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I woke up later that day in the boy's dorm of Fairy Tail, I had extra money so I didn't really have to worry about the rent for now. It was early morning and I was still waking up, I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, and changed clothes. I walked out of my room and headed straight to what I like to call "The Mess Hall." Really, it was just where everyone gathered, ate, took jobs, sang, talked, and had fun. So far the Fairy Tail guild seemed great, granted, I had only been here for a day, but they already make me feel like family.

Apparently for these wizards, it doesn't matter where you come from, it only matters where your heart is at now. If I'm being honest, I miss my quiet life with Ragier, he disappeared on the 7th day of the 7th month in the year 777. I like to go back and think about how much he had taught me, and when I think about him, I like to thank him in my mind for what he has done. While I ate breakfast, I examined the job board, it was packed full of job requests. I skimmed over a few from a distance, after I finished my meal, I walked up to the request board.

You guessed it. The most cliche' thing happened to me, as I finally found a job request I liked, and went to grab it, someone else's hand and mine collided. As I traced the arm to look to the person, I noticed the light blond hairs on the arm, past that I noticed the short sleeved shirt and a vest, then came the pretty blond ponytail. Our eyes met, if only for a moment, her lightning blue eyes locked with my brown eyes. Summer.

I pulled my hand away and apologized to her, telling her that I would look for another job request. I walked past her to look at the other side of the job request board. Skimming over them with the thought of what just happened in the back of my mind, about 30 seconds later I realized that she was still standing there and was watching as I picked a job. I looked up to her again, there was a smile on her face.

"Hey Rayleigh, you know, we could just do this job together right?" She said.

My mind went blank for a second, I didn't know what to think, (I HATE social and awkward situations.) I never really worked with people, I was that lone wolf, the solo. People usually didn't want to work with me, I never knew why, I figure it was just because they didn't like me.

Things came back into focus. "Huh? Uh, yeah, but, why would you want to work with me?" After I asked that I felt a little pang of stupidity.

"Well, you're new here, and so am I. I just think that it would be a good idea if we worked together."

She made a good point, we were both new, this would be a good chance to get some team work experience. "Okay, bet." I replied, I don't know why, but I tried to sound cool. (ugh.)

"Great, can we leave now?" She asked expectantly.

"Fine by me."

I ran the job request through my head, a few rouge bandits were causing trouble for a nearby village, the request offered about 86,000 Jewel, half of that is more than enough to last me for about a week or more. Summer and I walked out of the Guild Hall after telling Mira that we wanted this job and that we were off to complete it. I imagined the bandits and the kind of village it would be, simulations flew through my head of what the encounter would be like, an escape plan, and different tactics.

"...Hey! Rayleigh!" Summer shouted.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. "What???" I asked genuinely confused and half scared to death.

"You aren't talking, and you were staring straight ahead with some killer look on your face… Are you okay?"

"Oh? I'm fine." I nearly laughed. "Sorry, I'm not used to working with other people. I've kind of conditioned myself to working alone."

"That sounds sad. Why? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"Mmm, I don't really want to answer that question… It's tough to answer, I guess I just don't like most other people?"'

"What do you mean?" She asked.

She asked all the right questions. Why did I not like other people? "Well, it's not really that I don't like them, it's more like I don't being around them. They make me nervous."

"Ohhh, I get that. I was like that for a while, before I came to Fairy Tail." she herself seemed to zone out for a second.

In that moment I felt a connection to her, I saw something her eyes in that instant, it made me extremely curious. I wanted to know what happened. I decided it better not to ask. We walked on in silence for about another hour or so, leaving Magnolia, and entering the forest and following a few trails and signs. I was never really good at conversations, I had no Idea what to say. This is where I hated myself, I couldn't keep a conversation going, I would repeat, stumble, or slur words by accident, I was always nervous, I just never showed it. I was better at putting words down on paper, it was so much easier.

Poetry is one of my passions, it's an outlet to let me say what I want to say. I could relate my life to something, using similes, metaphors, and analogies. When I started writing it was hard for me to stop. It was like a dam on a river breaking, releasing the full flow of the water. It was a nice way to get rid of all my pent up feelings about things, about the things that make me mad, or the ones that make me sad or confused.

Being real is one trait I'm glad to have, I will not betray my emotions. I looked around me, it was still early in the morning, we were making good time. The trees green leaves shining in the sunlight, the sound of the birds filtered through the forest, the insects chirping and making sounds, it was peaceful. We continued to walk, seeing all kinds of animals, giant hogs, the kind that usually pull wagons, except these were larger. There was the occasional bird with a long feathered tail that came in different colors.

The tree line broke up ahead, leading to a plain field, the sun beating down on the fresh green grass. We stopped for a moment and my eyes traced the trail as it continued I could see an outline of a village in the distance. I glanced over at Summer, she sees the village too.

"There it is." the words felt odd after the long silence.

"Yup, let's hope it is anyway."

We continued on once again, following the trail, I'm still glad Summer and I decided to walk instead of ride, I got motion sick extremely easily with vehicles like wagons and boats, or especially the magic cars. I guess it just blends right in with Dragon Slayers. I heard Summer got motion sickness too, I also heard from her that Natsu gets motion sickness very easily as well. Sometimes even thinking about vehicles make me motion sick, pathetic.

My mind wandered off, putting myself in the shoes of a bandit, it would be better to attack at night, or occupy trails like the one we were currently on. Since people often passed on these trails it was easy pickings, wagons, adventures, and low rank wizards. It would be foolish to not have a wizard on the team, and since the village hasn't gotten rid of the problem themselves, the bandits are probably fairly strong.

"Summer. Keep an eye open, we're on a small trail and it's just the two of us, bandits would see us as a free snack pretty much." I warned her.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, you'll see." she said with confidence. "I'm strong."

"I'm just giving you a heads up, I know you're strong." I said while I thought back a bit. "I could tell by the way you had that boss bandit in Magnolia trembling." I said jokingly.

"You better believe it! Those guys made me mad." she made a scowl "Freaking jerks."

"That's fair. I would call them jerks too-" I was cut off.

"-Rayleigh watch out!"

That's the end of this chapter.

I have some free time so I may be able to write more I just need to apply myself.

So it's 1am right now and I need to sleep, a cliff hanger seemed in order XD

Dragon Signing Out!