Good Morning my faithful followers. Now, it has been a while, hasn't it? It's been too long since you have last read my story.

Alright, so I know that a lot of you would like some drama between Natsu and Lucy. And I can guarantee that you will get some. I'm just not going to tell you when it will be. What's a story without a little drama between the main characters? And I know that I am super infrequent with the updating of all of my stories and there is no one to blame but me. I seem to find myself in various phases where I only write, or only edit, or only read and I can only imagine the anticipation I have put you though. I'm sorry about that. I could tell you that I would try to be better but I'm not sure how well I will actually do that.

And to ElarisLi, I very much appreciate your advice about my last chapter. When I get to that chapter for editing, I will be sure to take all your notes into account. Just as I will to anyone who has valid writing advice.

Any questions not answered above are important to the story and will be answered at a later date. But, feel free to ask any question you might have and we'll see if you get an answer. For now, sit back and relax because we are going on a ride. And as a side note, I have posted the editations for chapters up to chapter 8. And I've added somewhere near 3,000 words to each chapter. Have fun, now onto the story!

Disclaimer: I don't know why I bother. You know I own nothing.

~Chapter 20~

You know that moral code that not everyone seems to have? Have you ever had anyone tell you that your moral code is dumb and that you should change it? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, Lucy hasn't. Not before this very moment. People should be glad she even has one. But at this moment, it didn't seem like it mattered. At this moment, the infamous "Erza Scarlet" had told Lucy that she had to break a promise. Her! Lucy! She told Lucy that she had to break her own promise. What crap was that? To Lucy, or any celestial mage really, that is the second worst day thing you can do... ever. But here they were. Both on the verge of breaking a promise. The only question, whose promise was going to break. Ha! As if that was even a question.

They currently stood at a standstill. Natsu, Happy and Lucy stood behind Taurus and in front of a gate that would lead to their newest mission. Gray and Ezra stood several feet away in front of Taurus, dusting off their clothes from when Taurus had thrown them to the ground only seconds prior. Lucy glared at her opponents who were only looking at her with pity. Mavis, she hated pity. So much. She has had it with pity. But no more. She wasn't about to deal with it anymore. Her whip, though still coiled, rested in her hand. She knew better than to make the first strike. She had ground to keep. She knew that if she waited long enough that Erza would come to her.

Seconds later, the celestial mage was proven correct. The red-head gave a war cry-like shout and charged forward. The ground cracked beneath her feet. The wind rushed past her face. Erza was determined. She was going to make sure Lucy saw the light. She had to make sure Lucy was the light. Even if it meant—

"CRASH!" A sudden heavy force halted her advancement and Titania found herself spitting out dirt. What just happened? What had stopped her? What had enough force to only intercept her but her movement and momentum completely? She moved her hands and started to push herself upright. There was only one slight problem... she couldn't move her hands. She couldn't move anything really. Titania tried to wiggle her body in an attempt to create more room for herself. However, she found that as soon as she moved, the something wrapped around her got tighter. Sharp points were digging into her sides and the heavy thing on her back was pushing the air from her lungs. It was familiar somehow as if she had felt this feeling before. How odd. But... the only person who held this sort of power... was... Chaos.

Above her, everyone was shocked as to what had just happened. It...It was kind of... unreal. Everyone had expected the red-head and the blonde to battle it out, but it never escalated that far. Instead, large dark blue tendrils had appeared from behind Chaos and attacked everyone in the vicinity. Titania and the Ice Block were shoved to the ground face first, and Blondie and her cow were grabbed were they stood. No one moved a muscle. Mostly since no one had any idea what the heck just happened. The first to recover was Blondie. She, however, wouldn't hold still, forcing the tendrils to tighten around her. The Ice Princess only struggled enough to test his prison before he stopped moving. He knew he wasn't going anywhere soon. Titania struggled in her confusion but couldn't see much of her surroundings. To the Chaos Dragon, this was taking too long. This mission, this battle, this conversation! Stirring up trouble was fine but fighting about things that weren't important to him really ate up his day.

"Let me go, Serpent! Let go!" Now, she was an interesting little bird. Despite knowing she couldn't escape, she still struggled. And there were only two real answers. The first? Because Titania was trying to cut her mission short and bring her home. The second? Because Chaos was holding her back from trying to beat her refusal into Titania. A very interesting concept but not really a logical one. Despite Blondie's strength, she wasn't ready to take on and defeat Titania. At least, not head on. Maybe at a later date...with more training.

"I don't think so, Blondie. We have a mission to complete," he hissed at her.

"She needs to know better than to underestimate me. They both do." Her struggling increased, causing his magic to close tighter around her. Any much more of his and she might pass out from lack of oxygen. Which might not be so bad in hindsight.

"What will completing the mission show them?"

The thought brought pause to her actions. Now, there was an idea. What would completing the mission show them? And at the same time, how much would it actually show if these other Fairy Tail mages were around to "lend a hand"? No doubt they would try and take over her mission and take credit for it all. She took a breath before releasing it in a loud exhale. Well, she tried at least.

"Fine." Her breath was still coming in pants, the dark blue magic around her squeezing the air from her lungs. Was that happening before? Was she getting squeezed to death this whole time?

"But, I... want them... out of here." Her speech was breaking up as it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

"Gladly," Natsu growled. His gaze started to move back to the other Fairy Tail members when the blonde called for his attention once more.

"What?"

"Loosen... your grip...some... can't... breathe..." He said nothing in response but the magic that held her loosened slightly. Just enough for her to breathe but not enough to let her go. It was exactly what she asked for, but now exactly what she wanted. Darn it.

"What are you going to do now, Chaos?" Titania asked him. He didn't say anything at first and leaned down towards her.

"I'm removing an obstacle."

Titania was confused. Remove an obstacle? What did that mean? It was here that the magic around her shifted. She felt herself being lifted and she cast a quick glance at her surroundings. Gray was getting lifted as well, but Lucy was still wrapped in Chaos's magic and Happy was flying free. Erza felt her heart wrench. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to convince Lucy to come home and to try and forget that any of this had happened. What had gone wrong? How could things have turned out this badly? How-

Her thoughts were cut short as she found herself suddenly sailing across the island. While lost in her thoughts, she completely missed how the Chaos Dragon had wound up his magic before throwing her as if she were a ball. Nor did she notice that he did the same thing to her partner. It wasn't long before she saw the ground fast approaching her. How unfortunate. All she had time for was to brace herself for impact. She felt her body bounce, and roll a couple of times before her body settled into the sand beneath her. Interesting. Chaos had managed to throw them all the way back to their boat. What happened next was less interesting. She heard another thump close to her before a sudden heavy weight landed on top of her. Both groaned in protest. Wait, what? Both bodies scrambled to pull themselves away from the heap of tangled limbs. When they managed to separate Erza was met with the body of her half-naked partner.

Thankfully not what she was expecting but at this point, she wasn't really sure what she was expecting. But she did know this. In being thrown back to where they started, Lucy and Chaos were now able to get a head start on the mission they weren't supposed to be on. Not only that but Lucy had been left in the claws of the evil Chaos Dragon. Who knows what kind of lies he would fill her head with if there was no one there to filter it. The only thing they could do now, however, was to find their way back to the giant gate she'd confronted Lucy in front of. And to make matters worse, Erza still had no idea what had happened in front of the gate. But now was not the time to think about such questions. Now, they had to focus on finding that gate once more.

Meanwhile, at the same time, a certain blonde was fuming to herself. Who did Erza think she was, demanding that Lucy break one of her promises? Not only was that unacceptable, but it was almost unforgivable. Almost. It depended on what she did to make up for the fact. But who knows? At the moment, it was getting to the point that if Erza didn't slow down and take a breath, then they could never be friends. A bit morbid, sure, but completely necessary. Besides, Lucy had made other friends in the guild. Happy, Levy, Mira. If she didn't have Erza, that was fine. She already had the other crazy, white-haired chick, what was one more enemy? She was sure to make more enemies later.

She cast a glance to the Dragon beside her. After throwing their fellow Fairy Tail members across the island, Chaos had slowly released her as to not overwhelm her lungs. However, despite being released, her anger did not diminish. Sure, she put on a happy face when the villagers welcome them but inside her person, her blood boiled. She would show them. She would show them all. And she would start by listening to the villager's problem. They claimed that somehow the moon had been causing the problem. That it somehow caused the villagers to transform into hideous creatures. Into demons. Arms and legs were scaled and presented a color unlike their regular skin color, some had tails that brushed the floor while others had horns growing from their scalp. Not everyone went through the same changes and some were more severe than others. Apparently, the worst case had happened to the chief's son. His transformation got so bad that it drove him crazy and he ended up killing himself by accident. Unlikely, but whatever. She wasn't so she only had the chief's word.

But, his son's death was the full extent of the curse. Apparently, the villagers had noticed that something strange going on at the temple that was built a little ways away from the village. When the villagers had tried to investigate, they were teleported back to the village gate. And while the villagers had no idea what had happened, the dangerous trio knew exactly what had happened. A barrier spell. How odd. The oddest part, however, came when their employers gave the final details. The villagers wanted Natsu and Lucy to destroy the moon. Not good and all three knew that wasn't an option. However, they couldn't just outright tell them that what they wanted was impossible. Not when it was so clearly obvious that something else was going on here. After all, a barrier spell didn't just appear out nowhere. Someone deliberately set it and the trio was going to find out who.

But finding who was responsible would half to wait. Right now, villagers were freaking out over the moon and all possible reason behind their transformation. So, after Lucy tried to give some reassurances, they were shown to their tent. She was exhausted after her most recent events. A feeling she could tell was going to be happening to her a lot in the future. The sun warmed her back as she walked but the sun was not what they needed at the moment. According to their information, there was hardly any activity during the day and they had to wait until night came before they could go and start their investigating.

Lucy had to swallow her frustration at the fact. She had literally just arrived at this stupid island the previous night. If they had gone straight to the village they could've been halfway done with the mission by now. However, because of their delay, not only had Natsu caught up with them but Erza and Grey have followed him as well. Now, they had to wait for the sun to fall once more. The worst part was the fact that waiting for the sun gave Erza and Gray the chance to catch up once more. Oh, what fun that would be. Lucy could only hope that the second time the pair caught up it would be better than the first time.

The blonde sighed as she dropped down onto the pile of furs that she would now call her bed. It was actually pretty comfortable. The furs were soft and unlike anything she owned at the moment. Well, it surely couldn't hurt to take a little nap. At least for a while. She curled slightly in the furs and as her eyes closed she felt something small nuzzle into her. She let out a sigh and curled tighter around it. Cuddling was so nice. Soon sleep overtook her and she found her drifting into nothingness.

XXX

You know those stories where two main characters fell asleep in different spots but wake up wrapped around one another? Yeah... Lucy never thought she would find herself in that moment. Sunlight streaked across the blonde's face and her face scrunched up in protest. Was the sun rising already? Or was it setting? Regardless, she just snuggled further into her pillow and relaxed to the sound of deep breathing. Wait... deep breathing? Oh no... not good. With her limbs frozen in place, the blonde opened her eyes. At first, all she saw was darkness. Well, that wasn't helpful. Flexing her fingers next, she found one hand by her chest with her palm against the breathing thing. The other hand was draped over the breathing thing and when she flexed her fingers, they ran across something warm, almost hot, before closing around some fabric.

Welp. That was confirmed. She may have fallen asleep curled around Happy, but she woke up curled into Natsu. How had that happened? Well, unbeknownst to her, this wasn't planned by the Dragon Slayer either. Earlier, as she curled around Happy, Natsu had remained standing at the window. His eyes stared out over the village, a nagging something at the back of his mind. Something was off about these people. Breaking a curse; that was normal. Destroying the moon? Unheard of. And things that were this unorthodox often stemmed from paranoia. Unfortunately, the only thing left to do was investigate where this paranoia came from. Otherwise, they wouldn't anywhere with this mission. And that wasn't an option. If they didn't get anywhere then he'd lose to Titania and that stupid Ice Princess.

At that moment, something burst in the tent. Or someone, he should say. On instinct, the Dragon's wings sprang open on his back as he turned to face the intruder. His closed fist pulsed with magic as he readied himself for battle. His lips were pulled back in a snarl as his narrowed eyes fell on the door flap. The intruder jumped, almost falling backward, the tray in his hands tilting to towards the floor. Despite his fear, the intruder quickly righted himself, the contents of the tray stabilizing. The Chaos Dragon continued to stare at the intruder. His guarded stance was unmoving as his eyes remained locked on this young... man? Maybe.

Not really trusting the situation, the Dragon slowly calmed the magic around his hand. It was unlikely that this boy would attempt to attack him but he wasn't about to relax completely and find out. But that only meant that the Chaos Dragon would glare down at the boy until he explained his presence. The boy must have gotten the message because he finally managed to stammer out,

"I-I'm s-sorry for d-disturbing you. I-I brought you guys some f-food." The boy's eyes scanned the area, eventually settling on the sleeping blonde.

"Wow, she's pretty," the poor boy breathed.

He probably didn't even realized he even said it out loud. His eyes were wide and starting to glaze over as he was beginning to fall into a daydream. However, he was quickly pulled from his thoughts as the now protective Dragon moved to the side, filling the boy's view. His wings and body stood in front of his partner, completely shielding her from sight. The purple designs practically pulsed with magic and the boy's eyes were immediately drawn up to the Dragon's snarling face.

"Leave," he hissed.

The boy could only nod in frightened silence before setting the tray down and scrambling for the entrance. It was only once the boy was gone did the Dragon begin to relax. His wings lowered before disappearing completely. The snarl on his lips slowly melted away leaving only a bored expression. Damn his protective side. He'd only meant to protect himself but when the boy's focus had shifted, the blonde was automatically moved into his bubble.

Onyx eyes fell on the steaming food and his stomach growled in response. When was the last time he'd eaten? Oh well. Didn't matter now. His eyes slid over to the blonde still curled around the blue feline. It was unlikely she'd wake up so soon just to eat since she had just fallen asleep. Besides, if she was really hungry, she could always ask the villagers for more food. Grabbing the food and moving farther away from the door flap, he ate quickly. There wasn't much to be done here. You know, aside from hanging out with the villagers. We all know how that would turn out.

Once he was finished, he glanced around the room. There may have been only the one pile of furs, but was so big that it was probably meant for more people than the two of them. Not that it really mattered. After all, Blondie was laying on half of them. But sleeping arrangements were hardly important. There was no one else here and they've been sleeping beside each other for a while now. It wasn't anything new.

What was new was the shiver that was beginning to overtake her. Running his fingers through his hair, a soft sigh escaped his lips. With hardly a thought, the silent Dragon laid back down beside her and slid his cloak from his shoulders before draping it across them. It was probably more habit than anything else. They had been doing it for a while now. It wasn't anything new. What was new was the fact that his sleep was deeper now that he knew where she was, now that he had his arms around her. It was completely different than the previous night when he had no idea where she was or what she was doing. He was sleeping so deeply that he didn't even stir when the blonde's fingers slid across his chest. Nor when her fingers curled around his shirt.

Lucy kept her breathing slow and deep and controlled as she further assessed the situation. In addition to her hands on him, her body was pressed against his side, and her legs were wrapped around his. Her head lay against his shoulder, and she could feel a warm, almost burning hand against her lower back. She shifted slightly, testing the hand at her back and the depth of his sleep. He didn't move or stutter in his breathing but the hand at her back tightened and wrapped further around her waist. Interesting. She looked up at his face only to find that it was turned away from her, facing the wall. Well, at least he wouldn't be able to tell that she was awake. Not that it mattered. Not really. She wasn't even sure she wanted to be awake right now. Because right here, right now, in this moment, she felt safe. She felt protected. She knew that nothing would be able to get her as long as she was right here.

She snuggled closer, her body pressing further into his. She didn't care of she woke him. Which was highly unlikely but whatever. All that mattered was being safe a warm. Something she hadn't felt in quite some time. And it was a feeling that she wasn't about to let go of.

The next time she woke, she could tell something was different. His cloak lay across her body but it did nothing to stop the cold from sinking its fingers into her flesh. Especially when she had such a nice heater before. And speaking of heaters. just where had Natsu gone this time? And how had he left without so much as stirring her? Oh well. If Natsu was up, then that meant that the sun was most likely setting. Which meant that it was probably time to get up anyway. But that didn't stop her from running her fingers over his spot before moving to rise from her fur pile. It was mostly cool with just a hint of his warmth lingering on the furs. After stretching and brushing her hair, no doubt a bit frizzy from her nap, she wrapped Natsu's cloak around her shoulders. She wasn't about to let something of his be discarded on the ground like some trash.

It was strange. When the Fairies had first arrived at the village, there had only been a few people out and about working on their daily chores. Now, however, it seemed like everyone was awake and doing things. It was as if the village was nocturnal or something. And who had ever heard about a nocturnal village before? Lucy certainly hadn't seen one. But she was new, maybe someone else had seen one? It was a toss-up and odds were it was highly unlikely... maybe. But odds aside, she wanted to find where Natsu and Happy had disappeared to.

The small feline wasn't with her when woke up, so the only place he could be was with Natsu. Walking through the village, a movement that seemed out of place caught her eye. Looking up towards the fence around the village, she spotted some guards posted on the corners of the gate. Not really out of the ordinary, but they weren't the ones who caught her eye. On the walkway in the middle of the two watchtowers stood a single man with an odd shape on his shoulder. Ah ha. She found them. Yay.

From where Lucy stood it seemed as if they were staring off into the distance. But, she knew better than that. If anything, Happy was using this time of aloneness to apologize. Something she needed to do as well. After all, they had left on this mission without telling Natsu where they were going or what they were doing. Or maybe this was their bonding time. Something the Blonde could understand as well. Ever since Hargeon, Natsu and Lucy hadn't had much time to themselves. They had been together long before they met Lucy and suddenly she practically went everywhere they did. If she was them, a few minutes alone was probably what they needed.

It was interesting that Lucy didn't even know how right she was. Minutes earlier, Natsu had woken up from a much-needed sleep to find his limbs tangled around Blondie's. Not the most uncomfortable position. He did notice that one of his hands was wrapped around her waist, while his other had trapped hers after feeling it flutter over his skin. Not that either mage had been awake at that point. He did know, however, that her head lay on his shoulder based on the fact that her breath was fanning across his cheek.

He tried to pull away slowly, but that only resulted in the Blonde pressing herself closer into his side. Clearly, that wasn't going to work. Getting up at a regular speed, though, had the desired effect. Her fingers raked across his chest as he stood, the action sending a single spark down his spine. But who even knew if the Chaos Dragon even acknowledged what it was. He was more focused on how her legs were unwinding from his as he pulled away from her. But, even if his movements didn't wake the Blonde, another pair of eyes slowly blinked away sleep.

Ignoring the waking feline, Natsu left the tent without a word. His cloak still covered the sleeping girl but he didn't need it right now anyway. It was mostly for intimidation and infiltration purposes. Just outside the doorway, the Dragon's gaze floated around the village. He watched how they moved and how they worked. It was interesting, to say the least. They appeared to be nocturnals. Well, until he heard the tent flap shuffle behind him. But he didn't turn to look. He didn't need to. He felt the tiny claws digging into his shoulder a second later.

They both knew that they had to talk about recent events. And what better time than when no was paying any attention to them? But where could they go that could guarantee that no one would hear them? His eyes kept wandering until they landed on the large fence with watchtowers at every corner. So, why not walk the path not often used? The blue feline followed the Dragon's gaze and said nothing as Natsu flew up to the fence.

The Exceed's mind race. It had since he woke up. Even before that. His mind had been going a mile a minute since Natsu had caught up. Words built in Happy's throat. There were so many things that he wanted to say. But nothing came. They were stuck in the back of the throat like a bad hairball. Even as they landed, Happy couldn't say anything. They stared silently into space until finally, the Exceed managed to push the words from his mouth.

"I... I-I'm... I-I didn't... I didn't mean-"

Well, that sucked. Definitely not how Happy had wanted to start this conversation. But at least the silence was broken. It opened the flood gates. Although, who knew if that was even a good thing.

"You didn't mean what, Happy?" Natsu growled harshly.

The feline flinched. Although, not because of fear. Happy was passed that. This... This was guilt. It was all guilt. Even now, the guilt from earlier was still eating at him.

"I-I didn't... I didn't... to you," Happy mumbled.

Still not quite sure what he wanted to say, the Exceed said the first thing that came to his mind. Albeit a little mumbled.

"What?" Natsu's eyes looked over to the Exceed.

"I know you hate liars the most. I didn't lie to you."

Happy's voice was still quiet as he tried to explain. He could feel the Dragon's eyes on him but he couldn't bring himself to look up from his paws just yet. And the burning gaze of his father didn't ease in the slightest.

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the blue feline. While what he said was true, lying or not lying was not the real issue they were dealing with at the moment. However, since the Exceed was having some difficulty, Natsu was going to have to be the one to move the conversation along.

"But you think not telling me at all is better? What if something happened to you, Happy? What then?"

Worry wasn't something that the Chaos Dragon thought himself capable of. He didn't have anyone to worry about. Or, at least, that was what he had previously thought. During his quest to find them, anger and irritation were all he felt. Then, as they slept, he had felt that new feeling, worry, creep into his mind. It was odd to have it surface after the fact but he couldn't do anything to stop it. It had buried itself deep into his mind and had no intention of leaving.

"Nothing happened. You found us before we even started," Happy tried to reason.

His stuttering was long gone now, having left once the actual conversation had started. His comment, however, poked at the rat of worry left in the Dragon's mind. His anger flared, flames licking every corner of his mind as he tried to control himself. But that rat of worry in his mind was left unscathed.

"That's not the point, Happy. We're playing with 'what-ifs' right now. As much as I hate 'what-ifs', stop them from floating around in my mind."

'What-ifs'. Natsu hated them. There were more important things to think about that 'what if' this or 'what if' that. And until now, 'what-ifs' weren't ever really a problem. And the only thing he could think to blame it on was the rat of worry in his mind. Well, isn't that just great?

"I'm sorry."

Happy's voice faded once more. As his mouth closed, his mind opened and new thoughts entered. It wasn't his fault. All he wanted to do was spend time with Lushy. But everyone at the guild had other plans. They all wanted to "get to know" her. That's what they claimed anyway. Happy knew it was a ploy. They wanted to keep her away from his father to build a better, stronger bond with them instead. They thought that if her bond with the guild members was stronger then her bond with the Dragon and the Exceed that she would pick the guild over the Dragon. They didn't believe that she would pick the people who knew her first. That she wouldn't pick the people who she connected better with. The people who kept her secrets. Whose secrets she kept closer than her own. They were all so convinced that she would pick them instead. And that was a fear that Happy didn't want to be true. It just wasn't fair! It wasn't-!

"It's not fair!" Happy burst, anger bubbling in his veins.

Natsu said nothing and instead waited to see if Happy would continue. He did.

"They were stealing! They were stealing her attention from me! I was her friend first! Me! And they think they can steal her from me!? They thought that they could break the bond that she has with us?! With me?! I-... I can't-... " His voice was loud at the start of his outburst but grew quieter as he elaborated.

"I only wanted to spend time with her. But the only way to get her alone was to go on a mission. Then, you weren't there he left. So, we figured but you wouldn't mind if we came home quickly. I was hoping to be home before you noticed. I'm sorry. It was a foolish idea."

Happy's eyes that had looked up to stare at Natsu during his outburst now returned to the ground. Natsu huffed in response. He felt... conflicted. While he still felt tendrils of anger, he wasn't really all that mad. He understood Happy's intentions and while he couldn't condemn the feline's actions, he couldn't really commend them either. What a pain.

"A foolish idea, indeed. How do you plan to correct it?"

"What?"

"You said that you were sorry. So, how do you plan on correcting your thinking so that this doesn't happen again?"

"Really? You're not mad at me?" Happy's eyes widened in surprise.

"I understand your intentions but I don't like your tactics. I will not tolerate it if this happens again." His eyes narrowed and his voice ground into a hiss. Happy didn't seem to notice. Instead, he flew around to bury his face in his father's chest.

"I promise. I'll never do it again. I want to go off on my own. I'll always ask permission, I promise!"

While fear is the best motivator for strangers, compassion is better for those closest to you. They'll be less likely to disobey or betray you.

These words were hissed quietly in the back of his mind. The loudest parts slowly fading, allowing Happy to be his main focus.

"And Blondie?"

"She wasn't even a part of this. Honest. You saw how happy she was when you showed up. A reaction like that can't be faked."

"Mmmm... But who's to say that it won't be her idea next time? What will happen if she convinces you that the both of you should strike out on your own on a dangerous mission?" He asked, his glare penetrating deep into the soul of the feline. Happy only paused for a moment before his next words came spilling out of his mouth.

"It won't be her idea. I'll make sure those kinds of thoughts never last long. You can count on me!"

Sometimes, the best way to curb someone's behavior is to tell them to watch someone else. It's much easier for them to criticize someone else than it is for them to constantly be watching themselves.

The whispered hiss couldn't be more correct. Natsu had seen that very at work constantly. At least, amongst toddlers. But who was to say that it couldn't work on anybody else? It was all a matter of perspective. And Happy's revolved around keeping Blondie from making the same mistake he had made. And maybe avoiding disappointing his dad and his partner.

"We'll see now, won't we?"

Of course, with something like this, you can't solidify anything for sure. It gives them motivation, just in case they didn't have the motivation already.

"Mmm hmm..." Happy nodded. "Umm... So now what?"

"What do you mean 'now what'? Was this conversation too boring for you?"

"Well, now that I know you aren't really mad at me... Yeah. A little bit." Ugh. Trust the Exceed to act like a child. Or someone who had little regard for tact. Whichever fit better.

"I see."

"And we don't have to share my embarrassing mistake with Lushy, do we?" Happy asked, his eyes wide with concern.

"Why would we do that?"

"Because she's part of our group. Aren't we obligated to tell her?"

"You said she had no knowledge of your scheme, right?"

"Yeah."

"So why would we tell her that you pulled something like this and that I'm letting you off with a warning? That would plant seeds in her mind that if you could get away with something like this, then she could too. And there's no way that's happening."

"Sooo... we aren't telling her then?" Happy asked, casting a glance towards that blonde partner. Natsu gave him a look that could've only said, "Seriously?"

"For clarification purposes," Happy added, his eyes quickly returning to his father's. A sheepish smile crossed the feline's face before Natsu responded with a roll of his eyes.

"No, we aren't telling her." Happy gave a sigh of relief.

"Good. Thanks, Dad."

Natsu cast either a weary or cautiously curious look at the Exceed before making a dismissive gesture with his hand. But his dismissive gesture wasn't enough to stop Happy from rubbing his cheek on the Chaos Dragon's or from trying to wrap his tiny arms around his father's neck. Natsu only ran his fingers through Happy's fur as his response. The feline purred beneath his fingertips. It wasn't uncommon to have moments like these with Happy. And while most of them didn't happen at the guild, and instead happened on missions or at home; they were still nice. But every time these moments happen, something destroyed the happy and/or content space. Sometimes it was a growling stomach, or stupid question, or a knocking at the door. This time it was a,

"Are you guys done yet?!" courtesy of the Blonde.

Now, wasn't that a nice ending? I should hope so. I feel that since Happy is so involved in this story that this scene was necessary. There wouldn't be another chance until after the mission and if they waited until then, Happy wouldn't have had this good of an outcome. Interesting how that works, isn't it?

And I know that you all will be wonder what happened to Erza and Gray but sadly you'll just have to wait and see. Until next time!

~Brought to you by Jazmin Gato

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~Peace out!