Crack!

Standing backed up against a tree, Lucy snapped her whip ferociously at the advancing bandits, successfully knocking them out cold. She quickly threw her hand to the side, and her Fleuve d'étoiles wrapped around an enemy, the celestial mage using all of her body strength to throw him into another bandit.

Despite the breezy clothes she was wearing, sweat was running down her face from the persistency of the attacks. Wiping her brow tiredly with the back of her hand, she spared a glance around the grassy clearing.

Erza and Gray were back to back, fighting an oncoming horde of rogues, Erza swiftly incapacitating bandits with single swings of her sword, and Gray clearing out groups at a time with an ice cannon. Loke was throwing light-infused punches, eliminating almost two for every one punch.

"Karyuu No.. Houkou!"

Lucy's head snapped to the left, just in time to see Natsu breathing a pillar of flame across the remainder of the bandits, a wild glint in his onyx eyes. Lucy would be lying if she said she didn't see an obvious change in him when he was fighting. His eyes seemed to light up, almost brighter than his beloved flames, and he would always look so determined, no matter the importance of their task. As he finished off the last of the bandits, she looked around to see how everyone was faring. Everyone seemed to be alright, save from a few cuts and scratches. Walking up to Erza and Gray, the celestial mage let out a quick sigh. She was tired. The sooner they got back to the campsite, the better.

"Was that all of them?" Gray looked at the red-haired requip mage, asking the question the was on Lucy's mind at the time.

"I believe so." Erza stated. "Now that they're all gone, I think we should rest up report back to the mayor, then leave for Magnolia at dawn."

Rapidly nodding her head in agreement, the celestial mage started to trek back through the worn path, only giving a fraction of her mind as to wonder if any of her team were following her.

"Thanks for the help Loke," she said, gratefully. It would've taken twice as long without his help.

"Glad to be of assistance Lucy. You can always count on me!" Loke gave a flirtatious wink, then disappeared back to the spirit world. Lucy chuckled quietly and rolled her eyes at his unchanging playboy ways.

"Oi, Luce!" Lucy heard an exclamation from behind her, "Wait up!" She slowed into a leisurely walking pace, as the fire breathing mage ran up to walk beside her. Lucy saw him open his mouth, words forming, but didn't come out as something pummeled into him from behind.

The ice make mage and the dragon slayer were now somehow both collapsed on the ground, Lucy completely clueless as to why. Stifling a giggle, she looked over to Erza, who also looked bewildered.

Lucy waited for the onslaught of insults to start.

...

"What was that, you ice bastard!?"

"Calm down you flame dick!" Gray rose to his feet. "Something pushed me into you!"

"Ice Princess!"

"Squinty eyes!"

"Popsicle!"

Suddenly, Gray leapt at Natsu, and each started throwing wild punches; sure to leave some nasty bruises. Suddenly, they rolled into a nearby bush. Lucy could feel the air growing thicker around Erza, and the celestial wizard couldn't suppress a shiver from the threatining vibes leaking from the re-quip mage.

"Sorry Lucy, I'm going to have to sort these two out," Erza said, curling her armoured hand into a fist and punching the other.

By this point, Lucy was incredibly tired from the long mission, and although she pitied Natsu and Gray for what was yet to come, she just wanted to go back to the campsite and relax, maybe even finish off her latest chapter. She was a bit behind, and Levy-chan had been dying to read her newest installment!

"I'm just going to head back. I'll meet you guys there," Lucy sends a questioning look to the right, hearing muted insults and dull thuds coming from the other side of the bush. "You'd better go and stop them before there's no

"Yes! I'll see you later Lucy." Sparing the celestial wizard a short worried glance, she questions, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine. I just need a rest," Lucy smiled.

With an affirming nod, the requip mage jumps into the bush. Flinching as she heard more pummeling sounds coming from her right, Lucy started to walk back, only then remembering the unknown source of the start of Gray and Natsu's brawl.

She slowly walked back over to where Gray had been standing, curiously looking around for things that could've tripped the ice mage up. After seeing nothing of particular interest, she left with the assumption that he had tripped over a stray tree root, and started to walk back down the trail. She watched her feet step- one in front of the other, and fingered the hem of her low-cut shirt, wondering if they had a bath at the hotel. Just imagining the heat was warming her up delightfully!

Wait. It's a bit too hot now…!

Lucy screeched in surprise after looking down to see flames licking at her clothes. She frantically swiped at her singed material, taking a good few extra seconds to check that there were no remaining flames. Nothing like that had ever happened before with Natsu's flame. She had just assumed he had much better control over it. Weird. She didn't give much more thought to it though, as she looked up at the wasteland that was once a beautiful forest.

There were blackened marks on what trees had actually survived the pillar of flame that was shooting into the air, and ice all over the dense foliage. Now that there was no protection from any other attacks, Lucy decided to get out of there pretty quickly, infuriated at the fact that this might cost some of her precious reward. How would she pay her rent now?!