Summary: Mirajane's got herself a new scheme that doesn't involve her trying to play matchmaker...? Laxus is on-board for the sheer hell of it? Only one thing is certain anymore; insanity is imminent. Then again, it's Fairy Tail: what else is new?

Time Capsule

And So It Begins

"You're making a what for a what now?" Laxus asked, not sure whether to laugh at what he had just heard or be confused by it. So far he'd opted for the latter as he stared at Mirajane with a rather blank expression. What the hell had brought this on all of a sudden?

Lifting one hand, he ran his fingers through his blond hair as he asked himself why he'd even bothered attempting to make small talk with Mirajane as he'd gone up to order a drink from the guild bar. He supposed his curiosity had gotten the better of him when he'd seen the white haired women standing down the far end, browsing through a large pile of old photographs with a pen and a sheet of paper beside her as she made notes about something or other. Why on earth had he bothered to ask her what she was doing? It wasn't like he really cared to begin with. Yet, somehow he'd still ended up in this situation. How the hell, just how the hell...?

Oh yeah, that damnable thing called curiosity had struck again.

"I'm making a photo album; which I'm going to place inside a time capsule for future generations of Fairy Tail to dig up and see for themselves how the guild used to be!" Mirajane replied with her usual bright smile from the other side of the bar as she turned around in order to pour the drink the blond had ordered whilst attempting to engage her in small talk. "This whole missing out on seven years thing got me thinking that we won't be around forever, for all we know we could be gone tomorrow in our line of work, and the only thing we'd have to prove we were here in the first place are the memories our nakama have of us and our names on the guilds KIA register. So I'm going to try and get everyone to contribute to this time capsule so that when someone finds it in the future they can see for themselves how the guild has changed between now and then. And I figured the best place to start would be something that everyone could contribute to, as well as our own individual contributions, so what better than a guild photo album? Maybe I could get everyone to sign it and write a message or two…"

"If you say so," Laxus replied, nonplussed on the idea as he took his drink from the Fairy Tail barmaid. Though despite part of his mind was telling him to get up from the stool he'd sat down in, when he had no idea, he'd been standing a moment before after all, and get out whilst he still could. But, alas, curiosity once again got the better of him. "So what are you going to put in time capsule of yours, beside the photo album that is?"

"You know, I haven't really thought about it," Mirajane spoke, tapping a finger against her cheek as she tried to think of a suitable idea. Typical, Laxus thought, shaking his head slightly before taking a sip of his drink. In all honesty he actually found the idea to be sort of amusing when he thought about it, some of the ideas that sprang to mind about what a few of his guildmates might contribute almost made him choke on his drink in hysterics.

Odds are Natsu and Happy would end up contributing the stupidest item of the lot, he was able to chuckle safely this time, having swallowed his beverage and returned the mug to the surface of the bar.

"Something funny, Laxus?" Mirajane asked, tilting her head to one side as she observed him, a rueful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She'd probably had similar thoughts to her own when she first had the idea. "Say, how would you like me to help me with the time capsule?" She was smirking now, though in the way that she could pass it off as a simple smile if she wanted to, she had him hooked now, his curiosity had dragged him past the point of no return and she knew it, but he couldn't admit that.

"What makes you think I'd want anything to do with all this? I might have better things to do with my time," he said after a moment's pause, making sure to choose his words carefully. Whilst Mirajane was no longer the terror she was back in their days as teenagers, she could still scare the majority of the guild shitless - himself included; even if he claimed up and down otherwise to save his pride - if she wanted to.

Try as Erza might, and despite Natsu and Gray's claims to the contrary, Mirajane was hands down the scariest women in Fairy Tail – quite possibly Fiore as a whole. Probably because you wouldn't see if coming with Mirajane unless you knew her back in the day, Laxus decided with a shrug before lifting his drink to take another sip.

"Because I know you want to see what everyone else contributes to the time capsule so you can get a good laugh out of it." Damn, when did he become that easy to read? "And if you don't I can easily ban you from the bar for however long I like until you agree to help me~!" He couldn't help it, that time he actually spat out some of his drink, staring at Mirajane with wide eyes. But the mother hen of the guild was all smiles, acting as though nothing had even happened as she gave the bar a quick wipe down.

When did she start being so devious again…? Maybe she just never stopped, he told himself, maybe, just maybe she got better at hiding that side of herself. And despite himself, he found that he liked this side of Mirajane; she was dare he say it, fun to conspire with. Despite the fact he'd return to Fairy Tail with the guild members who had been on Tenrou Island, cured of the crazies, there were still quite a few people that were a little edgy around him, worried about setting him off against should they get on his bad side. Nobody, besides the old geezer Gildarts and the moronic Fire and Iron Dragon Slayers had the guts to have a round or two of banter with him these days without the fear he might take it personally should they say the wrong thing. Or so he thought. He wouldn't deny his respect for the barmaid rose considerably with their little exchange.

Maybe the fiery tempered she-devil Erza and himself had butted heads with on countless occasions when they were younger was still in their, lurking just beneath the surface... the very thought had him repress a shiver.

She was even nicer on the eyes than back then too, not that he needed to tell her that part, he mused. The whole of Fiore knew that after all.

"You wouldn't…" he said slowly after a moments pause, eyeing her carefully. Though despite his best efforts to hide the slight smirk pulling at his lips he could tell from the triumphant gleam Mirajane's eye that she had spotted the coming smirk long before Laxus himself had even felt it take up residence on his lips.

"Of course I wouldn't, I would never do such a thing," she all but purred, patting his hand with a playful smile, taking his glass away to refill it without being asked. After returning his glass to him, Laxus could only watch as her hands quickly shifted to resting on her hips, waiting for his response to the proposal. While part of his mind was telling him to do it, prompting him for what was the worst that could happen; the smart part of his mind was quick to remind him that when people always thought that in the movies, the worst thing that could happen was always quick to occur.

Ah, screw it, I got nothing better to do right now and this could be a laugh, "Alright, I'm in," Laxus shook his head, lifting a hand for Mirajane to shake, though he couldn't help the light chuckle that tickled the back of throat. It could be fun after all, right? Even if it was just getting a laugh at someone else's expense. Plus, part of him was just curious to see what his guildmates would actually contribute to this ridiculous endeavour. "But I expect three months worth of free beer for so generously giving up my time like this to help you in your little quest."

"Uh-huh," Mirajane nodded, clearly amused by the supposed cost of his assistance, "well, we have an accord! Excellent," the bar woman chirped, all sing-song once more as she pulled a thick book out from somewhere under the counter. There was a little golden frame built into the cover, so that a photo could be displayed there, no doubt it would would end up playing home to a group shot of the guild when all was said and done, with the Fairy Tail insignia stamped bellow it in a bold black, standing out against the velvety red of the book itself. "The photo album is big enough that we should be able to fit two photos of everyone in here, one from when everyone was younger or in the case of people like Natsu and Gray, from when they just joined the guild and a photo from now. A short of past and present thing,"

Laxus nodded, slightly surprised at the thought Mirajane had put towards this seemingly random scheme that she'd concocted out of boredom. That's when he took notice of all the photographs displaying much younger Fairy Tail members in contrast with the much older counterparts now dotted around the hall, meaning the white haired barmaid had planned on picking the past photo herself and probably going out a getting everyone to pose for a present one when she needed them to.

"I've already got most of the past pictures picked out," he nodded again, slightly impressed, clearly she was more dedicated towards this idea than he'd given her credit for. Remembering the sheet of paper she'd been scribbling on, he realised it was probably a list of photographs she was going to put in the photo album. "But we also need to go out and get items from everyone as well as a present photo. So I think it'd make things easier if we split the guild in two and do one half each.

"Now, who would you like for your first victim?" Laxus could only raise an eyebrow at her word choice, but laughed and shook his head at the smile she flashed him.

Humming to himself, he spun around so he could he look out at the rest of the guild as they went about their daily business, propping his elbows up on the bar as he observed everyone. Yeah, he thought to himself as his eyes locked on to various members of the guild before quickly moving on, this could be pretty fun after all. Now the only one question remained, who would give him a good laugh to start things off with...?

And there you have it, the first in what will probably be a rather short fic, no more than twelve chapters (including this one) all of which should hopefully be about be this length, maybe a little longer. As such, those that get to make an onscreen contribution are limited, five people for Luxas and five for Mirajane, roughly. Feel free to make suggestions on who should get shown contributing to the time capsule and what they should donate towards it and why, I'd like to see what you guys can come up with.

I ask that you forgive any errors on my part grammar or spelling, as I wrote this during my afternoon break at collage and have only proof read it once, so I've likely missed a few dozen things. I also apologize in advance for any OoC moments that may occur, I'm still pretty new to the Fairy Tail fandom and this is my first shot at trying to write any of the characters and I'm using this as an exercise to work on my characterization of them, so that future works of grander scale won't suffer from such problems.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and many thanks to anyone who drops a review - me love you long time, if you do.

Ta-ta for now~!