Paper Moon

Chapter Four

Moonside Inn

Laurel Grove

Fiore

Lucy had arrived back to the inn much sooner than Laxus. After she broke out in a sprint, she had ran to the inn and quickly found Gray eating a sandwich in the lobby. "I give up! Looking for Natsu is too hard. He'll find his way here eventually, his damn nose could sniff out anything." She threw her hands up in the air and dared the ice mage to challenge her reasoning. "It's too cold for this."

To her surprise he nodded. "Lucy, that's fine, Natsu's here."

Oh yes, I don't have to go outside again! "Seriously? That's great, when did he get here?" Lucy was relieved that nothing bad had happened to Natsu, her conscience was clear now. It was a plus that she didn't have to trample around in the cold any longer, especially with Laxus.

There was something guilty in Gray's face and Lucy quirked an eyebrow. "Uh no, he's been here the whole time."

I wonder if Natsu- No fucking way. Wait, I must have heard wrong, funny, it sounded like Gray said Natsu was here the whole time, but that's not right. I didn't run around outside for nothing, right? "He was here the whole time? Is that what you said just now?" Her eye twitched violently and even to her, her voice was shrill.

"Yeah he was in the other room we booked for him. Not sure why he didn't tell us." Gray shrugged as if he had not a single care in the world. Which she presumed came from the fact that he hadn't actually done anything. Oh that's it. Someone is dying tonight. Wonder if Laxus will help me get rid of the body...Of course he will, especially once he finds out that Natsu was in his room the whole time.

Lucy Heartfilia was on a mission. She was going to murder a certain fire dragon slayer. She shoved past Gray roughly, ignoring his protesting hey! she would get back at him later after the beat down. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't Natsu just tell someone where he was so they didn't spend half the night in the cold searching for the ingrate. All this could have been avoided if Natsu wasn't so dense!

Ugh, just the thought of what might have happened tinged her cheeks with embarrassment. How could she have read the moment so wrong? It was best not to think about how Laxus's jacket had the best scent, how close they were, and how he had pulled away and avoided her gaze. Especially how she had felt when he hadn't kissed her.

It was disappointment, something she desperately avoided. It was an emotion she avoided like the plague, knowing it all too well in her childhood. Honestly, all she was doing was really over thinking things. She couldn't let little things like this bother her any longer. Lucy wanted to cringe over her own thought process. Laxus and her were friends. It would be wrong to expect anything more. And really, she had better things to do. Like slam the door on Natsu's toes.

She arrived at his room number and barged in without knocking, ready to give him the earful of his lifetime. He really was inconsiderate-she could have caught her death outside and the whole exploring the city was really just excessive. She could have already been in bed and asleep. All anger left her as soon as she saw the dragon slayer. He was curled up on his bed, the few rides he had taken on the train must have really taken a toll on him because he didn't even look up at the door being slammed. She carefully approached the bed. "Hey Natsu, you okay?" No, no, no! Do not show weakness!

The dragon slayer lifted his head, his face still rather green, "oh hey Lucy, what's up? Why aren't you asleep?" I'm going to ignore that last little bit. What a stupid question. AS if he didn't know he's the reason I'm not all cozy in bed.

Her eyebrows furrowed, dammit, she was going to cave. "I'm sorry for leaving you on the train. It was wrong of me and I know how you get motion sick."

"No worries Lu, I can't stay mad at you." Her heart swelled a bit. "Now if only I wasn't still sick, I'm starving." He probably missed dinner. Poor guy.

Lucy perched herself on the end of his bed. "What do you think is in store for us tomorrow? I've never been to Laurel Grove, it's my first time here."

Natsu sat up, careful to not wake Happy, who was nestled by his side. "I've never been here either, unless you count the time I walked past it on job. Well if we're meeting with the client boss I'm sure we can get more info. Then we find the mushroom and we eat it!" She sweat-dropped until she realized he wasn't kidding.

"WE CAN'T EAT IT!" How did Natsu get by on only thinking about his stomach?

"Aww, why not? It's super rare so I'm sure it'll be tasty."

"You can't eat it and that's final. I need the money for rent!"

Natsu yawned, "borrrrrinnnggg. You always need rent money."

"Hey watch it bub, if I don't pay rent you can't break into my house anymore because I won't have one, get it?"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved off her concerns. Lucy smiled to herself. He really was just like a kid. I can't stay mad at him. Even though I did nearly die from the cold. Next time, Gray is on Natsu duty.

"Natsu?"

"Yeah?" He sounded sleepy.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you were here?"

"Watcha talking about Lucy… I told-yawn- Gray I was here."

What was that? He told Gray? But- "What do you mean you told Gra-" She turned and saw Natsu was already asleep.

She got up from his bed and made it to her room. They had a long day ahead of them. And a lot to think about. Did Gray forget to tell them that Natsu was back?

Calla Lily Resort & Amusement Park

Fiore

Erza clenched the sword on her hip in anticipation. Her eyes scanned the building ahead of her, searching for any signs of evil but there didn't seem to be any. In fact the giggles and screams were merely from the massive water slide that arched over the entrance.

It certainly looked harmless. Why else would the master send her over? It mattered not, Master Makarov would never lead her astray, she knew that much. She approached the young clerk at the help desk, "excuse me, I'm here for the job. You see, I'm from Fairy Tail." She couldn't help the pride she felt and the slight puff of her chest at mentioning her beloved guild. It happened every time she met a client. There was a certain feeling being associated with such a wonderful guild.

The clerk crumpled her eyebrows in confusion. "Job? F-fairy Tail?"

Erza raised her eyebrows. Were the employees here always this incompetent? "Yes, your resort put out a job request. I accepted." At the girl's blank expression she continued, feeling her patience running thin, "I'm sure if you merely point me to the direction of your owner we could sort this all out."

"Ah, you see that's impossible. We didn't put out a job request." The girl pushed her glasses up primly, "and we would never hire Fairy Tail to do any jobs for us. They're simply too destructive."

Had Erza read the flyer incorrectly? No Master had told her the address and she had repeated it to him three times! Oh no, what if he was wrong? But that was impossible, Master Makarov was never wrong. She could feel the embarrassment creep up on her. "Oh. Many apologies then, I'll be on my way." No sooner had she turned around, she bumped into a warm, hard body.

She felt more embarrassment. Was this day going to be this trying? "I'm truly sorry, I didn't realize anyone was behind me-"

"Erza?" Her eyes moved up and widened in shock. Erza's heart skipped a beat then pounded even faster. Could it be?

"Jellal?!"

"Erza?!"

"What are you doing here?"

Outskirts of Laurel Grove

Fiore

Lucy groaned deeply. Her feet were killing her and she hadn't seen a single frickin' mushroom in hours.

After a very uneventful morning, beside the fact that Gray looked a bit…crispy? She still hadn't had a chance to ask Gray about what Natsu told her. She wanted to know why Gray lied about Natsu not telling him when he arrived. Natsu never lied to her and while she didn't want to think Gray lied, something just didn't add up. Maybe Natsu forgot to actually tell Gray and only thought it? Lucy didn't think it prudent to mention it to Laxus. He didn't seem very cheerful. Especially considering how he had a particularly strong electrical current. But the point was that after they left the inn, they had trekked nearly seven miles outside of town to find the isolated mansion. And boy, was it isolated.

The mansion just looked abandoned. I can't believe how lazy this guy is. The mushroom is supposedly in the surrounding forest but he didn't want to look for it himself! But, this job is paying my rent.

Honestly, this job was the most unprepared, unprofessional, and the most boring job she had ever been on. Lucy would rather fight whatever monster Natsu provoked than this stupid thing.

And where was Natsu and the rest of her team? Well they had all split up in different directions. They were all understandably irritated and eager to start the job until they arrived to the front door only to find another flyer taped on it.

Lucy had ripped it from the door and started reading out loud- "Many regrets but the master of the house is very ill and cannot receive any visitors… Fairy Tail mages are to find the mushroom called Paper Moon in the outskirts of the surrounding forest area. Further instructions are on back page-" Unsurprisingly, the guys had all went into a rant.

"So we don't even get to meet the client?"

"That's all the instruction we get? Seriously"

"We're supposed to find a stupid plant?" Natsu asked and Lucy started at him in bewilderment. How had he forgotten the point of the job already? They hadn't even started!

"Whatever." Laxus narrowed his eyes and scanned the surrounding forest area warily. "The best way to find this mushroom is to split up, I say we each take one direction and start looking."

"Hey who died and made you leader? Aren't you just here to supervise?" Natsu exclaimed, ignoring the way Laxus's jaw tightened in annoyance.

He instantly went on the defensive, "oh yeah? And you got a better plan flame-brain? Or are you just gonna run your mouth like always?"

He enjoyed watching Natsu's eye twitch. "That's it! I'm gonna kick your ass, get ready,"

"Natsu stop!" Gray stood between the two dragon slayers. "We're on a job if you hadn't noticed. So I suggest you both cut it out and get to work."

Lucy took the moment to talk. "I agree with Laxus. His plan is the most direct and the best choice we have. Besides, this forest isn't more than around 40 miles around." She ignored Natsu's expression of betrayal. "Alright, I'm going North."

Gray chose South, Natsu took West and Laxus went East. "We all meet up here at sundown."

"Agreed."

So Lucy started walking in her direction, hand at the ready by her keys.

And now here she was walking through a creepy and dark forest. There wasn't any real details besides a brief description of the mushroom. She fidgeted nervously. There wasn't any monsters lurking here was there? What if there was and all they ate were young cute girls like herself? She could be someone's lunch! Her pace quickened and she only thought one thing.

We better find that stupid mushroom soon.

I'm sorry this is so late, I had the hardest time with this chapter, i just couldn't find the inspiration or the satisfaction. I still greatly dislike the chapter but it's really all a filler and there's a bit of confusion but fret not, all will be revealed.