A/N: Ahem. I have returned after...over three months. *sheepish grin* Sorry 'bout that...I got kind of busy, and then I became really disenchanted with this story, and I'm still not overly enthusiastic about it right now, so...yeah. Bear with me. :(

Oh boy. A lot of thanks to go around. O.o I guess that's what happens when you don't update for months. Anyways, thank you to Guest, alinekiryuu, 1fairytaillover, ElodieKumari94, aprildragonfire16, Shorty333, Rylee88, Alice Harkey, Ashfur54, Tazumi Hanako, Lucyheartfilla, RichelleZWritesFanfics, OtakuGirl, Zades, JoeyPNg, Kitty2013, fairy-nee and Gotakumoe Giku for reviewing! And even though it's been ages, I really liked Guest's recommendation of a song that goes along perfectly with Lucy's situation. It's called A Trophy Father's Trophy Son by Sleeping With Sirens (I love Sleeping With Sirens, actually! XD)

Thanks to redstarangel26, TextMessage, Lotus914, chlobear x3, FairyTailADDICT, XiaoJun, lalapie203, Franny96, AnimeGal2013, Ezu-san, xfallingstars, Nya Sol, Retreat, Hahahaha8D, Diana Dragneel, ChibiLouise, FluffyIggie5o, MissXAmulet, NatsuGrayStingandRogue'sWife, phoenixcurse, Tori-Daughter-of-Hermes and Animeflower3 for favoriting and/or following!

Well, I hope you guys are all still with me, despite the huge gap between chapters... Anyways, please enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Eleven – The Sixth Member?

I allowed my eyes to slip shut as I gently coaxed the sweet notes from the keys with practiced fingers. They mingled perfectly with the chords from the guitar playing alongside me, and in the background, a well-timed crash of the cymbals. The only thing that was missing was—

"Where the hell is that bastard, Loke?" Natsu demanded into the microphone, his voice rising above the instruments.

I opened my eyes again and my fingers stilled on the keyboard. Erza also stopped her drumming, removing one of the earplugs from her ears. Only Gray continued playing away on his guitar, though it seemed to be subconsciously done. His eyes were focused lazily on the pink-haired boy as he sauntered over to him. He appeared to be playing random notes now, just little flicks of his fingers across the strings.

"I'm sure he'll be along shortly, Natsu," he drawled.

Natsu's eyebrows quirked in annoyance at the black-haired boy. "Why don't you go do something useful, stripper, and go track his ass down."

I'd only been practicing with the band for a little over a week, but right off the bat, I had discovered that Gray Fullbuster never practiced with a shirt on. Sometimes, he even stripped down to just his boxers. I wasn't sure whether to be horrified or…aroused.

"Are you saying you have a problem with my body, bitch?" Gray retorted, finally setting his guitar aside to shove his face in Natsu's.

"I'm saying I have a problem with you in general, princess."

Gray growled and lunged at Natsu, sending them both crashing to the ground of the roof where we were practicing. I watched helplessly as they rolled around on the ground, each trying to land a punch on the other.

"Boys," came the exasperated sigh from right next to my ear. I jumped with a little squeak and spun to find Erza standing beside me. Upon seeing my reaction, she lifted a quizzical brow and gave me a little smirk. "Don't worry; they do this all the time. It's how they show their affection for each other." She rolled her eyes and slung an arm over my shoulders as she watched the spectacle on the ground with pursed lips.

We were both wearing tank tops and shorts due to the afternoon heat. Every day, I wished ardently for cooler fall temperatures to come, though the weather had yet to oblige me. Aquarius and I had decided to tell the others that I had joined cross country, so that we could explain why I always came home late covered in sweat and wearing shorts and a tank. We would have to come up with a different excuse once the cross country season ended, but for now they weren't questioning it. The most difficult part was convincing them not to come to any of my "meets," but so far, Aquarius had managed to keep them off my back.

When Erza started speaking again, I refocused on the present. "And people wonder why I would never date them. If they could only see how immature these boys are…."

The banging of the door to the roof being thrown open had us all stopping what we were doing to turn and face the door. "What's up, bitches! Guess what I just found!" the dirty-blond-haired bassist exclaimed with a pleased grin on his face.

"Loke, you bastard, where the hell have you been?!" Natsu yelled, fighting to disentangle himself from Gray. Natsu had a bruise forming on his shoulder, and Gray had a welt on the right side of his ribcage.

Loke rolled his eyes as he looked down at the ungainly sight. "If you gaywads could stay off of each other for more than two seconds, you would notice that I have something important to show you. Seriously, Gray, try to refrain from rolling around on the ground with Natsu in only your boxers. It might give someone the wrong idea." He waved a sheet of paper in front of his face with a smug grin as Gray let loose with a string of curses at Loke, telling him exactly what he could go do with his ideas.

"I bet you'd like to see that, wouldn't you, Loke," he said as he finally managed to get his feet under him. Natsu shot to his feet right beside him, and I couldn't help but notice the disheveled state of their hair and Natsu's clothes, which were all twisted and wrinkled. Yeah, definitely looks like something else.

"Uh-huh," Loke said automatically, brushing off Gray's remarks. "Whatever. Just look at this, guys!"

Erza and I moved to get a closer look at the paper he was brandishing, and immediately the word "competition" jumped out at me.

"A competition?" Erza murmured, leaning closer with a focused look on her face. "Sounds interesting…."

My eyes widened as I finished scanning the flyer. A second perusal made my jaw drop at the same time that Erza loudly proclaimed, "Holy shit, we're in."

"That's the spirit!" Loke cheered, holding up his hand for a fist bump.

"Shut up and just tell me what it says," Gray growled, coming up behind me with Natsu close on his heels.

Erza turned to him with a dark expression, and I quickly jumped in before things could escalate again. "It's a competition to decide the best rising band in Japan. Each participating band has to prepare three pieces in at least two different genres, as well as choreograph a performance while they're onstage. The winner will be determined by a panel of judges—professional musicians from the GazettE, SuG, Alice Nine and ScReW—as well as an audience vote. And the reward for winning…one million dollars to be divided among the members of the band, as well as a signing with a record label…Sony Music Entertainment Japan!" I was practically shrieking by the time I finished. Most of my favorite bands were signed under SMEJ, and to think of being of being in the same music industry…it was absolutely incredible.

"Holy shit, we're in!" Gray and Natsu shouted, turning to each other with broad smiles and fire in their eyes. Natsu slung his arm around Gray's shoulders and Gray slapped his arm around Natsu's waist, both of them grinning like maniacs.

"We're taking this competition," Natsu growled excitedly, a fierce light entering his eyes. "We'll leave Japan breathless in our wake."

"When is the competition?" Gray asked.

"January 30th."

"Shit, that doesn't leave us much time," Natsu muttered. "Which is why," he began loudly, turning back to Loke, "you should have been here thirty minutes ago!"

"Come on, you idiots! Shut your assholes and get serious! We only have four months." Erza's eyes were practically glowing a bloody shade of red, so fired up was she.

I cringed and dashed back over to my keyboard, working the stiffness out of my fingers as the others all repositioned themselves with their instruments. Loke hastily got his guitar unpacked while the rest of us waited, earning a glare from Natsu that promised pain if he was late again.

The next day, I was exhausted. We'd stayed up on the roof practicing until almost eight—a whole two and a half hours longer than usual. The others didn't seem any better off. Throughout the day, I'd caught glimpses of Gray and Loke nodding off, strings of drool often hanging down from their slack jaws. Thankfully, the teachers merely shook their heads in amusement and carried on with their lessons.

In fifth period Music Theory, I finally succumbed to the exhaustion and laid my head down on my desk as my eyes slipped shut. I couldn't wait for the weekend so that I could catch up on homework and sleep. There would also be more time to practice. I groaned as I thought about how hard it was being in a band after all. No wonder they skip school so much….

"Hey, Lucy." I felt something light bounce off of my shoulder and cracked an eye irritably to see who had disturbed my slumber. Natsu was peering over at me from his desk beside mine, another ball of paper poised in his hand.

"What do you want?" I grunted, closing my eyes again. I really liked the new immunity that came with being in Fairy Tail, because none of the teachers bothered me in class about falling asleep. Not that I made it a habit or anything….

"Are you alright?" he asked persistently, concern in his voice.

I cracked both eyes now and fixed him with a glare. "What do you think? I'm up 'til all hours of the evening practicing with you guys, and I still have homework to do when I get home."

He just gave me a look that clearly said he thought I was stupid. "You do your homework?"

I just gaped at him with narrowed eyes for a moment, before pointedly turning my head around on my desk and closing my eyes again. I heard him snort, but could still feel his gaze boring into the back of my head. Determined to ignore him, I squeezed my eyes shut tighter and imagined that I was back in my warm, soft bed.

Too soon, the bell dismissing us to lunch rang, and I was forced to get up. I groaned as I lifted my head and looked around with bleary eyes. All of the students were streaming quickly from the room, and my bandmates were all standing and stretching. I groaned again and heaved myself to my feet as a giant yawn threatened to split my cheeks.

"Careful there," Loke said as he strode over. "That yawn looked big enough to swallow you whole."

I glowered at him and quickly shoved my notebook into my bag. "Yeah, and your puddle of drool looked deep enough to drown in."

Gray came up behind him and burst into laughter, clapping Loke on the back. "Good one, Luce!"

I grinned faintly and turned to make my way out of the room. Natsu fell into step beside me, his hands linked casually behind his head. "The weather's good today; let's eat outside, guys!"

Everyone answered cheerfully in the affirmative, and we all headed over to the old building for some peace and quiet. As we passed by the cafeteria, someone shouted, "Lucy-sama, wait up!"

I came to a halt as I looked over in surprise to see Juvia jogging towards us with a hand in the air to wave us down. "Juvia-chan?" I asked in surprise. She didn't usually eat with us, instead choosing to eat with her cousin, Gajeel. Gajeel was a big, scary-looking guy with spiky black hair that fell halfway down his back, and he had a bunch of silver piercings all over his face. I didn't know much about his personality, as we'd never spoken, but I would often catch him glaring at me for no reason. Today, apparently, he was absent, leaving Juvia alone in the lunchroom.

"Lucy-sama, Erza-sama, Natsu-sama, Loke-sama, G-Gray-sama," she said to each of us in turn, bowing to all of us. We returned her bows politely and waited for her to finish. If Gray noticed how she tripped over his name, he gave no indication of it. "I see you guys are planning on eating outside today. May I join you?"

I glanced around at my bandmates, asking with my eyes if it was okay. Natsu shrugged and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants. Taking that as a yes, I turned to Juvia again and said, "Sure!"

Juvia smiled shyly. She had just opened her mouth to say something when another voice called out from the cafeteria.

"Lu-chan!"

I turned at the sound of Levy's voice and felt a grin spread across my face at the sight of the blue-haired sprite. "Levy-chan!" She had been out of town for the past week, and I just realized that she didn't know yet about me joining the band. She liked the members well enough, but I wondered how she would feel when I told her that I had become a member of Fairy Tail.

"Please, ladies, don't flood me with too much attention," Loke said dryly.

"Jealous?" Erza smirked.

Loke pouted and turned away in fake dejection. Gray rolled his eyes and smiled politely at Levy and Juvia.

Ignoring both of the guys, I smiled at Levy and asked, "Would you like to eat outside with us?"

"I'd love to!" She beamed and fell into step with us. As we walked away from the cafeteria and continued on our way to the old building, I felt the glares of every girl in the room on my back. Considering the display just now, I would've thought they would try to get in good with me. Oh well, they could hate me all they liked, because I was happy and that's all that mattered.

As we walked outside into the sun, I brought my hand up in a makeshift visor over my eyes. It was hot outside, but not enough to make me sweat if we just sat there on the roof. Walking along the gravel path to the old building, I adjusted the strap of my bag over my shoulder. I wonder what Virgo packed in my bento today, I thought hungrily.

We were almost to the building when I came to a halt. I cocked my head to the side as I listened closer. "Is that...a guitar?"

The others all stopped then and listened, too. Gray and Loke exchanged a look and then took off towards the building's entrance. Natsu and Erza followed right on their heels, leaving Juvia, Levy and me to bring up the rear. We quickly ran to the old service elevator in the back of the building, all seven of us cramming into the tiny box. There was barely room to breathe, forget about moving. I was wedged between Natsu and Erza, uncomfortably aware of the way my chest was pressed tightly against Natsu's. His hard abs were hardly concealed beneath his tank top, especially pressed against my ribs as they were. A slow blush spread across my cheeks, and I hid my face by tucking it against his defined chest. If Natsu noticed, he didn't give any indication of it. However, I nearly jumped when I felt two warm weights rest on my shoulders. Daring to sneak a glance out of the corner of my eye, I saw his arms raised slightly to place his hands on my shoulders. The rest of the elevator ride seemed both agonizingly and gloriously long as I waited for the elevator to grind its way to the second floor.

As soon as the doors opened with an off-key ping, we all fell out of the elevator and staggered over to the niche with the steep stairs leading up to the roof. The music was even louder here, and I couldn't deny that I was dying with curiosity to know who was playing. Whoever it was, they had some serious skill.

We were in such a rush to get to the top of the steps that I didn't even care this time if somebody got a peek up my skirt. Thankfully, it was only Juvia right below me, so I didn't have to worry too much. By the time all of us had crowded onto the small landing at the top of the stairs, Natsu had his hand on the roof's door handle and was getting ready to push it open. We all stepped forward eagerly, holding our breaths anxiously. Even Juvia and Levy seemed to have caught the excited energy rolling off of us band members, for they pressed forward along with me. At last, Natsu shoved the door open, exposing the roof to our waiting eyes. We all spilled out onto the roof until everyone had a view of the person before us.

No one spoke. I think we were all in too much awe to express ourselves in words at the moment. At least, I was.

We had about a second to take him in before he stopped playing. But that was enough. He was easily one of the most attractive boys I had ever seen, with deep blue hair and a chiseled face, with a slender but muscular body that would make a Greek god weep. He had been lying on his back on the waist-high wall at the edge of the roof, his guitar resting across his abdomen as his fingers flew deftly over the strings. His furthest leg from us was propped up casually, his knee jutting into the air, and the other leg was resting straight out on the wall. He was wearing skinny black cargo pants with several chains, and an untucked black dress shirt with a loose red tie.

As he sat up and turned to face us, my eyes widened at the sight of the right side of his face. An intricate red tattoo adorned his cheek and eyelid, extending up to his hairline.

"Who are you?" Gray asked with a tone I couldn't quite identify. Curiosity? Awe? Irritation? Perhaps all three.

The boy stared at us for a moment, his golden brown eyes silently sizing all of us up. He was still sitting casually on the wall, his leg propped up in front of him as he leaned one arm on his raised knee. The other hand rested on his dark blue guitar, which was lying next to him on the wall now.

After a moment, he stood and spoke. "My name is Jellal Fernandes. What do you want?"

"Nothing, really," Natsu said casually. He stuffed his hands into his pockets again, rocking back on his heels. "We were coming here to eat our lunches when we heard you playing, so we hurried up to investigate."

"Do you come here often?" Erza suddenly asked. I looked over at her in curiosity at the careful tone of her voice. Her face was perfectly neutral, all emotions firmly locked away. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. What did she want to hide?

Jellal nodded. "Every lunch."

Realizing that we hadn't introduced ourselves yet, I stepped forward and gave him a friendly smile. "I'm sorry for our intrusion. And we haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Lucy, and this is Natsu, Gray, Loke, Erza, Levy and Juvia. The five of us—" I said, motioning towards my bandmates and I, "—make up the band called Fairy Tail. We come here every day after school to practice."

I could feel Levy's surprised eyes on me and made a mental note to explain to her in private later.

Jellal nodded again. "I see. I'll leave you to your lunches then." He began walking towards us and the door at our backs, his black combat boots falling lightly against the concrete beneath our feet.

I looked at him in surprise. He was leaving, just like that? Suddenly, Erza spoke up again.

"You don't have to leave," she said breathlessly. Her eyes widened as she realized what she had said. Or maybe it was from the horror of being caught sounding like a blushing schoolgirl. She quickly regained her composure and continued in a much more composed voice. "Why don't you stay and have lunch with us? I'm sure we're all very interested in hearing a little more about you, Jellal."

His steps slowed and came to a stop as he hesitated. For the first time since we had met him, his gaze stood still and fixed on Erza. He appeared to take in her appearance quite thoroughly, and I caught his eyes widening ever so slightly.

Eh? Could this be…? I thought giddily to myself as I glanced between the two. Physically, they were a perfect match. Both stunningly gorgeous, with unique features and piercing eyes. I smiled to myself as I noticed him taking in her appearance again. Her long scarlet hair was tied up in a high ponytail today, and she was wearing a short, pleated black skirt with a black belt slung at an angle around her hips, a ruffled white sleeveless blouse that buttoned up to her throat, and black knee-high boots with black stockings that came up a few inches above the boots. Yeah, I'd be checking her out, too, if I were a guy.

After a baited moment, he finally shrugged. "Why not?"

Natsu grinned and strode forward to clasp Jellal on the shoulder as he walked by. We all circled up on the roof, several people sitting on the ledge while others pulled up crates to face the ledge. I perched on the wall between Erza and Natsu. Jellal sank down on a crate across from Natsu, though the brief glance he shot at Erza was not lost on me.

I hadn't even finished unpacking my bento before the questioning began. "How long have you been playing?" Gray demanded, shoveling rice into his mouth.

"Thirteen years," he deadpanned.

Loke choked on his onigiri, and Juvia helpfully thumped him on the back. Natsu shot him a look. Turning back to Jellal, Natsu gave the boy a slow, appraising look. Slowly, a smile began to spread across his face.

"So, Jellal. Are you involved in any extracurriculars here?"

Shooting Natsu a wary glance, Jellal slowly shook his head. "No. Why?"

"I was wondering…would you be interested in joining our band?"

Well, I'm all out of steam. So, please leave a review? :3 And don't forget to favorite and follow! :D See you guys next time! Hopefully before three more months pass. -.-