Hello, everybody! And welcome back to Dragon Boy and Princess! *cue the applause* Now then today's little talk before the chapter will be about how no one other than mysterico, bless her soul, bothered to comment when I asked you guys a question and I'm kind of mad about that. I know other people read this, actually this story has 1k readers, yet no one seems to comment at all. I know some of you might be shy and all, but 1000 people can't all be shy, right? So, I'd really appreciate it if once in a while someone commented and told me their thoughts about the chapter, maybe tell me something that doesn't make sense like a plot hole, or at least respond when I ask you guys a question. That would be much appreciated. As always thanks to everyone who votes, since they're are more people who do that than comment, that is much appreciated. We writers are here on wattpad not because we want attention or money, at least in most cases, but because we want to improve as writers and put our work out there for other people to enjoy. The least the readers can do is say whether they like it or not, politely of course. If we don't feel supported we won't be as motivated and our chapters will either be crappy or we'll just stop writing in the long run. That's actually one of the reason I went on hiatus for such a long time, is because I didn't feel supported. So please, readers, show your support in some way or another. Anyway, on a lighter note, this chapter is for you so without further ado, here is chapter 26!

     The week went by fast, much to Lucy's dismay, with her having free time to hang out with her friends in the morning, and then hours of dancing torture. By the time, she got to Natsu, they weren't even able to talk because she would pass out immediately from exhaustion. Thankfully enough though, Gray seemed to have forgotten about her little slip up, and hadn't asked her about it again. She did however have time to catch up with Juvia about a multitude of things, especially about the date Gray had taken her on the first day. Apparently he had taken her to an indoor skating rink, and taught her how to ice skate for the first time, and then they both went to a pastry café. Juvia had been ecstatic about the ice-skating. She had always wanted to try, and because she didn't know how, Gray was holding her hands the whole time, which Juvia had been especially happy about. Lucy was very happy for her friend, Juvia deserved to be happy with the one she loved. If only Lucy had the same luxury.

     Juvia suddenly came twirling into Lucy's bedroom and drew back the curtains, letting the sunlight into the room. Lucy of course was already awake, but she put her hand over her eyes anyway.

     "Good morning, Lucy-san!" she sang happily.

     Lucy groaned and pulled the covers over her head. She did not want to face today at all.

     "Come on, Lucy-san. You have to get up," Juvia sighed, and Lucy felt the bed dip beneath her.        She turned to Juvia and sighed as well.

     "I don't want to do this today," Lucy said truthfully.

     Juvia smiled apologetically at Lucy.

     "Juvia knows," she said. "But it is inevitable unless you want to face your father. Might as well get it over with."

     Lucy's face darkened at the mention of the man she called her father, but she knew Juvia was right; she might as well get it over with. She sighed once more before heaving herself up swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Once she stood, she grimaced at the pain in her legs. They were extremely sore after the intense hours of dance.

     "I'm so sore, I don't think I'll be able to dance when I'm actually supposed to!" Lucy exclaimed.

     That's right, today was the day. The day Prince Loke was coming to the castle, and the day of the ball.

     Juvia laughed and shook her head.

     "Now, now, Lucy-san. Let's just get you ready, ok?"

     As Lucy got up and slipped out of her nightgown, a question came to her, and she turned to Juvia.

     "Juvia, are you attending the ball?" Lucy asked as she slipped on the elegant cream-colored gown that Juvia handed her.

     "No," Juvia said sadly. "The servants are not invited, remember?"

     That was right, Lucy had forgotten that the servants were no longer invited to the balls, ever since her mother's death. Lucy remembered a time when there was a ball held almost every two months, and all of the servants were personally invited by the king and queen to attend. Since her mother's death however, balls were rarely held, the servants were not invited, and the castle seemed to lose the life within it.

     "I'm sorry," she said looking down. "I wish you could come."

     Lucy felt ashamed of her father in this moment, as she always did. Picking up on Lucy's feelings, Juvia was quick to reassure her saying, "Don't worry, Lucy-san! Juvia doesn't mind! The only thing Juvia does mind is Gray-sama gets to attend the ball and he will be glommed onto by all the women there!"

     As she said this, Juvia got a murderous look in her eye and started biting her hat.

     "What if Gray-sama falls prey to their dirty tricks? Women are wicked creatures, but Gray-sama is not weak! No! He will not be fooled by their petty tricks. Juvia believes in him!" Juvia exclaimed, and she seemed to be imagining some weird fantasy in her head, as she always did, making Lucy sweat drop.

     As if on cue, there was a knock at the door before Gray came strolling in, tugging a shirt over his head. Juvia was immediately snapped out of whatever fantasy she was in and zipped to his side.

     "Well, good morning, beautiful," Gray greeted her as he moved in to peck her on the lips. Juvia stopped him however and looked at him, her eyes boring into him. Gray turned to Lucy and quirked an eyebrow at her.

     "Is something wrong with Juvia?"

     Lucy just shrugged before Juvia started in a firm voice, "Gray-sama!"

     Gray looked at Juvia and gulped, sensing a scary aura emanating from her.

     "Yes?" he said uncertainly, fearing he's done something wrong.

     "You must promise Juvia that you will not be tricked by any wicked women! You cannot dance with any other woman at the ball! Do you hear Juvia? Juvia does not want Gray-sama to fall prey to cruel women's tricks!"

     As she said her speech, she leaned in closer and closer to Gray's face and her voice grew louder and her eyes burned with a protective fire. Gray stood wide-eyed as he absorbed everything she said before bursting out laughing.

     "Gray-sama!" Juvia shrieked as she started to hit him with her hat. "Take Juvia seriously!"

     "I-I'm sorry," Gray said between laughs, holding his stomach. "I am taking you seriously... I swear... it's just, I can't believe you would be so worried about something like that."

     "Juvia has every right to be worried! Women are tricksters; they try to seduce men with their bodies," she said as she puffed her cheeks out in a pout.

     "You do realize that you're a woman, right?" Gray asked, smirking.

     "But Juvia is not like those women!" Juvia protested. "Please promise Juvia, Gray-sama!"

     "Okay, okay, I won't," he said chuckling.

     "You won't even talk to them?" Juvia asked.

     Both Gray and Lucy sweat dropped at that.

     "Isn't that going a bit too far, Juvia?" Gray asked.

     "Absolutely not! It is for Gray-sama's own good. Women are masters of words as well," she said nodding vigorously.

     "What about Lucy, Erza, and Cana? They're women too. Am I not allowed to dance or talk to them?" he asked, raising a brow.

     Juvia seemed to rethink her words at his statement, and said, "The people at the castle are an exception, unless they take advantage of Juvia's absence to try anything."

     At the last part, her eyes glowed murderously and a dark aura emanated from her.

     Gray scooted over to Lucy and whispered in her ear, "How much do you wanna bet that she's going to stalk me at the ball?"

     "I would bet this whole castle," Lucy whispered back.

     Gray sweat dropped as he agreed with her.

     "Anyway... I'll be outside the door. Hurry up and get ready cause the prince is arriving directly after breakfast."

     Lucy's heart sank as she heard that he was coming so soon.

     "Don't worry," Gray said, ruffling her hair. "Everything will be fine. The sooner you get it over with, the better, right?"

     Lucy nodded and smiled. She was grateful for Gray's reassurance, she didn't know what she would do without him. Before Gray left the room, he kissed Juvia's forehead and whispered something in her ear, causing her to blush.

     "What did he tell you?" Lucy asked in a sly tone as she sidled closer to Juvia.

     "Nothing!" Juvia said hurriedly, slapping her cheeks in an effort to chase away her blush. "No more questions now! Let Juvia prepare you for the prince's arrival!"

     After about 15 minutes, Juvia was done and Lucy looked at herself in the mirror. She looked stunning and it wasn't even time for the ball yet. Her gown was simple yet elegant with it's cream color. The fabric it was made of was soft and flowed like water. The gown was an off the shoulder gown with long sleeves that were tight on her forearm but started to loosen around the elbow making it dip under her wrist. The front of it was decorated with black pearls and was tight but snug on her chest. At the waist the fabric started to flow outwards creating a wide skirt that ended just below her ankles so you could see her lavender heels. The bottom of the skirt was also decorated with pearls. To match her gown she was wearing black pearl earrings with a black pearl choker.

     Juvia had done Lucy's hair up in a tight bun with a braid wrapping around it to hold it in place, and to finish off the hairdo, clipped on a flower arrangement made of balloon flowers, purple flowers that were quite beautiful, just above her ear. The flowers were fake of course, or else they would probably die halfway through the day, but they looked real enough. To finish off the look, Juvia had applied some lightly tinted pink lip-gloss, blush, mascara, and a light layer of lavender eye shadow.

     "Wow, Juvia! You must be magical or something! I cannot believe made me look this pretty in only 15 minutes!" Lucy exclaimed, grabbing Juvia and whirling her around with her.

     Juvia laughed along with Lucy as they came to a stop.

     "You look gorgeous, Lucy-san," Juvia said, grinning.

     "Arigatou!"

     Lucy turned back to the mirror and smiled at herself. If only Natsu could see her now, what would he think? Lucy's cheeks warmed and she bit her lip at the thought. Unfortunately though, she wasn't dressing up for him, and he wouldn't get to see her like this. She deflated with the realization, but Juvia's grinning face snapped her back. It didn't matter that he wouldn't see her, she looked beautiful and she was going to enjoy it, even if it was for a stupid prince.

     "Yosh! I'm gonna go down to breakfast now!" Lucy said as she drew Juvia in for a quick hug. "Thanks again, Juvia!"

     "No problem, Lucy-san. Have fun!" she said as she hugged her back.

     "I'll try!" Lucy called behind her as she opened the door to her room.

     Gray was standing in the hallway outside looking bored as hell.

     "Finally," he said as he turned to her. As he took her in, his eyes widened.

     "Damn, who knew you could glam up this much?"

     "Shut up," she said, smacking his arm. "I can look beautiful when I want to you know!"

     "Ouch! I'm just kidding, geez," he said, laughing. "You look great, and you're always beautiful anyway."

     Lucy blushed at the compliment. He didn't say it in a pervy way, it was more in a brotherly way, and she appreciated it.

     "Thanks..." she muttered. "You'd better not go and ruffle my hair or anything though! Juvia spent time on this and I will not have her hard work got to waste!"

     "As if I would ruin my girlfriend's hard work," he scoffed. "I can't believe you think I'd do such a thing."

     Lucy rolled her eyes at him.

     "Whatever, let's just go eat, ok?"

So, I hope all of you enjoyed that chapter, and since I got just one positive response, the only response, to the question I asked last chapter, I am going to be doing my little disclaimer. Take it away, Gajeel!

Gajeel: Where the hell am I?

Meena: Why, hello there, Gajeel. Glad you could join us today.

Gajeel: Are you that crazy author everyone at the guild's been talking about?

Meena: Fairy Tail has been talking about me?! *faints*

Gajeel: Oi! Wake up! Apparently you're the only one who can get me out of here, so let's get this over with.

Meena: Hai! Now Gajeel, what are your thoughts on my story?

Gajeel: How should I know? I didn't read it.

Meena: *gasps dramatically with hand over heart* WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T READ IT?!!

Gajeel: I'm not a big reader.

Meena: How do you and Levy even get along then?

Gajeel: I only read the books she tells me to read. Anyway, the shrimp's got nothing to do with this!

Meena: Aaw, Gajeel, that's so cute! Who knew the big bad dragon could be such a softie for a cute nerd?

Gajeel: I am not cute!! And I am most definitely not a softie!!

Meena: Sure you aren't. You were crying because you didn't have a cat like the other dragon slayers and suffered innumerable scratches all over the place trying to find one. Tell me how that isn't cute?

Gajeel: What the hell?! How do you know that?!

Meena: hehe, Meena knows all and sees all. 

Gajeel: You're a stalker.

Meena: I am not! Okay, maybe I am a bit of a stalker... but that's okay!

Gajeel: Great, now I've got another Juvia on my hands except this one's a kitty.

Meena: What did you just call me?

Gajeel: I called you Kitty, Kitty. You look like a cat. I could just picture cat ears and a tail sprouting out of your body.

Meena: *covers her mouth and blushes* The way you said that sounded dirty for some reason...

Gajeel: W-What?! How does that sound dirty?! You're a pervert, Kitty! 

Meena: I am not! It's just the way you said it!

Gajeel: I didn't say it a dirty way, you're just dirty minded!

Meena: I AM NOT! Anyway, this is getting too long so just read the disclaimer.

Gajeel: Why do I have to read the disclaimer?

Meena: Cause that's just the way it works here, now do it if you wanna go home!

Gajeel: Fine... Fairy Tail does not belong to Meena, it belongs to Hiro Mashima. If Meena did own Fairy Tail, Gajeel and Levy would be a couple by now and have 4 children as the product of hot..... WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!!!!!! I TOLD YOU YOU WERE DIRTY MINDED!!

Meena: I know, but don't deny it, you would love to do that with Levy now wouldn't ya? Just think Gajeel. Levy all smoking hot, biting her lip as she takes her clothes off-

Gajeel: *Slaps a hand over Meena's mouth while having an extreme nose bleed* You need to stop!! Cause I think I'm gonna-*faints from extreme loss of blood*

Meena: Well, that's all for today, folks. I guess Gajeel learned not to mess with me, huh? Kukuku. Until next time, ya weirdoes! Bye! *Takes selfie with unconscious and bleeding Gajeel* I should probably get him to the infirmary...