AN: Hi guys. I know my updates have been random lately because of my family and all and I really apologize for it. Next week I will be able to go back to my normal updating schedule, I promise!
Anyways, one of my best battle scenes ever is in this arc so I'm stoked about that.
Chapter 55
Finding Time
After getting a good night's rest, Lucy and the others woke up and began to get ready for their days as briskly as possible. With a little girl in danger, it left them no time for leisurely showers and the like. When everyone was dressed and ready to go, Happy checked their inventory of food and reported that there wasn't enough for everyone, especially since they didn't know how long it would take.
"I'll go get us some food real quick then," Natsu stated, grabbing the backpack so he could store it.
"I'll go with you," Lucy replied. "I have to make sure you pay for it after all."
The boy clenched his chest in mock pain. "Do you have no trust in me?"
"Oh I trust you with my life, Natsu. Just not when it comes to other people's stuff. Happy, Charle, you two stay here. We'll be right back."
Happy nodded, a bright smile plastered on his face. This would give him the perfect opportunity to get to know the cat that had been catching his attention. Charle, who seemed indifferent on the matter, was beautiful, intelligent, and even had some fiery sass in her. There was nothing for him not to love about her.
Lucy and Natsu gave the cats a quick goodbye before heading out of the inn and onto the streets of Clover Town. It was clear that somebody was taking good care of the kingdom even in the Princess' absence. The townspeople were happy and going about their days with no cares in the world.
"So what are we getting?" Lucy questioned. "How much money do we have left?"
Natsu jumped slightly at the girl's sudden voice and brought his attention up to the back of her head as he was a step behind her. His eyes were previously on her dainty, dangling hand that seemed to be calling out for him. Holding hands was never something he wanted to do before, but with Lucy he found himself wondering if her hands were truly as soft as they appeared.
"We have a decent amount," the dragon slayer answered. "See anything you like?"
"I don't know what would survive the trip," the blonde answered.
"Hey, Lucy, did you really come here to make sure I wouldn't steal? Because I haven't stolen once since that time with the bread. Oh, and I guess technically the restaurant but that was their fault for kicking us out before we could pay."
"Don't worry, Natsu. I didn't come here to make sure you didn't steal. I do trust you."
"Then why did you come? Since buying food for trips obviously isn't your specialty."
Lucy's cheeks dusted a light pink as she answered, "I wanted to spend some time alone with you. We haven't had any time alone since… you know."
Natsu quickly recovered from his initial shock from the answer and grinned broadly at the flustered girl. Knowing that she still felt the same as before, there was no hesitation left in him as he reached forward and laced his fingers with hers. Just as he predicted, her hands were soft. The small contact sent warmth flooding through both of their bodies.
Natsu stifled a laugh recalling how he believed the book was wrong about him falling for Lucy. No matter how hard he fought against it in the beginning, his feelings couldn't be smothered and kept popping up. And now that he got a taste of what those feelings could bring, he could never push them away again.
Lucy smiled and drew circles with her thumb on Natsu's hand. It was rough and calloused but the warmth it provided- and not just because he was a dragon slayer- made the touch special.
"I can't wait for all of the stories to be over," the girl mused. "That way you and I can actually have time to focus on this more."
Natsu grinned and replied, "I'm sure we can find time, Luce. Maybe not now, but soon."
The girl nodded, taking his word for it. The two settled for two loaves of sliced bread and some peanut butter and jelly, and some fish for Happy and Charle. After working with loads of bread from helping the Strauss siblings, they thought they were never going to take a bite of it again. But with their traveling, there were only limited options to choose from.
So with their food purchased, the two made their way back to the inn. Lucy was about to head inside and retrieve the cats when a warm hand circled her wrist and stopped her in her tracks.
Lucy turned around and began, "What is it, Nat-"
And his lips quickly found hers in a surprise kiss. Lucy nearly dropped the bag because of her arms going numb. Before she could deepen the kiss, Natsu pulled away with a cheeky grin.
"Told ya we could make time," he stated with a chuckle, leading the way inside.
Lucy stood there for a few moments, her cheeks rosy and her fingers at her lips. Oh yeah, she would definitely have to make some time later. The next time they were out of the exceeds' eyes to be exact.
After informing the cats they were ready, the group of four left the inn after paying their dues and began their journey to the dwarves' hideout. According to Charle, it had taken her nearly six hours from switching between walking and flying to reach Clover Town, meaning it would take them closer to eight hours.
Lucy groaned as they entered the dreaded forest they just couldn't seem to be done with. She was seriously considering letting Natsu just burn it all down to make things easier. She couldn't stomach being there for almost another day.
Thanks to all of the journeys she had been on since arriving in Earthland, Lucy found her stamina had increased tenfold. They didn't have to take as many breaks as needed before, and with a little girl's life on the line, they weren't going to push how much time they had left. With Charle's escape, they didn't know how the dwarves were taking it and they could be reaching their limit of patience. They had to act fast.
But of course, walking eight hours straight wasn't going to be possible for any of them, so a break was in order.
"I'm starving," Lucy whined, her stomach gurgling in agreement while Natsu grabbed the food.
"Me too," Natsu replied, handing Happy two fishes. He reached in the bag, searching for a knife so that he could make the sandwiches, paling when he realized he never bought one. Peeking over his shoulder to glance at a certain blonde, he gave a sigh of relief seeing her distracted. With a shrug, he dipped his hands into the peanut butter and jelly jars and smeared them onto the bread. Surely if Lucy saw, she would have flipped a switch. But hey, what she didn't know wouldn't kill her.
Lucy thanked Natsu for the sandwich and began to scarf it down. Was it ladylike? No, but she didn't care. She was starving and after being given food, she wasn't going to eat at a slow pace.
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 fish 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.
"I brought you a fish," Happy stated with a smile, hesitantly holding out a fish.
Charle turned her nose up with a huff. "I don't like fish."
Happy was stunned with the statement but recovered quickly. "Do you want me to make you a sandwich?"
"No thank you. I saw how that barbarian made it and it ruined my appetite."
From where Lucy was seated, she shot Natsu a quick, questioning- and threatening- glance. What the hell did he do with her sandwich?
Happy frowned, noticing that he wasn't making great strides with the other exceed. If offering some of his food wasn't going to make her happy, what would? Searching Charle's eyes for answers, he noticed great pain residing in them. There was only one reason why she would be hurting so much.
"Do you want to talk about her?" Happy offered.
Charle whipped her head towards the other cat and he feared she was going to yell at him. Instead, a small smile etched itself on her lips as she nodded, giving Happy hope.
"Wendy is a nice girl," she stated, her smile growing. "She found my egg and took care of it until I hatched. And even afterwards she continued to look after me. Ever since then, we've been inseparable, even when Chelia joined us. She's smart for her age and is stronger than she- and maybe myself- give her credit for."
Pain flashed in the exceeds eyes once again as she continued, "But she didn't listen to me. The reason I had a bad feeling about the advisors is because I saw something."
"You saw something?" Happy questioned, confused.
"Yes. Something that hadn't happened yet. I somehow saw it in my head. But when I told Wendy and Chelia, they thought that I must've dreamt about it. The night before we were taken, Wendy and I got into a fight because she didn't believe me. And now…"
Tears welled in the cat's eyes, regret hitting her all over again like a brick. Fights with Wendy weren't rare, especially since Charle tended to be a bit on the stricter side. But the fight before they were kidnapped was bad, full of things neither could take back.
"But you were right in the end," Happy stated. "So doesn't that mean she'll forgive you?"
"It doesn't matter if I was right or not!" Charle shouted. "The point is, I said horrible things and she's still captured!"
"Well if she's as kind as you say she is, then she'll forgive you. Have you forgiven her?"
"Of course!"
"There you go then! There's no point stressing about what happened if you both forgive each other!"
Charle gazed into Happy's eyes. He was right. Wendy was no doubt one of the most forgiving people she had ever met, of course she would forgive her. Guilt and past mistakes would only hold her down. She needed to be focused on rescuing Wendy.
"Thank you, Happy," Charle murmured. Though she would not go as far as to say she was in love with the blue cat, he definitely knew what to say to cheer her up. Not to mention the fact that he had her curious. It was the first time she met another exceed.
"Aye!" Happy replied with a grin.
Natsu and Lucy shared a quick, happy glance. Their third musketeer was making progress with his crush. Though, the former was a tad nervous that the cat would get too attached. They were on a mission that required traveling, after all.
After their break, the group resumed walking through the dense forest- save for Natsu, who had to limp because of a rather harsh Lucy Kick he received. Turned out she didn't appreciate a sandwich being made with his hands, so when she found out, she had been merciless.
Hours passed and finally Natsu's nose twitched. There were five unfamiliar scents up ahead. Charle stopped in her tracks, signaling for everyone to be quiet before kneeling onto the ground. Picking up a stick, she used it to write in the dirt.
"Be careful," she wrote. "Cobra can hear from far away and can even hear our thoughts. Their hideout is just ahead in a cave."
Everyone nodded in understanding. Lucy wasn't sure how Natsu was going to deal with a mage that could hear his thoughts but she trusted him. Even if she didn't, it wasn't like he would let her help. This was a battle between dragon slayers, she knew better than to intervene.
Since their top priority was rescuing Wendy, the group decided to sneak into the cave. It was dark and wet, giving Lucy the creeps. They made sure not to make any noises. To their surprise, the cave branched out into three different tunnels.
"What do we do now?" Lucy whispered.
"Don't ask us, you're the savior," Natsu replied.
"Let's split up," the blonde offered.
"You want to split up? With all of the enemies here, you actually want to split up? That's stupid, Lucy! You could get hurt!"
"I'm okay with that if it means helping someone else. Besides, I have Urano Metria now. I'll be fine."
"What about us?" Charle hissed. "We don't have any fighting abilities."
"You guys have to find Wendy and fly her out of here as fast as possible," Lucy answered.
"I'll keep you and Wendy safe!" Happy assured.
Natsu smothered a growl and reluctantly nodded. He had to have faith in Lucy. She hadn't lost yet and she wasn't going to lose now.
"Fine," he stated. "If any of you need help, call my name."
Everyone nodded before going their separate ways. Natsu chose the tunnel to the left, the exceeds chose the middle path, while Lucy proceeded on the path to the right.
It was time for battle.
AN: What do you guys think so far? :O I wanted to combine this chapter with the last chapter but then it would've messed up every chapter after it and I didn't want to deal with that lol. So I'm sorry if the chapters are short! I never go under my minimum but they still seem so short compared to Sailing with Fire!
Also, don't forget! The 800th reviewer gets to ask any question they want so be thinking of the one question you want answered! :)
Thank you to the reviewers: Shadow Joestar, Soul Eater Maka, MasterGildarts, Guest, Crazymagic16, sabrina-luna-potter, ThayetJade, FlaminkoMage, Holly Dragneel, Alexa60765, NWA4LYFLOUIE, Lunahartz, Fanficcrazygirl, BeautifulAstrology, MMoPhc15, Nalulove, ThatPixleDino, CupcakeGoddess22, Arethelya.
