Third Person's P. O. V:
Vivian stands between Erza and Wendy as they and their teammates prepare to start the job. The morning Vivian had woken up after her drinking contest with Cana, she and Rogue had a very heated makeout session—with certain protection.
Rogue said he'd missed Vivian so much since her fight with Iroh because she'd holed herself up in her bedroom in her house out of depression. Now she was feeling much better after spending time with her mate, and has agreed to join her teammates on this job request to a harbour town while Rogue returns to Sabertooth.
Team Natsu are currently on a job in the town of Negura, the sun shining brightly down on them, and Lucy is super ecstatic about it. Vivian is wearing her red and white tunic attire with her light chestnut brown hair in its usual braided waterfall ponytail.
"If we wanna find these creeps, we got to go up to that old fortress at the top of the hill," Lucy tells them as she points up the hill.
Gray says, smirking, his hands stuffed in his pants pockets, "You're pretty gung-ho about this one, huh?"
"You bet!" Lucy replies, clenching a fist. "We've been on a major hot-streak lately. So this is going to be a piece of cake!"
Natsu punches his left palm as he asks, grinning, "Yeah! Are you ready to take out some bad guys, Happy?"
The blue Exceed cheers in response, jumping up into the air, "Aye, Sir!!"
Gray asks as Team Natsu race through the town, "So, these clowns call themselves what, again?"
Lucy looks back as she replies, "The gang's called The Bacchus Bandits, but the real target is their leader, Geese." Lucy gasps excitedly as she looks ahead with wide eyes. "The job was posted by the mayor himself, so the reward is gonna be huge!" She squeals.
Happy, flying ahead next to Natsu, looks back as he comments, "Wow, Lucy! You get the craziest look on your face when you start talking about money."
"Shut it, fleabag!" Lucy snaps back.
Charlele says from flying beside Wendy, "Let's keep our focus on the task at hand."
"Hey, Viv-chan," Wendy addresses the blonde running beside Erza.
"Yes, what is it?" The requip mage asks as she glances back at Wendy.
"I don't know, but... doesn't this place seem too quiet?" Wendy asks as she gazes around. Vivian gasps in sudden realisation.
Just then, men burst from buildings on either side of the cobbled street. They charge toward the Fairy Tail wizards wielding various weapons ranging from clubs, axes and even hammers.
Team Natsu stop as the bandits surround them.
Gray mutters, "Well, it was quiet."
A bandit in the front behind Gray laughs as he says, "Sorry, punks, but you cans to the wrong part of town!"
Another says, pointing at them, "And you got here just when we were looking for something to feed the sharks!"
Natsu says, grinning, as flames briefly envelope his fist, "These jerks know how to get me fired up!"
Erza reminds them, "Don't forget: we're here for their boss—he's the target. We have to capture him if we want the reward. Is everybody clear?"
"We're going to get some money! We're going to get some cash! We're going to get some money! We're going to get some cash!" Lucy chants with her hand clasped together, her chocolatey brown eyes wide as a blush covers her cheeks from the thought of getting money to pay her rent.
Happy says as he hovers beside Lucy, "Yup. She's lost her mind."
"Let's get 'em!!" The man who spoke first yells as he and his bandits charge at The a Fairy Tail wizards.
"Spread out!" Vivian calls, and she and her teammates spring into action, as Gray drops his white trench coat. The brunette goes with Erza, while everyone else splits off.
Vivian stands beside Erza as the requip mages brandish their swords. A few of them had already been knocked down. Erza warns the bandits, "If you know what's good for you, you'll hand over Geese this instant."
A man in the front shouts back, "You're crazy if you think we're going to rat out our boss, lady!"
"Quite admirable! Seems you have some honour, after all. In that case... prepare yourselves for battle, now!" Erza says as she requips. The glow fades to reveal her Heaven's Wheel Armor.
Vivian's body also glows as she dons her blue and pink Valkyrie Requip.
"What the hell'd they do?!" The man exclaims.
"Aaarrgghh! Take 'em down!!" The man next to him yells.
While Erza sends a barrage of swords flying at the men, dodging them as the swords pierce them, Vivian unleashes her Oblique spell, firing bolts of green energy. The bandits cry out as they tumble down the hill. Erza and Vivian straighten as they turn around. Erza asks, "Now, then. Where can we find Geese?" The S-class wizards notice that all the bandits are gone.
"Oopsie," Vivian says with a sheepish expression.
Erza says, "My mistake. It seems I overdid it."
Gray smirks as he strips down to his pants. Gray asks the bandits, "Which one of you losers goes by the name Geese?"
Instead of answering, they attack and throw their weapons at the Fairy Tail wizards. "Put some clothes on!" One of the men shouts.
Gray launches his Ice Lance spell at them, deflecting their attacks, and pushing the bandits back. However, the men charge at Gray again.
Gray grumbles, "Man, these guys just don't know when to quit, do they."
Gray gets into his usual stance as he places his hands together and calls, "Ice Make: Floor!" Ice spreads from Gray's hands, underneath the bandits' feet, causing them to slip and slide backward with cries.
Smirking smugly, Gray asks, "Now, where's Geese? Who's talking?" Gray looks up, only to see the bandits are no longer there.
Gray looks up, startled, at the absence of the bandits. "Awe, man!"
Suddenly, a man comes screaming from the roof next to Gray. Gray throws out his hand and freezes the man, before sending him flying back. Natsu, standing on the roof, catches the frozen bandit and glares at the ice with disgust, before he moves him out of the way, Happy hovering behind his shoulder.
"You wanna play, huh?!" Natsu challenges. He blasts the bandit with fire and throws him back at Gray.
"I'll play with ya!" Gray yells back before throwing the bandit, now frozen again, back at the Dragneel.
"I don't want him!" Natsu yells, blasting the bandit with fire as he throws him back at Gray.
"Neither do I!" Gray freezes the man and he and Natsu throw him back and forth at each other, while burning and freezing the bandit.
The boys commence a game of ping pong with the bandit.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!" Erza's and Vivian's flustered voices resonate across the walls of the buildings. Natsu and Gray immediately stop their little game as fear settles on their faces. Erza and Vivian has requipped back into their traditional outfits. Erza's armor has a silver trimming along the breastplate and around the shoulder guards, and her blue skirt stops halfway down her thighs, and a brown leather belt is tied around her waist.
The fire goes out of the bandit as he crashed into Gray, who is standing as still as a statue, and Natsu falls off the roof out of pure fear.
Vivian doesn't usually get angry enough to scare the boys, unlike Erza, but she can if she wants to.
Wendy and Charlele come up on Erza's other side as Natsu goes sliding down the ice covered street, crying out. Happy mutters in a satisfied tone, "That's what he gets for turning me into barbecue earlier." Happy flies off as he adds, "Score 1 for karma."
Natsu, Gray, Erza, Vivian and their Exceeds run off to look for Natsu and Lucy, Gray carrying an unconscious Natsu. They stop on a rooftop and a second later, a man runs out of a building to their right. He has dark hair and a tattoo on his back.
"Is that him?!" Upon closer inspection, Vivian and her teammates can see that the tattoo spells out the name Geese, with the letter B underneath. "THAT'S HIM!"
Lucy runs out of the building, after Geese, as she calls up to her teammates, "I've got this one!"
"Lucy!" Vivian calls back in agreement.
Gray says as he sets the Fire Dragon Slayer down on the rooftop, "Yep. I told you she was gung-ho!"
Erza, Vivian, Gray and Wendy leap down from the roof, the Exceeds following right behind them, and they follow after Lucy, just in case she needed backup. However, when they finally catch up to Lucy, she's pouting and tells them that Geese got away from her.
"So you're telling me you idiots managed to wreck my beautiful town and that Geese lunatic is still on the loose?!" The mayor yells at the Fairy Tail wizards as they stand gathered in his office. He's a man of average height with black hair, bushy eyebrows and a moustache with a small beard, a cigar in his left hand, a ruby ring on his third finger. His eyes are a light blue.
Lucy says in a disappointed tone as she raises her right hand, "Yes, Sir. I take full responsibility."
Erza says, "He may still be at large but his gang has been rounded."
"I wanted the boss! And you call yourselves a guild?! You're more like a circus act; a bunch of clowns!" The mayor adds as he turns around and starts striding from the room, "No reward for you!"
When the mayor slams the door shut behind him, everyone except Lucy, Vivian and Erza poke their tongues out at him, while the Knight gives the door a glare of disgust. Lucy was more disappointed in herself than anything else.
"I'm sorry, you guys," The celestial wizard says in disappointment. This was my fault."
Natsu places a hand on Lucy's shoulder as he tries to assure her, causing Lucy to look up at him, "Don't worry! We're all in this together."
Happy exclaims, "Yeah! We win or lose as a team! Right, pal?"
Charlele sighs, "And when we arrive back home, the master will punish us as a team."
Wendy says, head still bowed, "Yeah. We know."
Vivian says with a reassuring smile, "Don't fret about it. I'm sure everything will be fine."
Vivian can only hope that the master won't punish them too harshly for the repairs they'll have to pay for.
Once the team arrive back in Magnolia, Lucy makes an excuse to go back home, while the others return to the Fairy Tail guild hall. When they get there, most of them are relieved to learn that the master is away at a meeting with the Magic Council, which means that Team Natsu's punishment is pushed back for now.
Vivian goes up to the counter where Gray is drinking. Vivian addresses Mira, "A shot of whiskey, please Mira!"
The Takeover mage says with a smile, "Sure! Coming right up." In a heartbeat, a wooden mug of whiskey was placed in front of Vivian. She utters a thanks and turns to lean her elbows against the counter while downing half the liquid.
Gray speaks up from beside her, "You seem to be doing better since we got back from Gardenia. Feeling better, Viv?"
She glances to him as she replies, smiling, "Much. It feels great to be back on the job again." Gray grins back a her.
"Gray-sama!" The two of them look up just as Juvia appears beside her, a big smile in her face. "Juvia is so glad that you've returned!"
"Oh, yeah?" Asks Gray before he and Vivian take another swig from their mugs.
Juvia goares jealously at the pretty brunette, a dark aura wafting from her. Vivian expertly ignores the water mage, having learned to ignore her a long time ago.
"Gray-sama is Juvia's! Don't you go stealing him from her."
Vivian hoods her eyes as she calmly turns her head to Juvia's and tells her bluntly, "Look, Juvia, Gray is all yours if you want him. I don't care. I already have a mate. I'm not interested in Gray like that in the slightest. We're just friends, that I can promise you."
Juvia's calms down as she blinks her deep blue eyes. "R-Really?" Vivian nods, taking another mouthful of whisky. A smile crosses Juvia's lips before a thought hits her.
A devious expression appears on Juvia's face as she adds, "That blonde haired bimbo didn't back with Gray-sama!"
"You know, you really shouldn't talk out loud like that," Says the Fullbuster pointedly. "People might think you're crazy."
Juvia slumps over in depression.
Vivian can't help feeling bad for the water mage. For as long as she's known her, Juvia has always had a crush on the ice wizard but he's shown no signs of reciprocating them anytime soon.
Vivian finishes her drink and imitates Thor the Norse god of thunder as she whirls back to the counter and slaps the mug on it while calling eagerly to the white haired beauty, "Another!!"
Gray raises a dark eyebrow as he asks with a sheepish smile, "You sure about that, Viv? Remember what happened the last time you drank?"
The hazel eyed girl responds flippantly, "That was only because I was in a drinking contest with Cana. Aside from that, I'm a pretty responsible drinker."
Gray wasn't too sure but he wasn't one to stop the Knight as she accepts eight more glasses.
Later that night, Team Natsu sit at a table as they watch the mysterious girl eat the food Mira had made for her earlier. The girl had been brought in by Lucy after falling unconscious from lack of food or water. She wears a long pink skirt and a pink sash-like top with a strapless white crop top beneath, and her long chocolatey brown hair is tied in a ponytail that reaches past her rear, her bangs framing her face. She also has jewelled bracelets on her wrists and upper arms. With her is a yellow bird that wears a light blue vest and dark shorts as it sits on the table top.
They didn't know who she was or where she came from since the girl hadn't spoken a word since waking up. All Team Natsu was watch her and the yellow bird eat.
After drinking a full pitcher of icy water, Vivian had become sober enough to remain on her feet without collapsing.
Mira goes up to the pretty brown haired woman while carrying a tray with a mug of wine on it. She sets it on the table as she says, "Here you go."
The brunette says as she looks up, "Thank you."
"Maybe she fainted earlier just because she was hungry," Lucy murmurs, gazing at the pretty brunette.
"Who is that girl?" Natsu asks curiously.
"I don't know," Lucy replies, as Mira returns to the bar.
Elfman asks with a furrowed brow, "What's with the big baby bird?"
Bickslow says, "I don't know. Perhaps it's like the Exceeds."
"Although... he is really cute," Vivian coos, gazing at the bird with a blushing face.
The brown haired woman says, her eyes closed, "You're very kind."
Lucy says as she sits across from the brunette, "You should be all fixed up."
"Thank you. But I would be fine with or without the meal."
Everyone blinks their eyes at the girl's attitude. The bird scolds the girl, as it jumps to its feet, "Now, now! You know better than to say things like that!" The bird turns to Lucy as it adds, bowing, "Please forgive her!"
"Err, it's fine. Don't worry," Lucy replies, looking a little dumbfounded.
"I'm Momon! And this is Éclair," Momon adds as he points his wing at the pretty brunette. "I took her under my wing just a couple of years ago."
Jet and Droy exclaim, "YOU TOOK HER IN?!"
Éclair nods in response.
"My name is Lucy. It's nice to meet you," Lucy introduces herself as she leans out of her seat and shakes Momon's wing. Lucy holds out her hand to Eclair but the girl didn't make a move to take it.
"My name's Natsu! I'm what you'd call a Dragon Slayer," Natsu states as he suddenly appears beside Lucy, bumping her shoulder. "Welcome to our guild Éclair!"
Happy lands on the table before Éclair as he says, "And I'm Happy!" Happy holds out his half eaten fish as he asks, "You want a bite of fish?"
Éclair says as she grabs her bag, slings it over her shoulder, and gets to her feet, making the wizards gasp, "You're all very kind." She turns to Momon. "Come, Momon."
"Right," Momon says, nodding.
The two start to leave but Charlele calls out to them, "Wait!" Éclair and the others turn to Charlele as she jumps out of Wendy's arms.
"What's wrong?" Wendy asks.
Charlele says, "You're heading toward a forest. Watch out! Great sadness awaits you there."
"A forest..." Éclair echoes with a furrowed brow, before she gasps in understanding and places two fingers to her forehead. "That's right. Deep within the Boundary Forest... that's where it is."
Happy says worriedly, "I don't think you want to go there."
Team Natsu exchange worried glances.
"Come, Momon," Éclair says sharply as she starts walking past the table.
"I'm coming!" Momon flies after her.
"Hold on!" Lucy calls, only to be ignored. All they could do is watch as Éclair and Momon leave the guild hall.
Vivian, Erza, Wendy, Gray and Charlele rush out of the guild hall after Lucy, Natsu and Happy who ran after Éclair and Momon. They were worried about the pretty brunette and the small bird going into the Boundary Forest alone, so they decide to accompany her.