Minerva checked the bolt on her door, and then spun on her heel, looking in distaste around the room. It was plush, soft red, the room on its own probably costing many hundred thousand Jewels, but Minerva bent down and felt the sheets. This simply wouldn't do, but living beside her said it was the best room.
After she'd walked down Sting's route, Sting let her down the passageway and she was chosen to be one of the candidates for his wife. She curled her lip in distaste.
She wanted a prince, not a silly third heir to the throne! Plus, she was not marrying Gajeel, that Iron Dragon Slayer lump that was hairy and gross. Rogue looked smart and observant enough to find Minerva out, so the lady went down Eucliffe's route.
She'd gotten in, of course. If she, of all people, didn't make it the first time, she'll definitely make it the second. I'm surprised Sting didn't marry himself to me right away, Minerva thought, moving to the windows. She brought down the drapes, covering the room in darkness. Once again, she frowned at the cheap material.
She let her Magic lacyrima ball flow out from a Space she created, putting it on the bed. She sat next to it, tapping the surface with her long fingernails and thinking of who she wanted to contact.
"Minerva." The girl looked down and smirked.
The ball had imitated a hologram, hovering a few inches off the surface of it. In the hologram, there was a monstrously-sized man, wearing huge dark pearls around his neck and a vest that showed off his huge muscles.
"Jiemma. How do you fare?"
"I'm fine." He said gruffly. "How is your mission doing?" at his words, Minerva [in a very ladylike manner,] wrinkled her nose.
"Igneel's son is an idiot. He didn't choose me for his candidates." Jeimma slammed his fist down on the table that the lady couldn't see.
"What? How dare he insult my daughter like that!" he roared.
"But, I did get into the competition. Just with Eucliffe. I have a feeling he's the only other one stupid enough not to notice our plan as it is in action." She told him. Her father was almost shaking in his fury, and the image got much clearer, signs that the Magic level he was putting into the communication lacyrima was raising.
"Eucliffe? He won't do. He's the third heir, he gets hardly a portion of his Kingdom when the time comes. Barely enough land for us to steal. With the eldest Dragneel—"
"Yes, yes, I'm very well aware of that," Minerva snapped. "Prince Dragneel is an idiot, I can't help that. I'll have him wrapped around my little finger soon though." She let the Magic flow in her stop, and the image flickered.
"Goodbye, Father."
"Minerva." He nodded before the image tapped out.
The lady recollected the ball in her personal Space, making it disappear from view, only remembering now about the stupid girl that she'd kidnapped before. With a huff, she let the girl be pulled out, and she dropped to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.
The petite girl shuddered and coughed on the floor, and Minerva stomped a heel near her face. The girl looked up, instantly terrified. She tried to scramble back, but the lady also caught her dress under her foot.
"Hello. My name is Minerva. You are going to call me Milady." She snapped. The girl nodded quickly, still panting slightly. There was a line of sweat across her brow and her lip quivered. She had longish, sea-colored hair, and amber eyes.
"You're going to be my maid." The girl blinked, as if confused.
"But... why?" she rasped. Minerva didn't like the dry voice and poofed in a tin full of water. The girl uncapped it and glugged it down greedily.
"Don't use it all. That may have to last you the next few days." Minerva told her. She abruptly stopped, wiping water from her mouth.
"Why? Because I told you so. If you don't, well... I can easily stop the airflow in my Spaces, you know. With you trapped inside." The girl's eyes widened and she shuffled around quickly, as if trying to find something.
"Looking for this?" The lady laughed, holding up a Scribe's pen. The girl stared back at the thing floating in her hand, but she closed it, putting it back into a private Space where the girl couldn't get it.
"You do well; I'll make air-flow good. Bad... well, honey, you'll find it really hard to breathe." Minerva smirked. The girl seemed very panicked, stuck on the ground like that.
"Now, because I'm nice, I'll let air good today, just because it's your first day. What's your name?"
The girl recoiled slightly, her over-reactive imagination working at dizzying speeds to what this lady could do to her.
"Levy." She said timidly.
"My Lady," Minerva snapped.
"Levy, My Lady."
A few hours after that, it was dinner, and each girl was filing in with a guard to sit at the table. Each seat had a name card, the girls chosen for Natsu sitting at one table, the ones for Gajeel in the next, Rogue next to that and Sting at the far end.
Lucy noted that while Natsu's table was mixed, Gajeel's table beside her was filled with tall, busty ladies that loved to talk and giggle. Rogue's was mixed, but none seemed to be too loud, most actually looked... average. Sting's was similar to Gajeel's, filled with beautiful ladies, all except one. She was cute, white-haired with amber eyes, but not particularly busty or gorgeous.
Lucy sat down, about the same time as Minerva came in. The bandit was expert at reading people, just by seeing their movements, and boy did this woman scream V-A-I-N. Her hips swerved like she was doing it on purpose, her lipstick was unnaturally bold, her hair was done up in a fancy cascade of hair, and her dress was super-tight, showing off every curve. The neckline literally plunged, showing off lots of cleavage.
V-A-I-N. Spirit repeated mentally, finding her own spot. She sat down, and Gray went... somewhere or other. She didn't care, and purposely didn't watch him go.
Girls started filling in, and Lucy inspected the two name tags beside her. Angel and Erza. Spirit vaguely remembered them as the Asian white-haired woman and the scary redhead. She looked past that, and noticed Lisanna's card on her far right. She switched Angels with hers.
Eventually, every girl came in and sat down, Lisanna sitting next to her, and a soldier called out. "Please stand for the royal family!"
Spirit had to stop herself from rolling her eyes as everyone stood up. The Dragneel's and Redfox's started filling in at the head table. Lucy watched, only because everyone else was doing it, as the family sat down. Lucy's gaze found itself on Natsu, who was wearing a red vest, similar to the one she saw him first in. He was staring straight ahead, seemingly bored out of his mind.
"You may now be seated."
The girls sat, mostly silent. The bandit took her seat, waiting for the food. She was hungry, godamnit!
Luckily, servants came in with huge plates of food. Lucy was offered so many type of fancy food, and she accepted them all. Grinning cattishly, she grabbed a loaf of bread in one hand and a spoon in the other.
"Would you like some wine, madam?" a servant asked, obviously distasted by her purposely messy eating habits.
She thought for a moment. While it would make her act seem more convincing, she knew she couldn't hold her liquor. She didn't want to get drunk on her mission.
"Naw, I'm cool." She waved him off, and continued eating like a maniac. Erza, the scarlet, eyed her quickly disappearing plate.
"You are obviously hungry, Ms. Heart." She said stiffly.
"You can call me Lyra. But, yeah, totally! I'm like, starved." She said, eating another bun. They were really good. Sweetened with honey, most likely, which was so sweet and uncommon to the bandit that she kept on coming back for more. "Mmm... isn't the food great here, Erza?"
"Yes, it is." She said, turning back to... Lyra stopped for a moment, confused. On the scarlet's plate was a slice of cake. Strawberry, it looked like.
No way did this lady finish faster than she did and go on to dessert already!
Erza caught her staring. "Oh, no, it's not like that. I specially requested it. I wanted to try the cake here. It's delicious, just like the rumours say." Lucy nodded.
"Could I try a bite?"
...
"No!" Erza seemed to grow bigger, and Lucy wanted to run and scream. Her eyes turned similar to a Demons, fiery red, and her teeth grew longer, sharper. Erza's voice was loud and raspy. "You may not have a piece of my cake!" Suddenly, she turned normal, taking another bite happily.
Lucy turned back to her plate robotically, scared out of her mind.
Never, ever ask for a bite of cake from her, she told herself, lifting a forkful of salad to her mouth.
At Erza's outburst, Lucy now noticed that everyone was staring at the two. Lucy paled, fighting the urge to bolt. All of her bandit instincts screamed because everyone was looking at her. It was wrong. Unfortunately, the Redfox's and Dragneel's, including Natsu, were staring at her also. Erza paid no mind, already eating strawberry cake, leaving Lucy to explain it all on her own.
"Heh, uh, sorry. She just... uh... doesn't take asking for, uh, a bite of cake well." She stammered, gesturing to the scarlet. She swallowed.
They shrugged and the attention was pointed back at the food. Lucy felt like there was a weight strapped off her chest. Phew.
Lisanna beside her grinned cattishly. "Too close." She whispered. Lucy hit her arm, not looking over.
"Shut up." the bandit hissed exasperatedly.
After everyone finished eating, Igneel stood up.
"Okay, so we have nothing planned for after this, you may all return to your rooms. I request Erza Scarlet, Yukino Agura, Bethany Peach, and Espa Metony get a good night sleep, because you're going to be spending the day with the princes, 'Kay?"
The four nodded, and everyone stood up, finding their guard. Lisanna elbowed her. "Do you want to chat for awhile? My room or yours?" Lucy thought for a moment. She did want to talk, but she wanted to plot the castle out as much as possible.
"Yours." At that moment, Gray finally found the [current,] brunette and stopped.
"Hey, is it okay—" she noticed the humorous expression on his face. "What?" she snapped.
"That stunt you pulled with Erza?" he asked, smirking. "She's an old friend of mine. You asked her for a bite of cake, did you?" she nodded miserably, and Gray started guffawing. Lucy hit him.
"Yeah, yeah, so what were you about to ask?" he said, wiping tears from his eyes.
"I wanted to ask you if I could go in Lisanna's room with her for a bit. Hang out." She explained. Gray nodded.
"Hey Lisanna. Haven't seen you in awhile." Gray said, looking over at her. "You're really in this competition? I'm surprised. I thought you didn't like Natsu?"
Lisanna turned red. "Well, no, I don't, but if he gets a bunch of crappy girls... well, I can be there as... a friend. I know Natsu well enough that he doesn't want to do this anyway." Gray smirked.
"Sure. Well, about you two chatting, it's not banned to do that, so I suppose you can." He turned to the white-haired mage. "Where's your guard?"
Al, the dark-haired mage guard who was previously guarding Michelle's cell, Lucy recognized him, walked up behind Lisanna. "Here."
Gray propped him, and the four headed to another part of the castle. Lucy was busy plotting exit points, but Lisanna stopped, turning towards a door. She bumped into the Take-Over mage, knocking her out of her stupor. She blinked.
"Well, this is it." Lisanna said.
"Well be right next door if you need us ladies." Gray told them, walking off with Alzack and disappearing around the bend. The girls went inside.
The room was similar to Lucy's room, only pink. It was simple but luxurious. "So, any new accomplishments?" Lisanna asked, locking the door. The bandit shook her head.
"No. I've been plotting the castle for exit points. I'm not gonna make the mistake of being trapped at a dead end with Michelle. I'm not going to make a stupid mistake like that. The only problem is measuring the guard's powers. I know the one's dressed in blue are mages, but how strong are they? Some, I certainly can't face without using my Keys as a last resort. Like the Dragneel's or the particular yellow-haired mage Natsu told me about." She explained. Lisanna seemed impressed.
"Seems you're really thinking this—" her surprised expression turned into a grin. "I'm surprised you remembered something that Natsu said before." Lucy blinked, not getting the implication behind the words.
"You remembered a very small detail that Prince Natsu told you." She explained further, rolling her eyes. Lucy's face turned crimson, veins popped above her head, and steam bellowed from her ears.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She shouted, throwing her shoe. Lisanna got hit, but Lucy remembered her shoes were flats and therefore useless. The Take Over mage merely laughed.
"Oh, shut up! You like Natsu anyways, I'm not stopping you." Lucy mumbled.
Lisanna stopped laughing. "Okay, explain this to me. Why do you think I like Natsu?" she asked. Lucy rolled her eyes.
"It's obvious! The way you were sitting at the table and you kept sending each other Looks that were long and... stuff!" She huffed. "You two are childhood friends! Every novel had the long-time boy and girl friendship and then the boy or girl falls in love with the other but they're too afraid to ask because they don't want their friendship ruined!" she announced. Lisanna giggled.
"My, my. Lucy, I'm in this competition to help you out. We'll succeed or go down in a fiery ball of blazing glory together. I'm not in it to get married to Natsu. It sound silly just by saying it. I don't like him any more than a good friend."
"And anyways, I thought you weren't even listening at the dinner table. Although, the way you're saying it sounds like somebody's jealous." Lucy spun around and glared at the girl.
"Me? Jealous of You and Natsu? What is there to be jealous of?" she snapped. "Like you said, you guys are nothing more than friends anyways."
Lisanna giggled into her hand. "So when it comes to your favour you'll agree with me, but when it doesn't you'll disagree?"
"I will hurt you soon." Lucy told her dryly, narrowing her eyes at the Take-Over mage. Lisanna grinned, taking on the form of Natsu, just like her sister.
"Come'on, Lucy, bring it on." The fake prince brought his hands forwards, before shifting back to the white-haired girl. The bandit scowled at her laughing expression.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
I believe I am a hypocrite. I always wrinkle my nose at stories with a really high amount of chapters with a low amount of words. so, ex. 16 chapters, 18,000 words. That's just weird and, well, chappys should be longer! And now I waltz in with a 17 chap story so far, and only come up with... 40,000. [without A/N.] that's like, and average of 2,300 words per chappy! Well, posting them so fast is hard to make them super long too... decisions, decisions... I could make chappys longer, but there would be less frequent updates. Meaning instead of daily, maybe once every two days. Well, I won't be evil to you guys and make you wait that long. We're already waiting a super long time for the anime to come back. [DID YOU HEAR! IT SAID ON THE NEWEST MANGA CHAPPY THAT THE SERIES PROJECT IS RESTARTING! MEANING THEY'RE MAKING EPISODES [or at least planning them,] RIGHT NOW!]
Once again, gomenisai [?] for not being able to reply to you all! this story's getting popular!
Talia: WOW. I'm an idiot. FOUND THEM! in the recycle bin! ... *wallows in pit of self-hating-idiocy*
Cloy552: Well, we see where that goes!
OtakuFangurl: well, you'll see them together eventually! [btw, prob next chappy. possibly the next.]
Sofia: no, NO! that wasn't what I was aiming for! [even though, I'll admit, I used to ship GrayZa, even after the Tower of Heaven ark. Then I shifted to JeRza/GruVia around... Nirvana, I think.] well, whatever, but I have always shipped NaLu! I'm not trying to steer them towards GraLu... "DON'T GO TO THE DARK SIDE!"