The next morning, Sorcha woke to find a raging storm outside. She sat up, looking out of the alcove, and sighed.

"This will put us back a few days."

Sorcha looked over to see Laxus was already awake, leaning against the root wall of the alcove. "We have to stay here, then." She looked back out at the rain. "Or, if you want to press onward, I can ask the forest spirits to guide us through the woods."

"It takes two weeks to get to the coast on foot, right?" Laxus asked, looking at her.

Sorcha nodded. "Then three days by boat to reach the island."

Laxus felt the charge in the air. "It wouldn't be safe to go out in this storm. Even with your spirit friends."

Sorcha looked from him to a bird that landed within the alcove. She smiled and reached forward, offering her finger to the bird. It hopped up onto her finger and sat there chirping as she brought it closer to her. "You want to help, little one?"

Laus watched curiously as Sorcha talked with the bird.

"Can you carry a message for us?" Sorcha asked the bird.

The bird chirped and nodded.

Sorcha set the bird on her knee and wrote a quick note before rolling it up and tying it. She took a leave from the alcove wall and wrapped it around the paper scroll, creating a water proof cover for the message. She tied the message to the bird's leg. "Take this to Thunder Island, present it to the village elder for me please?"

The bird chirped and took flight, quickly disappearing into the rain.

"You can talk to animals too now?"

Sorcha looked to Laxus and nodded. "Part of my nature magik allows me to communicate with animals, yes."

Laxus crossed his arms and regarded her.

Sorcha fidgeted under his gaze and cleared her throat. "I'll start on breakfast." She tried to busy herself, but it was hard to ignore his eyes on her.

Laxus watched her move about the alcove, putting together breakfast for them, but when the wind picked up outside and started to blow rain into the alcove she jumped up and touched the sides of the alcove entrance and drew the roots together, closing them in entirely.

"If there's something on your mind, Laxus, just say it." Sorcha glanced at him. "Otherwise, stop staring at me."

Laxus scoffed and looked away, turning up the music on his headphones. "Who'd want to stare at you?"

Sorcha was getting irritated with him being an ass, but she ignored him and put together breakfast. When she had finished making their food, she portioned out a plate for herself, then sat off by her pack and started to look at her map. 'If we take this path through the woods, I could ask the trees to give us extra shelter. We can't delay too long and who knows how long this storm will last.' She glanced up as Laxus' stomach growled and rolled her eyes when it looked to her like he was waiting for her to serve him.

"If you're hungry, there's plenty there." She said and went back to her map.

Laxus looked at her as she looked over her map, lost in thought as she ate her portion of the food. He didn't expect her to serve him, but she could have told him it was ready. He portioned himself a plate and sat back against the alcove wall. Taking a few bites, he was again impressed with Sorcha's cooking as he was the night before.

They sat in silence, eating their breakfast, for a good hour before Sorcha looked up from her map.

"Assuming the storm will pass in a few days, I have an alternative route through these woods that could help us make up for lost time." She started.

Laxus had finished his breakfast and turned up his music and closed his eyes, so he hadn't heard her talking.

Seeing that he hadn't heard her, Sorcha moved the alcove wall Laxus was leaning against and smirked when it knocked him forward and his headphones fell off.

"What the hell?"

Sorcha's smirk grew. "Maybe you shouldn't be so engrossed in your music that you can't hear what's going on around you."

Laxus looked at her, seeing the amusement in her eyes. He tried to reach for his headphones, but a vine snaked down from the alcove ceiling and snatched them up before he could get to them. He watched the vine bring the headphones to Sorcha and secure the headphones to her side of the alcove wall.

"Now that I got your attention," Sorcha's smirk turned into a smug smile. "I found an alternative route through the woods that could help us make up for lost time, assuming of course that the storm lets up in a few days." She watched as Laxus got up and moved closer to her. She stood to bring the map over to him, but when she looked up Laxus was advancing towards her. "What're you-"

Laxus forced her to back up, then stood in front of her with his arms on either side of her as her back hit the alcove wall. He looked down at her, seeing her cheeks turn to toasted rosehips. She looked so vulnerable, so cute at his mercy. "Don't take things that don't belong to you, Pixie." He said, smirking as he reached up above her for his headphones. But before he could grab them, the vine holding them pulled them just out of his reach.

"Or maybe you shouldn't be such an ass all the time." Sorcha said, not breaking eye contact with him.

Laxus tried to reach for them again, but another vine snaked around his leg and pulled it out from under him. As he fell backwards, he ended up pulling Sorcha down with him and landed on his back.

Sorcha gasped as she fell forward onto Laxus' chest, her plan backfiring. She tried to push herself up, but Laxus had an arm around her waist and she found herself blushing as she felt the contours of his chest muscles.

Laxus groaned a bit, having landed pretty hard on his back, but when he opened his eyes and saw Sorcha on top of him he felt his cheeks burning. His arm had wrapped around her instinctively and he could feel how petite she was.

Sorcha wanted to get off of him, but she couldn't seem to. Outside, the thunder cracked right above them and spooked her, making her jump and press into Laxus as if she needed to be any closer to him than she already was.

Laxus chuckled and his grip on her tightened a little. "Scared of a bit of lightning?"

Sorcha stuck her tongue out at him. "If I was I wouldn't have asked you to come with me on this job."

Laxus looked at her. "Why did you ask me?"

"I know my strength, but with the villagers saying the wyvern isn't an ordinary one, I wasn't sure I could handle it alone. Who knows what this wyvern is like."

Laxus chuckled. "And you asked me in particular why?"

Sorcha's blush deepened and she looked away. "Because Freed suggested it."

"That explains it."

Sorcha sighed, refusing to look at him. "It's not like that. He suggested it because you were looking to take a job too and he thought it'd be a good idea if you helped me get used to these types of jobs."

Laxus sat them up and another crack of thunder sounded, louder than the last. Sorcha jumped and put her hand to Laxus' chest.

Chuckling and pulling her closer, Laxus looked down at her. "Sorcha."

Sorcha looked up at him, surprised that he actually used her name.

"You're really cute when you're scared." Laxus reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger on her neck.

Sorcha's cheeks burned and she sighed, pushing away from him. "Laxus, flattery won't make up for how you act around everyone. I don't understand why you always act so arrogant and selfish, why you're always so harsh and overbearing with the others. There's no reason for anyone to doubt your strength, so you shouldn't be so quick to judge everyone by the level of their skill and look down on them simply because they haven't reached your level yet. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but it's not the level of magik you use that defines who you are." She looked up at him. "It who you are as a person." She stood and turned towards her pack. "I meant what I said that night you walked me home. You look so sad and lonely all the time, even when Freed and the others are with you. But maybe if you let people in more often, you'd be a lot happier." She glanced back at him for moment before going to sit on her bed roll. She directed the vine to give Laxus back his headphones. "Here. Sorry about your back."

Laxus took his headphones and watched as the vine retreated back into the alcove ceiling before looking at Sorcha. She seemed disappointed in him, something he had never seen of her with anyone. And it made him feel worse about it all. He had always looked up to his grandfather as a child, but after his father was excommunicated from Fairy Tail he began to suspect that his own fame was only as a result of his relation to Makarov and he was determined to prove his own strength and skills. He knew he was the strongest member of Fairy Tail and he did deem many of his guild mates as weaker than him, but perhaps Sorcha was right.