Chapter 2- Town
Well, here it is. Here is the second chapter. Thank you so much for your reviews. They made me so happy. XD. In reply to celtic-lady95, I just wanna say it's best you didn't know what the boys were talking about ;) Mwahahaha! Anyway, enjoy!
Slowly, the fiery orange sun peeked out from behind the trees, shooting soft beams of light through the occupied tents. The forest hadn't fully awoken at this time in the morning; all except the blonde celestial mage were sleeping. Lucy quietly unzipped the zip on hers and Natsu's tent and clambered out. She held towel in one hand and fresh clothes in the other as she tip toed into the forest trying not to crack the sticks beneath her feet and wake her friends. The spring seemed like a pool of amber gems glistening in the break of dawn. Lucy set her clothes and towel down on the rocks and unbuttoned her ruby pyjamas. She slipped off her shoes and lowered herself into the water. Paradise. Pure paradise. She had never felt such water that enveloped her skin in the most soothing way. Her golden locks grew heavier as they absorbed the amber fluid. Relaxing her body, she gazed up at the half purple, half orange sky in admiration of the beauty of it. Her eyes fluttered slightly before closing.
It wasn't long after closing did her eyes burst open again. She sat up cautiously and stared into the opening of the woods. Someone was approaching. She could sense it. Lucy glided to the edge of the pool and grabbed her spirit whip that was loosely attached to her skirt. The mage pulled it free and swung it in the air a few times before shooting it towards the trees. The whip slithered around something and she yanked on it, revealing the intruder.
"Natsu, please don't tell me you're here to spy on me again."
"Lucy, why would I do that?"
"Why else would you be awake at this time in the morning?"
"Well, I woke up because I felt like a part of me was missing, and when I opened my eyes you weren't there, so I came to find you." He smiled shyly.
She released the whip from around his bare chest and placed it next to her clothes. "Aw, you felt incomplete without me? You're so cute!" The dragon slayer's cheeks matched his hair. "Anyway, don't act so awkward, you're acting like this is the first time you have seen me without any clothes on and that is a clear lie."
"Are you trying to say something?" asked Natsu as he knelt down by the rocks in front of Lucy.
"Hmm, I dunno, maybe that you're a pervert!" she smirked.
"Oi!" Natsu placed his hand in the pool and flicked water at Lucy's face. She returned a bigger splash, but the droplet that landed on him dried within a mere few second because of the amount of heat that he radiates.
"I'm getting out now anyway." Natsu stood up to grab her towel and held it out as she lifted herself out the spring. Taking a couple of steps forward, she threw her arms around Natsu as he wrapped the towel around her. "So warm!" she sighed.
"I am practically fire, you know?"
Hand in hand, they made their way back to the others. As the light got brighter the laughing got louder. When they arrived, a few deck chairs had been set up around a large, flat stump, and the others were seated in them.
"It's all shits and giggles over here! What happened?" asked Natsu curiously.
"Oh, morning!"
"Freeze brain broke the chair with his fat arse!" grinned Gajeel.
Natsu immediately burst into laughter, "Haha! Way to go stripper!"
"Shut it flame brain!"
"I'm kidding dude. Here." He went over to his friend and held out his hand. Gray gripped it and pulled himself of the floor.
"Are you okay, Gray-Sama?" asked Juvia worriedly.
"I'm fine Juvia." He placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead lightly, "thanks for caring."
"Lu-Chan, where were you?"
"At the spring."
"I should have known." Levy smiled.
"Natsu, we have been waiting for you. We need a fire," stated Jellal.
"Yeah! I want bacon!" beamed Erza with hungry eyes.
Natsu closed his eyes, took a deep breath in, turned to the campfire site from the previous night, and let out a roar of flames. "That alright?"
"Perfect!"
"Oi, flame brain. You are not cooking again I don't trust you!" protested Gajeel.
"That's mean, Gajeel," sighed Levy.
"Yeah, but true," Lucy smirked cautiously.
"Are you trying to say something about my cooking?"
"No... They're not..." replied Lucy uneasily.
Natsu put his face in front of hers with only a few centimetres apart and gazed into her eyes. He smiled slightly, "really?"
"Well... yeah... okay we were," she admitted. The dragon slayer stood up straight with a humph and turned his back on her playfully. "Ne, ne, Natsu, I was joking." She grabbed his hand and leant over his shoulder and laid a kiss on his cheek.
"Still here guys," sighed the ice mage.
"Oh you know what Gray, I have something for you," said Natsu sarcastically. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his clenched hand, in which he pretended to rummage through to find his middle finger in which he stuck up at his friend.
"Oh nice, real mature."
"Shut it and grow up!" Erza groaned as she planted her face in her palm.
Several slices of bacon were placed in a tray that was levitating above the fire from Jellal's telekinesis. The requip mage was chewing on her bacon sandwich, her face chibi, her eyes smiling. Lucy was restrained the hungry fire dragonslayer as he attempted to eat everyone else' bacon.
"Natsu, you have your own!"
"But I've eaten it already, Lucy!" complained Natsu.
"Well that's your fault for being a greedy little shit," sighed Gray.
"What was that stripper, you asking for a fight?"
"Bring it on!"
They rose, looked each other in the eye. Two rays of magic soared in opposite ways across the fire. Lucy stood up and tried to pull Natsu away, her arms enclosed round his chest. Juvia tugged on Gray's arm but it was useless. Natsu's flames engulfed Gray's ice beams, causing a small explosion which pushed everyone backwards. The pink haired dragonslayer turned quickly and grabbed the celestial mage so that it was him who hit the floor, not her.
Lucy was sprawled out on top of Natsu, wearing an expression that was crossed between embarrassment and annoyance. "I tried to stop you," she sighed, sitting up. He as well sat up and hugged her, "sorry." He glanced around at the others who were spread out on the floor around the campfire. He stopped dead when he saw Erza's dark eyed staring intensely at the floor; he followed her line of vision. Her bacon. Her bacon sandwich was in pieces on the ground. "Err... Luce?"
"Yeah, Natsu?"
"Run!" She followed his gaze and her eyes grew solid. They clambered upright and Natsu gripped Lucy's wrist and darted in amongst the trees. He looked back to find the other guys taking their girlfriend's into the forest in opposite directions, leaving the stunned boyfriend to sought out the raging Erza. "Sorry Jellal!" he called as he heard Erza's voice echo, 'Requip!'
Lucy stopped running abruptly, panting frantically, dragging Natsu back.
"You alright Lucy?" he asked worriedly.
"No more running," she panted, as she wearily threw her arms around Natsu, "she's our comrade, you know?"
"That's true, but I hate to think how pissed off she is, and Jellal is the only one that can get through to her."
"We could at least try to help him." At that point a crack of thunder slapped the ground a few metres away from them.
"Yeah, he definitely needs help before she burns the forest down." They jogged back the way they came avoiding the random bolts of lightning. When they got back into the clearing Jellal had a struggling Erza pinned against the dirt, his hands clasping hers.
Lucy ran over to the remains of the fire and took three pieces of bacon and placed them between two slices of bread, then ran over and gave it to Jellal.
"Erza, return to normal and you will get the sandwich," said Jellal. Erza immediately requipped out of her lightning empress armour. Jellal moved back so she could sit up. She stared, hungrily at the bacon, her eyes sparkling. The blue haired mage handed over the sandwich and got up, stepping over the charred, smoking remains of the dropped meat. "Phew!" Jellal sighed, "it's like having a small child, sometimes."
"You did well," complimented Lucy.
"I'll call the others," stated Natsu. He walked over to the edge of the trees and took a deep breath, "Oi Stripper, Iron head, get your asses over here!"
"Is it safe?" he heard Gajeel reply.
"No, I'm leading you into a field of Erza's lightning," he yelled sarcastically, "yes, it's safe idiot!"
XXXXXX
Late morning was approaching, and the Fairies were deciding what they were going to do today.
"We could always go and check out the town," Levy suggested.
"It better be walking distance," proclaimed Natsu, "I am not getting in a vehicle until we leave next week."
"That's okay, I'm up for walking," agreed Gajeel.
"Of course you are," said Gray, "You dragonslayer's are no different."
"Guys, that's enough," sighed Jellal, "I don't mind walking, is anyone against it?" The team remained silent, "that settles it then."
"Hey, is there actually a town nearby, and if so, do you even know how to get there?" asked Lucy curiously.
"Yeah, we... fleetingly... went past it on the way here," answered Jellal.
"Great, let's go get our stuff then," smiled Erza.
XXXXXX
"Gajeel, is there any place you want to go?" asked Levy curiously.
"Not particularly, go where ever you want to." They strolled through the town, Levy at a slight running speed as her little legs could not keep up. The dragonslayer looked back at her then held her hand so that he didn't lose her.
Levy noticed the old musty sign of a nearby bookshop, "Oh, Gajeel, can I look in there?" asked the blue haired mage eagerly, running ahead and pulling him along.
"Calm down shrimp, there is no hurry."
Levy pushed the large brown door open slowly, which triggered the small high pitched bell above the door to jingle, alerting the owner at the desk. "Oh hello," smiled the old man behind the desk, "can I help you?"
"Hai, do you have any books about magic?" asked Levy sweetly.
"Are you two mages then?" he asked.
"Yeah, we are both part of Fairy Tail, in Magnolia. Us and 6 other guild members came out here for vacation."
WARNING: Do NOT read what this man says if you have not read the manga, I don't want to spoil it for you.
"Isn't that the guild that won the Grand Magic Games recently after their 7 year comeback?"
"Yeah, that's us, although Sabertooth wasn't far behind," Levy smiled modestly.
It's safe now readers. :D
"Interesting," sighed the man, "in that case you will be best looking in the isle over there." He indicated to an isle of towering bookshelves to his left.
"Thank you!" she smiled. She paced over to the shelves and inspected the books with a glint in her eyes. She studied the bottom shelves then glanced at the top shelves. Her eyes fixated on a thick hardback book on the top shelf. She jumped, her hands outstretched, but she was too little. She felt a pair of strong hands slither round her waist firmly, yet softly, and her feet hovered above the wooden flooring before she rose up into the air, then found herself perching on the dragonslayer's shoulder. "Thank you Gajeel!" she beamed. Her eyes then refocused on the book that she was longing to look at. She reached out her slender arm and laid her hand on the fragile binding of the book. Tugging gently, she singled out the book from the surrounding tightly packed ones. Silver patterns danced in and out the dust on the front cover around the edge, whilst the words 'ancient magic' created a river through the centre. A small gray cloud appeared as she blew away the dust and flicked through the old, worn pages. "This is the one!" The solid script user felt herself nearing ground level as Gajeel knelt down so that she could hop off. "Thanks again!" she grinned placing a hand on his cheek and giving him a soft kiss. Grinning again she jogged off over to the counter as a blush crept up on Gajeel's cheeks.
XXXXXX
"Okay, so knowing you Erza, you want to buy more clothes and you are going to drag me in literally every shop that sells them," huffed Jellal.
Her dark eyes gazed into his, "you know me well." An expression of slight annoyance and amusement hung on his face as he sighed and followed his red-headed girlfriend down the high street. Abruptly, the requip mage changed direction as she headed into Gorgeous Gowns. The blue haired mage always found it hard not to lose Erza as she has a habit of not making up her mind, and sometimes by the time he gets into a shop she's already flying out... like just then. Just as he turned the corner a red blur soared past him as he span into dizziness. Erza yanked at his hand and pulled him along, claiming that he is 'too slow'; when in actual fact she walks at the speed of a demon. Erza didn't even stop to look at the name of the next shop she sprinted in to; it was almost if it was natural to know the name of every shop in a town she had never been to.
Jellal hung around the entrance for a bit staring at the sign fluttering above the door. "Dresses to die for," he read out slowly, "she wouldn't go that far, would she?"A mysterious image of Erza with dark glinting eyes sauntered into his head. "On second thought, maybe she would," he sighed as he wandered into the shop. Jaw dropped and eyes wide was how Jellal found the red head as she stood there gaping over an ankle length scarlet dress flowing off the hanger. "Go try it on if you love it that much." She beamed and nodded, taking the dress off of the rail and running round the corner to the changing room.
A couple of minutes later, the requip mage swiped back the curtains and stepped out, "how does it look?"
Jellal rose out of the smooth satin seat and glided over to the mage. He turned her round and zipped up the dress fully before looking her up and down. Silver beads dangled from her shoulders and bordered the neckline of the elegant gown. "You look absolutely stunning," Jellal complimented as he dug a pile of notes and jewels out from his pocket and delicately placed them in her hands, "It's on me!" A huge grin appeared on her face, she threw her arms around Jellal's neck, giving him a kiss before spinning round back into the dressing rooms.
XXXXXX
"Juvia will go anywhere Gray-Sama wants to go," smiled the water mage.
"That's alright Juvia; I'm not bothered where we go, as long as you are happy. Why don't you go buy a new dress? In fact, we would probably see Erza, knowing her."
Juvia stopped outside a tall purple building and looked up at the sign. "Erza is in here, Juvia can sense it."
Gray followed her gaze, "To die for, huh? That girl really goes to an extreme. You wanna go in Juvia?"
"Juvia doesn't mind, really." She shuffled her feet uneasily.
"Come on." The ice mage held out his hand, which Juvia took, and lead her into the shop, "I know you want to."
Juvia had spotted an aqua knee length dress the glistened in the light of the shop. "Juvia likes this one; can Juvia go try this one on?"
"Of course you can, I'm not stopping you." Juvia grabbed the dress in one hand and linked Gray's arm with the other as they headed toward the changing room. They caught sight of a familiar blue haired mage lounging on the sofa outside the dressing area, arms crossed behind his head. "All right Jellal?"
"Hi Jellal, "smiled Juvia, waving as she disappeared into the room next to Erza.
"Yeah I'm alright, tired though, you don't realise how many dresses this woman tries on."
"Oh believe me, I do. It was a bad idea to let her drag me and Natsu shopping that one time... we were in the same shop for 6 hours," moaned Gray.
"Shut it stripper," yelled Erza from behind the curtains, "it wasn't that long."
The ice mage sighed and relaxed into the sofa, "we might as well join you for a bit, we will probably be a while."
"What's that supposed to mean Gray-Sama?"
"I'm stating your high love for clothes."
"It's not as great a love than for Gray-Sama!"
The guys sighed and exchanged looks as they realized that half an hour in a girl's world is probably about 4 hours in Earthland.
XXXXXX
"Natsu, how much food can you consume?" he gazed across at the stellar mage past the 10 empty plates. "Never mind."
"I'm sowwy Rushi, I'm hungwy!" he complained with large cheeks.
She huffed and scooped up the last remains of the rice on her plate. "I don't care what you say but I want some new jewellery after this."
The dragonslayer laid the knife and fork next to each other on the dish and patted his stomach. "That's alright Lucy, I'm always happy when I'm with you!" he grinned his signature smile that caused the Celestial mage to gain colour in her face.
She picked up the bill paper and acknowledged it, "Oh Christ Natsu!" she stuck the bit of paper in his face and glared at him. She pressed her hand against the table to pull herself up, then dragged Natsu away from the table before he could order anything else, emptying her purse at the desk on the way out.
"Lucy~" he wailed, "I've eaten too much I can't walk!"
"That's your fault then isn't it?" She peered over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at the moaning dragonslayer. "Oh come on then!" she took his hand and pulled him along, "better now?" He beamed at her in the adorable way that he does. The couple passed half a dozen jewellery shops but none of them seemed to catch her eye, not until they reached a cosy independent shop that specializes in jewellery and charms. Lucy pressed her face against the glass, her brown orbs flittering about the stands. "Ah, that's the one!" said Lucy excitedly as her gaze fell upon the centre table. She nudged the pink haired boy through the door and they were greeted with a slow, twinkling tune. The young woman looked up at them, smiled, then went back to her book. Natsu followed Lucy over to the middle table to see what she was on about. Chocolate pools focused on a silver key ignited in golden flames, hanging from a delicate chain. The dragonslayer strolled over to the woman at the desk, pulled some coins out of his pocket and placed them on the desk.
"Thank you," said the woman, "Just the one?"
"Yeah, thanks." He went back over to his girlfriend and lifted the necklace gently out of the box, shifted Lucy's hair to one side and clipped it around her neck. "You look gorgeous," he smiled as he left a blush on her cheeks.
Lucy was prancing along the path, hand in hand with Natsu, going back the way they came to see if they could meet up with the others. She was delighted about her new necklace, and couldn't stop looking at it, as if it were a ring or something. Unfortunately, Lucy wasn't looking where she was going, and got knocked down by a group of rowdy, hooded guys.
"Lucy!"
"I'm fine Natsu!"
He glanced down at the blonde then up at the guys who had just shoved her like a rag doll. "Bastards!" Natsu growled, his fists glowing in the flames they reflected his fury.
"Natsu, stop it!" she clung to his wrist to stop him getting into a fight, "I'm fine, I swear." She heaved herself back up onto her feet using Natsu's arm as a support, but one of her legs gave out beneath her weight. She stared at her slightly out turned foot, then back at Natsu. "Although, maybe my ankle isn't."
"Oh, Luce," he sighed, lifting her onto his back, holding her weight in his hips, "I'm taking you back to the site, otherwise you ankle will get worse."
The walk back seemed longer than on the way to town, probably because Natsu went the wrong way and got lost, causing them not to be back after 2 hours. "Natsu?" asked Lucy softly as she gripped the dragonslayer's chest.
"Yeah, Luce"
"Your sense of direction is worse than I thought!"
Haha, he's turning into Zoro!
"I'm sorry I took a wrong turn Lucy."
"The others are probably back now!"
"I doubt that, especially Erza, her and dresses come hand in hand."
"Yeah, I suppose," she sighed, burying her head in the nape of his neck, "turn left."
Abruptly, the dragonslayer swerved round the corner as the trees emerged in the distance. "Finally we made it," puffed Natsu as he jogged down the dirt patch into the clearing. Lucy clambered of his back and stumbled a little. "Luce, I don't think that's a good idea," warned Natsu grabbing her arm and slipping his hand round her waist to take the weight off her, leading her over to the large tree stump in the centre of the clearing. "You sit here; I'll go get the first aid kit from the carriage." His face flushed green for a moment at the thought of transportation, before sprinting back through the trees. Lucy smirked as she watched him dart through the trees, then gazed up at the already darkening sky. The dragonslayer soon returned with a green box clutched in his hand. Click. He unclipped the box and pulled out a tight roll of bandages, then knelt down in front of Lucy. He slipped of her denim trainer and cotton sock, then started unravelling the support. Careful not to hurt her, the dragonslayer wrapped the bandage round the stellar mage's swollen ankle, tying it off at the end like a piece of thread. He popped the remaining bandage back in the box, clipped it shut and grinned at her, "there!"
He turned to go put the first aid kit away, but Lucy gripped his hand and yanked him over to her, causing his to drop it and lose balance, putting his hands on the tree either side of the celestial mage. "Thank you!" She clenched his scarf and ran her fingers through his hair. He placed his hand on her soft cheek, closing the gap between their lips. For a few minutes they kissed, until the laughter of returning mages erupted into the clearing.
"See, I told you they would already be back," blurted the ice mage.
"You're back early," stated the red head.
"We would've been earlier if Natsu hadn't got lost," sighed Lucy.
"Why are you back so soon anyway?" asked Levy, curiously.
"Some arseholes bumped into Lucy and sprained her ankle or something," he indicated to the bandaged foot.
"Aww, Lu-Chan!"
"It should get better by tomorrow if she takes it easy tonight shouldn't it?" suggested the water mage.
"Yeah, hopefully," assured Jellal.
"It better," moaned Lucy, "now can we eat because I'm starving!"
"Same!" agreed Natsu hungrily.
"Well hurry up and light the fire then Flame-Brain!"
The dragonslayer ran over to the burnt campfire with ignited fists, and punched the floor, as the flames grew into a live picture.
Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 2! So sorry I haven't updated in ages, I got sidetracked. I will try to update more often if I can. Don't forget to review! Love you guys 3