Okay. This chapter will be the longest one I've ever done for this story! NOPE! Just kidding. It WAS long, but I wanted an extra chapter, so I descided to make this one chapter into two.I really hope you like this chapter and the whole story so far. Get comfortable, and ENJOY CHAPTER 4!
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I Quit!
Time skip
Three months have passed since the day Happy, that boy and I met. I walk outside, a basket of wet sheets at my left hip. The line I had strung up at the begining of spring to hang the clothes stands strong. I guess I'm not too bad of a repare man for being a girl with no training in that feild. I keep glancing at the woods near my tree, thinking the boy, with Happy by his head, will jump out of the bushes at any second. (Yeah. I know Happy can fly. I know what an exceed is!)
The day flies by quickly, and I'm almost to Mistress Ivory's chamber doors with her evening snack, silver platter like usual. I'm just about to knock on her door to enter, when it whooshes open, Mistress Ivory glaring furiously at me.
"I am fed up with your tartiness, and not cleaning right. You go relax instead of work! There's too much work you should be doing to have time to relax!" She blows her lid.
'What do you mean, Mistress? I've been doing everything exactly how you've asked me to." I replie calmly, utterly confused.
"Then why do you sneak out to sit in that darned tree!? Hmm!?" She yells.
"That's how I've been working through my grief of my helper. You know, the one who died 3 years ago." I don't look her in the eye, being completely honest.
"Yes, I remember, but that was 3 years ago! You should be over that by now!" She slaps me hard across the face, making me drop her tray. "YOU FOOL!" She screams. "Go clean everything again! and don't stop working until MIDNIGHT!" She spins around, "And bring me a fresh snack! I don't want that dirty stuff!" She slams her door shut, leaving me to clean up the mess she caused. Once the mess is cleaned, I finally let everything out in a flood of tears in my room.
"I can't take it! I can't stay here anymore!" I cry into my pillow. "I'm leaving. Maybe I can find Eltana. But what if she doesn't remember me? I could try to find that boy. He seemed nice enough." Within the time it took to stop crying, I descide that I'll just try to find Eltana and the boy at the same time. Whichever one I run into first, I'll ask for help. Quickly, as thunder rolls lightning flashes, and rain poors down in buckets, I pack what little things I have.
A hair brush, a dirty change of clothes, one pair of pajamas, toothbrush with toothpaste, three scrunchies, an MP3 and earbuds I found, sneakers, and my beloved scarf from Universe all fall or are shoved into a deep blue duffle bag. A flash of lightning, then a heart-stopping thunder clap go off and Mistress Ivory buzzes for me once the thunderclap fades. I ignore it, scribble a few words on a sticky note, then crawl out my dirty window into the rain. I run for my life, hoping she won't come after me once she sees the note. I slow to a jog when I'm about a quarter of a block away, listening with my dragon senses. In a matter of seconds a faint echoing scream makes its way through the thunder and rain. She found the note. All it had on it was "I quit!" In all caps, but I guess that was enough to make her scream. I can feel the hate in her scream, but frig her! I'm gone!
The rain cotinues, and night falls on my drenched jogging figure. Thank goodness my duffle bag is water proof, or all of my stuff would be just as wet as I am. The ground becomes really slippery and uneven on the street I have just turned onto, so I slow to a fast walk. 'Gotta find Eltana or the boy. Gotta mark a place for shelter if I get too tired. Gotta find Eltana or that boy!' I tell myself over and over in my head, eyes straight forward. I stumble and slide from exauhstion. Soon I pay the price for not stoping to, at least, rest for a bit. The ground slopes without warning, making my feet slip out from under me. I do a belly flop into a big deep mudpuddle, full of who knows what. Mud plasters my face, chest, stomach, and legs. I begin to stand up, when the creaking of a fast moving, magic powered, carrage speeds by, sending a wave of more muddy water my way. I freeze on my hands and knees as the water cascades all over my back. The sound a door opening causes me to jump. I didn't think anyone in the wooden cotage would have heard the noise at this late of night. What really surprised me was that whoever lives in this cottage was awake or was woken up by the noise, even though this is the only building in the area for quite the distance I begin to stand a second time, trying not to cry. I hear the door close. I am almost standing completely, when my feet slip again, and I'm down. The sound of someone running fills me with embarassment. 'Great. Whoever lives here just saw me fall flat on my butte over a little bit of mud. I must look like a hoboe or something! Homeless even!' The rain suddenly lightens to a mere drizzle.
"Are you okaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyeeeee! WHOA!" The person running over to help me calls. Once they get around 3 yards away from me, they slip themself and wipe out, sliding a few feet on their back. I look over at him, and he sits up. "Pretty slippery huh." He coments, smiling big. He quickly stands, setting his feet firmly to avoid falling agian, and tries to brush some of the mud off. Before finishing, he stops and tilts his head. "Have we met?" He blurts out. I twitch from shock at the sudden question, then relax as I think, looking him over. He is familiar. I start too laugh, and he raises a confused eyebrow at me.
"You're that guy I scared out of my tree three months ago! 'Are you alright?'." I repeat what I had said when he had fallen out of my tree with my fake accent.
"oh, yeah!" He chuckles, then holds out a hand to me, slightly bending over. "You look like you need some help."
"Thank ya, sir." I gladly take his hand, and he helps me stand. I try to wipe off some of the mud on the front of me. I glance at the watch someone had given me. 12:00!
"It's midnight!" I yipe. "Oh, I'm soooooo sorry for waking you up like that. I-"
He shrugs, waving a hand at me. "Pssshhhh. No sweat." He acts as though he always gets up at this time. "I'm glad to help someone at any time, and you look like you need it." He smiles to show he wasn't trying to be mean. I look down at myself and laugh.
"Yeah. I do need some help."
"Why don't we get inside and get cleaned up?" He offers, gesturing to his home with his head. I nod my head a few times, slowly at first. In awkward silence, we walk side by side to his front door.
"As a heads up, my place isn't that neat. It's pretty messy." He rubs the back of his neck, nervously smiling. I wave a hand dismissively at him.
"Pssshhh! I could care less. Seeing a messy place would be a blessing to me!" I explain, "I've seen too many things for the past three years, that are way too clean. A mess sounds wonderful."
He glances at me strangely, then gestures for me to enter first, "Ladies first." I smile at this and gladly walk into the warm cottage. He follows, closes the door, then I snap my fingers, turning to face him.
"Who are you!?" I blurt out. He stares at me as though I have just turned blue and grown three extra heads. "That came out wrong." I wave my arms back and forth in the "no" sign, "What is your name?" I correct myself, laughing lightly.
"Oooooooooooh." He streatches it out, slowly nodding once. "Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." He pionts at himself with his thumb. "And yours?"
"Cyrus Dragonfly. Nice to meet you, Natsu...again." I smile.
"Yeah, same." He sighs, wringing out his vest. "Cyrus...Dragonfly..." He murmurs absent mindedly.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. I just like your name." He smiles, eyes closed, at me. I return the smile, pleased that someone likes it. "So who gets in the shower first?" He runs a hand through his hair, flinging water everywhere, while I jump at his sudden question.
"Sh-shower?"
"Yeah. We're both covered in mud. We need to shower. You can go first. I don't really care." I finally look around at his home. 'WHOLY CRAP! This place really is a mess!' I can barely keep my jaw from droping from seeing how messy this place is. I force myself to come back to the question at hand.
"Uh, I guess I can shower first, if that's alright." I shrug.
"Sure thing!" He trots off to a closet, then the next thing I know, a towel hits my face. It slides down off my face and plops into my hands. I stand there scowling at Natsu, who snickers, before flicking on a light to what I'm guessing is his bathroom. "I'll just get you a new bar of soap, and a facecloth. You do use a face cloth right? 'Cause you don't have to if you don't want to."
"Yeah I use one, thanks." I call to him, take off my shoes and place them next to the doorway. I highstep all the way to the bathroom, trying to avoid the mess, and reach the bathroom just as he walks out.
"The stuff's all on the floor next to the shower. I can wash your clothes while you're in, too." He offers, letting me pass.
"Okay. But I'm keeping my p-js to put on after." I set down my duffle bag. "I'll set my stuff outside the door when I'm ready for you to wash them." He nods, and I close the door as he walks away. Once I'm done, I feel refreshed and happy to get all of that dirt and grit off. Natsu and I swap places. While he's in the shower I blast my favorite relaxing song on my MP3, and sing along with it.
"You've got it all, you lost your mind in the sound, there's so much more, you can reclaim your crown, you're in control, rid of the monsters inside your head, put all your faults to bed, you can be king again." I sing. (King by Lauren Aquilina) What I didn't realize was that Natsu can shower really REALLY fast and has extreme hearing, so he can hear everything. When the song ends, he claps, and I die inside, face bright scarlet. He watched about half of it. I hate when people watch me sing. I GET SO EMBARASSED!
"That was ama-SING." He makes a lame pun, winking. "I didn't know you could sing, or sing that good! I think it's even better than Mirajane! And she's the best singer in my guild!"
"I-I'm not that good..." I trail off, staring at the floor, hoping he doesn't notice my embarassment.
"Heck yeah you're that good!" He laughs, enjoying himself. "I don't just say that to anyone ya know. Oh, right. You need a place to sleep." He points a finger in the air.
"I can sleep on a couch or something." I suggest.
"You can use that new couch Happy made me get! I don't usually make it to my hammock before falling asleep." Natsu jogs away to a sleeping Happy, then wakes him. "Happy." He whispers. "What can that new couch do? Can it fold up or something?"
Happy yawns, then opens his eyes a crack. "It can...*Yawn* Pull out into a bed, if that's what you want to know." He closes his eyes again, slipping easily back into sleep.
"Thanks pal." Natsu whispers even quieter than before, then sneaks over to the couch and pops out the bed part. "I'll go get some extra blankets and pillows."
I wind up the earbuds for my MP3, put them in my duffle bag, and pull out my scarf. When Natsu comes back, I hide the scarf behind my back. He lays out the blankets, and tosses the pillows in place.
"There. Nice and comfy." He steps back to look at his "handywork". "Say, Cyrus?"
"Yeah?"
"You know. You can stay here 'till you are on your feet again." He shuffles his feet, avoiding eyecontact. I stare at him for a moment.
"How did you know I don't have a place to stay?" I ask, now on guard.
"I remeber that place where you were at when Happy and I ran into you. I remember the whole "Slave" thing, so I just guessed you quit or something, and don't have anywhere to go." He shrugs, still looking away from me. I keep staring at him suspiciously for a few more seconds, before a big yawn forces its way out of me.
"Fine. I'll take that answer. For now." I flop onto the couch-bed. "I'm too tired to care about anything but sleep right now." I practically whine. "You really wouldn't mind if I stayed until I can get my own place?" I ask, looking up at him, quickly changing back to the real problem.
"Yeah, I don't mind. And I agree. I'm really tired too." He stiffles his own yawn. "Well, 'night." He drags his feet all the way to his hammock, kicks up a leg as he lets himself fall into it, then is out like a light.
"Night." I whisper/mumble back, smiling as I fall asleep.

Okay! Since this chapter was so long, and I'm lazy, I cut it in half...I'm just being lazy...because I can...Any who...ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!