Here's the next update. A few notes: I'm loving all of your comments. I'm a few chapters ahead, so it's fun to see what you like and dislike to work into my writing. I'm glad you are all enjoying it. Also, a shout out to Oevomel who has commented three times already! I really appreciate it! To respond to your comment, no this will not be a harem story. There will be some relationship stuff in it, but usually to lighten it up and to add a side note to the main story. It is not the whole point of this story. Overall, I would say besides the main plotline, which is developing more over the next few chapters, this story focuses on Lucy's friendships outside of Team Natsu, although they will still be in it. With that said, on with the story! Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 7

The roar echoed through the cave causing it to shake. "You good, Freed?" Evergreen asked helping him off Bix.

Freed nodded, "Yes, but it seems Miss Lucy was correct. The betas are much larger than the alphas."

"I'm good, thanks Ever," Bix sassed while getting up. She rolled her eyes at him as she turned to face the threat.

Lucy had stayed rooted in her spot shocked at the size of the beast. In the back of her mind, she was shocked at how casual the team was as this monstrosity that faced them. She hated to admit it, but she was terrified, and it had her rooted in place. The wyvern launched a large claw out at them causing Laxus to jump back. He yanked Lucy back with him, so they were out of its immediate reach.

"Head in the game, Blondie," Laxus whispered to her. The jolt had broken her immobility, and she nodded at him determined. Laxus turned back to face the wyvern smiling at her tenacity. Yes, she had gotten scared, but all she needed was some encouragement and now she was good. He admired how she recovered. She was still a fresh mage in his opinion, even considering everything they had been through. She really hadn't been practicing magic for more than a year as a guild mage, and she'd already accomplished and survived some very major things.

Laxus commanded his team to spread out and surround it. They all lashed out at it long range as they waited for an opening. Lucy had summoned Sagittarius to fire arrows keeping her whip on hand to try herding the beast to help Laxus get an opening. Everyone else fired long range while Laxus would zip in to land a blow. This went on for a while, but the beast really didn't seem fazed. It also didn't really move from its spot. The whole group was exhausted from fighting so long, and they really couldn't keep this up forever. Not to mention, Laxus's electrically powered attacks weren't very effective against the beast's resistant hide.

The whole group started to pull back to regroup when Lucy caught sight of it. She returned Sagittarius to his gate while a small plan formed. She called over to the group, "Bix, can I borrow your totems?" He glanced at her lost giving a confused, half nod. What did she mean borrow his babies?

The wyvern finally launched out at the mass of the group which pulled her farther from the back of the cave. Lucy darted in behind the Beta. Laxus called out to her, but was forced to block the wyverns lunge. Lucy vaulted over the large tail that was flailing about. She hit the ground and rolled coming up in a crouch next to her prize, two large wyvern's eggs. She summoned Virgo and tunneled out of the cave with Bixlow's totems right behind her. She didn't bother wasting time closing the hole behind her as there was no way the wyvern could follow her. She bolted through the tunnel Virgo had made and came out on the other side of the mountain range. She could hear the screeching of the beta wyvern and knew it wouldn't be long until it chased after her.

She looked to the totems, "You guys are faster than me. Would you mind giving me a ride?" There was a moment of anticipation. She was going off the hunch that her magic relating to celestial spirits would allow the totems to understand her wish. She'd discussed the similarities in her magic with Bix before, but this was very unprecedented. They floated in front of her for a moment more and just as she was going to give up they chorused, "Ride, ride, ride!"

She heaved a sigh of relief as the tipped her onto them and bolted. She directed them farther into the mountain range, and they responded to her wish perfectly.

Back in the cave, the wyvern was livid. The team launched themselves to the cave walls and out of the way as the beta's tail went crashing into the cavern's side. It snuffed at the hole Lucy had made and started clawing at it ignoring the team entirely. When she realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere that way, she turned and launched herself down the cave entrance.

The team blinked at each other in shock. Bixlow started to sweat and leaned to the side for rest. Freed made his way over to support him. "Could anyone tell me what just happened?" Ever asked confused.

Freed nodded, "I seen Miss Lucy grab two large wyvern eggs before she darted through her tunnel. She must have been drawing the Beta away."

"Yea, she's riding my babies quite a ways," Bix confirmed. He was straining to keep the souls attached to the totems, but the farther away they got the more magic it drained from him.

"She truly is a clever one," Ever smiled proud of her new friend.

"Only problem is, when that thing catches up to her. She'll be alone," Bix murmured worried.

Laxus had already made his way over to her small tunnel picking up her scent much like the wyvern had. "Then we best get going," he said as he electrified his body. His team all nodded all of them summoning their winged forms, with Freed carrying Bix to avoid any more magical taxation on him.

Lucy wound deeper and deeper into the mountainous region relying on her memory from a recent mission with Team Natsu to get her where she was going. They had been asked to clean out a Vulcan's nest which they'd had little trouble with and since the mission was so far away their destructive tendencies actually allowed them to get the full reward. However, not more than a few weeks later, the job was there again. It seemed that mountain Vulcans just swarmed this area for some reason. She was just about to the cave when she heard the terrifying screech behind her. "Shit," she whispered to herself only to be echoed by the totems. Great now I'm teaching his totems bad words. I hope Bix isn't mad at me! She thought in the back of her mind. The forefront of her mind was terrified. She was so close to the cavern Team Natsu had used as their base for the mission. She remembered it being huge, and as it finally came into sight she sighed with relief that her memory was right.

She jumped off the totems and raced to the back wall and placed the eggs down gently. Finally finished with her plan, what was left of her adrenaline ebbed away and she started to stagger. She'd used a lot of magical power summoning so many keys and for so long. She could tell the totems were lagging as well. They hadn't followed her into the cave and were sitting on a rock at the edge of the clearing. She turned starting to make her way out when she saw a shadow encompass the clearing. She fingered her keys, but realized she didn't have enough energy to summon a Zodiac key and none of her silver keys were true fighting spirits.

She moved to the side of the cavern trying to seem non-threatening hoping the Beta would take its place over the eggs once again. Unfortunately, she wasn't that lucky. The Beta was pissed that she had escaped with her treasures and wasn't going to let that slight pass unforgiven. It lashed a claw out at her, and Lucy rolled to dodge. She pulled her whip to try to deter the beast, but it only seemed to aggravate the thing more. She tried to dodge the beast again, but this time she was too slow and a claw threw her back into the wall. She yelped in pain as she tried to get up. The wind had been knocked out of her, and she was struggling to draw breath. The beast closed in on her, and she was shocked to find how clean and white the Beta's teeth were which made her wheeze in exasperation. Who thinks about wyvern dental hygiene as they're about to be eaten?!

Just as the beast lunged in for the bite, Lucy's whole body felt electrified, and the next thing she knew she was outside the cave at the edge of the clearing in Laxus's arms. She leaned back into him in relief. The Ranjishu showed up beside him a moment later faces scrunched in concern for her.

"What the hell, Cosplayer?" Bix asked. His babies had floated back to him happy to be reunited with him.

She gave him a small smile, "I relocated the wyvern's nest." They all blinked at her lost.

Evergreen was the first to break the silence, "How does that help us exactly? I mean we weren't doing well back there, but we still need to eliminate the wyvern."

Lucy shook her head, "The mission is to stop whatever is feeding on the town's livestock. Not to destroy the wyvern's nest. They shouldn't care how we do it." Now that Lucy said it, she wasn't so sure. The town had lost a lot to the wyverns. Hopefully, they would be okay with this solution.

Freed nodded seeing what she was getting at, "That is correct. However, what's to keep the wyvern from flying back to eat the livestock?"

She turned to Freed, "A new food source. There's a major Vulcan problem in this area. I took a job with Team Natsu here trying to clear them out. We did, but the job reappeared not much later. It seems Vulcans flock to this area for some reason."

They all looked at her shocked. Eventually Freed smiled at her, "I do believe you are correct, Lucy-sama. This should work."

Evergreen spoke up, "But what about the rest of the wyverns?"

Freed fielded this question, "They should relocate to the Beta. We will need to go back and release them from that cavern though." The group nodded and started to make their way back.

At this time, Lucy realized Laxus was still holding her. She turned a little red and started to move to get out of his arms, but his grip tightened. She looked up at him inquisitively.

"That was reckless. Dangerous. And downright brilliant." She was shocked, but started to smile at his compliment. "However, we don't do reckless on this team."

Evergreen turned around and smiled at her, "We work as a team here. No free for all like your team does."

Bix nodded, "I think you've picked up a few too many of Natsu's habits." Lucy gave a half smile at this comment realizing how much he really had rubbed off on her.

Freed added, "Your plan was solid, and although time was short trying to fill us in more would have been helpful."

She was shocked and ashamed. She wanted to prove herself to them so badly, that she hadn't realized how reckless her plan really was.

Laxus turned her to look at him, "Just 'cause they're fine with you coming back with new scars all the time doesn't mean we are. It reflects on the whole team when one is injured." She was going to protest that they didn't mean for her to get hurt all of the time, but Laxus shook his head at her. "If you guys worked as a unit, you would never come back to the guild the way you do."

She looked at the whole team, and they nodded to her. While they were reprimanding her, she could see they truly meant it out of concern for her. "That being said, that took guts. It got us out of a tight spot. Nice work, Blondie." Laxus finished with his lecture moved to put her down. She staggered a bit, but moved up to Evergreen who graciously offered her arm.

Evergreen started prodding at her newly formed bruises earning a squeak from her to which the totems responded, "Shit, shit, shit." Bix turned to Lucy raising an eyebrow which caused her to flush red with embarrassment. She started to splutter out an apology to which they all started laughing. Ever quickly came to her defense saying they learned much worse things from Bixlow.

Lucy cast a glance back to Laxus still processing everything he had said. She bit her lip slightly confused. Was it really their lack of team work that caused all of the damage on their missions? It did sort of make sense, especially the brawling and competitions between Gray, Erza, and Natsu, but her injuries, were due to her own weakness, not her teams. She couldn't blame it on them.

Laxus caught her glance and seen her eyes glaze over. He knew he'd given her something to think about. He'd meant everything he said. Team Natsu was comprised of all powerful mages her included. He originally had written her off, but now that he'd seen her in action he knew she was a part of the team for a reason. Bixlow had mentioned her large magical container and the amount of energy required for her type of holder magic, and now he could truly feel it himself. Her reserves were deep, and he wasn't even sure she knew their full depths. Her doubt and insecurities were causing her to limit herself.

He also was slightly upset with himself for allowing one of his team to get hurt. He now knew that her role on Team Natsu was to not only come up with the plan, but to get them out of all the sticky situations they got themselves into. It was why she was so quick to throw herself into danger on their mission. She was used to doing it for the sake of the team, the mission, and Fairy Tail's name. However, that wouldn't work for him. It just wasn't how the Thunder Legion operated.

Freed had fallen back to walk beside Laxus breaking him from his thoughts, "Care to voice the thought out loud?"

Laxus looked at him contemplating, "I was just thinking that Blondie could use some experience with a good team."

Freed nodded to him, "I was thinking the same thing. She'd be a great addition to the Thunder Legion, not to mention we could really help her grow as a mage." Laxus and him nodded to each other agreeing to discuss it with the rest of the team later. They sped up their pace to catch up to the bickering trio as they made their way back to the original wyverns nest.