In which a college student with a headache on winter break decides to try to update.

Anyway, sorry it's been so tough for me to update lately. I move back into my dorm in ten days and I can't promise new chapters before then. If I update any time during the semester, it will be rare. Telling me to update won't change that.

Please be patient with me!

On with the story now.

Natsu groaned, rolling over onto his side. Where was he and why was his bed so damn hard right now? It just didn't make any sense…until, of course, he remembered that he was in Era's prison cells. At the headquarters of the Magic Council, where he was to be put on trial for an attempted murder that he didn't even do—not that anyone here believed him.

It was the second day in here and all he could think about was Lucy. Was she okay after the Rune Knights had taken her away? Was she sad about it? He really hoped she wasn't crying because tears just didn't suit his celestial mage. No…Lucy Heartfilia looked much better when she was happy and her smile made him want to just hold her in the circle of his arms forever. When she was crying it was like everything good was gone from the world—unless they were tears of joy.

But if she was crying now he knew they wouldn't be tears of joy.

"Dammit," Natsu grumbled to the ceiling, returning to lying on his back. "Why did this have to happen now?"

Yeah…why did it all have to be now? When he and Lucy had finally…well, he at least had finally revealed his feelings to her. Natsu hadn't really meant to kiss her, but the way she lunged for him, and the feeling that somehow he wouldn't make it out of it all…he just had to let her know. And it seemed like she was trying to do the same thing. Even if he couldn't bring himself to tell her in words, he had to make sure she had some idea. She was smart and so he was hoping she'd pick up on it.

"Lucy…" he murmured into the crook of his arm as it lay across his face. The light was coming in between the bars of his cell and he wasn't particularly in the mood to see it. How could the sun shine so brightly when everything he felt was stormy and in turmoil?

He was pretty sure of it now. This feeling, now that he was being kept so far from Lucy, made him certain of it. His nakama…his best friend in the entire world when you didn't count Happy because he was more like a son anyway…that easily angered, whiny, blonde-haired girl he'd brought to Fairy Tail with him after destroying Hargeon's harbor for the umpteenth time…Natsu was pretty sure he was in love with her. It was a really weird thing for him to think about but he didn't have anything better to consider when he was sitting in a cell here.

How did he reach this conclusion?

It had been coming on gradually for months now. First he felt this fierce protectiveness when it came to Lucy—a protectiveness that was different from what he showed for everyone else in the guild. He was protective of all the members of Fairy Tail, but Lucy was different. She was more important than anyone. And then there were the dates she went on—always with the worst sort of guys. He couldn't help but trail her to make sure nothing happened.

That one guy who got a bit too touchy-feely totally didn't end up with scorched eyebrows and clothes after she got away from him…not at all….

And whenever they were apart…he was realizing this now more than ever. If he and Lucy were apart for too long he started to pine for her company. It didn't matter that she could get whiny sometimes. He just wanted to be with her.

And then…they kissed. When the Rune Knights were struggling to keep them apart, somehow Lucy had managed to reach him and they had both leaned in to meet in the middle.

Natsu wasn't sure how to feel about it all. He was still pretty certain he loved her, and he had a strong impression that she at least felt something for him, but now? Now was a terrible time to find out. He couldn't spend time with her and find out, or ask her plain and simple, when he was rotting away in a jail cell.

The dragonslayer groaned again, sitting up slowly and looking towards the barred window.

"Oi, Salamander," a taunting voice said from outside his cell. He turned to look out of the bars that crossed the entire front of his cell to spot the owner of the voice. It was a middle-aged man with a hooked nose, gaunt features, and a petulant expression perpetually etched on his features. "How are you holding up in there?"

He snorted, tapping a tray with his foot.

Natsu's meal. Just as they'd done with the last three meals, it was sitting outside of his cell on the ground, far beyond his reach. It didn't exactly look appetizing, so he knew he wasn't missing much in that aspect. But Natsu knew perhaps better than they did just what nourishment can do for you. There was only so much a starving mage could accomplish, let alone a starving mage in a jail cell in Era whose guards had beaten him before throwing him in.

His ribs, he knew, were at least bruised and he was lucky none of them were fractured. No matter how he tried to sleep it hurt, and since he didn't really have much to do he'd spent his day and a half so far thinking of Lucy and sleeping.

"It gets better every minute," Natsu flashed a sarcastically cheerful grin at the man. "I get to deal with your face and I get to escape that slop they expect me to eat. What more could I ask for?"

I just want to see Lucy.

"How about the charges?" Another guard came into view, twirling the key ring on his index finger. "C'mon, they're giving you the first of your charges today."

Natsu didn't know what they meant by the first of, but he didn't like the sound of it. So they weren't only going to charge him with attempted murder of the general? Or was that just the first charge? Were they going to charge him with conspiracy at the end of it or some nonsense like that?

As the cell opened he stood up wearily. Everything still hurt from the battle with Demon Card as well as the beating he'd taken at the hands of these men, but he didn't fight back. Natsu Dragneel had done some serious growing up in the last several months. The dragonslayer now fully understood why he couldn't try to blow his way out of here and go back to Fairy Tail even though he knew the charge was false. He knew fighting back was pointless because it would only put him deeper in this hole he hadn't even dug himself into.

"Get out there," yet another guard, a beefy man with anger issues, had come into the cell and shoved him roughly against the open door before shoving him out into the hall. The first man then pinned him against the stone wall forcefully and painfully as the second man yanked his arms down to cuff them behind his back. He already wore magic inhibiting bracelets and anklets, but his reputation ensured that he was stuck in cuffs when taken out, too. They knew he was good at physical combat, too.

Once cuffed, they proceeded to lead him—or, rather, shove him and yank him—to their destination. It was a small courtroom, not meant for a very large audience. The audience that was present consisted of mostly Rune Knights, too, if his bet was on the money.

The dragonslayer didn't pay much attention to the useless stuff they said. All he cared about was hearing about this charge. What in Fiore were they charging him with when he hadn't done anything wrong? If they'd just look at the color of his flames, they'd understand that it couldn't have possibly been him. But they wouldn't let him use magic because they thought he would try to kill them all.

"Natsu Dragneel," the pompous voice of the person who was going to read the charges broke into the salmon-haired man's train of thought and he looked up to pay close attention. "Salamander of Fairy Tail, on behalf of the Rune Knights, you are hereby charged with willfully injuring if not attempting to murder five lesser-ranking Rune Knights that were standing near their General. How do you plead?"

Of course he was supposed to say he was guilty…but he wasn't. Stubbornly refusing to answer, as he was sorely tempted to do, would only get him in deeper shit. He knew that.

"Not guilty."

He wasn't guilty and as long as he—no, as long as Lucy—knew that, he didn't really care who else believed him. His nakama surely all believed him, but the only one he didn't want to think of him as a murderer was Lucy. He didn't care if Erza came after him thinking he'd murdered someone, just as long as Lucy didn't think he was one.

He knew she would never think that of him, but it would still be more comforting if she was there to tell him that.

"What?"

The man seemed incredulous at Natsu's prompt answer.

"I said I'm not guilty," the dragonslayer repeated himself, even though he was sure it was only a rhetorical sort of 'what'. "My fire's not blue. Ask anyone."

He knew better than to ask them to let him use his magic. They'd probably just say that he was using that in an attempt to kill the judge and make an escape. The way these places worked completely baffled him and it was annoying, but Natsu would deal with it for now. He kind of had to. He still didn't know when the date for his actual trial would be, and so he didn't know how long Lucy would have to try to find some way to get him out. She was determined though—he could tell by the look in her eyes. Even though they'd already been dragged pretty far apart by the time she'd vowed to return his scarf when she proved his innocence, he could still tell that she was determined.

I just have to wait for Lucy, he told himself. Everything would be fine when Lucy got there with his defense all worked out.

In the meantime, as Natsu thought about the possibilities of a defense by his guild, the court was deliberating on his plea. He didn't know how long these things usually took, but by the time he got out of his train of thought to look at the clock he realized he'd been there for forty-five minutes already. The small court of people was still busy conferring. By the few snatches he could catch with his better-than-average hearing, there were a few people on his side.

From the tone of voice used by the one who seemed to be the head honcho, he assumed that those who supported him would not be present for the real trial. This was probably a test run to see who was on his side.

Two hours later, no decision had been reached. They were taking their own sweet time in this deliberation. At the end of the two hours, they called it an impasse and ordered that Natsu be returned to his cell to await further notice.

The same methods used to cart him to the courtroom were used on the way back. Natsu was shoved roughly into the wall on more occasions than he bothered to count, once even being forcibly tripped to where he clipped his temple on a random suit of armor and started to bleed lightly. And still, if he wanted to keep his hope of making it out because of some kind of defense Lucy formed, he couldn't fight back. If he fought back, they'd take it as proof that he really did try to commit murder.

When the dragonslayer was finally shoved back into his cell after an agonizing and seemingly long walk back to his cell, he fell to the ground. From there, his already bruised sides and ribs were dealt a few more good kicks and his arms were wrenched back unnecessarily in order to have the cuffs removed. Once that was done, there was one more good kick to his shoulder, which popped awkwardly, and then the guards left him to his solitude.

The pain wasn't a cakewalk, but he'd had much worse.

He just had to hold out until his trial, when Fairy Tail would undoubtedly pull out all the stops to get him out if they possibly could. He just hoped they wouldn't do anything too rash in order to prove him innocent or try to get him out. After all, he was the irrational one. It wouldn't do for anyone to go stealing his thunder.

And Lucy…he just hoped that Gray and Erza could keep her from the clutches of Demon Card. Someone from that damn dark guild had undoubtedly seen the kiss between them—what if they went after her next?

Please be safe…

Well…it's short but there was only so much I could do with mostly Natsu's point of view when he doesn't really have anyone to talk to in prison. It's probably repetitive in a few places and for that I apologize. I typed this up with only a few paragraphs to reference.

Anyway, I hope this was an okay chapter. It's mostly a filler, trying to establish some of the things on Natsu's end of the deal.

Thanks so much for reading!

And again, telling me to UPDATE SOON does NOT help. Thanks.