Ello there! I'm glad that I managed to get this second chapter typed out so quickly. I'm hoping to post the first few chapters relatively quickly in order to get the story going. As I get further into the story, I may take a little longer to write as I am a full-time student with quite a bit on my plate. As I was writing this, one of the predominate songs I was listening to was "Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends" by the Piano Guys. If you haven't listened to them, I would highly recommend it. They are, in short, amazing at what they do. The following characters and settings belong to Hiro Mashima, to whom I would like to extend thanks for creating the series in the first place.
Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, constantly swaying. Natsu felt almost at the edge of his endurance as he once again faced the enemy he had never been able to vanquish: Motion sickness. He could always tell when it was about to hit, even when it seemed to occur almost instantly. First, was the blinding headache as his eyesight began to swirl, then his stomach began to roll and, at that point, the only thing left to do was lurch for the nearest bucket or railing and hold on for dear life as he emptied the contents of his stomach. Throughout it all, he tried to remain aware enough to respond to the heckling he was receiving from his friends, namely Gray.
"Seven years and you still can't hold down your lunch? Weak. I would've expected the years to have given you some sense of control, after all," the ice mage taunted, seemingly oblivious to Juvia hanging over his every word. Natsu raised his head to try to growl at the damned stripper, but the action instead escalated his sickness and he collapsed over the railing once more. Lost in his motion-induced haze, he didn't notice the footsteps approach behind him, but he did notice the cool cloth that was suddenly pressed against the back of his neck. Flailing, he tried to reach back and punch that arrogant stripper for assaulting him in his weakened state, but instead was met with a smack to the back of his head and an irritated screech.
"Will you quit that?! I'm trying to help!" shouted Lucy. Sulking and blushing slightly at his mistake, Natsu hulked over the ship's railing once more, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the ship's movement as well as feel it. "There, was that so difficult?" she asked, some irritation still managing to creep into her voice. To his relief, he noticed that the cloth did help a little. He was still feeling nauseous, but at least the actual act had stopped, and he felt as though he could hold a slow conversation, if he tried.
"Thank you" he mumbled, a small grin growing on his face. With a snort, Lucy grinned back at him and helped him to sit on the deck, still keeping the cold cloth on the back of his neck.
"It's something my nanny used to do when I would get sick traveling to and from my papa's work. I figured it was worth a shot" she said, her smile fading a little as she thought of her childhood. It wasn't long until it was back to normal, however. Turning her face, she looked over to where Jet and Droy were hovering over Levy, Gajeel pretending not to hover in the background. With a laugh, she turned her gaze to where Mira, Elfman, and Lisanna sat near the Rajinshuu, Elfman and Evergreen trying not to look at each other. With a small laugh and a look of surprise, she continued to look around, watching as everyone relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine, knowing that with each passing minute they were growing closer and closer to home.
With one final glance to Natsu, who had partially collapsed against her shoulder, she looked over at Bisca, wondering why no one had broached the subject as to what had happened in their absence.
"Bisca?" she finally decided to call over, hating not knowing what she was getting herself into, "What happened while we were gone?" At her words, all of the islanders looked up in curiosity, and even Natsu managed to open his eyes to see, while all of their rescuers tensed suddenly and avoided eye contact. After a few moments, Al finally heaved a sigh and raised his head.
"Well, we haven't exactly flourished" he said quietly. No one seemed to have any trouble hearing him, however, in the silence that had descended upon the ship. Reaching a hand up to scratch the back of his neck, he elaborated, "When you first disappeared, we put all our resources towards trying to find you again, and gradually the job requests started drying up when we weren't taking any. We were eventually kicked out of our hall by a new guild that has formed, and we set up in an old, abandoned tavern on the outskirts of Magnolia. Macao has been doing the best he can after the Council appointed him Guild Master, but we're falling apart and some have begin to talk that it might be better if we just shut down before we lose what reputation we have left."
Silence continued to permeate throughout the ship as everyone's expressions grew grim as they contemplated this new information. Had things really managed to deteriorate to this point? How would they recover? Doubt and dread spread like a blanket of disease through each person's mind, weighing them down and successfully exterminating the happiness that had been so prevalent not minutes before.
Natsu heard the words as well, even in his half-aware state. In spite of his usual inability to read emotional situations, even he was able to feel the despair that clutched at the hearts of his friends. Grimacing and battling the sickness until it crouched at the back of his mind, he raised his head from Lucy's shoulder and gripped her forearm, giving it a reassuring squeeze before looking up at the rest.
"Who cares?" he managed to grit out, causing everyone to whip their heads around in astonishment at him. Forcing a grin onto his face, he continued, "We're Fairy Tail. We'll just bounce back like we always do, because now we're all together again." Weak smiles appeared on everyone's faces, gradually growing stronger and more confident with each passing moment. His part done, the sickness took hold once more and he jumped up, dry heaving over the rail once more. Startled out of her stupor by his sudden movement, Lucy quickly jumped to her feet and ran to dampen the rag once more before returning to his side to resume her ministrations. Smiling thankfully at her once more, Natsu slid back down to the deck and lay down over her legs, retreating once more to huddle in that pitiful corner of his mind.
Looking up towards the horizon, Lucy felt a small bit of pity for Natsu, knowing they still had several days of journey ahead of them, but this was grossly overshot by the feeling of hope he had managed to bring to them once more. Somehow, someway, they would succeed and bring Fairy Tail back to the way it was before.
The days passed and Natsu continued to stay by Lucy's side, not only because she seemed to have a knack for dispersing his motion sickness slightly, but also because he didn't want to leave her and Happy's side. They were a team, after all, and words aside, when Acnologia had attacked, he had felt a small bit of fear that he would never see them again. However, when land finally came into sight, he almost wept with relief and called Happy over to fly him directly there. Laughing slightly, Lucy waved them off before sternly reminding them to stay on the dock until the rest of them arrived. Laughing in return, Natsu promised before departing with Happy, making it to solid land in record time.
Another hour passed before the ship finally docked, giving Natsu plenty of time to recover as he waited, bored and hungry, for the rest of them to disembark from the vessel. When Lucy reached the dock, he hurried forward only to bump into Gray, which, of course, ignited a fight that Erza made short work of dispelling. Shaking her head, Lucy laughed and looked over the town of Hargeon, excitement trilling through her at the thought that they were just 2 hour's train ride from home. She wanted to see how much had really changed in seven years. The entire situation felt surreal, as though she was in an old fairy tale her mother used to read to her as a little girl.
Making her way over to Natsu, he grinned, grabbed her hand, and began pulling her down the street. Everyone else quickly followed, anxious as well to get home. Lucy laughed, thinking about how some things never changed, but she was surprised when she saw him heading towards the train station. Her shock must have shown, because when he looked back, a grimace crossed his face before he shrugged, answering her unspoken question, "It'll get us back to the guild faster"
Reaching back, she grinned and grabbed ahold of Erza's hand, who seemed surprised at the action, but allowed herself to be drug along in an uncharacteristic show of compliance, before reaching back and grabbing ahold of someone else. And so, a chain of laughing people began to develop in the streets of Hargeon, causing the inhabitants to look at them in surprise that so many grown people could behave so childishly, but this went unnoticed by the members of Fairy Tail, who were just celebrating being alive and kicking.
A short, albeit miserable, train ride (for Natsu, at least) later, the group disembarked in Magnolia and excitedly began to follow Al, Bisca, Jet, Droy, Max, and Warren up the path that led to their new headquarters. Several minutes passed as their surroundings changed from the city proper to the outskirts of Magnolia, and they eventually came to a run down little place with a decrepit sign out front.
If it wasn't for the words on the sign reading Fairy Tail, it was doubtful the returning members would have believed this was what their headquarters had been reduced to. Chickens clucked and pecked as they made their way around the yard that was overgrown with weeds and patchy grass. But what really caught their attention was the commotion occurring in the front door of the guild.
"Oh no" Bisca muttered, "It's those goons from Twilight Ogre, the new guild in Magnolia. Nothing but a bunch of bullies, they are" she growled. With a delighted smirk on his face at the thought of getting to beat up some people already, Natsu stalked forward, quickly followed by the rest. Upon hearing Macao's voice calling out for Romeo, he began to run. Rolling her eyes slightly, a vague thought of 'Here we go' passed through Lucy's mind as she ran after him.
