There was always an audience; Zeref had taught Natsu that when he just began page training years and years before. Always; there was always someone watching you. That truth had held up relatively well and made him more cautious with his antics, mostly, until he got bored. That's where he got careless and burned down confessionals.

He found peace between the cracks, in nooks where he could barricade himself from the public eye—like his bedchamber, for instance, and by the stream in the forest. But here in the hallway just outside the Throne Room, there was nowhere to hide, and there was a litany of curious onlookers that goggled at the King marching down the hall, the King's brand-new healer hot on his heels, and the Crown Prince bringing up the rear.

"A word, Your Majesty!" Lucy didn't care about raising her voice to the King. She didn't care about the eyes staring her down, she didn't care about the danger she was putting herself in. There was no one in the world Natsu trusted more than Zeref, but that was because he knew exactly what his brother was capable of, and his various moods. He knew how to stay out of his way when staying out of his way was necessary, and he knew how to soothe him when he was on the brink of an outburst.

Lucy was privy to none of that information and she was in the get your neck broken with a thought zone, but she seemed determined to pursue it.

"Your Majesty!"

"Not now!" Zeref clop, clop, clopped down the hall so fast. He pushed servants out of the way and some of them fell. People were whispering now. Natsu didn't hear all that was said but none of it was very good. The King is in a rage. The terrorist got under his skin. We're all in danger.

Lucy stopped in her tracks. Natsu saw her shoulders square and lift as she brought in a very, very deep breath. Whatever was coming next, it wasn't going to be good.

You need to stop it.

He did the only thing he could think to do. There was a door to his left. It opened to the strategy chamber, where Dimaria kept Zeref appraised of the happenings and threats in his kingdom. Natsu opened it hastily, stuck his hand in the jam and closed with all his might. His hand went numb but he yelled anyway because he knew already it was bad; he was bleeding; his fingers were slick with it.

Lucy swivelled and stared at Natsu. At first, her face was blank, but gradually, she absorbed what was happening and her determined expression made way for concern. She abandoned her cause and scurried back to him. "Natsu…"

More people were whispering. Natsu could focus even less now. His hand was starting to throb, the pain travelling all the way up to his shoulder and all he could think was, is it supposed to hurt like that?

"Take him to his room." Zeref had returned as well; his expression was very, very difficult to read but Natsu thought beneath the mask he saw the dregs of anger. Was he mad about the proceedings, or Natsu's not-so-discrete tactic or Lucy's chase?

Lucy ignored Zeref and looped her arm around Natsu's waist. She pulled him close to her and guided him through the crowding hallway and down the right corridor. Zeref was gone.

"How did this happen?" she asked.

"Clumsy," he gasped. "You have your keys, right?" He was dying. His fingers were broken for sure. Maybe his metacarpals, too.

"Always," she said.

Good news.

Better news: there was his door.

Lucy pushed it in. She kicked it closed behind them again and sat Natsu on his bed. Her keys flashed gold in the midday sunlight. She closed her eyes and shined. Moonlight was best for her but her magic was beautiful in sunlight, too. She sparkled like the facets of a diamond, like a broad band of gold, and her spirit filled the world with an omnipresence that was choking. Natsu choked willingly. He loved when she used her magic. Everything was suddenly worth it.

Ophiuchus touched him wordlessly and coolness filled his hand. Suddenly, he could think again.

The work was over with too fast. Lucy said thank you like the spirit cared about such things and dismissed her. Then they were alone, Lucy on her knees in front of him and Natsu itching to push her hair away from her cheek.

She looked angry, though. "How did that happen? And don't say I'm clumsy. I know better."

He wasn't able to lie to her, not so boldly. "I closed my hand in the door."

"Why? Why would you do that?"

He touched her cheek with his newly healed hand and made her look him in the eye. "To protect you."

"To keep me from challenging your corrupt brother, you mean." Her words were spoken with vehemence, her eyes hard and her gaze steady. He imagined kingdoms could fall beneath her glare. His. His kingdom.

What a peculiar thought. He pushed it aside.

"If that terrorist—"

"Her name is Lisanna and she's not a terrorist."

"If Lisanna is right, Zeref didn't know about those people buying slaves."

"Then why is it happening in his kingdom?"

"He doesn't have control over everyone always. He banned slavery, though, on his own, without pressure from neighbouring countries. If the trade is happening, it's without our knowledge. I promise it."

"That man was in his employ!"

Jacob, she meant. Natsu didn't know how to defend his brother against that accusation other than to say, "He didn't know."

He couldn't have.

Lucy lifted her chin stubbornly. "Your brother isn't a good man."

He wasn't a nice man. Not nice men could be good men. "He always does what's best for the people." He never wavered, not even when the decision was hard. That's what Natsu loved about him. "He said he was going to ban slavery in Alvarez and he did."

"But people can still bring in their slaves!"

"It's complicated." Politics always were.

"It seems pretty simple from where I'm sitting."

Natsu clenched his jaw. "I don't understand you. You don't want there to be slaves but you don't want me to buy out your indenture, and you sneak back to your old slaver almost nightly. You say you don't love him but you can't seem to tell me what's so important there. What is going on?"

Her eyes were flinty hard and for a moment, Natsu thought she was honestly going to tell him, just out of rage. Then the storm passed and she looked soggy and defeated. Her eyes were bright with tears. "I need to think of ways to get Lisanna out of that terrible place. I can't stand the thought of her in there."

"She was caught with explosives."

"So what? That's not illegal, is it?"

"Not if you're a miner or a fishermen or a demolition expert, and forgive me, but she doesn't look like any of those."

"She's…"

"Innocent?" Natsu supplied.

She wasn't and both of them knew it. Lucy was quiet, staring at his ceiling, thinking. "What is the cell like?"

"Lightless." He could see no reason to lie to her. "Deep. Full of criminals past." And the carcasses of rats that Kings prior threw down there when the smell would get too bad. She developed an expression that Natsu didn't like. "Please, don't talk about breaking prisoners out, don't even think about it. It puts me in an awkward position and it won't work."

She glanced at him from beneath her lashes and he knew she was about to ask for something impossible.

She didn't disappoint. "I was thinking more legal ways. I was thinking… I was thinking maybe you could talk to him."

Natsu expelled his breath. "Lucy…"

"Please, Natsu. You're his brother. He listens to you."

Zeref didn't listen to anyone. "She insulted him and admitted to her crimes. He'll wonder why I'm trying to defend a terrorist."

"That's it, then? She rots in some barbaric jail cell for trying to help people?"

"The law is the law."

"Says the prince that escaped his castle to fight with commoners because he didn't believe that things should be a certain way!"

"There are things I can get away with that other people can't, but conspiracy like this…"

Her lip wobbled and tears spilled over her eyes and her breath hiccupped. "She deserves better. A clean death at the very least. This is cruel."

It was cruel. That was the way the law was writ, though.

She won't appreciate that. Maybe…

Maybe her tears made him think and say strange things because when Natsu next opened his mouth, he said, "I'll try to talk to him."

She looked up. Her nose was red like a cherry, her cheeks, too. "Really?"

"Yes."

She stepped into him and kissed him wetly. Her lips wobbled under his. "Thank you, Crown Prince."

Natsu smoothed her hair back and kissed her better; it helped him not think of this crazy crusade he was about to start. "Please don't challenge him again. I'm not sure what he'd do."

She was looking at him from beneath her lashes again and his knees felt weak. "You wouldn't let him harm me."

She was a witch. He dug his fingers into her corseted waist and shook his head. "No."

Lucy rested her cheek on his shoulder. Natsu held her and smoothed her hair. The ringlets were flat now but still soft like a bolt of satin. He got lost in the dichotomy, silk against the rigid bone of her corset. Her chest fluttered on occasion but she was getting herself back under control. When she spoke again, she sounded stuffy but no longer like she was crying.

"I need to leave the castle again tonight."

Natsu sighed and leaned back so he could rest his forehead against hers. "If I begged you to stay?"

She met his eyes furtively. "I can't."

"The King's Guard will be doubling their patrol, though."

"I need to go out." Like it was the most important thing to her. He wanted it to be important to him, too.

"I'll ask Happy," Natsu heard himself say, though he knew it wasn't a wise idea.

"He wasn't very pleased with me last night, I'm afraid he'll refuse."

"Then he says no and you don't go."

"Can't you just command him?"

"I could, but I won't."

That seemed to please something in her rather than make her angry. Natsu didn't understand.

"I'll have your gold when you return to me this evening."

Her smile got lighter at the edges. "Thank you, Crown Prince."

Natsu touched his lips the tip of her nose, her cheekbones, and lastly her mouth. She buried her fingers in his hair and held him close to her, kissing him until his entire body was humming and things southward were this side of painful. She grazed his body with her hands. She tortured him in the worst ways; he thought he'd always want it.

At dinner, Zeref showed for long enough to fill his mouth with wine and lamb and then he disappeared again. He wouldn't look at Natsu, he glared at Lucy, and he did not speak. Happy minded his own business, standing against the wall, waiting for when he needed to clear the plates. Natsu left a little bit of shank on his and instructed Happy to bundle it up in a cloth and to meet him by the outer wall at half-past six bells. He was wary, of course, but when Natsu arrived at the turret, Happy was there with the package of food.

"Please, tell me we're feeding the crows."

"We're feeding the crows."

"But you lie."

"But it was decently told?"

"You shouldn't be proud of how well you can spin a tale, Your Highness. Your subjects won't value it."

"I'll take that under advisement."

Happy groused to himself about bad influences and unruly princes and the Gods cursing him. Natsu looked over his kingdom. Green grass, crooked trees, burnt orange sky that bled into the port. It went on forever. Seemingly peaceful on this side of the city.

He was dying to see its roughness again.

"We need to get Lucy outside of the walls again."

Happy didn't even look surprised. "Your Highness, please. You'll get us both hanged. Think, if I'm gone, you'll have no one left to torment."

"You won't be hanged."

"You must work on your lie-telling."

He was trying. "I won't force you to do this, but if we want to know what she's up to, tonight is the night to do it. Please, help me, Happy. I can't think when I'm around her and I'm afraid seeing the truth of her is the only way to break the spell."

Happy's shoulders fell. He had him. "Very well."

"Excellent. You'll take her out then return for me, just like we said. I'll create a distraction. We'll have a few moments to escape."

"And coming back in?"

"You'll see."

"So you don't know."

No, he did not. "Have faith."

Happy sighed. "I suppose if I'm to die tonight, I've lived a full life."

"Dramatics." Natsu produced a black key from his pocket and opened the door on the south side of the turret. There was a dark staircase beyond. He had to duck through spider webs to get through and wings fluttered high, high above.

"What are we doing in this cursed place?" Happy's voice echoed forever.

"I promised Lucy I'd try to help with her friend."

"She does have you in a wicked way."

"I told you."

The stairway went on and on. Natsu used his fire to light the way, and played with the heat on his finger. Happy's looked like a ghost in the shifting flame. He was looking at the stairwell, at the occasional scratches in the moulding, at the rats that scattered, at the spiders and millipedes that retracted into the wall whenever their eyes were touched by light.

It turned damp and the air stunk of bone and rot. Natsu breathed shallowly. Happy barely breathed at all.

Finally, the stairwell flattened and a huge pit became visible. There were no guards: part of the punishment was complete isolation. There was a rope on the wall to lower the prisoners down. Sometimes, they got to use it, other times, they were thrown in without aid. Their legs or backs would break and they'd spend their last days in utter agony.

He hoped Lisanna didn't suffer that fate.

"Be careful," Happy warned when Natsu leaned over the pit and used his fire to light up the carnage below. So many bones, generations of traitors left to rot. Some had laid down in the centre of the pit and died staring at the black ceiling, others leaned against the smooth wall, staring at their feet. Their clothes had been chewed at by insects and rats, and their bones were completely without flesh.

It was horrible.

But there was no Lisanna down there.

"She's probably being interrogated further," Natsu reasoned.

"Or they decided to execute her there and then for her slanderous, loose tongue."

Natsu took the food package from Happy and tied the cloth tight. Then he dropped it in, hoping that she'd search and find it once she arrived. It fell on the desiccated torso of what was once a man. Natsu said a silent apology.

"Let's go, before we're caught down here."

It was time to prepare for some calamity.

A/N:

As some of you may have seen earlier this week, once my ongoing stories are complete, I'm quitting fanfiction. I've posted my reasons to my Tumblr in case you're curious. Anyway, the point is, I've started a pat reon. (lol, it won't let me share the link.) Its launch is today. I would really, really appreciate if you checked out my page and supported me if you can, in any way you can, meaning if you share my page with people you think might like it, that'd be super cool, too.

I'll be posting stories similar to the ones I've cooked up here, though they will be originals, obviously. A dash of dark, a side of romance, some awkward jokes at other characters' expense, and probably some angst. Crime, magical historical and contemporary settings, brawls, other unruly things!

You can find me at pat reon dot com /KaitlinCorvus

Thanks!