Hi guys and welcome to the second chapter of this story.

I'm so sorry, I had forgotten to mention my disclaimer. I don't own Fairy Tail, the characters or the plot. I do own my imaginations seeping from my fingers and onto the keyboard.

I will be releasing a new story that is based on a true story, true events that have occurred but of course, with the characters of Fairy Tail.

CRAP - That means I have to keep up 3 stories simultaneously.

No biggie.

HUGE SHOUTOUT: I'd like to thank the person that was the first to review this story (and might be the only person who reviewed TBH). It meant the absolute world to me. If anything, I wish I could just shower you with gratitude and take you out and shower you with food. Honestly.

Without further ado, I introduce to you: Chapter 2

Preview:

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I've never felt so... Lonely. In a big, loud and rambunctious guild filled with disaster, it was as if I'm the only one that didn't fit in this perfect chaos."

Lucy blinked her eyes until it adjusted to the painful disruption of the night light on her bedside table. Taking note of the dark outside her window with the curtains barely covering the streetlights, the blonde mage slowly pulled herself up until her back leant lazily against the headboard of the bed. Lifting the bed sheets, she mentally noted that she still wore her same clothes from the same day. Satisfied, she leaned her head back onto the headboard and sighed audibly.

The memories from three years ago still haunted her. Especially in her sleep. Sometimes it would get worse. At one stage, she had woken up from a nightmare in which Fairy Tail had completely kicked her out for good. The tears were evident on her pillow and she had to explain everything when Loki heard her snuffling during their training camps.

"You're awake?" A voice echoed from the right side in which the celestial mage let out a shriek before grabbing the sheets to her chest to calm her scared heart. Her nostalgic memory train sliced from the intruder.

"Sting - Mavis, you scared me!" The celestial mage exclaimed, attempting to calm her nerves. "What are you even doing here? Aren't you supposed to do - something?" The light dragon slayer chuckled lightly before striding over to her bed and settling himself on the other side. A few minutes had passed as he was too busy getting comfortable. Lucy glared as he calmly took his boots off, his shirt and propped himself up.

Usually, she would gladly deliver a blow to a certain fire mage for intruding into her apartment. But after a long thought and reasoning, she decided to be the bigger person and act maturely. Without shedding any blood nor getting any bloody stains on her bed and walls if she did actually kick the light dragon slayer.

"I don't even remember giving you permission to help yourself to my bed. Let alone, my house." Lucy added, glaring at the oblivious male that finally settled in.

"Let's just say that I've decided to help you with your problem with Fairy Tail." Lucy blinked. Her mouth had fallen open and she stared at the blonde mage unspeakably.

"And you care because?" The celestial mage questioned, stepping out of bed and attempting a lazy stretch. The blonde male stretched as well, putting his arms at the back of his head and pushed himself back to the headboard.

"Because for a princess, you don't deserve to be mistreated like this." Sting replied. His electric blue eyes followed the celestial mage as she rummaged through her closets and throwing a set of clothes on the bed. It wasn't as if he was lying, he really wasn't. He was just tired of seeing the celestial mage being underestimated by a lot of people. Including himself. And for the first time, he wanted to be there to protect her from those wanting to see her fall. Even if it meant going against a certain fire mage.

"That's really cheesy, Sting. Don't ever say something like that again. It doesn't suit your character." Lucy commented, grabbing her fluffy white towel and making her way to the bathroom before stopping.

"Sting," The named male didn't reply. Instead, he chose to watch her think with a frown on her face. "Thanks. For hearing me out." There was a sound of rustling sheets, then a loud thumping of feet padding against the floorboard before the light dragon slayer squeezed himself in front of the celestial mage, who was internally fighting the blush that was creeping up her neck and making her cheeks warm. She mentally kicked herself. This was Sting Eucliffe. All dragon slayers were as dense as rocks - apart from Wendy of course. If anything, he wouldn't even know how cliche he's putting himself to be.

Unknown to this phenomenon, Sting leaned down put his palms on Lucy's face, staring intently into her brown orbs. Noticing the red hue settling at the tip of her ears and slightly on her cheeks, he brushed it off as signs of anger

"Look Lucy, I didn't stay to hear you out." The blank stare that Lucy had on her face was immediately replaced by a frown,

"Then why did you-"

"I stayed because I listened. You needed someone to help you, so here I am." There was a brief exchange of silence before the celestial mage playfully pushed the dragon slayer out of the doorway with a small smile on her face without looking up. Her bangs covered her eyes so Sting couldn't tell if she was mad or what.

"I gotta shower. Afterwards, we should go eat. My shout." Finally looking up and giving the dragon slayer a determined grin.

"By the way, get the hell out of my apartment before I kick you."

"Wow. What a way to kill the mood. I'm already feeling butterflies."

They sat at a quiet area away from the city. It seemed like a park but without the fountains and flowers that usually occupy the landscape. Where they sat down was just slightly over a hill, with a range of forests a few acres away. The night sky was clear with stars shining their brilliance over the land and the air was crisp and clean.

Lucy tugged on her brown dress shirt that rode up to her thighs. She had dispensed her jacket next to her and began to unpack the food they had bought. Sting had just returned from roaming the forest for some wood, before neatly stacking them and lighting a fire. After settling the utensils respectively down, the blonde mage turned to glare at the dragon slayer.

"When I said my shout, I meant that we are going to settle in a nice, comfy setting indoors with proper chairs and I was going to pay for the both of us." The celestial mage muttered, reaching over to pass the take-out to the slayer sitting beside her. She didn't understand. In her mind, she envisioned for the both of them to sit in a restaurant, order some food, eat and then do whatever comes next.

"It's too boring. I much prefer the outdoors." Sting replied, not waiting a moment to dig into the food. As soon as they had left Lucy's apartment, he had tugged her hand to the nearest barbecue stall, ordered some things until his wandering eyes also tugged her to a ramen stand. Carrying two bags of different takeouts was fun for the dragon slayer. It somewhat felt like he could do it again, of course, not without Lucy commenting now and again about his appetite,

"Of course you do." Lucy replied, although she did reach over and began helping herself. They ate in complete utter silence. After his third helping, Lucy decided to start questioning her companion. It wouldn't be a big deal. It was only the beginning of starting a conversation and for old times sake, what else would they do beside it ramen and barbecue food by the fire outdoors?

"So Sting," Lucy began, pretending to think by putting her index finger on her chin. This definitely earned the attention of the light dragon slayer, who had paused mid-chew on a piece of beef. His eyebrows were raised and it seemed like forever since she finally began to continue her sentence, "I was just wondering where Lector was. I mean, surely you both do things together." The blonde male blinked, chewed a bit more before swallowing the contents into his hungry belly.

"He went with Rogue and Frosch on a mission. And like I mentioned it before, I'm doing illegal business here in Magnolia - so yeah." The male replied, taking another bite into the juicy tender meat.

"And how are we going to get this to work?" The celestial mage questioned, looking down and playing with the small leftover with her chopsticks.

"It's simple really." Pausing to chew his food. "We just have to make all of them see you once and they will be hooked. But it needs to be something wild." Sting replied, savoring the food in his mouth. "It needs to be something that they do." Whilst doing so, his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened with burning realization.

"Wait - that's it!" The sudden exclamation frightened the celestial mage slightly. Lucy put her food down and waited eagerly for the dragon slayer to swallow quickly, choking a bit in the rush, coughing and then finally giving her a large grin.

"A mission! We are going to do a mission together!"

There was a moment of silence besides the sound of firewood crackling on the earth. Lucy closed her eyes and took dangerous breathing exercises whilst keeping a calm face. The urge to kick the dragon slayer was almost unbearable. Instead, she settled for smiling crookedly regardless that the corners of her lips were twitching and her hand was itching to throw the nearest firewood.

"And how would that do anything?" The dragon slayer chuckled evilly at her question. After hearing him, the celestial mage feared for their plan.

"For a smart bookworm, you're pretty slow. But then again, you're blonde." Twitch.

"...We're both blonde, you idiot."

After going through the plan for the umpteenth time, Lucy sighed before straightening her attire once more before they head out. After her failed attempt yesterday, stumbling into the Sabertooth mage and basically shedding all her problems to him, it almost made her want to turn her heels and run away from it all. Thankfully this time, the light dragon slayer held her down and made sure to see this whole ordeal through. Funny enough, she welcomed him into her apartment and insisted that the least she could do was offer a place to rest - a move that made her question if she was mentally stable.
That morning, they had woken up at respectable times, eaten then dressed for the day that would be expected to be eventful. Patiently, Sting watched and waited for the blonde female to select an outfit before slipping into the bathroom to change.

Sting made sure that the celestial mage knew the ins and outs of their plan. It was simple really. But even the simplest plans could definitely go haywire so he had taken a lot of precautions. Whilst watching the female blonde smile unsurely at herself at the mirror, he sighed loudly, letting her know that she's taking too long admiring her reflection and they should get moving. He stood up from the couch and started making his way to the door,

"Come on Blondie, we don't have all day."

"Wait!" The celestial mage called out. Her brown eyes roamed over her figure once more. She had selected a dark olive dress shirt that curved at the hems, a black sash to keep it in place and to hold her keys and whips, she slipped on black combat boots and tied her hair in a high pony tail. With a last grin, she turned and locked the door for her apartment.

The walk to the guild hall started okay for the celestial mage. Besides the obvious fact that a Fairy Tail member was walking with a Sabertooth mage. Regardless, the streets were filled with friendly stall owners who offered their best produce to the two mages, complimenting the bright day and wishing them the best of luck for whatever they were about to do.

Halfway, the feeling in the pit of the celestial mage's stomach began to quiver. Her heart was pounding in full expectation of their dreaded destination. Sting noticed that his companion was started to get a bit sweaty, and yet he had directed them to walk under the shaded area of the streets.

"How you feeling, Blondie?" The light dragon slayer inquired, following behind the celestial mage who continued trudging despite her shaking legs,

"Like a lamb knowingly being led to the slaughter." Lucy replied dejectedly. As she took a step at a time, her mind began to throw wild scenarios into her head of how her reunion would turn out with the place she called home. Would they demand to fight her? Would she get pulled into the hustle of their usual fights? Or would they turn their backs on her and tell her to leave? Somehow, the last scenario didn't make sense. It was to the point that she chuckled mentally at the thought. At last, the pair stopped outside the doors of the guild. It didn't look any different from the last time she remembered - despite that it looked very worn out and some parts of the building looked like it was going to fall any second, she still felt the nostalgic feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Wow. Looks like three years had never passed." Lucy murmured. Gazing up with the tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. Sting watched from the corners of his eyes as the celestial mage quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand and adjusting her black sash.

"Okay. Let's do this!" Lucy pushed the doors open. The usual-loud rambunctious guild fell silent at the pair that entered the doors. Sting took note of the stares that were shot at him, but most importantly, they were filled with pity at the celestial mage beside him. Lucy scouted the guild and realized that Team Natsu wasn't there, a stab to her heart resonated deep within her. Should she say something? She should. She didn't think this through. She didn't think that it would turn out like this. Eventually, the strength in her legs made her knees weak and she wanted to just get the hell out of there.

"Lucy?" A blue-haired girl poked from the bar, accompanied with another white-haired barmaid and a iron dragon slayer. Recognizing the voice, Lucy trained her eyes on the bar and watched as a petite figure walk towards her. Once again, the tears pricked at the celestial mage's eyes and she dashed forwards,

"Levy-chan!"

"Lu-chan!"

"Lucy!" The guild chorused again. Sting watched with slight amusement as the entire guild members rushed over to her with tears in their eyes, laughter in their stomach and happiness swelling in the atmosphere for the blonde celestial mage.

After the excitement had passed, the pair decided to sit with Levy and Gajeel at the bar, with Mira wriggling her eyebrows every now and then.

"Where have you been all this time? It's like you disappeared in thin air!" Levy exclaimed in which Lucy sweat dropped. Well, that literally happened. She did disappear in the air, actually. Playing with the curve of her glass of orange juice, she turned to Levy,

"It doesn't matter. I'm back aren't I? I'm only back though, temporarily." This raised a few eyebrows, excluding the light dragon slayer.

"What does that even mean?" Gajeel asked, reaching forward for another helping of iron nails and steel bolts in his plate,

"I'm here with Sting for a job. That's our sole purpose of coming here actually." Shared looks were exchanged until they settled on the Sabertooth mage who sat next to Lucy.

"And why are you with her, if you don't mind me asking." Mira asked, whilst wiping down the wooden bench. It was so weird. Its just seemed out of place for their princess to be with a different dragon slayer, from a different guild. Namely, a guild that made an enemy out of Fairy Tail during the Grand Magic Games.

"I just want to try something new. Go on a mission with Lucy seemed right. We're basically mates now." Sting said proudly, without noticing a blush coming from the celestial mage, a calculating pause from the barmaid and a raised eyebrow from the blue-haired bookworm,

"Why Lucy?" Gajeel questioned without showing any signs of surprise from Sting's statement. In fact, the iron dragon slayer was more concerned with the fact that the timing of the Sabertooth member and Bunny girl couldn't be any more wiser. His ears twitched. They were back.
Lucy perked up at this question. That was actually a very good question. She didn't even realize herself that Gajeel was very calculative especially when it came to people he's very close with.

Sting grinned. "That's easy. Look at her." All four heads looked to the celestial mage, who unconsciously looked down and attempting to shrink herself through the bar. Sting squinted at the blushing blonde. Why was she red? Leaning down, he put his face close to the blushing mage. Was it just him or was she turning red like a sunburned tomato?

Suddenly, the air was filled with intense heat. Another person had slipped between Sting and Lucy. Recognizing the attire of the newcomer, the light dragon slayer smirked and leaned his elbow on the bar whilst resting his head on the propped elbow. This had definitely gotten interesting.

"Why Luce"

With full blown confidence and a cocky smirk, the Sabertooth member felt his smirk widen. It only escalated knowing that Lucy was watching the entire scene before her unfold and shock was plastered across her face. He looked at intruder of their conversation. Sighing loudly, he stood up until he was head-to-head with his competition,

"Why not?"

There was a clenching of fists and the sound of teeth gritting. The Sabertooth member watched with amusement as the mage in front of him struggled to keep his anger in check.

Sting paused, finding the correct word to piss the already made individual in front of him. Ah. He remembered.

"What's wrong, Salamander?"

WOW. Is it bad that I'm slowly siding with Sting on this one? But don't worry guys, it's an eventual Nalu fanfic. Don't we all love the drama llama?

If you noticed, I've only mentioned some members of FT because they are critical in this story. Hahaha.

I will be releasing the next chapter on Sunday (likely).

Thank you all for your love and support. It really does make a difference in my miserable life. (awks - that was kinda depressing).

Lots of love,

B7K