Chapter 13

"What up Fairies?!" Sting shouts as he kicks the guild doors open. Behind him Rogue shakes his head and Yukino gives a meek wave.

"What is with slayer's always barging in doors?" Gray mumbles sitting next to a moping Natsu. Natsu scowls but doesn't retort. He'd been pretty down ever since his fight with Lucy no one had really gotten him to do much of anything.

Unable to read the room, Sting made his way over to his fellow dragon slayer, "Come on Natsu, fight me!" He jumped into his stance, but when he was thoroughly ignored, he tilted his head.

Hector flew over to Happy, "Clearly he is just too worried about losing to the great Sting!"

"That's not it!" Happy retorted. "He just doesn't feel like it right now."

This baffled all three of the Sabertooth mages because when did Natsu "not feel" like a fight? That was unheard of. Yukino and Rogue put it together quickly, but their blonde-haired compatriot decided that he was going to run his mouth.

"Where's Blondie?" Sting asked. At the sullen shoulders of both Gray and Natsu he puts it together. "Ahh. She left ya didn't she?" Yukino swats at him.

"How would you know?" Natsu asks firing over his shoulder.

"We talked in Crocus. She came to see me when she was there last time. Told me all about it," Sting boasted.

Seeing the hurt on both Gray's face and the rage boiling in Natsu's eyes, Rogue corrected, "Yeah after you accosted her on the street and annoyed her into agreeing to come hang out." The relief was palpable from the two Fairy Tail mages.

Sting rolls his eyes at Rogue, "Didn't keep her from sending us that letter to meet her here 'cause she needed our help?" He flashed the letter in front of the other two boys. Yukino and Rogue just looked away sheepishly. They at least had enough tact to be sensitive to the situation.

"Let me see that," Erza commands setting herself between the boys. She knew she had wronged Lucy and would allow the girl to strike her as many times as necessary to make up for it, but to reach out to the Sabers? That baffled even Erza. "Hmmm… Not much information just that you three needed to meet her here and she'd fill you in. What did you discuss in the library?" Erza questions turning on Yukino.

Yukino shrugged stepping slightly behind Rogue as Erza intimidated her, "I think that's something you should take up with her."

"We're Lucy's compatriots, surely you can tell us." Erza pushes taking a step towards her. Rogue steps up slightly fully blocking Yukino.

"Then why don't you already know?" Rogue responds unflinchingly.

Erza turns slightly red either out of embarrassment or anger one couldn't tell. Natsu slammed his fist down, "That's enough! Who do you think you are coming in here and blabbing about our Luce like she's yours?!"

Sting unable to help himself, "Well, she's definitely not yours."

Just as Natsu goes to launch himself at Sting, a flash of gold appears between the two. Lucy places her hands on both boys' chest to keep them from reaching the other. "That's enough! Both of you." She says pointedly at both of them.

Before she can say anything else Happy screams, "Luuusssshhhhheeeee!" And dives headfirst into her chest. "Soowwwwwyyyyy Lushe! You can have all my fishies! I won't leave you again."

Lucy smiles softly down at him patting his head and murmuring softly to him. Bix mutters to Laxus so only the slayers in the room would hear, "What I wouldn't give to be that cat right now…" Laxus zaps him softly which only gets him chuckling more. Sting gives a soft nod not removing his eyes from the cat. Rogue mutters something and turns away, and Natsu looks completely confused by Bix's comment. Bix wants Happy's fish?

Lucy clears her throat after a minute. "Actually, the reason I called you here is because I need your help. All of your help." Her eyes travel around their group and land on her former teams last. She quickly glances away from Natsu worried he will reject her after their previous fight. She wouldn't fully blame him. She wouldn't apologize for what she said, but she did regret how it came out. She would have rather calmly talked to her team about their separation instead of letting it blow up, but nothing she could do about it now.

"What is it you need from us?" Erza asked her. Lucy snaps her head in their direction eyes wide in surprise.

"Don't look at us like that. Of course, we'll help ya." Gray nods.

She turns to Natsu who was uncharacteristically quiet. He finally glances up at her, "We're still partners Luce." He pauses unsure of himself, "Guild mates at the least. Fairy Tail mages always have each other's backs."

Tears prick the corner of her eyes and she smashes Natsu in a hug. "I hate fighting with you," she mumbles. Natsu places a hand on her head, "And it won't happen again."

The two stand there for a moment when once again Sting breaks the silence, "Yay! Now that the happy couple is back together again. Why are we here?"

"Don't grovel Sting it's not a good look," Rogue comments as he pushes past him to lead him and Yukino to a seat.

"I'm not groveling!" Sting shouts pathetically.

"Sting's the best at groveling!" Hector shouts.

"I'm not groveling!" Sting shouts again starting an argument with his cat as they take their seats.

"Yeah Sparky, don't grovel," Gajeel mutters low enough that only Laxus will hear it. Laxus snarls lowly at him and moves forward to take a seat with the rest.

Lucy pulls out her key ring and holds up her damaged key. "This is Aquarius's key. I broke it during Tartaros to summon the Spirit King to save Fairy Tail. And with your help, we are going to reforge the key." Throughout the rest of the day, Lucy goes on to tell her friends her long struggle and her new plan to reunite with her oldest friend.

Sitting at his spot on the bar Master remarks mostly to himself, "A quest for the Core. Who knew Fairy Tail would take place in such an honorable quest? I'm proud of my children."

Porlyusica who was visiting much to her disdain, stood next to him listening. "Proud? They could bring about the destruction of us all."

Master nods, "True, but they won't. With Lucy harnessing that power with the slayers at her side, it's almost like the days of the Dragon Warriors have returned."

Porlyusica scoffs at him, "Neither of us are old enough to remember those days. Don't act like you can." This earned a hearty chuckle from the Master. "I just hope they don't bring about the monsters from those days as well…" She adds after a moment.

"I fear those monsters are already here."

Sorry, this is a long time coming. I've been taking a break and been really distracted lately. I know it's short, but I did want to move the story on to it's next part! The gang is all back together again. I'm excited to play with the dynamic of all of these people traveling together! Thank you for all of the support and positive feedback. It's been very encouraging and has helped me keep going. Thank you!