AN: Sooo I know I haven't updated in a couple of weeks and I'm sorry for the long wait. I've been having trouble coming up with what to write for both of my stories. My attempt to give my mind a break worked... but it worked a little too well. Lol. Playing Skyrim non-stop and reading when I should be writing was a very nice distraction.

sorry for any mistakes you may find.

Hopefully my writer's block goes away soon.

Everyone should thank artificialartoffical for giving me a wake up call with her PM. :)


Evergreen POV

"Lucy what's wrong with you today! You're completely losing focus during the most essential part of your training!" I yelled dodging the out of control power as I stomped towards her as she once again stared off into the distance and lost control of the power she was gradually accumulating around her. When I blocked her view of the edge of the park her attention snapped back to me with a guilty look and a dusting of red on her cheeks.

"So-sorry Ever it won't happen again." She said sitting up straight to begin concentrating on pulling on her magic.

Stopping her before she could really begin I placed a hand on her shoulder, receiving a small sting in return from the lingering power that surrounded her. "Lucy is there something you want to talk about? You've been so distracted the past two days. I'm getting worried. Are you thinking about what Gajeel and Levy said? Or could it be that your thinking about whatever has you avoiding Laxus at every turn?" Hearing her small gasp and seeing the way her head snapped up to look at me I guessed I wasn't supposed to have noticed the tension between her and Laxus. "Did Laxus say something to you?"

"No. I've been thinking about all three, it's not just him." She sighed taking a more relaxed position as she laid back on the grass in defeat, knowing I wouldn't let the subject go until she spilled. Following her lead I laid down beside her except on my side so I could see her face. "First I found out that Gajeel had cut Levy out of his daily life on his own, without anyone telling him to do so. And I assumed that he had figured out he didn't love Levy, I mean why else would he start avoiding her? But that's not what I wanted. I wanted him to talk things out with her, but that's not gonna happen because he's now the one who is being avoided, because Levy now loves Jet, which is good right? Which means I have nothing to worry about in that department anymore and we can get back together. But can I forget what happened in the past? How inconsiderate of my feelings he had been, and how my heart broke every time I saw them together; was the heartbreak worth the happy times we had together? And what of my team? Could they forgive me, us both, for not telling them earlier?

"I had tried to find Gray and Erza to talk to them, to ask them for advice, but I couldn't find them anywhere, and was disappointed when I checked the hotels to find that they had checked out the same day I saw them. There is so much I need to say to them, and Natsu, I still feel bad for lying to them for so long and it's killing me.

"I also went to check the hotels for Levy but she checked out after she left the cafe. I wanted to tell her that she wasn't being fair by placing the blame on me for her problems because Laxus was right, I wasn't to blame for her problems, although I still feel bad, but my and Gajeel's relationship was just that, mine and Gajeel's. Sure I wasn't much of a friend to her during the relationship, but I most definitely didn't need to have her place the blame for her current problems on me. I don't deserve that.

"Then of course there's Laxus... I don't want to talk to him or be around him right now because every time I'm around him or think about him I yearn for something I shouldn't and that confuses me even more." She finished in a huff, having tried to fit that all in as few breaths as possible, afraid that if she stopped she wouldn't be able to continue.

Yearning? What the hell is she talking about? No! Laxus wouldn't, he shouldn't... I thought looking at her as she brought her fingertips to her lips and had this dreamy smile on her face. ...he did. I sighed silently cursing him for making things more confusing for Lucy. "What an idiot." I muttered not expecting Lucy to be paying attention but of course she was.

"It's not his fault..." She trailed off when I lifted a brow in question. "Well it wasn't. I'm not sure how it happened or who even initiated it, it just happened."

"He knew not to press you, and after the waterfall I expressly told him to stop but he doesn't listen. If the waterfall and your guys' kiss never happened you'd be jumping at the chance to get back with Gajeel wouldn't you?" I could see her thinking by the way her nose scrunched up in thought as she considered her feelings before she had become aware that Laxus was into her.

"I-I honestly don't know, we will never know what I would have done. If we're going from my emotional state before I the waterfall then most likely I would be thinking of getting back together with him but it still wouldn't change the fact that I don't know if I can trust him any more.

"Ever...am I a terrible person for enjoying Laxus' attention?" She asked biting her lip in worry.

"No, no your not. Who wouldn't enjoy catching Laxus' attention, no sane girl that's who." I joked trying to get that guilty look off of her face. Seeing her eyes crinkle in suppressed laughter I smiled back at her before continuing. " Although it's normal to enjoy it, you can't do anything about it until you decide what you really want. He may not seem like it but Laxus can get hurt, and I don't want to have to knock some sense into you for hurting one of my best friends." I sighed, thinking that one way or another someone would be getting hurt once this entire mess was over with.

"I promise I won't make any decisions until I know what I want Ever. I'll even talk to Laxus and explain to him that he was right and I'm not ready for anything remotely resembling another relationship." Sitting up, with more determination than I had seen in her in the past couple of days she turned to me with a big smile on her face. "Thanks I love that I can talk to you about anything." She said giving me a quick hug before resuming her rigid posture. "Okay Ever I'm ready to try again."

"Good. Get into position and concentrate on drawing out your magic, then let it flow around you, but make sure you keep it within half a foot of you. When you feel yourself tapping into your second origin then gradually expand the radius. As you draw out more and more power you'll notice yourself getting tired, but push through that. This is one way to expand your powers and bear with how tired you get when you use a lot of magic. If you get used to the tiredness then you can push yourself more and hold the gates open for longer and potentially open another gate. But according to Freed and your spirits that's way too dangerous right now so we aren't going to try it just yet." Watching as she nodded at my instructions and closed her eyes I saw the wind blowing her hair around as the force of her magic emerged from her. This was a long and boring exercise but once you got the hang of it, the boringness of it all didn't phase you; she would learn to ignore the uncomfortable ground beneath her bum, the rocks that dug into her legs and the dirt that flew around her and chafed her skin.

The guys hated this exercise the most, always complaining as they were forced into doing it by me. But when it came to a fight and they noticed that they could go longer without reaching the point of exhaustion they thanked me in the end...begrudgingly. But it still didn't stop them from whining when it came time to train with me. We had learned early on when we first formed our team that we could learn new techniques or necessary skills from each other, ever since that discovery we have all been taking turns in who leads our training days. Bickslow was in charge of agility and stealth; Freed, taught us how to decipher runes, and even write a few of our own to help boost our natural powers; Laxus trained us in hand-to-hand combat, and surprisingly he taught us how to do all of the paperwork Makarov forced on him. He may complain about doing all of it, but he was a pro at it, always knowing what papers went where and bullshitting our 'apology' for some destruction that occurred on a mission- mainly from Team Natsu. It was fun really, each of us being able to share what we knew, and learning new things every so often but most of all it gave us more time to grow closer as a team, and learn each other's weaknesses and strengths.

Hearing Lucy grunt in effort I shifted my attention back to her, feeling guilty for yelling at her for day dreaming when my mind had just wandered off. Seeing the air around her twirling the dust, grass and her hair I nodded my head in approval as I to watch her, and felt the power around her increase. I expected her to run through her initial magic within ten minutes but she went on for much longer, which told me she had a surprising amount of magic stored up inside that tiny body of hers. I never would have guessed she had this much considering she was always getting tired after all of her battles, but then recalling the packet Freed had made for us about Celestial Mages, it took a shit ton of magic to summon one of the Zodiac keys and she had ten of them, and she could hold two of those gates open at once. It was amazing really. When considering how much power went into summoning, then feeding her spirits her magic for the entire time they were on Earthland it was safe to say that she was probably on par with Freed, Bickslow and I, in her magic capacity.

About twenty minutes into the exercise I felt her magic stabilize and stop growing. Hearing her steady her breathing I waited to see if she could continue or if she'd have to stop. I could tell she was already exhausted, by the way her shoulders slumped a little and the sweat running down her face. I was thinking she was done for the day, until I saw her determined face appear again and her back straighten. Watching as the condensed force of her magic expanded, I watched in awe.

"Hey Ev-"

"Shhh" I hushed whoever was walking up from behind me, waving him to stand beside me so he wouldn't get in the way of Lucy's ever growing magic. "...watch." I whispered keeping my eyes glued to Lucy. From the corner of my eye I could see that it was Freed who had come up to us, looking down at my watch I was shocked to see that we had gone over our scheduled training time, which was why Freed was here, probably wondering where his pupil was. Continuing in a hushed tone I spoke to Freed without taking my eyes off of Lucy. I needed to watch her for any sign of her possibly passing out, because if she did her magic would run amuck and could possibly harm her in the process. "Sorry we were having...difficulties in the beginning and lost track of time. She's been at this for a good hour now."

"An hour?! It took Bickslow and I a week to get to that point."

"I know! You were right, she is much stronger than most people give her credit for but with my training she should be able to hold out longer than before instead of wearing herself out so quickly." Taking a step towards the Celestial Mage when I saw her shoulders slump, I prepared to fly out of the way of her magic. "Freed can you make a rune barrier around us, I would have asked you to do it earlier if I thought she was going to get this far in her training, my rune barriers still need some work otherwise I would do it."

In the next second I saw the shield go up around us and felt safer that the entire park wouldn't go up in flames if she lost control of her power. Gingerly walking towards Lucy I called out to her softly, so I wouldn't startle her. "Okay Lucy, that's good now see if you can absorb the magic into yourself. Make sure you do it slowly, otherwise you'll get a magic high." A magic high was something I had discovered when I first started this exercise, the rush of having all of your magic at your fingertips in an instant went straight to your head. It was unlike any recreational drug out there, and it was more dangerous. While on a magic high you thought you were invincible, and tried to do reckless things- in Lucy's case she would try to summon all of her spirits at once, which is why it was more dangerous. In the end a person would unintentionally try to use up all of their magic, and kill themselves.

Researching the phenomenon I discovered it wasn't uncommon, and that many wizards did it intentionally for the similar feeling of expensive drugs, unfortunately they didn't realize that it had a 76 percent death rate. For those who survived it was only because they had been caught in time and had anti-magic restraints put on them. The only reason I survived my magic high was because I was too weak to do anything. Trying to expand your magic at the age of six while I was alone, before I knew Fairy Tail had existed was also a plus. After that one incident, and waking up to find myself in another town's dumpster had me freaking out and running to the nearest library to figure out what had caused it. Ever since then I have always been careful, and I wasn't about to let Lucy experience that horrible sensation.

"That's good Lucy, keep absorbing your magic at that pace." Watching her brow scrunch even more and more sweat drip down her face I knew it was getting hard to control the pace. "That's alright Lucy, if you can't continue I have the magic restraints at hand so you'll just be locked up for a few hours." I said giving her an out. If anything my 'out' made her even more determined to continue. Note to self, Lucy does not like being locked up.

The next ten minutes dragged on, making it seem like hours but in the end Lucy was able to absorb all of her magic before falling backwards with ragged breaths. Squatting down next to her I saw that she had passed out, clearly overworked. "Good job Lucy." I whispered dabbing the sweat off of her face with a towel. "Freed can you carry her back to our room-" I began but, Freed was already kneeling down beside me lifting her up. "Thanks. I'll meet you back at the room, I have to gather up everything."

Picking up the few things we had brought to the park I lingered a little until I could no longer see Freed and Lucy. "Are you done being a creeper for the day?" I asked looking into the woods. "You're not really blending in with the shrubbery Laxus, you can come out already." Seeing the branches shift, Laxus jumped from his perch in the tree and walked toward me.

"You should have stopped her earlier Ever, you two could have gotten hurt." He grumbled, lifting the pack out of my hands and flinging it over his shoulder, without missing a step as he followed after Freed.

"Are we going to ignore the fact that you have been watching us ever since my talk with Lucy? I didn't realize you were there until after she had started up again otherwise I would have exposed your eavesdropping... you should have listened to me Laxus, your stunt in the park just made her even more confused about this whole situation, I don't want to see you get hurt." I finished in a whispered tone, knowing he wasn't entirely comfortable about my concern in any aspect of his life.

"Ever will you chill, I know what I'm doing. She already suspected I was interested in her, I just wanted to make it clear that she had options, besides her ex."

"I know, but..."

"Ever." Laxus said as he stopped and looked at me with a serious expression. "You know I've had a thing for her since Phantom Lord, if you think for one second I'm going to waste this opportunity because I'm worried about getting hurt then you're dead wrong. I saw the look in his eye, if he gets her back he is never letting her go and I can't just give up because of that. Hell she doesn't even know if she can trust the prick anymore, so let it be and let things run it's course. I know she isn't ready for a relationship, I'm not stupid, but dating doesn't mean anything. Let me show her what I can offer her during the rest of the trip and she can decide once we get back." He said, shocking me into silence. I knew he had a crush on her since she caught his eye during what I liked to call his 'black days', but I didn't know how much until his speech just now.

Taking my silence as an acknowledgement of my consent he grunted and continued walking back to the hotel. I wonder if Freed and Bickslow know the extent of his feelings for Lucy... I mused walking behind him as I went over the past year and a half since Laxus had first set eyes on Lucy, wondering where I had missed the signs of his true feelings.

Lucy POV

Slowly consciousness creeped up on me as I snuggled deeper into my pillow trying to return to the dream I couldn't recall, but I knew it was a nice one by the way I felt. I hated when my subconscious wouldn't let me remember my dreams, especially the good ones. Prolonging the inevitable I stretched with my face still glued to the pillow before I slowly turned over and opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed was the time... it was only one in the morning. Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed I groaned, knowing I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep since I had been sleeping for around twelve hours. Feeling my bladder throbbing for release I hopped off of the bed and walked to the bathroom.

"Great my first real attempt at Ever's exercise and I pass out. They're probably wondering how I can be part of Team Natsu when I'm this weak." I mumbled to myself.

"That's not true." A sleepy voice grumbled from within the bedroom. Letting out an involuntary squeak I slapped a hand over my mouth as I slammed the bathroom door completely closed.

"What are you doing in here?!" I yelled embarrassed that he heard everything I had said and did in the past couple of minutes. Glad that he couldn't see how red I was I flushed the toilet and washed my hands before leaning over the counter to get a good look at myself. Cringing when I saw the nest I called my hair I doused it with water and tried to tame it. Once it was less of an eye sore I splashed some water on my face, clearing the sleep from my eyes. Taking a deep breath I reached for the door knob and reentered the bedroom.

"Someone had to keep an eye on you." Laxus shrugged, stretching his legs and arms causing his shirt to rise a bit. The teasing bit of flesh that was revealed had me thinking about how nice he had felt pressed against me.

"La-Laxus... I need to talk to you about..." What was I supposed to say? Talk about us? There wasn't even an us. "...about the kiss. No matter how much I liked it, it can't happen again. You see I'm not ready to start up a new relationship... not that, that is what I think you want." I stumbled when his eye brows raised at my rambling. "Oh bother. Whatever it is you want I'm not ready for it."I finished not willing to make myself look like a fool any longer. Waiting for his response was agonizing, he just stared at me for what seemed like ages as I shifter from foot to foot resisting the urge to run back into the bathroom.

Watching a smirk slowly appear, I waited anxiously to find out what he was thinking. Fluidly getting off of the oversized chair we closed the distance between us, making me look up at his face as he looked down at mine, still smirking. "I know you're not ready for a relationship. I told you that the last time we were together before you began avoiding me like the plague. Don't looked so shocked, it wasn't hard to figure out that was what you were doing when you'd find an excuse to leave the room whenever I entered it. 'Though you might not be ready for a relationship, there's no harm in hanging out." Laxus said giving me a sly look.

"...just hanging out?" I asked suspiciously not liking the look of him as he continued to hold my gaze.

"Hanging out, dating, it's the same thing really." He shrugged.

Opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water I couldn't comprehend what he just said. "They are not the same thing! They are completely two different things!" I denied backing away from him.

"How are they different?"

"Wha... they just are!"

"Give me three ways they're different and I won't pursue this." He promised, patiently waiting for my answers.

"Well...ummm. When you hang out with friends you don't kiss or do other intimate things, that you could do on dates." Seeing him nod and lift one finger up I continued, trying to think of what else made the two activities different. "On dates usually the guy pays."

"Nah, I pay for Ever's shit all the time." He said simply, grinning at me as I glared at him. I guess he's right... Gray pays for me too sometimes.

"Fine..." I said floundering for another difference. "... the activities you do with a friend versus a date are different."

"If that's all you can come up with then get dressed I have a surprise for you." Laxus said, turning to leave.

"Bu...but it's only one in the morning, nothing is open besides the casino." I said to thin air as he walked through the door ignoring my protests. Although I grumbled about being told what to do, I rushed to my bag and dug out a plain blue sundress and black gladiator sandals. Quickly putting everything on I opened the door to find Laxus leaning against the wall across from the door.

Seeing him giving me an appreciative look I blushed a bit, and took his offered hand. Entwining our fingers he led the way outside, bypassing the crowded casino, and any other crowded areas he took me to the park where we had kissed.

"Laxus..."

"Chill, I'm not bringing you here for that." He chuckled before stopping in front of a blanket that was spread out over the grass. "I thought you'd like to see the meteor shower that's supposed to happen tonight, wasn't sure if you'd wake up in time though but I had Ever set the stuff up anyways."

Speechless I let him pull me down next to him trying to contain my surprise at how thoughtful this surprise was. I didn't even know there was a meteor shower tonight, so the fact that he found out on his own made it even more amazing. As far as first dates went it was spectacular. Laying flat on my back I took in the twinkling stars, silently giggling to myself because when I was little my mom and I would always pretend that each twinkle meant a Celestial Spirit was greeting us. I know it's not true, but when you're five you'll believe anything.

"You're not weak." Laxus said suddenly dragging my mind away from thoughts of my mother and simpler times.

Turning my head to the side I looked up at him, as he was still sitting with his arms crossed and his legs out in front of him. "Huh?" I asked confused for a brief moment before remembering what I had said to myself earlier. "Oh... can we just forget you heard that?" Plopping my head back down I rested my forearm over my eyes trying to block out my embarrassment.

"You can't seriously believe that." He said ignoring my wishes.

Sighing heavily I talked without looking at him. "I don't know... sometimes I do. Most of the time I can barely keep up with my team, and usually wind up needing to be saved. It wears on one's confidence."

"Just need to build up your endurance then you can keep up with them no problem."

"If only it were as easy as it sounds-"

"Nothing worth havin' is easy. You gotta work for it, take advantage of the next month and a half, learn what you can from us and I guarantee you'll be able to flatten one of your teammates on their back." Looking at him as if he had lost his marbles I mumbled something, just to get him to drop the subject. "You'll see." Was all he said.

Sitting in silence for several minutes I was beginning to doubt that the meteor shower was real and was about to say something to him when I saw a streak of white cross the sky above us.

I loved every minute of the shower, completely lost in the beauty of it I didn't notice when Laxus finally laid down beside me to relax. For something so simple the meteor shower took my breath away as I watched the next twenty minutes. When the last of the meteors disappeared from sight I sighed in disappointment, wishing that the shower would continue for a little while longer. Beyond grateful for this magnificent show, I turned to Laxus with every intention of thanking him, only to find him peacefully sleeping with both of his hands behind his head. Worrying and watching over me for most of the day probably wore him out. I mused leaning towards him to brush away a stray leaf that had fallen on his face, letting my fingers linger I stared down at him, wondering why things couldn't be simple for once. When he grunted and shifted closer to me, I withdrew my hand and resumed my position on the blanket to stare up at the stars, praying that they would be able to tell me what I should do.


AN: Finally I finished this chapter. Hope everyone likes it.

Let me know what you thought please and thank you.

GemNika: At this point so am I, lol. But I think I finally decided on who is going to end up with her, so my long break wasn't a complete waste. :)

rrrrrRANDOMmm: Yes they are but hopefully their friendship will survive!

Cow-Lover2214: SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!

Grin like the Cheshire Cat: I have to agree that LaLu is beautiful.

kurahieiritr JIO: Yeah Gajeel had made them miserable, but he is miserable now so it makes it semi better… well not really. But I can't bring myself to hate him. :P

Thanks, I was worried that I was mucking up Laxus, but as long as people are okay with how he is behaving then I'm happy. J

Laxus' interest in her magic is a good indication of how serious he is about his desire to be with her. And if everything goes as planned it will help sway her to accepting more dates from Laxus in the future, and maybe ultimately help decide who she will end up with. But nothing is set in stone, who knows I might have a change of heart one day and totally veer away from my plan for this story. LOL

OgaxHilda: Haha So sorry… Not! I love how people are conflicted J

Sica-nee: :]

Daddy's little crazy bitch: I'm glad

TigerJoyKitty: Sorry it took so long for an update… hope you enjoyed this one!

Veraozao: :]