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"I'm Mirajane Strauss, the military strategist. I killed Sabertooth soldiers in the wars. Nice to meet you, Sabertooth Princess."

"Nice to meet you too, Miss Strauss. May I remind you, Sabertooth and Fairy Tail are allies now. Don't talk about wars for the sake of Fairy Tail. Besides, next time when you meet me, please address me correctly... not Sabertooth Princess... It's Princess consort."

• • • • •

March 20th, X524 (11:16 AM)
Magnolia downtown

      A moment of silence occurred between them, and Lucy felt slight discomfort under the white-haired beauty's stare which wasn't a friendly stare but an unpleasant one. It was normal for the war heroine to hate the enemy princess though. Lucy did notice that Mirajane's lips tightened after she had mentioned the words 'Princess consort'.

'Princess consort? You don't deserve that title.' Mirajane thought angrily, clenching her dress in her fist. She hated Lucelia Eucliffe. She hated her pretentious smile and her everything. She hated how the powerless enemy princess talked back to her. She loosened her grip, "My bad. Fairy Tail and Sabertooth are allies now, thanks to you Princess," she smiled, one corner of her lip curled up, "King Eucliffe abandoned you and you are here alone to marry someone whom you've never seen before. Your father won't attend your wedding. Don't you know... you're just a sacrificed person for our peace."

'What's wrong with her? She's offending me blindly.' Lucy looked at her with disfavour. "Even so, my self-sacrifice is worth as people of two Kingdoms can live peacefully from now on," Lucy replied simply. "For your information, my father can't attend my wedding but he never abandoned me, Miss Strauss. Besides, I'm not alone. I have my best friends. What about you?"

     Lucy wasn't introvert. After arguing with Happy for so many years, her reflexes in arguing wasn't weak. How to be clever in talks was the first requirement when following her problematic young master; she was the one who prevented Natsu from beating those who would envious of him and liked to pick up a fight. And based on what Juvia said, Strauss family had been critized in the pubic eyes. 'Does Mirajane Strauss have a friend?'

"WHAT!" Mirajane muttered, not knowing what to answer. Seeing Mirajane's hesitation, Gray answered instead, loud enough that Mirajane could hear him. "She doesn't have friends. Who dares to make friends with her when she almost killed her former best friend."

"STOP TALKING NONSENSE. I DON'T NEED FRIENDS." Mirajane shouted, totally losing her calmness. Because.. because Gray Fullbuster was right. Her ex-boyfriend became her enemy. Her childhood rival Erza Scarlet became her enemy, and her other friends became her enemies. Most of all, she caused her former best friend near death, and she was considered an unforgivable foe. All because of her single choice.

       Gray smiled coolly, his expression couldn't be read easily, "Everyone in Magnolia knew what you did to your friends. You let Ultear almost die. If we had arrived a minute late, she would have died." He felt much dislike to see his biggest enemy after three years of her absence in the capital, especially the said person almost killed his sister five years ago.

     Hateful comments and other accusations about Mirajane could be heard from nearby people. The temperature of the surrounding area was dramatically dropped and people standing near Gray Fullbuster felt the sudden coolness and shivering. Lyon put his hand on Gray's shoulder, "Cool down bro."

• • • • •

[Past]

     Ur Milkovich Fullbuster, Mistress of Fullbuster Clan, and the woman whom Gray called 'Mother' wasn't his biological mother. His biological mother died soon after delivery. When Gray was three years old, Silver Fullbuster met his ex-girlfriend Ur again. But she wasn't alone, she was with a 5-year-old girl. Silver had found out that the reason Ur left Magnolia was because of her pregnancy. Their daughter Ultear Milkovich was born months later after their breakup.

     After knowing the truth, Silver tried hard to reconcile with Ur, and eventually, they got married. Ur Fullbuster became the new mistress of the clan, Ultear became the eldest young lady, and Gray was still the heir of the clan. Ur treated Gray like her own son and Ultear was like a caring big sister, very protective of him.

Ultear went to Female Imperial Academy where only the noble young ladies around Fairy Tail could attend. The academy was ruled by Madam Irene. Mirajane had been her classmate and best friend for many years. The day after dethronement, Ultear went to meet the eldest Strauss despite the protest from her parents. She was attacked by Strauss clan members and was trapped in a powerful dark spell created by Rustyrose who was the assistant of the Strauss clan. Fortunately, Madam Irene and Erza arrived in time and saved her thus she was out of life danger. However, as a side-effect of dark magic, Ultear couldn't use her magic anymore. Even Madam Porlyusica couldn't heal her. Feeling betrayed by her best friend and depressed, Ultear never stepped out of her manor since then. For this reason, Mirajane Strauss was Gray Fullbuster's biggest enemy, and he swore that he would defeat her one day.

     Unfortunately, Mirajane left Magnolia three years ago. Within the same year, Gray Fullbuster and Lyon Vastia, both of them 17, were appointed to city guards by Lord Fullbuster. City guards were a group of young disciples from three clans, and they were led by Crown Prince Jellal Dreyar. They were like the guardians of Magnolia, protecting the city and helping the citizens. At this present, 20-year-old the ice mages got promoted to become the commanders of the group, together with Erza Scarlet who was only a year older than the ice duo but much stronger than them.

     Usually most times, the city guards had to deal with Lisanna Strauss who was the most notorious troublemaker of Magnolia. They knew that she intentionally caused problems to piss them off - problems such as bullying people or buying the whole store so that other people couldn't buy what they needed. Erza and Lyon didn't give severe punishment to Lisanna since she was just a spoiled rich kid. Same to Gray, he didn't want to bully Lisanna with his city-guard position while the main culprit was Mirajane Stauss.

• • • • •

[Back to present]

     Mirajane smirked, "Oh.. Ultear Fullbuster.. a stupid girl intruded my house alone and was almost got killed by my guards. Why was it my false? She was the intruder."

"How dare you say that?" Gray shouted as he stepped forwards, and postured himself in his ice-make stance.

"Do you want a fight? Then, I'll join you gladly. Even if all of you attack me at the same time, I can still win," Mirajane gave a dominant smile again, as her strong magic aura started radiating.

"I didn't expect the war heroine of Fairy Tail would love to intimidate others," Lucy stated, "Nice to see your different side, Mirajane-san."

"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME?" Mirajane shouted as she threw her dagger toward Lucy. [A/N: Mirajane brought her whip and her dagger every time she went out, and these two weapons were not magic weapons.]

     The flying dagger was struck by a single strike of powerful thunder and dropped to the ground. Mirajane's eyes widened because of the familiar magic. Turning around with a surprised expression, she saw the lightning dragon slayer coming out of the cafe together with his four friends. He was here.

"Respect Princess Lucelia. She's my fiance," Laxus demanded as he passed the white-haired maiden and walked towards the blonde. Lucy looked at the blond prince, and could only reply "Huh." She thought that she would meet Prince Laxus the next day in the palace. However, at this moment, Princess Lucelia's so-called fiance was also in the downtown, saving her, and she didn't expect this situation.

"Huh isn't a good word to greet your fiance, Princess Lucelia," Laxus stood in front of her like he was covering her from the unnecessary attacks. He turned around and looked at Mirajane, "Know your status, Mirajane Strauss."

     Just two seconds Mirajane's beautiful blue eyes met his fierce orange eyes, and she found his unfriendliness in his eyes. She smiled defeatedly, acknowledging that she had been a loser no matter how she acted very strong. She had imagined 'if they met again' numerous times within five years, and she knew exactly that their next encounter would be an unpleasant one. He never appeared in front of her for five years, yet he interfered now just to rescue Lucelia Eucliffe... It indeed drove her crazy, at the same time, she felt awfully defeated.

     Suddenly, the blond-haired prince pulled the princess closer to him, and his strong arm held her waist firmly. The girl faced him very close and looked up at him with her wide eyes. "I'll take Lucelia back to Scarlet Manor," he said, electricity engulfing him and the blondie. The lightning bolt moved very fast at high speed, transporting the two blond-haired mages to Prince Laxus's Manor.

• • • • •

     After Laxus and Lucy were out of sight, Mirajane left without saying anything. As soon as Gray released Lisanna, she ran away very fast to follow her nee-chan who just left her alone there. Bickslow and Bacchus were going to Scarlet Manor to report that Princess Lucelia was with Laxus-sama. Cana and Evergreen stayed behind to accompany the water maiden.

"Don't worry. The princess's fine," Evergreen said with a genuine smile, "I'm Evergreen."

"And I'm Cana Alberona," Cana gave the bluenette a side-hug, "Will we go shopping, Juvia? Let the prince and his princess consort have their conversation peacefully," She grinned while rotating the drawstring of her purse with another hand.

      Before Lyon and Gray left, the lion stopped them and said "Hey guards, do me a favour." It caused the girls to look at him. Lyon stared at the lion with wide eyes, "OMG a talking lion!" The black-haired ice mage frowned at his best friend, "Lyon, you have seen two talking cats so many times, yet, you're still surprised to see a talking lion."

"I'm Leo the lion, Lucy-celia princess's celestial spirit," Leo introduced himself, "Yeah, I can talk." Cana squealed and got closer to the orange said, "Let me hug your little form, Leo."

"Hey, Leo. Can other spirits talk too?" Lyon asked eagerly. "Hahaha," Leo laughed, "Want to see a talking bull, a talking mermaid and a talking crab?" he asked back jokingly.

"A mermaid! Did you say a mermaid?" Evergreen questioned excitedly as she joined the conversation, "I've never seen the mermaids before."

"Yeah. a beautiful mermaid. You sure will love her. She is kind," Leo sweatdropped as he imagined an angry Aquarius. 'She's a scary mermaid.' He chuckled. The lion started to like these people who were very surprised and very curious about the celestial spirits.. Celestial spirits...

"Wanna visit our spirit world? I can take you guys " Leo stated, "It's like another small world, almost all spirits have their own places there. I'm like a prince of my world, and live in a very grand house. Foods in the celestial world are made of magical honey and magical herbs... very yummy. There're precious items hidden under the ground there, too. You can hunt them there."

"Which items?" Lyon asked the lion. Leo smiled, "Magic elixir, magic herbs, celestial weapons like whips and swords, silver keys, and some jewels. Ask Juvia. She knew how beautiful the spirit world was, and she found an ancient magic elixir there."

'Leo can take humans to the spirit world? Leo - a prince of the spirit world? Precious Items are hidden under the ground? Juvia found an ancient magic elixir? Lucy... Where's Lucy when Juvia needs her? Leo is talking nonsense now, and they believe him,' Juvia didn't know Leo's intention so she just went with the flow. She smiled politely and nodded when Cana and Evergreen asked her if Leo was telling the truth. 'What's Leo planning?'

"So what do you want to ask?" Gray interrupted his friends' daydreams. "Don't arrest me after I destroyed something." Leo grinned.

"What!" The group shouted in unison. Leo jumped into the air and landed on the statue, pushing and kicking it onto the street. "What're you doing?" Gray asked quickly. The lion gathered a small light sphere with his mouth and aimed at the pegasus status lying on the ground.

"STOP. IT IS MY BLESSING STATUE FOR MY RESTAURANT. IT HAS BEEN WITH ME FOR MANY YEARS," Ichiya screamed while coming out of his restaurant rashly. But he was late, the white pegasus was hit by the light sphere and it cracked. Then Leo punched it and the statue was shattered. Within the destroyed pegasus was a small enclosed rectangular wooden box. Leo noticed that some sentences were craved on the lid.

"I don't know there's a box in the statue," Evergreen whispered to Cana. "Neither do I," Cana replied, "Look, Leo's staring at the box," the card mage added. Evergreen grabbed the box and checked it, "Guys there are four sentences on the lid." The fairy mage read it aloud, "Guess the item inside the box, Unlock the box with a spell, Cast the spell with your magic, You truly are a chosen mage."

^_^

Silver Fullbuster, General of Fairy Tail

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Ur Fullbuster, Gray's (step)mother

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Ultear Fullbuster, Gray's older (step)sister

^_^