A/N: Alright, chapter two! So I have finally solidified the direction of this story, and I can't wait to share it with you! I hope you enjoy!
"Three dragon slayers?" Rio asked while Natsu was rambling on about how great the guild was. They were walking towards the nearest town, where they could collect their reward and hire a cab to take them back to Magnolia. Lucy had lent her a white bikini top for the trip to Magnolia, and it surprisingly matched her skirt almost perfectly.
"Yeah. There's Metal Head, Wendy and I. I guess Laxus is a dragon slayer too, but like he wasn't raised by a dragon like us, so I don't really count him," Natsu said. Lucy elbowed him in the side for saying that about Laxus, which elicited a snorted laugh from Rio. Lucy had lent her a white bikini top for the trip to Magnolia, and it surprisingly matched her skirt almost perfectly.
"Anyways, enough about us. Tell us about you!" Lucy said, trying to force the conversation to keep moving.
"I already told you pretty much everything. My dragon left and I trained in a cave for twelve years. When I wasn't training, I would go fishing or treasure diving," Rio said, not particularly caring for the blonde's insesent pestering. She would much rather hear about this guild of theirs than talk about how she passed the thousands of hours after her dragon left.
"You know how to fish!" Happy shouted from above, coming down to land on Natsu's head and join the conversation. Now this guy, Rio was glad to talk to.
"Oh yeah. I can catch them with my bare hands," Rio told the Exceed. Happy's eyes became more anime glitter than pupil. Nila nodded.
"Rio can just pluck fish out of the water. It's almost like magic," The pink creature said. Rio laughed again and bopped her pet on the nose.
"That's because it is magic. I change the water current to make the fish stay in one place but feel like it's moving. Then I just snatch it out of the sea," Rio explained to Happy and Natsu. They looked dumb founded. "Well don't just stare, you should have been taking notes!" The girl quipped. Natsu and Happy nodded.
They walked the rest of the way into town with Natsu talking their ear off about all the different jobs he and Lucy had ever done. He was just passed the part where they met Wendy when they arrived at the home of the man who had hired them to kill the slug. Lucy knocked on the door and it was flung open immediately.
"I heard all the ruckus and knew you must have defeated him!" said the tall, gangly, middle aged man, who had answered the door. He held out an envelope that must contain the payment and Lucy took it and tucked it into her bag. The man was about to say something else when he noticed Rio standing behind the Fairy Tail wizards. "You," He said quietly.
Rio looked around and then pointed at herself. "Me?" she answered. He nodded, stepping from his doorway, approaching Rio. When he eventually reached the tall girl, he embraced her. Over his shoulder, she made a face at Natsu that clearly read 'what is going on'. The pink haired boy shrugged.
"You saved my son's life. He fell out of the boat when we were out fishing one day a few years ago, and you saved him. How can I ever repay you?" Rio, still kinda confused, but now remembering the incident the man was speaking of, detached herself from the now crying father.
"Um... Actually. If you or your wife have any more practical clothes I could borrow," she looked back at her now very dirty trailing white skirt, "that would be really nice of you." Rio told the man. He dried his eyes, nodded, and smiled.
"Yes, of course. Come in, all of you, come in," The man said, gesturing for the three wizards to enter his home. The stepped into the spacious living room as the man closed the door behind them. "El! Put the kettle on, we have guests!" He shouted into the house. A woman appeared from a back room into the living space and glared at her husband.
"Kurt! What have I told you about uninvited guests. I swear-" The woman started. Her husband hushed her.
"Elody my love, this girl is the mermaid who saved Zachariah," Kurt told his wife. The once angry woman welled up with tears and ran over to Rio to wrap her in an even tighter hug than Kurt had given her before. Rio, with a bored expression, patted the crying woman on the back.
The rest of the visit went without incident. Zachariah was off visiting his uncle in Crocus, and wouldn't be able to meet his savior. Elody gave Rio a pair of red high waisted shorts and two blue tie front shirts of different shades 'from her younger days'. They all drank tea and when the trio were ready to leave, the couple gave them each a sandwich and an apple for the road. They continued their walk towards town in peaceful silence, and when they reached the first few buildings of town, the sun was hovering only a smidgen over the horizon.
"We should probably get a room," Lucy stated, as if that was not the obvious choice. Rio rolled her eyes.
"For someone who loves to talk, you hardly ever listen," the dragon slayer said. Lucy cocked her hip in defiance. For a girl they had taken under their wing, she sure had a lot of sass.
"And why would you say is that?" the blonde asked. Rio shrugged.
"Because, Kurt said clearly to enter town, take a left at the fountain, walk down that street and look to the left to find The Starlight Inn. Elody said we would be well taken care of there," The purple haired girl stated dryly. Lucy huffed.
They followed Kurt's directions until they stood in front of what looked to be a small restaurant with two floors of rooms above it. The trio entered and a few of the patrons looked over at them. The woman behind the bar put her hand to her mouth in disbelief while elbowing the woman next to her. The wizards walked up to the bar, which also appeared to be the front desk, and Rio started the conversation.
"Hello miss. My friends and I want a room." She said, not wasting any time with pleasantries. The two women stared at her without response. Rio sighed. "Yes, I am the local mermaid, I probably helped you out some time correct? That is all well and good, but that is the past, and I would like a room for me and my colleagues in the present," still no response from the women.
"Kurt and Elody sent us?" Natsu tried. The boy's voice seemed to snap the women out of their stupor. They shut their mouths and refocused.
"Yes. Yes! Oh of course you can can have a room, free of charge!".
And with that they day was over. The three settled into their room, Natsu taking the couch and Lucy and Rio sharing the large bed. The next day, they woke up to a continental breakfast with about half the town, all of whom seemed to have some connection to the purple haired girl that had lived in their shoreline for the last 17 years.
Eventually, they three made it back to the fountain they had passed the night before, which was the center of town, and hired a cab to take them back to Magnolia. The driver said that they would reach the town of the Fairy Tail guild by about one o'clock and the three settled in for the nearly 5 hour ride.
The second the cart started moving, Natsu was out. He was groaning and hanging partly out the cart while Lucy and Rio sat calmly, Lucy reading her book and Rio watching the new world move past her. After about an hour, Lucy finished her book and looked over to Rio, who, while a dragon slayer, had no issues with motion sickness.
"How come you aren't getting motion sick?" Lucy inquired. Rio didn't seem to hear her, so Nila, who was sitting in the dragon slayers lap, poked her master on the cheek with her soft paw. Rio looked over to Lucy.
"I can't hear you! The thing I do for motion sickness clogs my ears!" the purple haired girl practically shouted before going back to staring at the landscape. Nile decided to explain.
"Since motion sickness is actually caused by an inner ear thing, she learned that plugging her ears with water gets rid of most of the negative effects," the punk cat explained. Lucy nodded in understanding and decided not to pry any further. She leaned her head against the side of the cab and dozed off.
"Come on Luce, we are at the guildhall!" Natsu told his sleeping companion. Lucy, still dazed, got out of the cab, paid the driver, and looked up at the guild hall. She looked over at the third member of their party and saw that the taller girl looked almost nervous. With the cab leaving and Lucy and Rio behind him, Natsu pushed open the large doors to the guild hall.
They were finally home.
A/N: So I would like to clarify that this is very OC centric, and Natsu and Lucy will not really be in focus for it. When we get closer to the romantic interest's introduction, I will add them to the character list for the fic. For now, it is just the OC and the characters who will be her best friends, Wendy and Juvia.
As always, review if you have questions, compliments, or criticism!