Far to the north, the tower's flight slowed and it began to lose altitude. Within minutes it plummeted into a snow drift and broke apart.

Gray dug himself out of the rubble, shivering. "Happy?" he called.

A pile of snow shifted slightly. "Aye, s-sir..."

Gray scrambled over to it and swept the snow aside, uncovering his little blue friend. He scooped the cat up and held him to his chest. "You okay, Happy?"

"S-so... c-cold," stammered Happy.

"I know, buddy. I am t-too..." Gray started walking to keep his teeth from chattering. "I'm sorry. I should have freed Natsu right away. Then Laxus wouldn't have gotten the lamp."

"N-not... your f-fault..."

"Either way, I'll fix it. Laxus won't get away with this." Gray looked down at the cat. "You're turning blue."

Happy snorted. "I'm always b-blue."

"Well, you're turning blue-er," insisted Gray. "We have to get back to Magnolia..."

A piece of the wreckage fell, and Gray looked toward the sound. There was the carpet, trapped under some debris and wriggling to get loose.

"Carpet!" Gray ran over and set Happy down. "Come on, Happy, help me get this junk moved."

Working quickly, they soon got the carpet unstuck. It shook off a few flakes of snow and made a motion for them to climb on.

"How fast can you get us home?" asked Gray. The carpet's answer was to take off at full speed as soon as they were aboard, heading south.

The throne room was dimly lit and nearly unrecognizable to Lucy. Then again, she almost didn't recognize herself. Because of Laxus and his magic, her old outfit had been replaced by something which showed a lot more skin. She wouldn't mind Gray seeing her in it, but she didn't like the way Laxus stared at her.

"How long are you going to make him dance?" asked Pantherlily. From his vantage point on the arm of the throne, he was watching in distaste as Makarov, dressed as a jester, was forced to perform ridiculously for the new sultan.

"Until I'm bored," Laxus replied. "Why, did you want him to sing a song instead?"

Pantherlily shook his head and twitched his tail irritably. "Forget I said anything."

Makarov continued making a fool of himself under Laxus's command. Finally, Lucy couldn't stand it any longer. "Please, stop! Leave him alone!"

Laxus smiled at her. "I might, if my queen were to ask me..." He leaned over and ran a finger along one of the golden chains that bound Lucy to his throne. "How about it? Want to trade your chains for a crown, my beauty?"

Lucy swung her face away from him in disgust. "Never. And I'm not your beauty."

Laxus laughed loudly. "You're no longer a princess, sweetheart. You can be my queen or my slave, but you are mine now. Just like the genie. Hmm, that gives me an idea..."

He turned and addressed Natsu, who was sitting sulkily off to the side. "Genie, I have to decided to make my final wish. I wish for this slave girl of mine to fall desperately in love with me."

The djinn didn't look up. "No," he said darkly. "I can't do that."

Laxus frowned. "Don't talk back to me, slave."

Natsu glared at his new master, but there was a dull look in his eye and no sign of any actual annoyance. "You wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell you earlier, but I'm not all-powerful. I can't make people fall in love. It's one of the rules."

Lucy had been holding her breath, and now she let it out in a relieved sigh.

"I make the rules around here!" roared Laxus. He stood up and stomped over to loom above the djinn.

"Sure, whatever. Why don't you try ordering the sun to stand still while you're at it?"

Makarov snuck off while no one was paying attention to him, deeply embarrassed by his misfortunes. Lucy noticed, but then she saw something else that made her forget about her grandfather and the argument between Laxus and Natsu.

Gray was back. He was peering out of the throne room's crimson curtains with a calculating look. When he noticed her watching him, he held a finger to his lips.

Lucy gave him a tiny nod and began searching her brain for way to keep Laxus from noticing the thief.

"Laxus..."

The sugary tone of her voice made Laxus turn away from his argument with Natsu.

Lucy was leaning against his throne, twirling one of her chains and eyeing the new sultan. "Maybe I was a little hasty. I have so much trouble controlling my temper sometimes... Do forgive me, won't you?"

A smile crept across Laxus's face. "Having second thoughts?"

Lucy shrugged fetchingly. "Well, it's not like you're an ugly old man." She paused, then went on as if she had just realized it. "In fact, you're kind of handsome."

Natsu gaped at her. "What about Gray?"

"Who?" Lucy frowned at the djinn, acting a bit puzzled but not really interested. "Oh, you mean the half-dressed street rat? What about him?"

Laxus chuckled and flicked Natsu in the head before walking over to Lucy. "Yes, what about the brat?"

"Oh, let's not talk about him. You're much more interesting."