42nd: Princess Charming

Summary: No matter what the problem would be, the men could count on the women to find either a solution or to bail them out.

Romeo groaned as he woke up. The guild fight had been terrible and he had been knocked out when a table had suddenly learned to fly and had hit him straight against the head.

"There," Wendy said as she held out a little white pill and a glass of water. "For you."

He looked up to her, eternally grateful for her and took the pill. "Thanks, Wendy," he said seriously as he got up and looked around. "This place is a mess, huh?"

"Mira-san got involved yesterday – so what did you expect?" the Sky Dragon Slayer asked with a faint smile as she brushed back her hair. "We should help to rebuild, alright?"

"Easier said when done," the young Fire Mage sighed before he picked up Happy and rested the blue cat's small body on a bench which had somehow survived. "Everyone is still out for the count … anyway, we should maybe make coffee first."

Natsu cursed as he woke up in the morning and checked the time. Happy had been out with Charle last night and so no one had thought of waking him up in the morning – and now, he was too late for Erza's wedding and this meant that he would die in a few hours.

"Coffee is ready, get into your tuxedo and hurry up a bit," a calm voice said as a perfectly styled Lucy stepped into his room. "I was worried that you might oversleep and came to check on you. Now, hurry up before we are too late for the wedding."

"I love you, Luce, I really do," he sighed before he froze. "How did you get here this fast?"

She smirked evilly. "Why, I borrowed Elfman's car of course," she replied.

Gray cursed his life, his guild and his master as he stared at the paper in front of him. Who the hell had been the genius who had decided to include a written test into the S-class exam? Whoever it was, Gray wanted to kill him or her because he had no clue what the answers were supposed to be. He looked up, brows furrowing as he watched how Levy and Freed both wrote their answers down in record speed.

A movement behind him let him freeze and he frowned as Juvia passed him on her way to the front where she handed her test to Mira who was supervising this part of the exam. As the Water Mage left the room, she stared at the ground to Gray's feet where a piece of paper lay. He picked it up, covering it by dropping his pen first and grinned before he mouthed a silent 'Thank you' as Mira was distracted by Natsu's obvious attempt to cheat.

Bixslow groaned as he saw the emptiness of his pocket where his money was supposed to be and he had to realise that he had used his last money on his bet with Evergreen about Fried which he had lost. Therefore, he had no cash to buy his food and he was hungry.

"Short on money?" the cheerful voice of Lisanna Strauss asked as she appeared behind him in the queue. "Really, you should stop betting when you are already short on money."

"I hoped that I'd win this bet 'cause I'd be rich then…" he muttered as his babies merely nodded gloomy. "Go on and laugh about me, Lisanna."

She sighed as she flipped a few coins at him. "Just to establish a fact, Bixslow: I will get that money back, alright?" she huffed before she winked at him.

"Fried, calm the hell down," Mira ordered as she frowned at her fiancé. "You are creeping me out with all that pacing around and I will punch you if you don't sit down now."

He looked at her, worried and extremely pale. "But … she's like a sister to me," he replied.

"And Evergreen is far too strong to die in childbirth," she sighed as she crossed her arms. He looked at her as he bit his lower lip. "I know that," he said stubbornly. "And I am not worried for her, anyway. I just hope that she will be back for active duty soon."

"Tsk, you make it sound like you are soldiers," she said friendly. "And, Fried, even though it seems to be rough at the moment – don't act tougher than you are. It's unbecoming."

Levy ran. Her blood rushed through her head as she finally stopped and grabbed her light pen, writing the word which would decide the outcome of the battle – Iron, with the little heart inside the o and everything. This time, it was her turn to look out for him – to save him. She brushed back a strand of her hair before she continued to write, different words this time, words like lightening or fire.

"Nice job, Shrimp," Gajeel admitted as he finished his snack.

"Good thing that you're that tall," she smirked. "It would have been complicated for me to find you otherwise. And what did I tell you about leaving my side?" she added.

"Don't you dare to get back on me for that one!" he growled.

"…It was my fault," Jellal muttered. "Even Ultear said so…"

Erza sighed deeply as she rolled her eyes. "It wasn't your fault," she said. "Everyone but maybe Laxus or Gildarts would have lost to Jura. We are all cool with that."

She knew that nothing she would say could help him to overcome his depression. He blamed himself for the loss – especially because of Ultear's snappy remark but the both female members of Crime Sorciere had sabotaged Jellal. Still, he had had a bad day and he felt like he was the one to blame for the outcome of the fight.

"There," she said as she pushed a plate with a slice of strawberry cake over to him. "Eat that and calm down for Mavis' sake. You did well. Everyone thinks so."

She hurried through the hallways, always following the directions her card showed her. Finally, she reached the door and pushed it open. True, usually it was the other way around but she couldn't care less for those things at the moment. Just as the fire attack threatened to strike him, defenceless as he was with a complete lack of magical power, she countered the attack and pushed him out of the way.

"Air Space – that's a disgusting spell," he complained as his cheeks sported a nice shade of pink – either because of the heat the Fire spell had radiated, his defeat or maybe her dress.

"I know," she said as she focused onto her opponent. "Well, time for some payback, alright? And don't feel bad, Laxus. Even your grandfather once fell under this spell. Be happy that you are younger and that you will recover faster."

"Once I finish blaming myself for being useless, I might just do this," he muttered darkly.

"Drama King," she chided. "Don't stress, Laxus-kun. Cana is here to the rescue. Consider it repayment for all the times you saved my ass, alright?"

"This was strange," Evergreen muttered as she dragged Elfman down a street as he carried her bags. "I thought that I saw Fried over there…"

"So he's stalking you all over again?" Elfman asked as he looked at his wife. "Which part of 'A man doesn't stalk his teammate' was too difficult for him?"

"I am not sure if he realised that he is considered as a male by most people," she said with an evil smirk. "Well, on the other hand, he is engaged to Mira so maybe, she finally made a man out of him and he finally realised that live is funnier if you break the rules…"

"Yeah," he nodded before he broke the arm of a poor fool who had tried to steal his money.

"We are getting in trouble for that one," she muttered as she spotted the comrades of the thief appearing in the roofs. "On the other hand, I was getting a little bit rusty anyway," she said smugly as she took off her glasses. "That's nearly ridiculously easy…"

"I'd like to drink for our women tonight," Gray said as he raised his goblet.

"Yeah," his former co-apprentice nodded as he raised his glass as well. "To our women because we'd be so lost without them."

"To our women," Alzack agreed as he nudged the master who was sitting next to him.

"To our beautiful, strong and generally amazing women," Makarov agreed.