It had barely been many hours since Lisanna and Elfman left home, and they haven't even arrived at the talent show yet. While Elfman was still riding the horse Parakeet, Lisanna sat with her hand slumped to her cheek, bored. Having a sense of direction was not her big brother's cup of tea. Speaking of which, a nice hot drink, as a matter of fact, would've been most welcome. Parakeet was starting to nervously take in his surroundings, whilst Elfman would have to consult the map for directions, since they were stuck wandering through a dark, murky glen.

Elfman was busy examining the map, "That's strange. I could've sworn we're at the talent show right about now. Getting late for the show is not manly."

"Maybe we missed a turn or something," Lisanna guessed. "I knew we should've taken the pathway far from the forest…" Just then, the Strauss siblings stopped their horse at a fork in the road. "Wait a minute…" She and Elfman looked at the signs that read, 'Fairy Tail' and 'Blue Pegasus.'

Parakeet just stared at the sign and was about to turn left, until Elfman stopped him and pointed to another direction, "Let's go this way, Liz."

Lisanna asked, "Do you have any idea where we're going?" Even Parakeet was concerned, as he did a double take at the road Elfman wanted to go down. It was dark, foggy, and spooky as well as overgrown. The other road, however, looked pleasant and more inviting than the other path. Lisanna noticed Parakeet turning in the direction of the pleasant road, "Looks like Parakeet wants to take us that way. It looks safe and much open to me."

Elfman yanked Parakeet down the dark and spooky path and fretted, "Come on, Liz, it's just a shortcut! According to the map, it should get us there in no time. Cause a real man's got eyes of steel!"

Lisanna shrugged, "If it really says so on the map, why would I argue? Let's check it out."

Reluctantly, Parakeet obeyed and had no choice but to take the spooky path. As they did, it's only a short way down the road before it ended abruptly at a thorny bush with no other road in sight. As Elfman checked the map again, Parakeet was becoming more and more frightened by the array of strange sounds echoing around them. Low growling noises were the most louder of the sounds.

"This can't be right," Elfman examined the map further. "Where's Parakeet taken us?"

Lisanna glared at him in annoyance, "Where's Parakeet taken us? You were the one who insisted on going this way!"

Elfman started to back the cart away, "Best if we'd turn around… Parakeet?" But Parakeet was too scared to listen and began to back up faster than he should as the howls continued. "Whoa, Parakeet! Easy!" He then banged the cart against a tree, causing a swarm of bats to fly out and swarm around Lisanna and Elfman's heads.

Lisanna screamed, "Aaaah! Get them off me!"

"Hold on, Lisanna!" Elfman shouted, and he glared at the bats, "Shoo! Go away, you winged freaks! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Lisanna held on tightly to the cart while Elfman swats the bats away. However, Parakeet let out a frightened neigh and darted head-first off the road and into the woods. The two siblings hung on for dear life while begging Parakeet to slow down. Finally, they did but not before nearly running over the edge of a cliff. "WHOA-WHOA-WHOA! Back up, Parakeet! Back up! Back up! Back up!" Elfman exclaimed, pulling on the reigns. Parakeet managed to reel away from the cliff, but was still nervously fidgeting around. "Steady, now. Steady."

Then more growls and howls rang through the air, causing Parakeet to freak out. He fearfully reared and threw Lisanna and Elfman off his back, causing the lantern to shatter at their feet. The frightened horse galloped off in full speed into the night with the cart still attached to him, and disappeared.

"Ouch…" Elfman moaned as he rubbed his backside. He then stood up with Lisanna.

Lisanna called out, "Parakeet? Parakeet!" No response.

"I don't think he heard us," Elfman assumed.

Lisanna sternly placed her hands on her hips, "Thanks a lot, Big Brother Elf! Parakeet was scared away because you took that scary pathway! And we're stuck in the middle of these woods!"

Elfman chuckled nervously, "Sorry. Maybe I should've listened to that horse. Anyway, we gotta keep going. The talent show's gotta be around here somewhere."

No sooner had they begun to advance, the two siblings heard twigs snapping followed by another series of howls and growls.

"Is that your stomach growling, Big Brother Elf?" Lisanna asked nervously as she hid behind Elfman.

Elfman replied uneasily, "I don't think so…"

Just then, out of the bushes appeared a trio of wolves with sharp teeth, long claws, a bushy tail, and a large furry mane. But these aren't just any ordinary wolves!

"Lion-Wolves!" Lisanna screamed. As stated in Earth-land's revered zoology, Lion-Wolves are the mixture of a lion and a wolf: the body of a lion and the instinct of a wolf. Though a Lion-Wolf's body is huge in size, it usually attacks its prey at night.

"Stand back!" Elfman shouted. "I'll protect you! Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" He transformed his left arm into a large metal fist, thereby increasing his punching power. With that, Elfman incapacitated the Lion-Wolves, one-by-one, with Lisanna cheering her big brother on. However, for every Lion-Wolf taken down, two more seemed to take a fallen one's place.

Just as Elfman begins to show signs of fatigue, the remaining Lion-Wolves concerned both him and Lisanna. "It's no good! There's too many of them! Let's hit it!" he cried. The two eventually ran off with the Lion-Wolves in close pursuit. During the chase, Lisanna misplaced a step, bumped into Elfman, and the two stumbled down a hill before they landed in front of a pair of iron gates. The Lion-Wolves quickly approached and the two siblings frantically tried to open the gates.

"Help!" Lisanna shrieked as she and Elfman banged on the gates. "Is someone there? Help us!"

"Come on!" Elfman added. "Be a real man and let us in! I'm low on Magic Energy here!"

Suddenly, the gates opened all by themselves, and Lisanna and Elfman fell through. Once they were through, Elfman quickly slammed the gate shut with his foot, causing the Lion-Wolves to slam into it. Lisanna tried to crawl, but yelped as a Lion-Wolf grabbed her foot with his mouth, until Elfman kicked it away.

And just like that, the Lion-Wolves made their retreat. Elfman and Lisanna looked up and gasped at what they saw. At the end of the courtyard towering high above the trees, stood a very large, dark, ominous castle, illuminated by flashes of thunder casting off its dark shadows. The most notable feature is the symbol of a fairy with a tail emblazoned at the center of the castle. As the two siblings were mesmerized, a storm streaked and heavy rain started pouring down. Seeing they had no choice, Lisanna and Elfman ran across the courtyard to the front door. Elfman knocked it, and after a minute, the door opened on its own for the two to walk in.

Nervously, Lisanna and Elfman stepped inside what they assumed to be the main hall of the castle. The entire inside of the castle was as dark and dreary as the outside, but within its shadows, a stream of majestic furniture and paintings befitting for a royal king, or a prince. The only sign of light within the darkness was a lit candelabra sitting next to a wooden clock on a table.

"Hello?" Lisanna called out. "Anybody home?"

"Aw, look at the poor guys," the voice of a 17-year old male whispered. "They must've lost their way in the woods."

"Keep quiet, Pyro!" a voice belonging to an 18-year old hissed. "Maybe they'll go away."

"You saw them out there! They would've been Lion-Wolf meat if I hadn't let them in. Seriously, Gray, you're making way too big a deal outta this."

"Too big a deal?! You've let strangers into our castle, Natsu! Why do you always have to be problematic?" the second voice argued.

"What do you mean, problematic?" the first voice growled. "You know I'm bad with math!"

"I mean that you're always being a problem! Like, the last time you set the master's drapes on fire?"

"I wasn't used to these candles yet, alright? That one doesn't count!"

"Okay, what about the time you set the kitchen on fire?"

"I was hungry! And steamed rice balls sounded good at the time…"

"And don't forget when you set ME on fire, Ash-for-Brains!"

"Well, that was just funny," the first voice said sarcastically. "All that aside, you should see this great opportunity. We get to serve our first visitor in a long time! And that girl beside that muscular man… Could she be a certain something we've…?"

The second voice scoffed, "For all I know, they could be robbers or convicts."

"Now that's just plain ridiculous!" the first voice scoffed. "Besides, he could also be the milkman."

"Since when did an enchanted castle get milk, Hot Head?!" the second voice yelled. Just then, it gasped, "They're on to us! Quick, act natural!"

"Hello?" Lisanna called out. "Is someone there? Hello!"

"Hey!" Elfman shouted. "If anyone in this place is a real man, speak up! We're stuck here!"

Lisanna snapped, "Big Brother Elf, be quiet! You'll wake them up! For all I know, they could be sleeping!"

On the table, the owner of the first voice that had whispered was the candelabra with salmon hair-like wax. The owner of the second voice was the wooden clock with black hair.

"Not a word, Natsu," the clock hissed. "Ya hear me?"

Lisanna called, "Sorry about that, everybody. My big brother and I didn't mean to disturb you, but we lost our horse, and we need a place to stay for the night. I promise we'll leave first thing in the morning."

"C'mon, Gray. Why don't you have a heart for once?" the candelabra Natsu whispered to the clock Gray. Gray shushed him and covered his mouth, but Natsu held his candle under Gray's hand until he yelped in pain and pulled away his burning palm. He smiled, "Of course, kind sir and madam! You're welcome here!"

"Who said that?" Elfman looked around suspiciously. "Show yourself!"

"Over here!" Natsu called, before he tugged on Elfman's pants. Elfman looked down and Natsu greeted him and Lisanna cheerfully, "Hello."

Lisanna and Elfman gasped and jumped back, surprised that a candelabra— an inanimate object— speak to them! "Ouch!" Natsu exclaimed. "You're busting my candles over there!"

Lisanna exclaimed, "Wow… You talked!"

Elfman added, "I've never seen a candlestick talk before. Somebody in this place must've been a man to bring them to life."

Natsu chuckled, "So what if I am a talking candlestick?"

Gray growled as he hopped over, "Oh, now you've done it big time, Pyro. That's just peachy." But then, he yelped as Lisanna picked him up.

"A clock can talk, too!" Lisanna said astonished. "How is this possible?"

"The power of science, man!" Elfman theorized. "The power of science!"

"Hey! Put me down!" Gray said indignantly. "Put me down, or I'll…"

"Sorry about that," Lisanna apologized. "It's just that we've never seen a clock that can—" Suddenly, she sneezed at Gray's face, and Gray wiped the dust off his face using the clock arrows on his face as a windshield.

"You guys must be soaked to the bone," Natsu assumed. "C'mon, let's get you some heat by the fireplace."

"Finally!" Elfman shouted with relief. "Some rest and relaxation for the day! That's MANLY!"

Lisanna simply thanked with a sigh of relief, "Thank you. It'll be appreciated if you help us."

Natsu led Lisanna and Elfman towards a den, much to Gray's dismay as he frantically followed. He shouted, "No, no, no! As head of the household, I won't allow it! You know what the master would do if he found them here?" What Natsu, Gray, Lisanna, and Elfman failed to realize was a dark shadow watching from a walkway, before it sped off.

"I demand that you stop… right… there!" Gray shouted, tugging on Elfman's leg, but lost his grip and tumbled down the three stairs. Once he recovered, he gasped when he saw Natsu guiding the Strauss siblings over to a large chair near the fireplace.

"Oh, no!" Gray cried. "Not the master's chair!" Suddenly, a footstool named Happy, who had originally been an Exceed, happily rushed past Gray, who said fearfully, "I'm not seeing this, I'm not seeing this!"

The footstool came up to Lisanna and Elfman sitting together at the large chair. He said, "Aye! This is Happy, Fairy Tail Castle Royal Servant, at your service!"

Lisanna giggled, "Well, hello there, Happy! You're like a bluebird of happiness!"

"Aye!" Happy cheered, and he propped himself up under Lisanna and Elfman's feet.

Then, a hat hanging stick named Macao Conbolt wrapped a blanket around Lisanna and Elfman, and said, "A blanket for the pretty lady and the muscle guy!"

Lisanna admired, "Wow!"

Elfman added, "Now that's what I call manly service!"

"Whoa! Are my eyes deceiving me?" The source of the voice came from a feather duster with a pink bow and blonde hair. She jumped onto Elfman's leg and looked up at the two siblings with bright brown eyes. "It is! Real life people in the castle! Oh, and welcome to Fairy Tail Castle, the most enchanting place on Earth-land. Can I help you?"

Lisanna blushed, "First a candlestick, a clock, a footstool, a hat hangar, and now a feather duster?"

Elfman added with tears in his eyes, "Why does everything have to be so enchantingly manly?!"

"Lucy, would you leave them alone?" Natsu asked the feather duster. "You might give them a cold with your feathers."

"I didn't hear you complaining about my cute looks yesterday in the pantry," Lucy said defensively, before smiling back at Lisanna and Elfman, "Forgive me, sir and madam. He's just a big hothead."

"I heard that!" Natsu snapped.

"Alright, that's it!" Gray yelled. "This has gone on far enough! I'm in charge here, and I say—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a tea cart rolled into the room with a screech, running him over. It was steered by a large teapot with crimson long hair named Erza Scarlet, and assisted by two small teacups named Wendy Marvell and Romeo Conbolt.

"Hello there, good sir and madam," Erza greeted. "My name is Erza Scarlet, and these are my assistants Wendy and Romeo. How would you like a nice cup of tea? It'll warm you two up in no time." She poured some tea into the two teacups.

Gray protested, despite being facedown, "No! No tea! NO TEA! They'll be here all night!"

Erza replied, "But Gray, tea warms the soul as it soothes the body. Exactly what an exhausted traveler needs."

Natsu agreed, "Tea's your solution to everything."

Romeo laughed heartedly, "Because tea IS the solution for everything!" He turned to his father Macao, "Oh, hi, Dad!"

Macao greeted with a smile, "Hi, son!"

"We'll take some, thank you," Lisanna acknowledged, and she and Elfman tipped their mouths into the cups Wendy and Romeo. As the two sipped the tea, Wendy and Romeo laughed, feeling ticklish.

Wendy giggled, "Their sips tickle, Miss Erza!"

Romeo blushed, "Sorry about that, sir. Hope we didn't startle ya. Hey, we haven't heard your names! What are yours?"

Lisanna began, "Well…"

Suddenly, the doors to the den slammed open and a strong gust of wind blew into the room, extinguishing the fire in the fireplace. Natsu, Lucy, and Macao turned in horror, while Gray dove for cover beneath a rug and Erza started to shiver. Wendy and Romeo immediately hid behind Erza.

"Uh-oh…" the two kids exclaimed.

Lisanna trembled in terror with Elfman's arms around her body, as a large shadow suddenly loomed over the room. Remember the lightning beast mentioned in the prologue? That's him right now. He has a large body, sharp claws and fangs, yellow dragon-like scales around his arms and legs, white skin, a yellow hair with numerous spiky strands pointing backwards though some falls down in a small tuft on his forehead, large horns, a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his right eye, and was wearing a velvet cape around his neck. The beast entered the room with a suspicious growl, a flurry of thunder and lightning flickering around his body.

"There's a stranger here…" the beast said in a dangerously low voice.

"Master, I can explain everything," Natsu began. "The muscle guy and the cutie girl were lost in the woods. They were chased by Lion-Wolves so I thought—"

Unfortunately, he was cut short by the loud roar of the beast. The roar was so powerful that it blew out the candles in his arms and head, and forced him to frighteningly retreat against the wall.

Meanwhile, Gray nervously poked his head out of the carpet, his voice cracking slightly, "Hey, uh… Hello there, Master. Nice to see you up and about. I'd like to take this moment to say…" He then added with a serious voice, "It was Natsu's idea! He's to blame! I was against this from the start! It's all his fault! I tried to stop him, but would he listen to me? No, no, no!"

The beast roared again, making Gray cringe in terror and dive back for cover beneath the carpet.

The two siblings nervously glanced to their left, then to their right, only to see the beast glaring at them. Lisanna and Elfman yelped in terror and jumped out of the chair.

"Who are you?" the beast demanded. "What are you doing here?!"

"W-W-W-W-We were lost in the woods and—" Lisanna began frighteningly.

"You're not WELCOME here!" the beast snarled.

"N-N-No, I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry… I-I-I-I r-r-r-really a-a-a-am…" Lisanna shivered, about to cry.

"What are you staring at?!" the beast asked angrily.

"No, nothing!" Elfman answered with a nervous chuckle. "Nothing at all!"

"So, you've come to stare at the beast, have you?" Lisanna and Elfman frantically tried to run away, only to be blocked by the beast.

"Hey, man, it's no big deal. It's nothing personal," Elfman protested as he and Lisanna backed away. "We didn't mean to break in and enter your house. We just needed a place to stay."

"Oh, I'll give you two a place to stay!" the beast snarled. "And I know just the place!"

Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Wendy, Romeo, and Macao could only watch as the beast grabbed a continuously screaming Elfman and Lisanna and dragged them away. Before the beast left, he closed the door, plunging the room into darkness.

"Well, this sucks," Macao sighed.

"Yep," Romeo agreed.