Chapter 4 will be relatively short btw with a pretty long Author's note... The next part will be most of the celebration so that one is most likely gonna be pretty long mwahahha!

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

"It was a joke, calm down!" Gajeel doubled over in laughter.

"ANyways!" Levy slapped the laughing man. " Lu-chan, why are you with him?"

"O-oh well we met in town and I kind of insulted him a little… And then as an apology I took him out to lunch." Lucy was nervously twiddling with her thumbs while Natsu scratched the back of his neck. Her nervous behavior suddenly changed to one of a devious best friend. "Well, why are you with Gajeel in your shop?"

"I was helpin' her Bunny Girl." Gajeel bluntly stated while a blushing Levy hid her fiery face in her hands.

"The hell?! YOU'VE NEVER BEEN HELPFUL IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!" Natsu glared daggers at his brother.

"REally?" Gajeel raised a metal eyebrow. "Name one time I wasn't helpful!"

"Ahahaha!" Natsu frowned. "One time when we were 7 I fell off the roof and was bleeding on the ground and you didn't get help so I was bleeding all over the fucking ground while you laughed your ass off at me!"

"That was years ago you basta-"

"And another time, me and Gray had schoolwork we didn't finish and you wouldn't help us! The teacher kept hitting and hitting us and it was all your fault!" Natsu appeared to be releasing all the anger from his childhood, anger that most of the room couldn't understand why he still held a grudge about…

His brother rolled his eyes in exhaustion. "I said name one asshole, and we were 7! I didn't care if you bled or got in trouble with the teacher, I had my own issues to deal with."

"Really? Like what."

"Finding my real dad, dipshit. It'd be nice if you regard me as something other than an asshole once in a while. And frankly, I would've told you more about why I am how I am if you had maybe stopped being such an idiot 24/7."

"..." Silence filled the room. Natsu looked away from his brother.

"Sorry…"

"Listen, I had nothing against Dad, but I wanted to find my real dad so I could beat the shit out of him for abandoning me and then try to sort of repair my relationship with him. No idea what happened to my mother, but I don't really care." Gajeel's eyes became empty in the instant he said he didn't care. "I've spent the past 14 years with a part of me missing and it's been hell, so that's why I'm such an ass at home in case you were wondering." Gajeel's attention averted to the floor.

Natsu sat next to his brother. "Hey… I understand what you've gone thru! My mom died a long time ago and my dad… Well, he might be dead but the least I know is he's probably never coming back. I came to the castle last, and I had only been 6 when he left, but I have so many good memories with Igneel. I also feel conflicted about whether or not I'd want beat him up or hug him for old time's sake." Gajeel looked at Natsu with sympathetic eyes.

"At least we have something we can get along about." Natsu smiled back.

"Yeah… I guess we do!"

"OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO SWEET! I'M LITERALLY CRYING RIVERS HERE!" Lucy suddenly spoke up while rubbing many tears from her eyes.

"And we thought you two were going to kill each other but instead you had such a heartfelt moment. Oh my god… I can't even!" Levy blew into a tissue and cried with Lucy some more.

"WAIT YOU TWO ARE STILL HERE?" The brothers both shouted at the same time.

Levy looked at them in annoyance. "I own the place! Of course I'm still here!"

"Damn… She's grumpy after 6…."

"Gihi, the Shrimp's a tough one."

"It's Levy…."

"Oh well Shrimp, nice meetin' ya but we have to get back to the palace. Bye!" Gajeel walked out the door.

"Damn you Gajeel…" Levy mumbled under her breath.

"See ya Luce! It was fun hanging out with you! Happy had a good time!" Natsu grinned at the blonde while walking out the door. He paused before he left. "Wait, will we be seeing you guys at the palace in like a week?" Levy and Lucy looked at each other all knowingly.

"What event?" Lucy decided not to reveal to them that their friend Erza had already told them.

"Well… Our butler is having us meet suitors and shit at this dance-cotillion-ball thingy next week, I was wondering if you two are gonna go… It's open to everyone as long as you're dressed nice I guess…" Natsu added a little confused.

Maybe I'll give my sex appeal a try… Lucy bent over slightly to show off her part of her voluminous breasts, ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "I don't know… Maybe we'll see you there if you want us to…?" Lucy opened her eyes in a slow, flirtatious way.

Natsu looked confused. "Um… I guess if you want to but it's your choice I think… But whatever, see you Luigi!" Natsu ran after his brother.

"H-he didn't even blink!" Lucy fumed.

"I don't think playing hard to get works on the dense ones Lu-chan…" Levy laughed at her friend as she continued to fume over her failed flirting.

-At Week Later, In the Palace-

"Have you boys taken a shower yet?"

"Have you planned out your outfits?"

"Did you clean your hair?"

"Have you done anything?

"Has the chef started the food yet?"

"Does this dress make me look fat?"

"Are you even paying attention?!"

"Did you shave?"

"Are you doing anything?"

The answer from the boys were mostly yes (except the dress one) to Erza's million questions in preparation to the ball. Being the bossy woman she always is, Erza had been micromanaging everything since 5 am when she woke everyone up. Not even a fucking flower could go without being adjusted by Ms. Bitch Erza today.

"For the millionth time Erza, YES! Calm down! I'm already working my ass off following your damn orders." Natsu said while cleaning the floor of the Grand Hall.

"If today wasn't a special day, I would have come down and ripped you to shreds Natsu for giving me such attitude." Erza shouted from the kitchen.

"Natsu, give her a break… She's just stressed out about all this." Jellal said while polishing the railing of the staircase that descends to the Grand Hall where Natsu is currently cleaning.

"She could at least not be a bitch about it…"

"I HEARD THAT NATSU DRAGNEEL!" Erza was suddenly right behind the boy. She then examined his work on the Grand Hall. "Hm… Do it again!"

"FUCK YOU ERZA!" Erza restrained from killing him, again…

Jellal chuckled nervously. "Well then…"

-Outside-

"The sun just has to be shining today…" Gajeel growled while wiping sweat off his brow. Gajeel was assigned to clean the path and most of the outside as punishment for back talking.

"I don't feel anything…" Gray was currently weeding the garden and replanting flowers with Juvia. Gray was assigned maintaining the front lawn.

"Juvia don't either, Gray-sama!" Juvia was clearly enjoying working with Gray.

"Doesn't, Juvia, not don't in this case." Gray taught the blue haired woman.

"Juvia's got it Gray-sama!"

"GET A FUCKING ROOM!" Gajeel shouted from the front steps.

Just so you all know: Jellal is the oldest (19) and is the only birth child of the previous King and Queen, even if he was younger than his brothers, he would still have been King. Gajeel is the next oldest (18) and his dad has yet to be revealed. Gray is the second youngest and is 17, his parents (Silver and Mika for those of you who have caught up with the chapters of FT) have a fate yet to be determined by me. Natsu is the youngest, 17 but still younger than Gray. I have to figure out what happened to Igneel later lol.

Ms. Erza is 19, just like in Fairy Tail (before the timeskip of course). Juvia has recently turned 17 and is an orphan, and is Spanish btw. Lucy and Levy are both 16 (Lucy is the older one) and both still have their parents, Lucy still lives with hers while Levy went off on her own with her parents providing financial support and stuff. Lucy is close-ish with her dad and really close with her mom, Levy still has a relatively good relationship with her parents. What happened in Erza's past was like in FT, her parents were killed and stuff a long time ago and as a result she had to grow up really fast and blah blah blah. For Juvia, her parents are dead, I don't want to make it more of a big deal than it is hahaha. :-/

I'm writing this shit here because I don't feel like incorporating all of this with the story, it would bug me having to go on about the backstories of EVERYONE!

Sooo, if you would like you can comment a character you want to show up at the dance. I have quite a few in mind that will but if you want I can try to squeeze in a minor part for them.

Don't get butthurt if I don't put them in! Or I will be sad/mad.

Anyways, love you and here's a short chapter hahaha. Reviews are awesome and appreciated!

Much love,

~M Redfox

P.S. I will start responding to reviews in the next chapter. ;)