Alright here is chapter three. As usual I own nothing about Fairy Tail but enjoy ^.^

Chapter Three: The mission

Lucy had been standing in the same spot for the last, her eyes flicked to the clock and back, six and a half minutes. She was staring at the suitcase that lay on her bed. It was an innocuous item, medium sized, light pink, and filled with her clothes. The mission was not going to last long, two, three days tops. "What was I thinking? A mission with Laxus... This can't turn out well." She sighed and picked up her suitcase She locked her apartment door behind her and swiftly made her way to the train station to afraid of the overly large mage to be even close to late.

When she finally arrived at the station she surveyed the area until she saw a tall muscular body propped against a pole. She cautiously made her way over to the preoccupied mage who was standing with his head down and his sound pods on. "Hello." Her voice was strong completely at odds with the frailty of her mental state and her nerves. She blinked as he didn't move a muscle and she leaned to the side angling her head to the side to stick her face in his line of vision. "Laxus?"

/

Blue eyes opened to and a blonde eyebrow cocked up at the antics of the girl in front of him. His hands were resting in his pockets and he moved his thumb to turn off his music. "Took you long enough Blondie" Lucy frowned and crossed her arms under her chest. "But I'm actually on time for once" The words held a faint whine and the tall male smirked at her his eyes observing the ridiculous amount of cleavage her current position offered. He sighed as he stood up straight and placed a hand on the back of her head, using it to steer her toward the train. "Sure, sure let's just go."

Laxus leaned forward in his seat his elbows resting on his knees and he head hanging the music from his pod pounding in his ears for once he hated being a dragon slayer the heightened senses made it that much more difficult to block them out and the movement of the train was wreaking havoc on his stomach. He jerked a little at the feel of fingers smoothing through his hair over and over again every once in a while massaging his neck. He lifted a hand to move one of the pods of his ear and looked at the distracted girl beside him, reading a book ad playing with his hair. "What the hell Blondie?" Lucy looked up startled from her book by the gruff words spoken to her. She glanced at her hand which hadn't stopped messaging the back of his neck and her fingers stilled, her cheeks lighting up red. "Oh! Ah I'm sorry Laxus it's just… Habit, you know Natsu gets such bad motion sickness and this usually helps." She went to pull her hand away and Laxus growled feeling his stomach roil as the soothing movements halted. His eyes shifted to the side, away from the blonde and he mumbled out that it was helping. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the startled blonde smile then a second later her fingers began soothing him once more. He slid his pod back in place and settled in for the rest of the ride.

By the time the train came to a stop Lucy was near to done her novel and Laxus had never before had such an easy travel. He stood up and stretched wearily watching the girl race to finish reading the sentence before putting her book away. Laxus was starting to wonder why he had demanded she take a job with him; he knew she would just get in the way. He sighed and shuffled his way off the train resigning himself to the fact that he would have to watch the petit blonde. "So should we check in to the hotel?" Laxus nodded without looking back to acknowledge her. "Ya we'll check in then we track." Lucy slowly nodded her head, aware of the fact that Laxus wasn't even watching her.

/

Lucy silently followed Laxus her heart hurt at how different this felt. On the one hand she understood that Laxus was a very big fan of solitude and that he was doing her a huge favour by intervening when Natsu had asked for a job, on the other hand she missed her oblivious happy friend. They would not be walking in silence, she was sure that by now she would have already been trying to convince him that they couldn't afford the repairs of him destroying the whole town.

Lucy clenched her hands together and fought to not tear up at the thought of her affection for the pink haired idiot. He had been all she knew, her first friend, her fierce protector and she was so sure he would be her first love as well. Lucy staunchly ignored the fact that the brick road she had been starring at a minute before was now blurry. She continued following the wall of muscle in front of her until it came to an abrupt stop and she slammed right in to it, bouncing back and landing on her butt with a surprised shout.

Laxus turned and watched the wide eyed blonde on the ground strictly ignoring the way her skirt slid up her thighs. He was torn between annoyance at the fact that she hadn't been paying attention and grinning at the sight of the surprised look on her face. He chose to go for indifference and lent down to grasp her arm, pulling her up and placing her back on her feet. "If you're done becoming acquainted with the road, we're here." He observed her face turn about three different shades of red before she huffed and stormed past him and in to the building. Laxus shook his head and sighed this was going to be a long trip.

/

The mission they had taken had been about a mage that was terrorizing the small town it wasn't a difficult mission by Laxus's standards but the reward was substantial enough for him to consider it and he had noticed the blondes eyes light up at the mention of a silver key being part of the reward. "I'm sorry about what I said." A blonde eye brow arched and the owner glanced at the other side of the hotel room to the petit girl that was fastidiously ignoring eye contact. "What's that Blondie?" She huffed, her cheeks a light pink. "The other night when I yelled at you. I had no right to do that and I'm sorry. Also, thank you. For doing this for me... I know you have more important things to be ding other than babysitting me." He had settled back against the wall, his arms crossed across his large chest and observed the girl who was standing almost shyly across the room. He shrugged and looked away sullenly. "It's no big deal and besides I deserve every word any one form this guild has to say about me."

Lucy looked up in shock and suddenly the shy girl he had been starring at was gone and the spitfire he was used to seeing around the guild was storming across the room and pointing a finger against his chest. "Do you even listen to what you're saying?" She demanded. "You did something bad Laxus and then you fixed it. After what you've done for this guild nobody has any right to ever say anything bad to you." His stormy blue eyes stared in to her brown eyes as she refused to look away. Finally the battle of wills came to an end as his eyes shifted to the side. "Whatever you say Blondie. Now are we going to talk about the mage we're here to catch or would you rather continue with this little feelings jam session?" His voice was tinged with annoyance but his heart was racing at the small blonde's actions and words as they rang in his head.

Lucy nodded and sat down on the couch provided in the small sitting area, Laxus following and lowering himself in to a chair. "According to the people around town this mage is somehow making them live through every one of their worst nightmares." Lucy nodded at his words and crossed her arms. "Well then what do you propose we do." He stared at her like she was an idiot. "Duh we track the bastard down and beat the shit out of him." Lucy giggled and Laxus couldn't help the slight tilt of the side of his lips at the girlish noise.

Lucy bounced up from the couch and put her fists in the air. "Alright let's do this!" Laxus sighed and stood following the bouncing blonde out the hotel room door.

/

Lucy followed the lumbering form through the forest surrounding the town. She was 89% sure that they were lost but when she had commented on that though he had given her a glare so hard that she felt herself shrink under his hard blue eyes. Her Fleuve d'étoiles bounced against her thigh with every step she took and her fingers brushed over the holder that her keys rested in, excited at the idea of making another friend.

The blonde glanced up after untangling her ankle from a nearby root and frowned when the solid mass of muscle she had been following was nowhere to be seen. "Laxus?" She looked around and huffed in annoyance. She spoke in a slightly louder tone knowing that his advanced hearing could pick up her voice from the village if need be. "Laxus where did you go? This isn't funny you know!" She heard a rustle from some bushes nearby and saw what looked like a small bear come hurdling through the trees with extreme speed. It had black eyes and its claws were tipped in a dangerous looking metal that glinted at her as its misshapen hind legs launched its body at the startled blonde. The girl dove out of the way and pulled out one of her most trusted keys. "Open gate of the lion. Leo!" She paused as nothing happened. The cool smooth metal of the key sat lifelessly in her hand. He must be off on a date stupid Lion. She put the key back and pulled out another "Open gate of the bull. Taurus!" Again nothing happened. Now she started to panic nothing would stop the strong bull from coming out and protecting her body. She dodged the bear like monster again and grabbed the cylinder hanging from her hip. She tried to summon up some magic to pour in to the whip but nothing happened. Lucy collapsed to the ground astonished. What had happened to her magic? Where did it go? She went to grab another key but the key of the bull was no longer in her hands, in fact none of her keys were there. Hanging on her hip was an empty pouch. "Laxus?!" Her voice was hysterical now as her heart best in overtime and her hands were covered in sweat.

"Luce!" Her head jerked up to see Natsu come flying out of the trees His fist connecting solidly with the bear. Lucy watched in awe as the pink haired mage took down the monster as if it was nothing. He turned to Lucy and knelt down in front of her "What happened? Why didn't you take down that monster Lucy?" Lucy looked up at the concern in her friends eyes and felt her heart overflow with the love she felt for him. "Natsu..." Her voice was choked and her hands were balled in front of her chest holding the lifeless Fleuve d'étoiles in her hands "My magic... It's gone." Her voice died out and her heart raced with panic.

Natsu raised his eyes "You're not a mage anymore?" She could see the concern in his eyes cool and her eye brows scrunched together. "Natsu?" The pink fairy tail mark faded from the back of her hand and her breathing sped up. She was pretty sure she was hyperventilating. Natsu stood and took a step back from the girl in front of him. "This is why I don't love you." He laughed loudly in her face. "The thought that I could ever have loved you was ridiculous. You're so weak, all you have going for you is your looks. I only teamed up with you because I felt bad for you." He shrugged and turned his back on her. Lucy's eyes were filled with disbelief and heart break. Her heart had stopped and she couldn't breathe as she starred at his back and heard his final words fall from his lips. "It's a good thing I have Gray now, because I don't need you anymore."

/

Laxus sighed as he heard the steps behind him falter and stop. "What's the holdup Blondie?" He waited for an answer but heard nothing. He knew she was still there as he could hear her breathing. He turned and saw the Blonde girl standing completely still, her eyes blank. "Blondie?" He took a step toward her and saw her flinch then clench her hands. He thought for a minute she would hit him and he watched wearily as her face started to pale. Her empty eyes widened and he took a step toward her as her mouth fell open, her breathing picking up. "Lucy? What's wrong?" His voice was a low growl and he through the trees surrounding them. Suddenly her face went white as if she had seen a ghost and silently she fell to her knees. He rushed forward putting his hands on her shoulders and starring in to her eyes that seemed to dart side to side. "Shit" He muttered as he figured out what must have been happening. He saw her eyes slowly fill with disappear and an utter sadness that made his heart clench.

He shook her shoulder trying to snap her out of the illusion. "Come on Lucy you can fight it." He whispered he looked up and around and growled loudly. "Whoever you are you better fucking show yourself." He heard nothing and the smell of pine was everywhere, masking every scent except Lucy's which was right under his nose. He turned back toward the girl just in time to see one single tear roll down her cheek and silently asked for forgiveness as he sent a wave of electricity through her.

Her body shook silently until he pulled back a bit and suddenly he saw the recognition return to her eyes as she took in his face and her body crumpled in his hands, a sob ripping its way from her throat.

Laxus hesitated for only a moment before his arms wrapped around the girl, pulling her against his chest and slowly rocking her. "Hey it's ok Lucy, you're ok." He felt her arm move as she desperately reached for the keys on her hip, reverently feeling each and every one. Suddenly he heard a twig snap and the rustle of cloth as a person made their presence known with a loud slow clap.

/

"My, my Lucy that was just so very entertaining. I mean I feel like I know you, know the darkest parts of your heart, your desires and fears. And man Natsu, what a jerk." There was a smile in that voice and Lucy tensed in Laxus's arms she turned her head to see a figure leaning against a tree and felt a faint current run through skin under her hands. She looked at Laxus to see his teeth bared and the low growl coming from his throat registered in her ears.

She turned back to the grinning man and the scene she had just been in run through her head. Clearly this was the mage they were looking for. The one torturing the town with their inner most fears. She carefully stood and before either of the two boys could move a muscle she launched herself at the man.

A grin spread across his face as he easily dodged the enraged girl, flinging out an arm to catch her around the waist and pull her in to his arms. "Hmm Natsu was right, gorgeous but weak." He hissed. A bolt of lightning tore him away from the busty girl in his arms and he crashed in to a tree. "Don't touch her." The threat was growled as Laxus's body seemed to be covered in the dangerous electricity.

The mage struggled to stand using the tree as support and Lucy took the time to summon Loke, hesitating for a spilt second as her nightmare came back to her. "Open gate of the lion! Loke." The orange haired spirit popped in to existence and spun around to pull the girl in to his arms tightly. "Loke what are you doing?!" She felt the gentle kiss he dropped to the top of her head and the rest of her keys glowed faintly at her side. Her eyes filled with tears as she realised they must have felt her pain and seen the images.

The lion spirit spun away from his master and glared daggers at the illusion mage. His fists flared and he went to town on the mage, easily swatting away any counter attack the pitiful man attempted and beat him to the ground. As soon as the mage became unconscious Virgo popped out with some rope and roughly bound him, pulling the rope tight as she administered what she felt was punishment for the mage.

Laxus watched in amusement as Lucy's spirits took down the mage with no help from him and then his smile disappeared as once the mage was safely secured the two spirits surrounded Lucy and instantly started to babble. Lucy finally let her tears overwhelm her as she pulled the two spirits in to hugs as they reassured her that she was powerful and that they would never abandon her. Lucy thanked them profusely and Virgo bowed before disappearing but Loke gently placed a hand on her face, wiping away her tears. "You are our master and our friend and I will protect you and your line for the rest of my life."

Lucy smiled gently. "Thank you loke." The spirit hugged her again and then nodded at Laxus before disappearing. Laxus slowly walked up to the blonde. "Lucy… What did he show you?" Lucy shook her head and wiped away the last of her tears. "Something that I won't ever have to fear again." The dragon slayer wanted to push for more but held back. He dropped a heavy hand to the top of her head and gently ruffled her hair. "Come on let's go hand this guy in." Lucy nodded and smiled up at him.

Okay let me know what you think :) Reviews are loved and appreciated and flames will be fed to Natsu. I'm trying to make Lucy sad but not too out of character so let me know how i did :p and i'm also trying to make my chapters longer, slight success! lol