Hey Everyone!

I have posted this story before but I wasn't really happy with the direction it was taking. I've taken down the old story and am starting fresh. Worth a re-read as a lot of content has changed, as well as new chapters! Please rate and review and let me know what you think!

...

Life after the end of the world

There are many problems which an individual encounters in their day to day lives. Some are easy to solve and some are not, but many are worse than others. Each individual has their own scale by which they rate a problem. It is a funny fact that while most consider a serious problem to be some debilitating or otherwise highly uncommon and largely life effecting issue, many people also have terrible difficultly solving problems which to someone else would be so simple. An example of this theory was currently taking place in the beautiful city of Magnolia, inside a tall and lavish building which bore the insignia of the town's mage guild, Fairy Tail.

Inside this guild hall a tall, well-muscled and pink haired mage was currently faced with what he perceived to be the worst problem he had ever encountered. You see this young mage had found himself staring at the ceiling, completely void of any and all interesting tasks or trials which could have served the purpose of capturing his attention. In short, Natsu was bored. His longtime companion and partner in crime, a talking blue cat named Happy, was sitting next to him eating a fish and seeming quite content to continue his current activity for the rest of this stifling hot day. Natsu sighed out loud as he was feeling exactly the opposite. It wasn't the heat that was bothering him as he quite liked it, it was simply that he had a great deal of energy and nothing to do with it.

Natsu scanned the room slowly, waiting for ideas to pop out at him. Across the room he saw Gray Fullbuster, the annoying exhibitionist ice mage, standing in his usual attire of black boxers and nothing else. Usually fighting Gray would be a great way to spend his energy, but unfortunately there was a certain red-headed mage present whom could hold the title of both Beauty and The Beast. Erza Scarlet was sitting at a table with Wendy, a young blue haired dragon slayer, eating her customary piece of strawberry cheesecake. Natsu sighed again, Erza would only break up the fight in seconds and he would be back to square one. His eyes kept moving and found Cana, pretty brunette mage who could drink anybody he knew under that table. Cana and Natsu didn't really have much to do with each other usually as Natsu was not a big drinker. After the events of the Grand Magic Games everything else just seemed dull. Disappointed again Natsu went back to staring at the ceiling when he heard the guild doors open behind him. He turned to see his busty blonde friend, Lucy Heartfilia, walk into the guild and a smile lit up his face, Lucy would know what he could do!

"Lucy!" Natsu called, standing up and waving to get her attention. Lucy looked in his direction and smiled brightly, she held up a finger and then gestured to the bar to indicate she was going to order something before she came to sit with him. Natsu nodded and sat back down, excited just at the prospect that she may have ideas of how he could pass the time. He watched her walk to the bar and noticed she was in a particularly short black skirt as usual and white midriff baring tank top which showed a large amount of cleavage. Lucy was a bit funny this way, she was quite confident in how she looked and yet she never seemed to notice the way people stared at her when she wore such little clothing. Not even Natsu could keep his thoughts fully platonic when she dressed like that, but he was very good at pretending not to notice. Natsu shrugged inwardly, he didn't really care why Lucy was like that as it only mattered that she was, in fact, Lucy.

On her way back to his table, drink in hand, Lucy stopped past the request board and scanned it intently before pulling down a piece of paper and coming to sit down.

"Hi Lucy!" Natsu and Happy said at the same time.

"What do you have there?" Natsu inquired, gesturing to the piece of paper in her hand. He'd already scoured the board looking for good jobs earlier that morning, but he hadn't seen the one she'd held in her hand. Maybe Mira had put it up when he wasn't looking.

"It is a job request" Lucy began reading "Our town is being plagued by a kleptomaniac. No one can find their keys, matching socks have been eradicated and everyone is missing a shoe! Please Help! Reward 150.000 jewels for catching the thief and an extra 50.000 jewels for finding items already missing" Lucy handed him the piece of paper "I thought with your nose you could sniff the items out to find where they were being stashed you know" Natsu could barely contain his excitement, finally he had something to do!

"This sounds awesome Lucy! Such a high reward for such a simple job! They must be pretty desperate" Natsu called out to Gray, after all they were part of the same team "Underpants man, you want to tag along?" Natsu could see a vein popping out of his head at Gray's obvious dislike of the nickname, however he calmed down quickly.

"Sure, sounds great Fire Brain" Gray wasn't as outwardly enthusiastic, however he was also bored stupid and nothing else he could think of sounded better.

"Great. Erza? Wendy? Are you coming?" Simultaneously the girls shook their heads.

"Sorry Natsu" Replied Wendy sweetly "But Erza and I are going shopping today. I need to get some new clothes" Lucy's ears perked up at this.

"Wait, shopping…." Lucy looked back at the girls but Natsu and Gray quickly interrupted. No way would they allow Lucy to ditch them in favor of a shopping trip. They needed this but going with just each other would be far too weird and they both knew it would only end in disaster.

"Come on then Lucy!" Natsu shouted, grabbing the top of her left arm.

"Yeah let's go" Gray said, grabbing the top of her right arm. They pulled and Lucy was soon out of her chair, being dragged backwards out of the guild.

"Hey wait my lemonade!" Lucy sighed forlornly as she realized the boys were not going to wait for her to finish her drink.

"Oh hey Mira, we are taking this one!" Natsu shouted to the white haired beauty at the bar just as they were exiting the doors.

"Aye!" Said Happy, flying along behind them.

It was a short train ride from Magnolia to the small town of Gardenia, however it still left Natsu feeling ill. He scratched his head and tried to walk off the queasy feeling that always accompanied train rides. As bad as it was, at least it was better than sitting in the guild hall doing nothing. He looked around the town and was quite surprised with the wide variety of shops and pretty little houses all in neat rows. It seemed to be quite a nice town, however there were hardly any people around.

"Come on guys, the request is from the Mayor, we need to go see him first" Lucy said, heading in the direction of a sign printed with the words Town Hall. They all kept looking around as they walked, wondering how such a precious little town could have so few people in it.

The Mayor of Gardenia was average looking but not unpleasant, Lucy would have guessed he was in his early forties. Plain brown hair starting to go grey and an average brown suit. The most standoutish thing about him was, funnily enough, his shoes. One was brown and had laces, the other was a grey loafer. Lucy then recalled the words on the job request that everyone was missing shoes and other odd items.

"You're the wizards from Fairy Tail? Oh thank goodness you must do something fast or I will have no residents left in my town!" The Mayor pleaded. "Everyone is moving away because of this damned thief!"

"Of course, we will handle the problem" Lucy said "What can you tell us about the thief?" The Mayor just shook his head.

"I can't tell you anything. No one ever sees him. You could have your keys in your hand then all of a sudden they are gone!" The Mayor sighed "I know you probably find it strange that we are so stressed over this right? They are just keys and shoes after all." He shook his head again "You never realize the value of something until it is gone. I tell you what I wouldn't give for just a pair of matching shoes!"

"It's okay, you can count on us" Natsu said as he began sniffing the Mayor.

"What on Earthland are you doing!" The Mayor exclaimed, clearly unused to having his personal space invaded by pink haired wizards.

"Oh! This is the Salamander of Fairy Tail. He has a very keen sense of smell and is going to find the thief by tracking your missing items!" Lucy explained quickly, embarrassed by Natsu's behavior.

"Oh! Well in that case take this!" The Mayor took off the grey loafer. "The blasted thief has the other one!" Natsu took the shoe and sniffed deeply, immediately regretting it. The shoe was clearly very old and incredibly ripe. Yes it would do nicely to provide a stench to track, however throwing up on the Mayor's carpet would not win them any favours.

"So this thief can strike anytime, anywhere huh…" Gray mused out loud, trying to think of a plan to draw him out. Sometime between leaving the Mayor's office and walking into the street Gray had once again shed his shirt. Natsu and Lucy didn't even bother telling him anymore as they knew it wouldn't change a thing. Lucy understood how the habit had developed from his childhood training, however she often wondered if Gray actually enjoyed letting people see him practically nude. Not that it was a terribly awful site, Gray was quite attractive in his own way of course, but Lucy did wish he could learn to keep his clothes on sometimes. Although today she would forgive him, after all it was sweltering hot and she wasn't in much clothing herself, plus at least he had left his pants on this time.

They were beginning to walk near the edges of the town, going in the direction Natsu's nose dictated. The scenery beyond was not much to look at, just mostly bare plains with several sandy mounds. Some of the mounds had holes in their faces which appeared to lead to tunnels below. Probably made by some local burrowing animal.

"Natsu?" Lucy said, when he looked at her she continued "How do you wear that muffler all the time? Just looking at you is making me hot!" Natsu gave her a cheeky grin.

"Sorry Lucy, didn't mean to get you hot and bothered" Natsu said easily, exchanging a knowing look with Gray over her unintentional innuendo.

"Why don't you just take your clothes off Lucy?" Gray spoke as he smirked "It will help with the heat, trust me!" Lucy huffily crossed her arms over her massive chest.

"You're very funny Graaaaaaaahh!" As they had been talking something had dived from the shadows and latched itself to the pouch in which Lucy kept her Stellar Spirit keys. Fortunately this pouch was attached to a belt and the thief was not able to snatch them away immediately. Unfortunately the momentum knocked Lucy forward and the belt soon broke. Lucy barely managed to grab an end of the belt as she was yanked forward, arms first into one of the holes in the ground. However her body got stuck at the waist and she could not be pulled in any further, the mounds that they assumed were sand were actually made of some kind of sand coloured rock.

Natsu and Gray were stunned. Everything had transpired in the blink of an eye and now Lucy's whole top half was stuck. From the noises she was making it was clear she was still in battle with whatever it was and eventually they heard a muffled but triumphant "AHAH!" which let them know that Lucy had actually managed to hang onto her keys. Lucy had her knees on the ground outside of the hole with her legs spread slightly and they could see her trying to lean back and wiggle her way out.

"I'm stuck!" Lucy shouted, the sound still muffled. Natsu and Gray looked at each other and did the only thing they were capable of doing at that moment: Burst out laughing.

To make matters worse a rogue gust of wind chose that particular moment to come along and flip up Lucy's already very short skirt. Revealing lacy black underwear barely covering half of the firm and pale skin of her backside. Gray and Natsu slowly stopped laughing, tilting their heads slightly to better appreciate the view.

"Lucy that's ssseexy!" Happy giggled and Lucy cried out in frustration, trying to wiggle out of the hold once more.

"Sh..Should we help her?" Natsu stuttered, unable to even blink let alone move his eyes away.

"Y...Yeah… In a minute" Was Gray's response. Neither of the boys ever knew why Lucy's attempts at seduction always failed. They had both accidently seen her naked before, which had definitely been a sight to behold, but something about the position she was in combined with the lace panties really got their hearts racing and blood pumping to a certain area.

"Gate of the Maiden I Open Thee: Virgo!" A cute, pink haired teen popped out of the ground in front of the mound Lucy was stuck in.

"Princess, is it time for punishment?" Virgo said in a sweet voice as always.

"No Virgo please help me out of here!" Lucy cried. A few seconds later Lucy was free, still blushing furiously as she pulled her skirt down. She ran over to Gray and Natsu and punched them both in their respective faces. The blow knocked them to the ground and neither were in a hurry to stand up again, not wanting to embarrass themselves.

"We deserved that didn't we?" Natsu muttered to Gray.

"Yeah…" Gray muttered back. The situation reminded Natsu of the time he'd run into a naked Lucy during the battle with the dragons. In all fairness he had thought the world was almost about to end and just couldn't resist touching her incredible breasts. Lucy had punched him just like that. Natsu adjusted his pants and dismissed the thought, it didn't count anyway since it technically never happened. Right?

"Is that all Princess?" Asked Virgo. Lucy shook her head.

"Could you stick around for a while Virgo? I think we have found where our thief is hidden." Lucy looked pointedly at Natsu

"Salamander, if you please" Natsu grinned up at her. He knew she was still angry with him and thought about apologizing, but it wouldn't do any good. He really wasn't sorry.

"Okay… give me a sec…" Natsu took a few deep breaths before standing up and Gray stood shortly after. The followed Natsu's nose to a spot about one hundred meters from the town and Lucy asked Virgo to begin digging.

They quickly found themselves in a huge cavern that was surprisingly well lit for being underground. It was like the rock walls almost emitted their own glow which allowed them to see by, and other light drifted in from the hundreds of small tunnels in the walls leading outside. The cavern was full of piles of shoes, socks and various shiny objects including keys, jewelry and other metal trinkets.

"I guess we know what to do now" Natsu said. Virgo dug a wide sloping hole back up to the surface, which Gray used his creation magic to line with stairs. The ever prepared Virgo had produced large canvas sacks which they stuffed full of the junk and carted back to the outskirts of the town. Gray and Natsu tried making it a competition as expected, however they gave up when they realized Virgo was putting them to shame, carrying up to 6 full sacks at the same time without breaking a sweat. Even Happy helped and they had the cave empty within 2 hours. By the time it was done Happy promptly curled up in a corner of the now empty cave and went to sleep. Lucy was exhausted and her magic was almost depleted from sustaining Virgo for so long. Lucy thanked her for all her hard work and once Virgo vanished into the spirit world Lucy promptly sat down on the cavern floor and took her sandals off. It didn't take long for Natsu to grow impatient at waiting for the creature to return to its base.

"Argh where is this thing already!" Natsu's fingers twitched, ready to cover themselves in flames at any moment. "We should go find it!"

"Don't be stupid ash for brains. It has to turn up here sometime." Gray said nonchalantly, sitting on the cavern floor and leaning against a wall.

"Besides, we can't fit through any of those tunnels" Lucy said, blushing slightly as she remembered how she learnt that. Natsu remembered as well and his body's response had him quickly sitting on the floor without further argument. A few minutes later an idea occurred to him.

"Hey I know what we can do!" Gray and Lucy looked at Natsu just as he shoved his hand right down the front of his pants. They panicked.

"N-Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Gray shouted. Natsu slowly withdrew his hand from his pants and in it was a plain deck of cards, apparently pulled from some kind of pocket.

"You guys are perverts" Natsu huffed as if offended. Lucy sighed in relief and Gray tsked.

"As if you can talk, Dick Flame" Gray huffed back.

"What did you call me, Ice Prick?" Natsu jumped up and eyed Gray angrily "At least I know how to keep it in my pants!" Gray tsked.

"Tch. We both know that isn't true" Gray said as he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his head back against the wall "You remember Sara—"Gray started but Natsu cut him off.

"Shuttup Snow Balls! That was your fault anyway!" Natsu yelled. Lucy has been staring at them the entire time, her eyes wide and mouth open. She couldn't believe they had said such things in front of her.

"N-Natsu?" Lucy stuttered, both boys looked at her as if just realizing she was still there and horror filled their faces.

"Lucy I…" Natsu started but trailed off as they all heard a scurrying noise. Gray and Natsu ran over and grabbed Lucy quickly, pulling her to a darker corner of the cave.