Despite Natsu's protest, we boarded the train in the next town we arrived in. We were planning on walking the whole time, but after what happened with Gray during the lunch break, I deemed it to be a reasonable punishment for him. Gray's punishment would have been something more painful for him, but he seemed completely uncomfortable with my mere silence. So silence it was.
There was an awkward feeling hanging in the air of the train car we chose, everyone but me fidgeting around where they sat. Natsu was sick, so it made sense for him to be uncomfortable. But all the others, especially Gray, seemed extremely uneasy. Even Buddy, who sat in my lap, seemed on edge and unhappy.
The silence was finally broken by the cry of a suffering Happy. "Ahhh! You guys! You can't be quiet forever!" He looked at Natsu, who's head was now laying in Lucy's lap. "Natsu, start insulting Gray like you always do!"
Natsu didn't answer. Not because he was sick, but because he just didn't want to.
Happy gave up on the childish mage rather quickly and turned to Gray. "Gray, c'mon! You're never this quiet! Try talking with Lucy or something!"
Despite how tense he was earlier, Gray managed to stay completely silent and to keep his gaze at the pastures outside the train.
The blue cat let out an uncomfortable whimper after a while of waiting before he turned to me. "Tori! Please! Make them happy and talkative again!"
Just like two times before, Happy was greeted with silence.
He gave out another cry of discomfort, tearing at the fur on his head. "Gahhh! This is driving me crazy!" He jumped up and began flying towards the train car's exit. "I CAN'T TAKE IT!"
Buddy climbed up on the back of the seat, watching after Happy sadly. "Happy... He doesn't like this quiet. Buddy doesn't either."
I sighed softly, keeping my gaze on the view and nothing else. Now that it was quiet again, I could finally feel the tension everyone else was dealing with. It really was awkward, huh? Even so, I remained still and silent, leaning my head on the wall beside me. As my eyes grew heavy and began to close, the last thing I saw was Gray's reflection. Was he using the window to look at me? His deep eyes were locked on me and me only; he wasn't even distracted by anything in the view. He looked troubled, like he desperately wanted to talk to me about a certain subject, but didn't want to make me angry.
I couldn't question him about it, however, for I was asleep immediately after he noticed I saw.
***
"You can't win."
My eyes shot open, a familiar and old fear filling me almost immediately. I looked around to see the guild surrounding me, beaten and tired. Wait, this wasn't the current guild; this was my guild, the Fairy Tail from my time! There was Mavis, standing at the front of the clump of people with that determined look on her young face. Precht was standing on her left, slumped over slightly with a torrent of blood coming from his back. To the right of Mavis was... Me? I was standing there, tall and determined, my dark brown eyes gleaming with bravery and my curly brown hair stained with enemy blood.
So if I was over there... Did that mean that this was a dream?
"We warned you all before this meaningless battle began," a voice from somewhere in the black cloud of our enemies roared over our family, calm and terrifying. "We warned you that to fight us would be your end."
"That doesn't mean we'll believe you!" a good friend of mine, a young girl with minty green hair named Lilia, screamed at the swarm. "You could always be wrong!"
A man with a giant and ancient scar on his bald head called Troy stood up from where he was on the ground, yelling at the air, "You're underestimating Fairy Tail! We're just getting started!"
I forgot how dedicated everyone was to each other at this battle, I thought. I wonder if the current Fairy Tail is like this, too. I watched as everyone on the ground began standing once more, readying themselves for more upcoming pain. It made me sad, knowing the outcome of this terrifying brawl.
Victoria spun around to look at the guild, an encouraging smile on her face. Was that what my smile looked like? It made me feel braver for some reason. "Stay strong, Fairy Tail! Even if we are outnumbered, we can still defend our home!"
"Stand up tall, everyone!" Precht forced himself to stand up straight, despite his deep wound. That booming voice of his always sent a shutter down my spine, even now. "Don't let their threats intimidate you!"
An annoyed growl echoed around the clearing as the enemies began crawling towards us again. "You're naivete will only kill you." Yeah... It did kill a lot of us, didn't it?
The scene before me suddenly morphed. It was raining now in the pasture of the battle. Much more blood stained the dying grass, and several bodies littered the landscape. A giant beast of a creature lurked around the area, stepping on any limp corpse around to make sure it was dead. Bright light suddenly formed in the distance, the Fairy Tail insignia making its mark on the sky's dark clouds. An orange ray came from it, brightening up the dark, rainy land. Was that the glow from Mavis's spell? That was the only thing I could think of that would make a glow that large and that warm. The beast noticed it, too, and went from a slow stomp to a fast sprint. As it disappeared behind some hills, the painful roar sounded as something destroyed it. Maybe the rest of the guild was over there, too, helping their master destroy the final threat.
Sudden movement made the focus turn away from the light and back into the dark field. There was a man down there, wounded and slow-moving. He was completely cloaked in black, hiding his face and any part of his skin. The only thing that was show was his emerald green hair, which was long enough to fall out of his cloak. As soon as he stopped swaying, the scene changed yet again. Trees now scattered the area, having grown through a long gap in time. But all of the trees were burning. Burning in a red fire. That man was still there, the green hair being shown swaying in the hot wind.
Then I saw his evil, cruel red eye. As soon as I saw that eye, my entire being filled with a fear that would bring anyone pain. I was engulfed by his flames - engulfed by that eye... ***
I sat up as quickly as I could, a fearful scream escaping my lips. I stared at nothing for a long moment, trying to slow my racing heartbeat and gain control of my breathing. "Just a dream," I whispered, reminding my mind what my body forgot. "It was just a dream. Nothing more." I let out a shaky sigh, hugging myself like a child would to give myself a little comfort.
It was nighttime. The window beside me allowed the moonlight to shine through. I looked around to see that I was in Lucy's home, sleeping in her bed. But weren't we on a train? How did I get here? I looked down at the floor to see the blonde girl sleeping on a pallet right beside the comfortable mess of pink I was laying in. All it took was me shifting around for her to wake up. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said as she sat up, noticing how my voice was high pitched with the fear of my dream. "I woke you, didn't I?"
"It's okay," she replied with a smile, rubbing her eyes before looking completely at me. "I was wanting to talk to you earlier anyway, so I'm kinda glad we both woke up." Her happy face fell when she saw the condition I was in. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"
I quickly shook my head. "I-It's nothing! Just a bad dream is all."
She sighed with understanding. "Ugh, I hate nightmares. No matter how minor the scare can be, you always wake up like you're dying. What was it about?" When a pained looked crossed my face, she quickly added, "U-Unless you don't wanna talk about it! It's perfectly okay if you keep it to yourself! I understand!"
I chuckled at how frantic she was, relaxing a little more. "It's fine. It was just a dream, after all." I explained my dream to her, leaving out anything that would make it seem like I knew the people from the battle. When I got to the part where I was engulfed by the painful red flames, Lucy ended up shuttering like I did. "And that was all," I concluded. "As soon as I looked at his eye, I woke up here." I blinked, looking around the room. "How did I get here, anyway?"
Lucy stayed silent , shaking her head. She was too busy thinking to hear what I said.
"Lucy?"
"Huh?" she shook her head of her thoughts, looking up at me with a blank face for a moment. "Uh... Oh right! How you got here! Uh, we got back at around sunset, and we didn't want to wake you up. Since we didn't know where you live, we took you back here."
lifted an eyebrow. "'We'? That doesn't seem right. Natsu and Happy definitely would have woken me up, and Erza wouldn't care what happened."
A little smile crossed her face. "Actually, it was Gray's idea to let you sleep. He made sure no one woke you up."
"He did?" I leaned back a little on the edge of the bed. "Huh. Even when he knows I'm annoyed with him and Natsu, he's still kind to me."
She nodded. "You two are getting pretty close, huh?"
I shrugged. "I guess so."
"Close enough to start training together... In private?"
My eyes narrowed at her. "Lucy, what are you hinting at?"
"Well..." Lucy's small smile grew a bit. "You two do look pretty cute..."
"Don't even go there," I said immediately, watching her as she stifled her laughter. "Just don't. There's nothing at all."
She shook her head. "I know, but still! It's cute to think about it!"
I smirked at her. "Really? As cute as you and Natsu?"
Her face went really red, and her eyes grew insanely wide. "W-What? Me and N-Natsu? Nonononono!" She shook her head frantically, waving her hands out in front of her in denial. "T-T-There's nothing between us! Nothing at all!"
I laughed at her discomfort. "If you don't like me talking about you two, then don't talk about me and Fullbuster that way!"
She tried glaring me down, proving to be ineffective because she was blushing so hard. "Stop laughing, Tori! It isn't funny!"
I laid back on the bed, still laughing. "It's a harmless laugh, Lucy! It's not like you actually like him or anything!"
She stayed silent.
My head turned to look at her again, a fat grin on my face. "No. No way. You don't-"
"It's nothing serious," she interrupted, turning her head away from me so I couldn't see her face clearly. "I highly doubt he feels the same way, anyway, so it doesn't matter."
"Dude, you like Natsu!" I almost fell off the bed trying to sit up, my voice squeaking with delight. "You actually like Natsu! As a boyfriend!"
She tried to jump up to cover my mouth, but she slipped on her mat and didn't get to silence me before she spoke. "Shh, don't scream it for the whole world to hear! Someone from the guild could be outside!"
I shook my head quickly. "No one's out there, so it's okay!" I didn't give her enough time to ask me how I could know if anyone was outside by leaning towards her, my excitement brimming. "When did you start liking him?"
She shrugged. "I-I don't know! It just happened at some point, I guess." She brought her legs close to her, laying her chin on her knees. A small smile was forming on her face. "I guess being his partner ever since I joined the guild gave me a little attraction to him."
I just grinned at her. "That... Is the cutest thing in the world!"
Lucy's face grew an even darker shade of red as I cooed at her. "Please, please don't tell anyone about this! Nobody else knows, and I don't want anyone else to know!"
"Then why tell me? Why not deny it like you do with everyone else?"
She shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess I'm just hoping you can keep a secret. You can keep this secret, right?"
I nodded. "Oh, yeah! Of course!" This isn't the biggest secret I'm keeping, so it should be easy, I thought. "Could I ask why you like him? I mean, doesn't he get on your nerves a lot?"
"Oh yeah, all the time," she admitted. "But not enough for me to actually be mad at him." She smirked at the doubtful look I gave her. "He's just irritating to you because he wants your attention, y'know."
I blinked. "Attention? Why would he want attention from me?"
"Why do you think he would?" She laid back on the ground, playing with the key that can summon her pet, Plue. "He wants to be your friend. He wants you to be around him instead of Gray. But since he's trying so hard, he comes off as annoying and rude. You are a Dragon Slayer, after all, and you being around anyone other than him doesn't seem right to him."
"What's the deal with him and Fullbuster, anyway?" I wondered, mainly asking myself that question. "It has to be more than just the fact that they're Fire and Ice, right?"
Lucy shrugged. "Not sure. I guess they've just hated each other since day one just to hate each other. They are rivals, though, so everything in life could be a constant competition. Who knows?" She looked at me with a curious expression. "Hold on, why do you call Gray by his last name?"
"I normally call people by their last names," I replied. "I called him Fullbuster before I decided to stick with first names, so Fullbuster just stuck. Why?"
"It's just different is all," Lucy stretched her arms into the air, some of her bones popping loudly. "Nobody is used to being called by their last names. It's a little too polite as well as too distant for family members, y'know?"
I laid down on my stomach, looking towards her desk. "I suppose. It's just natural for me, I guess."
It was silent for a little while, our thoughts floating around our heads. So, Natsu and Lucy, huh? I assumed that there was a romantic attraction between the two of them, but it was just a little scenario at the back of my head. To know that it was an actual thing going on made me rather intrigued. Did Natsu feel the same way? Maybe. But he wouldn't know it, yet alone be able to tell someone that he knew.
"Hey," Lucy broke the silence, her voice somewhat cautious. "Why are you mad at Gray and Natsu, anyway? Did they do something to you?"
I sighed. "I'm not mad at them. I'm just irritated with their behavior towards each other."
Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "But Natsu told me that you were mad at them for something they did to you. He didn't say what, though."
I hesitated a moment before explaining what happened. I told her about Gray's feelings towards what happened to her and how Natsu was getting on his nerves about it. I told her about the argument and fight that they got into, and how it drove me over the edge. When I told her about the burn and the cut, I removed the bandages from my right arm to show her the black wound. "I got mad at them," I said as my eyes began to grow a little heavy with exhaustion. "I got mad and stopped talking to them all together."
Lucy was silent for a long while before asking, "It wasn't on purpose, so why be mad at them for this long?"
"Their behavior," I replied. "I could care less about the burn. It was my own fault I got that. It's how they treated each other."
I heard my friend sigh rather loudly. "Tori, they can't help themselves. It's just something they have to do for things to be complete around here."
My lingering irritation began to fade away. "It's that common, huh?"
"Yeah. And I bet they both feel completely horrible for hurting you like that."
I sighed, all anger replaced with regret. She was right - some people are just so used to fighting each other that they don't know what else to do. So did I overreact to Natsu and Gray? Should I have yelled at them the way I did?
Lucy stood up and sat down on the edge of the bed, smiling at me. "Y'know what you should do? You should go and find Gray tomorrow and talk to him about all of this. Talk it through with him, then go get some food or something, just the two of you."
I smirked. "I don't know about food, but I'll talk to him."
"Natsu, too?"
"Natsu, too."
Lucy grinned at me, showing off that pretty smile she denied having. "Good! I bet that as soon as people see the three of you smiling like always, everyone else will be happier, too!"
I chuckled. "I don't know about that, but the three of us will definitely be in higher spirits."
She gave a little laugh, laying back down on her pallet. "That's all the guild needs to be joyful." It grew silent as she fell asleep, our soft breathing being the only noises in the room now.
The guild would be happier, huh?
