[Fanfic] [Fairy Tail] Moonbows

Chapter 16: Interlude

A/N: A winter interlude! Because I love the season and want to indulge myself. This chapter is just fluff guys, pure fluff! You have been warned :)

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This year, Fairy Tail had chosen to go on a winter retreat as their end-of-the-year annual bonding event. Master Makarov thought a few days away from their work would be a good way for everyone to relax after their victory in the Grand Magic Game and the subsequent months of non-stop job requests.

Their destination of choice was Mountain Hakobe, just a few hours away from the guild. Per Master's order, all of the members were required to go on the trip, not that anyone would have chosen to stay home anyway. After the event on Tenrou Island, their number had reduced greatly, there were now only roughly twenty-five or so members in their family.

With that in mind, and their guild's tendency to bring troubles wherever they went, Master Makarov decided to hire an entire resort at the foot of the mountain for themselves, wisely choosing to stay away from civilization save for the staff at the resort.

The retreat would be for three days and two nights. All of them gathered at the guild in the morning, bright and early, eagerly chatting among themselves as they waited for their vehicles. Erza made sure to pack extra winter clothing with her this time, because Lucy sometimes forgot she couldn't stand the cold as well as most of them could, a side effect of spending too much time with their team. Gray had never been bothered by the chill, Natsu had his natural high body temperature to protect himself, and Erza was just used to the extreme weather during all her years working on missions in various regions. That just left Lucy and Wendy.

"But Erza, these clothes are heavy. I won't look cute in them." Lucy pouted, but Erza was having none of it.

"Fashion is not worth it if you get sick, Lucy. And you can't just hide inside Horologium every time we go outside either. Stop whining, I'm the one who will carry our luggage, you don't even have to do anything besides wearing them."

It took them half a day to reach their destination, a beautiful wooden mansion at the foot of Mount Hakobe. The head of the resort staff met them at the entrance, a professional smile on his face as he gave them a tour around the property. The resort had two floors and a basement underneath. All of their bedrooms were on the second floor, the first floor was for the kitchen, living room, and other common areas. And a game room took up the entire basement, with billard and ping pong tables, bowling lanes, a karaoke machine in the corner with a mini bar to the side. Erza could already imagine the headache when they inevitably destroyed the room during some stupid competition with each other, and judging by Master Makarov's white face, he must have realized that as well.

The first thing they did before settling in their respective bedrooms was choosing their roommates. By random draw, per Mirajane's insistence, just because "It would be fun to let fate decide this kind of thing! Don't you think so, Erza?!"

And, as fate dictated, Erza got Wendy as her roommate while Lucy was stuck with Juvia.

"Juvia does not want to stay with her love rival!" The Water mage objected immediately.

"How many more times do I have to say, I'm not your love rival!" The Celestial mage yelled, "And I don't want to stay with you either. I want to be with Erza!"

"Oh." Cana leaned closer and slung an arm over the blonde's shoulder, mirthful grin on her face, "Do tell, why do you want to be in the same room with Erza, all alone huh? Are you planning to do something to her?" The suggestive tone left almost no room for imagination, and Lucy's face flushed bright red at the implication before weakly stuttering out some more dignified responses.