There was a tremor from the lower bowels of the ship (or maybe they were his own bowels). Struggling to his feet, a woozy feeling overwhelmed the Irishman, and he waddled over the the closest mirror, and he cussed when he saw how awful and flushed he looked. He'd never been good on ships, or any sort of transportation, as a matter of fact, but he could have sworn the ship's advertiser pamphlets promised it would be as though the ship was flying to America, and he wouldn't feel a thing.
Goddamn liars.
Natsu covered his mouth when he felt a wave of nausea wash over him, like the waves at the base of the ship. He groaned and stumbled towards the sink, hanging his head over the edge of the basin, hoping he would die before he lost the contents of his slightly-better-than-average meal.
When nothing came out of his stomach, he eyed his tattered duffel on his bed, hoping he packed some form of medical drug to sooth his stomach. He rummaged through the bag, finding only a disappointing stack of clothes and some objects that meant to much to him. He stopped suddenly, though, and took a few steps back.
The nausea was gone.
His eyes shot to his reflection and he frantically touched places on his neck.
"Where the hell is my scarf?"
"Bird brains, you left it with Lucy," Gray said, stepping into the room. He tossed off his coat and immediately fought off his suspenders from his pants, complaining when the latches refused to be undone.
"Oh, right..." Natsu let out a relieved sigh, letting his hands drop down to his sides.
The nausea came back.
"Look what you did, ice princess! Your ugliness made me sick again!"
"Excuse you?" Gray snapped, turning towards the salmon-haired fellow. "You're looking in the mirror, jackass!"
Natsu flinched, dumbfounded, when he realized he hadn't removed his eyes from the mirror, he pouted. "Whatever," he growled, plopping down onto his bed.
He closed his eyes, hoping to ease the pain he was feeling. He could hear Gray digging though his bags and yanking drawers open, and Natsu's brows twitched in irritation. The one time he needed peace and quiet, his declared nemesis was being a loud roommate. However, something landed in the Irishman's lap, and he flinched, opening his eyes to see a container of tea herbs.
"Make yourself some tea. My old doctor said that should help with motion sickness," Gray ordered, gesturing to the hallway. "Someone will probably boil you some water in the lounge."
Natsu groaned as he stood up, holding the container. Gray watched him leave, shoulders slumping in embarrassment when he heard an awkward wailing noise from his roommate in the hallway. It faded as he got farther away, and eventually, Gray could hear nothing.
"This room is busy," came behind Gray as he set aside another outfit. He turned, another steward standing in the doorway. However, unlike the other ship employees' previous times, there were two envelopes in hand. "Do you and one of your roommates have young lasses up in first class? How unusual."
Gray extended his hand in the direction of the man, taking the envelopes from him. One was from a familiar name. Juvia Lockser. The other, written in an entirely different type of handwriting, was from Lucy Heartfilia, addressed to Natsu Dragneel. He dropped the envelope from Lucy onto the bed that belonged to the recipient, and turned his hostile attention back to the steward.
"That's not really your business," Gray said, tearing his envelope open. "Their friends."
"Some employees are curious about the letters being exchanged. Some are suspicious. Be weary, Mister...?"
"Fullbuster," he said.
The name caught him off guard. "Despite seeing your name written, I'm still shocked. Are you of the recently bankrupt Fullbusters? The ones from France?"
Gray nodded, and without anything else to say, he closed the door on the nicely dressed employee.
Without anymore hesitation, he read the letter from Miss Lockser. It was short and brief, saying to meet her for a moonlight stroll. There was a paragraph of apology, saying she couldn't do dinner. She was dining with her father, and a Fullbuster may or may not be welcome at their table. He smiled as he read her words, shaking his head.
Of course, not, he thought. Why would I be welcomed there?
The bottom was signed: "With love, Juvia Lockser."
Natsu patiently waited for the sound of a tea kettle to break the silence. Cana, who happened to be in the lounge, was sitting in front of him. She assisted in the search for the kettle, but made him make his own water. "You're not useless, boy. Put those muscles to work," were her words when he asked her to heat the water for him. He gripped his stomach and nodded, stumbling towards a faucet and begun to prepare what Gray claimed would save his stomach.
"How's that Lucy lass doing? Are you two getting along?"
He nodded, surely. The thought of Lucy seemed to perk him up a bit, brighten his onyx eyes. However, when he shot upright to engage in a story, he was given a friendly reminder of how much his stomach hated him. Natsu toppled back forward, holding his head between his knees as he let out groaning noises.
"You okay? I think the water should be fine now. I'll get the tea ready for you." Cana stood up, not waiting for an answer. The pink-haired boy with his head between his legs felt bad, having his newly made friend have to make his tea for him, but he knew there was no way in hell he could get up and fix it himself.
Within moments, a cup of tea was in front of him. Natsu barely waited for the herbs to settle down and flavor the water, and he begun to sip at it, barely affected by its steaming heat. Cana had her own cup in front of her, and for the first time, Natsu was seeing her without a bottle of booze to drink. She begun to tell him a story, and she spoke plenty of her friends back in her home country. Another thing she decided to bring up was how she used to be a waitress at a restaurant that Gray's family dined at before their bankrupcy, and how she was looked down on for being a lady. She seemed fired up, ready to take on the world. He grinned with the cup to his lips. He knew there was more to Miss Alberona than her addiction to alcohol. He refused to think otherwise, and he was right. She was strong, fierce. Like Lucy.
"They shouldn't be looking down on you. Who gives a damn if you're a lady? You're just as capable," he said before swallowing the hot liquid.
"Ahh, the rest of society seems to think I'm less than a man. Oh, well, screw them! Anyways, tell me about your first class lass! She seems nice, from little bits and pieces I got from Loke and Gray."
"She is. She's great, really. It's too bad she's not getting much of a chance to live. I want to take her places, because it seems like she wants to travel. Lucy likes to write, too, and she likes hearing stories! It's nice, because I like telling stories, but I'm no good at writing them down. Because of her, I don't want this trip to end. I want her to experience the wonders of the world, and make her own choices. You know what I mean?"
"It's pretty strict, being a first class lady. If she got the chance, I bet she would go with you."
"Speaking of this trip, I wish I got to take everyone I met on this trip and keep them around. It's like this everywhere I go. I meet people, we get close, we become really good friends, and then we go separate ways. Part of me wants to keep travelling, meeting new people, seeing new places, but then another part of me wants to sit down and keep my friends close. Like you!" He sat upright, pointing at Cana. "It's going to be really shitty not seeing you ever again, Cana! Even though this is our first real conversation, we're still friends, and it's not fair that we won't see one another anymore."
"It's going to be rough in America, but I'm sure we'll find a way to keep in touch. You, Gray, Loke, and a few other people I've met on this ship are all really great. I'll make sure we write letters and such, and maybe, one day, we'll meet again."
"Chance encounters and fate bringing people back together really seems like fairy tale stuff," Natsu admitted, rather gloomy. He wanted his friends in third class to meet with Lucy, and he yearned for some way to have everyone that meaned anything to him and his friends to all meet. He desired for them to all be connected.
"Sometimes, fairy tales come to life, kiddo," Cana said with a reassuring wink.
A/N: Cana ended up in another chapter! Whoops! However, I really love her presence, so I'm actually really pleased she got to be in this one too! When she was first introduced, it was kind of a whim thing. I needed to stall time for a chapter, and I decided to bring her in! All of a sudden, Miss Alberona has become a major character, and she definitely is going to play a role in the climax! I hope you guys fall in love with Cana as much as I love her!
This might be my last chapter for the next week or two! I am now starting my finals from May 26 to June 2, so wish me luck! I'm going to be super busy, and I won't have any time to write, and I might not even have a lot of time to doodle and such! However, I'm pretty sure the next chapter is going to be the start of April 14, so the last day on the ship!
Another announcement! This is a BIG one! As soon as Breaking the Boundary finishes and I complete the final chapter, I will be embarking on another chapter fic, and hopefully, it turns out as big as this one! For those of you who read my oneshot Memento Mori, the Ghoul AU, I will be doing a chapter fic for that AU, but it will not be a romance for the ships. It's going to be a story intended for the plot, so I hope you won't mind! Sometime during or after that, I will finally get started on that Pompeii AU, if I can! I hope you guys will check it out if you like my writing!
Have a good day/night, and I hope to hear your thoughts!