Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)

Note: This story is non-canon. It takes place after the Grand Magic Games arc and before the Sun Village arc.

The Cherry Aroma

Lucy Heartfilia sat down on one of the bar's brown stools in the Fairy Tail guild, feeling pretty down while Mirajane Strauss placed a vanilla milkshake in front of her, and she looked at the milkshake in a disappointed manner while thinking about how today's mission with Team Natsu hadn't gone well at all. Lucy also lacked enough money for her apartment's rent to be paid, only having sixty-thousand jewels saved up while she would need ten-thousand more, and she let out a depressed sigh while wishing that the mission had gone better.

The members of Team Natsu had taken a job that would've given them fifty-thousand jewels, and all that they had to do was go to the Kazehana Woods for the purpose of getting some mint leaves from the largest tree that was deep in the forest. When they ended up reaching that area, the team was sadly met with the sight of all the leaves being gone while the tree itself looked dead. Lucy thought about how she had been ready to fight off any outlaws who would try to ambush the team, but no one had expected a team of mages to jump down from a tree.

They didn't ambush the members of Team Natsu with any surprise attacks, but the two mages had simply walked in front of them with smug looks on their faces. One of them had dark green hair in a moptop hairstyle, and he was a guy who wore an orange jean jacket with dark green jeans and light green sneakers to match. His name had been Ryōhei Bihaeng, and he had been the one who wielded powerful Wind Magic. His partner had wavy hair that was pale green, and she wore a light green T-shirt with a lime green skirt and emerald green flat shoes to match. Her name was Kazumi Cuì.

Lucy recalled how Kazumi used Plant Magic that was pretty strong, but she was mainly depressed about how Erza was mad at her for letting those mages get away. The scarlet-haired mage hadn't spoken to her for the rest of the day, and it was now nighttime in the town of Magnolia. Lucy wished that she hadn't told the opponents that they could have the leaves for their purpose of helping the bakery in the nearby town have mint-flavored desserts, but she just didn't wish to get badly hurt after even seeing Natsu and Gray take harsh beatings.

"Are you going to drink that milkshake before it goes bad, Lucy, or will you let me enjoy your nice cherry?" Cana asked her in a calm tone while going behind the counter, starting her nighttime shift as Mirajane was now ending hers.

Lucy replied in a somewhat surprised manner, getting out of her thoughts, "Oh, wow! I hadn't even touched the milkshake yet, Cana, but you can take the cherry. It's not like sweets will make me on good terms with Erza."

Cana asked her while looking somewhat curious, getting out two pink bottles of alcohol from the bar's bottom cabinet, "What happened between you and Erza? I thought you two were pretty good friends, and people even claimed that you two liked to sometimes be naughty."

Lucy was quick to refute those rumors of her being naughty with Erza, as their friendship didn't reach that level, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard felt like Erza was mainly into guys. She did seem close to Natsu, and they would even sleep in the same bed sometimes because of how Erza enjoyed having Natsu's warmth make her body feel good. Their friendship never involved any kissing or anything else that was romantic, though, so Lucy would just have to wait and see if their friendship would end up going in that direction.

As for why Erza wasn't talking to Lucy, the brown-eyed girl didn't feel like opening up to Cana about that. Despite the fact that the two girls had paired up together for the S-Class trial that took place on Tenrou Island in X784, Lucy couldn't just openly share why Erza was upset with her. She would not want Cana to accidentally bring up their conversation to Erza at a later point in time, and Lucy definitely wouldn't talk about this matter with Mirajane around. The white-haired barmaid may have been walking towards the guild's entrance doors, but hearing even the slightest bit of gossip would make Mira be happy to stick around.

Lucy simply watched Cana open up a tall bottle of alcohol and start to chug it down, and Lucy seemed pretty shocked that Cana would drink a potent type of alcohol while having to work behind the bar. The violet-eyed woman getting drunk was definitely a rarity, but Lucy felt like it was still not a good idea for Cana to drink down that alcohol. She watched her friend gulp down ten large sips of alcohol, and Cana slightly blushed while sighing happily at how that booze tasted pretty good. Lucy was glad to see that her friend was having a good night, but then Cana gave her a little surprise.

She opened up the other pink bottle of alcohol, and Cana put it next to Lucy's milkshake. That was a nice way of offering her the chance to just drink her frustration and sadness away, but Lucy didn't drink alcohol very often. She gave Cana a look of refusal, but then her eyes glanced at her milkshake to see that the cherry was still floating above the vanilla-flavored drink. Since Lucy was still not drinking it, she used the middle and ring fingers of her right hand to pick up the red cherry by its stalk. Lucy handed the cherry to Cana, who simply smiled in a teasing way as she took it.

"Wow, that's a sweet cherry. Since I tasted this cherry, you should taste that cherry-flavored alcohol." Cana told Lucy with a nice smile on her face, before pulling out the stalk.

Lucy replied in a calm tone, sighing while agreeing with Cana about how that was fair, "Well, you're right. I guess one sip won't hurt too much, Cana."

Cana responded confidently as she grinned, glad that Lucy would be her drinking partner tonight, "That's great to hear, Lucy! Enjoy the booze!"

Lucy picked up the pink bottle with her left hand and took a gentle sniff of it, liking how the aroma made her think of cherry-flavored soda, and Cana watched her start to drink it. Lucy took a big gulp of it, before smiling in a delighted manner at how it tasted so good, and Cana watched Lucy's cheek start to blush light pink. Lucy closed her eyes while wanting more of the drink, and she gulped down six more big gulps of it. The aroma of this alcohol was much better than the scent of mint leaves, and Lucy started to happily giggle while placing the pink bottle on the counter.

She let out a small hiccup and smiled at Cana, but Lucy ended up falling off of her stool. She soon closed her eyes while feeling pretty dizzy, and Cana came out from behind the counter to check on her friend. She looked down at Lucy in a concerned manner, and Cana gently picked Lucy up by the red T-shirt that matched the orange jean shorts she was wearing. Cana glanced down at her blue bikini top and red capri pants for a moment, liking how they both had great fashion, and she decided to carry Lucy out of the guild in a bridal-style manner. Cana may have lived at the Fairy Hills dormitory, but her priority right now was to take Lucy home.

How was Chapter 1? Did you like it? My previous Lucy x Cana story got reported, but it doesn't really matter. Starting a new story with some new ideas is nice. Standby for my next update!