A/N: Okay it is currently 2:30am and I am about to fall asleep on my laptop, but I needed to get this up! I'm having a lot of writers block, so thats why I'm not updating as quick as I would like, but I am trying my best!
(Oh, and guess what! My team won our first netball final tonight, so we're straight through to the grand final in two weeks! I'm so excited! :D)

ZeldaWithAShotgun I actually laughed out loud when I read your last comment haha (I may have had a few drinks as well :/) haha and don't worry about forgetting - I've done that before! And I'm just grateful that you have reviewed :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail!

Enjoy!

Chapter 23

After the accident, Gajeel seemed to constantly watch over Levy. Sting, Laxus and their buddies avoided Levy and her friends successfully for the rest of the week. They skipped class, and nobody had seen them around the dorm.

Gajeel, Natsu and Lucy were all waiting for their revenge. So was everyone else, but none more than those three.

Lucy was more than ready for her date with Natsu that Friday. She needed a few hours away.

"You look hot," Cana commented as Lucy grabbed her bag. She was wearing a short dress with black boots – and Natsu's scarf. "Just let me know if you want me out of the room," she winked.

"Uh, thanks Cana," replied. "But I don't think that'll be a problem,"

"Okay, well have fun!" the brunette called. Lucy smiled and walked out.

"You look beautiful," Natsu told her, eyes widening as she walked into the lobby.

"Thank you," she smiled, blushing a little as he pulled her in for a kiss.

"Shall we go?" he asked, grabbing her hand and leading her outside.

"Thank you for this," Lucy said when they had both finished eating. "I really needed a night away,"

"I know," Natsu said.

"We should have brought Happy though," she said. "I'm sure he'd love to bet out of that room for a few hours,"

"Why don't we bring him with us on Sunday?" Natsu asked. "Wendy would love him, too,"

"That's a great idea," Lucy smiled. "Are you feeling okay?"

"You're hilarious," he scowled. "Do you want dessert?"

"Yes!"

After they had finished eating, they went for a walk along the river, since it wasn't too cold out, and Natsu was unnaturally warm. Lucy had no problem snuggling up to him.

Lucy sighed contentedly as she looked up at the stars; there were a few clouds, but she could still see most of them. Natsu smiled down at her affectionately.

"I feel so guilty," she suddenly said.

"Why?" Natsu asked, shocked.

"Because I'm just so happy," she explained. "And I shouldn't be, not with those jerks still getting away with what they did to Levy-chan,"

Natsu chuckled. "That doesn't mean you can't be happy – we'll get them eventually," he told her. "Besides, I'm happy too,"

Lucy smiled up at him. "Why are we both so dense? We could have done this sooner," she said, leaning up to kiss him.

He chuckled when they broke apart. "And you all thought I was the only dense one," he said, before leaning down to kiss her again.

The next day, everyone waited anxiously; they were sure that Laxus would never miss the game.

He was still gone during the day, along with Sting, Rogue, Freed and Bickslow, but that only made Lucy worry that the entire football team will break out into a fight that night, rather than play the game.

"Here, take this," Lucy said, handing Natsu his scarf.

"No it's okay, you can keep it a bit longer," he told her.

"No, you need it," she replied, wrapping it around his neck. "You have been way too tense all day,"

"Yeah, I guess so," he mumbled, holding the scarf. It did help to calm him down. But so did Lucy's arms around his neck.

They were sitting in the common room after lunch, trying to relax – Lucy had already given up on studying – but it wasn't working very well.

"Just try and focus on the game tonight, no matter what happens," Lucy said, standing behind him and rubbing his shoulders.

"I'll try," he promised. "That feels good, Luce," he added.

Lucy just smiled. "Don't get used to it," she told him.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he chuckled. "I guess I'll return the favour one day,"

"Of course you will," Lucy leaned down to peck him on the cheek.

"Will you keep it down? We're trying to watch a movie," Gray called irritably. He was sitting with Juvia snuggled against his side.

"Sorry," Lucy apologised.

She took her hands off Natsu and walked around to sit next to him. She curled into him, figuring she may as well watch with them. Natsu's arms tightened around her as he kissed her forehead.

She could feel they were all still tense.

Lucy and the girls were just as tense as they waited on the pitch for the team to show. Nobody knew if Laxus had shown up for the game or not.

They did their pre-game routine. To anyone who didn't know them, it would have looked flawless. The girls knew it wasn't their best.

They all held their breaths when the boys ran out. Lucy held Levy's hand tightly.

Natsu was at the front of the pack. Brown orbs met onyx and he shook his head slightly. She sighed in relief.

Lucy was talking to a relieved Levy while the boys did their warm-ups. They were both a lot calmer, but part of Lucy realised that he could still show.

Lucy felt strong arms circle her waist. "Hey," Natsu breathed into her ear.

She turned in his arms, snaking her arms around his neck.

"Hey yourself," she smiled. "Shouldn't you be out there?" she nodded to the field.

"I just wanted to give you this," he said, taking his arms form her waist. She hadn't noticed before that he was holding his treasured scarf. He wrapped it carefully around her neck.

"Coach won't let me wear it on the field," he said. "And I like seeing it on you. It might help me – not that I need it," he winked, wrapping his arms around her again.

"You are so modest," Lucy told him sarcastically. "But thank you. I might have to take it off for the routine though,"

"Could you tie it around your waist or something?" he asked.

"I probably could, actually," she smiled. "I must be rubbing off on you – you're full of good ideas lately,"

"What can I say? You bring out the best in me," he told her.

"Dragneel! Put her down and get your ass out here!"

The teens turned to see the coach screaming his head off.

"Woops, gotta go!" Natsu said, kissing his girlfriend quickly on the forehead.

"Don't mess up!" Lucy called.

"I won't if you keep that scarf on!" he called back grinning.

Lucy sighed, watching her boyfriend run to the field. She caught herself staring too long, and could almost hear the other girls' chuckles.

It was half time; the boys were winning and playing great, and Laxus still hadn't showed.

Lucy was wearing Natsu's scarf around her waist for the routine. She noticed Natsu standing at the edge of the change rooms; he'd come out to see her. She smiled at him, and blew him a kiss when she was on top of the pyramid. She saw him chuckle as he caught it.

Then the coach appeared and dragged him back inside. Lucy giggled to herself.

The second half had just started when he appeared.

Nobody noticed at first, because they were all concentrating on the game. It was only when the coach started yelling at him that Levy turned. Her small squeak caught Lucy's attention. Lucy's growl made the rest of the girls look.

The boys still hadn't noticed, and Lucy hoped that the coach would send Laxus away before they did.

Well, that didn't happen.

Natsu looked up to Lucy, somehow sensing her anger. He followed her gaze to him. He was so angry that he lost focus, and the other team scored.

"Oi Flame Brain! Get your head in the game!" Gray called to him.

When Natsu didn't answer, he turned to see what the problem was. Soon, all the guys in the field were glaring at Laxus, who smirked arrogantly.

Jellal took control, and got the boys' attention back to the game. They were all still tense, though, and the other team started catching up.

At three quarter time, Fairy Academy was still ahead, but only by one point. The boys all stormed to the sideline together, wearing identical scowls. Jellal seemed to be holding Gajeel back.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Lucy could hear Gajeel's outraged growl from where she was standing.

She couldn't hear the coach's response, but he looked angry as well. They all argued for a few minutes, before Principal Makarov appeared.

The principal hardly ever left his office, and he never came to the games, unless he was sitting up in the commentator's box. This was serious.

Everyone watched as he walked up to the boys, said something and then walked away.

Lucy could tell it wasn't good, based on the outraged faces of the boys, Laxus' smirk and the coach's annoyed look.

Sure enough, when the whistle blew for the final quarter, Laxus took the field.

"What is going on?" Lucy hissed under her breath.

"Principal Makarov knows what happened," Erza said irritably. "I don't know how, but Laxus has somehow convinced him to give him one last chance. Don't worry, he'll still be punished after the game for what he did to you Levy," she turned and put a hand on the small girl's shoulder.

Everyone watched anxiously as the game started again. Lucy could tell the boys were trying to play like they were before, but it was hard with Laxus right there.

Natsu looked up and caught Lucy's eye.

"Focus," she mouthed to him. He nodded once and turned back to the game.

Laxus appeared to be playing by the rules, not provoking anyone, not deliberately losing the game. However, he wasn't playing his best. There were a few cases where he let guys get past. Once, one of those guys took out Gray.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia cried. Lisanna held her arm as they watched, waiting for him to get up. He did after a minute, with Natsu's help, but he couldn't play. With his arms around Natsu and Alzack, he hobbled to the bench, where Juvia ran to him.

Laxus started playing normally for a few minutes before he let another guy past. This one headed for Jellal. Erza looked ready to run out there herself.

Luckily, Natsu had caught onto him as well, so he tore down the field after the guy, tackling him just in time. Lucy sighed in relief, but Mirajane was still holding Erza.

They ended up losing their first game of the season, but nobody else got hurt.

It seemed like every Fairy Academy student was glaring at Laxus as he walked off the field. Everyone was shocked when he started heading towards the girls. Lucy stood in front of Levy protectively. She was soon joined by Erza, Mirajane, Lisanna and Bisca.

Gajeel had been watching and ran after Laxus, standing in front of him before he reached the girls.

"Stay away from her," he said dangerously.

"Or what?" Laxus replied. "I'm just going to apologise,"

"I don't believe you,"

"Well you should," he said. "I'm never going to be able to play again if I don't,"

"Of course," Natsu scoffed, appearing next to Gajeel. "Why don't you apologise when you actually mean it?"

"Why don't you get out of my way?"

"I think it would be best if you just left," Natsu told him. "She doesn't want to see you right now. Nobody wants to see your ugly face right now, so scram,"

"You little punk," he spat, before punching Natsu in the face.

Lucy screamed. Gajeel immediately pounced on Laxus, pinning him to the ground.

That's when Sting, Rogue, Freed and Bickslow showed up.

Natsu tackled Freed before he could get to Gajeel, then quickly stood up to handle the rest of them. It wasn't long before the rest of the football team joined in the fight.

Lucy watched in horror, eye trained on Natsu. He and Gajeel were fighting Sting and Laxus. That seemed to be the main fight, in the middle of all the rest.

The other team didn't know what to do; they left pretty quickly.

It was chaos.

Lucy watched as Natsu faced Sting and Gajeel faced Laxus. Laxus swung, knocking Gajeel to the ground, turning to Natsu. Then he pulled out a pocket knife. Natsu was still facing away. Lucy's heart dropped.

"NATSU!" she screamed, louder than she ever had before.

Before anyone could stop her, she was running through the brawl, eyes trained on her boyfriend, willing him to turn around as she screamed his name. It was too loud.

She saw Laxus stalk Natsu. Sting smirked slightly. She had to do something. She pushed her legs harder, willing them to go faster. She didn't have much time.

She ran at Laxus' back and jumped on him, grabbing his wrist.

"What the fuck?" he growled as he struggled to throw her off. She had a good grip.

She didn't say anything as she tried to pry the knife from his hand.

Natsu turned, sensing her close. His eyes widened when he saw her and the knife.

"Lucy!" he cried. He quickly sent a kick to Sting's gut, sending him flying before running at Laxus. "Let her go!" he roared.

"Uh, she needs to let go of me," Laxus chocked out, still trying to throw her off.

"Natsu, the knife," she panted. "Help me!"

"What the hell are you doing?" he growled as he tried to grab the knife. Laxus started swinging at him, and Natsu dodged.

"Saving your sorry ass," she replied.

Lucy had shifted on Laxus' back, so that she was more on his side. He took the opportunity to elbow her in the gut. Her eyes widened as she gasped, loosening her grip. He shook and she fell to the floor in a heap, holding her stomach.

"Lucy!" Natsu cried. He growled at Laxus. "You're going to regret that,"

Natsu ran at him, swinging his fist. Laxus expertly dodged and elbowed his chin. Natsu staggered back, and Laxus ran at him with the knife.

"No!" Lucy cried. She somehow managed to jump up and push his arm out of the way.

The knife scratched across Natsu's neck and he cried out in pain. Lucy ran to him, eyes widening when she saw the blood.

"Natsu!" she cried. "Just hold on!" she ripped the bottom of his shirt off and held it to his neck.

"I'm fine," he told her. "It's not too deep,"

"Natsu you are not fine," she growled.

That's when Laxus came back for more.

"Luce, look out!" he cried, grabbing her waist and turning so that he was shielding her, his back to Laxus.

The blow never came. Slowly, Natsu looked up and turned to see Gajeel standing over Laxus.

"That's for Levy, you piece of shit," he growled.

A/N: Wow, I really made Laxus into a total jackass didn't I? haha I don't actually hate the real Laxus - he's not my favourite character, but I don't not like him - I'm neutral haha but I have been warming up to him slightly recently.

Anyways! ShadowMaster2013 you called it -there was no way that fight was gonna be small! ;)

Please keep the reviews coming, and I'll try to get past my writer's block! I'll keep writing through it, but I'd rather write something decent :/

Much love! x