Once Lauren and Lucy got to the train station they both could see Natsu and Gray fighting with each other.
"WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN FLAME BREATH?!" Gray yelled at him as he face was brightly red.
"YOU HEARD ME POPSICLE PRINCESS!" Natsu yelled back with an equally red face.
Lauren couldn't help but shake her head at the two. They were making a scene in front of the train and scaring the people around them. Lauren was about to go up there and say something to them but stopped when someone walked beside Lucy and her. A dark and threatening aura presented its self which made Lauren freeze in her spot.
"Are you two fighting?" Someone hissed at the two. Lauren was scared of turning to her right for the fear of encountering the devil. Lauren heard both Natsu and Grap yelp and lock arms in fear. Lauren slowly turned to her right to see who this threatening person was but it only turned out to be Erza.
Lauren scooted a few inches closer to Lucy before a small blue thing flew at right into Lauren. It flew into her chest and almost flew her backward and onto her rear. Lauren looked down with widened eyes and saw a smiling Happy.
"Lauren you came!" Happy said happily.
Because of Happy's statement, everyone else looked at her and she gave off a sheepish smile. Erza walked up towards Lauren and Lauren noted that she didn't look too pleased.
"Did you get permission to accompany us on this mission?" Erza questioned her.
"Well, Mira said it was okay and Lucy invited me thinking it would be a good way for me to get used to these types of things since I'm new to the guild," Lauren said quietly.
"But isn't it true you don't possess magic?" Erza said with a raised brow. Lauren looked down at the ground. She knew that they wouldn't want her to join them because she had no way to defend herself when it came to magic.
"So what if she doesn't have magic!" Lauren looked up and saw Natsu talking towards Erza.
"She can still fight! She could probably kick my butt in hand to hand combat!" Natsu said flashing a toothy grin towards Lauren.
Lauren stared in awe at Natsu. He really thought that she could beat him with no magic?
"I agree. I mean, anyone could beat Natsu," Gray spoke.
Lauren looked over at Gray who didn't have his shirt or pants on.
"Uh, Gray... Pants." Lucy said as she sighed into her hand.
Gray swore under his breath and went to go look for his missing clothing. Lauren heard a deep sigh coming from Erza and turned to meet her face. She looked to be concentrating hard.
"You may come with us, but only on one condition," Erza said.
"Okay, what is it?" Lauren said skeptically.
"You must keep behind us when we are fighting. You are only here to observe and join us if needed." Erza said.
Lauren chuckled and nodded because she already planned on doing that anyway.
"Also you must treat me to a strawberry cake when we get back to the guild," Erza said as her eyes sparkled at the potential of getting another one of her favorite treats.
Lauren stood there for a second blinking blankly at the redhead but overall nodded at her conditions. Erza smiled for a split second but quickly went back to her emotionless face as she began commanding everyone.
"Alright, time to get on the train. Let's go." Erza said directing everyone to the train.
When Erza mentioned the word train Natsu went limp as his face turned green. Lauren looked at his weird behavior and then looked over at Lucy for an answer.
"He has motion sickness," Lucy sighed.
Lauren made an "O" shape with her mouth and walked up to him. She bent over and gave him a small smile.
"Hey, do you need any help getting onto the train?" Lauren asked him.
He shook his head and began to wobble over to the train. Gray began laughing at Natsu's pathetic state as Lauren sighed and walked into the train, but before she entered the train she felt someone grab onto her arm. Lauren quickly spun around about to yell at the person but she connected with a pair of teal eyes.
Lauren looked into the other person's eyes and felt a weird connection, but that was until she saw a smirk forming on the person's face. She blinked her eyes several times and saw that she was looking at the cocky jerk. Lauren pulled her arm away from Jacob and huffed her arms over her chest.
"What do you think you're doing here? Are you following me around or something?" Lauren questioned him with a glare.
She didn't know if it was possible but his smirk got, even more, cockier.
"Nope, I'm just going on a mission." He said smiling.
"Then why are you here?" Lauren said with a raised brow.
"I need to take the train to get there." He said like it was obvious.
Lauren felt her face heat up from embarrassment as whipped her head to the side.
Of course he need's to take a train to get there! Stupid! She yelled at herself.
While Lauren was having an inner battle with her brain. Jacob was staring at her with a sort of fascination and of something else. Lauren stopped her battle and turned around to face Jacob but stopped completely when she saw that he was staring at her.
"What are you looking at?" She asked him.
Jacob stopped and shook his head as he looked over at her smirking again and bent forward. Lauren could feel his warm breath linger on her skin which made her face turn red.
"You, beautiful." He said teasingly as he winked at her.
Lauren's brain stopped for a moment to process what he had said.
Okay, so he was staring at me cause he thought I was attractive. There's nothing wrong with that right? I always get told that I'm pretty but why does it feel different coming from him, Lauren thought to herself.
Her heartbeat was quicking and she didn't know why her face felt like it was going to melt off. Lauren snapped out of it and pushed him and started blabbering like an insane person. Her face was as red as Erza's hair as she ran into the train leaving Jacob behind confused on what just happened. He starting chuckling at her behavior as he walked onto the train himself as Lauren ran to their seats.
After a few minutes, the rest of sat down around Lauren as they gave her all weird looks but she ignored them as she calmed her nerves down. Her face was getting its normal milky color back but she still had a little tint of pink coating her cheeks.
What is wrong with me? Why do I get so nervous around him? He's just a cocky jerk and I haven't even known him for 24 hours! But, why do I also get the feeling I have seen those same eyes before? Lauren questioned herself.
Before Lauren could dig deeper into her thoughts about where she had seen those familiar eyes before someone interrupted her by coughing into his hand.
Lauren snapped out of her thoughts and looked over to where the sound was heard and she widened her eyes as she saw Jacob standing in front of everyone smiling down at them.
"May we help you, Jacob?" Erza asked him with a questioning look.
"Actually, there are no more seat's available and I was wondering if you guys didn't mind me sitting with you guys?" Jacob asked as he looked over at the scarlet-haired mage.
Erza looked around to see if they had enough room. Lucy was sitting next to Erza while Natsu sat next to Lucy by the window with his head in her lap while his face was green and pale from his motion sickness. Gray and Lauren were on the other side of them with a big enough spot between the two of them for him to sit.
Lauren knew what Erza was going to say to Jacob and she quickly looked towards Erza with pleading eyes as she quickly shook her head. Erza only gave the girl a glare in return which made Lauren stop instantly.
Looks like I won't be winning this fight, she thought bitterly.
"Yes, you may join us," Erza said with a nod of her head as Jacob nodded back towards her and sat between Gray and Lauren. Lauren cursed the red-headed girl in her head as she tried to scootch as close to the window as possible.
Lauren refused to look towards Jacob but she couldn't stop her eyes from making their way to look at him. She looked up towards his face and she quietly yelped when she saw that he was staring back at her with that smirk plastered across his face as he winked. Lauren whipped her head to the side as she looked out the window with her face flushed as she sighed.
This is going to be a long trip...
Everyone was still on the train to Hilda and it had been a few hours since they departed from the train station. Lucy was in a conversation with Erza as Natsu was now on the floor groaning and moaning. Gray and Jacob were also talking amongst each other while Lauren was still looking out the window with a tired expression on her face. Lauren yawned out loud as she pet Happy who was sleeping on her lap.
Lauren was lost in her thoughts as she looked over to Erza but something sunk in. She had no idea what the mission was about. Lauren almost smacked herself against the window for not asking such an important question earlier.
"Hey Erza," Lauren called out to her. This caught the attention of the people around her excluding Natsu because he was too busy trying not to puke.
"I was wondering... What exactly is our mission?" Lauren asked her.
Everyone went silent around her but a faint chuckle came from Jacob. Lauren glared at him and stomped on his foot as he hissed in pain. He was about to retaliate as his mouth opened but stopped once Erza cleared her throat. They both stopped and looked at the red headed woman.
"I thought Lucy explained this to you?" She raised her brow at Lauren but Lucy, on the other hand, got nervous and started to chuckle awkwardly.
"No, she never told me about it. All I know is that we are going to Hilda." Lauren said somewhat sadly. It had been a few months since she had been back to that town and it was going to be hard to see everything and everyone again.
"Well, we have a mission to capture a couple of dark mages. There are five of them and they're located deep in the Hilda forest. They have been stealing from the locals during the night and have injured many, so the Mayor has given us this mission." Erza explained.
Lauren's breath hitched as she heard that the dark mages were camping out in the forest. She prayed that they weren't camping out around her grandmother's cottage. Lauren nodded her head at Erza and returned to look out the window as she yawned once again.
I have a few hours before we get there. I should probably take a nap, she thought.
Lauren leaned her head against the cold glass window of the train and happily welcomed the darkness.
Jacob was talking with Gray when he suddenly felt a hard pressure on his left shoulder. He scrunched up his brows and looked over towards his left and widened his eyes. Lauren was laying on his shoulder as she slept. Gray looked over to where Jacob was looking and chuckled at the situation that Jacob was now in. Jacob looked back towards him and glared.
What am I supposed to do? Wake her up? He thought.
"You should just let her sleep. Mira told me she went to sleep late but she seemed to also have a nightmare when she finally went to sleep. I would just leave her be." Lucy said towards him quietly. Jacob looked towards Lucy as she spoke but then looked back towards Lauren's resting face.
He couldn't help but stare at the sleeping brunette. Strands of her hair went over her face as her long eyelashes were just perfectly settled there. He couldn't help but stare more at the girl as he looked more deeply into her features. Her milky white skin looked fragile like porcelain and soft but he was surprised when he saw a few freckles covering her cheeks.
His eyes traveled more and stopped at her lips. They were a healthy pink. He kept thinking and made a note that they looked soft and kissab-.
Jacob widened his eyes as he shook his head to stop his train of thought.
Why did I just think about that? I mean she's cute but I wouldn't hook up with her! I mean, I only just met the girl yesterday. Teasing her is fun but I absolutely don't want to hook up with her! Or do I? He thought but shook his head.
I can't hook up with her or even think about it. When I first met her she looked like her. We all know she's dead but I just feel like I know her from somewhere, Jacob thought sadly as he thought about past memories.
Jacob sighed as he looked back over to Lauren who moved her head more towards his. His heart skipped a beat and his cheeks were dusted with a light pink tint. He quickly looked towards the ground and sighed.
I can't like her. I mean, look at her she just isn't... her... When will you return to me?
Oooo... who is this "her" that Jacob is referring too? Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Lots of amazing things are about to come!