Okay, and here we go! The chapters are dwindling, my darlings! But not by that much. I still have a ton to write. At least the one day that the past five or six chapters was based on is finally over. Good news for you guys, because you get this insanely long chapter. Its 14 pages in Open Office. Crazy, right? I hope its not too much stuff?

Okay, so I was looking through the old chapters for some info, and when I saw the sentence, "What you're doing in there isn't sanitary" in chapter 8 and I died. Just thought I'd share. You know, pretend like you guys care and want to be my friends.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. My drawing sucks, and I can barely keep a story going for 20 chapters, much less 393.

Please note that anything in italics is a flashback.

Also, the King's Races are equivalent to the Olympics.

"Stupid Natsu," Lucy mumbled to herself as she stomped along the little stone wall that divided the street from the river by her apartment. The usual fishermen who boated on the river shouted at her to be careful, but she ignored their warnings and continued her angry path. She could not believe what just happened; she had a fight with Natsu and then had to leave her own apartment. Maybe, she supposed, they were both at fault: Natsu may have over reacted, but Lucy could see where he was coming from. After all, her father didn't have the "Best Father Award" sitting on his shelf, waiting to be polished. However, what he said was not called for, and, to put it bluntly, she was pissed.

"He's changed," she kept telling herself, as if she didn't believe it already. The problem was that she did have previous doubts about her father's intentions, and her argument with Natsu only brought them to light. Doubt wasn't a comfortable feeling, but right now she had all the doubts in the world. And it was Natsu's fault!

"LUCY PICK UP. LUCY PICK UP. LUCY-" Lucy ripped her phone out of her pocket and answered it with a short, agitated "what".

"Hi, Lucy," Mirajane greeted politely. For a brief moment, the blonde felt guilty for answering her phone so rudely, especially when it was a sweet girl like Mira on the other end. Then a brief flashback to the argument at her apartment flitted across her mind and the guilt faded away.

"Hi Mira," Lucy greeted, trying to sound like a bucket of sunshine, as opposed to a firey witch filled with anger. Sadly, her tone sounded less sunny and sincere, and instead it sounded more like an enthusiastic mental ward patient.

"What's wrong?" Mira asked in her trademark concern voice. Its "trademark" because, although filled to the brim with worry, it also has a threatening undertone of if-you-don't-tell-me-I'll-find-you-and-beat-it-out-of-you lying beneath the surface. So, Lucy, being smarter than your stereotypical blonde, decided that she would come clean about her explosion of an argument. Which, of course, lead to an awkward explanation of how she was secretly corresponding with her father (WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US! Mira exclaimed), how Natsu and her had ended up in her apartment (Lucy is all grown up! She squealed), and how they both exploded at each other.

"And yeah, that's what happened," Lucy finished lamely. She listened hard for Mira's reaction, but she had gone silent ever since Lucy started describing the fight.

"Well," she finally sighed, "the subject of dads has always been a little touchy with Natsu." Lucy remembered little Master Makarov mentioning something about Natsu's past when she had visited fairy tail.

"Did his father abandon him when he was little?" The blonde asked. Mira confirmed her inference.

"I know what he said was kind of harsh-" She started.

"Yes, it was," Lucy grumbled.

"But, just keep that in mind, okay? Natsu hasn't had the best life a person could have. I'm not telling you to forgive him right this second, but-"

"Yeah, okay Mira," Lucy cut her off, annoyed by her friend's level headed suggestion. Mirajane sensed that Lucy was not in the forgiving mood and so, with the hopes that her words would sink in, hung up. Lucy shoved her phone back in her pocket and tried to continue to simmer in her anger. However, it was impossible to get as angry at the pink haired idiot than she previously was, not when she understood his side of things. So, she hopped off the wall with a sigh and decided that she should go find Levy to talk to. The bookworm always knew what to do.

"'He's changed', she says," Natsu muttered to himself as he stalked down the sidewalk, making the people he passed scoot to the extreme side and pray that he would retain any sanity he had left. But, Natsu paid no matter to their reactions, as his mind was a bit more preoccupied at the moment...

"Igneel?" Natsu cried out, wondering where his father had wandered off to. Considering Igneel was a huge dragon, there couldn't be many places where he could hide. Natsu had already checked the dark depths of the cave that they lived in, the field where they trained, and the waterfall that Igneel both hated and loved. However, there was no red hide nor flaming trees in sight. Natsu had been used to his dad disappearing for a day, but it was way past dinner time and he was getting very hungry and very worried.

"I bet he's changed. Changed his haircut," Natsu continued on his little rant. Happy was frantically trying to keep up with his friend's angry pace.

"Igneel! This isn't funny!" Natsu fumed. He walked off to do another circle, but as he headed off, a nagging thought wouldn't stop whispering in his mind. The words that were stuck on repeat made Natsu's blood boil hotter than his flames. After all, Igneel had up and left him.

"I mean, doesn't she get that he hurt her?" Natsu snapped, turning to Happy to hear his cat's weak agreeing echo. They took a sharp turn and headed in the direction of the park. The giant sakura tree in the park's center towered above the surrounding boutiques and restaurants.

"Igneel, come on," Natsu, now a teenager, willed for his dad to arrive. Anything to take him away from his current situation. The guild was disbanded. Where was he going to go? How was he going to get food?

"Hey, boy," a gruff voice called out. Natsu turned to find a large man with a magnificent white beard sneering down at him. "How would you like a job?"

There were happy couples and little kids picnicking and running around, enjoying the nice day that came with the warm summer weather. Natsu's pace began to slow down; his anger was running out, and it was only a matter of minutes before he calmed down enough to realize what had just happened. He lumbered over to a park bench and plopped down, which gave poor, gasping Happy a break from the break neck pace.

"Natsu...don't you...think-" Happy panted.

"I know," Natsu interrupted, rubbing the back of his head. His explosive argument was possibly a tad on the dramatic, over reaction side. But, the subject of shitty fathers had, in a few words, struck a nerve. He knew very well what it was like to be abandoned; he also had a gut feeling that Lucy was just setting herself up for disappointment. Maybe it was just his overall distrust for certain people, maybe it was his bitter inner self; whatever it was, he didn't like the fact that "Papa" wanted Lucy to come home for a visit. After all, the man didn't have a good record to make Natsu feel any better.

"When I was ten some men kidnapped me. They worked with this lady who was always talking about how she was an angel, and one day she got bored and sealed away my ability to use magic." Lucy explained, a pained, distant look in her eyes. "Father was taking too long to do something. Busy with work, I guess." She shrugged, like it was totally normal for a dad to ignore his child's needs. Natsu didn't really have a lot of experience with the subject, but he had learned from Makarov that that definitely was NOT the case.

"I feel like she's going to get hurt," he turned to look at his cat, "Don't you?" Happy thought about it for a minute, thoughtfully staring off into the puffy white clouds that were crawling through the pale blue sky.

"I think," he began slowly, "that its her choice," the cat shrugged and looked at his best friend. Natsu was slightly taken aback by the insightful answer. His cat was acting smarter and more mature than he was. It was hard to think of him letting Lucy into a potentially dangerous situation, after all of the time he spent trying to protect her from that kind of thing. Isn't that the real reason why he tried to help her with the stupid "normal lessons"?

"I'm going to have to apologize," Natsu realized with a growing sense of dread, head drooping. He hated admitting that he was wrong, especially when he still believed that he wasn't and his words were justified. He was just trying to protect his friend from being hurt again. But, he also knew that Lucy was as equally stubborn as he was when it came to arguments, and Happy did have a point. It was her life; he had no right to be butting in and trying to make her decisions for her. No matter how potentially dangerous he thought those decisions were to be.

"Yeah, you need to do something big too," Happy nodded in agreement, making his owner groan about complicated women and the pain they bring. Inside, the cat was, true to his name, happy that Natsu had agreed to make up with Lucy. He hated it when the two fought, and for Natsu of all people to apologize first? He knew some VERY good change was working its magic.

"Well, better let her cool off for now," Natsu sighed and got up. "Come on, Happy, we need to go visit Gramps anyway."

Erza stood outside a really sketchy bar in disbelief. Honestly, she could not believe what was happening to her.

She had thought that her luck had finally reached its breaking point, where it was about to turn around and help her for a change. Fate, however, seemed to have a different plan for her. Or, it just enjoyed screwing with her head and making her go insane. Either way, the scene in front of her unfolded in a perfect disaster. The two people that she had searched high and low for where standing right in front of her. Sadly, they were also handcuffed and ducking their heads as they stepped inside a prison car. She was so, so close, yet they were permanently out of reach. Erza knew better than to try to interfere with a royal arrest; when they say "death to those who resist," they are serious. So, she was left to gawk, along with the rest of the pedestrians on the street, at her fleeting chance to learn the truth. The last of the people being loaded on a truck was a familiar looking man with shiny green hair that flowed down to his waist. He cast a look over his shoulder, but the second he saw her, he jerked his head back and muttered a few words to his companions, whose faces momentarily twitched with worry. She didn't have a chance to react before they where driven away.

"Thank god," a man next to her breathed. "They scared the shit out of me."

Erza turned around and laid her eyes on a fat man who, she assumed, was the bartender of the establishment. He wiped some sweat off his brow and turned to follow the rest of the customers back into the bar, but he found his arm to be caught in an iron grip. Erza's interest was piqued; maybe her search wasn't in vain after all.

"Were those people customers in your bar?" She asked the man.

"Yeah," he winced, "All three walked in looking like they could kill someone. Good riddance, I say."

"All three?" Erza wanted to make sure. She knew that Bickslow and Evergreen were inseparable, but she wasn't aware that the duo was actually a trio. That green haired man looked very familiar, she just didn't know where she had seen him before.

"Yeah, the brunette, the costume guy and the green haired guy. They were all friends, I take it. Said they were looking for someone."

"Did they happen to mention any names?" Erza jumped on the lead. She was onto something!

"Well," the man's eyes became shifty, "I might have. My memory is a little hazy..." He rubbed his fingers together suggestively. Erza, the demon she was on the inside, was NOT in the mood for a pathetic attempt at extortion. So instead of giving the man what he was expecting, she just leaned in really close and whispered ten different exotic sounding death threats into his ear (one involving a poisonous spider and a tub of marshmallows) while holding her sword very close to his stomach.

The man was, once again, very, very close to peeing his pants.

"Their names were Evergreen, Freed and Bickslow and they were looking for some guy called Laxus," he paused, but a little prick in his abdomen prompted him to continue, "Said something about started a plan. Please please don't kill me I'm too young and handsome to die-"

"Shut up," Erza snapped, thinking hard.

"Yes ma'am," the bartender squeaked, and, noticing an escape, scurried away.

So, the plan did have everything to do with her tyrannical boss. The king, the guilds, Laxus...how the hell did this all connect? And that green haired man, Freed...Erza had definitely seen him before, but where?

"Ugh," she groaned and set off downtown. Maybe something was going to hit her. An inspirational brick, perhaps.

After Gray and Juvia let go of their frustrations by demolishing the icy remnants of Lyon's belongings, they decided that the only thing left to do: fatten themselves with ice cream. Yes, the totally cliché date-type food was the only thing that would instantly soothe Juvia's soul before another instance of intense crying could occur for a third time. As they walked down the street together, Gray shot a glance to the side. Juvia was walking next to him with the biggest smile on her face, like she was actually enjoying the silent journey with him. Of course, he supposed, she probably was enjoying the walk; if there was one thing he learned over the past couple hours, it was that the young woman enjoyed the simple things in life.

"I'M SEXY AND I KNOW IT~" Gray's phone declared from his back pocket.

"Goddammit Natsu," he pulled it out of his pants and flipped it open with another few choice words about his pink haired roommate. Juvia patiently waited for him to finish his conversation with some person named Loke, taking advantage of his distraction to marvel at her Gray-sama's perfection. His shiny, raven black hair, his beautifully crafted face, his glisening eyes...

As they came to a turn in the road, Gray's hand shot out and took hers so that he could lead her in the right direction. She was on cloud nine, and it took a lot of concentration to force herself to come down so she could pay attention to Gray when he finished his conversation. He snapped his phone closed with a little sigh, worry slowly becoming visible on his face.

"What is the matter, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked curiously.

"I just got some surprising news..." he started. As they walked towards the ice cream shop, he told her about the house closing down, how an upstart blonde who sounded a lot like Lucy had started to fight someone when the police came in, and how all three of his bosses, even innocent Bob, were arrested, and how now he had no idea what he was going to do now that he didn't have his stupid job to pay for bacon and a bed.

"Juvia thinks that something strange is going on. Why would the king want to arrest all these people?" She asked.

"I don't know," Gray shrugged. There was an awkward lull in the conversation.

"Um, so, why does Gray-sama work in the House if he doesn't like it?" She asked. Gray stopped walking, a look of pain on his face.

"Well, it was when we were teens," he started, eyes distant. "Fairy Tail had just closed down, and it took a year or so for Makarov to get it turned into an orphanage. We were 14 or so, and had a hard time getting money..."

"We're short again," Gray looked at the pathetic stack of rent money in front of him. Thirty dollars for cleaning someones whole house, another five for doing some shoe shining, twenty for pawning some of their old stuff...but the boys were no where near what they needed to cover their rent. After all, who would hire a bunch of guild associated mages?

"What are we going to do?" Gajeel groaned, falling back on their disgusting floor. The boys had barely had the apartment for three months, and now they were going to be kicked out. They sat in a depressing silence, until Natsu the flame brain slammed the door open, grabbed their arms, and started dragging them out.

"The hell-?" Gray yelled, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. Natsu stopped and let him go. When Gray got up, he noticed that his kinda-friend had the most peculiar look on his face. He looked...defeated. The fire that was always burning in his eyes had finally been completely extinguished.

"I found a job for us," he deadpanned. "But you're not going to like it."

"And yeah, we've been stuck there ever since," Gray shrugged, "We could probably leave if we wanted to, but..." he shrugged again and didn't bother finishing his sentence.

"But if the House is closed, what is Gray-sama and his friends going to do?" She asked worriedly. "Can Juvia help?"

"I don't know, Juvia," he looked up to the sky, thoughtfully staring at the lazy clouds. "I really don't know."

They had arrived at their delicious destination, but now all of the fun was sucked out of it. They ate their respective cones in peace, sitting on the bench outside the shop, looking like a really depressed couple.

"Juvia can get Gray-sama a job at the pool," she offered. "She was a very important swimmer once."

"Once?" He cocked an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Juvia got into an accident right before the King's Races, and could not swim in any more competitions."

Gray didn't speak again for another five minutes, making Juvia worry that she said something wrong. Then, he put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Life is a bitch."

Juvia disagreed, but she chose to keep her feelings to herself. After all, she was cuddling into her Gray-sama's side, and there was no way in Hell she was going to mess that up.

"GRAMPS!" Natsu burst into his old home. All of the younger residents looked up and smiled big, calling out various greetings to their destructive older brother. One of the kids, Romeo, pointed down the hall towards the old infirmary, saying Gramps was still in there after talking to some freaky red head. Natsu, although curious to hear about this red head, had some business to attend to.

So, leaving Happy to play with the kids who had nothing better to do, he walked down the long hallway to talk to his old master about a couple of things. When he walked into the room, he was surprised to find that one of the beds was occupied; he was even more surprised to find that the person in the bed was Makarov's grandson, Laxus. Natsu had met Laxus a couple of times when he was younger, when the word "guild" didn't evoke strong feelings of fear. His opinion had always been the same: he was a complete controlling jackass. But, Natsu couldn't help feel bad for the grandfather and his misguided grandson, who appeared to have had his ass kicked recently.

"Natsu-san!" Wendy gasped when she noticed his presence, "What are you doing here?" She was so surprised that the bowl in her hands wobbled on the edge of her loose fingers, so much so that she had to juggle the bowl for a minute so that it didn't crash to the floor and ruin the medicine she had been brewing to help supplement her own magic.

"I had to ask Gramps something," he looked to the man in question, who was totally immersed in staring creepily at his knocked out grandson. Natsu snapped his fingers in front of the old man's face.

"What?" He snapped out of his daze, sounding more tired than ever.

"Bob, Hades and Jose were arrested today at the House. I wouldn't think it was weird if it was just Hades and Jose, but Bob..." Natsu trailed off painfully. Bob was the best of all three of his bosses, the one that had helped everyone get through their lives.

"Natsu-kun," Bob giggled, prodding the sulking boy, "Your guests are waiting for you."

"They're disgusting," Natsu muttered darkly, his eyes throwing daggers at every passing drunk woman who tried to approach him. Bob adjusted his wings and followed his look across the crowd.

"You know," Bob started thoughtfully, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a place where everyone can have fun together?"

"I'll never have fun here," the boy mumbled, looking like the definition of glum. His shoulders slumped like he was trying to make himself smaller to hide from the eyes of the "guests" in the room.

"Hmm," Bob scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, there are some delicious looking sweets in the private room. Why don't you enjoy their company for a while?" Natsu threw him a glare too, stalking off to go fulfill his boss's request. He never guessed that the second he walked into the room, the women he thought he was going to entertain turned out to be a couple baskets of chocolate bars.

"I'm aware," Makarov sighed, "If you came looking for an explanation, I'm afraid I don't have one. It seems that this idiot was involved," he sighed, rubbing his wrinkled face with his hands in a slow, tired way. "Perhaps you should find that red haired woman that was here earlier. Erza Scarlet."

Natsu nodded, disappointed that Makarov didn't offer him any explanation. Although it could be true that he didn't have a clue what was going on, but there was something that told him Makarov definitely had an unpleasant theory swimming around in his mind. But, Natsu realized that there was no forcing the old man to talk. So, he took what he got and started to walk out before remembering the other reason he had wanted to come to the guild.

"Hey, do you remember Lucy?" He asked. Makarov coughed to cover up his surprise (after all, Natsu was talking about a girl) and nodded his head.

"The blonde girl? Yes."

"Do you remember that favor I asked for?"

"Yes, yes, the little surprise?" Makarov smiled, "This week then?"

"Yeah, day after tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Thanks Gramps!" Natsu smiled big and ran out of the room. He thought he heard Happy screaming. Makarov smiled at the spot where the young boy stood and gave a little chuckle.

"What is so funny, Master?" Wendy asked curiously, pausing in her work.

"Seeing an ignorant boy in love is quite the sight," the old man sighed. "That poor girl."

"Love?" Was all Wendy could squeak out.

Natsu was feeling like a total creep. It wasn't because he liked to break into Lucy's apartment by going through her window. It wasn't even because he kept a bunch of nonsense memorabilia like a pack rat. No, the reason why he felt like he was breaking into a whole new level of creepiness was because he was trying to track down Lucy by smell.

….

Yeah, you get it, right? Now, granted, his dragon slayer senses made it EXTREAMELY easy to do, and since Lucy had just stormed out and left no other way to find her (yes, he tried calling her, but her phone was still in the apartment), he had no other options. Still, he felt like a creeper, especially when he was actually able to track her down. In case anyone was wondering, she had taken shelter in the local library. She looked a tad disappointed as her head swiveled back and forth, looking around for someone that was obviously not there. While she was distracted, Natsu grabbed her from behind and started walking out, with Happy in front to keep his paws over her mouth so neither male had to suffer from her painful shrieks.

Yes, Natsu also realized that this was equally as creepy. But, the boy had grown up without boundaries, and this was not the time to start respecting them! Luckily, most people were either too stunned to do anything or too busy trying to ignore what was going on right in front of them. Thus, they were able to carry her this way to the fountain, where Natsu set her down and covered his ears right before happy released Lucy's mouth. She yelled a few choice words at him before realizing that he couldn't hear her. So, she waited for when he felt it was safe enough to unplug his ears.

"I'm mad at you," she stated, crossing her arms and pouting like the child that she was on the inside but tried to deny.

"I know," he sighed. "Look, its your life. Do what you want."

This was Natsu's way of apologizing without actually having to say the two dreaded words.

"Is this your pathetic attempt at an apology?"

Lucy was able to recognize his feeble attempt and had no problem pointing out his flaws.

"I'm not apologizing. Just saying," he crossed his arms and looked the other way, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes. After a minute or two of debating his weak apology, he saw her face soften and a little smile battle to replace the frown that had been on her face.

"I forgive you," she finally said. Natsu exhaled the breath that he didn't even realize he was holding. Happy smiled big and snuggled on the girl's lap, purring loudly.

"Good," He allowed himself a tiny smile, "So, are you doing anything the day after tomorrow?"

"Nope," she said, raising her eyebrow at his inquiry. After all, they never really formed plans to do things together. It just kinda...happens.

"Well, wear something normal. I'm picking up up at seven." He offered her his arm, "Come on, the House is closed down. The only thing left to do is spend time with you."

"You say it like I'm your last resort," she frowned, though she took his arm anyway. For some reason, her cheeks started to feel hot, but without knowing what the cause was, she didn't find the energy to pay attention to the phenomenon. What could it be? Walking with Natsu?

"Nah," he smiled, "my last resort is Gray."

Erza was still walking down the street, distracted in her thoughts of the end of the world. Yes, this was the dim brilliance that she had come to after some deep thought; Laxus better be blowing up the world, because this was the most stress she had undergone since high school. She was so focused on her end of the world preparations that she didn't notice that her phone was ringing until it buzzed in her pocket for the last time. She frantically grabbed for her phone.

"Hello?" She asked, out of breath from having a panic attack after juggling her phone in her hands before she could pick it up.

"Hey Erza," Her boyfriend, Jellal, greeted her brightly. "I just got some free time, so do you want to grab a bite to eat?"

Ah, he was such an angel. Sadly, he was dating Erza Guardian-of-the-evil-slavedriving-mastermind Scarlet, and life just didn't really like her.

"I'm a little busy. Something weird is going on," she bit her lip, hating herself for blowing him off for the billionth time.

"Is this about the arrests going on? Bob Pegala, Jose Porla and Hades Grim were arrested at the House. Weird, since they were all, well...you know," he trailed off, implying that the men were guild related.

"Yeah, it's wierd- wait, how did you know about the arrests at the House of Aces?" Erza asked suspiciously. It sounded like he had been there...

"I heard it from some friends," Jellal coughed awkwardly, "So! What do you think is going on?"

"Laxus is planning something. Well, now it is someone who is pretending to be him anyway. Something big that is going to be dangerous to the King."

"Damn," Jellal whistled, "right when all the masters were arrested. They would've been able to stop whatever your psycho boss was up to."

"Yeah," She sighed, "You're right."

A light clicked on in her head.

"You're right," she repeated, sounding dazed. Sudden epiphanies had that kind of effect on people.

"I know I'm right, no need to say it twice," Jellal joked, but Erza didn't hear him. At least one part of the crazy plan had fallen into place.

"Of course! They were the only ones who could stop him. JELLAL, I LOVE YOU!"

"I love you too, Miss. Scarlet. Does this mean I can take my girlfriend to dinner?"

A man holding a newspaper in front of his face slowly let it lower, exposing an open mouthed sneer that showed his grotesque yellow teeth. He watched Erza Scarlet's red hair swish against her back until the woman turned the corner at the end of the street. Then he walked to a nearby pay phone and dialed the number of his master.

"What is it?" A high, lazy voice answered after the third ring.

"That Scarlet woman is puttin' the pieces together," he muttered into the phone. From the other end of the line he could hear a long sigh and a dissatisfied "hum!"

"Will she present a problem in the near future?" His master asked.

"No, m'lady, but-"

"Then she is no threat. Once we begin, there will be no stopping us."

"But-"

"Do you doubt me, my little servant?" His master snapped in her trademark deadly tone.

"No, m'lady," the man whimpered.

"Wonderful," She laughed, "Now, go tell that girl to get the last letter ready."

"Yes. Angel-sama."

She hung up with a cackle that echoed in her underling's ears.

Whoot whoot Never is on a role! I'm was hoping to be done by Harry Potters Birthday. No reason. I just wanted the satisfaction of being done. But there is noooo way in hell I am going to be able to do that.

Did you know that there is a human condition where people ignore situations where they could help because they believe that another person will step up to the plate? Like, a person could get mugged in an alley and a guy who sees it will walk by because he thinks someone else will intervene. LOOK GUYS! I'M FUN AND EDUCATIONAL!

So, funny story time: I have the prompts for all my stories written in sticky notes in my laptop. My friends saw them when we were doing an English project together a couple of weeks ago. I was judged. So much so that I wanted to curl up in the corner but there was a spider there so I couldn't.

God I am being so random with my thoughts right now.

Review? Pretty please? I love getting reviews, and this chapter was HUGE, so you should have a couple of comments to share!

~NeverMakesSense