"I set it right here, where I always do, Luce."
"Well, clearly not," she groaned against her pillow as she refused to let her husband force her up. Not so early. Not after getting in so late. Not after her job. He always got sleep, when he returned. She made sure of it. Usually, he'd return the favor, but clearly, he was a bit worked up. "You must have left it in the living room or something."
"I couldn't have."
"I mean, if it's not in the bed," she griped, which he'd more than rifled through, "and not under it and nowhere around, then yeah, Natsu, it has to-"
"Lucky! Iggy!" He was going to have to develop a task force and quickly. "Whoever finds my scarf gets double the ice cream of the best cleaner!"
That was one way to get the kids up.
They tore up the house, him, the boys, and Happy did. Searched every nook and cranny. Eventually, even though she was exhausted, Lucy got up as well. It was clear her husband was becoming rather concerned and, well, she didn't want that.
"If this is a joke, boys," she told her sons at one point, but they both seemed to have no idea idea what she was talking about, only shaking their heads and staring at her with their wide, bright eyes. "It's not funny."
She believed them though at their insistence that no, they hadn't done it. They were known for their mischief (mostly Lucky), but there was honor among thieves. And their father was definitely with them, not against them.
"Come on, Plue," Natsu tried once, after Lucy summoned the little white dog to help out (and mostly to just spend time with him), "don't ya think you can smell it? Be more useful than Hap."
"That's so rude," Happy complained from where he, honestly, had kind of given up on looking and was mostly just eating his breakfast. "Don't do it, Plue."
"Don't crowd him, guys," Lucy sighed as the twins and her husband did just that. Not that the celestial spirit minded. No. Plus only titled his head back, as if in thought. Then, shakily, he turned once one way. Turned next the other. Shook his but a little. Then sat back on it, on the cool tile floor, shivering some more.
"I see," Natsu sighed. "So it's not here."
"How-" Lucy started, but Lucky only cut her off.
"Why don't we ask Navi?" he questioned. Mostly because he wanted his sister to get up already. She was missing out on all the excitement. "I'll go wake her!"
"No." And Lucy reached out to grab the boy's arm, stopping him. "She's probably tired of dealing with you guys."
"What do you mean? This is serious business." Natsu pounded a fist into his open palm. "Thanks for your help, Plue, but it's time to get serious."
"What do you mean?" Iggy asked, but he was rushing over to where they kept a stash of lollipops for just such occasions. If Plue helped out, he definitely deserved one. If Plue showed up, honestly, he deserved one. He was a treasure, for sure. As he passed it off to the grateful (and still shaking) spirit, the pink haired twin tilted his head back to stare up at his father. "Dad?"
"Someone clearly broke in and stole it. Right from under my nose. The nerve." He growled. "I bet it was that bastard Gray. He's always had his eye on it! Why, the other week, he even said I should wash it. Wash it. You hear that, Luce?"
"Unfortunately, yeah."
"Wash it. Why? So I could dry it and he could steal it?" Flames appearing over his fist, Natsu growled, "He's gonna pay for this!"
The boys cheered and Happy added out an, "Aye, sir!" which told Lucy all she needed about the situation on hand.
"Okay, well, while you go bother the one guy that definitely didn't steal your scarf, I'll actually find it. Sound good?"
"Sounds great," Natsu agreed and she only buried her face in a palm. It was due to this gesture though that Lucky finally escaped the kitchen.
"I'll get Navi," he informed his parents.
"I told you to let your sister-"
"Navi!" He knocked, once, Lucky did, because Navi got really pissy about that kind of stuff. But before there was even a chance of an answer form the other side, he was throwing open the door and rushing to jump right in her bed. Only… "Navi?"
It was rather annoying to find her bed empty, honestly. Still, he was just as quickly snatching up the note she left on her desk for them, rushing right back to his parents with it.
"Navi's gone," he told his father which was a bit disappointing, honestly, because he really would have liked to show her how great he was, still, all these years later, at kicking Gray's ass. "Here."
"Awh!" Natsu glared down at the note. "Navi left on a job."
"When?" Lucy asked with a frown, but he only shrugged, shoving the note off on his wife.
"That sucks," he sighed. "She'll miss the fight."
"Navi likes Gray, anyways," Happy decided as he snagged one of Plue's suckers for himself. "So she probably wouldn't have enjoyed it much."
"That's true."
"Uh, Natsu?" Lucy called as he, the boys, and Exceed seemed ready to head out for said rumble. Plue still just sat though, listening to them all with great interest. "You don't think..."
"He doesn't," Happy assured her. "Just in general."
"What? Luce? Don't try and talk me out of it. This offense isn't excusable."
"I just… Well, the only person who went to bed, here, last night, and then left would be…"
She was trying to lead him there, to the conclusion, but he only scratched at his head.
"What are you talking about?"
"Everyone in this room, right this second, was here last night. When the scarf was here. But there's one person who was here who isn't in this room, right now. Do you see what I'm saying?"
"I think I do." He growled too, again. "That bastard Gray stole Navi too!"
"What nerve." Happy even huffed. "Who does he think he is? We need Navi. Who will clean my knapsack for me when I leave a fish in there too long?"
"You," Lucy told him simply. "It should always be you, whether Navi's here or not."
Meh.
"What if Navi took the scarf?" Iggy asked then, softly and Natsu only shook his head.
"No. She was definitely kidnapped by Gray. Taking two of the most important things to me. What a lowdown-"
"What is he gonna do with her?" Lucky asked with a frown. "Dad?"
"I dunno." He hadn't thought of that. "Probably make her do boring stuff. Like housework."
"I think she likes doing that," Happy interceded. They were getting dangerously close to knocking off all Navi's chores and, as the next in line, he felt like they'd fall on his shoulders. His gross knapsack stained shoulders. No thanks. "A lot."
"Gray didn't...take Navi. Ew, Natsu. What's wrong with you?"
"Ew? What's wrong with you? Huh? What are you thinking about then, Lucy?" Natsu glared right back.
"You're the one- This is so stupid. Gray didn't take her or your dumb scarf." She was growing more annoyed with them. All of them.
"There's something here that's both dumb and stupid," Happy retorted with a frown. "But it's not our theories."
"No, it's just the two of you in general."
"Natsu, Lucy's being mean!"
But the man was only frowning then, taking the situation a bit more seriously.
"Why would Navi take my scarf from me, Luce? Huh? She didn't mention it in the note."
"She hardly mentioned anything in the note," the woman pointed out as she glanced back down at it. "She just said that she didn't want to wake us and she'd be back when the jobs done. But did she mention taking a job to you guys? I didn't hear about it, when I came in."
"She did go to the guild yesterday," Happy offered, helpful in that moment it seemed. "Maybe she picked one up then."
"But didn't say anything about it?"
"Maybe she left 'cause she was mad at us." Iggy kicked at the ground as he thought of it. "We did make a big mess."
"But look!" Natsu gestured around. "We cleaned it up."
"After making her help us," Happy pointed out, but softly. He was a bit torn. No one supported Navi more than him, but you tip the scales too much and, well, he might actually have to start pulling his own weight around the house. Gross. "She wasn't too happy about that."
"Navi likes helping," Natsu insisted, but Lucy only sighed.
"I think," she told her husband gently, "that you might be without your scarf for a bit."
He didn't believe it though. Mostly because the idea of Gray stealing it felt much more real to the man. But his scent was nowhere around and, when he went down to the guildhall that morning, it was to find the man nowhere around.
If Gray had taken it, he definitely would be there to gloat about it.
What a bastard.
"Hey," Natsu said loudly as he approached the bar. Marin was standing behind it, mostly counting down the thirty minutes before her mother would finally show up, relieving her of her duties so that she and Kai could race down to the train station. "Marin. Have you seen Navi?"
"Hmmm?" The teen only frowned as the man approached the bar, shaking her head slightly. "N-Not today, no. This morning. But yesterday-"
"Did she mention somethin' about a job? Or take one? Do you know?"
"Yeah." Happy was floating over to land on the bar. "Did she?"
The twins had been dismayed to be left behind with their mother, but that was before she told them she'd make them pancakes for breakfast. Then it was very easy to send the slayer and his Exceed on their merry way alone.
"No," Marin answered honestly. It was so early that only a few people seemed to be about. The Salamander was a surprise, for sure, right after opening. "But Ravan did take one, yesterday, and was gonna be leaving this morning. Early."
"Ravan, huh?" Natsu repeated. He knew the boy far less than the other kids in the hall. Mainly because his daughter didn't seem to want anything to do with him. "I doubt Navi would be going out on one with him."
"W-Well," Marin thought, "it was a special thing. For Haven's birthday."
"Satan ages?" Happy snickered.
"Nope," they heard as, finally, Mirajane showed up. Marin was so thrilled that at the sight of her mother her entire face lit up. Finally. She could head out. "I don't. Why do you ask?"
"Mira." Natsu didn't even have a chance to thank Marin as the girl only rushed off to find Kai and tell him to come on. Which was even better. The slayer could have a better conversation with her mother anyways. "Have you seen Navi?"
"No." She even shrugged as she came over to take her daughter's place. "Not recently, really. Last night, she was around though, I guess, but I haven't spoken with her in-"
"Do you know where Haven is?"
"On a job with Locke and Ravan, I think. Or at least that's what Marin said-"
"She is!" The girl was rushing passed again, Kai with her now, as they sped out of the hall. Still, the girl held up as her friend ran ahead, just to look at Natsu. "She probably went with them. Haven's really big on her birthday. She was around, anyways, when Ravan was here and when Haven was here, later. So she probably heard about it from one of them and decided to go."
He could only nod because, yeah, maybe. It was as great a guess as any. As he muttered a thanks, Marin only grinned widely, called out her goodbyes to her mother, and then rushed after Kai, knowing if he strayed too far, he might get lost.
"Is something going on, Natsu?" Mirajane asked as he reached up instinctively to adjust his scarf. But his hand was only met with air. "Is Navi in trouble or something?"
"I dunno," he whispered with a frown. "She's never been before."
Not with him, at least. With her mother though…
"Well," Mirajane giggled. "You know how kids are. They're getting so old now, they don't even think to tell us of where they're going. I don't blame Haven too much. She's grown now, practically. And Navi will be too, soon. You have to let go sometime, you know?"
He could only nod though. Still, he told her simply, "I'm missin' my scarf, by the way."
"Oh no."
"If you see it around- Well, if you see that punk Gray, tell him I want it back, okay? Mira?"
"Of course, Natsu."
But it would be a useless endeavor as, at the moment, the cloth was wrapped around another's neck as the train ride seemed endless. Haven fell asleep against Locke's shoulder while the oldest boy produced a journal from his backpack which he was reading from, mouthing parts of spells under his breath. Ravan was staring so hard out the window that Navi had to wonder why he'd even wanted to go on the job, if he was going to be so sour the whole time.
For her though, Navi, things were already starting to feel like a mistake. It had been impulsive, all of it, and tasted gross in her mind as she replayed it. She knew her father meant no offense with anything he ever did and it was silly to get angry at him because, short of being direct with him about what she was dealing with and going through, there would be no change. Ever. He didn't comprehend things that he wasn't actively seeking out. He loved her and she knew that, she understood that, but sometimes…
"I'm going to the dining cart."
Ravan was a bit of a jerk about it too, as he shoved up and passed them. Navi glared and Locke called out, "You could ask if anyone else want something," but it only got him flipped off in return.
"What's his problem?" Navi complained. "
"What's ever his problem?" But Locke had a feeling he knew. Ravan had seemed rather intent on going alone with Haven, which, fine, yeah, made sense. They were the ones that were friends (somehow). But there was no way Locke was letting Haven go off with him, on a bamboozled S-Class job, that he knew was going to end badly. He just knew it, Locke did. He wasn't sure how, but he was certain of it.
"Shuddup," Haven muttered from his shoulder and he didn't even glance down at her. Navi though was getting kind of nervous, as she always did, on long train rides. To put her mind at ease, she requested the job request, to finally read over it herself, fully, and Locke handed it over.
Her eyes scanned the words that Haven had previously paraphrased.
To any who may help, I offer the gifts knowledge and absolute strength. If not brave of heart, need not apply. True adventurers are the only welcome. A town with no name appears simply to the select few in the fog soaked swamps of this region, a whisper I heard in my much younger years. I have searched long and hard for it over the course of my life and, now in my final days, wish only to be certain of it's existence. Please, if you believe yourself to be of pure enough heart to discover it, report to me immediately.
It wasn't a riddle, but gave very little away that would be of any use. Navi's eyes fell, anyways, mostly to the insignia at the top, in Mrs. Mirajane's pretty lettering. S. For S-Class. Something her mother wouldn't even be allowed to go on. And her she was with her friends, attempting to take it on all on her own.
"It's so scary."
She glanced up to find Locke's heavy, red eyes on her.
"I bet," he insisted softly, "that it's just S-Class because of the mystic of it. A town with no name? A swampy bog with a hidden place that only a select few can find? That's not something you'd want just anyone running off to tackle. That's all. Whoever wrote this spent years searching and came up with nothing. Ravan'll get bored, Haven will get annoyed, and we'll go back home unfulfilled. Then we can get lectured about taking the job, which we'll all pretend we thought was legitimate, and that'll be that. Nothing to get all worried about. Unless...that's not what you're looking so upset about?"
Navi looked away then, reaching up to tug at the scarf, as she said simply, "Let's just get there, Locke. Then we'll know what to expect."
"Yeah," he sighed, looking back down at his notebook. "We will."
Things were going much better on another train though, headed in the opposite direction and a much shorter distance. Evergreen wasn't sure how it occurred that she came to be the water of not only her niece, but also her niece's weird friend and her own even stranger nephew, but what could you do?
"Do you think that, Aunt Ever, that when we get there, maybe, we could go and look and see if, maybe, they had a toy shop or something, do you think, nearby?"
"I told you, Ajax, that if you came, you were to be seen, not heard."
His face fell some, the boy's did, but she only rolled her eyes as she added, "But yes, we can see. I guess. If we have time."
Marin and Kai both grinned at the thought. Ah. Kids. He wasn't like them. All grown up and sophisticated and stuff. Taking in their grins though, Ajax only took to staring right back at them.
"How come you don't get sick, do you think, Marin? When we're on a train?" he asked the girl though, by then, his face was pressed to the glass of the train window as he stared out in amazement at all the passing scenery. If Kai had been an energetic child, Ajax was him times ten. "If you're a dragon slayer, like Uncle Laxus and Lucky and Iggy's dad? Huh?"
"W-Well," she began slowly as she though. "Mr. Natsu told me once that, because I haven't tapped into my slayer powers enough yet, it doesn't affect me. Not yet. I'm just not strong enough."
"I think you're plenty strong," Ajax assured her and Kai, not to be out done, only nodded.
"Not being able to ride a train would suck, too," he was quick to add. "How do they even get anywhere?"
"With a lot of grit and determination," Evergreen informed the kids. She had, after all, spent many days traveling with Marin's father. Still, she grimaced as she said, "And many barf bags."
They arrived with little difficulty and Evergreen went over with Ajax, once more, what it meant to be on your best behavior. He nodded a long, but he nodded whether he heard or not to most things, so there was no way of knowing if he truly heard a single word the woman said until they were in the store. Kai and Marin only followed along behind, hand in hand, enjoying being away from the guild for once. They weren't working mages, but they were working laborers and, while it was all fun and games at times, hanging out at the guildhall together, cleaning out flowerbeds and serving drunks beers up at the hall was no walk in the park. Considering Kai didn't even really like walks in the park, it was pretty obvious where the distastes came in.
The store was as posh as Ever had informed them and super boring for Ajax, who mostly couldn't wait until they finally got to go to the toy store. It was the whole reason he came!
"Other than to play with Marin," he informed Kai as both boys walked around slowly, glancing at the mostly women's clothing with disinterest. Ever was trying something on, in the back, and Marin was offering opinions. Yuck. Kai only liked helping Erza pick outfits because most of hers was armor.
And armor was super manly.
At least that's what Elf insisted.
"Yeah," Kai sighed along with the younger boy. "Same."
Ajax had to pee though, eventually, and after loudly whining about it to the disgruntlement of the other patrons, Evergreen forced Marin to take him out of the shop to find somewhere to get that taken care of. But Kai had to stay behind because it was a new city and all and Marin couldn't be responsible for two people who had a tendency to run off and also get horribly lost. Could she? No.
So he stuck around, which is when it happened. Evergreen was making nice with some woman who thought at they were all her children and, though horribly offended, the woman still couldn't out right insult the other woman. So she simply explained.
"They're my niece and nephew," she said with a slight shrug. "And my niece's boyfriend."
And oh, wow, Kai had never really felt that before. The absolute pit in his stomach.
Is that what…
Wait.
She was clearly talking about him, but…
He wasn't Marin's boyfriend. Was he? No. How could he be? When...when…
It really soured the entire day for the boy. When Marin tried to hold his hand as they left, he only shifted it into his pocket and he felt bad about it, but Evergreen had really struck a vain in him. He hardly even enjoyed exploring the city or the toy store where Ajax enjoyed it enough for the both of them anyways. Lunch tasted odd and he couldn't help it as he sighed a bunch.
"What's wrong, Kai?" Marin asked him once with a frown, but he only shook his head. He couldn't say. For the first time in their entire friendship, he was at a loss of words for the girl.
It was as momentous as it was disheartening.
They would arrive home around the others, finally, reached the end of their train journey. They'd gotten out before, halfway, to switch trains, but to finally be able to run about and truly stretch their legs was something for which they were all grateful.
"Food," Locke moaned softly as they waited to be served, in town, stopping off for a meal before they made the long trek to the forest. It was all he could think about, personally, but Haven only ignored his desires (typical) and instead focused solely on her own.
"So," she began as the others looked on with varying degrees of disinterest, "how do you guys think we're gonna find the town?"
"We're not," Locke whispered from where his head lay on the table. "I bet it doesn't exist."
"Why do you bet that?" Navi asked.
"I dunno. Just a feeling."
"We don't know enough about anything right now," Ravan told Haven simply, "to guess about anything."
Still, she only tapped at the letter, which she sat on the table before them. "Don't you guys get it? Why aren't you excited? Ravan's set us all up for, like, definite S-Class status."
"Yeah, sure," Locke snorted. "Your dad's gonna really pick us now that we've left out on an S-Class job he'd have forbid us to go on. Keep dreaming."
"How will this even work?" Navi asked. "You filed the job with the guild, Ravan, but they'll just think we're on a normal job, anyways, so we don't get any credit for it."
"Or glory," Locke added.
"So-"
"You two," Ravan cut the pink haired girl off, "don't get anything anyways. This was going to be Haven and my job. You're just fucking it up by being here. So-"
"No fighting." Haven glared at them all equally. "They'll know it was S-Class because, if they're all too dumb to figure it out, I'll somehow let it slip-"
"Haven-"
"No, Locke, I'll be really coy about it."
He didn't believe her, but his desire for food was drowning out any good arguing skills.
"Do whatever you want," Ravan complained. "Who cares? Jobs aren't even fun, when this many people are one them."
"We could always just make it three," Locke muttered because it didn't matter how hungry he was; if Ravan left himself open like that, he was always going to go for it.
"If you guys aren't going to be serious-"
"What does it mean though?" Navi was back on the job, it seemed. "About the reward. Strength. Knowledge. How do you give someone those things? Do you think that it's a spell or-"
"No." Locke skewed his eyes shut. "It was a metaphor or whatever, I bet. Or symbolic. Something. Or maybe they'll give us some books and dumbbells. Who knows?"
"I bet it's a spell," Navi whispered again, anyways.
"Whatever it is," Ravan declared, "shouldn't matter to the two of you anyways. Tagalogs."
"You guys are ruining my birthday," Haven griped, but it wasn't really her birthday and, honestly, none of them cared too much if they were or weren't at that point.
They were testing her newfound patience though. Haven had never rightly learned to relax, not even around her friends, but she did find over the years that sharp would only result in sharp. Sometimes, she had to treat them like the little stupid annoying children they were. Like she would Ajax or something.
But that only went so far.
Before the trip was over, she was sure, they'd drag her right back into her old mood. Maybe before they even reached the client.
The night was just falling when they set out once more, planning to camp that night on the road. Navi found herself smelling her father's scarf frequently, finding it a bit comforting. Maybe Ravan's bandanna had it's own purpose. The one who hid behind it though was mostly still mopey and, allow Locke to lead alone for once as he and Navi consulted the map, Haven fell in step with the other guy instead.
They didn't speak though, as they walked along in the darkness. Only listened as Navi and Locke did, only slightly ahead of them and, if he ignored them, it was kind of how it ws supposed to be. He and Haven didn't have a lot to say to one another, or at least he usually didn't to her, and it would have been pretty cool, to be alone, but unable to get it at the moment, this was a nice substitute.
Beside a stream was where they settled and Locke only went to dunk his head in the water, as he always did, when it got too hot out. The funny part of it was lost though as, unlike when they were kids, he no longer had coarse hair atop his head to get all knotted up and gross. No. He'd begun shaving it, back before he started dating Haven, even. and it just wasn't the same. Most things from before then weren't.
Navi built them a fire and the kids all just kind of laid around. They were hardly worn out, given the majority of the day was spent sitting about as well, but there was a special kind of tired that was reserved for the conclusion of long travel. The kind that made Ravan pull his bandanna over his eyes, instead of his mouth, and just close his eyes super tightly, hoping that if he tried hard enough, he could imagine he were alone.
Nope.
He could hear Locke and Haven still, talking softly as they sat up beside the fire together. Navi was asleep though, or at least curled up on her sleeping bag, and hadn't said something in a long while.
As badly as he wanted to hate it though, because, oh, Ravan did, there was a certain comfort to this, a call from the past, and even though he felt so far removed from the kid he was, even, just a year prior, the lulling of sleep that the familiar scenario provided him was, at the very least, pleasant.
"I was gonna train today, you know, with my dad," Locke sighed to Haven as they sat up, instead, their comfort found in one another. "To make up for yesterday. I hope he's around, when I get back."
"Yeah, well, you're better off here, aren't you?" She felt so. She knew so. Tracing the lines on his palm without glancing at them, she said, "Don't you feel it? Locke?"
"The cold?"
She ignored him.
"This job," Haven insisted, "has a feel to it. To me. I-"
"You're just pumped about it being S-Class."
"Technically S-Class."
"Your father's gonna be on my ass about this."
He was about most things, in those days. Long gone were the days when Laxus regarded Locke as Haven's punching bag. Now he was something else. Still, better than Ravan though. That's what Laxus had to remind himself as he would grit his teeth, when his daughter and him would just get drunk up at his guildhall where, fine, they paid their dues all on their own and their own tabs and...and…
"No," Haven sighed as Locke closed his hand around hers when she laid it flat, giving up on tracing as her eyes fell across the clearing. "You're not the one he'll be upset with."
And she willed him to turn around, Ravan, to take note of her gaze, but he didn't. Asleep then, she decided and only shoved at Locke's shoulder before telling him to douse the fire.
"Let's go to sleep," she told more than requested and he followed along, regardless of the tone. An order was always an order. "We should get there before noon tomorrow, right? Isn't that what Navi said? After looking at the map? I wanna leave early."
Locke nodded with a yawn and, as he threw sand over the fire, Haven went to fall into her own sleeping bag. She didn't remember struggling to find slumber. Just the desire for it to come, as quickly as possible, so it could just as quickly pass. It had been a long time since she cared so much about a job. Been so excited.
She hoped he was wrong. Locke was. About it not existing. Whether it ever got back to her father or not, whether she solved the job or not, it didn't matter. The S-Class shit was exciting in it's own right, fine, but the adventure of it all…
"It's pretty cold out," Natsu sighed to Happy as they headed home that day. "Here. I bet it is for Navi too. Wherever she is."
"Aye," the Exceed agreed, sounding rather down about it. "I'm sorry she stole your scarf, Natsu."
This was now confirmed, or at least Gray having not been the thief was as they'd more than had it out with the guy, up there. Now though, all that awaited them was the long walk back to the apartment where the twins were no doubt asleep and Lucy would expect them to be quiet, probably, as not to wake them. Navi certainly would, if she were home, to scold them about it.
"It's okay, little buddy," he assured him. "I bet Navi had a good reason for it."
"She does have those a lot," Happy agreed. "More than us, anyways."
Natsu nodded. "It's cold out. Like I said. She knows how much it means to me, anyways. So I bet she's taking good care of it. I'd rather she had it, and wasn't cold, then not have it, and be cold."
"Why didn't she tell us she was going though?" Happy was most put out by that, honestly. Her taking from Natsu was annoying and he was definitely kinda mad at her about it, but he wasn't nearly as interested in the scarf as the slayer was. "Navi used to tell me everything! What if I had plans for us today? She could have asked. I'dda told her, anyways, if I was gonna go somewhere."
"It's like Mirajane said this morning," Natsu told him simply. "Navi's not a kid anymore. She doesn't have to do that sorta stuff. Tell us things. She can just do whatever she wants, I guess. Which sucks, yeah, but I think we're just supposed to hope she wants to."
"Aye." The Exceed was tired of flying though and only slowly drifted down until he was resting atop the man's pink locks. "We can ask her though, don't you think? When she comes home? About why she did it?"
"Conspiring with Gray somehow, I bet."
"We'll have to reach her, you know," Happy yawned. "Somehow. A break through. Get her back on our side."
"Shouldn't be hard. Who does Navi love more than me and you?"
"No one," Happy decided, but neither had too much conviction in their voices. When he went to bed alone, in the room they used to share, Happy didn't enjoy the extra space very much, but in case Navi got home, he wanted to be the first one to know.
"Gray," the slayer grumbled to his wife as he fell into bed with her, the woman still up, glancing over a novel, "doesn't have my scarf."
"Yeah, Natsu," she assured him as she reached over to pat at his shoulder. "I know."