Chapter Forty-one

Once Master Bob's focus on Laxus had finally been broken, he took Laxus, Wendy, Bixlow, Charle, Doranbolt, who we had brought in when asked if we had Council permission to go against a dark guild, me and the Trimen all into his office so that I could explain the situation fully. And I mean fully. He refused to allow me to leave out a single detail. We had to explain everything right from the moment I had gotten hurt to now. Once we had told our story, Hibiki came forward and said that there was a small amount of information in his Archive about the Moonlight Reaper guild, but nothing recent, so he would need to do more research. We told him that it was fine since we had a job we needed to get to and would be back in a few days, and if they still had nothing then they could contact Fairy Tail anytime.

"I hope that they'll be able to find something on Moonlight Reaper, anything really." I say as we board the train to Amourose. In front of me, Laxus grunted. Or scoffed. I frowned at his attitude towards the Blue Pegasus members. I was about to speak up to defend them when Wendy beat me to it.

"They've always been there for us in the past, like the ordeal with the Oracion Seis, and they never stopped looking for us during the seven years that we were missing. I don't see why now would be any different." Wendy finished as we sat down. I was beside Wendy, and Bixlow was beside Laxus. Doranbolt had disappeared to who knows where. As if our sitting down was the cue, the train lurched forward and began its journey.

"They might not be able to find anything though. Considering we were in the council headquarters for weeks and came across nothing until after the fight and we came back home, it's entirely possible that there's nothing to find." Laxus' motion sickness had started to get the better of him as he began to slouch and lean against the cold window.

Wendy brought up her legs in front of her and sighed as she rested on her knees, Charle hopping to the space between us, "I suppose that's true."

"Bixlow, switch seats with me." I said after I saw Bixlow grit his teeth in pain when his shoulder bumped against the cabin wall. Bixlow played off the pain quickly and waggled his tongue out at me, my mind quickly revealed that he was probably going to bring up the private conversation I had with Evergreen all those weeks back that he had eavesdropped on.

"Wendy needs to be able to get at your arm easily to heal it properly." I said quickly while narrowing my eyes at Bixlow. I don't care how dead to the world Laxus might look, that is not something that needs to be discussed, or even mentioned, in front of him.

Bixlow stood and crossed the compartment, taking my seat by the window the knowing grin, that was somehow also a smirk, never leaving his face. Wendy got to work on his shoulder without even bothering to ask him to remove his shirt so that she could see it, which I was slightly thankful for.

Roughly twenty minutes went by in silence before Wendy spoke, "Sorry, Bixlow, I'm still really worn out from yesterday, I can't heal any more at the moment. I can tell you that I'm basically having to rebuild all the muscle and tendons in this area, even a lot of the bone. I'm amazed you aren't passed out on the ground from how much pain you must be in. Once I've finished healing this you'll be incredibly sore, and your movement will be limited for a while. You're lucky that Laxus could burn it all before any more damage could be done so there will be no permanent damage."

I felt relief at Wendy's final sentence, but the guilt that had been in me since Bixlow first got hurt was eating at my insides when Wendy quickly went through what she was having to do to heal him, and implying just how much pain Bixlow really was in.

The rest of the journey to Amourose was quiet, save for the occasional groan from Laxus whenever the train jostled him.

Arriving in Amourose, after Doranbolt had joined us again, we began walking to the address on the job request sheet. I could feel Laxus' discomfort, though his face remained composed, if slightly angrier than usual. I could assume it was the same for Doranbolt. Bixlow was frowning, but I couldn't tell any further than that.

As we walked I took in our surroundings of the town that was stuck in a permanent Valentine's Day. Not that I hadn't been there before, but that was eight years ago, before I even joined Fairy Tail. The cobblestone streets were sleek and shiny, extremely wide for both horse carriages and the large amount of people to move with comfort, and were perfectly flat to accommodate for female's high heels as they walked through town with their significant others. Lining the streets were countless vendors selling flowers, candy, and other assorted items along with the outlandish plethora of heart-themed decorations, including some machines that sent holographic pictures on the side of buildings that seemed to describe the different date spots of the town, and other machines that sent small, shining plastic and glittering paper hearts flying through the air.

I frowned slightly, I forgot about those, they stuck to everything and were impossible to get out of my hair. I rubbed my arms to try and get some of accursed hearts off of me, growling quietly when several just rolled across my skin matching every movement of my hands, simply spreading specs of glitter across my arms and hands.

"Tch." I focused my attention back on my surroundings, purposely forgetting the annoyances even as they tickled my skin.

The town houses and other buildings were in various shades of reds, pinks, and whites, which were all rather gaudy if you asked me. There were restaurants on every street, the smells of the meals being prepared, along with the sweet scent of the candy from vendors and the perfumes of people, all mingling together, some smelling absolutely delectable, others... not so much. The music of love ballads and other such songs were being played from lacryma that were hidden along the streets, though the sounds of people chattering, carriage wheels grinding along the road and clicking heels almost drowned the music out.

I felt both mine and Laxus' annoyance rising as we walked through the town, though Laxus' was definitely more prominent than mine. I was sure my face had taken an expression similar to Laxus'; brow creased, glaring at everything, deep frown.

"What's this mission you were so desperate to get, Cosplayer?" Bixlow spoke suddenly.

I was about to argue that I wasn't desperate for the mission, but, when I recalled that the way I had acted at the guild, it was understandable that someone would come to that conclusion.

Still...

"I wasn't really desperate for the mission," I started in a small voice, pulling the request sheet from my pocket, "I want the silver key that they're offering as a reward."

I scanned the paper, "It doesn't really say what we're being asked to do, it just says that we needed at least one beautiful female, a handsome male, anyone else is optional, and we're to meet the requester at Rosewood Park, which is where our job will take place." I looked up and on one of the walls had an image of the park being projected onto it rather conveniently. My eyes widened as I saw the reason the park was on display.

I coughed lightly, "Although, given new information, I'm guessing that we're going to have to participate in a photoshoot of sorts."

I thought I saw Laxus trip a little at the word 'photoshoot', but I wasn't entirely certain as both Laxus and Bixlow turned to me, forcing me to stop walking, with postures as straight and rigid as possible and grit out the words, "What kind of new information?"

I smiled shakily at them both, "The kind that says that in Rosewood Park there is a well known photographer from Sorceror Weekly using the park for a photoshoot."

"That doesn't mean that includes our job." Bixlow's smile and slowly relaxing posture seemed to exude relief.

"And that mages from certain guilds have been said to participate."

Bixlow's smile almost immediately fell off his face and he seemed to be gloom personified.

Roughly fifteen minutes later we walked into a park that had several cameras set up in different areas of the park that had been blocked off from the civilians while the pictures were being taken. The reasons that they had chosen this park were obvious, it was large, had a pond, a few picnic tables, a garden, a small bundle of trees, and even an area that had some large rocks so there could be several different settings without having to travel any distance. The park was still big enough that there was even a couple of small sets built.

"Where do you suppose the requester is?" Wendy asked after a few minutes of walking through the park. It wasn't overly crowded, but there was enough people to make it troublesome to find what we're looking for.

"I can't tell with all the people here." I looked up at Bixlow, he's taller than basically everyone in existance. "Bixlow," he looked down at me, "do you see anyone official looking?"

Bixlow stood up even straighter and scanned the crowd of people. He stopped when I assume he found what he was looking for. "There's someone with a clipboard standing by some guy talking to a bunch of people with cameras." He quirked his head to the side in question.

"Sounds about right." With a nod, Bixlow led us through the crowd in the direction where he had seen the two.

Once we were behind them, I tapped the man's shoulder to get his attention. He turned around and a smile lit up his face and there seemed to be sparkles in his dark eyes. I opened my mouth to introduce us, but he beat me to it.

"Lucy of Fairy Tail! I so hoped you would be the one to take the request! I even found a Celestial key and put it in as part of the reward in hopes that you would want it and come." The man spoke quickly and excitedly that none of us could get a single word in. "I knew from the moment I saw you in the Grand Magic Games that you would be absolutely perfect for this project of mine. Your looks, your grace, your radiance, everything about you was perfect. Oh, my name's Gideon, the lovely lady beside me is my wife, Chance." Gideon was attractive with a thin face and had lovely blonde curls that made him appear even younger than he already was. When Chance stepped forward, I felt my heart stutter at her beauty, I could harldy believe that this woman wasn't one of the models. She was tall with smooth caramel coloured skin, long pin straight hair that was as dark as the night with deep burgundy eyes.

I smiled and spoke in a light tone, "It's good to meet you both. If you watched the games then you probably already know of Wendy and Laxus, and the other two are Bixlow, another member of Fairy Tail, and Doranbolt, a part of the Rune Knights. The cat is Charle, also a member of Fairy Tail."

Chance spoke for the first time and had a calm, honeyed voice, "Hun, we could probably do two of your projects over the next couple of days with these five here. Bixlow is perfect for the Knight, Doranbolt's scar is perfect for the wolf, and Wendy here is perfect for-"

"Oh my! You are absolutely right! How did I not see it? It's getting rather late to start on those today, though. I know! We'll take their measurements now, then we'll get started in the early morning." Gideon was practically bouncing with joy and excitement, then turned to us, "A few of those pictures need to be done with a sunrise, so I'll need you all to be hear at least forty-five minutes beforehand." Chance had already pushed apart a bit and began taking our measurements before we could even say that Doranbolt would not be participating and Bixlow was still injured from our last mission so he couldn't do too much. Though, she seemed to figure that part out when Bixlow hissed in pain when pressed on his shoulder with the tape measurer. She seemed to scribble down a few notes about it on her clipboard then continued as if nothing had happened.

When she stood in front of me to begin my measurements, I decided then was the time to ask what we were supposed to be doing for the job. "The job request didn't say what our job was, and Bixlow's only really here because Wendy is our guild's healer and she was coming along with us and he has a pretty severe injury. Oh, and Doranbolt is only supposed to be observing us, he wasn't really meant to really be a part of any of our missions."

Chance looked up from my waist and smiled gently, "Don't worry about anything. The job isn't difficult, and should only take tomorrow, so long as everything goes as planned. Believe it or not, Gideon's actually an excellent judge of character," She spared a fond look to her husband who was excitedly telling the photographers what was to be done next, "While we were at the games, Gideon also seriously wanted Laxus to be a part of the project, so when he heard that you and he were spending more and more time together in Magnolia, then went on a large group mission a month ago, he took a chance that Laxus would come with you. He didn't say anything about it because he thinks Laxus wouldn't want that kind of attention thrown on him in a first meeting." I nodded, and I don't think she realizes just how right her husband was about that.

"I also realized the injury on Bixlow, and made notes to make the clothing for him both not as heavy, nor as tight for that area, and we'll be sure that he doesn't have to do anything too strenuous. And Doranbolt will be payed seperately, not as part of your job." When I opened my mouth to protest that that hadn't been the problem, she continued. "I was part of the Rune Knights once. Doing jobs alongside the people you are charged to watch over isn't a problem, so long as you are payed seperately. If you aren't, the Knights see it as owing a favor to a guild or person, which is something superiors don't like to do."

I sighed and let it go. If Doranbolt had a problem, he can speak for himself, I guess.

Once Chance was done with the measurements she looked over her checkboard, making sure she had everything she needed, then brought her deep eyes back up to us. "Well, Gideon already told you to be here early." She stopped speaking a moment, and seemed to only just notice that we still had our bags with us. "There's a hotel right across from the park, but it might be full since all of our staff is staying there as well. Well, this is more of a tourist town anyway, it shouldn't be too hard to find another hotel that has some rooms." She gave a gentle smile, then chuckled as she realized something else, "A town that is mostly service to couples, so finding one with more than one bed per room may be a bit more difficult."

Hello, my muses. I know, I have been gone for quite a while. I've been having difficulties writing this story, and since it has been a few years since I first started writing it, I think I'm going to read it over and try to rediscover what I wanted and what my plans were.

Let me know all your thoughts this chapter. Any review is a helpful one and I really love them all.