Penpals

Day 4: Part 2

Lucy found a pencil and began writing her response to 13.

13,

I wasn't part of our guild when I was a child, but I wish I had been here. I joined about two years ago, I think. When did you join the guild?

~24

Lucy folded the letter up, striding over to slide it into her mail slot. "Hey Lucy we should go on a job today."

Lucy jumped at Natsu's voice, not noticing when he had come in. He was examining the board of job offers, while Happy sat on his head. "Sure," Lucy replied, "are there any that look interesting?"

"Let's take this one!" Natsu ripped a request off of the board, shoving it in Lucy's face.

Find the missing Meyowler! 200,000 jewel reward for whoever finds it!

Meyowler is a large, cat-like creature that typically have something close to what humans call bipolar disorder.

Lucy looked over the rest of the paper, but there was no other information, except to meet the person offering in Crocus. "C'mon Natsu, we need to catch the next train to Crocus!" Lucy jumped excitedly.

"Wait," Natsu began to despair, "train...?"

Lucy dragged him out the door while Happy flew above them.

~3 hours later, in Crocus with the person offering the job~

"The Meyowler is somewhere in Crocus. Catch it and bring it back to me," the large man offering the job told Lucy and Natsu.

"Ok, thanks!" Lucy said, catching up to Natsu, who had already begun walking out the door.

"This is gonna be easy," Natsu relaxed,"all we have to do is find the dude and bring him back!"

Lucy smiled, it probably won't be that easy, but we can hope.

After ten minutes of roaming around Crocus, they stumbled upon a small creature.

His fur was pale orange, looking like a strange mix between a monkey and cat. It sat on its feet, which were very large with tiny, nail-like claws. It stared at the two people, looking slightly confused. "Fire dragon wing attack!" Natsu lit the whole street on fire.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, "we're supposed to catch the creature, not set it on fire!"

As Lucy said that, the Meyowler walked up to Natu, hugging his leg.

Natsu and Lucy walked back to where the employer was, the Meyowler still attached to Natsu's leg.

They collected their reward, and headed back to the guild.

~when they're back~

"STUPUD FLAME BRAIN YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING ME WHERE YOU'RE GOING!!!" Gray grumpily hugged Natsu when they arrived in the now very packed guild hall.

Natsu hugged his boyfriend, grinning.

A tap on Lucy's shoulder startled her as she spun around.

Juvia stood quivering, glassy tears obscuring her eyes.

Lucy grabbed Juvia's hand, heading out of the guild hall.

Once they had gotten a block or so away from the guild hall, Lucy turned to Juvia, pulling her into a hug.

Juvia wrapped her arms around Lucy, who immediately felt teardrops fall onto her ear and shoulder. "Juvia..." Lucy half whispered.

Juvia sobbed onto Lucy, who in return held her for about five minutes.

After those minutes, Juvia's crying slowly stopped, as she sniffled. "You wanna talk about whatever happened?" Lucy asked gently.

Juvia nodded, as she untangled from Lucy.

They sat down on a nearby bench in front of the river that ran through town. "I, um, you really scared me," Juvia began. "Last month I moved into my own apartment. I mean, I was renting it. But then I ran out of money and I've been staying with Lisanna for the past couple of weeks. And then you disappeared for the job today, and I didn't know that you were leaving and-" Juvia stifled a sob and Lucy grabbed her hand.

"You can stay at my place if you want," Lucy offered.

Juvia smiled hesitantly at her, "sure."

The two girls stood up and headed back towards the guild hall, their fingers still intertwined.