Third Person POV

It was a dark, cloudy day in Crocus. She could see storms gathering and lightning spark up in the clouds, the clap of thunder rolling over the flowers and making the celestial mags shiver in delight. She loved summer storms almost as much as she loved a clear starry sky in the dead of winter.

Breathing in the metallic scent of the coming storm, she smiled quietly to herself and closed her eyes, letting the breeze lift her now shoulder blade length hair and tease the edges of her senses. She heard a loud crack! Hit the ground in front of her. She let out a rather loud squeak and felt her heart skip a few beats.

Looking down at the the ground, she was shocked by the sight of a certain lightning dragon slayer standing in the courtyard.

(A/N hehe, pun toootally intended)

"EEHH?! Laxus? What are you doing in Crocus?!" Lucy screeched. Without giving him the chance to even open his mouth and answer her question, the celestial mage had already backed out of the window and sprinted out to the courtyard to greet her new guest. As soon as she was a few feet in front of the Dragon Slayer, she stopped dead in her tracks, "Are... Are you really here?" She almost whispered.

"Well Blondie, you're not seeing things, that's for sure." He smirked after saying those words and turned so that he was facing her a little more solidly.

After those words, Lucy pounced and wrapped her arms around Laxus's neck, startling him a bit. After a moment though, the slayer let a small smile form of his usual non-expressive face as he wrapped a single arm around her waist, holding her to him.

She finally hopped down from him, giving him the biggest, happiest smile she possibly could, but remained rather close, to the point she had to strain to look up at him. She would never tell anyone this, especially Team Natsu, knowing how overprotective they all were, that she had always had a crush on a certain Dragon slayer. The only people who knew were Levy and Wendy. Not even Carla knew. She didn't know when exactly she had started liking him, she just knew that she'd always felt a connection. And then of course the events of Phantom Lord and The Battle of Fairy Tail happened and just as quickly as she'd come, he was gone. She had felt a small tug of heartache when he had been exiled, but Tenroe Island had fixed that right up. Seeing him trust and love the Fairy Tail family... she had wanted to run up and hug him tight to her like she had just now and it had taken the distraction of Natsu fighting the former guild master to draw her attentions away.

He looked down at her, seemingly surprised to see how close she remained to him, and she could see the small smile still retained on his features, "Hey, Blondie. How have you been these past months?"

"Oh! Well I've been doing really well here. I've been writing articles for sorcerer weekly and that takes up quite a bit of my time. I just wished I had some friends other than my spirits and Jason here..." she continued, almost sadly, as her famous smile faultered.

"What do you mean you wished you had friends here? I figured Natsu would have followed you here like a lost puppy. Hell, that's all he ever did in the guild anyways." He growled, a staunch scowl forming on his face at the thought of the male being near Lucy.

"He left. With just a note. Training, or something like that. After Fairy Tail was disbanded, everybody went their separate ways. I came here to pursue my writing. Levy, Gajeel, and Lily went to the counsel, Natsu went off training with Happy, Gray and Juvia went up north I think, and Erza left too. And of course everybody else went their separate ways too. So, I've been here, working on my writing, living in a new apartment in the capital, and finally being okay with being on my own again. So, enough about me though, how have you been doing Laxus?" And she replaced the gentle smile that had been on her lips during her explanation with a big grin.

He looked at her, understanding written in his eyes, "I've been doing pretty well. Decided to join another guild with the Thunder Legion. We were on a mission recently and that's why I'm here, actually..." Lucy felt her eyes widen at his words. Why would the Thunder Legion be here if they were on a mission? She hadn't heard of any disturbances lately...

"We need your help."

Laxus POV

"We need your help." I loathe to admit it, but there was no other way to do what we needed to do without her. I had fought Freed and the others tooth and nail against asking for her help. I couldn't stand the thought of putting her in danger, not only that but she didn't need to get dragged into our mess that we had accepted. I don't give a damn how strong she is, she doesn't need to be involved. Unfortunately for me though, it was three against one. So I volunteered to come get her since my way of travel is much faster, and maybe I could convince her to say no.

Her smile only faltered a little bit, instead forming into a small "o" with her big brown orbs widening a fraction of an inch, "Help? You need my help? Honestly I couldn't possibly know why. I'm just a celestial mage, I don't even have very many offensive spells. I'm smart, but so is Freed and he's better with runes and ancient languages. So unless your situation calls for my specific knowledge, I don't know why you wouldn't ask someone else." She ended with her hands clasped behind her back with her hips cocked a little to the left and her her face scrunched up, chewing her lip with worry. I couldn't help but marvel at her. She doubted her own strength so much and looked at herself so harshly. She was one of the strongest mages I knew.

"Being a holder type mage makes you no less powerful than any other mage. And that being said, you're one of the strongest people I've ever met, magic or no magic. And yes. We do need your help. We took a job and we... can't complete it. You were the first person who came to mind to ask for help. Honestly, your the only person. We could have asked Yukino or the princess I suppose, but the others didn't want to ask someone who we didn't know that well and who's from a different guild. They also didn't want to bother royalty. So they insisted that we come ask you about helping us out. You'll get a portion of the reward and some adventure too I suppose." I finished. It felt almost weird talking this much around someone who wasn't the Thunder Legion or gramps. She seemed to read my mind too.

"You know," she started, a small giggle escaping her, "I've never really heard you talk this much. You always seemed so... untouchable. Mysterious. I always wanted to try talking to you but you seemed so uninterested and aloof. It makes me so happy to know that you trust me and feel comfortable enough with me to come and ask for help. Of course I'll help you!" She grinned up at me, bouncing a little from foot to foot with how excitable she was. Seeing her hair sway to and fro, her eyes alight with joy and sincerity, almost seeming to be hiding something else in their depths, and the knowledge that that gleaming grin was all for me, set my face and neck aflame with heat.

"You really thought that about me that way? Weird. That's how I thought about you..."

"Well... Lets start fresh then!" I looked down to see her cheeks slightly red, as if blushing, and her hand stuck out, as if waiting for me to grab it; so I did, "My name is Lucy Heartfillia and I'm a celestial mage. I have nine of the twelve zodiac keys, as well as five silver keys. I was a member of the Fairy Tail Guild before its disbandment and now I work as a journalist for Sorcerers Weekly under Jason. I hope we can be friends!" She smiled brightly, seemingly very happy with her introduction.

"Uh... okay..." I said rather awkwardly.

"You're supposed to introduce yourself in return. Jeez, who taught you manners? A tree stump?" She said, sweat dropping.

I chuckled at her, "Nope. Gramps tried to teach me, but I was stubborn little shit at the time." She gave me another look. One I took to mean "I'm waiting, asshole" and so I pushed out a deep sigh and began to introduce myself while generally following her template, "My name is Laxus Dreyar and I'm the Lightning Dragon Slayer. I was a member of Fairy Tail since I was young, but got exiled for a short period of time, at least on my time table, until after the recovery of the Tenroe Team when Fourth Master Gildarts Clive reinstated me and I was again apart of Fairy Tail until it's disbandment. I'm now a member of the Blue Pegasus Guild, though I try my damnest to stay away on missions because they're all a bit too high scale for my tastes but the rest of my team enjoys them. Or at least so they tell me." I finished, still looking a little off to the side. Staring at her wasn't really an option right now, even though I wished it was, so I had to force my gaze elsewhere.

Suddenly Lucy was almost pressed against me, her fists near her face and her eyes wide looking worried. I nearly grabbed her waist but had to hold my traitorous hands back, so they were hovering just around her shoulders, "You don't want to be friends with me?!" She almost yelled worriedly. I felt my expression shift from surprise to embarrassment as the blush crept steadily up my neck and onto my face.

"Friends isn't quite strong enough a word..." I mumbled under my breath. Then realizing what I said, I hoped desperately that she hadn't heard me. I cleared my throat and looked down at her and said, "of course I want to be friends. We're still nakama after all."

She squealed and jumped up to wrap her arms around my neck tightly and I could feel the length of her body pressed tightly against mine, "You don't know how much those words mean to me Laxus..." she whispered into my ear. I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist and pulled her tighter, taking in her scent of strawberries and vanilla wafers. Finally letting her slide down to the ground, I saw a small smirk play across her pink lips, "All of them" she muttered, knowing damn well I had heard her. I felt my heart speed up and panic run across my features. She just giggled and called out to me as she ran back up to her apartment, "I'm gonna pack my bag! Your welcome to come in if you want!"

Like there was any way in hell that I was going to turn down that offer.