A.N.

WARNING:

AVAST YE SAILORS, THERE BE LIMES AHEAD.

Ehhh – so giving this a try.

First time, so be brutal…well, helpful brutal.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

-UM

His lips moved against her neck – kissing, sucking, teasing. She moaned and pulled his hair and drew one hand down his spine. It brought a rumbled from his chest and he nipped at her. She turned her head making herself more accessible and pulled him closer. He felt so warm – burning even, she was on fire.

He slid his hands down her arms pulling her shirt with it – it lay in a crumbled heap around her stomach and she arched her back eager to keep him close. His lips burned down her throat to the junction of her neck and shoulder – kissing and biting as he went. She grabbed his hair harder and moaned, the heat coiled in her stomach. He nipped the tops of her breasts before easing his mouth over her nipple. He flicked his tongue over the small bud and she gasped. Oh. That felt good. Something tight was forming inside of her. He brought his teeth to it and tugged. She inhaled sharply. He smelled of smoldering sweet timber and spices.

She felt her eyes roll back in her head and she arched her back again. He brought a hand to her neglected breast and massaged it. She mewled, and he suckled her nipple with earnest. He slid his free hand down her back and gripped her butt pulling her closer to his warmth. Something was building. Something amazing.

She pulled his head up and kissed him. There was an urgency to it – teeth banged, tongues fought, and she struggled against the urge to break for air.

She was certain she loved this man. She wanted to open her eyes – she wanted to see him. She tore free from his mouth and forced her eyes wide – she saw…

Blinding white light – the heat dissipated, the hands melted, the feverish kisses vanished.

Blinding light gave way to the fluttering tarp tent she was sleeping under.

Her heart pounded and the sea air filled her nose. She gasped for breath and reality fell into place.

Artur was lying on her stomach snoring softly, she pushed him off gently and blushed at the dream she just had.

She sat up slowly and shivered. Movement caught her eye. Bennie sat near one of the openings of the tent. Her tail flicked and her eyes gave off an eerie blue in the early morning light.

"Pleasant dream?" She murmured.

Flora's blush returned tenfold and she reached for the small basin, wash cloth and wine skin canteen and crawled past her toward the opening. Their camp was just at the edge of the city on a grassy knoll overlooking the sea.

She filled the basin with water and splashed her face. Bennie walked up and sat beside her.

"Who was it? The shop boy who gives you flowers? Or the handsome waiter you work with?" Bennie drawled.

Flora gave her a glare, Bennie clucked in amusement.

"Fine, don't tell me. But just so you know – I refuse to take care of anymore kittens," She gave a pointed look to the make shift tent where Artur slept.

Flora blushed but laughed. "Not unless they're your kittens, right?"

Now it was Bennie's turn to blush. Their relationship had improved during their travels – well mostly after Flora proved she could be an asset in a battle.

While they had learned early on that she had decent skill in hand-to-hand combat, the day they learned she could handle a whip as a formidable weapon had been the day Bennie told her she wasn't completely useless. The following morning Flora found that the beat up whip they recovered from a thieves gang had been mysteriously replaced by a new cat-o-nine-tails whip.

Bennie huffed and turned sharply to face the sea. It was Flora's chance to tease.

"So why haven't you settled down and had your own little litter of terrifying kitties yet?"

Bennie gave her a side glance. "It is not as though I run into flying cats every day. And even so, in order to be a suitable male, he'd have to defeat me in battle. I refuse to the bear the fruit of just any alley cat's loins." She huffed.

Flora dipped the cloth into the basin and ran it down her neck and laughed.

"I wouldn't expect any less of you, Bennie." Her dream flashed through her mind.

She gnawed her lip. This dream didn't feel like a real memory, she had enough experiences with Artur and Bennie to know what a memory felt like. This dream felt like the stories of princesses and dragons she told Artur… like a painting that had been rained on – just smudging blobs that may have once held truth but were far too distorted to hold real meaning.

She sighed and gave into the cat's curiosity.

"I don't know who he is."

Bennie gave her a side glance.

"Was it a memory?" Flora shook her head negative.

"I don't think so…" Bennie clucked her tongue.

"So, just a pleasant dream then?" She hummed. Flora flushed and dipped the cloth in the cool water again.

"What did he look like?"

Flora brought the cloth to her face, hoping to ease the fire she felt there. She mumbled into the cloth "I don't know."

"You did not see his face?"

Flora shook her head negative and removed the cloth.

"I didn't see anything."

Bennie clucked her tongue again and looked back out to sea.

"Are you nervous?" Bennie broke the silence that had settled between them.

Nervous?

Ha. Of course. This was the point of no return. This was the great leap of faith. Today they boarded a ship destined for the Island of Caelum. Today, there was no more preparations, no more mere hoping, and there was no returning to the stone house in the jungle after this….Once they boarded that ship, all that she knew as normal would be left behind.

But she would be closer to finding Fairy Tail.

She figured she'd have settled the butterflies in her stomach about this matter by now. It had been a long time coming. Several months of working their way through the jungle… though that was nothing compared to their time they spent in the sea port. The boat tickets were expensive as were the medicinal roots that helped with motion sickness….

Flora held in a jittery laugh. For being such a ball of energy, it was funny to see Artur undone by a moving vehicle. With the two month-long boat trip they were about to embark on, a remedy for his suffering was necessary – lest he die from dehydration from all the puking.

Flora scooted next to Bennie and drew up her knees.

It seemed Bennie didn't expect her to answer, for that she was grateful.

Suddenly, she felt guilt creep into her, and the real reason for her apprehension reared its damning head. She had selfishly dragged her two companions from their home, their comfort, and for the past – what was it, six months? They had all worked feverishly to earn the money they needed for the trip she wanted to take.

Bennie found quests they could free-lance, apparently free-lancing guild quests was how she and Master Rupert funded much of their earlier traveling. And when they weren't hunting down rare-this-or-that's or fighting groups of bad people, Artur and her had waited tables in tourist filled restaurants. It seemed not a day went by that they weren't busy…

They had all worked so hard, but what were they getting out of it? She hadn't even offered them any reward for helping her accomplish the impossible…not that she had anything to give.

Flora pulled at the grass by her feet. She looked back over at the tarp tent and it fluttered around the rope that held it up. They would probably pack up camp soon and in a few hours…She heaved a sigh and looked out to sea.

How she could have asked her friends to give up everything to come with her?

"Bennie…" The cat regarded her. "Do you resent me for asking you and Artur to come?"

The cat looked at her, then back to the big blue. Flora felt her tail flick to wrap around her back.

"No."

The anxiety eased out of Flora and she smiled. She reached over to scratch Bennie's ear. Bennie purred and then glared at her, but leaned into her hand nonetheless.

"Let's break down camp... We should probably get there early." Bennie nodded and moved towards the tent.

Flora went to grab the water basin and caught her reflection. On the last quest the group of women they helped had coo'ed over her strange yellow hair. They surrounded her and took turns threading small bits of her hair through vibrant beads.

Artur said it made her 'look wild,' which apparently was a good thing. Flora thought it made her look pretty. She wondered if the man from her dream was a real man and if he would think the same.

She heard rustling and the little tarp fell and was collected by Bennie – Artur snored undisturbed.

Bennie looked over at her. "You said 'it,' you know?"

Flora drew her eyebrows together. Said what?

Bennie rolled her eyes. "While you were dreaming. You said 'Natsu.'"

Flora's mouth fell open.

"I think it is a man's name." Bennie continued, Flora's forgotten blush returned. "Perhaps, a lover?" Bennie taunted.

Flora gulped and looked down to avoid her gaze.

Her eyes stared back at her in the water and stopped her.

She was different from the first time she saw herself so many months ago.

She furrowed her brows. Was Artur right, was she 'wild'?

Her eyes – where they had been unsure…now she saw bits of Artur and Bennie. They flickered with a certain edginess and laughter but beneath it burned the harshness she saw in the small cat companion.

Her skin had tanned from her time in the sun, while her hair seemed to have lightened. She dropped her eyes to her shoulders and arms…She had collected scars here and there over her body…She even had a fairly 'wild' faint four nail paw scratch adorning her exposed stomach. Flora rubbed her hand over that one fondly.

Bennie had stolen a panther's cub, Flora bit her lip to contain a giggle as she remembered how Bennie defended her actions, 'She has two others!'. They had to fight off the large cat without inflicting serious damage and dooming all four felines to death. That scary orange cat really wanted kittens.

She shook the memory away and continued the inspection of herself.

Her hair still laid the way Bennie taught her, in its messy twin braids that that she combined into one on her back – she preferred this way above all others. The long single braid reminded her of Bennie's tail and she often would tickle Artur with the end of it. With her new beads adorning her hair she felt like a church's window, stained glass it was? – the sun striking the beads and reflecting every which way.

She looked down at herself and rolled her small top thoughtfully between her fingers… Her clothes felt normal back at the stone house, but in this port city, the flower shop owner's son had called her 'tribal'and drew his eyes up and down her form – it had made her shiver unpleasantly at the time.

She looked at her hands and the little pink stamp that started it all and smiled. She flipped them over to look at her palms… her hands had gained new callouses. She wiggled her toes, her ankles and sandal clad feet had a seemingly permanent brown hue from kicking up dust – despite her fairly frequent bathing. Her admittedly terrifying cat-o-nines-tail whip sat on her hip.

She was wild wasn't she?

She swallowed hard and remembered Bennie's words.

A lover?

She wasn't whoever she was before.

She was Flora now.

She wasn't sure if she could ever be anyone else.

The whole world was a mystery to her, but the biggest riddle was between her ears.

She rose, shaking her head and helped Bennie break down camp. She rolled Artur's sleeping form up and against her chest so that his head rested on her shoulder – he snored softly unperturbed by the movement.

She and Bennie began the silent walk into the city.

Somewhere, someone must be missing her, right?

She was in a guild once and you take care of each other in a guild.

"What if they gave you away?" She shivered. Artur's words still haunted her, and her anxiety renewed.

She knew he hadn't meant it to hurt her… but every day she worked towards finding Fairy Tail she couldn't help but wonder…

What if they were the reason she was here?

What if they weren't looking for her?

What if they didn't want her back?

What would be waiting for her when she found Fairy Tail and could they possibly love her as much as her two small companions did?

Nastu.

She frowned, that riddle had plagued her for almost as long as could remember.

The destination became visible up ahead and the boat grew as they neared it.

If Natsu was a man…the man she dreamed of – what did that make them?

Lovers?

The thought made her flush. Stupid cat.

She shot a glare to Bennie, who returned it without hesitation. Flora flinched – Bennie's glare was scarier.

Artur moaned weakly against Flora's chest and she rubbed his back. The root helped some but it wasn't a cure-all, this would be one long trip for the little dragon slayer.

Still – she couldn't keep the smile off her face as the jungle shrunk behind them with each advancing wave. Bennie's face was as stoic as ever, but she flicked her tail excitedly.

This was it.

The point of no return.

The great leap of faith.

Fairy Tail, here I come.

A.N.:

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

Which based on this chapter, means I'm witless.

Honestly, this was supposed to be half as long…but I really wanted to paint a good picture of Flora so I wouldn't have to do it in a later chapter.

Anyway… so first time writing anything intentionally racy, sorry for the cope-out of it being a faceless/nameless dream…it will get better, promise!

(Also - was that a lime or a lemon? If I incorrectly indicated, please let me know.)

I felt guilty for my imaginary map of Earthland, so the Island of Caelum is my attempt at redemption. It's located next to Fiore and seemed a reasonable place as any for a ship to dock and allow for my story line to develop.

Anyway - expect the big meet up moment soon.

Natsu's pov next!

-UM