Again, this story has not been beta'ed
*takes a deep bow*
Sorry in advance for grammar/spelling errors!

Note: The story takes place in the beginning of the series, before the Galuna Arc


Magnolia – Lucy's house

"Lucy! Lucy! Wake up!"

She felt little cat-like paws land on her face, trying to shake her out of her slumber. With an annoyed grunt she rolled away from the source of the early disturbance, pulling her blanket over her head and causing Happy, who was standing on her bedsheets, to be swept off his feet.

"Gnnhhggoaway…" She muttered from under her bedsheet shelter. "It's way too early, I wanna sleep…"

Natsu shot a mischievous glance towards Gray, who somewhere in the process of breaking into Lucy's house miraculously lost his shirt… to nobody's surprise. The ice mage didn't have to think twice to know what Natsu ment with that smirk. A slightly evil grin grew on Gray's face, while suspicious dark shadows started forming behind his back.

If he had any, Happy have surely peed his pants on the spot. "G-Gray… s-s-scary!"
His hand rose, emitting an icy blue-white aura. The little creature quickly decided to take shelter behind Natsu's back when Gray took a slow step forward, towards his victim.

3… 2... 1…

"K Y A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A H ! ! ! ! ! !"

.

Fairy tail guild

Every guild member immediately ceased doing whatever the they were doing the moment they heard a high pitched noise coming from the south part of town.

Mirajane wore a worried expression on her face. "What could that sound have been?"

"I'm sure it's nothing or importance…" Master Makarov reassured her, placing his beer cup back to his lips only to engulf its contents in one gulp.

The entire guild, always faithfully trusting master's decisions, shrugged and continued their daily activities.

.

Magnolia – Lucy's house

Gray's unfortunate face was on the receiving end of Lucy's infamous 'Lucy kick'.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR! ? ? ?" She yelled, while holding Gray pinned to the floor with her foot on his face.

"Yuu dudn't wunnu wuke up" He tried to speak, which was rather difficult with lucy's foot crushing his face to the floor, limiting his mouth's movement.

"Oi Lucy, let's go on a mission today!" Natsu happily exclaimed, moving his face uncomfortably close to hers. Which caused her to back of instantly and fall over, releasing Gray from Lucy's foot trap while she flopped down on the bed behind her.

"Yeah Lucy, let's do a job today!" Happy repeated, retreating from his hiding place as if nothing happened.

"We've been sitting around and doing nothing for almost a week now, I'm bored" Natsu explained. "And besides… don't you need to earn some money to pay your rent this month?"

Upon this remark Lucy froze. "C-c-crap!"

"Crab?" Happy wondered, holding out a plate with a whole cooked crab on it at random. (No one even wonders where he got it in the first place)

"Ohhh FOOD!" Natsu's nose was drawn by the scent of the yummy dish and was already approaching the delicatesse with grabby hands.

"My rent! You're right! We have to go on a job… like NOW!" Lucy panicked. She grabbed Natsu by his vest, forcing him away from his snack, and started shaking him thoroughly.

"I got ignored..." Happy stated, taking a theatric pose.

"Yosh, let's go!" Gray finally got up from the ground, rubbing his head in the hope it would easy up the pain left by Lucy's earlier attack or at least erase a bit of the giant footprint that was covering half of his face.

.

Fairy tail guild

"YO! FAIRY TAIL NO MINA! (yo, everybody of fairy tail)" Natsu greeted the guild, as per usual, by kicking open the front door with his foot and yelling at the top of his lungs.

Successfully catching the entire guild's attention, all heads were turned in the direction of Natsu, Happy, Lucy and Gray. Most guild members waved and/or bade them a good morning.

"Oi Gray, what happened to your face?" Jet and Droy asked in union, both pointing to their own faces to stress the meaning of their question.

Gray didn't answer them, but instead he threw a dark glare in Lucy's direction. Lucy only pouted, recalling the unpleasant wake-up call she received that very morning.

"Don't tell me you've been stepped on… by Lucy of all people?" The duo was surrounding Gray now, Jet on the left and Droy on the right, prodding him with their elbows.

"What's that supposed to mean! ? ?" Lucy barked.

"NO WAY! A real MAN would never be stepped on! Not by a woman!" Elfman appeared practically out of nowhere behind Gray, taking his side in this morning's brawl.

"It's true, though!" Natsu interrupted. This statement made Gray receive a bunch of looks from his fellow guild members, both petty looks from the compassionate girls as well as mischievous grins from the guys.

Elfman kneeled down in defeat. "H-how… how could a man…"

"There, there… Elfman. There's nothing unmanly to being stepped on by a woman" Mirajane tried to cheer him up.

Her brother lifted his head, to face his sister with tears of joy starting to well in his eyes. "Arigato, nee-chan!" (Thank you, sister)

"In fact…" She continued, smiling her trademark smile. "I think it's kind of romantic!"

"WHAT! ? ?" Gray and Lucy cried in unison.

.

Meanwhile Natsu was already scanning the request board, but none of the missions seemed to catch his eye. It was already 10 a.m. after all, all the good request were probably already taken. He let out a little sigh before calling his friends over to help pick out a job.

Lucy and Happy joined him in searching for a request that fits them, without success. Gray stood next to them, silently staring to one single piece of paper. He didn't even know what the request exactly contained, for he hadn't read it actually. His eyes were transfixed on the word "Mt. Hakobe" while in his mind a flashback movie was playing about his childhood, when he still lived in the mountains. Sometimes he would kind of miss the snow. Maybe…

"Guys…" Gray hesitated a bit. "Since we can't really make up our minds, how about we do this one?"
He pointed to the paper he'd been gazing at for a few minutes now.

"Whoa, monsters! Nice choice, Gray!" Natsu exclaimed. "I'm already getting fired up!"

"What! Mt. Hakobe? No way I'm going back up there, it's waaaaay too cold for a delicate young girl in bloom."

"Oh, good idea, Lucy! We could ask Erza to come with us" Happy stated.

"I was talking about ME!" She was too easy to bait sometimes, though Happy was completely oblivious to his own jokes.

"What are YOU guys doing?" A voice behind them sent chills down all four of their spines.

"Erza, what are you doing here. Weren't you on a mission?" Happy snapped out of his scared state almost immediately and reverted back to his cheerful self.

"I just got back here, I thought I heard my name?" Erza stated calmly.

"That's right!" Natsu announced. "We're going on a mission, wanna join us, Erza?"

"Show me the mission" Her face expression stuck in poker face-mode, she raised her hand, asking to see the request.

"A wyvern problem on Mt. Hakobe?" She read the mission out loud.

"Noooooooo!" Lucy cried out. "I don't wanna gooooooo!"

"But Lucy, take a look at this reward" Natsu snatched the paper out of Erza's hands and pointed to the giant "800 000 jewels" on the bottom of the page.
The redhead wasn't finished reading the mission details and was definitely not happy with the request being taken from her hands, so she planted her armored fist in Natsu's head, K.O.-ing him in an instant.

"Whooaah! 800 000 jewels! If we split this I can pay my rent for almost 3 months!" Lucy had her hands on the mission description now, before Erza even had the chance to take it again from Natsu.
Again Erza made an attempt to get the piece of paper back in her possession. Failed again… Gray swooped it away right in front of her nose to take another glance at the picture of the mountain and the words "Mt. Hakobe".

"It's gonna be nice to see the mountains again" He said, wearing a nostalgic smile on his face.
Completely unprepared, Erza's fist connected with his face as well, causing Gray to fall back and send the mission paper flying.

Erza remained her cool and snatched the piece of paper in mid-air to read the rest of the mission detailes. It only took her a minute to fully read the mission description.

"Very well, we'll take this mission." she turned around and smiled, only to find her team completely knocked out on the floor.

… How did this even happen?

...


I hope my writing is at least enjoyable to read, feedback and reviews are very welcome! (Don't hold back!)