Italic = narrating

"Speak"

- Thought

"CAPS LOCK" = SCREAMING

Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail nor the original fairy tales


Jellal and the armor clad princess

While the exciting fight between Siegrain and Jura took place, Erza beamed with happiness as she faced her sisters.

"I'm very proud of you two, you've performed far beyond my expectations, Lucy, Juvia", Erza told her sisters. She looked them in the eyes. "I will be honest with you. I expected you to win at maximum two matches each, with a lot of luck. The fact that you've come this far with so little practice makes my heart swell with pride."

The younger sisters' faces shone with pride at being praised as their older sister pulled them in for a hug.

"It's just because of Erza-nee's amazing training", Juvia said shyly as she hugged her sisters back.

"No, my training was nothing extraordinary. It's because you both gave it your all", Erza said as she shook her head.

The sisters let go of each other and Erza smiled at them. "I can't wait to see how talented you can become when this is over and we can pick up practice again. I'm sure this has made you even more skilled than earlier."

Lucy felt a slight shiver down her spine as she thought about the fact that Erza had called the training they had had up 'till this point 'nothing special', meaning the training from now on probably would be just as tough. Erza could read her little sister's expression and laughed a little, seeing her look of something that could be described as horror. Lucy had never had much of a poker-face.

"Don't worry, training from now on will feel easier as you'll be more used to it."

"Somehow I doubt that", Lucy muttered to which both of her sisters laughed and the three of them sat down while waiting for the current match to end.

The three conversed on light topics until they heard the referee speak up. They were about to stand when they realized that no winner had been called after all. Confused, the three of them looked at each other and a moment later they heard who won the first quarterfinal. The three sisters stood up with their helmets in hand, preparing themselves if they would be called next. Lucy grabbed Juvia's hand and the elder sister clutched the hand gently as she gave an encouraging smile to her younger sister.

"Next up is Ezra Titan and Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki", they seemed to have a bit of trouble pronouncing Erza's opponent's name correctly.

"Good luck, Erza", Lucy said cheerfully to her sister. "Erza…?"

- Of all people, why him?

Erza was not someone who easily felt troubled, but there was one person who really got under her skin. She had not noticed his name being called before, so now she was frozen with an expression that could only be described as disgust.

"Erza! You're up, put on your helmet and kick his stinky ass!" Lucy shook her sister lightly, well aware of Erza's feelings for her opponent. He was a wealthy duke who had asked for Erza's hand several times and all of the royal family disliked the man – including the king.

Erza nodded, resolute to do just as her sister had suggested. Putting her helmet back on, Erza pushed the door open and entered the field. Already unsheathing her sword, she calmly noticed that Freed was the referee this time. Generally, Ichiya was a disliked man. The one who might not let their own feelings affect the outcome of their decision making was in fact Freed which made Erza glad he was the referee this time. She wanted to beat Ichiya fair. No, it didn't even have to be fair. She just had to beat him, because there was no way she would marry that man.

"Men! I shall defeat you and then marry my honey!"

No, there was no way she would marry that man. Erza had to suppress a shudder of disgust. Not answering Ichiya, she looked at Freed, waiting for his signal so she could defeat Ichiya quickly, hopefully by inflicting him some sort of pain – of course she would not aim to hurt him on purpose but an accident could occur…

"Are the two of you ready? Stick to the rules. Begin."

Erza lunged before Ichiya had a chance to move. Quickly sticking the end of the handle to his chest, she actually managed to dent his armor as she sent him flying. Seemed as if the disgust the man filled her with gave her strength.

"Winner, Ezra Titan", Freed called and Erza blinked in surprise. She looked over at Ichiya and noticed that the man dropped his sword when falling.

How did he make it this far?

Returning to the waiting area, Erza's sisters applauded her.

"That's amazing Erza! You ended the match that quickly, and we're in the quarterfinals! You truly are unbeatable!" Lucy said enthusiastically.

"Erza-nee's amazing!" Juvia agreed whole-heartedly.

"You two could have won just as easily, Ichiya had nothing to do here – he must have had som incredible luck managing to getting this far. I finished it with one punch", Erza shook her head in amazement at how the man had even managed to stay this long.

"Well you're still amazing, none the less!" Lucy smiled and Juvia nodded in agreement.

Erza smiled. "Ready yourselves, you could be next."

And just as Erza had thought, next up was indeed one of her sisters.

"Good luck", Juvia and Erza said to Lucy at the same time.

With slightly shaking hands, Lucy put on her helmet again and entered the field, preparing herself for meeting one of the top eight in the tournament. Waiting in the middle of the court was Laxus, looking extremely bored. However he did look as such most of the time and she figured it had nothing to do with either her nor her opponent, a slender man with a walk that looked like he didn't have a worry in the world.

Stopping in the middle, Lucy noticed that the man wasn't much taller than her, which meant her height wouldn't be too much of a disadvantage in the match.

"Prepare for fight", Laxus said bored and both contestants unsheathed their swords. "Begin."

Lucy was used to fighting those stronger than her. As a woman fighting men, she was bound to be weaker than them and this time was no exception. After all, she had less muscle-mass than a man and besides she hadn't been working out much in her life. But even if she was weaker, she had found a successful way to block her opponents' strikes.

Her arms shook slightly from the effort of blocking the man's sword. They stood close up to each other as Lucy blocked with her sword close to her body, the way she had found most effective.

Suddenly, the man spoke up: "You smell weird."

"Pervert", Lucy shrieked in surprise and jumped back, pushing his sword away from her.

"You sure sound funny too", the man continued in the same easy-going voice. Lucy barely believed her ears.

"Decide whether to fight or talk", she said, trying to make her voice darker.

The man laughed. "That's even weirder", he quickly collected himself. "Fight, I won't let my brother down."

- I also have someone I don't want to let down, Lucy thought as she jumped sideways to avoid the man's slash.

She was surprised to notice how recklessly he fought. His style was very different from the one Erza had taught her. While Erza said it was better to keep the sword closer to the body in order to have more control, Lucy's opponent now swung his sword in wide movements. Perhaps that gave him more power, but it also left him more unguarded. But if he was to hit her with the sword, swinging it like that, there was a big chance she would drop her own.


Hope you liked it, leave a review and let me know if you feel up for it :)

To my guest review Anon: I'm glad you like the story, thanks a lot for reviewing! ^-^