YAY, I'VE MADE IT TO CHAPTER 4! Just want to give a shout-out to ErzaDreyar, thank you so much for your reviews for each chapter, you've made me very happy when I read them, and I hope I won't disappoint in the future chapters! Please leave reviews! Don't let Erza hog all the thanks, haha ;)
As the sun was beginning to rise higher into the sky, it penetrated into the home of a certain blonde. Groaning at the intrusion of the sunlight from her window, Lucy snuggled under her blankets more, attempting to hide her face from the sun. Just when she was about to try and sleep some more, she felt a light breath from next to her. Opening her eyes slowly, she noticed some pink hair. Damnit Natsu...
A tick mark appeared on Lucy's forehead when she saw how comfortable he looked sleeping in her bed right next to her. Moving slowly and carefully, she positioned herself just right and sent him flying off the bed and across the room with a 'Lucy Kick.'
Natsu groaned on the ground from the sudden impact, but remained on the floor on the other side of the room, and continued to sleep.
At the impact of Natsu hitting the floor, Ariana's head shot up and she jolted awake at the sudden noise. Looking around, she noticed the sleeping form of Natsu on the other side of the room. Irritated at having her sleep interrupted before she was ready to wake up on her own, she growled at the sleeping man on the floor and attempted to get a few more minutes of sleep.
"I'm sorry Erza, please don't hurt me!" Natsu mumbled in his sleep, his face showing fear as he faced Erza in his dreams.
"Lucy, what did you do to Natsu?" Happy's sleepy voice made the blonde look to her side where Natsu was before she kicked him, to find a blue Exceed sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
Lucy just sighed and layed back down on her bed, reaching over to pet Happy on the head. "Just go back to sleep Happy."
"Aye..." And in no time at all, the blue Exceed was curled up on the bed and sleeping once more.
After everyone got another hour of sleep, Ariana was the first to get up. She got off from the armchair and stretched, then used her nose to find where Lucy placed her clothes and put them on while the others were rubbing sleep away from their eyes.
Natsu was the next to get up, yawning loudly and stretching his arms above his head. He looked over to Lucy, who was awake and climbing out of bed. "Hey Luce! What's for breakfast?" He asked, getting up off the floor, wondering when and how he got there.
Lucy gave him a slight glare before sighing and going into the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. Happy sprouted his wings and flew around the bedroom shouting about food, with Natsu joining him. Ariana looked at the two and sighed. Some humans are just so strange...and that cat, Happy is quite strange as well.
Once she couldn't stand being around the fire breathing moron and his cat any longer, she went into the kitchen to see if she could be of any help to Lucy. The blond smiled at her and let her help with fixing the table and making the breakfast. Despite it being her first time in her life cooking, she did pretty well, at least it was edible.
After everyone ate, and Lucy had her shower, they started walking toward the guild. Happy all of a sudden thought it would be good to tease the new member of their guild, so without another thought, he sprouted wings and hovered near Ariana's head.
"Hey, Ariana. Do you liiiike anyone?" Happy questioned with a snicker as he held his paws to his mouth.
"No. Not in that way, at least." Was her immediate response, with no hesitation at all.
Happy pouted and flew between Lucy and Natsu to annoy the blonde girl.
They finally reached Fairy Tail, and Natsu of course made a loud entrance, kicking in the guild doors and shouting. Lucy and Ariana followed after him, and went to the table where Gray and Erza were sitting.
"Hey you guys!" Lucy waved cheerfully at her friends as she sat down next to Gray. Ariana, a little hesitant at first, sat down next to Erza.
"Hello Lucy, Ariana." Erza greeted.
"Hey Lucy, hey Ariana." Gray waved back.
"Luce, let's go on a mission!" Natsu came over to the table and sat down on the other side of Lucy. The girl just groaned, not really wanting to do a mission just yet.
"Good idea Natsu, we can take Ariana with us. So she can get used to how things work." Erza commented. Ariana blinked at her, not really sure if she wanted to go along with this. However, before she, or the still groaning spirit mage could protest a word, both Erza and Natsu went to look at the mission board. Gray, noticing the two women's silent protest, chuckled at them a bit, patting Lucy on the back in a comforting gesture.
"Ariana." A male voice called out. The wolf's ears twitched and she turned to face the one who called out to her. She smiled faintly once she saw who it was.
"Morning, Lily." The black Exceed smiled up at her from his place on the center of the table.
"I was hoping we could continue our conversation we were having last night before you and Lucy left." Lily was interested to learn more about her.
"I'd like to, but apparently I'll be going on a mission with Lucy and her friends." Ariana replied with slight sadness. She had grown quite fond of the black Exceed, and would even go so far as to think of him as a friend. Friend, huh? She's never once had a friend before, so the word seemed foreign to her.
"I see, when are you leaving?" Lily asked.
"In an hour." Everyone turned to the one who spoke, which was Erza, standing near the edge of the table holding out the flier for the other three to read. Natsu standing beside her, looking excited about the mission they picked.
Gray took the flier and read it out loud for Lucy and Ariana. Pantherlily listened as well, wanting to know what kind of mission they were going to be doing.
"Says here they want us to retrieve a magical amulet that's being guarded by a griffon. Whatever the hell that is..." Gray explained.
"I know what a griffon is." Ariana stated, taking a glance at the flier that was now on the table. "I'll tell you about them on the way there."
Everyone nodded their heads, knowing that packing should come first, explanations later. After making sure everyone knew what to bring along for the mission, Team Natsu, plus Ariana started leaving the guild. "Bye Lily." Ariana gave the Exceed a quick wave and walked out the guild doors behind Lucy.
When everyone was at the train station they all got on the train, with Erza dragging a reluctant Natsu. Once they were all seated, the train started moving. Natsu was lying down with his head in Lucy's lap, while the others sat across from them. Ariana was sitting between Erza and Gray, while Happy sat in the wolf's lap.
"What's wrong with him?" Ariana asked, staring at the groaning Natsu.
"Dragon Slayers have motion sickness."
"Ah. I see." Ariana blinked, still staring at him. "Are you well enough to hear what I have to say about the griffon?" All she got in response was a slight nod. She moved her gaze to look out the window as she began to explain.
"A griffon is a creature that is probably about the size of an adult horse, but sometimes they can get larger. They have the body of both eagle and lion, the front part is the eagle with talons for the front legs, while the lower half is the lion. Not only that, but they have the eagle's wings as well, which means they can fly."
Everyone thought over what was said, then began to plan the best course of action to take against the creature. After a while of discussing, Happy decided to give his input.
"Maybe I can be friends with it, because I'm a flying cat too!"
"Happy, it's more eagle than cat, really. I'm pretty sure it would rather hurt you." Ariana said.
Happy made a sad face, and everyone laughed a little. The Exceed just pouted and decided to curl up and get some sleep. Everyone followed his example and soon all but one was sleeping. Ariana continued to stare out the window of the train.
"I hope this griffon isn't hostile..." And with that, the wolf let her eyes close and drift to sleep.
At the sound of the train stopping, and the announcement of reaching their destination, everyone began to stir and wake up. Natsu yawned and quickly left the train, his shouts of joy from being off the train could be heard. Lucy was the next to get up and walk off the train, followed by Erza, Gray, and last but not least, Ariana, with a still sleepy Exceed in her arms.
As they searched for the home of the request sender, Happy finally woke up and started complaining that he wanted some fish to eat.
"We'll get you something later ok, Happy? Right now we have to meet the person who sent the request." Lucy said, looking back at the pouting cat. In one swift movement, Happy was suddenly in Lucy's arms, with Ariana nowhere in sight. The blonde blinked, wondering what had just happened.
"Hey, where did Ariana go?" Natsu asked. Erza and Gray were just as confused as the the other two.
"Here, this should keep you from complaining for a while." They all turned their heads to see Ariana holding a small bag. She opened it up and took out what looked to be a fish shaped cookie, and handed it to Happy.
"FISH!" Happy flew out of Lucy's grasp and took the cookie gratefully with drool hanging on the side of his mouth. He started munching on it, smiling as he did so. Everyone smiled, and continued walking. Happy landed on Ariana's shoulders and began to devour the rest of the cookies in the bag.
They finally reached the house of the request sender and Erza knocked on the door. The house in front of them was nice looking, a decent sized two story building with a flower garden in a window sill filled with all sorts of different color flowers. The door opened moments later and a tall, husky man was standing there.
"You are the mages that accepted my request, correct?" The man asked. The mages nodded and showed them their guild mark as proof. "Excellent! Please come in so I can explain in further detail." He stepped aside and let them come into the house, and led them to the living room. Everyone took a seat.
"Please explain this mission a little more, Mr...?" Lucy trailed off, realizing he never gave his name.
"My apologies, my name is Christoph Evans. Please just call me Chris." The man stated with a smile. "As I said in the request, I want you to retrieve a magical amulet that's being guarded by a griffon."
"What's so special about this amulet?" Natsu asked.
"That amulet has a special magic that will drain a wizards magic if used the right way. Something like that can't fall into the wrong hands, that is why I sent out a request for it to be retrieved." Chris explained.
"What do you plan to do with it once we give it to you?" Erza asked, concerned.
"I plan to give it to the Magic Counsel." Chris stated. Erza nodded her head approvingly.
"Very well. Don't you worry, we will get that amulet." Erza stood and bowed before walking away, signaling the others to follow.
"WAIT! I forgot to tell you where the griffon is, it's living in the forest temple on the west side of town!" Chris yelled after them, but they were already out the door. He sighed, hoping that at least one of them managed to catch what he just said.
Outside the house, the six of them began walking through the town, when Gray suddenly realized something.
"Wait, just where ARE we going to find this griffon anyway?" Gray asked. Everyone stopped walking, and Erza realized he was right.
"We must go back and ask!" Erza stated, about to turn around. How could I forget such an important detail! She scolded herself.
"He shouted it as we were leaving. He said we can find the griffon in the forest temple on the west side of town." Ariana said. Lucy gave her a questioning look. "I have a canine sense of smell and hearing. I AM a wolf after all."
"Well I'm a Dragon Slayer, how come I didn't hear what he said?" Natsu wondered.
"Maybe because you weren't paying attention..." Lucy said mostly to herself.
"Aye!" Happy agreed.
"Hey!-"
"Enough. We know where to go now, thank you Ariana. Now let's go get that amulet." Erza began to storm off again, leaving the others to follow behind.