Ugh, I had a dentist appointment today, gums hurt. Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, I own the plot of this story though :3
~3 Day Timeskip!~
~Granelle's Hospital~
~Normal POV~
Three days have passed since the two cousins fell ill with food poisoning, every once in a while they would regain consciousness and mumble hateful words at each other, but would soon pass out. The doctor had said that they should get better any day now.
"What year is it?" Lucy groaned and then sat up. "Don't tell me I was asleep for seven years again!" She exclaimed, wide eyed.
She was in a room almost completely white, there were a few chairs scattered around a tiny desk, a potted plant, and a medical cabinet.
"Be quiet will ya? And what the hell are you talking about anyways?" Astrid pushed herself up a little and rubbed her eyes.
"Huh?" Lucy had completely forgotten what she had just said.
"Ugh, nevermind." Astrid fell back down and sighed.
Then a petite nurse with pale blue scrubs walked in holding a clipboard.
"I see you two have woken up." She said with a small smile.
"Seems like you were affected by some poisonous berries?" She looked at the girls.
They nodded grimly.
"We kind of figured it out pretty quickly." Lucy looked at Astrid, remembering what had happened.
"But for the record, it wasn't my fault." Astrid glared at Lucy.
"Yeah right," Lucy snorted. "Do you not remember taking all those berries for yourself?"
The nurse looked at the two arguing and sweat dropped.
"Well I can see that the sickness has passed over, you are very lucky, those Doku berries can sometimes cause death. It amazes me at how fast you recovered."
The two girls stopped bickering and gawked at the nurse.
"Death?!" The both exclaimed.
"So you were trying to kill me!" Astrid pointed a finger a Lucy. "Because you knew you could never kill me in a real fight, so you decided to play dirty!"
"Why on Earthland would I poison myself too then?!" Lucy said.
"Hmm, I guess you have a point…" Astrid murmured.
"*Ahem* Now that you are obviously in good condition," The nurse said rather irritated. "You have a bill to pay, hospital fees and such." She showed them the clipboard as well as the number with many zeroes coming after it.
They went silent; both knowing that they were flat out broke.
"Well, you see um… we don't have any jewels on us…." Lucy scratched her head.
"Do you have any problems in the town? Any robberies?" Astrid suggested, thinking a job will make up for the unpaid fee.
"As a matter of fact, there is." The nurse tapped her chin and looked up. "Just the other day, the local bakery was broken into, and the supply of strawberry cakes were taken. They must have been eaten by now, but we need the culprit to pay for them." The nurse explained. (A/N I know it's a lame job)
"Was the thief a woman, with long scarlet hair?" Lucy thought Erza might be behind all of this.
"No actually, the only thing we know that it is a man in his twenties that is all."
'Of course it wasn't Erza. She would never steal.' Lucy thought, ashamed that she had suspected Titania.
"Well then, what the hell are we waiting for? Hurry up slow poke and get up! Let's catch this cake stealing bastard!" Astrid shot out of bed and raced out the door.
"Ugh, coming." Lucy moaned, throwing off her blankets.
~Team Natsu~
~Normal POV~
After their ice cream treat, they went back to the cave, packed up, and set off because it was clear that Lucy had left. Three days have passed now, and they were travelling through the forest following Natsu, who was following Lucy's scent.
"So, what plan on doing when we find Lucy?" Gray asked as they trudged through the brush.
"Um, take her back I guess." Erza obviously hadn't come up with a plan.
"And if she doesn't want to?" The ice mage questioned.
"Then I'll just have to drag her back myself." Natsu joined the conversation.
"And what about Astrid, she's got to be with her, surely she'll stop you." Gray pointed out.
"Oh please, I'm not going to get beaten by a girl!" Natsu sounded confident.
"Oh?" Erza turned around and looked at Natsu while cracking her knuckles, an evil grin spread across her face.
"Well, I go easy on you, that's why I always lose…" Natsu came up with an excuse under the pressure.
"Haha riiight." Gray chuckled, earning a glare from the fire mage.
"Oi! What's your pro-UGH!" Natsu was interrupted by a sickening smell that only his dragon nose could sense.
"What is it Natsu?" Erza questioned the fire mage who was now pinching his nose in attempt to block out the smell.
"Smells like someone had a two week old unrefrigerated pie and couldn't hold it in!" Natsu gagged.
"Well whatever it is, we'll find it eventually…" Gray assumed.
They walked for another five minutes, Natsu getting more nauseous every second, Erza bored out of her mind, and Gray. Gray was walking with a bounce in each step, happy that Natsu was miserable getting stuck with the stench. Then, not paying attention where he was going, he misplaced his footing and slipped in a glop of, 'Oh god no, don't tell me this is-' Gray's thoughts were cut off by annoying laughter.
"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Natsu hollered with laughter spitting fire as well. "And I thought the smell was bad!"
Erza just rolled her eyes and helped Gray up. He got some of it on his pants and his back. He sprinted full speed to the small and muddy pond they passed not too long ago and took a mini-bath.
"Ugh, this is so gross!" He wiped off the vomit with a big leaf he had found.
Natsu was still chuckling in the background and Erza just crossed her arm and huffed.
"Hurry up Gray; we have to find Lucy before she gets any farther." Erza grunted.
At the mention of Lucy's name, Natsu stopped his laughing and looked sad.
"Luce…" He muttered.
"Mood swings, great." Gray said getting up after wiping and washing it all off.
"Smells like Astrid." Natsu scrunched his face. "This stuff must be hers then."
"She must be sick or something." Erza murmured.
"Really?!" Natsu looked kind of happy, and then he knitted his eyebrows. "Wait, whatever sickness she has, it could be contagious! Luce might get sick, or even die!" Natsu started to run south frantically.
"Where are you going?" Erza yelled.
"Luce and sicko Astrid's trail of scent goes this way!" Natsu shouted back. "And she's close!"
With that, Erza and Gray stumbled behind the overly excited/worried Salamander.
~Granelle~
~Lucy's POV~
We entered the bakery; it was a lot bigger than the one we passed back in Konoha. This one had everything from Chocolate mint macaroons to baked Alaska. Yes, they even had jalapeño cupcakes I sighed inwardly.
I miss Natsu. Wait, what am I thinking! 'He practically abandoned you Lucy; you can't possibly have feelings for him, could you?' No, no way. Not. Possible. 'Good, because you don't deserve to be put through any more pain.' I hear you all right. 'But he is pretty good looking…' Oi! Aren't you supposed to be helping me? 'I'm just saying… you know it's true though.' Just, be quiet! Okay?
"-CY! LUUCE!?" A hand waved in front of my face.
"Huh? What?" I blinked.
"Phew, I thought you finally lost it or something. You just spaced out, must have been staring at all this food, you even started to drool I think…" She smirked.
"Really?!" I quickly raised my hand to wipe my mouth.
"I was just kidding." Astrid rolled her eyes and looked back at the treats in front of us.
"Wow they have everything; everything except for strawberry caked that is." Astrid scanned the counters.
"How may I help you today ladies?" A man said from behind the counter, he had slick black hair, suit and tie. He almost looked like a butler. "Here at Delicious Delicacies we have what you crave and desire!" He smiled a weird smile.
"Cre~epy…" Astrid whispered so that only I could hear.
"Actually," I looked at Astrid with an 'I know right?' face. "We're here to help you. It's about the stolen strawberry cakes."
"Ah, yes that. My sister worked very hard on baking those, poured her heart and soul into them." The mad shook his head sadly and sniffed.
"Um, okay? Mind if we look around?" I asked with a fake smile.
"Don't see a problem with that!" His head snapped back up and he was grinning. "As long as you don't nibble on the little treats now!" He waved his index finger.
"Yeah sure…" Astrid looked at me with a 'This guy is crazy!' look on her face.
The man entered the kitchen and we could hear an "Ohayo Onee-chan!" and then a "Leave me alone already…" said an angry female voice.
"Heh, looks like they don't have such a great brother sister relationship." I muttered, thinking about how well me and Astrid get along with each other. Well, most of the time.
"Yep." Astrid replied.
We walked behind the counter and kneeled on the ground, looking for any evidence that the cake thief could have left behind. I saw in one of the cracks of the tile a few strands of blue hair. Hmm blue hair, the only guys in their mid-twenties that I know with blue hair is Jellal, Siergrain, Mystogan, and Gerard.
Well, Siergrain was just a projection of Gerard, and then Gerard turned out to be Jellal in the end. And Mystogan was in Edolas being prince of a country. So there's a really high chance that it was Jellal. Question is, why would he steal cakes? Wasn't he fighting the dark guilds with Meredy and Ultear? Then it hit me.
Erza loves strawberry cake right? And Jellal obviously has a major crush on her. He was probably going to give them to her a gift. It made perfect sense. After all, they were strawberry cakes. But why steal them? Maybe it was the whole fugitive thing…yeah probably.
"Ash, I think I know who the culprit is." I held up the strands of hair.
"Who?" She looked at me, confused.
"Jellal Fernandez."
"Who is- oh, you mean that guy you told me about? Blue hair, red tattoo, evil then good, and has a major crush on Titania?"
"Yep, that's the one."
"Makes sense I guess…" Astrid mumbled.
There was suddenly a loud bang, me and Astrid flinched.
"Oh my gosh." A familiar voice said. "This is the famous Delicious Delicacies I've heard so much about!" The woman squealed.
Oh no, this can't be! Not now…
"YOU THERE!" The woman said fiercely.
At first I thought she had seen me and Astrid hiding behind the counter, but her voice seemed to be directed at the butler dude who had just walked out of the kitchen. He glanced at me and Astrid weirdly. But Ash must have known who this rowdy woman was too, we both waved out hands in front of our necks, signaling him that we weren't here. He got the memo and walked to the front of the counter.
"How may I help you today miss? Here at Delicious Delicacies we have wh-" His greeting was cut off by a,
"I WOULD LIKE HALF A DOZEN STRAWBERRY CAKES PLEASE!"
"You've got to be kidding me…" Astrid slumped and sweat dropped.
I did the same; this was going to be a long day.
I am so excited to write the next chapter!
If you know who is there then you know who is there too right?!
Review? Please!
Bye! ~