"Take that, you great big oaf!" yelled Lucy, aiming a final kick at the beast. It groaned deeply as her foot made contact with it's belly, and crashed face-down onto the ground. It now lay motionless.

"Oh right!" she squealed happily. "Nice one, gang!" She high-fived Happy, Loke and Taurus. "Thanks for all your hard work today, guys. You can go back to the spirit world now - I'm sure you've got things to be doing!"

"No problem, any time Lucy," said Loke, brushing the dust from his suit, before disappearing.

"Hey, Miss Luuuuuucy, don't I get a smooooooch first?"

"NO TAURUS, YOU DON'T!" screeched Lucy, "DON'T BE SUCH A PERVERT!" Taurus pretended to cry, as he disappeared after Loke. Happy was beside himself.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! He luurrves you!"

"Shut up, cat!"

"Ha-OW!"

Meanwhile, Natsu and Gray had also successfully completed their mission.

"Last one back to the guild is a stinky dragon egg!"

"You're on, Flamethrower!"

The pair tore off in the direction of home, having had an enjoyable few hours doing what they loved: beating up the bad guys! And the mission had proved to them both - not that they'd even think of discussing it with each other - that although they always put on a front of dislike for each other, they cared deeply about their comrade. They knew that if it ever came to it, they wouldn't hesitate to lay down their lives for one another. But as for stopping their regular fights, Erza could dream on!

Lucy and Happy were taking the journey home much more gently than the other two. After collecting their reward in good time, they decided to rest up for a bit.

"Well we do deserve it!" said Lucy, happily. "I'll buy you a big fish as soon as we get home. You were great out there Happy, your combat skills are really improving!"

"OOH thanks Lu-lu! You're not so scary after all."

"Hey, watch it," Lucy stuck her tongue out at the blue exceed. They finished resting, and decided to start walking again. Happy flew alongside Lucy, as they ambled through the forest. Lucy's thoughts drifted to the guild members, and then to Erza. Was she really as happy as she appeared?

"Hey, Happy?"

"Yes, Lucy?"

"Can I ask you something? Oh, and don't tell Natsu. It's about Erza."

Happy shivered.
"Aye sir! Don't worry, I wouldn't - Erza's too scary to disobey!"

"Relax Happy!" Lucy laughed. "So, well, um, I need your opinion on this... do you think Erza is okay? I mean I know she's had a rough past, but it seems like there's something bothering her now. It's almost like there's something going on in her head, getting the better of her and dragging her down, more and more each day. She hides it so well, but sometimes she seems so distant, and I'm sure it's getting worse. We were all such good friends, but now... I just feel like she's faking it all around us. Maybe it's just me being too thoughtful, I don't know. Maybe I have the problem!"

Happy thought about this for a moment.
"Don't worry yourself, Lucy! Erza's Erza: the strongest wizard I know! She's probably fine, we all know she's pretty awkward with people... but nothing will ever beat her - why - if she ever had any problems, they'd probably run away from her in terror!"

Lucy giggled at Happy's impressions of Erza defeating 'problems', and decided to drop the subject.

"Hahaha! Okay. I'm sure you're right Happy. Sorry, all my thoughts just flowed out. It's probably nothing. So, how are you and Carla getting along at the moment?"

At this point, Happy took the opportunity to offload all of his worldly problems to Lucy's patient listening ears. Luckily for Lucy, she was easily able to give Happy the advice he needed to help with the majority of his situations.

"Ah Happy. I hope it goes well for you and Carla, I really do. Heaven knows I could use a bit of luck in my love life." Lucy had said that last part quietly, however Happy's sharp ears still picked up on it. And unfortunately, misunderstood.

"Aww Lucy! I know there's a perfect guy out there for you. Even if you don't realize it now, when he confesses his love to you, you'll realize you felt the same way all along and -" Happy broke off in a squeal of excitement. Lucy sighed.

"I really hope you're joking with me. I'd feel so terrible if there was somebody who liked me in that way, and I couldn't return it..." she trailed off, not bothering to explain herself.
She was sure that he wouldn't understand. It wasn't that there was nobody she liked. There was someone. Just not the sort of someone he was... expecting. She prayed that Happy was just messing with her, and didn't have some silly secret he'd almost spilled.

Still, she began to get slightly worried, so she abruptly changed the subject for the remainder of the journey home. When they arrived back in Magnolia, the two parted cheerfully, Happy shooting off towards Natsu's place (he'd been back ages), while Lucy headed home. She let herself in, with a sigh of relief and headed straight into the bathroom for a nice hot shower.
Everything else could wait for now.