Pheromones, yanderes, and lemons. Oh my!

Chapter Sixteen

Rogue's POV

I was laying limply over the edge of the boat when Wendy escorted Sting up onto the main deck the next day. Wendy cast Troia on me when they finally reached my hurling spot. It took them awhile though. Sting hadn't gotten his sea legs yet, so he was pretty wobbly. Wendy wasn't much better, really. As I straightened up, I winced slightly and held my stomach.

"You okay?" Sting asked.

"Yeah, just sore. For someone without much magic, Levy-san put up quite a fight."

"Well, I was teaching her some basic self-defense before this whole mating season thing hit." Lily flew down from the crow's nest and settled onto the railing with Lector and Frosch. Charla followed suit.

"You don't say..." I tried to ignore my twingeing stomach muscles. She had managed to slam me in the gut with her knee before I tackled her.

"Strange, I thought Gajeel-san was at the guild everyday." Wendy commented thoughtfully.

"He was. He refused to help. He said, and I quote, 'What's the point of that? I'll always be there, so there's nuthin' to worry about!'" Lily managed to do a pretty good impression of the iron slayer. "Even Gajeel can say something romantic, if only by accident." He chuckled and we all laughed. A loud snarl suddenly echoed beneath our feet and we stopped laughing abruptly.

Dimly, we heard Laxus-san groan. "Godamnit, Gajeel, don't start that again! It's too fucking early for this!"

"No, it's not. It's almost lunchtime."

"How the hell do you know that, Pink Hair?"

"'Cause I'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry! It's hard enough to fall asleep like this, let alone with that idiot roaring, so fuck off and let me sleep!! " Laxus-san snapped.

Natsu-san made no reply, and other than a small snarl from Gajeel-sama, it was silent belowdecks. We all looked at each other. "Laxus isn't a morning person. He gets cranky." Happy commented mildly, flying over to us. Lily snorted. Happy looked over at him, gave a Juvia glare, shoved him sideways on the railing, and settled between him and Charla. It was awkwardly quiet for a little bit.

"Is it really lunchtime?" Sting asked finally. We all burst out laughing again.

"Don't be silly, it's only mid-morning." Charla scolded. He grinned, then suddenly went green and collapsed. Wendy quickly cast Troia on him and he popped back up like nothing happened.

"Um, Wendy-san, how long does your Troia work?" Lector asked.

"Well, it depends. Sometimes..." I got distracted from the conversation when Sting scratched over his bandage absently. I remembered the end of the battle. After the naked man accidentally froze Sting along with Natsu-san, he and Charla helped me carry Juvia-san, the girl in orange, and Jet over to Wendy's hiding place. It took both us guys to lift Droy while Charla moved Lector for me. Erza-san, Master Makarov, a card woman in a bikini top, and a tall man with ginger hair and beard in a black cloak were all scuffling with the dueling pair, trying to keep the She-Devil and the green-haired guy ( I think it was a guy ) from fighting. Lily and Gajeel-sama were still wrestling around on the ground when the naked guy ( who's name turned out to be Gray ) had the brilliant idea to have Wendy beg the larger group not to fight. It actually worked. She didn't even have to say anything; one look at her tear-streaked face and both She-Devil and Green-Hair, and Erza-san, immediately stopped squabbling and cuddled her. She distracted them long enough that we moved everyone onto the ship or back in the guild house. In Sting's and Natsu-san's cases, unfreeze and then move.