Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.

OKAY IMPORTANT NOTE HERE PAY ATTENTION:

Do you all remember how Lucy called out Sagittarius before they officially had a contract? Yeah, that's how this is gonna work.

Second, I promise the ship is STILL YUKINO AND STING I DON'T SHIP ROGUE AND YUKINO THE WHOLE POINT OF ALL THAT DRAMA LAST CHAPTER WAS JUST STING GETTING ALL PARANOID AND JEALOUS. I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO LOOK THAT WAY. ROGUE IS NOT HER MATE

Lastly, yes, Juvia will be fighting against Lucy. I felt like if I threw Natsu and 'Andromeda' together in the ring it would have been a bit of an overkill. (Also, very cliché.) Also, I love her, but Yukino's not really a match for Natsu. yet. Maybe one day, but not today. So, it's pretty unrealistic for them to be paired together for a one on one fight.

XxFairy-chanxX

LunaStarrOfFairyTail- Yeah, yeah, I promise... (I'm smiling, by the way.)

allcutenamesaretaken

Adrianarose97

Whatsayoya

Fairytail1mage- Glad to hear it!

1fairytaillover

Starlight1214

LucyHRose

Enderine

animelove22

amycape

Addicted. ADC

12animecat

spokliva

The Johno 23

12Rayne- I almost cried while writing the first chapter. (I kid you not, I actually had to shut my computer and take a few deep breaths. Really.)

Bitch Ate My Cupcake

Crissdragon

ILuvUsagiChan

crimsonlord20221

Eeveexme

blackorwhitewolf

Squidgy999

GloomyMercury98

NightsShadow109

lilsweet5

dashort12

fairytailshipper05

sakuraangel95

Rekunae

PandaYuki-Chibi

NightmarLover

LavenderMoonRose- No, she hasn't yet. And yep, finally!

Thegirlwonder09- Really? Nice? Aww, that's so sweet of you to say! Thank you! And wow, I'm not sure if my writings quite that good enough to attract that many reviews! But, I aspire to reach those high achievements.

Darkangel-Luv- Really? Thant's great! I'm glad you're excited about it!

Kate. R12- I know, the poor guy just seems to be having some real bad luck, huh?

Skyline179- Waitwaitwaitwait I PROMISE IT'S STILL STING AND YUKINO I SWEAR. Oh, and Happy Halloween (belated) to you too!

iheartpickles- NO I PROMISE THAT ROGUE IS NOT HER MATE. (I'm sorry I sound so worked up, but just the thought of something becoming between my ship kinda kills me on the inside.)

nerdcandy- *continues to write BC I don't wanna be haunted for the rest of my life* Nah, just kidding. But actually, you're not pushy. At all. The motivation is good for me. It's great incentive.

lonewolf- thanks for the suggestions! I'll keep these in mind.

HazelDragonNora- I'm so glad that you enjoy the way I portray the emotions of the characters! And really, what you said about my writing style means so much to me. And don't worry; I'm not stopping until it's done! (And even then, I might have an idea for a new Fairy Tail fic after this...)

yukinos- I know they're so blind to each other's emotions and it kills me!

ShugoYuuki123- Happy belated Halloween to you as well!

KawaiiOtaku100- a) thank you for calling me Pyro. It's the small gestures that really touch my heart. Also, I thought so too, about Gajeel and Gray. I mean, I put them together because I thought they'd be an interesting pair, and you never see just the two of them fighting together.

ANG3LBL00M- Dude, it's cool. Really. I don't mind it that much, excuse not everyone checks the reviews. (I really shouldn't have been so touchy about that. I've just been having a hard time lately, and I guess... I was just being a little harsh. Sorry.)

maidenoftheluminousrapture- *as the feels awaken* I honestly am so happy that for the most part, everyone here seems to support my choice of the Sting and Yukino ship. Also, cool costume! (that was a great Shoujou.) I was gonna go in my Comicon Costume (I was Levy), but then literally no one knew who I was. (Also, your brother sounds... hardcore man. Wow.)

Heavier.

Her key ring was heavier.

She hadn't even needed to use her keys since arriving at the Games, and she'd been crying too hard to notice before but... Now that her senses were hyper-aware, as they always were when she entered a battle... The weight as definitely off.

Celestial keys, while small, were solid gold or silver.

And now, with her ring attached to her hip, and her hand already inching towards Loke's key, she knew.

Celestial wizards had to know each key just by touch alone. In the middle of a battle, it was way to risky to take the time to decide on who to call out, frantically search through your keys, and then take it out and... yeah. It was important to know all your keys, just by feeling them.

And now, with her fingers sliding over the delicate end of a glimmering gold key, Yukino gave it a puzzled look. But the match had started, and Juvia was completely unaware of Yukino's inner turmoil.

What the hell is going on?

And then Juvia was slashing out, water darting forwards. Yukino ducked, leaping back gracefully. It was like a dance, Juvia twirling and slashing, never stopping. Yukino, on the other hand, was fumbling with her keys to pull out Loke. She couldn't call a Spirit out without their name, and Loke would know what was happening.

Hopefully.

"Open: Gate of the Lion! Loke!" Yukino commanded, thrusting the key out. The air shimmered for a second, and the gate opened. There stood the Lion, looking happy and smiling. Nonchalantly pushing his glasses up, he tossed his hair to the side.

Up in the stands, Gray froze. He knew that look.

Loke's womanizing look.

No way in hell.

Even Mater was taken aback, as the big screens focused in on the Lion's face.

What on Earth?

Natsu's eyes were stormy. They'd agreed weeks ago that they would be fine with fighting Lucy's old Spirits. They had called out Loke and Virgo (Aquarius had not been feeling up to it) and decided they would manage, and there would be no holding back on either side. They would be friendly, of course, and not go to the extreme like Minerva had. But for him to move on so early and so fast...

That traitor.

Juvia was determined though. She shielded her eyes, remembering his Lion Brilliance. She flipped over them, landing with ease in a crouch. Rolling to the side, she narrowly avoided a punch that had landed not a foot from her. She kicked her foot out, landing squarely in the middle of his chest. He let out an 'oof' and stumbled back.

Damn, she kicks hard.

He loosened his tie. His fist connected with Juvia's side, but she'd transformed back into water before he could do any harm.

Juvia had completely flooded the area, and Yukino was wading in water up to her thighs.

And Loke was a cat if you thought about it, and well... He wasn't exactly very fond of water. Or being wet. He wasn't going to be of much help here.

"Yukino," he called over his shoulder. Yukino, dodging another ball of water that came swinging by her head, nodded. Juvia let a huge blast of water, throwing the two back. Yukino had braced herself against the current, and Loke had been tossed back several feet.

"Princess!" he shouted. Yukino quirked an eyebrow.

That's not my name...

Except from brining back some rather painful memories for everyone (who was it that the Spirits had used to call Princess again...?), everyone was baffled as to his odd outburst. Gray had cocked his head to the size, scrunching his lips together.

"She's a princess!" He yelled over the roaring water, churning and swirling strongly around them.

Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her belt.

It was the first part of the summoning command.

"Her name is Andromeda!" was the last thing he shouted.

And then he vanished, the water having swept him down under. She felt his gate open, and suddenly he had left this world.

The water swirling around Juvia, her own personal hurricane, was growing.

Yukino ran through her list of options. Virtually none of her Spirits would be of any help here. Aquarius had to be summoned in water, and thanks to her opponent, there was no shortage of that in the ring. However, If Juvia turned her body to water, and Aquarius fought with water... That was an endless cycle she really didn't have time to deal with.

Dammit.

Her and Juvia were more or less on the same level, there was no doubt about it, but Juvia had the upper hand situation wise. If the circumstances had been different, maybe she could have used her environment to her advantage. But now, surrounded by spectators and nothing but dirt and water, she had to come up with something. Fast.

Or, she could take a risk.

She didn't have a single idea about this new Spirit's abilities, or even how they would fight. Or, what kind of use they were meant for. Combat? Knowledge? Storage? Or even another freaking compass? Or worse, what if it was something as harmless as Plue? She couldn't just do that to a Spirit, right? No, it was a risk that might not pay off.

Sting.

Suddenly his disappointed, almost disgusted look, flashed across her mind, from when she had failed the previous year. She swallowed her shame, and undid the key hanging from her collection without thinking twice. Holding it out, she closed her eyes.

I will not fail again. Not in front of all these people.

Not in front of him.

Confused, excited murmurs filled the crowd.

A new key. All keys in existence had been documented already. While they were rare, and hard to come by, people knew which ones were with who, and which ones were simply just... out there. Somewhere. The newest key that had appeared had been decades ago, and it had been around for a relatively long time even then. (It had just been kept within a family, a well guarded secret until the little silver key had been passed on and somehow ended up in a little magic shop. And that is how Lucy Heartfilia got her hands on Canis Minor.)

"Open! Gate of the Princess! Andromeda!"

But Juvia hadn't been thrown off by this odd occurrence. (A Celestial Wizard summoning a Spirit, and having to be told the name of this Spirit, right in the middle of a battle was perceptually unheard of. Meaning they wouldn't have a contract yet. It was an anomaly that hadn't been seen before. Except of course, for the exceptional case of Lucy's first encounter with Sagittarius.)

She didn't even falter as swung her hand, and another current threatened to sweep Yukino off her feet. It had been only half successful, as Yukino stumbled back, the key now pointing up at the sun.

And then a beam of golden light shot up into the heavens, and an angel came plummeting down to Earth.

Lucy had been in the middle of a conversation with Virgo when she'd felt a tug, and she'd suddenly been falling. Really, really fast. Headfirst, Andromeda was like a falling star; golden and radiating light. The skies were a stark contrast to that of those in the world she;d just

That was both highly unexpected and inconvenient, the blonde thought to herself almost lazily as she felt the ground growing near. But then she actually glanced down, to see where to land, and she knew. Anticipation crawled over her skin like lightning.

Because, in the distance, she could see them. They were just barely distinguished, but... She was sure. Maybe it was the warmth that filled her chest, or just the simple fact that she knew, if this is what she thought it was, then they had to be here.

Her family.

And she she was smiling, so heartbreakingly wide and warm, as she approached the people she would never be complete without.

Fairy Tail.

Yukino had been holding her breath since she'd felt the Gate open. The beam of light had seemingly disappeared into the sun, which was directly overhead. She'd just stared up, not seeing anything. For a solid thirty seconds, they were all just squinting up at the sun like a bunch of idiots.

Is this new Spirit invisible or...?

They all watched as a shape began to form, a tiny blob of darkness growing on the surface of the sun.

But then it grew closer, and it wasn't a dark spot at all.

It was a person. A vaguely human silhouette was rapidly approaching the ring. They were falling head first.

Yukino and Juvia screamed, watching the seemingly motionless (in the sense that this creature was making absolutely no move to slow their descent. Also, they were eerily calm about their approaching demise.) They leapt apart, as the Spirit crashed in the spot where they both had stood.

When the dust cleared, they saw an angel. Her wings were spread, pure and white and breathtaking. Crouching, her wreath of leaves was askew atop her head, and her hair falling into her face, stood someone straight of out of an old mythology book. The Spirit was smiling down at the dirt, seemingly for no reason, and Yukino suddenly prayed that this one wasn't clinically insane. (Like Aquarius.)

Lucy could feel her voice rising to an unnaturally high octave as her excitement grew.

"Master?"

I'm here.

I'm really here.

And then she took one look at her opponent, and her stomach dropped.

Juvia.

Yukino finally gathered her thoughts to form a coherent statement.

"Andromeda," she said, stepping forward. "A contract. Can we form one later?" Yukino asked.

"Yes."

And with that, the angel rose, her wings lifting her over a hundred feet in a manner of speaking. And then just as fast, she came down, drawing a sword from thin air. Juvia vaulted backwards over Yukino, narrowly avoiding the huge line of energy that emitted from where she had slashed. Then she darted around the Celestial Spirit Mage and with her whole body now composed of water, aimed all water at her disposal and thrust it forwards.

Andromeda recovered quickly, and had her glowing golden shield erupting from the ground around her and Yukino before water flooded the arena once more.

Juvia was thrown back after colliding with the dome of energy, back in her solid form.

Time was up.

Yukino gasped. They'd won.

Sabertooth had won the match.

But on the other side, still on the ground Juvia hung her head.

She'd lost.

Yukino stepped forward, apologies for not helping her up sooner already on her tongue, but someone beat her to the punch. Andromeda stepped forward,hand outstretched. Juvia turned her head away, feeling tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

But the hand stayed, overing, and Juvia begrudgingly took it.

"Thank you," Juvia said, truly grateful. It wasn't always the case, for your opponent to be gracious enough to help you up when you'd lost. And then Juvia looked up, smiling surprisingly wide, which puzzled the Water Mage herself.

And Andromeda, smiling as well, brushed her damp hair aside with her free hand.

"Let's do that again sometime, alright?"

But then Juvia's eyes widened, and she dropped her hand. Lucy's smile fell from her face, not having realized what her reacting might have been.

And then she was screaming. Screaming like her heart was being ripped out of her chest and crushed right in front of her. She scrambled away, fingernails scratching at the wet dirt. She was clawing away from the angel, shaking, trembling like a leaf.

Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel were leaping over the railing and into the arena in the blink of an eye.

Andromeda, or Lucy, was slowly following Juvia, still offering her hand. Finally Juvia was against the wall, ad Lucy had her hand on her shoulder.

"It's me," she was saying, her voice hoarse.

"Juvia, it's me."

But Juvia was shaking her head, a crying, blubbering mess. She shut her eyes.

"Get your hands off of her!" Gray bellowed, roughly grabbing her arm. Wrenching the so called 'Princess' off his guild mate, Gray pushed her back. She hit the ground on her side, rolling a few feet, in a both humiliating and undignified manner. He had his hands on both sides of Juvia's face asking where she was hurt. But Juvia couldn't form a coherent thought, much less an explanation.

"Andromeda!" Yukino exclaimed. "What on earth is-"

"Yukino! Control your Spirit!" Natsu snarled, cutting her off.

No way in hell was he going to just sit by and calmly watch another one of his Guild Mates be put in harm's way. Not. A. Chance.

Meanwhile, Lucy was trying to not cry, as she sat in the dirt.

Look at the mess you've made, she heard her own voice reprimanding her in her head. Look what you've done. You fuck up. Why can't you do anything right?

"Natsu, I-"

"No, Yukino! You know we didn't want to fight any of Lucy's Spirits in the first place, but then you go and call out some random Spirit who you've spoken what, two words to? You don't even know her! She could have killed Juvia! And then she went and harassed her! What were you thinking?!" Natsu exploded.

"I trust Loke! He suggested I call her out, so I did! God, he belonged to her! Hell, he was one of you, with an official mark and everything before she saved him! What, do you not trust him anymore either? Just because now he fight with me?"

"I mean, Juvia's over there crying in the first so, at the moment, I can honestly say we can't trust either of you!" Gajeel cut in. Yukino drew back, clearly offended and hurt.

And now two more people were leaping over into the ring, but from a different guild this time.

Sting and Rogue were in the ring too now, snarling at the other two Dragon Slayers who were defensively placed in front of Gray, still comforting the crying girl.

"Stop yelling at her! Both of them! All she was doing was following Yukino's orders!"

"Oh, did I miss the part where she commanded her to terrify Juvia?" Gajeel asked, flexing his wrists.

"Gajeel, you of all people should know that..."

And then Yukino, while her two best friends were busy defending her, heard a grunt of pain. Turning, she was her new Spirit still on the ground, her hair in disarray and the green leaves on her head. And suddenly she felt unimaginably guilty, as she had gone and thrust this innocent person into a lifetime's worth of drama.

"Hey there. I'm Yukino, your new key holder. What you did was amazing, by the way. I'm sorry about them. They just, uh, well we all recently lost someone important to us. We just... they're a little protective of all their Guild Mates now. You didn't do anything wrong, I promise," she assured.

The angel nodded slowly, feeling tears welling up in her eyes as well.

"You're hurt," Yukino realized eyes widening. "Where is it? Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

Andromeda shook her head. Humiliated and confused, she kept her eyes down.

"They're all so angry," she said, frustrated tears rolling down and falling onto her dress.

"Did I do this?" She asked in a timid voice, her hands clenching the white silk. She sounded horrified. "Did I... You all hate each other? Why? You're all screaming at each other." Yukino inwardly winced. So far, she sounded like Aries. Oh. Boy. This would all go over real well. This was the last thing they needed right now.

"Friends," she spat bitterly. "You were all friends."

Now she was speaking nonsense, and Yukino was getting a headache. There was so much arguing, and now, as Rogue was beginning to roll up his sleeves, things were going downhill real fast.

"What's happened to you all?"

"Just get up," Gray snapped at her, without even looking over his shoulder. "And get out."

"No!" Juvia cried shrilly, suddenly fighting him off. "Please! Don't go! I don't-" she stopped to hiccup, as she was crawling back. And then came a round of harsh coughing, and Juvia's world was going fuzzy.

"Get out!" Gray commanded, his voice dark and dangerous. "I don't know what you're doing to her, but stop. Go back to where you came from!"

"But I'm already here," she said softly, so softly that only the Dragon Slayers heard it, as she rose.

"Leave her alone!" Sting argued, inwardly puzzled. "You don't even know her! Mistakes happen!"

"She's crazy!" Gray accused, pointing a finger.

"Well I mean, she's suddenly summoned in the middle of a huge tournament, under a Master she's never even met, and now we're all screaming at her and each other. How the hell are we able to justify judging her?" Rogue cut in, that dangerous death glare building up behind his eyes.

"I did this to you all," she whispered, staggering forward, ignoring the other blonde. She was dragging her feet through the mud, her golden sandals getting coated with the wet ground. Ignoring Gray's repeated claim of her being insane, she kept walking.

And then there was another flash of light, and Loke was standing there, going from pale to red real quick. She fell into him, feeling dead. (Ha ha I'm so funny right? No? Too soon?)

"You asses." Loke snarled.

"Me? I'm the ass? Your little friend hurt Juvia! What, do you not care about her anymore? Just because you're Sabertooth now? Have you forgotten all about us now, now that she's gone?" Natsu demanded. Loke blanched, and even Natsu looked apologetic the second he'd said it.

As Loke stepped forward, looking ready to punch someone's lights out, Andromeda threw herself between them, latching onto Natsu's shoulders. All of her weight puled him down (It doesn't really need stating, but we all know he let her. Crying girls, wings or no wings, were not his forte), as she sobbed.

He patted her hair awkwardly, as one would to a dog, trying to console her.

"There, there," he said uneasily. He shot Gray a look.

What do I do?

He shrugged.

I dunno.

She smelled of tears and sunlight and-

His pupils expanded and narrowed within the span of a second. He yanked her back, holding her at an arm's length. Gray looked confused, and Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue, couldn't smell anything under the overwhelming tears Juvia cried. Loke nodded, calming down. He should have remembered, they were as temperamental as he was just a few hours ago.

And so it begins. He glanced around. With quite the audience.

He kept his hands other shoulders as he shook her, a fire igniting somewhere inside him. It slowly growing, but burning hot regardless. He couldn't tel if it was anger, or something else yet.

"Who are you?" He growled.

The faint scent had the very memory of the smell hitting him full force. He was reeling, his nose overpowered, and his brain overwhelmed.

What the hell?

She put her left hand across her chest, resting it on top of his.

With the other hand, only slightly trembling, she put a hand to his cheek. He instinctively leaned into her touch, his eyelids fluttering. She blew the strands hanging in front of her face to the side, a cute mannerism that he'd almost forgotten. Almost. But after all this time... no, he'd hung on to every obscure detail he could recall.

And then her brown eyes were meeting his, teary and happy, but sorrowful all the same.

It was a face he'd dreamed about, in nightmares and daydreams and wishful fantasies of her returning.

It was Lucy.

His Lucy.

She ran her thumb over his fingers, looking down at her lap.

"Look, I'm sorry for scaring Juvia and I just, I mean if you want me to go I'll just leave..." she broke off uneasily, before looking up to face him.

"I missed you," she finally said. "I know that I was gone but- I'll go, if it's too much."

It was a dream. Most definitely a dream. But that didn't mean Natsu wasn't going to enjoy the delusion for as long as he possibly could.

There was no doubt, no shred of uncertainty as he smiled, bright and delighted and amazed. There was nothing particularly despairing as he began to cry, happy tears coating his cheeks. There was no holding back, as he pushed her back onto the ground. And there was no hesitation as he cupped her face between his hands, and kissed her.

"Stay," he murmured against her lips, before continuing to move his lips against hers. Her heart was jumping wildly in her chest (she was almost positive he could hear it), as they both cried and kissed. Together.

And for a moment, there was nothing else in the universe.

There was nothing that disturbed them, nothing that could take them down from their high, not even the gasps nor the both scandalized and horrified screams of the thousands of people in the audience.

So...

Whaddya think? I know, there's room for improvement, but hey, it could be worse. Definitely... could be worse. *goes back to read old writing* *cringes* So, I hope you guys at least liked it a little bit, I was thinking of doing the reunion in a different way, but then I realized it'd probably end up being too similar to my other fic, Stronger.

See you,

-Pyro