I may add an extra chapter this week because this one was so short, so check back later on for more! And please remember to review!

Chapter 14

Natsu sat at one of the tables in the guild hall, his head resting on the table. Happy sat next to him, munching on a fish. Gray sat at the table behind him. Natsu groaned. There hadn't been many high paying or interesting jobs lately. Everything on the request board was small change. He had really hoped he'd be able to go out on a job that would be more exciting. And after the quick clean-up of their last one, he had been really anxious to get moving. Lucy approached the table and laid a flier down in front of him. He glanced up.

"What's that?" he muttered.

"It's the job I picked." He folded her arms. "Since you haven't picked anything, and there aren't many good ones, I chose the one I liked best.

Natsu picked it up and read over it, Gray staring at it over his shoulder.

"Catching thugs?" Gray asked skeptically.

"Sounds like a pretty easy one," Natsu said.

Lucy shrugged. "Beggars can't be choosers."

"I guess…." Natsu sighed. He wasn't looking forward to it at all.

"That's not like you." Gray grinned, as if to say it was pathetic. "Taking such an easy job, and one with such a small reward, isn't that a little below you?"

"Shut up, droopy-eyes! What's it to you what kind of jobs I take?"

"Nothing!" Gray shot back. "I just can't believe you'd agree to take a job like that."

"Say that again, you pervy sea urchin!"

"Like I said—"

Erza walked up behind them. "If you're still fighting, maybe you two need to go on another mission together."

Both their faces drained of color. Lucy laughed. Leaning across the table, Juvia looked at the flier.

"Juvia thinks it looks interesting," she said with a smile.

Erza crossed her arms. "There's nothing wrong with taking easy jobs every now and then. Without them there's no time to relax and properly recover your strength."

"Besides," Lucy said, "I need something a little easier. Porlyusica told me not to overdo things. It'll give us a chance to relax a little"

"Glad to know at least someone follows doctor's orders." Erza grinned.

"Oh, I just remembered!" Lucy said. "There's a really nice ryokan in Hargeon. Once we finish the job, maybe we can stay one night. You know, to relax a little bit."

"Ryokan?" Juvia glanced at Gray, her face instantly turning bright red. "M-maybe Juvia should join you."

"What're you getting all embarrassed for?" Natsu arched an eyebrow.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia wrapped her arms around one of his muscular ones. "Doesn't an onsen sound wonderful? Juvia wants to go together with Gray-sama!"

"And who said I was going on this stupid job?"

"You should go too," Erza said.

"What?" Gray and Natsu shouted together.

"It would be a nice bonding experience for all of you." She grinned. "Maybe I'll join you on this one. It sounds like a good chance to relax. Besides, it could be fun."

Lucy's face lit up. "You're coming too, Erza?"

"I think I will."

"That's great! It'll be just like when I first started!" Slowly Lucy's face darkened. "Actually…now that I think about it, those times were pretty scary."

Gray looked the same way Natsu did whenever he rode a train. "I don't know if I like where this is going…."

"Me neither." Natsu slumped down on the bench.

He had hoped that he and Lucy could go on a job together—just the two of them. Recently they had either been doing separate jobs or someone else had tagged along with them. Though that was mostly Erza's doing. She always liked to lump him together with Gray. Natsu sighed. Happy patted him on the knee.

"Don't worry," Happy said with a grin. "Better luck next time."

"Yeah yeah," he muttered.

"Natsu!" Lucy said cheerfully.

He looked up at the sound of his name. Lucy's warm smile made his chest feel light and airy.

"It sounds like fun, doesn't it?" she said. "I'm looking forward to it."

Natsu grinned. "Yeah. Me too."

"I don't know about that one, guys." Lucy turned around to see Cana looking at her tarot cards. "If you guys go on that job, something bad's gonna happen."

"How do you know?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"I was listening to your conversation and decided to do a reading." She turned around and held up one of the cards. It was a chariot being pulled by two sphinxes, the number 7 drawn on the top. "This means danger. While that job looks pretty easy to me, there's some kind of dangerous aura around it. And this one," she held up another card. It had a man lying on his stomach with ten long swords embedded in his back. The card was dark and gloomy, with a pitch black sky and blood. "Came up upright, and it means disaster." She laid the cards on the table. "If you ask me, you guys should pass on that job."

"That's a bunch of bullshit," Natsu muttered.

"What was that?" Cana glared at him. "You think I can't interpret my own cards?"

"Yeah, well, I don't believe in stuff like fate!" he shot back. "I'm not gonna let someone else decide my future. I'm the only one who can decide what I do or what happens to me!"

"Fine!" Cana stood quickly. "Then go for all I care! Don't say I didn't warn you." She stalked off, dragging her barrel of booze with her.

"What was that for?" Lucy slapped his arm. "You didn't have to yell at her! Cana was just trying to help!"

"All that talk about fate and stuff makes me irritated…."

"I think it sounds interesting," Gray said with a grin.

Erza nodded. "I agree. But what she said makes me feel a bit uneasy."

"Oh!" Lucy stood up quickly. "All that talk of gloom and doom reminded me. I forgot that I wanted to talk to Levy."

"About what?" Natsu asked.

"About the stuff we found in the library." Lucy pulled out the scroll she had stuffed in her bag on when they fought the wyvern. "I want her opinion on what we found."

Natsu nodded. He didn't even want to think about all that dark magic stuff—it made his head hurt. He watched Lucy as she hurried across the room to where Levy was sitting, Jet and Droy sitting across from her. Levy looked up from her book when Lucy tapped her on the shoulder. He sighed. Natsu just wanted to get moving! He hated sitting around the guild doing nothing. But that would change soon enough.

Chapter 15 coming soon!