Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
The next morning, Lucy woke up to find herself back in her bedroom at her apartment in Kurai Town. She remembered having her second showdown with Minerva, and she also had the recollection of their rematch ending in a draw like last time. Well, both of them had only been using one type of magic. If Lucy showed off more of her spells, she might've won. However, the smile on her face could tell anyone that she was happy to see her rival smile at her with respect before she blacked out along with her.
Lucy had fought so hard for Sting, and he really was impressed at how far his girlfriend had come along in her training. She giggled happily, knowing him and Lector probably told everyone in Sabertooth that Reināre and Minerva were now the top girls in Sabertooth and nobody could measure up to them. Sting was obviously the one who brought Lucy back to her apartment, and she saw her black bikini lying on the black carpet of her bedroom.
She was still disguised as Reināre, and her senses of being alert kicked in when she heard the noises of her toaster, food sizzling, and pancakes being flipped. Who could possibly be in the kitchen? It couldn't be a hungry robber with cooking skills, unless they didn't have pots and pans at their hideout to make food. Lucy didn't want to assume the worst, but what if someone from Fairy Tail had been spying on Wendy when she came to visit yesterday? If they knew where she lived, things wouldn't be good.
Upon seeing the yellow spell book on the white pillow next to her, Lucy grabbed it and got out of bed. She thought up a plan in her head to surprise the robber whilst preventing them from taking anything that belonged to her. She tiptoed out of the bedroom, and slowly opened the book to the section with Lightning Magic. Would this sneak attack work, though?
Reināre shouted fiercely with a stern facial expression, as she ran into the living room area, "All right, you sneaky burglar! Let's see how you like it when some lightning roasts you, and turns your breakfast into burnt food!"
"Good morning, Lucy! I hope you don't mind that I made some breakfast for us. It's not really stealing, since I cooked all this food out of love for you." Sting replied with a smirk on his face, as he walked out of the kitchen with two plates of toast, strawberry pancakes, bacon, and eggs.
The pink blush on her face showed Sting that Reināre was definitely embarrassed for assuming he was a burglar, and she was even more embarrassed that she wasn't wearing any clothes. She twiddled her thumbs and continued to blush, before sitting down at the table with her hands on her legs. Sting had seen her naked a few times, and he was blushing as well. His hands didn't even feel the sizzling hot bacon, since Sting was distracted by Reināre's bare beauty.
"Um… I should go put some clothes on, Sting! I mean, it's probably cold outside! I should dress warm!" Reināre told him, as she still looked somewhat flustered while the pink blush on her face turned to a cross between hot pink and scarlet red.
He replied with a kind look on his face, as he gently took her left hand in his and pulled her close to him so her head would rest against his chest, "Don't leave me yet. Listen, I just wanted to congratulate you for improving on your lightning spells yesterday. That last one should only be used as a last resort, since it made you faint after consuming so much of your magical power. Anyway, that's why I'm giving you the day off from training for me to reward you with a date."
Reināre's embarrassed look turned into a small smile, upon hearing Sting's words. He wanted to go out on a date with her, after so long. Her violet eyes twinkled while she imagined herself and Sting drinking a cup of Coca-Cola with two straws. She still remembered the accidental first kiss back at the café in Magnolia, but she had to admit that she liked it. Sting was a pretty good kisser, and he was smart when it came to choosing places for different activities.
"Of course I'd love to go on another date with you, Sting! You're my boyfriend, after all. I bet you picked a great place for our date, too." She responded with a smile on her face, as she looked up at the white dragon slayer and kissed his lips softly.
He told her that they would be going to Hakutai Town; a town that had been created by wielders of Plant Magic who moved to Fiore from Tokiwa Town after hearing about Reināre's success. (This happened between Chapters 7 & 8, just so you know.) Knowing that people from Tokiwa had a specialty for making sweet-smelling perfumes, how could Reināre not love Sting's smart selection?
She quickly ran back to her bedroom to put on a lacy black bra with lacy white panties to match, before putting on a red T-shirt that left her stomach exposed, an orange miniskirt, and some yellow sandals to compliment the rest of her outfit. As she ran back to the kitchen table, Sting dropped his jaw while blushing and the slice of toast near fell out of his mouth. He hadn't evaluated his girlfriend from the front and the back in a while, but Sting could feel her hot sexiness radiating towards him. He continued to eat his breakfast while she sat down to eat as well, knowing this would be a good day.
Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild…
The members of Team Natsu had just returned from a job in Sabaku Town, a desert town where mages specialized in Sand Magic and Earth Magic while paying no mind to the heat from the sun. Natsu had been foolish enough to destroy the Relic Castle, where the supposed treasure was buried, so the treasure-hunting client refused to give a reward to the team.
"We did all that for nothing. Next time, Natsu, don't be so reckless!" Erza exclaimed with a scolding facial expression, as she strangled him and put him into an intense headlock.
Lisanna tried to intervene and calm things down, but Gray was staring off into space while looking disappointed once again. He wasn't upset about what happened on the job, but the same issue troubled him repeatedly with guilt for quite some time now. No matter where Team Natsu went, Gray couldn't find a single trace of Lucy.
How could he apologize to her, if he couldn't find her? There had been no news to the guild about Lucy for months now, and the ice mage kept trying to drive his thoughts away from assuming the worst case scenario of his former teammate's fate. Gray could only remember how Lucy cried when everyone shunned her, and he only wished that he had seen her on that last time she came to Fairy Tail to get her guild mark effaced.
No wonder she wouldn't return to the guild, since the members of Team Natsu had been so coarse and harsh when they brutally kicked her off the team. Natsu and Lisanna obviously were too busy with each other to show any remorse, and Erza had secretly given up hope on ever seeing Lucy again. As he leaned against one of the entrance doors, Gray's guilt told him an important thing. He needed to move on and help his friends come to realize what they had done whilst also finding a sense of closure to this tense conflict.
"Hey, Juvia!" Gray shouted to the Rain Woman, who was at the request board and about to go out on a job.
Juvia turned around replied with a smile on her face, as she ran towards the ice mage, "Yes, Gray? What do you need from Juvia? How may she be of assistance to you?"
"I want you to help me find Lucy Heartfilia, Juvia. She's been gone so long, and my guilt won't go away! I helped my team shun her out of here, I feel like a jerk like that flaming idiot Natsu, and I just want to find her and tell her I'm sorry for what happened! I know you two don't get along, but you can probably find Lucy faster than Natsu or Gajeel could!" Gray explained frantically, as his guilt began to slightly agitate him.
Juvia seemed annoyed at the fact that Gray wanted to find her love rival, but she had also known that Lucy had been gone for a long time now. Juvia thought this would've given her a chance with Gray, but she had also been hoping Lucy was alive and safe somewhere. She was still a decent human being, after all.
Determined to apologize, since that's what Ur would want Gray to do in a situation like this, he quickly ran out of the guild with Juvia. However, where would they even begin to look? Lucy obviously wasn't in Magnolia, and it was highly unlikely that she'd be in Castelia with the Sabertooth guild. Deciding to search in the towns across the sea and past Castelia, Gray made a bridge out of ice blocks and he quickly ran across it while looking fierce and holding Juvia's hand.
"Gray-sama is so determined! Juvia has never seen him like this, so Juvia must help as well to make him happy!" She thought with a smile on her face, as she blushed at the sight of the ice mage holding her hand.
In Hakutai Town…
Sting and Reināre were sitting on a bench in the park near the town's grassy meadow, smelling the mint perfume traveling through the air from the perfume shops where it was being engendered with magic, berries, and flowers.
They were eating some slices of cheese pizza that they had purchased from a concession stand in the town, and Reināre had set the yellow book down in the flowerbed of roses in front of her and Sting. The bluish-purple emperor butterflies rested on some of the roses, adding to the town's natural garden setting.
"It's so peaceful here, Sting. I'm glad that you chose this place for our date. The flowers are pretty, the perfume smells good, and this pizza is delicious!" Reināre told her boyfriend with a light pink blush on her face, as she swallowed the last bit of her first slice of pizza and picked up another one.
The white dragon slayer replied calmly with a grin on his face, as he folded up his slice of cheese pizza and put it in his mouth, "When it comes to making you happy, I certainly know how to do that. After all, I'm in love with you. You're my girlfriend, and I refuse to let you be saddened by anything in your past."
He had never told Lucy this for her to possibly be angry and vengeful like when she used the black spells, but Sting really was mad at Natsu for being so awful and speaking so ill of his ex-girlfriend like she was trash. Just how low could someone go, when it came to the topic of their ex-partners? Saying all that stuff about how the matter of him cheating on Lucy had nothing to do with Sting and Reināre was cruel, when it technically did involve them. Of course, Natsu didn't know the truth yet. He was dense when it came to relationships, not to mention hotheaded and hypocritical as well sometimes.
However, on the bright side, someone who he believed to be weak and inferior to his team technically defeated Natsu. Sting looked into his girlfriend's twinkling violet eyes for a moment, and he gave her a soft kiss on the lips. It almost felt like the first time that they kissed, even if it was by accident. He tasted the cheese pizza on her lips, and Sting's tongue wiped it off slowly to give Reināre that feeling of satisfaction.
She returned the kiss while letting her tongue slowly brush against his. A feeling of warmth overcame her, causing the blush on her face to be hot pink while her hands gently stroked his rock-hard abdominals. Reināre didn't care if she couldn't seduce Sting right now, since their love made them have enough chemistry to communicate simply through eye contact sometimes.
She broke the kiss for a moment when she felt one of Sting's soft hands stroke her rear with such smoothness, and it made Reināre sigh happily in pleasure. He was feeling her lacy white panties, letting his fingers dance a little bit across her underwear while heating up the moment.
"You're really delicate with me, Sting. That's one of the things that make me love you. After this, I hope we'll love each other even more." She told him with a seductive smirk on her face, before rolling off of the bench and into the flowers with him.
They both chuckled happily, now that Reināre was on top of Sting, and the wonderful smell of the roses kept making things better. Interestingly enough, all this botanical beauty and bliss caused the spell book to turn emerald green and then turn pale green. It alternated between the two shades of green, as it glowed brightly, prompting Reināre to pick up the spell book and see what was going on.
Her violet eyes widened in amazement, upon seeing that the spells in green text were now emerald green for Wind Magic and pale green for Plant Magic. Did the magically created flowers play some sort of role for this to occur? Some spells for Plant Magic were written, ten to be more exact. However, such an amazing thing always came with a catch. These spells could only be used in areas with plants around, and they could only fuse with Wind Magic.
"Well, that's new. I guess the book reacts to different elements, too. Now that gives you nine types of magic, and that's like the level of a Wizard Saint!" Sting exclaimed happily, upon seeing the text in two different shades of green. He still couldn't read a single word in the book, and it seemed like Plant Magic was written in another old language of the book as well.
Reināre was about to kiss Sting for this new feat happening, but then her eyes widened in shock at the sight of Gray and Juvia walking down a nearby street in Hakutai Town. They looked like they were searching for something, and Lucy could tell from Juvia's faintly displeased expression that the Fairy Tail mages were looking for her.
"If this is part of Natsu's plot to bring me back for more ridicule and embarrassment, I'm not falling for it! I've changed, ever since the day I met Sting, and I absolutely refuse to let these guys try to keep us apart! Let's see what they think of this!" Lucy thought to herself, as she hid behind the bench with Sting and looked determined to not be separated from him.
She used the Clone Magic to make a clone of herself as Lucy Heartfilia, and the clone wore a pale green T-shirt with an emerald green skirt and dark green high heels while holding a green spell book. She disappeared into a green tornado of wind and reappeared behind Gray and Juvia to get their attention, and distract their vision from Sting and Reināre.
Upon feeling the sudden wind, Gray turned around he was utterly shocked to see the girl he had been searching for. The tornado died down, and Lucy emerged from the winds with her blonde hair obscuring her brown eyes. Juvia was amazed to see this happening, since Lucy could never use Wind Magic before.
Gray told her in a calm tone, as he gasped and then chuckled happily from seeing her after all this time, "Lucy, you're alive… You're really here! I can't believe it's you! I've finally found you! Everyone's been really worried, too!"
"Don't make up lies to fool me, Gray. The Lucy that you knew back then… is gone. I've become someone who looks toward my future, and I'm done with my past. Any ties I had to you and that guild are severed, and our so-called bond was broken when you helped Natsu and the others kick me off the team." Lucy told him in a cold tone while her brown eyes were filled with fierceness.
Gray figured that she would've forgotten about that, but it would be normal for anyone to be upset for being called weak and shunned by people who she thought were her friends. Now she broke her ties with them, thus saying that the conflict reached the point of no return.
"I understand that you're angry with us, Lucy. I've been feeling guilty about what I did, and I want to make things right. I'm sorry that I helped the others oust you from Team Natsu, and you have every right to be furious with us. We were total jerks, and I realized that from seeing this whole thing from your perspective." The ice mage replied with an apologetic look on his face, feeling completely ashamed of what he had done.
Lucy simply walked away from him, as if Gray's apologetic words had fallen on deaf ears. He ran after her, refusing to let her just walk away from his pleas for forgiveness and understanding of him trying to make amends with her.
Gray exclaimed with a serious facial expression, as he grabbed her hand and locked eyes with her, "I don't expect you to forgive me so easily, and you can hate me forever, but I'm not going to let you wander through Fiore alone!"
She slapped his hand away fiercely, not wanting to be around him any longer. Lucy was determined to let go of her icy past, since her future of light was much better and Sting probably wouldn't kick her off of a team. Besides, how could she know if Gray's guilt was real? Erza could've easily put him up to it, knowing how strict and scary she could be.
"Well, then. If you're going to try and bring me back by force, then we'll see about that! Time for the first spell of Plant Magic, also known as Leaf Cutter!" Lucy shouted with a determined facial expression, as the green book glowed brightly.
Reināre and Sting watched the clone unleash several leaves from the palms of her hands, and they were sharp-edged. However, much to their surprise, Gray took the attack and received several cuts on his chest. He winced in pain, but it was like he was trying to show her that he truly was sorry for what happened by not retaliating like Natsu would.
Lucy used the second spell known as Pulverizing Petals, which caused petals from nearby flowers to quickly hone in on Gray and create small pale green blasts of energy when they softly landed on him or on the ground. The ice mage kept on taking damage, but he still wouldn't attack. Was Gray actually feeling guilty for what had happened?
Not wanting this fight to end too quickly, Lucy activated the third spell known as Garden Growth. This new spell caused some roses to emerge from underground, and they released a wonderful smell into the faces of Lucy and Gray. Upon smelling the heavenly aroma, both mages felt revitalized and their strange chemicals went into Gray's body and healed his body to make him undamaged like how he was before the fight started.
"Since you healed me, I guess you want me to seriously fight you. Well, I won't hold back from this point on." Gray told her with a stern look, as ice began to surround his hands.
He used Ice-Make: Spiky Sphere to unleash spike-covered spheres of ice from his hands, only to have Lucy counter with the fourth spell of Plant Magic known as Vine Swords. Two green vines emerged from the centers of her palms, and they had sharp ends like swords normally did. Gray was astounded to see Lucy simply slash at his projectiles, and slash them into dust.
By this point, Juvia felt like she had to intervene. She wasn't going to let Gray possibly die and she certainly wanted Lucy to know she had two opponents to deal with. Juvia unleashed a Water Cyclone from her hands, only to have the most unexpected spell cancel it out.
Lucy shouted with a determined look on her face, as she looked at the fifth spell, "I don't know why someone would use this, but here we go! Time for the fifth spell known as Fruit Frenzy!"
Clearly, the spells of Plant Magic used anything in nature since they made apples fall off the nearby fruit trees and float towards Lucy. She slashed them into apple slices with her vine swords, and they were all surrounded by a pale green aura. They honed in on the Water Cyclone, creating pale green blasts of energy while completely negating Juvia's attack.
"What in the world?! Juvia's Water Cyclone was eliminated by slices of fruit?! That is hardly fair, and the writer of that book has made enemies with Juvia now!" She exclaimed, looking completely stunned by what had just happened.
Sting thought to himself while looking at the real emerald green book Reināre had, as he also looked shocked at what just happened, "This book really is crazy, I swear. What kind of curse did the writer put on it, in order to make projectiles out of fruit?"
Ignoring the shocked reactions of her enemies, Lucy had a confident smirk on her face when the pale green spell book began to glow again. This next spell seemed like it was going to be a major one, based on the excited grin that Reināre had whilst also looking at the sixth spell of Plant Magic.
"It's time for me to kick things up a notch, Gray! Let's see if you can withstand one of my new fusion attacks! Wind Demon's Hurricane and Plant Demon's Blooming Flower combine to form Naturalistic Demon's Lotus Storm!" Lucy yelled with confidence in her voice, as her brown eyes were unclouded by any doubts that she had about using a new spell like this.
This spell caused a breeze to blow past the trio, and eight green leaves surrounded the spot where Gray and Juvia were standing. While they thought this was a stupid trick, the green leaves suddenly exploded into eight large pale green blasts of energy! However, that was only the first part of the spell. A small green cyclone of wind appeared in between the two Fairy Tail mages, and it unleashed an emerald green blast that was twice the size of the pale green blasts.
From an aerial view, all of the pale green blasts were like the petals of a lotus while the emerald green blast looked like the pistil (center) of the lotus. Gray and Juvia obviously took immense damage from that attack since the number of trees and flowers in the area, where the spell had been used, also multiplied the power of the spell. An interesting ability for Plant Magic, was it not?
When the smoke cleared, Gray and Juvia were both unconscious in a flower-shaped crater while bleeding and being badly wounded. They were burnt in several places, and their clothes were torn. The clone of Lucy Heartfilia looked at Gray, and realized that he didn't counterattack that final spell as an act of showing remorse for what he had done. He had truly seen Lucy as a friend, or was that just the guilt overwhelming him? Seeing no reason to stick around, the clone of Lucy and her book vanished into a puff of white smoke.
Reināre and Sting came out from behind the bench to look at the damaged street, and they could tell that those attacks must've really done some damage. The violet-eyed girl looked a little bit scared, instead of feeling sorry for Gray. Team Natsu would definitely be after her now, and Fairy Tail would probably be surprised beyond belief to know that Lucy Heartfilia was still alive.
Sting told her with a smile on his face to give her some assurance, as he saw her body tremble while their chemistry allowed him to somewhat know her thoughts, "There's nothing to worry about, trust me. Nobody will hurt you, as long as I'm here to protect you."
Reināre blushed while looking into Sting's charming blue eyes, and she could only smile when he held her left hand gently and kissed it. Sting always knew the solution to calming his girlfriend down and erasing her fears, which is what made their love great. She had given him many motives to fight alongside her, and they both had come a long way in their relationship.
"You make me feel safe, Sting. Listen, about what Minerva said yesterday… I know I'm not the best when it comes to being seductive, but I hope you know how much I love you. Someday, if you ever want to escalate things with me, I'll show you all my love for you!" Reināre responded while blushing, as she quickly turned away from Sting to hide how embarrassed she felt after saying that.
"You show me all your love for me every day, my beautiful Lucy. You shield me, you stick up for me, you try to impress me, you make me laugh and cheer for you, you're sweet, smart, sexy, definitely seductive since you make me have fantasies about you, and you're the woman I'm in love with." Sting told her with an amorous facial expression, before turning her around to meet his gaze so he could kiss her lips.
She asked him while giggling a little bit and smiling, "You have fantasies about me, Sting? Would you mind sharing those fantasies with me over a hot bath later today?"
Sting could only nod his head in agreement, as he began to blush and think of his girlfriend as being precious like treasure. She was certainly a beauty with the lovely booty that he enjoyed, and a hot bath was sure to heat up a date that had gone from calm and loving to tense and cold. Sting followed Reināre out of Hakutai Town, and they headed back to her apartment in Kurai Town for some steamy relaxation.
How was Chapter 25? Things are certainly heating up with this StiCy pairing, which is good! Lucy now has nine types of magic, but that's not all! What other secrets are in the spell book? Will Minerva and Reināre try to create a friendship when a mutual enemy interferes with a job they must do together? Is the StiCy getting hotter? Standby for coolness and hotness in Chapter 26!