A/N: Hello! This is the first chapter of my first fanfiction! I hope you all like it! It is set after the timeskip, but before the Grand Magic Games. Also, I included a little bit of Japanese vocabulary in this chapter, so just to clear things up: Niichan = older brother, Neechan= older sister. No confusion now! Hurrah. Now, you are free to read.

Chapter 1: And So It Begins

"Stripper!"

"Hot head!"

"COME OVER HERE AND SAY THAT!" they yelled in unison.

"Gray, Natsu!" Erza said through a mouthful of cake. She pointed her fork at them as if it was a knife.

They cowered in terror and hugged each other, forcing smiles. "Let's be best buddies today, as usual!" Gray forced himself to say cheerfully.

"Aye sir!" Natsu exclaimed, voice shaking.

"Gray, your clothes," Lucy pointed out, totally monotone. She was used to it by now.

"GAHHH! Natsu, you idiot! This is your fault!"

"It's not my fault you have strange tendencies, ice freak!"

"And so it continues..." Lucy thought as they yelled more banter at each other and threw punches. "Soon everyone will be at it, again... as always." As she thought this, the other members of the guild joined in the fight. "But that's what makes Fairy Tail so fun!"

...

Lucy sat at her desk. She took out the box of letters to her mother, some paper, and a pen. She picked up the pen, and wrote.

Mama, we got back from a mission today. Natsu went out of control again and we would have lost a lot of the reward money, but the client payed for the damages himself, despite Erza's protests. He was a very interesting person, and he looked so strange! He wore really heavy clothes, but the weirdest part was that his eyes were yellow, like a cat! I really don't know. There was nothing else to make me think of him as odd, as the mission was just a common one for regaining a lost item. We didn't get to see what the item was though; it was wrapped up when we finally found it. It had been stolen, but the thief must have dropped it when they were running, as we found it in a nearby fountain. I am slightly curious as to what the item was, but it was probably just a ring or some kind of family heirloom.

We're all doing well, and I can already feel my memories of the mission fading. I hope you and Papa are happy where you are now.

Your loving daughter,

Lucy

...

The next morning at Fairy Tail, everyone was saying their goodbyes. "Levy, Lisanna, take care!" Lucy told them as she pulled them into a hug.

"Oh, really. I would have thought that Lisanna would have been fine going on missions with you, don't you think, Elfman?" Mira smiled. "But I'm happy that she's becoming close friends with everyone again."

"Am I not a man after all?!" Elfman cried out to the guild. "Lisanna, is that why..." He wept and streams of tears flowed down his face.

"Elf-niichan. If you speak like that, I will call you Elf-neechan!" She giggled. "I'm just going on a mission with Team Shadowgear, for a change! So don't worry."

"Lisanna..!" Elfman cried again. She smiled at him brightly and walked in the direction of the doors, soon followed by Levy, Jet and Droy.

"All of you! Come back safe!" Erza called. They turned and the rest of the guild nodded, smiling.

"See ya' later squirt." Gajeel grinned at Levy. She waved. And then they were gone.

The clock had ticked past another twelve minutes before a familiar dragonslayer and a blue cat arrived at the guild.

"Natsu! Here, here!" Lucy beckoned him over to the job board. His face spread out into his usual bright smile.

"Hey Lucy!" He shouted over the guild as he walked to her. "What did you call me over for?"

"Natsu, I found a job we could do. Look, it's well paying, and it looks really easy!" She pointed to a particularly screwed up piece of paper stuck to the board. Natsu stepped forward and scanned over the words on the page. Once he got near the end of it, he froze.

"...What?"

A/N: Thanks for reading! If you can, please review. I really want to know how people feel about what I've written so far. Even if it's just a one sentence review like: "OMG I LOVE THIS FNEKBFBVCUWQ" I would be so happy :) Lol. But really.

I will update this whenever I can, which might sometimes be after a week or two. But I will try to update at least once a week. But bear with me, I have four tests next week.