Me: Chapter 2 is up, FINALLY! Sorry I took so long, will you forgive me? :( This chapter is over 1000 words longer than the previous one! I hope that makes up for it. YAY ^^ So this chapter is about Erza's first job. This chapter may not seem too fluffy at first, just wait for it, it will come. So on with the disclaimer! Who want to do it?

*Erza, Natsu, Milliana, and Death the Kid raise their hands.*

Natsu: Who's the dude with the black and white hair?

Me: Kid? What are you doing here; this isn't your anime…

Kid: I was just checking to see if you were symmetrical enough for your chapter 2 release, chapter 2 is always an important chapter so you have to be your best.

Me: Um…okay…Do you want to do the disclaimer?

Kid: LaynieCakes does not own Fairy Tail, or Soul Eater for that matter.

(Soul Eater has nothing to do with this or any chapter of this story just so you know.)

Gray and Erza both remembered their first mission together all too well…

Erza had been in the guild for about a week, but she hadn't been on a job yet. She decided that it was time to finally go on one.

Truthfully, the reason she hadn't went on a job yet was because she didn't have the time. Gray would challenge her to fight him almost every day. She never said no either; each time she hoped that she would beat him and he would just shut up. But he never did. He just kept on fighting her and fighting her, till he found her by the river that day, crying. Ever since then he just, stopped.

Erza decided to take this chance to take her first job. By the request board, Erza traced her eyes back and forth looking for an easy-but not too easy-job with a decent pay.

She found a job that was in Oak Town, not that far from Magnolia. Apparently, a woman named Emy Milton dropped her engagement ring in a lake. 'How sad…' Erza thought, she felt a bit bad for the woman; she lost the ring that symbolized that she was in love. Erza was never the type of girl that dreamed of her 'prince charming' but,-as a girl-she found love interesting.

The pay was 4000 jewel, 'A good amount for such a simple job.' Erza thought. Nodding in approval to the request, she reached out her hand for it.

As she grabbed the paper, another hand was clenched on to it as well. It was the hand of Gray Fullbuster; the boy that was consuming her time for the past week.

"I'll be taking that, thank you very much." Gray said, snatching the paper for himself. He started to walk away with his all too proud smile across his face. Before he could officially take the job he heard Erza yell out something to him.

"Oh, so this is how 'The Great Gray' handles things? Pretty childish if you ask me." Erza taunted. Gray's head spun around, "What'd you just say?" Gray said back, clearly pissed off.

"Don't act like you didn't hear me." Erza said. Erza took the chance of him being so worked up-standing there with no words coming out of his mouth-to take the paper from him. "I did see the request first." Said Erza with her look that said 'Obviously…' on her face.

"Plus, I've never been on a job before." Erza added, mumbling. That comment got Gray out of his frozen state. "You haven't?" Gray asked. She nodded.

Gray shook his head, 'No, I can't start to feel bad for her!' Gray chanted through his mind. Even though he stopped hating Erza, Gray was a stubborn child. It took a while for Gray to start to actually be nice to Erza; though he did view her as his nakama now. He just didn't want to admit it.

"Well…that doesn't matter! I've been looking at this job since, since…s-since yesterday! Yeah, so really," Gray pointed his thumb to himself, "I saw the job first."Gray said; pretty proud that he came up with that on the spot.

"If you saw the job yesterday, then why didn't you take the job yesterday?" Erza pointed out with her 'Duh' look on her face.

'Crap.' Gray thought. "Well, well, uh…cause….uh…" The ice wizard stuttered.

Erza sighed "It doesn't matter, but…, you've been at this guild longer than I have; why would you take such an easy job?" Erza asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"Well the last job I went on had a pretty big reward so…I decided to take an easier job to, relax a bit I guess." Gray answered truthfully.

The two children were left there in a very awkward situation, not knowing that there were many more awkward times to come. Their silence was interrupted, not by either of them, but by a certain card wizard who happened to hear it all.

"You could just go on it together…" Cana started "I mean," she looked over to Erza. "This is your first job right? Most people go with someone on their first job." She finished.

Erza had a hand to her chin, thinking it over. She nodded her head in approval then gave a slight smile, "Well if that's the natural thing to do I don't see anything wrong with it." She concluded.

"I never agreed to this!" Gray yelled pointing to himself with his cheeks puffed out.

"Well you're going." Master said, walking up behind him. "This is Erza's first job so someone should escort her, and you've already shown an interest to the job." He finished

"But Gramps, it's just findin' a stupid ring! Do you really think she needs help?" Gray said back. Erza got a confused look on her face that asked 'Did he just compliment me?' But she shook it off, there was no way Gray was saying that to compliment her, he just wanted out of the mission. Yeah.

Master looked to Gray with one open eye, the other closed, saying "Finding something can be harder than you think. You could go days without finding it and just when you forget about it, there it is." Master closed the eye that was looking at Gray. "You will escort Erza to her first job. That's final." He finished.

Gray just stood there with his jaw dropped to the floor. He had to go on a mission, alone, with Erza?! And Gramps said that is was final; he didn't even have a choice in the matter.

Erza walked over to him and said, "We leave tomorrow, be at the train station by 10 A.M., sharp." Then she walked out. "Tch, I'm supposed to be takin her to this job and she acts like she the boss of this whole thing." Gray muttered under his breath before storming out of the guild; of course not noticing that his shirt was gone.

It was at this when that certain card wizard laughed to herself, holding the 'Brilliant Luck' card at hand. "My cards really do never lie." She said, then deciding to do some romance compatibility tests for the two stubborn wizards. Her smile got even wider when she got her answers.

"Cana, your smile is starting to creep me out…" Macao said. Cana puffed out her cheeks, "And just when I was starting to get all giddy…."

"Uh, sorry." Macao said in return, ruffling Cana's hair.

By the train station, it was 10:27 A.M. Erza was tapping her foot, he was late. She had told him 10 sharp, right?

"Hey." A voice said from behind. Erza turned around to see Gray. "You're late. Didn't I say 10, sharp?" Erza asked in her demanding voice.

"You did, didn't you? But I'm here now so what does it matter, let's just leave." Gray said back, glaring at her then walking to the train.

Erza clenched her fists "Tch." Then she turned around and went onto the train herself, with a bitter look on her face that said, 'Why did I have to come with him? Why?' Though after Gray had found her that day by the river, he'd started turning soft. He still was such a stubborn boy! It pissed her off.

Gray and Erza sat down on the train; neither of them talked; just stole glances from each other every now and then. They just sat across from each other, looking out the window. That changed when a cart came around with cake on top.

Noticing the cake, Erza asked for a piece. She had cake only one time in her life and she loved it. She looked over to Gray with an eager look on her face, "Do you want a piece Gray?"

Just to be difficult, Gray was going to turn it down; till he saw a triple chocolate cake that is. "Well, I guess…" Gray answered trying his best to not sound too excited. Gray loved chocolate cake, he liked other cakes too but nothing was better than chocolate.

Erza looked at her piece with her eager eye, how she loved cake. She loved strawberry cake, though truthfully that's the only cake she had ever tried.

Gray couldn't help but notice how different she looked when she was eating cake. Before he knew it, he was staring at her. She didn't seem to care though, most likely because she was eating her beloved cake.

She looked so, so girly when she was eating it. It was weird, she was never this happy. But for some reason, Gray liked to see this other side of Erza, this relaxed side of her. She was always so isolated and cold, though now she seemed so happy.

Erza finished her cake and noticed two dark blue eyes staring at her. "What?" She asked kind of embarrassed, why would Gray be staring at her?

Gray blushed, "Oh, uh, n-nothing…" he said awkwardly then continued eating his cake.

The rest of the way there neither of them talked, they just sat there with red faces and lingering minds. Both wondered what the other was thinking, but neither would dare to ask.

Finally, the train stopped. They had only been on the train for 2 hours, but the silence between them made it feel like forever. Erza stood up. "Well, let's get on with it." She said, walking towards the exit. Gray soon followed.

They walked till they made their way to a small cottage. Erza knocked on the door. No more than a few moments after a woman opened the door. She had dark, curly, violet hair that went down her back and sad looking black eyes.

"Um… are you Emy Milton?" Gray asked. The woman nodded. "Y-you are?" she asked back, tripping over her words.

"I am Erza and this is Gray, we are here for the request you sent out to Fairy Tail." Erza said. Emy relaxed, "Oh then," she gestured inside, "please come in." she said with a warm smile. Her house was small and cozy, though there was something about the place that made you know she was depressed. Most likely because she just lost her engagement ring.

"Please, sit down." She said. Gray and Erza found their way to a rather comfortable, green couch. They sat on opposite sides of the couch, with Emy sitting on a chair across from them.

Emy looked over to Erza, confused. "Um…why are you wearing armor?" she asked. Gray laughed, that got him a punch in the face. Still, Erza didn't answer the question; she just sat there in silence like she often does. She had started to open her shell a little bit, but was still an overall quiet girl.

Once Gray could think straight again after getting punched in the face, he saw the silence and decided to break it. "She always wear's armor. Why, no one knows." Gray explained bluntly. "Oh, uh, ok then." Emy said in return.

Erza sighed, "Anyway, why did you ask Fairy Tail to do this job? Isn't there a guild closer to here?" Erza asked.

Emy stiffened up, "Phantom Lord? They're nothing but thugs; they don't really help the town." Emy answered. "Tch, you can say that again…" Gray added.

Erza sat there confused for a moment but shook it off, deciding that the matter was best left as it was. But she couldn't help but wonder, 'What's up with this Phantom Lord guild?' You could see the confusion on her face.

But, knowing that it wasn't the time to ask about it, Erza stood up. "So, where did you lose this ring of yours?" She said. Emy stood up as well "I'll show you." She said with a sad smile.

Walking to wherever Emy lost that ring, Gray couldn't help but think. 'Why did I have to come? She's taking charge anyway; she doesn't need my help if she can beat me up.' Gray thought.

Gray was still a bit hostile towards Erza, but truthfully he looked up to her. On that day by the river Erza was crying, but even so she stood up to fight; Gray admired that. He liked to see her so strong but, seeing her slightly girly side was amusing. He liked to think that he could bring that side of her out.

Lost in thought, Gray didn't notice that everyone stopped walking and he almost fell on top of Erza. Almost. But right as it was about to happen Gray stopped in his tracks and stood there silently; like nothing happened. 'That was close…' Gray thought as he mentally sighed.

Looking down, Gray and Erza saw a lake; and a pretty small one at that. The lake wasn't in Oak town but just right outside it; everything was so pretty, so peaceful.

Emy pointed towards the lake "I dropped it in there, it's a small lake but I've went in there one too many times and I swear it's impossible to find!" Emy said with a pouty face, but then her face lit up. "That's why I've hired you two! I've looked for it many times but you're new to this lake. A fresh mind is always more likely to find what you're looking for!" She said cheerfully.

"Well then we better start looking." Erza stated with her hands on her hips. She then pulled up her sleeves to where her armor started and walked straight into the lake. She dug her arms into the water and began her search.

Gray went into the water for himself in nothing but his underwear; as usual. At least usual for Fairy Tail, Emy however was completely new to the young ice wizard's stripping habit. So him suddenly taking off his clothes shocked poor Emy just a tiny bit.

"Um…..why did you take your clothes off?" Emy asked cautiously. Gray looked down. "WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN?!" he shrieked.

"No one knows. You'll get used to it; I did." Erza said reassuringly. Emy was still a bit frazzled but decided to forget about it for the moment. "Well, I have a few things to attend to; I'll be back in about 2 hours okay?" Emy announced

The two young wizards nodded and then continued their search.

"So, do you have any idea what this ring looks like?" Gray said holding up a weirdly shaped rock he'd found. "No idea," Erza said, turning around to see Gray poking a rather large, blue frog with 3 horns "and would you stop messing around and search?" the requip wizard demanded.

Gray covered his ears from the noisy redhead. "Ya don't have to yell!" Gray said. Erza let out a 'Hmph' "Well with I have to with you…" She mumbled rolling her eye.

Gray definitely heard that, "Well what's tha-" The young ice wizard started; but he was interrupted. He was interrupted by laugh; and this laugh did come from Erza and most definitely didn't come from him. Erza heard it too.

"Show yourself." Erza said. The laughing thing did as it was told.

From what Gray and Erza could see, it was a frog. But no, not only did the frog laugh, but that was the frog Gray had poked a moment before!

Gray gave the creature a confused look "Hey isn't that the frog I poked?" The frog nodded, then it did something that neither of the children saw coming. It morphed; into a person' but still a weird looking person at that. Her skin was a sickly pale and her eyes were black; seemed to be glazed over. Her hair was long-all the way down to her ankles-and it was a dark, majestic green. The odd looking woman had a Phantom Lord guild mark on the center of her neck.

You can imagine how freaked out the two of them were at this point.

The woman/frog spoke. "I've found our fairies." She said with a sinister smile. "Oh but these are two children, I have to take down two weak kiddies?" The woman said, talking to no one.

Erza glared at her. "Weak?" she said. "REQUIP!" Erza then took out two swords, by the looks of the woman she seemed like a very capable wizard; she would need two swords.

"A requip wizard are we? No matter, I've dealt with your kind before. Besides, you're just a child." She said, the last word not flowing but seething off her tongue. "My magic is much more powerful than yours anyway." The woman said with pride in her voice.

A bright light appeared, and once it was gone, Erza could see that the woman had changed forms again. "Full body takeover, creature soul!" The woman said, she was right; she wasn't what you would describe as an animal or a beast, but a creature, it was just so odd looking!

This 'creature' that she had turned into is what looked like a wild cat of some sort. It was bright yellow and had a navy blue strip down its face. It was a large cat; almost as big as Erza herself. Its teeth were gruesome and violent looking; you knew that this creature, no, monster wasn't messing around.

"Takeover magic…" Erza mumbled. Then she attacked, "DANCE MY SWORDS, DOUBLE SWORD STRIKE!" Erza yelled

"LIGHTNING CLAW!" The takeover wizard yelled back.

They fought and fought but Gray just stood there in a daze. He had never seen Erza use magic before, when they had fought she never used magic. He had no idea that she was this amazing; his magic couldn't compare. He looked up to her; he always had ever since he found her by the river that day. But now was different, he didn't just look up to her anymore, he respected her. Before he knew it the wizard from Phantom Lord was defeated.

Erza smiled in her victory and then walked to her defeated opponent. With her arms crossed she gave the woman a stern look, "Who brought you here, and why did you attack us?" She asked the woman she still didn't know the name of.

The woman stubbornly turned her head from facing Erza, not answering.

Gray decided to step in, "Phantom and Fairy Tail have never gotten along. Never have, never will." He said bluntly. Erza nodded, understanding the situation a bit better now. 'So that's why Gray got so annoyed when Emy said Phantom Lord…'

"What about the ring?" Gray asked, noticing that they forgot about the task at hand. "Oh yeah! We should probably get back to loo-AHHH!" Erza started but ended up falling on nothing.

Gray's face warmed up. "S-she screamed…like a girl..." He said, he had seen a lot of girly Erza today, but this took the prize.

This time it was Erza's face that warmed up, "Well what is that supposed to mean? I am a girl, baka!" She yelled, she would've kept on yelling at Gray but something caught her eye, something shiny.

What Erza saw was an engagement ring set perfectly on a lily pad. The bright blue sky made the pure silver ring shine even brighter against the water. Erza smiled, "Hey, look!" Erza pointed towards the ring. "The ring!" Gray said, and then he walked over to pick it up.

Holding it up, Gray looked at the ring for a while, then handing it to Erza. She studied it in awe. "It really is beautiful, isn't it?" Erza said.

"Yeah, it is." Gray said, smiling. He liked this side to Erza, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he thought that this side to her was cute. And that was a big complement, because to Gray, girls still had cooties. But not Erza, she was different, Gray couldn't figure out what though.

Erza snapped Gray out of his lost thoughts, not knowing that those thoughts were about her. "So, should we just wait here till Emy comes back?" She asked, still holding the ring that fascinated her so much.

"Uh, yeah I guess. She said two hours right? It's been about that long I think." Gray answered truthfully. "Yeah she did, I bet she won't be that long." Erza answered.

Gray went over today's events in his head, then he realized something, "I've been completely useless today, haven't I?" Gray asked, disappointed in himself.

Erza though his question over, then came to an answer. "You gave me company." She said with a smile. "I thought you didn't like my company." Gray said back.

Erza grimaced. "I didn't," she started, but then looked back to the ring she'd been holding, "I don't mind it anymore…" she finished with a slight blush on her face.

Gray smiled, "Good."

Then they sat there in silence, but it wasn't one bit awkward. The two of them had a sudden change of heart, neither knew why though. Maybe it was the time alone, or maybe the ring, or maybe it was the look on Erza's face seeing that ring. Maybe Gray was so lost in her smile that he forgot that he ever hated her in the first place. Either way, all the two of them knew was that from that day forth, they were best friends.

Erza smiled at the memory, 'It was so simple back then…' she thought. It wasn't the same anymore; her relationship with Gray was different now. Everything was so much more complicated now. Thinking about it, she wondered where that woman from Phantom ever went off to. But she shook it off, she couldn't focus on that, she had to focus on the task ahead. Even though she had other things to focus on in her hectic life, those soothing memories were always with her in the back of her mind. Sometimes she thought that those memories were the only thing keeping her life together.

As she continued packing her five bazillion things, Erza hoped that she could use this 10year quest as a chance to make things with Gray less awkward. 'Time will tell…' she thought

She collapsed onto her bed and turned off her light hoping she would sleep. She didn't though, she just laid there wide awake, her thoughts on the ice wizard she seemed to have fallen for.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Yay, now you just have to wait another eternity for chapter 3! :D Was it fluffy enough for you fluff fans out there? Was it? Well tell me in a review or P.M. Also if you have any ideas or suggestions you have for something you'd want me to fit into the story, TELL ME! I could use all the ideas I could get. Truthfully, I don't really have a complete plan for this story. *guilty face*

Shoutouts to my reviewers!

InsigniaOfFairyTail: Was it fluffy enough?

IcedSoulFairy: Why thank you Ice-san! :3

Raikiri80: Yes the relationship between Gray and Erza no matter how fluffy will always have some awkwardness in it.

Peace1331: Whether that pun was good or not, I got what you meant and that's all that matters. Thank you. ^^

Senior dingdong (guest): Thank you but, please don't call me sweetie…it kinda creeps me out…Thank you for the compliment though!

SnowKawasagi: Thanks, here's chapter two! (obviously)

pinkkoala213: Here's chapter 2! ^^

I'll try and update as fast as I can! R&R