The train wasn't crowded, even though it smelled like it had been occupied by a goat.

Lucy found seats on the right side of the train and the two took seats across from one another.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until the train blew its whistle for last-minute boarding.

The air was broken when Lucy said, "It'll be about an hour's ride to Hargeon Town, then we have to walk for a while to get to the house of the requestor."

"Oh, alright," was Gray's only response as he looked out the window.

She knew he didn't want to talk but she wished that he would stop thinking of the water mage. Yes, she was being inconsiderate and selfish but she wanted to get his mind off of Juvia and onto her.

Just as she was looking through the train, she saw a large, bulky young man board the train. The first thing she noticed was his hair. It was bright yellow, like Laxus' only it shone like the sun. He picked the seat right across the aisle from Lucy and Gray. As he sat down, she could see the freckles running up and down his bare arms, for he wore a jacket similar to Natsu's. Actually, he reminded her a lot of Natsu, his brooding face and his furrowed brows. The young man glanced over at Lucy and caught her deliberately staring at him. She turned away as quickly as she could and felt her face turn a harsh shade of pink. She felt his gaze lingering on her back as she looked to her right, out the window.

Lucy smiled to herself, He had the most vibrant green eyes.

Gray had been oblivious to the event which had just transpired and looked over at Lucy's cherry face, knowing something happened, "You okay?" He asked.

She looked up at him, mortified, "Y-yes, I'm fine." She pulled out the request form from her bag, trying to hide her face and compose herself.

"What's the request even for?" She heard Gray's voice.

Lucy had to read it word-for-word, "It says: Request for mages to help rid house of pests. 200,000 Jewel reward. Celestial Spirit mage not required but requested." She lifted her head from reading, "Sounds easy enough."

Gray looked at her, a bit warily, "Yea, but why does it request a Spirit mage to get rid of pests?"

"Maybe they need Virgo to clean or something," she replied.

"I've just got a bad feeling about this one, we should be careful," Gray said gently.

She gave him a small smile as she responded, "Don't worry, everything will be just fine."

They both looked back out the window for the remainder of the ride and Lucy could feel the blonde boy occasionally watching her. She wouldn't admit it out loud but she had a bad feeling about this mission too.

Thanks for reading! :3