The Princess and the Commoner

Chapter 5: Refuge

When Lucy and Natsu got out of the castle, she sent Sagittarius away and headed towards Fairy Tail, 

"Hopefully someone there will help Natsu and not try to kill him..." Lucy kept walking until she saw the Fairy Tail building. She hid Natsu in the forest behind the building and put a cape on that concealed her face and walked in. When Lucy walked in, she saw Gray sitting there with a very worried face, 

"I hope Natsu's ok." Lucy slightly recoiled but sat down at one of the tables, 

"What do you mean Gray? Why wouldn't he be ok?" Gray looked down at his hands and sighed, 

"Something happened to me and I lost control of my body. And when I was out of control, I...I captured Natsu and put him in custody in the castle." Gray paused for a minute and took a deep breath, "And when we got there, Natsu looked horrible...I think the fire band is finally going to kill him...and the person who was controlling me forced my body to use my magic against Natsu. I hurt him so bad. He looked miserable and I couldn't do a thing to help him..." Wendy walked up to Gray and hugged him from the back ,

"I'm sorry Gray. That must have been hard for you. But do you know someone who would be able to control you that you have come in contact with?" Gray nodded his head slightly and looked up at Wendy in horror, 

"Zeref...He's the only person that I've ever come in contact with that had the ability to control someone else's actions." Wendy's eyes widened in shock and she turned Gray to look at her, 

"Are you sure Gray?" Gray nodded in horror. Wendy smiled and put her hand on Gray's head, 

"Sorry Gray..." Gray looked at Wendy in confusion before his eyes slowly closed and he was knocked out. Erza ran up to them and caught Gray's limp body before he could fall to the ground, 

"Why did you do that Wendy?" Wendy smiled and put her hand on Gray's chest, 

"I need you you set Gray on the table for me Erza. It's urgent." Erza nodded reluctantly and layed Gray on the table. When he was laid down, Wendy set her hands against his head. After a while, she pulled her hands away and sighed,

"He was telling the truth. And whatever was controlling him the last time is gone now. I got rid of it." Erza smiled and helped Gray into one of the bedrooms in the guild hall until he woke up. Lucy was sitting there in complete shock. Gray didn't actually hurt Natsu, he was being controlled. Lucy slowly got up and walked over to Levy and pulled her hood off. 

"Lucy? You were here the whole time?" Lucy nodded and looked at her friend with pleading eyes, 

"Levy, I need your help...Natsu's in bad shape." Levy's eyes widened in horror and she ran outside with Lucy to where she left Natsu. He was still sitting there and he looked worse than he did before. Levy bent down and looked at his wrist, 

"Where is the band? How were you able to get it off?" Lucy explained what happened and Levy nodded, thinking about what she had said, 

"Makes sense but that still seems impossible. But anyway..." Levy looked back at Natsu, "We need to get Natsu inside and get someone to help him." Lucy nodded and the two girls picked up Natsu and headed inside the building. On their way around the building, Levy looked at Lucy with a confused look, 

"Why are you helping him Lucy? You hardly even know him." Lucy smiled and looked at Levy, 

"I don't know. I just hate it when people are being treated like animals, even when they don't mean to." Levy nodded and smiled slightly, 

"I know what you mean." Levy and Lucy had finally gotten in front of the guild hall and were panting in exhaustion from carrying Natsu. And the first person to make it up to Natsu and the two girls was Gray himself, 

"Natsu...what? How did you get him out of the castle?" Lucy smiled slightly, 

"I thought you saw me." Gray smiled and nodded his head, 

"You're right. I did see you but Zeref didn't which is a good thing." Lucy nodded and gestured to Natsu, 

"Care to help us out. He's a lot heavier than he looks." Gray reached out to Natsu and Lucy and Levy let him take the full weight. He took Natsu upstairs to one of the bedrooms where Makarov followed without a word. Lucy sighed as she sat down at the bar. Mirajane quickly went up to her and started to serve her. But after a while, she looked up at Lucy with mischief, 

"So, Lucy...How's the relationship?" Lucy's head shot up from her drink and she was blushing furiously, 

"What do you mean Mira?! We don't have a relationship, it's just...I wanted to help him." Mira nodded and smiled at Lucy who was still blushing, 

"We all would have wanted to help him Lucy, don't worry. He just has a way of getting to people doesn't he?" Lucy nodded. 

"Yeah, he does."

~*~

"Master? Is he going to be ok?" Makarov looked at Gray in worry, I'm not sure Gray..." Gray looked from Makarov to Natsu in disbelief, 

"Does Zeref want his own brother killed?!" Makarov sighed and walked out of the room to leave Gray to his thoughts.