A/N: Sorry for the late update, there shall be more tomorrow, hopefully more than one chapter, but that depends on how busy I am! I'm re-watching one of my fave anime's in between writing, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, but don't worry! The end is approaching! And you shall discover who and what is going on! ;) XD

Enjoy Lovies! Neko over and out for now! :) xx

Lucy's POV

We finally arrived in Onibus in the early evening, and decided to meet our client the next day. I managed to drag a partially recovered Natsu along to a hotel, and paid for a room with two single beds saving around 5,000 jewels it would have cost us for two single rooms.

I dropped Natsu onto his bed and smiled as he groaned slightly, the thought of transportation remaining in his mind thanks to Happy making "choo-choo!" noises as I pulled Natsu through the streets.

I dropped my bag beside my bed and fell back onto the soft mattress, sighing and closing my eyes.

The train ride was slightly uncomfortable, Natsu's head made my legs go slightly numb and I had to fight through pins and needles. I could have shoved him off, but then it would have smelled of vomit, and I'd much rather suffer through the muscle pain than smell puke for hours.

I was exhausted, and couldn't be bothered to shower right now, so I slipped off my boots and curled up on the bed, clutching my key pouch in my hands and hugging it to my chest as I drifted off to sleep.

'Come on Natsu! We're going to be late.' I whined at him as he ate the hotel out of food. The waiters and other guests stared in astonishment and disgust as Natsu shovelled plates full of food down his throat so his stomach bulged with the immense amount of food and his cheeks were blown up like a hamsters, filled with half chewed food before it was swallowed and visibly travelled down his throat.

I cringed at the site. During my time with the Raijinshuu and Laxus, I'd become used to their more normal ways of eating (though Bix sometimes threw food at his Babies, and Laxus let out some really weird lightning burps) I was not used to Natsu's eating habits anymore, and blushed red under the gaze of all the people in the hotel breakfast room.

'Okay Luce, let's go!' Natsu managed to speak through a mouthful of food as he stood up and started to stagger away, his belly swaying from side to side. I rolled my eyes and left a large tip for the waiters, forcing myself to think of the high reward and the poor guys job that included picking up all of the dirty plates and food Natsu had showered when he started talking with his mouth full.

I followed him out of the hotel, thankful Virgo had appeared this morning to take my suitcase off of me as we walked across town to meet our client.

We stopped in front of a large, posh hotel around three times the size of the small one we'd stayed in. I frowned and turned to look at Natsu; he had food all down his waistcoat and top, thank Mavis he's taken to wearing tops now. He would never be allowed into this place, they have kind of dress codes.

'Natsu, you wait outside, me and Happy can go fetch the client. Keep an eye out for suspicious people, alright? We have no idea why this guy needs us.' He grinned at me and showed me a thumbs up as he wandered across the street to lean against a wall and stared at everyone walking past.

I smiled and gestured for Happy to follow me.

I walked into the hotel through the ornate, glass double doors, and stood in a marble room made up of creams and whites with a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling, refracting the light off of the thousands of coloured crystals.

Happy hovered by my shoulder, his mouth open in wonderment at the ornate entrance hall, and I couldn't help but smile. If there was one thing I used to love about having "the good life", it was the beauty of the places I was allowed to visit. It was the "allowance" of going to places that I had issues with, I was dreadfully restricted and enclosed by my Father's strict and single-minded stubbornness and disregard.

I shook myself out of the reverie, and walked over to the reception desk, folding my arms to lean on the counter as I smiled up at the male clerk. He visibly gulped as I pushed my cleavage up and blinked several times before stuttering as he asked what I might want.

'Oh, I'm here to collect one of your guests, a Mister Xavier Quentin?' I giggled as the clerk seemed to lose his focus as his eyes drifted downwards again.

'Would you mind calling him and letting him know his escorts are here? We're in a bit of a hurry.' I pouted up at him and lifted one arm to twiddle with my hair as he nodded in a half-daze and picked up his telephone.

I thanked the desk clerk, and skipped away to admire a huge bouquet of white roses and lilies that sat in an ornate Ming vase that had beautiful decoration that was incredibly detailed.

I watched Happy as he chased round some of the refracted light from the crystal chandelier and laughed at the cat like antics that the other Exceed's would look down on, but which Happy adopted so easily.

'Excuse me, are you my escort?' I heard a deep voice behind me and turned with a smile, only to have it fall from my face in shock.

Before me stood one of the most handsome men I'd ever seen in my life.

He had platinum blonde hair that hung around his ears and was naturally curly, not too much that it was a mini afro, just enough that the ends seemed to raise towards the sky. His eyes were a deep, dark blue that reminded me of the ocean, or the evening sky just as the sun had set and darkness was appearing along with the first few stars. His skin was pale, but not unhealthily so, and his lips were perfectly proportioned along with the rest of his face.

He stood taller than me by a couple of inches, and as he smiled, he showed off a set of perfect white teeth along with an amused sparkle that seemed to light up his incredibly perfect face.

He wore a simple black t-shirt, and over the top a long white jacket that was similar to Freeds in style. He wore black trousers that hung off of his slim waist, and he carried a rucksack slung over one shoulder.

Hot Mamma! I thought, my thoughts completely obliterated by the stunning piece of man in front of me.

'Umm, sorry, I must have the wrong person.' He blushed slightly and started to back away, looking over to the reception desk.

'Oh! Wait, no I am! We are! Yes, I'm your escort! Not that kind of escort, but me and my partners are here to take you.' I felt a dark red blush creep up my face, and laughed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head, a bashful smile plastered over his face... that gorgeous face...

'Sorry! My name is Lucy, this is Happy, and outside is my partner Natsu. If you're ready we can leave right away.' Happy had opened his mouth while I was speaking, but I quickly grabbed him and hugged him to my chest, covering his mouth tightly so I wouldn't have to hear that annoying roll of his tongue. Besides, I didn't need him to tell me that I liked this guy!

Hell, every woman who walked past was eyeing up his butt... I couldn't wait to get to that angle...

NOOOOO Lucy! Client! Ethics! ENGAGED! But daaaamn that ass... Mavis sure did a good job on this one... I forced myself to snap out of my perverted thoughts; I'd been spending far too much time with Bix and Cana lately

'I'm ready when you are Miss Lucy.' He said, his voice not too deep and gravelly like Laxus's, but not as high pitched as Natsu's sometimes was.

'Oh please, just Lucy is fine Mr Quentin!' He smiled down at me, making my heart stutter slightly.

NO! Bad Lucy! Oh but he makes me want to be bad... Noooooooo way! Focus!

'Then please, call me Xavier. After all, we are spending the next couple of days together.' I giggled slightly as we walked out of the hotel.

'Luce! Hey! Who's the pretty boy?' Natsu called out, bounding up to me and throwing an arm around my shoulder before turning a glare on Xavier.

I scowled at him and his attitude.

'Natsu, this is our client, Xavier Quentin.' He glared for a second longer before grinning.

'Okay! Let's go! Luce, why are you holding Happy like that? He looks like he can't breathe.' Natsu said, nodding his head to the blue bundle in my hands. I looked down to see a slightly purple Happy, who was flailing slightly in my tight grip.

'Oops!' I squealed, releasing him and apologising as he took in huge gasps of air, before muttering to him while Natsu spoke to Xavier about dragons.

'If you can hold back your tongue rolling for this mission, I'll get you two fishes when we get back, really big ones.' Instantly, Happy was happy again, and was drooling as he floated along beside me while we walked along the road that would eventually lead us to Kunugi.

Bickslow's POV

I stared into the amber liquid that filled up my tankard, and sighed for the seventh time since getting this drink, and drained it before placing the mug on the table.

'Bix, you sigh like that one more time I'm going to turn you into stone!' Ever scowled across at me and glared from behind her glasses before returning to read her fashion magazine.

'Shut up Ever.' I mumbled, poking at the handle of my tankard, slowly making it turn in a circle while my babies rested on my shoulders silently.

'Bickslow, we all miss Lucy-sama, but I concur with Evergreen when she says in her own charming way, your sighs have become aggravating and are only succeeding in increasing the worry and stress levels of both of us for Lucy-sama, so please refrain from doing so.' I lifted my head from the table and glared at Freed, who hid behind a thick book cosplayer had given him before she left.

He was reading it without his gale-force glasses so that he could savour it, apparently. I thought it was just so it would keep him distracted longer from the lack of our cosplayer.

'We shouldn't have let her go on a mission without us, or at all. Especially with that flame-tard! He's like a fight radar; either he homes in on one or makes one himself!' I exclaimed, glaring down at the grain of wood of the table, scratching at it with a nail and grunting my thanks to Mira as she placed another beer by my side, removing the empty tankard.

'Bix, she'll be fine. She has complete control over herself, and you trained her in fighting. You know she can stand up to all of us in a fair fight now, so she can deal with some low class bandits on a simple escort mission. Besides, she gets another key if this goes well, so another spirit to take u her energy for her. Good things all around. Now shut your face and go mope with Laxus; I want to read about this new Louis Vuitton handbag.' I sighed again and stood up slowly to go sit with Laxus. I didn't want to have to deal with Ever in the mood she was in.

She was just as worried about cosplayer as I was, along with Laxus and Freed.

Ever had gotten Erza to tell Natsu not to let cosplayer get into a big fight, or to leave her alone in a fight, but I didn't have much faith in that idiot's singular flaming brain cell acknowledging the instructions... then again, Erza probably terrified him into listening.

I slumped down next to Laxus, and we grunted our hello's, before simultaneously taking a drink from our respective drinks of alcohol.

'Worried about blondie huh?' I grunted at his question, not bothering to answer properly as I stared at the half empty guild.

It seems after cosplayer left, the partying for our return died down a lot, and most people had left on missions to get back the money they'd spent on drinks and whatever else they used it on in their drunken states; I heard that Macau had for some reason bought an extra house with the family holiday savings... obviously that didn't work out very well with Mrs Conbolt, so he and Wakaba had argued on which mission to take, before leaving as they called each other old men at every chance they got.

'Laxus, I'm bored.' I muttered, flicking my empty tankard so it fell and rolled slightly before steadying.

'Same. It's too quiet without blondie huh?' I grunted my agreement and was about to suggest that we go out somewhere, maybe on a mission of our own, when Loke burst in through the guild doors and stormed up to the bar before ordering a strong drink.

I exchanged a glance with Laxus before we hurriedly walked over to him.

'Hey, Loke. Is blondie alright?' Laxus asked, standing beside the spirit as he drank down a large glass of straight vodka.

'Tch. I'd say. She's better than alright.' Loke scowled and topped up his glass, drinking another large shot.

'Huh? What do you mean Loke?' I asked, frowning at his unusual behaviour. He only ever had good things to say about cosplayer.

'Tch. Stupid mission. Stupid blonde, tall, client. Stupid female hormones.' I looked at Laxus confused as Loke rambled into his glass.

'Hey, lion boy, tell us what's up with blondie already.' Laxus growled out, grinding his teeth in annoyance.

'Oh there's nothing wrong with my dear Princess. She doesn't love me any mooooreeee!' He wailed, already half inebriated as tears appeared at the edges of his eyes.

'Huh?' I questioned, once again exchanging a confused look with Laxus.

'Listen lion boy, just explain in a normal way what the hell's going on.' I told him, grabbing him and turning him to face me as I took the vodka out of his hands.

'The client! My dear Princess has been enamoured by this man who they are to escort for two days and one night! I don't trust him near my Princess! She is far too beautiful for that scoundrel! I shall castrate him should he come near her during her beauty sleep which she does not require!' Loke's voice had gotten darker as he threatened the guy, but I didn't notice as Laxus had begun to growl at the introduction of this guy cosplayer was apparently interested in, and I wasn't listening over the grinding of my teeth.

'So cosplayer found her some eye-candy, huh?' I growled out, listening to Loke's pathetic whimpers and cries about losing his one and only love to a wannabe cupid look alike.

Makarov's POV

I listened to Loke's wailing, and grinned evilly as I noticed both Laxus's and Bickslow's aggressive reactions towards the idea of Lucy having another suitor besides themselves.

Hmm... interesting... I looked down at the bar to see Mira hyperventilating on the floor at the amount of pairings that were presented before her, and chuckled at her antics. Out of all my brats, she was by far the most amusing to keep an eye on.

I wonder what will happen if I... Yes, I think I will interfere this one time... I smirked before I schooled my face into a more serious expression, and shouted down to Bickslow and Laxus to come to my office.

I ignored the glare they shot in my direction as they had tried to pull more information out of the drunk celestial spirit, and skipped into my office.

Now to think of a reason to send those two off to Kunugi before they get here... ah, I know! There must be a couple of wyverns in that area... even if there aren't, they'll be far too distracted by our celestial mages budding romance to notice a lack of wyverns... haha, eat your heart out Mira! I am the Master Matchmaker of Fairy Tail!

Unknown POV

The dark figure in the throne smiled darkly as the recording lacrima caught site of the backs of the group he would soon have in his clutches...

'Tonight, I shall gain the ultimate power... just you wait, Heartfilia. You shall be the key to the destruction of the guild you love so much...' The deep, husky voice ended in a hacking cough as the hunched over figure laughed, his wrinkled hands clutching tightly onto the lacrima as the blonde mage unwittingly walked on her way, unaware of the danger that presented itself before her.