The beginning of this story takes place after the Phantom Lord Arc, when Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Gray and Happy are on their way back to the Guild Hall from the Heartfilia Estate.
Gray's POV:
"I can't believe your house was so big Lucy!" Happy says with astonishment, "Why would you ever leave home?! You can afford all the fish you could ever want!"
"Is fish the only thing you ever think about, cat?" I say, sounding a little annoyed but in good spirits. We just won a large battle a few weeks back and Lucy was coming back to the guild. What wasn't there to be happy about?
"I don't think I've ever heard Happy talk about anything else," the blonde girl says with a sigh. She's cute enough, but not really my type when it comes to personality, "It's like fish is the only thing that exists in this world if you ask Happy."
"Aye!" the cat agrees, "Nothing is more important than fish!"
"Hey, what about me?!" Natsu protests, "I thought I was your buddy!"
"Ya, ya," Happy waves his hand dismissively, "But you're still not as important as fish."
"Some friend you a-" Natsu starts to say, then stops and grabs at where his scarf should be.
"Lost something, have we Pyro?" I say with a laugh. It's about time that fire maniac got a taste of some karma. He was also stealing stuff of mine, usually my underpants when I find myself without clothes on.
"Did you leave your scarf back at the Heartfilia mansion?" the scarlet haired wizard asks sternly, "If so you should go get it now and then hurry to catch up before we get to the train stat-" before Erza can even finish, Natsu had run off to get his scarf back from wherever it fell off.
It's kind of weird that he somehow managed to leave his scarf somewhere, now that I think about it. In all the time I've known Natsu, I've probably only seen him without that scarf a handful of times.
We continue to walk for another thirty minutes, talking about how the construction of the guild is coming along and other tediously boring topics before we reach the town where there's a train to take us back to Magnolia.
About to turn into the first street, I see a girl laying in the grass right outside of the town. Thinking nothing of it at first, I notice that there's a line of blood running down her face from a wound on her head, "Hey, guys, come over here!" I urge the others to me as I hurry to the girl's side.
She has very light blue hair, almost white it was so light. It reminds me a bit of the odd color ice has. Her green sweatshirt and jeans were dirty and torn in a few places.
From my right, I hear Lucy gasp, "She looks about our age, what do you think happened to her?"
"Don't know, but we should get her to an infirmary or at least try to help her ourselves," Erza says, seeming to already have a plan to help the situation.
Just as I'm about to try and stir her, a sharp pain hits me in the head and I hear an unfamiliar voice yelling, "Don't hurt her!"
Looking up I see a brown cat with wings, and a black vest glaring at me. Wait, that's not right. A cat with wings? There's another Happy? The blue cat in name was in shock, and flew over to the brown cat, "You're like me! You're a flying, talking cat!"
"What?!" Lucy, Erza, and I all yell in unison. The brown cat seems just as shocked as the rest of us, supposedly never having seen another species like himself before either.
"Yes, yes I am! Now get away from Layla! She's been hurt enough..." the cat lands next to the unconscious girl, trying to give a defiant look but it's obvious he knows he couldn't take us if we wanted to hurt either of them.
I don't move from my position by the girl's head, "We're not going to hurt her," I say with annoyance and reassurance, "We were going to try and help her."
The other Happy gives me a wary look, but seems to decide against his earlier perception of us, "If that's true, then please help her. I don't know how badly they hurt her."
"How badly who hurt her?" Erza asks, glaring towards the village. The other cat doesn't respond, just shaking his head.
Confident now, knowing that I won't be attacked by a second Happy, I move to shake the girl's, Layla's, shoulder lightly. Right as I touch her the brown cat seems to have noticed and quickly shouts at me, "I wouldn't do that if I were you!"
"Huh?" I shake the girl lightly and suddenly get forced back by a strong surge of magical energy.
Groaning, I stand and notice that it was a blast of ice magic that hit me. Looking at the girl who just moments ago was unconscious on the ground, I'm surprised to see her standing. Upon closer evaluation, I notice a large amount of magical energy coming from her. Why I didn't notice it before I'm not sure.
"Another ice wizard! She's like you Gray!" Lucy says excitedly. The blue haired girl gives me a quick look of confusion. When our eyes meet I see a look of determination that's covering what she really felt. Pain, fear, and nervousness. Her eyes are also a stark light blue, not so much the color of ice like her hair but of a very pale blue sky.
"Wh-Who are you guys? What do you want with me?" she demands, "Did they hurt you, Tobias?" she adds to the cat who lands on her shoulder, shaking his head. So that was the brown cat's name.
"My name's Lucy!" she says with a smile. It was like Lucy to look past everything else and immediately try to make friends. It was one of the things I grudgingly admire about her, "The blue cat is Happy, and these two are Erza and Gray."
Tobias whispers something in Layla's ear and she seems to relax a little, but still doesn't completely trust us, "You still didn't answer my second question, what do you want with me?" She tugs at something around her neck, and I notice with surprise that she has a scarf around her neck similar to Natsu's. It had the same pattern, but seemed a little smaller and... girlier? I guess.
"We were going to try and get you medical aid," Erza says, taking a step closer, "That wound on your head seems pretty bad."
"Huh?" it seems as if Layla didn't notice before, and puts a hand to her head, finally noticing the blood, "Oh this? It's nothing. I've had worst..." her voice is soft. It reminds me of Levi in a way. She seems like a timid and shy person, but I can tell there's something underneath she's not showing us. A stronger person that matched the amount of magical power I feel coming from her.
"I can tell you're a wizard," I say, "Considering that ice magic you attacked me with when I woke you. What guild are you apart of?"
Layla frowns and shakes her head, "I'm not apart of any guild."
"She's too busy looking for her parents to waste time in a guild," Tobias adds, getting a stern look from Layla who looks upset that he said that.
"Considering you asked, I'm guessing you four are apart of some guild?" Layla asks. She seems to be comfortable now, maybe confident in the fact that we're not here to hurt her? I'm not sure. Her body language is still tense as if she'll run at a moment's notice of danger, otherwise she seemed fine.
"That's right," Erza confirms.
"We're part of the Fairy Tail guild," I say, lifting my shirt to show her the guild mark on my chest while Lucy raises her hand to show Layla hers.
"Fairy... Tail...?" the name Fairy Tail seems to trigger something inside of the girl and her eyes widen, shock and hope shining in them. Even Tobias looks a little confused at her reaction, and we all wait for her to say what she's thinking, "Do... do you know a wizard nam-"
Before she can finish, Natsu comes rushing towards us with a grin, "Found it! Thanks for waiting guys, I got distracted b-" he had been looking around at us and his eyes were on Layla, almost as wide as hers were.
"Nat...su...?" Layla says, her voice shaking and tears start to form in her eyes. Taken aback I look at both of them, confused.
Before I can ask what's going on, Layla rushes Natsu with tears in her eyes and tackles him into a hug, both of them falling to the ground, "Natsu!"
"Can someone tell me what's going on?!" Happy says, him and Tobias flying above the pair in confusion.
Editor's Note: I hope you liked the first chapter. :) I'll be trying to update this FanFic Daily. Reviews on what you think would be greatly appreciated. :D Thanks. :)