Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
Lucy walked along the wall like she had every day on her way home. Sting kept putting his hands up and down, unsure what he should do.
"Leave her alone, Sting." Rogue muttered next to him.
"But what if she falls?" Sting hissed.
Rogue chuckled. "I honestly can't see Lucy falling from something like that. When we went on that mission in the mountains last week, you fell more than she did, and you're a Third Generation Dragon Slayer."
"Fine!" Sting huffed. "But when she falls in, I'm not diving in after her. She can die of hypothermia alone. I don't plan on joining her."
"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch agreed.
"Oh, please." Lecter scoffed. "Like someone from our guild could die from something as puny as hypothermia!"
Lucy giggled. "It's so cute that you think I can't hear you. You guys are so silly."
"Who's silly?" Sting shouted. He jumped up and stood before her on the ledge. She frowned up at him. "I'm not silly! How dare you say something like tha-"
Lucy pushed him to the side, and he fell into the water.
"Sting!" Lecter cried.
Lucy laughed as a winged Lecter pulled Sting out of the water. She jumped down and on walked with Rogue and Frosch.
"He's going to get you for that." Rogue told her. Lucy frowned.
"Lucy!" Sting called.
"Crap!" Lucy grabbed Rogues arm and ran down the street, dragging the Dragon Slayer and his exceed behind her. Lucy laughed, Rogue chuckled. Frosch yelled "Yaaay!" at the top of his lungs. (At this point, I'm assuming Frosch is a boy).
Sting chased after them as Lucy took them through random streets and alleys that she once knew like the back of her hand. After about ten minutes of running around and laughing like idiots, Rogue, Lucy, and Frosch stopped. They hadn't seen Sting or Lecter for about five minutes now.
Lucy giggled. "I think we lost him. Ha to Sting!"
"Were going to have to find them eventually, you know." Rogue told her. "They're on our team."
"Not necessarily." Lucy argued. "We could leave now, and there could be an unfortunate train crash on the way back in which Sting and Lecter mysteriously disappear. I better practice my sad face." Lucy frowned and thought of sad things. Fake tears sprang up in her eyes, and she sobbed. Then the wiped her eyes and looked at Rogue, who was watching her with interest.
"Good?" She asked. He nodded.
"Damn, Lucy. You're all but planning my funeral!" Sting argued as he stepped into the alley they'd stopped in.
Lucy laughed. Sting grinned. "But, you know, I still haven't forgiven you. Look at me! I'm still wet, and I've been chasing you around Magnolia for ten minutes!"
"Most of it's probably sweat." Lucy said with a sigh and a shrug. "You're not in the best shape."
"Frosch thinks so too!" Frosch yelled. Rogue laughed.
Sting ran after Lucy, catching her around the waist and swinging her around.
"Kyaa!" she screamed as he spun faster and faster. "Rogue! Help me!" she laughed.
Rogue caught her wrist, but Stings momentum kept them going. Rogue dug his heels into the ground, but he was still swung around in circles. "We're making a rut in the ground!" He laughed. "Sting, cut it out!"
He did, releasing Lucy and nearly throwing her into the wall. Luckily, Rogue still had a hold on her wrist and pulled her towards him before she hit.
Lucy fell on top of Rogue, knocking them both over.
"Nice catch. Thanks." Lucy muttered, getting up. She lashed out at Sting with her whip, but he dodged it, still laughing.
"You all look comfy." A voice called from behind them.
They recognized the voice before they turned around. Rogue's smile dropped off his face, returning him to the stoic being he is around everyone but his team. Sting crossed his arms and frowned. Luc smiled carefully at Team Natsu.
"Hello Erza. Hey Gray, Natsu, Happy." She stopped when she saw Rei. "Sorry, I don't know your name." She told him.
"That's Rei." Erza introduced. "He's an earth mage."
"That's nice." Lucy smiled. "Ah, how long have you been standing there?"
"Are we invited to the funeral?" Gray asked her happily.
Rogue chuckled, earning an elbow to the stomach from Sting. "Can we ask why you're here?" Sting questioned.
"Master had decided to accept your offer. Fairy Tail would like to join in an alliance with Sabertooth." Erza told them.
Lucy smiled softly. "That's good. I was really hoping you'd accept."
"What's with you?" Sting muttered. "You talk to them like you're in love or something."
Lucy's eye narrowed. She spun and threw all fourteen of her keys at him. They embedded themselves on the wall next to his head, seven on each side.
Stings eyes widened as he looked over at Rogue, who had moved silently out of the way the second Sting had opened his mouth. "Did you see that? Did you see what she tried to do to me?"
"You were asking for it." Rogue told him emotionlessly.
"She could have killed me! Thank God she missed!"
Smirking, Lucy held out her hand. The keys came back to her as she summoned. "Stupid Sting. I don't miss. You're alive because I let you live."
"Wh- wha-" Sting stammered.
"She's right." Rogue confirmed, nodding. "You're lucky she spared you."
"I'm really a saint, ya know?" Lucy said to Rogue.
Rogue laughed. As did Team Natsu, who knew very well how saint-like Lucy could be.
"So we're comrades now, huh?" Lucy asked them.
"Yup! Lucy's family again!" Happy yelled.
Lucy's eyes widened as Natsu swatted at Happy. "I wouldn't go that far." Lucy said softly.
Rogue bumped her shoulder. "You'll get there." He said. "Lucy isn't someone you can stay mad at. They only made it this far because you haven't been around. Now that we have to work together, they'll get over it."
"I hope you're right." Lucy sighed.
Hotel No Name (yup, I'm that lazy)
Lucy came back from that bath, combing out her hair with her fingers. Lecter and Frosch were already asleep in the corner of the room. Lucy crashed down on her futon between Rogue and Sting. "Your exceed are so cute." She sighed. "I almost wish I had one of my own."
"Why just 'almost'?" Sting asked.
"They're kinda annoying." Lucy stated with a grimace.
"Annoying?" Sting laughed. "Remember what I said earlier about 'understatements'?"(chapter 2)
Lucy laughed, and then yawned.
Sting laughed again. "Go to sleep already, stupid. My Exceed will be there for you to pick on in the morning."
"I… not stupid… you stupid…"
"Whatever." Sting said, turning over. Rogue rolled his eyes and went to sleep as well.
About 3 A.M.
Lucy's eyes sapped open. There was a scuttling sound from the other side of the room. All of their weapons were across the room. Lucy's keys and whip, Rogues katana, it was all over one the other side of the damned room. Lucy must have cursed every word she knew at least five times.
Keeping her breathing even, Lucy closed her eyes and felt for her friends' presence. Everything was as it should be. The Exceed were in the corner where they'd went to sleep. Lucy could feel Rogue's presence next to her. She didn't even have to search for Stings, because his arm was draped across her stomach.
She heard the scuttling sound again. She felt for another presence. She found one. It felt like a man of about forty, average build, but very agile. He was headed straight for her. The lights were off, so Lucy was blind. She felt rather than saw him raise his arm.
Lucy rolled backwards as his arm swung down. There was the sound of metal slicing through the wood floor. Rogue and Sting were awake instantly. They each grabbed one of her arms and dragged her out of the way as another knife was swung towards her face.
They let go, but stuck close. In these situations, keeping everything straight is not easy. If they separate, they won't know who's a teammate and who's an enemy.
The man swung a knife again. Lucy grabbed her partners' shoulders and kicked at the man, knocking the knife out of his hand. She knew he still had one other, maybe more, but she was getting tired of an invisible man trying to slice her up.
Lucy kept her hands on their shoulders and pulled them back to the wall silently. She didn't want him sneaking up behind her. Lucy heard a ripping sound through the air, and then a pain in her thigh. She dropped her hand from Stings shoulder to the deep gash in her leg. "Tch. Who are you?" She asked the man.
"I was hired to kill you."
"To kill me?" Lucy asked, taken aback.
"Not simply you, stupid girl. I was hired to kill the team from Sabertooth."
"Stupid?" Lucy muttered.
"Why would someone want us dead?" Rogue asked the assassin.
"I did not ask. I do not care. I care for profit. I care for money. I do not care for reason."
Lucy followed his voice until she was sure she was looking right at him. Then she yanked the knife that had hit her leg out of the wall. She tapped Sting with it and moved his hand so that he was pointing right at the man. She slid the knife into his hand.
She heard the ripping sound again. Rogue pushed her to the side, and the knife stabbed her shoulder instead of her heart.
The assassin cursed. "I keep hitting the girl. Stop moving!"
"Lucy?" Rogue asked.
"I'm fine." Lucy reassured him. She pulled the knife from her shoulder and handed it to him.
The last knife didn't make noise. It ripped through the air, and then it ripped through her stomach. This wasn't an ordinary throwing knife. This one was different. It was longer. It went in her stomach and came out her back, and then on into the wall behind her.
Lucy grabbed Rogues wrist and Stings elbow, and then stepped forward. They walked towards the man slowly, with the second step reaching the end of the knife. She stepped forward again, until the end of the weapon came out through her back. She breathed deeply and smiled.
"Wha- what are you?" the man stammered.
"We are Sabertooth." Lucy said. She pushed her partners forward. The moved towards the man silently, while Lucy took slow steps forward, making sure the floor creaked under her. The man stayed focused on her, as planned.
"If you tell me who hired you, you might not die." Lucy told him, with a voice that was slow and calm. Her head tilted to the side, an evil grin spreading across her face. In the dark, she smiled and she knew that he could see it. She knew by the way his breathing sped up. The man held his breath. He drew another knife. Lucy heard the metallic cling, and he pounced forward towards Lucy, who stopped and waited for the impact.
It didn't come. Rogue and Sting got there first, slicing the weapon out of his hand, as well as the belt where he had been storing the rest. He dropped to his knees, with two knives, covered in Lucy's blood, pressed to his throat.
He gulped. "You guys… you aren't human. You are monsters!"
"Inhuman?" Lucy asked innocently, squatting down in front of him. She was so close now that she could see him. He was nothing special. Mid-forties. She pouted. "You're so mean to me. I'm human. It's true. I'm born, I live, and I die. Those are the bounds of human." She nodded to her partners. "They aren't human though." She leaned over until her lips were at his ear. "They're Dragon Slayers. Third Generation. And they killed their dragons. They're True Dragon Slayers. They're special." She whispered.
Lucy grabbed a knife out of the man's fallen belt, and held it under his chin, tilting his face up. "Now," she said softly, "can't you tell me who hired you?"
"I- I don't know! I'm sorry!"
She stabbed the knife up. "Shut up. Did this person have a guild mark?"
"Yes! There were two!"
"Two?" Lucy asked with suspicion.
"Yeah! One I've never seen before! And the other… I've seen it a lot, but I don't know what guild it belongs to!"
"Did it look like this?" Lucy asked, pulling the collar of her shirt down, revealing her guild mark.
"No. It looks like this!" he said nervously, drawing a shape in the air.
Lucy froze. She stabbed the knife up until it drew blood. "Are you sure?" She hissed.
"Yes!"
Angrily, she shoved him away.
"Lucy? What is it?" Sting asked. Lucy realized that they still couldn't see. She was so close that she could slightly make it out, but Sting and Rogue were blind.
"It's Fairy Tail. The second mark is Fairy Tail."
There was silence. Lucy didn't have to see their faces to know they were trying to work it out.
Lucy stood up. "We'll worry about it later. We need to take care of him right now."
She pushed to her feet, and then tilted his head up with her foot. He looked at her. She smiled at him. "You disappointed me. You were so strong at the beginning. So cool and collected. Now look at you. You're practically crying."
"I have kids!" He yelled after her as she left the room.
Lucy paused at the doorway. "So what? If you go back to them, what will you do? You kill for a living. If you lose your temper, you could hurt them."
"I couldn't! I love my children!" He insisted.
"But wouldn't they be better off without a father that has enemies. Don't tell me you haven't realized it yet. Say you killed a girl, about my age. What if this girl had a brother? This guy may want revenge. Now, if he was smart, he wouldn't kill you. He would hurt you the way you hurt him. By taking away someone important. By taking away your kids."
She stepped out of the room.
Rogue tied the man's hands behind his back. "Take care of this." He stopped at the door, and then turned to look towards the corner of the room. He rolled his eyes and left.
Rogue found Lucy outside, sitting on the rocks outside the bath area. He sat next to her.
"You're hurt." He said.
"Yeah." It wasn't a question, but she answered anyway.
"We should take care of it." He didn't look at her.
"Later, okay? I just… need a minute."
"Fine… you know, you can be really scary sometimes. What was all that in there?"
She looked at me. "That was me scaring the crap out of a grown man."
"It was entertaining." He complimented.
"Thanks." She said. He knew something was wrong. He also knew that if he tried to talk to her about it, she would render biologically unable to maintain life. So he said something else. "Hey, when I left the room a minute ago, I noticed something."
"What?" Lucy asked, turning to him.
He smirked. "Those damned cats slept through that whole damn thing."
Lucy looked at him for a second, and a small smile played at her lips. And then Rogue chuckled, and Lucy giggled, and then both of them were laughing like idiots. They sat there and laughed until the sun came up and Sting stared at them like they were crazy.