Uh yeah, long time no see! Sorry for the two month period of waiting, I just put off writing this chapter again and again. And then almost two months passed. Yeah... my update schedule is really wonky. Also, I feel as if I need to get the hang of writing again as I am not quite satisfactory with this chapter. Good thing is, I've already started on the fourth chapter.

Moving on, I've decided to add Mirajane to the pairing of Natsu and Erza at the request of treeofsakuras. Forgive me on this, but I'm not very experienced with having two people as a pairing... I may need more pointers. Also, instead of becoming cheerful after she lost her sister, I'm going to have her very moody. That is, until Natsu solves this ;3.

Also, do you think Lucy should have an alternate magic rather than just Keys of the Gate? Perhaps you can review a suggestion... NO CELESTIAL DRAGON SLAYER! Thank you very much. In addition, this chapter has a lot of Lucy centered point of view, however it is simply for the development of the story. I'll try to focus on Natsu some more in the future.

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Magic Item/Spell

God/Beastial Entity

"So... This is Fairy Tail!" Lucy breathed in awe as she drank in the sight of the large, two story hall that towered over the two figures.

"Looks very respectable." Lucy's pink haired companion Natsu added his two cents, "Seems sturdy and well built... I wonder if they have kitten treats inside."

Lucy did a double take at this. "I know you have your cat ears and tail, but do you really eat kitten treats?!"

"..." Natsu stared back at Lucy with wide eyes. "Uh... I didn't say that... Let's investigate the interior of this fine establishment, shall we?" Natsu then sprinted into the guild hall, leaving a very bewildered Lucy standing alone in the dust.

"Eh... okay I guess." Lucy commented with a sweatdrop and then followed Natsu's wake at a slower pace.

As Natsu threw open the doors to the guild hall, he was immediately confronted by a random table flying straight towards his head. With feline grace, he performed a spiralling backflip over the offending projectile and landed with all four limbs tensed on the wooden guild floor. His kitten ears twitched slightly in annoyance.

"Hostile and noisy..." Natsu mumbled, slightly irritated, "Not the best first impression." He then stood up normally and walked towards the bar at the end of the room that, avoiding multiple overly-boisterous guild members. Lucy closely followed, marvelling at everything that was Fairy Tail.

"Hey there, you must be newcomers!" A feminine voice broke through the ruckus of the guild commotion. Both Natsu and Lucy looked towards the direction of the voice and was greeted by a pretty brunette that looked slightly older than the two of them. She was wearing only a bikini to cover her top, while a satchel full of cards hung by her side. But what caught their attention was mostly the giant barrel of alcohol that was sitting in between the girl's toned legs.

"Uh..." Lucy stared at the barrel in concern, "Do you need help moving that somewhere or, WHAT THE HECK!" Lucy gave a little shout of surprise as the brunette guzzled the booze directly from the barrel.

"You were saying, babe?" She winked at Lucy, her slightly unsettling gaze giving the blonde a slight ominous chill. Lucy returned the stare, but was still slightly disturbed.

"Are you the master of this establishment?" Natsu demanded suddenly slamming both his hands, albeit not very harshly, onto the bar counter. The brunette raised her eyebrows at the inquiry.

"Uh no. My name is Cana, and... I get drunk for a living." She smiled, but it diminished slightly as Natsu frowned slightly at this.

"Perhaps you could guide me to who is in charge then-"

"That would be me." Came the reply from a short old man with white, bushy hair. He was standing up on a balcony hanging slightly over the bar, and the midget of a master leapt down from his post to greet the two.

"Hia there, Master Makarov. Want a drink?" Cana smirked, her ample assets popping slightly over the rim of the barrel.

"Not now, Cana." Makarov took care to avoid glancing at the heavenly pillows and direct his attention to Lucy's instead. Her face, I mean... maybe... not actually... no nevermind...

"Now what brings you here to our humble guild?" He inquired while his gaze lingered some at Lucy's chest.

"Er, I would like to join your guild." Lucy answered and then seethed, "Hey! My eyes are up here!"

"I would also like to recruit myself to the service of this... Fairy Tail guild." Natsu added, bowing slightly.

"Uh really?!" Lucy asked with wide eyes, averting her gaze from the peering Makarov, "Is this why you followed me all the way here?" 'I thought it was because he was infatuated with my cuteness and hard to get composure!' Lucy added subconsciously. 'Not that I care.' She quickly added.

"Yes, I would like to give this guild thing a shot. Maybe make a few acquaintances." Natsu nodded.

"Well, you've come to the right guild!" Cana grinned, "We are the best of the best! And we always treat members with love like that of a family!" She ended this statement leering a bit at Lucy, who pretended not to notice the disturbing gaze. However, the blonde had a strange feeling that Cana didn't mean the family kind of love. She ignored this, too.

"Very well," Makarov nodded with his eyes closed, "You are accepted into the guild. Please see Cana to receive your stamp."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Lucy halted the guild master's speech, "So you mean there aren't any recruitment fees or tasks or anything!?"

"No, we accept any and all members that want to become part of our family." Makarov smiled, "It also helps if you have a big rack."

"Shut it, midget!" Lucy raged and axe-kicked the poor master straight down into the counter. A few of the bystanding guild members cringed, "That new blonde chick is a lot like Mira. She conked the master out with a single kick to the face!"

"Don't mess with me!" Lucy growled at the down for the count master, "Or you get the Obliteration Thigh!"

"She even named the move the exact same thing!" the bystanders exclaimed except for one nose bleeding individual who said, "I think I saw her panties."

"Wow, you're a feisty one!" Cana purred, "I wonder if you are that fiery in-"

"Can we get on with the stamping process?" Natsu interrupted at conveniently the right time.

"Sure thing, Kitty Boy." Cana smirked, earning a slight grimace from the rose-headed mage. Cana took out a stamper from somewhere in her cleavage and asked, "Where do you want it."

"On my right hand, and pink please." Lucy asked first, holding out her hand. A couple seconds later and the deed was done. Cana still held onto Lucy's hand a bit longer than necessary.

"Now, how about you Kitty Boy?"

"Please don't call me that..." Natsu sighed and then took off his shirt and unclasped his cape and. Cana smiled appreciatively at the eye candy while Lucy rapidly turned her head away, blushing a bit heavily.

"Right on top of my sternum, and red."

After the stamping was done, which lasted a couple more seconds as Cana also lingered over Natsu's muscular lean chest, the duo were officially guild members.

"Awesome!" Lucy cheered, bouncing up and down in excitement. "We are officially part of Fairy Tail!"

"This is nice," Natsu nodded, putting his shirt and cloak back on, "But I'm hungry... I'm going to look around for some food. Catch ya later, Luce."

"Sure thing." Lucy beamed and then sat herself down at one of the tables around the guild. After a little bit, she attracted multiple members that came over to greet her.

"Hey there, miss." A light orange-brown haired mage wearing glasses and a green jacket strolled over to Lucy. She instantly identified him as Loke, one of the top mages to have as your boyfriend. Still, he didn't look that impressive...

"Hi," Lucy responded with a nod and turned to face Loke with a rather neutral face.

"Such beauty! Would you perhaps, make a team of two with me? A team of love, perhaps?"

"That sounds lovely, but I don't really think I'm your type..." Lucy denied the request gently.

"But please, miss. I insis-"

"Be a man and leave her alone!" Suddenly, a white haired giant of a man punch Loke straight through a window, "A man should know when not to impose his manliness upon a woman! Man!"

"Uh, you are crazy..." Lucy mumbled and scooted slightly backwards, straight into the chest of someone else. "Oh, I'm sorry- WHAT THE HELL!?" Lucy turned around to be confronted by a naked raven-haired man standing right behind her. And his certain body part hanging directly in front of her face.

"Hi, um have you seen my clothes?" the young man asked Lucy, who slowly got up with her hair shadowing her eyes.

A few tense moments proceed before Lucy did her thing and sent the shocked man flying straight into the wall, smashing him straight into some sort of supply room. What Lucy did not expect was for him to come blasting straight out in burst of golden flames.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Natsu screamed, waving a bag of 'Kitty Bites' angrily at the airborne mage who crashed through the wall into the great beyond. "PERVERT!"

"Ueh... he really does eat kitty treats..." Lucy facepalmed and shook her head, then narrowly ducking as the flying naked man flew across the room a third time.

"Oh come on!" He shouted dizzily as he landed directly into one of Cana's empty booze barrels, his arms and legs hanging out and his certain body part thankfully hidden.

"Gray, I'm warning you," A certain furious ivory hair mage seethed as she walked into the guild. "If you coming flying out of the wall one more time without clothes on, I'll skin you and broil your ass for dinner!"

All heads immediately turned to the source of the threat; even Natsu peered out with feline-like intent from the hole in the back of the guild that led into a pantry. Lucy was the first of the two newcomers to recognize the white-haired demon.

"M-mirajane?!" Lucy exclaimed, a bit startled at the appearance of her role-model.

"What do you want, bitch?" Mirajane growled, he dark eyes contesting with Lucy's on surprised gaze. She then stalked over to the hole in the wall, dragged Natsu out of it, and proceeded to take the bag of kitten treats away from him.

"These aren't for you, you freak." Mira sneered and crushed the bag with a single hand, earning an indignant shout from the dual slayer.

"What is your problem, miss?" Natsu scowled and inquired.

"My problem is that a weird pink-haired freak with stupid kitty ears are eating something that belongs to someone much more important." Mira retorted with an evil smirk. Then entire room was enveloped in silence.

The tension was palpable in the room and many guild members and a still slightly shocked Lucy stared at the two glare. Finally, with something akin to a guttural rumble, Natsu promptly stood up and stalked away out of the guild, his ears twitching the only sign of his fury.

The guild was still in complete silence when Mirajane shouted, "What are you looking at, you bastards? Get back to doing whatever useless thing you were doing." And with that, Mira sat down at the bar, ignoring several fearful mumbles, next to the master, who had recovered and was now drinking some beer. Lucy stepped towards the bar and took a seat next to the temperamental white-haired mage. Mira stared at Lucy with a sour look.

"Seriously, what do you want blondie? I don't enjoy stalkers." Mira grumbled.

Lucy gazed at Mira's face for a while, which drew an irritated look onto Mira's face.

"What's your problem, bitch?"

"...Heh... heh ha ha..." Lucy chuckled for a bit, "Are you really Mirajane?"

"The hell is that kind of question supposed to be? Are you stupid, of course I'm Mirajane!" Mira sneered, "If you're asking me to be your girlfriend, sorry I don't take ditzy blondes to my bed."

This silenced Lucy, and after a couple moments of this Mira went back to brooding on the bar table.

"...I think I liked the image on the Sorcerer's Weekly better than the your real life self."

"Well, so do hundreds of other people I've pissed off. Here's a reality check: I'm not some big-headed model who poses to impress pervy boys and girls. I just do that for some spare change." Mira said, not even looking up at the blonde.

"...I don't think you get it."

"Get what, bitch?"

"People look up to you Mira. You are the inspiration for many young girls all over Fiore and beyond, including me. You can't just build up a reputation of being Fairy Tail's beautiful, compassionate role model and then blow it off like its nothing! You should know better!" Lucy said vehemently, her bangs shadowing her forehead.

At this, Mira sat still, staring straight ahead and her fist balling into pale white fists.

"You better get out of here, before you truly regret meeting me. I'll shatter more than your expectations of my morality." Mira's voice practically seethed with bitterness and hate.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply, but a quick shake no from Makarov who was still drinking his beer quietly.

Sighing silently, Lucy slid off the bar chair and sauntered out of the guild; presumably she was looking for Natsu.

As the crowd inside the guild regained their usual rowdiness and were back to brawling like there was no tomorrow.

Makarov closed his eyes and sighed, "Mira... You really need to move on. She can't hold you back forever. Just let it go; Elfman already has."

Mira seemingly slumped down onto the bar table and rested her chin on it. She crossed her hands in front of her face and continued to peer over them, looking forward with a forlorn look. It pained Makarov to see one of his children in such long-term pain, but it could not be helped. Another person will have to make Mira move on. She can't seem to let go of Lisanna herself.

"Natsu, where could you be?" Lucy muttered, looking around multiple corners and into many buildings. 'Where is the damn pink-haired kitty boy?' Lucy thought to herself, exasperated. Then, to her ever growing irritation, her stomach growled. "Grr... Natsu's gonna pay for running off and leaving me in the guild! There are crazy people inside! Well, might as well eat something before I find and kick his ass."

Lucy trudged into a bakery that stood nearby and she smiled to herself as aromatic scents swirled around her.

"Hello, what would you like to order?" A young man with magenta dyed hair and brown eyes immediately greeted Lucy. He donned a chef hat which was slightly crooked and an icing stained apron laid overtop of his rather plain gray t-shirt and khaki shorts.

"Uh hi, is there anything you recommend?" Lucy inquired, tilting her head slightly to look at the menu behind the baker.

"Well, our premium cheesecakes are quite delectable. We have chocolate, vanilla butterscotch, and caramel with us right now, or you can custom order one and pick up a personal preference a little later if you come back."

"Uh, any strawberry?" Lucy peered around the lopsided chef hat of the young man and spied a beautiful strawberry cheesecake sitting inside a see-through refrigerated shelf.

"Sorry, but all our strawberry cheesecakes have been reserved for a single client that is coming to pick them up today. Perhaps next time?"

"Geez," Lucy mumbled, "Is this guy throwing a party or something?"

"Uh, it is not likely she is..." The baker muttered himself, blue lines running down from the top of his face. (Dunno what to call those...?)

"So... how about a vanilla one?" Lucy suggested with a sweatdrop.

"Coming right up!" The baker leapt over the cabinet, pulled it open and grabbed a small cake out of the refrigerated space. In a flash, he presented the cake to Lucy and said, "That'll be 750 jewel." Lucy quickly gave the baker the money and sat down at a table to eat. As she placed the cake on the table, she noticed something odd laying on top of it. Lucy picked it up and her eyes widened. "A kitten treat!?"

There it was, a single pink fishy smelling biscuit thing in the shape of a kitty cat head. 'Natsu must've stopped by here for some reason...' Lucy thought. "Er, excuse me," Lucy called out to the baker, "Have you seen a certain pink-haired individual with a red cape walk around near here?"

"Does he have cat ears and tail with a weird white scarf wrapped around his neck?"

"Yes!"

"Never seen him." He deadpanned, causing Lucy to fall out of her seat.

"Then why the hell did you describe him perfectly!?"

"I was guessing...?" The baker deadpanned again, this time making Lucy sport multiple veins on her forehead.

"I believe the man you are looking for is down by the Eastern Forest near the riverside." Someone said from the doorway of the shop. "He seemed to be talking to someone while fishing." The woman donned a custom Heart-Kreuz breastplate and a modest blue skirt. Her arms were gauntleted and she wore armored boots. Very striking, however, was her deep scarlet hair.

"Thank you!" Lucy exclaimed to the redhead, "You were much more helpful than this guy over here!" She pointed an accusing finger at the baker, who shrugged and ducked down under the counter. Lucy sighed in exasperation and then raced out the door.

"Well, isn't she energetic?" The knight-lady smiled slightly and brushed her hair to the side.

"Eh." Was the reply from the chef.

"Well, I've come to pick up my order!" The redhead's eyes twinkled in anticipation and her normally composed face lit up into a bright face of a happy five year old. "I came right over after I was done staring at that pink haired boy with the cape. He look- I mean seems nice..."

"I know, I know. Whatever." The baker groaned and heaved up ten strawberry cheesecakes from the cabinet counter and placed them on the top. "You're going to utterly decimate our stock if you keep up with these daily orders."

"What can I say? You simply cannot deny the strawberry cheesecake!" The young woman handed over a pouch full of jewel to the baker.

"What I don't understand, Erza, is how you deny that same cake into making you morbidly obese. It's as if it simply stores all the fat in your-"

"Don't insult the cheesecake!" Erza screeched and smashed a requipped hammer straight into the counter.

There was silence as the two people stared at the damage and cake splattered everywhere.

"..."

"..."

"...That's gonna cost you extra..."

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted into the forest, "Where are you?!" She had been walking along the river bank for 20 minutes now, and there was still no sign of Natsu.

Lucy muttered incoherently as she clenched her teeth and tugged on her whip in frustration. "I feel as if I should just summon Aquarius and send a wave up and down the river to hit Natsu and then just leave. Then again, she wasn't exactly on the moody mermaid's best side recently

"God damn it," Lucy sighed. Suddenly, the delicious aroma of roasting fish wreathed around Lucy, causing her to perk up. "Natsu?"

"YO! LUCY!" Came the response from somewhere in the brush to the left of her. Good thing the guy had dragon-kitty hearing. Finally, those oversized kitten ears are useful for something besides just decoration.

"Hey, who's the strange blonde lady you talking to Natsu?" came another unexpected voice.

"Eh, oh this is just an accomplice Happy. Her name is Lucy."

'Eh? Whos the other guy?' Lucy thought as she gradually forced her way into a clearing. In the center Natsu sat lotus style while a blue cat with wings and abnormally large eyes floated around him, the two of them both munching on fish. A blue cat with wings. Named Happy nonetheless.

"... I'm not going to question about the cat..." Lucy tried not to stare at the cat.

"Good, then this introduction will be easier to make." Natsu smirked, "Luce, meet Happy: Mira's cat."

"Aye!"

"Mira has a cat? Is that what the treats Mira crushed were for? They were Happy's?"

"Yes..." Natsu's right eye twitched noticeably.

"Geez, by the way she acts, I didn't expect she would have a cat."

"Well, there is a reason for that... Happy here told me her story."

"Aye!" the cheerful cat repeated, now reaching for a second fish.

"Turns out the girl's been through a lot. Her hometown was burnt down and her parents killed. She managed to find her way over to Fairy Tail with her siblings and was living there safely. Happy also mention she got the rank of S-Class wizard, and I assume that is a upper tier rank among the guild. However, just a couple years back her younger sister named Lisanna had died on a high ranked mission and it seems like Mira never recovered and sunk into a deeper depression."

"Oh... It still doesn't give her the right to act that way to us, but now I slightly understand why she did so." Lucy said, feeling a tiny shed of remorse for the white haired girl.

"I've decided," Natsu said suddenly.

"On what?"

"That I will befriend this Mirajane and comfort her anyway I can."

"That won't exactly be easy..."

Natsu smirked, "I like a good challenge."

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.

...I'm imagining Cana with a rape face when she is looking at Lucy... Anyone else?