AN: Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update, I completely forgot to write on this story that I'll be going on a trip. Oops. But now I'm back! If you're wondering about Sailing with Fire, I am not ready to update that story yet. The only reason I can update this one is because the chapters are already written lol. So enjoy! :D
Chapter 54
Charle
Happy's mouth hung open like a fish out of water as he stared at the white cat in front of him. She was in a torn, pink dress and had a matching bow tied at the end of her tail. Grime was smeared over her body and some of her fur was stained with splotches of blood, which he wasn't sure was hers or not considering he didn't see any wounds. Tears welled in the other cat's eyes as she went stand to stand, begging for help.
"Please!" she cried. "You have to help my friend! Hurry!"
Everyone regarded the cat with either annoyed or pitiful glances but didn't bother trying to help. Instead, they went about their days, ignoring her desperate pleas.
Happy scowled at them. How could they ignore someone that clearly needed help? Was it because she was an exceed? Did they think she was inferior?
"We have to help her!" Happy cried, determination settling in his eyes. "She needs help!"
Natsu and Lucy shared a quick glance before nodding and following the blue cat towards the weeping exceed. The white cat glanced up through fresh tears, her eyes widening at the sight of Happy. A faint blush crept over Happy's cheeks.
Lucy noticed the small interaction but ignored it. Crouching in front of the white exceed, she questioned, "Are you alright?"
The cat sniffled and shook its head. "M-My friend! She needs help!"
"It's okay, we'll help your friend. Can you try calming down and telling us your name?"
The exceed nodded and answered, "My name is Charle."
"Alright, Charle. Let's get you to a doctor. You have blood all over you, you need to get checked out."
"I'm fine. M-Most of it isn't my blood and my injuries were already healed by my friend. We have to hurry and help her!"
"From what?" Natsu questioned.
Hatred flashed in Charle's eyes as her paws formed tight fists. "She was taken by some dark mages. I was, too, but she helped me escape."
"How about we go back to our room and talk about this more?" Lucy proposed. "You should get washed up and even if your friend healed your wounds, I want to be extra sure you're alright. We can talk there in private."
Charle reluctantly nodded, sparing Happy a curious glance before following Lucy towards the inn. Happy's heart fluttered from their short eye-contact.
When they reached the inn, Lucy quickly started a shower for the exceed. Not sure if Charle wanted to be alone or not, the blonde stood awkwardly by the door until she was asked to leave. Thus, she joined her two partners on her bed.
"What are we going to do about her?" Natsu questioned, his gaze focused on Happy. It was obvious the cat was curious about the newest exceed.
"We have to help her!" Happy answered desperately. "Even if she's not in the book! We helped everyone in Shirotsume, we can help her too!"
"Happy's right," Lucy replied. "She needs our help, we can't just send her back. We'll try to help as fast as we can and then move on with the book."
The three sat in silence, save for the faint sound of Charle's shower behind the closed door. Things weren't going according to plan- as if they ever did- but it wasn't like they were going to turn Charle away.
A mischevious smirk graced Lucy's face as she turned to Happy and teased, "So Happy, you liiiike her!"
The cat gasped and replied, "You can't use my line against me!"
"Funny, because I just did! Looks like our own little Happy has a crush!"
Natsu chuckled and added, "Finally we can be the ones to tease you!"
"You wouldn't!" Happy cried.
The two humans shared a quick glance before staring back at Happy and replying in unison, "You liiiike her!"
"What are you three doing?" Charle suddenly questioned. Natsu was so focused on making fun of Happy he didn't even notice the shower turn off. Charle looked much better, her fur pure and cleansed of the blood and grime that covered it before.
"N-Nothing!" Happy stammered. He wasn't used to being the one that was made fun of.
Lucy giggled and replied, "Alright, alright. Let's focus now. Charle, can you tell us everything that happened now?"
"Tell us about the dark mages," Natsu added.
Charle nodded and pain flashed in her eyes as she recalled what happened about a year ago. Her body raked with trembles but she let her claws dig into her dress to calm herself down.
"It all started a year ago," Charle stated, her gaze glued to the floor. "My best friend, Wendy, was playing with her friend, Chelia. I was there too, of course."
"Wait a second," Lucy began, her eyes growing wide. "Did you say Chelia?" The cat nodded. "That's the name of the missing Princess!"
"Yes, Chelia is the Princess of this area."
"Does that mean we actually found a clue earlier?" Natsu asked.
Lucy smirked and answered, "Yep! Told you my instincts work!"
The dragon slayer crossed his arms with a huff. Charle raised a brow as to what they were saying but shrugged it off.
"Anyways," she began, "the three of us were playing in her castle. Chelia's parents passed away a long time ago and the only family she has left is a cousin she hasn't spoken to in years. Since she is still young, she relied on advisers to help her with ruling the kingdom.
"There were originally four of them. I always had a bad feeling about them, but neither Wendy nor Chelia listened to me. They trusted them and look what happened!" Charle took a few deep breaths to calm down before continuing, "Eventually, Wendy overheard two of them talking about their plans and about how they were using Chelia all along and were planning on overthrowing the kingdom."
"And then Chelia banished them, right?" Happy questioned.
Charle nodded. "Wendy told Chelia right away and she banished them from the kingdom. Unfortunately for us, the day we were playing in the kingdom, we were taken and brought to their hideout. They need Chelia's power to awaken their leader."
"Their leader?" Natsu asked.
"Another dwarf," Lucy added, cupping her chin in thought. Seeing Charle's perplexed expression, she grabbed the fairy tale book and flipped it open to the relevant story. Handing it to the cat, she explained, "I am the savior to King Heartfilia's curse. Your friends are in this story and it's up to us to bring them their happy endings."
Tears welled in Charle's widened eyes as her breath caught in her throat. "Th-The ending."
Lucy nodded and replied, "That is what happens if we don't help them in time. And since a year has already passed, I'm guessing we don't have that much longer. So I need you to explain the rest of the story."
Charle nodded and cleared her throat before explaining, "We don't know much about their leader but we do know that he is under a sleeping spell."
"Why don't they just wake him up? Sleeping spells actually aren't hard to break."
"They can't wake him up because none of them love him. Even his own son doesn't love him. But they believe that Chelia's power could wake him up."
"Can she?" Natsu asked, his curiosity piqued.
Charle shrugged and answered, "I don't know. Anyways, Chelia refused to help him, even after they tortured all of us. They lost their patience and casted a sleeping curse over her, forcing Wendy to watch because she has the ability to wake her up."
"So Prince Ferdinand is a girl?" Natsu asked.
"I guess so," Lucy answered. "How did you escape, Charle?"
The cat shuddered and answered, "Wendy used all of her magic to get me out. They've been starving and beating us so she used all she had to heal me and blow a hole in the wall. I-I tried to bring her with me but the fast one got her and she told me to go get help."
"Wendy sounds strong," Lucy mused, mostly because she hoped it would make the cat feel better talking about her friend.
"She is," Charle replied with a nod, fighting the tears that pricked her eyes. "It's because she is the Maiden of the Sky. She is the sky dragon slayer."
Surprised gasps left the mouths of everyone else in the room. Lucy glanced towards Natsu, wondering about his reaction. She may not have been in Earthland long, but she knew that dragon slayers were rare. His eyes were wide and his mouth was parted a bit. From the looks of it, it seemed he had never met another dragon slayer before.
And then there was Happy. Lucy had a feeling that he had never met another exceed before if his obvious curiosity was anything to go by. She recalled the night they sat around the campfire before meeting the Strauss siblings, in which they tried to get to know each other better. Happy knew next to nothing about his upbringings, there was no doubt in the blonde's mind that he was wondering if the other exceed knew more.
"Another dragon slayer," Natsu breathed out, still astonished. "W-Was she trained by a dragon?"
Charle studied the boy and answered, "Yes. Grandeneey. But apparently she vanished shortly after the King's curse was enacted."
"Just like Igneel!" Happy mentioned. "Igneel was a dragon that trained Natsu!"
Charle glanced back at the pinkette. So he was a dragon slayer trained by a real dragon as well? There was no doubt in the cat's mind that her friend would love to meet the boy. She would definitely have many questions to ask, which the boy probably didn't know either since his dragon apparently disappeared as well.
"Alright, I have a plan," Lucy stated. Releasing a heavy sigh, she continued, "But it's dangerous."
"What is it?" Happy questioned.
"I'm sure it's obvious. We have no choice but to fight. Even if we snuck Wendy out, they would no doubt come back for her. We have to fight them, meaning Charle needs to lead us to their hideout."
"Alright!" Natsu exclaimed, flames licking his fingertips. "I'm going to turn those guys into ashes"
Lucy sighed once again. "The problem is there are apparently six of them and only two people capable of fighting unless Wendy is ready when we get there."
"Your story is wrong about that," Charle informed them. "There are only four of them, one of which being the leader. Remember when I said there were originally four? It's because I wasn't aware of the master."
"Then who was the fourth guy?" Natsu questioned.
"It was a girl. She was with the others for a couple years but left one day because she found her long lost sister."
"This is so hard to keep track of," Lucy whined. "Do you know their names so we can make this easier?"
Charle nodded. "Angel is the woman that left years ago. The leader goes by Brain. Then there's Racer, the fast one that prevented Wendy from escaping with me. There's another man that goes by Midnight, but I don't know anything of his magic because he is always asleep. Lastly, there is Cobra, another dragon slayer."
"Another one?" Natsu asked with wide eyes.
"Yes. But he wasn't trained by a dragon."
"Then how is he a dragon slayer?"
"I'm not sure, we weren't exactly talkative."
"So that leaves three enemies to fight," Lucy stated. Though it was still unfair, it was much better than she originally thought it would be. And if she casted Urano Metria correctly, then she could possibly take out two of them. "If Wendy is up for fighting, maybe she can help. But for now, it's safe to assume Natsu and I will be doing the fighting."
The others nodded and soon enough, it was time for bed. Lucy's thoughts flooded her mind as she laid in bed, Charle right beside her already snoozing away. If none of the dwarves- which she was going to keep referring to the enemies as- loved their leader, what was the purpose of waking him up? Whatever it was couldn't be good.
Rolling to her side, she found Natsu already asleep on his bed, his loud snores filling the room, Happy curled up above his head on the pillow. With their new relationship, Lucy felt she had even more on the line to protect. And no matter how enemies there were or what kind of disadvantage they had, she was going to fight with all she had to make sure she could continue living by his side.
AN: Okay, I have to mention here in the AN something that a LOT of people had either skipped over or forgotten haha! Wendy is not Snow White! It was revealed in chapter 48 that Chelia is Snow White, Wendy is Ferdinand! Also, there will be no RoWen in this story, sorry!
And we're already close to 800 reviews even though I was just thanking everyone for 700 reviews last chapter! :D To make things fun, whoever is the 800th reviewer gets to ask any question about this story and I will answer it truthfully! (If it is too much of a spoiler then I won't answer it of course lol. But you're free to ask about the next stories or whatever else you're curious about!)
Anyways, had enough reviews so here's a sneak peek! :D
Happy watched Charle sitting against one of the many trees, her arms crossed and gaze hard as she stared into nothingness. After gaining an encouraging glance from Natsu, Happy swallowed thickly before walking towards the other cat, one of the fishes in his paw as an offering.
Charle noticed Happy approach her and sighed. It became very clear in the past day that the male cat had developed some type of feelings towards her. And it needed to be stopped. All she wanted was to save Wendy and Chelia, not entertain the thought of boys. Any distractions needed to be ended.
Thank you to the reviewers: Fin-Fish Jun-Tenshi, Shadow Joestar, MasterGildarts, Alexa60765, Crazymagic16, KitKat2648, CupcakeGoddess22, ThayetJade, HuskyDawn, Lunahartz, chocolatecatsconfusion, Soul Eater Maka, ThatPixleDino, FlaminkoMage, xSinfulDragonSlayer, NaluPrincess, stranger1999, Nalulove, Arethelya. Keep up the reviews and I'll keep up the writing. ;D
