They climbed a hill. Not just your plain, average hill that only took a ten minutes or so to climb but the tallest one in the area. They had set off at half nine and lunch was now starting to draw near. From where Lucy was, the top was nowhere in sight. She sighed, needing to stop for the third time in twenty minutes. Levy, who was walking with her, looked at her, asking if she was ok.
"Yeah... Just..I'll catch up... Go on ahead..." She said, waving her off.
"Ok then Lu." She said, then proceeding to catch up to Gajeel and the likes. Lucy bent over, hands on her thighs, trying to get her breath back. She heard footsteps plodding towards her.
"Put your hands behind or above your head, helps you breathe easier." The voice instructed. She looked up to see Natsu's friendly face. Lucy tried it, putting her hands behind her head. She breathed in slowly, finding it to actually help.
"Wow, thanks!" She said, her cheeks still red from her exertion earlier. They waited a minute and started up again. "How far away are we from the top?" Lucy asked him, tightening the straps on her backpack. Natsu thought for a second, putting a hand to his chin as they walked.
"Ten...Fifteen minutes tops? I'm not sure but it isn't too long. Don't worry if your the last one there, no one cares and we spend a while up at the top anyway." He said. A silence fell between them as they walked upwards to the top, the chatter from the others drowning out their awkward silence.
Lucy finally reached the others. Some of the boys laughed saying "took you long enough." She bit her lip and looked away embarrassed. Natsu put his arm around her nonchalantly.
"Don't mind them, you did fine." He said to her. Her classmates all draw out a cloth or blanket of sorts to sit on. As she started to pull one out, Natsu stopped her. "You can share my blanket, it's pretty big." He suggested to her, pulling out a large blanket and unrolling it. He flapped it in the air a few times before laying it down. He fell back onto it, laying on the quilted fabric and patted beside him. Lucy slowly sat down cross legged adjacent to him. She was just off to say something when Erza drew their attention.
"We did it! We climbed to the top of the tallest hill in this area! Firstly, we are going to eat our lunch and then spend some time up here. Do what you want as long as you don't get into fights- I'm talking to you Natsu, Gray, Gajeel." She said, shooting them looks.
"What? I can't help the flamebrain is useless." Gray responded.
Erza sighed, "Just no fights or you'll suffer the consequences. Make sure, whatever you do however, your back here in two hours time." She said before proceeding to sit down to eat her own lunch, which seemed to be filled to the brim with sweets and a strawberry cake.
Lucy thought that she was the abnormal one of the lot of them, being new and all. This image was most definitely ruined when she got to spend about an hour and a half with them out of class. She would of counted yesterday but the pool party was what your average teen may do. But today was just weird. The moment Erza had left with Jellal on a nice woodland walk (Lucy had no idea how they had the energy to do so), all hell broke loose. A piece of sandwich was thrown onto one of the boys and it was a war zone.
Lucy hid a safe distance away with Levy and Lisanna, Mirajane's, the head waitress of the local coffee ship, little sister. While they all sighed in relief as the closest any of the brawlers got was ten metres away, a family of rabbits bounded along in front of them. The three girls were sent straight into 'cute' mode and squeaked about them and their fluffy little tails. They seemed comfortable around them, coming up close to their legs and allowing themselves to be petted. They don't know how long they spent there with the fluffy bunnies but before they knew it, the boys were searching for them. Gray was the one to find them.
"We better get all back before the demon and her brave ass boyfriend get back. We don't want to have to suffer the wrath of Erza." He said. (They protested, wanting to take the rabbits with them but eventually were talked out of it with the questions, where would you keep them? Do you have anywhere to put them?)
They had all gathered on the blankets, all brought together to make a small area just for them. They were in the middle of a very intense game of cards called Diplomat. Lucy, Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, almost everyone didn't have a clue what was going on. Cana and Levy seemed to be the only ones who knew how to play. Lucy heard a remark that a 'Freed' would also be great at this game. Though it seemed like a tie at the moment, Cana called out in victory.
"I win yet again!" She shrieked.
Levy crossed her arms "I swear you have marked the cards somehow, you just become this good at card games and tricks." She said, trying to think of excuses to make up for her loss.
"Oh Levy, that is very bad sportsmanship." Erza said, appearing beside the large group. "Cana obviously won and you should accept that and shake hands." She explained, giving an example by taking one classmate's hand, name that Lucy still needed to learn, and shaking it incredibly hard. Once Erza released her grip the boy collapsed, gripping his hand like she had broken it. Erza then clapped her hands together. "Alright. Let's pack up and head back down to camp!" She said joyfully. Several voices groaned as they shifted slowly and zipping their backpacks open. The boxes, blankets and leftovers were stuffed away and bags were tightened onto people's backs. With small smiles, they all set off to return to base camp.
Natsu heard the zip of another tent open again. He checked his watch, it was around the same time as the night before. 'Who could possibly be going out at half two in the morning?' He asked himself. He looked over to Gray, who was snoring away. He slowly slipped off his pop up bed and out the duvet. Carefully, he unzipped the door of the tent and left. He tiptoed towards the sound of footsteps and then they stopped. He kept back a bit before continuing. He jumped into a bush and peered through the leaves. He saw Lucy, laying on her jacket with her arms behind her head. She was gazing upwards to the sky. She muttered something, along the lines of "Mom...the sky is pretty tonight." Natsu shifted his weight slightly but still caused a large racket. Lucy got up and looked round. "Who's there?" She asked the area around the bush he was hidden in. He held his breath. For a few tense moments, silence filled the air. She sighed, blaming her imagination. Natsu slowly escaped the bush and headed back to his tent. He climbed in and rushed in shutting the tent. He ignores Gray's sleep mumbles. He shuts his eyes and waits. He slowly drifts into a slumber.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the slightly belated update! I still hope that you enjoyed the chapter anyway.
Response to reviews:
Exceed King: Thank you so much! I hope the later chapters continue to keep you happy! Shinqua: thanks! I will try my best to include lots of Gajevy and Gruvia! To answer your question, I was originally going to have it as Natsu, Gajeel, Sting and Rouge. They, at least I think, are all about the same age and i'd picture Laxus as a college/university student. I hope that answers it!