Hot and Cold

A New Chapter

~*****~

My body feels hot. When my internals freeze completely, I can't feel any type of heat, even hot water. My eyes scrunch tightly as I try opening them. Everything hurts, but at least I'm warm. When I hear a harsh snore in my ear. I grunt and open my eyes immediately. "You think they're gonna be okay?" I hear Gray ask.

"QUIT SNORING!" I shriek, my pillow smashing down on Natsu's face as I'm suddenly sitting up. I let out a bellow of pain and wrap my arms around my torso. "Where am I!?"

"Aria, take it easy!" Gray laughs as I glance around wildly. "Everything's okay now."

"You guys have been sleeping for the past three days," Lucy giggles.

"It's what you get for eating that Ether-nano." Gray comments.

"I didn't eat any, that was Natsu--" I retort irritably.

Gray laughed. "When Erza tried sacrificing herself, Natsu said you went crazy and ate a chunk of the tower and dived in to save her." Gray explained. "Your body was already feeling the effects of overusing your magic, then you decided to be as dumb as Natsu."

"Say that again and I'll smack ya!" Natsu suddenly shouts, his body popping upright.

"You're awake!" Happy chirps.

Natsu doesn't respond. Instead he flops forward, his face pressing into my breasts, completely passed out. "That punk woke up just to pick a fight with me?!" Gray exclaimed.

"At least he ain't droolin' on your chest," I comment irritably as I try to push him off. His arms loop around my waist and hold tight before collapsing onto his side, literally entwinning his limbs around me. Lucy just laughs as I struggle.

"I know I've already said this," Erza starts off softly. "But I'm sorry for causing such trouble."

"You don't have to keep apologizing to us," Lucy says softly.

"Where's your friend?" Erza asks Gray. "I wanted to thank her."

"You talkin' about Juvia? She left a while ago." Gray shrugged. "She wanted to go to Fairy Tail and talk to Gramps about signing up with the guild."

"That'll be fun," I hum as I lean against my elbow, relaxing into the forced embrace Natsu has on me. "Juvia's such a cutie to see riled up! And she's super sweet when she doesn't suspect someone's out for your heart!"

"Will you quit teasin' her!" Gray snaps at me.

I hum delicately and purse my lips. "I'll start giving her pointers on how to flirt with you instead~"

"DON'T TELL HER THAT CRAP!" Gray shouts at me.

~*****~

I spent the remainder of our time at the resort in bed. "Well, this is a surprise." Erza hums once we return to Fairy Tail.

"They finished building it?!" The others bellow.

"There it is, Fairy Tail's new guild hall." Gray chimed happily. We stepped in and began to explore. "Are you kidding me?! We've got a cafe now?!"

"Do we really need a gift shop, too?" Lucy murmurs.

"Hey there! Glad you guys made it back okay! What's new?" The shop attendant asked.

"They got you workin' the gift shop, Max?" Happy asked as he and Ballad floated over. "It's been a while since we've seen you around the guild."

"Well, master made me go back to school, 'cause he wanted me to take some business classes." Max explained sheepishly.

"You're Max Alors! I've read all about you in Sorcerer Weekly!" Lucy chirped excitedly.