Lucy had been a member of Fairy Tail for a long time now. The daily fights and arguments, every day life. She'd even willingly participated in a few, though if Erza, Natsu, or Gajeel got involved, she'd run for the door. No way was she risking her life for a bit of fun. Most of the time though, she preferred to sit at the bar, talking with Mirajane and Levy. The three young women talked about everything; clothes, magic, and especially the boys. They loved poking fun at each other, though somehow, Mira was always able to deflect most of that sort of talk away from her back onto the other two. It was on a warm Spring day when Lucy met Levy at the bar, and Mira was no where in sight.
"Is Mira not here today?" Lucy asked, sliding into the seat next to her best friend.
"I haven't seen her. Elfman and Lisanna are here, so she's probably not on a job." Levy replied. "I suppose she could just have a...a day off, or something."
"You think so?" Lucy couldn't imagine Mira ever even wanting a day off. The guild was her favorite place to be. It was rare to see her somewhere other than behind the counter, smiling and laughing with everyone from the guild.
Levy just shrugged. "I don't really have any idea. Maybe she's just on an errand for the master."
"Hmm...maybe..." The two mages, though still curious, dropped the subject and went on to talk about books they had recently read.
As the two young women laughed and talked, the front door flew open and a frantic Natsu rushed in. He stopped in the door way and looked around the guild hall.
"Oi, Natsu! Don't just shove doors open like that!" Grey called from a table by the door. "You co-eh...?" The genuinely panicked expression on Natsu's face stopped him short. It only lasted a second thought, as he seemed to find what he was looking for over by the bar, and the panicked demeanor turned abruptly to the murderous expression he usually wore when fighting with the ice mage.
"What did you say, ice brain!?" Natsu growled, flames wrapped around his clenched fists.
"I said, don't go around throwing open doors like an idiot, idiot!" Grey snarled, shoving his face into Natsu's. That was all it took before the two were rolling around on the floor, throwing punches and kicks.
Happy, who was content to sit by and eat the fish he held in his paws, flew over to the bar by Lucy and settled in to watch the fight. "Go Natsu!" He called around a mouthful of fish.
"Oh, hi, Happy." Lucy smiled, turning around towards the brawl on the floor. "Natsu's here, huh? Great! I picked out a job. I want to get going soon."
"What kind of job? Do we get fish!?"
"Eh...I...don't think so." Lucy sighed. "It's a request to find a spell to fix things. Not really the usual for us, but I decided to branch out a bit." She smiled triumphantly. "Besides, part of the reward is a gate key."
"Which one? Is it a fish!?"
"I don't know which one. It's not a zodiac key. Just a minor one, probably one I could buy, but it's still so exciting!" Lucy clapped her hands together and giggled. "Come on, I want to head out early." She stood and headed towards the fight between the ice mange and the dragon slayer, dodging the occasional chair thrown across the guild hall. "Hey! Natsu!"
"Eh?" Natsu froze in place and looked up at Lucy, just in time to get socked in the face by Grey. "Oi, you bastard..." Natsu kicked him across the room and turned to face Lucy, sitting cross legged. "What's up, Lucy?"
"I picked us a job." Lucy replied, handing him the request.
"...Looking for a spell? That sounds boring..." Natsu pouted, turning away.
"So? I want an easy one for once. You always pick ones where we end up destroying half a village or run for our lives half the time." She sighed dramatically. "One of these jobs you pick is going to get us killed one day." She giggles, but Natsu looked like she just smacked him. He stands quickly and steps close to her.
"I'll never let that happen."
Lucy gulped and looked up at him. His dark eyes and stern expression scared her a bit. "...eh?"
"Fine. We'll go on your boring job." In one second, he reverted back to his usual carefree self. "C'mon!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, ignoring Grey's furious shouts to 'come back and finish what you started!'
I wonder what that was about... Lucy thought to herself, staring at the back of Natsu's head has he pulled her through town.
The job took them longer than expected. When Lucy, Natsu, and Happy had arrived at the client's house, they were confronted with the information that the client was actually after a specific spell. A spell which happened to be written in one book. A book which conveniently had been hidden in a ruin in the forest outside of Magnolia. All three mages shared a collective groan when the sun set, and they still hadn't found the ruins the client had mentioned.
"Guess we're spending the night." Natsu said, dropping his pack under a particularly large evergreen tree.
"Huh? What do you- EH!?" Lucy exclaimed. "Wait! You don't mean sleeping outside in the middle of a forest filled with vulcans and other monsters, do you?" She groaned. "Ah...who am I kidding. Of course you do." A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she propped her fists on her hips. "Fine. I'll gather some firewood. You and Happy should catch some fish for dinner."
"Aye!" The blue cat flew into the air, as happy as Happy could be.
Natsu grinned at the Exceed, "I bet I'll catch a bigger fish than you, Happy!"
"No way. I am the fishing master. No one can catch fish bigger than me!" The two best friends ran off towards the river they had passed a little while ago, and Lucy walked around their 'camp ground' collecting small branches for firewood.