Chapter 38

Lucy had just dragged Sting to the top of the guild where the two of them stood on the huge balcony, more like patio, near the guild's top that was outside where it was already night time. Lucy had soon let go of Sting's wrist while at the same time moving backwards, making some distance between them. She then twirled around to have Sting facing her back.

"That was pretty unexpected huh?" said Lucy.

"You mean you forgiving Fairy Tail?" Sting asked.

"Yeah. At first, all of the hateful things I said to them, I thought I truly meant every word of it. But I guess, deep down, I was just venting all of my anger sadness that I had ever felt onto them." Lucy said.

"All of it?" Sting said. Lucy looked over her shoulder and simply nodded at him.

"For as long as I could remember, I never had the power to be able to actually take my emotions out on people. And when I got the chance, it was only for an instant." Lucy mumbled, staring at her hands. She slowly began to clench her fists as she began to feel anger bubble up inside of her, but she didn't know why.

"Dammit! Why can't I ever do anything right!?" Lucy shouted, putting her fists over her face. Sting ran up beside and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, stop being so hard on yourself! You did do something right. You beat Fairy Tail, fair and square." Sting said. Lucy turned around, but never met him in the eye.

"Sting, look at me." said Lucy as she took off her gloves. It revealed her scarred arms once again and Sting looked upon them in shock, since this was the first time he noticed them.

"Most of these scars happened from training with Suirō and taking random missions after joining Saber Tooth, but...the rest were self inflicted from even harder training by myself." said Lucy sadly. Sting's eyes widen even more when he heard that.

"What!? Why would you do that to yourself!?" Sting shouted.

"Because I thought I was weak. I wanted to get stronger like everyone else since I seemed to be the one to always break." Lucy mumbled. She suddenly felt her shoulders be tightly gripped.

"That's no excuse! You shouldn't think so lowly of yourself like that!" Sting said.

"But it's true. I mean, look at what's happened. If I hadn't been kicked out of Fairy Tail, I wouldn't have gotten my new powers. And if I hadn't been able to face Akuma, I would've never been able to learn the truth about my family." Lucy mumbled, still looking at the ground. Sting's grip tightened on her arms. The next thing Lucy said was what made Sting finally snap.

"It's like the only way for me to get what I want is for me to deal with an even greater loss at first." Lucy said.

She suddenly felt herself being pulled forward and before she knew it, she felt two arms wrap around her. Lucy then released Sting was hugging tighter than ever and she could see his head over her shoulder. She could just barely place one of her hands on his back since she could just barely hear small hiccups coming from Sting.

"Sting." Lucy said softly.

"Idiot! Just stop talking about yourself like that! How many times do I have to say it!? You're a great person and I don't care if you don't believe me! I just hate hearing the person I love talk like that!" Sting said.

"Love?" Lucy said in a questioning tone. Sting quickly realized what he had said and immediately pulled himself off of Lucy, his face completely red.

"S-s-sorry about that." Sting mumbled, scratching the back of his head while not looking her in the eye. Lucy still had an expression of shock and on her face, but it soon vanished and was quickly replaced by a warm smile. She took a step closer to Sting and placed on of her hands on his cheeks, making him look her in the eyes.

"Actually, I don't mind. After hearing that and getting what I wanted off of my chest, it makes it easier for me to say what I wanted from the start." said Lucy.

"Huh?" said Sting.

Before he could do anything else, Lucy grabbed his collar, while still having her hand on his cheek, and pulled him in close to her. He then felt something soft press against his lips. It took him a few seconds to process what was happening. Lucy was kissing him for the first time on the lips. His eyes widen and his face was once again completely red. She soon pulled away from Sting, leaving one hand on his chest while she was blushing a light shade of pink.

"I love you, Sting." Lucy said sweetly.

"R-really?" Sting stuttered.

"Of course." said Lucy. Sting then quickly pulled Lucy into an even tighter hug than before and this time, Lucy hugged back.

"I'm so glad to hear that! I'm so happy!" Sting said.

"Yeah, me too. Now come on, people are waiting for us!" said Lucy as she pulled Sting behind her while intertwining her fingers with Sting's.

(TIME SKIP...ONE WEEK)

"Come on you two! Keep it up." said Lucy.

At the moment, Lucy was helping Ryu and Juvia train. She was having Suirō help train Juvia with her water magic and hand to hand combat while she was having Ryu, who was now wearing a black long sleeve shirt, blue baggy shorts, black combat boots with his purple scarf, do some push ups with Lucy sitting on his back. Lucy had them at it for two hours.

"Why do I have to do this with you on top of me?" Ryu complained.

"It's to help you gain some more muscle. Besides, yesterday I helped you with your re-quip magic and bought you some new swords. So deal with it." said Lucy.

"It'd be easier if you put a boulder on my back." Ryu grumbled. Sadly for him, Lucy heard him and hit over the head, hard. Also causing him to fall flat onto the ground.

"Say something like that again, and I'll clobber you!" Lucy shouted angrily.

"Hey Lucy! I found you a new mission!" Sting called out from a distance with Rogue by his side.

"Great! Ok guys, you can rest." Lucy said as she got off a twitching Ryu. After saying that, Juvia immediately collapsed on her back and Suirō vanished. Rogue went to get check on Juvia.

"So, what's this one about?" Lucy asked.

"Like you always ask for. It's about destroying a dark guild that's using many different types of dark magic." answered Sting. Recently, Lucy has always been trying to find any type of missions that have to do with anything relating to dark magic since she is trying to hunt down the master of it, Zeref.

"Thanks Sting!" Lucy squealed. She quickly kissed him on the cheek and took the job out of his hand and headed over to her two friends that were just done training, who she also formed a team with.

"Ok guys, we'll leave for this job tomorrow. As long as you guys are up for it." said Lucy.

"Of course we are!" Ryu said, jumping to his feet.

"We'll follow you any where Lucy!" Juvia exclaimed. Lucy couldn't help but laugh at how determined her friends were to help her.

"I can finally leave my past behind me now. Because now, I have a new path to follow." Lucy thought.