Chapter Seven

The next few days passed in a blur. There was so much to do! Sting hadn't accompanied me on any more of my training outings and Loke, for one, was thrilled. I was a little less pleased. It kinda felt like he was avoiding being alone with me. Which sucked because I had a great time. But maybe it was a good thing, when we were training it had seemed like he was attracted to me and I wasn't sure I wanted to be one of Master Sting's conquests. But now…Any time we actually spoke he seemed, I'm not sure…worried? Uncomfortable? But I didn't have time to worry about it. Between spending half the day at Sorcerer's weekly and the rest shopping, researching and organizing our travel for the quest I didn't have much to spare for wondering why stupid Sting was avoiding me.

We still had no clue what darkness or evil we were going to be up against but I was confident we had deciphered the rest correctly. It really wasn't that complicated of a riddle, and I think the tiny messenger spirit had done that on purpose. Keeping the letter of his agreement with the king and not the spirit. I was grateful. I convinced Yukino to let me call Levy about the warning Delphinus gave us. She was worried the call would be intercepted. She knew someone was looking for the key and they probably knew my connection to it. That's why she didn't call me, she thought someone could be spying on me trying to get information on the keys' whereabouts. I promised her I would only tell Levy about the legend, Oblivion and the other two ingredients. I wouldn't mention the key or anything about where it could be or where I was going and what I was doing.

Levy was happy to hear from me as always. When I got her on the video lacrima I could see she was wearing some kind of uniform.

"Wow, Lev, didn't figure you for the uniform type."

"Oh," she looked down at herself and blushed. "I didn't have room to tell you in my last letter but Gajeel and I joined the council."

I was shocked, I never thought I'd hear the words Gajeel and council in the same sentence without "arrested by" in between. I told her as much. It was good to hear her laugh again.

"Tell me about it. I think the power's gone to his head a little, he keeps going around threatening to arrest everyone for the smallest thing."

"Well I'd love to hear all about it but I've got kind of a time sensitive request. I need your help." It had been a long time since we'd worked on anything like this together, since before the guild disbanded. It brought back a lot of memories, some sweet, some painful.

"Really? Anything for you, Lu, you know that." I was relieved with her response but not surprised. I knew Lev would always be there for me. Maybe her being at the council would actually help a lot. They probably had access to loads of old information that might be able to help us. I told her everything I could about the legend and who might be looking to start Oblivion. I could see her little hand zooming by at the bottom of the screen taking notes on everything I said.

"I'm not gonna be home for a while, long story, but I got a portable communication lacrima. If you find anything, give me a call."

"I don't know, Lu. This isn't a lot to go on…"

"I know, Lev, just do what you can, please?"

"Of course. I'll be in touch."

Jason was thrilled that I was going off with the master of Sabertooth, he didn't mind giving me a leave of absence as long as I told him all about it when I got back. I told him I was sure I'd have the story of the year when I returned. His heart eyes told me I probably should have chosen my words better, especially since my cover story was I would be at the Sabertooth guild hall for several weeks. Oh well, I wasn't totally lying. If we were successful it would be the biggest story since Fairy Tail disbanded. And if we weren't…it wouldn't matter.

It seemed we all agreed that we were as prepared as we possibly could be. Somehow between the 5–I mean 7–of us we still had way less luggage than Erza ever did for just herself. I wondered how Jellal was dealing with that. Yukino had even secured a new silver key. She was now newly contracted with Vulpecula the fox. It wasn't a particularly powerful spirit, but it was clever not to mention cute! Kinda like my Plue.

All in all I thought we had done well and were set to take off tomorrow, 9am sharp, for Iceberg. I was glad it was late enough I could still get a workout in. I wasn't looking forward to sitting on a train for 10 hours.

I was so nervous but I was also anxious to get started. I felt closer to Aquarius than I had since I broke her key. It was almost like she was watching and rooting me on. It was late but I couldn't sleep, I'd just sleep on the train. I was sitting on a little bench in the small courtyard staring off at the stars, clutching Aquarius' broken key when I heard footsteps approaching. I tensed up at first, but relaxed when I saw Lector walk up to me on soft paws, his partner trailing behind him.

"Hey Lector, Sting," I said and resumed my star gazing.

"Hey, Lucy! You all set?" Lector asked as he hopped into my lap. I closed my eyes briefly as I ran my fingers through his soft fur, giving his head a comforting scratch. "Yeah," I sighed. "I'm all set." My eyes went back to their search of the heavens as Sting took a seat next to me.

"What're you doing, Blondie?" I felt like I could literally see him, probably leaning back on the bench, hands behind his head, stupid smirk in place and I never even set eyes on him.

"Looking at Aquarius, but she's tough to see in Crocus this time of year."

"Lector, why don't you run off to bed?"

"Ahh, Sting! Come on, man! I wanna stay up late too!"

"Lector," he said sternly. "Bed."

"Fine," he was pouting. "Good night, Lucy." He didn't even bother to address his partner as he leaped off my lap and headed upstairs. I ignored the whole exchange. I wished Sting would go to bed too.

"Can you show me where she is?"

I looked at him and was surprised to see his body language was not what I had been expecting. There was no smirk, just a kind of, I don't know, sad look in his eyes maybe? And he turned facing me, hands in his lap. I searched his eyes for any clue as to what he was up to, I couldn't figure it out so I simply nodded and pointed to the night sky. From this angle you could just make out the five stars that made up her urn. I felt him adjust his seat, leaning back now, head tilted up to the sky.

"I can not see a thing, it just looks like a bunch of random stars." I laughed a little. He was right, they did look random, but that's how the spirits were able to find homes there. You didn't have to fit in perfectly to some preestablished pattern. They made their homes in the sky wherever it pleased them.

"Here," I said, taking pity on his squinting. I put my hand around his shoulders and pulled him closer to me.

Removing my arm, I put my head under his chin, trying to align our eye line. I took his left hand in mine and pointed it to the sky adjusting until his finger was aiming straight at the urn. I was too focused on what I was doing at first, but eventually I noticed that he was tensing up, his normally loose flowing body going rigid under my touch. He was holding his breath. I shivered. I wasn't sure why, but as I held up our hands I felt little jolts of electricity everywhere our skin touched. I wonder if he felt it too? I gulped, suddenly nervous. Get it together, Lucy.

"Do you see those four stars right there? Kinda shaped like a crooked diamond? With another sorta off kilter to the left?"

I felt his chest rise as he took a deep inhale. "Yeahhh," he breathed out.

"That's her urn. You can't really see all the rest of her, my buildings in the way. But straight below it, where those three bright stars form a triangle, that's the bend of her tail. Do you see her?"

"Yea," he rasped. "I see her."

"Isn't she beautiful?"

"Incredibly beautiful…."

I released his hand and let gravity pull our arms back down. My hand rested on top of his knee, his rested on top of mine. I didn't know why I wasn't moving it. I knew Sting' reputation and I didn't want to encourage anything between us…right? But I couldn't help it. This felt good. I shivered, there goes that electricity again. We just sat like that for a while, admiring the stars, my head on his chest, his chin resting on top of my head. Anyone that walked by would think we were two young lovers admiring the night sky. This was a bad idea. I should move. I should go up to bed. But I didn't. I couldn't.

I felt Sting's hand move, his arm circling my back, felt the little jolts as he touched my skin, just above my elbow. His fingers traced up and down my arm, little bursts of charge sparking in the trail of his touch. I shivered again, briefly wondering what else those fingers could do. Gods this felt nice. Comfortable. Safe...but also…dangerous.

I could feel the rise and fall of his chest, how his breath hitched a little as he continued his gentle touches. I could feel his warmth seeping into my back, warmer than any normal person. Hot white light pulsing under his skin. A lot like Loke…a little like Natsu. I heard my own breath falter as a sob caught in my throat. His hand stopped its gentle motions and instead snaked around my waist holding me tightly against him. It made my heart pound but at least it stopped my cries before they really started. I wondered how long we would sit like that.

Turns out not long. His arm released me suddenly and he leaned forward forcing me off his chest. He stood up and stretched.

"Well I'm off to sleep, big day and all that. Thanks for the astronomy lesson, Blondie," he smirked and just walked off. He didn't even wait for me to respond. Not that there was anything I could really say. What the hell was I doing? Being so intimate with the blond idiot. I could barely be around the guy without getting pissed off and annoyed and he'd been practically ignoring me for days. Besides, everyone knew he was a playboy. Worse than those Trimens from Blue Pegasus, mostly because Sting was actually successful at it. There was always a rumor in Sorcerer's Weekly about him being seen going home with this bartender or that waitress, some pin up model or Mermaid Heel mage. Sting Eucliffe was clearly not a loyal kind of guy. At least not when it came to women. He might be good for a one night stand but I was done with those. They never even actually helped me move on, if anything they made it worse. And even if I did want a no strings attached hookup, Sting was the worst guy to do that with. Especially when we were about to go on a weeks, maybe months, long trip together. So why did I fucking care?

My thoughts were racing a mile a minute and none of them were good. The last one, the one that just would not go away, was the worst. Because I thought how this was all his fault. Natsu, if he'd never left, I'd be searching for Aquarius with him and my feelings towards the white dragon wouldn't be such a jumbled mess.

"Natsu…" I whispered to the stars before I finally let the tears fall and the sobs shake my body.

"Ugh, finally," I moaned as my feet touched solid, unmoving ground. I sank down to my knees, Rogue right alongside me and we kissed the ground.

"Thank you, thank you," Rogue was repeating over and over.

"Fro's happy too!" Frosch said, patting Rogue's head to comfort him.

"Stand up, Master, you're embarrassing us," Minerva hissed at me as she not so carefully stepped over me to get off the train. I'm sure it was an accident when her heavy ass suitcase smacked me in the back of the head. Not. I knew what she was pissed about, I just didn't understand why. She saw me and Lucy in the garden last night. I know she did. I wasn't sure if she was trying to spy on us or not, but I didn't hear a whisper of sound telling me anyone was there,I just smelled that distinct spicy floral scent creeping up on me while I sat there holding Lucy in my arms. I knew it would be awkward if Minerva saw how we were sitting so I got out of there as fast as I could. It wasn't until I was laying on the couch in the living room that realized how badly I might've fucked it all up.

So I did what any smart guy would do when I heard the front door open a few minutes later. I pretended to be asleep. Only it wasn't Lucy who walked in, but Minerva. She paused on the way to the bedroom where the girls slept and I knew she was watching my breathing, trying to figure out if I actually was asleep. Too bad for her my acting had fooled much more observant mages than her, like her dad. She stomped off to the bedroom and slid the partition shut. Lucy came in about 15 minutes later, I still wasn't really sleeping. I couldn't, I was replaying the scene in my head over and over. Gods how it must have felt from Lucy's perspective. I really was an asshole.

When she came in I distinctly smelled the salt of her tears. Fuck, good job, asshole. I debated for a second just getting up and comforting her but she was already rushing as quickly as she could past the couch. By the time her screen slid shut again I had decided that I fucked this up irreparably. Besides, I was the one to make her cry, I didn't have any right to comfort her. When she crept past me a few hours later to go on her workout I was still pretending to be asleep.

I barely said a word to her the whole morning and she didn't even look at me until we were on the train. We ended up sitting directly across from each other and the second the motion sickness kicked in she gave me this look. Clearly saying serves you right and I couldn't even blame her. Yeah, I was an asshole. Meanwhile Minerva was pissed, I wasn't sure why, exactly, but I hadn't seen her this pissed at me since I went off on her for trying to use her charms to take over the guild. I made it clear to her that it wasn't ok to try to use me for power. That those days were over. That I was absolutely disgusted by her behavior, for fucks sake I beat Jiemma basically to death for saying Minerva wasn't worth anything but gaining more power and carrying on his bloodline. And here she was just a few weeks later manipulating me and using my feelings for her to get what she wanted. It was rocky for a few weeks after that, at first she kept trying to initiate something with me, but no matter how much I cared for her I knew I needed to move on, I wouldn't budge. Eventually we settled into an easy ceasefire. We could be around each other, even work together again. She got over her anger, I got over my disgust. I'd even gotten over all those pesky feelings.

But I didn't know what I was feeling about Lucy. Sure, she was hot, I'd always known that since I first laid eyes on her in the street at the GMGs. Flirting with her was fun and embarrassing her even more so. But after that early morning training session whenever I looked at her my mind went to all sorts of places it shouldn't, and none of them were what you'd think. It's not like I wanted to pursue anything with her, not like I had feelings for her…at least that's what I told myself. But when I saw her nose crinkle up in thought while reading a book, I wanted to ask what she was thinking. When I'd hear her and Yukino talking about her spirits, I wanted to ask all about them. When she was in the kitchen making dinner, I wanted to help her or keep her company. No matter how many times I tried to pretend I didn't like her, she would do or say something that pulled me in. That's why I started avoiding her, I couldn't be near her without an overwhelming need to talk to her or touch her. Last night in the courtyard…I just couldn't resist anymore.

Rogue and I finally made it to our feet and hobbled over to the girls where they were huddled in front of a large map. The region of Iceberg was pretty huge, but the train had dropped us right at the coast, in the port city of Imiq. It was freezing here so I guess the country's name was well deserved. Yukino pointed to a little dot on the map labeled as an inn, and the girls settled on the best route to get us there. Rogue and I were left to carry the luggage while the girls walked ahead, Frosch cuddled against Yukino's chest and Lector hopped happily from Minerva to Lucy and back again.

We got two double rooms at the inn, we were only staying for the night but we wanted to be comfortable, especially because Rogue and I were in for 8 days of complete misery soon. We were gonna meet at the bar in the lobby once we were settled. I didn't even bother to unpack, I just grabbed a shirt out of my duffel, my current one smelled like vomit, and was gonna change in the hall on my way down. I came out of my room trying to pull on my shirt, I don't know why the damn things always got stuck on my head, and I smacked right into someone's back sending them sprawling to the floor.

"Oh shit, sorry," it was a little muffled from my shirt but still a genuine apology. I gave the shirt another tug and I now successfully had one arm and my head stuffed in the right holes and that's when that delicious scent of strawberries and cream hit my nose. Oh, fuck.

"Sorry, Blondie," I said again, leaning down to pick her up. She shoved me off of her and got up on her own.

"Normal people get dressed in their rooms, Sting," she huffed at me.

"Yeah, I know, but I was in a hurry to get a bite. My shirt got stuck."

"Well maybe if they weren't so tight you wouldn't have such an issue putting them on!" She snapped at me. My hand immediately flew to my head, fingers fiddling with my hair. She really made me nervous. She looked me up and down and shook her head, turning away and heading downstairs.

"And it's not even on all the way!" Fuck. I shoved my other arm in the hole, the tight fabric snapping into place. I clipped my suspenders as I ran down the stairs trying to catch up to her. She was at the bar ordering a drink, I walked up behind her, caught the bartender's attention and held up two fingers, gesturing at Lucy and me, he nodded and walked off to fill the order.

I wanted to talk to her before the others got down here but I really didn't know where to start. Start with the truth, that's what Weisslogia always taught me. Which was ironic coming from him, now that I thought about it. And honestly, I wasn't sure what truth I should even tell her. Maybe just start with 'sorry for being a dick'? I leaned on the bar next to her, trying to get her to look at me, but she stubbornly kept her head turned. I deserved that.

"Hey Blo—Lucy," she tilted her head. I took that as a sign she was listening to me. I almost reached out to touch her but thought better of it at the last second.

"I'm sorry," there, simple, straight to the point. She turned a little towards me so I went on. "I'm sorry I made you cry, I really didn't mean to. I hope we're still ok." She faced me fully now, shaking her head a little. She looked at me directly and rewarded me with a soft smile. "Of course, we're ok, Sting. Besides, you weren't the one making me cry."

"I wasn't?" She shook her head. "Then…who…?" She chewed her bottom lip for a second and looked down, like she was ashamed. That's when it hit me. Of course, Natsu. No, shit, it's not like I've given her reason to think about me, I'd been practically avoiding her all week.

"I really thought I was done with the tears, but I guess they can creep up when I least expect them." I just nodded at her, there was really nothing for me to say. Of course she was thinking about Natsu. They'd probably laid just like that dozens of times, Lucy showing him her spirits. Natsu having no fucking clue what she was talking about. All cuddled up, holding each other, he probably rubbed her arm just like I did, probably held her tight against his chest, just like I did. I realized last night was probably nothing special for her, not like it was for me. I felt a sharp pang of jealousy in my chest at the thought. I wonder if her heart was racing for me at all last night, or if it only beat like that because she was thinking of him. I was overcome with the need to ask her just what the fuck happened with the two of them, but I knew the timing still wasn't right.

"Right, well, uh—I'm glad we're ok." The bartender returned with our drinks, I held mine out to her and we clinked our glasses together. I had to restrain myself from drinking it all down in one shot. I took a sip instead, rubbing the glass between my hands. I let a little light come through in my palms and watched how the glass refracted the light, making different colors bounce around on the bar. Lucy let out a soft sigh.

"That's really beautiful, it reminds me of the northern lights." I let the light fade out, wondering when Lucy had the chance to see the northern lights…and who she was with. The others thundered down the stairs, Rogue caught my eye and waved at us gesturing to a free table in the back. I threw back the rest of my drink and made my way over. I felt Minerva's eyes on me the whole time.

Dinner was a quick, semi awkward affair. We were so exhausted and none of us wanted to stay up late talking. Besides, inn bars were where spies did their best work, we couldn't risk it. We made a game plan for tomorrow, to pick up a few last minute supplies, ask around at the merchant shops for any travel tips on getting the Bargo, then we'd meet at the docks at 11 in time to check in for our noon departure time. Rogue and I would handle the luggage we already had. Then we filtered off one by one to bed, I was the last one to leave.

A/N Awww. Sting ignored her because he liiikkkess her (Happy voice). And Lucy…well she knows two things: She's hella confused and She misses Natsu…and Sting is hot. Oops! That's three :)