A/N: I am currently uploading revised chapters of Strange Magic throughout this next week or two. Hopefully by mid-May I should be caught up with the chapters I have already written and by the end of next month, Strange Magic will continue. I am also updating my other stories slowly and surely. Read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does (lucky dude)

Chapter Three: Invitation

It was late morning the next day when Yukino and Lucy headed towards Sabertooth. Last night, the girls stayed up until twelve in the morning talking and laughing. Loke and Virgo had appeared to spend some time with the girls. As usual, Loke professed his undying love for Lucy and Yukino (Lucy had to force close his gate), while Virgo asked Lucy for punishment which Lucy declined.

Lucy especially enjoyed watching Yukino stutter and blush when Lucy asked her about Sting. I wish Mira was here, thought Lucy. She will have a lot of fun pushing Sting and Yukino together, thought Lucy. But since Mira isn't here, I suppose I can push these two together. Sting most definitely likes Yukino.

"Are you excited Lucy?" asked Yukino kindly.

Lucy smiled. "I am. How has Sabertooth been since the Grand Magic Games?"

Yukino's eyes brightened as she chattered about her teammates and Sabertooth's members making Lucy smile in response to her friend's enthusiasm. She could tell by looking into Yukino's brown eyes Yukino was very happy and that made Lucy very happy. She remembered Yukino's devastation after she was excommunicated from Sabertooth when she had lost to Kagura. After Minerva and Jiemma went into hiding and Sting Eucliffe became Guild Master of Sabertooth, Yukino came back after Sting asked her to come back to Sabertooth with him and Rogue.

"I am really happy you are here Lucy," Yukino stated suddenly.

Lucy looked over at the girl bemused by the sudden confession. Yukino continued. "I want to thank you for showing me what a Celestial Spirits mage is truly all about Lucy. Your love for your spirits gave me the courage to never give up my spirits because they mean the world to me. You showed me that. I want to thank you for that. You gave me a second chance."

Lucy stared at her friend in shock. Lucy felt a myriad of emotions flooding her very being. Shock, warmth, love, and more flooded her. She wrapped her arms tightly around the now embarrassed Celestial mage. Fairy Tail was known for giving people a second chance even if they did not deserve it. Lucy pulled away from Yukino and held the white-haired mage at arm-length.

"You deserved that second chance. You love your spirits and they are your family. You don't abandon your family," Lucy gently said squeezing Yukino's shoulders. "I did what I believed was right. Now, shall we continue to Sabertooth? They are probably wondering why are we not there already."

Lucy let go of Yukino. Yukino smiled at Lucy. Both girls turned to head to Sabertooth.

To say Sting Eucliffe was impatient was an understatement. Sting had been pacing back and forth ignoring the watchful eye of his teammates.

"Sting, would you please sit down and sign these papers to be filed away?" Rufus asked irritability.

Sting ignored him. Where in the hell is Yukino? She told me last night that Lucy and her will be coming over to the guild tomorrow morning. Why aren't they here yet? Did something happen to the girls? Sting froze in pure horror. Blondie. Missing. Fairy Tail. Team Natsu. Oh shit! Fairy Tail is gonna kill me if Blondie goes missing. Gray will freeze my ass, Natsu will fry me, Erza will chop me into pieces, Laxus will electrocute me, Mira will send me to hell. My team is probably gonna just watch me die—

"Sting!" snapped Rogue.

"Huh?" Sting looked over distractedly at his partner.

"I have been trying to get your attention for the past minute," Rogue said walking towards Sting. Red eyes studied blue eyes. "You need to calm down and think rationally."

"Think? All I am thinking about is Yukino and Blondie might be in some trouble. Fairy Tail—no, Team Natsu—the damage," Sting whimpered. The damage to my guild, thought Sting internally cringing in horror.

Rufus sighed. "We will wait until twelve o'clock. If the girls don't show up, we will check Yukino's apartment and ask around."

Sting looked at the clock. "Fine. We will wait for ten more minutes. If Blondie and Yukino are not in the guild doors by twelve I am going on a search party for the girls."

Rogue shrugged.

"Let's continue with the paperwork until the girls come or it's twelve," Rufus replied grabbing Sting by the scruff of his shirt and dragged his Guild Master to the table.

Lucy looked up at the gilded, tall doors to the second most powerful guild in all of Fiore. Sabertooth.

"Sting did a few renovations to Sabertooth."

"What was wrong with it that made Sting do renovations?"

Yukino smiled wryly. "Everything. When Sting became the new Guild Master of Sabertooth, he wanted to make Sabertooth new again. And this," she gestured to the guild, "is Sting's definition of new."

"You can't be changed until you make the change," murmured Lucy.

Yukino smiled and nodded her head. "That is right."

Lucy smiled and looked back at the guild doors. She marched up to the doors. I can't wait to see everyone from Sabertooth, thought Lucy excitedly. I wanna see and meet Yukino's family.

Before Lucy could reach for the doors, the doors slammed open suddenly and Lucy found herself face to face with a very irate White Dragon Slayer.

"That's it! I am going to search for Yukino and Blondie!" exclaimed Sting jumping up from the table. He rushed towards the door.

"Sting—"

Sting shoved the doors open and found himself standing face to face with a certain Fairy Tail's Celestial mage. Lucy yelped and jumped in the air in surprise.

"Sting!" exclaimed Yukino moving to stand right next to a wid- eyed Lucy Heartfilia.

Sting just stared at the two girls stunned speechless. Rufus came up behind and placed a calming hand on the White Dragon Slayer's shoulder.

"Hello Yukino, Miss Lucy. Would you like to come in?" Rufus offered with a smile as he pulled his dumbfounded Guild Master away from the doorway

Yukino smiled at Rufus and pulled Lucy behind her.

"Welcome to Sabertooth Miss Fairy!" cheered Frosch as he jumped up in the air.

Lucy seemed to snap out of the daze look in her eye. "Thanks for letting me come here. Especially on such a short notice," she smiled warmly.

"Any friend of our sweet Yukino is a friend of ours," Orga gruffly said.

"I'm very happy to be here to visit Yukino."

Yukino smiled at Lucy. She then turned her attention to a certain White Dragon Slayer. "Was there something wrong Sting for you to almost rip the doors off its hinges?"

"Nothing," Sting said quickly causing Rufus to raise a delicate eyebrow and Orga to guffaw.

"I would deem it was anything but nothing, Sting," Rufus dryly said. He turned his attention to a bemused Lucy and a puzzled Yukino. "Sting was going to form a search party for you two ladies."

"Wait, why?"

Sting shot a look at Rufus and looked sheepishly at Yukino. He rubbed his neck. "I was worried when you didn't show up with Lucy, so I thought I will check on you and Blondie. Sorry?"

Lucy and Yukino looked surprised. Yukino more surprised than Lucy. Lucy broke into a wide smile. "I think that was very kind of you Sting. Thank you." It was now Lucy's turn to be sheepish. "I kept Yukino up talking." She shot Yukino a smile and a wink, causing the white-haired girl to blush furiously. All the males in the room just blinked.

Sting dumbly said," Uh-your welcome-I guess?"

Lucy giggled as Rogue raised an eyebrow at his partner.

Rufus gracefully gestured to the table. "Would you like to join us at the table?"

Lucy smiled.

"Miss Fairy! Come sit next to Frosch and Lector!" cheered Frosch as he tugged on Lucy's brown heeled boots.

Lucy laughed and she followed Frosch to the table. Lucy took a seat next to Frosch. Rufus took a seat next to her. He noticed Lucy was eyeing the large stack of papers sitting in front of him. Rufus smiled as he uncapped his pen. "Paperwork for the Guild Master," Rufus explained. Lucy glanced over at him.

"You do it?"

"Sadly," Rufus playfully sighed. He glanced over at Sting who was sitting with Rogue and Yukino getting drinks from Orga.

Lucy followed his line of sight and her eyes widened. "I didn't know Orga did drinks."

Rufus laughed. "Oh no. The person who typically tends the bar is out right now. On a job, I believe. Orga is just substituting for her."

"Oh." Lucy looked back at the papers. "You didn't tell me why you do paperwork for Sting."

Rufus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, it's a long story," laughed Lucy. "Never mind I asked."

Rufus wryly smiled at the beautiful Celestial mage. "Sting messed up on paperwork a while back, so I had to go to the Magic Council to apologize and retrieve more paperwork to fix the issue along with more paperwork to redo. I do it with Sting to make sure he does it right."

"Do you mind if I ask what Sting messed up?"

Rufus opened his mouth, but was beaten to the punch by a certain Lightning God Slayer.

"Instead of an apology letter, Sting sent a pornographic photo," Orga said grinning slightly.

"Sting! That is horrible!" Yukino gasped.

"It was an accident!" yelped Sting. "I didn't mean to."

Lucy raised an amused eyebrow at the scene in front of her. Yukino was glaring at Sting with her arms folded in front of her bust. Sting looked frantic trying to appease an angry Celestial mage. Lucy looked over at the Memory Make mage. Her breath caught. Rufus's long blond hair was pulled into a ponytail. He held his head in his right hand, leaning his elbow on the tabletop. His head was slightly tilted as he listened and watched the heated exchange between Yukino and Sting. Lucy then noticed with a start, he was not wearing his hat. In fact, his clothing style changed and hairstyle changed…well except for the mask. Rufus was now donning black pants, a white dress shirt, with a black trench coat. His mask was black with gold trim. Wow, thought Lucy. He really changed his style. I wondered why he changed his clothes.

She was startled when a strawberry milkshake was placed in front of her. She looked up to see Orga smiling at her with a knowing look on his face. Orga then handed Rufus his drink. The Memory mage thanked him and took a sip from his drink, while reading the paperwork. Sting and Yukino decided they had enough, so they decided to sit at the table along with Orga, Rogue, Rufus, Lucy, and the two exceeds.

Lucy shifted in her seat. "Do you need help, Rufus? I have experienced in doing paperwork."

Rufus glanced over at her. "Did you do paperwork for Fairy Tail?"

Lucy laughed. "I did paperwork to pay my rent because Team Natsu was too destructive at times. But, you forget. I was the daughter of Jude Heartfilia, the richest man in all of Fiore before I left to start my life at Fairy Tail."

Rufus almost forgot. Heartfilia. How could I have forgotten? She was the daughter of Jude Heartfilia. Seven years ago, he was easily the richest man in all of Fiore. He studied the young woman before him with renewed interest. I wonder what made her leave her life as a heiress to become an extremely powerful mage?

"Hey Blondie," interrupted Sting. "Glad to see you chatting up Rufus, but I got a few of questions to ask you."

"You're blonde too, but ask away."

"I know you want to take Yukino to the Akane Resort. Are you two going by yourself?"

"Initially, we were but I was given four tickets from a mission I went on with Wendy a few weeks ago. I can't decide who else should go."

"Sting should go," Rufus said immediately.

"Trying to get rid of me?" pouted Sting.

"Yes. I am," Rufus shot back.

"Okay. That is three. Who is the last person?" rumbled Orga.

Lucy smiled and turned towards the Memory Mage. "Rufus, would you like to come with me to the Akane Resort?"

End Note: Please review, favorite, and review. Thank you so much for supporting the revised version of Strange Magic! I really appreciate it!

~ Lady Serai