Alfred took his time eating, or at least slower then usual, knowing that he probably wouldn't get much of a chance later to eat like this. Afterwards he decided to have a look around town. Magnolia was big, but not as big as some of his cities, like New York or Chicago, where the population numbers made your mind cringe. It was a beautiful town, Magnolia. Not too big, not too small, but just right. Anyone could be happy living in such a nice place.

He continued to drift to the south end of town, past the Fairy Tail guild, and came to an extremely large lake. Wind blew quite calmly here, waves rippling on the surface of the water, and the smell of fresh water danced on your tongue. Mountains we're visible to the right, though they were quite distant and the rocky cliffs went on for miles. Waves continued to smash themselves up against the giant rocks causing mist to settle on your skin.

"Whoa…" Alfred's bright blue eyes lit up, the sight was gorgeous. "It looks exactly like Iliamna Lake back home in Alaska… I didn't know they had sights like this here too…" He started going into a dreamy daze as he stared at the beautiful, shinning lake unfolded in front of him. The picture was impossible to tear your eyes from; exotic one might say. As Alfred forced himself to look around at the other scenery, his eyes caught sight of stunning, red hair flying its way through the air, belonging to no other than Erza Scarlet.

'Why's she here?' He thought, but soon took notice of the fact the she was sitting on the edge of the cliff, arms around her knees. Without much thought on the matter, he took off to greet her.

"Erza!" Alfred exclaimed cheerfully, running at full speed to her side. When he got close enough, he slid down on his knees and hugged her, grinning. "What's up, dude?"

Erza looked confused; she defiantly wasn't expecting to be hugged so randomly.

"Alfred?" She questioned, pushing him away from her, "What are you doing here?"

"I went to look around town, and I ended up here!" He said happily, smiling at her.

She stared into his intense, blue eyes, losing her train of thought in them. What had she been thinking about saying? Her words were lost, and her mind had wondered into her own little world. His eyes looked so clear, so happy, so… free. Why couldn't she feel free like that? Sure, she had friends that made her feel that way, but the feeling of emptiness always came back later. She wanted to be rid of it forever, but it would never completely go away! As she looked into that deep, blue, shining abyss, the longing for that freedom struck her, causing small tears to form in her eyes.

"Erza? Erza?" Alfred had been trying to get her attention; she had no idea for how long. She forced herself back into reality, shaking the tears away.

"Oh? Uh, sorry Alfred…" An embarrassed smile crossed her face, "I started staring off into space."

"Haha, that's okay!" Alfred responded, his smile returning. Erza smiled in return. He always seemed to be happy, besides earlier that day when he had found out she was alive, but even then he was glad. She didn't understand why, but it interested her. Something about this Alfred pulled at her heart, in a way which she had only felt once before, and she longed for this feeling to stay this time. She wouldn't let it shatter again and tear away at her heart like it had once before.

"Erza," Alfred started, but a large gust of wind picked up, knocking over the guy who was kneeling, and only sending Erza's long hair blowing like crazy. "Oof!" His shoulder hit the ground, then lifting his body up with his arms he said, "Is there always really random wind like that?"

Erza looked out over the lake to see giant, dark clouds making their way to Magnolia. Then she stood up, dusting off her skirt that blew under her armor.

"Only when there's a storm on its way, which there seems to be." The wind picked up more, and Erza held her hair down with her hand. "We better get going then. Don't want to be caught out in a storm, and this one looks bad."

"Then in we go! We heading back to the guild?"

"The guild would be good. There's people to talk with during storms there."

"Alright then!" Alfred turned around and took a few strides toward Magnolia, but turned back around when he realized Erza didn't seem to be following. "Erza, what's up?" He said cautiously.

Erza had been rubbing her eye and wincing at the ever so slight pain that pinched her eye. "It looks like I got something in my eye, but I'm fine now, nothing to worry about."

"Oh?" Alfred slid up beside Erza and placed his hands on her face. They were warm, causing Erza to relax and give into his offer. He looked intensely at her beautiful, brown eye as she moved it up and down for him. After a while, Alfred told her to stop moving, and then backed up, thumb out.

"Leaf." He said very seriously.

"A leaf?"

"Yup! Haha, I came to your rescue! See how much of a hero I am?" He was laughing quite hard now, very pleased with his heroicness.

Erza started giggling, her voice behind him, "Well, you'll be more of a hero if you walk with me back to the guild, instead of stand there laughing like an idiot!" She yelled back at him jokingly, walking farther ahead of him.

At that Alfred stopped laughing and looked behind him. Sure enough, Erza was already quite far ahead of him.

"H-hey!" He yelled, running to catch up to her.

On the other side of town Arthur and Lucy had been training, calling out different stellar spirits and occasionally getting in fights over useful things and then sometimes things that had nothing to do with anything. Like how they got in a fight about what type of tea was the best, and different things making someone a gentleman, or lady. Lucy, have had being a "proper lady", understood these things Arthur had wished upon himself, but not sure exactly why he wanted to be known as a gentleman so badly. Though, having a gentleman around couldn't be much of a bad thing, besides his tsundereness*.

They too had made it back to the guild when they saw the storm coming. Arthur wouldn't admit it, but he had taken a liking to this Lucy girl. The glances he kept giving her were enough to say that. Maybe it was what she wore that caught his attention. The blond liked to wear low cute shirts that showed off her cleavage, and that would catch any guys attention with how large her boobs were. Short skirts with boots also seemed to be something she liked. Clothes that made every guy stare at her until they got used to it.

Or maybe Arthur really did have a thing for her, and it wasn't just the clothes. If he did, who knows if she would ever feel the same about him. With those creepy, thick eyebrows of his how could any girl? Though, maybe, someday, someone would come along who could stand them, or maybe even like them. Who knew what would happen. This was a different world after all.

"Iggy!" Alfred yelled, greeting Arthur at the door, "How did your day go?"

"Is that the first thing you ask someone when they get home?"

"This isn't home Iggy… Oh, um, Arthur."

"You've called me that enough… jeez… Old nicknames don't die easy with you, do they? Anyways, it may not be home technically, but a guild is like a home. I'll leave it at that and your small mind can wonder about the rest."

"We've just been trying out some stellar spirit techniques!" Lucy interrupted, hand up in a half wave, actually answering Alfred's question. "But this guy here has a problem fighting with people."

"That not my fault! You started all those fights!"

"You're the one who brought up tea! I just had to input my opinion on that!"

"It's not like you had to respond to that comment! Maybe if you just left it at that, we could have avoided the whole thing!"

Alfred snuck himself nervously away from the bickering Arthur and Lucy, who had discovered their new found love of fighting with each other. He sat himself down beside Erza, who was having a friendly chat with Natsu and Gray... and Happy.

"So Alfred has finally decided to join us?" Gray said when Alfred took his seat.

"Haha, sure thing!"

"So you're an official member of Fairy Tail now? Why don't you join our team then?"

"You can't do that!" Natsu yelled back, "This is our team! Why should we just let him in without knowing anything about him? What if he can't even fight!"

"I think it's a great idea." Erza said, "Natsu, even if it's just a few jobs, we'll get to know him better. What do you say, Alfred?"

"That'd be awesome! Sure! I'd love too! Can Iggy, Arthur I mean, join too? I don't think he has any team to go with. He'd probably get mad at me to if I just joined a team without telling him."

"Well, Lucy looks like she's getting along with him." Gray responded, "That is, if you count fighting getting along." He laughed.

"Oh, they're just getting to know each other." Erza added. "Why not?"

"Great!" Alfred paused for a second, "Would anyone mind getting them then?"

"I'll go." Erza said, rather willing.

"Oh God…" Gray's voice cowered, and Natsu started laughing saying something like, "They're gonna get it this time!" Did Alfred want to know why they started acting like this? He discovered soon though as he watched Erza rip the two of them apart and throw them on the floor, a sword jabbed into the ground by each of their feet.

"Now will there be any more fighting here?" He heard Erza shout, Arthur and Lucy responding with head shakes of 'no'. "Good! Now move your asses over to Natsu and the others!"

They followed her orders, glancing back and forth at each other but keeping their faces turned from each other.

"What's up, Iggy?" Alfred asked, leaning over to Arthur as he passed by, "You're fighting with her more then you've fought with me today."

"W-what? And you think that means something? She's just annoying!" He tried to keep his complexion, but his heart was racing at this question. Arthur knew what Alfred was meaning by that, and there was no way he was going to admit it in a million years.

Lucy had heard his comment and gave him a glare. With Erza there she wasn't even going to try and say anything, but she was determined to beat him with her eyes. All of them took their seats, Arthur sitting by Alfred, and Lucy and Erza sitting next to Gray. Erza spoke up.

"Arthur, we've decided we're going to add you and Alfred into our team for the time being, to get to know you two more."

"And this team consists of?"

"Me, Lucy, Gray, Natsu and Happy. And then you and Alfred if you agree."

With that Lucy shuttered and Arthur's face grew in a disgusted matter.

"Oh come on, Iggy!" Alfred yelled, slapping Arthur's back, "This could be fun!"

Arthur let out a sigh, "Fine. But I'm not responsible for any problems that this git ends up causing," He pointed to Alfred, "and I will not be the one to blame for any fights this woman gets me into." He glared at Lucy, causing her grind her teeth in anger, or was it something else?

"Then that settles it!" Gray said, grinning, "What's our first job?"

"Hold up!" Arthur said, "Alfred and I need a little more time before we take on any jobs. We just got here today you know. Maybe by tomorrow, but not just yet."

"That's fine by me." Erza responded, "We can't really do much anyways with this storm coming."

"Aaaaawww!" Natsu shouted, "Me and Happy we're planning on taking on a job today!"

"Aye!"

"Well then you go by yourselves." Gray said.

"Natsu," Lucy added, "You're gonna get soaked!"

"That's what fires for!" Natsu laughed. Lucy sighed.

"I guess that's true. How about I go with then?" She smiled, using her arms to hold herself up off the seat.

"Lucy's coming with us?" Happy asked.

"Haha! Come on then Lucy! You can pick the job this time!"

"Really? Thanks guys!" Lucy, Natsu and Happy ran off to the job board where they stood for a few minutes picking out a job. Natsu and Happy continued to bug Lucy, telling her to hurry up, causing her to get flustered and cry cowardly at them.

They hung around and talked until the storm passed, then it was so late that everyone parted and went home. Alfred offered to walk Erza back to her dorm, and she let him, leaving Arthur to all the searching. Once Alfred came back to the guild he met up with Arthur there, who lead them to the small, two bedroom house he had rented out. It was a nice place for only two people. Of course it wasn't as big and decorated as the mansion both of them lived in back home, but they could deal.

Morning came in no time, and Alfred snuck off before Arthur awoke e to train. Arthur, waking up a few hours later, freaked, scared Alfred went to do something stupid. He ran to the guild looking for him, but Alfred ran in a few minutes later, ecstatic to show Arthur something.

"Iggy! Iggy! I did it! I did it!" Alfred shouted, swinging Arthur around in circles.

"Okay! I got it!" Arthur yelled back, "Where the bloody hell were you, you git!"

Alfred stopped swinging around and smiled. "I was off training!"

"You could have told me!" Arthur screamed back, "I thought you might burn the whole town down, or something stupid like that!" Alfred hesitated a moment with a blank stare at Arthur.

"Anyways!" He got right back on topic, "I got it down! I can call some really amazingly big birds now! And they actually listen to me! It's so cool!"

"Really?" Arthur replied in disbelief. "Show me."

"Eh?"

"Show me. I won't believe you until you show me."

"Aww, come on Iggy!"

"Show me."

"Fine." Alfred ran out and headed up towards the cliff they had landed on, Arthur trailing behind trying to catch up. "See? Watch!" He said when he was far enough out and Arthur had come up over the cliff. Alfred stretched out his hand in front of him, he seemed to be concentrating as his eyes were wide open and his face wore a very serious expression. A rift of some sort opened not far from where his hand was placed letting an eagle fly out from it. The eagle was normal size, about the same if they saw it in their world. Again, he moved his hand, now in an upward motion, but this time he said something. Arthur couldn't make it out, he had said it too fast. The bird flew up and out of sight, and Alfred reached his hand to the ground and another rift opened.

A humongous bird came out this time, carrying Alfred on its back. He had said a few more words and the eagle flew up just like that last one. The other bird came back into view, Alfred moving his hands this way and that, and the eagle flew around the larger one in circles, or spirals. Arthur just stood and stared. Alfred threw his hand up and then threw it down to his side slowly. Eagle after eagle appearing as his hand moved, some of them flying up and some flying down under the larger one, who was still flying with Alfred on its back. It was as if Alfred was putting on some sort of show, which was truly amazing.

Arthur fell back in awe at this, his mouth wide open. He couldn't even summon more than two of his own stellar spirits. How was Alfred able to summon so many at once? He couldn't grasp it and just sat watching what Alfred was doing.

A few minutes later, after Alfred had shown almost all of the tricks he had discovered, the eagles disappeared and they were left alone again on the cliff.

"So?" Alfred asked cheerfully, a huge grin on his face. "What do you think? Believe me now?"

Arthur was speechless. He tried to say something but only a few sounds made it out.

"Wah… how… uh… what!"

"Oh, is it not good?" He cowered back in a very innocent manner; his index fingers pointed together, eyes big and child-like.

"How the bloody hell did you do that?" Arthur yelled, causing Alfred to jump in surprise.

After he regained himself, he laughed, "I just trained. Maybe you should try it sometime, Iggy!"

"Are you implying that I'm weak?"

"I never said that." Alfred grinned.

"Well, lucky you." Arthur said, turning his back and crossing his arms, "Getting magic down so easy like that when you've never believed in it your whole damn life! So take a job or something now! Earn some money, you useless git!"

Alfred stood with a blank stare now. Was it because of Arthur's statement on money?

Flashback

Before they were sucked into this world, he had caught a slight cold and got over most of it. Even though he had healed mostly, it didn't stop his boss from spending tons and tons of money. This had only been the second time Alfred owed so much to other countries.

Present

"Ok." Alfred finally responded, "Let's test out these awesome heroic skills of mine!"

He was back to his normal self again, annoying and oblivious. Taking no thought about Arthur and what he was doing, he ran full speed to the edge of the cliff, then back to the guild to pick out a job. Once he was there he jerked to a stop by the request board. Alfred picked each piece of paper up gently to look at what it was, then set each back down again. He did this for a while, groaning, not knowing what job he should take first.

"Taking on a job, Alfred?" A woman asked, walking up to him. It was Erza.

"Oh, hey!" He turned and smiled at her. "Yeah… But I can't decide."

"What type are you looking for?"

"Something that would show how much of a hero I am!" He said, laughing.

"Oh, really?" She replied sarcastically, giggling at him, "How many jobs have you taken before this?" Alfred's face got red.

"Uh… well…"

"So you're new at this then?" She smiled, "Well then, mind if I tag along with you? It could be fun, and I'll be able to show you all the things about taking on a job."

"Really?" Alfred's eyes lit up, "That would be great!" he gave her a surprised hug with that, causing her to blush. After he let go, she moved her hair behind her ear, her face still a light pink.

"No problem." Erza moved over and took over looking at the board, "How about this one?" She asked, showing him the paper. It was something about killing a creature that had been tormenting a town by eating the villagers. "This shouldn't be too hard. Actually, I don't even know the kind of magic you use, Alfred. What is it?"

"Summoning!" He grinned.

"What kind?"

"Eagles."

"Ah! Okay. This will probably work then. With both of us helping." She smiled. "You okay with this?"

"Yeah! That one works fine."

Erza brought the paper up to Makarov who acknowledged their decision. After that, Erza motioned for Alfred to follow her out of the guild, which he did. He was going to work for the first time in this strange new world. Using magic at that! Something he had never believed in, up until now.

Tsundere - Japanese slang. A character who is cold and gets pissed off easily on the outside, but is nice, caring and gentle on the inside

So that concludes chapter 3. Sorry it took so long to get up. I had some problems with my Microsoft word and internet. My beta also took a bit of time to actually get on line and read it over. So combine it took an extra week to post this chapter. Now its fine though, chapter 4 should be uploaded this week sometime. Maybe early next week.

Again, I'm sorry if any of the characters are OOC. I really didn't mean to do it. I think I'm having the most difficulty with Alfred(even though he is my favorite.)