Wah-What is this? could it be? An update? After like what, two weeks?! Yes, it's an update all right! I'm so sorry for taking forever to get this to you guys! I'd like to tell you it's because life gave me a nice smack upside the head, but truthfully it's because I'm working on a reaaaally long one-shot. Look forward to that, I think it's pretty cute! Lots of cereal and awkward situations and Natsu burning things down.

Anyways, without further ado, your chapter~

"Heartfilia, huh? Now where have I heard that before…"

The young dragonslayer let his thoughts trail off as he racked his brain for an answer, "A type of food? Nah. Hmmm.. a town? No.. a fighting move? Urrg that's not it either!" Natsu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Igneel had always said that memories never really disappear, some just take longer to remember then others, "Right… well, Igneel also said that I 'wasn't one for patience', so if I can't remember it must not be that important." The fire mage shrugged off his lingering suspicions as he realized there were footsteps coming from the corridor.

Natsu whipped his head to the iron bars of his cell just in time to see his favorite ice mage striding towards him, a metal tray in hand, "Well it's about damn time you got here Icecube," The dragonslayer taunted as he made his way towards the young mage, "I thought you might have gotten lost or something knowing y-" the young fire mage stopped mid-sentence as he stared blankly at his guard, totally at a loss for words. Gray smirked, "What is it flame brain? Finally in awe of how much more awesome I am then you?"

At this, Natsu blinked once finally snapped out of his trance. The dragonslayer crumpled to the floor in a room-shaking roar of laughter, pointing a finger at his guard in disbelief, "Wh-where the hell are your p-pants?!" The fire mage managed to choke out, gasping for breath between his fits of laughter. The young ice mage suddenly turned a several shades of pink, "Dammit not again!" he yelled at himself crossly. This only sent Natsu into another raging fit of giggles

"So this is a habit of yours then?" The fire mage grinned mockingly as he pulled himself off the floor, crossing his arms smugly over his chest. The young guard stuttered for a moment before glaring poisonously at his prisoner, "Like hell it is! It's a condition retard!" At his insult, Natsu brought his face against the gaps in the iron bars, "What didya call me Ice Princess?" Gray shoved his forehead against his rivals in challenge, both of their eyes glaring dangerously at one another. One could practically see the bolts of electricity that sparked between their eyes, "I said you're a retard, lizard breath. Did you catch that or do I need to repeat it again flamebrain?

Natsu began to growl threateningly at the young ice mage, but as fate my have it, his resolve only held out for so long. In a matter of seconds, the dragonslayer was on the floor in another howling fit of laughter, "Gahahahah! There's no way! No way in hell can I take you seriously when you're -pffft- standing there in your underwear!" Natsu held his chest as he gasped for breath between fits of laughter. Gray's eye twitched impatiently as his tolerance finally snapped, "Fine, dragon breath, laugh all you want, I just won't give you any dinner!"

At this Natsu sobered up rather quickly. He'd been so busy laughing, he had somehow missed the overwhelming aroma of food that came from the silver tray his guard was carrying. The dragonslayer's eyes widened as he gripped the iron bars of his cage, practically drooling at the thought, "Food! Food Food Food! Yes! Gimme!" He chanted, impatiently waiting for the ice mage to slip him the silver tray. Instead, however, Gray grinned evilly and held the tray further away from the cell bars.

"Not so fast flamebrian! No dinner for you unless.." He thought for a moment, then glared victoriously at his prisoner, "Unless you say 'I'm sorry master Gray, I'm an inferior idiot, please give me my dinner.' "

Now, Natsu Dragneel, son of the great and mighty dragon Igneel, was taught that pride was all that a man had. And for a six-year-old, the cocky kid sure did have a lot of it. However, as the story goes, Natsu Dragneel is not a 'man'. No, Natsu is a dragon. And dragons value one thing above all others:

Food.

The dragonslayer cleared his throat dramatically, "Ahem. 'I'm sorry master Gray, I'm an inferior idiot, please give me my dinner.' " Grey just blinked as he stared at the fire mage in absolute shock, the dragonslayer smirking back at him victoriously, "Food. Now." He stuck a hand through the iron bars of his cage and made a wiggling gester with his fingers. The ice mage, still in shock that his prisoner had actually done what he said, shoved the silver tray through the food door and watched as the fire mage snarfed down whatever Chef had whipped up.

What the heck is with this kid? He sure is weird… Gray thought skeptically as Natsu continued to inhale his food. The ice mage was almost positive the dragonslayer was going to devour the tray itself in his eagerness to chow down, but just as the boy shoved the last bite of bread in his mouth, he fell back on the floor.

"Man that was great!" He chimed, totally satisfied. He rubbed his exposed stomach contently as he grinned ear to ear, "For a prison the food here is actually pretty awesome, I mean, it woulda been better if I had my magic to roast that bread some more, but still not bad." Natsu glanced at his prison guard, who was still staring wordlessly at the other young mage "You got something to say Iceblock?" He rumbled as Gray snapped back to life,

"Like Hell I've got anything to say to you Lizzard Breath! Don't you know you're supposed to like, breathe as you eat? Were you raised by wolves or something?" Natsu sat up and gave an I-know-you're-an-idiot-but-really? sort of look at the ice mage, "Noooo," he said, dragging out the word, "I was raised by a dragon dumbass, were you even listening?"

Gray folded his arms and rolled his eyes, "And why the hell should I be listening to you, flame-brain? At least I didn't get my dumb ass thrown in jail." Natsu's eye twitched and the Ice mage grinned victoriously, hitting a sore spot. "Whaddya say ya damn ice ass? The cold finally freeze your brain over?" The dragonslayer spat as the two resumed their -literal- head-to-head verbal assault, "What the hell's with your attitude Pinky?" Gray seethed at the fire mage, "You're like, what? Four? And you curse like a damn sailor!"

Electricity sparked dangerously between the boys' eyes as Natsu gave an angered growl, "First off Droopy Eyes, it's Natsu, not Pinky. Secondly, I'm six not four dammit!" The dragonslayer hissed at the ice mage, "And who's cursing like a sailor? You ain't much better ya damn stripper!" "I TOLD YOU IT'S A CONDITION DAMNIT!" Gray yelled as Natsu began to burst out in a fit of giggles again, unable to contain himself.

At this Gray finally threw his hands up in exhaustion, "Idiots!" He huffed irritatedly as he turned and stalked away from the pink haired boy, who was still howling in laughter on the cell floor.

"Now…. where the heck did I leave my pants?"

Lucy flopped dramatically onto her bed, her face buried into one of her millions of pillows. The young blonde let out a massive groan into the depths her pillow, thoroughly exhausted and emotionally defeated from the day's events. Why did he always have to do this? Didn't he love her at all? Heck, did he even like her? Lucy brought her face out of the pillow and flipped herself so she could stare blankly at the ceiling. Sure, she knew her dad was busy, he was the flippin' King of Fiore after all! But did he really have to make up a meeting just to get out of having dinner with me..? The blonde thought sadly, obviously having seen through the lie.

Before she could sink any further into her thoughts, Lucy heard footsteps echo through the corridor, followed by a soft knock on the door, "Miss Lucy? I'm coming in," A voice chimed as the knob on the door twisted sideways. The door swung open as a middle aged woman stepped into room, "Ms. Spetto.." the blonde called as the dark-haired woman closed the door behind her.

The older maid shook her head disapprovingly and made a small 'Tsk' sound as her eyes fell on the young princess, "Miss Lucy! Look at you, you're all dirty, and you aren't even in bedclothes yet!" Ms. Spetto chastised as she made her way over to the young blonde, "Come on now," she cooed as Lucy turned to look at her maid, "If you get ready now, I'll read you story~" she sung, practically dangling the bride above the girl's head.

Lucy shot out of bed, her eyes sparkling, "Really? You will?" The dark-haired maid nodded, smiling at the child's bubbling enthusiasm, "Oh Ms. Spetto you're the best!" The little girl grinned as she threw her arms around the maid in glee. The older woman patted the young girl's back encouragingly, she of all people knew that the princess was still trying to adjust to her father's…. treatment. And her mother on top of that…

"I'll go get ready now~" Lucy chirped as she removed herself from the embrace and hopped off her bed. Ms. Spetto watched as the little blonde eagerly scampered across the room and threw open her closet doors. Lucy bolted inside and momentarily disappeared from sight before reemerging from the walk-in closet, now fully clad in a silky nightgown. The blonde began to make her way towards the bed again but stopped after a look from her maid,

"Teeth, Miss Lucy." The little girl huffed in response and hurried into her bathroom, where the water ran for a good 0.3 seconds before the young blonde scurried out once more, "Okdone" she let out all in one breath as she hurried towards her bed, only to be stopped again,

"Hair, Miss Lucy." "Uggg" Lucy ran to her dresser and snatched the brush of the table, impatiently ripping the bristles through her golden hair. As soon as she had started she finished, tossing the brush back onto the table and scurrying over to the older maid,

"Ok, done!"

Ms. Spetto let out a soft chuckle at the way the child's hair still stood up wildly in random places, but decided to let the impatient princess off the hook for tonight, "Alright Miss Lucy, which story do you want me to read?"

By now the little girl had already hopped back on her bed and proceeded to shimmy under the satin covers, tossing off pillows that got in the way, "The usual," She chirped as she chucked a particularly fluffy pink pillow to the floor. Ms. Spetto eyed the young girl, "Are you sure? We always read that one, wouldn't you like to try reading something else?" Lucy shook her head in refusal, "Nope, I wanna read that one," the blonde smiled brilliantly at her maid, who smiled back softly as she rose to retrieve the desired book.

She returned a few moments later, a thin, leather-bound book in her hands. The dark-haired maid smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed, Lucy peeking excitedly at her from under the covers. The book was small and simple, as one would expect. There was no detailed drawing or caption on it's cover, only large, swooping golden letters that spelled the book's title against the soft brown leather of the book's binding. Ms. Spetto flipped the book open to it's first page and traced a finger over the letters as she began,

"The Princess and the Dragon, by Layla Heartfilia"

Please don't shoot me for cutting it off here, although the urge is understandable after the eternity it took me to update this dang thing ;^;

In all honesty I really wanted to include the story in this chapter, but when I sat down to write it I realized I had no idea how I wanted to write the story, and since it's a nice big chunk of plot line, I decided it would be better to think it out a little more before tossing it out there for you guys.

I'd love to tell you that the story will be in the next chapter, but I can't guarantee it.. I actually think I'm going to have Lucy read it to Natsu, wouldn't that be cute? Don't lie yes it would~ Tell me in your reviews! Should I give you the story early or have Lucy read it to a certain pink-haired dragon slayer? I'll leave that up to you.

Thank you once again for continuing to read and review my little tale! I'm sooo glad you guys are enjoying it so far! Bare with me on the slow start, I promise it get's loads more interesting!

Reviews make my world go doki~