The hot June heat scorched her skin as she glared at the pink haired idiot she called a partner. She knew he felt it, by the stiff way he walked in front of her. She knew that he knew why.

Lucy and Natsu were on their way back to the guild after a job. It was supposed to be easy and fun. She had picked it out herself. All they had to do, was show up to some teenager's sweet sixteen and put on a little show. The blonde was so excited to do a job that didn't involve fighting to the death. She was excited for a job she thought entailed no extensive damage or docked rewards.

She had been wrong.

Oh so wrong.

The birthday boy, as they learned upon arrival, was a Fire mage, and once he saw Natsu he got excited. And Natsu being Natsu, was all too eager to show off.

Resulting in half of the hall the family had been renting to burn to the ground.

And no reward.

So now Lucy had to dip into her savings to pay for rent, that was due tomorrow, and forgo grocery shopping. Which she really needed to do because someone had cleaned out her fridge.

The more she thought, the more her glare intensified, rivaling the summer heat.

Natsu quickened his stiff pace. Happy was already a dot in the distance.

Smart cat.

By the time they reached the guild she was sweating buckets. It was so hot she could barely stand what she was wearing, and it wasn't much. Just a hot pink bikini top, a white mini skirt, and black flip flops. Her hair was up in a high pony tail, up and off her neck. She just wished that there could be some semblance of a breeze.

Upon entering the guild, they received many odd looks. For one, Natsu didn't announce their return with his usual obnoxious 'we made it back alive!'

Secondly, he just stiffly walked to a table and sat down, not looking at Lucy in hopes that she will forget he was there. Lucy Kicks hurt.

A wave of sudden understanding washed over the guild when they caught sight of the expression on Lucy's face as she made her way to the bar.

"Mira. Something strong, please."

A sympathetic look and a small smile later, a cool glass of amber liquid was placed in front of her.

She downed it in one go.

"That bad?" The silver-haired barmaid asked.

Lucy made a small frustrated noise in the back of her throat and pushed the glass towards the older woman to signal for another.

Once her glass was refilled, she downed it the same as the first.

"How much did you guys lose?" Mira asked, pity lacing her tone.

The blonde sighed and buried her face in her hands.

"All of it."

Mira gasped. "Oh dear. Will you have enough for rent tomorrow?"

"Barely." Her voice was muffled by her hands, but Mira still heard her.

There was a pause. "And food?"

Lucy slumped, her face pressing against the cool bar, grateful for the miniscule relief from the heat.

Mira reached out and rested her hand on the younger mage's shoulder. "Well until you have enough for groceries, we can just open a tab for you, ok?"

Lucy tensed. "No, Mira. I can't let you do that for me again."

The silver-haired beauty giggled and waved off her concern. "Nonsense, Lucy. Of course you can. I can't just sit here knowing you're hungry."

She slumped a bit further in resignation. "I'll pay you back right away. I promise."

Sitting up and giving her a small thankful smile, she instantly regretted making eye contact after seeing the gleam in her bright blue eyes.

Uh oh.

"I'm sure that will be sooner than you think. The master and I have come up with something really special, so make sure you're here tomorrow at one, ok?"

"Okay." She squeaked, repressing the shudder that came from remembering the last time Mira and the master had schemed together.

They had drawn names out of a hat to be partnered up with another mage. The pairs were obviously couples that Mira wanted to get together. She had been paired up with Natsu, of course. The objective was to complete an obstacle course. The catch? A spell the master had cast, essentially sticking each pair together like glue. Lucy's had had been stuck to Natsu's bicep, and he'd dragged her through the obstacle course without stopping for anything. In the end, they'd come out second. She was singed, winded, and more than a little agitated with her best friend. And then Makarov conveniently forgot the reversal spell.

It was the worst week of her life.

"So, what would you like for supper?" Mira asked with a too innocent smile.

And as she ordered a simple dish of pasta, call it a premonition, Lucy just knew that her life was about to get a whole hell of a lot more complicated.

}{}{}{

The next morning, Lucy woke up alone in her bed for the first time in weeks.

She automatically felt like the day wouldn't be as terrible as she thought it would the night before.

Later that day, she wanted to sucker punch herself in the face for being so stupid.

So the oblivious blonde hopped in the shower and dressed in a simple turquoise tank top, charcoal gray mini skirt, and her trusty black flip flops. She fastened her belt with her keys and whip around her hips, threw her hair up into a high pony tail, and skipped to the guild.

It was still blistering hot, but the sky was covered in gunmetal gray clouds that blocked the sun's scorching rays, and looked like a storm could drench everything at any second. It was also windy. So windy that her pony tail kept whipping her in the face, and she had to keep her arms pinned to her sides to keep her skirt from flying up and flashing all of magnolia her lacey purple panties.

Finally arriving at the guild, she released her hold over her skirt and ordered lunch. A sandwich and a salad, with a strawberry milkshake, and then planted her butt on a stool to wait for the announcement of today's 'something special.'

Lucy got her wish when minutes after she was done eating the master, Mira, and Cana stood on the stage.

Excited and nervous chattering died away as Makarov cleared his throat in the floating microphone.

"Good afternoon, children. I have something exciting planned for you all today. Mira, why don't you explain?" He stepped beside Cana, gesturing the Satan Soul mage to the microphone.

"Alright," She chirped with a bright smile. The crowd gulped. "Today we will be pairing up. Each pair will be given a mission request and will be expected to complete it successfully. Now, pairs will not be chosen at random. It will be left up to fate. Cana?"

The brunette emptied her mug of who knows what, tossed it in the general direction of the bar, and then dug her cards out of her feathery purse.

"Ok, here we go." She murmured, sounding relatively sober.

The Card mage placed her other hand over the deck and closed her eyes. After a moment, a magic circle appeared over the cards, and they levitated in-between her open hands. Her eyes snapped open and with a flick of her wrist, the cards flew at lightning speed at the request board.

"There. Have at it." She slurred, and leapt off the stage making a beeline towards the barrel that sat atop her usual table.

Lucy squinted her eyes at the request board and noticed that for each job posting, there were two cards sticking to it.

"Now get in a line, brats, and you'll be handed your request and finding out who your partner is."

The mages of Fairy Tail grumbled at having to wait in line, but filed into place anyway.

Lucy landed a spot towards the middle, behind Lisanna and in front of Levy.

She absentmindedly listened to the girl's chatter, eyes focused on the pairs that had already formed. Laki and Warren. Laxus took a seat next to Cana. Freed made his way over to Mira with rosy cheeks. Evergreen smacking Elfman with her fan. Bickslow….walking in her direction?

Her attention was torn to her best friend as he bounded over to her with an excited grin.

Just as she was about to roll her eyes, he said something that surprised her, yet at the same time it really didn't.

"Lis!" He shouted as he grabbed the Takeover mage by the shoulders.

"Are we partners, Natsu?" She asked in her sweet voice.

"Yep! I'm all fired up!" He exclaimed with a grin.

The pinkette waved at Lucy, before walking off with his childhood friend to look over their mission.

"Huh." She shrugged. Oh well. She could use some time away from the moron anyway.

Someone cleared their throat next to her and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Hey, Cosplayer. Looks like we're partners this time." Bickslow said with a lopsided smile. His babies swirled around her head and she giggled as they chirped 'Partner! Partner!'

"Okay, let's go get a table and look at the mission." She grabbed his elbow and led him to a table near the guild entrance.

Instead of sitting across from her like she expected, he plopped down next to her so close that their thighs touched.

She fought down a blush and focused on the paper sitting in front of them.

PLEASE HELP!

SCREAMS ARE BEING HEARD FROM THE MOUNTAIN AT NIGHT. FOUR TEAMS HAVE BEEN SENT TO INVESTIGATE, ONLY TO NOT RETURN.

FIGURE OUT WHAT IS CAUSING THE SCREAMS AND GET RID OF IT.

100,000 JEWEL.

50,000 JEWEL WILL BE ADDED IF THE TEAMS ARE FOUND AND BROUGHT BACK.

Bickslow let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of Jewel just for some creepy noises."

A small seed of dread planted in her stomach as she reread the request a second and third time.

"Something doesn't seem right about this. Mt. Timor? Barbas Town? I've never even heard of these places." The blonde said, suspicion in her voice.

She looked at the Seith mage, and he shot her a tongued grin. "I have. It's over in the Southern part of Fiore, by Loon. It's a few days by train, so be prepared to get all cozy, eh?"

"Cozy! Cozy!"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at the helmeted mage, unamused. Dread kept gnawing at her gut, but she pushed it down.

'I'm just being paranoid because I'm not used to going on a job with Natsu, or the rest of the team. That's all there is to it.' She reasoned to herself, then nodded at the large man sitting next to her.

Rain pounded against the roof of the guild, the scent of wet hot cobblestone drifting in through the open windows.

His babies perched on the table in front of them, and she could feel the souls within the totems. They almost felt like her Spirits.

Thunder shook the earth, lightning lit up the darkened sky.

At that thought, her keys warmed at her hip, reminding her that she was never alone, and reassurance washed over her like a warm blanket.

"Ok." She said, turning to him. "Pack tonight, and well meet at the station at eight tomorrow morning."

So…this story just kind of happened tonight in one sitting. I was eating dinner and I was just like "I feel like writing a scary story." So I am. Or at least I'm attempting to.

There's chapter one of Timor! See you next time! :)