Juvia and her group of volunteers reached Lyon's palace at dawn.
"We are just here to look for Prince Gray," Juvia explained, "not to confront the king. Do you understand? Juvia will be most displeased if any injuries occur because someone got too excited."
"Find the prince, don't worry about the king," said Natsu. "Got it."
Erza scowled. "And you'd better remember it, because her highness isn't the only one who'll be upset if you forget." The red-haired servant was wearing armor, and looked even more intimidating than usual.
"Scary," murmured Natsu, and all the volunteers shivered.
Juvia stepped onto the bridge, then had to jump back as Lyon's snow tiger leaped at her. It had been disguised as a pile of snow by the edge of the chasm.
Erza stepped in front of Juvia, and blocked the snow tiger's charge with her sword.
"Where are you hiding the prince?" yelled Natsu. He ran up and punched the tiger, apparently forgetting all about the sword he'd been provided with.
The other volunteers drew their weapons and joined in the fight, except for Duchess Minerva's guards.
"Look, Rogue!" the blond guard hissed, pulling his partner aside. "The king!"
Lyon was peering through his doors at the battle. He saw them watching him and backed away.
"Come on," said the blond. The two guards hurried across the bridge while everyone else was busy, and went inside.
"Sting! Up there!" The black-haired guard pointed up the stairs.
Lyon was running to the second floor. The guards chased after him, and trapped him in the room by the balcony.
"We got him!" crowed Sting. He raised his crossbow and fired at Lyon.
"No!" Lyon yelled. He ducked and flung his hand up. A wall of ice formed in front of him, stopping the arrow inches from his face.
"Go around!" ordered Sting, heading toward the right side of the wall.
Rogue nodded and went around the left side.
"Stay away!" Lyon shouted. He shot an ice attack at Rogue, who ducked back behind the ice wall.
Sting charged at Lyon, crossbow ready. "Get him!"
Lyon threw ice at him as well.
Outside, no one had yet noticed that the duchess' guards were missing. They were busy with the snow tiger.
Natsu seemed to be doing well, even without a weapon. He punched the tiger in the shoulder, throwing it off balance.
Erza slashed her sword at it, cutting off both legs on one side, then Juvia stepped up and tried to stab it with the spear she was using.
The snow tiger slid into the chasm, almost dragging the princess with it, but Juvia let go of the spear and grabbed on to the bridge. The volunteers rushed to pull her up.
"Hey, where'd the other two guys go?" Natsu asked, looking puzzled.
Rogue and Sting both rushed toward Lyon at the same time. But if they thought he couldn't take both of them at once, they thought wrong.
The King of Winter held one hand out toward each of them. Rogue was forced back to the wall as ice grew out of the floor, forming spikes. Sting was pushed up against the balcony doors by more ice, until the doors burst open and he tumbled out onto the balcony.
Rogue pressed himself against the wall as the sharp spikes got closer and closer to his throat.
Ice grew over the balcony, breaking the railing and pushing Sting nearer to the edge.
Juvia came running into the room and saw the king about to kill the guards. "King Lyon!" she cried. "Don't do this! Juvia knows you aren't a monster like they say!"
Lyon looked at her, startled. Then he glanced back at the guards and lowered his hands. The ice stopped its advance, and slowly began reversing. Lyon stared at Juvia, breathing hard. He tried not to think about what he'd almost done.
But with Lyon's attention elsewhere, Rogue lifted his crossbow and aimed at the king.
Juvia ran over and managed to knock the crossbow up just as he shot, and the arrow flew toward the ceiling, hitting the icy chandelier.
The chandelier broke loose and fell toward Lyon. He dove to get out of the way.
There was the sound of ice shattering all over the floor, and Princess Juvia screaming for someone to come help.
AN: I had some fun with the side characters here, like the way Natsu always seems to jump to conclusions for no apparent reason. (Natsu to vulcan: "Where are you hiding Macau?!")
Juvia has a spear because I wanted a thrusting-only weapon, rather than one that could be used to slash as well. For reasons that shall be revealed later.