HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I thought this chapter was perfect to celebrate the occasion, so I hope you accept my Valentine's gift to you all! :D

CHAPTER 11

The sun had just started to shine over the horizon when the first group of Fairy Tail wizards managed to make it to the Sabertooth guild.

Rogue had set up in his chair tiredly when the infirmary door opened to reveal a prim and proper Rufus escorting the other guild's mages into the room. The ebony haired male listened as the memory make mage quietly whispered to the group, explaining in detail what he had memorized of the celestial mages injuries and mental development.

Rogue clinched his fists a bit when Rufus briefed them on Lucy's inability to control the tainted shadows that resided in her when she was sleeping, making sure to stress the fact that they need to be careful around her while she was still unconscious. Rufus turned to the crimson eyed slayer as he talked, taking a glance at the two sleeping celestial mages in separate beds.

"This is the precise reason why our own shadow mage himself needs to stay with her when she is sleeping, just in case the magic goes out of control." Rogue watched as all the Fairy Tail members trained their eyes on him. He had been sitting in the corner of the infirmary, furthest away from the window that was now spilling soft light through the blinds.

Rogue had expected the Fairy Tail members to enter in a whirlwind of chaos as soon as their feet were within the threshold of Sabertooth, but it seemed that the first group was just the guild's master and two small blue haired wizards. The dark-haired dragon slayer immediately recognized the shortest mage with long dark blue hair as the sky dragon slayer and the other he recognized as Gajeel's woman.

Well, at least, he believed she was Gajeel's woman if her scent was any indication, she smelled so much like the iron dragon slayer that the crimson eyed male had to do a double take when she walked into the infirmary alongside her guildmates.

Rogue's eyes followed as the sky dragon slayer wasted no time in running to the injured celestial mage, motioning for Rufus to follow her. It intrigued the older slayer to see the memory make mage being bossed around by such a small girl. The sight caused the ghost of a smirk to curve at his mouth, one that dropped almost immediately when he noticed the other Fairy Tail guild member's attention stay directly on him.

Rogue stood from the infirmary chair, giving his body a good stretch. He had been sitting there for hours, bored out of his mind and ended up reading a magazine that the silver-haired celestial mage had left on the counter when she'd decided to turn in for the night after being sure that Lucy had fallen asleep.

The ebony haired dragon slayer was actually surprised that it didn't take the blonde long to fall asleep at all. After Yukino had walked in on he and Lucy in such an awkward position and explaining exactly what had happened, his guildmate had calmed down and so had Lucy.

Frosch had waddled into the infirmary soon after Yukino, making himself comfortable on Lucy's lap as the two girls talked about nonsense while Rogue tried to drown his boredom in reading a book that he had brought with him. Of course, it didn't take the crimson eyed male long to finish the 600+ page novel so then he was stuck with nothing to do but sit and watch the two girls sleep.

"Master Makarov, it's nice to see you again." Rogue greeted the old master who nodded back at him. Rogue wasn't really one for conversations and he was grateful it seemed that the tiny master realized that.

The other blue hair mage that smelled too much like Gajeel, however, seemed to have a different objective in mind.

"You better be taking good care of my Lulu, She's special to all of us, and apparently you are the only one that can make those damn nightmares go away." Rogue sweat-dropped when the short woman stomped her way to stand in front of him with her hands on her hips. It was painfully obvious that she was protective of the blonde celestial mage and it didn't take a genius to see why Gajeel could have fallen for the assertive mage.

"I can assure you, I am trying my best. Right now the only thing I can do is be close to her." Rogue looked away to watch the sky dragon slayer and Rufus working on the injured woman's body. The light green glow reflecting from the little girl palms was soothing to the crimson eyed slayer as well- Even from the other side of the room.

Wendy was strong for a girl her age.

"However the real person that's been with Lucy from day one would have to be Yukino, she looks up to your friend so she wants to help her in any way she can." Rogue turned to look at the other bed that housed the silver-haired celestial mage causing Levy's eyes to wander to stare at the sleeping woman as well. Levy's eyes widened before she went to stand by the sleeping silver-haired celestial mage before she gently laid a hand on the sleeping girl's shoulder startling the silverette awake.

"Yukino, if you want you can go back to your room and sleep for a little bit, I'll be in here with Lucy until she wakes up, please go rest easy knowing she is in good hands for now. Thank you so much for taking care of my best friend." Rogue watched as the blue haired mage whispered to the confused celestial mage before Levy helped Yukino up out of the bed. Rogue didn't miss the way Yukino rubbed her back as if it was sore from sleeping on such a soft mattress.

"Are you sure? I really don't mind staying" Rogue sweat-dropped once again, it was just like his guildmate to forget about her own health so she could take care of someone else.

"I'm positive. Take care of yourself and go get some real sleep for a little bit." Rogue blanched as Yukino just nodded her head before waving at everyone while Levy walked her to the door.

Who the hell was this tiny woman? Now Rogue really did believe without a doubt that the tiny bluenette was definitely Gajeel's woman, only a woman like that could keep a slayer like Gajeel in line.

Rogue snapped out of his shock and confusion when the door closed and the bluenette woman's gaze was once again focused on him. Something that made him want to sweat just from the way her eyes scrutinized his every move.

"Now Levy, my child, don't scare the poor boy. It's obvious he is trying his hardest, even forgoing his own sleep just to watch over our dear Lucy. Do not belittle him when he has done nothing wrong. He already has enough stress to deal with as is." Rogue said a silent prayer as the Fairy Tail master defended him from the onslaught that he was sure he was about to receive.

The bluenette was small- but fierce.

"Okay Master, I have healed Lucy's small cuts, bruises, her shoulder, and part of her abdomen wound, I'm going to need to rest some before I can heal her anymore, though." Rogue watched the other dragon slayer as she moves to stand by her guild's master before he looked over at the blonde sleeping soundly on the infirmary bed.

It was nice to see her sleeping with such a peaceful expression, he vaguely wondered if him pushing some of his own shadows into her had calmed the tainted ones of his future self enough for her to sleep soundly. After all, that was the point- to try and force the shadows into submission by using his own regular shadow magic to overpower the tainted magic.

"I can take you to Sting's office if you would like to talk to him Master Makarov, and maybe the misses would like to get some breakfast after the tiring journey here?" Rufus offered the three fairy mages.

"That would be perfect, Rufus, you are a wonderful host." Makarov waited until the memory-make mage walked to the door to lead the way. The ebony haired slayer was about to sigh as he watched everyone file out of the room one by one before sitting back in his chair, it was going to be a long morning for him while he waited for Lucy to wake up.

"Actually, I am going to stay here until Lu wakes up. Rogue, why don't you escort Wendy to your guild's dining hall so she can get some food? She needs the energy." Levy moved to sit in the chair that was stationed by the infirmary bed before she sat down and took Lucy's hand in her own.

Rogue stared wide-eyed at the petite woman once more. What does she mean? Is she completely insane? She obviously knows that he couldn't just leave Lucy while she was sleeping, that defeated the whole purpose of him staying there with her throughout the night.

If he was to leave and something was to go wrong, he would feel like he failed. Levy sighed, obviously catching Rogue's worry and hesitation to leaving her alone with the blonde.

"Look, I plan on waking her up once everyone is gone, so don't worry about it, okay? She won't be asleep, and you won't have to worry about watching her. You look like a train wreck. Take Wendy to get breakfast, and then go back to your own room to sleep." Rogue cringed as Levy's voice took on a demanding tone before jumping out of the chair to stand by the door. She was small but scary as hell.

"Fine, I will take Wendy to the dining hall. I'll have Orga take her to Sting's office once she is finished so she doesn't get lost." Crimson eyes observed Levy nod before she turned back to look at Lucy. Rogue gave the sleeping blonde one last glance over his shoulder before he walked out the infirmary and shut the door.

"I'm sorry you have to take me to the dining hall." Rogue noticed the way Wendy bent down to where her hair was partially covering her face in apology while twisting her small hands into her skirt. The older slayer smiled at the small girl. Even though she was strong, she was still just a child. He pats her on the head once before walking to the stairs.

"It's fine. However, Gajeel's woman is a little terrifying. How is the metal face doing anyway?" Rogue looked over his shoulder to make sure the blue haired girl was following him. He didn't want to admit that he was still interested and looked up to Gajeel, after all, the slayer was basically what Rogue aspired to be when he was even younger than the sky dragon slayer.

"He's doing well. He's probably mad that he couldn't tag along with Levy, I know Natsu was fuming when he found out he couldn't be in the first group either." Rogue listened to the little slayer ramble on about the adventures that she had been on with Gajeel and the others. It was nice to hear how he was doing every once in a while.

Rogue reached the dining hall just in time to see the lightning god slayer sitting down at a table. He motioned for Wendy to follow him as he made his way over to the table before putting his hand on it just as Orga was about to take a bite of his food. The god slayer looked up at his ebony haired guildmate before putting his fork down.

"Orga, this is Wendy, she will be eating with you, when she's finished, do you mind taking her to Sting's off-" Rogue was cut off as he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see the little sky dragon slayer standing next to him with her head tilted down so her bangs were slightly covering her eyes.

"Umm, Rogue, would it be okay if you ate with us as well?" Rogue looked from Orga to the girl in confusion. Why would she want him to stay? It's not like she knew him any more than she did Orga. Why did it matter who she ate with?

Wendy looked up at him as he stared at her in confusion for a minute not knowing what to say.

"It's just, you remind me of Gajeel, and he's always been like a big brother to me.." Wendy trailed off as she waited for the older slayer to say something. He had never really had anyone compare him to Gajeel, well except for his eyes, of course. It did seem they share the same red eyes. But besides that, nothing really else.

"Um, okay. I guess I could eat as well." Rogue watched as a smile formed on the little girl's lips while she giggled obviously happy about his answer. He let her pull him to the bar where they ordered their food and Rogue paid for both. They stood in silence while they waited for their order to be filled while Wendy sipped on a pineapple smoothie.

Once their food was ready they went to sit back down at the table with the huge male, who was already eating another plate of food. Where the god slayer got it from, they had no idea.

Rogue talked with Orga a little while Wendy ate at a slow pace listening to the dragon and god slayer converse.

"Did you figure out a way to remove your magic from the blonde chick?" Rogue sighed as he put his fork down. He didn't really find a way to actually remove it, but he did find a way to calm it, so that was progressing, right? Even if it did mean forcing his non-tainted shadows into Lucy, it was still doing her better than the dark magic was.

"No, but I did find a way to calm the dark magic, so it's a start." Rogue watched as Orga tore into a turkey leg before nodding in understanding.

"That's better than nothing."Orga agreed as Rogue watched Wendy finish off her food before she sat back in her chair.

"How are you calming it, Rogue?" Rogue wasn't expecting her to ask him that question, actually, he wasn't expecting anyone to ask him that question he just assumed other people wouldn't understand the actual reasoning behind it.

"I'm forcing my own shadows that I can actually control in to her." Rogue watched as Wendy spit out a sip of her drink while Orga choked on a piece of turkey. The two coughed as they tried to remove the last of the food and drink from their throats.

Rogue sweat dropped at their reactions. He guessed he could have put it a little differently. Hearing it from his own mouth did make it sound a lot worse than it actually was.

"Isn't that dangerous, Rogue?!" Orga coughed while he tried to dislodge the stuck meat. Rogue leaned away as the god slayer gave one last loud cough, causing the whole guild to stop and watch the three at the table causing all the commotion.

"I suppose, but I had no other choice, if I can force the tainted shadows into submission by overwhelming them with my own magic, I might be able to gain control to them." Wendy calmed a little as she listened to his reasoning. Rogue was relieved that the two slayers had calmed down some after listening to him explain.

"You're playing a dangerous game." Orga crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at his ebony haired guildmate. Of course, Rogue already knew what he was doing was risky, but there was absolutely no other way that he could come up with that would be a better solution.

Lucy's soul had already started to merge with the dark magic, making it a part of her, and he couldn't just rip it from her- even if he knew how- that could do more harm than good.

"I know." Rogue stood from his seat, ignoring the stares from the other guild members that were curiously wondering just what had happened at that table to cause such an upset.

"Are you ready?" Rogue looked to the little bluenette. He could tell she wasn't exactly happy about his choice, but what could she do about it? The only other person that could use Rogue's shadows was Gajeel, and his wasn't even pure shadow magic. So they were stuck with Rogue's plan until he or someone else could come up with a better one.

"Hai. Bye Orga, it was nice meeting you!" Wendy stood from her seat before prancing to stand beside Rogue. Orga waved at the small dragon slayer before turning to eat once again. Rogue lead the way back up the stairs making sure to glance over his shoulder every once in a while to check if Wendy was still following him. Once they reached Sting's office Rogue knocked on the door, they didn't have to wait long as the door was swung open to reveal Rufus.

"Ah, Miss Wendy come in! Rogue, I believe Miss Mcgarden told you to go to your room and sleep." Rogue could feel a tick forming on his forehead as he watched the memory-make mage smirk a bit. The ebony haired slayer was about to say something before he was cut off by an even bigger annoyance to his ears.

"Oh, Gajeel's girl has a handle on even you, Rogue?! That's hilarious." Rogue didn't waste any time as he slipped into the shadows and reappeared right behind the cackling Sabertooth guild master. Rogue grabbed Sting in a headlock effectively cutting off his laughter while Sting gasped for air.

"I give! I…Give!" The blonde slayer choked out as the rest of the occupants in the office watched the men in amusement. Rogue released Sting from his death grip before turning away from the hurt blonde.

"Damn Rogue, I was kidding, it was a joke! Geez man." Rogue glanced over his shoulder to observe Sting rubbing his throat in an attempt to comfort the throbbing ache from his hold.

"By the way, Frosch and Lector went to play outside if you end up looking for him, he came by here thinking you were with us." Rogue nodded his head as he began to walk out of the office. He really did need to get some sleep, he was becoming even more agitated by the minute and he didn't want to snap at someone for no reason, unless it was Sting.

Sting always deserved some sort of bizarre punishment.

"Wait, Rogue! Thank you for eating with me, and bringing me to Master Sting's office!" Wendy grabbed a hold of the ebony haired slayer's sleeve once again. Rogue turned to pat the girl on the head before telling her it was no big deal. The little bluenette gave him an unexpected hug before she finally let the crimson eyed male leave the office, shutting the door on his way out.

Rogue smiled as he made his way back to his room. It was obvious that he had at least made a friend in the little sky dragon slayer, and that was a good thing. She didn't annoy him in the least and he could see her becoming like a little sister to him if given the chance- which was not likely to happen considering they would be leaving back to Fairy Tail soon.

Rogue slipped into the shadows once again so he could make it to his room in record time, he was running on the pure leftover energy that was about to fade into nothing, the worn out slayer was beyond exhausted.

He slipped through the cracks of his doorway not even taking a second as he materialized onto his bed with a flop. He was ready to sleep away the rest of the day so he could be ready for the night once again. For now, he would trust Levy to keep an eye on Lucy while he got some much-needed rest.

Gentle fingers slid up the length of her exposed thigh, causing a delightful trail of sparks to ignite under her skin. An unnatural heat licked through her veins when she felt his sharp teeth skim the side of her neck before he pressed his soft lips to her fevered skin just below her ear.

Lucy's mind was dazed as she opened her eyes to see the muted gray darkness that once housed the pitch black confines of her tortured psyche. Even though it was still extremely dark the blonde could faintly make out the unkempt tufts of hair that was nestled right under her chin.

The celestial mage's thoughts were fogged by a mixture of both confusion and comfort as she felt the soft suckles upon her heated flesh. Faintly realized that she had fallen asleep not too long ago, the blonde found herself consumed with peaceful bliss instead of the anxiety and fear that usually overtook her in her sleep.

Even though the celestial maiden had a stranger kissing up against the side of her neck, she couldn't seem to bring herself to push him away.

Lucy tilted her head to the side giving the mysterious man better access to continue his assault against the pale skin of her neck. The blonde registered both pleasure and mortification in the delightful nips of his canines.

Despite feeling slight indignification, Lucy brought her hands up to intertwine into the deep ebony locks, not feeling afraid in the slightest as she lifted her leg higher to sit on the edge of the man's hip. He gently grasped her leg, securing it around his body while he lifted her up to pin her back against the wall with ease, causing both Lucy's legs to instinctively wrap around his hips while a breathless gasp left her lips.

The celestial spirit mage hears a deep purr like growl emancipate from his chest before both her hands were forced from his soft locks and pinned onto the wall beside her head with his powerful hold. The blonde couldn't help but squirm from the feeling of desire that stirred low within her belly when she felt his hardened shaft rub against her thigh. The small shifts of her hips caused the male to stiffen before letting out a throaty groan before he once again nuzzled his nose into the crevice of her neck, his humid breath releasing in puff against her chilled skin.

Though she knew that she should have been petrified of being bound against her will, Lucy couldn't bring herself to feel threatened in the slightest, it was as if all fear of the man standing before her had melted away with the darkness that had covered the subconscious.

All the blonde could feel now was a churning heat pooling deep within her gut so intense that Lucy had never felt before. The blonde not knowing how to sedate her newfound lust- rubbed her lower half down onto his throbbing erection. The small action caused her to gasp when she felt a thrilling sensation that she had never felt before.

Lucy could hear the warning growls he was giving her, but couldn't help herself as she experimentally rubbed herself against him one more time. The dark haired male released a carnal snarl as his grip on her wrist tightened before lifting his crimson gaze up to meet with her own.

The sight should have been enough to shock her into making her blood run cold. The gaze of that one exposed ruby iris should have been enough to force all of the anxious and terror back into the confines of her mind. However, nothing of the sort even crossed the blonde's mind as she stared deep into his blood red gaze.

Maybe it was because Lucy's subconscious just somehow knew that the male pinning her to the wall was not the self-proclaimed future dragon king, but the Rogue from her own time. And, even though she had been apprehensive of him before, for some strange reason, she just knew with every fiber of her being that he was not going to hurt her or harm her in any way.

But what exactly was making her feel that way now, when just a few short hours ago she was still terrified of seeing his face?

What changed to make her feel so safe around him?

Lucy examined his crimson eye-catching the hunger and need within his gaze.

Why did she positively love the way he was staring at her with such fiery intensity… and lust?

Lucy felt his hips thrust forward into her causing her mind to derail from her thoughts and back into the land of euphoric torture when she felt his erection slid against her throbbing core. The blonde couldn't keep herself from rubbing against his precise thrusts; letting out soft mewls of unashamed pleasure.

The inexperienced woman was caught off guard when she felt soft lips melt onto hers, his kiss was gentle but experienced, causing sparks to shoot from up her spine then down to her groin where the heat was pooling causing an agonizing ache to form.

Rogue's tongue swiped at her lips while he let another groan pass his lips as he begged her for entrance. Lucy obliged as she tilted her head further to the side giving him better leverage for his tongue to sweep inside to swirl alongside her own. His taste was darkly sweet and cool which almost reminded her of peppermint with a hint of dark chocolate, causing her lips to tingle from the sweet and fresh taste assaulting her mouth.

Half-lidded brown eyes watched as Rogue broke the kiss before he leaned his head on the wall just between her pinned wrist and head while he continued the erratic tempo of his thrusting hips causing Lucy to see stars as the sensation became almost unbearable.

The blonde woman slung her head from side to side before she cried out while straining against the grip on her wrists. For a good moment, her vision went completely white as she called out his name begging for him to release her hands so she could hold on to him as she felt the sensation of falling while hearing soft whispers of her name being called from a distance.

Lucy

"…Lucy.."

"LUCY." Lucy woke up startled by the loud feminine voice yelling in her ear, she immediately tried to sit up in bed but forgot about her injured shoulder and arm as she went to push her weight down on the mattress to lift her body up.

The blonde was expecting pain to hit her, but when nothing of the sort came, she looked down at the arm in question taking in the fact that it was not tied up like it had been when she fell asleep last night. She carefully tested the mobility of the appendage, at first just bending it, then twisting it, excited when no pain came to her.

"Wendy was able to completely heal your arm and just a part of the wound on your abdomen while you were sleeping." Lucy reverted her attention back to the other occupant in the room as she recognized the voice that could only belong to the short bluenette of Team Shadow Gear. Lucy watched as Levy practically ran to the bed to slide on the mattress before flinging her arms around the already excited blonde.

"Levy! I'm so glad you are here. Where are Master and Wendy? I need to thank her for healing me! I am so glad to see you, Levy!" Lucy tried to keep the tears from spilling over but it was proving harder said than done as she wrapped her now healed arm around her best friend.

She had felt so guilty for leaving Levy out of the loop for so long during her depressed and anxious state. The short woman was literally like a sister to her- actually, come to think of it, everyone in the guild was just a part of her big family and she hated that she kept all of them from her deepest troubles for such a long time.

"Both Master and Wendy are with Sting, I wanted to stay with you until you woke up. Everyone is so worried about you Lu. But we all heard you took down some powerful bandits, I'm so proud of you." Lucy wiped her eyes as she let go of the smaller girl. Lucy had heard about the bandits being considered dangerous and even having a bounty mission request put on them by the magic council- the same request that Rogue has taken, and the very same mission he had found Lucy dying while trying to complete.

Lucy blushed as she thought of the shadow dragon slayer. She was still cautious and a little frightened by just his presence, but something deep within her made her feel like she just shouldn't feel that way towards him anymore. After Yukino had walked in on them in an awkward position, the ebony haired male had stayed on the opposite side of the room until Lucy was actually able to fall asleep with a little help of small chit chat with Yukino. Even Frosch had shown up at the infirmary a little bit before she had fallen asleep.

The dream Lucy had just woke up from had felt so vivid and real, making a shiver run up the length of the celestial mage's spine as she thought of the kiss the Rogue in her dream had given her. It had been so gentle and soft, nothing like she had ever felt before.

Lucy unconsciously brought a hand to her lip as she remembered the dream in embarrassment. Though it was unexpected, Lucy would gladly take a dream like that any night instead of the horrible nightmares that had been plaguing for her weeks. The blonde wondered what exactly happened to make her dreams change so drastically, but decided to write it off once she saw the devious smile on her small friend's lips.

"So, did you have a good dream, Lu? It sure did sound like it from where I was sitting." The celestial maiden's face went from having a small blush to be being completely red as she thought of some of the things Levy must have heard while she was dreaming in her sleep, and oh the noises!

She just had to know what Levy had heard.

"Whatever do you mean, Levy?" Lucy listened as the bluenette laughed whole-heartedly, obviously enjoying the blondes embarrassment. Lucy was just grateful it was only Levy that had been in the room, and not Rogue, himself. She still didn't have an exact clue as to why her unconscious mind would do a complete one-eighty like that, and she didn't want to have to explain something she couldn't even understand herself.

Speaking of the shadow dragon slayer, Lucy couldn't help but wonder where he'd gone off to. Wasn't he supposed to be watching her in case something crazy happened again? Lucy's attention was snapped back to Levy when the small girl put her hands on Lucy's cheeks and turned her face to look at her, a small knowing smirk lifted on Levy's pale pink lips.

"Did it have something to do with a certain mysterious dark-haired Sabertooth dragon slayer?" Lucy stared at the woman in horror as she watched the bluenette bite her lip to keep from busting out in a frenzy of laughter.

Oh sweet Mavis, did Lucy say his name in her sleep?

"Oh, dear Mavis, Levy what did you hear?" Lucy couldn't take the torture anymore, she could feel the heat on her face as the bluenette burst into laughter and tears before standing up from the bed to catch her breath.

"Oh, just a few moans and sighs, it wasn't until just before I woke you up that you scared the piss out of me by moaning Rogue's name really loud. Honestly, Lucy, I didn't know you had it in you. I always thought Natsu was your hot spot." Lucy pulled her pillow up to cover her face as she let out a scream of frustration.

She hoped to any deity that was watching over her that a dream like that would never happen again, especially not in front of the male in question, she would likely die from embarrassment if Rogue ever heard her moaning his name in her sleep.

"Tell me what happened in that dream? How did you go from being completely scared of him to practically sexing him up in your sleep?" Lucy threw the pillow at the still cackling mage.

"I was not sexing him up!" Lucy screamed right as the door opened to reveal a confused group of people consisting of Sting, Master Makarov, Wendy, and Yukino.

"Woah, woah, woah, back up. What did we miss?" The Sabertooth guild master rubbed the back of his head as everyone stood in the doorway confused. Lucy grabbed the blankets and pulled them over her head as she tried to hide her red face, though nothing could hide the way Levy was holding her gut while trying to reign in some of her laughter.

What a sight they must look like to the four new occupants.

"Wendy! Master! I'm so glad to see you both, and Wendy thank you so much for healing me, I feel a lot better." Lucy mumbled from beneath the blanket still a little too frazzled to show her face to the other people in the room. She didn't trust her horrified expression to show just how much gratitude she felt for the little sky maiden.

"Lucy! I am so glad you're feeling better you had everyone all worried sick! I'm going to heal the last of your abdomen later on today, so hopefully, that will have you up and walking around soon. I don't need you getting bed sores as well!" Wendy ran to the bed as she wrapped her arms around the mound of blankets, causing Lucy to pop her still blushing face back up from the small fort she had made. The blonde wrapped her arms around the small dragon slayer. She had never meant to worry anyone, and it upset her that the whole reason she even did those solo missions had become just another reason to get the rest of Fairy Tail riled up about her.

"Don't tire yourself out over me, I'm healing just fine, so don't feel any need to rush." Lucy chided the younger girl much like an older sister or mother would. The celestial mage didn't notice the small master making his way over to bed until she saw him standing on the edge a little too close for her comfort. Lucy tried to back away but felt the dull aching on her side before the master realized he must have been too close to her before opting to stand in the chair right by the bed.

"Lucy my child, I am so glad you are in such capable hands here at Sabertooth, though it does sadden this old heart that you will not be accompanying us back to Fairy Tail, seeing as you have some inner healing to do as well." Lucy nodded to the master taking in his words. It was true, the blonde wouldn't be able to go back to Fairy Tail until something was done about the foreign magic that still resided in her, and she also knew one good night away from the nightmares didn't mean that they were gone for good. She could still feel the darkness swirling inside her, even if for some reason it was being repressed.

"I know, Master. I am sorry I didn't come to anyone sooner about this. I was just scared and didn't want to burden anyone with my troubles. I thought I could handle it alone because I thought it was just a coping issue. I didn't know there was a foreign magic in me…" Lucy trailed off as she felt tears form in her eyes once again. She had been so scared to burden her family and friends that she had completely shunned them in her most vulnerable of moments when she actually needed them. The brown-eyed mage knew now that what she did was the wrong way of going about her depression and only ended up in her getting hurt even worse in the process.

"Lucy, it was not our right to interfere in your personal business, but you must know that Fairy Tail is your family, and we would all do anything for you, even at a moment's notice. I need you to get healthy again, we all want to see your smile and hear your laugh once again. Now on that note, I can't have Natsu destroying the guild while I am gone, so we will be leaving tomorrow afternoon and I will be sending Natsu, Gray and Erza in the next group to see you.

Lucy felt her stomach twist in knots, she knew she was going to have to face the salmon haired slayer sooner or later, she had just hoped it would be a little bit longer than a few days away. She missed both Natsu and Gray terribly, but she still didn't have a plan on how to keep them both a safe enough distance away from her to keep her from being too startled and from having her secret let out.

She knew no matter what she came out up with, the fiery pyro would be able to immediately smell something different and off about her. Wendy's senses were sharp, but nowhere near as developed as the older dragon slayers so Lucy wasn't surprised that the young slayer hadn't picked up anything too different about her, especially not with all the medical smells that covered the room.

"So… Are we going to hear about the guy you sexed up or what?" Lucy's head snapped to glare at the oblivious blonde dragon slayer leaning against the door frame. She blushed once again when she heard another round of hysterical laughter erupt from Levy who was sitting in a chair by the wall. Thankfully, Yukino smacked Sting in the head and told him to be quiet before all the attention was pushed back onto the blonde celestial mage who honestly just felt like she was going to die of embarrassment.

Lucy smiled as she watched the group in front of her converse and play fight. She had needed that full night of sleep, and for the first time in almost a month, she felt completely rested and dare she say it..

Happy.

Yes, she had just gone through some really traumatizing situations within just a few days, but the blonde felt like a weight was being lifted off her shoulders. She no longer felt the complete guilt that was eating her away from not telling her guild what was going on with her.

The nightmares had calmed for just one night and let her sleep peacefully, and she was on her way to recovering thanks to Wendy, Rogue, and the rest of Sabertooth. The blonde would never leave Fairy Tail out of her pain and trauma again, because she hadn't realized how worried she had actually made them.

Sure, she could sit around and mope about the bad things that had happened to her, but she preferred to look at the good instead. She was finally seeing a small light in the darkness that consumed her on a nightly basis and it felt good.

Lucy had finally started to feel just a bit like herself once again, and it made her happy. She still had her demons that she still needed to face, but she felt like she could conquer that hurdle as long as she had her friends and family by her side.

the real narnia- It's definitely an interesting notion, that's for sure! Rufus's magic is so cool! :D I think Rogue takes care of Sting mostly when he is out of line. Sting isn't all that bad in this story. Just a little overly annoying to Rogue. XD For real, Lucy is powerful, but I think she could do with some combat training, that's pretty much the only thing that holds her back in the actual series. That's definitely true about hurt/comfort stories! Lol Wendy is so adorable!

NinjaKitten93- Yep! Hopefully, it makes sense how in this chapter because Rogue forced some of his own magic into her, she ended up having a somewhat *naughty* good dream about Rogue instead. I will let you know, Natsu does get a good thrashing in chapter 17. XD

MotherOfDragons1227- Well, then I am sure you liked this chapter! I love seeing Rogue and Lucy slowly feel each other out (Pun completely unintended but I'll roll with it. XD)

Guest- I know it's the best part! :D