I am back and sorry that I took this long to write up this chapter, it has been a really slow process.

I am looking to have a 'Fairy Tail' consultant, it has been a while since I watched or read the series.

A friendly conversation

"Sorry about that kick earlier." Gray apologised with a warily smile, he nervously scratched the back of his head. He, Erza, and Levy sat at the same table.

Erza and Levy was still in amazement that this was Gray Fullbuster, he was only gone for a month and already changed so much. His then spiky hair was now a flat yet bouncy and curly mop of black hair. It was kind of cute, and Juvia hiding in the background approved.

He slides down two plates with perfect slices of strawberry shortcake. Beside him was Lucy, carrying two plates of food and sat next to him. It was dinner time and for today's meal, it was chicken schnitzel topped with a streaming pool of pepper-gravy and a side of fresh chips and salad in Caesar dressing.

"We thought you were somebody else in the heat of the moment." Lucy added as she set hers and Gray's cutlery beside their dish. "I'm so sorry about that."

The black-haired mage nodded. "And so, as a sorry gift, me and Lucy gifted you four more boxes of cake from that bakery you like. Along with the extra two slices of cake in front of you." He said as he gestured to the boxes on his left, of which Erza presumed inside to have more of her favourite cake.

"You are forgiven." Erza didn't hesitate, and she immediately opened the box and squealed in delight to find that it was strawberry shortcake. She then proceeded to consume it along with her two slices.

"Where are you going to stay?" Levy asked the pair. "I don't think you are going to stay at Lu-chan's old place."

Gray shrugged. "I'm probably going to crash here for tonight, me and the alcoholic with shit taste beside me will find an apartment tomorrow."

"O' my dear friend, on the contrary." Lucy said as she flicked the back of Gray's ear. She then pulled a clear plastic bag filled with bon-bon candies. She placed the bag on the table, she picked one and unwrap its plain wrapping.

She popped the candy into her mouth. "You're the one with the bad taste. Remember that one-time Kain accidently took your drink, spat it out at the lounge area, screaming 'oh gawd it burns' and 'who drinks this shit'." She playfully as well as mockingly jested.

"And might I reminded you that Kain only recently could legally drink?" Gray reminded Lucy with a strained smile that twitched.

They stared at each other, eyes narrowed, everyone could had sworn that they saw sparks sparking as they eyed at each other. During the staring contest, Levy decided that she might as well snatch a couple of candies from Lucy.

Their heads snapped back to the sounds of wrapping paper, and it wasn't coming from Lucy. Levy popped the candy into her mouth.

"Wait! Don't eat that!" Lucy tried to warn her of the blue-haired female. "They're-"

Lucy cried out a little bit too late, because Levy immediately spat out the candy. She was caught off-guard as her mouth was filled with a strange strong palette, it was bitter, smoky and it had a hit of spice to it.

"... Whiskey bonbons."

Levy, in what Gray could best described was having a coughing fit. She stuck out her tongue as she tried to spit out the taste from her mouth, with small tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Oh gawd it burns, who eats this!?" Levy cried out.

"I told you that you have shit taste." Gray smugly smirked, he rested his cheek with his hand and he flicked back at Lucy's ear. Levy could still taste the musky bitterness as she tried to clean her tongue.

"Shut up, you know that Levy can't handle her alcohol." Lucy harshly whispered backs as she pushed her glass of water towards the blue-haired female. Gray looked to the blonde-haired female, his eyebrow arched up as he smugly smiled towards her.

Lucy's brown eyes slightly widened at its implication. 'Oh, now I see it.' She smiled a bit back. "Well played my friend, well played."

The table watched as Levy finally rushed to snatch Lucy's glass of water before she desperately tried to wash the aftertaste. Gray sighed. "I could never get why you like that sort of shit." He asked but the blonde shrugged off his comment as she casually popped one into her mouth.

"I could say the same for you and your hidden flask of vodka in that secret pocket of yours." She gave a side-glare at the male. "By the way, its in breast pocket you stitched up behind that coat of yours." And the male glared back.

'Are they going to fight again?' Erza immediately thought, this time well prepared to stop it.

And then Gray and Lucy sighed together before Erza could stand up. "Rose gummi?" The blonde-haired female asked, she pulled out a pre-packaged filled with pink gummi bears from her pockets.

"Rosé gummi." Gray nodded and the two decided to go in for the bears.

'They must have bonded a much for the month they have gone.' Levi and Erza thought as they watched the duo snack on the candy. And they ignored of a certain jealous water-mage that was hiding behind one of the wooden pillars that was death-glaring at a certain blonde-haired female.

"Can I eat those as well?" Levy was curious of the gummi candy, she was itching to pick one up and it was very tempting.

"Those are alcoholic as well, but I think most of the alcohol has burned off." Gray said after swallowing. "Unless you like the taste of a rosé, be my guest."

'How many do you even have?' Levy couldn't help but stare in awe.

Gray grabbed a handful of the alcoholic gummy bears, he squashed one in between his fingers. "You know what would really be nice. A rose gummi soaked in white rum martini." He popped it into his mouth with no troubles. His dark eyes flashed however, and a smile drew wide on his face.

"Yes. Fuck Yes. I could go for a martini." And he gobbled up another bear. Lucy laughed with her friend as she snacked more on the treat. They even began to play around with the gummi, nipping off the little bear's limbs and playfully screamed as the bear 'cried out in pain'.

"Aaaaaaaaa." Lucy amusedly held the tiny pink bear in her fingers. "P-p-please, I have bear family, we can give you all the porridge you could every ask for." She played out in a high-pitched squeaky voice.

"Then you will reunite once more, in my stomach." Gray then consumed the bear from Lucy's hands.

"Retribution, bitch." Lucy evilly chuckled, although quite woodenly. "Mu-ha-ha-ha-ha…ha, nobody shall mess with the almighty Goldilocks ever again."

"Something feels off though." Levy couldn't put her finger on it.

Gray snickered to himself. He popped the limbless bear and ended its misery. "What? Me being an alcoholic? It's a running joke back where I work."

Levy hummed to herself, her arms crossed, and eyebrows scrunched up in thought. "No, that's not it. Like, something should had happened already?'

"Maybe it's being the alcoholic?" Lucy suggested. "We were kind of somber before we joined Angel Daggers?"

'That must be the new guild's name, but no… that's not it.' Levy knew that something was misplaced, something crucial in all this.

Gray and Lucy was off on their own conversation. "I guess?" He answered with little confidence. "But I could had sworn I drink a bit here and there."

Erza joined with Levy as they try to conjure up any reasonable conjecture of why there was a sense of emptiness and why was that coming from Gray's actions?

"Maybe it is me? I was more well known for downing a glass of a strawberry milkshake." Lucy pointed it out.

"That makes sense-"

"No..." Levy had solved the puzzle. She couldn't believe herself that she overlooked such a crucial piece and she called herself a Fairy Tail member. "You haven't stripped… not one bit of clothing…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Oh my gawddddd!" Levy shrieked.

Erza couldn't even believe that she overlooked the one essential character trait of Gray, she had been around for years, since childhood. It didn't even come across to mind that Gray was still fully and decently clothed.

"You haven't taken off your clothes since you came back!" Everyone listening in was surprised, eyes wide and mouths gaped opened. Some even saw jaws dropped to the ground and one was choking on a fly. Erza was shocked, Cana looked like she was witnessing a miracle, and Juvia looked just... devastated.

"... I never noticed." Gray whispered to himself.

"Ha, same." Lucy murmured. "Your admirer looks sad about that." She pointed back with her thumb. "Not that I could blame her. You pecs are just smashing." She busted out laughing and she lifted her glass of water. "I will drink to that!"

"Hear-hear!" Gray happily exclaimed as he laughed along with his blonde-haired friend. He clinked his glass with hers. "And I shall drink this as if I was taking a shot." And he downed the icy beverage in an instant.

"A pretty heavy shot if you asked me." Erza commented as she licked off the sweet vanilla icing from her fork.

"How did you not notice?" Levy asked. "I-I mean, it was your thing for years. It was a daily occurrence, there was a running bet on how it would take before you would be in your boxers again."

Gray shrugged his shoulders. "I never noticed, must be a world record." He chuckled to himself. "Or maybe I re-programed myself to never strip out in an inappropriate setting ever again."

"Wait, that talk with Grayson was about that?" Lucy looked like to have a moment akin to a light-bulb flashing in her head. "When we first arrived? You were his ward." She turned to him, eyebrows raised, and he nodded.

"You know, public indecency? They were kinder given my circumstances, but nobody wants a person randomly flashing themselves out in public. The t-shirt was... indecent at best I guess? But stripping down to my boxers" Gray took a sip, he turned to Lucy. "Imagine if there was a kid. So, Angel Daggers decided I should receive counselling, then boom."

"... Holy shit." Lucy took a moment to process it, she leaned back on her chair as she looked to him. "And I imagine that our guild's court wouldn't take it lightly."

"Nope." Gray popped at 'p'. "And it was good when they stopped it as soon as they can, might as cut out the rotting root, with a shit-ton of hacking and pesticide."

"So, what guild did you join? The same as the scary woman?" Wendy joined the table, wrapped in her arms was the white Exceed cat, Carla.

"You mean X? Yeah, she can get pretty scary when she wants to be." Gray said with a bit of fear in his voice. He paled a bit; the sentiment was shared with Lucy as well. "But we can't see Angel Daggers without her."

"Is that really her name, or is it what I think it is?" Levy curiosity asked, she couldn't help but remember the distinct X-scar on the serious woman's right cheek.

"It is what you think it is, a nickname that struck around." Lucy asked. "I haven't been there for very long so I don't have a clear backstory for the name. What I definitely know from the senior members that it isn't because of the x-shaped scar."

'Because that would have been too easy.' Levy thought.

"What's it like, your new guild?" As much as Erza was sadden that the two were no longer Fairy Tail members, she was happy for them nevertheless, that the two truly found what they wanted to do. As long as it wasn't illegal of course.

"It's not your traditional guild per say." Gray waved his hand to emphasis to his point. "It more like an agency. You more or less work for them, instead of you joining the guild and doing whatever you want."

"How so?" Erza asked between her bites of cake.

"You have a boss, management and supervisors. You go to work, you get the assignments from your boss, very rarely you get to pick and choose." He explained. "That's the gist of it."

'Odd.' Given the previous history at a guild like Fairy, it must had been very jarring to suddenly work in a place that focuses on structure and order. "I never expect that you would work in a place like that..."

"If you came from an establishment like Fairy Tail sure, but you get used to it and it depends on the job you specialise really."

Erza realised something else as well, although she couldn't see it because Gray hasn't once yet stripped, she eyed at the hand where Lucy used to keep her pink mark of Fairy Tail. It was bare. "I don't see your mark."

Lucy rose her eyebrows and looked down at her right hand. "Yeah, I guess I don't..." She fondly smiled, she cupped her right hand with her left. "Our guild isn't like any other traditional guilds, isn't that right Gray."

And he smiled back, he subconsciously placed his hand over his chest, where his Fairy Tail sigma used to be, after years of wearing the mark, gone the moment he and Lucy left the guild. Quickly, the nostalgia and sombre moment was quickly changed when Gray pulled out his communication lacrima device, he opened it up and revealed that it was in a wallet cast.

The black-haired male pulled out a white plastic card out. "We get ID cards instead. The place doesn't really believe in tattooing the mark on your body."

On the card, there was a profile picture on the right corner of the man himself looking at the camera with a small frown, although the table knew that it was his neutral face. His formal uniform was clean and straight, rid of any wrinkles, it made him look more serious and professional.

Next to the small picture was his initials, with his name 'Gray Fullbuster' typed in a big bold lettering with more information displayed on the card such as his date of birth. In the middle of the background, there was the faded sigma of a dagger spouting out angelic wings as its handle.

"It makes you feel that you have a job at the Council." Levy noted at the clean front on his card. "Much more structured than us."

The group couldn't help but laugh together, even Erza let out a soft chuckle.

"More. Than. Fairy. Tail. Can. Ever. Be." Lucy laughed between breaths.

Carla couldn't help but think that laughter was hauntingly familiar.

I will see you in the next chapter (probably.)