Hi everyone, this is a small filler-type chapter for Rising from Ashes. In this I'll be explaining the job that Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had been summoned on, and all that fun jazz.

I'm a lot more calm though I'm not entirely sure why.

Let's go!

Chapter three: Filler/The Mission

Lucy's POV

" Escorting a famous business tycoon for 200,000 Jewel... Find an ancient relic for 1,500 Jewel... Monster slaying 60,000 Jewel-Natsu would definitely go for that one..-... AHA! Here's something."

I picked the flyer up by its bottom and read what it entailed.

Search for family heriloom in The Forest of Sorrow. (A/N: Anyone catch that Inuyasha reference? I'll give you a hint; my cat likes to chase moths. If you figure it out, review and in the next chapter I'll reveal who answered correctly.)

Already paid for temporary residence at hotel close to the Mayor's office.

Further explaination given at requesters residence.

269,000 J

(Warning: inside The Forest of Sorrow there are many beasts that no one else dares to oppose. We don't have a large amount of mages and the ones we do have, would not be very helpful. Do not go outside after sundown, and if you hear a roar, do not proceed.

Well, that's not scary at all... Still, the job would need to be done, and we have Natsu, and my stronger spirits like Aquarius, Scorpio, Loke, Sagittarius, and Taurus. Virgo would be a bit more for extra help if needed, and if we run into the beast, she could probably dig a huge trench under the thing. Or for medical supplies, or new clothes if ours get destroyed...

Deciding to choose it for our original Team Natsu, I pulled the sheet off the board, and went over to Natsu who was scarfing down his second helping of fire that Mirajane somehow managed to succeed in putting on a plate without it setting everything else in the vicinity on fire.

" Hey Natsu, Happy. I think I found a job we could take." Natsu gently pulled the request from my hands (the gentleness of which kinda almost scared me, but not so. He's always been this way. I think...) and read over it, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree when he read the part about beasts. He frowned slightly when it said that if we heard a roar to just return to the hotel.

" That's not suspicious at all.." Mirajane muttered as she read the form from over Natsu's shoulder, and he nodded. " Well if we manage to complete the job before sundown, we can just avoid the monsters, or we get you to use your destroy-everything-in-the-immediate-vicinity magic and you defeat the things. Sounds easy enough to me." Natsu pumped his fist in the air at the chance of getting to pummel something.

" YOSH! Happy let's go pack!" the blue exceed energetically agreed in the form of one shouted ' AYE!' and the two raced out of Fairy Tail's guild hall. I sighed. " Those two drive me nuts sometimes." Mirajane giggled lightheartedly from behind the bar and rested her arms on the solid wood. " I think it's cute. He's always been this way from how I remember. But be careful on this mission, something doesn't feel right." I agreed with that statement.

" Yeah I know. I got the feeling when I saw the part about the sounds and that stuff. Something isn't right about this request. I have a bad feeling." My gut keeps telling me that we picked the wrong job, but it's too late to go back on it now.

After packing for myself, I met Natsu and Happy at the train station and bought three tickets for us.

We just got on the train and it hasn't even moved, but sure enough, Natsu's on the floor incoherent and whimpering in his agony. " Natsu the train hasn't even started. I would say to just walk but the job is too far away, it's practically in the middle of nowhere! And it would be too rough on Happy to ask him to carry you. Not to mention the village is on unknown territory between Hargeon and Tully Village! That land gap is too large, we have to think rationally about all this or else we'll get hurt." the poor Dragonslayer moaned.

" W-Whatever.." his stomach then churned violently and I sighed. " Natsu come here." the aforementioned pink haired pyro sluggishly got up off the floor, and I instructed him to lay on my lap. " It's something that my mom used when I got motion sick when I was little." and so I alternated from reading a book I brought, and rubbing Natsu's stomach, ignoring Happy's little 'you liiikkke eachother~!' jibes. Soon, the train entered the station at Hargeon where we would then depart, making the rest of the trip on foot.

" WOOOO! I'M BACK IN BUSINESS, EH HAPPY?" Natsu roared as he suddenly re-animated. " AYE SIR!" Happy shouted in agreement, receiving odd looks by other passengers who made their way off the train. The insane duo decided to ignore the looks they got, jumping off the train and onto the platform, waiting for me to calmly get off. " Where do we go next Luce?" I looked down at the request form. " Most likely get some food then head off from here to maybe sundown, then in the morning we set off again til we get to the place." with that we set off to find a diner.

As usual, once the food came those two inhaled it as if it were their last meal, getting the oddest of looks from everyone in the building to which I sighed in exasperation. " Hey guys, can you slow down a bit? You're getting weird looks..." I muttered. Surprisingly, Natsu slowed his pace a bit, but was still shoveling food into his mouth. Happy hadn't bothered to listen and just continued to swallow fish whole, only pulling the skeleton from his mouth when he was done. Ew...

After lunch, we left, me leaving a small tip for the waitress in apology, we continued down the path out of Hargeon towards the village. We arrived by about maybe six thirty in the evening and the mayor thanked us profusely for coming. He then took us inside his office to explain.

" You see, recently bandits robbed my house and stole a valuable heirloom, and ran off into the Forest of Sorrow. No one dares to venture inside, for we are not wizards and we do not have any experience with battle so we would not be able to re-obtain the artifact. We need you to do so. But if you hear a roar, do not go further. Return to your hotel." I frowned.

Okay, now we're getting more suspicious of this mission. If Natsu was suspicious, he sure didn't show it, for he replied with this statement.

" No problem old man! We'll burn that thing if we see it! And we'll get your family's hairloon back!" I smacked him. " It's heirloom, you dope!" he grinned sheepishly at me while rubbing the arm I smacked. Happy was munching on a maceral that he had pulled from that small bag of his, and I mentally sighed. This was the core of my team, but I wouldn't change them for the world.

Once we left the manor, we trekked through the town til we got to the forest at the far edge, a enormous wall separating it from the town. Well that tells us just how dangerous this thing is. Gulping almost inaudibly, I followed Natsu and Happy inside-the former using his dragon nose to sniff the thing out-and I felt the feeling of suspicion enter me.

It was too quiet. And then I tripped over something. As I rubbed my ankle from whatever I hit, I looked back and recoiled with a barely concealed gasp. Gate keys...a Celestial wizard. I looked around and saw three more sets of keys. All Celestial Spirit mages. Now, I'm scared.

" Natsu..." I muttered, terrified and he grasped my hand, gently pulling me up. " Something's coming." he told me quietly. I was afraid, terribly. I had good reason to; my own magic type wizards had been murdered in here. I tried to sense some power from those keys, but was unsuccessful. Why would-oh my...

I think I'm going to be sick. My body trembling, I put a hand against my mouth to keep a scream buried deep. My eyes were wide. This monster...murders Celestial wizards and steals their magic power, along with any magic residing in the keys that summon the Celestial Spirits. They're probably suffering. Stuck in a world all alone.

When a Celestial wizard dies, the contract becomes void and the Spirits return to the Celestial wizard. But, when a Spirit mage is murdered the process is different. The Spirits contracted to the wizard will remain in one empty dimension, and if they do not form a new contract with someone, then they'll spend all eternity in that dimension. Not even the Spirit King can help them.

I reached down and collected the keys with shaky hands, mentally promising their wizards I would protect them. Judging by the significant amount of magic power, the beast had been feeding on their magic for quite some time. I carefully grabbed Horologium's key and summoned him quietly, asking him to keep the keys safe with everyone else, setting them inside his body and closing the door before closing his gate.

They should be safe for now. I felt the ground tremble and heard the footsteps of something enormous and flinched; that was most likely the beast. When it finally showed itself, the thing was huge, with dark brown fur matted with blood, and rage filled black eyes. It eyed Natsu with a growl, but then paused when it saw me, and then roared.

Oh no. It sensed my magic. Natsu released a large plume of flames to deter the thing, but it raced through it and I lunged for a tree as if came barreling passed me. This thing can't be too smart, but smart enough to know I have keys and that he needs the magic power. I didn't like how this fight looked, and I could tell that it wasn't going to be easy.

Natsu lunged for the beast. Happy pulled me in the air. The tail of the beast knocked Happy around, sending me flying through the air with a scream and Natsu diverted from his course to save me. He got smacked by the beasts tail and we went flying, though he put himself between me and the ground as we skidded, then flipped me under him when the beast attempted to grab me.

HOLY CRAP! I am sorry I am late with this, busy as ever. *long pain filled sigh* Just four more days of summer school (testing is on Thursday and Friday so wish me some god damn luck people, I'LL NEED IT! Next on my list: Tot Trouble.

After that? Not a damn clue. I also got my fictionpress stories to worry about, same for Wattpad. Jesus Christ...I need a vacation... -.-'

Well, my personal Hell is almost over with, so I'm trying to stay positive. Wanna know my initiative for that? Negative enforcement for positive thoughts. For example: Wake up in the morning, on the way to the bathroom, think this. ' If you don't think positive, I'm stepping on your own foot.'. It works pretty good I think.

I mean, what idiot would wanna get hurt for thinking something negative? You wouldn't want to think in a negative fashion, because that would result in a negative repercussion in response to that thought. It's better to think positive to avoid under threat of pain induced by yourself. Nothing too drastic though. I don't wanna be held accountable if someone sends themselves to the hospital for doing something stupid as negative enforcement.

I am also allowing myself one negative thought per week, that way, I'm not a Debbie Downer, but I'm also not a Positive Penny.

-Always,

FireHanyou15-