Sting had just finished bandaging the mark on Lucy's wrist, barely able to get a bandage around and under the damn cuff, when his nose twitched and his head jerked up, very nearly smacking her in the face as his eyes narrowed.

She pulled her arm away, huffing as he glanced around. There was no window in the bathroom but that didn't stop him from looking back and forth, his nose twitching like he'd smelled something fowl.

"What is it?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes. Nightmare or not, it was still very late, and all she wanted was to try and lay down again for a few more hours. With a three day train ride looming over their heads, she needed to get all the sleep she could ahead of time. Even Wendy's magic couldn't fend off his nausea for that long of a time.

Sting tilted his head, still not really focusing on her. "There's a lot of noise outside."

Frowning, Lucy turned back to the room, practically dragging Sting to the window. The last village they visited flashed through her mind, and she didn't need a repeat of being chased out of town again. Did the townsfolk realize who they were and what they were hiding?

At the window Lucy paused, placing her fingers against the frigid glass. Glancing up and down the street she couldn't see anything other than the dim streetlights, but if she strained her ears hard enough she thought she could hear screaming.

Half a second later, she found herself leaping backwards with Sting, the same internal alert clicking in that something was about to happen. They were clumsy when they landed, both having their own style for countering something as it attacked, and her wrist screamed in protest as the freshly bandaged skin was ripped open all over again.

It hardly mattered. The outer wall of their room – and, it appeared, the entire outside wall of the building – was gone.

"What's going on?" she cried out, her skin prickling at the abrasive wind as it slammed into their bodies. They'd managed to dodge whatever attack that was, and now with the ringing in her ears she could hear the screams again, much closer this time. Blinking, she looked to her left and noted that two or three other buildings were also missing the front wall of the complex.

Sting shook his head, white light dancing in his hand much to her dismay. "Don't know! We need to get out and find the others!"

Lucy nodded, doing a quick survey of the room. They had clothes – albeit they were pretty pathetic compared to the warm garments that fell away with the wall – and she was grateful her keys still sat on the opposite bedside table where she had left them. Dragging the dragon slayer with her, she snatched them up immediately as her eyes looked around, searching for a cause of what was going on.

She couldn't see anyone attacking, but she could still hear the screams.

"We gotta go!" Sting called again, even as she looked around for their missing lacrima. She managed to grab one, forgoing her shoes as the building shook, causing the pair to stumble.

"Who's attacking?" she yelled back, wondering where the others were. The streetlights across the way did nothing to illuminate their destroyed room, and through the sounds of white noise she thought she could hear the other hotel guests crying out for help.

"Dunno!" he called back, dragging her towards the door on the opposite wall. Throwing it open, they nearly collided with Erza, who had drawn her sword and haphazardly thrown on her boots.

"Guards are attacking," Erza explained, looking as confused as Lucy felt. "I don't recognize any of them; they wear all black. I heard people screaming about it. The others went out to fight while I came to find you two."

"Guards?" Lucy asked, confusion momentarily clouding her mind. "How do you know their guards?"

Erza shrugged, the trio stumbling when the ground shifted. "The building is collapsing. They somehow blew out the entire front of the building, and I believe a few others too. I'm here to make sure you two don't try to join the fight."

Sting sneered, tugging at her arm. "We can't just run away! Whoever's out there is hurting people-"

"And we can't control our magic," Lucy reminded, glaring at the light in Sting's hand. It helped with the darkness around them, but also made it painfully obvious where they were standing. "If our magic kills one of us we'll be useless in a fight."

Rolling his eyes, Sting let the light in his hand fade. Absent the brightness, Lucy became aware of the heat his magic generated as well. She suddenly wished she hadn't forgone her shoes, lost someplace with the far side of the building.

"We're going to figure out what's going on," Erza continued, giving the pair a pointed look. "You two need to find cover. Wendy and Yukino are helping the townsfolk get away from the attack. You need to go with them. Keep your heads down."

"You want us to run from the fight," Sting replied, snarling, "again."

Erza shrugged, grabbing his arm to push the pair away from what was outside. "It's safest for everyone. Now go!"

Lucy's eyes narrowed, wondering what in the world could make Erza act so strangely. She couldn't imagine why she came to get them instead of someone else. Glancing towards Sting, she could see that he was having similar thoughts, his ears twitching as he stared the other direction.

There was no way this was a coincidence to their arrival. Something was attacking the town, and Lucy had a sinking sensation in her gut that they were to blame.

If so, the only way they could help was by getting out of there.

"Come on," she urged, turning to face Sting. He arched an eyebrow, surprised that she gave in so easily. "We won't help anyone here."

She expected another argument, but instead the blond rolled his eyes, turning to head away from the chaos. "Whatever."

Lucy didn't argue, grabbing onto Sting's hand to steer him further away. There were people in the adjacent hallway piling out of their rooms, panicking as they ran from whatever was attacking outside. If she strained her ears she could hear the sound of fighting over the roar of people screaming, but everything was blurring together into words she couldn't really focus on.

They had just gotten to the end of the hallway when someone grabbed her shoulder, causing both of them to stop. Lucy spun around at the same time Sting did, glaring at the man who had grabbed her.

He was older with graying hair, finger shaking as he pointed at them. His eyes were staring at the bracelet, fingers digging into the soft skin of her shoulder. "This is all your fault!"

"Let go of her," Sting replied, shoving his waving finger away. Lucy reached up with her other hand to remove his grip, surprised when he resorted to holding on with both hands.

"It's your fault!" he yelled again, shaking his head at them. "If you mages weren't so dangerous they wouldn't have to find you."

Lucy tensed, hesitating removing his hands. "What are you talking about?"

His eyes widened, his hand flying from on top of hers to her other shoulder, and he moved as though to shove her into the wall. Instead the pressure on her shoulder blades was torn off, Sting throwing out an arm that sent the man flying into the door behind him.

"I told you to let go," he continued, but she thought it sounded like more of a snarl. "Now what are you talking about?"

The man shook his head, glaring at the pair as he slumped down into the floor. "Mages are too dangerous. You must be controlled. If you would stop fighting it, this would all be over."

Lucy's eyes lit up, approaching him until her arm pulled tight, unable to shift closer when Sting refused to move. "Do you know who's attacking outside?"

He glared up at her, looking like he wanted to strike. Lucy braced herself, shifting her weight to one foot on the off chance that she needed to Lucy-kick him. It wouldn't do to have Sting fighting for her.

"They will finish the job," he said determinedly, ignoring her question. "Then there will be peace again."

Her eyes narrowed, and she wanted to ask another question as the building shook. "What-"

Sting's hand came up and rested on her shoulder, urging her to turn away. "If we don't get out of here this place will fall on our heads. Leave him. He doesn't want to help us."

Lucy hesitated, searching through the man's face again with her own eyes, silently begging him to say something. People tended to give the most away when emotionally driven, but Sting was right that they couldn't risk getting crushed under the wayward building. Whatever was going on outside wouldn't stop just because she had questions.

Chaos never did.

After a moment she sighed, turning from the man. Sting draped an arm across her shoulder, startling her as he glared over her head. He'd never acted like that before, despite their intimate moments while traveling together, and if the floor beneath them didn't shift sideways a moment later she would've thought harder about it.

For a split second the gesture almost felt protective.

"We have to leave!" she screamed, throwing off his arm as they bolted away. She tried to turn back and face the man they were arguing with but Sting wouldn't have it, dragging her around the corner before she could catch sight of him again.

"We don't have time blondie!" he yelled back, dragging her along with him. Her wrist screamed in protest, and she sincerely wished Wendy had come to grab them instead so the cut would stop bleeding. Even through the bandages she could tell it was dripping once more.

Lucy relented, only because she couldn't imagine they would be much help now. They barreled down a hallway that came to a dead end, the other side completely destroyed as this half threatened to topple over too. She could see in the distance the distinct glimmer of magic amidst a fight, but it was too dark and too far away to figure out what was happening.

"We need to jump!" Sting cried, dragging her closer to the edge. "The stairs here will collapse at any moment!"

"And how are we supposed to do that together?" she argued back, staring at the space below them. The entirety of the ground was uneven and strewn with the remains of the building. There were patches of space to jump down to that could fit one person at a time, but nowhere that she could see where they could jump together without hurting each other.

He cocked his head to the side, looking her up and down. "I can carry ya."

She blushed, thinking back to all the times Natsu did the same thing. He never asked before actually doing so, and she figured Sting only did because of what she told him. She hesitated, debating if she actually wanted the blond man to pick her up or not, but figured it would be the only way to get down. There was no way she wanted to jump all the way down there carrying him.

Lucy nodded once, and before she could get the words out her mouth he reached down and picked her up, practically throwing them off of the floor they were standing on. Glancing behind them as they fell, she watched the floor explode from some type of attack, and figured he probably sensed what was coming.

Sting was fairly graceful even with the bracelet hindering his movement, and managed to get them back down to solid ground without a misstep. Lucy hissed when he set her down, her sock-clad feet doing nothing to fight off the immediate wetness that sank through her as the socks absorbed new-fallen snow. She blinked, realizing a light dusting had settled over the storefronts that hadn't been disrupted, and a steady stream of snow was now coming down.

She suddenly wished she'd never prepared for her bath. With weather like this she'd be shivering in minutes. Looking Sting over in the dim light, she was more than annoyed to see he was still fully clothed, having never changed after goarging himself.

A gust of wind swept by and she shivered. "We have to get off the street. If they really are looking for us…"

Sting scowled, looking in the direction of the fight. "How many times are we going to run away from the fight? There are freaking guards over there! This had to be to get us-"

"And we won't help them by going back and getting in the way!" she interrupted, hugging herself in the cold. Her mind thought back to all the times someone had come for her, and Fairy Tail fought to help and protect her. Getting in the way always made things harder, and glancing at Sting she got the feeling he wasn't used to being the one not fighting. "C-come on, we just need to get out of the street and hide. Erza was right."

He glanced at her, still tense. She'd convinced him more than once to back away from a fight, and so far he'd let it happen. They were too clumsy to be of help, and even the few times they had attempted it hadn't helped much. Huffing, he turned to face her. "Fine, lead the way."

Lucy nodded, wiggling her frigid legs to wake up before she started jogging. Her toes were already freezing, and she was silently making a list of clothes she would require from Virgo to survive now that her pack was destroyed. Even if it was still someplace in their room, it was too risky to go back now.

She must've been moving pretty slow, and could practically feel Sting glaring a hole through her head. "W-what?"

"You're going to freeze to death like that."

Lucy huffed. "W-we have to put distance between us and the fight. Then we worry about that."

Sting groaned, stopping her mid-run. She slid on the ice briefly before stopping, her frozen toes screaming in protest. Pulling on her protesting arm, he dragged her onto a side street, immediately pressing her into the wall.

Lucy's breath hitched, her panic suddenly kicking in. Her entire body tensed, hands grasping his forearms as she held him away from her, eyes widening. After everything she just told him, he could not –

"Relax," he muttered, glancing around. His eyes appeared brighter than normal, his hands twisting around so they rested on her forearms. "I'm just trying to warm you up before you freeze. You'll move faster too."

Her eyebrows shot up but her grip didn't loosen, the fight behind them suddenly a lot less important. Their position felt very intimate, his frame managing to keep her gently pressed into the brick behind them without suffocating her. If she wanted right now she could slip out from her spot, but the heat radiating off Sting's skin was too good to pass up. Her fingers twitched, debating if she should reach for her keys or not. After everything she didn't think he'd intentionally hurt her, but it didn't help to calm her.

"I won't hurt you," he reasoned, brows knitting together. "But we've got to move faster. You need to get some new clothes-"

Lucy nodded, her mind moving in slow motion. She needed to be thinking logically about the fight around them, but she felt distracted as she drank in his heat. "Virgo. Vigro can get me new clothes."

He rolled his eyes, stepping closer, extinguishing the gap she could escape through. He was still mindful, his shoulder lightly resting on hers so she didn't immediately bolt, but there was no pressure behind it. "Then you better let me warm you up first. I don't need another lecture from your spirits."

She bit her lip, glancing away when his unbound hand rested on her back like a semi hug. For some reason her breath caught despite Sting having touched her before. For some reason, this moment felt much more intimate than any other. The moment his palm made contact with her back warmth blossomed there and seeped into her freezing skin, which made their position no less intimate. He was still leaning over her, his forehead nearly resting on hers.

She kept her hand on his arm, just in case. If she pushed him away, Lucy believed he would let it happen. Her fingers stopped shaking from the cold, but she didn't let up on her grip.

As he slid his hand to the other side of her back and let the same familiar warmth sink in Lucy couldn't help but sigh. It felt amazing to be soaked in that much warmth despite the cold winds. Immediately embarrassment shot through her at the sound, and her eyes snapped up to Sting's. She met his gaze, his eyes brighter still.

He swallowed before he spoke again, seeming at war with himself. "I'm gonna need to teach you how to do this yourself."

She didn't get to ask him what he meant. Stepping back he cleared his throat, shifting away from her. "Call out Virgo. We've got to get you out of those clothes."

"It'll take her a bit to fashion something new," Lucy replied, hugging herself again. "Most of the time I don't even ask."

"Well ask for this," he groaned, looking around them again. Out of the temporary delirium Lucy could hear the sounds of fighting once more, and a wave of guilt shot through here. Her friends were fighting whoever was out there, and she was hiding over here doing… well, doing something with Sting. She could at least be considerate enough to remember what was going on around them!

Pushing herself off the wall, she reached for her keys, trying to understand the fluttering in her heart. "Right."

Sting finally let up running when they reached the train station, much to his dismay. It appeared whatever fight was happening around them was beginning to die down, and though they were too far away now for him to hear any sort of conversation he believed that their friends came out victorious. After all, no one had chased them over the last fifteen minutes.

On the other hand, chasing might be a little bit of an overkill. The snow had picked up as they ran, and in her socks and short sleeve Lucy was pretty close to freezing despite the run. Someone could have walked up and attack them with all the progress they didn't make. It was simply too cold out, and she was painfully underdressed.

Surveying her once, he looked away again. It was certainly cold enough out to make her nipples erect beneath the top, and he had done everything in his power to advert his eyes. He was fairly certain she still had something on beneath, but it wasn't enough to fight off how cold she was. Yet another thing to add to how ridiculous it all seemed.

He really should warm her up again, but after her sigh earlier he was forcing himself to hold off. It would be great if Virgo could hurry up with those clothes and add an extra barrier between them.

It was his own fault. Whatever compelled him to sniff her neck earlier while he warmed her up was beyond him, and something he could not risk doing again. Something about Lucy, despite the cold and the fear leaking off of her, smelled absolutely delicious.

It took almost the entire run to the station to realize it was her natural scent, though he couldn't recall feeling that way about it before.

He didn't bother asking this time when he touched her shoulder, glad when she didn't stiffen beneath his touch. She was frigid to the touch, and he hoped those clothes hurried up soon. He'd need to take extra measures soon if she didn't warm up a little, and with his poor luck Natsu would come back right about then.

"Why did you have us come here?" he asked instead, letting his magic flow into her body. She seemed to protest a lot less when he was using it to warm the mage up herself.

Shrugging, she glanced up at him. "F-figured the others will think to look here and not down some random street."

Sting nodded, continuing to study the area around them. He didn't know if whoever was attacking would think to come here, but so far it looked like no one else bothered to visit the station. He'd been more than ready to fight earlier, the very idea of a battle causing excitement to shoot through his veins, but now the thought was gone. It seemed things were dying down, and with any luck the damage was minimal.

Then again, the attackers did take out one side of at least three buildings.

"Do you think those were Berchinni's men?" he asked, tilting his head. She grasped his wrist, guiding him further into the station and away from the abrasive wind. He wasn't totally warm anymore, and if he could use his magic he'd be more than okay for several more hours, but he was nowhere as frigid as Lucy was.

"Yes," she replied, no hesitation in her voice. "I can't believe he would let guards, hired-hands, anyone really, attack a town. I thought they were trying to bring about peace or whatever garbage they were preaching. We aren't going to look as dangerous as those attackers are in the papers."

"Doesn't matter. If he's as influential up here as you say, they will come off as the heroes."

Lucy grunted but didn't say anything else, leaning closer into Sting as he continued to warm her up. She hesitated twice as they walked over to a bench before turning to hug him as best she could, their attached limbs not allowing her to fully embrace him.

Sting grew still, hugging her back awkwardly for a moment. She was still cool to the touch but no longer shaking, which was a good sign.

"Thanks," she muttered, surprising him further when she buried her face into his shoulder, her cheek cool even through his shirt. She breathed in deeply, her fingers tightening on the fabric of his shirt. He had half a mind to pull her off and ask what exactly she thought she was doing today but decided against it. Ducking his head, he burrowed his nose into the juncture of her neck and shoulder and breathed in too.

Absolutely delicious.

Sting felt something stir inside of him, causing his hand to press hard into her back as his eyes widened. If she smelled this amazing to him, that usually meant –

"There you two are."

He spun around, dragging Lucy with him in surprise. He'd been so lost in his thoughts he didn't pay attention to their surroundings, and silently cursed himself for it. The smirk on Rogue's face didn't make things any better.

Beside the shadow dragon slayer Yukino grinned, Lector and Frosch waving sleepily from her shoulders. "We were so worried! Erza said she told the two of you to run, but we weren't sure if you'd actually listen."

Rogue glanced between the pair, giving Sting a stern look. "Looks like you two are getting along."

"She's cold," he bit out immediately, narrowing his eyes. Despite himself the hand on her lower back tightened, dragging her closer to him. The light in his hand brightened, the heat becoming stronger. "I can't just let her freeze to death."

Snorting, Rogue shook her head. "Oh, of course."

"The others will be here in a minute or two," Yukino continued, giving the twin dragon slayers a funny look. "Erza was trying to calm down some of the towns people, but I don't think it will work. We need to get on the first train, any train, and get out of this town. There are spies around here."

Lucy shook her head, seeming at a loss. She pulled back from Sting, and he was startled how much he missed the contact. He instinctively felt the need to pull her into him again and resisted, ignoring Rogue's knowing gaze.

"How would someone have even known?" she asked, looking at the duo. "We hid the damn bracelet! How did they figure it out?"

"Erza mentioned that someone may have followed us from the previous town," Rogue replied, looking around. He met Sting's eyes briefly, a question lingering there before he spoke again. "I haven't recognized any familiar scents recently, but Natsu and Wendy were talking about the possibility of one they sensed."

Sting's eyes narrowed, the hand on her back tightening once more. The only scent he'd noticed being similar was that of Dan Straight, and if the bastard was moronic enough to cause something like this then he was more dangerous than Sting first thought.

Dan's scent wasn't nearby when he'd noticed it last week, and it definitely hadn't been there at the time when they entered the city. Still, there was too much happening around them to figure out if he could detect it now. Aside from that, he couldn't recall any matching scents recently.

The idea didn't sit well with him. Rogue had recognized the scent too before, and while he didn't know what exactly that meant, he clearly believed that Sting did. It made more sense why Natsu and the others would be last to arrive at the station.

At this point, he had to have shared with the rest of his team what happened when Lucy crossed paths with the twit. The fact that Dan wanted to follow her around again had his skin crawling, and he sincerely hoped that he was being overly suspicious. Plenty of people seemed to have their eyes on them, and for all he knew it could be Dobengal trying to ensure he never made it back to continue leading the guild.

Still, things were too coincidental.

Sting snapped his eyes away, refusing to meet his partners gaze again. Rogue could wait for answers Hopefully, they could get on this god-forsaken train, and he wouldn't have to worry about explaining for a couple more days.

A/n: Here's chapter 14. I rewrote this one as I hated the last draft. We will see more about what this last attack was in the next chapter, but I wanted to touch on some semi-romance now since it's been a little bit.

I won't make any guarantee's for the timeline of future chapters. Every time I do that I end up being wrong. So, until next time dear readers. Let me know what you thought of this one.