Disclaimer: If I owned Fairy Tail, this would have been put in before the S-Class Exam.
Fairy Tail: The Dark Trials Arc
Lucy Heartphilia had a dilemma. And like several of her past dilemmas, this one involved rent. But this wasn't just any rent problem; it was an overdue rent problem. She hadn't been able to pay her rent for two straight months, due to all the money earned on missions going towards town repairs and the like, and the third was approaching fast. She was lucky that the landowner was so merciful and let her off the first two times, but she needed to pay the full price of 210,000 jewels, in two weeks! How could she pull that off? There was no way she'd find a job that would pay that much that wasn't on the S-class mission board! Well, there were, but she wasn't yet confident enough to go without partners and where partners are, there is also split payment. To make matters worse, Erza was just called out specifically on a solo mission (which was really weird), so they couldn't ask her to pick one! She was doomed. Completely and utterly d-
"Hey, Luce! Check this out!"
Lucy was startled out of her thoughts by an excited Natsu waving a mission poster in her face.
"I would if you'd stop waving it around!" she snapped as she snatched it from him to take a look. Her eyes threatened to pop out of her head when she saw a reward of 1 million jewel.
"Natsu! Go put this back on the S-class board!" she yelled at him.
"Hey! I already tried to pull that off once! You think I'd try it again?" he answered with a pout.
"I guess not…" she replied in resignation. 'Actually, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.'
"C'mon, we know you need the money!"
"Aye!" Happy added from over Natsu's shoulder.
Lucy read the details of the mission.
Capture serial arsonist and protect village from further attacks. Special request: a team of mages, preferably with one or two water or ice mages.
'Wow, must be a real trouble maker for this high of an award.'
"Guess we'll have to ask Gray."
"Ask me what?"
Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin as Gray made his presence known directly behind her.
"Don't scare me like that!" yelled Lucy as she punched him in the chest just enough to make it sting, "And put some clothes on!"
"Ah, crap!"
After he redressed himself, Lucy explained the mission to him.
"Hmmm. Sounds good. Okay, I'll go."
"Great!" Suddenly, Lucy got an idea. "I think we should bring Juvia too, just to be safe. Why don't you go invite her?"
"Why don't you do it yourself?"
"Oh, she doesn't like me all that much. I'm sure she'll be happier if you invite her."
"Whatever."
He looked around and found Juvia drinking some tea at the counter. He walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Juvia turned and jumped at who it was.
"Ah! G-Gray-sama! Do you need something? Juvia will do her best to help!" she exclaimed with a flushed, but determined face.
Gray chuckled slightly. She was such a strange girl, yet she could still have charm in her own, weird way.
"We're going on a mission together," he explained while pointing back at Natsu, Happy and Lucy, "You wanna come?"
Juvia froze stiff.
'Gray-sama is asking Juvia to join them on a mission? This is too good to be true!'
She glanced behind Gray at Lucy and saw her smile and hold two thumbs up. Juvia's breath caught in her throat.
'Could Lucy-san be supporting Juvia's love? Oh, Lucy-san, Juvia has misjudged you!'
Juvia's eyes began to fill with tears.
"W-wait! Don't cry! Did I say something wrong?" asked Gray frantically.
"N-no, Gray-sama. Juvia is just happy. Juvia would love to go on a mission with Gray-sama!" she explained as she wiped her eyes and smiled.
Gray returned the smile.
'I guess she was feeling lonely or something.'
He then brought her to the others, where they explained the mission to Juvia and agreed to meet at the train station the next day.
This is short on purpose. I wanted something long enough to entertain, but short enough to leave you all wanting more! MWAHAHA! Did it work? Anyway, review and tell me what you think! Reviews are always the best motivation!