Lucy had never run for this long before. She couldn't even remember the last time she ran. And now, she was being dragged around by a man, with pink hair, chased by men in dark suits. She was beginning to question her decision. Was it okay for her to go with Natsu? Her father had always told her to be wary of men. Maybe he was right. Maybe men were horrible creatures. Cursing her brain for making a useless decision, she swerved right, following Natsu, only to find that he had stopped. She ended up hitting her head on his back.

"Why did you-" Lucy gasped loudly. Moments ago she was running through the forest but now standing in a man-made structure. With pathways made of wood, this was the royal dam of Fiore. Lucy trailed her eyes along the paths, looking at the beautiful, light-brown logs, neatly put next to each other. This was a truly beautiful and important place.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Yelled a man from behind them. Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and began to run yet again. And then their luck ran out. For the path, had ended. Below them, was a deep cliff, made out of sandstone. At the very bottom, Lucy could see a creek. Or maybe it was bigger than a creek. Things look different from above.

Natsu cursed under his breath. "What do we do?" Asked Lucy. She was panting so hard and Natsu felt a little sorry for her.

Suddenly, another group of soldiers appeared at the bottom of the cliff. "THERE HE IS!" One shouted, pointing at Natsu.

"Who are they?" Lucy asked. She couldn't recognize them because they were wearing different clothes. Different standards of soldiers wore different clothes. And currently, every single soldier is searching for Natsu Dragneel everywhere in Fiore.

"Uh, let's just say, they don't like me."

"What about them?" She asked pointing behind her, indicating the people chasing them.

"They don't like me either."

Another group of people appeared. Unlike the soldiers, they had an armory. They wore black and grey clothes and had tattoos and crooked teeth. They were bandits.

"Umm, who a-are they?" Lucy tried her best not to sound intimidating.

"Uh," Natsu looked in the direction she was pointing. Crap! The forest bandits? They must've realized that he was working for Fairy Tail. They would surely try to kill him now.

"Yeah..." Lucy prompted.

"Look, no one likes me, okay?"

"Such a loner. "

"Says the person who lived in a tower all her life."

"Not all my life! Only-" She had no time to finish. The soldiers had reached behind them.

"There's nowhere to run now..." Said a soldier menacingly, creeping behind Natsu.

"I don't need to run. I'll fight," he looked at Lucy. "And you will jump. "

"Jump?!" Shrieked Lucy. "From this height?- I'll die!" Then she saw the look on Natsu's face and realized what he was thinking. Natsu realized that she shoved something in his direction - her heavy book. With a smile, Lucy let her hair fall freely. She grabbed some of it and jumped over the end of the path.

"Without further ado, gentlemen," Natsu raised the book. "Let us fight!"

Lucy screamed in excitement as she swung by her hair. She swung until she landed at a different rock, away from the fight.

"Wow, how fun it was! Did you enjoy it, Plue?"

The chameleon nodded his green head but soon pointed behind her with its tiny fingers. Lucy turned around and saw that some of those crooked teeth men were climbing up the rock she was standing in. Lucy gulped. She didn't even have her lucky encyclopedia with her! How would she fight?

Meanwhile, Natsu hit the first soldier on the head with the book. Another soldier swung his sword in Natsu's direction. Natsu quickly dodged it and hit the soldier with the book. As another soldier came charging at him with a horse, Natsu jumped out of the way, throwing the book like a boomerang. It hit the neck of the soldier perfectly and returned straight back at him.

"Wow," he said as he caught the book. "I should get myself one of these." With that, he turned to see how Lucy was going.

Lucy screamed as a bandit lunged at her with a spiked club. Twisting on her heel, she swerved away from the bandit. As the bandit lunged again, Lucy noticed that he was stepping on her hair. With a smirk, she pulled her hair, resulting in the bandit falling face-first into the ground.

"Lucy! Over here!" Natsu yelled at her. Looking at Natsu, she smiled and jumped over the cliff, swinging by her hair. She swung towards Natsu, who jumped at the right moment and held onto her. Together they landed safely beside the creek below the cliff.

"We made it!" Lucy exclaimed.

Natsu smiled at her. But, it wasn't the time to relax. Yet. For the bandit who had fought against Lucy had been enraged. He broke the bridge of the dam. And the dam broke. Water came rushing through the broken dam.

"Uh-oh." Natsu grabbed Lucy's hair and started running. Lucy followed him, eyeing the rushing water in fear.

"What about that cave?" Lucy asked pointing at a small crevice between the cliffs.

"Alright." Natsu changed direction and started running toward the crevice. Lucy followed as fast as she could. Natsu helped Lucy get into the cave first. And then, he climbed in, just in time too, for the water barely missed him.

"Yay!" Lucy cheered.

"Not yet." Natsu gestured for her to keep walking. "We need to get out of this cave."

As they were walking, the ground started to fill up with water. The dam held in so much water that the rest was flowing into the crevice.

"Faster!" Natsu ushered.

Unfortunately, they were met with a dead end.

The water began to fill up faster.

"Is there no way to get out?" Lucy asked, holding Plue close.

"Let me check." Natsu inhaled and went underwater. Soon, he came back up. "It's too dark."

"So... there is no way...?" Lucy felt like crying.

Natsu didn't answer.

"There must be a way!" Lucy was shouting now, tears streaming down her face. "I can't die here. I can't die yet. What about Gray? And father? He'll be so worried..."

"Lucy," Natsu's voice was so serious, she stopped ranting and looked at him. Natsu looked so sick. He didn't want to do this. But, she needed to know. She needed to know what life was like outside the forest. What her father was actually like. What her brother was like. What Natsu really was.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, but Fiore is not as happy as you think it is."