Author's Note:

Well, this is the end folks. The last chapter of part one. The Grand Finale... I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations.

As always, HUGE thanks to all my AMAZING reviewers out there. Big hugs and kisses to: MajorPain67, , valerioux, sakshishetty3003, AshleighLeeann17, stranger1999, Starstruck-MJ, CathJorda, Bugseey, Catleana, NarukoSon, Ninja-Turtle Charlie, Abdltf, MudSkipper001, Cino2K, ABT4Life, Jedi Jelsa777, Akane Saito, and SistershoOk. You guys are all awesome!

Also, extra special birthday wishes to Ninja-Turtle Charlie. ;D

FAIR WARNING: things are going to get a little hairy, and there are a few small parts that could be triggering, but nothing SERIOUSLY bad happens. So, I haven't put in any further warnings.

Also, stay tuned till the end for an important announcement on Part Two!

Alrighty! Let's get on with the show, shall we?

The next morning, Lucy woke slowly and with a grogginess that she normally didn't experience. It felt like she was swimming through tar.

There was a dull pain throughout her body that confused her as she surfaced, and eventually she determined that part of the problem was her uncomfortable position. So, she shifted and stretched her limbs out, hoping to relieve some of the aching in her shoulders and hips. However, as soon as she moved, a pang came to life in her pelvis with all the subtlety of a punch to the stomach.

That sensation immediately brought her to full awareness as everything that happened last night slammed back home in her skull.

Her body reacted violently to the memory, and soon she was tumbling out of bed with the intention of rushing to the toilet… but she didn't make it that far. Only a few feet from the bed, she went to her hands and knees and threw up every last thing she'd eaten yesterday. Even after everything was out, her stomach kept cramping and she continued to dry heave for what felt like forever, occasionally spitting up a little more bile.

When it finally did end, she stayed on the floor for a long moment to catch her breath, and once she felt less queasy and lightheaded, she stumbled to her feet and staggered to the bathroom. However, when she was confronted with her reflection in the mirror, it just made things worse. Her mind blanked and grew numb as she stared at her appearance.

Her body was covered in battle scars from last night. The worst of the welts from Eisenwald's wind had left angry red streaks crisscrossing over her skin, and – combined with her assortment of bruises – she looked like she'd been whipped and beaten. Purple and green splotches marked her body all over, but they were particularly harsh on her neck, chest, hips, and arms.

What disturbed her the most though were smears of dried blood on her thighs, and that finally sent her dashing to the toilet again where she proceeded to dry heave for another five minutes at least.

When she finally reigned her stomach back under control, she kept her eyes away from the mirror and made a beeline straight for the shower, grabbing the strongest looking antibacterial soap off the rack for her purposes. The idea of a bath wasn't even remotely appealing at the moment… she felt like she was covered in filth and it would infect her bathwater. She wanted running water to flush all of it straight down the drain.

She didn't even wait for the water to heat up, she was too desperate to get clean for that. Instead, she dealt with the freezing cold water, only yelping a little because most of her attention was on the soap. Belatedly, she realized that she'd forgotten a loofa or washcloth, but she couldn't stand the thought of waiting to get one, so she just poured the soap into her hands.

She immediately went for the center of all her horror, disgust, and shame. The sensations from both her hand and her privates triggered all sorts of unpleasant emotions and memories from last night, but she gritted her teeth and bore with it. A few pained hisses and grunts slipped out as she ruthlessly scrubbed her torn skin, trying to ignore how badly the soap burned, and she glared up at the ceiling as her eyes watered.

It was kind of cathartic in a strange way though… like the soap was burning away all traces of what had happened. She was almost angry at that part of her body, as if it had betrayed her, and she wanted to scour it clean and reclaim it as hers. If she could have stood it, she might have even tried putting soap up inside that strange place, but even the slightest threat of doing that had her nearly doubled over with agony.

Eventually, she gave that spot a break and started soaping up the rest of her body from her neck down to her toes… at some point switching from fingertips to her nails when she felt like she wasn't scrubbing hard enough. It was like she couldn't get his touch off her… and after three full washes, she slowly began to realize that she might never feel completely clean again.

That thought was almost too much for her, and she slumped to her knees, not even feeling the water anymore. Once she started crying, she couldn't stop, and she ended up stuck on the floor of the shower sobbing into her hands. Soon her chest was aching, her eyes burned, her throat felt raw, and her nose was so full that it gave her a raging headache. Everything about the experience was painful, and she wished she could turn it all off.

Eventually, she regained enough sense to turn off the water and stumble out of the shower, but she quickly discovered that her legs had fallen asleep and nearly fell over. Pins and needles attacked her with every slight move, but she managed to make it to the line-up of robes before collapsing. She couldn't stand the sight of her body covered in bruises, welts, and now scratches from her own nails. Yanking the thickest robe down, she wrapped it around herself and then sat leaning back against the wall, waiting for her legs to feel like legs again.

That was where Michelle found her.

Even after regaining the ability to move, she hadn't felt like it and chose to remain on the floor instead, feeling utterly lost. She'd stayed there just spacing out for probably an hour, until the sound of a sharp gasp caught her attention.

"Your Highness! Are you okay?!" Michelle yelped and rushed over, falling to her knees beside Lucy.

It was eerily reminiscent of yesterday morning, and she wondered if this was going to become a repeat occurrence. She certainly hoped not… that would mean that she was having an emotional breakdown every day, and she didn't know how long she could stand a life like that.

"Obviously not…" she responded dryly to Michelle's question, finding it almost funny in a dark kind of way. However, she regretted the slightly harsh response when Michelle flinched and teared up.

"I'm sorry, my lady, of course you aren't. Can you stand?"

"Yes…" she sighed, gingerly getting to her feet and feeling various muscles protest the action as well as her private parts. It was an unpleasant reminder, but she did her best to keep her mind from going down that road. At the very least, this last hour or so of sitting and doing nothing had emotionally numbed her a little, which was a step up from falling apart as far as she was concerned.

That numbness stuck around while Michelle assisted her into the baggiest pair of soft pants and shirt she could find, and it helped her to ignoring Michelle's subtle gasp when the maid saw her beaten up skin. But as soon as they reentered her bedroom, the numbness melted away and she balked, immediately backing up and spinning around so she wouldn't have to look at it. Michelle had already stripped the bed of its covers and must have gathered up the fragments of her nightgown, because Lucy hadn't seen any remnants of last night, but just the room itself brought back memories.

"Oh no! Oh… um… let's go this way, alright, Your Highness?" Michelle stammered, ushering Lucy back into her dressing room and through the bathrooms to the living room.

Once there, the other blond helped her onto the couch and retrieved a large blanket from somewhere to wrap around Lucy's shoulders. She huddled into the nest, clenching her eyes closed and trying to regain that numbness she'd acquired before.

Her mental exercise was interrupted by Michele though, who said, "Uh… I'll go get your breakfast from the kitchens… and I'll let everyone know you're feeling ill and wish to be alone."

Lucy nodded, thinking that was a very good idea – even if she wasn't particularly hungry.

While Michelle was off on that errand, Lucy returned to her meditation, eventually managing to get her emotions and thoughts mostly under control again. Once the threat of bad memories resurfacing faded just a little, she focused on her plans for the future to help distract herself.

One of her largest concerns, and something she really couldn't ignore even if she wanted to, was the very real threat of getting pregnant. For all she knew, she might already be pregnant…. she wasn't sure how fast that sort of thing happened, and it was definitely something she would need to ask Michelle about. Maybe there was something she could do to prevent it from happening, and if so, she needed to know about that right away. Just the thought of getting pregnant from that monster threatened to throw her headlong back into an emotional meltdown.

When her heartrate spiked, she took some deep breaths and tried to think about something else for the moment. She had to stay strong and focus on escaping as fast as she could, because she knew that if she had to go through anymore nights like last night, she might even lose her will to fight, and that was something she couldn't risk. She'd rather die than live like that for the rest of her life.

Thankfully, before Lucy could get too lost in dark thoughts, Michelle was bustling back into her chambers, wheeling a food cart in front of her. She shut the door behind her and wheeled the food closer to Lucy.

"I wasn't sure what you might be in the mood for, so I tried to bring a broad selection," the maid offered, laying some of it out on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Thank you, Michelle…" she murmured, reaching for a plate with scrambled eggs on it and plain buttered toast.

That seemed bland enough to not upset her stomach too much, and she gingerly nibbled at it, finding it tastier than she'd expected. The smell and taste of food made her stomach come back to life, and she realized that she was actually starving, even if her appetite was still missing. Ironically, the hunger pains only ended up making her feel queasier, and she had to slow down her eating even more to accommodate it.

Michelle awkwardly stood nearby, looking unsure and worried. Eventually Lucy sighed and said, "Why don't you come sit next to me? I could use the company."

The other woman jumped a little, and then hesitantly joined her on the couch. "Are you sure this is okay, Your Highness?"

"I appreciate it actually. I don't really want to be left alone with my thoughts right now."

"Oh… yes. I suppose that makes sense…"

There was a long moment of silence between them as Lucy continued to slowly consume her food, taking it very carefully so that she wouldn't make herself sick.

And then Michelle cleared her throat and timidly asked, "Is there…. Um…. Would you like to talk about… what happened?"

Lucy almost swallowed wrong, feeling a mild zap of anxiety and batting it back down to the best of her ability. She definitely wasn't ready to talk about what'd happened… she doubted she would ever be able to talk about it. However, that did remind her that she needed to ask Michelle about the pregnancy thing.

Putting aside her plate for a moment, she turned to face Michelle, who looked like she was afraid she'd just really messed up. Lucy was quick to give her a small smile so she would stop worrying.

Clearing her throat, she tried to get through what needed to be said without stuttering too much. "No, I… I really can't talk about that. But I'm glad you said something, because it reminded me that I need to ask you something. Is there any way to prevent myself from getting pregnant? Because that's the last thing I want right now."

Michelle perked up a little, and eagerly offered, "Yes! There is a potion you can drink the day after to make sure that you won't get pregnant. And there are potions and tinctures that you can drink every day or before having sex to prevent pregnancy."

Relief swamped Lucy's senses and she quickly asked, "And if I took one of those potions today, it would make sure that I can't get pregnant from… what happened last night?!"

"Um… yes… but…"

Lucy could tell Michelle was getting worried again, probably because she knew what Lucy was about to ask… and if the maid got caught doing it, she would probably get into a lot of trouble. Lucy felt bad about it, but she was desperate and had no other options at the moment.

"Please! Can you get me some of those potions?! I know it's a lot to ask…. But I have no one else I can turn to."

Michelle bit her lip, looking torn for a moment, but then her eyes grew determined and she firmly nodded. "Yes! I can get you some!"

"Thank you so much! There's nothing I can do or say to tell you how much this means to me."

Michelle nodded again, and then said seriously, "I'd better go do that now… it's better to take the potion as soon as possible the day after."

"Okay, thank you again…"

"I'm just glad there was something I could do to help… but are you sure you'll be alright here by yourself? You just said you didn't want to be alone…"

"I can manage for a while," Lucy replied, incredibly touched by how considerate and caring her new friend was.

"Alright, then I'll be back as soon as I can."

And with that, Michelle hustled out the door, leaving Lucy alone with her thoughts again.

…

An hour or so later, Michelle returned to Lucy's chambers with the items she had requested, and Lucy immediately gulped down the foul-tasting potion the maid handed to her.

A wave of relief helped settle her nerves a lot, but she still felt anxious enough that she needed Michelle to stay and keep her company for the rest of the day. That was partly because she was terrified Eisenwald might show up again at any moment and do more of those horrible things to her… not that Michelle could do anything to help her if he did, but it still made her feel better to have her there.

Thankfully, he didn't pay them a visit. However, when dinnertime rolled around, a knock sounded on her door.

Michelle leaped to answer it for Lucy. "Yes, what is it?"

"His Majesty has requested Her Majesty's presence for dinner," said a male servant's voice from the door, and Lucy breathed out a sigh of relief that it wasn't Eisenwald himself.

Michelle glanced back at her, and Lucy urgently shook her head 'no' – absolutely sure that she couldn't handle seeing that man so soon after what he'd done to her last night.

Her new friend turned back to the servant at the door and said, "My lady is actually quite ill right now. She couldn't possibly come to dinner. Please give His Highness her deepest regrets."

There was a muffled assent, and then Michelle shut the door and turned back to Lucy, looking worried.

"I don't think that will work though… he's probably still going to insist that you come to dinner."

"I can't! I can't stand the thought of seeing him right now!" Lucy gasped, feeling her breathing grow more and more shallow by the second as she contemplated it.

The other woman hurried over and quickly started rubbing her arms and patting her back, trying to help her snap out of it.

"Deep breaths! That's it… nice and easy," she urged, and Lucy tried to do as she suggested, forcing herself to focus on just her breathing and nothing else.

It took a good few minutes to calm back down, and even then, Lucy felt dangerously unbalanced. The threat of having to see him again was making her degenerate at an alarmingly quick rate. It was so bad that when another knock sounded on her door, she flinched hard enough that she nearly fell off the couch.

Sharing a frightened look with each other, Michelle hurried over to answer the door. Thankfully it was just the servant again and not Eisenwald himself coming to get her.

"His Majesty insists that the queen comes to dinner, whether she feels well or not," the male servant relayed, sounding ever so slightly uncomfortable.

Once again, Michelle looked at Lucy for her answer, and though she knew it was probably a very bad idea, she shook her head.

Michelle bit her lip and said, "One moment please," to the servant before closing the door and coming over to Lucy.

"If you turn him down again he might get angry, and… well… he might come to your chambers."

That threat was enough to make Lucy think twice about her decision, and she realized that if she wanted to survive here long enough to escape, she should probably try her best to not make Eisenwald mad. A wave of helplessness washed over her, stripping away a little more of her pride as she realized that she would do just about anything to avoid a repeat of last night.

Gritting her teeth and taking a few more deep breaths, she tightly nodded, and Michelle hurried back over to the door to tell the servant that she would be right down. Meanwhile, Lucy felt like she was slowly sinking into a puddle of quicksand that was trying to eat her whole.

"We should get you dressed more nicely…" Michelle commented, and Lucy nodded again, feeling a little mindless.

With Michelle's help, she was quickly shoved into a dress that was as demure as possible – with long sleeves, a high neckline, and a skirt that went to below her knees. And then Michelle fixed her hair and makeup while Lucy pep-talked herself into being slightly more composed.

'I can just avoid looking at him… and I doubt I'll have to talk to him or touch him. All I have to do is show up and look pretty, just like he said two days ago, and that'll make him happy. I just have to play along until I can escape, and then I never have to see his face ever again. This won't last for long… I can do this… I can be strong… It's going to be just fine.'

Within just a few minutes, Michelle was escorting her to the dining hall, and Lucy wildly searched for something to hold onto to bolster her willpower. She refused to cry in front of Eisenwald or show him how badly he had shaken her… so she had to stay strong.

After some deep hunting, she finally landed on a tiny warm calm spot in her heart. Memories of her mother flooded her, and following those were memories of Brandy, Aquarius, Yajima, and everyone else she loved back home. Thinking of them gave her courage and soothed her shattered nerves.

Finally, her mind settled on a certain chestnut-haired person that she had desperately been trying not to think about. Fresh grief stung her for a second, but underneath that was another wave of warm memories that fortified her.

She clutched all those feelings of warmth and safety close to her heart as she walked into the dining room with her head held high.

Her first glimpse of Eisenwald nearly sent her crashing back down into that dark hole of sadness and fear, but somehow she managed to stay afloat as she pulled even harder on her happy memories. She pictured all of her loved ones holding her up, and the image strengthened her.

"You're quite late tonight, Lucy," Eisenwald commented, and she shuddered at the sound of his voice.

A brief touch on her back from Michelle's hand helped settle her again, and she found the power to actually respond, though she'd thought she wouldn't be able to.

"I'm sorry for making you wait. I haven't felt well all day."

"So I heard… though I'm sure that's just an excuse not to see me. Unless you're in bed with a high fever, or some other serious illness, I expect you to come when I summon you."

"Duly noted," she muttered quietly as she sat across from him.

"Good. And I'm happy to see that you followed my instructions on how to dress for dinner."

With an inclination of her head, she acknowledged his praise, despite feeling disgusted about it.

The rest of the meal was mostly silent as Lucy focused on eating slowly to avoid upsetting her stomach and ignored Eisenwald's presence to the best of her ability. Concentrating on memories of her loved ones continued to help distract her as well, but by the end of dinner her nerves were wearing thin and all she wanted to do was run back to her room and hide.

As soon as the final course was taken away, she asked, "May I be excused?"

"Yes, you can go back to your rooms now. I'll join you in a little while."

At that, Lucy felt her blood run cold, and she nearly lost all the strength she had regained.

Fully reverting to court-speech, she said, "I would beg that you not, seeing as I truly am feeling unwell."

"That's nonnegotiable, and it really isn't proper dinner conversation. We can discuss it later, in private," he replied smugly, giving her a smirk that said he was enjoying himself.

She really wanted to put up more of a fight, but her legs felt like jelly and she was scared that she wouldn't even be able to walk out of the room if she stayed any longer. Plus, all she could think about was running away…

So, with a hurried comment of, "Very well…" she stood from the table and made a hasty retreat.

Michelle hurried after her.

It was only after she'd speed-walked through several long halls that Lucy slowed down. In fact, she nearly collapsed and leaned heavily against the wall for support.

"What am I going to do, Michelle…?" she groaned, feeling hopeless and helpless again and desperately trying to keep herself from fully sinking back into the depression and anxiety of this morning.

"I… I don't know, my lady… just try and stay strong…?"

The advice was said more as a question than anything, and Lucy huffed a dark laugh. "Yeah… easier said than done."

….

.

…

Meanwhile, a very seasick person was just making land on the island of Balsam.

"Urgh… fucking… hate… boats…" Natsu groaned as he crawled off the boat and onto the pier.

He'd been on the thing ever since he got outta jail this morning.

It'd sucked to wake up last night and realize he was behind bars. He would've broken outta there and got on a ship sooner, but when he raised a huge stink, one of the guards had let him know that all the ships going to Balsam had been docked already for the night. So, breaking out wouldn't have done him any good anyways, and he'd decided to just wait it out.

But now he was finally here… flat on his belly on the docks.

He was stuck there until his stomach stopped trying to crawl outta his body. Just like the train thing yesterday, lots of people tripped and stepped on him before somebody finally grabbed the back of his jacket and hauled him outta the way, cussing like a sailor the whole way. Of course, the guy probably was a sailor… or a fisherman or something.

Natsu didn't really care about any of that though, he was just happy that he was finally on dry land and off a vehicle. If moving around wouldn't make him toss his lunch everywhere, he probably would've kissed the ground.

It wasn't super surprising that it took way longer than it should've for him to recover from his motion sickness, 'cause he'd been so sick yesterday and hadn't been ready to get sick again. His body was screaming, 'What the hell are you doin' riding two transports back to back ya idiot?!' But it wasn't like he'd had a choice. He had to get to Lucy ASAP.

Just thinking about her helped him get his shit together, and he forced himself back onto his feet even though he was still real wobbly at first. Honestly, he hated feeling so weak, but there wasn't anything he could do about that.

Right now though, it sucked extra hard 'cause he was desperate to find Lucy and it was really slowing him down. He had to stagger through town like he was drunk or sick, and even stopped once to puke. Of course wasn't much in his belly to throw up, 'cause he'd lost his breakfast on the boat.

Being super hungry wasn't good either, so as soon as his stomach started to settle down, he grabbed something from a food vendor on his way to the castle and stuffed his face as he kept walking. At least he knew where he was going, 'cause whoever designed this place made it ridiculously easy to spot the castle. The thing stood out like a sore thumb at the highest point in the city, and he could see it from basically anywhere.

So getting there was easy – once he could walk in a straight line – but getting in was gonna be tougher, since the way to it was a gated and guarded switchback road up the side of a cliff. He stopped near the base and eyeballed it with his arms crossed.

Then he grinned and started getting ready to fight. In a couple seconds, he'd yanked his coat off, flipped it to the black side, unzipped the shoulders, took off the sleeves, and used the hidden belt in the collar to strap it around his hips like a skirt. He wrapped his scarf around his hips too and tucked in the ends to make it smooth. That left him in his signature one-shouldered black chainmail shirt that showed off all the ID markings on his right side. He always wore it on his major missions, so people knew he meant business when he put it on.

To finish up, he spiked his hair with his fingers and burned all the dye out. Then he slipped on his scaled gloves and cracked his knuckles… letting his grin get even bigger and nastier. There was a lot of anger he'd bottled up inside, and kicking some ass was exactly what he needed.

This was gonna be good.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Lucy was dealing with a huge problem.

"You arrived sooner than I expected…" she noted, trying to keep her voice calm despite the raging turmoil inside her.

Once back in her chambers, she had redressed in her loose palazzo pants and baggy shirt, but she'd layered the outfit with gym pants, tights, a t-shirt, a tank top, and a sports bra for extra security. Then she had proceeded to pace and worry about what to do… up until Eisenwald arrived. As soon as he knocked on her door, she had dived for the couch and her big blanket.

He really had come a lot sooner than she thought he would, and it was extra unnerving.

"I was eager to see you… is that a problem?" he replied smoothly, but it sounded like fake butter to her.

"Not at all… except I did warn you that I was feeling ill."

"That's too bad," he cooed, still sounding totally bogus, and then he turned to Michelle and waved his hand. "Oh, and you're dismissed."

She hesitated, but when he sent her a sharp second glance she hurried out the door, and Lucy felt herself quake a little. Her only hope was to convince him that she really was sick… and maybe then he'd leave her alone.

"If you're feeling so bad why aren't you in bed?" he asked as he walked over to stand directly in front of her.

She turned her head so that she wouldn't be eye to eye with his groin, being sharply reminded of what lurked there. Her throat had closed up at his proximity and she was shaking, which hopefully could be played off as a fever.

Still, it made it difficult to talk, and her voice came out tight and hoarse despite her best efforts. "Because… I'm more comfortable here."

That was a weak excuse, but there was no way she could bring herself to admit that just looking at the bed gave her flashbacks of last night.

Eisenwald was smart though and figured it out without her having to say anything. "Are you sure it isn't because of last night?"

Her flinch made him laugh, and if he hadn't been standing RIGHT THERE she would have glared at him. As it was, she contented herself to scowl at the wall with all her might, wishing she could make it burst into flames and burn this whole place down around his ears.

"Oh come on… I know it was your first time, but it can't have been that bad. Unless you just have an incredibly low pain tolerance."

"I have a very high pain tolerance actually…" she muttered, knowing that fact from being able to play the violin with a sprained wrist.

What she had a low tolerance for was being debased and having all her pride stripped away. Even now, she could feel her willpower getting weak just from being near him, and it was humiliating. She'd never felt so pathetic and helpless before in her entire life… and that was saying a lot.

Her fists clenched tightly under the blankets and she closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry. When a hand touched her hair she flinched again, unable to prevent it, but she tensed every muscle in her body to keep still and not throw his hand off her or run away. Doing that would provoke him, and she wanted him to go away, not attack her.

"Well, whatever the case, you're going to have to get used to it, because that's just part of your wifely duties. Also…" He got closer until she could feel his breath on the side of her face, and she cringed, struggling to stay still. "Whenever you choose to disobey me, I'll be using it to remind you of your place."

A chill went down her already rigid spine, and she could almost taste what he was about to say. It lay thick in the air between them, and she felt like a heavy gas had just been released, making it difficult to breathe.

For a long moment he let her stew, almost as though he knew how her dread increased with every second he stayed silent. And then he struck, his hand latching onto the back of her neck, fingers pressing harshly at the base of her skull to whip her head around and face him. Dull pain shot through the fresh bruise there, and she couldn't suppress a gasp of both surprise and pain as he used his grip to yank her up by her head and neck, bringing her nose to nose with him.

"You know what that means of course… you disobeyed my summons today…"

Her eyes met his and another tense second fell over them, his expression smug as he watched her go through a series of emotions that she couldn't keep from her face… realization, fear, denial, acceptance, refusal, pain, more fear. She swung between wanting to run, almost giving up, and the urge to fight.

She couldn't give in to the depression, so she focused on her fight or flight instincts and just hoped that she was strong enough this time to do one of them.

…

.

…

At the same time, Natsu was just getting to the first gate.

He was itching for a good fight. It'd been way too long since he used his magic, and he was pissed and more fired up than he'd ever been in his life. This whole time, he'd been dying to get to the asshole that took Lucy, and nothing was gonna stop him now that he was finally here.

The guards in front of the gate noticed him right away and immediately tensed up and told him to get lost. They must've been able to feel the nasty aura that was probably coming off him in waves.

He responded by sliding one foot back and charging it up with firepower. Before they knew what hit them, he was bulldozing through their ranks. The ones that didn't get knocked on their asses yelled as he shot past them, and the rest rushed to get in his way.

Too bad for them.

He let fire burst from his body and sent guards flying as he busted down the metal gate. Then he just ran up the rest of the driveway and knocked down a couple more gates before finally skidding to a stop in front of the castle. Piles of smoking guards were left behind him, but he was pretty sure he hadn't killed anyone. They hadn't put up enough of a fight to have gotten pummeled too bad… unless they'd been stupid enough to get sandwiched between his fist and a gate.

Kicking in the last gate at the end of the drive must've alerted the castle guards that something was up, 'cause he was met with a whole mess of them.

"Oh shit, who is this guy?!"

"He took out all the guards and got through the gates all by himself?!"

"Fuck! Look closer! Isn't that…?!"

"It's the Dragon! Damn it all! Quick, let the captains know!"

A couple guys ran off at top speed and Natsu thought about chasing them, but he got a little busy when the rest came after him. They weren't much of a challenge – each went down with one hit – but there were a lot of them. By the time he was done, the runners had completely disappeared.

"Eh… whatever. Bring it on," he grunted, shrugging. Maybe these captains would put up a little more fight, 'cause this'd been kinda disappointing so far.

Feeling pissy and unsatisfied, he marched over to the front door and kicked it open, hopping to the side when one door came off its hinges and tried to flatten him.

"Psht, talk about crappy work… they need to fix this place up. It's way too easy to break," he snorted and stomped the door under his foot on his way into the castle, snorting again when it cracked into a couple pieces.

Knights flooded the first big room, and he grinned and punched his fist into the other hand, hoping these fully suited-up guys would be a little tougher. He was itching for a fight so bad that his skin was crawling with it.

A few rushed him all at once. He dodged the first couple of sword slashes easily enough by skipping back a few steps, and then he got between one of them and their sword. He slammed a kick into that guy's side, knocking him into the others like a bowling ball, and they all fell on top of each other. The next group was already on him by then, and he quickly jumped into the air to get over their swords. While he was up there, he braced himself on one of their helmets and twisted around to kick another guy across the room. Then he landed and brought the guy in his grip down with him, slamming the guard's helmet – and head – into the ground.

The rest were just as easy to get rid of, and he tore through them like paper…. Which was kind of a disappointment. Their bigger armor hadn't made them tougher at all.

He ignored the small fry and servants – who were all running around and screaming and hiding like he was some kinda monster – and marched up the big stairs in front of him. Usually castles like these were laid out so the throne room was a straight shot from the front door.

A few more knights and guards got in his way, but none of them lasted past one or two hits, so he left them on the ground behind him as he kept going. Sure enough, the biggest halls and stairs led right to the throne room… but when he busted in the double doors, nobody was there. It was just a big echoing room with a platform and a throne at one end, and lots of nothing else.

"Hey! Where is everyone?! Where's the king?!"

"Not here, obviously," somebody said from behind him, and he spun around to see who'd come in.

It was some guy with a spiky yellow mohawk and eyebrows, sunglasses, and a red and white suit. If Natsu had to guess, he'd bet this was probably one of the 'captains' those guards were running to get.

He sent the guy a vicious grin. "So… wanna tell me where they are?"

"Maybe I will… after I've put you in the dungeon."

"Not gonna happen," Natsu spat back, not really in the mood to trash talk.

He rushed the jerk, going for a punch to the face, but his fist ended up swinging through air. And then he was kicked in the back and sent face first into the nearby wall. That stung, but he shook it off quick enough, wiping a bit of blood from his forehead. When he turned around, he was met with a fist to his gut, and he coughed, feeling his air get punched out.

"I'm Racer… a captain of this castle's military force. You should stay down…. Nobody can touch my speed," the bastard said as he stepped back.

But Natsu knew how to deal with guys like this… so he stood right back up and gave this Racer dude a cocky grin. He launched himself at his opponent, waiting for him to disappear and anticipating the attack from behind or the side. It came from the right. As soon as the kick landed on his ribs, he let his power loose in an explosion of fire outta his whole body, knocking Racer back on his ass. While he was still down, Natsu went for him and landed a fired-up punch right to his face that sent the guy and his broken sunglasses flying.

Natsu followed right behind, dragging him up off the floor and pinning him to the wall with enough force that the jerk's head clonked against it, knocking him even stupider.

"'Cept me," Natsu bragged, in response to what Racer had said a minute ago. "Now, where's the king?"

The guy was almost out cold, but he mumbled something that sounded like, "… chambers…" before passing out completely. Natsu dropped him with a disgusted grunt.

"'Chambers' huh? What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

…

.

…

Meanwhile, in said chambers, an equally fierce battle was taking place.

A few moments before, Eisenwald had tried to drag Lucy into the bedroom… and she had responded by throwing the blanket at him and kicking him in the stomach to get him off her. He had grabbed at her through the blanket, and they'd ended up tripping over each other and the cloth between them – which had given Lucy an opening to knock Eisenwald over the head with a fairly heavy book she grabbed off the table. Then he ripped the blanket to shreds with a tornado of wind that also knocked her back and ripped her clothes a bit. Thankfully, everything was mostly intact, and even better, he had lost his hold on her.

She ran into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Then, she dashed all the way through the bathrooms and her dressing room, suspecting that Eisenwald might go for the path of least destruction to his precious castle. Sure enough, he had come through the bedroom and was almost at her closet door, so she ended up slamming it in his face. She locked it right before the handle wiggled – which was nerve wracking.

Forcing her mind away from the terror, she turned and ripped an armful of clothing from the nearest racks and threw it in front of the door in a heavy heap. She did that a few more times as he banged on the door and ordered her to open it 'or else.'

By the time she was done with that, there was a mountain of expensive cloth blocking the door, and then she swiped her arms across the vanity for good measure, sending a mess of bottles and every other imaginable obstacle scattering over the floor between her and the king.

After destroying that room, she ducked back through the bathrooms, hearing the pounding stop. She unlocked and dashed through the door into the living room right as he came out of her bedroom. For a brief second, she judged the distance between her and the exit and Eisenwald, knowing that if she trapped herself in the bathroom there wasn't anywhere for her to go. If he got past her defenses, she would be in deep trouble.

It was at that moment that an urgent knock sounded on her outer door, and they both turned to look at it. Eisenwald shot her a predatory glance, and then walked across the living room to answer it when the pounding didn't stop.

"What?!" he snapped, sounding irritated at being interrupted.

Lucy glanced from him to the open bedroom door, wondering if she could get in there and out the window before he got to her. If she failed, then she would be trapped in her bedroom with him again, and she had already barricaded the closet door too well to get past.

It wasn't worth the risk, so she slammed her bathroom door shut and locked it again before rushing back into her other bathroom. There was a linen closet in there that provided oodles of towels she started carting back to the door into the living room to block it off, like she had with the clothes in front of the other. Then she stopped up the toilet with a washcloth and flushed, letting water flood the bathroom and soak into the towels, which made them heavier in front of the door.

The sound of voices stopped, and she knew she was running out of time, so she rushed back into the other room and grabbed handfuls of soaps and shampoos and conditioners. Then she carried them into the first bathroom and unscrewed as many as she could before dumping their contents out in front of the door and all over the floor, making it super slippery.

Before she was done, Eisenwald started pounding on her bathroom door, and loudly said, "As fun as this game is, you should open this door now or you WILL be sorry. There are so many things I can do to you that will make last night look like a tea party in comparison."

She paled, hoping that was an idle threat.

"There's no way I'm opening that door!" she shouted back. "Just give up! I'm not coming out of here!"

As she yelled, she ran back into the other bathroom for more ammunition, pocketing soap bottles and hair sprays. Then she made another pile of wet towels and linens next to the open door connecting her bathrooms. She could throw them at him, or if it looked like he might get by her first line of defenses, she intended to pile them up in front of this door.

She only had to wait a few seconds before a roar sounded behind the other door, bashing into it like a train and knocking it off its hinges. Splinters went everywhere and Lucy winced as a few hit her, but her biggest concern was that the door had landed on her soap trap.

Now he had a dry path to walk on through a good portion of the room, making her trap less troublesome for him. Panic hit her hard as she stared into his darkly amused face, and she ducked behind the next bathroom door and slammed it shut, piling the towels in front of it and pouring soap across the floor all the way to the other door, where she waited. While she was there, she kicked all the cosmetics into the bathroom and out of her way.

The next part of her plan was to barricade herself in the dressing room if she had to and switch the pile of clothes to this door. Hopefully, she could get through the bedroom and living room before he figured out what she was doing… but if he did catch on, maybe the soap and bottles would slow him down enough that she could escape before he got back through the bathrooms.

A few seconds later, the other bathroom door blew inwards, skidding across the slippery floor. He stopped in the open doorway and leaned against the doorframe, looking like a pleased cat with a trapped mouse.

"What should I do to you when I catch you…? You've made things so much worse for yourself, you know. I was only going to repeat last night, but now you're just begging for a harsher punishment."

Somehow he'd trapped her with his words… or maybe it was the dark intent in his eyes that had pinned her in place. Even worse, he knew exactly the kind of affect he had on her, and his eyes grew even crueler and more amused as she stared into them.

"Maybe I'll shove this down your throat and choke you with it…" he grabbed his crotch to explain what he meant by 'this,' and she gagged convulsively at the thought he'd put in her head, unable to even fathom it. She couldn't believe anyone would even think of doing that.

He laughed at her response, getting too much pleasure from her agonized thoughts.

Horror froze her in place for a long moment, but as soon as he started to move, she regained her mobility and was even more desperate to keep away from him.

"You're disgusting!" she shouted, backing away and getting ready to slam the door shut.

He laughed and slashed up a hand, spattering soap at her and clearing a path for himself with his magic. She managed to slam the door shut in time, and the soap splattered on the back of it with a slick sound, telling her that the second trap had been easily thrown aside. She gasped and rushed to the other door, immediately grabbing armfuls of clothing and throwing them in front of the bathroom door. She kicked aside the last of it right as Eisenwald tried to smash in that door, but even though it was knocked off its hinges, the pile of clothes was taller than Lucy and kept it in place.

She knew the barricade wouldn't last through one or two more of those air blasts, so she urgently yanked open the door to her bedroom and shot through, skidding through her bedroom and out into her living room. She headed straight for the exit at full speed, knowing that if she could just escape into the castle, she had a chance.

Her husband must have realized what she was trying to do though, because he came barreling out of the bathroom door right as she reached the exit. She screamed as wind slapped her away from the door, knocking her to the floor.

Eisenwald immediately started stalking towards her, and she scooted backwards on her rear for a few feet before rolling and scrambling to her feet. He'd caught up to her by then though, and he snagged a fistful of her loose shirt, yanking her back towards him.

Somehow, she managed to thrash her way out of it, leaving him with that and nothing else as she slipped away. He cocked an eyebrow at the material in his fist and the t-shirt she was now wearing.

"I'm going to assume that isn't your last layer either," he hummed, looking impressed, entertained, and mildly annoyed. "You're even more clever than I'd hoped."

She didn't respond to the backhanded compliment. Instead, she focused on backing up towards the bookcase behind her without tripping. He advanced, but she reached the bookcase first and started grabbing for weapons. She whipped the books at him with as much force as she could, snapping her wrist in such a way that they spun through the air like a frisbee and kept their pages together.

She would never admit to throwing books before, but she knew from experience that doing it the wrong way would make them pop open and slow down significantly. The first two caught him by surprise and he blocked them with his arms, but the next two were knocked aside with a slash of wind, sending pages flying through the air. She kept on throwing books though, because it slowed him down, and at the same time she inched back along the wall. It was lucky that she'd been placed in a room with wall-to-wall bookshelves.

If she could just get enough space between them to dash past him, she could make another run at the door.

However, that hope quickly became obviously impossible… and eventually she just went for it, knowing that he would reach her either way.

Predictably, he sent out a blast of air, and she skidded sideways and slammed into the wall. He pinned her there with wind until he reached her, and then the magic holding her in place dropped. Before she could get away, his hand was slicing over her shirts, using his magic to rip the material apart. Her t-shirt was completely destroyed, but shreds of the tank top still clung to her and her sports bra survived completely.

When he grabbed onto the waistband of her pants with one hand, she dove headfirst through the gap under his other arm and somehow managed to land in a tumble. That left him holding her loose outer layer once again… but she hardly felt secure, since she basically only had one more layer up top and two beneath – three if she counted her panties.

It was worth the sacrifice though, because she was at the door finally and wrenched it open… or so she thought.

Once again, he shot her away from it with a gust of wind, tearing another yell from her throat. As she hit the floor and tumbled across it, she couldn't help but think that he was toying with her. If he'd truly wanted to immobilize her by now, he probably could have with one of those vortexes of his… unless he could only use one type of wind at a time. He'd given up on pinning her to the wall in order to rip her shirts after all…. But even if that was the case, she wasn't sure what good it would do her.

A second slice of wind hit her from above, slamming her to the floor and pinning her there, dragging another yell from her. Gritting her teeth, she braced her palms against the ground and used all her strength to try and push up against the force. But it was no use, and soon he had her flat as a pancake.

Strangely, with her ear pressed to the ground she picked up another set of very odd sounds under the roar of the wind… deep rumbles and crashes.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu had ended up facing off against two more 'captains'… a brown-haired guy with a scar closing one of his eyes, and a black and white haired… person. It was kinda hard to tell whether the second one was a guy or a girl with all the makeup they were wearing, but he was pretty sure it was a guy based off the voice. Either way, he didn't really care.

All he cared about was that these two were pretty damn tough, and he was having a heck of a time with them. Scar-face was shooting poison at him, and Natsu had learned real quick not to let the guy get his hands on him. He'd almost made that mistake once, but luckily dodged the grab and a chunk of the wall behind him got melted instead.

Lipstick dude was just as bad though and kept popping out illusions, making their surroundings go funky in all kinds of weird ways. Dealing with both at once would've been almost impossible… except he still had an ace up his sleeve.

Dragon Force. It was the last spell his master had given him, and it was one he usually didn't have to use… which was lucky since it drained so much of his magic.

He never would've imagined he'd have to pull it out here, but he really needed the boost in magic and physical abilities it would give him… and even more than that, he needed the enhanced senses. So, he focused on letting his fire magic built up inside himself instead of pushing it outwards, and the ancient spell kicked in really quick. His blood turned hot and felt like it was burning him from the inside out. The brief agony made him shout, and he staggered and almost went to his knees.

Starting up Dragon Force always knocked him on his ass for a few seconds, but he also exploded with fire at the same time, so anyone trying to use his weakness would get blown sky-high.

Then the pain was over, and all he felt was fire and power flooding his body. His sense of hearing and smell sharpened until he could hear a pin drop from a mile away and scents were so intense that he could practically taste them. The first time he'd used this form, he had almost gone crazy with the overstimulation, and it'd taken years to master.

When his eyes snapped open, fire filled his vision for a second until he forced the flames down and wrestled them back under control.

"Ah yeah… now I've got a fire in my belly," he snarled, feeling the heat building up inside him until he thought he'd pop.

He only had one opponent left, since it looked like Scar-face had tried to get him when he was down. The guy had been hit face first with an explosion, and he was out for the count.

Lipstick dude was trying to hide it by projecting fake images of Scar-face and masking his body… but there was no way he could fool Natsu anymore. His senses were so sharp, he knew where they were with his eyes closed. He could hear their heartbeats and smell their bodies – which was actually pretty disgusting. He didn't really like getting a nose-full of their sweat, but it was just another thing he'd had to get used to so he could use Dragon Force.

Natsu didn't waste any time and went straight for Pretty Boy, punching him square in the face and sending him flying down the hall. He hit a wall with a bang and flopped to the ground like a wet dishrag…. And that was the end of that. All the weird surroundings, monsters, and stuff that the guy had been projecting disappeared.

It was totally fine that they were both out cold, 'cause with Dragon Force on he didn't need anyone to tell him where the king was, or where Lucy was for that matter. All he had to do was focus on the sounds and smells around him… and….

A scream shot through his ears, almost knocking him right outta Dragon Force. He'd know that voice anywhere, and every hair on his body stood up at the sound of her so scared. Before he even planned to, his body was already moving on its own. He shot through the halls and barely felt his muscles burning… all his focus was on the sound of Lucy and how to get to her.

Pretty soon, he skidded to a stop because her scent had smacked him in the nose. He'd only smelled her a couple of times with his weak human senses, but there was no doubt it was her scent. It'd punched him like a hammer to the face… especially 'cause the tangy iron-y part of it meant blood.

He only stopped for a split second to deal with the intense affect her scent had on his body, and then he was off running again, even faster if that was possible. Her smell was like a rope tied to his nose yanking him along, and he could barely keep up with his body. More than once he turned a corner too quick and slammed off the other wall, leaving it totaled behind him.

Soon he could smell her sweat, fresh blood, and tears and he could hear her breathing… which sounded fast and panicky.

He managed to round the last corner without banging into anything, so when he finally busted into the room he knew Lucy was in, everyone inside was caught by surprise. It was obvious that they hadn't heard him coming – which was kinda hard to believe – but there was no way he could've caught them in that position if they'd had a warning.

They stared at him for a second with big eyes, and he looked back at them too… feeling shocked as hell. It took him way longer than it should've to really understand what the fuck was going on.

The bastard that Natsu assumed was Erigor had Lucy by the hair on her knees in front of him, and she was weirdly stiff and still, like he had her tied up with an invisible spell. Shreds of a shirt hung from one of her shoulders and she was covered in welts, scrapes, bruises, and cuts. But there was something going on even worse than that, and Natsu could barely believe his eyes. Lucy had her jaw clenched tight and Erigor was trying to shove his thumb in her mouth to open it up…

… and the fucking bastard was in the process of taking his dick outta his pants.

In some random part of Natsu's brain, he thought that this guy was an absolute idiot, because it was really clear that Lucy would bite his dick off if he gave her the chance. She was clenching her jaw so hard that Natsu could hear her teeth grinding together.

But mostly his mind was blank with absolute rage. He didn't even wait for the fucker to tuck himself back into his pants before he punched the guy with a fistful of fire. Unfortunately, he realized a second later that the spell holding Lucy was wind-based, because his fire whipped from Erigor to circle her and she screamed.

…

.

…

Lucy had no idea what was going on… she only knew that she'd come dangerously close to having her mouth violated and now she was on fire.

Luckily it looked like being punched in the face had stunned Erigor enough that he dropped his wind spell, and she immediately fell to the ground and rolled around to put out the few flames that stuck around. It had been such a brief flash of fire that it hadn't had much of a chance to catch her. Though she might have lost a few arm hairs, there wasn't any damage to show for it.

As soon as she was sure all the fires were put out, she scrambled to her feet and watched the scene unfolding in front of her. The man who had come barreling into the room was facing partially away from her, having twisted to punch Erigor. He was also pretty close to her, so she had a very good view of him now that he wasn't completely covered in fire.

Her eyes briefly skimmed over his black boots, white pants, black skirt-thing, and black shirt… but they lingered on his muscular right side which was exposed by the gaping diagonal neckline of his shirt. His right arm was covered in tattooed dragon scales that went all the way down to his wrist – though they started becoming scattered mid-forearm and were almost completely gone by the time they got to his wrist. They were bigger over his shoulder and back, looking almost like scaled armor, and she also noted that there was a red emblem on top of the scales on his shoulder.

The tattoo was so well done that it almost looked real, especially with the very real fire licking over his skin, and it held her attention for a full minute or two. Then her eyes slid up over a couple of nasty scars on his neck, jaw, and cheek area and finally landed on a shocking head of pink spiky hair… which made something finally click in her mind.

Reports of a pink-haired fire mage with scale tattoos and scars on his neck and face ran through her head, and she gasped, realizing that she was staring at the Dragon.

"You're…" she whispered, and his eyes snapped from Erigor to her.

His gaze was feral and glowed unnaturally gold, with slitted pupils like a dragon. It was such a shock that she didn't recognize the face behind those eyes for a few seconds.

"Hey, Lucy. Sorry for getting here late."

That voice possibly shocked her more than anything else, and instead of gasping she felt like the air had been punched from her lungs, leaving her breathless. Her eyes skittered over his face, skimming past the odd pink hair and golden eyes, and to her utter disbelief what she saw were very familiar sharp features.

Though she'd never seen him look so utterly ferocious, it was definitely Natsu staring back at her.

"Na…tsu…" she whispered brokenly, not really sure if the sudden wave of tears that came over her was from relief, joy, shock, confusion, fear, or shame. There were so many emotions inside her that she could barely distinguish one from another.

She had no idea why or how he was suddenly here, and she honestly didn't know how to react to his sudden appearance… especially when he'd shown up at such a humiliating moment. Having him walk in on Eisenwald trying to violate her was incredibly disturbing, and she had no idea how to deal with it – aside from being completely ashamed. However, she was also extremely grateful for the intervention. There was something remarkable and almost magical about having the man she loved come and rescue her from such a terrible situation… it almost felt like something from a fairy tale.

Speaking of white knights, dragons, and fiery avenging angels… he definitely looked the part. Everything about his appearance made him look like a completely different person. From his exotic clothing, fierce-looking tattoos, muscular body, and crazy hair… to his feral glowing eyes, fiery magic, vicious attacks, and murderous expression. Finding out that he was actually the Dragon had definitely thrown her for a loop, and she wasn't sure if she was a little scared of him now or starstruck. It was going to take a while for her to assimilate this new version of Natsu into the person she'd fallen in love with.

Ultimately though, the one emotion that cut through everything else and made her smile at him through her tears was simply the joy and relief she felt from seeing him again.

However, her smile immediately dropped when Eisenwald stood back up and shook himself off, seeming unhurt.

Natsu's head whipped around and he snarled at the other man, a growl rumbling up from his chest that definitely didn't sound human.

"You should stay down…. 'Cause I'm this close to killing you right now."

The king huffed, not looking particularly worried. "Honestly, I'm shocked you managed to get through my captains. But there's no way you can defeat me."

"Ya wanna bet?" Natsu growled, obviously really, really angry.

When he burst into flames a few seconds later, Lucy gasped and flinched back, feeling a wave of unbelievable heat scald her face. He immediately cut down the blaze and glanced back at her.

"Shit…" he hissed, probably cussing because he realized he couldn't fight with her there.

Before she knew what was going on, he'd grabbed her and they were moving very fast, ripping a scream of surprise from her. He had turned off the fire, but his hands and body were still exceptionally hot, nearly burning her. Really, she should have flinched away from the dangerous and almost painful sensation… but because it was him, she wrapped her arms around his neck instead and buried her face in his chest, blindly trusting that he wouldn't cook her alive.

The sound of glass shattering made her wince, but she didn't feel a single cut. However, her flipping stomach did suddenly alert her to the fact that they were now falling, and she gripped Natsu even tighter, wondering if he was crazy.

They came to a halt with a bone jarring jolt, but somehow it only stopped him for a moment before he was off running again. She risked peeking over his shoulder and looked up to see the broken window on the top floor where they'd just plummeted from. It was crazy that they had survived the fall… much less that Natsu was still running like nothing had happened. Just how strong was he?!

He darted across the lawns and gardens behind the castle and only stopped once he'd reached the edge of the forest that had taunted her from her window. Once they were concealed by thick foliage, he set her on her feet again… and she almost instantly fell over. Her legs had turned to jelly, and he quickly grabbed her again before she could faceplant on the forest floor.

"Woah! You okay?" he yelped as he steadied her.

"Um… I think so?" she responded, definitely knowing that her mental and emotional status was far from okay, but her body was mostly in one piece at least.

"Okay, good. Ya scared me there for a second," he huffed, and then she finally saw him smile.

The familiar facial expression was enough to make her tear up again…. though unfortunately that made his smile drop, and he gave her a worried questioning look.

"I… I thought I'd never see your smile again. Or… just… see you again…" she whispered, reaching out to touch his face but pulling back at the last second.

He wasn't having that though, and his hands immediately shot out and pulled her to him, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. She shivered, tensing for a moment at the feel of hands on her… but the searing warmth of his were so different from Eisenwald's that she almost immediately relaxed again. Her heart thundered in her ears as she clutched his shirt and pressed her forehead to the burning skin of his neck.

A million thoughts and feelings flooded her body and mind until she didn't know what was up or down anymore. Every possible emotion warred for precedence, but she did her best to just focus on the fact that Natsu was really here with her.

Eventually he released her and gently pulled away from her grip so he could take a step back. Before she could even ask what he was doing, he answered her question.

"I've gotta go now, Luce. I have some shit to wrap up in there…" He jerked his thumb back at the castle, and her eyes widened.

"You mean you're going back?!"

"Yeah, but it shouldn't take too long. You just wait right here, and I'll be back in a sec. 'Kay?"

"Wait!..."

As he turned away, she quickly grabbed onto his shirt and stopped him. Fear shot through her as she thought about the possibility of him getting hurt… or even killed. She knew from experience that Eisenwald wasn't someone to be messed with.

"He's too powerful! You could be hurt! Or… or worse…"

He halfway turned back and shot her one of his big grins over his shoulder. "You worry too much, Luce! I'll be fine… I'm the Dragon remember?"

The reminder made her hands drop back to her sides, and she weakly nodded, watching him run off into the shadows. 'That's right… he's the Dragon. But it's still so hard to believe…' Her brain hurt from trying to reconcile the two.

Still, it was comforting to know that he was insanely strong and could handle himself in a fight. So, she dropped to the ground and propped her back against a nearby tree, settling in to wait for him.

…

.

…

Natsu didn't wanna leave her there, but he had to deal with Erigor and teach him a lesson before they could leave. Otherwise it'd be way too obvious that he'd just come here to rescue Luce.

But he definitely planned to make this as quick as he could, and he even used some firepower to boost his speed on the way back to the castle. He was running a little low on magic after using Dragon Force for so long, but he had more than enough to kick Erigor's ass.

When he got there, he used a burst of flames from his feet to leap right back in through the window he'd busted. Then, he took a deep sniff to track the bastard's scent… but that turned out to be a really sucky idea because the smells in this room almost made him puke. Lucy's blood, sweat, tears, and other stuff that he REALLY didn't wanna identify soaked the room.

If he'd been pissed at Erigor before, he was livid now – and he hadn't even thought he could get angrier at the guy after what he'd seen earlier. Just thinking about what that fucker had done to Lucy made him see red, and he could feel himself go into a deep bloodlust that he didn't even try to fight.

This bastard's ass was gonna burn.

Using Dragon Force usually made his animal instincts stronger, and right now they were roaring at him to kill the person who'd hurt Lucy. He was pretty sure his instincts were thinking of her as his 'mate'… which was kinda weird, but he didn't waste too much time thinking about it, 'cause he had bigger fish to fry.

Cracking his knuckles to let off a little steam, he stalked outta the bedroom and sniffed around again, picking up on Erigor's smell right away. Actually, he could clearly hear the jerkwad too, which meant he hadn't gone far. Natsu felt himself grin in a really nasty way as he thought, 'This dude's gonna be super easy to track.'

He kicked himself into high gear again and tore through the halls in hot pursuit, and it literally took him one minute to find the guy.

"Go secure the vault!" Erigor shouted at a bunch of guards when he showed up, and they all ran off.

Natsu quickly memorized their scents so he could track them down after he was done with Erigor. Whenever he was on one of these jobs, he always made it his business to check out the treasury after he'd finished dealing with the king or queen, 'cause he liked to burn all their important stuff. It tended to take the royal bastards down a peg or two and show them he meant business.

"Well, you're certainly a cocky bastard. I didn't expect you to come back and seek me out," Erigor huffed, sounding like an arrogant idiot.

Natsu couldn't wait to get this shit started.

"You're gonna pay for what you've done… bastard," he snarled, punching his fist into his open palm and letting an explosion pop out around his hands.

His opponent slid into a fighting stance and shot back, "The only one who's going to pay for anything is you."

'So he's gonna be that kinda ruler,' Natsu thought to himself, and his lips twisted in a weird way since he was too pissed to smirk.

Over the years of kicking butts, he'd noticed that there were a couple different types of rulers. The ones he hated most were the ones who tried to buy him off… and they usually turned into the other kind that he hated, which were the ones who begged and cried for their lives. Then there were the cocky ones that thought they could fight back – or had an army that could fight back – and they were a hell of a lot more fun to bring down.

'Course, right now Natsu wasn't too concerned with fun… but if Erigor fought back, he could kick the guy's ass even harder. And that did make him happy in a very dark kinda way.

He broke the stare-off first and launched himself full-force at the guy who'd hurt Lucy. Erigor met his fiery punch with a slash of wind that tossed him back and blew away his flames… but that just made his fire go sideways, and it landed on a nearby tapestry and lit it up. Erigor glanced at it and grimaced, but he didn't say anything. He just punched the air again and made a swirly gesture, which summoned a big-ass tornado in the hallway. It knocked Natsu right back down the way he'd come, and Erigor followed close behind, keeping up the attack of wind.

It didn't take Natsu long to realize that his opponent could do several really annoying things. He could send long slashes of wind that acted like invisible swords, pop a tornado out of nowhere, and redirect the air to suck Natsu's fire away. Even more irritating though, was when the jerk wrapped wind around himself like a set of armor that Natsu couldn't touch without being chewed up and having his fire put out.

They fought for a few hard minutes, with Natsu getting more and more ticked off by the second. Since he was already in Dragon Force, he could've just used a Dragon Roar to finish the fight. But that would've totally wiped out Erigor – and probably most of the castle – and Natsu knew he couldn't actually kill the guy unless he absolutely had to. Gramps would have his head if he offed someone without permission, and they didn't even have a backup ruler in place for this kingdom yet.

So that was off the table, but he still had plenty he could do. He wasn't great with science or anything, but he did know that fire ate air for fuel… or something like that... and he figured if he could get his flames big enough and hot enough they'd start messing up Erigor's magic. That was the plan anyway.

To do it, he exploded with fire and ramped up the heat as high as he could by thinking about how much he wanted to pulverize this creep for Lucy. Which was a piece of cake, 'cause he was pretty sure he'd never hated anyone else's guts so much before. When the hallway started glowing red-hot, he took it as a sign that he was going in the right direction and poured even more power into the inferno.

It didn't take long for Erigor's wind armor to get sucked away, and Natsu grinned as he watched the windbag's expression go from cocky to shocked and then scared.

Once his flames had pulled all of Erigor's ammunition away, he charged and finally started to land some hits – starting with a fist to the gut. When he doubled up, Natsu took the opportunity to rearrange the bastard's face with a fiery knee, and several very satisfying crunches told him that he'd been successful.

As Erigor staggered back with a wet scream, Natsu kept on his ass, grabbing his poofy white hair and using it to smack him face-first into the wall. Then he literally drove his foot up his ass. Something cracked, and Erigor screamed and dropped to the ground holding his butt, which let Natsu know that he'd probably broken the guy's pelvis or hip instead of his spine.

That put the bastard out of commission and ended the fight. He landed like a lump on the ground and stayed there, wrapping his wind around him like a pathetic cocoon to try and keep Natsu out.

Not that it worked.

Natsu squatted by Erigor's head and punched through the weak shield with his fire. Then he grabbed the guy by his neck and lifted him up with one hand... not caring too much that his hand was on fire. The smell was real nasty, but he pretty much ignored it.

He stood, letting Erigor dangle from his neck. When he started screaming, Natsu squeezed harder to cut it off - 'cause he didn't wanna have to talk over all that racket.

"Alright, let's keep this short and sweet. You know who I am, so you know why I'm here. You suck as a king. This is your first warning. If you don't fix things, Fairy Tail will be back to give you another warning, and it's gonna be a hell of a lot worse than this one. We'll make sure you wish you weren't even born. Got it?"

He waited until Erigor nodded urgently and gurgled something that was probably a 'yes,' and then he dropped the fucker.

Erigor hit the ground with a scream and writhed in pain.

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the bastard's burnt neck and messed up face, thinking, 'Good. That'll leave a mark, so this fucker never forgets me.' Honestly, he wanted to do a heck of a lot more damage to the bastard and yell at him for hurting Lucy. But that wouldn't be good for her, or for Fairy Tail if she joined. Most of their members tried to keep their real identities secret.

So, Natsu turned and left him there without another word.

Before he could change his mind, he followed the smell of those guards from before, which led him straight to the vault he was looking for. When he got there, it was bolted shut and had a whole squad in front of it... not that either of those stuck around for very long.

Soon Natsu was in the room tearing stuff up. He checked out a small safe first, which turned out to be magic proofed, so he headed back outside the room and searched all the unconscious guards for a key. One of them had a whole ring of the little fuckers, so Natsu headed back inside with a lot of cusses and messed around with it until the metal box popped open.

Inside it he found a bunch of important looking documents and started digging around, pulling out big fancy envelopes, scrolls, and stuff like that. He took a quick look at each one before lighting it up and dropping it to burn at his feet. It didn't take long to finally find what he was looking for, and a deep growl that he couldn't make outside of Dragon Force came outta his chest when he saw Lucy's sloppy signature. It was obviously forced, and he had a heck of a time keeping himself from hunting down Erigor again and doing even more permanent damage to the bastard.

That one, he crumpled up in his fist and burned thoroughly, watching it closely as it turned to ash. Then he set fire to the rest of the box's contents without looking at anything else.

After that, he turned and shot fire into the rest of the room, setting the entire place ablaze. He crushed jewelry and other metals and jewels in his fists, stomped on statues, knocked over vases… basically just destroyed everything in sight until his bloodlust was a little more under wraps.

When he eventually felt sorta satisfied, Natsu stomped outta the vault and followed his own scent back to Lucy's room and out the window. It was lucky for Erigor that Natsu didn't run into him again… 'cause he wasn't sure he could've given the guy another free pass.

After he'd jumped out the window, he finally let Dragon Force go and staggered when a wave of weakness made him feel heavy and clumsy. It wore off after a minute or two – though he still felt totally wiped – and as soon as he could, he set off at a tired jog back to where he'd left Lucy.

His spirits lifted at the thought of seeing her, and he sped up a little despite being so beat.

Finding her was easy enough, but it took him longer than if he'd been able to follow her scent… which was a pain in the ass. But he was pretty much able to retrace his steps most of the way, and he spotted her within probably ten minutes.

"Hey! I'm back! Let's get outta here!"

She jumped and he sorta felt bad about startling her when she shot a wide-eyed look his way. Her expression was all panicky at first, but then it switched to relief and she practically launched herself at him. She hit him so hard that he stumbled back a couple of steps when she crashed into his chest.

"Thank god you're okay! Don't ever scare me like that again!"

He grinned and was gonna hug her, but she pulled back just as quickly as she'd hugged him and wrapped her arms around herself instead. That left him feeling sorta awkward and disappointed with his arms out in front of him, and he let them flop back to his sides after a sec.

"I told ya not to worry," he said, thinking that she was overreacting a little.

"I… I guess…. But I just…"

Overall, she looked pretty freaked-out and scared, which he figured was understandable after everything that'd happened. But now she was free, and he could finally take her home with him like he'd been wanting to for what felt like forever.

"Come on, Luce…!"

He wasn't able to keep the grin off his face as he grabbed her hand and started dragging her into the forest behind him. Once he was all disguised again – and she was patched up – they could figure out how to get off this island. 'Probably in another boat…' he thought to himself with a grimace.

"Wh-where are we going?! Do you have a plan?!" she yelped from behind him and he shot her a smile over his shoulder.

"I'm taking you back home with me!"

"Home? You mean…"

"To Fairy Tail!"

"Fairy Tail…" she repeated, looking a little dazed. "I'm really… going to Fairy Tail…"

"Yep!"

He finally saw a little light spark back in her eyes and she sent him a tearful smile.

"Okay!"

End Note:

Okay, don't kill me for ending it there. That really was the best spot to stop part one, I promise.

Now, as for part two, I will be publishing part two as a separate story titled The Runaway and the Rebel, so keep your eyes peeled for it. ;D

I'm going to try my best to get it out as fast as I can. A month at most, but maybe three weeks or two weeks. I'm going to start posting as I edit. But fair warning, that will mean that there will probably be a larger gap between the end of part two and whatever I publish next, because normally I finish a work completely, and then start writing the next thing I'm going to publish while I'm publishing the current work.

So anywho, that's the plan.

Now, who would like a couple of little sneak peeks of The Runaway and the Rebel?

Chapter One

"Natsu? Why didn't you tell me?" she mumbled into his scarf.

"Huh? Tell ya what?"

Clearing her throat, she pulled back just a little, letting her forehead stay on his collarbone but giving her mouth a little more room to move. "That you're the Dragon. I still can't believe it…"

"Oh!... That? Uh, well… 'cause I couldn't?" His response sounded both confused and questioning, like the answer was obvious, and he wasn't sure why she was asking him that right now anyways.

"Why couldn't you?" she huffed, not about to give up on her perfect distraction. Fussing at Natsu was safe.

"'Cause I was on a secret mission. Duh. If my cover was blown, I wouldn't've been able to do my job."

Chapter Two

The old dude sounded a lot happier talking to her. "Oh, yes of course. Just put your wrists here and let me see what I can do."

He brought out a bunch of fancy magnifiers and gadgets and stuff, and then he leaned over Lucy's arms and started messing with the bracelets. Though in Natsu's opinion, they were handcuffs.

After a couple minutes just sitting around waiting for something to happen, Natsu lost his patience and spat, "Well? Can you take them off or not?"

"Natsu! Let the man work!" Lucy scolded, and he scoffed, grumbling under his breath.