The sudden cold rush of water forced Lucy out of her fighting mindset and kickstarted her survival instincts.
First she desperately struggled to get her head above the water but the rushing current made even something as simple as that difficult. Instead, she just took in a much air as she could whenever she felt her mouth and nose above the water. Every now and then she noticed the familiar blue hair of Levy pop above the water but couldn't decide if the girl was alive or dead.
How fast she was moving or where the water was taking her were things Lucy didn't have time to even consider. Every moment that passed she could feel less and less air entering her lungs as the water threatened to engulf her entirely.
Just when her strength was about to give out, the river calmed and left her floating along with the current. Lucy just let herself float on her back steadily filling her lungs with air and giving her muscles a chance to relax. Only when she felt herself being pushed onto an embankment did she will herself to move and pull herself over onto dry land.
Her muscles ached as she lay there on the sand. The clothes Cana gave her were completely soaked through and sticking to her skin. The garments now felt heavy and uncomfortable as Lucy pulled herself into a sitting position against a tree in order to comfortably rest.
A part of Lucy greatly appreciated the pain in her arms and legs and the discomfort of her wet clothes. The fact that she could even feel those things were proof that she was still alive.
Splashing water alerted her to another presence. Shooting her head up she saw Levy pulling herself out of the water and rolling over so she lay flat on her back in the sand. Neither spoke to the other, instead preferring to spend the next hour resting.
Lucy lay staring at the sky, wondering if anyone even knew they were gone? She had thought she had heard Natsu's voice as they had fallen into the water. But it seemed likely she may have imagined it all.
After all Natsu was scared of Levy. There was no way he would have come after the two. And it wasn't like they had announced before the whole of the guild where they would be fighting. He would have to have searched the surrounding forest for them.
Still she couldn't help but feel that she had heard someone yell out her name.
Feeling the toe of a boot in her thigh, Lucy opened her eyes and glared at Levy.
"Get up blondie." she sneered. "We gotta start heading back."
Lucy tsked at the girl's audacity. "An, 'I'm sorry' would be appropriate. It was your fault we ended up in the river!"
"My fault?!" Levy's face contorted with rage. "If you were such a selfish bitch, I would never have had to call you out like that!"
Standing up Lucy grabbed the ragged remains of Levy's shirt and pushed her face against hers. "Do you want to go another round so soon?"
"I certainly wouldn't mind the idea!"
Just when the two were about to trade blows there was a series of metallic clicks from the brush prompting the two to freeze. Slowly they turned their heads to find several shadowy forms standing in the brush pointing several rifles at the two women.
"Shit." both girls muttered at the same time.
"We have to tell the guild!"
"We are NOT telling the guild!"
"Why the hell not?!" Natsu clenched his hands as he glared at the two men.
"Look kid maybe you don't understand women the same way we do." Jet replied. "But ladies like Levy and that blonde have got way too much pride to accept help like that!"
"Her name is Lucy!" Natsu corrected. "And for all we know they could both be drowning! We have to inform the guild and get together search party!"
But Jet and Droy would not be persuaded. And they wouldn't let Natsu return to the guild either. This struggle lasted some minutes before Natsu finally gave up.
"Look," Natsu begged. "L-lets meet halfway."
Rubbing his hands together he paused to make sure Jet and Droy were listening.
"W-We don't have to tell the rest of the guild. But at the very least, let's go downstream and see if we can find them! Just to make sure they're both okay!"
When neither men replied he added in. "W-we can take my four-wheeler! If there's no problems then we should be able to find them in an hour or two tops!"
When there was still no reply Natsu's nerves began to grate. He knew that both were loyal to Levy. That they were only worrying about her pride. But Lucy had also fallen into the river.
Natsu didn't know if she knew how to swim. If she did know how to swim, he didn't know how well. Lucy was an excellent fighter, but he hadn't known her as long as he had Levy. He didn't know quite what her limitations were, what kind of weaknesses she may have.
He was confident Levy would be just fine, but for all he knew Lucy may have already drowned. Her body floating down stream as stiff as a board. The very thought of it made him feel ill.
Given her personality he had no doubt that Lucy would have been angry with him if she knew how much he was worrying over her. But he couldn't help it. The two of them were partners now. Even if she could take care of herself, it was still his part to at least try to look after her.
Natsu stood stiff awaiting for Jet and Droys reply. Thinking up more and more arguments in favor of going after the two girls. He was not going to let this go. It was the least he could do for Lucy.
After a few seconds Jet's shoulders deflated. "Alright alright." he sighed. "But we're gonna have to sneak the car outta the garage. Otherwise, there's no point in keeping it a secret."
Natsu beamed at the orange haired man appreciatively.
"Wipe that smirk off yer face." he sneered. "If Levy gets pissed about us butting into her business yer taking the blame."
Natsu nodded furiously in response.
"Hold on a second," Droy interjected. "Let's say we don't find them. Then what?"
The three fell silent. They hadn't thought about that.
"I guess." Natsu muttered. "We could take Alzack with us… If we can't find Levy and Lucy he might able to find traces of them."
"If we take Alzack, Bisca will end up coming too!" Droy argued. "And they'd spend the whole time making out!"
"Not to mention that two more people we'd have to worry about. Threes already a crowd. Besides there's no guarantee that those two aren't already on their way back to the guild." Jet put in. "You're overthinking it. Let's just get Natsu's car so we can get this over with."
Not willing to hold up the search for even a minute longer, Natsu let the issue go. Instead he quietly followed along. Unwilling to speak out of fear that Jet and Droy would lose what little patience they had managed to muster towards him.
He was sure that some part of the two men were worried about Levy the same way he was worried about Lucy. But like Levy they both had a lot of pride and weren't willing to show how much they cared. It was something about people Natsu could never wrap his head around.
Some of the strongest people he knew seemed to think that showing any kind of emotion made them weak. He wasn't sure why that was. Mirajane was a pretty strong person and she didn't hide the love she felt for her brother, sister, and everyone in the guild.
His father hadn't been like that either.
Shaking his head, Natsu tried to keep his thoughts in the present. Now was not the time to linger in the past.
Sneaking around the back of the guild, the three men pulled the garage door open. As quietly as possible they began pushing the magic fourwheeler out into the open and into the forest.
"C-can we get in yet?" Natsu asked tiredly.
"Not yet!" Jet hissed. "Mira would still hear it if we started it off here! Do you want someone to find us out here?!"
"It's a little late for that."
Stopping Natsu, Jet, and Droy slowly turned to find Lisanna standing behind them with a frown on her face.
"L-Lisanna!" Natsu stuttered. "Wh-what a-are you d-doing out here?"
Lisanna crossed her arms and gave him a disapproving glare. "That's what I should be asking you! You're supposed to be resting!" She marched over to him and took his good arm. "C'mon we're going back to the guild."
"W-wait!" Natsu said pulling back. "Lisanna you don't understand!"
"Understand?! What I understand is that you're trying to sneak out to drive your car again! How you got Jet and Droy roped into it I don't know," she replied shooting the other two men a look of apprehension. "But you are not going out for joyride with your arm like that!"
"B-But it's for Lucy and Levy!"
Lisanna blinked at him. "What?"
Natsu inhaled and answered as quickly as he could. "Levy's been mad at Lucy lately for some reason so she challenged her to a fight outside the guild and I tried to follow them hoping I could stop them. Why I thought that I don't know but I did. I found them while they were fighting but Jet and Droy wouldn't let me stop them but then they both fell into the river and ended up washing downstream. I wanted to tell the guild but Jet and Droy didn't think it was necessary. I managed to convince them to at least let me look for them but we all knew Mira would never let me take the car out and if she caught us we'd have to explain where we were going and why and then Mira would freak out and send out a search party which Jet and Droy don't want cause they know it'd make Levy mad. So we're pushing my car far enough from the guild so that I can take off without being caught, look around for Levy and Lucy, hopefully find them, and be back to the guild by sundown!" he stopped for a moment to gasp for breath before finishing. "Please please please don't tell Mira!"
The silver-haired girl blinked at him and then glanced at Jet and Droy for confirmation of the truth. Both men silently nodded. Lisanna sighed, "Well if that's the case there's really only one option."
"So you'll go back to the guild without telling Mirajane?" Natsu asked hopeful.
"I never said that!"
Natsu deflated and looked crestfallen. Without another word Lisanna rounded the corner of the car past Jet and Droy and opened the passenger's seat.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Jet asked.
"What does it look like silly?" LIsanna replied with a smile as she climbed in and closed the door behind her. "I'm taking shotgun."
The three men stared at her through the back windshield. Sticking her head out the car window she called, "Well, what are you waiting for? The girls are going to get hypothermia at this rate if you don't hurry up and get this car moving."
With looks of surprise still on all their faces, the three men continued to push the car. Once they had reached the suitable distance away all three climbed in. Natsu turned on the ignition and took off with their extra passenger in tow.
((Sorry for making you guys wait so long for an update!
As you all may have noticed I have a new fic uploaded on my page called "Of Witches and Kings" sadly writing for that fic has become rather slow so I may end up taking it down. The idea came to me suddenly and I wrote up the first part before I bothered to really think through the plot. In the end my ideas for it is limited. But we'll see.
I think that Jet, Droy, and Levy all take collective pride in the fact that they are the strongest team in Edolas's Fairy Tail. Jet and Droy in particular are two of the strongest mages in the guild. As a result the trio are unwilling to accept help when they may not need it, and are content to let their teammates take care of themselves.
Natsu doesn't have this sense of pride and so doesn't see anything wrong with worrying about and helping his guildmates in any way he can whether they need it or not.
Including Lisanna in this second part wasn't originally a part of the plan. But then a user called underlings reviewed the story and suggested including. An idea that quickly wormed its way in until I began really liking the idea! So you can expect more of her in future chapters.
And yes this Lisanna is Earthlands Lisanna. A character I feel was brought into the Fairy Tail series kind of clumsily and then wasn't properly utilized. I don't find anything personally wrong with her character, I just feel how she was written into the story was rather badly done. (No offense Mashima.) I mean if she had been introduced into the story from the beginning, THEN was "killed" and THEN brought back it might be a different story. But as things are that's not how it played out so whatevs. It's up to us fanfic writers to right those wrongs I guess.
Regardless i think it'd be fun exploring quite how Lisanna got situated into the guild, what everyone in the guilds relationship is to her, and exactly how she gets by in the world of Edolas. I have a few theories here or there regarding to those subjects so it'll be fun to put them into play.
Now what will happen to Levy and Lucy?! Who are those guys with the guns? Will Natsu's gang find them in time?
Please review and find out next time! ))