AN: YO! Long time no see, everybody! So I noticed that we hit over 100 followers! I can honestly say that I never expected to get that many, so I decided to finally sit down and actually write...

That said, I AM SO SORRY! I PROMISE I'M STILL ALIVE, AND I HAVE NOT DROPPED OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH! I had the hardest time figuring out where to go from where I left the last chapter. I know that's not a valid excuse, and that there's really no excuse for not updating in over (about?) a year, but I hope you'll forgive me! Please don't shoot! And I know that this chapter's kind of short, but I do have most of the next chapter written! Hopefully I'll have that up before next week, but I'm not making any promises… Partly because I still kind of have writer's block, but mostly because I just had my first job interview! I'M SO NERVOUS! I'm supposed to find out if I got it sometime over the weekend, but I'm most likely going to die before I actually get to hear it…. Which is why I might not have it up soon… And I know that's still a terrible excuse…

I'll put replies to reviews after the chapter so you don't have to listen to me any longer. That's reviews for the previous chapter and for the author's note, so it'll be pretty long. Thank you so much for all the reviews! They really did help me feel better about myself and about my writing. And about the world and my life in general.

I hope the chapter's not too terrible… Something about it bugs me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyways, I'll shut up. Enjoy!

Previously

"Welcome, Miss Lucy Heartfilia, to Fairy Tail," Natsu said, grinning as he opened the door for me… It swung open onto a scene of absolute chaos.

I stared in shock. "What the heck?! It's a mess!"

The whole inside of the building was one big room. There were a lot of tables set all around. The kind like picnic tables, with benches attached. A large bar took up most of one wall, and there was a door behind it that presumably led to some sort of kitchen. On the opposite wall, there was a stage set up, along with a large flat screen TV. The TV was set so that anyone on the stage could see it easily.

But I didn't notice any of that until later. No, the thing that first caught my attention was the huge pile of people in the middle of the room (The tables had been cleared out of the center of the area). They were all fighting each other, punching and kicking.

A large man with insane muscles stuck his head out of the pile and yelled, "Fighting is MAN!" Almost immediately, he was punched by someone and sent flying. He landed next to the door, totally KO'd.

Another man, shirtless, stepped out of the brawl and walked toward us, smirking. "Yo, Natsu!" He stopped short when he saw me, though. "Lucy Heartfilia?" he said, shooting me a questioning look.

I felt myself smile. "Gray Fullbuster! Imagine meeting you here."

Natsu was looking back and forth at us. "You know each other?" His wounded gaze settled on me for an explanation.

I frowned. "How was I supposed to know you knew him? We met once yesterday in my apartment building. He's considering buying the apartment next to mine." I glanced at Gray. "Or, at least, he was yesterday."

"Still am," he said, nodding.

Natsu frowned, but didn't say anything more on the subject, because right then, another man walked out of the brawl towards us. He had short orange hair and an air of extreme confidence.

"Well, hello, miss! I don't believe we've been introduced." He grinned, took my hand, and kissed it. "My name is Loke. And I'd be happy to buy you a drink." He winked at me.

I felt the corners of my mouth involuntarily tug into a smile as I gently pulled my hand out of his. "Lucy. And, while I would enjoy that greatly, shouldn't we be setting up?" I glanced at my new pink-haired friend, who was somehow managing to look both ticked off and slightly pleased at the same time. "Natsu said there was going to be a party. Right?"

Loke smiled. "We probably should be, yes."

As if on cue, a woman with long red hair and glasses threw the doors open. Immediately, all activity in the room stopped. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as she slowly took in the pile of bodies in the room, as well as the man at her feet She took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You know, it's a very, very sad thing that I came in here expecting something like this to have happened." She let out a long sigh.

Just then, the buff man from earlier woke up. He jumped up with a roar, completely unaware of the woman behind him. He dived back into the pile… And the fight began again. In fact, it seemed to get much worse.

You could see the veins in the woman's forehead outlined very clearly. She began to speak rather quietly, but somehow it almost echoed through the room. "Can you guys please stop fighting like children? It's extremely juvenile and-" Her sentence was cut off by a chair being thrown into her face.

Her glasses cracked and broke in half, falling off her face. Everyone who was not fighting paled. The woman's eye twitched. Then anger flashed across her face and she jumped into the fight herself, screaming bloody murder.

I felt my eyes widen. "Who's that?"

Natsu shuddered violently. "That's Erza."

"Your boss?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Gray nodded. "Yeah."

Looking at her again, fighting and holding her own against the whole group, I shook my head. "I can see why you're terrified of her." Then I frowned, turning to Natsu. "But I'm kind of offended that you think I'm as scary as she is."

Loke raised his eyebrows, looking extremely affronted. "Natsu! How could you call such a lovely lady as this as evil as that monster over there?"

"They're both terrifying," he said with a shrug.

"I'm sorry," Loke said, taking my hand again. "I can take you away from this insensitive jerkwad." He started to pull me away. "Would you like to marry me?"

I was about to protest, but, to my surprise, Natsu did it for me. "Hey, you jerk! Let Lucy go!" He grabbed Loke's wrist and squeezed hard. "She'd never marry you!" With a small noise of pain, Loke let go of my wrist. Then, to add even more surprise to the situation, Natsu took the hand that Loke had released. I could feel my eyebrows climbing into my hairline, and a blush spread across my face.

Glancing at Natsu's angry face, Loke sighed. "Well, it's been a pleasure, Lucy. Any time you want to take me up on any of my offers, I'd be happy to oblige." He walked away, heading towards the bar. Despite myself, I found my eyes following him. "Mira, can you get me a drink?"

A beautiful woman with long white hair smiled from her place behind the bar. "Of course, Loke! The usual?"

He sat on one of the stools. "Yes, please."

Natsu scowled. "I can't stand that guy."

"You never had a problem with him before," Gray said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, maybe I just barely realized that I can't stand him!" He was still holding my hand, and I was having an intense internal battle over whether or not I should tell him to let go or just leave the situation as it was.

The side that wanted him to let go said, "Hey, we're not a couple! Holding hands in a setting like this might give someone the wrong idea."

But the other side of me said, "I don't know about you, but I'm kind of enjoying the contact. I mean, he is the first guy I've met in a long time that didn't spend half an hour ogling me. He doesn't seem to care about that. He genuinely seems to like me for me."

The first side was practically speechless, with no counter argument for that. So I decided to let him hold my hand until he decided to let go.

As soon as I had made that decision, the white-haired woman at the bar saw us, and I swear her eyes literally started sparkling. She squealed loudly. "Natsu has a girlfriend!"

I immediately regretted my decision to hold his hand as the entire room seemed to turn toward us and stare.

AN: So? What'd you think? Leave a review! Cuz I got a review in February from Fairytailwatcherlove that totally made my year! It wasn't a big review, just two sentences. And it made me feel wonderful. I honestly had almost given up on this story… Which is terrible. It's almost as bad as abandoning a child… But I've resolved to follow it to the bitter end! All because someone left a review even though the last update was last September, and it was only a crappy author's note. So, anyways, please please please please leave a review!

*Claps* Now, on to the review answering!

Starting with the Ch 8 reviews:

First off, Melody 233: I know. It's funny, but Lucy's life is terrible, when you really think about it. I mean, even Mashima pairs her with one of the most idiotic idiots I ever have come across in any story. But I'm not sure she's really complaining… :) Thanks for the review!

Next, moon730: Welcome to the club! It's fantastic to have you here! Thanks for liking the story. And the title… While I'm glad you laughed… I just have issues with it. I literally could not think of anything else. I find it pretty lame… But since you seem to like it, maybe I'll keep it. And I am so sorry that it took so long…

PrincessCarly28: NO! DON'T STEAL MY COOKIES! D'X But anyways, I'm sorry that it took so long… I swear I didn't mean it to be this long… PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! :(

jordycat2000: THIS IS FAR FROM DONE! Again, I'm so sorry that this update took so long… I hope you don't hate me…

TheBigBadWolfxTheOncomingStorm: First off. I LOVE YOUR USERNAME SO MUCH! I'm a total Whovian myself. Thank you so much for the advice. It really did help. I hope that you don't think this chapter sucks as much as I do, because I think it's terrible, but at least I've finally got something! And I might take you up on the PM offer… Eventually… We'll see. I'm not on Fanfiction a lot anymore, so I don't know how often I'd be able to talk… So yeah. Hope you like it!

Naeda Beasly: I'm sorry… I know that it was terrible of me, and I know the feeling of clicking to the next chapter and finding an author's note instead… Please don't shoot me… :'(

Thanks as well to the PrincessVideogame, Persona shifter, the 3 Guests, ftshipper, NaLu Fan, SakuraPetal91, and Fairytailwatcherlove for your wonderful reviews! I do appreciate them a lot! But I do have a question for two of the Guests… Why do you want me to ship Gray and Cana? I don't really understand that one… Maybe I'm missing something. Explain, maybe?

So yeah… Leave a review! You know you want to… I hope you all understand that I love you lots and lots! But, I do love you more if you leave a review… Just saying… And now I'm just getting annoying. Hope to see you in the next chapter! Bai-Bai!

-animeawesomenesslover