It was fairly early in the morning, yet the Fairy Tail guild hall was as lively as it had been all the other times Lucy had been in it. However despite that it was noticeably quieter, perhaps because Natsu and Happy weren't in yet.

Lucy smiled and gave a wave to Mirajane as she made her way to the job board. Thanks to her shopping trip the day before, she now had clothes that wouldn't fall apart in the wash. However as a consequence she really did need to take a job today.

As she stared up at the request board though, her heart sank. There were plenty of jobs available for her to take but she didn't have the knowledge or skill set needed to complete any of them. She bit her lip as her eyes kept scanning the papers. There had to be a job she knew she could do. It didn't have to be worth a lot or easy; it just had to be something she knew she could do.

One job about killing a demon on a volcano caught her eye, she couldn't help but think that it was right up Natsu's ally. What with it being on a volcano and all. Not that it would matter to her, after all she'd decided it'd be too risky to go on more missions with him. Still, Lucy couldn't help but imagine him having fun on the volcano mission. She blinked as she thought more about it; could Natsu eat lava? It was molten rock but she'd seen him eat burning paper the day she'd joined Fairy Tail. Then again, anyone could eat paper. Maybe he could eat the heat off it and freeze the rock? How high was his heat tolerance anyway? Could he wade through lava?

Mirajane's voice broke her from her thoughts. "Let me know if there's a job you want to take."

With a start Lucy realized she'd been thinking about the fire dragon slayer's abilities and how best to use them in battle, as if he were one of her spirits. That wasn't fair to Natsu, who had no reason to listen to her, especially in the heat of battle, and who knew his own skills far better than Lucy did; or to her spirits, whose health and happiness were intimately connected to being used by her.

"Lucy?" The silver haired bartender once again brought Lucy out of her own head. Mirajane was frowning and looking slightly concerned.

The brown haired celestial mage smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just thinking; there's so many types of jobs here, I'm not sure which one to pick."

"Yes, it's surprisingly tricky." A deeper much more masculine voice sounded from behind her. She turned to see a remarkably tall muscular man with dark hair and a grass skirt looming behind her, his eyes were also gazing at the board. She dimly recalled him saying something to Natsu the day she joined the guild. He glanced down at her and gave a small smile. "It's a delicate balance between finding a job that's not beyond what you can do, that pays well and one that is worth the money you're likely to get."

"What's the difference between the last two?"

"Well, a job could pay well but let's say it's on the other side of Fiore and in a remote place. Money for travel and supplies would likely take up more than what you'd earn in completing it. So there'd be no reason to take it. Well, not unless you could otherwise mitigate that loss either by teleportation magic or something."

"Or for the challenge." Another man approached them. "Sometimes it's good to go for a job you think you'll have difficulty with. It'll help develop your skills and magic in a way that training can't. It'll also help you think more creatively." He chuckled as he continued, "you can probably complete any job on this board, so long as you're creative with your magic." He lightly smacked the other man's bicep, "or you could be picky and stick with the same boring kind of job like Nab here."

Nab huffed at the interruption and gave a small shove back. "I'm picky for a reason. It's difficult to judge if a job is too hard for you though. Especially if you're new at this. It's easy to get in over your head especially if you pick a job you think is only slightly challenging, more often than not it'll turn out to be harder than you think."

"That's why our master usually gives the final approval for jobs." Mirajane piped up, "he's a very good judge of a mage's skill and potential and he's usually quite good at figuring out a job's difficulty." She giggled behind her hand, "I'm no slouch at it myself, so if you find one you think is interesting, come tell me and I'll approve of it."

Nab nodded. "Right, especially since the master isn't here today."

"Huh?" Lucy blinked in surprise and looked around. Sure enough the guild master wasn't sitting on the bar like he usually did. "You're right…Does he usually get here later?"

"Oh no, he practically lives here." Mirajane giggled again. "He left yesterday for the regular meeting, he'll be back in a few days."

"The regular meeting?" Lucy blinked owlishly. The way Mirajane said it made the phrase sound important. It seemed like there was a lot more to a guild than what gets published in magazines. "Is that like the, ah, council meetings?" Hadn't the master said something about that when she first arrived?

"Hmm, yes and no. It's a meeting where guild masters from different provinces come together to report about their guilds, so it's like the council meetings in that way but…Hang on, it's a bit confusing. Reedus?" she called out to a remarkably round mage with a pointed hat, "could I borrow your light pen, please?"

"Oui," He said as he whipped out the small magical object, handing it to the bartender as Lucy wandered closer to her.

With a smile she uncapped it and began writing. Every delicate flick of her wrist created gently glowing letters that shimmered in the air. As she wrote Mirajane explained how the government worked with regards to guild mages.

It didn't seem as complicated to Lucy as Mirajane had made it out to be; they were all simply connected in a straightforward hierarchy. Then again, Lucy regularly had to navigate the complexities of the Celestial spirit realm's contract system. However, she could see why this would be important.

"So all the guilds are interconnected to each other? I had no idea…"

"Connections between guilds are incredibly important," Mirajane continued, "if they are neglected, you know…"

"People from the darkness will come to get youuuu."

The sudden voice behind her as well as an unexplainable surge of heat caused Lucy to jump and squeak in fright. On instinct she jerked her elbow back, striking the person who'd snuck up on her. They grunted at the impact, but it obviously didn't do much as they burst out laughing. Lucy quickly turned to glare at the culprit.

She honestly couldn't say she was surprised when she saw that it was Natsu.

"She squeaked! Did you hear? Like a little mouse!" He gasped out. "What's gotcha so scared?"

Happy laughed alongside his hysterical partner. "Mousy Lucy, AKA Moucy!"

"Don't make such a weird nickname for me!" She snapped, trying to will her heartrate back to normal. "And anyone would be scared when they're surprised like that!"

"Natsu isn't wrong though," Mirajane's calm voice cut through the laughter. "There are guilds who aren't part of the league, we call them dark guilds. They break the law just by existing and are they're often incredibly ruthless."

It almost sounded like Natsu would fit right in, though she couldn't imagine him necessarily being ruthless.

"Anyway, enough of that," he proclaimed, having recovered from his laughing fit while Mirajane was explaining, "haven't you chosen a job already?"

"Aye! We chose the last one, so now it's your turn."

"Just pick a good one- a fun one!" He tugged her away from the bar and back to the request board.

"Why would it matter to you what job I pick?"

He frowned and his head tilted in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, didn't you only bring me along because you wanted someone to sneak in?" Even then, she had been the last resort. However, considering how Natsu was acting, did he honestly want to team up with her?

"Well, yeah…" He gave her a blinding smile. "You're a nice person, so I don't see why we shouldn't stay as a team!" Apparently he did.

Lucy was struck speechless. What was she supposed to say to that? She couldn't say yes, even if a part of her did want to; she couldn't afford the attention the dragon slayer was sure to attract. On the other hand, she didn't know how to refuse him without either being suspicious or coming off as a jerk.

She was saved from answering right away when another voice spoke up. "You don't have to go with him, you know." She glanced to the side and found a handsome black haired man sitting at a nearby table in nothing but his boxers, Loke was there as well, sitting near the mostly naked mage, he winked at her but she wasn't interested in that sort of thing. It took a second but Lucy recognized the person who had spoken up, he was the guy she'd punched when she first got to the guild. She hoped he wouldn't hold a grudge but it seemed like he either didn't notice or care as he continued to speak. "I heard you did a good job last time, so plenty of people will want to partner up with you."

"Lucy," Loke stood up and reached out for her, "would you like to make a love team with me? Just the two of us, tonight."

The black haired mage gestured to Loke, "see, you got one already." Somehow, Lucy doubted Loke and that other made were talking about the same thing.

"Um, no…"

"Anyway," the dark haired mage continued, "you defeated two fighters from the Southern Wolves guild and a gorilla like woman, right? That means you're pretty strong."

"Who told you that? Natsu's the one who did those things."

His face immediately darkened and he turned to the fire mage. "What?" He snatched Natsu's scarf and pulled him close to glare and growl at his face. "That was you?"

Without missing a beat Natsu snarled back with equal venom. "Yeah, got a problem with it?"

Mirajane chose then to bring attention to the other mage's, Gray's, lack of clothes, much to his own surprise. It didn't stop the fight, however.

While Lucy's attention was on the fight, Loke had taken the opportunity to approach and talk to her. Unfortunately she only realized this in time to notice him smiling flirtatiously and to hear the last word. "…Right?"

"Wh-what? Sorry, they're a bit…"

"Of course," he waved a hand dismissively as Natsu and Gray started to fight in earnest. "They do tend to be a bit distracting. But not as distracting as you." He placed his hands gently on her shoulders and Lucy would swear there were sparkles surrounding him as he continued. "You're really beautiful. Even looking through the dark shades of my sunglasses, you're still so beautiful… Why, if I were to look at you with my bare eyes, I'd be too dazzled to see."

That was so…cheesy! And kind of lame. Was that what it was like when she flirted with people? How did she not notice before then? "If- if that's the case then please," she said in her driest voice, "take them off."

He gasped and jerked away from her. Lucy couldn't help but blink in surprise. Her comeback hadn't been that good, had it?

"You're a Celestial spirit mage?" He cried out. That was usual, Lucy had never met anyone who was able to recognize her magic on sight, save for Everlue.

"Aye," Happy pipped up from somewhere behind her, "she has a bull and a crab and a mean fish lady and many others too."

"Not that many," she shot back. She couldn't say much else though, as Loke continued to cry out dramatically.

"What a horrible quirk of fate!" He turned around and quickly dashed out. "I'm sorry! But our love could never be!"

Lucy was left gaping at his retreating figure. There were many things she should be thinking and questioning with regards to his attitude but for the life of her she couldn't think of them. "What," was all she could say, or even really think as the doors slammed shut from the orange haired mage's sudden exit.

"Don't worry Lucy," Mirajane approached, apparently tired of trying to stop Natsu and Gray from fighting. "I don't think it's anything against you personally."

"What just happened?"

"He's not very good at dealing with Celestial spirit mages, or summoners in general. But Celestial mages in particular."

"Really?"

"Mm, I bet something happened in his past. If I had to guess, I'd say a woman was probably involved."

"Is that so…" That was kind of sad actually. To think that there could be an experience bad enough to ruin an entire branch of magic for a person. However, it would provide a good segue into a question she'd been meaning to ask the bartender. "On that note though, I was wondering if you could-"

Another loud bang interrupted her as Loke reappeared out of breath and calling out for the two brawling mages. He then said three words that sent nearly the entire guild into a panic.

"Erza is back!"

Before anyone could do more than gasp in shock and fear another person entered the hall.

It was a woman with beautiful long crimson hair. She had well fitted armor covering her torso and a nice swishy skirt that showed off her legs. The woman was also carrying a horn three times as large as she was with one hand like it was nothing.

"I'm back." She had a light, smooth, no nonsense voice. When she placed the horn on the floor, Lucy felt shockwaves from its weight. With it now sitting on the floor, Lucy could make out jewels and gold inlaid into its base. "Is the master present?"

"Welcome back!" Mirajane returned, "he's at the regular meeting right now."

"I see…"

Lucy watched as the newcomer made small talk with the rest of the mages. The newest member of Fairy Tail couldn't see why everyone seemed so afraid of the red haired mage. Given the way she scolded most of the other mages, Erza simply came off as more strict than scary.

"Who is she?" Lucy muttered, trying not to draw the armored mage's attention and come off as rude.

"Erza," Happy hissed quietly at her, "she's really strong."

Lucy nodded in acknowledgement. Though she hadn't been there for long, she couldn't imagine the mages of Fairy Tail taking something like a dressing down with much grace unless there was actual power backing up the one doing the scolding.

The biggest change though, and perhaps the most frightening, was with Natsu and Gray. Their arms were around each other's shoulders and their other hands were clasped together. Lucy's jaw dropped at the sight.

"He-hey, Erza…" Gray stuttered out, "we-we're being go-go-good friends, as always."

"A-aye," Natsu agreed in his most Happy like voice.

"I've never seen Natsu act like this before," Lucy muttered in awe as the two males kept up the illusion of friendliness.

"Oh, both Natsu and Gray are scared of Erza." Mirajane laughed as she drew out some squiggles. "I'll explain using this chart."

It took Lucy a second to see that they were poorly drawn faces of the three mages talking nearby. "I don't think you need to draw a chart for this…" And so badly too.

"Well, you see, Natsu picked a fight with her and got beaten up."

"Really?" It must have been some beating, Natsu didn't seem like the type to give up after one defeat.

"And she found Gray walking around naked and beat him up too." That honestly didn't surprise Lucy at all. "As for Loke…He hit on her and nearly got himself killed." Again, that didn't surprise her at all, besides she hadn't really been curious about the flirty mage to begin with.

"Actually, I have a favor to ask both of you," Erza's voice broke the two other women from their talk, Mirajane actually gasped a bit in surprise when the red head said that. "I heard something troubling on the way back from my job. I usually would consult the master about this, but I feel this matter is urgent so…I need your help. You will come with me, right?"

At her words Lucy could feel the tension in the guild raise. There was innumerable whispers about how unusual this was.

Without waiting for a response, the scarlet haired mage turned to leave, "we'll leave tomorrow, prepare yourself."

Gray weakly tried to protest and Natsu, somewhat predictably, snapped that he'd never agreed, however, Erza either ignored them or didn't hear and left.

"Erza, Natsu and Gray…" Mirajane muttered softly to herself, "I've never imagined it before but…The three of them might make the strongest team in Fairy Tail…" Lucy could only gape at that bold proclamation.

"Impossible," Gray muttered before rapidly rising his voice. "It's annoying enough to be around him, now I'll have to be around Erza too?" He jabbed his finger at the fire mage to emphasize his point.

"This team is impossible!" Natsu agreed just as loudly as the other mage, "besides, I don't want to go!" He abruptly turned to Lucy and grabbed her.

She was too shocked to react at first but when he started to tug at her hair she cried out. "What're you doing?" Despite her struggles and protests, a heavy weight wrapped itself around her neck.

The fire mage turned away looking satisfied with himself. His upper body was completely bare, leaving Lucy in his vest and scarf with her hair all messed up, perhaps to mimic Natsu's own spiky style. "There. You're Natsu from now on."

"Wha- that's-" It wasn't like when she and one of the other Lucys replaced each other. From that standpoint, she knew nothing about Natsu. How he'd react in a certain situation, the people he knew, the sort of habits he had. There was no way Lucy could copy all of that. Like the scar around his neck that she could now see; she didn't know how he got that, or if he has any bad reactions from getting it. More than that she didn't have the right magic. She couldn't even give the illusion of having his magic; none of her spirits were attuned to fire, and most spirits that had that element couldn't create it on their own. More than that Natsu wasn't like her or the other Lucys. Natsu wasn't replaceable. Even if she could copy all those things that made Natsu Natsu, she still wouldn't be able to replace him. "That's not possible." She finished lamely.

"Aye." Happy agreed. "You two look nothing alike." Lucy nodded in agreement, taking off the scarf and shoving back into Natsu's hands.

"Fine," he whined, wrapping the surprisingly soft white scaled scarf around his neck and accepting his vest back. "I'll go on Erza's stupid mission with stupid Gray…"

"What did you just say?" Gray snapped.

"You heard me!"

In a blink of an eye, the two of them were right back to fighting, as if the interlude with Erza had never happened.

With a sigh Lucy moved away from them and back to the request board. She still needed to go on a mission today, and with Natsu busy with Gray and whatever it was that Erza needed, she had time to think of an excuse to not to team up with him. Still, she needed to figure out what kind of job she could do.

However, before she could even find one that appealed to her, Mirajane called her over. Distracting her once again from getting a job.

"Things have gotten quite exciting in the last few minutes, haven't they?" The silver haired woman moved behind the counter and started polishing a glass. "More so than usual, I mean."

"I guess?" Lucy wouldn't know the usual as well as Mirajane though.

"This has gotten me thinking…"

"Hm? About what?"

Mirajane smiled sweetly at her. Lucy had a sinking feeling that her plan to stay out of the spotlight was about to go horribly wrong.