Hey guys. I know it's been awhile, but after some lovely prodding (Ms . Bloodmoon ), I have started on the next chapter! It's gonna pick up here, now that most everything is out in the open, but it's no fun without a plot twist or two. Enjoy.

Her room was cold when she woke up. Keeping under the covers, she looked around, trying to find out what time it was. Blinking a couple of times, she found that not only was it 9:30, much later than she normally woke up, but Wendy was nowhere to be found. Stepping onto the cold wooden floor that Lucy could feel through her socks, a shiver wracked her body, and she quickly reached for a cardigan. Wrapping it tightly around her, she trekked towards her living room, hoping to find the sky dragon slayer there.

It was far too early to be up. His mouth felt like cotton, which sucked like a bitch, because he hadn't even had the chance to drink last night when he was appointed to be Salamander's babysitter. Mirajane had both locked and counted the stock before she had left last night, along with leaving Gajeel a very in-depth description of what would happen to him if she found even a drop of it missing the next day. Gajeel liked all of his body parts right where they were, thank you very much. Grunting with the effort of lifting his body from it's face down position with tired limbs, he blearily took in his surroundings. Deeming it as his bedroom, he released himself, falling back onto the bed with a whoosh of air. Just as he was about to return to the blissful state of false death, he heard Lily yelling for him.

She found the smaller dragon curled up on her couch, a cup of cocoa in her hands and a large dark blue comforter wrapped over her shoulders. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled.

"Good morning Lucy-san! I hope you slept well. There is some warm cocoa on the counter for you." the blonde nodded, a soft smile on her face from the girl's thoughtfulness. Grabbing the mug, she made her way over to her rocking chair, curling her legs under her person as she sat across from Wendy. The celestial mage bit her lip before she began.

"Ah, Wendy?" the girl blinked and gave Lucy her attention. She knew that the older mage was still thinking about what Wendy had told her last night, although she had seemed to have taken it well.

'Okay, what? Claim!? Is Wendy joking?!' The blonde took a shaky breath, but sat down as Wendy suggested. Looking at the younger girl, Lucy felt as though Wendy were much older than her, much wiser than the celestial mage could ever hope to be. She could see it in the girl's cinnamon colored eyes.

"What do you mean claim? He never said anything of the sort!" Wendy nodded in agreement.

"True, he never did, but his magic on the other hand...His magic recognized your own, and set claim to you." Lucy thought back immediately to the jolt of electricity she had felt from the oldest dragon slayer. She had thought that he was just playing a prank on her, but Wendy told her that it was another case entirely. Lucy watched the girl steeple her fingers, resting her elbows on her knees.

"The only good news is that his dragon hasn't seemed to have claimed you, but rather, his human side." Lucy's eyes bugged.

"Good?" she echoed, "How is that good?!" she wasn't yelling at Wendy, but this information was a lot to take in. However, she just barely heard the girl mutter:

"At least we won't have two dragons battling it out." Before the blonde could ask her what she could have possibly meant by that, she was on the next subject. "Listen Lucy, and listen well: Do not, under any circumstances, find yourself alone with Laxus. At least until this situation can be brought under control." The blonde frowned at that, and sat up straighter.

"Why not, Wendy-chan?" The girl shifted slightly, a look of indecisiveness flashing over her features. She answered nonetheless, albeit carefully.

"Laxus recognized your situation almost immediately, while some parties still may not have. We're not exactly sure how he's going to respond if you're without one of us, and I don't want to find out anytime soon." Lucy recognized that 'us' meant the other dragon slayers, and she had to admit that she was touched by their worry. Although she was completely positive that Laxus wouldn't hurt her, she didn't know how she could tell Wendy and the others how she knew that without sounding at least half crazy.

She watched the blonde reminiscing the scene from last night, and waited patiently for her question. Finally, her chocolate orbs refocused and she stared at the sky dragon once more. The gaze was sharp and Wendy was worried that Lucy would ask her to expand on what Wendy had revealed to her last night, and to be honest, Wendy wasn't sure she could. Not without letting everything out into the light, and if she did that, Gajeel would no doubt be disappointed in her and she didn't want that. Thankfully, the blonde's gaze softened, before murmuring a 'thank you.' Although Wendy was unsure exactly what it was for, she accepted it nonetheless, nodding her head before continuing on another conversation.

"So did you sleep well, Lucy-san?"

"Yeah, although it's really cold out!" she exclaimed, rubbing her free hand down her arm. Wendy giggled slightly.

"Yes, I noticed that as well. It might even snow." The girl's cinnamon orbs had lit up at the thought, and Lucy couldn't help but giggle. No matter how wise Wendy was, she was still a young girl. Although Lucy had to admit that she loved the snow as well.

Wendy was right. Halfway to the guild, Lucy watched the small flakes falling from the sky. She stopped walking and looked over to the youngest dragon slayer with a large smile on her face, only to see that Wendy was looking at her with the same expression. Grabbing the smaller girl's hand in her own, she took off towards the guild, their laughter echoing one another's.

It just had to snow. Gajeel was less than pleased with this predicament. Now it wasn't that he hated snow, he really didn't, but the fact that cold weather had to be part of the package deal was something else entirely. Cold weather was the absolute worse, especially to the iron dragon slayer. The cold made iron brittle, unnervingly so to Gajeel, who rather preferred not having to worry about his strength being lessened. He hated being seen as weak, especially when such was not the case. Irregardless, he had decided to venture outside and towards the guild.

When she entered the guild, a hush had fallen over it, instead of the usual, boisterous greeting. Both girls frowned and looked around. Everyone seemed to be watching them without looking at them. Although it unnerved her, Lucy strode forward towards the bar where Mira was cleaning glasses. The takeover mage had smiled at the blonde and Lucy felt like sighing. Grinning back, she took a seat and leaned forward.

"What's going on here?" the blonde looked around and noticing something missing, she added, "And where is Natsu? He should be here by now." she wasn't watching Mira when she had asked, but Wendy watched the older mage tense, before relaxing when Lucy turned back. The white-haired barmaid tilted her head.

"Ah, Natsu?" she smiled, but it was closed-lipped. "Lisanna had asked him if he wanted to go on a two-week mission with her." Lucy's chocolate orbs widened, but only slightly, before lidding.

"Oh. Okay, well that's fine! I can always go on a solo or with Wendy, if she'll have me." the last part was said with a glance towards Wendy, who nodded to the older girl.

"Of course, Lucy-san!" she seemed shocked the girl even had to ask. The celestial mage smiled and then looked back at Mira who was watching her with a slightly worried expression.

"If you say so..." she murmured. "Just be careful Lucy." The blonde nodded.

"Of course Mira!"

"Hey Blondie!" Lucy tensed as electricity raced over her skin. She couldn't suppress the shiver that followed as she turned to face Laxus. He was tall and imposing, but he stood far enough away that he wasn't intimidating her. He grinned at her.

"I hear you're looking for a partner. Wanna go on a mission with me?" Lucy's immediate reaction was to say yes, but Wendy stepped slightly in front of the celestial mage.

"I was going to ask Lucy-san if she wished to go on a mission with me." Lucy, nor Laxus missed the slight edge to the youngest dragon slayer's normally kind tone. Lucy frowned, but only looked at Wendy. Laxus chuckled, a wide grin revealing his fangs.

"Ah, well then we can all go together." Wendy smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

"Would that suffice, Gajeel-san?" Lucy spun quickly, seeing Gajeel walking over towards their small group from where he just entered. Lucy noticed that even though he had on his leather jacket and his usual gloves, he still looked cold. I'll have to ask him about it later. The large dragon slayer smirked, although Lucy could've sworn that it turned menacing for a minute.

"Sure. If it's alright with Sparky." Laxus snorted.

"Whatever. We'll meet up at the train station in an hour. That sound good?" his tone rang with a challenge, but Lucy ignored it and smiled at him.

"Sounds great!" she hopped off of the stool, missing him slightly dumbstruck expression, and started for the doors. Not a minute later, Wendy and Gajeel shadowed her, the three heading to their houses and Fairy Hills to pack for Laxus' impromptu mission.

"Okay, so it's a two-week mission, but with us four, it should be half that time, so I'll pack enough for the week. I know that we're also going to the southern most point of Fiore, so I'll also pack some summer clothes that I left out." Packing up the rest of her necessities, she made her way towards her door, taking a glance around her apartment. Smiling softly, she turned off the lights and left.

When Lucy finally made it to the train station, she saw that Gajeel and Wendy were already there. The blunette was sitting on a bench, swinging her legs and talking to Gajeel. Both Lily and Carla were off to the side, conversing as well. She watched Wendy sniff the air before looking over at Lucy, a wide smile on her face.

"Lucy-san!" she waved animatedly. The blonde couldn't help but laugh and wave back with just as much fervor. Gajeel could only scoff and roll his eyes at the two, but Lily noticed the small quirk of his lips, even if he wouldn't admit it aloud. The blonde finally made her way over, and hugged Wendy, while greeting Gajeel and the cats. She sat down between the two, and struck up a conversation with Lily as Carla sat next to her dragon slayer. After 10 minutes had passed, Laxus finally sauntered towards the group. He grinned at Gajeel's cold glare, but locked onto Lucy.

"Oi, let's go guys. This train ride's going to be a long one." they all stood and made their way onto the locomotive.

An hour into the trip, Lucy and the cats had fallen asleep. The blonde leaned against Gajeel, much to his disinclination, while Wendy sat to her left by the window. Laxus sat across from the three, an amused, but at the same time, annoyed expression on his face. Gajeel noticed, and his uncomfortable expression turned into a sneer.

"Whaddya looking at Sparky?" his low growl reverberated through the blonde leaning on his arm, causing her to stir slightly. Wendy shot the two male slayers a sharp glare.

"Hush." she hissed. "We all know the situation here, so we should all be more understanding." she whispered, softly, knowing the two men could hear her clearly. She watched the two men back down, and leaned back into the train cushion. The sky sorceress was glad that it was relatively calm, because she had an uncomfortable feeling that something was going to happen. She could only hope that they could stop whatever it was going to be.

It was a rather uneventful two-weeks, with Natsu and the others all on missions. Gray and Erza had returned from theirs, the day after Lucy and the others left. Despite the return of half of team Natsu, Mira found that it just wasn't the same without all of them there. Regardless, the barmaid could only excitedly count down the days until her other nakama returned. If she was correct, and she almost always was, everyone would be returning today. As if on cue, the guild doors were slammed open, along with Natsu's boisterous call of "We're back!" Mira greeted him and her sister with a smile, as Lisanna made her way to the bar, and Natsu disappeared, most likely in search for a fight with Gray. The two siblings conversed for a few minutes before Natsu ran up, his eyes curious.

"Ne, Mira...where's Lucy?" without missing a beat, she smiled at him.

"She went on a mission with the other dragon slayers."

"..." a minute too late, she remembered the fact that Natsu was not so inclined towards the lightning dragon slayer, for reasons unexplained, and warranted a glance towards him. Just like she assumed, his gaze had darkened, his posture tense. She opened her mouth, trying to think of anything to say to make the situation better, but before she could, the guild doors opened again, letting in the four mages they were just speaking of. The scene, however, was one that Mira would not have believed, had she not seen it for herself. Gajeel had strolled in first, looking rather disgruntled with the world, while the other three came in behind him, with Wendy holding the celestial mage's hand. That, in itself, was a normal enough occurrence. What was not, however, was how Lucy stood nearly arm-to-arm with Laxus, barely taking a step away from him. Instead of looking smug, the lightning dragon slayer had such a somber expression, that Mira couldn't help but feel that this situation was something worse than what it looked like. Natsu didn't seem to read the mood, and walked over to the group.

"Luce!" he greeted, although his voice had an edge to it. Her cocoa orbs trailed over Natsu's form, looking at him curiously. Her head tilted to the side, and she broke the silence that had engulfed the guild when they all walked in.

"Do I know you?"

XxXxXx

So how was that? I will eventually tell you guys what happened on the mission, but I rather like where this story is going. I know that some of you guys like Laxus/Lucy, and a lot of y'all are Nalu shippers like myself, but I've always wanted to see what a friendship/relationship between our two resident blondes would be like. That is not to say that that pairing will end up as Endgame, but I want to take a different approach on the relationships that Lucy holds with the others. I hope you guys like it, and as always, review and let me know what you think. :)