There is a song attached next to the chapter's image that will set the mood for the latter half of this chapter...

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Levy was insane.

I understood what Natsu had said before, how his family was excited about this and it was something different to do... But what the fuck?

The bluenette had draped almost every inch of the downstairs area in light-blue bows and dark-blue ribbons. There were shiny silver-and-gold stars hanging above everywhere, and a long string of white fairy lights lined the crevices between the walls and ceilings. At least two white balloons floated in the corners of each wall, and silver and gold confetti circles were scattered across the floor. The lights were dimmed ever so slightly, and a candlelit walkway ran from the foot of the stairs into the living room.

It was a hundred times worse than I'd imagined. I heard Natsu chuckle behind me and Levy, sensing my distress.

A flash of blue shot across my line of sight, and I felt an impact against my chest. I chuckled, looking down at the ball of fur that nuzzled against me.

"Happy Birthday, Lucy!" Happy cried, hugging me tightly as I embraced the tomcat back.

"Thank you, Hap." I laughed as Natsu's parents walked over.

"Sorry about this, Luce." Laxus chuckled apologetically, walking over in a gold vest-suit, "We tried to rein Levy in."

"As if that's even possible." Mirajane mumbled, pulling me into one of her iconic mama-bear hugs after Happy released me to float by Natsu's head. She wore a silver, satin halter dress, and her hair was curled into a bouncy bob.

I laughed into the mother's snow-white hair while she told me Happy Birthday as well. When she stepped away, I noticed the other four in the room: Jellal, man-sized Pantherlily, Gajeel, and Erza. I tried to hide my gulp.

Jellal, dressed in a casual grey suit, walked over to stand closer to me. His approach appeared welcoming, but I knew he was concentrating his mood-swaying abilities on me. I felt the usual calm spread over me like a wildfire, and we smiled at each other in greeting.

Erza didn't smile, but she didn't glare either. That was a start. Her glamourous physique was slipped into a black slinky dress, and her gorgeous crimson hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail. Although I didn't miss her persistent attitude, her presence was still astonishing.

Pantherlily stood closely next to Gajeel, whose face was stretched into his signature grin. He wore a black vest-suit with his long black hair tied back in a low ponytail. I cheesed back at him, taking in his bulky presence. Had he always been that... huge? He strode over to me, his red eyes almost sparkling.

"You haven't changed at all." The hunk bellowed jokingly. I rolled my eyes while Levy, Happy, and Jellal laughed with him. "I half-expected some difference, Bunny Girl, but here you are blushing as always."

"Thanks a bunch, Gajeel." I said through my teeth, blush pooling to my cheeks even more from the nickname he gave me. He bent down to hug me cautiously. He may have been cheeky, but he wasn't stupid. Like Natsu, he could end my life easily if he wasn't careful enough. I had thought he got over his aversion to me after being so close to me during the "incident," but my soul was still as overwhelming to him as always. Thankfully, that didn't stop Gajeel from being friendly.

I heard a click while Gajeel embraced me, and the two of us turned to see Levy aiming my Polaroid at us. I rose an eyebrow as Gajeel snickered, "I found this little cutie in your bag." Levy explained, "You don't mind, do you?"

I shrugged, "Why not?"

"Dating an older woman..." I heard Gajeel say to Natsu, "Hot." He smirked. Natsu looked at him like he was an idiot.

"She's seventeen. Not yet eighteen." The Fire Dragon Slayor argued. Gajeel rested his hand on Natsu's shoulder.

"But she will be." He laughed, so did Pantherlily. Natsu shrugged off Gajeel's hand, shaking his head at his brother's stupidity.

"Why not a photo of the happy couple?" Pantherlily exclaimed, and the blush on my face spread. Natsu's fiery arm wrapped around my waist after Levy excitedly pushed him over to me.

"Yeah, yeah, come on. Show me the love." She encouraged, snapping an off-guard photo of Natsu and I looking at one another. She took another of Natsu kissing the top of my head and me smiling shyly at the lens, "Beautiful." She approved with a bright smile. Happy and Pantherlily snickered at the two of us.

"I'll be right back." Jellal said suddenly, "Don't do anything stupid 'til I return." He pointed at me and Levy, and the two of us rolled our eyes while he walked out of the room. His calming magic didn't disappear with him.

"No promises." Levy replied sarcastically before turning back to me, "It's present time!"

I sighed as she took my hand, her bouncing blue waves mimicking the motions of her short, long-sleeve, gold off-shoulder dress. She led my attention to a decorated table across the room, which was half-covered with presents, half-covered with treats. My eyes immediately fell on the five-tier cake with blue, black, white, gold, and silver accents. I looked at Levy in disbelief.

"Lev, that cake feeds over fifty people." I laughed.

"Yeah, and our boyfriends count for thirty of them." She said slyly, before giddily snatching a square silver box. I shook my head in defeat. She shoved the little gift to me, and Happy floated over to sit on my shoulder.

The box was light enough, taking off some of the weight from my shoulders. I looked at the gift-tag on its side to see it was from Mira and Erza. My heart stuttered, and I hesitantly undid the wrapping before opening it.

Inside sat a thin, sterling silver chain with a small but dazzling diamond star hanging from it. My eyes widened. The weight returned.

I looked at Mira to see a satisfied smile on her face before trailing my gaze to Erza. The redhead stayed in her one position this entire time, arms crossed and eyes hooded as she nonchalantly took in my reaction.

"Thank you." I said, first to Erza, then to Mira. The redhead actually cracked a smile.

Jellal came zooming back into the room with a much larger box. We all turned to him and his gaze fell on me. As his smile grew, my nerves left.

"Ours next!" The bluenette said, balancing the large box on one arm so he could fist bump Gajeel. The guys smirked at me before Jellal threw the box at me. I scrammed to catch it, readying my arms for the immense weight that seemed nonexistent to Jellal's superior strength. But when the box fell in my arms, it was practically light as a feather. I stood there in confusion before slowly turning the box to find an opening. I peeked into the already-opened flap to see nothing inside the box.

I couldn't help the laugh that came through my lips as I looked back up at Natsu's brothers. Gajeel was chuckling mischievously while Jellal simply smirked.

"Well, at least someone took my request for no gifts." I joked, and Happy laughed with a paw covering his mouth in mischief.

"Ha!" Jellal bellowed, "Think again. It's a sound system, and I just put it in Natsu's car so he can install it when you get home." My smile fell.

"Worth a shot." I mumbled.

"Oh, come on, Luce, it's finally a decent sound system for that piece of—" Gajeel started.

"No, no, no, no, no." I cut him off while waving my finger at him and Jellal, "Don't hate on my Beetle."

The family laughed, and I could have sworn I saw Erza's smile appear again.

Levy clapped, "Open me and Nat's next!" She cried. Happy snickered, and I noticed Gajeel creep closer to get a better look.

"You're gonna looove it." The blue tomcat cheesed. I looked at Natsu in shock.

"You promised." I whined, sounding halfway calm and halfway irritated. Natsu rose his hands in the air in self-defense.

"I didn't think it counted if I didn't spend a penny." He breathed. I rolled my eyes, but my heart fluttered at the beautiful anticipating smile that stretched across his face.

Levy handed me a medium sized silver box with intricate wrapping paper. I shook it slightly to take note of the weight of its contents. Heavy presents equaled more money, regardless of what Natsu said.

I sighed, feeling something of average mass rock a bit inside the box. Hesitantly, I began to pull at the thick wrapping paper.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath after the darn paper sliced deeply into my index finger. I pulled it from under the paper flap to see a drop of blood drizzle hastily from my fingertip. Natsu was hovering over my being very quickly then, noting the pained tone of my voice. I turned to him before sucking at the bit of blood slowing running down my finger, "Paper cut." I explained before pulling my finger from my mouth.

The blood was gone, but the hole in the pad of my finger was pretty deep. It all happened very quickly then.

Natsu's pupils shrank immediately, his shoulders hunching as if his senses picked up danger from a mile away. His predatory gaze snapped up to my left... where Gajeel stood.

"No!" Natsu roared, throwing himself at me. His arms threw my body across the room and through the decorated party table. Happy fell off of my shoulder in the process, his eyes wide and in shock. The cake, treats, presents, star decorations—everything was thrown across the floor from the destruction of the table. I landed in the mess of the crystal punch bowl, shards of glass stabbing into my arm as my mind took its time to catch up with the events happening around me. I heard a crash, and looked up to see Gajeel in a heap of rubble inside the wall farthest from me.

I froze as the Iron Dragon Slayor emerged from the debris, his jet black hair covered in dust as his lost, blazing red eyes glared in my direction. I didn't see or hear his first advance, but this next one was very real. His body crashed into Natsu's, and it sounded like two dense boulders knocking into each other. Jellal, Lily, and Laxus advanced quickly, nearly losing their grip on Gajeel before he could bypass Natsu to get to me. Gajeel's teeth rippled into iron fangs, snapping at Natsu's face in a blind rage. Natsu held back the new beast with his forearm, pushing it into his throat. Natsu's free hand came up to lock on to Gajeel's face, perhaps blocking his airways.

Once Laxus, Pantherlily, and Jellal got a firm hold on Gajeel, the family's father drew sparks from his hands and repeatedly shocked Natsu's brother. The Iron Dragon Slayor growled and grunted at the attacks, repeatedly trying to break away from the strong holds of his brothers, companion, and father—trying to get past Natsu. I couldn't take my gaze from the fiery red eyes locked on my mangled form. I felt warm, thick liquid drizzle down my arm, but I couldn't take my eyes away from my almost-attacker.

My ears began to ring, but I saw Levy and Mirajane scamper over to the towering black-haired member of their family, and they desperately tried to calm him down while the men held him. Somewhere in my mind, I noticed someone was missing and my eyes slowly dragged to where Erza stood. Her arms were still crossed, eyes still uninterested and unbothered. The only difference in her physique was her hand covering her nose.

My eyes trailed back to the rest of the family. The more I blinked my eyes, the more the white noise clouding my ears faded and I could hear the distress of the people in front of me.

"Gajeel! Sweetie, focus on us! Don't breathe!" Mirajane instructed, her voice motherly, but stern, as any mother's voice would be when scolding her son.

"Baby, stop breathing! It's okay! It's okay! It's Lucy!" Levy begged, sounding almost frenzied. Only later did I realize how hard that must have been for her. To have to protect her best friend from the crazed, but innocent love of her life.

"Get it together, man." Jellal growled, Pantherlily grunting next to him in exertion, "Now. You hear me? Right now."

Gajeel's growling seized, but his stature was still tensed. He and Natsu held each other's gazes for a moment. Levy's eyes glazed over and in the next moment she was harshly pushing at Natsu to move away from her mate.

"Okay! Okay! Move." She hissed, her blows on Natsu's side having more impact than mine ever could. Natsu's blazing eyes shifted to Levy in ridicule, "I got him! Move!" She yelled, and Natsu tore his hold from Gajeel. The black-haired brother stood in complete shock, looking crazed and not breathing even after his airways were freed.

Mirajane looked to Erza, her blue eyes emitting fury, "Thanks for helping." She spat, and Erza's hooded eyes blinked away from the angered mother. Happy's shocked gaze trailed from the scene to me, his mouth agape before he got control of his little body and flew over to me.

"Lucy!" He cried, "Lucy, are you okay?" I couldn't speak.

Jellal and Laxus still held Gajeel, but Lily let him go and aided Levy in consoling her mate.

"It's okay, it's okay." The two repeated, Levy's hands cupping Gajeel's face while he shook his head at every assurance they gave. His heated eyes were trained on me, "It's just a little—" Levy cut off, her back stiffening as she slowly turned to lock eyes with me, "Cut." She finished in a hard, pained voice. Her chestnut-brown eyes dilated to match her mate's and Natsu's.

Dazed in shock, it took a while for me to truly notice the pain in my arm. Happy's frenzied little voice was the only confirmation I had that I was indeed in bad shape. But when the pain hit, it hit hard. The shards of glass from the punch bowl stuck into my arm, and I finally looked down to see deep red pooling from out of it. The smell sent my stomach into a spiral, and I zipped my lips shut to hold back the bile threatening to erupt. I was too shocked to get up, even though my mind continued to urge me to. Additionally, the searing pain in my arm would have made anyone stay as still as possible...

Not to mention the image I was met with when I lifted my gaze from my—once-unmarked—damaged arm.

Oh, yeah... The sight of six suddenly ravenous Dark Mages would also make anyone stay still.

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I'm just gonna vent. If you don't wanna hear it, see you in Chapter Four, thanks for sticking around loves.

First of all, I am so sorry for this huge delay. As many and ALL of you should know, these are very dire and stressful times. I don't know what sparked my brain to write today, but it hasn't happened in months since my last update, so here we go. Picture this: you are a Senior in high school. You recently had your last day but it was not at school. It was online. You are at home, you've been at home, and cannot go out to celebrate your achievements with those who went through it all with you. Even if you could, not more than 10 people can tag along. Your country is going to shit, and you are hearing everywhere how "unfortunate" the situation is, like no matter how much you try to make light of it, you're reminded that you were dealt the shortest hand. That's how life feels right now.

My friends, class, and I didn't get a graduation, a prom, or really anything we were promised in the last four years. Our money for this year (thousands of dollars that could have been used for college) went no where. That's hard. And while it's a tough blow to stomach, we "have to" in order to continue through college. Like all our years in high school were meaningless. We don't know what the hell we're doing, most of us are terrified and too scared to voice it. We all knew that graduating at the start of the decade would just be fabulous, but... We all knew we would be out partying and planning and starting a life, but... We all knew that we would have one another, like we always did, and we would end this shit together with a bang, but... we just couldn't win. We didn't stand a fucking chance.

If you are one of us, know that you aren't alone. It's okay to shutdown right now, to not be okay, to not want to talk about it; no one but us can understand what we're going through and it's easy for people to try and voice their disappointment about our case (but they will never understand.) And that's okay. We're still making history.

Take another deep breath, know that you aren't in this alone, and start. Whatever it is, start. Start that painting, that book, that movie, that show, whatever. Just start. We now have all the time in the world. Use it. Appreciate it instead of detesting it. There have been times we prayed for time like this, perhaps not in the way it's been delivered, but time in general. Now we have it. So do yourself the biggest favor, give yourself the biggest reward, and start.