This chapter was done awesomely by @morbidEmpire and I absolutely love it!

Be prepared for surprises!

--Natsu--

"Gajeel, this is stupid! We have things we need to do!" I exclaimed, my anger flaring as he parked in a vacant parking lot in the warehouse district.

"It's not stupid, she needs the help." was his gruff reply.

"First it was Jellal, now this girl. You can't keep inviting strangers in like this Gajeel. Especially since we're supposed to be out on patrol right now."

"Calm your tits Dragneel. We'll just bring her with us before goin' back to the shop to send her to the old man."

I opened my door, getting out at the same time as Gajeel. "But you know that's not the only problem metal head. There's also the new case we're working on as well. I just know the cops are gonna be all over us with this one."

"That's just 'cause ya don't know how to not go overboard." he scoffed, and I felt my cheeks heat up a bit.

"Psh! You're one to talk ya idiot!" I exclaimed, my anger beginning to come back out. I was prepared for his comeback, but instead of a comeback, all we heard was a loud metallic bang. Startled, we both turned to look at what, or rather whom, had made the sound. Fixing our stunned expressions, I returned mine to neutral while Gajeel just smiled at the girl.

She didn't look anything special, apart from the keys I noticed dangling from her hip. I watched silently as she walked up to Gajeels side, her lip between her teeth. I could tell she seemed nervous, but I just didn't know why. Wasn't my job to know why. "Lucy, this is Natsu Dragneel." Gajeel introduced, and she immediately stuck out her hand. I stared at her outstretched hand for a moment before I extended my own. It was soft.

"Hi, I'm Lucy Syncole." Her voice was soft, yet there was still an underlying tone of dominance to it.

"So, Gajeel tells me you've run into a bit of trouble and would like to join the gang yeah?" I leaned back against Gajeel's car, my arms crossed against my chest and my legs crossed loosely. She merely nodded in response, her long hair bouncing with the motion. "Alright I guess. You're gonna have to come on our patrol with us though. That idiot friend of yours wouldn't wait until it was over to pick you up."

"Shut it." Gajeel grumbled, a scowl forming on his face.

"Awe, you were that worried about me?" Lucy teased, and Gajeel only scowled harder. Gajeel grumbled his complaints as he got behind the wheel, Lucy locking her own car before getting in the back seat. I took my spot in the passenger's seat, and with that we were off to run our patrol.

****

Patrol was bland. Nothing exciting happened, not even a trace of suspicious activity and Lucy only complained of the cold the entire time. I swear she didn't seem like the loud type, and I now take back all of the times I had deemed others something they probably weren't. I mean, if she knew the weather was going to be chilly, then why didn't she wear warmer clothing? I swear, I'll never understand woman and their clothing choices.

It wasn't until the sun began to go down that our patrol ended, and we could finally take her to Gramps to see about getting her to join Fairy Tail.

I slid the warehouse door open, happy to see the hustle and bustle of everybody inside. It had been a couple of years since we moved into this location, and we had renovated the inside quite a bit in that time. We had added a bar, an infirmary and an office and kitchen. There were tables spread throughout the place, plenty of people just chilling and chatting with their friends. "I'm back bitches!" I announced grandiously, a wide grin stretched on my face.

"Oi, keep it down slanty eyes! Can't you see that nobody wants to hear your voice right now?" Gray, my frienemy, announced from across the vast room.

"What'd ya call me stripper?!" I yelled back, pushing the sleeves of my shirt up as I began to march towards him.

"Why should I repeat myself if you already know what I called you you shit for brains." He stood up as well.

"Hey stripper, it's yours and Juvia's turn for patrol right now. You two should get goin' before the old man realizes you're slacking." Gajeel announced, and I saw Gray blanch a bit.

"Shit, okay. Juvia! Let's go before Gramps notices!" He yelled, running past me and out the warehouse doors.

"Dragneel, mind takin' Lucy up to the old man's office? I got work to do." Gajeel huffed, shoving a stoic looking Lucy towards me.

"Alright, come on Lucy." I grabbed her wrist, not really waiting for her answer before dragging her off towards Gramps's office in the far corner of the warehouse. We weaved through many people, almost having booze spilled on us a couple of times. I could tell that she was feeling a bit uncomfortable, but I wasn't sure why. Once we reached his office, I let go of her wrist and opened the door. "Gramps, we got someone who wants to join."

I watched on as Gramps looked up from a stack of paperwork, the stack just about as tall as he was. "So you wanna join Fairy Tail do ya?" he asked, and I turned to look at a nervous looking Lucy who only nodded meekly. "Well alright! Have Natsu take you to Mira to get your stamp, and welcome to Fairy Tail." he smiled.

"That's it?" Lucy asked with a shocked expression after I had taken her to Mira for her stamp. She had ended up getting a pink stamp on her right hand. It was fitting for her.

"Yup!" I beamed, my inner childness coming out. "We should go on a job soon. I haven't been out besides patrol in ages!" I whined, stretching back in chair with my hands behind my head.

My eyes were closed as I relaxed a bit, but I could still tell that she was staring at me. "We?"

I groaned, sitting back up normally and looking her right in the eye. "Yes we. Are you dense or something?"

"You idiot!" she exclaimed, her hand striking my face. I was not expecting that. My head whipped to the side, the force of her slap stinging my cheek greatly.

"What the hell was the for?!" I exclaimed, holding my throbbing cheek. However, instead of an answer, I only received the back of her head and silence.

"Natsu, that is not the way to speak to a lady. Apologize." My body stiffened, fear shooting through me as I turned towards the feminine voice that had spoken. Erza.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" I squeaked, trying not to look Erza in the eye. She was glowering down at me, her brown eyes piercing through my soul. I turned back to Lucy quickly, seeing she had turned back around to look at Erza in frightened awe. "I'm sorry Lucy, please forgive me!" I rushed out, sweat beginning to drip down the back of my neck as I bowed down to Lucy repeatedly in a plea for forgiveness.

She continued to look down at me, an eyebrow raised in question as I continued with my motions. "Um, it's okay?" It sounded more like a question, but I'd take it any day over Erza's wrath. Once I had gotten my answer, I stopped bowing and looked back up at Erza. To my satisfaction and relief, she nodded her head in approval before extending her hand out towards Lucy.

"Hello, I am Erza Scarlet." She introduced herself. I got up off of the floor, taking my seat again across from Lucy.

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Lucy Syncole." She said with a smile, shaking Erza's hand. I leaned over as I watched the two exchange pleasentaries, resting my chin on the table in boredom. It was then that I allowed my mind to wander back to the meeting that Gramps had held earlier this morning.

"Silence you brats!" Gramps exclaimed, his hand growing in size as he slammed it down on the table. We all jumped at the sudden noise, well, everyone except for Erza. "We have a very serious job lined up for us, and I'd like to go over the basics with the lot of you for this one." I looked away from Gray, my attention falling back on Gramps as he began explaining. "We have been assigned the task of bringing down Jude Heartfilia, the most nortorious drug lord in all of Fiore."

Mumurs began erupting everywhere after our job was revealed. I mean, bring down Jude Heartfilia? That dude has been eluding the system for years! This is one serious job indeed. "Oi Gramps, who even gave us this job in the first place?" I asked, my question silencing everybody. I guess they were just as curious as I was to know who had tasked us with this nearly impossible job.

"The job came in as an anon. I'm not sure who sent it in." He frowned, a look of thought crossing his old and wrinkled face.

"But Master, if it was sent in as an anon, then how do you know it's not a set up? This could be a trap for all we know!" Erza boomed as she stood up from her chair, drawing people's looks.

Gramps looked over at Erza with a knowing face. "Yes, I've considered that as well. But the underlying issue here is that Jude has made plans for a very dangerous mission himself. It could put thousands of innocent citizens in danger."

"Do you know what it is he is planning to force us to have to accept an anon request?" She quipped, calming down as she sat back down in her seat.

"He's planning to find his daughter. Rumor has it she joined the MPD to bring him down herself one day. That's why his plans could be dangerous to innocent civilians. He'll use any means necessary to stop her himself."

I was brought out of my memories as I felt a sharp pain enter my head, my face immediately twisting into a grimace. "Shit, what the hell was that for?" I mumbled, my hand reaching up to rub the spot on my head. I didn't see Erza anywhere, so I'm assuming she had left, which had caused Lucy's assault on my head.

"I was talking to you and you weren't answering." Lucy answered, a slight pout on her face.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." I muttered.

"'Bout what?" Her head cocked to the side just a bit, curiosity obvious in her features. She was easy to read, and I'm not exactly sure if that was such a good thing or not.

"Well, I was just thinkin' that you and I should be partners. You don't really know anyone yet, well besides Gajeel, and we get along pretty well." I rambled. I don't even know why I was saying all of this stuff, it just kept pourin' out of my big mouth. "So you wanna be my partner in crime?"

I ran a hand through my hair, my nerves spiking and my stomach doing flips for an unknown reason as I waited for a reply. "Sure, I'd love to be your partner." Her face held a large smile, and I smiled as well. I wasn't expecting her to agree to it so easily.

"Awesome!" I beamed as I threw my fist into the air in excitement. However, that excitement was short lived as the doors to warehouse rattled loudly as they pushed open. The chilled breeze from outside flew in, ruffling my hair a bit as it died down. People ran to the entrance, blocking my view as to what had happened. But, I didn't need to be able to see what happened to know what had happened. Someone had been seriously injured.

My nose twitched, the smell of blood an onslaught to its sensitveness. I shot up from my seat, the chair clattering the floor behind me. "Where's Wendy?!" I heard someone shout, no, not someone, it was Gray. "Move outa my way! Where is Wendy?!" he yelled, everybody moving out of the way quickly. I could finally see who it was that reeked of blood. Juvia.

I heard Lucy gasp, her hand moving up to her mouth in shock. "She's out on a job." Mira answered, her long white hair flying behind her as she motioned for Gray to take Juvia up to the infirmary. Everybody was quiet, the clatter of Mira and Gray's rushed footsteps as the ascended the metal stairs to the second floor the only noise to fill warehouse.

I stared at my battered comrade, anger beginning to rising inside of me. Once the infirmary doors were shut, everybody began talking at once.

"Who the hell did that to Juvia?"

"What happened to her..."

"Nobody messes with Fairy Tail!"

"I hope she's alright."

"Whoever did that is going to pay!"

I ignored all of their comments, though I was definately thinking all of the things they had all said. I was more interested in actually finding out what happened instead of just asking the open air. I looked back at Lucy, seeing she was still a bit shocked before I marched up the stairs towards the infirmary. But, just as I was about to knock on the door and demand for Gray, the door opened to reveal just who I wanted to speak to. "Gray, I gotta talk to you."

"Alright, but you better make it quick. I gotta go out and find Wendy." he agreed before sighing. I nodded, walking towards an area that was a bit more secluded to get away from the cacophony of noises raging downstairs.

"Do you know who did this?" I didn't bother with any pleasantries, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah. I shot the bastard, but he still managed to get away. Left a trail of blood in his wake, but I couldn't go after him." Well, I knew what my first job with Lucy would be then. We're definitely gonna catch the bastard who did this. "Don't do anything stupid Natsu, there's bound to be more than one guy out there."

"I'll be fine." I waved him off, my emotions guiding me now rather than my logic. "I'll have Lucy and Happy with me."

"I don't think you get it shit-for-brains." He growled, his face scrunching up in a display of anger. "Jude has made his first move, the war has officially just begun."