AN: Yay you only had to wait a week for the next chapter! lol

Only seven followers away from 100!

Sorry for any and all mistakes I may have missed and I hope you enjoy!


Gajeel POV

"I know you're awake, Gajeel." Shrimp said from the chair beside the bed I was on. Grunting in acknowledgement I tried to shift into a more comfortable position but was unable to because of the restraints. Snapping my eyes open I growled at the sight of my arms and legs that were tied down, and tried to break free of them by popping out iron spikes where the straps were but once again was foiled.

"Get these god damn things off of me." I demanded glaring at the offending things. During my struggle to use my magic and escape, Levy had backed away from me and now had her back pressed up against the door. Forcibly reigning in my anger and annoyance I calmed down somewhat. "I'm not gonna hurt you Shrimp... You know that." All she did was nod and hesitantly take a step forward. "If you're so damn scared then why are you here?"

"I'm not scared. And I'm here because I wanted answers."

"You got about all you're gonna get outta me."

"... Why? Why were you always hanging out around me while we were in the guild and on missions?" Taking a deep breath she continued walking forward until her thighs were touching the edge of the bed. "Why did you guys tells everyone when you started going out? Why keep it a secret?"

I could smell the tears as they formed at the edges of her eyes, not quite ready to fall. "Go away Levy. Save your questions for Lucy when I bring her back."

"...Lu-chan is safely away from here. She has had an entire day to go wherever she was needed and even if you weren't shackled to the bed right now, Natsu has made it his mission to keep you away from her...and I agree with his decision."

"They can't keep me from my girlfriend. I'll find her one way or another."

"-ex. Ex-girlfriend." Levy said timidly, watching for my reaction.

Not wanting to disappoint I roared in anger and denial at what I knew to be true and started my struggling again. Thrashing all over the bed I knocked my sheets off, but didn't care, I needed to get free so I could patch things up with Bunny. The more time she had to think about her decision the less likely I'd be able to fix what I had done, although I didn't know how I'd fix things.

"What the hell's wrong with my magic?" I asked when my spikes and blade refused to come forth.

"...we aren't too sure. Virgo put them on you when you were knocked out. We couldn't take them off if we tried, she didn't leave us a key." Shrugging she returned to her seat and just watched as I tried to free myself. After another five minutes of no progress I snarled in frustration and slammed my head down onto the pillows.

"Gajeel. Please tell me wh...what happened between you and Lucy. I want to help."

"Ha, help who?"

"...you..." She whispered, her face turning bright red.

"Help me by getting out of here. Make a key, or get Ice Breath to make a key. Hell I'd even settle for Flame Brain melting the damn thing.

"Where the hell is Lily?"

"He's downstairs with everyone else. Would you like me to tell him to come up?"

"Yeah."

"You need to learn some manners." She mumbled to herself before doing as she had offered.

The moment she closed the door behind her everything was silent, which was odd considering my dragon senses normally allowed me to hear what was going on in the main room of the guild through a door. Listening harder, I cursed when I still couldn't hear anything.

"Struggling won't help; you can't escape Virgo's restraints." Loke said as the light he appeared in disappeared.

"Then call her and get her to take these off of me."

"Virgo said she would come back to take them off once Lucy is far enough away. But know this we will help Natsu keep you away from her." Loke threatened and vanished right as Lily opened the door.

Sniffing Lily's scent as he entered the room, I stared at him in shock, "why do you smell of Bunny?"

"I haven't had the chance to shower since last night; it's probably from when she hugged me." Lily shrugged; jumping onto the bed he sat on my stomach and glanced at my restraints.

"No this is stronger than residual from two nights ago. You've seen her recently." I said pulling against the straps on my wrist to get closer to Lily's face. "Where is she?"

"I don't know. When I left our house to go to the guild I saw her and went to apologize on your behalf, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter." Standing up Lily looked down at me. "I know there is nothing I can say or do to dissuade you from looking for her, but I think you should know that I don't support you chasing after her. If she wanted to be around you she would have stayed as she had done before when you guys fought, but she didn't. Give her the space she asked for Gajeel, otherwise I fear that there will be no chance of you ever winning her back."

"Where are you going Lily?" I asked when I noticed a pack on his back as he walked to the door.

"I'm going to the exceed village with Happy and Carla. We'll be gone for a while. Hopefully you'll listen to reason and do as Lucy suggested and work out your feelings for Levy, and then decide."

Lily… I thought as a blushing Levy was startled when my exceed left the room suddenly without looking back.

Lucy POV

We have been on the road for two days now, making our way to the first of many noble houses. This part of the job wasn't so bad, at least not yet. We only had her staff and the royal guards in our party so far and they all knew who I was and the entire situation behind why we were here, so there was no need to get all dressed up and play the part of an aristocrat. So all in all everything was going fine, except I have been getting weird looks from Freed and Bickslow for the past couple of days. While Ever and I would be talking with the Princess I could feel their eyes on me, but every time I would look at them they would quickly turn their heads away and pretend that they hadn't been looking.

Glancing at the clock on the wall I saw that it was getting close to the time when Hisui would contact her husband to be, and listened patiently to the rest of what she had to say before she excused herself from the couch in my room - no matter how many times we had tried to tell Hisui and her father that we didn't all need separate rooms they wouldn't listen. Shaking my head at the thought I smiled and waved at the Princess as she left the room and turned to Ever, determined to get some answers.

"Okay spill. Why have Freed and Bickslow been staring at me for the past couple of days?"

"Uh I don't know what you're talking about Lucy."

"Oh don't even try to act dumb. You've been giving me looks too when you don't think I'm paying attention. Have I had something stuck in my teeth for the past two days?" I said revealing all of my teeth at her in a wide mouth grin and getting her to laugh. "Really Ever you can tell me, I won't get mad I promise."

"Oh fine. But you can't get mad, you promised."

"Yup and Celestial Mages take their promises seriously... Well at least I do."

"LaxustoldusaboutyouandGajeel." She blurted out in one breath.

All I heard out of that sentence was Laxus and Gajeel, but that was enough. "Oh..."

Scooting closer to me she grabbed the closet hand. "You promised not to get mad...I knew I shouldn't have said anything." She said hanging her head.

"No no I'm not mad. It's just something I've been pushing back in the recesses of my mind and haven't been thinking about much. Between talking to you and the princess and trying to get Freed's nose out of a book, Laxus to take off his pods and Bickslow to take off his mask, my mind hasn't had time to think about him and what happened.

"Did you want to talk about it? Or are they just looks of sympathy?" I asked with a forced laugh.

"Well I want to talk about it; I can't quiet imagine the two of you together, no matter how hard I try. But I'm pretty sure the boys are still trying to come to terms that you forgive them, forgive us all for what we did during Thunder Palace. I know it's no big deal for you, but for them, us, it's a huge deal. So they're looks of confused awe, not sympathy."

"Now I'm confused how did we go from talking about my love life, or lack thereof to Thunder Palace?"

"Because you forgave Gajeel enough to date him." Seeing that I still didn't get what the big fuss was about she further explained. "We are all still working through our guilt at different paces, and I think it helped them and me to know that you truly forgave us. It's been so hard when some of the guild, who we've known for years, look at us with suspicion."

"I'm sorry Ever; I didn't know anyone still held it against you guys. Everyone I've talked to hasn't mentioned anything about not trusting you guys. Are you sure their looking at you in suspicion and not trying to come up with a way to approach you guys? You all can be intimidating at times, sitting there surrounded by your 'don't bother us' aura." Putting an arm around her shoulders I gave her an one armed hug. "I'm sure if you approached them, and stopped thinking everyone was judging you guys then things would change. We can try it when we get home. Okay?!"

"You really don't think they've been angry at us this entire time?" Shaking my head emphatically I smiled at her. "Well if that's what you really think then as long as you're there I'm willing to try."

Turning the one armed hug into a full blown hug I squealed, excited for her. "Feeling better about it now?"

"Wait! How did it go from me wanting to comfort you to you comforting me? You really are something else Lucy." Ever said, shaking her head.

Feeling my face heat up, I knew I was blushing at all of praises she had given me. I really don't see what the big deal is, it's not like I'm doing anything extraordinary like Natsu, who keeps saving me time and time again, or Laxus who took out all of Raven Tail during the Grand Magic Games. I couldn't even close the Eclipse Gate by myself. Sighing at how far behind in my magic I was in comparison to everyone else I hung my head.

"Lucy are you okay? We don't have to talk about Gajeel if you don't want to."

"No, I'm fine with talking about. I know I shouldn't just bottle everything up, but it's hard to think about how stupid I was when it came to him. I kept my first relationship a secret from the people who mean the most to me and inadvertently hurt them, or am going to, when they find out." Abruptly standing up, and holding out a hand to stop Ever from doing the same, I paced in front of her. "I don't know why I did what I did, but I know I regret not listening to my gut when he first asked to keep our relationship a secret. I don't know maybe I thought it'd be an adventure of sorts, sneaking around hoping no one would catch us. Maybe I thought it would be nice to keep something to myself for once, instead of the whole guild finding out a second after I tell my team. Or that it was nice not having to worry about Mira prematurely planning a wedding after a month of us dating, or planning the number of kids we'd have. All I do know is that while I was that while I was with him, most of our problems melted away and it was like we were the only two in the world, and it was amazing.

"But the moment we were around the guild he would act like we hadn't just spent the night under the stars, or that we hadn't just gotten back from a day at the beach. It was like for him our relationship ended the moment we stepped back into Magnolia, and each time I could feel the change in him and my good mood would disappear in an instant. Because the moment we were both back in the guild he'd go running to her, and act as if I didn't exist. And each time it killed me inside.

"That's why I stopped hanging around the guild during most of my free time, and why I tried to get Team Natsu to go on more jobs, so I wouldn't accidentally snap and approach him." Throwing my hands in the air in frustration at how I had to restrain myself every time I was at the guild I flopped back down into my seat beside Ever. "After four misery filled months with a smatter of happy times, I had reached my breaking point and broke up with him. Even after he apologized, promised for the millionth time that things would get better and said he loved me, I knew I couldn't stay with him, not after he confessed that he had been confused about his feelings for the two of us. Oh I was tempted when he said those three words I had dreamed of hearing, but I knew I'd always question the timing of his confession.

"How would I know that he truly loved me, and wasn't just choosing me because Levy had Jet now? And how could I ignore all of the pain he had put me through, and make it disappear without thinking through everything first? I couldn't know for sure that he had chosen me for me, nor could I know if I would be able to forget about all of our hardships without some time away from him. So I did one of the hardest things I ever had to do, and ripped my own heart out in the process.

"Everyone talks about how wonderful it is to be in love, but they never talk about the pain you can go through before you find that love. I wish I had known before, and then maybe it wouldn't hurt quite as much." I finished with a sob, quickly covering my mouth so Ever wouldn't hear my melt down, but I knew I had failed when I felt her arms surround me, one of them guiding my head to her bare shoulder.

Evergreen POV

Lucy cried for a good five minutes before she conked out on my shoulder, breathing heavily. Although we hadn't been sleeping in the same room for the past several nights, mine was always next to hers and I heard her tossing and turning throughout the night, muttering incomprehensible things through the night. When I had went to see if she was ready this morning I had caught a glimpse of the bags under her eyes but when she came out of the room a few minutes later all traces of her sleepless nights were gone and she had put on her cheery face, greeting everyone with her normal radiant smile. It was no wonder the boys and I couldn't stop ourselves from staring at her when we thought she wasn't looking, no matter how many times Laxus had told us to stop. How she was capable of hiding how much she was hurting was beyond me, but I admired her for it.

Hearing footsteps approaching I lifted my head up off of Lucy's and looked towards the intruder. Putting a finger to my lips I mouthed Bickslow to talk quietly, including his babies. Nodding his head in understanding he sent his babies away, back to his room I assumed, and crept further inside Lucy's room. Gingerly picking up one of the chairs from the table he brought it over and put it directly in front of me, so our knees were touching. Leaning forward he spoke. "Is she okay?"

Turning my hand side to side I released a small sigh and whispered. "No, she's trying to hide how much pain she's in, and how tired she is that she hasn't even had time to think about what has happened. At this rate she won't get very far in the moving on process and with us meeting up with the first noble house in two days, I doubt things will get better for her."

"Is there anything we can do to help Cosplayer?"

"I don't know. Avoiding the subject is a definite no; she needs to feel like she can talk to us… all of us, not just Laxus and I. Until she returns to her team back at Fairy Tail we are the closest thing she has to a support system other than her spirits.

"Even though we want her to talk out her feelings, we don't want that to be the only thing she thinks of, so taking her mind off of everything could help her with the breakup and her upcoming role in our mission. So for her free time we can take her out and do something." Shrugging, I grimaced when I felt Lucy move to reposition herself on my shoulder, afraid that I had woken her up.

"We could train her…"

Looking to Freed as he entered the room fully, I cocked my head in question.

"Have you noticed that she hasn't gone on many solo missions since she has joined? And how she never has time to train to strengthen her magic? Her team is always dragging her off on another job or some catastrophe is occurring." Freed brought a chair and placed it next to Bickslow's. "It could be a way to let her release some of her frustration and anger at Gajeel, and the nobles… and it could help rebuild what confidence she lost in the breakup." When we both gave him weird looks, wondering how he had come up with that plan, he cleared his throat and tugged on his collar, trying to distract us from the dusting of red on his cheeks. Shrugging he spoke, even quieter than before. "What? I've been doing some reading."

"That's good Freed." I said lightly brushing his knees with my fingertips.

"Mmm, Gajeel no…" Lucy muttered in her sleep suddenly jerking her head off of my shoulder and onto the back of the couch.

"And if that bastard shows up…"

"…we'll beat the shit out of him." Laxus finished, getting nods of agreement from us all.


AN: Let me know what you thought, please and thank you! 3

SeleneJade: Yay! =]

PrettyStarsInTheSky: Thanks! J

Kurahieiritr JIO: Yes her job definitely sucks, but I have a plan in mind to make it not suck as much…hopefully. I liked writing Evergreen's reaction to Lucys abject horror at socializing with the nobles, and how Freed understood Lucy's reluctance to do it. =]

Cow-Lover2214: Haha it is completely possible that Freed is jealous. Hopefully I can make a decision on who she will end up with soon!

Guest: Sorry that it's getting so dramatic? Lol I don't know if that's good or bad, but oh well. Yes she does seem to attract Dragon Slayers doesn't she? ;)

kamy4: will do. =]

leoslady4ever: It will definitely suck for her and make handling the breakup even more difficult but she has a new support system that will help her through it all!