Author's Note: Please read it all! There are a couple important parts, and some content after all of this rambling.

Hi! Sorry.. but this isn't a real chapter. I know I promised that I'd have it up Saturday, but I was unexpectedly busy again this weekend Q.Q so sorry! I really hate the delay too, but this update will also be delayed (it'll be up either later today or tomorrow for sure!)

This isn't really much of an excuse, but I'll try to explain a factor in my delay. This next chapter is probably my hardest to write so far. I'm actually at a loss of words at certain parts when writing/editing it. I don't want to spoil anything, but my choice of words has never been so important. Because of that, I'm having trouble constructing the chapter in a way that's vivid enough for you all to get an accurate image of. Again, I know does not excuse me in any way, and I truly apologize Q.Q

And while we're on the topic of how terrible I am, I'd like to request you guys to review more! I've gotten some feedback on my questions, and got some tips from some generous people (you know who you are, thank you!), but I'd really like to hear more opinions! I really love hearing your thoughts, on anything and everything! I'm more than happy to consider your requests, comments and questions! So please, let me hear your internal voices (okay that was bad. I'm already ruining your days enough. Sorry.)

But I'm not just here to tell you about how much of a terrible person/writer I am (because I'm sure you already know by now), I want to include at least some content, so I also wrote a small bit of fluff.

tl;dr: sorry for being bad, thank you for reading/being patient with me, enjoy this small writing bit, and please anticipate the next chapter, which is definitely coming within the next couple of days!

Erza sighed as she picked off a piece of her strawberry cake. There had been a lack of challenging jobs recently, and the redhead was getting restless. She tried having some sparring sessions with other members of the guild, but she found little satisfaction.

When Erza asked to spar with Macao and Wakaba, both trembled a little as they made pathetic excuses that they had appointments to go to.

Gray said he had better things to do than "get his ass beat" and walked off.

Laxus was out of town with the Thunder God Tribe.

Ever since the S-Class Promotion Trials, Juvia got terrified whenever Erza mentioned anything about a spar. Same thing for Lisanna.

Mirajane politely declined, joking that she couldn't hope to match Erza these days.

Natsu, who normally would have sprung at the first chance to fight Erza, was too busy moping around the guild because of the absence of Lucy and Happy.

Erza huffed and folded her arms. There had to be someone she could match swords with. Some decent training partner that would keep her skills sharp.

"Hey, Erza. Gramps just told me about an interesting job request. Something about some wolves attacking merchants on the roads." Gray walked up, holding a paper with a job request on it. Erza snapped out of her reverie and stood up.

"Interesting, indeed. Let's get Natsu and Wendy." Looks like she'd have to wait a while longer to find that perfect sparring partner.

A/N: Well, there's that. To clarify context, this takes place between chapters 6 and 7, when Lucy's still in the Celestial Spirit World. A bit dull, but it does have a tiny amount of relevance to the story. It'll be more apparent soon enough :D.

And sorry again for being late.. Real chapter coming soon!