Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Scarlet Heart Ryeo
'To the person who asks if I am dead, you need to be careful…That person, is after the throne…Get going…You cannot trust anyone…The fate of the Ishgar Empire rests on your shoulders…That's probably the reason why you ended up here…'
Igneel's last words to her repeated themselves in her head as she did her best to run with her deformed knee.
Lucy had no idea where to even begin looking for Zeref. She had no indication as to whether or not he was even still in the palace.
She froze in her steps as she entered the courtyard, baffled by the number of guards that stood at the ready. She shared a quick glance with Makarov, the old man giving her a subtle nod before turning to one of his soldiers, "Be on guard."
"Yes, Grand General."
Natsu pulled his speeding horse to a stop when he caught sight of the royal guards who stood in the middle of the dirt road he was traveling down. Minerva was seated on a horse behind them, one of her brows raising as he came into her line of sight.
The prince scanned his fierce gaze over them, making sure they could see the sheathed blade he had clutched in his left hand, "Step aside…unless you want to die." He had to find Zeref before their father passed.
"No one's allowed to leave Magnolia," Minerva informed him, her cold gaze unwavering.
"Are these Sting's orders?" Natsu scoffed, his focus turning to the side, "So my suspicions were correct. I caught sight of Sting's armor beneath his hanbok last night. I wondered why he would secretly wear armor into the palace…He was planning on killing the King at the peace gathering, wasn't he?"
"Last night's events don't matter. The King's condition has worsened. The real question you should be asking is 'who will sit on the throne next?'"
"I already know the answer to that," the salmon haired prince ground out. "Zeref's the King's successor. That's his wish."
Minerva quirked a brow, "What about you, Natsu? What is it that you wish for? By chance…do you want to become King?"
Natsu scoffed again, "Is becoming King something so easy that you can become one just because you want to?"
The princess smiled sweetly at her half-brother, "You could become one with my help. If my family and I supported you…you could easily become King. The world would be yours. You could have everything."
Natsu dropped his gaze, "If I become King, will the heart that I yearn for finally become mine?"
Minerva's head quirked to the side in confusion.
"If that were the case…then I would do it."
Lucy clenched her jaw as her knee began to ache even more. She'd been running through the different buildings of the palace for quite some time, and she hadn't even caught a glimpse of Zeref or anything that would give her an indication as to where he was.
"Lucy!"
She paused in her steps at the call of her name, and she froze in place as she saw Sting approaching, his eyes scanning their surroundings as he came to stand directly in front of her.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
The blonde girl bowed her head, "The King is asking for more tea. I'm going to the storeroom to mix some for him."
There a brief pause before Sting suddenly shifted the topic, his voice sounding slightly solemn, "What's all this nonsense about marrying Natsu? I…I didn't know that you had that kind of relationship with him."
Lucy clenched her jaw. The blond prince had no right to be upset about her relationship with Natsu. He'd abandoned her when she need his help the most, blatantly turning his back on her because he was too afraid of the consequences that would fall upon him if he helped her.
She shook her head as she moved to limp around him, "I don't have time to talk about this right now. I have to get more tea for the King."
"Lucy…has the King passed away?"
The blonde girl paused in her steps again, Igneel's words from before echoing in her mind.
'To the person who asks if I am dead, you need to be careful…That person, is after the throne…'
Lucy clenched her hands in her skirt, her voice becoming small, "Your Highness…do you…want to become King?"
Sting swallowed heavily before he responded, "When I lost you…I couldn't do anything with the limited power that I had. In order to protect those that I love, I realized that I need to become the most powerful. That's why I am going to be King. For your sake."
Grandeeny threw the doors to husband's room open, her extravagant hanbok fluttering behind her as she rushed inside. Gildarts had finally let her in, and she went directly to sit next to Igneel on the bed, the astronomer coming to stand behind her.
"My King, are you alright?" She ran a hand down the side of her husband's face, "Are you awake?"
Gildarts' eyes widened as he pressed his fingers against the King's wrist. He sorrowfully bowed his head, "Your Majesty…he has passed…"
The Queen desperately shook her head, attempting to swallow back her tears as she choked out, "No…How could you leave me behind? Open your eyes!" She grasped her husband's limp hand in her own, "You cannot leave me behind like this…" She weakly beat at his chest as grief overtook her, "Come back! You can't leave like this!" She fell over his body as she began full on sobbing, "Open your eyes…Come back to me!"
"For my sake?" Lucy stared at Sting numbly, "You're doing all of this because of me?"
"It's already started. Tomorrow, Laxus and I will attack Cheondeokjeon Palace."
The blonde girl anxiously shook her head, "No! You can't. That's treason!"
He grasped her shoulders, leaning down to look directly into her eyes, "Lucy, Zeref will not be able to return. Fighting over an empty seat is just a battle over a throne, not a battle against a ruler. So, don't say anything to anyone. You only need to find a place to hide until I can come to you afterwards. You can do that, right?"
Lucy fought to restrain an incredulous laugh. After all that he did to her, he thought that she would still wait for him. He was incredibly naïve.
"I'll ask you again, Lucy," Sting anxiously pressed. "Has the King died?"
She looked him dead in the eye, her voice unwavering, "The King…has asked for more tea." She shook her shoulders out of his grip, quickly bowing to him before starting on her way.
"Lucy…Zeref isn't in Magnolia."
The water maid came to a halt, but she didn't turn to face him as he continued speaking to her.
"You won't be able to bring him here on your own."
Lucy took a slow inhale before starting to limp away again. She wouldn't give up. There had to be some way to warn Zeref of what was going on, and she would do whatever she could to find it.
Minerva let out a disbelieving scoff, "You want to become King just to win over someone's heart? The throne is not a seat to be trifled with in such a way."
Natsu quirked a brow, "To me, that's all it is." He fixed her with a cold glare, "Open up the road. If you don't, I'll assume you are plotting treason."
"I'm only stopping people from travelling because I want to prevent treason whilst the King is ill. I can't open the road for a person when I have no way of knowing who he'll bring back with him. There are no exceptions. Please return to the palace."
Erza glared at the man that stood across from her, her hands clenching into fists at her sides, "You ruined everything. If it weren't for you, I would've killed the King."
Jellal fixed her with a glare of his own, his hand unconsciously pressing over the wound that she had given him. It'd been treated and bandaged by the palace's doctor, who the prince had bribed with a hefty sum of money to keep quiet. He took a few steps closer to the scarlet haired woman, his voice matching her harsh tone, "You pretended to be a gisaeng this entire time just to get the chance to kill the King. Why did you do it? What kind of grudge do you have that you would risk doing something like that?!"
"Your father..." her voice suddenly drained of all its spite, becoming small, "…he killed my family. All of them. I'm the only one left…"
Jellal's anger seemed to disappear, and his eyes sorrowfully fell to look at her hand, "Is…is that why you have the scars on your wrist? Because of my father?"
She didn't say anything, only dropping her gaze to the floor and blinking to clear away the tears that had gathered in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Erza." He grabbed her shoulder, using his grasp to pull her into his chest so he could wrap his arms around her, "I'm sorry for being his son."
She didn't hug him back. Her arms remained limply hanging by her sides. But she buried her face into his chest, the material of his hanbok soaking up the tears that managed to fall before she could stop them.
"I have to assume that the King is dead by now." Laxus clenched his hand around his tea cup, his glare fixated on nothing in particular, "Or at least, he must be very close to passing."
Gajeel's eyes narrowed, "Then…will Zeref take his place on the throne?" He turned his gaze to the door as Loke entered the room, somewhat sarcastically remarking, "Oh, good thing you're here. Any news about the King? Is he dead yet?"
Loke's lips pulled back over his teeth in a small snarl, "You shouldn't speak so carelessly about our father." He walked past his brother to sit across from Laxus at the table, "He's been drinking a lot of tea, and must have more energy now because of it. Why would you even ask such a thing?"
"Are you certain?" Gajeel huffed out a breath, his brows furrowing in thought, "Then why is he holding the Queen hostage?"
"Hostage?" Loke repeated, his eyes widening. He turned to Laxus, "Has mother not returned from the Cheondeokjeon Palace yet?"
"They're likely keeping her there to prevent news from leaking out."
Loke sighed, "I'll go back then, and figure out what's happening."
"By the way," Laxus started, halting his younger brother in his attempt at leaving, "where did you hear that the King was drinking a lot of tea? Who told you?"
Loke turned back to him, "They said that the King was getting his appetite back with Lucy's tea. She served him both last night and today."
The blond prince was suddenly on his feet, his eyes locking on Gajeel, "Find that girl. Now. She's our key to finding out about the King's condition."
Loke's eyes widened as his brother continued to spew commands.
"She's always been loyal to the Crown Prince. We have to find her before she can tell Zeref about the King. Find her. Now!"
Lucy slid to a stop and hid herself behind a nearby pillar when she caught sight of Gajeel talking to a group of guards at the end of the porch she was running down. She couldn't be sure, but she had a feeling that the Ninth Prince was a part of whatever scheme Sting and Laxus had come up with. She didn't trust him even if he wasn't involved. He'd been the one to order her arrest after Natsu had been poisoned, and he was subsequently the one that brought on all of the torture that she had endured after the fact.
She peeked around the edge of the pillar, her eyes widening when she overheard the prince say her name. He was questioning the guards about her location.
A hand suddenly grabbed her wrist and she almost let out a small scream, but another hand was soon covering her mouth and she was pressed back against the pillar. The tension faded from her body when her eyes found Natsu standing in front of her, his jaw clenched and his eyes filled with worry. He let his hand fall from her mouth when he saw that she'd calmed down, but he kept a tight hold on her wrist, ready to drag her away from the area if the need arose.
She lowered her voice to an anxious whisper, "Your Highness…the King has passed away."
His eyes widened and his hand fell from its grasp around her wrist, "W-what?"
The blonde bowed her head solemnly, "When I last saw him, he was just about to die. By now…" She looked back up at the prince, "He told me to bring the Crown Prince without anyone finding out." She used both of her hands to grasp one of his arms, her grip dragging the prince out of the daze that he'd gone into when he'd heard of his father's passing, "Your Highness…Prince Laxus is going to attack the Cheondeokjeon Palace tomorrow. He has Prince Sting on his side, and I'm positive that Prince Gajeel is with them as well. You need to bring the Crown Prince and stop them."
"Lucy…how do you know all of this?"
"Does that really matter right now?"
Natsu's eyes began to wander as he thought out loud, "Zeref's in Acalypha. All of the roads out of Magnolia are blocked. We'll need to find another way out.
Lucy's eyes widened a fraction, "Did you say Acalypha? As in Bosco's former capital?" Her features filled with determination, "I know someone who might be able to help us out."
Her mind turned to the girl that she had met at the gyobang. Her friend was from the fallen country of Bosco, and could possibly provide them with lesser known routes to its former capital.
They had to find her quickly. Erza was their only hope.
AN
Told you guys that Erza would start playing a more important role ;)
And Goodbye Igneel...at least we finally got to see Grandeeny actually show human emotions for once…
Thank you for reading and thanks for your support!
