Chapter 1 – Mission in the Sky

"Tengoku!" yelled a small blonde child, no older than six.

"Lucy..." boomed a large voice filled with kindness. A large mountainous formed stirred and moved as the little girl continued to run towards it.

"Tengoku! " yelled the girl again laughing, her little arms wide.

"Little one…" boomed that same kind voice again.

Lucy opened her eyes groggily as the sunlight burst through the little gap of her bedroom window curtains, shining brightly upon her pale face. She yawned loudly and stretched out her arms, arching her back in the process.

"Man… what a weird dream…" she muttered to herself, her hazel-brown eyes looking towards the ceiling.

Suddenly she froze, her body fully aware of something snoring and stirring beside her under the covers.

Lucy threw back the covers and screamed at the form of Natsu, her nakama and partner, sleeping peacefully like a child with drool spilling from his mouth onto the mattress.

"YOU PERVERT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED!" screamed Lucy blushing heavily as she delivered a well-aimed kick to the dragon slayer's bare waist, sending him flying off the bed.

"Owwwww…." muttered a sleepy voice.

"Stupid idiot!" grumbled Lucy as she arrived at Fairy Tail.

"Hey Lucy!"

"Morning Lucy!"

Lucy waved her hand and smiled as her rowdy "family" greeted her.

"Morning Lucy! The usual?" smiled Mirajane brightly as she polished a glass behind the bar she worked at.

"Yes please if you don't mind." Said Lucy as she slumped onto the stool, she hung her head back and yawned tiredly.

Across the guild room Juvia sat alone at one of the tables, her eyes never leaving the form of Gray.

"Oh Gray!" thought Juvia happily bringing her arms to her chest, her face going red. "How Juvia longs to declare her undying love for you!"

Suddenly Gray looked up from his drink and his eyes connected with Juvia's causing the poor water mage's heart rate to speed up.

Lucy took a sip of her drink that Mirajane had bought her and yawned again.

"Damn what's wrong with me today?" thought Lucy annoyed as she rubbed her eyes. She gave a hiss of annoyance as the guild doors slammed open loudly.

"Hey everyone!" yelled Natsu loudly as his exceed Partner Happy flew past his shoulder, heading in the direction of a certain sky dragon slayer and her female exceed partner.

"Oi! Flame for brains! Keep it down!" yelled Gray has he lifted his drink to take another sip.

"Oi pervert! Keep ya pants on!" retorted Natsu pointing at Gray who looked down and sprayed his drink from his mouth in shock.

The rest of the guild members began to laugh and cheer as the two mages broke into one of their fights.

"Snowman!"

"Flamehead!"

Lucy groan at the noise of her team mates and slumped her head on the bar, the tiredness became overwhelming and despite the noise level and flying chairs behind her, she closed her eyes and felt herself slipping.

"Tengoku!" cried Lucy happily as a large light blue dragon turned its grand head towards her, it's light blue dragon scales sparkling like the stars of the heavens.

"Lucy…. My, you seem very happy today my young student and friend." Boomed the dragon and a loud thundering chuckle issued from his scaly throat as the young girl jumped up and hugged his smooth nose.

"I am happy! It's my birthday today!" beamed the young Lucy in delight.

"Your birthday? My, how fast you humans grow. In that case you can have today off from your studies. Surely you want to spend today with your family?" boomed the great Dragon.

Lucy flinched and her smile disappeared. Memories of that morning when she went to see her father with a rice ball that she had made resurfaced in her mind.

Her father had smashed the rice ball she had worked so hard to make and had order her to stop bothering him, not once did he mentioned her birthday.

"My father doesn't care!" cried Lucy as tears spilled from her eyes, she looked up at Tengoku who was watching her with concern.

"My father doesn't care that it's my birthday! And mother! S-she's!"

Suddenly Lucy stopped crying as she felt her mentor push his nose against her warmly.

"It doesn't matter…" said Tengoku kindly as he pushed the girl into him in a warm hug.

"I care little one, let's celebrate your special day together."

"Lucy!"

"LUCY!"

Lucy snapped her eyes open in shock and flung herself from the bar, she yelled in surprise as the stool she was sitting on fell backwards.

She yelped in pain as she felt her head slam onto the hard floor below her.

"Lucy! What are you doing down there?"

Lucy slowly opened her eyes and saw the confused face of Natsu looking down at her. Suddenly she growled angrily and whacked him across the head causing him to stumble backwards.

"Idiot! I wouldn't be down here on the floor if you hadn't scared me!" snapped Lucy as she pushed herself up, brushing the dust off her sky blue tank top.

"Owww Lucy! Your mean!" whimpered Natsu as he rubbed the side of his head. His eyes snapped to Gray when he heard him laugh.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR LAUGHING AT ICE MAN!" snarled the dragon slayer as he launched himself towards the ice mage.

Lucy sat back on her stool and snorted with indifference, turning her back firmly on the raging battle behind her.

"My! Someone seems grumpy today!" teased Lisanna jumping onto the stool next to the blonde steller mage who was glaring at her drink.

"S-sorry… I'm just, really REALLY tired today for some reason." Lucy rubbed her temple with her slender fingers and closed her eyes.

"And those dreams…" thought Lucy to herself as she once again slumped her head on the bar. She never had dreams like this before.

"L-lucy?" said a timid voice.

Lucy opened her eyes grudgingly and looked towards the source of the voice. Wendy stood before her twirling her fingers and blushing.

"I was wondering if, if y-you would like to come shopping with me?" the sky dragon slayer looked at Lucy and smiled hopefully.

"Shopping?" asked Lucy surprise sitting up on her stool and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Y-yeah… you see, I've always wanted to go to Orleana City. I heard they have some amazing stuff that you can only get there but I don't want to go there on my own with just Charle."

"Orleana City!" gasped Lucy feeling wide awake now. She had always wanted to visit Orleana City due to its mass beauty and amazing items that can only be found there.

"Yep!" smiled Wendy brightly when she saw her friend's face light up.

"Thanks to my last mission, I have enough jewels to finally go there!" Lucy looked at Wendy's beaming face and felt herself beaming with excitement too.

Then he suddenly hit her, she was broke.

"I'm sorry Wendy, I'll love to go but I'm utterly out of money." Sighed Lucy sadly thinking back to the last mission she did with team Natsu. As per normal her team mates had cause so much destruction that their rewards were withdrawn to pay for the damage.

"I thought you might be broke!" laughed Wendy as she held up a slip of paper.

Lucy gingerly took the crumply sheet of paper and read it.

HELP WANTED!

ONE OR TWO MAGES IN NEED OF TAKING OUT A BAND OF BANDITS CURRENTLY HARRASSING THE HARD WORKING TOWN OF YOLIN!

REWARD: 120,000 JEWELS!

"120,000 Jewels!" gasped Lucy as Wendy grinned.

"Yep! I'll help you do the mission and let you keep the reward. You'll be able to pay your rent and have plenty left for spending money!"

"W-Wendy! I can't do that! It's not fair on you!" said Lucy flushed, waving her arms at the sky dragon slayer.

"Don't be silly! My reward will be you coming with me to Orleana remember?" grinned Wendy brightly and she quickly grabbed the paper from the stunned Steller Mages hand.

"Hey Mirajane!" shouted Wendy running towards the Mirajane who was handing drinks to Droy and Max.

"Me and Lucy want to do this mission! Is it ok?"

Lucy watched in stunned silence as Mirajane read the mission and happily handed it back to Wendy, accepting the mission. And for the first time that morning, Lucy felt her face crack into an excited grin.