The Princess and the Commoner

Chapter 22: Zeref Dragneel

The group of mages walked forward for a few minutes before they came up to a hotel. They decided that they would stop there and rest for a few days. Natsu walked into the room they all shared and collapsed on the bed, exhausted from carrying Gray and walking so much. He cringed slightly at his wounds. Wendy wasn't able to heal his wounds for some reason but he didn't really care. Natsu sighed and rolled on his back, he looked up to the ceiling and thought about Aria, 

"Why would he take our magic energy? It doesn't make any sense..." Natsu brought his hands up to his head and ruffled his salmon hair in frustration. Someone walked into the room and Natsu sat up quickly, Erza walked in and smiled slightly at Natsu, 

"Are you feeling ok?" Natsu nodded and looked to the ground. Erza sat beside him on the bed and put her hand on his shoulder, 

"It's ok. We'll figure out what's going on and get back to Fairy Tail in no time." Natsu nodded and looked up at Erza, 

"We need to get Lucy back to the castle too. She has a kingdom that she needs to rule..." Erza smiled and nodded. She stood up slowly and walked out of the room, but before she walked out she smiled at Natsu, 

"We will Natsu, don't worry." She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Natsu sighed and walked out of the room and down the stairs to the main room. Gray was sitting there and Lucy was sitting across from him, they were talking and Lucy's face was very serious. Natsu frowned and sat down at one of the tables, he put his arms on the table and put his head on top, 

"I guess my magic energy Isn't fully back yet..." Natsu's eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep.

~*~

Lucy looked up from her conversation with Gray and looked over to a table that was further from her. She saw Natsu sitting there and he was laying on the table. She saw him visibly relax and he slumped slightly. She smiled, realizing that he had fallen asleep. She stood up and walked over to the table Natsu was at, she sat down beside him and looked at his face, he was completely limp and his hair was in his face. She smiled as she saw his hair move slightly from his breathing, she pulled the hair away from his face and looked at it closely. His face had some pain showing and the tips of his hair was a shade darker. Lucy frowned and put her hand on his head. She yanked her hand away, he was seriously burning up... Lucy shook Natsu's shoulder but he didn't move. Suddenly, Lucy started feeling tired, she looked around and saw that everybody else in the room was sleeping. Lucy shook her head, trying to stay awake, but she couldn't fight it any longer and she fell asleep next to Natsu.

When Lucy woke up, she was in a room lying on a large bed. She slowly sat up and looked around. Her friends were all around her. On the couches and chairs. Some of them were even on the ground. She looked to the other side of the bed and saw Levy sleeping next to her. Lucy looked around the room again but didn't see Natsu, she slowly stood up and walked to Erza and Gray. Lucy shook them and they both woke up and looked at Lucy in confusion. Erza looked around and back to Lucy with a frown, 

"Where are we?" Lucy shrugged, 

"I don't know but Natsu is gone." Erza and Gray stood up and started waking everybody else up. Wendy opened her eyes groggily and rubbed her eyes. She dropped her hands and looked around. After a while, panic seeped into her face and she looked at the other mages in panic, 

"Where are we and where's Natsu?" She frowned and looked around again, "And where are Lily, Happy, and Carla?" Lucy looked around in panic and realized that the exceeds weren't in the room with them. Wendy stood up and walked to the door, 

"What are you doing Wendy?" Wendy turned to her friends in confusion, 

"Don't you want to know where we are and where Natsu and the others are?" Lucy nodded and walked up to the small dragon slayer. They opened the door and Lucy's eyes widened in horror. Wendy looked at her in confusion, 

"Lucy? What's wrong?" She looked down both hallways, 

"I know where we are..." She looked back into the room at the rest of her friends, "We're at the Tartaros castle." Gray's eyes widened in horror, 

"Why are we here?! And that's bad news if Natsu is gone!" Lucy nodded and ran down the hallway. She turned corner after corner, and finally she stopped at a door. Erza ran up to her with confusion in her face. Lucy smiled slightly, 

"I've been in this castle before. I was asked to come her on kingdom business and I got a tour of the castle. They said that this was the room of the king's younger brother. But I wasn't allowed to go in..." Lucy turned to the door and turned the knob. When the door opened, Lucy gasped in horror. The room looked fancy on the outside, but inside looked like a cell. There were cuffs attached to the wall and there was blood on the floor. Lucy put a hand to her mouth. Gajeel walked forward slightly, he turned to Lucy with a determined look on his face, 

"This wasn't recent. It happened when Salamander was at the castle last." Lucy calmed down a little but was still horrified, 

"Why would someone be treated like this?" Gray shook his head and walked away. Lucy followed him out and started walking around corners again. She stopped at another door and opened it. Inside, they saw Zeref talking to someone. When Zeref turned to the door, the man walked away quickly and Zeref smiled warmly at the mages in front of him. Lucy frowned at the man, 

"Where's Natsu?" Zeref looked at Lucy with a confused face, 

"Natsu? Why do you want to know where he is?" Lucy glared at Zeref and took a confident step forward, 

"Because he's my friend." Zeref smirked, 

"He doesn't want to be bothered at the moment. He requested to be left alone." Lucy frowned and walked closer to Zeref, 

"Take me to him anyway. I have more authority than him." Zeref smiled wickedly and shook his head, 

"I'm sorry princess, I must deny. He's being transported to a different country tonight and he wants to stay in his room until then." Lucy frowned at Zeref and stormed out of the room. The rest of the mages there gave Zeref a dirty look and followed Lucy out of the room. She kept walking until she was back at the room she was sleeping in. She sat down and closed her eyes, 

"Lucy? Are you ok?" Lucy opened her eyes and smiled at her friends. 

"Tonight we are going to walk around the castle and look for Natsu." Gray smiled and nodded his head, 

"Now I like how you're thinking Lucy." 

~*~

Zeref looked back to where the man had retreated to and walked through the wall. He went down a flight of stairs and into a large room. Natsu was sitting in the middle chained to a post. Zeref grinned and walked up to his younger brother. He picked up his face and looked at him, he hadn't woke up since he got to the castle and Zeref was getting annoyed. He slapped his face and Natsu's head was thrown to the side, 

"You need to wake up sometime Natsu. You need to get your punishment for running away from the castle. I cast a spell on you that would bind you here forever, but somehow you were able to get away. And get rid of your magic canceler." Zeref smirked and took a red band out of his pocket. He put it around his wrist and put a yellow one above it. He aimed his dark magic at Natsu and the yellow band activated. Electricity formed from the band and shocked Natsu. Natsu cried out in agony and Zeref grinned evilly. He turned to the man who was sitting in the corner of the room, 

"Make sure that those Fairy Tail mages never find Natsu again." The man nodded and walked out of the room. 

"You will never find Natsu, Lucy Heartfilia..."