CHAPTER 14

NICE TO MEET YOU, SEE YOU SOON

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with university, family drama, my cat died. Basically a lot of stuff kept piling up and I've been trying to deal with it all.

Anyway enough about me, here's your long awaited chapter! Please leave a review for me guys, feedback is most appreciated.

Loke was running down the palace hallway with Gray and Gajeel following close behind, occasionally running into a patrol guard and knocking them out along the way.

"Ya know, I figured a King with as big an ego as I heard he has would have more guards around here" said Gray as he clothes-lined a passing guard and froze him in place.

"Acnologia is the kind of person who doesn't want to appear weak or paranoid. He keeps a regular amount of guards on patrol while the tougher ones stay by his side to protect him" said Loke as he punched another guard.

"Doesn't he have his own magic powers? Why does he need to be guarded to such an extent?" asked Gajeel as he slammed his steel fist into the jaw of another guard.

"Acnologia was always weaker than his older brother when it came to magic power, he prided himself more with intelligence. However, lately it seems he has been messing with some dark magic for a power boost. I hope Natsu will be able to handle it" said Loke as they turned a corner.

Gray and Gajeel chuckled at this.

"That flame-brain is the most stubborn person I know, he won't lose that easily" said Gray with a grin.

"If anything Acnologia should be the one to worry" said Gajeel with a chuckle.

Loke smiled at their unwavering confidence in Natsu.

"Well if Lucy has such faith in him, I suppose he can be trusted" said Loke with a smirk.

"Achoo!"

"You ok Natsu?"

"Yeah, those bastards must be talking smack about me again"

"Huh?"

"So where do we find those two women Lucy was talking about?" asked Gajeel as they ran down the hall.

"Juvia and Levy? Well Juvia would most likely be in the kitchen right about now, Levy… library maybe?" asked Loke as he put a hand to his chin in thought.

"How can you be sure?" asked Gray with a raised brow.

Loke smirked confidently "It's my job to know where all the lovely ladies of the palace are during all times of the day" he said with a lecherous gleam in his eyes.

Gray and Gajeel sweat-dropped, it seemed that the only thing this guy was good for is chasing tail.

"That aside, Juvia is most likely washing dishes in the kitchen right about now, and since its closer we should head there first" said Loke as he lead the way.

"Sure" said Gray with a shoulder shrug.

"I feel like I heard that name before" said Gajeel with a squint as he tried to recall something.

"Ah~ the tragedy, that a lady as lovely as Juvia is reduced to washing dishes and doing laundry. To think she was once an S-class mage" said Loke sympathetically.

"S-class? Whoa, she sounds tough" said Gray with mild admiration.

"She is, she could have been a world famous wizard by now, but she refused to leave my darling Lucy behind, such a beautiful friend" said Loke with a smile.

"Well if she's friends with Lucy then she's gotta be tough" said Gajeel with a grin.

"Ah here it is, try not to enter all at once. She's a very guarded person" said Loke as he adjusted his glasses before opening the door to the kitchen.

"My dear sweet Juvia! I have come to- Eek!" shrieked Loke as he ducked from a torrent of water that was aimed at his head.

"Oh my, Loke! I'm so sorry I thought you were someone else!" Yelled a blue haired young lady in shock.

The lady was pale and beautiful, her figure was almost identical to Lucy's in both height and size. She had thick and long wavy blue hair, and piercing blue eyes that could drown anyone who wasn't careful enough. She was quite the beauty indeed.

"I-It's ok Juvia, luckily I managed to dodge in time. But who were you trying to drown if I may ask?" asked Loke as he swallowed nervously.

Juvia looked to the ground with a scowl.

"Bora" she answered angrily.

Loke's calm face morphed into a scowl "You mean that sicko who buys women from indebted homes and sells them as slaves?!" asked Loke angrily.

"Yes, apparently he thinks I am of high value, so he offered a good price to the King for me. But Juvia will not be sold like livestock without at least putting up a good fight!" she said with a clenched fist.

"Well no need to worry about him anymore, Juvia I'd like to introduce you to some people" said Loke as he stepped aside for the two men to enter.

Juvia's eyes widened when she saw the two men, the large one with piercings and long hair seemed somewhat familiar to her, but the other man made her heart skip a beat.

His ice cold gaze, his handsome face, and not to mention his sinful figure! She didn't even know why he was half-naked but she didn't find the need to question it. She felt her face heat up and her heart go crazy so suddenly that she was sure she was going to die.

She had this strong urge to make him hers.

"Juvia, these guys are Gray and Gajeel, they're friends of Lucy's and they're here to help us start the coup d'état" said Loke with a smile.

"Hey, so you're a water woman huh? I'm Gajeel, I'm an Iron Dragon Slayer" said Gajeel as he pointed at himself with his thumb.

"I'm Gray, an Ice Wizard. Nice ta meet ya" said Gray with a look of indifference.

Juvia felt her face flare up, he just looked so cool!

And he mentioned he was an ice wizard as well?! This was too perfect!

'I am water and he is ice! We must be bound together by fate! I finally found my handsome prince!' she thought with a love-struck look in her eyes.

The guys noticed that she had hardly paid attention to anything they said, and her gaze was focused solely on Gray at this point. Loke waved a hand in front of her face but she gave no reaction.

"Well that's odd, I've never seen her like this before" said Loke as he scratched his head in confusion.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say she has a thing for Stripper boy here" said Gajeel with a teasing smirk.

"Oh shut up, we don't have time for this right now. Oi Juvia! Did you hear what Loke said!? We're staging a coup now and we could use your help!" yelled Gray in annoyance.

Juvia immediately snapped out of her mild (for now) delusions and turned very red.

"Oh my, Juvia apologizes Sir Gray. And what do you mean by stage a coup Loke? Why so suddenly?" asked Juvia with concern.

"Sir Gray?" questioned Gray with slight embarrassment.

"A player has reappeared and is making his way to the throne room with Lucy as we speak. We need to find Levy and bust into the dungeon to free the rest of the rebel prisoners to help out" said Loke urgently.

Juvia's eyes widened in shock, she was quick to gather her wits though and wore a look of determination.

"Of course, Levy found out just recently that Erza is being held and tortured for information as we speak. We need to hurry, I heard that Aria is the one questioning her" said Juvia with worry.

"Shit, you know where Levy is right?" asked Loke worriedly.

"Yes, she said she needed to investigate something and went straight for the library" said Juvia.

"Ok, let's hurry guys" said Loke as they ran out of the kitchen and made their way to the library.

"Juvia just hopes Levy hasn't gotten into any trouble"

The group ran down hallways again, but with Juvia there it seemed their job of taking down guards was suddenly much easier. Although her reasons for fighting so aggressively were questionable.

"You shall not lay a finger on Sir Gray you Phantom fiend!" she yelled as she hit a frightened guard with a heavy torrent of water, effectively knocking him unconscious.

The guys sweat-dropped at her actions but continued on regardless.

"Well Frostbite, looks like you finally have a girlfriend" said Gajeel with a snicker.

Gray scowled in annoyance "Well at least when I meet a girl they don't cower in fear like they do with your ugly mug" said Gray with a smirk.

"Oi, you want me to make ya really ugly?" said Gajeel with a scowl and a fist raised.

"You can try but it won't make you look any better" smirked Gray arrogantly.

"Girls, girls, your both pretty! Can we save this for some other time!?" yelled Loke in annoyance.

Gray and Gajeel shared a look of disgust and turned away from each other like pouting children.

Gajeel had increased his speed so that he was ahead of Gray and next to Juvia. He was sure he had met this water woman before but he was having a hard time remembering.

"Uhm, Juvia was wondering, you wouldn't happen to be that little boy who saved me from those bullies in the rain, would you?" she asked shyly.

Suddenly it was all starting to come back to him. Gajeel had seen this girl before; back when he still lived in Magnolia with his father, this girl used to live near him.

He remembered her when she was younger, she was a very timid girl, always carrying an umbrella and a little ghost doll. She always looked so sad and lonely, because of this the neighbourhood boys would always bully her. They started doing stupid things like scaring her with frogs or splashing water on her clothes, but one day they took it too far. Gajeel had just been walking by when he saw the little blue-haired girl being pushed in mud by three boys, her clothes were ruined and it looked like she had skinned her knee as well, then one of the boys tried to rip her ghost doll from her hands. She struggled desperately to hold on and started crying, saying that her mother had made it for her and it was very important to her. This only seemed to spur the boys on and they ripped the doll in half with mean smirks of satisfaction.

She began sobbing hysterically which for some odd reason made the already rainy day rain even harder. The boys blamed her for the bad weather and called her a freak. This was the tipping point for Gajeel and he stormed the boys and beat them bloody.

"The only freaks around here are you morons. Mess with her again and I'll break yur puny fingers" he threatened.

Terrified the boys fled leaving Juvia to glance in shock at her saviour. Gajeel, feeling bashful all of a sudden grabbed the pieces of her shredded doll and handed them back to her without looking her in the eye.

"Sorry bout yur doll, I aint good with fixin' stuff so I can't do nuthin' ta help" he said reluctantly.

Juvia blinked suddenly and smiled gratefully as she held the pieces of her toy.

"No worries, Juvia can sew, she'll be able to fix it. She's just glad you helped her" said the girl bowing gratefully.

The young Gajeel raised a questioning brow at the way she spoke "Who the hell's Juvia?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, excuse me, J-ahem, I am Juvia, I'm trying to get out of the habit of talking like that, but it's pretty hard" she said shyly.

Gajeel nodded in understanding and rubbed the back of his head "Well, if those guys ever bother ya again lemme know and I'll sock em good" said Gajeel with a smirk.

Juvia smiled, and with that smile the rain seemed to die down slightly.

"Juvia thanks you"

That was the first and only time Gajeel had ever spoken with her, a week after that his home had been raided and his father killed. Which led him to running away with Gray and living in the forest.

He was surprised she still remembered him after all this time, heck, he was surprised even he remembered.

Gajeel nodded and looked at Juvia with a smirk "I can see that you've toughened up since the last time we met" he said with a hint of pride.

Juvia smiled, happy to reunite with an old friend after so long.

"Juvia could say the same for you, I never learned your name back then so I could never find you to say thanks" she said with a sad look.

"Ah, don't sweat it, it was a long time ago. Let's focus on what we have to do now, we can save your tearful reunion for later" he said nonchalantly.

"How rude, Juvia is not a cry baby anymore!" she said with a pout.

"Well your weird way of speaking hasn't changed much" said Gajeel with a smirk.

Juvia's face pinked slightly "It comes and goes, occasionally" she said shyly.

Gajeel chuckled at patted her head affectionately.

Juvia felt like a small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. For years she had wondered where the boy who saved her had gone, Juvia was an only child but if she had a big brother she would have one just like Gajeel.

'Ah! Juvia must give some attention to Sir Gray so he doesn't misinterpret anything!'

Finally reaching the library, Loke quickly grabs the handle and pushes the door open only to walk in on a young lady being handcuffed by two guards.

"Let go of me you ruffians! You can't do this, you have no right!" yelled the lady.

The woman was rather short, probably only a little over 4 feet. If it weren't for her matured gaze you could mistake her for a child. Her blue hair was the same shade as Juvia's only shorter and held out of her face with an orange headband. She had a slender figure and light brown eyes; eyes that held deep rage at the moment.

"Shut up woman! You were reading confidential files for the Kings eyes only! You shall be hanged for treason!" yelled one of the guards angrily as he locked the magic cancelling cuffs around her wrists.

"The only traitor here is Acnologia himself! Release me now!" she yelled struggling franticly.

"Oh that's it! I'll just knock you out so you won't make a fuss!" yelled the guard angrily as he raised his fist and aimed for her cheek.

"Oh no ya don't!" yelled Gajeel as he morphed his arm into a long steel pole and clocked the guard right in his face. Yeah, that guy wasn't gonna wake up for a long time.

"Levy! Are you hurt!?" yelled Juvia in panic as she rushed to Levy's side.

Loke had successfully knocked out the other guard and made a grab for the keys to Levy's cuffs.

Levy was in a state of shock, she was saved by a man she didn't know, and apparently was friends with Juvia and Loke. If Loke was here that must mean that Lucy is back as well. And who was that other guy with the icy look?

"You guys… what's going on? Why are you here? And who the heck are those guys?" she asked suddenly.

"One at a time sweetheart. First let's get these cuffs off you" said Loke with a flirtatious wink unlocking her cuffs.

"Thanks Loke, I take it Lu must be back then as well?" asked Levy with concern.

"With a few extra people. It's a lot to explain right now, but we need to get to the dungeons and release our friends. The coup has started" said Loke seriously.

Levy's eyes widened in surprise, and she took a moment to look over the two strangers with Juvia and Loke.

"Why so suddenly? What has happened?" asked Levy curiously.

"Like Sir Flirts-a-lot just said, we don't got time ta explain shorty, so move yer ass and let's get to those dungeons already" said Gajeel in annoyance.

Levy's eye twitched at the jab at her height and she glared at the larger man with a fury that actually made him take a step back in fear.

"Listen here you… you Neanderthal, mention my height again and I will yank each piercing out of you with my bare hands" she threatened.

Gajeel swallowed nervously and nodded his head numbly. Truthfully… he thought that was kinda sexy.

Loke and Gray were trying to stifle their laughter at Gajeel's fear, while Juvia was admiring Gray's visage with hearts in her eyes.

Levy huffed in annoyance and turned away from him.

"Let's just get the quick introductions out of the way first. The one with the piercings is Gajeel, and this here is Gray, they came here with Lucy to help" Loke explained quickly.

"I see, now since we're apparently on a tight schedule, I think it's time we head to the dungeon. But we have to make it their as stealthily as possible" warned Levy as she made her way towards the door.

"Right" said the boys in unison.

Juvia creeped up behind Levy and whispered in her ears "Lady Levy, just to be clear you prefer Gajeel to Gray right?" she said softly.

Levy blanched in shock and confusion. How could Juvia possibly think she like that pin-head? Although he did save her earlier, but still, she was not some damsel who could be so easily swayed into liking a man!

"D-don't be ridiculous Juvia! My only love in life are books! There is no way I would fall for that jerk" said Levy defiantly.

"Saying that out loud makes Juvia worry that you are going to die alone" said Juvia with mild sympathy.

"Wha-!"

"Oi bookworm, let's go. Unless you need to hold my hand so ya don't get lost?" teased Gajeel with a sly grin as he snuck up behind Levy.

Levy puffed out her now red cheeks and huffed in annoyance "I am not a child you barbarian! If anything you'll be the one getting lost!" she said angrily.

"Oh? So you wanna hold my hand ta make sure I don't?" he asked cheekily.

Levy blanched and her cheeks went red at his teasing. Without a suitable reply coming to mind she just growled angrily and continued forward.

Gajeel chuckled to himself and followed after her, while Juvia covered her smile with her hand as she followed behind Gray.

'Those two were so flirting'.

Meanwhile on the other side of the palace, Natsu and Lucy were making their way through the narrow, intricate tunnels hidden in the walls of the palace. It was the best way to get to where they needed without detection, since only Natsu and Lucy knew which routes to take the place would be a complete labyrinth if someone tried to follow them. Natsu's hand was alight in front of Lucy so that they could see where they were going.

"I'm surprised you still remember the route Natsu. You didn't even remember my name for the first few days that we knew each other" said Lucy with an impressed tone.

"I said I was sorry for that! Anyway, of course I remember these passages, I mean we explored the crap outta them when we were little, so remembering the trail ain't that hard" he said with a smirk.

Lucy huffed and smiled at his logic.

"Your mind is still a mystery to us all Natsu" she said with a smile.

Natsu just grinned cheekily and continued on.

They walked together in silence, not an awkward one, it was just to make sure that their position would remain unknown to the guards.

As they walked a split in their path could be seen further ahead, letting the two know that it was time for them to go their separate ways for now.

"Ok, Grandine and Wendy should be in their room, so I'll take the right path. You need to take the left to make it to the throne room and confront Acnologia" she said as they stopped and stared at their separate paths.

"Right…" said Natsu reluctantly.

They glanced at each other for a moment, unwilling to part so suddenly at such a dire time. But if they wanted the coup to succeed they needed to go.

Lucy cleared her throat uncomfortably and pointed down the path she was going down.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later" she said awkwardly as she made her way toward the path.

Just as she took the first step Natsu grabbed hold of her hand and stopped her in her tracks.

"Wait" he said softly.

Lucy glanced behind in concern, his voice sounded so small and worried, like he was afraid he would never see her again. Lucy felt it too, but she knew Natsu was strong so she tried not to think about her worry too much.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a soothing tone as she placed her free hand on his cheek in comfort.

Natsu stared deeply into Lucy's eyes, as if trying to find the answer to her question in their depths. He knew he was strong, but he wasn't how this fight was going to turn out, and he wanted to make sure he said all he needed to say to her if things turned out for the worst.

"Lucy… I…" he started nervously.

Lucy felt the pressure in the room increase, Natsu was trying to tell her something… but the way he was trying to say it came across a little too desperate. Not like his usual self at all.

She would not have that.

"Shush" she said as she placed her index finger over his mouth to shut him up.

Natsu's eyes widened in surprise, why was she shushing him? It was hard enough for him to say anything at this point!

"You look like you wanna say something important to me, but I'm telling you I won't hear it now" she said sternly.

"But Lucy!"

"No! You will fight Acnologia, and you will win! So say it to me then, I won't have you acting like we'll never see each other again! You know how I hate death flags!" she yelled with tears in the corners of her eyes.

Natsu blinked at her outburst. He sighed to himself realizing she was right. Acting like he had already lost was so not like him, he ran into fights arms blazing and fought till his opponent was flat on the ground.

But damn, how was he supposed to gather up the courage to propose to her after such a big fight!?

"Ok, just let me have this at least" he said softly as he leaned in for a kiss.

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise at his suddenness, but melted into the kiss eventually.

This kiss was not just any kiss, it was a promise. A promise that they would see each other again, and that no matter what they would always be together and there for each other. This searing kiss, was branded into their minds, never to be forgotten until the end.

When they parted they held each other tightly in their arms, remembering each other's warmth and love.

"You know, you're making it very hard to separate right now" said Lucy as she sniffed her tears away.

Natsu chuckled and held her tighter "Just making sure to remind myself what we get to do once this fight is over" he said with a cheeky grin.

"Pervert" muttered Lucy with a small laugh as she slapped his arm playfully.

"But you still love me" he said with a chuckle.

"I do, more than anything" she said seriously as she held him tighter.

Natsu smiled softly… now that he thought about it wasn't that the first time she said it out loud? Well she wasn't one to throw out the word carelessly.

"Me too" he said as he kissed the top of her head.

Reluctantly they let go and faced their respective pathways. They glanced at each other one more time. They nodded and ran off down their paths at full speed.

'Don't worry Lucy, I'll make sure to win this fight!'

JBB: FINALLY DONE! Thank you for reading guys! You are all awesome! But to be even more awesome please leave me a review and let me know what you thought. Big things happening next chapter guys! XD