The Salamander's Sister

Chapter 104: Apologies and Celebrations

Natsume's pov

"Oh goodness, Lucy!" I hugged her tightly, the two of us just holding onto one another. "Thank god, we were able to get you out of that clock. When Warren told us that you could possibly die from being trapped in there, I couldn't breathe and I couldn't think." I took in her scent, holding her tightly. "I'm still here in one piece." She said, "I'm so sorry that I wasn't with you and Natsu when you were kidnapped. Even when I knew that I couldn't trust her, I still let you go with her without proper back up. I'm so sorry." I pulled back from the hug, looking her in the eyes. "No, I should be the one that's sorry. I didn't take your word for it and I ignored your gut feelings which are incredibly on point. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." Lucy apologized, "Can you forgive me?" We asked at the same time, "Oh my god, I have been watching this for far too long!!" Chase stormed over to the two of us, "I have been standing there watching everyone celebrate but the two of you, who have been apologizing to each other for seven whole minutes!!" Chase shouted, "Do you both forgive one another?" Lucy and I looked at one another, nodded and looked back at him. "Then stop apologizing and enjoy the party!!" He threw his arms in the air, Satomi just chuckled at her older brother's attitude and shook her head. "What's his problem?" Mary Hughes asked, "He hates when people apologize too much. It's always been a pet peeve of his." Satoru explained, leaning against the wall. "He hates long winded apologies?" Hughes looked at Satoru confused, while I just chuckled. "Yes, yes, he does." Satomi sighed. Much to Chase's dismay there were more apologies that went around by the Legion Corps, They apologized for their past actions and with everything forgiven, we all decided to celebrate. I stood by the wall, watching as Dan, Chase and Natsu challenge one another to an eating contest which I couldn't help but be grossed out by. Dan uses his giant lance to get ahead of the other two, causing complete chaos amongst the three of them and I just couldn't stop laughing at that point.

"Oh god.. Why did I have to be related to that idiot?" Satomi whined, "Hey, at least you got to know him years later than I did." Satoru stated, I shook my head and took a seat at the bar beside Erza. "How are you feeling, Natsume?" Erza asked, she had heard from Pantherlily and Lucky how bad my fight with Midnight was. "I'm feeling better than I did a few hours ago. That fight with NightLight was so frustrating and and exhausting." I said, Erza let out an amused laugh as she turned her head to me. "Even when he's not here, you still won't say his name right. Natsu told me all about how you kept saying different names instead of calling Midnight his actual name." She laughed, "Yeah, well.. He got on my nerves. Why should I show respect when he didn't show us respect? I mean, who names their child Midnight anyways. There are so many other names out there." I ranted, causing everyone around me to crack up. As I watched over the guildhall, I spotted Sugarboy inching closer to Gray who was talking with Lyon and Chase. All I could think about in that moment was how SugarBoy kept hitting on Gray when we fought him, which only served to fuel my temper.

"Hey!! Sugarboy!!!" I stomped over to the blonde, who panicked when he saw me. Gray turned his head towards me, as I stood in front of Sugarboy. "You think you can take my man away from me? You think you can waltz up in here, pay him some compliments and he'll suddenly throw everything away and come live with you?!" I fumed, "Wait a minute-" Sugarboy visibly panicked, his body shaking as he tried to explain himself.

"He's not yours!! So back off! Or I'll make you wish you were never born!!"

Natsu managed to hold me back from killing Sugarboy, while the three siblings behind us couldn't stop laughing. "Natsume, you can't just kill him! You gotta calm down!" Natsu shouted, pulling me away from Sugarboy. Once I calmed down, I decided to just sit back and watch everyone in the guild hall. I spotted Gajeel in the corner, eating his metal as always, staying away from the crowd of large people. I then spotted Laxus, who was sitting at a table with Freed and the other members of their group. It was to my understanding that Laxus appeared outside of the church at some point during the large battle, he actually helped Gildarts who had been fighting against Byro.

"Why is she such a beauty?!!! Even when being so threatening?!!! I'm in L-O-V-E!!" Dan shouted at the top of his lungs, as he appeared right in front of me. Erza just stared at him, wondering who he was talking to. He did that weird dance thing he did when he declared his supposed love for Lucy, "Will you please marry me and have my children?!" He grabbed my hands, hearts in his eyes as he smiled at me. I sat there, looking stunned while Mary Hughes just bursted into laughter. Suddenly, Dan was kicked in the side and flew across the floor.

"Hey! Who do you think you're proposing to?!! That's my girlfriend!! Not yours!!" Gray landed in front of me on his feet, fuming as he glared at Dan who was back on his feet. "Back off, you stupid love sick idiot!!"

"I knew that was gonna happen." Mirajane chuckled, watching Gray wrestle with Dan and argue with him. "Lover boy is just like lover girl. They don't like it when people hit on them." Cana chuckled, making Erza laugh as she agreed with them.

At sunset, we had to say goodbye to The Legion Corps. It was a bittersweet moment for some of us, Sugarboy was still way too scared of me to say anything to me. When he tried to say something to Gray, I growled and glared at him and he immediately his behind Dan and left Gray alone. "So where are you guys headed next?" Erza asked Byro, I stood in between Gray and Natsu. Earlier during the celebration, I noticed that Byro and Gildarts were talking with one another and enjoying a cup of coffee. It made glad to see that we were all now just getting along, that we were finally done with everything. "We were give a new assignment by the Archbishop. We are going to seal all the remaining parts of the Infinity Clock, which will also require an immense amount of time in order to complete it. So we have to get right on it." He explained, "We wish you the best of luck with sealing those clock pieces up." I said, "Thank you," Byro smiled, with one final goodbye, we watched as the Legion Corps left town.

"Romeo, what's gotten you so worried?" Satoru asked, "Well... A lot happened while you were gone for Seven years. In the time that you were gone, a new guild came out. Their name is Sabertooth." He explained, I could still sense that something was off about this. "What about them?" I urged for him to go on, "They surpassed both Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus in rankings. And in addition to that, our guild, Fairy Tail has been bumped from the strongest to the weakest guild." All of us stood there in shock, trying to soak in the news.

"What?!!" Happy shouted.

"Weakest Guild?!!" Lucky screamed.

"Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do," Cana sighed, taking a large gulp of her drink. "Yeah, we do." Something tells me that we are about to deal with a huge thing coming up.