there, not pulling their own weight, you know? Instead of running a fair government like the Justines, he'll focus all of his attention on military force and political power. There's even been talk of him trying to convince his old man to recruit outlaws for a militia."

"Like his dad and Makarov's son, Ivan Dreyar," Lisanna whispered. "He was outlawed a few years ago for...what was it again, Elf-bro? I was too young, I can't even remember."

"Murder," Elfman said darkly. "He killed two Rune Knights when he was trying to steal a magic lacrima from the dungeons of Fairy Tail Castle. The old man almost caught him, but he ended up getting away with the lacrima and with his son. That's the maddest I've ever seen the old man. He left to go search for Ivan, and eventually found him. But Ivan got away again, that time only with the lacrima. The old man saved Laxus and raised him. I was only a little kid, so I don't remember all the exact details, but I think they said that Ivan keeps evading him 'cause of some traveling castle he built and called Raven Tail."

Lucy immediately thought of Phantom Lord Castle, but decided that there was no way it could have been a traveling castle. Surely Jose wouldn't have let her out of his sight, and she would have felt the tower move if it had.

A deep roll of thunder interrupted their hushed conversation, and suddenly rain began to pour down on them. "Oh no!" Lisanna cried. "Quick, run that way! You guys can stay with us until the storm ends, it's closer than the hotel!"

The six of them stumbled their way out of the forest and onto the cobblestone streets, which only moments ago bustling with life and merriment. Now, in the midst of the thunder and lightning, they were eerily deserted.