Crazy. On with the chapter.

Natsu groaned as a bit of sunshine peaked through the curtains. He didn't need to sleep as much as normal people but that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy it. He slowly pushed himself with an arm and ran a hand through his normally messy hair. He hadn't optionally slept in a bed in a while. He had his model turned barmaid friend to thank for that. She'd insisted he join her as her personal space heater. He had, of course, agreed. While he personally didn't care to sleep in a bed, Mira had essentially told him that he wasn't going to sleep on the couch given that he'd paid for the room. And on top of that, it was generally more comfortable that way anyway. He glanced around for his friend but found that she wasn't in bed. Made sense. She always was a bit of an early riser. His ears twitched as the sound of running water cut off. He wasn't tired but he flopped back down onto the bed anyway. Sometimes it felt good to just lounge in the sun.

Mira opened the door to observe her dragon slayer acting not unlike a lizard and grinned. He really wasn't a morning person but she'd only woken up half an hour later so she couldn't judge. She'd slept for an uncharacteristically long amount of time today but she blamed that on Natsu's natural aptitude to heat up spaces. Contrasted to the cool water of the pool, last night had been like heaven. She shook her head, banishing a thought about something else that could be like heaven. She went about her normal routine before stealing a glance at her salmon headed friend. He turned towards her and sent a sleepy grin. He was too cute for his own good.

"Something smells good," Natsu mumbled sleepily, running a hand through his hair to keep it out of his face.

"Probably just my lotion," Mirajane said absently. She didn't notice Natsu moving until his face was basically in her lap. She could feel his nose against her thigh as he breathed in.

"Not lotion," Natsu said drowsily as he curled up a bit, head still in her lap, "you smell good."

"Really laying it on thick huh?" She could practically hear the smile on his face as he pulled her a bit closer. Natsu didn't say anything but she could feel his breathing evening out. She stifled a giggle at her dragon slayer friend and let her back rest against the head board. She wouldn't mind sitting like this for a while. Many didn't peg the Demoness as a romantic type, not many new her as well as Natsu. After all, Erza had gotten a good many of her favorite romance novels from the she-devil. While both of their hearts were quite happy to sit there for several more hours, their stomachs were not.

Mirajane watched and giggled as Natsu wearily got up before trying to snuggle back into her lap, "Your stomach is telling you it's time to eat."

"Stomach is wrong," Natsu grumbled, "Sleep first."

Mirajane smiled as Natsu's eyes cracked open, "We can sleep later. Let's go eat."

Natsu groaned.


Natsu's ear twitched as he stared up at the castle. How he'd gone from peacefully enjoying his day with Mira to suddenly being questioned by the royal guard was beyond him. He rolled his eyes as the guards slapped him in cuffs. He glanced at Mirajane who just shrugged at him. He groaned as he recalled how they got into this situation. All he'd done was stop somebody from robbing a girl and some knight saw him holding the knife and thought he was trying to harm the girl. And of course, as was Natsu's luck, said girl happened to be the princess of the kingdom. Natsu had initially been excited before he'd had several spears pointed at him.

What really pissed him off was the way that both Mira and the girl attempted to explain the situation. The apparent princess was ignored and Mira was accused of being an accomplice. Luckily for them, they hadn't put cuffs on Mira as they had no real evidence against her. If they'd tried, Natsu imagined they'd have a few less hands to go around. His eyes narrowed as they (he) were pushed towards the castle. Natsu wasn't normally a spiteful person but he was a prideful creature and the way they'd ignored him annoyed him. If it wasn't for Mira's silent insistence, they'd probably have a good reason to arrest him. As one of the people had arrested him said, they had him on assaulting a citizen. If they weren't careful, it wouldn't just be one.

"How did she almost get mugged with all of you guys around?" Natsu grumbled. He was quickly told to be quiet under the threat of bodily harm. He had laughed boisterously at this and dared them to try it. Once again, Mira's silent plead placated him (at least for the moment). As they neared the castle, Natsu was quickly steered towards what seemed like a side entrance to some unmarked building. Wonderful. His nose told him that it wasn't going to be the most pleasant of places. He watched as one of the guards rushed ahead to open the large gates. Did they really think some crank gate was going to stop him?

His question was quickly answered as the gate swung open and Natsu was forcefully shoved inside. He rolled his eyes. Was this the best they had? The answer was yes as he was quickly shoved into a gated cell and locked in. The guards gruffly informed him that he would be questioned at a different time but he wasn't much paying attention. He was more concerned about where Mira and the princess had gone. Assuming they were being questioned, he should be released relatively soon. If he wasn't, well, he could just break himself out. Mira had mentioned that there were anti-magic cuffs that got used for particularly rambunctious mages and they hadn't exactly bothered to put those on him so he could essentially do whatever he wanted. What kind of idiots wouldn't use the best cuffs they had when apprehending criminals? Natsu shrugged it off though. Their gross incompetence was going to haunt them.

His ears told him that there was a guard outside of the gate and one at the end of the hall. Other than that though, there wasn't much in the way of security. Natsu grinned as he stared at his cuffs before frowning. Mira had asked him to be good. He stifled a groan and easily went and sat down on a small bench they'd provided in his cell. Natsu leaned back and pressed his back against the wall. He had nothing better to do other than sit there so naturally, his mind wandered. For some (completely understandable) reason, his mind seemed to dwell on his favorite barmaid. He smiled a bit as he recalled some of the high points of their relationship. Naturally, he wondered what their relationship would look like in the next few months. He grimaced as Acnologia's words popped up into his mind. He had promised to talk about it with her. He sighed and decided that he might as well be proactive about it.

It was interesting to him that as soon as he wasn't around her, she seemed to occupy his thoughts. Naturally, he understood why but that didn't change the fact that this was still a relatively foreign feeling to him. A very large portion of him wanted to talk to her about it. If he wasn't mistaken (and he was sure he wasn't), she seemed to share his sentiment. While he wasn't the most knowledgeable about human habits and feelings, he was sure that his feelings were reciprocated. It wouldn't make sense for her to do all of the things she did with him just to not share his feelings unless she was simply using him. He easily dismissed that thought. Mirajane wasn't like that in the slightest and she'd proved that. He wasn't about to let some small insecurity overwrite all the good she'd done for him.

Natsu was pulled out of his musings as he heard the crank gate shudder and swing open. Well, he was going to get out of this cell. One way or another. He rolled his eyes as a platoon of knights streamed into the cramped holding area. Somehow, his cell was more spacious than the corridor which several knights now stood in. He grinned as he watched them uncomfortably shuffle around, trying to find any free space. He did, however, notice one peculiar person who seemed to be parting the sea of knights. Natsu's grin widened as they struggled to move out of the way. Natsu soon was faced with a large knight with a rather pointy nose and highly angled cheek bones. He introduced himself as Arcadios (not that Natsu would remember that) and quickly unlocked the gate of his cell. Natsu rolled his eyes as he was ordered to stay where he was and put his hands out.

He watched in mild interest as one of what Natsu considered to be one of the more unfortunate rune knights rushed forward and pulled out a bulkier set of handcuffs. They had some weird crystal looking thing on them. He assumed these were those special magic cuffs but Natsu barely spared them a glance and instead chose to stare down the poor soul in front of him who'd been charged with cuffing him. The knight was sweating, and not just from his nerves. In fact, most of the knights seemed to be having a hard time. Natsu's eyes flashed as he held back a laugh. The poor knight could barely move.

"Something wrong?" Natsu asked nonchalantly as he stood up easily and held out his hands. The knight's eyes widened as Natsu slowly walked towards him with his arms out. If they wouldn't come to him, he'd go to them. Natsu stopped about a foot in front of him and stared down the bridge of his nose at him. He pulled his arms apart a bit. The chain of his handcuffs jingled a bit, "Go on. I don't bite."

Natsu almost felt sorry for the man in front of him. Almost. Natsu smirked as the knight quickly slapped and locked the new cuffs down around his wrists. Natsu's eyebrow raised as he saw the little crystal glow bright red before dimming. Were these supposed be doing something? He brushed it off. It was probably made for regular mages. He stopped himself from snickering as he thought about Gray struggling to use his magic in them. Natsu audibly laughed as he watched the knight scamper away before he was quickly ordered to be apprehended by the guy with the pointy nose. Natsu rolled his eyes as the other knights shuffled and looked around at each other.

"No need," Natsu drawled as he stepped towards the cell doors. The large man that had ordered him to be taken quickly pulled a sword on him and pointed it at his throat. Natsu easily sidestepped it and walked along the blade, tilting his head so the edge of the blade was pressed loosely against his neck, straight towards the pointy nosed man who seemed to have frozen, "Cute."

If that was the best they could muster, they had another thing coming. Natsu sighed, "Let's make this easy for both of us, yeah? I'll do whatever you want and you let me walk on my own. Deal?"

He would have offered his hand out but he was currently handcuffed. The large knight let out an audible breath and sheathed his blade. Well, this was going better than he'd hoped. Natsu was ordered to accompany the knight into the castle's courtroom. Natsu was unsure why the castle had a courtroom but shrugged it off and complied. The faster they went, the faster he could eat something and see Mirajane. Natsu's eyes narrowed a bit. Where was Mira? Ankhseram help them if she was harmed. He was quickly guided into a rather large circular chamber and then pushed into a seat in the middle of it. He drummed his fingers against his arms as several people started to fill into the seats placed around the chamber. Of course, most of them seemed to be elevated above him and Natsu noticed that he happened to be at the lowest point in the room, surrounded on essentially all sides by people.

His nose twitched as he smelled the familiar honeyed amber scent of his best friend and the vaguely familiar floral scent of the princess. He would have moved to try and look around him but he imagined it wouldn't be in his best interest, especially given the way that several guards seemed to be surrounding him. While they didn't have any weapons drawn, he could see the barely disguised hostility. He smirked as the sound of something wooden hit a bell. He imagined that court was now in session as they say. Now the question was, was this just a formality or was he going to be charged with something. To him, it didn't really matter what it was. Either way, the result would be the same.

"Please state your name," A voice rang out. Natsu slumped back into his seat and casually placed his hands behind his head.

"Natsu Dragneel."

"You've been accused of attempted assault against Princess Hisui of Fiore. What say you?" Natsu rolled his eyes as people started to murmur.

"I didn't do it," Natsu shrugged easily, "Have you asked her what happened?"

More murmurs and yet, no response. Natsu smirked a bit. This would be fun. He could wait. It took a minute before he heard any response, "The response of Princess Hisui was rejected due to emotional distress. Such matters are not fit for a princess."

"And what about what Mirajane Strauss's testimony?"

"Invalidated due to her close relationship with the accused."

"So what you're telling me," Natsu stood up and took a few steps towards the voice. Once again, he had several weapons pointed at him, "Is that you are ignoring the accounts of the two people who actually saw what happened?"

"Do not mistake it, Natsu Dragneel," the voice rang out again, "This accusation is purely formality. With or without it, you will be locked away as several guards claim to have witnessed what occurred. Do yourself a favor and take your punishment with the grace and regality of someone in your position."

"My position?" Natsu cocked his head and rolled his eyes. Natsu could see the top of the paunchy speakers head along with his beady eyes. For some reason, Natsu felt as if though the man slobbered incessantly whenever he spoke.

He sounded smug as he spoke, "You are the prince of the kingdom of Alvarez, are you not?"

Natsu grinned. Was that what Igneel had told them? "So you're aware of who I am and you're still choosing to take this path?"

"You say it as if there's some grand injustice about the situation. We've done nothing wrong. You committed a crime and you will be punished accordingly," Natsu could hear the contempt in his voice.

"Well," Natsu grinned up at the man, "Who's to say that my country will see it that way?"

The man blinked, "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm certain that my contingent of guards won't be too happy seeing the way that I was apprehended. Say what you will to the members of your court, but don't be stupid. My guards will report exactly what they saw, and when the king hears about this please be assured," Natsu grinned as he spoke, "There will be war."

Natsu could hear the blood drain from the man's face. If Natsu wasn't mistaken, Alvarez was a militaristic empire which worked in his favor all too well.

"You threaten us with nothing," Natsu could hear the strain in the man's laugh, "You have no guards and the king wouldn't dare muster an army."

Natsu smiled harshly, "Chance it then. Alvarez is militaristic. We have no need to muster an army. We already have one."

Natsu couldn't help but enjoy the grandiosity of his story. He was really outdoing himself. He heard Mira's exasperated sigh and quickly turned to look at her. She looked unharmed but was flanked by two separate guards and seemed quite uncomfortable. He winked at her before turning back towards the pudgy man. As far as Natsu was concerned, everything was going his way. Maybe he should push his luck a bit.

"Where is your king anyway?" Natsu asked casually, "I don't imagine he'd be too happy about all of this. Especially when you single handedly threaten the peace of his nation."

"Who's to say that you're not speaking to the king?" Natsu heard the uncertainty in his voice. He rolled his eyes.

"You know," Natsu said as he appeared next to the rotund judge. He casually leaned against the desk, "I really hate it when people lie to me."

"Th-this i-is an act of w-war," the man stuttered out.

"Look, I'll make you a deal. " Natsu grinned down at him as he pulled his hands apart, easily shattering his handcuffs before leaning down towards the man until he was staring him directly in the eyes, "Apologize and I'll just forget about all of this."

"Why would I e-ever agree to that?" the man seemed to be calming down. Natsu's grin grew.

"By my estimate, only about three fourths will go," Natsu blew on his nails.

"Three fourths? O-of what?"

"Of your population of course," Natsu laughed as he stood up before casually summoning a small ball of fire. He tossed it between his hands as he spoke, "To the other side if you understand what I'm saying."

Natsu watched as the man's previously pale complexion swelled and turned purple. Oh this was fun.

"You dare threaten Fiore? I'll have you killed," the man practically screamed. Natsu rolled his eyes as he was surrounded by guards. One particularly confident guard attempted to stab at him with a spear and Natsu simply watched it shatter against his skin. Several of the men took a few steps back. As Natsu turned his back, he heard the man's breathing hitch as he lunged at him. Natsu quickly spun around and grabbed him by the neck. He lifted him effortlessly.

"Cute," Natsu was sure the man would have responded had he been able to breath, "Well, I think I'm going to see myself out."

One brave soldier spoke up as Natsu dropped him, "You've just assaulted a citizen of Fiore. It is our duty to keep you here until you receive a proper trial."

Natsu's respect for the man grew as he continued to try to stop him. At least he continued to stand for what he believed in. Natsu's draconic side respected the man for that. If only more people could do what this man was. That made him lucky. Unluckily though, Natsu wasn't in the mood.

"Actually," Natsu said casually, "I've assaulted two."

The poor guard didn't have time to react before he put through a wall by Natsu's fist.