A/N I'm so sorry, I couldn't respond to the reviews this time. Life is hard. But I'd like you all to know how grateful I am to all the readers, reviewers, those who PM'ed me, tweeted me, subscribed and fav'd this story. THANK YOU. I would also like to apologize to those who think the pacing of the story is too slow. Was it? Would you like me to rush it? I'll try my best to do it as natural as possible. I don't know if you're precise about the timeline – but if not, I'll push the romance in if you wish. :) oh, and also… if there's anyone interested in beta reading the next chapter, please PM me. :) thank you.

Chapter 16: INFILTRATING THE RIVAL GUILD ALONE

"It's not that I'm complaining, Lucy my love." Loke smiled, imaginary flowers blooming around him, "And I'm really glad you called for me today – you must have felt my desire to see you but…" he sighed, "Why do I have to do this disgusting thing for these guys?" He glanced back slightly, a sudden change of aura was emitted as he scowled sickeningly at how he was currently carrying the bothersome Sabertooth dragon slayers – both hanging on each shoulders.

Lucy gave her an apologetic glance as she continued walking, the two cats trailing after her as they occasionally check up on their light-headed partners.

"I'm sorry, Loke. I called forth Taurus exactly for this reason but you forced your way out again." The blond Fairy Tail mage exclaimed in a rueful tone.

"I thought my princess was in trouble again so I forced Taurus to stay and I would take over." Loke explained, feeling sorry for himself. "And I thought I could show off. Carrying these pathetic people makes me sick, too."

Sting growled, still nauseous – still regretting the fact that he allowed himself to take the train. This wasn't what he asked of his dorei exactly the moment the train stopped.

Lucy jumped out of the train, eyes shining with excitement. Her lips automatically stretched into a bright smile, "I'm finally home!"

But even before she could savor the moment that she was finally back in Magnolia, she suddenly felt a pair of hands encircling around her neck. She didn't have to look to figure who it was – of course, it had to be him – Sting.

"Dorei~ carry me!" Sting's voice was hoarse and she could tell he was having some difficulty in speaking and to make matters awkward – not that it was intentional – the white dragon slayer buried his face on her neck, inhaling her marked human's scent deeply.

And damn, Lucy found this creepy yet the gesture made her face all red. "D-don't just do something like that!" She stammered as she tried to push his head off her neck. Just then, Rogue stepped out of the train, still pale and wobbly. She figured, the train ride was too much for them to handle and she had to at least do something for both of them – if only she was strong enough.

"Rogue-kun," the exceed dressed in a frog costume ran beside his dragon slayer partner, "Fro is worried, is Rogue-kun alright?"

A considerate but quirking smile lined unto the shadow dragon slayer's lips – a smile Lucy saw for the first time. "I'm fine, Frosch. Don't worry now, argh." He turned his head towards Lucy weakly, "I don't think it's alright for you to overdo things. You just came from an illness."

Sting clenched his teeth as he glared daggers to his partner, "She's my dorei, not yours! You can't order her anything! She won't follow you, upu!"

Lucy sweat dropped as she allowed a sigh escape her lips, what Rogue said was true – she had to take care of Sting's life. She grabbed her keys and uttered, "Open the gate of the bull–" a golden light shone around the area which made her blink, much to her surprise, the spirit who came out wasn't Taurus – it was Loke.

"Lucy~ did you miss me?" He tilted his tinted glasses up to his nose without even glancing at his mistress, "I miss you to– EH?" that's when he saw his poor Lucy pitiably trying to carry Sting with all her might.

"What are you doing here, Loke? I called for Taurus, not you." Lucy prompted innocently, sweat starting to dribble over her forehead.

And as if seeing Lucy carrying another guy – worst, that marker of hers – on her back wasn't enough agony, hearing her query made him want to cry. "How mean, Lucy. I'm your knight in shining armor and I will do anything for you. Don't tell me you really preferred Taurus to–"

"I don't mean that, Loke. Oh well," Lucy interrupted, "Can you carry these two to my apartment?"

"Eh?"

And that was how Loke ended up doing this.

He really wanted to beat up his mistress' marker if only he wasn't carrying the same life line with her and it took him every ounce of self-control to stop himself from doing so – because in the past 15 minutes that they've been walking towards Lucy's apartment, the bastard was demanding for Lucy to carry him instead.

It kind of pained him that he couldn't even scratch him – same reason as always, he wouldn't dare hurt Lucy even though he knew it wouldn't affect her physically… but Sting still shared the same life line with his beloved mistress, right? How unfortunate. So unfortunate.

After some time, inside Lucy's apartment…

Lucy stared blankly at her guests as each of them continued doing their own businesses. One was occupying her bed like it was his own, a lion spirit glaring daggers at his mistress' marker, two cats and a dragon slayer slumping over her drawers doing who-knows-what… Why the hell are they still here?

She was grateful she brought a change of clothes inside the bathroom even though before she took a bath, she asked them to go find a hotel of their choice around town so that by the time she was finished, she'd go straight to the guild. That's why she was wondering, what the hell are they still doing inside her room?

"Weren't you supposed to be checking in to some nice hotel uptown?" Lucy prompted but no one paid much attention to her aside from her spirit.

"I'm sorry, Lucy." He tilted his glasses up on his nose coolly, taking the blame because Lucy specifically ordered him to escort the Sabertooth mages. "But this bastard right here," he gestured towards the white dragon slayer, "wouldn't budge."

The blond girl stared blankly at Sting as she dried her hair with a towel, "As you can see, Sting-do– er, I meant, Sting… My apartment is too small to accommodate all of us. Aside from that, I think it's inappropriate for us to be together under one roof – I only have one bedroom and–"

"Who cares, dorei?" the white dragon slayer slurred nonchalantly, "Is this about morality? In layman's terms, we're engaged you know?"

Lucy blushed furiously as Loke flared up in agitation, "You forced her, that's a different case!" the lion spirit hissed as he lost his calm demeanor.

"She has my mark, that's the point." Sting stirred his body, now facing the wall. "I'm tired, stop bothering me. Oh," he looked over, eyes meeting Lucy's own set of orbs, "And this bed…" he whiffed in disgust, "…reeks of Natsu-san's scent." He pushed himself up, an odd expression written all over his face. "I don't like it."

Rogue glanced at his partner, observing him as the two exceeds continued to talk about the weird things they kept finding inside Lucy's mysterious drawer. Loke's eyes widened slightly, a bit shock but as soon as it came, it vanished as the spirit turned slowly towards Lucy.

"Don't tell me you allow Natsu to sleep over here, Lucy?" Loke cried dramatically.

The blond Celestial mage blinked, "Uh, it's not that I allow him… it's more like he always sneak in and before I know it, he was already sleeping beside me. Besides, it's not only Natsu who keeps doing that, Gray too." She shrugged indifferently.

Horror struck Loke's face as depression lines started to appear above his head, "Gray too, she says. That's too much favoritism, Lucy."

Lucy laughed uneasily, it seemed like she was misunderstood as she felt three pairs of eyes glaring at her malevolently. "I-I don't really get what you all were thinking at the moment but… did I mention Erza used to sneak in too?"

Now that she mentioned it, Sting could really smell various scents in her bed. The only scent he recognized was Natsu's of course.

Relief flashed over the three boys' faces and before Lucy realized, it was her turn to be terrified as she overheard two little voices bickering.

"Weird. Fro can't hear any music at all. Did Fro wear it wrong?" the Sabertooth exceed wearing the frog costume exclaimed.

"You're really stupid, Fro!" Lector scolded as he raised a lacy black brassiere that belonged to Lucy, "That is not an ear phone. Look, there's no wire for the plug."

"Eh?" Frosch stared at the brassiere innocently as his paws held another pink one over his head. "Ah," the cat grinned, "Fro is really stupid, of course, this isn't ear phones. This must be ear muffs!" He secured the pink brassiere but much to his disappointment, it wouldn't stay in place.

"Idiot! How could that be ear muffs when it's not even winter!" the other exceed argued as he lifted the black brassiere in paw up to cover his eyes, "It's an eye mask, Frosch! Not anywhere related to ears!"

An angry vein popped out of Lucy's head as she pointed a finger at the two cats, "Loke, kick those two cats ou– EH?"

And again, another terrifying realization dawned on her as she found her loyal spirit not anywhere beside her and was now slumping over beside the white and shadow dragon slayer, next to the two exceeds – her heart beat sped like there was no tomorrow. Uh-oh.

Loke's face grew red as he lifted a black thong with his index finger, "I can't believe my innocent Lucy has this kind of~ kyaa!" he couldn't even continue, the joy of finding out and seeing it with his own eyes was too overwhelming.

"She always wears this. I always see it." Rogue grabbed a lacy blue thong and gathered a bunch of his hair on the side as he tied it together using the panty as the ribbon. "I see, so this is how she does it."

Loke almost froze, thanking the heaven that the case wasn't how he first thought. Imagine if some men would see Lucy wearing this – for sure, his nose would– wait.

And Sting's nose bled.

He had been imagining lewd thoughts!

Just then, they felt a deadly aura blazing behind their backs and even before they could turn around… The next thing happened so fast that they found their selves all engrossed onto the wall – bleeding and beaten up.

"Who said you could touch my under garments, you perverts!" Lucy shrieked in devastation, "I'm going to visit the guild. Everyone, out of my house!"

In the Sabertooth guild base…

Bodies were tossed almost everywhere, eruptions from the inside were heard here and there. Apparently, the Sabertooth guild was in chaos because of a young rosy-haired man who came in crashing, beating anyone who stood on his way along with him shouting, "Where the fuck is our nakama?"

It had caused a big commotion, really. The timing was so off in the Sabertooth mages' opinions – first, the Sabertooth's strongest five were all out doing a job. Second, the lady master took off yesterday and no one in the guild at the moment had the ability to contact her and inform her about the current situation. And lastly, even though they were confident about their guild being the strongest in Fiore, most of them had seen how the pink-haired boy fought in the Games – making his way up until a point difference was left in between his guild and theirs.

Not a single soul could tell Natsu anything regarding Lucy, he hadn't heard any confirmation that his nakama/team mate was truly with the arrogant Sabertooth dragons – it pissed him off but somehow, he was relieved. He was still in doubt whether the former Sabertooth mage was telling him the truth because if it was indeed the truth, it only meant one thing – Fairy Tail had lied to him. So, there he was, infuriated and disturbed all at the same time.

A man came out of a shadow, looking down at the Salamander intently, "What is the meaning of this?" the man's loud voice thundered.

Natsu immediately turned to face the man, he tilted his head to meet his steel eyes. "I am here to take back what's ours. Where is my nakama?" He declared, unfazed of the man's intimidating aura.

The man's eyebrow twitched slightly, "What made you think your nakama is here?"

"That's not important. Give Lucy back." The pink-haired boy announced as fire engulfed his whole body.

"S-sir, he's from Fairy Tail." A beaten up mage informed, trying his best to stay conscious despite the injury the Fairy Tail mage managed to inflict to him.

"And what would a mage from a second-place guild do in my guild?" The man asked in a cold tone that sent chills to the still-conscious Sabertooth mages.

The fire engulfing the rosy-haired dragon slayer intensified as he decided to respond not through words but through action. He charged towards the huge man, he threw punches after punches and kicks after kicks but the man could easily dodge and block his attacks – it made the fight look one-sided, like young boy wasn't really taken seriously.

And everything happened so fast that the next thing Natsu knew, the man had launched a quick blow on him that sent him flying. He suddenly felt a twinge of excitement overflow inside him, a smirk lined onto his lips as he stood up, his eyes hidden by the shadows. Dragon scales surfacing on his skin, "I will defeat you and bring Lucy back." Natsu roared, an image of a fiery dragon appearing behind him.

"You're a hundred years too early to defeat me, child." The man answered solemnly.

Natsu grinned, "Let's see then." And he charged once again, not desperately this time – the calm old man was amused because at the moment, it looked like he had the upper hand but if one would look at it closely, the young boy had made him take a lot of steps back. He couldn't dodge his blows anymore but he was still able to block it. The man was utterly amazed at the young boy's ability. Their exchange of magical attacks after magical attacks couldn't be seen through naked eye – the only proof that there were two heads clashing was the surroundings. It was raining fire inside the hall.

And just before Natsu could release another dragon's roar, a familiar woman suddenly stood in front of him but he remained undeterred, he immediately kicked her by the side, still charging towards the huge man with a stronger aura and just then, something his vision caught made him halt in an instant.

Looking straight ahead, the same girl stood by the side of the man he was fighting with, unharmed and spotless – like she was never kicked at all. If that's the case, then who was the girl he kicked? He looked back at once, it was then that he realized that he wasn't able to kick the girl… but his cat. The one he kicked was Happy – there he lay, crying and gasping in pain.

He instantly drew back and ran for Happy. "N-natsu~" Happy wailed and then coughed, "I'm sorry, I was caught."

Natsu shook his head, "I'm sorry, Happy. I didn't mean to hurt you in any way." Then he glared at the smirking girl beside the old man. "How dare you mess with–"

"NATSU!" a familiar voice called.

Natsu jolted his head to find a topless Gray standing by the entrance – it was obvious he had gone all out in a fight too as some mages were entrapped inside a block of ice behind him.

"Incursion to another legal guild's base is against the Magic law, let alone beating up our mages in our own base. Is this how Fairy Tail mages are?" the lady dressed in a black silky cheongsam asked composedly. "What a shame, then. I don't think the council would be delighted to hear this. If you're asking about your nakama, I can assure you that she's not here."

"Then where is she?" Natsu barked, extremely agitated. He couldn't even find the simplest logic as to what just happened – it must be that girl's magic.

The girl arched a perfect eyebrow, "I would assume the rumors roaming around about Sting marking a girl from Fairy Tail is true since you're here to retrieve your mage–"

Unintentionally disregarding the important detail, he gritted his teeth, "Don't refer to her as simply our mage. She's our nakama, you hear." Natsu corrected, seething. Mix emotions twirled inside him as he rolled his fist into a ball.

The girl decided to ignore him, a graceful smile lined her face which the Fairy Tail mages found annoying. "The last mission Sting and Rogue took was in Freesia. If you wish to retrieve your weak nakama," She emphasized sharply, "Maybe you should go after them, right?"

Natsu glared at the girl piercingly.

"You're a dragon slayer yourself, you should know that every moment your mage stays with ours, she's at the risk of being claimed." The girl continued, tilting her head on the side.

"Claimed? Lucy was marked?" Natsu couldn't take in the whole information at once. What the hell was going on? There were a lot about the situation he couldn't comprehend.

Someone stepped in beside the girl and whispered something. Her expression changed from smug to fury and regained her composure after a moment. "Don't get the wrong idea, Fairies." She spoke, resentment dripping from her tone. "Not because you got to take few of our mages down and we allow you to walk out alive today, we won't ask for you to pay later. We always save the best for last."

"Natsu, let's go." Gray called, "If we go further than this, we'll bring shame to Fairy Tail."

Natsu stood, eyes dimmed and emotionless as he carried Happy into his arms, "Save the best for last, you say?" he smirked, "Bring it on."

"Why are we in Magnolia, Titania?" Gajeel asked, his knees wobbling. Apparently, he was in the process of recovering from the motion sickness due to riding the express train.

The scarlet haired mage stared ahead, "We're watching after Lucy…"

"Then does that mean…?" Lily chirped, his face brightening.

"Yes, she's back in Magnolia." Erza retorted instantly.

.

to be continued...