Author's Note- Guys, it's Marked's one month anniversary!

Here, have the chapter you guys have been waiting for!

After this though I'll be back on my normal updates, not daily updates.

"Let's go, shall we?"

Laxus walked with her hand resting on his arm, leading them to the ball room. They had previously checked out where it was, so they didn't get lost. Good thing too, his mind was preoccupied.

Lucy was radiant. A cream gown, sleeveless and with a heart shaped neck, hugged her torso. The dress flared down from her waist, but not too drastically. Embroidery covered it's bodice and the ends. It was the first time he was seeing her in a dress so tasteful, and he noticed the elegance with which she carried it. She was graceful, poised, and in short, perfect. Her hair was not up in anything, but had actually been let loose for once, pinned back from one side. She didn't have any makeup whatsoever, and she didn't need it. Laxus was enchanted.

Just before entering the room, she gave some instructions to her spirits who had been following us, and they left for the grounds. "So Laxus, I should warn you. The ball will be, um, hell. The men will try to assert their dominance over you, while the females might try to discretely feel you up. But they will be openly flirting with you. Stick to my hand and you might be able to fend off some of them." Laxus stared at her in shock. Surely it wouldn't be that bad?

He was right, it wasn't that bad. It was worse.

Fifteen minutes into the ball, and Laxus was praying to all the gods in the world to send someone down their way for him to punch. The men were definitely trying to up one another by trailing on about their wealth, contacts and businesses. Their wives looked bored with them, and soon wandered off, looking for god knows what. They did try talking to him, and flirting too, but Lucy's presence seemed to ward them off.

That wasn't the worst of it.

The men kept making passes at Lucy, suggesting she ditch Laxus and go with them. Their lecherous stares and occasionally touching was sending shivers down her spine, he could feel it. And even though he didn't know her well enough, even he could see that the smile on her face was fake.

But he was impressed by her. She was the model of politeness, always keeping her manners and behaviour in check. It was as though someone had replaced the gregarious social butterfly of Fairy Tail with a debutante of high society.

But he was barely keeping himself in check. Every damn time someone even looked at her with lust, forget actually talking to her, he fought the itch he felt to just hurl them across the hall they called a room. Maybe it was the dragon instinct, but he knew he even the rest of the members of Fairy Tail would feel the same.

When a group of men left them, Lucy sighed. "How do you do this? They barely looked at your face, preferring to stare at your chest." Lucy looked at him, her expression one of disgust. "I was trained to do this my entire life. Not that I like it. Oh, the music has started. We will have to go to the center."

"I fucking refuse to dance. I won't. We will stay here." Lucy left his arm and instead placed her hands on her waist, disapproving. "Laxus, everyone has to dance. It is a ball! You WILL dance." There she was again. 'Scary Lucy'. Laxus nodded so fast a bone he didn't even know existed in his neck popped. She instantly grinned at him. "Let's go. It won't be that bad, you know. At least your feet aren't strapped to six inch heels." Taking his arm, Lucy lead them to the center of the ball room.

She placed one hand on his shoulder while the other hand grasped his. "Put your hand on my waist!" She hissed under her breath, and Laxus instantly complied. She lead him across the floor, taking small steps back and forth. He tried to follow in her footsteps, quite literally, but ended up stepping on her feet many, many times. To her credit, Lucy didn't faze once. She kept muttering instructions under her breath, her expression never wavering.

Laxus fumbled with the dance, and was glad that she was leading. Soon he heard a soft giggle which made his heart skip a beat. "Who would have known that Laxus Dreyar was so awkward under all of his aggression?" Her eyes were sparkling with mirth, but he found that he didn't mind one bit.

As they kept staring into each other's eyes, her grin died down. The twin orbs commanded his full attention. He was drowning in her eyes, lost in her. Their steps became smaller, and the distance between them started closing.

He had never observed her this close. He noticed that her eyes were not fully chocolate, as he had assumed, but in the lighted hall they looked caramel. Her cheeks were faint pink and her full lips were parted. They were mocking him, looking plump, soft and smooth, begging him to kiss them. His mind wandered to another time, another party, but the same pair of lips. How they had taunted him then, too, but he had won that night. He didn't know what had been going on his mind but at that moment, he had wanted her to himself. All of her.

His eyes went back to her's, and his head started closing the gap between them. Her eyelids fluttered once before dropping halfway, her lips inching towards his. They had stopped dancing. Her eyes darted down once before resting on his again. Their lips were a hairsbreadth away. He could feel her hot breath ghosting over his lips.

Suddenly a shrill scream tore through, and they jumped away from each other. Turning, Laxus saw that five people in normal clothes were standing at the open door of the ball room. Four of them ducked in time while the fifth was hit by an arrow. He saw Lucy's spirits running towards the doors and felt himself too move to them.

The guests were catatonic, screaming, running and basically causing a stampede. But they didn't know where to go, so they simply collected themselves at the other end of the hall. He saw Lucy follow him to the intruders, and smirked. She didn't even hesitate in following him.

"LUCY-SAMA!" He saw one of the intruders shoot the goat spirit, and his sensitive ears caught the strangled gasp that came from Lucy's throat. "Oh, what a weak spirit. All of these celestial spirits are pretty useless, it seems." The man with the shotgun scoffed while the man next to him nodded in agreement, and Lucy's eyes screamed murder. "Laxus, I'll take those two while you can take the rest." He wanted to kill these men, too.

He had been so close to kissing Lucy.

"Gladly, Lucy." His fists crackled with electricity. "Oh look, someone is coming to play with us! Damn, the chick is HOT." A growl escaped his lips as red painted his vision, and he grabbed the offending man by his shirt. "Say that again?" But to his surprise, the man just laughed. "Like I said, she is a damn hottie. Why so angry, you tappin' that?" Bloodlust he had spent years calming down broke through as he sent the man flying to the wall. But halfway to the wall, he disappeared and emerged in front of Laxus again.

Capturing him again, this time Laxus sent a bolt of lightning down the man's spine before he could escape his hands, and after a scream he fainted. "W-Wait Boss! I know him! That's Laxus Dreyar from Fai-" Laxus punched the man, and he instantly got knocked out.

Two down, one to go.

Laxus cracked his knuckles as he towered over the third person,who was quaking in his shoes. "You know, I was really close to kissing this woman I like. Like, really fucking close. But you just had to come. I am not going to hit you. Yet. I'll make you watch her fight, and then decide who gets to kick your ass into the ground." Grabbing the man's collar, he simply turned to see how Lucy was faring.

And almost fainted himself.

Her dress was gone (that seemed to happen to her a LOT) and she was in her underwear. Clad in white stockings, she was all legs. He positively shivered when she handled her whip with ease, his mind wandering to forbidden fantasies. She was fighting the shooter, while the other was being handled by her horse spirit. Her whip coiled around the man's neck and she pulled him in. Grabbing the man's hair with both hands, she hit her knee right into his forehead. "Weak? Still weak, am I?"

The man's gun was across the floor, and he looked pretty beat up. Had she been doing this for a long time? He collapsed on the floor the moment she let his hair go, and she kicked his stomach with her heels. "I think my spirits will have to teach you a lesson too. Sagittarius, you can go back." At that she cracked her whip at the man her spirit was fighting, and he fell down instantly. "Gate of the Twins I open thee, Gemini!"

Two tiny blue spirits popped up. "Turn into Gray." Her voice was as dark as her eyes, and it had goosebumps running all over Laxus's body for multiple reasons. The spirits turned into his guild mate. "Now, freeze his hands and feet to the floor. Then turn into Erza." After Gray (Laxus just decided to call Gemini Gray) froze the man, he transformed into Erza.

But something was different. Her hair was short, till her chin. It must have been one of her lesser used armours , because it was not something he had ever seen before. A skimpy outfit, with a hefty looking spear on her hand. Maybe it wasn't an armour at all? He didn't ask, since Lucy looked pretty busy.

"Do you know who Erza is? Maybe you are not familiar with her name. I'll try another one." He voice was laced with venom. Laxus was head over heels. Lucy put one foot on the frozen man, and leaned her arm on the leg. "The Fairy Queen, Titania. Ah, you do know her! Want to see her magic? I am sure Gemini will be happy to oblige." The tone of the offer was sickly sweet. The man positively cried at the thought of being on the receiving end of Erza's magic. Lucy revelled in her victory.

"No? So sad. Well then I want you to repeat something for me. Can you do that?" If Laxus didn't know her better, he would have been surprised at how sweet she was being to her attacker. The man feverishly nodded and Lucy smiled. "Say after me: Celestial Spirits are not weak." He did as asked and her smile spread. "Good. Now, LUCY KICK!" She kicked his head and he passed out. She turned to him, her grin positively feral.

"So Laxus, what are you doing with that man?" Laxus too grinned. "Well, I thought we might finish off the last one together." At that she beamed at him. "Laxus, this is the first time someone has done that. Usually they think I might get hurt, so they never let me totally take anyone. Always, I am taking on someone Erza or Natsu or Gray were supposed to finish off." Laxus scowled. "They are idiots for not letting you fight on your own. Clearly you can hold your own. Now, about him." Laxus held up the man in his hands so that Lucy could attack the target perfectly.

"Oh yes, here I'll do it." And she raised her arm, then brought it on the man's neck. "Lucy Chop!" He was out cold. They tied up the intruders. "Everyone, the situation is controlled! You can continue!" Lucy told the people huddled up in the corner, and slowly they spread across the hall again. But before anyone could approach Lucy, Laxus grabbed her and the tied up mages, and dragged them to some empty room. "What's up Laxus?"

"Blondie, look at yourself." Lucy looked down and remembered that she was basically roaming about in her underwear. She shreiked and covered her chest with her arms, but suddenly something covered her. It was Laxus's jacket.

"Looks like everytime I'll just end up borrowing your coat." He was blushing a little, avoiding looking to her. He was adorable, a dork. She stepped closer to him. "I think you were about to do something." Laxus too came near her, finally looking at her. "Yeah, that is before those fuckers came." Lucy was inches away from him. "Oh, just goddamn kiss me."

Laxus didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed her waist and crashed his lips on hers. She was soft, too soft. He gained entrance in her mouth and almost growled at the taste. Lucy was sweet and fruity, and soon her tongue danced with his. He let her go eventually, only because they had to breathe.

His eyes roamed over her. Her eyes were dark now, like dark chocolate. Her cheeks were red, and her lips even redder. Even further down, he looked at her collarbone, expecting to see his mark and instead found unblemished skin. "Where's my mark?" Actually, the more he thought about it, he realised that he hadn't seen the mark since the morning in Crocos. But he could feel that she was marked. Her scent mingled with his, her being called out to him.

So where had it gone?

Lucy looked mischievous, and grinned cheekily at him. "Ever heard of the magic of foundation, Laxus?"

Laxus had been stumped by makeup.

Laxus-3

Rogue-0

Sting-0

Natsu-0

Yaaaaay~ Laxus and Lucy sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G~

Lol. So did you like it?

The inspiration for the dress was a skin colour/nude dress of the Mori Lee collection by Madeline Gardner

I did something in this chapter, can anyone see what I did? Brownie points for the correct guess!

QueenoftheMermaids- Here, this chapter is the one! Ahhh, fluff.

Fizz out.