Natsu felt the breath whoosh out of his chest as the flat of the blade knocked him onto his butt. The blade was wooden, too, which made the pain that much worse. Whoever said wooden swords were better than real ones was a fool; sure, metal swords could slice you in half, but a wooden sword could break you in a hundred different places if used properly. Erza certainly knew how to use a wooden sword. 

"Oh come on," Natsu grumbled, sitting up and glaring at the red-headed woman. "I wasn't even ready." 

"When in battle, your opponent will not wait for you to be ready," Erza said without sympathy, spinning the sword so easily he wondered if she even knew she was doing it. "He will take control of your weakness and cut off your head." 

"Thank you for those oh so motivational words," the prince sneered, pushing himself onto his feet. He picked up his fallen sword from the grass, ignoring the snickers from the guards watching him. 

"This time, try to actually hit her, flame brain," Gray called, laughing mockingly. Gajeel chuckled beside him, the sun reflecting off of the bolts in his face. Natsu didn't acknowledge them, but that seemed to make them laugh harder. 

Gray and Gajeel were the son's of his father's personal guards, Metallica and Silver. They'd grown up with the prince and were the closest things he had to friends. It was no surprise to anyone when they became his personal guards, although one could speculate wether they were protecting him or trying to kill him themselves. 

Of course they were more than happy to hand him over to the red-haired demon for sword practice. It brought them great joy to watch the woman destroy him, one spar at a time. Natsu was a pretty good swordsman, but Erza was the head of the guard and could destroy anyone as long as she had even a stick in her hand. She was a monster, in his opinion. 

Just as they were going to resume the spar, Wendy came running into the courtyard. Erza paused, bowing respectfully to the princess. Natsu sighed under his breath and turned, smiling at his little sister. 

"Wen!" He greeted. Wendy smiled back at him, nodding at Erza. 

"Father sends for you," she informed him, eyeing his dirty attire. "Immediately." 

"Give him a minute, kid. Erza was just about to kick his royal behind," Gajeel gihi-ed. Wendy cringed at the idea and shook her head. 

"Father said it was very important and that Erza can kick your butt another day," she looked up towards the castle. Natsu followed her gaze, finding his father looking down at them from his office. He smiled and waved. Natsu leaned his head back, closing his eyes and sighing. 

"Wow, embarrassing," Gray teased, snickering. Natsu sent the boy a glare, smirking when an idea came to mind. 

"Why don't you two practice with Erza until I get back?" He suggested innocently, but the black-haired boys' faces fell. "Keep her warm for me." 

"That seems like an excellent idea," Erza agreed, picking up her sword with renewed energy. "Come Gray, pick up your sword and fight me!" 

The guard looked like the idea made him want to puke. Natsu laughed and handed him the wooden sword, pressing it hard into the boy's chest. "Have fun," he cheered, smirking evilly as he followed after his sister. It was a shame he wouldn't be able to watch the embarrassing display himself, but he'd see the result of their spar later, through the bruises that would decorate his guard's bodies. 

"So what's the hubbub," Natsu asked, jogging to keep up with Wendy's quick strides. They began climbing the stairs into the castle, causing his voice to echo. 

"I don't know," Wendy admitted, looking sad. "Father said it was very important, but he seemed happy." 

"He probably wants to send me over to that bastard Loke's place again," the prince sighed. Loke was the prince of Celestia, as well as a cocky bastard who didn't respect personal space or women. He had tried to flirt with Erza, not that it had much effect, and even Wendy. He was a vibrant prince, and he made Natsu want to punch him in the face constantly. He couldn't though, since his father and the Spirit King were in the workings of a peace agreement. Natsu had been sent over numerous times to try and 'make friends' with the prince. 

Wendy shivered at the thought of the prince and shrugged her shoulders. It didn't matter much since they were already in front of his father's chamber. The door was open, revealing the large circular room within. Tapestries of red with gold dragons hung on the walls, and his father was standing behind his desk, Metallica and Silver on either side of him. He looked up when they entered the room, smiling. Natsu glanced at the guards. Silver was stony faced, carefully looking away from him, while Metallica was staring straight at him. Natsu thought the man looked weird, almost constipated, until he realized the guard was trying not to laugh. Natsu frowned but his father dragged his attention away. 

"Natsu, sorry to drag you away from your...sparring, but we need to talk," he glanced at the window again, cringing at something. "Ah, there goes Gray." 

Silver sighed disappointedly, looking down. Metallica chuckled, but he was still looking at Natsu expectantly. The prince shifted away from his attention, feeling uncomfortable under his intense, red gaze. 

"Talk about what?" Natsu asked. He looked back for Wendy but found that the little girl had scampered off. He sighed, knowing he was alone. She was probably afraid he'd ask her to go back to Celestia with him. 

"Well," his father started awkwardly, running his fingers through his red hair. His father never sat down when he was feeling antsy, and Natsu didn't get his ADHD from nowhere. He began to feel especially afraid when the king wouldn't look him in the eyes. "It's about your princely duties." 

"As you know, as the first prince of Draconia, you have expectations to live up to. One day, when I'm older, you'll take over as king. You'll be ruling over all of Draconia, and you will need help. Advisors, your friends and guards—"

"Just tell the boy, Igneel," Silver interrupted. Natsu frowned. He knew all of this, so why was his dad making such a big deal? He wasn't going to be king for years. 

Igneel sighed. "What I was trying to say is that you can't rule alone. You need a queen by your side." 

It was silent for a long moment and then laughter filled the room. All three men looked over to Metallica, who was laughing so loudly he bent over, slapping his knee. "Oh god, do you see his face?" He looked up at the prince before bursting into another round of laughter. Silver rolled his eyes at the guard, but the king was still looking at Natsu. 

"A...queen," the boy repeated, the words tasting foreign on his lips. It wasn't like he didn't know he'd need to find a queen one day, the thought just hadn't occurred to him. His parents had never pushed him to find someone, and his mother always told him to marry for love, not politics. 

"I'm not telling you to go out and find a girl right away," his father assured him, noticing the lost look on his face. He sighed. "But you should start looking. In a few years you will be king. I don't want to push you, but I think it's time you found someone to rule with." 

"I don't even know where to start," Natsu muttered. He felt so lost. Sure, he'd met some princesses over the years and, yeah, they were nice and pretty, but none of them had stuck out to him as 'love of my life' material. He'd never even thought about starting to look for the one. 

"I took the liberty of starting for you," the king said, looking out the window. "I'm sure you remember Princess Lisanna?" 

Princess Lisanna? Natsu crawled back into his brain, searching. The name was familiar, but memories of his past were never ones he looked into often. His childhood was a blur of memories, and picking one specifically was hard for him. Finally he remembered the white haired princess and her older sister, the two who had turned him into a girl. Natsu jerked back in surprise, gaping at his father. 

"Lisanna Strauss?" He asked nervously. Metallica laughed again, but the king silenced him with a look. 

"Yes, the very same."

"She and her demon sister took me hostage, turned me into a girl, and forced me to drink tea," Natsu recalled, frowning as the memory grew clearer. "You want me to marry her?"

"I want you to consider her," the king sighed, locking his hands together. "It's been twelve years since you last saw her. I'm sure she's changed since then." 

Natsu looked at his father doubtfully, the taste of the chalky lipstick still stuck in his brain. Thinking back made other memories resurface, and one in particular made him pause.

"What about that weirdo princess?" He asked without thinking. The little blonde girl popped into his head, blushing and smiling at his father's stories. It was the only clear memory he had of her, just when he had decided to name her a weirdo. Why had he called her that again? 

The guards looked at the king in confusion while Igneel frowned. "Weirdo Princess?" 

"That little blonde chick, the one who looked just like her mom. What was the name of their kingdom again? Triangle? Square? It was some kind of shape...." Natsu paused to think. He looked up when nobody said anything. His father was staring at him, his skin considerably paler. Silver was looking down, a tight expression on his face. Even Metallica had turned his head to gaze at the wall, his lips thin. 

"Are you talking about Heart?" His father finally managed to ask. The name clicked in Natsu's mind, making him smile. 

"Yeah! We visited them when we were really little right?" He frowned. "We didn't see them after that, how come? I thought you and the queen were best friends?" 

The king sighed, sadness creeping into his chest. He sat down, much to his son's surprise, and gazed down at his desk. For a moment he seemed lost in his own mind, and then he looked at the prince with a sad smile. 

"Unfortunately Queen Layla died a few years ago. King Jude cut off communication with us after that and we haven't contacted them since. I don't know what happened to the princess." 

"Oh," Natsu slumped lower in his seat, feeling sad. He had liked the king and queen, and although he couldn't remember much of the girl, he knew she had to be interesting if he'd given her such a nickname. "Sorry." 

"I am too," the king muttered, scratching his beard. "We always thought that you and...well, never mind. It was an unavoidable catastrophe. There is nothing we can do about it." He paused to take a deep breath and then smiled. "So, about Princess Lisanna..." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're getting married," Gray repeated for the fifth time, his voice dull and unbelieving. The two guards were painted black and blue from their spar with Erza, but they had refrained from taking revenge on the Prince, too surprised by the news. 

"I'm not getting married," Natsu said with a sigh. "I'm just looking for a possible bride." He cringed at the word. Married, bride, queen. His head fell into the couch with a groan. 

"I don't think ya got anything to worry about," Gajeel hummed. He was scraping dirt off of his dagger, causing screeching sounds to fill the room. Typically Natsu would have yelled at him for it, but he found that the sound actually distracted him from his thoughts.  

"Why not?" Wendy wondered aloud. She had returned when she learned it had nothing to do with the prince of Celestia. She was more than shocked when she'd learned her brother was on the search for a wife. 

"Like any woman in her right mind would agree to be his bride," the metal head laughed. Natsu glared at him from his place on the couch. They were alone in the study, free to talk as loud as they wanted. The only other source of life nearby were the passing maids and the roaring fire that lit the room. Natsu longed to crawl into it and burn to a pile of ash. 

"I don't know what to do." The pink haired boy admitted. "I don't want to just marry some random princess. I want to marry for..." He choked on the word.

"For love?" Wendy guessed, frowning at him concernedly. 

"Mom and Dad loved each other. Hell, Dad even broke off his previous engagement to marry Mom," Natsu recalled. It was one of his favorite stories. His dad told them about how he was engaged to the princess of Benvita, but was in love with their mom. He had told them about how he told his fiancee he didn't love her and rode off to marry their mom. It wasn't as epic as some of his stories, but Natsu liked it all the same. Just because he was a boy didn't mean he couldn't appreciate love. He wanted what his parents had; to marry someone whom he loved more than anything else. The only problem was that he didn't know how to find such a girl. He wished she would just show up on his doorstep, but he supposed life was never so easy. 

"Well, I still don't see the big deal," Gajeel sighed, setting his blade down and looking at his charge. "So what if the princess comes here for a bit? If you don't love her, than she just goes back to her kingdom. Next princess comes in." 

"I don't want it to be like some sort of contest," Natsu groaned, flipping onto his back. He looked up at the ceiling, beautifully painted with pictures of angles on clouds. "I don't want to say 'oh no, I don't love you, so leave the door open on your way out for the next princess'. It sounds so...ughh." 

"I know it sounds bad," Wendy agreed, "but how else are you supposed to find her?"

"At least start with Princess Lisanna," Gray said, finally getting his head wrapped around the idea of his idiot charge getting married. "You know her, somewhat, so she should be a good person to start off with. You can go on from there. One step at a time." 

"Somehow, I get the feeling salamander isn't going to find his girl this way," Gajeel grumbled. Natsu looked up curiously, surprised to have the guard agreeing with him. 

"What do you mean?" 

"You're a special prince," he said, putting as much insult into the word 'special' as he could. "You're not going to meet your one in the normal way, that's for sure." 

"He's right," Gray agreed, thinking on it. 

"I don't get it," Wendy murmured, frowning. 

"Neither do I," Natsu sighed. He wasn't sure if the metal head was insulting him or helping him. He groaned loudly. "All of this makes my head hurt." 

"We should go out then." They looked over at Gray curiously, noticing the smirk on the boy's face. "A night in the forest should clear your head a little, right?" 

"I don't think that's really safe," Wendy looked doubtfully at the boys, but she could see that her opinion had no difference. All three were smirking evilly. 

"I think that's exactly what the doctor ordered," Natsu agreed, sitting up. "Let's get going."