"This isn't far," Jaser complained as Rizzo was helping him sit down. "I want to help with the repairs too!"
Rizzo shook her head at her sandy-haired brother as he was practically pouting. Though she soon smiled as she was glad to see him back to normal. After the defeat of Phantom, a week ago, Jaser has been in the care of Porlyusica. He missed getting interrogated by the Rune Knights and the beginning stages of repairing the guildhall. He probably would still be at Porlyusica's recovering if the woman hadn't kicked him out for being annoying.
"Too bad," Rizzo said. "You have to sit here and relax."
Jaser's pout only deepened, which had Bastet, who was standing at his feet, give him an exasperated expression.
"Well, maybe next time you'll be more careful, Jaser." Jet said.
"Yeah, if you had been more cautious, you wouldn't be hurt so badly." Droy added.
Jaser stuck his tongue out at the both of them, which had them chuckling in amusement. Rizzo snorted, but was distracted from her pouting brother when she heard Natsu cry out, so she looked over to see he was under a pile of wooden beams. Someone had obviously tried to carry too much. After making sure Jaser was settled, Rizzo went to go try and help Natsu. She reached him as Gray, who was carrying one wooden beam, walked by.
"That's what you get for carrying too much, ya moron." Gray said.
Natsu glared at Gray as Rizzo managed to pull Natsu out from under the wooden beams to help him off the ground.
"Really even a troglodyte like yourself should understand that." Craylee, who was also carrying a wooden beam, said as he was passing.
Natsu growled at the two of them as Rizzo was dusting him off the best she could.
"What'd you call me?!" Natsu demanded.
He and Gray butt heads as Craylee and Rizzo stood off to the side to stay out of the way.
"You got a problem?" Gray asked.
"Yeah, I got a problem with your face!" Natsu snapped.
As the two argued, Craylee shook his head while moving on with what he was carrying. As he walked, he was completely unaware of the person watching from behind some stone.
"Oh, Craylee-sama, Juvia would just love if you carried her!" Juvia squealed.
She went unheard as she continued to squeal and fantasize about her precious Craylee. Rizzo blinked calmly as she watched the boys continue to shout at each other. However, her head snapped up just in time to see Erza bringing down a wooden beam towards the boys. Before she could warn them, the beam came down on their heads to send them into the ground.
"Cut it out!" Erza snapped as she put the beam back over her shoulder. "Get back to work, now! We've got a lot to do, so no more lollygagging."
"Aye." They said weakly.
Rizzo shook her head as she crouched down in front of the boys with Happy and Bastet on either side of her. As Erza went back to work, Rizzo pulled the boys out of the hole.
"Ow, that really hurt, Erza." They said in unison.
"You guys playing wacka-mole?" Happy asked.
"No, they're just being stupid." Bastet said while sighing.
Rizzo just laughed because it was nice to have things semi back to normal around here even if they were missing a guildhall.
"Hate to say it," Macao began as the boys stood up.
"But it looks a little too big." Wakaba finished.
Rizzo stood up as well while looking around. Things did appear as if they were going to be a bit on the big side.
"We figured we might as well expand the place." Mirajane said as she held up the "blueprints" for the new guildhall. "Look, I've got the plans right here."
Macao and Wakaba said they'd like to see the plans as Mirajane smiled seeming very proud of them. Rizzo tilted her head curiously as she walked up with the boys on either side of her.
"I liked it just fine how it was." Natsu said.
"What's it going to look like now?" Gray asked.
Rizzo's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the horribly drawn blueprints. It looked as if a child had drawn them with pretty colored crayons.
"Uh, so which way is up?" Natsu asked.
"Man, these are the worst plans ever." Gray said. "What idiot came up with these?"
Rizzo sighed shaking her head since it should have been obvious who drew them. Mirajane busted out crying a second later, which had Gray panicking as he tried to apologize.
"You made her cry." Natsu, Wakaba, Rizzo, and Macao said.
"That's Gray for you." Happy pointed out.
"Agreed." Bastet agreed while nodding.
"Well, I don't see why you're faulting the guy for being honest." Craylee, who had rejoined the group with Sven and Breccan at his side, said.
Both of Rizzo's eldest brothers decided to stick around to help with the rebuilding of the guildhall for a bit. And with Sven around things should go more quickly. Her attention then returned to Craylee as he picked up the discarded blueprints to look at them with a critical eye. Mirajane sniffled as she waited to hear what he said.
"It looks as if some kind of child drew these." Craylee said. "These won't do at all. They must be redone. Everything must be precise and perfect. I will immediately get to redrawing out the blueprints while keeping to this design…if I can even tell which way is up and which way is down."
Mirajane started comically sobbing by now, and Craylee didn't even bat an eyelash as he continued to stare at the blueprints.
"Man, he's cold." Macao said.
"Yeah, does this kid even have a heart?" Wakaba asked.
"Of course, I have a heart." Craylee said. "One could not live without a heart to pump blood throughout their body. However, whether I have a soul or not is…debatable."
He gave wicked smirk before walking off to get started on the blueprints as the others, besides Rizzo and her other brothers, watched him go with their mouths hanging agape.
"I don't care how long we've known the kid," Wakaba began. "I'll never get over that personality of his. He's like a demon."
"We apologize for him," Sven said with an apologetic smile.
Breccan nodded in agreement while placing a hand on Mirajane's shoulder as a gesture of comfort. Rizzo just smiled as she shook her head fondly. Things really were getting back to normal, but something seemed to be missing, which had Rizzo's smile dropping a bit.
'…Lucy…' She thought as she wondered how their blonde guildmate was doing.
Gray sighed sitting down to rest as his stomach grumbled to signal that he was hungry.
"Man, I'm starving." Natsu said.
"Aye!" Happy agreed.
"When's our lunchbreak?" Gray asked.
This had to be against some kind of law to force people to work so long without some kind of break. Though he guessed even if there was, Erza wouldn't care about it.
"I knew you guys would be getting hungry about now."
The boys looked up seeing Rizzo standing there with a few bags in one hand and a small case of waters in the other.
"I went to get lunch." Rizzo said. "I figured it wouldn't hurt if I just left for a bit, ya know?"
"You're the best, Rizz!" Natsu said as his face lit up.
Rizzo smiled as she gave the boys some lunches from the deli down the road. She then handed Happy a fish, which he immediately started munching on. Rizzo chuckled before she sat down beside Gray.
"Thanks for getting us food, Pinky." Gray said. "I was starving."
"Figured." Rizzo said as she snorted at him. "Just don't expect me to be so nice to you all the time, Frosty."
She held out a water to him, and he took it as he rolled his eyes at her comment. She then tossed one to Natsu who took it while he was nearly sucking down his food.
"Do we get anything?" Sven asked as he, Jaser, and Breccan walked up with Bastet flying beside them.
Breccan was dragging Craylee with them as he was mulling over the new blueprints he was working on. Rizzo held out the bags to them to get their own food, and Jaser was quick to snatch up the bag. Breccan shook his head at the Dragon Slayer as Craylee sat down beside Rizzo as she popped some fruit into her mouth. Bastet sat down near Happy to eat as well as Happy was still stuffing his face.
"Aren't you hungry, Craylee?" Sven asked. "It's not good to eat on a empty stomach. Will you eat something for your big brother, hmm?"
Craylee, who had placed glasses on his nose to look at the blueprints more closely, peered over them to look at Sven who was holding out a spoon with food on it out to Craylee. Craylee was about to retort negatively to Sven's question, but suddenly a wave of water hit Happy and Natsu, which caught the group's attention. They shouted in surprise at the sudden wet and cold feeling as a large lunchbox appeared in Craylee's lap.
"We're wet!" Natsu and Happy complained.
"Where did this come from?" Sven asked.
Craylee frowned while having a pretty good idea who sent this considering it was delivered by water. Craylee sighed before opening the lunchbox, and his eyebrow twitched when seeing his face made out of vegetables. Rizzo and Gray snorted behind their hands as they tried not to laugh. Sven didn't hide his laughter at all as Breccan grinned at the annoyed look on Craylee's face.
"Wow that looks pretty tasty." Natsu said.
Jaser nodded in complete agreement as he was practically drooling over the food in Craylee's lap.
"That's awesome!" Happy said. "Your face is totally edible!"
Craylee looked up to glare at Happy, and the blue feline was quick to hide up on Natsu's shoulder.
"I refuse to eat this." Craylee said. "This is completely disturbing. There is even some strange ooze coming from the side."
Craylee had no idea that his words had poor Juvia sobbing off to the side as she bit harshly on a tissue to muffle the sound of her sobs.
"I'll eat it for ya!" Natsu said. "I'm still hungry!"
"Do what you want, but don't blame me when you get a stomach ache." Craylee said.
Natsu cheered while grabbing a tentacle from the lunchbox to start chewing on. Jaser was right behind him as he grabbed some mysterious piece of meat to munch. Craylee shook his head at them as Sven bravely grabbed something for himself as well.
"Those are some brave men." Rizzo commented.
Gray snorted shaking his head as he continued to eat the delicious non-oozing food that Rizzo brought.
"Hey, who said you could take a lunchbreak?" Erza demanded then blinked when seeing what Craylee was holding. "Is that supposed to be your face made out of veggies?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Craylee said.
Erza suddenly produced a fork out of nowhere to stab veggie Craylee in the face, which had said man's eyebrow twitch in annoyance for the umpteenth time that day.
"Mmm, this is good." Erza said after trying a piece. "I could eat the whole thing."
"Yeah, you should try it, Craylee." Sven said. "Someone clearly poured their heart into making you this lunch. To think my youngest brother is already being pursued. They grow up so fast."
He dabbed at his eyes as he said this due to them starting to tear up. Craylee shook his head at his older brother's antics.
"Go to hell," Craylee deadpanned.
As Sven gasped at Craylee's cold words, Rizzo got up. She went to the lunchbox, and pulled out one of the veggies. She popped it in her mouth.
"This is really good." She said as she pat Craylee on the shoulder. "Craylee, listen to your sister and try it at least."
As Juvia watched from a distance, she could see Craylee's expression soften a bit when Rizzo smiled up at him. He sighed before took a bite out of the lunchbox himself.
"It's not…bad." He finally conceded.
Juvia's heart felt like soaring the moment she heard those words leave Craylee's mouth. She replayed what happened in her head, so she could relive the moment.
-JUVIA'S (WAY OFF) REPLAY-
"This is so delicious there aren't enough words in the world to describe its greatness." Craylee said with sparkles in his eyes. "If only I could find the maker of this lunchbox to make her my wife."
The fantasy changed to having Craylee down on one knee in a fancy suit as he held out a dozen roses to Juvia.
"Juvia Lockser, would you please do me the honor of making my lunches every day?" He asked while he smiled at her lovingly.
"Yes, and we can have 33 babies!" Juvia said while blushing.
-END OF JUVIA'S (WAY OFF) REPLAY-
"Juvia is so happy she could die!" Juvia said.
She then realized her mistake of shouting out loud as she ducked behind the brick wall while the Fairy Tail wizards glanced in her direction.
"Hey, can you guys do me a favor?"
The group turned again, and this time they saw Loke as he held up the pouch that held Lucy's Celestial Spirits. While happy to see Lucy's keys returned, Rizzo looked at Loke in concern when seeing he almost looked sick.
"When I was in town, I ran into Leona Porla." Loke said shocking the others. "She gave me Lucy's Gate Keys and asked me to send her apologies for the trouble caused by Phantom. Could you give them back to Lucy?"
Rizzo was a bit surprised to hear Leona went out of her way to return Lucy's Gate Keys, but like Lucy said, Leona wasn't really a bad person. Loke handed the keys to Rizzo who was still concerned by his sick appearance.
"Were you looking for Lucy's keys this whole time?" Natsu asked. "Like, before that beast tamer brought them to you."
Loke just smiled while adjusting his glasses, but Rizzo could see pass that smile. Something wasn't right with their guildmate. He definitely wasn't being himself.
"Are you okay?" Happy asked.
"You do seem paler than usual." Bastet added as she flew up to Loke's other side.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Loke said. "Just a little beat. Ya know, being a gentleman is pretty draining."
Rizzo frowned knowing that couldn't just be it, and it only made her worry more.
"We haven't seen Lucy all day." Rizzo said.
"We should go check on her." Natsu said. "Why don't you come with us?"
Loke unsurprisingly declined the offer though he didn't do it with the same hastiness that he would have used before. He started walking away, and when Natsu tried to change his mind, Erza told him to leave Loke be. Rizzo stood there a moment to watch Loke walk away a bit longer while wondering what was wrong with him.
"Let's get to Lucy's place." Gray suggested. "It's a bit odd that she hasn't at least stopped by here."
Rizzo entered Lucy's house through the door with Erza. They were there for a few moments before the boys decided to make an appearance. Happy and Natsu came through the window as they usually did, which left Gray. Though soon the Ice-Maker Wizard made himself known.
"Gees, don't come in through the window." Gray said as he was coming out of the chimney.
Rizzo rolled her eyes at him as she was sitting on Lucy's bed with her legs crossed.
"Ever hear of a door?" Rizzo asked.
"Really, have you no manners?" Erza asked as she was sipping tea.
The others sweat-dropped since Erza has obviously already made herself comfortable as she was drinking Lucy's tea.
"Since when are you Miss Manners?" Gray and Natsu asked in unison.
"Really." Happy agreed.
Rizzo looked around Lucy's room to see that the blonde wizard wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"What's the deal?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah, normally she'd be all like," Gray began.
"Get out of here!" Happy impersonated Lucy.
Rizzo shook her head at the boys as Erza, who was back in her usual armor, looked around with a thoughtful expression.
"Where could she be?" Erza asked.
"In the bath?" Gray wondered while looking a bit unsure. "I know I'm asking for it, but it must be done."
He went towards the bathroom, but Rizzo grabbed his belt loop to pull him back.
"I'll go check, Pervert." Rizzo said.
Rizzo walked pass him into the bathroom, and her eyes widened when seeing Natsu, who was fully clothed, in the steaming bath.
"Not here." Natsu said.
Rizzo let out a laugh, and Gray just had to peek in when hearing Rizzo laugh. His eyes widened when seeing Natsu.
"Where'd you come from?!" Gray demanded. "Get out of here, would ya?!"
After getting out of the bathroom, they saw Erza was in a towel, which had Rizzo frowning and shaking her head.
"It seems as if she's not home." Erza said.
"Way to state the obvious, Genius." Gray said.
The group looked around bit longer with still no sign of Lucy anywhere, which was really starting to get worrisome.
"It's just not the same without Lucy." Erza said.
"No one can yell like she can." Happy said.
"My impression of her wasn't that bad." Gray said. "It wasn't like yours was any better."
Happy then looked in one of Lucy's drawers as Rizzo placed her hands on her hips. It wasn't like Lucy to just disappear.
"Lucy, are you in here?" Happy asked.
Rizzo glanced over at Happy as Natsu went over to join him by the drawer. Rizzo walked over as well with Gray at her side.
"Is she in here?" Natsu asked then gasped with wide eyes.
"Yeah, like she'd fit in a drawer." Gray said sarcastically.
He then blushed as his eyes widened in shock when he saw the kind of underwear that was in the drawer. Rizzo looked down at it to see that Lucy actually had a lot of the same underwear as her. Though some of her underwear Rizzo has never seen. Rizzo will have to ask Lucy where she shops for underwear once they find her.
"Where do you buy underwear like this?" Happy asked.
"Well, you can try where I get all my underwear." Rizzo said. "I know the saleswoman pretty well, so she always lets me get first pick of the newest shipments."
Her friends looked at her with wide eyes, but Rizzo didn't see the big deal. It's just underwear. Everybody wears it.
"I'm still not sure that's underwear." Gray said.
He then blushed darkly as he looked to Rizzo. She said she wore underwear just like this. It made him wonder if she was wearing it even now.
"I've never seen anything like it." Erza said. "Where would you even wear that?"
"Family reunion." Natsu guessed.
"Definitely not." The others, except Rizzo, said.
"I wear this kind of underwear every day." She said nonchalantly.
She then picked up a pair to hold up as her friends' mouth nearly hit the floor in shock.
"In fact, I'm wearing a pair like this now." She said. "Though mine is a bit lacier."
Knowing this didn't help Gray control the thoughts running through his mind of her at all. He groaned while feeling the need to take a cold shower, which had him blushing in embarrassment. Yes, sure, he and Rizzo weren't close. But she's an attractive young woman and he's a man. He couldn't help it.
"Rizzo, how could you wear such underwear?" Erza asked as the boys went to continue searching.
"What do you mean?" Rizzo asked. "They're actually very comfortable."
She shrugged not seeing the big deal when they heard a small crash. They turned seeing Happy had knocked over a box full of letters, which had them falling to the floor.
"So many letters." Erza said.
Rizzo blinked curiously before going over to kneel down on the ground to look at the letters.
"And they're all still sealed." Gray said.
Well, respecting someone's privacy was never Natsu's thing, so he opened one of the letters up without hesitation.
"'Dear Mom, today was a special day because I joined the Fairy Tail guild.'" Natsu said.
"Hey, man, don't go reading her stuff!" Gray said.
Natsu didn't listen, and as his eyes continued to scan down the letter to read the words.
"'I met the most beautiful wizard named Erza who's actually nice and cool. She's always yelling at Natsu and Gray, or getting in disagreements with Rizzo.'" Natsu continued.
Erza blushed at the compliment as Rizzo rolled her eyes thinking Erza was anything but cool.
"Are all these letters addressed to her mom?" Gray asked as he knelt down to get a look himself.
"Looks that way." Happy said.
"How come she never mailed them?" Natsu asked.
Rizzo shrugged because she had no idea herself. Did Lucy cut off all ties to her mother as well as her father?
"I found a note." Erza said getting their attention. "Evidently Lucy left it for us. It says she's going home."
"WHHHAAAA?!" The others exclaimed. "NO WAY!"
After getting on a train to travel to where Lucy went, Rizzo hurried with the others through Lucy's hometown to look for their friend.
"Hey, I see her!" Rizzo said pointing when she saw her.
Lucy was standing in front of a grave a few yards away from them, and the others all looked relieved when seeing her.
"LUCY!" The others shouted.
She whirled around with her eyes widening when she saw her friends. Happy flew right up to her to hug her as he cried. The others caught up as Lucy held Happy. Rizzo stood back as Natsu and Gray shouted at Lucy for running away. Lucy then explained she why really came home, and when Rizzo realized they worried for nothing, she laughed. Erza smiled as well as Natsu blew up in annoyance. Gray just hung his head not believing they hurried all the way here for nothing.
"Well, if you're done here, I think it's time we all go home, Lulu." Rizzo said. "We have more adventures to go on, right?"
"Yeah." Lucy said smiling.
After saying goodbye to the servants, Lucy and the others started leaving Lucy's hometown.
"I'm sorry, guys." Lucy said. "I didn't mean to freak you out."
"There's no need to apologize." Erza said. "We shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."
"Yeah, we thought you were going back for good." Gray said.
"And we couldn't have that." Rizzo said.
Gray nodded in agreement as the two of them walked side-by-side as the sun was setting behind the mountains.
"Happy here was crying like a baby." Natsu said.
"You cried just as much as I did, Natsu." Happy retorted with no shame whatsoever.
He thought they lost a friend, so, of course, he had cried over it. He liked Lucy. He didn't want her to leave them.
"Tch, no, I did not!" Natsu said.
He blushed slightly while looking off to the side to try and hide it from the others. Rizzo chuckled seeing right past her friend's ruse.
"Aw, is someone embarrassed all of a sudden?" Lucy teased.
Natsu didn't comment as he continued to lightly blush while looking off to the side.
"I've gotta tell ya, I'm kinda digging your hometown." Gray said.
"Me too." Erza said. "It's so peaceful."
Rizzo smiled because it really was. She could see herself here in this peaceful atmosphere just strumming on her acoustic guitar all day long.
"Oh, this isn't a town." Lucy said. "This is just part of our garden. The Heartfilia estate goes all the way up to that mountain over there."
It was silent for a moment as the others stared in shock at how large Lucy's family estate was. The boys suddenly snapped to attention as they saluted no one in particular.
"Holy crap, she's rich!" Gray said.
"And acts like it's nothing!" Natsu added.
Lucy jumped in surprise at their exclamation as they continued to stare off into the distance.
"Two of our best soldiers are down!" Happy reported as the saluted the red head. "Captain Erza, it seems we only have Rizzo left!"
"How is it even freaking possible for someone to have that much money?" Rizzo murmured to herself.
Happy looked towards the pinkette to see sitting off to the side trying to do the math on how rich Lucy was and how anyone could amount such wealth. She was obviously bothered by all this money as the boys were.
"Captain Erza, we just lost Rizzo." Happy said. "What are your orders?!"
"Wow, the sky is so beautiful." Erza said in awe.
"We need a medic!" Happy said. "Captain Erza has a screw loose!"
"Woopa!" Gray and Natsu said in unison.
Lucy started laughing at her friend's antics while glad she had joined Fairy Tail. It was truly the place where she knew she could be at home.
Coco: Well, I hope you enjoyed this three part update. I hope to have the next few chapters out soon as well. Though I make no promises as we all know I don't really follow a schedule when it comes to posting Anyway, until next time!