Last Chapter:

"Fairy Tail."

Laxus was strolling down the streets of Oshibana Town, searching for that necklace Lucy has been drooling at a while ago. Truthfully, the man has been giddy ever since he has thought of that idea. His 'errand' was supposed to ask for a job from the mayor then after getting one, he'll buy the jewelry but on his way to the City hall, he was worried that a precious jewel might be popular in this town and girls are vying and scratching and hair-pulling and slapping to buy one. And it might be very expensive for their puny little boyfriends. Ha! Thinking about it, Laxus can't help but smile internally. 'Poor Weaklings!' He thought. He plans to give it to her the day before her birthday. Lucy will never know what's coming for her.

'I hope our time spent together means something to her…What am I talking about? Of course she will. She will forget about me and move on to her life with that perfect team of hers and I will, too' No matter how he wanted to feel nothing, be apathetic and cold, he can't deny he cares. He can't pretend that he's cynical. No matter how he wants to resent Team Natsu, he can't deny that it's pointless. Someday, he'll lose her to them and he will be forgotten. He can't deny that every time he thought about returning, he feels blue. He doesn't want to return anymore. He wants to take Lucy somewhere far, someplace they could never find her and make her his. But she's not. She can't be his because she doesn't belong to him. She doesn't belong to anybody. She has to return. She needs them and they need her. But he wants to be hers. He wants her to return to him every time she needs help. He needs her too but he she doesn't need him. Reality makes a hard slap in the face, isn't it?

Without realizing it, he has already arrived at the door of the boutique. He scanned for the necklace, worried that someone has bought it already. There it is, still gently laid on its shelf. He sighed in relief. He quickly rushed inside, ringing the bell and alerting an old woman, no older than his own grandfather.

"What can I do for you, sir?" The vendor walked towards him from the counter and stopping near the window.

"Where's the key. The necklace one, with the color changing Lacrima" Laxus doesn't even know why he was rushing. He can't help the blood racing in his veins. Understanding dawned upon the old woman and after a while, her features softened as if she has regained ten years of her life.

"Ah, that, but young man, I believe it's not a Lacrima." She smiled at him.

"Then what is it?" Laxus crossed his arms in his chest as if he was waiting for answer.

"No one really knows." The vendor walked towards the window to get the jewelry. Laxus followed her. "Here it is." The woman handed him the necklace, it was light despite its golden appearance.

"It's light. It's not a real gold, isn't it?" Laxus commented. 'For a rich young noblewoman, Lucy really can't find the difference between a real gold and a fake one.'

"Nope, it's real. I don't sell counterfeit. I have it checked." The woman defended. 'Okay, Lucy has tastes.'

"How much was it?" Laxus cut to the chase. He has yet to go to the City Hall and get some freaking job to earn some money.

"Oh, but it's a precious one, m'boy. That piece of beauty in your hand was from a good friend of mine, the mayor of Clover Town. Ten years ago, he gave it to me…" The woman started to recount the history of the necklace but Laxus, impatient and rude as he is, intervened.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. How much was it?"

"It's for a girl, isn't it? Men, rich, middle-class, poor, swarm this place just to buy that jewel, only to fail."

"Just how much was it? I'm buying this one for the girl I lo…" Laxus said, impatient and irritated. When he realized what he was about to say, he quickly shut his mouth and blushed. It was embarrassing, for crying out loud! Confessing and blushing in front of someone, especially a stranger is beyond stupidity.

"..ve?" The woman continued. Laxus can't answer that, not because it wasn't true but because it was, after all, the truest of true. The old woman gave off a light chuckle and patted the young man in his arm. She already knew the answer. And for that, she relented and decided that this boy in front of her was worthy enough of the necklace. Men have failed to proclaim that out loud. They're too embarrassed in their pants to admit that they were smitten by women because of their ego. Men like that are rare these days.

"It's priceless, young man therefore it's free." She smiled. Laxus was surprised by this. How was it that others have failed? 'Well, let's count it on good ol' Laxus Dreyar charm!' He thanked the elderly woman and quickly rushed outside and ran to the City Hall for that job, grinning like an idiot he is.

Happy was sitting in one of the tables of the guild when he remembered something. Only a week away until Lucy's birthday. Before, they would sneak at her house and brought half-eaten, failure cake. He, Natsu and Gray were the one trying to bake. Of course, even though S-Class, the two would still bicker. Natsu always say that it should be burned so that the ingredients would be cooked. Gray believed otherwise. It should be frozen because he heard that ice cream cakes taste better than the plain one. And he, Happy would put the tastiest and most appetizing ingredient of all in that flour mush, Fish! That 'half-eaten' part was courtesy of Titania because she believes that she should be the taste tester before delivering it to the birthday celebrant. The cake was physically a colossal failure but in the end, the inclusion of different weird ingredients and destructive baking process has caused the cake to be surprisingly delectable. Lucy would always thank them for their efforts. Throughout the night, they will talk, make jokes, laugh at each other and when the clock strikes midnight, they always have an 'accidental' sleepover. How Happy missed those days and lost in his longing for those memories, he found himself crying in the middle of the day.

"Happy, what's wrong?" Mirajane came towards him from the bar, worried.

"L-Lush-hyyy's birthday is next w-week." Happy said between sobs.

"Oh, Happy…" That was all Mirajane could ever say. She also missed the blonde girl. Truth be told, she was always looking out for Happy whenever Team Natsu would sulk in a corner and have a conversation while holding a map. She patted the Exceed's head and hugged him to her chest.

"Lu-ushhyyy…I miss Lushy!" He continued sobbing and hiccupping as he tightened his hug on Mirajane as I he is holding on to his dear life. 'Oh, Lucy, come back. Please.' She thought.

The guild doors opened and Team Natsu entered. There's another defeated color in their aura. They must have failed again but something's different from their expression today. It was like they were anticipating something. Are they looking for a fight? They marched towards Mirajane. Natsu was the one on the front and just like that, the Take-Over Mage knew what was in their minds. It was Happy.

"Good Morning, Natsu, Gray, Erza." She greeted them with another one of those genuine smiles of hers. They also greeted her warmly despite their wavering hope.

"Happy, come on!" Natsu said, smiling. It was rare now, Natsu smiling.

"Where?" Happy looked up, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"We'll bake a cake, of course!" Erza smiled too.

"And this time, we'll practice more so that when Lucy returns, she will be surprised." Gray also smiled.

"Come on. What are you waiting for?" Natsu's smile turned into a grin and just like that, Happy was already happy again. They nod their goodbyes to Mira and went to Mavis knows where to bake a massive and highly destructive cake.

"Please, Lucy, return." The Take-Over Mage silently pleaded.

Lucy was still sitting in the edge of the bed, relishing herself in the memories that were coming to her. God, she missed them. She was crying yet what was on her face was a smile. Natsu, Gray, Erza and Happy. Her teammates must be worried of her but she has to wait until everything is settled. They will return to the guild by the end of the month and they will be together again. It was all thanks to Laxus. It was him that helped her. And for that, she can't help but be more enamored to his Knight in Shining and Electrifying Armor.

"Laxus…"

"Huh? Who's that? Ah…that big-boobed newbie, huh."

"Big-boobed…"

"Newbie…"

"Tell her if she becomes my woman, I'll help out…"

"Be his woman…"

"Ah, isn't this the princess who's the cause of all this?"

"Princess…"

"Cause of all the troubles…"

"THIS IS FOR LUCY!"

"You've defeated Flare for me?"

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Was that Ryuzetsu Island?"

"What you see."

"Laxus…"

The door creaked open and Lucy's train of thought was cut short by the sight of a blonde man, holding a sheet of paper in his right hand, sweating and panting heavily.

"Laxus, I remember now." Lucy stood and faced the man.

"Oh…" That was the all he could come up with. He didn't expect this. He was excited and happy to meet up with her to discuss the mission that he got from the mayor. It was hard work pleading something that should be for the guild around this town but he managed to convince him through the use of his S-Class status. And he came home into this. It was a waste to hope for someone like her to be able to have feelings for someone like him. She was an angel, so pure, gentle, delicate and innocent and he was what? A person who only knows power and wrath. A demon. He lowered his head in embarrassment of even assuming that they could be something more than friends.

"H-Hey, Laxus to Earthland." Lucy was waving her hand in front of his somber face. "I said I remember..."

"I heard it the first time, Blondie." He looked at her with serious expression as he held her hand to stop it from waving in front of his face. "I guess this is goodbye, then?"

"Goodbye? Why?" She took her hand back and placed the both of them in her hips and scrutinized him, leaning a little bit closer, pouting.

"Because you remember them now and you'll leave me and you will…" Laxus feels like the joke is on him now. He's the one who will be forgotten and now, he's running out of words.

"Join them? Then forgot about you?" Lucy raised her voice in annoyance. Seriously, the man's already what? 26 years old. The Lightning Dragon Slayer just nodded his head and then lowering again. She was right on target. A bullseye.

"Laxus, look at me." Lucy said sternly but when the man didn't respond on her request, she shouted. "LAXUS DREYAR, LOOK AT ME!" Now, this got his attention. He leveled his face on hers and he was surprised that she was also sad despite shouting like and angry mob.

"What?" He neared her and silently whispered, his right hand clenched on the paper and his left was touching his back pocket where his gift for her was hidden.

"I will join them. They are my teammates." This made his spirits drop down significantly.

"I knew it! Ha!" He laughed, hysterical, trying so hard to conceal his real feelings. Lucy, watching the fool making a whole lot more fool out of himself, was irritated by his inattention and to snap him out of his stupidity, she has decided to give the man her own version of 'zapping'. She might not know any Lightning Magic but a woman has her ways. And by that, she means a hard slap on his face. She concentrated a bit, trying to build strength on her right palm and…SLAP!

"Shit! What was that for, you Blondie!" Laxus was growling because apparently there was a stinging red, hand-shaped spot on his face.

"That, mister…" Lucy pointed at the spot on his left cheek. "…was because of your inattention and making a fool out of yourself. I haven't even finished speaking yet!" Lucy fumed. And right this very moment, the Great Laxus Dreyar was silenced.

"Yes, I will join them because they were my teammates." Laxus flinched at hearing those words. "But I won't leave you. I can't leave you." She said softly.

"B-But how is that even possible?" He questioned, raising his eyebrow.

"Laxus, you have your own teammates too but we belong to the same guild. We'll see each other every day and it doesn't mean that we belong to different teams that we won't talk anymore." Lucy looked up at the man's face. Finally, he was coming to his senses now. "And…I will never forget you. I owe you my life and for that I am eternally grateful." Lucy hugged him. Laxus was surprised by the girl's actions yet find comfort in her words. She was right. They can't leave their own teammates. He understood that now. Nakama.

"Thank you, Lucy." He also hugged her and in that second, he was highly tempted to give her the present. 'No, not now. It will be a surprise.' Lucy broke from their contact which earned her a frown from the man.

"Now, tell me about that mission." She flashed him a smile that made him probably the happiest man on Earthland.

A/N: Here's the new chapter, guys! I'm sorry it took centuries to write it. Middle parts of stories are really confusing and are always subject to writers' blocks. Hahaha. I don't know why but I am eternally grateful to the song, "You and Me" by Lifehouse. The chapter was inspired by that song. Anyways, I really am sorry if I write short chapters. It's just that long ones aren't really my style and I was, I don't know, "trained" to keep my paragraphs short and concise. I hope you all understand.

AnimeLuver778: Sorry for the wait but here it is. I hope this one is better. :D

Lightningeye: Oh, if Natsu starts butting in, he will surely answer to me. Hahaha :)

Paname: Oh, I'm sorry, my friend but I won't spoil anything right now. Hahaha. I want to keep it exciting. :3

Miss Jester61: Thank you. I hope you find this chapter better than the previous one. :D

XLALUX: Thanks for that comment but I can' promise to write a longer chapter. But, as promised, here's another chapter.D

mromero18: Thank you for that and here's the update. I hope you'll like it :)

xXLakestarXx: I get that a lot, the 'weird' part. Hahaha. But the 'Picasso' comment was what pushed me to write even better. To be compared to a well-known artist is an honor. Thank you. :))