Chapter Ten

"Hello Sting." I took the hands offered by both my lion and Sting, as they helped me up from the ground. Dusting myself off, my face flushed with embarrassment. "Funny running into you here, quite literally," I attempted to recover.

"Hime, are you okay?" Loke asked caringly, ignoring the presence of Sting.

I nodded in response, "I'm fine; thank you. So, what are you doing here, Sting, and where are Lector and Rogue? It's weird not seeing you guys together."

The dragonslayer shrugged. "Rogue said something about going to the inn to check in, and took Lector and Frosch with him. I had to go to a Guild Master's conference, and didn't want to go by myself, so I dragged them with me. What about you? Why are you here, and where's Natsu?"

Of course, he would ask that. How do I answer that?! I mean, I literally have no clue where he is. Ugh, now is not the time, think of something quick! "He's, uh, not with me."

Before I could go into further details, I was awkwardly saved by Loke.

"There's a small café just down the road, why don't we go there to catch up?" He took my hand and led the way, expecting Sting to follow, which he did curiously.

"So, how are things going with Sabertooth?" I broke the silence after once we got situated at the café.

"Great for us. Ever since Fairy Tail disbanded, we've been swamped with tons of job requests. It's been good, but I don't get to go on a lot of requests anymore, since I became the master. I'm so bored trapped in my office doing paperwork!"

I busted out laughing at the thought of Sting actually doing paperwork. "You're kidding? You doing paperwork? I don't believe that for a second!" I teased, hoping to get a reaction.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up blondie, but believe it or not I can do work too!"

Loke and I both erupted into a fit of giggles. "Yeah, sure you can; and Blondie?! Did you forget that you're blond too?"

"I can too! Shesh!" The cocky slayer sighed in response.

"What can you do, but no one believes you about?"

Everyone in the group was startled by the Shadow Dragonslayer sneaking up on us.

"Shesh, you scared me there, Rogue! Do you always sneak up on people like that?!" I yelled at the shadow.

"Rogue, tell them!" The holy dragon spoke dramatically to his partner, who stared back with utter confusion.

Uh, does he forget that he clearly wasn't here for the conversation, so he has no idea what we are talking about? I sighed contemptly. It's been awhile since I've had others to talk to besides my spirits. The two slayers began quietly whispering to each other, and before I even knew what it was about, their argument broke out into a small fight. "Geeze, do they always act like this?" I spoke to no one in particular, causing a small chuckle to escape Loke.

After a couple minutes of attempting, and two swift Regulus Impacts from Loke, the two twins were calm enough to join me.

"Ugh, Lucy, why'd you have to stick your spirit on us?" Sting spoke feigning an injury.

"Don't look at me," I giggled. "Loke did that on his own accord."

The lion flashed a cocky grin at Sting before speaking. "Didn't anyone teach you it's rude to keep a beautiful lady waiting?"

Sting scoffed, "since when do you care?"

"I always care when it involves my future bride-"

My face erupted in pink, as I slammed both my hands over his mouth, cutting off the rest of Loke's sentence. "Shush, cat! You can't go around saying that kind of thing around people! They might start taking you seriously!" The Sabertooth mages stared at me with looks of pure confusion and shock.

"Future? . . ."

"Bride? . . ." They finished each other's thought, and looked at me for reassurance.

"It's not what you think!" I tried to explain.

"Oh, come on Lucy." Loke pulled my hands off his mouth with his. "You know it's true." He purred.

"Shut it! It's not true. My pesky lion spirit is delusional." He feigned heartbreak at my term delusional. "I'm not his future bride; it's just something that he can't get through his star dust filled skull of his. Hell, I've never even had a boyfriend!" I turned to the twin dragons. "For the rest of the night, it would be easier if you just ignored whatever comes out of his mouth."

"You wound me with your words, hime, but don't worry; I know you still love me." The lion taunted me.

"Cat, I'm two seconds away from 'Lucy Kicking' you back into your world." My outburst caused not only Loke to laugh hysterically at my threat, but the two other mages as well, causing the rest of that subject to be dropped from conversation.

"So, why are you in Crocus?" Rogue spoke after he recomposed himself.

"Oh, I had a photo shoot today." Sting looked at me, waiting for me to elaborate. "I needed a job, so I started modeling again for Jason with Sorcerers' Weekly."

"You're here by yourself?"

"Well, no, Loke came with me. He rarely leaves my side, unless I'm asleep."

"That explains it." Sting muttered to himself.

"Explains what?" I asked curiously.

"Why your scent is different." It was my turn to look at him until he elaborated. He sighed. "How do I explain this? Well, people usually smell similar to people if they are with them enough. Like they have their scent, plus a small amount of whomever they are around. The times I've been around you before, you've always smelled like Strawberries, but with a hint of Cinnamon. I wouldn't say cinnamon; it smells more like burning wood, maybe like a campfire." Sting began to rambling, causing Rogue to jab him in the side. "Right, not important. Anyways, now you smell . . .odd?"

"Odd?"

"He means different. It's like Strawberries and like the night sky. I can only assume it's from your spirits." Rogue spoke, finishing Sting's thoughts.

"Oh, I guess I never thought about it like that." I sat there for a few moments quietly thinking about their explanation. It wasn't until Rogue spoke again that I was pulled away from my thoughts.

"What have you been doing now? Since Fairy Tail disbanded?" Rogue spoke softly, clearly feeling that it was a sensitive topic.

"Oh, well for the past few months, I've been living in a small town called Jamestown, and been training with Loke and Capricorn. I only recently started modeling again because I was running out of money."

"Why modeling?" Sting shocked me by asking.

"Um, well I used to take modeling jobs for the guild before the Tenrou Incident, and they were looking for new models; Loke suggested it since I'm not in a guild anymore." I tried to be as minimal as possible in my explanation of that.

"Wait, wait, wait. You used to be a model?" Sting spoke with a smirk and a tone that rivaled Loke's flirting abilities.

Of course, he'd focus on that. "I did some modeling jobs with Mira about a year ago; although, that was before Tenrou, so I guess that makes it 8 years ago." Sting looked at me completely stunned.

"Of course, my hime was a model. Her beauty is beyond compare." The spirit brought my hand up and kissed it, causing me to blush slightly at his compliment.

"You're really laying it on thick, aren't you playboy?" I teased him playfully. The lion nodded his head, grinning at my response.

The four of us continued talking at the café well into the night. It wasn't until Loke noticed the time that we even realized how long we spent talking. After some convincing, the twin dragons walked me, and Loke, back to the inn we were spending the night at; once we got there, the dragons ventured back, after I promised them that if I needed anything, I would go to Sabertooth. I'm exhausted. I followed Loke to the room, and immediately collapsed onto the comfy bed, not caring about how badly I messed up my makeup after rubbing my eyes. After a few moments, and the removal of several of his suit items, Loke joined me in bed where we fell into our usual nighttime routine.

"It was nice seeing Sting and Rogue." I spoke to Loke, as I situated myself into his embrace, not bothering to change out of my current clothes and into pajamas, or even remove the rest of my makeup.

He hummed in response, kissing the top of my head. "Mmhmm, did you have fun today, hime?" He felt my head nod. "Good, then that's all that matters to me." The spirit started stroking my hair caringly, attempting to get me to relax.

My mind wondered as Loke stroked my hair, replaying the long day. Maybe, it would be nice to visit with Sabertooth again sometime.

Author'sNote: Hey Everyone! I have to say first that I apologize for not updating last week. I was having a terrible case of writer's block, and the last chapter I posted wasn't getting as many hits as it usually gets, so it dampened my writing spirits temporarily. I ended up rewriting this chapter 4 times before I just got frustrated and took a break. This chapter is short, but it's really dialogue heavy, which I hope everyone enjoys. Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed/followed/favorited. It really means a lot to, and I do try to reply to all the reviews and messages I do get as often as I can. I do have to once again say that I do not own Fairy Tail in any way, but I really wish I did. Side Note: In case you were wondering how to get writers to update faster, review their work. They often update more if they know people are waiting. ^-^ Bye!