"What the-! I am not!" Lucy croaked. "Why would you ask something weird like that!?"

"I'm just concerned. You and Natsu are a couple and I wouldn't-"

"Ew! No! God no! Even if I was, wouldn't it be odd for Natsu to be the father?"

Erza and Lisanna shared an uneasy look with one another and glanced to Wendy briefly, before looking back to Lucy.

'What am I saying?'she thought.

She was so offended that she was picked out as pregnant and was even more offended suggesting Natsu would be the father. To Lucy's knowledge she and Natsu had yet to actually go all the way so pregnancy was not even on the suggestion list. That's right. Natsu didn't touch her that way. If he touched her he somehow always found a way to avoid touching her for long anyways. And then the idea of breaking up with him came into her thoughts again. Maybe it wasn't just her. Maybe Natsu too, wanted to call it quits if he didn't want to touch her for very long.

In any case Lucy looked to her friends with stern eyes and spoke again.

"Loke knows better than anyone here that I'm not pregnant." she hissed, and nodded towards Loke.

Lucy noticed Erza's shoulders relax but it didn't remove the concerned expression on her face, Wendy looked a little unsure because she was still worried, Loke only nodded in agreement with Lucy, but Lisanna, Lucy didn't like the relief that seemed to wash over Lisanna's face. It was as if maybe it was a bad thing if she and Natsu were having a baby. But, then again, it was obvious the girl still cared for him. Lucy took a little moment longer looking at Lisanna before she saw what seemed like guilt flicker in her eyes and Lucy eyed her curiously. Did she just see something she shouldn't have?

Quickly, Lucy dismissed Loke, and shimmied her way through her friends and wandered back into the main cabin, gulping as she saw a scowl on Gajeel's face as she passed him in the isle. It looked as if he were going to change his clothes with the sack he had slung over his shoulder but Lucy didn't know for sure. She hurriedly made her way back to sit in her seat but noticed Natsu completely sprawled out, leaving no space for her to sit. She looked to Gray and instantly regretted it because he raised a brow and formed a smirk on his face.

"Don't tell me you're-"

"I'm not! I'm not! That's such a stupid thing to ask! Besides something like that…its just weird! Its wrong!" she defended. "Besides, Natsu doesn't touch me so…"

Lucy quickly stopped talking and huffed in annoyance. Yeah, Natsu didn't touch her, and it was yet again another reminder that maybe she should try to get him to do something with her or call it quits. Its not like being with him felt right anyways. But, why didn't it feel right? Why did she feel so offended and grossed out thinking he could be the father of her children - that is, if she decided to have any? No doubt he would be a good father, one day, but it just sat wrong with her. Lucy shuddered at the thought of even trying to go all the way with him and felt like the thought was a betrayal to herself. Again, why was she having these thoughts. It was well beyond the feeling of wanting to break up. It felt like she had been broken up with him for a long time already. Maybe not physically, but somewhere in her heart, it was like they were, and Lucy couldn't explain it. It was those feelings again that seemed to mess with her thoughts.

Her eyes traveled over Natsu, who looked dead against the chair. This had to have been a sign right? Even that dream she had…was that a sign too? It was like she was wishing for them to break up in a dark, twisted way of wishing. Lucy sighed and looked to where Lisanna and Wendy were sitting with Happy and Charle, and then moved to the side as Erza sat back into her respectable seat. She then looked to Natsu again and exhaled in defeat. She wasn't about to move him just to sit. How could she sit with him right now? It felt like the most unthinkable thing to do when there was someone else she could sit next to. Lucy looked around and wasn't about to bother random strangers in the nearby seats either. Her attention then glanced over to where Gajeel had been seated and saw Pantherlilly, who looked away from her, almost as if he were trying not to laugh at what had just transpired not too long ago.

'Great…just what I need…a seat near the man I just threw up on…and his friend.' she thought grimly.

She walked over to the set of seats Pantherlilly shared with Gajeel and cleared her throat.

"Is it ok if I sit here?" she asked, dreading the question to all ends of her being.

"I'm fine with it…just as long as you don't throw up on me." Pantherlilly shrugged but tried not to snigger.

Lucy's face turned red and she pouted in anger towards the little exceed who tried his best not to look at her; still trying to hide a smile and a laugh.

Lucy then took the seat across from where Gajeel had been seated and leaned her head against the cool, glass of the train's window; staring out and watching as the houses and the night scenery whirred past by. It was strange, how one moment she was feeling fine, and the next she was feeling sick. It must have been a freak moment or something because she felt completely fine now.

Her eyes glanced to Pantherlilly, who had moved to sit her on left and seemed to be interested in his little paws, and then glanced to the empty seat across from her. That was Gajeel's seat. Wouldn't it have been stupid or irresponsible to sit this close to him? The better question was, why didn't anyone say anything to her as she came to sit over here? No one stopped her. No one said anything. It was already a given that she was supposed to apologize for the mess she caused earlier, but it felt as if they were silently pushing her to her death, or in this case, to sit with Gajeel.

As she sat there, waiting for her impending doom, another freak moment occurred. Lucy felt tired. Too tired. Almost as if she had just finished a long, tough mission. Her eyes slowly dropped no matter how much she tried to protest to stay awake, at least enough to apologize to Gajeel when she saw him, but she couldn't do that. She just felt too tired for no apparent reason and soon enough, her eyes dropped completely.

The muffled voices in the background slowly came into clear audio as her eyes opened to blurred vision. Why did her body feel hot? Her chest hurt, her breathing was labored, she looked around the room desperate to see someone, to talk to someone or reach out, but no on was in there. The blurry room did wonders on making her feel sick and the light that shone through the curtains made her head pound and slowly, the voices in the distance grew louder.

"You know we can't do that." said one voice, who sounded so unfamiliar and very, female.

"You have to. Its for her sake and everyone else's." Snarled another, it was clearly male but the tone was overly deep and dark.

"I can't do that. Its weird." Argued another voice that sounded completely sex-less.

"Then you're just going to let her die? Do you think I'm ok with this? I'd kill to be in your spot, and you know my qualms about killing, I have none. So you do this and you do it right or so help me-" The deep snarl from earlier threatened.

"That's enough!" Piped another sex-less voice.

What was with this dream? Who were arguing and why? Lucy sat up from the bed and wandered around the room, feeling her whole body scream at her to stop, and she placed her ear onto what felt like the door to listen further but heard nothing.

"Hello?" she called, and knocked on the door. No one answered and she tried to open it, but it was locked. "Is anyone there? Hello?"

Still nothing. Lucy turned around and walked to what looked like the open window and tried to stick her hand out but couldn't. It was like there was an invisible barrier keeping her in. She was sure it was open, as she could feel the cool breeze enter and relieve her hot skin from the partial burning it was going through.

Lucy wandered back to the bed she had woken up on and wondered to herself. Why was she in a room? It was beyond odd. It was scary in a sense. It was…

"You can't go in there!" shouted one voice.

"I'll decide what I can and can't do!" shouted the voice that seemed similar to the snarl she heard earlier.

The room had begun to spin and flash out before her eyes and suddenly felt herself waking up to a pair strong pair of arms holding onto her. She trailed her fingers lightly across the skin and drew little circles into it with the tip of her finger, earning her a ticklish, heated exhale against her ear. It was this familiar warmth that Lucy knew all too well. She scooted her back into it, feeling her body fit perfectly and melt against it. This was the body she knew. This was the body she loved. But who on earth was the owner of the body? Natsu? Lucy had to laugh at that idea. Wait, maybe it was. Lucy did recall a time when it felt this amazing just to wake up with Natsu holding her his way. This had to have been one of the good memories she had with him. Did she really want to break up with him? Was her relationship salvageable or was it not?

"Lucy" the voice behind her exhaled. The tone of voice felt so foreign and held a certain ring to it. It was nothing she could have ever compared it to. It left her wanting to hear more of it. It left her with Goosebumps on her skin. It left her feeling alive and loved and sexy. But why couldn't she identify the voice?

The feel of his legs intertwining with hers made her caress one of his legs with her own in soothing, up and down motions. She shimmied herself down a little to let the protective arms press against her chest, and she trailed gentle, butterfly kisses back and forth on his arm. It felt perfect. It was something Lucy had been craving for, for a while and she was finally getting it. It just felt perfect, until she tried to turn around again and found herself waking up just before seeing the man she loved.

"Why does it end when it gets good?" she quietly mumbled.

Lucy didn't know how long it had been since she had fallen asleep, but the slight jolt of the train had woken her up a little more from her little slumber. Since when did a short sleep like that feel so good? Was it the silence she was immersed in as she slept? It had to be since Natsu was never a quiet sleeper; but it was strange that she couldn't hear him either. He wasn't that far away from her and wondered if maybe she should change her bed into a water bed. If a sick Natsu meant a quiet one then Natsu was definitely in for a surprise when they returned home. Slowly, Lucy stood from her seat and looked back to her friends, each of them sleeping and trying to get comfortable the best way they could. It was the confirmation Lucy needed that they were in fact sleeping and not off of the train.

Snuggling herself back into her seat against the window once more, the feel of the hard seats beneath her were oddly comfortable to Lucy and she felt as if she could fall back into another slumber until she noticed Gajeel, stretched out on the chair in front of her. His head rested against a little nap sack on the arm rest by the isle and his feet were raised onto the chair and bent to fit within the small space. His clothes no longer consisted of is black, iron-studded tunic or his white pants, though his boots remained the same. Instead, he wore a different black tunic with black pants and a brown, belt-pouch set attached to his hips. Lucy was suddenly reminded that she threw up all over Gajeel and wondered if she should just go back to sleep and apologize in the daylight, where there would be awake and alert witnesses, but found herself jump as his eye shot open and glared at her.

Lucy stared at him with wide eyes and anything that was in her mind right now suddenly left her. She just stared until she felt the need to look away. She then looked around quickly for Pantherlilly and saw him sleeping in a curled ball right beside her and looked back up to Gajeel who continued to glare her way.

"…about earlier…I'm really sorry about...um...that..." she said quietly and hesitantly.

Gajeel continued to glare her way and let out a snort before he looked to the ceiling of the train. Maybe Lucy had been looking into things too much during her moment of hurling. Maybe his eyes weren't telling her he understood. Maybe his eyes weren't forgiving her. His glare said a lot in this moment and Lucy wondered if maybe revenge would have been in order on his side.

"That was my favorite shirt." he growled.

"I'm really sorry." she pleaded. "I'll clean it for you and everything."

Gajeel lazily looked to her, never changing his angry glare, and Lucy thought she saw something tired or sad in his eyes. But that was just a thought, like usual, and wondered if she was thinking too much into it as usual. Watching his face carefully for something, anything to tell her to shut up and go back to sleep, she noticed his lips curl upwards. The god awful smirk he wore on his face left Lucy with an uneasy feeling in her stomach and frowned towards Gajeel.

"Thirty percent." he grunted softly.

"Excuse me?"

"Thirty percent of what you get from this mission goes to me."

"What?" she hissed, trying not to wake anyone else up in the train. "Why can't I just clean your shirt and buy you a new one?"

"I can't keep that shirt, even if you clean it. The smell is going to stay."

"It will not." she hissed again.

"Says you."

Gajeel pointed to his nose to remind her of his sense of smell and Lucy huffed in annoyance.

"Thirty percent is too much." she complained.

"Not my problem."

"What the hell?"

"Its not a dent in your paycheck or anything. In the end the total split comes up to five million a person. Taking thirty percent leaves you with three million, five hundred thousand jewels."

Did Gajeel just calculate that in his head. Was he even smart enough to do so? Granted he always embarked on high paying missions, Lucy thought he was on the same bar as Natsu when it came to math or anything that dealt with academics. Maybe she needed to give Gajeel more credit than she already gave him. Sure he and Natsu were on better terms and Lucy had gotten to know him a little better as well, but she never knew he was smart enough calculate the total amount they would receive. When all you hear from him is insult after insult, snide remarks, grunts and fights, and bickering, you would think there was nothing more to the muscle man with a stupidity that could rival Natsu's from time to time, but, there were weirder things in this world.

Just for safety measures Lucy quickly did the math in her head, drawing little numbers in the air with her finger along the way as to not lose where she was and glared at Gajeel in silence. He was right. It wasn't a dent in her payment. She would still have a lot of money left for her rent, daily expenditures, clothes, and groceries. But why thirty percent? That was a lot of money. What the hell was he going to use it for anyway? Oh. There was a thought. What did Gajeel use his money for? Surely it wasn't clothing. It couldn't have gone to his rent. The guy didn't seem like the type to splurge on a lavish home. Did it go to his metal snacks? Gajeel ingested metal like Natsu ingested fire, a lot, so maybe it went to metal. Lucy smiled to herself in remembrance that a certain type of metal Gajeel liked was a little pricey and stifled a giggle that he was human, in some way, wanting to splurge on something he liked. Almost like her with certain types of food. If she loved it, she would want to buy more of it. Wait, why did she just think of something like that? To the best of her knowledge, Gajeel wasn't picky with his metal. Right? Lucy's stomach rolled a little and decided to change the thought of where his money could have done to.

After berating her thoughts a bit, another idea crossed Lucy's mind. Where did Gajeel live? Did he have a small house in the forest like Natsu and Happy? The sudden thought of Gajeel living in a small cozy little home in the forest with Pantherlilly gave her the chills and just seemed like the wrong idea. There wouldn't be warmth in the behemoth's cave let alone a bed or a hammock to sleep in. Lucy thought of a large circular nest instead, made of hay for someone like Gajeel in his cave with everything strewn around like when Lucy first discovered Natsu's home. The image of Gajeel in a modern, warm home flashed before her and Lucy felt chills run down her spine. That could have been an idea of what his home looked like, if he didn't live in a cave, but Lucy was dead set on a messy cave rather than a lush, warm home.

Back to her money, even though she would still be financially fine, it bothered her a lot that he was taking thirty percent from her. Quickly deciding to press the matter of her thirty percent being at stake Lucy thought of a good idea.

"I'll wash it and I'll buy a new one for you. But that's as far as my apology is going to get." she leered.

Gajeel cocked a brow to her spunk and simply said again, "Thirty percent."

"You can't do that."

"And why not?"

"Because I can blackmail you."

"You've got nothing on me." he scoffed.

"Yes I do. You walked in on me and saw me topless." She lied through her teeth; giving Gajeel the hint that she could spread it around as if she were a wounded gazelle being attacked by the hungry lion.

"What? You remembered?" he said, sounding surprised with a shocked expression.

"… … … You actually saw me topless!?" she hissed with a face so red she could have made a tomato jealous.

Gajeel quickly turned his shocked expression back into that smirk she disliked and heard a chuckle rumble in his chest.

"Good job by the way. Though I have to wonder, why are they lopsided?" he said, pointing to Lucy with a finger that moved left and right towards her chest.

Lopsided? They certainly were not lopsided! And Gajeel was definitely lying to her about seeing her chest. Lucy wanted nothing more than to wipe that dirty little smirk off of Gajeel's face so Lucy, so bold and daring, stood from her seat and moved closer to lean over Gajeel and placed a hand on his chest and another hand by his belt.

"Won't you drop the thirty percent and take back the lopsided remark?" she asked sweetly, and leaned over more, trying her best to show him her cleavage.

"Sorry, what's lopsided is lopsided. And thirty percent is the only way to apologize."

"I see." she said seductively. "Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I did this"

Lucy turned her hand into a fist, and shallowly punched Gajeel where the sun didn't shine, causing his eyes to open wide and pop in their sockets. He let out a desperate exhale from the low blow and rolled to the floor.

"I guess I'm not sorry for throwing up on you. And they are not, lopsided." she huffed and moved to a seat that looked empty.


"Luce, get up, we're here." Natsu said, as he gently nudged Lucy from where she sat. The train had completely stopped and Natsu was back to his old, lively self.

"Hmm?" she groggily hummed.

"We're in Clover Town. Come on. We don't want you sleeping on your way back to Magnolia."

Lucy looked around before she noticed the morning light, shining into the train and then back to Natsu. She knew very well that the train to Clover town was a long one but she didn't anticipate their arrival to be what seemed like the late morning.

Lucy slowly stood from where she sat and felt so exhausted. She couldn't understand why and something about her sudden energy loss just didn't feel right. Was she maybe coming down with the flu or something?

"Just what I need, a flu on a long journey. I'll be dead in a week." she thought sourly.

Lucy looped her arm through Natsu's for balance and noticed he had her bag and his looped onto his shoulder as they made their way out of the train.

.

.

With the sun shining, the fresh breeze blowing, the clean, clear, crisp scent of spring filling the air, who wouldn't want to be outside on a day like this? Lucy, that's who. She loved days like these but in the current state of how she felt, today felt like death to her. Her body felt sore, her bones felt like they could snap at any given moment, and as desperately as she wanted to feel the heat from the sun, the fresh cool breeze ruined it causing Lucy to shiver against Natsu. Why, of all days, was Natsu wearing a coat? If he wore his usual sleeveless vest-cloak, Lucy would have been able to latch onto his natural body heat that could warm any soul in a frozen tundra, but he didn't, and Lucy was forced to battle out the shivers alone.

Silently cursing to herself, Lucy looked ahead to see the title of the inn they were to stay at that night, and her hopes rose to high heaven at the thought of a hot bath and sleep. She looked around to her friends and saw the same faces of relief, wanting to relax before the long journey began, and then she saw Gajeel. It was nothing but a big mistake keeping her eyes on him for more than two seconds because he turned an angry glare to her. If that look didn't say, "I'm going to kill you in your sleep," Lucy didn't know what did. Wait, why didn't Gajeel kill her last night? Or get back at her? Its not like he feared Natsu so he could have gotten revenge last night but didn't. She quickly averted her gaze forward and the group had begun to enter the inn with Erza in the lead, Gray and Lisanna right behind, Lucy and Natsu in toll, Wendy and all three little exceeds, and lastly, Gajeel, the lone wolf. If he was going to strike now, at least the two little beings that seemed to keep Gajeel tamed were in his way. Lucy turned to look at Wendy, who carried Charle on her head, and Pantherlilly who walked beside her and Happy. If they all suddenly moved away from Lucy, there was no doubt that Gajeel could do his worst once her back was turned.

Erza had disappeared to the front desk, and everyone stood in a circle in the surprisingly empty lobby.

"I wonder who I'm sleeping with…" Lisanna chirped cheerfully. "Can I claim Lucy?"

"We already went through this. You and Erza. Lucy, Natsu and Wendy. And Gajeel and I." Gray intercepted.

"But I wanted to be with Lucy." she said with a pout. "And Gray, your clothes."

Gray looked down to see he had stripped to nothing but his boxers and immediately dashed away to retrieve the clothes he had strewn onto the floor.

Lucy remained silent at the sleeping arrangements that had been made. Since when was this decided? Since when did Erza let Natsu and Lucy share a room? Since when did she let them share a room and add Wendy to it? This was new and very strange. Usually on missions Erza was sure to keep her and Natsu away from one another during sleeping arrangements so why was now any different? It could have been just a precaution, adding Wendy into the picture. Its not like Natsu or Lucy were going to do anything anyways so Wendy was definitely the stop gap for them just in case. But, still, it just felt off.

"Ok. Mission briefing at lunch. Here are your keys everyone." Erza insisted as she pushed keys towards everyone. Since when did Erza show up? Wasn't she still at the front desk?

"Ok you know the assignments. Lisanna you're with me. Gray and Gajeel you two are together. Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy, you three will be sharing a room. Happy and Charle are with you guys and Pantherlilly is with Gajeel and Gray. Any questions?"

No one bothered to protest but Lucy felt the need to. It was too odd that Erza let Natsu share the room with her and Wendy. The only exceptions were if it was a large, group room like the time they finished an early mission and slept over at Spa Village.

"Why is Natsu sharing with me and Wendy?"

"Hmm? I thought you'd want to be with your boyfriend." Erza shrugged.

Ok this clearly wasn't an Erza thing to do and Lucy couldn't believe her attitude right now.

"But you never allow that. This isn't like spa village so why are you letting him share with us? Not that I mind but-"

"If you don't mind then its fine. I trust that the two of you will behave."

"That's not the point!" Lucy said, raising her voice a bit. "On the train, you were more than ready to yell at me and probably kill Natsu about me being pregnant."

"Wait, you're pregnant?" Gajeel quirked in, giving her an all too familiar glare. "Just what we need, some pregger to slow us-"

"No I'm not! Erza just jumped to conclusions." she lashed out. "Anyways, what gives Erza? You're not making any sense."

"Do you dare question the decision of the this team's leader?" Erza snarled towards Lucy.

"I'm just saying its weird." Lucy defended. Where was this bout of confidence coming from and how long was it going to last before she let Erza put her in her place?

"Lucy, the sleeping arrangements are final. Putting Gray, Gajeel, and Natsu in the same room is a mistake waiting to happen. Putting him with me and Lisanna is fine but isn't it a bit inconsiderate to have your boyfriend share a room with a girl that's still hung over him? No offense Lisanna."

Lisanna looked away and tried her best to hide a shade of guilt in her face.

"In any case you three together is the best option available. Does that answer your question?"

"If you put it that way…" Lucy muttered, but it still just felt, off.

"Good. And I'll say this again. Mission briefing will be at lunch. No one will skip it, no one will go and refuse to eat, and no one will fight. If you understand that, go settle into your rooms." Erza ordered and proceeded up the stairs with a slightly embarrassed Lisanna following behind.


Lucy looked to the odd, chicken clock that ticked and tocked away on wall just above the door to the bathroom. That clock was the ugliest thing Lucy had even laid her eyes on. The neck and the face were orange with large, black beady eyes that screamed death. Its fat, round body held the clock within the center, and the unnaturally spread legs and orange wings only added to the image that this chicken looked nothing more than roadkill. It was too ugly for Lucy's tastes and it was too creepy to look at. The dead, lifeless eyes seemed to follow her wherever and whenever she moved in that single room with two beds. She walked passed her bed and to the window and looked to the main door and in the corner of her eye she caught sight of that damn clock, staring at her. Lucy shuddered as she now made complete eye contact with it and felt the urge get out of that room.

"Lucy, is something wrong?" Wendy chirped as she looked up from the book she had brought along for the journey. Charle too had looked up and eyed Lucy in question.

"No I'm fine…that clock is just…disturbing…" she said honestly. In truth, Lucy still wasn't feeling so well but she didn't want anyone to know about it. It was going to be a long journey. Her best decision was to go and buy some over the counter flu medicine from the front desk or the shopette before lunch.

"Aye! Its ugly!" Happy beamed. "If it was a fish though, it would be more fun to look at!"

"Wendy, I'm going to take a little walk. Can you tell Natsu I'll be back before dinner?" Lucy stated.

"Oh, if you're heading out I'll go too."

Wendy shuffled against the bed, ready to get up and join Lucy, before Lucy stopped her.

"I'm not leaving anywhere. I'm just going to the lobby for a drink and I'm thinking of exploring the hotel. You know, in case I want some laundry done or something before we leave. I'll be back in fifteen minutes at the most."

"Oh…ok then… If you insist." Wendy said cautiously.

"Happy, you too, tell Natsu I'll be back later." Lucy ordered.

"Aye!"

Lucy grabbed her money pouch and her keys and waved off to the little dragon slayer and the little exceeds as she exited the room and strutted along the quiet hallway. If Lucy remembered correctly, there was a small seating area somewhere nearby the stairs that held a little lacrima drink dispenser and down the hall past that was a small shopette.

"You don't know how pissed I am right now!" shouted a voice.

"We all know how pissed you are but just grin and bear it." called a voice, trying to sound as soothing as possible.

Someone was obviously upset in the seating area and whoever it was, Lucy did not want to encounter them. She just needed to mind her own business and get to the shopette. As she passed the little seating area, she saw no on there. That had to have been impossible. It sounded loud enough to have been coming from here. It echoed in her ears as if she were right next to it. Lucy looked behind her and then straight ahead and saw no one in the hall. Was she hearing things? Was there maybe some faulty ventilation and voices traveling through the vents from other floors?

Lucy decided to ignore what she just heard and proceeded down the hall when she heard voices again.

"Don't tell me to calm down." a low, voice snarled. "You and I both know she's as good as dead if-"

"You don't know that for sure!" argued another.

Lucy looked around her again and this time, too quickly, causing her semi sick stomach to get a little more sick than it should. She looked up and saw a vent that let in the cool air and wondered if maybe her guess was right - that she was hearing a discussion from some other place in the hotel. This was too weird. Who was as good as dead? Lucy's knees had begun to knock against one another at the thought that a murder was probably taking place at the inn and wasn't sure of what to do. She covered her ears as she jogged to the end of the hall, ready to grab for the handle of the shopette. She didn't want to be a prime suspect or witness to a murder. Quickly, she entered the shopette and ran to the side that clearly held flu and cold medicine, motion sickness potions, and vitamins. She grabbed two high quality brands for the flu and another well known motion sickness packet and brought them to the counter to pay and looked around cautiously.

The young man at the counter had lacrima induced headphones over his ears and bobbed his head to the loud tunes he listened to; looking dazed and as uninterested in Lucy as possible as she placed her items before him.

"This is stupid! If I stay with her, she dies?! And what about you? Is it fine if she's with you? You sure she's not going to die since you're obviously a part of this too!"

"We don't have another choice!"

Ok, someone was going to die. Were these two men involved in a mafia or a dark guild or something? Lucy looked around and noticed a larger vent that hung just above the young man's head and she looked to him is disbelief. Not only had he yet to charge her for the items she picked from the shelf, but he didn't seem phased at all by the loud conversation.

Lucy was upset. She felt sick, she felt tired, and she was listening to a conversation she shouldn't have been listening to. She wasn't about to stand there and listen to people argue about letting someone die. Lucy slammed her palm onto the counter, startling the young man a bit and caused him to remove his headphones in a trembling manner.

"Did you just hear that!?" she squawked.

"N-No?" he stammered.

"Of course you didn't! If you didn't wear those damn headphones you would have heard all of it!"

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Sorry isn't going to cut it! Someone is going to end up dead and you didn't do anything about it!"

The young man quickly glanced at the items she had placed earlier and panicked. Someone was going to die of the flu and it was all his fault. At least, that's what he thought.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know someone was going to die!" he panicked and quickly calculated her items. "Here! I've taken off five hundred jewels as an apology!"

"You bet your ass you're sorry! I'm getting management!"

"Please don't! I promise I won't wear the headphones during work anymore!"

Lucy glared to him, huffed in anger, and stormed out, still feeling sick to her stomach. All of that yelling and excitement made her head split in two and she leaned against the wall for support. She just needed to get to the seating area and get a drink so she could take some medicine but she heard another pair of voices coming from the nearby stairs.

"Of course I'm pissed! She punched my family jewels last night!"

Lucy noted how familiar the voice sounded and her stomach dropped to a dangerously low level.

"I'm sure you deserved it some how." sniggered another voice.

Lucy could clearly recognize the voices of Gray and Gajeel and her stomach, no matter how low it felt, dropped so far down it threatened to pop right out of her butt. Just want she needed, a flu, a murder case, and an upset Gajeel.

"She's very lucky right now." Gajeel growled.

"Oh come on, I'm sure she didn't mean it."

"Yeah right." Gajeel snorted.

"You're right haha. You probably deserved it."

There was no place to hide and Lucy couldn't just make a run for her room on the other end of the hall - not when the hall was dividing and merging into itself. Painfully, and slowly, she continued to walk and had not realized just how close their voices were. She felt her body crash into Gajeel's and gulped down a chunk of something that threatened to heave out of her mouth. Her palms grew sweaty, her heart raced, she could tell she was turning pale and then she made eye contact with Gajeel. His red eyes gave her the one-two look down and he flashed his trademark scowl before grabbing Gray by the shoulders, and placing him right before Lucy in a nonchalant manner.

"I know that face too well." Gajeel snorted. "Gray is taking your puke for today. Go on you little nasty. Puke on him." Gajeel ordered.

"Hey! What the! Gajeel no! Yuck! Lucy, please, for the love of god, if you're going to get sick, please, please, please, not on me!" Gray panicked.

Lucy opened her mouth to speak and Gray instinctively shut his eyes, ready for the acid bath of her stomach contents but felt nothing. Gray, nervously, looked through his squinted eyes and saw her upset, red faced expression.

"You guys are jerks!" she screeched and gave them her best, Lucy kick. "But that's not important right now! We have to do something!"

Gajeel and Gray looked to her with concern and listened well to the story about what Lucy had just experienced. They looked genuinely worried and slightly stiff when she repeated everything, word for word. When she finished her story, uncertainty and disbelief written all over her face, she flashed them a desperate look.

"What do we do?" she asked.

Gray looked a little troubled and Gajeel frowned away from Lucy.

"We won't do anything." Gajeel huffed.

"What?! And why not!?"

"Because we don't know the whole story." Gray said, as he placed a soothing hand onto Lucy's shoulder. "You heard bits of conversations between air vents in the hall. What if you missed something important when you weren't standing by a vent?"

"But don't you think its alarming at least? I'm going to tell the manager."

"You're not going to do a thing." Gajeel said with a bored, frown on his face. "Its none of your business. Its none of ours. If you have your facts wrong who do you think is going to look stupid?"

"This isn't a matter of looking stupid. Someone could be dying."

"And someone couldn't. Its not our business and we are not obligated to help."

Lucy looked to Gajeel in disbelief. Did he really just say that? Did he really just ignore her and the possibility that there could be a murder? That wasn't like him at all. Lucy knew him better than that and this was not something Gajeel would ignore, especially if it came from Lucy. She turned to Gray for assistance and he shook his head telling her 'no' as well.

"How could you turn a blind eye to something like this? It should at least be worth investigating!"

"And how long do you think that will delay us from our mission?" Gajeel pressed.

"He's right Lucy. We have three months to travel before we need to spend maybe two or four months searching for the fountain. We don't know how it works and neither do you. It could be another couple of months before its able to work. We don't know and time isn't on our side. We were given a year before the researcher's ingredients expire. So until this mission is over, its none of our business." Gray lectured.

"I can't believe you! You're members of Fairy Tail! Gray, I never would have expected you to ignore it and I especially didn't expect Gajeel to either. I know you better than that but you don't seem to care do you Gajeel?"

With a final scowl to her friends, Lucy proceeded down the hall and into her room where she remained before the lunch briefing.


"Once we get there, it'll be up to Lucy to get the waters to pump and Gray will be there to frost it for preservation." Erza concluded, and popped a piece of fried shrimp into her mouth. "Any questions?"

"How is Lucy going to pump the water?" Pantherlilly asked.

"That is something we'll figure out along the journey."

"So we're going into this blindly…" Gray said, and looked to Lucy to remind her that they can't waste time. "Lucy are you sure you can't read the scroll?" Gray asked.

"I can't. I have no idea how to read Enochian. Why would Master tell me I have instructions when I clearly can't read them?"

"What about the two symbols you said you knew?" Erza urged.

"Erza, I already said the translation was sketchy."

"Well we need something!" Gajeel growled. "Stop being wishy washy."

Lucy looked to Gajeel and frowned. She still hadn't forgotten her conversation with Gray and Gajeel earlier. She was still upset they wouldn't assist her. But most of all, she was upset she didn't tell management. She could have easily done so but didn't. And oddly enough, she couldn't find it in her to do so. There was a feeling in her stomach that knew she couldn't tell management and wondered if she was starting to agree with Gajeel and Gray - that it wasn't anyone else's business. That feeling and thought only made her feel disgusted with herself but it also made her not want to pursue it any further. There again was that feeling that she knew she couldn't tell management, because it felt unreal and it felt like it didn't pertain to anything or anyone else in the inn. What was she thinking? Her mind was mess. She was getting sick. Her tired body was messing with everything.

"Gajeel, watch it." Natsu warned.

"Lucy, its better than nothing. Gajeel is right." Erza cooed.

"Gajeel seems to be right all the time…" Lucy muttered under her breath in anger.

Lucy pulled the scroll from where she placed it beside her and unraveled it carefully onto the table. The swirls, the images, the straight lines, everything about it looked so mystical. It was such a beautifully written language but it was definitely something Lucy couldn't read.

"Hey doesn't it look like…" Lisanna started but found herself stopping to think.

"Like what?" Wendy asked.

"Its probably just from the angle but it looks like its just a cursive way of writing magic."

Lucy curiously turned the scroll to see what Lisanna was talking about and cocked her head to the side.

"Oh yea, it does doesn't it? But even if we read like we normally do, we might just read it wrong. If it was that easy, wouldn't scholars have translated and published the language a long time ago?" Lucy pondered.

"I guess so." Lisanna hummed.

"What about upside down?" Natsu chirped.

"Its just the same as reading it on an angle stupid." Gray spat.

"So Lucy, what about the two symbols. Can you tell us what they are?" Erza cut in, quickly getting back to the point of the discussion.

Lucy turned the scroll back to its original pose and pointed to a symbol in the corner.

"This here, roughly translates to, "around three day"," Lucy continued, as she let her finger travel along the scroll right across the first symbol, "and this here, translates to "a moon lit night"."

Lucy squinted her eyes against the paper as she observed the other letters and symbols and wondered why three others looked familiar. If they were written another way, she would have been able to recognize them but they weren't. As she continued to squint at the letters, Lucy sparked an idea and grabbed for her keys.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Crux!"

A bright light formed near Lucy and very soon did an aged looking celestial spirit appear. His giant, metal cross head with floral-like golden patterns shined as he completely materialized.

"Good afternoon Lucy." Crux greeted.

"Crux, are you able to translate Enochian?" Lucy asked.

"Good idea Lucy!" Happy beamed.

"Nope." he replied quickly.

"So fast! What gives!?" Natsu and Happy whined in unison.

"Crux, I don't understand. Usually you take the time to think before you give me an answer."

"I'm truly sorry Lucy but I cannot. I'm not old enough to know this language."

"Huh?" Everyone blinked in curiosity.

"But you're old." Natsu blurted.

Erza slapped Natsu on the head and spoke for him. "What he means is, you look rather aged."

"Crux, you're a spirit that has been around since the dawn of time right? What do you mean you're not old enough?" Lucy inquired.

"Lucy I haven't been around as long as you think I have. Granted that I am old, I am not old enough to know that language."

"Is there a spirit that is old enough to know that language?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"I shall see." Crux responded, and proceeded to cross his arms and legs, close his eyes, and let a snot bubble form from his nose.

"He fell asleep!" Everyone wailed.

"I'll wake him up!" Erza threatened and released her sword from its sheath.

"Where did Erza's polite patience go?!" Happy cooed.

"He's not sleeping! He's thinking!" Lucy defended.

Crux suddenly opened his eyes and bounced in his position.

"I have found you a spirit who knows the language well."

"That's great! Who?"

"I am unable to tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because you -" Crux started, but with a flash of light and a poof of smoke, he disappeared and left everyone wondering what had just happened.

"Luce, did you just force his gate closed?" Natsu asked in shock.

"No I didn't." she said worriedly.

Lucy rose from her seat and held onto Crux's key and tried to summon him again. Just as his gate opened, it closed immediately and Lucy looked perplexed.

"What just happened?" Gray asked.

"Lucy?" Erza started.

"Why did it close on me?" Lucy asked with worry. She tried it again and barely a spark of light appeared before it disappeared in a small amount of smoke. "What on earth?"

Lucy tried again and there was absolutely nothing happening for her. Out of nowhere her vision blurred and things were trying to focus in and out and Lucy felt like she could get sick at any moment.

"Lucy?"

"Lucy what just happened?"

"Lucy."

"…cy… Lucy."

Lucy blackouted for what felt like three seconds and blinked her eyes to see she was sitting at the table, food still untouched, a hand cradling her cheek as her elbow balanced her, and her other hand holding onto Loke's key instead of Crux's.

"Luce, what are you waiting for?" Natsu beamed.

"Oh um, what?"

"You were going to call Loke."

"Hmm? Oh yeah…right…" she said, feeling dazed. What was that just now? Did she just day dream through the whole briefing? Just to be clear with herself, she looked around the table and saw everything had been left the way it was just before she thought of trying to call Crux.

"Lucy?" asked a curious Wendy. "Are you ok?

"Huh?" she snapped herself out of whatever daze she was in and quickly responded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Lucy caught another glimpse of the untouched food before her and frowned, and then shifted in her seat to summon Loke. With a bright light, he appeared and Lucy proceeded with the same thing she thought she asked Crux.

"Loke, are you able to read Enochian? Or translate it?"

"Nope."

And just like that, Lucy felt as if she were reliving her day dream.

"Please don't tell me you're not old enough to know the language." she moaned.

Everyone around the table eyed Lucy oddly before darting their glares to Loke for answers they weren't getting.

Loke let a chuckle rumble in his chest before answering.

"That's an idea, but honestly I can't read it. Only Libra and the Spirit King himself know."

"Is it possible to ask them for help?"

"Nope."

"And why not?"

"Lucy, Enochian is considered taboo for you to know."

"I've never heard of anything of this before. Why?" She asked in disbelief.

"Shortly after the change in algorithm and before I succeeded as Leo, my predecessor made sure that anything involving Enochian would be considered taboo."

"But doesn't magic derive from Enochian?"

"It does but why do you think there are taboos? Its there to place a limit on the user. To keep them in check. Libra's predecessor made sure of it before he was succeeded. Libra knows the language in case she needs to change it again."

"Wait…there were predecessors? I thought since you're all immortal you would have had those positions since the beginning of time." Gray asked.

"Wait!" Lucy snipped. "Tell me why its taboo first! This is important!"

"Lucy, its considered to be lost magic. After a thousand years of destruction, there was a Grand Malle meeting to change the properties and the language to stump the immense power and gravity of its side effects. I don't know how you were able to get your hands on one but you can't read it so I don't see any threat but I can't let you keep it."

Loke looked towards the table where the scroll laid and motioned to reach out when Lucy grabbed his hand and gave him an argumentative look.

"If you don't see any threat then don't bother taking it. This is the only clue we have. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do when, or if we ever find the golden ring fountain. The stories about it are just stories with no real detail behind it. Loke, you know me. You know I'd never deliberately use dark or lost magic. I'm asking you as a friend, don't take this from me. I may only know two symbols but even I know I'm most likely reading it wrong, so please…"

The troubled expression on his face said a lot. Loke looked to everyone that sat at the table and shared a torn look with everyone except Lucy. She couldn't explain why, but it just felt like she was being left out of a deep and silent conversation that everyone seemed to be having with one another. It was suspicious, so to say. There was a nod or two amongst them, and uneasy eyes that shook, as if trying not to look Lucy's way. Something didn't feel right and Lucy wondered if there was something Loke wasn't telling her. But the better question hung around like an elephant in the room, was her team hiding something?


A/N: Hope you guys liked this update. Its starting slow, but there is a good reason to it haha. I appreciate all of your reviews and PMs and I'm excited to update this soon but school is in my way right now. Its the ending of the semester and I have exams, projects/presentations, and papers. Any more updates before December 3 would be a miracle haha. So please wait until after December 3 or November 29. Thank you all for reading and understanding and I will not abandon this fanfic :)

If I'm able to update on Thanksgiving, then ok I updated haha. I'll try my best to update on thanksgiving.

Again thank you all soo soo much!

-Rusala