What am I doing? Why am I even here?
Lucy Heartfilia wasn't pondering life's deepest questions. That was something she did when she was working on her stories and trying to get inside her characters' heads. No, she was asking herself very practical questions. And she was about to ask the boy with her those very questions?
"Why are we even on this job?" Lucy groaned. "It's freezing!"
"Oh, really?" Natsu shrugged casually. "I don't mind it."
Lucy glared at him from behind. Of course Natsu wasn't cold. He had fire magic; he was always warm. That was why he was able to get away with wearing just a navy blue shirt with one sleeve and white pants that blended in well with their snowy surroundings. And the fact that he wore sandals! Lucy was shivering in her winter clothes: a pure white coat with brown fur around the hood and white pants. Her brown boots matched the fur perfectly, but she was hardly concerned about her wardrobe right now. After all, there was nobody up in these mountains to see her.
"What kind of a job is this anyway?" Lucy shivered. Natsu just showed up at her apartment one day, told her to put on her winter clothes, and dragged her away.
"Does it matter?" Natsu asked again. "It's a job and your rent's due in a week."
Lucy bit down on her lip. "Yeah, but…"
"This reminds me of one of our first missions!" Happy said cheerfully as he hovered between Natsu and Lucy. "Remember Natsu?"
"Huh?"
"You kicked Taurus!"
Lucy wrapped her arms around her torso more tightly. "Taurus was knocked right out of that fight…" Though she was saddened by her Spirit's weakness (and herself as his summoner), she was proud of the progress both of them made over the years. Even in the middle of the snow and the storm, she found herself smiling.
Unfortunately for her, Happy caught that expression. "That's when you fell in love with Natsu, right Lucy?"
"Heh?" she said blankly, still trapped in her own memories. But when the words registered, her eyes widened. "As if!" Happy always harped on that kind of thing—probably to get on her nerves and make her blush. That wasn't going to happen during this storm though. Both to distract Happy and to pursue the truth, she asked again: "What type of job are we even on?"
"A job?! Somebody got my request!" a male voice called from above. Lucy, Natsu, and Happy all looked up the top of one of the cliffs and beheld the man standing there. He certainly wasn't dressed for the cold weather either: there he was in just a black tank-top and jeans. His dark blue hair was spiked up in a mohawk and firm despite the raging winds and falling snow that threatened to ruin it.
Lucy looked from Natsu to Happy, the former being who she stopped walking next to. "Heh? We came all this way to talk to the requester?" Why would a person want to hang out in the mountains anyway?
"Natsu came looking for a fight!" Happy burst in.
"Heh?!"
The mohawk proudly pressed his fists into his stick-then waist. "I put in a request for a challenger! I summoned anyone who could defeat me to this mountain for a match."
"I like your style," Natsu smirked. "I'm Natsu. Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail."
"Diwn. Unaffiliated," the requester returned with grin. "I've heard much about you, Dragon Slayer."
"You have any other challengers up here?"
"Not at the moment—I beat all of them."
"Killed them?" Lucy asked with worry.
