Event though her heart was pounding in her chest because of the anxiety and the run into the dungeon of the palace, Juvia was profoundly relieved to have found Gajeel. She knew they weren't out of the bush yet, but the young woman had been so worried!

** A couple hours earlier **

"Hey! Where are you going?" Asked a voice behind her back.

"Gray..." She let out when she turned to him.

It was not that Juvia was disappointed by his presence, she would never be disappointed to see him. However, she was reticent to involve him in her misfortune. And if he would be accidently hurt only by being with her... or worst. That simple idea made her heavy-hearted more than she could have imagined. Never could she be by Gray's side. Never would she allow herself to put him at risk. She was a fugitive who could be slayed anytime by the organisation in which she grew. He simply didn't deserve such a faith.

Even if she was sad for Levy, the young woman was a little jealous of Gajeel. Her childhood friend, him, could have the young woman who seemed to be herself condemned to exile by his side. "No, no, no Juvia" she reprimanded herself. Even though it was obvious that the young interpret had caught Gajeel's eye, Juvia was certain he would prefer to know her safe.

"Earth to Juvia" said Gray, trying to get her attention, shaking his hand in front of her face.

"Yes, my love?" She finally answered.

The young man made a funny face at the way she had called him but quickly put back on his natural expression and acted as nothing happened.

"Where are you going?"

"Gajeel and Levy are nowhere to be found. Juvia is sure they went to the palace.

"The palace? What for?"

When Juvia told him about her suspicions, Gray frowned and started to walk with a firm step towards the train station.

"Gray! Wait!"

"We don't have time to waste, if something bad is happening, we should act fast".

Juvia played with her fingers.

"Juvia doesn't, doesn't want... Ah! Juvia can't lie to her love!" She started to think out loud. "She wants him to come with her..."

"Juvia..."

"But she wants him to be safe!" She continued. "What must she do?" she added, her hands on her cheeks"

"Juvia!" He barked, grabbing her wrists, pulling on them to take her hands of her face. "Explain. Clearly. With coherent words" he specified calmly, making a pause between every short sentence.

"Juvia's worried for Gray" she managed to summarise. "She would never forgive herself if something bad happened to him".

"What about me?" Said Gray, his tone calm as ever. "Do you really think I could forgive myself if I would let you go all by yourself while Phantom's after you?

The young woman's face was now scarlet. Despite her fears, she simply couldn't resist him. Then they left for the palace, getting there a few hours later. Once there, they made sure to say covered. If thing would get bad, it was important for Gray and her to not attract any attention. Even if Levy managed to obtain the king's help, it would do no good to signal their presence this soon.

Of course, they didn't have this much luck and overheard a discussion between two soldiers about Phantom's arrival within the hour to take back a fugitive. She was so worried for her best friend that she didn't, or almost didn't, felt joy when Gray placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"We'll get him out of this. Him and Levy"

She shook her head and they started to elaborate a plan to free them.

** Present **

They heard steps. They had run for several minutes so the young woman didn't know where they were anymore, but one thing was sure, they weren't in the dungeons anymore.

"In there" whispered Gray while the steps seemed closer.

Juvia, Gajeel and Levy entered the room indicated by Gray, the later closing the door behind him.

"What the hell is that room?" Said Gajeel. "It looks more of an hunted house than a royal palace if you ask me."

Looking her surroundings as well, Juvia had to admit that, indeed, the room was creepy. That room had been abandoned for years, no doubts about it. Absolutely everything, everything except a small rocking chair, was covered in dust. Focussing a little more, she noticed it was a baby room.

"I never knew the king had a child" she whispered.

"Well I pity the poor kid that has this bastard as a father" growled Gajeel.

"Not king August" let out Levy.

Everyone turned to the young woman holding a drawing.

"That room dates from the previous royal family."

Juvia gulped. So a baby also died in the carnage that had killed her parents. She came closer to Levy to take a look at the picture. Her heart tightened despite her will. The image was showing a man with sparkles in his eyes and with a bright smile. His arms were circling the waist of the queen, herself holding their newborn. A tear pearled in the corner of her eyes thinking about her parent's sacrifice. If only they could have save them. Next to her, Gajeel was also looking at the drawing, a severe expression on his face. He may not express it as clearly as her but Juvia knew that Gajeel was also affected by the image.

"They were appreciated by everyone" said a quavering voice with weariness.

All took their attention off the drawing to identify the newcomer. They were surprised to see an old lady. The woman closed the door with as much delicacy as she had opened it, not producing an once of sound.

"Shit" let out Gajeel, not sure how to act.

Normally, he wouldn't take the risk, bringing the intruder to unconsciousness with a quick hit to the head. But this granny would surely die if he did so.

"You have nothing to fear from me, my dears" she smiled to them.

"How can we be sure that..."

"That I would not warn the guards that the fugitives they are looking for are hiding here? If I wanted to do so, do you really think I would have taken the risk to talk to you?"

"But... why?" asked Levy in a small voice.

"No one giving this much respect towards the late royal family can be fundamentally bad".

"You knew them?"

She emitted a little laugh to the comment.

"If I knew them? I assisted to the king's birth before having the privilege, however too short, to rock his own daughter twenty years later".

"You seemed to have appreciated them a lot" said Juvia with sympathy to the old governess.

"More than you think. It was the best king the kingdom ever had. Times have changed..."

Juvia and Levy gave a severe look in Gajeel's direction, indicating to him to keep for himself the insult he was about to say, without a doubt, towards the actual king.

"I like rocking myself into that chair" she said, sitting on it. "It allows me to preserve my memories. I can still remember her little hands, her gorgeous azure curls. That child never stopped smiling. Oh and she had that adorable birth mark shaped like a little flower close to her heart. She would have make such a good queen..."

The woman's souvenirs were interrupted by steps next to the door.

"Hide in there, quick!" she pointed an old but large wardrobe.

Everyone did so, lacking of a better option, partially holding their breaths when the door opened.

"Where looking for four fugitives" said one of the guards to the woman.

"Four?" Said the lady, faking her surprise. "I thought they warned us to look for only three."

"A fourth one, accompanying them, Gray Fullbuster, was judged guilty of being a partner in crime to notorious criminals and is now searched as well. Phantom's order."

"I see" she said. "Best of luck".

The man was about to close the door behind him but stopped.

"What are you doing in such an old room? I thought I heard talking" he said suspicious.

"I was telling a story to the princess" said the old woman with naivety, her arms crossed in front of her as if she was holding a toddler.

"What?"

"Shush! She just fell asleep" said the woman, rocking the invisible baby.

"This old fool is senile!" Tempered the other guard. "Come on, we're wasting our time here" he added with irritation.

Then they left, the fugitives finally able to get out.

"It's terrible..." mumbled Juvia. "Gray is..."

"No time for that!" Growled Gajeel. "We have to get out of here and fast!"

"Escape by the window" indicated the lady. "It opens to an isolated part of the park. You should be able to get out without any problem."

"How can we thank you!" Asked Levy, taking the woman's hand in her own.

"Preserve the good king's memory and well be even" she smiled.

"Come on shrimp" urged Gajeel, greeting the woman with a nod before dragging Levy by her wrist.

***

The group stopped, gasping for air after a long run in the forest. "I'm fed up of always hiding in the woods" thought Gajeel. If the young man wouldn't have been so out of breath, he would certainly have let out a swear. He however thought a lot a curses in his mind. It was obvious they couldn't go back to Fairy Tail. The serious look on all of their faces was clearly showing that everyone was aware of that.

"I'll go fetch us something to eat" let out Gray when they chose somewhere to spend the night.

Gajeel saw his childhood friend burst into tears while the pervert walked away.

"What's happening to Gray is Juvia's fault" she said.

"No way! You're not getting at it you too!" He exclaimed.

"But Juvia..."

"Did you force him to follow you?"

"No but..."

"So he made that decision all by himself! Do you really think I blame Levy because we decided to spare her?"

"Of course not"

"So he wont blame you. And if it's the case, he's a dumbass in addition of a pervert and he deserves that my fist meets his face" he added for himself, his forearms crossed.

She smiled, having heard his last sentence. She placed a kiss on his cheek like she did younger, making him growl with annoyance. She knew he hated it and it made her smile a little more.

"Gajeel should go see Levy" she said after a moment.

"If I were her, I would like to be left alone, he grumbled.

"But Levy isn't Gajeel. And she needs him."

"Me?" he repeated surprised. "Don't know if you have noticed yet, but I'm not the reassuring kind of guy".

"Gajeel always manage to comfort Juvia".

"You're weird, it doesn't count".

"Maybe Levy is also special?" Said Juvia with a smile. "One thing is sure, she has that odd look on her face since we left the castle".

Despite himself, Gajeel flinched and walked toward the young woman who was circling her knees with her arms on a rock a little further.

"Don't get too far shrimp" he engaged the conversation. "It's hard to find someone so small".

"Hum..." she simply said.

The shrimp wasn't reacting to his comments about her height? Refused to speak? Maybe Juvia was right after all, something was off.

"Spit it out" he said straight to the point.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you who are way to silent to my taste".

"I thought I was using too much words" she said stubbornly.

He rose his eyes to the sky, starting to be impatient.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong or not?" He started to temper.

"You know which type of color is azure?" She asked.

"Why that stupid question?"

"It's a type of blue" she said, answering herself the question.

"So what?"

"My hair is blue".

"I may be repeating myself but... so what?"

"You said you barely were one-year-old when your parents died. So I must have been a couple of weeks old at the most..."

"Wait a minute!" Interrupted Gajeel, starting to understand what she was going at. "All of this is getting to your head" he growled. "Don't tell me you believe you're the only blue haired girl born eighteen years ago?"

The young woman gave him a desperate look, tears starting to fill, like too many times that day, her large gorgeous hazel eyes. With her trembling fingers, she pulled up her shirt until it was under her chest.

"What the hell are you doing!" He exclaimed, his cheeks getting a pink tint, before noticing something on her left side.

His heart skipped a beat. Right under her heart, he could see a birth mark of a particular shape. The shape of a little flower.

Next chapter, we'll see what our characters will do of this quite disturbing discovery ;)

Hope you guys liked it! If you indeed enjoy it, don't forget to vote and comment!

Have a nice day!

Lily xx