Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail because if I did, the manga wouldn't suck right now.

A/N: Welcome back folks to D2L! It's been a long wait but here we are! Before we start, I'd really like to request that my guest readers create an account on Fanfiction because I'd really love to reply to their wonderful reviews

*kindly do not ignore the A/N at the end of this chapter, I have answered a question many of you have been asking for a long time right at the end*

THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO D2L'S LOVELY, AWESOME, LOYAL GUEST READERS

Previously on D2L: " – you're going to get past this right?" Lucy asked.

"Actually Lucy-san, I'm getting engaged" Yukino stated in the softest voice she could pull off. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact and boy did she get it…

"WHAT?" Lucy screamed.

Continue:

Yukino's story was short and relieving… Lucy was mostly glad that she wasn't being forced into marriage or anything of that sort – unlike herself who had been betrothed at a young age five years ago. Yukino's parents were just concerned and wanted her to settle down soon, and 22 is not really too early an age to settle down. Of course they had no problem when Rogue was in the picture, but now that he seemingly wasn't, it was understandable that they would want to bring forth a few of their own choices for their daughter. What Lucy felt pleased about most, or maybe even what she envied most was how Yukino's parents gave utmost importance to Yukino's own choice before they brought forward their own.

Yukino explained that the guy her parents wanted her to 'get to know' had arrived in Hargeon three days back and she had met him only yesterday. She had made her mind completely set upon rejecting whoever the guy was because she wasn't ready to get to know any other guy just yet but when she had met him, she just couldn't get the 'no' out of her mouth!

"So you liked him at first sight or something?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

"No not in that sense…" Yukino laughed at the thought, "I mean, how could I say no to a guy so handsome without even giving him a chance? I mean, maybe not for the same reason my parents want me to, I think I'd like to get to know him, maybe we could be friends you know? 'Cause other than the looks and all, he seemed quite nice."

Lucy understood of course. It isn't every day you get a chance to meet someone as good-looking as Yukino was describing. Surely just blowing him off wouldn't be a smart move. Also, Yukino made it quite clear that she intended to get to know him as friends and nothing more, however she of course didn't seem to really reject that possibility if it were to arise.

"So when will you meet him next?" Lucy asked.

"Next I'm going to introduce him to you" Yukino said excitedly.

"Really? When?"

"He'll be there at tomorrow's banquet"

'Hmm… he must be some kind of influential personality if he's going to be present at the banquet tomorrow…' Lucy thought, 'the banquet huh…' she inwardly sighed, curling her knees closer to her chest.

"Speaking of which, the whole purpose of this banquet thingy is for the public declaration of your betrothal to Sting right? So you guys are ready and everything? Have you spoken lately? Sting must be busy this past month… Rogue said that this month has been a rollercoaster."

"Yeah, I'm ready…. Well maybe not as much as I ought to be, but it'll do. I mean I don't think I could ever be fully ready for this. And yeah, Sting's been busy lately but we've kept in touch… We've gone on a couple of dinners, met up a few times and whatnot." Lucy replied. Things between Sting and her over the past few years hadn't been as awkward or abnormal as one would expect. In fact, it was pretty much over the borderline of normal. They behaved like any other couple, minus any 'lovey-dovey' business. She was very civil with him and Lucy couldn't hope for more because she knew she could never be anything more than civil, not with Sting. Well, Sting on the other hand, acted as though they were dating again but Lucy, though never protesting, never really took part in his charade.

The 'civil' business began right after Sting's speech-like apology. Lucy was either nice enough to forgive him or just didn't really have a choice – I'd go for the latter. His explanation revolved around the fact that his 'pride' had been hurt when she refused to take their relationship any further countless times, denying him even the something as simple as a kiss and in his words 'he snapped'. Lucy didn't really need an explanation, but he had been 'nice' enough to oblige. But whatever the case, Lucy didn't really buy it. She in fact felt a bit offended from the fact that he considered her 'first kiss' to be something she could just hand over to anyone randomly. But she didn't argue.

Since then, she had developed a sort of habit of his presence every now and then – not that she was very comfortable, but she wasn't very uncomfortable either.

"Lucy, your spacing out again…" Yukino called out to her, snapping her back to the present.

"Oh, sorry…" She said, smiling sheepishly, "It's just… I don't know… I'm feeling so nervous and anxious and… I really don't know how to explain it but this banquet thing is really getting me on edge" she explained, staring at her toes as she squeezed the pillow on her lap. Yukino, being the great pal she is, remained quiet and waited for her to finish.

"I just don't know…my decision - It's like tomorrow is a grand finale or something. After tomorrow, the decision will be sealed, there will be no turning back from all this. Well, it's not like I was really given a choice before too but before, there was still a slim way out, no matter how absurd. I could still run away or something. You know, do something stupid. But after tomorrow? After everything goes public, I could hide in any and every corner of the world and still have that truth hurdling over me."

"Well then you should give it a thought once more… Lucy, if you have even the slightest feeling of discomfort with this decision you need to get it over with now because this is one decision that you'll carry around your entire life. You still have till tomorrow, I promise, I'll help you in every way possible – you just get your head clear" Yukino told her.

"Yeah but the thing is, I don't question my decision. I think it's the right thing. I don't want to change it or anything… But I don't know why I'm just having a bad feeling" Lucy said putting the pillow aside and facing Yukino directly. Yukino in turn placed a hand over her shoulder and squeezed.

"You know what I think? I think you never made any decision at all. I think you gave up. I think that you were just looking for someone to make your decisions for you and the moment that opportunity showed up, you grabbed it, leaving behind everything else. But you need to understand Lucy, only we know what's best for ourselves. You can't let your father dictate your life to you just because you don't believe in your own decisions anymore." She told her, giving her a pointed look.

"Well, when you make so many wrong decisions in your life, you tend to lose faith in your ability of making them. And father is right. I mean, whenever I have taken my own decisions, I've seen the outcome." Lucy retorted.

"Now that you've raised this topic Lucy-san, it means you don't really believe what you're saying yourself. Think wisely. I mean think about it, Sting is still the same guy from all those years ago. The circumstances may have changed but everything else is just as it was." She said, standing up from the bed, picking her sling back and putting it over her shoulder, "I'll be leaving now, see you at the banquet" She said before walking out the door. And as soon as she was out –

Lucy slumped her face into the pillow and let out a long, exasperating sigh…Tomorrow was going to be a big day and the fact that she had this stupid tingling, catastrophic feeling swirling in her, was NOT helping in the slightest.

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"Yeah Lyon, all's been great so far." Gray said as he walked down the dark, empty streets – dark and empty because it was pretty late at night and why was Gray out so late you ask? Well, he had just randomly decided he needed to get some little snacks to munch on and so here he was, carrying a shopping bag full of goodies he had bought from the nearest 24-hours supermarket.

"No kidding… so you're going back to Magnolia? Have you told Ultear? She'd be thrilled" Gray replied, "Alright I won't ruin your surprise then. So I'll call you tomorrow okay? Bye bro"

And with that, he shoved the cell phone in his jeans' pocket but as fate would deem it, the moment he did so, heavy, condensed droplets of water began to pour – one after the other at first, and then in just a matter of moments, it was raining cats and dogs and poor Gray was completely drenched.

"Shit" He cursed, searching for shelter and was just making his way to one when his mind caught on a memory, a memory among the memories he still kept at the back of his mind and so he remained there…getting drenched in both the cold rainwater and the warm feeling of reminiscence…

"I love the rain" Her voice played in his mind, "I used to think it was very 'romantic' to get caught in the rain with someone"

Slowly he stretched his arms out on either side and closing his eyes, he tilted his head towards the skies, feeling every droplet as it fell upon his face…

"Don't you just love staring up into the sky as the rain pours on you?"

'Yeah,' he thought, 'you're right, it's amazing… you're always right' and he smiled as the rain washed away all his worries.

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She pushed her legs back and then released, back and then released… swinging really was ideal for thinking. Well maybe not swinging in a park at 11:45pm but Lucy didn't care…

'It's Hargeon~' she thought in a sing-song manner, "Nothing bad ever happens here" She said out loud. And as though the heavens were laughing at her foolhardiness, the skies opened up, letting out a shower of heavy rain, and Lucy was drenched before you could say – 'Pythagorean theorem'

But she didn't mind… she just waited there, letting the coolness of the water soak her golden locks, turning them a darker shade as they did and continued watching the little holes in the ground form into puddles.

'puddles?' she thought, and her eyes saddened a bit.

"I love the rain too" His voice cooed in her mind. "I think it's fun…"

She tried to shut down her thoughts but they wouldn't listen.

" – the parts of rain that I think are best are the puddles. The way you can just splash them as you stamp into them" His laugh echoed… her heart clenched, she squeezed her eyes together. Denying her thoughts any further place, denying her desires…

'Maybe just this once' she thought as she stood up and made her way towards the puddles, stepping into one of them slowly and cautiously – and then a little more violently – and finally, she was literally jumping in them, as the water splashed in all directions…

Soon the park was filled with her wholehearted laughter; the child-like laughter she hadn't laughed in a long, long time…

And then she paused and just this one time, she betrayed herself and wondered –

'I wonder what he's – '

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And once more he let himself wonder –

'I wonder what she's –'

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'doing right now' their thoughts coincided… well and so did something else –

"ACHHOO!"

A/N: CUT! That was BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE that last scene! I enjoyed writing it so, so much!

Lucy – Achhoo~!

Gray – well your enjoyment really took a toll on us *covers Lucy with jacket*

Cana – haha sucks to be you!

Sting – yeah, getting drenched like 30 times till this witch of a director was satisfied…even I feel bad for you guys. Almost as bad as I feel for myself –

Elfman – *smirk* why 'cause once again you got no role?

EVERYONE – YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!

Itami (SDQueen) – Okay calm down guys… My wonderful, lovely readers! Thank you so much for following D2L all the way to this lovely moment and my sincerest apologies for not being able to reply to everyone's reviews like I used to being so busy in my studies. I'll try to make it back here as soon as I can. Till then, wish me luck!

FAQ of the Day: Who is Wendy and when will we know her relevance to the story?

_Wendy is a little girl of about 12 years. She has a terrible sickness, the details of which you will find out later. Gray's reason for completing the dare was because he wanted to get Gajeel to do something that had something to do with Wendy's last wish. What that wish was, what Gajeel had to do with is and how Gray was involved you will all get to know in a matter of chapters.

When exactly? Well, right now, I want you guys to know as much about Wendy as Lucy does and a slight bit more (You see, Lucy doesn't know Wendy is a little girl who is like a sister to Gray, she thinks Wendy is a girl Gray actually likes and only you guys know that fact). When Lucy gets to know the whole story, you guys will too. That, I believe will be the perfect time to disclose this.

Please be patient. Thank you!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

JA'NE!

Gray – to read more romantic stories about Lucy and – achhoo! – and me *sniffs*, check out Itami's community 'Celestial Ice' and show your support by following it!

Yukino – hmm…Gray's on ad duty again.

Erza – well of course, Itami loves him!

*Blue-haired monster glare*

Everyone – RUN!

Itami (SDQueen) – *left behind* um, guys? *squeak*