March 21st, X524 (5:30 AM)
Makarov Manor

      When Lucy asked Prince Laxus about 'meeting his majesty' during their walk back to Scarlet manor, he told her that they would meet his grandfather the next day. She was relieved because it wasn't Ivan Dreyar, their enemy.

     Standing in front of King Makarov Manor, was Lucy and Madam Irene. The blonde was wearing a pink flare sleeve midi dress, and Madam Irene was wearing her regular style: a dark top, a black maxi skirt, a pair of black boots and a large witch hat. The Scarlet Clan Leader was also holding a long light-browned magic staff, which had two curve antlers on its top. Lucy was about to enter the manor, but she was stopped by Irene who told her that the manor was blocked by an ancient magic-barrier spell. The spell permitted a few people to enter whose magics were bound with the barrier by the caster.

      Lucy gathered a little bit of her celestial spirit magic, and a bright yellowish light lingered in her hand. The woman in black waved her wooden staff and tapped the ground, thus enchanting the spell. Lucy's magic faded, and at the same time, a giant reddish-brown magic circle appeared below their feet. A moment later, the magic circle also vanished from the sight.

"Let's go. His majesty is waiting for you," Madam Irene smiled as she led the way. Lucy nodded and followed the elder woman. The large manor was built as an ancient Japanese building, and the open land looked like a small garden, which meant, apart from a small path, the yard was full of flowers and plants that Lucy had never seen before. Madam Irene took her to the main house.

     There, in the living room, Lucy saw a short and elderly man sitting in a wheelchair. He was growing bald, had the white hair only on the other rims of his head, and had a thick white moustache. The outfit he wore was a white shirt with a red vest over it, and black pants. He was 75-year-old King Makarov Dreyar.

      Makarov stared at the young blonde for a while, then smiled at her. His happy smile was genuine, but at the same time, it was tinted with sadness, "I'm glad you're here, my child." He said wholeheartedly. "Greetings jiichan. I'm Lucelia. Thank you for welcoming me into a new family." Lucy greeted politely.

"Laxus is finally married. I was afraid that my two kids will stay single for the rest of their life because of me." Makarov smiled, "I hope you and Laxus are happy together though it's an arranged marriage for you two. Come to me if he doesn't treat you well. I will beat him for you."

     Lucy couldn't help but giggled, "I will, Jiichan."

"Your magic.. is celestial spirit magic, isn't it?" Lucy nodded. She wanted to question why he was asking, but, after seeing his serious face, she remained quiet.

"Luce, Laxus is coming within a few minutes. Can you please wait for him in the garden?"

"Please excuse me, Jiichan.. Madam Irene." Lucy replied before taking a leave.

• • • • •

"Your majesty, is there anything troubled you?" Irene asked, shortly after the blond princess had left the room.

"She's a celestial spirit mage and Wendy is a sky dragon slayer. Their magics... they're born with them. I'm afraid history would repeat itself," he sighed, "Do you know how my wife died?"

      Irene chanted the silent spell immediately.

"Grandeeney was a sky dragon slayer and she died at 23. About fifty years ago, the dark mages kidnapped her. I was away from Magnolia at that time. As soon as I received the news, I returned to Magnolia and gathered all of my men and went after them. We didn't know where they went, luckily, her exceed Shagotte led the way. After three days of our search, we received a letter from an unknown person. In that letter, these dark mages planned to revive the legendary black wizard, and they needed a sky dragon slayer, a celestial spirit mage and a resurrection spell. We went to the location written in the letter, and we reached a cave." Makarov retold his past, "We infiltrated inside and fought the enemies. During the fight, one of the dark mages was about to kill my wife but the blond celestial mage pushed her out of the way and was stabbed instead. Both of their magics were weakened to a point that they couldn't defend themselves, and this happened in the flash of the eye. The leader and most of the dark mages were killed, but some escaped."

"That girl from your story.. Is she Princess Lucelia's relative?"

      Makarov nodded, "I know the moment I saw Lucelia. The celestial spirit mage I met fifty years ago may be Lucelia's grandmother. They're so much alike," He continued, "My wife felt guilty and cast the ubsolute healing spell with her remaining magic to heal the bleeding girl. That girl survived and soon her friends came to rescue her. They all thanked us several times before they left. In the end, my wife collapsed due to magic depletion. She passed away before we reached Magnolia," he finished his story, with a sad voice.

"Her Highness passed away because of sav-" Irene was interrupted by the old man who shook his head slowly, "She died because of these dark mages. What I'm troubled most is those who had escaped during the fight. The celestial spirit mage and a sky dragon slayer in Magnolia... You know what I mean, Irene. We can't guess the future. I'll leave their safety to you."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I'll protect Princess Consort Lucelia and Princess Wendy at any cost," Irene replied immediately before asking a question that she was curious about while listening to the story, "Why did you agree to the royal marriage even after you knew that Princess Lucelia is a celestial spirit mage?"

      Putting his hand behind his head, Makarov grinned, "I fell asleep when Wakaba told me about Lucelia. Besides, Porlyusica gave me too much medicine, so I was sleepy," Irene sweatdropped at the old man's reply. Well, His Majesty Makarov was sometimes funny after all.

• • • • •

      On the way to the gate, Lucy felt that a small stone hit her left arm lightly. She saw a small glitter stone on the ground. She checked her left side but didn't see anything. Her right arm was also hit by another stone, she caught it before it was bounced back. The blonde glanced to the right, again, the result was the same.

"This annoying marble thrower!" She pretended to step forwards and turned around swiftly, only to see a flying yellow exceed from a short distance away. He was raising his hand, holding another crystal stone. Based on his outfit; a white shirt and black pants, and a small sling bag at the front, Lucy knew this exceed was a male. "Caught ya." She grinned.

     Shockingly, the flying exceed dropped his marble to the ground quickly, and moved his empty hand from side to side, "Hi, Lucelia-sama. Nice to meet you." He greeted sheepishly.

     Seeing the yellow cat's reaction, Lucy laughed. 'Seems like he's a fun-loving exceed and he's cute,' The exceed's colour was light yellow, and the distal half of his tail was dark yellow. He had round green eyes and a scruff of fur on the top of his head.

"Hi there, what's your name?"

"Sparky at your service, Lucelia-sama. I'm Laxus-sama's exceed," Sparky came closer to her and hugged her arm. "Don't tell him that we played a marble game. I promise I'll give you one of my precious treasures tomorrow. Can I call you 'Lu-chan'? 'Lucelia-sama' is too long to pronounce." With a chuckle, Lucy replied, "You're so cute, you can call me as you prefer. Since you do know how to bribe me, alright, I'm with you."

"I'm a dragon slayer, and you still want to hide your secret from me?" Laxus came in and looked at the exceed, a frown on the dragon slayer's face. "Played marbles game? Negotiated with Princess Lucelia without apologizing to her? Most of all, why're you here?"

"Lu-chan, Laxus-sama is scolding me. Help me please. I only wanted to meet you so I came here." Sparky hid behind Lucy quickly. Holding back her laughter due to the exceed's reaction, Lucy said with forced calm, "Laxus-kun, jiichan is waiting for you in the main room. Let's get in?" To put on a good act in front of others, Laxus told her to address him 'Laxus-kun' and his grandfather 'jiichan'.

"Since when did you two become so close like this?"

"Lu-chan said I'm cute," Sparky clapped his hands as he flew in a circular motion. "She likes me, and I get a playmate, Laxus-sama."

"Bad for me then. Two immature children in my manor. Do you think my manor is a playground?" Laxus crossed his arms and looked at his exceed suspiciously.

"I'm seven years old, but I'm still a child." The yellow exceed replied with a wide grin. "Don't worry, Laxus-sama. I like Lu-chan. I won't cause her problems." He flew around Laxus before stopping besides Lucy.

"Lu-chan, Laxus-sama was so mean, yesterday. He locked me up in the room for four hours, and he didn't let me meet you. He is bad-tempered and scary. His cooking is so bad. He's really really bad at archery," The yellow exceed got closer to Lucy and whispered to her ear, "And he is afraid of... vehicles, you know, dragon slayer's weakness. I think you should know about that." Laxus narrow-eyed at his exceed, unable to guess what this little dude's plan was.

      Lucy nodded. One glance at the dragon slayer, and she saw him flinched.

"I just don't like travelling with vehicles," he answered simply before glaring at the exceed, "Would you mind telling me why you're criticizing me in front of Lucelia?"

"Because, Laxus-sama, I'm telling her these on behalf of you," Sparky changed his happy face to a bossy intense expression. "You won't tell her that Hey I'm bad-tempered, I'm scary and I'm bad at cooking."

     A sudden and short chuckle was a result of refraining herself from laughing, "Sparky is right. If he didn't tell me, I wouldn't know something about you," Lucy agreed, giving Sparky a wink.

"Lu-chan. Do you know.. I'm smart, strong, sweet and soft-hearted Sparky," the exceed grinned while extending his hand and posting a V sign. "Is that your full name?" Lucy asked him fondly.

"Say you like jokes and pranks," Laxus argued back. Seven years ago, his jiichan gave two baby exceeds to him and Wendy. Little exceed was very attached to him, that he never let him out of his sight. When he was dating Mirajane, Sparky always ruined their dates unless he locked him in a room. The exceed always thought Mirajane would take his master away from him. His exceed and his girlfriend always argue every time they met.

     At first, two-year-old Sparky was an annoying exceed who always liked to play pranks or cry. However, during these five years, he changed a lot, from immature to mature, from a crybaby to a reliable partner. That was Sparky, his happy pill and beloved exceed. Still, the exceed couldn't change his mischievous manner. That was why he gave him a sleep potion the previous day thus the exceed fell asleep in his room.

     This morning, Laxus woke up so early, got prepared and left his manor without Sparky noticing him. He didn't use his lightning teleport when he went to his grandfather's house. No sooner did he step into the manor than Laxus could sense his exceed in hiss jiichan manor. He saw that little devil talking to blondie and hugging her. And then, he was acting like a baby to Blondie.

     Laxus let out a sigh of relief, "At least, I won't get a headache."

"Laxus-sama, you're saying it aloud," Sparky giggled, teasing his master. "Don't be troubled. I will never argue with Lu-chan. I just want to snitch her away from you, Laxus-sama." The exceed said with an innocent smile.

"So you're turning against me, ain't you?" Laxus frowned at his exceed.

"Lu-chan, See, he's angry!"

'What's he planning? He's teasing me on purpose,' Laxus frowned, not getting used to his exceed's new method. Laxus looked at Lucy, who was laughing together with Sparky. 'They've already teamed up.' Laxus shook his head slowly. He surely didn't want to babysit them.

• • • • •

      Unbeknownst to the trio, Makarov Dreyar and Irene Scarlet had been watching them from a far distance. "We shouldn't hold bitterness against Lucelia, she is innocent. Look how she sacrificed her freedom and came to Magnolia just to marry Laxus," Makarov told Irene with a sincere smile.   

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Makarov Dreyar

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