"Wow, Hargeon! It's been awhile since I've been here" Lucy said as she took in the air that the seaport town had to offer.
"You know, we still have a job to do here" Gray informed her.
"Ah yeah, I almost forgot" Lucy said while scratching her head. "We should head to the mayor's house, right?"
Gray was about to agree with her when there was a commotion up in front of them. A group of bandits were harassing a young girl. "I really don't think we have time for that right now."
The two broke off in a dead sprint for the four bandits that they saw in front of them, hollering to let the girl go. "Shit, mages! Run!"
"Ice Make Floor!" Gray succeeded in tripping three of the mages before freezing them in a shell of ice. "Come on, let's chase after that last one!"
The two mages followed the last bandit into a building off of a little side road and chased him up to the roof. When the two got to the roof, they were met by a group of over fifty bandits, mages among them. "Fairy Tail, huh?" A woman clad in a tight, revealing black leather suit and a mask that hid the lower half of her face, evidently the leader, spoke out. "This'll be interesting. Let's get them. Show them messing with us was the biggest mistake of their lives."
"You talk too much. Ice Make Lance!" Gray let out his signature attack, taking out a dozen or so bandits.
"Ice Make Shield!" The leather clad woman summoned a shield that blocked most of Gray's attack.
"Open, Gate of the Seagoat, Capricorn!" Capricorn was summoned out of his gate and immediately unleashed a torrent of punches and kicks on the lady, who dodged them all with ease.
"Hmm, a cute little boy who uses the same magic as me and a Celestial Wizard. This might be more interesting than I thought. Ice Make Hailstorm!" Capricorn jumped back and Gray cast his own shield to stop the onslaught of ice. However, four bandits flanked their side and attacked with mixes of fire and earth magic.
"Gaah!" Both of the wizards shouted.
The woman let out an evil laugh. "Strength in numbers after all!"
"Yeah, we'll see about that! Ice Make Floor!" Gray's floor caused all of the mages except for the leader to slip.
"Scorpio! Sand Buster!" Lucy called out.
"Wicked!" Scorpio then proceeded to unleash a stream of sand that knocked the group of bandits into a protruding wall on the rooftop, effectively knocking them unconscious.
"Hmm, looks like you're better than I thought. Looks like I'm gonna have to get serious now." The woman then put her hands together in a summoning stance. "Ice Make Guardian Frost!" Ice spikes enveloped the entire roof, racing toward Gray and Lucy. Gray jumped to avoid the spikes but Lucy wasn't so lucky. Lucy was sent flying toward the edge of the building and sliding off of the edge.
"LUCY!"
...
"Ahh, what happened? Why does Juvia's head hurt so bad?" the water mage asked as she rose from a bed, which she quickly realized was not hers. "Where am I?"
"Oh good, you're finally awake" Natsu said to her as he entered the room. "How do you feel?"
"I feel worse than I did when you tried to boil me. What happened?"
Natsu sighed. "Well, during our whole tamper with the bar incident, you got really drunk and I had to hurry up and haul you out of there." Natsu laughed. "You were a mess."
Juvia shook her head. "Well Juvia feels like a mess."
"Here, I brought you a glass of water and some painkillers. I made you some breakfast too if you're hungry" Natsu offered.
Juvia smiled. "Natsu is very generous. Thank you."
"Hey, it's not a problem. Anything for my nakama" Natsu smiled at her. Natsu quickly prepared a breakfast for her, which she devoured and quickly fell back asleep.
'Jeez, these last couple of days have been strange to say the least. I can't believe Juvia is sleeping in my bed right now because she got drunk and I had to take care of her. I wonder how Gray and Lucy are taking this whole swap thing? More importantly, I wonder what the hell that ice bastard is doing with my girlfriend right now.' That was Natsu's last thought before he sat down in the chair next to his bed and promptly fell asleep.
...
"GRAY!" Lucy shouted as she was sent off the edge, sure she was falling to her demise, but Gray's arm caught her arm before she fell.
"Ironic, this is the same way I met Juvia" Gray laughed to Lucy.
"This is no time for your ice cold jokes stripper!"
"Awwwe, how cute of you to save her. Too bad now I just get to shove you both over the edge" the woman mocked them.
"Cold-hearted bitch" Gray muttered.
"Ironic, coming from another ice mage."
"Regulus Impact!" The voice was followed by the form of a golden lion slamming into the woman, sending her flying across the building and knocking her out.
"Loki!" Lucy cried as Gray pulled her up. "Thank you!"
"Not a problem. Anything for my princess. Besides, I owe Gray one too for keeping you from falling off here."
"Thanks man. Now I owe you one" Gray laughed with the Celestial Spirit as they went to recover the leader of the gang. "Should we go collect our reward now, Lucy?"
"You bet! Thanks again, Loki!" Lucy beamed.
"Like I said, anything for my princess. I'll be going back now."
"Hey, Loki" Gray stopped him. "Swing by sometime. Cana and I miss having you around."
"Alright, I'll swing by soon. See you later."
When the two finally made it back to street level, Lucy had a question. "Gray, what did you mean when you said you and Cana miss having Loki coming around?"
"Simple, Loki used to live with us."
"Wait a minute, you and Cana live together? What does Juvia think of that?"
Gray chuckled. "Surprisingly, she doesn't mind too much. Guess she figures that we've lived together so long that if it was gonna happen it would've already." Gray shrugged.
Lucy shook her head. "Your girlfriend has some really weird logic. Now let's get out of here. It's been a rough day."
"Yeah, and I kinda wonder what Juvia and flame brain are up to right now?" Gray asked aloud as he scooped up the unconscious woman over his shoulder and began to haul her to the mayor's office to collect their reward.
...
Natsu began to finally stir out of his slumber. 'Mmm, my bed smells really nice' he thought. 'Wait, my bed?' Natsu quickly shot up and swiveled his head around the house. "Hey, you're finally awake."
Juvia was up walking around and it looked as if she was cleaning something, as she had her hair up in a ponytail and was only wearing a white tank top, black shorts, and rubber gloves. "What are you doing Juvia?"
"Juvia is cleaning the dumpster that Natsu calls a house" she deadpaned. "Juvia made dinner too, it's on the table." Natsu looked over and sure enough there was a plate on the table that had a large steak and some steamed vegetables on it. "Go ahead, Juvia already ate."
Natsu had a glint in his eyes as he quickly started to devour the steak and vegetables without even using his silverware. "So I take it you're feeling better?" Natsu asked between mouthfuls of food.
"Yes, much better. Juvia thanks Natsu for taking care of her."
"Not a problem Juvia. Though I guess today didn't go as planned." Natsu then stood up and stoked the fire in the fireplace.
"Yeah, Cana caught on to what we were doing. She said something as soon as we got separated."
"Hey Juvia?"
"Yes Natsu?"
"Why are you cleaning my house?"
Juvia shrugged. "It was dirty and it was bugging Juvia. Besides," her normal demeanor was quickly taken over by her crazy persona, "it's good practice for when I'm married to Gray and we have our thirty three babies!"
Natsu sweatdropped. "Yeah, well, uh, thanks.." he trailed off. He got up and proceeded to put his plate in the sink, where it probably wouldn't get washed without Juvia or Lucy showing up.
"Well, Juvia is going back to her place to wash up then she's going to spy on Lucy and Gray. Does Natsu wanna come?"
Natsu shook his head. "No thanks, I'm just gonna relax here for the night. Thanks again. Glad you're feeling better."
"Thanks for talking care of Juvia Natsu. Oh, and Happy is sleeping in his little room over there. See you tomorrow Natsu!" And with that, Juvia was gone. Natsu decided to just flop down on the couch and turn on his lacrima vision. Happy came out after a few minutes, and the two of them passed out on the couch, Natsu's mind still racing.
...
Gray finally reached the door to his house. He was extremely exhausted and the last two days had arguably been the weirdest of his life. He walked into his house to a pleasant smelling dinner. 'Did Cana actually cook for once?'
"Oh, my beloved Gray, how do you feel?" Juvia asked as she latched onto his arm.
"Juvia, what are you doing here? And I'm fine, just a little sore."
"Juvia just wanted to make a delightful dinner for her beloved and his guests" she explained.
Gray nodded in understanding. "Thanks, but you really shouldn't be here. If Mira finds out she'll torture us to no end."
"Yes, Juvia understands that very much. Juvia would never want to cause harm to Gray, even though she wouldn't mind it a little herself. Enjoy your dinner" she shouted jubilantly as she left the house.
Gray ran his fingers across his eyebrows as he began to eye up all the delicious food that was on the stove. Roast, carrots, potatoes, beans, the works were all there. 'She is a good cook for sure. Even so, there's no way I could eat all that by myself. Wait a minute, she said guests! Who's here?' Gray thought to himself.
"Hello Gray" a silver haired man stepped into the kitchen, followed by a short girl with pink hair.
"Lyon? Chelia? What are you two doing here?"
"We just came to visit. We were in Magnolia on a job and figured we'd swing by" Lyon explained.
Gray nodded. "What kind of job?"
"We had to help out at a magical flower shop. It was SOOO ROMANTIC!" Chelia beamed as she latched onto Lyon.
"Yeah, sure.." Lyon shook her off. "So anyway, we were thinking about staying in Magnolia for a couple days. Do you mind if we stay here?"
"Not like I can say no. You're already here, aren't you?" Gray asked. "Anyway, Juvia cooked dinner if you're both hungry."
"Yes, we know" Lyon laughed. "My girlfriend cooks a marvelous dinner."
"SHE'S NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" Gray and Chelia both shouted at him.
"Whatever, can we just eat? I've had a long day and I'm starving" Gray announced.
After a somewhat quiet dinner, where Lyon and Chelia talked about some of their customers today and Gray told the story of his job today.
"Wait, why were you on a job with just Lucy? Didn't Juvia get jealous?" Chelia asked.
"Why would she be jealous? She has me after all" Lyon smirked.
"SHUT UP LYON!"
"Anyway," Gray continued "we kind of had an issue at the guild. Long story short, I'm not really allowed to be with her right now."
"Don't let that stand in the way of romance" Chelia cheered.
"Yeah, well there's a certain demon standing in my way too, and I don't think I'd be able to overcome that no matter what I did" Gray said.
"Don't worry Gray, I can take care of Juvia" Lyon assured him, much to Chelia's discontent.
"I think I'd trust flame brain with her over you" Gray sighed. "Anyway, where are you two sleeping tonight?"
"We don't mind sleeping together!" Chelia latched onto Lyon and had a creepy grin on her face.
"Says you!"
Gray shook his head at the two. 'Lyon, you could have found someone who was more than half your age at least.' "Loki's room is open if you wanna sleep up there Chelia. I'm sure Lyon will be fine on the couch." Chelia pouted while Lyon nodded in approval. Just then, Cana came in the door.
"Hey, we have company" she slurred out through her normal drunken voice. "What are you all doing?"
"We were just discussing where everyone will sleep" Lyon said to her.
"And?"
"Apparently I'm sleeping in Loki's room and Lyon is down here on the couch" Chelia explained.
"And we're all going to bed now, so goodnight" Gray said to her.
"Oh no, that just won't do" Cana smirked.
"What?" the three of them asked. Cana then grabbed Lyon's arm and began to try and haul him up the stairs.
"I think he's fine on the couch" Chelia growled.
"Let him go Cana" Gray said.
"Fine" Cana gave up for now. "But you will be coming with me one of these nights." She then let out a drunken laugh as she made her way to her room. An awkward silence fell over the group as they all made their way to where they were going to be sleeping for the night. Gray simply crashed into his bed.
'What a day.'
...
A/N: So I had a day off for once which led me to fix this story up quite a bit. Like I said, I wasn't happy at all with the way the last two chapters went, so I had to fix them. More development for Gray, Lucy and Juvia aren't batshit crazy, and I feel like the introduction of Lyon wasn't as awkward. And yes, there is a point to him being in the story, just wait until next chapter.
Anyway, I hope you all still like this story and keep reviewing, because those reviews keep me going! And they make me smile :)