Hallo! ' I didn't have time to update this last week but at last here is the latest chapter! So yeah, school has started and everything so it bumps up my time on updating. But don't worry I'll be sure to update at least once or maybe twice a week. :) So, thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. You're the best and I love you! :D

Chapter 24:

Mirajane clasped her hand around Lucy's wrist as she dragged her across the cement concrete. For some reason, Erza wanted them to walk to the hot springs instead of taking transportation which made Lucy whine a lot. Her feet and back felt all sore and tingly since the distance they had walked was great and her legs felt like they were going to give out any minute if Mira hadn't securely clasped her wrist.

"Oh don't worry Lucy" Mira said with a smile, "I'm sure we're almost here this time."

"Yeah right" Levy groaned as she hung her arms downward in front of herself, "That's what you and Erza had exactly said approximately two hours ago. I knew we should've taken some type of transportation to the hot springs."

"This is exhausting." Cana said with her arms crossed with her lips in a straight line, "Especially since Erza wouldn't let me take a least one drop of booze. Now I'm going to be cranky and my feet are going to be aching like hell"

Erza chuckled as she pulled on her cart of luggage, "Oh come on, this isn't that bad. Believe me you'll thank me later when you see how much your leg strength has improved. Think of it as Erza's special leg strength training." She then let out a big smile as her eyes glistened in the bright sun.

Evergreen rolled her eyes as she began fanning herself, "You must always choose the hard way to get somewhere don't you? That's what you'd expect from Erza."

Lisanna chuckled, "I have to agree with Erza that this walk isn't horrible at all. It's actually really refreshing, and probably helps you burn some calories. Besides, transportations get a little too overused sometimes. I prefer to walk."

"Oh not you too Lisanna" Evergreen said smacking her forehead, "Yet another Strauss who likes the difficulties of life exactly like Elfman who loves to put up a challenge."

Lisanna put a hand over here mouth giggling, "Well you know that's how we Strauss's are!"

Evergreen sweat-dropped at Lisanna as she continued fanning herself rapidly as she began to realize that her conclusion was correct that all Strauss's acted almost the exact same. It wasn't a surprise either since the three were siblings after all.

Erza shook her head letting out a smile, "Oh brighten up Evergreen, I'm sure this time we will be arriving sometime in these minutes so just hold on tight."

Evergreen let out a deep breath before finally agreeing with a nod. She then looked over to Juvia who didn't seem affected by the blazing sun since she was a water mage after all. That was her advantage in taking these walks with Erza.

Lucy then looked over at Juvia who was looking straight at her feet as she walked. It was as if she was in such a gloomy mood that she didn't want to associate with anyone at the moment. But the celestial mage knew that wasn't the case since if Juvia was sad there would be rain clouds overlapping the sky. She bit her bottom lip as she began debating on whether or not to talk to the water mage. After all they were comrades and everything, and cared dearly for one another, but it was just that Juvia sort of thought of her as a love-rival for Gray which Lucy tried telling her that wasn't the case. Oh well, it can't hurt for trying.

Lucy shuffled herself next to Juvia who looked at her with her gleaming dark blue eyes. She could tell something was bothering the water mage and of course Lucy didn't want whatever was bothering her ruin Juvia's experience at the hot springs.

"Hey Juvia, is something bothering you?" Lucy asked with widened eyes as she cracked a tiny smile, "I mean if there's something that is, you can talk to me about it. I mean we're nakama and everything. It's the least we should do."

Juvia's expression then turned into a more relaxed expression as she just let out a huff of air. She moved a strand of her blue curls out of her face as she began to open her mouth.

"Juvia just wants Gray-sama to finally notice her." Juvia said with a saddened tone, "Whatever Juvia does to impress Gray-sama he never notices. Juvia thinks Gray-sama likes you, love rival."

Lucy widened her eyes and shook her head as she waved her hands, "Oh no, no! Gray doesn't like me like that Juvia, we have more of a brother-sister bond. And I already know for a fact that he doesn't like me. Maybe he's just hiding his real feelings towards you and somewhat playing hard to get."

Juvia looked at the celestial mage with a confused expression, "Juvia doesn't know what you mean-"

"I mean he may act like he doesn't like you, but maybe he really does. We just got to find something to make him crack." Lucy then tapped her chin thinking as she then snapped her fingers with a smile, "I got it! Try doing the make him jealous method, like with Lyon. That'd get him all fired up."

Juvia tilted her head to the side, "Do you really think Juvia will be able to get Gray-sama's attention like that?"

Lucy placed her hands on her hips as she grinned, "Oh I know it will. Just trust me on this. I'll make sure that it does. Besides even if Gray doesn't realize there's always Lyon right?"

Juvia shook her head with a small smile which mean she was still deciding on whether she'd do it or not. She then opened her mouth cracking the couple of seconds of silence that had just happened between her and Lucy.

"Love-rival, Juvia does hope you and Sting-sama get back together" Juvia said as she kicked a little pebble on the concrete sidewalk, "Juvia could tell that Sting-sama made you really happy."

Lucy then looked up at the water mage with her eyes filled with extreme hope. She felt like just letting tears fall out of her eyes since whenever someone brought up Sting, the memories began flooding in. She then smiled at Juvia as she kept her eyes on the path in front of her.

Lucy raised her finger up to her eye as she swiped away a tear. She just wanted to know why Sting had done what he had done when she found him with Yukino. She just wanted to know an explanation why after all they had gone through. Maybe just maybe, she'd let Sting explain his side to her one of these days if she didn't tear up right in front of him though.

"Lucy" Lisanna said waving her hand in front of the blonde's face, "You okay? We're finally here!"

It took the celestial mage a couple of seconds to come back from her deep thoughts. She shook her head swiftly as she nodded her head right after. She smiled as she gazed up and down at the designed building in front of them.

"Well what're you all just standing here for?" Erza said with her hand placed on her hip with a gleaming smile, "Let us proceed into the land of relaxation." Then the scarlet-haired mage soon disappeared within the double doors of the building along with the others trailing right behind.

Lucy then clutched her shoulder bag tightly as she too began pacing after the mages and into the hot springs building. But what the female mages didn't know is that the male mages of Fairy Tail were looking at them as they walked into the building. And of course, you can tell right there that things weren't going to be running smoothly.

-Sting's POV-

I grinned at Laxus who was lying on the top of the roof with his hands clasped behind his head. We've been here for almost about two hours waiting for the damn female fairies to come and finally at last, here they're! Honestly, I just couldn't wait to hop down from this roof and down to ground level so we can just get this mission running.

"But Laxus, when can we go down" Natsu-san asked with his arms crossed with a pouting face, "I just want to get this thing done while I'm all fired up! But somewhat I feel like this is something we shouldn't be doing-"

"Shut it Natsu" Laxus said as he immediately sat up with an annoyed expression, "Keep pouting any louder and they're going to hear us. Jeez, kid what're you trying to do here, get Mira and Erza coming after us?"

"Honestly flame-brain, you can be so dense at times" Gray said with his arms crossed and his eyes shut, "You probably don't understand the meaning of peeking in this situation."

Natsu-san tilted his head to the side as if he was a confused puppy. Okay, maybe Gray is right he really is dense and new when it comes to these things. But those fairies better consider it a blessing that the Great Sting Eucliffe of Sabertooth is willing to peek on them. Well, technically I had thoughts on peeking on one exact blondie.

Gajeel rolled his eyes and snickered at Natsu-san, "Tch really Salamander don't you get the concept of peeking? Technically it's when you peek on people but they don't have anything on most of the time."

"Isn't that exactly what we do to Gray?" Natsu asked with widened eyes as he looked over to the ice-mage who was shaking his head and giving a sharp glare to the Fire Dragon Slayer. I have to give Natsu-san credit to that; that was actually a pretty good one.

Gajeel smacked his forehead as he groaned, "No retard. It's something guys do more likely to woman."

Elfman's expression then turned into a nonchalant expression, "I still disagree on this, since my two sisters are in there. I'm not even going to even dare look real men don't peek on their own sisters. That's just wrong."

Freed and Bickslow then nudged Elfman on his arm with a sly grin implanted on their faces, "Hey just think about it, Evergreen's going to be in there." And right there, the Strauss sibling looked immediately away with a fading blush tint on his cheeks. Bickslow and Freed just then high-fived each other snickering in amusement.

Natsu's face first paled but then his lips curled into a toothy grin, "Does that mean Luce isn't going to be clothed? I mean whenever I accidentally barged into her with Gray when she was taking a bath she Lucy-kicked us." He then rubbed to the area where blondie had kicked him as Gajeel puffed his cheeks to keep his laughter from howling out.

"Of course you did that to bunny-girl" Gajeel said rolling his eyes as he then slurred his tongue like Happy, "You lllikeee her."

I then could tell that Natsu-san's face somewhat became a little red from Gajeel's comment. I then looked over to Rogue who was giving me a grin since he was now thinking that Natsu-san did indeed have a crush on blondie. I don't know why I am even surprised since they have known each other longer than I have known her. But that just made me seriously pissed off for some reason.

Before I could even say anything, Laxus soon shocked all of us with his lightning apparently to catch our attention. And let me tell you something here that I would never dare admit in person. That actually quite stung a little.

Laxus then cleared his throat as he stood between Freed and Bickslow, "Instead of staying up on his damn roof, how about that it's time for us to head down?" His lips then curled into a grin as he jumped off the roof with a thump onto the ground.

I then couldn't help but grin to myself on what images would soon await me. Sure, it made me sound like a pervert and things, but hey who wouldn't want to peek on blondie? Whatever it makes me, I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end. I'm sure everything will come out smoothly in the end, right?