Author's Note:

It's Sunday! And time for a new chapter. ;D

As always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers out there. Big hugs and kisses to: Bookwork129, valerioux, SistershoOk, stranger1999, Starstruck-MJ, sakshishetty3003, Lucinda, Moon'n'Tide, FireShifter, 52dreamer52, SheWhoLeavesCrappyReviews, Sele de la Luna, Byrd3-13, Cino2K, NarukoSon, and Leomae2.0. You guys are the best!

Well, we all know what's coming next, so let's get right to it shall we. ;D

Meanwhile, Natsu hadn't been thinking too much about Lucy. He'd been way too focused on hauling ass as fast as he could to Lampro Capnia… which meant he had given in and ridden a couple trains. Again. Even though he had told himself there was no freakin' way he'd get back on any kinda transportation… he was too excited to finally kick Jude Heartfilia's butt to waste any time.

And then he couldn't wait to get back to Fairy Tail and tell Lucy all about it. So, in a way, he was thinking about her, just not really consciously.

Of course, 'conscious' wasn't exactly a thing he felt when he was riding a train. About a third of his trip, he'd been too busy feeling sick to really think about anything.

He hadn't ridden the trains constantly, just for a few hours whenever he could stand it. But it'd definitely been worth it, 'cause he'd gotten to Lampro Capnia in just one week. Normally that was a trip that would've taken him two at least.

The only downside was that he was too motion-sick to charge the castle straight outta the gate. After dragging himself off the last train, he had to stumble into the bushes and spend some quality time getting his gut back under control before he could do anything.

It was a good thing that the train station was on the edge of town, 'cause he didn't really want anyone to recognize him yet. That'd just hold him up, and he wanted to get down to business as quick as possible. But luckily, nobody bugged him while he recovered – which was also probably 'cause he was basically inside the freakin' bush. He'd taken a nose-dive into it and didn't really have the strength to move after.

… For a while anyway. It took a good few minutes, but eventually he did get his stomach back to normal and stopped sweating bullets. And as soon as that happened, he hauled himself butt-first outta the bush.

There still wasn't anyone around who'd really recognize him, so he had the time to stretch a little and work the last couple of kinks outta his system. Then it was showtime, and he cracked his knuckles in anticipation. He had been waiting for this moment for weeks now.

Since he'd already been wearing his chainmail shirt, all he had to do to get ready was slip on his dragonscale gloves and find a place to put his backpack. He ended up leaving it in the same bushes he'd just crawled from, 'cause he figured that'd be a super easy spot to find again later.

Then, as soon as that was done, he took off for the city, eager to get this show on the road and raise hell.

People started recognizing him when he got into the lower district, and he started hearing a bunch of stuff like: "Is that Natsu? What's up with his hair?" and, "Holy shit, check out his tats!" and, "Are ya sure that's Natsu?"

It didn't take them long to figure out what was going on. Most backed off and made a path for him while calling thanks and stuff, but a few idiots piled in close and started slowing him down to ask if he was gonna save them….

And he really didn't have the patience to deal with that kinda shit.

"Duh. So get outta the way," he griped, getting pissed at the delay.

Luckily, they were yanked back by the smarter people who were clearing the way for him, and he didn't have to plow through them.

Then it was a clear shot to the inner circle of the city, and he picked up the pace. He bulldozed right past the guards at the entrance to the fancy district and they didn't even have a chance to figure out what was going on. He heard a bunch of confused shouts behind him, but they obviously hadn't recognized him, 'cause they didn't set off any alarms.

Nobody bothered to try and stop him till he got to the palace gate – and the guards there only got bent outta shape when they saw him coming right at them.

All four stepped in front of the gate, and one yelled, "Identify yourself! Stop! Halt!"

"Yeah right," he laughed loudly as he reached them and kicked the middle guard through the gate.

He followed the guy through and kept going while the rest of them started freaking out behind him. That was when the alarm was sounded, and by the time he got to the castle, a shit ton of soldiers had lined up in front of the big entrance doors.

He didn't even stop…. he just shouted, "Get outta the way unless you wanna get roasted!" as he barreled towards them.

Their answer was great as far as he was concerned. They all pointed their spears at him and started shooting blue balls of magic from them – which was when he remembered that Lucy had said her dad traded with another kingdom for magic weapons.

He grinned and dodged the first barrage by staying light on his feet and zipping side to side as he kept running full tilt at the doors. They started panicking when their fancy magic weapons didn't work on him, but he was already on top of them by then. He planted his left foot and put all the momentum he'd built up into his right side as it twisted forwards. Fire wrapped around his right fist, and he unleashed it in a massive punch that blasted a hole right through the guards' formation.

They went flying, and he was already busting into the castle by the time they hit the ground. Today he wasn't messing around with small fries… he was completely focused on Lucy's bastard of a father.

More soldiers came outta the woodwork as he bulldozed through the castle halls looking for the king, but they didn't stand a chance. He just kicked or punched them outta his way and kept going.

It wasn't until he'd run around for a while, that he started getting impatient and decided to ask for directions. When the next group of guards came at him, he knocked them around a little and then picked one up off the floor by his chest plate so he could get some answers.

"Oi, where's the king?"

"I'm… not telling you anything!" the guy yelped.

Natsu scowled and used his free hand to knock the guard's helmet off his head. He turned out to be pretty young and looked like he was about to piss his pants. That worked for Natsu, and he gave the guy a nasty look and yanked him so they were nose to nose.

"When I ask a question, I expect an answer right away. So talk," he snarled, and lit his free hand on fire.

That got the response he was looking for, and the guard squeaked, "The king's in his office…"

"And where's that?"

The guard spit out a list of directions, and Natsu dropped him.

"Thanks, buddy. You were a big help."

He ignored the whimper from the guy and just followed his new directions. A couple minutes later, he'd gotten himself lost again and had to snag another guard to question. It sure was convenient that there were so many of them… he never had to wait long to find one.

After doing that about four or five times, he finally found the king's office and kicked open the insanely huge pair of doors. They caved in with a satisfying crash, but he was a little disappointed and irritated that King Heartfilia didn't even flinch.

The bastard was sitting calm as heck behind his big-ass desk… and when Natsu barged into his office, he just casually looked up from whatever he was working on.

"So you're the one making such a ruckus."

The stare he fixed Natsu with was downright frosty and all kinds of stuck up and arrogant. It looked like King Heartfilia was really confident that Natsu wasn't going to kick his ass for some reason.

"Hell yeah, and I'm about to make a bigger one in here," Natsu growled back, cracking his knuckles.

To his irritation, the jerk just looked him up and down, and then coolly said, "You must be the mage that everyone calls, 'the Dragon.' Am I right?"

"Great, that makes this even easier. Since you know who I am, you know why I'm here."

"Yes. You're here to try and force me into altering my perfectly functional system and give extra money to peasants who haven't earned it."

That pissed Natsu off even more, and he growled. "Wrong. I'm here to tell you that you suck. You don't take care of your people, and they're starving and sick and living in broken down shacks. Fairy Tail doesn't stand for that kinda shit, and I'm gonna beat it into you."

He also wanted to add that the guy was a terrible father, but that might tip him off that Lucy was with Fairy Tail now, and he didn't want that.

Without saying anything else, he launched himself at the desk… but ran into a wall of nothing before he got there. It was pretty sturdy too, and he bounced off it and had to stagger back a couple steps to keep from falling on his butt.

"As you can see, I am well-equipped to handle your attack," King Heartfilia said smugly, and Natsu could see why Lucy hated the guy so much. That cocky smile was really starting to get on his nerves.

A second later, someone else came into the room behind him, and Natsu glanced over his shoulder to size up the newcomer.

"Ah, Zoldeo. Right on time. Please remove this intruder and put him in a cell in the dungeon. If he resists, feel free to execute him."

Natsu had also forgotten that Lucy mentioned her dad having a dark mage, and he guessed this was that guy. The dude was definitely creepy enough to be a dark mage… he had crazy eyes, and the stitches going up his cheeks from the corners of his mouth made it look like he'd slit his face open from ear to ear at some point.

"Your wish is my command, Your Highness…" Crazy Eyes said, and he raised his hands and started chanting.

Natsu was about to ask the creep what he thought he was doing, when a wave of terror washed over him. It was dark and damp and nasty… and completely unbearable.

He'd gasped and hit the floor with his hands and knees before he knew what was going on. A couple seconds later, he realized that that probably wasn't good and tried to get back to his feet, but the weight of the fear held him down.

"What… is this?" he grunted, huffing and puffing as his heart kicked up into high gear.

Crazy Eyes cackled – sounding as crazy as he looked – and said, "Aw… are you feeling a little scared? Don't even try to fight it… nobody can defeat my subjugation magic. You're completely at my mercy now."

Natsu wasn't really sure what 'subjugation' meant, but it definitely didn't sound good.

It also didn't feel good. Fear pounded him flat and practically paralyzed him. He literally couldn't move a muscle… except for twitches and shivers that he didn't really like either. It gave him the very unpleasant feeling of being a trapped animal waiting for a hunter to come back and kill him. There was this sense of helplessness about it all that really, really, really aggravated him – or would have if he could've felt anything other than terror.

It was times like these that he was extra glad he didn't use his head all that much when he was fighting, 'cause his mind had shut down under the fear…. But his instincts hadn't. They were kicking in hard, and everything in him was roaring that he was gonna die if he didn't get free. Which kinda made him a little unhinged.

The smallest thing could've set him off at that point. So, of course, as soon as he felt Crazy Eyes touch him, Natsu's entire body automatically exploded with fire. That creep had made a serious mistake…. Just 'cause he couldn't move didn't mean that his magic was outta commission too.

His explosion sent the dark mage flying and broke the spell. And since Natsu was still working on pure instinct, as soon as he was out of the 'trap,' he was off like a shot and after the guy who'd put him in it. He knew he had to take out Crazy Eyes while he was down, before he could use that funky magic again.

His opponent hit the wall, and Natsu hit him a couple seconds after – smashing his fist right into the guy's stitched up face.

And that was the end of that.

Natsu stood over the dark mage's unconscious body, panting heavily and ready to smash him again if he so much as twitched.

He didn't.

Which was good, 'cause Natsu was feeling really touchy and might've just killed the guy if he'd shown any signs of life. Honestly, the whole thing had shaken him up pretty bad, and now that the leftover fear was fading he was feeling downright nasty. That had been a dirty trick, and he was fully prepared to take it outta King Heartfilia's ass.

When he rounded on the guy, Lucy's dad was scowling and looked a little less sure of himself – which made Natsu very happy. That bastard needed a serious reality check.

"Alright, it's your turn now," he growled and stomped over to the invisible wall that he'd faceplanted into earlier.

"There's no way you can get through my barrier, so don't even try. It's been enspelled to withstand up to a hundred units of magic per second, and not even a real dragon could break it."

Natsu didn't really know what units of magic actually translated to, but it sounded sorta impressive. Though, he was pretty sure that King Heartfilia hadn't ever seen a real dragon, if he was spouting stupid things like that.

"Then it'll be fun to test. I like a good challenge," he grunted as he wound up his arm.

Planting his foot, he lit both his elbow and fist on fire and punched the magic shield with everything he had.

That was enough firepower to wipe out half an army – he'd actually done it before – and even the cool bastard flinched a little when Natsu's fist connected. The massive BANG that came from him hitting the barrier and the explosion on his side of the wall made it feel like a bomb had gone off in their faces. A blast of fire filled up the entire room behind Natsu, and the walls, floor, and ceiling shook around them.

He just hit it once to start with, sorta like a test, and then he waited for the fire and smoke to lift a bit so he could see what kinda damage he'd done. The room around him was totaled – big surprise. Anything burnable had been destroyed or was still on fire, but he didn't pay much attention to any of that (or the extra crispy dark mage). He was busy looking at the magic barrier.

At first it didn't look like he'd done anything to it… but then there was a little pop, and one small crack snapped across the air right between him and Lucy's dad. He and Jude both looked it for one really long minute; and when they switched to eyeballing each other, the air was super thick and prickly with a bunch of unsaid stuff.

Finally, the guy was starting to break. He was still trying to hide that he was getting scared, but being all pale and sweaty was a dead giveaway.

"Looks like your barrier isn't as strong as you thought…" Natsu said with a grin, and it must've been a really nasty expression, 'cause Jude kinda looked at him like he was a monster.

He didn't wait to hear whatever Lucy's dad would've said to that. Instead, he just threw himself at the barrier and went at it with both fists, punching it over and over again in the same spot.

When the whole castle shuddered around them, King Heartfilia actually got freaked out for the first time and started yelling. Natsu didn't hear much of it – 'cause of all the explosions and stuff – but he caught a few words here and there. Mostly it was a bunch of, "Stop!"… "… fiend, how dare…" … "What do you…" … "… criminal bastard!"… "… I demand that…" and other stupid stuff that he completely ignored. If anything, he just got even more fired-up seeing the guy finally lose his cool.

It only took a couple of minutes for more cracks to pop up in the barrier… but the room sorta started breaking too. The floor gave way right about the same time that Natsu finally smashed through the barrier, and everything went crashing down to the next level of the castle. A couple of walls also fell apart and came with them, making a giant busted-up hole in the building.

And of course Natsu wasn't too worried about getting hurt just from falling through the floor…. This wasn't the first time he'd brought a building down around his ears. He knew how to land and knock away all the rubble without getting pummeled by it, and once everything settled down, he stood up outta his defensive crouch and shook himself off.

That had been a little wild, but he wasn't upset by the way it'd turned out. Breaking stuff was always pretty fun as far as he was concerned, and it had gotten the job done.

Thankfully, it didn't look like anybody had been in any of the rooms around them – probably 'cause of all the explosions – and they landed alone in the pile of broken crap that fell with them. He didn't even bother checking for Crazy Eyes…. That guy had definitely kicked the bucket earlier when the whole room got turned into a blazing furnace. It was always unpleasant when things ended up like that, but it was basically unavoidable in his line of work. He'd offed a lotta people doing his job – some accidentally, some on purpose – and he just did his best not to think too hard about it.

Besides, right now, he had his hands full with the king.

Jude was still yelling and making a really huge fuss about the whole thing…. Maybe 'cause his leg was stuck under a pretty big chunk of rock, and he couldn't get it off.

"Gah! My leg! My leg! It's trapped! Ah! It's broken! Oh gods… it hurts! Off! Get off, you rock! Damn it!"

That was a situation that Natsu was happy to take advantage of, and he immediately headed over to finish what he'd started.

As soon as Jude saw Natsu coming, he launched into a whole new set of whining and complaining. "How dare you do this, you monster! You've broken my castle! And crushed my leg! I'll have you executed for this! Mark my words! I won't rest until you've been brought to justice!"

Natsu scoffed and stopped right next to the jackass, planting one foot on the rock pinning his leg. That made Jude squawk and he started punching and yanking at both of Natsu's legs to try and get him off.

"Release me at once! Ah! That… that hurts!"

"Oh yeah? And can ya imagine how bad it'd be if you couldn't afford to get it fixed?... And you had to keep working anyways to feed your family?... Huh? 'Cause lots of your people have had to deal with shit like that thanks to how bad you are at being king. I think you deserve just as much pain as you've dished out."

When the bastard just kept fussing and punching at him, Natsu got fed up and took his foot off the rock so he could kick one of Jude's hands away from him. Then he slammed the guy's wrist to the ground under his boot and squatted over him, grabbing a fistful of his fancy shirt to yank him up off the ground a bit.

"You are one stubborn jerk, you know that? Listen up, I'm gonna make you agree to be a better king one way or another… but one of those ways is a lot more painful than the other."

To help get the point across, Natsu put all his weight on the foot pinning Jude's wrist to the floor. A crack sounded through the air – which was pretty quickly followed by the idiot under him screaming like a little baby.

"Ah! Okay! Okay! I get it! I understand! Please! Get off! Let me go!"

Honestly, Natsu thought there was some serious justice in the fact that he'd ended up breaking the guy's wrist. An eye for an eye and a wrist for a wrist. He'd directly payed the bastard back for hurting Lucy… that one time at least.

"Does that mean you'll be a better king to your people?"

"Yes! Yes! I'll cut down on my taxes! I'll increase the minimum wage! Anything! Just please! Stop!"

He was kinda tempted to grind his boot there a little longer, but he got off when King Heartfilia started crying. He stood up over the guy and gave him the nastiest, meanest, 'don't fuck with me,' glare he could manage.

"Fine. You better keep those promises, or we'll be back…. And if you think this was bad, just wait. Next time will make this look like a picnic," he rasped darkly, and his mouth twisted up into what he knew was an evil grin. He also cracked his knuckles threateningly a couple of times just for the hell of it.

That got him some more (probably empty) promises, but he figured it was the best he was gonna get outta this bastard.

So, since that part of his job was done, he left… heading for the treasury. He still had to do his thing and burn all of King Heartfilia's important stuff to really push his point. That was the Dragon's calling card, and he never felt like a mission was complete until he'd done it.

Of course, the room they'd landed in was totaled – including the exit – so he had to bust his way out. But that didn't take too long. After just a couple minutes, he was out in the hall.

He pulled up short though when he saw someone leaning against the opposite wall, kinda looking like they were waiting for him. It took him a second, but then the green hair and big boobs triggered a memory.

"Oh hey! You're… uh… Whiskey or something right? Lucy's maid?"

She frowned a little and pushed off the wall. "Brandy, actually. And yes. How is she by the way?"

"She's doin' great!"

Brandy was a hard one to read, but it looked like she relaxed a little.

"That's good. I was going to go after her myself when I heard about what'd happened, but Aquarius said that you would take care of it. I owe you one… it would've been such a pain to go all the way to Balsam Island."

"Well yeah! Of course I was gonna rescue her from that creep."

"Uh-huh…" she hummed and looked him up and down. "And I heard that Eisenwald was attacked by the Dragon…."

Natsu answered with a sharp grin and said, "The bastard got what was coming to him."

"I should've guessed that was you…. Good job, by the way. The rumors say he might never walk again."

That info made his grin get a little wider. And meaner.

"Good."

"Yeah," she replied kinda dryly. Then, after a long pause she added, "Well, anyways… if you're the dragon, I guess you're going to the treasury, right?"

"That's the plan. Hey! Could ya take me there? Running around trying to find it is always a huge pain."

Her face twisted up into a disgusted kinda expression – like that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Oh god, you've got to be kidding me. Really? That's what you want?" she groaned, and huffed a huge sigh. "…. There're a million other things I'd rather be doing, but… I guess. I did say that I owed you, so… fine. I'll take you there."

"Awesome! Thanks!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

He expected her to start leading the way, but instead she did something really weird. She kinda gestured at him lazily, and suddenly magic tingled all over his body. Everything around him started growing, and at first he thought his eyes were doing some sorta weird magnification thing. But then stuff just kept getting bigger, and he started to realize that something else was going on.

It finally stopped after just a couple seconds, and he fell back on his butt, stunned silly. His surroundings had completely changed…. The ground was a lot more uneven, the room had gotten HUGE, and he was staring up at a giant. Brandy was so big now that the sole of her shoe was as tall as his chest and her toes looked like freaking massive boulders.

"Wha-what the hell just happened?!" he yelped and jumped back to his feet, looking wildly around for some kinda clue.

A giant hand came down at him – which was beyond freaky, and he almost attacked it outta instinct. But all it did was stop in front of him, palm up.

"Well, come on. Hop on. I don't have all day," Brandy huffed from above him, and he almost didn't recognize her voice. It was a lot louder and deeper than before.

Normally, this kinda situation would've seemed pretty bad to him, but he figured he could trust her since she was one of Lucy's friends. So, he took a couple steps back and then made a running jump onto the giant hand in front of him.

When she stood back up and brought him with her, he stumbled and ended up having to do a real quick sit. It almost made him motion sick, but the way she moved was animal enough that it didn't really take hold. He was only bad with machines… riding or being carried by an animal or person hadn't ever bugged him.

She brought him all the way up to her shoulder and said, "Here, get between my neck and collar. That should hide you well enough. I can't risk anyone seeing you, or they'll find out that I helped you."

The coat she was wearing had a big fuzzy collar, and she pulled it to the side with her other hand.

"Okay, sure," Natsu agreed and hopped onto her shoulder.

The fuzzy collar was super easy to climb and hang onto, and it only took him a few seconds to get in the spot she'd suggested. When she let go of her collar, it totally covered him. Actually, it almost smothered him, and he had to climb up a little so he could at least poke his face outta the fluff.

"Hold on tight. I'm going to start walking now," she said, and he could kinda tell that she was talking quietly, but it was still super loud to him.

When she did start walking, it was pretty dang jarring. He had to grab fistfuls of the collar to keep himself in place and just focus on hanging on. It was a good thing she had this furry stuff on her coat, or else he might've been bounced right off her shoulder.

But even though it was one heck of a rough ride, it was also kinda fun in a weird way…. Not enough that he'd go out of his way to do it again, but he definitely didn't mind the trip. The only downside was that it got a little too warm inside that furry stuff, and he started sweating like crazy. Hot temperatures and fire he could handle, but wrapping him up in a ton of warm blankets always made him feel like he was about to suffocate. He was pretty sure it was more of a mental thing though, and not really the warmth that bugged him.

So he was glad when she said, "We're getting close. But I'm going to find an empty room to change you back in, because there are a lot of guards running around."

"Sounds good," he grunted, still mostly focused on hanging on and not suffocating.

It didn't take her long to do that, and pretty soon she was scooping him outta her neckline. Before he knew what was going on, that wave of magic whapped him over the head again, and everything started getting smaller. The way it looked almost made him feel like he was going backwards super-fast…. Which made him kinda dizzy, and he clenched his eyes closed for the last couple of seconds.

When the magic tingly feeling stopped, he carefully opened his eyes back up and saw that everything was normal-sized again – thank Mavis. She'd dropped him halfway through, so he'd landed on his butt, but that was cool. He was just happy to be a person and not an ant.

It took a second before his head stopped spinning, but as soon as it did, he jumped back to his feet.

"Thanks! So where's the treasury?"

"Just go out this door and to the left. It's a straight shot down the hall; you can't miss it."

"Alright! Awesome! Thanks, Brassy! See ya later!"

When he spun around and ran for the door, she called, "Wait a minute," and the door handle he'd just been about to grab shrunk to the size of a pea.

"Huh? What?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder at her.

"First of all, it's Brandy. And second, there's something in the treasury you'll want to take with you. It's a carved golden box covered in symbols made out of blue stones. It has a lot of important things in it that Lucy will want from her mother. Use this."

She tossed a pretty big bag at him with a sturdy strap. He caught it and eyeballed it for a second before looping the strap across his chest.

"Cool! Thanks for the heads up and the bag! I'll make sure to get it to her."

"Good."

The doorknob popped back, and he headed out the door with a thrown, "See ya!" over his shoulder.

From there, he went left like she'd told him to, and the treasury did turn out to be super easy to find. It helped that there were a ton of guards swarming around it, 'cause that made it almost impossible to pass up. Literally. He would've known that it was the treasury even if Brady – or was it Branny? – hadn't told him how to get there.

All the guards were yelling things like, "Protect the royal treasure or it'll be our heads!" And when they saw him coming, they made an even bigger commotion and started yelling louder and firing balls of magic at him.

Of course, that didn't last long. About a minute later, half were laid out flat around the treasury door and the rest had run off. The thick metal door didn't stick around either…. a couple kicks sent it crashing to the floor.

After that, the rest was easy – except for finding the golden box he was supposed to take back to Luce. That took him a while, and he kept having to toss fire balls at the doorway whenever fresh guards or soldiers appeared. But eventually, he located the damn thing in a back corner.

"Oof, this is kinda heavy," he grunted as he hefted it up. "What the heck's in this thing?"

It wasn't anything he couldn't handle, but it was definitely bigger and a lot heavier than he'd expected. That bag Branny gave him was gonna be even handier than he'd thought. Lucy's mom's box was pretty awkward to just carry around, and he didn't waste any time dropping it in.

Then, he scorched the treasury real quick – which didn't take too long – and got outta there.

Now that her dad was toast, the only thing he could think about was getting back home so he could tell Luce what'd happened and give her the weird box.

Sneak Peek:

"What is this?! You said Brandy gave it to you?" Lucy asked Natsu, her eyes glued to the box.

"Nah, she didn't give it to me; she told me that it was in the treasury and you'd probably want it. Apparently it's some of your mom's stuff."

"My mom's?"

A memory flickered through her mind and made her grow quiet.

Post Note:

Alright, alright! We finally got some satisfaction and saw Jude's butt kicked. ;D About time right?

Now... looks like we have a mystery on our hands. Anyone wanna guess what's in the box?

XD