A/N: Hello, all! While this story is focused on Yukino and Natsu, I plan to do some jumping around to the other combatants now that this is going to be a chapter fic. With that in mind, this is a look at what Lucy and Garrick are up to. Don't forget to review, follow, and fave!

Lucy sat in a small clearing in the woods trying to meditate. Garrick sat opposite her mimicking her pose and trying to follow the instructions that Capricorn was giving them both. It reminded Lucy of when Capricorn had tried to train Laxus in their form of meditation. After all, Garrick and Laxus had the same build, so she could almost imagine that it was her boyfriend sitting across from her instead of a near stranger.

"Watch Miss Lucy," Capricorn said. "She's going to draw her power out in a physical manifestation. How it appears will differ from wizard to wizard based on their magic."

Lucy blocked out the sound of her spirit speaking as she concentrated on the feel of the magical container within her. She'd always heard it described as a vial or an orb, but Lucy always pictured hers as an 8-pointed star. She concentrated on the mental image of the star bubbling with gold and drew a tiny drop of the magic from the topmost point. She felt the touch of warmth as the golden dot drew out of her chest to float lazily around her. Once she had the dollop of magic in orbit, she drew out another from the next point on the star.

Once eight golden orbs were floating around her like electrons around a nucleus, she focused on growing them. Capricorn's voice filtered through her mind, but it merely washed over gently, depositing a tiny seashell of information without otherwise disturbing the smooth sand. She started reeling the balls of light in one by one until all of her magic was safely back into the star-shaped container.

Lucy opened her eyes to find Garrick staring at her with his ice blue eyes wide open. She giggled at his fishy appearance, and the brunette blushed as he swept his bangs off of his forehead.

"That was awesome," he said.

"Thanks, but it's not really that hard once you get the hang of it," Lucy said. She stood up and stretched.

"You were a little shaky on drawing the magic back in, Miss Lucy. You must work harder," Capricorn said. Lucy rolled her eyes at the goat, and he turned to Garrick. "Work on the exercises again before bed tonight, and then each morning and night. It will help you gain control over your magic and organically expand your magical container over time. Perhaps not enough to help next week, but in the future…"

"Thank you for teaching me," Garrick said. He stood and bowed his head with his hands folded in front of him. Capricorn looked mildly surprised, but he returned the gesture before disappearing back to the spirit world.

"So, what's next on the agenda?" Garrick asked. He was letting Lucy figure out their training regimen. She'd chosen the location with Laxus's help, and now she was leading him through her usual paces.

"Hand-to-hand," she said. "But first, let's have a bite to eat. Just a snack, though."

She led him over to their tents and rummaged in her duffle bag for some packages of dried fruit before settling onto the ground. She tossed Garrick a bag of fruit as he sat down a short distance from her. She produced a water bottle from her bag and took a sip.

"So tell me about your magic," she said. Garrick paused in his attempts to rip open the plastic package. They both glanced up as they heard something rustling in the bushes nearby, but when no wild animals appeared, they went back to staring at each other while Lucy waited for a reply and Garrick tried to figure out what to say.

"It's kind of hard to explain," he finally said. He tore the package open violently and some of the dried fruit bits fell to the grass in front of him. "It's a lost magic called Future Sight. It has zero offensive capability. Basically, when I concentrate, I can see up to ten minutes into the future. That's why I'm glad Capricorn taught me a better way to meditate today. Focus is key to my magic."

Lucy just stared at him for a moment. Just what had she gotten herself into? She knew there would be more to the S-Class trials than just fighting, but there would still definitely be fighting. She bit back a groan at the thought; she didn't want to make him feel bad. Then again, he was big enough that maybe he was also at least decent in hand-to-hand combat. Lucy didn't realize that she was regarding his body appraisingly until a growl sounded through the air. She leaped to her feet with adrenaline coursing through her body as she prepped for a fight.

Garrick sighed as he rose to his feet, too.

"You don't have to hide in the bushes, Laxus."

Lucy turned to stare at Garrick, and he just offered her a half-smile. Sure enough, Fairy Tail's resident lightning god appeared from the bushes with a highly amused Bickslow beside him. Lucy's vision started to blur with anger as it fully registered that her boyfriend was indeed standing in front of her. She was striding toward him before she even realized that her body was in motion.

"Now, Starlight, I know you're probably a little upset with me, but let me explain," Laxus said. He held his hands up in a placating gesture, but Lucy was having none of it.

"Lucy Kick!" She yelled as her foot caught the giant in the stomach. He sailed back to crash into a tree on the other side of the clearing. Lucy turned to the seith mage next and prepared another kick, but he dropped to his knees with his hands clasped in supplication.

"This wasn't my idea, Lucy," Bickslow said quickly. "You know the boss man. I can't say no to him. I tried to talk him out of it, but he just doesn't listen."

Lucy groaned and rubbed at her temples.

"Get up, Bickslow," she said. Garrick came up to join the knight as Lucy walked over to Laxus who hadn't bothered to get up from where he'd fallen. She knelt down beside him and helped him into a sitting position.

"I'm sorry I kicked you so hard," Lucy said. "But why the hell are you stalking me when I'm trying to train for the trials?"

Laxus considered his words very carefully before speaking. Eventually he realized that none of his answers were going to keep her calm, so he hoped that complete honesty would make her not castrate him.

"I just didn't want him to try anything while the two of you were alone in the forest," he said. He held a finger to her lips to stall her angry retort. "I know it's stupid, and this was a terrible idea. I just… I can't help wanting to protect you. It's a dragon slayer thing. I get antsy when you're out of my sight anyway, and knowing that you'll be alone with another man for an entire week…"

His voice trailed off into a low growl and Lucy smacked him in the shoulder.

"Sorry, involuntary reaction," he said with a shrug. "Anyway, that's why we're here."

He could tell that Lucy was still violently pissed, but at least she wasn't prepping to kick him again. The petite blonde sighed. She knew from talking to Natsu that sometimes dragon slayers were possessive of things (or people) they thought of as theirs. Natsu had been like that with Lucy for a while, though to a far lesser degree than Laxus.

"You've really got to get this jealousy thing in check, firefly," she said.

She was still ticked, but she really couldn't stay mad at him for long. He absolutely hated that nickname, but he took it as a sign that she was getting over her anger. He loved how forgiving his girlfriend always was; he was pretty sure that was the only thing that saved him from having her walk out the door more than once.

"We should give them some space," Garrick murmured to Bickslow.

"Why? It looks like the worst is over," Bickslow said.

"Yeah, but they're going to start sucking face in about five seconds, and I don't particularly care to see that."

Garrick walked back to the tents to continue eating his dried fruit. Bickslow turned back to watch the blonde couple. He started cackling when sure enough, they collapsed with Lucy on top of the lightning dragon slayer. He joined Garrick once he stopped laughing uncontrollably.

"How'd you know, man?" Bickslow said.

"Didn't you hear me explaining my magic to Lucy when you were spying on us?"

"Naw, Laxus could hear you guys, but I couldn't. He's the one with the heightened senses. That's why he flipped a little when he thought Lucy was checking you out."

"She was going to ask me about my fighting experience," Garrick said with a shrug. "I assume she was sizing me up wondering how much use I'll be in a fight since my magic is non-offensive."

"Again, how do you know that?"

Garrick dove into an explanation of his magic. At some point, the two blondes joined them to listen in. He could see up to ten minutes into the future, but nothing was set in stone. Things could change in the blink of an eye. Still, it was useful for strategy and dodging when in the midst of battle. It also made him perfectly suited for a variety of non-combat jobs, and his Future Sight wasn't limited to just things he could see. If he had a connection with a person, he could look at the future they would experience, as well.

"What kind of connection?" Lucy asked. She absently rubbed her thumb over the back of Laxus's hand where their fingers were intertwined.

"Anything really. Any of my guild mates. You, since we're partners for the trials. Anyone that I've met on a previous job. The trick is knowing who to look for. After all, ten minutes isn't that much time."

They talked for a while longer before Garrick turned to Bickslow.

"You're welcome to share my tent since Laxus will be bunking with Lucy. It's too late for us to train anymore today, so I'll probably head to sleep soon."

Everyone froze for a moment before Laxus said: "How do you know that we're staying?"

Garrick raised an eyebrow at him in response. Lucy giggled. Apparently they were about to have a conversation about it before he decided to cut through the bullshit and settle things. She could see several ways that his magic would be useful, but she could also tell it was going to take a lot of communication and a lot of trust on her part for him to actually help her win the trials.

A short while later, she curled up in the tiny tent against her personal space heater and snuggled in close.

"We'll leave in the morning," Laxus said. "It's going to kill me a little, but I'll give you space to train, starlight. I won't see you until the trials."

Lucy leaned up to kiss him softly.

"Thank you, firefly," she whispered.

She would have loved for him to stay, but she needed this time to get to know her new partner. She had to figure out exactly how to work with Garrick's magic, and to do that, she had to learn to trust him in a very short amount of time. Laxus would only distract her right now. But those thoughts could wait until morning. For now, she enjoyed being wrapped up in the man she loved as she drifted to sleep.