Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)

Kiss of Bliss, Fairies Get Tricked

Lucy had found herself running through a vast desert in the daytime, the harsh sunlight shining down on to the golden sand, and the blonde mage had to wonder why she was even here. No winds were blowing at all, causing this desert to be a very hot place, and Lucy screamed in pain from seeing that she was barefoot while walking through this place. Lucy had not even taken a job in the desert, since Sting had figured that she was not ready for that kind of terrain yet, and the white dragon slayer had told her that they would go there when Lucy was actually ready.

She wiped some sweat off of her forehead, perspiring while it seemed like there was something that she had to keep running from, and Lucy still winced in pain from the hot sand. It was unclear as to why she was even here, not wanting to be alone in such a hot desert, and the blonde mage did not even have the blue spell book with her to get some soothing relief from her Water Magic. That would've definitely cooled her down, making things a lot better right now, but it sadly was not available to her right now. Without water, how would Lucy survive in a desert?

The blonde mage panted heavily while feeling utterly exhausted, falling down on to the golden sand that was hot enough to fry an egg or toast waffles on, and she could only look up at the sun while noticing that it was making a beautiful white light. That was the same color of light used by Sting, since he possessed white light for his White Dragon Slayer Magic, and Lucy could only sigh happily while blushing a light shade of pink as she thought of the cocky male. He was such a nice guy, caring enough to give her that speech of inspiration in the hot spring, and Lucy liked his attitude.

He was so different from Natsu, so much more gentle and calm with her, and Lucy smiled happily while she remembered how Sting looked so buff and good in the hot spring. She had even rested her head against his chest when they went to the Oceanic Museum last week, and Lucy had been blushing happily while her hands stroked his arms gently. They were so muscular and warm, letting her know that Sting a guy who truly liked to work out, and Sting rubbed her back with one of his hands. That had caused Lucy to blush more while her mind had been lost in the calmness of his beautiful blue eyes, and she hoped to get back to him soon.

However, before Lucy could even try to find a way out of this desert, she looked shocked while hearing something like a stampede behind her. The blonde girl turned around slowly to see that it was Shelly looking pretty serious while ran through the desert in her white lacy bra and white lacy panties, kicking up tons of sand while she was running towards the brown-eyed girl at high speeds, and she was also perspiring while her clothes had become wet from all of the sweat. If this was the type of workout for her guild, then Lucy did not want to be a part of it. She couldn't react fast enough to get out of the way, and Shelly jumped into the air to come down with a powerful body slam on Lucy.

She had grabbed Lucy's arms while being on top of her, preventing her from moving, and the black-haired woman smirked evilly while she had pinned Lucy down. Shelly would not let Lucy move at all, and the blonde girl took notice of the tanned woman's speed. She had definitely worked out, her heavy panting like she was definitely training, and that would explain why she had kicked Lucy so hard at the Oceanic Museum. Shelly was also pretty fast as well, having caught up to Lucy so fast, and she had put her left hand over Lucy's mouth to not let her speak.

"I caught up to you already, Lucy Heartfilia, and you're just too slow. Let's just face the facts, sweetie. You will never beat me, no matter how hard you try, and it's because you let your emotions get to you. They always cloud your judgement, making you think that anger is the right way to go, and you need to calm down. Crying over Natsu will get you nowhere, and I even think that you may never even beat him. You're just so very sad, little girl, and you're going to drown in your emotions." Shelly explained to Lucy in a cold tone while she slammed her left leg on the blonde girl's left leg to break it. The tremendous force made Lucy scream in pain, and tears were in her eyes.

Even though she was wounded right now, Lucy took Shelly's hand off of her mouth while knowing that she had now promised herself to become stronger. She was not going to let anyone defeat her ever again, not wanting to ever be used again as well, and Lucy had also promised herself that she'd make Sting proud. The blonde mage was not going to ever let him be in a situation like where he had almost died from freezing, and she narrowed her brown eyes while using her right leg to kick Shelly off of her. Lucy needed to believe that she could control her emotions, and that's just what she planned to do.

She responded fiercely while clenching her fists tightly, looking stern with determination in her cocoa brown eyes, "You're wrong about me, Shelly, and you're going to go down someday! I may not be as skilled as you are, and I refuse to be sad about Natsu anymore! My heart may have retained feelings for him, but they're gone now! I'm going to look for a much better guy, someone who will actually like me, and that guy is in the guild of Sabertooth! I heard how you underestimated Sting and Rogue last week, so you'll pay for that!"

As Lucy's words of determination made her become more fierce, her left leg began to magically heal like the damage had never been done. She had now been able to stand up, only to see that Shelly looked pretty angry to see that Lucy was trying so hard to no longer be weak. The tanned woman began to tower over Lucy, glaring angrily at her opponent for defying her, but a large blast of white light had suddenly blinded the eyes of Shelly and Lucy! The blonde girl could feel her body being shook by a mysterious force, and the sound of someone snapping their fingers had made Lucy snap out of this fantasy.

In reality...

Sting had snapped his fingers in Lucy's face once more, hoping for some kind of a response from her, and the white dragon slayer told her that there was a stack of chocolate chip pancakes in front of her. He had gotten breakfast for her at the Sabertooth guild, having gone to the pancake machine to get some pancakes that were filled with the finest chocolate that Fiore had to offer, and Sting had also put a perfect swirl of whip cream at the top of the stack for his blonde companion. He wanted her to enjoy the breakfast he had gotten for her, and it was another one of his ways of flirting with Lucy.

The blonde girl blinked twice while she had been brought back to reality by Sting snapping his fingers in her face, and the heavenly aroma of the chocolate chip pancakes had made Lucy begin to smile happily. Grabbing the golden knife and golden fork on the table in front of her, Lucy began to cut her pancakes into pieces that could be eaten easily. She used the fork to pick up a few of the pieces, getting some of the yummy chocolate chips as well, and Lucy felt like she was tasting the greatest pancakes in the world while she was chewing her food.

This nice breakfast had really helped Lucy feel more positive, and she was also glad to have her confidence back. An entire week had passed by, since the almost-successful theft made by Shelly at the Oceanic Museum, and Sting had been helping Lucy train hard to improve her Water Magic. She had been learning how to keep her emotions under control, clearing her mind of all the unhappy thoughts that had involved Natsu being with Lisanna, and Lucy just had to focus on her new motivation. She was not only going to get back at Natsu for what he had done, but the blonde girl was also going to improve her skills to not let Sting down.

She was going to get up to the level of where he needed her to be, and Lucy was happy that the white dragon slayer had believed that she could do it. Lucy also found herself to be glad that she hadn't gone to the Fairy Tail guild for an entire week, since the Sabertooth guild's request board was filled with jobs that were somewhat exciting, and Sting had made her train on their enjoyable quests. He had even made Lucy use her Water Magic in the sea near the town of Lilycove, and her spells were starting to improve. Her offensive spells could be used defensively as well, and their combinations with Aquarius worked great.

Speaking of ways to use spells, Sting had also let Lucy know that she could become an expert like Shelly by making her moves look really good. Simple moves that involved an attack with an explosive effect were seemingly good, but aftereffects like making water into beautiful whirlpools could also be good. Being full of surprises was something that Shelly had specialized in, and Lucy's cocoa brown eyes were filled with confidence while she clenched her fists. Upon remembering how the tanned woman berated her back at the museum and in her daydream, Lucy was definitely psyched up to improve her skills in an effort to shut Shelly's mouth when they would meet again.

Sting asked Lucy in a calm manner while smiling, having something on his mind that he could use as a step forward to improving the chemistry of their team, "Hey, Lucy. Since I haven't really given you a good tour around Rustboro, would you like to go with me to a new cafe that opened up recently? I hear that they've got some good stuff, but they don't let people go in there alone. Lector is planning on taking that white cat from Fairy Tail to that cafe sometime, so would you go with me to just have a nice time? It'd be a well-deserved reward for working so hard with me, you know."

From hearing his question, the blonde mage immediately turned away while her cheeks were blushing pink. Sting had spoke of taking her on a tour around the town before they went to a cafe to enjoy some time together, and that totally was another way of asking her out on a date. Lucy did not have any of her fashionable dresses available right now to be on a date, but the fact that Sting was wearing his usual attire just meant that she could simply wear what she had put on before coming to the Sabertooth guild today. Even though Lucy was now ready to look for a new relationship, she did not want to look desperate in front of Sting if he wasn't wanting the same thing.

She continued to blush pink while turning around to face him, smiling happily and letting out a sigh of attraction while Lucy's beautiful brown eyes met the loving gaze of his charming blue ones, "I would definitely love to go out on a date with you, Sting, and I know that I'll be so happy with you at my side. I'll be your date while we're at the cafe, and I would love to be feeding you a slice of cake while getting to know you. You have very pretty eyes, Sting, and you're like the confident whip cream to the sweet chocolate of my pancakes."

Lucy felt so enchanted by the beauty of Sting's eyes, and the brown-eyed girl checked her clothes in the reflection of a nearby window to make sure that she looked okay for their date. She wore a green midriff T-shirt with some blue jean shorts today, and her purple flat shoes were a nice touch to make her look pretty appealing for a date. Lucy had her beautiful blonde hair down, and she waved it back and forth while being happy that Sting asked her out. She even cheered loud enough about her excitement to get the entire guildhall looking her way, but Lucy did not care. She looked determined to make this a great date, better than any date that she ever went on with Natsu.

Sting smiled calmly at Lucy while he saw how happy she had been to be going on a date with him, and the blue-eyed male told himself that he would get to know Lucy on a deep level. She was so nice, kind, confident, fierce, smart, and those were only a few of the qualities that the white dragon slayer had been looking for in a girl. After last week's dilemma, he hoped that his words would never go to waste. Sting wanted Lucy to take his advice, and he also hoped that things would be reciprocal. Upon seeing Lector fly through the Sabertooth guild's entrance doors while smirking directly at his partner, Sting was glad to see that a delivery to a certain guild had now been done.

Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...

It had been a whole week since Lucy had even walked into the guild of Fairy Tail, and some people had begun to start asking questions about where she might be. They had always gone through the daily routine of not saying much to her when she entered the guild, keeping Natsu's affair from reaching the ears of Lucy, but the blonde mage's week-long absence had made everyone wonder about what she could be doing. Lucy would not miss a day of going out on a job, since she supposedly still had 70,000 jewels of rent to pay each month, but no one knew about her current situation.

Natsu had continued to make out with Lisanna while they sat down at a table together, and the fire dragon slayer simply thought that Lucy had been avoiding him. He could tell that she had been headed to the harbor on the last day that they saw each other, but then she had suddenly vanished into the wind like a ghost. Natsu was not able to detect her location, based on the aroma of flowers having a scent that overshadowed Lucy's, and no trace of her had been left behind. He even went to her apartment, but Lucy's scent was not even there at all. He obviously did not know that she used a new perfume from the guild of Sabertooth, since they had the latest technology, fashion, flair, trends, perfumes, desserts, and other things that the rest of Fiore did not. Quite high-class, wouldn't you agree?

Erza had been worried enough to start searching other areas of Fiore, thinking that something bad happened to Lucy on the last job that she took from the guild of Fairy Tail, but the scarlet-haired mage had found nothing. She had checked the desert area while Gray had helped her search for Lucy by looking in the cold places of Fiore, but neither Gray or Erza could find her. They were starting to regret keeping the secret about Natsu dating Lisanna, especially since Natsu once openly accused them of telling Lucy about his long affair with Lisanna. Erza hadn't said anything about it, but she knew that someone with loose lips had played a role in Lucy's mysterious absence from the guild.

Natsu and Lisanna had also been eating two large chocolate cakes that were made by Cana, who was running the bar while Mira and Happy had gone to Fairy Hills to pick up a package that was strangely sent there, and the pink-haired male smiled happily at his girlfriend while knowing that their seven-month anniversary was going to be coming up. Natsu was planning to throw a huge party to help Lisanna celebrate their special day, and he had even ordered a bouquet of roses to give her for when they would be sharing a passionate kiss of romance.

He was also hoping that Lucy would get to watch him be in love with the girl who he wanted to be with, and Natsu planned to simply be romantic with Lisanna in front of the blonde mage to make her regret dumping him. He thought that she would cry over him and get angry about him being with Lisanna, causing a whole scene of drama to unfurl in front of everyone in Fairy Tail, and Natsu would simply laugh it off while people might possibly tell Lucy to grow up. They would want her to either be mature about the matter, or simply leave the party. Natsu had thought that Lucy was still being weak on missions as well, but his thoughts and some familiar screams were about to tempt fate.

Mira quickly opened Fairy Tail's entrance doors while having a totally shocked look on her face, speaking in a really surprised tone as she had what seemed to be a newspaper in her left hand, "Everyone, you're really not going to believe this! I never thought that this would happen at all, but it looks like we caused the inevitable! I know that love and matchmaking are things that I enjoy, but I never would've guessed that keeping the secret about Natsu and Lisanna would have led up to this! I knew that I should've at least checked the flyer to see where she was going before she had ran out of the guild after ignoring me!"

When Erza had gone over to Mira to see why exactly she was freaking out like this, the scarlet-haired woman's first guess was that Lucy had died somewhere. Erza did not want that to happen, and she was very glad to see that wasn't the top news in the paper when she took it from the hands of Mirajane. When the armor-requipping woman had seen the top news for the day, she also could not believe it. Erza looked totally shocked at what she was seeing, and the picture was certainly not lying. It spoke a lot, just like the words about the topic, and this strange incident in the paper made Cana and Gray see what could be so shocking.

The brown-haired woman read aloud while she was also surprised by what was seen in the newspaper, "Last week, the Sabertooth guild did an excellent job of saving the Oceanic Museum in Cerulean Town from having its precious items stolen by the guild known as Aqua Kyogre. Lucy Heartfilia, a mage from Fairy Tail who happened to be on the scene, had helped Sting Eucliffe send Aqua Kyogre's grunts running for the hills. She was evenly matched with Shelly Izumi in a hand-to-hand combat battle, until Lucy and her Celestial Spirit named Virgo had chained Shelly up to try and restrain her. Shelly escaped, but the museum thanks Sabertooth and their new team member for saving the lives of innocent patrons."

At that moment, Gray totally could not believe what he had just heard. Lucy had gone all the way to Cerulean Town, a place on the other side of Fiore, and she had helped Sabertooth chase off those guys from Aqua Kyogre? They were the same dangerous organization that Juvia wanted to join because she thought that she'd be well-liked by them, but Gray could still not wrap his head around the fact that Lucy had gone toe-to-toe with a dangerous criminal. Even though he was glad that she had managed to survive without getting hurt, however, the ice mage wished that he had been there to not let Shelly escape like that.

While Gray had seemed pretty happy to see a picture of his blonde friend smiling happily while she stood next to Sting, Rogue, and Yukino, there was one person who was not so pleased. Natsu was a bit angry to hear that his biggest rival chased away Aqua Kyogre, but he was more furious at the fact that Lucy had now been called a team member to be associated with those guys from the rival guild of Sabertooth. He did not like them at all, and the fire dragon slayer had to wonder if they were the reason why Lucy hadn't shown up to Fairy Tail in a week. He would be an idiot to go confront her, but he was more of an idiot to fall for an article that Sting himself had typed up at Rustboro's publishing company while Lector had taken the picture when Sting's team was ready to leave the museum. That was one point of payback by trolling Natsu, right?

At the cafe in Rustboro...

When they had entered the new cafe that had just opened in the town of Rustboro, Sting and Lucy gasped in awe at the elegant red carpet with the brown walls to match. Pictures of coffee drinks and desserts were hung on the walls, and the white dragon slayer led his date to a table in the northeast corner of the cafe. It was near the red counter where the cashier was situated, so that was great. Sting calmly smiled while pulling out Lucy's chair for her, and she happily sat down while smiling at Sting for being such a gentleman. After he sat down, both of them pushed the chairs inward to be comfortable.

The heavenly aroma of a pink cake from a nearby table had gotten Sting's attention, and Lucy could also smell how sweet it was while Hibiki Lates seemed to be enjoying it with Jenny Realight. Even though Sting and Lucy did not know what the cake was, seeing the large white icing and red juicy strawberries arranged in a wonderful manner on that heart-shaped cake were some sights that were enough to tell them that they just had to try it. The cake smelled so delicious, and it probably tasted even more heavenly than it looked. Upon seeing Hibiki and Jenny drink their coffees while sighing in pleasure at the fancy taste, Lucy knew that she had to place an order like that.

"Hi, there! Welcome to Cafe Kawaii! What would you and your date like today from our cute establishment where love is always in the air?" The cashier girl asked kindly with a smile while it took Lucy a few seconds to realize that it was Chelia Blendy out on a job for the day.

Lucy blushed when the pink-haired sky god slayer used the word "date" to describe Sting because they weren't actually dating. However, maybe they had enough chemistry to become dating partners and something more. Well, he had taken her to a cafe. It seemed like a pretty romantic start for two people to have their first date, even though Lucy was only here as Sting's friend. However, she also knew that her feelings had to be shown to him. She did not want to give him mixed signals about how she felt on her first date with him, the date where the first impression truly counts. Ignoring her thoughts, Lucy placed an order while looking at the menu board near Chelia.

"Hi, Chelia. According to the cafe's menu board, I think that my date and I shall have the Strawberry Cake of Bliss with the Make Love Mint Chocolate Frappuccinos as well. He's not my boyfriend or anything, but we're just building chemistry together as a pair. However, he makes me blush while my heart flutters when I look into his eyes." Lucy told Chelia with a happy smile on her face as she blushed romantically while handing her the 65 bills of 100 jewels that totaled up to 6,500 jewels to match the price of her order.

The cute mage from Lamia Scale responded happily while she totaled up the price that matched 6,500 jewels and took the money from Lucy, "Wow, you want the cake for couples? That's totally romantic, Lucy! I've heard a rumor going around that people who eat that cake together end up being really happy, and they end up falling into a love that blooms like the most beautiful roses."

In 10 minutes, thanks to the chefs being such skilled bakers with culinary skills that were mainly focused around desserts, the Strawberry Cake of Bliss was ready along with the two large cups of Mint Chocolate Frappuccinos. Lucy placed the two drinks on the nearby table where Sting waited for her, and then she went back to the counter to get the receipt. Afterwards, Lucy sat back down at the table with her blond partner. How would this cake end up tasting, since it had an aroma that could be more heavenly than the magic of Jellal Fernandes?

Lucy sat across from Sting, who smiled when he took a sip of his mint chocolate frappuccino. The mint flavor in his drink, combined with the chocolate and whip cream, made his tongue pleased to taste something so satisfying. He knew Lucy had good taste, and he was glad that he let her choose the order. Sting even wondered how the cake would taste, since it looked like it had been made to perfection while being in the shape of a heart to symbolize things like love and romance. Sweetness was quite a good thing, was it not?

"I have to admit, this town has almost everything. There's even a corporation for where some items of Holder Magic are made while different types of Caster Magic are tested out in the labs, but we'll sadly only get to see the ground floor of it. Those snobby scientists have refused many times to let the great Sting Eucliffe see the upper floors of the corporation, and their cameras even caught Lector when I just wanted him to tell me what he was seeing on the second floor." Sting said with a smile on his face, as he cut a slice of cake and put it on his red plate before eating it to have his mouth taste a delectable and copious amount of sweetness.

Lucy cut a slice of cake for herself and placed it on the red plate in front of her. She drank some of her mint chocolate frappuccino, and then proceeded to taste the pink slice of cake. It had somewhat a sweet strawberry taste to it, with the added effect of having its eater enjoy the cherry filling that was a sweet added bonus, but Lucy didn't mind. The cake was incredibly delicious, and she was glad to be here with Sting. She didn't notice that he was cutting out three more slices of the cake, which would obviously leave the three remaining slices for Lucy to eat. Sting was really good at making Lucy love his charms, right?

This was almost like a date between Sting and Lucy, both of them enjoying each other's company at the cafe, and both of the mages knew perfectly well that eating was half of the date. They knew that they needed to get to know each other, and Lucy made the brave move of starting it off with her question. It would be odd to ask this to the guild master of Sabertooth, not wanting to offend him in any way, but Lucy had to have confidence in her abilities and more control of herself like how she had promised at the hot spring.

"What did you ever think of a person like Minerva, Sting? I mean, did you like a woman who was so intense when it came to competing or did you just judge her based on her overall personality?" Lucy asked curiously while she kept eating her slice of cake and drinking more of her hot minty coffee.

Sting responded calmly, not really getting hints of Lucy's feelings for him, "I used to like Minerva, until she was just using Lector as a means to make me win last year's Grand Magic Games for Team Sabertooth. She used me like a tool, even threatening me to not attack her, and I can't stand women who I act like that. The girl that would suit me is someone with kindness, smarts, confidence, and power doesn't matter because I'd help her out. Besides, that flirty woman named Shelly makes Minerva look nice. She wanted to freeze me to death with a kiss on the lips, and she probably would've escalated with me if I begged her for mercy before you showed up."

Upon hearing Sting's answers, as Lucy finished up her first slice of the cake, she was pretty glad that he looked for the best qualities in girls when it came to finding a decent partner. Lucy was also glad that he was not the perverted type of guy who would have given in to Shelly's seductive moves, and the blonde girl made sure to get back at her later for that. Even though Lucy had just found out about Sting nearly getting frozen to death by a villain, she saw that as another reason to train hard and give Shelly a major beating when they would cross paths again.

Her heart was beating wildly with the taste of the wonderful cake, the delicious mint chocolate frappuccino, and Lucy felt totally happy at the fact that Sting was being able to share this experience with her. Lucy got up, and she was about to tell Sting that these little feelings fluttered around her mind, mostly since she looked into his eyes while they were bathing in the hot spring of her new rival, but how would he react to what she would tell him? Would he say that he liked her, too? Did Sting have any romantic feelings for her at all?

"This is it. No more holding back. I like Sting, and I'm really starting to admire him. These feelings may be small, but I need to know if he would like me someday. I know that it's not good to rush into a new relationship after a week, but it's only admitting my attraction to him. If I had just listened to him back at the museum, he would've saved me from being kicked by Shelly. I want to move on from Natsu, and Sting is the guy who replaces my eruptive headaches with calm waters while making me feel more confident about myself." Lucy thought while clenching her fists and looking determined about what she was going to do.

As she moved to stop Sting to confess her attraction to him, Lucy couldn't help but notice that the pink and white icing from the cake was all over his lips. Sting had not licked off the icing at all while Lucy quickly ate a little bit of one of her remaining slices, and the blonde mage's heart was beating with warmth as she saw the white dragon slayer get up from his chair. Lucy was about to thank him for such a nice date and tell him how she truly felt, but fate made her blush pink while making her look directly into Sting's eyes for his wonderful charms to let her body react instead of her voice.

When he got close enough to Lucy, wondering why she was just standing there, Sting was suddenly a bit shocked to feel Lucy put her hands on his cheeks while her lips had made gentle contact with his lips that were covered in icing. She closed her eyes while beginning to enjoy the kiss that they shared in front of everyone, and she also realized many of the outcomes that came from showing her feelings so openly through a kiss. Sting had given her inspiration, but would he give her rejection as well? Lucy was about to scream from thinking that he'd compare her to Shelly, but something in her heart made her fears be effaced. She gave Sting the kiss of gratitude for the first time that he saved her, hoping he would understand how she felt.

How was the 7th chapter? Did you like it? Lucy and Sting have now kissed, but how shall Sting react to it? Lucy and Shelly will fight again later on in the story, by the way, and it looks like Natsu is now furious with Lucy for helping out his biggest rival. How will Fairy Tail react to this drama when Lucy makes a big change? Standby for the update!