A/N Hello mina! I know I have been fast with these updates, but I also know that I have to warn you that they will probably become slower. I was undecided when I started writing this if I was going to post or not, so I already roughly wrote the first four chapters lol.

Please read, fav, follow, and review. I love reviews so much. Thank you to all of you who reviewed the last chapter. Although I can't give you cookies for it...sorry.

Chapter Three: What the Cats Found

At Sabertooth:

The core five mages of Sabertooth and the two exceeds were enjoying the quiet of the guild. It was unusual for the guild to be so quiet, but at this time of night it was even more unusual for people to actually be in the guild. With all the paper work finished for the day, the Sabertooth mages were trying their best to relax.

Ever since the last Grand Magic Games, the entire guild had been through a remodeling faze. It started with repairs the the guild hall, and then went to the spirit of the guild, and finally the reappointing of a guild master. Somehow, through popular vote, Sting had been voted master of the guild to replace Jiemma.

Technically, he was supposed to deal with the paper work alone. However, the other four had offered to help under the guise that it would be done faster if they all helped out. Though, in truth, they really offered to help because they thought that if left to his own devises, Sting would unintentionally bring down the guild. But the young guild leader didn't need to know all of that. He was just glad for the extra help.

That was how Sting, Rogue, Rufus, Orga, and Yukino ended up in the guild at nearly midnight swapping stories that they had all heard before abut missions that went a bit too far. Not that any of them really cared that they all knew the stories by heart, what mattered was that they were all getting along and were together without fear lacing the atmosphere in the guild.

Of course Lector and Frosh were there as well, but they were a little quieter than the others. The little green exceed had long ago fallen asleep while sitting in Rogue's lap, and the red exceed wasn't too far behind him. Even as they spoke his eye lids were getting heavier.

Rogue and Sting couldn't help but glance at Yukino every few minutes. It had been really tough getting her to come back to the guild, but now that she was back, it was nice to see that she was once again accepted into the inner circle. And Sting was not as oblivious as Rogue seemed to be. He had noticed the blush that had come across the white haired celestial mage whenever she was around the shadow dragon slayer, and he had also noticed the answering blush on his partner's cheeks. It was kind of adorable.

"-and then I fried the sucker right then and there!" Orga finished with a laugh as he smashed his beer mug on the bar with a little too much force.

As the ale sloshed out of the mug, the others laughed at his expense. In any event, it was funnier than the story he had just retold for the thousandth time.

It had also gotten both of the exceeds to become fully awake. Poor Frosh was rubbing his eyes to try and rid his mind of the last few cobwebs that were left over from his nap. Lector stood at attention, waiting for a chance to boast of how wonderful his dragon slayer was.

Just as they started in their second round of drinks, a bright light flashed from the training grounds a little ways away from the guild.

"Shit, the town is going to complain again! You'd think that after the twentieth lecture they would stop having midnight brawls!" Sting growled as he put his mug down and headed to the door. He was going to give those idiots who were fighting a piece of his mind.

"Go Sting-kun! You will show them just how great of a master you are!" Lector cheered as he followed his dragon slayer out the doors.

The others passed around a look before following after him. They all knew that if left to deal with it alone, the light dragon slayer would most likely just make matters worse and even brighter than they already were. They knew this because it had happened in the past … multiple times.

Running into the training grounds, they all suddenly stopped in their tracks. With their jaws slack in shock they looked at what was emitting the light in front of them.

In the middle of the Sabertooth training grounds, a pillar of light stretched into the sky. And in the center of the light, a blond woman floated. She was in a midnight blue ball gown that was accented with the constellations. On her wrists were gold plates of metal that formed a bracelet. Similar plates started from her neck and reached out several inches, created a golden armor like necklace. Her hair floated freely around her shoulders and ended just below her shoulders. Over the dress sat a brown leather belt that had keys attached to one hip and a whip attached to the other.

"What the hell?" Sting asked as he looked up with a mix of awe and a little bit of fear. He could feel the sheer pressure from the power that was rolling of the light. And they all noticed that the light seemed to pulse like a heartbeat.

"Lucy Heartfilia, Celestial Spirit Mage of Fairy Tail, disappeared three months ago in a column of light." Rufus said. His hand was already held up to his head, two fingers to his the side of his forehead so that he could memorize what he was seeing.

As they watched, the light started to fade, before it disappeared all together, depositing Lucy onto the grass below her. And at almost the exact moment she touched the ground, three golden flashes of light could be seen.

Standing before them in a crouched position, ready for a fight, was a man with orange hair that seemed to have ears in it who was wearing a suit for some reason. Behind him, a goat man in a suit and a maid with pink hair were kneeling by beside the unconscious celestial spirit mage. Seeing that there was no danger present, the crouching man stood and readjusted his suit before pushing his glasses up so that they glared at the mages in front of him.

"Leo, the lion, Virgo, the maiden, Capricorn, the goat. How are they all out?" Yukino asked softly with wide eyes.

"We can pass through our own gates at will," Leo explained with a scoff.

They all widened their eyes. They had never known that the Celestial spirits could do that. Well, Yukino knew that Leo could, but he was also the leader of the zodiac. She figured that he had special circumstances. Never would she have thought that the others were able to as well. Not when they lacked an emergency alert system like some of the silver keys.

"You can do that?" Rufus asked in curiosity. He was still memorizing this encounter.

"We do it all the time. Whenever our Princess needs us we are here." The lion spirit challenged with the gleam on his glasses still prevalent. He was not planning on taking any shit from the mages in front of him. He had come prepared to fight just in case he had landed in hostile territory.

"Lucy-sama will wake up shortly. I suggest you tell her guild, and yours, that she will be coming back soon." Capricorn reported as he shimmered out of this world. He left the care of his key holder to the maiden spirit for now. She was more than enough anyway.

Loke gave a nod to Virgo, the unsaid words clear to everyone present. Both of the spirits had left the protection of Lucy to the maiden. He then gave one last glare at the Sabertooth mages before he also disappeared in a gold shimmer.

"Wait a minute!" Sting then addressed the pink haired maid "Where was she for the past three months? Her guild has been searching for her nonstop since she disappeared." Lector nodded from his position next to sting with his paws fisted and resting on his hips, and a smug smirk on his lips. It almost looked comical on his small frame.

Virgo leveled her emotionless blue stare at the blond dragon slayer before answering "Where hime has been is none of your concern. But to her it has only been a day." If said to one of her team mates, they would have understood what the spirit meant instantly, but the mages that surrounded Lucy right then had no clue what that meant. How could three months equal a day?

"Why is it that when you all came out Leo seemed ready for a fight?" Yukino asked.

Virgo turned towards her master, not wanting to look at the other mages. There was a long pause in which they thought that the spirit was just going to ignore the question, but then she answered "We didn't know where hime was going to land. For all we knew, she could have landed in a nest full of monsters, or in the guild hall of a dark guild."

Yukino nodded as she thought. It only took a few more moments for Lucy to begin to groan slightly as she was regaining consciousness. Slowly her chocolate brown eyes opened up and she found herself looking at the emotionless face of Virgo.

"Virgo, what happened?" She asked the spirit.

"You're back in the human world, hime. Though, it has been months here." She dutifully answered.

"Oh," Lucy said as her face scrunched in concentration as she thought, "Mustache Man could have warned me that was going to happen." She murmured.

"Then it would not have been a suitable test," Virgo observed. Her blue eyes seemed to flash with amusement, but otherwise she showed no emotion at all.

The other mages had absolutely no clue what they were talking about at this point. Though they were curious to know who she called Mustache Man. The name was very interesting to say the least. But at the same time, they were worried about other things. It was not the time to ask something like that.

"Hey, Blondie, are you alright? And why the hell are you wearing a dress?" Sting asked her, directing her attention to the fact that there were others around her.

"It's Lucy!" She snapped at him, then she added "And did you even realize that you're blond too?"

That was when she noticed that she was with the core five members of Sabertooth and two of their exceeds. Though she knew that they had changed to be more like her own guild, she was still a little nervous around them. Not afraid, just cautious. She didn't hold anything against them. And she considered her and Yukino to be friends, even.

"Whatever," Sting rolled his eyes.

"And I am perfectly alright, and it's none of your business when I wear!" She finished in a huff.

"I'll be leaving now hime, punishment?" Virgo asked as she cocked her head to the side.

Lucy grimaced at the fact that the spirit had to ask that in front of the other mages. Though they were slightly used to the strangeness of spirits, working with Yukino, they had never heard of one that asked for punishment before. It was enough to make Sting have to stifle a snicker.

"No, no punishment," Lucy said while still completely embarrassed. With a nod the stoic spirit left.

"So," Sting started with a triumphant smirk on his lips, "you punish your spirits? Isn't that a little-"

He was cut off as Lucy yelled "Lucy Kick!" and slammed her foot into his solar plexus. He went flying a few feet as he clutched his stomach. He had no idea she could kick so hard. Not many people did.

"I do not punish my spirits! She just always asks me that! Got it?" She yelled at the downed dragon slayer.

At this time, the other mages were laughing along with Frosh. Lector, however, was not happy with her. "How dare you kick the Great Sting Eucliffe? You should apologize to the greatest master that Sabertooth has ever had!"

Lucy just waved him off. In her humble opinion, the guy deserved much more than just a kick to the stomach. And although this was entertaining, she was still very curious about the two keys that were in the pouch on her belt. She felt the need deep in her gut that she needed to make the contracts sooner rather than later.

"Is it okay if you guys leave for a little? I kinda want to form a few new contracts, but I would prefer it if I was alone." She politely asked the members of the rival guild who had remained standing.

They looked at each other with concern. They weren't positive that they should be leaving her alone. Not when she just managed to get back onto Earthland.

Sting was the one who voiced their hesitance. He managed to stand up and said "No way in hell, Blondie. Last time you were left alone, you disappeared for three months. Your lion spirit has already gone to your guild and told them that you were back. If you disappear again and on our turf, do you know what Fairy Tail would do to us?"

Lucy pouted, but she knew that they were just concerned. It would turn out badly if she disappeared on their watch. Natsu would probably destroy the guild looking for where she had gone. But at the same time, Lucy knew that she wasn't going to be disappearing again.

"Fine, but back away a bit, I don't know how big these spirits are." Lucy negotiated.

With a nod they began to back away. Bring familiar with Yukino's spirit Ophiuchus and Pisces; they gladly gave her plenty of room for the summoning.

When they were an acceptable distance away, Lucy took out the two silver keys and started to look over them. She still had no idea what spirits that she was going to contact, but she needed to know that before she started the summoning.

She gasped when she deciphered what the keys were. A wide smile tugged at her lips as she looked at her audience. They to seemed very curious to see what two spirits Lucy was about to summon. She especially looked at the two dragon slayers. They would be quite interested in one of the keys.

Her look turned devious as she weighed the two keys in her hands, decided which one was worth summoning first. It was a hard decision, but at the same time easy. Either she would enjoy their shocked expressions, or she would have to let her own curiosity get the better of her.

Stretching the first one out into the air and taking a bracing stance, Lucy decided to save that one for last. It would be more rewarding that way. And everyone always said to save the best for last.

A/N: Thank you all for reading, and please let me know what you think.