I'm back with chapter 58! Please R&R and I shall see you at the bottom of the page.

POV: Lucy, Lucy, Narrator

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Laughter erupts from all around me and I look up in time to watch as both Gray and Natsu press their foreheads together seeming to be arguing about something. It is then that I notice that the raven haired male has once again unconsciously stripped down to his boxers. The cold air that makes the rest of us shiver doesn't seem to bother him in the least bit as the boys continue throwing idle threats at one another.

For the past hour the boys, along with some brave girls, have been playing tackle football outside in the nearby football field to wait until tonight's feast. They've all split up into two teams with one being the red and the other being the blue.

Natsu, Lisanna, Elfman, Mirajane, Yukino, and Loke make up the red team while Gray, Cana, Gajeel, Jellal, Laxus, and Juvia make up the blue team. So far the blue team is winning which surely doesn't make a certain pink haired teen really happy. I heard from Lisanna that Natsu can get pretty competitive in just about anything and hates to lose.

Sighing, I look on over around us to notice other students from Fairy Hills doing other activities not too far from where we are. A few people have set up a small court to play badminton even though the wind makes it a bit hard play well. Some other students have also set up another net and are currently playing volleyball while inside the cafeteria some people are sitting around the floor playing board games or just hanging out with their friends.

The atmosphere is so calm and happy that it's nice to feel myself relax a bit, although I have had a small nagging feeling at the back of my mind that keeps me from getting too comfortable. I try not to pay too much attention to it as I continuously try to find something to distract me from it. Thankfully the brawl that just broke out in front of me does the trick.

I watch as Natsu punches Gray in the face before Elfman shoves him out of the way while Gajeel tackles him down. When Gray recovers he tries punching Natsu back but somehow ends up punching Loke who also somehow gets a shoe thrown at his face. The girls stand on the sidelines as Cana cackles like a mad woman seemingly missing one shoe. As the fight progresses I notice that more guys have also joined in the fight and even my cousin seems to be holding down a captured Natsu in a tight headlock.

Of course there would be a fight today. It was Fairy Tail after all.

This thought leaves me feeling warm inside as I continue to watch the fight and even deadpan a bit when I watch Cana jump on Gray after he yelled something at her. It's comical watching the brunette slam her hands down repeatedly onto the boy's head while he tries to get her off. An angry Juvia eventually gets Cana off of Gray's back and I hold in the urge to laugh as I watch her drag Cana away from the fight and back onto the sidelines only to watch her throw her last remaining shoe into the crowd hitting Jellal on the back of the head instead of Gray.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL DOING?!"

Everyone within a hundred meters freezes in place and the air around us seems to get colder along with a heavy evil aura that causes us all to shiver with fear. Mustering up courage, even though I didn't do anything, I turn to find the mighty Titania standing on crutches only a few feet away from the edge of the football field with my grandfather standing beside her.

Both of them stare disapprovingly at the field of frozen teenagers who can only blink in amazement at the sight before them. This is the longest I've ever seen any of them quiet.

"ERZA MY LOVE," I turn in time to watch Cana race her way towards Erza at full speed snapping everyone out of their frozen state. Everyone instantly notices Cana running towards a startled Erza as they too chase after the brunette to keep her from hurting the still injured red head, "I've missed you so much."

"Cana stop," Makarov yells while trying to get in the teenagers way, but she jumps over him effortlessly as she continue to run towards Erza who has now started to panic and find a way to rush away from her on her crutches.

Thankfully several of the guys tackle Cana down just before she was about to jump onto Erza who somehow also ended up on the ground while Cana thrashes under them screaming for them to let her go. I rush over to the crowd along with Levy just as Cana stands up and is held in place by both Loke and Jellal.

"What a way to be greeted on the first day back, huh?" Loke asks me and I shake my head as I look over at a pouting Cana.

"I wasn't going to hurt her, I just wanted to give her a hug," she mumbles sadly as Lisanna hands her back her discarded shoes.

"You were going to tackle her down," Gray says incredulously, "You could have sent her back to the hospital."

Cana indignantly pulls away from both Loke and Gray and latches herself onto me and begins to sob, "Lucy, nobody appreciates my love for them."

From the way she's swaying and the smell of alcohol on her breath I can tell that she's been drinking already, so her actions don't really surprise me all that much. Either way I pat her back as Jellal helps Erza stand back up while she assures everyone that she's alright.

Erza then makes her way towards us and looks down at the sobbing Cana who looks back at her with tear filled eyes, "You're so troublesome," Erza says as she opens her arms to give Cana a hug.

It doesn't take much prompting for Cana to release me and hug Erza back as she sobs uncontrollably saying how much she missed Erza and how scared she had been. All the while I watch Jellal from over Erza's shoulder and notice that he's looking at me as well with a grim look on his face. I look away feeling my stomach churn as I continue to listen to Cana's insistent sobbing and Erza's soothing words.

"Alright brats, let's get inside already," Makarov says while breaking through the crowd, "Dinner is almost ready to be served so go ahead and start taking your seats," and with that everyone begins to slowly shuffle their way inside.

"Let's go Lu, before they take all the good seats," Levy urges as she tugs on my arm.

"Ok," I say as I let her lead me towards the cafeteria and all the while I can feel Jellal's eyes following my retreating form.

I sit down near the middle of the long table with Levy who is jumping up and down in her seat. A few others have already taken their own seats around us each talking about who they thought won the football game. Apparently no one had been keeping score so no one knew who really won the game.

"Just let it go," Lisanna says with a heavy sigh while taking a seat across from Levy, "If you keep on arguing over it you're just going to end up getting into a fist fight again."

The males grumble, but otherwise close their mouths and take their seats across the table from us leaving only a single open seat to my right. I look around the room and spot my family sitting near the head of the table each making their form of small talk. I had originally planned to sit with them, but Levy and the others convinced me to sit with them instead. So far everyone is sitting down except my grandfather and I've yet to find Natsu anywhere since the fight from the football field. He's probably being scolded right now as we speak.

"What took you so long man," Gray asks snapping me back and I look up to find Natsu making his way towards us looking really worn out.

"Nothing, I was in the rest room," he says before taking the seat next to me seemingly unaware of my presence.

"Did you get stuck on the toilet or something," I ask as I take a sip of water from my cup causing him to look at me shocked.

"N-N-NO," he yells, his cheeks dusted pink from his small rage, "The line was just really long," he argues while sitting down and ducking his head into his scarf, but I can still see the tips of his red ears poking out from the white fabric.

Everyone laughs at Natsu's antics as I look around the table to find Cana staring at me with a Cheshire cat smile stretched across her face. She then looks away and whispers something into Erza's ear who also looks over at me with surprise etched on her face. I watch them whisper back and forth between each other completely confused and curious as to what they're so eagerly discussing about.

"Just ignore them," Comes Natsu's voice as I look over at him, "They're just gossiping about nonsense as usual."

"Can you hear what they're saying?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"No, but seeing by the way Cana keeps on throwing sly smiles our way I'm pretty sure it has to do with what happened yesterday," he explains while giving a pointed look towards the tree where our ornaments remain side by side of one another. It doesn't take much thinking for me to understand what he's talking about.

Shaking my head, I reach out to grab the nearby pitcher to refill my cup with water when Natsu reaches out as well making both our hands brush against each other. An image from that night we walked home hand in hand fills my head as I pull back instantly feeling my cheeks blaze with embarrassment while Natsu scratches his chin sheepishly.

"Sorry," I say while keeping my eyes down on my plate already hearing giggling nearby from no doubt both Erza and Cana who keep looking our way.

"I-It's no problem," Natsu stammers as he reaches out for the pitcher and pours both himself and me some more water before putting it back where he got it.

"Thanks," I murmur earning a small smile from the wild teenager who also looks as embarrassed as I feel. I wonder if his heart is hammering as fast as mine is right now?

Either way I don't mind at all that he's sitting next to me. I'm more than happy to have Natsu sitting beside me on a night that I pray will go without a single problem.

Of course we all know that my prayers are hardly ever heard.

Dark eyes scan the room filled with lively teenagers before resting on a certain blonde who seems to be sitting next to the boy who everyone has tirelessly tried to keep her away from. She's smiling and laughing along with her friends and the boy too smiles next to her never seeming to tear his gaze from the beaming girl. The sight before those ancient eyes is a rare one, especially when the girl has hardly cracked a smile, let alone laughed, for days. Breaking her happiness now would be more than a crime being committed.

Sighing, Makarov Dreyar looks on back over his shoulder at the tall woman standing behind him whose eyes also watch the beaming blonde with deep interest. Her poignant expression is as emotionless as ever, but the scarlet eyes hold a sort of sadness that only the headmaster could ever recognize. It's been enough years shared between the two for the short old man to easily read his old friends feelings through limited expressions. For him it was always easy to tell when the tall woman felt anything other than anger and annoyance towards the people that surrounded her.

"She looks really happy," Porlyusica sighs while continuing to stare at the young blonde before moving her gaze on towards the three Strauss siblings who are sitting together near the usual rowdy group of teenagers who already seem to be threatening one another. If they waited any longer for dinner to be served there would no doubt be a fight commencing sometime soon, "She looks just like her mother," Porlyusica continues, her tone turning somber, "And Grace."

Grace Dreyar was none other than the wife of Makarov Dreyar and the mother of Layla, Grandine, and Ivan Dreyar. Due to unfortunate events she was placed in an asylum after trying to harm herself several times and repeatedly talking about certain people around her being dead. The insanity drove her mad and there were times where she always said how much she hated her family. Eventually Grace Dreyar got severely sick and passed a year before Lucy was born.

"Grace would have loved her along with the rest of her grandchildren," Makarov says while nodding sadly, "But she's in a better place now along with Layla."

The red eyes of the older woman look down at the short male casting a questioning look, "You're afraid that she might turn out like them," she asks not bothering to hold anything back. Too many years of being acquainted with the older Dreyar has allowed the older woman to talk curtly to him. It's been too long since it last actually bothered him. His silence is answer enough for her, "She'll be fine Makarov, she's got a strong mind and will-power, and full of stubbornness like a certain old man that I know."

"I'm scared of losing her Porlyusica," Makarov admits with downcast eyes, "Her father has already kept her from me for seven years and once he returns who knows how many more years it'll be before I get to see her again. She's the only thing left other than heartbreaking memories that I have left of Layla."

"She doesn't belong here Makarov, I'm sure the medical records are proof enough to admit that," Porlyusica argues while crossing her arms across her chest, "Which reminds me, the footage you asked us to look up from the hospital is missing."

"WHAT?! How?!"

"I don't know, but we've searched through hours of video footage and it's just gone. Anything recorded on that day that Natsu saw Igneel has been completely deleted or stolen which means someone hacked into our security system and drained the data out. Not even Juvia has been able to recover the lost footage and there's only one person I can think of willing to take all of these measures to keep himself hidden."

"Igneel," Makarov grumbles knowing full well that the older Dragneel had the capability of going this far to keep himself out of sight. It is what he was trained to do after all.

"I understand that he doesn't want us to see him, but I don't get why he would go to the lengths to steal every single footage taken that day. I mean, who is he trying so hard to hide?"

"That only adds to the stack of questions already piled on our plates, but no matter what we're going to find out the truth. We always do," Makarov moves to walk on out of the hallway the pair has been standing in for the past half hour already seeming to make his way towards his seat.

Once Makarov Dreyar is standing in his seat holding up his glass, the eyes of all the Fairy Tail students are drawn towards him as he clears his throat readying himself for the annual speech, "Brats…" but unlike every other year he never gets to finish his speech as an eruption of explosions alights the room with fire, smoke, and a ringing silence.

Oh no! Another cliffhanger! I wonder what's going to happen next?

Once again I'm so sorry for being out again. Food poisoning got to me, but fear not because I have survived. Also, I'm sorry that this chapter isn't all that interesting, but next chapter we will be witnessing a smidgen of a Nalu moment, the appearance of the people who just blew up Fairy Tail, and a possible character death. Who will it be, well you'll just have to wait and find out.

Shout Outs

Great thanks to all of my Fantastic Favorites...

- JCqueen

-Tristan521

- Celestial Hime

To all of my Fabulous Followers...

- Black - Wolf1905

- Nalu4Ever2003

- yazzyjazzy

And to all of my Fantabulous Reviewers...

- JenCakeLover = I'm so glad that you enjoyed it.

- Snavej = Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it.

- FDsecretart = I also like that idea, which is why I added it in. I love how Cana's carefree attitude makes it easy for her to tease both Natsu and Lucy.

- blazingpyro606 = You have to wait and see.

- Fairy Tail 4lyf = I know, the anxiety is even getting to me!

- Splendora Lopez = I think so too, and thank you so much. I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying it.

- fanficlove2014 = I left small hints with the mystery voices so if you want to go back and try to crack the code you can, or you can wait for the next chapter where they will be appearing.

- HazelDragonNora = There will be a bit of more Nalu in the next chapter, but from here on out it's an even bigger emotional roller coaster.

- MeGustaZeref = She isn't, at least not yet.

Well that's all the shout outs for today.

If you are enjoying my story so far please follow, favorite, and review - remember, reviews are a writers candy - and if you have any questions or ideas you'd like to see put into this story you can also PM me and I'll gladly add it in.

Until next time my lovelies.