Dragons & Demons & Wizards, oh my!

Secrets

Lucy barely even looked at the job request before agreeing. An exchange that did not go unnoticed by her teammates. She simply handed it back to Natsu who marched up to Mira to accept the quest. Without saying a word Happy flew into Lucy's arm as she started to get up from the table. It all seemed way too routine.

"Lucy, weren't you just complaining about wanting to sleep?" Gray asked suspiciously.

"Well you know...rent will be due soon...and with my landlady I can't afford to be late" Lucy answered with a smile that looked a little too forced for Gray's liking.

"But Lucy, we just made more than enough from that last job to pay your rent for a few months right? Wendy asked innocently.

"Well yeah...but uhhh...if I save enough now I won't have to go on missions for a while and I'll have time to work on my novel." Lucy hoped that would be enough to silence the questions. She quickly got up and started moving towards the door.

"Well I for one think your determination should be praised!" Erza cried out, as she banged her fists onto the table scaring everyone in the near vicinity. "We all can learn a thing too from Lucy's work ethic, why should we be wasting time sitting around the guild? We're a team, let's all go!" Erza stood up and raised her fist into the air. Completely clueless to her surroundings. Gray chuckled, both at Erza's obliviousness and the sweat that began to pour off Lucy. No part of Gray wanted to go on another mission so soon after returning but he couldn't deny he was curious why Lucy wanted to head back out again. The panic on Lucy's face was palpable, even Happy stopped eating his fish and just stared at Erza as she began packing her belongings to join them.

Happy realizing Lucy was in trouble tried signaling Natsu to come to her rescue. He raised his index finger over his mouth slowly to not draw Erza's attention, while placing his other paw slightly underneath. It was a simple gesture but one he knew Natsu would understand. It was after all Natsu and Happy's secret Ninja-Ninja pose.

When he heard a soft voice whisper, "nin-nin!" Happy knew his message was delivered and help would arrive soon.

"Erza whatcha doin? We don't need the whole team for this job." Natsu said calmly as he joined Lucy up at the front doors of the guild. "It's a super easy job, the hardest part will be the train ride there" He said as his stomach turned just at the word 'train.' I never knew Natsu was such a good actor, who knows maybe he would be a good Ninja Lucy embarrassingly thought to herself. "Lucy, Happy and I can handle this one no problem, so you all relax, we'll go on another S-Class mission when we return." Natsu finished a signature big grin across his face.

"We're a team, and your work ethic has inspired me, no matter how menial or grand a task may be our team will strike down any foe that stands against Fairy Tail" Erza roared as if commanding a massive army. Her teammates gave an all too familiar shrug at Erza's antics. Lucy caught a side wise glance at Natsu, she could tell he was uncomfortable now. Apparently, he hadn't considered the possibility that Erza would be this insistent. Which to her seemed rather obvious. She sighed and smirked at her dragon slayer companion, okay maybe not a 'good' ninja but I give him an A+ for effort, Lucy thought to herself with a laugh.

"Listen Erza, I think this may be a good opportunity for Natsu to work on his destructive tendencies on his own. You always take care of him, so let him try this one out by himself, It's a really simple mission that he could probably handle solo but Happy and I will be these just in case things get out of hand. Just trust us okay, it will be a good learning experience" Lucy reasoned out, she can tell the dragon slayer beside her was fuming at being treated like he was some child. Happy was having a hard time stifling his laughter as he looked up at his partner and best friend. Erza studied the three of them intently. Lucy panicked for a moment thinking her plea would have fallen on the deaf ears. It was never easy to lie to Erza, it wasn't easy to lie to any of them.