Start!
Natsu barged in Senior-Class investigator Erza Scarlet's office and jumped up on her desk raging, "Hey Erza do you have any more ghouls for us to take out, oh and make sure they're s-class I'm sick of taking out the ones from the street that can't even make me work up a sweat!"
"You know Natsu a normal person would start up a conversation or asking a favor by asking how their day was, not by barging in someone's office and disrupting them when they have massive amounts of paperwork to do and standing on their desks that they just CLEANED!" Erza gave Natsu a death glare and sweat started to fall from Natsu's face
"No ma'am! I'm sorry ma'am I clean all this up right away! I won't do it again just please have mercy!" Natsu quickly stepped down from her desk and apologized furiously as he banged his head on the ground repeatedly. Erza took out her anti-ghoul staff that turned into a double ended spear and started to beat him with it, his cries for help heard passed the door frame where 1st and 2nd rank investigators Gray Fullbuster and Lucy Heartphilia stood with sweat drops on their heads asking when will he ever learn while Gray striped as well.
"Oh, come in you guys! I bet you were waiting on Natsu about getting a harder job weren't you?"
Gray and Lucy walked in casually and sat in the chairs, as well as Erza, as the bloody and beaten Natsu laid there sprawled on the floor in his own puddle of blood.
"Yeah so!?" Lucy anxiously blurted out, too excited to finally be able to go on a real mission with a most likely s-class ghoul to take down
"Well I don't see why not, and as your superior and friend I will be our attending for the mission!" Erza chimed with a sparkle in her eyes
Lucy hugged Erza and gave Gray along with the revived Natsu high fives as they cheered for their success in landing a mission.
Also for those who don't know, even though Fairy Tail is one big unit and family they do form groups with the people they are the most compatible with for higher rates in success. For example Gray, Lucy and Natsu are a team, though most of the time it is completed with only Natsu and Lucy, they can also have an open group where they sometimes jump from group to group like what Gray does with 2nd rank Juvia Lockser. That is if your compatibility is flexible enough, or if you prefer a secluded group with both 1st rank Mr. and Mrs. Alzack and Bisca Connell. Though they are highly skilled and trusted investigators you can never be too careful, so all they do is rid the ghouls from the streets and make sure the non-ghoul citizens are safe while senior class investigators and above go on real missions to exterminate the real threats such as s rated ghouls and above along with ghoul organizations such as 'Grimiore Heart' and 'Raven Tail'. When those 1st rank investigators and below want a mission they will have to have the skills shown in their previous stakeouts and extermination of ghouls along with quick thinking and great team skills to be able to be accepted to one. The only thing is, is that they would have to bring a senior class investigator along with them as their attending to observe and to handle the situation when things get out of hand. So the senior class investigators don't have a team of their own, but work with everyone to MAKE their skills compatible with theirs, that is their job as their superiors. This rule was given courtesy of their master/leader (/gramps), because he worries of his children's safety and wellbeing.
Later in Makarov's Office
"Master I had approved them of a mission, I think that they are ready with the amount of ghouls they have exterminated in this year alone. All we need a mission from you and then we're off."
Makarov was a little taken back by the surprise visit to his office that was piled in mountains of paperwork, but he composed himself enough to think of something not to hard but not too easy for the rambunctious bunch to complete. "Oh, well there is something that I have reserved for you guys when the time came," the little old man hopped down from his desk and searched through the folders that were hidden in his secret compartment in his desk that could only be open with the key that dangled around his neck "And! Here we are!"
Makarov gave Erza one of the manila folders from the compartment, the rest of the group looked over Erza's shoulder to get a peek of their first missions. All of them were surrounded by a sparkly flowery aura as Erza opened the folder and the inside somehow glowed as if a gift from god was bestowed upon them. That feeling and aura was short lived as all of their faces turned sinister, Erza and Lucy passed out while Natsu turned to stone and Gray had whited out.
Gray was the first to speak out of him and Natsu "Uh… Master is this some kind of joke?" Gray held up a picture of Makarov in drag as he imitated the famous senior class investigator model Mirajane Strauss's poses from her monthly issue on her magazine shoots as he shuddered.
"Ack! Nothing to see! Nothing to see!" Makarov quickly ripped the folder and photos from the disgusted Gray and Natsu's (who is still in stone form) hands and went to find the real folder with their actual mission inside. Soon enough he found it and looked in it before handing it to Gray-he was the most operable in the situation-and read through it.
"Alright! Thanks Gramps!" He bid Makarov farewell as he and Erza-who had suddenly woken up-carried Natsu and Lucy out the room casually.
"Oh and Gray…"
"Yeah Gramps?"
"Tell anyone about those pictures and you'll be punished with that!"
A chill ran up Gray's spin as he nodded his head furiously and ran out of his office.
Soon Later
"So what kind of mission is it?" Erza asked with a smile on her face as the two walked down the hall side by side.
"Oh, it looks like we're in charge of taking down, we can either kill them or take them into custody, but you know Natsu a ghoul organization known as 'The Oracion Seis'. I heard that they're really tough because hence the name that there are only six ghouls in the organization but are known for taking down armies of our own that work for the GCO. That's all I know just by what I read so far, if we want to know about the ghouls themselves then we'll to read more into it which we should do when we get to Lucy's place and when they both regain consciousness."
Erza nodded her head in agreement "I like your enthusiasm towards this case, but the organization worries me. Why would Makarov give you guys such a difficult case when he is fully aware that it is your first mission?"
"I don't know, maybe he sees all of our potential and hard work that we've done these past few years since we got here."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Who am I to doubt Master's methods." Erza then shook any other doubtful thoughts that clouded her mind and walked the rest of the way to Lucy's house in silence with Gray.
Later at Lucy's House
"Ok. Let's go over the ghouls and they're kagunes and which ones we are assigned to in this case. Gray you start, Natsu's next then you will go Lucy. "They all nodded in agreement
"Wait why do we always go to my house?" Lucy said in a tedious voice as the rest brushed it off
Gray grabs the pictures of the ghouls from the manila folder and shuffles through them as he finally sees the one he likes and exhales lightly "Fine, since we're splitting them up equally we all get two of them, so I decided on both 'Racer' and maybe even 'Hot Eye'." He collects his targets pictures and profiles as he passes it to Natsu who greedily snatches it away
"All right! I'll choose 'Cobra' and 'Brain', I mean he's the leader right! Then he has to be somewhat of a challenge, I've been meaning to get a challenge in lately." Erza eyes him a bit as she worries about him taking two of the most powerful ghouls of the group, not because she doubts him but even so she wonders if it'll be too much for the reckless rosy-haired man to handle. Could it be the cause of Gray's choice? Does Natsu not want Lucy with the two that he picked, I mean I do know of Natsu's feelings for Lucy, but isn't this a bit too much? He shouldn't doubt Lucy's ability because of her past, I mean we all had our unfortunate share of ghoul incidents. Even so ever since Lucy showed up I think that Natsu's hatred for ghouls has escalated.
Natsu passes the only two profiles left to Lucy as she smiles towards him tenderly, as some pink stains his cheeks a bit "Thanks Natsu… it seems I'm left with 'Angel' and 'Midnight'. It says that Angel and Midnight are the ones with the least kills, Natsu…"
Natsu raised both hands in the air "I have nothing to do with that, I just like a challenge is all."
The atmosphere sat somewhere in between the feelings of a flirtatious and awkward one, caused by Natsu and Lucy unintentionally but was unbearable for the other two that sat there silently. Erza inhaled sharply as the two snapped out of it and grabbed the attention of everyone in the room as she stood up "Now that that's settled, we can start the mission in 2 days which will be Wednesday for preparation and probably go to the Blue Pegasus unit for more information that we can get from 2nd class investigator Hibiki."
"Yeah and maybe he can teach me cool combat moves like last time we went, but I hope that the flirting thing that they do with me and you Erza will have been a phase." Chills ran up both the girls' spines.
"I don't want to remember, but it seems as though we lost track of time and we should be leaving. Thank you for having us, come one Gray- Natsu."
Gray started to follow Erza out the door as Natsu lingered a bit in the doorway as he watched Lucy pick up her place. Watching her every move with her curvaceous body "You know what you guys- I think I'm going spend the night. Y'know to go over profiles, I'm never really good at strategizing and stuff."
Gray looked back at Natsu as a smirked formed and tch'd "Yeah, yeah whatever, lover-boy" Gray whispered loud enough for only Natsu to hear with his supernatural hearing he sat down on the soft pink couch.
"Yo, Luce I'm going to stay over. Can you help me go over the profiles?" Natsu partially shouted as he heard the rustling of pots and pans from the kitchen and then to her closet. He then laid out the profiles of their targets on the coffee table in front of him.
"Yeah one sec let me get changed, and then you can help me with my ghouls. Oh and remember your place is on the couch and not my bed."
Natsu chuckled a bit to know that the whole couch situation never stuck, because whenever she woke up she was always in his embrace. Lucy soon emerged from her closet wearing her usual sleep attire that consisted of a pink nightgown that only reached mid-thigh length and her hair let down evenly instead of her usual hair bunched up to one side style. She happily made her way to Natsu's side as she plopped herself down, subconsciously making the hefty parts of her body move in the way that made Natsu stop and stare. That was a huge difference between the uniforms that they're required to wear at work, though not all were the same but only shared the same style. Lucy's was one of his favorites, saying that as a man. She had a black mini skirt, white dress jacket that had a black dress shirt underneath and a white tie, she occasionally tried to spice up the outfits look by changing her footwear but mainly wore her white boots. Her emblem place on her left breast as were the rest were placed. Natsu's uniform had somewhat the same pattern as hers except the style of the clothing. He had both black pants and a black dress shirt that came with a white tie that he barely wore and a one sleeved jacket, the entire uniform all but made his salmon color hair stand out more.
Lucy's eye contact with him made him snap out of his train of thought "So, what do you think?"
The tomato toned Natsu quizzically answered "Huh?"
"About the plan, Natsu! Pay attention, you said you needed my help."
"O-oh yeah, sorry" Natsu gave a half-hearted smile as Lucy scolded him some more.
Later that Night
Lucy turned off the last light in the house and crawled under the covers on her bed as Natsu made the couch in the living room as comfortable as humanly possible with only one pillow and blanket to comfort him. Natsu lay there half naked with only his boxers on and hands under his head that he found himself alone with his thoughts...again. Why did you leave dad?
It was about one to two hours into the night that Natsu heard whimpers come down the hall that traced back to Lucy's room. He quietly pushed the door open and with zero to know visibility of light saw Lucy quivering in her bed as she clung to her sheets.
"Ma...mama"
Natsu's eyes had softened as he crawled in her bed and held her closely to his chest by her neck and waist "Shh Luce, it's okay go back to bed," he continually stroked her hair back "It's okay."
She had finally calmed down, but her tears had yet to cease with an occasional hiccup here and there as he sighed softly nuzzling his face in her golden strawberry scented hair. This had become a regular thing, that's why he had frequent sleepovers at her house. She didn't even know this was happening to her and Natsu didn't have the heart to tell her, she had usually kept her past a secret because it was too painful to talk about but when she slept she usually cried and pleaded in her dreams which gave Natsu the picture at what had happened. Though he never told his friends about the information that he had, he himself had only just discovered this 4 years ago and it had broken his heart to know that in the 10 years that they had known each other that he was just now figuring this out and the thought of her crying herself asleep for the last 6 was heart-wrenching. It made his reason all the more important to protect her and cherish her like he's always been since they first met when they were 8. A little while later Natsu had too joined her in a peaceful slumber.
Just two more days until the mission.
