Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)

Chapter 27: Love, Hate, and Strategy

After the entire city of Crocus had been repaired with magical power to look as perfect as it always did, all of the teams were back in their respective booths. Well, one team wasn't. They were out on the sandy battlefield being congratulated by Mato and all of the judges for the five-day tournament. Rogue had been smiling calmly while he held the golden trophy in his hands, something that made Natsu become angry at seeing, but he was silenced by Erza hitting him on the head and reminding him how he caused the discord in Fairy Tail. That had majorly played a role in both teams losing, and it was mostly Natsu's fault.

If the situation had been totally altered, with Natsu never getting that whip cream all over Marina's shirt while she had been spying on Fairy Tail, then the fire dragon slayer would never have had a reason to even chat with the teal-haired girl in Fairy Hills. When they had first gotten in bed together like that, Natsu's desire for more romance pretty much caused Fairy Tail to fall apart. After all, two teams with major signs of dysfunction were clearly not going to be able to have any signs of cohesion for the group. Natsu had let himself be charmed by Marina's beauty and perfume, not knowing that it would cause Fairy Tail to now become the third-strongest guild in Fiore.

Even though Marina's team got second place in the Grand Magic Games of X792, she could only hug Shelly while giggling evilly at the fact that Fairy Tail had gotten creamed so badly. Aqua Kyogre did have a big role in causing Fairy Tail to have quite a streak of losses, especially in the survival tournament, and some people in the stands were still shocked about a dark guild being here. The icy mages with watery abilities were certainly powerful, possibly even being rivals with the Oracion Seis or Grimoire Heart, and it was now proven that Fairy Tail couldn't take down an underrated threat.

As the crowd was cheering for Sabertooth, some people took notice of the fact that Lucy and Sting were missing. Orga had thought that those two were just making out somewhere, but Yukino looked a bit concerned while knowing that she had seen their battle against Shelly on the Lacrima Vision screen. Lucy had always wanted to defeat her rival, aiming to be much better than Shelly, but her best efforts were just not good enough for the prospect of winning. It wasn't her fault that Shelly had been hiding some of her best moves for that battle, giving Lucy quite a shock, and the difference in strength between both girls was quite wide.

Lucy's body had been numb from the icy attack that Shelly used to break her streak of victory, making the blonde girl unable to move while she felt coldness all over her body, and it had been pretty sad to see Lucy cry while she had to admit defeat to her tanned rival. It was so frustrating for her to feel so futile in a battle that she wanted to win, a victory that really would've made her feel like she was strong, and Yukino could guess that Lucy was very upset over the fact that her new spells could not defeat Water Magic and Ice Magic with the respective properties of being so dense and glacial.

Sting was also pretty miffed about his loss against Shelly, totally wanting to take down that flirty criminal from Aqua Kyogre, and he had also failed to protect Lucy from harm. Neither of them thought that Shelly would be so tough to beat, since Lucy had gained so much power in the other battles, but it was clear that the black-haired woman was on a level higher than the skills of Erza Scarlet. After all, Shelly's sea of black magic was actually the finishing move that nearly washed away Erza's chances of even still being alive.

Even though Yukino knew that Team Sabertooth had just won, she knew that Lucy and Sting were both feeling down about their defeat at the hands of Shelly. That was probably another reason why they were unable to show up at the closing ceremony for the Grand Magic Games, and Yukino also knew that Lucy did not want to see Shelly right now. She must've felt really broken, mainly in spirit, and Yukino knew how it felt to be confident about fighting in a match before losing it easily. Even Kagura couldn't beat Shelly, and Team Aqua Kyogre was truly powerful.

As the four members of Team Sabertooth walked out of the stadium to reach the inn that their teammates were now staying at, Yukino told her friends in a calm tone while looking concerned, "Lucy-sama and Sting-sama are both really upset over their loss, but they still tried their best. We still won the Grand Magic Games, and we need to make them feel happy about that. They had one loss, but it's nothing to really be ashamed of. We should try and find a way to cheer them up, and let them know that they can succeed next time."

Rogue added in a calm manner, looking stern while explaining the dilemma to Yukino, "It may seem like just a loss, Yukino, but Lucy is upset about losing a battle to her rival. You see, the battle between Lucy and Shelly had a winner this time. For Shelly to outclass Lucy like that, as well as beating down a guild master like Sting, it's got to be making them both feel really down. However, we really should find a way to make them feel better. Last year, we had no bond of nakama in our guild. This would be the best time to show Sting and Lucy that even if they fail in battles, we're still here to support them."

Yukino knew that something had to be done for her friends to be happy again, but she also knew that rushing their emotions away would solve nothing. Lucy would have to talk about what went wrong in that fight, and Sting would also have to tell Yukino about what went wrong. She had initially thought the idea of counseling them would be good, but Lucy and Sting also needed to talk this out with each other. It would keep them both distracted while Yukino would be planning a special event for them, something that would truly make her friends have smiles on their faces.

One hour later, at the Fairy Tail guild...

Erza still could not believe that Natsu would be stupid enough to cheat on Lisanna with Marina, making Fairy Tail have much more drama than the fire dragon slayer's explosive conflict with Lucy, and the guild had pretty much imploded. Everyone on both teams could only look disappointed or miffed at how it all went down, not expecting to lose so badly against two other guilds, and people like Cana had even went to go bathe for the prospect of a hot shower taking away the bruising pain of Fairy Tail's ultimate losses.

They had a rough start on the first two days, mainly because of Team Aqua Kyogre messing with them, and the fourth day with the tag-team battles was not exactly the best day ever for Fairy Tail. On top of that, losing to Lucy and her clones made from auras had really caused people to feel down. They had not thought she was weak, but Erza was just shocked to see Lucy team up with Shelly. Team Aqua Kyogre was definitely trouble, which was clearly true to Erza, but Gray had a different view of the whole thing while he sat down at a table with her.

The ice mage saw the trouble to really be Natsu, and Fairy Tail losing in the Grand Magic Games could actually be a large cloud of bad karma for what happened at the very start of Lucy's heartbreak. Gray was glad to have made amends with Lucy, since he truly was sorry about seeing her get hurt and not doing anything to help her out, but he also knew that Fairy Tail losing an awesome mage like Lucy was what had really damaged the guild's chances of winning. Not only was the blonde girl powerful now, but Lucy had been like the glue that held everyone together.

She was the nice girl who could always encourage her friends to do better, always making people feel happy when they were down, and Gray could only narrow his dark blue eyes when he led that back to Natsu being at fault for hurting Lucy's feelings. He did not have to cheat on her like a total jerk or make this big plan for people to not even talk with Lucy about anything, and being excluded like that had truly made her feel hurt. She only wanted love with Natsu, but he was just too disloyal to even really love her. Natsu even gave Lucy drama when she entered Fairy Tail one last time to get her guild mark removed, and Gray could tell that all of the hell that Lucy was put through would come back to bite Fairy Tail. It certainly did, in the form of a girl named Marina.

If Natsu had not cheated on Lucy, then she never would've had to endure silence from her old friends in Fairy Tail. They always did tend to fight harder when she had been in trouble, always wanting to protect her, and Lucy never deserved to feel so alone. Just because Lisanna told Natsu about her feelings for him, he could've refused or told her that he truly loved Lucy. However, Natsu's one wrong decision last year that involved being with Lisanna had truly caused the chain of events that would cause Fairy Tail to now be looked down upon. In fact, people in Magnolia even bought DVDs of Natsu's steamy nights with Marina.

"Hey, everyone. You know, the things that we all say are very important. Our actions speak just as loud as our words, maybe even louder, but I think that some of you have been thinking about why we lost. It was not because of me, Erza, Cana, Mira, Juvia, and Lisanna failing to win. I can bet that's what Natsu has been saying, but you know what? He is the one who actually caused us to lose because he cheated and lied to Lucy. You all saw how hard she fought against us, and I respect her choice of being pissed off at us for ignoring her, but Natsu and Lisanna over there are mainly the ones who caused us to lose." Gray explained to everyone in the guildhall while looking stern, letting them know that following a dumb guy like Natsu had caused them all to get hurt.

Lisanna replied in a miffed manner, looking spiteful while she and Natsu sat at different tables, "For your information, Gray, I'm not even with Natsu anymore. He's the one who cheated on me with Marina, and I'm the one who feels hurt because of what he did! It's strange that you say how I helped Natsu caused the guild's downfall, yet he's the one who fell for Marina and didn't mind when Team Aqua Kyogre was kicking our butts! As for Lucy, we didn't know how to tell her that Natsu was with me! She would've freaked out over it, and I saw how she teamed up with Shelly to fight Erza! You act like Lucy is such a good girl, but a good girl wouldn't team up with an evil woman."

Gray countered Lisanna by saying that she had no right to confess her feelings to Natsu when she clearly knew that he was in a relationship with Lucy. He also found it hypocritical to see her act like a victim when she was cheated on, since she knew what her intentions were when Lucy had to go through six months of being played with Natsu. Also, Lisanna had people to comfort her. That really cushioned the painful feeling of falling hard for someone and landing on the concrete floor of being dumped, but Lucy had no one in Fairy Tail to cushion her fall. She felt all the pain of the heartbreak with no one even helping her to get through it, and it was all because of the plan that Natsu made with Lisanna for them to have their own happiness.

Some people like Gajeel and Levy had agreed with Gray about what he had said, and they had also believed that Lucy was like the glue that kept everyone from having conflicts with each other. When Lucy left the guild, everyone began to point fingers at either Natsu or other people. There were people like Juvia and Jellal who did not even care about the fact that Natsu had been sneaking around with Lisanna behind Lucy's back, and the people who did not really care that much about Natsu's affair or thought he would screw up had enough intuition to see that the departure of the blonde mage would wreak havoc in Fairy Tail.

Even though she was not in Fairy Tail anymore, some people like Laxus respected her for how she fought in the survival tournament. The lightning dragon slayer did not even care that Lucy lost to Shelly, since he could guess that Lucy was pretty tired from how her clones and summoning Celestial Spirits used up so magic, and he smirked a bit while folding his arms. Even though she lost to Shelly in the Grand Magic Games, Laxus could tell that their battle in the Grand Fiore League would be where Lucy would win. If they did get to battle, Laxus also thought that Lucy's skills would be enough for her to take on the Elite Four as well.

As everyone had their mixed reactions about the situation focusing around how Fairy Tail had lost, the guild's entrance door opened up to reveal that Mira had now gotten the mail for today. There were many magazine subscriptions, letters from pen pals, and there was a bill for Natsu. Mira cheerfully giggled while walking over to Natsu's table to hand him the aqua blue envelope, and the fire dragon slayer opened it up to see that its contents contained a few sexy pictures of Marina. She even did some nude modeling for Natsu as well, making him aroused, and seeing him blush while looking goofy had made Lisanna start thinking as she could not stand the idiocy of her ex. If things were so bad for her, how was Lucy feeling?

At the Sabertooth guild...

While Yukino and the others were planning to do something special in the guildhall of Sabertooth, Lucy had been laying in the bed that was in her dorm room. She was under the comforter, getting to feel some much needed warmth that made the cold air from Shelly's icy attack begin to subside, Lucy could only sigh in an unhappy manner while she sadly looked down at her pillow. It was good that Sabertooth had managed to become the best guild in Fiore again, mainly thanks to Aqua Kyogre giving them some help, but Lucy still felt crushed by the fact that she lost to her rival.

Shelly had used spells that were so powerful, so very defensive to cancel out Lucy's moves, and Lucy had truly seen the true power of the black-haired woman. She was definitely on a higher level, using spells that Lucy thought were impossible to make, and the blonde girl felt hurt by the fact that she had actually struggled against Shelly in their first few battles. She had been holding back, not even using the cold ice that had made Lucy's body feel numb, and having to admit that Shelly won was something that hurt Lucy's pride. Tears streamed down her face while she knew that relying on magic by itself was not good, and even a single kick from Shelly felt like tremendous pain.

The loss against Shelly in the survival tournament was not the only thing that made Lucy cry, but it seemed like she had been underestimated. Maybe that's why Shelly never used any of her powerful moves in their earlier battles, even though they would've taken out Lucy with one hit, and it was pretty insulting to be tying with the tanned woman when she had not even been fighting at full strength. Shelly had even told Lucy that she was not strong because the mages from Fairy Tail were weak, and fighting them a bunch of lame enemies to get a win streak was not exactly the move. When Lucy accepted Shelly's help to fight Erza, she had not even known that she was playing into Shelly's hand by helping her crush Fairy Tail.

As Lucy had tossed and turned in her bed, she even felt bad about always getting upset at Shelly for getting sexy or flirty with Sting. Lucy always kept acting like she could take her rival to keep her charms from seducing Sting, but her eyes were red and puffy while she cried more at the fact that she wasn't strong enough to protect him. Now she saw why Shelly always felt free to seduce him, and it was because she knew that Lucy was weaker than her. Shelly knew that the blonde girl could not take her down, not at her current level, and Lucy slid under the comforter while wondering if this loss could possibly make Sting leave her to be with Shelly.

Lucy's mind had also flashed back to when she had been in that large cloud of gas with Shelly, the tanned woman telling her that she was becoming more like a girl who belonged in Aqua Kyogre, and Lucy had even bowed down to Shelly. She admitted that the weaker girl in their rivalry was definitely her, since she was full of sweetness and light, but had Lucy truly enjoyed being bad? Shelly let her blonde rival know that she was still very useful to Aqua Kyogre, even though she was less beautiful, but did Lucy really want to seek power over love? After all, love strengthened her powers. She slid up to see over the comforter, hearing a soft knock on her door, and it was open because she forgot to close it. Sting surprisingly opened the door, making Lucy curious as to why the white dragon slayer wanted to see her.

He asked Lucy in a calm manner, frowning a bit while knowing that she was really feeling the pain of losing to Shelly again, "Are you still feeling down about that loss we had today? It really was a reminder to let us know that we don't know all of her skills, right?"

She replied with tears in her eyes, feeling unhappy with how the battle had turned out, "I really wanted to believe that I could beat her, Sting... I fought so hard to prove myself against Shelly, making spells that she wouldn't be able to beat, and she just overpowered me so easily. It hurts to think that I kept saving you from being seduced by her, but she was holding back in our first few battles. I had been underestimated by her, Sting, and that's why she flirts with you so much! She thinks that I'm weak, and I even admitted that I was weaker than her! I couldn't protect you, and we couldn't win! I hate losing so easily, like at the Oceanic Museum!"

Sting knew what it felt like to lose, and he also hated to fail in a fight. Jiemma had told him last year that he was not fit to be a member of Sabertooth, but Lector had let his best friend know that he could grow stronger by experiencing failure. Besides, Sting could also guess that Lucy had not fought Shelly at full strength because of her clones using up so much magical power. Even the dark energy consumed lots of stamina as a recoil effect, so Lucy's clones were not even at full power. She had fought Shelly with hardly any energy, not prepared for the battle, but a loss didn't really matter if the two girls could fight again one day.

Lucy and Sting were both so bent on seeing the powers of the book, and they had lost the romantic spark that glued them together. When they first became teammates, which dated back to when Lucy only had three types of magic, their chemistry was shown so much. It had been so lovely to see, especially when Sting had returned the kiss that was given to him by Lucy, and the blue-eyed male wondered how that spark could come back. Their love had been what truly guided them to victory many times, always having total chemistry for each other, and Sting closed the door behind him while locking it to give himself some private time with Lucy.

He knew that she was feeling really down about losing to Shelly, seeming utterly crushed by how she had been looked down upon by a stronger girl that could try taking Sting from her, and Sting knew that Lucy was not entirely to blame for that loss. It was not her fault that Shelly had tricked her into creating those clones, really depleting her magical power, and the black-haired woman was very manipulative. She even formed an alliance with Lucy to take out Fairy Tail, and their little team had obviously gotten disbanded after Team Sabertooth had enough points to win the Grand Magic Games.

Even though she lost, Sting was still happy to see that Lucy tried her best in the survival tournament. It was true that she had lost her way by getting so caught up in taking Shelly down, but she could still become stronger. The two girls could always have a rematch one day, even if it had to be in the desolate ruins of an ancient place, and Sting knew that Lucy would win. All she really needed to do was find the glue of love that had helped her romantic feelings get sticky with her confidence and her desire to win, so that would help Lucy have a better shot at winning against Shelly. It would also make her love life seem less tense, too.

Sting kept trying to think of a way to show Lucy that their love could be revived to how great it was in the beginning, but he sighed a bit while knowing that soothing words would seem like false hope right now. She wasn't going to get out of this depression right away, especially since it had only transpired a few hours ago, and Sting thought that the best option right now would be to just leave her alone for a while. Love certainly was a complicated thing, and Sting was about to walk out the door as he unlocked it. However, as he was about to leave, the sounds of Lucy getting out of bed had put Sting's departure to a halt.

"Wait, Sting. Please don't leave me... I just feel horrible about how I kept failing to protect you from Shelly, and she kept on flirting with you to prove that I was weak! I've been so upset over how we on different skill levels, and she had just been playing around with me! I really want to become stronger, much more powerful than Shelly, but I keep having these doubts in my mind... I don't know what to do, Sting. I always believed that my spells would make me into a better mage, but you saw how Shelly fought us with those advanced spells. It's just not fair." Lucy told him in a pleading manner while tears ran down her face, as she gently tugged on his coat.

Sting replied in a calm manner while turning around to face Lucy, smirking a bit, "It's true that you're very different from Shelly, Lucy, but you actually have a quality that she doesn't possess. It's not as flashy, but just as important. Shelly's clever moves might make her a splendid genius, but your will to never give up also makes you a genius. You've done an excellent job to strengthen your spells and make them look great, but I think that both of us know that the battles you fought today were not how you truly fight. You can become stronger, but your clones showed me and yourself that you let your emotions and grudges overtake you on the battlefield. When you can control your feelings, many things will get better for you."

As he gently rubbed his girlfriend's bare back, letting her know that there were some things that she needed to work on, Sting could only smile while he locked eyes with Lucy. He blushed a bit while seeing that she was only wearing white lingerie, her cleavage bouncing a bit as she pressed her body against his, and the blonde mage seemed a bit more calm as she looked up into Sting's beautiful blue eyes. They always made her feel so soothed, like the calming waters of a hot spring, and feeling warmth from the white dragon slayer had made Lucy begin to remember how she shared a wonderful first kiss with him.

It was very loving, feeling her lips press against his, and even spending time with him had really made Lucy be happy. She began to have the epiphany of seeing that revenge in the form of malice did not truly make her good, but it was her great love with Sting that actually made her feel really happy. After being cheated on by Natsu, as well as being lied to by most of the guild members, Lucy could see that moving on in her love life was the best form of revenge. Getting harmful payback on people would just spread the strife, and that was certainly not good for anybody. Shelly may have made her believe that power was what she wanted, but it was actually love that was more important.

Lucy was about to give Sting a warm kiss for his speech that made her feel good, but she let out a large fart while her stomach began to growl. Sting chuckled a bit at how hungry his girlfriend had seemed, since she had not eaten any lunch, and the fact that he could smell gourmet food on the way to her room had let him know that someone was trying to throw a party. As Lucy blushed pink, looking embarrassed about what just happened, she could also detect the smell of food coming in from the space underneath the door to her room. Someone was having a party, and it would be rude to not attend.

She quickly made Sting leave the room while needing to change into something that was much better to wear at a party, and Lucy smiled happily when Sting came back for a moment to kiss her on the cheek. She blushed with joy at how her love life was now getting a little bit better, even though some things needed to be worked on, and Lucy could tell that her love with Sting had finally gained back its warm white light. Even though she had lost to Shelly, Lucy told herself that she would get another chance to get even with her evil rival. She may not have had Shelly's beauty, brains, or muscles, but Lucy smiled a bit while knowing that getting stronger involved having to do some training.

Meanwhile, in a hot spring near the guild...

While Yukino and the other members of Team Sabertooth had gone out to get supplies for the party that they would throw for Lucy and Sting, Wendy had been invited to a special meeting with Shelly from Aqua Kyogre. It was pretty rare for anyone to get an invite from a thief for some casual talk, especially if they were from a guild that had been overlooked by the Magic Council, and the young blue-haired girl had to really wonder if Shelly was foolish to bathe in a hot spring near Rustboro Town. After what went down with Lucy, those two girls might've ended up arguing over Sting if they crossed paths again.

Wendy had seen how Shelly easily took down Lucy in that last match, not even showing the littlest bit of mercy, and it was clear that Shelly was much more powerful. The rivalry between them was just weird to Wendy, knowing that both women were like older sisters to her, and she did not care about the fact that Shelly was evil. In fact, the black-haired woman had even thought about helping Wendy on jobs sometimes to try out a unique Unison Raid that could combine air with water. It was never good for Wendy to see her friends fight, though, so she looked a bit nervous while wondering what Shelly wanted to talk about.

She was in her small green plaid bikini while making her way towards the hot spring, ready to at least enjoy a relaxing bath, and Wendy hoped that this meeting would go well. She couldn't really scold Shelly for anything, since nothing illegal had ever been done, and Wendy was just going to show respect to a powerful mage who was filled with power. Shelly did have a few flaws, since she did tend to be really flirty with her enemies, but Wendy knew that Lucy and Shelly had to stop fighting over Sting. It really wouldn't be good for him to be fed up with their quarreling, since that would make him possibly prefer Minerva over them.

As she walked through the forest near Rustboro Town, her brown eyes were filled with a bit of delight upon finding the secret hot spring. It had actually been one of the places that led to Aqua Kyogre's guild, even though Wendy had once been inside the dark guild with Carla, and this hot spring wasn't as big as the one that Lucy fell into with Sting. Wendy stepped into the boiling waters of the hot spring, immediately feeling relaxed from how good it felt, and she let her body sink down into the water. The blue-haired girl only had her head above the water, and she smiled happily from seeing that Shelly was bathing right beside her.

She was wearing a lacy white bikini that made her look absolutely beautiful, letting it show off her curves when she looked very relaxed in the bubbling water, and Shelly gently hugged Wendy while she was glad to see that her young friend had now arrived. They did need to have a little bit of a casual talk, something to really lighten the mood after what had happened earlier today, and Shelly wanted to tell Wendy about some things that were on her mind. They might've had to deal with the matter of Lucy, since the blonde girl became famous around Aqua Kyogre, and Wendy could see her friend letting out a soft breath before she spoke.

"Hello, Wendy. I'm really glad that you came out here to talk with me, and I just need to tell you that Lucy was really weak against me. She wasn't able to handle the defenses of my strongest moves, and I just feel a bit happy about how she admitted that I was far superior to her. It's about time that she stopped letting her pride get the best of her, Wendy, but Lucy is still very useful to me. It was splendid to see her take down those fools from the guild of Fairy Tail, and I think that you were right about what you once said. Lucy and I should start being more cohesive." Shelly explained with a calm smile on her face, keeping her head above the water to ruin the red lipstick that she had applied to her lips.

Wendy replied in a kind manner, smiling softly while she didn't want Shelly moving too fast, "Lucy-sama is hurt right now, Shelly-sama. She really wanted to beat you today, but she just couldn't do it. Even Sting was upset, but you shouldn't get too comfortable. Before you know it, Lucy will be fighting with you again to protect Sting. She really enjoys being with him, and they love being together. I know that they're both hurting from their loss, but your victory over Lucy and Sting might help them get closer to each other. You helped their chemistry rise up by beating them down, Shelly-sama."

From hearing those last words, Shelly gasped a bit before she looked at Wendy with a shocked look in her aqua blue eyes. Beating down the blonde girl and the white dragon slayer should've made them both feel crushed to the point where Lucy would want power from Aqua Kyogre, but her actions had brought them closer to each other? Shelly had helped their romance get better, and she had done something that was nice? The feeling of doing something that was indirectly good had made her shudder with disgust, not wanting to look like a saint to anyone, and Shelly knew that Lucy would realize this.

She did not want to have her book-wielding rival try to even say that she was a good person, since she was even darker in nature than Minerva ever could be, and this definitely made the infamous thief start thinking. If flirting with Sting would make Lucy fired up, only for her to get beaten down in the actual fight, then a change of strategy was needed. After all, it would be irritating for Shelly to see more losses make more love. Taking the book by force would not work, and she also could not make Sting fall in love with her. The plan needed Lucy to get stronger, strong enough to help Aqua Kyogre get a legendary treasure, so Shelly simply had to strengthen her moves.

Wendy had said that Shelly and Lucy could work well together, which proved to be true because of their combination attack against Erza in the Grand Magic Games, and the two girls had been acting like friends. Shelly definitely could be trusted by Lucy in that alliance, but Sting did not trust her at all. He knew that the tanned woman was a very sneaky thief that could deceive anyone to get what she wanted, and Shelly's conflict with Lucy was because of Sting. He was turned off by her, not attracted to Shelly's beauty at all, but Shelly sighed happily while blushing a bit. She truly did think that Sting was cute, and all she really needed was some alone time with him.

Later that night, at the Sabertooth guild...

Everyone in the Sabertooth guild had bought supplies for the party that Yukino really wanted to have tonight, totally ready to help her celebrate this joyous event, and they knew it was going to be a pretty great night. The dessert table had been fully stocked with delicious sweets that consisted of chocolate cookies, brownies, cakes, honey buns, pies, cream puffs, donuts, sweet cookies, cupcakes and many bowls of ice cream in different flavors. This was quite a sugary assortment for what would be a pretty great party, right?

The snack table was filled with bowls of Doritos in the nacho cheese flavor, bowls of Pringles in different flavor, burgers, hot dogs, steak, cheese pizza, chicken tender, sandwiches, fish sticks, and chicken nuggets on their respective plates. There was also a table for refreshments with many cups while there were many two-liter bottles of Sprite, Coca-Cola, orange soda, Pepsi, ginger ale, blue raspberry soda, root beer, and grape soda. This was going to be the best party ever, and everyone had really put all of their money and efforts into making it be appealing.

Rogue had even bought a three-layered white chocolate cake that would be cut together by him and Yukino, but Rufus had used his Memory-Make Magic to make a force field of energy surround the cake. This was most likely done to prevent anyone from getting greedy with taking the cake before the fiancees would cut it, and it would also prevent the cake from being damaged if a fight were to break out. The force field was also strong enough to endure a troublemaker's most powerful attacks, so the cake really had no chance of being hurt.

The music was already playing while Orga was being the DJ, scratching the records back and forth while he stood behind the table, and he had selected the best music tracks to be played an awesome event like this. He had started things off with the Japanese song known as Saikō - Everyday!, and it was one of Lucy's requests. (It's the 13th opening in the Pokemon series, if you want to know what song I'm talking about.) This was one of her favorite songs, since it did seem to have a pretty great groove, and some techno music would be played in the late hours of the night. Fairy Tail may have been too rowdy, but who said that Sabertooth couldn't have a rave? After all, they totally deserved it for winning the Grand Magic Games.

Lucy wore a short tight-fitting emerald green mini dress that laced upward from the back, showing off some of her nice cleavage in the front as well, and she had wore some pale green high heels to match her sexy dress. She had her beautiful blonde hair down once again, looking very cute, and she also wore a green ribbon on the right side of her head. Anyone could say that she looked pretty attractive, but she was only hoping to receive flattery from the guy who was the love of her life. Sting had only changed into a blue tuxedo because of Rogue urging him to look classy for Lucy on this night to celebrate a joyous victory, and he hoped that Lucy would like his style.

The two mages had been sitting down at a table together, blushing in bliss while they were happy about tonight being the best night of their lives, and Sting could only smirk with confidence while he looked straight into Lucy's cocoa brown eyes. Her enchanted facial expression could only let him know that she was thinking about spending the rest of her life with him, wanting to be with the guy who could make all of her dreams come true while they would continue to have many great adventures, but the hyped up party music had made Lucy cheer while she got up out of her seat to dance along with the track that was playing.

"Wow, this is the greatest party ever! The music is awesome, the food is totally great, and the soda is really delicious! The coffee machine and the breakfast machines still work, though, but we can save those for the sunrise when it comes around. We can't really thank you all enough for throwing such a big party, and it's so awesome! Yukino, you and the others are the best planners ever!" Lucy told her friend in a happy tone while smiling, before giving her a well-deserved hug.

Yukino replied in a kind manner while she wore a beautiful light blue dress, "Well, we all had to do something that would cheer you two up. After all, it really made us feel concerned to see you two being so down about losing to Shelly. Besides, you should really look on the bright side of that conflict. Thanks to your loss against your rival, it might help you two bond more and show the love of a great relationship. Shelly might've actually helped you two improve your chemistry, so be happy that a bad person did such a good thing."

Upon hearing the last part of the Celestial Spirit Wizard's response, Lucy looked a bit shocked by finding it to actually be true. Lucy and Sting had always been close together, and Lucy would show her love for Sting by not letting Shelly have him. Getting beaten by the woman with aqua blue eyes had only made Lucy strive to do better, and she would be proud to stay in the guild of Sabertooth. Power was not the most crucial thing that she needed right now, and her love for Sting would truly start make her life feel much smoother.

As she noticed that Sting was putting a few slices of cake on her plate, definitely making things sweet for her, Lucy sat back down in her chair to taste the chocolate cake. She dug into it with a spoon, since there weren't any knives or forks on the table, and Lucy put the small portion of cake into her mouth. When she tasted the goodness of the chocolate, Lucy's cocoa brown eyes twinkled with delight. She proceeded to eat more of the delicious cake while Sting ate some other slices of it, and this was a sweet night for both of them. They were now feeling good, and it was all thanks to Shelly.

Lucy could also see that more food was being brought to the party while people were working well together, and Sabertooth was full of joy. Even though she had lost the battle against her devious rival, the blonde girl knew that she would have a second chance to take her down. After all, with Sting by her side, things would start to get better. The duo knew that their cohesion and chemistry were starting to be ignited again, their love making them both feel happy, and Lucy was the glue that united Sabertooth for joy while Fairy Tail seemed to be coming apart in despair.

How was the 27th chapter? Did you like it? There will be more romance on the way, and I have some ideas for a new arc in this story! Merry Christmas to you all, and standby for the update!