The Beginning of a New Adventure
After leaving the capital full of shouting guards and Natsu's flaming graffiti, Lucy, Natsu and Happy travelled as quickly as Lucy could manage in her strappy sandals into the countryside. They stopped for lunch when they happened upon a small river so clear the bottom of the riverbed and, more significantly for Happy, the seemingly hundreds of fish could be seen with perfect clarity.
"Fish!" cried Happy with a sparkle and a bit of drool.
After lunch the three recently reunited friends continued along the river which was flowing in the general direction the trio intended to travel. Walking a bit more sedately post fish-feast, Lucy, Natsu and Happy resumed trading stories of the experiences they had during their year apart, picking up where they had left off the night before in Lucy's apartment.
Natsu talked about his encounter with Gildarts and of nearly being eaten by some large random animal. He also enthusiastically described the time he explored a series of caverns full of lava pools and fire, where evidently he had stuffed his face and gained a deeper understanding of the fire element.
Lucy shared some of her favourite experiences working for Sorcerer's Weekly, making Happy and Natsu laugh with her descriptions of various wizards and Jason's talent for getting trampled on the job. She only touched briefly on her training which mostly involved a lot of exercises aimed at developing her awareness of the world around her and expanding her magic 'holding container.'
Happy mostly just teased Lucy (he had a whole year to make up for), worried about where Charla was and consoled himself with more teasing and stories about fish.
When they stopped to camp for the night they no longer felt the great distance of that year apart. The evening was full of Natsu harassing Lucy, Happy harassing Lucy and Lucy freaking out at the two of them. But it was warm, and comfortable, and none of them wanted to be separated ever again. It felt like home.
Later in the evening, after a dinner of more fish (they had followed the river after all), Lucy came to a sudden realization:
"Natsu! Where am I going to sleep? I don't have a blanket or mat or anything! You'll have to give me yours!"
"Ohhh, I didn't think about that... wait, whaddaya mean I have to give you mine? It's not my fault you didn't pack it!" shouted Natsu.
"Yes it is!" screeched Lucy.
"Unhhh..."
"Yeah Natsu, remember? We packed Lucy's stuff and you mostly just took her underwear. Lucky for you Lucy that I thought to pack your toothbrush and stuff," Happy piped in.
"You touched my underwear?!" Lucy was flushed red and spitting mad in light of this new information.
"Unghhh..." Natsu lost steam at this point. "Fine – you can use my stuff but you owe me."
"OWE? But... I...! You...!" Spluttered Lucy. Then she began to laugh. "You really are the same old Natsu huh?" She was rewarded with a cheeky Natsu grin.
Lucy unrolled Natsu's sleep mat and blanket and got settled in for the night, stretching out a little ways away from the fire, and gazed up at the stars. Happy joined her, curling up on her stomach.
Natsu, who was sitting on the other side of the fire, gazed into its flames thoughtfully.
"Lucy...?" started Natsu.
"Hmm? What is it Natsu?"
"The guild... Gramps... They shouldn't have left you alone like they did..."
"Natsu its..." Lucy struggled to sit up.
"If I had thought for one moment that Gramps would disband Fairy Tail like that I would have beaten the idea out of his, out of everyone's, head before leaving! The reason I didn't think anything of leaving you behind was because I believed you would still have the rest of our family to be there for you. I'm sorry Lucy."
Lucy's lip trembled.
"But now I'm back and we're a team again we'll track everyone down and reunite Fairy Tail! After I kick Gramps' ass!"
Lucy gazed at Natsu, eyes glinting with tears and hope. "Thanks Natsu." she replied softly. After taking a minute to wipe her eyes and compose herself Lucy continued:
"I was really lonely and sad at first but as I followed everyone's progress as they travelled all over Fiore, and when I thought of you and Happy training hard to become your best, I gained the courage to move on as well and to develop some of my own skills. Even parted by such great distances I could hear the voices of my friends cheering me on and that gave me strength."
"I missed you Lucy," Natsu said after a moment of listening to the fire crackle.
"Aye," mumbled a mostly sleeping Happy.
"I missed you both too," Lucy whispered. "Good-night Natsu, Happy."
"Night Lucy."