CHAPTER NINE

"Good morning," yelled Lux, "Breakfast is ready!"

Lucy, Erza, Happy, and Natsu all opened their eyes simultaneously to see that it was now morning outside. They all sit up, feeling that it must be extraordinarily early (which it wasn't, they were just late sleepers.)

Felix and Lux were already up, Felix holds two plates with food on them and hands them to Natsu and Erza while Lux hands the other two to Lucy and Gray. The food is strange looking, something they are not entirely used to. According to Felix, the dish is a usual Augustan breakfast that they eat on a regular basis. Lux explains it is a dish made of beans with tomatoes, eggs, watercress, arugula, cucumbers, carrots, and sheep-milk cheeses. Also on the plate is a bran-rich bread and a cup of hot black tea with a piece of mint floating on top.

"Um," started Lucy, "How did you find the ingredients for this around here?"

Lux laughed, sitting with Felix and their own plate. "It's not from here," she said, "I teleported myself back to Augusta and made this. It is a cultural breakfast for us, and it is quite good, if I do say so myself."

"I forgot you could teleport-" said Natsu sipping the hot tea and enjoying its strong taste and scalding temperature.

"Of course. How else would we have gotten all four of you out of the fog? Drag you?" said Felix laughing at the mental image of dragging four unconscious bodies. He ate some of his meal happily without hesitation. Everyone else was a little sketchy on the foreign food they were eating. He laughed more audibly at their reactions. "Eat it, I promise, it is delicious. Lux is a rather good cook."

They ate tentatively. But, once eating the foreign, Augustan food, they realized that it was actually quite appealing. Lux watched them eat from the corner of her golden eyes and felt somewhat relieved that she could provide for those who was not an Augustan. She felt more capable, and it was making her morning even better.

Lux sipped the tea before placing it down by her foot and crossed legs. Lux was acting like her natural self again, calm and stately, professional and composed. It was comforting to see that she was back to normal for everyone in the room, they would need the strong will and composure of Lux in order to accomplish their mission.

Suddenly, the ambiance became very sober as it was now the dreadfully anticipated time to talk more about the task at hand.

"The first aspect of getting over your fears is understanding your fears," said Lux, "That is the only way to vanquish them and to realize what is reality and what is a nightmare. Why not start by saying what you saw in the fog?"

Everyone looked down, trying to avoid the question, eating their food. But Felix and Lux knew their reaction quite well and looked at each other in shared understanding.

"There is your first problem," said Felix, "If you will not muster courage to say your fears, how can you expect to overcome them? Be brave." They sat listening for someone to speak up, but no one did still. "Alright then, I'll go first," he said. "When I first experienced the fog, I saw my father, who is the police chief in Augusta. He was standing with my two older brothers, talking about me and how I never surmount to anything. Another time it was the master of our guild, Tertius, who was scolding me and demoting me for never accomplishing anything worth the guild's recognition."

"That's terrible-" said Erza.

Felix sighed softly. "Perhaps," he responded, crossing his arms after taking another sip of tea. "But it ended up showing me what my true weakness was, disappointing others."

"I saw myself," said Natsu suddenly, still looking down. He said it quietly, something very different from his usual upbeat and spastic attitude. Everyone was looking to him to continue. However Natsu just continued to greedily eat his food, choosing his words carefully. Another rare trait. "I was very young and I was crying because Igneel left."

A pause.

"Who, might I ask, is Igneel?" asked Lux in the gentlest way she possibly could.

Natsu was trying to stay strong, but emotions were flooding back to him of what he saw in the fog. It brought back the feeling he himself experienced as a child, suddenly left alone.

"My father. He was a dragon that raised me."

"How interesting," said Felix, "A dragon raised you? But then left you?"

"Yes, many years ago. Then I joined Fairy Tail and they became my new family. However, there is still something about being abandoned that still haunts me." He looked down shaking his head, as if avoiding what he was really trying to say.

"That is a good place to start. From what you say, it sounds like your fear is abandonment," said Lux, placing a hand on Natsu's shoulder. She smiled warmly at Natsu and it felt quite comforting. It was something about having someone as complacent as Lux consoling you that caused a feeling of tranquility to wash over. Perhaps everything will be alright, at least, just right now.

Due to Natsu's bravery, they all began to open up about their fears one after another throughout the breakfast. Erza describes seeing those she was unable to protect, and Lucy explains how she saw her mother and Leo look upon her with disgust and hatred, and Gray explained her situation with seeing Ur.

Although it is incredibly emotional, there is something therapeutic about talking about the experience; a way to release the emotions that would have been naturally locked inside. Sometimes, if we keep negative emotions within ourselves, they morph into something much worse than can overtime wreak havoc on our well beings. It is best to talk about them, let them fade in severity with the comfort of others.

They went on like that, eating their breakfast. They talked in playful banter about their lives, their pasts, their presents. All give a deeper understanding between the new found accomplices. A new bond was being formed between them, all the more great the adventure.

As breakfast finished, Lux collected the dishes and demonstrated her teleportation abilities. Felix looked on with mock amusement as Lux created a small portal just her size into the warm Augustan air of her small apartment.

You could almost feel the heat from the Oasis coming forth through the portal and hear the sounds from the streets echoing through an open window in her loft-style apartment.

As she stepped through, it faded instantly, leaving everything exactly as it was. One moment she was there, the next she walked through to another country. Felix just smiled, having seen and experienced this event thousands of times.

"Felix?" asked Natsu, "I have a question about Lux."

Felix turned to the pink-haired boy standing beside him. Natsu had a look of passion and eagerness in his voice, a spark that was never extinguished as was his personality.

"What is it?" asked Felix, showing that same goofy grin.

"Is Lux powerful? Is she a good fighter?"

"The best we have," said Felix, still smiling.

Just then, Lux reappeared out of nowhere with the plates gone. She was looking at Felix and Natsu who were talking with a confused look on her face.

"Lux!" said Natsu, "Can I ask you a favor?"

"It depends," she replied, crossing her arms, "But let us hear it."

"Fight me."


A.N. - My knee hurts so much, but I was able to write so much today because I'm to lazy to do anything and I can't go to yoga because I fudged up my knee. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no.

Now I have to write a fight scene.

(cries due to pain medicine and curses at current misfortune)