A/N: Happy Easter! I had to bump up the rating because I was driven to write a full blown lemon in the latter portion of this chapter. Sorry if that discourages some of you to read this, but my artistic vision felt it necessary to have a Lucy x Gray love scene. Or maybe it's not necessary, but I really wanted to write the two of them getting together! 4/20/14

Chapter Thirteen:

Her chest hurt from the exertion, but Erza refused to be the weak one in the group. She may have been aged sixty years in the last twenty-four hours, but she was determined to stop Chaos and Minerva from their evil plot. Jellal had his arm around her waist to help her up the stairs — normally she'd have slapped him away, but she needed his strength and support. Maybe, once they managed to prove victorious, she'd listen to what he was trying to say.

Jellal had used one of Mystogan's staffs to create a shroud of invisibility around them. It masked not only their visual appearance, but also any sounds or smells that might emit from them. He had inherited quite a few useful tools from his Edolas double. Erza was a bit jealous considering that her Edolas double had been more or less an evil tyrant.

Loke wasn't in much better shape than she was. His hours in the spirit realm hadn't been enough for him to fully recover, but he was a member of Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail never abandoned a teammate in need. They reached the top floor of the Joy of Joya. An imposing door barred their entrance and there seemed to be several locks in place. If they weren't suspicious of the place before the security only confirmed them.

The sound of thunder rumbling close by made Erza nervous. She had a flashback to the multiple lightning attacks she suffered from when Laxus attempted a coup d'etat of Fairy Tail. Her aged heart began to beat erratically.

"I've got this," Juvia said. She twirled a portion of water towards the door and inserted it into the locks and released the tumblers — Jellal's staff masked the sounds. "There's more than just physical locks on this door," she said frowning.

"Requip," Erza said pushing away from Jellal. She focused her power on equipping herself in her battle armor. She knew an attack that would obliterate the door and any barrier between them and the room. Materializing in her hand was a large katana. She caught the worried look in Jellal's dark eyes for her, but ignored it. There was no time for his concern while someone was stealing the very vitality from so many! "Demon Blade Crimson Sakura!"

The attack obliterated the door and whatever magical barriers that were behind it. In the center of the large open area was a huge lacrima. Sitting in a chair before a series of smaller lacrimas serving as scrying mirrors was Minerva. One of the lacrimas showed an image of Natsu fighting fiercely somewhere outdoors and another lacrima showed Gray and Lucy racing towards the sky on a bridge made of ice.

Unfortunately, Erza's attack also dispelled the effect of Jellal's invisibility spell.

"You!" Minerva cried out. "Why won't you just die!" She sent a wave of dark magic towards them, but it was intercepted by a flock of giant ice birds that Lyon sent flying in her direction. The birds shattered in thousands of splinters, but the attack was stopped.

"Why won't you just stop destroying lives?" Erza called back. She used her katana and aimed another attack towards Minerva. The attack was stopped by a mass of dark energy. Erza felt a sharp ache in her chest and began to fall forward to her knees, but Jellal caught her.

"Chaos! Why are you doing this?" Loke shouted addressing the mass of black energy. In the center of that mass was the amulet that Erza recognized on the goddess from the alleyway. "The rules forbid you to interfere in mortal affairs!"

"Rules made by your kind!" Chaos said manifesting in a womanly figure. Her skin was a charcoal gray, hair black as pitch, eyes a deep purple with stars shimmering within. A long elegant dress of shimmering purple manifested cloaking her. The amulet rested around her neck. "I will not be stymied by celestial spirit rules! I am a goddess!"

"You were a goddess!" Loke argued. "You're nothing but greed now!" He stood in battle stance. "Regulus! Lion Brilliance," he said quietly. A blinding light (only to enemies, allies were unaffected) illuminated from Loke's body over a wide radius. Minerva fell to the ground and Lyon and Juvia worked together to encase her inside of a prison of ice. Chaos was hardly effected. "Regulus Impact!" Loke rushed her in a powerful melee assault where a great concentration of light centered on his right hand and he punched through Chaos, ripping off the amulet in the process.

"How dare you!" Chaos raged. The entire room was filled with a strong static energy from the accumulated volts from the lightning.

Loke smashed the amulet and Erza felt her strength return to her. "It worked," Jellal whispered. "You're you again." Erza couldn't ignore the relief in his voice or in his dark eyes.

"We'll talk later," Erza promised. She kissed Jellal's cheek and then rose to her feet and hurried to Loke's side. The celestial spirit was starting to fade back to the spirit world. "You've done well, Loke. We'll take it from here."

"Can't leave yet," Loke panted. "It's just about to get good." He gestured towards the ceiling of the sky scraper. The roof ripped apart by a powerful attack of ice. Gray and Lucy slid on an ice bridge to land next to Erza and Loke on the floor. "Good to see you," Loke said.

"Looks like we're at the right place," Gray said glancing around the room and noted Minerva contained within the ice cage and also the additional company of Juvia and Lyon. He grinned at them. "Nice touch. I'm glad you're here. There's another ice mage and he's powerful beyond anyone I've ever met," he warned.

"Loke!" Lucy cried out, pulling out of Gray's arms and wrapping Loke into a hug. "You've done well, you can go back. We'll take care of things from here," Lucy said worriedly.

Loke winked at Erza and returned Lucy's hug. "I couldn't leave without knowing you were safe."

"Stop trying to kiss up to my girl, Loke," Gray warned.

"Virgo, Taurus, Scorpio, and Aquarius are keeping the other dark mages contained for now," Lucy explained.

"Fools! You think you have time for a social gathering!" Chaos screamed. Her voice was so powerful that the mages clutched at their ears. Erza drew her hands back to see that blood had trickled out of her ears. She could see the same was true of her teammates.

"Hecate! Just kill them!" Minerva shouted. "They'll ruin everything!"

"You! Pitiful human! You have failed me!" Hecate, the goddess of Chaos, screamed at Minerva. She sauntered near the dark mage. "Your father worshipped me. Have you any idea how long it's been since a human has worshipped me properly? He brought me chaos! He helped me thrive! If you had been able to do your job for a few hours more I'd have been whole!"

"How about you go back to where you come from?" Erza said. She held her sword once more ready to unleash another powerful wave at the lacrima itself.

Jellal stood at her shoulder. "Together," he said. Erza nodded. She unleashed her Demon Blade Crimson Sakura while he released his attack. "Altairis," he said holding his arms above his head casting his spell. All the nearby shadows were drawn towards him creating a dense orb. Their attacks were released simultaneously and the large lacrima containing the stolen youth of the victims, it shattered, and the stolen energies were released.

Hecate stumbled to her knees, her body lost physical substance as the stolen life energies were released. Her form began to shimmer and grow misty.

OoO

The ice bridge leading to the roof brought an unpleasant addition to the assembled company. Jiemma — the disgraced Guild Master of Sabertooth — stood before them with all his stolen youth gone. He now looked like the man that Lucy remembered from the Grand Wizard Tournament months ago. Along with him stood the mysterious ice mage that had given them the tickets for the magic show. Jiemma had called him Silver. The seductive female mage stood at his side, though she appeared weakened and barely able to stand.

Silver grimaced, the expression stretching his scared facial features grotesquely. "You may have delayed us, celestial spirit mage but know that your spirits were dispatched quite painfully," he warned.

"They're fine," Loke promised. "You cannot kill a celestial spirit. When we return to the spirit world we recover."

"You should go back yourself," Lucy worried quietly.

"Not yet," Loke said stubbornly.

Silver snapped his fingers and the icy cage holding Minerva shattered to the floor. He scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder. "I've had enough of this realm," he said.

"What happened to Sayla?" Minerva asked.

Silver looked towards Sayla with either pity or disdain. "She tried to persuade the Scorpion Spirit to do her bidding and his insanely jealous girlfriend the Water Bearer did not respond favorably."

"Together, we can defeat these interfering Fairy Tail mages!" Minerva vowed.

Silver glanced around the room. The giant lacrima lay shattered, Chaos had curled up in a ball on the floor as Jiemma hovered about her, and Sayla could barely stand. His attention was drawn to the lacrima showing Natsu's battle and defeat of Jackal. "No. I will not stand for this distraction any longer. We have things to do in case you've forgotten. Remember where your true loyalties lie. Or should I just kill you myself and be done with it all?"

"No, you're right," Minerva said in defeat relaxing against his shoulder. She glared at Erza. "This isn't over, Scarlet!"

Erza grinned in challenge with an excited gleam in her dark eyes. "I look forward to defeating you again then, Orlando." She held her sword in front of her chest in a soldier's salute.

Silver, Minerva, and Sayla all vanished.

"Anyone want to explain what just happened?" Lyon asked. He ran his fingers through his white hair in agitation. "Did we just win?" He absently kicked a pile of shattered lacrima with the toe of his boot.

Gray sent a wave of ice to entrap Jiemma and Chaos inside two separate blocks of ice. "Just in case," he said.

Lucy looked toward Loke in confusion. "So, she's a goddess. What does that mean?"

"It means, it's time for her to come home and face the King of the Spirit World. He'll decide her punishment," Loke said.

OoO

The police had been happy to take Jiemma into custody for his accessory role in the troubles that plagued Joya City. The nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and mental wards were back to normal population sizes once the youth returned to the great number of their excess patients. All the missing persons had been accounted for and returned to their families. The casino was once again flush with visitors of all ages.

Loke had taken Hecate, the goddess of Chaos, back with him to the spirit world where she belonged. The Spirit King would see that she wouldn't escape to inflict such harm upon the mortal realm again.

Mr. Percy had been ecstatic with the job of the Fairy Tail mages that he insisted that they stay at least until the end of the week and enjoy an all-expense paid vacation. Juvia and Lyon had declined the invitation when he extended it to them. They'd said there was more to their mission that they needed to settle.

Gray had been relieved to see that Juvia and Lyon were working together. Maybe, the water mage and his old rival ice mage would find happiness together. Juvia wasn't a bad person, but she wasn't the right person for him. He pulled Lucy snuggly against his side as they sat at the edge of the swimming pool. Their feet were dangling in the cool water and they watched so many youthful visitors playing at the pool and laying out enjoying the sunny skies. The unexpected rain showers were at an end.

"What do you think Erza and Jellal are doing?" Lucy asked, leaning her head against his shoulder with a blissful sigh. She was donning her new bikini — it was skimpy, white, and had golden strings holding it together. Gray wore a pair of dark blue swimming trunks and didn't look much different than he usually did wearing dark blue shorts.

"I think they were going to check out that wedding chapel and see if there was a Siegrain impersonator," Gray said. "And maybe find out if there was any cheesecake left from Erza's earlier exploration." He closed his eyes and took a deep relaxing breath. Everything was just so perfect at that moment.

"GRAY!"

Gray's eyes snapped open and he felt Lucy stiffen beside him. They recognized that angry shout anywhere. He saw Natsu storming towards him with Lisanna and Happy trailing behind anxiously. "What?" Gray called back in a calm, bored tone.

"WHAT THE HELL!? I get here and the job is already complete?" Natsu demanded.

"I can't help it if you're slow," Gray said with a grin.

"I would have been here faster if we hadn't been delayed by all those storms and then this stupid dog of some sort that likes bombs attacked me on the way here!" Natsu argued. "He wasn't even that hard to defeat. It was like he wasn't even trying!"

"Natsu," Lucy said. The Salamander stopped his tirade and blinked at her curiously as if just now noticing her proximity to Gray. "Calm yourself. Everything worked out. Why don't you, Lisanna, and Happy join us at the pool? We'll swap stories."

Natsu blinked and frowned at her thoughtfully. Lisanna and Happy had a chance to catch up to them. Happy flew towards Lucy and landed on her shoulder, hugging her. "Lucy! I'm so glad to see you again!"

"I'm glad to see you too, Happy," Lucy said rubbing the blue cat on the head.

"All right," Natsu agreed sitting on Lucy's other side with Lisanna beside him.

"So, how did you two walk the whole way or find some other way to travel?" Lucy asked.

"I transformed into a white mare and Natsu and Happy rode upon my back," Lisanna explained.

"Without becoming nauseated?" Lucy asked, her eyes wide in shock. She was grateful that her magic speciality was celestial spirits. The idea of transforming into a horse and having her boyfriend ride her as a beast of burden was decidedly unsettling.

"Yeah, it's like with Happy. If Lisanna carries me it doesn't feel like transportation," Natsu said with a shrug. "What happened here?"

"It turns out that Hecate, the ancient goddess of Chaos, was causing all those thunderstorms to absorb power. She then was using the former Sabertooth guild master and his horrible daughter, Minerva, to steal the youth of the visitors to the city. They had some powerful allies, but they seemed to lose heart and just up and left once we defeated Chaos," Gray explained. He slid into the water and took hold of Lucy's knees.

"Who do you think the allies were?" Natsu asked. "The one I faced was definitely not human — he had dog ears and everything."

They'd faced some humanoid mages before, but Lucy knew what he meant. Sayla had horns — a very nonhuman attribute. "Whoever they are we haven't seen the last of their dark guild," Lucy said.

Gray's fingers on Lucy's knees tightened and without warning he sprang up from the pool, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her into the water with him arching his back and dunking them both under the surface. Happy had flown off her shoulder immediately and hovered over the pool when they resurfaced.

"Hey! That's rude!" Happy cried, fluttering his white wings in agitation.

"You were looking too hot," Gray said with a smirk. He held Lucy against him and while the sun had been keeping her warm Gray's cool flesh raised chill bumps all over. He kissed the juncture between her neck and collarbone from his position behind her.

Lisanna smiled at the two of them fondly and then reached for Natsu's hand.

Natsu glared at Lucy and Gray.

"Natsu, it's okay, Gray is just goofing around," Lucy said worriedly.

Natsu abruptly looked away and stared at the tiles lining the edge of the pool. "Your swimsuit," he muttered.

Lucy and Gray both glanced down to see that her skimpy white bikini did little to protect her modesty and that not only did Gray's lower body temperature raise goosebumps on her skin, but her nipples were incredibly perky and noticeable.

Gray dunked them lower in the water, hiding the evidence of her reaction to him. Natsu didn't need to know that it wasn't just the cold that affected her. Gray's strong, muscular torso pressed against her was exciting her hormones.

"How about we catch up later?" Gray asked. "Lucy and I need to have a private discussion back in the room. Did you guys decide to take the pull-out sofa?" His arms tightened against Lucy and she could feel something hard pressing against the back of her thigh.

"We took the middle room," Lisanna said. "It was empty when we arrived to the suites."

"That was Erza's room," Lucy said.

"How about we go and check on that thing?" Gray said.

"The thing?" Lucy felt that something pressing against the back of her thigh more insistently. Her eyes widened. "Oh, that thing!" She smiled brightly at Natsu, Lisanna, and Happy — they were all giving her strange expressions. "We'll see you at dinner tonight."

"I'll meet you on the other side of the pool," Gray said before he dived under and started swimming away.

Lucy pulled herself onto the ledge and gathered hers and Gray's belongings.

"Good luck with your thing," Lisanna said with a giggle, her cheeks rosy.

"I don't get it. What thing?" Natsu asked. He looked towards Happy, but the Exceed shrugged.

"Lisanna will explain it to you later," Lucy promised. She secured her beach towel over her breasts, slipped on her glittery flip-flops, and slung her tote bag with all the rest of their things — including their room keycard — over her shoulder.

Gray was waiting for her at the stairs at the other end of the pool. "It's getting hard to hide this," he said. Lucy held out a towel for him and he quickly snatched it and wrapped it around his waist. "So, there was something I wanted to ask you, about your trip to the convenience store the other day." Gray took the tote bag from her and positioned it over his shoulder and then draped his arm over her shoulders as they fell in step with one another.

"Oh?" Lucy asked.

OoO (WARNING! LEMON In Next Section!) OoO

Gray and Lucy stood in their bedroom and peered down at the contents of Lucy's big suitcase. Underneath her top layer of clothing was an assortment of colorful and flavorful condoms and lubricant.

"I swear, I didn't know about this," Lucy said. Her face was pale and her dark brown eyes were wide. "Loke must have done this." She picked up one of the condom packages and a bottle of lubricant. "I just don't know what to say about this."

Gray reached out for Lucy's face and trailed his cool fingertips along her cheekbone to her chin. "How would you feel about using his generous donation?"

Lucy dropped the items on the bed and caught his hand. She tilted her face against his palm. "Gray, honestly, I don't know how to go about such a thing. I mean…have you ever?"

Gray shook his head. "I never really met anyone that attracted my attention quite like you, Lucy. I respected my Master Ur so much that I could never disrespect any woman just to gain experience," Gray said.

Lucy kissed his palm. "That's a relief. We can figure it out together then."

"I mean, it's not that I haven't read any books or anything," Gray said with a smirk.

"This time, let me help you out of your clothes," Lucy said. Gray dropped his towel and stood still as a statue as Lucy gripped the waistband of his swimming trunks and began to tug them down. He stood before her without a stitch of clothing, fully erect. He could feel his hands chilling up in his nervousness. Lucy traced her finger over the scar on his lower abdomen. "I've always been impressed by your body."

"Considering that we've been inside of each other's bodies before I'm glad to hear that," Gray said. He'd only known Lucy a few days when they had been part of the body switch magic. He may have lost his clothes a time or two, but only Lucy knew what it was like to be inside of his body. Now he wanted to know what it would be like to be in his own body, but inside of her.

He kissed her forehead and drew her body close to his and began to unwind the string of her bikini top. He let the top fall to the floor alongside his swimming trunks and carefully held her generous breasts in his hands. "I don't know how your back doesn't constantly ache," he said remembering the pain in his lower spine from when he'd been inside Lucy's body. He began to kiss the base of her throat while his thumbs ran lazy circles over her nipples.

"I invest in supportive bras," Lucy gasped arching her neck into his kiss. "We better lay down on the bed or else my legs are about to give out and we're going to end up on the floor."

Gray shifted his hands from her breasts to her buttocks and lifted her up. Lucy wrapped her legs around his waist and he deposited her on the bed. Gray began to kiss her lips, nipping and when she opened her mouth began to French kiss her, twining his tongue with hers. Her legs loosened and he took the opportunity to use his hands to slip off her bikini bottoms. He drew back from her enough to look at her head to toe.

"You're beautiful," Gray murmured.

"So are you," Lucy said sitting up and grabbing Gray's hands and pulling him on top of her. They bodies melded together, her soft curves to his hard planes.

"Um, Lucy, " Gray cleared his throat. "I had wanted to experiment with some foreplay, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to last."

"I've heard it's pretty rough on the girl the first time around, so the lubricant is probably a good idea." Lucy propped herself up on her elbows and picked up the condom package she had discarded earlier. She ripped open the package and held out the latex balloon-like item. She glanced at his erection and back to the condom and started to stretch its rim. "Let me," she said as she placed it over the tip of his penis and then slid it down to cover his shaft. "You're hard as a rock."

"They do call it a boner," Gray teased. He ran his fingers through Lucy's loose hair. Her blond hair felt like silk. He kept one hand twisted in her hair while his other hand found its way to her other batch of golden hair, he slipped one finger inside of her wet slit. "I don't know that we'll need to use that lubricant," he murmured before claiming her lips once again.

Lucy fell back against their pillows and Gray took the opportunity to slip a second finger inside of her. He shifted so that he could position himself over her. It couldn't be that hard — tab A into slot B.

"Wait," Lucy said.

Gray grit his teeth to keep himself from losing control. "Yes?"

"Lay back, I'll be on top," Lucy suggested. "I think maybe it will be easier that way —easing you in and all."

"How do you figure that?" Gray asked.

"Read it in a book?"

"Lucy, it's going to hurt this first time. I don't want to hurt you, but it might be best if you let me be in control this time. I promise I'll be as gentle as I can," Gray said. He kissed her cheek.

Lucy took a deep breath and bit her bottom lip in anxiety before she nodded her agreement.

Gray kissed her lips once more and then slowly began to ease himself inside of her body. It was tight and he could feel Lucy's muscles tensing and her breathing become erratic. He moved slowly past the resistance and kissed the salty tear that had trickled out of Lucy's eye. He waited inside of her, growing accustomed to the new sensation. A hand job would never be able to compete. He could feel Lucy start to relax and that's when he began to slowly slide back and forth, she began to buck her hips in rhythm.

And before he meant to, he released. His semen began to spill out, caught by the condom, his arms shook as the sensation from the orgasm rocked his entire body. He could see that Lucy hadn't experienced the same release. He pulled out from her and replaced his spent member with his fingers once again. He rubbed his thumb over her little button and kissed her fiercely again until he could feel the muscles of her abdomen shudder and her wall clenching around his finger. Lucy cried out and he smothered the sound with another kiss. He pulled his hand out, noting the blood that coated his hand and stained the sheet. He kissed Lucy's breast and then lay on his back and pulled her on top of him. Their bodies were slick with sweat.

"What did you think?" Gray asked.

"I think, next time I want to be on top," Lucy murmured sleepily against his shoulder.

"Give me a few minutes of you laying on top of me like this and I'm sure we can try again," Gray promised.

OoO

Lucy's cheek rested on Gray's chest listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. Her muscles were sore and her nerves were on fire, but she had never been more content. She felt safe with Gray and happy.

"Remind me to thank Loke," Gray murmured. He was staring up at the ceiling, idly stroking his hand down Lucy's spine.

"I'm starved. We should order room service. Forget about dinner out," Lucy said.

"Probably should order some new bedding too," Gray pointed out. "We made a mess of things."

There was a knock on their door. "We're about to go out for dinner. I told the others you'd want to stay in," Jellal said.

"Oh my," Lucy whispered. "Do you think they heard?" She hadn't even thought about their suite-mates.

"How could they not?" Gray said quietly to Lucy, his face bright red. "I think we'll be ordering room service," Gray confirmed to Jellal in a louder voice.

"Don't worry, I was the first one back to the room. I propped one of my staffs against the door to cancel out any noise that might be heard," Jellal assured them.

"Bless you," Lucy said.

"We're going to be back in two hours. You might want to be ready for company by then," Jellal warned.

"I think we're be presentable by then," Gray said. He began to tickle Lucy's ribs and she pressed her mouth against his throat to stifle her giggles.