A/N: I didn't realize how busy I would be this weekend! So sorry for making you guys wait an extra few days for a new chapter! This chapter is a little short, and the next one is kind of short as well, so I figured I would post them together over the next couple of days. Chapter 13 might be posted later tonight, or tomorrow, depending on how quickly I can edit it and get it read-ready.

I hope you all still love me after what happened to Natsu last chapter.

"Stop! I have to go back! They're going to hurt him! Please!" Lucy didn't care if the fall from the horse would injure her, she had to get away. The man had an iron-tight grip on her, and no matter how much she twisted and turned he wouldn't relent his hold. "Please, just let me go!"

The horse sped on, navigating its way down the mountain. "Princess, please, I'm only trying to get you to safety."

Lucy turned to stare at the orange-haired man. "I was already safe! He was never going to hurt me!"

"You don't know what he is capable of."

"I know exactly what he's capable of, and hurting me is not part of it! Let me go!" Lucy saw the bridge coming up on them, and she started twisting even more. She couldn't go back; she wasn't ready to go back. And not like this. Not forced away from Natsu, not leaving him to the mercy of the Royal Guards. The orange-haired man held on tightly, dismissing every move she made to get away from him like she wasn't even trying.

Lucy looked up and watched as the citizens of Magnolia parted the streets, clearing a path for the horse as it sped towards the palace. She realized that she would never get off the horse until she was set down on palace property, so as the gates came into view, she formulated her plan. The man looked down at her briefly, as if wondering why she had suddenly become so still, but as the gates opened for them and he slowed the horse to a trot, he focused again on the building in front of them. Multiple staff members were already waiting for them: her handmaidens, the cook, several of the cleaning staff, and, surprisingly, Master Makarov all stood outside of the main door, relief painted on almost all of their faces. Just as Lucy began to think luck was on her side, the doors opened, and her father appeared on the top step.

She didn't care. She was still going to try. The man pulled on the reins, and the horse stopped. A servant ran up to them and offered Lucy his hand. She took it and hopped off the horse.

Trying to mimic Natsu, she used the momentum from jumping off the horse to push her weight into the servant, who fell beneath her. Shouts erupted as she steadied her feet, then without looking back, she ran.

She didn't make it far. Strong arms wrapped around her waist, and her feet were picked up from the ground. "Lucy, please. You're going to make this worse on you." The words were whispered in her ear, and she couldn't help the tears that formed in her eyes.

She stared at the palace gates, willing them to come closer to her, to give her the freedom she had tasted and needed once again. "I don't care about me. They're going to kill him."

He had nothing to say to that, but he put her down anyway. She allowed herself to be led back towards the palace, her eyes unfocused and mind blank. They stopped as they reached the top step, and the orange-haired man let go of her to bow low.

"Your Majesty. She is unharmed."

Lucy looked up at her father, who had no expression on his face as he stared her down. After a few seconds, he nodded at the man bowing beside her. "Lucy. I am happy to see you are safe."

His words had hidden meanings spilling from them, his eyes shining in an unnaturally cruel way. The man beside her must have noticed the twang of warning in his voice as well, because his head snapped up unceremoniously to stare at the King. She didn't care though. She met his stare with a narrowed gaze and held her ground.

After a moment, her father stepped to the side, giving her silent permission to enter her own home. A guard came forth, ready to escort her. She had never had an escort in her own home before.

"Your Majesty. Please allow me to escort her to her room. I have seen her this far, it would be my privilege to make sure she is indeed safe and sound." Lucy looked over at the man, seeing a quiet desperation in the profile of his face that he was trying to hide.

Her father turned his glare onto him. "I have no further use of you. You may go back to your Prince. The Princess is in my care now, and she will be taken care of." He looked at the guard beside him, who then rushed forward and stood beside Lucy, grasping her elbow and effectively pushing the man down a couple steps. Lucy was guided forward into the palace, and as they crossed the threshold, the doors were promptly shut.

Lucy looked back just in time to see the man staring at her, his face painted in apprehension, and then the doors shut him, and the rest of the world, out of sight.

His name was Natsu. And Lucy didn't want to leave him.

As Gray walked behind the horse that was carrying the dragon-born, who was slumped over its back, tied up and unconscious, maybe close to death, he couldn't help hearing her cries for him over and over in his mind. She didn't look or seem injured, but it was too hard to tell with her fighting to get away from him. Actually, she seemed perfectly fine, not even dirty.

The whole situation just seemed odd to him. When the man had run in and reported that the Princess had been kidnapped, she had only been gone maybe twenty minutes. And he and Lucy had come up with their plan earlier that day, alone, so there was no way that someone could have been planning to take her as soon as she left. Then there was the fact that the three men that were unconscious in the alley were guests from the party, and that the man who had escaped couldn't provide a reason as to why they were all out in the town, exactly where the Princess had been. Add in how this man was protecting her, fighting for her, and how she was calling for him, trying to go back to him...

He couldn't help but feel something was very wrong about all of this.

"Your highness!" Gray looked up and saw that Loke was riding towards him quickly, a determined look on his face. The soldier holding the reins of the horse that was carrying the dragon-born stopped, and Gray walked over to make sure the blanket covering his wings and tail was secure before nodding at the soldier to continue. As the dragon-born was carried towards the palace, Loke stopped the horse next to him and jumped off. "Gray, I think we are going to have a problem."

"Yes, you are."

The voice came from behind him, and Gray whipped around...just in time to get punched square in the chest.

The blow was hard enough to knock the air from his lungs and send him down onto the ground. "You just let that soldier walk away with the dragon-born, didn't you?"

Gray sighed, then started to pick himself up. Out of all of them, she brought him? "Nice to see you too, Gajeel."

He looked at the tall, black-haired man, who was standing directly in front of him with his arms crossed across his chest, his red eyes squinted in obvious anger. Yeah, never hard to see which emotion he was feeling. Behind him, Gray saw blue hair blowing in the wind, and for the first time in days he felt excitement. She walked around Gajeel, and Gray opened his arms to embrace her-

Only to have her place her palm against the exact spot on his chest that was just hit, sending a shock wave through his body that made him double over in pain for a few seconds. "What was the point in sending a message to Juvia if you were only going to do something stupid before we arrived?" Once again, he composed himself and stood up straight. The love of his life was standing in front of him, between him and Gajeel like she was separating them from fighting. If he was asked, however, he was more afraid of her.

"I had to rescue the Princess. It was my fault she was taken in the first place."

The dragon-born of iron scoffed, "Yeah, well that seems to be a trend for you, because now it's your fault that one of my own was taken."

Gray opened his mouth to reply, but a small voice sounded out behind him.

"Excuse me?" He and Loke turned around to see the little blue-haired librarian that they had talked to the day before. She was wringing her hands in front of her chest nervously, her face drawn in worry. "That woman you were looking for yesterday. That was the Princess, wasn't it?" She looked back and forth between him and Loke, who simply nodded his head. Her face fell even further. "Was she-...is she alright?"

"She's safe and back at the palace. Actually, it was your information that helped us the most. Thank you." Gray felt Loke staring at him, and he turned to his friend.

Loke leaned in close, "That's actually what I was trying to tell you. I'm not so sure she is."

"Where did you get these?" Gajeel had moved faster than anyone had seen, and now stood next to the librarian as he plucked a pouch from her waist. She gasped, turning quickly and trying to grab it out of his hands.

"They were a gift! Give them back!"

"A gift? Do you even realize what these are?" His eyes narrowed at her as he kept them just out of her reach.

"Yes, of course I know what they are. They're very valuable to me, so please, give them back!"

Gajeel laugh coldly. "Of course they're valuable to you. They're worth a fortune."

The librarian scowled at him. "They have no monetary value to me, that's not what I meant."

"What are they, Gajeel?" Juvia stepped forward and Gajeel opened the top of the pouch, showing the collection of glistening red dragon scales. Juvia looked over at the librarian and smiled softly. "Would you mind if Juvia took one or two of those, miss?"

The girl snatched the pouch from Gajeel's hands, turning her scowl to a smile as she turned her gaze from him to Juvia. "No 'miss' please. I'm Levy. And no, I don't mind." Levy reached into the pouch and then handed two scales to Juvia, who immediately took out an empty alchemist's bottle and began crushing the scales into powder, pouring their remains into the bottle.

Gray had seen her do this plenty of times before, with many different dragon-born scales. Many witches could only manipulate the elements, often times without much success, but his Juvia knew how to actually create the elements. Because of this, the dragon-born's had no problem giving her their fallen scales; it was always helpful to carry a bottle of their element with them in case they needed to "refuel".

While Juvia was busy creating a new potion, Levy was busy watching Juvia and Gajeel was distracted by Levy (odd, for him), Gray stepped away with Loke. "What do you mean; she's not safe at the palace?"

Loke ran his hands through his hair, a tic of his whenever he was nervous. "Her father was acting very strange, and I could hear the cruelty in his words. He had her escorted to her room by a guard, and wouldn't let me even enter the palace."

The feeling of something not being right came back upon him, and he looked back towards the palace. What is the King up to? Could he truly be so scornful that she escaped that he will punish her? He turned back to his most trusted friend. "Go back. Get inside that palace any way you can and look for her. Do whatever you have to, just locate her and make sure she is actually safe." Loke nodded once, then turned and jumped back on his horse. Gray watched him ride off back towards the palace gates, then looked back to the others.

Gajeel had his arms crossed over his chest, and was staring at the little librarian. As Juvia finished crushing the last scale, he scoffed. "I'm surprised you're ok with her destroying something worth so much coin."

Levy shot him another scowl, "I told you, I don't see them as coin. Dragons are fascinating creatures. I've always been enraptured by them."

Gray watched as his red eyes started to gleam. "Is that right?" Gajeel's lips curled up in a smile, showing his pointed teeth. Gray started to walk forward, to stop whatever was going on in the dragon-born's head from happening, but Juvia beat him to it.

"Gajeel." Her voice was sharp and full of authority, and Gajeel immediately backed down. "Levy, thank you for your help. Gray, Gajeel, we will be on our way now."

Levy nodded to them, and then the three left her behind as they started walking towards the palace. "They would have taken him to the dungeons." Gray pointed to the building just left of the main house, and Gajeel sighed.

"So. You said you had to rescue the Princess. Had he kidnapped her?" Gajeel was staring straight ahead, ignoring the many looks he was receiving from the townsfolk as they passed.

Gray wasn't sure how to answer that. "We were told that she had been taken. But...she wasn't injured. Actually, he was protecting her. And...she didn't seem to want to leave him."

It took Gray a couple seconds to realize that Gajeel had stopped, and he and Juvia stopped together to turn around and see him staring at them with an angry look on his face.

"So you stormed into a dragon-born's home, took away what is probably his mate, stabbed him, then sent her off into her psycho fathers arms and him into a fucking dungeon?" Gray opened his mouth to argue, but Gajeel stopped him. "Don't even try it. I can smell his blood all over your dagger, and in case you've forgotten, I have excellent hearing, and I heard everything you and Loke were saying." He continued walking, passing Gray, his red eyes glowing in anger. "You better hope Loke finds her. Because he's not going to leave without her."

Gray stared after him as everything he said echoed in his mind. He felt Juvia grasp his arm, then looked to see her deep blue eyes shining with determination. "We must hurry, my love. He doesn't have much time."

Well, I guess there isn't much information about Natsu's well-being...

Maybe next chapter?