LUCY:

His Majesty the King ruined my plans completely and without remorse. After a particularly grueling politics class where we had to memorize the entire damn rule book of Fiore, he not-so-subtly requested that we meet him for lunch. Usually I ate lunch wherever while Yukino ate with the King in the dining room. This time I was required to join them, an experience I would gladly avoid all together.

My cheek slipped down my hand as I stared out the window, thoroughly ignoring the lesson on the proper way to greet foreigners. My mind was fastened on the underground halls, running over the layout I had so far. Two stairs down, a turn left, ignore three halls to the right before…

"Princess!" A hand covered in thick rings landed on my desk with a solid clang. I looked up to see the teacher glaring at me over the rims of her tiny glasses. With a sigh I adjusted my posture, straightening out my back and squaring my shoulders. Satisfied that I was once again part of the class, the lady resumed her demonstrations.

I immediately tuned her out and resumed my mental wandering of the halls. I finally got a decent route cemented in my brains and the moment the lady dismissed us from the torture called foreign relations I took off at a neck-breaking run. Sure, I couldn't really get around meeting the King for lunch, but at least I could check those books again before I had to endure the presence of his royal ego.

Slipping into the library, I poured over the same tomes, finding only vague mentions of the passage. August came storming in twenty minutes later, face as red as the tomato I squished during breakfast. I gave him an exaggerated curtsy and calmly listened through his barely understandable temper tantrum before sweeping past him and slowly walking to the dining hall. Surprise, surprise, the King was already there and his fuse was running short.

"Princess Lucy, what is your problem?" He was close to snarling, but I though it sounded pretty pathetic. It was absolutely nothing compared to the snarls I'd heard last night.

"I don't have one. I was doing extra research for my history project." I replied sweetly. The King blinked, momentarily stunned at my unexpected response. I never studied, much less did extra work, unless the topic fit my definition of useful. History was not on my list. My eyes were itching to spin a three sixty. How stupid could this prick be?

"Oh, well, then I suppose you are fine." His Stupidness said with a slight stutter. I gave him an innocent as-can-be smile and he kept going with his announcement. "We have decided it's about time for you ladies to be brought into the main workings. Next week you will attend a trial and the next day you will lead a trial. A prisoner will be brought up and you will judge accordingly. Throughout the week, you will read about several trials, both those that had gone smoothly and those that did not, and you will lead improvised scenario trials. It is in your best interests to focus during this time, Princess Lucy especially." He finished and stood. "Until next week, ladies." With that, he left. I was having a hard time processing this latest development. My mind kept jumping around the worst-case scenarios, most which involved the King killing me. I was, after all, a celestial mage with no known keys and therefore no purpose. It wouldn't be that much of a problem if he just got rid of me, and a trial was the perfect place to call me out for treason – or being a nuisance. Whichever one pleased him.

With a strangled sigh, I left the dining hall and ran wherever my feet decided to go. This time, they took me through a maze of halls on the ground floor that led to a dead end, which I did not notice in time. Resigning myself to another evening with a swollen wrist, I tried to slide to a stop but my hand, instead of painfully colliding with the wall, simply passed through as if there was nothing there. I froze, my arm still ending with a slab of stone, and before I could overanalyze the situation I walked the rest of the way and fell into a crumpled heap when the floor vanished beneath my feet. My magic was being pulled out my body at a very dangerous rate and my vision was beginning to swim. My right ankle was a painful mess. I forced my head up to see an enormous emerald and gold gate towering over me, taking up most of the far wall. A deadly aura of intense magic surrounded it and pulled my own magic towards with a pain that was far too familiar. Before I could connect the dots, my brain very conveniently shut down.

NATSU:

"Are you sure about her?" Gajeel muttered for the umpteenth time. I sent him a dark look and he responded by tearing into his piece of chicken. After the girl had left, I impatiently waited for the others to wake up before quickly distributing the food she'd brought. We managed to stow away the goods and feign unconsciousness before the bastards came in, all suffering a collective shock when they saw the "fried" lacrima circuits. The headman was the least impressed. He'd hissed at his inferiors to get them fixed as soon as possible, to which they replied that it would take weeks. He then turned to us and decided that we had been smiling, which wasn't true, before demanding that someone bring his manual magic nullifier. That little piece of wonder turned out to be a black and silver stick that we all learned to hate. He zapped us all before taking Gajeel and me into the torture room to vent his frustration. Here we were, ages later, both nursing cuts and bruises of various dimensions and me unable to rip his head off for being a general pain in the ass.

"If you don't believe him, wait and see for yourself and shut yer trap." Laxus growled from his sulky corner. Gajeel made a face, but he didn't ask again.

"I want to meet her." Wendy said softly. "Why didn't you ask her name?"

"Cause you guys were asleep. We're all here together, so it's not right for one person to decide when to trust someone else." I replied with a grin. She returned the smile right as a dull thud echoed through the room. We all immediately shut up and stared at the darkness that marked the exit. Our advanced smell and hearing were rendered useless by the stupid bars, and I hated not knowing who the newcomer was. The smallest strand of blonde hair slipped out of the shadows and I let myself relax slightly. It was her.

"You look terrible." Her voice rang out a moment before she stepped into the light, gentle and teasing. I did a double-take on her appearance. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, most of the strands cascading down around her face. Her dress, a thing that bore resemblance to a fitted hospital gown, was missing both sleeves and the skirt ended in a jagged, dirt-stained edge. It was her face that had me worried. Her skin seemed several shades too pale, sharply defining dark circles under her eyes and the long cut on the left side of her face. Her brown eyes were barely alive, a complete change from the last two times I'd seen her. They had managed to lose the warmth and kindness, both replaced by a haunted look.

"So do you." I pointed out. She rolled her eyes and offered a tired smile.

"I bet I look better than you do." She looked at my friends. "Hi!"

"Hello." Wendy was the only one who replied. Gajeel eyed the girl suspiciously and Laxus kept brooding. That's all he ever did.

"I guess they're the silent types, eh?" The girl met Wendy's eyes and the smile became just a bit wider. Wendy nodded with a small smirk. "Oh, by the way, I'm Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia. You guys don't have to tell me your names."

"Ok." Wendy smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Lucy."

"You too. Here, I brought food. Sorry about the lack of meat, but I had to use it to bribe the guards. Turned out they felt underfed." Her voice was dripping disgust by the end and she swung a shoulder bag to the front. The strap was small enough to blend in completely with the dress. Her fingers fumbled with the straps for a few seconds, muttering under her breath about stupid zippers. Out of the bag came four boxes, which she handed out one per person. I cracked the lid open on mine and the scent of roast duck hit my nose, accompanied with grilled vegetables. I noticed the Gajeel and Laxus had left theirs untouched while Wendy was already halfway through her piece of duck, pausing every few bites to lick her lips. Lucy sat with her back against the wall and straightened her right leg in front of her. Suddenly, she slapped her hand on the floor and dug her hands into the bag. I was finishing off the duck when a small box landed on the floor of my cage.

"What's this?" I asked, reaching for the box.

"Torch matches." She said. I pulled one out an examined it. "You're a fire dragon slayer, right? I figured you'd like to eat fire, so yeah." Her hands ran through her hair and she let out a long breath. "Damn bastard. He just had to turn around, did he?"

Gajeel snorted. "Who pissed ya off, bunny girl?"

"Oi! Wait – bunny girl?" Lucy couldn't decide between glaring and laughing.

"Eh. Lucy's too long." Gajeel replied with a shrug.

"How, exactly, is 'bunny girl' shorter than Lucy?" Lucy settled on frowning. A tiny bit of life was coming back into her eyes. "You know what? I give up." She slid her right leg back towards her chest and visibly winced.

"So who pissed ya off?" Gajeel kept going, ignoring her muttering outburst over his name logic.

"The guard. I was robbing the kitchen when he came in, so I hid, but then I saw the matches and tried to get them right as he turned around. I had to hand over three pies to keep his mouth shut. They wouldn't dare admit that they let me go – it would cost them their job." Lucy's hand was massaging her ankle and every few minutes she would suppress a wince. Gajeel stared at her for a few seconds before slowly going for his food box. Didn't take him long to start on the duck.

"How did you know I was a fire dragon slayer?" I asked her, my mouth stuffed with the grilled vegetables and my speech slightly mushed up. She shot me a patronizing look before replying.

"When you challenged me on our first meeting, your eyes lit up with fire. Kinda hard to not figure out what type of magic you use." She drawled. "Try out the matches. If you like the taste, I'll bring more next time."

I pulled one out and struck the red tip against the side of the box. It lit up in a massive flame, beating the measly torches of our cell. I swallowed the fire and its warmth filled me up, restoring my recently drained magic.

"It's good." I lit up three more and leaned back in content. "Can you bring some iron next time too?"

She didn't even blink twice at me request. "Sure."

"Thanks for the food." Wendy said quietly, receiving a nod from Lucy in reply. She slowly pushed herself up, using the wall for support and brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes.

"What happened to you?" I asked her, my curiosity finally winning.

"I can't remember, actually. I was running, and then I woke up in the hospital wing. I can't recall anything between those two moments, but I know I found something. That's it." She rubbed her face and limped over. "Give me your boxes. I'll burn them so that they will still think you aren't fed at all." We handed over the boxes.

Lucy was stuffing them into her bag when I heard Wendy whisper my name. I turned to face her and her eyes went from me to Lucy and back. Getting her message, I turned to Gajeel, who shrugged, and Laxus, who gave the tiniest nod, before grinning at Wendy and calling out to Lucy right before she slipped into the shadows.

"The name's Natsu." She spun around in surprise. "He's Gajeel, she's Wendy, and sulky over there is Laxus." I pointed to each person for clarification. Laxus growled threateningly, but I ignored him.

"Nice to meet you." Lucy grinned and left, the door sliding shut behind her.