Daylight punched through minuscule cracks in the ship's hull and dappled the deck. The spots reminded Natsu of the forest floor when he was small. He'd press his cheek against the pine needles and watch the sunlight shifting between the branches. He and Zeref used to pretend the spots were doorways into Fairie. They were never fast enough to get through them, of course, or small enough. But it was nice to pretend there was a place to go, a world beneath theirs, where the monsters were more beautiful than the people and everything was sharp and dangerous and exciting.
He longed for the boy that dreamed of those things. He hadn't lost his brother in a riot, or his parents in a dragon's attack. He hadn't yet learned that real life was so much more deadly.
The boat rocked once, errantly, and Natsu wrapped his arms around his chest and groaned. Lucy's tonic was wearing thin and he was starting to feel nauseous.
Lucy.
He didn't know her fate. Jose wouldn't tell him. Anything. Not about Zeref or Lucy. Not about Happy. When Natsu demanded he be released, Jose left. The ship was quiet. The door leading below deck was locked and Natsu still hadn't been able to bust his way through the hull. Figures, the one time in his life he wanted to break something, he wasn't able.
So, he sat in the near-dark, thinking about everything Zeref said and everything he meant. He thought about Lady Eileen and her tricks. He seethed. Whenever he got too angry, his magic would bubble up and crest over his skin, almost like it was going to push through Lady Eileen's enchanted cuffs. But it always recoiled on him. It hurt so bad, it made him sweat but when he wasn't overcome by the painful pricking sensation, he felt like he wasn't doing anything at all and that was far, far worse.
The sun sank and the moon rose. Voices moved on the pier, drifting in and out of hearing range. None of them were Jose. Natsu envisioned what he was going to do to the scab when he finally returned. It felt good, converting the hollow feeling in his chest into rage. He understood rage. It made him feel hot all over, which was better than the cold settling in his bones.
Sometime after midnight, footsteps crossed the deck. Natsu cocked his ear and listened. There were two pairs, one light and one heavy. He'd been hoping for Jose to return all day, but now that that seemed probable, all he could think of was Zeref's words. His premonition. He found his end under a mob in a filthy alleyway and was Natsu about to find his in the bottom of a stinking boat? Fiore would be blamed for it; Lady Eileen could take the throne and then? Would Fiore publicly apologize? Would they offer Duke Porla as recompense for the death of Alvarez's last royal, and then as a show of good faith, would Lady Eileen marry her daughter off to a Fiorian man?
Not if I have anything to say about it.
He stood, though it made his head spin, and moved into the shadows beneath the stairs.
When he flexed his fingers into a fist, his hands protested right down to his wrists. His shackles had been tightened too much once again and Lucy's healing was being undone.
The door opened and moonlight spilled onto the stained and heaved floor. Natsu moderated his breathing and spread his hands as far apart as he could make them, as quietly as he could. The sound of boots on the steps muffled the noise. His head thrummed in his ears. He wetted his chapped lips, waiting, waiting.
When his visitor was in the hull and searching the open space for Natsu, Natsu attacked. He wrapped his shackles around the man's throat and pulled tight, tight, tighter until he felt the other man's tendons straining. If Jose wouldn't let him out, he'd break out. And if that meant leaving a trail of bodies, he would do it.
This man wasn't as spindly as Jose, Natsu thought a millisecond before the man threw an elbow into his ribs and forced the air from his lungs. He would have gone down if he didn't have so much on the line. He grunted and tightened his hold. The man choked and sputtered. Distantly, Natsu heard a woman cursing. He felt her grab his bicep and pull to no avail. He shook her off and she hit the ground. He wouldn't let up. He wouldn't let up for anything—
Suddenly and simultaneously, the man curled his back and reached behind himself. He grabbed Natsu by the scruff of the neck and yanked. Natsu felt his feet leave the ground and then he was spinning through the air, over the man's shoulder. He hit the deck and rolled to his feet. Locking his hands together, he swung and hit the man hard in the chest, knocking him back into a crate of onions. It busted open and the vegetables spilled all over the hull. Cursing. Natsu felt the air get dangerously cold.
The man stood. He held something in his hand, long and sharp like a sword. Where had it come from? Moonlight danced up its edge. Natsu set his feet wide apart. He didn't have a weapon but that was okay. He would rather die fighting than alone and forgotten, starved at the bottom of this ship.
"Enough! We're not enemies!"
Natsu recognized the voice. Juvia had gotten her feet under her and stood nearly between them.
Natsu charged anyway. Water hit him in the chest and forced him onto his backside, soaked. He sputtered and coughed. It'd gone right up his nose.
"I'll drown you both!"
Natsu's eyes flicked left. Juvia held both of her hands out, water swirling in either palm. Natsu's opponent sighed and let the tip of his weapon drop. It burst apart into fine ice as soon as the tip touched the floor. Some settled on Natsu's skin, cold.
"Thank you." Juvia let her magic go.
Natsu's opponent stepped closer to Juvia, into the light and Natsu could finally identify her servant. There was a nasty red welt on his neck, swollen and bruised. He touched it. Though they were half a room apart, Natsu could feel the cold of his magic again, and his glare.
"Are you okay, Gray-sama?" Juvia fretted.
"Fine." But his voice croaked and cracked. Natsu almost crushed his throat. Now that the adrenaline was leaving him, Natsu felt a little surreal about the whole thing. He'd nearly choked a man to death. Had been prepared to. Maybe still was, if it meant getting the hell out of there. His life had turned very strange.
"Have you come to kill me?" Natsu staggered to his feet. His clothes were dripping wet and he was cold.
Juvia cast her eyes downward. "No, Your Majesty."
Your Majesty. That was Zeref's title. Natsu was unexpectedly abhorrent of it. "Don't call me that."
Her gaze skimmed against his. "His Grace said you knew about…"
The riot. Natsu found a dark corner to glare into. His brother was dead. His entire family was gone. Was he ever going to get used to that?
"You'll need to have your coronation, of course…" Juvia continued in a gentle voice. "But that's a formality only. You are now the rightful king of Alvarez."
"You snuck down here in the dark to tell me that?" Natsu did what he could to make his voice into a weapon like Zeref did.
Juvia clamped her hands in front of her waist. "You have enemies, Your Majesty."
His entire life, he'd had enemies he couldn't see, men and women he didn't know that envied him for things he didn't find worthy of envy. "So what?" What did that have to do with here, now, Juvia?
Juvia opened her mouth to answer. Her servant—Gray, Natsu remembered—shook his head. "Not here."
She sighed and waved him on. "Let's be quick, then."
Gray scrutinized Natsu for a long, long moment. Natsu was suddenly unnerved. "What are you doing?"
Gray brought his hands together. Cold slid between them, and then ice crystals began to form. It all happened in the blink of an eye, but there was a lot of detail that went into his creation and when he was done, Natsu was looking at himself, slouched on the floor, leaning on a sack of flour with his head in his hands.
"What is that?" Natsu demanded. Even Lady Eileen couldn't create people. "How did you…?"
"It's a replica," Gray said. "It can't move or talk, but it should fool Jose for a while."
Juvia fidgeted, uncomfortable with his insouciance. Natsu recognized the expression. He'd seen it on Happy. For people like them, kings were Your Majesty, princes, Your Highness, and dukes were Graces. There was no in-between, even for a traitor like Juvia.
Is that what's happening? Is she betraying her country? Or was she setting him up and as soon as he was on the deck, he'd be surrounded, accused of escape and cut down?
"Are we escaping?" Natsu was highly suspicious.
Juvia held up the key Aria used to unlock Natsu's shackles. "That's the plan."
He didn't hold out his hands. "Why are you doing this?"
"I have a vested interest in Alvarez's future," she said cryptically, earning herself a sigh from Gray.
Things were going on that Natsu didn't understand. There would be time for that, though, once he got off the damn boat. He lifted his hands for Juvia, and she unlocked the shackles. While she took them to the decoy and put them on its icy wrists, Natsu rubbed his raw skin. He tried to summon his magic, half believing it wouldn't work anymore and was pleasantly surprised when the cabin lit up in its warm glow.
"Cut it out," Gray ordered. "This place will go up like a matchstick."
He was the most peculiar servant. Speaking freely, giving orders to his master and contradicting foreign royalty.
And his magic.
It niggled at Natsu like a splinter beneath his nail.
"Come on, before His Grace wakes and catches us," Juvia said. "Your Majesty. Follow me." She started up the stairs first. Natsu looked his decoy over once more before following. It was quite good. Gray even managed to duplicate his clothes.
He just hoped it didn't melt.
Starlight flooded the empty upper deck. The storm had passed and now the city glistened. It reminded Natsu of a half-drowned rat, greasy and stinky still.
He started to go toward the pier. Juvia grabbed his arm. "Not that way; it's not safe." Her voice was so silent, Natsu almost didn't hear it. He let her lead him toward the edge of the boat, still on the lookout for betrayal. He'd raze the boat to the salty water; he'd crisp her and her servant beyond recognition. And then he'd go in search of Lady Eileen and he'd destroy her, too.
Juvia walked confidently to the balustrade. Natsu followed her to the edge and looked over, expecting a boat but saw none. "What are we meant to do?"
"Swim to shore," Juvia responded.
"It's far." He was ready to do it when he was desperate, but the water was cold after the rains, and filthy. They'd catch a disease, bump against bodies… drown.
"I'll protect us," Juvia promised. "But we must go now. You need to return to the castle and rally those loyal to you. Have your coronation and then repair the damage Lady Eileen's done."
What a very perfectly logical thing to do. It was almost like Zeref was here, ordering him about. But Juvia was not his brother. She was a stranger from another country that had bashed his head open once already.
He felt like he was in a spider's nest, dodging fangs every way he turned. "How do I know I can trust you?"
It was Gray that answered. "You don't. But know that Jose has orders from Eileen to make you disappear. If you stay here, you're trapped. Out there over the side of the boat, you at least have a chance."
That, Natsu believed.
"If you try anything, I will do everything in my power to kill you." He'd never threatened anyone like that before, but he meant it. He felt dangerous, teetering on a precipice, raw and hurting and ready to fall into violence.
Fear flicked across Juvia's face, but she nodded. "We understand."
Natsu stepped up to the deck and onto the railing, where the enchantments failed, and he could feel the brisk wind on his face and see the half-metre waves splatting against an invisible force that curtained the ship. It was a long way over the side. Could he swim in his clothes? Were their hungry creatures in the dark, waiting for a meal? Once, a squid came into port and murdered a fisherman in the water, trying to repair his ship. Some superstitious types said it was the sea seeking revenge. Natsu thought it was just bad luck.
The water bubbled up like a spout to meet them. Juvia stepped out like she was stepping onto solid ground. Gray followed her. They both balanced on the water as though they'd done it a hundred times before and looked back at him expectantly.
Light flashed like lightning at the edge of the pier. Or sunlight, Natsu thought as he squinted into the glow.
Someone screamed, low and pain-ridden. The ship rocked wildly, and water spouted up through its centre. Natsu had to hold onto the standing rig to keep from going overboard. "What's happening?"
"It's an attack! They're here for you!" Juvia held out her hand for him. Her eyes were wide and wild. "Quickly!"
Natsu breathed out and followed.
The castle was abuzz with whispers everywhere he went. The only place that wasn't humming was the servants' corridor and that was because the men and women that used it understood it was more beneficial to listen than it was to talk, especially in times like these.
Happy haunted the corridors like a ghost, more than happy to stay out of Lady Eileen's sights. It was only a matter of time before she realized he was wandering the castle without a job to do and either beheaded him like a hunter beheaded a bird, or reassigned him to some other royal that wouldn't treat him half as good as the prince had.
Until then…
Happy tracked Lady Eileen through the hallways and chambers and peered at her through the eyeholes of paintings whenever he could. Most of what he learned were things he already knew: the king's beaten body was being held in the cold room until tomorrow when they could have a proper funeral. Silver was in voluntary solitary, mourning his failures, and Natsu was still a prisoner aboard Fiore's ship.
Does he even know about Zeref? A little ball of anxiety twisted in Happy's belly when he thought about it. Natsu deserved better than to hear second-hand that his brother was overcome in the streets. Happy closed his eyes against the images of blood and furious faces. Why was there even a mob? Zeref hadn't been a particularly nice king, but he'd been fair. His people knew that.
Witchcraft, he thought, and not for the first time. It was thick in the castle's air, like breathing underwater.
It felt wrong to follow Lady Eileen into her bedchambers that evening, and when she invited Lucy in to apply salves to her naked skin, Happy had every intention of turning his face away. But as Lady Lucy rolled the satin of Lady Eileen's dress from her shoulders, Happy saw deep, puckered scars on her shoulder blades and stared, transfixed. His own shoulders phantom burned and he was transported to a place long ago when he huddled in the gutter and larger, meaner boys stood over him with stones and knives, intending to cut the wings from his back.
Lady Eileen hissed as Lucy's fingers travelled over the damaged skin. "They'll need to be cut again, and soon," Lucy informed her.
"With any luck, I won't have to hide for much longer," Lady Eileen answered. "Tell me, is it done?"
Lucy cast her eyes downward. "I destroyed the vessel as you asked, but he wasn't aboard."
Lady Eileen lifted her chin sharply and turned on Lucy. Her hair fell over her shoulders, as thick and as red as a bloody shawl. "What?"
Lucy only met her eyes for a moment, then dropped her gaze to her fingers again. "I looked. Aquarius helped. There was no sign of Natsu in the wreckage."
Lady Eileen grabbed Lucy's chin and jerked her head up, so she was looking her in the eye. "Are you lying to protect him?"
Happy felt more sticky magic in the air as Lady Eileen commanded Lucy to tell her the truth.
"No, my Lady," Lucy murmured. "He wasn't there."
"Was there a rescue attempt?" Lady Eileen wondered.
"None that I am aware of."
She squeezed Lucy's face even tighter. Her claws drew rivulets of blood that leaked down Lucy's chin and throat, onto her chest. "Jose betrayed me then."
Lucy whimpered and grabbed Lady Eileen's wrist; her eyes were as wide as a trapped doe's.
Lady Eileen seemed to realize what she was doing. She released Lucy and dropped her hand to her side. Blood dripped to the floor and glistened in the candlelight. "Find our wayward prince, Lucy, and made sure he never comes home."
Lucy's breath hiccupped, fear and pain. She made a shallow bow to Lady Eileen, holding her bleeding chin, and spun on her heel. Her skirts trailed after her as she rushed from the room. Happy drew away from the gashes in the painting and hurried after her, ready to do whatever it took to ensure Natsu's safety.
