1The Harvest Festival was in full swing as the Miss Fairy Tail competition started up.
The guildhall was anything but quiet. The men in the crowd cheering whenever the girls showed off their magic. Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray sat at the bar, watching their fellow female guildmates compete for the 500,000 jewel.
"Who do you think will win?" Gajeel asked.
"Mira by a landslide," answered Gray, "Not to mention she's the most popular."
Natsu shrugged, "I don't care about that type of thing," Natsu turned his attention back to his food.
Gajeel shook his head, "Y'know one of these days someone will catch your eye and you won't be able to keep up that dense facade." Natsu seemed to ignore Gajeel's because he kept eating.
Bisca was up on stage doing some magic trick with her guns when suddenly the guild went silent. Causing Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray to look towards the door where everyone else was looking.
Makarov rushed towards the trio at the door, "Welcome to Fairy Tail. Please sit with me." Makarov led them to the table he was sitting at.
The blonde of the group made eye contact with Natsu as she was walking to the table but quickly turned away.
The crowd turned their attention back to Bisca and went back to their cheering.
"Who's the blonde?" Natsu asked Gray.
"Lucy Heartfilia, you idiot, rich and she's one of the Wizard Saints," Gray answered.
Natsu nodded, taking in the information.
Gajeel suddenly stood up, "I'll be back."
"Hey wait up!" Natsu called after him. Both Natsu and Gray stood up and followed him.
The three wizards found themselves at the table where Makarov was sitting. "Ah, have a seat, children." Makarov turned his attention back to the guests, "This is Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, and Gajeel Redfox some of our strongest members." The three wizards awkwardly smiled. "These two ladies are Levy McGarden, head of the custody enforcement unit, Lucy Heartfilia a fellow wizard saint, and their colleague Jellal Fernandes."
Levy smiled at the mages, "It's a pleasure to meet you all!" Lucy and Jellal remained expressionless.
Gajeel and Levy dove into a conversation while everyone else turned back to watching the contest.
"So, what type of magic do you do?" Gajeel asked Levy.
"Solid script," Levy wrote up the word water, "Yours?"
Gajeel held up his arm and transformed it into his iron dragon's club, "Iron dragon slayer."
"How cool!" Levy gushed, "I've never met a dragon slayer before. Only heard of them."
Gajeel smirked at her, "Thanks."
Levy felt a blush creeping up on her. She looked around before turning back to face Gajeel, "Will you show me around the festival?"
"Sure."
Meanwhile, Natsu attempted to start a conversation with Lucy. "So, Lucy, what type of magic do you use?"
This was the first time in a while anyone had asked her that question. Usually, people knew, it wasn't like she was a wizard saint or anything. She turned to see that it was that pink-haired mage, Natsu, that asked her. "Celestial." Keeping it short and sweet.
"Oh, that's cool! I use fire dragon slayer magic."
Lucy forced a smile, "That's nice."
They fell into an uncomfortable silence. Thankfully, the competition was ending, so they had a reason why to not talk.
The winner was Erza.
"Hey guys," Levy got Lucy's and Jellal's attention, "Gajeel will show me around the festival. I'll see you guys later!" She waved at her friends as she exited the guildhall with Gajeel at her side.
Lucy and Jellal sighed. Levy was the most outgoing out of the three of them. Also, the friendliest, the girl befriended people no matter where she went.
"Lucy," Natsu's voice broke Lucy out of her thoughts, "I can show you around if you want?"
"No thanks. Jellal," She turned to tap Jellal on the shoulder, "We should get going."
Jellal and Lucy headed out to look around the festival on their own. "It seems as if Levy left us for that wizard Gajeel," Lucy declared.
"You seemed to get along with that Natsu," Jellal lightly teased. This earned him a light punch from Lucy, "Oh hush! He's a dragon slayer, besides, he's barely tolerable"
Little did Lucy know that thanks to Natsu's keen ears he could hear that conversation.
"Hey!" Erza came up behind him, "Let's walk around."
Natsu didn't respond, instead, he was blankly staring into space, "Natsu." She punched him to snap him out of whatever trance he was in.
"Ow! What the hell Erza!?"
Erza shrugged, "You spaced out. Anyway, let's get Gray and walk around the festival."
The Harvest Festival was exactly what it sounded like, a festival to celebrate the harvest. Vendors lined up in many streets selling food and goods. Some stuff imported, and others made by local artisans.
The festival ends with the Fantasia Parade, organized by Fairy Tail where the guild would display their magic, but the sun was still up leaving the Fairy Tail wizards time to wander around.
"If you idiots break anything, you buy it. Got it?" Erza sternly said as the trio was at a pottery booth.
"Yes, Ma'am." Gray and Natsu said in union.
While the guys ended up not buying anything, Erza bought herself a large plate. "For cake," she justified.
Natsu and Gray let Erza lead the way through the festival. "So," Gray started, "Did I see things, or were you interested in Lucy?"
Natsu snorted, "You're seeing things. Besides, she's a snob."
Gray looked surprised. He never heard Natsu call anyone a snob. Natsu took a surprised Gray as an invitation to tell him what he overheard.
"At least now you don't have to talk to her," Gray stated.
"You're right!"
They turned their attention back to Erza only to find her buying strawberries from a food vendor. "We should head back to the guild for the parade."
"Sounds like a good idea," Gray agreed.
The trio made their way back to the guild. The group walked at a slow pace since Erza was eating and walking at the same time. No one wanting her to drop a strawberry since that would only put her in a bad mood.
Although the guild was responsible for the parade, they didn't figure out the nitty-gritty until a couple of hours before. They left most of the planning to Master and Mira. The only job the rest of the guild had was doing exactly what Mira and Master told them to.
"Ok Juvia and Gray will be on the same float," Mira said out loud. They usually set the floats to where people with complimenting magic would be on the same float. That way things had a theme.
"Does anyone know where Gajeel is?" Master asked no one in particular.
Right on cue, Gajeel walked through the doors of the guildhall. "Speak of the devil," Cana said.
Mira filled Gajeel in on where he would walk. Since both Gajeel and Natsu suffered from motion sickness, they didn't get on any floats. "Unless you guys want Wendy to use Troia?" Mira inquired. Both Gajeel and Natsu shook their heads. That spell would only be cast when necessary, especially because the more someone used it, the less effective it became.
The parade went without a hitch. It started with Droy, Cana, and Jet using their magic to make drawings in the air. Erza had a whole float to herself since the transformation outfits she was doing took up most of the space. Gray made an ice fountain with mermaid sculptures for him and Juvia. Meanwhile, Juvia put on a waterworks show with the fountain. The crowd entertained, and the Fairy Tail members had a blast.
"As always," Makarov announced, "Fairy Tail will host the after-party."
Once again, the guildhall became crowded.
"C'mon guys, it'll be fun!" Levy dragged her friends back to the guild.
Levy scanned the room for Gajeel. He was hanging out with Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Juvia. She grabbed Lucy's hand, Lucy grabbed Jellal's hand. Levy dragged them to where Gajeel was standing.
"Gajeel!" Levy dropped Lucy's hand.
Gajeel turned from his friend group, opening up the circle, "Hey Levy."
"Jellal." Erza acknowledged.
A soft smile appeared on Jellal's lips, "Erza. It's been a while."
"Yes, it has," Erza agreed.
"Jeez you two are so awkward," Cana said as she walked up to the group.
Erza turned to Cana, almost giving her the death glare. Before Juvia interrupted, "What Cana meant was she didn't know you guys were friends. Right, Cana?"
Juvia's save seemed to catch both Erza and Cana off-guard.
"Right!" Cana quickly recovered, "Especially because Levy and Gajeel here look like they've known each other for years."
This caused Levy to blush. Gajeel tried his best to keep a poker face, thankful because his hair was covering his red ears.
"Yeah!" Natsu added, "and they only just met today. I guess that's just friendship for you."
"How exactly are they friends? At best they're acquaintances," Lucy spoke up.
"Well, they've made their intentions clear of wanting a friendship." Natsu shot back.
"And how'd they do that?"
"By talking. That's how friendships start. You talk to people and give them a shot, even if you find them barely tolerable." Natsu had a smug look on his face as he saw Lucy realize that he had heard her. He turned on his heel and walked away from the circle.
"Anyway," Cana swung her arm around Erza, "Let's drink."
Natsu walked over to where Happy was sitting with Wendy, Carla, and Panther lily. Since the morning Happy abandoned Natsu to hang out with them. "C'mon little buddy, let's go home."
"Nu-uh," Happy protested, "I'm staying here with Carla."
Natsu had to admit that Happy was ballsy for wearing his heart on his sleeve with Carla. Especially because Carla showed no interest in Happy.
"Whatever, I'm going home," Natsu informed Happy.
"Bye," Happy brushed him off.
That's how Natsu ended up back home, alone. He still couldn't believe the nerve of that Lucy Heartfilia. Sure, she was a wizard saint, but that didn't give her a right to be so rude. Not to mention, not only was she rude with him, she was rude with the entire guild. It was a shame that she was so pretty yet had a sour personality.
A/N: Ok, I have a solid outline of what I want to happen and what not so updating should be a smooth ride. Not to mention the semester is ending and I'll have a shit ton of more time on my hands since all I do during my summer break is work. Also writing Lucy Heartfilia as a stuck up hurt my heart cause that's my waifu.
