So here we are with Chapter 2. While I thought that some of the content of the first chapter could lend itself very well to a oneshot, I decided I wanted a bigger, more encompassing story. Read on, and I hope you guys enjoy the encompassingness (that should totally be a real word).

The next morning, the three Fairy Tail wizards gathered their sleeping bags and continued their journey to Hargeon. Not many words were exchanged between Natsu and Lisanna, but there was a difference in the way they smiled at each other. It was more than just a friendly acknowledgement across tables at the guild hall; it was open, uninhibited.

After a little over an hour of walking along the path, Natsu suddenly veered off in a jog, brushing past the shrub. Lisanna and Happy took off after him, asking what the matter was, before they came out into a cliffside clearing, the port city and great ocean down before them.

"We're so close now!" he said eagerly. "Oh, man, I can almost taste that feast!"

Lisanna took in the view of the ocean, gleaming in the morning sunlight. It had been years since she'd visited a beachside town. She found the salty scent that wafted through the air refreshing, and figured that was how Natsu was able to determine their position. She measured the distance from the cliff they stood on, and the borders of Hargeon. "We could probably fly from here the rest of the way," she suggested. "It'd mostly be an easy glide."

"Speak for yourself," Happy grumbled. "You wouldn't be the one carrying him."

"Come on, buddy!" Natsu insisted. "The sooner we get down there, the sooner we can take care of that gang of wild beasts and get our party on!"

With that, Lisanna used her Animal Soul magic to become an elegant white dove. Happy sprouted his wings and grabbed the back of Natsu's vest, and they began to flap away off the cliff. The thermals felt like cushions of air under their wings, the breeze also lending support as they descended into the city. It only took a couple of minutes before they landed in front of the train station, teeming with activity already.

Natsu shot the trains, both arriving and departing, dirty looks to counteract the queasiness in his stomach as Lisanna regained her human form. They didn't make it very far from the station before they heard a voice calling them from across the street.

"Hey! Over here!" an annoyed woman waved them down. She was dressed in a frilly, billowing dress of white and pale pink, and a sparkling tiara around her blonde updo. Her frown exaggerated the lines in her face despite the heavy make-up she was wearing. As the three approached her, it seemed that she remembered to be courteous, giving them a small bow. "Welcome, wizards of Fairy Tail. I'm Miss M, and I'm the one who requested your help."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss M," Lisanna said with a smile. "I see you've already gotten dressed for the feast tonight."

"There's no way I'd ever go to a feast wearing something like this," she mumbled in distaste, then seemed to catch herself again. "I mean, I'm so underdressed! This isn't nearly fabulous enough for such an event!"

Happy and Lisanna turned to each other with curious looks, but Natsu simply folded his arms in front of his chest. "Anyway, where can we find these wild beasts of yours? I'm planning on building up an appetite!"

Miss M gave him a coy grin. "We don't know where they are exactly, or when they'll strike. What I can do for you is take you to where we'll be holding the banquet, so you can be ready to intercept them when they make themselves known."

"How do you know they're gonna attack your feast, anyway?" Happy asked. This hadn't occurred to either of his human companions yet.

Their host scowled at him for an instant, before slipping back into a smile. "A beautiful dark-haired girl from your guild told me when I asked her to read my fortune using magic cards," she answered, the tiniest hint of smugness in her voice. "To be honest, I was hoping she would've been the one to answer my request. That gal seemed like she knew how to party."

"You must be talking about Cana," Natsu said with a smirk. "Don't worry, we're pretty fun, too."

"Aye!"

As Miss M lead them through the streets on their way to the banquet hall, Lisanna converged with her teammates. "Do you guys have a weird feeling about all this, too?" she whispered. "I mean, doesn't something seem off about Miss M? And the way Erza was acting when she asked us to take on this job... I'm starting to get some strange vibes."

"This is kinda weird," Happy agreed. "Didn't the reporter in the forest mention something about Wendy and Gajeel talking about a secret plan? What if that's somehow connected to what we're doing here?"

Natsu shrugged. "Everything seems fine to me," he said obliviously. "You guys are just being paranoid."

Miss M, after navigating through a complex series of turns to a more isolated area of the town, stopped before a gated entrance. On the other side stood a quaint building, where they could see tables of food, barrels of alcohol and brilliant ice sculptures being rolled inside by a team of workers through a side entrance. "This is the House of M," she declared proudly. "As you can see, we are preparing for the dinner now. Just a few more hours until it starts!"

"What're you celebrating, anyway?" Lisanna asked. "It must be something big if you're going all out like this."

Miss M glanced off into the distance for a second, a frown on her face. "It's a surprise party for some friends of mine that I'm helping get together," she answered, sounding distracted. She then winced, as if someone was yelling in her ear.

"If this party's meant for someone else, then why would you offer to make us the guests of honor?" Happy asked.

Again, there was a pause before Miss M spoke. "Because - oh no! The wild beasts are here!" she suddenly cried, pointing behind the trio. In one quick motion, she opened the gate, slipped into the other side, and shut it, running into the building. "Good luck!"

They turned around to find two large, imposing monsters. One of them was a Gorian, its familiar dumb grin easily recognizable as the type of creature that would harass them in the forest when they were younger. The other was slightly shorter and more humanoid in appearance, but equally as muscular as its companion. It was evidently female, with pink shoulder-length hair, and its two-piece black and white clothing designed to keep its modesty. It also must've been in captivity at some point, because it had broken shackles on its wrists.

"You know, when they said we'd be dealing with a gang, I didn't expect just two of them," Happy said, scratching his ear.

"Finally!" Natsu smirked wildly, cracking his flaming knuckles. "Let's show these guys what Fairy Tail wizards can do!"

"Yeah! Animal Soul: Cat!" Lisanna shouted, taking on her preferred battle form. She hissed at their enemies, claws at the ready.

The pair of beasts charged at the wizards, but they acrobatically jumped over their swinging arms. Lisanna struck at the pink-haired one with a blinding flurry of her swipes, sending it flying back. She was prepared to follow up her attack, but was surprised to see that her opponent was already down for the count.

Natsu, looking to exact revenge for his childhood dealings with the Gorians, showed no mercy as he lunged at the beast. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" he cried, punching it in the gut without any measure of restraint. It flew back with great force - enough to send it crashing through the front gate, and into the House of M.

Needless to say, it toppled shortly thereafter, but not before Miss M and the slew of servers managed to escape the collapse. After the dust and dirt cleared, the three wizards were shocked to find Lucy, Gray, and their other Fairy Tail friends were the ones dressed as workers.

"What the -? Where did you all come from?" Natsu asked, temper flaring. "You better not be here to try to get in on our food reward!"

Lisanna walked up to the group, which was adding in its numbers with the arrival of three figures from down the street. It was Mira, Erza, and a sharply-dressed wizard with dirty-blond hair. "What's really going on here, guys?"

Lucy stepped in front of everyone, her smile the biggest of all. "Well, here's the thing," she began slowly. "I noticed that ever since you came back from Edolas, Lisanna, you and Natsu haven't been as close as you were a few years ago. So, I came up with this fake job request to rekindle that fire, so to speak."

"Fake?!" they echoed.

The Celestial mage nodded. "I wasn't around at the time, but everyone who was told me that the two of you were almost inseparable growing up. But for whatever reason, none of us have seen you interact all that much since you returned. No one is surprised that you'd spend a lot of time with Elfman and Mira, but even then, you and Natsu were just as close, right?"

Being at the center of everyone's smiles, with the truth of their plan dawning on them, Natsu and Lisanna couldn't help but blush and avoid everyone's gazes.

"And that's when I decided that the two of you needed some alone time together," Lucy continued, grin widening even more. "I came up with a brilliant plan to make that happen, if I do say so myself. But I was gonna need some help from the rest of the guild - and even outside of it, too.

"First, I thought of a job that would involve fighting and food, Natsu's favorite things. What better way to combine the two than having to defend a feast? Just like any performance, we were gonna need props for the set. So, I had Reedus draw up the food you saw being taken into the house, and those ice sculptures for flair? Gray's doing, of course."

Miss M took a few steps forward, holding a mug of beer, and was enveloped by a glow. When the light dissipated, Cana stood in her place, grinning as she gulped her drink down. "When Lucy asked if I could act as the client, she told me it was because there wasn't anyone better for an improvisational role. She chose my costume after she looked through my transformation cards, giving me the gaudiest look she could. The real killer, though, was not being able to drink to keep the smell of alcohol from giving me away."

"Even if you didn't smell like alcohol, I'd still know the rest of you were all here in that house," Natsu said pointedly, still not looking at any faces. "How were you able to mask your scents?"

"Lucy sent us to visit Blue Pegasus to borrow some of Mr. Ichiya's parfums," Wendy said brightly, stepping up with Carla at her feet. "She knew you'd figure us out right away if we didn't do anything to hide us from your nose."

"Blondie asked us to tag along with the kid, to keep those Blue Pegasus punks in check," Gajeel said gruffly, Pantherlily nodding in confirmation.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," the wizard Lisanna didn't recognize spoke up in disdain. When he turned to her, it was with a kind smile. "I'm Hibiki, from Blue Pegasus. When I heard about Lucy's plan, I came back with your guildmates, thinking she could use some help in keeping things organized. Using my Archive magic, I found this vacant house for us to use for the set, and I've been telepathically directing everyone to make sure things went as smoothly as possible. Of course, some of our cues weren't exactly on time."

It was at this moment that the crowd of Fairy Tail members parted to make way for the hobbling duo of beasts they had just fought. The Gorian shrunk down in a glow to become Elfman, while the other reverted back into Virgo's petite maiden form.

"Only a real man was gonna play the part of the wild beasts!" he declared boldly, despite wincing as he held his midsection. For his little sister's happiness, taking one of Natsu's signature blows was a price he would gladly pay. It was the least he could do for the two. "It's disgraceful that only Lucy's Celestial Spirit was also man enough for the job!"

"I'm happy to serve you, Princess," Virgo said, bowing her head. "Please, do not hesitate in punishing me again."

"This wasn't supposed to be a punishment!" Lucy cried. Softening up, she held up Virgo's key, allowing her contracted spirit to return to her home in the Celestial World. "I really do appreciate the help, though, so thanks." She turned back to Natsu and Lisanna, continuing her explanation. "After we sorted all those roles out, the next step was getting you to actually accept the job. There was only one person I could turn to to create a request flier that no one would suspect as fake."

Levy smiled as Lucy extended her arm towards her. "Just doing what I could to lend a hand," she said modestly, even as Jet and Droy celebrated her greatness.

"Lucy originally asked Mirajane if she could be the one to suggest the mission to the two of you, but once I got word of her plan, I just knew that I too needed a role to play," Erza said, her eyes alight for her love of performance.

"I couldn't say no to Erza when she asked if she could take my place, and of course you two wouldn't say no when she'd ask you to take the job," Mira said sweetly. "I was happy with just making sure everything went as planned in the guild hall, like you being at the request board when Natsu arrived."

For a few seconds, everyone remained silent as the two absorbed everything they had been told. "You guys did all this... for us?" Lisanna asked. She was still having trouble believing the lengths her friends had gone to. All that planning and coordination, just to allow her and Natsu to go on an ersatz adventure together.

"That's right," Lucy replied, a legion of nodding behind her. "Everyone that's been at the guild for years knew there was something special between the two of you. I've seen hints of it myself whenever I saw you watching her from across the room, Natsu - there's a gentleness there that I've never seen out of you before. But I also noticed hesitation and longing, and that's what we all hoped you would overcome on this mission."

The guild members all expected Natsu to say something, but he only stood there, head low to keep his expression inscrutable. Some thought he was enraged and ready to explode, while others figured the boy was just too embarrassed to offer any words. Lisanna also refrained from speaking up on their behalf, but at the very least she appeared grateful for their efforts.

"I bet you guys all want the details on what happened in the forest last night," Happy said knowingly, trying to raise the suspension. Judging from the looks on their faces, it worked. "It's too bad they'll never tell you, and I was asleep, so I guess you'll never know."

The crowd groaned, while Natsu and Lisanna felt relief in not being exposed. It was a nice thing they had done for the childhood friends, but some things were better kept between the most special of relationships. Happy was more than happy to rub that fact in.

"We understand," said Erza. "You have no obligation to explain yourselves. We only hope that we were able to help bridge a gap between two old friends."

Scenes from the previous night replayed in their minds, from the way their fingers interlocked as they held hands, to the surge of awkward excitement after their first kiss. In a rather telling hint, the two shared a quick smile, resulting in a grand cheer from their friends.

"Hold on a sec," Natsu said darkly, his demeanor changing instantly as he scowled at the crowd. "Before you start going crazy, I just have one question about this fake plan: is there really no feast?!"

Lucy grinned, motioning to the wreckage behind her. "I had a feeling this place would be going down in true Natsu fashion, so there was never supposed to be a feast here." Her teammate's expression turned sorrowful and disappointed, prompting her to wink at him. "Back at the guild, though, I might've asked the master if he could have something arranged for us when we got back."

Now the Dragon Slayer and the Exceed joined in on the cheering, yelling the loudest of all. Lisanna giggled at the scene.

- 0 -

Just a few hours later, the guild hall back in Magnolia was in an upheaval of celebration. Natsu got over his motion sickness from the train ride home in record time, gobbling up fire and food alike. Lisanna displayed superior table manners beside him, and would've playfully chided him if they weren't still the major focus of the room.

As the festivities wore on, people broke away into subsections of the party. They were glad to have a little more breathing room, but they still weren't clear of their best friends, who gawked at them from the table across the walkway, murmuring about how happy they looked. Wendy pointed out they might be happier if they didn't stare at them the whole time, but of course, that bit of youthful clarity went unregarded.

"Hey, Natsu," Lisanna said softly. If he hadn't been next to her, he doubted he would've been able to hear her.

"Yeah?" he asked, taking a sip from a flaming mug.

"No matter what the guild thinks, nothing's changed." Her smile was apprehensive. "We're still the same Natsu and Lisanna we've always been. We don't need to act any differently, okay?"

"Okay," he said slowly, uncertain of what exactly she was getting at. "What about last night? Does that mean you don't wanna... you know...?"

Lisanna blushed. "I - maybe we can talk about that some other time. When it's just the two of us," she said, looking up at Happy, who was doing an unconvincing job of pretending he didn't know what they were talking about.

Just then, a shirtless Gray strode over to their table, grinning at the two. "I was wondering, Natsu," he began, quickly glancing at Lucy. "Are you gonna start letting Lisanna wear your scarf?"

"What? Igneel gave me this scarf!" he protested. After a second, he wondered whether he'd really be okay with allowing the white-haired girl beside him to be an exception, and was surprised to realize he actually wasn't entirely bothered by the idea. Her smile then reminded him of what they'd just talked about, however, so his answer stood.

Gray shot Lucy a smug grin, whose head sunk as she muttered something about her rent money. "I didn't think getting a girlfriend would make you give up that scarf," he said, speaking very casually for someone who had just done away with his pants in the blink of an eye.

Before Natsu could verbally bite his head off for his comment and the nudity, Lisanna asked with a big smile, "By the way, Gray, have you seen Juvia around?"

The ice mage turned stonefaced at the name. "Oh, man. I knew there was someone I forgot to let in on the plan."

On cue, the doors burst open, revealing a Juvia furious enough to set the entire partying guild on pause.

"I will not give up my darling Gray so easily to you!" she exclaimed, pointing at a confused Lucy. With a rampaging cry, she set off a massive tidal wave that swept throughout the entire floor level of the hall, cries ringing out as everyone was caught in the torrent.

When the water cleared, the first thing Natsu saw was Juvia cradling a dazed Gray, muttering an apology for being caught in her storm of love. He then felt awfully bare as he sat up, and turned to see Lisanna doing the same a few feet away, his scarf draped across her shoulders.

Once she noticed it, she immediately slipped it off, and wrung it of the excess water before holding it out to him. His first instinct was to take it back, but for some reason, he found himself speaking instead. "It looks good on you," he said quietly.

"That... counts..." Lucy was heard faintly.

Gildarts chuckled, watching the scene from the second floor with Happy, who had escaped the wave by flying upwards. He held out his mug as a toast as he shared a grin with the cat, briefly picturing the pair as the children he once knew them as.

Lisanna wrapped the scarf around herself again, but it was left slightly askew. A fold poked up to cover her mouth, which irked him. He reached over to smooth it out, revealing a smile just as beautiful as the one she'd given him the night before. Again, all he could do was take it in, with a smile of his own.

And that's the end of the story, folks. I do wish that I didn't have to keep all the other characters relegated to such small roles, but that was the nature of the fic, I suppose. In any case, I'm very proud of my work here, even more so with how much I enjoyed writing it out. I hope to anyone that reads this enjoyed it as well, and some advanced thanks go out to those that drop a review, as well. It's always such a reward to hear what the audience thinks, so if you'd be so kind, I'd be very grateful.