Alright, so I'm going to put this one out, and as I'm typing this message, I have no idea what's going to happen in this chapter. Aren't I a great writer? (cough cough sarcasm) Whatever. I'm still writing. Don't forget to review! I'm getting to the climax and starting to consider a wrap up, so you won't have many chances!

The witch observed the noisy guild, keen on her prey. The girl, Lucy, was running around shouting orders and shooting little glances at the fire boy. It made her feel sick. After all that Lucy had been through, she still felt it necessary to fall in love? She was going to die! This is why she hated humans, especially human mages. It was alright to play with Lucy for so long, watching her put herself together and fall apart, but now, it was just annoying. The sooner she killed the stupid girl, the better.

As for the fire boy, he was terrible. She wouldn't care if he died as well. Him and his stupid loyalty crap. The fact that he loved the girl was so obvious she wanted to puke, yet neither of them would actually make a serious move. For that, they were just asking to die.

The witch focused in on Lucy's eye for a minute, checking the connection she had with it. After ensuring it was still intact, she decided to wait. She could scramble the blonde's brain whenever she wanted now, so she would just wait for the perfect time. It would be sweeter that way.

Levy pored through all her magical history books as well as books on curses, searching for any reference to this witch that had plagued Natsu and Lucy. So far, she had had no luck, a fact which frustrated her greatly. Gajeel had been watching her from the corner of the room, eyes trained on her softly so as not to disturb or distract her. Levy found it sweet; he always was a more protective person. Even when they were just at home relaxing, he always had to know exactly what was going on.

"Lucy, I can't find anything. I'm not sure I will at this rate."

"That's alright, Levy. Can you just come up with a list of general findings on witches, then? That way we may have something to work with."

"Sure thing."

Levy went back to work, and Lucy went back to Natsu. He had a thoughtful look on his face as she came over to him, a look she was rather unfamiliar with.

"What's got you thinking so hard?"

"Lucy, the only thing that would make me think anymore than I usually do is you."

She felt her cheeks heat up at that one; there were still traces of the old Lucy left in her time-hardened heart. Natsu chuckled to himself at that idea.

"What about me has you thinking?"

"The fact that, when this is all over, I want to kiss you."

If her face had been red before, it was on fire now. Trust Natsu to be so blunt and say something like that without any emotion at all. Lucy didn't know what to say now.

"Lucy? You there?"

Natsu waved his hand in front of her face, silently freaking out. He couldn't believe that he'd just up and told her what he was thinking about, and now she was dead to the world.

"Natsu? Did you just say you want to kiss me?"

"Yes."

"You're an idiot."

Lucy grabbed the stunned Natsu by the hand, pulling him out of the guild and down by the river. She looked around, eyes darting to and fro. Natsu studied her reaction, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Before he could ask, she had fisted the front of his shirt and pulled him down so she could whisper in his ear.

"Don't you know that when you want to kiss someone, you just do it?"

Natsu tried to ask her about it, but he found himself unable to speak. Lucy's mouth was all over his. His heart raced as he realized that this meant she was kissing him. Lucy, on the other hand, was freaking out. He was so much hotter than she had thought. She let her hand fall from his shirt and wander to his chest, kind of wishing he was wearing his vest instead of the full leather. Meanwhile, Natsu was debating where he should put his hands. Her hips worked, so he pulled her a little closer.

"Holy shit, Natsu!"

Natsu let out an audible growl at hearing the voice of the man he least wanted to see right now. Gray stood there, stuck somewhere between a snicker and shock, trying to figure out what to do with this scene in front of him. He always knew that Natsu and Lucy would end up together, but he never quite imagined that he would walk up on them like this.

"What do you want, Stripper?"

"Whoa, chill out. I just wanted to tell you that Levy finished her research and called a rally back at the guild. I can tell them you'll be a couple minutes . . ."

"That's fine, Gray. Let's all rally up; I get the feeling we don't have a lot of time before this whole thing explodes."

Natsu felt like burning every inch of the shirtless ice mage, but Lucy took his hand. Every mote of anger dissolved and turned into complete contentment. Gray was walking next to him, smirking at the sight of the two lovebirds. Knowing he was probably going to get punched in the face, he leaned over and whispered,

"You are so whipped, flame-brain."

A flaming fist connected with his face, just as he predicted, and he found himself sinking in the river. Not that water bothered him, but his face hurt like a bitch. Lucy was yelling at Natsu for hurting him, and Natsu was unapologetic, at least until Lucy began dragging him back to the guild by his ear. Gray laughed to himself; he better be asked to be the best man at the wedding.

Levy handed Lucy her sheet of possible weaknesses or spells to try on the witch. After scanning it briefly, Lucy nodded and began stroking the stars on her arm.

"Levy, I think I'm in love with Natsu."

"Well it's about damn time you figured that out. The whole journey to find him didn't tip you off?"

The girls laughed, shoving each other lightly and ragging about boys. Levy flicked Lucy in the head, causing a strange reaction. Lucy flinched violently, hand covering her head.

"Ouch, Levy! Wow that hurt! I think I may have a headache coming on."

"You should let Wendy check that. We need you in full health. You're arguably the most powerful mage here in Fiore and you have to fight a nasty witch."

"It's just a headache, Levy. Wendy needs her strength as well."

"Famous last words. Don't blame me when you have a migraine later."

"Fine, fine, I'll get Wendy to heal me."

Wendy was sitting at the bar talking with Romeo, a little smile on her face. Everyone knew that she was after the fire mage, except him, of course.

"Hey, Wendy, I have a headache coming on, can you take care of it for me?"

"Sure, Lucy."

Wendy placed her hands on either side of Lucy's head, attempting to find the source of the problem. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as her magic got blocked. She tried again and again, but to no avail. Something wouldn't let her heal Lucy's headache, which alarmed her very much. Natsu had wandered over to the group, eyes full of concern.

"Wendy, she doesn't smell right. Something's going on."

Lucy lightly touched her head in an attempt to relieve some of the growing headache. Her eyesight was getting blurry, her balance a little off, and her mouth dry.

"Gotcha, girly."

No way. Lucy gasped in shock at the witch's voice in her head, but didn't get a chance to tell the others before the pain overwhelmed her.

That wasn't what I expected at all, but I'm happy. It got a little hot there and I had to ask myself how I was getting out of that one. Thank you, Gray! XD There's another chapter, and I'm working on the next! See you soon! Don't forget to review!