A/N Merry Christmas! Think of this as my early-ish gift to you. Today for me will be spent packing what small amount of "winter clothing" I own for my flight out to Maine for the holidays (my family has this insane idea of fun consisting of getting two sticks attached to the bottoms of our feet before getting promptly pushed down a snow covered hill). Wish me luck!

Disclaimer- Hiro Mashima own Fairy Tail

"Y'know, I may not be expert or anything but in order to practice football shouldn't they be on the actual football field?" said Lucy crossly.

"Maybe they're just taking a break?" Levy replied, unhelpfully. Even she knew herself that if the football players were really taking a break they wouldn't have left the field entirely, even so without a trace.

Which didn't help their case in the slightest since here they were, standing in the middle of an abandon football field. Levy, who had ditched the PRESS notecard hat having gotten sick of it falling over her eyes every time she moved, pointed to a small, red, wooden building tucked off to the side near the entrance to the field.

"Think someone is in there?" she said, "I mean, that's where they keep the equipment right?"

Lucy shook her head skeptically, "It's a possibility, but that still doesn't explain why no one is here. I'm thinking they just cancelled practice or moved it to another place not on school grounds."

She bent down near her shoe and yanked some of the freshly painted grass out of the ground before letting it slowly fall through her fingers and catch in the wind, blowing away in circles towards the trees. Levy sighed and dropped her pen and notebook on the ground before collapsing on her back next it.

"This sucks." Levy breathed, "I had a speech prepared and everything."

"Really?" Lucy replied, slightly amused, "Was that what you were writing down when we were walking over?"

A hint of scarlet stained Levy's cheeks, "I just thought we should be prepared just in case they don't believe us—"

"Which they probably won't."

"—then we have something to fall back on. I wrote down a bunch of nonsense, but tried to make it sound like I knew what I was talking about."

"Sounds like Natsu whenever he gives speeches in class." said Lucy. She flipped the camera strap off her neck and tossed it next to Levy on the grass before plopping down beside it.

"Except for mine might sound a bit more believable." Levy said.

Levy picked up her abandon note pad and flipping through the pages before stopping when she reached her notes. She raised her fist to her mouth and cleared her throat a couple of times for effect, only stopping when Lucy playfully threw a handful of grass her way and told her to hurry up.

"We are here under the premise of the "The Right of the Newspaper" written in Act II, Section IV of the Magnolia Act, created by our founders in 1879. Under this statement, any form of media focused on gathering intel shall not be prohibited by any means unless approved by the Council in the form of a formal request document.-"

"A formal what now?"

"A formal request document." Levy repeated, "Like I said, I was just writing nonsense down." She flipped the notepad closed and tossed it back on the grass. "Well it still doesn't matter anyways since no one is showing up."

"Want to head back?"

"Might as well. And, I was so sure that they were practicing here today. It's really weird that they would miss practice with the game tomorrow."

Lucy froze when a brown blur suddenly whipped by her, barely missing hitting her directly in the face, and sent her hair flying behind her. There was a dull thud as the object landed in the grass, rolled a couple times, before coming to a halt.

"Are you okay?!" yelled Levy in surprise as she scurried over to Lucy.

"I'm fine. It didn't even graze me." reassured Lucy,

She turned her head to look over her shoulder and a spark of recognition flashed in her eyes when her gaze fell on the offending object. A football. Of course it was. An innocent football lying the grass acting like it didn't just try to decapitate her moments before. Proof that fate really loved to mess with her.

"Is that what I think it is?" questioned Levy cautiously as she peered over Lucy's shoulder.

"At least it didn't bust a window this time." said Lucy, sighing as she got to her feet to retrieve the ball

"At least it didn't bust your face." Levy muttered under her breath.

Lucy ignored this comment and flipped the ball into the air before catching it in her hands when it fell back down. She gazed at the sky curiously for a moment before suddenly freezing in horror; dropping the ball in the process.

Correction, Fate loved to tease her for a bit, settle down, make her think everything was finally okay, then throw a curveball to the back of her head.

"I think I may have figured out where our missing football players are." said Lucy in a strained voice.

"You did?" Levy whipped her head around as if they had just magically appeared on the field without her knowledge,. "Where are they?"

"Coming. And, we need to move. Now."

"What?! Why?" questioned Levy as Lucy tucked the notepad, camera, and pen and tuck it under her arm.

"It's their warm up. Natsu told me about it during one of our tutoring sessions. That football-" Lucy glared venomously at the football in the grass, "-is their marker. They start at the other side of the school and Coach Makarov throws the ball over here and the team races from there to here. First one to touch the ball before the others wins.

"And, by my guess, in about 20 seconds there should be a whole bunch of sweaty guys running through that gate."

"Won't they stop when they see us standing here?!" said Levy a panic building in her voice as she looked fearfully at the gate.

"Probably. But that's not enough to make them stop. Natsu said the prize for winning is especially sweet. No one is about to give that up to save us."

"Good point." Levy noted

There was a faint echo of yelling heard and Levy and Lucy immediately bristled. The color drained from Levy's face as her eyes widened into saucers. She tore her eyes away from the gate and the look she gave Lucy confirmed it.

It was either sprint now or finally experience what it would be like to be on the receiving end of a dog pile.

"Run!" Lucy yelled as the tore across the field towards the safety of the stands.

And they weren't a second too soon since just as their feet hit the gravel underneath the stands, the sound of cleats trampling grass married with the yells from the guys fighting for the ball erupted on the field behind them.

A quick glanced over the shoulder confirmed Lucy previous thoughts, a dog pile had indeed formed center field. Just where they had been standing previously; the football not even in sight. She heard Levy let out a loud sigh in relief.

"If I wasn't to busy rejoicing over my saved life, I would be seriously concerned for whoever was at the bottom of that pile." Levy remarked solemnly.

"I wouldn't be worried about them either. Just at yesterday's practice one of them broke their ankle during one of the plays. I was sure he would be out for the season, but nope. He showed up all suited up for practice today as chippy as a bird about to be fed. Not even a small bandage or brace in sight. "

Lucy and Levy simultaneously jumped at the sound of the new voice above them. They quickly jerked their heads upwards and saw Beth's grinning face hanging upside down as she peered at the two from over the railing of the stands above. Her grin dissolved when she noticed their startled expressions.

"Oh. I didn't mean to scare you or anything. I thought you heard me approach." Her eyes landed on Levy and her smile returned. "I don't think we have met before. Name's Beth Vanderwood, but you can just call me Beth if you want."

Levy nodded slowly, her initial surprise vanishing from her features as a hesitant smile replaced it.

"No. We didn't actually. I'm Levy McGarden. You're the football manager right? Does that mean you are a fan of football?"

Beth's smile faltered again, "It's okay. My dad's a big fan so I sometimes watch games with him on the weekdays."

Her fingers strayed to the corner of her skirt and started fiddling with a loose thread. She dropped her gaze for a moment as loud cheer echoed from the field.

"Oh, look's like Shô got it." remarked Beth thoughtfully as a tanned boy with blonde hair emerging from the pile of football gear and bodily appendages in order to raise the football he held clenched in his right hand into the air, letting out another loud yell in triumph.

"Now he doesn't have to do all of the Erzday Workout." said Beth, flipping her head upwards and out of Levy and Lucy's sight.

"An idea what the Erzday Workout is?" Levy muttered to Lucy out of the corner of her mouth.

"Not a clue." Lucy muttered back.

"OI BRATS! TIME'S UP!"

The football players on the field perked at the sound of the gravelly older male voice yelling at them from across the field near the goalposts. The dog pile quickly disintegrated as the guys untangled themselves from each other and made their way over to the opposite side of the field; some stopping to congratulate Shô on his victory with not-so-gentle thumps on the back or faking a tackle to his side, each in which he returned with equal enthusiasm and a never-ending grin on his face.

"Guess that's my cue." said Beth, her head once again appearing back in their sight, "I have to go deliver them water before they start the Erzday Workout."

"If you don't mind me asking, what does that mean exactly?" inquired Levy, curiously.

Beth beamed, "Oh, the workout? Erza designed it for us to have the boys do whenever the have a game the next day after she learned we use to go easy on them in order for them save their energy. She said something about 'slacking off' and 'needing to train the mind along with the body.'"

Her head disappeared once again and Lucy could hear shuffling come from directly over her head. She guessed it was most likely Beth gathering the water bottles.

"Need any help?" Lucy called, hesitantly.

"No. I got it!" Beth replied just as a loud crash sounded above.

"Oops!"

Levy and Lucy both jumped out from underneath the stands as water began dripping out from between the wooden planks of the stands and on the gravel. Both spotted Beth on hands and knees, desperately trying to screw the black top back on the open water bottle.

"I'm sorry!" she said, standing back up, "I guess I didn't have it on all the way."

"BETH!" hollered the same gravelly voice from earlier.

Beth jumped a foot into the air, nearly letting go of the water bottle once again.

"I have to go!" she said, quickly stacking the remaining bottles into a pyramid in her arms and scurrying off towards the huddle of boys at the end of the field.

"Nice seeing you again, Lucy! And, nice meeting you, Levy!" Beth called from over her shoulder.

Levy waved goodbye and leaned in towards Lucy, "She seems nice. Have you met her before?"

"Yeah, I sold her the newspaper." Lucy replied shortly. She scrunched her eyebrows together in concentration as she glared at the sky.

"Something wrong?"

"Nah, probably nothing. It's just. . . I don't remember ever giving her my name."

Erzday Workout turned out to be the product of the forsaken. None too surprising as Lucy has been on the sidelines when she went into what Natsu had deemed "Devil Mode". To what she could gather from their positions near the goal posts— a few meters from where Beth was sitting in the grass counting the seconds down until the guys got a break with Coach Makarov standing behind her switching between writing on his clipboard and blowing on his whistle— they were completely insane.

At least now, Lucy understood where Natsu had acquired his superhuman speed from.

"Is it just me or are you exhausted just watching them?" Levy asked, tapping her pen against her notebook as her eyes followed one of the players finish another lap..

Basically, or from what Lucy had gathered with the help of Levy, they guys were to run around the field continuously and listen for Coach Makarov's whistle blows. One blow meant to begin jogging, two was for a run, three for a full-out sprint, and four was a light jog.

Coach Makarov didn't seem to be following a particular order, but whatever the cause, the actual participants didn't seem to mind too much.

"Totally with you. My calves are burning."

The shrill of the whistle followed this and the football players slowed down from a run to a jog.

"Oh, their break must be soon." remarked Levy thoughtfully.

"How would you know that?"

"Because they're slowing down. Have you ever tried coming down from a full sprint into a light jog multiple times? It starts to take a toll on the leg muscles and knowing Erza, they are going to be doing more than just running. Not to mention the fact that Beth hasn't been able to sit still for the past few minutes."

"And you figured that all from what? Watching them?"

"Yup," Levy answered, popping the 'p'. "Which is actually suppose to be your job."

Lucy rolled her eyes and rested her chin on her knees.

"Yeah, well, the whole advice on 'looking at Natsu as a whole and not parts' has effectively gone down the drain since I have no idea what that is suppose to mean."

Levy looked at her best friend in sympathy. She had once heard from a boy in her language class that dense girls were oddly attractive in his opinion, but Levy was starting to think there was a limit to such things.

"Close your eyes." Levy commanded suddenly.

The abruptness took Lucy unexpectedly, "Do what?"

"Close your eyes." she repeated.

Lucy shot her a questionable glance, yet shut her eyes nonetheless, "Okay they're shut. What now?"

"What is Natsu wearing?"

"What?" asked Lucy, opening her eyes "What does his wardrobe have to with anything?"

"Don't open them!"

"Okay, okay! They're still shut. He was wearing his football jersey right? With those black workout shorts?" Lucy paused as her face scrunched in disgust, "Wait, weren't those on his floor the day of the Car Wash when we went to ask for a ride? Gross! Did he even wash them?!"

"Lu-chan. . " Levy trailed.

"Right, right." Lucy answered., "Okay, so I got his football jersey and black shorts so far. I'm going out on a limb here and saying he's most likely wearing tennis shoes or some sort of football cleats."

"Which one?"

"Er— logically I'd go with the cleats."

"Ding, Ding!" Levy called, "We have a winner!"

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"No. I have another question."

Lucy sighed. She had already expected this much.

"Okay. Can you at least tell me why you're doing this?"

"Simple. I wanted to check to see if you were actually watching him before I asked the real question." Levy explained almost breezly, "Ready for the real one?"

"Do I really have a choice?"

"No, not really." Levy paused for a beat. "How many times has Natsu looked over here since we got here?"

"I'm guessing the answer isn't none?"

"Bzzt!. You have two more tries."

"Did I happen to mention how this is completely groundless?" Lucy dropped her legs into the grass as she propped her arms back behind her, digging her palms into the dirt for balance. "Two?" she guessed randomly.

"Bzzt! One more try. If you don't get it right this time, I'm not letting you eat any red velvet cupcakes."

"No fair!" Lucy protested, "Since when has that been a factor?"

"Since two seconds ago."

"You are a cold women." Lucy remarked, and even though her eyes were still closed, she could already imagine Levy shaking her head as she silently laughed at her. "Do I have time to think? Or is there now a time limit I wasn't informed of?"

"No time limit." Levy answered, mimicking Lucy in leaning back on her palms and crossing her legs at the ankles in the grass, "Take as much time as you need."

Lucy thought back. There was of course the first time Natsu noticed her when they were first getting settled having just finished explaining the finer points of the "Right of the Newspaper" to Coach Makarov (Levy doing most of the explaining while Lucy added a few details to fill in the holes). They had shared the normal greetings and Natsu had returned back to his practice.

The second time was right after the boys broke away from their huddle after getting a quick instructional brief from Coach Makarov. Natsu had stumbled over himself as he made his way out to the field, which only resulted in a not-so smooth recovery. Immediately preceding, Natsu had done a once over of the field to check to see if anyone had seen him. When his eyes connected with Lucy — the only person who actually witnessed it— she had grinned and held up six fingers as her score for his fall. To this, Natsu had answered with a smirk and a mouthing of "You didn't see that.". Lucy, of course, replied with a nod and thumbs up, all the while trying to unsuccessfully kill the laughter creeping on her face.

"So, right now all I can think of are the two times in the very beginning. . . wait, didn't he look over when that bee was flying in your hair? That counts as three. . . well, four if we're counting the fact that he did a double take." Lucy finished, opening her eyes and giving Levy a look that read 'are you happy now?'.

"Bzzt! No cupcakes for you."

"What?!" Lucy cried, incredulously "Which ones did I miss?"

Levy held three fingers, "Once when you were pretending to take a photo, second time was when you were watching the clouds cause you were bored, and the third— " Levy shoot her a Cheshire Cat smile, " — was when you flipped your hair out of your eyes. That time I swear the boy's eyes were about to fall out of his head."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "Was there a moral to all of this?"

"Yes. But you have to figure that out on your own." she answered, completely flopping on her back.

"Really? After all that you won't even tell me?"

"Oh, trust me I have." Levy muttered under her breath. Her eyes flickered to the field when she saw the guys stop completely. "I think it's their break time now." she noted, glancing at Beth who was hastily getting the water bottles in order.

"You don't think she's going to drop them again, do you?" Lucy asked, concern lacing in her tone as she watched the small girl trying to juggling the stack. At some points the freshman reminded Lucy of Wendy, which only made her feel even more worried for her.

"Given the events that happened before, I'm going with yes." Levy glanced sideways, "Maybe we should go help? I mean, there isn't really any point in us being here, since they aren't really going over plays as much as conditioning them."

"In that case we might want to hur— " The pair winced when numerous thumps followed by a familiar 'Oops!' meet their ears.

"Yeah, we should definitely go."

By the time they reached Beth and Coach Makarov, a crowd of football players had already formed a circle around them. Most had water bottles already in hand, and the ones that didn't were snatching at any unclaimed bottles in sight. Many in which were still in Beth's arms.

"Believe it or not, there is such thing as order in the world." Lucy said loudly, pushing, herself into the circle and relieved a surprised Beth of most of her weight. She handed half off to Levy, "And since we have all decided to turn into savages in a matter of seconds, I am going to enlighten you on the wonders of organization. So, if you do have water I would kindly suggest you move away from here since there is, if you hadn't already noticed, a freakin' football field behind you. If you haven't been able to get your water yet then I would also suggest you take about six steps backwards so we actually have room to breathe."

A beat of stunned silence followed the ending of Lucy's orders, only to be quickly filled with the sounds of the football players branching off from each other to fulfil their tasks. Some went towards the football field while most stayed back to get their own water. Once Lucy, Beth, and Levy had an appropriate amount of room between themselves and the players, Lucy nodded to Levy, who began handing out her share of the bottles.

"Thank you." Beth whispered as she passed by on her way to the opposite side from where Levy was giving out water.

Lucy smiled and began handing out her portion of water to the rest of the players left over. About halfway through her stack, a shadowed figure appeared by her side.

"Hey, Gray." she greeted, not bothering to look over as she continued to distribute the drinks.

"I'm starting to think yo hang out with Erza too much." said Gray thoughtfully.

"Maybe. At least now you won't suffocate the poor girl."

Gray shrugged nonchalantly and squirted the last bit of water in his mouth. When it ran dry, he snapped the flip cap closed.

"So, who was the one who made up the idea of the 'Right of the Newspaper'?" Gray asked casually.

Lucy whipped her head around in surprise. He knew!

Gray smirked at her expression and Lucy pushed the remaining bottles onto the arm's of the nearest player. Once her hands were free, she grabbed Gray's arm and tugged him out of the circle.

"Okay, spill." she commanded once they were out of earshot, "How did you know?"

"For one, our founders didn't found Magnolia until 1882, so the whole thing about the Magnolia Act was a bust from the start. Secondly, that camera is broken. And, yes, I would know that since I was there when Jet dropped it into the lake. Lastly, I heard you guys talking earlier by the goalposts and it sure wasn't about the newspaper."

Lucy gasped, "You were listening to our conversation?!"

Gray's eyes widened and he raised up his hands in surrender, "Not on purpose. I just caught a couple of words when I ran by. Levy was talking about you figuring something out on your own right?"

"And, you know what that something is I take it?"

He nodded, "And, I can help you with it."

"How so?" Lucy asked, cautious by his sudden offer.

"I can give you two things. One, advice. And, two, opportunity."

Lucy narrowed her eyes. On one side, she could agree and go with whatever mad plan Gray had cooked up in his mind. Yet, there was the chance she would agree to an idea she would later regret. Then again, the idea of finally knowing was indeed tempting.

"Fine. What are you thinking of?"

A/N Yes, yes. It's lacking, I know. I got a bit of writer's block in the sense of not being able to get my thoughts into words. I didn't want to abandon everyone for so long, yet this is not my best work. On the bright side, since this one was cut short the next one will have a ton of NaLu. Sorry for the delay!