Author's note: not much inspiration in this chapter. But we finally make progress with Lucy and the rest. Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Found them!
Lucy read through each and every book brought to her and all the papers about the wind speed, currents of that area, and the ship's route. She wrote down every bit of notes she could create, grabbed a few pins and some string, and wrote on small pieces of paper "Gajeel and Levy." and different hours of the day. She pinned on a giant map of the country and the surrounding water a trail. First they were seperate (showing the two missions) but soon, they connected, showing when they met up. That was only the easy part. She now had to start with research using the ship's schedule and the weather patterns on that day.
"How's it going Lucy?" a sweet voice asked. It belonged to Mira, she was bringing Lucy a glass of water to help her stay hydrated.
"So far so good." Lucy sighed "It's going to be a lot of work. This is mainly Levy's forte; but I know I can do it!"
"That's the spirit! Call me if you need anything!" With that said, she left the room. Lucy continued to pin every piece of the map that was the route Levy and Gajeel took it up to where the ship would be around midnight. Once the pins were place, Lucy began to do her research. Wind speed, ocean current and the fact it was a full moon that night.
"They went south." Lucy muttered "But, how far south?"
The day passed and so far, Lucy got very little work done. She managed to get some portion of where they went down; but she got stuck in one spot. One measley spot. It seemed to Lucy that's where Gajeel and Levy's trail ended. She suddenly let out a large yawn and looked out the window seeing the time of day it was; sunset. The Guild will be closing soon. Needing a good meal, bath and some sleep, Lucy unpinned the map from the table (keeping the pins that kept track of Levy and Gajeel's location in tact after taking them out of the table), rolled up the map, gathered her books and notes and made her way back home.
The rest of the night Lucy ate her dinner, took a nice hot bath and finally went to sleep. As she slept her cares away, she suddenly began to hear snoring. Lucy opened her eyes and there, sleeping right next to her was Natsu.
"KYAAAAAAAAAA!" Lucy screamed at the top of her lungs. Her screams startled the Dragon Slayer and his Exceed off the bed onto the floor.
"Yeesh Luce." Natsu yawned.
"What the hell are you two doing here?!"
"Did you forget?" Happy yawned "We're staying with you for a week until our rodent infestation settles down." To be honest, Lucy didn't remember this conversation at all.
"Well sleep on the couch." Lucy sighed "I got to get some sleep. I still have to find Levy and Gajeel!"
"How's it going so far?" Natsu asked.
"So far, not well. I managed to track how far south they went, but I got stuck."
"What do you mean you got stuck?"
"The storm calmed down two hours after they fell into the ocean. So they were taken by natural current."
"So they were taken south by the natural current?" Happy asked while eating a fish.
"Seems like it." Lucy admitted "But, something seems wrong to me."
"How so?" Natsu questioned, coming into the room with a mug of cocoa he just made in Lucy's kitchen.
"I don't know. But, the currents should have probably swept them back to Fiore."
"Do you think they were caught by The Alverez Empire?"
"No. If you recall, no one has seen ships in that area belonging to the country. "
"Can I see the map?" Natsu asked. Uncertian, Lucy pulled the map out of the area she kept it in and rolled it out. She showed it to her teammates and they studied it with curiosity.
"I don't get it." Natsu admitted while sipping his cocoa.
"I figured you would." Lucy sighed "Basically the pins are showing which way they went. I studied the wind speed and ocean current and this is the results."
"Why does it stop there?" Happy asked pointing at the pin that ends the trail.
"That's where I lost them." Lucy sighed sadly "I tried everything. That they might have went further, turned back, might have been picked up by a boat but no matter what, this is the results I get."
"Do you think they're-" Happy interrupted.
"NO! NO way in hell they have to be alive!"
"Jeez, Happy." Natsu replied while sipping his cocoa "The hell you thinking?"
"Sorry." Happy replied. Natsu took another sip of his cocoa and a drop landed exactly on the spot where the trail ends.
"Whoops."
"Damn it Natsu!" Lucy groaned "You ruined it-" she cut herself off for a moment seeing the stain. She stared at it for a moment, calculating the spot and the cocoa stain Natsu created.
"Everything ok Lucy?" Natsu asked putting his finished cocoa down.
"Natsu, you're a freaking genius!" She jumped out of bed, kissed the Fire Dragon Slayer on the cheek and grabbed her books.
"What I do?"
"What if I did find them?!" The Dragon Slayer and the Exceed looked at each other "The currents in that area stay in a circle and don't even form a whirlpool. When Natsu made that stain, it got me thinking; what if they did find a place rest? Like an abandoned ship or an island!"
"But Lucy," Happy said "the map shows there's no island in that area."
"You're right Happy." Lucy pointed out "What if this is an island no one discovered yet! No shipping routes go in this area because of dangerous waves! What if the current and waves directed Levy and Gajeel onto an island that no one discovered!" Lucy raced over to her Communication Lacrima and dialed Erza's number.
"Who're you calling?" Natsu asked.
"Erza?" Lucy said into the lacrima "I'm sorry to bug you this late but I got great news; I found them! I think there's an island they landed on after the storm! They must have been staying there ever since!"
"That's great Lucy!" Erza's voice rang from the phone "I'll call the Master first thing in the morning and we'll go find them!"
"Sounds perfect!" With the decision made, Erza and Lucy simultaneously hung up "We're going to find them by boat tomorrow."
"By boat?!" Natsu groaned "Come on Luce, isn't there another way?"
"No," Lucy sighed "sorry Natsu, but it's our only way we can find them. Unless Blue Pegasus is willing to let us borrow their air ship, then we can do something about this." Lucy looked at her alarm clock and found it said 1AM "Go to sleep guys, we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Natsu and Happy nodded and immediately crawled into Lucy's bed. With Happy at the foot of the bed. Not in the mood to argue, Lucy just went along with it and fell asleep as the Dragon Slayer's snores ripped through the air.