Hello there!

I'm back for another chapter!

I started reading another por-book, and I'm 2 chapters in and I seem to find it interesting. Why only 2 chapters in? Because that's what I could read during my commute to work. Is that what you call the trip to and from work? If not, that's what I mean. English is not englishing today in my brain and if I could write the whole thing in Spanish I would.

I am on cloud nine with my partner and for the first time in my life, an I love you has never felt so easy on the tongue.

Dommie, you're the best I could ever ask for. I'm glad you like the chapter, please enjoy this one!

I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail. I do, however, own the rights to this story and OC characters that might appear in the future.

Chapter VI: The First Mission

X—X

"Good morning!"

The two dragon slayers turned to see Ivy leaving the guild. They smiled and nodded. She trailed happily after them, falling into step with Sting and smiling widely. Between bits and pieces of conversation, she read the job description. There was a weird symbol at the bottom – three circles within each other, and all of them had an animal symbol on their highest point. She frowned and pocketed the paper.

They were quick to arrive at the train station, and although Sting had groaned in desperation, Rogue reminded him that while the dragon slayers could go by foot, Ivy, Lector, and Frosch could not. So, they purchased their tickets and when they got on the train, Ivy sat on the window seat across from Rogue and next to Sting. The two Exceeds shared a seat, and they curled up for a nap.

The second the train started moving, Sting threw his head back and groaned. She looked at Rogue, who was in a similar indisposed state. Ivy frowned and turned back to the blond. He gave her a weak smile, but she could tell he was looking a little too green.

"Motion sickness?" he nodded. "Do all dragon slayers have it?"

Another nod, shakier this time.

"I can help..." she bit her lip. "But I need your permission to do so."

Rogue looked up to her, frowning. Ivy smiled.

"Motion sickness is caused by non-bodily recognition of the movement that is happening in front of your eyes. I can understand that it may be a bit more complicated to dragon slayers since you have the flying instinct and all."

"Solution, Ivy-!"

"There's a way to go around it. In its ideal, it's to... manipulate your system into believing that no motion is occurring. The reason why I'm asking for permission is because I would be manipulating your body into a non-natural state."

"Will it stop me from feeling like shit?" Sting croaked out.

"Yes. But it may also cause some drowsiness."

"Do it." the blond declared, and Rogue agreed.

Ivy smiled and nodded. A small, lavender magic circle showed up at the base of her neck, and she pointed a palm at Rogue while the other pressed against Sting's chest. She closed her eyes and parted her lips, letting a soft but ethereal melody escape.

Don't lose who you are, in the blur of the stars
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing
It's okay not to be okay
Sometimes it's hard, to follow your heart
Tears don't mean you're losing, everybody's bruising
Just be true to who you are

Sting felt his body relax, his mind slow, and his consciousness waver. He remembered his body moving on his own. He remembered warmth and comfort. He remembered the sense of belonging. But he couldn't pinpoint exactly what had happened before unconsciousness took him away.

–X–

"This is it."

They had trekked through a forest and climbed half a mountain to get to where they were. In front of them, almost as if carved into the stone, was the closed entrance of a cave. It stood under a large tree with bulky roots, and it was covered in moss and fallen leaves. Ivy eyed them carefully, and stepped forward, walking to the entrance.

Something triggered a mechanism, and the stone that covered the wall rolled out of the way, greeting them with a stale but cold breeze. Sting took a deep breath and walked inside, followed by Rogue and Ivy. The dragon slayer produced a ball of light in his hand and frowned, looking around.

The walls of the cave were etched with drawings, carved deep within the stone. Ivy ran her fingers over some of them, finding the lizard-like creatures menacing, to say the least. The cave seemed to be going down, so Frosch jumped onto Rogue's arms, and Lector perched himself on Sting's shoulder. Ivy walked carefully, quietly behind the black-haired man. Sting stepped on a rock to steady himself but immediately jumped back, out of the way of the spears that jumped from hidden holes in the rock walls.

"Gee, what the hell?" he frowned. "Is the whole place rigged?"

"Are you okay, Sting?" Ivy asked.

"Yeah, more of a jump scare than anything." he frowned. "Rogue?"

"On it." he nodded.

Ivy watched, amazed as the dragon slayer turned into shadows and disappeared. She took a step closer to Sting, who took her hand in his, as he carefully watched trap after trap be triggered by Rogue's shadow state. Frosch rested on top of her head, with tears in their eyes. Lector smiled at Ivy, and she relaxed a bit, tightening her hold on Sting's hand.

"Come on." the dragon slayer declared when Rogue waved them over. "Be careful."

They had to let go of each other's hand to descend, but Ivy kept a tight hold on Frosch. She grabbed Sting by the back of his vest and pulled him back. He frowned but allowed her to move ahead of him. She rose to the tip of her toes and raised her hand to touch the ceiling. A lavender magic circle sprouted from her palm, and they heard a clank. Sting gasped as a line of blue light followed the ceiling of the narrow passage, triggering whatever device or trap was further hidden.

"How did you know?" Sting asked.

"Air currents." she declared.

They met up with Rogue at the end of the hallway and stood before a door. "I can't get past it," Rogue explained.

"Let me try." she gave Frosch to Rogue and placed a hand on the stone door.

She started whistling a soft melody, and when the magic circle appeared in her palm, they heard clank after clank after clank, until the door finally opened. A large hall stretched on before them, tall rock pillars and chests filled with golden treasures. Sting whistled and stepped forward, but Ivy pushed an arm in front of him.

"I don't like this." she declared. "It's too quiet."

As a cue, they heard a roar, and the three ducked to dodge a corrosive spit of a creature that slithered its way down a pillar. Two more joined it, and both dragon slayers cursed before jumping out of the way, Sting grabbing Ivy by the waist. Rogue threw Frosch into Ivy's arms, who caught them and grabbed Lector's paw.

"Ivy, find a way out of here. We'll deal with these bastards." Sting looked her in the eyes. "Be careful."

"You too." she nodded and walked away.

Attacks rang from behind her, but Ivy and Lector were quick to locate the exit behind one of the pillars. But the lock was charmed, with a rune that Ivy couldn't make heads or tails of, and the fight kept going. She was hyperventilating, looking for clues all around her and finding nothing, and Frosch was crying, and she could hear Sting's cry.

"Ivy... IVY!" Lector screamed.

"What?!" she turned to the red Exceed.

"Calm down! You got this!" he shouted. "Focus on this!"

"But Sting-!"

"Sting is gonna run out of strength if you don't do what he asked you to, and open this freaking door!" Lector exclaimed. "I know you're worried. I know every muscle in you is begging you to go help him. But he needs your help now. He needs you to open this door. Can you do that?"

"... yes. Lector, look for an owl. An owl figure; could be a token, a drawing. It will be in the walls." she frowned.

"Got it."

Lector sprouted wings from his back and flew away, as Frosch grabbed Ivy's leg as she placed both her hands on the door, the rune sprouting to life. She let out a shout when they bled into her arms, attempting to burn into her skin. She felt a shift in the atmosphere and, after a loud crash, she realized the first monster was down. Ivy frowned as the rune stretched all the way to her upper arms, and she smelled the burnt flesh.

"I found it!" Lector crashed against her leg. "I found it!"

"What did it look like?!" she bit back a scream.

"It was upside down!"

"Which wing was up?"

"... the left one." and he looked up to her "Your arms!"

"Zip it."

She clenched both hands in fists and crossed her arms in an X, left over right, and then turned them around so that the right was on top. There was a loud screech, and the doors began opening. Lector shouted for the two dragon slayers, who immediately found their way next to them. Rogue went in first and Sting grabbed Ivy by the waist, pulling her through the archway. He gasped when he saw the condition she was in.

Ivy turned to face the door and proceeded to do the same motions backward, watching as the door closed. She opened her palms and the runes bled back into the door, forming the same lock. She took a deep breath and patted Frosch on the head. She turned back to the dragon slayers with a shaky smile, watching as the burns slowly but surely disappeared from her skin.

"How did you know it was an owl?" Lector frowned.

"It was the symbol on the door." she declared. "Shall we?"

They turned to the narrow hallway and Rogue turned back into a shadow. He triggered the hidden traps and Ivy took care of the rest, walking slowly with Frosch on her head. She felt Sting's eyes on her and she smiled brightly at him. He took a step closer and Ivy cocked her head to the side, but Sting simply took off his dark gloves and grabbed her arms, slipping the gloves on her, and tying them just below her shoulder.

"Thank you." she lowered her head, but Sting grabbed her chin. "It's nothing a bit of healing magic won't fix."

The blond seemed somewhat satisfied with her answer but replied. "We're taking care of that the second we're out of here."

Ivy nodded, and wrapped an arm around his, pulling him along. Once they reached Rogue, who eyed the clothing transfer between the two with a hidden smile, Ivy let go of Sting. She unlocked the door with a frown, but before the dragon slayers could enter the large room that was revealed, she broke the magic circle in her hands into two small ones.

In front of them stretched a large hallway, empty but lit up with torches. The stone walls were carved, each portraying a scene. There was always a male central figure, holding a sort of spell in his hands, with a forest in the background, and above his head a stone banner with an animal on the circle in the middle. The first was a wolf, the second a bear, and the third an owl.

They crossed the hallway in the direction of the door to see that it was three circles within each other. There was a symbol on top of each one, a wolf, a butterfly, and a fox. Lector walked back and started shouting about the animals that appeared in the carvings to Ivy, but each combination that she tried did not work. She ran her fingers through her hair, a hiss escaping, but something clicked.

"That's it." she pulled out the job scroll. "Rogue, change the top one to a bear. Sting, change the middle one to an owl."

The Dragon Slayers proceeded as asked, and Ivy turned the last charm to be faced with a dragonfly. The loud clank resonated through the walls, and the circle door rolled out of the way. Ivy nodded and closed her eyes, bringing the two magic circles up.

"I hear something. It's faint, but it's there."

I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or a dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me

The two dragon slayers watched amazed as lilac soundwaves went in the direction Ivy pointed them and reverted against odd shapes on the pillars. The three mages counted four shapes, and Sting rolled his shoulders. Rogue nodded and the two shot towards the creatures. Ivy smiled and found the altar, and started walking.

Halfway through, Frosch, who was walking ahead of them, stepped on a trap and triggered a handful of hidden spikes. Ivy gasped and used the sounds of the fights behind them to levitate Frosch and Lector off the floor. She moved them to the altar and then levitated herself to them. She dodged a stray attack from Sting and motioned Lector to grab Frosch. The red Exceed brought out his wings and grabbed Frosch, and Ivy nodded.

She brought her legs closer to her body, hovering over the altar where the artifact was, a beautiful jewel-studded sculpture of a human heart, on a golden lizard paw. She grabbed the artifact and applied a steady soundwave to the pressure plaque on the paw, giving the artifact to Lector. The little green Exceed sprouted their own pair of wings, and the two flew up.

"Sting, Rogue, let's go!" Ivy shouted, using a blast of soundwaves to further push Lector and Frosch in their slayers' direction.

Sting turned to Ivy, but gasped. "Ivy, watch out!"

She turned around and gasped as a lizard-like creature took a dive at her. She raised her arms, bringing smoke and a cloud of dirt around them. Sting's heart stopped when she disappeared from view, and the only reason why he wasn't breaching through that cloud was because Rogue was holding him back.

Something in him told him not to worry, that he knew she was okay, that the damn lizard hadn't taken her from him, but the dragon in him was tearing at the walls of its cage, roaring at him, calling for her. His breathing was shallow, there was a snarl on his curled lips, and a thirst for blood grew in his gut.

When the cover of dirt finally disappeared, they gasped. Ivy levitated a couple of feet off the ground, hair flowing and eyes glowing lilac, as two massive magic circles held the lizard mid-air, holding its snapping jaws back. She snapped her neck to one side, and then to the other and smirked. She clenched her hands into claw shapes and pushed the creature away, using the same momentum to push herself backward.

The monster crashed against a pillar hard, and Ivy landed in Sting's waiting arms. She smiled up at him, and he took a shuddering breath, but the moment was broken by Rogue, who spoke up.

"We have to go now."

The three moved to the exit, a small dark passage on the far wall, and they ran out, the two Exceeds flying next to them. Once they arrived at the end of the rock tunnel, Ivy thrust her hands forward and blew a hole through the wall, and the three ran out of the cave. The young redhead was quick to turn around and block the entrance the same way she had opened it.

She fell to the ground rather ungracefully, curling her legs below her and taking deep breaths. Frosch ran to her, and wrapped her midriff, crying. She patted their head and smiled at Lector, who was showing Rogue the artifact they had recuperated. Sting took a knee next to her and brushed her hair behind her ear, looking concerned.

"I'm okay." she nodded.

"You're shaking." Sting frowned. "I asked too much of you, didn't I?"

"Not in the slightest." she shook her head. "But physical pain and I are not the best of friends."

He took her trembling hand and pulled down the glove, gasping as he saw the skin of her arm, dark red and blistering. "Ivy-!"

"I'll be fine." she gulped. "Time to go home?"

"...yeah." he nodded and helped her stand up.

"Sting." Rogue called and the blond turned his head to see a Lacrima call floating in the air.

He sighed and answered it. A young woman with pure white hair and deep blue eyes looked up and smiled sweetly. "Hello, Sting."

"Hey. What's up?"

"Master Makarov is requesting your presence. He says it's rather urgent." she pouted.

"...sure. I'll be there tomorrow." the blond growled, but the white-haired beauty paid him no mind, hanging up with a smile.

"Who's Master Makarov?" Ivy frowned.

"...Fairy Tail's guild master. They're allies of ours." Sting ran a hand through his hair. "Rogue, can you take Ivy back-?"

"Wendy." Rogue simply said.

"Good idea. Ivy..." the blond smiled. "Would you like to meet Fairy Tail?"

"I'd love to." she grinned.

A/N: Of course I had to bring Fairy Tail into this.

Let me know your thoughts on this new story!

Lots of love from this weirdo,

LoneeWolf :)