The next song was a slow one but Lucy didn't mind. There was no one else in the world who she felt more comfortable with than Natsu. He put his hands around her waist and she leaned against his chest. She inhaled deeply and blew out her breath. There was the faint smell of burning wood. Lucy found it comforting. It reminded her of the nights they had spent camping while out on guild missions.

"What's up?" he asked. "You seem tense."

She looked up at him. "Is it that obvious?"

He shrugged. "To me it is."

She put her head back against his shoulder. They swayed back and forth. "It's nothing really. Laxus was angry at me just now and I'm not sure why. There is something wrong with that guy."

Natsu stopped moving. His fingers dug a little into her back. "What did he do?"

She shook her head. "Nothing really. He grabbed my wrist and it scared me but it didn't hurt that bad. Actually, he was nice earlier. He even apologized about attacking the guild last year."

Natsu relaxed and they started to dance again. "Yeah, he's a good guy deep down."

"If you believe that, why did you react like he did something bad?"

Natsu put his chin on top of her head and rubbed it back and forth. "It's nothing. I'm just checking up on my favorite celestial wizard."

The song ended and Lucy leaned up and kissed Natsu on the cheek. "Thanks for the dance." She brushed her hair from her forehead. She was sweating. The ballroom was getting hot. "I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air." She touched Natsu's arm lightly and headed back out to the balcony.

She walked over to the railing and leaned over. The soft breeze felt good. She could still hear music playing inside. She heard a footstep behind her and started to turn but a strong hand wrapped itself around her mouth. Hot breath that reeked of liquor spoke in her ear.

"Hey little girl, what are you doing out here all alone?"

Lucy panicked and reached for her keys but another hand knocked them away. She heard them clatter as they hit the stone floor.

"Na uh ah," the voice teased.

She tried to turn around to see who her attacker was but he was pressed too closely against her back. She screamed into the hand but the other guild members couldn't have heard the muffled sound above the music.

Another arm wrapped around her waist and she felt the body behind her tense. The unknown man jumped and suddenly her feet were dangling over the edge of the balcony. He was balancing on the thin rail. Lucy looked down. They were two stories up. If he dropped her, she would be seriously hurt.

She tried to scream again but the hand was still pressed against her mouth. The man jerked her body up and shifted her so that she was cradled in his arms. Lucy saw her assailant now.

"Bacchus," she whispered. He had released her mouth when he had shifted her in his arms.

The S-Class mage smiled at her and jumped off the balcony. Lucy screamed and braced herself for the impact back Bacchus hit the ground smoothly.

"What are you doing?" she yelled up at him. She struggled against him but he held her tight against his chest. He started running.

"Help! Somebody help me." Bacchus's hand clamped back over her mouth.

He ran down the cobbled pathway. Lucy looked around frantically but no one was out this late. Bacchus peeled off to the left and kicked a door open. It appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. As soon as they were through the entrance, he dropped her flat on her back.

Lucy hit the ground hard and the wind rushed out of her lungs. She tried to suck in a breath and choked. Tears welled up in her eyes. She had never had the wind knocked out of her lungs before and the sensation terrified her. She clawed at the air above her and saw Bacchus looking down at her.

"Try to relax and take small breaths."

At a loss for anything else to do, she listened to him and forced her body to relax. Almost immediately she found that she could breathe again. Her burning lungs welcomed the fresh oxygen and she tried to sit up, gasping. When she had finally caught her breath, she turned on him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Bacchus knelt down beside her and ran his hand across her tear-streaked face. "Your mascara is running." He sounded amused. "I like it. It makes you look… damaged." He smiled lecherously.

Lucy jerked back and slapped him across the face, hard. Bacchus let his face stay to the side a moment, then slid his eyes to meet Lucy's. She gasped. His face was filled with an ugly rage. She shuffled back, trying to get away but he grabbed her calf.

"What, what are you doing?" Lucy fought to keep the tremble out of her voice.

Bacchus smiled and some of the violence left his gaze. "I'm just trying to set up a new wager. It should be fun, relax."

"A wager? With who?"

"Laxus. I saw you two out on balcony earlier. Very nice, by the way." He lowered his voice to let her know just how much he had enjoyed watching.

Lucy blinked at him. "Laxus? I barely know him. If you have some beef with him, why don't you just take it up with him directly?"

Bacchus leaned in so that his face was almost touching hers. "Now where's the fun in that? Every great contest deserves a trophy." He pressed his face against the side of her head and inhaled through her hair.

"Ick." She swatted at him. "You have got to be the world's biggest pervert."

Bacchus's eyes lowered down to her voluptuous chest and Lucy crossed her arms, trying to block his view. He kept his eyes focused on her. "Fairy Tail is a pathetic guild, but they do have a lot good looking women."

"What even makes you think he's going to come here? He probably didn't even notice I was missing." She turned away from him and spoke more softly. "Besides, I think he's mad at me."

As if on cue, the door behind them opened.