Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

UNION OF EDOLAS CAPITAL, ROYAL CITY

"Have you retrieved what I asked? My assassins?" Mystogan inquired. His tone was just as clear and sinisterly mellifluous as it had been the previous day for the council meeting. He wrapped his luxuriously gloved knuckles on the arm of the throne that he had sank into moments ago. He had a new one built in celebration of his "victory" even though he hadn't quite succeeded in capturing all of Earthland yet.

The servant aka one of the captains (mostly used as messenger boy) was clad in entirely black, attire almost the exact replica for council members. However, the boy's face could be clearly seen. "My lord, they haven't responded to our requests."

"What do you mean they haven't responded?" Mystogan raised his chin slightly upwards in indifference. The drumming of his knuckles ceased, his curiosity peaked.

"Well, you see it appears they have been… misplaced." He bowed his head courteously. His peculiarly shaped eyebrows rose, waiting for the reaction that was deemed to be unfavorable and rightly melodramatic.

"MISPLACED?!" Mystogan screeched. His fist shook in age and he brought it down suddenly against ornately decorated side table he had requested to be made weeks in advance. A small knick-knack of some kind of bird clattered to the ground, shattering into pieces. "How could they have misplaced whole bodies?"

The boy raised his head and took a few small steps backwards. He would be cleaning that mess up shortly. "I'm not sure, but they have assured that they will look for them and,"

"Oh they will be looking. Lest I take their heads and misplace them… any news regarding the princess?"

He paused to recover from his commander's sudden outburst. He was the least expected to lose his cool in any given manner. The fact that he nearly pulverized a table into oblivion was the antithesis of the normally level headed and charismatic man he was. His dark brown eyes snaked around the room, looking for a place where they could coil until the Commander was done ranting. The next answer wasn't a good one either. "No, but maybe we should leave the brat alone. Lucy was it? At any rate she'll turn,"

"You don't understand. If we leave her alone then it would be our demise. We are guests of the Empire. We accepted their invitation to forge a peace treaty. Now that our treaty has been revoked, use whatever means necessary to find Princess Lucy." He paused to sip a drink of a dark red substance, probably some kind of wine. "If you recall, Hughes, our nation was once superior, but our ancestors long since discarded that idea and left us with nothing. The pride of our descendants must not be forgotten so lightly. I do believe I have mentioned this previously. Reason A as to why you aren't a council member. Get in contact with the prison… now."

"Yes sir."

"Oh and Hughes,"

"Yes?"

"Make sure to get a replacement table. One more… 'Awesome' then this thing. This one was too weak."

"Of course, your highness. I will get right on that. Right after I clean up that poor bird."

Chapter 10

"We will never escape trouble, will we?" Gray muttered, putting his hand against the cool surface of the wall to stabilize him as the airship had taken a sudden dip. He ran his hands over his old uniform to smooth out the creases. It had been the first time in a while that he had to play the part of captain of the royal guard and he liked being just Gray Fullbuster a heck of a lot better. This uniform was itchy and made him feel like a costumed monkey, but Lucy had requested for him to wear it and he would never say no to the Princess.

He sauntered over with no since of immediate urgency to one of the windows to gaze upon their current situation. There were no enemy ships tailing them at the present moment, so that was a good sign at least.

"The operation for Laxus rescue is still intact as hot head mentioned earlier after we all sat down with the Blue Pegasus people. This ship should be fine. It seems durable. I hope they are aware that it will be completely destroyed by the time we're done." He shrugged his shoulders and tapped the window with his hand.

LAST NIGHT, BLUE PEGASUS GUILD HALL

"You do know that the prison is floating, right?" Hibiki asked in a puzzled tone.

"Yes and that's where you fit in." Erza responded, tone unwavering. Her eyes were locked upon eye contact with whoever was speaking to her. It was intimidating and Lucy was glad it wasn't her.

"Please explain."The group's apparent leader, Ichiya stated. He was acting sufficiently normal from their earlier introductions. In fact they all were. One of them had hit on Lucy at least 10 times an hour, thirty in total per person. Such perverse tendencies these men had… however right now they were being business like and accommodating.

"I'm interested in knowing that myself. How are we going to get there?" Gray joined in. Lucy was safe to say that they were all a bit skeptical of Erza's outlandish plan that they weren't even informed of to begin with.

Erza inhaled, her annoyance with the constant interruptions becoming apparent. "It is my understanding that you have an airship. Was that wrong information?"

"No. You are correct." Ichiya answered and returned Erza's fierce stares. His stare caused her to break her own. Creepy was probably the word she would use to describe it.

"I see how you could get to the prison by that method, but what about attacks that may come?" Hibiki questioned before the shorter man could. Natsu simply eyed all of them suspiciously and Happy imitated along with him.

"You're a smart guy or at least you look it. I think you know how we aim to respond to attacks." Lucy almost gasped at Natsu, but that would've been considered rude. He had actually said something intelligent sounding and it seemed that everyone had taken notice of it.

"Very well. You may borrow our airship, Christina, but we will be joining you to make sure it goes smoothly." Hibiki grinned as did Ren and Eve. Ichiya nodded. "We are now your allies."

CURRENT LOCATION: BLUE PEGASUS AIRSHIP, CHRISTINA

"The rest went according to plan. We successfully took off with no problems or anyone noticing us. When we got on and tried to equip the cannons, it became clear that someone had tampered with the ship, most likely some authority figure or a punk. Either way, one of Lucy's celestial spirits came and solved the problem. Now the plan is back on its feet. Lucy promptly dozed off right afterwards. Unlike her and Natsu, I feel like Erza and I have been working very hard. I just hope this actually works." The clacking of boots resounded. Gray turned his head to investigate. "Lucy? I thought you were sleeping."

"Yeah I was." She chuckled. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I guess I'm just a little nervous." Her hair was fanned out around her shoulders. It was weird for Gray to see her acting like a common person. Something about her just didn't belong though. She deserved to be a princess and that was where he was determined to make sure she stayed. "I had a dream and it was when my mother died." Lucy paused to collect her thoughts. "My mom used to sing me lullabies as a child and I dreamt that she was singing me one again. It was… nice." She smiled. Her sincerity was drenched in the smile which left Gray to feeling pretty awkward about it. A nice dream about a dead mother… well to each their own he guessed. His inward feelings must have leaked to his facial expressions because Lucy looked slightly concerned all of a sudden. "What's wrong?" She asked innocently.

"N-nothing." He stuttered. "I do remember. She had a beautiful voice. But aside from your mother, you were always being sung weird songs. At least that one rubbed off on you." Gray continued to rant, waving his finger. He had turned away from Lucy at this point. He was never very good at comforting others.

"Oh by the way, Hibiki has requested to speak with you. They're really nice people! I'm almost surprised but I can't be. Everyone I've met so far has been sweet to me."

"You're such a sap."

"Shut up. " She punched him playfully and walked away to her assigned area. Lucy was made in charge of waiting in the back while the others worked. She saw it as a fair trade. Now, Hibiki was at the front helping pilot the ship with Ren and Eve. Ichiya had opted to stay behind to communicate by use of powers above Grays head and inform them of whereabouts. Gray had a hunch that Erza had just threatened him because they really didn't need that. Hibiki's magic showed them that…

The secret ice mage arrived at the command center and poked his head through the crack in the door.

"You wanted to see me?"

The three rose their heads in unison. They all looked to be doing something different and of utmost importance. Gray felt bad to even disturb them. "Yeah, just a quick question."

"Okay, shoot."

"I know we already briefed you of the plans earlier, but do think the pink haired one knows?" He pointed a thumb at something that Gray couldn't see.

"Um, I hope,"

With that, Eve motioned to the corner of the room to a tan mess with familiar pink hair and a blue cat who was sleeping on top of its head. "They passed out almost immediately after the ship took off. Should we be worried?" He wiped his hand across his forehead leaving a small mark of something black. He was probably working on the cannons. Blue Pegasus must be famous for their weird cannons…

"Do you think he'll be ready when we get there?" Ren swirled his hand in a motion of one of the controls. Yeah they were working pretty hard. It was funny to see that they were such good workers and that they were actually smart too. Gray's first impression of them wasn't very good as they had played themselves over as conceited playboys who flirt with everything that moves and preferably breathes. Ren was the immensely tanned one who girls swooned over because he played hard to get. Eve was simply the cute little brother type. Hibiki was the golden boy who was at the top of every girl's hot list. Ichiya, now that was another story. At least he was confident…

"I'm sorry for him. That's really all I can say." He would've started trashing Natsu, but the uniform reminded him that it was an unacceptable. Those who didn't follow the rules of the uniform were not to be trusted and he was no exception.

"Are you ready? Someone get Lucy and Erza! Get Natsu up. We're just about over to where we need to be for you to jump." Hibiki interrupted with various commands. Rin and Eve ran over, woke Happy, and pulled Natsu to his feet. Gray couldn't be caught up in this. He ran down the various hallways to where Lucy and Erza were working on their end of the mission.

He approached the room, breathing heavily. "C'mon, it's time to leave." The Captain of the Royal Guard sprinted furiously over to his quarters where he would be meeting Lucy. He smashed his fist against the glowing red button. Promptly, the huge door lowered. A suctioning noise mixed with the rush of wind hit his ears as he latched onto the safety railing for balance and to not be thrown off. Gray ran his fingers through his ruffled hair. Footsteps echoed in the distance. Lucy was just in time. "Do you understand what you have to do?"

"I'm supposed to fall with the parachute and slip into the forest just outside of the prison. After that, I'm to deliver the envelope to you just outside of the gate with the information that Hibiki found out so you can free him. Is that right?"

Gray nodded. "Do great!" He exclaimed.

Lucy walked closer to the door, parachute tied to her back. It wasn't time for her to jump yet, it was Gray's. She would manage in a little bit.

As she walked away, she kept looking back. He was supposed to follow her. He was supposed to always be with her. He was her royal guardian. Speaking of, where was Natsu? She knew that he wasn't supposed to go in unless backup was needed but he was nowhere to be seen. The same sinking feeling of everyone abandoning her settled into her heart once more. It felt suffocating. She couldn't stand it. Suddenly her feet had a mind all of their own. She leaned in and kissed her guardian on the cheek. It was a thank you for all of these years- years of happiness, sorrow, shock, and weird.

"Please come back safely, Captain Fullbuster. I won't forgive you if you don't, stripper."

His cheeks were burning red and he nodded quickly before saluting and springing off the platform. The wind screeched through his tormented ears but then was relieved by the parachute opening and catching his fall. He landed on the cobblestone, exactly where predicted. He made a reminder to thank Blue Pegasus if he got back. What was he thinking? Of course he would come back. It was for the fate of the Empire and Lucy. He had promised Lucy. For her, I will return…

"All I have to do is cut through here and get to the gate from inside. Then,"

"That was way cooler than I thought it would be!" That voice was awfully feminine for a prison guard. Not that he was judging, but that was way too familiar sounding for his own good.

"Lucy?" He closed his eyes and hoped to find a figure in prison warden attire with a shocky stick or sword or something. He opened his eyes…

Lucy was standing a few feet behind him, dusting off her outfit.

"Hibiki said that Laxus should be underground that room over there."

"Lucy… What the hell are you doing here?!"

Author's Note: I promise I'm not forgetting the stripping habit. Give it time. I'm excited to write the next couple of chapters because they're expected to be pretty eventful. Stay tuned.