Natsu was eating in his room, alone. He had taken meals in his room for the past few days to avoid the awkward dinner table questions from his parents. He hadn't shared the fight between him and Lucy to his parents. He wasn't trying to avoid Lucy, per se, he just wanted to avoid the questions and conversations that came along with spending time with her. He had his reasons, yet he could not shake the feeling of guilt that fell upon him whenever he thought about his betrothed. He wanted to resolve their fight, but he had no idea of how to do so.

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Lucy sat beside the King and across from the Queen and Wendy. There was a thick silence that fell over the table and its occupants. Natsu had begun taking his meals in his room. The monarchs exchanged questioning looks every few minutes, making Lucy incredibly nervous. There was no way any of these things meant good news. She tried to stay positive, but despite herself, she felt worried. Worried about her relationship with Natsu (or lack thereof), her relationship with his family, and the wedding. She worried that he would change his mind and cancel it. She knew that he had to get married before he turned 21 so he could be crowned, but he was the prince, for heavens sakes, he could do whatever he wanted.

"Ahem," Grandeeney broke the silence, "are you excited for the wedding, dear?" She directed the question towards Lucy.

Lucy mustered up all the cheer she could, "Of course! Thank you both for offering so much help. We are so very lucky that we only have to show up. I cannot imagine having to do it all ourselves."

Igneel eyed her skeptically, "Where is Natsu, anyways? The wedding is only less than 2 weeks away."

Lucy had no idea how to respond. Luckily she was saved by Grandeeney at the last moment. "He has been going over projects in his room for the past couple of days. He should be eating with us again soon." Lucy gave Grandeeney a small smile of gratitude.

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Igneel and Grandeeney sat in the throne room, "What is happening with our son and his bride?" Igneel asked his wife.

Grandeeney sighed, "I'm not sure. It seems like they had a fight."

"Noooo, really?" He asked sarcastically.

"You stop that." She gently chided, "It will not help this situation at all. We must speak with them both—separately."

"I agree. We cannot allow a scandal to ruin the royal wedding."

Grandeeney scoffed, "Or you know, we can't let a disagreement come between our son and his future wife?"

"That too." Igneel cracked a smile. "There was not this much drama leading up to our wedding, was there?"

"No, but there was one more nervous prince." She teased.

"At least said prince wasn't running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

The pair smiled at each other; no love lost between them during the course of their marriage.

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Lucy walked around the gardens with Jude. She refused to refer to him as her 'father' if she could help it.

"Lucy, have you been behaving yourself?" The venom dripped from his lips.

Lucy wouldn't dare give him attitude. 'He has no way to hurt me anymore.' She reasoned, 'Unless he tries to call off the wedding. No, he would never do that; he has too much riding on this.' So she just replied with a simple, "Yes."

"That is good to hear. It would not reflect well on our family should an incident occur." He said.

Lucy could think of no good response so she stayed silent.

"You dare ignore me?!" Jude roared, and Lucy prayed that no gardeners were around.

"No father, I wouldn't dare. I was just waiting to make sure you finished your thought before speaking." Irrational fear coursed through her veins.

"Good." He said. "Moving on. You will be queen soon." Lucy nodded. "You will have influence over your husband, the king, and I expect you to use that influence. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir." She submitted.

"I also expect you to speak highly of me in his presence. I know you will not say anything negative about me. You do know I have friends in powerful positions."

"Of course, Father, I would never dream of dishonoring your name. I apologize, I will have to take my leave now. I am expected at tea with her majesty."

"Good. Use your position to make connections and relationships with people in power. Do not disappoint me."

Lucy turned and walked away as quickly as she dared. She knew her father held all the cards. 'All I have to do is survive until the wedding. Then I will be free of him.'

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Natsu looked out of his window to the gardens below, he observed the interaction between Lucy and Jude. He noticed how tense she was. He noticed how she cowered under his gaze. He noticed her flinch when Jude moved. He also noticed the fear in her features that was evident even from the distance Natsu was observing from.

There was a knock on his door and Igneel walked in. "Father, what brings you here?"

"I have noticed your lack of attendance during our meal times." Igneel stated. "I was wondering what the cause of it is." Natsu averted his gaze. "Natsu, I expect you to respond when spoken to."

"I-I don't know what to tell you dad. I've just been busy." Natsu knew his dad saw straight through the excuses.

"Does it have to do with Lucy?" Igneel pushed.

Natsu tried to lie, but he knew his attempts would be futile. "Yeah it does." He gave up.

"What happened?" Igneel made his way further into Natsu's grand bedroom and sat down on the bench near where Natsu was standing.

"I have a feeling that she's not being honest about everything but when I tried to ask her about it she got angry."

"What do you think she is lying about?"

"All I did was ask her about her about her father and she got defensive."

"Defensiveness is a front for hurt." Igneel said.

"I know, and I just want to help her but she will not let me." He sounded exasperated to Igneel.

"Natsu, there are some things that she will not feel safe enough to share just yet, and that is normal. You cannot expect someone to meet someone, become engaged, and then be completely honest with that person. You are virtually strangers. You must allow her to share at her own pace. If it drags on for too long then yes, you may confront her. As it stands, she clearly comes from a less-than-ideal situation, and you need to be patient with her. If you push her now, it could affect your relationship for years into the future." Igneel said.

His father's lecture was surprisingly welcome. "Thank you, dad. Your advice means a lot to me." Natsu thanked.

"I'm glad I could help you. Now, why can't you always respond like this?" Igneel joked.

"Don't push it, dad." Natsu grinned.

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Grandeeney sat across from her future daughter-in-law. She was a beauty, that's for sure.

"How have you been doing lately?" Grandeeney asked.

"I-", Lucy shut her mouth. She had no idea what to say. She was doing fine until Jude had arrived. She obviously was not about to share that with the queen, so she settled on, "I'm doing well. And you?"

"That is good to hear. I am feeling grateful." She smiled. "I have heard that you and my son got into a disagreement." She was straight to the point. Lucy reverted back to her default, silence.

"Sweetie, I only want what is best for you and Natsu. If you want any help you have to be honest with me." The older woman reasoned.

"There are some things in my past that I have not been forthcoming about. Natsu was curious and I refused to share. I know we are going to be married in less than two weeks and I should be able to share everything with him, but I am just not ready yet. I want to, and I will one day, I promise. It can be hard, though, when I hardly know him, you know? Natsu just wants me to be honest with him, and I completely understand, I want him to understand that. It can be—"

"Lucy," Grandeeney interrupted, "I understand what you are saying and where you are coming from. I was once in your shoes as well, although we had known each other for more than a few weeks when we got married." The queen smiled at the young lady before her and continued, "Of course you will not know everything about each other at first, and it will take some time. Make sure you do not keep secrets from one another. It may seem easier at first, yet it is setting you up for hurt in the long run. I know Natsu should not have pushed, it is your story to tell, just be willing forgive him and eventually tell him the truth. Don't take too long though, that is setting yourself up for disaster."

"I understand." Lucy said, "And I am sorry if we caused anyone to worry."

"Oh, now don't worry about that. You kids are going to fight, that's a given. As long as you talk and make up in a timely manner there is nothing to worry about." Grandeeney tried to reassure the girl sitting in front of her.

"Thank you for your advice!" Lucy thanked, "Speaking of talking, that sounds like something Natsu and I need to do."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Grandeeney was proud her maturity at such a young age.

Both of the women stood up, "Thank you for the tea!" Lucy said as they hugged.

"Any time!" Grandeeney replied as she watched Lucy walk out.

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Natsu was on his way to Lucy's room when he turned a corner and bumped into the small blonde.

"Natsu, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was actually just coming to look for you."

"Really? I was just coming to look for you as well."

"I wanted to talk about the night of the ball." He got straight to the point life his mother.

"Me too." She replied.

"Let's go for a walk around the gardens to get some privacy." He suggested and Lucy agreed.

The gardens were beautiful in the springtime and Lucy felt bad for ignoring them earlier when she was with Jude.

"I'm sorry—", they both said at the same time and laughed.

"I am sorry, Lucy." Natsu began, "I don't know everything about you, and I know it will take some time to get to the point where you can share some things with me. I felt like you were lying to me, and I'm sorry for thinking that it was from a manipulative place. Growing up here is tough. Everyone wants to be around me for my status, and everyone lies and manipulates. I shouldn't have assumed that you were the same. I am going to try to be patient from here on out. I hope you can forgive me." He was proud of himself for not messing up.

"Natsu, you don't need to ask for forgiveness. I was wrong too. I shouldn't have been so closed off. And I was lying, but it was to protect myself. I'm sorry for being dishonest, I want to tell you everything; one day I will, I promise. I don't know when that day is, so I hope you can be patient with me until then." She finished.

"Of course, Lucy. You don't have to ask for forgiveness either. We were both in the wrong." He smiled.

"Really?" She was in disbelief. 'Did he really forgive me that easily?' She thought.

Natsu sensed her shock, "Why is that so hard for you to believe?"

"No one forgave me that quickly when I was a kid. Normally Jude would hold it against me for a while." She explained.

She kept on leaving breadcrumbs, but Natsu literally just said that he wouldn't push, so he said, "Well, I am definitely not your father."

"No, you definitely are not."

"What did you think I was going to do, call off the wedding?" He tried to joke when Lucy lowered her head, "Wait, you truthfully thought that I was going to cancel the wedding?"

She raised her head and looked in his eyes, "Yeah, I did."

"Luce, I know we fought, but one fight doesn't change the wedding. At this point, there's pretty much nothing that can stop it." He said.

'Sorry about that Natsu, it's because my 'dad' is a jerk and I'm so scared of him that I think of the worst in every situation so I can be prepared if that should happen.' She wished she could say that, but she settled on, "Sorry Natsu. I just think of the worst in every situation. I can be pessimistic like that."

"Again, you have nothing to be sorry about. Just try not to let your fears affect your actual life."

"I will try." She answered.

"Alright, now that that is settled, I think it's dinner time, don't you?" Natsu smiled and it was so contagious that Lucy joined in.

As they walked down the halls Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand to hold, 'I could get used to this.' He thought.

They entered into the dining room hand-in-hand. The two parents noticed immediately and shared a look that said, 'We did good.'

A/N: I hope you all enjoy this! I finally put a cover image on. I didn't really know what to put on, so I just put a random picture that I took on an airplane. I don't have a clue what happens next chapter. Maybe it will be the wedding? ;) Idk yet.

I hope you all have wonderful days! I love you all so much! If you ever want to talk, just PM me. If you have ideas, critiques, or whatever, you can review or PM.

Love,

Leanne xoxo