A/N: YOU GUYS. The reviews were so nice that I got super motivated and wrote a bunch right away, which like never happens. The chapter was nothing but a blank page, and within a day I had it halfway written. I know I don't do individual responses, but I read them over and over and they mean a lot and ahhhhhh

I'm glad last chapter was received well! The sexuality stuff is kinda important to me for personal reasons (those reasons being that a. I'm super ace, and b. I seldom see that stuff addressed so openly in fiction, fan or otherwise) but it makes me happy when people appreciate my self-indulgence. Makes me feel like I'm doing something good.

Anyway. Without further ado, let's begin the next journey!


"I can't believe you talked to Erza about it and didn't even tell me," Happy whined.

It was a morning of shy glances and hidden smiles, all to the soundtrack of Happy's alternate teasing and complaining as they walked to the guild for breakfast.

"I thought you already knew, with all your teasing," Natsu said.

"Yeah, but you never actually admitted it," Happy said.

Natsu thought for a moment. "You're right," he realized. "Sorry, Happy. I didn't mean to leave you out."

"It's fine. Nobody else at the guild knows you two finally talked it out except for me, so I'm still special."

"You're my best friend, Happy. Of course you're special."

Happy rubbed his cheek against Natsu's ankles and purred, nearly tripping Natsu in the process.

Lucy giggled. "So you can act like a real cat sometimes," she said.

"Of course I can. Us exceeds are basically mutated cats, after all."

"You also talk and fly and sit on Natsu's head."

"Cats like high places, so a head is the perfect place to sit," Happy defended, sprouting his wings and doing just that.

"You could at least sit on his shoulder instead like a normal cat," Lucy said.

"But that's boring. I already have to grab onto his shoulders when I carry him; I don't wanna have to sit there, too."

"Fair enough," Lucy said.

Happy leapt from Natsu's head and put away his wings when they heard footsteps running toward them down the path. Natsu slowed down, preparing for battle, but relaxed when he saw it was only Wendy.

"Natsuuuu! Happyyyy!" Wendy called out to them and waved an arm high in the air. Natsu could see Charle flying along behind her.

"Hey, Wendy. What are you doing here?" Natsu said.

Wendy slowed to a stop in front of them and caught her breath. "I wanted to say goodbye before leaving," she said, voice thin.

"You're leaving already?" Lucy asked. It was still early morning.

"Yeah. Makarov didn't want to waste any time and put Erza in trouble."

"Erza didn't want to say goodbye?" Natsu said.

"I'm saying goodbye on her behalf as well. She's still packing. Her dorm rooms will probably get raided when they send for her, so she has to take everything with her."

Natsu whistled. "That'll be a lot of luggage. Good luck, Wendy."

Wendy grimaced. "Thanks."

"Oh, and tell her 'thanks' for me."

"For what?"

"She'll know what I mean. She can tell you about it if she wants." Natsu glanced sideways at Lucy. Half of what he talked about with Erza, he could say in front of her, but it wasn't the right time to mention the other half. And if he was going to have to explain Lisanna to Lucy, he didn't want to do it right in front of Wendy; Wendy was a toddler when Lisanna died and hadn't taken her death well either.

They waved Wendy off cheerfully. Charle even bid a terse goodbye to Happy, which had him practically swooning to the point where Lucy had to carry him all the way to the guild because he refused to walk (or fly) himself.

It didn't take long before the Seven team was on their way as well. Makarov and Gray talked things out, and apparently Gray was mentally prepared enough for this that they could leave almost right away.

Their traveling party had considerably shrunk, going from ten down to six, which meant Natsu had even more opportunities to butt heads with Gray and Gajeel. And with the only other girl in their group still wary of Lucy, he found himself in her company more than before as well.

If anyone noticed the changed atmosphere between them, they didn't say anything. Natsu and Lucy would probably have to state it outright for the others to know anything besides the usual mutual pining was going on with the two of them; apparently both of their feelings had been common knowledge among the rest of the Fairy Tail team for a while now. And the major differences in how they acted around each other mostly came out when they were alone.

They still had their usual firelight talks at the end of each day, but their chats were a lot quieter, shyer. And when they were sure all the others were asleep, Natsu found his hand curling around Lucy's as they talked, thumb gently stroking the backs of her fingers.

During the day, though, they talked and squabbled as they usually did. Natsu and Happy would tease her about her princess-y ways, and she would tease them right back whenever they said something stupid. And she had her hands full trying to keep Natsu from getting into fistfights with the other guys, since Juvia wasn't much help in that regard.

It took a couple days for them to get to the border, and crossing was surprisingly easy —they were just suddenly in a different country without so much as a welcome sign, let alone a border checkpoint.

"Juvia's hometown is around here," Juvia said, looking around at the scenery with a faint smile. "This area looks familiar to Juvia."

"Really?" Lucy said. "We should stop by, then."

Juvia shook her head. "That place does not hold many happy memories. The mission is more important."

"I didn't know you were from Seven," Gray said.

"Lord Gray never asked."

"I definitely have asked," Gray said. "You always say you don't like talking about yourself and avoid the question."

"Ah, is that so? Juvia apologizes."

"What's the town called?"

"The name is not important," Juvia said quickly.

"See? Avoiding the question," Gray said.

"Ah! Juvia did it again! The town is called Dogwood."

Lucy looked for it on their map. Her eyebrows raised. "It's actually on our path. Juvia, are you sure you don't want to stop by? It's in the perfect location for us to spend a night there."

"An inn would be much better than camping out all the time," Gajeel said.

Juvia turned slightly red. She pressed her forefingers together nervously, eyes trailing at her feet. "If…if it is okay with everyone, Juvia actually would like to visit," she said.

Gray smiled and patted her shoulder. "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Be a little more selfish sometimes, would ya?" Gajeel said, ruffling her hair.

Juvia giggled at the affectionate attention from the two men.

"While we're at it, we can ask around if anyone's heard of whoever's posing as Gray's dad," Lucy said. "We're getting pretty close to where he's supposedly living. It's only about half a day's trek past Dogwood."

"He's supposedly some big business tycoon," Gray said. "Shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Gramps didn't hear of him until just recently, so whatever he's doing must be real hush-hush," Natsu said.

"I don't think he's as well-informed as he likes to make himself out to be," Gray said.

"Well, regardless, he's supposed to be a big deal so we should be able to find him, especially if this region is where he's living. Whatever kind of business he's running, most of the people in the area will be employed by it. Cities grow around big corporations like that," Lucy said.

"So we just follow the money trail," Gajeel said. "Right."

But it appeared that following the money trail would be difficult. Mainly because there didn't appear to be any money.

Rural areas were often poorer than the cities they surrounded, so they weren't particularly fazed to see run-down farmhouses dotting the landscape. But as they approached Dogwood, supposedly one of the larger cities in the region, the abandoned houses only increased in number. And when they got to the city itself, it felt like a ghost town.

"Damn, you come from a rough area," Gajeel said to Juvia.

Juvia stared around her, wide-eyed, and Natsu could sense that something was up. In the past, when Juvia had talked about her hometown, she described a bright and vibrant place that contrasted her own overcast, dreary demeanor. Natsu absently wondered if they'd wandered into the wrong town; it didn't fit the image from her stories at all.

"The homeless problem has grown a lot since Juvia lived here," Juvia said finally, frowning as they passed another beggar. There were homeless pandering for change at nearly every corner, and they could see more sleeping on cardboard mats in alleys, belongings in torn bags scattered around them. Half the shops were abandoned, boarded up and populated by impoverished families that were probably squatting.

The more they saw, the more shaken Juvia became. Natsu had seen plenty of poor towns that had fallen on rough times, but from what Juvia said, this place had been a wealthy and thriving city only a decade ago.

They stopped to rest in the first open bar they found. The place was actually rather full. Scruffy bearded men sat at every table, drinking heavily even though it was the middle of the day.

"Looks like half the city is unemployed," Lucy said.

Natsu nodded. Even for a poor town, this was a bit extreme.

There was a large section of unused seats at the bar, so they sat down and ordered some drinks, ready to relax after a long day of walking.

"Looks like this city's fallen on hard times lately," Gray said to the barkeep, taking a sip of his beer.

The barkeep made a face and picked up a mug. He began to clean it, slowly. "Yinz ain't from Seven, are ya?" he said.

"Not really," Gray said, "but our friend here grew up in this town. She says it hasn't always been like this."

Juvia nodded.

The barkeep looked at her and sighed. "It's the Absolute Zero Conglomerate," he said. "It's taken over all the large businesses in the area, and in most of Seven for that matter. Lots of pay cuts and layoffs. Most the townsfolk around here lost their jobs, and those that still have one ain't paid too well. The government is supposed to help out the poor, but they're the actually the ones who encouraged all this. Sometimes it's hard to tell if President Keyes is under his thumb, or if it's the other way around."

"Whose thumb?" Gajeel said.

"Did you say Keith?" Lucy said, startled.

"No, our president, President Keyes," the barkeep said.

"Jeez, Lucy, I thought you would know these things," Natsu teased.

"S-sorry, I just misheard…"

Gray frowned and turned back to the barkeep. "I'd like to know the same thing as Gajeel. Whose thumb is the president under that's causing all this?"

"The CEO of Absolute Zero, of course. I'm surprised ya don't know him already; he's quite famous. But then again, yer foreigners."

"His name," Gray emphasized. "What's the guy's name?"

They finally got the answer they were looking for, and when they heard it, they were not at all surprised. It wasn't a turn of events so much as confirmation of the obvious.

"Calm down, kid," the barkeep said. "Alls of ya got no need to be so pushy." He let out a breath and met Gray's eyes. "The man causing all this goes by the name of Silver Fullbuster."


A/N: Kinda short, but it is what it is.

I realized that I spelled it "Keith" in previous chapters even though apparently the official English is "Keyes." I just made Keyes his public alias instead lol. Nice save! All my other name-spelling choices are purposeful though, I promise. They're arbitrary choices, yes, but at least I knew I was making a choice haha.

At least one member of Tartarus makes an appearance next chapter! Thanks for reading!