Yo! I'm sure you all want to know what happens next…plus, I need something to do while my Sword Art Online episode buffers. What else do I do besides my favorite thing to do: write? It's a win-win!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Ravens and Fairies, Dragons and Princesses (Ch. 25)

"Do you, Ivan Dreyar, take Princess Lucille Heartfilia to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Ivan smiled his creepy twisted smile that made her want to gag, "I do."

The pastor then turned to her and Lucy felt her heart speed up in fear as her body continued to scream and tell her to run.

"And do you, Princess Lucille Heartfilia, take Ivan Dreyar to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I…"

Lucy's throat felt dry…drier than she's ever felt before. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and quieted all the screaming her bones kept giving her before opening her mouth again:

"I-"

"LUCY!"

Lucy spun around faster than a spinning top toward the voice. The guests gasped, disturbed anyone would interrupt a wedding, especially a royal one, and searched for the voice as well.

"Lucy, don't do this!"

Lucy's heart increased, but this time, not out of fear, "why does that sound so much like…"

On the other side of the gardens, three figures were running straight toward them. Lucy's eyes widened, "N-Natsu?"

"I know you don't want this, Luce!" Natsu shouted as his speed increased. "So I'm not gonna let you do this!"

"Natsu! Wh-"

"Guards!" Ivan suddenly exclaimed and grabbed Lucy's forearm harshly. "Get them! Capture them and take them to the dungeon!"

The guards ran by causing the crowd of nobles to panic slightly. As Natsu and the two other figures behind him got closer, Lucy could see that it was Wendy and Romeo with looks of determination on their faces (Happy and Carla were flying above them).

"Solid Script Magic: Hole!"

Lucy spun toward Levy who had her hand up casting a spell. A hole appeared in front of the guards, causing them to fall.

"Levy? You're in this?"

Levy smiled at Lucy, "you wouldn't listen to me. I had to get you to change your mind somehow."

"Levy! You little sneak!" The words may have been a bit harsh, but the corners of Lucy's lips curled upward a bit.

Some of the guards dodged the hole and went for Natsu, Wendy, and Romeo.

"Get outta my way!" Natsu shouted, lighting his fist of fire and punching a guard that got in front of him. His eyes were trained on Lucy, desperately trying to get to her.

When Natsu punched him, chaos happened. There were so many guests and every single one of them panicked. They got out of their seats and ran around, trying to find the exit.

"We're under attack! There are people running around the castle!" A random guard shouted, causing even more people to panic.

"They're…here," Lucy muttered, tears coming to her eyes. "They're all…here…"

All of Fairy Tail came to get her. She couldn't believe it. She didn't think they all actually thought of her as a member of their guild…just a princess they were protecting. She meant something to them…

"Wait! Wait! Stop!"
Lucy turned to the voice and the panic and fighting seemed to freeze. Three figures approached them. The person in front was someone they knew too well.

"Erza!" Lucy and Levy exclaimed, happy that nothing had happened to her.

The two other women behind her were in blue cloaks. One had curly pink hair and the other had straight black.

"Stop this at once!" Erza exclaimed, "I know who killed the king!"

Lucy and Layla froze as she continued:

"It was Ivan! I saw him kill the king! I was there!"

There were gasps heard all around and the panicking started again when Natsu punched another guard and shouted, "Why you little! I knew it was you! I knew it!"

Lucy felt anger bubbling up inside her. The advisor, who she was about to get married to, killed her father. She may have never liked Ivan, but her dad trusted him. He trusted him and in return, he killed him.

"You…you…you little…" Lucy felt tears in her eyes and she slapped him before she could stop herself, not that she was going to, but it so fast she didn't even realize it.

Ivan picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She screamed, kicked, and punched, but to no avail. Ivan turned to run off before the guards had turned to him. Of course, they were dealing with the wedding crashers first.

"Lucy!" Natsu shouted, trying to get to her, but the guests were in the way and he didn't want to hurt them.

"Natsu!" Lucy looked at him before disappearing behind a wall.

"Natsu!" The pink haired girl who came in with Erza shouted toward him as she joined the fight against the guards, knights and a different enemy approaching. "Go after Lucy. We can handle things here!"

He didn't have to be told twice, the nice lady gave him an opening in the crowd and Natsu took it without hesitation. He darted off toward where Ivan and Lucy were at without looking back.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"You son of a gun!" Lucy exclaimed, still kicking and screaming. Her vision was blurred, thanks to her tears, and she couldn't see where he was taking her. "You son of a…flipping gun!"

Ivan chuckled at her choice of words before continuing his way downstairs.

"He trusted you! My father trusted you and you killed him?! You son of a gun! Put me down! Where are you taking me?!"

She was suddenly thrown on the ground and chained to the wall. She wiped her eyes on her shoulder to clear her tears before looking around. Her eyes widened when she realized where they were:

The Torture Chamber…

"This couldn't get any better," Ivan spoke, picking up a knife and sharpening it, causing Lucy to flinch at the noise. She tried to move, but both her arms were chained above her head. "Fairy Tail is here. I knew they would be coming so I had Raven Tail hiding in the shadows. Now that they're here, this battle should be interesting."

"Raven Tail…you…you ordered Raven Tail?..."

"Yes," Ivan turned to face her. "I'm the master of Raven Tail."

Lucy's breath caught, "…b-but I thought…Alexei…"

"That was just my cover up name. I was him all along."

"…you traitor…"

"Oh my darling princess, I had always intended to be a traitor. This was my plan to begin with. I got this job for this moment and I gained the king and queen's trust for this moment."

Lucy struggled angrily, "you'll never be king! Never! You're secret is out now! No one will let you be king now!"

"King?...yes, that's my intention, but it was never my true goal."

"…Then what is?"

"What I want…more than anything," Ivan leaned close and tilted Lucy's chin up to look her dead in the eye, "is to end Fairy Tail."

"…F-Fairy Tail?...W-why? What did they do to you? Why did you use me and my parents?!"

"Hmm…I guess there's no harm in telling you…since I'm going to kill you anyway…" Lucy gulped as Ivan backed away to continue sharpening the knife, but wasn't afraid. The more she asked questions, the more he'd talk. It'll give Natsu more than enough time to catch her scent and find her. "As I said before, I want Fairy Tail to end; I want them gone for good. So I created a guild to rival it: Raven Tail. My guild is filled with wizards who use magic that is the weakness against Fairy Tail's magic. I wanted to start a war with them without getting the Magic Council involved. Sadly, they knew my identity so I couldn't infiltrate them. Even if I could, the royal family has higher authority and would surely stop me. So I infiltrated your family instead.

"Everything had gone according to plan. It was almost too perfect, I could barely believe it. I had gained the king and queen's trust in such a short amount of time, I had the authority to do nearly anything!...You never trusted me though…and that was a shame, but it didn't get in the way of any of my plans. I had intentionally planned to wipe out the royal family during the first battle. I knew you and your knights would be helpless against me and my wizards. However, Erza happily had Fairy Tail fight for you, which is perfect for me. That was exactly what I wanted. I lost that battle, yes, but I was able to injure so many of Fairy Tail, I could call it a fair tie.

"I was so happy when you believed my lie about Raven Tail training in the mountains. Honestly, I didn't think your father would believe it even with all that evidence. When you and Fairy Tail left, I had a few…well, complications with the king. He had overheard me talking to one of my members and suspected something. I couldn't have that. I quickly changed my plans and killed him in his sleep."

Lucy's blood boiled with rage…

"Sadly, Captain Erza happened to be in the room and saw me kill him. I never knew why she was there. No matter how much I tortured her she never said anything. I knocked her out and took her to my guild hall.

"I knew I needed to be king to be able to be at war with Fairy Tail. So, what was better than to marry into the throne? I had Flare, a member of my guild, spread rumors of how I would be a great king and it had worked. However, I know how Fairy Tail works…and I know that they consider you family now. I knew they would come to get you, so I had Raven Tail here waiting. Sadly, they had the nerve to interrupt before you said 'I do'."

"Yeah, I didn't say 'I do'…which means we're not married….which means you're not king…and now that your secret is out…you never will be."

"Yes, that's true…but if I kill you, the queen, the knights, and all the guests, my secret won't spread."

Lucy choked on her saliva. "What kind of heartless person are you?! What do you gain from this?! Are you telling me that all of this was just for revenge?!"

"I guess you could call it 'revenge'. I'd call it 'returning the favor'."

"…W-what?"

"That doesn't matter now," Ivan set the sharpener down and walked toward her with the knife, shining in his hands. "Your time ends now."

Lucy's eyes widened. Natsu wasn't here! "W-wait! Wait!"

"Goodbye, Lucy Heartfilia."

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut as Ivan brought the blade down…

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Laxus watched as his teammates rummaged through Erza's things before sighing. "I don't think she left any clues or anything. If she did, we would know by now."

"It seems really strange Erza would just up and leave like that without telling us," Evergreen spoke as she skimmed through a book before shutting and throwing it. "I'm really worried."

Freed and Bixslow quietly scoffed. Evergreen is worried about her rival? Please…

"Is there anywhere else we could look?" Bixslow asked, "like Lucy or Levy's room? Erza is good friends with them so there might be something there."

"If we can't find anything in Erza's own room, then I doubt we'd find anything in their's," Freed replied.

"Still, it's worth a shot."

"I agree with Freed," Evergreen said. "Besides, we could easily get caught and we're all trying to be sneaky here…well, except for Natsu's team."

Laxus hummed…he had a bad feeling about this…

"Guys! Guys! Can you hear me?! Thunder Legion, can you hear me?!"

They all perked their heads up and Freed was the first to reply, "Yes, we can hear you, Warren! What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
"Did Natsu not make it in time?" Evergreen asked.

"No," Warren replied. "He definitely made it. Nothing is stopping him, but you should head outside to the garden. Raven Tail is here!"
"What?!" The four of them exclaimed.

"Yeah! Natsu's team needs help! Cana's team is already on their way!"

"What about Erza's location?"
"She's here too, at the gardens, fighting. You don't need to worry about her. I'm sure she'll tell us everything after this is over."

"Alright! We're going!"

The Thunder Legion left the barracks and made their way to the gardens as fast as they could go. They immediately joined the fight once they got there, fighting against Raven Tail members. The knights had switched from fighting Fairy Tail to Raven Tail thanks to Erza's command, but most of them were wiped out all ready.

"Lucy!"

Laxus turned to the sound of the Natsu's voice. He was pushing the panicked guests aside, reaching for Lucy, but she was too far.

"Natsu!"

Lucy was thrown over his father's shoulder, causing Laxus to stop for a moment: this was the first time in years that he's seen him. Every time he does, he always getting chills running down his spin. No matter how old he gets, it never changes.

Ivan locked eyes with his son for just a moment before running around the corner…

Laxus was getting ready to chase after them, but Natsu beat him to it. With that look of determination in his eyes, he knew that his dad would get a beaten and that Lucy would be okay. Nothing stops an angry dragon slayer.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Levy ran through the dining room, stopping for only a moment to shout, "Lu! Lu, can you hear me?!". When no answer was heard, she took off running again, refusing to stop to catch her breath.

Where in the world could Ivan had taken her?! She had already looked in Lucy's room. Then she checked Ivan's, but they were nowhere to be found…maybe they were in the king and queen's office.

Levy spun around and made her way there, panting hard, but never stopping. She felt bad: she left Fairy Tail to deal with Raven Tail as she snuck away to find Lucy. "Lu!" She shouted, looking around, "Lucy! Where are you?!"

"Shrimp!"

Levy spun around, panting, "Gajeel! Lily!" She smiled happily at them. It had been a while since she's seen them…and boy, did she miss Gajeel! She missed having all those lame conversations with them: boring him to death by talking about books and him boring her to death by talking about iron. And she couldn't forget about their date when this mess was all over! She couldn't wait!

It surprised her that when Gajeel reached her, he wrapped his arms around and squeezed her to him. It was only for a moment though. Gajeel wasn't a hugger, but giving her that little hug must've meant something.

"We're so glad, you're okay!" Gajeel exclaimed, "We've been looking for you!"

Pantherlily gave Gajeel a knowing look after the hug, but didn't comment. "Where'd you run off to, Levy? It's not safe to be running around the castle alone right now."

"S-sorry," Levy answered after she recovered from her shock from the hug. "I'm looking for Lucy. She was taken by Ivan and I'm scared that she's going to get hurt!"

"She'll be fine. Salamander's got her. With him around, nobody will touch her. Come on, we've got to get you outta here." Gajeel grabbed a hold of Levy's wrist, but she pulled away before his grip tightened.

"No! I can't just leave Lucy! I understand that Natsu is protecting her, but still!"

"We'll protect you, Levy!"

Levy jumped and spun around that the new voices. "Jet? Droy? Where'd you two come from?"

Gajeel groaned behind her and Pantherlily sighed, "we were teamed up with them."

"Teamed up with them?" Levy turned to Lily with questionable eyes.

"We'll tell you about it later. We have to get out of here first."

"Don't worry about Bunny Girl," Gajeel said, "We all plan to leave the castle grounds at the same time so we aren't leaving without her. We're taking you to Warren, Alzack, and Bisca who are outside waiting for us."

"But…"

"If Salamander doesn't come out with Bunny Girl after thirty minutes, I'll go check on them for you. Alright?"

Levy hesitated, but agreed, "alright."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Queen Layla stomped through the halls. She could be any angrier. She was angry at Fairy Tail for attacking them after she paid them to protect her and her family (though she was sure they had a good reason). She was angry at Ivan for infiltrating them and killing her husband. She was angry at Lucy for falling in love with a commoner (she found and read a few of their letters and she could tell she loved this Natsu person). She was angry at Raven Tail for starting a war she never understood. Most of all, she was angry at herself for letting all of this happen. She let Ivan get hired, she let Fairy Tail take Lucy away and change her (Lucy no longer acted like herself; she wanted to go back to Fairy Tail.), she was angry she let Raven Tail get the best of her, and she was angry that she was stupid for not thinking through all of this. If she stopped and thought, surely things would've turned out for the better.

"I swear, Ivan Dreyar," Layla shouted, "if you hurt one hair on my daughter's head, I'll have you executed!" Not that he wasn't going to be executed anyway. He killed King Jude. "Come on out! Where are you?!"

"You're Majesty!"

Layla turned around to the sweet voice and three figures. They all had silvery hair and looked alike. She recognized the one in front. They were from Fairy Tail.

"My name is Mirajane," Mira bowed respectfully, though this was no time to be respectful. There was a bloody battle going on for goodness' sakes. "And this is my brother and sister, Elfman and Lisanna. We're apart of Fairy Tail and-"

"Why have you and your guild come to attack us?! After all that's happened, this is what we get?!"

"You're Majesty, with all do respect, we don't mean to hurt you or your family. We're only doing what we think is right. You see, each and every one of us has grown to love Lucy…and Levy too and we just couldn't have to her married to someone she didn't love."

"But that wasn't your decision to make, now wasn't it?! Are you the queen, Miss Mirajane? No! You're not! You had no right to-"

"Malady," Lisanna said, bowing, "we understand exactly what our rights are, but we do things the way we think. It's the Fairy Tail way. However, right now, we need to get you out of here. We really don't have time to chitchat. We'll explain everything after we take you to the guild hall to keep you safe."

"…I will go with you to hear your explanation from your master, but I'm not leaving without my daughter!"

"There's no need to worry. Some of us have gone to rescue her from Ivan. One of them is one of our strongest. She'll be safe."

Trusting the kind siblings in front of her, Layla agreed to go with them.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

I did it! I really thought I wouldn't get this done before I had to leave for camp (speaking of which, I'm leaving Monday)! WOO HOO! I hope you guys enjoyed and again, I'm really sorry for the long wait for this. After a few weeks, I felt bad for leaving you guys on such a cliffhanger for so long! I doubt I'll get ch 26 written before I leave, but I'll try.

-zEllie