Levy laid her back on the furry carpet. Her hands straightened above her, held a piece of paper. She read the words one by one all over again. For the hundredth time that evening.

"AAAAHHHH" she screamed. Pushed herself back to sit. "This Mavis girl…why did she have to make this so difficult?"

She pulled off her bandana that secured her hair in place and roughly caressed her hair. She pushed her head up when the door opened.

"You really spend a lot of time here," he said, taking his seat next to her at the table.

She glared at him through the corner of her eyes, then turned around, giving him her back. She placed her elbow on the table and rested her cheek on the palm. Her other hand held the letter. He caressed on her unruly hair, but she slapped his hand away. Startled him a bit.

"Feisty," he said.

His hand reached out to a cup of coffee on the table, but her hand stopped him before he could touch it. He drew his hand back, stared at her angry face.

"That is mine," she claimed.

He swiftly grabbed her hand while his other hand stole her cup. He immediately jumped to his feet, held the cup high above his head. He smirked. She almost jumped at him, but she knew she would never reach the cup at that height, she forgone her intention to get it back. She watched the man sat on the chair by the window, sipping on her coffee loudly.

"Judging by your irritated face, I can say that you still unable to crack all those letters," he said. "I admired your confidence when you said you could crack it in no time."

She rolled her eyes. Yes, she was irritated with those letters. But right now, he irritated her even more. She turned her back to him, pulled her knees to her chest.

Wendy appeared by the window. She had her hair in double pony tails. "Gajeel-san." Her bright face smiled at her brother. He put the cup down, gave his little sister his full attention.

She whispered something into his ears. And he replied with whispers. Levy turned to both of them. They looked engulfed in their whispers. Wendy shook her head and then whispered something more. Then Gajeel whispered back to her, with concerns on his face. The brother stood up but the sister halted him. Tilted her head toward her sister-in-law, she whispered her brother to stay.

"Bye, Levy-nee-sama." Levy just smiled at her.

"You can go," she said dryly, after the little sister left.

He put the cup down. He went and sat behind her, scooped her onto his lap. Made the bluenette shrieked. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "I can whisper to you what Wendy told me just now."

His whispers sent shivers down her spine. Her face blushed and her heartbeat accelerated.

"Wendy found the poison used on our father and Mira found a suspicious person inside the palace," he whispered. He waited for her respond.

She slowly turned her face to him. "Do you really need to whisper?" She whispered too.

"Why? It tickles?"

Stupid Gajeel! Of course it tickles. What do you expect?

Then it hit her. Tickled! It tickled! She scanned the letters. Each of them. Three to Zera. Two to Gajeel's mother, Queen Casseree. She thought it was Mavis' handwriting but those were the codes! The coded alphabets that had been tickling her eyes from the very beginning.

She squealed, threw her hands in the air. Her head tilted up, hit Gajeel's head made the man screamed of pain. She grabbed her bandana and tied her hair into a short pony tail. She pulled her red glasses from on top of her head onto her nose. Her hand scribbled something on a piece of blank paper while her eyes kept switching between the paper and the letters. Gajeel peeked from her shoulder, massaged on his nose bridge.

Done with her cracking, she leaned back on her husband's chest. She smiled widely. Her efforts that day paid.

"Tell me, Shorty, what's this?" he asked, took the scribbled paper from her hand.

"I cracked it. Told you I would crack it," she said smilingly, eyes closed.

"Yeah. How do you read these?" He looked down at her. Her eyes opened quickly, caught his confused gaze on her.

She took the paper from him. The alphabets were scrambled. None of them made any sensible word. She then covered her frustrated face with the paper.

"It's okay. You can try again," he assured. No respond from his wife.

Gajeel pulled the paper from her face. She had her cheeks puffed, averted her eyes away. He smirked and leaned down to her. Lightly, he kissed her on her lips. Pulled away from her, he saw her face reddened and she blew the air out of her cheeks.

"Feel better?" he asked grinningly.

"A little." She rolled her eyes and pouted her lips. "But…"

He leaned down and kissed her again. "How about now?"

Not giving her chance to answer, he leaned down again. This time, the kiss was longer and deeper.

XxxxxxXxxxxx

Natsu laid in the bed, rested his arm on his eyes. His head was aching the moment he stepped on to the ship and even worse when they started to sail. He had vomited for the unknown times that day till nothing came out. But he still felt nauseous. Why did he have to suffer like this?

"Natsu, are you awake?" Lucy asked. "Do you want to eat something?"

The prince only growled. Unable to make proper word. Lucy sat on the bed, faced him.

"I have some bread. Come have a bite." She touched on his hand, gained his attention.

The prince slowly pushed his body to sit, almost immediately grabbed on the princess' shoulder when he felt the ship swayed. He placed his head on her shoulder and nestled at nook of her neck. Lucy rubbed on his back in circular motion, tried to soothe him.

Juvia entered. She watched the couple smilingly.

"Is he alright?" she asked.

"Not really. He wasn't as bad when we sailed back from my country, but now he didn't even want to eat." Lucy sighed.

"Never thought he is seasick." Juvia chuckled at the thought. She sat down at a table, sipped on her freshly brewed coffee.

XxxxxxXxxxxx

Levy and Mirajane walked into the sport's arena. They had bottles of water in each other's' hands. They were greeted with two figures practicing against each other. They were shirtless and sweating. Throwing strong punches and kicks at each other. Levy and Mirajane sat under a shade not far from them.

"Rest a bit?!" the white-haired asked.

"Not yet!" Laxus replied. He just defended his face from being hit by the king's punch.

"It's not going to end sooner. Gajeel has been dreaming to spar with one of the generals," Levy said. Mirajane nodded. "The best day of his life," the queen added.

"I couldn't find the poison," Mirajane said, half-shouted.

"Do we need to discuss this now?" Gajeel asked, turning to the females for a second.

"Why not?" the princess asked back.

"She might have thrown it away," Levy interrupted. "Maybe right after she used it."

"What was it again?" Laxus asked, moved his shoulders in circular motion a few times before continued with new punches.

"Wolfsbane," the queen answered.

Laxus knee hit the other man on his stomach, made him bent down and immediately swung his punch upward across the king's chin. The man fell down on his back. Levy almost ran to him, but the princess held her down. The general smirked and walked to the women. He took the bottle extended by Mirajane.

"You never hold back, didn't you?" she asked. He only chuckled. He sat down next to her. The king then climbed back on his feet and joined them, sat next to his wife.

"Is that a plant or something?" Laxus asked, brought them back to the topic.

"Having fun, aren't you?"

Erza joined them. She, in short skirt and armour, just arrived with the other general.

"So…" She placed her hands on her hips. "…no one bought the poison around the time the late king died."

"So, she made it herself?" Mirajane asked.

"Are we really sure it's her?" Gajeel asked, then gulped on the water bottle. He had his towel on his head.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," Mirajane confidently answered,

Laxus took his sword and held it out to Erza. He then nodded his head toward his blue-haired friend. Erza glanced at the man before took the sword. Jellal took his cloak off and threw it to his blonde friend. They stepped a bit further from the crowd and held their swords toward each other. But then, Jellal drew his sword back and walked to the princess.

"Change," he said. He gave his sword to her. "You looked uncomfortable." Erza just followed him and changed their swords.

"Aww, aren't you so sweet," Mirajane cheered.

They watched them started as their swords clashed against each other.

"You're holding my sword. Don't insult me!" Laxus warned. The blue-haired focused on his fight, ignored his annoying friend.

A shriek sound made Laxus and Mirajane turned to their right. Levy with her hands on her bright red face because Gajeel rested his head on her lap. He covered his face with the towel, probably sleeping. Mirajane smiled, returned her sight to the sword-fighting couple, only to catch Laxus still staring at the royal couple. She slowly pushed his head to face the other couple.

"Isn't that something we used in hunting?" Laxus asked. "Damn fucking dangerous. Lucky that I'm still alive. Is it instant kill or long term use?"

"Maybe it causes allergic reaction?" Mirajane asked.

"My father didn't have allergy," Gajeel answered. His face still covered with towel. Apparently he wasn't sleeping.

"It – it's caused heart to stop immediately," Levy added. Her face still bright red. "A small amount should be sufficient to kill. Plus, she put it in the coffee. The poison would enter the blood stream in no time." She looked much relax along the explanation.

"She might make it herself. That's wild flower. She can find it anywhere," Jellal interrupted, between catching his breaths and Erza's attacks.

"His ribs! Use that!" Laxus shouted. "So, we have nothing against her," he added, in normal voice.

Erza swung her sword to his left which he easily halted. She took a step forward, brought her palm fast to his chest, only to be caught by his hand.

"Not so fast," he said, carved a little smirk. Erza grinned. "Not so fast," she repeated.

She released her sword from her grip and hit the back of her hand on his chest where his broken ribs were. He screamed out of pain. She immediately caught his body before he fell onto his knees.

"I can't believe you took his stupid advice," he said. She chuckled.

She grabbed her sword, pulled his arm over her shoulders and brought him to the shade. Laxus grinned widely.

"Well, it's not stupid if it works," she said, helped Jellal sat down.

"That's my girl," the blonde praised, high-fived the princess. She sat next to the blue-haired general, faced the others.

"So," Jellal spoke and paused as taking a deep breath hurt a lot. "…names from the letters…" He closed his eyes and slowly took another deep breath.

"They're influenced people in the Royal Council. Still are. Just The Acnologia. I heard they were disbanded years ago," Laxus explained. The others nodded.

"Is she part of the group?" Mirajane asked. "Got anything on her background?"

"We didn't know if there is a new group. The attack in town the other day, an assassin was hired. As far as we know, she wasn't part of any group. So we assumed that she was hired. And they could be hiring more," the blonde added.

Gajeel sat up, pulled the towel from his face.

"We are against people we don't know," Gajeel said. The others nodded. "And we're against the Royal Council. We didn't know how many more members of the council that joined them." He sighed.

XxxxxxXxxxxx

Natsu looked much energized as he stepped out of the ship. He couldn't stop grinning as he walked toward the town. To their surprise, the town was quiet. It was still early but the streets were empty and most shops were closed.

"Excuse me." Lucy stopped a passer-by. "It's still early, but why shops are closed?"

The passer-by looked around before answering her. "Oh, we're mourning for the loss of our prince."

"Loss?" Juvia asked. "Who?"

"I don't remember his name. The black hair one," he said.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia squealed.

"Ah, yes, yes. I think that's his name," the man agreed.

"Thank you very much, sir," Lucy said and let the man left.

"Who's Gray?" Natsu asked.

"Loss, he meant just now, is like loss 'lost' or loss as in 'died'?" Juvia asked.

"I'm pretty sure he meant 'died'," Lucy answered.

"But he didn't mean Gray-sama right? Like there's another black-haired prince other than Gray-sama?" Juvia asked more.

"I don't think so. As far as I know, only Gray is black-haired. Other than that is his sister," Lucy answered.

"Who the hell is Gray?" Natsu snapped. "And why the hell did you call Gray-sama? Who the hell is Gray-sama?" The prince was dissatisfied when his questions left unanswered.

"Look. First thing first, let's go to the palace. At a moment like this, I think I need to see Ultear," Lucy said.

She started making her way to the palace.

"But it couldn't be Gray-sama, right?" Juvia asked again, hopeful. Lucy sighed. And Natsu repeatedly asking his question.

XxxxxxXxxxxx

The three of them stood quietly in line with white roses in their hands. Lucy's eyes wondered around, searching for Ultear, the female royals.

"So this Gray guy had died, there is another prince here we can meet, right?" Natsu asked.

"I don't think it's Gray or the other prince we are looking for," Lucy answered.

"So there is another prince other than Gray-sama and Lyon-sama. What if it's not Gray-sama who died?" Juvia theorized. Lucy glanced at her through the corner of her eyes.

"I'm not sure. I don't know if there's another prince other than the two," she said.

Their turns arrived. A wooden coffin sat right in front of them, full of white roses on top of it. They placed their roses on it, joined the others. Then, they stepped out of the line. Lucy suddenly fastened her steps, toward a long, black-haired princess.

"Ultear!" The princess turned toward the voice. She smiled as soon as she saw Lucy. They hugged each other tightly.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" she asked, didn't expect to see them there.

"We're here on business," Lucy said. Ultear brought them out of the hall. "What happened?"

The black-haired princess looked tired. Her eyes swollen from crying.

"My brother and Meredy went out two days ago. They were attacked by some people…" She paused, wiped drops of tears with her finger. "…people we didn't know. They weren't taking anything. Meredy was lucky to survive."

Lucy hugged her again, rubbed softly on her back.

"I'm very sorry for asking this. Who is this brother of yours? I don't see any picture of him anywhere, not even in the hall."

Ultear smiled bitterly. "It's Zeref." Lucy turned around to see Juvia's bright face widened a smile, trying hard enough to cover her joy. "He would always like that. Refused taking pictures. Refused all royal duties. He even requested to not making a big funeral ceremony for him when he died." The woman frowned. "I want our people to remember him. So the least I can do is not putting up any pictures of him."

"I didn't know that you have another brother other than Gray and Lyon."

They sat on a nearby bench. Lucy held the other princess' hand tightly.

"Sometimes, I felt this is the best thing should happen to him. He had suffered for so long. Just that I didn't expect him to go like this." She wiped another tears. "He lost his fiancé long ago, and he lost interest in life all together after that. He isolated himself at first, then he started immersed himself in helping people. He just did what he want, forget what he needed. His fiancé loved helping people. I think that was what keeping him alive."

"And, his fiancé was…?"

"Mavis. From your line of family. I don't think you met her. She died a long time ago."

"Yea, never heard of her before," Lucy lied. "Em, Ultear, do you know if Mavis had given your brother some letters?"

Ultear stared at the blonde princess for a moment.

"Actually I …" Lucy tried to explain her reason, but the princess stood up and asked to follow her.

"There is one letter that he treasured the most. From Mavis, his fiancé."

They walked through the hallway, climbed two floors up and went to the farthest room there. Ultear pushed the door slowly and went straight to a working table. The room was almost empty. Only one single bed, one closet and one working table. Nothing else.

"This is the letter. He received it not long after his fiancé died. Do you know how his fiancé died?"

Lucy nodded. "She killed herself."

"Well, that was what we heard. But he convinced otherwise. Zeref told me once that Mavis might be lost her mind or forgetful on her last days that this letter told a few things that never happened. Like a few little details." Ultear opened the letter and showed them. "Like this part here said that she came here and they went to amusement park."

Lucy looked at the princess, tried to convey her meaning.

"He said, Mavis never came here. Actually he went over to her place and they went to the amusement park there."

Lucy nodded to the explanation.

"Ultear, do you mind if I keep this letter?" she asked.

They all stepped out of the room and the black-haired princess closed the door behind her.

"Keep it. If it still here, it will be kept away with his other things. So, tell me…" She touched the blonde's arm. "Why'd you lied that you didn't know Mavis, yet you're enthused to see her letter?"

Lucy nervously chuckled. Her brain worked to find a good reason. Ultear wasn't someone you could easily lie.
"I wish I could give you're a good answer. For now. But I promised I'll tell you everything when the truth comes out," she said. "And I really wish that I could stay a little longer, but I am very sorry, I have to leave right away."

Ultear smiled, held her hand. "It's okay. Tell me if you need anything."

Lucy nodded and turned to Natsu. It was then she realized something. "Where's Juvia?"

XxxxxxXxxxxx

She walked around, searching for the black-haired prince. Her eyes wandered around. The figure she was hoping to see was nowhere to be found. She was about to turn a corner when someone grabbed her hand, halted her from kept walking.

"What are you doing here? What if Lyon sees you?" Her eyes shone brightly at the sight of the black-haired prince.

"Gray – sama!" She jumped at him, hugged him tightly. He stood frozen at the woman. "I miss you so much."

"Wait. What?!"

"I'm so glad that it's not you who died. I didn't know what will happen to me if you die."

Gray tried to push her from hugging him. She clung to his arm.

"It's not me who died. That's my brother. Hey, get off me!" He almost freed himself from the woman when she jumped at him again. Suddenly she untangled herself from him and hid behind him. He turned around to see his brother walked toward him.

"Is that Juvia?" the white-haired prince asked, with big smile on his face.

He tried to touch the woman but his brother warded his hand off. However, a pull broke her grip on him.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing with Juvia?" A pink-haired prince appeared out of nowhere pulled Juvia to his side. "Oh, droopy eyes!" He pointed at Gray.

"Jeez, what are you doing here?" Gray asked, rolled his eyes.

"Who are you?" Lyon asked.

"Who are you?" Natsu asked him back. Lyon was about to step forward, but Natsu stopped him. "Back off. She's mine," he claimed.

"No, I'm not," Juvia denied. She smiled to the black-haired prince. "Gray-sama, I'm all yours."

"This is Gray?" Natsu asked, glanced between Juvia and Gray. "Seriously? You got the worst taste."

"What the…? She likes me better. You got problem with that?" They pressed on each other's head, not giving up on who was better.

Lucy shook her head. Natsu and Gray just met twice and they already hated each other. Juvia wouldn't stop fawning over the black-haired prince, while his brother kept on courting the woman.

XxxxxxXxxxxx

"Levy!" "Lucy!" They screamed at each other when the princess arrived from her long trip. "I cracked the letter!" they claimed, harmoniously at the same time. They stunned for two seconds, then they screamed again, hugged each other tightly. Natsu followed right behind the blonde princess, joined his brother.

"What have you done to her?" Gajeel asked. They stood side by side, crossed their arms over their chest. Natsu shrugged.

The two best friends – broke their hugs for a moment – perfect and synchronising, said, "The coded alphabets have strokes on them." They surprised. And screamed again. "But they had to be arranged according to the length of the stroke." They screamed again. Hugged each other.

"Nerd!" the two brothers coughed.

The two females narrowed their eyes at them, while the other two grinned at each other and nudged each other's arms.

They all then gathered in the King's study. They laid the letters on the table. They listened attentively to Levy and Lucy's explanation.

"If you looked over here, there's nothing important in the letters," Lucy started. "According to Zera, Mavis loved puzzles. She might know that these people would be coming at her, so she made these letters to warn her loved ones. Two letters to her little sister, Queen Casseree, three letters to her best friend, Zera, and one letter to Zeref, her fiancé."

"In order to make sure that no one realised these letters were just a disguise, she placed some minor details that only these recipients understood." Levy took her turn to explain. "For example, in her letter to Queen Casseree, she told that she missed when they had to work hard to save money so that they could go and have a picnic at the dandelion field." She glanced at her audiences. They stared at her back, waited for her to continue her explanation. "Wendy told me that the queen never had picnic at dandelion field. It was lavender field." The audiences nodded. She turned to her husband. "Right, Gajeel?" she asked.

Every eyes turned to the young king. The question startled him. "Y – yeah," he stuttered. "I think," he added, almost whispered. Levy grinned. She knew that the eldest child wasn't listening to his mother's story.

"Mavis used her style of writing to hide the coded alphabets. See this little stroke above this alphabet?" Lucy pointed to one letter. "Compare to this one." She pointed to another one. The alphabets showed were the same, but the strokes above them had different lengths. "Take all these alphabets out, you'll get scrambled words."

U.U.S.G.A.T.

"Rearrange the alphabets according to its strokes. The shortest comes first, the longest comes last." Lucy let her audiences thought of the final word.

"August?" "August." Mirajane and Erza were the first ones to find the word.

"Yes, August," Lucy said. "He might be nobody around that time, but now, he made quite a name himself."

"Who was him again?" Every eye turned to the pink-haired prince. "What?"

Everyone then ignored him.

"Here are what the letters told us," Levy said.

BEWARE OF THESE PEOPLE. THEY MIGHT COME AFTER YOU. – Letters to Queen Casseree

MARD. HADES. THE ACNOLOGIA. – Letters to Zera

AUGUST. – Letter to Zeref

"Now that The Acnologia had disbanded, there should be another team involved. The attack in the town, one with Prince Natsu and one that made Prince Zeref killed," Laxus spoke. "We don't know who." The others nodded agreeing.

Knocks on the door switched their attentions. A soldier came in, bowed before the royals and then went straight to the blonde general. He whispered something, bowed and left. Laxus silent for a few seconds. He glanced at each male in the room and gestured his fingers to him. He went to the other side of the room, a bit far from the queen and the princess.

"Coordinator was seen in town this morning," he said, half-whispered. They gathered around, made a circle. "Invel Yura too."

"Invel Yura?!" Natsu shouted. Gajeel smacked him on his head, made the prince groaned. They glanced at the other crowd, caught Erza watching.

"We know Coordinator is hired to kill. But Invel Yura…" Laxus paused. "…he is loyal to Sir August."

"Then, we could say that August probably involved," Gajeel added.

The others nodded. "Definitely," Natsu said.

"When we thought about taking this issue to the Royal Council…" Gajeel crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, first thing first, get those princesses home safely. They shouldn't be here in the first place." The generals nodded. He nudged Natsu. "We should check our safe house." Natsu nodded. "And, double the security at the palace. And, Lord Loxar too."

They returned to the previous group. The women eyed them curiously, started when they had their isolated discussion.

"Alright, enough for today. Go wherever you want, do whatever you want. I don't care," Gajeel said, sat on his chair. The generals invited the others to leave. Left only Levy in the study.

"Are you alright?"

Gajeel watched until the last person left the room. He then walked up to his wife at the other side of the table.

"Do you want to go out?" he asked.

"Eh?" Confusion written all over her face. They were discussing about the threat to their country, and the next thing he invited her to go out.

"You must be bored just stayed inside the palace." He pulled her lightly by the hand and walked her to the door. "We have a house – a bit far from here – one we used as retreat. I'll take you there if you want."

She still couldn't understand with his sudden change of mood. Shouldn't they'd be discussing about national matter rather than thinking about retreat?

They stood at the door frame as him waiting for her answer.

"I don't think that's appropriate for now," she said.

At the same time, the other princesses were talking to their respective partners.

"You know, you have overstayed," the blonde started. The pair of blue eyes stared at him with confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Laxus narrowed his eyes.

"What do I mean? You've been staying here for too long. I'm planning to send you back. I'll prepare a team to ensure you're home safely," he explained.

"Why can't I stay here anymore? We haven't exposed that woman yet," she whined.

"You father would be curious why you're here for too long. And you're a princess, shouldn't you be doing your princess thingy? Not snooping into other people business. So, now pack your things. You'll be going first thing in the morning."

Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped him across his face. His ear rang. He was too stunned to move, but he could hear soft sobs.

"I – I t – thought …" He raised his face, had her blue eyes watered. Her tears dropped as she continued, "…I thought we have something. I…" She wiped her tears. "Excuse me, I can't – " She turned around and ran away.

Laxus was still too stunned to grasp what had happened. A touch on his shoulder made him turned to his left. A fist hit hard on his face made him pushed forward.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he screamed.

Erza didn't make any comment, glanced at him through her lashes before turned on her heels.

"Don't make a move if you're just pretending," Lucy said, glanced at him with disgust.

The two princesses ran after the white-haired. Levy who was talking to her husband immediately followed them. The males were shocked to see things that just happened, none of them said anything. Mirajane already far ahead but she could hear the commotion resulted from her action. She grinned, mentally flipped her hair.

XxxxxxXxxxxx

Thank you to all your supportive comments. I reread all the comments from the beginning, and I'm moved. Thank you for all your supports. This will come to an end soon. Please stay till the end.