I'm BAAAAAAACK~ Did ya miss me? Sorry for keeping you waiting so long, but thinsg have been hectic, and I needed to take some time to rethink the details of the plot and how this chapter was gonna go. But I didn't give up on this, so I hope you didn't give up on me! Lots of action jampacked into this chapter so, enjoy because without further ado here is chapter 36!

            Lucy strode into the throne room, her head held high. King Jude Heartfilia was deep in conversation with his ministers who were gathered in a circle around him. A table had been dragged up and upon it sat several documents over which the king and the ministers were bent over, discussing animatedly in hushed tones. At the sound of her heels on the tiled marble floor, however, they all looked up. All fell silent immediately. Jude looked up, and upon spotting Lucy, his eyes bulged incredulously. Lucy was momentarily shocked at his break in stoic character, but almost as soon as it had appeared, it was gone.

            "Lucy," Jude intoned in his usual condescending voice.

            "You Majesty," Lucy said, curtsying respectfully. "I would like to discuss an important matter with you."

            "As you can see, Lucy, I am in the middle of a meeting with my ministers," Jude said slowly, and Lucy could tell that he was barely containing his rage.

            "I understand, but unfortunately this is something I need to discuss with you now," Lucy said, putting a note forcefulness into her voice.

            Jude glared at her through squinted eyes, apparently testing her determination. The ministers fidgeted uncomfortably around the cold golden throne Jude was seated upon until finally, after a very intense staring contest, Jude said unblinkingly, "We will continue this later, gentlemen."

            The ministers skittered gratefully away and through a door concealed by the elaborately adorned curtains that hung behind the imposing golden throne. The room fell silent once more as the door closed, and neither Jude nor Lucy spoke for a moment.

            "What do you want, Lucy? What is so important that you became so insolent?" Jude asked mockingly.

            "My marriage," Lucy said, approaching the throne.

            "Ah... And what is it you would like to discuss about your marriage? As I told you before, this is definitive, Lucy, since no other suitor seemed to catch your fancy," Jude said.

            "Yeah, well, that's just it, Father dearest," Lucy said, pleased to see Jude's face grimace in disbelief at her change to a familiar tone. "I'm not marrying Loke because I don't want to be your little bitch anymore."

            Jude gasped audibly, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish as her words caused his brain to short-circuit, while Lucy was surprised to find herself... exhilarated. It was as if saying those words had released a load of pent up energy that had been building up over the years, and she needed to release more.

            "You can't pull me around anymore, Father, because like it or not I am the princess of this country and your daughter, and I'm going to be controlling my life from now on, so it would be less painful for you to cancel this marriage now rather than later."

            "Lucy... you dare," Jude started, apparently having regained the power of speech.

            "Yes, I do actually, because I'm done with your manipulation, and doing whatever you want. So, do your worst because I don't care anymore. It's my life, and I'm gonna start living it," she said with finality.

            Jude made to get up, but no sooner had he risen that the throne room doors opened, and Loke strode through. Lucy's eyes widened; in her fervor to do things herself, she had forgotten to inform Loke that she would be speaking to her father herself. Upon seeing her, Loke also did a double take, but quickly regained his posture, and bowed low to the king then to Lucy.

            "Your Majesty," Loke intoned, "I apologize for the impromptu visit, but there is a matter that needs your immediate attention that I would wish to discuss. Of course, if you are currently preoccupied with the princess, I may return at a later time."

            "No, no, Prince Loke. Lucy was just leaving," Jude said, staring pointedly at her.

            Lucy hesitated, looked at Loke who nodded minutely, and curtsied, taking her leave. As she passed by Loke she whispered, "Good luck."

            As she strode out into the hallway, Lucy was met by a group of maids and guards chattering amongst themselves in front of the doors, but they quieted immediately at her arrival and dispersed as rapidly as possible. It seemed that her sudden intrusion on her father had gained had been promoted to gossip material.

            Out of the thinning crowd came Erza and Aquarius, both striding towards her with fire blazing in their eyes. Oh, crap, Lucy thought to herself, this is either going to go down very well or terribly.

            "Hey, guys," Lucy greeted uncertainly, as she spotted Gray, Cana, Aries, and Scorpio standing warily behind them.

            "Lucy, what the hell was this sudden action about?" The two goddesses asked simultaneously.

            "I've just come to decide that I don't want my life to be controlled anymore," Lucy said, raising herself to her full height in defiance.

            "What exactly does that mean?" Aquarius demanded. "Does this have something to do with why Loke suddenly wanted to see Jude about something?"

            "Lucy, what exactly is going on?" Erza asked.

            Lucy felt a twinge of guilt looking at their worried faces, but said, "Listen, I'll tell you guys in time, but I want to see what kind of results my action lead to first. Can you wait? I promise I'll explain everything."

            Aquarius and Erza looked at each other like two mama bears consulting each other, before nodding, and throwing their arms around her.

            "You better not have been foolish, girl," Aquarius whispered.

            "I hope you didn't do anything stupid," Erza also whispered.

            "But we're proud of you," they both said, hugging her tighter.

            Lucy felt the tears come to her eyes, and hugged them back ferociously.

            "Mm," was all she could respond.

            They then released her and she wiped her eyes quickly before the mascara could start running and smiled, "Now, who wants breakfast?"

            Everyone chimed "yes" in unison with the regular "we are" from Scorpio.

            Gray, Cana, and Erza accompanied Lucy back to her room after a plentiful breakfast. After having waited for Loke to appear for a while, they had all decided to go their separate ways; Aquarius, Scorpio, and Aries to explore the rest of the castle and for Aquarius to say hi to some old acquaintances, and Lucy and her guards to just sit down and talk for a bit while they waited for Loke to emerge from the throne room.

            They all sat down on Lucy's bed, sprawled out in awkward positions. Juvia, who was ecstatic that she got to spend more time with Gray than usual, was sitting comfortably in his lap as he lay against the backboard of the bed. Lucy was sprawled on her stomach at his feet with Cana's head resting on her back, and was braiding a lock of Erza's hair who was laying down spread eagle, with one arm on Cana's stomach, her scarlet hair splayed out underneath her as she hummed a tune.

            "It's been a long time since we've done this, huh? Just sat like this?" Cana asked.

            "Hmm? Yeah, I guess it has," Lucy said sleepily, finishing up her braid and starting a new one.

            A drowsy sort of atmosphere had settled over the well-fed friends, and they were all feeling much happier than they had in a while.

            "Guess we've all been caught up in the stupid king's madness, eh?" Cana said sleepily, twirling a strand of Lucy's hair between her fingers.

            "Couldn't have said it better myself," Gray said, scowling.

            Suddenly Erza gasped and made to sit up, but was pulled back down by Lucy's hands in her hair, and she said quickly, "We were so preoccupied we didn't even celebrate Juvia and Gray's union!"

            They all became more alert at this truth. It was customary between them to celebrate when any sort of good thing happened, and yet they had completely forgotten.

            "N-No need," Gray stuttered, blushing madly. "We don't need some big celebration, right, Juvia?"

            He turned to her obviously for help, but found her in tears instead as she stared at him with big watery eyes, and said, "G-Gray-sama doesn't th-think our relationship i-important enough to b-be celebrated?"

            "What? No, it's not that! I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and give them an excuse to tease us is all!"

            Gray looked to the rest of them for help, but all three women grimaced at him and muttered darkly in unison, "What a terrible boyfriend.

            "W-Wha?" struggled Gray, obviously feeling abandoned. "No, I'm not-" But he was cut off by Juvia crying, and looked around helplessly for a moment before yelling, "Alright, alright, let's have a celebration! I want to celebrate our relationship more than anything, Juvia!"

            Juvia stopped crying immediately.

            "Does Gray-sama really mean that?" she asked, clasping his hands in hers.

            "Yes!" Gray declared.

            "Gray-sama!" Juvia cried, and tackled him with a kiss.

            Lucy, Erza, and Cana looked at each other, and, no longer able to keep it in, burst out laughing.

            Gray emerged, his hair now a tangled mess, and a daydreaming look on his face, which set Erza, Cana, and Lucy off again. He cleared his throat, and resettled Juvia on his lap, his cheeks bright red.

            It had been a long time since the four had sat down, and had a good laugh. Lucy was so nostalgic, she almost forgot about the possibly pending explosion that could take place. She was brusquely brought back to reality, however, by the sound of her bedroom door slamming open, and King Jude himself striding in angrily, his blood red cloak billowing around him.

            All four of them jumped up in alarm. Lucy's stomach turned over; Jude had never come to her room before for anything. He stared around at all the guards and Juvia who hurriedly bowed, and muttered, "Your Majesty," until his eyes zeroed in on Lucy.

            "Get out," he said quietly.

            "Excuse us, sir?" Erza asked.

            "Get out! All of you!" he roared.

            Gray, Erza, Juvia, and Cana cast her furtive glances, and she nodded. They all reluctantly filed out. As soon as the door closed behind them, Jude marched up to Lucy angrily, and yanked her by the hair, making her yelp.

            "You little bitch! What did you say to that prince to make him come to me and request to cancel the engagement, huh?" he yelled into her face.

            His eyes were bulging, a vein in his temple was pulsing, and spittle was coming from his mouth; he looked like a rabid dog, and it was actually so terrifying that Lucy wasn't sure how she spoke so calmly.

            "All I did was make him realize that marrying me wasn't what he wanted, and neither did I. I was simply honest with him."

            This seemed to enrage Jude further, and he pulled her hair so that she was practically hanging from it, her toes barely touching the floor.

            "You ruined everything! All of my plans!" Jude yelled, trembling now.

            "I'm not a puppet for your plans, Father," Lucy managed to choke out, as she felt several hairs separate from her scalp.

             "Don't call me that!" he raged. "Not when you look so much like her... She left me, and I will not let you leave me too! You hear! You will be obedient!"

            Lucy was dumbfounded. In some sick, twisted way, did he think that controlling her was equivalent to not losing her? For an instant, her resolve wavered, but it came back full force when she thought about the lonely hell that had been the years of her life after her mother's passing, and especially when she thought of Natsu. He was so passionate and fought for what he believed in, and now Lucy couldn't imagine a life without him. The thought of him solidified her resolve, and she glared hard at her father, saying icily, "That's not how love works, Father. In your insane desire to keep me near you, all you did was push me away, and now you'll have to suffer the consequences."

            Jude seemed to falter for a moment, before regaining an insane fire in his eyes that Lucy had never seen before.

            "It doesn't matter what you say. I'll do anything to keep you here. I'll lock you up if I have to! You hear me? I'LL LOCK YOU UP!" he roared, shaking her by the hair.

            Lucy's heart pounded in her chest, sweat forming on her brow. Locked up? No. That's not what I'm fighting for.

            Jude lowered his arm enough so that her feet could now touch the ground, and started dragging her by her hair towards the door.

            Panic gripped her, and she struggled with all her might, kicking and punching anything she could in frenzy.

            No! No, she thought as she saw the door come nearer and nearer.

            "NATSU!" she screamed. As she did so, her mind reached out as far as possible, as though trying to connect with his, and her scream seemed to reverberate through her body, as though transcending the physical limit of sound waves.

            Jude stopped, surprised by her outburst, but quickly continued on his course to the door. The door flew open, however, and Erza, Gray, Juvia, and Cana rushed in, obviously attracted by Lucy's sudden scream. They stopped dead as they saw Lucy's position, but were almost immediately pushed aside by an army of guards that had also heard her scream. They stopped dead too, obviously stumped as to what they were supposed to do in this situation. A moment's silence, and then all at once, chaos seemed to erupt in the room. Erza, Gray, Cana, and Juvia rushed towards Lucy, weapons in hand. The imperial guards rushed to meet them, doing the only thing they knew to do: protect the king.

            Sword and spear clashed. Erza was single-handedly battling ten opponents at once, while Gray and Juvia were tackling a horde of others, and Cana was distracting guards by flashing them, and then knocking them out. Lucy thought distractedly for a moment that there had never been so many people in her room.

            Without warning, a gust of wind blew the balcony windows wide open. The wind was so strong the guards and Jude had to grind their feet into the floor to stay on their feet. Then a very familiar roar sounded, and the magnificent figure of Natsu zoomed through the open windows and landed with a thud on the marble floor.

            Flames licked the sides of his chest, wings, and face, his now burned bandages falling to the floor. His eyes were a dark black, and his face was contorted with rage. His magnificent red scaled wings spanned the width of the room. The rip in his wing was now completely sealed, as was the gash across his abdomen visible now only as lighter scars; it seemed that Porlyusica's paste had done its work. And Lucy also noticed that his horns were vibrating.

            His eyes landed on Lucy, and he roared, the power of it shaking the walls, causing dust to fall from the ceiling. Everyone stayed rooted to their spots, except for Lucy who, grinning from ear to ear, reached her arms towards him, and called happily, "Natsu!

            His tail whipped around, smacked Jude's hand that was gripping her hair with such force that Lucy heard the bones shatter. It then wrapped around her waist, and pulled her towards him. She wrapped her arms around him, and buried her nose in his scarf, taking in his familiar smell that she now associated with home. His warmth washed over her, and he nuzzled his face into her hair.

            "Lucy, " he growled lowly.

            "Ch-Charge! Kill that monster! He's brainwashed my daughter!" Jude yelled, apparently having got over his initial shock.

            The guards started forward hesitantly, but Natsu flapped his wings towards them, blowing them all against the wall. Natsu continued to beat his wings, pinning everyone against the wall, and looked to Lucy questioningly.

            "I guess it's time to leave, huh?" Lucy said.

            Natsu nodded.

            Natsu began to ascend before Lucy remembered something.

            "Wait, let me down a second," Lucy said.

            Natsu looked to the men pinned on the wall, and she said, "Don't worry, you can do whatever you want if they even blink."

            Natsu grinned, and put her down. Effectively, no one moved even when Natsu ceased pinning them to the wall. Lucy hurried over to the closet where Happy was, and grabbed him. He had apparently been trying to claw the door open when he heard Natsu, and now that he was free, shot towards him yelling, "Natsu!"

            Natsu's eyes were round with shock as Happy collided with his chest. A grin broke out on his face, and he exclaimed, "Happy! You're alive, little buddy!"

            He practically beamed at Lucy as she came back to him, and welcomed her with open arms. He rose into the air with Lucy clutched tightly in his arms, and Happy bobbing up and down beside him.

            "Lucy, you ungrateful child!" Jude exclaimed, stepping forward. "You'd dare leave after I gave you everything you needed, and kept you safe?"

            Natsu growled, but Lucy turned to face her father with cold eyes and said, "My life was hell ever since mom died. You didn't give me anything; you barely gave me the minimum of what a father should give. Actually less because the minimum would have been to love me, Father, not abandon me. And especially not marry me off against my will to someone I don't love."

            Natsu's arm contracted around her waist at that, and her heart fluttered. This was it, this was the moment she had unknowingly been waiting for.

            "And anyway," she continued, turning to face Natsu. "I love you."

            And with that, she leaned up and captured his lips in hers. It was better than she had ever dreamed it would be. Sparks flew across her body as Natsu responded in full, his horns vibrating so much that Lucy's body vibrated with them. It was as if something had fallen into place inside her; something had finally clicked.

            When they pulled away, Natsu's eyes were bright green and burning with energy as he grinned down at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, a spear whistled past his ear, Natsu narrowly dodging it. Lucy whipped around to see that Jude had pulled a spear from one of the guards, and had flung it at Natsu. Natsu growled, puffed up his chest, and blew a jet of flame up to the ceiling where the crystal chandelier was hanging.

            The chandelier groaned and swayed, and finally fell with a large crash in the middle of the room as the guards screamed and ran for cover. Natsu, taking advantage of the confusion, flew them out of the window, and into the open air where he was able to spread his enormous wings freely.

            "Lucy!" a voice yelled, and Natsu stopped, turning to the window to see Erza at the balcony with Gray, Juvia, and Cana.

            Lucy's heart contracted painfully in her chest as she looked at them one by one, her most trusted friends who had stood by her through everything.

            "I'll be okay!" she yelled to them. "Get out while you can!"

            Erza hesitated, then nodded, and rushed off into the fray, Cana following her. Juvia and Gray lingered, however. Lucy met Gray's eyes, and saluted. She couldn't tell because of the distance, but she was sure that Gray had cracked a smile before he too rushed off. Juvia waved solemnly at her before turning and joining her boyfriend.

            "I'm sorry you have to leave your friends," Natsu said, hovering in midair.

            "It's fine," Lucys said, blinking back tears. "I'm sure I'll see them again."

            And that was the truth. For some reason, Lucy was absolutely positive that they would meet again.

            She turned to Natsu and look at him determinedly.

            "There are people we need to get before we go anywhere."

            Natsu blasted through the large paned windows of the library, wrapping his wings around Lucy to shield her as they crashed through several bookcases, and the glass came pouring down on them. Natsu unwrapped his wings from around her, and Lucy climbed out of his grasp, coughing on the dust that had risen in the air. She waved her hands around, and turned to Natsu saying, "Couldn't have been a bit gentler?"

           Natsu simply shrugged and grinned, "I do things full force or not at all."

            Lucy rolled her eyes and laughed. Looking around, she spotted Droy's telltale fishhook of hair shaking from behind the giant librarian's desk. She marched over the spilled books, internally apologizing to them, and made her way to the desk. As soon as she made to look over it, Jet and Droy jumped out and yelled, "WE WILL PROTECT LEVY!"

            Lucy jumped backwards, but started laughing as soon as she did at the sobbing Jet and Droy shaking with fear in front of her.

             "Move both of you. You're being pathetic!" came Levy's high voice as she pushed them aside. "I can defend myself, thank you very much!"

            Levy's eyes landed on Lucy and Natsu, and understanding dawned on her features.

           "It's time to go, Levy-chan," Lucy said, grinning.

            "Gotcha," Levy said immediately, and, seemingly out of nowhere, grabbed a giant backpack, and hoisted it onto her back.

            Lucy blinked in surprise, but got over it quickly; it was exactly like Levy to be prepared for everything.

            Levy strode over the books, wincing as she did so, to Natsu. She stuck out her hand, and said, "Nice to finally meet you. My name is Levy."

            Natsu grinned, and shook her hand, saying, "Hope you've taken good care of Metal Head, Levy."

            "Sure have."

            "Happy, you grab Levy," Natsu ordered.

            "Aye, sir!" Happy saluted, grabbing Levy by the backpack and lifting her into the air.

            "Wait, Levy! Where are you going?" cried Jet and Droy.

            "Sorry, guys. Hold down the for me, will you?" Levy said, smiling her charming smile at them.

            Droy and Jet seemed to melt under her gaze, and said, "Aye, Chief!"

            Lucy heard Natsu mutter amusedly, "Weirdoes..."

            Just as Natsu wrapped had wrapped his arm back around Lucy's waist, the doors to the library burst open, and a whole stream of guards came running in. Natsu took off, Happy close behind. The wind soared through Lucy's hair, and her heart pounded in her chest from excitement. So this was what it was like to fly.

            The moment ended all too soon, however, as arrows rained down on them from the ramparts. Natsu swerved elegantly, avoiding them with difficulty. Lucy looked up, and saw Laxus up on the ramparts, directing the troops' fire.

            "NO! LAXUS, STOP!" Lucy yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth.

            Laxus looked around until he spotted Lucy. He looked confused as Natsu soared upwards, circling above him.

            "STOP!" she yelled again.

            Laxus looked confused for a second, and looked to Levy who was also yelling the same thing. Then he turned, and yelled at the troops. The arrows ceased, and Laxus turned back to Lucy, his arm raised in a salute. Lucy did the same, and they flew unhindered towards the south wing of the castle.

            "Do you know where Romeo is?" Lucy shouted to Levy.

            "I think he's stationed on guard duty at the palace doors!" she shouted back.

            "Natsu," Lucy said.

            He nodded, tucked his wings in, and dived full on towards the floor. Lucy, having not expected this at all, screamed, clutching onto Natsu for dear life. Just as the ground came rushing up to meet them, Natsu unfurled his wings, parachuting them up a couple feet before settling on the ground in front of the palace doors. The guards and the few civilians milling about either screamed and ran for their lives, or stared in a terrified sort of awe at the strange scene before them.

            The guards hadn't even sprung into action when Lucy spotted Romeo among them.

            "Romeo!" she called. "We need to go!"

            Romeo's head snapped in her direction, no doubt aided by Levy waving her hands frantically in the air. He broke from the row of guards who were starting to stir, and ran. He was jerked backwards suddenly however as a surly looking guard grabbed him by the collar of his armor. Natsu's chest puffed beneath her, and Lucy knew he was preparing to let flow a jet of flame, but there was apparently no need as they watched Romeo jab a well placed elbow into the guard's face, making blood spurt from his nose. The flame died in Natsu's throat, and Lucy could tell by looking at him that he was impressed by the young Romeo's quick thinking.

            Romeo ran towards them, and started to say a sort of introduction, like the polite boy he was, but Lucy interrupted him by tugging him into Natsu's chest, where he wrapped his other arm around Romeo's waist and took off.

            They were significantly slower now that Natsu was holding the weight of two people, and he was struggling to rise in the air.

            "It's my armor!" Romeo said. "It's really heavy."

            He wrenched his arm and leg guards off, and started wriggling in Natsu's grasp to take his chest plate off. Lucy saw Natsu's arm slip a moment too late, and lunged for Romeo's hand. Their fingers brushed each other's, but she was unable to grab him. To her horror, Romeo was now free falling towards the ground. Natsu dove for him, folding his wings tightly against them. As he was falling, Romeo was astoundingly still trying to get his breastplate off. They were close now, just a bit farther. Natsu reached out his free hand, and just as he did so, Romeo managed to get the hunk of metal free, and chucked it off. He grabbed Natsu's hand, and Natsu immediately spread his wings, bouncing back up.

            They soared back to where Levy and Happy were waiting, and Natsu turned momentarily to face Romeo, and said, "You've got some guts kid."

            "Thanks," Romeo said, nervously running a hand through his windswept hair.

            "Now where's Wendy?" Natsu asked.

            "This way," Romeo pointed. "In a small purple house. I'll show you when I see it."

            With a powerful stroke of his wings, Natsu launched himself in the direction Romeo had pointed out without another word. There were now cutting through the sky like an arrow, houses flying past in a blur beneath them. Lucy didn't see how Romeo would be able to spot his house at the speed they were going, but sure enough, a stark purple blur appeared and Romeo signaled for Natsu to stop. Natsu dove down onto the mostly abandoned street (by the third time, Lucy had gotten used to it), and landed hard, cracking the pavement. Romeo disentangled himself, ran inside, and out again with a petite girl in hand. She was adorable in every meaning of the word. Her hair was the color of midnight and up in two pigtails, her eyes were large and doe brown, and two light yellow horns protruded from the sides of her head.

            "Wendy!" Natsu greeted loudly. "I'd give you a hug, but we kind of need to get out of here."

            Wendy grinned and nodded, grabbing Romeo and launching into the sky with a powerful beat of her dark blue-scaled wings, her tail swishing behind her. Natsu soon followed, and they were off to Levy's house. As soon as they landed this time though, the door banged open, and Gajeel strode out with a grin on his face.

            "'Bout damn time, Salamander! I can't take another day stuck in this house! Gihi."

            "Nice to see you're in good shape, Iron Brains!" Naruto said back.

            Gajeel unfurled his enormous metal-colored wings, and strode up to Happy saying, "The shrimp's mine."

            Levy's face went red as he wrapped an arm around her waist and took off into the air.

            It was all over in less than ten minutes; everything had happened so fast. They were now high in the sky, the houses of the city below them but a blur of colors. As they rose above the clouds and the city faded from view, Lucy felt a pang of loss. But as she faced forwards, towards the grand unknown, an even stronger feeling of excitement filled her. What kind of adventures lay in store for her now?

Did you long my gift of an extremely long chapter? Finally! A Nalu kiss, huh? This is the moment I was looking forward to writing the most. This chapter was pretty fast paced, but that's because everything is happening so fast, ya know? So what do you guys think is gonna happen now? What are your crazy fan theories? I wanna know. Also, I'm supposed to be studying for this giant geo test I have tomorrow, but why study when I can write, and come out of my unexpectedly long hiatus, right? But I should probably go study now. Shamelessly, please go check out my other Naruto fanfiction, Torn. Vote, comment, share, and thank you for reading! Ja ne!