Team Up / Journey

Lucy had had it. She was sick of going on jobs, and everything ending up being destroyed, thus losing all the reward. Her rent was due at the end of the week, and she had no where near even half of the money to make it. She needed a job, once that pays well and is easy enough, and soon.

Which is why she found herself standing in front of the jobs board. Lucky for her, Erza was away on a S-Class mission, and Natsu had taken Happy fishing. Looking over the missions, she grabbed one with a high amount of profit but wasn't too hard, and went to the bar. "Mira, I'm going to take this on a solo."

Lucy handed her the sheet. The white-haired girl read it and looked up at her with concern. The request said that the local town wanted a nearby dark guild, who had been terrorizing them, stopped. "Are you sure you'll be ok doing this by yourself? I'm sure someone wouldn't mind going with you."

Lucy smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure. Besides, I have my spirits, and I'm not completely helpless."

Mira sighed. "If you're positive about this." She signed off on the form. "I'll let the town's major know. I assume you'll be leaving right away?"

Lucy nodded and took the request back from Mira when she was done with it. "I should be back in a few days. And I promise to contact you tomorrow."

With a smile and a wave, Lucy left. Mira watched with worry. She trusted Lucy's abilities but wasn't sure how she'd go against a whole dark guild. She looked around the bar with a sigh. It was awfully quiet now.

It was the next day, and there had been no contact from Lucy. More worried that before, she looked around the guild, trying to see who was available., before her eyes spotted a certain ice-make mage, and a smiled curled on her lips. "Gray!" She called him over.

Said mage looked and went over. "Sup Mira?"

"Nothing much. Just wanted to let you know that Lucy left for a mission."

He blinked. "Alone?"

"Yeah. She said she'd be ok, but I was wondering if you could go and check on her for me?"

"Are you sure she'd want that?"

"No, but she promised she'd call in and she hasn't."

This caused Gray to frown. It wasn't like Lucy to break a promise. "She probably just lost the LacriComm or something."

"But what if she's hurt, or worse? It's better to be safe than sorry."

Gray looked torn for a moment as he thought it over before sighing. "Fine… Where did she go?"

Mira gave him the request details and he left the guild, somehow feeling like he just signed a deal with the devil.

It was a few hours later, and the train Gray was on pulled up at the station. Getting off, the ice-mage went straight to the major's office. After waiting for a free slot and getting the details, he immediately set off to where the dark guild was supposed to be. His mind instantly went to Lucy. He couldn't help but wonder if she was ok or if something happened to her. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that he was approaching the building until a loud explosion shook the ground and he looked up.

His eyes widened at the sight of Lucy surrounded by the dark guild. She was holding her own, but it was easy to see she was getting tired. Rushing forward, he pressed his hands to the ground. "Ice Make Floor!"

It created a path through the middle of the dark mages, dodging Lucy but causing the rest to slip. "Ice Make Sword!"

He ran forward to the centre, cutting down any dark mages in his way. Joining up with Lucy, he told her to duck as he attacked a mage that was planning a sneak attack behind her while she was distracted. Quickly glancing her over, he was glad to find she had little injuries. "Hey, glad to see you're ok!"

Lucy pushed him out of the way and attacked an approaching mage behind him with her whip, calling out Taurus afterwards. "I would say the same, but what the hell are you doing here?!"

They ended up back to back as they attacked the dark mages, their conversation somehow managing to continue through it, though they had to shout to hear each other over the sounds of battle. "You didn't contact the guild like you promised!"

"I lost the LacriComm! Is that why you came?!"

"Yeah, we were worried something bad happened!"

"I'm fine, well, I will be when these guys are gone!"

"So basically you're saying shut up and fight?!"

"Pretty much!"

And that they did. It took a while, as while the mages weren't the strongest, there were lots of them. Eventually, they were all unconscious and tied together. The two fairies collapsed by a nearby tree as they waited for the council to come pick them up. Lucy was the first to regain her breath. "Thanks for coming. I honestly don't know what would have happened if you didn't."

"It's no problem. I'm just glad I came when I did."

There was silence for a moment. "Why did you come? Mira could have sent anyone but why did she send you? Not that I don't appreciate it."

He chuckled. "Honestly, I don't know. Though knowing her she probably had some hidden reason."

Lucy let out a giggle. "Probably. Thank you again."

She kissed his cheek in thanks. Gray's eyes widened in surprise as he blushed slightly. Lucy seemed to have realized what she did and blushed hard, looking away. They refused to look at each other, sitting in awkward silence until the magic council came, though the one thing of their minds was 'why am I feeling this way…?'