Author's Note:

Hello all! It's Sunday! A new chapter awaits!

As always, HUUUUGE thanks to everyone who reviewed! You are all amazing and wonderful! Big hugs and kisses to all my repeat reviewers: TheJSmooth, Lucinda, thechani, KitsuneLover05, ThatOneAnimeGirl08, 19vanelkc, TheOldIronKing, Leomae2.0, kilatails, valerioux, WisdomDragon27, Lunar13, The Rain Will Fade, fox0920, TheAvatarShadow, moeruhoshi, Firefly9917, Missy 63, xxIt'sAllAboutThemxx, Alice, Elphaba818, RabbitMelody, ravenqueen162, Wolves silver wind, Daisy73, silentlinkmit339, Ksta, and HotvampGurl23. And equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: Celestia's Blade of Poison, and electrogirl88.

Also, the general consensus on lemon warnings was no. So I will not be posting any warnings about upcoming lemons. ;D Therefore, I'll do a ONE TIME WARNING here and say that there are going to be quite a few lemony scenes (at least one for every major story arc), and they're generally going to increase in intensity as time goes on. I'm sure it goes without saying, that things will get EXPLICIT - so if that's not your thing, skip over those parts. Also, let's just say that Natsu likes to experiment (especially in the later lemons) so if you run into something that you aren't comfortable with...again, just skip over it. ;D Alrighty, I think that's covered all the bases, so now you know what to expect and won't be unpleasantly surprised later on.

So on with the show! And be sure to check out the sneak peek at the end of the chapter. :D

For the next few days, Lucy and Natsu couldn't go to the guildhall without everyone making a big fuss. None of it seemed to bother Natsu at all, although he was more than happy to challenge anyone to a fight if they teased him too hard. Mostly this involved Gray taunting him about being slow, or unable to get a girl, or how he doubted he would be any good (in bed)…. Basically, the normal joking a guy would do to his friend, but increased to intentionally piss Natsu off. The funniest part about it was that Gray quickly realized Natsu was pretty ignorant about sex, so he delighted in using every euphemism he could think off … which seriously irritated Natsu since he didn't know what the hell Gray was talking about.

However, now that Gray and Juvia had also exposed that they were together to the whole guild, Natsu had plenty of ammunition to taunt Gray right back. Apparently the ice mage and water mage had been discovered together during the four days that Natsu and Lucy had been off dancing at the burlesque club. Lucy supposed that Gray must have basically given up on keeping their relationship a secret, if he and Juvia had been kissing in an alley next to the guildhall.

Whatever the case, having two new official couples in the guild made everyone go nutso, and they got mercilessly pestered.

Probably the most embarrassing situation was when Happy got home from his mission with Carla and Wendy, found out about Natsu and Lucy, and then proceeded to ask her – loudly – "So what's gonna happen to me?! Do I have to sleep out in the street when you two wanna get it on?"

It was actually a good question – not that they had gotten that far along in their relationship yet to have to worry about it – but mostly she was too embarrassed to put any real thought behind an answer.

"Happy! I'm not going to throw you out to sleep on the street just because I have a boyfriend!"

He puffed up his cheeks, trying to hide his amusement. Everyone else within hearing range weren't as subtle though, and plenty of laughter and chuckles erupted all around her.

"So then, what are you gonna do about the little guy when you two lovebirds wanna sex it up?" Cana asked.

With a groan, Lucy planted her face into the tabletop to hide a vivid blush. Mumbling into the wood, she grumbled, "We've only just started dating!"

"So? It's gonna happen eventually. You better start thinking about it asap."

With a long-suffering sigh for dramatic effect, Happy offered, "I suppose I can have a sleepover with other guildmembers if I get thrown out. Hey Wendy!" He flew off in pursuit of the blue-haired mage and her white cat.

"Looks like this might be a win-win situation you guys have got." Cana commented, and Lucy responded with an amused snort.

Perhaps even more awkward was when Leo found out about it while he was out and about on one of his dating ventures in Earthland. He immediately picked a fight with Natsu over it, and they went at it – very nearly destroying the guildhall much to Lucy's embarrassment.

Afterwards, all Leo would say was, "You better not burn her to a crisp Natsu…"

"Don't worry, I won't. I can't, actually." Natsu responded with a grin, and Leo's eyes widened for a moment behind his sunglasses.

"So she's really a…?"

"Yep."

After that, Leo seemed to deflate and finally accepted the new arrangement, although it still didn't stop him from making passes at her.

…

Several more days passed in this manner, up until a new and infinitely more serious topic overtook everything – completely blindsiding the entire guild.

Almost a week after returning from the burlesque mission, Lucy was at the request board once again looking for a mission. Natsu had eaten them almost out of house and home yet again, and they needed a little extra to cover the food budget. Right as she was leaning in to take a closer look at an intriguing mission involving a lake monster, she was thoroughly distracted by the guildhall doors being slammed open. That, in and of itself wasn't entirely unusual, but the sound did attract Lucy's attention and she glanced over, only to become immediately concerned at the sight of Erza running into the guildhall. She was out of breath and had a wild look in her eyes that prompted everyone to instantly pay attention and move back several paces.

"Jellal's been caught! The Council is giving him a court case, and we've been summoned as potential witnesses!"

"We who? Who all's being summoned?" Gray asked and risked inching closer to get a look at the paper she was waving around. "Looks like everyone from the Oracion Seis mission…Lucy, Natsu, me, Erza, and Wendy…" he read aloud.

Lucy immediately ran over, accompanied by Natsu, Happy, and Amy (who had summoned herself as soon as she felt Lucy's sudden distress.)

"That's really not good. If they found out that we were harboring him, we might end up with our own court cases." Lucy murmured, biting her lip.

"Yeah, it looks like they want us to come in for questioning." Gray intoned as he continued to read the notice over Erza's shoulder.

Wendy and Carla soon joined them too, and Happy immediately cuddled up to Carla … or attempted to anyways. She didn't outright push him away, but she wasn't exactly accommodating. For once, he wasn't entirely paying attention to her either – it seemed more instinctual than anything – but he was mostly focused on Erza.

Juvia quickly walked over to lean into Gray and offer her emotional support as well. "Juvia can't imagine what she would do if Darling Gray was to spend time in jail…" she quietly murmured in her typical second-person form of speech when she felt extremely uneasy about something.

Lucy didn't blame her. Aside from the danger of them all being accused of aiding the escape of a fugitive, Erza looked like she was about to have a serious meltdown and could possibly take them all with her. Thankfully she pulled herself together within the hour and accepted the comfort they all tried to give her … especially in the form of all the strawberry cake she could want from Mira. But unfortunately, she pulled herself together by seemingly locking up all her emotions – which was a great way to make a bomb as far as Lucy was concerned.

For the next couple of days, as the court date and their own questioning approached swiftly, everyone grew more and more tense. Largely that was concern for Erza, who remained stoic the entire time – aside from her brief freak-out upon first finding out. But everyone could feel the negative emotions radiating from her, and none of them wanted to be caught in the crossfire. She'd already almost killed Natsu and Gray when they accidentally crashed into her cake – which she wasn't touching anyways, but apparently the principle of it still remained. The closer they got to the trial date, the less Erza ate at all – which was yet another cause for concern. When Erza refused to even eat her strawberry cake …. Bad things were upon them.

Before the trial, they were all called in for their own questioning, and so they made their way to Fiore's capitol – Crocus. On the way there, they determined what they should say, and decided that honesty would probably be the best policy – hoping that maybe if they explained what had happened, and how Jellal had helped them take down Nirvana, he might get a lighter sentence. It was a bit of a risk, because it would require admitting that they worked with him, but hopefully they wouldn't be charged with anything.

Upon their arrival, they were immediately separated and placed into their own questioning rooms. And then for the next solid day, they were asked every conceivable question having to do with the Nirvana Incident, and any other time they had been in contact with Jellal. They had also decided to share the story of how he had helped them to take down that dark guild that had kidnapped Juvia, in the hopes that it would help Jellal.

In the end, after an exceptionally grueling day, they were all released, and thankfully not charged with abetting a criminal. Whether or not they were able to help Jellal was yet to be seen.

Almost everyone from the guild had come, not only to back them up, but also to go to the trial which would be held only a few days after their questioning. So, when the big day soon arrived, they all filed into the courthouse to watch the proceedings and nearly took up an entire fourth of the available seating. Of course, all the summoned witnesses sat in a series of benches set close to the proceedings, so they could be called up as needed. In front of all the benches, a sturdy curved banister stood between the audience and the circular floorspace where all the proceedings would take place.

That day, everyone was tense as the court assembled. The audience arrived first, all the witnesses filing to the front and everyone else going to the back. That took some time, since Fairy Tail was only a small part of the entire audience that had assembled to see this particular spectacle. There were reporters of every ilk and the masses who had just come to watch for entertainment purposes.

Eventually though, everyone who would fit inside the courtroom had taken a seat or packed into the available standing space, and then there was a somewhat strained pause before all the officials made their stately appearance. A bell was rung for order, and then the Magic Council members marched in from a large pair of doors located on the right side of the room. They filed up a set of stairs hidden behind a false wall, and then reemerged in a tall balcony sort of thing that looked down upon the circular room. They lined up in two rows. Each sat in a tall-backed impressive looking chair – all of which were parked behind a tabletop than ran the length of each row.

Once the councilmembers were all seated, the defense entered out of a much smaller door opposite the one the Council had come in from. She shuffled forwards, holding an impressive stack of paperwork to her chest, and took her place on a short dais left of the judges. Master Makarov had funded her, so Jellal would be assured of a good attorney to try and get him a lenient sentence. She was supposedly one of the best.

Then all that was left to be filled was an empty raised podium with a seat and a railing around the edges that stood centralized in front of the audience. That would be where witnesses were called to testify. Between the witness stand and the council box – in the very center of the circular floor – sat a single metal chair bolted to the floor. It was obviously a piece of furniture that could be moved in or out, depending on what sort of case was being dealt with. From it dangled chains and manacles, both on the arms and legs.

Once everyone was positions and had been seated, there was another breathless pause, and then finally a pair of guards opened the second door on the left – a heavy metal one – with an ominous creak. Out came Jellal, flanked between four guards and wearing a blue jumpsuit and some sort of clogs. His hands were cuffed behind his back and a chain between his feet kept his strides short.

He seemed very unkept, but still walked in with his head held high and an amazingly relaxed posture. There was no worry in his eyes – at least not until they flashed towards Erza, and then Lucy caught a light tensing of his facial muscles. He quickly averted his eyes to the front, which he had to do anyways since he was being shoved down into the chair. His wrists were released from the cuffs only to be chained to the chair instead, and the same pattern was repeated on his ankles. Then, the second pair of guards went back through the metal door, leaving one pair behind to continue flanking Jellal.

As soon as Jellal was seated and secured, court was called into session as the head council member hammered his gavel to get everyone's attention. It proceeded quite formally after that, with a lot of legal talk that didn't seem entirely necessary in Lucy's opinion. First, Jellal was identified, and then asked if he was in fact the person they said he was – to which he answered yes of course. Then a long list of crimes that he was being accused of were read out, which in and of itself took an impressively long time. When that finally concluded, he was asked how he pleaded, to which he answered, "guilty."

That seemed to take the Council aback, but they resumed after a brief shocked pause. "In that case, today's court session will be to determine your punishment. Defendant? Please step forward and present your case."

The lady they had hired stepped off her dais and started speaking clearly and succinctly about how Jellal had indeed done some horrible things, but only under the influence of a malevolent curse. She went on about how he hadn't been mentally stable and the like. Even more clever perhaps, she played the empathy card and brought up how he had grown up as a captive before being cursed. Eventually Erza was brought up as a witness to corroborate all this, and Lucy felt sorry for her friend as she was asked all sorts of painful questions that brought up terrible memories. Erza seemed to handle it relatively well, but Lucy could tell it was wearing on her.

With Erza's help, the defendant put forth a very compelling case.

Then, the issue of what he had been doing lately came up, and the question of what part he played in the Nirvana incident was posed to the court by one of the councilors. At that point, Erza was called up to the witness stand once again, but so were plenty of other people to prove that he had helped in Nirvana's destruction. It was with some surprise that Lucy learned he and Erza had been ambushed and captured by the Oracion Seis after Jellal had successfully unsealed Nirvana and set a self-destruct circle on it. And when they hadn't been able to undo Jellal's spell, they had forced him to do it himself – through some very unpleasant means.

So, in effect, he had unwittingly been the one responsible for unsealing and loosing Nirvana upon the world… for the short span it survived. That didn't look too good on his record unfortunately, even with his efforts to destroy it after the fact.

Of course, that was the least of his charges.

Eventually, the session adjourned so that the councilmembers could talk amongst themselves and come to a decision over his punishment.

It was a short break, just long enough to go to the bathroom, get a snack, and for Erza to chew her fingernails down to the quick absentmindedly. It was the only time Lucy had ever seen her fidget at all, and she didn't even seem to realize she was doing it. Thankfully no-one called attention to it, and the whole Fairy Tail guild made sure that nobody from the general audience could approach to hassle her. A few unlucky idiots tried, including several reporters, but they all left a little worse for wear after dealing with some very peeved mages in overprotection mode.

When they resumed session, there was another exhibition of pomp and circumstance as everyone filed back to their appropriate spots, and then the Council read out Jellal's sentence – after once again making sure that it was indeed him sitting in front of them.

"Jellal Fernandez…after taking into consideration everything posed to the court today, we have decided to spare you the death penalty. However, you are sentenced to 30 years to life in the highest security prison. Court adjourned."

Lucy could feel Erza relax at the first ruling, and then seize up at the second. She instantly wrapped an arm around her redheaded friend's shoulders to offer support as Jellal was jerked to his feet and led out of the room. He glanced once over his shoulder and dark blue eyes found Erza's in the crowd, before he was pulled through the doors to his new life in jail.

Risking a peek at Erza, Lucy saw an apathetic expression on her face, and to everyone else she must look unaffected, but Lucy could feel the tremors wracking her friend's frame from head to toe and knew she was a second away from full meltdown mode. So, Lucy made eye contact with Natsu and they flanked her, with Gray in front, and hustled her out of the room – shoving everyone else out of the way. Other guildmembers joined them as they went and helped to get Erza out of the courtroom post haste.

A few more idiots tried to harass her on their way out, calling out rude names and other abusive language for openly supporting such an 'evil criminal' as Jellal. The same was also said for everyone who had defended him – which included most of Fairy Tail – but it had been obvious that Erza was much closer to him. That had become incredibly apparent thanks to all the intense and somewhat intimate questioning she had been forced to endure. And it was equally apparent that he had feelings for her, after his own set of questioning. So, she was picked on the most.

However, anyone stupid enough to try to insult Erza – or anyone else in Fairy Tail for that matter – were quickly silenced. They were able to plow through most of the crowd without much trouble and soon emerged from the courthouse entirely.

Once they were outside in fresh air, Erza pushed them off – gently but firmly.

"I'm so sorry Erza, is there anything we can do?" Lucy quickly offered.

"No. I just…need some space."

They all nodded, and when everyone boarded the train to go back to Magnolia, she got her own compartment to herself. It was a long trip, and by the time they got home it was late evening, past dinnertime.

Once off the train, Natsu tried to cheer up Lucy by taking her to her favorite place for dinner, which did a little to take her mind off of things as she munched on pasta and meatballs. Happy helped as well by cracking jokes and cutting up with Natsu to make her laugh, and – sensing her distress – several spirits visited of their own volition to try and make her feel better too. Leo nearly crashed their 'dinner date' by showing up and shamelessly flirting with her – which naturally almost started a fight with Natsu – but his intentions were good at least. Amy showed up after dinner to walk alongside them and continually nuzzled her face into Lucy's thigh to force pets. Even Virgo popped in for a brief moment – though it was almost more of a business call than anything. She offered Lucy a replacement whip for the one she lost at the hands of that celestial bitch Aster. It was a very nice present though – a retractable whip made of pure celestial magic called the flueve d'etoiles – and Lucy got the distinct impression that Virgo's timing wasn't purely by chance.

Still, as they walked back to the guild, Lucy's thoughts never strayed too far from Erza, and she couldn't help but wonder where the reequip mage was, and if she was okay. In fact, that's why they were heading to the guild and not back to Lucy's apartment. She really wanted to check and see if Erza was at the guildhall – as unlikely as that was – and see if she could do anything to help.

When they passed by the coastline, her gaze happened to glance towards the guildhall, and she spied a spot of red lower down on the cliff. Instantly Lucy knew it was Erza and hurried to head in that direction – while waving off Natsu. With Happy's help, she was able to fly down over the cliff's edge towards Erza. As she did, she noticed a narrow trail along the cliff's face that lead back to the path they all used to get to the beach from the guildhall and figured that must have been the way the redhead reached her isolated perch.

Soon, the two of them reached Erza, who was sitting within the mouth of a very shallow cave that was hidden from every angle except the one from the coast a good distance away – where Lucy had seen her from. She was balled up, with her knees to her chest and her face buried in her crossed arms. How long she'd been there, Lucy didn't know…probably since getting off the train, if she had to wager a guess.

Instantly, Lucy and Happy joined her in the little nook and sat next to her. As they did so, Erza flinched and glanced up. When they made eye contact, Lucy just smiled gently and wrapped an arm around her shoulders again to offer silent comfort. For a long time they sat like that, and then slowly Erza began to shake as sobs broke her tough exterior. Soon, she was openly crying into Lucy's shoulder, and all she could do was hold her friend as she sobbed.

Happy curled up in Erza's lap, and let her hug him for comfort as well, despite nearly being choked to death and drowned with tears.

…

Later that night, Lucy and Happy headed straight home. When Natsu and Amy joined them on the way, neither asked her or her blue-furred companion where they'd been or what they'd been doing. The tear stain on her shirt and Happy's drenched fur probably said it all. Quite honestly, she was emotionally wiped after helping Erza get through her tears, and all she wanted was to go home, eat a whole pint of ice cream, take a hot bath, and pass out in bed. She suspected Happy wanted the same – only with fish and not ice cream.

So she proceeded to do just that as soon as she got into her apartment. She headed straight for the freezer and pulled out the tub of chocolate ice cream and a spoon – and a fish for Happy – before parking herself on the couch and digging in. Amy curled up on the soft rug at her feet, offering silent support, and for once Lucy didn't scold Happy for bringing his fish into the living room and eating it at the coffee table.

As for Natsu, unsurprisingly he plopped down next to her with a spoon of his own, and she angled the carton of ice cream so he could get to it too. His warmth heated his spoon and cut through the mild freezer burn that crusted the top of the ice cream since it had been in the freezer for a while. She followed his spoon strokes with her own so she could take advantage of the softer ice cream, and with his help they plowed through the whole carton within a matter of minutes. Also advantageous, since he'd downed at least half of it, she didn't feel sick to her stomach the way she normally would after an ice cream binge.

Taking the empty carton, she plopped their used spoons into it and placed it on the sofa table next to Happy, before grabbing the blanket off the back of the sofa. Wrapping it around her, she leaned against Natsu's shoulder and sighed.

"You okay Luce?"

"Yeah…just tired."

When something tugged on her blanket, she opened her eyes and watched somewhat confused as Natsu pulled the blanket off her shoulder. She was getting ready to ask him what he was doing, until he wrapped the blanket around himself too and snuggled up with her under it. His arm wrapped around her waist and she rested her head on his shoulder, sighing again somewhat mournfully.

"She loves him…doesn't she?" Happy chimed sadly from his place on the arm of the couch, where he'd just perched after finishing his fish.

Lucy knew he was talking about Erza and Jellal, and for once the comment wasn't said in a teasing tone.

"Yeah Happy, she does."

"Why don't we just break him out?"

She shook her head at Natsu's comment. "No. We can't do that."

"Why not? We've busted friends out before when they're being held captive."

"Yeah, but Jellal's not a captive of some dark guild we can attack. We're talking about the legal system here. If we busted him out, we'd become criminals. If Fairy Tail didn't kick us out, they would be disbanded by the Magic Council, and if they still stuck together, they would become a dark guild."

"That's dumb." Natsu sulked, and Lucy only chuckled at him, reaching over to pat his cheek.

After another morose pause, Happy sniffled and whimpered, "…Lucy…"

She looked over to see him looking miserable, and she reached out. Without a word, he scampered into her lap under the blanket with them. For a long moment they all just sat there and decompressed from the day, but eventually Lucy felt herself beginning to drift and knew that if she wanted a bath it had to happen now before she fell asleep. So, she gently picked up Happy – who had conked out – and carried him over to his bed where she tucked him in.

Then she turned to Natsu and quietly said, "I'm gonna go take a bath."

He nodded and followed her with his eyes as she plodded tiredly to the bathroom. As hot water began to fill the tub, she sighed, inhaling the steam and letting it sooth her lungs. She hadn't been able to keep herself from crying a little along with Erza at seeing her pain, but she'd managed to keep it to a minimum. However, that meant that now her eyes, nose, and lungs were all stinging and aching from trying so hard not to cry.

Sinking into the hot bath, she let the heat relax all her bones and muscles, and the humidity in the room helped to sooth her sinuses and everything connected to them. To assist with that, she also dripped a little lavender into the bathwater, which filled the room with a lovely relaxing scent. Thankfully, there was plenty of steam to conduct the smell and fill her nose, since she had used extra hot water for her bath. She'd always loved hot baths of course, but lately heat seemed even more soothing and relaxing than before, so she had been drawing them hotter and hotter.

She suspected that it had something to do with being a fire dragon's mate. Whatever the case though, she practically melted into the hot lavender water and stared up at the ceiling, wondering just how Erza was going to cope with her lover being locked away for so long. For Lucy, she didn't know what she would do if Natsu got locked away like that…. she'd probably have a complete emotional meltdown.

The thought made her gut clench up with pain, and she winced, placing her hand over her chest as if to steady her heart. She couldn't imagine being separated from Natsu so permanently.

Eventually, she had to leave the comfort of her bath, because being left alone with these thoughts wasn't doing anything good for her mental or emotional state. It was only after she had toweled off that she realized she had forgotten to bring in a change of clothes, thanks to being so exhausted.

With a groan of frustration, she wrapped the towel tighter around her and walked out into the other room like that. When Natsu's eyes ran over her and he raised an eyebrow, she explained, "I forgot my clothes."

Walking over to the dresser, she picked out a pair of underwear and slipped them on carefully under the towel, then did the same with her sleep shorts. For her sleep shirt, she put it on over the towel and let the terrycloth drop off her as she shoved it down with the shirt.

"Very well done." Amy commented sleepily from her spot on the floor, and Lucy turned to give her a tired smile.

"Thanks…" she muttered back, her voice sounding even more asleep than Amy's.

As soon as she was fully clothed, she walked over to Natsu and curled up against him again. He immediately opened his arms to accept her and then wrapped them around her tight as she nuzzled into his chest and draped her legs over his.

"Hey Natsu?"

"Hm?"

"Promise me that you won't do anything to get locked up okay? I don't know what I would do if I was in Erza's position right now."

"Like I would ever let myself get locked away from you." He snorted. "Anyone would be stupid to try."

She chuckled a bit at the thought and relaxed some, sinking into his warmth and letting it soothe her. "Yeah…"

Soon she fell asleep like that.

Sneak Peek

Traditionally, the last day of the Autumn Festival was the announcement for the S-Class Trials, so everyone was eager to prove that they deserved to be in the running. Because of this, Natsu and Lucy didn't get much time to go on many dates, but her fiery partner seemed plenty happy with going on dangerous missions and kicking ass. Although, he wasn't as fond of the festival preparations.

On the plus side, the upcoming festival seemed to help keep Erza busy, and she threw herself into it headfirst… which was both good and bad. It was good to see her doing something to deal with her pain, but it also meant that she was bossing everyone else around with an iron fist