Rated M
M is for MATURE, people.
If I can pretend to be, then you can too!

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! *sob* However sometimes I wonder if Mashima-sama used to follow me and my friends around to help him dream up a few of his characters!

At least let a girl dream!

This chapter was hard x.X but I hope you enjoy.

*~.💟.~*

Reunions

"So watcha gonna do now, Salamander?" Gajeel smirked, "If I didn't know better, that chick's more bunny than human, having enough balls to call your lame-ass bluff."

Pivoting around, still atop the table, the Hatter yelled back, "How the hell was I supposed ta know she had someone like THAT up her sleeve?! If I don't take 'er, she shouldn't know how to get there!" Hearing the Dormouse's approach, Natsu grinned victoriously when he ducked under another slap aimed for the back of his head. However, he still fell over when she countered his dodge by kicking his shin. "Urk..."

"It's that line of thinking that keeps getting you in trouble!" Levy tried to impress. "Gaajie help me out here!"

"Can't control chicks." The March Hare folded his arms and leaned against a tree.

"Tell us we can't go somewhere and that's the first place we run." Levy grinned with a wink.

"Alright, alright!" Natsu begrudged, lifting up.

"But what about Erza? Even if she's nice about it, there's no way she's just gonna let Juicy walk out." Levy pouted. "It's no secret in the Red Kingdom how much she wants her back." Here's a little something you should know about the Dormouse. Levy, having once made her home in the city, still visited friends there rather often. And she had two friends in particular, who loved to keep up with the lives of the rich and famous.

Natsu's eyebrow twitched, "It isn't? Well damn Levy!? Why didn't you say that BEFORE she left!?"

The Dormouse awkwardly pushed fingertips together, "Cuz... uh... umm, nobody asked."

…...

First, a moment of silence.

Followed by more silence.

Then Levy started to crack a smile,

and Gajeel started snickering.

Finally all three members escalated into a righteous laughing fit.

When the mirth died down, Gajeel was the one to repeat a question. "So, Salamander, what you plannin'?"

A positively mad smile rose on the Hatter's face as his held up a fist, leveling a determined gaze on the mouse and dragon pair. "Same thing we'd do for any member of the Mad Tea Party who's in peril."

"Geheh. Get ready, Shrimp. We might have some fun today after all."

^.^

Taking a finger to the hour hand, let us push it forward. All the way to nightfall.

No, perhaps that's a bit far. Let us go to the first stage of twilight, right around dinner time. Lucy sat on an elegant sofa, big enough to sprawl out and take a catnap; though the star maiden remained prim in posture, trying not to fret over her dress for the umpth-millionth time. Loke had assured her in a world like this, it was the norm—and tis true, that she had seen many other people in the village dress in far less—but it did not make her feel any more comfortable. He had told her that it was for her own protection that she wear it. He'd called it a star dress, but in her mind it was a skinny little black dress one might find on a harlot. Completely bare shoulders, and half the skirt was entirely missing! Everyone (and I mean everyone) could see her hip! However the surge of power that had come with it spoke for itself. She felt as though she could accomplish all the amazing things she'd seen her lion do, and then some.

They had been in this lobby ever since their arrival. A card servant had led them through the castle and straight into this room, and there the two of them stayed. The room was comfortable enough, but Lucy could not help but grow more anxious the longer they waited. Her eyes drifted to Loke as he stood facing a massive painting of a battle that appeared to be fought on a large white and red checker board, if the board were about an acre in size. It had surprised Lucy of how familiar Loke already seemed to be with this world. When she'd inquired, all she got for an answer was that it wasn't unlike the spiritual realm. Ok... that may have helped—if she knew what the spiritual world was like!

Gods but why did men have to be so frustrating!

As if he could sense her annoyance (and considering their bond, it could be all too likely that he had) Loke turned around to face her. However he did not have his casual smile on, which threw her off. "Are you sure you and this queen parted on good terms?"

"She left first," Lucy spoke before thinking. At his questioning raise of brow, she massaged her temples. "I'm sorry... I'm just..."

Quietly, the lion spirit walked over and sat next to her. "Lucy, what are we doing here?"

Pressing her lips together, Lucy held her hands in her lap and gripped them tightly. "I..."

Loke placed a hand on top of hers, "Hey, it's me here. Talk to me."

"This... this land is at war. The people are, well if it's not suffering, it can't be too far from it. I had hoped that if I could just get the queen's ear enough to garner some sort of reason behind it all..." She stopped at the sound of her friend's chuckle. "Hey! It's not a joke, I'm being serious!"

"No, no, I know," he replied light-heartedly. "You want to help people. You have a good heart, I've seen that in you longer than you can remember."

"What do you mean?"

"Goes all the way back from when you were just a tiny thing. Back when I was bonded to your mother, in fact. Layla was painting in the garden when you came running from the house. You were so upset that you dived into her arms, sobbing. Heh, paint went everywhere. You kept saying the same thing over and over. 'They can have my food! Mommy, give'em mine!' When Layla asked what the matter was, and calmed you enough to get a coherent answer, you told her about what you'd heard from someone speaking with your dad. Later I discovered the stranger had been petitioning for assistance to help the people of Ireland who were starving. The history books will probably record it as The Great Potato Famine, should British publishers ever deign the island's plight to be worthy of mention."

Shaking her head, Lucy whispered, "I don't remember this at all."

"No, I wouldn't have thought you would. You were only barely three at the time. But you were so torn up about people you'll never meet that it was later that day that I gave Layla the go ahead to include my key with the others in your inheritance."

Lucy stared at her lap, at his hand on top of hers. "But I was just a child... any kid would have done the same."

"A spoiled aristocrat kid, giving their meals to the poor?" Loke asked skeptically. Using his free hand, Loke lifted her chin to look at him. "Lucy. What you did that day, came from your heart. And it proved to me that you weren't like you father." His smile grew as his hand traveled up to her cheek, "you were more like your mother."

Lucy stared into his eyes and loosened the grip she had on her hands. "Gods Loke, I miss her so much."

Loke wrapped an arm around her, "I know."

After accepting his comfort for a moment, Lucy asked, "Hey Loke? Did my mother ever... travel to a different realm like this?"

Loke frowned and was perhaps about to answer her, but a card servant entered the room and beckoned for them. Silently, mage and spirit rose and followed. They were guided down an expansive hallway with checkered columns and alcoves that housed odd vases and urns. Curtains of thick, scarlet fabric hung about, enriched with white tassels. At the end of the passage stood an immense set of double doors with decorative golden hinges. The sound of the doors opening echoed back down the hall to admit the two into a large room that kept three long dining tables with many chairs of matching woodwork. On the far wall there was a somewhat smaller rectangular table that sat on a dais three steps higher. That's where she sat, the Red Queen Erza. "Ahh," she greeted from where she sat, buttering a piece of toast. "There you are at last. Come sit with us."

Lucy tried to smile graciously, but most likely it came off as more nervous. As she walked past the empty tables, she could hear her heels clack through the room, proving the room's mighty acoustics. Loke followed her with hands in pockets, eyeing where other doors were and predicting where they might lead. As Lucy sat in the chair that the queen offered her (the seat to her right, just as before), Erza's gaze glided to the spirit who was only just taking the first step. "Your manservant can dine with the servants, just past that door." She waved in a direction with little care.

"Apologies, your eminence, but he is my escort, not my servant." Lucy spoke softly, though managed not to sound meek.

A crimson brow raised on the queen as she inspected the lion spirit more thoroughly. "Is that not his dress you wear? How is he not a servant when he bestows his power to you?"

Attempting to mask her surprise, Lucy quickly countered with, "It was a gift. I had no dress of my own to meet with such a personage as yourself."

"We see." The queen motioned for him to sit at the far left of the table. Though Loke pretended not to notice as he took the seat next to Lucy under the formalities of a quick bow.

"Let me introduce you," Lucy started, but Erza waved it away as inconsequential.

"We had hoped we could have spoken in private, but perhaps if we wish the not/manservant to stay silent, they might indulge us the illusion."

Loke frowned, but refrained from responding when Lucy covertly placed a hand on his knee. "Your Majesty," Lucy started, "Your invitation honored me."

An assortment of cards filtered into the room, serving the three of them a lamb chop dinner. Followed by a faceless servant pouring them all a purple drink from a wine bottle. As they worked, Erza asked, "And which letter found its way to you, we wonder?"

In her excitement to see a true meal placed before her, Lucy replied with a smile. "The forest. I wonder where the March Hare goes to retrieve the mail."

All the cards froze when the queen's fork slipped from her hand. Her eyes leveled straight into Lucy's. "It is as I feared then. Those lawless brigands have sunk their claws into you." Suddenly, Erza took both Lucy's cheeks into her hands. This caused Loke to rise to her defense, but was instantly thrown back into his seat with a mere glance from the queen. She continued, concern for Lucy in her voice. "Are you hurt? Those rapscallions are much too careless, if they were to put but one bruise on you I'd—"

"Your highness, please!" Lucy pulled her face from Erza at the same time Loke called out, "Let her go!"

Erza, who's hands were now empty, looked from Lucy, to Loke, then back to Lucy. "What was the Juicy doing with such rabble?"

"That rabble just so happens to be dear friends of mine." Lucy frowned, this was going poorly. She needed to speak with the queen about her sister! How had this all gone so topsie turvie? "Queen Erza... could we..."

"We had hoped you would have better sense, child." Erza shook her head, and rose from her seat. The lovely meal they'd been served untouched.

"Your majesty?" Lucy asked (rising as well), growing nervous from the glimmer in the queen's eye.

"At this point, it really should not come as a surprise. Dreamers never favor red. We had thought that when it was our turn on the throne, that things might have changed." The queen's skirts rustled when she turned to Lucy. She rose a hand to touch Lucy's cheek again, but Loke came between them with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing's ever going to change if this is the way you treat guests." The Lion Spirit King proclaimed.

"It cannot be helped." Erza smiled, though there was nothing gleeful about it. She turned away and stepped down from the dais before looking back up at them. "I must apprehend the dreamer for her own good."

"Like hell you are!" Loke glowered, taking Lucy's hand. Though as soon as their hands met, the entire room pulsed and golden runes appeared on the dais floor. Both Loke and Lucy were pulled down to their knees. Power was draining from them at an alarming rate. Even when Lucy began to say what Loke knew she'd say, he protested, and those protests were cut off when she finished shouting, "Close gate!"

Her protector vanished, allowing her enough strength to stand.

Erza's smile turned humored. "Very well done. Now, guards! Show the Juicy to her quarters. We must detain her until she comes to her senses."

o.o

Now we must take a step back from the abrupt turn our star maiden's dinner with royalty took and shift our eyes to the path our members of the Mad Tea Party walked. Reversing just enough tocks to return us to the first signs of twilight. Two dragons entered castle grounds, as a mouse darted past them. Natsu and Gajeel progressed wall to wall, column, by column, remaining unseen. Levy scurried about, chittering when it was safe for them to advance further.

Once the dragons had made it to a servant's castle entrance, Natsu and Gajeel waited while the tiny Dormouse scouted the room within. "Psst, hey Cana," Natsu whispered.

Remaining transparent in her pink and purple stripes, the Cheshire Cat appeared on a tree branch above them, lounging. "Those damn noses of yours. I had hoped to sit back and watch the fireworks."

The March Hare glowered at her, "Not this time. You're either gonna help, or miss the show."

The Cheshire Cat rolled her eyes, as well as onto her back. "I've already helped. I've sent the Juicy back to your merry band twice now. What can't be helped is the fact that she is consistently chased away again."

"Oh come on Chess!" Natsu grinned up at her, "one more time for old time's sake."

Cana looked down at him with little favor, "You're lucky you're part of the Nakama. You really grate on my nerves."

"Ain't that sweet, he's like a brother to ya. You helpin' or not?" Gajeel frowned.

At the sound of Levy's squeak, Gajeel ducked through the door. Natsu watched Cana for a tick longer, "You think you could get Happy for us?"

Cana shrugged, and vanished while her voice replied, "Fine."

The Hatter slipped in through the door, revealing the room beyond to be a scullery. Smirking to himself, he helped himself to one of the chef's hats. After setting it on his head, he grimaced and tossed it down. The workmanship sub-par at best. Gajeel was biting down on a sausage roll when the all-clear squeak was squeaked in the connecting hallway. Both dragons squeezed through the door and hid behind the same column. Though one cannot really call what they did as hiding, since they were actually fighting over who's column it was. Right after a guard walked past the corridor, Natsu was pushed onto the floor and scrambled to hide behind a different column. When he peeked around at Gajeel's smirk, he flashed him one of his own as if to say, you win this round.

Levy squeezed through a cracked door on her way back to them. Standing on her hind legs, she whispered. "Second door on the left over there. All the others have guards walkin' about." Both dragons nodded to her and swept into the prescribed room. This place served as servant dining quarters from the look of it. Plates were still scattered about, yet to be cleared. Gajeel grabbed up a drumstick while Natsu shifted around a hat rack. He tried on a beret. Ugh. Tossed it over his shoulder. Then he tried on a bowler. It felt alright on his head, but when he turned to see Levy snickering at him he threw it at her. It landed right on top of the little thing and skittered about the floor. Natsu found it extremely funny and fell onto the floor laughing (but not too loudly). Gajeel walked over and lifted it up to find the mouse giggling too. All mirth stopped when another door opened though. As one, Gajeel and Natsu darted to the wall where the door sat. The door opened wide enough to admit a man and right as Natsu lunged for him, the cloaked figure bent over, countering Natsu's attack to send him flying into Gajeel. The mouse scampered up to peer into the hood, "Jellal? What are you doing here?"

Without so much as lowering his hood, he replied, "I sensed a reckless use of power."

Pushing Natsu off of him, Gajeel growled, "Well we ain't helpin' ya find Cana if that's what you're after."

"You misunderstand me." Time turned his gaze on the iron dragon. "It was not the Cheshire's whimsical fluctuations. This was Erza."

"Damnit," Natsu cursed, heading out the door only to feel the choking sensation of Gajeel grabbing his coat's collar.

Suddenly, another cat barreled into the room, slamming right into the Hatter's face. His white wings fluttering from the surprise.

"Happy!" Levy squeaked joyously.

The Hatter pulled the cat off his face, but his smile turned upside down at the worry all over the blue cat's. "Natsu! Natsu! When Queen Erza found out that the Juicy had been hangin' with you guys she went off the deep end!"

"So that's what it was." Jellal put two and two together. "She triggered the trap that's set in the dining hall."

"Trap?" Levy squeaked, "who puts traps in a dining hall?"

"I do." Jellal confessed, "It was meant to help protect her from assassins that got too close."

"Well that sure backfired, don't-cha-think?!" Natsu yelled, grabbing him by the collar.

"Unhand me, lizard." Time growled.

"Guys, guys! We don't have time for this!" Levy piped, "we gotta help Juicy!"

"So what are we supposed ta do?" Gajeel shook his head, "Erza's gonna have her under lock and key by now."

"What do you think we're gonna do?! We gotta get her!" Natsu blurted out.

"Aye," Jellal agreed, removing his coat from the Hatter's claws. "But going in with only brute force will do nothing but give more boots to the headsman."

With all four sets of eyes on him, Jellal sighed. If he hadn't felt partially responsible for this mess... "I have a plan. But I'll help you only if you can arrange a meeting with the Cat."

"But, but," Levy chirped.

"Why the hell would we do that?" Gajeel growled.

"Ain't happenin' Pocket Watch." Natsu simplified.

During Time's newest frown, a chuckle was heard that had Happy hiding behind Natsu. The merry sound was heard from the rafters, where first was the smile, followed by the cat herself. Once all eyes were on her, the transparent apparition of the Cheshire could be seen. "What's the matter, Time? Hunt not going well?"

"Cana!" Levy squeaked in terror, "you gotta get outta here! He says he wants to skin you!"

"Figures you were lurking around." Jellal rounded his spear to point at her.

"Now, now, Time." Cana rose to sit with her legs crossed on a rafter. "Everyone knows a cat is only seen when it desires to be found." As his spear flew right through her incorporeal form, Cana's smile drooped. "That was rude." As she inspected her nails, she sighed. "I'll grant you your meeting, only if this plan of yours works in a way that gets all of us out of here, clean as a whistle. Well..." her smiled curled again, "everyone except you. I don't really care if you get out."

Levy whimpered, truly the sweet thing just wished for everyone to get along when Jellal nodded. "Done."

^.^

Erza sat on her throne, impatient for her subjects to finish their reports. She had more pressing matters awaiting her attention in the tower. As she waited on the current soldier to finish informing her of her sister's movements, her gaze lifted toward the throne room's entrance. Some sort of commotion was stirring up back there. Then the captain of her personal guard ran up to her in a rush.

Gray's cool eyes held surprise that Erza commonly never witnessed. "Your majesty... it's..."

Erza's lady, the Rain Woman Juvia stood from where she sat to Erza's left. Obviously she held concern for her husband when she spied who he'd tried to warn them about.

The Red Queen's throat went dry when her eyes landed on him. The only man she had ever loved. The only man to have cut her so deeply. Jellal would learn that abandoning Erza Scarlet would be his dying regret. "To what do we owe this great honor, Lord Time? After so long, we had thought you had abandoned us with nothing but broken clocks in your wake."

"Dearest Queen." Jellal greeted, lowering down to one knee, a fist on his heart. "My deepest regret is that my obligations have kept me from your side for far too long, but I fear I must beg your patience."

"Patience is more your cup of tea, Lord Time. Why have you come?"

"I have come for the human child. She must be released. A dreamer cannot dream in captivity."

At Erza's hand gesture, Gray came to her side and she whispered something to him. Nodding, Gray also nodded to his beloved wife before stepping down, and quickly walked out of the room. Then the queen replied, "You speak of the Juicy? She is not our prisoner, she is our guest. She came of her own volition at our invitation. You see, not everyone favors the madness sulking amongst the woods."

"You fool yourself, my queen. You have no need of her," Jellal bowed his head.

"Is that..." Erza raised a brow, trying to steel her heart. "Do I detect jealousy, dear Lord Time?"

Time's eyes rose to peer into Erza's, "Do you desire truth, or diplomacy right now?"

"I am of a mind that the two coincide rather well... alas, this is beginning to bore me. What is it you could possibly want with the human girl? She is not of your realm, nor is she in any way under your jurisdiction."

A breeze swept through the room that shouldn't have been possible as Jellal countered. "All things that suffer the ravages of time are a part of my domain. The girl is more mine than anyone's in this entire realm. Now, I implore you, release her."

The wind had been a display of power, and Juvia knew precisely how the Red Queen responded with hostile acts of power. Becoming afraid for the sadness that the Juicy would feel over the loss of her betrothed, she pleaded to the queen for mercy. "Your greatest of pardons your Majesty, but please, it is cruel to separate them. After all, it was the two of them, Time and the Juicy, who finally cheered Juvia's melancholy."

"Oh?" Erza turned to the Rain Woman.

Jellal took a slow step back. No good could come from this...

"Aye ma'am," Juvia smiled coyly. "Apologies, Lord Time, but Juvia must speak to help the Juicy."

Any pirate worth his weight knows when it is time to leave a party. Time lifted his hood and began to meld into the crowd. But how does one accomplish such a task, when everyone but him in the room wears red? His blue cloak stuck out like a sore thumb.

"The Juicy and Time are to be married!" Juvia proclaimed happily. The poor dear only had the best of intentions, feeling pity on two lovers separated so unjustly.

"You are right, dear Rain Woman. And reunite them I shall..." Erza stood, and with an emotionless expression and a dangerous glint in her eyes, she raised a hand that manifested a mighty broadsword into its grip that pointed right at Jellal. "Off with his head. And off with hers. May they meet in the next life."

o.o

Lucy stood there, shackled to the wall. Staring at her keys, resting on a hook near the singular, narrow window her tower prison provided. Perhaps if she willed it hard enough, some latent telekinetic power would awaken that allowed her to float her keys to her hand. Reaching for the mirror she kept strapped to her thigh did her no good either. She wouldn't be able reach it even if she were a contortionist. Must these chains be so damned short?! With her arms drawn up over her head, and both ankles cuffed onto the floor, she was good and stuck. But if she could just call Virgo... her maid spirit knew a thing or two about locks.

Useless to think about things that couldn't be. She needed to focus on the things that were. The queen herself had locked her up here, claiming it was for her own good. Perhaps she could try to charm her? Convince her that she's seen the error of her ways and escape when her guard was down. Lucy's head wilted as a whimper fled past her lips. Who was she kidding? She didn't know how to pull off any of that kind of stuff.

So yep. Here she was, a maiden locked in a tower. How curious it was that instead of the antagonist, the dragon just might be the protagonist? The thought was actually quite humorous. Instead of a knight in shining armor, she prayed a dragon might... might what? Come and smell her like a bloodhound?

Hmm. Well they say real life is much less romantic than the stories one reads. It was why people kept buying books. An escape from the repetitive and the mundane. Lucy frowned. She could do with a little mundane right about now.

Once round two: Lucy versus shackles, ended the same as round one (just with more battered wrists and ankles), Lucy decided that maybe rescue wasn't so bad. Just don't let it be Natsu... what he doesn't know—won't kill him.

And then, the fire dragon himself literally flies in through the window. Lucy smiled, "Oh Natsu! Thank the gods it's you!" And she really meant it. Thank the gods it was Natsu!

Until...

He'd looked so handsome too, jumping in from above instead of climbing in from below. The way he landed made him look so godlike, with a flaming fist and flaming feet. When his eyes looked up at her, his gaze made the heart skip a beat. Then he had to go and ruin it by cracking the wrong kind of smile.

Godlike? More like troll like! Fighting against the chains again, Lucy yelled, "DON'T start! I got myself into this, it is NOT because you were right!"

"But lookit the way you're dressed?! You can't tell me she don't want you as her pillow pal now! You're like, living proof of that!"

"I AM NOT!" Why did it have to be Natsu?

Natsu continued laughing, appreciating the way her struggles sated a beastly appetite he'd just discovered he possessed. When she finally stopped and stared at him with a severe lack of humor and a raised eyebrow, she muttered, "Ya done?"

A mischievous look overtook him, "How ticklish are ya?"

Lucy's eyes went wide, "Natsu... no." He took a step closer, "Natsu—don't do it—I'm not—AAAGGG-hehe! NA-NA-NATSUUU STAAAAAWP!"

The Hatter giggled to himself as he tickled, first below her arms, then her sides. Then his mind flipped and he scratched his head, staring at her waist. "Did Erza put cha in this thing? It's so thin!"

"I do NOT want to talk about the dress! Just get me out of these things!"

"Yea, yea," Natsu took hold of one her wrist's chains, melting it in just a few ticks. When Lucy's wrist fell free, she lifted it up to see that he had melted right through the chain. She hadn't noticed the cuffs were so heavy. It'd been way faster then Virgo's lock picking. Thank the gods it was Natsu who'd come for her.

When her other wrist tumbled loose, Lucy couldn't help but go a teensy bit red faced when he squatted down to free her ankles. Her mind couldn't help but wander to a story her mother had read her many times over. Except the beast was removing chains, instead of fitting on glass slippers. Get your head in the game, Lucy! How could she though? She could have sworn the Hatter's intensely warm hands had lingered on her legs while loosening her binds. OH GODS WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE NATSU!?

Free at last, Lucy nearly tripped over the Hatter reaching for her keys. Slipping her ring from the hook, she finally had the opportunity to look out the window—and wish that she hadn't. "Oh man... this is really high up." She backed away from the window, right into the Hatter's arms. Taking advantage, Natsu wrapped an arm around her waist and led them back to the window and onto the sill. "Wait a second Natsu, maybe the tower isn't so bad—how in the hell did you ever get up here?!"

"Yo Happy!" He called with an adventurous grin, "We're ready for ya!"

When the little White Rabbit spiraled down to them, Lucy gawked, "No way is he going to be able to carry us both!"

"You think?" Natsu asked, as though the thought had never occurred to him.

"Hang on tight, Juicy!" Happy sang, grabbing onto Natsu's coat, while he held onto Lucy. Their descent was a terrible and marvelous one-way trip down, but dear Happy did not fail them. When the star maiden's feet touched ground, it felt as though there was not enough of it and she lowered down on bent legs. Feeling the grass between her fingers, she breathed deeply in relief.

"Sounds like trouble in there." Hatter leaned back, peering past the tower's curved wall.

"Levy and Gajeel's diversion is that way, so if you head out," Happy pointed in a different direction, towards Lucy. "Go that way, you probably won't run into any guards."

"Thanks man." Natsu turned and the two of them did a peculiar handshake, "I really owe ya one."

Happy cleared his throat, lest he get choked up. "I'm gonna miss ya Natsu!"

"Hey, Hey," Natsu put an arm around him. "I don't care if the whole damn world sees you as a Red. You're one of us!"

"Gee thanks, Natsu."

"Now you better make yourself scarce. Who knows when Erza's gonna notice the Juicy ain't up there anymore."

The flying cat with bunny ears nodded and flew several paces higher, then lagged for a moment to wave again. When the hatter waved back, Happy dashed between towers and was gone. After a moment of watching the sky where his best friend had been, Natsu turned back down to Lucy, sitting on the grass. Putting a hand on her shoulder he asked, "You alright?"

"I, I think so... Erza's runes did a number on me though..." Lucy frowned, beginning to stand when he offered her a hand. One of her knees buckled under, and Natsu caught her. Quickly, she apologized for her clumsiness but was interrupted by her own yelp when Natsu swept her up into his arms. It didn't end there though, because Natsu had thought that he'd warned her enough and nipped at her neck. Her second yelp was food for his ears.

When she leveled a glare at him, he just smirked as he started running—forcing her to hold onto him tighter. Once they were clear of the castle's exterior wall, Lucy insisted that she be put down. Natsu sighed, but complied. In the darkness, Lucy walked, feeling the might, and weight, of the star dress she wore. Loke had been unclear as to how to take it off. Experimentally, Lucy reached a hand toward her heart, where she'd been told to put Leo's key. Much to her surprise, she felt it there, though it could not be seen. Lifting it up, Natsu guarded his eyes from a light that blinded. Once the lingering flash ebbed, Lucy stood, dressed in corset and skirt. "Ahh..." she sighed, "that feels much better." Her powers could finally begin recuperating now.

Never, had there ever been a light that Natsu had need to shield his eyes from. What he saw, was a fire... a fire he had yet to devour. He stared at Lucy... feeling more hungry than ever. A small voice told him, not yet. A voice so minuscule, the beast within bade it die thirteen times over. Take the girl, devour that flame. Make it yours. He took a step closer as she sighed her relief from releasing the star dress, and began tucking Loke's key back onto the ring with the others. Another step, Mavis but her smell was divine. Just a taste...

Lucy looked up at him and smiled, nary a clue of how dark the Hatter's beastly instincts had hijacked his thoughts. No, she simply saw the man she'd grown to adore (despite his many flaws) and gladly took the final step toward him as she brought a silky smooth hand to his cheek. With a dash of pink on her face, she lifted to her toes and pressed a kiss onto the corner of his mouth. His eyes widened, and the pulsating that vibrated in his heart quivered. The whole of his being... became still. As though she were thinking out loud, she said, "And to think, for a while there... I was actually upset it was you coming through that window." Lucy flashed him a confident smile and turned away, hands behind her back as she walked, sure that it was the proper direction. She called out, "but I am still mad about you tickling me. Pay back's a bitch." The curse felt liberating for Lucy to say out loud. Who could blame her though? She'd never felt more free.

The Hatter stared until she had wandered far. Eventually Lucy turned around and called out, "You coming?"

A grin curled onto his face, "Sure am!" The Hatter sprinted to catch up, and slowed to a walk beside her. Placing both hands behind his head, he teased, "Ya know, it's all your fault that I broke my promise today."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Sure it is, what promise?"

"If you don't remember, then I guess I'm in the clear then," the Hatter snickered.

Pressing her lips together, Lucy ran through her memories... she could not recall a promise he'd made her.

"Ahh," Natsu stopped, turning his head to his left. "That'll do." He started heading down a hill and into a small valley.

"Hmm? What is it?" Lucy inquired.

Within the valley loomed a dense stand of trees, many of which curved over one another. "What is this?"

Natsu knelt down and picked a berry from a shrub that grew against one of the trees. "It's a thicket. Further in we'll find an old dodo nest by the smell of it." He offered her the berry, "we can crash here tonight."

Lucy blushed, finally remembering the promise he'd made her—and because of her need to be rescued, how it hadn't been fulfilled; she was not about to mention his promise of bed-making, however, so she just took the berry and popped it in her mouth. "Mmm, these are really sweet."

"Dodos love'em." He nodded, and offered her first entrance, "Ladies first."

Warily, Lucy ducked under several branches. The thicket went further than she'd expected. After several steps in, she found what could only have been a nest. Though instead of twigs and branches, it was made up of blankets and rugs. "This is nothing like a bird's nest back home."

"Seems like this dodo had a taste for the finer things," Natsu smiled.

Lucy went to collect more berries while Natsu cleared out old eggshells. With that done, the two sat on the large nest, trying to toss berries into the other's mouth as they talked. "So where are we?" Lucy asked, tossing a berry that the Hatter managed to catch by leaning back.

"Pretty close to the Living Garden. We'll go around that tomorrow and it'll be just a hop and a skip back to the forest." He replied, tossing a berry at Lucy that bopped her on the nose.

"The living garden..." Lucy repeated. A giggle ran past her lips when she'd thrown a berry far off from his shoulder but Natsu had still managed to catch it. "How are you so good at this?"

"Heh, the real question is," Natsu threw another berry that bounced off her brow when she'd raised her head to try and catch it. "How in the world are you so bad at it?"

"I am not—ack!" He'd thrown another berry at her face during her protest. It squished right onto her cheek. Lucy hung her mouth open in mock offense, "oh you asked for it now!" She began pelting him with berries. At first he tried catching them but, under such heavy fire, he hadn't managed well.

"How are you not outta berries yet?" He stammered, grabbing one of the blankets to use as a shield.

"I may have been unfair in distributions," Lucy laughed. Reaching over on all fours, she tugged the blanket out of his hands and squashed a handful of berries right into his face.

"Oh you're in for it now!" Natsu grinned, one eye shut from the berry juice.

Immediately regretting her actions, Lucy leaned back and tried to bail, but it was too late. The dragon cackled and tackled, sending them both back onto the nest. In a laughing fit, Lucy squirmed and batted his hands away as he hovered above her trying to smudge his remaining berries all over her. Once her cheek, chin, and a good portion of her neck were good and purple, she cried out, "Okie, okie! You win, you win!"

She lay there, panting, just as the Hatter holding himself above her did the same. With their eyes locked, Natsu dug a hand into her sticky hair. "Then I guess I should take my prize."

"Wait, your wha—" Her voice trailed off in a sharp breath when he lowered himself onto her and dragged a hot tongue from her collar bone, up to the middle of her neck, then up her chin to her lips. Lucy's skin tingled, then felt aflame when his lick reached her lips. Feeling no more reservations, she leaned her head upward and meshed her mouth to his. A snarl reverberated inside her as Natsu dived in, his hand gripping the back of her head firmly. He pressed against her as his tongue toyed with hers, encouraged at a whimper she'd expelled. Natsu's other hand anchored itself on her hip as both her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. It almost felt as though the girl had lost control of her body while he was in possession of her lips. One of her knees raised, trying to find purchase for a foot that suddenly needed to be grounded. Her thigh grazed the inside of one of his and the Hatter let out a sudden hiss, ever so slightly parting their lips.

"Juice..." Natsu breathed, feeling more hot than he'd ever been.

Flushed, but adventurous, Lucy nipped at his bottom lip. "It's Lucy."

The Hatter hummed his delight and dived right back past those lips. The star maiden gasped at his newfound ferocity and her body convulsed, involuntarily arching her back when her leg felt something else against Natsu's thigh. The dragon pushed her body back down, flush with the ground as his leg switched places with hers, pushing the creamy leg aside with a searing hot hand that slid from her hip, over the bundle of skirts to clutch over the offending thigh of his plus one.

It was his magnificent, wandering hand that woke Lucy from the spell Lust held her under. As she began to try to slip out from under him, Natsu chuckled and rolled with her. Lucy yelped when she was suddenly slung around and now on top of him. He nipped at the tip of her tongue longingly as she pulled up, breathing in the air she honestly hadn't missed. Natsu's eyes looked hazed in her near delirious state. And as for our Hatter? ...Well we just have to love him or hate him for always testing boundaries. He chose to crack that smirk of his and ask defiantly, "Who's Lucy?"

"Ugh!" Lucy quipped, shoving a shredded pillow into his face and crawled off him.

"Oh no you don't!" Natsu laughed, pulling her back to his chest in a perfect spoon. "Gonna need you ta keep me warm tonight."

"Oh please!" Lucy struggled (only to prove a point, the woman did not really want the dragon to release her), "you've never needed someone's warmth a day in your life!"

Snuggling against her more, one of the arms he had around her waist drifted up, grazing her breasts as his hand gripped onto her shoulder. Nuzzling his nose into her hair he whispered, "But I do now."

Chapter 13 coming up next... that's my lucky number.

Wonder if it's Natsu's?

Seriphia
aka
Lick

*~.😁.~*