So, I personally love colors.  I have a very discerning eye and I love to try to find the color I am thinking of by looking up either the pantone color, the rgb code, or the html code to determine the exact shade I want.  Later on in this chapter I talk about a lot of colors and rather than just mentally picturing I decided to add all, if not most, of them visually for an optical understanding.

 The guild hall became crowded with the all the girls that were attending the dance that night. They had all made arrangements to meet up at the guild hall this morning to go look for dresses. Nearly all the girls were excited and anxious to go shopping for their dresses. Only two had conflicting emotions about the idea of shopping.

Rory bit her bottom lip as she wondered how she was going to hide her baby belly bulge while trying on clothing. She was immensely relieved that Mira had already purchased her dress with Kinana the day before. She was probably the woman she worried about most learning the secret that she planned to reveal that night. She wouldn't deny how nervous she was about sharing the news with everyone. Regardless of that fact she still wanted to be able to surprise as many people as possible.

Meredy watched Rory biting her lip nervously and had a pretty good idea the reason for her uneasiness. Trying on clothing at all sometimes was a chore and a half. She couldn't imagine trying to first hunt down something that fit properly then on top of that trying to keep others that were only trying to help from discovering your secret.

Lucy pouted. Her emotions were definitely running amok today. She was exceptionally happy about the dance. She hadn't danced with Natsu since their wedding. But that wasn't what she really missed about dancing. It was something that she was used to because of her upbringing. She was looking forward to celebrating that past part of herself in a way. Not that she liked the big gala balls that aristocrats held generally. Still the thought of it reminded her of her parents. Her memories of her father perhaps a bit negative but at least she was able to remember him in a better light by reflecting on his most recent years of life. The memory of her mother loving to dance and dressing in only the best gowns also quite outshine the ones of her dad in previous years. She may have been young but she was always allowed to stay during part of the formal balls and galas her family held while her mother was still alive. While she would dance Layla would outshine the rest of the people on the dance floor just from the light in her eyes and her brilliant smile. To Lucy Layla was like a resplendent Queen and Lucy always felt like a cherished princess herself until she was escorted by one of the maids to be taken to bed.

It depressed Lucy though thinking about how difficult dancing would prove to be tonight. First finding a dress to fit her rounded belly was going to prove a giant dilemma that would definitely cause her an immense amount of frustration. She was almost positive that she would become depressed at the meager selection she could even choose from.

Natsu had seen how upset she was and nearly made it a point to insist that he would be shopping with her. But Lucy had quickly attempted to suppress that idea with detailed reasoning. Of course she should have known better and led with her secondary tactic, which was to kiss him and simply tell him to stay.

But now, Lucy almost wished he were here because for once in a long while she felt pretty alone. Levy wasn't here because of the excursion she went on for Mikayla's twin brothers. Erza had disappeared who knew where. Juvia had yet to make an appearance. Mira was going to be tending bar today. Almost all of her closest female friends were not available to help her out. Then she felt a presence at her shoulder.

Cana smiled kindly at Lucy. It wasn't often that Lucy saw Cana sober. The trial at Tenrou being probably the first. But her friend now stood at her side with a friendly smile and a determined look on her face. It was then that Lucy realized she hadn't seen much of her friend around the guild hall lately. Granted Lucy hadn't been there much to begin with but as a general rule Cana almost always took residence at the bar or her table with a big barrel at her side.

"How's Bacchus?" Lucy probed, suddenly remembering the hot make out session during Mira's kissing game. It greatly surprised her when Cana's cheeks turned a heated red. Not a light dusting of pink, similar to her flush when she was drunk. No they were blazing red.

"Lucy, I..." Cana didn't know how to express what was going on with Bacchus. The night of the party they had ended up in his motel room. It was a night of heated naked passion. That part wasn't abnormal, not in the least. No, what was abnormal was what she felt during the experience. It wasn't just lust like so many other times before. There was something deeper there that she was almost scared to explore.

Lucy took a bit of pity on her friend and tried to help her out. "This was different for you, wasn't it?"

Cana shyly nodded. Not that she was shy. But this was an unnerving topic. It made her feel vulnerable in an almost fearsome way. "Is it strange that I feel like he brought something out of me that I didn't know existed? I mean it's almost like he can see what I'm feeling. I'm so exposed to him. It's a bit distressing. But it's also liberating too. Gah, I know I'm not making sense..." Cana started to walk towards the bar. She was thinking too much and alcohol was the trick to fix this conundrum.

Lucy stopped Cana by pulling on her arm. "I don't think you should water log these feelings, Cana. I think it's time to face them head on. Plus, I need you sober to help me find a dress to fit this atrocious body of mine."

"Pssh, Lucy, your body is just as hot as it has always been. It's just carrying extra occupants. Besides, the only one's opinion that matters I am sure adores your body all the same."

A quick grin came to Lucy's face. Yeah, Natsu actually loved how her body ripened in ways with their young. A small blush stained her cheeks.

The door to the guild hall opened. Lucy turned to see Juvia walk in. She rushed over to the girl. "Juvia! You're late! Where have you been?"

"I kind of slept in. Sorry."

Mira sauntered over to Juvia. "Did you have a good time on your date last night?"

Juvia couldn't answer in words so she merely nodded. Of course Mira had it on good authority that the date seemed to go quite well. She glanced over the small dragon slayer's way. Romeo was chatting her up and she was laughing. Oh to be young again. Mira sort of wanted to see the two of them happily matched up too. But they were just too young. Plus if it were any indication regarding the other dragon slayers then Wendy would know who her mate was when the time came, matchmaking wouldn't exactly work out that well. Although, her being a girl also made things quite unique.

Mira looked over at Mikayla as she stood off by herself. She walked over to her and smiled. "I was curious about something."

"Hmm?"

"Does the dragon slayer mate thing work the same for girls?"

"It's all new to me but as far as I can tell there isn't much difference." Mikayla shrugged her small shoulders.

"Well, Wendy is pretty young and probably doesn't know that much... I'm sure Grandeeny didn't get to go over too many details with her. Um, I mean... I know you are going to need training still after this festival is over. I was wondering if maybe you could help explain things to her. I know that would be an uncomfortable conversation...but.."

Mikayla blushed at the prospect. But she did agree that Wendy would at least need some prior knowledge before she would hit the age it would become important. "I can try. I mean something would definitely be better than nothing."

The door to the guild hall opened again and a blushing Yukino walked through the door. Lucy smiled and quickly joined her celestial friend. Cana didn't trail far behind.

"Oooh looks like someone has had a heated couple of days." Cana teased Yukino into blushing brightly. In conjunction with her new mate mark, a black key with a wing in the rounded handle, she also had quite a bit more love bites adorning her flesh. "Wow, either you like to be nibbled or Rogue likes to do the nibbling."

Yukino of course didn't have an argument for that. It was pretty true that they shared a fascination with the way it felt for him to mark her skin. But it wasn't something others needed to hear about. Rogue hadn't wanted to let her go from their bed this morning. He had tempted her back numerous times. She solely blamed him for her tardiness. Even if she was an equal opportunist in the matter of the postponement activities.

The large assortment of girls rallied out of the guild hall. The stone walkway clicking under many heels as they strode off together. Mikayla didn't say much but she did try to stick a bit closer to the dragon slayer mates than the other women.

Once they arrived at the large formal wear boutique they all dispersed in different directions. Cana first was determined to find Lucy a gown. It would take more time than finding something to suit her own taste and curves. She piled three gowns into Lucy's arms and escorted her to the fitting rooms before attempting to search for more. Lucy and Cana both shared a look of agreement that this would probably be the only ones to suit her pregnant body but that didn't stop Cana from pursuing more options.

Lucy couldn't help but get nostalgic and think of when her and Levy tried on their wedding gowns. This was the same boutique and she was stressing over the same thing. How could she find a dress that would fit her body and still look good on her? She tried on two dresses already and couldn't get the zipper to clasp on either one. She was worried that this whole excursion would have dismal results. But, luckily, the third dress fit like it had been tailor fit just for her. It was a pale pink, with draping fabric gathered at the shoulders and in half circles at the top of the skirt. She quickly chose that as her selection and stopped Cana from searching more. She then proceeded to drag Cana around to help her out.

(Caption for the above picture.  Imagine something like this only with a higher waist line and closer to the shades below.  Personally I think somewhere between the pink flutter and the candy hearts.)

Cana wasn't terribly picky when it came to clothing. But Lucy threw purple gown after purple gown at her. Some were form fitting, others more like ball gowns similar to Lucy's dress. "Why so much purple?"

"Because, while you constantly claim your eyes are brown they are actually more of a purple. The purple dresses will enhance your eye color and make you that much more irresistible to Bacchus."

"Trust me, I have no problem getting his attentions. He salutes me every time I walk into the same room."

Lucy was flabbergasted in a mixture of ways. What Cana said was very Cana and it did have her blushing. But it also was hilarious as hell. Lucy chuckled daintily behind the back of her hand. Her debutante ways obviously had not completed dissipated over time.

Wendy quickly ran into the boutique. After she realized the low female occupancy in the guild hall she asked Mira where everyone had went. Mira filled her in on the shopping trip. So, Wendy decided she wanted a dress too for the dance tonight. She originally thought that it wouldn't matter. She didn't have a date with Romeo per say. But she also didn't want to have to wear one of her older dresses either. She did have a little bit of jewel saved up so it wasn't like she couldn't afford to splurge a bit. She found Mikayla wandering around aimlessly. "Are you having trouble finding a dress?"

"Uh...I don't even know what to look for."

"I think you would look good in midnight blue personally, or a dark teal. I mean midnight blue is hard to find generally."

"What makes midnight blue different from navy or even indigo?"

"Midnight blue has almost a tint of purple in it similar to indigo. It oddly also seems to have a greenish tint too. Hmm... But that is a good point, navy and indigo probably wouldn't be bad choices either." Suddenly, Wendy took it upon herself to grab everything teal, navy, indigo, and midnight blue in Mikayla's size and ushered her to a fitting room while she looked for a dress herself.

Meredy was looking at navy, teal, and turquoise dresses. She had always wanted the chance to go to a big formal affair, but since she was on the run with Jellal it never seemed in the cards for her. But, this was the perfect time to splurge. She noticed Rory was having difficulty. She was looking at dresses of forest and emerald green but her arms were empty.

Meredy quickly emptied her arms in the sitting room located in the center of the room that housed the individual curtained fitting rooms. Then she grabbed bunch of dresses of varying shades of green that she was sure would suit Rory's eyes. They all had blossomed out waistlines that should take care of hiding Rory's baby bulge. She handed them to Rory and whispered. "Yes, I have noticed, and before you say anything you don't have to worry I won't tell anyone." She smiled encouragingly at Rory and they both went to try on their selections.

Yukino smiled at the mint green dresses as she remembered the ball after the dragons had tried to destroy Crocus. Perhaps she should go with something a bit different though. "I think you should try something more in a tiffany blue," Juvia said behind her.

"Tiffany?"

"Think the color of a robin's egg only lighter." Yukino smiled brightly at Juvia's suggestion.

Juvia had already picked out her own dress. So she decided to meander around the boutique and help the others in attempt to quell her excitement for tonight. She was sure that tonight would be wonderful and she couldn't wait to see Gray in a suit, or well...even out of it. He did have the tendency to strip after all...