Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.

Fair warning: this fic is rated M for a reason. Expect sexual themes later on.

"Speech"

"Thoughts"

The dark mage Sixring watched with fear as Llyria crushed and mutilated their way out of the prison, even when they belonged to the same guild this did not calmed his nerves as he watched the bloodbath courtesy of the leather clad woman.

The guards tried by all means to deal with her; however her lost magic made her an untouchable mage. Snapping the neck of the last guard she turned to his companion and flashed him a sadistic smile: "The way's clear! Let's go!"

Sixring only nodded and proceeded to follow her, but he then recalled something: "Zane! We forgot Zane! "

"So?" Stomping the head of a crawling guard she turned to him "What do you expect me to do about it?"

"What else: help me free him!" Looking around he mutters "He must be somewhere close."

Llyria's angered expression turns to a curious one: "Free him? You mean I should take care of him?"

Nodding, Sixring leads her down a corridor presumably where he guesses Zane is located. After checking some cells, and ignoring the pleas from several prisoners to be released, they stumble upon Zane. After the fight with Natsu, the armored dark mage is but a shadow of his former self; multiple bruises and burns adorned his body and face. Upon seeing them Zane's face lit up

"You guys…came for me…"

As Sixring approached his bruised comrade, a blue beam of concentrated magic ran past him and pierced Zane's heart. The mage tried to form words but a gargled sound was all he said before dying.

"Zaneeeeeee!" Turning around, Sixring watched a smirking Llyria with her hand outstretched.

"There! I took care of him, now we can leave."

Even when not always on the same page as Zane, Sixring still considered him a friend. Watching the joyful expression on Llyria made Sixring's blood boil with anger, but there was little he could do; her power was far beyond his and any retaliation would also result on his death. Resigning he decided to escape with her.

Giving him one last look Sixring said his farewell: "Sorry pal, but I have to watch my own ass."

Near the pond at the forest a teary Angel stared at her reflection in the water, the words of the celestial spirit were still fresh in her memories:

"Just like when you killed Karen…"

"A death you caused…"

"You killed her!"

Not taking it anymore Angel hugged her knees and let the tears flow freely now, no matter what she did from now on she would always be forced to burden her past sins.

"Angel!"

Hearing his voice made her heart skip a beat; he cared enough to go look for her. However the reminder of her past sins still weighted her down, she opted to ignore his calls but when the dragon slayer found her she had no choice but to face him like this.

"There you are!" Natsu exclaimed but his mood darkened when he saw her eyes, maybe he should have punched Loke harder for making her sad. Taking a seat next to her he asked the first question that came to mind: "How are you feeling?"

Wiping the tears she forced the best smile she could muster at the moment: "Fine! I only needed a few minutes alone to think."

Even when he wasn't the smartest in the guild, Natsu was still able to see trough her words, but decided not to push it further. For a few moments both contemplated the clear surface of the water before Natsu broke the silence first:

"My first kill was when Lisanna got hurt in front of me; I thought she was going to die and felt nothing but rage for that dark mage so I killed him without a doubt. I don't regret what I did, instead I learn from my mistakes so that I won't commit them over again. Sometimes we just have to accept the past and move on."

Hearing Lisanna's name didn't evoke the familiar feeling of jealousy from Angel; in fact she was captivated by how serious he seemed right now. After he finished his story he resumed watching the pond and waited until she was ready to speak, he had trusted her with something like this so she returned the favor by telling him her own side of the story:

"It was one of my first missions as a member of Oracion seis, the mast… I mean Brain ordered me to go to a manor and steal some artifacts worth a lot of jewels. Unfortunately, the owner of the manor had received an anonymous tip warning him of my arrival and requested assistance from a guild for protection, that's when I faced Karen."

Natsu listened attentively as she continued her tale: "I recognized her almost instantly, she was famous amongst celestial mages and I was no exception, this being my first real battle I was afraid to face a mage like her but I was also afraid of failing Brain. When she tried to summon a spirit I panicked and summoned my only spirit to order a desperate attack, but I was shocked the moment Caelum's shot pierced her chest." At this moment, the tears return as Angel starts sobbing quietly. In a rare moment of maturity, Natsu lends her a shoulder for her to cry on.

When she feels better she continues her story: "After she falls down I regain my wits and finally sense her magic. She was too weak to summon a celestial spirit, let alone jump out of the path of the shot I ordered upon her. Being inexperienced at the time I did the only thing that came to mind: I took her keys and ran as fast as I could back to the guild. The reason I took her keys with me was so I could offer them to brain, since I failed the mission to steal the artifacts, however I later learned it was brain who warned the owner of the manor so he could hire a mage to face me. It was all a test! Brain never cared about the money; he was only interested in knowing if I was capable of facing a mage in real combat."

The slayer watched as she dipped a finger into the water and made circles in it "Oracion seis was the only safe haven I had. My other options were either going to prison or returning to the tower of heaven. I didn't want Brain to think I was weak, so I just started acting crueler, sadistic towards my enemies. I just wanted to be free."

Coming to his own conclusion, Natsu offered it to her: "Well, if you put it like that, what happened with Karen was an accident."

"You think so?"

"Sure! What's passed has passed. Everyone makes mistakes, besides, Gajeel and Juvia once attacked Fairy Tail and we still accepted them into our guild. The important thing to remember is that we must move on and learn from our mistakes."

'You're right!" With newfound determination, Angel looked at Natsu "From now on I'll do my best to make up my past mistakes. Natsu, let's go on a mission!"

As Angel stood up one of her feet got tangled with a tree root and she tripped over Natsu; for a moment only silence surrounded them, during the fall she had somehow landed on top of him, but most importantly, her lips came crashing over his. A wide eye Natsu watched a similar wide eye Angel before their senses kicked in and both gained enough distance from each other. The first one to speak was Angel:

"Sorry! Sorry! It was an accident! I didn't do it on purpose" The celestial mage was desperately waving her arms in front of herself.

"It's ok, I believe you" Natsu replied while trying to lower the redness from his face "I think we better keep this incident a secret from the others, especially from Lis-chan."

Agreeing with him she followed him back to the guild. Unknown to her, Natsu was still thinking how soft her lips felt like, they tasted like strawberry. And unknown to him, Angel was mentally jumping in joy; nothing like a well calculated 'trip' to get closer to her goal.

While Natsu and Angel were away from Fairy Tail, Lisanna was busy helping her sister. As Lisanna looked for the box Mira had asked her to get, she marveled at the countless rare bottles lined up in order; this would indeed be Cana's dream come true.

"Is this the box you wanted?"

Mira looked to where Lisanna pointed and acknowledged: "Yes, that one! There should be 17 bottles left in there, grab 4 please."

"Huh? I only see 12 bottles." Lisanna grabbed four and approached Mira. The younger sister heard Mira say something about Cana but she couldn't hear all the words. Handing her the bottles Lisanna spoke:

"Sister, you wanted to talk to me about something" Seeing the change on Mira's expression revealed she had hit mark "what is it about?"

Sighing, Mira put the bottles down and replied: "I know you spend the nights with Natsu."

Lisanna was not surprised; she figured it had something to do with that. "Mira, I won't deny it, but me and Natsu are not doing…you know what."

"Really?"

"Natsu's idea, he wants us to take it slow." Lisanna said to her sister. "However, I wouldn't mind if we moved a bit faster…"

Placing a hand over her shoulder, Mirajane looked at her: "Lisanna; I'm not here to tell you not sleep with your boyfriend, I just want you two to wait until you're a bit older to start having a family."

"Mira-nee! We're not ready for that yet!"

"It's ok." Grabbing the bottles she headed for the exit "when you decide to take that step just remember to use protection. I think the box I gave Natsu had 20 condoms, so use them wisely, just not all of them on the same night."

"Mira-nee!'

Seeing the embarrassment on Lisanna, Mira couldn't help but feel happy for her. She only wished mom and dad would still be around for when that time came. As both girls left the cellar, Mira handed the bottles to Lisanna.

"Hold them for a moment please" Reopening the cellar she extracted a flustered Cana from it. "Can't let her stay alone in there or else we would run dry soon."

Nowhere else to run, Cana just shrugged: "Can't blame me for trying."

"But I can charge you for those wine bottles you took. Each one costs like 10 000 jewels. Since you took 5 that will be 50,000 jewels." Seeing the pale expression on Cana she gave her one of her cheerful smiles: "I'll just put it on your tab."

"Natsu-kun!" Lisanna greeted his boyfriend as he entered the guild, but then frowned when she spotted Angel just behind him. "Where were you?"

"I just went outside for a moment." The dragon slayer answered a bit fast but Lisanna didn't seem to notice.

"Me too" Angel blurted too. Before Lisanna got suspicious, Angel said: "But in a different direction. I didn't see Natsu out there, in fact; we didn't meet in the middle of the forest for any reason at all."

"Say! We were about to go on a mission, right?" Trying to change the subject, Natsu said to both girls "Let's check the board then."

Grabbing hold of his arm, Lisanna agreed with him. "You're right, Natsu-kun!"

Not one to lag behind, Angel grabbed Natsu's hand: "Natsu-kun! Can you take me to the board? I don't know where it is."

"Sure."

As before, Natsu was ignorant of his surroundings; half the male population of Fairy Tail sent envious glares at the slayer for having the attention of two very hot girls, while the two girls themselves fought a silent battle for him. Even when Lisanna was closer to him than her, Angel was not about to give up on her attempts to get his affection.

"If you want war, then you'll have it!"

High above ground, hidden over the clouds, a flying ship guild travelled across the night sky. This ship doubled as both home and guild to the strongest members of the Balamb alliance: Grimoire Heart. In the main room, an elderly man wearing an eye patch watched a recording of the battle between Natsu and the two members of Trinity Wraith. As he watched the video, a voluptuous woman in a revealing dress joined his side to watch as well.

"It seems little Natsu has gotten stronger since the last time we met."

Hades ignored her comment as he studied the recording, by the reports his spies had gathered he was aware of the bonding he had contracted with Lisanna but that specific information was of no concern for him. "Ultear; go and meet with this guild, Trinity wraith. Find out what they are planning. We can't let some random mages disrupt our plan to unseal Zeref."

"Of course, master. I'll go immediately"

As she left the room, Ultear gritted her teeth; she was not about to let anyone get in her way to reach her beloved Zeref and finally fulfilling her wish.

Several hours later, the guild was starting to clear out of mages. Some had gone on missions, while others retired for the day. Sitting on a table, Erza, Gray and Lucy remembered when team Natsu was just that: Team Natsu. Since Natsu had taken Lisanna, Angel and Happy with him, the three remaining mages were left with nothing to do. They had nothing against Lisanna of her relationship with Natsu, but they were starting to miss the occasional mission together with the dragon slayer.

Picking an ice cube from his drink, Gray broke the silence: "Don't know about you, but I suggest we make Lisanna an official member of our team."

"That's a good idea." Lucy replied to the ice mage "That way we can all go on missions as we used to." And get the money to pay this month's rent, she hoped.

"I wonder: Will this be the new rule from now on?" Erza question got their attention: "When someone from a team starts a relation with someone else, that person is adopted into the team."

Hiding behind a corner, Juvia was already starting to make plans for when she joined team Natsu: she and Gray would fight alongside each other as a couple, when she gets pregnant with his 30 kids or more she would wait for him to return as any loving wife would.

"Gray-sama! Juvia's body is not yet ready to carry your 30 (or more) kids! I wanna take it slow first!"

Neither Gray nor Erza noticed Lucy's mood drop, the stellar mage recalled Aquarius taunting words about not having a boyfriend while the mermaid kept shoving to her face just how wonderful Scorpio is. Meanwhile, Mirajane stood by the counter wiping glassed and planning her next matchmaker move:

"Gray and Lucy or Gray and Juvia?"

She was so focused on her thoughts she didn't realize a cloaked mage had entered the guild and was now in front of the counter. The other mages present saw him but thought little of it; mages came every day to ask if they could join Fairy Tail or just to try and charm Mira. This one was probably for the latter. The mage took a seat in front of Mira and waited patiently for her to finally notice his presence.

Leaving her ideas for later, Mira smiled at the arriving guest: "Hi there! What can I get you?"

"Just a beer. Please."

"Coming right up" grabbing the bottle she poured it into a tar and handed it to him "anything else?"

"Sure" grabbing hold of her arm she yelped in pain due to his strong grip "Your sweet body too!"

The moment they heard her in pain, Gray and Erza leaped at the offending mage, but in the blink of an eye he vanished taking Mirajane with him.

"Mira!" Gray yelled as he ran to the counter to look for any signs of her.

"It can't be" After seeing it before, Erza recognized the same magic that was used on Natsu and Angel. There was no doubt: that was the same mage from before, Sixring. But this time she didn't knew here to go.

"Master! The master might know what to do!" Lucy said to the three present mages. "Let's go to him!"

One moment, Mira was at the guild, the other she appeared in the middle of nowhere with the same mage from before. Reacting, she activated her demon take over and punched the mage straight in the face. Too weak to teleport, Sixring flied several feet away, sporting a broken nose and a mild concusion.

"Finally!"

Mirajane glared at the woman that emerged from over a hill, studying her for a moment she estimated her magic level close to that of an S-class.

Llyria licked her lips as she eyed Mirajane's curvy figure; the leather clad woman found Mira's demon form much tempting than her normal way of dressing, the things she would do to that body. A shame her master specifically ordered her to retrieve the 'demon' without defiling her 'purity'.

"You're from that dark guild, I presume?" Mira asked to the woman before her. "But you won't take me in so easily."

Mirajane was confused when Llyria started laughing: "Feisty and sexy, just my type. A shame I can taste you. You are right on that though; our power is almost the same, if I fight you there won't be a clear winner."

Dozens of dark mages emerged from all around the two women. While not strong enough to be taken serious, by their sheer numbers they could be a real trouble for Mira.

"That's where they come in. Take her! I'll be supervising you from here, let me know if you need my help."

Like rabid dogs, every mage savagely attacked the white haired girl at once. Mira fought some off with ease, but several hits broke past her defense. Opting to escape instead, she extended her wings and took into the air, but to her surprise the enemy's attack was coming much faster than before. Not a meter off the ground she was assaulted by a barrage of attacks at an alarming rate. "

"Since when did these mages became much faster?"

Spotting a glow emanating from Llyria she realized the attacks were not coming any faster, she was moving slower. "Time control magic!"

"You finally found out" with a wave of her hand, Llyria dissipated her magic, releasing a hurt Mirajane to fall back to the ground. "The difference is that I can control the perception of time of any target I choose, instead of wasting it on a large area effect I just focus on the enemy I wish to slow down."

Mirajane was partially listening to Llyria, while at the same time she fought off the remaining mages off her. Feeling more confident she could beat her, Llyria jumped down and made some hand seals:

"My lost magic also allows me to do this: Dimension cutter!"

Several energy waves soared towards Mirajane, the mages still surrounding her were also caught in the vicious attack but Llyria paid no attention to them, she was only interested in the demon.

With her wings hurt, Mira could only cover herself as she withstood the attack and thought of a way out of this mess.

A.N.

100 reviews, nice! Sorry for the delay with the update and that, but I've been busy at school, my new work demands a lot from me and not to mention I was working on some side projects as well (If you're interested in a oneshot between Gray and Ultear feel free to follow my profile and check it out.)

As you can see on this chapter, the demon I was referring to was Mira. This small arc is about to end and then I will start on the s-class trials (with a few changes that is) Starting now let me know if you think Natsu deserved to be promoted to a fully fledged S-class mage in the anime and manga (cause, this can be changed here u know)

Once again, thanks for the reviews and tips. Until next time.