Hello everyone! As always, thanks for reviewing, faving, and alerting! I can't believe this is already chapter 5 and there's still more to go.
Tal 123 - Thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked the story, and yes, NaLu and GaLe are the best.

What can I say about this chapter? Well, for starters, it is a little more lighthearted that the last two. Sorry to all the Happy fans, but he's too distracted with Charle at the time being so he won't be making an appearance (I missed him, too). And now we have two mated dragon-slayers making their way to the guild, a scheming Gray, an unsuspecting Mira, a newly-armed Gajeel, an overly-happy Natsu, a self-assured Levy, and a possessive Lucy. Oh, dear Dark-Lord Dragneel save us!

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

"A Favor"

Chapter 5:

Natsu and Lucy were sitting on the floor, breathing hard and exhausted from their hyperactive twirling around the room. Examining the common area, she realized it was in a bigger mess than it had been before, even if she had thought that to be an impossible deed after the dragon-slayer's frenzied scavenger hunt for what she assumed to be the ring that now proudly adorned her finger. However, in spite of the current state of her room, she couldn't bring herself to care right now. She had had one of the most amazing days of her life, and she wasn't going to let anything, or anyone, ruin it – and that included Gray attempting to ridicule and publicly humiliate Natsu for his adorable underwear once they got to the guild, since she knew Happy would go out of his way to make sure the ice mage was informed of Natsu's little secret (that apparently wasn't that much of a secret anymore, since he had yelled it to the four winds days before). Normally, Lucy would've stepped aside and pretended not to care, while deep down inside she would be laughing at her friends' rambunctious antiques. Today, however, and the matter at hand were an entirely different case, and she knew she would have to intervene in order to protect her mate's pride. Also, thinking more selfishly, she knew she'd have to interfere if she wanted to continue to delight at the sight of her ridiculously cute fire dragon-slayer in his dorky yet extremely sexy underwear.

The sun made its way into the apartment, a ray of light landing on the beautiful ring. The reflecting multi-colored shimmer snapped the stellar mage out of her reverie and brought her attention back to the piece of jewelry. She stared at it for a few seconds and smiled, realizing something. "It all makes sense now," the blond finally said, turning to look at the fire mage who was still gasping next to her. "What do you mean?" he asked, while trying to catch his breath. Lucy giggled, "Why you and Gajeel have been hanging out more often," she stated, "You asked him to make the ring, didn't you?" Natsu grinned back at her and moved closer behind her to envelope her in his arms once more, knowing fully well it would have only been a matter of time before she figured things out completely. He leaned back onto the side of the couch as he placed the girl between his legs and rested his head on her left shoulder. "I did," he almost whispered, and then proceeded to nuzzle her neck, taking in her addictive scent. Mavis, was it intoxicating; he could stay in this position for hours and not even realize that time had elapsed. "But, I wasn't the one who came begging for a favor fist," he finished stating, once he was done reveling in her scent for the time being.

The blond turned slightly to look at him, both surprised and amused, "Don't tell me..." The dragon-slayer nodded as a smirk made its way onto his face. "He's finally ready to make his move. He wanted me to melt some coins to make a necklace for that thing she got from her family a few weeks ago," he replied, turning her around so she was facing him and he could look her in the eye. "You see, I had been searching for a decent ring for ages, but hadn't found anything I liked even a tiny bit," he continued, as he cupped the stellar mage's face with both hands. "So, when Gajeel approached me the other day at the guild and told me what he needed, I decided to take advantage of that ability of his and have him make the ring I always wanted you to have," he concluded, pulling Lucy closer so he could kiss her deeply.

Natsu needed to show her how he felt, even if he was sure she already knew. Today had been a particularly overwhelming day for him. It had almost been three months since he had decided that he wanted to take the next step with Lucy and a little over a month since he had started to search for rings. Contrastingly, it had barely been six hours since he had held Lucy's ring in his hand, and not even then, had he known what he was going to say to her. He had managed to do a decent job at keeping himself in check, but things had taken an entirely different turn after he had tried to chastise Happy for being an inappropriate traitor – although he supposed that Happy not knowing boundaries was his own fault for being too lenient, he loved that cat too much for his own good – and his emotions had stirred out of control. He couldn't really understand how that one simple question had made its way out of his mouth so easily and how it had successfully conveyed everything that he so strongly felt and wanted. Hearing Lucy's equally simple yet emotionally charged answer had thrown him into a rapture of exhilarating sentiments he could only let out by physically exhausting himself. Perhaps a long sprint around Magnolia would have done the trick, but he had no intention of letting the stellar mage out of the range of his heightened senses. So he decided on the next best thing – twirling around her apartment until his legs were shaking, his arms heavy, and his lungs begging him for air; and, of course, making sure she was down for the ride alongside him.

The fire dragon-slayer knew he was extremely possessive of his mate, but, unlike the vast majority of his guildmates or the overall residents of Magnolia thought, it had nothing to do with him being jealous or insecure. No, he trusted Lucy completely, in and out of the battlefield; he knew he was the only one engraved in her soul just as she was the only one in his. However, he understood that most people would never truly realize that his relationship with Lucy was as deep as it could go, and their assumptions only led to misunderstandings. To Natsu, scaring off pests and beating the crap out of other males who looked at Lucy desirably was a simple bonus. People shouldn't really be surprised; he was known for taking any excuse to start a fight, and what could be a better one than pretending to defend his claim over his mate? In all honesty, the only thing he cared about when it came down to it was protecting his mate both physically and emotionally, and that included trying to make others understand what sort of bond the two shared with each other. Lucy was fully aware of this particularly enjoyable form of entertainment for him, of course, and every time he dashed forward to beat up those poor bastards, she would remind him not to be too rough on them while failing miserably at pretending to hide an amused giggle. If things got serious, though, he wouldn't even hesitate to lay down his life to save hers; and if someone targeted Lucy, he would make it his personal mission to destroy that person until he or she was scarred for life, afraid of even leaving their own home and hunted by sleep-depriving nightmares of the fire-ignited Salamander.

Natsu pressed his lips roughly over Lucy's, genuinely happy that he could finally release all of the emotions, wishes, and thoughts that he had been keeping to himself for all those months, knowing he would always have someone to share them with, someone who would protect them as arduously as he would protect hers. He tightened his embrace, mentally reminding himself of everything that had occurred between the two of them that morning. He unreservedly pushed forward into her mouth.

Gray had been sitting at one of the tables at the guild for over an hour waiting for the pink-haired mage to arrive. Happy had left him to his own devices a while ago to devote his attention on pursuing Charle and offering her more fish wrapped in what he could only guess to be Lucy's colored ribbons. What a waste of talent, he scoffed, he could have helped me plan my crushing attack. He scanned the guild again and focused on the unmoving doors once more. Where the fuck is this asshole? I don't have all day… Erza could wake up any minute, too. He winced at the thought of what would probably await him if she did, and then I'd be in serious trouble. He wondered whether it would be better for him to leave and go hide from the redhead's life-threatening rage instead of waiting on the fire dragon-slayer. This wouldn't be the only chance he would get to mess with Natsu. But this is too good to let go of! he greedily reminded himself, And the sooner I do it, the more effective it will be.

Reassuring himself that the outcome would be worth the wait, the ice mage decided to chance it and hope that luck was on his side that day. He convinced himself that whatever was keeping the fire-breathing idiot couldn't take much longer. The guy always made an appearance at Fairy Tail, unless he was out on a mission, of course, but he knew that wasn't the case today. If everything else failed, Gray would send Happy out to look for him and drag him back against his will if necessary. To his further enjoyment, the guild was pretty crowded, so the ice alchemist knew that what he had planned for the sucker would be even crueler. If he played his cards right, it was possible that the entire guild would never forget the little stunt he had in mind and Natsu would have to live with the shame for the rest of his miserable life. Ah! If only… Gray smirked at the possibility of delivering a crushing blow against his rival in their never-ending strife. But the fire idiot had to show his fiery hide soon for him to do that. He didn't have all day – there was this other… stuff he had to do that would occupy his late afternoon – and the realization that he was doing nothing but waiting for the squinty-eyed dumbass didn't sit too well with him either. He scowled, deciding to forget about those negative thoughts and go over his plan one more time. He needed everything to be perfect, so he had to consider all possible scenarios. After all, the first rule of war was to never underestimate your opponent. We'll see who's the ultimate "Underwear Prince" Fire-breath...

Lucy broke away for air and moved her right hand up to comb the fire dragon-slayer's tousled hair lovingly. "I'm happy for them," she said with a soft smile, "and I want you to know that I feel the same way you do, Natsu. I know that sometimes our feelings are too strong to put down in words, and I can only imagine what you must have gone through trying to keep this from everyone, but you managed to capture every single emotion perfectly in this ring… It really is perfect." She watched the dragon-slayer smile once more before he leaned in to kiss her one more time, tightening the hold he had of her, and when his lips reached hers again, for the umpteenth time that day, she responded with the same passion she had showed when they had first touched that morning. She glided her hands through his hair and pushed her body against his, just as the fire mage's own hands slid towards her hips, lifting her up and bringing her onto his lap so she could comfortably straddle him. She grabbed a fist of his hair and pulled it forcefully as she nibbled on his lower lip, instantaneously feeling the temperature of the room getting higher and his grip getting stronger.

Natsu groaned, he could never get enough of this woman; no matter what he did, it was simply never enough. He pulled his lips away from hers, kissing his way to her ear, where he whispered in a low and husky voice, "I am so fucking lucky you're mine, Lucy… all mine." He nuzzled her neck as he inhaled her scent again, "You really do drive my crazy, you know?" He felt the blond on top of him quiver, her body reacting instinctively to his tone and words. The dragon-slayer smirked, glad that he could elicit reactions similar to the ones she got from him each and every time she touched him, and without allowing her any time to answer, he proceeded to suck lightly on her earlobe. "So entirely mine, always and forever," he murmured once more, echoing the words she had given him in response to the most important question he had ever asked in his life. Their eyes met briefly before their lips collided against each other again, rejoicing in the feeling each provoked on the other as their tongues moved to the beat of their thumping hearts, their hands holding onto one another as if they never wanted to let go. They pulled apart hyperventilating, and after a few seconds of staring into each other's eyes, they moved to rest on each other's foreheads in the placid silence that had invaded the apartment while they recuperated. Their eyes closed, focusing on feeling the other's heat and listening to the other's heartbeat next to them. Both mages smiled contentedly.

A second flash of the brilliant Magnolian sun hit the small apartment and the two barely moving figures in it. "I think we should get dressed and go to guild before Happy gets bored and ends up doing something we'll regret," the stellar mage stated as she opened her eyes and slowly withdrew her face from the dragon-slayer's. Natsu sighed and nodded, opening his own eyes to meet her relaxed gaze, "I think you're right, Lucy," and grabbing her by the back of her thighs, he brought both of them up into a standing position in a flashing moment. She giggled as he put her back down on the floor, holding onto the bed sheet that had miraculously stayed in place around her body. She walked into her closet and chose a new outfit, deciding it would be too much of a hassle to find what she was wearing before they had stormed her bedroom. Lucy decided that cleaning her apartment would be left for another occasion. Today, she just wanted to relax and enjoy her time with the dragon-slayer. Oh, and congratulate Levy and Gajeel on their new relationship. She could confidently bet her whole month's rent on the fact that the script mage would want to speak to her about what had happened once she arrived at Fairy Tail, assuming that the bluenette would be at the guild. She also knew that just as Natsu had told her about Gajeel and Levy, the iron mage had probably shared with Levy what Natsu had asked him to do, so she could expect to be crowded with curious questions and squeals of joy from her blue-haired friend as well. As she was redoing her hair, she began wondering how Mirajane would take the news. She would probably freak out or throw a celebratory party. She wasn't sure; she could only remember what had happened when Natsu had announced that they were a couple and shuddered as she reminisced about it. Things will get way too out of control… even for Fairy Tail. She finished buttoning her white sleeveless shirt, There's also Gray and Happy to worry about…, and tugged it under her blue skirt, And how could I forget that idiotic fire-breathing dragon-slayer just outside my bathroom door? I'm sure that he will be the main cause of whatever type of mayhem that's going to be unleashed once we get there. She sighed as she gave one last look at her reflection in the mirror, making her way out of the bathroom as she heard the fire mage's impatient calls for her to be done already.

The iron dragon-slayer had run into the opportunity to show off his new status sooner than he had expected. Not even ten minutes after they had left the park and he had decided on "chatting" with her two teammates, who lacked any understanding of what personal space meant, said mages appeared in front of them. Even if they had just interrupted another pleasant episode of his playful teasing of the script mage, Gajeel couldn't deny that he loved the current expression of shock and dismay on their faces. In fact, he reveled on it. Gi, hee, hee… losers. Things were clearly going his way today – except for almost getting face-slapped by the annoyingly "happy" blue cat when leaving the guild earlier – and, after he was done with these two idiots, he had every intension of trying his luck against the Take-over sibling who had made his past few days pretty uncomfortable – or miserable, but he would take that knowledge to the grave.

The iron mage didn't actually want to actively start a fight with Levy's two teammates, but he was well aware that they shared a troublesome history and that her two friends would do everything in their power to protect her. They just needed to understand that that wasn't their job anymore. Furthermore, they also needed to realize that whatever happened between the script mage and himself had nothing to do with them and that, even if they cared for her wellbeing, meddling in her private life had never been their place. Gajeel knew Jet and Droy had always respected him for being a strong mage and had stayed out of his way precisely for that reason, but he wanted them to acknowledge that he was, at least, a suitable choice for Levy romantically. It wasn't that he wanted or needed their approval for starting a relationship with her, he couldn't give a flying fuck about what those two thought of him. However, he knew that Levy would mind if there was any form of enmity between the three of them, and the last thing he wanted was to force her into a complicated situation where she would have to pick between her personal and her professional life. Therefore, for her, he would make sure the two mages understood how serious he was about his solid script mage. That way, even if they didn't approve of her choice, they would have to respect it.

Natsu followed the stellar mage with his eyes as she moved around her room. He saw her grab a new set of clean clothes, an action that led him to believe, correctly, that she was refusing to acknowledge the disastrous state her apartment was currently in. He remained still and continued to watch the girl as her fingers moved around her closet and picked a blue skirt. She always did look good in blue, he inwardly decided. The blond then walked over to her dresser to get a new pair of underwear, and he noticed it was one of the matching sets he had bought for her after burning some of her intimate apparel during a mission a few months back. But she always did look better in anything I bought for her. The thought forced a smug side grin onto his face, reminding himself that he liked her the best when she was wearing his clothing. Thinking about underwear also reminded him of his own apparently very appealing flying dragons printed boxer-briefs, and that satisfied smirk from earlier that morning made its way onto his blissful face again, Ah, I think I need to do some shopping... I can't believe I'm actually thinking that… but there is that other pair of fire spitting dragons I don't own yet... He mentally reveled on what he could be recompensed with when wearing such a piece of clothing. Jeez, I'm such a lucky guy!

The fire dragon-slayer came back to reality when the stellar mage approached him and mockingly reprimanded him, "You really should be getting ready instead of staring into oblivion and looking like a complete idiot, Natsu." The addressed mage smiled back at her and, taking advantage of their close proximity, he pecked her on the lips once more before she walked past him and disappeared into the bathroom to get dressed. He stared at the closed door for a few seconds with a gleeful grin, So lucky, Lucy, so infinitely lucky. He then began to ransack the apartment for the rest of his clothes.

Jet and Droy stood astounded, mouth agape, and eye-widened. The scene was pretty comical, and Levy would have laughed if she didn't feel some sort of remorse in the back of her mind for hurting her friends' feelings. She knew that things between the four of them were already complicated, and the last thing she wanted was to worsen an already delicate subject. She had never discussed her private life with her two teammates, but she knew that it would be hard for them to accept that she had chosen Gajeel as her life partner over everyone else. In fact, she was sure they wouldn't really understand what it was that she now shared with the iron mage. She had heard them talk about Natsu and Lucy enough, and they, like so many others, completely missed just how serious and in sync the two mages really were. However, just like Gray and Erza had done already, her two teammates would have to try to accommodate to the new situation as best they could. She only hoped they could do as well as Lucy and Natsu's teammates, but she knew that, unlike Gray and Erza, Jet and Droy were not really friends with Gajeel. She had no intension of leaving her team though, she loved working with them; but she also had no intension of letting go of Gajeel, ever, and she would make that very clear to them.

The newly formed couple waited a few more minutes before Jet suddenly broke the silence that had surrounded the awkward situation they all currently found themselves in. Lifting a shaky finger to point at the two mages, he barely managed to choke out, "You... you are… together?" Droy wanted to compliment his friend for not stuttering, even if he had had a hard time speaking, but he was having a really hard time trying to snap out of his own perplexity and finish chewing the hotdog bite he had put into his mouth seconds before running into Gajeel and Levy. The plant mage mentally decided that to avoid looking even more pathetic, he would just keep still and quiet, waiting for the blue-haired girl or the iron mage to answer.

"That's right!" the dragon-slayer almost yelled, pride evident in his tone of voice and not even waiting for the orange-haired mage to try to say anything else. A devious smirk made its way onto his face as he let go of Levy's hand and, instead, grabbed her by the waist possessively, successfully bringing her closer to him. He felt her snake her arm around his own waist, understanding her action as a silent sign of support and encouragement. "The Shrimp's my mate," he began firmly, "I'm not going to ask you to leave her alone, or to stop working together and hanging out with her, but what I am going to do is to demand that you respect her decision and accept that I'm a part of her life as much as she is a part of mine," Gajeel continued, noticing a faint blush spreading across the bluenette's face, who was still holding onto him quietly and staring sternly at her teammates. There, plain and simple. They should get that.

It took another long pause for the male members of team Shadow Gear to digest what the dragon-slayer had said and to regain their composure, "Seems fair," Droy said after swallowing his food bite. "We only want her to be happy," Jet added. Both mages had decided long time ago that they would support Levy in whatever decision she made about Gajeel. They knew this day would come eventually, and they weren't entirely sure of what would happen to team Shadow Gear after it. They had observed how Natsu was with Lucy, and they had assumed that the iron dragon-slayer would behave just as possessively as the other one did. Natsu and Lucy had been a team since she had joined Fairy Tail, but after they had begun their relationship, the fire mage had made it clear that any male who dared to get a little too close to the stellar mage risked getting irreparably charred. They had heard enough stories from Gray to know that he wasn't joking when he had showed up to the guild one day stating that Lucy had accepted to become his "mate" and that he wouldn't hesitate to unleash his dragon force on anyone who disrespected that decision. Nevertheless, they did have to admit it was pretty hilarious when strangers hit on Lucy or, worse, touched her, the ignorant poor souls awaited a not-so-friendly reminder of what type of fear the guild's fire dragon-slayer, already renowned around Fiore for his uncanny destruction abilities and his unreserved raw power, was capable of instilling on his prey. They didn't completely understand how Gray could have continued to work with the couple or share some of these stories with amusement, when he was, in fact, included into some of them – even if the fire dragon-slayer knew that Gray had absolutely no romantic intentions towards Lucy. But, perhaps, it was simply another reason for the two rivaling mages to fight and not be stopped by a raging Erza Scarlet. She was too proper to meddle into other people's relationships; she herself had a complicated one with a persecuted criminal. Fairy Tail understood that she didn't like others prying into her private life, so she wouldn't pry into theirs either.

Still, even if team Natsu had remained intact, the thought that if Levy and Gajeel started dating he would insist on her going on missions exclusively with him, scared the two Shadow Gear men. They loved the script mage and their team too much to let it disintegrate, but if it ended up being what Levy wanted, they would have to accept and live with her decision. However, both mages had been utterly surprised after hearing the iron dragon-slayer defend his relationship with Levy so self-assuredly. They had expected him to threaten them, not to delegate for a peaceful solution to put their rocky past behind them. His actions had, instead, proven to both Jet and Droy that they had judged the iron mage prematurely; he was much more in tune with the bluenette's feelings than they had presumed. His words had also allowed them to hope, since it appeared as if Gajeel and Levy dating didn't necessarily guarantee the end of Team Shadow Gear. The iron dragon-slayer seemed to understand what Levy felt, wanted, and needed as much as they did. In fact, they had to admit that he seemed to do so way more than they ever did, or ever would. After his short yet direct speech, Jet and Droy realized that Gajeel would take care of their teammate to the best of his abilities, and they could only allow him to do just that.

"Gi, hee," the iron mage laughed triumphantly, "With that said and agreed on, we can discuss the details of the new situation later. But for now, you'll have to excuse us, there's somewhere we need to be." And without waiting for a response from the once again flabbergasted mages, he pulled Levy to the side, circling around their frozen guildmates, and continued walking in Fairy Tail's direction. Two down, one to go.

Gray saw the doors to Fairy Tail opening at last and stood up from his seat in eager anticipation. He was greatly disappointed, however, when, instead of seeing the pink-haired dragon-slayer coming in, he saw the other dragon-slayer walking in with Levy. The black-haired Metal-freak had a proud smirk on his face that the ice mage had never seen before, and that made him wonder. In fact, upon closer inspection, Gajeel and Levy had stopped at the guild's threshold and were both smiling, clinging close to one another, and he could have sworn they were holding hands as well. However, before he could say or do anything to confirm his suspicions, he heard Mira emit one of the loudest squeals he had ever heard in his entire and wonderfully chilled life. The rather high-pitched scream had momentary deafened him, just like the rest of the guild, he was sure, and when he was finally beginning to regain his hearing and his head had stopped ringing, he decided on further examining what the situation was with the newly arrived iron and script mages. The ice alchemist was always up for finding new ways of upsetting dragon-slayers, whether they manipulated fire or iron. However, his dark wishes were rapidly truncated, since the iron dragon-slayer moved faster than him and spoke first.

Gajeel waited for the effects of the inhumanly disturbing screech of the Demon Woman to pass before yelling loudly and emphasizing all of his words, "This goes out to all of you raunchy fuckers" – giving a particularly dirty look at Macao and Wakaba – "the Shrimp and I are now together and whoever dares to mess with her, in any way, shape, or form, will have to deal with me." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing, "I'll assume you've all seen and heard enough from the fire-breathing Salamander to know what having a mate entails, but if anyone is still confused or has any questions, my fists and I will be very happy to make it all clear to you. And, finally, let me add one last thing: I promise you have never truly experienced inscrutable pain until you have pissed off a mated dragon." The iron mage finished his speech with a life-depriving glare. He then turned to look at Levy, who had said nothing to his boisterous claims and instead had remained beside him holding his hand firmly. He was glad she felt comfortable with his public announcements and he assumed she had probably expected one. Perfect, if she could put up with this, then she would have no problem to all of the manhandling he had planned for them from here on out.

The iron dragon-slayer was enjoying this way too much, and he had a hard time hiding the amused smirk that was pushing its way onto his face. Gi, hee, hee, their expressions are simply priceless! No wonder the Salamander enjoys doing this so often! His smirk widened, Imagine what we could accomplish together… Wait… together? What the fuck am I thinking about here? Concentrate, Gajeel! He decided to leave his rather unsettling thoughts of partnering with the fire dragon-slayer for a moment and revel at his guildmates' faces again. The iron mage then roared out an "Understood?" a few seconds later just to further indulge in their shocked forms as they jumped out of fright and uttered an unintelligible "Aye, sir!" He could have sworn he heard Levy giggling after his last remark. He made a mental note to remind himself to tease her about it later, but he had more important matters to take care of at present time. Gajeel turned his attention to the back of the guild where a dumbfounded Mira was standing frozen in position, mouth agape, right eye twitching, one shaky hand lightly touching her lips, and the other holding a pitcher of beer she had begun pouring over Cana's mug, which was now overflowing, the alcohol splashing on her burgundy dress as the card mage gave her an unpleasant scowl for wasting the precious liquid. Phase one complete. Gi, hee!

Before anyone had time to react to the iron dragon-slayer's shocking words, the person Gray had been so anxiously expecting to show up all morning at Fairy Tail, finally walked through the guild's doors, hand in hand with his own mate, who was wearing one heck of a shinny ring on her left hand. Oh… the ice mage's eyes widened franticly, No. Fucking. Way…

"Oh, hey everyone!" Natsu yelled from the guild's entrance. "Since it seems as it is announcement time," he continued as he lifted Lucy's ringed hand, "I'll like to let you all know that Lucy has accepted to pledge the rest of her life to mine!" He paused for a second as he examined his guildmates' expressions of overwhelming disbelief, And now, for the fun part, "And, just like last time, any of you fuckers even dares to look at Lucy the wrong way, and I'll make it my personal mission to fuck you up so bad, you'll be screaming my name in your nightmares until the day you die." There, negative thoughts out… Natsu smirk grew wider at the sight of his distraught and speechless guildmates. Some of them had even fainted, Oh for Igneel's right wing, look at those faces… Priceless.

If the fire mage's speech hadn't been a shockingly enough piece of news, the ray of light that had landed on Lucy's ring just as the fire dragon-slayer spoke and had managed to half-blind all of their gaping guildmates, had definitely succeeded in making whoever had retained some of their sanity to lose it completely. For once in its many years of existence, Fairy Tail's crowded guildhall stood in utter and complete silence.

So, how was it? I hope I managed to keep a nice balance between the romance and the humor in this chapter. As for chapter 6... all I can say, quoting Juvia here, is "pandemonium." What to expect? Powerful forces colliding: Gajeel, Mira, Levy, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gray, and the sleeping time-bomb that is Erza...