A/N: This chapter's a little longer, but I hope you all like it! I know it's been a little slow, but I promise after this chapter it picks up a lot. As always, your reviews are appreciated! Arigato, minna-san!


Chapter Four – Let the Quest Begin!

Lucy

The morning after we arrived at the Blue Pegasus inn, I awoke to a slight draft on the back of my neck and a pressure on my waist. Opening my eyes slowly, I immediately saw that there was a person in my bed.

"Kyaaah!"

At my outburst, Erza stirred from where she'd been sleeping with her head on my side. "What is it?" she asked groggily, looking up at me with half-lidded eyes.

I flopped onto my back and was about to sit up when movement to my left made me realize that there was another person in my bed! Pink hair and a familiar white muffler filled my vision when I turned my head.

"Natsuuu!" I shrieked, wriggling to try to get out from under Erza's head and disentangle myself from the sheets.

A sleepy pair of dark eyes opened not five inches from my face. "Oh, good morning, Lucy," Natsu said casually. Happy was still sleeping, a blue fluffball curled up on Natsu's shoulder.

I was too busy trying to keep myself from having an anxiety attack to respond. What are they doing in my bed?! My eyes were practically popping out of my head. There were four beds in each room, and somehow I'd ended up in the same room as Erza, Natsu and Gray. Why does this keep happening to me? Honestly, I don't think I can handle any more of this….

"Stop moving. You're making me fall off the bed," another voice complained.

"Gray?!" Sure enough, when I looked down, I saw the ice mage sprawled across my legs in nothing but his boxers, his own legs tangled up with Natsu's. Juvia is going to kill me if she ever finds out about this…. My eyebrow twitched as anger mounted inside. "EVERYBODY, OFF MY BED!" I roared, shoving them all off as I lunged into a sitting position. Happy cried out as he was launched from his perch on Natsu's shoulder, and glared at me from the air.

"Oof!" Natsu and Gray tumbled off the left side of my bed, landing in an unruly heap on the floor. Erza slid off the right side in a much more graceful manner, landing on her feet with a distasteful expression.

"Must you throw such a fit this early in the morning?" she complained, stretching her arms over her head and yawning.

"Must you all invade my bed without my permission all the time?! When did you guys get here, anyways?"

"Right after you fell asleep," Erza said with a sniff, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she crossed her arms over her chest.

My jaw dropped. "Weren't you asleep before I was?"

Natsu reached an arm up and used my bed to drag himself upright. "I woke her up when I tripped over her bed on my way to yours." He grinned impishly, crossing his arms behind his head.

"On your way to…WHAT WERE YOU DOING ON YOUR WAY TO MY BED?!"

"He llllllllikes you," Happy said smugly. It was a good thing he was in the air out of my reach, or I would've kicked him into next week.

"Shut up!" I yelled. I leapt to my feet, ready to knock some sense into Natsu. But on my way out of the bed, my legs became all twisted up in the sheets and I ended up crashing into him. I shrieked as we went down in a tangle of flailing arms and landed on Gray, who had just been trying to stand up.

Gray cursed and threw a punch at Natsu, who responded with a kick to Gray's shins. Unfortunately, I was caught up between them, still wrapped in my sheets. I screeched and tried to dodge their blows, but only succeeded in tangling us all up in the sheets.

"Stop fighting and so I can untangle these sheets!" I yelled, shoving them both away from me.

"Lucy, out of my way so I can beat this guy up!" Natsu exclaimed, trying to reach around me to get to Gray.

"You're the idiot who fell on me!" Gray returned, blocking Natsu's fist.

"Both of you shut up and stop moving!" I shouted, punching them both in the face. They were so stunned that they actually froze, blinking at me in shock.

"Lucy…" Gray said in surprise.

I had just gotten us untangled when a knock sounded on the door. "Come in!" Erza called. When I glanced over at her, I saw that she'd requipped her clothing to her usual armor while I'd been busy on the ground with Gray and Natsu.

She could've helped me get untangled from these idiots…I grumbled to myself. The door opened, and I saw Hibiki's dirty blond hair through the gap as he peered in.

"Everything alright in here? I heard a lot of shouting." He glanced over at the three of us still on the ground and raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up!" I barked, planting my hands on my hips. "We're all fine!"

He smiled knowingly and held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Alright. I just came by to tell you that we're assembling downstairs now. Get ready as quickly as you can and meet us down there when you're ready." With a final wink for me, Hibiki retreated and closed the door behind him.

I sighed. Why do I get the feeling that I'm not done with these two?


Wendy

"Wendy, are you listening to me?"

I blinked and looked down at the white cat standing in front of me, her paws planted on her hips in annoyance. "Yes, Carla. I'm sorry." I bowed my head in apology and tried to focus on what she was saying. I'd been looking around at all the mages gathering in the entry hall, trying to guess whose group I would be in. They were all milling around and talking casually, something I'd never seen before with so many mages from different guilds assembled in one place.

"I've already told you, I want you to stick close to Natsu-san today. He may be irresponsible, but when it comes down to it, he'll keep you safe."

I sighed. "What if he's not in my group?"

"Then stick close to the most powerful person in your group!" she huffed in annoyance.

I was about to say something else, but then I saw Natsu coming down the stairs with Lucy, Erza and Gray. "Natsu-san!" I waved enthusiastically, and the pink-haired Dragonslayer looked over at me with a grin.

"Wendy!"

"Carla!" Happy cried as he flew towards us with a lovestruck smile on his face. The others followed at a much more reasonable pace.

"Gray-sama!" The familiar wail sounded as a streak of blue flew past and launched itself at Gray.

"Juvia!" Gray looked like a deer caught in the headlights as the mage in question attached herself to his arm.

"Juvia's been worried sick about Gray-sama!" she wailed, clutching his arm possessively and shooting a burning glare at Lucy. "Juvia couldn't sleep last night because she was worried about Gray-sama sleeping in the same room as two girls! Juvia was terrified that something would happen to Gray-sama." She glared at Lucy again as she said that, and Lucy held up her hands in a defensive position.

"Oh? You didn't have to worry about Gray," Natsu said, blinking obliviously at Juvia. "We all slept in Lucy's bed, so we would've definitely woken up if someone had tried to attack him."

Juvia's teeth clacked together and she twitched sporadically for a moment. Then she emitted a noise that was part-growl and part-shriek and launched herself at Lucy.

"Eeeeek!" Lucy shrieked and ran behind Natsu, using him as a defensive barrier. "You idiot! Why would you say that to her?! Juvia! Calm down! It wasn't like you think! Kyaah!"

"Juvia will defeat her love rival! How dare she sleep in the same bed as Gray-sama under the same roof as Juvia! Juvia's shocked!" Juvia was pulling at Lucy's hair and trying to scratch her, and Lucy was crying in desperation.

"Juvia! That's enough!" Gray shouted, grabbing both girls and pulling them apart.

"But, Gray-sama…." Juvia looked up at him with teary eyes, and he jerked back in surprise.

"Juvia—" he began.

"How dare you yell at my Juvia-chan!" Another voice joined in the fray; Lyon, Gray's former fellow student.

"Lyon!" Gray said in irritated surprise.

"Juvia told you to stop using '-chan' with her name!" Juvia growled, marching over to Lyon, who'd come to stand just behind Gray.

"It warms my soul that the beautiful Juvia wants me to refer to her so personally," he declared elegantly.

Lucy used Juvia's distraction as an opportunity to scamper over to Erza and cower behind her. However, Juvia had apparently already moved on from her murderous rage, because she was back to fawning over Gray with overly lovey-dovey eyes.

Suddenly, the room went quiet. I looked up to see what was going on and saw Ichiya coming down the staircase, a sheet of paper in his hand. All eyes were on him as he came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, striking a dramatic pose. That must be the list with our groups on it!

"Thank you all for your patience!" he declared theatrically. "I shall now tell you the break-ups for the groups!" Everyone shifted closer in anticipation, eagerly awaiting the news. Standing a little behind him were the representatives from Crime Sorcière. All three of them had their hoods up, looking rigid and uncomfortable. I could feel the distrust—even hate—coming from some of the others, and felt bad for the three mages. They were only trying to atone for their sins and help us, but people still continued to hold their pasts against them. I sighed and wished there was some way I could help.

"In the first group," he began, assuming a new pose, "we have Fairy Tail's Natsu, Lucy and Gray, Sabertooth's Sting, Rogue and Yukino, Mermaid Heel's Kagura and Millianna, Blue Pegasus's Hibiki and Ren, Lamia Scale's Sherry, and Crime Sorcière's Ultear."

"Alright, Lucy!" Natsu exclaimed, giving the blond mage a high five. "And Yukino, too! Nice to see you again!" Yukino nodded and gave a little smile to Natsu and Lucy. Her guild-mates were considerably less excited about the grouping, as Sting scowled at Natsu and Rogue looked annoyed that Gajeel wasn't in their group.

Ren and Sherry smiled shyly at each other, a flush creeping into Sherry's cheeks. Kagura scowled when she heard that Sting would be in her group, and Millianna waved forlornly at Erza. When they all moved together in their group, Sting blew a kiss to Kagura, eliciting a deeper scowl from the swordswoman. I cocked my head to the side, though, wondering if I was imagining things or if there was actually a faint blush in her cheeks.

"The second group consists of Fairy Tail's Laxus, Juvia, Wendy, Elfman, Evergreen, Cana and Gildarts, Lamia Scale's Lyon and Chelia, Blue Pegasus's Eve, Sabertooth's Rufus, Mermaid Heel's Arania, and Crime Sorcière's Meredy."

I looked to Chelia and felt my face relax into a smile. "Chelia-sa—I mean, Chelia!"

"Wendy!" The bright pink-haired girl ran over to me and seized me in a great big hug. I laughed and squeezed her back. I was really happy that I was in the same group as Chelia, even though I was a little sad that Natsu wasn't with us.

"Ehhh? Why isn't Juvia in the same group as Gray-sama?" Juvia wrung her hands in despair as she moved to the place we were assembling for the second group. "Gray-sama!"

"Juvia," the silver-haired ice mage said, sweeping up dramatically. "Maybe this is fate that we are together." Juvia blinked at him, stunned, a slight blush creeping across her cheeks. Lyon turned to the first group and smirked at Gray. "Don't worry, Gray! I'll take good care of your water mage."

Gray frowned at the other ice mage's tone, but then he closed his eyes and nodded, a small smile relaxing his features. "Alright. I leave her in your hands, Lyon."

Juvia burst into dejected tears, reaching fruitlessly for Gray. "Juvia only has feelings for Gray-sama!"

Gray shrugged helplessly and turned to face his own group, leaving Juvia wailing after him until she saw another figure approaching her. A smile lit her features and, for the moment, at least, her devastation over being separated from Gray was forgotten. "Meredy-san!" The light purple-haired girl returned her smile as they embraced, and I smiled to myself, hoping that Juvia would be able to focus on the task at hand rather than Gray.

Elfman and Evergreen were pointedly ignoring each other, while next to them, Gildarts was fawning over Cana and practically weeping with joy that they were in the same group. It was something that still confused me—how he was so cool and controlled when he was with others, but around Cana, he became a mushy mess.

"And in the third and final group," Ichiya continued over the commotion, "Fairy Tail's Erza, Gajeel, Levy, Mirajane, Lisanna, Fried and Bixlow, Mermaid Heel's Risley and Beth, Lamia Scale's Jura, Sabertooth's Orga, Crime Sorcière's Jellal, and from Blue Pegasus, myself, Ichiya."

As the last group moved together, I saw that there were over two times more Fairy Tail mages than the others. I thought it was kind of strange, but I was glad for it because I trusted my own guild more than the others.

In group three, I saw Ichiya trying to sneak up behind Erza to sniff her hair. She yelled and swatted him away before calming down enough to reevaluate the wisdom of her actions. Calmly backing away from Ichiya, she accidently bumped into Jellal, who reached out a hand to steady her. They both blushed and hastily moved away from each other, and I suddenly looked at them with greater interest.

"Now that we have all split into our groups, it's time to move out!" Jura raised his voice so that everyone could hear him. "Group One will take the east road into the city, Group Two will take the south road, and Group three will take the west road. If you need to contact another group for any reason, use the communication cards Cana has supplied you with. I wish you all a safe trip. And remember, all groups are to reassemble here before sunset. Let the quest begin!"

I looked at Carla and took a deep breath. This is it. There's no turning back from here. I clenched my small fists and raised my eyes determinedly. A small hand covered mine, and I looked over to see Chelia smiling encouragingly at me. I nodded at her, and we set off after our group. Yes. We can do this…we have to. The fate of the world rests in our hands.