So, I decided to put my other story on hiatus, because writer's block, sort of. In the meantime, I'll start writing this one instead. The story is set after the Grand Magic Games, but before the Tartarus. These first chapters will be T-rated until I decide to put a smut. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the Fairy Tail franchise, created and in the property of Hiro Mashima.
Lucy had just finished preparing herself for the day she would have. Finally done procrastinating, she decided she would take the mission needed to pay her rent. The problem was with whom she might work with. Her normal partners had left for a mission that specifically asked for the three of them two days ago, making her completely alone in the Guild. The mission wasn't that long either way, two weeks at best, but by that time she should have her rent already paid for, so she couldn't wait for them.
She started thinking about different partners she might use. Her thoughts went first to Juvia and Wendy, who were already used to working with her, but Juvia might not be in the mood for a mission at the moment, as she was bummed over the fact that Gray was gone for two weeks, and Wendy had gone with Levy and Gajeel on a mission that needed the Sky Dragon Slayer. Then she thought of Levy, but remembered she was with Wendy. With those gone, there weren't many people she could go work with, so she thought about just going solo. First she thought it was a crazy idea, not believing she would be able to complete it so simply, if at all, but she thought that maybe she could pick a fast and easy one, she would be back with some money and some other companions to work with in the Guild. It could easily be the right way to go.
So Lucy left her appartment, her mind set on what she'll do once she gets to the Guild, and went to the streets. As she wasn't really in a hurry, she went calmly to the Guild, taking in all the peace and quiet of the day as she breathed in and out. The setting was your usual winter day, dark clouds keeping the warm sun from spreading its rays of light, except for some places here and there, a whitish air coming out of the people's mouths, and with some chances of being a rainy day. At the thought of those conditions, she picked up her pace, trying to pick a mission and go quickly to a train before the rain comes.
Once she arrived, she saw a lot of people making a huge noise. Cana drinking beer from a barrel and inadvertently screaming to other people, being the most affected Macao and Wakaba. Droy and Jet were moping in a table for not being picked by Levy to take them to Wendy's mission, as it asked only for three people at most, she'd have to decide who she wanted to take, which resulted in a huge competition between the two men, but she ended up picking Gajeel. Elfman was trying to comfort them, but as he was more of a tough love kind of guy, all he was saying was about them not being manly and other nonsense.
She went to the requests board, but she barely got there before she heard her name being called out. She turned around to see who had called her, and figured it must have been the barmaid who kept track of the jobs, Mirajane.
"Hello, Mira! Did you call me?" Lucy said, politely as she was.
"Yes, I did. The Master wants to see you over a job that asked for you. He's in his office."
"Oh, I see. Well, thanks, see ya around," Lucy went up the stairs and got to the Master's office. She knocked on the closed door, and soon a muffled sound could be heard, which Lucy made it out to be 'Come in'. When she opened the door, she saw Makarov sitting behind a desk full of papers.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. This is my partner?!" She heard a deep voice, and she saw it belonged to Makarov's very own grandson, Laxus, who was sprawled in a couch in the office.
"Laxusshutup. Luucyyyy, glad you're here. A mission has arrived that asked specifically for you and Laxus there, hope you won't be too bothered by taking it. Here's the flier." The old man handed her a piece of paper.
It read: Assisstance needed in taking out a local Dark Guild. The Dark Guild has been a pain in the ass "Does this guy not understand the formality of a request?" for the town with frequent assaults on the travellers that pass by. In order to end this problem, I request the big Lightning Dragon Slayer "There's only one, he didn't need to say he was big" and the Celestial Mage "Which I'll guess it's me. Location of the city, meeting point, pa-ta-pa-ta, wait," Reward: 200,000 jewels. "That's enough to pay my rent! Well then, I'm going to do it."
"Will you take it, Lucy?"
"Yeah, sure." She handed the flier back to him. She then remembered Laxus' comments when she came in. "Hey, Laxus! How come you were so disappointed when you found out about being my partner?" Her mood quickly changed from the calm and collected state to a more angered one, that quick changed surprised even Laxus.
"Hmm, oh I'm sorry if I preferred going with someone like Erza or Mira or even Evergreen, you know, SOMEBODY I HAVE WORKED WITH BEFORE," Laxus said, elevating his voice during that last part. Lucy then realised she understood what he meant. She knew nearly nothing about how he did the jobs. If he was one to destroy everything, more calm and preferred a stealthy way, doing everything himself or if he liked the support. Now she started to want to go with someone else as well.
"Well, that's too bad, because you're both going together. Go plan your mission, now." Makarov said, and the mages left his office and started talking.
"Do you mind if we pack the things and try to catch the next train to the city right away?" Lucy asked.
"Sure, Lucy, let's just get this over with."
"I don't really like having to work with you either, but you don't have to be so rude."
"I was talking about the four-hour long train ride we're going to have to take." Laxus' answer made Lucy blush a bit in embarrassment, after all, she was with a Dragon Slayer all the time, she should know about their motion-sickness.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy said, staring at the ground, not being able to look at him directly.
"That's okay. So, go pack your stuff and we'll meet at the train station at 10:30." Lucy nodded and went to her appartment.
She quickly packed her bag, trying to pack light, she only had some clothes and some hygiene products. She didn't even look at the clock, which read 9:45 AM, and went immediately to the train station. She ended up arriving there with thirty minutes in advance, so she bought the tickets and started to wait for Laxus in a nearby bench.
It was only half an hour later that Laxus finally decided to show up. Lucy, tired of waiting for him, shot him a glance. "What? I said 10:30, which is exactly the time. If you're here since a lot of time before that hour, it's not my problem."
"What?! What about the tickets? If I wasn't here-"
"But you were here, and that's what matters." Laxus interrupted nonchalantly. "Now, shall we board the train?" He asked, and Lucy has already started to regret agreeing to this mission. In her eyes, this man was impossibly laid back, to the point he even surpassed Natsu. "He just trusted me to buy the tickets, how dare he?! It's just tickets, I know that, but he could at least think that I wouldn't be able to buy them and arrive a bit earlier. This is going to be one hell of a week"
Laxus lay there, sleeping through his motion-sickness, and occupying the whole seat. Lucy on the other hand just looked at the window in boredom, thinking, "So this is how he handles his sick state, the only way Natsu would be able to sleep like that had to be putting on my lap. I don't mind that, but my legs fall asleep after some time and that's when it gets annoying. Buuut, I should have guessed this guy was more independent than that. He looks kinda cute when he sleeps, with a peaceful face and all, I guess the problem is when he is awake. No, wait, I might just be overreacting with all this, I talked to him like two times now, I shouldn't judge him based on those small exchanges. It is suprising that he was so careless in coming to the train station so late, the train parted like two minutes after, if we had missed it because we were buying the tickets than I would have to hit him. All right, I should just stop thinking about this and start to focus on the mission ahead. It doesn't seem to be a particularly hard one, and the guy seemed to be a mage as well from the description he gave, so this might be just fast enough for nothing to happen between me and Laxus."
She ended her thoughts and started to look out to the window, slowly falling asleep as her eyelids started to get heavier. She drifted off to sleep in the train that would lead them directly to the city the mission was to take in, Lebon.
Aaaaand it's done. Tell me what you think, and also, I'm only capable of uploading this story like once a week, unless I get some inspiration out of who knows where.
