Greetings, all. Please enjoy this new chapter. Happy Holidays.

Disclaimer: I am not Hiro Mashima.

When Lucy opened her eyes for the first time in over a decade, she found herself faced with—not a Prince Charming, oh no—but a scruffy teenager in sandals, an open vest, and white snakeskin scarf. He had dyed his hair pink, of all things. Pink.

He also looked oddly shocked to see her, considering he had just faced down a dragon to get here.

"Natsu? You understand that we're going to die, right? I want my last meal to be fish," said a childish voice from someone near the floor.

Lucy looked down. A cat. He had brought his talking blue cat, who was apparently a defeatist. Even better.

She looked back at her rescuer. His shocked expression was quickly turning to one of horror. Lucy looked down at herself, just to be sure there wasn't a sword sticking out of her or something. There wasn't.

The hinges of the room's iron-bound door creaked.

He cringed violently, and collapsed to cower on the floor: "PLEASE, IT'S NOT MY FAULT! HAPPY TRIPPED ME, AND NOW THE PRINCESS IS AWAKE, AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT HAPPENED, I SWEAR! MERCY, I BEG YOU! MERCY!"

Lucy blinked, looked at the empty doorway, and blinked again. Then she sighed. The poor boy was obviously insane, but he must be frighteningly strong to have slain a full grown dragon. She'd have to be clever if she wanted to get away.

"Excuse me, your highness?" she said, as gently as she could. When he glanced up through his fingers, green eyes wide and terrified, she gave him her most winning smile. "I don't think you should worry about this person just yet. I imagine it will take him some time to arrive."

He looked at the empty doorway. "Oh. Oh, good point. Maybe she hasn't found out yet. Maybe we can keep it a secret."

"Sure," she said agreeably. "Fair prince, may I have the honor of your name?"

The pink-haired teenager looked at her strangely for a moment, then his face split in toothy, infectious grin and he laughed, "Oh, I'm not a prince! I'm the dragon!"

Her smile froze. Great.

"I—I see. Forgive my confusion, but aren't dragons typically…larger? With scales? Also, four legs and wings?

He grinned even bigger and clasped his hands behind his head. "Yup! That was my dad, Igneel the fire dragon! He's not here right now though, so I'm standing in for him. I'm Natsu!"

"Of course," she said faintly. "Your father's lucky to have a son to do things like that for him. I'm sure he's very proud."

She looked around surreptitiously. Two suits of armor flanked her canopied bed, their noble helmets aimed fearsomely at the door. That would do.

"Well, Sir Dragon," she announced, standing and brushing off her already pristine dress. "Since I have awoken, I hereby declare your duties fulfilled. I must now depart and return to my kingdom, but I vow that you will be richly rewarded for your years of faithful service."

He looked at her blankly, grin fading a little. Lucy turned toward the door. "Hang on," he said, jumping to his feet. "You can't—"

Quick as a flash, Lucy spun and lunged toward the suit of armor. The heavy metal gauntlet came loose in her hand, and she swung with all her might.

Crack!

She struck a perfect knockout blow right across the wannabe dragon's jaw. The look on his face as he went down would have made Lucy laugh, if she hadn't been terrified for her life.

"Natsu!" cried the cat.

Lucy hitched up her skirts and bolted for the door. Down the curving staircase she ran, thin white slippers slapping frantically against the rough stone. She was panting by the time she reached the bottom. Over a decade of sleep hadn't done any favors for her cardio.

She hadn't made it more than halfway down the corridor before she heard a loud bang—like a heavy wooden door slamming closed—and the scuffing of sandals on stone.

The voice that filtered down to her ears was definitely whining: "That really hurt, Happy. Why'd she have to hit me like that?"

"Your face must have scared her, Natsu. Wait until Gray finds out that you got knocked out by a Princess."

"Only for a second," he protested. Then, "Hey! There's nothing wrong with my face!"

"You're right. It was probably your hair."

What kind of monster is he? Lucy wondered. He wasn't even out for a minute!

She reached the end of the corridor and found herself at an intersection. She chose the left fork and kept running. Eventually she reached a wide balcony that encircled the second level of an echoing Great Hall.

She turned the corner and launched herself down the stairs…too quickly to avoid the person coming up them.

She only caught a glimpse of the stranger— a high-collared coat, rings on his fingers, a sly smile. Then she crashed into him full-tilt, and they tumbled together down the marble steps.

She landed elbows first on top of him and lay there for a moment, stunned. She'd regained the use of her body for all of five minutes and already bruised herself all over. Just great.

The stranger wheezed, and Lucy scrambled off.

"My deepest apologies good sir," she said. She helped him into a sitting position, checking for obvious injuries. She didn't see anything, although he was moaning as if his wounds were mortal. Maybe under his hair? She checked, running her fingers lightly over his skull for lumps or the warm dampness of blood, but all she found among the bluish strands was an overabundance of hair product and a tattoo on his forehead: two crescents back to back. He did, however, rouse slightly under her touch.

"Fair princess," he gasped weakly, groping for her hand. "Bless the stars you are not injured! Under your tender ministrations, I may return even from the brink of death! Please, a kiss to—"

"Yes, yes, perhaps in a bit—" she cut him off. Now that he was lucid, she wiped her gel-sticky fingers on his pants and began tugging him to his feet. "We must make haste. I was fleeing—"

The distant rhythm of sandals on stone—which had quickened from a plod to a sprint at the sound of her fall—suddenly rang clear as Natsu rounded the corner onto the balcony.

"Lucy!" he yelled. He couldn't yet see them crouched beneath the marble balustrade. "I heard a crash! Are you hurt? Stay where you are and I'll—"

The stranger bolted, nearly dislocating Lucy's arm in a sudden mad dash for the sunlit gateway.

"Ow!" She tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp.

A fireball exploded in the space between them and the gate. Heat blasted outward. A wall of fire leap up and spread, blocking off their avenue of escape. Within the flame crouched a dark shape, carried forty feet through the air by an inhuman leap.

"Let her go," growled the figure in the flame.

Son of the fire dragon, Natsu had called himself. A teenager with pink hair, who cowered at slamming doors and couldn't be bothered with an undershirt. Not such a ludicrous claim now, when he wore crown and cloak of hellfire, when it gathered in his fists and raged at his command.

The wind changed. An errant gust caught the fire, and it flared across the stone towards her slippered feet. Lucy cried out in terror.

"You're HURTING HER!" roared Natsu. "LET HER GO!"

The stranger pulled her close instead. "Never fear, sweet princess," he whispered in her ear. "I shall see you safely free of this beast."

The words were comforting. The arm wrapped presumptuously low about her hips was not.

"Quake in fear, dragonspawn!" he called. His long coat billowed dramatically as gestured. "For I am the one they call Titan, King of the Fairies! I am Erza, of Fairy Tail! Taste the wrath of my Flame Emperor's Armor!"

A ring on his hand flashed, and a wave of purple fire blasted Natsu back across the courtyard. Huh…I thought it would be a requipping spell. The name must be metaphorical, she thought and filed the information away as something to research later.

Suddenly a writing tendril of the same purple spell-fire wrapped around them both and whisked them in the opposite direction.

"But the exit…" she protested.

"Hush, Princess. Brutes like that have no care for chivalry, and I cannot risk your safety in pitched battle. We will seek out another exit."

Lucy squirmed. He was holding her uncomfortably close, so that their bodies were pressed chest to chest. And…had he just told her to hush?

Relax, Lucy, she told herself. He's the dashing hero, and this is his role. Worry about boundaries later.

Whatever else it may have been, the purple fire was fast. It zipped around corners and jumped stairways until Lucy was totally lost. Finally it set them down in a low-ceilinged servants' corridor where the only decoration was a lone tapestry depicting an absurdly tiny man in a jester's hat and fairy-patterned pajamas. She wondered at the significance of the many shattered teacups beneath his belled shoes.

"Fair princess, it seems we have a moment of brief respite," said Erza—no, King Erza—as he cupped her chin with one un-calloused hand. This close, Lucy noticed that her rescuer had a rather weak chin and small, cunning eyes. She stepped back, and her shoulders touched the wall behind her.

"We should take advantage…."

His eyes traced her lips, and he stepped even closer. Light flashed from one of his many rings.

"…and get to know each other better…"

Lucy gasped. How had she ever thought such a chin to be weak? It was…it was unique. Noble, even. And those eyes…such wisdom, such intelligence. Those lips…not sly, but knowing. He could see her desire for him. It was embarrassingly obvious. She looked away, humiliation rising red in her cheeks. How could a naïve little girl like her face a man such as he? He probably thought her prudish and boring in this ridiculously long gown. Desperately, she wished it were shorter. No…she knew...she would prove herself, show him some small gesture of her devotion. She fumbled for the buttons at the neck of her gown.

A voice echoed down the hall: "Man, Happy, that was some really disgusting fire. I've never eaten anything that nasty. I can still tasthe ith thoo." The last words were lisped, as if the speaker were trying to wipe off their tongue.

"Eating fish would make it better."

Fish? She wondered if King Erza liked fish...

Her gaze fell on one of his rings: it bore a heart-shaped ruby, its magical core pulsing with-

Lucy snapped back to her senses. A love spell! She recognized it from her magic books.

He had not noticed her stiffen. He continued to press closer, his eyes fixed greedily on her cleavage. How dare he use magic like that!? On her, no less!

She kicked him in the balls. It was instinct, really, but the way his eyes crossed and his knees buckled, well…it made her feel much better.

She opened her mouth to scream: she'd rather face a real dragon than this sick pervert. A crazy fire mage couldn't be so bad.

But King Erza gestured sharply, and his spellfire snaked around her mouth and throat. It bound her wrists and ankles too. She tried to hobble and fell to her knees.

"None of that now, Princess."

He grabbed her and manhandled her through the nearest door, which turned out to a musty supply closet. She struggled in the close darkness, fighting to scream through her magical gag or kick something over. Anything to make a noise. Erza—as he was certainly not a real King—grabbed her shoulders and gave her a good hard shake. Her head cracked against the stone. Stars exploded in the darkness.

He pressed her now unresisting body against the wall with his own, thereby freeing his hands to hunt through his pockets. He wasn't careful about it either. His knuckles kept grazing her belly and thighs.

Lucy couldn't help it. She started crying, tears of helpless rage. The purple spellfire sparked where her tears fell. Natsu was right. It tasted terrible.

Erza found what he was looking for: a silver flask that he pulled from his breast pocket. He uncapped it and pinched her nose. The lip of the flask slipped past her gag with no resistance. She jerked her head to the side, and some of the liquid splattered to the floor.

"Now, now, Princess, drink up," he hissed. "I think you need a little more beauty sleep."

"You know the other thing about that fire, Happy?" said Natsu's voice, right outside the door. "It stinks."

The door was torn off its hinges in an explosion of splinters and half-molten metal. Natsu seized Erza by the back of his high-collared coat, yanked him off Lucy, and slammed him against the far wall so hard the stone cracked.

"I can smell it from halfway across the castle."

His right fist ignited.

"By the way, you creep? Erza of Fairy Tail is a girl."

Natsu drove his arm through the wall, along with the Erza imposter's face. The rest of him followed, blasted through the wall of the next room, and continued into the empty air over the castle's western cliff face. His scream did not end, merely faded from earshot.

Lucy's restraints disappeared and she crumpled to the ground with a sob.

Natsu rushed forward: "Lucy! Lucy, are you alright? Did he—"

She scrambled back: "Don't touch me!"

He stopped short.

The strap of her dress had ripped in the struggle. With shaking hands, she smoothed it back into place over and over. It wouldn't stay, so finally she just held it there, wrapped her arms around her knees, and sobbed. Part of her shouted for her to get up, stop crying, and deal with this new threat, but Natsu was just standing there wringing his hands, so she ignored that part and let herself cry.

"Happy, what's wrong with her? Does she need a doctor?"

The little blue cat trotted over. It peered up at her with its curiously round eyes, waved its paw under her nose, and patted her knee.

"Do you want any fish?" it asked.

She ignored it. She was shivering, she realized. Tremors shook her entire body like they would never stop. Even her teeth were chattering.

"I think she's broken," said the cat.

She'd lain patiently in her cursed sleep, dreaming of the day she could wake up and rejoin the real world. There was supposed to be a prince who'd fought a dragon just for the chance of meeting her, a father anxiously waiting for her at home, a whole country of real, living people that she could interact with. Not this…this horrible place full of evil men and monsters.

If this was the waking world, then she wanted to go back to sleep. Back to dreaming. She rocked back and forth, willing it to happen. Go to sleep, back to sleep. It isn't real.

Something warm settled across her shoulders. She flinched, but it was just cloth. Natsu had draped his vest over her shoulders, being careful not to touch her. He turned and clambered through the hole in the wall.

Moments later, the clattering of pots and pans declared the room beyond to be a kitchen. His voice drifted dimly through the opening.

"Happy, have you ever made tea before?"

"Aye!"

"Great! How do you do it?"

"No idea."

"Me neither."

"Why don't you give her some milk?"

"It has to be tea, I think. Tea is what you give people to calm them down. It's like medicine."

"Oh. What about that stuff Cana drinks?"

Two heads—one pink, one blue and furry—slid into view beyond the hole in the wall. They stared at her until she shifted uncomfortably.

"Does Lucy seem like that kind of person to you?"

"Aye. But we don't have any of that stuff. If we did, Cana would have drank it all."

"Then why'd you even bring it up?"

After twenty minutes and at least two great crashes, like a row of pots being knocked off their hooks, the clang of metal on metal finally fell silent. Natsu returned and placed a teacup and saucer proudly on the ground by her elbow. Inside, a fistful of tea leaves floated in two inches of tepid water. Lucy stared at it, then at their two expectant faces. She hiccupped. Natsu shifted the saucer a little closer.

Finally, she unclenched her arms to lift the teacup. Her hands were shaking so bad it threatened so spill everywhere. Natsu moved to help her steady the cup, but she jerked away and slopped it all over her forearms. Finally, she took a tiny sip.

"So?" Natsu leaned forward. "Do you feel better now?"

Lucy sniffled, then burst once more into tears. This time, she didn't stop Natsu when he attempted an awkward pat on the knee, nor did she shrink away when he moved to sit beside her against the wall. He gave off heat like her fire in The Library, and she found herself canting toward the warmth until her head rested on his shoulder. Happy crawled into her lap and curled against her abdomen, purring for all it—he—was worth.

"There, there," he said, alternating gentle pats on her head with encouraging motions toward the tea. The former she tolerated; the latter she pointedly ignored. "It's okay. Was it that guy? Do you want me to go and beat him up some more? Are you mad that I woke you up early? I said I was sorry, so don't be mad. Is the tea that bad?"

He seemed to grow more desperate as her tears show no sign of abating.

"Is it me? Am I annoying you? Is it Happy? You're not allergic to cats or anything, right? Umm…are you homesick? Because you don't have to stay here, you know. If it'll make you feel better, I'll take you home to see your Dad. You miss your Dad, don't you?"

That last part caught her attention.

"Home?" she sniffled. "You'll let me go home?"

Relieved that she's finally responding, Natsu nodded so vigorously that the fringes of his scarf bounced against her nose.

"If it'll make you feel better, Luce. I mean, Erza's going to kill me anyway…Not that fake Erza from earlier, the real one. She's way scarier."

He shuddered.

Lucy frowned and chewed her lip. Well, she couldn't let him be executed. Even if Natsu had helped her captor by guarding the castle, he was only fulfilling his father's promise. And in a way, she owed him a debt. Who knew how many men like the fake-Erza had invaded the castle over the years, men whose…nefarious intentions Natsu had protected her from? It was only right that she now defend him in turn.

"This Erza…could she be convinced to spare you? My father, the King, I'm sure I could convince him to offer payment…"

"I don't know. I don't think she needs money." Natsu looked at the purring cat in her lap. "Happy, what do you think?

"Well…the curse was supposed to break when Lucy turned eighteen, right? If she stays here until then, maybe Erza won't ever find out."

"It's worth a shot, I guess…"

Lucy swallowed. Her eighteenth birthday was months away, and she wanted nothing more than to go home and leave this nightmare behind. But…she was a princess, and royalty had responsibilities. Hers began here, with Natsu.

"Then it's settled," she said. She scrubbed the tears from her face. "I'll stay for now."

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