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"Karyu no Hoko!"
A blaze of shimmering flames swirled in a violent inferno, engulfing the giant anaconda. The large reptile released one last screech in defiance before collapsing in a smoking pile.
"Heh! Piece of cake!" Natsu cheered, pumping his fist.
"Natsu! Are you okay?" Happy flew over, circling the Salamander, checking for any injuries.
"Of course! Not a scratch." Natsu reassured Happy, "Come on, let collect the venom and get our reward!"
Stooping down to the still smoking reptilian head, Natsu produced a glass vial from his pack and proceeded to extract the venom as requested by the client.
"Done! Come on Happy, lets head back." Natsu straightened up, tucking the vial securely away in his pack.
Natsu walked towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the great Woodsea and stared out into the horizon. A breeze swept past, stirring the fallen leaves, and ruffling his pink hair.
Happy looked at his partner sadly, worried for him, "Natsu…"
It has been a year already… Gods he missed her so much.
This is the sixth job he has taken in a row, guess it's about time he headed back to Fairy Tail, head back home.
Home. Somehow home didn't feel like home anymore, without her. He stayed away longer now, taking multiple jobs at a time, keeping himself busy.
Team Natsu was pretty much broken up now. Erza went on a 10-year SS-class mission, and without her or her, Gray and Natsu just didn't get along. So Gray teamed up with Juvia and Natsu went back to partnering with Happy.
He kept up her rent for her, making plenty of jewels working for many requests. Whenever he was in Magnolia, he would stay at her place in a desperate effort to lessen the emptiness in his life, his heart.
But he could feel it fading. Like her scent he was so desperately trying to recapture by staying at her apartment, it felt like she was slipping further and further away from him each day.
Hopelessness. He never knew what it meant till now. For once there was nothing he could do, no matter how strong his punches, how hot his flames burned. He couldn't bring her back, back to him, where she belonged.
She made her choice and he would never ask her to do anything against her will. So why did it feel so wrong? This empty feeling he had, the ache in his heart. No matter how much he ate, he couldn't get rid of the annoying empty feeling.
And he really did eat. When she first left, he didn't understand the feeling so he just kept eating and eating, even more than his usual staggering amount. Fortunately, with his dragon metabolism and hyperactivity, he couldn't get fat so all that food became muscle. And boy did all that delicious food become some drool worthy meat on the Dragon slayer to which all the women of Fairy Tail and Magnolia would be happy to attest.
After a while he realised eating didn't make the feeling go away so he turned to work instead, to help him forget. He began taking more jobs, more difficult jobs, keeping away from Fairy Tail and Magnolia for longer and longer periods of time.
He knew the other Guild members were worried about him, especially Happy his partner. He tried to act like he always did but he had lost his will somewhere along the way, probably when she left.
Natsu released a sigh and took a deep breath, hoping in vain to catch her scent in the wind.
"Where are you…? Lucy…"
Lucy hummed to herself as she made way up the mountain path, her faithful companions Plue and Sirius padding alongside. She was heading to a cottage somewhere midway up the mountain to delivery some foodstuffs for the elderly lady living there.
As it turned out, no one had taken up the request that had initially brought Lucy to Pomodo, so she decided to fulfil the request as a repayment to the overly hospitable residents of Pomodo and well… also because she need a break from the constant attention and adoration she was receiving.
There was a landslide caused by the recent rains that blocked up the path and without magical help, it would have taken weeks for the residents of Pomodo to clear it up. The old lady who lives up in the cottage would have starved by then.
Lucy had been walking for nearly an hour now and Plue was wilting in the heat on his brother's back. Even Sirius seemed a little wilted in the merciless heat. According to Birk's directions, she should be arriving at the site of the landslide soon.
"Ehhh!" Lucy exclaimed when she saw the landslide. She could see why the reclusive Pomodo had requested for magical help. The dirt was piled up higher than her head with odd clumps of grass, branches and what Lucy was pretty sure was an entire tree sticking out here and there.
Lucy sighed, putting down the bag of supplies she was carrying, "Yosh! Time to get to work! Open! The Gate of the Maiden, the Gate of the Lion. Virgo! Leo!"
"Princess is it punishment time?" Virgo immediately said.
"Lucy my love, you're too cruel to keep me away for your side for so long." Loke said at the same time.
"Hai. Hai." Lucy made a small gesture with her hands, not even bothering to react to her Spirits' comments. "I need your help clearing up this landslide. Can you guys do it?"
"Of course. Leave it to us Princess." Loke replied, lighting up his fist with the power of Regulus.
Virgo zoomed off right away, digging through the blockage with incredibly efficiency while Leo starting punching at the dirt wall, sending dirt flying everywhere.
Lucy dismissed Plue and Sirius to keep them out of the flying dirt's way and dug a shovel out of the pack of supplies. She then proceeded to help her spirits clear the landslide, although she was a lot slower at it.
After 4 hours of hard work, the blockage was finally cleared up and Lucy fell to the ground exhausted. Even though Virgo did most of the work (Lucy wasn't really sure if Leo's punching helped or not), the physical and magical drain really did a number on her.
"Princess, we shall be returning now." Virgo said with a small bow.
Lucy nodded in reply, "Thanks a lot for the help guys!"
The 2 spirits faded away and Lucy wearily picked herself up off the ground. The sun was setting, and she had to reach the cottage before nightfall of she'd be stranded on the mountain with no shelter for the night. Walking back to where she left the supplies, Lucy shouldered the bag and set off once more on the now cleared path.
After walking for another hour or so, Lucy could make out a light in the distance. The sun had almost completely set by now so she hurried towards the light and was relieved to see that the source was the cottage.
The cottage was a small one, built of stone with a thatch roof and a chimney from with smoke gently drifted out. Walking up to the front door, Lucy knocked thrice and waited for someone to answer.
"Go away! No one is home!" a croaky old voice shouted from within.
'What an idiot' Lucy thought as she facepalmed.
"Er good evening Oba-san. My name is Lucy and I've come at the request of Birk to deliver some supplies." Lucy said, feeling vaguely stupid for talking to a door.
There were some shuffling noises before the front door abruptly shot open. Glaring at Lucy was a small old woman who barely reached Lucy's waist holding a wizened old cane for support.
"Er heheh…" Lucy tried to give her friendliest smile but it ended up looking more like a grimace.
"Hmph." The old lady stepped aside to let Lucy enter the small cottage, and pointed at the small round table "Just leave them there."
Lucy set the supplies carefully down on the table. 'Why am I so nervous?' She thought to herself, shivering under the intense glare of the old lady. 'Scary…'
"Now get out!" the old lady yelled, using her cane to point out the door.
"What!" Lucy reeled in shock, "But the sun has set! How am I supposed to get back?!"
"Not my problem. Now out!" the old lady replied uncaringly.
"Oi! Wait a minute! I dug through a freaking landslide to get these supplies to you. The least you could do is let me stay the night! You didn't even offer me something to drink! What kind of lousy host are you!" Lucy yelled back angrily, puffing her cheeks out in anger.
The old lady simply stared back, her staff pointing unwaveringly out the door.
Lucy turned to leave with a sigh. No matter how unfair she felt the old lady was being, she wouldn't stay in someone's house uninvited. She was brought up with better manners than that.
"Goodnight Oba-san." Lucy muttered and walked out of the cottage.
"Hiiiee!" Lucy whispered-screamed, stomping her feet in agitation. "How can she be so rude!"
After stomping around a bit more, Lucy let out a loud sigh, turning her attention back to figuring how to get off the mountain without walking off a cliff with nothing but starlight to guide her. She was too exhausted to call out any spirits and honestly, even if she could see, Lucy doubt she had the energy to make it down the mountain.
"Guess I have to camp out tonight." Lucy decided. She walked to a small grove of trees about 5 metres away from the old lady's cottage where there was a bit of grass to make the ground slightly softer.
Concentrating hardly, Lucy summoned her own supplies she had tucked into the alternate dimension where she kept her keys. The effort left her out of breath and dizzy as she was really tired from the day's work.
'I should be safe this close to Oba-san's cottage, I don't have the magical power to summon Sirius anyway' Lucy thought to herself as she quickly took out her bedroll and laid down on it. She fell asleep within seconds.
"Open! The Gate of the Paired Fish. Pisces!"
Lucy stirred slowly, her eyes blinking rapidly to clear away the vestiges of sleep. Suddenly something went flying over her head, startling Lucy into alertness.
"Eh? What is going on?" Lucy quipped, scrambling to her feet. Standing in front of her was the old lady with her staff held diagonally in front of her in a defensive stance.
Lucy released a gasp, taking a reflexive step back as she realised they were surrounded by about half a dozen wolves and what appeared to be a pair of giant fishes engaged in battle.
'That's Pisces!' Lucy thought to herself, 'So Oba-san is a celestial mage too!'
Lucy reached out for her magical power but it was still dangerously low so she unclipped Fleuve D'Etoiles, extending the magical whip in case the twin fish couldn't handle the wolves.
Hearing a low growl behind her, Lucy instinctively lashed out skilfully with her whip, striking the wolf that had crept up behind her from where he had been thrown over her head previously. The wolf let out a whimper of pain before snarling again, crouching low, in a display of aggression. Lucy struck out with her whip again, this time successfully scaring away the wolf who retreated back into the darkness. Turning around, Lucy found that Pisces had managed to deal with the rest of the wolves and the creatures where beating a hasty retreat.
"Hmph. Only idiots would camp out in the open with no guard." The old lady muttered while stroking the twin fish's heads.
Lucy's eye twitched wanting to yell that it was the old lady's fault she had to camp out here but the old lady did save her life so Lucy thanked her instead.
"T-thank you. For helping me out." Lucy said.
"Hmph. Come on. I don't want to spend the whole night saving your sorry butt." The old lady said, dismissing her spirit with a nod and walking slowly back to her cottage.
Lucy followed silently, stopping for a while to grab her supplies and bed roll. Inside the cottage, the old lady simply pointed to a corner near the fireplace and Lucy immediately went over, laid out her bed roll and promptly fell asleep on it.
End of Chapter 4
I'm very sorry the chapter is a bit shorter! Please, please review! Thank you :)