Today was Natsu's big da—
"Moooommmm... d-do I have to do this?"
"Yes," Grandine snapped, looking over at her well-dressed son. Natsu was wearing a bluish-gray long shirt, with red details on the side and edges. His loose pants were tucked into his new, polished leather brown boots, and his wore a plain, simple brown belt around his waist. [Look at profile pic to see the outfit.] He looked quite hot, [in both ways,] trying to sweat it out and not barf on his clothes.
"Why do we have to take a carriage back to our own castle?" he moaned.
"Natsu! You barf on your clothes or mine we'll take away your fire-food for a month!" The Queen barked. The Fire Dragon Slayer was the only one who got motion sickness in their family. Both the Queen and the Princess were healing mages, and Igneel did not suffer from motion sickness as much as Natsu did.
"And did we have to invite our cousins?" Natsu groaned. He just couldn't wait to see them... that wasn't true. Honestly, he would put them on the other side of the planet if he could.
"Yes. It's their ceremony too. I'm so happy for them! We'll get to see Metalicana again! I haven't seen him or his sons in such a long tim—" The prince tuned her out, focusing on not barfing for the sake of his fire-food.
The carriage stopped, and almost instantly, Natsu jumped up. "Manners, Natsu, nice and slow." Even though he wanted to jump of the hell carriage as soon as possible, he opened the door and walked out, holding it open for his mother and extending his arm so it would be easier for her to climb down. His fire-food depended on it.
A sea of girls and soldiers made a path for the two to walk. The royalties looked forwards, not paying attention to anyone, but Natsu noted that everyone was in a fancy dress with their hair done or such. He swallowed when he saw a guy in the crowd, but something caught on his nose for a split second. It was familiar, and Natsu turned his head towards the smell.
For a moment, he was surprised. Lisanna? It was her, wearing a nice red dress and waving to him, seemingly with another girl, but his head snapped forwards when his mother squeezed his arm. He moved his hand to indicate he saw her though.
The two disappeared into the hall.
"Lucy, are you almost ready?" Lisanna asked. Lucy looked at the drawing one last time before focusing.
Poof!
The bandit looked in the mirror, checking everything was okay. She looked unrecognizable; she would never guess it was herself. "Coming!" she called, getting out of the bathroom.
Lisanna blinked. "Man, that's weird, seeing you like that. But you look really nice!" she commented. Spirit's new figure was a cute brunette with deep blue eyes and a dainty figure. She wore the dress Mira offered, since she couldn't change clothing with Magic yet. But, it didn't matter, as long as she got in and out of the ball with Michelle and Lisanna.
Mira stepped into the room once the two were done. "you two look great." She said. "now, you'll just have to walk a bit until you get to the castle." Their 'fairy godmother' told them. "Lisanna, you should stay in your Tigress form so you don't mess up your outfit. That way you can change back as soon as you get there. Lucy..."
"I'll use Horologium. He's one of my Spirits." The bandit told her.
Mira clapped. "Just remember, Lucy's name is now Lyra, it's close enough to her name that you should respond to it."
"Now go! Off to the ball!" Lucy and Lisanna walked out of the house, stopping where the grass met the bushes. Lisanna glowed gold and Lucy summoned her Clock Spirit. The bandit was just about to move inside, but Lisanna stopped her.
For a moment, the two girls stared at each other, but Lisanna moved around, now in her Tigress form, sniffing furiously. "that's not good," she muttered, still breathing in furiously using her nose.
"What?" Lucy say, lifting up her arms in surprise.
"You still smell like Lucy. You're not strong enough yet to copy scents. The Dragneel's, or at least Natsu, will likely notice you."
The Celestial Spirit mage rolled her eyes. "I'm not going there for too long, just slipping in, slipping out, Lisanna. I'll be nowhere close to them." Lisanna looked skeptical, but nodded, and Lucy stepped inside Horologium.
They pushed past the bushes, and started walking.
Prince Natsu sat at the head of the table, waiting impatiently for something to happen. His sister and Igneel sat next to him, and Grandine next to the King on the right side. The girls [and one guy,] had started filling in, squeezing into long table benches set up in the Grand Hall.
Natsu found himself searching for a flash of velvety red in the sea of dresses, and eventually, she found her. Lisanna, with that same girl she was with before. They were talking earnestly to each other, but the unnamed girl looked up and caught his gaze.
He broke the split-second connection between them, looking away quickly. She was pretty, sure, but something felt... off about her. Not right, and it made the hairs on his neck stand up.
Wendy wasn't talking to him, but there were three empty seats next to him and one next to his parents. He gulped, and just at that moment, four more figures joined the table, One moving beside his parents and the others sitting next to the Prince, and Natsu tried not to grimace. He looked over at the newcomers. "Good day, Metalicana. Gajeel, Rogue, Sting."
The largest man, a big, bulky male in his forties, had wild, spiky black hair and crimson red eyes. His features were sharp, metal studs lining his arms, eyebrows, and nose. The man named Metalicana Redfox looked over across his children at Natsu and grinned. "Ey' Natsu!"
Whenever around this man, Natsu had to resist the urge to sweatdrop. His children, on the other hand, did just that.
The man at the far end of the table was a boy almost as gruff and bulky as his father was, with the same wild, black messy hair. He was younger than the man, about in his early twenties, and his name was Gajeel. Gajeel wore a black outfit with studs on it.
Beside that was another raven-haired male, except he had shorter, smooth locks. He had a disinterested look in his eyes, yet Natsu knew he always seemed to catch everything. Usually, he wore a black cloak over his shoulders, but today he took it off, showing off his black outfit. Rogue.
The third child wasn't actually Metalicana's, but when Sting's parents died he offered to take care of him. Sting, previously Eucliffe, was bleach blonde, with a three centimeter crystal hanging from his ear. He had blue eyes, unlike his adopted father's red, and he had a tendency to smirk a lot.
Sting, beside Natsu, brofisted him. The two quickly started talking. Natsu liked Sting, especially after [literally,] beating some sense into him after Sting compared the two in a fight with him being the victor. HA! Natsu had exclaimed. One partially destroyed forest and a beaten Sting later, the Dragneel had proved his point. The blonde had mellowed out a bit and had generally accepted that there were better people than him, making him much more enjoyable.
"Hey Natsu! What have you been up to?" the White Dragon Slayer asked, looking over at him.
"Eh, nothing much. Are you happy about this marriage thing?" The pyromaniac asked, sending a glance at all the girls in front of them. Sting shrugged.
"Well, I knew dad would do it eventually—" Wow, Natsu hadn't thought that far ahead. He'd always imagine rolling solo. "—I just hope I find a good Mate at the end of this."
"Y... Yeah." Natsu frowned, staring back unfocused at the sea of girls. At least, there had to be several hundred. His eyes found him back on Lisanna and the new girl, but this time Lisanna caught his look. She winked and raised a thumb, but Natsu was completely interrupted by his Father.
His voice didn't need a lacyrima announcer, [?] it was already as loud as it needed to get the girls attention. Everyone quieted and looked at the man standing up at the front.
"Hello! As you all should know, this is the Dragneel Redfox's Ball, where our Princes will choose girls to later be their brides. As soon as we leave, we would like everyone to get up and form a nice, straight line, and as it is your turn, go down the route with the boy you want to be with. No bickering or cutting in line because we will have you forcefully removed. Okay, got it?" It sounded like Igneel was talking to a bunch of children, but the girls nodded.
The boys followed their parents to the hall where Igneel had pointed to. Natsu knew where it led. It was a lesser-used passageway that split off into four corridors. The dragons stopped at the fork, and Natsu noticed that a sign was put above each entrance. Natsu Dragneel, Sting Eucliffe, Gajeel Redfox, and Rogue Redfox.
"Now, each of you will go down each tunnel with someone to accompany you. Wendy with Sting, Grandine with Rogue, Metalicana with Gajeel, and me with Natsu," Igneel told everyone. "You know what to do."
Actually, no, he didn't, but Igneel pushed him forwards to his hall. They walked down it until they reached a room with two doors. "Look, son, the rules are simple. Girls who want to be married to you will come through this door. You will talk with her for as long as you need to." The eldest Dragneel explained. "if you like her, even in the slightest, tell her to go That Way." He pointed to the door in front of him. "If you don't, then point her This way," he pointed to the door beside him.
"Do you get it?" The father asked. Natsu took a second to memorize it, and then nodded. They sat down on the two chairs in the middle of the room.
"We're ready!" Igneel roared. The sound echoed through the hallway, and was met by two loud 'us too.' Igneel blinked, then strained to listen.
"Is Wendy ready?" he couldn't hear her.
"We're ready too!" He heard Sting cry. Igneel settled back into his chair. He should have expected that his daughter's voice would have been too quiet.
"Let the Games begin!"
Back in the Grand Hall, Lucy, or pardon, Lyra, and Lisanna were arguing loudly.
"Go down Natsu's route!" The Take-Over mage hissed. "He might recognize you and let you through!"
"No! I am not having even the slightest possibility of me marrying Natsu! I'm going to break Michelle out right now!" Lucy protested.
"But there are four guards at the dungeons, and I bet there are plenty of strong mages that would love to help capture you for a better chance to get married!" the bandit had to admit, she was losing this battle, but wasn't about to give up.
Lucy hissed. "Well, even if he recognizes me, he won't let me through because he and Michelle want me as far away from the castle as possible!"
"well, to have better chances, break her out when there are less peopl—" A guard came up to them, and Lisanna cut herself off.
"Are you getting into line?" Lucy recognized this man as Macao, the guard she tricked before. "We aren't here to look around, I'm sorry, so you either get into line or leave, please." Lisanna looked over at Lucy.
"Thanks." Lucy snapped, before dragging Lisanna into line. Because girls were so close to them, they couldn't argue, but they started a wild hand-waving argument.
Lisanna made hand movements for Natsu. Lucy shook her head, and in return, made a jailbreak sign. The Take-Over mage crossed her arms together, pointed to the hall, and made a two-legged person walk on her hand. The bandit road-blocked it, and the two pressed closer together, little sparks flying around them and two fierce blue and red auras hanging around each other.
"Excuse me?" The red-haired woman in front of them turned around when Lucy accidently bumped into her. "Are you two fighting? I will alert the guards if you two are."
They swallowed, because the fierce demeanor of the woman scared them. "us? Fighting? No, we're besties! We would never fight!" they linked arms with each other, smiling widely.
"Aye!" When did you become a Happy impersonator? Lucy muttered mentally. The scarlet-haired woman seemed content and turned around. Lisanna and Lucy started their argument again, stopping every so often when the scary woman turned around.
No time for editing or replies, sorry! here's your chapter!