Chapter 1

The sun shone down on Magnolia, bathing the town in its warm glow. Its light sparkled and winked at passers-by as the ripples reflected it, forming ghostly shadows on nearby buildings. Many bridges passed over the river, allowing the inhabitants to cross the body of water with ease, and observe and marvel at its beauty. On one such bridge, a small girl, about 14 years old, stood on the bridge, staring intently down at the water below. Her face was one of content, as her chocolate brown eyes flitted from ripple to ripple, observing how the sunlight never quite reflected the same way off any two anomalies in the stream. While the girl leant on the railing, trying to get as close to the water as possible without falling in, a boy, roughly 15 years old, sat on a bench, a few meters away from her. His eyes were closed, had they been open, they would have revealed dark black pupils, encircled by irises just as black. His hair fell messily around his head, however, it suited him, as its violet colour always seemed to frame his face nicely. He wore an open vest, which was appropriate for the weather, considering that it was exceedingly hot, and the warm sunlight reflecting onto him from the water downstream was not helping matters at all. The boy, however, was grateful for the heat, as it gave him an excuse to be sweating profusely. He, Romeo Conbolt, was planning to ask out Wendy Marvel.

Since Wendy had returned from Tenrou Island, the two of them had started to form a friendship, mostly as they were the only two guildmates that were the same age, thus they naturally sought out the comfort and reassurance that the other provided. This lack of choice slowly turned into a much deeper, special friendship. The two were inseparable most of the time, enjoying their childhood innocence in a guild full of young adults, whose ideas of a good time did not always match their own. So, the two kids became friends, which kicked off a whole new dimension of their lives. They would start to go on jobs together, they would hang out at Romeo's house from time to time, despite constant teasing from his father, who constantly insisted that he and Wendy were engaging in inappropriate behaviour for two young teenagers whenever they spent time in Romeo's room. In reality, both of them were too scared to try anything, as their friendship was unique, and the thought of losing that was enough to deter them from even flirting. However, it was impossible for both teens to deny their feelings forever, and Romeo had come to the conclusion that he had to do something. At the very least, he would no longer have to endure the constant limbo of knowing whether Wendy reciprocated his feelings.

With this thought running through his mind Romeo got up off the bench and went to lean over the side of the bridge, his shoulder just slightly brushing against the girl's next to him. Looking out along the river, he saw two figures, standing alone on an old bridge, one hunched down over the railing. Squinting, he thought he saw a flash of bright pink hair, but he dismissed the thought. Even if Natsu was on the other bridge, he had bigger things to worry about right now. "So" he murmured, moving his eyes down to stare intently at the water, "do you have any plans for the rest of the afternoon?" Romeo instantly felt a huge wave of cringe wash over himself. 'The afternoon, really, that was the best he could come up with?'. But he had no choice now, the words had already been spoken, and all he could do was wait for her response. "No, I'm not, why, Romeo?". "Well," he began, looking up from the river, and turning to face the girl he had liked for almost 2 years, "I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me?"

Lucy was having a bad day. It seemed to her that the night had been uncomfortably warm, so much so, that she had barely slept, leaving her in a particularly tired state, accompanied with a much shorter fuse than usual.

Her second problem came when she finally got out of her bed and went to make some breakfast. Her fridge had been left open, all night, no doubt a result of a certain fire dragon slayer helping himself to her food. The taking of food was not something out of the ordinary for her, and it was a part of her relationship with Natsu that she had come to accept. But he had never left the fridge open like this before, and even though it was most likely an accident, this realisation did very little to quash her feelings of anger in that moment.

Lucy began to poke through the fridge, seeing if there was anything that she could salvage. However, as luck would have it, nothing was kept. The unusually hot night had spoilt the milk and turned most of the vegetables in the fridge into an inedible, lukewarm mush. Disgusted, she began to remove the ruined scraps from her fridge into the bin and began making a mental list of what she would need to restock later that day. "At least I'll be able to get breakfast at the guild" she thought to herself, desperately trying to find a way to salvage her mood. Once she had finally emptied her fridge of its contaminated contents, she pulled on some short shorts, and a loose top, before sliding on some sandals and getting ready to go to the guild. However, as she turned to lock her door, she came face to face with her third problem.

"I cannot believe that a month has already gone past", sighed Lucy, who had slumped herself over the bar in the Fairy tail guild hall. "I honestly feel like it was only yesterday that I last paid my rent, and it's already due again." Erza, who Lucy had decided to vent to, nodded solemnly, attempting to show as much solidarity with her friend and teammate as she waited for her food to arrive. It soon did, and as Mirajane set it down on the counter, Lucy felt some energy shoot through her, as its delectable smell wafted through her nostrils. "That'll be 1500J Lucy" Mirajane said sweetly, "take your time though, enjoy the meal first". With that, she bounced off to other guild members who required servicing. Lucy's heart sank even further, as she looked in her purse, staring longingly at the single 2000J note that lay there, utterly alone. "I suppose the only thing for you to do is to go on a job" Erza mused between large bites of strawberry cake, flecks of icing dusting the corners of her mouth. "I guess you're right Erza" Lucy said, poking lazily at her meal with her fork. "Come on" Erza said, giving Lucy a tap on the shoulder that send her fork flying out of her hand, "I'll pick out a job for you after you finish that."

"Here Lucy, I think I've found something." Erza waved down from the S-tier balcony; a pure white flyer grasped in her hand. Rushing over to the base of the stairs, Lucy motioned for Erza to come down, excitement bubbling within her. "Come, let's sit down" Erza motioned to a vacant table, where the two mages huddled over the flyer, Lucy's eyes scanning every inch of it for information.

Wanted; 3 Mages to act Princess Hisui's bodyguard during the annual greeting of the people ceremony.

It will be your job to protect the Princess at all costs while she wanders through the streets and interacts with the citizens. The planning and security measures may come at the discretion of the hired party; however, the King will have the final word on your plan.

Reward: 10,000,000J

The flyer ended with a stamp of the royal crest, signalling to the two mages that it was an official document. It was also stamped with a double S marking, which Lucy had only just noticed. "Erza" she began, some hesitance in her voice, "This is a double S class mission…" she trailed off, as Erza eyed her, a confused expression on her face "So, the reward is unbelievably good, and if we split it three ways, that would cover your rent for…" she turned her eyes to the sky, "for just under four years" she finished triumphantly, a look of assuredness settling into her eyes. Lucy did not move, "four years" she muttered to herself under her breath "Alright, I'm in". "Perfect, now who do you want to bring as the third, and you'd better make your mind up fast." It was at this moment that Natsu barged into the guild, shouting about how hungry he was, and how it made him want to fight Gray. Lucy motioned for Erza to come closer as, she leant in, a frown flashing across her face. "Listen, I think that this quest calls for some serious subtlety, and I don't want to risk destroying the capital of Fiore on a job. Besides, Natsu broke into my place last night, raided my fridge, and left it open so everything else spoiled, so I don't think we can bring him." Erza nodded slowly, a sad, but firm smile falling across her face "I understand Lucy, shall I go get Gray then?" Lucy nodded, "I think that would be best" she sighed. Slumping for a moment in her chair, she pushed herself up with what seemed like great effort. "In that case, I'll go home and pack what I can, and I'll meet you two at the station at 2?" "Sounds good" Erza replied, giving Lucy a quick squeeze, which nearly snapped the poor girl's back in half. "Gray and I will be there."

Had Lucy been more engaged with her surroundings, and not focused on whispering to Erza, she would have noticed that Natsu was no longer shouting. In fact, the pink haired dragon slayer was hiding, pressed against a pillar in the guild, listening in on his teammates' conversation. Feeling sick to his stomach, he slid down, burying his face in his hands. He wanted to scream into something but that would attract attention, attention he really did not want right now. How could he have been so stupid? forgetting to close the fridge, god he really was an idiot sometimes. Sighing, he heard Lucy say goodbye to Mira, and rush out of the guild, not moving until he could no longer hear her footsteps. Sighing deeply, he stood up, and rolled himself around the pillar, facing the busy hall. Trapsing around dejectedly he flopped himself into a chair, his energy completely gone. Laying his head on the table, wrapping it in his arms, he blocked out the world for a moment, wallowing in his misery at being left out of a double S class mission, and with his friends for that matter. "Go away Mira, I don't want anything" he called out, assuming that the friendly and slightly demonic take-over mage just wanted to take his order. However, he was met with a small voice that caused him to look up in surprise. "It's Juvia Natsu, Juvia wanted to know if you too are feeling sad because of someone that you umm… like". Natsu looked away, turning a faint shade of red, "How did you know?" he asked, curious, but also embarrassed that someone could see through him so easily. "It's ok" Juvia responded, a dejected tone in her voice as she sat down in the seat beside him "It's something that Juvia has become quite used to now, being disappointed by the person she likes." She craned her neck, seeing that Gray was talking to Erza and sighed, resting her cheeks on her palms. Natsu saw where she was looking, and let out a small chuckle, "Oh don't worry about that, Gray and Erza would never, ever get together, it's just, not something that's ever even crossed either of their minds." Juvia perked up a bit upon hearing this news, her face showing a small smile. "That's sweet of you Natsu" she paused; something was off. "Juvia wonders how you know all this, aren't you supposed to be really dense, you don't even realise that Lucy likes you." Upon saying that she instantly clapped a hand across her mouth, eyes going wide with shock. "Juvia is sorry, Juvia wasn't supposed to say that." Her apology rocketed out of her mouth before Natsu even had a chance to respond. He let out a small giggle, a mischievous smile breaking out across his face. "Well, you see" he began, obviously very proud of himself, "as you know, my ears are a lot more sensitive than yours, and so, I hear a lot of things, things that would shock Mirajane and Erza, the great matchmakers." He paused, staring at Juvia who had a mixture of shock, admiration, and longing on her face. Hurriedly she motioned for him to continue not wanting to miss a moment. "For instance," he began, now unable to hide his obvious grin, like a child who knows that they're going to get ice-cream, "did you know that Gajeel asked Levy out two weeks ago, and, that she said yes." He waited a moment, eager to see Juvia's reaction. Her face lit up, eyes going wide, and her widened into a smile full of joy, a small squeal escaping her lips. "Really? Everyone knew that they both liked each-other, but no one knows that either of them has made a move yet. Huh, I guess that would explain why both Levy and Gajeel have been really happy recently" she mused, her excitement clearly visible throughout her body. "That's right" Natsu responded, clearly enjoying himself, "so yeah, you don't have to worry about Erza taking Gray, trust me, she's pretty smitten with Jellal already".

Juvia narrowed her eyes at Natsu, concentrating hard, as if she were looking at something far away. "So, if you hear everyone's secrets because of your amazing hearing, how do you not know that Lucy likes you?". Natsu turned a shade of deep red, looking down at the table, "well Juvia, I don't think she does." He sighed deeply, his cheeky and energetic expression gone, replaced by one of wistfulness. Juvia recognised that look, it was the expression he made whenever he would talk about Igneel, it was fond, but sad. "You see" he continued, a lot quieter now "we were friends from the very beginning, and, we always treated each-other a certain way, we always had one-another's back from day one. We do things together, go on awesome quests and amazing jobs, but that hasn't changed. Lucy can't have had a crush on me since we first met, and since then, her behaviour towards me hasn't changed at all, ergo, she still only thinks of me as her best friend." He trailed off, a small sad smile crossing his face. "And now, she doesn't even want to talk to me, and won't let me apologise for my mistake." To Juvia's horror, she saw that Natsu's eyes had become misty. Placing her hands over his, she gave them an encouraging squeeze, "Hey, it's ok" she encouraged, not wanting the dragon slayer to break down in the guild hall. "Come on, let's go for a walk, the fresh air will do you good, and if you need to have a good cry, I can show you some really nice peaceful spots." Natsu gave a choked chuckle at her remark, but then he nodded quickly, feeling like Juvia knew what would make him feel better. The two of them got up, and casually strolled out of the guild hall, out into the summer sun.

The two lovesick mages strolled calmly through the town, making their way towards the river that ran through the heart of the town. Taking their time, they walked along in a comfortable silence, Juvia leading the way. "Here, sometimes when I'm feeling down, I like to come to this old bridge here. No one uses it anymore since they made the new one, so I like to come here, and stare into the water, it's quite therapeutic" she added, stepping onto the old bridge. It had an unloved air about it, like the town was slowly rejecting it, and it swayed slightly under Natsu's feet. Taking a few more steps, he made it to the middle of the bridge before a violent urge to vomit shot through his stomach. Lurching violently, he threw himself against the handrail, and ejected the remains of his breakfast into the river below. Juvia gasped, slapping a hand to her forehead. She forgot that Dragon slayers had terribly sensitive motion sickness, and she hadn't thought the swaying bridge would affect Natsu in the same way. Rushing to his side, she patted his back, trying to comfort him as he hurled his guts into the river. Looking up from the water for a moment, she looked down stream to the other bridge, where she could just make out two small figures, one with unmistakably blue hair, who had just turned around to face her companion.