Chapter Two! Yay! I'm so glad you came back to read the second chapter! That means you like it, yes? Well, I'll let you awesome peoples read :)

Chapter 2

Preparation

~Lucy~

"A… quest?" Natsu turned his head to face Lucy. He looked even more terrible since this morning. His eyes had long lost their shine and had dark circles around them, his cheeks pale and somewhat puffy, and his mouth was neither in a smile, nor a frown, as his lips moved, using the least amount of energy possible. He looked like an abandoned puppy, or well, dragon. His expression did not only reveal his depressed state, but also that he was love sick.

Lucy nodded her head. "Yep!"

"With whom?" he questioned, sounding more bored than interested.

"You, me, and anyone else who wants to go!" Lucy exclaimed, "think of it as a group outing!"

"Eh, I don't know, Lucy," Natsu told her, "I'm Just not up for it…"

"Did I mention that it is right outside of town, so we won't have to use any transportation?" Lucy was not going to give up. "And our employer is a local chef so he cooks lots of food!" Lucy waited for Natsu to reply but he just turned around and watched Gray and Elfman finish their completion. This is not going very well, Lucy sighed, I will give him one more push, and if he doesn't want to go then I will try something else. Lucy waved her hand in Natsu's face.

"What?" He asked.

"Are you sure you don't want to go? It has ninjas! You love ninjas!" She said.

"I already told you no Lucy," Natsu seemed to be a little bit angry.

Gray went up to Lucy and grabbed the quest sheet from her hand. "Ninjas? I'm In!"

"Kyaa! Gray, your clothes," Two half naked men in one day, Lucy thought as she shaded her eyes once again.

Juvia, who had just arrived, overheard Gray and became worried. "My lovely Grey- sama and Lucy going on a quest alone together!? Something must be done!" She walked over to where Lucy and Gray were and yelled, "Juvia will go and assist Lucy and Gray-sama!"

"Hey, Natsu," Gray called, "Don't leave me the only guy here!"

"I volunteer to take Natsu's place!" Erza appeared out of nowhere.

Grey jumped up ten feet in the air. "Geez, Lady! Don't scare me like that!"

"I apologize," She said.

The whole guild went quiet. "Did Erza just apologize?" People whispered. "Maybe she has a cold." "Maybe she hit her head."

Erza sent every guild member a glare. "She heard us!"

"Speaking of which, you do seem to be in an oddly cheerful mood today," Gray pointed out.

"so, what?" Erza replied, "I just so happened to find out that the council has decided to release Jellal in a year."

"Ha! So even Erza has a soft spot!" Gray laughed, "GO have your love fest somewhere else!" He turned to Natsu, "Hey, man, don't leave me the only guy! Come on, you have to come!"

Natsu sighed, "Fine, will that make everyone happy?"

Lucy smiled, "Yes, very much!"

"Juvia wants to know when we leave!" Juvia exclaimed. "So Juvia can prepare herself to look her best for Gray-sama!"

"Oh, brother. . ." was Gray's response.

"How about we go tomorrow?" Lucy suggested. "I really don't know where this quest will take us. As far as I know, we could be chasing some lunatic all over Fiore or battling another Zeref revival.

"Great!" Erza said, "Why don't we all spend the night at Lucy's apartment?"

"NO!" Lucy screamed. Every time Lucy had team Natsu over, something was destroyed.

"Juvia thinks it is a great idea!" Juvia agreed, "Maybe Gray-sama will let Juvia cuddle with him!"

"Fine," Lucy sighed. "No matter what I say, you guys are going to end up doing it anyway. But just remember, I'm locking the doors at eight. It cold enough inside my apartment and I don't want it any colder!"

After the group departed, Lucy decided to head home. She wanted to write to her mother. She picked her pen and began to write.

Dear Mother,

I miss you very much. Natsu is also missing someone very close to him. A month from tomorrow will be Lisanna's 18th birthday. I've told you about Lisanna haven't I? Apparently, she and Natsu were closer than I thought. Mira seemed really worried about him so I decided to invite him on a quest along with the rest of the team. Oh, and Juvia too. Natsu is such a good friend, and I know that I can't replace Lisanna (And I don't really want to. Natsu and I are 100% friend zone.) but it would be nice to at least make him feel better.

Lots of love,

Lucy

Lucy folded the letter and put it in an envelope to store in her drawer full of letters to her mother. She then pulled out her suit case and began to pack for the quest tomorrow.

After packing, she surveyed the apartment. The floor hadn't been vacuumed. The windows were dirty. The trash cans were overflowing with junk. The bed was still unmade and the bathroom needed to be cleaned.

Lucy sighed and began her work. When she was finished, she looked at the clock. It was 6. People would be arriving soon, but she hadn't bought dinner! She didn't have a kitchen so she couldn't cook anything, and she couldn't leave the house for the team to ruin while she was gone. She mentally went through all of her keys. None of them could spontaneously create a meal! Then she remembered the new key she had gotten for saving the cake shop from mutant rats. She thought it would be a useless key. Now it would have a chance to prove her wrong. She pulled out the key. "Open! Gate of the Chef! Louis!" A beautiful woman appeared.

"You called?" She said.

"I thought Louis was a boy's name!" Lucy gasped.

"Yes, I get that a lot. Do you have an order madam?" Louis huffed.

"Yes! Some miso soup, pizza, salad, chocolate cake, steak, ham, apple pie, sausages, leek soup, shrimp, spaghetti, Bread, and some tea!"

The celestial spirit eyed Lucy suspiciously. "Are you seriously going to eat all this? I don't like to have my food wasted!"

"Oh, no, I am having my team over tonight!"

"Okay, but if I hear that you waste a single crumb, I will make sure you get food poisioning!" Louis threatened.

Within seconds, the living room table was filled with hot food. "Thank you very much!" Lucy bowed in respect, "You may return now!"

With an hour and a half left before eight, Lucy decided to take a quick bath. She filled the tub with hot water and slowly got in. The water was soothing and took away the stress. Lucy forgot about the world, closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Ooo! Natsu actually agreed to go! But what's this? Not just Team Natsu, but Juvia too? Watch out Gray, you might be in for some drama! Very smart of Lucy to fall asleep in the bat. What's going to happen if she doesn't wake up before her guests come over, hmm?

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