Chapter FIFTY THREE

"Since when did you have a sister?" Sting asked looking at Michelle's pink dress with a frown on his face. To say that Dragon Slayers were snappy when they were hungry, would be an understatement of the year.

"Since forever." Lucy retorted. "Since the name Gonzales was shot down."

Michelle smiled softly. "I've missed you, nee-san."

Sting groaned. "Can we please go to this buffet thing, Michelle-san?"

Michelle smiled. "Of course-" Sting's face lit up. "If nee-san agrees."

Sting deflated like a balloon. Lucy smiled softly and after a while of thinking, nodded. "It's fine, I guess."

Sting once again lit up, and he grabbed Rogue's arms in a fit of excitement, proceeding to drag him around in some sort of victory dance. Rogue, after a few second, shook his partner off with a faint scowl on his face. Sting wasn't upset at all, and continued his jumping around.

"Nee-san." Lucy turned to face Michelle. "I..."

Lucy smiled. "Why don't we head to my room?" She asked.

The air around them suddenly changed. It was no longer the friendly, cheerful atmosphere. However, it wasn't a negative feeling. It held a different kind of warmth to it. The two quickly left.

Jellal, who was not aware of who exactly Michelle was, turned to Wendy, then looked between her, Midnight and Cobra. Everyone else did the same. Even Sting paused in his dance. After all, even if all three of them seemed to know something, Wendy seemed to be the only one who actually looked willing to share anything.

Wendy told them the story of the Infinity clock. Cobra and Midnight added bits and pieces of their stories as well, though it was mostly Wendy and Carla going through the story.

Sting listened with a surprising look of seriousness on his face. Rogue, as usual, took everything in silently.

Jellal and Meredy glanced at each other, remembering the suspicious actions of the Oracion Seis which they had been trying to track during similar times.

The timeline matched.

"So...she's not...like...human?" Sting asked.

Wendy frowned at the question. "She cares. She feels." She told him. "Besides, who are we to decide what actually makes a human, human?"

"I can really eat anything I want here?" Sting asked. He received a nod from everyone present. "Really really eat anything?" Another set of nods. "Really?" This time, no one nodded.

The moment Lucy and Michelle had returned from whatever they had been doing, Meredy had pulled their newly revealed guild master to her room, where they spent a suspiciously long time in there. They had appeared after a while, giggling behind their hands. Something was coming in the form of two evil girls.

Sting led them over to a huge table, then rushed off to find things to eat. Lucy sighed and sank into her seat. Jellal took a seat beside her and smiled. "It's nice to relax once in a while, isn't it?"

Lucy nodded. "Tomorrow is the final event." She murmured. "Though I'm sure Rogue would want to participate, I don't think he's rested enough. Besides, I want to give Midnight a chance to participate."

Jellal nodded. "I suggest you and me, Cobra, Midnight and Sting." He said. "These guys are already known to be part of our guild and everything. Rogue can be sub in case something happens."

Lucy nodded.

"I'm going to go eat something." Jellal stood up. "You want anything?"

Lucy smiled. "Yogurt." Jellal chuckled. "And whatever you're getting."

Jellal walked off and Lucy leaned back in her chair to stretch.

Carefully balancing two trays on his hands, Jellal began to make his way back to their table. Sting was wolfing down a huge plate of food while Rogue ate in a more civilized manner beside him. Then again, anyone looked civilized beside Sting. Wendy was neatly eating. Beside her sat Charla, Frosch and Lector. Cobra was wolfing down a carton of who knows what and Midnight was making an obvious effort to lean away from the Poison Dragon Slayer.

Lucy was sitting next to Meredy, talking to her about something. Michelle sat on the very outside, on the other side of Meredy, giggling. A seat had been left for him beside Lucy. He took another step when some random dude approached the girls.

"Hey, is that seat open?" The guy asked, pointing at the seat beside Lucy. He leaned over the table rudely, smirking.

Jellal felt something bubbling within his chest, but before he could act on the actions his mind was suggesting out to him, Michelle stood up, knocking the guy backwards. The guy glared at Michelle, and Michelle glared right back.

"Please stop hitting my nee-san." There was a sudden force of pressure, and Michelle's form began to swirl with magic. A single red eye glared down at the now petrified man. When the sudden mini-hurricane was gone, Michelle looked completely different. A dark red rose lay upon her right eye. She yanked out a glowing sword from her flower shield and pointed it threateningly at the guy throat. "Now, if you do not want to die, please step away and leave."

The man started up at Michelle for a split seconds before he staggered to his feet and ran off. Michelle smiled sweetly, a look that didn't match her sudden change in appearance, before she was surrounded by the swirl from before, and she was back in her innocent looking pink dress. "Now, everyone! Let's enjoy ourselves today and try our best tomorrow in the final event!"

"Jellal? are you still awake?"

Jellal shifted slightly at Lucy's voice. "Yeah." He turned around to face the blonde, and found Lucy doing the same. "Can't sleep?"

Lucy nodded. "It's tomorrow." She said, just like that.

Jellal nodded. "I know." He smiled, and even though it was dark, he knew Lucy could feel it. "It'll be fine."

"It better be." Lucy muttered, and Jellal chuckled. He was willing to bet that Lucy was thinking about the mess the Dragon Slayers tended to get into.

"It'll be fine." He repeated. "So you should sleep. We all need to rest for tomorrow."

Lucy made a muffled sound of agreement as she buried herself into her blankets. "Good night."

Jellal smiled. "You too."

Oooookay.

Sorry for the late update.

Raven: Darque's been pretty upset by the turn of events in the manga. She's finding it hard to write anything for Fairy tail, but she did her best.

Darque:...

Raven: But we finally managed to get this one done! We've been caught up with the Naruto Fanfics we've been writing. We can't promise any fast updates, since school has officially started for the both of us, but we'll try,

Darque:...

Raven: And now, I think I'll leave before Darque manages to tear my insides out with her over-the-laptop-screen-glares-of-doom.

Darque:...

Raven: Bye~

Darque: I'm not mad at him or anything. He left me to write a sad authors note for a few of our other fanfics when he vanished somewhere for a few days, so I'm just getting payback.

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