~Chapter Two~

Escapee Anna

"Miss, it's time for you to get up," said a timid woman's voice. I didn't open my eyes. "Miss, we have to get you ready for today's events," she said. I eased myself upright and straightened myself out. I opened my eyes.

"Did you sleep well, Princess?" asked the woman beside my bed. She was clearly a maid. An actual maid. Sitting beside me. As far as I could tell, maids only existed in Japan, not that I was highly knowledgeable about the existence of maids around the world.

"Yes, thank you," I said quietly, still a bit sleepy. That wasn't the truth. I'd had a nightmare again. The same one as usual. The dark man watching me. The monster. My father.

"We have to get you into your dress. It seems you've overslept a bit," she said, standing. I didn't argue as my maid guided me through the process. After last night, I knew there was no escaping it. Besides, it was all just a dream, right? It wasn't like I was actually getting married to this prince.

"Are you looking forward to meeting him?" my maid asked as her hands darted expertly across my back, buttoning an unnervingly long string of pearly buttons on my spine. I hadn't met him yet, huh? What kind of place was this that a bride wouldn't meet her husband-to-be until a few hours before the wedding?

"I suppose so," I said and then withheld a grunt as my maid pulled on the dress, cutting off almost all of my air supply.

"I've seen him before. He's quite handsome. You're a lucky woman," she said, "But someone as beautiful as you should expect such a handsome husband."

"Beautiful?" I questioned. Nobody had said that to me before and really meant it. I suddenly remembered my mother pulling my hair up when I was younger. You're so beautiful, she would say. I'd nod as if I believed her.

"Of course, Princess. You're the most beautiful woman in Fiore," she said happily. I couldn't help but feel a bit happy, flattered. I nodded thankfully as she finished her task.

"Look," she breathed, "I told you. You're beautiful." I glanced at my reflection and couldn't help but stare. She was right. I was beautiful. Even more so than yesterday, ethereal. My beauty, however, was marred by the white dress that fell gracefully to the ground like feathers floating to the floor. I didn't want to be wearing such as dress. It was beautiful, but it reminded me of what was about to happen. A dream, I repeated in my head. Over and over, a dream, a dream.

It was hard, though. It all seemed so real to me. I'd never had a dream like this…only nightmares. It was difficult to believe that this wasn't real. The softness of the silk, lace, and satin of the dress. The smell of my perfume. The subtle warmth of the stone around my neck. It was all too real.

"You look amazing, Anna," said a gentle voice. I looked to my right and saw a beautiful woman standing in the door. There were tears in her eyes, "My little girl is finally getting married." Something about the woman in the doorway was off-putting. She seemed almost fake. Beautiful, but fake.

"Don't cry," I said, trying to hide any annoyance that might have peaked through.

"Sorry, you're right. I'd mess up my makeup," she said, fanning her eyes. Were those tears real? I couldn't tell. "Now, let's go."

I reluctantly took her arm, but the woman—my mother?—paused, "Oh, I forgot. Tilda, would you come with me for a moment? Stay here, Anna dear. I have something I want to give to you." I didn't argue.

I stood there, looking at myself in the mirror. I sighed. I was even more trapped here than I was in California. Fiore wasn't really my cup of tea, to be honest. It was amazing in its own right, but I didn't like it at all. It felt closed off and lonely. When I was a little girl, I'd always longed for an adventure. Most little girls obsessed over ponies and the color pink, not me. I wanted to be a pirate…yeah, a pirate.

I practically jumped out of my skin when a loud alarm blared throughout the halls. I glanced around nervously. There was no one in sight. I heard my heartbeat in my ears. What was that sound? Why was there an alarm? I shrunk into the corner as I heard some crashing glass and subsequently some shouts. The shouting didn't stop. I heard the sounds of clashing blades and something not unlike thunder. Was it genuine thunder? It almost seemed so.

Men rounded the corner and I panicked. I tried to make myself invisible, small, but it didn't work. A harsh hand grabbed my arm and I screamed. "Anna, don't scream," hissed a voice. A hand silenced me, clamping down over my mouth. I glanced up. Silas. The familiar face sent relief flooding throughout me and I sagged against his chest. He smiled, "You're safe. Rebels are attacking the palace. We're pretty sure they're from the North. We'll fight them back."

"Why are they here?" I asked when he finally removed his hand.

"Most likely to stop the wedding. There are a lot of people who don't want it to happen," he replied, glancing to the door as if he were waiting for someone. There were four other men here, all dressed in brilliant green uniforms.

"Why?" I asked, continuing the conversation. I know it didn't really matter to me, but I was curious. Well, maybe it did matter a bit. I secretly hoped they would succeed. The idea of not being forced into marriage didn't seem so bad right at the moment.

"The North has always been known to be more…volatile. They don't want an alliance," Silas said quickly. As soon as he finished informing of the situation of the rebels' motive, a loud scream—a man's—echoed through the hall. It was alarmingly close. Silas's eyes narrowed. He pointed to two guards, "Stay with her." He turned to me. "I'll be back. Don't worry. I'll keep you safe." I stared after him as he left. Somehow I didn't find his words comforting; that's probably because I wasn't really all that worried. Being captured by rebels was just another event happening in my ultra-realistic dream.

I stepped towards the window, suddenly curious as to what was going on outside. After all, there were shouts and screams coming from there as well. Remember how I told you that I wanted to be a pirate? Yeah, gruesome stuff had never really bothered me.

One of the guards took my shoulder and I felt the cold of his metallic gauntlet on my bare skin, "It's dangerous. Don't go near the window."

I frowned, but didn't argue. I sighed and slumped against the wall, sliding down it until I was sitting against the tapestry behind me. Tapestry? I hadn't noticed this before. Had it always been there? I turned to look at it, staring up at it. It stretched the entire length of the wall, which was not something to be scoffed at. I couldn't imagine how much time and effort it would have taken. Every single stitch, thread, and bead was in the exact spot it should have been in. It portrayed a green dragon standing above a man dressed in rich red cloth. The longer I stared, the more lifelike it seemed. After a while of my unblinking daze, it started moving. The dragon turned its head, its scaled shining in the fire that surrounded the two figures.

"Don't be a fool," growled the dragon. Its head loomed close to the man.

"We must do something!" shouted the man. His robes swirled around him as the dragon beat its magnificent wings.

"Man's arrogance is revolting," the dragon said angrily. Its bright green eyes shone, reflecting the flames.

The man spoke next, his eyes full of rage, "Princess, are you alright?" I blinked. That didn't seem right. A bit out of place, if you'd ask me.

"Princess?" asked another voice. I blinked again. The dragon was no longer shimmering and alive. It was just a series of organized stitched, one after the other. I clutched my necklace and turned to the guard.

"Yes, I apologize," I said quietly, "What is this tapestry of?" Another shout reminded me that we were under attack and I regretted the casual conversation. These men's nation was under attack and I was asking them about a piece of dusty fabric that hung on the wall behind me. They didn't seem to mind, though.

"That's Kazomere, the man," said the first guard. He had friendly eyes. I listened intently. "And the dragon…that's Vitruvius, the founder of our kingdom."

I stared, "I dragon…founded our kingdom?"
He looked surprised, "You…don't know this?" I decided to shut up. It wouldn't look good if the princess didn't know the history of her own country, er, kingdom.

"Raul, look," said one of the guards, nudging his comrade in arms. They'd apparently noticed something that drew their attention. They went over to the window and stared. "What…is that?" Raul asked.

"Psst," said a voice. I looked to my right and there, sitting beside me nonchalantly, was the little blue cat, "Nice seeing you again."

I nodded, "You, too, Harold." I'd learned a while ago to expect anything here—a tapestry moving out of the blue was definitely one of those things to expect—so seeing Harold here wasn't that surprising.

He frowned, "My name's not Harold."

I gasped, "Oh, I'm sorry. Was it Henry? I knew it. I'm sorry for forgetting."

"It's not Henry," he grumbled, turning up his nose, "It's Happy."

"What's happy?" I asked, leaning closer.

"My name," he said, glancing at me.

"Your name is…Happy?" I asked. He stared at me. I stared back. He was angry. I was amused.

I broke the silence, "But 'happy' is an adject—"

"I know it's an adjective!" Happy shouted. I looked to the guards who had spun around due to Happy's shouting.

"Uh oh, look what you did," I said.

"Why is there a cat here?" Raul demanded. Happy and I shrugged in unison. Before Raul could grab Happy by the scruff of his adorably fluffy neck, the window behind the two guards shattered. I flinched back and held my arms over my face. I didn't need flying shards of glass in my eye; that was for sure.

"Happy!" reprimanded a voice. I lowered my arms slowly and looked up. "You almost got us caught. What if that other guy had come back in here because of you?!"

The boy who was shouting in front of me was…different. He wore clothes that looked like they needed to be washed long ago. They had rips all over them, but that only served to make him look ruggedly handsome. He wore a hat that hid his face from me. The only other observation that could be made was that he had a strong yet slim build. Oh, he was also talking to a cat, but so had I, so I didn't have the right to judge him.

"He's definitely going to come in here if you keep yelling like that," Happy pointed out, "And you're scaring her." He pointed to me.

"I'm not scared, but he does have a point. Silas will come back if he hears you," I said calmly, crossing my arms over my chest. The boy turned to me, his face still hidden. I watched as he stepped closer and closer to me, his heavy boots thunking on the cold marble. He knelt down beside me and slowly slid his hat off, (while this was happening I was secretly imagining it to be a pirate hat…that would have been awesome).

My breath caught, "Pink."

He smiled. My heart skipped a beat. Skipped a beat? My heart never does that! It was probably the most amazing smile I'd ever seen in my life, though. I had to admit that. He leaned close to me and I leaned away, "Who are you?"

"My name is Natsu Dragneel," he said.

"That's some last name," I mumbled.

"Thank you," he said with another smile. How had he even heard that? "Who are you?" he asked.

I stared at him for a moment, fleetingly getting lost in his amber like eyes, "I'm Anna." His eyes widened.

He turned to his cat, "Anna? This is her?"

"Really? You're Anna?" asked the cat.

"And you're Happy."

"You're Anna? The Anna?" Natsu asked.

I smiled, sort of enjoying this little game, "And you're the Natsu, are you not?"

He grinned. "In that case," he offered me his hand, "I'm here to kidnap you." My jaw dropped. He was going to kidnap. A thought crossed my mind.

"I could scream, you know," I said calmly, "Silas would come in a heartbeat." That choice of words wasn't wise; it reminded me of how my own heart was pounding at his proximity.

Natsu's countenance suddenly darkened. He push me to the floor and positioned himself above me. I was froze, pinned down by his fiery eyes. He leaned down so close that I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he turned his head to the side and whispered into my ear. "You'd be burnt to a crisp before he'd walk through that door."

Heat erupted near my head and my eyes went wide. Natsu's hand was on fire. On fire! I gulped. This was just a dream. This could happen…right? A shiver went down my back despite the heat that was pouring through me from his closeness and the literal flames near my face. I stared at him. Jeez, why was this happening to me of all people? The worst violence that I'd ever experienced was by Johanna, and that was just bullying. Now, this guy—who my heart was inexplicably pounding for—was threatening to murder me.

I sighed and pushed him off of me. He landed on his rear and stared at me in surprise, "What are you—"

"You're here to kidnap me, right? Get on with it, then. I don't have time for these stupid threats of yours. I wouldn't actually scream, anyway. It's not like I actually want to stay here, anyway." I got to my feet and brushed off my dress. It occurred to me that my dress would be a bit of an inconvenience if we were trying to run away through masses of brawling soldiers and rebels. I stroked my nonexistent wizard beard. I was jerked from my thoughts by warm laughter.

"You, you, you are the strangest girl I've ever met!" Natsu gasped in between bouts of uncontainable laughter, "I like you!"

I turned away from him, "Laugh it up." I rummaged through my drawers searching for something, anything, that would allow me a bit more mobility. It had taken me quite a while to find that summer dress. I wondered if I had another one.

"Princess Annabeth!" shouted a distressed voice.

"Oh. Guess you shouldn't have laughed so loudly," I said, turning to look at Silas. He was staring at me in shock.

"Anna, don't do this," he said sternly. I could detect a hint of fear in his voice. I stared at him.

"Hey, are we going or are you going to take me up on my previous offer?" Natsu asked, nudging my arm.

I shrugged, "If I had to choose between being forced to marry a prince I haven't even met and possibly being blackened by your strange hand-fire or not being forced to marry a prince I haven't even met and not being blackened by your strange hand-fire…" I stroked my wizard beard again. "Yeah, let's go."

Natsu grinned again—I suppose I can't forget to mention the repetitive heart-fluttering involved with that—and reached for me. My eyes went wide as he swept me off my feat, (literally not figuratively).
"Anna, stop!" Silas shouted, his guards flanking him as he charged forward. It was too late, though. We were already on the balcony.

"You know, when I first saw you I thought you mugged a hobo for your wardrobe," I said as he walked up to the railing.

He grinned, "I can assure you that's not the case."

"Promise?" I asked. I'd already ruled out the possibility, though; he looked like a hobo, but he didn't smell like one. Actually, he smelled sort of campfires, s'mores and all. I couldn't help but smile a little. I glanced over his shoulder and realized that Silas was getting closer. I was suddenly glad that my room here was so huge. If we'd been in my room at home, Silas would've been able to traverse the entire thing with just a few steps.

"Promise," he said with a stern nod. With that, he tossed me off the edge of the balcony. My dress billowed around me as I plummeted towards the stones below. Time seemed to slow down. My last thought before I would die was: well, at least he didn't burn me to a crisp.

Well, it would've been my last thought if an extremely muscly, blond man hadn't caught me. "Fancy meeting you here. I'm Anna," I said immediately, offering my hand. He set me down on the ground. I caught sight of a scar across his eye.

"Whatever," he said and then turned. I followed after him persistently.

"Thanks for not letting me die, Muscles," I said. I fought to keep up with him in my dress.

"Don't call me that, Shorty," he said almost calmly.

"Don't call me Shorty, Scarface," I shot back. Electricity crackled around him.

"Never say that again," he growled. Uh oh, I struck a nerve. "Cheerleader, deal with this!" he yelled. I couldn't help but wonder if his weird lightning thing was what causing those thunder sounds earlier. Also, was that sort of thing normal here? I mean, Natsu was on fire and didn't seem to mind. I mentally shrugged.

"Are you the princess?" asked a voice. I turned and saw a relatively normal-looking girl standing in front of me, "And don't call me cheerleader!"

I was working on yanking my hair from the tight bun that was killing me, "That'd be me, but you can just call me Anna."

She blinked, "You seem relatively cool about this whole kidnapping thing." I looked her up and down. She had straight blond hair and a pretty face. She seemed friendly enough. She had a noticeably large chest.

"Are you one of the rebels?" I asked.

She hesitated, "I guess you could say that, but we prefer to call ourselves—"

"Rosae Crucis," interrupted a voice. A familiar voice.

"And I'm Lucy," said the girl, pointing to herself an smiling. I finally tugged my hair free and it cascaded down my shoulers, my delicate curls bouncing as I stepped towards Natsu.

"What is wrong with you!?" I demanded. He stumbled backwards and gave me a look as if I'd shot him.

"What?"

"You threw me off of a balcony, you ass!" I shouted.

"Um, that was the plan. It's not his fault," Lucy interrupted.

"That's a stupid plan!" I said.

"Anna!" called a voice. I slapped a hand to my forehead.

"Seriously, Silas? Just give up," I groaned.

"That guy again?" Natsu asked, "Where is he? I'll get him." Natsu charged off to find my fervent persuer. I caught a glimpse of white hair in the crowds that fought around us. Silas. I can't say I didn't feel bad, but it felt good to be free of this castle. I didn't like leaving Silas, though. He'd tried to cheer me up, in his own way.

"We should go," Lucy said, "We need to get you out of here." I couldn't stop staring at Natsu who was charging towards Silas. Lucy grabbed my hand and led me away. I stumbled at first, but caught myself.

"Sorry, but I need to get you out of here," Lucy shouted over the sounds of the fighting.

"Lucy, is that her?" called a woman with bright red hair.

"I've got her!" Lucy yelled back.

"Pull back! Everyone out! We've done it!" shouted the woman. She smiled at me, but she seemed a bit intimidating. Beautiful, but in a scary way. I suddenly tripped over, oh god, it was an unconscious person. Or was he dead?

"Anna!" Lucy shouted. I looked up and saw her being carried away by the people pouring out of the narrow gate of the courtyard. I looked back at the man and poked him.

"Hey, are you dead? Your friends are leaving," I said to him. He wasn't wearing the green uniform of the castle guard, so I assumed he was a rebel. Actually, he wasn't wearing a shirt at all, for that matter.

He groaned and lifted his head, "Good morning."

I noticed a bump on his head and gently touched it, "Are you alright? That looks like it hurts."

He lazily looked and me and then froze completely, "Who are you?"

"That's not important," I said, "Let's go." I got to my feet and offered him my hand. He took it and then looked away from me. I punched his arm. "What's wrong with you? Come on."

I turned to follow the crowd, but tripped on the hem of my dress. I let out a string of less than ladylike curses as I tumbled towards the ground. Luckily for me, strong arms encircled my waist and pulled me upright. I looked up and saw the face of the guy I'd just brought back to life.

"That's dangerous," he said cooly. Well, it would have been cool if, as soon as he looked me in the eye, his face didn't turn red.

"Um, are you alright? Maybe you hit your head a little hard?" I said, reaching for his forehead. Did he have a fever? He slapped my hand away.

"I'm fine," he said. He then leaned down and took a hold of my dress.

"Hey, what are you—" I gasped when he yanked, hard. My dress made a sickening sound as it ripped.

"You can't run in that," he said and tossed the fabric aside.

"What a crying shame," I said, looking down at myself, "Now my legs are cold."

He grabbed my arm and led me through the crowd. Granted, I could move a lot easier after I was freed from the pounds of fabric that had once been my dress.

"I don't mean to be a downer, but most people wear shirts," I said.

He glanced down and his face turned red again. "Gray doesn't like shirts," Natsu said, joining us. He jogged on my other side.

"Shut up, Natsu!" Gray growled.

"It's true. You're just a popsicle of a stripper," Natsu said as we made for the bright light on the other side of the gate.

"I hate you," Gray said plainly.

"I admire your honesty," I pointed out.

"What? Can't come up with an insult?" Natsu asked. I glanced at Gray, but he looked flustered. His face was still red and he wouldn't look at us.

I laughed, "You guys are fun."

The two strange guys ran alongside me as we burst through the gate and into the bright daylight. I couldn't help but smile. Natsu let out a whoop and Gray grinned. I felt…happy.

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