A/N: This will be my first crack at a Fairy Tail fanfic. I do not own Fairy Tail, or any of the characters, but I do admire them. I've read many fantastic works of fiction here on this site, and just wanted to contribute a story of my own. I hope you enjoy it. There will be no set schedule for uploads. Rated M for future adult content.
WARNINGS: Adult themes, sexual content.
"Oi, Flamebrain! Watch where you're going!"
"Get outta the way, Ice-Prick, or I'll break your face!"
Lucy sighed and stirred her iced tea with a straw. Gray and Natsu's fights in the middle of the guild hall had become white noise to her of late. It was getting predictable, every day blurring together. She stared, a thousand miles away, watching the ice lazily swirl around the glass, eyes half-lidded in complacency.
Mira, the guild barmaid, furrowed her brow, worried. "Lucy, are you doing okay? You don't seem your usual, bubbly self." It was true. Lucy had been acting like an angsty teen, apathetic to the point of depression.
Lucy startled, blinked hazily, then focused up at Mira. There was that look again. Lucy sighed. "I don't know. I think I'm in a rut. Nothing surprises me anymore. Every day is an imitation of the last." She looked down and away, past her drink. "I've lost inspiration, I guess."
By now, the insipient brawl between Gray and Natsu went from white noise to dull roar. Loud cursing and the telltale snap of broken wood as yet another table broke to pieces slowly piercing the fog of Lucy's apathy. A tic at her temple and her lip setting in a thin line of irritation on Lucy's face did help ease Mira from some worry, though. The barmaid smiled and reached under the bar. A piece of paper with the details of a job, no doubt. She slid the parchment across the bar to her friend. "You just need something a little different. A little challenging." Mira gave a hint of a wicked smile. "I had to convince Master Makarov to downgrade this from S-Class, but I know Fairy Tail's Strongest Team can handle it." She winked.
Lucy looked up at Mira once more, wordlessly asking if she was sure, then looked down as she gingerly picked up the parchment. Mira was always scheming, holding certain jobs for just such an occasion. They usually ended in scandal of some kind.
Her eyes scanned the larger details of the job. 300,000 jewel! Her eyes widened and brows shot up.
"Wanted! Team of wizards to assist with Magical Curse Research. Accredited by the Magic Counsel. Wizards will need to sign a waiver. Details given upon arrival. Reward: 300,000 jewel, to be paid upon completion of trials."
Reading the flyer brought Lucy's brows down. Curse research? They wanted test subjects? "I don't know," Lucy fidgeted at the edges of the parchment. "But that's lot of jewel. And it is something different, and I haven't really even thought of this sort of work before." Behind her, the battle raged on. Elfman and Gajeel had leapt into the fray, right on schedule. Lucy's head felt heavier upon hearing Elfman shouting about manliness.
Mira grinned amiably. "I have had trouble finding anyone to take this job. They say no before I can tell them the rest of the notes." Mira handed Lucy another piece of paper, notes scrawled in Mira's handwriting. "They've had to boost the reward three times already, and they've said as long as the wizards sign a non-disclosure agreement, they can back out before any testing is done."
That made Lucy feel a little better. Still, curses could be anything from simple hexes, to life-altering bodily changes. A mental image of herself with snakes for hair and slit pupils caused her to shudder inwardly.
That reward, though. It was very hard to ignore.
Snake hair...
As though on cue, Erza's authoritative shout and rebuke was underlined by the panicked outcries of the others in the fist fight. Lucy closed her eyes, her lip curling in a snarl, the tic in her temple throbbing. She shot up off the bar stool and whirled around, shouting angrily, "Will you idiots knock it off?! Ugh, I'm so sick of this! Every day with you, over and over again!" She snatched the parchment off of the table. "I'll see what they're offering, Mira, but if I can't do it, I'll bring the job back. Deal?"
"Deal." Mira smiled brightly, oblivious to the stunned silence of the rest of the guild.
Natsu was in a daze under Erza's boot. Gray was wincing from the grip she had on his hair. Erza, herself stared at Lucy's retreating form. The blonde had loved their guild, warts and all. It wasn't like her to erupt like that, especially during something as simple as a fist fight.
"Would ya let go of me? Jeez, Erza, we've stopped. Back off!"
"Oh. Sorry." Erza released Gray's head, took her foot off of Natsu and stood up straight. "Was Lucy actting strangely today?"
"She definitely seemed more on edge than normal," Gray agreed, rubbing the back of his head, easing the sting from being pulled to his feet. "She never cares if we're fighting."
"Are you kiddin'? I think Bunny Girl likes to watch," Gajeel scoffed, a knowing smirk on his face.
"Shut it, Iron Breath!" Natsu stood quickly, smoke wisping from between his teeth. "Didn't you listen? She's mad because everything's been quiet. When was the last time we went on a job together?"
Erza considered the idea. "It has been some weeks since we all went together." She glanced over her shoulder at Mira, who quickly busied herself by cleaning a beer mug. She sighed. "She had spoken to Mira about a job before she stomped off. Natsu, will you go find out what she has? It might be a group job. We could all go."
"On it!" His scowl vanished, replaced by an infectious grin. Any excuse to go see his best friend and partner was welcome. Besides, he had already had it out with Gray and Gajeel today. There was no need to stay and beat them down further.
"Whatever," Gajeel grumbled. He had hoped to goad Salamander some more. Lucy had been a hot button topic, and he usually got a good fight out of the fire dragon slayer when he teased her within his ear shot. He turned and skulked back to his corner table to people-watch.
Mira eavesdropped as she cleaned. She smirked. The clients in question had told her about the job. She knew what they were in for.
Lucy paced her apartment, fuming. It wasn't only the rut she was experiencing. The fact that she was annoyed by everything just served to annoy her even more, because there was no reason for her to be this on edge. She had energy to spare, and nowhere productive to put it. Her writer's block kept her from being happy with anything she wrote, and the jobs they had taken hadn't challenged her lately.
She slammed the job listing on her writing desk with a frustrated outcry. She wasn't thrilled with the idea of being cursed, even if the procedure was labeled safe, or at least temporary. She'd read up on the listing over and over. Everything on it stated that she would go back to normal within a week.
Small-dose curses. She smiled wryly, wondering how the Magic Counsel could buy off on human experimentation. Did they want to research cures, or did they want to weaponiuze those curses? It seemed crazy. It was crazy.
Yet, her curiosity was piqued. She did need the money. And the effects were guaranteed to be temporary.
"Yo, Lucy!" Natsu slipped through her window and landed on her floor, grinning. "Mira says she handed a job over to ya."
Lucy glowered at her friend. "I have a front door, you know," she stated flatly.
"Bah." Natsu waved in front of his face, as if to clear the comment from the conversation. They both knew he wouldn't use the front door. The window was faster. "Anyway, what you got? Is this it?" He snatched the paper from her desk and scanned it.
"Yep," she said, the 'p' at the end of the word popping with emphasis. She rocked back and forth, from the heel of her foot to the ball, and back again. "Curse research. They want test dummies."
"Tsh," Natsu scoffed. Then he saw the reward, and his eyes bugged. "That's a ton of money!" His dismissal for the job died in his throat once he saw the fee they would earn. "Wait, but curses?" His brow came down in furrowed concern.
Lucy snatched the paper out of his hand. "I know. But they guarantee the safety of the wizards involved. If we hear their plans and don't like them, we can abandon the job. The client is aware of this. It wouldn't tarnish Fairy Tail's reputation if we backed out."
Natsu blinked. "You've really thought this over, huh?"
"Mm-hmm." Lucy nodded. "I have to pay my rent. I'll understand if you don't want to go with m-..."
"Let's go!" Natsu grinned that same infectious smile, enthusiastic. "We're partners, remember?"
Lucy smiled fondly. "We are. Okay. Let's see if Erza and Gray want to join us. Happy, too! Okay?"
"Nope!" Gray handed the job back to Lucy as if the paper had a fresh vomit stain on it. "Curses and I don't mix, temporary or no." He took a swig of his beer, his shirt lost and forgotten somewhere in the guild hall.
"Tch, figured you'd chicken out, Ice Princess."
"I am not! I just don't feel like letting them use my body to try their weird shit on, okay!?" Gray slammed his forehead to Natsu's, the air around them crackling dangerously.
Natsu smiled condescendingly. "Whatever you say." He shrugged and backed away, superiority rolling off of him like a bad smell.
"Just don't come cryin' to me if your dick falls off, or your brain ends up in your stomach, fire breath." Gray seethed, aggravated at being called out. He returned to his drink, dismissing himself from the conversation.
"Gray's right. Are you two certain you want to subject yourselves to experimentation?" Stoic though Erza was, she, too wouldn't be joining them for the job.
"It's something different," Lucy stated simply. "I was hoping you guys would join me. I'm just sick of recovery and security missions. Just one different thing, something I've never done before."
Natsu's ear twitched. There was something in Lucy's voice. It was faint. He glanced to his partner. She didn't seem aware in the change to her tone. No one else was, either. It was longing, sure. She'd even said she wanted something different.
Something I've never done before.
He blinked hard to clear his head. It was his imagination.
"... sign an agreement to not discuss the job? And the Magic Counsel okayed it, but they're not exactly friendly towards our guild. I just don't feel the personal risk is worth it," Erza said. "That's just my opinion for myself. If you two really want to go, and feel all the necessary precautions are taken, then by all means. Good luck," she said resolutely.
"Okay," Lucy said, slightly dejected. She left Erza to her own devices, and turned towards Natsu. "Did you get the chance to talk to Happy?" She seemed simultaneously hopeful and worried.
"Happy is out on a job with Wendy and Carla. They won't be back for a few days," he sighed. "Missed him by that much," he held up his thumb and forefinger, nearly touching.
Lucy sighed sadly, head lowered and shoulders slumped. "So much for all of us going on a job together." Her defeated tone tugged at Natsu's heart. "You know, it's not too late to back out," Lucy said, looking up at him through long eye lashes. Natsu felt a lump in his throat, and swallowed to clear it.
He coughed roughly. "Well, you need to make rent, right? C'mon. I'll still go with you."
"All right!" Lucy brightened up and smiled radiantly. She had been frustrated, because the others had not been convinced as she had about the safety precautions of this mission. Natsu didn't mind the danger, it seemed. She snorted inwardly. Danger. What danger? "Thankfully, the clinic is on the edge of town, so we don't have to go far."
"Great!" Natsu brightened up. He had been dreading a train ride a lot more than some stupid magical curse. "When do you want to go?"
"Now's a good a time as any," she stated simply. "I don't need to pack to walk across town."
Natsu smiled and chuckled. "To the lab! Muahahahaha!" He gave his best impression of a mad scientist's laughter, which caused Lucy to laugh, too, the unexpected goofiness taking her off guard.
"Want to race?" Natsu grinned, his competitive spirit rearing up again. "H-hey! Get back here! Cheater!" He bolted after Lucy, who had dashed off the second he said the word 'race.'