"This is my daughter, Princess Lucille Heartfilia," Lucy stepped forward and motioned a small curtsy as Jude presented his daughter to King Silver, ruler of the Ice Kingdom. Shortly after King Jude titled Natsu as Lucy's royal guard, he began forming alliances with various kingdoms around the world. The Ice kingdom was small but very powerful. King Silver and Queen Ur both possessed ice-make magic, a very special power only those who are of royal blood inherit; their children Ultear, Lyon and Gray were also blessed with this incredible power.

"It is a pleasure to meet you miss Lucy," bowed King Silver, "I would like you to meet my son, Prince Gray, he seems to be around your age," begrudgingly, gray stepped forward from his place behind his father, bowing his head down at Lucy. He was a charming young man, pale skin and downturned black eyes, a sea of darkness, with a subtle warmth to them, his hair as dark as a Ravens coat of feathers. Lucy could not deny he was quite handsome indeed.

Natsu on the other hand was not impressed. He stood behind the princess, glaring daggers at the young princess, who simply pretended not to notice. As Lucy's royal guard he must accompany her anywhere and everywhere, even within the palace walls. Neither the princess nor the young guard complained about this situation, both enjoying each other's constant company.

Natsu continued eyeing gray, who in turn, finally glared back, leaving Lucy in the middle of the two young men, quiet and uncomfortable.

"Now then, King Silver and I will be taking our leave to discuss business, I trust you will show prince Gray around dear," instructed Jude, leaving the three children in the drawing room.

"Of course papa," smiled Lucy awkwardly, looking between the boys who did not once break contact from their menacing glaring contest.

However, once the Kings were out of sight, the trouble began.

"Got a problem, freak?" Started Gray, stepping closer to the pink haired guard.

"Not at all ice princess, do you?" replied Natsu, taking a step closer, closing the distance between them.

Lucy stood in between the two, placing her hands firmly on both of their chests, before harshly pushing them apart. "I believe we should show our guest around, alright Natsu?" Lucy turned to Natsu, giving him a forced smile before taking his arm and leading him out of the room. Natsu merely nodded and backed off, following the princess to avoid any flying punches she'd throw his way if he did not comply. As the years went on, Lucy grew stronger, granted not as strong as him, but strong enough to hurt him if she really tried.

"So, do you have any hobbies?" asked Lucy, leading the prince to the garden.

"Not specifically, but may I show you a trick," replied Gray, motioning towards her hand. Lucy nodded and they stopped walking, reaching her hand out. He removed his gloves and carelessly threw them at Natsu, who let them fall on the ground. I'm not his butler.

Lucy sent him a firm look, prompting the guard to quickly pick up the gloves.

The raven-haired prince took Lucy's hand in his own, flicking his wrist slowly and swirling his fingers in the palm of her hand, mumbling a few incoherent words. Before she knew it, a small ice figure in the shape of a star appeared in her hand. Her eyes widened and a bright smile appeared, turning to her guard, she ran to Natsu, eagerly showing him the star in her hand that was already quickly melting.

"Natsu did you see it? Look at how exciting this is!"

Natsu smiled down at her fondly, gently patting her head. "That's amazing Luce, it's almost as pretty as you."

Lucy's felt the tips of her ears go warm, and her face go even warmer at the compliment. She smiled shyly at Natsu, who only gave her a wink back.

"If you guys are done flirting now, I'd like to continue our venture to the garden," yelled gray from across the hall, glaring at the pink-haired guard. Of course, the young prince had only shown his powers to impress the blonde, but she immediately ran to Natsu to show him the incredible magic demonstration. Natsu only gave him a small smirk before following Lucy once more.

Once at the prince's side again, Lucy turned to him, "That was unbelievable, how did you learn how to do that?" Still holding the very melted star in her hands.

"It's a gift all people of royal blood have in my kingdom," Gray said pompously, looking back at Natsu. As much as Natsu thought it was cool, he would never make it known. However, he wished he was able to have some kind of cool power like that. He would have wanted for Lucy to be as excited as she was right now if it had been him who showed her an exquisite power.

"I unfortunately do not have a power, however my mama can summon celestial spirits from the celestial realm, but she was once princess of the heavens, I do not think it applies to me," said Lucy solemnly.

"Maybe you can try to summon some as well," Gray suggested.

Lucy had seen her mama summon her celestial spirits on multiple occasions, Virgo was a celestial spirit herself. However, what Gray said did make Lucy think, maybe she could summon spirits, at the very least a spirit that wasn't a zodiac. She made a mental not to ask her mama whenever she had the chance.

"Your father mentioned we are around the same age, how old are you?" asked Lucy, wiping her wet hands on her dress.

"I'm 14, I'm the youngest in my family, my brother is 15 and our sister is 17."

"I see, I'm only 13, but Natsu is 14 as well, you might have more in common with him than with me," Lucy grabbed Natsu by the arm, making him walk alongside the two heirs.

Gray glanced at Natsu, who in turn, gave him a dirty look, making Gray grimace.

"Commonalities with a guard? No way," said the prince as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yeah well, who would want to have things in common with an ice princess like you," sneered the young guard.

"I am not a princess," huffed Gray.

"You sure do act like one."

"THAT'S IT," before Lucy was able to grasp the conversation, Gray lunged to Natsu's direction, tackling him onto the ground. The pair rolled around on the ground, punches and kicks flying everywhere. Lucy stood before them, not exactly sure what to do. Before she could step in, she heard her fathers hurried steps out of the castle.

"What is the meaning of this?" he yelled, separating the boys by their collars.

"He started it!" yelled Natsu, still reaching for Gray, arms and legs swinging.

"He kept calling me ice-princess!"

"I tried to stop them papa, but they didn't listen," said Lucy, stomping her right foot on the ground.

King Silver chuckled, taking Gray from Jude's grasp, "We shall take our leave now Jude, it was a pleasure doing business with you, we will surely be coming back soon." He placed the prince back on the ground, beckoning him to follow.

Gray looked over his shoulder, sending a wink to Lucy, and sticking his tongue out at Natsu. Lucy held him back before he could run towards the prince once more.

King Jude smiled and nodded, turning back around, disappointment written all over his face as he looked at the two insolent children in front of him. "I expected better from the both of you, you are lucky King Silver is rather easy-going."

Lucy looked at the ground, unwilling to face her papa again.

"Go to your rooms, I will see the both of you at dinner," walking away, Jude left the two children in the garden once more."

"This is your fault," Lucy hushed at Natsu, walking ahead of him towards the castle.

"What!? How is this my fault? If anything, that ice-prick started it," Natsu defended, following the blonde.

"If you hadn't picked a fight with the prince, papa wouldn't have yelled at us."

"He was being an asshole, I had to fight back."

"Do not use such language!" reprimanded the princess, mouth agape.

Natsu simply rolled his eyes, crossing his arms behind his back.

True to his word, King Silver continued to return to the Kingdom of Fiore, along with Gray of course. Gray and Natsu were still at each other's throats, but feigned a friendship when a certain brown-eyed blonde was in the vicinity.

As the months and years went by, Gray and Natsu's 'fake' friendship slowly became real. Sure, they still had brawls in the middle of a conversation when one of them offended the other, but when they weren't fighting, they were amicable. Natsu knew he could confide in the young prince when needed, and vice versa. However, they would never publicly admit that they were friends.

One day, Gray arrived at the palace with a royal guard of his own; a fiery red head who was only a year older than the two boys. She was seemingly more spine-chilling than the princess they were used to, for unlike the princess, this young woman was not afraid to lay a hand on them if they were being too disastrous.

Erza was 15, and absolutely terrifying when she needed to be. A single glance completely stopped the young men from whatever mischief they found themselves in.

Lucy adored Erza, she looked up to how strong and brave she was, as well as how discerning and empathetic she proved to be. She was a gentle person, who could do anything she put her mind to. Lucy had no siblings, but she grew to love Erza as the older sister she never had the privilege of having.

The 4 teens became inseparable when they were together, either enjoying picnics in the garden, reading stories in the library, or exploring the endless rooms and hallways of the castle.

One particular day, in the garden, the group of friends were sitting under a large oak tree, having a picnic. Natsu's ears perked up suddenly, listening closely to a quiet, almost meowing sound coming from a nearby rose bush. He stood up slowly, creeping towards the area the sound was resonating from, ready to pounce at any given second. Something rustled within the bush, revealing a small cat. Natsu quickly picked it up, walking back towards the picnic blanket.

"What do you have there?" asked Gray curiously.

Natsu placed the kitten down on the ground. Its fur coat a deep black, looking almost blue when the sun hit it in just the right angle.

"Oh! He's so cute!" gushed Lucy.

"I'm keepin' him," Natsu said, placing the kitten in his lap.

"Are you sure King Jude will allow you to keep him?" questioned Erza.

"Of course he will, I am his favorite guard after all," said Natsu smugly, earning an eyeroll from Lucy and a groan from Gray.

"What are you going to name him Natsu?" Lucy asked, stroking the kitten nestled in his lap.

Natsu stared at the small ball of fur in front of him, a smile forming on his face as he caressed the small kittens, "Happy," he said quietly.

"Yeah, we know you're happy, but what's his name," asked Gray.

"That IS his name Ice prick."

"What kind of name is happy?" coaxed the raven-haired prince.

"Cuz, you feel happy just by lookin' at him," smiled the pink-haired guard.

Before Gray say something else, Lucy quickly intervened, trying her best to avoid another feud between the two. "That's a wonderful name Natsu," a warm smile spread across her face.

In that instant, Happy had become the 5th member of their little team. Accompanying the group throughout all of their adventures.

"Mama, this is too hard," whined the freshly 15 year old princess.

After her first encounter with Prince Gray of the Ice Kingdom, Lucy began questioning her mama about her powers, who in turn, promised to teach her when the time was right.

The time was finally right when she turned 15 years old.

Queen Layla is the queen of Fiore; however, she was formally the Princess of the Celestial realm. With this title, she is able to summon celestial spirits to the human world.

"I know dear, but you have been very adamant on learning this power, so now you must endure it."

Currently, the Queen was teaching the Princess how to summon spirits in one of the many drawing rooms in the palace. Unfortunately, though, since Lucy is still quite young, she does not have enough power to summon the zodiac spirits her mother summons on a daily basis. So, princess Lucy will start with the basics, smaller celestial spirits that don't take up too much power; The Canis Minor.

"Now, repeat it again."

"Open! Gate of the Canis Minor: Nikora!"

A sudden burst of light quickly enveloped the drawing room, disappearing just as fast, revealing a small, snowman-like figure.

"Oh! What an adorable puppy!" Lucy ran towards the spirit, embracing it in a hug, "I'm going to name you Plue!"

"I knew you could do it dearest," said Layla, walking towards the young girl, before coughing unceremoniously.

"Mama, are you alright?" Lucy asked concerned, letting the spirit go to follow up with her mama.

"I am alright, my love, do not worry," The queen looked pale, paler than normal, but she painted herself strong, for her daughter.

Lucy walked the Queen to her bedchambers, asking the maids to look after her while Lucy continued practicing her newfound skill.

"What the heck is that thing?" interrogated Natsu, staring at the white thing in Lucy's arms.

"It's a puppy!" replied Lucy, proudly.

"If that's a puppy, then I'm a long-lost prince," laughed the pinkette.

Lucy pouted, turning away from her best friend, "It's a celestial spirit I summoned, I named him plue."

"Woah, you were actually able to summon a spirit? That's so cool!" beamed Natsu.

Lucy smiled sheepishly. She was finally able to open the gates between the celestial world and the human world, granted, it was to let a small, less powerful, spirit through. But she still managed to do it all by herself! She was excited to show her friends the next time they came over. Maybe she could summon a zodiac spirit by that time!

Lucy knew she could do anything, especially when her mama and her best friend were by her side supporting her.