Chapter Seven:

Three hours later, I had finally gotten out of the infirmary. Wendy fussed over me until she deemed me okay to move, and I walked out of the guild and was greeted by the moon and the stars.

"Beautiful." I murmured, glancing up at the twinkling lights. I began to walk to Fairy Hills. I had the sensation that I was being followed, but I could not see nor hear anyone near me. I stopped and turned around at least a hundred times. I was starting to get a little freaked out. The next time I turned, I caught a glimpse of black going around the corner into an alleyway, and decided to make my move. I crept towards the entrance of the alley, sliding along the wall of the bakery. I heard a slight rustle before a head peeked out, the person looking at where I was just standing before snapping their head towards where I was standing. I halted my steps, my eyes wider than before.

"Laxus?" I questioned, relieved it was him. Wait, why was I relieved? I had just caught him stalking me.

"Uh-you-what are you doing here?" he asked weakly.

"Why are you following me?" I felt my face turn to a scowl.

"I-I'm not." his stutter completely gave him away.

"You are. Now tell me, or I'll force it out of you." I tightened my fists, my pathetic threat hanging in the air between us.

"It's nothing weird, I was just making sure you don't pass out on the way home." he muttered.

"I'm f-fine." my tongue tripped over the words. "I thought you didn't care." I felt a bit petulant around this man. He made me want to tease him, but he didn't really seem to annoy me… A weird feeling started in my chest.

"I do care." he looked down at his feet. "I've gotta go. Bye." he turned away and started a brisk pace, leaving me to admire his silhouette. What the hell was wrong with him? He was supposed to be this big, scary brute, but he really seemed nice and thoughtful. I turned away once his figure disappeared. I got to my room without passing out or getting a dizzy spell.

I took down my hair and brushed through it, then changed into some pajamas and cleaned my room a bit. I looked out my window at the stars again, but in my peripheral view I could have sworn I saw a flash of light. I stared at where I thought it was, but I must have just been paranoid. Maybe a storm was off in the distance? No, I thought, I would know if there was one nearby. I closed the white gauzy curtains and crawled into my bed. I felt overly-sensitive, like there was someone outside my window. But I forced myself to close my eyes and ignore the feeling. It didn't feel menacing, it was... comforting. As I drifted off, I thought I saw a flash again.

…..

"Mari!" Lucy called as soon as I walked into the guild hall the a few days later. "I need to talk to you!" I made my way over to the table she was at. The card mage, Cana was sitting with her.

"What do you need?" I asked.

"Well, Cana actually…" she was interrupted by the brunette mage.

"It's about the cards." Cana gestured to the deck. "This morning, as I usually do, I drew a few cards to see how the day would turn out and… Just let me show you." her hands skillfully cut the deck, and she shuffled them before separating them into three piles. "Take the first three cards and put them face up." she told me, so I went along with it. This silly game was a little boring to me, and I didn't understand why she was having me do it. "There, see? These cards read for trouble. The dragon, the water-bearer, and the ace of wands. The dragon shows there is a great force, the water-bearer has something to do with either you or Juvia, and the ace of wands… it reads for danger and uncertainty. I just - I don't understand what they're trying to tell me." she finished her words with a frustrated tone, my jaw going slack.

"Does this have something to do with…" I finished the thought in my head. Laxus wouldn't cause danger, would he? Before my thought could finish, a cup crashed to the ground as the floor began to shake. The few mages in the guild stood to their feet, and fleetingly I saw Laxus appear on the second floor. The tremors were not coming from him. I turned to the doors as they swung open, the rumbling stopping.

"Fairy Tail mages. Turn over the Princess." a man called out. One of his eyes was an intense gold, but the other was covered with an eyepatch. He had weathered skin and a scraggly beard, and even had a peg leg. Pirates still existed?

"Are you talking about Lucy? We've been over that the Heartfilia's aren't royalty!" someone called out. Confusion spread through the room.

"Not the Celestial mage. The female dragonslayer. Mari Liah. She is the Princess of the Liah kingdom." my fists clenched at his words. I was not. The Liah kingdom was gone.

"The Liah kingdom was destroyed." I heard someone call from above. The guild turned to look at Laxus, towering over us all, giving off a feeling of authority. He had a dark look in his eyes. "I suggest you take your nonsense story somewhere else. There is no girl of that name here."

"I call bullshit." another person appeared in the doorway. A woman with the same gold eyes and scraggly black hair stepped around the first man. "I can smell her, I can see her. She is coming with us." in a flash, another person entered the guild. They flitted through the building before I could react. Suddenly, my arms were being held in a tight grip.

"Mari!" Lucy attempted to push the person away, but was thrown back by a swift kick to the side.

"Lucy!" I gasped back, wrenching my arms. The mystery attacker behind me held their grip easily. "Let me go!" I demanded, attempting to pull myself from their hands.

"She's coming with us." the woman in the doorway repeated with a smirk before stalking out.

"Fire dragon's roar!" I heard, then saw flames flying from Natsu's mouth and at the two people in the doorway. The man was knocked to the ground, but the woman managed to dodge.

"You.. would dare raise a hand at the King of Liah?!" she screeched, rushing to help him up. "Gordon, let's go!" Gordon, I assumed, began to march me from the building. I thrashed around before realizing my best bet was to liquify and escape, but Laxus stepped in before I could do anything.

"Let her go." he was suddenly in front of us, addressing Gordon.

"You do not have a say in the matter." the person behind me spoke.

"I think I do. As the master of this guild is not here at the moment, I am assuming his duties. And I say she isn't going with you." he almost snarled.

"I think that I have more of a say than either of you. And I think you should let me go." I wrenched my arms again, successfully breaking his hold. I turned to face the man who was trying to capture me. He had black hair and gold eyes, a wicked grin gleaming on his face.

"Get outta here." Laxus grumbled. I shot him a look before shooting a stream of water into Gordon's face, his gargling sound was music to my ears. I let up on the water and he stumbled forward a bit, so I gave him a good kick in the gut. Suddenly, Lucy's spirit Virgo was behind him, some magic-cancelling cuffs securing his wrists behind his back. I noticed the two people that accompanied him had been captured as well.

"I'll take them to the holding room for questioning." Virgo drilled a hole into the floor of the guild and tossed the three into it. That's one way of taking care of them I thought as she produced an iron grate out of nowhere and placed it over her "cell".

"We should wait until Master gets back before we do anything." Erza spoke to the whole guild, her hands on her hips. She gave off an intimidating aura. There were a few murmurs of agreement before a few people shuffled out. Some complained about the ruckus so early, and I felt quite embarrassed about it.

"Princess, I will go back to the spirit world now. Shall I get punishment next time?" I heard Virgo ask Lucy. I tuned out their conversation and turned to Laxus, who was scowling down at the grate.

"Thank you for your help." I told him with a slight bow.

"You're one of the Fairy Tail mages, letting you get taken away would look bad for us." he gruffly turned away. My face continued to be impassive, but I felt a tightening in my chest. I did not really feel angry, I just was hurt that he brushed me off.

"Understandable." I frowned, and he started walking away. I looked down at the grate and saw the three people grinning lecherously at me.

"Mari-chan, could you come here a minute?" I saw the blue-haired script mage motion me over to the back corner. I followed her to a table where Lucy, Cana, Natsu, the black haired mage with piercings, and Gray sat.

"Hey Mari, we wanted to talk to you about… uh, those people." Lucy said in a low voice.

"I do not know them." I shook my head, taking a seat next to Natsu and Happy.

"Well, Lu-chan and I think we figured out something. See, since you've joined the guild, I've been researching the fall of Liah." Levy cut in.

"Yeah? What's that have to do with mermaid-wannabe over here?" the man with piercings drawled, leaning back with his arm resting on the chair behind Levy.

"She's the next in line for the throne." Lucy explained. He squinted at me.

"Doesn't look much like a princess."

"To be fair, I didn't know I was a princess until Lucy told me." I shot back, feeling a bit irritated with his attitude.

"Gajeel, just let me finish." Levy sighed at him. I squinted at him this time, letting myself smell his aroma. That hint of dragon that was buried underneath all the tang of metal was hard to distinguish. This was the third dragon slayer of Fairy Tail? I felt my face show my disdain. What a rude man.

"Go on then, shrimp." he grunted.

"So, I was wondering what had happened to the rest of the royal family. I did a lot of research and went through the archives of the royal library - well, what hadn't been incinerated, and I found out that there was a lot of... unrest going on. Before the fire had started. Do you remember anything from your childhood?" she asked me.

"The first thing I remember was being woken up by my dragon." I leaned forward a bit. "Why, what was going on?" I asked.

"Well apparently, your father was making deals with Acnologia." I sat up quickly at her blunt announcement. "Zeref and Acnologia were both helping your father to get eternal life. He didn't want to hand off the throne, so the night that Liah was destroyed was the night that the magic transfusion was going to take place. Zeref was planning to transfer his life into your father's body, along with your mother and your brother. They planned to give you eternal life, on your eighteenth birthday.

Unfortunately… The transfusion failed. The lacrimas were filled with a form of dark magic, and once they were placed inside your family's bodies, they turned them evil. The magic did not give them magic powers, instead it made them go insane. There isn't much record on how long they will survive, since they were supposed to immortalize them, but taking out the lacrimas would kill them.

Lucy and I talked and… Well, we think that the three people who came here are your family. The king, queen, and prince of Liah. And they've come to take you back for your eighteenth birthday. It's supposed to take place in one week." She finished. I felt my mind fill with things to say, but when I opened my mouth nothing would come out.

"That's - it can't be - My family?" I stuttered.

"It's just a theory. All the numbers add up, your age is right, they know about the magic spells. The only thing that looks wrong is their appearances. The dark magic altered their appearances. Their once silver hair is black and their blue eyes are now gold. They are willing to take down everybody to get you to be one of them, Mari." Lucy grabbed my hand and I saw fear in her eyes. "This is what was said in Cana's cards, I can feel it."

"I think you guys are right." Laxus appeared behind me. I jumped a bit, but relaxed when he put his hand on my shoulder. "When gramps gets back we'll all talk to him about this. He should be back in a few days, but I think Mari should be on watch at all times in case there's more crazies wanting her. The magic in their lacrimas is powerful enough to infect people around them. I can feel its pull." he lightly squeezed my shoulder.

"Laxus, you should stay with her. You're the most powerful out of all of us, and those cards don't spell anything good coming out of this." Cana sounded tired. She was nervously shuffling the deck with one hand, the other keeping a steady stream of wine glugging from the barrel into her mouth.

"Alright. Go pack a bag, I'll meet you back here. Lucy, could we maybe do a disguise? I don't want her in the guild with these things. If what Levy said is true, they won't stop until they get her. I'm going to take her out of town for a few days."

"Days?!" I stood. Laxus nervously looked at the grate before swiftly grabbing my arm and dragging me out of the guild.

"Meet us at Fairy Hills!" he shouted to Lucy. "They can hear us in their. Come on." he pulled me in the direction of Fairy Hills.

"I don't understand why you're taking me." I growled out. Geez, there was that childish tone in my voice again.

"Can't you just understand that I want to protect you?" his gravelly voice stopped my feet, and he was forced to tug my arm again.

"Why does it matter what the guild would look like if I got taken by my own family?" I asked.

"Ugh, just shut it." he grumbled.

"No, I'm being taken by a stranger for a reason I can't understand, I think I have the right to know!" I felt the defiance show on my usually inexpressive face, and he paused to think.

"We're both dragon slayers. That's rare enough in its own way, but you're a female. That's even more rare. And my dragon inside me is saying that I need to protect you. I feel like if you get hurt or some shit I'll feel really bad. So you need to shut it and let me help you." he ran a hand through his already messy hair. With his wild eyes and staticky hair, he looked like he stuck his finger into an outlet.

"Is this about mating?" I asked. His face flushed red and his eyes got wide, and I'm sure my expression matched.

"What the hell! Mating?!" he shouted.

I am the worst at updating.