A/N: Added some extra content down at the bottom. - Fifth of October, 2015

It truly was an abnormal sensation, glancing towards the sky and knowing you were staring at your future.

Lucy blinked up at the enormous building in front of her, the sun barely cresting the hill behind her to bathe the wood in an ethereal glow. Her mouth felt too dry for proper function, but she forced the words through regardless, elation and wonder warring with the anxiety curling in her stomach.

"This…is Fairy Tail?"

There wasn't really anything special about the Guild's appearance. It was large, larger than she the expectation that had been born from the many pictures she'd seen, but it was far from conquering the size of the house she'd inhabited in her early years, before deciding to leave. The ornate designs covering the windows and doors were enough to draw some attention, but aside from those, it was no more impressive than the average buildings that littered Magnolia.

How very fortunate it was, that structure had nothing to do with anything. This was far, far more than a building.

This was her dream. And if Lucy was accepted to become a member, which Natsu had assured her was not to be a problem on the train, in between his pained groans, then it would very quickly become her home. Her destiny.

Natsu threw a glance over his shoulder, a grin spreading across his lips as he took in her gobsmacked expression. She must have looked ridiculous; her jaw unhinged, her eyes widened and her arms hanging limp by her sides. From Lucy's other side, Happy drifted a fraction higher into the air, performing a lazy loop through the air that followed the outline of the heart sitting atop the building's sign.

"Aye!" He trilled, blowing Lucy's hair back with a flap of his wings. The sharp gust forced her from her hyponotised state, and Happy spread his front paws wide as she hastily wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

Holding one arm out to give Happy somewhere to land, Natsu turned to face Lucy, his free hand coming up to shield his eyes from the sun's rays.

Lucy felt his infectious grin tugging at her lips, and she allowed it to take over upon realising that, even in the shade, she could see his eyes sparkling with mirth.

With a single movement, Natsu kicked the doors behind him open, the previously muted background noise washing through the entryway to encompass Lucy in its warmth. With a bark of laughter, Natsu spun back around, almost managing to dislodge Happy as he threw his arms open wide and his head backwards with an exaggerated, merry shout.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

XxX

It was just as loud as she thought it would be.

Lucy followed at a far more sedate pace as Natsu sprinted into the Guild, the smile lingering on her lips as she turned this way and that, determined to drink in as much of the interior as she possibly could.

There was very little she hadn't actually seen before, from the bar to the kitchen, and even the mysterious second floor. She'd been a long time subscriber to Sorcerer Magazine, which employed some of Fairy Tail's self-appointed biggest fans, and had squealed loud enough to alarm the guard that had been assigned to watch over her a few years ago upon receiving her most memorable edition to date.

It had been an article focused on analysing just why Fairy Tail was so popular with the public, and it had included a photo taken during the rare occasion of someone other than an S-Class Mage being allowed on to the Guild's second floor. Every member of Fairy Tail had gathered down on the first floor, and a good number of photos had been taken from the second floor's railing whilst they all went about their business.

It was considered one of the best sets of photos in the magazine's history, purely for the fact that every single Fairy Tail mage had been present and accounted for when they were taken. The Thunder God Tribe had been sharing a drink at the bar, along with Gildarts Clive and the Master himself. Silver Fullbuster, Fairy Tail's Immovable Glacier, had been sharing a meal with the group of teenagers everyone considered his team, along with the Strauss siblings. Even the famed Mystogan, whom barely anyone had known about before Sorcerer Magazine came along, was present; barely any more than a shadow as he stood alone in the corner, a different stave concealing the majority of his already hidden face in each shot taken.

For whatever reason, his feet had also been covered in ice.

Lucy actually had that very picture in her pocket, and the temptation to pull it out and compare it to what her eyes were now bearing witness to grew stronger with every step she took into the building. It all felt so familiar, and yet so very alien at the same time.

Her head spun as the warring sensations clashed, and with a small giggle that probably didn't fit the situation, Lucy blinked and refocused her attention to her surroundings. Nobody seemed to pay her much attention as she made her way to where Natsu was standing, a fact that she was presently perfectly fine with.

She didn't even have the Guild mark yet, after all. There was no need to go out of her way to give herself a reputation, no matter what it may be.

Natsu was waving his arms through the air at an absurd pace as Lucy walked around the last table, stepping over some weirdo who had decided to fall asleep face down on the ground, shirtless, with nary a thought. She'd barely gotten within a few feet of her new friend before a cry of, "Natsu-kun!" cleaved the air in two and she was abruptly pulled to the side.

A second later, Natsu was falling backwards, his arms wrapping around the girl that had just thrown herself from the second floor as he impacted against the ground. Lucy watched, along with the rest of the Guild, as Natsu's arms flopped down to his sides, the woman he'd just been forced to catch moving to straddle his hips, all the while grinning down at him as though she hadn't just flung herself from an elevated height.

The person that had pulled Lucy out of the way clicked their –no, his- tongue in irritation at the sight, not that Lucy really noticed. She was far too busy being mesmerised by the scene happening before her.

Long white hair tied back, tank top/short skirt combination, complete with boots that go up to mid-thigh, her mind quickly informed her. Conclusion, The Demon; Mirajane Strauss, S-Class Mage, part-time Model.

No, she was not obsessed. She was just interested in all things Fairy Tail to an almost disturbing and more than likely unhealthy degree.

(Cough.)

Natsu turned his head to the side and rasped, sucking in enough air to hopefully puff up the lungs that had just been crushed before turning back to the girl sitting on his stomach. The grin that had never left his face widened, and both of Natsu's hands came up to readjust his scarf as the Take-Over Mage slowly closed the distance between their faces.

"Hey, Mira!" He greeted jovially, as though being tackled and straddled in public view of the entire Guild was something that happened often. "Miss me?"

"And me?" Happy inquired from somewhere out of Lucy's direct line of sight, which automatically makes his exact whereabouts unnecessary information as it is out of even peripheral vision of the action.

Apparently choosing to ignore Happy, Mirajane kept descending, her lips almost to the point of brushing against Natsu's cheek before she decided to respond.

"More than you could possibly imagine, Natsu-kun." The woman purred, her lowered voice easily audible through the otherwise silenced Guild. The man that had pulled Lucy out of the way groaned, drawing Lucy's attention momentarily as he shifted in his seat.

She promptly froze.

"Seriously, Mira? Every time?" Yellow hair, scar over one eye, fur coat. Conclusion, Laxus Dreyar, S-Class Mage, most likely candidate for position of Fourth. "At least take this shit upstairs, nobody needs to see it."

Laxus rolled his eyes as Mira sent him a baleful glare and Natsu sent him a happy wave, a tired sigh escaping his lips as he glanced down at Lucy.

If possible, his already annoyed expression fell even further, which if anyone had to guess, probably had something to do with the fact that person he'd touched most recently looked as though Christmas had come early.

"Sorry for pushing you." Laxus finally grunted, after some unforseen prompting from his grandfather, whom nobody had seemed to notice was present up until that point. Probably because he's so damn tiny, holy shit. "You… alright?"

With stars shining in her eyes and her hands balled up over her chest, Lucy squee'd.

No, not squealed. Squee'd.

Laxus paused for a moment, awaiting any extra incoming dialogue, before rolling his eyes again and turning away. "Yeah, I don't speak that language, so I'm going to assume you're perfectly fine and you just told me your name in your native tongue or something."

"Lucy has a native tongue?" Natsu asked, appearing right next to the girl in question, from where there was once only air. Cocking his head to the side, Natsu turned to Laxus, not seeming to notice the frustrated growls now coming from behind him. "Can it taste things differently?"

Laxus stared at his fellow Dragon Slayer blankly, an action that Natsu copied, not breaking eye-contact even as Mira leapt from where she was lying on the floor to land on his back.

"…I'm not dealing with this shit today." Laxus rubbed his eyes with a thumb and forefinger, before jerking a thumb in Natsu's direction.

"You brought the stray in," he grumbled, gesturing carelessly in Lucy's direction as he stood up, "you're in charge of showing it around."

"Oooh, there's fresh meat?" Mirajane piped up, clambering higher up Natsu's back and staring out over the Guild. "Where?"

Before anything could come from that particularly odd statement, the doors of the Guild were violently thrown open, and as everyone turned to see what the distraction was to be this time, a tiny horse cantered through the threshold, staggering every other step and carrying on its back what had to be the simultaneously roundest and smallest person Lucy had ever seen.

The horse had made it all of three meters across the Guild hall before one of its back hooves caught a chair's leg, and with a horrified screech, it crashed to the ground, the impact splattering its body across the floorboards and sending the person on its back flying through the air.

If it were possible, the silence of the Guild quickly grew horrified as the tiny, round man landed on the weirdo that had chosen to sleep on the ground, and for the second time in the same day, Lucy was treated to the sight of a person's face slowly melting as the man looked up.

Probably not a good indicator for the future, all things considered.

"Hako…be…" He gasped, his voice too squeaky to be natural, before his arms gave out and he fell to the floor. Much like his horse, the man's body splattered as he hit the ground, covering the slumbering mage below him in…paint?

It was either paint, or the amalgamation of several very colourful internal organs.

Lucy stared at the slowly spreading mess, completely unsure what to think of that. Nobody was talking anymore, the eerie hush that had overtaken the building only being broken after Laxus growled under his breath and turned to face something behind Lucy.

"You gonna do anything about this one?" Confused, Lucy glanced over her shoulder… and found herself looking at the Guild Master of Fairy Tail. Oh, OK, how fucking long had he been sitting there?

Makarov's eyes remained stubbornly closed, and after a few seconds of continuing the pointless and one-sided staring competition, Laxus rolled his eyes hard enough to strain the muscles in his face and rocked back on his heels.

"Annoying midget…" In the time it took Lucy to give a squeak of surprise, Laxus had fired off a bolt of lightning, illuminating the entire Guild for a heartbeat before it hit the slumbering mage and dissipated into the ground. "Oi, Silver, get the fuck up! You've got shit to do!"

For a moment, there was no movement, aside from the occasional twitch as electricity flowed through the downed mages' body. Then, with a great explosion of displaced paint, the man's back burst open, twin wings erupting from his position and stretching to within a hairsbreadth of the building's ceiling.

The wings flared for a moment, scraping against the rafters and leaving deep scars in their path, before their movements calmed. Almost hesitantly, they began to fold in on themselves, losing width as they descended to the ground and dug into the wood on either side of Silver's head.

Slowly, carefully, deliberately, Silver's body was lifted from the floor, the paint covering his skin and hair growing pale as the temperature surrounding his body dropped. With a flick of his wings, he was standing upright, the spikes on his scaly appendages catching the light that flowed in through the front windows.

"The fuck…?" Everyone heard him grumble, before he raised a hand and swiped it to the side. At once, all of the paint that had been covering his body fell to the ground, completely frozen. A click of his fingers later, and the newly made ice began to vibrate, a barely audible hum overtaking the Guild before acrid, technicolour smoke began to rise from Silver's feet.

Silver coughed, the noise coming across as more of a growl than anything else, waving the smoke away from his face as he threw a glare over his shoulder.

"What?" He snapped. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy noticed Mirajane tense up slightly.

"Don't you what me." Laxus scoffed, heedless of the fear surrounding him. Crossing his arms, Laxus straightened up from his slouch, his tone taking on a condescending quality as Silver was forced to look up to maintain eye contact. "Distress call, Mt. Hakobe. Get moving."

Silver held Laxus' glare for a moment, the tension mounting until it was palpable enough to taste, before his eyelids drooped and he broke off into a yawn.

"Is it Macao?" The Devil Slayer inquired, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Reedus." Makarov piped up from the bar, his eyes still having yet to open. "Macao has recently taken a slew of new jobs, and is not due back for another four days."

Silver blinked, his head cocking to the side as his face scrunched up in confusion. "Macao? A slew of jobs? Shit, what happened?"

"His annoying shithead of a kid keeps telling people that I'm his real father." Laxus waved a hand in the direction of the door, as clear an indication of dismissal that anyone had seen. "Get going, and if you see the Raijinshū, tell them I've got something S-Class lined up and to get their lazy asses here."

"Whatever." Silver yawned again, running a hand through his unruly hair as he turned around. He almost tripped on the first step, wobbled on the next two, and had to forcefully stop on the fourth. The next five were going perfectly fine, up until the point where Silver zigged when he should have zagged and impacted the doorframe face first, one of his wings punching through the window beside him a moment later.

Somebody sitting nearby chuckled, their quiet mirth suddenly morphing into unparalleled horror as ice burst up from nowhere and crept halfway up their body. Silver's eyes narrowed, and from the distance she was standing at, Lucy could have sworn his pupils had turned white.

"And I don't who keeps putting things into my drinks, but when I find you…" Even despite their innocence, nobody made any attempt to meet Silver's eyes as he surveyed the Guild. Lingering for a few more seconds, probably to allow his unfinished threats to sink in, Silver turned back around, drunkenly hobbling through the doorway as his wings began to spread out again.

A moment later, the windows rattled ominously, more than one person covering their ears as a loud rumble passed through the Guild. Lucy remained frozen to the spot, her hair whipping across her face in the gust that had invaded through the newly broken window.

Silence reigned supreme. But like all good tyrants, its lead had to come to an eventual end. Be it through assassination, or old age, or someone coughing…

Incidentally, someone chose that moment to cough.

"So, hi; Mirajane. You're Lucy, huh?" The Take-Over Mage sitting on Natsu's shoulders kicked her legs idly, her arms folded over Natsu's hair and her chin resting atop them.

Lucy blinked.

Natsu blinked.

Mirajane blinked.

Lucy twitched.

"Uh-"

"That was Silver Fullbuster!" Lucy squealed, Natsu cringing away from the ludicrously loud noise and rubbing at his ears. "Glacier-sama looked at me! And he interacted with Laxus Dreyar! Ohmigosh!"

"Oh, great." Someone's voice drifted down from the second floor, dry, male, and unamused. "Natsu found one of them."

XxX

As hard as it may have been to believe, Silver actually did have a rather decent reason for getting very little sleep within the last week.

It just wasn't likely anyone would bother listening to him, seeing as the ground had once again become the sky and the last cloud he passed through had tried to eat him.

It wasn't the first time Laxus (because really, who else would it be?) had slipped something into one of his meals. Hell, whatever he'd used hadn't even been the strongest in his arsenal.

As he'd found out recently, however, one didn't need to ingest a highly concentrated dose of tranquiliser before supersonic flight became incredibly dangerous and just a tad too colourful.

Cursing up a storm under his breath, Silver picked his face out of the rubble of his latest crash, the ice he'd instinctively covered his face with once the stones became a little too detailed falling from his face in patches. The trench he'd just dug with his face probably stretched for a good while, but he didn't really care enough to turn around a survey the damage. He hadn't hit anyone (..maybe), and any time he wasted here was time Reedus was spending freezing to death on Mt. Hakobe.

…Or something along those lines. As far as he could recall, Macao had been the one to take the job last time, and it had been mislabelled then as well. How he could remember whatever Romeo had been prattling on about that one time while he was drunk off his ass was a mystery to him, one he really didn't have sufficient brainpower to puzzle over right this second.

Because even through the haze that was a result of Laxus playing doctor, there was already something far more important weighing on his mind. He'd spent most of his time recently forgoing the tender embrace of slumber, in favour of writing up a list.

A list, you ask? How preposterous! Why would one ignore their basic health requirements for something so elementary, you exclaim? Well, the simple answer, young one, is that this list was special. How special, you ask? Well, in Silver's humble opinion, it was especially special.

For on that list had been scribed the large majority of his memories from another life, which in all honesty probably should have written sooner. Regardless of the fact that none of it would come into play until at least a month into the future, Silver had been faced with the frankly embarrassing realisation that his memory was not nearly as good as he felt it should have been.

He hadn't even been able to fill a quarter of the page. And his handwriting hadn't been all that small, either.

There had been that whole Deliora thing on Whatever-the-fuck island that he would never forget… which was now useless to him. Well, uh, what about the Fairy Tail Grand Smackdown that Laxus organised- wait, no, Laxus wasn't that insane anymore.

Not that he was discouraged, no, not in the least! How about that whole…

errr…

hmm…

…Fuck he was hungry.

Why couldn't he recall all the stories he'd once told Makarov, upon his Master's request? He hadn't simply been making shit up as he went along without even realising it, right? Natsu had ended up eventually kicking Lucy off the team, hadn't he? And then Lucy had eventually been chased from the Guild and ended up somehow receiving training from a Dragon at some point… right?

Right!?

The cogs of his brain slowly ticked into position.

…No, wait… that sounded a little too… farfetched.

Shit! He knew nothing!

Silver chose the moment after that moment of realisation to smack his head against the nearest wall. To his surprise, that wall gave way, and the smell of what could only be cheap food filled his nostrils.

Well, what luck. Some may call it a contrived coincidence, but Silver probably wouldn't be able to fathom words that large in his current state, so for the time being, we shall stick with luck.

Ahem, ahem… Well, what luck!

Walking through the door he'd just bashed open with his skull, Silver was suddenly stalled, one foot hanging in the air in front of him and a strange tugging sensation running across his back. Glancing over to see what the problem was, he blinked twice, not entirely capable of comprehending why he had a pair of wings sprouting from his back, especially when they were stopping him from walking through the door like a dog holding a particularly large stick.

In a rush, the comprehension abilities came back, chasing away his current, confusing train of thought and bringing with it the mild embarrassment of realising that he'd most likely been stumbling down however many of Magnolia's streets with his wings hanging out.

Well, the thoughts had been festering for a while, but now, Silver was ready to make it official.

Laxus died tonight. Slowly. Painfully. The icicle would even melt afterwards, so there was no need for him to leave any fingerprints.

"Hello sir, welcome to Dick Wonalds. What may I get for you today?"

"…Wow, this place is so fucking YELLOW!"

XxX

"Uhm… isn't it a little too early to be-"

Lisanna slammed her tankard onto the bar counter, causing Lucy to flinch away as the Take-Over Mage fixed her with an uneven glare.

"Too early fo' what?" She hiccupped, staring at the wall beside Lucy's head. Without even waiting for a reply, Lisanna snatched up her mug of alcohol on her fourth attempt, a worrying situation considering she'd yet to actually manage through a full drink.

"So anyways," she continued, the arm keeping her upright on the bar slipping and sending about half of what was still in her tankard all over the floor, "I tell 'im that I think I love him, an' you know wh' he goes and does? Runs away, like a-a-a bitch! Yeah, like a little bitch!"

Lisanna hiccupped again, and Lucy sent Natsu's prone body a pitying glance as another portion of alcohol was dumped all over it. Her glass of water remained untouched, as every time she had brought it to her lips, Lisanna would launch back into her story loudly and Lucy would be force to evacuate her attempt at drinking.

The pleasant conversation hadn't lasted very long after Silver had left. In fact, it had been over quicker than Lucy could get her breathing under control. Apparently, Natsu had gotten incredibly bored during that fraction of a minute, and had challenged Laxus to a fight.

Supposedly, this was a regular occurrence. In fact, now that Lucy was actually paying attention, she could make out numerous small imprints in the building's walls, many of which beared a remarkable resemblance to Natsu's face.

The newest of which was just below Lucy's knee, imbedded in the bar in front of what was apparently Silver Fullbuster's regular seat. Natsu himself was on the floor a little ways away, knocked out cold with one side of his face slowly changing to a lovely purple shade.

With nobody left to guide Lucy, Mirajane had offered herself up with all manner of innuendo, taking Lucy on a tour of the Guild and introducing her to everyone who payed attention. That tour had lasted for a little over half the Guild until Mirajane was called away to take care of something Lucy hadn't been privy to, which was when short white hair, blue and white dress, Guild mark on thigh. Conclusion, The Demon's little sister, Lisanna Strauss, part-time Model had offered to show her the rest of the way around.

Nothing too interesting had happened for a while, except maybe for when Loke decided to get the Hell out of Dodge as soon as he figured out what kind of magic she used. She could have sworn she heard someone muttering, "the fuck is it with keys today…" as she followed Lisanna back to the bar.

All Lucy had done was ask if she and Natsu were close, after noticing the worried glances Lisanna had been shooting his unconscious body throughout the entire time she'd been guiding her. She hadn't been expecting Lisanna to freeze up, check to make sure nobody was looking, and then start attacking the alcohol storage.

"An' so he shows up the nex' day, Happy with 'im as always, and you know what 'e does?" Lisanna's loud voice penetrated through Lucy's thoughts, and with a small jump she was brought back to reality. Sparing a second to check around to see where Happy was, seeing as she'd lost sight of him almost immediately after entering the Guild and hadn't regained it since, Lucy noted the many gazes aimed their way, before turning around with a small, nervous giggle.

It was at that point she realised that Lisanna was staring at her (or the counter near her hands, whatever) expectantly.

"Uh, sure?" She attempted, doing her best to cover the fact that she hadn't been listening, at all.

"You do?" Lisanna recoiled, almost lost her balance, and managed to dump the rest of her tankard whilst trying to regain it. "How do you know?"

Crap. "Oh, did I say sure? I meant, uh…no?"

"He acts like nothing 'appened!" Lisanna threw her hands into the air, accidentally letting go of her tankard in the middle of her arc. Lucy watched on in horror as it clipped the Master on the back of the head, sending him sprawling off the bar with a yelp. "So I told Mira, and Mira decided to test him, to make sure 'e wasn' broken or something. She's been doin' what she did today for two years, and 'e's never did anything! Ever!"

Lucy hummed and nodded, swiping her glass off the counter as Makarov jumped back up, grumbling wordlessly. She had almost gotten the water to her lips before something clicked, and the glass was slammed back onto the counter hard enough to crack it.

"Wait wait wait, he's had a professional model clinging to him for two years, and he's never done anything!?"

Lisanna made an odd noise in the back of her throat, throwing her tankard back (wait, when did she grab another one?), glaring at it upon realising its status of empty and flinging it over her shoulder carelessly. "Yeah! I dunno why, either. Like, maybe he's not interested in girls in that way, bu' it's fine if he isn't! That's just really something you shoul' know about a person before you fall in love with 'em, y'know?"

"Better him than me." A new voice grunted from beside them. Alarmed, Lucy spun around on her seat, her eyes widening upon finding that open coat with chimes on the bottom, spiked hair, silver necklace. Conclusion; Gunmetal, Gray Fullbuster, S-Class Mage was standing right beside her.

Lisanna stared at the new arrival, cocking her head to one side as she narrowed her eyes. "What'chu talking about?"

"I don't know how Natsu can possibly cope with having so many beautiful women after him." Gray said blandly, placing a slightly dirty plate on the bar before turning to stare at the ceiling. "I sure hope that never happens to me, because I'm not sure how I would survive in such a situation!"

Lucy and Lisanna shared a glance, looking up at where Gray was staring before their gazes returned to the Ice Mage. "Uh-"

"My life would surely be ruined by such a predicament!" Gray said clearly, his voice slowly growing louder. "The fates would have to be oh so cruel to inflict something like that upon my existence!"

The trio remained silent for a moment longer, until Gray blew out a frustrated sigh and stalked back towards the staircase leading to the second floor.

"That'll work one of these days…" He grumbled under his breath. For some reason, he also left his coat on the lowest rung as he began his ascent.

Thankful for the silence, Lucy finally managed a sip of her water.

Ew.

It was warm.

XxX

There was an old saying back in the day; You weren't a real Mage until you got screwed on a job and survived. Be it taking on opponents far out of your league or being forced to expend skills you didn't even know you had, unless you had been suckered in by a seemingly innocent request, you just didn't have what it took to face the nitty-gritty of what being a mage really meant.

Reedus had been a Mage for quite a while. Hell, he'd been using magic since before some of the Guild's strongest members had been born. But up until now, he probably wouldn't have been what whoever came up with that saying would consider a true Mage.

He'd never been screwed over when it came to payment on a job. He never went out of his way to find more opponents to take on.

It wasn't due to cowardice. Oh no, every member of Fairy Tail possessed the courage necessary for those residing at the top. Some replaced it with stupidity, that much was true, but Reedus had long since cultivated his own unique brand of Fairy Tail's famous emotion fuelled power.

Unlike many of his kinsmen, Reedus was careful. He'd never had his shit wrecked by a mission because he did his research. He'd never been forced to bite off more than he could chew during those rare missions of his that involved combat, because he would always lay the trap work beforehand, his Giant Magic enlarged body easily concealable through the use of years of practice and a bit of cleverly applied camouflaging paint.

When he'd taken the extermination job from the missions board, he'd done so after making sure it fulfilled the necessary criteria. The employers had gone through the Guild to hire Mages before, and every single time, they'd shown themselves to be trustworthy. The city they hailed from was prosperous year round, so the relatively meager sum of money that would be earned wouldn't be an issue. All in all, if he accounted time used to travel, Reedus predicted that he could his job completed before the end of the fortnight.

That prediction had been made so long ago that Reedus couldn't actually remember the specifics behind it. All he knew right now was that he'd lost his supplies in the snowstorm three days ago, gotten himself trapped in this cave yesterday, and had been forced to use the last of his magic to send for help with something small enough to avoid detection shortly afterwards.

Too bad it had been incredibly slow, due to the lack of magic to power it.

Eventually, every streak must come to an end. Because no matter how trustworthy the client is, there was just no accounting for faulty information. If the client trusted the information as accurate, and the client's word was all there was to go on, then there wasn't much chance of the deceit being found out until it was too late.

Wishing he had even enough magic left over to draw himself a blanket, Reedus huddled further into the icy corner he'd managed to tuck himself into, the howling winds penetrating far enough into the cave he'd found to send shivers down his spine. There was nothing he…could…

Hold on a moment, what was that noise?

Squeezing his eyes shut, Reedus did his best to focus on his hearing, only just managing to pick up the rhythmic beating of…wings, perhaps? Whatever it was, it was close, and as the seconds ticked past it was only getting closer.

Clutching his paintbrush in fingers quaking from cold, Reedus pushed himself into as good an offensive position as he could, fully prepared to go down like a proper Fairy Tail wizard. The not-brush end of his paintbrush was kind of sharp, maybe that would come in handy in the ensuing scuffle?

"Reedus!" A voice that sounded vaguely familiar called out from the darkness surrounding him, making his paintbrush slip from slackened fingers. He had no idea how long it would have taken his paint clone to get back to the Guild, but it couldn't have been that quickly!

Before Reedus' unbelieving eyes, Silver came lumbering out of the darkness, his wings carrying him through the many stalactites in his path with all the grace of a tank rolling through a minefield. The shattering ice was quite possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Silver opened his mouth to call out again, and now that he was closer, Reedus could make out the paper bag he held under one arm. Before Silver could get the words out, his face found the one stalactite still in his way, which coincidentally happened to be the biggest one out of the bunch.

The rest of the legendary mage's body continued on its course as his head stayed put, and as the famed Demon Killer was forced to tumble backwards through the air, his wings flailing uselessly, the illusion of grandeur his appearance had managed to cast shattered into more pieces than the ice under where Silver eventually ended up landing.

"'Eed's!" Silver tried again, his mouth full of ice as he peeled his face from the ground. His wings came up to find purchase of the walls as he teetered towards the Pict Mage, thrusting the slightly soggy paper bag in his Guildmate's direction.

He then wiggled his hand, in the hopes that Reedus would get the idea without words being required.

Reedus' mouth watered as the smell of cheap drive-thru food hit his nose, his stomach deciding to take that moment to remind him just how empty it was.

"Merci!" He muttered, shoving his hand into the bag without preamble, uncaring of what he would pull out so long as it was food.

Silver's expression shifted, from somewhat vacant to irritated.

"Hey, you fucking try getting five-star service, without a shirt and high as a kite." He grunted, folding his arms and turning back to the opening of the cave. Too busy shoving food into his mouth, Reedus didn't bother to correct nor question him. "Whatever, I can see when I'm not wanted. I took care of the Vulcans for you too, but who knows, maybe you wanted some leniency for them as well. You know what, no; shut up and eat your Dick Wonalds."

Silver huffed once it became apparent that no response was incoming, and without another word he began the slow drunken shuffle towards the opening of the cave. Reedus waved at his retreating back, not even bothering to unearth a straw as he ripped the top of the cup in his grasp and downed a good third of his new drink in one go.

XxX

Who was it that decided Galuna Island's village needed a sentry gate?

Why? Was it to keep the animals out? Maybe it was a precaution, in case the tide decided to rise for once, when it literally had never managed to climb past their beaches before, ever?

Maybe it was just to give whoever was stationed as lookout a great point of view of any wacky shit that ended up happening in their little corner of the world.

Entertainment was difficult to come by when you lived on an island that everyone was afraid of. There was never any new territory to explore, and no merchants ever stopped by their beaches.

So when it became apparent that something was approaching their island at speeds synonymous with terminal velocity, the guards currently stationed decided to turn a blind eye. After all, this was something new happening for the first time in months, and what were the chances of it hitting the village when there was so much more island around them?

Too bad they didn't live on the mainland. Maybe then they would be aware of the fact that fate hated all the wrong people.

Silver spat out his new mouthful of dirt as he picked himself up off the ground, his arms shaking with the simple effort. The world was spinning more than it usually would, and the bile rising up his throat was telling him that he may have rattled something he seriously shouldn't have with that last crash landing.

With a groan, the Devil Slayer's arms gave out, and with a burst of strength Silver didn't honestly think he deserved, he was soon laying on his back, trying to get his eyes to uncross and idly wondering why the sun wasn't hitting his face.

"Why are you on our island, human?" A gruff voice called out to him from somewhere nearby. "Why do you fly like the birds?"

Silver frowned. He couldn't see any birds, what a gyp!

Left with no other options, Silver tried to raise a hand to his face, abandoning the movement halfway through. His hand, now armed with his momentum and not his intelligence, fell prematurely, impacting heavily against his nose.

For a moment, all he knew was pain.

Then, his eyes finally uncrossed, treating him to a most unusual sight.

"Heeeyyyy, you're that Demon guy who has the Golden Key, right?" All of the Demons surrounding Silver, even the ones that were holding spears against various parts of his body, flinched back. All except Moka, who's eyes were now far wider than before. "What are you doing in Magnolia?"

Moka's eyes narrowed once again, his purple face closing some of the distance between itself and Silver. "You are mistaken, human. I am not in Magnolia. You are on Galuna."

Silver blinked, waiting for the words to burrow through his headache before frowning and pushing himself back up. A spear poked into his side, and Silver waved it aside irritably, accidentally freezing the weapon and the demon holding it in the process. "Wait, I'm where? How the fuck did I get to Galuna?"

"You flew," one of the demon holding a weapon against his side informed him absently, the spear in his grip slack as he stared at his frozen colleague.

"I can fly?" Silver shook his head, his hair brushing up against one of his wings. Silver's neck froze, and with one hesitant finger, he reached out to poke the leathery appendage.

"I have wings? Cool." Every demon present glanced at one another nervously as Silver tried to push himself to his feet, only to give up halfway through and once again fall backwards. His head made a very interesting noise against a rock as it connected, and Silver's eyes crossed briefly, only to uncross and pin Moka with a chilling stare.

"You guys got any food?" He inquired, his wing twitching slightly as a drop of blood connected with it.

Without even waiting for the demons' replies, like a polite guest should have, Silver turned his head to the side and emptied his stomach onto the ground beside him.

XxX

Lucy didn't even bother to stifle the sigh of relief as Lisanna's snoring face slammed onto the bar's surface. In fact, neither did the people on the few tables close to where Lucy had chosen to sit. The Take-Over Mage had stopped being understandable after the her third drink, which had unfortunately done nothing to curb the flood of words she had begun slurring a little over half an hour ago.

The last sentences Lucy had been able to comprehend had something to do with Mirajane, then the colour of her beer, followed up by a comment about the building's architecture, and then had finished off with the words 'brother-in-law with spiky hair'. From there, things had devolved into an act similar to how her favourite aunt had spent the large majority of her father's thirty-fifty birthday party, minus the gratuitous amount of skin being shown and a secret handshake taking the place of a present.

She hadn't been allowed contact with her favourite aunt after that. Which was a shame, because she kind of missed their secret handshakes.

Lucy shook her head as she placed her empty glass in front of Lisanna's unconscious body, along with, after a few seconds of thought, a few coins. Visiting her favourite aunt was something she would put on her to-do list, a few places underneath finding a place to live in.

She would probably need to start looking now, before she ran out of daylight.

Spinning around in her seat, Lucy moved to push herself to her feet and begin asking around, only to almost lose her balance as Natsu thrust a piece of paper into her face.

"Hey Luce, I found our first job!" Even though the poster, as Lucy could not identify it as, was obscuring Natsu's face from her view, she could tell that there was a large grin spread across his face.

"Wha...?" Lucy glanced off to the side, where Natsu's unconscious and prone body had landed. The chalk outline that someone had seen fit to draw (it was Gray) was still there, but other than that, there was no indication that someone had been lying there, at least until the last time Lucy had glanced in that direction.

Which had been a minute ago.

"Come on, let's go!" Natsu, in all of his wisdom and lack of personal space, bless his soul, grabbed Lucy by the bicep, dragging her off her seat and towards the Guild's doors with all the subtlety of a rhinoceros driving a tank.

A few people looked up at the noise, but other than that, the novelty of a new member being led around the Guild by the various S-Class personal seemed to have worn off.

"What, now?" Natsu almost kicked the Guild doors off of their hinges, though he did at least have the courtesy to hold them open as he tugged Lucy outside.

"Sure!" Natsu shot a grin over his shoulder, one that was more than slightly difficult to not reciprocate. "Why not?"

Lucy opened her mouth to answer him, almost choking on her tongue as her foot hit a chunk of concrete that hadn't been displaced when she first walked into the Guild. Something paused her momentum before she could end up on her face, and by the time Lucy looked back up, Natsu had already withdrawn his arms.

That damn grin remained, though.

"I...I need to find a place to live!" Well, she'd been aiming for a declaration of gratitude, but watching Natsu's face twist into an expression that seemed to suggest he'd just heard the silliest thing in his life gave her pause before she could rectify her statement.

"Why wouldn't you just get a room in Fairy Hills?"

Lucy blinked up at Natsu, and he blinked back, tilting his head to mirror Lucy as she narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Wait... don't you need to be a member of Fairy Tail to live in Fairy Hills?"

Natsu raised an eyebrow, subjecting Lucy to a look that told her she'd just said the second most ridiculous sentence he'd ever heard in as many minutes, before glancing down very slowly and purposefully at her hand.

Feeling utterly left out of the loop, Lucy followed his gaze, her jaw falling slack as she stared at the Fairy Tail Guild tattoo that now inhabited her body. How someone had managed to get it there without her noticing, she'd never know, nor would she care.

A silly grin, far sillier than anything Natsu had shown in her presence thus far, spread across Lucy's face as she held her hand up to the sky, watching in awe as light from the rapidly setting sun washed across the back of her hand.

"I'm a member of Fairy Tail..." She murmured to herself, a small giggle bubbling up from her throat. A few seconds and a whoop of joy later, and Lucy was doing a happy little march into Magnolia, her smile radiant enough to power to power a small city.

Natsu watched her walk off, and after a moment, Happy burrowed out of his hair to join him.

"Well, I guess we're not leaving today." Happy 'hmmed' in agreement, waving the paw that wasn't busy shoving a large fish into his mouth in the direction opposite to the one Lucy was doing her happy little march in.

"Oh, right." Natsu cupped his hands around his mouth, drawing a few odd looks from the civilians walking past him as his voice easily carried down the street. "Hey, Luce! Fairy Hills is that way!"

Without breaking from her happy little march, Lucy turned on her heel, moving back to accompany Natsu as he pointed towards a lone building sitting atop a mountain.

...Nah, just messing with ya. It was totally atop a hill.

XxX

Yeah, Silver spent this entire chapter high off his ass, and then he went and got himself a concussion at the end. And uh oh, Lucy's a yaoi fangirl.

I'm literally running on fumes right now, so I'm going to separate myself from this keyboard before I pass out. This chapter's probably a grammatical cesspool because of that, but I can fix that up later.

Also, fifty reviews! Whoo! My goal is to have that doubled by chapter twenty. Just, y'know, just saying.

Later. .o/

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