Chapter 37
*TIMESKIP...NEXT MORNING*
All of the guilds returned to their own guilds after Saber Tooth was declared the winners, and at the moment, the said guild was all gathered in their guild hall. They were all celebrating their win and returning to the top.
"To Saber Tooth! And to our team! And to returning to being number!" Minerva shouted, raising a glass into the air.
Everyone in the guild did the same while cheering and shouting. Everybody was celebrating and having fun by either getting into fights or laughing their heads while getting too drunk. Lucy and her team, along with Ryu, were all laughing together. And of course, they were all already healed from their previous battle wounds.
"Hey Lucy." Minerva said, sitting down beside her.
"Yeah?" said Lucy.
"You know, I never got to apologize for what happened at the last games." Minerva said, rubbing the back of her head.
"Aw, water under the bridge. Besides, if I didn't forgive you, you would either beat me up again or kick me out of the guild." Lucy said jokingly. Minerva also laughed and left their group. Lucy then took another swig of the beer she was drinking.
"Hey Lucy, when did you start drinking?" Sting asked.
"Oh, back in Fairy Tail when no one noticed." answered Lucy.
"Hehe. Be careful Lucy. You may get drunk." Juvia said as she sweat dropped.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Besides, I'm just glad that-" Lucy was cut off as a mug hit her on the side of the head.
"Sorry Lucy!" she heard Orga shout.
"Hehe. Sure." Lucy chuckled.
"Anyway, as I was saying, I'm just glad that-" Lucy was cut off again when this time a stool shattered on impact when it hit her back.
"Sorry again Lucy!" Orga shouted. A tick mark appeared on Lucy's forehead while she formed a fist.
"No problem." Lucy grumbled, forcing a smile on her face.
"Like I was saying again, I'm just glad that-" Lucy was, once again, hit by something, but this time it was a table that literally nocked her off of her chair.
"THAT'S IT! Orga, you're so dead!" Lucy yelled as she literally jumped off of the table and after that, you could hear Orga screaming.
"Heh. Looks like you can't control girlfriend, Sting." Rufus said with a smirk. Sting ended up choking on his food while his face turned a deep shade of red while you could hear the sound of Ryu tightly beginning to clench the mug in his hand. Both Rogue and Juvia chuckled at their antics.
"What are you two laughing at!? You two are much more of a couple than anyone!" Sting shouted while pointing.
They both immediately gained a light pink blush. Sting and Rufus both laughed at that. Their entire guild couldn't be any happier. Most of the guild members were partying, Lucy was strangling Orga by wrapping her legs around his neck while yanking his hair, and Rufus, Sting, Rogue, and Juvia were all laughing and getting along. But when the guild doors suddenly opened, the whole gild became dead silent when they saw who it was. Fairy Tail members, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Wendy, and their exceeds.
"It's Team Natsu." Juvia said in a surprised tone.
"What could they want?" Sting growled.
"Cool it Sting." said Lucy as she walked past him. She stopped walking when she was right in front of Team Natsu. None of them spoke for a few moments, so there was a long uncomfortable silence.
"Look, Lucy, we...we just came here to...well...you know..." Natsu mumbled, not figuring out the right words. Before he spit out what he was trying to say, Lucy put a hand on top of his head. It surprised him and wondered what she was gonna do. And the next thing he knew it, Natsu's forehead was touching Lucy's.
"Jeez. You guys are really stupid, you know that." Lucy chuckled. She pulled away from Natsu and smiled at the group. The whole group had dumb founded expressions on their faces.
"Don't worry. I understand. Back at the games, I had over eight months of anger and sadness that I needed to vent. And now that I did, I can see more clearly and I can understand what you guys did. You guys were only trying to protect me. And I should've remembered. To protect your family, you people go to some major extremes. Even accidentally hurting them." said Lucy.
"Th-then, does this mean...?" Wendy trailed off, hope building up inside her. Lucy looked over her shoulder and motioned for Juvia to come stand beside her, and Juvia did just that with a smile on her face as well.
"Just because we don't forget, doesn't mean we can't forgive." they both said, Lucy holding out her right arm and Juvia holding out her left. All of Team Natsu had tears in their eyes as they all hugged Lucy and Juvia while letting out a few sobs. The hug lasted a few good minutes, but they all soon separated.
"And I hope you guys can understand why we won't be coming back to Fairy Tail." said Lucy.
"Of course. We owe you two this much after what happened." Erza said while nodding.
"Lucy, I'll miss you." Happy sobbed while hugging Lucy. Lucy simply petted the back of his head.
"Sure. I bet you'll miss someone other than Natsu to torment with your annoying taunting." Lucy said jokingly.
"And I'm sorry about all of those insults too!" Happy exclaimed after pulling away from Lucy. Lucy patted him once more on top of his head.
"Good to hear. Just try and lose the attitude and annoyingness, alright?" said Lucy with a toothy grin. Happy cried a little more.
"Aye!" Happy cried. He quickly went back to his Team.
"We're...really gonna miss you guys." Gray said sadly.
"You make it sound like we're gonna disappear or something." said Juvia.
"Remember, as long as you guys swear not to wreck anything, you can come and visit any time." said Lucy.
"Really!?" they all exclaimed.
"Do you guys promise?" Juvia and Lucy asked. The whole team nodded their head vigorously.
"Good. Well, we'll see you guys soon. But remember, Juvia and I still have the rights to beat you guys to a pulp whenever we see any of you guys." said Lucy.
"Of course." said Erza.
"Oh, one more thing!" Juvia exclaimed. She then whispered something into Lucy's ear and her whole face lit up.
"Ok. Hey, Team Natsu." Lucy said, grabbing their attention.
"We forgave you guys, but you have to have the whole Fairy Tail guild do something for us to have us forgive all of them." said Juvia with a sly smirk. The whole team began to feel nervous after that comment.
"A-and what would that be?" Charla asked.
"You guys have to explain what happened with me to the council and pay for all the repairs to their town. And tell Makarov that he'll face punishment if he doesn't." Lucy said innocently with a giggle. The whole Saber Tooth guild sweat dropped and all of Team Natsu's jaws dropped.
"Ok, well, we'll see you all soon." Lucy said as she began pushing all of Team Natsu out of the guild. They were saying things, but Lucy just continued pushing them out until she slammed the doors shut. The whole guild was silent from shock after what happened.
"Haha! Come on guys, we're still celebrating aren't we!?" Lucy shouted. The whole guild quickly returned to their rowdy atmosphere. Lucy and Juvia both returned to their friends.
"Man! That was too funny!" Ryu said, still laughing.
"I'll always keep that in my memory." said Rufus.
Sting didn't say anything because, like Ryu, he was laughing his head off. The only people who were silent were Juvia and Rogue who couldn't even make eye contact. Lucy noticed and an evil grin soon appeared on Lucy's face when an idea came into her mind.
"Oh, Juvia. Don't you have something to ask Rogue here?" Lucy said as she got Rogue onto his feet and in front of Juvia.
"What!? Lucy!" Juvia exclaimed, but Lucy was acting like she wasn't even listening. So, Rogue and Juvia stared at each other and then at floor, both blushing hard.
"So, Rogue, uh, I was...I was wondering...would you...would you please go out with me!?" Juvia finally shouted. Rogue was shocked and his face became even more red.
"S-sure." Rogue said. Luckily, Juvia heard him.
"R-really!?" said Juvia.
"Of course." Rogue said with an actual smile. Juvia squealed and literally tackled him to the ground.
"Ha. It's about time." said Sting.
"Agreed. Hey Sting, come with me. There's something I need to talk to you about." said Lucy as she grabbed his wrist and began to drag him away somewhere.