A/N: Finally! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 12: Building Trust

April X792

Liv paced in front of Lucas's apartment door, trying to decide whether she should knock again or just bust open the door. She sighed as she opted for the knocking option again.

"This feels pathetic," she mumbled to herself as she knocked on the door for the sixth time, "And if I'm late, Lenz will give me more work to do."

She frowned at that thought, knowing she had wasted a good fifteen minutes already trying to get Lucas moving. She was annoyed since he had been the one to ask if he could join her morning training.

"Why ask if you aren't actually going to do it?!"

She had spoken louder than she had meant to and froze up when she heard a door swing open. She had hoped it was Lucas's door, but when she turned around from her pacing, she saw Tezca staring her down through his sunglasses.

'It's five in the morning and dark out still, why the sunglasses?' she thought, but she didn't bother asking about it. She didn't really have the time.

Plus, Tezca still intimidated her a bit if she was being honest. She was friendly with everyone who had joined, Tezca included, but they hadn't really had any one-on-one time, and he had this air about him that was…well…it was like Lenz but more?

'That sounds stupid,' she thought, still just staring back at the man, 'Both of them are intimidating. Maybe it's because Rhia introduced me to Lenz. I don't know!' she scratched at her head as her thoughts raced.

"You good there, little lady?"

Tezca's voice was a little less smooth than it usually was. Liv chalked that up to it being so early and having woken him up. Though, she felt something in her twitch at the gravelly sound, but she couldn't tell why.

"Yeah," she finally said, "I didn't mean to yell and wake you."

"It was the pacing that actually did it."

"I didn't think it was that loud…"

"It's more of the back-and-forth nature of it," he said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "What are you doing out here anyways?"

"Oh, right," she said, turning to look at Lucas's door that was still shut with no sign of movement on the other side, "I'm trying to get Lucas up since he wanted to start training with me."

"I did not take you for a morning training person."

"Neither did I," she sighed, "But Lenz roped me into it and now I'm stuck. But I can tell it has been helping."

"The guy that seems like he has a stick up his ass all the time?"

"You don't have to be mean about it!" she snapped, deciding then that his intimidation factor wasn't enough to stop her. She stared up at him with a fierceness he didn't expect from her.

"I suppose I have to remember you're Rhia's and Cassie's kid," he said more to himself, "Sorry, I just call them like I see them, and I see that that kid is wound up too tight."

"Well, whatever you think, he's a good trainer."

"Yeah, he probably is."

The two stood in silence for a few seconds, but for Liv it felt like hours. She had stood up to the guy that intimidated her the most, but she was beginning to feel less intimidated by him. There was something else about him that irked her. He wasn't a bad guy, and as far as she could tell, he wanted to be here and help. But there was just something about him that made her stay away from him more than the others in the guild.

"So, you want some help with this guy or what?"

'Thank god he said something!' she thought, 'I was going to die in that silence!'

"Yes! Please!"

Despite her wary feelings of the man, having Tezca's help was appreciated, especially if she still wanted to be on time to meet up with Lenz.

Tezca made his way to the door across from his own, and instead of the polite knocking Liv had been doing, he banged on the door so hard it looked like it was going to break into pieces.

"Oi! Open up!"

There was some grumbling on the inside followed by a solid thump on the door, made by a boot being thrown at it.

Tezca felt his eye twitch as he grabbed hold of the doorknob so hard it dented and warped, leaving behind an oblong shape instead of the perfectly round one it had been. He then yanked the door straight open, pulling it right off its hinges.

Liv's eyes went wide as she watched him set the door aside and march into Lucas's room. Lucas was all wrapped up in his sheets, leaving only a single leg sticking out from them.

"Throw a damn boot at me," Tezca grumbled as he grabbed hold of that uncovered leg, "Screw whatever Lenz had planned for you! You're my recruit today!"

He then yanked on Lucas's leg and flipped him into the air. The sheets unwound from his body and perfectly covered the bed as Lucas crashed to the ground hard on his butt.

"What the hell?!" Lucas shouted as he looked around him. An angry Tezca was standing above him while Liv was peering inside with a slightly apologetic look. She might have felt sorrier for him if he hadn't been the one to ask her to train.

"You're late to training. Now you get me as your drill sergeant."

"What?" Lucas said again before it donned on him, "Liv! I forgot to set an alarm! Wait, I-"

"Doesn't matter anymore! You're mine today! Get up and dressed. You've got five minutes! Don't make me come back in here!"

Tezca finished that off with placing the door back into place to cut off whatever Lucas might have had to say. He then pulled out a small flask he had shoved into his pocket, took a long swig before brushing his mouth with his arm, and twisted the cap back on.

"You can have him tomorrow, little lady. I'm sure he won't ever miss another training session with you."

"Yeah, sure, thanks," was all she said as a light bulb went off in her head.

She suddenly realized why Tezca had bothered her so much. He reminded her of her father. The flask had put all the pieces together. While she knew and understood that Tezca was a completely different man, and she didn't know him very well currently, the similarities were still there, and she hated all of them. She was going to have to work on not being bothered by Tezca while actively trying to ignore all the thoughts about her father.

'Great' she thought with a sigh.

"Try not to kill him, please!" she added as she turned and headed for the exit.

. : + : .

"Cutting it close, aren't we?" was how Lenz greeted Liv that morning.

"I'm still on time," she said through huffs of air, having to run the entire way there just to make it on time.

"Barely," he said with a roll of his eyes, "Get out of bed late?"

"No!"

She wasn't sure why she was feeling so defensive. She had been making it to all his training sessions even after their deal had been satisfied. She made it through every single session with no complaints…well…maybe a little complaining, but still! She completed everything he asked of her! She even defended him this morning! So why was she the one getting in trouble?!

"I was trying to get Lucas up."

"Why?"

Liv decided to ignore the clear annoyance in Lenz's voice.

"Well…he asked me if he could join my training sessions since, ya know, he's new at this too."

She waited for Lenz to get mad at her just for even entertaining that idea. Instead, she watched as a small smirk appeared on his face.

"So, he wants to start training? Does he know you train with me?"

"Yeah, which kinda surprised me even more."

"Perfect."

Liv watched as his face practically lit up at the thought of being able to train Lucas. Maybe she should have told the blonde to find a different trainer…

"Where is the idiot now? Why isn't he with you?"

"You seem a little too eager…" Liv mumbled, "But Tezca got to him first this morning, unfortunately. I was having trouble waking him up and he…uh…helped me. Long story short, Lucas made Tezca mad and took over his training for the day. He should hopefully be with us tomorrow."

"I see. Well, hopefully that smoking buffoon won't kill him."

"That's what I said!"

The pair quickly exchanged a look.

"You don't like him?" they both asked.

"I can respect Tezca for his service in the military, I will give him that," Lenz said, choosing to answer first. His reasoning was probably more straightforward. He hadn't seen a person that Liv couldn't be friendly towards yet, so that piqued his interest, "But the rest of him, well, he leaves a lot to be desired as a person."

Liv nodded in understanding.

"And you?" Lenz prodded when she didn't give an answer.

She didn't want to say it. She really didn't. She hated to make the comparison in her head, let alone say it out loud, but Lenz staring her down for an answer quickly broke her. It made her blurt out her answer.

"He reminds me of my dad!"

From what Lenz had gathered about Theodore Holt and Liv's feelings towards him, this wasn't a flattering comparison.

"I thought I was just intimidated by him at first because he's so big and everything! I thought he'd be more like you or Rhia because of the whole military background!"

Lenz took a moment to look offended between her venting.

"But it all clicked into place this morning because of that stupid flask! But I also don't know him very well, so I don't want to make assumptions! I feel so new to everything here! Magic, fighting, reading people, making friends! I don't know how I'm supposed to do it all and at the same time!"

Silence took over again as the realization of what she said fell over her. She had only meant to vent about Tezca, but a few other things slipped out.

'Shit!' she cursed in her head, 'He's going to think I'm crazy now!'

"Well, that took a bit of a turn there," he said, but there wasn't any judgement on his face, not any that Liv could see anyways, "I suggest that you start learning to trust your gut more than trying to please everyone."

"I…I've never really had any friends before, so I don't really know how to trust anything when it comes to people. Sometimes, I don't even really know how to be myself because that didn't work back in Alexandrite either. Between being half-Desiertan, my dad's reputation, and…well, it doesn't matter. None of it did anything helpful with making friends or anything."

"Have you talked to Rhia or Cassie about any of this?"

"No! I mean, yes! Some of it, anyways. They know how things were back in the capital and they know about my dad and all that. But I don't want them to know how I'm feeling here. This is supposed to be our fresh start. Between Rhia leaving the military and making a guild and Cassie supporting her and her whole family being here, I don't want to ruin anything. Please don't say anything to them!"

Had Lenz been in a better state of mind himself, he may have had some better advice for her or even been able to give her a hug, but as things were, he couldn't. It's not that he couldn't empathize with her, but his own emotions were full up at the moment. The reason he had even been so grumpy with her when she first got there was from having another rough night with sleep and nightmares. Part of him wished he had not even bothered striking up a conversation and had just gotten right to training, but he had found that doing some talking had helped to keep him from thinking about those nightmares, and usually, Liv was a good source to go to for that. He just hadn't expected all of this to pour into his lap.

"Sorry," she said when he still hadn't said anything, "I shouldn't ask you to keep things from Rhia. And I'm sorry for laying this all out on you. You didn't ask and I shouldn't just dump all that on you."

Lenz realized then that he had a choice to make.

Either keep his mouth shut and they both forget any of this happened. He'd get some peace out of it, but there was this feeling that it would put a stop to whatever relationship was forming between them. She'd stop sharing things and there'd be no conversation between them because being quiet now would be telling her to be quiet as well. He felt greatly bothered by that thought.

Or he could say something right now. Literally anything would do. In doing so, it wouldn't break whatever small thing was forming between them. It would tell her he was listening and that she wasn't a bother or a problem or an irritation. He had a feeling that too many people had done that to her already, and he didn't want to be just another person on that list.

'Dammit,' he thought before finally opening his mouth.

"You don't need to apologize so much."

It probably wasn't the nicest thing he could have said, but at least it was something. And he tried not to sound so harsh when he said it.

"And I'm not going to say anything to Rhia or Cassie," he quickly added before she could say anything or try to apologize again, "It's your business what you tell them. I would advise talking to them when you're ready, though. I don't think it's in either of them to be upset with you about something like this."

Liv stayed quiet while Lenz took another moment to think on how he wanted to word this next bit. He had said the easiest things first. This next part would be much harder for him, but he also felt it needed to be said

"I know what it's like to be the new person and to be half of something else. My mother was Encan. I know the looks and the whispers. But you should take one out of Rhia's book – there's more good people in this world than bad ones. It's one of the first things she taught me."

He looked away from her while he said this, looking wistful, like he was somewhere else for a moment.

"You'll find people that like you, and you'll know it's real when you do. In the meantime, you have to learn how to trust your gut. If you feel wary of Tezca right now, that's ok. You don't have to befriend everyone on sight, and they aren't owed your friendship either. If that bothers them, it's their problem. You understand?"

Liv nodded at him, afraid that if she tried to say something, she would start crying. It wasn't that she was mad at him or upset at him, but rather that he spoke to her like an actual person instead of something that needed to be fixed. She loved Rhia and Cassie so much, but they often forgot that she wasn't a kid anymore and they always seemed to wear kid gloves around her. It had been so long since someone had spoken to her like she wasn't going to break if they were honest with her. It's not like she was lied to all the time, but she knew Rhia and Cassie held things back from her and usually asked the people around them to do the same. She got it, she really did. After everything that happened, it made sense that they would react that way. But damn if it didn't get old fast.

Listening to Lenz just being assertively honest with her was a breath of fresh air. He probably didn't know how much it meant to her, and she didn't really have the voice to tell him so. She would, one day, but she was not about to be caught dead crying in front of him over this. She wanted him to keep talking to her like this, and if she cried, well, she felt like he would be too hesitant to do so.

"Thanks," was all she could muster out without her voice breaking, giving him a lopsided smile with it.

Lenz watched her for a moment and decided that they had both said enough on the subject and she seemed to take to heart what he told her.

'Good,' he thought, 'Because I've got nothing left in me at the moment.'

He sighed heavily as the nightmare reared its ugly head again. He had had enough words to try and wash it away and that wasn't working. He hoped that some actual training would.

"We're going to start with the usual stretching and then just a couple of laps today," he began as he rolled his shoulders, "Then we'll move into some weapon training."

"Finally!"

Liv was excited to do something other than running for a change. He had gotten her that knife and everything. It was about time he showed her how to use it!

"Then we'll finish with a cool down of another two laps and stretching."

"Of course," she said, feeling a little deflated with more running. But at least she'd be doing something new in between that!

. : + : .

A week had passed since weapon training had begun for Liv. Lenz was impressed with how quick a learner she was. She wasn't an expert by any means yet, but she was picking up on things much faster than he had expected. He figured she could move up to a pair of proper daggers in the future if she kept this up.

For now, though, he did feel a little guilty.

"Lenz, what did you do?!" Lili shouted, hovering over him and Liv.

They were situated at one of the tables in the guild, sitting in front of one another while Liv held out her arm towards him. He was currently cleaning a cut on her forearm with some disinfectant before using the bandages he had brought along.

"It's just a scratch, Lili. I'll be fine," Liv said, trying to calm the other woman down.

"Just a scratch?! He wouldn't have to bandage you up if that was the case!"

"Yeah!" Lucas popped up behind the redhead, "Is this how you treat the ladies, Lenz? No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!"

"Like you're one to talk," Flick said, appearing across from them while also hovering over the table, "Where's your girl?"

"No one invited you to this conversation!" Lucas snapped, throwing the rag he had been using to clean tables with at him. Flick easily dodged it though.

"You sure you're alright?" Flick asked before Lucas could say or do anything else.

"Yeah, just…could you all back up a bit? Please?" she asked with a nervous laugh.

They were all just hovering and circling over them like vultures and it was making her feel crowded. Plus, she could tell that Lenz was quickly becoming annoyed by all of them. She saw his shoulders relax a bit when they all took a step back.

"We're training with weapons," Liv explained, "It was bound to happen. I'm honestly surprised it didn't happen sooner."

"She's a tough girl," Cassie said when she walked over to the table. She gave Liv a few pats on the head while she sat down two hot ciders for Liv and Lenz, "She'll be fine."

Flick seemed to be appeased by Cassie's words as he made his way back to his spot at the bar, his hands circling around the glass tumbler he had left there.

"You'll just have to train more and return him the favor," Flick said with a smirk.

"I'm not actually trying to slice him!"

"You should be," Lenz said as he began bandaging her arm, "That's the whole point of this training."

"To hurt you?!"

"Well, no, not me specifically, but whoever you might be facing in the future. You should be aiming to hit me."

"Yeah, Liv, you gotta hit him!" Lucas added, picking up the rag from the floor, "It'd be a shame to miss out on that!"

"If you really want to hit him, you should train with me!" Lili said.

"No."

Both Lenz and Cassie had said it, the group all looking over at Cassie in surprise.

"Rhia has told me stories about Aaron. If Lili is anything like her father, she'll end up killing you. So no, not until you level up some more, like a lot more."

Bison watched from a couch as the group continued talking and laughing and poking fun at each other. He felt his eye twitch watching it all, feeling like he would gag over it.

"Uh…you doing okay there?"

Bison looked next to him to see a blonde man sitting next to him. He couldn't remember his name. He hadn't bothered remembering anyone's name aside from Rhia's since she was the guild master. But he did remember that he was annoying by how chill and happy he was all the time, like nothing ever bothered him.

"Who are you?" Bison asked, deciding to skip any pleasantries.

"I'm Weyland."

He said it with such an easy smile that Bison wished he could have punched it off his face. He was certain he had asked this guy his name several times now, and yet he answered him like it was his first time asking. Like it didn't bother him.

'Does anything bother these people?!' Bison thought, glaring at the man next to him.

"You look bothered. You want a smoothie?"

"What?"

"A smoothie. Ya know, ice and fruit and you mix-"

"I know what a smoothie is!"

"Oh…it seemed like you didn't."

'What hell did that Royal Knight send me to?!' Bison thought again.

"No, I don't want a smoothie. Thanks," Bison said in a sharp, clipped tone.

"Well then, what's got you looking so upset? Everyone else seems to be having a good time."

He smiled at the still talking group across the room.

"That's the issue. Are they always this warm and chummy?"

Weyland sat in thought for a moment, tilting his head this way and that. He took a sip of a brightly colored drink that Bison assumed was a smoothie. Where he had gotten it from, he wasn't sure, nor did he care. He just wanted an answer to his question.

"Yeah, I think so. I always enjoy them."

Bison stared at the stupid smile on his stupid face and decided then that this man didn't know shit. There's no way that all these people who just met each other like a month ago were all best friends. That's just not how people worked!

'Well, whatever,' he thought, crossing his arms in front of him, 'No point in letting it bother me. Not like I'm gonna be getting close to anyone. I won't be here for that long anyways if I can help it.'

Just as he thought that, Rhia came out of her office, having a bit more bounce in her step with a short and stocky man behind her. Bison had to snort in laughter at the way this man's brown toupee bounced as he walked down the stairs. Though, besides the fake hair, the man appeared friendly and smiling as he came to a stop next to Rhia while she faced her guild.

"Good, everyone is here," she said as she looked over the small crowd in the guild, "Now then, I have two missions for you all. Though, these will require teams for both. Since you all are just starting to-"

"I volunteer us!" Lili announced, holding up her hand along with the hands of Lenz, Liv and Lucas.

"Don't interrupt," Lenz said, pulling his hand back and giving her a solid tap to the back of her head.

Rhia just smiled as she continued, "As I was saying, since you all are just starting to get to know each other, I went ahead and selected two teams myself to make things easier."

This created some pouting from Lili's end, but she didn't interrupt any further.

"This is Lewis Blythe. He runs a well-known jewelry business up in Alexandrite and he has just returned to Pergrande from gathering raw materials in Desierto for his business. He made his way up here from Iolite with a small escort, but this is as far as they would take him as they had other business to attend to, so he will need another small team to escort him the rest of the way to the capital."

"I'm verry excited to finish my journey with you all!" Lewis said, shaking a rather bushy brown moustache as he spoke.

'So that's where it all went,' was the collective thought of the mages as they stared at moustache. They had to admit it was quite fancy looking with curled edges and everything.

He fixed his orange and yellow bowtie, smiling at them, "From how your guild master speaks of you all, I'm certain I'm in good hands!"

"I ensure you, you are," Rhia agreed, looking back at her mages, "Now then, this mission will take about a month or so. Lewis here has asked that we not cheap out on the journey and adventure, so unfortunately, you will not be able to use Weyland until your trip back. He has some business to attend to in Amythest first, so you will head up that way and then to the capital when his business is finished. Easy enough, yes?"

When she was sure that everyone had listened, she continued.

"Again, this will be a smaller team of three. No more than that should be needed. I have decided that Flick will lead the team, with Sano and Bison filling out the other two spots."

Flick looked between the two younger men. Bison looked unhappy about this choice and like he was about to have words with Rhia while Sano seemed to be half listening, half reading over whatever book was in his hands.

'This is going to be a long fucking month,' he thought as he downed what was left in his glass.

Rhia quickly cut off Bison before he could even get a word out, "Ah! I don't want to hear it! You are going on this mission, and you will behave yourself and you will listen to Flick. Once you return, we can start to focus on your magic training more, but I want to see how you do out in the field first."

Bison scrunched his face in annoyance, but ultimately let out a huffy, "Fine!"

Rhia turned on Flick, "You are to keep track of both of them and give me a thorough report when you return."

"Yes ma'am!" he said playfully with a salute.

"Now, Lewis is in no rush to leave, so take a couple of days to pack everything you need for the long trip and all of you are to meet up here when you're ready. He'll be waiting at the guild whenever you want to start the mission. While this is a C-Ranked mission, I expect you all to take this seriously, especially for what Lewis is paying for it. We'll go over payment details and such later."

Once the buzz of the mission announcement settled, everyone looked back to Rhia again.

"You said there were two missions?" Lenz asked.

"Yes, the second mission is an A-Ranked mission and will be our biggest mission to date. I was actually a little surprised that a letter showed up specifically asking us to take the mission. I'm sure it's from the advertising we have been doing, along with the fact that we can get there so fast and are willing to take a slightly lower price for the mission. But it is something I feel strongly about, and we would be fools to turn it down.

The Black Wyvern Reservation out in Malachite City is asking that we send a team to help deal with a large poaching problem they've been having. They are coming in and killing the mothers while stealing the eggs to sell on the Black Market. The reservation has dealt with poachers before, but not to this extent and so consistently. They want a team of mages in there to stop the poachers by any means.

This specific reservation is meant for retired wyverns who no longer have riders as they cannot bond with another. There are also wild wyverns scattered in there as well. I am greatly concerned about this as I come from the military and a wyvern corps unit to boot. I want us to take this mission, but I will understand if you all don't feel ready for a larger mission like this."

A brief moment of silence filled the room.

Normally, Lenz would have taken some time to think things over, but this mission had him immediately standing up.

"I want to take this mission."

Rhia gave him a small, warm smile, knowing how he felt about wyverns as well, "I'm glad to hear it. How about the rest of you?" Her question earned her nods of affirmation, "Wonderful. Now, this team will be a little bigger with five members. Tezca will be leading the team, and I want Lenz, Olivia, Lili and Lucas filling out the team. The four of you have worked together before, so you all have a better understanding of each other, which will be needed for this mission. Plus, Olivia and Lucas, you have been training, and I feel with the other three with you, you two can handle this. Tezca has previous history with leading a team and should be a good fit for you four."

As soon as Tezca was named leader, Lenz's, Liv's and Lucas's faces dropped. Between Lenz simple dislike of him, Liv's wariness, and Lucas having experienced his training, none of them were looking forward to having him around for an extended period of time, much less have to take orders from him.

Lili, being the only one without any issues on their leader, simply looked excited for their mission.

"You all will also have a couple of days to get ready for the mission. Since the mission is so far from us and I just dropped it on you, I will be waving the Weyland Transportation Fee from your mission just this once. When you're all ready to go, you will also meet here in the guild and Weyland will open the portal to Malachite City for you. The reservation will already know you're coming."

Feeling like she had explained enough for now, Rhia dismissed them for the day to start preparing for their missions.

"Ma'am," Lenz called out to Rhia when everyone began to disperse, "I don't mean to sound ungrateful or offensive, but is there a reason I was overlooked as the leader for this mission?"

"I did not overlook you, Lenz," she explained, "It was honestly hard to choose between you and Tezca. What ultimately led me to choose Tezca is his amount of experience. It's not that you aren't qualified for the job, but he has dipped his hands into things like this a bit more."

"Yes, but he's…well…"

"Yes?"

"I can't explain it!" he said, letting out an exasperated sigh, "I just know this is the wrong choice."

"You may feel that way," she retorted, frowning a bit at him, "But these are my orders. Tezca is the leader of the mission, and you will respect that."

The two stared each other down for a long moment before Lenz gave in.

"Yes ma'am," he said flatly before walking away.

Rhia turned around to face Cassie at the bar with a sigh of her own.

"Are you sure it was wise to not hear him out?"

"What? You don't trust Tezca either or my choices?"

"I didn't say that," Cassie frowned at her, "Tezca is fine. I trust him enough, but from what I've gathered about him and what you know, he hasn't been in the game for a minute. Lenz hasn't missed a beat between living with the Schwartz family, joining the military, and now being here. Sure, he has his issues to work through, but he's sharp and he knows what he's doing. He was already leading people under you not that long ago. Can you say the same about Tezca?"

Rhia bit her lip in hesitation, "Well, now you have me doubting myself."

"I'm not trying to do that either. I'm just saying, you shouldn't be writing mages off just because someone else came along with a handful more experience. Lenz is younger than Tezca, sure, but ultimately, he's been training since he was a kid. He grew up in Fort Saphir, Rhia. That's not a walk in the park."

"I know that, but I also have to trust the skills that Tezca says he has. How am I to lead any of them if I never give other people a chance to prove themselves?"

"I trust you to make the right decision. I know this isn't easy. You can't be out there with them like you were in the military, so I know you have to put your trust into all of them," Cassie said, laying a hand on top of Rhia's, "Just give people the chance to explain themselves. And be ready to handle the consequences if you're wrong. It's okay to make mistakes…just be ready to face them if you do."

Cassie's words helped just as much as they hurt, and it was such a strange feeling for Rhia. Cassie had always been honest and straightforward with her. Maybe she should have gone about the selection process differently. Maybe she should have had a discussion with the teams or at least with Tezca and Lenz. Maybe they shouldn't have taken this mission at all.

'It's too late now,' Rhia thought, 'I'll just have to trust them to work together and complete the mission.'

. : + : .

Two days later, both teams were ready and waiting at the guild.

"You be safe out there," Flick said.

"Good luck with the two of them," Liv replied.

The two stared at each other for a long moment before Liv's lip trembled ever so slightly before she tackled him into a hug.

"I won't see you for a month!"

Flick was taken aback by the hug. It's not that he hated hugs, he just hadn't expected her to do it, nor had anyone given him such genuine affection in so long. So, it took him a few extra seconds for the reality of the action to set in and for him to reciprocate it. It was a shame he'd have to go an entire month without it again or talking to her or seeing her light up when he entered the room.

His mind was shouting at him that he was starting to get a little too close. Alarm bells were screaming at him that eventually she'd turn on him just like all the rest. But damn if he didn't just want to ignore it all for this one moment. For just one fleeting moment where he could pretend that everything was fine and great and that he had actually made a connection.

'I must really be a goddamned masochist,' he thought with a bitter laugh at himself.

On the surface though, he gave her a warm smile, "It'll be over just like that," he said with a snap of his fingers.

She gave him a small smile in return.

"You could always jump ship and join my mission. I might actually go insane with only Bison and Sano to talk to."

"Lewis might be your better bet when it comes to conversations."

His face fell at the realization, "I hate that you're right."

"While I would love to go on a mission with you, Rhia specifically asked us to take these missions. I don't want to let her down."

"I know," Flick said as a light bulb went off in his head, "How about you draw me something every day that I'm gone. I'll think of something in return…hopefully."

"You could draw things too!"

"Oh no, I suck at that," he laughed, thinking back to the last time he tried to draw something and it came out as a lopsided mutant dog, "But I'll think of something, don't worry!"

"Okay, but I do like the drawing idea. I did pack some pencils and a drawing pad."

"Good morning, boys!" Lewis said with a beaming smile as he entered the guild hall that morning, "Are you all ready to go?"

"Looks like that's my cue," Flick said, laughing when he saw the lip tremble again, "Now, no crying."

'Please don't cry,' he thought, 'You'll kill me if you do.'

"And we won't say goodbye either," he said, ruffling her hair gently, "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah, see you soon."

In a few minutes, Flick and his team were gone, leaving Liv to let out a heavy sigh. She moved outside to take in the morning sun and take a moment alone before her own mission got started. Though, she didn't have much time to feel sad or think about things as Lili bounded over to her and gave her a hug.

"Liv! Did you see that the circus was in town?! We should go!"

"The circus?" Liv questioned.

Lucas appeared next to them, "Yeah. I think it was 'Zorbo's Traveling Circus'. I've heard of them before. They're supposed to be pretty good."

The team didn't notice, but sitting in a little bush was a fluffy pink bunny, its ears twitching when Zorbo's was mentioned.

"Well, you'll just have to hope they're still in town when we get back," Lenz said, joining them outside, "We have a mission to attend to first."

"Right!" Lili said, "We have to save the wyverns first!"

The little rabbit's ears twitched again at that.

"Okay, little ladies and little gents," Tezca said, walking over to them after having one last discussion with Rhia.

"I'm literally the same size as you," Lucas shot back with a deadpan expression.

"I know you're in charge," Lenz added, "But I will not listen to you if you call me that again."

"Geez, tough crowd," Tezca mumbled, "Anyways, looks like we're all ready to go."

"Gonna take some poachers out!" Lili sang excitedly, "They're gonna wish they were never born!"

The pink rabbit hopped a little closer to the group, its ears still twitching over the conversation.

"Looks like she has energy for all of us," Tezca chuckled, "We're ready, Weyland!"

"Alright, let's get this vacation started," Weyland said, appearing before the group.

"Again, it ain't a vacation," Tezca said, "It's a mission. Are you sure we can count on you to get us back?"

Weyland patted his shoulder, "For sure, for sure. Just hit me up and I'll appear. Like a fairy godmother! It's too bad I don't have wings!"

Tezca quirked an eyebrow at him, still unsure if he could trust him to get them all back when the mission was done.

"Weyland hasn't let us down yet. Have you?" Liv asked, turning to look at the blonde.

"Yeah, see, she gets it. Just trust the process," he said, giving Liv a high-five. He then rubbed his hands together, "So where was it you were headed?"

"Malachite City, please!"

"Coming right up!" Weyland slapped the air, a large portal being created in the process, "Your carriage to Malachite City awaits!"

"Thanks, Weyland!" Liv said as she stepped through the portal first.

The rest of the team followed, along with an extra passenger in the form of a little pink rabbit. It was harder for the rabbit to blend into the city on the other side of the portal, so it didn't take long for it to be noticed.

"Oh wow! How cute! You should have told me this place has pink rabbits!"

Lili raced over to the rabbit and immediately picked it up and began hugging and petting it, squishing its little cheeks in between her hands.

"Can we take it home?!"

"No, now put it back down!" Lenz snapped, knowing if he didn't put his foot down now, it would be harder to later, "You don't know where that thing has been. Or why it's pink!"

The rabbit scrunched its nose up at him, and had it been on the ground, it would have thumped its feet at him as well.

"But Lenz!"

"Put it back!"

"Fiiiiiiine!" she said as she set it down and gave it a pat on its head, "I think you're cute no matter what he says."

"Lili, let's go. We need to meet up with the people at the reservation."

"Coming!" she said, looking at the bunny one last time, "See you later!"

The little rabbit waited a few moments before hopping away after the group.

A/N: And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Sorry it took me a bit to get back to this story. Working out things for the newest story, Thousand Crane, took a bit of time. But now that it's all taken care of, we should be back on track!

I greatly enjoyed this chapter! It took a lot of turns I didn't expect until I was in the thick of writing it. But I really enjoyed getting into those emotions through Liv and Lenz and even a bit of Bison and Flick there at the end. I'm really enjoying everyone interacting and building up the relationships. So, I hope you're all enjoying it too! And just what is that little pink rabbit?!

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I know I always say it, but they are very much appreciated, and I love seeing what you all think and your reactions!

That should be it for this time around!

Until next chapter!

MyDearWatson