Hi, I'm back! My exam ended yesterday and I rushed out this chapter, so it might be a little short. The subsequent chapters are going to get interesting!

IMPORTANT!: With the recent updates of the manga, please ignore the part where Lucy gets tortured by Minerva and so on! Sting's power might be a little different in this story, but I shall think about it if there are any fighting scenes in the future as it would be difficult or me to come up with attacks. And it would be rather confusing if they were too different. So, just take note!.

Hope you guys like it! (^u^)

Disclaimer: I don't own FT.

Chapter 9: Guilt

"But on one condition," Erza interrupted that touching moment, "We are coming along with you."

"WHAT?!" Sting, Lucy, Gray, Levy and Gajeel shouted all at the same time.

"You can't be serious!" Gray and Sting exclaimed at that daring announcement made by Erza. No, it was more like an order.

"Wait a minute, who's 'we'"? Levy questioned, tapping her chin, while looking at Gajeel from her peripheral vision.

"You, Gray, Gajeel and I," Erza answered.

"All of you?!" Sting shouted again.

Stomping up to Lucy, he grabbed his girlfriend by her wrist rather forcefully, and pulled her over to one corner of the room, far away from that bunch of, in Sting's opinion, crazy idiots.

"Is Erza being serious?" Sting whispered fiercely.

"She never jokes around," Lucy sighed. As much as she knows that Erza was being concerned about her, she wished that the redhead was not being serious. She did not want her date with Sting to be awkward and it would definitely be with the presence of her guild mates. But then again, the redhead was known for being dense when it came to the matters of the heart.

"I can't be with too many Fairies at a time! It's suffocating!"

Lucy scowled, "Oh yeah? I didn't know being with me was so tough on you!"

"I-I didn't mean it that way," Sting bit his lips, not wanting to fight with his girlfriend at this somewhat-crucial moment.

Lucy sighed, "Fine, I will see what I can do."

Sting put on a huge grin before pushing Lucy back to her nakama eagerly.

"H-Hey E-Erza?" Lucy stuttered, afraid of what this fearless woman would do if she went against her wishes.

"Hmmm?" Erza glared.

"H-How a-about…notallofyouguysgo!" Lucy blurted out, all in a breath, shutting her eyes really tightly the moment the words left her mouth.

Sting's jaws dropped. Lucy was supposed to ask for alone time, not for a triple date to be reduced to a double date! He frowned deeply, despite knowing that there was nothing much he could do about it. He knew that on the "Do not defy" list, Erza was on the top three, next to Master Jiemma and Minerva. Sting shuddered, wondering what those two would do if they knew he was dating Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail.

"Why?" Erza asked, glaring at Sting.

"B-B-Because," Lucy thought for a while before blurting, "Natsu!"

"Natsu?" Erza rose her eyebrows.

"Yes, Natsu. Wouldn't he be suspicious if one whole bunch of us goes on a vacation without him?"

Erza nodded her head thoughtfully and tapped her chin, thinking of a solution.

"So, how about Gajeel and Levy go, while you and Gray stay behind? I think two of them are enough," Lucy suggested, giving a wink to Levy when she thought that nobody was looking.

Levy caught her wink and turned as red as a lobster, knowing what her best friend was insinuating. It was the perfect chance for her to have a date with Gajeel! She sneaked a peek at the said guy, who raised an eyebrow after Lucy's suggestion.

"Huh?! Why would I want to go with that guy?!" Sting protested, earning him an elbow in the ribs from his girlfriend and a glare from the iron dragon slayer.

"Why the hell would I want to go with you?!" Gajeel retorted.

Lucy looked at Levy's crestfallen face and she smacked her palm onto her forehead. She forgot. That dragon slayer too, was a dense idiot.

"Enough of this argument!" Erza shouted sternly, causing everybody in the room to freeze up. "I have come to a decision! Gray shall stay behind, while the rest of us go!"

Sting's and Gray's jaws dropped. For Sting, it was mostly because it was not really much difference from the initial plan.

"Why do I have to be the one to stay behind?!" Gray objected. How unfair was it? He, too, wanted to go to the theme park at Espiree! He had heard that there was an ice castle there and was really thrilled when he heard that he had the chance to go there, even though it had to be with them.

"I have a special mission for you: distract Natsu."

"What?!" Gray exclaimed. "Why?! Why can't you be the one to distract him?! I want to go to Espiree too, you know!"

"What did you say?!" Erza bellowed, earning Gray a smack in his head, on top of the one that he had been given earlier.

No further questions were asked, even though there were many questions on their mind. Why does Erza want to follow on their date, alone? Why was there a need for Levy and Gajeel to tag along? Everyone knew that nothing could change Erza's mind and if anyone tried, it would not be too good.

The next day, with their plan discussed, Sting went back to his own guild after assuring Lucy that he was fit enough to return.

Lucy bit her lips as she stood outside the guild entrance. Before she could think of anything else, the door opened in front of her and a pink-haired mage tackled her onto the floor.

"I'm sorry for yesterday, I-I should have known," Natsu mumbled. "I should have known how you felt about the Phantom Lord inccident yet I argued with you. I don't want to fight with you anymore, we just patched back and I miss my best friend."

Lucy giggled and sat up, hugging him back. Tears filled her eyes. She was truly delighted to be back with her best friend, but she was also overwhelmed with guilt – guilt of what she and her other friends were hiding from him and what they were going to do. Probably that was what the tears were for. Guilt.

Despite her guilt and her worries, Levy kept convincing her that even though it was wrong to keep it from Natsu, there had to be a right time to tell him, and now wasn't the best time. After all, both dragon slayers had just fought and there was a more important thing that she should be concerned about right now and that was to convince Erza that Sting was not the person that she thought he was. Even though Erza had approved of their relationship, Lucy and Levy knew that she still had doubts about the white dragon slayer. Not to mention Erza, but Gray too, had some trust issues with Sting. If both of them could see how Sting really was, it would be easier telling Natsu, and convincing him that Sting and her were truly into each other. The other guild members too, would trust Erza's judgement.

Hence, the plan was carried out in the following week.

"Natsu!" Gray shouted across the guild hall. "You flame brain! You burnt my underwear, didn't you!"

"Huh?! Why would I waste my time on such thing?!" Natsu countered, not really interested in what Gray was saying. He just wanting to finish his spicy ramen.

"You weakling! Don't deny it! I know you wanted me to…uh…" Gray stuttered momentarily, forgetting his lines.

"Lose in that challenge you guys came up with last week!" Levy piped in, giving Gray a helping hand.

Help, yeah right, thought Gray. Levy had landed him in a situation where he did not know how to get out of. Erza had came up with the script herself and apparently, they were supposed to fight over who had the more sexier body. The others could not say much, but they were thinking to themselves that they should prevent Erza from taking any job requests that have to do with performing arts.

"Challenge?" Natsu asked, not knowing what they were talking about. "What challenge?" He, of all people, would know such challenges, especially if he was in it to win it.

Gray shot a glare at Levy for landing him in this situation, for he had no idea what to say now.

"You mean you forgot? Gray challenged you last week. To see who could finish the most missions last week!" Lucy's quick wits saved the day.

"Yea! You must have been so afraid of losing that you burnt my underwear so that I would slow down and complete less job requests! You weakling, flame-for-brain!"

"What the hell did you say?!" Natsu shouted, finally unable to accept the insults that he was receiving from his icy rival. Furthermore, he had zilch memory of the incident they were talking about, but decided to keep mum, lest Gray makes fun of his memory.

Natsu shoved his face right in front of Gray's and growled, "Who are you calling 'weakling', weakling? Would I resort to dirty means to win this dumb competition? Besides, you hardly wear your underwear, why would you care whether I burn it or not?! Stripper!"

"Stripper?! Who are you calling a str- ACK!" Gray was in a middle of a comeback when he realized his clothes were missing. "IT MUST BE BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU STOLE MY CLOTHES!"

"WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT?!"

And like this, a fight ensued accordingly. Alas, Erza snapped. Well, it was planned, but somehow she was more intolerant to the noise that she had thought she would be. Lucy and Levy gave a little high five and a wink.

During the unnecessary practices that Erza had forced them to attend to make sure that their plan would be successful, Erza had acted, well, rather horrendously. It made them slightly anxious. For if she was to perform like that, everyone would know that it was all an act. Gray was slightly panicky, but the two bookworms came up with a sub-plan. They told Gray to 'just attack Erza's cake'.

Well, Erza's cake wasn't 'attacked', but somehow, the two females knew that there was a high chance that Erza could not put up with the chaos the two rivals were creating. Gray felt relieved; he didn't want to imagine what would happen to him if something happened to Erza's precious cake. The relief Gray felt was short-lived – Erza went up to the both of them and knocked their head together, causing them to fall on the floor. She stormed towards them and threw a piece of paper in their faces.

"Complete this mission together and stay with each other for a week! When I return, I want to see you two as very good friends! You understand me?!" Erza scowled.

"A-aye!" Gray and Natsu nodded their heads in unison. "WAIT, WHAT?!" they shouted immediately as soon as Erza's command processed in their heads.

"So that what you were hiding!" Gray blurted, pointing a finger at Erza.

Gajeel's quick reflex, after realizing Gray said, allowed him to throw a metal rock onto Gray's head, shutting him up immediately. Thankfully, no one realized a thing.

Gray rubbed his head and frowned. Erza had only ordered him to start a fight with Natsu, but she never knew what she was going to do afterwards. He could accept anything, anything but wasting his time with that idiot!

"Why do I have to do a mission with him?!" Natsu complained.

"Because I said so!" Erza thundered, causing the whole guild to shiver.

"A-Aye!"

"Tomorrow! Eight in the morning, at the train station!"

"Come on, Happy, let's go home and pack our bags," Natsu grumbled.

"No, I'm not going! I'm staying with Wendy and Charle! If I'm with you two, I'll probably not get any sleep or any work done!" Happy stuck out his tongue and flew towards Charle, who turned her head to the opposite direction.

"Happy! You betrayer!" Natsu cried. "Lucy, what about you? Come along with us! We are partners!"

"No! Only you two can go! No exceeds and no partners!" Erza replied for Lucy.

Lucy shrugged and took Natsu by the hands and dragged him out of the guild.

"Hey Lucy, stay safe while I'm gone, okay?" Natsu interrupted suddenly as Lucy was scolding him about starting a fight with Gray every day.

"Uh, okay? What is this all about? Did you offend somebody again?" Lucy stopped and crossed her arms.

"N-no, there's this weird feeling that something is going to happen."

"Don't worry! I'll be with Erza! And I can protect myself!" Lucy gave him a hard pat to his back, causing him to fall forward.

Just as Lucy wanted to continue walking, Natsu grabbed her wrists.

"Lucy, whatever I am going to do next, promise me you will not be angry?"

Lucy looked at him suspiciously, "What are you going to do?"

"Relax! I'm not going to kiss you or anything similar!"

Lucy flushed and murmered, "I never said you were going to do anything like that. And please don't."

"Then promise me. A celestial mage never breaks her promise, right?"

"Fine, I promise. A celestial mage never breaks her promise."

A cold metallic thing touched her skin as soon as she said that. Lucy became wide-eyed as soon as she saw what was on her wrists. It was the exact same bracelet that Sting had given her! Two of the same bracelets hung on her wrists.

"N-Natsu, what is this?" Lucy stuttered.

"You promised not to be angry!" Natsu exclaimed.

"N-No, I'm not angry. It's just, is this bracelet…?"

"Yeah, it was the one that was missing when we were helping the person clean up his house."

"Y-You took it?"

Natsu nodded his head silently, not knowing how to explain. He was never too good with words and he was worried that everything he wanted to say would come out wrong.

"Actually, it fell out, and I didn't realize it was with me until we stopped talking that time. I wanted to return it to you already. I knew how frantic you were losing it, but I couldn't find the right time to return it to you especially after we fought."

Lucy continued to stare at the returned bracelet and Natsu decided to babble on.

"To be honest, I thought that someone gave you this, and I wanted to find out who was it. But then, I saw the exact same one on your wrists, and realized that you most probably bought it because you liked it a lot. Am I right?"

Lucy looked up, forcing back her tears and the lump in her throat and nodded, "Thanks Natsu."

That night, as Lucy got ready her bag for the theme park, her mind was full of thoughts. She sighed and held up the two bracelets in front of her. Natsu didn't look like he was lying, but she believed Sting too. Lucy was confused. Just who was telling the truth?

Who was telling the truth, and who was lying? What do you guys think? Review!

I will definitely post the next chapter by next week!