This is gonna be a short one. Sorry, loves. R&R, please? Motivation is needed right now…

Makarov sighed, in what was obviously relief.

"Good that is very good. Now, Lucy…" The old Master hopped down from his chair. He walked over to one of the many bookshelves, and walked up what looked like a stepladder made from a stack of books. He skimmed over the titles of books on the third shelf down, and then grabbed a book from near the right end. He blew a thick layer of dust off of it, which caused him to sneeze. He walked back down, and set the selected book on an end table next to Lucy, which was – to her shock- completely devoid of any other books.

Makarov lifted the book cover, and Lucy saw that the book had been hollowed out to hold a smallish box, simply carved out of cherry wood with a golden lock. The Master lifted the box out of the book, took a golden key out of his pocket, and unlocked the box. He opened it to reveal a pouch of purple velvet. He removed the pouch, and then gently, one by one, Makarov took seven Lacrima crystals and their respective necklaces out of the velvet and placed them on the table. He then stepped back, and then looked at a stunned Lucy.

"Pick your Lacrima. Don't just choose the biggest or the prettiest, choose the one that calls to you." Lucy felt, for some reason, like she was under a huge amount of pressure. And she didn't like pressure. Not one bit.

Lucy looked at the crystals, but none of them felt right. She was about to turn to the Master and tell him so, but then the Lacrima farthest from her caught her eye. She looked closer at it, and she knew it was the one. It was smaller than the rest of the Lacrima, but it shone much brighter in Lucy's eyes, as if it was saying 'Come to me. I'm the one you want. I am yours, so come to me.' She picked up the crystal by its thin golden chain, and marveled at it. Lucy softly touched the Lacrima that was hanging from her hand, and felt an instant connection. There was no way she would ever change her mind, even if she could. Silently, she bonded with the Lacrima that was now hers. Lucy felt a connection stronger than anything she had ever felt before forge itself within her mind, body, and soul. There was no going back.

"Damn, my head hurts….." A muffled voice moaned.

Lucy turned around, still holding up the Lacrima, to face the person the voice had originated from. Sure enough, Natsu had woken up ahead of schedule. He lifted his head out of the crater in the ground, and blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the bright colors of the twilight and the light of the few candles that had been lit around the tent. His eyes settled on Lucy, and then they widened to the size of dinner plates when he focused on her hand. Actually, he didn't give a shit about her hand. All he cared about was what she was HOLDING in her hand. Natsu put two and two together, and he figured out why Gramps had wanted to talk to Lucy. Then came the dawning realization that he was now permanently stuck with the girl that had kicked him sky-high.

"No. Fucking. Way." He growled. After he finished voicing his displeasure ('Displeasure' being a MAJOR understatement) he passed out cold again, and his face fell back into the head-sized crater, leaving Lucy with a string of insults directed towards Natsu stuck on the tip of her tongue.

She turned to Makarov to comment on Natsu's behavior, but his expression stopped her dead in her tracks. He was staring at the Lacrima, his face pale and his lips moving without any words coming out. His hands were trembling, and his eyes were bugging out of his head. He then proceeded to start hyperventilating, and Lucy finally jolted out of her shock and ran to help the Master, asking him if he was all right. His eyes followed the Lacrima all the way. Makarov started speaking, but he was just repeating the same two sentences over and over and over again.

"…That stone. The power. That stone. The power. That stone…"

Lucy came to the conclusion that there was only one thing she could do. She didn't want to, but she felt it had to be done. She took a deep breath, drew her hand back, and smacked the Master as hard as she could across the face.

The old man shuddered, and he then looked Lucy dead in the eye.

"Thank you." Makarov frankly stated.

"Pardon me, but I simply have to ask. What the Hell was that about?"

The Master took a deep breath, and waited a moment before he spoke.

"That Lacrima you selected….."

"…Yes? What about it?"

"… It belonged to Mavis Vermilion, the first and most powerful Ringmaster of Cirque du Fairy Tail."

That was longer than I envisioned it to be, but oh well… And for the strangest of reasons, I keep hearing the dying screams of readers when they finish each chapter of my story only to find a cliffhanger. Strange, isn't it? As a great one once said, 'Curiouser and curiouser…'

Review my children! Leave nothing of your thoughts out!

Sleep well, my lovelies. And don't even THINK of psychotic serial killers with hockey masks climbing through all of your bedroom windows *EVIL LAUGHTER AND CHAIN SAWS REVVING*. Sweet dreams…..