Hi guys! So yes, this chapter took way longer than usual and I'm so sorry about that. For the record, I did already have the plot/outline of the chapter done ages ago, it was just that these were one of those chapters that had to be perfect-or-else and I had to wait till I was either bored in a writing mood to make the chapter worthy of uploading XD

Anyways, thank you to my Beta Reader who finally got the draft chapter before eleven o'clock in the middle of the night and to the support I've been getting for this story. Nevertheless I hope this chapter's conflicting Nalu and Stinglu make up for it. Enjoy c:

Chapter 21 (Love, Bad Decisions and a Lot of Booze)

Lucy's POV

I've always wanted to be a princess; you know, those princess in fairy tales who are always locked up in some tower that's guarded by a vicious dragon or two and in the end the princess is always rescued by her prince, her one true love. And they live happily ever after.

But in my fairy tale, the princess doesn't have a handsome prince at her beck and call. In my fairy tale, the princess falls in love with a vicious dragon or two and has no happily ever after.

In my fairy tale, the princess' world ends up falling apart.

Isn't it fascinating, how we find ourselves always going back to a particular place to think? It's almost like we automatically go there. It doesn't even matter if people are there already, we make room for ourselves.

Maybe that's why I found myself standing on that balcony again.

I didn't want to wake up. It was too nice being wrapped up in a warmth that was so familiar to me, yet I had already learnt long ago to live without. I smiled softly in my sleep as I snuggled deeper into the other body next to me. One name echoing in my head.

Natsu.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I was already planning the morning's conversation, how I would kick him out of my apartment as soon as I got up. How we would take some kind of crazy job since Erza and the others were out and...

And what?

Suddenly, my fantasy of fighting pervert vulcans up a mountain and wrangling sea monsters with Natsu and Happy broke away, and cold hard reality hit me.

I wasn't in my apartment; I wasn't even in Magnolia anymore. I wasn't going to go on some stupid mission with Natsu or Happy. I wasn't part of Fairy Tail anymore.

I was in Crocus, participating in the Grand Magic Games on an opposing team and in unknown amount of days the world was going to end. And Jellal and I were the only people who knew it.

I snapped open my eyes, my heart racing in my chest as I clung to my subconscious fantasy. Maybe if I just wished for it hard enough, it'll be true. I'll be in Magnolia again, yeah. Natsu might even be beside me.

But when I turned around I realised it wasn't Natsu after all. Not even close.

I stared in what felt like horror and shock as I scanned the figure beside me. I held back a scream as I sat as far away from him as possible, almost falling off the edge.

Somewhere in my mind I was telling myself to check if I had clothes or not but I dismissed it since the person on my bed was fully clothed.

In fact, he looked like he hadn't even bothered changing for the night.

I looked down at myself and I realised I was fully clothed as well. Everything was still there, my corset, my makeshift skirt, even my boots were still on my feet.

By now, my shock was residing, replaced by an unsettling silence of emotions. It was like I had gone numb. Panicking, I forced myself to feel something, anything. Joy, anger, guilt, sadness. Anything would be good.

But nothing came.

I got off the bed, making the bed creak a little and the person on my bed move. I froze, standing there. Did I wake him up? But he continued snoring away like nothing had happened. I sighed softly and went into the toilet to clean up.

After I did and had gotten changed, I had walked onto the balcony where the sun was just starting to rise.

I stood there for a minute, the silence making my hazy mind refresh the memory of what had happened this morning. It almost seemed like a dream now, a horrible dream.

I pushed the thoughts away quickly, filling them up on strategies to defeat Zeref. Of course, I came up with none. It was harshly true that I was too weak to defeat him.

Hell, I don't even think all eight of the other Dragon Slayers could kill him.

Suddenly a pair of footsteps behind me made me turn around.

A ruffled up, but otherwise awake Sting stood there. His eyes looking strangely serious. I blushed deep red as I looked over at him, not quite meeting his eyes, my mind already reminding me of what had happened that morning.

"G-good morning." I choked out as I stared down at my shoes waiting for him to say something. "Nothing happened last night, don't worry." He answered, his tone laced with something that sounded bitter. I blushed further. "Oh." He nodded before joining me where I stood, facing out into the sunset.

We stood for a few minutes silently, the feeling of foreboding never leaving me. I looked over to Sting cautiously, only to see that he was tense as well. His shoulders were riled up together as if it was being held together by a rubber band, sweat had gathered on his forehead, like he had just gotten out of a bad dream.

Even his teeth were clenched together as if he was bracing himself for something to happen. I frowned; this wasn't good. Did something happen? Multiple scenarios played through in my head as my heart raced against my chest.

Something was wrong.

It wasn't until minutes later when I couldn't take it anymore. "Did something happen?" I snapped. His head jerked up to meet mine like he had just gotten torn out of his train of thought. His eyes met mine; his usually clear blue eyes were the colour of a stormy sea. And I knew, I just knew, behind those eyes he was arguing with himself.

"Lucy... There's something I need to talk to you about."

Normal POV

Sting felt the heaviness of his words as each and every one of them got caught in his throat. Both his palms and forehead were damp with sweat. He had to force himself not to wipe his palms on his pants as he stared nervously at the blonde Mage that was standing front of him.

Lucy had looked nervous herself as she waited for the Light Dragon Slayer to say something. Sting couldn't help but wonder if she already knew what he was about to confess - she wasn't stupid after all, and after what had happened yesterday morning and last night she had every right to suspect him.

But was that good or bad?

Sting had thought he had thought this through enough last night, after deciding right before he fell asleep next to Lucy, that he'd had enough of hiding his feelings. He'd never know if Lucy was in fact in love with Natsu Dragneel or not, if he'd never asked. So taking this risk was the only way.

If she didn't then that was great, amazing even. He would know for certain he had a chance. But if she did... Then what was he going to do?

He decided he would decide then when it came down to it. But right now the important thing was to hear her answer and not embarrass himself royally in front of her.

"When you first entered Sabertooth, I won't lie, I was sceptical of you." "Sting, I-" Lucy began but was cut off by Sting. "I had thought you would take my place as the best Mage in Sabertooth even. I was wrong." Lucy stared at Sting's face which had darkened somewhat, making her shiver.

This wasn't like Sting. Was he threatening her? But why should he do that? He was her friend, well as close as being a friend to her after what had happened with Fairy Tail. They were her comrades her team mates after all.

Then what was he trying to say?

"I was wrong." Sting whispered, chuckling a little under his breath. "You took it to a whole new level and became guild master." Lucy gulped. Why would he bring this up if he was threatening her? Was he working with Jiemma, is that it?

Did Jiemma hire him to get rid of her? But Minerva, his daughter, was guild master right now. Why would he be opposed to that?

Before Lucy could think of any other answers to Sting's abnormal behaviour, he spoke again, quietly this time.

"And I was angry, I was angry for a long time. I thought you had really bested me now, not only were you a more powerful Dragon Slayer than I am, you were elected as guild master to my own guild." Lucy looked down at her feet. It wasn't like she wanted to be guild master. She even gave it to someone else in the end.

Lucy couldn't understand why Sting was bring this up like it was her fault. Like she had forced everyone to look at her as guild master. Like she had wanted it. "You know I didn't want it in the first place." She snapped. Without realising it, she clenched her fist to her side, forcing them down before she could punch him.

Sting didn't react to Lucy's obvious discomfort and ploughed on, his eyes still trained on Lucy's angry ones. "But then I realised you didn't want to be guild master, you even went the liberty to give it to Minerva. Minerva who could have turned out to be as disgusting as a human being Jiemma was."

Lucy's angry gaze wavered as she absorbed Sting's words. He had called Jiemma disgusting, of course he wasn't working for him. How could Lucy think that? She slowly unclenched her fists and sighed.

"I think it was around that time when I first started falling in love with you." Sting whispered, looking up into the pink orange sky. Lucy's breath caught in her throat, her mouth was suddenly dry as desert and she couldn't find a way to say anything.

Not even a simple yes or no.

Suddenly Sting glanced back at her, his blue eyes burning into hers. "And then it happened, again and again." He laughed softly as he said it; the laugh sounded empty, hollow. Almost devoid of human emotion.

"And then, I finally realised something, something that was so blatantly obvious to everyone but you and me... You, Lucy Heartfilia, are my mate."

Lucy's POV

I didn't answer Sting as he stared at me, his gaze so intense I felt like I was burning up. But I couldn't answer him; not even his demanding gaze was able to give me an answer to what he had just said.

Maybe I was dazed, in shock.

Or maybe I just didn't know what to say.

The word 'mate' had struck something inside me. It almost felt like I was unintentionally breaking open a door that led to a memory I had long since forgotten, or maybe I just didn't want to remember.

Either way, I remembered it now, every last painful detail I had locked away in my heart.

19th February, X791, 11:36pm

It was nearing midnight, yet the guild was still alight with celebration. Everywhere you looked was happiness and laughter. And, of course, booze.

I laughed along as Gray once again found himself naked in the middle of the guild while Juvia squealed in delight. I couldn't help but suddenly feel a little sad as I looked around the guild once more. Everyone, including, Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Erza even Levy had all been trapped at Tenroujima for almost seven years.

It was horrifying to think we could have missed so many moments. I looked over to the spot where Alzack, Bisca and their kid Asuka had been sitting and sighed. It must have been hard to scrape together cash those seven years when the guild started falling South.

And having a kid around to take care of must have made it worse. I leaned against my palm and shook the thoughts out of my head. We were back now, and that's all that really mattered.

Suddenly, Natsu walked up to me, laughing at nothing in particular. I rolled my eyes - he's already drunk and the party (according to Cana) hasn't even started yet. I looked up at Natsu and smiled. "Hi Natsu!" He grinned. "Luce, whaddya doing there sitting by yourself? Come on!" He pointed towards the table where the rest of Team Natsu was sitting.

I shook my head at him but got up. "Sure, why not?" He then proceeded to drag me over to what seemed to be the loudest table in the guild at the moment. "Lucy!" Everyone greeted as I sat down between Natsu and Erza.

"Hey, uh, Lucy can I borrow your shirt?" Gray asked casually, leaning against a pole next to me. I shrieked in surprised and scowled at him. "Haven't I told you enough times to GET YOUR OWN SHIRT?!" I yelled jabbing at him.

He seemed surprised at my outburst, but rolled his eyes. "Calm down, jeez." I huffed slightly and sat back down while Juvia said something about lending Gray her shirt.

Suddenly, Master appeared in the middle of the chaos and started to speak very, very loudly.

"Brats! It may have been seven years for all of us here, but what matters isn't the time we lost, it's the time we still have! So let's celebrate our return!" Everyone cheered, as multiple glasses of beer were raised into the sky.

"Fairy Tail!" They all yelled. I laughed and raised my own cup while yelling the same thing.

The night passed quickly after that, and it was around three in the morning when I decided to go home. Most of the guild had gone home, though there were some stragglers that were either too drunk to walk home themselves or were already unconscious.

Me being one of them, and like all drunk people, I made stupid decisions.

I wobbled a bit as I got off my seat on the bar and stood up. I glanced over at the drunken bodies around and shook my head. It may have been seven years but nothing's changed. Ok, maybe the amount of sleeping drunks around had dwindled a little but still.

I walked slowly across the guild until I reached the main entrance, skirting multiple unconscious bodies on the wooden floor. I couldn't hold in the giggle that had built inside my chest though as my eyes fell onto Natsu who was slumped over a table near the entrance, many cups that had once held beer around him.

I didn't want to believe all of them were his.

I walked over to him and poked him gently. He didn't react. I sighed and looked around. He was definitely passed out. God, things were not going to feel good when we wake up tomorrow. But the longer I stared at Natsu, the more I felt it was my duty to drag him home. Or at least attempt to.

So I did.

I hooked my arms under his slumped body and proceeded to drag him across the rest of the guild. It wasn't long before I realised this was harder than I had thought it would be.

We had already reached the heart of Magnolia but my apartment wasn't exactly close at the moment - neither was Natsu's house, and he wasn't getting any lighter.

I glared at his unconscious body and silently cursed Happy for going home early that night and dropped him onto the cobblestone ground. But when I started to walk away from him I realised I couldn't leave the idiot lying in the middle of Magnolia at three in the morning anyway.

So, let's just say I totally did not drag him all the way to my apartment which was the closest place he could crash at a time like this.

Nope, definitely did not do that.

Yep.

Alright, maybe I did, but I can't say I didn't regret that choice. I did say I was drunk and drunk people made stupid decisions. This was one of them.

We arrived at the front of my apartment after what felt like hours later (in reality, it was probably ten minutes or less) and I was tiredly unlocking my door. Dragging Natsu up the staircase that led to my apartment was the hard part. I'm still not sure whether I had given Natsu brain trauma or whatever.

But he couldn't have possibly gotten any denser, anyway.

When we did finally arrive in my room and I had successfully dragged Natsu onto my sofa, I decided I was going to go take a bath and then go to bed, forever.

I turned on the hot water for my shower and started to brush my teeth. When I was done and I had taken my shower without interruptions, I walked back out again. The booze was already fading at this point and the hangover that came along with it was settling in so I was glad to be going to bed.

But, as I crept into bed, I realised it was actually really cold. I sat up in bed and glanced over at Natsu who was actually shivering. I shook my head at him and went into my cupboard, grabbed an old blanket and draped it over him.

Finally satisfied, I went back into my bed and fell asleep.

It was hot in my bed, too hot. I turned around in my bed, trying to find a cooler spot but the more I moved, the hotter it got. It got to a point where it was so hot, I thought my bed was on fire.

I sat up, panicking, my eyes scanning my bed for smoke or any sign that there was fire on or near my bed but there was none. Instead, Natsu was there staring at me.

He was lying there on my bed, one hand draped casually over his waist and another propping his head up. I stared at him, too surprised to kick him out of my bed. I glanced over to the sofa where I had left him and sure enough the blanket was on the ground.

The clock next to my bed said it was only 5am. I looked back over at Natsu, who hadn't moved an inch since I had woken up and had caught him staring at me. His eyes never left me as I fidgeted uncomfortably.

What the hell was he looking at?!

He smiled as if hearing my thoughts, it was then when I realised that his eyes were filled with something more than his usual childish playfulness and optimism. There was something about the way he was looking at me that made me shiver.

Like I was nothing more but food, prey that he was trying to catch.

"N-Natsu, it's five in the morning, what do you want?" I mumbled, rubbing at my eyes. He didn't answer and just continued staring at me. But before I could ask him again what he was doing, he grabbed me.

In one swift movement, he had grabbed me so I had my back pressed tightly against his chest and my fist pinned firmly to my sides. He gently licked the side of my neck and whispered, "You."

My breath caught in my throat as my foggy mind registered what he was saying. But any thoughts of struggle were soon dismissed as he licked my neck again, before moving onto my ear. Grabbing hold of any sensible thoughts I had left, I managed to choke out, "N-Natsu... What's gotten into you?"

Natsu chuckled into my ear. "Nothing... I just decided I've had enough of waiting. That's all, Lucy." Then he kissed me softly, just underneath my jawline. I held back the small groan that was building its way up my chest. "W-we can't be doing this." I whispered, forcing myself to stay still.

There was no use fighting him anyway.

Suddenly, he grabbed my chin so I was half-facing him, his grip turning the skin under him turn ghostly white. "I'll say this once and once only, Lucy. I've grown tired of seeing other men around you, so many other men. You have no idea how attractive you really are. But you see Lucy..." His tightened, making me wince. "You belong to me. And me, only."

I didn't even get enough time to answer or even react to him when he kissed me. Straight on the lips. I felt my heart skip a beat as his burning hot lips crashed into my virtually frozen ones. "I love you Lucy."

'I love you Lucy.'

Suddenly I couldn't bear Sting's staring eyes and turned around. "Lucy?" He asked. "Lucy?!" He asked again, panicking. I didn't answer him and leaned against the railing of the balcony.

I couldn't breath, I couldn't breath.

I gasped desperately for air that wasn't even there. My vision was disappearing fast and there was a buzzing that had started in my ears.

I shook my head fiercely trying to get myself to focus.

Focus Lucy, focus on your breathing.

But it was too late. All at once, my sight disappeared and I was falling into the darkness.

So what did you think? XD And this is why I don't write lemons anymore. If you ever read any of my Adventure Time works you would know this all too well. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it (I felt so awkward writing this chapter around my friends cause I thought people would just read over my shoulder and think I was writing a smut XD) Read and Review!