Author's Note:

Hello all! Well, it's Monday, and you all know what that means... I didn't post yesterday! Whoops, haha, sorry about that. 😅

But anywho, here it is! The long awaited chapter!

As always, HUGE thanks to all my amazing reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to: valerioux, Leomae2.0, sakshishetty3003, 19vanelkc, Sele de la Luna, Anna5949, stranger1999, Melga92, SheWhoLeavesCrappyReviews, Starstruck-MJ, Ninja-Turtle Charlie, 52dreamer52, Bookwork129, FireShifter, BeachBumBabe, MajorPain67, Moon'n'Tide, Byrd3-13, NarukoSon, Cino2K, and Lucinda. You guys are all absolutely amazing. :D

Alrighty! And without further ado, let's get right to it, shall we?

Meanwhile, Natsu didn't know anything about Cana's little conversation with Lucy, so he was taken by surprise when she ambushed him as soon as he walked into the guildhall the next morning.

He hadn't had a great couple of days either. Every morning he'd gotten up and gone to the guildhall planning to finally talk to Lucy. But each time, he had ended up getting into a fight with someone before he could see her.

The first day, Gray and Gajeel had been dumb enough to run their mouths about the Lisanna/Lucy thing – which had set him off big time. That was the one fight he'd actually started… 'cause Sunday, it'd been Elfman, who'd come back from a mission and beat him up like Mira.

That was why, today, he was super determined to actually see Lucy.

So, when Cana pounced on him, he immediately said, "I've got stuff to do, ya drunk! Lemme go!"

"I'll tell you what you've gotta do. We're going to go see Lucy! Come on, lover boy."

As soon as she said Lucy's name, he stopped trying to fight her off.

"Wait, wha?" he sputtered and let her drag him along.

"Finally found your weak spot, eh?" Cana laughed. "Say Lucy's name and you become a puppy dog. You're so whipped."

"Hey! I'm not whipped. I was just already planning to go see her is all."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say. It's obvious you looove her."

That phrase wasn't as funny when she used it on him, and Natsu gave her a good glare for it.

"Oi! That's Happy's line. Don't go stealing it all the time."

"Well, he isn't here to say it, and somebody's gotta," she countered and laughed some more.

He grumbled but went along with her anyways – though he did jerk outta the headlock she'd put him in. They went straight to the dorms, and he was very happy that nobody was stupid enough to mess with him today. Maybe Cana had scared them off somehow… women had very weird and scary powers sometimes.

As they got closer to where he figured Lucy's room was, Cana started slowing down a little, and after a couple seconds she said, "Sooo… I spent a little time with your sweetheart last night."

"Oh yeah? How's she doing?" Natsu asked innocently, totally missing the loaded tension in her voice.

"Not gonna lie… I'm pretty sure she's been better. She's gotten all kinds of crazy ideas… especially about you."

"Huh? What do ya mean? What kinds of crazy ideas?"

"For one, she doesn't think you want her anymore."

"What?! Why the heck would she think that?!" he yelped, feeling his gut tighten up painfully.

"Why do you think, numbskull? Maybe it's because you haven't talked to her about it properly?"

"We have talked about it! I even told her I had to break up with Lisanna first!"

"Yeah, but was that before or after you rescued her from Eisenwald?"

"Uh… before?"

"Exactly."

Natsu wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but they'd gotten to Lucy's door by then and he was more interested in talking to her about it than Cana.

His friend obviously thought the same thing, 'cause she said, "Alright, it's up to you now. Don't mess it up."

Natsu didn't bother to wait for her to leave before he barged into Lucy's room. The door banged when it opened and then banged again when he shut it behind him, and both times got a loud groan from the bump under the covers on the bed.

"Oi! Luce! Wake up!"

"Ooooh…. Stop yelling… please…" she moaned, and it sounded like she was in some serious pain. Her arm flailed around a bit, and then she was smooshing the pillow over her head.

He trotted over to the side of the bed and stood over her with his hands on his hips.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, knocking a little off his volume.

All he got as an answer was "….oooh….my head…" muffled from under the pillow.

It took him a couple seconds, but then an idea came to him. With a smirk, he asked, "Hey Luce… do you have a hangover?"

.

…

.

That was precisely the problem. Though Lucy had never had one before, she could easily guess what the pounding in her head was caused by thanks to various books she'd read.

It was amazing how much worse it felt in reality though… she never would have guessed that it hurt this badly. Someone had snuck inside her skull with a hammer and was pounding away at it, and every little sound made the pain spike dramatically. Her mouth and throat felt like a desert, and her stomach rolled with mild but unpleasant nausea.

Her head also felt thick and fuzzy, and that was probably why she didn't realize at first that her room had been invaded by Natsu. All she'd been able to focus on was the banging and yelling that had woken her up and made her head throb with agony. She didn't even hear his follow-up questions.

But after a minute tucked under her protective pillow-shield, she started to put two and two together and fit a face to the voice.

Peeking out from under her fluffy hiding spot, she squinted up at the person standing over her. That was when she discovered that light also wasn't her friend, and as soon as it sent a fresh shaft of pain through her forehead she quickly slammed her eyes shut and burrowed back under the pillow. However, the quick glimpse that she'd gotten of pink hair and a white scarf still told her who it was.

"Natsu? What're you doing in my room?" she mumbled from under her pillow.

"I've come to visit you, dummy. I've been tryin' to for the past couple of days, but stupid stuff kept getting in the way."

That was a sharp reminder of what had made her so depressed last night… but everything after that was still a blur. What had happened to make her feel so sick?

At the moment, she really couldn't think of anything to say to him… the best she could come up with was, "…okay."

The bouncing on the bed and sudden weight and heat against her side said that he'd sat down next to her, and she scooted over to give him more room – feeling shy and uncomfortable about having him on the bed with her. A little zing of unease also went through her, but she shoved it down.

"Well, a.n.y.w.a.y… I ran into Cana on the way here, and she said you're havin' some trouble. So, what's up?"

He annunciated every syllable of 'anyway,' and she already knew he was going to say something serious before he mentioned 'Cana' and 'trouble.' Like a bomb went off in her head, she remembered more about what'd happened last night… Cana showing up with a bottle of wine… them talking and laughing and drinking on the bed… and… Lucy spilling her guts and crying pathetically.

She cringed and sent up a quick prayer that Cana hadn't told him everything she'd said last night. Just the thought was enough to make her curl up with humiliation and anxiety.

"Um… what did Cana say exactly?"

"She said that you thought I didn't wanna be with you anymore."

'Wow, way to be blunt.' It sounded like Cana and Natsu were both a little tactless… or maybe Cana had just gotten blunt for Natsu's sake. But either way, Lucy didn't handle it very well. It felt like she'd been winded, and it took her a while to recover her breath.

When she didn't reply right away, he pressed, "So? Is it true?"

Nerves made Lucy's stomach cramp with tension, and it took a couple of dry gulps before she managed to rasp, "I… know you still care about me…. But there's no way you still want me as a girlfriend anymore. I know that all too well…. So… you don't have to tell me personally."

She felt him grab her shoulder and start to shake her, but she knocked him off before he could do much. "Don't!... I'm sick enough as it is…" she groaned, the slight jarring making her stomach feel worse.

"Oh right, sorry. But seriously! What's wrong with you?! Of course I still want you as my girlfriend!... I mean, I'll need a little time to deal with my shit from breaking up with Lisanna… but after that, I definitely wanna officially start dating and stuff!"

That statement went through her with the subtlety of a spear, and all her pain ceased to exist for a long moment. It came back of course, but she didn't pay as much attention to it as before.

"That's… not possible."

"Huh?! What the heck are you talkin' about now?!"

This time, he snatched the pillow off her head, and she only just barely managed to grab it back before it was out of reach.

"Would you stop?!" she snapped – referring to his repeated assaults – but yelling made a pop of pain go through her head, and she ended in another pathetic groan.

Once she'd recovered, she managed to grumble, "I don't know why you're so surprised. It's only common sense…. I'm a married woman now. And on top of that, you ended up having to hurt your friend because of me. You have to resent me at least a little for that."

"What the… no! It's not your fault that I broke up with Lisanna! I did that because I had to! It was the right thing to do!"

There was an unsaid, 'It's as simple as that,' tacked on to the end of that statement, and she could almost feel him thinking that she was stupid.

Her relief was instant and intense… but also short-lived. Almost as soon as she'd thought, 'So he doesn't hate me… thank heavens,' she realized that Natsu had missed the most important part of the puzzle, and that was incredibly frustrating and painful.

Mustering as much strength as she could, she mumbled, "I'm… really happy to hear that… you have no idea…. But that still doesn't change the fact that I'm married now…. as much as wish I weren't… and there isn't anything we can do about it. So, we can't be together…"

That was one of the toughest things she'd ever had to say, and she curled up a little under the covers to keep herself together. Unfortunately, in the process of doing that, she ended up kneeing Natsu in the hip accidentally… which was a little awkward.

A second later, he moved, bouncing the bed and making it dip differently as his weight shifted. At first, she automatically thought that he was moving because she'd kneed him, but it quickly became apparent that that wasn't the case. Before she knew what had hit her – and before she could stop him – he'd yanked the covers and pillow off of her.

"Ah! Natsu! Don't!" she squawked, throwing an arm over her eyes to try and block the light.

He didn't even let her get away with that as a shield, because he tossed her pillow on the floor and grabbed her arm instead, pulling on it insistently until she peeked out at him. When she finally did sneak one eye out from under her arm and squinted at him, he was way closer than she'd expected… crouching down over her to peer under her arm.

"What're you going on about this time?" he asked with a scowl.

She frowned right back. "I just said! I'm married! How many different ways do I have to say it?"

"So what? What's your point?"

That took her aback, and she opened her eye a little more so she could blink at him in confusion. "What do you mean, 'what's my point?' I can't be with someone if I'm married. And you can't be with someone who's married."

He just gave her a blank expression, then managed to confuse her even more with, "Says who?"

Honestly, now that he'd questioned it… she didn't know. It was just something she'd always known – an unspoken rule that after you got married, that was it.

She finally peeled her arm off her face a bit so she could look at him more clearly. "Uh… everyone?"

"Well, then everyone can suck it, how about that? Besides, I don't think this one really counts, 'cause that bastard forced ya to get married… and it was what? Just a couple days?"

That sounded very familiar, and she suddenly remembered Cana saying something similar.

'Maybe… maybe they're right. Maybe I shouldn't let this marriage control the rest of my life... Maybe I can still be with Natsu, as long as he's okay with it…'

However, even though her mind was racing to put the pieces together, she still couldn't fully comprehend what was happening. It was almost like she was watching someone else's experience, because it just seemed too impossible… too wonderful and perfect to be real.

The disbelief and wonder made her arm drop off of her face so she could stare up at him fully with both her eyes, despite the pain. The stabbing headache felt like it was coming from a million miles away – dulled by all the other things filling her mind. In the same distant way, she could also feel tears making her cheeks wet and stuffing up her nose.

Almost without realizing it, her hand had reached up all on its own, and she lightly touched the side of his face with the pads of her fingers… like that would prove this was real. He blinked when she made contact but stayed perfectly still and let her touch. The second blink he gave her was a lot slower than the first, as if he enjoyed the feel of her fingers. His hand still lightly cupped her forearm… and after a second, his grip tightened and tugged until her full palm rested on his cheek.

"Are… are you sure…?" she whispered thickly.

His reply was a bright grin and, "Duh."

That made her choke back a wet laugh, because it was just so Natsu. She would never know how he managed to be so straight forward, blunt, and pragmatic about these kinds of things.

Meanwhile, she was an emotional mess. Her feelings were just too much to contain, and soon her tears were no longer distant or subtle in any way. It was like a dam had burst, and she was suddenly drowning in a flood of relief, happiness, amazement, growing excitement, and love.

As soon as she started crying in earnest, Natsu leaned back over her, looking worried, and said, "What's wrong?! Why the heck are ya crying?"

Feeling a little embarrassed, and just physically uncomfortable with her watery eyes, she brought both hands up and partially covered / partially scrubbed at her wet face as she continued to cry. There were a few hiccups and sobs, but those quickly turned into wet chuckles as she experienced a kind of joy she'd never experienced before. It was overall confusing and exhausting, and she still felt a little numb with shock and disbelief… but it was absolutely wonderful.

"I just… can't believe it…" she half hiccupped, half laughed as an explanation to Natsu's previous question.

"Wait… are you crying 'cause you're happy? Dang, Luce… that's pretty weird even for you…" he snickered, finally getting the picture, and sat back again.

She snorted, choked a little, coughed, sobbed once, and then chuckled some more. "Oh, shut up…"

Humor and amusement helped to lighten her mood a little, and the waves of emotions crashing over her started to lessen in intensity. Her tears quickly shifted towards laughter, until she was just giggling instead of sobbing…. though her eyes still continued to leak for a while.

After a minute or two, she forced herself to sit up and extricate herself from the blankets and Natsu – even though her head was not pleased at all by it. At that point, it simply became too uncomfortably intimate to continue lying under him, and she needed a little space to finish calming down.

Once they were rearranged sitting on the bed facing each other – much like she'd done with Cana the night before – she cleared her throat and swabbed at her face some more.

"I can't believe that, all this time, I've been worrying over nothing…." she sighed after a slightly awkward minute spent basking in the aftermath.

Natsu snorted. "Well, if you'd just said something, I could've cleared it up a lot quicker ya know."

"You know…. you're right," she hummed thoughtfully. "How about, from now on, let's make a promise to always talk with each other about anything that's worrying us, okay? And I mean anything… because I never want to have to go through this again."

"Hey, sounds great to me!" Natsu enthused, his eyes lighting up and a brilliant smile spreading his lips.

She met his grin with one of her own, and they smiled goofily at each other for a long moment.

It was broken though, when she sighed and leaned back against the headboard, already thinking about what this meant for them and the future. Her mind was still scrambled to rearrange itself around the idea that she could actually be in a relationship with Natsu… but it was finally starting to settle, and she was quickly beginning to worry about the things they needed to talk about next.

After all, even if they could be together, her marriage still posed some potential issues for their future together.

Without really thinking about it, she started working through the first set of worries that occurred to her and absentmindedly mumbled, "But… since I am still technically married… I don't think it would be legal for us to get married… or have kids…"

Then, her stomach did some incredible somersaults and her cheeks flushed as she realized what had just come out of her mouth, and she hurried to specify, "Um! I mean… assuming we ever wanted to get married and have kids!"

That was such an awkward thing to say to him when they hadn't even started dating yet…. Though unfortunately, it was something that they would need to discuss at some point. She just hadn't fully thought it through – and the implications of commitment it would suggest – when she'd said it.

Luckily, he didn't seem perturbed by her talking about marriage or children. In fact, he started chuckling.

"Hey, Luce? I think you've forgotten that I'm in a dark guild. We do illegal shit all the time…. So, if we wanna get married, we'll just get married. Gramps can always do it for us."

That made her blink in surprise, and then she felt like an idiot for missing something so obvious.

"Oh. Oh…. Yeah, I guess that wouldn't really matter, would it?"

"Yup. And even if ya wanted to go the legal route and try to… uh… prove the marriage was fake or whatever…"

He trailed off, squinting and frowning in thought for a second. It was obvious he had no idea how to properly annul a marriage through legal means, but Lucy understood what he was getting at, so she didn't mind when he just continued on without explaining any further.

"Anyways, if you wanted to do something about it, I burned the wedding contract. That bastard would have a heck of a time proving anything."

She gasped and stared at Natsu with a gaping mouth, as – once again – her emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Finding out that he had burned her marriage contract was like she had broken free from a chain strangling her throat, and all of a sudden she could breathe again.

All she managed to get out was, "You…" before her throat closed and she couldn't talk anymore for a long moment.

Ironically, she choked a little from the fresh wave of feelings flooded her… the amazement, gratitude, surprise, relief, and happiness making her tear up again. She still hadn't fully recovered from the first emotional upheaval, so she had even less defenses against the second.

"Darn it, Natsu… look at what you did… I thought we were done with the waterworks…" she sniffled and laughed after a minute, wiping her face again to stem the flow.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you cry when you're happy. That's your problem," he snorted right back, chuckling along with her.

"Fair enough I guess…"

She sniffled, chuckled, and then sighed, feeling as though she were on top of the world and all her problems had been solved in one fell swoop. It was a wonderful sensation – for as long as it lasted.

But of course, naturally, it was only a minute or two before reality caught up with her, and some of the air deflated from her balloon. There was one last big issue that needed to be addressed before they could embark on a relationship together… and in some ways it was going to be a lot harder to talk about than the marriage situation had been. She hadn't actually planned to discuss it with Natsu, but things were different now that she knew he still wanted to be involved with her romantically.

Hopefully, he had already guessed what had occurred on Balsam Island, and she wouldn't have to go into much detail. Not only would it be emotionally difficult for her, but there was also a slim chance that he might react badly if he was taken by surprise. The worst case scenario she could imagine would be for him to change his mind about dating her after finding out that she'd had sex with another man – though, she desperately tried not to think about that.

Luckily, the dark turn of her thoughts was interrupted by Natsu when he tsked at her and asked, "What's wrong now?"

That made her realize that she'd absentmindedly let her eyes drift off to the side as she thought, and she quickly looked back at him again. He was frowning and seemed both worried and a little ticked off – which she didn't blame him for being. After all, this was a lot of baggage and mood swings to wade through, and she was certainly frustrated by it.

Rubbing roughly at her eyes and drying them to the best of her ability, she tried to get as serious and business-like as she possibly could while her emotions were this wild and crazy.

Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly and managed to force herself to say, "I have something else to tell you…. Um… marriage wasn't the only thing that happened on that island….. He… Eisenwald, I mean… uh…."

When Natsu's eyes sharpened and his jaw clenched, she ended up biting her tongue – both figuratively and literally. The taste of blood filled her mouth, and she cringed a little at the irony tang… as well as the awkward, thick tension that suddenly fell between her and Natsu. On some darkly poetic level though, the two weirdly seemed to go together… particularly when she found it impossible to continue speaking. It was like the words she needed to say had become actual thorns piercing her tongue.

Her mouth opened and closed at least three times without anything coming out, and it was a good thing that Natsu finally spoke up. Otherwise, they may have been stuck there for a long time while Lucy did her best impersonation of a desperate fish out of water.

"I already know he raped ya, Luce. You don't have to say it."

She'd never paired the word 'rape' with sex – since she hadn't known about that until recently – but she did know the definition of it otherwise.

In the spirit of laying everything on the table, she took a deep breath and then quickly mumbled, "Um… by 'rape' do you mean… 'forced to have sex'? I've, uh… never heard it used in that context before."

A muscle in his jaw started jumping, and his eyes burned hot enough that she flinched again.

"… Yeah," he ground out between gritted teeth after a second.

Judging by his body language and the tone of his voice, she could answer this question for herself, but she still felt the need to ask, "Are you… angry?"

"Yeah, I'm pissed! Every time I think about it, I wish I'd killed the bastard."

The knowledge that she wasn't the object of his rage made her go limp with relief, and the ball of tension winding her stomach tight with nausea finally relaxed.

"Thank goodness… for a minute, I was worried that you were angry at me."

It was amazing how swiftly he shifted from furious to confused and what a difference it made. The murderous aura he had been giving off disappeared, and he cocked his head to give her a completely perplexed look.

"Huh? Why would I be mad at you, Weirdo? If I'm mad at anyone, it'd be at myself for not getting there quick enough to save you. But you didn't do anything wrong. Jeez… sometimes I just don't know about you…"

He was almost looking at her suspiciously now, as though he thought she might have gone crazy, and it was so incongruous that she couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, I guess I can't blame you for thinking that I'm nuts after all this nonsense," she huffed. Then after a moment, she added, "So anyways… out of curiosity, what clued you in? Was it the way I freaked out on the first night of our escape?"

"Nah. I knew before that. I could smell it in that room you were in."

She had initially regretted asking the question when he immediately scowled and tensed again in response. However, his reply completely distracted her, and she couldn't resist following up with another inquiry.

"… Huuhhh?! What does that mean?!" she asked, bewildered. The strange image of him sticking his face into that bed went through her head… and it was surprisingly creepy and disturbing.

"I was using Dragon Force when I rescued ya. It's this spell that gives me the power of a dragon, but it also makes my senses super strong. So just bein' in that room was enough for me to smell… stuff."

"Oh… that's… a little weird to be honest. Okay, um…"

At the very least, her awkward response seemed to cheer him up, and the storminess that had been building in his eyes disappeared. He shot her a grin and chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess it is kinda weird. Took me forever to master that spell. At first, the stronger senses drove me nuts every time I tried to use it."

Lucy was happy to accept the subject change. If she hadn't felt like they'd addressed all her concerns, she would've switched it back – but as it was, she was eager to talk about something lighter.

"Is it all of your senses? Or just your sense of smell that gets heightened?"

"Uh… smell and hearing. I haven't noticed touch or taste getting switched up at all…" he said thoughtfully.

"That sounds like a really interesting experience. I'm a little jealous…."

"It is pretty cool!" he boasted, his grin getting even bigger. "And I can blow up tons of stuff with it!"

"Ah… heh heh… I was talking about the enhanced senses, but I guess having the power of a dragon would be rather destructive," she chuckled weakly.

"Well yeah! Duh!"

They both laughed for a moment, but then when neither of them said anything further the conversation quickly tapered off into slightly strained silence. Mostly that was because the magnitude of everything that had just taken place started to really set in – for Lucy at least. She couldn't tell if Natsu was as affected by it all as she was…

"So… what now?… What happens next?" she asked hesitantly after a few minutes, the slightly awkward atmosphere probably perturbing her more than it did him.

"Well, I guess we'd better get you some food, right? And uh…" He cut off suddenly and his face took on an, 'ah ha,' sort of expression – like he'd just thought of something.

"Oh yeah! That reminds me, speaking of plans and stuff…. I also came here 'cause I wanted to let ya know that I'm gonna be heading out on a job soon, and I'll be gone for a few weeks probably."

That wasn't welcome news, and she quickly exclaimed, "What?! Really? So soon? But you just got back from a mission… can't you take a short break for a while?"

"Normally, yeah, but I wanna deal with your dad personally; and if I wait, someone else is gonna take that job."

"Oh. Oh… I see…" she said, feeling a little conflicted about that.

She felt like she should protest and ask him not to beat up her father – mainly just out of principle – and it seemed wrong that she was excited to hear about it. However, Jude Heartfilia truly was an awful king, and he deserved to be ironed out. And in all honesty, she couldn't help but be happy that Natsu would be the one to deal with him after everything that man had put them through.

After some careful consideration, she slowly replied with, "… Good. I'm glad you're going to take care of it…. I know you'll do a good job."

He gave her a grin that was positively vicious, and even she felt a shiver of fear go down her spine. Those dark eyes and sharp, toothy leer clearly said that someone was about to be hurt… badly. It instantly reminded her of how ferocious he had been when he'd rescued her, and she was very, very glad that Natsu was on her side.

Despite how intimidating he looked, she smiled back at him in return – knowing that his expression wasn't directed at her – and honestly said, "You know… you can be a little scary sometimes. Has anyone ever told you that?"

He blinked and was suddenly back to his normal cheerful self again. "Nope!"

"I find that hard to believe," she scoffed a little, thinking of how many people he had probably beaten up in his line of work.

"It's true! Usually anyone that's scared of me is too busy trying to run away or fight me off to actually say I'm scary."

The casual way he delivered that explanation was almost as frightening as the statement itself. It really went to show how desensitized he was to violence… which was a little perturbing but certainly not unexpected.

"Well… yeah, uh… that makes sense. Anyways… so… when are you leaving?" she asked, wanting to redirect the conversation to something a little less disturbing.

He thought about it for a second, and then shrugged and said, "Tomorrow, I guess."

"… oh…"

The thought of him leaving so soon – and for so long – was depressing, and she could feel herself quickly sliding into a pout.

Natsu must have noticed it too, because he suddenly got a mischievous grin and scooted much closer to her… then he leaned in even more.

"What's wrong? Are ya gonna miss me that bad?"

Giving him a scowl, she playfully swatted at his face lightly, making him lean back a little. He barked a laugh and easily caught her hand – her reflexes definitely weren't up to par right now given her hangover.

"Is that a no?" he teased and surprised her by nipping at one of her fingers.

A little offended by that, she jerked her hand back.

"No. You know I'm going to miss you…. and don't bite me! What was that?"

"Then why'd ya act all fussy when I asked?"

Of course, he completely ignored the comment about his biting, but she decided to let it slide this time.

"Because you were being arrogant and stupid about it…. Jerk," she grumbled, mostly joking.

That got a laugh out of him, and she gave up on her scowl and grinned back.

Sneak Peek:

It was just sad that that was the last time she saw him before he left on his new mission. He told her goodbye later that night and then set out on his trip the next morning without stopping by the guildhall… which had left Lucy to her own devises.

In the end, that had turned out alright though. Continuing to meet and get to know everyone in the guild – and finding where she fit in with them – were fun distractions.

Post Note:

Well, it looks like we have a little Fairy Tail bonding in the works next chapter. ;D Maybe we'll get to see some new (familiar) faces.

And of course, as always, feel free to ask anything you'd like to know in the reviews, and I'll get back to ya. ;D

Also, I've just noticed after reading through some of my docs here on FF, it looks like sometimes weird things happen when I bold or italicize stuff. Like, it cuts out letters or spaces or something. (I bring in my docs from word, and just assumed they would translate without any errors). So, I'll do my best to catch those, but if anyone sees anything weird like that, please let me know in the reviews so I can fix it. :D Thanks!