Author's notes at the end.

Chapter Thirteen

No Flames among the Dwarves

Saturday, September 12th

Instead of her regular walk over to Strauss Games that week, Lucy was power-walking. She was trying not to shake her bag too much due to its precious contents but she was really eager to show Natsu her little painted surprise.

Strangely, he had been quiet in group chat over the last few days. He and Gray were arguing over something trivial that Lucy had quickly gone about ignoring in favor of actually being productive around her apartment instead. That was on Wednesday evening and since then, Natsu had uncharacteristically said nothing further to anyone.

Lucy was well aware that the group chat wasn't used much until fairly recently, so at first, she thought that Natsu had simply found something else that preoccupied his interests or perhaps his job had suddenly demanded more of his time. She wasn't even sure if it had just been her that noticed Natsu's absence as nobody else said a word about it.

She once or twice thought about sending him a private message – just to see if he was alright but she didn't know if he'd think she was being nosy or pushy. She considered them to be friends but outside of D&D, they knew very little details about each other so was it really a 'proper' friendship?

When thinking back to Levy and how fast they had become friends, it had felt distinctly different. Their love of reading had made it easy for them to visit each other's places as well as just hanging out, talking about authors, new books and forming their own little private book club with them as the only two members. One stark difference between her friendship with Natsu and her was that Levy was a female friend.

Aside from Loke, she'd never had 'guy' friends before. Her father was never a fan of the idea of her being in male company unless he had previously approved of it. When she first met Loke, he was a flirt and a ladies man. He was someone who went all out to accommodate your needs but it was for those exact reasons that she found it hard to really connect with Loke as it felt as if he was borderline pushing for more and Lucy couldn't say she liked that feeling at all.

By contrast, Natsu was uniquely different. Often, she couldn't be sure if he even was paying attention to her sometimes but then he would surprise you by remembering small details that you had previously mentioned in passing. He didn't really seem to have any expectations (other than snacks being present in the vicinity) and he seemed to just genuinely enjoy her company without showing any further interest in, well, that way.

It was both a nice feeling and a somewhat disconcerting one. Lucy had a habit of running into men that appreciated her looks a little too much. She could be vain, sure, but did she always have to attract perverts? Around Natsu however, he didn't seem to notice her in that way at all. Did he think she was attractive? Did he have a type at all? Did he like Lisanna back? When she asked herself why any of these questions even mattered to her, she convinced herself that she was just trying to understand who exactly her 'guy' friend was.

Furthermore, she had to ask herself of just when did she develop this habit about thinking about well… everything while she was walking to the tabletop store every weekend? If she kept this up, she would definitely end up falling into the canal with all her all distracting thoughts.

She clutched her bag tighter to her side, remembering its newly added valuable contents – the tressym miniature. The small resin winged cat that had been placed in a small box for safekeeping. It had arrived previously on Wednesday morning along with the paints and paintbrushes. Frustratingly, the 'ginger' paint that she had been sent was clearly an azure blue instead! Since when have cats been blue?

Lucy resigned herself to having to paint the miniature blue after weighing up her options of either waiting for a replacement color and delaying painting the thing or just going with what she had been sent. Natsu surely wouldn't care that the cat was blue. It was supposed to be magical and it had wings after all.

Personally, she thought that her attempt at painting it, after numerous YouTube videos, was actually in the 'okay' category. Whereas the miniatures of everyone's characters were very well put together with careful and precise shading – hers seemed rather plain, but for her first and probably only attempt at painting something, she was proud of it. The only downside was that painting the small miniature and all its details took time away from her writing. She had no new paragraphs down for her novel this week, let alone chapters.

She finally arrived at the store, early as she often was, greeting Mira as she often did. Gray was at the table with Juvia, desperately pushing her away whilst complaining about her being able to see his notes. Lucy decided she wouldn't say hello just yet – she had no idea if Juvia would see that as 'love rivalry' or not. Neither Gajeel nor Erza were there but that was to be expected at the time she had arrived at.

A familiar feeling of deja vu hit Lucy again as once again, Natsu was also nowhere to be seen. This time however, she knew where to check first.

"Lucy?" Mira called as the girl in question was inches away from going down into the basement. Lucy halted upon hearing Mira.

"Yes?" she asked as Mira smiled at her, holding a clipboard and pen in her hands.

"I was wondering if I could get your opinion about something?" the shop owner asked.

Lucy took no issues with that and was more than happy to hear that Mira wanted her input on something, "Yeah, go ahead, I'm all ears!"

"Well, as you know, this is a family run business – I know you've yet to meet Elfman but I'm sure you'll meet him eventually," she explained, holding her pen to her cheek as she contemplated what she was saying. "Anyway, we're all keen cooks in our family! And we've been collecting our regular's opinions on whether they would buy our home-baked goods if we were to sell them in store?"

Hearing Mira call her a 'regular' was a pleasant feeling. It wasn't as if Lucy were keeping track but thinking about it, she had been coming to the store every weekend for several weeks now. Thinking a little more about it, Lucy couldn't help but begin to feel a little guilty that she herself had rarely bought more from the store aside from the odd snack and her D&D essentials. It wasn't as if she felt forced or obligated to but that thought was definitely there.

In that retrospect, freshly baked goods sounded like a great idea. Instead of snacks on candy and chips, perhaps Mira might be able to provide healthier options…

"I think that's a great idea, Mira! I would definitely buy some if that was an option!" Lucy answered. She had never tasted the Strauss' cooking before but she imagined it would taste amazing seeing as it was coming from them.

Mira seemed satisfied with her answer, jotting down something eagerly onto her clipboard, "Thanks, Lucy! Enjoy your game tonight!"

"I will!" Lucy replied before continuing her way down to the basement.

Thinking that she would find Natsu probably playing on the PlayStation or even taking another go at reading Lord of the Rings again, Lucy found herself inadvertently smiling and readying herself to greet him.

Unfortunately, her guess as to Natsu's location proved to be incorrect. Instead, the couch lay bare, the TV off and the PlayStation silent. Lucy felt disappointment sting at her lightly in the chest as she subconsciously gripped her shoulder bag a little tighter. She had really been hoping to give him the little surprise she had planned before D&D started.

'He's probably just running late again today.'

Not wanting to head back up immediately, Lucy decided to let her natural curiosity take root instead and survey the room on her own for a change. Naturally, she made her way to the bookshelf first and took her time to read the spines of each book – mostly D&D related material, some video game strategy guides that looked as if they had been there for at least a decade and of course, a small selection of novels including the Lord of the Rings trilogy that Natsu had grabbed the week before.

The board games were next to capture her attention – she had discovered that she was a force to be reckoned with in recent years, having easily beaten Levy, Loke and Cana at all the classics: Monopoly (Crocus Edition), Clue and Scrabble came to mind.

The games on the shelf were different from what she had expected. Titles such as 'Settlers of Catan', 'Carcassonne', 'Talisman' all boldly stood out on the bottom shelf yet the titles were new and foreign to her. One game took her interest, 'Discworld', as it shared its name with a popular satirical fantasy book series that she thoroughly enjoyed. A small, passing thought crossed her mind that maybe she should ask everyone to have a board game night at some point but she quickly pushed it aside when she assumed that everyone was perfectly happy with just playing D&D.

The random figurines were next but Lucy didn't find them particularly interesting. They appeared to be either video game characters or superheroes but Lucy couldn't say she was familiar with either. She briefly wondered if any of friends were fans of whomever these characters were or if they captured the interest of someone from outside the Fairy Tail group instead.

She had a good look at the posters, the video games and even checked out how soft each blanket was that sat on the shelf.

Deciding that she had spent long enough being nosy, Lucy decided to return upstairs and see if Gray and Juvia needed any help with setting up.

Once she had made her way to the table, taking her new seat on the opposite end of Gray, she was quick to ask how they were doing.

"Gray won't let Juvia help!" Juvia lamented, "He insists that his notes are for his eyes only but Juvia just wants to make everything tidy for him!"

"I don't want you to see what I have planned, it's nothing personal!" Gray insisted in return.

"Oh… well is there anything Juvia or I could do to help out instead?" Lucy tentatively asked, watching Juvia closely for her reaction and whether what she had asked was enough to set the woman's defenses off regarding Gray.

Juvia seemed to light up at Lucy throwing in her support and look to Gray hopefully, clasping her hands together.

Gray let out an exasperated sigh, "No, I'm fine alright. Just let me set up in peace."

Juvia's face dropped a little and Lucy couldn't help but feel for the poor girl who clearly just wanted to do something for the man of her affections.

Lucy decided to get out her character sheet, dice and notes in the meantime, her hand gently brushing against the boxed miniature of the tressym before delicately grabbing her own. Feeling its edges, her eyes inadvertently looked in the direction of the front entrance, hoping for the pink-haired recipient of her gift to show up but only found herself anxiously waiting instead.

"Oh, Lucy!" Juvia suddenly called, snapping Lucy away from her thoughts and causing her to face the newest member of the Fairy Tail group.

Juvia had moved over towards her, briefly taking Natsu's seat which strangely irked Lucy for a fraction of a second before she brushed off the feeling. Juvia was holding a small stack of papers in her hands which Lucy presumed were her D&D notes.

She was pleasantly surprised when Juvia dropped them onto the table and cautiously slid over a few of them towards her.

Lucy found herself looking at black and white pencil drawings of what was clearly, her character. Not unlike her miniature, Luna was standing there in a confident pose, holding a staff with a star on the end (not that her character had such an item but that felt irrelevant) as well as wearing the blue robe she had acquired a few sessions ago except that Juvia had designed it with a Celtic pattern in mind. What stuck out most was the smile her character wore – as if Juvia had captured exactly how she felt when she was adventuring with everyone.

"These are… amazing." Lucy softly whispered as she peered over the next drawing – her character again but this time in her Starry form with a constellation drawn over the connecting joints of her character.

"Do you really think so?" Juvia hesitantly asked, "Juvia has drawn Salamander and Metalicana too, see!"

Juvia slid over a few more drawings, both of Salamander fiercely surrounded by fire and Metalicana joyously playing the lute. Lucy's mouth stood agape at Juvia's talent for drawing as she ran her index finger lightly over each drawing presented to her.

"Juvia wanted to say sorry for last week so these drawings are for everyone…"

Lucy hadn't been feeling any animosity towards Juvia for her actions last week. Sure, her actions had left hers and Natsu's characters in a dangerous situation but it had all worked out in the end and Natsu had been able to find that winged cat which may have never happened otherwise.

"I didn't know you could draw so well, Juvia," Lucy said proudly to her and Juvia in turn, smiled wider. Neither of them noticed but Gray had been peering over his screen, watching their interaction and he too, was smiling fondly.

"Juvia likes to make things," Juvia responded, "Juvia wants to draw all of our adventures together from now on!"

Lucy nodded back, "I think that's a great idea!"

She was about to ask what other drawings Juvia had in the small paper stack that remained in her hands but withheld asking when the most obvious answer was going to be Gray-related. She swiftly decided against wanting to see what they were in order to avoid being accused of being a 'rival' yet again.

"Juvia wants you to keep the one of Luna. Natsu and Gajeel can have theirs when they arrive."

Lucy took the first drawing presented to her carefully, placing it to one side as she had no intention of folding it away. She could already picture in her mind where to frame and hang it on one of the walls of her apartment (assuming her landlady wouldn't take issue with that).

"Lucy, where is Natsu?" Juvia suddenly asked her and Lucy raised an eyebrow at her in turn.

'Why would I know?'

"Uh, I don't know, Juvia. Maybe he's just late today?" Lucy answered.

"Oh, Juvia thought you might know."

Lucy was just about to ask her why that was when Gray quickly spoke up,

"Flame brain just sent me a private message," the dungeon master said, "It says he can't make it tonight."

Lucy felt her heart drop instantaneously. She hadn't been expecting that. Late – yes, absent – no.
Of course, she wanted to know why Natsu would suddenly skip a session with next to no notice, he seemed so dedicated and determined to go find this dragon that they were after. She didn't realize how small and nervous she sounded when she asked "Why?" to Gray.

"He doesn't say."

Juvia muttered something that Lucy didn't quite hear. Lucy was in half a mind to private message Natsu herself and ask him what was up. The thought of playing D&D without him there was well… well it wasn't right. He wasn't just their sorcerer that could dish out heaps of damage to just about anything (monsters, buildings, people…), but also the energy that propelled them all forwards in their goal – that's was at least how she saw it.

Juvia went on to show Lucy a drawing of her own character emerging from the lake where she had been introduced which Lucy appreciated but she couldn't help but wonder how D&D could possibly go without Natsu there.

Before long, Gajeel turned up and made very brief eye contact with Juvia before taking his seat.

"Where's Salamander?" he soon asked when he realized that his work colleague was not sitting in the chair opposite him.

"He's not coming tonight," Gray answered.

"Hmph, not surprisin'" Gajeel huffed, "He was bein' weird at work yesterday as well."

Lucy was about to ask how exactly but kept quiet when Juvia moved from her stolen seat over to Gajeel with the drawing of his character in her hands.

She was strangely trembling as she approached him, "For you, Gajeel… Juvia is-"

"Save it, Juvia. I don't want it, alright?" He said, waving her off, "Let's just play."

Lucy thought that was inexplicably rude. Juvia had clearly put her heart and soul into those drawings and Gajeel wouldn't even look at them? She was at a loss at what could have possibly happened between them to cause Gajeel to be so standoffish with her but Juvia didn't deserve to be brushed aside like that. Juvia shuffled back dejectedly back to her seat next to Gray, placing the drawings back onto her small stack of papers.

The bell rang out over the front door as the clock ticked to precisely 4 pm and the stomps of a familiar redhead approached the table.

"Good day all," Erza greeted them, making her way to her seat. Everyone greeted her back and Erza was quick to notice Natsu's absence.

"Where's Natsu this evening?" she asked.

"Couldn't make it," Gray repeated for the third time.

"Huh. That's unlike him. Is he alright?" Erza asked with genuine concern.

"Dunno. He didn't say why." Gray answered.

"I see," Erza said before turning to Lucy, "Do you know anything, Lucy?"

Lucy's face turned to one of surprise yet again, "Why would I know?" she asked. She was pretty sure she didn't have some sort of 'Natsu GPS monitor' but for some reason, everyone else seemed to think so.

"Oh. I just thought- never mind." Erza quietly responded.

"Juvia wants to know if we are still going to play?"

"Yeah, we can play without Natsu here, it's fine," Gray answered to which Juvia seemed happy with.

Lucy found she was feeling reluctant to get hyped as everyone set themselves up. She wasn't sure how the session was even going to work with one person missing from the game. Still, they had managed it before when she hadn't been able to attend.

As the group briefly chitchatted among themselves, Lucy found herself hovering over Natsu's name in the group chat on her phone, tempted to ask if he was okay. She however, couldn't bring herself to do it as she was not wanting to come across as intrusive. If he wanted to everyone to know why he wouldn't be attending D&D, he would have said. She didn't need to pester him for further information. For all she knew, he just had a cold or something and was getting some rest at home.

Putting away her phone, Lucy prepared herself to play her first session of D&D without Natsu present.

Without Natsu there to play as Salamander, Gray ruled that his character would just follow the party around in the meantime. This also applied to his new pet to which the dungeon master seemed more than relieved to not have to roleplay as it that week.

Lucy found herself being atypically quiet during the first couple of hours of their session. She was more than happy to have Erza take the lead and for Juvia to offer her thoughts on what they were going to do next. Everything felt calmer than last week and more rational ideas were thrown back and forth between them as they continued to look for the missing girl. Whilst they actually felt like that they were making progress, the usual flurry of excitement wasn't there (for Lucy at least). Erza was still suspicious of the fact that there was no visible evidence of a missing girl and maintained that the distraught citizen who had pleaded for their help may have in fact, been lying.

The hedge maze was soon left behind them and the party ultimately made the decision to return to the city to either confront the original quest giver or inform him that there was no sign of his daughter.

Needless to say, Erza's suspicions came to fruition when Titania was the first to find the man who was taking blatant actions to avoid them all. Lucy had to admit it was amusing to watch Gray roleplay as a man who was frightened by Titania – as if he was more than a little used to it.

At first, Titania questioned the guilty citizen but Lucy suspected Erza may have forgotten that she was supposed to be roleplaying as she soon turned to Gray, demanding answers. One intimidation check later and a gentle reminder to Erza that this was in fact just a game and the man was quickly spilling the beans.

"I have no daughter, I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I had to deceive you all!" the dungeon master roleplayed, "that terrible insect was destroying my land nearby and I thought being adventurers, you'd have no problem defeating it!"

"Why didn't you tell us the truth to begin with!" Erza yelled although looked as if she were about to actually throttle Gray.

"I'd thought you'd never agree to it! Nobody else cared enough to!" Gray had the man reply, "So I approached the friendliest looking of you all and made it all up!"

Erza turned to Lucy, "Luna, do you wish to say anything to this man before I march him to the guardhouse for further questioning?"

Lucy sat quietly in her chair, absently fiddling with the little tressym box in her bag that was sitting on her lap, "No, not really…" she muttered. She wanted to ask about why there was a random hedge maze in the forest or if the giant wasps were intentional as well but she found that she wasn't that interested in knowing. Erza was sure to find out anyway. Lucy didn't catch the concerned looks from the others directed her way as she stared down at her sheet, rereading the same list of her items over and over.

The group continued on and said nothing about Lucy's lack of enthusiasm. Gajeel seemed to grunt whenever Lucy responded at their attempts to roleplay with her character were often returned with her lacklustre effort.

She was entirely unaware of how apathetic she was coming across as until Gajeel suddenly requested a short recess to smoke and then she felt him tap her on the shoulder.

"Oi, bunny girl. Let's talk, outside." He demanded, gesturing with his head towards the door.

Lucy, although intimidated by the man, complied as she gingerly followed him out, wrapping her arms defensively around herself.

"What's with you tonight?" Gajeel asked as they turned around the corner of the building, lighting up a cigarette in the process.

"Oh, nothing. I'm fine." Lucy replied. She didn't think she was being dishonest, she was fine after all.

"Don't think so, you're moping cause Salamander ain't here," Gajeel told her bluntly as he leaned against the brick wall of the building as he exhaled another puff of unpleasant smoke.

Lucy, pretty much as a knee-jerk response could barely keep her voice down, "What?! No, I'm not!"

"Tch," Gajeel scoffed. "Whatever, but we already have that damn rain woman being all 'touchy-feely' over that ice bastard and I don't really wanna put up with your pining either when we're playin'."

"I'm not pining!" Lucy insisted, "It's just a bit… strange without Natsu here is all."

"It's some peace'n'quiet is what it is."

Irritation encompassed Lucy at how callous this man could be at times as she dug her fingernails into her palms. Why did Gajeel even want to play D&D with them in the first place if he found everyone annoying?

"Why do you even play, Gajeel?" Lucy outright asked him.

"What kind of dumb ass question is that?" He retorted.

"You don't seem to like anyone… you're always rude to Natsu and now with Juvia-"

Chucking the remainder of cigarette to the concrete ground, Gajeel turned to her, "Don't go there, bunny girl. That ain't any of your business."

"But-"

"Look, I like playing D&D, alright?" He said, "And for the most part, you guys are alright. Salamander just pisses me off from time ta' time."

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him as well as feeling the inexplicable need to stick up for her pink-haired friend, "Don't you work with him though?"

"Yeah, and? He's a pain the ass but he gets the job done eventually."

"But you're always calling him things! Last week, you called him out for his spelling and that's-"

Gajeel barely held in a chuckle at hearing that, "Tch, do you even know the guy, bunny girl? That shit never bothers him."

"I… uh..."

"Yeah, thought so. Now can we get back to playin' with you quittin' your mopin' already?"

"I'm not moping!"

"Yeah, sure you ain't." Gajeel grunted, pushing her aside and indicating for her to follow, "Come on."

Lucy hesitantly followed, feeling more aggravated by the man than before. She didn't want to admit to it but he had a point. She considered everyone at the table to be her friends, not just Natsu, and just because they played well together didn't mean she couldn't find equal enjoyment from roleplaying more with the other group members. She was still concerned as to Natsu's sudden absence; she was considering whether he perhaps had family problems – not that she knew anything about his family.

She grabbed a bottle of water from Mira on her way back to the table, taking her seat and aside from the curious look that Juvia gave her, she felt much more ready to participate in D&D.

"Everything alright, Lucy?" Erza asked after a moment to which Lucy nodded.

"Yep!" She answered with a promising smile, "All good!"

An hour later, the group were on their way again. Salamander was 'there' but not really. Gray had Natsu's character do things that he'd thought it would do; set fire to random things, say daft statements and mockingly go on about how hungry he was. Lucy wanted to point out that his character had more substance than that but after Gajeel's little talk, she decided to keep silent and let Gray have his fun.

During their travels, everyone's characters relayed to Juvia's what their current mission was and asked her whether she would be interested in joining their guild. Juvia mysteriously had 'rain woman' insist she was there to 'aid' them all in some form or another but wouldn't divulge any details as to why. She stated she was more than happy to join their guild once they eventually returned to their guild hall.

Their journey as a group had led them to the entrance of a cave. Titania, who had the map that led them to the vague whereabouts of the dragon's 'lair', insisted that the cave would lead them to a faster route, under a mountain.

"As you approach the cave, you can all see a large wooden sign by the entrance. Do any of you try to read it?" Gray asked them all as he described the scene before them.

"Yes, what does it say?" Erza was quick to reply.

"You have no idea."

"Well, can anyone else read it?" Erza asked.

"Depends, do any of you know Dwarvish?" Gray calmly asked, looking at each member at the table.

"Yeah. Metalicana can," Gajeel said.

"Alright, then you can see that the sign is a welcome message to a Dwarvish settlement and that they ask you to wear your beards at all times."

The group was silent for a second as they processed what Gray had said.

"I'm sorry, did you say beards?" Erza asked incredulously.

"Oh Gray, you're so creative! I love it when you come up with stuff like this!" Juvia cooed, "Juvia would wear a beard if that's what my beloved desired!"

"Gimme a break…" Gajeel mumbled. Lucy caught those words and saw the disgruntled expression he wore as Juvia continued to compliment Gray and he in turn, protested she stop it already.

A thought occurred to Lucy and she couldn't resist winding up the peeved man just a little, thinking of it as payback. She slyly leaned over towards him and whispered, "Are you jealous, Gajeel?"

Gajeel cranked his head towards her with his eyes screwed up in a concoction of disbelief and aversion, "You're way off base, Blondie."

Lucy sat back, unsure of what to make of his response. He snorted, turning back to the game, "Now quit bein' nosy already," he muttered loud enough for only her to hear.

Gajeel didn't seem to appreciate the way Juvia was behaving around Gray at all and Lucy was quick to conclude that perhaps their falling out was related to that or maybe there were some unrequited feelings… which judging from Gajeel's genuine reaction, she was one hundred percent wrong about.

'Ugh, why are people so complicated sometimes…'

"Alright everyone, we're going to need to fashion ourselves some fake beards," Erza declared to party, "So if we hunt for long-haired wildlife perhaps we can-"

"Juvia thinks we should see if that's really necessary. None of us are Dwarves," Juvia was quick to say, suddenly feeling bold enough to cut into what Erza was saying.

Erza was quiet for a moment and Lucy wasn't entirely sure whether the commanding redhead would respond aggressively or not.

"You make a good point, let's find out from the dwarves themselves," Erza eventually said, earning nods from both Juvia and Gajeel.

It occurred to Lucy that that might not even be needed either, "Should I do a history check first?" she said, remembering that her character was adept at that skill and might know something about Dwarven culture.

"Go ahead, what are you checking for exactly?" Gray asked from behind his screen.

"To see if Luna knows whether Dwarves would expect this from us or not."

"Sure, roll your dice."

"Juvia will also roll!" the blue-haired girl piped up from Lucy's former seat.

Lucy rolled but was quickly disappointed by her result of a 7. Her combined total was an 11 but that was fairly average as it goes.

"Juvia rolled a 14! Juvia must know the answer!"

Gray hushed Juvia quietly, "Alright, alright. Luna, whilst she knows of some Dwarven culture, it's not enough to say for sure whether she knows if they need to have a beard to enter their domain."

Lucy wasn't impressed that Juvia had beaten her character at something she believed herself to be good at. She liked that she could contribute to the party in that manner but at the end of the day, it was all down the luck of the dice – the newly painted Tressym miniature sitting in her bag was a good reminder of that. Besides she told herself, it was nice to see Juvia getting into the spirit of the game and she hadn't been called a 'love rival' once that evening so far.

Gray half-turned to Juvia, looking unsure of what he was about to say. Lucy assumed that as Juvia rolled well, he was bracing himself for an enthusiastic response from the woman.

"Okay, 'rain woman', you know that none of you need to wear beards as Dwarves recognize that this is something specific to them and not a rule that outsiders need to follow. You also know that Dwarves still appreciate it if you have one regardless." Gray explained as Juvia's smile suddenly grew wider and wider.

"Juvia will tell everyone this information! Thank you, Gray!"

"Nice job Juvia- I mean 'rain woman'," Erza said, correcting herself, "Let us make our way to the Dwarven settlement then."

Gray went on to describe how their party made their way through the tunnels that burrowed through rock beneath a mountain range. Their path was lit by burning sconces and the journey itself took a while but was wholly safe.

When they arrived at the Dwarven town, Gray went on to describe the small stone buildings and the open cavern that they were all situated in. Smoked bellowed from their forges, braziers lit their streets and jolly singing could faintly be heard in the background. Gray also briefly paused in his description to complain about the fact that the sound system was still broken and he was unable to play the music he wanted for them all to hear. He went on to describe how every citizen they could see was a Dwarf and every single one of them had a beard.

Erza had Titania quickly flag down a random passing Dwarf, seeking answers to all the questions she had.

'Do we need beards too?',
'Which way do we go from here?',
'Are there any suitable accommodations to stay in?'

Lucy felt for Gray who had to answer Erza in the best 'Dwarven' accent he could muster – but he quickly had to give up on that and just speak normally as Erza sought out more answers and with her rolling very successfully on her intimidation check which seemed to be equally as effective on the dungeon master as it did the characters he was roleplaying as.

Needless to say, they did not need beards as Juvia suggested although she had to admit it would have been quite funny if all their characters had all turned up wearing fake beards.

"The Dwarf tells you to visit 'The Song and Stoat' drinking hall – a popular place that the more adventurous Dwarves might have the answers to," Gray finally said, forgoing to accent.

Everyone agreed that's where they would head and as the building's name implied, there was drinking and singing – mostly about gold.

Until that point in the evening, Gajeel had displayed an array of disinterested or frustrated emotions as they played together and Lucy hadn't wanted to push his firmly placed boundaries. However, she easily spotted the way his attention was immediately captured when Gray had mentioned the words 'song', 'singing' and 'music' in his description of the drinking hall.

It didn't take long for him to speak up, "I wanna perform with my lute for them all."

"That's a wonderful idea, Gajeel!" Juvia squeaked with just an ounce of overenthusiasm.

Gajeel was quick to nonchalantly brush off her compliment, "I'm gonna get up on their stage-"

"-There isn't a stage." Gray was quick to state.

"What fuckin' place doesn't have a stage?" Gajeel barked back.

"This one doesn't." Gray simply repeated.

"Fine! I'm gonna sit on a stool and perform in the corner!"

"The stool is really small so you look a bit strange but uh, roll a performance check I guess."

Gajeel rolled his metal dice without saying anything more and everybody patiently waited for the result. Much like Lucy had just felt disappointed not too long ago, she could only imagine that Gajeel was feeling the same when he rolled a 4 for his performance.

"So yeah, your performance sucks," Gray bluntly told him.

"Even with my bonuses?" Gajeel asked, staring down at his sheet.

"Yep. The Dwarves begin to boo, a few tomatoes get thrown your way," Gray said as he rolled behind his screen, "… but none of them hit you luckily."

"Fucks sake- fine!" Gajeel yelled, "I'm gonna show 'em what else I can do! I'm gonna play the flute I picked up from that mine way back!"

Gray's face twisted into a shocked expression as Erza's eyes widened. Juvia looked at him, confused, as did Lucy. Was he referring to that flute that Erza suspected was cursed and took for safekeeping? If so, she could only assume that Erza had Titania entrust it to him at some point during their campaign.

"Gajeel, are you sure?" Erza calmly asked him. "I gave it to you to so you could get it identified first."

"Yeah, it's fine. What's the worst that could happen?" Gajeel gruffly answered, "I'm gonna show these fuckin' dwarves what real music is."

Everyone waited at the table as Gray turned pages of his sheets of paper, looking completely thrown off by Gajeel's sudden decision.

Lucy wasn't even sure what was so ominous about a flute or how it could be cursed. She never thought to ask as, back then, she was already trying to digest all the new information that she could about playing D&D and didn't think to add 'curses' to that list of things she immediately needed to know.

After a minute of baited silence, Gray finally spoke, "Alright, Metalicana goes to play the flute that's made of bone to the unimpressed audience of Dwarves…"

Gajeel either drummed his fingers with impatience along the rim of the table or perhaps even he had a tune in mind that he was currently thinking of, Lucy had no way of knowing. Erza on the other hand looked rather uneasy about the situation.

"As you play begin to play the flute, you quickly begin to feel sleepy. In fact, everyone in the hall also begins to feel themselves getting tired," Gray explained. "You're all going to need to roll constitution saving throws."

Lucy recalled that she had encountered this before – back at the drinking game session when they had a public audience in the store. Whilst she was not 'proficient' in this stat, she had used a cantrip to her advantage back then.

"Can I use my resistance cantrip?" she quickly asked the dungeon master.

"Sorry, no. The effects are already happening and so you have to react to it straight away."

'I should have used it before he started playing… how could I have been so short-sighted to not have realized…' she thought.

One by one, everyone began to roll.

Erza was first and she easily succeeded her roll with her character's bonuses.

Juvia was next and also succeeded but only just.

Gray rolled for Natsu's character and it failed, leaving Lucy to wonder if Gray would be harsh enough to harm Natsu's character when Natsu wasn't even there. She didn't think that would be fair at all if that were to happen. Gray even rolled for the tressym that was following Salamander around but announced that it was also unaffected, much like Titania and the rain woman weren't.

Lucy was about to roll her dice, nervous as to what fate was to befall her character.

Gajeel was faster and rolled fairly confidently. It was easy to see why; from where Lucy sat, she could see that his character's constitution was high and gave him a decent bonus.

That didn't make a difference when Gajeel rolled yet another 4.

"Fuck. Shit!" Gajeel swore as he looked over the rest of the table with worried eyes.

Lucy wanted to feel bad for him – she did on some level – but at the same time, he just had to go and pull this reckless move just to save his pride.

She rolled her own dice and took a sharp breath, hoping she would succeed her roll.

It was a 16.

Immediate relief washed over her although that was quickly replaced by anxiety for the members of their group that hadn't succeeded their rolls.

"So, Titania, rain woman and Luna – you don't feel the effects of whatever the flute did. They simply pass over you. However…" Gray explained, "Metalicana and Salamander are unable to keep their eyes open and they both crash to the floor, unconscious."

"I'm gonna check on Salamander immediately," Lucy was quick to say without even giving it a moment's thought.

"Yeah, 'course you are. What about me, huh?" Gajeel asked but Lucy ignored his implication. What kind of a friend would she be if something bad happened to Natsu's character when he wasn't even there?

"Juvia shall check!" Juvia announced, moving her fish miniature towards Metalicana across the table.

"Don't bother, I'm fine," Gajeel responded but she seemed to ignore him.

Gray was next to speak, "Right, as you two are going to check on your companions; Titania, you noticed that all the dwarves in the drinking hall have also crashed to the ground, unconscious. I would also like you to do a perception check."

"Alright," Erza said, rolling her dice.

"You too, Juvia, since you're close to the flute," Gray added to which Juvia complied without hesitation.

"What about me?" Lucy asked.

"No, you're busy checking on flame brain's character right now," Gray answered her.

Erza revealed that she rolled well yet again wheres Juvia did not.

"Okay, Titania – you see the flute that Gajeel was playing begin to emit a cloud of dark, purple-black smoke. Within seconds, it begins to shake, do you do anything?"

"I shall warn everyone that's still conscious to be on their guard," Erza stated, looking to both Juvia and Lucy.

Lucy nodded affirmatively although she had yet to do any kind of check on Salamander to see if he was alright. She made a mental note to make sure she saved some spells for any healing that might be needed later.

Gray took a deep breath before he spoke loudly with a small bout of exhilaration, "Titania, you see a cloud of darkness burst forth from the flute, and you catch a glimpse of a terrifying-looking monster with dark wings, horns, sharp teeth and long arms with claws before it suddenly takes an incorporeal form."

"Oh no!" Juvia gasped, "What should we do?!"

"Prepare to fight whatever evil that has just been unleashed upon this town!" Erza vociferously answered.

"But what about Salamander and Metalicana?" Lucy added and she wondered if this encounter was going to be equally as troublesome like her previous one. It seemed that once again, they were going to fight without their full group.

"The incorporeal form of the monster moves towards you Luna," Gray interjected before anyone could offer instruction as to what to do about their unconscious comrades.

"What? Why me!" Lucy yelped although Gray didn't answer her.

"The monster moves right through you, Luna, as if it didn't even recognize that you were there at all," Gray continued. "Then it disappears through the wall behind you, out of sight."

"Quickly! We have to go after it!" Erza yelled out, "Before it harms any of the townsfolk!"

"Juvia thinks she would stay with Metalicana," Juvia said quietly.

"Just go," Gajeel muttered back.

"No, Juvia must stay!" she reaffirmed.

Gajeel's eyes narrowed at her, darkening, "Stop it. Just go help them already."

Juvia seemingly didn't pick up this as she looked back on him pleadingly, "But Juvia wants to make things better. Juvia misses-"

"No! I ain't doing this here!" Gajeel seethed, "Is that why you're playing, huh?"

Juvia bowed her head somewhat, "Juvia just wants to help because-"

Gajeel's fist swiftly thumped onto the table as he became more visibly frustrated, "Well I ain't gonna sit around all over again and watch you put yourself through hell n' back 'cause of your same damn mistakes!"

Lucy was becoming quickly aware that the confrontation between the two was no longer about D&D and found herself still, at a loss at what was suddenly unfurling before her.

"Gajeel, that's enough!" Gray yelled, bolting upwards in his chairs and glaring at the biker warningly with emerging anger.

"You ain't got any right to say anything either-"

"I don't care man, don't yell at Juvia like that!"

Erza was quick to stand too, leaning over the table with her palms against the wooden surface as she looked between the dungeon master and the angry Dragonborn player, "Stop this! This isn't the time nor place to start fighting!" she demanded.

"Y'know what? Fuck this!" Gajeel yelled, slamming his chair away from the table and stomping in the direction of the front entrance.

The table was met with unceremonious silence in the wake of what had just happened between them. Mira could be heard briefly echoing Gajeel's name as the front door slammed shut and the small bell rang out furiously in response.

Lucy felt her breath hitch in her throat as Juvia sat silent, the girl shaking only slightly as she looking pleadingly towards Gray for comfort.

"Juvia…" Erza uttered but looked amiss as to what to say as her eyes darted between her and Lucy. Lucy understood the subtle gesture; she was the only one who had no context as to what that argument was really about and they were unsure if to say anything more with her there.

Lucy wasn't even sure what she would say. Two people that she considered her friends were at odds with each other over something that had manifested mid-game. A small part of her blamed herself for aggravating Gajeel a little earlier – it probably didn't help, the man had been on edge all evening. That still didn't mean that his yelling like that was okay by any standard, especially in a public setting, even if there were no visible customers in the vicinity.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Gray said, leaving the table and pausing for a second to place his hand on Juvia's shoulder comfortingly. She welcomed it openly, gently rubbing her cheek against the back of his hand before he briskly pulled away as he left for the door.

"Juvia, do you need a moment? We can go downstairs." Erza decided to say to which Juvia shyly nodded.

Both of the women got up, ignoring their belongings at the table. If a dodgy customer were to turn up, their belongings would most assuredly be safe under the watchful gaze of Mira.

Erza placed her arm around Juvia's shoulders as she led her towards the basement, pausing briefly beside Lucy who was still sitting, unsure of what to do with herself.

"Lucy, come on. Let us comfort our friend," Erza commanded.

Lucy, quickly heedful at hearing this, sat up and turned her head towards Erza, mouthing Erza's words as if to be sure of what she had just heard.

'Our friend.'

It was a few minutes later that they were all comfortably sitting on the couch with Erza attentively sitting close by in the same armchair that she seemed to favor during the movie night some weeks back. Lucy noted how Juvia looked downcast yet remained quiet, her face apologetic and her voice soft.

"Juvia just wants to fix things with Gajeel," Juvia finally said. "Juvia knows she did wrong."

Erza reached over to gently place her hand on Juvia's shoulder, "It's not all on you, Juvia."

"Juvia thinks so."

Lucy sat patiently to Juvia's right, listening and holding her tongue on what she thought of Gajeel's sudden and uncalled for behavior. Whatever Juvia was trying to do – she surely meant well by it, even if Gajeel was unwilling to listen.

Without warning, Juvia turned to Lucy, locking eyes with her, "Juvia thinks Lucy should know."

Lucy gulped nervously and even with that little niggling desire inside of her to want to know what exactly what was going on between her group members, she didn't want to be told just because she happened to be there.

"It's fine, Juvia. You don't have to feel like you're forced to tell me anything," she managed to say under Juvia's contemplative stare.

"Juvia insists," the blue-haired woman spoke once more, "it's not fair that Lucy doesn't know."

Not wanting to argue with her nor deny her as Gajeel did, Lucy hesitantly nodded to which Juvia welcomed.

"Juvia transferred schools with Gajeel from Oak Town when she was sixteen years old…"

AN:

I'm sort of glad that I got to write a D&D chapter without Natsu there as he has a habit of stealing the spotlight from the other characters with his loud personality.
I know Gajeel is coming off as mean and angry – I've been a little bit cruel to him in his past in this fanfic which will become more evident in later chapters.
Looking back at the Fairy Tail chapter/episode '413', I decided to write Juvia in as a very creative/artistic individual.

For the readers out there that don't play D&D – feel free to PM me if any part of the D&D mechanics confuses you and I'll do my best to explain it! I'm trying to write in different parts/tropes of D&D gradually into each session the group plays so it's not overwhelming but what could be obvious to me might not be so clear to everyone else.

Also, I've read the PMs about smut/lemons as well as reading some of the feedback in the reviews. I think I'll be going with my original intent of having no smut. Sorry to those who would have liked/requested it but I think I'll go without it for this fic!

Special thanks to all the reviewers! You are all truly wonderful:
Amanny, rao hyuga 18, Wolfcry77, FireShifter, FairyTailxFanGirl, mushi9, SheWhoLeavesCrappyReviews, UnitedOsprey1991, Lodemai04, Tamora Marx, aiyannaliszkap and the Guest reviewers!

And thanks for all the follows/favourites! As of posting this chapter, this fic now has 100 followers, yay!

Next chapter: A glimpse into the past and Lucy has some thinking to do.

D&D Terms:
Demon: Usually a type of fiend from another realm in D&D called 'The Abyss'. They are generally chaotic evil in nature (although the dungeon master is free to use the alignment system how they please) and mostly just want to kill you. Not to be confused with 'devils' which instead fall into the category of making deals and corrupting/stealing your soul.
Cursed Item: A cursed item is usually a magical item that has a hidden curse attached to it which can usually be removed with the 'Remove Curse' spell. The curse is usually unleashed when a character chooses to wear or use the item.