And as I promised, the next part in Fae's story, hope you guys like this next chapter and all the chapters to follow, it's good to see you back here!

Lucy had managed to get me home and passed me into the care of Levy who had helped me up the stairs and into bed where I'd fallen asleep and stayed asleep for an entire day, waking up with an astounding headache and a cold. Just perfect. "You're a little feverish too." Levy was saying with worry, touching my brow with the back of her hand as I shivered under the covers. "You're burning up."

"But it's f-f-freezing…" My teeth clattered together as I curled up and hid under the duvet hoping for some extra warmth the smaller I made myself.

"I'm going to get you some remedies, they may help bring down your temperature a bit and ease up your cold. Don't even think about leaving that bed whilst I'm gone, I promise to be back soon." She instructed me strictly.

"No complaints over here." I murmured before sneezing into a handkerchief then groaned as it made my headache even worse. This sucks. I'd heard from Levy that Lucy and the others had gone to some beach resort with tickets Loke had bought for them as a thank you gift from him. If only I were under that sun, I'd be warm again!

"Well you look terrible." A voice suddenly announced and I gave a groan.

"Whoever you are and whatever you want, I'm not interested. I'm sleeping." I flung out from under the duvet before hiding underneath it again, still shivering as I tried to tuck my knees even further into my chest.

"Come on princess, surely you can wake up for just a few minutes just for me? Or do I have to come in there looking for you?"

"Loke!" I flipped around and sat bolt upright but in my sudden movement I smacked my head against his, not realising he'd been so close. The collision made my head spin and I fell back down into my pillows, clutching it gingerly. "Hey."

"Hey." He answered, rubbing his head with a chuckle. "Not the greeting I was expecting."

"Sorry, my bad." Sniffing deeply I turned my head and closed my eyes, wanting to just sleep off this stupid cold. Suddenly I tensed, freezing in place before I spun back around again. "Loke! What the heck are you doing here? You're supposed to be recovering in the spirit world!" He looked the same as he had before only with a little more colour in his face which was a good thing I guess but still!

"Don't you worry about me. I heard from Lucy that you became ill after you two locked powers so I came to cheer you up." He placed something on the bedside table and I peered out to find a large bowl of ice cream and a single purple carnation, instantly making my eyes water and my eyes sparkle. Ice cream! That'll do wonders for my throat.

"Thanks Loke, you're the greatest." I murmured softly, reaching out for his hand and he sat down on my bed beside me, giving an adorable grin as he took my hand and laced his fingers through mine.

"I know, comes with being naturally charming and good looking." He shrugged and I arched an eyebrow at him before pulling my hand away from him to push myself upright into a sitting position, slowly because of my head and Loke reached around me to prop up his pillows. "I wanted to thank you. You've saved my life twice now."

"Comes with being naturally heroic and kind hearted." I retaliated with a smirk, giving another sniff as I blinked my eyes blearily. "I'm sorry, I'm not in the greatest state to be a host at the moment but I'm glad you came. I was worried about you."

"I know." He answered, reaching out and played with my hair for a moment, running it through his fingers then tucked it back behind my ears. "But I wanted to thank you properly. I gave Lucy tickets to a beach resort but since you're not well enough to go, I decided I'd go for something that might be a little more useful for you." Reaching out he took my hand and turned it over to place something cold and metallic in my palm so I looked down to see a key. "That's the key to my old place here in the city. It's all yours. I won't need it anymore and it's not rented so you won't ever have to worry about paying rent again."

"Loke…there's no way I could accept something like this." I murmured to him as I reached up and touched my necklace. "You've done so much for me already, I just wouldn't feel right if I took your house on top of everything else. I mean, I didn't really do much in the first place. It was all Lucy."

"You were shared your magical energy with her. That's not nothing, princess. You could have died had Lucy taken too much of your magical energy by accident." He corrected me but I just gave him a look, smiling wearily.

"You and I both know Lucy had the strength to continue on her own up to the point where the spirit king intervened. I just didn't want to sit there being completely useless. It wasn't necessary but I wanted to help you somehow, even if that meant giving every last drop of my energy over to Lucy so that she would succeed." Loke reached up with a hand and began to trace patterns over my features, making me sigh and relax as my eyes slid closed of their own accord.

"But still, I know you would have gone through with it all the way to the end and you were willing to stay with me until it was all over. I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for me. So I want you to take the house. You don't have to live there, you can do whatever you want with it, sell it even, but please take it. You'll find all my quest money there too. I'm leaving it to you to spend as you see fit. Treat yourself to something once you're better. All the ice cream you can eat." He winked at me making me blush and quickly avert my eyes.

As an excuse I reached out for the ice cream and began to chow down. Vanilla with chocolate sauce and coconut shavings. Delicious. "I can't stay much longer, I'm still not up to full strength yet. You take care of yourself okay princess? Don't go getting into any trouble without me there to save the day and rescue you."

"You and I both know I'm not a damsel in distress and no matter how much you call me princess, I'm not kind you can sweep off her feet and carry off into the sunset." I told him sternly, pointing at him with my spoon which he smirked at before leaning closer. I froze in place and a light blush touched my cheeks again as he moved dangerously close, his nose brushing against my ear as his warm breath turned my shivering skin into melted ice.

"You'll always be my princess and that'll never change." I felt a shiver run up and down my spine as my chest hammered with the wild beating of my heart and the butterflies began to multiply in my stomach. Maybe eating the ice cream wasn't such a good idea. "Get better soon, okay?" He told me as his hand lay over my head and he leaned his brow against mine, our eyes connected as he faded into a soft glow light before disappearing completely right before my eyes, his warmth and comforting weight beside me now gone completely.

"Get a hold of yourself Fae. It'll never work out." I muttered despairingly to myself as I let my ice cream rest in my lap completely forgotten. "He's a celestial spirit and he's contracted to Lucy now, which means there is no way in hell anything could ever happen. Not that he'd be interested in the first place, he probably just sees me as a little sister." The painful words made me sigh so I slapped myself to wake myself up, refusing to allow myself to become some pitiful, heartbroken sob like Loke's other girlfriends. I was made of sterner stuff than that.

I finished the ice cream then fell back asleep, waking up later in the evening where Levy made me a herbal tea to try and help settle things down. It worked wonders and I slept through the night and awoke feeling much better in the morning however I stayed in bed for another day or so just to really make sure I was back on my feet before going to visit the bathhouse with Levy for some relaxing respite.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something." I said to Levy as I slipped into the water and relaxed into the heat.

"Sure, what is it?" She asked as she began to wash the water over her arms and into her hair, settling back against the comfortable side.

"Do you still want me to live with you?" I asked her and she looked at me in surprise. "I mean I know it's a little crowded in our room and you've been used to your own space before and I kinda just turned up out of the blue so if you want me to move out then I'd completely understand."

"Of course not, I like having you there. I have someone to talk to in the evenings instead of my books and I like the fact it doesn't feel so lonely anymore." Levy told me studiously. "I know we'll eventually move out when we meet a special someone and get married, but for now I'm very happy the way we are." I smiled and resigned myself to pushing any concerns away from me. "What's brought all this on?"

"Well…Loke stopped by the other day and gave me his house key as a thank you gift for all I did to help him. I tried to talk him out of it but he was pretty determined so now I have a house. It's bought and paid for, so if we moved in there then we wouldn't have to pay rent at all. What do you think?" Levy stared at me a moment before a wide smile stretched across her lips.

"That's a great idea! That way we'll have more than enough money to spend on whatever we want! Does it have the room? Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

"Of course, I wouldn't want to move in there and be all by myself. As you say, it would get pretty lonely and I'd probably end up talking to myself out of sheer desperation." I chuckled as I began to wash through my hair. "The bedroom is bigger than the one we have now so we'd still have to share, but from what I remember it's a very nice house, kind of cabin cosy and retro."

"Sounds amazing, I can't wait. We'd better give in our notice to our tenant in that case." Levy chuckled before splashing me with water, making me laugh as I sent a wave right back at her until it was an all out water, ended only when someone else entered the bathhouse and gave us a look of disdain as we giggled.

That night I climbed up onto the roof and lay back to watch the stars, scanning them all until I found the constellation of Leo. "I still miss you." I murmured with a soft sigh as the stars twinkled down at me. I stayed up there for several hours before Levy called me inside with a warning that if I became ill again she'd make me drink the most horrible brews she can concoct.

We wrote a letter of notice to our tenant which gave us two weeks to move out. Seeing as Loke's place was fully furnished we sold whatever furniture we didn't need and took only what we wanted such as the cuddle couch, Levy's favourite armchair, one of the beds, an extra wardrobe and such then gradually moved it in. Jet and Droy offered their help and so did several other people from Fairy Tail such as Elfman who could practically carry everything without us needing to put it on a cart so it made the moving a lot cheaper than we thought I'd be.

As Levy began to decorate her side of the room similar to the way she had in her old room, I went into the pantry and started to stock the shelves with all our food then filled the kitchen cupboards with our various assortments. Utensils that we had spared of were donated to the poor and as the place began to look more like ours, I turned to the large amounts of jewel Loke had left behind.

I hadn't realised how rich he was, considering he had a rather simple place like this. Maybe that was the reason why. It felt wrong to take the money all for myself, so I decided to spend it on things that would make other people's lives a lot easier. With that in mind, I arranged for several construction crews to head to the downtown area and they started to rebuild the houses, starting with Rima and Mimi's. They were shocked when the crew suddenly showed up but didn't argue as they began to repair their home, fixing the roof and windows, filling the cracks in the walls until it was almost brand new.

On their doorstep I left them a large sum of money with a note saying it was theirs to keep and I did the same with several other families that I knew of who were struggling with money problems before donating the rest to charity. It made me feel very chaste and rather proud, giving me an inward glow that I would carry with me for weeks to come.

The guildhall was completed at a rapid pace and I have to say, I rather like the upgrades we now have, especially the pool. It was almost tempting to stop going on so many requests just to hang out at our awesome guild where things were really spruced up. The master even gave me a part time job working at the café so that Mira wasn't stretching herself too thin and I rather enjoyed it there. My cooking skills had greatly improved over the last year and a half and the extra wages were certainly welcome, especially whilst I was still healing up. There's a bruise on my back that just won't seem to go away.

Whilst working at the guildhall I reverted to my old clothes of a white ruffled blouse and an ankle length skirt, my old ones being completely trashed but it was easy enough to find near identical replacements so I didn't worry too much about it.

Lucy and the gang returned after two weeks away on holiday and as they stared at the massive new face of the guildhall I gave a laugh and waved to them as they spotted the outside café and guild shop. "Hey everyone! Glad to see you're back!" I called over to them, holding a tray of food on one hand and a jug of fresh lemonade in the other. "What do you think?"

"This little café is adorable! Are you working here now?" Lucy questioned as she skipped over and sniffed at my food. "Wow that smells great! Did you make that?"

"Uh huh, Mira's been giving me extra lessons and I have to say, it's not so hard once you know how to read a recipe." I chuckled as I set the food down in front of the customer and poured them a glass of lemonade to cool them off in the hot sun. "How was the resort? Did you have fun?"

"You bet, but I have so much to tell you, so much happened!"

"I'll listen to everything later after my shift, you should go on inside and check out the rest of the hall." Smiling with a wink I chuckled mysteriously. "Prepare to be amazed." Lucy nodded her head then hurried after Erza, Gray and Natsu to take a look at the inside of the guildhall.

"Hey Fae, when are you gonna give up your job and come marry me?" One of the boys asked as I poured out more lemonades, making me smile and shake my head at their jests and attempts at flirtations.

"But I've only just started working here! If I left then who would cover my shifts? I could always ask Natsu…"

"No!" I laughed at the collective chorus that rang across the entire café front, making me chuckle as I walked back into the kitchens with my next orders. I had a pretty efficient system going with all the cooking, the other two chefs keeping things busy as I lent a hand wherever they needed me. One of them prepared food, another cooked it and I arranged it all on the plate whenever I wasn't needed to do the seasoning or make some of the simpler dishes on my own.

Suddenly I heard a commotion from within the guildhall so I wiped my hands on my apron and went to investigate. The moment I stepped through the connecting door I ducked under a chair as it splintered over my head. "What's going on?!" I demanded to know before leaping to the side, moving quickly to avoid a brawling pair. Everything was a mess with broken tankards, tables and chairs everywhere, the main culprits scrapping in the middle of the room. "Natsu! Gray! Get your butts over here!" I yelled before striding over, however as I grabbed Natsu and hauled him away, my eyes turned to his opponent and the moment I saw who it was, I froze in place.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little kitty with claws." Gajeel drawled with a smirk as I stared widely at him, dropping a struggling Natsu to the ground as my heart began to hammer in an instinctual fear. "What, aren't you gonna say hello to your new guild mate?" He questioned with his dull, grating tone. Seeing the confrontation everyone stopped fighting and turned to watch as I stood in front of Gajeel, trying my best to glare but my shaking hands and shoulders gave me away. "Glare at me all you want kitty cat, I can still see the fear in your eyes."

"Oh yeah? Well no kidding! You almost killed her!" Natsu yelled as he sprang back up to his feet and held out an arm to block the way between Gajeel and I. "You're not getting anywhere near her, you hear? Just stay away from her!"

"No problem." Gajeel waved a hand dismissively as I began to breathe again, loosening up enough to reach out and touch Natsu's shoulder.

"It's alright." I murmured vaguely and Natsu looked back at me with a blink. "We'll just have to live and make do. He's one of us now, which means we have to treat him as such." Natsu growled in answer so I balled a fist and thumped him hard on the head, flooring him again. "Don't grumble at me! Speak up if you have something to say!"

"Yes ma'am!" He saluted as I placed my hands on my hips and glared around at everyone.

"This behaviour is despicable! We've only just finished fixing up the guild and now you're trying to tear it down again! ERZA! Stop choking Elfman and Gray, if they ruined your cake then I'll bring you another slice with extra cream and strawberries. Master! Pull yourself together for goodness sake. The rest of you, get this place cleaned up NOW!" I ordered, foot tapping against the ground as everyone jumped to obey.

"It seems I taught her too well." Erza mused with amusement as I turned around, sending her a wink before hurrying to return to the kitchens where I hid in the corner and tried to get myself under control. My hands continued to shake as I cut Erza an extra large slice of cake, adding a few extra strawberries on the top with a side of cream before sending it out to her.

The people outside noticed the change in me when I returned outside. I smiled and laughed just like before but they could see me trembling and every smile was forced. I couldn't help it, the memories of what that guy did to Levy, the boys and I were still fresh in my mind. He'd broken my wing! My wings were the most sensitive part of me and he'd just ripped through one of them like a knife through butter.

Shaking my head I forced myself to keep working, however at the end of my shift just as I was about to walk home Levy came running towards me with a panicked look in her eyes. "Fae! Fae you have to help me stop them!" She yelled, making me stop and look back at her with confusion.

"Stop who? What's happened Levy?" She stopped as she reached me, clutching her knees and bending over to catch her breath before she stood upright again.

"It's Jet and Droy, they've made Gajeel agree to meet them in the park this afternoon, I think they're going to try and punish him for what he did to us. You have to help me stop it before it's too late, Gajeel will turn them into scrap metal! He's way too strong for us, please Fae, help me talk some sense into them!" Nodding my head I stepped forwards and let Levy jump onto my back, curling my arms backwards to keep her supported before I raced through the city to the central park where the oak tree stood, my favourite tree in the entire greenery. "Oh no, we're too late!"

"So what's the deal? Why'd you ask me to meet you out here? Make it fast, I gotta get to work." Gajeel was saying as I appeared behind the two boys, Levy sliding off my back and hiding behind the tree as I stood and glanced between the three of them.

"We've got a bone to pick with you!" Jet announced as Droy clenched his fists. I could smell the anger coming from them in waves whilst Gajeel stood there as calm as could be. Something in his eyes told me he knew what was coming, a silent readiness as he stood stoic.

"After what you did to us, there's no way we're letting you join our guild!" Droy agreed as Gajeel gave a roll of his eyes.

"Come on guys, can't you just forgive and forget?"

"Maybe he's right." Levy spoke up timidly as she peeked out from behind the tree, doe like eyes shining slightly as her lower lip trembled. "I mean now that he's in the guild he's not going to do it again." But both Jet and Droy stood there stubbornly.

"We gotta let him know."

"He can't mess with us." Levy gave me an alarmed look and I tried to move forwards but my feet were rooted to the spot and no matter how much my brain tried to order my limbs to move, they just wouldn't respond. I was stuck fast.

"That's right, go ahead and act tough. While you still can!" Jet snapped before charging forwards with his super speed, pummelling straight into Gajeel who flew backwards without even dodging. Without even waiting for Gajeel to get up Droy attacked next, causing plants to erupt from the ground and start punching the iron dragon slayer who took those hits as well without even trying to defend himself. With a final kick Jet sprung back as Gajeel crouched on the floor, gritting his teeth as he breathed deeply. "You had enough yet?"

"What happened to the tough guy act?" An electrifying scent suddenly cracked through the air and my head snapped around to see Laxus walking towards us, his expression stern and malicious.

"You're not giving the new guy a hard time, are you?" He questioned and the others spun around to stare at him in disbelief. "But seeing as this is the punk that tore down our guildhall, I understand how you feel." I clenched my fists tightly at my sides as I began to get a sense of trepidation. Something was going on here, Laxus didn't care about what happened to the guild before, so why show up now? "I bet the old geezer only let you join because he was scared of you wrecking the place again." He walked forwards to face Gajeel who glared upwards but said nothing whilst I hissed angrily.

"You take that back about the master, you dirty pig!"

"Shut it!" He snapped at me before rounding on Gajeel again. "We've become the laughing stock of the magic community, because of you! On my way back from my last job, I stopped off at a few pubs and I heard some things that really pissed me off. Everyone was talking about how weak the Fairy Tail guild is now. No one dared to say that about us before you came along!" It happened so suddenly that I didn't even have time to blink. The space around Gajeel suddenly blasted with a lightning aura, tearing a bloodcurdling scream of agony from him as Laxus then balled a fist. "Now…you're gonna pay!"

"Laxus no!" I yelled as lightning ripped through the ground and sent Gajeel crashing through the park and into a tree, slumping into the grove of ground that his bodyweight had created.

"You're taking this too far!" Jet tried to pull Luxus's attention away from Gajeel. "Calm down man!"

"I know Laxus is strong and all but something's not right. Seems like Gajeel is going down way to easily." Levy had her hands cupped over her mouth as she watched in horror at the scene before her, eyes glistening with watery tears.

"I didn't realise until now, but Gajeel isn't fighting back."

"He's letting them get his anger out on him." She whispered as Laxus stormed over to Gajeel who struggled to lift his head. "I think he's trying to gain their acceptance." As Laxus lifted a foot over Gajeel's head, the expressed aim became clear and suddenly, I was furious. Sure, I didn't trust Gajeel at all, but no one deserves this sort of treatment, especially when they were trying to make amends for what they did in the past. As Laxus brought his foot crashing down, my body surged forwards and glowed brightly, my body changing shape until all at once I balled a fist and sent it flying straight into Laxus's gut with all my might and strength.

His eyes widened in utter shock as he was flung into the air and with a powerful beat of my metal wings I sent a rush of air straight at him, throwing him backwards to put more distance between Gajeel and the spoiled brat of a lightning mage. My hands were spread outward and my stance lowered to shield Gajeel, glowering darkly at Laxus as he picked himself up. "What the hell? What is this?!" He demanded to know, sparks crackling all around him as I continued to set my focus solely on him.

"This is my Sword and Shield Form. It enhances my attack and defensive power, meaning I can kick your ass if you so much as take a single step closer." I told him as the wind blew through my long hair. My body was encased in metal armour, melting around my body in perfect shape without a single inch of skin showing apart from my face. I wore an extensive helm, the golden circlet appearing at my brow only this time it came with an open gem at the centre with clear beads hanging down the side of my face, clinking softly in the breeze as my hair fell completely loose around my shoulders, billowing on the wind. Underneath the ropes of beads were metal sheaves that curled around my cheeks to protect the side of my face and they connected to the circlet on my brow with metal panels like small wings stretching outward.

Around my waist was a pure white cloth like a scarf, fluttering on the wind with a golden insignia of Fairy Tail, making me smile slightly as I continued to stand before Gajeel, fully intending to shield him. "This has gone on far enough, I refuse to stand aside and let you hurt him anymore. Sure, he's an asshole and I don't like him much, but he's one of us now and I protect every member of Fairy Tail with my life!"

"You're a mere fly buzzing around my face. A pest!" He yelled, clapping his hands together to generate even more electricity.

"Give it a rest Laxus! Leave him alone!"

"I'm not taking orders from YOU!" Laxus flung out an arm and I stared in horror as the lightning strike meant for me went straight for Levy who could do nothing but stand there helplessly, lifting her arms to shield her face as I screamed her name and tried to run forwards to protect her but in this form I wasn't as fast and there wasn't time to shift, I could only stand and watch.

Suddenly a dark streak blurred past me and I heard the clang of lightning striking metal. My jaw dropped open as Gajeel stood in front of Levy, his arm lifted and turned into metal to absorb the lightning impact to protect Levy. He…he did that for her? Maybe I was wrong about him, perhaps Gajeel really could change, or at least do the right thing some of the time.

"You through with me now? Cause I've got other things to do." He was shaking from pain and weakness, his voice low and cold as he began to walk away, Levy staring after him in shock.

"Um…Gajeel I…"

"Leave me alone." Transforming back into my regular self I ran to Levy's side, putting my hand on her shoulder to stand at her side whilst shooting Laxus a dark glare which he missed as he had already turned and walked away. I watched to make sure that he left before turning to Levy, making sure she was okay.

"You hurt Levy?"

"No I'm fine, thanks to Gajeel that is." She murmured as she took deep breaths to work off the adrenaline that no doubt was sending her heart into overdrive.

"Dude, you totally just landed a hit on Laxus! No one's ever done that before!" Jet told me as I hugged Levy close to comfort her.

"He was hacking me off." I answered in a mutter.

"Wait until Natsu hears about this, he's going to hit the roof. Maybe you're stronger than you think you are, you could totally become an S-Class wizard!" Droy said and I frowned slightly before shrugging dismissively.

"I took him by surprise, that's all. He wasn't expecting me to move that fast so I had the advantage over him but it won't happen again." Seeing that Levy was still trembling I turned and let her climb onto my back so I could carry her away. "Look, I'm going to take Levy home, I think she's going into shock."

"Yeah sure, need some help?" Jet offered but I shook my head, giving them both a stern look.

"I don't approve of what you did to Gajeel, by retaliating back that way, you've proved that you're no better than him. When people come to Fairy Tail, it's because they're looking for a new life. If Gajeel chose to join then that's his decision and we should trust the master's judgement. He let Gajeel join, which means he must trust Gajeel enough to not be a threat to us." They looked away from me guiltily. "When we next see Gajeel, I expect you both to apologise to him regardless of whether he wants to hear it or not."

"Yes ma'am." They answered in unison and I nodded my head before walking away, Levy still trembling against me as she hid her face in my shoulder. I'll deal with how I feel about Gajeel joining the guild later, right now Levy needs comforting and probably a very large bowl of ice cream.